prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .015

Entry tags:

CW: Contains potential body horror in Prompt D.

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.

▶ My Anaconda Don’t-
Inari Highway, Amegahara | top

As promised by Lord Bairen, the leader of Amegahara, the route between the cities of Amegahara and Lunatia has been completed. The Inari Highway will improve both travel time and security, letting the Moon Knights deal with any potential threats in a more efficient manner. With the Oracles of the Sinless having cropped up a second time last month, the timing of its completion couldn’t have been more perfect.

Shortly after the Inari Highway’s opening, the Moonblessed are invited to come. Using the highway, attending Moonblessed can quickly and securely traverse the Nothing to personally witness the impact of their Chroma through their stay so far on Prismatica.

Upon entering the glass tunnels of Inari Highway, the glass first displays images of the Nothing before the Moonblessed’s arrival. It was entirely bereft of any life, and only gigantic monsters roamed the barren land. Then the images on the glass walls vanish to reveal the sudden miraculous growth of plant life, astonishing the entire planet.

Scientists at Amegahara have been hard at work testing the Nothing’s capacity to support life. They have determined that a constant and heavy flow of Chroma is required to maintain the baby ecosystem in the Nothing. Otherwise, the existing plant and animal life will die before reaching full growth. The Moonblessed are encouraged to support this endeavor.

B At the greenhouses across Inari Highway, you will find multiple rows of wildflower sprouts and small trees planted near solar panels. In order to help them grow quicker, veteran Moonblessed already know what to do. And if they don’t, Prismals have stitched together some floral “Get Along” t-shirts for this very purpose. These shirts can fit up to two people inside them, making moonlacing practically unavoidable. Everyone will be rewarded trying these out, as the shirts have a built-in feature that amplifies the release of Chroma.

Other activities that can be performed to aid the plants include measuring chemical quantities in the soil, trimming dying leaves and petals, pulling weeds, chasing away bugs, and watering the plants using the Anaconda 5000.

The Anaconda 5000 was created with the same state-of-the-art technology as everyone’s favorite Raging Hydra 5000. This thick and heavy talking snakehead device requires a little love and tenderness to get it started. It will not be shy in giving instructions. The user must vigorously caress its sides to make it spew water. The more firm and powerful the touch, the more water it will release everywhere. However, should you and your friends go overboard with your ministrations, the Anaconda 5000 will promptly explode and set off sprinklers, drenching everyone in the greenhouse, which is bad news for them unless they want a wet t-shirt party.

▶ Beez in the Trap
Amegahara and Lunatia | top

With all the new flowers blooming at the edge of the Nothing, pollen is in the air, attracting a rare type of insect known as the Viscosus Bee. Huge honeycombs will start appearing around both Amegahara and Lunatia, their size and numbers growing rapidly by the hour. The cities will be abuzz about these bees — literally!

A public advisory by the Lunar Scientiae appears: please exercise extreme caution when walking by open spaces, especially around parks, farms, gardens, and anywhere else that has flowers. Better check that nice bouquet of yours before giving it to someone. Chances are that you’ll meet the bees right in their trap!

C Lots of bees means lots of honey. Giant globules of the sticky stuff drip and fall on innocent bystanders, practically gluing them together. Unbeknownst to many, the Viscosus Bee is known for producing the stickiest kind of honey across the galaxy. It will take more than nail polish remover to pry yourselves off each other! Thankfully, there is a special type of lubricant that can help those who are trapped — one that local news stations will tell you repeatedly to stock up on. Local pleasure emporiums will be selling this “Slippery When Wet” brand of lubricant at an affordable price. What you lose in dignity purchasing it, you gain in helping yourself and maybe a new friend.

▶ Flower Power
Amegahara and Lunatia | top

As the weeks pass, you may notice some strange gradient discoloration on the tips of your fingers, and your veins (or wires) have gradually turned green. It’s certainly a peculiar affliction. Even stranger, a light touch like simply brushing against another’s shoulder will discolor parts of their body as well.

All becomes clear when three moons finally appear: everyone affected will not transform according to their usual Moonblessing. Instead, you find vines and leaves growing along your body. Flowers sprout from open cuts, between your lips, out of your eyes, through any available orifice on your body, or in place of certain limbs. You are not too different from a walking plant.

