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[prismods]

SHOOTING SHARK

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"Blue Oyster Cult - Shooting Shark" (Watch on YouTube)

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.

▶ Keep all Hands and Feet inside the Burning Vehicle at all Times
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Outer Space | top

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 mix tequila with xanax 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. Eventually you’re called back from exploring, escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the moons and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as Prismal locals. The next destination: Prismatica.

A. After settling into the ship and selecting the current in-flight movie, Back Door Slugs 9, you and those around you may eventually feel a bit of turbulence during the movie’s highly anticipated climax. Did anyone notice it, or is everyone too focused on the hot characters?

At first, it’s a small jitter that’s easy to miss or brush off. But as the transport vessel travels on, the shaking progressively escalates to erratic tremors strong enough to cause severe nausea. A minute later, a voice over the speaker announces the ship will have to make an emergency landing, citing technical difficulties.

Sparks can be seen overhead as more ship parts malfunction. This is a good time to hold your neighbor’s hand, say your last goodbyes, and apologize for that horrible thing you did in the sixth grade. Grip your seat with the might of every god you can think of.

B. Another minute later, a follow-up announcement states that external entities have breached the transport vessel. Everyone is warned to be careful and watch out for each other. Small fires will have to be put out before they worsen with either magic or emergency equipment onboard such as extinguishers. In-flight robotic attendants will be scuttling around to perform immediate repairs.

Eventually, an entire power panel bursts, and prismatic jellyfish unnaturally spill out. The jellyfish will try to latch and suction onto any technological devices close by such as the television screens on the seats or communicators and will show preference to Iris Moonblessed over the rest. Be ready to help and pull numerous jellyfish off both the faces of Moonblessed and Prismals!

▶ Jaws IV: Jaws Harder
Planet Prismatica, Outer Lunatia | top

The emergency landing successfully completes and the transport vessel will safely land on top of a gorgeous lake filled with tiny glaciers floating by. When reached out and touched, you’ll find out that the “glaciers” are surprisingly cool crystals and not ice.

The ship will be left hovering idly on the water surface while passengers are ferried to solid ground using portable emergency boats. However, civilization is still a distance away.

A. You’ve probably heard of flying sharks from a veteran Moonblessed. But how about sea lions? These aquatic lions are born with scaly skin and gills outside of their crystallized manes. Unfortunately, they haven’t tasted fresh meat in quite some time. If there are any injured onboard or near your boat, the chances of the sea lions detecting people will be higher as they are drawn to the scent of blood. Growling hungrily, they will be quick to latch onto the boats, biting the edges, and trying to knock everyone overboard for dinner.

After surviving through so far, the Prismals guide everyone to a nearby encampment run by humanoid rabbits. They are tall, built, and have a habit of mentioning their virility an awkward amount of times. They are also generous and will share their game meat and fresh crops while allowing everyone to rest for the night at the only inn in their village.

B. There is no running water all the way out here, so if anyone wants a bath, they’ll have to do it traditionally. The village protects a natural spring, which is a good place to bathe away the sea water. Around the spring, the rabbit folk’s friends — little scintilla chinchillas — will shock away any predators that dare to approach their sanctuary! Be at ease and feel free to offer your friends shampoo massages.

The next day, the rabbits can be seen hacking away at some of the wilder-looking plants for an easier pathway. If you wake up early enough, you can ask some of them for a tour of the beautiful greenery. They mention that it’s thanks to the Moonblessed that their crops have been doing so well lately — the result of all the chroma influx. The rest of the journey to the city will be smooth sailing.





▶ It’s Free Real-Estate
Level 2, 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. 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. A new high-end boutique, Prissy Polyp, has opened in Level 2. As compensation for what happened, both Moonblessed and Prismals that were affected in yesterday’s flight will receive 50% off their total purchase. Those unaffected will receive 30% discount coupons as a promotional gift. All are encouraged to visit with their friends or special someone, try on some things together, enjoy each other in the fitting rooms, and deal with the loud, ear-blistering background pop music.

Their clothing collections are characterized by bright iridescent designs, some features such as design patterns may glow ethereally in the dark. One of their signature dresses features a one piece (also available on their trench coats) that can amplify the appearance of one’s decolletage, gluteal muscles, and/or bulge with the press of a neon button. Another item among their collection is the maiden sweater: a sleek, backless sweater that shocks those who attempt unwanted touches. Others include skin-tight leggings (also available on their shorts or pants) which produce pleasant and relaxing vibrations on all lower extremities and fashionable polyp-shaped hats for all kinds of people. It’s a huge shop, you never know what else to find in there.

