riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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!

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His bed has been tampered with.

It's not a point of actual legitimate contention given that he has yet to sleep in it. But it's his, he knows it's his, and it was assigned to him upon his arrival. So around 6:08 p.m., when Sasuke returns from a day out, he can be seen first staring down at the sheets before quite effortlessly reaching down and lifting the bed right up off of the floor onto two legs, checking beneath it cautiously. Nothing. He eases it back down just as carefully, his single eye that's visible and not obscured by hair doing a quick scan of the room before he chooses to let this go.

However, his way of letting it go is to head out to the balcony, only to realize that his "spot" is now occupied.

"..." Well, it doesn't stop him from approaching, taking up residence a few feet away in complete silence as he too stares out. This isn't awkward at all.

The stranger in the hoodie gives it about, oh... maybe five to ten minutes of awkward, tense silence before hazarding a glance in Sasuke's direction. Honestly, Sans can't tell if he's supposed to be young or mature, but certainly not old; he might have had very, very limited contact with humans prior to this week, but he's consumed enough discarded media to know that 'old' tends to come with textured skin and pale hair.

So he assumes that, uh, maybe? He's an adult, purely because he's taller than Frisk.

Humans aren't like they were in monsterkind's history -- fearful, dangerous, violent -- so far, the humans he's encountered have been almost conciliatory. Apologetic, even. This one, though...

Heh. Well. Guess there's plenty here with some stains on their hands. Sans gives it several minutes before he cants his skull in his direction, pale lights tracking him in hollow eye sockets.

"So, you humans don't get sick of it either, huh?" Phalanges flick a gesture at the sky, while his elbow remains planted on the rail, and the rest of his negligible weight sags into that arm, like it's the last thing keeping him propped upright. "Didn't expect it to be so, uh, green up here."

There's no tension in his body language as he stares out into a night sky that he doesn't recognize, at least, entirely still and in no rush to find a conversation topic. The silence suits him just fine, having spent the better part of the last two years fully isolated from humanity.

Not too many stimulating conversations are held at the end of a knife. A few, maybe, but they don't tend to be all that long. Which is why when Sans speaks Sasuke doesn't immediately reply, instead turning his head to really look at the-- the being next to him. 'You humans'? Well, that statement alone is enough to snag his attention and tempt him into activating the sharingan for a closer look, but luckily he abstains. One thing at a time.

A pale dead stare framed by bleached bone is fixed on his own and only now does he allow his hand to drop from the railing.

"This isn't your home. It isn't my home. Neither of us have had the chance to become 'sick' of this sky." His voice is deep and does little to help age him one way or the other, really.

"Who are you? What are you?"

Meanwhile, the railing is all that's keeping Sans propped upright; he's sunk his whole weight into the elbow perched on it, his cheekbone cradled by his fist. Surely it's a trick of the scant illumination from the quarantine zone's lights, but it almost seems like there's a little give in that solid bone, half-dipped in his hood's shadow.

"...Heh, point taken," replies Sans. "Right down to it," he notes, swinging his eye lights to the drop on the other side of the railing. Sure is a long way down to construction half-clotted with sprawling vegetation, and the silvery threads of light reflected on the river below.

"Ok."

As wondrous as the sight above is, Sans, who has lived his whole life with a ceiling over his head, still has the strangest feeling the emptiness above might pluck him right off the surface of the planet and swallow him whole.

"Ain't it obvious? I'm a skeleton," he finally answers, lifting a phalanx, "The name's Sans. And that makes it your turn."

"You think that that's more helpful than it actually is." Just so that you're aware.

"I've seen a number of strange things in my life. A self-identifying skeleton operating without skin or flesh isn't on the list. Telling me what I can already see doesn't explain it." While Sans is content to continue surveilling the area, Sasuke's eyes haven't shifted upon finding the target next to him. In fact, it's very possible that he hasn't blinked yet.

"... my name is Uchiha Sasuke." There it is, though, with the barest hint of resignation.

As that look of... annoyance? Impatience? Plays out on the ninja's face, something about the supposedly rigid and unmoving grin that arcs across what Sans calls a face manages to give the illusion it's widened in amusement. Fussy guys like this are always a hoot to wind up. Not... too much; Sans gets the distinct impression that this guy might just be dangerous. Then again, he's got something of a knee-jerk bias about humans.

