introductory mingle: PRIJATA

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Prijata Celebration
when: June 1st - June 8th
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

prijata

In the days leading up to June 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Prijata. Riverview Quarantine has a strong culture of love, and they celebrate all types - Prijata is a special celebration of platonic love and building community through friendship. Prijata traditions include gift exchanges between friends, sharing meals cooked together by friend groups, and a variety of events and services aimed at making friends.

a celebration of platonic love

Prijata is a relatively relaxed holiday, focused mainly on friendship and platonic love - dedicated to appreciating the friends already in one's life, and opening oneself up to making new friends. Besides the private giving of gifts between friends, there is also a city-wide government-sponsored gift fountain that is open throughout the entire week. Included in the wide variety of events catered to finding new friends, are 'speed friending' and a large open exhibition where all the specialized clubs in Riverview can recruit for new members - and residents new or old can create a club and recruit.

i. gift fountain

While Prijata gift exchanges between friends are generally a quiet affair, done at friend-group dinners or parties, the element of gift giving does extend outward - community-wide, in fact. Throughout the course of the week, anyone living in Riverview Quarantine can drop by the huge fountain in the City Center, in front of the City Hall. They will find that the fountain is chock full of floating gift boxes in a wide variety of colors, patterns, and different shapes - though none larger than a shoe box. There are signs put up around the fountain stating that the boxes are magic and will only seek and open for their rightful owners. Characters will find that, upon touching the water, a box will float over to them, and when they pick it up, the top will unfurl like flower petals, displaying the gift inside. Sometimes, the box won't appear on the first try, since there's only so much space in the fountain at any given time, but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Every person in the city (including new arrivals) will receive one gift by the end of the week.

Gift fountain boxes will contain one small item from each character's home dimension (or, for CRAUs, from their previous game), similar to the "items from home" bonus reward, but without needing to spend points. The item should be small enough to fit in a shoebox, sentimental, and cannot be something intended for another person's character. ETA: If you can't think of an item like this that would work for your character, something of similar size and quality to what's described above that would make the character very happy can be substituted.

This prompt can also be used for gift exchanges and for characters to receive the Government-given gifts that were suggested in the Prijata Pregaming posts on the OOC community and the TDM.

ii. speed-friending

This is pretty much what it says on the tin! Much like speed-dating setups, many bars, coffee shops, and other places that people might gather are holding speed-friending! It's your standard setup - characters enter and fill out a quick questionnaire about themselves, and flit from table to table looking for someone with great friend chemistry. Not all of them are general and open to anyone who walks in, though, with many being specialized to people who are invested in certain hobbies, occupations, or with specific sets of interests. With specialized speed-friending setups ranging from horror movie buffs to members of the Perimeter Guard to fashionistas to sports or martial arts to video games, no matter what your character is into, they're likely to be able to sign up for a special event where they can go looking for a friend who's into the same things they are!

For this prompt, you can put up a list of hobbies or interests your character has, and compatible characters can hit them up for a speed-friending thread, like the IC equivalent of the CR meme!

iii. club exhibition

Speed-friending is all well and good, but not everyone is outgoing or open enough to know if they have friend chemistry in only a few minutes. For anyone looking to find groups of like-minded individuals they can spend more than a few minutes with before committing to something as daunting as a friendship, there is a week-long club exhibition happening in the Town Square in the City Center. Table after table and booth after booth are occupied by existing clubs in the city, with an incredibly broad scope of focus interests and hobbies - enough that any character should be able to find a club with their niche interest represented.

And if it isn't? Characters are welcome to start their own clubs - much like a business, a character-run club can have space set aside in the city for meetings and event mingles that are eligible for Activity Point Bonuses for the organizer.

iv. unveiling the new friendr

Prijata this year is marked by something special - the unveiling of a code rebuild of the ubiquitous Friendr app! Anyone with the app installed already will receive a prompt to update the app, and if anyone hasn't yet downloaded it, they'll receive a quick, easily-dismissed pop-up ad on their device when they next access the network, asking if they want to. No one is obligated, and the ad is a one-time instance, intended to make sure any character who hasn't heard of the app gets a chance.

The Friendr app is a swipe-left-or-right style friend matching and/or dating app that is very common in Riverview, both for PCs and NPCs, and it has received an upgrade with a new appearance, a new interests line for more accurate matching, and a wide variety of themes so that the colors can be customized!

