monthly mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: flower festival
when: The month of April.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

flower festival

In the days leading up to April 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: The Flower Festival. Celebrating springtime, beauty, joy, and togetherness, the festival heavily features floral themes and dancing. The advertising mentions that on April 9th, a paid holiday, there will be a Blossom Picnic, as well as lists of various public dances at clubs or other open venues, the River Spirit Procession, and Flower Exchange.

a celebration of spring

The Flower Festival's main event is the Blossom Picnic on April 9th, but it also features traditions of sharing food and drink, and dancing that span over the course of the whole two weeks. There are a large variety of events going on throughout the city, from dancing lessons in any wide variety of traditional dances, to old-fashioned sock hops, to adult raves complete with mild party drugs. Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own event at any point during the festival, and if your character creates an event and hosts it in a top-level, you can submit that thread for extra bonus points.

i. blossom picnic

The main event that kicks off the second week of the Flower Festival is the Blossom Picnic on April 9th. A relaxed and low-key event, it draws several thousand people every year to the spacious Riverview Central Park, where there is a generous lawn lined with various blossoming trees, and families, found families, lovers, and groups of friends are encouraged to lay out a picnic blanket and share food. There will be live bands playing (but not loudly enough to distract from conversation and peacefully watching the petals flutter in the wind), a variety of demonstrations of traditional cultural dances from many different realities and planets, and a ton of ice cream vendors. This is an excellent festival not only for celebrating togetherness with the people who are already important, but for mingling and making new friends.

Characters may either pack their own lunches or they can purchase pre-packed Blossom Festival lunches. Stores and street markets are carrying a wide variety of specialty food that is only available at this time of year - predominantly pastries, an assortment of types of candies, and ice cream treats all in various floral flavors, as well as a sort of ambrosia salad based around a sweet rose-flavored cream and a native fruit that is bright green and tastes like a combination of peach and citrus.

ii. dancing lessons and dances

Starting on April 2nd, there will be dancing lessons offered almost everywhere you look! From partner dances to group dances to line dances; sexy and sensual or innocent and childlike - almost any type of dance you can imagine is represented, from any reality or planet that has people in Riverview Quarantine.

Additionally, the Riverview Central Community Center has multiple rooms blocked off so anyone who knows a dance from home can teach it to others in their community - sharing is caring, after all. Characters are welcome to block off one of these rooms and offer lessons in any dance they happen to know from home (and these sorts of thread starters would be eligible for the mingle AC Point bonus)!

As for the Flower Festival dances, they're pretty straightforward - in almost every club, community center, or other public space, there will be dancing at almost all hours of the day or night, formal and informal. Musicians bring out their instruments and play in the street for demonstrations of cultural dances and music at the same time as clubs are offering VIP cover charges for exclusive dances, and you can find anything in between.

Grab a partner, a group of friends, or just cruise and mingle the various dancing events.

Characters may also notice that most of the street markets and clothing shops are offering clothing that features floral patterns, flowers as accessories, and that show a lot of skin - for men, women, and anyone in between!

iii. flower exchange

During this year, there's been an influx of people from a dying reality consisting mostly of living plant people, and they've really taken the Flower Festival as a great opportunity to introduce one of their most honored traditions to the people of their new adopted world. The tradition involves sharing various types of flowers with strangers, with each type of flower having a different meaning and effect on both the giver and receiver - the bond of the exchange can spark emotion as well as physical responses that function in a unique way that affects almost everyone that participates, whether animal, plant, or even android.

Any characters exchanging the flowers with other characters, whether friends or strangers, will experience emotional/psychological effects, physical effects, or both once the exchange is complete. Effects can last for as short or long a time as the players involved want, and are as follows:

● Baby Blue Eyes - Trust/Healing the Inner Child
Emotional Effect: Either an inexplicable trust in the person the flower was exchanged with, or a generalized paranoia.
Physical Effect: De-aging. Characters can become a younger version of themselves, physically, mentally, or both. Whether or not their normal selves are of age, de-aged characters may not participate in adult prompts unless they're de-aged to something above 18.

● Chamomile - Peace & Harmony/Animal Support
Emotional Effect: A desire to make peace with one's enemies, or an inexplicable urge to push away loved ones.
Physical Effect: Both participants in the exchange will wake up the next morning with an animal companion that represents their soul/personality. Whether the companion can speak is up to player discretion.
NOTE: Animal companions from this event can be kept for a total of 300 Points. If you wish to keep them, just submit a request under your name on the Activity Bonus Rewards Page. For new players ONLY (players apping/reapping their first character in April) who wish to keep the animal companion but do not yet have points, feel free to submit and I will credit 300 points to be submitted once you have them.

● Rose - Friendship/Beauty
Emotional Effect: Openness and a desire to make new friends, or excessive competitiveness.
Physical Effect: A temporary glamor that makes both participants in the exchange appear as the most beautiful possible version of themselves, and improves their charisma.

