introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Flower Festival Celebration
when: April 2nd - April 15th
where: In several different locations in the downtown area of the Inhabited City.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

flower festival

In the days leading up to April 2nd, residents new and old may notice advertising around the city, everywhere from digital screens to paper flyers pasted on blank walls, all advertising an upcoming holiday: The Flower Festival. Celebrating springtime, beauty, joy, and togetherness, the festival heavily features floral themes and dancing. The advertising mentions that on April 10th, a paid holiday, there will be a Blossom Picnic, as well as lists of various public dances at clubs or other open venues, and adult raves.

a celebration of spring

The Flower Festival's main event is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th, but it also features traditions of sharing food and drink, and dancing that span over the course of the whole two weeks. There are a large variety of events going on throughout the city, from dancing lessons in any wide variety of traditional dances, to old-fashioned sock hops, to adult raves complete with mild party drugs. Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own event at any point during the festival, and if your character creates an event and hosts it in a top-level, you can submit that thread for extra bonus points.

i. blossom picnic

The main event that kicks off the second week of the Flower Festival is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th. A relaxed and low-key event, it draws several thousand people every year to the spacious Riverview Central Park, where there is a generous lawn lined with various blossoming trees, and families, found families, lovers, and groups of friends are encouraged to lay out a picnic blanket and share food. There will be live bands playing (but not loudly enough to distract from conversation and peacefully watching the petals flutter in the wind), a variety of demonstrations of traditional cultural dances from many different realities and planets, and a ton of ice cream vendors. This is an excellent festival not only for celebrating togetherness with the people who are already important, but for mingling and making new friends.

Characters may either pack their own lunches or they can purchase pre-packed Blossom Festival lunches. Stores and street markets are carrying a wide variety of specialty food that is only available at this time of year - predominantly pastries, an assortment of types of candies, and ice cream treats all in various floral flavors, as well as a sort of ambrosia salad based around a sweet rose-flavored cream and a native fruit that is bright green and tastes like a combination of peach and citrus.

ii. dancing lessons

Starting on April 2nd, there will be dancing lessons offered almost everywhere you look! From partner dances to group dances to line dances; sexy and sensual or innocent and childlike - almost any type of dance you can imagine is represented, from any reality or planet that has people in Riverview Quarantine.

Additionally, the Riverview Central Community Center has multiple rooms blocked off so anyone who knows a dance from home can teach it to others in their community - sharing is caring, after all. Characters are welcome to block off one of these rooms and offer lessons in any dance they happen to know from home (and these sorts of thread starters would be eligible for the mingle AC Point bonus)!

iii. flower festival dancing

This is pretty simply what it says on the tin - in almost every club, community center, or other public space, there will be dancing at almost all hours of the day or night, formal and informal. Musicians bring out their instruments and play in the street for demonstrations of cultural dances and music at the same time as clubs are offering VIP cover charges for exclusive dances, and you can find anything in between.

There are also many low-cover-charge raves that allow under-18s so younger characters can stay up all night and dance like crazy. The legal drinking age in Riverview Quarantine is 14, and so anyone over 14 can enter and indulge in a few drinks, dancing, and playing tag with a non-intoxicating version of the colored powder featured at the adult raves. There is copious amounts of security on site to ensure that everyone is safe, as well as nurses and off-duty police officers to offer advice or care for anyone who overindulges out of lack of experience.

Grab a partner, a group of friends, or just cruise and mingle the various dancing events.

Characters may also notice that most of the street markets and clothing shops are offering clothing that features floral patterns, flowers as accessories, and that show a lot of skin - for men, women, and anyone in between!

iv. adult raves

Advertised on flyers and digital screens around the city, made to pop as if they were under blacklight, is a series of adult raves that are happening in various large empty warehouse spaces around the city, including one that is listed as the danger rave and hosted in an abandoned factory outside the inhabited city walls. With bouncers at the door to ensure that anyone entering is 18+, the raves are comfortably adult in nature. Clothing is optional, showing skin is encouraged, and there are a lot of neatly tucked away spaces for attendees to get some time alone with one or more than one person, as well as spaces intended for orgies. The atmosphere is sex-positive and non-judgemental, open to any orientation or preference, with various forms of protection available for free, however, to ensure that everyone plays safe there are sober security teams out en masse at all premises to oversee the events.

(CW: DRUG USE) In each location, there is one specific room where attendees can enter, and dance or play tag with brightly colored powder that contains small amounts of a legal party drug commonly available in Riverview, which is absorbed through the skin. Not much more intoxicating than having a few beers, the effects of the drug are a pleasant low-key buzzing euphoria, positive sensitivity to touch, a heightening of desires for intimacy, and a mild lowering of inhibitions. Once a character has been hit with the powder, the color lingers on the skin so other attendees can know who has partaken, but once the powder makes contact with a surface it deactivates, meaning that partakers can safely dance with non-partakers without sharing the intoxicating effects.

Please be sure to warn in subject lines for any threads involving drug use. And remember, there is always security to intervene and make sure everyone is safe.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set at the Flower Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: third image by Steve Goad; other images found on uncredited on Pinterest or Google images - please let the mod know if you find credit!

navigation

Comments

[liquidate]

Well, no...

(he'd been living off the land until about two years ago, now he stays with a mad scientist, a two-faced barbarian, and an abusive banshee. this is kind of a paradise, compared to that. but, as is customary, suigetsu has room to complain and will be. incessantly.)

But never mind the free coffee — you're all strangers. You could alien germs and that's why we're all in quarantine together, (an up-down stare, looking tired,) or you sleep with your eyes open like a total freak.

1/3

[eyeforaneye]

[ His quietness is a symptom of his rudimentary small-talk skills rather than a sign of irritation and at least with Suigetsu he knows that that's understood; he's always been good at filling the gaps in a conversation.

Or the gaps in time, frequently acting like none has passed at all when Sasuke stops in, and it's something he takes for granted. ]

We'll see. I don't need a title or a team to do that kind of work. [ Not when he's now so accustomed to operating alone and without a cloud of rules and regulations. ]

2/3

[eyeforaneye]

[ okay but should he actually indulge this ]

3/3

[eyeforaneye]

... a butcher.

[mannerism]

I suppose we are that now, too, aliens.

[ to this moon, this world. an odd thought but not a illogical one altogether. She, herself, is alien to those of her world, too; from a year gone-by; 1946 while the rest of them are well into the 21st century. ]

I don't know what to ask of first, the oddest alien festival or said company.

[mannerism]

Do I look the shouting sort, Mr. Kent?

[ dry, dry. ]

A civilized message would do, I trust?

[finethanks]

[ Eichi glances at his own hand as well before looking to Sasuke with a smile. ]

It's a little overwhelming, isn't it? I can feel the bass rattling my whole body. My heart might explode like this, so it's already fluttering with excitement. Let's move further in to see if there's a spot you might hear me better. [ This time, he reaches out to tug Sasukes sleeve so they don't get separated in the crowd. Come on!! ]

[leadintheyoung]

[ Friendship wrecked? Hardly. Lí isn't going anywhere... except to the food stalls at some point in the future to get them more food probably. Mae's theatrics do earn a chuckle, though, and Lí shifts to make herself more comfortable. ]

You may belong elsewhere, then. There's no shame in admitting that or looking elsewhere for work should you find it true. You do have the benefit of choice.

[finethanks]

[ Blondie... That's not an immediate sign that he's not remembered, but the fact that he's not being questioned about Sasuke is. There's one way to test it, and Eichi is well aware it could open a whole can of worms, but he's interested in that sort of excitement. He looks down to the little cake, holding it close while his eyes sparkle like a child's. ]

This? I suppose I could tell you, but you know, information is something that should be evenly exchanged. I'll let you know if you can tell me if Sasuke is here somewhere, as well.

[leadintheyoung]

[ Never tell her that. She will find something he's partial to and wreck the kitchen trying. ]

Fair enough. How have you kept busy in the weeks since your arrival?

[ And she's plucking another macaroon up, glad that he's seemed to find something out of the bunch to enjoy. ]

[realimperfect]

I'm aware, yes. [ The entire situation is a bit too much, at the moment - an overload of senses that she's not quite learned a coping mechanism for. She's good at bossing, at least somewhat, and is grateful he's decided to move along instead of giving her too much of an issue.

The term 'sweetheart' makes her eyes roll, a relatively minute response considering this is Re-L and her usual response is a quick jabbing comment about patronizing her. ]

Don't call me sweetheart. It won't do anyone any favors.

[mannerism]

Do I look infected to you?

[ mind your answer, she is armed. ]

And I do not sleep with my eyes close.

[ she sleeps very little, actually and never soundly, not anymore. ]

And now we shall introduce ourselves and shan't be utter strangers. Peggy Carter.

