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

lois lane | dceu | ota

[contacts]

iv. — adult raves

[ if there's one thing that lois has learned, it's that she has to dig deeper, look beyond the surface if she wants to uncover the truth and get the whole story, and she very much wants to get the whole story about this place, about the people brought to it, about the how and why of it all. the flower festival is beautiful, but it's almost too peaceful and calm. it is a good opportunity to get a feel for this place and its inhabitants, though, to mingle and get to know people.

the adult raves seem like a good starting point for digging deeper, and so two different occasions, lois will take a small notebook, put on a skirt that is shorter than her usual working attire and a top that's cut just a little lower, leaving the waistcoat behind and her hair open. she won't make use of any drugs, but she can be found at the bar, one foot tapping to the beat of whatever song is playing. there's a whiskey in front of her, but her gaze is alert, taking in the security teams and everything else. ]

v. — wildcard

[ the days after her arrival, investigating her now "home" is priority number one for lois. the investigation will take her all over the inhabited part of the city, and so she can be found watching some of the dance lessons, listening intently to explanations about the traditional value of dance in this or that world, she'll drop in on some of the dancing venues for just a drink, watching or approaching someone to ask if they have time to tell her a little bit about their world, about their arrival here, about what they know and think about this place.

at times, she might also be found on floor one of the communal housing, where she has her bed. if she comes across any roommates, they're likely to receive a similar set of questions after introductions.

tl;dr lois is curious and going to be asking questions so run into her anywhere and i'll roll with it! ]

iv.

[batbullets]

For someone who's at a rave, you seem to be in a shockingly serious mood.

[Granted, Jason himself was dressed in his Red Hood uniform, sans the giant red helmet, so it's not as though he exactly fit in here either. Judging by the way he didn't have any powder spread on him, and the fact that though he was holding a vodka soda, it seemed mostly untouched, it could easily be surmised that Jason was here for reasons similar to Lois. He wasn't a reporter, but he was a detective, and that meant familiarizing himself more with his surroundings. It also probably meant keeping a lower profile, but it wasn't as though he was in Gotham City anymore.]

Are you spying on someone, or are you covering this for a story?

[contacts]

[ it could just be a costume, but lois has seen tactical gear often enough in her life to recognise it for what it is, and the bat has been operating in gotham for long enough that she's seen the logo pass her desk, too, though the outfit differs from what eye witnesses have said about the bat.

she lifts her glass in a silent toast that's mostly acknowledgement. ]

It's not officially a story yet. Call it following up on a hunch. [ call if learning more about this place, if you will. ] What's your excuse?

[batbullets]

[Jason smirks at her and leans against the bar. He lifts his glass in silent toast as well before setting it down without a sip and shrugs nonchalantly.]

Professional party-pooper. At some point in the last few years, I apparently forgot how to actually have fun.

[He surveys the crowd around them with some interest, but there's nothing urging him to join in with them.]

So a hunch, huh? What's the sitch? Shady drug deal? Secret supervillain? Thinking that there's something weird about all of us disparate people being brought here all together? Coz yeah, that last bit is really weird.

[contacts]

[ lois actually takes a sip of her scotch before lowering the glass again. she knows how much she can handle without losing her edge. ]

You might want to get that fixed. I hear having fun is great. [ of course, lois is a workaholic herself and her idea of fun is uncovering a story, the pieces falling together. ]

Definitely the last one.

[batbullets]

I mean, I suppose coating myself in powder is one way, but that's probably not a habit I want to pick up in the long run. [He was never around for it, but he knows that Roy's struggled with drugs in the past himself, and that's not ever a thing he wants to get involved in.]

It's weird, right? But everyone seems to be accepting it pretty easily, like there's nothing all that weird about it. Or maybe everyone's just in some strange form of denial.

[Or, he thinks silently, these festivals they're having are somehow making them complacent.]

No one really seems all that devastated to be wrenched away from their homes.

[He turns back to Lois, then, and holds out his hand, flashing her that charming smile of his.]

I'm Jason, by the way.

v

[advanced]

[Bucky isn't really taking part in any of the festivities. Being around that many people just makes him feel like he has a target on his back, never quite sure if there are enemies in the crowd that could quickly turn this celebration into a bloodbath. But there's something about one of the dance classes going on in the park...

It's old style swing dancing, or so says the instructor, and it stirs something uncomfortably familiar inside him. He can't help but watch, creeping ever closer minute by minute, until he's stood right at the edge of the class with an intense look on his face and his hands pushed deeply into hoodie pockets.

He jerks when someone suddenly addresses him, asking him if he has time to answer questions, gaze swivelling to her face in surprise.]

