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

[buildsomething]

[Tony blinks once at the response, but they're drawing to a stop before he can really do anything with it. He's never seen Cisco quite like this, and he'd puzzle over it any other time.

Instead, he turns to give a hard stare at the stall in front of him, since he's guessing this is what Cisco wanted him to see. He's got a few thoughts as to what might put an engineer in that bad of a mood, but nothing here looks too dangerous. Actually, it...Wait.

His eyebrows immediately draw together as he catches sight of a couple of things that look just a little too familiar.]

Huh. [It's a flat, deeply unimpressed sound.] Look at that.

[franciscoramon]

[ It's not as explicit as hey, those are my designs, but there's no mistaking the frown on Tony's face, or that tone of voice. It confirms what Cisco had already known, deep down, to be true. ]

I don't know about you, but I'm getting this crazy feeling of deja vu. You know? Like I've seen those sonic grenades before, somewhere...

[ Cisco points to the little cluster of round, unassuming-looking dull black spheres near the back of the display. ]

...oh, wait. I have, 'cause I designed 'em. And that. And these. And who knows how much other stuff they're not putting up for display.

[ He puts a hand on Tony's arm, the anger in his face slipping away, cracking to reveal uncertainty and fear, underneath. Tony's been an engineer a lot longer than he has. He'd been the head of a company, had dealt with this sort of thing, before. Cisco had never been his own boss, before the Quarantine. Everything he'd made had been for S.T.A.R. Labs, and he'd never had to really consider a situation like this. ]

What do we do?

[buildsomething]

Good question.

[The response comes out accompanied by a long sigh. A good question to which the answer is probably not 'steal everything back and make the original thief look like an idiot', as much as he might like it to be. Tony is nominally supposed to be an adult.]

You have proof or anything? Designs, dated blueprints?

[Probably not an issue of patents, so that's at least one thing out of the way.]

Should go talk to the organizers, I guess. Or. [He pauses, turning to glance over at Cisco.] How far up do you want to take this?

[franciscoramon]

I- yeah, yeah, back at the workshop. Somewhere.

[ The benefits of hanging onto everything, of documenting carefully, the way he'd been taught to do. Cisco's never been more grateful for those habits than he is right at that moment. But the thought of using those blueprints, of appealing to some kind of authority, the officialness and paperwork and formality of it, makes something inside Cisco recoil in fear. It's ridiculous, that he should feel like an imposter at a time like this, when there is an actual liar and thief here, who isn't him. But that doesn't make the feeling go away. ]

I don't know. As far as we need to.

[ Swallowing, Cisco leans in a bit closer to Tony, expression solemn as he adds: ]

It's not the money I'm worried about. Or, not mostly. I'm just thinking... how'd this guy get a hold of our designs? You know? I'm pretty careful with... who I let see what, and there shouldn't be any way this was possible. How much more could he have? And- and some of these are dangerous. You know? Stuff that I made specifically for the Guard or the cops, not for just, you know, whoever.

[buildsomething]

Yeah. [The laugh he huffs has no actual humor in it.] Believe me, I get that.

[And honestly, the urge to find their thief friend and shake him until he gives up how is strong. But Tony is well aware that it isn't the best idea, and has no real faith in his own interrogation techniques besides. If only Natasha was still talking to him.]

I'll put JARVIS on it, see if there's some kind of weird backdoor in the network nobody spotted. And I've got an in on the police force, I can run something unofficial by them. See if we ca figure this out before we spook the guy.

[Peggy might be willing to help without raising too many alarms. Maybe.]

[franciscoramon]

Yeah, I got one of those, too. It's called dating a detective.

[ Eddie is absolutely going to hear about all of this. If there are any strings he can pull Cisco's sure he will pull them, and do what he can to help them figure out the truth. But all of that will take time, and patience, and a better poker face than Cisco thinks he has.

Then, it hits him. The frown on his face softens, and he looks over to Tony, frustration and anger replaced with sudden realization. He lowers his voice, leaning in to say: ]

Or... you could cover for me, and I could try to get us some information in a different way.

[ And he raises a hand, waggling his fingers in a way that will (hopefully) will remind Tony of the fact that Cisco isn't just an engineer: he has powers. Powers that let him see stuff he shouldn't be able to see. His heart is beating fast, and he's nervous. They're in the middle of public, after all, and it might look suspicious, him just touching these machines, zoning out for stretches of time. It's not a guarantee, but it's an option. And maybe the best one they've got. ]

Should I go for it? I've been practicing a lot, and I'm pissed enough it shouldn't take much. I just - I'd need you to make sure nobody paid too much attention to me.

[buildsomething]

[Oh, right the boyfriend. It's on the tip of Tony's tongue to apologize for that, but then the thought is pretty much immediately chased from his head. He finds himself staring at Cisco, studying him with something almost like intent. The last time they'd talked about this, Cisco hadn't exactly been up on his abilities, now he was offering to just go wild?]

You sure?

[It's low and intent. Yeah, he wants to know, but he's also not going to force a friend into something he's not comfortable with for the sake of it. Not when they have other options, at least.]

I mean yeah, I can cover for you. But you don't have to.

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco meets Tony's eyes, sees the scrutiny there. There's a degree of nervousness, in his expression, but the set of his jaw is determined. He doesn't answer right away, takes a moment to really think about it. As for his ability to do it, he's fairly confident. All those hours of practice, all that meditating with Genji, has started to pay off. His hesitation isn't can he, but should he. There's a very real danger that someone might see him, might put together that he's doing something not-quite-normal when he goes into what looks like a trance.

But after a moment or two, he nods. ]

I know. But... but what's the point of having powers if I'm not gonna use them to stop this kind of thing from happening?

[ Cisco casts a quick glance around them, making sure that no one is looking their way. He gives Tony another short nod, then reaches out deliberately to set his hand on one of those sonic grenades. The effect is immediate; from the outside, Cisco merely goes still, eyes open and unfocused, expression vague. Inside his head, he is watching this grenade be built, is searching around for clues as to the who, the where, the how.

It's about half a minute before Cisco is sucking in a sharp breath, blinking rapidly and reeling a little, though he catches his balance quickly. He rubs a hand over his eyes, face scrunched up momentarily as if he has a headache, but he says: ]

Well... I know where they were making the stuff, anyway. Gonna try again.

[buildsomething]

[He watches Cisco for half a second before Tony turns to stand in front of him, putting his body between Cisco and the rest of the room. From there, it's not hard to distract any attention away from what's going on behind him, Tony barely has to do more than smile vaguely on the off chance anyone looks over. It's the kind of thing he's done for years at parties and events. The right kind of slightly bored, uninterested expression and people's eyes just glaze right over you.

He twists back a little when he senses movement again, watching Cisco out of the corners of his eyes.]

You doing okay, there?

[He may not have powers, but Tony knows exactly like a blossoming migraine looks like.]

[franciscoramon]

[ Tony is, of course, entirely right in his assessment. There are times when vibes come easily - unasked for - and they don't usually hurt when that's the case. But right now he's pushing himself; not just to have the visions, but to direct them, use them to scope out very specific information. That's a bit more of a strain. But what's a little headache, compared to solving this, getting control of a situation that could be so dangerous?

So, in typical hero fashion, Cisco waves off the warranted concern as if it were nonsense, switching over so he can lay a hand on one of the pieces of tech stolen from Tony's own design. This time, it takes a few second of scrunching up his eyes before the vibe comes, but it yields better results than the last. After another span of half a minute or so, Cisco's sucking in a sharp breath, blinking hard and saying in a rush: ]

I know how they're doing it.

[ Cisco rubs his hands over his face, and they are shaking slightly from the strain. But when he looks at Tony again, there's triumph in his expression. He leans in, whispering so as not to be overheard. ]

It's not a bug, or hacking, or espionage, or whatever. They've got somebody who can go invisible. I saw it. They must have- their powers must make it so even JARVIS couldn't pick them up. Probably just walked right in and waited to help themselves to our designs.

