prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .003

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▶ TDM .003

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▶ Tales from the Crypt
Moon Iris | top

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. Even the few shy moon creatures you find in the wild have strange crystal growths on their hides. This is far from home— perhaps a dream? You pinch your skin and slap your cheeks, yet nothing seems to do the trick. Searching for answers yields nothing but an endless expanse of purple dust as far as the eye can see. You have four options: one, panic; two, soil yourself; three, admire it all then soil yourself; or four, go into survival mode. Eventually, you’ll realize that you’re not alone.

After a day or two of living off the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. After the strange phenomenon 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? Why did I eat those fifty cent street truck tacos last night? — 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.

While waiting for transport to be prepared, you may freely roam around the government center. Alternatively, you can ask the staff about the moon base. They suggest that you visit one of their excavation sites nearby: an enormous hole known as the Glory. The scientists have been excavating this site carefully for years, searching for a legendary ancient tomb sleeping within. They’re accepting volunteers if anyone is inclined to aid in their efforts. Perhaps the Moonblessed have the knowledge they need to make it a success!

A ⬤ A chroma-powered lift made of magically fortified crystal is used to access the lower grounds. Be careful not to fall off! On the way down, some translucent caterpillars and crystals light your way. Be quiet and keep an eye out for Queen Bowie beetles: these glowing neon bugs are attracted to music, and a single note will send them flying into your clothes and hair. Putting the beetles under pressure is not advised, as they will explode and send their sticky insides flying throughout the airspace, potentially stinging your eyes. This will make moving around in dark, cramped spaces all the more difficult! Thankfully, they get bored if no one tries to sing for one whole minute.

B ⬤ Scientists, engineers, miners, and archeologists are at the unearthed antechambers, hard at work. They will assign you to different tasks: recording observations and taking down notes, digging with advanced excavation tools, or collecting fragile relics with metal and crystal detectors. The Moonblessed may also assist with solving riddles the ancients left in the tomb’s doors, chests and walls. Solving them may lead to either treasure rooms or trap walls that close in on unsuspecting grave robbers. Others, well...

Golden jellyfish statues line the walls, encrusted with glistening jewels all over, some worse for wear. Tall pillars have numerous ancient runes which the Prismals are struggling to decipher. Soon, an eerie whisper reaches your mind: “Wander no further. A curse awaits all who enter our kingdom. Disturb not those who slumber in the deep.” True enough, the floor from this point onward appears to be blue sand combed in the pattern of ocean waves... Are you brave enough to continue drilling through?

C ⬤ If that is not enough to send you scrambling out with moist underwear, perhaps the seismic jolt to the ground will. A slimy substance begins to ooze out the tomb’s cracks, glowing lilac like the Iris moon... The Prismals are quick to usher everyone out before the shaking gets worse. As the lift may be too dangerous, climbing equipment will be provided. Watch out for falling debris or collapsing rocks while assisting each other out of cramped passages and up the walls to safety. Try not to get stuck in the slime!

This little adventure might leaving you wondering what or who exactly lies deeper inside, but the Prismals are just as clueless as you are. Cave-ins happen from time to time, but this might have been the strongest one recorded on this site.

Eventually you’re called to the docks and led onto a large transport vessel. Destination: Prismatica.

▶ Those Kicks were Fast as Lightning
Higher Lunatia, Level 1 | 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.

With the end of Harvest Boon, the city is calm once more. The streets of Level 1 and 2 are now sparkling clean as always, but Level 3 is still in the process of cleaning up. There are confetti and deflated balloons strewn all over the streets, but Swiffy bots are on the scene, sweeping up whatever waste they can get their hands on. Sometimes, they might even play tug-of-war with you for it. At one of the train stations, a Prismal doomsayer screams about the apocalypse returning. Passersby shrug at the conspiracy theory and move on.

A ⬤ In response to the unexpected rough events during Harvest Boon, the Moon Knights decided to hold free-for-all self-defense seminars at a large park near Lunatia Square. The live demonstrations include proper monster-wrangling procedures and how to efficiently keep a rogue moonheld (read: transformed under the moon) Prismal away. Participants are encouraged to learn and interact with each other to learn various safety practices and techniques. The training visors provided enhance the seminar experience, changing whoever your eyes focus on into a cerberus or other rogue moonheld Prismal on the visor’s display. Don’t use the visors for too long, or you’ll be seeing everyone as a cerberus well after you take the visors off! Fortunately, the effects only last for an hour. Energy drinks and free snacks are available to any worn-out Prismal or Moonblessed.

B ⬤ Virtual lunar conditions are also available via multiplayer VR pods in Lunar Scientia headquarters, simulating the Moonblessed/moonheld experience under full moons. Mental exercises and magic practice sessions are accessible in the virtual spaces, allowing people to test out their magical abilities and transformations. Simulation participants can either train by themselves, with a partner, or through a tutorial of instruction-based movements. However, the program is still in beta. You may experience errors or bugs like lagging, NPCs phasing into things they shouldn’t, weird physics, or body glitches.

▶ Meas Trees are the Bee’s Knees
Middle Lunatia, Level 2 | top

The rows of Meas trees planted this Harvest Boon are blossoming beautifully into view, painting the fields in Level 2 with colors of spring. Meas tree saplings each have a small sign next to them, displaying their owners’ written wish if they chose to disclose it. Interestingly, the color and aroma of each flower depends on the owners; fiery personalities might have red or orange flowers, those born in a coastal town might have flowers that smell like the sea near their hometown, and so on. Maybe you’ll encounter a familiar aroma if you’re lucky enough.

The Moonblessed who were most active with moonlacing the past few weeks have the largest trees, nearly rivaling the oldest Meas trees around. The older trees planted by Prismals over time can be seen in the next field, standing majestically with their swaying branches and flying petals.

A ⬤ Picnic grounds for flower viewings can be found near the fields. There are plenty of stalls selling homemade bruschettas, crostinis, sandwiches, wines, cheeses, and other enjoyable finger food. Notably, some wines may give you an insatiable desire to whisper things in someone’s ear. Sweet nothings, death threats, your secret kinks—no matter the words, you’ll want to kill someone softly with them.

B ⬤ The Swiffy bots that are assigned to the parks and gardens in Level 2 help keep things spick and span, but they’re due for maintenance and may attempt to sweep off any unfortunate picnics with their high-powered vacuums or leaf blowers. As they zoom across the paths, they chirrup about not treading on the grass and take off with picnic blankets, table cloths, and people’s clothes. Any nearby maintenance staff (who are all desperately trying to chase the bots) yell that a conk on the head will immobilize them. Once the malfunctioning bots are stopped, the staff approach to wheel them away while apologising profusely for the mayhem.

▶ Questions

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Kraut-kicking? It takes a moment for Steve to even place the slang term, as it's something that he hasn't heard in years. There's a time in his life when that sort of talk had been almost ubiquitous, though, and he slows to a stop as the similarities between their histories reach an uncanny level.

He turns to the younger man, looking him up and down. The uniform and the mask might be a little over-the-top, but was it really much more ridiculous than what Steve had worn back then? ]

You're talking about the Second World War, aren't you? [ That's what they'd called it back then, compliments of Roosevelt. Although to plenty of Brits, it had just been "The War." ] What's your name, son?

Ha, what else'd I be talking about? [ Once the other man stop, Buck does, too, hands on his hips as usual. ] Bucky Barnes, pal! You might've seen me around on posters, comics, that sorta thing.

Let me know if you need an autograph, Tiger.

[ That can't be possible.

There's a long pause as Steve stares at the kid, studying him up and down in a new light. It's true that he does look a little like the depictions of Bucky in some of those old comics, but that had been a caricature, not the real thing. Something translated into a digestible form for the masses, for the kids back home.

This isn't his friend. Not the Bucky who grew up watching out for Steve. Not the one who'd been captured by Hydra not just once, but twice; tortured, turned into their blunt instrument.

Steve's fists clench and his gaze sharpens. All sense of levity seems to have been sucked out of the air around them. ] Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? [ Because it's not funny. ]

Which part? [ Because Buck feels very suddenly out of the loop. He tries for a bit of levity, hoping that will break this tension quicker than a potential fight would. ] If you mean the tights, sometimes I wish it were. Apparently, no one told marketing how poor they'd do on the front lines. I go through so many.

[ The fact that the kid is insisting on playing dumb and continuing to make jokes doesn't help anything. Normally Steve might have been more reasonable or polite, but the fact that he's stranded on some alien planet with no clue of how he got here and now there's some strange person insisting they're Bucky when they're clearly not is too much to deal with right now.

His jaw clenches and he shakes his head. ]

You're not Bucky Barnes.

