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

[evasives]

[she sounds so delighted and he finds himself - amused. which is strange but not unwelcome a feeling.]

Mine is not so big, but I have seen the communal floors. I'll take a smaller space over a massively shared one. [is he hoping no one else ever moves into his apartment?? abso-fucking-lutely. it's not even that tiny - he's stayed in smaller, cramped locations. it works for now.] There's another bed, but it's unoccupied.

I can show you. We should know where we are each staying.

[realists]

Alright. [ jyn steps back enough to move away from him, moving back to the stairs themselves to actually continue up them. yes, cassian, they're taking the stairs all the way up -- prepare yourself. ]

I have to get my comm anyway. [ they're going that way, she might as well. ] Have you got your own 'fresher?

[evasives]

[oh. she steps away but it makes sense, it's not like they can just stand in the stairs all day. cassian follows her easily as she moves. they're already halfway up, and she's only on the fourth floor. the eleventh would be another story.]

It's private for the room, though I assume shared with whoever gets the other bed. [ie: no one, ideally.] There's a private kitchen too.

[realists]

[ her mouth turns down in a small frown. ]

I haven't got my own kitchen.

[ not that she particularly cooks, ever, the last time was years ago, but its sounding more and more like cassian's room is more private than hers and that's not particularly fair, is it? they have no ranks here, why does he get practically a home and she only gets a room? ]

[evasives]

[he can tell she's mildly annoyed by that and it's kind of amusing, even if his ability to understand jyn so quickly is still slightly alarming.]

It's not going to be that private if anyone else moves in, which I assume I don't really get a say in. [much like they just sort of shoved him into the room in the first place.]

[realists]

[ BUT ITS SUPER PRIVATE NOW THO ]

You could be a terrible roommate and force them to move out to another room.

[evasives]

[yeah ok true and it's very nice! no complaints, except maybe the floor is very high up.]

Are you speaking from experience? [he is probably already considering ways to make a person move out tbh.]

[realists]

I only ever had roommates in prison. They either died or killed themselves.

[ of course, she does blame herself for zorahda's death. all she had to do was offer the lunnix a little sliver of hope but she couldn't make the words come because there wasn't hope on wobani, there was only survival out of spite. ]

Although my last cellmate threatened to kill me in my sleep so maybe it's not the best plan.

[ gdi jyn why bring up prison. ]

[evasives]

[the tiny bit of amusement that was there fades immediately. it's not that the mood is entirely killed because cassian is stock full of sad stories, that's their lives, but he has no interest in continuing his joke at her expense now.]

I suppose we should just be glad to have real beds. [he does not want to make a joke about kill threats either. 2 close 2 home for a murderer.]

[realists]

[ jyn latches on to this thread with gusto, genuinely the most enthusiasm he would have ever seen from her, all threaded through with an almost conspiratorial sort of tone. ]

They're so soft. I kept having dreams of playing on clouds -- which made no sense, you'd just fall right through the water vapor. [ she glances over at him as she turns the corner to continue up the stairs. ] My pillow... is incredible.

[evasives]

[yeah ok pillows are definitely easier to talk about than death! especially with her sudden excitement.]

The pillows on Yavin 4 were not even that soft. They are almost too comfortable here. [he's had exquisite bedding before, but only when he's undercover, and it never lasted long. it was never his. he ducks his head with a silent laugh.] Do you think we could ask for more? It seems like a luxury, but.

[do they dare ask for luxuries??]

[realists]

[ briefly jyn allows herself the impossible thought of would she have stayed with the alliance if they hadn't... she shakes her head, as if pushing it out of her mind. ]

They're not at war here, I don't think it would be a luxury. [ they don't seem to be wanting for much as far as she can tell, if they're just giving food away for free. ]

[evasives]

[he's thoughtfully quiet as they keep going up the stairs, because it's strange to realize pillows are not actually a luxury. he wonders how many he could get away with asking for, then wonders if he'd even be able to bring himself to.]

They seem very prepared for new arrivals. Maybe there's a pillow surplus. Blankets, too.

[realists]

[ jyn makes a mental note to ask. she has no shame. ]

Apparently they've been doing it for years. They probably have a store just for pillows.

[ which is absurd. ]

[evasives]

[yes please ask and report back. they can go on a pillow hunt.]

Not just pillows. I imagine other housewares, given the entire set up of the communal building. [things?? that aren't standardized? or rationed? how tbh.] There has to be some kind of limit on how many can be bought at once.

[realists]

I wonder where they manufacture it all... [ she didn't think she saw any factories when she was heading back to the apartment building but maybe she wouldn't recognize the textile mills here, she doesn't know. but someone has to be making the products somewhere, don't they? ]

[evasives]

You could probably ask that about most anything here. [unless they come through the portals?? it's another question he has to add to his List.]

[he stops at the top of the stairwell.] Fourth floor. Where is your room?

[realists]

Three. [ jyn leads him over to it, unlocking it however it unlocks and shoving it open to let them both inside. the room is relatively untouched, though the bed looks obviously slept in. there's a door to the side that leads to the bathroom, a small desk just inside the door, and the fluffy white rug that dips under her bed.

it's not a huge room, but it's far roomier than she's ever had and feels enormous in comparison. ]

Do you think they have wampas here? [ she means the rug, pawing through her blankets for her device. it does look like it could be a wampa skin rug, but probably a faux version of some other animal native to this world. ]

[evasives]

[he takes it all in like a spy, carefully cataloging the neatness of everything except the bed. it's efficient, is his first thought, like he can't imagine having something much larger just because he's so used to spartan living.]

[he drops his eyes to the rug, leaning over to touch it.] If they can pull people, I suppose wampas aren't unimaginable. I hope they are caged or already dead if so. I am not sure this is wampa fur though. [a beat.] But it's very soft.

[far softer than he's used to.]

[realists]

I almost slept on it last night. [ such an innocent, distracted admission, a tiny fragment of the inner workings of jyn erso. coming up blank with the blankets, jyn straightens up briefly, frowning, before digging into the blankets again. ]

Where is it?

[ under the bed. she's unused to having a bed that has an under. prison was just a concrete block, saw's was just a mattress. ]

[evasives]

[he allows himself a faint smile over the idea of jyn curled up on the rug, before wiping it off his face. because it's weird. it's weird right??]

[cassian looks over at her rummaging, but he's still crouched down, which lets him see under the bed. he's too perceptive to miss the device there. he even lets her keep digging for a few more long seconds before he speaks up on it.]

Under the bed.

[realists]

[ jyn's head pops up but a moment later she's on her knees on the rug, straining to reach the device and pulling it free. gotcha. ]

There. [ she shoves it in her pocket without looking at it because who... is going to talk to here? she knows zero people. ]

Your room now?

[evasives]

[he wants a rug like this, why?? also he looks vaguely amused when she finds it. he may not talk to anyone else much yet either, but he always keeps it in his pocket, just like home.]

[he finally stands up and offers her a quick nod, moving towards the door.] There's not much in mine either I'm afraid.

[realists]

[ there's lots of room for activities, cassian, gosh. ]

We can compare who has the more luxurious 'fresher.

[evasives]

[what kind of activities?????]

[that gets a tiny smile out of him.] I have not seen yours to compare.