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

No?

(She's known Cisco to be a bit of an over-thinker (that and suspicious, lest she forget) so this train of thought isn't what concerns it. It's the way his demeanor shifts, the way his voice drops, the skeptical look he gives his flower.)

I think it's just a flower festival, Cisco, (she says carefully, watching him. He's looking at her expectantly; if she could take that suspicion and smooth it over some how, assuage his fears, that would make her feel a lot better too. The magic of the flower is subtle enough that she doesn't question this need to protect him. He's a friend; Lucretia protects her friends.)

Don't worry about it, okay? They wouldn't have put it on in the market place if it were dangerous. There are children here.

[ When Lucretia says nothing dangerous would be in the market place since there are kids there, Cisco exhales a tiny scoff. It is, to his current way of thinking, a rather naive way of looking at the situation. The fact that there are kids around means they should be more suspicious in case something potentially threatening is afoot, not less. Just who was in charge of approving and vetting festivals, anyway? Was there anyone? Were they somebody who could be coerced, or persuaded by bribe...

But Lucretia tells him not to worry, so he gives a little shrug, says: ]

Alright. If you say so.

[ And he really tries. He does. They pass a few minutes together, looking at the other flowers being offered to the passers-by, chat idly about flowers that exist in both their worlds, and a few that are specific to each planet. There's no reason for him to feel jumpy; it's a bright warm morning, and the air is full of floral scents and the smell of warm paving stones and a fresh breeze from the river.

But he reaches out, touching Lucretia's arm just above the elbow and asking in a tense whisper: ]

Check the guy in the purple scarf. Over there. Don't look yet! You gotta be casual. Is he, like, following us? How long's he been over there?

[ If he could hear himself, from a distance, it would be obvious for Cisco to see that something was amiss. But it all feels organic, to him. All perfectly natural and rational. ]

(Okay, this is a bit much. Up until this moment she'd been enjoying the colourfulness of their surroundings, the peaceful atmosphere– and then Cisco's whispering to her urgently about somebody following them. Lucretia doesn't look. She actually looks at Cisco, because this is a pretty intense reaction to somebody who is clearly just minding their own business. The festival is set up in a way that promotes a general flow through in one direction, after all.)

Cisco, (she says just as quietly, and loops her arm neatly through his, turning him away.) They're following us through the order of the stalls, just like everybody else.

Are you okay?

[ Cisco looks over his shoulder at the guy in question, even as Lucretia is steering him away. But there's no hesitation, in the way he clings to Lucretia's arm. A reluctance to stop staring at the guy, keeping an eye on him, but not to let her redirect him. ]

Yeah, of course I am. [ He looks back at Lucretia, a small furrow between his brows. ] Why? Do you think the flower did something to me?

[ That must be it. He'd thought that the flower did nothing at all, but clearly something is wrong, something that only Lucretia had spotted. Probably because she was so good at magic. He's lucky, to have a friend like her. ]

Can you undo it?

Now I do, yeah.

(It must have been the flower. Lucretia looks down at the blossom in her other hand and drops it so she can step neatly onto it. Not that it will help to reverse anything that's happened, but it's a symbol of how she feels. A dull panic is brewing in the pit of her stomach, making her itch. She was supposed to protect him, and she let this happen! She's terrible. She's so horrible.)

Um, (she says distractedly, and stops in place as if it will help her think. The way Cisco is clinging to her has a strange grounding effect: she sucks in a shuddering breath.) Maybe. I– I'm so sorry, Cisco.

Hey, c'mon-

[ Cisco can see that Lucretia's upset, and the guilt in her voice is stark. He is midway into comforting her when he gets distracted, head whipping around when he catches a glint of something reflective, up high. He looks, sees a little decorative bell that someone has hung on the branch of a tree that is heavy with puffballs of pink. He'd thought... maybe it was a camera. But just because he was wrong doesn't mean they aren't being watched. That was just the thing. You could never be entirely sure. Not in a place where you couldn't check. ]

- it's not your fault, if that's what you're thinking. I'm the one who said 'let's try it'.

