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

victor nikiforov | ota

[genice]

v: community boards

( He can just as easily use the internet or network to post this kind of request, but he's enjoying having written up a flyer in English, using a magnet to add it to the community board at both the community housing and his new "work site" in the Riverview Central Community Center. It's simple and to the point: My name is Victor Nikiforov, and I'm looking for individuals interested and capable of teaching self defense to someone with about a month and a half of eclectic training under his belt. We can discuss appropriate recompense. Give me a call! ♥ Then his phone number and a doodle of a poodle. In fact, several doodles of poodles.

He also puts up a second flyer, this one asking for any with skills in instructing in ice skating to contact Victor Nikiforov at the same number he posted when looking for self-defense instructors. This flyer also has poodles.

Or a poodle.

(The poodle is in ice skates.)

After completing this at either the community housing ground floor or at the Central Community Center, Victor steps back to survey his work. Makkachin, his chocolate poodle of well over twelve years, wags his tail at Victor's side, looking up at his owner and then around the room with equal interest. )

What do you think, Makkachin?

( He asks, knuckle of his index finger resting against his chin. He glances down toward his dog. Makkachin looks up at him. For a moment, they're both still.

Then he breathes out through his nose, almost but not quite smiling. )

It's a start.

ii: weaving ribbons around poles, what could go wrong?

In the process of investigating the city, Victor ends up in just about every lively place he can imagine, engaged and curious. He wants a mental map of the city either way. One of the best ways he knows how to understand his surroundings is to get out there and experience them firsthand.

The Flower Festival makes for an excellent excuse to be wandering. It's sporadic, around his attempts at understanding his expectations at the Community Center and setting up interviews with potential teachers, as well as making excuses to head to the library or out to the streets for
inspiration" and insight. He's never done choreography for basics. He probably can, it's just hard to get motivated by when he doesn't even know what fits snugly within what skill level.

So he walks to learn the city and to set aside the concerns he struggles with in his own time. Which might explain how he ends up in one of the many more open spaces, this one set up with a pole that people of all ages and kinds are dancing around, each holding a ribbon. The weave in and out, the spontaneous joy in spins and accompanying laughter, appeals to him. A teal ribbon ends up tucked into his palm, and then he's part of it all, amused and allowing the crowd's energy to sweep him away. One spin out after the ribbons have all been danced free finds Victor holding another ribbon in his other hand, this one a remarkable goldenrod. He laughs, stepping to the side and flashing the first person he finds with free hands an easy, unfettered grin. Blue eyes sparkling with friendly challenge, he goes into a partial bow, teal ribbon fisted in the hand at his back, goldenrod ribbon end held out in his other hand. It's an open invitation.

"Come! Dance with us."

Though his eyes seem to add the connotation of, If you think you an keep up.

iii: flower crowns and toasts to friends past

( He finds himself wearing a flower crown and more than halfway to happily inebriated when a flash of colour draws his eyes to the side. Victor spins, remarkably light on his feet, smile broad and easy as he lifts the crown of flowers that look something like white chrysanthemums in spite of being nothing of the kind, plopping it happily over a stranger's head. )

There! Perfect.

( He exclaims with a smile and a wink, lifting his half-full mug of whatever ale this street vendor had been selling: lightly spiced, served chilled, and pleasantly warm going down. Indicating his own flower crown of white, yellow, and red camellia-like flowers, he quips: )

Now we match!

( In no conceivable way is this a match beyond both having flower crowns. But he sure seems amused by this, lifting his mug in a wordless, laughing toast. Letting himself enjoy the moment and find some breathing room before settling back into the reality of a new start for the second time in four, five months? Sounds like a pretty good idea to Victor. )

wildcard

( want to answer Victor's flyer about cooking lessons and cultural exchange? want to meet up on the day of the big picnic? feel like catching him at the rink? hit me up here with a wildcard of your own, or comment to me with a two word prompt and I'll write us up something random!

please tag in as you prefer to tag, I'll match your style. )

iii

[spellslots]

[The sudden appearance of a) a person and b) a flower crown catches Taako by surprises, but he laughs as soon as he realizes what's going on. There are already flowers braided into his hair, a contribution made by Bryn earlier, so the crown is just adding to the #aesthetic he's got happening here.]

We're going with a loose definition of matching here, huh?

[genice]

( he may have a point, though Victor doesn't seem all that concerned with it. he waves a hand airly, patting this fine person he doesn't know anything about on the back. )

Flowers and flowers. Feels matching enough!

( and he will drink to that! or tip his mug toward his new friend (that's how this works, isn't it? perhaps not, but being friendly right now sure beats being suspicious and wondering who the heck's out to ruin you) and take a nice big swallow. )

[spellslots]

[Taako laughs, wondering if Victor is just having a lot of fun or if there's more to that drink than meets the eye. (If it's the latter, he kinda wants to get in on that).]

I dunno if I can live with the color being all wrong! Lemme just...

[With a snap of his fingers, the flowers of his own crown change color to match Victor's flowers. All better.]

ii

[advanced]

[Just as before, it's the dancing that catches his eye. He's not sure why it calls to him like it does, but some deep part of him seems convinced that he used to be a good dancer, that he used to enjoy it. So he's been spending more and more time around the festival, much more than is sensible, just watching either the dance classes or the demonstrations.

