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]

[ 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.

[jettisons]

Who said I'm worrying?

[He is absolutely worrying, but she doesn't have to point it out so blatantly. He shifts a little closer, raising his eyebrows. His voice is actually lighter now, and a little teasing.]

You going to leave my face half painted?

[colonists]

[ despite herself she laughs lightly at his insistence, the grin softening into something warmer when he leans in closer again. ] Trust me, it's obvious enough unspoken. But if it makes you worry less, I'll try to approach things more cautiously. [ still not ever apologizing for saving his face from a splash of carnivorous plant acid, nope.

she wiggles her painted fingers at him. ] ...C'mere. Hold still, I'll finish it. [ and she dips her fingertips in the various paints on the grass next to her again, sitting forward almost in his lap to outline orange and gold rays sweeping out from around his brows. ]

[jettisons]

[There's a part of him that's still expecting all of this to go sideways. He's not used to being safe anymore, but sitting here with Clarke, he can almost pretend that he is. It's hard not to feel guilty about that, knowing what's waiting for everyone at home. Knowing what happened to Octavia.

He tells himself that this is for Clarke, though, and doesn't voice any of those thoughts, especially not when she moves closer to keep working.]

What is it?

[colonists]

[ safe has always been a relative term, with them; here in this quarantined city they're momentarily safe from the threat of an azgeda army in the short-term, and from the approaching knell of praimfaya in the long-term. there's still danger, her arm being proof of it, but it pales in comparison to what they'd have to face.

she pushes the guilt and concern back down deep to relax her features and smile for him — he doesn't need any more reminders of what's already happened and what could happen, and so she pretends that it doesn't eat away at her, that she's going to go through that portal with him, together. she draws a bridge of yellow-gold down the length of his nose instead. ]

You'll see. [ her mouth slants in a smirk. ] When you have a mirror handy.

[jettisons]

[He closes his eyes instinctively when she runs her finger down his nose, and when he opens them again, he raises his eyebrows.]

That sounds like a threat.

[colonists]

[ clarke gives a light, chortling laugh, putting the finishing touches with green and blue down around his mouth, symbolizing the forests and rivers of earth. ] You would think that.

Lucky for you, [ she ducks her head, producing a compact mirror from the supplies given her by one of the parade dancers, ] I happen to have one, so you won't be left guessing.

[ she opens it and hands it to him, and when he looks in it the first thing he'll notice is the sun motif across his forehead and eyes. ]

[jettisons]

[Bellamy stares at the oranges and reds for a moment, stunned that she could manage so much detail with just her fingers. It's also a much more optimistic choice than he's feeling right now, but maybe that's the point.]

Why the sun?

[colonists]

[ she tilts her head and watches him as he inspects her artistry in the little handheld mirror, her brows knitting thoughtfully at his question. ]

I don't know, [ she answers honestly, not trying to be evasive this time but not having analyzed her feelings on the matter too closely. she weighs it now, in front of him, why she chose such a motif. ] ...I guess I see you as powerful; someone who others follow. Someone whom others revolve around, in a way. [ her brows relax above her own painted face, still faintly perplexed but ultimately convinced of her own opinion. someone unafraid, life-giving. ]

Does that make sense?