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

[ For a moment, Will was still and watchful.

He couldn't pull much off this man, it was rather like looking at a mirror. Not so much a reflection of himself but rather a smooth, reflective surface that kept bouncing off rays from other sources, than giving off it's own.

That was ... disturbing and the predator in Will stirred. Not for a fight, but rather what was now an instinctive sort of caution or awareness if you'd rather.

Or maybe just years of dealing with Hannibal had given Will a sense for when he was being gaslighted. ]

Reciprocity. [ He repeated the word, as if tasting it on his tongue. ] That's an interesting word. Not many people use it these days.

[ He practically sees him become more alive with awareness, more engaged in the bout, and is delighted to see it.

He smiles, slowly, showing just a very small hint of something not quite right with his teeth. ] Too absorbed in themselves, or too giving. It is only healthy that we both get something out of an arrangement... isn't that so?

[ We. Perhaps this could go somewhere after all, if he's willing to be flexible. Given the circumstances, Jean-Claude is inclined to be; he cannot be too particular. ]

[ For a moment Will balanced on the knife's edge of that statement,

We.

He caught the flash of teeth, though at this point in his exposure to the various types in Riverview, he didn't automatically attribute it to vampire. But a predator all the same.

After a moment of weighing the situation, Will smiled and there was definitely something predatory in his expression. ]

I don't find you that interesting, just yet.

[ He said in soft, calm tones, before he turned away to drift into the flow of the crowd. ]

[ Well, then.

He laughs openly, appreciating the rejoinder, the sound so lovely it seems to caress the listener. ] Wait, wait, I have not yet had the pleasure of your name. I promise I shall endeavor to be more interesting.

[ That laughter did hold the promise of a certain lethal effectiveness, Will would give the Frenchman that. It slithered down his spine, like a velvet caress, and only his experience of tangling with Hannibal gave him the necessary neutrality not to show the effect.

He should know better than to flirt in such a way with other predators. Hell, just the history of the term 'interesting' alone should keep him from using it again. But perhaps Will was missing his own monster more than he wanted to admit.

Pausing, deliberately, he turned back to the preternaturally handsome man and arched an eyebrow as if to challenge Jean-Claude to deliver on the promise of becoming more interesting. ]

Will Graham. [ He offered up his name readily enough. ] And I am addressing...?

[ Good, at least he's not totally ineffectual here. Jean-Claude has lost his entire power base, his retinue, his corporation, but he has not lost what he needed to gain those in the first place. He knows that he can do this, it will just be damnably slow.

A reminder that he has not lost everything does not go amiss, and puts him in a better mood. He bends forward in a sweeping, flowery bow. He calculates that this is the appropriate moment in which to reveal himself: the stage has been set, and there is a pause to shift scenes. ]

Jean-Claude. A vampire. Although if you do not find that interesting, I can try again. [ Said with good humor. ]

[ Will watches the graceful, over slightly over the top, gesture with calm eyes. His eyebrows do arch when Jean-Claude introduces himself as a vampire. That is not something he is used to hearing as part of a greeting and it takes him a moment to adjust to the reality of the idea.

Because back home he'd be dealing with a delusional mind. Here, in Riverview, though he'd yet to meet any vampires he has met some other supernatural elements as well as people from the future and other planets. It's at least enough to give him a certain ... perspective. ]

Jean-Claude. [ He repeated the ~~man's~~ vampire's name in the manner of it's a pleasure before he turns and walks back to the display. His lips twithed gently as he fired back a question, rather than answering the one posed to him. ]

Are vampires exotic enough in your world that they would be considered such, simply on the merit of being a vampire?

Hmmm, an excellent question. [ Jean-Claude follows him exactly as if he had been expressly invited, not an ounce of shame or hesitation as his heels clack on the wooden floor and he comes up beside him to observe the display. ]

To some, yes. There are a number of, as they are called, vampire junkies that seek us out for the allure. Some engage in a form of tourism, wanting to observe us from a safe distance, like a zoo-goer watching a tiger in a cage.

I would not call us so uncommon, however. It depends on one's interests. Like any of these accoutrements.

[ The invasion of his personal space did not go unnoticed, though Will held his ground and tilted his head slightly so he could meet the vampire's eyes. At the comment about vampire junkies his lips twitched and a genuine chuckle came from him. ]

Seems that is something of a universal fascination. Back home most serial killers are elevated to almost pop star status, with their own groupies.

[ He'd lost track of how much mail men like Abel Gideon, Hannibal and Dolarhyde had generated. Maybe not Dolarhyde, they'd killed him rather than sending him to jail, but the man certainly had been a darling in the press. ]

I have a bit of experience with the monsters. [ He continued to explain. ] It takes more than a label to engage my interest.

