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

[alchemyfreak]

Ed had to smile at that, it had been how he felt but... He knew Al wanted to go back to their world - a world that wasn't even in their future - and that conflicted with Ed's own opinion of the situation. He was fine staying here, even happy to do it if it meant being here with Alphonse. The fact that Al didn't agree was difficult for him but he didn't voice it, especially around his brother. "I wouldn't mind staying here," He'd settled in Purg after awhile this was nothing compared to that, better in a lot of ways. "Al wants to go back... I always thought our home was with each other, but if that's what he wants..." He doesn't say that his brother obviously didn't agree, exhaling slowly before finishing, "I'm going to find a way to make it happen."

At the next thing she said Ed quirked a brow, not responding right away. Which gave her time to decide she was done and ready to go home. "We used to fish in the river as kids," He turned from the water as he spoke, "We also spent a month on an island and had to catch our own food to survive." A grin at that memory, it was terrible at the time but looking back was always amusing. "No alchemy and plenty of time to learn how to fish with just a stick."

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie smiled back at Ed. "Hey, don't worry about Al okay? He's young. He'll find out that being with you is more important than being home. It just takes some people longer than others to realize it." It had taken Yuffie a long time to learn that it didn't matter where she was. Though, she hadn't really had friends until meeting Cloud and stealing all their stuff. It didn't start as friendship but it somehow turned into that along the way. It had only been then that Yuffie realized how important that was. Ed and Al, from what Yuffie could tell, always had each other. That was fine but the world was so much bigger than that and she looked forward to the day that Al saw that, the way Ed does now.

Hopefully not due to similar experiences…

"That sounds like a fun memory." Made Yuffie wish that she had siblings. "I remember falling in the river a few times." That hadn't been while fishing though and at times it had been an intentional fall into the river.

Yuffie looked back at Ed as she made her way back to the communal housing. She was going to walk with him unless he decided to stay. It was one of those things with living with people; you always had that awkward goodbye if you happened to be heading in the same direction.

[alchemyfreak]

His head tilted at that response, not looking even remotely reassured. "That's the thing... When we were young it was the one truth we lived by. Something's changed if he doesn't feel that way anymore." Ed doesn't realize that he does, he's put more on Al's desire to go home than Alphonse intended but Edward was used to being left behind so maybe his perception was the one that was off. The part that Ed found most naive was that Al intended to go home, to a world that was no longer their home, and to take Edward with him. Even though they weren't even from the same time.

Ed laughed at that as they headed toward the communal building. "It's something we learned to laugh at later, as kids we really thought we were going to die out there." They had no idea they were being watched as part of their test after all. That last part struck him as weird though, "How'd you fall in?"

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie looked over at Ed with a half smirk. "I used to sneak in to steal food before dinner. I was almost always caught." It was very hard to steal from trained soldiers and at the time, everyone in Wutai was a soldier. "When I couldn't get away I'd pretend that they shot me and I'd fall into the river. The first time really scared them. After the first time... not so much." She rolled her shoulders in a shrug.

Turns out, Yuffie's always been a brat.

"Anyway. I hope things work themselves out. I think they will. The best things are the things that you fight for." Which has always been the case in Yuffie's life.

[alchemyfreak]

He made a face at that explanation that was half disturbed and half amused before grinning softly. "That's awful." Giving them a heart attack like that.

"I'm sure they will." He hopes so anyway, there was always something about this Al that he couldn't quite put his finger on, he was different somehow but Ed hadn't figured it out yet. "I guess you're right. They always have been for us, too." He assumes if she's suggesting as much that she must also be able to relate.

"So, what do you think the chances are that they'll top this festival next month?" In Ed's opinion the river festival was far better than the Carnivale had been.

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie laughed, running her fingers through her hair. "Another one? Damn, I'm honestly good with a break for a bit. Can't we just have a restaurant week and have fun foods featured but with no crowds?" She liked food and fun but Yuffie's life had been significantly different before this. It felt too much like a long vacation that could end at any moment. It was a very unsettling feeling.

"What do you think they'll do? We cleaned up the beach. Maybe it'll be a garden festival and we'll have to weed and fight back the forest." She was just teasing, Yuffie really hoped that they didn't have to do that.

It sounded like a way to attract monsters.

[alchemyfreak]

"It seems to be a monthly thing here." He's not entirely sure, he'd only been around a few months, but it was looking that way from his perspective. At Yuffie's suggestion Ed just laughed, "I like that idea, I wonder if we can submit it to some official somewhere." He's not entirely serious, but it did make him wonder who was in charge of these things and how they got organized.

"I'm not so sure anyone would like having to go beyond the wall." He sounded amused though, as if that was just the kind of bad idea this place would come up with. "That might be voted worst festival yet." On a more serious note though, "The beach needed cleaning. That acid rain did a lot of damage. I really hope we don't have to do something like that again."

[thegreatninja]

"Who knows." Yuffie rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "Maybe these festivals are just to make sure that we don't act out or cause trouble." Not that it stops Yuffie. She wondered if it was really okay. This place, whatever it used to be was gone. It was filled with people, who didn't belong here, like tourist. It reminded her a bit of home and made her wonder, what was it that they were trying to cover up. It could be just as they said, repopulation after the people who lived here tried to conquer worlds but Yuffie found that things were rarely as simple as they seemed.

Whatever it was, it wasn't her problem.

"Oh!" Yuffie turned back to Ed with a grin. "A friend from home showed up. So if you see someone who kinda looks like he's going to stab someone who's standing in a dark corner with a red cape…" Best description Yuffie. "Say hi. Vinnie is a good guy but he needs friends. He's a little broken." She paused and looked around them. "I guess the same way that everyone here is."

Her arms stretched over her head and she yawned. Working was hard work… "I think I am due a nap." So much for swimming.

[alchemyfreak]

He's still clearly amused at that suggestion, shrugging himself. "If it is, it's not working. They underestimate a lot of us if they think we can't have fun one week and turn this place upside down the next."

Ed grins when Yuffie starts talking about Vincent. Not that he's going to run up and introduce himself to a complete stranger that looks like murder, but it was good to know at least. At the last part he responds somberly, "Everyone really is, aren't they? You should bring him by sometime, you know everyone on the floor loves meeting new people." Well, most of them, he can't speak for everyone there.

The grin comes back just easily at her words, shrugging again. "That's not a bad idea, actually."

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie snickered. "Guess so." She stretched, reaching her arms behind her head as she looked over at Ed. She noted his expression before looking back at the path in front of her.

Yup, definitely nap time.

"Like he'd follow me." She rolled her eyes at the idea. "That and there is enough broody on our floor without me adding Vincent to the mix. It'd be such a dark cloud that no one will be able to find their way outside." Yuffie sighed. It was easy for her to imagine and it kinda sucked.

"I'm sure I'll make friends." Somehow.