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

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ivar, too, would have much preferred if they could have gone somewhere and gotten shit-faced drunk. Maybe gotten into a bar fight with someone who deserved it. But they were stuck here, and while he was plenty willing to kiss Ronan, it had already been made abundantly clear that the feeling wasn't mutual.

"Winter Istrid Regis Ivarsdottir." A long name for a little baby. Ivar didn't care. Her name reflected both sides of her heritage. He'd wanted her to have part of his name. Even if she wasn't his blood, she was still his.

"Not bad." Ronan figured it would be something odd and he knew the Viking naming conventions. Though he had called his "daughter" Orphan Girl years before she received a real name so even if he didn't like it, he wouldn't have room to talk.

"My-- kid-- is Opal." He needed a better word for her. He really did. Whatever she was, he missed her.

He snapped himself out of that one fairly quickly. "Not a mouthful like that. Are you calling her Winter? What kind of shit do you need for her?"

"You have a daughter too? You had sex?" Ivar says in the flattest and most sarcastic tone that he can possible muster. Sorry, but he has to raise an eyebrow at the thought of Ronan actually letting anyone close enough to him to actually end up getting a woman pregnant.

"Winter. She's a-- what did the doctors call it-- an albino. Looked like the winter snows of my home, so the name kind of stuck." Ivar thinks for a moment as to what he could use for her. "Things that stimulate her mind. I feel like she doesn't get enough of that."

"What? No! No, I haven't!" As embarrassing as it was, even with Adam they hadn't-- well-- "I'm gay. I'm not getting anyone anyone pregnant."

Ronan's face turned a bright pink. Sex was one of the few subjects with this power over him. Sex and playing videos of his Irish dance and music competitions. He'd be hard pressed to say which was less shameful than the other.

What was he saying? No competition. It was sex without a doubt. When he was single, he could ignore it. Now that he'd taken about every step leading up to it, the accusation struck too close to home. You could take the boy out of the church but you couldn't take years of sexual repression and guilt out of the boy.

"She's-- crap, I know it doesn't matter here but don't tell the whole damn moon. She's from my dreams." If he stopped to think about that, Ronan might regret that later. If he asked for a friend's second opinion, Ivar was perhaps one of the worst people to trust here and yet he did. They didn't know him and hadn't heard him talk about his daughter. He'd likely figure it out anyway.

Ronan rubbed his wrist. His thumb slid over one of his scars and he adjusted his wrist band.

"So. Albino." That explained the freaking out, stupid as it was. The way he saw it there was finally someone who would be paler than him. "Definitely a fitting name. When she's old enough to play, you'll want more sunscreen than you have ever seen in your fucking life. Did the doctors warn you?" As he spoke he tried to shift his thoughts to what stimulation a newborn needed. He'd been under the impression that they were cute, shrieking blobs for the first few months. Nothing came to mind. Maybe he'd have more success after his cheeks returned to their usual color.

Ivar grinned wolfishly at seeing Ronan so caught off-guard. He'd never seen his friend look quite so flustered and he'd be lying if he said that he didn't look quite endearing with his cheeks tinged pink the way that they were. "How was I supposed to know? Plenty of men back home who fancy other men and still get women pregnant." Then again, Vikings were pretty much in a culture of loose bisexuality at all times.

The mention that Opal came from his dreams was a bit of a surprise. "I knew you could take things out of your dreams, but I didn't realize that you could do people as well." That made Ronan a lot more powerful and strange then Ivar had thought up until now.

At the mention of Winter, Ivar nodded. "I know. The doctors would only allow her out for an hour at a time at first. Any more and they were afraid of the damage that could be done to her skin." Already, Ivar was extremely protective of his little girl. He was going to make sure she grew up as healthy and strong as she possibly could.

Ronan's lips thinned. Behind them, he bit his tongue. Ivar wasn't ripping into him, which was more than he expected, and so Ronan did his best to return the favor. He limited himself to glaring, softening only when he mentioned Winter.

"An hour? Sometimes I don't last fifteen minutes," Ronan did not think about how poor that phrasing was in combination with their sex talk. "I'll get something. It shouldn't be hard." He paused, thinking less about the logistics and more about the topic he'd just avoided. The one that didn't involve sex.

He shifted his weight between his legs, long for more space than they had. His body was meant to release nervous energy, not hold it. "I don't make people anymore. I didn't mean to bring Opal out. It was an accident. She wanted out and she got it. Last time it's happening." He avoided using the word only as that would be a lie.

Ivar's fondness for Ronan is the only thing that saves him from his usual caustic, barbed comments. Despite his own lack of experience when it came to actually having sex itself, he came from a culture that was very sex-positive. It was nothing to hide or get flustered over.

He tried very hard not to laugh at Ronan's poor choice of phrasing, but he doesn't succeed. A series of short bursts of laughter come out of him as he tries to talk. It feels strange. He hasn't had much to laugh about lately. When he's done, he finds his voice again. "Poor thing's had to be bundled up. But it might be for the best. Her powers...they do strange things to people."

Ivar watches Ronan's fidgety movements. It's unusual seeing him with so much pent up energy. But there was nowhere for them to go, not with his friend's staunch refusal to kiss. "You know, six months ago, hearing that would have sounded very strange. Not so much anymore." He pauses before adding on. "Do you miss her?"

"I am so pounding your face in when this is over," said with affection. They were overdue for their fight. Ronan was overdue for a fight in general. But the rest of the conversation more than shifted his focus.

"Miss her? I got sick of making sure she didn't accidentally get herself killed. This is a break." A long, extended break that he didn't ask for. He couldn't hold that false smirk for long. "...Yeah, I miss her. She's a brat but she was stuck in my head for years. It's weird without her annoying the crap out of me." He tugged one of the bands around his wrist.

"Did you say your kid has powers? You can't mention that and leave me hanging."

"You can try." Really, a good fight was all that Ivar needed right about now. It would make him feel a whole lot better about everything he was going through if he was able to get his emotions out through punching someone.

"Maybe she'll turn up here one of these days. Follow her father through the portal." Some people seemed to come more from the same world than others. Ivar had yet to see anyone come from his, but he knew that Ronan at least had his boyfriend come from his world. So there was always the possible chance another would come.

"She's what's known as a healer in Letha's world. She can absorb the life force of people and hold onto it, then put it back into someone to heal their injuries. It's why Letha thought she was an abomination." Ivar clearly thought otherwise about his little girl. "But she's never done it to me."

"Maybe." Ronan had pictured Opal coming here many times, followed by his brother and friends. He knew that as far as he was concerned, he could step back into his world at the same time and she'd never be alone, but it didn't always feel that way.

There were enough things here that he could distract himself from that feeling. Like an albino infant, apparently. Ronan loved several things. Kids and anything that wasn't normal, all the better if it involved magic.

"Shit. That's awesome. She can control it with you?" Ronan wondered when he first started dreaming. If he'd had it from birth, he'd been too young to do anything with it. He found it a marvel that a baby could use anything right away. "God, you have got to let me meet her some time."

"Yes. I guess she knows better than to hurt someone who loves her." Which might have explained why she didn't have the same control with her mother. Letha had very nearly thought abandoning her child in the woods so that a monster would eat her was a good idea. Ivar hadn't believed that she could ever be so cold-hearted until he'd put her to the test.

"Anytime you want to meet her, come on over." Ivar was a very proud and doting parent. Any moment he could possibly bring Winter up in a conversation, he did. "Do you want to see a picture of her?" Before he could even get a yes or no answer out of Ronan, he was pulling out his phone, and opening up the album of photos on there. Ivar had specifically learned how to work the camera on the device purely so that he could take a thousand and one pictures of his adorable little girl.

The infant in the pictures is a little small for her age and pale as a ghost. Her eyes and hair are nearly colorless, with her eyes a pale blue with a bit of red overlaying them. She has an interested expression on her little face in most of them, looking out at the world around her with curiosity.

"Aw, she's got creepy eyes like you." Ronan, surprisingly, sounded a good deal more affectionate than usual. Actually, he was close to cooing. It seemed he really was fond of kids. "She's going to be a terrifying." He had no idea if she'd be beautiful or not. She was a newborn. But, in Ronan's book, one could never go wrong with using "terrifying" as a compliment.

He suddenly clapped his hands together. "Oh shit, she needs a play mat that dangles fake toy weapons. You've got to get her started early."

Ronan could probably come up with things he could make for Winter all day and certainly for the rest of the hour.

Ivar huffed in an indignant manner. Rude. "My eyes are not creepy." They were his best feature. Well, at least a certain hot shapeshifter thought so, and that was the only opinion that Ivar currently cared about.

Calling Winter terrifying got Ivar to crack a proud smile. "I hope so. With her powers and the proper training, no one will ever dare mess with her." Ivar hoped he could be a good parent. He knew his set of morals was a lot different that most everyone else's here. All he wanted was for her to learn not to hurt people instinctively. Choosing consciously whether she wanted to sap someone's life force, that was going to be her prerogative when she got older.

"But of course. I knew I could count on you to have good ideas." Yes, join him in spoiling his daughter rotten. "She also loves her stuffed lamb. I wonder how she'd react to meeting a real life one at the farm."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject