riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

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

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know how much control there is to keep information sources online honest and verified here. But... if you're doing the research yourself, it's still a good tool to collect and share your information with everyone you're working with?

*Lola was used to trying to sort misleading and just wrong information out from the stuff of value. You don't go finding out when, where, and how to get an abortion without knowing something about using the internet.*

Do you not trust libraries for having too many books?

And I don't, I mean I'd like to go see what else this moon has to offer. But I know it's full of monsters that could definitely kill me. I only go into the abandoned city if I have someone with me.

*Having no viable skills sucks.*

Yeah, Chloe's already made that point. I have a laptop I use to compile notes now, makes it easier for everyone.

[For the tech savvy people, anyway. Ed and Al kept to their notebooks, after all, where was the harm in having back ups?]

Libraries are easier to navigate, besides... I tend to stick to the ones that are purely research related.

[Ed hadn't gotten into the military to access the records in a restricted library to read fiction. That sort of stuff was harder to sift through online, especially for the uninitiated.]

That is part of the job of the Guard, keeping civilians safe if they want to go past the wall.

Unless you're not in a library. I mean, it isn't the same because I'm not carrying a lot of books, but...

*Lola fishes her cell phone out and puts it down on the kitchen island, and opens a picture of her and another girl. Cute, brunette, her age. Then scrolls to another picture, with another girl with her. She keeps scrolling through pictures of herself and friends. Most are from home, but a few pictures are from the Quarantine.*

You can carry so much with you in a very easy to use way if you bring something like this when you research, and if the files are networked you can update people in real time with new information.

*Lola's impossibly good at navigating through complicated bits of information on her phone.*

Yeah... I'm glad we have the guard. Means I can just, be. You know, not have to worry too much. If I stay where everything is safe anyway.

[For the most part, Ed just nods politely and makes a show of listening. He's heard much of this before from other more tech savvy people, but it didn't make adjusting any easier.]

We do a bit of both, I think it works for us.. So far, anyway.

[Cain had given him that laptop. At the last part he just kind of smiles faintly.]

It is nice to be able to actually protect people here. Where I was before, there were no boundaries, monsters could get in whenever. The wall really contributes to keeping this place safe, I guess.

*Lola is absently scrolling through photos, they stop being of home and start being of people from Floor Two, including Li and her garden. Before Lola frowns at the device and shoves it back into her pocket.*

It'd be a lot harder to build up a city like this without the wall and the guard. I'm glad for it, I just know it isn't something I'd ever be good at.

Maybe I should bring the guard post snacks from time to time. That might cheer people up...

*In spite of trying to avoid thinking about Li, and everyone else from Floor Two to come and go over her time here, Lola's mind is lingering there and she's frowning.*

Maybe someone might know something about tending a garden...

[Ed hadn't really been paying attention, he caught the images as she scrolled through them but it didn't register right away. An eyebrow quirks as she shoves the phone away abruptly, but he doesn't say anything.]

That might help, it can be a tiring job.

[Or maybe just because he has three of them.]

Garden..?

[Ah yes, the picture. It registers belatedly and he takes a moment to consider, looking somber as he speaks again.]

That was Lí, wasn't it? In the picture. She's the first one I noticed disappear from this place...

I mean, if someone wasn't tired from being a guard, that'd be bad right.

It means they aren't doing it right.

*Lola logic. But Lola's inability to keep her feelings to herself is going to just take over. Lola looks visibly wilted at being confronted with this, tired from the coming and going of people.*

Yeah, she lived on my floor. And turned the deck into a vegetable garden. Some berries, other herbs. She was really nice too. Plus having that to supplement expenses was good all around. Wait, she's the first person you've noticed went home? Like first ever here?

*She'd forgotten how that felt.*

I don't know about that, the job entails a lot of different things. We don't have to kill ourselves to be productive.

[But he's smirking as he speaks, because frankly it was a tiring job and chances are most people got tired doing it no matter where they were assigned.]

She mentioned the garden, we talked about making meals... It sounds funny now, being a perfect stranger but she offered to bring our floor food- from the garden and hunting, would've saved on grocery expenses, that's for sure.

[He only nods at the question]

Here, yes. Others might have disappeared before her but... Something about her presence- it was obvious when she left. I guess I'm just so used to it I didn't think about it until now.

[Back in Purg, the first person that he'd notice missing was Al, right after he'd first arrived there his brother vanished just as quickly. It was a lot harder back then.]

I mean, it's still work, even an easy job for enough hours is going to wear someone out.

*Lola likes the reminder that other people, aside from her, are just nice folks. Which was pretty much Li. Of course, it kinda becomes bittersweet without her here.*

If you wanna pick from it, I won't mind. I just... don't know anything about gardening to keep it going. I mean I assume the herbs don't need as much replanting but the veggies will. Eventually. I don't know how to turn seeds into plants, just plants into food.

*First world never having space to garden problems.*

Sometimes I notice them, sometimes I just notice the empty bed. It took a little while longer with Li because she spent so often out. But... she left all this stuff she had to at least show up to tend, sometimes.

I don't like how there isn't a chance for goodbyes. They just go. Every time.

*If anything this sounds a lot more personal than what they're talking about. Lola's got no ability to hide or divert her emotions and she has a lot of feelings about being abandoned by people she had some attachment to. For some reason.*

[He watches her quietly as he listens before shrugging]

Maybe someone else will, have you thought about asking around? It would be nice to keep going I think... Fresh food always reminds me of home.

[He'd never tried his hand at gardening, so he couldn't exactly offer his own services, he might be willing but that didn't mean the skill was there. Ed wasn't about to kill what was left of the garden.]

If the bed's empty and it's someone you don't really know, do you mind?

[It was an honest question, sure some of his roommates had gone just as abruptly but if they weren't acquainted it was none of his business. Maybe those people had wanted to go home. At the last part though, Ed gets quiet. There's a long moment where he doesn't speak at all, and when he does it's fairly soft.]

That's what I don't like about this place. They say we come here willingly and we're welcome to leave when the portal is pointed in the right direction, but people leave here just like they did everywhere else. With no warning, whether they wanted to or not.

[He's been shot down repeatedly for speaking badly of the Quarantine, but he was suspicious by nature and that one detail only made it worse. What was this place, really?]

*This entire topic has taken most of the color out of Lola's hair, it's gone from bright and cheery bubblegum to a... sorta off white, the ghostly echoes of pink to it, but not anything one would call cheerful.*

Somebody minds. Nobody can just... be here and not know people. Someone, out there, is going to notice and feel it. And knowing that just... you know, it sucks.

*Just because it wasn't Lola suffering didn't mean it wasn't something she could piece together just by how she felt. There was also the fact that she realized she didn't get to know them, find out what kind of pie they liked, worked out what they enjoyed doing during festivals. Which also just bothered her as a person. Since she liked knowing a little about everyone around her.*

I... just thought, if the portal is as wild and erratic as that, if it is pointed in the right direction there might not be a lot of time to go about saying goodbyes. Like... a refugee having to leave a war. You just don't always get to say goodbyes.

It still sucks.

*She liked it here, she liked the festivals, and the people she met. But like any world out there it wasn't all good. There had to be something that just sucked. Like people who mixed patterns, or bigotry and hatred, or bus crashes...*

[Well, before anything else he's definitely taking note of the hair change. He has to nod at her words, though, it did suck.]

People come and go so often on our floor sometimes it's hard to tell who even really lives there until you ask them.

[Which means you'd have to talk to them and some of them weren't around long enough for even that.]

It sucks... It's always unpredictable, like every world I was trapped before, and it doesn't matter how much we think it sucks, because it will continue this way.

As for saying goodbye, with all this technology you would think a text wouldn't take much time.

[What would he know? He didn't use text before he got here, when he had it was voice to text anyway.]

But you all came to the party together right? So a bunch of you have just kinda decided to make it a thing.

*But it meant anyone who didn't join in on that was probably... well, really alone. Lola didn't like that idea at all. It just made her feel all sorts of uneasy. Anyone feeling left out.*

Yeah... but people can abandon you even at home. You don't need stupid portals that go anywhere but home to do it. Some people just get so caught up in their own things that even sending a text is just... not a thing they'd think about. And you don't even need to text, a quick video goodbye would do. If you can't figure out the right words, just use emoji. Airplane, planet earth, house.

