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

Tony Stark (MCU) | OTA

[buildsomething]

ii. skating

[Tony may not have a ton of experience on ice skates, but the mechanics of it aren't that different from rollerskating, and that he's done plenty of (shut up, it was popular in the seventies). So it doesn't take much before he's gliding across the ice with competence, if not extreme grace. Mostly, he's just enjoying the amount of speed he can pick up without being surrounded by metal for once, so most of his time his spent darting around anyone else on the ice. If he does happen to crash into someone, he'll be extremely apologetic. Probably.]

iii. skygazing

[His relationship with unfamiliar stars is always going to be complicated these days, but Tony is at least trying to get something back. He'd loved space, once upon a time. It's why he very firmly plants himself just on the edge of the lights from the nearby fires, cocooned in a thick blanket and holding an only slightly doctored cup of hot chocolate, and just lets himself look up for a while. It gets easier every time.]

It's just the ionization of charged particles in the thermosphere. [It sounds almost absent, and he may be talking to himself, or he may be muttering at anyone who's close enough. It's hard to tell, with Tony. Mostly he just seems to be trying to break the silence with something.] Pretty, though.

iv. ice maze

[Who can resist a good maze? Even if Tony can already tell there's magic involved, and he can't help but give the frozen walls around him a narrow-eyed look every so often. It better not be one of those things where the walls change on their own. Tony will be having strong words with someone if that's the case.

But he's going to operate on the assumption that it's a normal, if cold maze, and work through accordingly. He'll be friendly, even helpful to anyone he comes across, but for the most part Tony is intent. He likes having things he can solve, sue him.

And he didn't even realize there would be prizes at the end of it. He can't help but be amused, at least until he opens the small box in front of him and finds himself pulling out a metal device, slightly bigger than his hand, dominated by a very familiar blue, glowing circular design. In fact he may just spend a good while staring wordlessly down at the arc reactor he's holding.]

v. wildcard

[Something else? Feel free to shoot me a PM or poke me at talkincodes]

[wingedman]

[Guess who's wriggled his way under the blanket with Tony, despite his protests? (Sam spends a lot of time ignoring Tony's protests.) Look, it's just warmer if there's two of them in there generating body heat, it only makes sense, right? Right.

He has no excuse for the arm that's wrapped its way around Tony's waist, or the way he's pressed close to him. Shut up and deal with it, Stark.]

Everything can be boiled down to science. Doesn't make it any less beautiful, though.

[buildsomething]

[Tony has submitted to the enforced cuddling with impressive fortitude -- it is actually a lot warmer like that, and Tony can pretend he doesn't notice the way Sam is half wrapped around him. Not that it isn't nice. He's just not sure he wants to deal with it at the moment.]

I didn't say it does. [He might sound mildly offended at that.] Knowing why something happens doesn't mean it's not cool.

[wingedman]

[Sam isn't sure what his excuse for the cuddling might be if Tony asked, but that doesn't matter, because they both know he won't ask. It would only complicate matters.]

Didn't say that, either. In fact, I'm sure you'd argue that knowing why it does makes it even cooler. Some people like simplicity, and some people prefer complexity. Takes both kinds to make a world.

[As for Sam? He's somewhere in the middle.]

[buildsomething]

I could argue that reducing something down to it's component parts is simplifying.

[Or he could just argue in general. It's fun, when there's no real force behind it. But Sam is comfortable and Tony doesn't have to come up with his own excuses to lean into him, so he's not trying all that hard.]

You've never wanted to take something apart just to see how it works?

iii.

[ikols]

[ He doesn't know why his heart continues to beat itself up but, heyho, after depression set in earlier (it never goes away for long, it feels like) it's even harder to walk past Stark's little campsite now.

Hello, Starshine.

So he pauses, looking from Tony to the stars and then the ground. It isn't that the cold bothers Loki but he is intent on staying bundled up in his duster coat tonight, chin buried in fur. ]

Luminous fields of plasma held together by their own gravity. [ His boot toes the snowy ground. ] Mjolnir was a cosmic storm, once.

[buildsomething]

If you want to get really technical, pretty much everything was just a particle once.

[He glances over Loki's way as he says it, what little of the man he can see in the dark. But Tony's not all that visible either, just bare flashes of his face amongst the blanket wrappings. He's not a particular fan of the cold. But here he is anyway, and if he was feeling particularly uncharitable, he could even blame Loki for it.]

I mean, I'm sure you get to see this stuff all the time.

[ikols]

I never knew that before this moment.

