{ GAME OPENING LOG }

[dreamposts]

✵ GAME OPENING LOG ✵
Normally our TDMs serve as intro logs, but we have prepared a special character intro log for game opening! It is a massive, chaotic feast that can only be found in a dreamworld like Songerein. You can also use this to continue ongoing TDM threads, especially as it nears captcha. Reminder that any thread from the TDM can be carried over. Players are also welcome to make their own logs for things if they would rather skip this part. Be sure to read the Mod Announcement for other information and you can ask any questions regarding the log here.

I. THE FEAST

As the sleepy looking sun begins to set, the small little tapir fairies will buzz around to find all the new inhabitants and usher them to the plaza. There everyone will find several tables of various lengths, sizes, and shapes. Yes, that is a star shaped table along with a moon one. A special feast has been made just for them to welcome and celebrate their arrival. Some may even recognize decorations: leaves mottled and changing to an assortment of colors, festive streamers, popcorn strings, glittering garlands and bows, string lanterns, and maybe a few small gravestones here and there. Some areas might look a bit brown and withered while some of the trees take on a more cherry blossom look. It's a bit of a strange mashup, and yet the chaos seems to have a sense of harmony as well—especially when considering everything else that the feast has to offer. This is one divine feast that is going to be completely topsy turvy.

A. What's Your Sign? Everyone will find themselves mysteriously "tagged" with a special sticker and will suddenly gain special characteristics based off the animal: ears, tails, behavioral traits. They're mostly mild and to add flavor, but they may also feel different compatibility towards another, such as more attracted or opposed. The sticker will be hard to remove, but it is possible to swap with someone if they want to try a different experience.

B. Special Bowls. There are many tables and anyone can sit wherever they want. Just don't forget to pick up the special dinner bowl already personalized with their name on it. Of course there are some extra paints and decorations that can be added to it if one desires.

C. Wild Food. Every table has the same kind of food, and there is plenty to go around. Of course, that's only if the food can be caught and if one can keep an appetite for some of them. The boar's head is a bit talkative and might settle down if someone stuffs an apple in its mouth or tells it a joke. However, it might just get several laughs by the barrel of monkeys funnel cake nearby, monkey shaped pastries hiding within it to chuck out various candies and fruits. Not even the candy is safe, at least not the stringed ones. Licorice, chocolate coated taffy, and others will start slithering around and even hiss, sometimes wrapping around the arm of those who try to eat them. Playing some music might calm these sweet serpents so they can be eaten properly. How about that special carousel cake stand with the horse cookies prancing about?

D. Spice Up Your Li—Meal. However fear not. There is normal food around so it is possible to have a proper meal. However, some helpful little dragons may fly by to add a few herbs and spices to the dishes. They are quite friendly and will listen to requests, however if one is rude or too demanding, they may just dump a bunch of a hot pepper and other unsavory seasoning instead. Make a good enough impression and they might make house calls, even follow someone home. They live to spice up food, after all.

E. Drink Tea. Although there is an assortment of beverages, the prevalent one will be tea. They are similar to the ones found in the cafe and all will help bring out festive dreams and restful sleep later for everyone. However, someone is clearly making mischief as they have slipped in some rodentia tea. Drinking it will cause the drinker to shrink to the size of a rat. The only way to return to normal is to find the elusive cat cookies, which can be strangely hard to find; they seem to vanish and reappear at random, but only the ones with wide grins and “Eat Me” written on them can be eaten.

II. FUN & GAMES

Perhaps the food isn't up to one's tastes, or they just would rather have some fun. There are a few games around the plaza that everyone is welcome to participate in and they are encouraged to play to their heart's content. Just beware of the geese as they are being a menace not only at the tables but disrupting games as well.

A. Playing Chicken. A simple game, really, one that will test one's creativity and taste buds. There is a goat cheese fondue fountain surrounded with various platters of cooked chicken: grilled, steamed, boiled, baked, fried. This fondue fountain, however, is special. The flavor of the fondue can be altered depending on the kinds of emotions near it. Joy and love make it sugary sweet, anger and jealousy spicy hot, despair and distrust salty sour. And of course everything in-between including a chaotic mix. The challenge is one person will try and alter the flavor of the fondue, lather it on a piece of chicken, and then hand it to their opponent. The chicken must then be consumed. If not, the one who "cooked" it wins. If it is consumed, then the second person can now do the same to the other. This continues until one forfeits. It should be noted that the emotions of the one eating can also affect the fondue. (It is of course possible to take either the fondue or chicken without playing this stomach churning game.)

B. Gravity of Luck. There is a special wheel lottery set on a table decorated with rabbits. In fact there are a lot of rabbits congregating here and would love a few carrots. Anyone is free to spin the wheel one time per round to determine what kind of special "gravity" effect they receive. Each time the wheel is spun, a ball will drop and the color will indicate the type. A gold ball will cause them to lose all sense of gravity, their bodies starting to float away and although they can fly and float around, they'll need help being tethered down. White balls allow them to jump higher, small mushrooms appearing at their feet so others can follow. A black ball will cause them to be stuck in place, even fall flat all the way to the ground and need help standing up. Those imbued with the power of the different balls can help balance each other out until the effect wears off in half an hour.

C. Ox Go-Kart. For those who really want some speed and action, there are ox driven carts stationed by various streets. Two people can partner up with one driving and the other serving to help try to slow the other cart down. In this race, all non-lethal, non-destructive abilities are allowed to try and disrupt the other racer. Perhaps utilizing dreamotion based abilities may fare better. Just beware of other obstacles, especially any random crying dodos that create giant pools of tears as water hazards.

D. Tiger Fishing. There are special colorful ponds filled with sparkly gummy koi fish. At each one there is a little round tiger(?) with a pair of tiger mittens. In the same vein of fish scooping games, players must wear the tiger mittens and catch the gummy fish with them. It won't be easy as the gummy fish are even more slippery than normal. Perhaps some other skills could be used...but the little tiger will be watching and will latch onto anyone's heads who try to cheat. But if caught, they will make for a delectable treat—or interesting pet.

Comments

[masqueraid]

Oh, no it's—

( oh god, that face! that sweet pumpkin face! what has he done?!
open mouth, insert foot. foot...
with a sudden fwoosh his feet, shoes and all, grew several sizes at the idea— making him stumble again with the shift in weight, though he managed to remain upright. )

More like "umdu" now, that you've wiped some of it off. ( but, perhaps as a bit better of an explanation for his transgression: ) They really made quick work of us, there.

( he'd be embarrassed at the ambush if the handicap they were suffering hadn't been so great.... )

[bravesteps]

[ umdu.. oh, okay, she's cottoning on. the mice must have written it. why else would her favorite senpai disparage her so openly?? break her heart so keenly?? she has never known him to be so cruel..

honestly though, she can't help but laugh again at his big dumb clown feet. ]

They really did.. but o-okay, okay, I think I know the trick to it! Just.. try to focus on what you look like, from head to toe!

[ she says, even though she still has a pumpkin head. but at least her body is normal sized.. ]

[masqueraid]

( he would never!! which is why he's glad when his name is, once again, cleared as she catches on to what had happened. )

All right, once more...

( ren's non-existent eyes closed, as he centered himself.
he worked to clear his mind, embracing the meditation techniques he had developed over the year at the temple in kichijoji...

and then, finally, with a long-drawn out inhale: poof
ren is senpai-sized again, the force with which his body returned causing him to re-appear and promptly land on his rear.
he looks up, pleased, even with the game of tic-tac-toe having transferred flawlessly onto his now very-human cheek, and his glasses still covered in graffiti. )

Much better.

( thanks for the pep-talk, pumpkouhai. )

[bravesteps]

[ PUMPKOUHAI..

sumire cheers brightly with a little hop, one fist in the air; he did it!! senpai is senpai once again. he made a decent pumpkin, but she prefers him ren-shaped. ]

There, you did it! It feels much better, hmm?

[ even if there's still marker all over his face and glasses, but what can you do? speaking of feeling better, she's only just remembering now that.. she's also still a pumpkin head, which you think would throw her off-balance, but apparently a fake magic pumpkin head is pretty light. ]

Oh, um, my turn now!

[ time to CONCENTRATE. ]

[masqueraid]

Much.

( he echoes. orange really isn't his first choice, but, forced to— he could probably make it look good.
thankfully that isn't a decision he'll have to go with for now, grateful that he managed to get himself out of that dill-emma. whoops, wrong vegetable patch?

getting back up on his feet again however, ren makes a fist of his own, flexing it in encouragement for her task at hand. )

You've got this, Sumire.

[bravesteps]

[ with senpai cheering her on, how can she possibly fail??

ren can't see it, but sumire is smiling as bright as the sun right now. well.. she would be, if she had a mouth. the smile is implied in her body language! ]

Okay.. okay!

[ balling both hands into fists, sumire closes her eyes and imagines.. a mirror! she thinks about what her face looks like, and how it feels to have a face, a real head, not a pumpkin one, and after a few seconds.. pop! there it is, her regular sumire head!! .. albeit scribbled on. she moves both hands all over her cheeks. ]

Did I do it?

[masqueraid]

Yeah! ( celebratory fist-pump in her honour!! ) Easy-peasy, right?

( even though the events they'd just lived through, and the marker-like evidence, would suggest the difficulty level was actually not 'peasy' at all.
but now that they are both decidedly more human, his posture does relax quite a bit. it seems these re-grown human legs are indeed, trustworthy. )

Though... I suppose we should have expected life as a pumpkin to be a bit hallow-ing.