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

▶ IMPORTANT! By request, we've uploaded image samples for the Prissy Polyp clothing collections! Note these are merely samples for a visual guide and we will leave more selections to players.

▶ 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

[goldenchilde]

[It makes sense, really, but that doesn't mean Ling is about to accept it. There's still dirt in the spring, if only at the bottom, and he refuses to admit that whatever came off of himself is worse than that.]

Filtering through another kind of dirt doesn't make it any less dirty.

[Huff, huff. He'll never back down, all logic to the contrary. Sorry.

Having washed his hair, Ling has no qualms about letting it hang down in the water. There's a lot of it, and it's everywhere, making him look vaguely like a hairy octopus. At least the spring is big enough that contact can still be avoided.]

[inuko]

[ It's a battle of different cultural bathing practices, fought down to the very bitter end...! Or not, but Shino's just as prone to arguing over things he thinks he's right about, and this time, it's only worse because Science and Reason are on his side. (They aren't always.) ]

That's kind of exactly what it does? You're so stubborn!

[ Ling's hair is octopusing around like Cthulu, and Shino's hair is bundled on the damp stone behind him, keeping it out of the water. He closes his eyes, unconcerned about his bathing arguer friend, and tries to relax. Tries not to think of seals and crashes and if Hamaji or Sousuke or anyone at all he knew from home had been there. What if they had? What if he hadn't seen them?

Logically, he knows they weren't. It still eats at him, gnawing at a corner of his mind. ]

Hey. Did anyone you know arrive with you?

[goldenchilde]

Coming from you, that's a compliment.

[... That makes exactly no sense whatsoever. Literally, there is no -...

Anyway... The arguing seems to die down some, and Ling doesn't mind that: he may be verbally over-defensive, but he doesn't enjoy arguing for its own sake. Enjoying the brief silence, he looks up again at the question. Maybe he shouldn't answer when he has no obligation to, but...]

Yes. [Depending on app verdicts, but...] More were already here.

[inuko]

... It probably is...

[ He muses, considering he... is also a very stubborn person. He doesn't even dislike stubborn people, he just finds them equally annoying when stubborn in ways that don't benefit or dovetail with how he's stubborn. ]

See, another reason we're friends already.

[ It's really not, but it's kind of more fun to tease this guy about it when he's being so pointlessly stubborn. He has an inkling for why he's been teased so often over the years, that it might be for similar reasons... ]

Oh. [ That's a softer, considering oh. Even this guy has friends here? Shino opens his eyes, regarding the darkening sky overhead. (Darker than, say, midday. It might be an extremely long darkening up there!) Clouds are lazily rolling across the visible skyline, lighter than any of his thoughts are. ] Well... that's good. They're people you care for, right?

[ He shifts so that he's leaning forward, knees tucking up so he can rest his arms across the top of them and regard Ling. His hair is mostly staying in its big, messy bun, but some tendrils are working themselves loose, falling heavily down and sticking to his shoulders and neck and cheek, in one case. He brushes that away with a flick of his fingers. ]

[goldenchilde]

Don't call me your friend.

[He says that, but there's not much bite in the words. He's similar to his over-hygienic bathmate, really: always butting heads. It's rarely personal - and that's how he likes it.

When the discussion shifts to his actual friends and family acquaintances, his mood simmers down further. Staring into the water, he avoids eye contact.]

... Some of them, I could do without.

[Which is to say: yes, he actually cares a great deal for the majority of them. But he doesn't like admitting that - not to the people themselves, and certainly not to a stranger.]

[inuko]

Not saying it wouldn't make it not true.

[ He says, fairly sing-song, as you do. He's not generally so insistent without a reason, but to him, this is an innocent enough sort of thing to claim, and he's not opposed to having a grumpy friend. Ergo: this whole interaction.

Still leaning forward, he listens and.. tries not to frown. How?! How is this fair! He's managing not to whine about it out loud, but it's not fair, it's not! Even this guy has people here already?

Ugh. His chin drops down to rest on his folded arms, and he gives in to grousing enough to say: ]

Lucky. Not everyone has people from home here.

[ Lucky poor bathing habits stubborn arguing guy. ]

[goldenchilde]

You can't decide those things by yourself.