Please see the updated appearance below, with the 'default' color scheme. Players are free to change the colors or appearance of the code but please do not remove the credit line showing where the base code came from, out of respect for the code creator.

	Friendr
«		»
	» Age: your character's age » Seeking: friendship/romantic/anything » Preferences: sexual preference or n/a » Interests: three interests » Bio: 30 words or less
	base code by photosynthesis
	Character Name
	« ✘ ✔ »

<br><center><table style="width:300px;"><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="padding:20px; padding-bottom:0; width:300px; font:38px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center; letter-spacing:2px; background-color:#2a2a2a; border-top-right-radius:50px; border-top-left-radius:50px;"><b>Friendr</b></td> <td></td></tr> <tr><td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; text-align:right; padding:0; color:#528887;">«</td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; padding:20px; padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:0; width:308px;"><img src="IMAGE URL - 300px WIDE OR LESS" style="border-radius:20px;"><br> </td> <td style="font-size:70px; vertical-align:middle; padding:0; color:#528887;">»</td></tr> <tr><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a; font:12px arial; text-align:left; padding:10px;"><span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Age:</b> your character's age</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Seeking:</b> friendship/romantic/anything</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Preferences:</b> sexual preference or n/a</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Interests:</b> three interests</span> <span style="color:#c4c4c4;"><b>» Bio:</b> 30 words or less</span> </td></tr> <tr><td></td> <td style="text-align:right; font-size:10px; background-color:#2a2a2a;"><font color="#528887">base code by</font> <a href="http://photosynthesis.dreamwidth.org/" style="color:#528887;">photosynthesis</td></tr> <raw-code><tr style="border-bottom:1px dashed #528887;"><td></td> <td style="background-color:#2a2a2a;font:20px Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; color:#c4c4c4; text-align:center;">Character Name</td> <td><td></tr><tr><td></td> <td style="border-bottom-right-radius:50px; border-bottom-left-radius:50px; background-color:#2a2a2a; text-align:center;"><table style="width:100%; font:30px Verdana;"><tr><td style="text-align:left;"> <span style="text-decoration:none; color:#528887;">« ✘</span></td> <td style="text-align:right;"><span style="text-decoration:none; color:#528887;">✔ »</span></td></tr> </table></td> <td></td></table></raw-code></center>
base code found here.

For this prompt, you can either post your character's new, fancy Friendr app profile in the comments, or provide a link to their updated code in an entry on their journal. Whatever floats your boat!

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 Prijata, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Odysseas Stamoglou; image ii: 5ofnovember; image iii: Sina Pakzad Kasra; image iv: mit19237

navigation

Comments

[dancingmd]

[En...dearments? Not something she expects to hear from a captain about their officers. Are they... Not that she is judging mind you, given her own complications with Jean-Luc, it's just another thing that didn't make it into the books.]

Oh, it's all right. You know how it is though - you see someone as an... authority figure and sometimes it's difficult to make yourself think of them outside of formal terms.

[She grins.]

Like finding out your first grade teacher has a first name.

[winscenario]

[ Jim figures that wouldn't make it into records, either. Especially since he's not really sure anything would've happened between them if they hadn't been brought here. Not that Jim's much the kind to struggle with 'what ifs', so he simply chooses to be glad to have this opportunity, no matter how brief it might end up being. ]

Right. Or that they don't actually live at school. [ A pause. ] Although we do live on the ship, so there's that.

[ Well, not here, obviously. The Enterprise is nowhere around here, as she likely already knows. ]

Speaking of first names— you can call me Jim.

[dancingmd]

Jim. [She nods, accepting that more readily than she might in a different situation.] And of course you can call me Beverly. Given the circumstances, I believe we'll be forgiven for some informalities.

[winscenario]

Well, what they don't know won't hurt them. [ He winks playfully. Seriously though, he doubts Starfleet would care all that much. ]

Anyway— is your heart set on this place, or would you like to go for a walk around the city?

[dancingmd]

A walk would be nice - I'm still trying to familiarize myself with the area.

[winscenario]

[ He nods and stands up, waiting for her to do the same. ]

Come on, then. I'll show you around a little.

[dancingmd]

Thank you!

[She stands up to join him with a smile.]

Do you mind if I pick your brain a little bit too?

[winscenario]

Not at all. I'm used to it, believe me.

