prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .013

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ Welcome to the Jungle
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

A Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

▶ Let’s Do the Time Warp Now
Lunatia | top

Time is relative, but the days do seem shorter — or longer — than usual. A minute passes like an hour. An hour passes like a minute. Everything appears to be moving along as normal, but the numbers and hands on clocks flicker and spin with an unusual and worrying slowness or quickness. Eventually you notice that the darkness of the night barely lasts long enough for you to fall asleep while the sun seems to glare down upon you for an eternity. The temporal shifts disorient your body, which now grows lethargic from being overworked and underslept. Soon, the temporal abnormalities reach a critical point…

B Due to the temporal distortions, Prismals and Moonblessed new and old feel their bodies sporadically transform in the strangest of ways. Your joints ache like they’ve carried a lifetime’s weight of misfortune and regret. Your voice turns high-pitched like a certain pair has yet to drop. You turn into a confused infant in one moment and the seasoned fighter you always wanted to be in the next. Your memories also shuffle around along with your apparent age, leaving you confused and unsettled. The transformations can occur and last for as long as the 11th, when everything turns back to normal without incident. That time your baby self peed in your pants? Never happened. Until then, moonlacing seems to stabilize the weird abnormalities.

▶ Starlight, Star Bright, First Star I See Tonight
Lunatia | top

The city’s landscape is not spared by the erratic flow of time. Buildings and streets continuously flicker between the beautiful and vibrant paradise it has become to the ruins of glory days long past. Your eyes may struggle to adjust as you try and convince yourself of what is real and what is not. High rise towers one moment will become wreckage the next, filled with technological debris and the echoing cries of the terrified, and the mighty wingspan of an unknown creature continues to hovers in the distance. The illusion will only last but a minute before you’re back in the present, going about your daily business. However, your trip from the future and back is far from over.

Soon, breaking news reports will inform the city about the sudden vanishing of certain celestial bodies in the sky. Though the moons remain where they should, the nights grow longer and darker as the stars in the sky start disappearing one by one until only the sun remains, eclipsed by some mysterious force. Lunar Scientia has already sent capable teams to investigate the abnormalities, so they ask the public to be patient as they wait for the reports. Until then, they have issued safety guidelines and measures to effectively light the city. The Caelus Tower appears to burn brighter than ever.

C For these dark hours, Lunar Scientia releases their latest Chroma-powered technology for Moonblessed use: star lanterns. When a star lantern is held by two Moonblessed, it absorbs newly generated Chroma from them, enabling it to light up the missing stars in the sky as you travel from place to place. The light’s color and intensity will depend on you and your partner’s bond, the spectrum ranging from a violet of hatred to a red full of love. Indifference, however, will not light the lantern at all. It also comes with a float function so that it can be released into the atmosphere without needing to carry it everywhere. Since the technology is limited in stock, Moonblessed may only have one star lantern in their possession.

One of the issued guidelines is to never walk through dark alleys alone even with the lanterns, as the crime rate has increased lately due to those taking advantage of the chaos. This is especially rampant in Level 3, at the mouth of the Lightless.

▶ Oh, They Just Can’t Wait to be King
Outside Lunatia, Port Sylvel | top

On the ides of the third month, an emergency broadcast appears from Captain Natela:

Captain Natela

Greetings, Prismals and Moonblessed.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Port Sylvel has been completely crystallized. The Moon Knights are currently recruiting willing explorers and scientists to investigate the cause. Investigations are still pending, but the outlook is grim. The only survivors were among the few we carried out of the city last month. The rest perished from the crystallization.

Our heart goes out to those affected by this plight. There is no cause for panic. There is no sign that the crystallization is spreading beyond Port Sylvel. We Moon Knights stand with the people of Prismatica, as we have done for centuries. We are not mere defenders of a city but protectors of a planet. We endeavor to find the cause of this tragedy and bring peace and justice to the lives it claimed. Until then, we ask for your cooperation. Stay calm and press onward.

Those who volunteer to participate in the expedition will be rewarded for their efforts. They will be assisted by experts from the Lunar Scientia as well as the bear Prismal and Moon Knight Fahrouk, who looks worse for wear after hearing the news.

