riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: HARVEST FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: HARVEST FESTIVAL

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)

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll kick his teeth in if he is.

[ Which is definitely not something Loki would say if Stephen were around, so. They're good on that count. Loki's arm slides around Billy's shoulders and delicate touches brush aside that mussed fringe. ]

How about we go to the kitchen and I make us milkshakes, hm? Any kind you want.

( can you imagine finally getting to see a really awesome place you've always wanted to go into and look at only to have a mild mental breakdown on the stairs and not move for ages. and then finding out one of your idols saw the whole thing. please don't let this be billy kaplan's life.

no one ever thought he was cool but he'd really appreciate not being that lame. billy lets loki touch him without a fuss. fingers in his hair, an arm around his shoulder, and he's moving to lean into it. )

Vanilla. ( today feels like a vanilla kind of day. )

Vanilla. I'm having chocolate because I am, as your wise sages of Midgard put it, "a basic bitch".

[ Loki keeps Billy under his arm as if he has his own life together and gets to be the responsible one in a moment of crisis, leading him downstairs. The upper echelons of the house can wait. ]

Ha. ( his arm shifts, moves to wrap around loki's midsection as they walk just to give him something to hold onto, too. billy's fairly certain if loki had threatened to kick in stephen strange's teeth where he could hear it, he'd have already retaliated--so he doubts they're being watched, or heard. this is fine. )

You're a lot of things, Loki, but I'm not too sure basic bitch is on that list of titles. ( but if he can joke around he's at least feeling a little less lost? always a good sign. )

[ A chuckle winds its way out of him, rubbing the furry blanket around Billy's shoulders as they make their way to a relatively normal kitchen ... except for a chained-shut fridge, but there is another regular one that Loki uses. ]

They called me Hipster Viking in New Jersey, it kind of caught on.

( a touchy-feely loki is so. weird. it's not that billy particularly minds it, really. an arm around his shoulders, a hand moving through his hair--those are all things he's used to, albeit not quite in this exact context. and definitely not with loki. his eyes move to the chained fridge, but. . also, this is stephen strange's sanctum. if there weren't a few things wrapped in chains, billy would be surprised, so he doesn't comment on it just yet. )

I'm not going to tell you to stop it per se, but I'm going to need a bit of an explanation for--, ( billy moves his free hand out from under the blanket, gestures to loki. ) this. Last I remember we were still "sit across from each other hovering chips" friends, not uh, whatever this is.

Oh. Ah, yes ...

[ Releasing his hold on the pretence of needing to make those milkshakes, he rubs the back of his neck as he goes about it. Avoids making eye-contact. ]

We went on a couple of dates, kind of. [ Which he feels embarrassed to admit to Billy in the present. ] I'll stop the touching, no fear. It became habit.

( wait, wait, what. eyes widen for a moment, pure shock written on his face before it shifts to disappointed (in himself or in loki, or maybe both, who knows), then back to. shocked. loki mentioned teddy was here, and yes, teddy had left him to go--think. loki definitely is not in the body of a twelve year old anymore, which is also weird to think about, but.

this day just keeps getting even weirder. ) Date dates, or dates? Wasn't Te--

( he remembers the last thing he'd talked about with teddy, stops his sentence before it can even shift into the question he starts to ask. there's only two answers, right? and the one that makes a lot more sense than the other isn't an answer he wants to hear. )

Teddy wasn't here back then.

[ How fascinating it is to make milkshakes, wow. Better keep his eyes on those instead of seeing how astonished that expression is. ]

We merely spent time together and grew comfortable with one another, it wasn't an illicit affair.

[ Until Teddy did show up and Billy asked, What do you want this to be, at which point avoiding the issue seemed the best course of action. ] There was lots of languishing in embraces like hot potatoes, nothing wild ... nothing that would constitute cheating.

[ In any way that counts in Loki's estimation, at least. ]

He was the only one in the communal apartment that would spend any time with me at all, at first.

