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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Marinette isn't the only one to be more caught up with observing the building itself rather than the dance. Zelda's been walking around the edges of the ballroom, peering close to the golden tiles around the walls. She nearly bumps into the other girl, only to catch herself at the last minute. It wouldn't do to be so distracted that she was crashing into other partygoers.

When she sees that Marinette is also admiring the workmanship, she gives her a smile. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I've never seen so much gold in one place before."

And that's saying something, given how much of it used to adorn Hyrule castle.

Boy, it was a good thing Zelda caught herself because Marinette... probably wouldn't have. She's a bit of a clutz. A tiny one. She is caught off guard by the voice though, glancing around to look at Zelda before she gives the other girl a bright s mile. "Yeah, same here! It's incredible - everytime I look at something there's something even more amazing to see right near it. It must have taken a LOT of time," and money, "to decorate this place."

"I can only imagine how much work it was." Zelda cranes her neck once more to peer up at the vaulted ceilings. "Even just applying all of the tiles in here would be a great task."

Returning her gaze to Marinette, she laughs a bit, self-conscious. "Although I really should stop wandering around staring at the ceiling. I'm going to crash into something if I keep going this way."

Marinette rubbed the back of her neck, "Not only that, but you're prone to give yourself a cramp in the neck if you walk around like that. Besides, I've already got you covered in the 'crashing into things' department." From the slight flush in her cheeks she.. probably already crashed into something today. Possibly several somethings.

She smiled, holding out a hand to shake, "I'm Marinette."

"You're all right, I hope?" The girl doesn't look bumped or bruised. So at the very least, it wasn't a terrible crash.

Zelda takes Marinette's hand and shakes, already getting used to this common form of greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Marinette. I'm Zelda. I'm fairly new here, so I am still learning my way around Riverview."

The concern only makes her more sheepish, so she laughs a little, "Oh I wasn't hurt or anything! Just embarrassed. I should know better by now, but I get so wrapped up in looking at things I ..kind of forget to look where I'm going too." Koff.

"It's nice to meet you Zelda! I've been here a few months so if you have any questions, I'm.. pretty sure I can help you out."

She can only smile at that, feeling some kinship with the girl. After all, Zelda herself has been wandering around snapping photos of everything she sees... and paying less than appropriate attention to the people.

"What's it like to live here for so long? Right now I'm finding it all so surprising. The technology and the buildings are nothing like what we have in Hyrule."

Marinette grins back - she hadn't gotten a camera for herself ..yet, and it's probably a good thing; the chances she'd stumble into something would increase.

That word definitely gets her attention, "Hyrule?" She wondered if it was the same Hyrule her friend Link had been from. WELP, no time like the present to find out! "Do you know anyone named Link? I know it's probably a bit of a stretch - I mean, I don't know his last name. Or if he has one, but I think he's an adventurer. He was here a while ago." And is back now, but she hasn't run into him yet.

"As for what it's like... well, it's not that different from being home, I guess. At least it's not as much of a culture shock as it could be. The technology level isn't as equal to what I'm used to, but I've made do. I know there are some people who come from places with an even more advanced stuff though. Like ships that fly through space."

Zelda's eyes widen, and she clasps her hands together. Someone here knows Hyrule... and even Link!

"Yes - yes, I do know Link! He and I are friends." To go into exactly what they are would be too complicated, and Zelda doesn't know how accurate it is to call Link her knight anymore. Her enthusiasm dims a bit though, to hear that Link isn't around anymore. "You mean to say he isn't here now?"

She pulls up a smile at the mention of spaceships, though. "I had never even heard of space until I came here, so it is all new to me. I didn't think that a moon was somewhere people could live."

Marinette grins broadly, "You are? How cool!" Who knew she'd run into someone else from his world. Though she shook her head with a sadder smile, "Yeah I.. think he must have gone back to his world. I haven't seen him in a long while."

And she giggles at the latter, "Yeah, we're not even really capable of space travel back home - and the moon definitely wasn't habitable. My family would never believe it if I told them I was living on the moon for .. a long while."

"Oh... I see." She doesn't mean to, but she wilts a little. As exciting as all of this is, she does miss Link. He had been the one constant in her life recently. At least she knows he'll be safe at home.

"Nor would anyone I know. Now I wonder what our own moon would look like if I were able to visit it."

It's okay Zelda, Marinette understood - it'd be like if she heard one of her friends had been here and left only a short while before she arrived. "Yeah.. I'm sorry about that."

~~Terrifying if it was the one in Majora's Mask.~~ "Come to think of it, ...yeah. I've seen pictures of the moon back home, and it kind of gave the impression that the moon - ours at least - was completely barren. A colony like this would take YEARS to cultivate, if not be completely impossible, on it."

