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

[colonists]

[ he's so trusting. his first mistake.

her expression gentles out of that tight-lipped and forced smile for him, when he closes his eyes obediently. she dips her fingers and thumb of her right hand into several different colors and leans in, swiping a gentle two fingers with gold and orange around his eyes and cheekbones, her voice a quiet and distracted murmur as she works. ]

...Please tell me you're not going to spend any more unnecessary time worrying about me, here. [ she takes a break to nod her head at the city's quarantine perimeter inner wall far off in the distance of the parade, even though she knows his eyes are closed. ] Even though there's things beyond the perimeter fences, you know this place boasts a better defense than Arkadia did.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy doesn't open his eyes, but he does sigh. A part of him knows he's being irrational, but after Octavia, it's like he can't turn it off, especially not for Clarke. He's terrified of losing her.]

We don't know what we're up against here.

[colonists]

Well, [ she says conversationally, as she re-dips her fingers in more paint and strokes careful swathes of red color across his cheeks, ] if it's just carnivorous acid-spitting flowers and vines, I think we can say we've handled worse.

[jettisons]

[That gets his lips to twitch up in an almost smile.]

Next thing you know we're going to have a grounder army at our door.

[colonists]

[ it's a reflex — her lips twitch in amusement when his do. clarke laughs lightly under her breath, dips her fingers in pale green and smoothes them along from the bridge of his nose down to the corners of his lips. ]

Don't jinx it. We've got a good thing going, here.

[ all joking aside though she thinks on it for a moment, her expression growing serious again, and her voice drops even lower. ] Besides, that's probably what's happening in Arkadia, right this moment...and we're not there to help defend it.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy's smile, tiny as it is, vanishes, and his shoulders tense again as he pulls back slightly, away from her fingers.]

Being trapped here while our people fight a war isn't a good thing.

[Although without Octavia to warn them, Bellamy isn't sure how much of a "war" it counts as. More of a slaughter. It takes all of his willpower not to pull away and get up altogether.]

[colonists]

[ she doesn't want to think about this either, how they're powerless to do anything while roan turns on their deal and he and his army march on arkadia, how their people are probably so focused on rebuilding and repairing that they have no idea that azgeda is even coming for them.

there's a pang of regret at voicing her concern as bellamy pulls his head back, but clarke grips his wrist gently to prevent him from moving away from her entirely. ] — That's why we have to focus on what we can control, and not what we can't.

We'll figure it out, Bellamy. [ she moves her grip to his hand, taking his other one and holding them tightly in hers. ] The attendants of the city said that return trips can be made. We'll figure out a way to get you back to Arkadia through the portal, so that they can be warned in advance.

[jettisons]

[Save who we can save, he thinks automatically, but that's the issue. He can't save anyone. Not trapped here, and not even back at home. He couldn't even protect his own sister.]

And what do we do until then? Work for these people we don't even know?

[colonists]

It's only temporary, [ she assures him, still holding onto his hands with her paint-smudged ones and running her thumbs along his knuckles. she knows that look in his eye, but she doesn't want him to run, not from this. ] But, yeah — we do what they need us to do here, to help keep the people safe from whatever's on the other side of that wall. And we keep after those people who're working on the portal, to get it up and running; that's all we can do, for now.

[ she tilts her head, beseechingly. ] There's good people here, worth protecting.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy shakes his head slightly, staring down at their hands.]

They need us here. You really think they're going to send us home as soon as the portal pops up?

[colonists]

[ that's something she's considered as well, that while it's not an immediate danger like her incarceration in mount weather was, that the attendants of the city do need assistance with protecting it.

her voice quiets, eyes growing more stern. ] All the more reason to make allies and comrades of the people who've been brought here, with us.

They'll send you back, if they don't want a city-wide revolt.

[jettisons]

[He looks up at her, finally meeting her eyes, and nods. Something about his body language relaxes just slightly, but his voice is much more firm when he responds.]

They'll send both of us back. Together, or they'll have hell to pay.

[colonists]

[ it's good to see his posture relax, even incrementally, when he sees the determination on her face. but clarke's gaze flicks away from his own, at the emphasis on both. ]

Bellamy. [ a quick purse of her lips, as her eyes tentatively meet his again. ] It'd take less power to send one — it'd probably be faster that way, too.

I could always come through after you.

[jettisons]

No.

[Now he does pull his hands away, sitting up straighter.]

I don't give a damn how much power it takes, Clarke. We're going through that portal together.

[colonists]

[ she sits up straight when he does. there's a tilt of her head again, halfway between pleading and contrite, but she doesn't argue the point further.

when it comes time for travel through it, he's going through that portal — without her if need be. ]

...Alright. [ no tight-lipped, forced smile this time, but her eyes are still conflicted even as she gives him a short nod. ] Together.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy searches her face, wanting to believe what she's saying but not quite managing it. He sees that conflicted edge to her expression, and he doesn't like it.]

Clarke.

[colonists]

What. [ a huffed and quiet sigh, as she fights not to avoid his eyes. ]

Let's not talk about this anymore. Please? [ she takes his hand again where he's pulled it back to his own lap, tugging him toward her again gently, back into her personal space. ] It's a moot point anyway, until they actually get the portal functioning as it should.

[ in the meantime she'd resume painting his face, as she'd started quite a lovely picture of a sunrise above a treeline around his eyes and cheeks. ]

[jettisons]

[He lets her pull him back towards her, but he pulls his face away when she tries to continue painting.]

It's not a moot point and you know it. We need you back there.

[So, definitely not dropping it.]

[colonists]

[ she sighs somewhat unhappily when he pulls away from her fingers, but she doesn't pursue him. ]

They need you back there. And Raven. And Monty. [ and all the many others who contribute direct skillsets. ]

[jettisons]

[Bellamy still has one hand gripping hers, and he's looking at her more intensely now.]

What makes you think you don't rate, Clarke? How many times have you saved us?

[colonists]

[ her throat works in a tight swallow; she looks down at their joined hands. ]

...A smaller number than the amount of people I've had to kill to do it.

[jettisons]

We did what we had to.

[Or so he tells himself. His eyes aren't quite meeting hers now.]

I've done worse things than you have, Clarke.

[colonists]

[ that makes her lift her eyes again to his, and her grip on his hand tightens. ]

Bellamy, I don't want this to become a game of who's done worse things than whom. [ they've both done unspeakable things, and not always in the interest of everyone at large, but the last thing she wants to do right now is remind him of his mistakes while browbeating herself about her own.

she squeezes his hand, takes his other one so she's holding both again. ] If you want me through that portal with you, I'll go. I will. I'm not going to leave, again.

[ not going to leave you, again. if she can help it. ]

[jettisons]

[Bellamy smoothes his thumb over the tiny splotches on paint on her knuckles, nodding. That's genuine, and it's the response he needed from her, so he's relaxing again.]

I can't do it without you. Besides, who else would keep me busy?

[colonists]

[ yes you can, she thinks sadly; she wants to say it out loud, but she won't dare to now. not when she can see that she's finally convinced him.

if it hadn't been for pike's influence, clarke knows he would have made very different decisions than the ones he'd made when she was in polis, with lexa.

she gives him a small, tentative half-smile, half-smirk. ] I don't know how good of a use of your time it is for you to keep busy by worrying about me.