Monthly Post & CR Meme #24: Heat Abnormal

[beautifuldreamermods]

MONTHLY POST

Happy April, Dreamers! I don't have a TON to yammer on about this month except for a little heads up that I will be away on vacation for the first two-ish weeks of May and thus the May schedule will be a bit different! The monthly post will go up a few days early and May's TDM will be a repost of the previous year's TDM. More specific info regarding the May event dates will also be on that month's post.

Other than that, no major OOC updates! But there IS a Disturbance this month, so you might wanna scroll down and catch up on that...

EVENT INFO & TIMELINE

You all knew this was coming.............. Once again, it's time to dive back into the Dream Sphere and rescue one of their own from a Disturbance!

As a recap for those just joining us since our last event: Disturbances are surreal dreamscapes draw directly on the struggles, fears and emotions of a single character, similar to the TV world dungeons in Persona 4 or the Heartscapes in Blue Reflection Second Light. These large-scale dungeons will tie into the overarching plot of the game as we progress and must be tackled in order to prevent a negative outcome on both the Dream Sphere and Yumemigaoka itself. Scary stuff!

In addition, Disturbances are unique among other Outlying Locations in that they vanish once resolved and incubate extremely powerful enemies at their core who must be defeated to save the person at its heart. This where BD's turn based mechanics come in! Disturbance boss battles are where our Boss Tier Combat system finally enters the picture and will require signups beforehand to help keep things organized. In this Disturbance, participants are capped at four Dreamers with at least one Experienced Dreamer with a Signature Move. We will also be prioritizing folks who were not picked or otherwise did not participate in the first dungeon's boss combat. Slots are otherwise open to as many Novices who would like to give things a try!

Sign up with the form below – just fill it out and reply to the signups toplevel. If our signups exceed our number of slots, characters will be selected via RNG. Please be aware that if you are selected, you will be expected to be active and present during the event to ensure things can conclude!

Signups will close on April 12th.

Boss Combat Signups:
<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Archetype:</b> <b>Powers:</b> <B>Anything Else?:</b>



!

EVENT TIMELINE

⧖ April 2nd: A meteor shower will fall over Yumemigaoka on the night of April 2nd going into the 3rd, filling the sky with falling stars.

⧖ April 10th: While traveling to work on the morning of the 10th, Ai is attacked at the train station by an enraged fan and witnesses report seeing her vanish from the scene in a way consistent with a Dreamer crossing over to the Dream Sphere. Almost immediately, a series of earthquakes shakes Koubai Ward and is followed shortly after by the DU publicly confirming to all Dreamers that they have confirmed the presence of a Disturbance manifestation and that Ai is confirmed to be the cause. With no way of breaching it until it fully manifests, the DU warns that all Dreamers should be prepared to enter the Dream Sphere to dive in once it is fully stable.

⧖ April 14th: The Disturbance log will go up.

⧖ April 28th: The OOC deadline for Ai's rescue from the Dream Sphere.


CR Planning Form:
<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <b>Introduction:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>About:</b> (Give us a quick outline of your character! Think of this as a brief introduction to get everyone on the same page.) <b>Short Term & Long Term Plans:</b> (If you have any, of course! You can also use this section to pitch the general shape of The Vibes you're shooting for in your arc and see if anyone else can help you brainstorm it.) <b>Desired CR:</B> (This is the big one! If you're looking for particular CR, pitch it here!) <B>Anything Else?:</b> i fully expect this to be meme central but i'm adding it anyway

WORLD UPDATES

April kicks off with cool mornings and mild afternoons, the perfect weather for enjoying the tail end of cherry blossom season... assuming the typhoon didn’t ruin the trees, at least. Fortunately, Yumemigaoka bounces back fast and as the sakura fade, other flowers burst onto the scene and spring is officially sprung across the city. With gentle breezes and mostly clear skies, it's the perfect time to enjoy the city, especially starting from around the 14th - the temperature jumps to a summery high for a few days but thankfully, doesn't overstay its welcome. By the 21st, things settle back down into more normal April temperatures for the rest of the month. The humidity creeps up a little and the scattered showers become a little more frequent as the upcoming rainy season looms on the horizon.

Over in the Dream Sphere, spring hasn't just sprung - it's practically exploded. Flowers spill across the landscape, growing in impossible abundance with bioluminescent wildflowers overtaking every surface. Even the Slumbering City isn’t spared; vines creep along buildings, and bridges are draped in surreal, shifting blossoms that change colors with the wind. But that mid-month heatwave? Yeah, it’s hitting the Dream Sphere too. The Abandoned Dojo and Twinkle Keep in particular experience a sudden temperature surge and even the chillier parts of the Dream Sphere end up feeling a little balmy this month.

And then there’s Fury Peak. Apparently, it didn’t get the memo that last month's eruptions were killing the vibe because it’s still acting up. As well as the constant eruptions, the smoke in the air now seems a permanent fixture of the dream and unpredictable storms seem to develop out of nowhere. Some Dreamers report strange, otherworldly howls echoing through the jagged peaks, the source of which remains unknown.



