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

[staystrong]

[She'll keep the description in mind, unaware of how soon she'll be running into the boy.]

You might as well. They're charging us for it, so it should be safe. [She'd be a little more suspicious of it if they were just handing it out. It's possible that not everyone living here agrees with the choice to bring them all in, after all. or maybe she's just particularly paranoid. She made sure to get food from places where she could see it go from the rack to her hands and nowhere else.

She holds up one of the empty sticks in her hand.] The only issue I have is not knowing where any of the meat comes from. So I'm just avoiding anything that looks like pork.

[Not because she cares about eating pig, but because she doesn't want anyone trying to slip her human meat. She's heard pork is the closest comparison.]

[usandthedead]

[ He'd have to agree with that. Nothing in life comes free. There's always a catch. If they're paying for it, that makes it more on the level than the alternative. Rick has already hoarded a bit of food into his and Carl's rooms and at the police station just in case. Paranoid? Yeah, but they're not alone in their paranoia and they have every reason for it.

He eyes the empty stick, seeing her point. But as far as he can tell, the food seems legit - so far at least. ] Not a fan of pork? [ The question is asked with a hint of amusement, thinking that it couldn't be more complicated than that. To him, food is food.

Of course, if she elaborates on her reasoning he would be able to empathize. Terminus had been a place were people ate other people, and would have eaten them if Rick and crew hadn't escaped. Just one example of people gone crazy after the world fell apart. ]

[staystrong]

Not really.

[She's decided to pass on elaborating at this point. She wouldn't want him to think her weird or be otherwise deterred from eating what seems like perfectly fine food.

As far as hoarding food supplies goes, she's done a similar job of stocking up. The house she's working on doesn't have its electricity going yet and she doesn't want to keep anything in the communal areas where anyone else could get to it, so she's collected mostly non-perishables. That's the first thing anyone who's always planning for an apocalypse will gather anyway. The bread and fruit in her cabinet is just for regular consumption. If she wants fresh meat it has to go in the communal fridge and she has to hope no one is an asshole about taking what isn't theirs.]

I know I'm at least gonna grab a piece of cake. The biggest, most chocolaty piece I can find.

[Because why wouldn't you?]

[usandthedead]

[ Rick easily lets it go at that. He has to have a good reason to push on anything really. There's lots of things he doesn't like talking about either. So, to each their own is a pretty good philosophy in that respect. However, he is starting to feel like he's more intruding than conversing.

He's just starting to back off when she mentions the cake. That makes him smile just a bit. It makes him think of Carl and wonder what his son's stuffing his face with. ] I've always been more of a pie guy myself. But there's something to be said for chocolate cake too. I bet they have that here... somewhere. They seem to have a little of everything.

[ He tilts his head, a gesture toward the street in general. ] I'll keep walkin' and circle back if I find any chocolate cake. [ He's offering to get out of her hair, really. But still, he'll keep to his word if he finds the cake. ]

sorry for the delay

[staystrong]

That would be awesome.

[He might be a stranger, but she doesn't take him for the type who'd do something to her food. Also it would be really difficult to put something in cake without her noticing. And it's very hard to turn down that much chocolate. That stuff doesn't exactly grow on trees where she's from.

She wouldn't consider the man "in her hair" exactly. It's just that this is all still really strange for her, and trust issues aren't easy to overcome.]

[usandthedead]

[ That settles it, he's off to find chocolate cake, pushing away from the light post and taking a few steps before turning back to look at her. ]

If I don't see you again tonight and you need anything, I'm Rick. [ Yes, he already told her his name, but it bears repeating so that she knows who she's looking for if she's in need. ] You can find me at the police station here on most days.

[staystrong]

I'll keep that in mind.

[She smiles at him again before something comes to mind.]

Oh! Try to find one that has like... three layers!