introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Flower Festival Celebration
when: April 2nd - April 15th
where: In several different locations in the downtown area of the Inhabited City.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

flower festival

In the days leading up to April 2nd, residents new and old may notice advertising around the city, everywhere from digital screens to paper flyers pasted on blank walls, all advertising an upcoming holiday: The Flower Festival. Celebrating springtime, beauty, joy, and togetherness, the festival heavily features floral themes and dancing. The advertising mentions that on April 10th, a paid holiday, there will be a Blossom Picnic, as well as lists of various public dances at clubs or other open venues, and adult raves.

a celebration of spring

The Flower Festival's main event is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th, but it also features traditions of sharing food and drink, and dancing that span over the course of the whole two weeks. There are a large variety of events going on throughout the city, from dancing lessons in any wide variety of traditional dances, to old-fashioned sock hops, to adult raves complete with mild party drugs. Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own event at any point during the festival, and if your character creates an event and hosts it in a top-level, you can submit that thread for extra bonus points.

i. blossom picnic

The main event that kicks off the second week of the Flower Festival is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th. A relaxed and low-key event, it draws several thousand people every year to the spacious Riverview Central Park, where there is a generous lawn lined with various blossoming trees, and families, found families, lovers, and groups of friends are encouraged to lay out a picnic blanket and share food. There will be live bands playing (but not loudly enough to distract from conversation and peacefully watching the petals flutter in the wind), a variety of demonstrations of traditional cultural dances from many different realities and planets, and a ton of ice cream vendors. This is an excellent festival not only for celebrating togetherness with the people who are already important, but for mingling and making new friends.

Characters may either pack their own lunches or they can purchase pre-packed Blossom Festival lunches. Stores and street markets are carrying a wide variety of specialty food that is only available at this time of year - predominantly pastries, an assortment of types of candies, and ice cream treats all in various floral flavors, as well as a sort of ambrosia salad based around a sweet rose-flavored cream and a native fruit that is bright green and tastes like a combination of peach and citrus.

ii. dancing lessons

Starting on April 2nd, there will be dancing lessons offered almost everywhere you look! From partner dances to group dances to line dances; sexy and sensual or innocent and childlike - almost any type of dance you can imagine is represented, from any reality or planet that has people in Riverview Quarantine.

Additionally, the Riverview Central Community Center has multiple rooms blocked off so anyone who knows a dance from home can teach it to others in their community - sharing is caring, after all. Characters are welcome to block off one of these rooms and offer lessons in any dance they happen to know from home (and these sorts of thread starters would be eligible for the mingle AC Point bonus)!

iii. flower festival dancing

This is pretty simply what it says on the tin - in almost every club, community center, or other public space, there will be dancing at almost all hours of the day or night, formal and informal. Musicians bring out their instruments and play in the street for demonstrations of cultural dances and music at the same time as clubs are offering VIP cover charges for exclusive dances, and you can find anything in between.

There are also many low-cover-charge raves that allow under-18s so younger characters can stay up all night and dance like crazy. The legal drinking age in Riverview Quarantine is 14, and so anyone over 14 can enter and indulge in a few drinks, dancing, and playing tag with a non-intoxicating version of the colored powder featured at the adult raves. There is copious amounts of security on site to ensure that everyone is safe, as well as nurses and off-duty police officers to offer advice or care for anyone who overindulges out of lack of experience.

Grab a partner, a group of friends, or just cruise and mingle the various dancing events.

Characters may also notice that most of the street markets and clothing shops are offering clothing that features floral patterns, flowers as accessories, and that show a lot of skin - for men, women, and anyone in between!

iv. adult raves

Advertised on flyers and digital screens around the city, made to pop as if they were under blacklight, is a series of adult raves that are happening in various large empty warehouse spaces around the city, including one that is listed as the danger rave and hosted in an abandoned factory outside the inhabited city walls. With bouncers at the door to ensure that anyone entering is 18+, the raves are comfortably adult in nature. Clothing is optional, showing skin is encouraged, and there are a lot of neatly tucked away spaces for attendees to get some time alone with one or more than one person, as well as spaces intended for orgies. The atmosphere is sex-positive and non-judgemental, open to any orientation or preference, with various forms of protection available for free, however, to ensure that everyone plays safe there are sober security teams out en masse at all premises to oversee the events.

(CW: DRUG USE) In each location, there is one specific room where attendees can enter, and dance or play tag with brightly colored powder that contains small amounts of a legal party drug commonly available in Riverview, which is absorbed through the skin. Not much more intoxicating than having a few beers, the effects of the drug are a pleasant low-key buzzing euphoria, positive sensitivity to touch, a heightening of desires for intimacy, and a mild lowering of inhibitions. Once a character has been hit with the powder, the color lingers on the skin so other attendees can know who has partaken, but once the powder makes contact with a surface it deactivates, meaning that partakers can safely dance with non-partakers without sharing the intoxicating effects.

Please be sure to warn in subject lines for any threads involving drug use. And remember, there is always security to intervene and make sure everyone is safe.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set at the Flower Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: third image by Steve Goad; other images found on uncredited on Pinterest or Google images - please let the mod know if you find credit!

navigation

Comments

III

[getjackedup]

[A drink was just the tip of the iceberg of what Tolemi needed after everything that's happened so far with him and word that raves were being held around the city were enough for him. He hadn't been to a rave in so long he'd forgotten just how loud they were and how many people had roaming hands.

Not that he hated it at the moment, letting the unfamiliar music flow over him as he moved from partner to partner, enjoying the push of bodies. He's alert as ever despite the knowledge that he doesn't have to be, not when he's somewhere no one gives a shit. He moves to the bar, rolling his shoulders and trying to work the tension out as he props his arms against it and waves his hand up high enough to get the bartender's attention. Being tall works in his favor. Then he turns his eyes toward the guy near him doesn't think twice about knocking the counter next to him roughly and then pointing.]

Hey, pass the fake-nuts. [He means the bowl of whatever the hell the little ball-shaped things are he's been snacking on in between drinks. They aren't nuts, but they're crunchy enough and salted so good enough for him.]

[winscenario]

[ It's certainly louder than Jim's used to these days, and somehow the drinks both help dull the senses and make them more sensitive to stimuli. The beat of the music rings in his ears a little, and the lights are almost enough for him not to be able to focus on the people dancing around him. Well. Grinding, mostly.

It doesn't bother him in the least, really, and if a few pretty faces happen to turn his way, he's not going to turn down a dance, nor swat away happy wandering hands. That, thankfully, he's not too old for. (If he ever is then he doesn't even want to live anymore.)

But a respite every so often is welcome, and he's nursing a cocktail that somehow glows in different colors depending on the kind of light it's under. His eyes scan the crowd, then he takes a sip, glancing to the man next to him when he knocks the counter next to him. ]

Sure. [ He nods just in case he can't hear him over the music, grabbing the bowl and sliding it over to him. Raising an eyebrow, ] You're welcome.

[getjackedup]

[He reaches for the bowl after it's slid across the counter and deposits it directly in front of himself. He's not much of a sharer when he's been drinking like this. If someone were to ask him to pass the fake-nuts, he'd tell them to fuck off. Good thing other people aren't as stingy.]

Sure, man. [He snorts--and maybe yells but he's not sure, it's always hard to tell in a crowd like this--shrugging one shoulder as his other hand digs a large handful of the not-nuts out of the bowl and shoves them into his mouth. The bartender finally makes his way over while he's still chewing, asking what he wants. To make things easier he just points at the drink the guy next to him has. It's colorful and has alcohol in it so whatever, why not.]

[winscenario]

[ Jim shoots an eyebrow up at the mannerisms, though not particularly upset. Either way, he wouldn't want the fake-nuts. He's had a few weird allergic reactions in the past so he's not going to risk with anything strange and new around here until Bones signs off on it. Probably enough of a risk that he's drinking these shiny cocktails, but at least he made sure there's nothing ending in 'berry' in it. ]

You look like you're having fun. Socializing and all. [ Because, you know. It's a party and that's usually what parties are for. ]

[getjackedup]

[Tolemi slides his eyes a bit to the left, hearing him just fine even with the booming baseline going on from the speakers around the room. He hadn't expected the conversation, to be honest, but wasn't going to ignore someone right next to him.]

Yeah, this bunch if all about socializing. Not the kind with much talking.

[winscenario]

[ That's Jim for you. He'll strike up conversation with just about anyone, especially in a place like this. Bonus points is that the guy hasn't come on strong at him, like others trying to drag him off to dance or just letting their hands wander happily into places. Not that Jim would usually mind that, but right now it does get to be a bit much.

Besides, the guy caught his attention. For whatever reason. ]

I'm talking, aren't I? [ He lifts a shoulder and tries for a smile. ] I'm Jim.

[getjackedup]

[It's enough to make Tolemi curb his normally caustic response, that's for sure. If only because he's not sure just yet what this guy's angle is yet. Maybe he's just tired of the yelling and dancing. His mouth crooks just a bit in a half smirk.]

If your last name was Beam, we'd already be best friends.

[But the bartender finally brings his drink and he swirls his finger in it to get the colors going.]

Bored already, Jim?

