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]

"Hey there's no shame in that," he says, grinning and turning his head towards her. "But I gotta say, you're missing out. The video games aren't like carnival games. You can actually play co-op — cooperatively, with other people. We could be on a team." He says that last sentence as he raises his eyebrows, almost like he's asking a question. Maybe she'd consider trying it out with him sometime.

"Did you end up getting a bracelet though?" Upon reflection, it's probably what Caitlin was paying for when he first waved her over.

For Ray, the lack of danger feels welcome in a way he couldn't have imagined when he first lost Anna. He went through years feeling like he needed to take action immediately, because he didn't take action when he needed to most. It was only recently that Ray's realized that just maybe, heroics aren't the only way to make a difference.

When they get on that boat though and sit down, just the two of them, Ray notices it too. That it feels like they've just stumbled into a date again, but he just smiles through it as he points to a passing vendor on the river with a boat full of herbs and spices. He's not ready yet to pursue anything real. At least not consciously.

The way she asks that question though, has him a little worried, even if the expression on his face is more curious than anything else. "Yeah, of course. What's on your mind?"

[naz]

There's something about the way that he describes the co-ops that suggests he's inviting rather than explaining and Caitlin smiles a little, wrinkling her nose and ducking her head for a few seconds before looking back up at him. "I mean, if you want to lose," she prefaces, "I could try."

She holds her arm up, wiggling her wrist a little bit to show him the bracelet she'd settled upon. "They had a ton of cute stuff to choose from," she explains. Caitlin is starting to get more comfortable in this place. She never would've been casually shopping if she hadn't. She would probably be more aligned with that boy Carl's feelings about this place than she currently is feeling, which is to say, a lot more relaxed than maybe she ought to be.

A smile crosses her expression as she follows Ray's pointing finger with her eyes. It's almost like there's always something to look at, as long as she's willing to look; any given direction offers something she might've missed. Maybe it's just the nature of being in a place that's still largely unfamiliar and that'll wear off with time.

Taking a deep breath, the smile fades into something pulled with more introspection and Caitlin pauses a moment before she finally speaks. "...do you feel, like...I guess, do you feel an urgency to get back home?" she asks, first. If he does, then there's no point asking her follow up question, which is the one she actually wants the answer to; if he feels an urgency to return home, that's already answering her question: yes. She's the only one feeling guilty about feeling no rush to get back.

[keepitup]

"It'll be fun, I promise. I'm sure they have games here similar to the ones I'm thinking of. And if they don't ... I might be a little interested in building some." Holographic technology is so fascinating, after all, and ever since he saw what they were showing at the festival he hasn't exactly been able to stop thinking about it.

That infinity bracelet though, gets a look of fondness as Ray admires how simple it is. "Elegant, like you."

But with the way that Caitlin is looking more serious now, he reels in his expression too. Whatever it is, it must be bothering her. Do I ... feel an urgency to go back home? Ray doesn't answer right away, not because he's thinking, but because that actually wasn't what he'd expected her to ask. The momentary frozen look on his face though, shakes away as quickly as it came.

"Caitlin ... I ..." He chuckles, a little more anxiously than anything else. "Did you hear about what happened in Star City, back home? Why it had been renamed from Starling?"

[naz]

"Somehow, Ray," she starts with a soft laugh and a fond look on her face, "that doesn't surprise me at all." And it doesn't. Ray just seems the type to take the reins and go if there's a change that could be made and it's obvious to anyone who knows him even marginally that he's got the skill set to match the endeavor.

His compliment takes her a little off guard and it shows in the color creeping into her cheeks, never mind the hushed "thank you," with which she responds. Admittedly, she does feel a little guilty for sucking the levity out of the situation for the moment, but she's really only got Ray and Eddie here and she certainly can't ask the latter if he feels an urgency to go home. Of course he doesn't. She wouldn't either, if the last thing she remembered was literally dying.

But when Ray answers her question with one of his own, for a moment, she looks a little confused. Of course she has and of course the world still thinks Dr. Raymond Palmer is no more, but she's Team Flash. She knows better. So Caitlin stares for a moment and blinks before realizing that maybe he's just not sure she'd heard because she doesn't live in Star City and maybe the specific word hadn't traveled to Central City. "Oh...yeah, I mean, everyone has. Of course. ...but I'm not really sure how that applies...?" she admits in a tone that suggests question more than statement.

[keepitup]

"Right," he says, his hands already starting to punctuate his words as Ray gets ready to explain. "I'm guessing Felicity filled you guys in. I just-" He shakes his head and decides to answer her first question first. "I don't feel an urgency to go back home. There's something about this place that just ... well it just feels right to me. Like I can make a difference here. Back home ... with people like Oliver and Felicity, and Barry and you and Cisco ... I think there are more than enough people who are making sure the world stays a good place."

A beat, as he takes a breath, like he just doesn't know anymore. "Honestly I just don't think home really needs me." Even though that sentence is pretty depressing, Ray doesn't look depressed. In a way, he looks way more at peace with it, than anything else.

[naz]

The more Ray talks, the more confused Caitlin becomes. ...and looks, probably.

Sure, Oliver and Felicity are working with the rest of the team to keep Star City safe and Barry and the rest of the team are keeping Central City safe. Somewhere on another Earth, Supergirl is keeping National City safe, but Ray and the Legends? They're keeping everything safe. Everything and everywhen.

"I...wh—I mean, maybe Star City doesn't, but what about history in general? I...you didn't leave the Legends, did you? Everything's been so crazy with Savitar and...but you—I mean, general you, were just in Central City to help, you didn't leave them... Or did you?"