monthly mingle: PRIJATA

[riverviewmod]

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

navigation

Comments

[advanced]

That's why I'm here.

[He pauses a minute and then frowns, as if that wasn't clear enough.]

Free food, not friends. Seems like a dumb idea otherwise.

[madeupnames]

You think free food is more important than friends?

That's kinda. Fucked up.

[LANGUAGE.

But then again, Peter figured the guy was fucked up; Mr. Stark didn't exactly make it sound like he or Captain America were of completely sane mind when they came up in conversation. And Bucky was, uh... something. Whatever the case, he's not scared of Bucky. Because he totally whipped his ass in Germany. Don't even pretend he didn't win that, dude, (if Bucky's even are aware this fight happened — look, he doesn't know what time anyone's from) if Falcon's stupid robo-bird didn't steal my thunder. Sam, you know what you did.]

Aren't you lonely, or something?

[advanced]

[What?

He's not expecting this beanpole of a kid to start talking back to him like this, and it shows in the way his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline.]

I think friends can't be made over some forced lunch.

[Why is he even explaining himself?]

It's something that has to happen by itself.

[madeupnames]

[Um, sorry, did you just say friends can't be made over forced lunch????



He looks so incredulous. Let's see... what are good motivators for a potential criminal who hates having friends? (Peter, is this really a good time to be trying to make a friend to prove a point, though-)]

Dude, you serious? Stuffing your face is the best time to make friends. Like — number one, I'm Peter. And number two, I bet you the whole bill I can finish the Lumberjack Grand Slam and you can't.

[Look at that. Free food offered, if you can best him.

Peter but seriously he's a criminal wanted in a bajillion countries or something.]

[advanced]

[What is happening here?

Bucky feels a little like he's being strong armed into a situation that he didn't want to be in. Honestly, he just came here for the free food, it's just his luck that he's managed to snag a chatty teenager at the same time.]

I wouldn't bet on that.

[His bastardised serum means that he can put away twice as much as a normal person and still be hungry, it makes finding regular meals out in the jungle a bit of a pain.]

Look, kid-- Peter, didn't your Ma ever tell you that it's dangerous to talk to strangers?

[madeupnames]

[Hey man, he has enhanced metabolism, too...! J-just not as extreme. More like eating all the time, and getting hungry again really soon after. Like, uh. The living embodiment of Chinese food issues. Also, he's gonna just skirt around the question a smiiidge. His mom's been dead for quite a few years now.]

I can handle talking to a surly adult in a full diner, promise.

So are you gonna take the bet, or forfeit victory? Because then I get gloating rights.

[advanced]

[Why is this his life now? Why?

He shifts irritably on his seat, the soft sound of whirring coming from beneath his hoodie as he readjusts his left arm.]

Fine. Consider it a lesson.

1/2

[madeupnames]

Oh, it's on like donkey kong.

[What a doofus. But he looks so pleased, ordering his massive lumberjack slam plate and rubbing his hands together like it's Christmas. He kinda wonders what Mr. Stark would think, that he's battling The Winter Soldier via food competitions, but you know... nobody's getting killed or hurt, except maybe his stomach, RIP. It's better than duking it out, right? He grabs a fork and the syrup thing-a-ma-bob, you know, the one that never pours out syrup fast enough? That one.]

Hope you like owing a kid lunch, dude.

[madeupnames]

[Ten minutes later, Peter's sitting with his forehead against the diner table and one sad pancake left on the plate. He groans miserably, the fork in his hand twitching.

This was the gravest mistake of his life.]

[advanced]

[...this kid is kind of an idiot.

Bucky doesn't bother to rush his food, but he puts the whole plate away methodically and without struggling. One good thing about the super soldier serum, is that his metabolism is always ready for the biggest meal he can possibly put in there.

Perhaps it's kind of an asshole thing to do, but he reaches over and very deliberately uses his fork to steal Peter's last pancake as well.]

Pretty sure you lose, kid.

[madeupnames]

[He laughs from where he still has his head laying on the table.]

... It's all good.

I figured you'd probably win. [He goes cross-eyed to watch the fork venture over and steal the pancake from in front of him.] I've never actually eaten this much before. Where the heck are you putting all that?

[advanced]

I'm a lot bigger than you, kid, I've got a larger space to fill.

[He's not going to offer an explanation beyond that, because he has no idea that Peter already knows who he is and that he has more enhancements than the average person on the street.

As far as he's aware, this is the first time they've ever met.]

[madeupnames]

Yeah, yeah, you got me there.

I guess I've got to train my stomach more. [He fishes in his pocket for his wallet and dumps what money he has in there on the table; it's just enough to cover the price of two lumberjack slams, figures. Steady, Pete, your stomach is feeling the pain.] Do I get to know the name of the guy who kicked my ass at eating food, or are you just gonna be nicknamed Stranger Danger from now on?

