riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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

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i. cleaning up

Water. There's water! Um, hello, we have water... Apple juice... It's hot out, so if you're thirsty...

[He hadn't meant to be lazy, except he has poor stamina and poorer luck, so it follows that... Well, here is Natsume, seated at a little concessions table, a hefty cooler right next to him, and a wide, heavy umbrella casting lovely shade over him, to top it all off. He is not happy about this. His bastion of shade and offer of refreshing drinks might seem at odds with the dirty smudges on his face and clothes, not to mention how damp his hair is.

But he's being really earnest about trying to hand out drinks. It's, uh, humiliating to be pulled away from cleanup efforts by nice people who notice how badly he's faring in the heat with all this exertion. They ended up sitting him down at their table and telling him to help by keeping everyone hydrated. So if they won't let him do the labor, he's got to hand out, like... all the drinks... That's his goal. He's imposed it upon himself and he's very determined about it.

Unfortunately, he's also a little awkward.]

Um! Hello. It's really hot out. Why don't you take some water?

[There's a bit of grass in his hair, even though he's trying to look so sturdy.]

ii. river party

[This is where I'd take a moment to intrigue you with something notable about Natsume, and I'd do it briefly, but today he is a spectacle in his entirety. From top to bottom, he's laden with what seems to be the odds and ends of party-going: his jeans are rolled up to just below his knees, and he's wearing a garish tie-dye t-shirt that's much too big on him. (Another shirt seems to be slung over the crook of his arm; perhaps it's the original shirt he came in.) Then there's the pair of goggles hanging loose around his neck; they're crooked, strap a little twisted, and brand new. By the way, he has flowers in his hair, just a few, tucked behind both of his ears. Situated amidst those flowers, atop his head, is a clunky, cheap pair of plastic sunglasses, the kind often given out as a party favor or little treat for kids. They're electric blue. There's a smear of sunscreen over his cheeks like a kindergartener's war paint, complete with one little white glob on his nose. He's wearing a fanny pack, and a charm with a sailboat has been clipped onto it. And he has three meat skewers clutched in one hand, with one mushroom skewer in the other.

He doesn't look happy about any of this. More perplexed than anything, or maybe like he's questioning his place in the world and the existence of his physical form in this specific place and time. For now he stands at the edge of a grassy patch, supremely awkward, and maybe considering pleading for help.

No, it's okay. He'll suffer in silence.]

v. wildcard

[If you'd like a personalized prompt, or to slip me a prompt of your own, this is the place for you! Natsume can always be found milling around, reading, napping, or running away from ostensibly nothing, so there are plenty of ways to catch him. PM me or hit me up on Plurk at

sodapoppet if you want to hash something out!]

Edited 2017-08-03 00:43 (UTC)

[This guy looks like a walking advertisement for the fact that there actually can be too much free stuff. Totally loaded up, the guy actually looks kind of uncomfortable with the entire situation, despite the two meat skewers he's holding, on a patch of grass.

Marco's been doing his best to turn down whatever free stuff he doesn't want, but he's been picking up more than he might have at home, especially the useful stuff. Considering he's not a millionaire who's also a household name here, he's gonna have to start from scratch on his hustle. So he has a pair of decent sunglasses on his head and a tote bag hanging over one arm with a few useful things people have been handing out.

Thankfully, one of the things he's managed to stuff into it is another tote bag, which he digs out and holds out toward the kid.]

You look like you need this way more than I do, man.

[The offered tote could be an olive branch, and Natsume tells himself he should take it that way... and he does, but not before sizing it up like it's liable to start gnawing on his hand if he takes it. It's an unwitting instinct, the skepticism, and the exasperation that comes with the skepticism. But it lasts no longer than a second, and he warms into impartially polite.] Thank you very much. [He means that, but it's a little stilted, like something he's recited time and time again—muscle memory of the mouth.

He pauses. There's something to be said for speaking and behaving in earnest. He knows that, by now, it's still just a weird push and pull, internally. For heaven's sake, it's just a tote bag, but...]

If it's a gift, I don't want to take it from you. Everyone's really nice, huh?

[That's more human. More full of heart. Still gently spoken, though.]

[It isn't particularly altruism or anything like that, so much as having been a kid all by himself in unfamiliar and stressful situations before, and knowing how nice it would've been for a stranger to hand him over something to help. Without pity, without treating him like he can't handle it on his own.

It's a little weird when the guy says thank you like he's a robot or something (except he probably isn't, the Chee would blend in a lot better than this, though believably there are probably non-Chee robots around here too...something to think about).

He's about to brush it off when the kid suddenly says that if it's a gift, he doesn't want to take it from him, and that everyone's really nice, and suddenly Marco is smiling a bit. He can kind of identify with what the guy is saying, though for him it's more about not wanting to take charity or pity.]

It's fine. They gave me two by accident and it's not really my style. And yeah. Almost suspiciously nice, it's a little weird.

[A beat, and then a laugh.]

Food's good at least.

[It only lasts for a second, but Natsume is giving this very real consideration. A little weird. Apparently suspiciously so. He worries his bottom lip, an unconscious indication that he's trying to choose his words, and then he decides to say,] If they're being that nice, I'm sure they think it's the right thing to do.

[Not, They're nice because they mean it. That's not what Natsume is saying. Maybe they do, but there are a lot of reasons why one might feel that kindness is the correct course of action. In general, people do things because they benefit them, right?

But nice is nice. If Natsume chooses to believe that kindness is conditional on selfless intent, then the amount of people who were kind to him during childhood drops drastically. Even if someone's nice to him because it benefits them... well, nice is nice.

...]

They seem really eager to feed people. [Something about how scrawny Natsume is, how he needs to eat up so he can grow strong. He gets that a lot.] As long as they're having fun, right?

[Honestly, Marco's just not used to people who aren't at least close to his own personal level of paranoia. After all, most of the people he's closest to in the world went through the Yeerk invasion with him, and are very well-versed in the 'nice probably means they want to infest you' mindset. This slightly awkward boy who just says that he thinks the people going out of their way to be nice and feed everyone just think it's the right thing to do is somewhere between alarming and charming to him.

Especially when he notices the careful wording. Well, the implications of that are even more interesting. Marco smiles an easy smile, curiosity piqued.]

Huh. Guess you have a point. And yeah, you'd think everyone was starving. I think maybe everyone here is real big on comfort eating. Like their grans all fed them when they were sad as a kid and they got in the habit.

[Shrugging, Marco tilts his head a little, and his smile turns slightly crooked.]

I take it you're not having fun then?

[Bucky is spending this festival as he's spent most of the rest of them... up a tree. Specifically, a tree at the edge of that grassy patch that Natsume is stood on looking as though his world is about to end. He's been watching for the last hour or so as the poor guy has been laden down with literally anything the vendors can push at him.]

You can say no.

[It's just some gentle advice from up above, a mystery voice hidden in the leaves.]

I shouldn't be rude.

[Natsume says it thoughtfully, and a little absently—and also immediately. He responds without issue and without looking up into the boughs from which that advice comes. Certainly that is the direction wherein he hears the voice, but a voice from a tree doesn't seem to be weird to him at all. (Which, depending on the observer, may be a little weird in itself.)

Instead, he looks from his left, to his right. The sweep of his stare holds notably more suspicion than his reaction to Bucky's voice.]

I was thinking about going through that north exit to leave, 'cause there aren't as many vendors. But the vendors who are there are really... They seem pretty gung-ho. It might be risky.

[His first thought is about how this kid survives in the day to day world, while being unable to say no to people like this. It kind of makes him feel a bit sympathetic, like watching a lost puppy, and that at least erases any worry about Natume being a possible danger.

So he drops out of the tree pretty abruptly. He's dressed in tattered jeans and a faded hoodie, wearing long sleeves and gloves despite the warmth, in order to hide his prosthetic from view. He notably has absolutely no free merchandise on him at all.]

C'mon, I'll get you out.

[At first, Natsume just says,] Oh, [and the he's turning to where Bucky has dropped, and his shoulders are hitching upwards just a little—some slight surprise—but when he actually sees Bucky...]

Ahh— [Now he does look really surprised. It's not Bucky's manner of dress so much as—] You're a person!

[And you can see the regret in his face as soon as he blurts that. Pure instinct. Why is he always doing embarrassing stuff like that...

The next couple of seconds have him trying pretty hard to recover from that. Prognosis doesn't look good. I mean, what did he think it was going to be if not a person? Well, a spirit of some sort, admittedly, since that's what usually speaks to him from up in a tree. He'd really thought he just had a special creature of some kind chatting him up from the branches. It's that normal for him.

But it's not normal for other people, so of course he can't say it, and... and...]

Um, I mean, sorry. I just mean... Don't fall out. Be careful.

[That's an earnest warning, because trees can be a little dangerous, but he's also flustered.]

[After all this time meeting new people and seeing new species, even keeping himself as isolated as he can, he's not too surprised at hearing he might have been assumed to be non-human. It does make him wonder what sort of place Natsume comes from, and even if he might not be human himself and just look the part.]

Hard to fall when I'm already down.

[He quirks an eyebrow, but his tone stays mostly flat.]

So do you want me to get you outta here, or not?

You'll probably be up there again. Later. [There's no accompanying Right?—Natsume appears confident in this supposition, off-handed as the delivery may be. It doesn't seem like he intends to say it; he just says it.

What he does intend to say...]

So, don't fall. When you are up, I mean. Be careful, okay?

[It's earnest even if it doesn't sound insistent. Less a warning bell and more a peripheral reminder. Natsume can't tell this person what to do, but just in case nobody else has told him to be careful... Well, it would be too sad to leave it unsaid.

His expression pinches for a moment, like he's tasted something bitter. He seems a little more present than his far away cautions when he says,] Kind of. Yeah. Um, yes, please.

