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

[Shiro didn't say anything, walking with Keith as they headed back towards the house. Of course Red was worried about him. This was the lion that had tried to break her way into the Blade of Marmora base because of the trials which Keith had insisted on doing and Shiro had been prevented from stopping.

As they passed Black, the lion fell in line behind Shiro. Shiro was used to hearing the lion's movement and pretty much tuned it out. However, hearing how slow it was at the moment did get his attention. He couldn't help glance over his shoulder to figure out why and spotted Black walking with the cat that was following Keith. Clearly Black seemed to think this cat was supposed to come back with them.

Gosh darn it, Black! Stop being cute! Shiro was trying to keep his stern face on!]

[When Shiro glanced back, so did Keith, still somewhat on edge from the fight, so his head automatically went to the idea that maybe someone was following them. But, while he was partially right, it wasn't entirely the case. It was the cat. And Black was apparently escorting it. Keith was momentarily surprised, caught off-guard by the strange looking scene, and then couldn't help the small smile in response.

When everyone paused, so did Red. She turned, and then lowered her head to investigate the housecat following them. The cat sniffed Red's nose, and then walked past her to stand next to Keith. She leaned against his uninjured leg, and then looked up at him. Someone wanted attention.]

Oh, so now you like me?

[She twitched her tail a little, letting it wrap around his calf muscle.]

Edited 2017-12-06 18:25 (UTC)

[As the cat reached the group and started rubbing against Keith, Black sat down and watched. Was he doing this right, Shiro? This tiny thing was supposed to come with them? It seemed to think that it did.

Okay, Shiro couldn't help a smile watching as the cat wrapped her tail around Keith's leg. The cat was clearly lonely and had somehow latched onto Keith]

Why don't you take it back with you? It seems to want to come.

[Keith leveled a Look(TM) at Shiro. Not funny, dude. He sighed heavily, and then turned to keep going, being sure to step around the cat so neither of them got hurt.]

If it wants to come, then whatever.

[He wasn't going to try and pick it up, that was for sure.

The cat chirped a little, and started to follow again. Red grumbled at her a little, but she was undeterred, oddly enough, by the massive robot lion.]

[Shiro kept going as well, easily keeping step with Keith. He wasn't too concerned with the cat. She seemed intent to come with them and Black was going to walk with her. Might have been part of the reason she wasn't concerned about Red; there was a larger one that seemed eager for the cat to come with them]

Well, there is another option if you don't want it to come with us.

[Since the point of this was actually to take the animals to the shelter to begin with. Would reverse psychology work on Keith?]

It doesn't matter, Shiro. [It really was the least important thing on his mind at the moment. He did stop again, though, and leaned down to put his hands on his knees for a second. He was frustrated, and a little freaked out, and just... ugh. This wasn't helping.]

[When Keith got snippy, Shiro didn't respond, still walking with him towards the house. Black was still walking with the cat, apparently under the impression it needed to come with them. The cat was after all rather pointedly following Keith.

What did the lions think this tiny thing was? Did they understand it was an animal and didn't have a high intelligence?

But soon they got back to the house. Shiro stepped forward to open the door for Keith, Red, and the cat. Black had to go the back away so once the cat was joining them inside, Black broke off and headed around to the back door]

Sit. I'll take a look at your leg.

[Shiro said this as he walked first to open the back door for Black and then went to get the first aid kit. He had no idea how deep the wound was so it might need more than he could do]

[Keith did just that, sitting in the kitchen. Red leaned in and tried to look, almost like she was sniffing at him even though she didn't have nostrils to do that with. The cat sat down a little ways off and just watched everything.

As Shiro opened the door and then got the first aid kit, Keith carefully pulled up the leg of his pants to expose the gash. Ivar had gotten him pretty good. It had bled a lot, and Keith winced, sucking some air through his teeth as moving his pants away from it made it hurt again and started a small bleed again.]

[Well, at least the kitchen was easier to clean up. Shiro walked back over with the first aid kit, hearing that loud hiss as Keith pulled his pants leg up. This was definitely not a good sign. Shiro knelt down to get a better look, putting on a pair of gloves to make sure he didn't make things worse (even with his metal hand).

It looked pretty deep and Shiro didn't want to mess with it too much and make his wound bleed again significantly when his pants leg told the story of a decent amount of bleeding]

I'll wrap this to slow the bleeding, but I think you'll probably need stitches. If nothing else, a doctor should look to make sure its not too deep.

[And he wasn't desperate enough to trying a patch up Keith's leg with stitches. In a place with actual doctors, he wasn't going to do that.

But as he started wrapping Keith's leg]

What happened to start this?

Yeah...

[He winced a little as Shiro started to clean it up.]

He was laughing at me while I was trying to get that cat out from behind some pallets in the alleyway.

[He shot a glare over at the cat in question, and she just looked at him in return, completely unaffected.]

[Shiro was careful as he cleaned the injured area as much as he dared. He didn't want to move it and cause bleeding and also didn't want to introduce anything into an injury that deep, even to disinfect. It was less than hour old and still open. If they got to a doctor, that shouldn't be a problem]

And how did his wheelchair come up?

I asked him why he had it.

[Simple enough.

Though, Keith being annoyed at having been laughed at might have worded it and used a tone that sounded off and not quite so innocent as he asked.]

He got all angry at me and pulled the knife.

[He might be leaving out a few small details, like calling Ivar a hypocrite and a jerk.]

And I'm sure you found out that's a sore subject for some people.

