- !mod post: holiday,
- !mod post: monthly mingle,
- degrassi: lola pacini,
- marvel (616): billy kaplan,
- marvel (616): bucky barnes,
- marvel (616): loki laufeyson,
- marvel (616): steve rogers,
- marvel (mcu): natasha romanoff,
- marvel (mcu): sam wilson,
- marvel (mcu): steve rogers,
- marvel (mcu): wanda maximoff,
- original: shigeru miyata,
- the adventure zone: taako taaco,
- ✖ buffy the vampire slayer: buffy summer,
- ✖ dc comics (dcnu): jason todd,
- ✖ dc comics (preboot): dick grayson,
- ✖ dceu: clark kent,
- ✖ dctv (arrow): curtis holt,
- ✖ dctv (arrow): ray palmer,
- ✖ dctv (flash): caitlin snow,
- ✖ dctv (flash): eddie thawne,
- ✖ dragon age: morrigan,
- ✖ dragon age: sera,
- ✖ lazer team: adam,
- ✖ magic the gathering: chandra nalaar,
- ✖ marvel (616): tony stark,
- ✖ marvel (mcu): scott lang,
- ✖ marvel (tv): matt murdock,
- ✖ original: benjamin holt,
- ✖ original: bryn zethir,
- ✖ original: cecelia wynn,
- ✖ original: letha regis,
- ✖ original: william holt,
- ✖ pokemon (xy/xyz): augustine sycamore,
- ✖ prison break: michael scofield,
- ✖ teen wolf: derek hale,
- ✖ the last of us: ellie,
- ✖ the order of the stick: roy greenhilt,
- ✖ the raven cycle: ronan lynch,
- ✖ the walking dead: carl grimes,
- ✖ the walking dead: clementine,
- ✖ the walking dead: rick grimes,
- ✖ true blood: alcide herveaux,
- ✖ vampire: the masquerade: fatima merali,
- ✖ vikings: ivar ragnarsson,
- ✖ yuri on ice: yuri plisetsky
introductory mingle: SAMPREMI
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

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.

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!

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

no subject
[She turns to look where he's looking, watching the kid. Is it cruel to use some other kid as a guinea pig? Technically they could use anyone here.] Everyone's eating the food, not just us new people. If you really want to be safe, the best way might be to watch the food the whole way. If they hand it to you straight off the stall, it's probably fine. I'd worry more about anything they took out of your sight before handing to you.
[If they were going to tamper with it, that would be the way to do it. Otherwise they'd risk hurting their own people.]
How long do you think it would take stuff to get through his system?
no subject
Yeah. I haven't seen anyone take the food out of sight. Looks like they make it all in front of you. [He acknowledges. He's starting to feel she's right and he should give them the benefit of the doubt.]
But I wouldn't know how long it takes food to get through his system... [Or anybody's for that matter.]
no subject
[It's not like she knows anything about poison, though. She has her imagination and that's about it.]
For what it's worth, I had some meat on a stick already and I feel fine.
[Of course she doesn't like the idea of him staring at her for a while either.]
no subject
[Honestly he isn't an expert either. He can only imagine the pain would be twice or three times as bad as eating too much sugar. Considering that maybe the kid they're watching isn't the best person to pick out of the crowd after all.
Seems she changes the need to anyway when she tells him about eating and being okay.]
How long ago was that?
[He's just curious. He's not planning to stare at her all day or anything. That was never his intention with the other kid either.]
no subject
[She'd actually been wandering around looking for something else to much on, but there was just so much to choose from. She didn't want to go around eating a bit of everything only to find the best looking item when she was already full. It's a little unfair how much there is to choose from here. There's no way she can try it all.]
No stomach aches. No need to run to the toilet multiple times. Not yet, anyway.
[Her simply eating too much is still a possibility.]
no subject
[Not to state the obvious or anything. He's just coming into the realization that it's probably safe after all. And you know, the smells from hot dogs and chocolate dipped apples just seem so good.]
Guess you're right about them not wanting to poison their customers. Guess it was silly of me to worry about it so much, this time.
You gonna get anything else? [An idle question as he tries to figure it out for himself.]
no subject
[She worried too. Hunger just won out. She knew she'd regret passing all this up if it turned out it was all fine. Plus it's not like it's being offered to them free of charge. They're making money off the newbies.
At Carl's question, she looks back to one of the stalls.]
...I was thinking of maybe getting dessert.
no subject
He acknowledges her answer with a simple nod. Looks like maybe the two of them would hang out a little while. It's an assumption he holds on reserve.]
I was thinking of something like that too.
['Course he knows it may not be the smartest idea starting with dessert but it's been a long time since he had the chance to, so why not? It wasn't like anyone was gonna stop him. And he would eat something better for him later.]
no subject
I'm gonna have a hard time only picking out one or two things, you know? Do you want something like cake? Or cookies? Maybe one of those big lollipops or cotton candy? [She kinda wants some sort of fruit dipped in a candied coating. That's a real show of abundance, being able to take something so fresh and covering it in something so bad for you.]
Or do you want to try something really weird? [Something alien.]
no subject
Being honest with himself, it's probably something like the Big Cat bars he used to have in his world.]
I think I could go for something chocolate right now.
[When she asks if they want to try something really weird though, his faces contorts with a little disgust but he snerks and shakes his head.] No way. I am good. But you can try something really weird if you want.
no subject
[She's seen some pretty strange stuff already and has been tempted to try a little bit of it. Who knows what's in it, but it has to be edible, right? There are human enough looking civilians here.
Honestly, she could go for something chocolate too.]
Hey... [She takes a moment to really take in his appearance.] Your name isn't Carl, is it?
no subject
[He's not in any hurry or in any way trying to push her decision into being faster. Besides he's doing about the same. Taking his time and really considering what he wants. He's definitely leaning towards chocolate now but is is chocolate cookies he wants, chocolate cake, or something else?
He feels like he is on the verge of deciding when her questions snaps him out of making his final decision.] Yeah... But how do you know my name? [He does what feels like blinking to him, but appears as something different with his eye-patch there. For a split second he looks at her cautiously until it seems to dawn on him how she might have known his name.] You met my dad, didn't you?
no subject
[And really, with the description he'd given she should have made the connection sooner.]
Not that we talked about you a lot or anything. Don't worry.
[Now that she has chocolate on the brain, going for anything other than a big piece of chocolate cake seems like a waste of her time. It's just a matter of finding one...]
no subject
I hope not. [He wouldn't necessarily be embarrassed but he would be just a little bit too. He gives her a curious look though.]
What did you talk about then? Food?
no subject
[That gets a little more of a smile out of her. It sounds kind of silly when it says it out loud.] I mean, what else is there to talk about here?
[Certainly nothing of any real importance or relevance, such as where they came from or whatever else they might possibly have in common. Why would you ever talk about that when there's chocolate cake nearby?]
Kind of dumb, huh?
no subject
Right. Yeah. Not much to talk about. [He trails off so that it almost seems he's lost any idea of how to continue, but then picks right up.] Bit surprising how much there is, too.
[Of course there's no reason to talk about the similarities of their world and history because there's no way to know they share that. His comment about there being a lot of food certainly doesn't say much other than that he is, in fact, surprised. It almost even seems they went over board with it all because none of the food seems to running out even with the long lines they're seeing. That's just a note he's making.]
I guess it's kinda dumb. [He agrees, crossing his arms and letting the smallest of smiles slip through in how weird and amusing he found it after all.] Kidnapped to a strange world, and all we can talk about is food.
[And chocolate.]
no subject
[How do you go about asking a stranger if their world had been overrun by the walking dead, anyway? She thinks about bringing up the subject of food scarcity, but you don't have to have come from a place where food is hard to come by in order to find the sheer amount of it at this festival to be a little overwhelming.
It's a lot easier to get into than some other things. Such as what happened to his eye. She's still holding out on that question.]
So do you want to go stare at cakes until we give in and buy half of them?