riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.]

[ 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.

[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?

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. ]

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?

True.

[ Most of the people he's met in this place who are familiar with magic come from worlds where everybody knows about it, even if everybody can't do it. But there are a few exceptions to that rule. Adam, for one. ]

Cisco. You?

[ He thinks for a minute, trying to come up with better alternatives. Huffily, he thinks that I Spy isn't all that bad, if you have an imagination and are playing with someone who isn't a total dick. But there has to be something else that's better. ]

Most of the stuff I'm thinking of are drinking games that'd be shit without booze. I guess there's two truths and a lie? I don't know, you got any better ideas?

I don't lie.

[He could make an exception for the game, but Ronan knows his strengths are in withholding information, not lying about it. It's a stupid game anyway.]

I'm Ronan. And I don't have any ideas, unless you want to go into our life stories and what the hell we're doing here. The drinking games might be better.

[Ronan's never actually played one, which is surprising given his concerning level of alcohol tolerance. He can't say he's not curious.]

What, like, ever?

[ Something about the adamant way he'd said that, and the fact that his no-lying rule is apparently stringent enough that even in the setting of a silly party game he wouldn't do it... that makes Cisco think it's some kind of religious thing, or a curse, or something like that.

Or Ronan is full of shit, which is also possible. ]

You realize that's exactly the kind of thing a liar would say, right?

[ But there's no real heat to it - it's an observation, rather than an accusation. It's been Cisco's experience that the worst liars out there were the ones pretending to be good and virtuous. The ones who had made their whole lives into a seamless lie. He leans his head back against the invisible barrier, arms still folded tight across his chest. ]

Well, obviously, shit like quarters or flip cup are a no go, but there's never have I ever. We could keep a tally? Or the life story thing, though I'm kinda surprised you put that on the proverbial table.

[Ronan spreads his hands and shrugs. He's heard that response too many times to care to refute it. The only proof he has is time, which has proved the downfall of many liars. It all unravels eventually.]

Where I'm from, that's called introductions. Where are you from. What do you do. What's your favorite cocktail. Blah de blah. I'm not spilling all my deepest, darkest secrets, so don't piss yourself with excitement.

[He considers the other option. Never have I ever is risky only if the other preson knows what to ask. There's also that thought in his mind that pulls him aside and whispers "what's the big fucking deal with your secret now? Who cares?"

He does. But he's taken worse chances.]

If you want to skip the small talk, let's get straight to never have I ever.

So call it an introduction in the first place?

[ If Ronan wants to be snippy, well, Cisco is gonna snip right back. Snip snip. But he takes Ronan's suggestion and just starts up with the game. ]

Okay, never have I ever... gotten arrested.

[ He thinks of it in part because of Eddie, but mostly because the most pressing question on his mind right now is how much he should be worried about this guy. It had briefly flitted across Cisco's mind that he should just immediately go big and say never have I ever killed anyone, but even he knows that would be too much too soon. ]

[Ronan smiles. It's more a quirk of the lips than anything. His soft exhale is not quite a laugh either. He almost likes this guy already, but only for now.]

Guilty, but only charged with speeding.

[No one turned him in for fighting his brother or underage drinking. Somehow, it was assaulting an abusive monster that almost got him more than a slap on the wrist and a hefty fine. He's not keen on revisiting the moment, moreso because it's not his moving story to tell. He moves on quickly in the hopes that Cisco won't question more.]

Never have I ever--

[He taps his finger against his lips. The few things that come to mind are the sort that are too embarrassing to reveal.]

Applied to college.

[ Cisco nods, accepting that answer without demanding any more details. Speeding. Reckless, maybe. Or maybe not. Could've always been a cop with a quota who was out to pick on a guy with tattoos who was driving 5 miles an hour too fast.

(Somehow, though, he thinks Ronan was probably really speeding.)

And it's true there could be any host of other horrible things he'd never been even suspected of (and of course he could be lying), it is at least a small mark in Ronan's favor that it is not anything worse. ]

That's kinda low-hanging fruit, isn't it? I mean, you already know I'm a scientist.

[ But apart from this observation that Ronan had picked something that is pretty obviously a thing Cisco had done, he doesn't seem to think much of the fact that Ronan hadn't applied to college. The way he said it makes it sound like he is definitely old enough, but that he'd decided not to. Which is just fine, in Cisco's book. School's not for everyone. For him, it had been his ticket out, and you bet your ass he'd latched onto that opportunity like a lifeline. ]

Central City University, for mechanical engineering. My turn. Never have I ever... been married?

