riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Dragosta celebration
when: The month of September.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

dragosta

In the days leading up to September 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Dragosta. This holiday is in celebration of romantic love, and seen as a time of the year for Quarantine residents to try to find someone special to cuddle up with in preparation for the cold winter months. Romantic love is highly valued in Riverview Quarantine, as it can foster an incredible sense of wellness and belonging, and is often the cornerstone of found families as well as biological ones. While there are no official city-sponsored parties, there are various holiday traditions and a paid day off on September 8th so anyone who wants to indulge in them with their loved one can do so.

a celebration of romantic love

Rather than anything structured and organized by the city, Dragosta is a celebration usually left up to the citizens of the city to organize for themselves - there are a few traditions that many businesses (obviously) capitalize on, mainly the tradition of special date nights with small gifts exchanged for people who've already matched up or want to. There are also various singles dances intended to help people without partners find someone to share the special holiday with, and a tradition among the various magic users in the city of preparing soul mate potions and spells intended to help people find the person they're meant to be with.

i. soulmates

Almost as soon as it hits midnight on August 31st, booths and street corner vendors are popping up all around the city offering various magical potions and spells in little rows of bottles. The number of types are overwhelming, with a different concoction available for every type of magic that exists across thousands of different worlds. But the purpose of every single bottle and its contents is exactly the same: to help you find love. Specifically, these are the traditional magics that promise to give anyone who uses them the ability to find or identify their soulmate.

These little bits of magic can have various effects on the person using them (reminiscent of the soulmate trope in fiction), depending on the type of magic and the person who prepared them, and the options are almost endless. There are a few comfortable standbys, though, that pop up pretty much every year:

● Rainbow Potion: Tiny bottles of a soft rainbow-colored potion that affects the vision. Once drunk, the potion will remove the partaker's ability to see in color until the first time they meet their soulmate after ingestion, then all the colors will come flooding back.
● Time Spell: Purchasing a time spell will get you a little vial of liquid with a tiny hourglass inside. Pouring out the liquid and turning the tiny hourglass will result in the appearance of a timer counting down on the partaker's skin somewhere - like a moving tattoo, it will count down the days, hours, minutes, and even seconds until the person will meet their soulmate for the first time after the spell is initiated.
● Red Thread: Some residents might've heard of the legend of the red thread of fate, a red thread that is tied between the ankles or little fingers of two people destined to fall in love. Tiny jars with a delicate red thread attached to a note (the contents of which are unreadable) are sold to invoke this legend. Once opened, the user should tie the red thread around their smallest finger on the left side and a red thread only that person and their soulmate can see will appear, tying them together. It may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
● Ink Potion: Small vials of a mysterious black liquid are one of the more common offerings - this liquid, once carefully spread on a portion of the partaker's skin, will result in a tattoo-like marking in a particular shape, that matches the marking that magically appeared on their soulmate!

While these are the most common types, there are almost infinite numbers of other types of potions, spells, and magics intended to help people find their soulmates, of varying type and quality.

A Few OOC Guidelines:
● Soulmate potions/spells can be used multiple times with different partners, and the effect can last as long (or as briefly) as you want it to.
● Since there is a wide variation of different types of potions/spells, they can vary in effectiveness. Feel free to use this prompt for either serious shipping or silly pairings for comedic effect.
● There is no compulsion involved in this prompt. The potions/spells will only show the character who their supposed soulmate is, not compel them to fall in love with the other character.
● Because there is no compulsion or alteration of behavior involved, and all effects are temporary and mildly annoying at most, characters ARE allowed to use them on other characters without asking. If your character wouldn't take one of the potions/spells, one of their friends can definitely spike their drink with a potion or use a spell on their behalf. Also, only one party has to use the potion/spell in order for it to work, both parties do not have to partake, though it is up to player discretion how heavily affected the person who did not partake is.
● A long list of trope ideas and variations can be found here. I've only included specific potions/spells for the most common ones I've seen, but please go as wild as you'd like with the types of potions and effects they have, so long as everyone involved is on the same page.
● Mod questions and plotting regarding this prompt can be found here.

ii. singles dances

All around the city, various businesses are hosting and sponsoring singles dances. These dances are an ancient tradition of Dragosta, originating from the reality of a very early group of displaced arrivals. Observed since the founding of Riverview Quarantine, the events have grown and changed with the times, still serving the interests of the modern citizen. The dances will be advertised throughout the city and range in quality, size, and tone, but they will always have the same objective and methodology: to match people up based on chemistry on the dance floor.

