riverviewlogs | 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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kara considers the question, wondering what to get that doesn't feel either silly or too close to the heart.]

A raven, if you can. Wherever you wanna put it.

[She hasn't done this yet tonight, so there's plenty of free space, it's just a question of whether Breq wants to stick with somewhere safe like an arm, rather than anything else.]

One of the black birds?

[She asks it to confirm, but she's already pulling out paints, black and white and the silver, and setting up a set of colors and brushes. That accomplished, she reaches out to Kara's closest shoulder, brushing it lightly.]

We'll try here.

[Kara nods to confirm that the ravens are the black ones, and then moves to brush her hair over to her other shoulder, so it doesn't accidentally get in the way while Breq is painting.]

How's the Guard treating you?

[Shout out to Kara for being terrible at small talk but trying anyway.]

[Breq starts with one hand resting on Kara's shoulder to keep her still, as the other starts outlining the pattern she's going to paint. Hopefully Kara's prepared for the cold, slightly ticklish line of the paintbrush traveling along her shoulder.]

Passably. It's been a busy few months, by my understanding.

[The tickling is a bit more noticeable than the chill, but she's good at not reacting to things when she doesn't want to show any kind of vulnerability. Because clearly shivering at some cold paint would be giving away too much.]

There's always something, seems like. Just changes how much it affects the rest of us.

[When it's just stuff outside the wall, it doesn't really bother the general population, but the whole kidnapping bullshit got a little close to home.]

With the portal, it could be a blessing that it is not a problem more often.

[Breq continues painting on the design, unconcerned with Kara's lack of reaction as long as her model is staying still. Her free hand remains pressed against Kara's shoulder as she does, a loose but present grip.]

[At some point in the last millennia she learned patience, she can sit still for long enough to get painted on. It's a nice sensation, she's not really used to physical affection that isn't like, foreplay or sex. Aside from the occasional rough hug from Thor.]

Seems they should put a tighter guard on the portal. Anything dangerous comes through, cut it off there before it gets into the forest.

[She's never really thought about it before, but it makes sense, although it may be useless at this point considering how many creatures are already inhabiting the moon.]

[Breq's shrug is largely invisible, considering the way they're sitting, but it does make her pause in her painting for a moment.]

I don't know what protections they already have on it. The forest, as it is, seems a particularly immediate threat already.

[She can't think of a time she's gone out and not found something or other to be wary of.

Then she shakes her head and pulls her brush and the hand away.]

It's mostly finished. Do you want to see the design before I add the final touches?

It's a big moon.

[And most of it is uninhabited and unsafe, which is to say that Breq is right, categorizing it as the immediate threat. Kara is very eloquent, obviously.]

Do I get a refund if it's shit? [One whole joke, look at her go. But she does inspect the art, giving a little nod of approval.] Looks good, better than I'd have done.

[Breq arches an eyebrow.] And what would that refund be? Doing whatever you like with me for twenty minutes?

[It's flip, but considering where they are right now, it carries a few Connotations, to say the least. Breq doesn't seem particularly bothered by those, or by the potential that Kara might not fully enjoy the design. When she shows her approval, Breq simply nods, and bends her head to add a few more marks to it while she's at it.]

Harder to paint your own body. [Hence the mostly abstract design Breq had done for herself.]

monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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