[ Which, Jean-Claude was welcome to take as a compliment or an insult. On the one hand, he wasn't fawning to simply 'vampire' or the stereotypes, which might be ... insulting. On the other, he was -round about- offering to judge Jean-Claude on his own merits as a living, thinking being; rather than judging him simply on a label. ]

Edited 2017-07-04 22:19 (UTC)

[ Boundary pushed and thus held, Jean-CLaude cedes gracefully, taking in this new challenge with a longer silence. He gazes at the display, falling still, in that way that is almost meditative for vampires his age. ]

It has been a long time since someone has suggested to me that being a monster is no more than a label, [ he says finally, revealing some small piece of his thoughts. With his stillness, his skin seems to become almost translucent, with no blood beneath to fill the veins; he has not fed in a few days, relying on ambient lust only for now. ]

It seems, especially, that if you have experience with the monsters, you must either have more to judge on... or count yourself one. [ Jean-Claude's gaze cuts across to him abruptly, piercing, the blue gone deep as midnight, his voice composed and remote. ]

Which is it, Monsieur?

[ The preternatural stillness was eerie, Will wouldn't deny that. Even though Hannibal could be freakishly still, particularly when he was hunting, there were still the subtle motions of humanity from the killer. Not this sort of dead calm, that came off Jean-Claude when he turned off the human act.

It didn't frighten the profiler, but Will did look slightly more engaged; definitely interested.

As for the question, his blue eyes were perhaps a little hard to read, when he looked up at the vampire, but his lips quirked into a predatory type smile. ]

Depends upon what lens you want to look through. To a vampire? I'm sure I wouldn't pass as monstrous.

[ Younger, especially newly-made vampires can fool as human relatively easily, or some who have invested a considerable amount of effort into it. Jean-Claude is not one of those. He has embraced his identity and uses it intentionally as a lure, but furthermore as just who he is. There is an odd honesty to how he conveys himself, completely at odds with how often he lies.

And who he is is very, very dead.

He smiles in genuine appreciation, this time letting some fang flash, deliberately. ] A relief to hear. I would think less of you to be monstrous by my standards. [ Oh look, truth. ] However, you have misconstrued my question, perhaps willfully.

I wish to know how it is you see yourself, if you would share such a thing. [ Said easily, simply, as if this were a normal first meeting conversational topic. Maybe for Jean-Claude, it is. ]

[ It was a curious thing, the way Jean-Claude worked that question. Such an innocent sounding comment and yet Will could see all the barbed hooks within.

He smiled. It was an expression that didn't reach eyes that had gone flat, like mirrors of their own, reflecting Jean-Claude back upon himself; in so much as you could do that with a vampire.]

You've asked a question that can only be answered by what is seen in the mirror of each other.

[ Then, hands folded behind his back, Will leaned in, speaking softly; as if to a lover. ]

I don't think either of us are ready for that kind of intimacy, do you?

[ He can see he landed a hit, which is telling enough on its own, really. But Jean-Claude is trying to be charming here, not offensive-- charming, and interesting. To Will, he suspects that might require a little danger, a little pushing.

It is a delicate, careful edge to walk.

He shrugs expressively, elegant rather than careless, completely at ease with the new closeness and neither leaning away nor into it. Showing too much eagerness is an amateur's mistake. ] You may say so for yourself, but I have no difficulty being honest with myself, Monsieur-- or being intimate with others. You may ask me anything you wish, and I will answer, or not, as it pleases me.

[ For how power-hungry and fixated on survival he is, one of Jean-Claude's strengths is a willingness to be intimate in all respects. Even emotionally, once his trust is acquired, is not beyond him, and he will do it without fanfare. He might not be an overall honest person, but it is more often through avoidance or omission than direct lying, and he will return what is given to him. ]

You make it sound like I don't already know what I need to know.

[ Will countered, straightening up and with one last look towards the rope display, he once again turned to move away. Just this time he positioned himself in an unspoken invitation; should Jean-Claude wish to continue the conversation. ]

[ Other people probably find it tiresome. Jean-Claude has no trouble whatsoever playing one on the chase, and promptly steps into place on cue, used to doing what is expected of him.

He has found it convenient to lull others into thinking he is agreeable and complacent even when he is not, so it is no bad reputation to cultivate, and a true one in this instance. He is hardly threatened by some typical human, and can afford this game. ]

Come, you have asked a leading question. Clearly you intend to tell me what it is you know already, from our oh-so-brief interaction. [ Amused, expectant. ]

I really have no intention of the sort. [ He said, before pausing a few tables down, next to a very well appointed display of gags. ] I told you, I don't find you that interesting.

