riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: sampremi
when: The month of March.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: there will likely be nsfw content; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

sampremi

In the days leading up to March 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Sampremi. This is one of Riverview's four yearly celebrations of love, this one focused on sexual love and lust, and sexual relationships that might bloom into more (or not). Traditions associated with Sampremi are a roving street market, raves where residents can seek out some free love and get a little crazy, a massive week-long kink convention, and a tech expo with all-ages and adult options.

a celebration of sexual love and lust

Riverview has always been a place focused on love and building connections in order to foster community, and for a lot of people, sex is part of that, which makes it something worth celebrating! For people who use sex as a way to connect with others, even if only for a short time, or those who use it as a way to connect on a deeper level with the ones they already love, Sampremi is the perfect holiday to get their freak on in a host of new and exciting or comfortable and familiar ways. The holiday features a large kink convention, where various entities in the city can show off their toys, explain their niche kinks, and share their insights with anyone who might be interested, a series of raves that are both all-ages and adult where residents can find someone(s) to share a night (or a week, a few months, or even a life) with. This year, there is a large tech expo where cutting edge tech companies in the city are sharing their newest toys, like improved virtual reality, robotics advances, and many other types of toys - all for work, play, or, in the spirit of the holiday, pleasure. And for those who don't want to connect through sex or who aren't old enough to, there are dances, games, and an entire market full of street food that's meant for sharing, so they can connect in other ways.

● OOC NOTE: Please be sure to warn in subject lines for any threads involving sexual content, drug use or other content that fellow players may wish to avoid, and do not use the prompt mechanics to circumvent consent in your threads, as non-consensual sex is not permitted on the game communities. Items such as aphrodisiacs, VR, or party drugs mentioned in the prompts are intended to facilitate consensual sex, not to encourage sexual assault, or to 'trick' characters into having sex that they would not normally have. ICly, please remember that there is always security to intervene and make sure everyone is safe.

i. color raves

Advertised on flyers and digital screens around the city, made to pop as if they were under blacklight, is a series of what's called "color raves" that are happening in various large empty warehouse spaces around the city. They are called color raves for the bright colorful lights, the preponderance of glowsticks that attendees wave around, and for the brightly colored powder for attendees to play with, some of which is spiked with a mild party drug and some of which is just for fun (with the difference clearly marked, of course). There are three types of color rave - adult, all-ages, and youth raves.

(CW: DRUG USE) At each adult rave and all-ages rave there is one specific room where attendees can enter (after proving themselves 18+), 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 (whether it is skin, clothing, or structural) it deactivates, meaning that partakers can safely dance with non-partakers without sharing the intoxicating effects.

Adult raves will have bouncers at the door to ensure that anyone entering is 18+, and there is no limit to when and where the debauchery happens. 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.

All-ages raves are open to anyone who wishes to attend, regardless of age. There are bouncers at the door who will check ID and stamp the hand of anyone who is 18+ with a special ink that shows up under blacklight for easy identification. At all-ages raves, 18+ and underage characters can mingle, but there are specific areas set aside for only 18+ characters where they can get down and dirty either in private or the open.

Adult and all-ages raves will have only spiked powder to avoid confusion.

Youth raves are intended only for younger characters under 18, so they can stay up all night and dance like crazy, and meet other young people in the city. 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 version of the colored powder featured at the adult raves that won't give you anything but a sugar high. 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. Youth raves will have only sugar powder, brightly colored and sweet to the taste, meant for fun and to play tag with rather than to cause intoxication.

ii. kink convention

For the week of March 4-10 there will be a massive kink convention on the top floor of one of the large exhibition centers downtown, limited to characters 18+. The exhibition is a sexy adult informational convention featuring various kinks and fetishes. Whether you're into leather, latex, lace, or anything else, you'll be able to find the clothes, toys, guides, books, erotica, fiction, and a wide variety of other interesting stuff to explore. While the atmosphere is sex-positive and there are private and public (for the voyeurs and exhibitionists in the room) venues for having sex, it's definitely focused on exploration and information about different stuff to try.

If someone has thought of it and figured it sounded sexy, it can be found here, and with Riverview's high level of tech advancement and widespread acceptance of magic, things can get pretty kinky. Whatever your kink is, there's probably a VR program, sex toy, potion, or spell that can make it happen, and someone who's got the downlow on how to make it great.

iii. tech expo

Riverview prides itself on its technological advancement, and so, running concurrently with the Kink Convention on March 4-10 and on the bottom floor of the same convention center, various cutting-edge tech companies in the city will be sponsoring a Tech Expo. The expo features demonstrations of all of the most advanced technology that's coming into use in the city, ranging from advancements in VR and holotech to robotics and gadgets, you can find the latest and greatest in almost any area of modern technology. Attendees will be able to come with a friend or a date or anything in between to play VR games, enjoy holoprojected escape rooms and puzzles, meet robot pets, try out the most recent music player or that new cell phone that can bend without breaking, and a wide variety of other gadgets.

