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!

code

Comments

[liedol]

Not for us, anyway... [ At least she admits it. ] But you should take the chance to look around when you get a break! There's some tasty food out, at least. The ice cream was really good!

[ she's really stealth advertising on Ruby's behalf like this... what nepotism. ]

Just seems like a shame for the ones who work hardest to enjoy it the least.

[saynotobugs]

Shame, but that's how it is. I'll have to check it out. What flavours were good? I heard they put some thought into the menu.

[liedol]

Hmm, I liked Soleil Sorbet a lot. If you like strawberry, you should go with that. [ W-without even missing a beat... ] But they had a bunch of other fun flavours, too! Even their regular vanilla's really good. It was super fresh and creamy.

[ She gives a dreamy little sigh. ]

There really isn't anything like ice cream during summer...

[saynotobugs]

That's true enough. Unless it's that soft-serve stuff with the flavour stripes. I worked in an ice cream stand at an amusement park selling that once. When the machine broke down, it stank up the place so bad I wouldn't eat artificial flavours for a month.

[liedol]

Oh, eww! [ And yet, she's laughing. ] I can't imagine what a killer headache it would've given you, too! Did I ever tell you about the time I had to do a perfume promo for... well, some company a couple years back? It was a really simple TV spot but we had to spray a little perfume for each take - and for some reason, the director was super insistent on us using the real thing and actually doing it every single time. By the time we were done, half the bottle was gone and I could barely see straight!

[ The glamorous life of an idol... ]

[saynotobugs]

Seriously? Diva auteurs are bad enough, but in a commercial? Nothing's real in those things. Back in the day I did a spot for Burger World and we had to wait an hour for the food artist to finish gluing the seeds onto the bun.

[liedol]

Seeds on the bun?!

[ If this was anybody else, Ai would be pretty sure she's being taken for a ride but since this is Maki? All she can do is laugh in delight. ]

What was even gonna happen if they didn't?! Seeds coming off the bun is the number one thing you expect from a burger like that!

[saynotobugs]

We weren't supposed to actually eat it, at least. Just look happy at the table with the food. Thankfully. [She shakes her head.] Sometimes I think giving up was the right call. Not that it was really my call.

[liedol]

Only sometimes, huh?

[ The corner of her mouth tugs up into a rueful little smile, as if on Maki's behalf. ]

What about all the other times?

[saynotobugs]

[Maki goes quiet. She sighs and looks at the DU pamphlets.]

Like I said, it wasn't my call. They didn't want someone who chickened out over a cicada, they especially won't when she's washed up. I'm fine here. At least when we're not on fire.

[liedol]

Maybe I'm just being nosy [ she definitely is ] but it sounds to me like you wouldn't say no to trying it out again. If you ever got any offers, I mean.

[ she plops her chin into her hand, looking at Maki just a bit too hard with those bright eyes of hers. ]

I'm always hearing about advertisements and productions that need some extra people, you know. You're sure you wouldn't want me to put a word in for you? Just to feel things out and see if you want to try again?

[saynotobugs]

[It's blinding. Something that makes Maki freeze in place, having to turn away but finding she can't. For a second, she's that fresh-faced kid feeling the sting of a thousand rejections all over again.

She has to move on. She wasted her youth on an unachievable dream. She can't just go back to that.

But...]

...You have a real talent for making things sound possible, you know that?

[Finally, barely, she looks away and back down at her hands.]

I can't. I'd just screw it up again anyway. You're --

[--someone who'd never know, right? Someone who always finds success. Who can captivate everyone around her. But she can't say that.]

-- you're too good to us, Hoshino.

[liedol]

I sure do. [ She flashes Maki a cheeky smile. ] That's why I'm so good at my job. I'm just saying, offer's on the table if you ever wanna take me up on it!

[ There's no point in pushing now when Maki's being so stubborn, but... 'I can't' is different to 'I don't want to'. So that's progress enough for now and Ai will give her an out. ]

More important, aren't you forgetting something? [ She puts a finger to her lips with a wink. ] You can't call me that where everybody else can hear. It's 'Ai' in public, remember? We can't have just anybody knowing I'm 'Hoshino', too.

[saynotobugs]

[Maki blinks. Shakes it out of her head. Right. It's thrown her off too much.]

Right. Ai, huh... Guess I'm off my game today.

[liedol]

It's hard getting back on track after Golden Week, huh?

[ Her voice is sympathetic but - this is still clearly another convenient out for Maki, if she wants it. No complicated feelings here, no sir! ]

For about a week after I got back into the office, I'd wake up with my alarm like "hold on, why am I not on vacation?"!

[saynotobugs]

...Heh. Yeah, that's true. Hard to believe we're already at that time of year. It's practically summer by now, but the blossoms are still on the trees.

[liedol]

Right? Isn't it wild? I guess they felt like sticking around a little bit longer this year. That's a sign we're gonna have a perfect summer.

[ how.... exactly... ]

[saynotobugs]

I've never heard that before, but you know, when you say it, it sounds promising.

[liedol]

Anything sounds promising when you say it with the right energy. [ Wink! ] Why do you think I'm so good at my job?

[ zero modesty on that front...... ]

[saynotobugs]

[It never gets old. Maki pauses for a moment and then blinks it off. She can't be in awe at that, that's embarrassing, it's for other people!!]

Dedication and natural talent?

[liedol]

Don't forget my sixteen years' worth of experience on the job.

[ refer to my earlier comment about zero modesty. ]

[saynotobugs]

Of course, of course. World's greatest idol.

[She's teasing, but it feels genuine. It probably is.]

[liedol]

[ Ai blinks a few times. ]

Huh...! World's greatest... do you really think?

[ WHERE'D THIS SUDDEN MODESTY COME FROM... ]

[saynotobugs]

Hey, weren't you basically just saying that yourself? Besides, anyone'd agree. Anyone with eyes, anyway.

[liedol]

I dunno if I'd put it like that but...

[ She smiles a little sheepishly, curling a lock of hair around her finger, seemingly sincerely bashful. ]

It's nice to get a vote of confidence now and then, I guess. Thanks, Maki-chan.