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

Ray Palmer OTA

[keepitup]

◉ i. street food

For nearly the entire duration of the celebration, Ray eats all of his meals at the festival. There's just way too much to try. Not on the savory stuff, like the dumplings or tortas, or arancini — dear lord those are good — but Ray really has as weakness for sweet things. Donuts and cakes and pastries with a rich, velvety frosting? Count him in.

Also count him in for the intense cleansing he's going to have to do after this binge, but he's always been a stress eater, and while Ray isn't exactly stressed here, life itself has a way of putting him through a lot of twists lately, so he feels a sense of legitimacy in his temporary indulgance.

Plus, he doesn't make unhealthy choices every meal.

◉ ii. fair games

It's hard to describe the sheer amount of excitement that a human can exude over video games, and yet. Here Ray is, at a street festival with holographic virtual reality games, and he literally cannot step away. His entire first day is sunk entirely on trying all of them out, and Ray is so entranced by the technology that he even forgets to eat. But then of course, he has to dig into the software and the hardware.

"Where I'm from, they've barely got virtual reality working well enough to not make people throw up, but this, this is incredible. What programming language is this built on? Do you guys even have the same programming languages here?" Anyone who's even remotely close to him will be able to hear Ray grilling the attendants with over enthusiasm, despite none of them knowing the answers to his questions. Still, they assure him with smiles on their faces, the designers will be here on a certain day, so he should come back then and ask.

◉ iii. shopping

When it comes to the shopping area of the Sampremi, Ray's interest is much more cultural. There isn't much that he wants himself, but he genuinely wants to understand the native population a lot better, because ultimately, he wants to make a difference here. And making a difference responsibly involves getting to know a place's history. So naturally, he'll tend more towards the traditional dress or unique cultural goods, and more often than not he'll strike up conversations with vendors to ask them about how long they've lived here and how business is this year.

◉ v. roommates + communal floors

After Clark messaged everyone a few days ago about putting up a note on every floor's bulletin board, Ray had gone from floor to floor to write his name in as someone who could help in a medical emergency. He isn't that kind of doctor, but he does have some special experience with medicine and technology — so in a pinch, anyone is welcome to call him for help.

When it comes to his roommate though, honestly Ray is excited to meet Dick Grayson. In fact, if he's up for it, Ray will invite him to join him at the fair — just as friends, in case that needed to be stressed, but this is a love celebration after all — but the invitation is enthusiastic nonetheless. There's really nothing like bonding over food, after all.

↪ fair games

[mrterrific]

[ There he was, taking a stroll through the festival, minding his own business, just enjoying the smells and sights and sounds. Curtis has come across a lot of unexpected stuff since he was brought here, but nothing quite as unexpected as one of those sounds being a voice he recognizes. He stops in his tracks, listening hard. It's not someone he's met since coming here. It's no one from the team. But he definitely recognizes it.

So he drifts closer, unable to see who is talking just yet, but getting a sense of what he's saying as he approaches. The person is grilling the attendant about the technical aspects of some virtual reality game. Curtis' heart is beating faster. Dammit, he should know this voice! He's heard it in some important situation, he's sure of it, but it's just at the edge of his memory, just out of reach.

That is, until the crowd shifts and a gap opens up and he spots- ]

Ray Palmer!

[ Not the politest greeting, to shout someone's name whilst pointing at them and openly staring, but Curtis isn't thinking about that right now. ]

[keepitup]

[ By now, Ray is probably just telling the attendants how he thinks the technology works, and what breakthroughs he they must have made here. But it all comes to an end when someone shouts his name, and almost everyone in their vicinity just stops and stares at Curtis, and then at Ray.

No one here knows who Ray is, but it's just the way Curtis says his name has people wondering if maybe they should have recognized him — but once they're all convinced he's just yet another recent arrival, they all stop paying attention immediately. ]

... Curtis?

[ He turns back to the attendant for a second, giving him the controller that Ray had all but requisitioned for the last few minutes. He tells him I'll be back tomorrow and the attendant is probably thanking the gods that he can just help the next person try a new video game again. ]

Wow- How long have you been here? [ For Ray, it hasn't been that long since Curtis and Felicity rescued him from beneath a small box in the lair of a super villain. ]

[mrterrific]

[ Curtis feels distinctly awkward when a bunch of people in the vicinity stop talking and turn around to gawk at them. He quickly drops the hand that had been pointing, grins apologetically as he comes over to talk to Ray. ]

I'm really sorry, Dr. Palmer. Probably shouldn't have shouted like that, it's just- didn't really expect to run into anyone I know! You're the first person from back home I've seen here, do you know if there's anybody else...?

[ Apparently both of them have the same first instinct: to ask questions, gather information. Curtis doesn't need to stop to think before he can answer Ray's inquiry: ]

This is my eleventh day. Which doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it feels like a really really long time. What about you?

[keepitup]

No Curtis, please do not worry about it. [ He feels like he knows Curtis, mostly because he remembers how impressed he'd been when he'd first applied to work at Palmer Tech. ]

Yes! Do you know Dr. Caitlin Snow? She does biomedical engineering over in Central City's S.T.A.R. Labs? I ran into her a few days ago, and then again yesterday.

[ And yes. He and Curtis are definitely on the same page about this. ]

Twelfth [ He says, grinning at the near coincidence. ] We must have just missed each other. You were here then, during the storm? What job are you assigned?

Shopping

[dust_of_life]

For Fatima, the urge to shop came almost as naturally as the urge to breathe air or eat food. It was the California in her. Or maybe because it reminded her of simpler times with her mother. Or maybe both. She was willing to accept both.

But the shopping wasn't really doing it for her today. Everything seemed so geared toward couples. It was like Valentine's Day on crack, with a little Christmas mistletoe thrown in. And while she wasn't the kind of bitter cliche who hated all things romantic and Hallmark, she did feel more outside-looking-in than usual.

Also, what the hell were edible underwear? Because...ew.

Fortunately, she rounded the corner and spotted Ray, her strange flying friend from the fence. She'd thought about him a lot lately. Mostly because, in her rush to be a Big Damn Hero, she'd been sloppy about protecting herself and her secret. He didn't exactly scream vampire hunter or anything, but she figured at least some damage control was called for.

"Hey," she called, waving to him.

[keepitup]

Ray Palmer, Vampire Hunter. Yeah, that sounds about as likely as Abe Lincoln having the same job. In fact, he's in the middle of looking at a piece of art that's a little darker than usual, when he looks up and sees Fatima headed towards him, waving, and Ray immediately grins.

"Hey!" He sets the piece down, waves a quick goodbye to the stall owner, starts walking towards her. "Fatima, right? How have you been doing for the past few of days?"

Now that he's really not in his suit anymore, she can see Ray's natural height, which is only about an inch lower than the suit makes him — so still fairly tall. And he's dressed rather casually today. A comfortable zip-up hoodie with a few cotton shirts underneath. Comfortable pants, but nothing so casual as to go all the way to jeans.

[dust_of_life]

He was good-looking out of the suit. He wore those pants like he was doing them a favor. And Fatima had to admit, with a quick, covert glance, that he really was doing them a favor.

She gave him a smile, just glad, suddenly, that she wasn't covered in monster entrails this time. "Yeah, it's Fatima," she said. "Glad to see you're still in one piece." That was probably a little emasculating, but Fatima wasn't used to seeing a lot of dudes who fought monsters.

At least, ones that weren't batshit cray-cray.

"What the hell are you looking at?" she asked, glancing over hier shoulder at the weird art.

[keepitup]

Ray likes her smile the most, but it's because it's the kind of thing Ray has naturally always paid attention to. It's not even because he likes to smile so much, but he likes to see people happy and not be afraid to show it.

"Oh believe me, me too," he says, like she'd just said something completely thoughtful. "I never got to really thank you for all your help that day."

When she mentions the painting though, Ray spins 90 degrees back on his heels and makes an awkward look on his face. "I'm told that it's a painting of a ghost story that's pretty old around here. But to be honest ... I'm not really sure."

street food

[mysophobic]

[ Shigeru is like the exact opposite. Instead of eating anything he's kinda just...wandering around looking (with a somewhat unsure face) at all the food presented. He's also kinda jumpy and it's probably getting easier to see how outside his comfort zone he is. He is hungry, that's no lie, but he's also trying really hard to not make a scene or act weird in front of people in an entirely new place.

He is eying those donuts with some interest though. Donuts aren't really a thing he's seen back at home, so seeing new things here makes him curious. ]

[keepitup]

[ Ray prides himself in reading other people. Especially wall flowers. And in this case, he's already eyeing those donuts, and the food here always comes in portions to be shared, so he'll gladly try and meet a new resident along the way. ]

What do you think? [ He's standing side-by-side with Shigeru now, and pointing to one of the frosted donuts. ] Wanna get an order together? [ Each order is exactly two four inch donuts, after all. ]

[mysophobic]

[ Shigeru might startle a little at the closeness of the other, but he just gives a sheepish smile and shrugs. He'll take out his phone to type something to the other in response. ]

I guess we could try some? What flavors do you think are good?

[ Though he hardly looks at certain as his stated words are typed. If only he was good at this sort of thing. ]

[keepitup]

[ The fact that Ray is actually supposed to read the man's phone catches him off-guard, but he bounces back quickly. ]

Oh- yes, of course we should. Hmmmm. What about the pistachio one with ... [ He takes a step closer to read the label. ] ... some kind of local cinnamon?

ROOMMATES slams in here

[fingerstripes]

[ There's a whole lot of new ground to cover, and so a lot of that time he's sunk into patrol in the first few days, creeping in late or not at all, catching snatches of sleep at odd hours when he imagines he's alone. The question of a roommate is something he needs to address, but it's somehow become a second-tier priority in the unending cascade of new problems this place has to offer.

It's not until he's adding his own name to the list at the end of the hall that he spots Ray's there, above his. That that part of it suddenly clicks. Ray. Ray Palmer.

It's not as if Ray isn't a common name. But the idea that he's just been handed an apartment to share with the Ray Palmer for an indefinite surprise vacation to an alternate universe is just weird enough to be a little plausible. The curiosity is enough to drive him down to the apartment again, this time during fairly normal waking hours. There's more to coming up with an escape plan than work, after all.

He'll offer him his hand whenever he shows up, along with a broad, open smile. ]

Hey. It's Ray, right?

[keepitup]

[ Ray looks up from their living room almost immediately. He'd been starting to wonder if he had a roommate at all, though it's not entirely Dick's fault. Ever since day one he'd really settled into the perimeter guard, and it's not like he's been a model citizen when it comes to normal sleeping hours. ]

Yeah. [ He puts his book down — one he just got from the festival yesterday — and is already standing with a lop-sided grin on his face. He extends a hand. ] Ray Palmer. Are you Dick Grayson? [ They'd given them the names of their roommate, after all. As a way to get acquainted with each other. ]

So nice to finally meet you. We seem to have missed each other for the past couple of days.

[fingerstripes]

Sorry to keep you in suspense. [ It is him. Dick tries to keep the grin off his face, takes the hand and gives it a firm shake. ]

And yeah, I'm going to be working with the police department. We kind of hit the ground running on afterhours patrols. [ Which is true enough. Just, you know, minus the part involving the mask and the spandex onesie. ]

So how've you been settling in?

> by the donut stand

[causational]

[There's no denying that Eddie is nervous. It's one thing to be alive here, in this strange world that is apparently universes away from his, but it's another to run into people who know him. Who know that he's dead. Somehow, it makes the whole thing seem a lot more real, when all Eddie's been doing is working hard, going to the festival constantly, and pretending this is normal instead of dealing with the fact it's so surreal it feels fake, and part of him is convinced it's an incredibly elaborate pre-death hallucination.

So, when he walks up to the donut stand at 2 pm like Ray suggested, he's not really smiling as much as he did the last time they met. His face is neutral, he's wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans, his hands tucked in his pockets, his shoulders a little hunched. Hesitant.

When he sees Ray, he pulls on a shaky smile, and lifts his hand to wave at him.]

Ray. Heeeeyy, how are you?

[keepitup]

[ Honestly Ray can't imagine how nervous Eddie might be right now, because he's ridiculously nervous. He's already learned from Clark that people here come from different times, so was Eddie ... he has a lot of questions.

When he spots Eddie though, all he manages to do is give him an empathetic grin. In the end, nearly dying and actually dying just aren't the same. ]

Eddie. Hey.

[ They didn't get the chance to be close when he visited Central City, but right now, when Ray is within hugging distance, he lifts his arms. ] Can I ...?