While most of the tech expo is all-ages and non-sexual, there is a decently-sized adult area where characters must show ID proving they are 18+ in order to enter, where the technology is mostly related to sexual use. This area features advanced sex toys, VR systems intended to explore sex with other people in a virtual environment with no strings attached, sexy video games and holoprograms, and many other sensual technological.

iv. street market

One of the major draws of the festival is the special street food that can only be obtained this time of year. Almost everything you can buy at the Sampremi Festival is meant to be shared - whether it's one piece of meat on two or more sticks or desserts baked with a narrow part in the middle for convenient tearing, everything is built to be shared. The stalls sell everything from cups of soup, sandwiches, roasted or fried meat, deep-fried vegetables and cakes, dumplings, donuts, bagels, turnovers, and anything else you can think of.

Many of the savory dishes are based on the meat of a particular fowl native to the moon Riverview is situated on that has a taste and texture halfway between chicken and duck, cooked to be spicy (ranging from very mild to throat-burning). Many of the desserts are based around a fruit native to the moon that is spherical, red-orange, and has a light sweet taste that is similar to a combination of mango, pineapple, and strawberry. Both ingredients are considered to be aphrodisiacs. Of course, the foods aren't actually aphrodisiacs and any effect is purely placebo, though there are some booths (clearly marked and with someone to check ID) that sell actual aphrodisiac-laced foods and drinks to people who are 18+.

The festival features an entire row of fair games ranging from very high-tech games featuring virtual reality and neon holograms to extremely old-fashioned games with darts and balloons or balls and glasses. The games all have prizes in various shapes and sizes, with the standard stuffed animals, but also with goods and special items donated by any business in the city; ranging from tiny prizes to huge and expensive ones. Due to the nature of the holiday, many of the stalls are set up to cater to winning a prize for your partner(s), and due to the nature of the Quarantine, a lot of them involve aiming or other aspects of pretending to fight.

Originally, the part of the street festival that involved an actual market, with stalls and booths set up with goods, was aimed primarily at romantic trinkets like flowers or jewelry, gifts intended to be purchased for a loved one. As time has gone by, however, this aspect of the market has increased, with many businesses participating, though the emphasis is still on small businesses and anything relating to local culture rather than booths for any of the larger more corporate businesses. There is still plenty of jewelry to be found, for sure, mostly handmade and artisan, but the scope of the Market has widened immeasurably. The Sampremi Market is an excellent place to find specialty foods, clothing, jewelry, art, or other goods that were originally native to cultures on other planets in this reality, or other realities altogether. Many residents in the city use the market to share their unique cultural goods and traditional dress with others.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Sampremi, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: saber XU; image ii: Jose Borges; image iii: Nicolas Sitbon; image iv: Andreas Rocha

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[ Finn, personally, has veered hard in the opposite direction of Cassian's approach to raving. What he's done is more of a jump in, eyes closed, headfirst, make an active decision to gun it method. Put the control on the front step and close the door before it can come back in for a while. Try to have fun. Do things that he likes. Figure out some new things that he doesn't like. Whatever.

He hasn't really stopped to think about things like exactly why this is the most appealing life approach to him at the moment, because it goes against the point of not thinking about it.

What he knows is he's here, and there's bright blue powder streaked down his left cheek, and he's having fun. No complicated brain processes allowed. What he knows in addition is that that's Cassian sort of hanging back by the wall to watch people, which isn't entirely surprising. He thinks maybe that's sort of Cassian's go-to move.

In any case, Finn morphs into a man with a true mission while he's living his best life. He pushes his way through the dance floor in Cassian's direction with a success born only of his own singlemindedness once he's made his mind up. He's well beyond the point of doing something gracefully. Once he's kind of stumbled free of the more packed-in part of it, he doesn't bother with any sort of stealth whatsoever. Cassian is always nice enough to walk up to him without sneaking up on him, and that is a favor he's. Probably incapable of not returning right now, but still. Sup fam. ]

Cassian!

[ HE SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY PLEASED. Like he's been looking for him for days and not just wading towards him through a crowd for five minutes. ]

[despite how crowded the raves are, cassian is very good at spotting familiar faces. he'd be a bad spy if he couldn't notice what he needed to in a crowd. not that anyone is making it particularly difficult for him tonight. finn especially.]

