monthly mingle: CARNIVALE

[riverviewmod]

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

navigation

Comments

[breqintopieces]

[Right. She'd nearly forgotten that particular goal of this meeting, when faced with the specter of scans and prying questions about the Radchaai technology installed in her body. At least she can be comfortable in the fact that Tony and Jarvis likely won't recognize the significance of her ancillary implants, though they'll probably find out something.

Trepidation is no reason to be rude to a potential cousin, though. She tilts her head, taking in the professionally cultured voice without hunting for a source.]

I'm pleased to meet you, JARVIS. I hope I'm not a disruption.

[To Tony, she adds:]

Yes. Feel free to start with any favorites you might have.

[buildsomething]

And you, miss.

[ The reply is perfectly polite, though almost drowned out as Tony does something arcane with the window in front of him and the opening riff to Thunderstruck pours through the speakers. ]

Here.

[ And Tony flicks the entire window in her direction, voice raised to speak over the music. ]

Feel free to play around. It's sort of organized by subgenre. Metal, Thrash, Funk, etc etc. There's like a thousand of them, Im tried to pick out the big ones.

[breqintopieces]

[Acting automatically, she 'catches' the screen, quickly working out the ways of controlling the screen and beginning to scroll through the options available. A few entries make her pause, but she doesn't select anything just yet as she lets AC/DC continue making the room hum.]

Thank you, both of you.

[Not to throw shade on Tony but JARVIS definitely provided a lot of this list, and she's determined to give credit where it's due where AI are concerned.]

What details did you want to know about the armor?

[buildsomething]

[ Tony gives an absent sort of shrug as he watches her work through everything. No surprise that she works it out quickly, though the UI is designed to be pretty self-evident. ]

Anything you want to tell me, really. How does it work?

[breqintopieces]

[Her eyes are still down on the list, but her attention isn't, if the way her scrolling slows is any indication. In the background, Brian Johnson's voice begins to wail that there's no turning back.]

It's armor, rather than shielding, because of the way it functions. It doesn't negate the force of a blow. It simply converts the kinetic energy to thermal. Much easier to accomplish in a small personal unit. It's not infallible. It saved me from falling off of a bridge, but just barely.

It's not shielding. And it's not a force field.

[buildsomething]

Huh. So what happens to the thermal energy, does it just dissipate?

[ Wouldn't be a very good defense if it proceeded to cook you by accident. But she hadn't seemed to have any problems with it. ]

Sounds kind of like what I'd think of as body armor. Spreads the impact out so that it's less damaging.

[breqintopieces]

Yes. The unit would fail long before the temperatures became dangerous to the user, though. It can only take so much. And it's only effective against certain attacks.

[The invisible gun she carries is one of those things that is specifically meant to pierce through Radchaai shielding, among other things, but she stays silent about that. She's not going to give up that many secrets, especially since Tony still is a relative unknown, even as she begins to extend her trust.]

That is a good description of the effect.

[buildsomething]

So basically a full-body flak jacket. Interesting.

[ The energy conversion is definitely a fun idea, if nothing else. Part of him wonders if he could incorporate that into the armor without too much restructuring. Might save him a few bruises.

Tony's fingers twitch slightly like he's just barely resisting the urge to pull up another window and start designing. But he can at least pretend to be a decent host. ]

J, make a note. Look into that energy thing.

Would you perhaps like to be a bit more specific, sir? [ Somehow the sarcasm is perfectly audible even over the music. Tony just rolls his eyes. ]

I'll know what I mean. Be nice, we've got company.

[breqintopieces]

By all means, JARVIS, make it more specific.

[Breq's eyes make a brief flicker, from Tony to the speakers that JARVIS's voice is emerging from, a glint of amusement flickering in them before she turns her attention down to the registry of songs in front of her. A tap ends AC/DC in favor of the Foo Fighters strumming out the beginning chords of The Pretenders, which she tilts her head to listen to for a few moments, absorbing the song before she eventually turns her attention back to Tony.]

