riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and River Festival
when: The month of August; the bulk of celebration will be in week 1, but there is a party and fireworks display on August 14th.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

river festival

In the days leading up to August 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: The River Festival. This holiday is in celebration of the river and the life that it gives to the city, as well as the heat of summer and forming bonds with friends, family, and romantic partners. The celebrations are marked by a community-wide cleanup of the docks and beaches along the river - particularly important considering the recent acid rain - as well as beachfront cookouts and parties (both private and city sponsored) and beach sports tournaments happening on either open stretches of beach or in special clothing-optional beaches, all capped off with fireworks displays on the evenings of August 7th and 14th.

a celebration of the river and togetherness

Following the hedonism of Carnivale, it's time for something a little more low-key and relaxing. The River Festival happens every year in August, and is geared toward community building through cleaning up the beaches and docks along the river and then using all that freshly cleaned beach to gather on. During the first week of August, there are various lightly-themed government-sponsored beach cookouts and parties geared toward family, romantic dates, or casual all-ages get-togethers for meeting new friends; there are also a few more racy parties at clothing-optional beaches around the city. Many private residents also take this time to gather together friends and family, and have cookouts on the beach with all the typical trappings of the beach barbecue. There are also various casual sports tournaments sponsored by community centers, gyms, and sports teams in the city, featuring prizes ranging from notoriety to sports equipment to big bucks. Finally, there are two fireworks displays, one on August 7th and one on August 14th, with free food, and various live performers beforehand.

i. cleaning up

The holiday starts off on a note that is just a bit more sombre than the rest of the season, with the cleanup efforts following late July's strange fog and acid rain blending into the usual tradition of cleaning up beaches and docks along the river. The cleanup is a group effort, with every citizen who is physically able pitching in to comb the beaches, where they pick up fallen tree limbs, garbage, and anything else that's accumulated during the winter and spring, and then raking the beaches to make them clean and ready to use. The cleanup of the docks is similar, with residents sweeping and hosing them down where necessary. This year, there are a lot of repairs to be made to beachfront structures that might've been damaged by the acid rain, so if anyone has some carpentry or building skills, those would definitely come in handy.

This is meant to be a community building effort, so many businesses in the area, more well-to-do private citizens, and the government have pitched in funding to provide lunches, cold drinks, coffee or tea, and snacks to anyone who's helping out with the cleanup efforts. All in all, the cleanup has a very friendly, welcoming vibe.

ii. cookouts and parties

The main traditions of the River Festival involve cookouts and beach parties. On August 7th and August 14th, the government as well as various corporations and businesses in the city, will be providing funds for large beach gatherings. On these days, there will be booths set up offering wares and freebies from various businesses around the city that have helped fund the party, large swaths of cleared beach where residents can don a swimsuit and catch some rays or swim in the river, massive barbecue setups to provide partygoers with all the standard barbecue fare, beach sports tournaments, dancing and musical performances, and fireworks displays (see prompts below).

The holiday isn't just about these big parties, though - many residents arrange their own barbecues, cookouts, beach camping trips, beach bonfires, and other riverside gatherings and outings. Many riverfront businesses offer discounts on services such as canoe or kayak rentals to go out paddling on the river, jetski or motorboat rentals for tubing, wakeboarding, or waterskiing, or mounts to take romantic rides in the surf. Additionally, there is an adults-only section of the beach where any of these activities can be done in the nude in a clothing-optional setting, including the big city-sponsored parties.

iii. sportsball tournaments

Is your character good at playing a particular sport that could, conceivably, be played on a beach? Chances are that during the month of August, a tournament will be set up for them to participate in. The tournaments are pretty standard, generally sponsored by community centers, sports clubs and teams, gyms, and other organizations and businesses in the city, with various levels of specialization, and levels of skill or competitiveness. The prizes also vary, with everything from plain old bragging rights to sports equipment or passes to gyms and community centers, to large lump sums of cash money. Definitely worth it, for characters with a love for sport.

Oh, and a lot of these tournaments are happening on the adults-only clothing-optional beaches, for those grown-up sports fans who like a bit of an extra challenge.

iv. performances and fireworks

On August 7th and August 14th at the end of the large city-sponsored beach parties, there will be evening performances all along the beach. Not as extensive as the musical performances during Carnivale, there are two large-name performers per night, with various lesser-known groups performing at random off and on throughout the day and night. Areas of the beach are cleared for residents to watch and dance to the music, both on the regular and adults-only clothing-optional beaches (acts will switch off between the two areas so both areas get both performances).

Player-characters who are musical artists, DJs, or otherwise perform are free to set up shop around this party and panhandle or put on free performances for publicity.

After the sun goes down, boats will head out into the water carrying a variety of fireworks, and there will be a beautiful display of exploding color in the sky for residents to watch and enjoy. The fireworks are highly advanced, incorporating old-fashioned gunpowder as well as modern technology that result in really beautiful displays that can take the breath away!

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up one of the mod-posted prompts for each Communal Floor. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the River Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: credit unknown; image ii: Albert Ramon Puig; image iii: Claudio Pilia; image iv: Alan Philips

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*Someone is excitedly knocking on the door to the Floor Six apartment. She totally doesn't live here but she's looking for someone who sorta does. Lola's all cute and upbeat and dressed for summer (so as little sleeve or pant leg as she can get away with). Hair all bubblegum pink with a basket of cookies under her arm because if Yuffie isn't here she won't be turned away if she brings chocolate chips!*

[The fact that someone is knocking rather than just inviting themselves in is the first indication to Ed something is wrong with this picture. So many people have waltzed right through Floor Six like they belonged it was hard to tell who was visiting and who was a roommate for a good month or so there.

At least now he knew who everyone was - well, eight of them, anyway.

The first thing Ed seems to notice is the hair, but he immediately jerks his gaze lower to her face as if reminding himself to be polite.]

Uh... Looking for someone?

[Clearly a basket of food had an intended recipient.]

*Lola was raised with these things called manners. And a healthy respect for breaking and entering laws.*

Yes, I'm Lola. Is Yuffie home. Or... here, she said she lived on two floors. Which seemed weird but I thought I'd check here first instead of going up to ten.

*She holds up the bribe.*

I brought cookies, they aren't specifically for Yuffie, just a general way to say hello.

*And to say 'let me in I have cookies.'*

[What are those.]

Lola, nice to meet you.

[He looks a little wary, but Ed steps back with a sweeping motion as if to invite her in.]

It's hard to tell with her, sometimes she slips out a window... Come on in.

[Ed had never really thought to ask where she goes all the time, honestly it hardly seemed like his business.]

Maybe floor ten is where she lived before, she probably has friends there. She was hanging around here so much we kind of told her to just make it official recently. You can put the cookies on the island in the kitchen if you want... I'm Ed, by the way. Edward Elric.

[There was a brief impulse to shake, but he ignores it for the moment. Too many people knew about the automail as it was, and he saw no reason she needed to any time soon.]

I shouldn't be surprised, she is a ninja. Windows are perfectly good exits if you're close enough to the ground.

*Lola didn't think this high up was close enough to the ground, but she didn't know any other ninjas to be sure. Lola will walk over and put the basket down, looking around to see how this kitchen is set-up, compared to what she did on Floor Two.*

'We?' I guess you guys must be pretty close to all invite someone to stay on your floor. That's pretty nice to have.

*Lola's eyes are most decidedly not on Ed's face as she's talking. She's looking at how he stands and moves, or looking around the room. There's something... wiggling in her head, half an idea to think about.*

Being close to the ground has nothing to do with it.

[He might have some experience, but he's sure it matters even less to someone like Yuffie. Besides, chances were she was going up if she was heading to Floor Ten, or the roof. He imagined scaling a wall wasn't much for her, but maybe he was wrong.]

Ah... Yeah, I guess so. Some of us, anyway. My brother's also here, and I showed up a few months ago. Apparently most of us showed up around the same time so it was easy to find something in common.

[Like being stuck in a new world. If he notices the way she's watching him he doesn't comment or even seem to mind. Going about his business as usual.]

Do you want something to drink? There's all sorts of stuff in the fridge, just- make sure you use that one.

[He motions to the fridge that doesn't contain Garrus' food, because he's not sure he wants to deal with whatever outcome that may have.]

Hmm? I would think that'd be at least a detail to keep track of when you do... ninja things.

*Like it might be a very small detail, but being this high up has to mean at least a little something. But that thought vanished from her mind as that other half-thought managed to find its footing. Cementing itself down into the details she remembered, and the details she forgot.*

You were that guy who didn't like parties who got dragged there by his friends! My hair looked like this at the party.

*She'll worry about drinks later, right now she wants to know if she got that right. Lola's hair faded from pink to sterile lifeless faded out white.*

I was the short one.

*You're always the short one.*

Floor 6 - Surprise visitor at the door!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

<3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject