cuddlecity | EVENT: SWIPER, NO SWIPING!

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EVENT: SWIPER, NO SWIPING!

As the blustery winds and steady snows of January give way to the cool breezes of February, the city begins to notice strange trends amongst its volunteer citizenry: an uptick of online searches for things like flower shops and cheap romantic meals, a surprising increase in chocolate purchases (though, perhaps more surprising, no increases in consumption), and a report from the local pharmacies regarding a sudden shortage in contraceptives, of all things! Consider the administration officially flummoxed — that is, until the city's favorite and only volunteer coordinators begin to investigate further.

You see, Valentine's Day isn't quite the thing in Cadelle. Here, St Valentine never led couples in matrimony under Roman rule, and so, no time-honored capitalist dream could be established. However, the date of February the 14th is still a special one in the city — it's the day that many honor as St Trifon's Day, or "Winemaker's Day". It's a day of celebrating the first pour of the prior year's winemaking, with the first bottle of each vintage reserved for drinking with one's special someone... preferably privately, where post-drink merriment may commence uninterrupted. (Scandalous.)

Not wanting to leave out any of their volunteers from the city's special day, the volunteer coordinators have arranged a collection of meeting locations, each perfect for getting to know a potential special somebody in advance of the big day. To help people get acquainted, they've partnered with that reclusive (and anonymous) mogul behind okCuddle to add a limited time special feature for the season — that's right, a matchmaker!

Simply press the bright red button on your app's home screen to be enrolled in a Match Meeting. There are five unique locations, each offering a different experience to appeal to those who might find true love or common ground in its midst, and each location will host a different couple each day to ensure everyone has an opportunity to meet their one-and-only... or maybe just their one-night-only. (We won't judge.)

▸ Any opportunity to incite a little romantic feeling would be remiss if it didn't include the time-honored date experience: a candlelit steakhouse dinner at the city's best dining experience, DeWolfe's. Whether you're hungering for a porterhouse medium rare or a more demure airline chicken breast, the wait staff here will be more than happy to attend to any needs you may have, and delighted to disappear shortly after, providing plenty of privacy for quiet conversation and those ever-important lingering glances. Feel free to extend your night with a walk through DeWolfe's famed gardens out back, or perhaps a nightcap... the only question left, then, is their place or yours?

▸ Let The Good Times Roll offers those who enjoy athleticism and coordination an evening of nostalgic fun under twinkling lights — courtesy, of course, of the disco ball hung prominently in the center of the risk, a perfect match for the classic jams that are piped out from the speakers on each wall. Strap on a pair of rental skates, and when the lights get low, be sure to hold your honey's hand tight for that all-important couple's skate. When you're done zooming around the linoleum, be sure to try a bite of the rink's famous pizza and popsicles meal, the perfect treat for summer campers and kids at heart alike! Groovy!

▸ The Vinery, while not necessarily a classic first-date location, offers a bit of non-traditional romance with its gorgeous hill country views and a seemingly endless assortment of local blends to sample. Visitors paired up for a Match Meeting here will have the opportunity to enjoy a rarely experienced grape-stomping session, during which they'll become bonafide vinters (winemakers, for the uninitiated) and the proud recipients of a complimentary bottle of the Vinery's own St Trifon's Day special blend — the perfect reason to ask for a second date, no? (And if you don't want to wait, there's always the cover of a gazebo or the fields nearby...)

▸ Animal aficionados, fear not: the expansive nature reserve at Nahtazu offers an opportunity to get up-close and personal with your favorite wild beasts — no, not the ones in your pants — and one of the reserve's most knowledgeable guides to show you the way. Of course, since it's an hour away aboard the local trains, the city has arranged a private compartment for two, where Match Meeting attendees will enjoy a catered lunch, the perfect way to fuel for a long day of hiking, climbing, and maybe even a few jungle swings. On the way back, feel free to enjoy the plush seats for a little post-adventure cuddling... or more, we won't tell!

