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

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[ Sure, she could use him as a meat shield, as statuesque as he is and as petite as she is, but she holds her ground just fine by herself and there's something about her presence that fills space that she doesn't physically. (Most people would call it being loud or obnoxious.)

For Hana's part, she's wearing a pink jacket and her outfit is a bit on the casual/athletic side. She doesn't notice his hand just yet, most of her attention and focus on the peculiar white tuft of hair on his head and the rather prominent scar across his face. His comment has her a little curious, too, and she makes a note to herself to ask about how long it's been but— more importantly— ]

Uh, yeah they are that good! D.Va approved. Why don't you take one?

[ She holds the plate up a little bit more at him, and the smile on her face gets just a little bit wider. She may appear a glutton by how much food is on her plate, but she's a friendly person and she has no problems sharing especially if it means spreading the goodness that is this deep-fried food around the world one person at a time. ]

[He noticed that she didn't seem to have any problem filling the space around them even though she was just standing there with him. Given that his teammates were all teenagers with fairly big personalities, this wasn't new to him. It was impressive, especially with so many people around who were still surging around them]

D.Va?

[Had him curious if that was her actual name. But then again, he had shortened his last to get his nickname and Pidge had made up her own so who was he judge on that]

Thanks.

[When she offered him one of the items for her plate, he took her one piece. Since she was offering, who was he to object. She was sharing and it would be rude not to accept. He took a bite of it then nodded in approval. Yep, it really was good. He wondered ideally if Keith had found them yet. They both seemed to be enjoying real food.

And of course, he had picked up the food with his right hand]

I'm Shiro.

[ She watched as he picked the piece off her plate and this time, the black-gloved hand doesn't escape her notice. It is summertime, after all, and her jacket was light enough that it didn't bother her but it also wasn't black and she wasn't also wearing gloves— except that she glanced and he was only wearing gloves on the one hand. She shifted her gaze up and watched, then, for his reaction and felt a familiar sense of pride in herself when he agreed which meant, of course, that she was right like she usually was, especially about food, and it put another smile on her face. ]

Nice to meetcha, Shiro. D.Va's my handle, [ as in, her gaming handle, which she had gotten used to everyone calling her by at home when she became famous as a professional gamer and then as a military hero ] but my real name's Hana.

[ She winked at him before adding, ]

You have powdered sugar all over your glove now, by the way.

[Shiro could almost feel her attention on his hand. They were different, he knew that. He saw it every day and though he had not had issues around the other paladins of Voltron, Allura, and Coran, they all understood and didn't need explanation about his arm. Here, it was not something that could be easily dismissed. He hoped that she wouldn't say anything about it, thinking it was just some weird fashion quirk he had to only wear one glove.

For a moment he thought that he had dodged it being brought up]

Nice to meet you too. You prefer D.Va?

[Since he'd call here the name that she preferred to be called. It was only right and that was the first name that she had given him

Then there it was. Yes, he could have just agreed that he had powdered sugar on his "glove". It would have been so easy to do that, but that's not what he actually said]

That's not a glove. That's my hand.

[ Oh. ]

Oh.

[ Hana wasn't the type to easily embarrass, but at that moment, she felt a little sheepish for not paying closer attention. Her lips drew into a thin line as she regarded the hand another time, not with any sort of scrutiny or scorn in her gaze but just honest curiosity; prosthetic limbs weren't so uncommon where she came from, what with technology advancing in the midst of a war that always took and took from people. In a moment she looked back up at him, this time with a smile on her face again. ]

Well, Shiro, I'd shake your hand, but mine are full!

[ She offered a chuckle— a genuine one— before she had to move to his side to avoid a few people coming through at full steam. She made sure everything on her plates were still in tact before she continued, ]

D.Va or Hana, either one's fine by me. I guess I'm not really "D.Va" here, though.

Edited 2017-07-13 05:19 (UTC)

I had it covered.

[He said this almost as an explanation for why she'd had trouble figuring it out, because he hadn't been making it easy. As she regarded his hand again, this time he nudged the sleeve up using his left hand, which revealed the familiar silver color of metal rather quickly. He didn't push it up far, maybe only half way up his forearm at most before he pulled it back down to hide it again.

As she let the conversation about it drop, Shiro did smile faintly again. He had wondered how much he was going to have to explain about it and at least for the moment, it was nothing]

That's fine. I don't want you spill your food just to shake my hand.

[Shiro had to move as well for people coming through before he continued]

You can be D.Va here if that's who you want to be. But Hana is a good name as well.

[ The way he was acting did seem to her like he wasn't trying to be completely open about his arm and, well, he was a stranger and even though she was curious about it in the same way she was curious about prosthetic limbs she had seen at home, she wasn't going to push. She noticed the way he smiled a little when she dropped the topic though and it told her she was right.

She huffed another little laugh at the thought of her spilling food all over the place just to shake this guy's hand but she sobered a little at what he said after. She was still adjusting to the reality of having been brought to this place and, separated from everything that made her her, she was a little unsure of what to do. Of whether or not she wanted to be D.Va here— it was a matter of necessity at home. Here...

She managed to smile again. ]

I dunno! I just got here, so. But you know— Hana means number one in my language. Still think it's a good name?

[Once he was more comfortable with it and knew that he could trust her, he would probably tell her, but at the moment it was not something he wanted to share. He was still dealing with his own issues about it and didn't know how someone would react to knowing about his past. He pulled his sleeve back down to hide his arm again]

Well, if it means number one, then it wouldn't hurt to use that one. A hidden message in there. Of course, the next questions might be what does D.Va stand for and which one would you prefer to have people think of when they think of you?

[Probably a little deeper than intended, but if she wasn't sure which name she should go by then that was something to consider in order to figure out which was better]

You do have time to think about that of course.

[ The face she made as he was talking was equal parts surprised at the depth, confused by it, and amused by it. Most people didn't read into "D.Va" beyond the fact that it was just a stylized way of saying "diva," which was absolutely what Hana could be a lot of the time, but... maybe it really was something to think about.

Still, she laughed about it. ]

Wow, deep much? I promise I'll think about it, but do you offer advice like this to everyone you meet on the street?

[ She was teasing him, naturally. ]

[Shiro gave her a shrug at that. He had a feeling she was teasing him, the response having been similar to something Pidge might have said. She tended to tease people as well, though usually Lance and usually in a more sarcastic way]

Not all the time. Just something I do every now and then. When your teammates are all under eighteen and you are the leader of the team, you tend to offer advice.

[But there was also something else that Shiro hadn't mentioned yet. Not that he usually brought this up, but since the issue at hand had been what name to call her by, he would offer this as well]

Also I had the same thing to consider. "Shiro" is not my given name but it is the name I prefer to go by. None of my teammates call me anything but "Shiro" even if they know my real name. In fact, the princess probably doesn't even know my name is anything different.

[ His answer to her question probably raised more questions than answers, and the way she tilted her head when she looked up at him said as much about what she thought of his response. And then she only got more curious as he went on. Really, Shiro, giving someone that much to work off of. Because— what kind of team? How come they're all teenagers? Would he say what his real name was? And what was that about a princess?

In the end, she just raised her arms, again displaying all the food she had on them, and said, ]

Hmmm. You sound like you have a really cool story, Shiro. I think we wanna sit somewhere and talk. My arms are getting tired!

[ She nodded her head in the direction of an alley just on the other side of the sidewalk from where all the food stalls and trucks were set up, where there was a vacant bench just at the opening of it. ]

[Yeah, there were a lot of unanswered questions in that explanation. They made sense to him because it was his life after all - as crazy as it was - but it didn't really make sense to others were just walking in on it.

Even so, he could help but be surprised when she said that it sounded like he had a cool story. Did he? Well, maybe so, but he hadn't spent much time thinking about it because he was too busy to focus on it any other way]

Yeah, sure. Let's go sit. Also harder to eat when you are standing up.

[Shiro lead the way over to the bench, making sure not to get too far in front. Whether she could handle herself or not, she was still carrying those two plates of food apparently from around the stalls and he didn't really want someone to run into her and make her drop them all.

Once they were over there, he sat down at the bench, leaving her space for herself and the plates]

Anything specific you were curious about?

[Since something about what he had said had got her attention]

[ Even silently, she appreciated having someone like Shiro lead the way through the crowd, if only because it meant the safety of her spoils. Once they reached the bench, she sat on the other end from him and set the two plates down in between them. ]

First thing's first— totally help yourself, I don't mind. Just that all the food on this plate is sweet stuff, and the other one is savory. There's some spicy stuff in there so if it's, like, kinda red-looking? It's probably spicy. Just in case you can't handle the heat.

[ She winked at him again before picking up a piece off the sweet plate for herself to start with and she hummed thoughtfully for a question to ask. Maybe not the arm first. ]

What kinda team were you leading? And who's the princess?

[Shiro was good for that. He was rather buff and around six feet tall so it was easy to spot him.

As she set out the food between them with the offer that he could take some as well, he smiled]

Thanks.

[He will take a piece then. A random item from the savory plate. And now the question about the team. Well that was an easy one and they were exactly secret about it even back home]

In my world, my team pilots five robotic lions. Each lion can fight individually and has its own abilities, but all five of them can combine to form a bigger robot called Voltron, which can use the abilities of each lion. I pilot the black lion, which is the head of Voltron.

The princess is the daughter of one of the original creators of the Voltron lions. He was around when Black was completed. The enemy we are fighting originally turned on her people so her father put her in suspended animation until we arrived at the Castle of Lions thanks to the blue lion which had been hidden on our home planet.

[ It was pretty hard to miss that he was buff and also that he's a giant, honestly, and Hana wouldn't deny that it added to her curiosity. When he mentioned a team, she'd briefly entertained the thought that he meant something like a sports team that he was coaching or something, but... what she did hear, she found much, much better, and it showed in the way her eyes widened almost like something sparked in them.

He had just given her so much to chew on, that at first she wasn't sure how to respond, but not at all in a bad way. In fact, she looked completely impressed, even excited before she finally spoke again. ]

So you're a pilot, too!

That all sounds— wow. That's so amazing. It kinda sounds like one of those old school giant mecha shows! [ She had to chuckle to herself, at that. Really, that's what it sounded like, but she didn't mean any offense by it. ]

So that means you do all that out in space, then.

[Shiro noticed the look on her face when he mentioned that. Perhaps surprised, but definitely in a good way. He didn't have to wonder long which part she had gotten excited about because only moments later she spoke again.

The response he got did bring a smile to his face]

I am a pilot. Have been for quite a while. Even before I started piloting the black lion.

[Before everything went crazy. He did hear though that she had said "too" in the comment about him being a pilot. So that meant she was a pilot? He filed that information away for a moment when he could ask her questions as well]

I suppose it does sound like something that would be in a kid's show. It is definitely real, at least in our world. I will admit, this is not something I would have ever considered until it happened.

Yes, we are out in space. The Castle of Lions is actually a ship so it helps transport the lions to different locations.

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introductory mingle: carnivale

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