▶ TDM .005

[prismods]

Remember Summer Days

QUICK LINKS ⬤ navigation ⬤ faq ⬤ world ⬤ moonblessings

"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.

Comments

[sealedsibling]

They certainly sound so.

[The intrigue, the courtly behavior, the importance placed around one's geo, one's clothing, one's standing.

Boiling it down to simple combat skills was a breath of fresh air, really. Potential death or no.]

... I cannot imagine him being made into a fool.

[It wasn't stated defensively, but rather of mild disbelief. Father he might have been, but they were hardly close. He was just as distant, just as ethereal an entity to her as he was to almost anyone else.]

One wouldn't imagine Gods could look foolish.

[hagrides]

Oh, but they can. Particularly gods who've made themselves smaller, more susceptible bodies and are experiencing alcohol for the first time. And of course, Wyrm very carefully tried some of every alcohol available to determine his preference.

[It's a pretty great story. You know you want to hear the rest of it, Hornet.]

[sealedsibling]

[... shit u rite]

The Pale King... became drunk.






.... What happened?

[hagrides]

When he was making his body, he apparently did not think to include 'alcohol tolerance' as a trait he might ever need. The Pale King was not merely drunk, he was hammered.

He kept talking incoherently about his ideas and plans to anyone who stood still long enough to listen, going on long tangents and jumping subjects at random. My personal favorite was him explaining to some poor pillbug that elevators were actually just trams that went up and down, and so you should need a ticket to ride the elevator, someone should implement that.

The White Lady had to pick him up and carry him to bed.

[sealedsibling]

[The idea of the Pale King, the godlike figurehead of all of Hallownest, an entity so powerful and revered that even years after his disappearance and the subsequent crumbling of his kingdom, some bugs still remembered him and spoke of him as a near mythic creature...

Absolutely blasted and seriously discussing the benefits of selling tickets to ride elevators before his wife gathered him up like a lost toddler to put him to bed...

Finally made a crack in that stoic, stern defense she wore. A snerk, a jerk of her hand to her mouth, shaking just ever so slightly.]

The Queen herself... picked him up for bed?

[hagrides]

[Now Hornet understands why this story was so popular at parties.]

No one else was going to do it, and it would certainly be embarrassing if the god of Hallownest passed out on the floor, wouldn't you say?

I saw him very briefly the next morning. He opened his bedroom door, squinted at the very bright, very white decor, and shut his door again. Not exactly the best place to be hungover in, the White Palace.

[sealedsibling]

[She definitely does, and it's taking a lot of self control to not actually laugh out loud.]

I wonder if his gift of foresight was clouded by his pride.

[She could certainly see it. He was after all, a prideful creature, it wouldn't be a surprise to know that despite being fully aware of what alcohol would do to a person, that he believed himself untouchable by it's effects]

... And you of course, saw no reason to convince him to think otherwise?

[hagrides]

[Teaching Hornet to dance and making her very nearly laugh. Grimm has done good things today.]

I had the opportunity to watch the Pale King make himself look like a fool in public, I wouldn't give that up for the world.

[He only wishes he could have seen the Pale King actually on the floor.]

[sealedsibling]

[Two things that no one else has probably accomplished, with years to do so, done in a matter of minutes.

She'll be impressed, when she looks back on this later.]

I find it increasingly unsurprising that while he might have been revered among common beasts, beings such as himself might have found him a great deal more tiresome.

What was your relationship with him? Not friend nor foe, merely acquaintance?

[hagrides]

A complicated relationship. Though proud, he was not unwilling to study the process of making Vessels that the Nightmare King had long since established. Out of shared distaste for the Radiance I allowed it.

[A common enemy does not make them friends.]

Whatever cordial relationship we might have had ended when your sibling took their bonds.

[sealedsibling]

[There it was again, that stated displeasure, the obvious condemnation of the fate visited upon her oldest sibling.]

The suffering of the Pure Vessel truly vexed you deeply.

[That was very, very obvious. And entirely understandable, considering what she'd learned of him just by this conversation alone.

The antithesis to the Pale King in relation to his own child.]

[hagrides]

So it did.

[A doting father to his own child. And to the Pure Vessel, perhaps the strange uncle. Something more than Wyrm would ever willingly have been.

The Pale King never called the vessels 'children'. That doesn't make his actions any better.]

[sealedsibling]

Once more, I know not what I would have done, given the same situation. I was not blessed with foresight.

... But the fate of the Pure Vessel was... cruel, and made doubly so by the fruitlessness of it.

I've done what I could, with what I had, to right these wrongs. For what comfort it may give to you, the Pure Vessel is free of the Radiance's influence, though what other damage it might carry now, I know not of.

[Just that they had not left the Black Egg the same way they'd gone in.]

[hagrides]

That does bring some comfort. I hope rest comes to them, at long last.

[They deserve it. After having struggled to contain the infection as best they could for so long, the Hollow Knight deserves peace more than anyone.]

You need not feel obliged to comfort me, though I thank you for it.

[sealedsibling]

As do I.

[Though the last moments she'd recalled in Hallownest, the damaged vessel seemed worse for wear. She could only hope that in her absence, they might find something or someone to comfort them]


Through birthright, the task of making amends falls to me in the absence of the King. The vessel's treatment and suffering may not be my fault directly, but there is no one left to take responsibility for them.

That includes reassuring those who felt sympathy for them. You deserve to know.

[hagrides]

You are a far more responsible ruler than he ever was.

[This isn't a hard bar to pass, really. Only mortal bugs' flawed view of him renders his memory so great an obstacle to overcome. Even the White Lady, though he bears her far less ill will, chose to bind herself rather than seek to truly make amends.

Hornet is a ruler of a different kind, and all the better for it.]

[sealedsibling]

Perhaps one day, Hallownest might require a real ruler once again. For now though, it is still a tomb. My duty is not to rule it, but only to ensure that it is not picked clean by those who would pillage what remains of it.

I am no ruler. Only a sentinel.

[hagrides]

And yet you claim this your duty by birthright. A ruler you are, though your rule does not much resemble your father's.

Were you not, you could simply leave.

[She still could leave, technically, but her sense of duty won't allow her to.]

[sealedsibling]

[True, physically nothing kept her there, but she'd never allow herself to abandon her post. At least not willingly. She's silent for a time, mulling over his words.]

... I could not leave that sacred place to crumble away into lore alone, no. A most unconventional rule, then, if we are to call it as much.

I feel more in part both a guard and historian than a queen.

[hagrides]

Unconventional, true, but certainly better-performed than many I've seen.

[His job of traveling to dead kingdoms may have influenced that.]

Better that Hallownest may be remembered by mortals, rather than only the domain of the gods and the dead.