monthly mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

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

Comments

skye — ota

[evite]

i. clean up

( does she want to be spending her free time knee-deep in questionable muck, fishing garbage and gunk out of the rivers? not exactly, but the promise of a free lunch is a hard one to pass up.

prototype gauntlets courtesy of one cisco ramon strapped on both arms, skye uses the opportunity to carefully (cautiously) send shockwaves along the water's edge, sending trash into nets propped up against a fallen tree. she's tried to find a quiet spot to test on her own, but those that wander may wind up running into her handiwork. hopefully they won't get caught in the middle! all that trash moves fast, and at those speeds, it might just stain a shirt or two.

should it happen, she'll offer a grimace and an embarrassed, ) Sorry!

ii. beach bash

( fireworks aren't really skye's favorite thing in the world, but do you know what is? if you guessed a free lunch, you're right on the money. after working up a sweat doing good deeds for the city, skye doesn't hesitate to take a day off from her freelance gig to enjoy some government-sponsored beach party good vibes.

there are big parties all over, and she doesn't mind bouncing from place to place to explore the scene or seek out a familiar face, but she spends most of her time checking out the freebies offered by various vendors, taking whatever's offered with a muttered 'thank you' before shoving it into her knapsack. it'll definitely be feeling the weight by the end of the day.

the beach holds allure too, warm sand a welcome place to settle her weight (and her bag) for a few hours. should friends pass by, she'll wave a hand, encouraging them to share in the free towel she'd been handed from a local vendor and enjoy the view. there's food, too, a plate piled high with (yes, free) barbeque — the food might not be michelin gourmet, but she doesn't care; whatever's on the menu's bound to be better than government cheese, and there's more than enough to share.

feel free to join her at any point in the day, or drag her along for an adventure of your own. )

v. wildcard

( as per usual, i'm down to clown. hit me up if you want something special! )

i

[breqintopieces]

[The sudden movement in the water, even out of the corner of her eye, is enough to have Breq moving backward warily-- there are plenty of monsters that like to hang around in the river, and she's not to naive to assume that they won't end up in the supposedly safe areas once in a while. But before she can do anything other than step back and be on her guard, she hears Skye's shout, and turns to look in her direction.

It takes her a moment to realize it was about the splashing, and she gestures her lack of concern.]

That was you? It's fine. Cleaning the river, it was bound to happen.

[evite]

( she hadn't meant to startle anyone. she'd thought she was out of the way enough to avoid anyone accidentally wandering into her experimentation, but apparently not. good thing she hadn't pissed anybody off in the process. )

Yeah? ( is it okay? really? or is this girl just brushing the issue off to be polite? ) Alright, then. I guess it is kind of inevitable. This whole area's pretty gross.

( a tentative push from her right hand sends another shockwave, this time aimed towards the far side of the riverbank. it doesn't quite manage to collect all of the trash between herself and the bank, but what does catch in the wake moves in the right direction. an improvement. )

[breqintopieces]

Collecting garbage, I'd imagine no one would wear anything they aren't willing to throw away.

[Not that she's pulling off the damp shirt or anything-- it'll keep for a while longer. She steps back when Skye starts working again, though she doesn't quite turn to head off to another section just yet.]

What are you doing?

[evite]

Mm. ( the woman has a point. ) Kinda ironic, don't you think? Creating garbage out of our clothes by collecting other people's trash?

( maybe skye's the only one who thinks that's funny. she laughs either way, though, amused at her own joke. to breq's question, skye just gestures for her to come a little closer. she won't bite — and it's not like the woman can actually see from where she stands now. )

Gear testing. ( her left hand gestures at the gauntlet currently securing her wrists and forearm. it's clearly a prototype, but a well-made one. cisco does good work. ) And, you know. Having some fun with it too.

( fun being the stronger gesture made towards the water once her audience is clear of the splash zone. the force of the shockwave digs into the water's surface, pushing a wave half a foot high up and over into the riverbank on the other side.

she may or may not look extremely pleased with the results. )

i

[flowlikewater]

[ Unfortunately or fortunately for Skye, Genji's quite the wanderer. He's been assisting in the clean up and decided to take a break and have a little walk. And all thanks to his cybernetic agility, he manages to dodge fast enough to not get any dirty water and sludge on his sweet tank top. ]

No harm done. [ He scratches at his hair. Then turns to the voice and perks up, smiling. Ah yes! ] Oh, Skye! Hello.

[evite]

( the universe is clearly a kind one, because that tank top is bitchin'. not that she knows what the (assumed) japanese letters mean. skye might be surprised to be found, but when the intruder happens to be her too-cool-for-school sensei, she can't be that mad. )

Welcome to my crib. ( deadpan as always, but there's a grin slowly replacing her previous expression of pure concentration. ) Nice tank.

