introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Dragosta celebration
when: The month of September.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

dragosta

In the days leading up to September 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Dragosta. This holiday is in celebration of romantic love, and seen as a time of the year for Quarantine residents to try to find someone special to cuddle up with in preparation for the cold winter months. Romantic love is highly valued in Riverview Quarantine, as it can foster an incredible sense of wellness and belonging, and is often the cornerstone of found families as well as biological ones. While there are no official city-sponsored parties, there are various holiday traditions and a paid day off on September 8th so anyone who wants to indulge in them with their loved one can do so.

a celebration of romantic love

Rather than anything structured and organized by the city, Dragosta is a celebration usually left up to the citizens of the city to organize for themselves - there are a few traditions that many businesses (obviously) capitalize on, mainly the tradition of special date nights with small gifts exchanged for people who've already matched up or want to. There are also various singles dances intended to help people without partners find someone to share the special holiday with, and a tradition among the various magic users in the city of preparing soul mate potions and spells intended to help people find the person they're meant to be with.

i. soulmates

Almost as soon as it hits midnight on August 31st, booths and street corner vendors are popping up all around the city offering various magical potions and spells in little rows of bottles. The number of types are overwhelming, with a different concoction available for every type of magic that exists across thousands of different worlds. But the purpose of every single bottle and its contents is exactly the same: to help you find love. Specifically, these are the traditional magics that promise to give anyone who uses them the ability to find or identify their soulmate.

These little bits of magic can have various effects on the person using them (reminiscent of the soulmate trope in fiction), depending on the type of magic and the person who prepared them, and the options are almost endless. There are a few comfortable standbys, though, that pop up pretty much every year:

● Rainbow Potion: Tiny bottles of a soft rainbow-colored potion that affects the vision. Once drunk, the potion will remove the partaker's ability to see in color until the first time they meet their soulmate after ingestion, then all the colors will come flooding back.
● Time Spell: Purchasing a time spell will get you a little vial of liquid with a tiny hourglass inside. Pouring out the liquid and turning the tiny hourglass will result in the appearance of a timer counting down on the partaker's skin somewhere - like a moving tattoo, it will count down the days, hours, minutes, and even seconds until the person will meet their soulmate for the first time after the spell is initiated.
● Red Thread: Some residents might've heard of the legend of the red thread of fate, a red thread that is tied between the ankles or little fingers of two people destined to fall in love. Tiny jars with a delicate red thread attached to a note (the contents of which are unreadable) are sold to invoke this legend. Once opened, the user should tie the red thread around their smallest finger on the left side and a red thread only that person and their soulmate can see will appear, tying them together. It may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
● Ink Potion: Small vials of a mysterious black liquid are one of the more common offerings - this liquid, once carefully spread on a portion of the partaker's skin, will result in a tattoo-like marking in a particular shape, that matches the marking that magically appeared on their soulmate!

While these are the most common types, there are almost infinite numbers of other types of potions, spells, and magics intended to help people find their soulmates, of varying type and quality.

A Few OOC Guidelines:
● Soulmate potions/spells can be used multiple times with different partners, and the effect can last as long (or as briefly) as you want it to.
● Since there is a wide variation of different types of potions/spells, they can vary in effectiveness. Feel free to use this prompt for either serious shipping or silly pairings for comedic effect.
● There is no compulsion involved in this prompt. The potions/spells will only show the character who their supposed soulmate is, not compel them to fall in love with the other character.
● Because there is no compulsion or alteration of behavior involved, and all effects are temporary and mildly annoying at most, characters ARE allowed to use them on other characters without asking. If your character wouldn't take one of the potions/spells, one of their friends can definitely spike their drink with a potion or use a spell on their behalf. Also, only one party has to use the potion/spell in order for it to work, both parties do not have to partake, though it is up to player discretion how heavily affected the person who did not partake is.
● A long list of trope ideas and variations can be found here. I've only included specific potions/spells for the most common ones I've seen, but please go as wild as you'd like with the types of potions and effects they have, so long as everyone involved is on the same page.
● Mod questions and plotting regarding this prompt can be found here.

ii. singles dances

All around the city, various businesses are hosting and sponsoring singles dances. These dances are an ancient tradition of Dragosta, originating from the reality of a very early group of displaced arrivals. Observed since the founding of Riverview Quarantine, the events have grown and changed with the times, still serving the interests of the modern citizen. The dances will be advertised throughout the city and range in quality, size, and tone, but they will always have the same objective and methodology: to match people up based on chemistry on the dance floor.

