riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

monthly mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: the river festival
when: the month of august
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 flooding that's left the banks of the river littered with debris - 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 each weekend in August.

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 month 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. Every weekend, there are beautiful fireworks displays and free concerts. This year, the River Festival has been chosen for the unveiling of a new water park in the City, with free or heavily discounted tickets during August!

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 the recent flooding 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 flooding and the traffic along the riverbanks from the heroes that participated in the rescue of cult hostages, 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. beach activities

The main traditions of the River Festival involve cookouts and beach parties. Each weekend in August, 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.

If your character is 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.

iii. fireworks and music

Each weekend throughout the month of August, there will be evening performances all along the beach. Not as extensive as the musical performances during Carnivale, the performances are geared more toward dancing than true concerts, with areas roped off on both on the regular and adults-only clothing-optional beaches for dancing and mingling (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!

iv. waterpark

This year, there's an extra little bit of fun being thrown into the River Festival - the grand opening of a new waterpark! It's quite the park, set near the river with a scenic view, and featuring all sorts of amazing rides, from waterslides that are catered to all ages and levels of thrill seeking, tube rides that are almost like a rollercoaster on water, a pool where customers can faux-surf, funnel rides, side-by-side racing slides, a lazy river, and almost anything else you can imagine. Besides the rides, there are also a wide variety of swimming pools for kids and adults - wave pools, lap pools, splash pools - and an equally wide variety of hot tubs featuring various minerals (and some aromatherapy) for relaxing, invigoration, and other effects.

Some of the hot tubs are in a clothing-optional adult area, where there are some normal pools and some clearly-labelled pools contain elements that increase arousal or desire, or simply affection to encourage some closer bonding!

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

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It is... astonishing.

[ There's not a trace of sarcasm there; he really means it and finds this place to be a marvel. The Alcethmeret's garden had a few elaborate fountains, but they were decorative. You could not climb in them (well, perhaps someone determined enough could), and certainly not zoom about or play the way people are doing, here.

He thinks he might regret the choice, but Maia lifts his chin and decides, impulsively: ]

Let's try something extreme.

[ As long as it doesn't kill him, where's the harm? Everyone on the network had urged him to take risks. Step outside his comfort zone. Even though he doesn't know what sorts of activities might be on the table - he has to allow himself these tiny leaps of faith. And if it all goes wrong, well, he remembers that Taako is a powerful wizard. Surely he would be an ideal companion, should danger arise. ]

Though I ought perhaps to warn you... I do not know how to swim.

[ Okay maybe mention that sooner, Maia. ]

[That's very Magnus of him, but Taako probably shouldn't get this poor dude killed. That would be bad form, so he takes a second to think about what might be the best ride.]

Cool, cool, cool. There's a couple rides that'll get you wet without actually throwing you in the water. You're on a raft or whatever, I think?

[Worst case scenario and Maia falls in, Taako can just fish him out with Bigby's hand.]

[ During the pause that Taako takes to consider which ride would be best, Maia's bravado dims slightly. He's just going to have to add 'swimming' to the list of skills he needs to learn. He'd figured out cooking (at least well enough to feed himself), and laundry, and public transportation, and work, and texting, but there is apparently a lot more left to go. ]

Yes, perhaps that is wise.

[ He follows Taako's lead, walking alongside him in the direction of the ride in question. Despite his embarrassment over not being able to swim, he feels increasingly excited, to try out one of the rides. Truly, this is something he never would have been able to do, back home. That excitement spills over as he says, brightly: ]

It is wonderful, is it not, that this place is open to all?

[Taako is absolutely just following signs to the ride he's thinking of, but he's probably heading in the right direction.]

They gotta make it nice, you know? This whole place runs on people having a good time.

[Maybe that's a bit cynical, but he still doesn't think there's anything sinister about the way things are run here, it's just a statement of fact. The Quarantine relies on people staying, to keep it populated, and they do everything they can to make it a good place to be.]

But hey, I actually taught my like... sort of brother-in-law to swim, if you ever want lessons.

[ Maia, who possesses at most one single ounce of cynicism in his six-foot-something body, mulls that over for a moment, before saying: ]

There are worse forces to run on. And so far as we can tell, the good times to be had here are harmless. A trifle wasteful, yes, and lewd, certainly, but without cruelty.

[ Wrapped up as he is in thinking about his answer, Maia doesn't notice himself slipping into his old familiar speech patterns. Also, the fact that he saw fit to classify this water park, and the sorts of celebrations he'd seen in the last month as 'cruelty-free, how novel' says a little bit of something about his expectations.

Taako's offer to give swimming lessons nudges Maia back into the present. ]

Truly? So, I am not the only one, who never learned to swim as a child?

[ After all, for his past pupil to be his brother-in-law, he had to at least be old enough to be married, right? ]

I would be most grateful for lessons, if your offer was not in jest.

Oh, for sure, for sure. I don't think they're like, evil or whatever, it is what it is.

[Maybe he just thinks it's important to keep in mind, to not get too swept up in all the parties and the fun, especially for people who have important shit to return to. The Quarantine can be a little too tempting.]

Nah, I taught Barold when he was... what, fifty? Sixty? And it's a legit offer, I can even magic us up an indoor pool if you want a little privacy. [He makes a bit of a face, realizing how that offer could sound.] That was not a come on, just to be clear.

[Because like "lemme magic up a secret private pool to give you swimming lessons" is something he would do to hit on someone, if that someone wasn't a baby.]

[ Maia looks relieved, when he hears how old Taako's friend was when he learned to swim. There's something in the way he says it, too - as if it is perfectly normal, he hadn't known until then. Maia is too busy being grateful and feeling cheered up to think much of the offer of a magically-conjured indoor pool. To him, it sounds like an extravagant use of magic, and very kind, but then, everyone here is strangely kind.

So it's not until Taako clarifies what his intentions aren't that the implications even occur to Maia. His skin is too dark to show much of a flush, but his ears dip and he actually says: ]

Oh!

[ Startled and flustered, Maia very nearly collides with a rather perilously-placed cotton-candy stand, before getting himself on a clear path and stuttering out: ]

We did not- it's- of course- we assure you that we had no illusions to the contrary.

[ He only them notices he's slipped back into formality. Maia visibly pulls himself together, scraping back his composure and saying in a calmer voice: ]

I appreciate the clarification. The truth is, the customs here are so strange that I would not know- what is and is not a come on. Such things are rather more- well, the truth is, back home no one would presume to- things were different.

[ Well he'd somehow only made that worse. ]

[Whups, maybe pointing it out at all was a bad idea, but he didn't want to give the wrong impression or like... make Maia uncomfortable, since the poor dude clearly isn't 100% on the whole social interaction thing. Taako musters up an expression somewhere between amused and sympathetic, because he does feel a little bad about the fuss he's just caused but also it's a tiny bit funny. Poor Maia.]

It's cool, bubbale, you don't gotta explain yourself. Just, you know, hot tip for the future, if someone invites you somewhere private for any kinda one-on-one activity, they're probably flirting.

[Note to self: warn poor Maia before the next sex festival rolls around so he doesn't stumble into anything unawares.]

[ Maia, embarrassed and flustered but grateful to Taako for remaining calm despite that, nods his head, accepting the advice solemnly. ]

I... do not believe I have ever been flirted with.

[ There had been Osmin Duchenin, following him around at parties, laughing every time he opened his mouth as if everything he said was the height of wit, but Maia is inclined to not count that. Flattery and grasping for social position weren't the same thing as flirting.

They reach the ride, but there is a bit of a line, going up some wooden stairs to the platform with the entrance to the slide, and the various stacks of rafts. Maia braces his hip against the bannister, and thinks that perhaps it is time to come clean. ]

The truth is, I was not entirely honest with you, the first time we met. I... did not lie, so much as... omit. The reason I - do not consider such possibilities is due to my position, back home. I... was the emperor, and as such my uh- I am understood to be... off-limits. The... choice of my future empress was put to a vote among my advisors, and as for one-on-one activity, well... Law dictates that the emperor is to be accompanied at all times by two oath-bound guards, at all hours of the day, without exception.

[ Maia could say more - much more - but forces himself to stop there, knowing that he has just blurted a great deal of information. He waits to see how Taako will react, a little tense and uneasy. Most people here had accepted the fact that he is an emperor with delightful bland indifference, but a few had become awkward around him, or reacted with distaste to the idea. ]

[Taako waits somewhat patiently for the admission that's obviously coming (somewhat, in that he doesn't interrupt, but does have an out with it sort of expression on his face) and nods once Maia has finished.]

Well, that kinda sucks, huh? I never really went for the whole like, other people deciding who you're gonna marry or whatever.

[He gets that it's different for royalty, but still.]

Anyway, I figured you were pretty fancy, didn't guess quite as high as emperor, but you know, whatever. Is that why you do the whole 'we' instead of 'I' thing?

[Maybe once upon a time he might've reacted slightly more to the emperor thing, but like..... Thor and Loki are princes of Asgard, royalty isn't a big deal anymore.]

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monthly mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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