riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: carnivale

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: carnivale

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Carnivale Celebration
when: July 1st - July 9th
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 a large parade (and paid holiday!) capping it off on July 8th.

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 a massive party parade, 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.

At couple of the acts might be familiar faces to some of the residents.

Eichi Tenshouin has signed up himself and his friend Tsumugi Aoba into the music festival as a first-time appearing idol unit called "Higanbana." Dressed in all white with splashes of color (blue, largely, with only their headsets being a red spider lily), they carry a very commanding and angelic image together. They'll have a routine that emphasizes their great harmony with each other, taking turns doing solo lines and joining together to show off each of their talents. Singing and dancing, they interact heavily with the audience and will encourage a lot of involvement with speaking between songs and gestures, winks, and so on. Basically, they intend to make this Riverview's very first prominent "idol performance".

For his performance, Otabek Altin will start with rock remixes of a few popular pop songs. He wants to make sure that it starts off with recognizable pieces for some people, and he certainly thinks it is something that could get people excited even if they don't know it. Then, it shifts into a few original songs. They are upbeat, rock songs that he put together with the intention to make people dance and move, since he is a DJ. He'll end his set with a slower piece he put together that is also an original. Through the entire performance, he's focused and quiet, though he may occasionally try and excite the crowd with a few words.

Any other 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

The other main attraction of Carnivale week comes on July 8th, which is a paid holiday for everyone in the city. The Carnivale Parade will be starting out by City Hall and winding through downtown in a lazy pattern so everyone in the city has a chance to see it. There will be all sorts of floats, dancers, marching bands, with all sorts of clubs, businesses, and other organizations represented. The theme is theatrical, big and showy, bright and colorful, sparkly and shiny, with loud music and lots of glitz and glamour. 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 - some of them fit for kids and teens, others of a more 'adult' nature handed out a bit more discreetly to anyone who looks the part.

And make sure you wear your waterproof mascara - Carnivale 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 and kink exhibition

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).

For the weekend from July 7th-9th, there will be a kink exhibition in one of the large exhibition centers downtown, limited to characters 18+. The exhibition is a sexy adult informational convention featuring various kinks and fetishes. Whether you're into leather, latex, lace, or anything else, you'll be able to find the clothes, toys, guides, books, erotica, fiction, and a wide variety of other interesting stuff to explore. While the atmosphere is sex-positive and there are private and public (for the voyeurs and exhibitionists in the room) venues for having sex, it's definitely focused on exploration and information about different stuff to try.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up one of the mod-posted prompts for each Communal Floor. 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: Syd Mead; image iii: screencap from the movie Paprika; image iv: siamon89

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Speaking of obligatory vore jokes, Eichi is here now, peering from around Taako's arm at the brochure he's holding.]

I suppose it depends on the person, doesn't it? Everyone has a variety of interests and appetites, so this would be no different. And pain is a form of pleasure, after all...

[Why is Eichi here, anyway?? Just casually giving commentary... Well, his face is a little flushed, so he must have had a little to drink earlier, but he's not holding any strange toys or objects or dressed scandalously at all. He's just here.]

[Taako startles a little, first at a sudden person and then at the fact it's Eichi.]

Aren't you like, twelve? Should you-- are you allowed in here?

[Human ages are very hard and he's pretty sure this place is supposed to be 18+ even if he honestly thinks 18 year olds are still babies.]

You're so mean, Taako-kun. ♪ I'm 19, you know? I have the face of an adult, you know?

[He's just a little offended at being called twelve, but he's tipsy enough that him being insistent is just like this. He's still smiling, anyway, stepping back from Taako's shoulder and in front of him instead.]

Even someone like me has interests like this.

[Well, okay, he technically can't protest since nineteen is above the legal age for this shit here.]

Not saying you can't be interested, I mean, you do you. It's just like, hard to pick human ages sometimes.

[And he'd rather underestimate than overestimate, especially in situations like this.]

Fufu, that's right, you're actually quite different from me, aren't you? Are you very old?

[He's not used to drinking... But that aside—] Mm, but I came here out of curiosity, and yet all of this is so fully out there that it's a bit surprising. It's like I've stumbled into a shady corner video store, but the size is twenty times larger, and people are acting on it right in the open.

I've got, I mean.. there's a few centuries. At least.

[He's Pretty Old, although there are certainly older elves, but he's never quite sure how to count the year of resurrections, since his body hasn't aged (albeit slowly) during that time.]

It's kinda cool that no one's getting embarrassed about their shit. Except the people that are into being embarrassed, I guess? Not sure if that one counts.

[kinkshaming is their kink.]

Those are the most shamelessly open about it of all of them, so I'd have to rule that they don't count at all.

[Those kinkshaming kinkers are the dirtiest.] I won't deny that it's interesting to see, but as an idol, I can't get involved with anything myself. Fufu, I'd probably die anyway, so I'll have to just watch from here.

That tracks.

[He's happy to accept that as a ruling on the subject.