D Your emotions towards others will also cause certain flowers to spontaneously burst out of you as soon as you exchange words with them. What do these flowers mean? Well, if you ask the Amegaharans nicely, they may give you a few guides to let you know, or you can check your local library.

Otherwise, you will be left to try and guess on your own as your body slowly germinates itself in front of others. This effect will naturally wear off once the three moons disappear.

Scientists at Amegahara will later postulate that the phenomenon originated from some of the intense cross-breeding of the plants in their greenhouses, which had released unconventional spores that had attached themselves to the Moonblessed and spread about.

However, they will assure you it’s nothing to be alarmed about. Just another hiccup in the name of science! The effects will be completely gone soon.

▶ 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.

DO I HAVE TO PARTICIPATE? ▶ As always, all content is optional. You do not have to be affected by any of the prompts if you wish to opt out.

AMEGAHARA ▶ With the opening of Inari Highway, the city may now be permanently accessed. You may travel freely between Lunatia and Amegahara anytime. Refer to this announcement for more details.

FLOWER POWER ▶ As always, the severity of effect is up to you. You may choose to have minor effects and only have one flower grow on any desired body part.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Those fifteen minutes are agonizing for the blond, who can't help but tug the hem of his shirt every few seconds to try, desperately, to straighten it out. But the honey and the lube are too stubborn.

He's going to have to get his entire outfit laundered. Which means, for the time being, he has no clothing to wear.

Once they arrive at Ranpo's apartment, and Kunikida slides off his shoes, he notes the decor. Someone else lives here. He mulls over the possibilities, if it's someone he may know or not, but the talk of a shower snaps him back to reality.

He nods.]

I will, thank you. Just leave clothing directly outside of the bathroom door and I'll reach for it when I'm clean.

[ In other words, he's not willing to bare all.

He finds the bathroom without issue, and promptly peels off all of his disgusting attire, groaning and sighing as he gets an even better look at the mess. The price he'll have to pay for this outfit to look presentable again will be astronomical.

At least his notebook is still clean.

He takes a shower, ensuring that every drop of honey and lubricant is gone, and then dries off. He quietly opens the door, reaches out, and tries to pat down wherever he can without sight. He doesn't want to open the door too much, so he's relying on touch here.]

[Meanwhile Ranpo isn't nearly as covered as Kunikida, and after finding a nice blue-toned yukata to lend him (which will probably still be a bit too short because he tall), he starts just cleaning off the honey stuck in his hair in the sink. By the time Kunikida's all cleaned up, Ranpo will be relaxing on the couch, dressed in different clothes and typing on his phone.]

[...he might also hear the sound of something skittering around the apartment, but he won't see it yet. A cat, maybe?]

Well, I guess it wouldn't be this place if things didn't get off to an awkward start... better now?

[ Success! Kunikida finds the yukata without much issue, and slides it through the crack in the door to put it on. It is indeed too short, but it'll do.

He heads out of the bathroom, notebook in hand. As he heads over to the living room, he hears something that causes him to blink and tilt his head. ]

Yes, thank you.

Do you happen to have a pet here? I -- think I heard something.

[ He's convinced it's a cat. ]

Ah-- don't worry about that.

[Weirdly ominous?? But he can save introductions there for later.]

[There are things he wants to ask, things he doesn't have to ask, things he should ask... but before that, there were very important matters to content with.]

So, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?

[...the struggle to keep a straight face right now is real.]

[ Normally? Kunikida would worry about this creature that he totally believes is a cat, but there are more pressing issues for him to be concerned over. Mostly the cat ears and tail his senior is sporting, as well as the intricacies of the planet that they're on.

He sits down on a chair facing the couch and places his notebook in his lap, then aggressively grabs his pen and flips open to a blank page.

Ready to write what he learns, his eyes drift back toward Ranpo. ]

Bad. Though I'm already guessing that this planet is full of bad news. I'll ask questions after you tell me what you know.

All right.

[He takes a deep breath, setting his glasses on his face--]

...there are two Dazai's in this world.

[Two Dazais. Two bandaged bastards who do nothing but cause migraines, torment, and aggravation on the regular. Two suicide aficionados who can't help but flirt with every woman they see.

Kunikida writes down two words and then drops his pen. He lets out a chuckle, a quick laugh that basically screams exasperation. But then, he speaks firmly. ]

Telling me something to that effect will only make me wish to have a drink.