What?

[Smooth.]

What kind of questions?

[contacts]

[ there's a tension in the shoulders of the guy next to lois, something in his posture that reminds her of the soldiers in the platoon she'd been embedded with for a while, but lois still doesn't expect him to be quite so surprised at her question. ]

Like 'what do you think of this place?'.

[advanced]

[He should say no, but he knows from experience that sometimes 'fitting in' can be much less memorable and suspicious. If he converses with her for a while, she's much more likely to forget him, than if he runs off in a panic.]

Uh, sure. I haven't been here that long, though, I don't know much so I probably won't be helpful.

[contacts]

[ she'd definitely remember him if he ran off in a panic—but unfortunately for him, lois has a very good memory when it comes to her sources, even ones that she's just casually interviewed. ]

How long is not long? [ she asks, tone deliberately light in an attempt to put him at ease. even while she's asking it, she's already sticking out one hand for him to shake, offering a smile. ] I'm Lois Lane.

[advanced]

[He's wearing leather gloves and long sleeves despite the clement weather, reaching out to shake her hand briefly even if there's something disquieted in his eyes while doing so.]

Nathan Richardson.

[He plucks the name out of thin air, he's been trying to give a different one to each person he needs to give a name to. Makes him harder to track if nobody knows who to ask for.]

Just a few weeks, coming up on a month.

communal housing buddies (bed 5)

[diagenesis]

[Flint is not a sociable man. Most interaction he has with his housemates is incidental: he feels no especial need to seek out human contact. He learns by observing, and acts mild-mannered besides, as strange and unbecoming as it is to appear unobtrusive to someone who has been a fucking king.

If she's paid any attention, she'll notice that he has a tendency to make and conveniently leave out Sunday dinner. It's certainly not for any accolades, as he never bothers to take credit or stick around for people to thank him for the deed, it's just part of his established routine in Quarantine. The fare is usually simple. Glazed meat. A few vegetables. The spicing is done with an eye to modernity, James is not content to keep to the rigors of the past.

A captain without a ship is a man unmoored. James survives by adaptation. It was how he endured Nassau at first, and Flint. No good man becomes a monster without cause, and it is easier here to simply be James. A ten years' Navy man with a footlocker full of books, a hand-drafted star chart he's tacked up above it that makes up for its lack of obvious artistry with linework and detail that would put a master craftsman to shame.

James is seated in one of the living room chairs reading when she enters the room, the Muscovy book Master and Margarita, in its original Cyrillic. There is a moment when he glances up at her: calculated, keen, and then he sets the book aside and stands. Years removed from London, he cannot shake the mores of her social trappings, and James McGraw never failed in standing at a lady's presence.

A concession: he does not bow, but merely inclines his head. There is an uncharacteristic moment of awkwardness in the way he holds his hands, and then he tucks them behind his back.]

Ms. Lane.

[Because he's hardly failed to notice her.]

[contacts]

[ lois has plenty of things on her mind, from arriving here and trying to unearth secrets that she isn't entirely sure yet are lurking below the surface, and learning the lay of the land and investigating all at once, to the something that's between her and clark, that she wants to explore despite the distraction it provides to her investigation. she has plenty of things on her mind, but she is hardly unobservant, and so she's spotted him before, she's seen the star chart and the footlocker, though not its contents, and while she hasn't put two and two together about the food just yet, she has her suspicions.

there's something peculiar in how he moves to stand in her presence, something old-fashioned in his posture and address though both can be found in her day and age. ]

Mr McGraw. [ if he has a title or rank, lois hasn't been able to learn that much yet. for a moment, they're each still, then lois crosses the distance between them, chin tipped up to look him in the eye, and holds out her hand. ] We haven't really met yet.

[diagenesis]

[He does not bow over her hand, or bend to kiss her knuckles. He has learned: a handshake between men and women is as proper as one between men, so that is what she gets.

His grip is firm, there is a sense of something unyielding behind it, though he obviously is not interested in an overt display of strength or, God forbid, to hurt her. And his hands are rough, calloused and scarred, with rings on the last two fingers of his right. Once concluded, he refolds both behind his back. Hard to shake the sense of impropriety in being close in a woman's space.]

You'll have to forgive me on that account, Ms. Lane, I'm not the most sociable of men.

[contacts]

[ in light of the information she has about different worlds and different times, lois might not have rebuked him or thought it weird if he had, but he shakes her hand, her own grip equally firm but skin less rough. she's grown up with sam lane as a father; she's learned the importance of a strong handshake early on and it's a lesson that has served her well over the years. ]

Nothing to forgive. I haven't been here that long.