Officer Fahrouk

Oh, Moonblessed. It's you. Yeah, Hala is doing good. Won the spelling bee! I think she might make the nationals. ... I… I don't think I ever told you. Port Sylvel was our hometown. My wife is buried there. We’d go there every spring. Hala loved picking the flowers there. Did you know that different flowers grow in Port Sylvel compared to Lunatia? Haaaah...

Moonblessed! I know you think I'm not cool enough to hang out with you, and all I do is ask for your help, but please let me go with you! Please… This is something I have to do as a soldier, a husband, and a father.

… What? You always thought I was cool?

Finding strength and resolve after the participants tell him he's supposed to assist them on their mission anyway, Fahrouk distributes LIFE suits to the participants as he briefs them on what they're about to do. He and the participating Moonblessed will then be transported via a large transport vessel.

Port Sylvel is hardly recognizable. What was once an idyllic coastal town is now a site of tragic beauty — crystal formations encase buildings and Prismals like jagged glass coffins, as if preserving life in its final moments. Readings from life detectors tell you that everyone in the crystal has passed on, but you and your fellow Moonblessed think you can still hear their cries of distress carried along by the wind, warning you about the Prideful King.

D Gigantic crystal lions flank the passage of the port city, their wings spread open and blue flames pouring forth from their mouths. You hear rumbling guttural noises, and if you approach them, their roars will escalate to warn you about proceeding any further. Beware: a single bite from these lions can easily tear through the LIFE suit and cause your body to crystallize quickly unless someone rushes in to moonlace with you to halt the effect. These lions are unlike the beasts you’ve fought before: their otherworldly strength is overwhelming, and nothing seems to wear them down. Destroying them seems pointless, as they quickly regenerate the minute they are obliterated.

Eventually, transmissions from the LIFE suits announce an order for escape. Buildings collapse and shatter in your wake, and the ground quakes violently as something awakens in the far distance...

▶ questions

If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

WHO CAN POST? ▶ Test drive memes are for new characters only. Existing players may not post starter threads in the test drime meme. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!

IS THIS CANON? ▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

ANNIVERSARY ▶ Happy first anniversary, Prismatica! Thank you to all of you who have been with us since the beginning. We appreciate it immensely! Remember that we always welcome input and suggestions from players. This event is a little out of the ordinary because of our anniversary celebration.

OPT IN AND OUT ▶ For current players, please do not be alarmed! As always, you do not have to be affected as there are safe areas across Lunatia that remain as is.

AGING UP AND DOWN ▶ You have free reign over how long and how many times your character will be affected. If a character doesn’t have a canon appearance from the past or future, you are welcome to provide one of your own from imagination and use your own PB. You are allowed to speculate on how they’ll look, act, their potential future, and so on. All of these will be temporary to this event. The intensity of the effect is also up to you: whether it will only affect appearance alone and retain their current memories.

IMPORTANT ▶ As a reminder, writing sexual content with characters below 15 years old is a violation of the game's rules and potentially Dreamwidth’s ToS. Players caught doing this will be banned from the game.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001 - starlight, c.

[ his entrance into this new world was probably as flashy as he generally is. and as thrilling as it all is, he's still concerned about all of it—the consoling thing, to him, is that he's pretty sure most human beings would feel the same. of course, showing it is unacceptable and even unsightly; he's yet to find an exact way to relax that would mirror what he did at home, but he's kept an eye out for it.

but for now, he's perched atop a high spot, watching the looming sky—it's about as relaxing as it can get, which might not be very. the lantern he's been given is floating in front of him, and he's eyeing it like it's a toy he's fond of. ]

Hmmm... [ he's prodding it with a finger, watching it sway in the air. ] This is something out of a futuristic romantic movie, isn't it? How cute. You can't escape the truth of your feelings this way.

[ ...he's talking to himself, yes... or to whoever would listen. ]

002 - time warp, b.

[ he really didn't get long to establish himself as, well, himself in this place before he's abruptly being changed. the outside hasn't changed much, aside from the faded colour of his hair from a blue/green to a dark purple, and the basics to his personality are still there—

but there's a certain distance in his voice and expression. yesterday he might have greeted his neighbour (MAYBE YOU!!) cheerfully. today there's a touch of faintness in his voice, and he doesn't stop to chat for as long as he might have before.

(if you're really on point, he's also a little shorter.)

but that's not important! it's fine! he probably hasn't even noticed! what is important is that he's landing in front of (insert your character here) with a smile and is holding out a fanned array of envelopes. ]

Good morning...! Please, if you will indulge me—choose one to your liking!

wildcard.

( leave me a blank or feel free to hit me with anything! you can also talk to me via messages or gaelio. you can also assume cr for the time of the tdm, wataru is constantly doing weird shit so let your imagination run wild. he's a cryptid and has probably invaded your personal space, i'm so sorry. )

[As fate would have it Wataru happens to land right in front of a very familiar redhead who is on his way to work. Natsume startles at the other's sudden appearance, jumping just a little before a hint of red crosses his face at his own reaction, hands going to hips. Clearly someone is revving up for a scolding.]

You should be careful startling people like THAT, Wataru-niisan. While the locals are pretty accepting it's still possible that someone could mistake you for an attackER.

[But where most people might not notice the change in the idol Natsume has known him long enough to pick up on those subtle differences, at least a few of them. He tilts his head.]

... Is something WRONG?

[ being lectured in such a way is strangely refreshing; that's probably just because of wataru's normal personality, though. he likes things that probably should not be liked, after all.

the distant feeling fades a little bit after seeing natsume, though. ]

Of course something is wrong... oh so wrong...♪ [ with a hand to his forehead like he's about to fall onto a fainting couch, he's heaving a dramatic sigh. ] Not even you will let me regale you with my little trick today...! You were right when you said I could be mistaken as an attacker—though I'd much rather be known as an attacker of love.

[ if there is something wrong, wataru sure isn't going to easily talk about it, so he's just going to spew whatever that is. ]

[Eichi spots him from below. Gazing up at the strangely empty sky, it's easy for him to see the shining star that stands out, like a faint glow— and the lantern floating in front of him. It feels too good to be true, after so many disappearing and reappearing acts, but it's not as if he can simply turn away. As always, he moves to reach Wataru at that same height.

Whether it's a rooftop or a hill, Eichi manages to climb his way to the top, and even if he's a little out of breath, he holds it still to watch Wataru play with the lantern. He catches most of those words, stepping forward from behind at the tail end of it and crouching to touch his own hand to the lantern as he searches Wataru's face. Does he remember, any of it? What does he remember? Even Eichi's mind feels foggy about it all, but.]

A romantic movie, is it? What do you suppose the next scene would be, then?

[A pause, and he smiles slightly, though his hand doesn't move. Rather, his other hand moves to join it in a light hold of the lantern. Join him!!]

Fufu... It's nice to see you again, Wataru.

Edited 2020-03-10 16:17 (UTC)

[ if he was a normal person, he might be surprised to see eichi. but he's not, he's someone with an "It's Complicated" status when it comes to normal. in this case, he would be more surprised if eichi wasn't here. it's almost a rule—wherever wataru is, eichi also belongs there. ]

Good evening, Eichi! [ he could get into a spiel about how excited he is to see him (because despite not being surprised, he still does feel happy about it) but he was asked a question, so that's going to have to wait. thoughtfully, he's humming with his hand in the air, hovering over the lantern. ] The heroine would be preparing to bare her feelings completely. It would be directly before the climax of the movie... something anticipated by the audience the entire time. When she would just be a hair's breadth from touching it...

[ and now, slightly louder: ] ...she would get interrupted by her other romantic interest! Fufu, the sparks would certainly be flying. You could only get the answer in her heart at the end of the movie, and we're not quite there yet.

[ that said, he's touching it anyway. ]

But it's only like a movie this time.

[Ah. After all of Wataru's hover handing, the lantern finally begins to glow a radiant red, relaxing Eichi's thoughts. Of course... This sort of passionate color does suit their bond, doesn't it? Passion, or blood... or maybe a bit of both. He watches the lantern in quiet consideration before humming at Wataru's add on to the story.]