Well, they're not the exact same Dazai. Only one of them is the one from our world. The other is from some kind of alternate reality where people existed who had the same names as us, but otherwise lived completely different lives. My roommate, Atsushi-- he's from that world.

[Answers the unasked question of who his roommate is. Though he'll have to build up to explaining that they're a little more than just roommates... baby steps.]

He's basically like Dazai, if his lack of self-esteem was as obvious as it is for our Atsushi. So try not to bully him too much.

[ He breathes a sigh of relief at that news right before picking up his pen and scribbling down that one Dazai is different. He may actually get along with him. What a notion!]

What a relief. I won't treat him as I treat the one we're more familiar with. Can you describe his appearance?

Golden eyes and bright red hair, usually with a little braid in it. He'll no doubt introduce himself the moment he meets you-- he still has that Dazai Bravado™, even if it's pretty easily deflated. He dresses pretty flashy, too.

[Of course, in reality Ranpo finds this Dazai hilarious simply because of the contrast with the Dazai they know.]

But there's more than just those two... there's another guy here from a world that's actually really similar to ours, but the history is a little different. He's basically Atsushi, but with Akutagawa-kun's angst-- but he's a nice guy.

Things like this are actually pretty common here. Even among the people from our world, a lot of us come from different periods of time.

[ Kunikida frantically writes down the appearance of Dazai#2 and then glance back up toward Ranpo. His lips twist slightly when he hears of an Atsushi who acts similar to Akutagawa.

What a strange planet this is.]

I see. Well, I'll keep an eye out for this Atsushi, then.

I have questions about other things now, if you don't mind me asking.

Why do you have ears and a tail?

You mean these? [His ears give a little swivel upon being called out.]

Well, normally I'd only have the when the Cordis moon is full, but there was a shop selling magic items to make the effects permanent-- ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I don't know how much you've already heard about the moons, but they do weird things to the moonblessed. Everyone is associated with one moon in particular, and when that moon is full, we go through changes. When I first arrived, mine ended up being Cordis-- so I looked like a catboy for a week every month.

[ Those ears are so strange to see on Ranpo, but Kunikida's expression doesn't falter as they move. He remains fairly stoic, jotting down the occasional note between glances. ]

How would I know which moon I'm associated with? Is there a mark on my back that I wasn't able to see in the shower?

More importantly, is there any way to force these changes to not occur?

Well... I've heard you can feel some affinity towards whatever moon you are if you visit it? They have stations on each of the moons, and it would only take a few hours to visit them all. But other than that, you might just have to wait and see if you change when a particular moon is full.

[When Kunikida was here previously he was Sanguis, but he knows that doesn't necessary mean anything. People have even changed their blessing spontaneously! It could just be random.]

But as for forcing them... not really. You do get used to them, but... there's a pretty steep learning curve. Especially if they hit you really hard.

Since it's not just physical changes. You can get powers from them, too! And your personality can become completely different. Those are the harder ones to deal with.

[While Ranpo himself seems completely unaffected while explaining this, his cat-like features are more honest. "Steep learning curve" has his ears folding down, and the mention of personality changes causes his tail to twitch just a bit sharper. He may have gotten used to them, and even enjoys them now, but there's no denying he had a hell of a time getting used to this place.]

[ As expected, he jots down what he hears with fervor, wasting no time at all so that he can ask more questions. Lord knows he has a lot of them, most centered around how this planet functions. That, and jobs. He's going to need one very soon, after all, since nothing worthwhile comes without hard work. ]

Powers, hm? Could these powers conflict with abilities at all?

[ His eyes narrow when he sees those cat ears fold down. For a moment, he wonders what, exactly, his colleague has been through.

But, he has enough respect not to ask personal questions. ]

Using the Dazai I know as an example: does his ability affect the power he's received from his moon?

I apologize for all of the questions, but I do have a few more. I'm also curious about what jobs are available here. How I can make money to purchase what I need to live.

They don't conflict or effect each other as far as I know-- ah, but there is one thing! Chroma is more than just currency. It reflects our energy too, so if you use your ability too much, you can exhaust yourself, or even become unable to use it until you moonlace.

If your chroma gets way too low, you'll even start to grow crystals everywhere, and it sucks-- so make sure that doesn't happen.

[Sorry Kunikida but u gotta hold hands for good health now.]

[ A restriction imposed on Doppo Poet is harsh, to say the least. He really doesn't believe he'll need to rely on it too often here, but if he does and has no energy, then that'll be a problem.

