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

[franciscoramon]

[ That answer is decisive enough that Cisco doesn't ask further. If Steve had seemed unsure, if he had hesitated or equivocated, Cisco would probably have followed up with more questions. But for him to just declare 'no', with that much conviction, after two weeks? Clearly, he's made up his mind, and considering what he'd said about the war, probably for very good reasons. ]

Good complicated, I hope?

[ There are all sorts of possibilities: a doppelganger of someone he'd known, or someone he'd known but from another part of the timeline, or even someone he'd known but had a fraught relationship with. ]

Wait, like, a pilot? In those little prop planes they had back then?

[ Trust Cisco, to know remember all that much about the war, like when it started or ended, but to remember quite a bit about the kinds of machinery that were available. He'd gone through a whole phase when he was young when he was really into aerospace stuff. He'd never had model planes, because his parents refused to buy them, but he had drawn many an old-fashioned plane in the margins of his homework. ]

Dude, that is so badass. And terrifying!

[rightly]

Neither good nor bad, I guess. She's the person I remember, but she hasn't lived through the same things I have yet. She doesn't remember me the way I do her.

[ It stings a little, admittedly, but Steve thinks he's done a fairly good job at keeping most details to himself. Diana hasn't asked a lot about it so far either, which helps. So while it's a source of some sadness to him, for the most part it's only complicated to navigate around it, around the differences between what they both have experienced so far. ]

Yeah, those. [ He nods, amused that Cisco remembers that of all things, but he smiles. The reaction is sort of sweet, even if Steve can't say he shares in the latter sentiment, and the former, well... ]

A... bad ass. [ That sounds like some kind of insult, which doesn't play along with Cisco's excitement. so he assumes it's actually a good thing. Anyway. ] It really depends on where you're flying, and who you might have on your tail. Flying in itself isn't all that terrifying to me, but I have met a few people who share your opinion.

[ He gestures towards Cisco. ] What is it you do for a living?

[franciscoramon]

Yeah, that's gotta be way weird. I had that happen to me, but in reverse. My best friend was here, but she was like, from years in my future. Wouldn't tell me anything about what was gonna happen, but... [ Cisco trails off, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. It's a fine line to walk, between telling this story in a way that will show Steve he's not the only one to deal with this sort of thing, and not sounding too grim. ] ...just based on the way she looked at me, seems like maybe some of it was not very good.

[ Yet another reason why Cisco has decided he isn't going to go back. He doesn't want to see whatever it was, that had made Caitlin so quiet and so sad. ]

Yeah- uh. Guess that's not... hm. [ What is a ye olde equivalent for badass?! ] Someone... really skilled, and brave, who can swoop in and save the day like it's no big deal. A badass.

[ Steve can insist all he wants that flying isn't always terrifying, but the mere fact that he mentions having people on his tail is conjuring up imagines of mid-air dogfights and Cisco is even more in awe than before. ]

I'm a mechanical engineer. Back in Central City I worked at a place called S.T.A.R. Labs, but here I make stuff for like, the Guard and the police and firefighters and stuff.

[rightly]

Do you think you'd like to know nonetheless? [ He would tell Diana a great deal, if she wanted to know, if only she asked— but he also knows there's a lot he'd try to keep from her, which she would likely hold against him once she lived through it herself and learned the truth. Provided she wouldn't be able to tell he was hiding something from her right away.

So maybe it's not so bad a thing that Diana hasn't asked. Steve would likely give himself away all too easily. ]

Oh. I'm... well, not sure I'd call myself all that, but thanks anyway. [ For what it's worth. They're nice words and they put a genuine smile on Steve's face, albeit small. ]

That's impressive in its own right. What kind of things do you like working on most? Weaponry, defense mechanisms, transportation... I mean, assuming you work on those things. [ He huffs. ] Sorry. That just sounds interesting, is all. I miss having my hands on an engine but I'm afraid of messing things up, working on anything around here.