[ Sass aside, he steps forward to warm his hands over Tony's firepit. ]

The stars? Last time I was in space it was as a passenger in Thor's goat-pulled chariot and I tore open a scar that hid the Tenth Realm, Heven. [ He shrugs lightly. ] It was fun, sure.

[buildsomething]

You know, sometimes words come out of your mouth and I'm genuinely not sure if you're just fucking with me.

[If he were smart, he'd always assume Loki's just fucking with him, but that's a different issue. Tony can be dumb about some things occasionally, and he knows it.]

What brings you out here, then?

iii;

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Somewhere off to his side, Tony might hear a dismissive sort of huff. ]

You're the kinda guy who goes to magic shows and shouts out, "He's using fishing line!" at the top of his lungs, aren't you?

[ It'd figure, of course, that the guy who calls himself Star-Lord would be affronted on behalf of the aurora. He's also apparently downgraded, in recent days, from the relatively cutting edge Zune to a metallic blue Sony Walkman, recently spit out by the all-giving portal. He currently has it clipped to his belt, tucked beneath his thick red jacket and scarf. ]

It kinda takes the romance out of it if you're just all, "blah, blah, gases and dust."

[buildsomething]

Of course not. Not out loud, anyway.

[Not since he was a kid, at least. Tony liked to know how things worked, it was a thing. And it was probably why he was as skeptical of actual magic as he was.

But at the moment, Tony hunkers down in his blanket wrappings to eye Peter somewhat dubiously. Why do people always think that knowing how a thing happens makes it less interesting?]

I can tell you exactly what compounds go into your average firework too, doesn't make them any less nice to look at.

[nostalgiabomb]

Yeah, but that's 'cause they're fireworks.

[ Anything that goes into what makes giant, colorful explosions is going to be awesome, no matter how you slice it. ]

I'm just sayin', it might be more fun to shut off the science for just a couple of seconds and let yourself just watch, you know?

[buildsomething]

[Tony can't help a snort at that. He wouldn't even know how to start shutting off the science, not when he can't remember seeing the world in anything but technical diagrams.]

That's really not a thing I do. But I'm enjoying myself, trust me.

[Where romance comes into it, Tony's not sure. But he finds himself studying Peter rather than the display in question, at least for a moment or two.]

Don't you like, live in space? [Unspoken is the how can you not want to know how it all works?]

iii

[talentedscavenger]

Really?

[Rey was looking up at the sky too, a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. She was preparing to head back towards her friends when she passed by Tony. She hadn't seen him in a while, but considering the whirlwind of events from last month, she hasn't been in her room too much.]

I wasn't thinking of the science behind it, but it really is pretty. Nothing that I've seen before.

[buildsomething]

[The familiar voice makes him glance Rey's way, at least long enough to blink. She's never seen it before? But then she is from some other planet, isn't she. And trying to figure out exactly how it might happen with a different atmospheric makup is enough to give Tony a headache just thinking about it, so he stops.

It doesn't take much for his eyes to drift back towards the lights, though he hums something that sounds like an agreement at her.]

We don't know everything about how they work. But that's the general gist, yeah. We've got them in a few places back home.

[talentedscavenger]

[A different planet, different star system completely. The atmosphere would be different and the science behind it...would be enough to give anyone a headache.]

What do you mean? You said it was gases and such. Or are you referring to the patterns or colors they create?

[She looks back up at the sky, finding herself at peace and simply content.]

I never thought I'd see something like this. But, I also didn't think I'd come across a planet that had as much greenery as it did. The air felt..crisp and there was a strong sense of life from it--the planet I mean.

ii

[franciscoramon]

[ Was it Tony's fault for skating so fast? Was it Cisco's fault for skating so badly? Who can really say. The only thing that is certain is, combine those two things, and you have a pretty epic wipeout in the making. Tony doesn't quite crash entirely into Cisco - just catches his shoulder and side enough to send him spinning comically in circles before he topples over, arms flailing, into the snowbank at the edge of the river.

The fresh snow is, at least, softer than the ice would have been. Unfortunately, it is just as undignified. ]

[buildsomething]

[It's enough to knock Tony off balance as well, though he at least manages to keep on his feet through sheer force of will and a lot of ungainly flailing. Once he's pretty sure he's not going to end up on his ass, Tony skates over to the site of the accident with a faint grimace on his face.]

You alive?

[And oh, hey, it's Cisco. Tony's honestly not sure if that's better than a stranger or not, but he leans over to offer a hand up anyway.]

Sorry about that.

[franciscoramon]

Somewhat.