[ Someone passes by them, a little too close behind Cisco's back for his comfort, and it's making his skin crawl, being in this place. They need to go somewhere else. Somewhere less overwhelming. ]

Look, I still think somebody's watching us. I can just feel it, okay? I don't... I just know. So let's get outta here.

[ He takes Lucretia's hand, holding it as he starts making his way back towards his workshop. He knew every inch of that place. He and Rey and Eddie were the only ones with keys. It had those anti-Eobard wards that Lucretia herself had put up ages ago. It was as close to a secure location as they were gonna get.

As they're walking, his concern for Lucretia and the look of unhappiness on her face increases, and he asks: ]

Are you okay?

(Lucretia's very aware of his nervousness now, and she watches his head whip about towards something in the distance she can't quite make out... he's squinting suspiciously into the distance. It doesn't help her feel any better. He wouldn't be obsessively checking everything around them if it weren't for the... flower. The one that she swapped with him.

Which one did he give her? She'd just been holding it. She glances down between them, lifting her shoe to stare at the crumpled blossom underfoot.

It's really hard to ignore the guilt crawling in her stomach.)

I know, but I could have– (No, that's– it's not a thing? She's anxious because of the flower. Paranoid. She thinks. It's a working theory. Cisco's abrupt suggestion to leave the festival altogether cuts through all her confusion, and she nods immediately, relieved.) Okay.

(Nothing can get Cisco if they go anywhere safe. Lucretia's trying to remind herself that she's a very powerful wizard, that anything would have to have to get through a whole lot of something if it wanted to hurt Cisco. She almost misses his next question.) I'm fine. I'm fine, I just need to make sure you're safe.

[ There's an intensity to those words that answers Cisco's question, albeit unintentionally. He knows how important it was to Lucretia, to keep her friends safe. She had taken things too far, trying to shield them from danger, from hurt, from everything. She is someone who takes it all on her shoulders, sees it as her responsibility to keep others protected.

But even though Lucretia is his friend, she's never acted like this before. So singularly focused on protecting him. It stands out, to him, and makes him realize: ]

I think the flower - I think it's amplifying some stuff.

[ He can talk as the both of them walk - he is taking an unusual route, to get to his workshop. One that's different from his usual, in case anyone knows what that is, and one which keeps them away from the words of the celebrations and crowds. ]

You're... you always worry about keeping your friends safe, right? And it cranked that up to eleven.

[ Cisco can't help, now and then, casting a glance over his shoulder, making sure they're not being followed, spied on. He tries to keep his voice even as he goes on: ]

And I... worry a lot about people spying on me and tricking me and stuff, and that's why I'm wigging.

[ They turn one last corner, reach the door to Cisco's workshop. He pulls the key from his pocket, hand trembling slightly as he fits it in the lock. He's not pulling Lucretia along, anymore. There's no need to keep holding her hand. But he does, because it is helping, a little. ]

(Oops, had she said 'need'? She'd meant to say 'want'. She wants to keep him safe, that's all. She wants to keep everybody safe.

She concentrates on Cisco's hand held tight in hers and it helps her to think more clearly.)

I think you're right. (It's never this bad. Protecting people is important to her but it's never felt consuming like this before, in a way that she can't control. Lucretia usually has a pretty good lock on her shit; Cisco has always struck her as similar, in this regard. The pair of them are logical, clever people; these sudden bursts of emotion are nonsensical. Unless...

She lets Cisco talk through his thought process, nodding silently as they make their way out of the centre of the city. From back here, with Cisco dutifully leading her forward by the hand, it's very easy to notice how jumpy he is.)

It's always something in this place, isn't it, (she says dryly, watching him fumble for his keys.) It couldn't be a flower that– I don't know– that makes everything you eat taste like cotton candy, or a flower that makes you giggle at everything could it.

(She's more than happy to keep holding his hand. If she's touching a part of him at all times she can shield and buff him against anything that tries to attack him, so.)

[ Cisco's laugh has a small trace of bitterness in it. ]

No, of course not. We've gotta get the freak-out flower. Figures.

