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

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He nods, absorbing that. ]

This is the furthest I've ever been. Without orders, without a tether. It's supposed to be freedom.

Freedom can be what you make it.

[Not that she will deny that there are those who have had their freedoms denied to them. Yet, even then, she recalls how helpful a young Anakin was. How little he had had, and yet how he had sought to help strangers who meant nothing to him.]

So I've been told.

[ It's harder to conceptualize. To make sense of. Dorian has to untangle his own feelings and his sense of belonging. ]

It's not so easy to believe.

[His words do garner another look from Padmé, as if trying to piece him together. He's polite enough, that much she can tell, seemingly friendly as well. Yet, Padmé also knows that you can't judge someone based solely on what they present to the world. She has been a perfect example of that herself during her tenure as queen, and even more recently. A dear friend had lost her life to keep her safe.

That contemplative hum.]

No, it isn't, is it. There are some things that one can just understand, and yet there are others that are harder to picture, to comprehend, like explaining colour to a blind person, or sound to the deaf.

It doesn't bother me all that much.

[ Freedom or the lack of it. Certainly, losing some liberties would prove grating, especially since Dorian has gotten used to having some agency. But it all pales to the job. The job is what matters. What he is made for.

What else could he want? ]

What exactly is it like where you're from?

[Because yes, curiosity has gotten the better of her. It is something that she finds interesting anyway. Knowing the places that people are from and what it is like there. Some are similar to her own, while others are completely foreign to her.]

I'm a machine so I don't have certain liberties.

[ And on his part, Dorian can't say he feels strongly about it. People keep saying he should but he's not sure they grasp the nature of his life. If it can be called that. ]

A droid?

[Which is where Padmé's vocabulary goes. The mechanical beings of her galaxy come in a variety of different shapes and forms, but they tend not to be overly humanistic.

She doesn't mean to stare, but Padmé does take another look.

No, she wouldn't have guessed him to be a machine at all. Although she realizes that he might not be familiar with the vocabulary that she has chosen. When it comes to droids and their rights, Naboo is far more forward than other places.]

Sorry. They're mechanical beings that possess artificial intelligence, yet it's clear they are automatons.

[ Dorian nods with a smile. ]

Yes, I'm familiar. I'm a different kind of machine, as you can tell. I was made to feel.

[Her nose scrunches a little as she tries to rectify what he has said.]

You can feel... everything? All emotions?

I can. That is what I was designed for.

[ To feel, to connect, to bond. To make the right calls. ]

[Happiness? Sorrow? Regret...?

She would be the first to say that R2 was his own unique droid. Padmé couldn't understand him, but the beeps and whistles gave that impression of a personality. Whether it was all in her head... Even Threepio had seemed fussy, which one doesn't usually expect from a droid.]

You... have set parameters, or are you able to learn and grow- if you don't mind me asking that.

[ That . . . is a good question and Dorian takes a moment. ]

Yes, essentially. I adapt and learn as well as build on my instincts.

I thought where I came from was advanced, but that's beyond anything I'm aware of.

[The rights of droids are something that Naboo is more forward about, although there is no mistaking their origin. No legs, two legs, many legs, they are clearly made. Some treat them no better than a cup, but Artoo... There is something about the little droid that has always endeared him to Padmé.]

Thank you, for answering my questions so genuinely.

Of course. Anything to help clarify matters.

[ That's just his way. Dorian doesn't keep secrets or is particularly reticent in nature. Why would he be? ]

If I might... Are your kind common where you are from?

[Because yes, curiosity... One day it will catch up with her. Not today though.]

[ Dorian keeps his smile up. ]

Not like myself, no.

Ah. I am sorry to hear that.

[Whether he thinks about it like that or not, but being the only one of your kind... Even if he was created, isn't everyone created in some manner? Flesh and blood, or wires and metal...]

Don't be.

[ It's not anyone's fault after all, and Dorian isn't one for resentment. ]

[Still, Padmé does hope that he at least does have friends, whether he sees them as that. She isn't entirely certain what R2 thinks about her, although she is grateful to know the droid and thankful for the fact that he saved her life. Without him, her ship would never have made it.]

It was nice to meet you, but I'll go and get that drink now. Thank you.

Shall I fetch it for you?

[ The drive to help and assist never falters. ]

Oh.

[That smile growing as she shakes her head, moved by the kind offer.]

You really don't need to. It's not too far.

I know. But I want to.

[ Why would he offer if he didn't want to help??? ]

[Okay. Okay. There is a soft laugh.]

Very well. Thank you. I accept the offer.

[ Dorian smiles before heading to fetch some water. He returns promptly, holding it out to her. ]

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