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

[keepitup]

"Wow- the greenhouses." There's no tone in his voice to indicate that the greenhouses aren't also a valuable occupation, but he's still surprised. "The monster thing was just a ... side thing huh?" Side thing because hilariously, he gets that. He knows too many people who do that.

"And yeah, I do know."

How very, very much Ray knows, but he isn't going to drag all that information out the second time he sees someone.

"I'm glad you were there Fatima. I don't think I could've handled it nearly as well on my own and- you should ... you know, drop by the Perimeter Guard sometime. Just in case you uhhh ..." He shrugs, smiling. Teasing. "Want to consider making your side thing your normal thing."

[dust_of_life]

"Are you their alumni recruiter?" she asked. No one had ever tried to recruit Fatima for anything before. She felt honored.

Once, a couple of Mormon missionaries had come to the house. She'd been very young at the time, and she remembered standing wide-eyed, behind her mother's legs, listening to them politely say their piece. Her mother's equally polite rejection had shocked and astonished her.

Why wouldn't anyone want to be a part of something that sounded so...nice?

It was a funny memory to suddenly drudge up. Maybe it was Ray's haircut.

[keepitup]

There's a playful tilt to his voice when Ray answers. "Well, I guess that depends. Do I count as an alumni if I still work there?"

So no, he isn't denying the recruitment part. Not one bit.

"They asked me to do engineering work on the wall. Like making improvements. But really, I think you'd be great for the search and rescue team. I don't know them well but I've heard good things."

Honestly, Ray's only really heard good things ever since he's arrived here. It's been kind of incredible.

[dust_of_life]

Flattery would get Ray everywhere, really. Fatima had no shortage of pride. It would definitely be her downfall. And she didn't need any cryptic Malkavian warnings to know that.

And, really, he was right. She'd be fantastic doing search and rescue work. It was pretty much what she did back home.

Okay, so some of her work back home had been more search and decapitate. But it was the same principles, she supposed.

Still. There was a lot to be said for flying under the radar a bit. And the nice thing about her work in the greenhouse was that it was a 9-5, giving her plenty of time in the evenings to do more covert work, trying to figure out what the hell was going on in this place. And it always helped to be underestimated, as much as Fatima liked to preen.

"Maybe," she said, trying her best to be diplomatic. "But I like to know the people I'm working for. Trust issues."

[keepitup]

The nod he gives her is just as friendly as ever. "Come visit me sometime, we're in that tall building-" and Ray continues to describe the location of the Perimeter Guard office. "We can go meet them together." A beat before: "And no pressure. I haven't met Captain Apple yet, but I hear she's a little intense. For the right reasons though — keeping this place safe and everything."

He is recruiting, but it's clear that Ray wouldn't be offended if she said no. Given how much talent spotting he used to do for Palmer Tech, sometimes he just can't turn that part of himself off.

[dust_of_life]

"Oh, I know all about intense bosses," she said, laughing at a private, little joke. Malkavians. 'Intense' was probably in the job description.

But she waved the whole thing off. She wasn't quite in a position for game-changing moves. Not yet. But having Ray's invitation was definitely an asset she would keep in her pocket.

Besides. He was really likable.

"Anyway," she said, shifting the conversation back on him, "It sounds like you're in the right place. Engineering's your thing, I'm guessing?"