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

navigation

Comments

jessica jones | ota

[hardedged]

one | date nights

[ jess rarely leaves her apartment, but for once, she craves the fresh air. anything to block her mind from the memories of what occurred earlier in the month. everything from the fire on her floor to the random bed shenanigans. this place blows.

she finds herself drifting aimlessly in the park, sitting down as some crapass romantic comedy starts to play. clutching a bottle of bourbon in her hand, she takes a long swig and glares at the screen with unconcealed disdain. this film is so goddamn sappy. gross. ]

two | kiss and tell

[ it's late, and she's exhausted. heading home from the local liquor store, she unfortunately doesn't pay attention to where she's walking. jessica bumps into the shoulder of an unaware stranger, and she stumbles back with an annoyed grunt. ]

Out of the way, asshole.

[ she remarks casually, even if the collision was her fault. suddenly, however, she discovers to her dismay that she can't move. turning her head, she glares sharply at her new companion, armed with the knowledge that there's only one way to escape this. fucking floating lights. ]

closed | stephen strange

[hardedged]

[ the problem with drinking every alcoholic beverage in sight is that sometimes, that plan backfires. like now. without paying proper attention, jess consumes one of the magical potions during the start of the month, and she notices a bizarre red string around her finger. it's not visible, to anyone other than her, but as the days pass on, it never seems to disappear. finding the thread impossible to ignore, she finally grows curious enough to trace where it leads.

knowing her crapass luck, it won't be anywhere good. ]

[potentialed]

[ Around the same time the thread appeared on her finger, it did the same for Stephen. He was so confused by it at first that it took a moment to realize this had to be a spell of some sort. His own magic couldn't get rid of it so he did the only thing he could do: follow where it led.

He did that on the first day.

When he saw that it led to a one Jessica Jones he had been frozen in place. He's not sure what it meant but when it hit him he couldn't go over to her, that she would only reject... whatever this was or scoff at it or tell him to fuck off, he turned around and left. There was no reason to bring it up.

There was also a chance only he could see it and he wasn't about to admit that to her.

So he went about his days doing what he normally did, making it a point to ignore the red thread. He had almost forgotten it by the time she decided to follow it. It would lead her to the Riverview hospital, to where Stephen was at the nurse's station, typing out things on his pad (still easier than trying to write), dressed in his scrubs, brow furrowed in concentration, and completely oblivious to Jessica. ]

[hardedged]

[ her search leads her to the local hospital, and truth be told, it's the last place she'd look. jess enters the building, her gaze scanning the area as she steps forward, one foot after the other, to follow the red thread. until it abruptly leads to him.

her eyes widen in near disbelief, obscured from his sight for the moment. what the hell is going on? she's witnessed her fair share of sick jokes over the past few days, but this is the goddamn cherry on top. furrowing her brow, she charges in his direction; once he's within range, jessica reaches out to grab his arm. ]

You did this, asshole.

[potentialed]

[ He jumps at the grab, not having even seen her approach. But he's immediately pulling his arm away. ]

Did what?

[hardedged]

[ stubborn as ever, jess strengthens her grip. refusing to relent, she lifts her free hand, which reveals the red string on her finger. the one that connects to his. ]

[potentialed]

[ He looks at the other hand and sees that, yep. The red thread is still there and most definitely connected to her.

He looks back at her, his tone dry, ]

Hate to break it to you but you're wrong. I didn't do this.

closed | matthew murdock

[hardedged]

[ the repairs on their floor are finally finished, thank god. which means that her new roommate can take a hike. if matthew murdock was expecting a tearful farewell or a celebration in his honor, he'll simply have to live with his disappointment.

it's late in the evening when jessica arrives home, and as she enters her apartment, she anticipates nothing but sweet solitude and her bottles of cheap booze to welcome her. just the way she likes it. her brow lifts, however, when her hope is thwarted. ]

You're still here?

[fogwells]

[ He hadn't expected to have stayed here long, mostly on account that he hadn't expected Jessica to let him. It had already been enough of a surprise that she was willing to offer him the space of her couch despite her routine grand display of wanting every level of privacy available.

But there's nothing permanent about the arrangement and he knows he's overstayed his welcome, despite the fact that she hasn't kicked him out on his ass just yet. He makes it a plan to leave tonight before she makes it back, but papers pile at the office and a few extra hours at work delay what he had hoped would be a quiet move back to his apartment.

