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yumemigaoka2023-05-14 09:52 am
beautifuldreamermods) wrote in yumemigaoka2023-05-14 09:52 am
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Event #1: Happy Dreamversary!
YUMEMIGAOKA
Despite the nasty weather that had hung around for the first half of the month that definitely had some people at the DU sweating and scrambling to make backup plans, the morning of the 14th dawns with a beautiful sunny sky and not a drop of rain to be seen. The wind is still blustering so it's wise to wrap up warm but otherwise, the weather couldn't be more perfect for a celebration. And celebrate they will – happy anniversary, Dreamers! Fifty years ago on this day the very first Dreamer, Dreamer Reverie, found herself in the Dream Sphere for the very first time. And now, look how far you've come!
To amp up the celebration, the Dreamer Union is holding an event at their HQ that's been opened to the public for the day – though the offices on the upper floors are, of course, still private. Inside, a number of informational boards with quick and breezy rundowns of the DU's functions and how it supports Dreamers have been scattered about, as well as a few sponsorship advertisements for businesses around Yumemigaoka. Hey, they've gotta keep the lights on somehow!
The majority of the setup is outside, though – the idea seems to have been to catch people passing by, not necessarily just those who'd set out specifically to come see what's up today. The general effect is something like a pop up market, with colourful sparkling banners and materials lining each stall and making for an insanely eye-catching display. Most of the stalls are small, independent businesses run by current or former Dreamers who are selling fun bits of merch for their fellow mahous. Want to rep your Sentry cred with a t-shirt with a kickass shield design? Grab some cool community 'zines from artists and creators around Yumemigaoka? Or maybe you want to grab some books all about the Dreamer phenomenon? It's all here!
In addition, the Museum has set up a fun exibit. 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!
These are half artistic liberty and half based on accounts from Dreamers who've actually been over to the otherwise but they're fun and cute and for those who haven't been over to the Dream Sphere yet, isn't seeing them a little exciting? Or maybe as someone who's seen some of this stuff with your own eyes, you have some fiercely held opinions about the technical details and accuracy?
The main pull for people outside the Dreamer community is the soundstage that's been set up just a bit away from the rest of the stalls and kitted out with the recognizable setup of a Q&A panel. A number of Dreamers from around Yumemigaoka were scouted to take a slot on the panel and take questions from the public as to what, exactly, being a Dreamer entails and how all that magic stuff on the other side even works. The slots are on a rotating basis so people aren't stuck there all day and required signups beforehand so the DU could make sure people were, uh, fit for public speaking... but if someone's running late or can't make their slot, maybe you'll find yourself volunteered for the job?
THE DREAM SPHERE
Once you hop over and make your way to the DU building in the Slumbering City, you'll be greeted with a sight not unlike the marketplace that sprang up on the other side. Of course, there's no shopping to be done over here since you can't take objects to and from the Dream Sphere. Instead, a bunch of tables have been spread in a wide semi-circle and loaded up with a buffet! Some of the food here is... passably normal for what you'd expect in the Dream Sphere but the real pull here is all the wacky and impossible foods that could only be brought to life in a world of dreams.
To start with:
- ⧖ Cream puffs sprinkled with a sugar that glitters and filled with what looks like edible stardust
⧖ Sea-green macarons with white filling. They have a salty sweet taste that makes you think of the ocean.
⧖ Spicy, savoury popcorn that lets you emit a plume of (harmless!) smoke and fire like a dragon when crunched. They come in mild, toasty and ultra death megakill levels of spice.
⧖ Pretzels shaped like unicorn horns in sweet and savory varieties, coated in thick flakes of sugar and salt respectively. The filling inside changes colours as you munch away.
⧖ Mini donuts and donut holes sprinkled with glittery sugar and filled with a fizzy, sweet substance. Once eaten, they give you the ability to fly short distances for a short period of time.
⧖ An array of what seem to be regular cupcakes but on closer inspection – they're made of clouds!
These are just a few ideas to get you started, so feel free to come up with your own wild and wacky foods in your toplevel!
Scattered in between the plates and other dishes are small fishbowls packed to the brim with little snips of paper scribbled with icebreaker questions for you to fire at somebody and get to know them. Not really the icebreaker type? No worries! The bowls have a nasty habit of scooting under your hand when you're reaching for food and once you've grabbed a question, you'll find yourself rooted to the spot until you actually read it to someone. Be strong, Dreamers!!!
Of course, just because the Slumbering City is more safe on average than other places in the Dream Sphere it doesn't mean it's totally free of invading Torments and with a gathering of Dreamers this big, the event has a huge target on its back! It'd be kind of a bummer if things got crashed, so a small patrol has been set up to keep the party relatively undisturbed. It's a volunteer position taken in shifts, like the Q&A panel, so you can head back to the party when you're done... or stick with the patrol group and avoid having to go to the party altogether by dealing with Torments instead. I see you, introverts.
