riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

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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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[His face scrunches as he tries to take another step, and he has to stop and lean against the shelving, breathing like it's hard to do so.]

Little of both. Mostly everywhere, but kinda feels like it's from the inside out? Ache always, but sharp pains pretty regularly. Kinda feels like it's in time with my heartbeat. [Short sentences. He can't be assed to string words together fully.]

[....

He watches the other now, how he leans up against the shelf, the way he's having difficulty even trying to speak.
He's moments from plucking the other up and throwing him over his shoulder, honestly.

But the description of that kind of pain is all he needs to hear. It's identical to what he feels. A slow and steady pulse, like a heartbeat, but instead of delivering blood to every inch of his body, it's like needles are being pushed against his insides. He's dealt with it so long, he barely notices it anymore. But for Ichimatsu...]

...

Hate to say it. But there's no point in lying.

Looks like you're getting an unfortunate taste of what I live with.

[Yeah, he really doesn't want to admit it, but it'd be a dick thing to let him deal with it without any real explanation.]

Know it makes moving your joints burn, too. You shouldn't be trying to walk right now.

[He wheezes faintly, turning to look at him and unknowingly leaning further against the shelving. It's wearing on him, that much is obvious, but it's also obvious that he's trying pretty hard not to show it. Maybe even moreso, now that Reaper has confirmed that it is, in fact, was written on that tiny bottle.]

[Of course that only lasts a handful of seconds more, because when told he shouldn't be trying to walk, he defiantly scoffs and pushes away from the shelving, taking a few deliberate steps. It hurts, though, and once he's moved past Reaper and standing without something to lean on, he buckles. He drops into an unceremonious heap on his knees, breathing harshly, and makes a vague sort of whine of a sound.]

Holy fuck, how do you deal...?

[Yeah.... stubbornness. He gets that the other doesn't want to be told not to do something but at the same time... watching the catlike Matsuno crumple like a tent in a storm isn't exactly the most comfortable thing to watch. There was no-one like him, no one who had to live with the curse of dying and living in a cycle of constant back and forth between the two. So he never had a gauge on how bad it actually was, now that he's lived with it for years.

Without answering right away, Reaper crouches down enough to put an arm around Ichimatsu's waist, And, complaints or not... He's getting half tossed (easily, as if he weighs nothing, as gently as Reaper can manage) over his shoulder. He rises, his grip on the other stable enough to keep him from jostling or struggling out of his grip.]

When you live with it for years, you get used to it. Like arthritis or a bad knee. Some days are worse than others. Most of the time it's manageable.

[He makes a quiet confused sound at the arm around his waist, his eyes nearly closed until Reaper is literally on him, and he turns to ask him what he's doing right about the same time he's hoisted into the air and tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He squeaks, more than anything, flopping and reaching out to grasp the shoulder of his coat, his tail puffing outward at at least three times its normal size.]

Arthritis or a bad knee, [He echoes in a scoff, twisting his ankles together and going largely limp over the shoulder he's thrown.] How long is "years"?

[At the very least, there won't be any bumping or jostling as he carries the other off, headed back to the housing quarters to figure out how to deal with this.

Ichimatsu barely weighs anything, and gliding along the ground instead of walking just makes things that much easier.]

...

Anywhere between ten and fifteen years. I've lost count of how long ago it was. I wasn't more than forty when I died.

[He's a little mad that he can't find this whole gliding across the ground thing as cool as he would normally. His arms dangle and he watches what should be Reaper's legs waft below them like vapors, and he registers that much, that he's annoyed, but doesn't manage to stay on the train of thought long enough to react to it. He closes his eyes a while and makes what he meant to be an affirmative grunt but comes out as more of a pained whine, but again, he can't really focus long enough on it to react as he wants to.]

's a long time to hurt this much. Y'look dead for a good guy, though. [Ichimatsu.]

[He turns his head, just slightly, to look at the other. Not that he can see Ichimatsu's face in this position.
That doesn't matter--it was the failure of that last sentence that actually makes Reaper laugh, of all things.

Ichimatsu might not hear it, but he'd sure feel the rumbling sound as it echoes out from his lungs.]

Pain's starting to rattle your brain.

[Thanks, man. He totally looks dead for a good guy.]

Almost there. I'll save what's left of your brain and take the stairs.