[finn who cassian can tell immediately has far lowered inhibitions than usual, between the colors, the excitement on his face, and the pure thrill in his voice. cassian just looks amused, even waves like it will give the other man another focal point.]

Finn. You might have something on your face. [he's teasing, mostly.]

Hm?

[ Finn raises a hand towards his face and aborts the motion about halfway through, scrunching his face up a little. Right, duh, of course there's something there. Get on the ball. It's been there. ]

Yeah. No, yeah, it's fine that it's there. It's not important.

[ Finn's half-forgotten what he's saying isn't important already, it's so unimportant. He finally gets into the appropriate range to lean in, acting for all the world like a committed co-conspirator. ]

I brought you something.

[this is a very new and strange state to witness finn in, but cassian can't say it's not a little bit fun to watch. he almost wishes he could let himself do the same because it just seems nice to be so chill. at least finn deserves that kind of chill!]

[if anyone else but finn had told him they brought him something, he would be kind of suspicious. even jyn might get some suspicion, depending on context. cassian leans in, playing along out of curiosity.]

You've braved quite a lot of people in this room to do so.

[ In perhaps the most matter-of-fact tone he's capable of right now: ]

Of course I did. You were over here.

[ Cassian you beautiful tropical fish. He would brave upwards of four dance floors to get to you if he had to. If you were in the hospital, he would push past just as many unsuspecting bystanders on the way to your hospital room as he did for Rey and Poe. It's ride or die, not ride or "idk it's pretty crowded in there".

Finn couldn't articulate the legitimate depths of his ride or die to anyone even while sober though tbh. He digs into one of his pockets instead, and presses something into Cassian's hand without breaking eye contact. Because this is very important and serious--

No it's not, it's literally two un-cracked glow sticks. ]

Now you don't have to brave them.

[ IT MADE SENSE TO HIM TO DO THIS. ]

[finn is a good. that's the ultimate conclusion to reach here. cassian isn't ride or die for a lot of people, but finn seems to be making his way slowly towards that list.]

[much like there's no suspicion about a gift, cassian doesn't really fight off the way finn pushes something into his hand. he should! it goes against literally all his training, but again: finn is a Good. he has a reason, and cassian decides to trust it. whatever, it's supposed to be a fun night!]

[he looks down to see what it is and nearly laughs. glow sticks. it's a very important party matter, of course finn brought him glow sticks.]

[he makes his voice sound impressed.] They're not even cracked.

[u got skills finn.]

[ This is the most important party business of either of their lives. Possibly just because their lives have been short of party business in general.

Finn takes this as a full compliment, something which is probably evident from the grin that stretches across his face. Yes, exactly, it's a very good feature of this gift that they're not cracked. ]

Yes! Exactly. [ Cassian likes standing on the fringes of things. Probably not jumping around pressed up against like five other people. ] I'm very well-trained, and I can use it to bring you these without cracking any. Because it's fun. And I think that's good.

[ Can't wait for his book of poetry to get released tbh ]

[inspiring. the spoken word is beautiful live. insert snapping fingers here.]

[for what it's worth, cassian is still listening and smiling with rapt attention. finn is obviously very well trained, and the whole thing kind of reminds him of paintball. of getting to use their soldier skills for something fun. there's still hope out there yet!!!]

It is very good. [finn deserves to be told he's done good.] I have to say, you are completely getting the hang of this party. Your finest attempt yet.

And you have brought me two glow-sticks. Plural. It's always good to have a surplus.

[ Honestly shoutout to Cassian for his tolerance and acceptance levels of these beautiful gifts and thrilling conversation. Will Finn remember it tomorrow?? That's the real question.

Still, Finn is drunk enough to accept this compliment like a cat that walks by a sunbeam and immediately flops down to bask in it. Sometimes writing drunk fun Finn is a refreshing experience strictly because he's dumb about compliments when he's sober. ]

Yeah? [ That's his praise now, suckers. He got it from Cassian and that means he obviously earned it. And this is a good party and Cassian is a good friend. Finn wins again. ] I've definitely been attempting. Glad to hear some of it stuck.

[if only cassian did not have Issues with control, he would gladly try to hop on board and get as relaxed and happy as finn is right now. but there's a reason he doesn't like to drink often or do any sort of drug that takes away his sense of rationale and aforementioned control. (paranoia, that reason is paranoia hyped up to the max).]

[he can appreciate it in others, though. he claps finn briefly on the shoulder and gives him a squeeze.]

It shows. [GOOD JOB BRO. cassian is genuinely happy finn is learning and letting go and just being great at the whole fun thing.] Practice makes perfect. If you like it enough, you should rave again sometime while they last.

Should I crack one of these now?

Edited 2018-04-02 21:44 (UTC)

[ March somethingth, some year, some quarantined moon: Cassian Andor smiled and squeezed his shoulder and Finn loves him. It's very important and vital to note this. Finn has a huge mental list of important and vital notes related to loving his friends.

He's glad Cassian is here. ]

Oh, that's your choice. They're yours. It's definitely what they're for. So you could. But you can take your time.

[ There are tons of the things here. If Finn gets a hankering to see some glowsticks get snapped he could get like seven in a heartbeat. ]

[cassian feels like he has been smiling more in these six months living in the quarantine than he has in actual decades. his face muscles hurt tbh.]

The Quarantine is full of choices for us to make for ourselves, isn't it?

[he likes this finn. it's a good finn. not that other finns are bad, but carefree is nice. cassian is almost jealous.]

[holding it up in the aforementioned finn's line of site, he cracks the glow stick and lights it up, mostly because he wants to see any kind of over the top potential reaction. it's bright neon blue.] That was oddly satisfying.

Yeah, but it's fine if you don't try to think about all of 'em at once.

[ Like, existential dread who? Don't know her. Just trying our best to get used to it one step at a time. Easier when drunk.

Finn doesn't throw his hands in the air or anything, but the smile that stretches across his face makes up for it in sheer wattage power. Just because he wasn't going to make Cassian snap it doesn't mean he didn't hope he would. And blue is a good color. ]

See? Easy fun. You know, without-- [ He jerks a thumb over his shoulder a couple of times, in the direction of... most of the dancing. ] No jumping required.

[oh it's that existential dread hat. good thing they are currently wearing their party hats instead! the former can stay locked away in the closet for the night!!!]

Just pick one at a time. [or turn them all off?? no don't do that, that's not very good long term coping.]

[but please finn, keep smiling.] I am very flattered you thought to spare me the crowd to bring me this, Finn. I might not have gotten one otherwise. [cassian is staying the fuck away from that crowd ok.] Maybe you should stock up on them for later days.

[infinite glowsticks??]

[ That's right! They have the rest of their lives for existential dread and learning to live with... themselves.

Whoa.

That's way too deep for this night, that can go in the closet, too.

He'd be awed and inspired by how nice party Cassian is, but if he thinks about it, realistically. Cassian is always pretty nice to him. He's subtle and quiet. He shifts around a lot in his own skin. But he's always been nicer than he has to be. ]

I might do that. I think I could just buy a lot of 'em if I really wanted. But if I did, it's still good to have some that you worked for.

[finn is his friend! being nice is an important part of that. but, like, a real nice, not a fake nice. he just has more experience in the latter. finn makes it easy to be more genuine.]

It might be fun to just see how many you can hoard. Kind of like how Jyn shoves food into various bags and pockets. The challenge is like you are still working for it.

[he's not advocating theft! they are giving the glowsticks away!]

Edited 2018-04-27 02:03 (UTC)

[ TOO LATE CASSIAN IS ADVOCATING THEFT. He's advocating it about as clearly as the free balloon day episode of spongebob. ]

So you're saying I should be working on stealth.

[ Nailed it. Glowstick pickpocketing. ]

[he can't even say no don't do it, stealing is bad, because he has stolen plenty of things. he stole the plans to the death star!]

With so many people around, it's a good place to practice and test it out. In the end, you still end up with more glowsticks, so it's a win even if some of them see you.

[ Valuable life lessons with Cassian Andor. ]

That's a pretty good point. More fun than a simulation. [ He's deadass already turning around to scope the crowd out again. Star Wars who, time for Assassin's Creed. I think there's stealing and sneaking in that game, tbh I've never played or watched it. ]

[he wants to ask what kind of simulation finn means, but the man is also a) in a good mood and b) not full conscious of what he's saying, so cassian deems it a bad time. besides, the word "simulation" in relation to a former stormtrooper is just brimming with Bad Memories.]

[no. he will not ruin this evening for finn!]

You could always set off. Report back sometime later. I'll be here as long as Jyn is, probably.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna go steal some stuff.

[ A banner day for Finn. And off to a great, openly-announced start. His new life of crime.

... he bets if he finds Jyn, she'll be up for doing it, too. ]

I'll see you soon.

[he tries very hard not to laugh. it is mostly successful, but finn does get one (1) nice and genuine smile.]

Good luck. Do me proud, Finn. [he even gives him a little salute and everything!]

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monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

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