[buildsomething]

Well that just seems like cheating.

[It's mild, but there's a genuine anger threading under it. His designs have always been a huge sort spot, more after that whole debacle with Stane. The fact that someone just decided to walk straight into his space and take things is going to bother him for a while.

But. That's for dealing with later. For now, angry or not, he can't help but look faintly concerned as he gets a good look at Cisco.]

Okay so. Here's my plan. We get you home, because buddy, you kinda look like you're about to keel over. After that, we figure out a way to reconfigure JARVIS to be able to read outside of the visible light spectrum, because that right there is bullshit. Then we hook that up, catch the guy in the act, and make somebody else deal with him. Sound good?

[franciscoramon]

I'm fine.

[ It's an automatic, entirely unconvincing response. But, when Cisco opens his eyes again, he sees the person who is working the booth (who is not, he realizes, the one who had snuck into their labs. Does he even know he's selling stolen tech?) looking at him with concern. That gives him reason enough to nod to Tony's suggestion, and begin walking away with him, towards the door leading out. ]

I can help with JARVIS if you want. It's just a headache.

[ He's a little shaky, but there's a sense of satisfaction beginning to spread through his chest. He'd done it. He'd controlled his powers, pushed himself, used them to get information that was vital. All he needs is more practice, and he could do this more - use it to help people. ]

A sting operation. Love it. I can get Eddie to show up and have some of his cop buddies on standby to haul the guy away. Better see if we can make some goggle versions of that anti-invisibility tech. In case he runs for it.

[ Cisco thinks about leaving it there, not mentioning the fact that both of them know - that Tony has dealt with this before, that it had led to, from the little Cisco knows, some pretty terrible stuff in his life. Will he make things worse, bringing it up? But then, there's no way Tony hasn't already thought it. Better to not pretend ignorance. ]

We'll fix this, Tony. I promise. Your tech's not gonna be in the wrong hands again. We'll track it all down.

[buildsomething]

Sure you are.

[But there's only so much arguing he can do without descending to complete and utter levels of hypocrisy, so Tony lets it go. It he sets a hand lightly on Cisco's upper back as they head out, that's just being friendly and in no way trying to make sure he can catch the guy if he decides to topple over.

Besides, he can't help but get immediately distracted by the sudden promise tacked on to the end of a bit of babbling. He shoots Cisco a startled look out of the corners of his eyes, but he really shouldn't be surprised. Cisco's quick, it's not a stretch that he would make that kind of a connection, especially not when it's something scientists always have to worry about. The promise to him, though, that's different in a way Tony can't really articulate. It's nice, though.]

Well sure. They won't know how to use it all properly anyway. And then we get to shame someone in public, and that's always a good time.

[franciscoramon]

[ When Tony doesn't respond to that promise, apart from moving quickly on, Cisco accepts that with a brief nod, letting the conversation move forward without addressing it any further. Tony even manages to coax a wan little smile out of him. ]

Oh, hell yeah. This fucker's not gonna know what hit him.

[ As the two of them leave, Cisco feels a renewed wave of resentment - he'd been planning on staying at this convention all day, on systematically going through and looking at every invention and talking to everyone responsible for them. But all that curiosity and conversation and joy is going to have to wait. It's been put on hold by some douche who just thought he could take whatever he wanted. Cisco's going to have to upgrade his own security, too.

He's grateful for Tony, whose presence is steadying. The fresh air helps with his headache some, but he's grateful when they hail a cab, and he says his goodbyes (insisting he can make it the rest of the way home on his own) and he can sit back and close his eyes. He is going to need to make some changes to the goggles, to prevent whatever it is that causes this unfortunate side effect with his vibes. If he's going to be any kind of effective meta, he needs to be able to vibe more than a few times without giving himself a migraine... ]