riverviewlogs | 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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kate knows what it's like to feel alone. Its a feeling that she hadn't truly known until recently and she honestly hates it. She'd never fault someone for seeking solitude but no one should have to feel alone. She hadn't ever thought that she'd have to face things like this but her innocent life had been taken from her and there isn't a way to get it back.

Even if she's trying now.]

It's a long story. [She looks up at Vincent with a smile. Her expression open and void of judgement.] Not really happy either. [The soft hint of her southern drawl teased the edges of her voice.]

But the fireworks make me think of gun shots and... [She pauses, trying to form he words in her mouth.] Just before I got here I was shot. I woke up in the hospital. It was a month ago but I'm still a bit jumpy from it

[Vincent nodded. He knew a thing or two about long stories. He moved a little closer, taking a seat near her, but not near enough to invade her personal space, watching the fireworks instead of her. It seemed less intrusive that way.]

I'm familiar with long stories. [And if being shot, but that was his own, very long, very sad story.] ...you survived. That's something.

[Kate relaxes when his gaze turns from her to the fireworks. She realizes that it might not be his fault, he doesn't seem particularly skilled when it comes to social interactions, and after all this time she'd rather give people the benefit of the doubt.]

I didn't survive. [Her voice is a little softer now that he's sitting closer.] I don't know how it happened but I should have died. I was dead. I felt it. Then I was waking up here, in the hospital.

[That caught Vincent's attention and he looked over to the girl for a moment before looking away again, this time not looking at the fireworks but something else; something only he could see.]

But you did, then the people of the Quarantine saved you.

Something like that. I'm not so sure actually.

[She looks up at Vincent with a small smile.]

I remember it clearly but it doesn't really make sense. Like there is something missing but I don't know what that is. [Like it's a part of herself that isn't here.] I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't be telling you all of this. [Since they had just met.]

You're surprisingly easy to talk to.

[He blinked, looking over to the girl. He'd never been told before that he was easy to talk to...though maybe he hadn't needed to hear it to know it was true. Lucrecia had said something similar, and the others he'd traveled with recently had certainly wasted no time talking to him. He rarely spoke. He supposed that made him a good listener.]

I...understand. You remember the pain, you know...you should have died, but...you woke up, instead.

[He looked over to her.]

Right?

[Kate exhales a soft breath, looking up at Vincent with an expression mixing both pain and acceptance.]

Yeah.

[Her voice was very soft but audible above the fireworks.]

I would have probably thought that it was weird in the past. Now... I'm not so sure.

[He nods once, his brow creasing with something very much like empathy, though it's a vague expression and easily missed.]

...I should be dead, too.

[Kate turns to look up at Vincent.]

What happened?

[She hopes that it's alright to ask, if not, he doesn't have to answer.]

It's a long story.

[He paused for a moment, wondering how much he could share without getting into it.]

I was the bodyguard of two scientists. They...were married. I kept quiet about their experiments on her unborn child for too long, and when I finally protested, her husband shot me.

I'm sorry.

[Kate hadn't expected him to tell her and she won't ask for more.]

Maybe we can both start over here.

[That was the funny thing about memory. The circumstances may have changed, but the memories were always there, playing with your mind, forcing you to relive the past even though the only thing changeable was the future. Cloud had asked him once if sins could ever be forgiven. He'd never gotten an answer from the young man once he'd said he was going to try.

Could they?]

...maybe we can.

[Maybe he could try.]

introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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