▸ At The Worm Hole, nerds and geeks and casual gamers alike will find plenty to shoot and score on over pints of everything from sweet ciders to dark ales. There's no shortage of games here, so if your idea of a great night out involves beating your date at Super Smush Brothers — and no, that's not a typo — you'll definitely enjoy your time here. To help set the mood, a special booth has been set aside for Match Meetings in the far corner of the room: get cozy, play some Pong, and maybe make things interesting. Strip Marco Kart, anyone?

Of course, those that opted not to sign up for the city's version of eHarmony won't be left out of all the fun! In preparation for the big day, Flora and Cornelius have put together what they're affectionally calling the single mingle: a weeklong invitation to enjoy the best in everything but romantic films and features at the local theatre. Feel free to come alone or bring a pal or two, and enjoy complimentary admission and select snacks each night — just don't let them catch you getting frisky! That's what the drive in is for!

Surprise! It's a Valentine's event that's almost not about Valentine's Day! For those of you that participated in our survey, you should have received a private message from our moderator journal with information regarding your character's match assignment by now. If you did not receive one, please let us know!

Because this event runs a little differently than many of our other events, we've opted to tweak our process a little as well. For your character's date, please locate your appropriate date and location in our BLIND DATE THREAD HERE. If it's still empty, your character has beaten their date to the punch (and maybe the free food, too). If there's already a reply, greet your date! (Pretty simple, right?) For all other threads, including pre/post date experiences, feel free to post traditional open top levels as usual!

For example: Flora may have a blind date with Cornelius on Monday at DeWolfe's, so she'll comment to the Monday thread's DeWolfe comment with her starter. This will make it easy for Cornelius to find her thread and reply. However, Flora may also be lingering outside beforehand looking nervous, or shopping in the mall the day before and looking for help in finding an outfit — these prompts can be posted as traditional open top-levels!

If you have any further questions specific to this event, we encourage you to ask away on our QUESTIONS COMMENT here in this post. If you have general questions, or prefer a more private venue, our GENERAL INBOX (and SCREENED INBOX) is always available for you. In addition, if you've got an idea for a future event, feel free to drop us a line at our EVENTS SUGGESTION POST.

Peace out, cuddle scouts!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

It does sound... boring. I would much rather just do the jobs, even if I seem to be the only one capable of speaking politely to most of our clients.

[ She ducked her head to hide a grin at the mention of the song 'Under Pressure'. ]

Oh yes, I know it. Magnus chose it for me when I was competing in the poor Olympics.

Oh good, a nice, easy, factual question. Reid is great at those. He's also great at work, which has essentially become his whole life, or just about, with a few notable exceptions.

"Technically I'm a supervisory special agent, the youngest ever on record," he answers without pride, "but I'm part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Personally I do more analyzing than busting down doors." There's a hint of humor as he adds, "I have coworkers who go to the gym for that."

Oh yeah? You more popular than the President? [ Because FDR is pretty great, Tony. So there. His last words, though, remind him of his own hubris. There's nothing better than glory in Buck's mind. ] How do you know I'm not the most popular guy back in '45, huh?

Possibly for the first time, Loki is grateful to be put in check, as it gives him a chance to focus on the game as these several revelations simmer in his mind. He'd grown careless over the last few minutes, he can see it as he steps backward through the moves on the board, but can he recover and continue to hold his own? Perhaps, he decides, moving a sacrifice pawn to block the path of check, and if that piece is taken, Reid will lose his queen. It's obvious, Loki doesn't expect him to fall for it, but at least he's conquered this particular obstacle.

And solving that little problem has resettled his mind. "Another time," he says quietly, sitting back again. "I would prefer you hear the whole story, and it begins a very long time ago." There was absolutely a time when Loki would have leapt at the chance to tell someone like Reid of the various injustices served him, but with Jotunheim broken and Asgard destroyed, the stakes are lower. He is beginning to see the value in the whole story.

