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

[bone_idle]

[ Organs? He's got none of those, either, not that anyone can tell, what with the cushioning layers of shirt, hoodie, etc.... Somehow, despite being nothing but magical bones, Sans manages to give the illusion of girth.

Speaking of appearances, 2B is getting one long once-over as he eyes her off with dim lights in hollow sockets. Ultimately, his shoulders hitch up in a brief huff of half-formed laughter, grinning drowsily as he plucks a 'dog off the 'counter' and extends it to her in bony phalanges. ]

Don't, can't, or won't, pal?

[ He just so happens to know a robot who CAN eat, and is choosy about it purely because he needs to 'watch his figure'. Besides, they all get a little leeway when it's magically-infused food, seeing as it just converts to pure energy upon consumption. ]

Everybody needs a pick-me-up. You tellin' me you don't? [ Somehow, one eye socket shuts in a wink. ]

Tell ya what, have a bite. If it does nothin' for ya, the 'dog's on me. Howzabout it?

[howlongiwonder]

There's no need for it.

[This is getting weirder by the minute. Best not to dwell on the skeletal vendor's unusual appearance. But despite her verbal rejection, 2B can't help but feel very curious now.]

It's a hot dog. That means it's made of meat, correct?

[How bad can it be? Surely no one would sell toxic or harmful substances in the middle of the city. A gloved hand reaches out to pick the 'dog up.]

[bone_idle]

People love hot animals. They're the guys keepin' me in business.

[ Says the guy who just opened up his informal -- and unlicensed -- business a few hours ago.

Still, she's reaching for it, so he plants the hot dog roll in her waiting, gloved hand, in which is nestled a cattail, marinated in hot dog water and cooked to steaming, then infused with magic.

It's not that it's BAD, per se. It's just not a "real" hot dog. Which is probably why Sans insists on calling it a 'dog. That's right. Apostrophe-dog. It also means that taking a bite will result in it evaporating into an infusion of raw, gentle energy. But before that, he pulls up a squeeze bottle of ketchup. ]

Hold up, you sure you want that plain?

[howlongiwonder]

[Well, this doesn't look that unusual all things considered. 2B looks ready to bite into the fake hot dog - but suddenly, complications arise.]

Hmm? Why?

How else are you supposed to eat it?

[bone_idle]

Welp, since you've mustard up a sense of generosity in me, guess you can have this on the house.

[ The salesman extends that squeeze bottle, his thumb flipping the top away. Hey, he was really saving this for later, but... nah. Bearing witness to someone's first, uh?? Culinary experience?

Sounds a helluva lot more entertaining. ]

Squeeze out some of this on top, pal. Mayo be you'll like it.

[ She might not even get the condiment puns, seeing as this might just be her first foray into that whole food consumption business, but eh, habits die hard.

So Sans waits, leaning heavily against his ramshackle counter with a squeeze bottle hanging from bony phalanges, grinning expectantly at this strange... okay, assuredly not human, but maybe? Built? Built to look like one?

Hell if he knows, that can come later. ]

[howlongiwonder]

... Right.

[It's unclear if 2B is unamused by the puns or uneasy in the face of condiments. Regardless, she grabs the bottle and gives it a gentle(?) squeeze...

Okay, actually the condiment sprays all over the hot dog (and the surrounding area) under her steely grip.]

Ah.

[bone_idle]

[ See, that couldn't have played out better even if Sans had sabotaged the squeeze bottle himself -- and he's pulled that prank before. Although the splatter of sweet, tangy, tomato-y ambrosia ends up getting all over the 'dog, a few additional wares, the table, and probably a bystander or two, Sans isn't bothered.

No, on the contrary -- he's laughing, a low, raspy chuckle rolling out of the skeleton for all that he apparently lacks lungs.

Go figure -- the 'hot dog vendor' doesn't even have a napkin dispenser, and he shrugs helplessly at the mess. Perhaps she got lucky, and won't have ketchup stains to clean out of her own attire?

