introductory mingle: carnivale

[riverviewmod]

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

Comments

[adiuvio]

[He moves with Spike. Mutely following where he leads. The club spins, drugs, and booze, hitting him all at once. John reaches for the elbow of Spike's jacket, so he doesn't lose him, and doesn't fall.

The music drowns out all words, other than those whispered to him, for him. Everyone else is faceless in the dark. It feels like they're alone in a labyrinth made of people.

It's peaceful, almost. Except for his heart, beating too hard, and too fast, in his chest, louder than the base. A bird in a rattled cage.]

[idolpire]

[He feels the grip on his elbow, saw the way John's pupils dilated as he stood and knew the drugs were probably hitting him just about then.

He found a corner, somewhere a little to the side of the bodies thrumming with passion and ecstasy. He turned John, drawing him into him and taking one of his hands to slide under his coat, drawing it around to his back to get John to hold onto him. He mimicked it on the other side of him, keeping them pressed together as he let the side of his forehead rest along John's jaw. There was a height difference there and he couldn't quite gain the upper hand there, but he could still keep a firm hold of him. Hold him in place, keep him up.]

You smell good. Warm.

[adiuvio]

So do you.

[John's arms wind around Spike's waist. Holding him is grounding. John can close his eyes and lean into him. Turn his nose into Spike's hair. Breathe into him. His chest and belly rising and falling, shaping against the granite slab of Spike's torso. Stop thinking.

There's nothing good in his head. Just a series of traps in a downward spiral. The same ones he falls into every time, knowing that they're there. Stepping into them on purpose. Self-sabotage, and flagellation.

John's just as skilled at hurting himself as he is others.]

I was married.

[idolpire]

Explains the ring.

[He didn't sound angry, though. Spike knew enough angry, murderous husbands. John sounded... maudlin. Pained. Like the words were something that he had to push past something in his throat.]

Was? I don't hear a happy ending, Wicked Man.

[adiuvio]

She passed away.

[Slowly. Painfully. While John watched, helpless to do anything but hold her hand, and be strong, if only so she didn't exhaust herself being strong for him.

Cancer was the cruelest, most sadistic killer John had ever met, and the only one he couldn't kill. No matter how hard he'd tried. Helen had fought it from her back for the better part of a year, and on her feet for years before that. She'd known she was sick when they met, but she'd never let it stop her. Not from laughing, loving, or living. Not until the very end.

She'd always been stronger than him.

His fingers spasm against Spike's back, twisting into the fabric of his shirt with all the desperation of a drowning man trying desperately to keep his head about water.]

Four months ago.

[idolpire]

Shh...

[It's a quiet hush, more to soothe the pain than to actually tell him to be quiet. If he wanted to talk, Spike wanted him to do just that. Get it out. Let some of that pain leak. Pain bottled up was a poison, one that only got more concentrated and vicious with time. The hand not at John's waist slid up to his hair, petting at the back of it, eyes closed as he swayed with him.]

I suppose that'd make a man feel out of sorts enough to be brought here.

[adiuvio]

I lost her. Then I lost everything else.

[He shudders beneath Spike's hands. He doesn't know how to let go of what's inside of him, or how to share it.]

I killed, and I kept on killing, until there was no one left. Now that it's over- I don't know what do anymore.

[John shakes his head, leaning into Spike, as if he's all that's keeping him from crumpling to the floor. He is.

All John really knows is how to survive. Now that nobody is trying to kill him, all his anger, everything he uses to lash out with, to kill, and to fight, has no place to go but at the person he hates most. The man who's really, truly, responsible for Helen's death. His damning self.]

I'm cursed. You should know that.

[idolpire]

[He sways them still, leaning back a bit so John can lay a bit of weight on him. He hears that pain, knows it well, wore it like its own burden on his chest and that part of him that was wrong for a demon, that part that was still human enough to love Dru, to love at all, it warmed a little for him.]

No, mate. You're not. Not really. There's no witches in your world to cast things like that. No nasties to try to keep the bad things in line. I've seen those who are cursed. You, Wick, are just a man with a broken heart. Not that it's any better, mind you. Might be worse in some cases. Hurts just as much. You never feel right after it.

[adiuvio]

What if I'm the witch? There are stories about me. They say I'm a monster.

[Normal men can't do what he does. Wouldn't, even if they could. At the very least, John's an animal. A beast who would gnaw off his own leg to survive, for no other reason than he's too wild, and stubborn, to die.]

Without her, I am. I'll hurt you, if I don't kill you first. It's what I do.

[idolpire]

[Spike's hand fists in the back of John's hair, pulling his head back so he can look him in the eye.]

You're neither a witch nor a monster. I've seen both. I am one.

[There was a shifting of skin and bone, and then the demon that Spike shared a body with was peeking out, showing its face so John could see it.]

I'm a monster. If anyone knows evil, it's me. I kill because I like it. I kill because I feed off it and if they suffer, if they scream, if it hurts, I love it all the more. You want to kill me? Go ahead and try. Maybe you'll actually get it right. But you can't hurt me. Not really. That's already been done and I managed to survive it. It's never going to stop hurting, yeah? Real love doesn't. It's just going to get familiar. Like an ache when it rains, flaring up from time to time. Whatever you were before her, you still had her. That's not a curse, mate. Not knowing love? Not having that moment ever in your life? That's a curse.

[adiuvio]

[John looks at Spike's face, twisted, and demonic. He doesn't look away. When Spike's stopped speaking, having said his piece, the words thrown like knives into the already bleeding flesh of John's broken heart, he kisses him.

For his pain. For Spike's pain. For the pain they share.

Maybe Spike's right, and John's not really a monster, just a fucked up man with a gun, driven mad by pain, but at least he's not alone in it. Whatever this is, it's too much, too soon, John knows that much, but it's something, and it's better than nothing.]

[idolpire]

[He doesn't wait for the trigger of the chip to send pain through his head, his face morphing back to human when he feels John's lips on his. Normally, he'd enjoy it. Welcome it. But John was human and fangs were sharp and this wasn't the time to be interrupted by a synthetic migraine.

Instead, he kisses him back, swaying them over to a corner and pressing him up against the wall, turning the kiss into something hungry to fill that void that sucked at the life inside of both of them.]

[adiuvio]

[His hands move up Spike's back and into his hair, fingers knitting into blonde curls and holding fast.

John had come to the club to apologize to Spike. For giving him a taste of something that's not in him to supply, if he's created a demand. Instead he finds himself giving even more, this time with his ring on his finger, and Helen still in his heart.

John isn't ready to love again, his heart isn't healed, and it might never be, but if they're both going to hell, man, and monster, at least they'll have company for the ride.]

[idolpire]

[He can be 'just for now'. He'd been Dru's plaything for so long, it was hard to picture life on his own -- even though if asked, he'd tell anyone that he'd always been his own man. But it was something to feel needed, it was something soothing to have John grip at him like he needed him to stay up, to stay there for a moment.

So in that moment, he gave as good as he got, pressing John into the corner with a slow grind of his hips and lazy sweeps of his tongue over John's lips.]