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

[darknesshotpot]

"Aw damn, a big bad? Like, big big bad, or BIG big bad? Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter." Ango grit his teeth and grinned harder. "We're here for the paycheck, right? And there was nobody else coming from my direction... it's just us." He sucked in a lungful of nicotine and damp air, then exhaled a heavy sigh.

"Sooo... you got a cool weapon or powers or anything? Huge magic sword? Laser eyebeams? An AK-47 covered in glitter?" If the Slumbering City had attached itself to a city somewhere in America, there definitely would have been a lot fewer teen pop idols and a lot more guns.

[kninja]

"Ehh, not so much."

Faux casual, Errant lifted a hand. On its arc up, something materialized mid-twirl: a kunai made of the usual glass and sparkle-sand. He let it dance around his knuckles before gripping it and another two in a classically Naruto between-the-fingers hold.

"What I've got are a bunch of throwing knives and a can-do attitude," he declared with good cheer. "You?"

[darknesshotpot]

"...Same." Grimacing, Ango pulled a nearly identical set of glass-and-sand kunai from his belt. They were fucked, weren't they? He hadn't paid much attention during New Dreamer Orientation, but he vaguely remembered that a balanced team was supposed to have at least one of each of the Saver, Striker and Sentry types, not fucking all ninjas. "Shit, this is kinda embarrassing, isn't it? Like showing up to a wedding in the same dress."

He took a last drag from his cigarette, then tossed the butt onto the ground. It was time for hero shit. "Anyway, I'm An... oh, right, we're still doing code names. I'm Dreamer Decadence. So, what about ninja magic? Can you do the Naruto thing where you run around with your arms straight back?"

[kninja]

"You know they found that it really is faster to run that way?"

Was he kidding? Maybe. Grinning, he used his hand full of knives to prop up the other in front of his face, held two fingers up straight, and made a very convincing impression of an anime character about to unleash a special move.

"Anyhow, of course I can. And I've unlocked the teleport-no-jutsu, too, Deca-san." He didn't demonstrate, however. Instead, he let his knife hand fall confidently back to his side and rested the other on his hip. "I'm good for a sneak attack, or at least a distraction. And, in case you're worried, this isn't my first fight."

[darknesshotpot]

Ango brandished his knives and struck his own anime pose. He'd watched "Ninja Scroll" so many times as a kid that he'd worn out the videotape. "The Naruto thing really does work, but it looks so dumb that I hate doing it in front of people... but hey, we're all ninjas here, right?"

His own magic skillset was also geared towards sneaking and distraction - he was a professional writer, after all, so it was only fitting that his powers be based around the idea of illusion. When it came to actually dealing damage, Ango preferred his fists. He slammed one fist into his other palm enthusiastically. "I've been in a fair few fights myself, you know. I was the Niigata Prefecture middle school judo tournament champion back in 1998, so I've totally got this." He'd been in his share of bar fights, too, but he didn't mention those. Nobody actually won a bar fight. Everybody went home with their tails between their legs, vaguely ashamed of what they'd done. "So let's sneak up on this big bad and beat the shit out of it before it materializes fully. Sound good?"

[kninja]

Errant made a suitably impressed noise over Ango's middle school accomplishments and did not clarify what his own combat experience entailed. Instead, he bounced a little to limber up, nodding eagerly.

"To the speedy go the spoils. You got it, Deca-san. And if that doesn't work out for us," and two novice ninja Dreamers ended up facing off against an entire Nightmare kaiju, "whoever's closest to the door should maybe run for backup. Other guy's just gotta do his best not to get squashed!"

With that cheerful thought, Dreamer Errant Naruto-ran ahead, into the dark.

[darknesshotpot]

This guy was seriously doing the Naruto run without the slightest hint of embarrassment. Ango respected that level of shamelessness. He was so impressed, in fact, that he took off after the other Dreamer without bothering to clarify several important aspects of the plan... starting with what the hell they were supposed to do if the Nightmare fully manifested. Backup was, at best, somewhere on the other side of the Necropolis... which meant that their best option was to strike at the Nightmare without being noticed.

As it happened, Ango had a little something for that. "Hey, wait a sec! I'll give us some cover." He paused to replicate one of the magical ninja hand seals he'd seen in an anime. "Let's see if this works... Secret Mist Technique!" The already damp and dank cavern grew damper and danker somehow, until a cold fog began to steadily rise from the floor. Even their footsteps seemed muffled by the unnatural haze.

[kninja]

"Oh?" Though surprised, he wasn't loud, and the fog dampened the sound enough not to alert the burgeoning Nightmare-to-be. Even so, Errant lowered his voice. "Preeeetty cool. Now, this is something I can work with."

When their connecting cave opened up into the large, cemeterial cavern where the Nightmare was taking shape, Dreamer Errant all but disappeared among the graves. That wasn't Dreamer magic at work, but years of training and experience in... well, some field that required stealth and intense bodily self-control, apparently. The way his voice floated back to Ango with no source visible in the foggy, eddying dark was eerie.

"I'll make my way around and hit it from above, if you have no objections, Deca-san."