Unless you didn't want any scans.

[buildsomething]

[ Tony twists to give her a deeply amused look. ]

Is that blackmail? [ He doesn't sound particularly upset about the idea. More like delighted. It's always a fun time when he can get Breq to break through her usual stoicism. ]

Yes, fine. JARVIS, we're gonna try to see if I can use that energy conversion idea, at least a little. The armor's mostly bulletproof [ it's added almost as an aside to Breq, ] but I still get knocked around a bunch. Always looking for ways to stop giving myself concussions.

[breqintopieces]

Simply pointing out a fact. [But there's just a hint of lightness in her tone. And if she's placing herself squarely on the AI's side, well, it's only jesting. And really, the banter between JARVIS and Tony isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean that Tony might not see his AI as a thing, a tool, but it at least means JARVIS is a favored one, and dry retorts mean JARVIS isn't resentful.

She scrolls slowly through the song list and wonders what she might learn if her implants were active]

It won't save you from a fall. [Slightly more serious, this time. She looks over the lab, then amends:] Not in the form it's installed in me. But I've used it to slow falls, take shots, guard against knives in the back. If you raise it fast enough, it can save your life.

[buildsomething]

Yeah, no I got that. But that's what the rockets are for right?

[ Tony flashes her a quick grin, like that's supposed to be reassuring. Maybe it is. ]

Just looking for ways to get banged up a little less. Oddly enough, running around inside a tin can isn't always the most comfortable thing in the world.

[ Though it does bring a thoughtful look to his face as he considers it. ]

What if I could improve it? Not promising anything, but I can play around with a few ideas. See if I can get something stronger.

[breqintopieces]

Considering what you use it for, I'm entirely surprised. [Really. Doesn't she look surprised?

The offer, though-- that prompts a long, considering moment of silence. If he could upgrade it...

Well. If he could upgrade it, it would have to do with the glaring weakness of the armor, which is the Garseddai gun. And that, she's not willing to give up just yet. Handing over armor is one thing, handing over the tool to crack it open is another thing.]

If you can figure out a way to do so without needing surgery for the implant, by all means. [She shrugs, dismisses the problem with a flick of her fingers/] I don't plan on jumping off any bridges any time soon.

[She hadn't at the time it had happened, either, but that's different.]

[buildsomething]

[ Oh right, she has that thing internally. Which is something Tony understands a little too well, and he flicks her a quick grin. ]

Like I said, no promises. But it's an idea worth exploring.

[ And you can never have too many projects, especially when you're using them to avoid other things. Which, speaking of. ]

Well if you do find yourself in a desperate desire to basejump, let me know. Jetpacks I can do easy.

[breqintopieces]

If someone accidentally steps off of the edge in front of me, I'll take the time to contact you for assistance.

[It's still dry in tone, but more importantly, it's not stiff with wariness the way Breq in the middle of a dangerous situation is. Instead, her fingers flick casually through the menu, and in pauses in the conversation, Tony might be able to catch her beginning to hum along to pieces of the current song.

Then she pushes herself upright from the couch, hesitating for just a moment to favor one leg.]

Shall I call it up?

[buildsomething]

Call up wha-- oh, your armor? Sure, if you want to.

[ Tony shrugs a little, unconcerned but curious. She's doing him a favor, and he can occasionally learn not to push too hard. ]

I wouldn't mind getting a few more readings, but it's not critical.

[ Then, with a much more amused grin: ] I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

[breqintopieces]

[She doesn't roll her eyes, but there's something about her look in his direction that exudes the feeling of, 'yes, I'm sure you think you're very funny. Maybe it's the single raised eyebrow.]

There's no reason to delay.

[And so the armor flashes into existence around her, as she holds patiently still for any scans that Tony might want to make, all while rock continues to pound away in the background.]