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

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba's grip tightens for a moment, twisting his sleeve, then relaxes as he puts his hands to his side. ]

...No, I'm fine.

[ It was officially awkward running into him before and now he just feels awful. He's probably not the best company either, and that makes him want to put as much distance between himself and someone's good time as he can. So he forces out a smile and a sunny tone: ]

Thanks for the offer, Ichimatsu. I think I can find my way out from here, thanks to you!

[nyahilistic]

[His eyebrows both climb skyward. God, he looked just like Karamatsu, going from what he thought was a subtle display of anxious stress to the fakest of smiles and happy tones.]

...this is a wildly uncalled for statement, here, but who the fuck do you think you're kidding?

[bottombitch]

...

[ Aoba's smile turns strained. It was a failure to begin with, trying far too hard and obvious enough that he could feel it fraying at the edges. But he and his anxiousness have been effectively called out, and while he could have kept up the cheery tone for a little while, right up until he flew past the first few tents, he's rooted by the accusation.

He's not trying to fool anyone. It's not like he's trying to lie. He just doesn't want to lose his composure in front of someone who has their own problems, and most of all, doesn't need their day ruined by this shit.

And because he can't seem to say anything in his defense, or move from this spot, he starts to shake. ]

[nyahilistic]

[He huffs, shaking his head, and reaches out, carefully taking hold of only Aoba's sleeve, not his arm itself.]

I go through this shit with Karamatsu all the time, except I didn't start caring until this past year. Walk with me, we'll get you some water. Pretending isn't gonna do you or me any good, 'cause if I walk away and leave you here I'm gonna be bothered the whole day.

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba flinches a little, tears prickling his eyes. He's been fighting off the urge to burst into tears, and manages just barely. Being scolded kind of... helps, even if he hates it. The pressure on his sleeve is so gentle that he doesn't notice it until after he's heard him speak and feels shame drape over him. ]

Sorry. I don't want to bother you.

[ And he did anyway. What a pain in the ass he's being. It's now that he bobs his head as a way to apologize that he feels the hold Ichimatsu has on his sleeve and he stares at it. Guilt twists at his stomach. ]

...I'm really bad company right now, but I appreciate the concern.

[nyahilistic]

I'm always bad company.

[He doesn't say anything to the concern comment. It's not concern, really-- he doesn't know Aoba hardly at all, other than he's apparently his brother's soulmate. They had some weird cookies, once. But he recognizes when someone is in a bad way, and he selfishly doesn't want to feel badly about himself later if he leaves him alone. He pulls his sleeve and moves them carefully toward the exit-- To passers-by it... Honestly probably looks like Aoba got hot under the collar and Ichimatsu is taking him off to ravish him, considering the location.]

[But he also has to admit that leaving the crowded convention hall is a breath of fresh air, so overall it seems to have been well-timed. He lets go of his sleeve and shoves his hands in his pockets, giving him a bland look.]

Water?

LMAO GOD DAMMIT I laughed at the whole 'taking him off to ravish him'

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba is docile as he's led away and when they come to a stop, looking like he's hovering between a general discomfort and awkward sort of acceptance of his situation. He knows Ichimatsu from a few outings, with at least one such was a bit hazy on the details. There's really no reason for him to help except, as he's said, it would bother him if he didn't... but somehow he suspects that it's really because of Karamatsu.

Or maybe he just tells himself that. ]

Y-yeah.

[ Aoba considers apologizing for a third time, then decides against it. He's already said all the words he's supposed to. Deny anything's wrong, everything's fine, sorry to have been a bother, thanks for the concern... none of them worked. He's not sure if it's a mercy or not that Ichimatsu isn't having any of it, but at least he's completely unaware of how outer appearances might lead some bystanders to draw conclusions that would mortify him! Silver lining! ]

...I thought about clarifying that I was talking about the water, not you. But honestly I think us both being bad company is kind of easier right now.

sorry aobs he's not into you

[nyahilistic]

[Maybe it's a little of both. Maybe the reason it would bother him is because he knows Karamatsu cares about Aoba, and if he heard tell if him having run into Ichimatsu and been visibly upset, Ichimatsu would get an earful for it. Who the fuck knows, with this guy.]

[He moves to get a bottle of water-- from a vending machine, or something, and holds it out for him. He gets himself a little can of tea, which he cracks open and drinks slowly.]

I mean I am bad company, basically always, so whatever.

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba offers a weak smile and doesn't bother disagreeing. Ichimatsu seems to almost smile when he says this, like he's proud of his negativity and vaguely challenges anyone to contest it. ]

Thanks.

[ Unscrewing the cap, Aoba looks at the bottle before he brings it to his lips. The water is cool and refreshing, feels good going down - soothing away the dryness in his mouth and throat and cooling him down just a bit. It reminds him he's hungry, and in his mind he thinks of Granny and the way she would probably scold him if she saw him now, and then make him those light and sweet donuts of hers. ]

I've been considering going back home. I figure this is something everyone thinks about once in a while.

...If you didn't have to go back to the Eluvio, would you consider going back too?

[nyahilistic]

[It's not that he's proud, but he is sort of constantly challenging anyone to contest it. He's not fun to be around, and he doesn't exactly mind that, but he's also pretty sure he can break down just about anyone's argument about why he would be beneficial to be around. Maybe that's the part he's proud of. Somehow.]

[He flinches at the mention of Eluvio, regardless.]

The chance it would send me back there makes me not really want to think about it.

[Plus, maybe he doesn't mind it so much here. Even if it was because he was handed the job upon arrival, he's actually managed to integrate into a functional person, something he never thought possible. He made his first real friend--]

[...and now he's figuring out how to handle the loss of that friend. He frowns.]

...but, going back to useless NEETdom wouldn't be something I'd be against, either.

[bottombitch]

[ From what little he knows about it, he can't fault Ichimatsu for his reluctance to consider that an option. However, that part about being a NEET again... Aoba looks at him a little flatly before moving on. Ah, maybe he misses not having to work or something.

Anyway. He's trying to work something out in his mind, and maybe a negative mind is what he needs right now. It makes sense in his head, just a little, because sometimes he wonders if the fact he is gone - without so much as a word - is because he did something wrong. You know, that stage of grief. ]

If you did decide to go, you'd... you'd tell people, right?

It'd be weird for someone to just disappear, wouldn't it?

[nyahilistic]

[He frowns. He's at the same point of thinking with Gabriel's disappearance, and the mention just sours his gut a little.]

...me personally? Probably not. There's not really anybody here that would be bothered by my absence, 'cept my brothers, and they'd just have to deal with me again at home.

[He designated himself specifically, as if to imply that he would like for others to announce their departure. He doesn't know if it's an option or not, to know you're leaving and say something, and a part of him wants to assume it's not just so he doesn't feel like he drove Reyes away, but... Even being left with some of his things, which is about as much of a goodbye as one could really expect from the man, he still would never think he wasn't at least part of the catalyst.]

[bottombitch]

...Oh.

[ Aoba blinks, startled. He looks a little shaken by that, just because that's not really something he considered. Is this what was going through his head when he returned home through the portal? There wasn't a note or anything to indicate he was going back, but maybe Noiz was expecting him to come home. Maybe he's waiting on him.

That's... that's difficult, and Aoba's guilt grows heavier. He looks down at the bottle as his eyes start to sting. He squeezes his eyes shut and tips the bottle back, chugging it in small gulps as he tries to use this to distract himself from that unhappy surge of emotion. ]

[nyahilistic]

[He sinks into a crouch.]

...I've never really understood the whole "misery loves company" saying, but... if it helps, somebody I know left recently, too.

[The statement is careful. He doesn't call Gabe his friend, doesn't call him anything. Just, someone he knew. He chews on the lip of his tea can in a similar way Aoba chugs his water-- he feels sick more than anything, and registers that maybe he shouldn't be talking about this, but it seemed like the thing to do.]

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba takes a moment to breathe after he finishes drinking, feeling the distraction push away that anxiety for now. When he glances at him, there's no indication that Ichimatsu lost someone dear to him, but... he seems so impassive and he's never really heard him talk about anyone but his brothers.

But then again, he calls himself bad company and keeps others at arm's length. This might just be his way of protecting himself. Still, Aoba looks a little tense when he asks, because if it was someone they both knew, then his day just got even worse. ]

It wasn't one of your brothers, was it?

[nyahilistic]

[He shakes his head slowly, still chewing on the lip of his can of tea. It was empty, now, but having something to chew on helped, somehow.]

...no, I've only got two of them. I wouldn't probably be out at some weird kink convention if they'd left.

[A pretty hefty admission, there, but he's too tired to bother pretending he's not extremely dependent.]

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba feels the tension slowly drop, leaving him feeling vaguely tired but relieved. But when he mentions he wouldn't probably be at the kink convention if they'd left, Aoba flinches, because he's at a kink convention and wondering what he's doing with his life. ]

A...Aa, is that so?

[ HE FEELS CALLED OUT RIGHT NOW ]

S-so... this was someone else you were close to.

[nyahilistic]

[The double entente of his words isn't lost on Ichimatsu at all. He wasn't nice, he didn't mince words or corners, and if Aoba was so out of sorts about losing Noiz it seemed odd to him that he'd end up somewhere he was so uncomfortable. He didn't realize there was a correlation between the two, he just assumed "lonely" and "horny" lead to "kink convention".]

[But the topic shifts slightly, back to him, and he rolls his shoulders, obviously tense.]

...if you wanna put it that way.

[bottombitch]

[ Aoba wants to be viewed as a good boy. He doesn't want to backslide into the old habits of his youth, the same thing that made Granny cry. But he also can't really deny the fact that he's still at a kink convention so he's going to just. Let that matter... die. ]

Was that a wrong assumption to make?

[ He looks genuinely surprised. ]

They have to mean something if you're going to miss them.