[Also since he's sure the question came after Ivar laughed at him, the question was probably not phrased the best. Keith tended to get very abrupt with people when he had been embarrassed even if it was only between the two of them, like Lance teasing him about Klaizap. He's also sure some other words were said in there, but he wasn't going to challenge his telling of the story, especially since he'd gotten some of it from Ivar]

That's generally not a question you should bring up the first time you meet someone with a wheelchair. Some people don't mind answering the question and I'll guess he wasn't okay with answering it.

[Shiro's cleaned the area around the wound the best he could and carefully put a gauze pad over his wound and started wrapping it. It would keep the wound protected while heading over to the physician. Shiro was fairly certain it needed stitches]

The last guy here in a wheelchair didn't care that I asked.

[Keith grumbled that one out. Of course, Keith had also asked it in a completely different tone, and there hadn't been a grumpy exchange between them previous to it.

Red came in close, watching Shiro wrap the gauze tightly around Keith's leg.]

I don't think this conversation was the same considering he tried to run you through. And while we're at it, I understand what was going on, but don't knock people out of wheelchairs. [He felt it needed to be said because that was most likely humiliating, no matter how capable they were. The fact that Ivar had continued the fight to stab him in the leg was impressive.

He glanced over at Red as the lion came over to watch]

He'll be okay. It just needs more than I should do when we have doctors here.

[Yes, if this had been a life or death situation with no hope of medical attention, he would have done the stitches himself. Since it was not, he wouldn't do that]

He was trying to stab me! I had to defend myself! [Okay, well, maybe he didn't have to kick Ivar in the chest like that, but... still... And, even with that, Ivar had still managed to get a hit in!

Red just kept watching, mostly curious, as she knew Shiro wasn't going to harm Keith. Keith's trust for Shiro was something she had picked up on and believed in.]

But did that require knocking him out of the chair? [Shiro did understand that Ivar had been attacking him, but the question was if that had been necessary. In someway, he kind of understood how it would be to be on the other side. He had wondered during his more morbid moments what it would be like if he didn't have that Galra arm entirely, how disadvantaged he'd be with normal tasks.

He was also curious if Keith hadn't knocked Ivar out of the wheelchair if he wouldn't have gotten stabbed.

Once he got Keith's leg bandaged, he pulled off the gloves, stuffing them back into the bag they had come in to throw them away before he reached over to put his hand on Red]

Come on. We should go to the physician. You should probably use Black to keep from aggravating it too much by walking.

I wasn't going to only give half an effort. He certainly wasn't.

[Even if Keith hadn't been fighting to kill or hurt his opponent, he'd been fighting to defend himself and get his opponent to stop fighting. Ivar had been out to injure and kill. Keith had definitely gotten that vibe and had responded in the way he saw fit.

He grumbled, though, about being careful with his leg. He knew Shiro was probably right about it, but it bothered him.]

Fine...

[He got up, trying to move carefully as not to set it bleeding again. Red grumbled a little as well, almost blocking Keith from getting to Black as if she wanted to be the one to carry him.]

[Shiro just sighed at Keith's response there. Granted he hadn't been there - and remember that Keith - but he didn't think there was a justification for knocking him out of a wheelchair especially when he knew the person in question needed it. But he wasn't going to argue that point anymore with Keith, at least at the moment. They needed to get Keith's leg checked before it began to bleed worse or infection or irreparable damage set in.

Black started to step forward, but when Red blocked the path, Black sat back down, acting as though Shiro hadn't said anything, instead looking down at the cat]

Well, I guess Red is volunteering to go then?

[Shiro didn't have a problem with that. Black was just bigger which was why he'd said it but if Red was insisting and thought she could, that would work too]

[Red rubbed up against Keith's uninjured leg, her shoulder lightly bumping against his hip. She purred at him.]

Yeah... I guess so.

[He put his hand on her back for a moment, and then nodded.]

Alright, Red.

[She lifted her head a little as Keith settled on her back for the trip, settling his leg so it wouldn't get aggravated and start bleeding heavily again.]

Let's go.

[Shiro couldn't help a faint smile. It was so predictable, he should have realized it was going to happen. He waited patiently for Keith to get onto Red's back and get settled, offering a hand if it looked like Keith was off balance at any point, but finally he was settled]

Keep an eye on the cat, Black.

[Black gave almost a rumbling purr in response. He'd look after the cat.

With that, Shiro headed back over to the front door to open it for Red]

Let's go then.

[The cat watched them go, and then nonchalantly just settled on the back of the couch like it was hers.

Red made her way out the door, making sure to be careful with Keith on her back like that.

Keith sighed. Wow, Red... he wasn't fragile. Though, she certainly thought he was... being all squishy and organic and breakable unlike her.]

[Yeah, compared to the lions, they were fragile. The leg wound probably proved that to Red. Not only did it hurt Keith, but Shiro had also insisted that it was more than he could do, which meant he was far more fragile.

Shiro shut the door and walked along side them, not really saying anything as they walked unless Keith suddenly found himself in the mood to talk. It was probably an interesting sight. Keith riding on Red with Shiro walking along side. Probably would be an even more interesting sight for the medical staff...]

[Keith sulked in silence for pretty much the entire trip, not making eye contact with anyone.

Red wasn't much help, prodding him lightly over their bond to keep checking on him and making sure he was okay.

At one point, he sighed rather loudly, and Red rumbled back.]

I'll be fine.

[Keith sounded frustrated and exasperated.]

Yes, he'll be fine.

[He lead the way back to the hospital. When they reached the door, he stepped forward to block Red and offered Keith a hand up, thinking he'd much rather want to walk in under his own power than be seen riding on the lion for an injury like that]

They'll get it taken care of for you.

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