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

[Wow, why can Billy hold on so tight? It's totally not fair. But he's just going to keep tickling, letting out a laugh despite himself.]

Are you sure about that? Because I might just have to sacrifice us both...

( easy: a decent amount of time spent at the gym and plenty of experience dealing with flexible shape shifters. but he's still laughing, shoving his face down into teddy's shoulder as he squirms to try and get those hands away from his ribs.

It's not--losing, hahaha-- if you go down with me!

[He could cheat in other ways. Shapeshift to make it harder to hold on, shake Billy off... But it's kind of cute with the way that Billy keeps clinging and squirming against him.]

Maybe not, but I still get you in water either way, right? But maybe if you give me a kiss, I'll reconsider my goals here...

( teddy could get him off in two seconds if he really felt like it. less than that, even. but he isn't putting in that effort, which clearly means he's not that determined.

the kiss comment just proves that, barks out laughter before billy's threading fingers through teddy's hair, trying to grip onto short strands to pull teddy in. )

You just want a kiss. ( he's still smiling when billy presses in close, kisses the corner of teddy's lips. )

[Of course he could, but he has Billy wrapped around him like and clinging on -- why on earth would he want to dislodge that. His fingers settle on Billy's ass after a moment to hitch him up a little higher.]/small>

You're not complaining... [He turns his head to press a kiss to Billy's lips playfully.]

( ankles cross back behind teddy, heel pressing into the curve of his spine as kisses press to lips, teeth gently catching against his lower lip before he pulls back enough to smile down at him. )

I'd never complain about your kisses.

[He huffs out a laugh fondly when Billy nips at him. Tipping his head forward, he presses against him.]

For that... You want me to carry you back to your towel so we can dry off a while?

So you can play around in the sand some more?

( a soft hum, but he's pressing in close, lips to the tip of teddy's nose. )

I'm down.

B, come on. It's called fun... I know you know how to have it.

[He smiles at the kiss though and starts to head back, his hands going to support Billy a little as he does.]

Oh, don't worry. I'm having fun.

( pressing kisses against teddy, slouching over to start biting at his neck. .

this is fun. he definitely enjoys this stuff. and billy is certainly not against playing around in the sand, either-- )

Is it because you're getting a free ride--

[Okay, hey. Biting isn't very fair at all. He lets out a noise, fingers flexing tighter on Billy for a moment.]

What kind of fun are you having exactly?

I can walk if I wanted to. Or fly, even. I don't really need a free ride, but. .

( nose pressing into teddy's neck with a soft hum as he presses in close, )

Being pressed in close to you is nice. You're warm, and I love the way your arms feel around me.

I know you don't need one, but you know I like carrying you.

[His smile softens a little at that and he turns his head to press a kiss to the top of Billy's head.]

I love the way you feel in my arms too... Always a perfect fit, B. And I think you've talked your way into some cuddling up on the beach.

We can cuddle a little, build a sandcastle. .

( with arms tightening around teddy as best as he can, hugging him close. )

Maybe go get some beach food.

Are you going to cheat and do it the magic way?

[He shifts his hold, holding Billy steady with one hand as he draws the other up his spine affectionately.]

It wouldn't really be a complete day without grabbing some questionably healthy food, right?

Especially not with all the party stuff going on around here. We definitely need to take time to grab some less than healthy food. Maybe fried stuff.

( the tension in his thighs slackens as teddy walks, trusting him to keep billy from sliding down too much. holding himself up is effort, he's tired of it. )

I could cheat and make a huge sand castle, buuut it'd be more satisfying if we did it by hand.

All the fried food you want, Kaplan.

[He can keep Billy's weight up even without the aid, no problem. When he gets them to there towel, he moves to sit down, keeping him on his lap.]

Fine, you win. We'll make the biggest sand castle we can by hand. Hopefully Tommy doesn't come speeding by again to knock it over.

If he does, I'll wrap him up into a burrito and throw him out into the ocean.

( a knee presses down into the sand beside teddy's thigh, opposite leg swinging over his lap. )

We could make out a little first, before all that.

[His arms settle around Billy's waist when he settles on his lap and he leans in to brush a kiss to his lips.]

Oh, really? If Tommy interrupts this, I'll throw him into the ocean myself.

[Look, you just don't interrupt making out. Not when they're finally free to do so without the Kaplans potentially catching them.]

I'd like to see that.

( but not now, not with teddy so close, with his lips against the other's own. now, billy just wants to smear kiss after kiss against his lips, pausing to nip softly into his lower lip with a soft, pleased sound.

making out in public is still a little weird, but. whatever, they can do what they want. )

[He lets out a soft, pleased noise as he meets each of those kisses, his fingers sliding up over his back softly. It's definitely-- a little like they're very exposed at the moment. It's a strange feeling, but not a bad one.

Not when Billy is doing that.

After the soft nip to his lower lip, he chases Billy for a deeper kiss, coaxing his lips to part so his tongue can dip inside.]>

( no one's going to care about watching them kiss. and it feels nice, being out here on the beach like this, pressed so close to teddy, knees digging into sand.

billy huffs out a soft laugh, sucks on the tip of teddy's tongue when it presses between lips and combs through the hair at the nape of his neck, fingertips drawing patterns in soft hair. )

[When the kiss ends, Teddy tips his forehead against Billy's, meeting his eyes fondly.]

You know, I'm pretty sure I could never get tired of kissing you...

( nothing quite like getting cavities from your overly cute boyfriend. both hands move to cup cheeks, thumbs sliding against the skin just passed the corner of teddy's lips with a pleased hum. )

I don't think I'll ever get tired. . of your cute dimples.

Why do you think I keep them around?

[He teases, leaning in to brush his lips to Billy's lightly.]

They make it so much easier to talk you into things.

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