The shift of her boots can be heard even before she makes it onto the elevator, and the lasting scotch painted on her lips is one he's memorized with so many nights in the same room. Still, he doesn't rush, simply continuing to carefully pack his clothes into his bag as she steps in. ]

Was just finishing up. You'll get your place Murdock-free sooner than you know it.

[hardedged]

Not soon enough.

[ she bites back, merely because she can. a part of her is as perplexed as he is, truth be told. jess still doesn't know why she allowed him to stay over. the invitation wasn't her idea, not initially. but at the end of it all, she couldn't let him sleep on the streets. while she's an asshole, jessica isn't heartless. with a tired exhale, she places a paper bag on the table in the living room. inside is a large bottle of bourbon, along with a few smaller ones from a stand near the liquor store. the dumbass there was practically handing them out for free, and she's never been the type to decline alcohol. ]

[fogwells]

[ Corners of his lips curve upward into the smallest chuckle. Despite the subtle kindness in her acts, it's nothing that Jessica is ever bound to display audibly, and he doesn't quite expect much else.

He zips up the bag and makes to grab his rose-colored glasses from the coffee table, but his hands pause as they rest upon the frames. Instead, he draws back, turning to step over closer to her. ]

Jessica. [ He says almost quietly, his fingers resting on his hips as he gives a lick to his lip, taking a brief beat before continuing. ] Thank you. [ He says it softly, with sincerity, as his waves a hand. ] For this. For letting me stay here. You didn't have to and you probably hated it, but you did it anyway, and I — I really do appreciate it. It isn't the first time you helped me since I've been here, and it — [ Losing his memory, losing his sight all over again, and breaking into a panic, her warm hands on his cheeks, bringing him back, calming his heart. He stops short, slipping into a small laugh. ] And I know you're going to roll your eyes any second, and turn your back, doing that curling lip thing you do when you're annoyed, followed with saying something like "whatever, Murdock", which is, well, entirely fine. But I, [ he shrugs with a huffing breath. ] I wanted to make sure you knew.

[hardedged]

[ jessica freezes in place, her posture growing rigid. she doesn't need a gesture of gratitude from him, never truly desired it. hearing his sincere reply places her in a vulnerable position, and she presses her lips together before shaking her head. ]

Whatever, Murdock.

[ it's easier this way, to dismiss his words as if they're meaningless. to suppress the memory of his tormented expression from her mind. after mumbling that response, she bends down to pick up two of the small bottles from her bag, then tosses one of them in his direction. ]

Here.

kiss and tell

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco had right at that moment been walking with his phone clutched in both hands, trading quick and flirty texts with Eddie, when someone slams into his shoulder and knocks his phone clean out of his hands. He goes to pick it up from where it has skittered onto the ground, only to find that he can't reach it. Because he's trapped in one of these weird magic traps that he keeps not noticing, and he can't reach far enough to get his phone back, which is just the worst.

He turns around to see who the woman is who had run into him (and wow, she'd been really moving, his shoulder hurts) and sees a complete stranger, who looks just about as pissed as he feels right now, to be interrupted at the worst moment. ]

For real? Again!? I swear to god, as soon as we get out of these things I'm gonna find a way to disable these little bastards, I don't care if I gotta learn magic to do it, I've had it.

[hardedged]

[ jess grimaces, equally as upset by the predicament. unlike cisco, however, she's far more confused. while she somehow knows there's only one way to disrupt the barrier, she doesn't comprehend the reason behind any of this magical bullshit. ]

What the hell's going on?

[franciscoramon]

Someone got it in their head to put these- [ And he gestures up at the floating lights, an annoyed little wave of his wrist ] -up all over town, and if you walk too close to one of 'em at the same time as somebody else, you get stuck for a freakin' hour unless you kiss. Which is just-

[ He crosses his arms over his chest, huffy and unhappy but also worried he's going to sound like a creep for even saying that. It's not like he wants to be in this situation. At least, if it's happening for her the same way it did for him, she's got a weird sense that what he's saying is true, and that kissing is the way out. ]

And I dropped my phone, too, I was right in the middle of talking to somebody, and now he's probably gonna think I'm mad at him or I fell down a well or something.

