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

[usandthedead]

It takes him a bit to fully understand what she just said, both for lack of context and the fact that it's her sharing a little bit of herself right off the bat, unexpectedly so. It's been a good while since he's come across someone that open with their lives, even just that little bit. Rick is almost caught off guard by it until he finally nods, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with crows feet that would imply a smile. "Yeah, I think it counts."

He pauses, only briefly, and then shakes his head. "Don't think anything's really pointless. It was worth tryin' anyway." There had been a time he might have had that mindset about a thing or two. But the world ending had opened up the bigger picture on things. He's not one for ignoring or not doing anything anymore.

Rick looks down to her hand and then back up into her eyes before finally taking her hand. Nothing is automatic anymore either unless it has to do with surviving. Everything is assessed and calculated, even things like handshakes. "Rick Grimes. It's a lot though, isn't it? All this."

[naz]

Caitlin gives the man a moment, because it seems like something she's said has taken him aback when, really, all she meant was to make sort of a self-depricating joke of sorts. But then he gives a hint of a smile and she smiles back. "I'll take it," she concedes. She likes to think that he's right; that nothing is pointless. Caitlin has always sort of felt that way, really. Everything is worth trying, although admittedly, there are varying degrees of "worth" depending on the person and thing in question. "I always thought so, anyway. My mother was always more...clinical and practical. It was only worth it if there was a clear and defined point...and if that clear and defined point was not specifically to prove her wrong," she says, shrugging.

That's all kind of still true, actually.

There seems to be a new confusion when she offers her hand to shake and Caitlin almost retracts it, worried that maybe wherever he comes from, it's an insult rather than a greeting, or something. But then he does reciprocate her offer and Caitlin smiles a little before her hand falls away, back to her side. "Nice to meet you, Rick Grimes," she chirps back. "I don't know. Yes and no. I've seen and heard a lot, so...I guess "a lot" is kind of subjective. Do you mean this festival or the place itself or the portal...or...?" she prods gently.

...before realizing, well. If she has to prod, then yeah. It's kind of a lot. "...okay, point taken, actually. Yeah, it's kind of a lot," she agrees sheepishly, tucking her hair behind her ears and wrinkling her nose. "Where are you originally from?"

[usandthedead]

"Sounds like she wasn't much for frivolous things." Rick can't really empathize with that, but he can understand it. His grandpa was that way, which made him kind of a domineering figure in Rick's life. But Rick wasn't around him all the time so he only had to deal with it on certain occasions. And on a more personal and current note, there aren't that many frivolous things left in the world nor the time to do them. Sometimes when he comes across something frivolous, he makes sure Carl goes at it, just so he can still be a kid sometimes.

As she lists things off, Rick starts to question what, exactly, he means. In the end though, he decides it's all the above. Portals? A festival? This many people walking around and laughing like the world isn't a dire place to be in just by existing? Eating food like there'll always be plenty of it. (Yes, he's already started a store of food in his and Carl's room just in case.) It's a lot for someone with Rick's form of PTSD.

"All of it." He pauses, shrugging as he looks around again. "I don't know, seems most people are takin' to it like it's nothin' big." Taking it all for granted, is what he means.

Rick shakes his head and comes back to the conversation with Caitlin, but only after a moment too long where he seemed to be somewhere else entirely. "Georgia. I'm from Georgia - more recently, Virginia. You?"

[naz]

"Yeah, she's never been much for frivolous things, that's a nicer way of putting it," Caitlin agrees. The less nice and perhaps more accurate way would be that her mother is a little, well...cold and a little too clinical. That sometimes slips its way into Caitlin's life, too, which is the more frustrating part of it all, really. Which is, she supposes, neither here nor there and Caitlin really doubts this stranger actually wants to get into it with her, being that they've only just met. Come to think of it, she'd rather not think too much on it at all, so it's probably best to just let it drop there.

Humming softly as she nods her acknowledgement, Caitlin looks around. Speaking of frivolity...this whole thing smacks of it, she guesses. "You know, I was talking to a kid a little earlier and he seemed to have the same impression, actually," she says thoughtfully. "Even if he didn't come out and say it. He sounded surprised that I brought up celebrating the Fourth of July as an example when I was explaining how I didn't necessarily think they were doing this to make us as outsiders feel better about things so much as I figured it was a little like us just kind of being here and whether we like this celebration or not is inconsequential.

"...anyway, he seemed mostly surprised that we even still celebrate Fourth of July back home," she says, chewing her bottom lip. "I think maybe it isn't a big deal, this stuff, to most people. I mean, I'm sure that the portal and everything is a big deal to most people. I've seen things like it back home, so it doesn't surprise me that much, but I guess what I'm saying is, it's probably not a big deal to a lot of people which is why they're taking to it as such. I'm guessing your world is different..." she intones softly, without prying. If he doesn't want to share, then Caitlin doesn't want to know.

Georgia, he says, and Caitlin smiles. "So is Southern hospitality a real thing or is that just in the movies?" she asks, honestly curious. "Me, I'm from the midwest. Central City, Missouri," she adds to clarify.

[usandthedead]

"Perspective." Rick says in agreement as to why most people are acting like this isn't a big deal. It makes sense. He gets it. And at this point he's caught on to the fact that people really are from different worlds, better worlds for the most part, from what he can suss out, worlds where there's still plenty of food and the state of the world itself hasn't driven people crazy. Nowhere's perfect. Rick isn't that naive. But some places are most definitely better off, some are worse.

After several moments of hesitation he shakes his head. "You wouldn't find any of this where I'm from. The world's dead. A virus. It killed most of the population. Grid's down. Just tryin' to survive right now. Maybe we're startin' to rebuild. We'll see if it lasts." In his experience, nothing lasts, so he's unwilling to commit to the fact that they might be rebuilding just yet. Although where he's at does have the feeling of the start of something right now. Whether he lives to see that start or not, time will tell.

Her question gets a light smirk from him. "Once upon a time, yeah. Southern hospitality was a thing. Not so much anymore. Never been to Missouri. They got that big arch though, that was on my list of things to see someday. Central City close to St. Louis?"

[naz]

For a long moment, Caitlin isn't sure he's going to expand beyond agreeing that it's just a difference in perspective that he's experiencing. But then, he speaks again and her heart sinks for him. A world like that sounds like a horrible nightmare. No wonder he wanted to get out of there so bad that he ended up sucked through the portal. She certainly can't blame him for that.

"That sounds awful, I'm so sorry..." she says softly, and she looks it. Caitlin can't imagine how it would be if that happened where she came from. She's sure that she'd be one of the first to go if not for her friends. She's not really the survival type. Then again, neither are they, really... At least, not in that sense. "You say that like you plan on going back..." she points out. "...are you planning on going back?"

It makes her sad to think that the fabled Southern hospitality has been lost, but she understands why. People can do crazy things when they're afraid and in a world like that, it sounds like fear is probably pretty rampant. "It's not too far, a couple of hours drive, maybe, give or take and depending on the traffic," she replies. "It's nice, most of the time. Sometimes things get a little crazy, but Central City itself...I like it, anyway."

[usandthedead]

"Depends." Rick hears himself saying even if he hasn't really thought about going back just yet, not from the moment he saw his son here. There's no way he'd leave Carl here by himself. There's no way for him to reason that this place isn't everything Carl deserves right now with enough food to eat and electricity and people who haven't been driven mad by a world turned upside-down where right and wrong are so subjective.

"My son's here. And if I can find a way to get the rest of my people here, I'm gonna do that." So that's where is focus is right now, on finding a way to get others of his group, family, here where it's safer than it is where they're from. "But I'm not leavin' my son." Which implies, yes, that otherwise he'd have a hard time staying here. Carl is his anchor.

He listens with a nod here and there. Rick likes the sound of it, Central City. Even the name sounds fanciful, almost. "Way I hear it, you can go up to the top of that arch and see for miles. I always think things must look so peaceful from that high, none of the..." Death and drama and trauma. Rick decides to stop that train of thought - wishful thinking. Reality is what it is. "You got people from your home here? From Central City?"

[naz]

The fact that he isn't immediately adamant that no, he isn't going back, surprises Caitlin a little. Not a lot, mind, because certainly he's still got friends or family or both back there, but it does surprise her a little. She can't imagine being from a place where surviving isn't inherent, it's earned through hard work, coming to a place like this, and then having to choose between staying and going back. She doesn't think she'd have the strength to do anything other than stay.

But as he goes on, Caitlin offers him a small smile. "I don't blame you and I don't think you should," she agrees. "I hope that you find a way to bring your people here, Rick. If here makes you happier than home, I hope that you can bring them here, too." She sounds sincere when she says it, but that's because she is. Even though she's barely just met this man, she still can feel empathy for the sort of decision he's got to make and if there's something out there that will make it easier for him, Caitlin genuinely hopes he can find it.

"Yeah, I hear that, too. I haven't ever been up there, though," she admits thoughtfully. "I...no," she adds to answer his question. "I know Ray — Dr. Palmer. Um, but he isn't from Central City. A friend of mine from out of town dated him once, so I know him a little. And there's Eddie. He's from Central City, but I didn't really know him that well, either, before—" she stops. A sheepish look crosses her expression. "Anyway, there's people I know, I guess, but nobody I would typically consider 'my people' or anything; my friends aren't here. But I'm making new ones, so there's that?"

[usandthedead]

Carl is always a huge sticking point for Rick. If Carl truly wanted something, Rick would move Heaven and Earth to make it happen. With his son here, he has a reason to stay, a big reason, the kind of reason that he would call his true North if he were the more poetic sort. Everything is about what's best, what's safest, for his son. And, after talking it over with Carl, they've decided staying here is best for now. That could change depending on how things go in getting more of his people here.

That Caitlin seems to understand that is nice. Rick does so much internalizing, going around and around in circles over whether he can justify a decision or not. His people back home are in dire straits. Is it fair for him to keep Carl here? Yeah, he's doing enough questioning of his own.

"Ray Palmer. I met him." He says with a nod. "And I think I work with a guy named Eddie." And now he's putting all of that together. Small world here, it seems.

Rick nods slowly. "Got some chosen family back home. I get that. And you got the personality to make it happen." Which Rick does not. So how did he get made family? A bunch of people thrown together in horrible circumstances. That's how. He's thankful for them though. "Would you want your friends here?" Is here better than Central City like it is compared to where Rick's from?

[naz]

Caitlin smiles a little. A small world, indeed, if Rick has already met the only two people she knew from home. More still if she'd known that the son Rick was talking about was the boy she'd mentioned who was so taken aback by the idea that holidays were still fervently celebrated in her world. "They're really good men. It's hard not to like either of them," she says fondly. She's maybe grown a little fonder of Ray than she ought to, but even casting that aside, he's just a likable guy, all energy and excitement most of the time. And Eddie...well. He sacrificed himself to save the world. How much better a person can one be?

"I don't know, I think anyone has the personality to make it happen once they're comfortable enough to try. For some people, it's easy to just turn it on and off, and for others, it takes a little while to build enough trust to put themselves out there. I don't think that's a personality thing, so much as I think it probably revolves more around societal conditioning depending on the lives we led before this place. You're nice enough," she counters with a small smile. "When you're ready, if you're ready, you'll get there."

His question, though, leaves her feeling a little uncertain. Selfishly, yes, of course she'd love to have the team here, especially Cisco. H.R., she thinks, would probably love it here. If there's anywhere in the universe that could stoke the muses to get him writing again, she's pretty sure it'd be this place. "I don't know," she answers, though, honestly. "I miss them, so of course I'd like to see them, but at the same time...I really shouldn't wish them here when they've stayed to protect the city and here I am having fun somewhere else. That part makes me feel guilty. Without the team, a lot of chaos could ensue and I really should be there to help...but do I miss them? Yeah. A lot." She supposes that both answers his question and honestly doesn't, at the same time, and the sheepish apology on her expression says that she at least acknowledges that.