introductory mingle: HYGGE

[riverviewmod]

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

navigation

Comments

iii.

[imperceptus]

[ Rin sidles up to this pretty new girl, materializing as though from the darkness itself. He still blends in well; his hand is color of the night sky, and his eyes are lavender, warm as a streak of sunset. He leans over her, smile approving. ]

You've got quite a talent, haven't you?

[outofthinair]

[ If she hadn't already been introduced to some pretty weird things after becoming a Shadowhunter, it might have been a lot more disconcerting to have someone materialise next to her.

She might have also been a little more wary had she paid closer attention and not been so focused on her drawing. ]

I hope so, otherwise trying to get into art school was pointless. [ Clary answered before looking up, but when she did her lips formed a small 'o' of surprise before she smiled at the stranger. ] Wow, you are... Hi.

[imperceptus]

Gorgeous? Stunning? I know, I know.

[ He's well aware that she was not struck dumb by his beauty, but he's going to play it like that anyway. He dusts off his lapel, grin a mile wide. If he took her shock as a slight, there's no way to tell. ]

But enough about me. I don't think I've seen your lovely face around here before. Are you fresh out of the portal?

[outofthinair]

[ The beauty had a factor in it, but she was also very much admiring his skin. And possibly thinking that she needed a white pencil on black paper to do him justice. ]

How about inspiring? Thanks, and yes. Is it that easy to spot?

[imperceptus]

I'll gladly take that, too.

[ He's preening, just a bit. No false humility here. Or humility of any kind, really. ]

As for you, we're not exactly a teeming population. And who could miss such lovely hair? Like a flame in the night.

[outofthinair]

You're welcome. But I might need to find you again when I get hold of the right paper.

[ She's met plenty of people with an ego like his, in fact she dated one. It doesn't exactly bother her. ]

Now who's laying down the compliments? That you can thank genetics for.

[ So maybe her father was good for something other than making her life hell. ]

[imperceptus]

[ He raises an eyebrow at that phrasing, mostly because--like many drow--he is, in fact, the product of selective and careful breeding. ]

Oh, the same goes for me. Does wonders for the complexion, those genetics.

[outofthinair]

[ Mostly she meant it in terms of general human breeding, but she supposed some of it could have even been the angel blood. How that worked was still a little lost on her. ]

Yeah, yours is definitely meant to make an impact. I'm Clary, and I really am sorry about the staring.

[imperceptus]

Not to worry. I get it all the time.

[ His tone suggests because I'm so beautiful, but the reality is that most people stared at him because they hate him on sight. Being drow, and all. But she doesn't need to know that. ]

I'm sure you turn your fair share of heads, too.