riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: carnivale

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: carnivale

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ She would have appreciated the laughing-in-her-face thing much less, honestly.

Excellent self-restraint. ]

Then is Kevin Bacon related to the pork?

[ She has no idea what pork is either, but you know. ]

Not that I know of? I mean, not in any way that should worry you.

[ He frowns a little, and also sneaks a fry from the little tray. He munches on it thoughtfully, then, ]

It’s just a family name, I think? Far as I know, he’s unrelated to bacon, the food, except for probably eating it. He’s probably related to other Bacons, as in people with the surname Bacon, but not all of them.

It’s just, you know. A name. Like how Rocket is “Rocket,” but he doesn’t have anything to do with actual rockets, except for making way too many and enjoying the use of them way too much.

Hm.

[ Gamora seems to find the explanation satisfactory, even if it seems like an odd choice for Kevin and his apparently meat-related name.

Terrans are weird.

So instead, she reaches for the fries that Peter had started to snack on, stealing one for herself. ]

Then what else do you recommend I try?

[ Since she's apparently trusting Peter to show her foods worth eating (or at least worth experiencing, since she would never find them outside of Earth). ]

[ He’s glad she’s satisfied with the answer, because Peter sure as hell had no idea where else he could’ve gone with that.

He surveys the spread of food again. The popcorn can wait, he figures. And the chip things, because he’s not sure what those are. She’s already picking at the fries, so that’s done.

He quickly comes to a decision when he catches sight of it again – the reason why they even sat down in the first place – and he points at the little tray.]

Definitely the funnel cake. [ Which is covered in powdered sugar and drizzles of chocolate, and helpfully has a fork sticking out of it already. ] It’s, like, a necessity for when you’re at a fair.

[ ... technically, this isn’t a fair. But it’s pretty damn close, all things considered. ]

[ Gamora reaches for the tray, looking at the cake somewhat suspiciously. It has what appears to be melted chocolate, and she takes the fork to give it a prod, inspecting it for a moment longer before she wiggles a section free with her utensil. ]

I can already tell this is going to be too sweet.

[ Most of these things seem to have a running theme.

But she lifts the piece of cake to her mouth, taking a proper bite. Her immediate reaction is that she certainly wasn't wrong about how sweet it is, but the fried texture is nice, and her brows lift in approval as she chews.

... She does not, however, realize that she's gotten powdered sugar on her cheek and her chin.

The stuff just goes everywhere. ]

[ Peter may or may not be hoping that her observation comes true, because he's sort of banking on the idea that if it is too sweet, Gamora will pass it off to him.

In which case, yeah, he's totally taking it. Looks like Peter Quill has a sweet tooth.

He claims another fry, munching on it as he looks around at the parties cropping up in front of store fronts, at the restaurants carting out supplies to set up shop to attract customers. It's festive and bright and infectious, and Peter feels himself smiling at the collective sort of cheer and revelry.

When he turns back, he blinks, then grins at the powdered sugar speckling Gamora's face. ]

You got a little something.

[ And he taps his own cheek in demonstration. ]

[ Gamora glances up at him, then frowns as she sets the funnel cake aside, reaching up to brush the back of her hand across her cheek. She comes away with some of the powder, but it also sort of smears itself around. ]

Was that it?

[ What she really needs is a napkin, but that didn't seem to end up passed around with the mountain of food she'd collected. ]

[ ... what is the most delicate way of telling her she kind of made it worse? ]

You, um. [ A beat. ] There's still some left. On your chin, too.

[ He lifts up a hand, though he doesn't make any move to lean across the table just yet. ]

Want me to get it?

[ Gamora doesn't immediately jerk away in suspicion like she might have done a couple months ago, and instead, she stills, watching his hand carefully. ]

Go ahead.

[ Since apparently she has no idea where it actually is on her face. ]

... But don't lick your fingers first.

[ With a touch of exasperation, ]

I’m not gonna get spit on your face.

[ And anyway, that’s a totally Mom Move, licking one’s thumb to get at a smudge on some wayward child’s cheek, and Peter Quill is definitely not a mom.

This time he reaches across the table, telegraphing his movements to avoid startling her – and to avoid her, like, flipping him over the table on instinct at a wrong move. Carefully, he starts wiping away the powdered sugar on her chin. ]

The trick is to lean forward over the tray or plate or whatever when you’re eating this stuff, by the way. And to pop the pieces into your mouth quick. Keeps most of the sugar from falling on you.

[ There's no immediate alarm when Peter leans over the table, but she still watches him intently as she lets him start to brush away the sugar on her face. ]

It's still unnecessarily messy. You should have the rest of it.

[ Since she's not exactly interested in getting more of that powder stuff on her skin. ]

[ His nose wrinkles in distaste at her words, even if that was the outcome he had hoped for. ]

Aww, come on. You didn’t like it?

[ His thumb carefully wipes away the powder on her chin, and when he figures enough of it is gone, he moves on to working on the smear of powdered sugar on her cheek. ]

I mean, I’ll have it if you really want me to, but don’t let how messy it is stop you, dude.

It was acceptable, but I'm not going to eat that much of it. You might as well have it if I'm barely going to touch the rest.

[ A few bites of anything that sweet would be satisfying enough, really.

The brush of his thumb is oddly pleasant against her skin, and she very, very slightly cants her head towards the touch as she allows him to brush away the sugar. ]

"Acceptable."

[ He repeats it back in a doofy sort of voice. The sort that says, "Oooh, I'm Gamora, and I don't like sweets, oooh."

Peter pauses at the slight movement, very, very carefully keeping his eyes fixed on where he's brushing away the powdered sugar. That felt loaded, he thinks. That felt meaningful. Or maybe it wasn't anything, and she just happened to tilt her head. Or maybe it was something, and Peter should strike while the iron's hot?

Or maybe now's not the time, he thinks, but he definitely catalogues this moment away to agonize over later.

He wipes away most of the smear of powdered sugar, and as much as he wants to let his hand linger, he doesn't. He lets his hand fall, tugging the little funnel cake tray toward himself. ]

Try the popcorn, at least. [ And he points to the bag. ] It's the Terran snack of champions.

[ It's almost strange that she finds herself missing the contact, but she doesn't reach for him or say a thing about it, and instead turns her eyes to the bag he'd indicated. ]

Why do champions eat this?

[ She looks skeptical of the popcorn, but she reaches for the bag to inspect the snack.

At least he's yet to point out anything too disturbing, and Gamora's noticed that a good deal of Terran food is somewhat more subdued in color than many of the dishes she's encountered out in the galaxy.

Except that fluffy pink stuff that she was given in one of the bags. That has perhaps too much color. ]

[ He has a forkful of funnel cake halfway to his mouth when she asks that question, and he pauses. ]

It's... just an expression. Everyone can eat it. Champions and losers alike.

[ A beat, then, he waves his free hand. ]

It's a common snack, is what I'm saying.

That's very misleading.

[ But she grabs a couple kernels and tosses them into her mouth, crunching down on them. She seems pleased as she chews, and then—

—makes a face. ]

... Ugh, no. These get stuck in my teeth.

[ Nope, totally setting the popcorn aside now as she runs her tongue along her molars, like that will get the flakes of seed out. ]

[ Oh. Right. That part slipped his mind – mostly because the last time he had popcorn, he was a little kid and didn't really care about the kernels getting stuck in his teeth.

He snorts out a laugh, but he still manages to look apologetic about it. ]

My bad. I forgot about that part.

[ Gamora looks back to the mound of food, now that she's abandoned the popcorn. She leans over, and plucks up another chocolate coin.

Apparently, she likes them.

She eyes Peter and the funnel cake he's adopted. ]

Is everything as you remember it?

[ He takes another bite – possibly his fourth or fifth since she allowed him to have it – and his trick with leaning forward a bit seems to have helped powdered sugar front, at least a little. A bit of powdered sugar sits at the corners of his mouth, but it's better than all over his face and shirtfront. ]

It's pretty good.

[ He says, as he portions out another mouthful. ]

We had these fairs like this, back home. [ A pause, as he shakes some of the excess sugar back onto the tray before popping the forkful into his mouth. ]

I mean, not like this— [ With a demonstrative wave to the dance parties, with their guests dressed in sequins and flashy colors – which brings to mind the night clubs the Guardians occasionally frequented. ] But like, big gatherings with food vendors serving this same junk and drink stands. Animal exhibits and petting zoos, too. Every summer.

[ It sounds... nice, if Gamora is honest. Maybe nothing she's really experienced for herself, but she can imagine it, based on fairs she's seen on other planets and aspects of the vendors and food here. ]

Did you go with your family?

[ It's not a loaded question, or intended to be too personal – more a confirmation for herself, because she has to assume that's who took Peter along for such an outing. ]

Yeah. Me, Mom, Gramps, and Grandma. We'd pile into Gramps' truck and drive over to Wentzville.

[ There was a point in time when Peter used to talk up his home planet more than this; he'd warp the stories, make everything on Earth seem grander, more badass than they actually were.

He hasn't completely kicked the habit, but with Gamora, at least, he finds it easier to just tell things as they were. Easier still to share the happier memories. ]

I'd run around all day, getting a sugar high from stuff like this and that— [ he points to the funnel cake in front of him, then to the baggie of cotton candy with his fork. ] —and come home with an armful of crappy stuffed animals and one hell of a sunburn.

[ Gamora finishes her chocolate, smothering a small smile that tries to make its way onto her face. She can imagine Peter fairly easily, causing trouble as a child, running all over the place, excited having fun – and maybe that's easy to picture because of how eagerly he'd been bouncing from one thing to another today.

She reaches for the bag of bright pink... fluff that he indicated, and she gives it a little squeeze. ]

This still doesn't look like something anyone should eat.

[ It looks like fur from some wildly-colored beast, actually. ]

[ He huffs out a laugh at that, polishing off the funnel cake. Around the last mouthful, ]

Honestly? No one should, but we'd eat it anyway.

It's just sugar – and I mean that literally. It's almost pure sugar. If you thought the funnel cake was too sweet, you'll definitely hate that stuff.

Cool texture, though. It dissolves in your mouth.

[ The dissolving-in-your-mouth part is what has her actually curious, and she unties the little knot in the bag, reaching in to pull some of the fluff out. The texture is already strange – interesting, but strange – and she squishes it a bit between her fingertips, before popping it into her mouth.

... It dissolves on contact, which is fascinating, makes her lift her brows in amazement, but... yes, definitely too sweet. She wrinkles her nose, setting the bag aside.

At least she tried it. ]

Terrans create the strangest food.

[ ... says the alien. ]

Why is it all so sweet?

introductory mingle: carnivale

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)