This one isn't as familiar to him as the swing dancing class he saw earlier was, but it's pleasant to watch and the people having fun flying about with ribbons almost make him smile. Almost, but not quite.

He's really not expecting to suddenly have one of the dancers right in front of him, bowing and holding out a goldenrod ribbon. He shakes his head, voice a little raspy.]

I don't dance.

[genice]

( Victor Nikiforov respects boundaries.

For the most part.

Meaning he's straightening up from that bow and taking the smooth step and a half forward that bridges the distance between them, helpfully providing him with the goldenrod ribbon yet again. Even by taking his hand, if he can manage it, though Victor's not aiming to do much space invasion. For the most part, he only forgets about personal space bubbles with people he knows and has some regard for; or, perhaps, when decently intoxicated. )

Ah, fair enough. But can you move? Or, say, jog?

[advanced]

[His eyes narrow, and his hand underneath where Victor has grasped the leather glove is tense (or just hard because it's made of metal, one of the two), but he doesn't pull away yet because he doesn't want to make a scene.]

Pick someone else.

[He glances around, but everyone else has sort of moved back not wanting to be singled out either.]

iii - because I can't help myself

[realimperfect]

[ Re-L has never seen flowers before today.

No, really.

Everything everywhere being covered and decorated in different flowers in all sorts of varieties is something of a museum visit for her. After all, she's only seen some of these in books, many hd been wiped out entirely by the nuclear destruction of Earth and, well.. a lacking ability of humans, over time, to keep them alive and still prevalent. Either way, they would've been completely gone, now, with the collapse.

Sure, these were alien flowers but they were still something.

Still, she looks a little shell shocked as a flower crown is settled on her head - a stark white in contrast to her dark hair, a mug of the same drink in her hand, despite all of her misgivings, to take the edge off. All of this was just... too much at once. Far too much - ]

I'm not sure they're exactly the same, but, thank you - [ Annddd there's an awkward toast, a mimicked motion as if she's never done it before. ]

[genice]

( The return of his toast leads him to tapping their mugs together, flashing her a truly bright smile before he tips his back and takes a decent swallow. Mmm, ah. )

Feeling overwhelmed? I can't say I'm missing the emergency lighting or incessant need for strangers to please me whenever I'm talking with them.

( Yes, that degree of pandering that happened off and on with the civilians on ship had kind of rubbed him wrong. It's one thing to be genuine. Something else to be otherwise.

Now the good cheer of this particular festival? Crowd energy feeding on crowd energy and positive emotion to spawn more of the kind? That kind of experience is one he appreciates, especially in new situations like this one. )

[realimperfect]

A lot overwhelmed, actually - [ This was far more revelry than she had ever encountered before. Bajikan, of course, had been rampant hedonism and self-pleasing, but everyone was largely out to do things for themselves, not worrying about what other people were doing. Here? There were people selling, people wanting to chit chat and be generally friendly and, needless to say, it was nothing that Re-L was used to. At times, she missed how quiet and to themselves the fellow citizens of Romdeau had been.

Socially at this moment? She's a little played out. The alcohol in her drink is helping, a little, but there is just.. not much of a chance that Re-L is going to become that social of an animal all that quickly. ]

Groveling in any way is more often annoying than helpful, regardless of who you are.... [ She takes another large drink of whatever it is she's been given. ] I don't miss hearing 'Her Excellency' one bit.

[ Thats sort of a lie - she kind of misses the deference. ]

community boards (text chat!)

[pundemic]

u sure like those weird fluffy dogs a lot, huh?

what sort of training do u need?

[She's not exactly the best fighter, but she's good with weapons and she knows how to hit somebody where it hurts. She doesn't like the idea of civilians (and yes, she can't help but think of them that way) as being incapable of defending themselves, so. Here she is.]

[genice]

Poodles! Poodles are fantastic. ♥

Self-defense, primarily. If I knew enough to be particular in what kinds, I'd be more helpful. I'd been recently training with several individuals in basic techniques for disarming and breaking away from opponents

[pundemic]

poodles.

[Poodles are probably extinct in her time. Or at least, they will have interbred so much with other species as to be almost unrecognizable. 'weird fluffy dog' about sums it up. Ellie has only seen a few in her life besides.]

i know a bit. mostly with weapons though. how tall are you?

[Random as it might seem this is an Important Question.]

community boards

[livingsymbol]

[The flyer is actually cute. Steve wanders over to the boards to see what people are doing locally. He's still getting used to just being another citizen with no real demand for saving the world from aliens and galactic threats (or psychotic world conquerors), so he takes walks and tries to find public activities to watch. And that's how he finds Victor and his dog, putting up their flyers on the board for display.]

Ice skating, huh? Sounds like fun.

[genice]

( Victor smiles, Makkachin wagging his tail and squirming forward to give a sniff at the person speaking up in their general direction. Victor keeps a loose grip on his dog's lead, not so concerned about Makkachin trying to run off and become one with Riverview at large. His smile is as easy as his demeanour: ice skating. The most normal part of his life, even if relatively improbable to stumble back into it now. )

Fun and rewarding, but I'm a biased audience. Done much ice skating yourself?

