riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: HYGGE

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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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[ While Clary had indeed been watching him, and sketching the man, she hadn't really noticed his plight. She wasn't sitting there laughing. She wasn't looking particularly amused at his misfortune.

In fact when her bubble of concentration was suddenly burst it took a few seconds for realisation to properly dawn that someone was speaking to her. ]

Huh? Oh... yeah. Yes. Is that okay? I'm sorry, I know it's weird. I guess I'm used to New York where no one really notices what I'm doing.

[ She gave him a crooked smile before holding up her sketch pad so he could see it. It wasn't a cartoon, or a caricature - it just looked like a man trying to start a fire. ]

[ Cisco can't help but smile a little at that - a New Yorker who managed to mention she's from New York almost immediately. It's a little stereotypical, but in such a charming way. And it's nice, too, to hear the name of a familiar place. Even if they're not from the same universe, they're at least from universes which have cities called New York in common. Any momentary annoyance he might've felt at being watched evaporates, and he waves a hand through the air. ]

It's all good.

[ And he leans over, looking at the sketch. It's a lot better than he'd been expecting, actually - she'd managed to catch the way the fire was throwing long shadows across the beach. There wasn't much to distinguish that the man in the picture was him, apart from the long hair hanging down and covering his face. ]

Damn. That's really freakin' good.

[ Cisco straightens up, turning to look at the now quite cheerful fire that he'd gotten going. He jerks his head towards it, says: ]

You wanna join me? It's gonna get pretty cold out here in a little bit.

Thanks, it was my calling before I got pulled into something else.

[ Clary was beginning to realise how much she'd missed drawing, creating something. While she had the skill to create new runes for the Shadowhunters to use it wasn't quite the same as this.

And in all the mess with Sebastian and Valentine, this was beyond therapeudic. She could lose herself for a while and gather her thoughts. She gave the dark-haired man another smile before taking a look at her page again. ]

Not bad for someone who was feeling rusty, huh?

[ Clary got up from her spot and grabbed her cup before giving a nod. Even someone from New York could appreciate a good campfire. ]

Sure, that'd be nice. I'm sure everyone goes through this but it's never easy being the new kid.

Pulled into, huh?

[ It's an unusual choice of phrasing, and seems to indicate that there's some kind of story there. Whatever the circumstances were, it sounds as if it wasn't her choice to give up art. Cisco had learned early on that the people who came here through the portal tended to have lives that were complicated and fascinating in unusual ways, so he's curious what she might mean by 'something else'. Family obligations? Intergalactic war? Both? ]

Not bad for anybody.

[ He gestures towards the area near to the fire, where there are a few towels and outdoor pillows laid out already. Cisco kneels down close to the fire, carefully laying on a few more logs, then blowing gently to try to coax the flames to catch them. ]

Nope, it really isn't. How new we talkin'? A week? A day? You know yet if anybody from your world's here? I'm Cisco, by the way. Welcome to the moon full of weirdos from all over the multiverse.

[ The words themselves might sound harsh, but there's obvious affection in them. Cisco likes that it's a moon full of weirdos, personally. ]

Sounds better than destined, or forced into.

[ At least that's what she thought. 'Destiny' had far too grandiose of a ring to it, like she was tooting or own horn or really did owe Fate something. She was still up in the air if angels even believed in fate, or if that was just expectations laid out by too much Greek mythology or too many viewings of Disney's Hercules.

'Forced into' was certainly the more accurate one. And 'pulled into' makes it sound like maybe she had a choice.

Clary set aside her sketchbook and the pencil got tucked into her ponytail as she took a sip from her drink and watched Cisco and the fire. ]

Ah, I think like a week? And yeah, there's people from my world here. It's another point of complication though. I mean, it's not that I don't like them! They're definitely friends, and the closest I have to family. It's just... [ she trailed off as she gave a quiet laugh. ] I mean, you don't need all that right now.

Nice to meet you, Cisco. I'm Clary, and definitely did not realise the multiverse was a thing, even if I have been through the looking glass before. This place definitely has some interesting people. I'll give you that.

[ So, that confirms it. Definitely not her choice. Cisco himself has a rather complicated view of destiny, but he certainly can understand and relate to being forced into circumstances that are much different to what he'd imagined for his life. He'd never chosen, to be a metahuman. He'd been forced into it, and now there is no going back.

