monthly mingle: SAMPREMI

[riverviewmod]

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

navigation

Comments

Shiro | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[lionunchained]

II
[Ever want to see Shiro out of his element? Find him at the kink convention. It was pure curiosity that had driven him to decide to even step in the door.

Now that he was inside though, he was trying to act like he was perfectly at home being there, even though he really didn't have kinky bone in his body, or at least so he thought.

Though... there was one thing that did make him pause. It was a booth selling lingerie. He wasn't sure what exactly had made him stop, but as he stood there, an interesting thought crossed his mind: wondering if his new girlfriend would wear anything like that.

You know, when they got to that point...]

III
[So yeah, the kink convention on the top floor of the convention center. Not really his scene. This tech expo this, yep, that was something that interested him. Yes, there was an adult section, but he didn't intend to go in there.

It was practically like walking into one of the closets on the castle with all the stuff he had never thought of seeing Earth, but there they were in real life. He had paused at the booth to look at the robotic pets. Not that he was planning on getting one because he already had a rather large one at home, but they were interesting]

Closed to Hana
[When he had found out about the street foods involved with this festival, Shiro had seen a perfect chance to ask Hana if she wanted to go with him and sample the varieties that were there. It would be like when they first met. That one festival right after arriving. When he had still been more concerned with hiding his arm. Before Black. Wow, it felt so long ago now, but it wasn't.

So he had sent her a message to ask if she wanted to go. Of course she did so he had gone to the designated meeting location to wait for her. Luckily he didn't have to wait too long and when she arrived, he stepped forward to give her a quick kiss]

It's good to see you again.

II

[tempredmental]

[OH QUIZNAK... of all the people to run into here.]

Oh-!

[Keith stared for a second, making full-on eye contact with Shiro and then he looked away. For a second, his brain actually debated trying to hide, but the other side of his brain reminded him that they had made eye contact.]

Uh... hey...

[lionunchained]

[Yes... of all the people to run into here.

Shiro had spotted Keith; it was rather hard not to when Keith stared straight at him and he had looked back, even if Keith had broken the gaze now. Strange... Keith was twenty now, but there was still that odd thought of wondering about him being there. He was an adult, Shiro; it was not anything weird for him to be there too.

Except that it was because they both knew who the other was dating...]

Hey. Wasn't expecting to see you here.

[tempredmental]

Yeah... I uh... wasn't expecting to see you here.

[Keith scrunched his eyebrows up in a sheepish look of 'welp'...]

So, uh, yeah... that's a thing.

[lionunchained]

I figured its not going to happen very often, thought I would take a look. Doesn't really mean I'm interested in trying anything, but I know its here.

Just looking around yourself?

[Please Keith don't tell him if you are looking for something specific for your girlfriend...]

[tempredmental]

Yeah... sure.

You know... just curious.

[That wasn't something he wanted to admit to Shiro anyway...]

[lionunchained]

[Good. Don't admit that. It's bad enough Lance is so open about stuff and he's not even actively dating someone. Shiro knows about Keith and Lola...]

Exploring without Lola?

closed to this gal

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana agreed to meet up - of course she did! If Shiro hadn't beaten her to the punch, she would have asked him, too. Because while his birthday celebration with everyone was nice and all... as his new girlfriend, she wanted to be able to celebrate his birthday with just the two of them, too. And it hadn't escaped her how this street festival was very much like the one they'd met at all those months ago, too. It felt perfect.

Though... she had to wonder if Shiro was aware of the, uh, theme of this particular festival.

She hadn't quite forgotten how the night of his birthday party ended between the two of them, after all...

When she arrived, she was of course dressed up for their first real date. Her worries about the other night and about the ambiance of the festival were erased, too, by Shiro's greeting kiss. When they pulled away, she was smiling. Like, smiling a lot. ]

I know. It's always good to see me!

[lionunchained]

[Shiro had dressed nice too to meet her. Why not. It was kind of an adventure, a nostalgic one even if all they were doing was getting food. She was his girlfriend after all so he was going to put some thought into what he wore.

Of course he knew what the theme to this festival was. It was practically everywhere. It was impossible to miss. It did seem oddly appropriately timed since making out after the party had been a thing.

But he stopped worrying about it so much when she was there. And of course he couldn't help, but laugh at her comment]

Of course it is. Life would be boring otherwise.

[bunnyhopped]

Yup!

[ Her smile only got bigger at hearing Shiro's laugh. It was music to her ears. Now that they'd met up and the date would start, though, she was going to reach over to hold his hand. ]

Let's look around! Everything smells so good, I can't wait to dig in.

[lionunchained]

[He had absolutely no problem with the fact that she wanted to hold his hand. He held it in his, giving it a light squeeze in response. He liked holding her hand]

Yeah, it does. What should we try first? Some of those pastries look pretty good.

