Event #1: Happy Dreamversary!

[beautifuldreamermods]

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...

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Comments

Outside

[thezekeinator]

[The scene at the BEGOOD DAMNIT booth finds Zeke scratching his head with a frown as he appraises the rocks.]

...couldn't we have cool swords or something? These don't really sell me on 'Dreamer', let alone 'Dreamer armaments and materials".

[saynotobugs]

Take it up with the vendors. The rocks aren't merch, they're paperweights. Tabling outside means wind. Not just papers, either -- I've done a fair few outdoor events and had to keep signs from falling on people.

[thezekeinator]

I know they're paperweights! They're just not cool paperweights! How can I call upon the powers of the Bringer of Chaos and draw attention to the magnificent work of the Department with ordinary rock paperweights?!

[saynotobugs]

Look, if you were holding down all your stuff with swords, it would just crowd out what your booth is supposed to be about. And isn't chaos a bad thing at events?

[thezekeinator]

"Armaments" is one of the key purposes of our department, and Dream Sphere willing someday we'll figure out how to supply them. [The perils of being a logistics-focused department is the sheer trouble involved in supply...] But swords would make terrific eye-catches!

[saynotobugs]

Gotta be a tough job when you're relying on dream logic to maybe implement your invention. One reason I'm glad I never Awakened.

[thezekeinator]

That's only part of it!

[Honestly, the biggest part is, or at least needs to be, the whole 'therapy' thing. Pretty much everyone treats that as an afterthought, a bone thrown to the woke crowd, but Zeke sure understands the need.]

Besides, study of something theoretical is a critical role of government! Look at the whole space race deal.

[saynotobugs]

According to that analogy, we'd be throwing our national budget to learning how to put swords into our dreams just to own the rest of the G7. Just saying it falls apart.

[thezekeinator]

That's not a lie, but out of politicians' urges to look good comes a great deal of actual good. Sometimes that's the line you take.

[saynotobugs]

Sure, until you look at the skewed priorities. Have you ever looked at a budget in your life?

[thezekeinator]

It may shock you to hear that I have. I, Zeke Genbu, must fight for every scrap of money we can get to advance the goal of supplying and assisting Dreamers!

[saynotobugs]

And does your department look like that Dril tweet with the candles?

[thezekeinator]

They object to candles in offices, you know. Fire hazard and preservation of records and all that, you know. Actually a bit of a pity, they ARE atmospheric!

[saynotobugs]

I'll give you this, you're great at avoiding the question.

[thezekeinator]

That's because I have no idea what the 'Dril tweet' is, so I couldn't answer it! I watch streamers, not tweeters!

[saynotobugs]

You really are just like this all the time, aren't you?

[thezekeinator]

I certainly try!

[What's the point of living life if you're not enjoying it?]

What's it take to coax a smile out of you, then?

[saynotobugs]

What, now you think my face is broken? I'm just trying to live day to day, that's all. Not everyone's as bombastic as you are.

[thezekeinator]

[The way Zeke relaxes is subtle, less physical than a simple sense of his boundless energy notching down its intensity a level or two.]

So am I, you know. Just living day to day. The way I see it, what's the point of doing that if you're not enjoying it?

[saynotobugs]

It's easier said than done. You're living your dream, aren't you? Literal and figurative.

[thezekeinator]

[Zeke shakes his head, with a small smile.] Ask some others and they'll tell you -- or you'll see, anyway, that being a Dreamer isn't just the best thing ever. Being a Dreamer doesn't mean happiness or enjoyment or an easy life. And my dream? That's to stand out! To charge on ahead! So here I am, working in the government and the DU, and pushing myself harder than anyone else.

Dreamers don't necessarily live the dream, and you don't need to be a Dreamer to live the dream. I'll change the first and spread the second. And have fun doing it, because what else is the point?

[saynotobugs]

[She laughs a little at that, albeit bitterly, and shakes her head. She could tell him that it wasn't being a Dreamer specifically that she'd wanted, but... eh. No use with this guy. It doesn't matter anyway.]

Yeah, they always want you to push yourself the hardest. Just don't do so much that you burn yourself to nothing, okay? That goes for Dreamers and everyone else.

[thezekeinator]

[Hey, don't underestimate him! He'd already picked up on that! After all, his point is that it doesn't matter!]

Thanks for the concern. I'll be all right, though. I still thrive off this. The trick's recognizing when you don't any more, right?

[saynotobugs]

...Yeah. Something like that. If you're lucky enough.

[She sweeps her hair back and looks around.]

Need anything else, or should I just keep giving out rocks?

[thezekeinator]

[Zeke leans in, elbow planted on the table, and turns on a grin.]

You could always stay and keep me company. Call it support for the Union. Or the government. Or just a guy who has no intention of burning out.