"Barren like a desert?" It's her only frame of reference. Landing on this moon, Zelda could be forgiven for thinking that they're all like this, just impossible to see. "I'm certain this place must have taken a while to build too. The size of it alone would see to that."

"Yeah, only I think it's rock, not sand. And I think it's cold out in space?" She could probably ask Keith that kind of thing though. But then Keith has space suits which are probably temperature regulated or something. "Oh, but doesn't it get cold in the desert too? Like at night..?" Hrm.

She glanced around, "Yeah, you're right - .. I mean, I can't even think of how much work was put into it for so long. Just imagine if we arrived here when it was first created though..!"

"Rock..." Zelda giggles a bit. "I'd say the Gorons would have liked it, but they don't like the cold much." She nods, more familiar with the desert than the far reaches of the moon. "It does get very cold at night in the desert. I've experienced it before."

The idea of seeing these buildings under construction is just delightful, and Zelda's eyes sparkle. "It would be marvellous. Though seeing it complete is just as good."

"Gorons?" Marinette shook her head lightly, "I don't think Link mentioned them before - are they another race, or some kind of animal...?" It was also possible Link had mentioned them and she just forgot- it's been several months since. "He did mention these cute little leafy people that I ..hear someone found around here a while ago."

She grins at Zelda's reaction, "You're right. There's something about seeing a building or anything really, in the stages of being created and then that feeling of satisfaction when it's finally finished that's so ...well... satisfying!" She finished with a sheepish laugh.

"Another race, yes. They eat rocks as a matter of fact."

Who knows if they would have appreciated moon fare, though. Daruk had had a very particular taste for rocks, as he had repeatedly made clear the times he tried to get Zelda to eat some. She was only lucky her politeness held out against the absurdity of it... and she hadn't the heart to tell the man she actually couldn't eat rocks.

Zelda nods at the mention of the Koroks though, interest piqued. "You mean the Koroks? I have seen them myself, but how strange to think there are some in this place. So far from home."

She tucks some hair behind an ear, mindful of making too many assumptions about what can happen here. After all, she's here, so why not Koroks? "I like to know how things are built, from start to finish. I think it gives me a better appreciation of the finished product."

"Yyyyikes. They must have some incredibly strong teeth. You don't think one would try eating the buildings or anything like that, if there was one here, right?" That would be crazy.

She ... would probably have had the same reaction as Zelda though, if one of them tried getting her to eat a rock. She couldn't even chew gravel. Her face brightened at the question, "Yeah! Those are the ones - I couldn't remember their name at first, but that's it absolutely." She smiled, "This place is strange that way - sometimes stuff from home shows up here. Animals, places, things..not sure how or why though."

"Oh no, of course not! They would never be so rude." Unless they were starving, but she thinks that would be an exceptional situation.

"Would you be able to show me where they were? Even if they aren't around now, I think I'd like to see, just in case." That's odd, though. Things just randomly appearing. "Is it because of the portal we came through?"

"Oh uh.. well I wasn't the one that found them, unfortunately.." Marinette admitted -- which was a half lie. "Someone else did. But I know it was outside the city, so we COULD go out there - it's just a little dangerous sometimes." Keith has taught 'her' how to fight a bit, but she had no idea if Zelda could, and she didn't want to put her in danger.

The suggestion that things show up because of the portal though.. "Hrm.. it could be, actually. I'm not sure if people have made requests or what - the one thing I received months ago, I definitely didn't ask for, but.. I appreciated getting all the same." A photo of someone important to her.

"That's a shame... I did hear that it can be dangerous outside the city walls." It won't necessarily stop Zelda from having a look sometime. She knows better than to head out so soon though, when she knows little about what's around.

"You received something unexpectedly?"

"Y-yeah.. but you can have plenty of fun inside the walls still, and it's safer.." She paused at the question, and nodded with a faint smile, "Yeah, I guess it was this place's way of welcoming me, since I got it in the same month I arrived. A picture of a good friend."

"I plan to do that. There's a lot here to see before I could even think of venturing outside the walls."

It's only a small mistruth. You can bet she's already thought about it at length, even after only a couple of days.

"A picture..." She smiles at the idea, pleased for Marinette even if it reminds her of something sad. "That's a lovely thing to have."

Marinette nods with a faint smile, "Yeah, I do appreciate it," evne if it made her homesick at times. "I think it helps knowing that things back home don't really progress while we're here."

"So what do you think of everything else? Like, the music and food for starters?"

"The music...?" Zelda trails off in faint dismay, looking over to the speakers set up nearby. The music currently piping through the room is what could charitably be described as 80s electro-pop, boppy and synthetic.

"It's, uh, very unique."

She's not sure she'd call it music herself, but she doesn't want to be rude.

monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

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