introductory mingle: HARVEST FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Harvest Festival celebration
when: The month of November.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

harvest festival

In the days leading up to November 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: The Harvest Festival. This holiday is in celebration of the harvest season and autumn, as the moon transitions into its winter period, and is characterized by indulging in the plenty that comes with the harvest season with loved ones, cleaning house figuratively and literally, and making sure that those in need don't suffer during the winter. Celebrations tend to focus around food and charity, with citizens enjoying and sharing cultural meals and sharing stories, or participating in any of the wide range of charity projects and events going on during this season.

a celebration of sharing

The biggest traditions of the Harvest Festival are centered around giving and sharing. Charity is central, and the each year the city sets up a large open tent with warm places to rest for anyone who might be homeless and a table capable of sitting over 50 people at any given time, with a round-the-clock catered feast for anyone who wants to sit and have a meal with anyone else who's dropped by. Besides this, there are a wide variety of events benefiting charities in the city, including a karaoke concert, stray animal round up, and the annual "stuff swap" where residents clean their homes and donate anything they don't need to those who might be lacking. There is also a tradition of writing down repressed or bottled up thoughts, feelings, regrets, sins, and other troubles and tossing them into a bonfire to go into winter with a clean soul.

i. harvest feast & stuff swap

For the first few days of November, anyone dropping by the city center will notice a large tent structure being put into place - by November 3rd, as the last of October's ghosts fade into nonexistence, a veritable banquet hall will have been sent up. For a week following the setup, anyone who drops by the hall and steps inside will see a large table laden with food. Bread, stew, fruits and vegetables, soups, roasted meat, and almost anything else one can think of will be on the table, along with plates, silverware, and cups. Anyone is free to take a plate, settle down at the table, and help themselves to a meal.

The Feast is staffed entirely by volunteers, who do the cooking, cleaning, and tidy up the dishes and area afterwards, keeping the constant stream of food coming. Whether your character is heading in to sit beside a stranger and strike up a conversation, or volunteering their time, energy, or cooking skills to the hall, they're more than welcome.

One corner of the hall is entirely dedicated to the yearly "stuff swap." There's a long-standing tradition of fall cleaning in Riverview Quarantine, where residents will thoroughly clean their homes and rid themselves of excess in preparation for the winter. The extra things that aren't needed can be dropped off at the city center where the Feast is set up, and anyone who is in need of a particular item that has been donated can take it free of charge. This is an honor system, so please be kind to others! (Or don't.)

ii. charity karaoke

On the weekend of November 10th and 11th, while the Feast will be cleared away, the tent is being repurposed for a new event - a Karaoke Concert for the needy! Set up as a makeshift bar and lounge area, the space will be fronted by a large stage where singles or groups of people can choose a song and karaoke their hearts out to a crowd of spectators. There's a by-donation cover fee, and guests are encouraged to reward the best (or most hilariously bad) renditions of beloved songs from across the multiverse with digital "tips" that are transferred to the karaoke performer's charity of choice.

Whether you're a spectator tipping a performer, or a performer who's singing their heart out on the stage to benefit a variety of charities from the homeless to the animal shelter to children in need (and almost anything else you can think of), the Karaoke Concert is both hilarious and heartwarming.

iii. stray animal roundup

One of the main charity events that seems to happen every year is the stray roundup. As the seasons turn and it gets colder and colder at night, many residents who have a soft spot for animals band together to round up as many stray animals as possible and take them to shelters where they can be rehabilitated, given a warm bath, fed, and have a safe place to sleep. Volunteers take to the streets with crates and nets or restraining poles as well as generous bags of treats of food to entice the strays with, and capture them safely to be brought back to the various animal shelters around the Quarantine. Any animal who's caught is put up for adoption, and volunteers are encouraged to take home any strays that they bond particularly well with, or are invited to foster animals in their homes.

Whether your character is a die-hard animal lover, looking for a new pet, or just wants some wacky hijinks trying to chase a wily critter around the streets, they'll be suited up with supplies by other volunteers and released into the fray. The most common animals to be found are cats, dogs, and small domesticated foxes, but feel free to assume that your character is rounding up a reptile, rodent, bird, or a domesticated alien critter. Playing a thread with this prompt is a great opportunity to get a cute alien pet for your character without spending AP.

iv. letting go

On the evening of November 15th, a series of large bonfires will be set up all along the beaches of the river, and as the night falls, people begin migrating to the beaches from all over the city carrying slips of paper in a wide variety of colors with words written on them in a wide variety of languages, and throwing them into the fires. This is a way of psychologically and emotionally cleaning house for the residents of the Quarantine, because the papers they bring contain the stories of their pain, poems written about the feelings they bottle up, a venting of their anger and fear and resentment, all to be eaten up by the flames and washed away by the river with the next rain.

No matter where a person comes from, they carry pain and suffering and hurts that they must hide. This is a welcome opportunity for characters to write out their thoughts and feelings and release them. And if the symbolism of burning them isn't enough, there are always other people around the fires who are willing to listen, to hear all those things that people keep locked up inside. Share a story willingly, listen to someone's story, or just get caught holding your deepest darkest secrets on a really vulnerable piece of paper...it's up to you.

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 the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the Harvest Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i & iii: Bastien Grivet; image ii & iv: unknown (stock/hobbiton)

navigation

Comments

[shoplifter]

[She chews thoughtfully, though she doesn't look very convinced.]

How sure are you?

[That it's not gonna go anywhere. You can't guarantee it, Gamora.]

[godslay]

Very.

[ There's plenty of food, and they're not going to run out, of that she's certain.

At least, they won't run out until this tiny child is completely stuffed to the gills. ]

If you take your time, you'll enjoy it more.

[shoplifter]

... that is true. About -- enjoying food.

[He pokes at it, slower now.]

Our food was not this good. Before.

[godslay]

Before... here?

[ Gamora isn't trying to pry in an unwelcome way, but it's an offer, all the same – to listen, if Laura is going to elaborate. ]

[shoplifter]

[She nods, rather casual.]

It was for good health, not for good taste.

[A pause.]

Peter Quill Star-Lord knows about it. He bought me smiling pancakes.

[godslay]

Mm. I understand that.

[ Completely. That had been her experience with food, most of the time.

But the mention of Peter makes her brows lift, and she doesn't quite smother a smile. ]

Did he now?

[ That sounds like something Peter would do. ]

[shoplifter]

[She nods, thoughtful as she looks back.]

He said -- to speak to you, about home. He said... that you would understand best.

[godslay]

[ There’s a small tug in Gamora’s chest, something almost like sympathy. Yes, she does think she’ll understand where Laura’s coming from – not that she likes the idea very much. ]

Why don’t you tell me about your home?

[shoplifter]

[She stirs some potatoes with her spoon, looking into it like it's a rather unconventional portal into her memories.]

... I lived on Earth. But I was born in a special building.

There were a lot of us. They told people outside it was to cure -- 'cancer' in children. But they were making us with special tubes; I heard Gabriela say that. That we were made from mutants before us, so we could be sold later. When we were strong enough.

[godslay]

[ Gamora stirs her own food carefully, not quite taking a bite as she listens to Laura. She wasn't created in a test tube, but— ]

They were going to sell you as... weapons?

[shoplifter]

[She nods.]

Mutants were people with powers and gifts, but they were -- dying out. The doctors wanted to bring them back, and sell them. We stayed in special rooms without windows, and they took us out to train us and feed us. They made sure we were good at killing people... that we tolerated pain and did not care about life -- but we didn't want to be weapons. We were... still people.

[Her friends are food friends. They're good children.]

We wanted to leave.

They did not like that.

[godslay]

[ Gamora listens silently, her jaw slowly clenching, her fingers tightening around her fork.

Now she understands why Peter thought Laura should talk to her.

Because Gamora gets it.

She feels her fork starting to warp in her grip, and she forces herself to set the utensil down, looking over at Laura. ]

But you did leave?

[ She's amazed, if she's honest, because she never escaped as a child. She didn't dare until she was so much older, had been through so much, done so much.

She's impressed that Laura sits here now, a testament to strength and freedom. ]

[shoplifter]

[She nods.]

We ran because they started new projects. Better weapons. We weren't what they wanted, so they started giving the kids shots. [She stills, finally; this is the harder part to remember, and though her expression barely wavers, there's a slow way about how she answers that says enough.] They were putting many of us to sleep. The nurses were scared for us, so they opened all the doors, and we ran with them.

[She looks to Gamora.]

Many of the nurses did not know what they were hired for until it was too late.

They wanted to protect us.

[godslay]

[ Gamora meets Laura's eyes, not interrupting her, giving her this moment to share. ]

Then they were good people.

[ And she is willing to believe that. That's something that Gamora has come to embrace more, when before she might have condemned someone for being complicit on the grounds of ignorance, but—

She's learning. Understanding.

(And Gamora has done terrible things, killed so many people, and she would be hypocritical to judge.) ]

And you're here now.

[shoplifter]

[Laura is quiet for a moment.]

... I did not feel like I belonged.

They said that's why I came here.

[godslay]

[ She doesn’t quite smile, but there’s something softer in her eyes. ]

They told me the same.

Do you like it here?

[ “Do you feel safe here?” would probably be a better question. ]

[shoplifter]

... I think I like it. Sometimes.

Sometimes it's hard knowing how to fit in. I like the adults more than the kids.

... The kids don't understand.

[Which is... not what she's used to.]

It wasn't like that at home.

[godslay]

It takes a long time to learn.

[ Gamora hums in soft understanding. Admittedly, it had been the same for her when she was younger; the other children knew what they were all going through, but... they were pitted against one another instead. It didn't foster much in the way of bonding. ]

Were you close with the other children?

[shoplifter]

I think I was, and wasn't.

[She considers how to even... explain.

Feelings are hard when you weren't supposed to have them.]

We were all we had... and we were sad when some of the children died... or vanished. I always want to protect my friends. But it was not... a normal way to be friends. They trained us so that we did not feel like people. We weren't allowed to be close.

[Did that... make sense?]

[godslay]

… I understand that.

[ She says it both as an acknowledgement that Laura’s meaning is clear, and that she truly understands it. ]

Environments like that – it gets complicated.

[shoplifter]

[She smiles in solidarity, just a little, and just before shoving more food into her mouth.

Good job at keeping the mood grave, Laura. But with her mouth entirely full, she says gravely:]

We were made for better things.

[godslay]

[ She huffs a soft breath of amusement, shaking her head at the small girl. ]

Yes, we were.

[ … even if this little heathen talks with her mouth full. ]