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

I think we should be, which is annoying because a good friend wouldn't want to convince you to kiss them and cheat on your boyfriend. I could be a bad friend?

[ The weakest of jokes. Points for admitting his angle, though? ]

[He pulls away, enough to be able to meet Loki's eyes.]

I don't think you want to be a bad friend though, Loki, or you wouldn't be bringing it up. You'd just do it.

[He gives a wry smile. He's a bit too relaxed at the moment, guards down, to really freak out over something that's been-- kind of obvious anyway.]

This is-- complicated, you know. It's not like I wouldn't want to... like I don't want to.

[He shrugs his shoulders.] I'm not making sense, right? Or I'm probably saying the wrong things.

[ Shame Billy isn't high enough to stop making sense, the perceptive little jerk. ]

You want to?

[ As if he could stop himself brushing along Billy's jaw to bring up his gaze, inches away from a kiss in the dark shadows of the rave, colourful lights rippling over their faces and bodies. ]

Teddy's not even here, we could let it be our secret ...

It's a tempting thought. I may be a man in a relationship, Loki, but it's not like I don't notice other guys...

[And he helped age this particular guy up-- and he does like what Loki grew into...

He meets Loki's eyes after a moment, thoughtfully-- or as thoughtful as he can possibly be at the moment anyway. The music thrumming, the way Loki feels against him, and just-- everything going on around them...

It's all very distracting.]

And what would happen after a kiss, Loki?

[ He'd be surprised if Billy didn't find him at least a little attractive, given he all but designed how Loki would turn out. So many choices, so many awful avenues, but he ended up looking like the hero he wishes he could be. ]

Whatever you wanted. More dancing?

You know I'm terrible at keeping secrets from Teddy, right?

[He's never been able to, not for long anyway... Or really, in general. Billy isn't a talented liar.]

Definitely more dancing.

You know he'll beat my ass into the ground if he ever finds out, right?

[ The Manhattan slang feels appropriate for what would be, in Loki's imagination, a New York smackdown for Billy's tarnished honour. Impulsively, and because Loki Is the Bad Guy seems to be the only theme that works for him when it comes to taking the burden of that title off anyone else, he ducks in and steals a peck.

Lingers, just for a moment so lips can melt and Billy's warmth be memorised, then straightens up. ]

There, done.

I wouldn't let him touch you, Loki.

[Because honestly, he'd be mad at them both. But he returns the kiss after a moment, quick and soft, stretching up to be able to reach.]

No, now done. No weirdness tomorrow?

[ ... Licking his lips just to taste more of Billy. He nods. ]

None. Maybe a little but it won't be, you know.

[ About this. ]

Good, because I know there are a lot of familiar faces around, but I'm glad to have you in particular you know.

[And maybe he's being a little looser with his words than he'd normally be, but it feels like it needs saying anyway.]

You don't get to stop being a Young Avenger that easily, you know.

[ His smile turns sad at the edges because Billy is too kind and Loki was never really a Young Avenger. Young Traitor, sure. He can't forgive himself for being such a moronic little duplicate back then, it's humiliating and depressing in one. ]

Okay.

[ Agreeing to keep the peace is a lot easier than letting Billy see him inwardly crumble. Honestly, if Billy weren't here then Loki isn't sure who he would be able to turn to for an actual thread of support and that scares him, he hasn't been alone in so long. He misses Verity horrendously. ]

Are you okay?

[Because something in that look seems a little off, even if Billy might not be entirely in his right mind at the moment.]

Yeah, I'm alright. Do you want a lift home later? Don't do powder and teleport alone, as the saying goes.

[ 'Home'. When did that happen. ]

I'd like that, yeah. Besides-- way more convenient, right? Considering we sleep next to each other.

[Home, huh?]

Do you believe what we're told when we arrive? The whole... people who need a new home come here?

[ High probability Loki will pass out tonight in Billy's bed, holding onto him like a charm to ward off bad dreams. ]

Do you believe it?

[ He tries not to sound surprised or hopeful; staying on this moon isn't a choice for Loki. ]

[Billy won't mind the company, someone familiar to have in his bed, to sleep next to. Morning might not be pleasant-- but not because of that, though. A night of partying is bound to leave its effect though.]

... I know how I felt before I arrived. I wanted a new start. I wanted to start over again and do things better. I wanted to be a better William Kaplan and a better Wiccan.

[He gives a shrug of his shoulders.]

I mean, I didn't exactly want to do it away from home, but I guess I can believe it. And things don't always happen the way you expect them to, right?

[ Billy is so easy to manipulate because he consistently wants those things and it's no comfort to Loki, knowing that in this city Billy might be susceptible to people like the godling (the way Loki used to be) who could seek to use him for their own nefarious gain. ]

True, they don't.

[ For the time being he'll tug Billy in for less of a dance than a hug, swaying absently to the music as he chins the witch's hair. ]

You look cute tonight. Did I mention it?

[ Veering the topic away from muddier waters. ]

[He lets Loki pull him in like that, resting his cheek against his shoulder for a moment.]

I might've got the feeling, with the kissing and all. You look pretty nice tonight, yourself.

[He presses a smile against Loki's shoulder.]

You want to head back home soon? Or keep dancing?

I want to do whatever you want to do.

[ Pressing a smile-kiss into the shell of Billy's ear. See how thoughtful and accommodating he can be? ]

You know, considering this powder stuff... that's probably a pretty bad idea to offer.

[He pulls away enough to meet Loki's eyes, his arms sliding up around his shoulders.]

To bed?

To bed with us, then.

[ With Billy's arms around his shoulders, Loki wraps him up in an embrace. Moments later he teleports them into their bedroom which is dark and quiet, a humming silence in his ears as he leans back to stretch. ]

I must be wobblier than I thought, my head's spinning ...

[ Too much powder, too much noise and hubbub and then nothing. At least he has Billy to tug into bed. ]

[It's quite a change, yeah, with the music gone, the warmth of bodies packed on a dance floor... Billy takes a moment to adjust, get his bearings as he slides an arm around Loki's waist. Easier to nudge him forward, make sure they both make it to the bed.]

Tell me about it. C'mon... showers tomorrow. Sleep now.

You are wise beyond your years ...

[ Showers tomorrow, yes. He drags the covers over them, still dressed and semi-glittery, truly a mess to behold the next day, but for now Loki is all too eager to cuddle down with Billy in the warmth of a shared bed and snore lightly into his hair. He smells like a home Loki can dream about. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

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