[flowlikewater]

[ Genji's recently cut all the faded green out of his hair, so he's back to black with salt-n-pepper temples. No armor, just his scarred face and crows feet out to get some sun. He grins and looks down at his shirt. ]

You can't go wrong with Ultraman. [ Genji crosses his arms and heads over to her, head tilted. ] So you're practicing, I see? How is it going?

[evite]

( genji's just a Cool Dude. she's fond of him, in the "i need to loosen this man up and expose him to my terrible life choices" kind of way. naturally, practicing her super-saiyan action movie star movies with her new gauntlets would be where they'd meet up totally accidentally, because it's the one place she can't just force him to do terribly stupid things. well, for the most part. )

It's going. ( a shrug, super casual, as if she hasn't just screamed into the void after attempting to splash him with river gunk. ) No tsunamis yet, but it's been kinda shake-y all morning.

( wow, so many terribad puns. get new ones, skye. )

Total honesty, I feel like I'm trying out some Toys R Us action hero gloves.

ii.

[realists]

[ jyn doesn't actually like the beach. maybe she will one day, but she mostly only ventures down during holidays where she can't avoid the free stuff at the beach. the allure, of course, is the word free. and since the river festival is all about community, jyn takes the opportunity to help one (1) person who actually seems to have the same end goal as she does.

which finds jyn holding out an empty tupperware container to skye, gesturing at her barbecue. ]

So you can get more.

[ jyn's own bag is already filled with a couple full containers of the delicious food and she's definitely going back for thirds and fourths, but she can share one box for someone else to reap the benefits of not having to cook for a few days.

she was ill prepared last year but now she has a system. ]

[evite]

( dear universe, thank you. skye's been mentally cursing herself for the better part of an hour for forgetting the homeless kid's number one rule to free-for-alls and all-you-care-to-enjoy buffet: bring your own containers. the proffered tupperware could very well be made of gold for all that skye's expression lights up like a kid at christmas. )

Um. ( she's so eloquent when she's excited. ) Thank you?

( cue the immediate action plan of figuring out exactly what's worth hoarding in her small fridge. carbs aren't worth bothering, hamburgers don't reheat well, hot dogs are disgusting on all orbiting bodies... but there are plenty of other options much more suitable for storage. )

I so owe you a drink for that. I can't believe I didn't think to bring them. ( a beat. ) I'm Skye, by the way.

[realists]

[ ugh skye don't make her be polite and have manners. ]

Jyn.

[ she doesn't shift awkwardly, but there is an air of unsocial cat to her. there is a reason she has five whole friends and it's because they made her be their friend. it wasn't her social skills. ]

Best part about these festivals. All the leftovers you can eat if you think ahead.

[evite]

I wish I could say this was the first community barbecue I've stocked my fridge from.

( but, you know, it's obviously not, just judging from the way she expertly combs through the platter of cured meats and cheeses. )

What's been good? ( she's eying a container of something that looks like brisket, but you never know with these moon people. ) Anything to avoid?

ii.

[11calls]

[Alex is also all about free barbque and the beach, so she's definitely going to take advantage of both. Seattle, after all, is good about a lot of things, but it's not exactly a place where someone can go and take in a beach unless they were wearing a sweater and a winter coat. Even in July. By contrast, Alex is wearing a sundress now, and she looks happy and content as she drops down into the sand next to Skye, holding her food carefully so that it doesn't meet any of the sand as she does it.

Once she's down, Alex just plates her food on the towel in front of her before she reaches into her bag and pulls out a bottle of wine and two plastic solo cups. Look, it's not the classiest thing in the world, but she remembers the last time they were at an event without booze, and it's not something that she wants to repeat. Besides, the cups could be anything, really. So she just asks quickly:]

Wine?

[evite]

( the world may be a cruel and confusing mistress, but alex is bringing booze, so skye immediately feels just that much better about her day. it's like her friend is making up for the last shitty conversation they'd had that had so desperately wanted for alcohol. skye is #blessed. )

If I ever say no, please just take me out back and shoot me. Put me out of my wine-hating misery.

( she will never say no to wine. or red solo cups, for that matter. who needs glass? )

[11calls]

[Wine is definitely not a flask, but it's also not nothing either. Because well, it's a pretty decent white wine that she'd grabbed in town when they'd announced that they were doing this sort of thing. Setting the bottle between her knees, Alex just pulls out a fancy ass corkscrew thing. There are advantages to dating a yuppie sometimes, and fancy ass corkscrews were one of them. While she starts to use, it, Alex just shakes her head with a grin.]

I'd be more worried you'd been taken over by a pod person or something if you randomly decided to start hating on wine, Skye.

[Grinning, Alex let out a quick and sharp "yes!" when the cork came out of the bottle, and she poured to very generous helpings into those red solo cups, offering one with Skye with a grin.]

To not being pod people, right?

[evite]

Absolutely. To not being abducted by alien pod people.

( the nice thing about wine, unlike shots or cheap beer or bottom shelf booze, is that she can actually drink it and enjoy it and not feel the need to take it all in at once. she can linger with the taste of it on her tongue and enjoy the day. which is, naturally, what she does. her eyes even close for a beat in pure bliss like the cliche she has obviously become, and when they reopen, she's all smiles as she turns back to alex. )

This is great. ( the beach is warm, the surf is calm, there's free food everywhere you look... skye's pretty damn satisfied. ) I honestly can't remember the last time I went to a beach, though.

( ii )

[mannerism]

[ God, it's been years since she's been to a picnic.

Her childhood was cushioned and comfortable but trips to Dover Beach were very rare and in Quarantine, Peggy was much too keen on keeping busy with work to frequent the riverside. She's here today mostly out of habit of making sure the place is secure.

She takes off her shoes once she spots skye. She's much better these days, but she does walk with a certain lack of grace. Her side still throbs every now and then.

She places her heels by the towel but doesn't sit just yet. ]

Hello, Skye.

[evite]

( well, peggy. if you're not going to sit, that means skye has to crane her neck to look up at you, and she'll be very cross indeed — to quote a different british woman — if she gets a crick in it. thus, the seemingly impatient pat of her hand against the towel. )

How's the weather up there? ( are you going to sit down or not! ) I have some killer steak sliders down here if you're hungry.

[mannerism]

[ Well, it's all a bit difficult in this dress, isn't it? She just about manages it, sitting down with her knees tucked beneath her. ]

What on earth are steak sliders?

[ and why do they kill? ]

[evite]

[ skye just arches a brow — how modern could slider sandwiches really be? (apparently, very.) — and hands over a small platter of tiny pieces of what looks like flank steak on hawaiian rolls. there's a questionable sauce on it, what she assumes is barbecue of some kind, but don't take her word for it. ]

Tiny sandwiches. I have no idea why they're called sliders. They're good, though.

[ they're free, and they're edible. thus, they're good. ]

lmk if this doesn't work!

[volitaunt]

[ Poe has been wandering a lot lately, doing a lot of thinking, which is how he ends up in Skye's neck of the woods with BB-8 rolling along at his side. He's thinking about home, thinking about the people here from it, which is why he reacts the way he does when he gets hit by a small wave of mud and water.

Tremors in the water? Fast-moving garbage sending splatters up the beach as it's driven into next?

LOOKS LIKE THE FORCE, OK. Granted the only time he's really seen the Force at work directly is when Rey lifted ten tons of rocks away from a cave mouth, and this isn't nearly that dramatic, but it's got the same vibe. Don't judge!!

Poe looks down at his grime-splattered pants, then at his grime-splattered droid, then at her. Only half-joking: ]

Wouldn't happen to be a jedi, would you?

it's great and i love it

[evite]

[ oh, no. that poor tiny orange and white rolly ball robot. and poor stranger dude, she guesses, but skye's initial reaction is entirely focused on the somehow independently activated pair of metal beach balls rolling around covered in muck. ]

Oh, fuck, sorry — [ her own clothes aren't much cleaner, but she can at least attempt to use the bottom of her shirt to clean off what she guesses must be the robofriend's eyes? ] My bad.

[ as for his question? well, skye doesn't exactly know what a jedi is, but it sounds cool, so... ]

A Jedi? Well, that depends on whether or not you're planning on sending me your dry-cleaning bill, I guess.

sob i'm sorry this took so long

[volitaunt]

[ Poe snorts. ] Everyone likes the droid more than me.

[ He also doesn't sound like he minds that at all, because it's BB-8 and BB-8 is a perfect droid son who deserves love.

BB-8 swivels his head dome to look at Poe with his freshly-cleaned photoreceptor, then back at Sky with a friendly whistle.

Poe dusts at a bit of something stuck to him, knocking it off onto the shore. ] These pants were probably gonna get dirty anyway. [ He offers Skye a hand. ] Poe Dameron. This is BB-8.

[ Out pops one of robofriend's claw-ended maintenance arms for a handshake of his own. It's a trick he picked up in Riverview. ]

How were you doing that? Magic?

welcome 2 the september club i guess

[evite]

[ it's not that poe's unfortunate-looking or anything. he looks like a reasonably well-formed adult man, skye can appreciate that much, but there are plenty of attractive men (and women, for that matter) in the quarantine and yet thus far zero cute autonomous robot droids. so, you know. the novelty factor wins out here. ]

Good answer. [ does she shake the robohand? absofuckinglutely, she does, and then adds: ] Skye, [ to answer his name query. ]

I don't know what to call it, honestly. [ it's not pulling anything out of a hat, but magic isn't inherently a bad term. it just feels... off. ] Superpowers, I guess. They're still pretty new, though, so I haven't gotten my official ID yet.

[ no men in black moment, unfortch. ]