( because billy generally doesn't see issue spending time with loki. it's--nice? to an extent, if he removes the last few moments he spent back home with him out of the equation, and a few other things he's trying to ignore ever happened. loki gets him in ways most of his friends won't. it's hard being someone with so much power at his fingertips, the capability to bend reality to suit his wants. it's not even an issue of self-control, but an issue of having to even watch his thoughts lest they get the better of him. )

Well yeah, because I'd never cheat on Teddy. ( no matter the circumstances. billy briefly considers throwing the blanket over his face again, finding a nice wall, and pretending no to exist again but--that's not going to get him anywhere. shutting down doesn't help anything. he considers leaving again--which also won't get him anywhere, will it? billy swallows hard, takes a breath before speaking quietly: )

But last I saw him, he left. You remember that, don't you? You remember why.

Really bad hair day ... ?

[ Biting his lip as he sets a vanilla milkshake down for Billy, Loki finally looks up and has the grace to be ashamed for his past interferences. Poisoning Teddy's mind and confidence in his own existence had been cruel, but easy, and is not hard to remember. ]

Because he thinks I'm manipulating him to make him love me. ( a conversation he doesn't want to have with loki. billy turns into the counter, presses his hip against the edge of it to rest his weight against when he raises the milkshake to his mouth. he doesn't look to loki, keeps his eyes focused down instead.

he hasn't left yet. he's still here, which says something about his want to believe in loki, right? it's not that he trusts him much, or expects much out of him. he promised to be better, said he hadn't said a lie since billy arrived, and he wants to believe in him. even if it's just a little. )

And I can't do or say anything to prove he's wrong.

Oh, Billy ...

[ These teenagers with their shaky hopes and wispy dreams, a simple matter to drag such things through the dirt if you have no standards. Like Loki didn't.

He sighs, stepping close enough to be in a personal bubble and seek out a brown-eyed gaze. ]

I was spinning total bullshit. It was all designed to burrow into his fears concerning your magic because he cares so much for you and wishes you well to the nth-degree, of course he would take the slightest doubt seriously. You mean the world to him. And, if you hadn't noticed, I can spin-doctor pretty much anything into a possibility, he didn't have a chance. You're Teddy's weakness and upon that I preyed to further my wicked plans. All of it was lies ...

You're practically perfect for each other, even I know he'll come back to you.

Edited 2017-11-15 22:19 (UTC)

( he keeps his eyes down regardless of how close loki gets, but he is listening. loki's tone sounds genuine enough, surprisingly. nothing about loki usually sounds genuine, but maybe that's just the years and years of norse nerdiness speaking for him. the stories of loki, the news paper articles about the loki before he was this loki, all of that.

there are dozens of other things loki could have said that would have pushed billy closer to him. but not that. he raises his eyes after another moment, nose scrunched and lips pursed. )

I can't believe you would do that. Do you know how much I-- ( how difficult it is to keep all that power under wraps. how hard he works to control himself. ) No, you do. You knew it'd get to me. That I can't. .

( maybe he should have finished this milkshake first. )

And now you're different? After all of that, you want to help me? You're just. . here, gathering animals and making milkshakes?

I'm kind of dead back home, so ...

[ It's not an excuse to get out of the firing line of Billy's anger, righteous as it is. Rather a simple truth, and he did promise to be honest.

Chastised, his attention flickers somewhere over the mage's shoulder. ]

I'm sorry I hurt you, truly. If you want to leave me behind on this moon and never see me again that's an actual option you have, because I can't follow on your heels anymore.

( crawling back under the blanket is seeming like an even better option every second that passes by. the milkshake gets set to the side, billy's eyes upturning to look at loki as he extends a hand out, fists fingers into his shirt. )

First off, I'm disappointed, but I'm not abandoning you. Second, what do you mean you're kind of dead?

