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

[sheriffing]

[ no, he doesn't sound at all like she's expecting him to. it's not just the missing hook, it's the clothing, the accent, the confusion when she tries to ask. at first she writes it off as him screwing with her, because that's more convenient than the other option. maybe this is his idea of a joke; making fun of the world he dragged her out of when he tracked her down and asked her to come back to Storybrooke.

although she has to admit, it would have made a lot more sense for him to try pulling that off when he was getting arrested in New York than it does now.

and then there's the biggest giveaway; he's been standing in front of her for nearly a minute and he hasn't said anything out of line. something isn't right here.] - You're not Hook, are you?

[ the pirate has a doppelganger. she didn't see that one coming.]

[striketwice]

[ In the great grand scheme of things, especially knowing what he knows now about not being alone in the universe and all, it would stand to reason that he’d look familiar to at least one person in this mess of a city.

He actually feels kind of bad for her, because whoever she’s looking for would be a far sight better than him. Even if they do have a weird name. ]

Sorry, no. You pretty much lost me from word one.

My name’s Alec.

[sheriffing]

Yeah, I noticed.

[might've taken her a moment to catch up but, but she's struggling a little more with the how of this than Alec is. there are more similarities than differences. cover him in leather and all he'd lack is an accent.

it's not that she was hoping to see Hook, exactly. anyone from home would have been a welcome sight. it just so happens that he resembles the pirate who's been following her around lately.]

Sorry, Alec. I'm Emma.

[ she shakes it off after a second, and she would extend a hand if not for for the object already in it. let's not make this more awkward by her extending the device she's holding, she stops herself before that mistake can be made.]

Where are you from?

[ she's guessing he won't say "The Enchanted Forest", but that's part of what makes her so curious.]

[striketwice]

[ This has thrown them both for a loop, no matter how much Alec reasons it out in his own head, but he’s used to masks, used to hiding, so it stays off his face.

Emma is reeling, though, and he can’t really blame her. At worst, all Alec got was “hey you look like this guy I know”, but Emma was clearly expecting someone familiar and effectively had the rug pulled out from under her. So, contrary to his usual standoffishness, he’s willing to give a bit more ground, if only out of a slight sense of sympathy. ]

Earth, Chicago specifically. You?

[sheriffing]

[ given a little warning, Emma has as good a poker face as anyone else. it's just that all of this was a little much before she ran into Hook's American twin. if he feels bad for her, she's opting not to notice. sometimes she feels bad for herself, too, but this isn't one of those times.

she should be glad Hook isn't here to drag her down with his stupid crush.]

Earth, Maine - most recently.

[ born in the Enchanted Forest and casually leaving that out.]

How long have you been here?

[striketwice]

[ Considering Alec is leaving out the part that he’s a wizard, they’re pretty even in the withheld information department. ]

Fresh off the teleporter. Or portal, or whatever it is.

You?

[sheriffing]

[ he's a wizard, she's the savior. eventually Emma might be more willing to share that information than Alec is, but she needs some time to get used to all of this. she's already thought about working on the portal herself, trying to see if her magic will help some of them find a way back where they came from, but it's too soon for that.

besides, there's always the chance she'll mention magic and someone will laugh in her face, and she's been in a crap mood since her arrival.] Portal, I think.

[ that's what they call them where she comes from, but they don't typically work like this.]

I'm new here, too. Wouldn't have come here by choice, but I think I'm supposed to believe they're working on that.

[ she doesn't.]

[striketwice]

So they say.

[ Alec very clearly doesn't believe them either, if the way he rolls his eyes is any indication. ]

I have a hard time believing that people who can just pluck us up from wherever and whenever they want can't turn around and put us back.

[sheriffing]

Exactly.

[ it sounds a lot better if this is some unfortunate accident, and not people being held here against their will.]

A lack of resources could be sold as an accident, but if they can keep opening a portal anytime they want to bring people in, they should be able to send the rest of us back, too.

[a portal works both ways, that's usually the point.]

[striketwice]

I'm not gonna pretend to know how this whole thing works, it's way over my head, but it seems sketchy to me. Not like we can really do anything about it.

[ That said, he's not entirely sure he wants to go home just yet, but it's easier to play at being disgruntled at being there than unsure about going back. ]

In the meantime, I guess- [ he angles his head at the party favor she still has in hand, eyebrows arching ] -enjoy yourself?

[sheriffing]

We'll see about that.

[ there are plenty of things that were supposedly out of Emma's control that she found a way to do something about. she might be in over her head, but she's not giving up.

she'd sound like more of a threat if she wasn't holding a vibrator.]

Think I'll be tossing that, but thanks.

[ she sighs heavily.]

Sorry about the confusion.