[Instead of shadow-stepping with you. Doesn't need puke on his coat, thanks.]

Put it inna jar,

[He slurs the statement, and it's belated, coming a few seconds after Reaper's announcement of taking the stairs. Pain is definitely rattling his brain, he's so unused to hurting this much.]

[Good god Ichimatsu, that's one hell of a thing to suggest. It's a dark enough suggestion that it actually makes the dead man laugh--a rumbling sound that actually escapes in a sound that is recognisably a laugh, too.]

I'm Death, not a mad scientist. I'm not going to keep your organs in a jar if you decide to bite it.

[Said, gracefully, as they make their way into his apartment. He's going to set the bristling, catlike sextuplet onto the couch--and actually be gentle about it for the first time in his life.]

Sit tight. Try to relax.

[As Reaper's going to pull his mask and coat off, tossing them down on the coffee table to go find... something to help Ichimatsu deal with the pain.

He won't go far, and he'll be able to both see and hear the ex-military man trying to find painkillers strong enough to take the edge off--as well as to steal a heated blanket from the room of one of his (unfortunate) roommates.]

's a shame, though my brain's prob'ly shriveled 'n gross anyway.

[He pillbugs immediately upon being deposited, dully looking around the room like he's startled they've already arrived, and makes a vague sound of agreement to the statement.]

"Try" being the operative word-- 'm mostly waiting 'ntil I go numb.

[You're being very good to him, Reaper, and truthfully he's a little confused. He's used to being coddled by his brothers, even if he mostly hates it, but earning the active concern of someone like Reaper is something he's stunned by.]

[Look. He's not a nurse, nor does he play support for anyone on the teams he gets stuck on back home. But if there's one thing he was good at being, it's being someone who could be relied on when everything went to shit.

He caused whatever was coursing through Ichimatsu's veins now, so it only makes sense that he'd be the one to take care of things until the other 'went numb'.

He comes back after a moment, thrusting a bottle of water at the other. Aforementioned blanket rolled up underneath his arm as he waits for the other to take the drink for him first.]

It ebbs after a while. Sort of like ocean tide.

That's poetic,

[He chuckles, reaching out to take the water, and he misses the first time but gets it the second, grumbling as he settles back into the couch.]

Don't strike me as the type who enjoys poetry.

[No offense.

Anyway, once the bottle is taken, the blanket is tossed over the other. A thumb pressing over a strange little numbered pad at the corner. It'll heat up, after a moment--and the heat will definitely help make the pain seem less.]

Can't say I'm good at writing it, either.

's kinda pretentious...

[He doesn't quite flinch at the blanket being thrown over him, but he closes his eyes for a long moment until he looks down at Reaper fidgeting with the corner. He shifts where he's curled, settling in a neat little ball under the blanket and not quite stopping to wonder what on earth Reaper did to it.]

[He chuckles, belatedly, and oozes into more of a curled laying position as the blanket starts to heat up, not even realizing that it dulls the pain.]

...think I'd be more conf'sed if y'were. [He's still slurring a sort of unfortunate amount, though.]

[Laying a bottle of painkillers just within reach of the guy, he's going to take a heavy seat on one of the armchairs across from the couch he's got Ichimatsu tossed onto.
He shakes his head with a small scoff at the others' slurred comments.]

What would you do if I came out and said I was a poet, huh.

I'm sure I've got hobbies that'd confuse the hell out of anyone after takin' one look at me.

[A pause, and he wants to ask something like 'how are you feeling?' but. He's having trouble with the obvious show of compassion. He's not good at this, give him about 20 minutes.]

Call you a liar, prob'ly.

[He's sort of become a little sideways deposit of dying cat under the blanket, his head the only thing that's really visible. He closes his eyes for a long while and it looks like he's maybe dozed off, until he smiles crookedly and stretches out just enough to dizzily look Reaper right in the face.]

I'unno, Gabe, knowing you like gardening w's a little surprising already.

[Yeah, a liar would be a pretty accurate thing to call him in that case. Shifting a little where he's seated, settling with one hand resting against his cheek.
His body felt a little lighter than usual, the pain that usually lingered in his joints feeling... less.

He wondered if that's because Ichimatsu was taking half the burden.
Whichever it was, he doesn't think on it long when the other brings up something he'd... honestly forgotten the other had witnessed. Along with the use of his real name, his whole body shifts a little as a plume of smoke rises up off him in some odd show of emotion. Who knows what that was.]

...

Forgot you got to see that. Haven't gotten around to doing it in this place.

[Gabe, huh.]

Stop talking if it's becoming an effort. Don't need you exerting yourself just because we can chat.

[Don't tell him that, Reaper, he'd try to find a way to keep it. But of course he wouldn't say that, he'd just say it was some kind of busted potion, must have been permanent. He'd never damn himself to being in a stupid degree of pain that made him useless and slurred his speech, especially not for someone he completely wasn't even friends with. Not in a million years. He didn't have friends. He didn't need them.]

[The plume of smoke earns a quiet chuckle and a toothy smile that lingers, and even if he's just the slightest bit sweaty from what is probably a fever since his body still can't figure out what the fuck all this pain is, he probably looks the most sincerely amused that Gabriel's ever seen him. He closes his eyes slowly, like a cat, and the smile fades only enough that it becomes softer.]

Shhh, I don't like talking t'most people. Let me have this.

[Oh.]

[Exactly why he wouldn't be sharing such information with the other. Or anyone else, for that matter. He doesn't need anyone feeling sorry for him, even if it's sympathy from someone he didn't directly dislike.

Speaking of which. Ichimatsu's sudden excuse for continuing to chat with him actually makes him stop short. A little flicker in those red-pitted eyes as he tries to repress the urge to let them widen (an urge he only half-manages.) before letting out a low scoff.

He can't at all repress the lazy grin that moves over his torn-up face, and he shifts his head back to rattle out a hollow-sounding chuckle.]

You telling me to shut up and feel privileged, then?

[Oh.]

[Who said anything about feeling sorry for him? It's not like he'd keep this pain for you or anything, Reaper. That'd have to mean he liked you, or something. Gross.]

[He only half-catches the slight way his eyes widen-- lucky you, Gabriel --with his eyes squinted half-closed even when he opens them again, and makes a mumbling series of sounds that isn't words before stretching slightly, reaching one arm out from under the pocket of warmth the blanket over him provides. It takes him another few seconds of silence to process that he needs to try that again.]

...'s not really a privilege, I'm not special.

[He appears to be either reaching for you, Reaper, or possibly making air biscuits.]

[Right, what's even likeable about either of them.

Speaking of which, the ghost of a man takes a moment to watch this... odd movement that Ichimatsu makes, his fingers outstretching in an odd way, reaching out only to shift again. Sorry, Ichimatsu, he's always been a dog guy, so this catlike behavior isn't something that he computes.

At all.

So much so that he squints at the other in his clear bafflement of being ... reached for, like that, only to look away from him with a frown and a slight scoff.]

No such thing as a special snowflake, brat. Between me, you, and the Norse God who apparently lives here.

[As he'll shift where he's sitting, the armchair next to the sofa--a hand moving out to pat the top of the others' head. Ice cold fingers hesitating a moment before dragging through messy locks of black hair.]

[He gurgles faintly and recoils his arm, though his hand continues that odd stretch and coil motion just outside of the blanket, and he hunkers down against the couch like he might maybe finally go the fuck to sleep, humming a noncommittal sound of vague acknowledgement.]

Then y'don't have to feel privileged t'talk to me, easy as that.

[He butts his head upward into his hand only slightly, seeming to enjoy the contact. Ah yes, Osomatsu always ruffles his hair, but his hands aren't cold like this. Or anywhere near this big, for that matter.]

Wouldn't call it a privilege. More that you're overexerting yourself talking when you don't have to.

[But it's a moot point to argue, so any bit of vinegar in his voice had faded, and he sounds more tired than anything else. Resting a thumb against his own temple, leaning his cheek against his knuckles as his other hand drags lazily through the others' hair.]

Sleep'll make time pass faster.

[There might be the faintest of rumbling purrs emanating somewhere from Ichimatsu-- don't ask him how he does it, he doesn't even know. Through the sound he makes a wordless sound, and the whole of him sags into rest while the purr continues for a few minutes, until it wheezes away into nothing and he curls into a nearly entirely circular mound under the blanket, leaving only his head out of it so that Reaper can continue carding a hand through his hair if he wants.]

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introductory mingle: DRAGOSTA

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