All singles or polyamorous pairings/groups looking to add additional members will sign in at the dance of their choice, and attach nametags or stickers to their clothing - pink, blue, or purple to indicate their preferences in partner (female, male, or any), and a "P" or "D" for "poly" or "duo" to indicate their preference for a polyamorous match-up or only one partner. Once they've indicated these preferences, they head out onto the dance floor, where they can either seek out someone they're interested in or wait for someone to come to them. As the dance goes on, and one person approaches another (or a group or pair), the person (or people) approached can either accept or reject the advances, and after finding someone with chemistry, the happy couple (or triad, etc.) can leave the floor together.

Every person who attends and participates will receive vouchers for free dinners and discounts or gift cards for various places in the city to have a nice dinner and get a present for a new paramour, or two or three...!

iii. date nights

This one is pretty simple: restaurants, clubs, hotels, movie theatres, and anything else in the city that might even vaguely be construed as a date location will be offering romantic date night packages, discounts, and other promotions to the lovebirds of the city. There are a few highly-anticipated special events that crop up every year, though.

One of the most popular are the movies in the park, hosted on almost every night of the month, these are romantic comedies and other good date movies from dozens of realities featuring romantic stories in a multitude of different configurations. Lovers are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and settle on the grass for a nice relaxed show, or tickets can be bought for special experiences such as the mini-deck, with romantic table settings, wine, and catering with a waiter, or the cuddlebug, where a comfortable couch is set up with popcorn and blankets for the lucky lovebirds to curl up on together. The variations are endless!

Another popular option is a retro-futuristic drive-in experience, where any type of vehicle can be driven up to a temporary drive-in diner for a meal, and then pull up to a temporary outdoor theatre. Once parked, the lovebirds can "park" - that is, cuddle and neck in the car to their hearts' content, probably instead of actually watching the movie.

For this prompt, any type of date night discount is cool to assume, or make a mingle top-level with a special event of your own imagining and earn bonus activity points!

iv. kiss and tell

Something a little different is happening during Dragosta this year - one of the magic researchers at Gramarye, who was recently married and only just returned from her honeymoon, got hit with a confusion spell by accident. A little muddled and love-drunk, she acted on her intense desire to make everyone in the city feel just as happy as her, and shared the love by whipping up a potent spell to do so. As a result, residents will see bright little glowing 'fairy lights' floating around the city throughout the entire month of September. What do the fairy lights do, though?

Two or more characters walking under one of these glowing, floating lights will get stuck for one hour, trapped inside an invisible enclosure with an approximate three foot radius. The only options are to either wait out the hour, or to kiss! Characters will know they're meant to kiss, because part of the magic spell is the sudden and intense knowledge that they should kiss in order to break free. There is no compulsion to kiss, just the knowledge that that's how to get free. What the characters won't immediately know is that any kind of kiss will work - a hand, forehead, cheek, or butterfly kiss will work just as well as a kiss on the mouth, but that will require some experimentation to find out.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Dragosta, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Anya Goo; image ii & iv: unknown; image iii: Raphael Grimm

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please. You like how I look. You just don't want to. Might explain more of the bitchiness. Really, this place has the tech for it. I'm sure you could get yourself a little love doll. Or beads.

Keep that kinky shit to yourself.

[ not listening to you, spike, or rising to your bait. this booze is much more interesting. ]

You're only saying that because I have a feeling you'd like just what sort of kinky shit I could do. Vampire stamina's a hell of a thing, love.

[Yeah, that was a look. A dirty, flirty look.]

[ please. like she gives a damn. jess snorts sharply in return. ]

Pass.

You know, if you hadn't been squirming so much, you would have liked the bite. Something about our saliva. Makes it feel good. There's lots of places it'd feel even better...

[Spike was bored. And she had alcohol. Goading her into either giving it to him, kissing him, or fighting him sounded like a good idea.]

[ good luck with that, man. she does pause to consider his words, however. huh, it would make sense, in a creepy predator way. ]

You run around, draining dumbasses here? Doubt the assholes in charge would approve of that.

Got people lined up who don't mind donating. They do the whole blood pack synthetic thing, but it tastes like shit. How'd you like to live your life off tofu and nutrishakes when you're a meat eater?

[It never tasted right. That was always the thing with fake blood that humans never bothered to check for.]

Told the whole city when I got here what I was and what I wouldn't do. I'm not looking for a pitchfork mob scenario. I got brought here. I'm stuck here. Don't want to wind up dying here. Seems this little moon-city's a bit more unprejudiced than most places.

