TDM #1

[beautifuldreamermods]

TDM #1

Welcome one and all to the very first test drive meme for Beautiful Dreamer! If you're unfamiliar with the game, then you can check out the navigation to get yourself up to speed on all the relevant info pages then check out the AU Planning meme to see what juicy ideas your fellow players are cooking up!

In order to not spoil the opening of the game for players, the overall TDM is not canon to Beautiful Dreamer though players are free to treat individual CR/threads on this post as canon to their characters if both players are happy to do so.

Dreamers on the TDM will have access to all of their starter powers as outlined on the powers page as well as two unique abiliites to play around with as you please.

Some prompts and location details have been provided below for you to play around with but please feel free to go hog wild and have fun!

YUMEMIGAOKA

It's a busy day just like any other in a town as big and bustling as Yumemigaoka. With the last days of winter finally at everyone's backs, spring has begun blooming in earnest and the cheery seasonal energy is pretty infectious. A number of events are taking place around the city, so why not take the time to look around and have fun?



⧖ The Tsubaki Department Store is beginning to hype up their upcoming Golden Week extravaganza with a number of small sales and promotions. Maybe this year you'll finally be able to snag that air fryer you've been eyeing?!

⧖ It's cherry blossom viewing season! Hina Flower Gardens are holding a free event with a number of special seasonal goodies and some absolutely beautiful scenery to take in.

⧖ Moon Bunny Market are organising a stamp rally all around the neighborhood, with prizes on the line if you manage to collect them all. Just find the right stalls and speak to the right people and you could win a tasty prize!

Of course, life doesn't grind to a halt just because it's nice and sunny outside. Now the city is getting busier and more touristy, the folks who keep things running are starting to get some pressure put on them! And if you happen to be a student, end of term exams are starting to loom on the horizon, with particular pressure put on those just about to graduate their respective schools... Not to mention with spring coming around, allergies are running riot!

Let's just hope you're not feeling too stressed. After all, with all this energy running rampant and regular life starting to really push down on everyone, who knows what those negative feelings could spawn...?!

THE DREAM SPHERE

The Dream Sphere might be a very different kind of place to Yumemigaoka but that doesn't mean it's any less busy. Spring has sprung over on this side, too, with iridescent flowers and colorful trees growing right out of the streets and buildings all over the Slumbering City and the sky above turning a particularly pretty shade of pale pink to match.

That makes it especially bizarre that it appears to be snowing all over the Dream Sphere, no matter where you go but on closer inspection this snow is actually cherry blossom petals raining endlessly down from the sky. How pretty! Of course, for those of you with allergies, maybe it's just rubbing salt on the wound. Your nose isn't itching, is it? Achoo!

Pretty or not though, if you're on this side then you've got work to do! With the Waking World starting to gear back up after winter, some of the associated stress is starting to funnel into the Dream Sphere and cause no small manner of trouble. Torments and Nightmares won't hunt themselves so be sure to properly scout out all the available locations of the Dream Sphere you can access just in case - maybe you'll find a new teammate to work with while you're out there!

In particular, it looks like trouble can be found...


⧖ In the Vale of Sorrow, it's still raining and pouring despite the change of season and that combined with the dusting of petals across everything has turned navigating the place into a real task, even for a fully prepared Dreamer. The ground is even more of a wet and soggy mulch than before and to make matters worse, a group of particularly nasty Torments are gathering and seem to be made out of bristling vines and piercing brambles... they're unusually quick and vicious even for Torments so you better act fast and deal with them ASAP!

⧖ In the Reverie Necropolis, the season of spring hardly seems to have touched the place. If the sky has changed at all, it's hidden behind the bone white clouds that hang low and every single petal that touches the ground immediately shrivels and dies once it lands. Once you actually enter the labyrinth, frantic whispers can be heard and the scratching of disembodied pencils scribbling over papers can be heard echoing up and down all the halls. The vibes are absolutely rancid, is what I'm saying – made even worse by the fact that when you stumble into one of the open caverns, you come across a Nightmare just about to manifest?! Better hope you're not alone, because you'll need some good strong teamwork to keep things from escalating any further!

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Comments

[kitri]

Gratia accepts this offering eagerly. It trades place with her (somewhat clean, since she wiped it off along with her hands) mochi-making rock.

'Maybe I'll see you guys around' is a cue Novvy reads. He's up on his feet with that usual clearly-honed ease, and offers Gratia a hand-- but though she takes it, she dawdles, tugging on it and planting her feet instead of getting ready to go.

"Papa, you heard that, right? Just like you and Mr. Eyepatch...!"

(That 'mister' is a Mister said in English, in fact.)

Novvy's face is initially illegible, but he sighs, and smiles. "I heard! That's... fantastic news. I'm always happy to meet someone else involved in the.. industry." Especially someone he already bullied for snacks for his kid. Love that. Now they're going to be coworkers, instead of Ango just being someone he can happily push around once and go on his merry way, forever. He forces some tension to leave his shoulders. Okay. Time to play nice(r).

"From Tokyo, you said? You chose well moving out here. The Union is... I have no complaints." Yet. It's been what, a week? And some change. "You won't have to worry about finding enough leaves for all that long. They do direct deposit."

[darknesshotpot]

"Direct deposit? Now that's the life." He whistles approvingy. As a writer and professional procrastinator, his usual paydays are few and far between. "Gotta say, though, I didn't take you for the magical warrior type! I mean, I dunno what the magical warrior type is... a peppy 14-year-old with pink hair in a tutu, I guess?" Novvy could probably pull off the tutu, but Ango can't imagine him being peppy. Not that Ango himself really fits the role either...

"But hey, a paycheck's a paycheck! Good to know that I'm not gonna be the only 30-something weirdo hanging around the place, though."

He pulls a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, then remembers Gratia and laughs apologetically. "Guess there's no smoking with kids around, right? Man, this is going to be a rough gig."

[kitri]

"Nope! Tiny lungs!" Gratia chirps.

Oh, that's genuine pain in Novvy's eyes.
"Tiny lungs, no smoking," he repeats. "Yes, the majority of our fellow Dreamers do skew toward being, ah... Teenybopper age. Thought I had a few more years before my life was that all day, but, what can you do? ..Sweetie, do you still have my pen? Thanks."

Novvy's started scribbling something or other on a pad of paper, because this is in fact the kind of guy who actually makes use of tiny cute mascot character notepads when he buys them.

"Well, if you already know what you're doing, I don't need to give you the address of the office... but you might want this one."

[darknesshotpot]

"Cute notepad." Ango wouldn't have guessed that such an uptight guy would have pink stationary with bunny rabbits on it, but that must be one of the mysterious effects of parenthood. Not that Ango would know anything about parenting - he can't even take care of a houseplant, much less a kid. He thought he was doing really well with a spider plant one time, only to realize (after 6 months of forgetting to water it) that it was actually a plastic replica. Nope, kids definitely aren't in his future. But being a bad influence on other people's kids? Hell yeah, that's where it's at. All the fun, none of the responsibility.

He skims the note, raising an eyebrow. To his surprise, it's not the address of Dreamer Union. "...Thanks, man." Ango beamed, previous animosity forgotten. "I'll have to call you 'Novvy-sempai,' huh?"

[kitri]

Now he's Novvy-sempai, huh? Damage, controlled.

"You better. Alright, so that address..."

Clicky-click goes the pen, before he puts it up.

"...there's a... place in this ward. They're operating tomorrow. Early. 5am early. It's not exactly gourmet, but they won't get you sick, unlike how eating nothing but overly rich sweets will. They usually run out by noon, so don't drag your feet."

His piece said, Novvy swiftly turns away. "Gratia! You said you wanted to see the very biggest tree, didn't you? If we're going to make it, we ought to get going."

"Oh! Okay!" She takes off for a few steps, then turns back and waves-- "Bye, Ango-sensei. Go fight lots of bad guys!"