When Clary cuts herself in mid-sentence, censoring herself from whatever she was going to say about the drawbacks of her friends being here, Cisco shrugs and says: ]

Hey, you don't gotta tell me if you don't want to, but don't hold back on my account either. Sometimes it's easier talking this kinda shit out with a stranger. I totally get that.

[ There is something about sitting out in the dusk, on a quiet evening, with someone who will listen, that invites confidences that would seem drastic in the bright light of day, surrounded by noise and commotion. ]

Through the looking glass... d'you mean you'd been to another world already, before coming here?

Not right before.

[ Who knew talking about dimensions was easier than talking about her friends, but Clary took the opportunity. She did appreciate that Cisco was willing to listen. She was just going to buy herself a little time. ]

But yeah. It was weird. I was inside the body of the other me. I had to try and hang onto my own memories and not get lost. Everyone was so different. It was... weird. [ Remembering Izzy and Magnus especially had her smiling. She really did need to reach out to them. They weren't the complication. She drew her knees up to her chest and let out a sigh as she gazed at the fire.

It was true that campfires and this time of day did tend to make people more contemplative. More inclined to confess to things. She looked back at Cisco. ]

Okay, so, this guy from my world that's here - I just came from when he was killed. My father killed him. My father that lied to him and told him he was my brother killed him. Great family, right? But we worked out he wasn't really my brother and before that whole mess we were, ah, I guess dating. In love? And we'd finally gotten back together just before he was killed.

[ Her nose scrunched at how much of a soap opera it was all sounding like. ] But the him that's here, he's come from when he thought he was my brother and really doesn't want to hear otherwise. Even from his best friend.

That sounds pretty freaky.

[ Cisco's own encounter with his own doppelganger, in that vision he's shared with Taako, had been alarming enough. But the thought of being stuck in Reverb's body, trying to cling to his own identity and memories? Terrifying. Enough that he shivers and decides not to dwell on it too much.

He waits, as Clary hugs her legs and sighs; even though she lapses into silence, he can tell that she is going to speak, and that whatever it is, it's a doozy. So he doesn't interrupt, or ask any more questions - just gives her the time he needs ,and then, once she begins to talk, he listens, dark eyes never leaving her. Quietly, with a slightly rueful smile, Cisco says: ]

Well, damn, girl. You sure weren't kidding about complicated.

[ Not so complicated that he didn't follow along, however. There was a guy, who Clary had been in love with, before her lying (and apparently murderous) dad had said they were siblings (to break them up?), and when the truth had come out and they'd gotten back together, her dad had killed the guy. Talk about your star-crossed lovers. ]

Did you tell him? That he's gonna die?

[ Then, half-laughing, Cisco jokes (but he's a little serious, too): ]

You think he'd believe a DNA test? 'Cause I'm sure somebody in this place could hook you up.

Just another fun facet of my new life. Old life? On hold life. At least here I know I'm me.

[ She gave him a slightly exaggerated roll of the eyes before giving into a smile. Seriously, dimensional travel was not the weirdest thing to have happened in her life. Still, she got an inkling that he was more okay with it than he let on.

But clearly this was her confessional moment and the smile turned into a smirk before she snorted in slight amusement. ] Go big or go home, right? And clearly I'm not keen on going home just yet.

[ And what's a young woman's life without a little romantic drama? She was lucky Alec had been there to warn her against saying too much to Jace. Valentine really had excelled at mind games, and telling them they were siblings was just a small part of it all. ]

No, our mutual friend said to maybe not say too much. Apparently he's... I don't think 'fragile' is the right word. But he said Jace really didn't want to hear that I wasn't his sister and freaked out a bit, so keeping my mouth shut.

[ Clary seemed to relax her shoulders and nodded in his direction. ]

That is probably something we should have done from the beginning. Honestly, if I thought he'd agree I'd push it. Right now I'm just of the opinion that at least he's alive in this place, so maybe don't make too many waves.

[ Cisco makes a mental note of that. Of course, it makes sense, given the circumstances she'd just described, but it's rare he meets someone as new as she is who isn't eagerly looking for a way to go home. Even he had wanted to, when he first arrived. It had taken a little while for him to admit to himself that he wanted to stay. ]

Gotcha. Your friend's probably right. It's for the best.

[ But no sooner are the words out of his mouth than Cisco is wincing, head tilting to the side a little as he adds: ]

Unless you're a bad liar, or one of you forgets for a second, or he overhears the two of you talking, or sees a text you didn't mean him to, or somebody else you tell like me mentions it - I mean I'm not gonna mention it I'm just saying loose lips sink... secret ships... and if he finds out and he realizes you knew and you didn't tell him, hoooo boy that's not gonna be good. I mean that'd be real, real bad. Especially if he's... "fragile".

[ Cisco does air quotes around the word. He'd seen something like this play out between Iris and Barry and Joe, after all. A secret that was supposed to keep her safe, that ended up being months of elaborate lies and deception. ]

I guess. Maybe he'll chill out eventually and then you can suggest it? Like... just say it'll prove it once and for all?

[ Clary really hadn't even touched on the worst of it. Alec knew. Of course he did. She got the feeling Magnus might realise. She wasn't quite so sure about Izzy, and she definitely knew that Jace had no idea. No idea what his path truly led to.

Again, she got the clear mental image of his body by the lake and split second before when her father had stabbed him. No, she really wasn't in a rush to return home.

Clary watched him as he spoke and she couldn't help but smile. ] You know what? You really remind me of my best friend. He's actually the one person from home that's not here. Well, the friendly people from home.

[ She was going to be more than okay if her father or brother never showed up. She let out another sigh, face tilted up towards the starry sky for a long moment as her features bunched up and she felt that familiar sense of dread creep back in at keeping a secret. ]

Yeah, I'm not so sure it's ever ended well when secrets get kept. I mean, I get why. I know it needs to happen. But you're right. Somehow it'll escape. I'll talk to the wrong person. They'll talk to him, or someone else that knows him. Loose lips are inevitable, right?

[ The idea really was a good one, but she realised it also meant that someone would discover their blood wasn't exactly human. Not unusual in this place apparently, but back home Shadowhunters generally didn't walk around telling mundanes where they came from. ]

You'll be the first to know if I ever manage to convince him.

Really?

[ Cisco blinks a few times, and then smiles. That has to be a compliment, right? Saying he reminds her of her best friend. Though if he isn't here, is it maybe that he is just listening to her problems, rather than being a cause of them, the way her other friends seem to be at the moment? ]

It sucks, huh? Being separated from your best friend...

[ The main regret that he has, being in this place, is that Caitlin isn't here. Sometimes Cisco misses her so much it actually hurts, like there is a piece missing from inside his chest. But it's not enough to change the fact that he is not going back.

It's a relief, at least, that Clary seems to agree about secrets being a bad idea long term. What she actually chooses to do with that is out of his hands, but... if things blow up, at least she can't say she didn't see it coming. ]

If it was me... if it was me, I'd want to be told. No matter how fragile a state I was in. I wouldn't want to know it had been kept from me, like I was some kind of kid.

[ It was definitely a compliment and she gave a nod to confirm it. Maybe Cisco was a lot more savvy about all things scientific, but there was a little something in the way he spoke that reminded her of Simon. Not to mention he did actually listen.

She knew for a fact that she was usually the problem for Simon and not the other way around, but he was her best friend through it all regardless. ]

You too, huh? And yes, majorly.

[ The phrasing may have forced her to hide a smirk. Simon was a vampire now, sucking came with the territory. She was just sure that a lot of this would have been a lot easier to deal with had he been here by her side. ]

That's what I thought. Because it was him that held it back from me. He doesn't know this yet, but it's true. He was the one that knew we weren't related and he just wasn't going to say anything. And it hurt that he felt like he just couldn't tell me. He thought it was making me happier to believe otherwise.

[ Cisco gives a little shrug, feeling a pang of melancholy when he thinks about Caitlin; he pushes that aside, saying with a small smile: ]

Yeah. But I made so many new friends, since I came here. People I never woulda met, if I hadn't come through the portal, you know? People who matter to me so much now, I can't... even imagine, not knowing them.

[ There was Taako and Magnus and Lup, Rey - who felt more like a little sister at this point, Hana and Genji, Steve Trevor, Tony, and so many more. When Cisco thinks about them, about the connections he's made since coming here, that momentary gloom fades entirely. He will always miss Caitlin, a little. But he wouldn't change it for the world. ]

See, that kind of thing... making decisions for other people, deciding you know best what'll make them happier? Nothing good comes from it. I mean, freakin' never.

Well, that is a pretty decent silver lining. I bet not many of them got caught sketching you though, did they?

[ Clary tried to follow along with pushing things away from dragging the mood down. She hadn't planned on ruining someone's night with thoughts of people who weren't here.

Of course if she'd known that he knew Magnus there could have been a lot for them to talk about. ]

Feels like my whole life of late has been exactly that. Mom never telling me what I was going to become. What she was. My boyfriend - ex-ish boyfriend - keeping things from me the first time around. Oh, and my dad. Now there was a real piece of work. I will be happy so long as I never turn out like him.

[ He laughs at that quick-witted comment; he always appreciates people who don't mind making a little fun of themselves. It was people without any sense of humor whatsoever he had to watch out for. Generally, those sorts of people found Cisco's presence aggravating. But Clary seems capable of not taking herself too seriously, despite the clearly very serious shit that's been going on in her life, and that's a great sign as far as Cisco's concerned. ]

Oh, some of 'em have done wayyyy weirder than that, believe me.

[ Cisco makes a wordless mhm of agreement, when Clary says she'll be happy as long as she doesn't turn out like her father. Family could be way complicated, and it's something he typically avoids talking about with people he doesn't know all that well, for fear of saying the wrong thing and hurting feelings or offending people. But Clary's already told him enough for him to be sure that her dad is a murderous, manipulative dick, so he chimes in with a hearty: ]

Seems like a pretty good goal, based on what ya told me. Sounds like he is... not a very great dude.

[ Clary sucked in a breath like she was about to ask 'how weird?', but then she remembered where she was. Instead she just smiled at the fact that maybe good weird was about to become the new normal.

She also knew she'd done more than enough crying in recent times to not feel like it was time to just try and laugh it off. After all, she was currently on a world very far from home with friends who weren't exactly the same friends she'd just seen. ]

Are you friends with all the people that are weird to you?

[ Another smile before she just nodded in agreement. He wasn't wrong, and he certainly wasn't speaking out of place. The fire, the nature of the evening had pulled the confessions from her easily and she made a mental note to thank Cisco for listening at some point. Maybe with a better version of her sketch. ]

He is leader of the not very great dudes. Maybe it's also why I'm so willing to let go of my new life for a while. Get back to what used to make me happy. [ She held up the sketchbook. ] Without getting caught too many times.

[ Cisco doesn't answer right away, making a great show of considering, stroking his chin and everything. After a moment or two of this, he declares decisively: ]

Most of 'em. Solid 85%.

[ Which is of course just a number that he's pulled out of thin air because he thought it would be amusing, making it seem like he'd actually been tallying it up and doing some kind of calculation. ]

This is the best place for that. There's a lot of people here getting a break from whatever was happening to them back home. And some people who're using it as a fresh start, completely.

[ Her joke about getting caught makes him smile even more, and he asks: ]

I'm sure there are art classes at the university, if you're looking for models in a less candid setting.

[ Clary really did have to admire his sense of humour. She covered her mouth a little as she laughed. ]

That's a pretty good number. Not too low, and not so high that someone might question it.

[ Even if it was a fake number. Clary might have actually believed it. It also felt good just to laugh and no longer be completely tied down by all the complications waiting for her. ]

It's definitely distracting, I'll give the place that. Maybe I shouldn't be embracing it quite so readily, but honestly? My head hurts thinking about what's waiting. Thinking about conversations that should probably be had.

[ But the smile hadn't faded this time. She'd said what was immediately on her mind and for now it was freeing. ]

Really? Huh. I might actually have to chase that up. I know not everyone is as nice as you when it comes to realising they're being drawn.

Psshh, should. You'll go crazy if you only think about what you should be doing all the time. You gotta enjoy the moment, too. I mean, we're on a tiny moon, in another universe, and look.

[ He gestures up the sky, where the first faint traces of the aurora are showing up in the starry sky as the dusk fades into night. The fire is properly roaring, now, sending off little sparks into the air when the logs shift and settle. Cisco gets up, decisively, asks: ]

How about some s'mores? Seems like a good way to carpe diem to me. I've got marshmallows and stuff in the cabin, I can go and get them.

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introductory mingle: HYGGE

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