!★! Happy Halloween!

[beautifuldreamermods]

⭐ Who: The Dreamers of Yumemigaoka!
⭐ When: Forward dated to October 30th
⭐ Where: The Dreamer Union & the Slumbering City
⭐ What: The promised Halloween party! The DU

YUMEMIGAOKA

Thankfully for everyone's nerves, despite the increased activity in the Dream Sphere that's typical of spooky season, there's been no major emergencies for the Dreamers of Yumemigaoka to attend to for the month of October – which means that when the company Halloween party comes around, there's nothing to interrupt it!

Similarly to the anniversary celebration, the party is split into two halves, with the first leg of the party an all-ages event starting at noon and hosted at the Dreamer Union in Yumemigaoka, with an open invite to all employees and registered Dreamers. Everyone's encouraged to put together a costume just to get into the spirit of things, but while the HR department who set all this up might give you a woeful look of disappointment if you opt out, it is still technically optional.

Of course, with this many Dreamers in one place, things are definitely going to be a little busy, but the whole building has been decorated with some truly spooktacular vibes... and there's a few quiet rooms here and there that have been relegated to letting people catch their breath with some spooky movies if the scariest thing about this party is the prospect of socializing.

There's all sorts of candy and seasonal food to go around as well as a healthy supply of regular-ass food that's been dressed up and served to look spooky – riceballs wrapped with seaweed to look like mummies, crab dishes with the legs arranged to look like spider legs, spicy snacks with sauce globbed on to look like blood... someone was really having fun with this, huh?

For the most part, this is a pretty low-key event, despite the huge guest list – there's some chill games, like a beer pong setup with a fake eyeball and a pretty chonky pinata that's taking a shocking amount of blows before breaking open but for the most part, this just seems like an excuse for everyone to come together and blow off some steam. Of course, that's probably because for some of you, the party's only just begun!

THE DREAM SPHERE

The all-ages get together in Yumemigaoka was only one half of the Halloween festivities and once that party wraps at six, the real chaos begins! A 21+ only afterparty springs up over in the Dream Sphere, taking over the Slumbering City's DU office and spilling out into the plaza outside as well. Of course, this is just in the Dream Sphere, so if you're really determined to sneak in and see what the grown ups are up to, there's nothing stopping you...

Like Yumemigaoka, the DU office in the Slumbering City has been decorated nicely and the city itself is contributing with a nice and moody purple sky outside - though pleasantly enough, the weather is unseasonably mild so you can hang out in the plaza without freezing to death. While it is still a work party on paper, things are definitely a little rowdier by design. There's booze for one and a much more implicit encouragement to let down your hair and bust out a really goofy costume – this is the Dream Sphere, after all, so the sky's the limit!

That philosophy seems to have applied to the food as well and again, much like the anniversary, there's a whole buffet of totally impossible foods. Among other things, there's...


⧖ Cauldron-shaped cupcakes with bubbling 'potion' fillings that fizz and pop when you take a bite.
⧖ Cotton candy spun into intricate spiderweb shapes and adorned with gummy spiders.
⧖ A bubbling cauldron of some hot and savory stew that changes color with each stir and releases tiny puffs of smoke.
⧖ Pizza topped with ghostly white cheese and spicy phantom peppers that live up to their name and vanish from your hand once you're down to the last bite!
⧖ Corn on the cob made entirely of candy corn kernels.
⧖ A franken-fruit salad, with a number of confusingly flavoured fruits - apples that taste likes cherries, cherries that taste like bananas, bananas that taste like... salted caramel?!?


And if you're looking for games, the office itself and the plaza outside seems to have been set up with a whole bunch of them!


⧖ A number of apple bobbing cauldrons that look to be full of slime and various other unpleasant things... but if you're brave enough to go bobbing, you'll see it really is just water.
⧖ Enchanted pumpkin carving! Using anything they have to hand (maybe even their Sandglass??), Dreamers carve pumpkins that have unique properties, such as changing shapes when they're cut into or spitting sparks into the face of the poor person trying to carve them! You have ten minutes and a guide to follow, with the winner determined by whoever got the furthest along with their pumpkin fighting them the whole way.
⧖ A floor in the DU office has been turned into a mini haunted house walk! As well as traditional scares, a little trick of dream magic has been set up so that the floor will also pick on a Dreamer's own personal fears. For the most part, these will be pretty surface level and occasionally silly – a Dreamer with a fear of spiders might be faced with a room decorated with spider webs and the odd spider – but when multiple Dreamers pass through at once, the floor might dig a little too deep and show off something just a bit too personal...
⧖ Stuck without a costume? No worries! A floor of the DU has been set up with 'dressing rooms' to help you with that. Just step inside and your Dreamer costume will be reformed instantly into something more appropriate for the party and you can jazz it up however you like!


The party lasts through the Dream Sphere's night, with everyone dropping back into the real world just as sunrise tinges the Dream Sphere's sky. Of course, it's still the middle of the night back in reality but it's probably in your best interests to just head to bed... you can't get a hangover from alcohol you only dreamt about, right? ... RIGHT???

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Comments

[i_peace]

['A duck, at first glance'... Is what Tycoon would say, if he was less considerate of people's feelings] I wasn't sure what bird it was supposed to be.

Thinking about it... The flag should have given it away.

[dullshooter]

Come on...what other bird could be so beautiful, majestic, and overwhelmingly patriotic?

[i_peace]

[there's a moment where Tycoon opens his mouth to say something (a crane, maybe) but stops because that doesn't feel quite right. Then he keeps hesitating because he wouldn't want to offend the other Dreamer by coming to the wrong conclusion]

I... Guess? [maybe he ought to try that again, with more confidence. Tycoon winces at how half-hearted that sounded, even to him]

I probably should be paying better attention, but on first glance... It's hard to tell.

[he's not going to mention being distracted wondering why the arbitrary abs painting on the bodysuit looked like they had more care put into them than the rest of the outfit...]

[dullshooter]

[He places one hand on his chest, face falling somewhat.]

C'mon. You're breaking my heart here, buddy. I put a good day of effort into that thing - and you're saying it's hard to tell.

[His FEELINGS...]

[i_peace]

Eh?!

[Wh-what part of that outfit needed a day's worth- Did the man glue each feather on himself?! ... Unless it was the abs, in which case, Tycoon has no defense. Oh no-]

S-Sorry...? It's just- Um... [stutter stutter] Better than me, I guess? Even though they said it was optional...

[dullshooter]

[That seems to bring some clarity, and he immediately brightens up.]

Ah, the classic reason for tearing someone else down - insecurity. [He just loops an arm around Tycoon, as if they're buddies and not just coworkers who have met at most in passing before.] I know it must've been difficult, rocking up to a party in your - no offense - presumably mediocre costume and having your world rocked by something that just bleeds awesome, but it's okay. You're in a safe space.

[That was a whole lot of nothing that he just said, but he certainly says it with...some kind of conviction.]

[i_peace]

... Huh?!

[he stiffens up, tail behind him puffing up dramatically, surprised by the sudden disregard for personal space help, but relaxes once he realizes that it's nothing. This is fine-

Wait, no it's not.

Tycoon looks baffled at the wall of words that had just been thrown at him]

Uh. R-Right. We'll just... Go with that. [his initial discomfort aside, he doesn't bother to shake Misfire off] I don't usually participate in Halloween so I'm not that used to recognizing people's costumes.

[dullshooter]

[Oh, sweet summer child.]

Wait - don't tell me, this is your first Halloween?

[i_peace]

[someone who has a better sense of self-preservation and a healthy level of caution towards their fellows would immediately recognize that something was up. But since it's Tycoon, who honestly has too much faith in people and not enough self-preservation instincts, so he just nods before clarifying;]

I've heard of it! But I always lose track of time and wind up missing it.

[read: it seemed fun, but Tycoon was usually too busy with studies and homemaking to actively participate]

[dullshooter]

Oh, buddy, you're in for a treat. And tricks. But mostly treats. Stick by me, and I'll show you how to make the most out of your holiday experience.

[He says...still holding him captive...]

[i_peace]

Eh? Uhm... All right?

[the level of uncertainty- and in spite of it, he hasn't really tried to shake the other Dreamer off. At most, he turns his torso a little so he doesn't have to strain his neck keeping his head turned towards Misfire]

It's mostly costumes, isn't it? And the scary decorations?

[dullshooter]

On the surface, yes, but at its core Halloween is like any other deeply-held American tradition - it's about the glory of excess.

[He spreads his hand across the air.]

It's about going over the top, eating way too much candy, and winding up with a killer hangover the next morning.

[i_peace]

[the look of utter bafflement on his face. Clearly, Tycoon fails to find the appeal of excess but it does explain the state of the food tables here]

Is that... so... [then, a little wryly;] Though this being a dream would make that last part a little hard to pull off, wouldn't it?

[dullshooter]

It's about the spirit of it. As long as I'm drinking enough to knock out a horse, I'm doing Halloween right.

[i_peace]

[that actually gets Tycoon to laugh]

Spirit... Right. I guess there's no harm in it here, what with it being a dream and everything.

[dullshooter]

You gotta make the most of having zero consequences whilst you can, that's what I say.

[And he gives poor Tycoon a hearty pat on the back for it. Not that hearty, because he's a noodle, but hearty enough.]