prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .005

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▶ TDM .005

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"Anri 杏里 [1983] [Timely] - 11 Remember Summer Days" (Watch on YouTube)

▶ Fox and Friends
Moon Iris; Lunar Scientia, Lunatia | 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 think grocery store sushi was a good idea? — 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 gives 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. Eventually you’re called back from exploring, escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel. Destination: Prismatica.

a.) An envoy of Prismals with fox-like traits is currently visiting Prismatica to meet with the Queen. Their kind was so awed by tales of the Moonblessed that they have gathered to greet all of them with a ritual dance of their people. They also offer to teach the Moonblessed an amazing trick — with a wink!

Flowing robes follow their delicate bodies as they perform a passionate series of steps and acrobatics with their paper fans. Early in the performance, they peek above their open fans and wink at their audience. At that moment, your limbs are suddenly enchanted with exceptional grace. Couldn’t put your leg behind your head before? Had trouble doing a split? Well, now you can perform these flexible feats and more. The fox Prismals will be inviting the Moonblessed to join them so they can attempt to feel their invigorating chroma against their bodies.

b.) The dexterity spell the fox Prismals cast is one of many a fox has in their repertoire of charms and curses. It can be very useful for making a quick escape! While the older fox Prismals teach this spell to the interested Moonblessed (read: teach them how to wink and use chroma at the same time), you can explore the city with the younger fox Prismals.

A delicious drink called bubbly tea is very popular among teenagers in Lunatia right now! Unfortunately, defective apricot pearls inside may cause you to float a few feet in the air. This effect goes away as soon as the affected pass the pearls at a bathroom, but getting there will be an adventure. Maybe you Moonblessed have abilities that can get rid of the effect? The fox Prismals don’t have a spell to cure this...

Help the affected young fox Prismals get to a bathroom and they will teach you another spell: simply place a finger over your lips, and no one else but your friends can listen in on your secret conversations!

▶ Crab ‘n Go Menu
Lunatia | top

Several tents decorated with streamers, shells, and pearls have been set up along the shorelines of Level 2. A giant clam mascot tells you that hey, hey, hey! There’s a beach festival happening tonight! It will be full of fun activities, and anybody who is anybody will be there. The Prismals involved are inviting people all around Levels 1 and 2. Bathing suits will be provided to all participating festival-goers. What are they celebrating? Who knows. Maybe Prismals just want to have a good time! Hey, hey, hey!

a.) One of Lunatia’s favorite beach party games is “Find the King Crab.” King crabs have a golden belly and are hidden among other disgruntled crabs. Protip: king crabs are often found in the center of large clusters of crabs. Be careful while flipping them; they are very eager to clip anything that comes near their nest! Be the first to find a king crab and claim the grand prize —- an all-you-can-eat buffet for four at a King Crab Sandcastle, a high-end seaside seafood restaurant. You now get to exact vengeance on these crabs by eating as many as you please.

b.) There’s an educational tent promoting the soothing pastime of conch listening. Glossy conchs of various shapes and sizes can be found on the tables. Some special ones are said to link to one’s innermost self. Special conchs are encrusted with tiny glistening gems, making them easy to spot in the sunlight. Pressing them to your ear will draw forth the sound of someone’s voice — be it yours or someone familiar. Depending on the listener’s mood, the sound of the voice will range from peaceful singing to blood-curdling screams.

c.) Another tent is dedicated to scuba diving. You can either rent out a special set of nodes which are worn on either side of your neck to replicate the function of gills, allowing you to breathe safely beneath the water, or traditional scuba diving gear since some Prismals like the challenge! Explore Lunatia’s vast undersea world and bear witness to its wonders, such as its crystalline corals and tropical fish, a myriad of species unique to Prismatica. A few of these species are the rainbow seahorses carrying newborns in their pouches and greater clownfishes that can’t seem to find their offspring. Venture further under and you will eventually find aquatic bears with scaled bodies that seem to be very territorial over their habitat and hoard of delicious (?) sea honey. As they often say, don’t poke the bear…

As the festival winds down, some Prismals can be seen dancing and eating by the campfire. Everyone is welcome to relax and watch a nice fireworks show by the pier while a local band known as the Briny Seamen plays a compilation of their greatest hits. Expect an uncomfortable amount of marimba solos!