Blame generations of his kind being exiled under a mountain by humans scared by what they didn't understand.

He is the very picture of patient indolence, cradling his head in the cup of one hand, in a full-body lean against that railing, too short to be in danger of toppling over the edge. Daring to look comfortable even, in the face of Sasuke's mounting aggravation. He might like messing with this guy, after all.

"I thought it was pretty clear we ain't from the same species. I mean, that's what you meant before, right?" drones the skeleton, grinning, "Hhhhhh...." he sighs, lunglessly, "Eh, I'll just skip the explanation and make it real simple."

The skeleton makes a sound as if he's clearing the throat he obviously doesn't have. Puts up his other hand.

And, as he wiggles his phalanges, intones with entirely too much gravitas: "Maaaagiiiiic."

Dropping his hand, the skeleton's shoulders hitch in a brief chuckle. "I'm a monster, pal, it doesn't have to make sense to ya."

Edited (Broken html) 2017-04-09 12:12 (UTC)

On the other hand, he'd argue that it does need to make sense.

Pulled from his already tenuously defined home, thrust into communal housing with strangers after minimal explanation, and now prompted to accept yet one more marvel without understanding it? Sasuke's objective enough to keep from getting irritated at his wizened old age of nineteen but it's all starting to slowly build up. It'd be worse if he weren't so wholly desensitized to bizarre bullshit in his life.

"Monster? Vague." Bone clacking hollowly against railing and wind whistling against a calcified body certainly sounds realistic but he's never one to rule out the possibility of a convincing illusion. It's what keeps his gaze ever-steady even as that visible eye suddenly lightens to a piercing red, stare again dragging over him without giving any indication as to just how much more he's now seeing.

"... does your dimension have a name?"

Powers greater than yourself, untouchable, unreasonable, have an incredible sway over your own destiny, directing its twists and turns without even an 'if you please'. Sans would have just one question for that:

So what else is new?

Tack that onto the lengthy list of things Sans doesn't dare lend his voice to, because for those who haven't figured that out yet, they should hang onto that blissful ignorance for as long as they possibly can. Because there's really only two ways it goes when one is faced with the utter futility of your own existence.

Personally, Sans would rather laugh than the alternative.

Sasuke's already desensitized, there's those that would argue this puts him at a distinct advantage for his age.

"Specist," retorts Sans, but by his grin, one might take that to be a joke. "Monsterkind's been around for millennia, but after burying us in the Underground, you humans forgot all about it and moved on," Sans says, shrugging easily, "But, eh. No hard feelings."

He eyes Sasuke off, appraising him.

"'Sides, who knows if you're even from--" Well, hey... not that Sans is any stranger to abruptly changing eye colors, or it's, uh, magical equivalent, but that's not something he thinks most humans can do. "Um..?"

There's a funny thing about this skeleton. He's got no marrow, but rather his whole being lights up with the only thing equivalent to Sasuke's chakra... magic. Compared with a human, there's just enough 'physicality' to be a solid, living thing, and all the rest is pure energy.

"Wow, buddy, take a picture, it lasts longer."

What he sees is more or less what he expects, confirming not only that this individual is all too real but also that he's not short of unique energy that lights him up under the sharingan's scrutiny.

"Take a picture?" It takes a moment or two for the meaning to sink in, raising his chin almost combatively in response to the attitude but he doesn't move otherwise. Already Sasuke's thinking that this is exactly the kind of personality he struggles with, a jokester that prefers wit and nuance to his more straightforward and blunt way of communicating. This could be a challenge.

"I said already that it's 'Sasuke', not 'buddy'. And you've yet to answer my question. As you started to say, I doubt we're from the same place given the kind of history you're relaying."

Take a picture, and... ah, ok, yeah, guess Sans should've seen that coming. The reference sails on a graceful arc far over this guy's head, and that's just one more ounce added to the scales on which Sans measures the likelihood that they're even from the same world.

"Eh," Sans remarks, winking at the young man, "Fuhgeddaboudit."

