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

[In the end, after all the clean up and her time wandering around the waterpark, there's only so long that Alex can avoid the lovely siren song of the hot tubs that promise to ease aching muscles. If she hadn't been doing the clean up the day before, she might not have decided to join Hawke, but given how much her lower back was screaming after being on her feet and doing the normal amount of Alex Reagan stupid things (patent pending) Alex found herself slipping into the hot tub as well.

Letting off a soft sigh, she just stretched her toes out and breathed deeply for a moment before she looked to Hawke with a grin.]

So if your nose starts to get closer to the water, should I wake you up?

[Even before she opens her eyes, Hawke's chuckling. She almost hadn't heard Alex come into the tub, and she supposes she should have opened her eyes to see who it was when they first got in but... eh. She's not too worried about it. But it is good to hear Alex's voice. It's someone she knows and not some creeper who just hopped into the tub to awkwardly try and flirt.

One eye does get cracked open, looking over at Alex.]

I'd be much obliged. Drowning in a hot tub would be a terribly stupid way to die.

[Alex just smirks at the chuckle, and she settles even further deeper into the water. Nope, she's not a creeper, and Alex knows that Hawke isn't one either, so she's figuring that this right here? This is probably a creeper free zone when it comes down to it, and Alex is always glad of it. Not that she's met any really creeper guys here (other than the one who was already stalking her back home.) so Alex really isn't too worried about it anyway. Laughing at what Hawke said, she lifted one dripping arm and then dropped it back into the tub with a grin.]

Definitely would be a shitty way to go. It's the sort of thing reserved for drunk frat boys, I'd think, honestly.

...I really need to start keeping paper and pen with me when I speak with people. [Which is an odd comment, until she follows up with:] Do explain what a frat boy is? Someone notorious for getting drunk, if I'm to hazard a guess.

[That makes Alex laugh softly before she just quickly adds:] Sorry. Sometimes I forget people aren't all from my world, you know? I'm trying on working on it, but sometimes I just forget and default into how I'd be back home.

[Like when she's relaxing in a hot tub, for instance.]

A frat boy is sort of the worst. They're like the highest sense of male entitlement and chauvinism and yeah, they're definitely always drunk and when they're drunk they do the dumbest things like... Well, drown in hot tubs or die because they think riding a shopping cart down a hill at a 75 degree incline into a pond or something is a good idea.

I've done it as well. But it seems my world is... further behind than a lot of the ones other people are from. Or maybe just very different. I've heard so many new terms and concepts here.

[And if much of what she's learned here applies to Thedas, well... her people have a long way to go in understanding their world. It doesn't come as much of a surprise; they have no idea what lies beyond their own continent, let alone anywhere else.]

...okay that actually does sound fun but I certainly wouldn't label it a "good idea". And I've been through enough that a crash into a lake probably wouldn't do much to me. I doubt the same could be said for them.

Well, your world has magic that a lot of the other one's don't so that makes a lot of sense! I mean, different worlds have different sets of whatever going with them. Like there are worlds that have tech that's miles abovve mine and stuff. But somehow there are still things that work on the same level. For example? Everyone seriously has some sort of liquor.
[Which was something that made Alex laugh honestly, but that was beside the point when it came down to it. So, she just stretched again and considered frat boys, something that she'd not really needed to think about since she'd been a teenager and a college student. ]

Probably not, but they're just... stupid enough to try anything that's dumb and or dangerous, and of course to be complete and total douchebags about it. Give me a nice nerd any time. At least when they do stupid things, they don't typically say things like 'hold my beer and watch this.' That seems to be the frat boy "no homo" mating call, I swear.

Hardly seems a world worth living in without liquor in it. I consider that a bare necessity, right up there with air, land, water, and pretty people to ogle at.

[Yes because that's totally how that works, Hawke.]

"No homo"? Wh - oh. [Assuming that means homosexual, which if it does-] Ahhhh I think I have a better idea of what you're talking about. Men who do their damnedest to convince you that they're straight and so very manly and they must prove it by being as stupid - or, excuse me, as so very brave and daring as possible because somehow that makes you a man.

[That makes Alex laugh, she can't help it. And if she had a drink, she definitely would have raised her glass up for that. Granted, at home Alex wasn't that much of a drinker, but this place seemed to have a way with that. So instead, she just added:]

Amen!

[And that Amen was coupled with a vigorous nod of her head.]

That's exactly it, honestly. Toxic masculinity and it's finest. People doing stupid things just to prove how big their balls are when in the long run that's not even what matters. It's all in how you use it, but you can't tell them that at all.

The ego is such a fragile thing. Especially when it's tied up with someone's cock.

[Not that women aren't susceptible to protecting their pride as well, but they don't have dicks tied to it.]

God that is just so so so true. It's why ninety percent of the time, dating women is definitely easier than dating men. At least cismen anyway. I swear, I'm quite lucky now, but I've definitely had to deal with it in past relationships.

