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

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter’s kind of used to the whole “end up some place completely alien totally out of the blue” deal, even though he wishes he wasn’t, but like the last time this happened to him, he learned to make do. He spends a fair bit of time exploring the Quarantine, and he’s startled and pleased to find how many similarities it shares with what he remembers of Earth – some of the same foods, the same music, even a few old movies he recognizes, here and there. The rest of it, though, is about as alien as Peter’s used to, and the way all these worlds settle together is kind of fascinating.

It’s nice out, despite the heat of summer, and Peter learned early in his arrival that the balcony connected to the room he shares with Gamora offers one hell of a view of the city. He steps out, Zune in his jacket pocket, one headphone in his ear while the other dangles, while “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads plays.

And he jumps a little when he hears someone speak, and his gaze snaps to the kid with the book. Peter blinks at him for a second, then, putting on a polite sort of smile, ]

Uh. Hey there.

[ #nailedit. ]

[greatflame]

[Max closes the book and stands up so he can get a better curious look at the guy.] Do you live on this floor too? [He's assuming so, but maybe he's just visiting a friend on this floor instead.]

[nostalgiabomb]

I— yeah.

[ He gestures over his shoulder with his thumb, pointing out the room he just left. ]

They set me up in here with a friend.

[ Which had been a stroke of luck, managing to find a space for the two of them. Gamora and Peter are used to sharing space together, and while Peter probably would've managed well enough bunking with strangers, he's not too sure how Gamora would've handled it. ]

Name's Peter Quill. [ In an effort to be neighborly, considering the kid must be assigned to a room on this floor, too. ] People call me Star-Lord.

[ And look, he's already started lying. Good for Peter. ]

[greatflame]

[Star-Lord? Max's reaction makes it pretty clear he thinks that's a weird name, especially for someone who looks human, but hey, he's met a few aliens here already who looked human too, so who is he to question a little strangeness.]

Hello, Star-Lord. I'm Max Lightwood. [He'll point to the room he lives in.] I live with my brother, Alec, but my other brother, Jace, my sister, Izzy, and Alec's husband Magnus all live on this floor too. [He doesn't know the other people who live on the floor though.] Have you been here a long time...?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter has to smother the grin that tries to creep onto his face when the kid uses his code name. He covers it by clearing his throat, covering his mouth with his hand, as he glances at the other rooms. He files the information away for later, but in reality, he'll probably forget the names soon after this conversation.

He's kind of an asshole like that. ]

Not really. Just recently arrived, actually.

What about you and your family? Been here a while?

[greatflame]

[He shakes his head in answer.] No, we all just got here too.

Is your friend also from your world? [Since he mentioned they had set him up with a friend here.]

[nostalgiabomb]

Yeah, actually.

[ He slips his hand into his pocket, hitting pause on his Zune and pulling the earbud from his ear. The headphones get stuff into his pocket alongside the device, and he settles into a nearby seat.

On second thought, though, "the same world" is actually misleading, considering Peter's from Earth and Gamora's from Zehoberei, so he clicks his tongue. ]

I mean, we're not from the same world, but she's from the, uh. Same universe? Reality? [ He pauses, unsure of how to explain it, but he settles on that. ] The same reality as me.

[ A pause, and he amends, ]

We knew each other before we got here, is what I mean.

[greatflame]

[His eyes widen in quiet amazement. One of the coolest things about being here is meeting people from other worlds and planets, in his opinion.]

Are you both not from Earth...?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter huffs out a laugh, rubbing at the back of his neck. ]

I was. [ Was, not am. The distinction is a subtle one – Peter may be from Earth, but he hasn’t considered it his home in decades. ] She’s not.

I’m guessing that means you are?

[greatflame]

[He nods in confirmation that he is indeed from Earth.] How did you meet if you're from different planets?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Oof. What’s the easiest explanation for how Peter and Gamora met, without explaining to a small, impressionable child that Gamora nearly killed him five minutes after they ran into each other? ]

We... met because of work. We both did a lot of traveling. [ He offers a vague wave his hand. ] A lot of going from planet to planet for jobs. Our paths sort of crossed, and we’ve been friends since.

[ Well. They were enemies, first, then begrudging allies, and then friends, but that’s not worth mentioning. ]

[greatflame]

[Meanwhile, in the thread Max has with Gamora, she said exactly that, haha - that she tried to kill Peter.]

What kind of jobs did you do?