[ Secured in Billy's grip, he winces and shies his face away in case a fist is soon to be incoming, hurriedly explaining. ]

It was the King Loki of my future where I failed and reverted to the first, the Old Man. He came back in time to ensure I would become him and instead of letting him twist me into a monster, I killed myself. Saved a couple of memories, but the rest and this body ...

[ Destroyed for the greater good. Greater chaotic neutral, maybe. ]

The new Loki will not be encumbered by my mistakes or emotions, he won't be a Liesmith but a real skald able to walk his own path. A Storyteller.

( he really is years behind. the grip he has on loki only tightens as he speaks, but there is no hint of a fist. )

. . I'm sorry. ( genuinely sorry. billy knows loki can't really die, that he comes back, but that doesn't make it any better, does it? dying is still dying. and coming back different means that the you who you were isn't always preserved. ) I won't abandon you. Maybe you did use me, maybe you were a tool, and you manipulated me, but. . ( a breath in. his relationship with loki is so Complicated he's not quite sure what are the right words to use here. ) We're still friends. Kind of.

[ He dares to slide a soft hand over the grip in his hoodie, the touch cool where it rests over tense knuckles. ]

Billy ... [ Vying to stay honest (it chafes at this degree, for this long) Loki aims to look him in the eye. ] I have no home, no Asgardia or Earth to return to. Everyone I can make amends with is beyond my reach on the other side of a portal through which I cannot cross and the only opportunities I have are in the people who fall onto my doorstep, the time with which I will not waste.

I was created to be a toxic piece of shit and maybe I always will be in some ways, but I will hold myself to a higher standard where you are concerned. You have my word.

( wanda has bent time and reality to bring people back from the dead before. billy reached through dimensions to grab what he thought was teddy's mother (big mistake, but)--and he's supposed to be an all-powerful magical messiah one day, isn't he? who says he can't fix loki?

aside from every other word that comes out of loki's mouth, obviously. loki is toxic. he's manipulative. he's a liar, a thief. and these are just things billy has learned from his months with him, excluding all of the before.

billy meets loki's gaze, gives him a tentative smile. mentioning the whole magic thing isn't going to get him anywhere, and it's not something he wants to bring up this soon. maybe later. )

Loki, you have a room in the Sanctum. That's basically the coolest home I've ever heard of.

Ah ... [ It lightens the tension when Billy gives him a reason to smile, shaking his head. ] I think Stephen may be trying to keep an eye on me. It's okay, I like his digs.

[ As if on cue the chained fridge jolts and snarls, startling Loki enough to put an arm in front of Billy as though to shield him from whatever just made an attempt to get at them. ]

Except for that thing ...

Do I want to know what's inside of it, or should I just pretend it's not rattling?

( as if an arm is enough to stop him from looking at it. the hand at loki's shirt moves to push the arm back down, body leaning to the side enough to get a good look at the fridge. )

It's a horror-terror, a baby cthulu. At least, that's what it looks like at a best educated guess. Or a face-hugger. [ He adds in an undertone, ] Stephen can't eat anything else these days. Something to do with a battle or whatever went down prior to his arrival in the Quarantine.

I tried blending one with strawberries but he only gave me an A for effort, not success.

Gross. ( how does he survive eating mini-cthulus. ) So don't touch the chained-fridge with the angry, yelling face-hugger.

( leaving that alone. billy releases loki, finally. steps back to the counter and goes back to his milkshake. ) Anyway--I'm not going anywhere any time soon, so. . ( it's a little harder than he cares to admit, but also: he doesn't want to pull the same thing loki's been through twice before. billy may be selfish on some fronts, but flipped around, he's not sure if he'd be able to deal with being put off a third time for the same thing. )

We're both here. We may as well make the best of it.

Please don't turn into a chest-bursting corpse, yeah.

[ Having forgotten to make a drink for himself, he leans over the counter and kneads his hands together as he cocks a curious look. ]

Do you want to stay in the Sanctum, then? I'm sure Stephen wouldn't mind sparing one of his million unused rooms.

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