[ It's not like the kid seems to be purposefully messing with him, not like Rumlow, but whatever he's doing isn't cute. And Steve's not in the mood for it. ]

Oh, I'm the one and only, pal. [ If this guy's gonna be like that, Bucky'll get hard-headed, too. All he has is his name and the glory attached to it. You better believe he's ready to fight tooth and nail for it. ]

Just who made you the "authority" on the matter anyway? A couple'a dumb comic strips, huh? You think you know who I am? What I've done?

[ His demeanor turns guarded, like he's ready to fight this brick shit house of a man without batting an eye. ]

[ Steve knows who Bucky is and what Bucky's done, maybe a little too well, but this kid isn't him. It occurs vaguely to Steve that there could still be a misunderstanding here, that there might be some way that both of them are right, but he also isn't thinking things through with complete clarity right now.

He isn't going to get into a fist fight over this, especially not when he has no idea what lies ahead of him on this strange planet, but he also isn't going to back down. His jaw clenches and his next words come out slow and controlled. ]

I don't know who you are or what you've done, but I do know that Bucky Barnes is my best friend. [ The person who he essentially threw away everything to help. ]

[ That’s not the response he expected. At all. Bucky has one best friend, yes, but it’s one of those implied sorts of things. Of course Bucky has a best friend, and of course it’s more than just that. He has a brother in one other man. But it’s never something so openly spoken, at least not with this kind of gravitas. There’s no names attached to it, because that would be too dangerous. Steve knows, Bucky knows, and few others are privy to that information.

Now this begs the question: what does this guy know about Bucky’s best friend? ]

So, who does that make you?

Edited 2019-05-25 22:02 (UTC)

[ It's not something that Steve normally has to say out loud, either. It's simply assumed, as Steve and Bucky have been close to each other since they'd been kids with no clue of what their future would hold for them. It doesn't have to be voiced or explained. No matter how many years pass, no matter how much weight might be on their shoulders, that simple fact will never change.

So having to make a point of it to this impostor seems wrong, but a sharpness enters the stranger's eyes and his voice that has Steve wondering if there's more to it than some kind of mistaken identity.

Strange as it is to not be recognized, that's also been Steve's goal for the past few months. More than that, some kid who's apparently in the midst of World War II wouldn't necessarily be able to place him, not with the beard and extra years added onto him.

He squares his shoulders, almost instinctively. ]

Steve Rogers.

Sonuvabitch... [ Buck lets out a huff, incredulous even as his face splits in a crooked grin. ] You look like a damn hobo. Sergeant Duffy’d pop a blood vessel if he saw that beard, pal.

[ That grin and the familiarity with which the kid addresses him is a startling change from the hostility that had come before. Steve stares at that curly brown hair, the strange black mask over his eyes, and the uniform that (tights aside) is a little recognizable...

Not to mention what the stranger actually says, a reference that a random soldier from the front wouldn't know to make. Steve mirrors that huffed exhale, confused but also coming to the slow realization that this might be a strange, unexpected opportunity. ]

I don't get it. You're him, but you're not him.

[ Does this have something to do with where they are and how they got here? ]

Haa, Cap. [ He actually sounds tired all of a sudden as all the air in his lungs leaves with a heavy sigh. A little amused, but mostly tired. It must just be another Tuesday in Axis Land the way Cap is spouting. ] I've got no idea what that means.

[ And it's clear Bucky isn't going to encourage this weird tangent right at this minute. There are bigger fish to fry than "Buck, I'm acting weird again as if we weren't just together doing a thing!" ]

Let's pick one crisis, for now, and stick with it. Personally, I vote for "where the hell are we."

[ And there he goes, calling him Cap and pushing him back toward the matter at hand like there's nothing strange about any of this. Steve does at least continue forward in the direction they'd originally been traveling, but he can't just let this go. ]

If you're Bucky, you're not the Bucky I know from home. You look different, for one thing, and you obviously didn't recognize me immediately either.

[ What could it mean? Did wires somehow get crossed when they ended up here? Steve's never had much cause to consider the possibility of an "alternate reality," but this entire situation is making a good case for it. ]

That, and... [ He redirects his gaze forward for this part, because he can guess how it'll come across. ] It's been a long, long time since the Second World War, for me.

[ The drama is entirely unnecessary, but Buck would never begrudge Steve—any Steve—a bit of performance. He just does it so well. ]

So you're from the future. [ He says it like that's totally a normal thing that happens in the real world. For the Invaders, it is. ] What year? Two thousands? No wonder you look so, uh... worn.

