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

[leadintheyoung]

I am. I'm beginning to think I may as well formally adopt it as my profession.

[ It is what she does, after all, and it's what she enjoys. It tugs a grin out of her that grows a bit wider at Billy's admission. There's certainly no hiding her excitement. ]

A sorcerer? Is that different from a mage or roughly the same you think?

[noassgardian]

It's not a bad profession, most the time.

[Meeting someone else familiar with magic-- that is a novelty that will never wear off, as far as Billy is concerned.]

Well-- in my world,it's the same thing? They're pretty interchangeable. What sort of magic do you do?

[leadintheyoung]

Most of the time? Just what sort of trouble have you gotten up to?

[ She's a touch amused and well aware that not everyone looks at trouble the same way she does. As for what sort of magick she does -- ]

Illusions, elemental magick, restorative magick, and a number of utility spells to name a few. What about you, Billy?

[noassgardian]

Oh, wow... Trust me, we might be here for a while if I get into that.

[He huffs out a laugh. Seriously, when you first start out... you make a ton of mistakes, right?]

Wow, that's-- amazing. I can do illusions, levitate, teleport... I can conjure some items, and control lightning. I've never gotten the hang of healing magic too much.

[leadintheyoung]

I've time when you do and I'd be glad to share some tales of my own. It would only be fair.

[ And a good time and Líadan is always happy to share those with others. She can't quite help the wonder that flows into her expression at Billy's list. ]

You can do all of that? Truly?

[noassgardian]

I'd love that, then. Maybe somewhere a little more quiet so we can really talk?

[He gives an almost sheepish look as he nods.]

It's a little overkill, right? They're-- sort of natural talents though, I guess.

[leadintheyoung]

That sounds ideal. Did you have a place and time in mind or shall we wander a bit?

[ She can't quite help but grin in turn. ]

I do not say know if I would say 'overkill,' per se, but it is certainly impressive. Natural talents, you say?

[noassgardian]

Wander a bit, maybe? Though there are some places we can grab a bit and talk that are a little more quiet than this.

[He gives a short nod.]

Yeah-- I was born with the ability to control magic. I learned when I was about sixteen... My mother is also a really powerful witch. How about in your world, do you have to study first?

[leadintheyoung]

That second idea sounds wonderful. I got a bit carried away trying the sweeter foods. They're delicious, but they don't seem to be very filling.

[ Which is a shame. Just imagine a macaroon diet. Imagine it for a moment. ]

Magick is inherent among Nemedians. That is, my people. There are colleges that house scrolls and tomes about many a thing, magick included, but that sort of study is second to experience. Every Nemedian learns first through that.

[noassgardian]

Yeah-- no, you need some actual food in there or you'll be looking at one insane sugar rush.

[It's a wonderful dream, but... how long could one really sustain it?]

I see... so-- there's no stigma or anything? In my world, there is... was, though it's gotten better, I guess. No more witch hunts at least.

[leadintheyoung]

Taako said something like that, too. I wonder if they have anything that might be filling?

[ That isn't sugar. ]

A stigma surrounding magick? You mean to tell me people were hunted for their ability?

[ She stops in her tracks, somewhat shaken by the idea even as she attempts to fathom it. It's bizarre, not even something she might have considered as a joke for how integral magick is to her people, her world. That anyone would be hunted down for their ability is... ]

[noassgardian]

We can find some actual food, I'm sure. What do you like? I know a diner that has a bit of everything... vegetables, meat, whatever...

[That isn't sugar, no...]

Once upon a time, yeah. Even now, some people can be really suspicious about magic... I mean, on some level, I can't blame them. It's hard to understand, it can be scary if you have no idea how to control it or access to learn.

[He shrugs his shoulders.] That said, I don't think every witch is a danger. They shouldn't all be treated like it.

[leadintheyoung]

Meat and vegetables? That sounds like a wonderful place to me!

[ Food is food, but she's always had a fondness for it beyond its basic status as a necessity. There's good, then there's good food and variety in food is always a welcome thing. That enthusiasm ebbs just a bit as she resumes walking again, listening intently, the wheels turning in her head. It's such a bizarre thought, that there might be people disconnected and without ability, but then, is it really? The Etan had been and a large number of them still are back on the Isle. That had been a large part of the issue between their races, even. ]

I... think I may understand what you mean. About people who lack magick, that is. There has been a longstanding conflict between my people and the Etan, who are born without magickal ability. It was only a decade ago that we've recognized one another as people and sought understanding.

[ She turns her eyes down a moment. ]

And, even in my world, there are people who are irresponsible in their use of the craft. If it is a matter of survival, I can see how it might benefit a person to paint with a broad stroke, but I think that can be dangerous, too. Rather, I've learned as much.

[noassgardian]

You didn't recognize each other as people?

[He asks curiously. It isn't as if he's unfamiliar with the concept or anything, but he does want to learn more about where she comes from, what her views are.]

I don't think it matters where you go, what world you come from... there are always going to be irresponsible people, or people who just don't care.

[There are bad people everywhere, right?]

... Is there any sort of cost of magic?