[He didn't mention that he'd had his chip in when he'd gotten here. It wasn't there anymore, so it was no longer a topic to be brought up.]

[ jessica leans back, resting her elbows on her knees while the bottle is still clutched within her hand. ]

But you didn't play nice back home. [ she can deduce that much. ] Unless the Slayers kept you in line.

Slayer. Singular. Only one at a time. And of course not. Killed a couple of them myself, I did. Nothing better than Slayer blood.

[His head tipped back against the barrier, eyes closed as he licked slowly over his lips.]

Bloody hell, what a rush. But, that's what home is like. We do what we do, they do what they do. Humans are just happy meals on legs. There's a balance. Predator and prey. You don't think humans are on the top entirely, do you?

[ slayer. only one of them versus countless vampires, she presumes. those odds sound unbalanced. jess tips the bottle to her mouth, draining more of the liquor before wiping her lips with the back of her hand. ]

Who's the Slayer?

[He lifts his head, watching her as she drinks, licking his lips again as he imagines what it would taste like.]

This time? Buffy. And Faith. There's a whole 'incident', what with her dying already and all that. Everything's all out of whack. "To every generation a Slayer is born".

[He sounds like he's quoting something.]

Until they die. Usually don't last long. Not fair, if you ask me. Saddling some young girl with that kind of responsibility and tossing her to the beasties.

Yeah. I can feel your sympathy from here.

[ she states bluntly. spike just admitted he killed a couple of them himself. ]

Don't get pissy with me. I didn't make the bloody rules. I'm not the one imbuing fifteen year old high school students with that kind of responsibility. You know how much worse it gets as time goes on? Sure, a girl that age from the twelve hundreds was already married and popping out slayers of her own. Now? It's a bloody death sentence.

I don't have a soul, lamb. I'm not supposed to care.

[ soulless monster, yeah. she gets it. licking her lips, jessica watches him from a distance, then returns her attention to her bottle. she's had enough of this lovely conversation. ]

Look, woman. Share or come demean yourself to kiss something a little less nasty than you. It's your fault I'm sitting here, after all. And at the rate you're going, you're not going to make that last an hour. Then what?

[ right on cue, she finishes off the rest of her drink. with a smug smile, jess tosses the empty bottle in his direction, only to retrieve a second one from her jacket. she's always prepared. ]

Here.

[He catches it reflexively, glaring at her when he sees its empty -- and then when she pulls out a second.]

Oh, hell no.

[Congratulations, Jessica. She was going to get a firsthand peek at what a pouncing vampire looked like.]

[ her eyes widen, and out of instinct, jess lifts her boot up. as soon as he's within range, her leg will thrash out, in an attempt to kick him off. if spike wants a fight, he'll get one. ]

[He took the hit, because he couldn't exactly change direction mid-leap, but he rolled to the side after and grabbed at her leg, trying to haul her in enough to try to get the bottle.]

I like a bit of teasing, but this is too ruddy much tonight, woman.

Get off!

[ his hand grasps her ankle, and she's pulled roughly towards him. his grip is too strong, almost impossible to break free from at this angle. still, jess doesn't relent, and without thinking, her own fist clenches around the bottle. the glass shatters inside her hand, piercing her flesh, while the hard liquor spills everywhere — from her arm to the ground. a hiss of pain leaves her lips. ]

Shit.

[He'd been reaching for the bottle when she broke it, stilling as he felt liquid spray on his hand, watching it mix with the blood from a shard of it that was sticking in her. Disgusted, he let her go, snarling.]

Idiot woman. Look what you've gone and done now. Now neither of us have anything. I hope you're satisfied.

[ jess winces in pain, the alcohol stinging her wound. ]

Fuck you, asshole.

[ she answers gruffly, pulling herself to sit up again. this is his goddamn fault, and yet spike has the audacity to blame her. she's in no mood for his bullshit right now. ]

Already offered.

[He pushed off to sit not as far from her, lifting his hand to lick at the smear of blood and alcohol there, watching her as she did.]

You are such a wanker, you know that? We're fifteen bleeding feet from a pub that I can't get into because you're a prude.

And you never will.

[ not until the hour is over. she'll torture herself too, if she must, just to ensure that spike will suffer in the process. he's pissed her off now. with a glare, she glances down at her hand, picking off shards of glass from her skin. ]

I will in... forty some odd minutes. Then I'll bleeding drink the image of you out my mind.

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