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

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. ]

[wowowowowoowowowow don't yell at him???]

I'd appreciate it if you didn't make it sound like I'm some kind of prostitute, thanks.

[Much like Kunikida, Ranpo also has very limited patience. Though in a way, maybe it's better he's passed it, seeing as now he can talk about this with a straight face.]

[...well, it's better for Ranpo, at least. Kunikida is getting no mercy.]

And they're hard to talk about because the only reason I have a sex life is because the moonblessings make it nearly impossible to control yourself. Your personality, behavior, sense of self-preservation-- all of that goes out the window in varying degrees depending on your moon.

I'm cordis. So I become impulsive and embarrassing, all I want to do is eat or moonlace, and sometimes eating certain foods make me give off pheromones that make me and everyone around me horny. And I'd still consider that the easiest moon to deal with.

[ As soon as he hears the word prostitute, his heart sinks and he frowns, his forehead wrinkling slightly as he attempts to figure out how to rectify what he's just said. He certainly wouldn't call his respected colleague any sort of name, and he genuinely feels badly that he essentially just had. Enough to take a breath before speaking again, his voice quiet. ]

I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention. I'm quickly discovering that this planet seems to favor those activities, and ... anyone who has been here long enough will have engaged in them numerous times. That doesn't mean they're a prostitute. Just ... I've never been one to talk about sex, and I'm honestly overwhelmed. I shouldn't have spoken so quickly.

[ If that moon is the easiest one to deal with, the other two must be atrocious. Which means that if Kunikida is under the influence of one of them, then he may be in trouble sooner than he'd imagine. He might need help. ]

Ranpo-san, I have a question.

[ Guess who's face is turning even redder now? He reopens his notebook and holds it so that one-third of his face is obscured. ]

But before I ask, please know that I don't want you to think any different of me.

[ He scribbles the symptoms of Cordis' influence awkwardly, still holding the book upward. ]

[He just gives a soft hmm at the apology -- but his reaction isn't all Kunikida's fault. It's not like Ranpo doesn't have his own hangups about how his life has changed since arriving here. He's sensitive about it, for all that he'd certainly deny it.]

I'm not exactly the one in a position to judge you. So go ahead-- what is it?

[ He decides to just blurt it out, knowing that if he delays this, he'll inevitably decide not to ever ask. Then, if he is in a bind at some point, he'll regret taking initiative when he had the chance. ]

If I'm ever near crystallization, or if my moon's influence renders me incapable of acting as I normally would, would you help me?

...did you think I wouldn't?

[Ah. Maybe he's just underestimating how stressed Kunikida is about all this. He scoots over a bit on the couch, before patting a spot next to him.]

The last thing any of us would do is let you crystallize. And as for the moons... you don't have to do anything if you really don't want to. I'll even lock you alone in a room for a week if you'd prefer it.

Not everyone here indulges in the moons like, that after.

[ He says nothing as he slowly lets his notebook fall to his side, still held tightly with one hand, and stands. He then makes his way over to the couch and sighs an exasperated breath. This is still a lot to take in, and he's feeling fatigued. ]

I'd rather not be locked in a room for a week, if possible.

[ Finally, he smiles again. The thought of being caged up in a room, much like what he'd threatened to put Dazai in several times in the past, is genuinely funny in a way. ]

But if I do decide that I'd be comfortable with other -hm- activities just to ensure I can be outside during rough weeks, I'll ... let you know.

Well-- thankfully most people don't experience any changes their first month here. So you've got until next month to figure that out.

[But you know what he's gonna do in the meantime?]

[Reach out and take his hand. Which is already a level of touchy-feely he would have never done with Kunikida back home, but hey-- he's gotta warm him up some how. And at the very least, the warm sensation of the moonlacing, no matter how minor, might help calm him down a little.]

[ He's already preparing to readjust his schedule for June upon hearing those words. His schedule that, honestly, doesn't have too many activities planned, as he has no job or actual responsibilities yet. It'll be easy to move tasks around, to say the least. ]

Ah --!

[ Slightly shocked by the contact, the blond's body stiffens, but only for a moment. His expression softens at the warmth, and his eyelids fall half-way. He realizes quickly that this contact is actually very comforting. ]

Thank you. I've never been one for contact like this back home, but it is ... nice.

It is, isn't it? It's probably my favorite thing about this place.

[Being able to share casual comforts like this between friends was something Ranpo's grown very accustomed to. To the point where he might find it difficult to adjust to keeping a distance between people back home again.]

A little something like this now and then to keep your chroma up isn't so bad, right?

[ If only this world encouraged respectable and dignified acts such as hand holding and hugs over sex. If that were the case, Kunikida would be fine. Sure, he'd usually prefer avoiding contact with strangers if possible, but simple, kind actions don't bother him. He could deal with this new setting just fine if hugs and hand holding were enough.

But he's positive those simple gestures won't be all he'll have to do.