[ He gets the door open, lets Lucretia go in and then gives one last look all around before closing it behind him and, after a moment's hesitation, doing up all the locks. There are four. It just... makes him feel better, having them latched. And now is certainly not the time for anybody to drop in looking for tech help. ]

'Cause you just know some of those flowers were cotton candy flowers and giggle flowers and I bet if I text around everybody's having a grand old time, but not us, because our luck sucks.

[ Finally, Cisco drops Lucretia's hand, relieved to be in his workshop. He presses his back up against a wall, sighing with relief. It is, however, short-lived. After a moment, that gnawing uncertainty is back in his gut. Things look... wrong. Like they've been moved. As if someone were in here when he was away.

So Cisco looks at Lucretia, sets a finger against his lips to indicate she should be silent, and he starts looking for bugs. A part of his mind knows, of course, that he's being ridiculous. That it is the flower's influence, making him paranoid. But he keeps on looking, skin crawling with dread. He isn't going to get fooled by this again... ]

It's just our luck.

(It always seems to be their luck.

Cisco doing up all four locks in quick succession doesn't bother her at all; in fact, it makes her feel better soon. They are very safe in here, locked in tight and she can easily protect Cisco by sticking in such close quarters to him. Her panic ebbs enough to release the strangle hold it had on her emotions, and she visibly relaxes.)

Taako probably got all the chipper, glittery flowers, (she points out, rolling her eyes,) so when we finally got to go choose there...

(Her voice trails off as he presses a finger to his lips and she immediately glances over her shoulder, going completely still to try and listen. She can't hear anything, but Cisco seems to think something is in the room with them. He's checking in all the corners for... something. Lucretia gives her head a little shake and reaches out to him, catching his elbow, giving him a little tug.)

Cisco, there's nothing in here. It's just the flower. Can– uh, could you show me what you've been working on, lately?

(Maybe he just needs a distraction.)

I hope he did. It would suck if all of us were having bad days...

[ When Lucretia speaks like normal, despite his warning, Cisco widens his eyes at her, wondering if perhaps the gesture didn't translate. But, no, it's clear from what she says she understood him. She just doesn't believe him. Her disbelief doesn't earn his suspicion, however. He knows she's doing her best, that he can trust her, absolutely.

So he swallows, giving a nod and tucking his hair back. ]

Right. The flower. Shit. Yeah, uh, lemme show you the modifications I've been making on my gauntlets...

[ He goes to grab them, returning a little too quickly to stand near to Lucretia. He doesn't say anything, but his gaze still flicks up, at the light fixture. How can they be sure it isn't bugged? His skin is crawling at the uncertainty, but he does his best to ignore it. ]

I'm refining these so I can use my vibe blasts to defend myself without, like, killing anybody or knocking a building over or any of that. It's based on some of the tech I use in the power-nullifying handcuffs, except this is adjustable, so I can change the settings, you know, give it 10% power, 20%, whatever. The problem is I keep overloading them. I'm trying to- to modify them so that even when...

[ Cisco trails off, letting out a shuddering sigh and covering his eyes with one hand. He'd thought he would feel better, in here, enclosed and in familiar surroundings, but he doesn't. He hadn't been safe back in S.T.A.R. Labs, and he isn't safe here. Safe isn't a thing that even exists. ]

I know that it's just the flower but I still feel like somebody's watching us. I know it's fake but I can't make it go away.

(She can tell he doesn't quite believe her, but she's confident in her hypothesis that him showing his work to her will help take his mind off it. And it does seem to work? For a bit, at least. He's showing her a pair of gauntlets, launching into a explanation...

but just as he's getting into it, he stops. Lucretia looks at him immediately, trying to read something more out of his troubled expression. He's really stressed about this, huh? Her own anxieties spike when he covers his eyes with one hand and for a moment she stands there helplessly, chewing the inside of her lip and trying to think. There must be something she can do.

She puts a hand on his shoulder, gives it a comforting squeeze.)

Let me try something...

(First, she casts detect magic, which returns nothing other than the residue of Cisco's own power, clinging to various areas of the workshop. He has a very clear signature; it makes this easy. There's nothing out of the ordinary, so she leaves that thread hanging and sets a ward around the workshop next, and then a second for safety.)

