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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He goes still, and she watches him, hesitant, nervous. Waiting for his reaction. Hoping that she hasn’t mis-stepped terribly. She means it; means every bloody word. She doesn’t want to pretend that she doesn’t have feelings for him, anymore. That desire is all this is between them.

She exhales softly.]

No, perhaps it isn’t. Shall we take this somewhere... more private?

[Somewhere they can talk. Alone.]

[At her exhalation in relief, he shakes his head and gives her a small, private smile.]

There is a copse of trees on the other side of this park that should be empty of people. I didn't see anyone there before I spotted you at least.

[He wants to talk and if this were Skyhold his office or the parapets around it would be fine. But he doesn't trust the barracks and he's aware that her living arrangements are just as crowded as his own.

And he doesn't want to be interrupted. It's been a while coming and they both know it. Especially since the vigil he kept at her bedside while she was ill. He's known since then how he feels about her, but telling her isn't exactly something easy.]

[She nods. She’s spent quite a lot of time there in that copse of trees, when she’s been missing home, missing being able to surround herself with nature. To see nothing but trees above her, sunlight shining through the leaves. The copse... isn’t much, but it’s something.]

I know it.

[She catches his hand with hers, drawing him with her towards the copse so they can talk. They need to, and it’s... long overdue, probably.]

[Luckily when the enter the cool shade of the trees, it's empty. If it had been occupied, he can't guarantee that he would be able to keep his cool. The long walk has him wound tightly with stress.

But now, his pulse is racing and he's not sure that all of the sweat beading his forehead is from the heat. He can't even remember when the last time he's felt this...no, he can remember. Which puts a great deal of things into perspective for him as he watches her for a long moment.]

I'd never imagined that I'd have this type of conversation before. [It would've meant having a personal life.] I should have pushed more months ago.

[It is a very long walk, and it gives her too much time to think. To overthink, and ponder every way this could go badly. But it doesn’t change the fact that they need to talk. He needs to know where she stands. What she wants.

Who. She wants.

It needs to be said, plainly.]

Neither did I.

[It’s the honest truth. Especially not here in the Quarantine. She laughs softly, watching him with fond lilac eyes.] But we’re here now.

I’m. Here now.

As am I.

[Maker, why is this so difficult. It's something they both know must happen if they're to get any sort of resolution. He knows that they can't keep going back and forth with flirting and kissing and nearly crossing lines that can't be uncrossed.

He doesn't want anyone else. She, at least as he can tell, wants him. It should be as easy as breathing, yes?]

Iona, I... After a conversation with Dorian a few weeks ago, I think that there is a great deal that I should disclose to you about myself.

[More than just the fact that he's addicted to what might be the blood of a Titan and struggling with that bit of withdrawal.]

About my time in Ferelden and in Kirkwall before I joined the Inquisition.

[There is no one else in the Quarantine that she wants, except for him. Only Cullen. She just needs to tell him. Which seems to be less easy than it sounds.

This sounds serious. But it doesn’t matter. Whatever he needs to tell her, she’ll listen.]

Whatever you need to tell me, Cullen. I’m not going anywhere.

[She knows about what it means to be a templar. She knows what he has suffered physically for it and has tried to help him. What she doesn't know is exactly what it's cost him.]

After my vigil and first drought of lyrium, I was sent to the Mage Tower in Ferelden at Kinloch hold. Until the Blight, things were relatively calm and it was as idyllic as it's possible in Thedas.

[This part is easy, remembering what the Tower had been like before Uldred's return.]

There was an apprentice, a pretty girl who was kind to me when I first arrived. She'd just passed her Harrowing before the few mages that survived returned from Ostagar.

[This part is a bit harder. He'd watched the girl pass her Harrowing, had attended and hoped that he didn't have to deliver the blow that would kill her if she failed.]

She was among the first to die during the takeover.

[She had expected something... not terribly great; no one starts off a conversation the way he had that leads somewhere good. And she knows a little of what happened in Kirkwall; courtesy of Varric. But this... She reaches out, curls her fingers around his, loose enough that he can pull away should he choose. Trying to encourage him and let him know that he doesn’t have to keep going if he doesn’t want to, but that she’s there.]

[He never thought this conversation would be easy. It's why he's never had it with anyone. Not even Mahanon knew this much. Just the bare minimum. However, the fact that she's holding his hand and isn't telling him to stop talking is encouraging and it's what he focuses on as he continues.

But even over a decade later, the things he saw haunt him, drive him, keep him grounded in what too much leniency can cause.]

I later found out that a month passed before the Hero of Ferelden's party came to the Tower and cleansed it of the demons, undead and blood mages that plagued the entire building. [Saved him and his mind.] But Knight-Commander Greagoir thought it best for me not to stay there after those events.

I know that he was trying to help me at the time, and I was grateful then. However, being sent to Kirkwall both helped and made things worse. I suppose being Meredith's second-in-command helped put things in perspective for when Cassandra came to Kirkwall and asked me to join the Inquisition.

[He takes a shaky breath and laughs a bit.]

So, my experience in these matters is laughably minimal. [He's really been running on instinct when she's nearby. Which appears to have been at least correct for the most part.] However, I don't wish to...disappoint you in any way.

[Iona listens is stunned silence as he speaks, her heart breaking. A month. He spent a month, there... in the Tower with the demons and blood mages. Oh, Creators. She’d already appreciated what the Hero of Ferelden had done for Thedas (and the fact that she’s an elf had been appreciated, too), but now... she appreciates the woman so much more.

Or whoever it had been in his Thedas. It doesn’t matter. They saved him.

There’s nothing she can do to change what he’s gone through, but she can be there for him now. Her hand tightens around his, and her other comes up to cradle his cheek.] Not possible, Cullen. [His experience or lack thereof doesn’t matter. Hers is no deep well to draw from, either. What matters is him.] There’s no one else in the whole of the Quarantine that I want.

[He owes a great deal to Queen Riona and her husband, it's true, and will forever be grateful for the speed in which they used in reaching the Tower from the Korcari Wilds but so much of the evil had happened by the time they found him. He was too angry, too ready to believe the worst of all mages because of the actions of a few.

He isn't proud of his time in Kirkwall either, but that at least has been a bit more public with Varric telling Garrett Hawke's story for the whole of Thedas to learn. He'd painted Cullen as neither villain nor hero, and for all that he did, he deserved much worse than he got.

Her touch is welcome as always, but the look of worry and pity directed at him stings in a way he can't quite pinpoint. Instead, it's her words that he focuses on.]

I hope you're not like Cassandra and in need of full out courting. I fear that my knowledge of poetry is rudimentary, at best.

[It’s not pity. It could not be farther from pity if she tried. Understanding, a realisation of just how strong he is to have survived all that and come out on the other side to be here, now. With her. With the Inquisition. The worry she cannot deny. Worry is allowed, though, for those you care about.

She laughs, and she can’t help but look at him incredulously. Cassandra, in need of courting... well. She supposes it makes a bit of sense, with her... appreciation of romance novels. It’s almost adorable.] No. No I’m... certainly not.

[And then she smirks up at him, teasing..] A little courting now and then will be more than enough.

[Look, he saw what sort of trouble Mahanon went through to win Cassandra's heart. While he is more than happy for his friends and their happiness, there is a reason he didn't go after the Seeker. Well, that and the fact that neither of them found the other at all arousing.

No, his taste definitely falls into lithe, blonde, stubborn and decidedly in front of him. When her lips turn up into that familiar smirk, he finds himself smiling down at her genuinely before leaning down to kiss her softly.]

As you wish, Inquisitor. I am yours to command.

[He has been for a while, but it's best to state these things outright.]

[Creators, she loves his smile. A lot. And she’s very glad when she can bring it out of him. She’s smiling in return against his lips for a moment before kissing him back. ]

That is a rather dangerous promise to make, Commander.

[(Okay, so she says his title with more of a purr to her voice than she’s ever said it before since his arrival in the Quarantine. But it’s only fair.) Except it isn’t a dangerous promise. Not really. She’d never ask of him anything he wasn’t willing to give. Or do. She’s not that sort of woman. And she cares for him far too much to be reckless with him.]

I'm not concerned.

[She has always come across as a trustworthy woman. He knows that he's in no danger of having anything demanded of him that he would regret doing. Besides, he's already told her that she's not asked more than he's willing to give. He's just making it obvious that he is offering himself, flawed and broken as he is.

And he is pretty sure that she returns his sentiment, but the words must be said.]

You are the woman that I wish to spend my time with, Iona. No one else.

[She’s only ever wanted him, exactly as he is. Exactly WHO he is. And yes, yes she does. But hearing the words... it makes her a little bit speechless. She makes her way past that quickly, because he deserves no less than the same from her.

Although he knows. She’s told him. But she wants to tell him again. Here. Now. She reaches up and caresses his cheek with her hand.] And you are very much the man I wish to spend mine with.

[He turns his head to brush his lips against the hand touching his face. He wants to grab her and hold her close, kiss her and show her how much he cares for her, but he's very much aware that she is still recuperating from being kidnapped and injured.

It will have to wait. He has the patience.]

Now that we have that out in the open, I suppose I should ready myself for words from our mutual acquaintances.

[He's long thought Dorian has known of his interest in Iona, but that means nothing now that it's been confirmed that their feelings are mutual.]

[That simple little gesture sends shivers down her spine and takes her breath away. And makes her want more, although she suspects she may want to take it a bit easy on that front for a little while.

Whether or not she manages that is another question.

She laughs softly, unable to keep the fond, happy smile from her lips.]

Oh, I have no doubt that one in particular will have plenty of things to say on the matter.

[Maker knows how much he wants to give her more, but he is a man of discipline. Simple ~~well, not so simple~~ lust and desire will not win over his concern for her health.

But her soft laugh and radiant smile are enough for now.]

He will and I will gladly suffer them and more if that means that I have the freedom to kiss you when I wish.

[And with Hawke, ANY Hawke, running around, there are sure to be more than just a few snide comments about how his face obviously doesn't crack when he is pleased. Or catch on fire. And to prove his point, he places his lips on her forehead as he did when she was ill.]

I suppose I will just have to get used to the fact that you will argue your way through anything.

[As long as there’s kissing. Were he to wait to kiss her or hold her in his arms until she’s fully healed there might be words. Or visiting him wearing very little. Or perhaps both.

Yes, Dorian is never going to stop with the fond teasing now that the two of them have finally figured things out. And she doesn’t mind. He wouldn’t be Dorian if he did.]

I look forward to do exactly that. Often.

[There’s no hiding her fond smile as he presses his lips to her forehead. ]

Yes, you will.

[But he is one of two people in the Quarantine who stands a slightly better chance of getting her to not argue her way through something quite so much. Slightly. The other is Dorian. And she will never tell either of them lest they try and use it to their advantage. And they have advantage enough as it is.]

[As if there wouldn't be kissing. Although, he wouldn't mind her wearing very little, should they happen to be alone. He wouldn't mind that one bit. Or another trip to the hot springs, so long as they aren't accompanied by any of their friends.]

At least I don't have to worry about this ending up in one of Varric's books.

[He laughs under his breath.]

You know, I don't think Cassandra's reputation will ever be the same if Varric's book about the Inquisition actually gets written. No one will believe that she stares off into the distance with a dreamy smile on her face a great deal of the time.

[It's so much easier to think about the blow the Seeker will take than the fact that should he return to his version of Thedas, he would not have Iona with him. It's not something he wants to consider, especially not when she is standing right in front of him.

No, instead, he would prefer to stand close enough to feel the heat of her skin through the thin fabric of his shirt and wonder how much it might hurt her if he were to kiss her the way he wants.]

[There will be quite a lot of wearing very little. She’s fallen into wearing silk nightgowns to sleep in because they’re comfortable. And her purposefully choosing something to wear around him that involves very little fabric... is in their future.]

No, we’re safe from that, unless Varric should arrive in the Quarantine. And then all bets are off.

[She suspects their dwarven friend would be very amused at the two of them. And would absolutely throw it into one of his books just to vex them.

She laughs softly.]

I certainly find it hard to believe. And a great deal harder to picture.

[That is the hardest part of this. The knowledge that when she returns to her Thedas, the Cullen waiting for her will have no memory of this. Won’t remember their kisses. The hot springs. And it breaks her heart.

But she would rather spend what time she can with him here, now. For as long as she can. (She can thank the cultists for one thing, at least.)

She doesn’t want to waste anymore time. Which is why, heedless of her injuries, she is going to press close to him and rise up on tiptoe to kiss him fervently.]

Lucky for us, Hawke is here. I'm sure that he would spend too much time with her to make much time to notice us until much later.

[As much as he knows the dwarf would love to take the mickey from him, he also knows his adoration for all things Hawke. He's fairly certain that gender would matter very little to Varric so long as it was Hawke.]

I can assure you, it was much talked about by everyone in Skyhold. Not just our visitors were taking bets on when they should expect a wedding and what color theme would be most prevalent.

[He fears that should she return to her own world without him that the Cullen in her world might fail to recognize the wonderful woman that she is, but he somehow doubts that. She is the type of woman that he would find hard to ignore, especially with all of her good qualities.

No, he would lose her to himself. Is it wrong to be jealous of oneself? It's much too much of a existential crisis even for him, and he's had quite a few over the last three decades of his life.

When she leans into kiss him, he welcomes it. One hand, he snakes into her long, loose hair and the other to her slim waist to rest above her shapely backside. They are more dressed than the last time they were in such a compromising position, but they've cleared up things a great deal more as well. Let people try to interrupt. He won't be quite so generous.]

Of course, it depends on whether or not she’s the Hawke he knows, doesn’t it. It might take him a little time to wrap his head around our multiple Thedas’. After that, though, I’ve no doubt he’ll love this Hawke as much as he loves his own.

[She can’t help but wonder if something similar would happen for the two of them, if they had come from the same Thedas, and returned to the same. Would they draw the same response? It’s a train of thought she works very hard to stop thinking on. Because it makes her want things that aren’t possible.

Fortunately he’s kissing her and that is just the sort of distraction she needs.

She will never tire of this, of kissing him, of his hands in her hair, on her waist. He skilfully avoids her lingering bruises and she would be surprised if it were anyone except Cullen. She twines her arms around his neck.]

Edited 2018-07-24 05:14 (UTC)

monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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