▶ Some Assembly Required
LEVEL 2, LUNATIA | top

Once you’ve been all crabbed out for the day, you can finally settle in your new home in Level 2:

a.) 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.

b.) All Moonblessed new and old receive a frazzled email from their favorite Moon Knight, Fahrouk. He was involved in Obscuria’s Glow affair, resulting in both him and his daughter becoming new unofficial Moonblessed Community Ambassadors.

Officer Fahrouk

Subject: MOONBLESSED THERE’S A SALE AT KRABBA!!

To my heroes and my greatest inspiration,

New arrivals, welcome! Old friends, hello! I hope all of you are doing well.

I am writing to let you know there is a sale at KRABBA, Lunatia’s most popular flat-packed furniture store. All crab-themed decors are 50% off!

Here is a picture of my daughter with her new KRABBA shelf. Now we can display our Moonblessed bromides with joy and pride! We had so much fun putting it together and hope you do too.

Here’s a big bear hug from us both! We also attached directions to KRABBA. Happy shopping!

Love,
Fahrouk and Hala

True enough, attached is a picture of him and his daughter standing in front of some newly assembled furniture as well as a map to the KRABBA store in Level 2.

Also true is the sale at KRABBA! The prices are affordable, but the crab-themed items are especially cheap and ready to brighten anyone’s day. Among the notable items in stock are a sea shell-shaped loveseat called Havsskal, a foamy green kitchen table named Tång, and a bed named Havsbotten that somehow resembles the sandy sea floor. Please do not lie down on the beds! The staff have been made to wear crab-themed outfits and will not hesitate to use those claws to get people in line.

After paying at the cashier for your items, feel free to order some of KRABBA’s signature meat (?) balls with Moonberry sauce. You deserve a break!

▶ Questions

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

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. 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.!
▶ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Gonta is even more confused now. How could Konoha not know?? It was such a big event for the community--]

Wait-- how could that be? How could you not remember?

[He seems a little rattled now.]

You confessed-- and I did-- and...

[He turns bright red recalling everything.]

... it was a really big event.

[You confessed.

Is time something that can stop? Did time stop just now? Was she actually hallucinating after all? No- fever dream? Too much asebi wine? She got hit on the head? Confused, her hands squeeze Gonta's forearms. Once. Twice.

Nope, he's still solid. Still delightfully rock solid. Now... red in the face. Or was that her face? Nope, both their faces.]

I confessed?

[Her voice creaks out in a stutter, hocks shaking in embarrassment.]

Wh- No, I was going to- I wasn't going to because... I didn't want you to feel like... you had to stay in the village because of me, so I- I was going to just keep it to myself so you wouldn't be confused-

[Now they're both confused, and-]

[WAIT A MINUTE]

You confessed?!

[He stares at her, just... absolutely dumbfounded. But it doesn't really click in his mind that she wasn't from the same time he was.]

Yeah.

[His gaze is firm, no-nonsense-- as absolutely forward as Gonta always has been.]

[What? Was? Happening?

The tears from mere moments ago are frozen on her cheeks that are now bright red instead, confused and suffering from emotional whiplash. He-]

T- To me?

[She pulls a hand off him to awkwardly pat at her breast, as if to ascertain that he actually meant her. Her. Konoha.]

You like- You like me?

Yeah.

[His look is just as unwavering as ever. But there's still a bit of confusion swimming around in his head. But he just thinks the best thing to do is just... well... follow his gut.]

I like you.

[He is so fucking red in the face.]

[Who is going to win the tomato contest?

For a long moment, Konoha just stares. Thumps her chest again. Her? He liked her? The man she’d been worrying about and growing to love for months? Liked her?

First her tail twitches, then her knees shake, and then she finally snaps, hands slapping to her bright red cheeks, both hearts beating too fast as if they’ll just burst.]

This isn’t how this is supposed to happen! I- I’m supposed to confess to you!

But it did happen.

[Gonta keeps his stance, just... steadfastly there, a stark contrast to Konoha's incredibly lively reaction.]

N- No it hasn’t!!!

[SHE WOULD DEFINITELY REMEMBER THAT?]