Sans's shirt hasn't escaped, just something to join the other condiment stains in this slob's t-shirt. ]

Whoops. Remind me never to shake your hand. I like it where it is, thanks. [ He jokes, flexing his phalanges, then nodding at the thoroughly doused hot dog. ]

Bone-appetit.

[ Does he seriously expect her to eat it? ]

I guess you could say she's... near a tomato?

[howlongiwonder]

...

[A quiet sigh escapes 2B's lips. Unfortunately she didn't escape unharmed and there are fresh red splotches on her black dress now. Sure, far worse things have stained it in the past (a lot of them ketchup-colored, how convenient is that) - but saying she doesn't look bothered would be a huge lie.]

W-well, then.

[Hoping to mask her embarassment, 2B quickly raises the 'dog to her mouth and takes a bite out of the condiment-splattered mess. Wait, so she is eating it after all!]

Ah!

[Her reaction - another surprised face.]

nier a tomato? :D :D :D

[bone_idle]

[ Huh.

For someone dressed so... actually, Sans doesn't even know what to call that outfit, it looks certainly more elaborate than anything that washed up in the subterranean, waterlogged junkyard back home. But he thought someone so... coiffed? Might've been fussier about a mess.

She just sorta rolls with it. Guess Sans can't fault her for that. Some things just ain't worth gettin' all worked up over, especially when there's some bad food to be had. He watches her, managing to actually straighten up just a little in anticipation.

Her surprise somehow makes Sans's grin widen, eye lights a little wider in amused interest. ]

So?

[ C'mon, lady, the suspense is killin' him. ]

someone call the pun police

[howlongiwonder]

[Strange sensation of food turning into energy in one's mouth aside...]

It's not bad.

[That's all? Talk about an underreaction.]

this is the pun police, JEST state your emergency ;D

[bone_idle]

[ Wow. That's--

That's it, huh?

Sans sinks back into his seat, not disappointed, not exactly -- not that so much as... uh, stunned, maybe? Just a smidge. It's like she'd started to react, and then... nothin'. Just shut that down instead of seeing where it went.

The question here isn't how someone who clearly can't be biological can feel anything -- the question Sans has is why she wouldn't let herself in the first place.

See, where he's from? A robot's just a body a ghost decided to inhabit and make his, her, its, their own. ]

Heh heh heh. You're adventurous, I'll give ya that. Tryin' something new doesn't phase you at all, does it?

[ That's when the skeleton puts out a hand, even though hers might just be a bit smeared with ketchup. Considering his own shirt has some faded condiment stains, he doesn't look like he'll mind. ]

I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton.

[howlongiwonder]

You can get used to it.

I am YoRHa unit number 2, type B. "2B" is fine.

[The usual introduction, but in reaction to Sans holding out his hand, 2B stares at it then down at hers, still dirty with condiments. She shakes her head lightly, looking apologetic. No need to make a bigger mess.]

[bone_idle]

[ Holy moly, if that doesn't sound like it came straight outta some sci-fi book.

Sans can't say he disapproves, either, but with a unit and type designation, then she's gotta be some kind of construct. One with a soul, is what he assumes, simply because of the bias of personal experience. Ghosts weren't really the lingering souls of deceased humans, but their own class of monster, magical beings that were exiled to the Underground long, long ago by humankind. Ghosts tended to take their sweet time selecting some sort of suitable shell to occupy as their body, and if he remembers correctly, settling down into one's new identity was a cause for celebration.

Considering her sophistication, he assumes this is a particularly favorable home for whatever soul inhabits this weirdly human-like body. Well, he can't judge. Mettaton wanted to be a big star, both in the Underground and above it. Shrugging at the rejection, he pushes himself up to his feet, abandoning his 'post' at the ramshackle food stall.

2B or not to be, huh? Heh. ]

Nice t'meetcha.

[ He reaches back behind his own column of cervical vertebrae and, tipping his skull one way and then the other, audibly cricks something. It's clear, after a moment, that his eye lights are scanning the crowd, or the space they're occupying, as he beckons her to follow when he starts to shuffle off. ]

Seein' as it's my break, I better pointcha somewhere you can clean that off.

So... whaddya think? Of this whole thing we're in.

[howlongiwonder]

There's no need. It's something I can easily take care of during maintenance.

[Well, look who's sounding even more sci-fi like. Still, 2B gives a glance to the now-abandoned stall (or whatever counts as one) before deciding to follow Sans. It's not that she has anything to do here anyway.]

It's... unusual. Not what I expected.

[That's a pretty vague response, all things considered.]

[bone_idle]

[ No need, she says. Something she'll just take care of during maintenance.

Well--she can try punching holes in his paper-thin excuse for a break from his--not even really a job so much as an elaborate way to do some people-watching, some light pranking, and maybe make a unit or two on the side. But he's going to take this break because... hell, now that the transaction's over (she hasn't paid and he hasn't asked) she's got every excuse to leave.

And he kinda likes keepin' this ball of conversation rolling. Maybe it's because she ain't exactly human, either. They're both different. So he doesn't even acknowledge her reassurance, just keeps on this other train of conversation: ]

Yeah? What were you expectin'? --And before you say 'not this', I ain't interrogating you. Before this, I was living under a rock. Now I'm livin' under the stars.

[ Grinning, his eye lights swing towards the sky, shoulders shaking with mirth. ]

I'm Sirius.

[howlongiwonder]

Uhm.

[Well, you got her there, because "not this" was going to be 2B's answer. So she just stands there dumbfounded for a bit, before quietly responding.]

It's so peaceful. It looks like no one here has any worries.

I know they do, but for now they are not letting those worries get to them. They're just enjoying themselves without a care in the world.

For a place in serious trouble, I expected everything to be more...

[She lets the end of the sentence hang like that. For now at least.]

[bone_idle]

[ Aww... did he getcha?

Yeah, Sans had a feeling that might've been what she'd say. It's funny -- for somebody who seems so expressionless, there's a lot there if you take the time to look. And Sans, well, he's always looking.

Comics rely on an ability to read the crowd, and, y'know. Faces? They say a lot. Hers may be half-hidden behind that visor of hers, but there's nothing concealing her sincerity.

An awe at such a carefree atmosphere within the perimeter fence tells Sans that she's never had a taste of a life without-- ]

War, was it? Heh heh, what's it good for?

[ She won't get it, that was pure self-indulgence. ]

Huh. You seem kinda young to be a soldier.

[ Then, if she IS a robot, outward appearances could be deceiving, but that's not really what he means. There's, uh... a kind of world-weariness, someone who's seen (or done) too much, and then a naivete that could just be a lack of experience, exposure to things he considers everyday.

...Nuts, he went and got interested. ]

[howlongiwonder]

I'm a Battle type unit.

[2B's steps cease. Sans's words were few but they hit home. She looks up, towards the sky that the skeleton mentioned just a moment ago. Well, it's not night, so no stars.]

Being a soldier is why I was created in the first place.

[The red stains on her clothes just make the statement sound more maudlin.]

[bone_idle]

[ ...





Hoo boy.

Now, Sans -- he's the kinda guy who avoids responsibility, who aims for being just mediocre enough that nobody expects too much, both so that he can enjoy a relatively stress-free day-to-day and because he knows that he will, inevitably, disappoint people.

He's the kind of monster who knew everybody in the Underground, and nobody knew more about him than he wanted them to. He doesn't like having things or people to miss, so, hey, he'll get along to go along and not get too invested in anything. It works for him.



And yet, he sees echoes of some things ol' Gerson has said before, about his life after the War, long before Sans was even a gleam in the eye (or eye socket) of whoever sired him and his brother. This ain't none of his business. He could say just about anything, some empty, sympathetic noises and just go his own way.

But, try as he might (or might not, being someone who hates putting in effort), monsters are at their core beings of compassion, and uh, turns out it's harder to turn away than he thought. Go fig. ]

Yeah? [ So, that solves the question of how little she resembles robots back home. Or, y'know. The one. ] Looks like you gotta opportunity to be somethin' else here.