[ The guy's young and Cisco doesn't see a ring on his finger, but you can never judge by appearances. ]

For all I know you're an idiot savant.

[He's never heard of Central City. If it weren't for the "university" part, he'd assume community college. Being around someone not destined for an Ivy league education is one of the things he appreciates about Riverview, now that it's no longer jarring.

The other thing he appreciates: fewer people give a fuck that he's dating a guy. Time to find out if this guy is an exception.]

I'm eighteen and haven't knocked anyone up. Why would I be married?

[There's a brief pause as he imagines it. The festival does encourage those thoughts, as impulsive as they are.]

Adam will want to graduate first. He's the one with the brains. Hell if I know what he wants to do with them. By the time he's done figuring it out, I'll have bribed a priest.

[Ronan relaxes more in one minute of talking about his boyfriend than he has at during the entire duration oftheir imprisonment. The tension flows out of his muscle for a few seconds before tightening again. Even then, he's more at ease-- relatively.]

Never have I ever been last place in a competition.

[ Cisco does look up, when Ronan says Adam, but not for the reasons he might think. It might be a coincidence, of course, but Cisco knows an Adam roughly the same age as Ronan, and he definitely has what Cisco would call brains. So he asks: ]

Wait - you don't mean Adam Parrish, do you?

[ It's a long shot, but worth asking. As for the rest of it, Cisco isn't fazed, doesn't question Ronan's logic.]

Um, do mandatory school sports competitions count? Like sprints or whatever in PE? Because if so... [ And he scoffs a little, to suggest that he came in last a lot. ]

It counts. Not sorry to break it to you.

[Ronan perks up at hearing his boyfriend's full name. Cisco knows him and as Adam hasn't mentioned fighting anyone, he assumes that's good. Not that fighting is usually a concern with Adam.]

Adam Parrish, yeah. How do you know him?

[Ronan's attention shifts off of the game completely. His turn goes ignored for now.]

[ For the first time since he'd gotten stuck in this weird trap, Cisco smiles. He is pleased that he had decided to ask, rather than just wondering, and of course delighted by the coincidence of them knowing someone in common ]

I don't know him all that well - [ Something that should perhaps be obvious, since Cisco hadn't known Ronan's name, or what he looked like, and apparently he and Adam are dating in a long enough term way for Ronan to joke about bribing priests. ] - we've just run into each other here and there a few times. Gotten coffee and talked about stuff. Magic, and ghosts, and... brainy stuff.

[ Adam had been interested, when Cisco said he was a mechanical engineer, and they'd talked about a lot of stuff that would probably bore Ronan. But that doesn't matter. Cisco laughs softly, shaking his head. ]

Guess it's a small moon after all.

We are stuck here. It's bound to happen.

[Ronan's mouth forms a small smirk. Chatting over coffee. Neither of them were the most popular guys around back home. It's reassuring that Adam's making friends even while overworking himself.]

Did he tell you much about where we're from? I wanna know if there's a point to this game now.

[ Sure, maybe it is statistically bound to happen sooner or later, but that doesn't make the coincidence any less fun. But apparently, Ronan just isn't into fun. Or, perhaps, that little smirk is just as far as he's physically capable of going, when it comes to showing amusement or happiness. Cisco had known a few people like that. Maybe Ronan is just one of them. ]

Well, let's be honest here, the point of the game is to kill time until we can get out of this goddamn thing.

[ Still, it's not unreasonable for Ronan to want to know what Adam's told him, so Cisco thinks back. Adam had talked about himself - working as a mechanic, the classes he's taking here, that sort of thing. But what had he said about the world he was from? Cisco narrows his eyes, tapping his chin in thought as he says slowly: ]

He told me some. I know there's magic, but most people don't know about it. No to superheroes or metas, but yes to ghosts and psychics and shit. And I know he spent a lotta time around leylines, taking care of them, which is apparently a thing. It was mostly just stuff like that.

Fiar enough. Metas?

[Ronan notes that there is, fortunately, no mention of himself in the list of magic. Not that he expects Adam to spill his secrets. It's still reassuring to know it's his own for a while longer.]

