★ my genius, flawless idol for life

[liedol]

⭐ Who: Ai and you!
⭐ When: its fucking dember
⭐ Where: Mostly in Yumemigaoka, with some planned Hunts and stuff in the Dream Sphere
⭐ What: Wow, that was pretty decidedly awful!!! Unfortunately, there's no rest for the wicked OR the DU's idol so even though she's a little running on fumes, Ai's still got a busy December ahead of her...! With DU work and idol work and holiday obligations all on her plate, the real question is: how does she ever find time to sleep???

Comments

★ Dreamer Union — All month

[liedol]

[ December is a busy month for a whole lot of reasons even when you're not a celebrity but while her contracts might say otherwise, Ai's #1 work priority will always be the Dreamer Union and with everything that's been going on, there's absolutely no shortage of work for her to be worrying about.

When she's not worrying about variety shows, fan meets and whatever else an idol gets up to at Christmas, Ai can be found at the DU office, helping to manage schedules, run office-y tasks, answer PR emails, take PR calls, do PR meetings... it's, uh, a lot of PR at the end of the day.

Her being a busy lady doesn't mean she's too busy for her coworkers, though. If you're a DU regular it's not hard to catch her flitting busily around the office and she makes a point of having open office hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the afternoon so if there's anything you need to trouble her with, why not drop by for a visit? ]

★ Around Yumemigaoka - 1st to the 20th

[liedol]

[ Have you heard Dreamer Ai-Doll's new Christmas single yet? DON'T WORRY. YOU WILL! As well as ad spots on TV stations, her smiling face is all over the city — Ai dressed up in an artfully casual and disheveled winter date outfit with a bashful smile and holding a box containing presumably a Christmas cake. What exactly this has to do with getting you to buy Fujiya confectioneries isn't entirely clear but... going by the way they're flying off the shelves, it sure is working!

This is probably helped along by the 'fan meet lotto tickets' bundled with certain kinds of cakes — buy enough and you'll be able to attend a private concert with live signing by Ai-Doll herself! And if you're extra lucky (or you buy enough sweet) then you might even get a ticket for the handshake event where you can chat with Ai herself and have her sign some things for you...!

Yeah, it's pretty scummy. But it pays the bills.

If you're lucky enough to get a ticket for the live show, then you'll be happy to know that Ai knocks it out of the park as usual, smiling brightly enough to rival all the Yumemigaoka illuminations put togeher — just like a real pro. She's still wearing a just-barely toned down version of that smile at the handshake event afterwards and her voice is warm. ]

Thanks so much for coming all this way to see me! And in this horrible weather, too — thanks so much for your support!

[ You've got five minutes to get some chats in, so make it count!

... but if you happen to be a fellow Dreamer or a regular she sees at the DU, Ai blinks in surprise a few times... then she giggles and wrinkles her nose. ]

Jeez, did you really line up all this time just to get a handshake? I'm impressed with your patience!

★ Koubai Train Station — December 8th, 6:30PM

[liedol]

[ Ai's got her schedule pretty well figured out by now. Out of the office at 5PM, train at 5:15, home for 5:45, or thereabouts. After so long of working at the DU she's practically got it down to a fine art... which is why it's particularly odd that anyone making their way into the station now will spot her pacing up and down on one of the empty platforms, talking into her phone. She's definitely not dressed for the evening chill, with just a relatively light jacket over her clothes, but her furrowed brow seems to be more to do with the conversation she's having as she walks back and forth. ]

No, no, don't worry about— it's just a delay, right? I'll be home ASAP. Just my bad luck that the weather turned, huh? I'll figure something out. Just make sure you get dinner and head to bed once it's late, okay? [ ... ] Mm. Mmhm! [ ... ] Me too. I'll see you soon, okay?

[ She ends the call and only then does a huge sigh come pouring out of her in a cloud of white. She doesn't even realize she's not alone until she turns from the tracks to see if she can't get herself a coffee and — ]

Oh! [ She blinks — and then smiles sheepishly. ] Looks like we're stuck waiting for a little bit...! They said there should be one along in about half an hour, so long as there's no more delays.

★ Vale of Sorrow — Third week of December

[liedol]

[ In all the chaos in the months that'd followed, Ai had almost forgotten it'd happened — before anything had gone awry with Mio or Ango, before any of those effects had touched the waking world, the Vale had been at risk of vanishing. All the other Stabilized locations had come unglued as well... but the Vale was the one that had gone afloat entirely. There'd been some attempted investigation but the Disturbances that had followed had taken up so much of the DU's focus and...

Both of the Disturbances had vanished once the person at their heart had give up on them. Even if she wanted to, there was no way to go back and investigate them. And she has no way of knowing if there's any connection here at all, but... there's nothing to lose from looking.

So she goes looking. With winter thoughts chilling the Dream Sphere, the Vale's entirely frosted over and the usually sloppy ground is hard and crunchy underfoot. It's easier to navigate, but it also means that what she wants to do might be a little more difficult...

Before she can get started on... whatever it is she's got planned, though, there's a crack of ice from just behind her and she spins in time to see a nasty looking group of Torments making their way across the frozen grass to her. She huffs an impatient sigh before cracking a smirk and summoning her weapon to hand. ]

If you're that eager, I'm happy to make a little time to dance with you!

[ Maybe help a girl out if you're around? ]

★ DU Lounge — Unit Meeting (Lisa, Hibiki) — December 4th

[liedol]

[ Units aren't always a strictly official thing and not necessarily something that always calls for meetings and paperwork... but Ai's well aware of the position she occupies in the DU and the resulting scrutiny any Unit associated with her would come under, official or not. It seems safest to do this all as by-the-book as possible, then, even if it's a bit more stiff and formal than she necessarily would've liked it to be. To offset that, she's asked the girls to meet her in the DU lounge rather than her office (it's a little less scary, right?) and when they arrive, she's already serving hot cocoa from the coffee machine alongside the pile of snacks and cookies she's got waiting for them at the table.

Once she spots them, Ai's face lights up. ] Good morning...! Sorry to ask you to come so early in the day — I didn't have any other times I could guarantee we'd be able to chat for as long as we needed. Come sit down! You can dig into the snacks, too — I got way too many from sponsors this month to even try and eat by myself!