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

[chumpelstiltskin]

I'm doing that thing where I try not to stand around like some vagrant teen at the mall. [He is not helping, because if it weren't for the bubble he would have found a way to evacuate this situation a long time ago. Like, before it became a situation.]

I don't know where you got the impression that I don't want to kiss you, I was just under the impression that you weren't really keen and I'm not really keen about kissing people who aren't keen. [Dave shrugs, all he can do is shrug, he doesn't know how else to seem like he's totally cool and casual about this. He doesn't want to make their friendship awkward, but now he's not even sure if there's a direction he can go here that doesn't thoroughly develop them.]

I love you as a friend too, you frigging nerd. And as a person, because you're a good person. And if wanting to kiss good people makes me a bad person then I am a shit stain on society.

[heirlift]

You're not a vagrant teen. You're a vagrant young adult.

[ Look. John needs to find away to laugh a little because nothing else about this situation is making him want to laugh and he's not good at these weird super deep conversations. There's a lot to unpack here, but they're probably not going to do it in the middle of the street. ]

Anyway, I don't know where you got the impression that I wasn't... keen. Well, okay, maybe I do but we haven't really talked about that kind of thing... ever? Maybe years ago, I don't remember.

[chumpelstiltskin]

Probably not, but I mean. If I told you expressly that I don't like ketchup and I have no interest in ketchup, and you never saw me using ketchup or talking about ketchup, then you probably wouldn't assume my opinion on ketchup has changed in the past four years.

[Although, he didn't really comprehend that he was into guys as well until a year or so ago.]

I guess we haven't talked about that kind of thing. [He admits, rubbing one of his arms, struggling to fend off the urge to just kiss John so he can escape this conversation.]

Soooo.. you don't care anymore, huh?

[heirlift]

[ John shrugs, and shuffles, and stares at his feet. That's the best way he can think to word it. Like it doesn't even matter anymore what's in someone's pants, because the world is too damn weird to worry about it anymore. ]

I know it's not all the exciting or... flattering, I guess? But look, I think we both know how this is going to end. Either you're going to kiss me, or I'm going to kiss you, and to be honest, you're taller so if we're talking about logistics...

[chumpelstiltskin]

Well, I meant that a shift in your interests sounds like something worth talking about, but since you're insisting I guess we can just. Get it over with.

[Jazz hands.

The prompting is enough to make Dave feel a little confident about this situation. Just enough that putting his hands on John's shoulders, exhaling through his nose and leaning in to press his lips to John can be done without hesitation.

This is actually kind of nice, if he pretends that they haven't been dawdling around doing this since they got in here.]

[heirlift]

[ Finally.

Actually, it's not bad at all. John was sort of hoping it would suck, and they could both go on their merry way, but he kind of enjoys it, and that's going to be a problem. But he did it. He a kissed a boy, and the world didn't come crashing down around him, and he even kind of had fun with it.

And they're free now. John doesn't know what to say-- just in general. What do you say when someone kisses you? Thank you? You're welcome?

That was his first kiss. Shit. ]

Not bad. But I don't know if you're quite introduce-to-the-parents material.

[ When it doubt, cover it up with stupid jokes. ]

Guess I could sneak you in my bedroom window though. What do you say?

[chumpelstiltskin]

[It's not Dave's first, but that doesn't mean he knows any more or less what to do after. He's not good at turning off the part of his brain that tries to anticipate the next 500 steps.

What does this mean? What does it mean for them? Is it going to be awkward forever. Fuck. It was just a kiss. Just a kiss with his best friend. A good one. Shut up.]

So I kiss you one time and now I have to break into my own house?

[heirlift]

Yes. I have to maintain my facade of purity somehow, don't I? What would my dad say if he found out...?

[ Probably that he was proud, and that he will love his son no matter what, honestly. John sighs wistfully, but perks up just to nudge Dave in the side with an elbow. ]

Come on. Take me home, oh knight in... relatively clean polyester.

[chumpelstiltskin]

Guess I'll have to get in his good graces if I want the key to your chastity belt.

[Dave rubs his side when John nudges him, and he could easily just take him home, but it seems a little boring. Like, they kiss and they go home and play video games and then what?

Starting with the most embarrassing thing makes other things seem a little easier, now.]

Really? Home? The night is young. You're young and you're probably hungry too. Why don't we grab something to eat somewhere? And not like a burger joint or something. Somewhere nice.

[Wow, that was easy.]

[heirlift]

Are you actually asking me out on... a real date this time?

[ He's still not sure if their last date really counted as one, even if it technically was one according to the bill of sale. It definitely didn't feel like a date, even if it did feel like an oddly domestic thing for best friends like them to be doing. ]

Just want to make sure if I know what I'm agreeing to, because if it's not a real date, then I'd say we should just go home because we already have food there, but if it is... where did you have in mind?

[chumpelstiltskin]

It's not a real date but it's not not a real date. Unless you don't want it to be a real date.

[Dave scratches his chin, there's just enough hair on it for it to warrant a contemplative scratch.]

If you aren't going to reject me then yes, I am asking you to go on a date with me. It doesn't have to be a big deal, just dinner and chit-chat. If you want, we can pretend we don't know each other and act like we just met off a dating website or something.

[heirlift]

I wouldn't have asked if I was just going to reject you.

[ John gives Dave a playful push, then shoves his hands in his pockets and nods in one direction down the street. ]

Come on, I know a pretty good place down that way. And they do that infinite-french-fries deal.

[chumpelstiltskin]

We can't all be master sleuths, Egbert. The wants and whims of nerds are beyond that of normal, human understanding. [Says the biggest nerd here.]

Alright, take the lead. Take us to the mecca of fries. It's on me, I got my big boy pay today.

[If John starts to lead, Dave will follow. Maybe a little closer than usual.]