[franciscoramon]

I- [ Cisco hesitates, really thinking the question through before answering. It's a complicated thing to answer, and he knows that Steve isn't asking entirely in the hypothetical. This is a real situation in his life, and Cisco doesn't want to give a glib joke as a response, when Steve is seriously asking for his input. ]

I would. But... maybe not for the reason you think. I would only want to know if the person was someone close to me. Like, if I ran into a random stranger who said they knew how and when I'm gonna die, I'd tell them to keep it to themselves. But if it was a friend... I would want to even things out. Otherwise, there's distance, you know? There was, with me and Caitlin. And also... the one who knows ends up having power over the one who doesn't, and that could get ugly fast.

[ Cisco actually lifts his eyes to meet Steve's gaze a moment, wanting it to be clear how sincere he is. Things hadn't gotten that way with Caitlin, but only because of who she was, the kind of person she was. And it had definitely been that way, with Dr. Wells. So it's best that Steve know the risks, since he is the one with the knowledge. ]

Hey, man, you don't gotta apologize. I love talking tech. I almost never do transport. Weapons... only when I have to, and even then I make stuff that's supposed to stun or trap, not to kill. Defense stuff is most of what I do. Protective gear, monitoring equipment for when people are out in the field, machines that can be used to solve problems and- and settle things without violence, when possible.

[ Cisco hesitates, wanting to make an offer but holding back. He doesn't know this man, after all. Steve seems pleasant, but that doesn't mean anything, really. The worst people always seem pleasant. And there's no reason he needs to go out of his way, and there could be danger...

But then something in his chest aches. What's happened to him, that he's telling himself he's not obligated to be welcoming or kind. Is he really going to let himself become this person? So worried that everyone around him is evil that he cuts himself off? Cisco clears his throat, and says: ]

Listen if you ever want to tinker around with something in this place - engine, or whatever - you're always welcome to come by my workshop. I got a lot of interesting stuff there, and plenty of room, and I can keep an eye out so you don't worry about messing anything up. Plus, even if you do, I accidentally set that place on fire about once a month, so it won't be a big deal.

[rightly]

[ Steve waits quietly, knowing in that pause and silence that Cisco really is thinking before answering his question. He appreciates it, really, even if he's not on the brink of making a decision himself. He's curious to see what someone on the other side of this particular situation thinks, though, and Cisco's offering him that perspective just now. ]

I see. [ He nods, biting on his cheek thoughtfully, his eyes falling to the ground. ] I'd feel the same way too, in your place. I think. It's different hearing things from someone you trust. Someone... someone you know.

[ And he knows that deep down, he's not that to Diana. Not right now. She barely knows him. Maybe a few days would mean nothing to anyone else, but to him they changed everything. That time they had, short and messy and busy though it was, meant the world to him. And here, he was the only one marked by those changes, by that time passed. He knows those days mean nothing to Diana, solely because she's never lived through them.

She has no reason to trust his word. Hell, even after everything, he wouldn't blame her if she didn't, no matter how much that would hurt.

Cisco's offer comes at just the perfect time, pulling him from a downwards spiral of depressing thoughts he's been trying very hard to avoid. He looks up with a quiet clearing of his throat, eyebrows raising in slight surprise. ]

You wouldn't mind? [ People are generally friendly and open here, he's noticed, but it still surprises him sometimes. ] I'd like that, actually. Would it be a bother to ask you to explain some of those things to me, too? Teach me how they work. I think I'd settle in better if I knew more about the things surrounding me. [ A pause. ] And I'd also like to avoid setting fire to the place. Wouldn't want to tally up to your previous incidents.

[franciscoramon]

[ Difficult to guess, what Steve might be feeling about his advice. Cisco can't really begin to guess. It certainly doesn't look as if he is determined, or resolved, or happy. But apart from a certain quietness and stillness that indicates he's thinking hard about the issue, Cisco can't really say. And, furthermore, it isn't really his business. ]

Yeah, dude. Wouldn't offer if I minded.

[ Cisco gives a little rolling shrug; he's just going to pretend his bout of paranoia never happened. He can't help that his brain goes to the dangers, first. But what he can do is decide to ignore those feelings, to leave them unacknowledged. ]

And I can totally give you a crash course on whatever you need, especially if it's tech. That's actually... there aren't a whole lot of 'em up, anymore, but I had flyers around town telling people to come ask me if they needed help learning to take a selfie or make a phone call or whatever.

[ Cisco sighs; if Steve has only been here as little time as he said, he must be feeling pretty homesick, right now. Cisco had been. So he asks: ]

So... you're American, right? I mean, you seem American. I'm from Missouri, myself. Central City, right by the river. Probably pretty different than in your time, though....

[rightly]

[ It's helpful advice nonetheless, and he's glad Cisco doesn't ask any further about it. He simply offers his advice and leaves it at that, and Steve appreciates that immensely. ]

Well, you say that now. Wait until I'm hindering your work.

[ He says it lightly and with a smile. He may be a little behind, technologically speaking, but he does know he can handle himself well enough not to ruin Cisco's work or delay it too much. He'll learn and adapt, and if he ends up becoming a bother he'll just excuse himself. But he is hopeful that won't happen. ]

I'll take you up on it, then. [ Starting now, apparently, as he asks, ] What's a selfie?

[ A phone call he can manage, even text messages he's learned on his own. Most of the other things the device can do are still a bit of a mystery to him. ]

Enid, Oklahoma. Very much American, yes. [ He could pretend to be anything or anyone else, but there's hardly a point for that here. ] I've never been to Central City. But I imagine plenty of places in America look very different in your time.

[franciscoramon]

I don't know, man. I'm pretty hard to hinder - and no, that's not a challenge.

[ He is glad, though, in the end, that Steve seems interested in the offer. It might be nice, having someone in the workshop now and then who isn't just there to ask very basic questions about social media. To have someone he can talk to about machines - even if some of it is going to be lessons or explanations.

When Steve inquires about selfies, Cisco grins, pulling his phone from his pocket and tapping in the passcode to open it: ]

A selfie's a photo you take of yourself. Like this.

[ And with the quick ease of someone who has done this roughly a billion times, Cisco turns so that he is facing the same way as Steve, holds his arm out far in front of him and at just the right angle, and clicks to take a shot. He is making a rather silly face in it and throwing up a little 'V' with the fingers of his free hand; he positioned the camera so that he is in the foreground and Steve is in the photo behind him, looking over with an expression of pleasant puzzlement. Cisco checks how the photo looks, laughs, and offers the phone over to Steve to look at: ]

See. Selfie.

[ He's willing to show Steve the steps to it, and the best angles and all that, but that seems like a task better accomplished when they have a little more elbow room, and aren't stuck in an invisible force field. ]

Huh. Never heard of it. Nice place?

[ It sounds... small, but Cisco doesn't want to assume that's a bad thing. He's pretty sure he would have gone crazy living somewhere like that, but everybody's different. ]

[rightly]

Don't worry, I'll not take it as such.

[ Steve holds his hands up, smiling. Far be it from him to ruin Cisco's work, particularly when it seems so important. Steve's a fast learner anyway, and while Cisco will initially spend a fair amount of their time together explaining things and answering questions, it won't be long until Steve's absorbed enough knowledge to make is own guesses and assumptions, and offer some input too.

Steve looks over at Cisco with puzzlement. He'd discovered the camera application while fumbling with the device on his own, but of course he wasn't aware of this particular 'selfie' function. Which, as it turns out, it's not a function so much as a type of photograph.

When Cisco shows him the picture, there's a trace of clarity on his features. He hums, nodding. ]

A self-portrait. That's why... the self-ie. I get it now.

[ He nods, oddly amused by the word. Steve's not sure why he'd take pictures of himself like that, but anyway. Good to know. ]

Small place, mostly. It's very... quaint. Anyway, I haven't been back there in a while, around, uh... ten years? So I don't know if it has changed much.