( He knows enough people who go casually for their own fun. Which... is where the fun might come in for anyone who doesn't think "fun" is also a keyword applied to "performing for an audience and successfully testing your limits in live time going at speed and using only your own physical prowess and sense of body kinetics."

Fun! )

[livingsymbol]

Actually, I don't really spend a lot of time on the ice.

[Steve has gotten really adept at delivering lines like that without much visible amusement, but there is a small smile as he says it. A little suggestion that there's a reason he might avoid such things.]

Work keeps me pretty busy. But I like a challenge. You're offering lessons?

[Steve kneels down as he speaks. He keeps his eyes on Victor, but he offers his hand to Makkachin, petting the poodle as he asks his question.]

[Wildcard! | Texting]

[getjackedup]

[Cooking lessons? It makes Tolemi snort in a way that is probably very undignified for someone his size, but whatever. At the same time, the idea of getting some recipes at least isn't so bad. And he thinks he saw some flyer with the same phone number looking for self-defense lessons. A fair exchange. So he puts the number in the phone he's gotten.]

Still looking for sd teacher?

[genice]

( he blank stares at the new text for a moment before it clicks: self defense. learning different styles had been helping him before, so while Makkachin sleeps under the table where he's sitting, Victor sips at his tea and types back a response. )

As it stands, yes, I am!

[getjackedup]

And you're still offering recipes right?

iii

[anotheroldsoldier]

[Bucky isn't drinking. He's technically off-duty, though still wearing his Perimeter Guard armband over the top of his blue plaid shirt (which has festive, forget-me-not patterned front pockets), but at this point, he's mostly trying to decide if he wants to go volunteer for another shift of peacekeeping or or head back to the apartment building.

Even distracted, he's aware enough in a crowd, which is why he doesn't startle when suddenly a crown of white flowers is plopped down on top of his head.

Right. This guy. He remembers him from the tunnels. Remembers talking about Yuri. He lifts a hand up awkwardly, as if he's going to remove the blossoms.] You, uh. Seem like you're having fun with all of this.

[genice]

( Victor gives him a friendly little wave around his mug, somehow, laughing and shrugging his shoulders. )

There's always going to be enough in the world that's disheartening. Why not embrace the moments meant for lighter things when they come?

( That said, he reaches up to tap a finger against one of Bucky's flower blossoms in his flower crown. )

They'll be gone fast enough.

[anotheroldsoldier]

Not everyone gets that kind of luxury. [He says carefully, not entirely sure what to make of this interaction. Bucky is a lot more awkward out of his element, away from the tunnels and the fighting, without a rifle and a shield strapped to his back. He almost looks ill at ease in civvies, in a crowd.

He looks even more awkward in a flower crown, the delicate blossoms ill-suited to his day's worth of stubble and stubborn jaw.]

If you're going to be intoxicated, stay safe. [Stop being a fun vampire, Bucky, you're not even on duty.]

iii

[leaderboards]

[ well, at least white flowers aren't going to clash too badly with red hair.

carolina's been awkwardly trying to partake in some of the more lively aspects of the flower festival since she arrived. anything with lower lighting is easier to get involved with, but she needs to do something during daylight when she isn't adjusting to her new job or trying to find her way around the city. she has a mug of her own in hand, trying to skirt traffic to see if a familiar-looking person is actually familiar. here she is close instead, in front of victor, looking a little startled. ]

... So we do.

[genice]

( he recognises her; of course he does. the flash of that recognition shows in his eyes as he raises his mug, a silent sort of cheer at first. he's already run into people he recognises and knows from Eluvio who have no idea of him here. alternate realities, right? Yuri had driven that home hard with his being around for the month prior, no memory or comphrension of something called Eluvio.

so he knows caution, but he also knows that strangers are liable to say just about anything. which is why he keeps that smile and follows his silent cheers with a simple observation. )

I think I saw a flower similar to those ones when I was visiting Bajikan. Not quite so pleasing to the nose.

( it's one way of trying to suss out potential differences. in seeing if he needs to be introducing himself, or if he should be saying, it's so nice to see you! )

iii sounds amusing. <3 Sorry this is late!

[legendary_hands]

[He's been wanderin' about for a while, not really any place in particular he was goin'. He didn't have a shift at the hospital and really, he's just tryin' to settle in. That same feelin' that has made him feel out of place is unsettling all there more here. Still, he keeps lookin' around the festival in hopes of loosening up and ignoring that filled spaced of the shared rooms.

The doctor's doin' a pretty good job of it till he suddenly has a person in front of him dropping somethin' on his head. Stopping mid step, he blinks at the younger man and reaches up to barely touch the flower crown on his head. A brow rises slowly as he wonders just how much they 'match'.

But that thought gives way to memories and just havin' something like a flower crown dropped on his head makes him pause.]

Don't think I've been given a flower crown since I last saw my daughter.

[So many damn years ago he feels a little sick to his stomach.]