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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Oh. Right, okay. Rey told him she'd mentioned him to the Rebels Classic Flavor, back on his first day properly out and about in the quarantine. That he saw something was wrong and left.

Finn's... still not sure what these people think he defected from or what details even wound up shared, exactly. Rey was very clear about not mentioning the First Order to them, considering the Empire situation. Basically everything that ever happens is happening on the fly for him anyway, though, so he'll just deal with it. ]

Last time I checked. If I'm not, nobody's told me yet.

[ "The defector." It's better than someone yelling "traitor" at him before trying to murder him so like. Could be worse?? He'd rather just be known as Finn in the long run, but the thing about long runs is they take a while to get in order. ]

You're Jyn Erso. The rebel.

[ her nose scrunches, but it's not inaccurate. ]

Cassian and I knew a defector.

[ she really needs to stop thinking about bodhi. first poe's little toast brought up missing him and now this boy. man. this man. bodhi would love this man, a good boy who left the empire to be brave and follow his heart. ]

Bravest thing I can imagine. [ defector is high praise. ]

[ This is the exact opposite of how to keep things from going to an Emotional Place, because any leftover semblance of a hard or tense line in Finn's expression all but evaporates from the entire moon. In their place wells up a helpless and unabashed hope. He's never cared if people think what he did was brave. He was there. He knows his own reasons and he makes his own call on if it counted.

He cares a lot about the words "Cassian and I knew a defector."

Rey told him something like that, and he didn't forget, not really. Couldn't. So much happens so fast around here that it's easy to lose things between the cracks sometimes. To hear it again from one of the rebels themselves is like hearing it for the first time all over again.

Even so far removed from being able to meet that person, here or back in the right galaxy (Jyn says they knew one, past-tense, he knows what that probably means), what Finn hears above everything is that he isn't the only one. It's more than enough to stretch across a few decades and a different army, for him. For all the times he thought he must be, with his uneasy feelings and doubts towards the end, he was never alone.

Finn deadass has to catch himself before he reaches out to take her arm or something. ]

Thank you. [ Is where he lands when he gets his throat unstuck. He doesn't know how to explain how much it means. ] Can I-- their name, is it okay if I-?

[ jyn does not hesitate to tell him her defector's name, even if it makes her chest hurt to think of him. ]

Bodhi Rook, from Jedha City.

[ her mouth feels suddenly dry because they don't talk about him, her and cassian, they avoid talking about the people they'd brought to the beach with them, the people they'd convinced to sacrifice everything on a whim, on a hope that they could do better than they had managed so far and live with themselves afterward. it's a cruel fact that only jyn and cassian are allowed the chance to learn to live with themselves -- and not even in the world they fought so hard to protect.

she wipes her hands on her pants, as if wiping off blood, forces herself to continue because bodhi would want it, she doesn't have to know him well to know that. she swallows, forcing down her discomfort. ]

There was a message sent to the Alliance. Telling them about the Death Star, about the flaw, where to find it. It was sent by the man that designed the flaw and carried by an Imperial pilot.

Bodhi was the pilot.

Edited 2017-12-10 07:00 (UTC)

Bodhi Rook. [ It's a soft repetition. Not seeking additional confirmation, just... taking a moment. Memorizing the name.

Bodhi Rook, from Jedha City. Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot.

Stormtrooper cadets don't get history lessons about successful rebellion, about defectors who made it out. Old rebel victories are mistakes to learn from and loyalty to a higher cause like the Empire's (the First Order's, following in the same line) is something absolute, unwavering.

Except it isn't. And it wasn't. And it's not surprising to learn that that sentiment is another in a long list of lies he was fed since childhood. ]

I never knew it was deliberate. The design flaw. They always called it an oversight.

[ The design and construction processes for the Death Star were scrupulously overseen: high-priority, high-security, every step of the way. He knows that. The same scrutiny undoubtedly followed for Starkiller. Maybe even more so.

That a flaw capable of leading to the Death Star's destruction could be intentional? It never seemed feasible. Or maybe they were only never meant to think of it as feasible. If what she says is true, though, and he sees absolutely no reason to doubt that it is-- ]

But that's not saying much. Wouldn't want anyone hearing about one old defector, let alone two.

[ She only mentioned knowing one-- knowing Bodhi Rook. The other man could have fallen through the cracks somehow, through time or circumstance. But he was real. Bodhi Rook defected to deliver a message that somebody else needed to send.