Shifting his waist slightly so that he faces his friend a bit more, he reopens his eyes completely and takes in the sight of those feline ears again. They're intriguing, and he has a few curiosities about them. ]

Indeed. I'm feeling fatigued from the stress of the day so far, but sitting here with you is giving me some needed energy. However, I am still curious about one thing.

[ Would Ranpo enjoy having the back of those ears scratched? Kunikida won't do so unless he asks first, so ... ]

May I scratch the back of your ears?

[Kunikida u furry]

[His ears twitch when attention is called to them, and Ranpo nods with a smile. As a matter of fact-- he loves having his ears scratched.]

Go right ahead! Just don't pull on them -- they're pretty sensitive!

[And also-- as soon as Kunikida starts scratching them, Ranpo's going to start purring.]

[ He's not surprised that Ranpo says yes. After all, he was the one who'd said in their own world that Kunikida was the most virtuous in the Agency. If anyone were to allow the blond to indulge in silly acts, it'd be him.

He wastes no time in scratching those cat ears, careful not to be rough. He doesn't pull them, either, because this isn't Dazai. He has no reason to be aggressive at all.

Almost instantly, he picks up on the purring. His cheeks burn bright and he looks away.

He's not used to such a cute sight. ]

D-do you always purr when someone does this?

Hmm... almost always? I don't really have a lot of control over it, so it just kinda happens when I moonlace enough.

[Which hey-- ear scritches definitely count as moonlacing!]

Some of the others here have permanent features like I do, too. My roommate has cat ears and fox tails-- a lot of them.

[ His fingers are still going at it, but he's really careful not to scratch too hard as he talks. He's very skilled with multitasking, thankfully. ]

I see. Well, purring means that you're quite happy. I know that from petting cats in the past, at least.

[ It's somehow cuter when Ranpo does it, though. ]

Talk of your roommate reminds me: I meant to ask about your roommates before becoming distracted. How many do you have? Anyone from home?

[He's very skilled, yes, which means Ranpo will become the distracted one in turn. He's still paying attention, even if his voice sounds a bit dreamier.]

Ah, right-- it's just me and Atsushi, here. The one from a different world, that is-- there's four of them total, so it might get a little confusing sometimes.

[ Two Dazais in this world means that hearing there are four Atsushis is no surprise. What is, however, is that there only seems to be one of the blond. He was here previously, but he doesn't remember a thing.

Which to him means that the iteration of himself was from the same world that he hails from. These four Atsushis must all come from unique worlds, and only one will be the one he's familiar with. ]

I see.

[ He finally raises his hand tentatively, so that he stops scratching those ears. If he doesn't do so now, he may never gain the strength to leave this couch. Ranpo doesn't need two roommates, right? ]

You've stated that the two Dazais are different in personality. Is this Atsushi different from the one we knew from home?

[He'll still be purring even after the petting stops -- he's in a pretty good mood right now.]

Hmm... he is, and he isn't. But he's probably the nicest human being I've ever met-- he makes Kenji-kun look rude by comparison. He's older than both of us, and works as a teacher here.

And, uh... he's also technically two people? Not quite a split personality, but more like two people who share one body. They both go by Atsushi, but that was getting annoying, so I call him Tiger-kun! He's a bit more prickly than Atsushi, but I think it's just because he's shy.

[ Kunikida is also in a good mood, even if he's still a bit fatigued from the stress of the day thus far. Thankfully, he knows he's in good company and that nothing bad can happen in this apartment, so even if he does happen to fall asleep, he'll be fine. ]

A teacher?

[ A kindred spirit! ]

That's fascinating. I wonder what he teaches. I'll have to ask when I meet him.

[ However, his brow furrows ever so slightly at that next statement. Two people? Doesn't make sense. Kunikida is confused. ]

If this isn't a case of split personality, then ... how would you know which one you're talking to? Even with addressing the one you know as Tiger-kun, I imagine some difficulties still surface.

[ Don't mind him, he's just going to pull out his notebook and jot some facts down yet again. ]

Oh, trust me, you can tell.

[Nevermind the chuunibyou-levels of hair flipping that occur when he switches to Tiger.]

Their similarities pretty much stop with their appearance. Atsushi is usually the one in control most of the time, while Tiger only comes out when the situation calls for it.

[ The situation ...

He's wondering if this alternate personality is akin to his own Atsushi's ability. It'd make some sense if it were. ]

Most of the time he's simply Atsushi, then.

[ Said as a statement, not a question. After writing down one more line, he slams his notebook shut and sighs. What a day this has been. ]

Sorry for the topic change, but do you have any tea?

[Well, there is a reason for the Tiger-kun nickname, after all.]

Of course! Let me go make some. Any preference?

[And as he stands to walk into the kitchen--]

[In his place, something seemingly jumps onto the couch next to Kunikida. It's clearly making a dent in the cushion, but he won't see anything there.]

The most important hashtag

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the closest i have to a sad icon

Angrysad

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kunikida: i-i'm not a furry, just curious

He's bi-furrious

nice XD

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