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

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Comments

Yuri Plisetsky | Yuri!!! On Ice

[bespredel]

I. Street Food

[ Yuri has never been afraid of trying new things when it came to food. Some of the most disgusting sounding things had ended up being some of the most delicious. So even though he knows he ought to be more mindful, he goes around and tries just a little bit of everything. He'll work it off, he knows. He isn't like Katsudon, who gains weight by just getting a whiff of something fatty. It's one of the few times when Yuri is just glad to be a teenager; to need to shovel his face full of food so that he can keep growing.

Or at least, that's the excuse he's going with.

And oh, shovel he does.

Yuri's table manners are appalling. He chews with his mouth open, he stuffs as much as he can into his mouth. If he uses a utensil, he uses it like a shovel, and tears into meats with his teeth like an unapologetic animal. It's a disgusting sight to behold, and he isn't even in the least bit sorry.

He's sitting at one of the little tables that a stall has set up, shovelling deep-fried vegetables and spicy chicken-esque kabobs into his mouth like a neanderthal. He doesn't even pause in his chewing before he glances up, brow furrowing in your direction as he spits out- ] Th'hell are you looking at?

[ And yes, his mouth absolutely is still full. ]

II. Fair Games

[ He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever been to any sort of carnival, let alone one like this. Where the games vary from things that he's seen before, to crazy futuristic mumbo jumbo that both blows his mind and is absolutely awesome. He wanders the games for awhile, paying a little money here and there to try a few things out. Darts, a water gun game, some basketball shots-

But it's at the stacked milk bottles that he spots it. And it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. The massive stuffed tiger makes his eyes water with joy, his heart swelling, a gasp echoing out his lips. Oh, god, it's almost as big as he is, and he absolutely, unapologetically, needs it.

He's never done baseball before, but god damn, he's going to be the best ever at it by the end of Sampremi, even if it kills him.

The first few rounds don't go well.

Maybe it's the swearing that draws you, the strings of sharp and vicious Russian and English mixing as Yurio throws ball after ball, knocking over one or two milk bottles, but not enough to land the giant prize that he wants. ]

GIVE ME ANOTHER. [ The demanding roar in his tone is obvious, as he slams another fistful of dollars onto the green velvet-esque counter, and the vendor shrugs, smiles slyly, and slides another three balls towards the cursing youth. ]

V. Roommates - Closed to Eddie

(takes place after this)

[ He had barely settled into his apartment, and then this had happened. He'd only gone shopping the day before, and now some asshole hobo with too much mascara had broken in, stolen his shit, and thrown him into a bookcase. His one saving grace, was that no one would see him like this. As far as he knew, he was one of the lucky few who had managed to end up living alone, and not one of those awful communal floors with one bathroom for five people and less privacy than the rink locker rooms.

Fuck that, honestly.

He was too sore to move. Needed a moment to collect himself, to gather up the energy to move his limbs again, and crawl out from underneath the broken bookcase. He just, needed a little more time. Everything hurt; his back and shoulders where he'd exchanged most of his force into the book case felt the worst. His injured arm with stitches from his efforts on the perimeter were throbbing terribly. His head was killing him. Yeah, laying there for a moment or two longer sounded like a far better idea than moving. ]

I

[greatcleavage]

[In times of social awkwardness, Roy has a reasonably simple rule: tell the truth.]

[Because he has no ranks in Bluff.]

Sorry, I was just wondering if you were a barbarian.

[Also he's still working on realizing that people would not hear that question and recognize it as he intends it, which is, "have you taken levels in the barbarian class?". In his defense, he's never before been in a place where that sort of clarification is necessary.]

[bespredel]

[ His head snaps up, and he looks predatory, like he might have to defend what's his. It isn't so wrong of an assessment; he's had his food stolen from him once already. In his own damn apartment, no less. He snarls, showing teeth, the hand of his bandaged arm tightening sharply around a kebab. ]

What the hell does it matter to you? Can't you see I'm eating? [ The other is just shy of receiving a 'fuck off', but Yuri is more interested in shovelling more delicious food in his maw. Lucky Roy. ]

[greatcleavage]

It's literally impossible to miss. [He's just saying. They can probably see or at least hear him outside the walls.] It certainly wasn't my intention to interrupt, I've just been spending time lately assessing local talent for recruitment into an adventuring party.

