riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

ii. dancing lessons

[Magical flowers aside, this festival is right up Beverly's alley. In the months that she's been in the Quarantine, she's become more willing to embrace dancing once again, no longer so nervous about what people might say about it. And in fact, she's one of the people offering a couple of dance classes in the Community Center, one class on jazz and the other focused on tap. "Anyone of any age or ability is welcome to join!" the flyers proudly pronounce.

Wearing a velvety blue leotard that is considerably more modest than most of the clothing in the street market and a festive blue and white flower tucked in her hair, Beverly weaves in and out among the students and gently corrects someone's posture here, someone else's form there. She's firm, but never sharp and always encouraging.]

Good, good! [She moves back to the front of the room and claps her hands.] Why don't we take a little water break?

iv. river spirit procession

[Beverly has volunteered to help at a pop-up medical tent, both to deal with normal parade issues - dehydration and scraped knees - and more serious emergencies that might arise. While she maintains a relaxed manner, her concerns are made obvious by the phaser that she wears on her belt, next to her omnipresent tricorder. She keeps an eye the paraders and the crowds, wary of any signs of danger.

Alas her hopes of a quiet parade are dashed when she sees someone comes running up to the tent, looking for help. Automatically, she grabs one of the med kits and steps out to meet them.]

What's happened?

v. wildcard!

[If you want to do some sort of flower exchange, hit me up and we'll plot something out!]

Edited 2018-04-04 03:19 (UTC)

[She'll find a small boy with scraped hands just outside the tent, trying to avoid other people and looking generally lost. He looks up at her with a pair of big blue eyes and clothes too big for him.

She's dressed strange, like everyone else here. Like he is, but he's a good boy, he holds his tongue and says nothing rude. And tries to be like his brother.]

I tripped. S'too many people here.

[Her brow furrows. The boy looks familiar somehow though she can't quite place him. Well... she'll figure out who he is and why he's alone in a minute, after she takes care of his hands. She kneels down to his level.]

Oh, ouch! Let me see?

[He watches her for a moment, curious and more than a little shy. But she reminds him of Aunt An a little, her hair just isn't as bright a shade of red. And she's worried over his scrapes too.

Slowly, he turns his hands over to show the scrapes on his hands. Only a little bloody and mostly dirty from trying to wipe it all away on his trousers.]

[She takes his hands gently in hers and gives him a reassuring smile before checking them over. Oh, it's not too bad at all, just a little messy looking!]

I can fix that right up! [She reaches into her medkit and pulls out a few sanitary wipes.] This might sting a little, okay?

[He'll watch her for a moment and then pout at the mention of it stinging. It hurts every time his aunt helps the twins or when Gramp deals with any cuts and scrapes they get. There's no objection though, just a little nod and a soft:]

'Kay. [Shy as he is, he's placing his trust in her. His brother probably wouldn't but he was also very protective.]

[She's as gentle as can be as she wipes the grime and dirt away from his hands. While she works, she keeps talking to him, as a reassurance.]

My name is Dr. Crusher. What's yours?

[He's surprisingly quiet as she does but he does make a face as it stings at his hands. His brother can be brave though, so he will be too.]

Aunt An is a doctor. [His voice is soft but then he manages a little smile.] My name's Astre.

[Aunt An...? She knows now why he looks so familiar! She doesn't remember Ciel ever mentioning a little brother, but who knows? So many things are possible here.]

Like a star. [She smiles and wraps up the last of his bandages.] Would you like to visit the stars one day?

[If he had, it wouldn't have exactly been a lie. Ciel is the older brother...]

Visit..? [He stares for a moment in wonder before he shakes his head.] No. That seems silly. I'll be happy to just be able to go to London one day.

Oh, it's not silly at all! Because you know what?

(She leans in close, like she's telling him a Very Important Secret.)

I live among the stars!

[Of course he’s curious and he stares up at her until she says that. Then his look turns to awe. Living among the stars-]

Like an angel!

[Oh no, he's simply too cute! She laughs gently.]

No, not quite! I live on a starship - we sail between planets and stars.

Beverly Crusher | OTA

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