[ He glanced over and gave a small lift of his shoulder, an unspoken apology for what he suspected was a jerk like attitude. He was well aware of the fact that he could be an impossible prick half the time and if he ever forget, Zeller was usually close at hand to remind him.

After a breath, he nodded to a spot a little way off to their left. ]

If you're looking for an interesting toy, I'd recommend that woman in the red leather. She's been watching you for the past ten minutes. I think if she keeps trying to look interested in that full body encasement suit the vendor is going to ask her to try it on.

Go save her from herself.

[ He says he doesn't find him that interesting, yet has made no effort to actually leave, keeps putting up all these false roadblocks as if testing his own interest.

Very well, he has nothing else to do with himself right now, and this keeps him amused enough. ]

You must know less than you think, then. If I wished to have someone, anyone, it would be trivial for me. I will tell you something no one else here knows of me, if you deem it interesting enough to listen to.

[ Then he pauses, waiting for this small concession if Will wants one in return. ]

Please. Don't.

[ Will said, reaching up to run his fingers over his face. Seriously, it was like trying to talk to Hannibal at times.

He leaned around the vampire then, and called out towards the woman. ]

My friend here is too shy to admit it, but he'd really like to know exactly how do you manage to piss in those pants? He says that it's got to take you at least ten minutes to peel them down far enough to manage it so he's wondering if you're into water sports?

[ His voice was pitched loudly enough to carry to quite a few people in the immediate area. All of whom glanced around, particularly when the woman in question smiled in a way that suggested Will had picked up one of her kinks.

It was enough to set a fox among the pigeons, and garnered Jean-Claude some positive attention as well.

Will looked up at the vampire and gave him a quick grin, before he turned and this time made good on his attempt to dive into the crowd and away from the attention he'd just churned up. ]

[ Oh, here we go, the game becoming more of a literal game. Jean-Claude had been going to reveal an actual personal detail as a reward for cooperating, but now... Now the game is on.

It is no real difficulty to extricate himself. Jean-Claude is beholden to no one here, and additionally, no one as yet has any idea of his abilities or is looking out for them. Benefits of the police being ignorant of vampiric powers. It takes him only a few minutes or so to have the woman terribly smitten with someone else, who is now horny enough to overcome prior reservations. Maybe they'll discover a previously unknown kink for urine, he has no idea, and does not care.

It is, as he'd said, trivial for him. And he gets to feed in the process, and Anita is not here to judge it. Win-win.

This accomplished, he leisurely follows Will's trail, which has more difficulty but not a significant amount. They had made eye contact, after all, and that is all it takes for Jean-Claude to be able to trace him. The more subtle mind arts are known to a vampire at his age. He does not need to roll someone to ensnare them to that slight extent.

In fact, he purposefully takes his time, allows Will enough time to believe he has made some sort of escape, possibly to wonder how angry he has made Jean-Claude, who is not angry at all. Earlier low level intrigue, using him as a distraction for boredom or uncertainty, is now replaced with high level interest. So like Anita, this one is. But with one important difference: not a necromancer, nor once his human servant, and therefore not immune to him.

Jean-Claude lightly places a mask over his presence, weaves an illusion that he is not there, before finally stepping out of the darkness directly in front of him. They are outside now, the heated sweat of a plethora of bodies moving against one another replaced with the brisk, chill air and the eerie light of the brightly waxing moon. It is as much as over an hour later, and Jean-Claude has followed him patiently all this time, feeding on the lust and sex around them all the while, so it was no waste.

Now he is in all ways a vampire, and of a different era: posture straight and confident, skin transluscently pale, eyes dark enough to sink into and drown should one look. There is a magnetism and weight to his presence that he had not unleashed earlier. ]

What will you do, I wonder, with my unmitigated attention? [ Things that are not sibilant become sibilant, the brush of skin on skin carried alongside it in his voice alone. ] If you wish to be done with me, Will, you must merely say so. Yet you walk away, you evade, you play with me.

And I am sure you are smart enough to know that the chase must be very... enticing.

[ In short: is he asking for it intentionally? Jean-Claude needs to know. ]

[ In all honesty, Will could not conceivably care less if he'd made Jean-Claude angry or not. It wouldn't be the first massive hornets' nest he took a swing at, nor the last and like the vampire, currently Will was beholden to no one.

There was no incentive for him to behave himself, beyond some basic societal norms. Namely, don't murder bad people and display them.

Pissing people off? Well that was definitely on the table.

It was also true that as time went on, Will began to grow confident that he'd given the vampire the slip. He relaxed his guard, his mind starting to stray towards work he was doing back at his office and weighing the likelihood of his managing to sleep tonight. As the likelihood was about nill, the profiler had adjusted his path away from his common living quarters and towards the Guard campus where he kept his work.

