July Mini Event - Seaside Sway

[pumpkinhollow]

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It’s the end of July. Summer is peaking, hitting its stride. In the forest, frogs sing and fireflies dance through the night, and dragonflies go about their business in the sun. In town, farmers roll up their sleeves and young ladies swap out their many layers for breezy floral gowns. And on the beach, swimmers take to the sea for water at its warmest and young crabs climb up from the sun-drenched sand. Kora’s glory at its finest!

For about a week now, a flier has been up on the community bulletin board. :

Midsummer Beach Festival!

Join us on July 21st and 22nd for our annual beach bash!

Organized by the Temple of Sacred Roots in tandem with Town Hall, all townsfolk are invited to join in for seaside festivities in honor of the height of summer. Activities will include:

• Live music (Sign-ups for performers will be available at Empty Pockets Music Bar)
• Locally made strawberry wine from last summer’s strawberries
• Beach pit barbecues for lunch on both days
• A hot food banquet for dinner on the 21st
• A fish fry breakfast on the 22nd
• Paper lantern float
• Beach games
• Tents and bed rolls for beach camping

We look forward to seeing you there!

And, as promised, the festival opens up on the afternoon of July 21st, where the smell of barbecue rises up from Tawny Beach. Tables sit on wooden plinths to avoid sinking in the sand, bearing fresh summer fruit and drinks. Pork, fish, and lamb roast in a sand pit. Enchanted barrels covered in magic frost keep frozen treats like orange juice shaved ice and strawberry sorbet cold. A station for assembling little wood-and-paper floating lanterns can be seen off in the distance and Cormac and the Banshees are setting up for their opening set. Tents and bed rolls have been set up toward the Marina. Literally everything is decorated with thin golden coins on strands of twine, sea shells, and sea glass. In the center of it all, stones have been laid into the shape of a massive compass rose, whose center houses the makings of a bonfire.

Those who were here last year will recognize that this festival is much larger than last year’s, and was not preceded with desperate pleas from Town Hall for help providing food and decor. It speaks plainly to the health of the town now. Even with all that has been going on, the growing population and renewed sense of community and purpose have improved matters around the island considerably.

Near the tent area, a family of crabs (one red, one blue, and three purple) can be observed. The small purple ones are poking each other with sticks. The Limoncello has made port, and Royal and his crew are splitting helper duty with the staff of Town Hall, and are dancing and partying the rest of the time. All is as it should be. For once, there is no dangerous surprise lurking in the shadows.

So, what’s on your agenda? During the day, volleyball, swimming, and a game that involves throwing small fabric sacks of dry lentils into wooden hoops in the sand can be enjoyed, alongside a plethora of frozen treats. At night, food and wine and lemonade are served at the banquet tables and lively music plays on the temporary wooden stage for dancing by firelight. There is also the lantern float, which encourages participants to send a glowing lantern out on the water in honor of the lost and the distant, ending the first night in a moment of peaceful sobriety. You may also notice a charming stranger milling around, cozying up to Royal, and drinking after nightfall--- a woman with dark olive skin, raven hair that soaks up the firelight, and rum brown eyes who wears a billowing blue dress and (whenever she hasn’t placed it onto someone else’s head for fun) a wide-brimmed black hat.

Then, at night, camp on the beach under the stars or head home by additional lantern light. The festivities will continue until the following afternoon! Feel free to share your beach fit in the fashion show thread below, as well. Enjoy!

Comments

[somebodychildofanyone]

It is like something out of a book, isn't it? Admittedly the high romances don't usually have phrases like 'if you can ignore the lust in my heart', but the elf's expression is almost dreamy as she looks up at the sky, her long ears bobbing faintly in the night air.

Distantly, full of wonder, and yet still tinged with that note of hope: "Is the view better if I dress to match with you?"

[listenforbirdsong]

"...Only one way to find out?" Mairi offers, smiling awkwardly but earnestly.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Suppose there is," River muses. She doesn't hurry; she kicks her boots off with a languid air, stretching cat-like with the little dinosaur noises that come when someone who has lived hard is kinda Finally Fucking Relaxing. Socks follow, awkwardly toed from her feet well past the point when it's clear that this was a bad idea, which sets River giggling.

The pants come off rather faster. Someone's practiced getting that shit out of the way fast.

She pauses with her hands on the buttons of her shirt, and glances over at Mairi with a shy little smile. There is a Visible Debate behind her eyes, and then...

"I really hope you like me enough to do that thing you do where you just fix things," River murmurs, before she just rips the top off. Those buttons are Fucking Gone, they will never be seen again. Calloway couldn't summon those buttons with every virgin sacrifice on Marrow Island.

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi laughs with her at the sock problem, making some little remark about getting sand in them Forever And Ever, and is about to offer to give her a hand when---

Oh.

Oooo. Hello. The stars in Mairi's eyes are not just reflections of the sky now. "Holy shit."

NSFW starting soon if not literally now

[somebodychildofanyone]

River waggles her eyebrows and discards the shirt, leaning back with a confident little smile. The sigils on her arms burn, coal-like, giving off a light like a campfire gone to embers that dances over her toned and scarred body, casts shadows over the swell of her breasts. "...Is it embarrassing if I say I wanted to do that for awhile?" she asks, the tips of her ears burning just faintly. "We...we got off to a weird start. But you never really left my mind."

[listenforbirdsong]

"It was a little weird, yeah. I blame the love potions. But I did find that after they were gone, I was... definitely still interested. Which I took to be a good sign."

She doesn't feel so out of place with this whole thing anymore, either. She knows Erik, knows he approves. The big drama seems to have blown over. And this... this has potential. Mairi rolls to sit up on her hip and prop herself up with her arms, sheet slipping now that she's no longer concerned about coverage, and leans in for a kiss. Steam blooms from the contact.

[somebodychildofanyone]

River makes a little sound. It's not quite a chirp and it's not quite a moan but it is her returning the kiss, and deepening it into something hungrier, something lingering. Her hand, so very warm, goes to Mairi's arm and squeezes gently; her eyes flutter closed.

Just like she remembered it. Maybe better, honestly. Something they chose for themselves.

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi's lips part, and her tongue brushes over River's upper lip, a bit teasing. She leans into the kiss, enjoying more skin to skin contact. Even in the heat of summer, River's heat isn't uncomfortable, just intense. Mairi loops her arms around River's shoulders, nearly falling onto her.

[somebodychildofanyone]

River is happy to fall back, to feel Mairi's weight against her, the press of the druid's breasts on her body. The sand cushions her, and River realizes, belatedly, that it's going to stick to her body and that Mairi's blanket is right there, next to them, going unused. She breaks away from the kiss with a laugh, nuzzling her friend's neck with a warm murmur. "You wanna roll like, a foot to the left? I prefer my dirty girl status slightly less literal, beliorni."

NSFW WARNING also I can't be fucked w icons for this

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi chuckles softly at that. "Probably for the best," she agrees, doing as she's asked. This puts Mairi's back into the blanket, wet blue-gray curls cascading out over the fabric. Her face is flush with a violet hue as her body is suddenly on full display beneath River. She's a thicker girl, every part of her soft and rounded, the weight of her breasts settling apart from one another. "What's the pet name mean?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"The translation is a bitch," River whispers. Her eyes roam Mairi, taking her in, and her ears will not stop twitching, bright pink under the stars. Wren damn her eyes but this...

"...I think the closest I could say is 'vision of joy'," the elf says at last. "But I'm just a blacksmith, y'know?"

Her head dips down, to kiss the top of Mairi's breast, even as her hands roam that soft body to squeeze and to stroke.

[listenforbirdsong]

A sigh escapes Mairi at the touches, the roughness of River's hands scratching an itch she didn't know she had. "That's sweet," Mairi murmurs, carding her fingers up into River's scarlet locks.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"You're sweet," River teases, running her tongue along Mairi's skin with a delighted little shiver. Little clouds of steam rise where she explores her friend, and the lushness of her has River wanting to be impatient, to take her, but no. No, that's not really what she wants right now, not tonight.