*Lola that's a terrible way to say goodbye. Also yes she can mope and talk about emoji at the same time.*

[He paused at that.]

Some of us became quick friends, when my brother arrived he was put on the same floor by coincidence I guess. We do make it a point to try to include everyone, but... not everyone wants to be included- and honestly, those that don't tend to be the ones that disappear fastest.

[Not everyone wanted to be a team with a bunch of strangers, he got that. He considered himself lucky to be as close to Chloe and Jason as he was. Of course when Yuffie started hanging around like part of the family Ed had invited her to stay too, if she wanted. It seemed like a no brainer at the time.]

They can. There's all sorts of reasons you'll never see someone again without a goodbye. They can leave, or die... All the more reason you'd think if you had a chance you would make it a point to say something.

[Video might take longer, depending on how many people one needed to reach, but then she starts talking about emojis and he just kind of ... stares. He's seen emotes on the network, but discussing them outside of context meant she was basically speaking Greek at that point.]

I just wish there was a way to confirm it's as voluntary as they claim.

*Lola frowns a little. The idea of not trying to meet people and make friends just doesn't really fit to who she is. So she doesn't fully get it.*

They said we show up here cause we didn't... belong? Maybe they don't stay here because they don't belong here either?

*She thinks that's logic, but she can't be totally sure if it is. That's not what she's good at.*

I would, I'd say something. Nobody should ever have to ask why someone left and what they could have done to do it different. Maybe... I dunno, this is probably a stupid idea. If it isn't all like they say it is, maybe we should leave letters to people. You know, in case.

*She doesn't like the idea that everything about this place is a lie, she doesn't feel like it is. She feels like... she isn't sure, she likes the idea this place sells on. A place for people who want something else, something new. A life they might not get otherwise. But... what if it isn't that?*

I'm not sure if I want to go back, it's dumb. I mean, my world is so much nicer than what I know about everyone else's. Nobody has creepy zombie powers, no galactic bad guys. But... I kinda like being here.

[Ed doesn't like it much either, but he's not going to dwell on that when he doesn't know the reasons behind anyone else's motives. Mostly, he hated the idea of living with people - having to be vulnerable, for one thing - that were complete strangers. He liked knowing he was around people that he could trust, especially the ones in his living space.]

Sort of... Pre-emptive goodbye notes?

[That wasn't such a bad idea, especially if it was true that sometimes you just got the chance to leave and go home and there was no time or opportunity to let anyone know. It all depended on the person's priorities - if leaving was the first thing they cared about, any chance of messing it up could be a mistake. That didn't consider the people who wanted to be here though, some of them had to have left to at some point.]

I do too.

[A small, tentative, smile at that. Most people didn't agree and those that did weren't people he knew well anyway.]

This place isn't so bad, it's better than the ones before. If what Al knows is really my future it's ... not something I'm in a rush to get back to, either. He doesn't want to stay here though, he wants to go home and I- can't really blame him.

*Lola nodded.*

Yeah, just... in case something happens. Not leaving anyone with questions. That's kinda the worst part, right? Not knowing.

*Well the worst part was they were gone, but there's no real fixing that part. All that she could do was fix what she can fix. Which is the questions.*

So... you don't want to face your future? But he does?

*That didn't make sense to Lola. Well, it did, she just didn't like what she felt about it. Cause she could be pretty sure a lot of her friends would happily want to return to their good life and not think about anyone else who might be suffering. Who dwells on the suffering of others if they can get their happiness.*

[He nodded at that, it seemed like a logical enough idea actually. Even if it sounded kind of depressing to write a letter of goodbye to people you may have no intention of leaving.]

That wouldn't be so bad, sort of like a will. We'd probably have to update them every now and then, but... at least it would give people some idea.

[At the question he paused, expression growing guarded before answering softly.]

Al's from my future, like I mentioned. When he goes home, he'll go back to that time... There's a lot that I haven't experienced yet, that's already in his past. So, he won't be facing it again.

[His brother would go back to a different time, in his mind a different Ed. Even if they went through the portal together they wouldn't be together, that's how Ed saw it. It killed him to think about, especially because of all the Als he'd met over the years in Purg, this one is different somehow. He didn't want to lose him.]

