introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

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

Comments

max kiesler | ota!

[burnination]

CLEAN UP;

[ so, acid rain, that was cool. max sort of wishes he'd found a way to bottle it, because that seems useful, but there were more pressing issues, like the wormhole into space thing, and trying to make sure tristan wasn't going to completely lose his shit. jury's still out on the latter topic, but hovering over him all day isn't likely to help tris find emotional catharsis any better.

thus, max does what he's usually best for - being strong and relatively immovable. and, magic. the early part of the day, while the sun isn't at it's peak yet, max spends retrieving debris and bringing it back to the structures that've lost pieces and bits in the storm. as it's summer and freaking hot, and max naturally runs more hot than a body should, he ends up either in some kind of tank top or shirtless by noon, tattooed sundry on display. once he has a good stockpile by one of the places in need of repair, though, he pauses the clean up detail, and focuses on repair instead.

while his primary magic specialty isn't what his world called the Mechanic plane (manipulation of all things man-made), it's the second down on his ladder of abilities. james, a friend that was a brother to him, probably could've managed all this in a blink, but max has to go piece by piece. there's something that shimmers in the air, as a palm lays over an eroded pillar or a hole in a roof, and over the salvage pile nearby. Gradually, some kind of transfer starts to happen, like siphoning the debris into the repair, pieces chipping off the salvage and filling in on the walls, pillars and rooftops. he'll be off somewhere on his own, likely, messing with a place other workers haven't touched yet so as not to get in anyone's way (or have anyone in his way), but this is simple enough magic that talking to him won't distract enough to have him screw up. if someone stumbles over his salvage pile nearby, max's eyes won't raise from his work, but he will speak up, voice distracted and mild. ] Watch your step. Splinters in the air.

PARTY PARTY;

[ any time there is an option to be nude, always be nude. max spends most of the festivities on the adult only sides of the beach, in various stages of undress. he shows up in board shorts and a tank top, and throughout the day:

through cook-outs, he manages to keep himself clothed, through the boots he wore onto the beach get tossed off somewhere, and max noses his way into the space of anyone cooking, watching them work and asking a few questions - what kind of animal is that and where'd you get the spices and how do you know it's done and does it taste like chicken? he's typically the cook for his friends, and this place is all new and strange. tris can handle the research on the physics and magic of the land, but max likes things more hands on.

then, sportsball, where he loses the shirt. max isn't great at most of these games, given he's never played sports, and rules feel dumb. there might be a time or two that he breaks a rule, and then squints at whoever informs him of it, replying just with but that's stupid? someone will need to give detailed explanations about these activities to him before he decides he's willing to put up with the stupid bits for the sake of fun. or just makes a vague grunting sound, and walks off, to find something more entertaining.

of course, swimming, where he loses the shorts too, and flops himself into the water for some skinny dipping. max hasn't ever been the type for shame, least of all when it comes to nudity, so if you're in the clothing optional areas, you'll definitely get the full experience of witnessing nudity in action when max heads off to play around in the water.

but by the time dancing comes around, he's at least tugged the shorts back on, because having your junk flop around on a dance floor is just uncomfy, for you and everyone else around you. and he must dance. by this point, though, he's well sauced, mind in a drunken hum and body feeling the pound of the bass in his bones, swaying and dancing like a club boy (because he was/is one). anyone who brushes up against him will notice his skin is an unnatural kind of hot - not enough to burn, but a cozy warmth. ]

ROOMMATES/WILDCARD;

[[ max is on floor 14, bed 5! ]]

[ the first thing max gets to doing, upon arriving on his floor and learning tris has the bed right next to his, is start moving furniture. whether bed 5 was against the wall with the window or not, max is making it so. he's slept with windows and doors open in his room since he was 14, and he's going to need to be close to one if he's going to get any kind of sleep.

not that he explains that to anyone. just starts rearranging. in addition, tristan clark's bed is being pushed up against his as well, to make it one big mattress they can share. after his bedframe bumps against the wall, max reaches up to pop the window open, letting in the cool night air. ]

Anyone who gets cold at night can take my blankets. [ as he does not get cold. ever. ]

roommates!

[mingling]

[Natsume's general behavior in this communal living space amounts to keeping his head down. The rearrangement of furniture, then, earns a sweep of Natsume's glance, lingering just so, and then a duck of his head. He steps past like he's trying to draw inward; that's how he usually walks around this floor. So he's sitting on his bed (number 9) with his legs crossed and his own blanket drawn around his shoulders (and settled around his face) when Max opens the window. That's what makes him look back up.

...

He's not sure how to say this, and it shows, but,] I don't know if that's a good idea. [His words strive to be non-combative, but what they really mean is: That's not a good idea.]

i.

[imperceptus]

[ Rin does not do well in the sun. He's been pitching in where he can, mostly for appearances, but presently he's just slinking from shade patch to shade patch, observing the goings-on. This man draws his eye, largely because of the extensive tattoos--and then, subsequently, the very obvious magic.

Rin's completely covered up, despite the brutal heat (and in black, no less). He steps among the floating splinters, one hand shading his eyes, and smiles. ]

Worry not. I'm quite light on my feet.