[winscenario]

[ Hey, no angle. For a change. Jim's not often prone to subtlety when it comes to social interactions so he'd know if Jim had some kind of ulterior motive.

He grins and laughs softly at that, shaking his head. (Hey, at least he gets that reference.) ]

No such luck. Jim Kirk. Sorry.

[ He shrugs a little, taking a sip from his own drink. ]

Not really. Why do you ask?

[getjackedup]

[He drinks a large mouthful of the cocktail and lets it slide down his throat before turning his attention back to Jim. He raises an eyebrow just a bit.]

All the company you could want and here you were sitting by yourself at the bar. Seems like either you're bored or waiting for someone.

[winscenario]

[ Jim shrugs at the comment, tipping his glass towards the guy while pointing vaguely at him. ]

Same thing could be said for you. [ Although he does seem far less sociable than Jim, but still. ] Nothing wrong with just enjoying a drink by myself. Everyone in here seems too drunk or too high for a decent conversation, anyway.

[getjackedup]

Did I say I wasn't bored? Pretty sure I said nothing of the sort.

[He takes another drink.] I came here looking for a party and realized it wasn't the kind of party I wanted right now. What with that too drunk and too high situation. So yeah, call me bored.

[winscenario]

Alright, excuse me, Mr. Sensitive!

[ Since he won't share his name then Jim will just call him that from now on. He moves his drink vaguely towards him, then takes a sip. ] So— if you're bored, why stick around?

[getjackedup]

[There is so much eyebrow raising going on at him right now. That eyebrow is the most judgmental eyebrow.]

Because Jirk--ah my bad, I mean Jim--usually if you wait long enough around a party like this, something happens to take the boredom away. Biding my time.

[winscenario]

[ Jim is completely impervious to judgmental eyebrow raises. He gets more than enough from Spock and Bones both.

He snorts faintly at the mix up. He can't tell if it was on purpose or not, but he finds it amusing nonetheless. Life's no fun if you can't laugh at yourself every once in a while, after all. ]

Mm, from my experience, in these parties 'something' usually ends up being a fight or a fire. Possibly both.

[getjackedup]

[On purpose or not? The world may never know. But he does smirk just a bit.]

As long as whoever are fighting are hot, isn't that what counts?

[Unless it's some bully picking on a little guy and then he might need to get in there and punch someone himself.]

[winscenario]

[ And Jim would join him in that without hesitation. Drunk bar fights, though, he's not eager to get involved in those. Not anymore. ]

Hmm, so that's the sort of thing you're into, is it? [ The corner of his lips twitches upwards in amusement. ]

[getjackedup]

[There's a little shrug.] In certain circumstances. A guy likes what he likes.

[He finishes off the cocktail and drops the glass back to the table with a light clink.]

So what are you waiting for? If you aren't bored. [Since he didn't say one way or another earlier.]

[winscenario]

[ Jim purses his lips and nods. Fair enough, he can't argue with that. And he's all for personal freedom. ]

Nothing, actually. Just people watching. I like doing that sometimes.

[getjackedup]

[Lots of people-watching going on lately, he thinks, but doesn't say.]

Watching huh? That's something a creep would say. Should I be watching you?

[winscenario]

Well, you can watch me, if you want.

[ Said with just enough teasing and a lopsided smile, then he shrugs. ] But what's so wrong with people watching? I'm not going to do anything to any of them, you know.

[getjackedup]

That's what a creep who was preying on people would say, isn't it? They wouldn't want anyone to know what they were up to and getting dropped into a place like this would be perfect for them. No one would know whether they were lying or telling the truth.

[He intentionally pauses.] Not that I'm saying you are a creep, but you look like the one no one would expect. Can't be too careful these days.

[winscenario]

[ Jim just starts laughing at that, arching his eyebrows and shaking his head. ]

My God, no! What kind of messed up world do you come from? Okay— fine, don't take my word for it if you don't want to, but believe me, I don't have some deep, dark reason for being here. Keep an eye on me all night if you want to.

[getjackedup]

[Seeing Jim's reaction was enough for Tolemi. He snorts and rolls his eyes, tapping the counter again, hard enough to make noise even the bartender could here. He wants another drink.]

Some would say that hullabaloo is protesting a bit too much. But I give you a pass. For now.

[winscenario]

I am not protesting anything. You're the one who seems to be in a mood to complain.

[ He raises his eyebrows, shrugging nonchalantly. ] Or maybe you just like to complain. I do know someone else who's just like that. Gives him a special kind of pleasure or something.

[getjackedup]

["Likes to complain"? Well Tolemi can't deny he does enjoy a bit of venting in his life, but "complaining" takes it just a bit too far.]

Hey, I already said I was bored. You're just making it real easy to entertain myself.