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

[wingedman]

"So does that mean you're in Gryffindor?" Sam's voice came from behind him, pitched low and smooth, the fingers of one hand carding through Stephen's hair as the other lingered on his hip. "Not what I woulda thought, but maybe the Sorting Hat was drunk."

Yes, Sam was exactly the type to hit on people using Harry Potter references while grinding against their ass.

[suckstobestrange]

"It'd fit right in with this crowd." Excuse you Sam, who gave you permission to find his weak spot like that. Rude. Except Stephen clearly didn't mind, if the way he tilted his head into the thread of fingers through his hair was any hint.

One scarred, shaking (always) hand settling on the hand at his hip as they moved in time, grinning over his shoulder at his new dance partner.

"Always saw myself as a Slytherin if we're being honest." And he definitely looked in better shape than when he and Sam first talked - the hobo beard was gone and he was back to looking nicely groomed just like he preferred. It certainly helped in this situation, he probably wouldn't have been nearly as popular a dance partner otherwise.

[wingedman]

Sam hummed lightly - and, since Stephen seemed to be so receptive to fingers in his hair, settled his chin at the juncture of the other man's neck and shoulder, where the tilt of his head gave him room.

"Ambitious?" Sam didn't know much about him - didn't even know if he had a counterpart in his own world - but he wasn't averse to learning more. "Better be careful, I hear ambition can get you into trouble if you aren't careful. Unless you're the kinda guy who likes trouble." That was punctuated with a quiet laugh, one felt more than heard, the sort that implied that Sam himself was the trouble here.

[suckstobestrange]

"It absolutely gets me into trouble." He replied easily, leaning back into Sam when he tucked in, enjoying the warmth of the other man against his back as they moved in time with the beat of the music that all but thrummed through the room.

"Happily that's not always a bad thing." Like now, that amused tone seemed to say. His free hand slipping up, to let fingers move over Sam's shoulder, nails scraping lightly against the nape of his neck. This seemed like just the sort of trouble he liked, and he was more than happy to enjoy it in his current relaxed state.

[wingedman]

Sam didn't need to be drugged to enjoy the caresses, leaning into them like a cat. The hand that wasn't tangled in his hair played with the hem of Stephen's shirt, fingertips dipping to brush bare skin, lightly teasing the other man. With the way Sam was pressed against him, it wasn't difficult to tell what his ultimate goal was.

"Got any interesting magic tricks?" The question was half-joke, half serious. He wasn't that used to magic - mostly Wanda's variety, and he'd been assured Stephen's was different - and he was curious about it. And, at the moment, its potential applications in sex.

[suckstobestrange]

While the low hum the fingers against bare skin earned might be drowned out by the noise, Sam would feel it in the body nestled up against him, Stephen definitely enjoying the touch. And with or without the powder the touch would certainly be appreciated, even if it was questionable whether he'd have relaxed enough to admit as much otherwise. The question earned a laugh, fingers resting against Sam's hand and neck both giving a light wiggle.

"I've got a few you might like." A soft word and Sam would become aware of the feel of another touch, something a bit lighter and less solid, sliding up his side even while Stephen's hands stayed where they were.

[wingedman]

"That does seem pretty handy, no pun intended." Or maybe it was intended. Sam usually thought he was a lot funnier than he really was when he was drunk. But he could definitely think of a lot of uses for that, most of which, not coincidentally, involved being in public. (Some of them involved being tied up instead.)

Sam turned his head, brushing his lips against the other man's neck, kissing his way up to his ear and lingering there. "You got an invisible mouth, too?" His voice was low and quiet, barely audible even in Stephen's ear as it was.

[suckstobestrange]

"It's incredibly useful, hands down one of my favorites." Sam didn't have the corner on dorky jokes.

His lips quirked to a grin as he moved back against Sam in time with the music, fingers curling over the waistband of Sam's jeans, blunt nails scraping over skin in response to the feel of those soft words in his ear. Peering to the side to arch a brow, more amused than anything.

"Sounds like you've got some fun in mind already." Not that he sounded adverse, not in the least.

[wingedman]

Sam just laughed at the joke, leaning in to steal a kiss, the stubble of Stephen's goatee scraping against his skin. "I mean, I'm not complaining about the hand, but it seems to me that a mouth might be even better in certain situations." Or, rather, certain places. "Makes me wish I wasn't such a Muggle." Because if he had the chance, he would gladly use it to drive his partners crazy.

[suckstobestrange]

He felt a silly little wash of pleasure at the sound of that laugh, a tingle zipping up his spine as he caught the end of the kiss to return before his companion was speaking again.

Just chuckling a bit, with an almost playful tilt of his head.

"Oh I don't know... means you get to be surprised by the tricks magic has to offer, that can be a pretty good time." He hasn't been specifically writing new spells to work for this situation but those nice multi-purpose ones just have the happy coincidence of being just right for some creative reapplication.

[wingedman]

"Why don't you keep surprising me, then?" Sam's fingers kept playing over Stephen's bare skin, teasing, never quite delving to give him what he really wanted - but he seemed to have no problem with shamelessly grinding against him, his burgeoning erection obvious in his tight jeans.

"If you want to, that is." And he was pretty sure he did.