introductory mingle: HYGGE

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Hygge celebration
when: The month of December.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

hygge

In the days leading up to December 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Hygge. This holiday is one of Riverview Quarantine's four yearly celebrations of love, this one focused on familial love and found family. The traditions associated with Hygge involve coziness and warmth with loved ones, as snow begins to blanket the Quarantine. Meals comprised of family favorites are shared together most nights of the month of December, and families both biological and found gather together by outdoor fires to drink hot cocoa and other warm drinks, roast marshmallows, and enjoy the beauty of the short-lived winter season on the moon, especially at night, when both the stars and almost unreal aurora borealis light the night sky.

a celebration of familial love and found family

Winter comes to the moon very quickly every year, as the orbit of the Capitol World crosses between its moon and the sun - the temperature drops to just below freezing in the span of only a couple of days, and the trees often don't even change from green to orange. During this short winter, the celebration of Hygge keeps all the residents warm. The main traditions involve comfort and warmth with those people you think of as family - platonic or romantic, though preferably mixed between the two - groups of people gather together to share meals and exchange gifts. The city sets up a series of cabins, each fronted with a fire pit, along the banks of the river, which has been lined with floating logs to interrupt the rushing water and allow the surface to freeze solid and form a series of skating rinks for the public to enjoy. Throughout the month, anyone can head down to the riverbank to make taffy candy in troughs of cold snow and share the various flavors with other families, or toboggan along winding, circuitous courses that range from easygoing to high-speed for the adrenaline junkies. The Town Square has a large, intricate ice sculpture set up, this year in the theme of a castle, that once entered proves to be a maze with a prize at the center for anyone who happens to make it through.

i. beach treats

The cabins that are set up all along both banks of the river are small and cozy, big enough to provide a comfortable lounging area with piles of pillows in front of a small fireplace where gift exchanges can happen, a kitchen to cook in, and a table for groups of people to share a meal at. Much like hotel rooms but without a fee, they're intended to be claimed at the start of the day and used for a while before being tidied and reset for the next group. Each cabin has a fire pit out front where a fire can be set up so groups of people can cook marshmallows for their hot chocolate and share stories or play music together.

Another major feature on the beach are the candy making areas, each big enough to accommodate a couple groups of people, featuring a bank of burners that keep various flavors of thick sugary syrup hot and ready. Once the syrup is at the right temperature, it can be drizzled into the snow packed in troughs to chill, and then rolled onto popsicle sticks to be eaten as a sweet chewy treat. Many families have their own particular flavor combos that are the go-to every year, and new families gather every year to start their own tradition.

ii. winter activities

After all that sugar, everyone's sure to be pepped up for a little activity! Every year, just before the big freeze, crews set up a grid of floating logs to calm the surface of the river along the banks, and when the temperature drops, those areas freeze into a thick layer of ice. As soon as they're safe to be skated on, booths pop up to fit residents with skates so they can skate around with loved ones, participate in ice dances, and play the ice skating version of almost any sport you can think of.

But skating isn't the only type of activity available! The sloping banks of the river have been set up with a variety of tobogganing courses, where people can share various types of sleds to slide down various set winding paths ranging from slow sloped ones to steeper, higher-speed ones that almost resemble bobsled courses.

Finally, for the more competitive, there is a less-gender-divided variation on a Lumberjack Competition, with various physical events that residents can compete in like sawing massive logs, logrolling, speed climbs, and boom runs.

iii. skygazing

After all that sugar and activity, lots of groups of family will settle down around fires either at the cabin or along the beach to enjoy a cup of spiked hot chocolate, coffee, or tea, and look up at the sky. Throughout the cold snap season in December, the sky is almost unnaturally clear and both the stars and the Capitol World are easy to see. Besides that, large swaths of the sky are bathed in beautiful aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, that paint large swaths of bright, beautiful color across the night sky. Curl up with a lover, a friend, a family member, or all of the above to keep warm and enjoy nature's fireworks show.

iv: ice maze

In the city center, residents can find a large, beautiful, intricately carved castle-themed ice sculpture. From the outside, it looks only about as big as a small house, but once residents enter they will find that the inside doesn't quite match the outside - courtesy of some of Gramarye Magic Research's top magic-users, the inside is massive, at least the size of a stadium. While cheery music plays, residents can traverse the complicated ice maze, each wall intricately carved and decorated with greenery, lights, and translucent watercolor paints. The walls are almost opaque, and the maze generally takes a couple of hours to get through for most residents.

Once they reach the center, they will find wrapped gifts arranged on a series of beautifully decorated tables, along with treats and warm drinks. The gifts are tailored to each individual in the maze, having been magically selected from a stockpile of items that have come through the portal, and consist of one small item from each character's home dimension (or, for CRAUs, from their previous game), similar to the "items from home" bonus reward, but without needing to spend points. The item should be small enough to fit in a shoebox, sentimental, and cannot be something intended for another person's character. Alternately, if there are no special items from home that a particular character would want or be attached to, an item of similar size and value that would make the character happy will be inside the box.

