riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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!

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Please don't break anything.

*Lola's attempting to look intimidating... she's pretty good at the withering gaze, but she's tiny, young, and the bright blue hair kinda undermines her intimidation. While the kitchen is for the floor, Lola does a lot of the cooking when she can. It's one of the things she can do, given she lacks the skills and abilities to really do anything. Like explore outside the quarantine.*

I guess you're staying in one of the empty beds?

[ Oh, Líadan knows that tone and gaze. She's had it from her elders, her peers, even from the young ones she entertains on any given day within the hold on occasion. She's never quite had it from one with bright blue hair, though. If that isn't something! It isn't quite enough to intimidate her, but it does tug a smile out of her and something of a chuckle for fond memories and a sliver of familiarity. She's not laughing at her, though, really. ]

I am. Líadan Ní Donnabháin, and you are...?

[ And she'll gently put the toaster down and turn the dial back to where it was. Lucky Lola caught her before she'd had time to start sticking things in it or taking it apart, one. Maybe she can explain what it is and what it's for? Riverview had seemed intent to grind to a halt when its constructs were threatened, after all. They're obviously important to the people here. ]

Lola Pacini. And, um... do you have a shorter name to use cause that's a mouthful and I'd fumble over half those syllables.

*Lola's linguistic abilities were put into Spanish by birth and Chinese due to school. Neither of which left her with a lot of use for the accents and sounds of Gaelic. Even if this place translated everything to common, trying to say names still fell onto the sounds ones mouth would make.*

I can walk you through all the things in the kitchen, but if you don't know what something is don't break it. Or set the kitchen on fire. We all kinda need this kitchen.

Lí is fine.

[ Pronounced quite simply 'LEE,' it's a short form and an easy, early nickname she's glad to have. She shakes her head once, strongly. ]

Fire and I have never been close friends, so you needn't worry about that.

[ To the point her smile falls a bit for it and she turns her eyes warily on the kitchen constructs. She's never been a fan of the smell of burnt things. Ever. That these things might betray her in that way is a somewhat dramatic revelation. ]

If you walk me through, there shouldn't be a problem about breaking things either. I would be grateful for it.

Most of the things here use fire, or... heat. I mean it is all for cooking things.

*Lola's tilt of her head suggested she was trying to figure out why someone would explore the kitchen if they didn't get along with fire. You don't really cook without some amount of heat to make it work. This was pretty clearly a kitchen, or... who didn't know about kitchens?*

Do you want me to start with the things least likely to start a fire? Or the things that are the easiest to use? Or the thing that makes the best snacks?

It... isn't that I don't like fire, per se. It has its uses and I'm glad for them.

[ Case in point. Cooked food is certainly something she appreciates alongside warmth. ]

It's more that I don't like the smell of burnt things. I don't expect these constructs to produce burnt things by design. That would be silly.

[ And Lola did mention that she'd prefer Lí not burn anything. Shaking her head, she smiles again. Learning things? Learning things. She's ready for it. ]

Start with whatever you'd like! I like to think I'm a quick study.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I don't burn anything when I'm cooking.

*Lola knows what she's doing in the kitchen. And with her make-up. Nowhere else, but she can do those things!*

Well, you were playing with the toaster. You put bread slices in it and it, well, toasts the bread. Makes it nice and crunchy. Don't touch the metal wire inside it and don't put anything else in there but bread.

I would think that is half the battle where cooking is concerned.

[ And see, most anyone else would take offense to the word 'playing' in this situation, but Lí? Well, that's how she's learned her entire life and there is no offense taken for the observation. ]

Right, then. What next? I know the little box on top of the big one keeps things frozen and the one on the bottom keeps things cold, but not frozen and... water comes from this thing.

[ She is, in fact, motioning to the sink faucet. ]

Well, if all you're aiming for is something you can eat, and not something that's good, I guess.

*She may be sulking because cooking is a thing.*

Freezer, Fridge, sink.

*Lola points to each item Lí already knew the purpose of. Since they didn't really need explanations Lola wandered over to the stove.*

This is the oven. The top burners are for things you don't need to heat from all sides at once, like boiling water, eggs, burgers, simple stuff. The inside is for roasts, pizza, anything that's more of a to do to cook. Um... we all chip in for groceries and anyone that can cook really well helps out with things.

Something good does sound better.

[ She nods as Lola names each item. Those names aren't too difficult. Following her to the stove, she'll be giving it a good look over. Water, eggs, and roasts make sense. She's not sure what a burger or pizza is, but at least she knows to look out for those foods so she can try them. ]

I believe I understand. 'Chip in for groceries'?

[ That's the curious part. She's not entirely sure what that means, though. Obviously, it relates to food and cooking, but... ]

Doesn't it!? That's why I usually do the cooking.

*Pizza will eventually happen, if Lola figures out how to make the dough. That's really where her problem is, and if she does the rest from scratch, it feels a little cheaty to use store bought dough.*

Um, we all put in some money for the basics. Bread, eggs, milk. The stuff that's just a good thing to have a bunch of. And take turns buying groceries. So we don't end up with too much of anything, or not enough of something. I'm still figuring out how to best synchronize the grocery lists. Maybe there's an app for that...

*And now Lola is lost wishing she had her gamer nerd sorta friends, they could make that happen. Yael made that killer gossip app.*

An app?

[ Because what is technology? She still isn't entirely sure she's using her phone correctly half the time. It's a miracle she managed to figure out how to work the text-to-voice function... or maybe not for her persistence in asking people about the thing. ]

So we don't have a cow or chickens of our own.

