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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hawke wasn't the only one who decided to watch the game for a while first before stepping in to join the teams-- it's only that she was there doing so before Breq, who's only just stopped on the sidelines of this particular game to observe, arms crossed loosely over her chest.

As much as it does catch her off-guard to suddenly have the volleyball flying at her, she doesn't shriek, or flinch. Instead, lightning-fast, she drops back a step and pulls her crossed arms up to guard her face, catching the ball against her forearm instead of in the nose, the way it would have if she were an instant slower.

As it bounces off, thankfully not too forcefully, she lowers her arms again, then leans down to pick up the ball before it can go bouncing away again.]

I believe that is out.

[Relm barely turns around in time to see where the ball travels. And there's no time to shout in warning. But to her surprise, Breq manages to block the ball in a flash, sparing her poor face from the ball's misdirected wrath.]

Well damn, you could have bumped it back in! [But Hawke grins, revealing her jest. She's glad Breq wasn't hurt from her dumb manuever.]

Next time, I'll do that.

[She says it deadpan, though her voice carries a trace of amusement. She leans down to pick the ball back up, but before she throws it back to Relm, she steps forward, looking over the teams with interest.]

Is there space for one more?

So long as that's settled.

[Hawke holds out her hands, expecting the ball to be returned. There's a moment of surprise at Breq's question, but it turns into a smile as she glances back at her team.] We could use an extra, especially to make up for my poor performance.

I can't make any promises about mine.

[Still, Breq tosses the ball back over to Relm, and steps into the square of the volleyball court, pausing only long enough to begin stretching a little bit, shifting on her feet to make sure she's used to the senstation of moving quickly on the sand.]

I've played some sports before, but not this one.

Well, either way we might be the deciding factor in the team's victory. Either the saving grace or the weight that drags them all down. [The team readily accepts Breq into their number. Hawke resumes her prior position. With the ball having gone out, it's the other team's serve. She rolls it over to them before readying herself.]

Me neither, honestly. We don't have this back home, which is rather a shame. It'd be easy enough to set up.

Not much sand, up in space. Not that was accessible to me, anyway.

[Breq settles herself into a ready position as the other team sets up, attention mostly on the ball even as she talks with Hawke. With her reflexes, an unexpected bounce from the ball is even less likely to take her by surprised than it was before, when she wasn't in the thick of things, and she still has enough attention to wonder what some of the richer stationers might have imported up into their stations to simulate all of the luxuries of a planet while living up in the contained environment of a station.]

Surely other worlds have it, though?

[The other team prepares to serve. The server calls out the score, then serves the ball. It's a decent serve, sailing over the net but starting to drop close enough in the front to force those nearest the net to dive for the ball. One player manages to get it back into the air before it hits the ground, leaving it up to those in the back to volley it.]

Depending where on them you are.

[She would say more, but then the game really begins in earnest, and Breq drops the conversation in order to focus properly on the path of the ball and the movement of the other players. She's not the closest to the ball, but she steps forward nevertheless even as she watches one of the others take care of it-- partially to observe, but partially to serve as backup in case the other player somehow misses their strike.]

[It goes back and forth for quite a few sets, each team doing reasonably well despite some bad plays. In the end, Relm and Breq's team loses, though only by a hairsbreadth. When the match is over, the teams part to take a breath.

Hawke wipes some sweat from her brow, glancing over at Breq with a smile.]

Well... that was certainly an exercise.

Agreed. It reminds me of the sport they play in the Itran Tetrarchy.

[Breq's breathing hard and just as sweaty as Relm, but from her voice and her posture, she seems to be ignoring it pretty well. The only signs of exertion she seems to be paying attention to are the slight limp that has her favoring her right leg.]

Only theirs involved more running.

Running? Just what a sport with a ball flying around needs.

[Hawke's going to up her fitness routine. She shouldn't be breathing this hard. Being here has gotten her a bit out of shape, what with being in one place and having easy access to food. Unacceptable.]

I think they preferred it that way.

[The sport was certainly important enough that the value rubbed off onto Breq, despite the problem of her bad leg.]

But I agree, this one was quite enough. Did you need a drink?

[Then either they're crazy or certified bad-asses. Or both. Actually, definitely both. Craziness and bad-assery often went hand in hand.]

I can always do with a drink. Though perhaps we should start with some water. I think there are a few stands around here selling bottles of it.

There ought to be.

[Or considering the nature of the occasion, perhaps even handing it out for free. Either way, Breq gestures over toward the nearest one, inclining her head in invitation to Relm.]

[Relm nods in thanks before meandering over, rolling her shoulder once or twice. The vendor smiles cheerfully and offers the women a pair of water bottles. Hawke winks at her and thanks her before opening the bottle and taking a long drink from it.]

[Breq joins her, taking a few sips of her own water as she looks back out over the beach and the marked-out area by the net where another game of volleyball is already beginning. She taps the side of her water a few times, as her focus lingers on the players.]

It's all rather peaceful, isn't it.

Almost too much.

[From someone who's lived much of her life either constantly moving/on the run or having to combat danger constantly, this long stretch of peace and quiet almost unnerves her. Hawke finds herself twitchy at times. If it weren't for her job as a perimeter guard, she'd probably be going crazy.]

Can't say I'm used to it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

monthly mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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