[Actually, it's more like neither of them have to decide it for it to become true: they're more or less friends already. But, you know... why admit it?]

...

[There's a lot of things Ling could say to that, mindlessly and ruthlessly, before ever considering the consequences, but that's not who he is anymore. Building up actual friendships connections with people means that he should consider the consequences - and it's important practice too, now that he's leading his sect. His sect's position is weak of late, and his own within it not much better: learning to lead means learning to maneuver these interactions with others. (Okay, so he's not a natural at it. Shut up, he's trying!)

Besides... if nothing else, he knows loss. And, as much as he would have claimed to be fine, even without anyone he knows here, he's very grateful to still have these people who are close to him around.]

... You don't, I take it?

[inuko]

[ He flashes a smile and a sort of humming noise that states: who needs to decide? It's true, and that's good enough. Friends! Just like that. It's really easy.

Yet he's settled back and drifting into his own darker thoughts and ruminations, the ones he can't let himself sink too deep in, lest he drift away entirely. There's not much of an anchor moment to moment, not without him reaching out to the people he's made friends with here, and he's frankly more likely to show up and say hello than use a phone to call and admit, i'm feeling lost and lonely today. Who would even say that?

(He would, realistically, at least the lonely part.) ]

... No. I haven't seen any of my family for a month.

[ He slits his eyes open, but he's looking skyward, his hair feeling heavy piled on his head. ]

Did you know some people have been here for five months straight?

[ Alone. Others, not alone. He can't resent it, but he does find it frightening, that idea of staying when everyone he loves is not here. When he has no clear way to fight to get back to them. It's frustrating, and it's close to hopeless in a way he doggedly shakes off. ]

[goldenchilde]

Months, yes. I didn't know it was five...

[It's a pretty nasty image of the future, even with friends and family here. But Ling has friends and family here, and reasons to believe that he hasn't left anything unattended at home.

He should share those: maybe it will make his not!friend feel better.]

The people I know here, they come from different points in time. Different from mine; different from each others'.

The people who came here from my "past" were still there in my "present". In short: while people are here, they're not gone from where they're from.

[For Ling, it's reassuring: he knows his sect is fine without him, since it's not technically without him. There are a lot of things he needn't worry about, knowing he's not away from his world, even if he's on a different planet where everything is new. Knowing that, in some ways, he's not actually even here is a huge load off his mind.

Could also be a good reason for an existential crisis, but hey.]

[inuko]

[ Imagine years spreading out before them all, into an end they can't see...

However, Shino's only heard vague versions of what this guy is talking about, and more to the point, he can recognise an act of kindness (in his mind) when he sees one. No, he doesn't find it reassuring, because some of the explanations for how this might be possible have given him such massive headaches he wanted to curl up and forget he'd heard any of them, including that being from different times meant they might actually be from different realities.

Yet the truth is, no one knows. And since no one knows, not for sure, this is a kindness, and he'll take it as that instead of arguing it might not be that simple, and he's scared that it isn't. ]

Then at least no one will have to miss me.

[ He says, offering a crooked smile and an open eyed gaze Ling's way. Followed by: ]

Thanks for that.

[ It solves very little, and in a way it means he's not even necessary, that the people he loves have no idea he's missing, no idea that he misses them like this, no idea about his feeling lonely, but... he believed they're okay regardless.

And he does think the heathen who didn't rinse off before bathing is, at least, trying to help. ]

[goldenchilde]

[Ling doesn't smile back, but his expression relaxes a little, making him look his age, as his gaze rests on the phase 2 bather. Everything he said was true, but it still solves half the problem at best: your world and the people in it may not miss you, but that doesn't mean you can't still miss them. Even with friends and family here, Ling isn't entirely immune to that feeling, not to mention that being from different points in time can be painful, knowing that you've been through things that the other people involved don't even remember.

But it's whatever. It could be worse - and it's not like he can't even handle this much, anyway.]

... It's fine. It's not like I control the moons.

[inuko]

[ In ways, Ling will always have it worse: the only people that could ruin Shino's day so thoroughly would be... his mother he doesn't remember, as she embarks on trying to kill him again in favour of resurrecting the son she'd long ago sacrificed in her first incarnation.

Anyone else he has to miss is still alive, at least, and seeing them here would be a blessing. The things which would make it difficult remain unknown to him for now.

He can't be worried about losing his brother if the reason why he knows about it hasn't yet come home to really roost. ]

Pfft. Yeah, have fun with that when it comes.