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

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco might be a nerd, but he's not usually a socially awkward nerd - when people smile at him he smiles back, when they say hello he asks them what's up, and he almost never just plain stares at someone. But then again, most of the time his socializing doesn't involve dead people. People who he saw die, just a few months ago. And while the information about the nature of this place had him bracing himself for aliens and wizards and what have you, and his conversations on the network told him there might be some blasts from the past mixed in, he hadn't been ready to see Eddie.

Who looks... about as alive as a person can, what with the pink cheeks and the flower petals and the grin. Cisco had forgotten, what with the very serious photos they used at the memorial and on the news and the one on the wall at the station, that Eddie's smile packed so much wattage in it. ]

Holy crap.

[ Not his finest moment, that response. But it just spills out, and when Cisco covers his mouth a moment after it's hard to tell if he is trying to take the words back, or if he is just very very surprised. Probably a mixture of both. ]

You're... [ He almost, almost says alive, but Cisco is wrangling back control of himself, enough to substitute: ] ... here.

[causational]

[Still riding the slight endorphin high from dancing, it takes Eddie a moment to register why Cisco is looking at him the way he is, staring at him like he's seeing a ghost. It takes a moment to register that, as far as Cisco is concerned, he kind of is seeing a ghost, that it's not just running into a friendly face in a crowd.

As soon as it does, Eddie's smile goes from bright and excited to a little sheepish, especially when Cisco says 'holy crap' and then hesitates before the unspoken 'alive' like that. Laughing softly, Eddie shrugs and glances down, can't quite make eye contact.]

Here. Alive. Yeah. Sorry. I keep forgetting...

[It's both all-consuming and easy to forget at the same time, the fact that he's dead. The thing is, he feels so alive, his heart beating, breathing, with a scar on his chest to show that being shot had happened and hadn't stuck, somehow. Whenever he's quiet for too long, the knowledge of his death creeps in and torments him, of course, but when he's in a crowd, dancing, eating, breathing - it's easy to forget.]

I'm sorry. [Another laugh, a little self-deprecating this time.] Apparently they can fix just about anything here. It's okay. You don't have to sugarcoat anything. I know what happened and all that, I just...

[A deep breath that he holds for a second and then releases.]

I'm really glad to see you.

[franciscoramon]

I-

[ Cisco wants to object that that's not possible. Sure, they've got some advanced tech here from what he's seen, but a bullet through the heart isn't something you can just fix. Besides, he'd seen Eddie die. He'd watched it happen, had known it happened from the way Eobard's body dissolved into the air. And yet, here Eddie is, living and breathing. So however improbable... apparently it can be done.

He finally manages to close his mouth and stop gaping, but there's a fidgety restlessness under the smile that he puts on. ]

Good to see you, too, man.

[ Cisco feel like there are a dozen different things he probably ought to say, but he hadn't been ready for this. What do you even say to a guy who you kinda knew, who was a friend of a friend, who you'd watched kill himself to save your life and the lives of everyone you care about? In the end, he blurts: ]

Thank you. For what you did.

[ Wow that had seemed a hundred times more appropriate and a hundred times less awkward before he actually said it aloud. ]

[causational]

[It was almost as difficult for Eddie to believe as he can tell it is for Cisco. So he's quiet, for a moment, lets Cisco think it over, process it, and he tries to figure out how to respond. After all, he and Cisco had never really hung out much. Like with Caitlin, probably even moreso, Eddie had never really wanted to insinuate himself between Cisco and Barry, who were so obviously close friends, who had been working together since Barry had awakened from his coma. Knowing as he does now that Barry had always had a thing for Iris and that, to some extent, on some level, Barry's feelings were reciprocated, had made Cisco feel somehow even more off-limits. Eddie doesn't have many friends, himself, but whatever determination he'd had to make friends with Barry's friends had faded when he realized that there were sides, and that trying to get closer would mean, in a way, asking them to take sides with him. Besides, Cisco has probably heard every mean thing that's crossed Barry's mind about Eddie, and Eddie can't really blame him for venting those things to his best friend.

So when Cisco says that it's good to see him, he laughs softly, self-deprecatingly again. He's about to speak up and give Cisco an out if he wants it, when Cisco suddenly blurts out that thank you for what he'd done.

For a moment, Eddie can't breathe, he can't speak, his throat feels tight, and he smiles at Cisco.]

I...yeah. It's...

[It isn't very often that Eddie gets caught off-guard like this, that he has no words. 'You're welcome' seems so disingenuous, but it wasn't nothing either, so he can't say it was. So he bites at his inner lower lip, gathers his thoughts, and then smiles a bit.]

I'm just glad it worked. It must've worked, since you're here, and you remember...

[He trails off, takes a deep breath, and then lets it go. And for a moment, when the tail end of that breath is leaving him, he feels abruptly free. Barry isn't here. Eddie is dead, and Barry and Iris are free to be together if they want. There are no sides to choose. He can befriend Cisco and Caitlin if he wants to, and he finds that he very much does.]

How long have you been here?

[franciscoramon]

[ How, Cisco wonders, has he managed to take this first encounter with someone he actually knows, and turn it this awkward, this quickly? He doesn't know what he'd expected, thanking Eddie. It's not like when he would thank Barry for saving the day at the last minute, and Barry would smile or fistbump him or even hug him. Eddie's act that saved the day at the last minute was to shoot himself. Not really fistbump material.

It's clear from Eddie stammering and searching for the right thing to say that Cisco has caught him wrong-footed, and Cisco shifts his weight from foot to foot, tucking his hair behind his ears and feeling distinctly uncomfortable. And yet, even if maybe it was a social faux pas, he's glad he'd thanked him. That he got a chance to. There hadn't been any time to say anything when it had happened - Eddie bled so much so quickly, and Iris got there fast and Cisco had just stood rooted to the spot, in shock. He'd never seen someone die before. Not up close, not like that. ]

Oh! Uh- [ Cisco is jarred from his thoughts by Eddie's question and glances at the time on his phone. A quick calculation and he answers: ] -about fifteen hours. Fifteen and a halfish. What about you?

[ Just based on the fact that Eddie's no longer freaking out about being alive still (again?), Cisco is guessing it's a while longer than 15 hours. He shoves his hands in his pockets, takes them out again, reaches over to pluck a daisy from the flowers decorating the little partition separating the dance area. He plucks at the petals, just needing something to do with his hands as he talks. ]

They got you on- they must have some kind of police force here, right?

[causational]

[As far as Eddie's concerned, it's going to be awkward no matter how either of them handle it. There's no way to address it that isn't awkward, there's no casual, comfortable way to say that you appreciate someone dying for you. And maybe you can say that kind of thing and feel alright about it at a funeral, you can write it for a headstone, but there's no precedent for saying it to the face of the person who's died. Eddie doesn't hold it against Cisco, not even a little bit.

It's all a little overwhelming, honestly. For a moment, he gets the horrifying feeling that he's going to cry, his eyes sting and heat, his throat feels tight, he watches Cisco shift from foot to foot in the most uncomfortable way, tuck his hair back, fidget. The last thing Eddie wants is to make Cisco even more uncomfortable, but it still takes him a few moments to get his rebellious emotions in check. When Cisco tells him he's only been here about fifteen hours, Eddie releases a huff of breath, smiles shakily.]

Almost a month and a half. And yeah, they put me on as a regular-duty cop after I did a bit of training on the laws here, and I'm working on making detective again.

[Taking a deep breath, Eddie holds it for a moment then lets it all out in a huff again, smiling abruptly.]

But you know what me being here before you means, right?

[A beat, and then-]

Role reversal. I totally know all the best coffee places and what booths serve the best beer. And I'm willing to show you, if you want.

[franciscoramon]

A month and a half?!

[ It comes out more surprised and indignant than Cisco had meant it to. Sure, when he arrived the situation was explained to him. Logically, he knows he'll probably be here a little while. That the people running this place want to encourage people to stay permanently. And, well, in Eddie's case that actually probably makes sense, since going back would mean, well, dying probably. But Cisco hadn't really thought about being here that long himself. He'd thought maybe a day or two. A week, max. It's all just- very overwhelming. ]

Well, good to know there are laws here. And I've got a friend on the force in case...

[ But he doesn't know what the end of that sentence should be, so he trails off, gives a half-hearted shrug. These last few months, since the singularity, Cisco had gotten pretty used to being around cops - Joe in particular, sure, but the others in the precinct, too. Some of them were unfriendly, but others actually seemed to kind of like him. Which leads him to say: ]

They've got me designing tech for the perimeter guard. You know, kinda like I did for CCPD with the heat shields, even though those didn't end up doing a whole lot of good, since, Heatwave. But I've been kinda doing more of that since- you know, everything went down. Making tech to help deal with metahuman criminals. And I guess the folks here figured that would mean I should keep doing the same thing, just, on a bigger scale.

[ Eddie's question catches Cisco's attention and he stills; what does it mean? But then he realizes it's no grand secret or conspiracy or opportunity - just Eddie's way of offering to show him around. Cisco's brow wrinkles as he asks, voice half-amused half-confused: ]

How's that a role reversal?

[causational]

[When Cisco blurts it out like that, Eddie blinks a few times, licks his lips, and then glances downward, avoiding eye contact. Of course Cisco would be horrified at the prospect of being stuck here, but Eddie has no choice, and the truth is, this place could absolutely be worse. It's not perfect, and it's not home, but it's also provided him with a familiar job and decent prospects at a relatively normal, new life. It's a little unnerving, a little gut-wrenching, to realize that his best option is the worst for someone else.

And Eddie carefully pushes that thought aside. Focuses on what else Cisco is saying because he can't focus on that part of things. Keeping a smile on his face, he nods, and listens, and holds the smile in place until it starts to become real again.]

Oh wow, I bet the CCPD appreciates the help. Same with the Perimeter Guard, I mean, I know how much of a genius you are, you and everyone else at STAR Labs.

[The last question wipes away the last hints of Eddie's smile being forced, and he grins at Cisco, open, unabashed, eyes bright.]

Because you and Barry and Caitlin are usually the ones who know where all the really good places are. My turn.