All singles or polyamorous pairings/groups looking to add additional members will sign in at the dance of their choice, and attach nametags or stickers to their clothing - pink, blue, or purple to indicate their preferences in partner (female, male, or any), and a "P" or "D" for "poly" or "duo" to indicate their preference for a polyamorous match-up or only one partner. Once they've indicated these preferences, they head out onto the dance floor, where they can either seek out someone they're interested in or wait for someone to come to them. As the dance goes on, and one person approaches another (or a group or pair), the person (or people) approached can either accept or reject the advances, and after finding someone with chemistry, the happy couple (or triad, etc.) can leave the floor together.

Every person who attends and participates will receive vouchers for free dinners and discounts or gift cards for various places in the city to have a nice dinner and get a present for a new paramour, or two or three...!

iii. date nights

This one is pretty simple: restaurants, clubs, hotels, movie theatres, and anything else in the city that might even vaguely be construed as a date location will be offering romantic date night packages, discounts, and other promotions to the lovebirds of the city. There are a few highly-anticipated special events that crop up every year, though.

One of the most popular are the movies in the park, hosted on almost every night of the month, these are romantic comedies and other good date movies from dozens of realities featuring romantic stories in a multitude of different configurations. Lovers are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and settle on the grass for a nice relaxed show, or tickets can be bought for special experiences such as the mini-deck, with romantic table settings, wine, and catering with a waiter, or the cuddlebug, where a comfortable couch is set up with popcorn and blankets for the lucky lovebirds to curl up on together. The variations are endless!

Another popular option is a retro-futuristic drive-in experience, where any type of vehicle can be driven up to a temporary drive-in diner for a meal, and then pull up to a temporary outdoor theatre. Once parked, the lovebirds can "park" - that is, cuddle and neck in the car to their hearts' content, probably instead of actually watching the movie.

For this prompt, any type of date night discount is cool to assume, or make a mingle top-level with a special event of your own imagining and earn bonus activity points!

iv. kiss and tell

Something a little different is happening during Dragosta this year - one of the magic researchers at Gramarye, who was recently married and only just returned from her honeymoon, got hit with a confusion spell by accident. A little muddled and love-drunk, she acted on her intense desire to make everyone in the city feel just as happy as her, and shared the love by whipping up a potent spell to do so. As a result, residents will see bright little glowing 'fairy lights' floating around the city throughout the entire month of September. What do the fairy lights do, though?

Two or more characters walking under one of these glowing, floating lights will get stuck for one hour, trapped inside an invisible enclosure with an approximate three foot radius. The only options are to either wait out the hour, or to kiss! Characters will know they're meant to kiss, because part of the magic spell is the sudden and intense knowledge that they should kiss in order to break free. There is no compulsion to kiss, just the knowledge that that's how to get free. What the characters won't immediately know is that any kind of kiss will work - a hand, forehead, cheek, or butterfly kiss will work just as well as a kiss on the mouth, but that will require some experimentation to find out.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Dragosta, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Anya Goo; image ii & iv: unknown; image iii: Raphael Grimm

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Ronan Lynch | The Raven Cycle

[somnioergosum]

iv - Kiss and Tell

[Ronan will refuse to kiss anyone so now’s the opportunity to either get punched or talk to him for an hour. If brackets are your thing, I can switch.]

Ronan should have known to avoid the lights. There was no good reason for this sudden certainty. Even in hindsight, the only sign had been his raven flying off before they came close. But he never passed up an opportunity to berate anyone, himself included.

He glared at whoever he’d been stuck with. With his height, shaved head, tattoo, piercing eyes, and general air of “don’t fuck with me,” he could be pretty intimidating. But as for now? His scowl was too petulant.

“Don’t even think about it.”


i - Soulmates - Closed to Adam

Ronan went a little overboard.