[ Cisco rubs a hand over his face, hating his life pretty bad right now. Maybe Eddie wouldn't have time to worry if he got out of here quick, but he also doesn't feel like kissing a random stranger who just plowed into him on the street. Or really any random stranger. ]

[hardedged]

[ good luck, cisco. you might be stuck here for a while. also, forgive her lack of sympathy over the phone thing. she's a bit preoccupied at the moment. ]

Jesus. [ a part of her is skeptical of that explanation, but it does add up. and she wouldn't put any weird shenanigans past this place. ] What kind of perverts run this dump?

[franciscoramon]

I have no idea. [ He crosses his arms over his chest tightly, wishing he was just about anywhere but here right now. ]
I'm sure whoever set these things up thinks it's freaking hilarious, well guess what! It isn't!

[ That last bit is shouted rather loudly, as Cisco turns in a circle, at the surrounding buildings. Sure, he hasn't got any evidence that there is some kind of surveillance spell or equipment in place, but he just kind of assumes there is. Who would go to the trouble of putting all this together and then not want to watch the results?

(Or maybe he just kind of has a Thing about being spied on and now he's paranoid.) ]

What do you wanna do?

[ At this point, either option is aggravating, so he's going to let her choose. The whole thing probably seems a hell of a lot worse for her, since it's the first time she's run into it. Cisco is pissed, but he also doesn't wanna creep this lady out. It's not her fault they're in this mess. ]

[alchemyfreak]

[Ed is not interested in date nights or movies, they weren't really a thing for him before now and the novelty of a giant screen playing some sort of story in the park he was passing through was not enough to catch his interest. As he's walking though he notices those stupid fairy lights, the ones he'd been trying to avoid - and he freezes. Like a deer in headlights maybe if he didn't move he wouldn't be close enough to anyone to get trapped with these things, right?

It wasn't worth leaving the building half the time, an entire month of this was sheer torture, but there they were. It's only when he notices that he's already trapped that he notices her sitting there with her drink. Crap.

Without a word Ed just sits down there with her. Yeah, yeah. He knows what he's supposed to do in order to get free but right now going through this entire awful movie seemed like a better idea. As much as he wanted to cringe already and they were what, five- ten minutes in?

His head tilts back looking at the lights with a sigh, arm resting on an upturned knee.]

This is such bull shit.

[hardedged]

[ by the time ed sits down, and the floating lights join them, she audibly groans. of course this would happen. yet again. jessica is no stranger to what they mean, but like hell if she's going to surrender. there's no way she's going to kiss a random person, to appease whatever assholes are behind this prank. especially someone as young as him.

taking another swig from her bottle, she lifts an eyebrow to greet ed, then snorts. ]

It's you again.

[alchemyfreak]

[Ed is staring at the screen as if fully intent on not acknowledging Jessica or her groan about his presence. Really, he hadn't exactly signed up for this either. By what sheer coincidence had this happened? His life is suffering.]

So it is. You can stop looking at me like that, the damn lights aren't my fault. Everything about this month is stupid, but these are the worst part. At least everything else you have to pay for, so only idiots who want it are bothered.

[Ignoring the fact that the soul mate thing can happen without consent or warning, because he doesn't realize that.]

[hardedged]

[ jessica huffs an annoyed breath through her nose. he's certainly more irritable than the first time they met, not that she can exactly blame him. she shoves her hands inside the pockets of her leather jacket, her shoulders slumping down. ]

Just shut up and keep your eyes on the screen, kid.

[alchemyfreak]

[His eyes narrow at that, being told to shut up was never something that went smoothly with Ed, but he looks to the screen as if maybe there's a point to it. Except there isn't, it's just a dumb movie so whatever. After a few minutes of trying to figure out why she seemed invested he leans back with a shrug.]

Didn't take you for the romantic type.

[Ed's not exactly a fiction type, add romantic to it and he's completely lost.]

two

[ambitionist]

[alex shrugs at her, exasperated (especially after having been stuck here for an indeterminate amount of time) and replies] I would love to move, but I'm kind of stuck. Have you been trapped in one of these yet or is it an exciting new experience?

[hardedged]

[ jess lifts her brow in response, assessing the poor unfortunate soul now trapped here with the likes of her. ]

You're not my first.

[ambitionist]

[he has a coffee in hand, and for all intents and purposes seems like A Normal Dude. who is built like jack skellington. it's fine. he looks sort of pissed off, but it's hard to tell if he's pissed off at the situation or if his face is just always that way (spoilers: it's the latter.) there's a faint trace of new york in his accent.]

Great. So, do you wanna get this over with or just hang out for an hour? The choice is yours.