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 the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the Hygge, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Ryan Woodhouse; image ii: Hjalmar Wåhlin; image iii: David Fortin; image iv: Tzuyu Kao

navigation

Comments

[wiccant]

i: beach treats

( billy already has a stick of coffee sticking out the corner of his mouth from previous rounds--but that's not stopping him from going back in with more plain maple syrup and drizzling even more into the snow. he gives it a few moments to cool, before pulling more popsicle sticks out of a plastic bag and rolling that bit of syrup onto it, raising the stick up to offer it to whomever happens to come closest. )

Want some? I'll share.

ii. ice skating

( skates laced tightly onto his feet, billy takes that last final step to get up onto the ice. there's a moment where he stumbles, not quite close to falling, but the kind of awkward, bad starting balance one has when they haven't tried this in forever and a half.

he takes a step forward, arms spread out to balance himself. then another--and lets his skates slide against the ice as he takes off. )

iii. assemble snowvengers

( it's under the light of the aurora borealis that some may notice. . mildly large figures of snow popping up closely together. still round in shape, but with many shared characteristics of some possibly familiar figures. a helm, a shield, the outline of armor carved into the surface of the snow--

billy's sitting a few feet away down in the snow himself, a warm cup of coffee clasped between his hands as he looks up to the patterns painting their way through the sky. )

[ iii ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Okay, Loki can't help it. He is amused and it shows. ]

Does Steve know you're a fan?

[wiccant]

( that's fine. generally speaking, lokis look amused to some degree. billy's lips curve up into a small smile of his own. )

I'm pretty sure he does, it's not like it's a big secret.

[dothelokimotion]

I would say it is long past being one.

[ He eyes the snowmen. It is an odd lineup, Thor among Steve and Stark. Or maybe that's simply Loki's perception. ]

Interesting choices.

[wiccant]

I'm still working on them. Maybe I'll add a snow Loki to the lineup, too.

( snowmen take time and effort if one isn't cheating their way to completion. there are a few other snowpiles nearby--abandoned attempts that didn't quite make the cut. )

Unless you've got better recommendations?

[dothelokimotion]

[ He chuckles softly, low and rich. ]

I am not known to be well acquainted with heroes. Besides, I barely know them. We never spent much time together.

[ikols]

[ Who is this jackass skating around like the ice doesn't bother him? Veering around Billy in wide circles? Waving cheerfully from the other side of the rink before he skates over backwards and skids a half-moon of ice over Billy's ankles? Certainly not Teddy. ]

Evening!

[ Show-off. ]

[wiccant]

( thanks a lot for the ice. brows furrowing, billy raises one skate to shake off the ice on his foot, balancing it on the toe end of the blade just to keep some of it still against the ground. )

I get it—you’re extremely good at ice skating. No need to show off! Really, Loki.

( the other foot raises to shake the ice off of, too—except that was apparently a bad idea, because that’s when he starts slipping, arms moving out in wide circles as he tries to regain some semblance of balance. )

[ikols]

[ Drifting up behind Billy he catches him around the waist and takes him along for the ride, an arm around his middle as a safetybelt (to lift him high enough to get his feet back under himself whenever he slips) and a hand grasping at Billy's like this may be a dance. Loki's weight is far greater and he uses it as an anchor as they skim around the rink. ]

Having fun? You're welcome for the save, by the way, it's easier to stay upright if you're moving.

[wiccant]

( loki is a lot—sturdier; he keeps billy up without much effort at all, and while he would have been fine, he’s sure, getting the help is still nice. it’s a little hard to focus on where his feet are or to actually try skating when he’s being held up like this, when one of the hands he’d been using to help keep his balance has been effectively kidnapped, but. at least his ass isn’t on the ice. )

I know how to skate, I just haven’t in a while. ( after a moment’s pause, he does mumble a: ) Thanks.

[ikols]

You're so welcome!

[ Laughing, he skates them to the middle of the lake and slides around in front without sacrificing his support of Billy's balance, still holding a hand and his waist. ]

Wax-on, wax-off with your feet, like you're swimming. Hold onto me if you need to, until it comes back to you.

iii

[deathkid]

[ settling down next to billy with a mug of cocoa in his own hands, nico looks on at the snow figures with a bemused expression. are they... who he thinks they are? because they definitely look like it. ]

Huh. You said you were a fan, but snowmen? I guess that's pretty cool. [ no pun intended. ]

[wiccant]

( it’s definitely the beginning of billy’s collection of snovengers. don’t judge him. )

It’s time consuming, and all we seem to have here is time, so I figured I’d burn some of it off. Make something. ( the coffee cup gets raised to his lips, so he can take another sip out of it. ) There’s a lot of snow; I’m sure if we tried really hard, we could make something close to a Cerberus. If you wanted to.

