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.

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[She hears 'Forgotten City' and immediately knows that this isn't the same Aerith who had been here before. At least, she isn't yet. That Aerith had known about her death. Had known she had never made it back. And suddenly Tifa is filled with such a renewed sense of sadness that she can't help but hold the other woman tighter, as if she'll disappear if she lets her go.

Blinking back tears, she tries her best to keep her voice steady when she speaks. Even knowing this is something she wouldn't be able to keep secret for long, she doesn't want to burden Aerith with it right away. Avoiding the first question she turns her attention to the here and now.]

This whole place seems like a crystal desert. I haven't gotten any readings. I think we're too late. [Finally, she takes a step back, getting a proper look at Aerith.] When did you arrive in Lunatia?

[ something's wrong.

aerith can't put her finger on it, but she's been around tifa, observed her and been at her side often enough to know the shifts of her moods, no matter how subtle. sure, she might've been guilty of prodding at tifa's expense once in awhile, friendly rivals for cloud as they are, but there is no doubt that aerith loves her, too.

she can sense it, the strangest feel of something... something she doesn't like, because tifa has always been honest and open and a terrible liar, even now. that squeeze is telling, and aerith looks back at her, too, searching her face discreetly for answers. ]

About three days ago. [ she frowns, brows knitting, carefully setting that concern aside to something else that had been bothering her. ] Let's bring back some flowers before we go.

[ when they rebuild this place, fahrouk's wife will be able to rest with the flowers again. ]

[Despite her efforts Tifa knows that she's betrayed herself already. Whether by something in her expression or her eyes. Or by the way she can't quite make herself hold Aerith's gaze for long, her eyes flickering guiltily towards their surroundings. She knows that she's a terrible liar. But she hasn't lied.

But she's never been very good at hiding how she feels either, and now more than ever she hates that about herself. It shouldn't be Tifa that has this conversation with her. Or...at least it should be her and Cloud.

Relief rushes through her when Aerith doesn't press on with the suspicions she's sure to have.]

Three days...Have you run into Cloud? [She's sure he would have said something to her if he had. But things have been crazy in and out of the city lately. Maybe he hadn't had the chance.] Okay...we'll have to make it fast though.

[She's not sure what had triggered the outcry for their escape, as all seemed quiet still. But neither of them could risk being left here.]

Cloud? He's here?

[ how is he? is he still the way he was when she left? are they? tifa looks at him with a new kind of sorrow she doesn't understand, and it feels like her dear friend has aged in the scant few days that they'd parted ways. it's just been three days for them, right? ] Did you just reach here, too?

[ something's up, and something feels off -- but aerith can't actually figure out why, which is starting to bother her the longer they're here. there's more to this story, she knows, even if she doesn't quite get the entire picture, but small things first.

small, important things like tifa agreeing to pick up some flowers with her before they get back to the shuttle, and she's briskly going over to a patch of them, carefully transporting two, roots and soil and all, into a misshapen little pot she'd bought at the bazaar earlier.

and is that a growl, not too far away from them? ]

Edited 2020-03-18 15:14 (UTC)

He is. He'll be so glad to see you.

[Now that she's gotten over the surprise she feels a renewed sense of excitement at the idea of bringing her to Cloud. Of the three of them being together again. Despite the rough conversation that they need to have, Tifa can't help but want to grab her friend and haul her back to the city right now.

But she can be patient, for the moment. Knowing how important flowers are to Aerith, she wouldn't stop her from preserving what few of them are left uncrystallized.]

No. I've been here about...nine months, I think.

[She can't help but smile at the sight of the small pot that Aerith pulls out.]

You came prepared, I see.

Nine months?

[ aerith almost drops the little pot, because of all the things she'd expected tifa to say, this isn't one of them. what does she mean, nine months? aerith blinks -- this explains some things, but raises so many, many more questions. ]

I just saw you a few days ago, before I woke up in some stupid desert.

[ how does this even happen? tifa's smile smooths some things over, and aerith is absolutely certain the other woman wouldn't lie to her, not about this. so...

and tifa mentioned something about her coming back too, right? so is it coming back here? she slowly rises, baffled. ]

Tifa, what's going on?

[Oh, yeah. The whole nebulous timeline thing really should be explained properly to newly arriving Moonblessed. But it usually falls to Moonblessed who are already here to explain things like that. She'd almost forgotten.]

Time is a bit of a tricky thing here. It doesn't really line up with our world. And not everyone who gets drawn here are brought from the same time, even if they come from the same place.

[That's about as simply put as she can make the explanation. Especially while still avoiding certain topics.]

Those who have gone home and come back say that they lose their memories of this place while home, but they go back to the same movement they were taken from. I don't really understand how...I don't think anyone does.

[ so it's just as confusing to tifa, too -- but the other woman does a pretty good job of summarising it for her. aerith takes a moment to parse this particular piece of information, nodding after a moment. a place out of time, okay, and people who have gone home and come back here losing their memories.

which means! ]

So I was here before!

[ right? she's getting it, at least a little bit. the important thing, really, is that tifa and cloud are here, and as she starts to usher tifa to the shuttle, keeping an eye out for other people who might need their help, she continues, just a little playfully. ]

So you missed me, huh?

Yeah. You were here when I arrived. But you...left soon after.

[Back into the Lifestream. It had been more than a little disappointing to learn about her disappearance. Like an old wound being torn back open. She had only been able to speak to that Aerith once, briefly.

Which only makes Tifa more grateful for this opportunity now. She slides one arm around Aerith's, linking them at the elbow as they begin to walk in the direction of the shuttle.]

Hmm...maybe a little bit.

[And then she realizes that there is one thing she can tell Aerith - should definitely tell Aerith - without going too deep into a conversation she's not ready to have. About a certain other somebody from their world. Her lips turn down into a frown.]

I should probably give you a heads up. Sephiroth is here. But he's...not really the same. He comes from an earlier time than the rest of us. He doesn't know who any of us are. He...thinks Cloud is another member of Solider. [Mainly because that's what Cloud told him but...they can get into that later.]

We haven't told him anything. We think it might be safer that way.

[ she was here for awhile and left soon after. okay, well, that explains why tifa had said she'd come back. maybe it might explain why she looked so sad, too? no, not quite. but she's definitely a lot more comforted when she feels her friend link their arms together.

pleased, she leans closer, giving her arm a warm pat as she smiles -- but it's short-lived when tifa says what she says next. aerith pauses, stiffening. sephiroth is here? despite tifa's measured words and the fact that she'd just said he came from a different time (she's still digesting that), aerith can't help but be just a little alarmed.

they know what happens. the depth of the corruption, the threat that he becomes. the toll he takes on cloud. this time, no amount of putting up a brave front can hide aerith's concern: ]

What if he -- what happens if he turns here?

[She watches Aerith's face closely as she takes in the information, and sees emotions that reflect her own almost completely. Even after a couple of months to get to the idea, she can't say that she feels entirely comfortable or safe knowing that he's in the city.

It's been a concern that she and Cloud have been mostly avoiding. Although avoiding him would have been a lot easier had Sephiroth not come to see Cloud as an ally. Keep your enemies close, as they say.]

Nothing good. Which is why we haven't told him anything. At least here there's no Jenova, and no Shinra. He might not ever turn here as long as he doesn't learn the truth.

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▶ TDM .013

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