riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jim's been here long enough to get settled into his room, but not nearly enough to know all his roommates yet. It's kind of weird, he'll have to admit; even back at the Academy, he never shared a room with this many people, and he's not all that sure he'll adapt well to it. Bones, he doesn't mind. They did share a room at the Academy, but the issue here is the eight other people in the room.

He'll get used to it eventually. Maybe. He won't know until he tries, and that starts with at least getting acquainted with the other roommates.

Walking into the room to find one of them sitting by the foot of his bed looking the worse for wear isn't exactly how he pictured it happening. He stops near the door before finally clearing his throat and offering a simple greeting. "Hi."

And then, because he apparently doesn't know how to mind his own business, he gestures vaguely at the guy's clothes. "You should get checked out. Looks like you're bleeding." Jim's seen plenty of weird alien races but he's sure none of them are supposed to bleed through their pores.

Wikus looks up at Steve when he clears his throat, blinking slowly, expression still rather blank, as if he's taking a long time to process that someone is actually speaking to him. The mention of bleeding has his brow furrowing, and he looks down at his chest.

Tugging at the neck of his shirt, he peers down at his chest, frowning at the new patches of exoskeleton that are starting to break through his skin.

"What's the point in bandaging me up if I'm gonna keep fokken bleeding from new spots?"

It's hard to tell if he's actually answering Jim or if he's just thinking out loud.

Jim doesn't stop while waiting for Wikus to answer. He's there to get a few things and not press onto some topic with one of his new roommates, even if the guy looks like a complete mess right now. Jim figures he wouldn't have been released if he were dying, though. At least he hopes so.

"I was thinking more along the lines of stopping the bleeding altogether," Jim says, fully aware that he doesn't have the information needed to say if that's even possible at all. "If you want to, I know someone who could try to help. He could take a look, at least. Wouldn't hurt."

If he wants to, of course. Jim's not going to impose. It's just a simple offer Wikus is welcome to accept if and whenever he feels like.

"If they could they would have."

It's not that Riverview's doctors aren't working on the issue, they're just a bit stumped about his problem at the moment.

Finally he blinks and looks up, actually focusing on Jim, as if he just realized he was having a conversation.

"Uh, hey."

"Alright. Your choice."

Jim's not about to push him on that, though if his opinion counted for something, no doctors here can't possibly compare to Bones. He's sure the doctor would at least have a lot better insight at whatever this guy's problem is, even if it might take him a while to find a solution.

He looks back to him with a smile, taking note of his strange aspect, but honestly Jim has seen plenty weird things in his travels so it doesn't bother him much.

"Hi. Jim Kirk, by the way."

The smile is nice. Looks genuine and everything, and Wikus finds himself feeling a bit more at ease. He can't muster up a smile himself at the moment, but he does manafr an introduction.

"Wikus. Wikus van der Merwe."

His brain starts catching up with the rest of the conversation now that he's actually focussed. "You know a doctor or something?"

"Good to meet you, Wikus."

He does mean that. Weird health issues aside, Jim much prefers being acquainted with the people he's supposed to share a sleeping space with.

"Yeah. Dr. Leonard McCoy, he's—" He gestures to the bed next to his own, two away from Wikus's. "Bed 2. Anyway, he's used to dealing with all kinds of strange diseases, alien viruses and the like. Best doctor I've ever met or heard of."

"Yeah, you too, man."

Wikus follows Jim's gesture and does his best to ignore the slight churn in his belly at having a doctor living this close to him. He didn't use to have a problem with doctors, but...

"I wouldn't say no to a, uh, second opinion. As long as there aren't any bone saws involved."

He tries to force on a smile and laugh that off, but just ends up looking tired and serious.

Jim can't fathom why anyone would mind sharing a room with a doctor, but then again his idea of doctors is likely very different from Wikus's. He also knows Bones would never do anything to anyone if they weren't alright with it, so he feels completely sure about making the suggestion.

"You don't have to worry about that. I might call him Bones but you can believe me, he'd never do that. He'll sooner spend the good part of an hour listing out all the reasons why that's such a bad idea."

It's an ancient practice in their time, borderline medieval and barbaric. Jim's sure Bones would never go with that as a treatment option. He wouldn't even call it a treatment option to begin with.

"That's good, that's good..." Wikus rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck, which turns into scratching, and then a grimmace as he feels skin loosen.

"Almost getting dissected once is more than enough for one lifetime."

He gives a short forced laugh, then stares awkwardly at the floor.

Jim winces a little at the mere thought.

"Yeah, not my idea of fun either. Look, you really don't have to worry. Bones is very good at what he does, and he cares about people's well-being more than anything. If there's a way to help with your condition, he'll figure it out."

"Right." Wikus is... somewhat reassured? This Jim seems like an okay guy who would probably notice if his friend was secretly a mad scientist. "Thanks, man."

He feels like he should say more, make some small talk, but he was never great at that to begin with and it's even harder to think when he's pretty much dead on his feet.

"No problem," Jim smiles, waving off the thanks. Nothing to thank for, so far as he's concerned. It might not even make any difference in the end, so.

Toeing off his shoes, he grabs another pair and puts them on, shrugging off his jacket so he can switch for another one too. "Mind if I ask what happened to you?"

"It's... kind of a long story," Wikus says, rubbing absently at his Prawn arm.

"I guess the short version is I got into some alien stuff I shouldn't have. This-" He waves vaguely at his left side. "-started happening, and then my whole life went to hell."

Jim hums almost like he understands, offering a small nod, trying not to look too sympathetic. Just in case Wikus feels like Jim's sorry for him. Even though he sort of is.

"Messing with alien stuff can go south pretty fast like that." Jim's never gotten anything that horrible or unpleasant, but still. "I'm guessing it's some kind of mutation, then? You're human, right?"

"Yeah, I'm human." He swallows heavily, feeling a tightness in his throat at saying that. "I'm supposed to be human."

He doesn't feel especially human right now, and it's not entirely because of what's happening to his body.

"Well, has to be a good sign I could tell, right?"

Still, it's true. Wikus doesn't look too good. But if he still looks somewhat human and he still can talk and act like one, then Jim figures not all hope is lost.

"You know what the end result is supposed to be, with this... mutation? I only ask because it might help with stopping and reversing the process."

"Heh, at least I still got half my good looks." Humor will definitely keep the pain away. (It's funny because he never considered himself attractive to begin with. Haha. Ha.)

He coughs awkwardly into his fist. "Yeah, I'm turning Prawn. Or..." He can't remember if he ever actually learned what the non-humans called themselves. If he did he's forgotten it now. That hadn't bothered him before, but now he's left with a queasy feeling in his stomach. "I don't know what they named themselves. In the paperwork they were just 'non-humans'."

Jim sketches a smile at that, a little tentative and weak. "Yeah. That you do," he pauses, then adds with a raised eyebrow. "Not half bad."

Yep. He's so funny.

"So— you can't normally communicate with these non-humans," Jim figures. Considering Wikus doesn't even seem to know their names. "I see where the 'prawn' bit comes from, though. Even from this little. I mean no offense, by the way."

That half-assed (ba-dum-ching) pun is enough to get the corner of Wikus's mouth twitching, though it doesn't quite reach a smile.

"No, no, we can talk to them. Some of us can talk to them. People just... Prefer to call them Prawn." It's kind of derogatory. They're not very popular. "But we probably couldn't pronounce their word anyway. Human mouths, they can't speak that Prawn language."

Jim nods. Well, Wikus might be able to speak their language soon enough, if he keeps going like this, but he doesn't say it out loud.

"Is this very common, then? Is that how all of them came to be?" One hell of a way to multiply and expand through a galaxy, though. Jim just wonders (worries) if this kind of infection and subsequent mutation might even be intentional or not.

"No fokken clue, man. I never heard of it happen to anyone, but maybe it got covered up." It'd be just like those bastards at MNU to do that sort of thing.

His shoulders lift, shrugging off that spike of anger. He already has plenty of things to hate his former employer over.

"The Prawn, though, they reproduce. They make eggs, they have children." Y'know, if they have the proper licenses. Otherwise...

Wikus rubs his chin restlessly and avoids eye contact.

"Well, you never know." It probably wouldn't last long, where Jim's from. Things like that aren't easy to keep quiet or sweep under the rug. Then again, Jim doesn't come from a place where governments or agencies are that secretive anymore.

Jim nods. "That's a start. I mean— at least you know they weren't all human, once." It's an unsettling thought, even to Jim. And he's not even from the same world. "Do these creatures live on Earth, or is it you who went to their world?"

"Most of them definitely didn't start as humans. They came in a ship. We don't have that technology, to go to other planets." It's feels really weird to have to tell someone about how the Prawns arrived. They'd been a fact of life for Wikus since he was a boy, that huge ship a constant hovering presence.

"Back in the 80s, this ship of theirs, just this great big-" He mimes something large and generally disc-shaped with his arms. "-space ship. It just sort of stops, right over Johannesburg. And it's just floating there, this fokken massive- Anyway, something was wrong with their ship, they were all dying up there, so we brought them down and now they're stuck here."

A beat. "Well, you know, not here, but... on planet Earth."

Jim listens to the abridged version of the story with interest, nodding silently in understanding. Having heard about all kinds of different worlds, Jim's not particularly shocked at the whole story, although he is pretty surprised about the last part. His eyebrows lift just a hint, and he tips his head.

"That's... pretty nice, actually." Well, it looks like things might not be particularly pleasant or easy, but it still is something of a nice gesture that they brought the aliens down from their ship to save their lives. It's definitely several steps up from opening fire and trying to wipe them out of orbit.

"Although I'm guessing you're probably not very fond of them right now."

introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

floor 8

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