It wasn’t that he needed to find love, as all the advertisements proclaimed. He didn’t need any real convincing that Adam was his soulmate. He didn’t need a prophecy, potion, or sign from the universe to know. Neither did Adam, right?

But these looked like fun. What was the harm in trying out one or two or… more? Just to be sure they worked.

Once he’d finished giving into his insecurities curiosity, he tied the red thread around his finger. He followed its trail with his eyes, and then his feet.

[antietam]

Adam didn't think much of the new booths around town. He already had love and had no desire to mess with it as he was sure this place would try to do. It was great that he and Ronan were surely on the same page with this idea and could just make fun of desperate people for the duration of the festival.

That was why he was at work as usual, tinkering under the hood of a car. Then he got caught on a piece of machinery, which was weird because he was wearing a t-shirt. He pulled his hand up and found a string now attached to his little finger.

His first instinct was panic. Was this some kind of trap? He took a breath and attempted to untie it, but the string was so thin that he couldn't manage it. It was stronger than it looked, though, because no amount of pulling would break it.

All he could do was untangle it from the car and eye how far it spread out of the garage. This was definitely a trap. And yet he was feeling far more anxious than he thought was really warranted.

In order to not seem like an idiot, he stayed where he was to examine the string, finding some tools to attempt to cut it. Nothing was working, and his chest felt like it was going to explode. Maybe he was going to die?

That was when he heard someone arriving. His defenses only fell when he realized it was Ronan, who... was holding the same red string. He had it on his hand too.

"What the hell? Do you know what this is?"

[somnioergosum]

Ronan felt Adam's displeasure, but his own enthusiasm overwhelmed it. He held up his hand and laughed in a way that vaguely resembled a cackle.

"I knew it!" His eyes darted over Adam's arm, looking for the tattoo and catching some of the letters. "Fucking sweet. I knew this was a good idea."

He walked over to Adam and reached to take the tools away from him. In the process, he made sure to show off his new tattoo. If it weren't temporary, he'd think having his boyfriend's name on his arm was dumb as hell. Actually, he'd have thought the same thing if he picked something up at your average festival and not one to sell you on finding your soulmate.

Maybe the magic was bullshit but if so, it was well done.

...Why was he feeling kind of pissed off?

[antietam]

Adam squinted at Ronan basically admitting he was the cause of this somehow. Surely Ronan's dreams couldn't affect him from afar. And yet his annoyance was getting washed away by Ronan's happiness. He had the strangest feeling that he had caused this happiness, and how could he be upset by that?

This was weird.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ronan's new ink and tilted his head to get a look. Reading his name made his face go red, embarrassment overwhelming all other feelings. "Ronan," he yelped, "You got my name on your arm?"

That somehow distracted him from the magic string connecting them.

[somnioergosum]

Embarrassment was an odd emotion. There was nothing else like it, not anger and not quite shame. Ronan felt it so rarely that he knew he wasn't the source.

Adam was embarrassed of him. This was an aspect of the magic he hadn't anticipated. If he'd stopped to think, he'd have remembered anger was his default state, as much as he loved Adam. And if he'd stopped for any self-reflection, he'd know that behind the anger was hurt. That was what came through.

Then he saw how undeniably cute Adam was when he blushed. Satisfaction took over. Once Ronan explained, Adam would understand. He'd thank Ronan later.

"It's not permanent. Soulmate magic from the festival." Ronan tugged on the string. Then he placed his hand on Adam's arm and ran his fingers over where the matching tattoo was. "You've got one too."

All three of them had worked. Second hand embarrassment or no, that was thrilling.

[antietam]

Adam tensed when he felt a range of emotions rush through him. It wasn't entirely strange for him to have sudden mood swings, but never so intense, and so...

These weren't his. Hurt and anger weren't strange to him, but there was no reason for him to be hurt. Angry, maybe, once he heard Ronan's explanation.

He looked down to Ronan's hand and gaped at the tattoo. Shouldn't he have felt that? He compared the two tattoos, both in the same place, with the same script. He was mortified.

"What the fuck is soulmate magic? What did you do?"