[ Unfortunately, Cisco misses that flailing, which doubtless would've been amusing to watch, because he had toppled face-first into the snow. Cisco still hasn't extricated himself by the time his friend skates over. He takes Tony's hand and himself back to his feet, then has to bend over again to retrieve his hat. His hair is an absolute disaster, all in his face and flecked with snowflakes. ]

You lookin' to try out for speed skating?

[ He gets the hair out of his face and shoves the hat back onto his head, touches a mittened hand to his mouth. He'd managed to bite his lower lip enough to draw blood, but it's very minor. If it were someone else, he might be inclined to stay irritated, but he likes Tony too much to sustain any annoyance for more than about twenty seconds. ]

How'd you get going that fast anyway? I can barely stay standing on these things...

iv.

[trashvalkyrie]

[When she finally makes it to the center of the maze—and astonishingly, the honest way, since hacking through the ice walls had proved incredibly fruitless—and finds herself facing that big table of gifts, she's almost disappointed. She'd sort of hoped there'd be a hot spring or something waiting in the middle, but once she opens her gift—a silver flask filled with Asgardian spirits—she can't be too disappointed. Taking a swig, she has a wander around the room, eyeing other peoples' gifts over their shoulders.

When she sees the arc reactor, she can't help but pause.]

That'd fetch a damn good price where I came from. What's it do?

[buildsomething]

[He's been focused enough on the reactor that Tony starts slightly at the too-close voice. It's hard to fight a slightly arch look as he glances over his shoulder towards the woman -- it'd fetch a damn good price where he comes from too, if he'd ever let it get out. Though the fact that she can judge that without actually knowing what it is...that's interesting.

It might be why he finds himself actually answering honestly.]

It's power source. A reactor.

[trashvalkyrie]

Huh. [When she's not drunk off her ass, Val is actually reasonably smart about mechanical stuff. It comes with being a scrapper and a pilot.]

Doesn't look nuclear. Magic-powered?

Re: Tony Stark (MCU) | OTA

[haruna_of_fog]

iii. skygazing

Haruna herself viewed stargazing as the most useful way to spend this night as the group socialization wasn’t suited for her nor was the spiked drinks. But out here was the stars and with far less interference than usual although the aurora was something new for her. Her patrol routes were simply too far south for one to be seen.

Her head was looking up as she walked, steadily moving in the crisp night air, although she seemed to show no signs of being remotely uncomfortable with these conditions. A human was sitting nearby and looking upwards towards the skies.

That idle commentary drew Haruna’s attention, “Correct.” She replied as she tracked her vision down to the blanket covered human.

She continued, "But the Aurora patterns are obscuring a number of stars I need to use as reference points to ensure that the star maps I was given are correct."

Of course, she saw the human down there plain as day; sensor fusion was such a wonderful thing after all.

No puffs of breathing from her as she tilted her head upwards a faint glow lighting her face as she looked skywards, "The maps appear correct," and with that the light faded just as suddenly as it appeared.
towards the skies.

That idle commentary drew Haruna’s attention, “Correct.” She replied as she tracked her vision down to the blanket covered human.

She continued, "But the Aurora patterns are obscuring a number of stars I'm needing to use as reference points to ensure that the star maps I was given are correct."

Of course she saw the human down there plain as day, sensor fusion was such a wonderful thing

No puffs of breathing from her as she tilted her head upwards a faint glow lighting her face as she looked skywards, "The maps appear correct," and with that the light faded just as suddenly as it appeared.

[buildsomething]

One of Tony's eyebrows arched directly upwards at the sudden answer, and he turned towards the voice just as she apparently pulled up some kind of external HUD. Huh.

"Guess they weren't that obscured, huh," he put in dryly, watching her for a moment or so. The stars would still be there in a minute, this was interesting. Or weird. Or weirdly interesting. "So what exactly are you planning to do with star maps?"

[haruna_of_fog]

Haruna paused, "They still are obscured, I simply filter out the wavelengths of light produced by the Aurora so I could complete my task," She looked at the sitting human, her face mostly hidden behind the tall collar of her coat.

But for why she was doing it? "To acquire an additional resource for navigation. Even though it is a crude system it can be useful if all else fails," the blonde said as she looked skywards, "Although with the amount of redundancies for navigation there are it is unlikely that I would ever need such a system.

She had left her arms at her side and the wind gave away the fact that her arms were of a proper length for a woman of her size, still those sleeves were quite long and oversized for her.

"But I wonder why someone would be away from the fire if they did not have a pressing concern considering the temperatures," Although Haruna herself doesn't seem to be following her advice, maybe the coat's warmer than it looks. It is certainly large after all.