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

i. beach

[ Clary had yet to belong to a group of people, but the fact that she was apparently here in Quarantine in time for the holiday season made her curious. Not to mention the fact that growing up in New York didn't leave a lot of time for going to the beach. Any Christmas was white, and always surrounded by buildings.

She wondered through the rows of cabins and around the fire pits, pulling her jacket tighter around herself until the redhead came across the candy making area. Maybe if she just slipped in, pretended to be part of a group it could work.

For all her artistic abilties with a pencil, they apparently didn't extend to making candy. Her stick looked more like it was trying to run away from the glob of sticky goodness as opposed to being wrapped up in it. ]

Guess beginner's luck has to run out sometime.

iii. skygazing

[ Another difference to being in New York was seeing the night sky so clearly. Clary had found a spot on the beach, coffee in hand as she cradled it between her hands to stay warm and just stare up in wonder. If ever there was a doubt she was somewhere familiar, it was gone the second she saw the stars and the view of the Capitol World. This wasn't a dimension she had been to.

She took a sip of her drink, and let out a slow breath before digging a little hole in the sand to place her coffee so that she could pull out the little sketchbook and pencil she'd bought. She started to sketch what she could see; people, camp fires, the Capitol World... ]

v. wildcard

[ honestly, there are so many options to roll with. clary could be found wandering the ice maze or ice-skating. if you need to discuss a starter hit me up

kindofabigdeal otherwise just hit me with your best shot. ]

[So far, the cabins are his favorite part of this holiday, but the candy-making comes a close second, and it means Taako spends a fair bit of time there.

Even if it means he has to witness Clary's candy monstrosity.]

That's gotta be some kinda crime, my dude. You should kill it and put it out of it's misery.

[He's just teasing.]

[ She gave the guy a wry look and would have replied with 'if I had my seraph blad I would', but instead she just gave a laugh before eyeing off her candy like he could be right and it could attack at any second. ]

I'll start to really worry if it makes any noises. I'm sure it'll still taste fine. Maybe.

[That's just asking for trouble.

Taako makes a little gesture in the air, and suddenly a voice comes from the candy, high-pitched and slightly warbled.]

Please release me from my tortured existence.

[Taako has the gall to look shocked! As if he has no idea how this happened and it definitely isn't him using magic.]

Well, shit, I think it's spoken.

[ To be fair she wasn't exactly expecting to run into someone that could use magic quite so soon.

She was obviously going to have to make a mental note to be careful what she wished for moving forward.

Clary's mouth hung open a little as she looked from the candy to the stranger. Then she started to smile. ]

Warlock?

Wizard, darling, my magic's all learned.

[He's been around enough people from other worlds to know that warlock doesn't always mean what it would, if it was back in Fearun, but he still likes to stress this part. His magic isn't something innate, isn't something bargained for, he fought for it tooth and nail.]

I'd say 'same here' except mine's activated by runes and not nearly as much fun. Well, maybe the portals.

[ Magnus was the closest comparison she had to someone that could possibly make candy talk, so she had to ask. Wizards though? As far as she was concerned in her world they just existed in books and movies. ]

Clary. My name's Clary. So is this thing sentient now or can I still eat it without it screaming?

[Like Izzy, he thinks, but doesn't voice that out loud because he's not a goddamn snitch and just because someone's from the same world it doesn't mean they're friends.]

Taako, that's T-double-A-K-O. [Because if she's from Izzy's world, then she'll know the other kind of taco and he likes to differentiate.] I can make it scream if you're into that, but it was just illusory magic. I didn't, you know, animate it.

[He could also do that! It just seemed excessive.]

[ She might have smiled again since her mind did make the association with tacos. At least she wouldn't be able to forget his name. ]

Nice to meet you, Taako. And I'd appreciate it not screaming, or being animated. As ugly as it is, I do still plan on eating it.

[ And just to prove it, she took a bite of the sticky mess. ]

But I also might be planning on making a second one. A prettier one.

clary fray | shadowhunters

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