L- Last I was home you- We- You and Mikuni took me home after the wolf attack, and then I was here-

What--?

[Gonta is just downright in disbelief when he hears that. But also, he's suddenly understanding why things were so strange between him and Konoha.]

Wait... does that mean... how could you be from a different time?

I don’t know, but...

[But... she certainly isn’t lying, that’s clear on her face. But she’s heard about this sort of thing from others in the Circle and had always just brushed it off as magic...

Except this time it’s happening to her.]

What- What happened after that, then... to... that Konoha?

[WAS IT EVEN HER?]

[His head is just wrapping around the whole thing, this is weird. Why is he telling Konoha about things that happened to her after that time...?]

Uh... we finished the shrine. But there was a rock slide that ruined it.

[He takes a while to piece his thoughts together. The way he remembers so vividly gets him a little distressed, shoulders slumping.]

Tanikaze... his leg broke completely. But the humans and Sha-go... they figured something out. He was still alive. We continued working the whole time-- the humans decided to rebuild the shrine.

Once it was done, I said I decided to return to the mountain.

[He looks right at her then.]

You overheard. And then...

[He gulps, remembering.]

You made an incredible confession. You took off your hakama.

[He's sweating profusely, remembering it.]

[That’s... so much.

Konoha’s feelings as just as clear on her face as always, flickering through each emotion in turn and trying to just listen until the end despite what she hears. The shrine was finished, but then destroyed. Tanikaze was hurt, but he would be alright. And Gonta-

She didn’t mean to cry again, but she doesn’t get how it could happen that she could be gone but also there in his memories... And there’s nothing she can do here for the men at the yard, for poor Tanikaze.

There’s only one thing she can understand from all this that she can actually do anything about.]

And we-

[Her and Gonta.]

We go to the mountain together? As-

[As- ?]

[Gonta swallows the lump in his throat. He's never had to verbally say it before. They're words he was going to say first to Koume once they had arrived.]

... as man and wife.

[He is such a sweaty man now.]

[Man and wife. Gonta and her- Man and wife.

There’s so many things she thinks to say. So many things to ask, still, so many things she’d need to have him tell her, and so many things she ought to be telling him about this place...

Her desperate attempts to stop crying aren’t helping, no matter how many times she wipes at her cheeks to try and brush them away, unsure of where to start or how to continue. But one thing she knows she needs to confirm-]

And- And you’d do that with me, even though I’m not the other Konoha?

[OR HOWEVER THAT WORKED]

You're still Konoha, right?

[Gonta's hands cup Konoha's face, lifting it up to him. And with a nervous breath, he dips down to kiss her tenderly-- it's clumsy, but the feeling is there.]

[Oh.

There’s a minute where she’s sure her brain has just given up on her. Sparks fly everywhere and nowhere, her hearts pound- no, they ached fit to burst, because he wanted to be with her. Because he gently tilts her head up, his hands warm and gentle but so strong in a way she can’t help but love.

She fantasized a lot about what it might be like to kiss him. At first just a girlish crush, until they spent more time together and her feelings blossomed... and more recently, in her hopeful, lonely dreams.

But it’s better than she imagined. Maybe it’s the moonlacing, making everything physical so much more noticeable, but-

Konoha’s confusion melts away (for now), replaced instead with sheer relief, with happiness, with throwing her arms around his shoulders and pressing into the kiss as best she can. She’s just as awkward, but so sweet, so eager to impress her feelings.

Which in this moment... was just so happy he was here.]

[At the heart of it, Gonta was a very simple kind of man. Nothing else matters but the safety of those he cared for. His anger over Tanikaze wanting to stay in the human village, his hesitancy over telling Konoha about his own feelings until she made the first move... as long as they were safe and sound, he'd be content.

And Konoha's happiness in that kiss fills his heart the most with affection-- with a warmth that still surprises him. His hands move away from Konoha's face and his arms wrap around her smaller frame, holding her to him.

When he breaks the kiss, he's smiling, in the way Konoha had rarely seen him do.]

