riverviewlogs | 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

[ It's perfectly amusing to see Peter completely fail to complain (convincingly) about her tactics. She, however, looks pleased as punch. ]

I would be shocked if it didn't.

[ Because while she didn't have quite such effective options before (other than... violence), this may help to keep in her back pocket.

Also, she can't think of many scenarios where this wouldn't be a satisfactory distraction. ]

[ He huffs, almost pouting, but he can’t manage to hold onto the expression for long. He covers the slip with a shake of his head, pulling the blankets around them a little more securely. ]

Do you... wanna head back, maybe?

[ A beat, and he adds, ]

Not that it’s too cold or anything.

[ ... well, not only because it’s too cold. He kind of sort of wants to make out with Gamora like some teenager who just discovered how cool kissing was, but, like, doing it out here with his nose about to freeze right off doesn’t sound particularly fun. ]

[ Her smile is sweeter, warmer as she reaches up to brush his hair away from his forehead, nodding. ]

We can go back.

[ But she's also going to steal another kiss before she starts to extract herself. ]

... And I am keeping this blanket.

[ His chest twists at the sight of that smile, and he hums contentedly when she steals another kiss.

Yeah. This is definitely something he can get used to.

He reluctantly unfolds the blanket from around them, letting her pull away – but predictably, once she's standing, he keeps the blanket wrapped around himself. ]

Well, obviously.

[ even if it definitely looks like Peter's keeping the blanket, at the moment. ]

It'd be rude to hand it back.

[ That, and it's a nice keepsake. Peter probably puts too much weight in stuff, gets sentimental and attaches fond memories to things, but—

Oh well.

And he's definitely going to grin every time he sees this blanket. ]

[ It doesn't slip Gamora's notice that Peter keeps the blanket for himself, but considering he's the one suffering more from the cold than she is, she's going to let him have it.

They can share it back at the apartment, anyway. ]

And it would be a shame for you to catch hypothermia before we get back to the apartment.

[ ... One last freezing joke.

Which she's clearly not sticking around to watch him complain about, because she's already starting to leave the beach behind, expecting him to follow. ]

[ She's lucky she's already walking away, otherwise Peter would've happily gathered up a handful of snow (and maybe a bit of sand) and chucked it at her direction. As it is now, he just scowls at her retreating back, scrambling to get to his feet.

He calls after her, ]

Just for that, I'm sticking ice in your pillow!

[ Gamora doesn't wait for him to catch up, but she also doesn't walk especially quickly.

Loud enough so that he hears, ]

I'll bury all of your pillows in the snow.

And I'll dig them out and leave them back in your bed.

[ Ah, the time honored Guardians tradition of threatening one another with pranks. It's been forever since they've indulged in it.

But he hurries to catch up after her, putting on an overblown pout as he wraps the blanket more tightly around himself. ]

That's assuming I bury them somewhere you can find them.

[ Maybe he'll just be completely deprived of pillows.

But once he's caught up, she meets his pout with a smug little smile. ]

Warm enough?

[ He huffs out another sigh, ignoring the way his breath turns white in the cold. ]

For the billionth time, man, I'm doing just fine.

Mm.

[ Does it sound like she believes him? Nah.

(She's sure he's fine, but at this point, she's just giving him a hard time.) ]

Do we still have that leftover pizza?

[ He casts her another unimpressed look, but thankfully, she changes the subject. ]

Pretty sure we've got, like, a fourth of it left, yeah. 'Less you wanna grab something else on the way back?

I would rather order in.

[ Delivery is a marvelous thing, honestly.

Also, it means they can sit inside the warm apartment with new blanket instead of stopping off for takeout. ]

Works for me.

[ And as they're heading back to the tram station, Peter makes a split second decision, unfolding himself to carefully put an arm around Gamora's shoulders, letting the blanket drape around both of them.

And more than that, this is his right as her boyfriend, he's apparently decided. ]

[ It probably speaks to how comfortable Gamora is around Peter that she doesn't grab his arm halfway through wrapping around her shoulders; in fact, she lets the blanket fall over her without a single gripe – even if she does look momentarily stunned.

A half-second of debate, and then she winds her arm around his waist in return to make it easier for them to walk. ]

This is new.

[ A comment, but not a condemnation as they make it to the tram. ]

Yeah, but—

[ He glances at her, putting on a hopeful sort of smile. ]

Like, good new, right?

[ She gives a thoughtful hum as the tram arrives, like she's weighing the experience, and then she glances at Peter from the corner of her eye. ]

Good new.

[ Aaaand then she's tugging him onto the train. ]

introductory mingle: HYGGE

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