riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: HYGGE

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: HYGGE

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

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[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.]

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?

[Sam tips his head slightly, grins at Tony.]

Sure. First EXO-7. I could take that sucker apart and put it back together blindfolded by the time I left Afghanistan.

I'd hope you'd know how to handle your own gear.

[He says it with a snort, but Tony's well aware that most people don't bother. There are reasons he and Sam get along, after all.]

Notwithstanding the fact that you decided to graft the whole thing onto your actual back.

Not a whole lot of qualified mechanics in Afghanistan, surprisingly enough. And do you know how much sand got in there? Serious design flaw.

[There's a wry grin at the last, his way of poking fun at Tony.]

Aw, your tech inferiority complex kicking in again? [He reaches up, a thumb gliding over Tony's cheek in a fond gesture.] I still take it out for a spin regularly, make sure everything's working all right. It's better for anything that requires heavy defense.

Wha -- excuse you.

[He turns just enough to give Sam the full force of his best affronted look. One insult to his abilities he could handle, but two?]

I'm just saying, having all that stuff internal has got to be more trouble than it's worth. [Says the man who implanted magnets into himself. That's besides the point.] What're you gonna do if you need repairs?

Then I'll have to find a qualified mechanic to work on me.

[Sam turns from teasing to flattering in an instant, batting his eyelashes dramatically.]

You know where I could find a guy like that?

I have no idea.

[He might still be a little miffed, even if it's mostly for show.]

Maybe I've been faking it this whole time just for an excuse to put my hands on you.

You really could've just asked, you know. But it's understandable, people do that to me all the time.

[Griiiiin. Isn't he charming and handsome?]

Hope you haven't been faking anything else.

You'd never know.

[Is that an insult to his skills? He's not even sure. This conversation has gone strange places.]

What else have people faked just to get close to you? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Most of their conversations do.]

Probably not anything as interesting as people have faked to get close to you. After all, I'm not exactly Tony Stark.

Most people aren't.

[He'd say nobody else is, but that's demonstrably untrue.]

Not as often as you'd think. Or at least nothing more than pretending to actually be interested in robotics.

What, people don't pretend to take a personal interest in you? That sounds easier to fake than robotics. Uh, no offense intended or anything.

[And he certainly doesn't want to imply that he's doing something like that.]

[Tony snorts in amusement and flicks Sam a look out of the corners of his eyes.]

Sure they do.

[And if he felt like bringing down the mood, there are a lot of things he could say about the idea. But he's warm and comfortable and he and Sam are just amusing each other. No reason to bring anything else into it.]

I mean, I could fake an interest in birds if you think it would help.

Also easier to fake an interest in than robotics.

[And, to be fair, Sam's genuinely interested in some forms of engineering - largely anything that pertains to flight. Robotics? Completely beyond him.

But he's also not faking his interest in Tony, either. The guy doesn't have a fortune in Riverview, and Sam doesn't care about that kind of thing, anyway.]

I mean, you just need to know they have feathers and fly, bam. Bird expert.

Wait, is that what a bird is?

[He turns a wide-eyed look of bafflement on Sam, but it's too much energy to hold for long.]

Come on, you have to have gotten at least a little of the wanna-be Avengers groupies. No one sidling up to you to ask if you want to go bird watching?

All the cool birds, anyway.

[Not that he's going to tell something like a cassowary it isn't cool anytime soon. #poorbirdlifechoices]

Naah. Most of 'em are more interested in Steve. It's tough running around with a guy who wears his shirts two sizes too small.

[Tony can't hold back a snort at that.]

Well you're the one who decided to stick with him, that's probably your own fault. Could have avoided all of this, really.

Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm kind of a Hufflepuff.

[Yes, that's his excuse, and he's sticking with it.]

Anyway, any girl who wants me to autograph her tits isn't one I wanna sleep with.

Well sure, it's always awkward. Flat writing surfaces are much better.

[So deadpan. He nudges his shoulder against Sam's a little, just because he can.]

Hufflepuff my ass, you're running directly into danger just as much as the rest of us idiots.

[Sam just snort-laughs at that and buries his face in Tony's shoulder for a moment.]

Man, I know your armor's red and gold, but do you really think you're a Gryffindor? And anyway, I'm running after you idiots. There's an important distinction there.

Of course not. [He sounds almost offended, if overdramatically so.] 100% Ravenclaw, I'll have you know.

[If Sam questions that (and he does) he has enough common sense to keep quiet about it.]

See? If you're a Ravenclaw who does stupid shit, then I can be a Hufflepuff who does stupid shit because all his dumbass friends are doing it and someone has to make sure they don't get killed since they wouldn't listen to me telling them not to do it in the goddamn first place.

Fine, yes, I bow to your superior Hogwarts knowledge.

[He won't actually call Sam a nerd, because there are pots and there are kettles. But the implication is there.]

But someone does have to be the reasonable one, so I guess you're it.

That's not even Hogwarts knowledge, that's just-

[Well, he's not sure what it is. But he won't deny that he's a nerd, either.]

Yeah, I think I pretty much ended up with that position by default.

[And since Clint keeps "retiring".]

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buildsomething - 2018-01-03 21:12 (UTC) - Expand

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