Happy Dreamerversary!

[beautifuldreamermods]

YUMEMIGAOKA

May is always a dicey time to have an outdoor event in Yumemigaoka but this year it seems like luck's on everyone's side. The morning of the 14th dawns with bright blue skies, beaming sunlight and a refreshing breeze - in other words, the perfect weather for an outdoor festival! As it does every year, the Dreamer Union is hosting its annual celebration of the first Dreamer Awakening now fifty-one whole years ago! Damn! Today's the day the entire community comes together to say happy anniversary, Dreamers!

Part of the DU has been opened to the public for the event - while the upstairs beyond the second floor are still off limits, a number of informational boards with quick and breezy rundowns of the DU's functions and how it supports Dreamers are set up around the atrium and on the second floor. Some are informational, some are educational, and a few have trivia quizzes on them that you can answer at the front desk to get a little token for some free food at the event.

The majority of the setup is outside, though - something between a pop-up market and a festival, with colourful sparkling banners and materials lining each stall. Some are small, independant businesses from around Yumemigaoka, some are larger organizations who sponsor the DU (they've gotta keep the lights on somehow!) and plenty of food and drink vendors. A few indie artists from the community are also selling merch and art catered to their fellow Dreamers, with imagery and in-jokes that wouldn't really mean anything to normal folks.

Some particular stalls to keep an eye out for include...


⧖ Dreamery Creamery are serving up scoops of their ice cream in all kinds of crazy flavours with a massive array of toppings and cones for you to choose from. To make things more exciting, Dreamers Sage, Soleil and Prisma are all helping out at the booth and serving ice creams themed after their Dreamer selves! How does Soleil Sorbet sound to you? Maybe Sherbert Sage? Or are you going for Prisma Pomegranate?

⧖ Dice and Dash have a shaded area set up for people to sit down, take a load off and chill out with some board games! They've got a selection of games to borrow, but so long as they're not too busy, you're free to take up a table with your own entertainment if you've got it.

⧖ Dream Weavers, famous for their position as the DU's go-to tailor, is strutting their stuff with recreations of some famous and well known Dreamers' outfits! As well as selling their goods, they're also hosting a little workshop where visitors can learn some quick and simple cosplay and sewing techniques to see how these outfits get made. Dreamers Luck, Gungir and Hanako will all be volunteering and... doing their very best at the cosplay workshop!

⧖ Hybrid Colours is selling portable wares like canvas bags, keychains and postcards of the various prints/paintings available at the gallery! Since they only just arrived at Yumemigaoka, all the locations are international or from other parts of Japan. (Aleena will do face painting or hand painted 'tattoos' for kids, teens, or the daring adult and has a small table set up with a catalogue or 'surprise me!' option for it)

⧖ The Yumemigaoka Cultural Museum has their usual setup! As well as a truncated version of their installation explaining the Dream Sphere and its history, they've set up several dioramas of places in the Dream Sphere, recreated in miniature! There's some moving elements like miniature Torments bobbing around here and there and some cute interactive gimmicks, like a button that will raise and lower the water level in the miniature Vale of Sorrow or a switch to make the volcano in mini Fury Peak go kaboom!

⧖ Finally, a soundstage has been set up just a little ways away from the rest of the stalls with plenty of sitting room for the audience. Dreamer Ai-Doll will be performing a small set of songs partway through the day and the rest of its time will be dedicated to hosting a Q&A panel of a rotating list of volunteers to answer questions about life as a Dreamer or day to day goings on at the DU. Please be aware that both Angelica AND Chloe will kill you if you post cringe on main so be on your best behaviour!

There's lots to do and plenty of time to do it in - the event runs from 10AM and starts wrapping at around 4:30PM so everyone's got time to head home for work the next day. Dreamers will be able to attend the afterparty in the Dream Sphere if they'd like to but for the most part, that's this year's event wrapped up!

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Comments

[thezekeinator]

I thought I had, but government procurement regulations are eight kinds of hell.

[Zeke loves his job, except for everything about it.]

[saynotobugs]

Okay, next time, if you need with the forms, just ask. They're not that bad, I did fulfilment once.

[Where hasn't she worked, really.]

So what did you have in mind that's not... this? I'm gonna make a blanket veto on anything that catches fire or explodes, though.

[thezekeinator]

Color. Swords. FAKE swords I mean. [Real swords would be awesome, but he has no illusions about the end result of that kind of decorating...] Nifty things that LOOK like they're dream things, you know?

[saynotobugs]

Okay, most of that doesn't seem doable on short notice. I'll go check the supply closets to see if there's anything from old events that we don't already have standing out here, though. Otherwise, there's construction paper and plastic tablecloths.

[thezekeinator]

Why do you think I went for the booth-babe backup so quickly? [Zeke groans, then runs a hand down his face.] If you can dig up anything from the closet, I'll take it. I'll even take a costume for myself!

[saynotobugs]

One tick, let me find something. Hopefully.

[Maki sighs and walks off. After a number of minutes, she returns with a haphazard file cart containing:
-coloured plastic tablecloths;
-a shirt with "Striker" and a sword symbol on it, from last year;
-a set of glittery pop-out letters, the kind you put on poster board for your school projects;
-pamphlets from the front desk, including "So I Just Awakened, What Now?", "Registration and You", "Promised Morning: Benefits of Transferring", "Careers at the Dreamer Union", and "What You Need Before Your First Mission";
-shiny colourful rocks that double as fancy paperweights, also from last year;
-decorations from assorted holiday parties, from paper fish and hearts to a tiny Christmas tree]

Take your pick, sorry it's not perfect.

[thezekeinator]

Maki, you are the greatest miracle of our time!

[He scoops up everything but the pamphlets, which are not really relevant to a government agency after all, and begins aggressively plastering the booth with the tablecloths so it looks much brighter. And probably worse, but definitely brighter.]

[saynotobugs]

Hey, if you put the neon yellow next to the navy your booth will look like the world's worst bee. Let me help you out with that.

[She starts arranging tablecloths with a put-upon shake of her head.]

[thezekeinator]

I bet there are worse bees!

[The protest is knee-jerk and almost unconscious, because Zeke immediately cedes the tablecloths to Maki and instead starts sticking those bright letters over their far more boring counterparts on the BEGOOD DAMNIT banner.]

Maybe it'd be like one of those snakes! You know, the really poisonous ones.

[saynotobugs]

Yes, yes, the things that look that specifically as a warning to everyone around them.

[thezekeinator]

Exactly! We should warn people how dangerously awesome the Department is! And the people manning the booth!

[saynotobugs]

I think you let them know just by existing.

[thezekeinator]

Nah, I'm old hat by now. More of a sideshow attraction than center-stage.

[saynotobugs]

If that's the case, I'd hate to see who the star is.

[thezekeinator]

Still Ai, of course. Always has been, always will be.

[saynotobugs]

Yeah, that's basically a rhetorical question at this point. She's something, isn't she?

[thezekeinator]

Yeah, in the good ways and the bad ones both. I get exhausted just being in her presence sometimes!

[saynotobugs]

I would not be surprised if she actually just came from space or something.

[thezekeinator]

Naw. She's human, with everything that implies. It'd be easier if she was an alien.

[saynotobugs]

You say that now. Security's enough as it is, I don't wanna think about if we also had to deal with scientists trying to kidnap Hoshino and study her in a jar.

...Ai-lien.

[thezekeinator]

[That gets Zeke to snicker vigorously. Nice one.]

And yet I'd still worry about her less in that situation!

[saynotobugs]

She'll be fine. It's not her I'm generally worried about.

[thezekeinator]

[Well, that manages to sober Zeke up a little.]

The fact that she isn't is even more proof of why she should be.

[saynotobugs]

[Maki pauses. She studies Zeke with a frown.]

...Something's up. What's going on?

[thezekeinator]

Ai's an idol. Don't tell me you don't know what that means. And then you add in she's also a huge face of the DU.

[Ai may not have to deal with Idol Group Politics like some others, but all the other baggage remains. Always having to be 'on'. Dealing with the ridiculous expectations of fans, who would flip if they so much as saw a guy in the same building as her. Celebrity baggage like stalking. She can't even properly mentor people in the DU any more because of her own fame -- anyone who got attached to her would get all the wrong attention...]

That girl's a ticking time bomb that I'm desperately trying to defuse. Much like every other Dreamer, just worse.