And then lets the reference drop. Once you have to explain a joke, it ceases being a joke. Sans won't judge the guy for not getting it, but this now leaves him with the question of whether or not he should give the guy a straight answer.

In the end, Sans doesn't see any harm in it.

"Easy, pal," goes to show that cooperation need not mean total acquiescence. There's a chuckle in the low rumble of the skeleton's voice, as he leans easily against the rail. "I'm gettin' to it. I'm from the Underground, on a planet called Earth."

He continues, flicking phalanges vaguely at the drop ahead of him, "Don't sweat it if you haven't heard of it, or even if you have, you wouldn't have heard of the Underground. Humans ain't so big on forgivin', but forgetting?"

He rolls his eye lights, grinning like that's funny.

"Heh, they're regular professionals."

If Sans wants to complain about humanity then he'll have an experienced and willing ear ready to listen... and maybe even to empathize, on a good day, but actually expressing that empathy effectively is an entirely different struggle.

"Seems to be a universal truth. Humans are also skilled when it comes to mistreating other humans." What a goddamn understatement. Still...

"I'll be clear and say I'm not accepting any fraction of the blame for what humans did in your dimension but I'll accept any of your biases against our species as something that can't be helped. 'Earth' and the 'Underground' are unfamiliar to me, but that's to be expected too."

Complain? Eh, sounds not just like a hassle, but a real drag. But take the occasional pointed dig? Sure, because subterranean monsters can get their salt on just as well as any human on the Surface. This guy, to his credit, not only understands what he means by 'human', but seems to be right on the same page with him about a few things related to the species.

But Sans leaves it at that, waving his bony hand in front of the grinning rictus that makes up his face.

"I'm getting the distinct impression none of the other folks here ever had anything to do with it, so," he shrugs, unimpressively. "'Sides, all that is water under the bridge. Since we've established that you ain't another Earthling, what do you call where you're from?"

The prospect that he might be an alien's pretty exciting -- though, if he's fair, ALL of them are technically aliens here. But the fact so many of those in quarantine are human (or very human-like) isn't one that the skeleton's failed to notice. There is a distinct lack of any monsterkind representation, far as he can tell.

Well, except the 'monsters' outside of the fence.

"I wonder if that's convenient or inconvenient, to be suddenly rid of any you might carry a grudge against."

For Sasuke, at least, the answer would've changed over time. Revenge doesn't age well, especially when paired with new perspectives. Being here is sure to bring even more if he's already meeting different species, a thought that has him glancing back over out of the corner of his eye.

"I was born in the Fire Country. Did you start off in the Underground or are you older than that?"

"Good thing I don't like carrying anything," jokes the skeleton, except... yeah, he does hold grudges, much as he likes to tell himself he's got his reasons, that it could always be worse, at least he's not like those humans who go out there and actually kill people, right?

Right?

But Sans, he's read whatever he could get his hands on when he was a smaller bag of bones, never once heard of anything on Earth called a fire country. So, that answers that. Hell, for all he knows, the guy could actually be from some distant galaxy or a really distant future, long after the remnants of his 'current' society have succumbed to the inexorable tides of time and entropy. But that'd be too interesting.

He's probably just from another planet entirely.

(Hint: that's actually the most interesting option for Sans.)

"Born under the mountain, buddy." He would have said 'born and raised', but, uh. That'd be less than truthful. "Weren't too many of us that lived long enough to remember the War," or the sky the rest of them never saw. "The King and Queen, sure. Gerson, who's as old as dirt and as down to earth as they come. Guys like me?" He shrugs.

"But that don't mean much," he adds, eyeing Sasuke again. "I'm guessin' even a guy your age has seen his fair share of war."

Sasuke assumes the first comment is meant as a deflection, debating calling him out on it, but instead he decides to file it away for later. While he's hardly one for jokes he is one for avoiding his own personal topics when they're brought up against his will; this must be Sans's way of handling it.

"You changed to that topic quickly," he counters with little emotion, silent for a moment or two after. A less perceptive person might assume that he's irritated or that it's a sensitive topic, maybe, even with how calm he seems, but even beneath that neutral expression there's no real reaction. He's accustomed to talking about this.

"Does that mean that you haven't, if yours was so long ago?"

