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

[aeturnus]

If you're watching closely enough, you're learning how to make lasagna.

[ Yeah, he's bending the rules a bit but he understands the idea behind wanting what you set out for instead of settling. Cain himself isn't usually bothered by that sort of thing because it always comes back around in the end... not everyone gets that luxury, though, and what he's seen of Dodger's scars and clock — he can understand the mentality from him, for sure. ]

Or maybe we'll just have to up the ante and play Twenty Questions while it cooks.

[smokedout]

[Joke's on you hater that's his favorite game. And his eyes are immediately sharpening with interest.]

Alright. How about you go first?

[aeturnus]

[ Cain can't help but laugh at the immediate agreement. Oh boy, this might get interesting. ]

Sure. Picking the object, right? Got it.

[smokedout]

[It actually takes him a bit of thought to come up with his first question. He starts scanning the room for what's available, and coming up with a good plan for deduction. So far he's decided Cain is someone with either bad judgement or very little long-term planning, both of which would lead to picking something immediately available in the room. A room which has a lot of non-living metal objects, and a lot of living, preserved objects. Those are probably good places to start.]

Alright, question one. Is it part of a living being?

[aeturnus]

[ Interesting question, and Cain does consider how best to answer that. He tilts his head. If they're going to be that specific about it, he'll be just as semantically technical. ]

Yes.

[smokedout]

[That wasn't a quick answer, so maybe it's a technicality... but if he starts getting into logic loops like that he'll never get a question out. At the very least he's taken out everything made of metal or plastic, leaving them with two humans, the food contents of the fridge, and anything he can see made of wood. Wonderful.]

Is it made of plant matter?

[aeturnus]

Yes.

[ That one comes much easier. Cain's still busying himself with all the preparation but having the distraction seems to be making the workflow go smoother. Quicker. Less thought necessary. ]

[smokedout]

[That cuts half the contents of the fridge, and the two of them. Dodger's next question comes much sooner, with less thought as he starts to form an idea of what it is.]

Could you lift it in one hand?

[aeturnus]

Yep.

[ Now he's smiling to himself. Good deductive process all around, and he may have chosen an easy one but it's passing the time and Dodger seems to be very into it which is fun. ]

[smokedout]

[Dodger nods, tipping his head back and forth a bit before deciding on his next question.]

Is it made of wood?

[aeturnus]

[ Ooh. Another good one. Cain shakes his head. ]

No, it's not.

[smokedout]

[...Hm. Not what he thought it was, then. And after some thought, he guesses his own hoodie fits the parameters he set, so 'can you eat it' would have been a smarter choice... oh well. Maybe Cain hadn't thought of that.]

Is it green?

[Colors don't eliminate anywhere near as much at once... but he hates to show he's getting stuck by pausing for too long.]

[aeturnus]

It isn't green.

[ Okay, getting more interesting now. Watching Dodger's thought process and elimination is fun, for sure, even if he's moving on to the wrong track. ]

[smokedout]

[His brow furrows as he takes stock of his information, going totally silent and combing through the answers he's gotten. Okay, it's either small or at least light, made of plant cells but not wood, and not green. There has to be some way to narrow down colors without doing it one at a time... he could easily waste half of his questions like that.]

Should I be able to see it from here?

[He really should have asked that earlier. Fuck.]

[aeturnus]

[ He'll actually pause and think about that one, head tilting. Glances over to Dodger as if to assess the other man's viewpoint before he answers. ]

Gonna say no.

[smokedout]

[Okay, but he did look around to decide. Which means it is something nearby, just out of view. And that eliminates the contents of the fridge, so he's teleporting over to stand next to Cain so he can survey the counter before he asks his next question. It's not coming yet, he needs time to observe and think.]

[aeturnus]

[ Okay, the teleportation makes him flinch in surprise and then turn to look at him. Just. Do you mind? He's busy here. ]

[smokedout]

[Don't mind him, he's just checking over everything Cain has out, trying to clump it into categories. Okay, he's got a seventh question.]

Is it red?

[Can you tell he's frustrated because he's very frustrated.]

[aeturnus]

It's not red.

[ And that frustration just makes Cain smile because to him, that's part of the game. Outwitting each other and trying to play some mind games without being outright hostile. ]

[smokedout]

[To Dodger, the only important part of the game is the part where he wills and makes it obvious how smart he is. Getting stumped is the opposite of what he wants. He leans back with a huff, still trying to decide what route to pursue.]

...Would you want to touch it with your bare hands?

[aeturnus]

Yes.

[ Cain just looks over his shoulder and assesses Dodger. This is one of those things where he doesn't mind if he loses, for sure, but obviously Dodger just doesn't have that mentality. Maybe he'll figure it out, then. ]

[smokedout]

[Great, he's on his ninth question and completely stuck. This is the worst, why did he agree to this.]

Fuck... Have you touched it since we got in here?

[aeturnus]

[ Because it's fun, Dodger. ]

No, I haven't.

[smokedout]

[....After another grunt of frustration, he teleports back to his seat and leans back in it.]

Fuck it. I give up.

[It's going to be something obvious, isn't it.]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain watches, looks surprised. Already? ]

You're only halfway through. You sure?