[Plus a chance to try that fruit that they were talking about]

[bunnyhopped]

[ As they began to walk around and wander about the festival, Hana couldn't help but notice all the games around, too. A lot of them looked fun, and a lot of them seemed to have some cute prizes like stuffed animals.

At Shiro's question, though, she turned her head and tries to look for these pastries he was talking about. ]

Oh! Those do look really good. I'm totally down to try those first if you want. Then maybe we could play a game too?

[lionunchained]

Sure, let's play a game. Did you want to do that first before getting food?

[He'd seen those games before and they did look like fun. Of course they were both going to be playing the games given that was what she liked to do. Some of the games were different than he would have thought for a street festival game]

II

[ragnarsson]

So...you looking to buy that stuff or wear it?

[Ignore the smirking Viking, Shiro. When Ivar isn't behaving like an angry honey badger, he also has troll tendencies, especially when it comes to things involving sex. This is just too perfect an opportunity to pass up.]

[lionunchained]

[Shiro glances over at the voice and spots Ivar there. Somehow, he's not surprised]

Not for me. For my girlfriend. I don't have the body for it.

[He'll go along with the joke though he probably gave Ivar more fuel]

[ragnarsson]

You never know. You might give it to her and still end up in something with frills and ribbons. That might be her thing.

[And if he knew who Shiro was seeing, he'd be ribbing her just as much.]

[lionunchained]

True. That is true. I have not thought to ask her if that's her thing. We actually just started dating.

[Yep, he was rather happy about that and there was a sappy grin on his face for a moment as he thought of Hana then...]

So yeah... just looking at the moment.

[ragnarsson]

You're twitterpated.

[Don't ask him where he picked up that word. He's got a kid, he ends up watching a lot of Disney movies. He'd end up watching them anyway even if he didn't have Winter, but shush. He shakes his head.]

What a fool.

[lionunchained]

"Twitterpated". Wow, there's a good word.

[One of those you forgot in existed until you saw it in the dictionary or heard someone else say it]

I'm being a fool?

[He's cautious around Ivar, not because he's had any particular negative dealings with him, but because he has a grudge against Keith and a temper sometimes. But still, just cautious more than anything else]

II

[backwaterbelle]

You lookin' for someone in particular there sugah?

[Truth be told the moment she spotted his hair in the crowd, Rogue couldn't help but gravitate towards him, curious--and fearful--that he might be related to her. Someone from the future, perhaps? Given everything that's happened to the Summers family, the mutant knows that all sorts of strange things are possible. As such, she appears apprehensive and curious, green eyes flicking up to his hair.

The older woman has her own bi-colored hair up in a messy bun as she strolls his way, her white bangs and loose brown curls falling into her face. Even indoors, she wears long, black gloves with her green dress and high black boots. In the crook of one arm were several bags, their contents obscured.]

[lionunchained]

[Shiro looked up hearing the woman speak to him. When he did, he also noticed the white shock of hair as well. It was hard to miss and something that caught his attention now. It also made him wonder what had caused that. He had after all gotten it because of his time with Galra.

Somehow he's not surprised the bags here are all obscured. No one really wanted their personal business out in the open unless they chose to put it there]

No, not really. Just browsing what is at this convention. Never... never really seen anything like this before.

[backwaterbelle]

[He's not her son. The soft sigh of relief was reflexive and she immediately felt guilty for it. She's approximately 99% certain that he'd recognize her if she'd ever managed to have a child in her universe or any other, but crazier things had happened. For now, she's going to stick with that and move forward. There's already too much to unwrap and come to terms with in this place without a maternity issue.

She glanced around a bit after he mentioned the convention, returning her attention to him with an understanding nod.]

It ain't quite my cup of tea, but it's attactin' attention and ah'm hopin' to find familiar faces. How're you findin' it?

[lionunchained]

[He also could have told her he wasn't her son if that had come up. He knew exactly who his mother was and the accent was much different first of all. But it was true, if she had been, he probably would have recognized her. His memory for about one year of his life was pretty bad, but the rest he could still recall]

Yeah. This is really my scene either. I guess I came to see if there was anything interesting... my girlfriend might like.

[Yep, brand new girlfriend. He still says girlfriend with a bit of a sappy smile]

omg I'm sorry this got deleted in a email stack and I missed it.

[backwaterbelle]

[It's an odd question to ask a stranger, that's for sure. Accents had nothing to do with genetics, besides.

It's not just his comment that has her eyebrow ticking upwards, but the way he got all sappy and romantic in the land of lingerie. Bless his young heart. Regardless, she smiles.]

Oh yeah? You know she likes this sort of gift?

It's okay ^_^

[lionunchained]

[He's just sappy at the moment. It's been a long time since he's dated and he honestly never thought he would again until recently. So he's allowed to be sappy about dating. In regard to the last part...]

Well... actually... no. I don't know if she would. I guess just random thought.