Honestly, a lot of Sans's responses tend to be jokes (AND deflection), so, yeah, it's not like he's wrong, exactly.

Sasuke takes note.

Sans is already keeping pace -- the guy's sharp as a tack, and direct at that. He supposes there's something admirable in there, but a potential pain in the tailbone, too. Still, there's no real guessing where you stand with a guy as unafraid to speak his mind as this human seems to be. That's pretty valuable.

"Yep," admits the skeleton freely, somehow making the 'p' pop despite lacking things like lips.

"Didn't even try to deny it, huh? At least you're honest. So, Sasuke," he says, by way of a compromise, or an appeasement, "Now that you're here, what's your plan?"

No, denying it would be a lie he couldn't justify. Deception for its own sake has never been something Sasuke could stomach, really, too straightforward and goal-oriented to entertain needless fibs... and too many times bitten by them courtesy of someone else. The world doesn't really need more of that.

... unless, of course, the cause is good enough, and therein lies Sasuke's determined hypocrisy.

"I don't see that it's advantageous for me to share details with you unless you could be of use. Shouldn't that be the cautious response of someone who's 'seen war' before?"

Sans, he lies like a rug if it spares him -- even temporarily -- from having to deal with a problem. Heck, he'll try to remain uninvolved in something that smells like trouble for as long as possible. Thing is, he can't exactly afford to take it so easy anymore. Look at this -- he's expected to sleep in a room with about 9 other humans(?).

Considering their reputation among monsters, that makes him a little tense.

Looking at Sasuke, Sans suddenly chuckles at his answer. Honest? Screw that, he's blunt. Bones clatter under his clothes as he shakes through his laughter, even going through the gesture of holding the stomach he doesn't have.

"Hey, you're right! And, uh, that's not gonna happen. I pride myself on being absolutely useless," he jokes, not so much puffing up with pride as indulging in some self-depreciative humor. "That way nobody expects much."

He returns to leaning on the rail, grinning at him, "Anyway, none of my beeswax, right? That's fine, I'll buzz off if you ain't up for small talk."

At least their shared sense of paranoia is something that they could potentially bond over, but that's not the easiest topic to broach with two wary individuals. Sans continues to talk a good game while Sasuke watches, barely raising a brow at the sudden laughter that overtakes him. It hadn't been a joke, but-- Well, he can understand wry humor better than other types.

"In that case, we're entirely opposite men." Yes, he's going to grace this skeleton with the 'man' title. What else would be a better alternative?

"I can't make the effort to engage in smalltalk while you're shirking the burden of expectations. You should put more work into your existence."

One might question what could blossom in a field sown with suspicion and paranoia, but then, the only people who can relate with those who have been through some shit are those who have gone through it themselves. But Sans? Ha ha, he's just a guy who likes bad jokes and even more terrible puns.

Sasuke is... man, all Sans can think is maybe a soldier of some kind. His choice of words is another point in his favor -- he doesn't go dismissing him, a monster, as something other than another person.

That's more than he expects from the average human, honestly.

"I'll keep that in mind," chuckles the skeleton, brushing that off with another wave of his bony hand, not offended. Not particularly inclined to reassess his level of engagement in society, either. Maybe once he might've, but eh, seems like a hassle these days. "But, hey, don't lemme overstay my welcome."

He's prickly, but that's fine. He knows when not to push his luck. Sans slides away from the railing with a wiggle of phalanges, "I'll see ya around, pal."

Given how the conversation has progressed thus far, Sasuke fully expects his words to go unheeded. Should any make any kind of impact then that'll be something he assumes will be processed in private, alone, along with the rest of Sans's feelings. Yeah, he feels you, man.

"Wait," he interjects suddenly, head remaining unturned and gaze still ostensibly focused on the scenery before them.

Surely he must have something important to say, as a man of so few words. Surely. Either that, or...

"Are you the one that incorrectly remade the beds?"

There's no answer, but before that, Sasuke would very likely be aware that he is suddenly alone. No illusion, no minds playing tricks on eyes, there was definitely a skeleton here on the terrace a second ago, and now there isn't.

But he probably is the guy who did it. When in doubt, blame the new guy.

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introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

floor 10

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