riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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

carnivale

In the days leading up to July 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Carnivale. This holiday is in celebration of music, and the onset of summer and warmer weather. The celebrations are marked by street parties, an extensive program of live musical performances, with two large parades on July 8th and July 9th.

celebrating music, and summer

After a couple of months of low-key or even solemn celebrations, it's time for Riverview Quarantine to throw a good, old-fashioned party. Carnivale is a city-wide festival that pretty much everyone gets into, and many residents take the entire week off so they can enjoy all the festivities. With events ranging from impromptu street parties, free live musical performances, food stands, themed club nights, adult lounges with kink shows, and topped off with two massive party parades, the holiday has a lot to offer for anyone who likes to sing, dance, and show some skin!

i. street parties and food

One of the staples of the Carnivale festival is the spontaneous street parties and food trucks and carts. It's not unusual during the holiday to turn a corner and run into a group of people dressed in bright colors and sequins having an impromptu party with a few drinks, and then be invited to join right in! Carnivale is a celebration of music as well as summer, so most shops and stalls will be blasting danceable music into the streets to facilitate these little street parties - it's considered a sign of good luck for the owner of a business if an impromptu Carnivale celebration starts up in front of their door.

Considering the proliferation of street parties and people out and about to celebrate the warmer weather, local business owners also take to the streets. Food carts, stands, and trucks pop up on almost every street corner offering a wide variety of food from savory treats to sweet desserts. Many of the carts are offering one free item to anyone dressed up for Carnivale - anything shimmery, shiny, or brightly colored will do!

ii. live musical performances

One of the major roads in the city center has been completely roped off for the entire week, and all along this street, various temporary stages have been set up, each with a nice hefty sound system. Volunteers hand out printed flyers, and digital boards are set up here and there with schedules of various performances that are all free to attend, ranging from well-known popular music artists to new up-and-comers or independent artists who are looking to make a name for themselves. This event is very widely advertised around the city, and is accepting entries until the very last minute.

So jump in and stomp around in a mosh pit or just dance around in the streets, let yourself get lost in the music and the summer heat!

Any player-characters who are musically inclined are more than welcome to assume their character was fit in for a performance, and can post up a top-level with a rundown of their performance to get bonus Activity Points for posting a mingle!

iii. carnivale parade and children's parade

The other main attraction of Carnivale week comes on the weekend of July 8th and 9th, which are paid holiday days for everyone in the city. There are two parades, the Carnivale Parade on July 8th, and the Children's Parade on July 9th.

Both parades will start out by City Hall and wind through downtown in a lazy pattern so everyone in the city has a chance to see them. There will be all sorts of floats, dancers, marching bands, with all sorts of clubs, businesses, and other organizations represented. Observers can expect great music, excellent dancing and marching shows, neat vehicles provided by classic car clubs, the fire, police, and Perimeter Guard. They can also expect a lot of party favors, whether it's a sparkly plastic beaded necklace, a fan to take the edge off the heat, candy, popsicles, a temporary tattoo, or any number of other little treats or toys to be tossed into the crowd.

The Carnivale Parade on Saturday has a more adult tone to it, and party favors thrown may be toys or gag gifts of a more adult nature suitable for older teens and grown-ups. The floats are more risqué and the people in the parade show more skin, dance more provocatively, and there are wet T-shirts, occasional flashing, and other things that might not be suitable for children. The theme is theatrical, big and showy, bright and colorful, sparkly and shiny, with loud music and lots of glitz and glamour.

Geared toward children and younger teens, the Children's Parade is on Sunday and generally more low-key, with more of a cartoony than glitzy theme. The Children's Parade will have more conservative floats, with bright colors, juggling and dancing, and mascot costumes. Party favors will lean more toward candy and temporary tattoos, rainbow pinwheels, and small toys. Keep an eye out for floats with pop performers and for popular cartoons in the city!

