riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

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monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: the festival of light
when: The month of January.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

festival of light

In the days leading up to January 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: The Festival of Light. This holiday is in celebration of the end of the Quarantine's short-lived winter and serves to welcome the new year. The traditions associated with The Festival of Light involve fireworks every weekend of the month, a days-long formal ball that with an open invitation to everyone in the city, and lighting magical candles and incense with loved ones and new friends alike.

a celebration of the end of winter and the new year

As the Capitol World stops blocking the path between the sun and its moon, the snow melts and the rains of early spring begin to fall and the residents of the Quarantine gather together to celebrate the new year. New beginnings are honored as the sky is lit with fireworks to banish the cold and dark of winter, and residents share the light and warmth of the new year with each other by sharing candles and incense with fellow residents. These traditions are steeped in magic, like many other things in Riverview, and have certain magical emotional effects on participants. Additionally, over the weekend of January 5th - 8th, the Government will be hosting a formal ball to welcome the New Year, which is open to all residents and offers food, drink, dancing, and other activities, as well as places to stay the night and relax or 'relax' with friends.

i. fireworks

One of the main traditions of the Festival of Light is to brighten the sky to welcome the new year, and as always, the Government of Riverview and various other city entities including businesses and various organizations and clubs, have gone all out to light up the sky. Each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the month of January, residents can gather outside on the beaches or park, or indoors at various observation lounges set up on city rooftops for the occasion, to watch elaborate, beautiful fireworks displays.

Outdoor observation is facilitated by use of rented forced-air umbrellas that make viewing the fireworks without having to squint into the rain or peer out from under a traditional umbrellas easy. Curl up with a friend or lover under an umbrella to watch the fireworks displays. Temporary indoor observation lounges have also been set up on most of the rooftops of buildings in the city, if the outdoors isn't your thing. The lounges can range from simple transparent-roofed spaces with rustic benches and hot cocoa to elaborate, fancy bars or restaurants with food service, music, and dancing. Some of the lounges may even have themes, whether they're 18+ adult or just quirky. Let your imagination run wild - if you can think of it, someone in the city's probably set one up.

ii. lighting up

Throughout the city, residents will find booths and special sections in their favorite stores set up with stands displaying magical incense and candles in a wide variety of colors. These are traditional trappings of the Festival of Light, the original and ancient tradition that's built up into the modern celebration as residents know it. Most prolific are the candles - ranging from tiny tea lights to large pillar candles, they are inscribed with the word 'glow' in a variety of different alien languages, including some that residents might recognize. The incense comes in small variety of dusky, earthen colors, each with a different scent and effect, all clearly labeled.

Candles are meant to be lit with one or more other people, and when this tradition is observed properly with a candle inscribed 'glow' - the wick lit by two or more people at the same time, and held together between them for a minimum of 30 seconds - every participant will feel and see certain magical effects. As the candle is held between the participants, they will start to see each other's skin glow, seemingly lit from inside, and as the glow increases, all participants will start to feel an emotional lightness. Stress and despair will slowly dissipate, giving the participants a temporary feeling of absolute contentment, warm and happy. The effects last from 5 minutes to a full 24 hours, depending on the number of people who participate and the length of time the candle is held between participants (more participants or longer timespans will increase the length of the effect), and effects are cumulative - lighting a large number of candles with different people will cause the effect to draw out for longer.

Incense is something usually lit in private, at home or a small gathering at a friend's house, and in recent years as the celebration has become a bit more modernized and commercialized, at the Glow Ball. There are a few varieties of incense with different psychological effects, all of which are pleasant and take strongest effect when the incense is lit with one or more other people, and enjoyed long enough for the whole stick to burn down. Orange and yellow incense will increase feelings of affection and openness, sienna red incense will do the same but also induce arousal; blue-grey incense will make it easier to share and ease grief and sadness, while grey-purple will lull participants into an easy sleep with pleasant dreams.

iii. glow ball

Every year during the Festival of Light, the Government of Riverview hosts a formal ball called the Glow Ball on the first weekend of the month - this year, it spans from nightfall on Friday January 5th until dawn on Monday January 8th. The ball is a relatively new custom, but has quickly skyrocketed to one of the most anticipated events of many residents' year. Similar to the castle-themed maze during Hygge, the Glow Ball is hosted inside a beautiful golden palace erected in the City Center that is much larger on the inside than it appears to be on the outside. While there is no specific theme to the ball, many residents take it as an opportunity to really glow in a wide variety of ways, all up to each person's imagination.