[deathkid]

[ nico would be making greek gods if he wasn't worried he might get struck down for blasphemy. so no judging here. ]

Heh, that'd be pretty awesome. Granted, I'm not sure how we'd work the three heads, but with your magic, it might work. I can get up some bones to make the skeleton to make it more stable.

[wiccant]

( see he was thinking of just using his hands to try it, but. magic works too, he supposes--but it does leave him a moment's pause to consider how nico knew--not that he's been secretive about it at all. in a place like this, hiding's a little futile. )

My magic can definitely get a three-headed snowdog to stay upright. ( billy could probably get it on his own, but: ) Bones first?

[deathkid]

[ he can sense the magic coming off billy like an aura. it reminds him quite a bit of his sister's aura, and hazel is a formidable witch in her own right. vaguely, he wonders how hazel and billy would compare, but then he dismisses the idea. it probably would be an unfair match given hazel also has her godly powers. ]

Yeah, but how big? Cerberus is bigger than a greyhound bus. So... yeah. Bones first.

[ and nico presses a finger-less gloved hand to the ground and closes his eyes, concentrating for a few seconds before the ground begins to rumble and several dozen large bones spike upward towards the surface. he frowns at them a little before getting up and collecting them. ]

Want me to position them?

round two!!

[ikols]

[ It's late in the night after Loki has visited Nico, weary and heartsick and depressed, and he feels like a thousand years have suddenly hung on his bones when he spots Billy rolling candy in the snow. After their encounter earlier in the evening, Loki itches to make it right. ]

They came out wrong.

[ When he appears behind Billy it's holding two sticks of the taffy, both misshapen and lumpy. He tried to make them both big enough to encapsulate an apology without words but it turns out there is only so much those little sticks can hold before it looks like the syrup wants to escape, frozen in lumps trying to fall off.

He offers one to Billy, shifting on his feet. Green eyes don't have the twinkle of earlier, darker but also softer. ]

[wiccant]

( it is late, and billy has been outside, inside, and back outside again more times than he can count. the chill had started to get to him long before loki even came by; nose even flushed a soft red when he turns his head to face the godling.

he’s tired, too. exhausted even if all he has been doing for--quite some time is sit in a soft pile of snow. billy takes caution before opening his mouth, already having gone too far with his words with more than just loki. but he’s still raising a hand up to take the stick from hand, careful to keep their fingers from brushing. )

I don’t get you either.

[ikols]

You're in a bigger club than I am.

[ More people find Loki strange than they do Billy, he's sure. Billy could go and complain to any of the heroes from their world and they would sympathise immediately.

He picks at his candy, flicking lumps into the snow. ]

It wasn't what you said, as much as who it reminded me of that said it before. May we sit?

[wiccant]

( he’d argue the difference between that is loki is much more well-known than he is, many more people know what kind of mess loki is rather than the kind of mess billy can be. they’re both confusing in their own right.

he’s tempted to tell loki no, to shoo him away and deal with it later. but billy doesn’t. he lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, moves a hand to pat the snow next to him. )

Here's fine.

[ikols]

Thanks.

[ For letting him sit down at all. He kneels in the snow, idly picking at his misshapen candy for something to busy his hands with, to look at. ]

I've had a depressed little voice inside for a while, certainly far longer than I've been here. It's a kind of great irony, that I should be afflicted with the same constant downer of the soul that you suffer, or perhaps a great justice.

[ That feels like the right place to start. His shoulders round down as he breaks pieces of candy into smaller lumps, grinding them into dust with a fist over the snow. ]

I hate myself more than anyone else ever could.

iii

[inebriety]

[There's a scarf covering most of his face and a beanie pulled over Tony's head that he might not be immediately recognisable. However someone standing by the figures and etching further details into the Iron Man snow man is hard to miss. It's a decent attempt, but drawing armour is difficult and there's a lot of iterations to choose from.

After a moments thought he pokes a stick in Cap snow man's face to be the nose.]

[wiccant]

( he’s keeping close by to the snowmen anyway, watches tony carve into the snow iron man. there are a lot of different suits he could have chosen to work off of, and billy has no issue with someone working to try and perfect what he’d been working on. snow’s just snow.

it’s not until after he’s shoving the stick into captain america’s face that billy bothers speaking up, a small smile on his lips: )

I knew I was forgetting something.

[inebriety]

[He pulls the scarf away from his face so he can talk, but doesn't pull it down. He has poor circulation due to his medical condition so he'd rather avoid getting cold.]

Oh no, it's actually on the wrong end.

[...]

I'm allowed to say that, right? You're not thirteen?

[Teenagers all look the same age to him now.]

[wiccant]

( he’s going off the automatic assumption that anyone he might know here doesn’t. though honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if the tony stark from his universe questioned how old he was. it’s tony. billy gives a quiet ha anyway. )

Eighteen, Mr. Stark. But I’ll give you an A for effort.

( don’t desecrate steve rogers though, he’s a fan.)