And make sure you wear your waterproof mascara - Carnivale and Children's Parade floats have a tendency of spraying or spritzing water, both in an unspoken competition to see who can make the biggest water-refraction rainbow in the air, and to keep observers cool in the new summer heat.

iv. adult: lounges

Thanks to the Carnivale tradition of showing as much skin as possible, some event organizers' minds have turned to topics of a more adult nature. In the evenings, residents may see clubs doing "lounge nights"; these adults-only events have bouncers IDing everyone at the door to ensure they're 18+. The themes may vary, from very specific niche themes like 'golden age superheroes' to broad themes like 'rainbows,' and each event is clearly marked as what it is - all-nude or clothing-optional, and can host events ranging from amateur to professional exotic dancing, food served off of nude bodies, anonymous masked hookups, or just provide a comfortable space where casual sex is encouraged with whoever happens to be around. Various legal substances can be found at these lounges, but nothing that would cause violation of consent, and every substance would be clearly labeled and have warnings to ensure that no one partakes unless they choose to. Please be sure to warn in the subject line for sexual content or drug use (since some mild party drugs are legal in Riverview).

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 Carnivale, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Roger Patterson Jr.; image ii: Jie He; image iii: Aaron Walker; image iv: Lewis Monson

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i & iii. street parties and parades
Harry Goodsir does not like parties.

This wasn't always true, but it is very much so now; the sights and sounds of Carnivale, for all that it's happening in the warmth and brightness of day, bring back nothing so much as memories of ice, darkness, and fire.

But he tries to be a good sport all the same, venturing out to sample the street vendors' wares and enjoy the parades and to otherwise get into the spirit of the thing. He doesn't really succeed. The open displays of flesh in the Saturday parade embarrass him, and the children's parade, though charming, soon overwhelms him. You might run into him either trying very hard to be cheery, or else sitting somewhere quiet, looking far more anxious than anyone in the middle of a giant party ought to look.

iv. lounge
Goodsir has made a terrible mistake. He had no idea what was going on in this lounge when he ambled in; merely that there was some kind of diversion on the theme of "The Sea". And now he's surrounded by the sorts of goings on that one was meant to believe were commonplace in the last days of Rome, or in the fleshpots of the East. He would have fled immediately, but he got swept deeper in with the arrival of a small rowdy gang of revellers, and now he's so flustered he can't find the door. Someone please rescue him. Or try to tempt him into the pleasures of the flesh. Anyone attempting the latter will have their work cut out for them.

v. wildcard
[ roll your own random Victorian surgeon-naturalist encounter. ]

Edited 2018-07-02 19:16 (UTC)

Sometime during the festivities, Alec had lost his shirt. Correction, it had disappeared and most likely was now hanging his closet thanks to a little magic. The hat that Magnus insisted was historically accurate and fashionable among pirates is perched precariously on his head. Occasionally the feather flips into his eyes, but it's not too much of a distractions. He's at the pleasant stage of drunk, buzzed and happy to have a night away from the Guard and his other responsibilities.

Moving through the crowd with a couple of glasses of something highly alcoholic, Alec notices someone that looked uncomfortable in the midst of the celebration. The being he'd meet days ago who had been so shocked by Darwin's book. Harry. This is probably not the type of place that Harry wants to be.

Using his height and a few well placed glares, he manages to move to Harry's side. "Hey. Did you want to be here or were you trying to find the exit?"

Someone has placed a drink in Goodsir's hand, and he's trying decided whether he should sample it or find a place to unload it, and then he sees Alec. He's so relieved to see a familiar face that he almost embraces Alec, but settles for clapping him on the shoulder instead.

"Alec. Thank goodness—I had thought myself entirely lost in here. Where is the door?"

Thank the Angel, the evening is still young and he hadn't done anything too improper yet. He still looks somewhat respectable. He smiles at Harry while keeping them both from wearing the drinks he's carrying as the crowd moves around them.

"You'd find your way out if you needed too." His expression turns to understanding and he shrugs. "I used to not do well in crowds before. When I needed to find a way out, I'd find a quiet corner and find an escape route." Technically, he's always looking for an escape route but that had been because of demons, not just his introverted tendencies. Scanning the room, he scowls briefly when he notes that the easiest route to the door is the longest. "I can show you the way out."

"Thank you," Harry says, relieved. "It is—ah—less the crowds that I find difficult than—than—"

A lady bumps into him; he automatically looks over his shoulder to apologise and snaps back around quickly as soon as he sees her state of undress.

"—than what the crowds are doing," he finishes.

Instead of reacting to the lady's 'charms' in the way she expected, Alec's eyebrows crept upward as he gave her an amused look. Holding up his hand, he showed off his wedding ring. "Taken, and he's not interested." It was probably rude for Alec to make that assumption but Harry didn't seem to appreciate her attention.

"If you don't enjoy this kind of thing, you should probably be careful of the clubs this month. This is one of the tamer ones." As he spoke, he flushed faintly, thinking of the things he'd done at the carnivale last year. Pointing toward the door, he began carefully pushing through the crowd. "In case we get separated, the exit is that way."

Alec is correct in his assumption. It isn't that Harry was entirely unappreciative, but he's never been (as he thinks of it) as easily distracted by the pleasures of the flesh as other men he's known.

"Tamer?" he says, faintly disbelieving. He looks in the direction of Alec's gesture and nods, hoping he can keep himself oriented this time.

"I suppose I must seem ... naive," he says, embarrassed.

"There's some clubs where they're more - ah - obvious in their actions." Most of the beings here had either kept their clothes on or didn't want an audience for their trysts. "And they don't mind showing others the variety of intimate actions that they can perform." Hopefully that wasn't too shocking. "You can ask at the door of a club to see what type it is before you go in."

Alec shrugs at the comment about being naive before carefully starting to make his way through the crowd. His height makes it easier, but the going is still slow. "I grew up sheltered, so I know what it's like. I shocked the first time I went to a place like this." Not exactly because of what the patrons were doing, but because he'd never thought of having the freedom to do what he wanted with someone he loved. "Now I'm used to them."

Harry trails in Alec's wake, torn between looking around in curiosity and sheer embarrassment.

"It is a great deal to become accustomed to, when one is from a small village in Scotland," Harry admits with a wry laugh. "Ah—where did you grow up?" he asks. Making ordinary conversation, as one does, when passing a person clad in nothing but a glittering fishnet, complete with small glowing fish.

When he'd been traveling around the world, he'd seen parts of Scotland, so he can imagine what it might have been like in Harry's era. He's surprised that the Mundane hasn't reacted to the activities around they by having a heart attack. "I've been to Scotland but we didn't stay long. We were mostly doing - uh - " What had Magnus called it? "A tour of the Continent before we went to Indonesia."

He thinks that's the right term for it. "I grew up in New York City." Pausing, he watches the 'mermaid' walk by, nodding politely to show that he likes the costume. "But the society I grew up with is very isolated so I knew places like this existed but hadn't visited one until about a year ago."

"Was it a religious community?" Harry asks, that being the only explanation that immediately leaps to mind. He's noticed a certain caginess to Alec's answers, and isn't sure what to make of it—he doesn't want to be overly invasive, but he is curious.

Technically most Shadowhunters aren't religious but they do have a sacred duty. "We're a group of warriors who protect the world from demons, but we don't follow one specific religion. We believe that all faiths - all stories - have some truth to them. Most of us avoid contact with anyone who isn't kin or knows about demons."

It makes more sense to Harry than he would have expected it to; maybe it's just that he's been here long enough that it doesn't really sound all that strange anymore.

"It sounds like a very heavy burden," he says.

"It is, but one that we're born with so we don't think of it often." Which isn't exactly true. When Alec didn't interact with anyone except Shadowhunters, he didn't think of it as much as Mundanes expected. After interacting with the 'normal' world, that changed. "Most of us don't know there's any other type of life possible."

Harry is about to reply, but their progress and his answer are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a conga line through the crowd. Before he can protest, one of the dancers grabs Harry and pulls him in.

"I beg your pardon—I—oh dear—" He looks back frantically. "Alec!"

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monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

Harry Goodsir | OTA

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