She kisses her way down to the druid's nipple, flicks it playfully with the tip of her tongue. Her green eyes are wide with mischief and desire. "I kinda wanna make you scream, Mairi. Wouldn't be my first time getting caught on this beach with someone amazing..."

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi lets out a soft gasp at the flick, her back arching just the slightest bit. "Ahh, c'mon, you wouldn't do that to me in front of the whole island, would you? You're killin' me."

[somebodychildofanyone]

A peppering of kisses, still teasing, lavishing affection on Mairi's breasts while River's hands find her thick thighs and rub them lovingly. "I -" kiss, kiss... "- am open to suggestions, beliorni."

[listenforbirdsong]

"Well, I don't necessarily mind being out in the open..." Speaking is starting to become a slight strain due to... distraction. "If we're able to be sneaky. But that relies on you not torturing me half the night," she jokes. "Raincheck on the screaming, though."

RAINcheck you say -

[somebodychildofanyone]

"I could always muffle your voice," comes the playful rejoinder, as River lets herself imagine sitting on Mairi's face. With a hungry sound she latches onto her friend's nipple, sucking, flicking it with her tongue. Her hand, blindly, finds Mairi's wrist, and guides the druid's hand down, to River's pointed ear.

ARE THEY GONNA FUCK IN THE RAIN???

[listenforbirdsong]

Ooh. Good to know. With a thumb and two fingers, Mairi gently massages the ear, starting at the base and moving up to the tip gradually. "That you could," Mairi agrees. "Benefits of gills."

MAIRI CASTING WATER BREATHING SO RIVER DOESN'T DROWN EATING PUSSY OUTDOORS LIKE

[somebodychildofanyone]

The touch makes River stiffen at first, and then melt, drawing out a long and shivering sound from her throat that vibrates into Mairi's chest. Her head tilts, offering her ear up to the druid; her other hand clutches at Mairi's hip. Yes...

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi's own ear-fins unfold wider as if trying to catch more of the sound, perked with interest. "You like that, do you?" Her thumb makes circular motions over the clearly sensitive skin.

[somebodychildofanyone]

The elf's lips break away; she breathes hard, almost mewling at the gentle and persistent touches; her body is tight against Mairi's, muscle against the druid's softness. If Mairi wanted to press her advantage here, she's been given River's weakness; her mighty friend can't muster her teasing control unless Mairi chooses to give it back to her.

[listenforbirdsong]

There's plenty of room on the blanket to keep rolling, so Mairi does, coaxing River with her so that they're on their sides. One hand remains raised to the tip of the blacksmith's ear while the other slides between River's pale legs, finding another sensitive mark there. Then the genasi's violet lips find River's, smothering her cries in a kiss.

[somebodychildofanyone]

River clings to Mairi, kissing back in a dazed fervor, dizzy and feeling like her body is aflame. She presses into the druid, her hand finding Mairi's ass, squeezing, clinging. She tries to say 'more', and can't, because those soft lips are on hers and River doesn't want to stop, not ever

[listenforbirdsong]

The heated sigh that Mairi lets out through her nose wafts with steam from their closeness. Seems like those gills won't see too much use today. That's alright --- gives Mairi an excuse to pitch eating her out in the hot springs some other time. Tonight, she's caught River and won't turn her loose until she's got what she's looking for. She pulls away from the kiss just enough to speak, continuing the work of her fingers in circles both on River's ear and on her clit. "If you can keep your voice down, I can put the tip of your other ear in my mouth. Can you do that? You can bite me if it'd help."

[somebodychildofanyone]

The faintest, wide-eyed nod, with lips parted and the steam making River's skin glisten. She squeezes Mairi's ass just a little tighter, and buries her face in her friend's shoulder. "I'm ready," she whispers, voice shaky, breath hot against Mairi's wet skin. "C-can I...after I - hahh - I need to taste you..."

No, too much, that was too much focus. River's mouth goes against Mairi's shoulder, almost as if to hide her face.