[It’s not her first kiss anymore. So many things had happened since she left their world that she’d need to tell him about eventually, so many strange technologies and magics and happenings and people... And she never imagined she’d find him like this, on a random beach in a strange world, and she never imagined she’d kiss him like this, where just anyone could see-

But she’s fairly glowing when he pulls back, her grip tight on the back of his kimono like she’s never going to let go, still crying but not even really noticing anymore, instead breaking into a trembling smile.]

I can’t believe I didn’t get to say it first, but I still did...

[So she still doesn’t know how it works. After kissing him, though... She’s weirdly okay with it.]

[Gonta isn't sure what to say next, just happy... content.... He still isn't unsure about this world, however Konoha's presence is reassuring, somehow tells him that everything is going to be okay. That's how she was for him after all, during those months in the human village.

Quietly, he folds her up into a strong embrace.]

[She wouldn’t mind if they just stayed here. She can’t care that literally anyone might pass by and see this (for their time) somewhat scandalous display of affection. She can’t care that there’s something too strange about his insistence that he has lived days without her, because she was here. and yet beside her, because to him she’d been there?

Before she might need to decipher anything else she just buries her face in his chest and tightens her grip at his back, nuzzling the tears off her cheeks and listening to the strong, reassuring beat of his hearts.]

Did-

[But she can’t help herself in the end, tipping her head back up now slightly less tear-streaked in order to ask, her smile still trembling with a portent mix of happiness and relief.]

Did my father cry?

[She’d always imagined he’d be a wreck at her wedding...]

He did.

[He offers her a smile of his own, lifting a roughened hand up to her cheek to brush away those tear-streaks. He never had come to thought how nice it would be to just fully embrace his feelings for Konoha. He felt warm all over, having her close and seeing her smiling up at him.]

But your parents were very happy. I think they were the ones who pushed you to confess. And... I'm glad for them.

That's a relief...

[That sounds like them. She missed them so much, worried the entire time she's been gone that something might happen to them before she could get home, that they'd think she was missing, or worse, dead-

And it's so good to hear they were alright, that they were happy for her, a half laugh bubbling out. She may not be "that" Konoha, (or maybe she was), but she's sure that if she'd left her village for Gonta's home in the mountains that she must have made sure her parents were taken care of... probably with Sha Gozen. She wouldn't be able to bring herself to leave otherwise... And he said it. She was still Konoha.

She pulls her hands back from around him in order to chase his hand, taking it in both of her own, smaller, darker in tone, but just as rough from a life of mountain labor. He made her feel so small, yet so protected, and she can't help but pull his hand up to press a soft kiss to his knuckles before nuzzle against his palm.

Was this the more intense moonlacing feeling everyone talked about? She felt so warm despite the cool breeze from the ocean-]

I feel like I'm dreaming. I'm not, right, Gonta?

[ Gonta smiles as he watches Konoha take his hands. This was so intimate... he couldn't fathom that he was feeling this for the first time, this sort of tenderness. Somehow, he feels more in love with her than he had ever felt. Was this how married life should be? ]

No. You aren't dreaming... and I promise I won't leave you.

[ his hands tighten around her smaller ones. ]

I will be here to protect you, Konoha. And someday, I want to return to the mountains with you.

[Her emotions are always so clear on her face, and now is no exception. Perhaps that was why they worked- in their own albeit different ways, they were both so simple in their wants and desires, so uncomplicated in how they expressed themselves.

Like how Konoha just glows even brighter as he speaks, pulling his hand up to pepper a few more kisses along his knuckles. Part of her knows, after her travels with the Circle, that no one could promise they wouldn't leave from these strange and befuddling worlds...

But she believes in the conviction of Gonta's voice. Knows beyond a doubt that he will protect her... She'd been reminded of that every time she saw the light, bite-shaped scar on her forearm. Without Gonta...]

Now you have time to teach me everything I need to know about mountain life, right?

[Thinking positive!]

And... I'll teach you everything I know about this place.

[Remembering the look on his face when he'd bolted from her parents' home what seemed so long ago, the fear and loss on his expression when he spoke of his father and how he'd thought of humans, she can't help but reach up to his face, lovingly cupping his cheek.]

Is it hard for you here... ? I know there are a lot of humans, but...

[But it isn't their world, and as confusing as that was, with technology and magics and so many bewildering lights and sounds and smells... maybe it made that specific aspect of it somewhat easier to deal with...]

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