riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: PRIJATA

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: PRIJATA

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: prijata
when: the month of june
where: anywhere around the city
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

prijata

In the days leading up to June 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Prijata. Riverview Quarantine has a strong culture of love, and they celebrate all types - Prijata is a special celebration of platonic love and building community through friendship. Prijata traditions include gift exchanges between friends, sharing meals cooked together by friend groups, and a variety of events and services aimed at making friends.

a celebration of platonic love

Prijata is a relatively relaxed holiday, focused mainly on friendship and platonic love - dedicated to appreciating the friends already in one's life, and opening oneself up to making new friends. Besides the private giving of gifts between friends, there is also a city-wide government-sponsored gift fountain that is open throughout the entire month. Included in the wide variety of events catered to finding new friends, are 'speed friending' and a large open exhibition where all the specialized clubs in Riverview can recruit for new members - and residents new or old can create a club and recruit.

i. gift fountain

While Prijata gift exchanges between friends are generally a quiet affair, done at friend-group dinners or parties, the element of gift giving does extend outward - community-wide, in fact. Throughout the course of the month, anyone living in Riverview Quarantine can drop by the huge fountain in the City Center, in front of the City Hall. They will find that the fountain is chock full of floating gift boxes in a wide variety of colors, patterns, and different shapes - though none larger than a shoe box. There are signs put up around the fountain stating that the boxes are magic and will only seek and open for their rightful owners. Characters will find that, upon touching the water, a box will float over to them, and when they pick it up, the top will unfurl like flower petals, displaying the gift inside. Sometimes, the box won't appear on the first try, since there's only so much space in the fountain at any given time, but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Every person in the city (including new arrivals) will receive one gift by the end of the month.

Gift fountain boxes will contain one small item from each character's home dimension (or, for CRAUs, from their previous game), similar to the "items from home" bonus reward, but without needing to spend points. The item should be small enough to fit in a shoebox, sentimental, and cannot be something intended for another person's character. If you can't think of an item like this that would work for your character, something of similar size and quality to what's described above that would make the character very happy can be substituted.

This prompt can also be used for gift exchanges and for characters to receive the Government-given gifts that were suggested in the Prijata Pregaming post on the meme community. Any newly apped character is welcome to post on the meme entry as soon as they're accepted, and will be linked to it in this month's acceptance notification, so to all you pre-existing players please keep looking at the Prijata Pregame meme throughout app week and afterward to help give new arrivals a warm friendly welcome!

ii. speed-friending

This is pretty much what it says on the tin! Much like speed-dating setups, many bars, coffee shops, and other places that people might gather are holding speed-friending! It's your standard setup - characters enter and fill out a quick questionnaire about themselves, and flit from table to table looking for someone with great friend chemistry. Not all of them are general and open to anyone who walks in, though, with many being specialized to people who are invested in certain hobbies, occupations, or with specific sets of interests. With specialized speed-friending setups ranging from horror movie buffs to members of the Perimeter Guard to fashionistas to sports or martial arts to video games, no matter what your character is into, they're likely to be able to sign up for a special event where they can go looking for a friend who's into the same things they are!

For this prompt, you can put up a list of hobbies or interests your character has, and compatible characters can hit them up for a speed-friending thread, like the IC equivalent of the CR meme!

iii. club exhibition

Speed-friending is all well and good, but not everyone is outgoing or open enough to know if they have friend chemistry in only a few minutes. For anyone looking to find groups of like-minded individuals they can spend more than a few minutes with before committing to something as daunting as a friendship, there is a month-long club exhibition happening in the Town Square in the City Center. Table after table and booth after booth are occupied by existing clubs in the city, with an incredibly broad scope of focus interests and hobbies - enough that any character should be able to find a club with their niche interest represented.

And if it isn't? Characters are welcome to start their own clubs - much like a business, a character-run club can have space set aside in the city for meetings and event mingles that are eligible for Activity Point Bonuses for the organizer.

iv. amusement park & waterfight

Remember the Amusement Park that citizens of the city were working together to clean up and power up a couple of months ago? Well, the endeavor has proven to be a success, and after a lot of hard work and technical expertise, the amusement park is up and running! For the first two weeks of June, admission will be free to honor those who helped make the park usable.

Sporting just about any amusement park ride you can think of, from kiddie rides, merry-go-rounds, and ferris wheels to high-speed roller coasters and more extreme rides for the thrill-seekers, the park takes it a step further by adding in a lot of different high-tech attractions not available at conventional amusement parks. It has banks and banks of VR simulators that allow park-goers to enjoy a variety of adventures and scenarios, or join shared mutual worlds with other users to explore or take out their aggression with a VR first-person shooter. There are also rows and rows of typical carnival games, some heavily rigged and some not, with prizes ranging from dollar store trinkets to stuffed animals to bits of advanced tech.

For the month of grand opening, though, the amusement park is offering a couple interesting events - a naming contest for the park, and a park-wide water fight.