Something of your own choosing?

If what they say's true, you got time to figure it out, try some more 'dogs, see how it goes.

things turned so depressing all out of sudden

[howlongiwonder]

Right. An opportunity, a chance.

[A chance that 2B got - but so many others didn't. She can't help but think of that right now. Of those who suffered a sad fate they didn't deserve.

Her hand moves slightly forward, long fingers reaching out as if to grab something. But that's just a momentary gesture, and a quiet sigh escapes her lips.]

If you're worried about me, don't.

I know what I want to do here. I won't waste this chance I was given.

Yoko Taro and Toby Fox characters tbh

[bone_idle]

[ Yeah, yeah. A chance of a lifetime! Funny how there'x so many of these guys wondering the same thing: Why me? Thing is, there ain't really nothing that makes people like these two special, just a stray thought, a notion, a feeling that this wasn't where they belonged, or maybe even something they deserved, and boom!

Welcome to your new life!

Sans huffs a noise that sounds like it might have been a chuckle, if he could just commit to the sentiment. ]

Buddy, I dunno if you noticed, but between the two of us, you're the war-hardened professional. Don't think the guy sellin' you a hotdog's gotta leg to stand on.

[ There's a classic sight gag that could go with a statement like that, but the tripping hazard is a real one, and when you only have 1 HP, you avoid unnecessary risks. ]

So, what's your big plan?

[howlongiwonder]

True. But those who can't, or won't fight, can still worry for others.

[2B stretches her arms out wide before bringing them together. Enough getting lost in your own emotions. Her thoughts return to more down-to-earth matters.]

I was made to fight. It's the only thing I can do, so fight I will.

This place needs help, someone to defend it from many dangers. I know I'll be able to assist here.

[bone_idle]

[ The skeleton's used to expressive motion, monsters themselves are an earnest species. Maybe it's because monsters lack the physicality that humans have, too little corporeal baggage between where they end and their SOUL begins, maybe it's symptomatic of living their whole lives in the dreary underbelly of a dormant volcano.

Hell if Sans knows, it's all he's ever known.

It's a little surreal for him, seeing her gesture like this without the self-expression of magic to accompany it, and then in itself, a strange, alien idea in combination with someone who looks so... well, human. Where he's from, humans haven't used magic for, uh, a long time. Long before he came into the world.

So a part of him wonders what's up with that, what purpose it serves.

Humans -- or even the ones that LOOK human -- are pretty interesting. ]

Whatever floats your boat, pal. But, y'know, just sayin'. Doesn't have to be the only thing you can do, either.

[ Honestly, the 'necessity' of killing never sat well with Sans, and if he had his way, it never will. ]

But, hey! Pretty sure everybody's glad to keep enjoyin' a peaceful life. Maybe you could give it a shot too, yeah?

[howlongiwonder]

[2B exhales quietly. It's not that she doesn't want to live in peace. From everything, it's the one thing she used to hope for the most. However...]

I was told this is still a dangerous place. Aggressive creatures hide just beyond the city limits.

Someone has to keep this place secure from them.

[bone_idle]

[ No doubt.

Sans, who has never lived in war, has only ever lived through the lingering after-effects on his kind. They made do. But he knows his own people, knows they prefer the things that come naturally to them - peace, compassion, love. All the talk of war on humankind seemed more like a hare-brained, last-ditch effort to rouse the people, to get them looking towards a more distant future, when a dismal existence in exile was causing monsters to Fall Down left and right.

Eh. The King was just tryin' to do what he thought was best.

He finds himself taking a moment to consider what that's like, having a life so totally different from his own, being a soldier whose only purpose was to fight. How coming here might feel to someone like that. ]

If it makes you feel less lost, then go for it. That's, uh, what this is, right?

[ Any illusion of thoughtfulness in his rumbled tone is banished when he adds, with a lilt of good humor: ]

Good thing the guards are always hiring.