Yeah, the leyline deal was something.

[That particular wording is perhaps a Freudian slip.]

Metahumans. [ Now that he knows that Ronan is from the same world, and apparently the same social circle, as Adam, that gives him an idea of the most efficient and best way to explain this. ] People who got superpowers when this particle accelerator exploded in the middle of the city. Superspeed, teleportation, controlling electricity, turning their whole body into steel or poison gas, that sort of thing. Adam told me you have people like that in comic books, but not outside 'em. We do.

[ If it were a different audience, Cisco would be a lot more enthusiastic in his description of metas, but he has a feeling Ronan is more likely to believe him if he is a little more matter of fact about it. Which is boring, but sometimes that's how it goes. ]

It all sounded pretty wild, the way he described it. I guess if you're dating him you know all about that stuff, right? Since it's sort of his mystical job or whatever?

[ Cisco is fuzzy on the details but he definitely got the sense that Adam had some kind of special connection to this task, that it was his alone and something he had to do or the world would go all wrong. ]

Next question's mine. Never have I ever... I don't know. Ridden a horse.

Yeah, we've worked together.

[There's something nice about saying that. Secrets are easier to keep when the only person who knows is yourself. That’s common knowledge. Few, if any, talk about how hard it is to return to your shell once you've opened yourself to someone. It feels wrong in a way it never did before.

Here, some magic is alright to mention, even to strangers. Strangers who possibly wear capes like the wizard he met. There's an idea for this game.]

I'm a farmer. It's a requirement.

[Now, how to put this? He wants to use "tights" or "costume," but those damn Irish dancing competitions rule them out.]

Never have I ever worn spandex.

Oh, awesome! So are you one of the psychics he talked about?

[ Cisco is wishing right around now that he could remember the details of that conversation better, but it had been months earlier, closer to when he first arrived in this place, when everything was so new and strange and exciting and confusing. Cisco had still been getting his head around the idea that there were people here from worlds that had actual magic. ]

Wow, seriously? You don't... look like a farmer. At least, not what I picture farmers looking like.

[ Maybe not the most polite thing to say, but, it is the truth. Ronan looks too young for that to be his profession, and the way he styles himself (the buzz cut, the tattoo, the choice of clothes) don't really have that agricultural vibe.

But then Ronan is taking his next turn in the game and Cisco lays a hand against his chest, all mock outrage and offense. ]

Okay, first of all, I work with superheroes, but that doesn't mean I am one. I'm a strictly behind the scenes kinda guy. I'm the guy in the van. The Q, not the James Bond. Second of all, ain't nobody going out there stopping armed robbers wearing spandex. And I know, 'cause I make the suits. Sure, they've got style and some flair, but they're tactical gear, not Halloween costumes.

Psychic? God, no. I'm not a fortune teller. We mostly worked with the ley line.

[There may have been one or two things unrelated to Cabeswater that aren't appropriate to mention in polite or impolite company. He doubts spandex-- sorry, tactical-gear clad company will like it either.]

You don't look like a fashion designer.

[He lets that statement hang for a moment.]

Do you do exploding laser pens? That's Q's thing?

[He's not sure. Maybe it's exploding laser enamel pins.]

And you don't look like a guy who'd know the first thing about what a fashion designer looks like.

[ Now that he is feeling relatively confident that Ronan isn't going to just snap and attack him, Cisco is more than happy to sass right back, thanks very much. He doesn't know exactly what Ronan's implying with that comment, but Cisco is not exactly fond of being condescended to, or judged based on his appearance. He's gotten enough shit from people in his life telling him he doesn't look like a scientist, or that 'people like him' didn't often go into STEM fields, to be rather snappish.

Ronan has the right idea, at least roughly, about the exploding laser pens, but Cisco corrects all the same: ]

I make dope outfits for superheroes, and yeah, I design them, too, so I guess that makes me a fashion designer. And the tech I make is less exploding pens and more... prison cells that cancel out superpowers, and anti mind-control devices, and time machines. Well, only the one time machine.

[He whistles.]

Cissy, your pot is meeting that kettle ass first. You think you look like you know a damn thing about farmers?

[Contrary to Cisco, Ronan relaxes. His point made, he can move on to what really matters. For instance...

What the fuck did he just say he makes?]

Mind-control and time machine. You're bullshitting me.

introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

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