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

[inlaid]

Bryn looks at the bottles with curiosity, noting the scents, but what catches her attention is the curtsy. The formal introduction to follow her own. It's interesting to Bryn, who automatically pegs the woman as someone of a background higher than the lower or middle class. As such, she adjusts her own responses and behavior accordingly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Wynn. My full name is Bryn Zethir, and you're welcome to call me Miss Zethir if you prefer, but I'm comfortable being called by my first name as well," she says, stating no preference outright. She also omits the fact that to the public she's a Lieutenant in Askoupur's sky guard, which is only a cover for the fact that her true name and rank would be Council Agent Bryn Zethir. Such things are either a secret from even her family, or something she's not widely advertising here in Riverview. "As for your offer, it's very generous of you, but I'd hate to break up the set you've fairly won for yourself."

[inthemoonlight]

"As you like, Miss Zethir. I will not press you to." But at least Bryn now has an idea of what's included in the set. Now she just has to beat the vendor at his tricky little game.

"If I may offer advice? The darts are dulled. I find lifting them high and throwing in a sharp, downward motion usually does the trick. Otherwise they bounce off the balloon."

Of course, Cecelia tapped into her werewolf strength to make sure the balloons would break, but she feels this is good advice as well. She doesn't know that it won't work, in any case.

[inlaid]

Bryn's eyes gleam with appreciation at the advice, and if Cecelia is observant enough she won't take the fact that the game is rigged as a deterrent. Rather, it's a challenge, one that Bryn is happy to rise to.

"Darts aren't my forte but I appreciate the tip." No pun intended. "Do you have a lot of experience with fair games or just natural talent?"

She ought to be moving on, and she knows that Cecelia was headed in another direction but the social atmosphere of the event is getting to her, making her more inclined to stop and linger. To converse and get to know people a bit better than she might in passing, or only as necessary for an assignment.

[inthemoonlight]

"Oh, no, not much experience," she says. "We had them at home in the spring, but word spreads about how they are very hard to win, and after awhile, you know the tricks." Now she smiles with just a hint of wickedness. "It is always amusing to beat the vendor at their own game. As long as only a few people do, then they have hardly lost much."

[inlaid]

She can't help but smile back. Bryn always does appreciate people beating unfair odds, especially when those odds are unfair for the purpose of making money off of others in the name of "fun."

"And where is home for you?" she asks. There isn't much more she can say on the subject of fair games. The ones she played in Khipari involved laser pistols and holograms, little robots with the most basic of A.I. and programming guiding them, and the like. "Is it much like Riverview?"

[inthemoonlight]

"Lancashire County, England. And no, not in the least! This place is far busier, and has more machines than home." Her home hasn't even seen the invention of railroads yet. Here the transportation is a bit daunting in its speed.

"And yourself?"

[inlaid]

It's another place she's never heard of before, but that isn't all that strange for her. So many people here seem to be from similar planets or versions of it, and she's the only one here from Teru.

"Khipari, Askoupur. The planet Teru. It's a bit more bustling back home than it is here, but Khipari is the capital. This place reminds me a bit more of other parts of our country. Some of the smaller, greener cities closer to the coast," she explains with a smile. "What sort of technology and machinery are you used to back in England?"

[inthemoonlight]

"Goodness! Of course I knew that others would be here from other planets as well, but this is the first I have heard of another by name! Most I have spoken to are from another version of my Earth. It seems quite popular that way." And lucky for Bryn that Riverview reminds her of home in a way. This place is the exact opposite of familiar to Cecelia.

"We have horses to pull our wagons and carriages. And ships out at sea. None of the transport here. We do not have electricity, nor water from a faucet. There is no way to speak to others through little windows. We must speak in person or through letters. Everything here is so different."

[inlaid]

By comparison to Bryn's world, the level of technology sounds quite primitive. Not only is electricity commonplace even in the most remote regions, but as are holographic displays, laser based weapons, hover vehicles and space travel.

"Very different," she agrees, looking around them now. The festival must be quite foreign to Cecelia. "But what about magic? Or races other than humans?" Their neighbors to the north, the Iramakaat are humanoid in appearance but with their wooden antlers and ears tapered to points, they could never be mistaken for them. And that's to say nothing of the mermaid kingdoms across the ocean, the demons in their blighted cross-dimension or any of the other races that inhabit Teru.