riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

Entry tags:

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

That's amazing...

(Lucretia's gaze follows the motion to her eyes, but she still can't see anything. Is it something that Breq wears? Contact lenses, perhaps. Or maybe it's simply there, like her magic, waiting to be used.)

I wish I had something like that back home.

[Breq shrugs. She can't promise the exact duplicates, of course, but...]

The level of technology from my universe is comparable to things here. You may not be able to find it in your own, but here, you could likely find approximate substitutes.

[She pauses to consider, then adds,] Or invent your own spells, I suppose. I can't claim to know how the magic works.

True. I've never thought to look for such things.

(Because, after all, she's really only learning of their existence now. She's seen the Quarantine's technology before of course, but it had all been used for the purpose of entertainment, not combat.)

I– well. (She chuckles.) Inventing your own spells is... ridiculously difficult. I, uh– modified one of my key spells to better suit my purposes, and it took me the better part of fifty years to change how it worked. I've never had to start from scratch before, but I'm sure it would take even longer.

Is that so?

[Breq tilts her head, stepping slightly closer to Lucretia as the crowd shifts around them, some particularly loud cheer heralding the passing of another float in the parade.]

That seems unusual, but then, I'm not the one who develops our technology, either. For all I know it could have taken just as long.

It was always ready to be used when you came to need it? (She raises an eyebrow, but the gesture is in good humour. The movement of the crowd reminds her that this is a rather strange place to be trying to hold a conversation, especially as the next float starts to appear from around the corner, bringing with it another round of hoses and water guns.

Lucretia gestures vaguely over her shoulder.)

Would you like to go find a cold drink? Somewhere quieter?

[The proposition has Breq nodding, and stepping forward along with Lucretia, careful to keep close to her so that the crowd can't separate them. She moves with surety through the gathered people, though occasionally she'll pause for a half-second to eye someone bumping into her, or to take stock of the people around her.

As they move, she glances toward Lucretia to answer her.]

Much of it was already one thousand years old when I came to be.

Does that make it 'old' technology? (She wonders aloud, checking every so often to make sure Breq is keeping pace with her. Lucretia isn't a fan of crowds. Too many people, too much contact. The moment they shake the swell of people she looks much happier, stretching her arms above her head just because she can. Better.)

How old is your planet? The place that you come from?

That depends what you consider 'old.' For things like ships, it's enough for only a few generations. AI cores are difficult to get right.

[Breq doeesn't stretch the way Lucretia does when they're away from the press, but her shoulders do seem to relax slightly. Then they go still again, at that question.]

That is... Ah. A complicated question. [She remembers how brusque she's been to Lucretia in the past, about these sorts of conversations. She's doing her best not to fall into being taciturn bordering on rude. Lucretia has been nothing but polite and pleasant during their interactions.]

The planet I [I, this body, she means but does not say,] was from originally? I couldn't say. It was annexed into the Radch a few centuries ago. The Radch itself is thousands of years old.

(Lucretia can't pretend to understand this particular line of chat: AI cores? Ships? This is Davenport stuff. She wishes he were here, he'd find this so interesting.

What she finds interesting is other planets, other ways of life. She's certainly noticed that Breq has gone a little still, and does remember short conversations they've had previously about this. Lucretia isn't sure why she always feels like she's pushing her luck when she asks for further details from Breq, but it is a relief to get a couple of answers this time.)

Oh, I– (she isn't sure if this is... good or not. She can't tell by the way Breq has said it.) The Radch must be very large.

The Radch's core isn't, but the empire built around it for protection is. Even I haven't been everywhere in it.

[This, at least, isn't the same kind of dangerous territory the other questions were, from the way Breq's shoulders relax. There's a method to the triggers, even though Lucretia doesn't know the reasoning behind it.]

There was variation in it, of course, but by their language, to become Radchaai is to become civilized, so there are certain commonalities no matter where in the Radch you go.

Wow. Okay.

(There's so many layers of lore she could pick at here! This is the kind of feeling that accompanied the start of a new cycle: arriving someplace new, and knowing there was a whole world to explore, new people to meet, new languages to learn, history to study. Lucretia abruptly wants to write.)

When you say 'become civilised'... (This is bugging her.) They were... assimilating other planets and enforcing a standard across all of them?

Yes.

[More blunt than she could perhaps be, but it's the truth, and Lucretia already suspects it.

And it's not like Breq is particularly loyal to the way the Radch comports itself, either. She looks out toward the bustling crowd and the celebrations around the parade as she talks. Her face is still. If this concept bothers her, it's not her expression that's giving her away.]

The Radch called them annexations. Locals were encouraged to integrate their own existing cultures-- social groups, religions, power structures-- into the Radch framework. How soon after the annexation affected how much of a euphemism it was to say 'encouraged.'

I see.

(It's not her place to judge another planet- empire?- based on surface level knowledge... Lucretia raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything more. It's harder to tell how to react to this because Breq's expression doesn't give anything away about how she feels about it. She's noticed that's a bit of a constant, with Breq.)

Has it been strange to come and live here, then? The culture must be quite different.

I had some experience traveling before I was brought here. It isn't the culture shock it might once have been. I still find it strange sometimes, as I'm sure everyone here does.

[That is an admission freely given, as Breq gestures around her at the trappings of the parade. And then she looks to Lucretia, turning the gesture on her instead.]

What about where you're from?

Yes, I know what you mean.

(She's arrived in countless new places, done it all before, but the process never becomes streamlined. Breq's next question causes her expression to falter for a moment.)

I... came from a planet with two suns. There wasn't much else notable about it.

[It's a bit of a curious answer, and Breq raises a single eyebrow at Lucretia as she hears it, but she doesn't push it. There are enough questions about the world she's "from" that are awkward in turn to her, and Lucretia has managed to be very understanding of her own reticence to answer questions.]

The fact that magic is commonplace, I have to admit, is the biggest change. People are people, but breaking the laws of the universe-- [One hand waves in a gesture of incredulity.]

(She's aware that it's a strange answer, but it feels stranger still to lead with: my home planet was destroyed by a malevolent force that I am currently hunting. It's a lot to drop on somebody she doesn't know that well yet, so she'll stick to odd statements for now. It's what works best.

At least Breq doesn't pursue it. Some of the tension leaves her as the conversation is steered back to more familiar ground.)

You see it as breaking the laws of the universe? (Woah there.) How so?

The laws of nature, of energy, the rules by which things work as I am familiar with them, at least.

[She tilts her head.]

It's changing the state of things by nothing more than the nebulous application of energy. Take what you did earlier, drying me off. I know of machines that could do it, but they would require power and an appropriate setting to accomplish the same thing that you did in an instant. Isn't that breaking the natural progression?

I... suppose? I've never thought of it that way before.

(She glances at her hands, as if she'll find any answers there.) Where I come from, magic is a part of the natural progression; I wouldn't call it otherworldly or unnatural. It simply is.

I'm sure, given time, we would discover something about where I'm from that you'd consider just as alien as I do magic.

[In fact, she can think of a few off of the top of her head, surrounding herself, but she doesn't want to give the people here reason to start treating her like a corpse soldier.]

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monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

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