[causational]

[The moment Ray lifts his arms and asks if he can hug him, Eddie smiles, finally. Nodding, he steps forward and hugs back, eyes squeezing shut just for a moment. It feels good, to be touched - he hasn't really had any of that kind of contact since he got here, aside from the nurses at the hospital when he'd first arrived. It's nice, to be hugged by someone who knows who he is, even just in passing.

Stepping back after the hug is done, after holding on for just slightly too long, he exhales heavily, and manages a shaky smile.]

It's been a while. I think. [He licks his lips, and his brows furrow.] How long has it been for you?

Stret Food

[whattingawhat]

Buffy is taking advantage of all the food as well. While Ray is drawn to the sweet things, Buffy tends to turn to the savory things. She's got some fries with cheese and garlic and truffle oil on them and she's making some reasonably obscene noises as she eats the fries. Shut up, they're that good. She's also paying no damn attention where she's going when she almost runs into a very tall, very good looking guy. She swerves at the last minute and has to make a wild grab for her fries.

"Crap! Sorry," she says, licking butter, truffle oil and garlic from her fingers.

YUM

[keepitup]

Oh dear god, fries with cheese and garlic and truffle oil? Ray can barely blame her for not paying attention to anyone around her. He'd be focused on those fries too.

"Sorry!" Ray says, nearly simultaneously, even though it wasn't his fault, as he serves his body too in response. "Haha, please, don't worry about it." Putting up a finger, he motions for her to wait just a minute as he goes to grab her some napkins.

"Just for later," he says, as he hands her at least a stack of six or seven. "Those look too delicious."

Right?

[whattingawhat]

They're pretty much fries of the gods.

Buffy would have done the same thing and she likes Ray instantly because of that. She winces a little. "It's--" she starts to say 'okay' but it really isn't his fault, it's hers so she smiles at him, waiting as silently requested.

"Thanks," she tells him, taking the napkins. "You should have some. I can't eat them all or I'll be sick. You'd be doing me a favor." She pauses a moment. "Hi. I'm Buffy. Please share my fries."

ii. fair games

[amelioraate]

[ Tony had learned a long time ago that most of the people in this place had no damn idea about how the games they ran worked (unless, of course, they were one of the assholes that rigged their games, and Tony had come across more than one of those, unfortunately). They were just kind of there, hosting things and letting people have some fun as they wandered through the place, yelling and laughing and enjoying life.

It was a nice change of pace for Tony.

He wasn't really interested in anything that was going on, more than pleased to just wander and observe (partly paranoid maybe), until he hears someone talking, very loudly and very excitedly, about programming languages and coding and, oh my god, it is the song of his people.

The genius turns sharply headed towards where he can hear the guy talking and slides up beside him, blue eyes bright as he watches the attendant look more than a little lost.]

I think that facial expression is an 'I just work here' kind of thing.

[ He's laughing as he leans against the stall and pays more attention to the game in question than the man. He holds out his hands, asking with a twitch of a brow, if he can see it.]

[keepitup]

[ It's day two now of Ray doing this. Coming back and talking too excitedly about the VR situation. And while Ray is extremely excited at the moment, he can't help but notice man who comes up to him. Wait. He's seen this man before. Maybe at orientation, or after. Somewhere at the Perimeter Guard office. ]

Yes but- surely he can at least appreciate how fantastic this is. I mean for mass market purposes you guys must have this down to some kind of affordable price. Which means you've nailed both the software quirks, and-

[ Ray hears that laugh though and then sees Tony hold out his hands, and happily, he hands over the headset and the control stick. ]

[amelioraate]

[ Tony had one of those faces, but he remembers Ray. At least remembers his name, and that he was to be working with Tony on things but he really didn't much attention beyond that, what with Loki being a shit and there being beds on the ceiling and--

Whatever, point is, Tony remembers him, and is actually also really interested in this technology. Mainly because if it has the right aspects, he can use it to give Friday the projectors that she needs to exist within the office the way he is used to it. And it would be nice to have that little comfort of home right about now.]

They do seem to have worked out the glitches, I wonder if the programming can be modified in order to create interactive projection displays.

[ And yeah, maybe he is muttering that as he puts the headset on and begins to interact. There is a few moments of mumbling from the genius before he makes a triumphant noise.

Someone is peeping behind the curtain.]

Oooh, there is potential!