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

[tanker]

[ Cursed. The word shoots through John like lightning. It must be. He's been cursed. Goddamnit, of course - things had been too easy, up until now. Too good.

It's weird, too. His emotions are all violent, raging inside him, but he remembers everything about his life, and the division in his brain is giving him a headache. ]

A day? A day? Have you seen me, Cisco? I'm - I'm -

[ He was not as articulate as a teen as he is as an adult. He is frustrated, angry, feeling like he's shaking apart at the seams, this body not fitting him anymore. He lets out a grunt, turning to drive his fist against the nearest wall. He leaves a dent, brick dusting down to the ground, his hand trembling but undamaged. ]

I've just moved in with Clarice, I can't go back to our apartment like this. I can't have her see me like this.

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco manages not to laugh, at the slight melodrama of the way John says have you seen me, so distraught over his current state. He holds it back, though, with only a little smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. The two of them will probably joke about it later, when John's back to his regular self. For now, though, what he needs is help, not anything that might be misread as mockery. ]

You could just explain to her.

[ But there isn't much force or hope in that suggestion; from what he'd seen of Clarice, he thinks she'd handle the strangeness of a temporarily teenage John without hardship. But it might still be hard for John, himself. Cisco thinks back, tries to make himself remember what it was like, to be that age, to be so painfully self-conscious and full of so much urgent emotion. So, he offers: ]

Or you can hide out at my place til it blows over. There's a spare room if you need it, and you can tell Clarice the two of us are working on some mystery project. You can totally blame me for it. I'm willing to be the fall guy here.

[tanker]

[ John lets out a grunt. It's not so much that he doesn't think Clarice wouldn't be able to handle it - he knows she could. But he doesn't want her to see him as a kid, ever. He doesn't want that image in her head. It's... weird, and it's not what he wants to be to her.

He finally got to a very satisfying stage of his relationship with her. He doesn't want that to change because he had a moment of naivete. ]

When I'm back to normal I'll tell her. But right now? I just - I can't.

[ There's also the fact that he can't seem to be able to control his temper, and his words. That is bound to lead to a fight, with Clarice, and he'd rather not. Really, really rather not. Which is why Cisco's offer makes him look up, eyes bright. ]

Seriously? Because that'd be so awesome. I promise I'll behave.

[franciscoramon]

[ The fact that John is willing to tell her once it's over is a mark in his favor. Eobard and his long con, combined with the fallout when Iris had finally realized they'd all been keeping her in the dark, plus everything he's heard about Lucretia and the rest of her crew and how they reacted to what she did with the voidfish - all of it has really soured Cisco on secrets in general.

But he gets it, that John wants to tell her the truth once its over. It'd probably be pretty damn weird, if he went home and there was a teenage version of Eddie there. Sure, Cisco would do his best to be understanding, until the effect got reversed, but... yeah, pretty weird. ]

Absolutely, dude. Wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it. It's nothing fancy, or anything...

[ Cisco pulls out his phone to dash off a quick text to Eddie, letting him know the situation, asking if he was cool with it. The truth is... it feels good. To be able to help. Especially after John had been so generous in his offer to help Cisco combat train with his powers. Then, because that's just the sort of person he is, Cisco raises his eyebrows, mentions pointedly: ]

You should text her and say something, though. I'd feel real bad if she was out there thinking something bad had happened to you.

[tanker]

[ John lets out a sigh of relief at being offered a place to stay. He was going to bunk up in the communal housing again, hide away for the time being, but not having to do that is a relief. For some reason, he keeps on thinking of Clarice sleeping in abandoned parking garages, heating up soup on a barely usable camp stove. He clenches his jaw, fingers flexing. ]

You wait until you see our place. We don't even have a couch yet.

[ His voice sounds weird to his own ears. He sounds like a whiny teen, something he's never really himself to be, ever. ]

Yeah, I - I will. I'll let her know that something's come up. Hopefully this doesn't last long, though, because she's going to be so mad if it does.

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco notices John's tight jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the uneasiness. Then again, can't really blame him. Cisco had hated being a teenager. If he suddenly was got transformed back into his seventeen year old self, he'd be pretty damn miserable. When all's said and done, John seems to be handling it pretty damn well. ]

You hungry? I could seriously murder a cheeseburger right now.

[ It's a strategic suggestion; seems likely that if John is really, physically at least, a teenager for the time being, then he's probably ravenous. And it'll get them away from the crowds, all the celebrating and flower-sharing and stuff that might be annoying, if you're in not the greatest mood. ]

Hey, man. It's not your fault.

[ Cisco is trying, as best as he can, to just treat John the same way he would if there was nothing different about him. Not to talk down to him at all. And he also tries to fill in the silence, rambling away in a friendly, easygoing fashion: ]

You two'll get used to it soon enough. I mean the revolving door of weird shit that happens around here from time to time. Getting age-morphed is, like, not even that weird compared to some shit I've seen. You weren't around back when there was that bullshit with the fairly lights, right? Some chucklefuck at the magic institute decided to play matchmaker and suddenly you couldn't take ten steps in the city without getting stuck in an invisible bubble you had to kiss your way out of, no matter who was in there with you, or else spend a goddamn awkward hour with them until the spell wore off. Now that was some nonsense.

[tanker]

[ If there's something that John remembers about being a teen, it was the hunger. Man, he was hungry all the time - between the growth spurt, the muscle mass gains, the sports he used to play at school, and the new powers, he was just constantly starving. And now, apparently it's the same thing. He melts a little, nodding. ]

Please.

[ The smile on his face is still a little tight - he wasn't very good at it, back then. But he knows Cisco's words are heartfelt, and genuine, and it matters to him.

They start walking towards the closest diner, John trying his best to keep his head up. ]

Wow. That is... I wouldn't have left the house. Did you end up making out with a bunch of people?

[franciscoramon]

God, no. Absolutely not. I was already with Eddie, I wasn't about to go around kissing other folks. And even if I'd been single, I wouldn't have. Not 'cause I'm a prude or anything, but nothing makes me wanna not do something as fast as somebody else tryin' to force me, know what I mean?

[ Cisco has a feeling that John will understand; he seems like the sort of person with principles. The sort of person who can be stubborn, when the situation calls for it. ]

So I ended up awkwardly standing around for hours making strained small talk with a bunch of strangers. Got totally behind in my work, took me ages to catch up. Eddie still kinda freaked out about it.

[ He realizes, belatedly, that he should probably give a bit more detail, explain in a way that doesn't cast Eddie unfairly in a negative light. After all, Cisco had found his jealousy rather endearing, though he of course didn't like the amount of distress it caused his boyfriend. ]

He's had some bad luck dating folks who were kinda emotionally unfaithful.

[ Cisco knows that both situations were complicated, that Iris and Taako both had their reasons. But he also knows the damage it had caused Eddie, always feeling like he was going to be the second-best option.

They reach the diner and Cisco holds the door open for John. ]

[tanker]

[ And John does get it, very deeply. He's not exactly the kind to start making out with strangers either, anyway, and wouldn't judge Cisco for not wanting to. As for being stubborn, well... ask Clarice.

Worst part of it is, at the age his body is in, John was even more bullheaded, so he nods fiercely, chin jutting up. ]

When my powers first started showing, my dad trying to force me to quit football. So yeah, I get it.

[ His dad had been right, of course. But try telling that to a 16 year-old star athlete.

The words - emotionally unfaithful - make John look away, tug a hand through his hair. It's the kind of words he feels could be attached to his own name, considering what happened with Sonya. Her death was his fault - she'd been trying to prove him something, and he let it happen.

But this isn't about him. He ducks his head further and steps inside the diner, sitting down at a table. ]

But you're - you think he's the one?

[ A strange question, coming out of the mouth of a teenager. But heartfelt. There's another question behind it - is Clarice? - but that's not one for Cisco. ]

[franciscoramon]

Of course you used to play football.

[ Cisco says it with a tiny laugh, as if he should have known. He doesn't ask about John's father, though he is intensely curious. How had John's father found out he was a mutant? Had he told him? Did they keep it a secret from other people? Had John been close with his father? What about after, apparently, he stubbornly kept playing football?