[ That's his best attempt at diplomacy. From what he knew of the future during the new millennia, Cap hadn't been around. Another took his place, someone far too familiar for comfort. ]

[ "Worn" is a kind way of putting it, but there's no getting around the fact that Steve looks like a different man when compared to the Cap who'd been running around busting in Nazi heads during World War II. It's no shock that Bucky hadn't recognized him.

What's more surprising is how Bucky announces that he's from the future like there's nothing at all strange about that. It's a concept that would have thrown his Bucky off, if he'd heard of it back then. ]

2016. But how is that concept not weirding you out at all?

[ Maybe the truth is that they come from very different places after all. ]

[ LUL, oh strange alternate reality future Steve. You so cute. ]

You're not the first man from the future I've met. Long story short, we got caught in New York City in 2009. It, uh, didn't go too well at first. But no cause for alarm, of course! [ His cheeky grin dimples both cheeks. ] I saved your butt like I always do.

[ Definitely an alternate universe, then, because Steve has no memory of anything like that. The fact that he's having to accept that he's stranded in space on some planet he's never heard of and that alternate universes exist is a lot to ask.

That cheeky comment does strike him as very much Buck-like, though. One way or another, he's going to have to accept what's in front of him. ]

I think I might need the longer version. How'd you end up in 2009 in the first place? And I'm guessing you returned to '45 after that?

[ Or thereabouts. Tracing timelines is bound to make his head ache. ]

'43, actually. One of our soldiers got ahold of the Cosmic Cube and royally screwed us all. It transported us to the future, everyone freaked out, especially the forces working in New York. You know the Avengers? Are they still a thing in 2016?

Anyway, their leader tried to handle the situation. It didn't go well for him.

[ Cosmic Cube? Steve has no idea what that is, though he can think of something from his own world that would fit the name. Could it be the same thing...? It would definitely take something with the same level of power as the Tesseract to make something like time travel even remotely possible.

He's distracted by that thought the moment that this other Bucky says the word "Avengers." It's almost enough to make Steve stop in his tracks again, but he manages to keep up a steady pace. ]

I'm a member of the Avengers. [ Some would even say its leader, but that's definitely not the case anymore. ] When you say leader, who do you mean?

[ He needs a name, though he already has a sinking feeling he knows what it's going to be. ]

You you, or the moniker? [ Because the man masquerading as Captain America in 2009 was not Steve. ~~Spoiler Alert: It was him!~~ ]

Some hot shot, Tony Stark in a tin can. Is he still swinging his johnson around?

[ The moniker? Steve's not entirely sure what Bucky means by that, but he can see why he'd be confused by the concept, if his own trip to the future had been temporary. ]

Me me.

[ The moment that Bucky says Tony's name, Steve briefly closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. Of course. Who else would it have been? It's surreal to be having a conversation with Bucky about Tony for a whole host of reasons. ]

Not sure about that, but yeah, he's one of the Avengers.

[ More so than Steve, really. He frowns to himself, wondering if he should get into all that right now. It probably isn't relevant, nor does he feel like rehashing it. ]

Oh okay, so they're still in a job. Huh. [ Guess the future doesn't need so much "saving" then. ] Anyway, where was I? So. future. They started some shit, we started some shit. How far do you want me to go with this story?

[ Steve isn't getting an explanation in the amount of detail that he'd like, but he also has to accept that if they keep trying to draw comparisons and differences between their two situations, they'll be here all day.

Granted, that might be the case anyway. This wasteland of crystal doesn't seem to end. ]

By "we," you mean who, the Howling Commandos? And what year is it for you, anyway?

Fury's team? No, they weren't with us when we got shanghaied. You'n me were with the Invaders. But, uh, it's '45 for me. Or was, I suppose. However quantum physics works in situations like these!

Fury's team?

[ Nick Fury didn't even exist in 1945, and it seems like the more that Steve talks to this strange other version of Bucky, the less any of it makes sense. He drags a hand across his eyes even as he continues walking. ]

All right, Bucky, listen. [ Even calling him by his best friend's name is strange, but Steve's making an effort here. ] It was in '45 that in my version of things, I crashed a plane, was presumed dead, and got left preserved in ice until... 2012.

[ He glances over, wanting to judge Bucky's reaction with a close eye. ]

That's how I ended up with the Avengers. That's how I know Tony.

▶ TDM .003

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