"But rest assured, there are many colorful stories to be told," he adds with a smile that edges toward wicked. A humanizing representation of complex moral concepts? He could get used to that.

Lydia smiles a little as Baby orders. She can't say she's ever tried that type of pizza before, but it sounds interesting. She's game. Waiting until the waiter heads off again, Lydia looks back at Baby and shakes her head.

"Academia isn't for everyone. I excel at it because I'm both interested and competitive. Without both, I'd probably be a mediocre student at best, so that's okay, sweetie. What do you do back home?" she asks, a reflexive question in the vein of getting to know one another a little better. "I know you work at the record shop here, did you do the same thing back home, or...?"

Call her curious. Maybe they won't ever move past tonight, or maybe they will. All Lydia knows is that he's a good looking older guy with tinnitus just like she has. He's worth getting to know a little before making any sweeping assumptions about their future relationship, platonic, romantic, or otherwise...or lack thereof, for that matter. That's what tonight is about, after all, isn't it?

Sweetie? Baby raises an eyebrow, looking at Lydia. He can't tell if it's just because he's so used to being condescended to, but the word makes him fall back to his carefully neutral expression, the ones he's worn for years around criminals who'd want him to be terrified of them. While he doesn't think she's really looking down on him for not being into school, just that word, however it was meant, stings a bit.

He leans back to rest against his chair, fingers playing with the folded towel by his hand. "No, I didn't. Back home, I'm a driver."

He stops there, before reconsidering. Not giving this a chance just because his feelings are hurt by something she probably didn't mean is dumb. So, he takes a breath, and makes himself continue.

"I started driving very young. Made some mistakes, fell with the wrong crowd. Became a getaway driver. I had a debt to pay off."

He moves forward again, looking over the candles before looking down, the guilt and shame still burdening him every second of every day. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a 'good guy', basically."

She smirks a bit at the joke before nodding her agreement. "Behavioral Analysis Unit - that's like, serial killers and stuff, right? That work must be so harrowing." She can't really imagine what it would be like to spend all that time in their heads - she doesn't think she'd be able to handle it.

"I would love to. I never drank coffee until I left home but now I can't live without it. It's funny how that works, isn't it?"

Diana has come to be fond of the drink and the social aspects that go along with it. She doesn't think her fondness for Turkish coffee houses hurts in this regard.

"We'll meet up soon and come up with reasons to wear our dresses? I could always stand to have someone give me ideas for a party."

"Sometimes. I mean, sometimes it's serial killers. I guess sometimes it's harrowing, too." Reid shrugs one shoulder, fiddling again with his utensils. Being completely still is not an easy proposition for him.

"You get used to it after a while."

In spite of herself, Caitlin laughs a little. "Oh my gosh, I couldn't function without coffee, I can't even imagine. I can barely string together a coherent sentence before my first cup in the morning," she confesses, grinning.

"Do you have your phone? I can put my number in it and you can text me when you're free. I'll let you know what my class schedule looks like and we can work something out," Caitlin adds, eager to seize the opportunity to make a new friend, even if all they ever end up doing is meeting up for coffee once in a while.

Grinning, Caitlin nods. "That sounds perfect," she says. "I don't know if I'm an idea guy, but I'm willing to give it a shot once in a while."

The negative shift in his body language isn't lost on Lydia, but she tries not to read too far into it, just yet. It could be significant, of course, but it could also just be that he's more comfortable leaning back. Her eyebrows lift a little with interest at the mention that he's a driver. That could mean anything where she comes from. He could drive limos or a cab or he could just be an Uber driver trying to make it sound more interesting than it is. But then he goes on and surprise registers on her face. Not because he's been a getaway driver, but because he's willing to be honest about it.

"You're not a good guy or you weren't a good guy?" she asks, looking genuinely interested, because there is a difference, in Lydia's mind. When one considers someone like Peter Hale, one has to consider gray areas. It's a little reassuring that he leans forward again; suggests to her that there wasn't any real significance to the change in posture.

Lydia leans forward, herself, lacing her fingers together on the table top as she looks back at him thoughtfully. "I think that if we define ourselves by our shortcomings, we're bound to drive ourselves crazy. I should know, I damn near did that to myself," she says quietly. For over a year, she quite nearly drove herself into insanity with the guilt of not being a good enough banshee to prevent Allison's death. She'd had the luxury of a support system. Lydia doesn't know whether Baby is afforded that same luxury.

Depends on the President. Ellis is- he tries. [ But his term is winding down and the world is changing. No one's ready to see him go and no one's sure who's going to step up that won't be a trash fire. ] I'd probably have heard of you, Jimmie-dean.

Wait, what- the 'poor olympics'? Sounds....a little sad and a lot fascinating.

[ He shifts to sit forward, elbows on the table, arms crossed on top, the whole of his focus on her. ]

She's not sure getting used to it is a good thing. Coming from Starling City, where crime is fairly rampant and she's gunning to be district attorney one day, she knows that murder and death is probably going to become a large part of her life. She doesn't know how she'd be able to look evil in the face and try to understand it.

But she's not Reid. If he enjoys his work, than she isn't going to judge him for it.

"It isn't always serial killers? What other kind of cases do you work on?"

The candlelight dances on the table between them, casting dancing shadows over Lydia's face as she speaks and he listens, reads her lips, bites the inside of his own as he thinks on an answer. For a long time, he preferred to think of himself as the good guy in a sea of criminals. But things had changed. Now, he was just trying to make amends, and right his wrongs.

"I'm trying to be better. It's easy, here, without the influences I had at home," he replies, thinking back of Doc, and how he was like a second father, for a long time, until Baby's eyes were opened to exactly what sort of man he was. "I didn't realize for a long time, how bad it was."

He did, because Joe reminded him constantly, but Baby was good at denial, when he wanted to. Taking a deep breathe, Baby looks down for a moment.

"It's just... complicated," he says, softly, wishing he'd found a way already in how to explain himself. "Before I got to Cadelle, I lost everything that made me who I am. So right now, I'm trying to find out who this new me is. I'd hope he's a good guy."

He's not entirely unaffected, but there's no denying he'd been predisposed from the start to compartmentalize and keep his distance from what he sees at work. Reid takes some of it home with him, for sure, but not nearly to the extent that it would be prohibitive to his job. He's well aware it takes a certain kind of person to handle what they see every day at the BAU, and keep coming back for more.

In fact, he opens his mouth to answer, and then pauses, and thinks better of it. The other answers he has are, in some ways, actually worse than serial killers.

"Are you sure you want to hear? We're supposed to eat. Not everyone can eat dinner while looking at crime scene photos. Metaphorically speaking." This level of consideration is purely Garcia speaking. Reid's sort of trained to think of how it affects other people.

"My dad is a homicide detective, and I want to be a DA one day. I'm not opposed to a little shop talk, and I should probably get used to it."

She can't promise it won't make her squirm a little, but she's got to learn to deal with these things eventually. But it also helps that Laurel has spent most of her life around cops and Starling City is not a quiet, wholesome place.

"But if you'd rather table it for another time, you don't have to answer."

"Oh-- no, I don't mind." That's not a problem. Reid is completely unaffected by anything they could possibly discuss about his work, unless he personally was the victim, but that's mostly because he hates pity.

"Our unit chief used to be a DA," he notes. "There's some overlap. So, when it's not serial killers, it's typically cases with similar patterns of behavior such as serial sexual assault, or high-urgency cases that cross state lines like child abduction, human trafficking, or biological weapons."

Okay, yeah. So nothing she hasn't heard about in Starling City. Laurel wishes she could do more to get justice for these people than anything else, which is why she's pursuing law, but that doesn't always guarantee they'll be stopped. People always are willing to fill vacancies.