[somnioergosum]

This was not how Ronan pictured. He pulled his hands away from Adam.

"I bought some of the crap they're selling at the festival. Find your true-love-soulmate-whatever. I wanted to see if it'd work."

He hadn't really thought of it as crap, as much as he told himself otherwise. Growing up, he heard so many stories of whirlwind romances, ill-fated romances, and the disney sort of fairy tale ending romances. All were the kind that swept you off your feet. Aurora was what his father made her, he supposed, and she passed some of her whimsical fantasies to Ronan.

They seemed really fucking stupid right now.

He twisted one of the bands around his wrist. Outside, Chainsaw peered in and either decided it was not safe to enter. She was what Ronan made her, this time through nurture. She knew that when Ronan sounded irritated, things tended to get thrown.

IV

[ragnarsson]

Ivar looks about as thrilled to be in this awkward situation as Ronan is. He's cursing these little fairy lights internally. Really, why does he keep ending up in these circumstances with people that he actually has feelings for? It's getting quite annoying.

He folds his arms, blue eyes looking like a pair of ice chips. "You're no fun." Oh yes, Ivar is definitely thinking about things he shouldn't. Impulsive decisions seem a lot more appealing now that his heart has been broken into a million pieces.

[somnioergosum]

"But I am taken," Ronan didn't recall mentioning Adam before, but there'd never been a reason for his boyfriend to come up in conversation until now. Perhaps part of him avoided it. Being with Ivar and being with Adam triggered two very different kinds of adrenaline. Combining both forms could be dangerous.

Ronan didn't take Ivar's feelings on the matter into account. He smirked at the sullen look in his eyes. Reaching out, he tested the invisible barrier with his finger. It met a solid wall of nothing.

Then he realized Ivar's look was worse than sullen. He stopped testing the magic and looked back.

"Hey..." How did you ask a viking if he was alright? "Looks like we can catch up."

[ragnarsson]

"Since when has that ever stopped anyone?" He doesn't mean for the words to come out as dark as they do, but he can't help the edge of menace to them. He's a product of his times, and as any good history book would say, Vikings had a very loose idea of most modern day concepts.

"Not much to talk about. My girlfriend almost died giving birth. Then she up and left me." He says the words flatly, a tone of brutal anger underlying them. After Ivar had told her he loved her, no less. That had been the ultimate insult added to injury. "The really shitty part is that she took off to my world and left me alone with our daughter."

[somnioergosum]

Ronan curled his lip at the open acknowledgement of infidelity's existence. His brother being the expert of it, he was aware of its existence and yet found it more distasteful than human sacrifice. At least most societies pretended to uphold faithfulness, even when dismembering and burning their brothers was in vogue.

Ivar was clearly having a bad day, so Ronan would overlook the transgression for now. After a long bout of hypersomnia, drinking, and searching for a place where he could dream in peace, he realized that he'd missed a lot he should have been around for.

A heartfelt moment might be in order.

He shook his head. "Fuck. That's a low blow. Is your kid doing alright?"

Ronan wasn't good with those moments.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar was indeed having a bad day. Hell, he'd had a bad week, and he was expecting it to turn into a bad month at this point. Most teens went through their first heartbreak by the time they were sixteen, but the majority of them weren't also dealing with raising a child as well. Add in the already unstable personality that Ivar had and it was a recipe for disaster.

Ivar would have expected no other reaction from his friend. "Better it happen now then when she's old enough to remember it. That messes up children worse than anything." He could speak from personal experience. He had just enough memories of his father to make it hurt when he left and hurt worse when he had come back ten years later.

[somnioergosum]

"Yeah." Ronan's mind drifted back to his own father, always coming and going but never abandoning them until his death.

It took a special kind of asshole to willingly leave your child.

Ronan rolled his shoulders as if to shake off his thoughts. "Fuck that, she doesn't need a mother. You're both better off on your own than with a bitch who's going to run off. I can watch her when you need a break. I've read parenting books and shit. It's not that hard." It wasn't a lie when it was all relative.

iv

[angelic_archer]

Over the past few days, Alec had managed to avoid the lights, but someone a few random acts that he didn't anticipate set him stumbling into their range. It was stupid. Jace would mock him for it for days when he found out that a Mundane managed to catch him off guard enough to ruin his balance, but there'd been two choices. Stagger into the range of the lights or collide with the toddler whose mother had shoved against his side to avoid another set of lights.