[advanced]

[He wouldn't be surprise if the kid called him Stranger Danger anyway, if they were to run into each other again.]

It's Bucky.

[It still feels weird giving his real name out.]

Are you gonna be able to get home without puking?

[madeupnames]

Who, me? I've dealt with way worse. Nothing'll ever top the coney dog challenge.

[He seems appeased despite being so stuffed.]

Maybe they'll let me curl up and sleep on the table... I'm not gonna be betting any money this time though. [is that because you don't have any-] Is Bucky a nickname? I can't think of what it'd be short for. Peter's just — Peter. Nothing cool you can do with that.

[advanced]

[He sighs and reaches down to try and take Peter by the arm and haul him up, seems like he's going to have to help him home whatever he says. He's not leaving him to pass out on a table.]

It's short for Buchanan, my middle name.

[Why all the questions? Geez, stop being curious, kid.]

It's just what most people've called me since I was a kid.

[madeupnames]

[heyheyhey, he can handle himself, sheesh—

But any thought of recoiling at Mr. Metal Arm Criminal is kind of sated by the fact that he's being a sort of decent guy. Peter is admittedly kind of gullible in his life thus far, but... well, he knows he can kick his butt when it comes to brute force, so as long as he doesn't secretly stab him, we're good! And yes, this is a totally normal thought process for someone stacking their odds against a wanted dude. He slouches a little, rubbing his stomach with a sheepish smile.]

Buchanan? Man, that sounds cool. Like a mountain man kinda vibe.

— like a dude who can eat a bajillion pancakes kinda vibe.

[advanced]

[How has his day ended in hauling an overfed teenager back to his home so that he isn't sick everywhere?]

He was a president, that's where the name comes from, pretty sure he wasn't a mountain man.

[It's not really a done thing any more, he doesn't think, but back in his day it was pretty common to name a kid after a president.]

You gonna tell me where you live, or are we just gonna wander around the city all day?

[madeupnames]

O-oh, right, I live on — on the second floor. At the community housing.

[He looks a little green, Bucky. The teenager sags a little where Bucky's got a firm hold of his arm.]

... Alright, I admit — Mr. Barnes, I don't feel so hot...

That was a stupid life choice.

[advanced]

[Bucky freezes all of a sudden, the grip he has on Peter's arm tightening to something more like an arrest than an assistance.]

How did you know it was Barnes?

[He only said it was Bucky.

What the hell is going on here?]

1/2

[madeupnames]

[...................... Oh fuck.

He winces. Play it cool, Peter, you fuck-up. He leans away a little to stand on his own, but the grip on his arm was steadfast.]

Ow, hey — okay, okay, okay, relax, dude... I recognized you from the, the Captain America documentary thing I watched when I was back home. I'm kind of a massive nerd about that kind of stuff, alright? So I knew it was you the moment you sat the table...

[madeupnames]

[And he goes fully green now.]

I'm gonna puke.

[That's literally the only warning you get before he pukes. What's your play, Barnes?]

[advanced]

[He doesn't move, he doesn't even flinch as Peter pukes all over him. He's had much worse than some teenager being sick, he's been covered in blood and guts and brain matter before, he doesn't care.]

Then why didn't you say anything?

[Everything about this rings false.

Anyone who did recognise him from that sort of documentary should be expecting a short-haired and smiling man, not the dour thing he's become.]

[madeupnames]

[He'll aim for your shoes, buddy, it's all good.

Except it's not, and he looks back up at him like he's crazy, because oh my god, dude, nasty.]

Because you were so easy to talk to.

I met with Mr. Rogers and Mr. Stark and other Avengers; it wasn't hard to figure out, especially when I got a first name.

[He winces again, brow furrowed in a way he hopes is placating.]

... You're hurting me, man.

[His voice is low and worried. Yeah, that arm is still locked on tight. It doesn't actually hurt, because Peter is ridiculously durable now — but it's not like he wants Bucky to know that he's not built like a normal human anymore. Might as well play up the old version of Peter Parker, who couldn't even play sports, to look a lot weaker than he actually is.]

[advanced]

[It's the look of worry, almost fear, that has Bucky letting go. He hadn't meant to hurt the kid, he's just exceptionally nervous about anyone knowing him that he doesn't know first. It's having Pierce here, not knowing who he might have recruited, who might be a new HYDRA agent in disguise.

But what he meant to do doesn't matter, and he a brief flash of guilt twists his face before it's back to a smooth and neutral mask.]

I'm not the man you think I am.

[Not for a long time, not for years.]

You should stay away from me, stick near Steve and Tony if you want Avengers to talk to.