And then Eichi says I'd probably die anyway and it startles a laugh out of Taako.]

Fuck, dude, you really just go in on that, huh? [Most people don't talk like that!!!] I'm pretty sure people aren't gonna give a shit about the idol thing, so uh, maybe there's something gentle you can get into.

[Hey this is awkward.]

[This is like discussing sex with your big brother... Except Eichi has no shame and doesn't seem to find this awkward at all? If anything, it's amusing.]

It's not something that I can really hide, so it's better if I'm direct. Besides that, something gentle sounds rather dull. [EICHI] And I meant that as an idol, if my fans knew I was doing anything like this, it would ruin my image. Idols are meant to be pure role models.

[He has discussed sex with his sister and it's never as awkward as this!!!]

Maybe back home, but we're nearing the end of a week long kink festival, pretty sure no one here gives a shit.

[He's not even going to touch the rest of what Eichi said. Jesus.]

So you're saying I should look into something like this? If my heart rate increases too much, I could have a heart attack... My new healing abilities probably won't help with something like that.

[But okay, he'll look around very obviously right now. Kinks??? Kinks. He already shouldn't have had alcohol if he was this worried about his health.]

[OH THANK GOD, a topic of conversation to latch onto that isn't kinks.]

You've got healing abilities?

Oh, did you miss my post, Taako-kun? It happened not too long ago, but I discovered I could heal wounds with my hands. I still don't understand it, but it's difficult to ignore.

[Taako is officially freed, even if they're still in the middle of all of this...]

I've uh, had a bit of a week. Two weeks? Whatever.

[He's barely checked the network, honestly. But he is relieved that this topic change has been successful.]

Does it work on yourself or just other people?

Is that so? I hope everything is alright. How rude of me... I was so wrapped up in everything that I didn't think to ask how you've been.

[He genuinely feels bad about this now. At least it's keeping the convo on the new track.]

It works on myself, but it only seems to work for physical wounds, and only if I can place my hands over it. I cut my arm to test it out, and it worked just like that, but it was a little tiring to do it.

[Everything was kinda shitty, really, but Taako isn't about to go into it, so he just offers a shrug.]

Just a little drama coming from all sides, everything's good now.

[That much is true, at least. Eddie's well on the way to recovery from getting fucking stabbed, Taako's healed up from his run in with Dodger, and Lucretia isn't mad at him anymore. So it's all sorted.]

Huh, that's kinda limited. [From what Taako knows of healing magic.] Maybe it'll get better if you practice and shit? But don't overdo it.

That's good to hear, at least. And hopefully. It's a little worthless if not, right?

[Well, all of his high energy coming into this place is a little dimmer now, but he just smiles down at his hands.]

I wonder if practice will make perfect? It's a little difficult for me to find practice for something like this, though.

That's kinda how magic works, bubbale, you think I came outta the womb knowing all these sweet spells?

[He had to practice and study, even sorcerers, who come to their magic naturally, need to practice to improve.]

Is it hard cause you don't get a lotta chances, or cause you don't wanna wear yourself out?

[He laughs at that comment.]

I can't help but wonder, seeing that some people do insist they were born with it. [It depends on the universe, it seems!] I meant the chances, though. If exhaustion is all it causes, that's something that I deal with often and can push past. But my weak body makes it difficult for me to see anything like action, and I don't exactly like violence from the front lines, anyway.

That being said, if I could make a difference in some way, I gladly would.

Even if they are, they're hardly gonna be super awesome from the get go. No one's perfect.

[Even someone like Clark, who's inherently powerful, needs to practice to get better at using his abilities.]

People hurt themselves in mundane situations all the fucking time, just go ask to hang out at like, a doctor's office and heal any bullshit that shows up? Fuck, I mess myself up in the kitchen enough you could get all the practice you need outta me.

[He holds up his hands, to show the myriad of little scars that he's acquired over the years, from slipped knives to splashing oil. Being a chef is rough]

Oh, that's true. I'd forgotten about something so simple because even a small scratch could become something serious for someone like me.

[He peers at those hands, trying to see if there are any more recent cuts that he can take care of himself.] If you do end up hurting yourself again, please give me a call. I'd like to practice as much as I can.

[He still has a handful of healing injuries, but none on his hands, and none that are visible. Those are going to be kept to himself, though.]

You will be the first dude I call, for sure. Unless it's serious, in which case I'll call a real doctor first, no offense.

[Since he can't see any injuries, he drops those hands with a satisfied and unknowing smile.]

I'd ask for that much. Trying to heal something that required immediate medical attention forced me to sleep fairly quickly, and I was very worried. It's not good for my heart.

Yeah, dude, let's not kill yourself healing some other dipshit. That'd be kinda pointless.

[Eichi can he like... put you in a bubble......]

Even if my life is going to be shorter than theirs?

[He chuckles lightly though, and it's unclear how serious he is about that. He needs a bubble, honestly.] Thank you for caring, Taako-kun.

iv/b I'm sorry for this

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject