introductory mingle: SAMPREMI

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Sampremi Celebration
when: March 8th - March 15th
where: In several different locations in the downtown area of the Inhabited City.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

sampremi celebration

In the days leading up to March 8th, new residents may notice advertising around the city, everywhere from digital screens to paper flyers pasted on blank walls, featuring the name of the spring holiday in celebration of new beginnings, new love, and lust: Sampremi. The advertising mentions that there will be street festivals set up at various locations throughout the week and lists where the market will be set up on each day.

street market

The main draw of the holiday is a roaming street market that features special treats and street food that can only be found during Sampremi, a bustling bargain market with any kind of goods you can think of, and fair games that allow a person to win a prize for that special someone.

i. street food

One of the major draws of the festival is the special street food that can only be obtained this time of year. Almost everything you can buy at the Sampremi Festival is meant to be shared - whether it's one piece of meat on two sticks or desserts baked with a narrow part in the middle for convenient tearing, everything is built in twos. The stalls sell everything from cups of soup, sandwiches, roasted or fried meat, deep-fried vegetables and cakes, dumplings, donuts, bagels, turnovers, and anything else you can think of.

Many of the savory dishes are based on the meat of a particular fowl native to the moon Riverview is situated on that has a taste and texture halfway between chicken and duck, cooked to be spicy (ranging from very mild to throat-burning). Many of the desserts are based around a fruit native to the moon that is spherical, red-orange, and has a light sweet taste that is similar to a combination of mango, pineapple, and strawberry. Both ingredients are considered to be aphrodisiacs. Of course, the foods aren't actually aphrodisiacs and any effect is purely placebo.

ii. fair games

The festival features an entire row of fair games ranging from very high-tech games featuring virtual reality and neon holograms to extremely old-fashioned games with darts and balloons or balls and glasses. The games all have prizes in various shapes and sizes, with the standard stuffed animals, but also with goods and special items donated by any business in the city; ranging from tiny prizes to huge and expensive ones.

Due to the nature of the holiday, many of the stalls are set up to cater to winning a prize for your partner, and due to the nature of the Quarantine, a lot of them involve aiming or other aspects of pretending to fight.

iii. shopping

Originally, the part of the street festival that involved an actual market, with stalls and booths set up with goods, was aimed primarily at romantic trinkets like flowers or jewelry, gifts intended to be purchased for a loved one. As time has gone by, however, this aspect of the market has increased, with many businesses participating, though the emphasis is still on small businesses and anything relating to local culture rather than booths for any of the larger more corporate businesses.

There is still plenty of jewelry to be found, for sure, mostly handmade and artisan, but the scope of the Market has widened immeasurably. The Sampremi Market is an excellent place to find specialty foods, clothing, jewelry, art, or other goods that were originally native to cultures on other planets in this reality, or other realities altogether. Many residents in the city use the market to share their unique cultural goods and traditional dress with others.

iv. adult

In a side alley of the Sampremi Market on any day, one can find an area roped off with a red silken cord, attended by members of the Perimeter Guard in casual dress who will ID anyone entering to make sure they are 18+. Once characters are permitted entry, they will find all of the adult offerings that the market has to offer.

Since Sampremi is, historically, a celebration of lust and physical love, the adult offerings are all set up to cater to two or more people of any sex or gender configuration. One can find an adult or sexualized version of almost anything that's featured in the main market, from fair games to adult goods to street food laced with actual aphrodisiacs (there are always warnings for food spiked in this way to avoid accidental consumption).

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set at the Sampremi Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit (left to right): Theo Prins, andreasrocha @ tumblr, hrormir @ deviantart, nkabuto @ deviantart

navigation

Comments

[naz]

Caitlin lifts her eyebrows in question at the vague statement and a look of understanding is right on the heels of it when he holds up the "this" to which he's referring. "I think bread and cheese are a pretty safe bet for most people. How spicy are we talking, though?"

[greatcleavage]

"Oh, not heat spices. Maybe I should have said 'herbs', but I have no idea what the proper term is." He shrugged, cheerfully copping to a total lack of any functional knowledge for cooking and food preparation. "I mean it's got an added flavor to it that really ties it all together."

[naz]

"Oh," she replies with a little nod. Fair enough; some people call that 'spices' even where she comes from. "I just call it seasoning. I'll have to check that out, thanks." She appreciates the suggestion, although it looks like an awfully big portion size. Maybe she'll wait until she's hungrier and come back later. There's a lot to do here, after all. She can eat any time.

[greatcleavage]

"That works too. Maybe if I knew anything more about actually flavoring food I could describe it in terms that leave no doubt." Roy shrugged, not at all hesitant to cheerfully admit to his own lack of knowledge. He COULD learn if he ever wanted to, but his ignorance was not maintained out of pride or ego -- he just had other things to focus on. "They have some smaller flaky pastries there that aren't bad either, though they're a little boring entirely on their own. Everything's in double-portion size though."

[naz]

Caitlin shrugs. She only knows because she went through a Food Network phase when she was in college. It isn't like she's been to culinary school or ever really cared all that much, but she'd picked up a few things along the way. It doesn't mean she's a great cook — she isn't — but she can get by. "Cool, I'll have to look into those, too. Thanks for the heads up. I'll remember that and take some home with me, in that case."

[greatcleavage]

More than Roy had ever done while in college, although to be fair, he didn't have the option.

A moment of confusion passed, followed by Roy lowering his head and flicking his fingers away from his forehead in an 'I remember' sort of gesture. "Oh right, we do have those devices that keep food cold to preserve it, don't we."

[naz]

"Refrigerators?" Caitlin asks, a little confused. "Yeah... Do you not have those back home?"

She supposes that's possible. Anything is, really. Once one has seen breaches that open to other Earths and metahumans all over the place, one learns that just about anything is possible and nothing is too hard to believe anymore.

[greatcleavage]

Roy nodded. "All of the advanced devices are, at best, confined to gnomish tinkering in their outposts. We certainly don't have casual temperature manipulation through purely nonmagical means as a routine fact of life."

Magic opened up a lot of doors, but even it could hardly be described as common -- even to someone who grew up around it.

[naz]

To Caitiln, on the other hand, refrigerators weren't exactly a new thing; they'd been around for decades before she'd even been born. It's stranger to think about something like a refrigerator being uncommon to someone than the idea of "magic" — to her, that just means he's potentially seen someone with metahuman-type abilities that he can't explain. Science that scientists haven't pinned down, yet, that's all. "Ahh...this place must be an adjustment for you then."

The line in front of her moves and Caitlin is next to make her order. "I'd better go before I end up holding up the line. Thanks again for the suggestion!" she chirps happily before turning her attention to the vendor to order her food.