introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and River Festival
when: The month of August; the bulk of celebration will be in week 1, but there is a party and fireworks display on August 14th.
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 acid rain - 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 on the evenings of August 7th and 14th.

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 first week 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. Finally, there are two fireworks displays, one on August 7th and one on August 14th, with free food, and various live performers beforehand.

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 late July's strange fog and acid rain 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 the acid rain, 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. cookouts and parties

The main traditions of the River Festival involve cookouts and beach parties. On August 7th and August 14th, 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.

iii. sportsball tournaments

Is your character 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.

iv. performances and fireworks

On August 7th and August 14th at the end of the large city-sponsored beach parties, there will be evening performances all along the beach. Not as extensive as the musical performances during Carnivale, there are two large-name performers per night, with various lesser-known groups performing at random off and on throughout the day and night. Areas of the beach are cleared for residents to watch and dance to the music, both on the regular and adults-only clothing-optional beaches (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!

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

cassian andor | rogue one | aug 14

[evasives]

a. cookouts and parties

[cassian has zero interest in the beach, but maybe a little interest in the people, which brings him towards the parties without a hint of beachwear in any of his clothes. he never quite joins or gets too close to any without being invited, maneuvering through the outskirts and listening in, maybe looking for familiar faces. the food all smells delicious, and he gets various dishes shoved at him on and off.]

[he sits down later in the afternoon in front of a fading, abandoned bonfire with his plate of food, stretching out one leg with a relieved sigh before he starts slowly eating some kind of barbecued poultry. it has more flavor than anything he's eaten in a long time, so no one can blame him if he digs in a little faster than usual. if someone approaches, he gestures at the fire.] Sorry if I stole it from you.

b. sportsball tournaments

[still doing his best to avoid the sand, the sports happenings don't particularly draw cassian in. even though in theory he feels fine after all that medical treatment, he knows his body was a complete wreck, and he still hasn't judged if the little aches are leftover or phantom pains. he stops occasionally to stretch, testing out his muscles, even though it looks more like he might be about to stretch before a game.]

[so, no thank you! he waves off anyone who might ask if he wants in, throwing back volleyballs that fly a little too far.]

c. performances and fireworks

[the fireworks are easy enough to see from just about anywhere, so cassian is long gone from the beachside by the time they start off. he's too used to them being more of an imperial power display to really enjoy them properly, but at least he isn't getting any actual bad vibes here.]

[he is sitting on a bench outside the housing apartments though, frowning and only half paying attention to the show. it is overthink o'clock, but he's trying not to think too much about home, so it's a very weird tug of war. his brain can't seem to turn off being Totally Alert, so for a fun and cool evening activity, he certainly looks more unhappy and tense than most.]

d. wildcard

[ hit me up / throw whatever at me! ]

a

[spellslots]

[At some point while going to retrieve a little more driftwood to toss on the fire (and getting distracted briefly by a friend with alcohol), Taako has lost Lup and apparently had her replaced by a slightly scruffy looking dude, which is like, fine, whatever, he can roll with it.]

All good, my dude, I'm still gonna sit my ass down though cause that last tequila shot was one too many.

[He makes good on his word, unceremoniously dropping down a couple feet away from Cassian, the driftwood still in his arms until he piles it onto the ground beside him.]

[evasives]

[he doesn't miss when the other person approaches, taking in the ears and vaguely assuming some sort of alien. cassian can't say he was actively seeking company, but he can't kick the guy away from his own fire either. he'll just hang out for the appropriate amount of time then bail. say he's meeting a friend. he could totally have a friend!]

Offset the hangover by drinking more water now.

[spellslots]

[New friends are great!]

Elves don't get hangovers, I'll be sweet as hell come morning.

[This is bullshit, but 'slightly tipsy' isn't enough to result in a hangover, especially since he's going to be awake until at least three am (that is a real elf thing).]

What's your name, pumpkin?

[evasives]

[maybe not an alien?? he's not sure what an elf is, but he's not about to ask flat out. besides, it's not like it's terribly hard to just guess. new species are whatever.]

Sounds useful. Any more party tricks? [but that's a good question to ask :)]

[the use of pumpkin is greeted with absolute nothingness. it's better to be unaffected than react one way or the other obviously.] Cassian. And you?

[spellslots]

Taako.

[Cassian is a pretty neat name; it sounds like it could be from Earth, but he won't make an assumption just based on that.]

And yeah, I got a few. If we're talking just the elf shit, then I can see in the dark, don't sleep, and can't be magically charmed. [Handy!] Oh, and I'm hella old, we're one of the more long lived races. Haven't run into one before?

[Which makes him think that this dude isn't from Earth, since most of them are aware of the concept of elves, even if they aren't much like Taako.]

[evasives]

[he nods, already memorizing the name like it could be useful. the sheer amount of self-descriptive babbling that follows tells him a lot, though whether it's alcohol induced or natural, it apparently doesn't take much to get taako to talk.]

No. But there are a lot of planets out there. How old is old?

[he will get to the more than just elf shit in a moment. he wants to know more about elves first.]

[spellslots]

[Taako loves talking about himself, it's a problem.]

Pretty sure there are unspoken rules about not asking a dude his age.

[The very brief scandalized look is replaced by a cheeky grin, and Taako adds:]

We can get up to like eight hundred, nine hundred? I've been around for a few centuries, spent one of those not aging, so it gets kinda tricky to fill out forms, you know?

[evasives]

[a problem for taako maybe.]

[he raises an eyebrow.] No one said you had to actually answer the age question.

[there are definitely species out there that live that long, like hutts, so there's zero sign of surprise on cassian's face. not that there would be if he actually was surprised.] You could always lie about age I'm sure.

[spellslots]

Oh, for sure, but I make it a rule to only lie about the important stuff.

[He tries to keep a straight face but it lasts for maybe two seconds before he grins a little, clearly amused.

Taako would lie about the colour of the sky if he thought he could get away with it.]

[evasives]

Important to you?

[lying is serious business! cassian is an expert liar. the grin tells him taako is very much a liar too, but how good of one is up in the air.]

[with the sheer amount he's talking about himself though, cassian is definitely getting the sense of self-interest lies.]

[spellslots]

There are other kinds of important things?

[Because like, the world obviously revolves around him so it's not like anyone else could have things they consider important.]

[evasives]

Depends on who you ask, doesn't it?

[what a non-answer.]

[but cassian is painting a clearer picture of taako.]

d.

[realists]

[ things jyn has done in the past twenty minutes: walked up four flights of stairs to shove her plate of food in her fridge, walked down four flights of stairs to go outside, realizes she'd left her new device in her room, and began trudging back up the stairs to retrieve it. why doesn't she take the lift?

reasons.

things jyn has done in the past twenty seconds: peeled her boots off in the middle of the staircase to dump out all the sand accumulated there and returned to stomping up the stairs barefoot. also, she stubbed her toe, swearing loudly in a rainbow of alien languages, including huttese. like, man, was she raised by pirates? ]

Karking farkled Sithspit, tooska chai mani, e chu ta. Kriffing fuck!

[ which, loosely translated, means: ouch. ]

[evasives]

[eleven floors is too many, but cassian likes to use some of the stairs for exercise. part of him can't stop testing out the functionality of his leg and spine, and making sure he doesn't get winded from walking down the last few flights of stairs is a good way to do so.]

[what is not a good way to test it is to nearly stumble over his own feet when he hears a very familiar voice with a beautiful array of swears. he leans over the side of the staircase immediately, hands tight on the railing. about three floors down, he catches a glimpse of jyn, hopping around on one foot as her curses echo up the corridor.]

[for about two seconds he doubts its her just because he doubts any universe would be that kind to him; but he knows her too well that the hesitation disappears just as he calls out to her without a trace of restraint or thought.] Jyn!

[realists]

[ jyn doesn't gasp, but it's a close thing and cassian is blessed with the image of her twisting her head around quickly before going perfectly still. it can't be.

her tiny ember of hope puffs up into a tiny flame of hope but she tries to stuff it down because if it's not cassian, how is jyn meant to deal with that? she's already lost so much, too much. she's already lost him when he fell, she can't deal with finding him in this place and it not actually being him.

his shout was loud, it carried. hers is softer, especially compared to her cursing. ]

Cassian?