"We had some trafficking cases in Starling City last year," she says shaking her head. "It's such a shame how people can slip through the cracks enough that people could make a business out of it."

She's quiet when she listens, genuinely interested to hear his take on that question. The fact that he takes a moment to consider before actually responding to her suggests to Lydia that he's actually considering it before giving her an answer.

A small smile creeps over her lips as she looks back at him. "Well, I might not know you that well, but for what it's worth? He seems like a pretty good guy to me, so far," she tells him sincerely. It's true that she hardly knows him, but the fact that he wanted to consider his answer alone suggests thought as opposed to reflexive self-defense.

If he wasn't a good guy, he probably wouldn't have cared enough to ponder an answer before opening his mouth to give it. At least, that's what Lydia thinks. "It's scary, losing the things that make you who you are. That happened to me, too. I think it's the journey to the next person you're going to be that decides it. If you're trying to be a new you instead of instantly falling back into bad habits, then...you're already making an effort. It'll pay off with persistence. You might like the new Baby even more once you figure out who he is. God knows I like the new Lydia a lot more and so, probably, do my friends." Especially considering none of them were actually her friends until she embraced them as such when she essentially had to start over on the social ladder.

[ Gamora gave a crooked smile as she gave a shake of her head. She could at least cross it off her list of experiences, but she wasn't entirely sure she'd do it again.

It didn't help that she tended to get a little... passionate while watching about the contenders and their poor form. ]

My friend, Magnus, he had to explain the Olympics to me and that it normally involved a lot of atheletes at their peak. Apparently it is not the case in this city when they have their winter games. He talked me into competing in the ski ballet.

He smiles, but it's sort of reflexive. As she said, they don't really know each other. And while he truly believes and knows he has good sides, and there are commendable parts of him, the fact remains that he's done what he's done.

He's a thief, and a murderer. There's no other way to describe what he's done, and that is something he has to live with, every day of his life. It's something that keeps him awake at night, still, memories and thoughts and fears wrapped up in his head.

"I thought it'd be liberating, for me. It was supposed to be. It was supposed to free me," he says, looking up at the waiter as he brings them their food. He starts cutting the pizza up, breaking the egg yolk to spread over the rest of the toppings. "It didn't, not really. Instead, now, I just feel guilty for how things went down."

Diana pulls out her phone and hands it to Caitlin, happy to make the new acquaintance and hopeful that it might become more. She was, after all, something of a social creature and she'd kept to herself far too much here in Cadelle. It was high time she started changing that.

"It will be nice to just have someone to talk to, if anything else. I've been a little introverted since I came here and it's not my normal way."

For a moment, Lydia pauses thoughtfully. Guilt, she understands. Entirely too much. Lydia will forever blame herself for Allison's death, even if she's gotten better at pretending that she's moved past that feeling. Maybe she should be taking her own advice, she can't help thinking, as she speaks.

"Maybe you're just supposed to make up for it. You can't change what you did, but maybe you can repent and move on. Be a better person now and do nice things for people; volunteer your time to a good cause once in a while. Maybe you don't have to feel guilty forever if you can make up for it," she suggests gently.

She shrugs then. "But I don't know you, again, so I'm not going to assume. I like to think that we can be redeemable if we want to be, though. People, in general, I mean."

"I have been, too," Caitlin confesses as she takes the other woman's phone, typing her number and name into the contacts for her. She's really only been talking to, for the most part, people she already knew, at least in passing, from home. There have been a couple of exceptions, of course, but she certainly could use some female friends. Lord knows she misses having Iris around.

Handing the phone back, Caitlin gives Diana a warm smile. "Definitely let me know when you have that gala figured out. I'll send you a text sometime soon to get together for coffee, once I finish getting settled into my new job. Is that okay?"

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EVENT: SWIPER, NO SWIPING!

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