[franciscoramon]

See, you got that, like, ten times faster than most of the people I've been helping, we're gonna get along great.

[ Cisco wants to ask why Steve had not been back home in so long, but he figures the answer is probably the war. Had World War I really lasted for ten years? That seems way too long somehow. Then again, what does he know? If Steve is going to be hanging around in his workshop, Cisco is going to have to brush up on his history, just to avoid saying anything accidentally horrible.

He also decides against asking Steve too much about what he might miss from that quaint town, considering what Steve had said about not going back to his world. He had seemed pretty damn decided, and friendly as he might be, Cisco doesn't want to pry into something that's almost definitely not his business. So instead he focuses on what he might say to make Steve feel welcome in this place, help him see the perks of being someplace so different. ]

So has anybody introduced you to video games, yet? Or like, movies? [ Cisco doesn't even know if they had those, before 1920, he really is going to need to do some research to quit embarrassing himself. ] 'Cause if not, you're really missing out, man.

[rightly]

[ Steve straightens up a bit, though his words are playfully self-deprecating. ] I'm smarter than I look.

[ More perceptive, too. Some of it comes with the job. But that particular connection seemed fairly easy to make for him, and as it is he has no doubt there's plenty that'll confuse him a lot more than some expression or turn of phrase. Although some of those still trip him up every so often, admittedly. ]

I know of moving pictures, [ He nods. ] I've seen a few, here. They're much more impressive now, though. I like them a lot. [ Actually, as things are, it won't be long until he's become a cinema addict, devouring just about any movie he can get his hands on.

The rest, however, stumps him a bit. He knits his eyebrows, trying to think back to any moment where he might have heard those words. ] What are video games?

[franciscoramon]

[ Moving pictures! Cisco does his best not to smile, because he knows how super condescending that will look, but... moving pictures! It's honestly adorable. ]

I'm definitely gonna have to make sure you've seen all the classics. Otherwise there's no way you're gonna understand half the things I say.

[ He's tried to get better, about making fewer pop culture references in his everyday speech, because there are a lot of people in this place who don't get them. But there's only so much he can cut out. And besides, everyone deserves to have a friend who will make them sit through the cinema greats. Or at least the nerd culture greats. ]

They're... like a mix between sports and board games, I guess, that use technology from after your time. Honestly, I could try to explain, but it's one of those things where if you see it you'll get it in like 2 seconds, so. Sometime after we're not in this weird time out bubble, I can show you what video games are about.

[rightly]

[ It's how he knows them! Well, actually he's been made aware of the shortening of that phrase, but he's not yet used to calling them 'movies'. He'll get there eventually, just like he got used to simply saying 'phone'. ]

I'd like that, actually. You probably can tell me which ones would be the best for me to watch, or at least the ones you like most. My picks have been a little arbitrary, so far.

[ Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but in the midst of the titles he's caught a few that aren't quite as good. Bound to happen, when he has no idea what he's doing. ]

Alright, then. You've got a deal. [ He huffs, shaking his head. ] It's been forever since I played a board game. Or sports, for that matter.

[franciscoramon]

It's gonna be a pretty long list, bud. I'll try to narrow it down to the best of the best. What've you seen so far?

[ It's not like Cisco's seen every movie, or anything, but he thinks chances are good he'll have at least heard of one or two of them, and it's something engaging to talk about, at least.

And so they do - a few of the films he mentions are unfamiliar to Cisco, but a few aren't, and Steve will quickly see that Cisco wasn't kidding about being passionate about movies. He seems to have opinions on just about everything, but not the kind that mean he won't listen to Steve and consider his point of view, either. His enthusiasm is not the sort that demands everyone enjoy the same things in the same way that he does. But it gives him a good sense of where to start, when he does pick some movies for Steve to watch. And it comes as a surprise when, out of nowhere, that barrier they're leaning against vanishes, and the two of them can get up and go. ]