[evasives]

[he sort of stares at her down the stairs, like he's afraid she'll disappear if he looks away. he hears her though, tuning out the rest of the background noise while he waits for anything at all.]

Jyn.

[this one is softer but still an echo, her name like a confirmation of her question that yes, it is actually him. he moves after that at last, if only because there are still stairs in the way and he needs to get down them! cassian starts off in a walk, but his speed picks up as he reaches the next floor, suddenly feeling like he's running a sprint and jyn's waiting for the baton.]

[realists]

[ the flame bursts bright and jyn realizes she's sprinting up the stairs and frustrated that her legs are too short to take them two at a time so she has to take the stairs

one

at

a

time

like a peasant and that is too slow for this! she turns the corner so fast and hits the railing so hard that her entire arm goes numb from the metal bouncing off her elbow. it could be better. ]

What are you doing here! [ accusatory, naturally, like he'd lied to her about dying in her arms and wasn't whisked through a portal into another world. like he'd ghosted her for a different universe. ]

[evasives]

[it's nice being tall, because he can definitely take the stairs two at a time, so he does. they died but they're both here now, and he's trying not to let himself feel like maybe it's a second chance of sorts.]

Where else would you like me to be? [also accusatory! even as he practically jumps down the last two steps, leaving them at last on the same staircase. which he also descends rapidly, catching her more than halfway down, and he sweeps into her space without thinking, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. she always seems to bring out his impulsiveness.]

[no sand this time, except whatever's leftover in jyn's pants.]

[realists]

How.

[ he's still a step above her and he's always been taller than her so she finds herself pressed firmly against his chest. they'd been nearly even on the beach, but jyn's grateful that isn't the case anymore because that means that cassian isn't slowly bleeding to death and growing weaker and weaker in her arms while their death approaches like a tidal wave of bright light that should have been beautiful.

her boots drop from her hands as her arms curl around his back, fingers splaying against where she knows his injuries should be. he'd fallen, she'd seen it. krennic had killed everything she loved. but then he had come back, like a miracle.

this isn't a second chance for jyn, it's a third. ]

[evasives]

Probably the same way as you.

[because death and all that, in literally the same means. it's better this way, no gritty sand pressure on his knees, no bones feeling like they're going to burst through his skin. he takes a step down to be on the same one as her, just because it lets him be even closer.]

[cassian resists the urge to look towards the sky, made easier by the fact that they're indoors. he can feel her hand on his back and knows why it's there. his grip tightens, arms winding around her very small frame and reassuring both of them of - a lot of things, really.]

It doesn't hurt. I don't think.

[realists]

[ her arms tighten, resisting the urge to check the rest of his injuries because she knows where they are. she'll check his leg later, stealthily. for now she scoffs, almost derisive except for the relief coming out of her pores. ]

You don't think it hurts.

[ that is not reassuring at all, it either hurts or it doesn't, there is no in between. ]

[evasives]

[he huffs. no chastising allowed here, jyn.]

Sometimes it feels like it hurts, but it isn't limiting me like that sort of injury should. I feel like I was healed too quickly for it to be real.

[trusting medical personnel?? not on cassian's watch. he knows the fall really should have killed him long before the death star did, so to be up and functioning with only smaller aches and pains feels so FAKE. is his body even real either anymore??]

[realists]

I don't believe it either. [ she was barely injured, especially in comparison to cassian but all her injuries had miraculously healed, leaving her with only the lingering exhaustion that was simply part of never getting a break in her nonstop life.

but he'd felt so weak in her arms and now he is so strong and solid.

okay, let him go, jyn. let cassian go. stop hugging him. jyn does no such thing, finding herself completely unable to unwind her arms from around him, reveling in the sure feel of his strength surrounding her. ]

When did you get here?

[evasives]

[it's the longest he's hugged someone in actual years, if he's being honest, and he knows he should let go too, but he doesn't either. it's a comfort. it's a much quieter press of affection than the scared and dying moments on the beach. this wrap of his arms has way more relief in it.]

I keep testing it, like it's going to suddenly break all over again. [jyn is the only person he would admit that to he realizes, maybe because he knows she was there and the extent of his injuries. yeah, that's gotta be it!]

Only a few days, maybe two or three, not long. I don't know how long it took them to fix me. And you?