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

help me carry the weight of this guilt ℼ for Steve (616)

[amelioraate]

[ Temptation was something that Tony was more than familiar with; temptation of vices and virtues and everything in between were things that he battled every day, the vice of trying to hide away in the bottom of a bottle the one he was most familiar with. Being a recovering alcoholic, Tony knows that he needs to keep himself in check, needs to limit the amount of time he spends where he is faced with the prospect of drinking, around people that might pressure or encourage it, or situations that might end with him drinking as an escape.

Tony likes to think that, in the last few years, he has done a damn good job of keeping his willpower strong despite so many obstacles.

He really should have known that it couldn't stay like that, why should he get nice things after all?

So finding himself smeared in a colourful powder that is laced with a drug because he was an idiot and didn't read the damned warnings, or listen for that matter he is sure someone tried to tell him, isn't that much of a surprise to Tony. Finding himself experiencing the effects of alcohol, the nice ones right now, in a sea of bodies that lit up his nerves and his bones, was so much temptation and caving in and guilt that Tony isn't sure how he is functioning.

He is going to hate himself so much when this high wears off, and he knows it. Knows that the battle to stay away from the bottles here is going to be that much harder, try his willpower that much more, after this. Because right now? He is enjoying himself, and he kind of hates it. Hates how he misses the bliss of not thinking, of being able to get lost in the physical sensations instead of in the connecting tangents of lines and will-be's in his head.

Misses being able to run and hide.

And then Tony sees Steve wading through the crowd of people, the worried expression on the other's face clear even in the brief flashes of light that catch the outlines of his face, and Tony feels all the more guilty at the same time that he feels so damned relieved. He remembers calling Steve, remembers snatches of a message he left somewhere between Wanda and Loki and the blinding lights and thrill of magic on his skin, and to see that Steve actually showed up?

Well, Tony can't quite help the near running jump he takes at the blond, with a yell of his name.

Or at least, he tries. But he is a little uncoordinated and ends up more or less face planting into Steve's chest and wrapping his arms around him. The high is wearing off, slowly but surely, but Steve still feels warm and familiar and, yeah, maybe Tony's a little clingy but he doesn't care.]

You showed up. [ At least that is what he means to say, it's hard to tell with his face so fully pressed into the blond's shoulder.]

[livingsymbol]

[The information he got from Tony was... It was bad. The euphoric laughter and noise loud noises in the background made it hard for him to pick up where Tony was, and he was stuck mostly guessing. It takes him some time to find his friend. There's so much noise and movement that even when he finally finds the right building he almost misses locating Tony in the crowd. By then, Steve is honestly scared.

It's when Tony calls out his name that Steve manages to get to him. Or rather that Tony falls right into him, taking a running leap that seems more like a poor attempt to fly. Tony looks like he got into a fight with a graffiti tag, covered in different colors, and Steve did read the warnings, so he knows what that means. He keeps his arm around him as he leads him through the rave.]

I'm taking you home.

[He doesn't know if Tony can hear him through the music and laughter. After a few steps, Steve decides it's just better to get out faster and bends down to scoop Tony up and carry him out. The gesture gets some cheers from the various people around them, but the blond marches out without a smile. This is not a good night for him.]

[amelioraate]

[ It was an interesting contrast, the high that he was feeling, with the guilt that was digging its claws into his lungs already. Tony knows that it is his own fault for all of this, that he was toeing a line to begin with when he made the choice to put himself in a situation where there would be so many reminders of the times before; bodies and booze and the reminder of being able to escape the thoughts. He should never have shown up.

But he did.

And now he is barely staying on the right side of the chasm, the bright colours and euphoric feeling bleeding out until all that is left is the familiar taste of self-loathing and guilt.

So yeah, maybe Tony is clinging a little to the feeling the powder gives him, trying to keep the blinders on in a sense. At the same time--]

Why Steve, that sounds positively-- wait--shit. [ There was a reason that Tony called Steve between one terrible choice and another, because Tony knows that the other will have his back. That Steve gets why this is such a terrible idea, a terrible place, better than most.

So when Steve scoops him up (a move that leaves Tony spinning, the world tilting and rearranging around him in flashes of light and sound), Tony focuses on playing to the crowd rather than trying to hide the way he kind of wants to. Tony waves almost cheekily at the few that are cheering at the blonds move, while trying to focus on the sparks of something that bloom wherever Steve grips at him. Fucking drugs.

It isn't until they are out of the rave, the quiet near deafening in Tony's ears, that Tony deflates a little, head dropping to Steve's chest in a way that he will forever deny is cuddling thank you very much.]

I can walk, you know. [ Thank you.]

[livingsymbol]

[Steve doesn't react to the cheers as he carries Tony out of the club, breathing a sigh of relief once they are away from the noise and the lights. He feels the weight in his arms grow heavier as Tony sags and drops his head onto Steve's chest, and for a moment he just stands outside of the building, taking in the night air. He'd been worried about arriving too late. He didn't want to find Tony in a terrible state, crumpled in some corner, even if the rave was supposed to be a safe place.]

You should have called me sooner. I tried some other places first. Luckily, they weren't that hard to navigate.

[Steve carries Tony down the street, ignoring his protest about walking as if he never said it.]

Were you with anyone?

[amelioraate]

[ Playing to the crowd is always so much easier than dealing with things. Tony would rather wave and smile and let the attention of so many wash over him in the lights and sound than deal with the silence stretched thin between him and Steve as soon as the rave fades out behind them. That silence, the worry, is far more crushing than it has any right to be.

Asking for Steve's help, calling him, was probably a stupid fucking move, especially since things had been more than a little rough between the two of them. And while it wasn't hostility, it was-- well it wasn't what it used to be.

Still, Tony trusted Steve more than he trusted anyone else.]

Uh huh, I didn't-- I wasn't-- [ I wasn't thinking, I didn't know, I didn't mean to, I--. Tony shakes his head a little, focusing on the points of contact, the warmth of Steve pressed close and imagines how ridiculous he must look right now, being carried by Steve out fo the rave, shirt ruined and skin streaked in bright colours and shimmering gold.

The genius deflates a little more, letting his eyes close as he snorts a little at the question and thinks of shimmering gold in the dark.]

When you say with, do you mean the friendly dance partner kind of with, or the 'Tony's lost his shit again' kind of with?

[livingsymbol]

[They were still on unsteady terms, if not actually bad ones, since neither of them really had dealt with the issues between them. They hadn't really brought it up at all. Tony had predictably ducked the whole thing and Steve, well, Steve had let it go with nothing more than a stern look now and then. They were going to have to deal with it eventually, but he didn't pursue the tension between them any more than he had to.

Maybe, deep down, he was just as bothered by the thought of renewing the fight as Tony was. Either way, he didn't light the fire again. Not yet.

Tony seems to slip into his confused (scared) protests, and Steve doesn't say anything as he feels him press closer, walking with slow steps back to the dorm building. The question he asks is loaded, and Steve feels a tug of disapproval on his lips. When he replies, the words are steady and quiet.]

I mean a friend. Someone that knows when you're ready to leave.

[amelioraate]

[ In all honesty, Tony was tired. He had been fighting for so long; with Steve, with Carol, with Pepper, with everyone, and he just-- was wrung out from it all. He had been toeing the line of wagon for a while now, and he knew it, and a part of him doesn't wonder if he didn't read the sign on purpose, if he didn't pretend he didn't see the edge while falling off it for his own sake. It was so much easier to let go and be a mindless thing than care and worry and--

Be human. Really.

Wasn't that what Tony was trying to escape? Being human and caring and failing and all the other things that are now going to devour him for his failure?

Tony makes a pained noise, quiet thing in the back of his throat, as he tries to grasp at the euphoria that is fading fast, tries not to think too hard on the way Steve says 'friend', like they were things Tony Stark was allowed to have, and mutters into the blond's shirt.]

All my friends are dead, Steve. Carol saw to that. [ Another sigh, as he lets his head tip back, focuses on the way the world spins around him and shivers. ] Shouldn't have been there to begin with honestly.

[livingsymbol]

[Steve can feel the change in Tony's answers. The cold that creeps in, because he's heard it before. And they aren't as close as they used to be, aren't really friends in the same way they once were, but there is no world in which Steve doesn't care about Tony's life. He can put a lot of resentment aside if it means something more important is at stake, and life is always more important.

And that is part of the reason Steve sounds displeased when he speaks.]

No, you shouldn't have been. You shouldn't have gone there at all.

[Not if he couldn't handle it. There are a lot of things Tony faces successfully every day. Steve doesn't know what Tony means when he says that Carol made sure his friends are dead, but without her there to defend herself, he's not sure he wants to know. Whatever Tony holds against her, Steve doesn't believe that Carol, their friend, would wish the death of anyone they know. Maybe it's the darkness talking. Steve doesn't want to hear what it has to say.]

You called me. I'm here. If you needed help, you should have stayed with someone who you could trust to pull you out. Tony-

[He stops, unable to put to words what he really wants to say, unsure that he knows what it is he wants to say, and sighs deeply.]

I don't know what you were thinking.