When Jean-Claude's voice came out of no where the human startled. In fact, he practically jumped out of his skin. ]

Really!? [ Grumbling as he tried to get his heart rate back under control, he glared at the vampire with fierce annoyance, before rolling his eyes at the statements coming from Jean-Claude's mouth. ]

I told you, [ he began, only to be caught up by the question there at the end because ... well, because it was a fair question indeed.

Was he deliberately playing? He wanted to insist that he wasn't doing anything of the sort, but there was that amused part of him that pointed out where the line between his habits and Hannibal's habits were almost hopelessly blurred.

Stepping back until he found a wall to lean against, Will lifted his hand and scrubbed it over his face. ]

Fuck.

[ The scrubbing hand became almost punishing, before Will shoved his fingers through his hair, further ruffling the already unruly curls as he straightened up. ]

Look, it'll go better for both of us, if we're done with one another before we even get started, okay?

[ Surprising him is gratifying, as is annoying him, after his little display earlier. And he is quite attractive mussing up his hair like that in a display of pique. Probably it says something about Jean-Claude's taste that he finds frustration so appealing. ]

You most certainly did not tell me fuck, or I would have noticed it. And I cannot help but note instead how very much this remains not an answer. [ Still something of a sultry note, like the slide of fur. ] What is it that you think will happen that will make it such a poor idea to start, hm?

Perhaps I can assuage your fears, or agree with them. I am not unreasonable.

[ Sort of. Most of the time, he isn't. It's those times he is... ]

Edited 2017-07-12 01:06 (UTC)

[ The innuendo earned Jean-Claude a flat look. It was like Hannibal and his damn puns. Giving his face one more scrub, Will dropped his hands to his sides, sliding them into the pockets of his trousers.

He stepped to within a foot of the vampire, studying him with a quick flick of blue eyes behind the cover of the lenses of his glasses. His eyes never stayed in one place long enough, before he glanced off to a point beyond Jean-Claude's shoulder. ]

You're a predator. More importantly, more dangerous is the fact that you weren't always one. You know what it is to be prey, but now all that means is that you know how prey thinks, how they move. You know how to anticipate them but you also know how to emulate them.

[ His eyes came back to Jean-Claude and he didn't look triumphant about anything he was saying, he just looked ... exhausted. ]

This affability you've wrapped around yourself like an old useful coat, is a ruse. The lazy stroll of a hunter, lulling the herd into turning back to their more immediate concerns. 'Don't mind me, just walking through on my way to the watering hole, nothing to worry about, pay me no mind.'

You're experienced enough to understand that a genuine threat never announces themselves as such. You have no need for such displays, except for how they amuse you but right now you can put it down because you need information more. That means you're powerful enough to be utterly confident in this role because it means nothing to you, it doesn't define you and anyone who would be foolish enough to believe it, is beneath your contempt.

[ He paused and now he looked down, scuffing his toe against the ground. ]

You are manipulating what and where you can to gain dominance over this temporary unknown.

[ Now, this time he'll actually answer the question. ]

Two dominant predators in the same territory is usually a recipe for disaster. Not to each other, but the collateral damage to those around us. Given the small space we're trapped in, I don't think either of us can easily afford producing collateral damage to what little we can build here.

Not for the sake of a 'game' between us.

[ Quite a speech, and he listens to it fully, immobile and attentive. ]

You, with your much-vaunted chance to see me as a man, as myself, have bought the act. [ He laughs, the sex suddenly just gone from his voice, replaced with cool superiority. ] Your analysis is well done. It is not wrong, mostly. And for almost any other of my kind you would be quite correct.

But you have missed one thing, Mr. Graham. I asked you how you saw yourself, but you did not ask me. I know I am a monster. But I wish not to be one. And I shall not act like one, not for you, not for anyone. No one can compel that of me.

[ There is a low underlying fierceness behind that statement, almost a deadness, that shows how often Jean-Claude has been challenged on that before. Will is certainly not wrong that he knows what it is to be prey. There is an immense distance between acting the Master of the City as he must, speaking the language that his kind knows, of violence and punishment, and engaging in outright monstrousness. Jean-Claude knows that edge so keenly he has hurt himself on it before. ]

There shall be no collateral damage, as you put it. Where I am from, vampires have been made citizens of the United States. I enjoy this status. I enjoy this charade that I am something like human.

It is an illusion I would like to live. So I ask if you are playing, because I will respect it if you are not. [ Mockingly, ] Has this now made me interesting?

[ He will, eventually, bite back. ]

[ Even as the playfulness sloughed off Jean-Claude, like the aforementioned coat, Will didn't give ground.

He listened, attentively even, before tilting his head slightly to the side and answering the question with a question. ]

Who did you fall in love with?

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