Cursing under his breath, he stared at the magic that had captured him, scowling when he realized he wasn't alone in the range of the lights. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave the being an unimpressed look. The tattoos caught his attention even if they were different than the runes he was used to, but the attitude was something he was used to thanks to his parabatai's early years at the Institute.

Rolling his eyes at the warning, Alec held up his hand so the silver band on his ring finger showed. "Wasn't considering it."

[somnioergosum]

He was married. Thank God.

"Good. I didn't want to have to deck you." Nevertheless, he kept to the far end of the barrier. He even tested it out by leaning his back against it.

He looked at Alec's tattoo with interest. It was more simplistic than Ronan liked, obviously, since his was an elaborate field of nightmares. But it was bold. After a brief examination, his eyes slid away in time to catch Chainsaw staring at him. She cawed once and then went in search of a perch. So much for sending Lassie to get help.

"Ravens," Ronan grumbled.

[angelic_archer]

"You could try to deck me." The guy might even land a punch, but even without his runes activated, Alec was fast... and used to someone with a similar attitude lashing out at him. The stranger's attitude reminded him of Jace, ready to fight anyone who came too close or intruded on his anger and grief. Alec would keep his distance, but not let some angry Mundane hit him just because of magic that wasn't their fault. "My husband wouldn't approve of kissing or brawling."

Knowing that he'd been staring at the tattoo, he focused on the raven instead, wondering if he'd made the wrong assumption. If the raven was a familiar then he might not be stuck with a Mundane. He probably shouldn't ask since it'd be harder to dodge magic than a punch in a confined area. "Your tattoos or your friend?"

[somnioergosum]

"You're losing out," Ronan said. He didn't clarify that he meant exclusively the latter. He'd already made it known where he stood on extramarital kissing.

Chainsaw tested out the invisible forcefield for herself. Ronan hoped she wouldn't freak out, then felt disappointed that instead of being distressed at his fate, she preened her feathers. Kids.

"Yeah, her. She's mine. Her name's Chainsaw." Ronan dreamed of unique objects and creatures both beautiful and horrible, yet the most confounding of it all was that he'd named one of them Chainsaw.

"It would have been nice if she let me in on the fact that there was a magic bubble ahead of us." Ronan rapped his hand against the barrier, then stood back up. "Or were you trying to compliment the tattoo?" He didn't see why he would. It wasn't like all or even most of it was visible. "Stick with the bird."

[angelic_archer]

"I'll somehow deal with being unable to kiss random strangers." Even before he'd met Magnus casual relations hadn't interested him. Considering the hint that he should be disappointed by the lack of a fight, he shrugged. "And brawling's more fun when you're dealing with werewolves." Thankfully Jace couldn't hear that or Alec would find himself in the middle of a Downworlder bar as soon as he was out of the weird, magic bubble.

Watching the raven, he was relieved that the barrier didn't hurt her. He didn't know how to deal with an injured bird and the thought reminded him too much of a story about a falcon. Still unsure if the raven was magical or not, he bowed his head slightly to her. "It's an honor to meet you, Chainsaw. I'm Alec."

The guy probably thought he was crazy but better to be polite than risk being cursed. "Does she normally sense magic?" That could mean she was a familiar and the stranger could be a warlock even if Alec couldn't see an obvious mark. "I wasn't trying to compliment the tattoo, but it looks..." Alec wasn't sure what the design was. "Like something out of one of Magnus' books."

[somnioergosum]

Ronan was ready to launch into a long, passionate speech about the repulsiveness of casual flings, when the rest of Alec's words threw him off.

Werewolves?

Magic?

Shit.

Chainsaw looked up at Alec, noted the movement, and went back to preening.

"She follows me." Ronan hadn't created her to be more than a raven-- clever, loyal, but nothing special. But he couldn't rule it out. God knew she'd been possessed enough for him to question it.