[ he may not be sociable, but that he's already learned her name tells her a lot about him. the same goes for her, she supposes. ] What about you? When did you get here?

[diagenesis]

[He gestures for her to take a seat. Provided she does, his next query is tangential:]

Would you like a cup of tea?

[For in speaking of rebukes, Miranda would find his manners terribly remiss if he failed in offering her some touch of hospitality. He reaches for her still, in dark moments. Sometimes he imagines she and Thomas are the only light he has left.]

And, ah. I came with the first of the [his mouth quirks, he obviously finds some dry humour in the word--] castaways.

v

[genice]

( victor's been watching this particular interpretation of what he would call ballet back home, under a different name and school of dance here, contemplatively drinking from his glass. it's not bad, whatever it is; some on tap brew made locally, as most everything is by default. though he might have that wrong. a quarantined city can still accept supplies from elsewhere if there's an elsewhere wanting to engage in their commerce, he supposes.

he could ask after that. he decides to leave it for later.

the woman who ends up joining him at the small table he's been lingering at earns a sideglance and a polite smile; he laughs, setting down his glance, canting his head toward the table. )

Are you going around polling the audience for their response for any particular reason?

[contacts]

[ he doesn't seem to mind her joining at him at the table, which is a good sign in that it means he might not be averse to answering a few questions, and a bad one in that he might not have many answers because he doesn't seem like he has much to hide. of course, impressions can be deceiving and not being shifty doesn't mean he can't be a useful source.

there's really only one way to find out, and so lois smiles back. ]

Professional curiosity. I'm an investigative journalist, and I'm not polling people on their response so much as I want to collect as much information on this place as I can.

[genice]

With official sources being held under scrutiny, I expect.

( he tips his glass toward her: these days he understands better than he'd like. but he also finds more of a steadiness here than had been present on the Eluvio. he's not sure if that's misleading, or the way the city structure is familiar enough he can sense a logic even without the open communications happening up and down the line.

it helps, not being contained. helps too when not constantly driving back the Void. )

I haven't been in city for long. Just heading into what, my second week or so? Thereabouts.

[contacts]

[ lois neither confirms or denies, at least not verbally. when he tips his glass toward her, she tips her head in acknowledgement, a smile playing around her lips. his assessment is right, of course. ]

We have that in common.

[ she hasn't arrived that long ago, but between finding that clark is here, reading his notes and starting her own investigation, she's been busy. ]

[genice]

Mm, that recent for you, too?

( it's a rhetorical statement. she just said it was, but it's all a prelude to him straightening just so, shifting to grant her more of his attention instead of the scattered edges of it. )

From my understanding of the way the portal and new arrivals work, I'm in a somewhat complicated situation. Being ah... displaced? Universally displaced? ( he lifts his free hand, waving off the word either way. ) Before arriving here in the first place. I was on a flagship for a space fleet of mmm... colonists, I suppose, before arriving here.

V

[yokunaru]

[With his ballroom class over, Yuuri settles in for a break outside the room, slowly sipping at his water. Though he's been dancing for a while now, he looks energized by the buzz and activity, rather than exhausted.

When Lois approaches him, Yuuri pauses, water bottle poised just before his lips. He slowly lowers it.]

Um, I have time. [The smile he offers her is small and tentative, but genuine.] What kind of questions about my world?

[contacts]

[ lois never once considered taking dancing classes, her focus always on other things, but watching the dancers glide across the floor almost makes her regret that. she doesn't, not really, but it looks lovely and the young man she approaches looks like he's been enjoying it tremendously. ]

What year was it, what would you say are major cities that everyone in your world would know, that kind of thing. [ to give some context to her questions, she adds: ] I'm an investigative journalist. And trying to figure out if there's any rhyme or reason to who is brought here.

[ clark's research shows some trends, but lois appreciates the opportunity to do some of the groundwork herself as well, to ask questions and hear everyone's answers, to make her own notes. ]

[yokunaru]

[Yuuri perks up, looking interested.] Oh, that's a good idea. I thought these portals would be random, like... [He bites his lip, hesitating, then plows on.] Anyway, it's probably a good idea to look into that, just in case.

[Quickly, he names a year around 2016.] Well known cities... for Japan, probably Tokyo and Kyoto. Um, Los Angeles and New York for America. Moscow and Saint Petersburg for Russia. [As he lists them off, he glances at her, tilting his head like he's wondering if they sound familiar to her.]

[contacts]

[ 2016 is a little into her future, but lois nods along to the cities he names, jotting down some quick notes. thinking back to clark's notes, she asks: ]

Have you heard of Metropolis or Gotham?