[ Okay. They're poor. Things could be worse, though! She can probably fix the chicken part at some point in the future. She isn't really sure where she'd put them or a cow if she came into possession of one, but she'll cross that bridge when she gets there. On to the next question! ]

What about meats, vegetables, and fruits?

Nevermind, not important right now.

*Why can't people know what technology is!? It would make her life so much easier.*

Um, no, we don't really have the space for them. And I don't know how the rest of our roommates feel about pets.

*Who has their own livestock without being a poor farmer?*

Um... there's a Butcher shop I like for cuts of meat, and I'm still looking for the perfect vendor to get fresh vegetables and fruits from. But if you find a good vendor tell me?

[ She'll be trusting Lola on the lack of importance about the app bit and making a mental note to ask how the floor feels about... well, she'd hardly chickens and a cow pets, but it might be good to ask them about animal husbandry in general. ]

There's really no need to purchase either. If we can acquire the seeds, I can grow vegetables quickly and in great numbers. Fruits, too, depending upon the size of the plant. I doubt we've room to keep flowering trees on the floor. As for meats, I would be glad to hunt for the floor. I'm used to providing for large numbers, so it wouldn't be any trouble and it would save all of us a measure of these... units.

[ She may or may not be making a face because currency is still weird. Hunting would give her cause to work on skinning and leatherworking, though, nevermind the possibility of coming into furs for the cold months. ]

*Stop trying to make Lola do math, Lola is bad at math. She can cook because she knows how something should feel, and she just does that and doesn't do what feels wrong. But now she's trying to figure out how much space in the floor can be allotted to food and growing.*

We're not exactly on the first floor. I don't know anything about growing anything. I can't even grow any taller. As for hunting... If you can do it without bringing back all the bits of an animal we don't cook? I mean, the advantage to going to a butcher shop is they don't give me anything with a face.

*Lola can get past them having a face, but she'd rather not have to think about that.*

I recall seeing what looked like decks of some kind from the outside of the building. If there is something like that for our floor, I could probably put together some planters and grow things there.

[ She's pretty sure she saw decks. Small compared to the ones she's used to seeing among the great trees, but then, those platforms could span many ancient growths and encompass a village. ]

As for the animals, that won't be an issue. When I take an animal, I do my utmost to waste nothing out of respect. I'll do my work off the floor and bring the cuts. Less mess here that way.

[ Although the idea of someone not wanting to respectfully acknowledge the animal that is to be their meal is a bit... weird, but then, most people would agree that talking to a blue haired young woman in a different reality after falling through a portal is a weird and they'd be right. ]

My only question would be as to how much you think we'll need to provide for everyone and how often. I imagine those ice boxes will be of some help?

That's kinda... everyone's space, I can't really just tell you 'go ahead' without making sure everyone else is okay with it.

*Even if the kitchen wasn't exclusively Lola's, she spent a lot of time cooking meaning she felt more comfortable saying 'yes this is fine' about choices. The deck... she didn't do much in the way of grilling, so she couldn't just say go build a farm out there.*

There's more space in the two fridges than in the freezers, which means we can't store a lot of meat long term. Especially since the freezer needs room for other things like ice cream. But most of the food is communal.

*Ice cream is the most important.*

I'll ask, then, to be sure. I don't want to step on anyone's toes. If the others are in agreement, it may also help me to ask them how much they generally eat.

[ And what they like, perhaps. Really, she just wants to help out and this is one way in which she is confident she can for skill and practice. That it'll help her keep her skills sharp is a bonus in addition to the ingredients she can glean for her arts and the additional comforts she'll be able to gift for the winter months in the form of furs with leather before that. The mention of 'ice cream' earns quite the expression. ]

Ice cream? Like at the festival?

Yeah. Sharing with a bunch of strangers is weird... but it isn't lonely.

*Lola would take that, even if it was kinda weird how dressed to be given there were a lot of guys, not even teenage guys. Old guys.*

Yeah, I try to keep some here. It'll matter more if it gets warmer out. You didn't have ice cream in your world?

*What a horrible place to be from.*

You must be from a very different place.

[ Different from that which she herself is used to certainly. Sharing is something she's very, very used to from space to tools. Speaking o ice cream, though... ]

We do not. Flavored ice is a treat I've happily indulged in since my youth, but I don't think it's quite the same.

I'm from someplace totally normal. I think... I mean the only weird thing is my friend's taste in guys.

Ice cream is definitely different, it has a lot more texture to it, and you can come up with so many more flavor options than with shaved ice. Totally better, unless the ice cream has praline in it.

*Lola made a face, Praline is awful why would anyone.*

That strange, huh?

[ Her friends' taste in guys, that is. She nods once, twice, three times as she follows Lola's ice cream explanation. It certainly seems in line with her own experiences except for the praline mention. ]

I'll have to try it and see for myself. What is praline and what does it taste like? Besides terrible.

She liked a guy with tattoos on his hands, and wore more make-up than she did.

*Lola's opinion on Jonah was, well, she didn't get him. She didn't get any reason any girl would like him. And this continued to baffle her when she found out he didn't even have sex. Weird.*

I don't know, it's not cookies it's just... *Lola is making a face like she ate a bug.*

I think the latter would be more concerning to me unless tattoos are an uncommon, distasteful thing where you come from?

[ It sounds like it could be a bit more than that, though. Then again, so does this 'praline' business. ]

I'll try. I've found cookies to be a wonderful treat. For a combination of ice cream and cookies to be so terrible... it certainly merits investigation.

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introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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