The palace is magically-augmented to be lavish, comfortable, and fully-stocked at all times, and features a banquet hall with ample and frequently-replenished food, a bar and lounge area for attendees to get a drink and sit for a while, a beautiful grand ballroom as well as several smaller ballrooms with different styles of music, a swimming pool with hot tubs, a garden, and smaller private vestibules that feature a pillow lounge, incense selection, and a small bedroom where residents can rest or enjoy each others' company in private.

NOTE: New characters are welcome to join in with the party, even if they haven't had time to prepare. Any new arrivals who come to the party in the clothing they arrived in will be whisked up by a fussy light golem or attendant who will fit them with a nice set of clothing for the evening so they can enjoy the festivities.

dinner and dancing

The banquet hall is ringed with tables that offer a buffet food catered to the time of day - breakfast in the morning, light food in the afternoon, lavish dinners in the evening, and desserts, coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and snacks available all night. With ample seating at group tables, residents can share a meal with friends new and old. The bar and lounge has several large free bars staffed by glowing, ethereal light golems that never tire and never get an order wrong, and offers seating at tables and in cozy dimly-lit booths. Riverview's drinking age is 14 years old.

The grand ballroom is themed golden this year, with the walls tiled in gold and featuring a dance floor of white marble veined with gold. The grand ballroom has classical, traditional dance music playing for those who want a classy formal dance. There are four wing ballrooms that feature different genres of music for residents who enjoy alternate types of dancing, with the genres consistently rotating - whether you like punk, country, rock, pop, or any other type of music from any planet or country, it's likely to be playing in a wing ballroom at some point. Schedules are posted outside of each door and there are four genres per wing ballroom per day.

swimming and gardens

Another feature of the Glow Ball is the beautiful swimming pool - warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough to be refreshing, the outdoor pool has both flower petals and the season's glow candles floating on it, a champagne service offered by light golems, and tables to sit and enjoy a drink and conversation while drying off. There are also small hot tubs ringing the swimming pool where residents can soak away the aches and pains of the day. The pool offers change rooms where speaking a magical incantation (helpfully posted on the door) will change the occupant's formal clothing into an equivalent swimsuit, and will change it back (and dry the occupant) after the dip has been taken.

The gardens are also available for any attendees who want to get a bit of fresh air. With beautiful flower-lined winding paths under a perpetually starry sky and ample candles hanging from the trees and edging the paths for visibility, the gardens are a scenic and relaxing place to take some time away from the light and get some air.

privacy

For residents who want a little private time or want to spend more than just an evening at the ball, there are small private vestibules scattered throughout the palace. Featuring a lounge area with pillows and lap tables for eating, and a comfortable queen-size bed, each room also has a vanity whose drawers hold both suitable pajamas for sleeping in and (in 18+ rooms only) supplies for intimacy ranging from massage oils to packaged toys. And most importantly, each room is fully stocked with a selection of the season's incenses for use in private.

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 Festival of Light, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Jakub Grygier; image ii: Shutterstock; image iii & iv: credit unknown

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Happenstance brought him to a banquet table beside Willa, and immediately he noticed two things: she was gathering food like a starved waif, and she seemed exceedingly uncomfortable in her rather complimentary dress and shoes. From what he'd been hearing around the ball, that could mean only one thing: she was new and had arrived woefully underdressed for the festivities.

Dorian himself was dressed in a pretty fantastic suit in hunter greens and whites he'd found in the city, and was very proud of it. Oh, who was he kidding? He was proud of just about everything. Still, he could be spared to greet a new arrival, and the two glasses of wine he'd already had this even did not have anything to do with his friendly nature.

"You must be new. That's quite a lovely dress, regardless. I hope they let you keep it." He inclines his head in greeting. "Dorian. A pleasure."

Will looked over at Dorian with a flat stare. While he wasn't incorrect, she didn't care for his assessment. In part because she didn't want her status as new to be obvious and in part because she disliked the dress that'd be forced on her.

"Willa." She introduced herself and then turned towards the table to grab another piece of chicken. It was good and bite size.

"Not sure about you but I'm not really interested in keeping this dress." He looked nice, she liked the style and if he was able to afford it then that meant he had money to spare.

"I'm not sure it would compliment my eyes, and I certainly don't have the figure for it."

Willa, on the other hand, had an intelligence that glittered in her eyes, an hourglass figure, and the bored expression of a teenager who feels they know quite a bit more than they do. He would know. Once upon a time, he'd been one of those teenagers. Now, most of the time, he did know quite a bit, but that knowledge had been well-earned.