[bespredel]

[ As if in defiance, Yuri snorts, and takes another huge (disgusting) bite out of his deep fried vegetables, chewing loudly and sneering at the other. ]

Assessing local talent by watching someone eat? [ If Yuri sounds skeptical, that's because he is. He swallows loudly, wiping greasy fingers on a napkin, before plopping his chin on the knuckles of one of his hands, scowling across his small table at the other. ]

V. What a great first impression.

[causational]

[Somehow, Eddie hadn't managed to meet his roommate yet. Of course, he's had his suspicions that he has one, because things are left around in the shared kitchen and bathroom. But he's never met the other person, doesn't know whether it's a man or woman, or what they're like, only that so far they've never bothered each other enough to force a meeting. He figures it'll come with time, when their schedules match up.

This is definitely not how he'd expected to meet his roommate.

Eddie had been out, first to the gym and to grab a coffee, then to suck it up and get some groceries for the first time. To accept that he's going to be here a while because he can't go home, even if they end up being able to send him back. His head is ducked down as he unlocks the door, pushes it open with his shoulder, and slips inside. Drops his grocery bags and keys on the table and only lifts his head when he's passing through the little study area toward his room.

And that's when he sees it. The bookcase toppled over. Books and wood strewn everywhere....and a very small blond figure crumpled underneath it.]

Oh my god. Are you okay?

[Jogging over, he's immediately moving to start pulling the furniture off the person.]

the very best

[bespredel]

[ The day has gone from unpleasant, to absolutely appalling all the breadth of a moment. He hadn't heard the lock click in the door, but he had heard the other's footsteps as he entered, causing Yuri to tense up underneath the bookcase, a groan leaving him as he started to shift, making a more concentrated effort in getting out from underneath the wreckage. There are pinpricks of blood coming up from underneath the bandages wound around his left arm; he'll have to change it, clean the stitches underneath. It's an absent thought, far more absorbed with the act of focusing on what's going on now, on dealing with it. On dealing with the embarrassment of being found like this. ]

I'm just peachy. [ He snarls, his accent thick, his words rough as he tries to help in pushing the shit piled off of him off, so that he can crawl out from under the mess, try to get back onto his feet and assess the damage. ]

[causational]

[Well, at least that response definitely confirms that his roommate is absolutely alive under there, if nothing else. It also confirms that his roommate is definitely a teenage boy who is definitely Russian, going by the accent.

As the blond kid squirms underneath the bookcase, Eddie shifts, braces himself, and yanks a good chunk of the chipboard monstrosity off of him. Eddie is sharp and observant, and he quickly rakes his eyes up and down the length of the kid, trying to find any obvious injuries, broken bones, bad bruising, bleeding - it looks like he's in one piece, though pretty beat up.]

Well, at least nothing seems to be broken.

[Eddie holds a hand out, offering to help him up.]

Mind if I take a look at you? I've got first aid.

[bespredel]

[ Aside from the small beads of blood staining his bandages, Yuri seems no worse for the wear. He's going to sport some nasty bruises- already the line of the shelf where he'd connected with his neck and shoulder are rising up red, beginning to tilt into what will soon become nasty purpling. He pulls his legs up underneath him, letting out a shuddering breath, before sneering and knocking the other's hand away with his good arm. ]

I'm fine. [ He scowls, knocking the other's hand away roughly, before placing it on his knee, and pushing himself onto his feet with a soft groan. His gaze clipped up, eyes sharp and defiant as his lips pursed, frown writing itself clear and vicious across his lips. ]

Who the hell are you anyway? [ He demanded, not about to let- who he assumed to be his roommate- look him over until he at least had a name. Maybe it was his fault that he'd caught the thief in their kitchen in the first place; Yuri didn't know. ]

ii

[livingsymbol]

[Steve, in the interest of fairness, has not been participating in the various games around town. They look fun, but he can tell at a glance that they aren't meant for him. He does notice the small blond kid swearing violently in Russian as he slams the counter of the booth. It makes Steve pause as he goes by, watching the scene play out as the vendor hands the kid a set of baseballs. Steve's brow furrows as he looks to the milk bottles stacked up as targets. After watching Yuri heave his first ball to the set, he walks toward him.]

These kinds of games always have difficult angles.

[bespredel]

Difficult angles my ass. [ He grumbles, picking up the second ball and tossing it in his palm, eyeing the bottles like they've personally offended him. Mostly because they have. ]

I hit that stack square in the middle and it didn't so much as teeter. I cry foul. [ He snarled it towards the vendor, who again, just shrugged. Crooked or not, Yuri wasn't leaving without that tiger. ]

[livingsymbol]

[The angry bristle in the young man's answer hits something in Steve. He doesn't know the kid, but his determination and fire are clear as he eyes the bottles like they are his personal enemy. It almost makes him smile. He looks at the bottles and the way they're set up, checking more closely this time for foul play. It's true that a lot of these carnival games tend to be rigged, and Steve moves closer to the counter of the booth, checking to see what the trick might be.]

I'm sure you'll get it. How many turns have you paid for?

[He's conveniently positioned just a bit uncomfortably close, with his size blocking a clear shot so Yuri doesn't take it before he's made sure the game can actually be won.]

[bespredel]

Sixteen balls. [ At 2$ each, or 3 for 5. It wasn't a lot of money, yet- but for a kid whose allowance had to cover rent, food, theft of said food, clothing, and everything else, throwing his money away on a rigged game maybe wasn't the wisest of decisions. But Yuri had always been a little impulsive, and the tiger hanging in the corner just screamed for him to take it home. Begging with it's large, deep yellow eyes where it gazed towards Yuri.

He'd win the damn thing if it killed him. ]

I've won garbage, knocking over only the top bottle- but I can't get the rest to fall. [ Yuri gestured towards a small pile of superfluous plastic toys; kazoos and whistles and cheaply made necklaces and other such garbage trinkets.

From outside perspective, the milk bottles seemed innocuous. However, the weights of them, the ballast in their bases steadily increased, with the softballs being a little extra on the 'soft' side, so as to make it next to impossible to throw with enough force to knock them all over. Even with a perfect throw. ]

Move over a bit, you're blocking my aim meathead.

II

[threatenwithcuteness]

*Lola wasn't really one for carnival games. The prizes were always cute but unless someone won it for her, she'd rather just save her tips to buy the thing outright. If someone won it for her then there was a story, a memory, to make the prize better. To make it just more interesting. She watched as the blonde boy tried his luck. He was pretty, clearly athletic... swore like a sailor, but it was at least bilingual swearing.*

*She watches other people play, trying to figure out what the blonde is doing wrong. Lola's not as smart or athletic as her friend Shay, but she's had to keep up with Shay through all sorts of team sports. Even when Lola wasn't on the team with Shay, Shay somehow dragged Lola into helping her practice. So Lola knew her way around a softball pitch. She also casually picked up one of his waiting balls. Hmm?*

That can't be right...

*Lola threw and caught the ball casually, this was definitely not right. Her look was clearly perplexed.*

[bespredel]

[ He's reaching for his second ball when she comes over- and sort of just, steals it right out from under him. He's not sure what to make of that, at first. Bristling up and scowling at her, before reaching over to snatch the ball right out of the air in front of her as she tossed it. ]

What the hell do you think you're doing? [ The demand in his voice was clear, the snarl on the tail end of his words as he sneered at her, tightening his grip on the ball he had stolen back. ]

[threatenwithcuteness]

*She jumped back a little at the anger and the snarling at her. That was a bit over the top. Then again he was probably frustrated because he couldn't win. He probably didn't see why though. She didn't raise her voice, and tried to keep her voice steady as she answered him.*

The ball's too light. You'd need to use, like, a grenade launcher for it to knock anything down.

*Ask Lola for the physics behind that, she wouldn't be able to help you. But helping Shay practice batting, well, Lola knew what the weight on a ball should be for it to be any good.*

[bespredel]

[ Scowling harder still, Yuri's fingertips went white for how hard he gripped the softball, his lip curling back and showing teeth. ]

Yeah? You have a grenade launcher on you? Any more stupid ideas or useless suggestions? No shit the ball is light. That doesn't mean the game is impossible. [ More like, it doesn't mean that Yuri isn't stubborn as a god damn mule and will kill himself trying to win a giant stuffed tiger; or win enough small prizes to trade up to it after he spends a small fortune on losses. ]

I

[staystrong]

Nothing. I just thought my manners were bad.

[And she lives in a zombie apocalypse, bro. It's all old canned food or whatever she can catch herself, which isn't usually anything to write home about, and a lot of the time she eats when no one's around so there isn't anyone to judge her.

This is just pure caveman right here. It's almost impressive.]

Carry on.

[bespredel]

Do you want to make something of it, pipsqueak? [ He demands with a snarl, not about to let some little punk ass girl make fun of him. He doesn't really care about his bad manners- that much is clear as he tears into another piece of spicey chicken, and chews with loud, over exaggerated bites. Just because he can. ]

[staystrong]

Pipsqueak? [Clementine snorts. As if she hasn't heard that before.] You're not exactly Mr. Macho yourself.

[She nods toward the food.]

Are you trying to bulk up?

[bespredel]

That depends, does it look like it's working? [ Yuri snarled back, scowling at the other for what he felt was a stupid question, drawing up his shoulders in annoyance. His mouth was still full, just for added gross effect. ] Can't just enjoy the food for the sake of it?

ii. A MILLION YEARS LATE

[amelioraate]

[ It is noisy and ridiculous and packed in the place, but Tony makes his way through the stalls and people, eyes calculating and weary as he tries to get a feeling for this place. Sure, he would love to just settle in and enjoy some of the things that were available but-- Well, his state of mind didn't lend very well to Tony letting go of much of anything at the moment.

So he heads to the fairgrounds and checks out the wares and finds himself smiling at the memories barely there from his youth. He finds himself a little more at ease, a little less tightly wound, when a string of rather impressive and creative curses in both English and Russian meets his ears.

His first thought it that it is Bucky, then he realises that the voice is way too young for that and--

The first thing Tony notices is that the kid radiates anger. It would be hilarious if Tony didn't know so well not to underestimate people based on age and size. So when he comes up to the booth, watching with critical eyes and snorting softly and the muttered Russian, he doesn't act like he is talking down to the kid.]

You're letting go of the ball too late.

[bespredel]

[ Yuri winds up for his next throw, snarling as he drives the ball forward with as much force as his body can muster. He releases, throwing as hard as he can, as accurately as he can. It hits the stack square in the middle, against the two center bottles. The top wobbles- but doesn't fall. The two he hit hardly even budged at all. ]

BULLSHIT. [ He roars it, before rounding on Tony, snarling like an animal. ] Oh yeah? And what the hell do you know about it? Are you a god damned baseball player? Think you can do better? Go ahead!

[ Angrily Yuri gestures at the last ball on the table before him, positively steaming at suffering another miss. ]

[amelioraate]

[ That just... has Tony blinking. Because, wow, you are full of rage and spite there, aren't you child.

Tony finds it both amusing and horrifying and is a little torn between the idea of staying, and just... backing away slowly. Really, he has enough blonds that want to murder him (or, you know, at least kind of want to strangle him out of affection or something). However, he doesn't. Mainly because, wow, that is rigged and while Tony isn't surprised, he is annoyed.

Shitty fair and their shitty rules.]

Nah, not a baseball player, physicist, though. And science states that those should have fallen over when you hit them so, either this place doesn't abide by the rules of physics, orrrr-- [ He gives the guy manning the booth a bit of a look. The kind that he gives assholes in the meeting room, it's not a nice look.] This guy doesn't play by the rules of fairness.

[ He turns back to Yuri, sharklike grin on his face as he picks up the last ball.] Which one do you think is more likely there?

[bespredel]

[ Oh Tony, you really have no idea.

Pricking up the last ball, Yuri rolled it along his palm, tossing it up and down the air and glaring murderously at the carnie in question. His jaw locked, his teeth grinding. He stopped tossing the ball abruptly, instead just gripping it tightly, digging his fingers into the soft, worn leather. ]

I should have just thrown the ball at your god damn face after the third one. [ Yuri spat, his temper rising even further, scowling and looking as though he might do just that if he wasn't stopped. ]