Designing the singular flaw that kept the Death Star from destroying half the galaxy or more sounds as straight-cut defector as it gets. Not a single part of Finn believes differently. ]

[ jyn almost lets it go, lets him continue not to know the truth, but it pulls at her. these kids (he's older than her, poe's older than her, rey isn't but they've seen enough) know so little about what amounted to a very tiny part of the rebellion. she would make him a list of people involved but someone would want to add her name to it and

she doesn't deserve that.

her father does, though, he deserved to be remembered. faults and all. ]

No, I suspect they wouldn't want anyone to know about Galen Erso.

[ her jaw tightens immediately saying her father's name, lips pursing together in a line as she waits for the inevitable recognition. finn already called her by her full name. ]

[ There's no disguising the recognition that crosses his face, that much is true.

Designing the flaw means having a hand in the design, period. He can't begin to figure what that might mean for a family. A father? A brother? A message sent with a pilot, that says she wasn't there when it was sent, and it says that Galen Erso didn't leave. Jyn was part of the team that retrieved the schematics, Rey said. The rebels.

Galen Erso didn't leave.

This is very complicated, is all Finn can think. Families are out of his depth to begin with.

Jyn's tight expression says to tread carefully around-- something. Frankly, he's not sure what to do or how to do it. He doesn't know if it's anger or grief she's wearing, if it's just something like the look he gets on his face when he's expecting a fallout.

Finn fails to fight the impulse to reach for her arm this time, more of a light touch than an actual hold, because he's honestly really bad at fighting his own impulses, sorry. ]

Now I know.

[ That's step one of their plan to cover it up failing entirely. Because he also knows he won't forget. ]

[ jyn is not a tactile creature, at least not with people she isn't willing to die with (so there's like four people and sometimes a droid), but she is trying to act like A Person so she lets him touch her as she counts down from five and then slowly shifts her arm out of reach, ostensibly to pull a holocube from her pocket. gingerly, she presses the cube and sets it on the ground. fullsize, the message springs to life, the form of a man speaking first to saw and then directly to jyn herself.

jyn bites the inside of her cheek so she won't cry, arms folding protectively over her chest, silent. ]

Edited 2017-12-16 23:03 (UTC)

[ Compared to the first time he grabbed Rey by the hand, it's a super polite extraction.

He's not expecting what she does next, but Finn stands transfixed by the holo soon enough. A feeling roils in his stomach, intense and unsettling, and he thinks this is something he shouldn't see. Something he doesn't deserve to watch, part of something he doesn't deserve to be compared to. Part of something personal, for Jyn. Something she doesn't have to share, but still does, and for all that he doesn't know her there's a surge of fierce affection that Finn can't keep at bay.

He tries to imagine what it must be like. To be part of a cause so big, so far-reaching as the old Alliance, by choice. To be devoted enough to bringing down something like the Empire that he could go beyond walking away, beyond running farther, beyond just turning around to fight again. To build a weapon so powerful and so unconscionable, just to keep it from being unstoppable.

He tries to imagine that, and he can't. But he can see the proof right in front of him.

Finn watches Galen Erso with awe, eyes overbright. Doesn't interrupt. Just waits it out. ]

The only thing that ever scared me more than leaving was the idea of staying.

[ Still does, sometimes. Dreams that creep in when he least expects them, dreams that make no sense in his waking hours. He recalls Jyn's own words, not very long ago now. ]

Bravest thing I can imagine.

I thought... that he was a traitor for most of my life.

[ so it was brave and yet turned his tiny daughter against him when she was still small enough to have hope that her papa was being held against his will. she knows better know, but not long enough to find some semblance of a relationship with her father before it was too late.

another casualty of war.

she forces the emotions down, shoves them back into the cave in her mind, slams it closed, trying to coax a neutral expression back on to her face. it's, well, it's not quite as successful as she would have liked, scooping up the cube and tucking it back into her pocket once more. ]

He was my father. [ as if that we're obvious already. ]

[ That's part of why it was so brave, he thinks, and doesn't quite get around to saying, unsure if it's something he should really... argue with her. She knows now. He doesn't know enough about families to feel confident he could find the right words.

(If that method of coping with complex emotions isn't relatable as all hell, though.)

Finn, focusing on trying not to put his foot in his mouth with someone who went to all the great pains of making herself vulnerable, of sharing these personal, important things with him of all people, somehow hears "he was my father" and immediately fails to keep himself from saying: ]

No kidding.

[ And immediately after that, looking like he just swallowed a frog and possibly wishing he had because he has a lot of potential regrets right now: ]

Sorry. I didn't mean-- I mean, I really appreciate that you showed me. More than I can say. Thank you. I just- I figured he was your father. Probably.

[ He's really nailing it today. ]

Edited (i didnt spam enough italics html in there had to fix that) 2017-12-19 02:42 (UTC)

[ for a second jyn seems taken aback by his blurted out exclamation, shock crossing her expression. it's washed away with a sudden bark of laughter. she clearly needed someone to be a disaster about it. ]

You're worse than me.

[ she seems delighted by this new information ]

[ Jyn Erso is so rude and unexpected??

But it's better than getting yelled at, so that puts him more at ease. ]

I don't know you well enough to know if I should be defending myself.

[ finn is now one of three people to see jyn smile, years wiped off her expression making her look even younger than twenty one. (the other two are rey and taako, but they'd both brought her chocolate.) finn is so blunt, so refreshingly honest. it is like catnip. ]

You probably should be, yeah.

[ Who knew all this time, the secret was either chocolate or subpar manners. Jyn has a smile that makes it impossible not to want to smile back. It's sort of like seeing Rey smile properly: it transforms her a little. ]

I'll keep that in mind. If it starts feeling offensive, I'll send in a formal complaint.

You can send it to Cassian.

[ lbr jyn is never going to give a single fuck if she offends anyone so even in jest cassian has to deal with the line of people she's insulted in the past. ]

People always want the paperwork to go to someone else.

[ at least that's universal he guesses? ]

He likes paperwork, I'm honestly doing him a favor.

[ she says it like she's being so generous and kind, really. but cassian is a little bored with the sedate life, she can tell. he's much too excited to go out on her little plant finding missions. ]

Nobody likes paperwork.

[ or is cassian more powerful than he could have ever anticipated??? ]

Cassian is... [ her nose crinkles. ] What is that human animal? The one with the horn that is particular about who it befriends?

[ YOU KNOW WHAT? it's fucking irrelevant. ]

Cassian is not like anyone else.

[ ok honestly thank god she doesn't keep trying to figure it out because finn had no idea what the fuck she meant. it sounds fascinating but makes no sense. ]

That's not a bad thing.

[ She didn't sound like it was a bad thing anyway. but individuality... is Cool. stay in school kids. finn will accept this powerful organized entity. ]

I mean, no accounting for taste in paperwork. But he's not bad.

[ he is a flawless specimen of imperfect perfection, finn, get it kriffing right. jyn puffs up a little automatically like a stroppy kitten but she bites back the urge to defend cassian against finn NOT EVEN INSULTING HIM.

she just likes to fight, man. it is deep in her soul, she gets it from lyra. ]

He is a good man. Weird hobbies aside.

[ Yeah okay sure, he'll agree to that terminology if he ever gets a big fat crush on him.

But look. If there's not at least a little fight in a character's soul, were they really ever a star war? ]

I'm sure he is. I figure you're both good.

[ He really is sure, too. Maybe it's not a great method to form his own very sure opinions on people after knowing them for less than five cumulative minutes, but that's kinda how he rolls and it's worked out great so far. Just look at Rey and Poe, they're great. So what if he can't people! He makes his own dang rules!!

Cassian's good, and he knows that, in some quiet, hard to pin down way, some kind of energy he gives off that Finn recognizes without knowing what it is exactly. And Jyn is good, a lot clearer-cut. She cracked herself open and gave him something that must have hurt to give, because she thought he-- should have it, or deserves to have it, or something. He can't take that lightly.

He's honor bound by his own personal standards to be willing to beat someone up behind the Denny's for them now even though he only knows like 3 facts about them. ]

[ does he even know three facts tho? jyn's expression shifts to something faintly dubious behind her air of general neutrality. jyn may never associate herself with goodness, but here we are. she will silently accept his summation. on the shades of grey scale, they aren't prickish vantablack. ]

You've known us for ten minutes.

Edited 2018-01-22 04:27 (UTC)

[ i had to hit this back immediately because SHE'S JUST CALLING HIM OUT LIKE THIS?

logically, he gets it. if he hung out with a stranger for all of ten minutes and they said "you're definitely a good person," he would have no choice but to think they're crazy or making shit up.

but because he's the one deciding, he's obviously right. ]

Would it help if I said I only knew Poe for about one minute before I made a judgment call on him?

introductory mingle: HYGGE

poe, the glue holding this cabin together

honestly, he's the real hero

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