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

[signifies]

[ His own physical appearance and his father's name?

Clark frowns. ]

Clark Kent.

[supersweet]

[ For a moment, the fear bubbles up in his throat. Had his dad gotten lost somewhere between alternate universes? Had something happened to them, to his mom? Was he the only one who made it through?

No. His dad would come. He always came. Jon inhales sharply, trying to calm down. This Clark Kent wasn't like the other one, a trick meant to deceive. But this guy . . . felt like his father.

What should he say? For once, Jon actually wishes Damian was here. Damian would probably know the protocol for this . . . situation.

( alternate universes were confusing. ) ]

Oh. Uh.

[ He's blanking out. ]

From Smallville, right?

[signifies]

Yes.

[ He bends down to look at Jon, smiling at him as reassuringly as he can. Clark's not done a lot of that in his life. ]

What's your middle name?

[ He has a feeling it's "Samuel". ]

[supersweet]

[ Busted. Jon lets out a shaky laugh. ]

It's Samuel.

Hi not-dad.

[signifies]

[ Clark just stares at him completely dumbfounded. He wants to ask a hundred questions.

He takes a shaky breath, waiting for it to sink in that he's looking at his son. ]

Hey.

[ Children were so far from his mind. Now he's looking at proof that he could have them if he wanted. Lois should be told as soon as possible. ]

It's good to see you.

[supersweet]

[ Jon softens a little in understanding. Right now, it seems like Clark — his dad was in a situation that's new to him. Almost beyond reality. And that kind of knowledge wasn't always an easy thing to absorb. ]

It's okay, sir. I don't expect any special treatment.

[signifies]

[ The multiverse is new to him. This might not even be his future. Instead it could be Dick's or Ray's. This is still a gift. ]

I don't know if I will be your father.

[ He reaches out to ruffle Jon's hair gently. ]

You're still family.

[supersweet]

[ Jon smiles as he relaxes. It's not the same and it never will be, but it was comforting. Superman was still his hero. ]

Thanks, dad.

[ . . . He still pats down his hair because really. ]

[signifies]

Lois is here. She's from the same time as me.

[ He'll go with Jon if he needs to. This is news one should break gently.

He doesn't know if Lois is Jon's mother. Clark right now can't imagine anyone he'd want to build a future with. Whatever he and Lois have, they're only starting to find out what it is. ]

[supersweet]

Mom's here too?

[ That's not surprising. Wherever his dad would be, his mom was bound to follow. ]

Is there anyone else?

[signifies]

[ oops ]

There're a few people who might know us.

[ Dick said he could share his secret with Lois. Clark doesn't want to start out by lying to his son but he doesn't have enough information about Dick's timeline. ]

Tell me if you recognise someone you meet.

[supersweet]

I don't know if I'd recognize that many people.

[ Jon mentally ticks off the heroes he knows off his fingers. ]

There's Batman. Robin. Wonder Woman. There are others in the Justice League, but Dad never let me meet them.

[ Jon was introduced, but he knew his dad was overprotective when it came to Jon knowing other heroes. Jon was a wild card. Still is. ]

[signifies]

[ He recognises only the first two names. Clark hopes they're in his future. Dick said a hundred, so if there's Kal-El, there can be more of them.

That hope is becoming longing. He wants to see this world where his maybe-son gets to have peers. ]

We'll see who knows you.

[ He purses his lips. He has to ask: ]

Is it just the three of us in our family?

[supersweet]

[ Jon isn't so keen on that, but he nods because that's a decision his dad has made. ]

Yeah. Me, mom, you and Krypto.

[ He would mention Goldie, his mother's cat but that's still a sore spot. ]

[signifies]

[ Clark raises an eyebrow. ]

Krypto?

[supersweet]

Our dog.

[ His eyes widen as he takes note of Clark's confusion. ]

You don't have a dog?

[signifies]

[ Jon, he's not even dating your mother yet. ]

Not yet.

[ He's glad Jon has one. Clark hasn't had the time when he drifted and what he misses most was having a dog. There was always one at the farm. ]

[supersweet]

[ The dog is more important than the mushy stuff, dad. ]

Well, Krypto is our dog and he's the best! We fought a giant evil robot together once.

[signifies]

I'm sure he is.

[ Clark skilfully avoids the evil robot. He'll worry privately about the world his son is in. ]

I was heading into the forest. Do you want to come with me or should we go back to the city and find Lois?

[supersweet]

[ Jon pauses. He's pretty much done with the festival and it would be nicer to tag along this version of his father. Finally, straightening his shirt. ]

I'm okay with whatever you decide, sir.

[ Quietly. ]

Do you think she'll be okay seeing me?

[signifies]

I'll talk to her.

[ Clark's had time to adjust to people from other timelines. Lois got here too recently for that.

He has no idea what Lois is going to think of a son: they haven't thought that far ahead. ]

Where are you staying?

[supersweet]

I'm . . . in the Communal Housing, on the sixth floor.

[ A beat before Jon continues. ]

They have someone assigned to me, a case worker. They come by to give me money, make sure I have what I need and send me to school. They seem okay.

[ Jon doesn't trust them but he has no reason not to let them help him out either. ]

[signifies]

[ It's Taako's floor. Clark knows Jon will be looked after regardless of their biological relation.

He inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. ]

Who's your case worker? I'd like to meet her.

[ He doesn't trust them either. ]

[supersweet]

Do we have to?

[ Jon didn't manage to rein in a whiny tone. ]

[signifies]

[ Jon pls. He may not be your father yet but Clark has the Dad Stare down. ]

We should get to know her.