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

[Hmmm.]

I'll dance if they play a slow song. And if you dance with me.

[Surely any good set includes at least one slow dance.]

Is that a challenge?

[Breq tilts her head toward the Tetherer to look at them with an eyebrow deliberately raised. It's not much of a challenge, in the sense that it's not a competition, and Breq is easily willing to give into it, but still.]

It is if you wish to view it as one. I just thought it would be fun to try. And easier, if it's slow.

[Easier on both of them, between Teth's complete lack of experience and Breq's bad leg.]

[Breq gives an easy shrug, apparently unconcerned with the prospect despite her initial response.]

When they play a slow song, then.

[Odds of a slow song coming up next: exponentially increased, thanks to that comment.]

[They listen in silence to the next song, enjoying the high energy from afar.

The song that comes on after that isn't entirely a slow song, but it's close to one. Maybe the closest the current artists have to one that can be slow danced to. People in the crowd seem to be waving their lit up phones in the air before long.

The Tetherer looks over at Breq and laughs.]

Do you think this counts?

[The mosh pit in front of the stage has certainly slowed itself in accordance with the pace of the current song. Breq looks between it and the stage, then tips her head to the Tetherer.]

It must. I'm being held to my word.

[Though she does get up without complaint, moving with much more grace than the last time the Tetherer saw her.]

[The Tetherer realizes, a bit belatedly, that this might be seen as a romantic gesture, just as they rise and approach Breq, reaching to take her hands and start sort of... shifting from side to side, a little awkwardly.

They laugh again, nervous for a multitude of reasons now.]

You'll have to lead. I have no idea what I'm doing.

[None of that seems to have occurred to Breq, or at least she certainly doesn't emote anything like being bothered by the implications of the request. Instead, she nods, the sketch of a bow, and takes the Tetherer's hands.

When they begin to move, Breq doesn't exactly have a dancer's grace, though she manages a certain kind of fluidity to her movements as she starts to lead the tetherer through the steps.]

First, find the beat.

The beat... like tapping your foot to the music.

[They try to match up their movements to the beat, though they miss the mark a few times. They're getting a little better as they go, but they really don't know what they're doing and they're quite nervous, and it shows.]

Exactly.

[Breq's expression fades a little, as she holds the Tetherer's hand and leads them through, tapping her own foot each time to the beat.]

The beat stays constant. [Mostly, but for dance music, that holds true enough. No need to confuse things more with technicalities.] Find that, and the rest of it is easier.

[They pause for a moment in their movements, laughing a bit at their own ineptitude, but then they look for the beat and rejoin the dance once they've got a feel for it. Their dancing improves somewhat with the addition of rhythm, even if they're not about to become an amazing dancer out of nowhere.]

Easier. I have no idea what I look like right now. I feel like I'm sticking out.

However bad you think it is, it's not.

[And Breq means it. The point is about feeling the music, and having a good time, in a place like this. If it were for something more formal, maybe they would need to care. Then again, if it were something more formal, Breq probably wouldn't be participating either.]

What matters is whether it's fun.

monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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