"The tattoo's from my dreams, not a book." Unsure how to take the comparison and the possible implications, he paused before continuing. "You use magic?" He didn't know why he asked the question so carefully when it was pointless. Magic wasn't a secret here. It-- probably-- didn't matter if his own remained that way or not. And he was terribly curious.

iv

[franciscoramon]

[ This is the third time this week Cisco has gotten stuck under these lights, and right now, he's feeling pretty damn annoyed, too. He has a busy day scheduled, and no time for bullshit. But it is immediately obvious with just a look, even before he speaks, that this bristling young guy isn't about to tolerate a kiss on the cheek, even if it means wasting an hour of both of their days.

Oh well. Cisco isn't going to waste his breath trying to convince the guy. Not when he looks so intense and unhappy. And even if he didn't look that way, Cisco wouldn't do it, no matter how busy his day was. He's all about the boundaries.

When Ronan snarls at him, he lifts up his hands, part sarcasm, but also in part to show that he means no harm. ]

Wasn't gonna, dude.

[somnioergosum]

Keep it that way.

[Ronan folds his arm over his chest. Shifting his gaze away, he strikes out at their invisible cage with his foot. It collides with something, not that Ronan expected otherwise.

He places his foot back down on the ground.]

Who comes up with this shit?

[He changes his mind and kicks the barrier again and what the hell, one more time for good measure. It'd be more satisfying with a loud sound, some splintering wood or drywall, and a stubbed toe, but sometimes you just have to compromise.]

[franciscoramon]

[ Okay, the kicking is... alarming, enough to push Cisco from 'mostly annoyed' to 'mostly worried'. What if this dude gets it into his head to take out his frustrations on Cisco, rather than that invisible wall? He certainly seems angry enough for it, and it's not like Cisco can exactly get away from him right now. Which is... not a great thought, at all.

Cisco crosses his arms tightly over his chest, inching as far back from Ronan as he can, which is not very far. He's really got to be more careful about walking under those lights from now on. Not just because it's inconvenient, and embarrassing. It could actually be dangerous. Statistically, the more times he gets stuck with someone, the more likely it is that one of those people is going to be a psycho killer or something. ]

A sadist. A weird, meddling, sadist.

[ Cisco's a pretty easy guy to read, even for people who aren't great at that thing, and right now he looks pretty damn worried, always keeping his eyes on Ronan, shifting a little to maintain as much distance between them as possible. ]

I already tried making a disruptor that'd interrupt whatever signal the lights are sending out to keep the walls up, but they're fucking magic, not tech, and I don't know shit about magic.

[somnioergosum]

[Ronan watches Cisco take a step back. There's no satisfaction in intimdating him, primarily because he's still really pissed off but also becuse this guy is as trapped as he is. Though it is nice to know he's still got it.]

And I don't know shit about any of this.

[He sets his foot back down and that's the most reassurance he's giving.]

So the mad scientist loses to the mad magician. Or are you a science fair project kind of guy?

[franciscoramon]

Not sure what that's even supposed to mean, but... I'd say it's a case of the really annoyed, normal, not-mad scientist who just wants to live his fucking life losing to the mad magician, yeah. We haven't even got magic where I come from.

[ There is a tiny touch of snippiness to the way he says it; fear has a tendency to make Cisco a lot more curt and rude than he would otherwise be. His body language, though, is still incredibly wary, and that probably isn't going to change any time soon. He squints at Ronan, trying to figure out if he recognizes him from anywhere. ]

So you wanna play twenty questions or i spy or something or would you rather stand around in excruciating silence for an entire hour?

[ It would be so much easier if he'd just had his phone in his pocket, but it was sitting on the table in his workshop. Might as well be in another galaxy for all the good it's doing him right now. His only option is to try and coax this guy into a better mood, and then maybe this weird temporary time out will be a little less unpleasant. ]

[somnioergosum]

That you know of.

[Ronan can't resist teasing him a little.

Already bored of the situation, Ronan slumps back against the invisible wall. He doubts nerd boy is going to give him any trouble. He can afford to drop his guard, if not his attitude.]

I spy? I didn't like that when I was eight. You got something better than that? What's your name, anyway?