More importantly, if he doesn't find a job as soon as possible, he can run out of energy just by engaging in normal everyday activities. Or so he's gathering.

More notes are written down before he speaks. ]

Would having a steady job negate running out of energy, then? If so, where would I find the classifieds?

[ He's assuming there's a newspaper or something around he can scan for work. ]

As far as I know, it doesn't. Demichroma-- that's the currency the native prismals use, it's not as strong as chroma. You can make a living working, but you can't avoid needing to moonlace now and then.

[He's already thinking he might need to hold Kunikida's hand whenever they're together just to keep the man from crystallizing.]

But, uh... you might have to ask someone else about jobs. Outside of helping the moon knights solve a few cases now and then, I've never had one here.

[ Please hold his hand. He'll be in big trouble, otherwise.

After a sigh, he closes his notebook and laces his fingers together. His expression is hard to read, though he's aware that Ranpo may still be able to figure out what he's thinking.

Inwardly, Kunikida is panicking.]

Moonlacing. Simple contact between two individuals, correct? If I make a point of adopting unconventional mannerisms such as bumping into passersby as often as possible I'll be alright?

Or are you insinuating that I'll have to do more? Because I'm not going to engage in anything inappropriate or... intimate with anyone.

How do you have so much money? I saw the amount on your phone.

[For most people it would be hard to read. But even without seeing his face, Ranpo knows him well enough to know what's going through his mind.]

...you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Moonlacing can be as simple as holding hands or sitting close to someone. If you find a job to cover living expenses and avoid overusing your ability, you'd only need the bare minimum of moonlacing to keep healthy.

Moonlacing won't even work if it's not mutually consensual-- so you can't be forced into doing anything you don't want.

[There's a certain heaviness behind his words that only just slightly carries in his expression. It's a topic they'll no doubt have to cover soon, but consent and the moonblessings were often a touchy subject.]

[...]

[But then he has to go and ask that, and Ranpo realizes he's been backed into a corner.]

[Enjoy the previously-quite-rare sight of Ranpo blushing.]

Ah, er... well, I've been here for a long time now. Almost 9 months? That much moonlacing adds up!

[#ranpofucks]

[ Kunikida has strict criteria for who he'd consider taking to bed. Over fifty, which isn't a small number by any means. So, he can't help but sigh in relief when he hears that he can get by just fine by holding a job and occasionally holding hands. Perhaps he could teach again...

He picks up on he heaviness behind the rest of Ranpo's words, however, and his expression shifts once again. He almost looks sad, in a way, concerned that his respected colleague has been through things he doesn't want to remember.

Kunikida is known to have a bit of a temper, so he momentarily worries that he may eventually have to teach someone a lesson for hurting someone he cares about. Possibilities of what Ranpo has been through course through his mind; however, as soon as he realizes that the sweets loving detective has had a copious amount of intimate relations, he jolts his legs and sends his notebook flying a foot or so into the air.

He doesn't need to know this!]

I... I don't need to know any further details. Please d-don't say anything else.

[ #kunikidaisaprude ]

Y-You asked! Aren't you a detective? The answer was obvious!

[Ah, and in turn, Kunikida's reaction makes his face even redder. Ranpo's grown used to a certain level of skinship among friends here, so suddenly being confronted with someone who only knows him from back home makes that sense of shame come creeping back.]

But since we're on the subject... we should talk more about the moonblessings. I don't want you to get caught off-guard by them, but... they're not the easiest thing to talk about.

[Especially when you're a prude.]

[ His blood pressure is rising, and he needs to take a few calming breaths before he can clearly speak. He doesn't want to yell at Ranpo, nor does he want to continue the path this conversation has been going down. He's already blushing, thanks to witnessing the older man's cheeks shift in color, and he can only imagine how flustered he'd get if Ranpo starts spewing out more personal details.

Kunikida may very well need a drink before this day is over. ]

It wasn't that obvious!

[ There he goes raising his voice, despite not wanting to. ]

I assumed you had a lucrative career here. I had n-no idea that you were saving up funds from doing ... [ He stops that thought, leaning over to pick up that notebook. ]

Why. Why are moonblessings not the easiest thing to talk about? They have to be easier than talking about intimate relations.

[ He isn't even looking at Ranpo anymore. ]

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that hashtag! XD

The most important hashtag

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