The water fight is opt-in, with participants signing up and being given a purple or orange flag, tank top, or cap to wear marking them as to which team they're part of. There are buckets of water balloons around the park that are constantly being refilled by staff, and water fighters can participate in special target practice games to win the use of a watergun for the duration of the day - how big your watergun is depends on how well you do in the game! Ultimately, there aren't any real winners or losers, because the point is to get wet in the brand new summer heat, but it's always more fun to cool off with a bit of competition involved, right?

The naming contest is another story. Anyone who visits the park is welcome to think up a name for the park, and all entries will be listed on a large LED board. Every customer who enters the park is invited to vote for their favorite name, and the name with the most votes wins! To submit either an in-character suggestion or a suggestion from yourself as a player, hit up the thread below with a new top-level; whether or not you have a neat idea, place a vote for your favorite! Votes are one per player; suggestions are one per character.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Prijata, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Odysseas Stamoglou; image ii: Dave Arredondo; image iii: spainforpleasure.com; image iv: mit19237

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[That does surprise her a little, wondering if it is meant to be a way to keep them happy here. Padmé's not overly so, although for the time being she is willing to give some leeway and accept that her being here is an accident. If they are lying, her presence will be missed, and Padmé will do what she can to get answers to return home.]

Like the Force.

[She muses that more under her breath to herself more than to him. It's not like she has any reason to believe he would know about it. It had always seemed mystical to her, although Anakin has answered some of her questions about it.]

I suppose they don't share the answer behind how it works, do they.

[ It takes him a few seconds to think about the first bit. Past the tone that speaks to something of a private statement and his instinct to hear it and think something like, "that's exactly the type of thing that would make Han Solo tell me the Force doesn't work like that, but I don't know enough about the Force to be actually sure." ]

Maybe they like being mysterious. [ He doesn't believe that. Finn's overall suspicion towards the city have died down with time. But some things are old habits.

A beat, then: ]

The Force?

[ I'd like to say he sounds casually questioning. He fails to be casual. ]

Oh. Sorry. It's something from my galaxy. It's...

[How to explain it to someone. Padmé contemplates that for a moment. She has a better understanding, or is starting to, than the average being might outside of the Jedi. She had always thought it to be wizardry, and she had seen some of what Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been capable of when they had helped Naboo.]

I suppose it seems mystical and magical. It's generated by all life forms and resides within us, but certain individuals can actually use it. Jedi, they are called.

[And Sith, but aside from the fact that one seems to be after her, or so Padmé believes, she knows little about them.]

They can appear very mysterious. Like what is happening here.

Oh, no, I--

[ Well. Hm. ]

I mean, I can't say I know the Force, know the Force. But I knew about it. Heard about it. [ One of his best friends floated a bunch of rocks with it. That was really amazing. Finn very briefly lifts his hand, in some sort of semi-wave gesture. ] Same galaxy.

Oh! [There is a note of surprise in her voice as a smile spreads across her face. The statistical probabilities aren't known to her. The galaxy is huge beyond huge, so she wouldn't be surprised if there had been no one that had ever heard of Coruscant, let alone Naboo. It is interesting to know that there are others here.] Then I suppose I don't need to explain it to you- unless you're from a planet that a Jedi presence isn't familiar?

[ Oh. Not a question he's ever been asked. Finn's used to ducking around the question of where he's from, now and again, but no one's ever brought Jedi into it like a definitive factor.

After all, they died out well before the Empire did, and died out again before the First Order really started gaining a foothold. ]

I don't know anyone who is from a planet with a Jedi presence. They're not really-- common. Anymore.

[ He goes ahead and takes his wild moment of wondering if this woman is a Jedi. ]

[It is a peculiar way to put things which is why Padmé does take a moment to fathom what exactly that means. Coruscant is where their Temple is although she can't say that she is an expert when it comes to Jedi. They traverse the galaxy, she knows, going where required, and they do leave their mark, so to speak, on those that they meet.]

Not common, anymore?

[That prompt, seeing if he would explain further although it is clear that she's also not going to demand an answer out of him.]

[ He shrugs one shoulder, the slightest bit wary. ]

Not for a long time. They died out. Disappeared, maybe. [ Finn wasn't exactly raised on the stories or anything, but it does occur to him that the Jedi are sort of synonymous with hope for a lot of people.

If it seems strange to her, maybe she's from the past. Or the future. Or some other... timeline or something where a lot of things happened differently. ]

I mean, it's not-- forever. They're coming back again.

[ With Rey at the forefront, which he thinks is about the highest endorsement anything could get. ]

[She might not always agree with their mandate, nor understand the Jedi completely, but his words do send a little chill down her spine, freezing her.]

... when?

[That is the first thing that does slip past her lips. Although how and why are also there as well, but she manages to bite off the flow of questions that threaten to come forth. The Sith? She does believe in him or her, even if others are skeptical, but that is just one, and the Jedi are more numerous than that. War? Disease? Some tragedy? It likely all shows on her face.]

Sorry. It's just... Well, I spoke with Master Kenobi not that long ago, and I know Master Yoda was at the temple along with many other Jedi and their trainees. Padawan Skywalker has been performing his duties, so to hear that...

[ Oh, yikes. Yeah. Okay. ]

Oh. No, I'm the one who should apologize. It's, uh. I'm not always great at explaining things. Even when they're not complicated. And no one ever told me the dates. [ Finn takes a few seconds to try and sort of... gauge how track all this. ]

Look, when you say Skywalker, you probably don't mean Luke Skywalker, right? Just so I can get things straight.

No.

[That quizzical expression on her face. She knows of only one living Skywalker, and his name is not Luke. Her eyes search his out, brow still furrowed.]

I mean Anakin. Anakin Skywalker.

[ Finn thinks that one over. And the thing with all the legends and stuff is, he didn't know a lot of the intimate details of them most of his life. He didn't know the sort of-- romanticized bedtime story that Poe and Rey and Rose sometimes seem inclined to see.

Well, seemed. They're a little more disillusioned than they were when he first met them.

He's heard the stories since he got here. A strange sort of mishmash of hearsay and heroes and epic accomplishments. He grew up hearing about the Empire, and the Clone Wars, a lot of it whittled down into strategy and field tactics, in avoiding making old mistakes.

You don't really get raised in the First Order without knowing about Darth Vader, and you don't spend upward of sixth months in the orbit of a die-hard new rebel and a future Jedi without hearing about Anakin Skywalker, in name at least. Not strictly... personal life details. Just some of the bits of the start of the Empire's downfall that never got covered. Part of why Rey was so positive she could turn Kylo Ren. Things that gave people hope.

So this is about the point where Finn thinks he might have handled this entire conversation poorly. Because he doesn't feel like it's right to go "oh well never mind any of it, goodbye forever". That doesn't sit well with him. ]

Okay.

[ He tries to pretend he knows how to be casual. ]

Okay. That's more of a... historical name. For me. Technically.

[That quizzical expression remains, deepening as she regards him with that level look. There is concern there, perhaps rightly so, although it is hard to tell. He is thinking. That much is clear to Padmé. The rest though is as murky as murky could be.

Okay.

That explains nothing at all, and Padmé leans a little closer, puzzling as he does finally speak. Her nose wrinkles slightly in thought, although the answer doesn't exactly make much sense to her. It takes a few moments for her to register what she has learned since coming here and to have it click in to place.]

You... are from the future- or I suppose you are saying I am from what you consider to be the past?

Yeah. They're both the same thing. Just depends on which end you're coming from. I've got a couple of friends here from my time. A couple from the past, too. It happens.

[ Not that he gets the science on it or anything. Finn clasps his hands in front of him, a nervous gesture. ]

Ever heard of the Empire?

[ It's Star Wars 20 questions and we're all trying our best. ]

[It is a rather open ended question that he asks, even if he likely doesn't mean it to be. It is akin to asking Padmé if she has heard of the sky. In general, she could say yes, but if it is a particular one, or even something other than the typical meaning of the word...]

The Empire of what- or perhaps where?

[Not that she knows everything. Far from it. Unless something has happened to draw her attention to it, she would admit to not being aware of anything too news orientated with any empires recently. Yet, she still shuffles through her mind, trying to put together a reasonable answer to that question.]

If you don't know what I mean, then you probably don't know. There's-- uh. [ He wishes Poe were here so he could shove him in the ring. Poe's better with people. ]

After a while. The Empire is what replaces the Republic. One Empire. Galaxy-wide. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that makes it sound. I just wasn't there for it. And it definitely wasn't good.

That-

[Made absolutely no sense to Padmé. After that initial word though, she pauses, frowning, trying to understand the extend of what he is saying.]

There is no Republic, but an Empire, run by an Emperor...?

[Who, and how? Why? All those political thoughts are running through her head as she tries to fathom what he is saying. A part of her wants to gently coax to see if maybe he is wrong or mistaken. It runs against everything that Padmé has ever stood for, that she has ever worked for. She won't disagree that perhaps under the right individual it might work, but that individual would be hard to find.

That he says it wasn't good though... A coup? This... Sith? Would he attempt to gain power? Or perhaps set someone on a throne to rule behind?]

Yeah. Or there was an Empire. Then a New Republic.

[ He's a soldier, not a politician. Never thought to straight-up regret that before now. Finn hesitates. ]

Look, why don't I buy you a caf or something? We can sit down somewhere and I'll explain what I can. Maybe call my friend. He knows more than I do. I'll be the first one to admit I don't really know what I'm doing here.

[That delicate furrow of her forehead, finding that all a little confusing. But at his words, she pauses, before giving a small nod of her head, and yes, there might be the hint of a warmth smile on her lips at his admission.]

If you think he would be able to clarify, and it is no inconvenience for anyone, I would appreciate that.

It should be fine. He's nice. It's kind of his thing.

[ The real mainstay of traits with Poe Dameron: niceness. Finn is fond of it.

He comes to a very belated realization as he's scoping the nearest coffee places. ]

-- I'm Finn. By the way. Sorry. I usually introduce myself earlier. It's good to meet you.

[That is good to hear. Not that she doesn't know people who are more surly and gruff around the edges, but there is a certain approach to life that does make things easier for all involved. Especially in a foreign place.

Finn. She gives a smile and a small nod of her head. Easy enough to remember.]

A pleasure as well, Finn. Padmé Amidala.

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monthly mingle: PRIJATA

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