[ she extends a hand. ]

Re: 3/3

[liquidate]

A—?

(ohhh, hahahahahaha.)

That was funny, Sasuke! Did you find your sense of humour hidden in the leaves, too? (that'd actually be an alright job, if he didn't like the animal slaughtering that typically comes along with it... even if they're dead, it's kind of sad.

but suigetsu points to himself, looking actually proud of himself.)

No, I'm an Aquarium Assistant and Animal Handler at the Beachside Aquarium! I start tomorrow!

[leaderboards]

I don't know that I'd call them cool but some of them were definitely lizard-like.

[ and she knows the best way to kill all of them, but that's not a topic to share with a child. ]

[threatenwithcuteness]

Well, yes, but wouldn't you have more fun if you weren't so... off putting.

*Lola you are not making this easier. No matter how much you want to help.*

[liquidate]

(he recognizes that look... it's the quiet threatening one karin gives him when he's being rude.

says nothing, smartly.)

You talk pretty proper. (eyeing the hand, which he outright ignores — rather paranoid, touch is something that might have to wait.) You didn't listen, I'm Suigetsu. That's my given name. But if you wanted my full name, it's Houzuki Suigetsu, Houzuki being my family name.

...

(a smile, though, toothy.)

Nice to meet you, Peggy. Let's get along well!

[mannerism]

I did listen. It wasn't very proper of an introduction. Usually, they do not include rants about shared households, not to mention the accusation of being infected with an alien disease.

[ but she seems, against all odds, almost amused. ]

Now that's much better. Now tell me, do you sleep with your eyes open?

[leaderboards]

[ carolina sits at that, making herself comfortable but even in that, there's something unsettled about her. casually relaxing on a balcony will take some practice. the relaxing part, at least. ]

It is quite the view. It's a pretty city, I'll give it that much.

[liquidate]

...

(sasuke? why, is sasuke wanted for something already? the guy hasn't even gotten a full day to relax and people are trying to fish for information and hunt him down? or maybe this person wants something else... his tone doesn't seem too threatening, but aren't those kinds of tricksy folk the worst?

he's presented with a dilemma.

a dilemma he knows what to do with.)

Who's Sasuke?

[mannerism]

Seems like we are to help here before we take a stab of helping at home. No choice to it.

[ practical and to the point. ]

Though they have been doing a good enough job on their own, it would seem.

[ judging by the festival. ]

[divulsion]

[She doesn't pull away, but instead lets herself be led from the dance floor by the hand. Rather than going up any stairs, however, he takes them outside, making Wanda curious as to what exactly he has in mind. In New York there are several buildings with fire escapes, is he looking for one here?

She lifts an brow, listening to him, watching him. When he smiles she can't help but smile back but there's a question in her gaze...

One that's answered as he shoots a grappling gun up to the roof, leaving him with a line of rope that extends from the edge up top down to the ground where they stand. Without her powers, she might have hesitated. But knowing she can land safely if something goes wrong, and all too curious about the man that carries a grapple hook on a night out to a rave, she takes his hand once more.]

Alright, then I put myself in your hands.

[Let's see what happens next.]

[liquidate]

They don't? (now he's kind of self-conscious — obviously not the trophy winner in the art of socializing.) Ah, well, you don't look infected. If that helps out any.

(a pause, though, considering. the beds don't look all that comfortable to him, but he doesn't exactly sleep in a conventional one.)

I sleep the regular— a normal way. Uh, do we gotta sleep here all the time? Do you know?

[mannerism]

Not such pretty circumstances, yes?

[ for all her poised, she is constantly alert. Anything off and the a gun will be drawn, a fist shall be delivered. She manages this apparent serenity due to her training, no spy can allow themselves to appear anxious, after all. ]

It's all very surreal.

[mannerism]

Don't I? Wonderful.

[ ah, something seems to shift, less complaining, more questions, she can handle that. Peggy nudges a chair back with the back of a heel, taking a seat, gesturing towards the empty one. ]

Some floors are more secluded, fewer people in one flat, I reckon, more privacy.

[eyeforaneye]

[ Did he just--

Sasuke stares down at his empty left sleeve that's now being used as a tether to guide him along, privately affronted but nonetheless carefully skirting an assortment of people in various states of undress -- fantastic -- now that he's already come this far. ]

I can hear you no matter where it is. [ Though Sasuke does raise his own voice for Eichi's benefit, not operating under the assumption that his senses are as sharp. ]

Enough weird commentary.