"You should. At the very least, you'll be able to sell it to someone who'll appreciate it." He cast his gaze on the table, then back to the girl raiding it. "Might I suggest the tea sandwiches? They seem to be more filling. Probably something to do with the bread."

Willa rolled her eyes while a smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. She couldn't help but appreciate the retort, it was a decent quip. He reminded her a little bit of Walter though she wasn't exactly ready to examine those feelings any time soon.

Willa was weathered, having been privy to the worlds darkness at a very young age. Her and her month had been running scams and working for their living since Willa was four years old. She knew how much the world sucked and had no problems countering that in her own way. Which was why she was going to walk out with the dress and her things and sell it the first chance she got. Not to mention the jewelry.

"I suppose." She replied, being very unclear about what she was talking about, as she reached for the sandwiches. She grabbed three, one with something green and two that looked like they had meat. The green one turned out to be cucumber and a little gross. Willa finished it but she couldn't help but make a face at it.

"How long have you been here?"

Dorian might have been raised in the lap of luxury, but he had never chosen to keep hold if the wool that allowed so many to pull over their eyes. In order to live his life the way he'd wanted to, instead of following blindly the expectations placed upon him by his birth and station, it had been necessary to leave the comforts of noble society and live among the rest of the populous. He'd seen what the real world was like, and he understood what it took to survive there. Willa wasn't a pampered princess, and she was a smart girl.

He smiled at her question. He's apparently passed some sort of test, most likely the sort all young people threw at their elders in order to determine whether or not they were cool enough to continue speaking with. Yay him.

"Four months, by the Quarantine's calendar. You've just missed winter. Consider yourself lucky." He smirked at the face she made. "Not a fan of cucumber, are we? it tastes a bit like bland water, it's true. You can just taste how good it is for you. Makes you want to retch, doesn't it?"

There were parts of herself that she couldn't hide, despite her flawless ability to lie. One of them was where she came from. She was raised to be a thief, to pay the family and survive on cheaper means. She wasn't frivolous and she didn't waste money. That wasn't what gypsy's did.

Though, Willa wasn't sure if she was even a gypsy anymore.

"Sounds like a long time." She hoped that she was here for four months; without Leo or Timo or her uncle sneaking through the portal. She would have welcomed Walter. Something about the loony man was comforting though maybe that was because, like Willa, Walter didn't really belong anywhere but at The Ends of the Earth.

Dorian definitely passed her test though what that meant was very unclear as she turned towards him, resting a hand on her hip. "I don't think they should call something like this food." Though she didn't waste it but popped the last bit into her mouth. "How about you suggest something?"

He rolled his shoulder in a shrug as he turned back to the table. "Longer than I'd like, yes, but it isn't so bad, once one becomes adjusted." He smiled when his eyes fell upon what he was looking for. "Ooh. Roast pork with an apple glaze. It's divine...or a close approximation thereof."

He helps himself to a serving on a small plate nearby before moving so she could try. "What sort of world have you come from?"

Getting used to new situations and places was easy. Willa had grown up having to adapt to the world around her and while the whole magical-portal thing gave Willa pause, she didn't question the validity of its existence nor was she having trouble wrapping her head around it. Just because she didn't understand it, didn't mean that these things didn't exist.

"I could go with some divine." She smiled as she stepped towards the plate, her heel clicking softly on the ground as she moved. Willa didn't stand on ceremony. She grabbed a bit of the sandwich between her fingers and took a bite. It was roast beef, tender and not over cooked, and absolutely delicious; more so when compared to the cucumber monstrosity she had eaten a few seconds before.

She finished eating the first sandwich, grabbed another, and then turned towards Dorian with a thoughtful glint to the light hue of her gaze. "I'd say it's like any other world but that isn't true. Ever heard of Earth or Florida?"

If she had to explain Florida, she'd say that it rested somewhere at the ends of the Earth.

Had Dorian been able to sit in on her thought processes, he'd find himself abjectly impressed with the girl's logic. If more people were like her and stopped trying to make something that is fit into something they already understood and more time attempting to understand a world in which something they were trying to understand existed, they would all be surrounded by far fewer narrow-minded and ignorant people.

"I've found that most worlds are both similar and different. I've heard of Earth, but not Florida. Is that...a land? A nation?"

"Florida is a state. There are fifty states that make up the United States and that's a nation." She figured that it was a good idea to work up to words and phrases that Willa was sure he knew. "I'm finding a lot of things here similar to home."

Willa had spent a large portion of her life traveling and running different scams with her mother. She eventually ended up in Florida where she was caught and forced to work at a dead end job with a parole officer breathing down her neck. She missed it... a little but she had to leave. She couldn't marry Timo and she couldn't believe he didn't have the balls to stand up to their uncle.

She licked her fingers and then wiped them on a napkin. "What about you? What's your home like?"

"A state. I assume that's something like a province or a region? If so, my homeland is similar. We have provinces, such as Asariel or Marothius, ruled by a lord who also possesses a seat in the Magisterium, which is the center of Imperial government."

He nodded, satisfied he understood at least a bit. "And what is this state of Florida like?"

"Yeah. Something like that." She was glad that he seemed to get the idea without to much explanation. It could get tedious describing every word that someone from another world was unfamiliar with. They had senators and other elected officials but Willa didn't care enough to dive to far into that.

"It's hot and sunny most of the time. It's close to the equator. A lot of bugs, humid and rainy." She was just picking key words that would describe Florida most of the time, at least her part of Florida.

"Honestly, aside from the rains, it sounds splendid." It sounded quite a bit like the area of Tevinter Dorian called home. Certainly a far cry from this place, though he was happy to note the winters here seemed to last far shorter than they did in the southern reaches of Thedas.

"Do you enjoy Florida, or are you one of these strange individuals who finds pleasure in the chance to slowly freeze to death?"

Willa chuckled beneath her breath. "I liked the weather. The people... not so much." It was a lie but with Willa it was almost impossible to tell when she was lying. "The bugs are killer though. I could do without them." She wasn't grossed out by bugs but they were annoying when you lived in a small trailer.

"What about you? I assume that you're home is mostly warm."

Dorian chuckles at that. "We have something in common. I could say the same for Tevinter." Oh, it was true, he loved his homeland and misses it dearly, and if he didn't think there was any hope for it, he wouldn't miss it so much, but that didn't mean that a great many of his countrymen weren't painful bores.

"Ah, yes, well, insects are a small price to pay to avoid the numbing of my toes." He nodded to answer her question. "Yes, the Tevinter Imperium is in the far north, the warmest region in Thedas."

She gets it.

Willa was annoyed that she had been unfortunate to arrive during the winter. The positive side, they were at the tail end of winter so it'd be warming up soon. It just didn't feel like it'd be soon enough.

"Does it get toe numbing here? I don't exactly have warm clothes." She looked down at her dress and sighed. She wasn't going to sell this and then use the money to buy warmer clothes, that was stupid. She could steal something but she was trying to keep out of trouble until she learned the nuances of her new home. Willa was very aware that she didn't know the laws here and it wasn't like they gave you a list upon your arrival of what the punishments were.

Dorian nodded at her question, as much as he didn't want to admit it. The winter had been short-lived but terrible and he wasn't looking forward to the rest of them. "Unfortunately, yes, but they do give you an allowance, you know, and a means of gainful employment. Buy some."

He ran a hand down the lapel of his coat. "I rather enjoyed the trip."

Willa rolled her eyes. "I hate shopping for clothes." It was always very boring and everything felt like it was over priced. Most of her clothing were hand-me-downs from her cousins. It was traditional for gypsy's to pass down trinkets and other jewelries which was why Willa wore so many rings and necklaces.

She looked up at Dorian, eyeing him as she spoke. "How was it enjoyable?"

"Well, to each their own, I suppose." Dorian preened, much like an extravagant bird, and loved every moment of it.

"Because I like being pretty." He grinned. "So shopping is fun. The clothing here is magnificent."

"To each their own." She replied with a roll of her shoulders. "Maybe I'll take you with me next time, let you do all the shopping stuff and I'll just buy stuff."

Willa didn't trust him to purchase things he picked out blindly but she had a feeling that he'd pick out cute but functional clothes.

He barked a laugh, his head rocking back slightly. Dorian didn't laugh often, and it was a robust sound.

"You're paying? How could I resist?"

"You could say that." She flashed him a grin as she reached and grabbed a few more beef sandwiches from the table. Willa took a small bite of one before waving two fingers at Dorian.

"If anything else it means I'll see you around. I think I'll get back to mingling for now." Or pick pocketing so she can save up for this shopping spree.

An odd choice of phrasing to be sure, but Dorian wasn't going to question it tonight. Instead, he nodded, smiling charmingly.

"Do enjoy yourself, dear."

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