riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: SAMPREMI

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introductory mingle: SAMPREMI

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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Can you teach me?

[She hadn't sought out help from others for a while. Whether or not this situation is temporary, she might as well make use of some time when she actually has the ability to pursue training in other useful skills.]

I mean I know some basic stuff but I never had much to work with.

[She stayed with some people who made do with cans of baked beans and peaches before. You did what you could. Versatility is useful.]

[The question surprises him with how sudden it is, and his first instinct is to brush her off, because he doesn't have time to waste teaching some kid how to cook, but, well.

He has plenty of free time, and the distraction wouldn't be terrible.]

Weren't you threatening to shove my hat down my throat like ten minutes ago?

[He sounds amused, though.]

I had a change of heart.

[Look, there's at least a 50/50 chance from her perspective that any stranger is going to be a complete asshole so she doesn't start off on much of a positive foot anymore. The point is he put up with her skepticism, so that makes him tolerable.]

I doubt you're the only cook here, but people who cook on TV are all about teaching others, right?

I was all about that fame and fortune, but sure, you can't be that terrible at it, right?

[He's been cooking a lot anyway, to keep himself busy and make sure no one in his shared room starves to death.

He's meticulous about never using magic, so it's fine.]

I never thought about chefs being famous but I guess they can be, huh?

[She was eight the last time she watched television and she hardly knew any of the people on the cooking shows her mom watched by name. To her, they'd just been someone on the screen giving lessons.]

So you'll do it? Cool. We'll... have to figure something out.

[Because she didn't put much planning into this.]

I was famous as hell, there were t-shirts and everything.

[It was great and he misses it, but that's not particularly something he wants to dwell on.]

You staying in that boring-ass building they dropped us all in? 'Cause you can just drop by floor six whenever, the kitchen's big enough I guess.

I'm... sorta there.

[She hasn't moved out completely yet, if she will. Right now being able to walk in and out of a place like that without anyone thinking twice about it is still useful.]

I'd have to let you know beforehand, in case you're out. Wouldn't it be better to plan a time?

Ugh, plans.

[He goes where the universe takes him.

By which I mean, he's too lazy to commit to an actual time for anything because then he'll feel obligated and is 99% more likely to flake out.]

Here, gimme your uh, phone? Thing? Whatever the fuck it's called. I'll put my number in.

[So lazy. Maybe she should rethink this idea...

But she hands over her phone anyway.]

Do you know how to work it?

I'm not that stupid.

[He's also familiar with some technology; nothing like a cell phone, but enough that he isn't completely fumbling with something like this. He manages to put his number in with minimal fuss, before handing the phone back to Clementine.]

It's not about being stupid. Some people just don't know how to use the phones.

[It had taken a little work herself, and phones had been a thing in her world. It's just a thing she didn't have the chance to experience.

She takes the device back, checking her list of contacts to see where he'd added his in.]

If you're really gonna do this... thanks.

[He's not going to argue about whether being able to use a phone is stupid, since it feels like it'd be a waste of time. So he leaves it.]

Thank me when we're done, I'm not gonna let you get off easy.

[By which he means he isn't going to coddle her; if she screws up during the learning process, he'll be happy to tell her.]

Good. I wouldn't learn as fast if you were.

[She doesn't like being coddled, so it's all good with her. The more earnest someone is with her about how well she's doing, the less mistakes she'll make in the future.]

That's the spirit.

[Hopefully this won't go horribly, but Taako is feeling mostly confident.]

Now shoo, Taako's got shit to do.

[His tone is light, joking, but he does mean it. He's just bad at finishing conversations.]

... Your name is Taco?

[She can't help but snicker a little. It's only fair, seeing as he toyed around with hers.]

Sure is, T to the double A-K-O, that's me.

[Free him from the prison of not knowing.]

[Sorry, bro.]

... That's so... [It's not fair to say it's dumb, is it?] silly.

Alright. Taako.

What, why?

[It's genuine confusion here.]

You saying there's something wrong with my name?

Well, not really? I mean, it's just...

[She makes some vague gestures with her hands as she fails to think up the right words. He has to know what a taco is, right?]

I mean I know there's lots of names people have that are based on food. [Like hers.] ...Sorry, it's probably a language thing. It's not even spelled the same.

It's definitely not a kind of anything, in Elvish, but now you've got me curious, spill!

[Will the Taco mystery ever be solved.]

[Elvish. Right.]

It's just a Mexican food thing where I come from. I mean... I haven't had one since I was eight. You've never heard of it? It's just like... meat, cheese, lettuce, and whatever else you want in a soft or crunchy shell. Not like a wrap, though.

[There you go.]

[Griffin McElroy is crying somewhere and he doesn't know why.]

Oh shit, that sounds baller! [Wait.] As long as you're talking like some kinda edible shell. Not a turtle shell.

Yeah, it's edible. I like the crunchy ones best.

[But yeah, like. Five years no tacos. Not the best person to ask for details.]

I don't know what makes up the flavoring, though.

Well, they better be good if they're named after me.

[Because clearly that's what's going on here, not some other weird explanation.]

Maybe someone else in this place has a recipe, we can make it one of your cooking lessons.

Pretty sure it's not named after you...

[Especially given the spelling... but whatever.]

Well there's lots of different types but the most common one is pretty basic, I think. I don't know if I should feel silly asking for a recipe for tacos or not, but sure. I guess we could.

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spellslots - 2017-03-31 11:07 (UTC) - Expand

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staystrong - 2017-04-01 01:17 (UTC) - Expand

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