[Don't get her wrong, her and Richard definitely do have ~~a lot of issues in their relationship, but this is definitely not one of them and she's very grateful for it.~~]

Oh absolutely agreed. Women are so much easier to deal with than men. [not that she's ever properly "dated" one, but she's had her entanglements with them. For all that women are stereotyped as being dramatic and difficult, its men who really embody those traits.] What's a "cismen" exactly?

[If there was one thing that was more than a little awkward about being here, it was the need to explain things from back home that weren't familiar to people. This was one of them, but if nothing else, Alex was a reporter, so she could report on this.]

When people feel like they were born into the right gendered bodies, that's what cis is. A trans or non binary person is someone who wasn't born in the body of what their actual gender is.

But I tend to agree, I find women much easier than men for the most part.

[And yet she was dating the most completely difficult man of all. Go figure.]

[There's a frown, and a thoughtful look settles over her face as she considers it. Something about it sounds vaguely familiar - she's heard of men who prefer to dress and carry themselves as women, and vice versa - but she knows she's never heard those terms applied to them. It's something to ruminate on.]

And yet you date a man. A self-proclaimed asshole, at that.

[A smile tugs at her lips.]

[That makes Alex laugh, she can't help it. Lifting her arms from the water, she even gives Hawke a bit of a splashy shrug. She knows, she's heard it all from herself, and she knows when she gets home, she's going to hear it from Nic ~~and the show fans~~ but she does know all about it. It's not as if Strand is ever going to be anyone else, even if he was once. Her voice is quiet but completely amused.]

Yeah, I know. I love that asshole man with all of my heart and have for way longer than I should have before I did anything about it.

[For some you know, actual good reasons. His wife, journalism integrity, the fact that she was losing it at the time and all of it.]

But we can't chose you we love, you know?

["But we can't chose who we love, you know?"

No, she doesn't know. Not personally, anyway. It's one of the many, many consequences of forcibly pushing away romantic relationships from her life. Yet she knows from others that what she says is true, so Hawke plasters on a smile and forces out a little laugh as she nods.]

No, I suppose we can't. At least you're aware of what he's like and are honest about it. That's more than most people accomplish. And anyway, I'm assuming he has more redeemable qualities beyond "asshole". Something endeared him to you, after all.

[There was something sad in the way that Hawke looked, and for a moment, it was all Alex could do was to frown. Without really thinking about it , she moved closer to the other woman in the tub, and engulfed her in a quick but tight hug. Sometimes people just needed quick and tight hugs, especially when they were talking about things like this. Alex's voice was soft when she agreed.]

I know how it looks on the outside, and that people think I'm nuts for it, but he definitely is not like that with me anymore. Well, I mean he is, but there's no heat in it. [Normally. They definitely do have their moments of fighting, they can't help it.] But he loves more than most people will ever know.

[Hawke's taken aback by the hug, to say the least. She's not even sure where it's coming from, so she stiffens for a moment, confused and uncertain as to how to react. What warranted this? Surely Alex isn't some kind of mindreader... or maybe she didn't hide her gut reaction as well as she thought. Damn it, she needs to watch that.

She settles for an awkward pat on Alex's shoulder. Hawkes have never been too touchy-feely, at least not freely.]

To be entirely honest, outside of seeing his Friendr profile I've never really spoken to the man so I'm not going to judge. Though clearly now I need to just to see what all of this is about.

[The hand pat just makes her laugh softly, she can't help it. It's just so achingly familiar, and Alex just shrugged slowly with a smile.]

Well, he's hard to get to know, honestly. It took me a long time, honestly. Like a year almost. But I mean, it's definitely worth it. It all boils down to the question of whether or not you tend to like assholes.

Well, some would consider me an asshole so I suppose I have to like them. That or I have a breathtaking amount of people in my life who are far more patient and understanding than I deserve.

[Alex is just going to laugh at that.]

Well, it explains why we're friends. I'm pretty fond of assholes myself.

[Obviously. And that whole patient and understanding than some people deserve too.]

Well, there's one piece of evidence for that theory then as you are certainly not an asshole. [Though in all honesty, Alex is one of the few friends in her life who isn't. Most of her friends back home could qualify as assholes in some way, shape or form.]

Oh I don’t know about that. I think I have my moments. But then again everyone does.

[Of course not everyone goes busting into people’s lives and pasta and secrets like Alex has which maybe was what tended to make up the difference for her. She’s mostly learned her lesson and tries but sometimes she’s still.... Well, she’s still Alex Reagan.]

There's a difference between being an asshole and occasionally doing asshole-level things. If someone claims they are or have done neither, then they're lying.

[No one's that good. Not even the Divine or Andraste herself. People are too imperfect, too impulsive, too selfish... but it's not a bad thing. If everyone was nice all the time, the world would be horribly dull.

Relm shifts from her spot, stretching out her legs in the water.]

This thing is dangerously relaxing.

It really is. I kind of wish when Richard had redone his house in Seattle, that he'd put one of them in. Don't get me wrong, the shower he put in instead is frankly amazing, but sometimes well... this is what you need.

[The mention of being an asshole was dropped for now, as Alex just gestured around the tub that they were currently soaking in.]

And whatever they put into the water is heavenly, I swear. I wish I could get some of that to take back home when I go. Like the sleep incense.

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