Would you let me cast something on you? It's– I know a spell that will dispel anything magical that may be influencing your thoughts.

(it's literally called mind blank but she's uh not going to tell him that)

[ Cisco leans into the bracing weight of Lucretia's hand on his shoulder. When she offers to cast a spell on him, something that would free his thoughts from external influences, he drops his hands, looking at her with sudden hope. It doesn't occur to him to ask what the spell is, how it will work, if there are any risks. Instead, he just gives a small, unquestioning nod. ]

Of course.

[ As if it would never even occur to him to say no, or doubt the efficacy of her spells against whatever enchantment the flower has put over both of them. Lucretia is powerful, and right now, he trusts her completely and without hesitation. Before she even casts it, he says, gratefully: ]

Thank you, Lucretia.

(This gives her a moment of pause. She had been expecting him to take this with a huge grain of salt, considering everything that he knows about her. That, and he's so suspicious about everything right now, but it... doesn't seem to extend to her now that she's thinking about it. After all, he'd let her reassure him every time, let her come into the workshop with him, and now he's fine with her casting a spell on him? He doesn't even know what the spell is.

Lucretia looks at him for a moment, his clear, hopeful expression.)

... Why do you trust me?

(This is weird. It's not that– she likes that he's trusting her, but she doesn't quite understand.)

Of course I-

[ He starts off with a small smile of disbelief, like he has no idea why she's even asking the question. It's like she's asking him why the sky is blue or rain falls down instead of up. It's just a fact. But he pauses, actually thinks about it. She wouldn't ask something so obvious, not with that serious look on her face.

And then it occurs to him that, okay, maybe this is... not exactly the usual state of things between them. It's not like Cisco is on his guard all the time around Lucretia, or suspicious of her motives at every turn. But he doesn't trust her instinctually, automatically. Hell, he doesn't try anybody like that, except Eddie.

So why is he, now? ]

I... don't know.

[ Yet even that realization, which some part of his brain realizes should distress him, is not enough to put a dent in that trust. So he gives a little shrug, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth despite the lingering nervousness in his eyes. ]

But I do.

(She watches Cisco carefully as he processes this. It must be another aspect of the flower... to ground him, perhaps? It would be awful, if he were to become intensely suspicious of everything around him. Lucretia's presence seems to be the only thing from keeping Cisco from flipping out entirely. She's reminded forcibly, unpleasantly, of the kiss bubbles. Designed to bring two people closer together by means of strange circumstances, but ultimately harmless.

Hmm.)

Okay.

(She'll keep this in mind! For now, her expression softens a little at Cisco's tiny, awkward smile.) In any case; thank you. And I hope that this works.

(Mind blank is an eighth level spell, and is no small feat to cast. It takes Lucretia a good thirty seconds to center her thoughts correctly. Her hand is still resting lightly on Cisco's shoulder, and she gives it a gentle squeeze; it helps, to have the point of contact. It should feel like his paranoid thoughts are being muffled, slowly wiped away as she casts.)

[ The effect is not instantaneous. It takes a few moments, for the fear to drain out of him, for his racing thoughts to gradually spin down to a reasonable rate. Cisco keeps his eyes on Lucretia as a sense of peace comes over him. Some part of him can tell that it's not natural. It's not the natural quietness of just waking up from a nap, or being totally focused on some new engineering project. It's more like his brain has been muffled. Like there's a few feet of snow resting on top of his thoughts, insulating him, but slightly smothering.

Still, it may not be natural, and may not be perfect, but it is a huge relief nonetheless. Cisco's shoulders sag and he lets out a long, ragged breath. His smile is a slow and gradual one, but all the brighter for it. Without a word of warning, he throws his arms around Lucretia and hugs her tightly. ]

Thank you. Thank you so much.

(Lucretia relaxes the moment his shoulders drop, unable to help smiling too. It worked! And it seems it has brought him respite, something that brings a tidal wave of relief crashing down over her all at once. It's okay now. She's kept him safe.

It's the reason she returns his hug with such enthusiasm, pressing her cheek happily against the top of his head.)

Of course. Any time, Cisco.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

monthly mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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