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! |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cuddlemods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cuddlecity2018-02-01 11:13 am
no subject
"That hesitation tells me not a completely positive one," he notes. "Or just weird? It's definitely been weird so far." He's mixed fascinated and baffled, and it shows.
no subject
"There are a lot of people here from my future, who I haven't met yet, but they know me so it's been ... a little like walking on egg shells, trying to figure everyone out."
no subject
"Not exactly a normal problem," he agrees. "It must be extremely unnerving to not remember someone who knows you. It would freak me out." Empathizing is more or less the number one skill for a profiler to have, and Reid doesn't think twice about letting the conversation drift that way. Maybe other people would find this too serious for five seconds into a blind date, but Reid is frankly more comfortable with it than with small talk. There's a reason he doesn't go on dates.
no subject
She doesn't really have her head wrapped around it yet, but she's getting there. Or at least getting there enough to be friends with these new people.
no subject
But Reid has never coped well with situations he can't affect that result in people leaving. He knows that's his own failing.
"That must've made for a crazy introduction to the city. --Thank you." He accepts his menu and scans down it, flips the center divider page, scans again. "Honestly," he confesses, "I only picked this location because all the others would've involved me embarrassing myself immediately." Reid sounds pretty at home with that assessment, though, not self-deprecating.
no subject
"Is that so?" She tips her head to the side. "Is it more unfamiliar food or uncomfortable settings?"
no subject
"Oh-- no. It's not uncomfortable. I just have no aptitude with physical activity whatsoever." He offers a quick smile, not at all ashamed to admit it. "They had to issue formal exceptions on all of the physical suitability examinations for me to get through the FBI academy."
no subject
And she has beaten up many a guy, but she doesn't think that's a problem Reid's going to have.
no subject
Convincing Reid to touch people is more the issue in the first place. He's never been anything qualifying as handsy in his life, that's for sure. Self-defense classes, though, he wishes everyone took those.
He fidgets with his utensils. "I have no idea what you're supposed to say on dates, much less blind dates," he admits. "I can ask questions forever, but then I'll feel like I'm running an interrogation." That's a joke. Sort of. Mostly.
no subject
"For what it's worth, though, I think you're doing pretty well so far."
no subject
He takes a sip of his water, stalling for a moment-- but he understands the vital social value of reciprocity. Trusting relationships require two directions. He knows that intellectually; putting it into practice is never something that's come easily to Reid without a lot of time and natural, slow development. Accelerating it is... not something he's averse to, but foreign, almost unnatural in its clumsiness to him.
"Alright. Shoot."
no subject
"You mentioned the FBI academy. Are you an agent or an analyst?" Work is always a fairly neutral place to start, and she figures they can wind their way out from there.
no subject
"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."
no subject
no subject
"You get used to it after a while."
no subject
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?"
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
"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."
no subject
"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."