No matter where you are in the city, though, you won't miss the big surprise at the end of the day. Just as the sky dims enough, about to where you'd expect street lights to ping on... suddenly, the whole city lights up! It's a little startling at first but quickly you'll come to realize that what's going on is a light show that's being cast against all the buildings of the Slumbering City. You see multicolored flowers in all shapes and sizes, pure white birds against blue skies, a wash of ocean water that brings with it an undersea view full of colourful fish. The display is impressive enough but the properties of the Dream Sphere mean that the projections pop and move through the city in 3D. You might even catch an odd gust of wind of a spray of saltwater from it! Dreamers are encouraged to wander the city, exploring the show and its effects and seeing what they find.
The show goes on for around an hour before wrapping up, with a final flurry of light and glitter leading everyone back to the party's starting point. Once the lights fall dim at last, the DU's rep for the event, Dreamer Ange steps up to give a little speech; According to Ange, the show was a collaborative celebration between a number of different Dreamers high up in the DU and an experiment to push the bounds of what their powers are able to do in the Dream Sphere. She thanks everyone for attending and for their continue support both of the DU and of the hard work done in the Dream Sphere. In this place teamwork, quite literally, makes the dream work after all. ... going by the face she makes as she says it, Ange did not write that line.
She lets her visible disgust wring out a few laughs before concluding with a slightly more sincere sentiment; that while there's still so much about the Dream Sphere that's a mystery, the amount they know is growing every day and it's thanks to the efforts of everyone who's taken the plunge and explored the Dream Sphere, despite the risks. Who knows what could be just around the next corner or in the next dream? Keep an open heart and an overactive imagination and it might just be you who finds out.
Once things wrap, every Dreamer in attendance will be handed a dark, glassy object as a party favor - some sort of long, thin stake with a twist that makes it resemble a... unicorn horn? And if you squint, you can see something glittery inside? Who thought this was a nice thing to hand people after a party????
Ange and the other DU officers present will be gleefully and infuriatingly vague about the whole thing and say it's a little preview of an exciting announcement they're gearing up to make in the next month or so but those who are a little higher up on the DU's ladder will know that what they've just received is a Stabilizer – one of the first successful inventions to exist exclusively within the Dream Sphere, capable of permanently granting access to certain areas of the Dream Sphere. How exciting!
The rest of you, unfortunately, will have to stew in the mystery until someone lets it slip. While the Stabilizer won't travel with you back to the Waking World, it will reappear in your hand whenever you call it forth in the Dream Sphere until you decide to make use of it. And no matter how busy or stressful this little gather was, you will nevertheless wake up from the event feeling well rested and with an oddly strong craving for something sweet to snack on...
Q&A
Sorry I'm late! I'm supposed to be here for the 'disarming and crippling Torments' part of this session?
[Visual demonstrations go over so much better with a willing participant, don't they?]
no subject
Oh, they brought on someone specifically? Nice.
[He eyes Zeke... and his 5 inches of height advantage over Neku. Then nods in a clear 'yeah, I can take 'em' tone]
You signed the waiver, right?
no subject
[Zeke is... let's just say, known to get involved in these demonstrations.]
And I brought a weapon. Fall before my might, Dreamer!
[With a flourish, Zeke brandishes an extremely large roll of cardboard, the sort of thing you find at the center of wrapping paper.]
no subject
Impressive.
[He turns to the crowd and starts giving some tips on fighting bigger targets- weight distribution, using momentum- as he starts to finish he gestures for Zeke to 'come at him', taking a solid stance.]
no subject
Torment Cardboard Strike!
[Said strike is a massive overhand slash, with an obvious windup and a dozen easy counters at the speed he's moving with.]
no subject
... even playing though the slight pinching pressure likely isn't comfortable.]
no subject
Ow ow ow! I, a Torment, am not enjoying this! And the nature of this hold makes it nigh impossible for me to escape!
[Zeke attempts to demonstrate this, well aware that the method by which hold like this maintain their control is extreme discomfort.]
no subject
That wraps things up though, and he lets Zeke go, patting his shoulder]
Thanks, you did great.
[As if Zeke wasn't his senior and double his mass]
no subject
Nice technique, too! That ought to inspire them a bit.
[Zeke returns fire with a punch to Neku's shoulder, which really isn't hard at all. Camaraderie!]
no subject
Hopefully no one needs anything like this though...
[Hand to hand fighting a Torment unless that was a Power you had is just... not Recommended!!]
no subject
no subject
Right. That's how I learned this kind of thing myself...
[He just doesn't want others to have to go through that]
no subject
[Never lose sight of the dream of Dreaming!]