{ flower festival 2024: royal court winners }

[dreamkeepers]

DREAM NOTES #32.5: ROYAL COURT WINNERS

Another fun turnout for this year's contest! But before that we have an important announcement we want to make clearly official (and will announce again on the official Activity Check post).

Activity is now only ONE THREAD OF FIVE COMMENTS! This is a permanent change, so starting this month, players only need to submit one thread of five comments, basically half of the original requirement.

Congratulations everyone!!!

(No this is not a late April Fool's joke.)

THE ROYAL COURT

Well we originally planned for 8 winners, but just like last year the voting had a lot of ties and in the end we had 10 winners! The results will ICly be announced on the morning of Saturday, April 14th, which is also the same day that the Nahida Timeloop player plot goes into effect. So everyone will be in these costumes for quite a while.

As always, the costumes are unique and have special effects for the wearer. In addition, we went with an Alice in Wonderland theme so this should be fun. We're listing out some of these effects but players are free to be creative and expand on them.

TITLE	DAY	NIGHT
Emperor:	Joshua as the White Rabbit. He's going to feel a bit in a rush, constantly checking time and urging others to hurry along if he sees anyone dawdling about. Can't be late!! He will also have a boost in speed, capable of covering distances quickly and even creating small portals to travel from part of town to another (only with Reverein).	---
Empress:	Zelda as the lovely Alice. She has a tendency to get lost, extremely curious towards everything, and a dreamer whose ideas and thoughts may unwittingly take physical form. These "creations" may take a life of their own so help her if they get too crazy! She also can't help but be a busybody, getting into everyone's business.	---
King:	Zack as the Mad Hatter, he'll have hats for everyone and will try to make hats out of anything. Literally anything, including garbage—it's almost impulsive. He will often throw tea parties and can conjure a tea set at will, including tables and chairs. However he'll need the Mad Hatter's assistance for any snacks and actual tea, so if caught alone others may have to help provide.	Kratos as the Knave of Hearts, he will follow any order given by his Queen. A strong sense of justice to act and exact punishment, each swing of his heart-shaped blade will leave a trail of hearts and anyone struck by it will feel intense love. However, he gets lost rather easily and may need some assistance in finding his way. Those who do will be rewarded with a heart stamp given by the King himself.
Queen:	Tifa as the March Hare. The constant companion to the Mad Hatter, she, too, will enjoy tea and be able to conjure any kind of tea imaginable as well along with other snacks suitable for teatime, but she'll need a table and cups. However, she will be a bit jittery, hare ears twitching this way and that, and will really need her tea fix quite often before she throws a fit. (Said tea can also be gossip, so tell her some juicy stories!!)	Aerith as the Queen of Hearts, she is quite the commanding one as well as quick to make judgments, often sending her dear Knave to handle any who displease her. However, she is easy to flatter and will happily accept cakes and other "offerings." She likes to throw croquet games, but watch out for her flamingo croquet mallet, it can turn unfortunate ones into flamingos.
Prince:	Ira as Tweedle Dee, is a sly prankster who will try to play tricks on those he meets. Sticking dumb signs on their backs and with a wave of his hand can make fake mustaches and marker paint appear on anyone's face. He can make special animal balloons that come to life and chase their target around.	Cloud as Tweedle Dum is the opposite and is more outgoing and overt in his pranks. Capable of conjuring pies he will throw them at anyone for no reason whatsoever. His balloon animals will also try to pick up targets and fly them off to high places.
Princess:	Futaba as the adorable Dormouse, she is a v e r y sleepy little mouse and likes to curl up anywhere, especially teacups. She can shrink down to the size of a mouse so watch out! For those who like a nap, she can conjure up comfortable pillows and blankets, all teacup shaped.	Hiyori as the whimsical Cheshire Cat, she is capable of appearing and disappearing at will, and can even only make certain parts of her body visible. She loves giving riddles and surprising people with her abilities. Cats will also crowd around her, as well as those who like cats or have feline tendencies.

Well this should be fun, ho ho. For those who were nominated, they will have cute, forest creature based costumes. Yes, only costumes this time, no partial transformations or the like, and players can choose which type of animal they can be. They also do not have to be full bodysuits, but they do need to have enough parts and features to look more like the animal than just slapping on fake ears. The only requirement is they must be cute. The wearer will also behave similarly to the animal, and any fake ears or tails will still be able to move, dreamotion being the mechanism in controlling and reaction to the wearer's thoughts and emotions.

As always the costumes cannot be removed until after the festival. Which kind of sucks since this is the day that is looped—

And for fun, here are the final numbers for everyone (it includes the toplevel as a vote):

EVERYONE ELSE

We're not leaving out the rest of the festival! Every other guest will find themselves in some kind of chess themed costume. As usual, players can have a lot of creativity so you can make them as normal, silly, sexy, or some kind of combination you feel like tormenting your character with. Those who are white will be part of the "Day" court, and the black pieces will be "Night". In addition, a character's movements may be affected by their chess costume. Bishops will have a tendency to to walk diagonally, Knights may want to jump around to move for no reason, and Pawns take small steps. This isn't something that happens all the time, but at random, so have fun with it! And when faced off with an opposite color, a sense of competitiveness will form and people may try to compete or be difficult to let anyone pass by.

Finally, everyone can conjure a random card and try to find their opposite colored match to do some fun festival activities with. So it doesn't matter what the suit is, just that a Red card must find a Black card of the same number or type (4 and 4, Jack and Jack). It's completely random every time, so a character is not stuck to just one specific match.

Fortunately for everyone not part of the Royal Court, these costumes can be removed…after wearing them for about two hours. After that time limit, the costumes will come off easily like any other clothing. They can also change and alter depending on one's mood.

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to comment and ask!