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Riverview Moderator ([personal profile] riverviewmod) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2018-04-01 07:49 pm
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

navigation
like_quicksilver: (listening in)

blue bells

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2018-04-22 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Gyda was always on the look out for girls her age to be around. Most of those she knew were all older and made her feel like an outsider. She did notice the influx of those nearly her age around during the flower exchange; perhaps it was magic or they were actually sent by the portal, but that just met she wasn't about to miss it.

She was by the flower stalls when the girl goes up to her and asks her a question. She's taller than her, and such pale hair that Gyda wonders if she's even human.]
I think so, yes?
Edited 2018-04-22 03:41 (UTC)
inafadingcrown: ([teen] curious glance)

[personal profile] inafadingcrown 2018-04-22 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
[It should become clear fairly quickly that she is not human at all. The hair, yes- golden, shot with strands of silver- and her ears, those are the most obvious cues. But there's something about her eyes too- like she sees a little too much.]

You are not an elf. [It's a very direct, very forward statement to avoid asking the even more forward- and quite rude- question that she really wants to ask: 'Just what are you?' The curiosity is killing her, but she does have some manners.]
like_quicksilver: (knows better)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2018-04-22 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[She caught sight of her ears, her mind instantly going to the stories that were only confirmed at the girl's works. She felt herself giggle; the stories always spoke of elfin adults, not children.] No, I'm human. My name is Gyda.
inafadingcrown: ([teen] small smile)

[personal profile] inafadingcrown 2018-04-23 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
'Human.'

[She tries the word out, feeling out the strange syllables as she sweeps her eyes over Gyda, studying her with interest.]

One of the Second Born? We've been told you are to come, but- [She breaks into a sudden grin.] I am so glad to meet you! I am Artanis.

like_quicksilver: (listening in)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2018-04-23 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Second born? [She tried to recall what the stories said of human creation, but the order of how they were created was never clear.] I've never met one of the Alfar. We only know of you in stories.

[She thought back to the question.] Did you want to ask something?
inafadingcrown: ([teen] Finarfin's daughter)

[personal profile] inafadingcrown 2018-04-25 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
"The Alfar." Is that what you call us? I've never heard that term before, though it is not terribly far from some of our own.

[Oh, yes, back to the point.] I want to ask everything, but I am afraid you might find that a bit overwhelming. [She laughs lightly.] But you must have questions for me as well, if you tales of us! Perhaps we can make a sort of trade.
like_quicksilver: (listening in)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2018-04-25 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Do the..do your people have your own language? [The thought of a chance to learn the language of the elves was an exciting prospect.] Yes, a trade sounds fair. We could sit down at one of the tables near the food stalls.

[That was far enough to talk, but not so much that they were out of the way.]
inafadingcrown: ([teen] cloak)

[personal profile] inafadingcrown 2018-04-30 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, of course! More than one, I would imagine, but I do not know what they speak across the Sea. In Valinor, we all speak Quenya, though it changes some depending on where you are and who you are with.

[She nods, gesturing for Gyda to walk with her.] That sounds perfect. Come, then!
like_quicksilver: (smirking)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2018-04-30 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[She walked with her, a slight bounce in her step. The stories spoke of Elves as dangerous and should be approached with caution, but that was always with adults, she couldn't think of the harm to be around a very young elf]

So, it is like England. I have a friend who told me that the language in Wessex is different than Northumberland, even though it is the same country.
inafadingcrown: ([teen] Finarfin's daughter)

[personal profile] inafadingcrown 2018-06-04 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Something like it, then! I've never heard of England, but I can tell you we speak differently in Tirion than they do in Alqualondë. I can speak both dialects well enough- my mother is from Alqualondë and we visit her family fairly often.