But Cisco has a rule - don't ask prying questions about people's families. It's so often a recipe for discomfort and conversational disaster. Sometimes, as a precaution, it proved unnecessary: if John brought up his dad a second time, Cisco might ask a question then, and re-evaluate based on John's answer. If he doesn't, though, Cisco will leave it alone. He generally avoided talking about his own family, unless people asked persistent enough questions - mostly as a favor to others, because honest answers tended to make them uncomfortable, or pitying. ]

I'm guessin' contact sports and super strength... maybe not the best combo. Or, I mean, great combo for you, bad combo for keeping your powers a secret.

[ Not to mention the potential damage to the other players; for Cisco, that risk goes without saying. That is, after all, what frightens him most about his abilities. Not that they aren't powerful enough, but that they are too powerful, that if he isn't careful, he will hurt or kill somebody with them, if he uses them.

Cisco, not knowing much about John's romantic situation besides that he's now with Clarice, doesn't think much of the way he looks away, messes with his hair. He assumes rather that it's embarrassment or boredom; plenty of guys, whatever their age, get pretty jumpy over terms like 'emotionally unfaithful'.

The two of them get settled in a booth, and John asks if Eddie's the one, and Cisco immediately beams, ducking his head. His cheeks feel warm with embarrassment, but his eyes are bright, and there's no mistaking that this is a guy who is head over heels in love. ]

I- I mean, um. Yeah. Yeah, I hope so.

[ Cisco can be very eloquent, describing a storyline from Farscape or multiverse theory or explaining some new tech he has cooked up. But when it comes to this? He gets all flustered and tongue tied. There's a short reprieve, at least, while he and John order their food, and then he continues, as if there were no interruption. ]

He's just- he's the best person I know. Y'know? And... the world is a better place when he's around.

[tanker]

[ John shrugs, a little aggressively. As an adult, he would have agreed. But here, with teen thoughts and hormones rushing through his blood, it makes it hard not to just think I can do it over and over again. Play football, and stay in control of his powers. He can do it. ]

I had to stop, anyway. There was... an accident.

[ And it'd been an accident. A tackle that should have been fine but ended up crushing his opponent's ribcage. ]

I still think I could do it. I could play and control my powers.

[ He's stubborn, sometimes.

Cisco's words about Eddie, somehow, manage to make John relax a little. The thing is - he wants to believe that things can work out. It's what he's been clinging to for a while, or at least that's what he was clinging to before things started going south for them.

But there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel, especially now. Especially with this place existing. Especially with Clarice. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I know that feeling.

[franciscoramon]

[ No need to ask what caused that accident. Cisco might not know the details, but with the way John says it, plus what Cisco knows about his powers... well, it isn't hard to guess. He grimaces in sympathy, and is grateful again that he hadn't gotten his powers at that age.

Cisco doesn't doubt John, when he says he would be able to play and control his powers now. From what he's been able to see, John has his powers completely under control, at this point in his life. He's probably wiser and less impulsive than he used to be; he has more experience and perspective. ]

You and Eddie were talking about setting up some kind of boxing club, weren't you?

[ Though Cisco doesn't really care about sports themselves, he cares that Eddie cares, and that John does. And he believes that it ought to be possible, for people to live their lives as uninterrupted as possible by their powers. If they couldn't do that in this place... where could they?

When John says he knows the feeling, Cisco smiles a small, lopsided, knowing smile. He connects the dots easily. ]

Clarice is great. How'd you guys meet? I mean I know it was through the Underground, but...

[ He's curious, and it also seems like a good way to get John's mind off his current predicament. If John's anything like him at all, he'll happily chat away about Clarice for ages. And sure, it's possible some of those stories are a bit less than ideal, considering the dystopian nightmare they seemed to live in, but they're still the stories of John's life. ]

[tanker]

Yeah, we did. I'd need some way to neutralize my powers, though, otherwise I would not be a fair fight.

[ There's nothing that can take him down. It's not really fun for other people, nor it is for him, honestly. But he's never had the chance to fight a fair fight, before. It's always been him, the brick wall, and people breaking their fists on him. Sure, some mutants could hold their own against him, and James could actually win, but for most people? It was just unfair.

It's nicer to talk about Clarice, anyway. Even with everything that happened. ]

My friends and I rescued Clarice, actually. She, um. Got herself out of a detention center, and we picked her up afterwards, kept her from being thrown back in jail. She didn't want to stay with us at all, at first.