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

[carltoaction]

Okay. It's on both of us. [He says, just being honest.

Her idea isn't a bad one actually. Fried Oreos sounded good and all but he could go for trying it as it was supposed to be first and getting used to it like that.]

And you wouldn't mind showing me? Or pointing the way? [He shoots a curious look at her. She seems to be giving him enough friendly and "safe to be around" vibes that he figures there's no harm asking.]

[naz]

[ Nodding, Caitlin smiles softly back at him, conceding. ]

That's fair enough.

[ Her smile brightens a little more, if only for a second before her expression slips into a feigned sort of wariness which the amusement in her eyes easily betrays, when he asks her to show him which way. ]

Oh! Yeah, absolutely, it's this way. I'm going to be as big as a house sooner than later if I keep going in this direction, but I can't tell you about it and then just not show you hot to get over there.

[ Caitlin starts to walk further into the carnival, keeping an eye out for the little shop that had sold her the bracelet she'd ultimately end up buying later; across the way had been where she'd met up with Ray and from there, it had only been a couple of food stands away.

She looks over at Carl as they walk. ]

So how old are you, anyway? Not that it matters, but I'm the curious kind.

[carltoaction]

[For the smallest of seconds her feigned expression confuses him and brings his head to tilt a little to the side. A look like that suggests that he said something, but he can't figure out what. All she had to do was say no or whatever if she was comfortable or something. Though a split second later he sees in her eyes she's just kidding around. And he'd be amused too if he knew her better, but he doesn't and he feels hesitant about putting it on her now.]

You sure? You can just point the way if you don't wanna. I wouldn't blame you.

[She starts to lead the way and Carl hesitates in following her for a moment but quickly chooses to follow her anyway before she gets too far ahead of him. He wasn't going to miss out on Oreos.

His eye glances back at her when she shoots the question at him. By the uncertain expression that grows on his face, the answer was clear.] I- I don't know exactly. Lost track of it a while ago.

[naz]

[ Caitlin's expressions borders for a moment on apologetic before she speaks again. She's joking, but on the other hand, she still also doesn't entirely trust her own willpower. ]

Tell you what, I'll show you where to find them if you promise not to let me have any, deal? I've had too many today as it is.

[ She's admittedly a little bit surprised that he doesn't know how old he is, but she supposes if the world really went to hell like he says, it makes sense that keeping track of that sort of thing wouldn't matter much anymore. So she shrugs like that's no big deal. ]

Well...how old do you think you are, then? If you had to guess?

[carltoaction]

[Carl lets it slide anyway since they're walking.]

Is that all you want? [He asks, giving her a strange look verging on amused, because not everyone eats to point of making themselves feel sick. Though not like he can judge. He once ate 112 oz of pudding.] If that's it. It's a deal. I won't let you eat any, if you show me where to find it.

[He has to think more on his age to come up with what to say. Now that he thinks about it, he can actually remember someone in Alexandria said a little more than two years have passed but he never paid more attention than that. Back home they were somewhere between spring and summer which meant his birthday wasn't far away. So if he were to guess...]

I dunno. If I had to guess- fourteen, fifteen, probably. [He shrugs, trying to make it seem less of a big deal than it strangely feels.]

[naz]

[ Nodding with a solemness lost with the hint of a grin tugging upward at the corners of her mouth, Caitlin points because they're not far; she can see the stand from here. ]

That's all I want. I've had enough for today. You see that stand up there where they're selling the turkey legs? Right next to it.

[ She keeps walking with him, though. Probably once he gets to the front of the line, she'll wander off and leave the kid to his own devices, since she's interrupted him enough as it is, but for now, she stays with him. ]

Mmm, that's around where I would've guessed; I would've guessed fifteen or sixteen just looking at you. I was just curious, I don't know.

[carltoaction]

[The minute she points to something his attention turns off her and to the turkey leg booth and the Oreo booth next to it.]

Yeah. I see it. Wasn't expecting to see that though. [Does he even need to gesture to what he is referring to? There was only just a person in an Oreo costume dancing close by and drawing attention to the booth. It's not the first strange thing he's seen today so he keeps walking though.

He considers what she says about before able to tell before they reach the line.]

I guess it's good that it's easy to still tell. Maybe now I can keep track if I want to. [What he's not saying is that he does. Birthdays may be a little silly now, but he can't shake how much it used to and still means to him.]

[naz]

[ Caitlin laughs a little and gives a playful roll of her eyes. ]

I never know whether to be amused by or feel sorry for the people in those costumes...

[ As they near the line, Caitlin moves slightly away from him, closer to the turkey leg booth, to grab a few moist towelettes, because she and Ray, at least, made a bit of a mess of their hands with the fried Oreos and maybe Carl would prefer to avoid that fate entirely, if possible. Just because his world fell apart doesn't discount him automatically from having those sorts of compulsions, after all, and Caitlin doesn't know him well enough. Might as well offer them proactively since she happens to know they're there. ]

You could, yeah. [ She pauses for a moment before adding thoughtfully, ] You know, I bet I could run some tests and tell you how old you are. There are ways to tell based on your biology. There's biomarkers in your DNA and some of them can pinpoint how old your body is biologically... It's... [ Caitlin waves a dismissive hand and holds out the moist towelettes with her other for him to take. ] I'm a science nerd. It's just the kind of stuff I used to study in the lab. There I go talking too much again.