[ Between his first officer being a Vulcan, and one of his close friends an engineer, it tends to happen rather often. Not that Jim minds it in the least. ]

[dancingmd]

[She laughs softly, as she walks to the front door.]

Yes, I suppose so.

[She pushes the door open, then gives him an expectant look.]

Which way do you suggest?

[winscenario]

[ He looks down the street, then nods one way before starting to walk at a leisurely pace. ]

This way. There's a big park near the river. Some of the main buildings are on the way too.

[dancingmd]

[She smiles.] That sounds lovely.

[For a minute or so she falls silent, gathering her thoughts together.]

How long have you been here? And did you and Dr. McCoy arrive together?

[winscenario]

Two months, give or take. [ He answers after a moment's thought. ] And yes, we did. On the same day and everything, if I remember correctly.

[dancingmd]

Did you come from the same point in time too?

[winscenario]

Yes, actually. We were lucky in that aspect. We were grounded in Yorktown while we were waiting for the Enterprise-A to be finished up.

[dancingmd]

[She frowns. That only creates more questions, both about Kirk's experiences here and at home. The Enterprise-A should still be decades away and she's never heard of Yorktown, other than the historical location that is. But for now, she's more worried about the portal.

Her hand finds it's way to the back of her neck, where her implant had been that the doctors here had had to remove.]

But you weren't connected in any way? Physically, I mean.

[winscenario]

[ He notes the frown but says nothing to it. After meeting Ambassador Spock, the concept of alternate realities is not only familiar to him, it's also very much real. He comes from one, after all, and now he wonders if she might be from the original reality herself.

Still, she doesn't ask so he says nothing about it just yet. He shoots her a somewhat amused smile at the question, though he spares her from any teasing or inappropriate comments. ]

No, not at the time. I don't even know if we were brought here from the exact same moment in time, down to the second.

[dancingmd]

[She shoots a covert smile back at him. Don't give her that, you know what she meant.]

I'm only wondering because...

[She hesitates. Were it anyone else she wouldn't be volunteering this information but surely she can trust Captain Kirk, right?]

My captain and I we were... psychically linked. By an implant. So I don't understand how I came through the portal and he didn't.

[winscenario]

[ What? He didn't say anything. He just looked at her and smiled, that's all. ]

I see. [ He nods, though he offers the only hypothesis he can think of. ] Then the portal must have broken that link somehow. Assuming you can't still feel his presence. Psychic links can be broken, after all, even if some effects might... [ He trails off, a particular memory coming to mind. ] Linger.

[dancingmd]

[She shakes her head sadly.]

I can't. We couldn't move more than a couple of feet from one another without feeling ill, much less cross universes - the link was broken the moment I came through.

[winscenario]

Then I think you've just answered your own question. [ Jim smiles. ] Although I can't tell you how the portal managed to break that link. But you can try to ask around, if you're comfortable with it. In any case, I go out to the portal every so often, if you ever want to come along and see it for yourself.

[dancingmd]

But if the point is that the portal is supposed to be rescuing you from danger... it's not very effective. [She sighs.] That might be a good idea, though, for me to take a look. I wasn't exactly in a state of mind to be studying my surroundings, before.

[winscenario]

I don't think there's necessarily a 'point' to it. The portal simply interprets a certain feeling of displacement, more present in some cases than others, and tries to... fix it. It's arguable whether it does this on its own, or if it has some form of conscience, but it might also be some part of its programming. I use the word 'programming' loosely, here, since I'm sure it's not quite like a computer like the ones we're used to.

[dancingmd]

I don't necessarily mean it has consciousness but...

[Then again, while the Bajoran wormhole itself doesn't have consciousness, there certainly are sentient minds at the helm.]

I'm just... worried. About him.

[winscenario]

[ Jim nods, offering her a sympathetic look. He can understand that much. And all too well. ]

That's to be expected. You can try asking our hosts, if you want to. I mean, I'm not saying you have to believe them, but so far they've seemed plenty forthcoming whenever I pester them with questions, and they let me look into pretty much any information I might want or need. At the very least you can see what they'll tell you about it, if they might have any idea what breaking your mental link might've done to your Captain.

[ As he speaks, they reach the park by the river, and he gives her a moment to look around. ]

[dancingmd]

[She leans on a handrail as she looks out at the water thoughtfully.]

They have been very helpful, and welcoming. There's no doubt about that. But I got the impression they're used to receiving people who are... maybe not exactly happy to be here, but relieved at the very least not to be there.