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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[ 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?

Poe Dameron is unquestionably, blindingly good, no that doesn't help.

[ that boy literally bleeds probably dangerous idealism and hope, it seeps out of his very pores. honestly, now she is just concerned that someone is going to take advantage of finn's sweetness and use it against him to fuck him over. ]

[ Oh sure, he's not allowed to be ride or die for someone in a span of ten minutes or less. What's the point if he can't???? also he's not sweet get out of here jyn wtf.

What sucks is he can see her point tbh. And since Rey is obviously also unquestionably good, what else does he have left in this argument. He has no other friends. ]

I think you didn't have to tell me what you told me. I think you didn't have to show me what you showed me. I think you knew I was a stormtrooper before you met me, and you haven't been trying to make me prove I'm really not anymore. Makes you good in my book.

[ THAT'S HIS OPINIOOOOOON.

he defected from a big murder cult, that should be at least a +1 to his good judgment stat. if i had a d20 i'd roll for it. ]

[ jyn's eyes narrow because how dare he call her out like this. she decides to simply ignore it all. ]

Speaking of rubbish storm troopers and their shit fighting. [ their, not his. ] Anyone teach you to fight like a rebel yet? 'cause I've been beating up troopers since I was eight, they're all sort of...

[ she trails off because it feels a little rude to go on about how garbage and shit and rubbish and awful storm troopers are when he was one. it's one thing to rail against cassian when she's just lost her father, again, and was actually probably in shock. it's quite another when she is (mostly) calm. ]

Might as well learn while you're here.

[ He can't even be mad about this swerve, is the thing. Poe told him he was proud of him once and Finn immediately shut down vulnerability station to change the subject.

Besides, she guns it so hard on this subject change and it's a wild one. He's gotta let this happen. His eyebrows make a climb, but he doesn't look offended. ]

I was always top of my class in hand-to-hand.

[ it's not the same. he knows that. he'd say he could shoot circles around empire-era troopers only.... t b h that wouldn't prove the point he'd be trying to make. ]

But no. Didn't have time to get any offers before now. I'd be up for it.

[ Does he even know if he wants to sign onto the Resistance officially or if he's just like. Hanging, waiting for Rey? No.

Jyn just makes it sound badass. ]

[ lbr finn could probably shoot circles around her, she prefers to hit people. blasters are simply sometimes necessary. ]

Alright. Tomorrow. They haven't got bacta here so maybe bring... packed ice.

[ a bright smile flutters on to her expression, brief and ruthless. it's gonna hurt, my pal. ]

[ He loves her and he's a little terrified of her. That smile is a thousand percent some sort of Dark Promise. But like, he feels exactly like that about Rey sometimes too, so it's not the worst thing in the world. This should be nice. Painful. But interesting. ]

I'll buy a cooler.

[ SPECIFICALLY FOR THAT OCCASION. ]

Good.

[ and as if that is the end of the conversation they have mutually agreed upon, jyn just walks away to bother her completely platonic war buddy cassian. she's a criminal, okay, she never needed social skills. end o' conversation. goodbye finn, sorry she is awful.

c'est fini. ]

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introductory mingle: HYGGE

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