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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Damen is glad for the distraction the festival provides. Everything is lovely, and it's been interesting, tasting new foods and perusing the stalls, watching the dancers in the streets. He doesn't think himself much of a dancer himself, he's too big and his grace comes with a sword in his hands, but he loves to watch, to take in new dances.

He startles a little, when someone grabs his hand and pulls him into the fray, but he laughs a bit, big, clumsy feet trying to find the rhythm.]

I'm afraid I'm not very good at this!

[ Oh, she notices that he startles, but that laugh, that smile, that he's trying to find the rhythm is something she notices as well and Lí won't let him off so easy, not when he's got the spirit to try. ]

All the better that you dance with me, then! Masters are not born, they are made. Even the most skilled feet were clumsy once!

[ And while the beat is lively, it isn't unduly quick. She'll halve the speed of her own steps to help him find the rhythm. ]

Try it slow and let it feel you. You'll feel it soon enough!

[He might as well. He'll have to learn eventually, he's sure. Laurent will no doubt insist. Anyway, this is a festival, and it's been nice enough, fun enough. What can it hurt?] I apologize in advance for any trodden-upon toes, then! [He laughs, sharp eyes watching the way she moves. He picks up on it fairly quickly, all things considered, having a lot of experience with footwork in a swordsmanship context.]

How long have you been a dancing master, I wonder?

Only apologize if you err. You seem to be getting the hang of it!

[ Quicker than many she'd picked out of the passing throngs to dance with her and that's very promising. She'll pick the pace up a bit to see how well he follows. That question pulls something closer to a grin out of her. ]

I wouldn't call myself a master, but I'd like to think I have some skill. You learn a lot of things 'round the fire in the wilds.

[ If that doesn't bring back memories. She'd rather not confuse the beats, though. ]

I have grown to be quite good at improvising, the last few months. [He laughs, stumbling a little with the quicker pace, but doing his best to keep up the footwork, almost light for such a big man.

Round the fire in the wilds, he smiles wide at that. Damen has his own collection of fireside memories, some more pleasant than others. Thoughts of the Vaskian coupling fire are quickly pushed out by memories of the way Laurent had looked with the firelight at his back, his clothes sheer and his face almost soft.] Never a truer statement than that, I have come to learn.

I'm Damen.

Dare I say it shows?

[ It's impressive and she doesn't so much as think to keep that opinion from her face. She smiles that much brighter for his agreement as to her statement, though. She hasn't met too terribly many who would, she thinks, and that makes Damen a greatly appreciated breath of fresh air. ]

Well met, Damen! I am Líadan Ní Donnabháin and quite glad to meet someone who holds to such a truth!

I'll take the compliment. Anyone else would have a cutting remark, no doubt. [Well, his fiance in particular would probably say that he dances like a giant animal, but that's fine. He'll take the nicer comment.]

Is that where you learned to dance like this? 'Round the fire in the wilds?

It is one of many places, yes. My people traveled far and wide before we settled some... has it really been ten years already?

[ She really did just surprise herself with that, but she recovers just as quickly. ]

I've had the pleasure of learning from a number of the clans who make their homes across the Isle and not just in this art, mind you. What of your experiences, Damen?

It sounds like you've lead an interesting life. [He laughs quietly, winding down his steps as the song fades.] The last few months I have seen much more of foreign lands than I had my whole life. For better and worse. I am almost glad for the chance to stay in one place for now.

[ She's mindful of the movements of the dancers around them as they strike out in search of other dances to try or wait to see if the music will pick up again. For her part, she's content to carry on with the conversation as opposed to departing immediately. ]

Have you settled, then? A life of travel and constant adventure isn't for everyone, I know.

[ She does perhaps better than anyone. In her case, it's quite the opposite. She's suffered her people's settling as best she can and there's always that yearning for more, for adventure. ]

[Damen doesn't seem inclined to leave either. He's naturally a social person, and he's enjoying the conversation. He follows after her to find somewhere else to either dance or just sit.]

I'll have to, when I return. Responsibilities, you know. [After all, he's going to be a king, when his coronation finally comes. It'll be soon after his return, as soon as possible. Then Laurent's will come, when he turns twenty-one.] Perhaps I'll have some adventures here, while I have the chance.

Ah, responsibilities. Such a terrible culprit!

[ The grandest of thieves is responsibilities or so she's found it to be, what with it stealing her companions from her with that much greater frequency as time goes on. ]

Should you endeavor to some adventure while you're here, you should seek me out. A great adventure is best had in good company and I don't think I'm too terrible to be called as much. Can't seem to recall any complaints, anyway.

[ About that specific thing and no, she's not actively trying to recall as much. ]

Not so terrible, but inevitable nonetheless. [He laughs, hands in his pockets, bowing his head briefly with it.]

I've had no complaints about your company thus far. What sorts of adventures would you find for us?

That depends! You aren't the sort to shy away from danger, are you?

[ The importance of this question should never be undermined if her expression is any indication. That it's asked with something of a grin may also say something. There are plenty of adventures that can be had without danger, but the best ones tend to be the ones where it finds a body or the body finds it in her experience. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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