Naturally, this is reality, so it's not as if a scene like that would naturally occur in any reality without incident. Putting aside the lack of an "audience," the heroine could stumble in her words, ruining her chances with either of her love interests, or her interests could grow irritated by her dragging them along and move on before she's come to a decision. So on and so forth...

[He's smiling as he goes on in this grim way of his, though, no longer caring about the story so long as Wataru is here. Cute attempts at reunions aside— he looks at Wataru for a long, suspiciously quiet moment, all without moving his hand away from the lantern.

No... it's impossible to tell if he remembers or if he doesn't, right? Wataru is such a good actor. He could remember and be testing him, or have forgotten him just like everyone else. So what should he do, then, he wonders... Finally, though, he speaks again.]

Did you come up here simply to view the lantern on your own? [He finds that unlikely. So he came to think about something, probably? If he had to guess...]

[ all of those would make for fun movies, he thinks. cliched in some cases, but drawing from originals and classics isn't always bad. stories don't always have to have happy endings, so their theoretical heroine might not even find her everlasting love in their current situation. ]

Hmmm... I wonder if I did? [ his tone is slightly edging towards teasing. himself, mostly. ] It's a two person activity, though. And I prefer doing things with others... at this rate, meeting you here must have been destiny of some sort.

[ translation: he absolutely wanted somewhere to think because his bedroom is not yet optimized for him to lay on the floor with candy watching sad dramas. on the other hand, he would fully buy into a chance meeting with eichi here, too, so it's a lot of column a and a little of column b. ]

Destiny...

[Eichi breathes that out, still a little winded from the climb to this height, though he's been trying to hold it back. Now, though, he shifts to finally move his hand from the floating lantern and sit down, instead. From here, he looks up at Wataru, and at the dark sky past him, thoughtful.]

Perhaps so. It's not as if I'm one to enjoy nagging others, but you should be careful walking around alone so late at night. They've been sending out warnings, you know?

[ he's not overly concerned with the colour of the lamp (if he put more thought into it, he's pretty sure he knew what colour it'd be, even if he's terrible at expressing himself in those specific ways).

but right now, he's tapping a finger against his chin in mock thought, his feet kicking a little from how he's got them hanging below. ]

Oya... I'm terrible at listening to my seniors of any kind even here, it seems. [ hibiki "goes to class once a week and leaves his juniors passed out in the hallway" wataru, bad at listening to people? never. ] But should I really listen to the scolding of someone doing it too...? Well, I don't want you to worry, so I will do my best in the future... ♪

[ making people worry about him is near-catastrophic so maybe. just maybe. he might be telling the truth. ]

For now, please take good care of me.

[OKAY... He also was walking around alone, it's true. But it's different when it's him. He hums, leaning to one side so that their arms can brush ever so slightly. Eichi is positive now that Wataru has no memories of this place at all. He wonders how he feels about that... It's not that the memories can't be made again. To be honest, he can't remember many details himself. But the idea of being able to be forgotten so easily bothers him.

Because it's out of his control, because it makes him feel insignificant? Well, he'll just have to fix that.]

Do you have housing arranged already? I can certainly escort you home. Before that, however...

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this place. Have you moved around enough to gain an honest opinion? Moonblessings, chroma, magic... It's all like something out of a dream, isn't it?

[ his hero...! ]

Hmmmm... the first thing I said is something you can probably guess. [ it's "amazing!" ] Once upon a time, your Hibiki Wataru would have been worried that this sort of place would have set the bar for being extraordinary far too high for him, and that there may not be a path back.

The one you have tethered to the earth is quite content to experience the excitement without worrying too much about that. If this happens to be a dream, I don't mind staying with you in it for now.

[ a very small pause. ] I got quite a few strange looks when I arrived, possibly because every inch had something new for me to see, and I'm sure that I've only scratched the surface. Even the night is a thrilling thing to behold.

wataru hibiki ☆ ensemble stars!!

002

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god my comment was eaten at first so I forgot to put 1!! it was hard to choose

<3

<3!!

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1 baka

see, my plan worked?

i can't even be mad cause i treasure these memes they are mine now

kyaa... hei-sama...

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