[It's not like Natsume is wrong, Bucky will likely be up a tree or at least a tall building again later, it's where he spends the vast majority of his time and he's not too careful about his own safety. But he just shrugs off the concern, ignoring it as he does most things like that.]

Then stick close behind me.

[One thing that he learned well when he was the Soldier was how to move. How to blend into the crowd so nobody looked twice, how to move like a predator and scare the living daylights out of a target, or how to sneak so not even an eagle-eyed guard would notice.

Right now he chooses the predator.

It's amazing how the vendors just sort of melt away at the sight of a scowling, scruffy, obviously dangerous looking man as he stalks with purpose towards the edge of the celebrations.]

[Ed turns to the kid offering drinks at the table curiously, he was really intent on getting that water out there so curiosity gets the better of him and he moves closer. He quirks a brow at the grass in Natsume's hair, but doesn't comment on it right away, instead smirking teasingly.]

Trying to win an award for most water handed out or something?

[None of the other people were quite so enthusiastic about it. Ed is clearly far from appropriately dressed for this in his layers and gloves, but he doesn't seem too worn out or uncomfortable despite this. Just like any other day for him.]

[Meanwhile, Natsume has somewhat of a complex relationship with teasing. When his friends began to tease him playfully, he was very suspicious of it, because he was suspicious of them being his friends (because he hadn't had friends up till then). But once he realized they were being genuinely silly, and that they still liked him very much, their teasing made something warm spread through his chest, and he even learned how to do it back. It's fun. Playing with someone is fun.

But he's only used to that from people he knows well. All other teasing has been... very present, throughout all of his childhood, and almost always mean-spirited. Well, Natsume can't blame kids and even adults from doing stuff like that. He was an odd child, and... so it goes... In truth, he probably thinks he deserves that sort of thing.

He doesn't react poorly to Ed's playfulness. He's just straight-faced for a split second, before smiling placidly. It's polite, but mirthless.]

It's the least I can do. Would you like some?

[That's polite, too. Compulsively so.]

[Ed's used to people that are suspicious of honesty or good-natured teasing, sometimes he still had to watch himself with Nico for fear of overstepping a boundary. He notices the expression change, because he always watched for that sort of thing, teasing was a way for Ed to feel people out sometimes. Like the time in the hospital after Lab 5 when he was sure that Alphonse was angry with him, but still prodded for a reaction, testing the limits of that anger.]

Sure. Thanks.

[He offers a genuine smile at that, actually approaching the table outright to grab a bottle.]

This is a life saver, probably should have thought to bring my own...

[Not that he had time to think of much of anything, with how he was dragged out of the house. He offers a shrug at that thought, turning his attention back to Natsume, watching him carefully once more.]

Have you been out here long? Bet there are a lot of stubborn people out here refusing to stay hydrated.

A few hours. Not the entire time. [But most of it. And he'd only been doing physical clean-up efforts for a little while before being re-designated to this table. The staff around here are super kind, but this is still embarrassing, and Natsume worries his fingers together under the table.] I think people can forget how hot it is, and even someone who's really strong is going to get thirsty, so...

[He means to be more mollifying than critical. Besides, he did the same dumb thing, got too hot, and now here he is.]

So here I am. [Lame.]

Honestly I wouldn't have even thought about it without the reminder, myself.

[He looks a little sheepish at that, scratching the back of his head with his free hand]

It's important, and probably pretty thankless... I'm sure people appreciate it more than they seem.

[Ed's sure the kid must be bored out of his mind, hanging around here for a few hours trying to thrust water at the more active types. He doesn't want to say as much though, considering it might come off insulting.]

Have you been here long? The Quarantine, I mean. These things usually happen when we get a bunch of new arrivals.

[That makes Natsume's smile—pleasant but lacking in heart—gain a more genuine curve. He still looks a little off limits, but now more like he's peeking through the gate, rather than locking it hard and running off.]

It's okay.

[He's really gentle when he speaks.]

If they're fine, it's fine, so it's not like I mind or anything. I just want to make sure I'm doing something.

[And he's heartfelt, but there's a shy filter in his throat that keeps him quiet. Best to move on to Ed's actual question:] I've been here about two months, though. [He just tends to be low-key.]

Oh.

[He pauses at that response, looking as if that answer had been entirely unexpected - usually when he asked that question he got "four months" no matter how long he'd been here, or who he asked. Sometimes, they were new arrivals.]

We came in with the same batch then. What do you think of it, so far?

[It sounds like small talk, and might even come off boring, but Ed's inclined to gather information. How long people have been here and whether they find this place to be a blessing to remain in or a curse to escape as soon as possible - those were things he was interested in. For research purposes.]

[Natsume's smile recedes without actually slipping away. He manages that, somehow—there it is, on his face, clear and well-mannered. But his atmosphere is that of one withdrawing. Or at least being enshrouded. Less the burning off of fog, and more the arrival of it...

In other words, he doesn't seem very lively, even if his pleasant expression leaves no room for complaint on his being benign.]

Everyone is really nice.

[That's his big answer.]

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introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

Takashi Natsume (OTA)

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