Chroma, Moonlacing, and You

a breakdown by Anonymous for the Moonblessed
Congratulations! You're now on the planet Prismatica, in the city of Lunatia, population: Prismals and Moonblessed. (That's you!) What do you want to know about Chroma, Moonlacing, and your survival in this place?

What is Chroma?

To recap what the Lunar Scientia should have said when you were processed, Chroma is a form of energy that we, the Moonblessed, generate. In Prismatica's history, Chroma was also produced through various means on world, but since the Calamity, Prismatica has only been processing energy crystals for demichroma to keep things working. Demichroma is both a less powerful form of energy and the standard currency throughout Lunatia, and is what any person working in the city will be paid in. Weird enough yet? It gets weirder.

Why should I care about Chroma?

You should care because if your body's Chroma levels fall too low, you'll begin crystalising. You need direct infusions of Chroma to reverse the process, and the only way of getting that Chroma is through moonlacing.

If your body loses all Chroma, you will completely crystalise and die. This should be difficult. Should be! If you're feeling horrible, take at least one hand held out to you so you don't get to this point. See What happens when we die? for more information.

What the fuck?! Why do I lose Chroma?

Chroma is a form of energy. It seems like it may be linked with your life energy here on Prismatica. Living your life means burning energy, and now you don't only use the energy of food or whatever the fuck usually keeps you functioning, but also use Chroma in order to stay functional on this world.

You lose Chroma because you burn it up like any other energy source by existing. Which is why you need to moonlace for more Chroma to stay active and healthy.

Be warned, Moonblessed! You can burn through Chroma faster by doing any of the following:

participating in any non-moonlacing related physical activities that take a lot of normal energy;
using any special or advanced abilities you may have (magic, superpowers, energy manipulation, psychic abilities, any and everything, even whatever you're thinking about now, probably);
or being under the influence of outside forces. Are you influenced by the Cordis moon? Sorry, Moonblessed, but you may find your Chroma consumption goes up whenever your moon's in phase! Have you been drugged with Glow? Welcome to your new energy vampire urges!

It's fucked, we know.

Then what is Moonlacing?

When one Moonblessed and another Moonblessed come into physical contact, they generate Chroma. Think of it as a reaction that naturally occurs when two Moonblessed come into contact and maintain that contact, though it does not appear to work well or at all in instances of senseless violence or force. Sparring is a different matter, but punching someone for no reason or choking them for Chroma if they're not into breath-play and haven't given consent is not going to work.

Moonlacing is the name for this process of Chroma generation between two Moonblessed. No one knows what the fuck is up with it, only that it happens, and can be measured for how much Chroma-energy is generated at a time. Chroma is weird, because you need it to live, and yet it also is credited as "energy" you've added to Prismatica... and since energy is money here, it's money you've earned.

Now, Chroma that you naturally lose seems like it's absorbed by the world around us, or by some technology the Prismals in Lunar Scientia use, or maybe both or something else, which is how it's out there getting measured by Lunatia. Chroma you consume directly to use any abilities you have does not get released out into the world, but still appears to be counted as currency "earned" at time of moonlacing. This Anon doesn't understand it either. Financial records are visible and yet still mysterious.

How do you Moonlace?

Any way you can imagine that isn't rejected by one or more people involved. Two things of importance to note:

Moonlacing does not require direct skin contact.
Moonlacing will always feel good, but that does not mean all moonlacing will feel arousing. (Arousing can be of any associated emotion, okay! Any emotion! Any emotion!)

Addendum: While moonlacing is necessary, we advise you only moonlace with people you find tolerable. We advise against forcing yourself to moonlace with people you can't stand.

Forms of moonlacing contact can include, but are not limited to:

Napping on or in physical contact with someone. (Also ideal when you have a full animal moonphase form.)
Clasping a shoulder or upper arm.
Holding hands.
Brushing each other's hair.
Shoulder massages.
Wrestling.
Supporting your drunk friend home. Or at least out of the bar.
Carrying someone.
Hugging.
Cuddling.
Snuggling. (Is there a difference between this and cuddling? This Anon just does not know.)
Leaning shoulder to shoulder.
Kissing foreheads, cheeks, hands, anywhere really.
Everything remotely sexual does too. I'm not making that list for you. Sexy Anons out there can make that list for you!

The take away point is this: moonlacing is necessary to keep your chroma levels high enough so that you don't crystalise and die. So don't be a fool: moonlace. Survive. Those who want to go home under their own choice are only going to have that chance if they don't kill themselves along the way.

Can Moonlacing help heal?

For those who participated in recent tournament events, the answer appears to point toward "yes." However, it should be noted that increasingly more intimate levels of moonlacing were better at helping bodies recover quickly: kissing provided more than hands held over wounds, but massaging helped muscle aches, embraces helped generate enough Chroma for people's natural abilities to take control, and so on.

Short of something incredibly ill advised with someone suffering fatal injuries, moonlacing is not enough to save you when you're already dying. Talk to Prismals, and they'll tell you even in their general knowledge, "healing" was for minor injuries. It's what all those kisses exchanged before people swaggered out onto the arena were about, and all the hugs from Daddy Dearest before we went down. Moonblessed seem to be able to heal more than minor injuries with enough moonlacing, but it is not! Enough! To prevent you from dying if you've lost all your chroma already. Understood?! Don't go testing this out!

What happens when we die?

When you die, either because you used all your Chroma or because you managed to kill yourself or get yourself killed... your corpse is encased in crystal. Just your corpse. You're movable by anyone who can manipulate the crystal sculpture you've turned into, and as this Anon has been assured, the Prismals will take care of the crystal body if your friends don't want to.

But wait! There's more! Like everything else here, it gets weirder. After enough chroma has slowly seeped back into your body... you resurrect. Not entirely okay, but at least you're not fucking dead because you fucking died.

Prismals find nothing weird about this. Crystalising when you die is normal here. The not normal part is coming back out of the crystal, which if you remember waking up on the moon? Sounds like the same fucking process.

What happens when we disappear?

Great question. No idea. Does anyone have an answer from Lunar Scientia about this?

This is "as accurate as it can be right now," which means if you have information to add, comment for Anon to update. If you have questions, ask and this Anon or any of the other people reading can speak up and try to answer.

A question for anyone who knows: is there any noted increase in overall moonlacing if more than two people are involved in an act of moonlacing?

[ What follows is an audio version of this post with a big, green play arrow for anyone who doesn't read; it will narrate this post and replies in a voice oddly similar to Samuel L. Jackson. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The problem, he realises almost immediately, is that he's in a position of knowing too much while Binghe, for the moment, is on unequal ground. Listening to this isn't a stranger listening to someone else, equally strange, explaining himself. It's Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe's Shizun, listening to him explain something that has eluded him since he found him dying on a rooftop so far underground that light doesn't know how to find where they were.

It destroys part of his heart, knowing that is where Luo Binghe died. It's why he needed light to find his form above ground, why he'd had that clear latticework overhead.

There's a sort of openness here that allows him to be more himself than he is usually, because most of himself is a man who lives so tightly controlled in his own head that thoughts don't make it out for others to even see. He listens to Binghe, and he imagines in his mind's eye the way he'd look as he speak, and that almost makes it hurt worse: hurt, because he understands what he's talking about, but also because he's confused.

And feeling very, very little like a worthy Shizun for anyone, which is a whole other complicated feeling. Touched with something like shame, too, laced with dishonesty, and that return to feeling like he's not only scum, he's never been able to do anything to help this man since he was seventeen and Shen Qingqiu systematically, intentionally and otherwise, harmed.

His finger hovers over his device's screen, and the messages that come back take a little more time, not smooth flowing like most of Anonymous's communications here. Aside from sensible gaps indicating someone has a life they're living, not married to the internet, which thank you! He hasn't been for years! Still, he's here now, and it takes him time to decide on... honesty.

Because it can be his without being his. ]

I'm a person who has become good at self denial out of necessity. I don't like what inadvertent touch does. I don't like that it's provocative when I'd prefer peace. It's worse under the moon cycle's influence, because it becomes harder to avoid that contact. Walking through crowds becomes unbearable. It doesn't take another Moonblessed to "spark" that sensation, just another living, thinking, feeling being. I bribed people to purchase the meals I needed because I couldn't bear the contact anymore. Not with strangers. People liked reaching out, caressing... people do what they shouldn't. They don't mean to be rude, but they're rude.

I don't like it. I don't enjoy it. I don't even know if I would want to let go in a place like this. What does that mean, really? Letting go? I don't want to. It sounds messy. It sounds dangerous. It sounds like a familiar song played in the wrong key.

[ Familiar but unsettling, just subtly wrong, enough you can point to it and see it, but not fix it without taking control yourself. ]

It's that reason that I invite people to hold my hand. Or touch my shoulder, or whatever it is. When you know it's coming, it's easier. When you know, logically, you don't feel this way from the heart, it's easier to not exactly ignore it, but not give it more meaning than it has.

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