● Crepe Myrtle: - Inspiration/Enduring Partnerships
Emotional Effect: New and creative ideas to solve life issues, or finding oneself averse to change.
Physical Effect: As soon as the exchange is complete, the two characters involved will be bound by an invisible tether that keeps them within three feet of each other. The tether won't affect anyone but the characters involved (no, you can't clothesline your enemies with it).

● Valerian: - Relaxation/Heart-Opening
Emotional Effect: A near-complete erasure of anxiety and stress, or a dramatic inexplicable increase in it.
Physical Effect: Forced honesty. Both affected characters become incapable of lying. Whether they're compelled to blurt the truth or if they can keep their mouths shut or talk around the truth is up to player discretion.

[Flower meanings used in this prompt come from this site.]

iv. river spirit procession

The River Spirit Procession is a yearly tradition in the Quarantine where a (usually small) contingent of people walk along the edges of the river carrying candles and dressed as river spirits, and offer sweets and blossoms or petals by tossing them into the river. The offerings are intended to appease the river spirits and guarantee safety from flooding, storms, and to ensure a good growing season. With the flooding that's still affecting the river, the turn out this year is much greater than usual, with a large number of residents entering the processions that happen throughout the month, usually on weekends.

During the processions, residents dress as river spirits, which is a relatively broad description and can be taken in a wide variety of ways and leaves a lot up to interpretation. They enter the procession at the place where the river enters the walls and follow the banks of it carrying candles, and often whispering or quietly speaking their gratitude for the river's plenty and their wishes for the year to come. Many residents also bring baskets of young blossoms or petals from flowers, and small sweets such as candy or tiny pastries and throw them into the river to appease the spirits. They carry along the river for as long as they wish to.

ACTION PROMPT: This year, with the flooding, the monsters, and the heavy turnout, the river spirit procession is a little more dangerous an undertaking than usual. After the first procession on April 1st resulted in several residents being swept away in the rising flood waters, and several others being attacked by a loose crocodile, the trouble becomes painfully evident. The Perimeter Guard will be sending out extra detachments and calling in reserve members to help keep the processions safe, and any extra hands to protect those who choose to participate will be more than welcome.

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 the Flower Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: unknown, found on pinterest; image ii: Steven Kent Lomtong; iii: Ryan Talbot; iv: Toru Nishimura

navigation

Comments

[childofaxios]

[ Chyler looks where Fuck and Dog are looking and hears the sounds of conversation coming closer. Adult conversation. She doesn't just follow--she trots over and grabs his hand between both of her own, towing him along down the hallway.

The dog follows, far more obedient than any normal animal of its age and breed should be, but it's not like either of the tiny people knows that. ] This way.

[ She doesn't actually know where she's going. ]

[bythehand]

[ If they get caught, he hopes he introduces himself instead of her.

FN-2187 lets himself get towed along, half-distracted and half-figuring this is the direction he was heading in anyway. Just trying to listen at their backs, if he can. Watch their six. But after a little while, he's back on his bullcrap. ]

Didn't you say you were lost?

[ That confidence though. ]

[childofaxios]

Yes.

[ She stops at a crossroads, examines their options, and then points to the left. ] That one.

[ AND AWAY SHE GOES AGAIN, bare feet slapping the tile and occasionally getting tangled in her shirt. FOLLOW OR NOT FINN IT'S UP TO YOU. ]

[bythehand]

[ Excuse you, his name is Fuck. He hesitates for a second while she's boldly marching onward with her weird dog.

She's not one of them. And he knows that, and he probably shouldn't have stayed with her at all once he figured that out. He's in trouble no matter how this shakes out, there's no reason to make it worse by-- fraternizing? Chyler might be with the Republic for all he knows. Plus she doesn't know where she's going, either, so if he went the other way he'd have just as good a chance of getting out as he does following her around.

... she's a lot younger. She's definitely not trained for anything. Nothing here makes sense, but he still can't shake the feeling that he needs to make sure she's okay, that he should be responsible for her for as long as it takes to get out, at least.

FN-2187 follows. He works overtime on trying to convince himself that nothing about this situation scares him. He's gonna be a stormtrooper. Stormtroopers don't get scared. They do what they're supposed to do and they keep moving. ]

Let me know if you see any weapons. [ Ugh, wait. ] You know what weapons look like, right?

[ This four-year-old's lack of regimentation is putting a real cramp on his special ops unit today. FN-2187's plan is so far unfolding into two steps with a lot of nebulous other steps in between: weapons, spaceport. ]

[childofaxios]

[ She stops short and turns around to give him the most scathing look a four-year-old can manage. It's pretty scathing, can't lie. ]

Yes.

[ She saw weapons once already, in fact. Which means she's heading back the way they came, once again expecting him to follow. It takes a couple of turns down a couple of wrong corridors for her to find the door she saw the weapons behind. Of course, it's locked, and there's a keypad next to it that she can't quite reach, but she gestures to the door like she's giving Finn a gift. ]

They're in there.

[ Chyler gives the door a considering look, then goes up and presses her ear against it. There's silence inside. She smiles and takes Finn's hand before she pads across the hall to the empty room on the other side. She ducks behind the door, followed by her dog, and wraps her arm around the animal as she looks up at Finn.

She puts a finger to her lips. Chyler's never been stupid. It's a thorn in the side of her parents, at times, and the cause of endless aggravation for her younger brother. ] Stay quiet and wait for them to come and put in the numbers. Then we can put in the numbers.

[bythehand]

[ All things considered, yeah, that's actually pretty scathing.

But look at that. He stuck with Chyler and not only did they finally find common ground that isn't being lost, she also found (supposedly, hopefully) some weapons.

He's never actually used a blaster or anything. Seen some of the practice rifles they'll use in simulations one day. Looked at a lot of diagrams and then had to label some parts from memory. Given the situation, which may or may not be that they're prisoners, FN-2187 thinks they could do worse things than pick up a way to defend themselves against the enemy.

Whatever or whoever the enemy is, here.

There's always an enemy. ]

We can't wait too long.

[ Staying still too long is a surefire way to get found out. This is the best plan of action he's been part of so far today, of course, so he's more than willing to give it a little time. Chyler doesn't act like any kind of inductee but she's admittedly a good planner.

And he's very good at standing still. ]

[childofaxios]

[ She makes an impatient noise and busies herself with petting her dog. Yes, he's her dog now, not just a dog.

It actually doesn't take that long for someone to come to the armory, someone limping and whining about drilling exercises. Chyler pokes Finn's side twice and points, then goes back to her dog. She came up with the plan, he gets to execute it. Those are the rules she just made up. ]

[bythehand]

[ Shoutout to Chyler Silva at four years old, the best commanding officer FN-2187 has ever had, probably. He's okay with doing the work on this part of the plan. He's heard he's got good observational skills. None of the other inductees were over the moon that he got singled out for it.

Joke's on them, though. This is basically a life-or-death situation and it's coming in handy.

He leans just far enough to watch them put their code in, a process to which he devotes his full and undivided focus because if there are codes, then something probably happens if you put in the wrong one. It's hard enough trying not to get caught right now as it is. Then it's a matter of waiting for them to leave again; he keeps his ears peeled for that, mostly, squeezing his eyes shut and running the buttons on loop so he doesn't forget. The way they're complaining, it won't be hard to miss them.

That's a one-way ticket to more drilling exercises. They're lucky someone in charge apparently can't hear them.

This place gets worse and worse the longer he's even here.

When he peeks back out and finds the coast clear, he nudges Chyler, gestures for her to follow him, and hits up that keypad like it's 1999. Figuratively speaking. Or literally speaking, if we want to believe in our hearts that 1999 is the key to the armory. But I mean, it's probably at least 5 digits. ]

[childofaxios]

[ Chyler shoos her dog into the room ahead of her, then pulls the door shut. It was already on the way to closing itself, and a four-year-old's weight doesn't do much to speed that along, but it's the thought that counts.

Then she turns around to discover what Finn probably already has: All the weapons are behind locked gratings. Chyler goes to the nearest one and digs her fingers through the holes, shaking it as hard as she can. The dog starts whining. She lets go of the grate and looks over at Finn. ]

They're locked.

[bythehand]

[ FN-2187 grips one of the gratings, too, though he seems to substitute shaking it with leaning his forehead against it to think. It's like they don't want people to be able to get to these fast. What's the point of having an armory at all? ]

I know.

[ He lets his brain run overtime, tries to think of it like a question on a test. Stranded in enemy territory with no access to weapons, what do you do next? There has to be a way into these gratings, right? There's a right way to do this. Something knots in his chest. He tries to pretend it isn't there. ]

If we don't get weapons here, we have to be extra careful not to get caught when we leave. There's no room to mess up.

[childofaxios]

[ Up until now, Chyler's been thinking of this entire thing as a game. She's on a base. A base is a safe place to be. The only problem with getting caught is getting in trouble for being somewhere in the base she isn't supposed to be.

But Effin is very serious about this whole thing. He's serious and he's upset. She goes over to him, reaches up, plants her hand over his. ]

It's okay. [ The dog noses around his ankles, snuffling. ] I'll help you.

[bythehand]

[ The blasters here don't look exactly right, he realizes. Nothing about this place is right. Even the air tastes funny.

He just wants to get back. He wants something that makes sense.

Chyler's hand is small and warm, and the touch doesn't make sense, either. She's made the least sense of all. He still doesn't want her to get caught, he doesn't want her in the same trouble. He doesn't shake her hand off.

Looking over at her, trying to puzzle out the point of the gesture, FN-2187 starts to wonder if he did something wrong and being here is the punishment. It becomes the scariest part of the idea of getting caught, suddenly. ]

I'm gonna climb up. If it doesn't look like there's any way to get it open, we'll go back out. We'll make another plan.