!

WORLD EVENTS

!★! All Month: The DU will continue to see increased calls and attempts at correspondence from media outlets wanting the scoop on Dreamer Ai-Doll - in some cases this may also result in Dreamers publicly known to associate with her being approached on the street while going about their days. This sees a dramatic uptick following the attack and Ai's disappearance into the Dream Sphere.

⧖ April 1st: April Fool's! As a prank, some chuckster has replaced all the pens in the DU office with... crayons, apparently. God knows how they did this without being caught but everyone's writing utensils will be back where they belong come April 2nd. ... is now really the time for this?!

⧖ April 6th - 10th: Matsuba World Market has a flash sale going on! All their seasonal groceries are half off to clear stock for next season's goodies, so be sure to swoop in and get while the getting's good!

⧖ April 7th - 10th: Following the end of graduation season and the release of a bunch of new students into the adult world, the DU will be sponsoring a job fair hosted at the Asagi Public Library, aimed specifically at Dreamers who are new to the job market and who are looking to get their foot in the door somewhere that accommodates Dreamers. Various companies and organizations within Yumemigaoka will be participating with a focus on flexi-time and WFH schedules to accommodate the occasionally messy schedule of an active Dreamer.

⧖ April 11th: Yumemigaoka Cultural Museum announces a new exhibit expected to open in the next two months, titled 'Tales from the Dreaming.' The exhibit will be focusing on the history and culture of Dreamers through art, media and written histories donated by Dreamers all around the world. Dreamers from Yumemigaoka itself will also be invited to consider contributing!

⧖ April 14th: Kokuhaku Tea officially switches over to their spring and summer menu, bringing back the beloved seasonal teas and changing over some of the sweets and snacks.

⧖ April 18th: A popular sportswear brand from elsewhere in Japan, O.V.E.R, has announced their plans to open an indoor, year-round sport centre in Asagi sometime in the next year or so. While it sure sounds fun, the general vibe among Asagi residents is that the however many months of construction noise is so not going to be worth it.

⧖ April 22nd - May 22nd: Hikawa Shrine announces that they'll be temporarily closing to the public to repair damage to the shrine's roof and exterior caused by heavy rain earlier this month. Make sure to give them lots of support when they re-open!

⧖ April 29th - May 5th: It's Golden Week! Students are free from school, as are most people who work in private sectors though, tragically, the heroes working retail and customer service will still be expected to work. Businesses around the city will be holding sales and promotions to capitalize on the holiday - in particular, Meteor Bowling Alley will be open for extended hours, Oozora Curry is going to start selling its legendarily delicious Golden Curry and Matsuba World Market and Tsubaki Department Store will have special offers and events.

⧖ April 29th - May 5th: Since it's Golden Week, Moon Bunny Market is holding a stamp rally! Each participating store in the market will have a stamp they're handing out, and if a participant is able to collect all the stamps at each store then they'll get some edible goodies from the market itself and a discount coupon to spend at any store they like. The rally lasts all of Golden Week, so take your time to hit everyone up!

AC RESULTS

Activity for March and April is due at the end of this month so don't forget to submit it once you've got it!

code

Comments

Lisa Imai ♫ Dreamer Rhodonite

[traceofeffort]

Player Name: Salsa
Contact: eternities and in the Discord server; I tend to do plotting (and commentary) on Plurk unless directly engaged on Discord, so add me there if you want a little more information on my bad ideas
Introduction: Retail Hell associate. Magical girl and band girl appreciator; also a fan of games involving Cute Girls Doing Cute Things if we still use that genre descriptor, and also heavy JRPGs and visual novels. The Madoka mobage came out, I'm having A Time.

Character Name: Lisa Imai
Canon: BanG Dream! Girls Band Party

About: University freshman; Team Mom who went through some bullying in middle school and had a hard few years failing to deal with it properly. She's fairly good at outwardly playing her ideal, bubbly, caring, outgoing self, but it's masking some moderate insecurities that can cause her to react unexpectedly and show visible cracks in her facade. She's working on the worst of her emotional excesses, and it's showing, but she's having a hard time and so is a little unstable again. That's manifesting as her being clingy and a little submissive, letting others lead her instead of putting herself forward, along with seeming a little distant and unusually quiet. Big into fashion and bright colors, so long as her mood's not bringing her down; makes her own clothing and accessories. Bakes cute and tasty sweets and gives them away freely; still stress bakes sometimes. Practicing her bass guitar again, and carries it when there's space on her shoulder beside her school bag. Doting on her girlfriend, Junna, recently rescued from a Disturbance, while also drawing strength from her. In the Dream Sphere, protects others with her Sandglass bass guitar as Dreamer Rhodonite. Signed on to a unit with Ai and Hibiki, but...

Short Term and Long Term Plans: To recap last month: Lisa went from soul-deep terror, to cautious relief coupled with deep longing, to one evening of immense tension, to about a week of healing bliss, to one more evening of immense tension, to more healing bliss. Then the rumors started in earnest, and now Lisa is all over the place again. Her mood is better, but she's still struggling a little. Just not as much as this time last month.

Lisa's formally apartment hunting again, but this time it's for two, as she and Junna are planning to move in together in the late spring or very early summer. This is balanced by the fact they don't have income beyond their Dreamer bounties, so while they look for a place and scope out furniture, they're also trying to save every single coin they can. But in the interim, she's recovering from her girlfriend going off to war with herself, as someone so aptly put it to her, and holding her as close as she can. Which presently means she and Junna are living together! It also means that, if you're looking for one, you'll likely find the other. That's not a bad thing, nor is it entirely unexpected, but it's a change she's adjusting to. Hanami kind of got pushed back a little with the combination of burning her cookies on the morning Ai's rumors hit the big time (more on that in a sec) and the typhoon coming in, so she's doing her flower viewing this weekend - it'll nominally be a date, but Lisa also has people she'd like to see, so if you catch them out, please stop by and say hi! She'll share her fresh batch of not-burned sakura cookies she always makes this time of year, too. Her early month will also involve hitting the DU job fair, because she definitely needs a job now, and will intend to cut back on class hours to make it fit. Not that she got to her classes much in February, so she also isn't... in great standing... but it'll be fine! Probably! Maybe... um, so the job's going to be important to get something on her resumé, in addition to getting something into her checking account. She's also raiding the World Market, but I think I'm going to have her do that offscreen, I think she's had a thread in the market for every catch-all I've ever written and she's about more than produce!

But her larger concerns will kick in a touch later in the month, largely. She's already on edge after the rumors started, having marched herself to the Dreamer Union as soon as she heard and done whatever she could to support Ai and the rest of the Union, but as the first part of the month rolls on, she's going to be on a low simmer waiting for the other shoe to drop; she'll file the paperwork to return to full duty just after the first of the month. She's scheduled to get into trouble with some combination of the press and the occasional rando at least once over jerks that can't keep their mouths shut about Ai and stop asking stupid questions; if that sounds like something you want to see her do or assist her with, lemme know! When the 10th hits and everything goes to hell - including her footing and her emotions, because she is not going to take well to being at the epicenter of the earthquakes - she's going to freak out. Not quite as bad as the last time, but... Lisa's not going to be in a good way. She'll debate organizing a search party to confirm the details and location (anyone want in for that Excursion?), but once the Disturbance opens, she'll again devote a lot of time to exploring it. She'll have a lifeline this time to keep her from going truly crazy about it again, but... Ai is important to her and it will show. Expect her mood not to crater quite as hard, at least? Her mood will be darker but more stable; she will, as is traditional for her, be a little bit irritable and a touch cynical. Also expect her to socially disappear at times, and idol music to disappear from her Rhodonite playlist until and unless she needs it for something specific.

Long-term plans are largely unchanged: she and Junna are moving into a place in a month or two (moved up from mid-summer), and I'm still thinking about maybe her mental state going critical sometime in the summer-ish. Lisa is not stable but she has an anchor and that is. Helping a little, though definitely not enough. Her other concerns and emotional weaknesses are not gone, but for the duration of the current crisis, they're being pushed aside for larger problems with greater risks to her psyche.

Desired CR: Musicians and those with related vocations! She's actually starting to enjoy singing, even if she insists she's still a bassist first. College students! Young adults! New residents! Dreamers, though her opinions are going to be all over the place! And honestly, probably anyone else I haven't mentioned yet. She's still happy to meet new people, she's just a little off in general. But hey, if you didn't already know her, you don't know anything's wrong, yeah? She's going to have a harder time being social and pretending to be normal and well-adjusted, but she'll give it an honest try if the chance comes!

Anything Else?: Feeling better about things! Lisa's black mood during the Disturbance didn't help my mood, which is why I spent a lot of time doing cute threads to help balance things out. I now have a whole bunch of cute threads I absolutely adore, my morale is high, and my inbox is on fire, send help-

[noonecandestroythemetal]

Don't forget that Sam totally offered to tutor Lisa...for free...and right now Sam's not going to university, because she came back mid-semester and thought it silly to try to play catch-up...

and we can handwave this to not burden your inbox further, haha! Not that Sam doesn't want to hang out, but we can find time for that.

(and I mean, Sam's a Saver, so useful in an Excursion?)

[traceofeffort]

She did and I think I should. Definitely consider that. I think I mentioned elsewhere but while she understands the material she'd definitely benefit from someone to revise with, if nothing else.

...I'm wondering if it's a little late to declare going 'splorin, but that's not a no, presuming I could assemble a team that wouldn't get overly depressed/aggro searching or finding. not that it's entirely a requirement if Lisa herself intends to be on the team...