*She didn't want to think of it like a will, but... yeah. That's what she was suggesting, wasn't it. Creepy.*

Well, yeah, I mean I'd probably keep mine digitally. Probably a collection of video messages. I can just re-record them every so often, if things change between me and someone.

*Like, if she ever falls in love. Let's down her guard, makes that mistake again, if she ever does that she'd want the message to be personal.*

So... if you went with him, there'd be two of you? Or... you'd replace that one but- no, that'd be weird too. Or you'd go back and then his timeline just unravels cause you aren't that you anymore- no that's dumb too.

*THIS IS WHY SOMEONE DOESN'T WATCH A TON OF SCIENCE FICTION. Her head hurts thinking about all this.*

[It could only get worse, leaving a note of intent to disappear from the world forever? Will or suicide note, take your pick Lola.]

That's a good point.

[Ed still wasn't used to the concept of pre-recording video messages. When he sent messages it was an immediate communication, so recording over them wasn't a thing he was too aware of.]

Well....

[Yes, this was complicated, wasn't it?]

Theoretically, if we both went home we would go different places. I would go back to our world, before Al even got his body back. Then I'd have to go through the process of getting it back...

[He's quiet for a moment, it's not a fun process and he's dreading it. More than anything he's sick over the idea that some day he'd willingly walk out of his brother's life again.]

Al would just go back to the world we wound up in after all that. He spent two years searching for me and when he finally found me he followed me there. I don't know much about it because I only have what I've been told to go on- but it's not a future I'm looking forward to.

[When he found out that Al got his body back without Ed's presence there at all? That time didn't make sense in these places? He'd been more than happy to settle down in Purg where he'd made friends who needed him and never face that future that would happen right along without him there. He was content to do the same in Riverview, but he knew Al wanted to go back and he knew that he was going to be a disappointment either way. Either keeping Al here or refusing to go with him when that time came.]

Wait, back up, got his what back?

*Okay, see, cause it sounded like Ed said 'got his body back' but that's, like, how do you lose a body!? Bodies aren't cell phones, they're very hard to lose! You don't just misplace a body and you definitely don't misplace it then get it back.*

*...Right?*

Ah-

[There's a brief moment of confusion on his features at the question. See, Ed had two realities. One in which mostly everyone, including his closer relationships in Riverview, knew about Al's body. And one in which Al wasn't really around, so talking about it didn't happen too much.

Frankly, when Ed brought up Al's body there was less of a reaction than when people discovered his automail. It was almost as if losing a limb was more intense to these people than living as a disembodied soul. He'd gotten kind of used to the lack of reaction and poor Lola was getting the brunt of that adjustment. It's been awhile since he's even known any slice of life characters.]

Oh... Well. That's kind of a long story- Al lost his body when we were kids, he nearly died but I managed to pull back his soul. It was my fault. I spent four years trying to return him to his body, honestly I haven't yet, but the timeframe he's from- obviously it already happened.

[That's the short version, he figured it would make more sense without getting into alchemy or soul binding and all that it entailed.]

*Lola believes him, mostly. She can tell there's something missing in the story. How any of that actually makes sense, that's what she feels is missing. But she doesn't feel anything he said is wrong. Just, you know-*

You come from a really weird place. Normally not having a body just means you're dead. Kinda makes me feel silly for being a mess when a boy broke up with me.

*Lola's drama feels very underwhelming whenever she finds out someone else's drama.*

[There's a strained smile in response to that.]

Normally not having a body means you're dead back home, too. To be honest, pulling off what I did- even if it worked, it should have killed me. That... You don't come back from. We're just lucky, I guess.

[Stupid, for having done it in the first place, but lucky.]

Everyone has their own problems. You can't go around holding your version of things up against everyone else's, you'll just go insane.

*She listened, it was kinda hard to really figure out the right way to say what she was feeling. But... she didn't feel okay with him trying to make her feel better. Although he was right, comparisons just made her feel worse.*

You just said you had to do the impossible to save your brother. We all have our own problems, but I can't even begin to figure out how I'd handle yours. Mine is all normal stuff, my mom left, my boyfriend dumped me for my best friend. getting an abortion. Easy stuff.

*Lola... what about any of that can be called easy?*

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject