riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

Entry tags:

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

i. fireworks

[ When the first flare of light blasts across the sky, Chyler runs for cover. She grabs the nearest civilian and tries to drag the woman with her, pulling her down into the lee of a cart selling candles and incense. The stranger yanks away almost immediately, backing away from Chyler as the sound of the firework's explosion crackles through the air.

She's being stared at. (Green light, a boom that makes her flinch.) She's being stared at, as though she's the crazy one for knowing what danger sounds like.

Chyler gets up slowly, jerking back down again as a series of fireworks mark the real beginning of the show. Under her breath: ] You're fine.

[ So she gets up and starts walking. She's pretty sure this is the way to communal housing, but she's not thinking clearly enough to be sure. Boom, crackle, colored lights. Her pace quickens.

It's the purple one that does it. The whole world lighting up with that brilliant shade, throwing shadows across the sidewalks that become Marine and ODST and Cadet corpses.

She runs, slamming into someone and knocking a bundle of candles out of their arms, and she doesn't even pause to apologize. She needs a securable location. She needs to get away from these people who don't see the ghosts around them. She pelts into an alley as another explosion cracks the sky, and makes it half-way to the closest dumpster before she has to brace herself against the wall and throw up. ]

ii. incense

[ Yeah Chyler isn't sure she believes what she's being told about the candles and the incense, but... well. While she doesn't have anyone to share a candle with anyway, she's still picking out a handful of purple incense to try. She's never heard of a medicinal or chemical compound that's more effective the more people breathe it, but she's already seen stranger things, here.

She hesitates on her way to the shop owner, turning to the nearest person looking over the display. ] Does this really work? Even if you don't have anyone to do it with?

iii. glow ball - dinner

[ The golems were profoundly unsettling, but they left her dressed in an impeccable black suit with pale blue trim and black boots, all of which is close enough to a uniform that she doesn't feel strange.

Not about her clothes, anyway. The rest of it is utterly foreign, from the overflowing tables to the booze to the dancing. She feels like an intruder. Like she'll be discovered at any moment and turned out or punished. This kind of excess, the unbridled celebration--she's trying, really trying not to be revolted by it all.

At the moment she's staring down a table full of food like she can set it on fire with her gaze alone. Under her breath: ] Clearly they've never heard the phrase spoiled for choice.

iii. glow ball - gardens

[ The gardens are better than the party inside. Still strange, abundant, excessive, but there's something about the quiet of the plants and the candles that sets her at ease. It's quiet out here. The only other place she's found this kind of silence is her room, and there, it's different. There, the quiet is a reminder of how empty the space is, how alone she is, but here...

She's never been in a place like this. Somewhere that's simply beautiful for beauty's sake. She can't bring herself to hate it, the way she hated the party inside. Maybe because the flowers are living things. That they're thriving is a testament to someone's work, someone's care, someone's love. This place, this peace, is a reflection of worlds as they should be. Or as close to heaven as she's ever going to get.

Chyler crouches on the path, leaning in to press her face against the flowers at its edge. She stays that way for a long, long moment, eyes closed, just breathing in air that has never tasted war.

Then the crunch of steps on the path, and she looks up, face dusted with pollen and still kneeling. ]

Edited 2018-01-08 04:51 (UTC)

Hey, kid, you alright?

[She's not, if her headbutting him in the middle of the street is any indication, but the question is just a tactic to alert her to his presence, rather than start any real dialogue. John knows better than to sneak up on someone who's spooked. You never know who has powers in this place, and he's not really in the market to get splattered for attempting to be a good Samaritan.

So he approaches her from the side, and not behind, both hands raised to show his empty palms. John's carrying of course, his side-arm holstered to his thigh in full view, a knife in his boot, and a secondary firearm in then concealed carry holster at the small of his back, but he won't reach for a weapon if she doesn't give him a reason to.

He can't help but be reminded of the children in Afghanistan, whose lives have been bombs, gunfire, and violence for as long as many of them can remember, and are practically born shell-shocked, with a thousand-yard stare. It's one thing to see that emptiness in the gaze of a soldier, or even the mirror, but in the eyes of child... That was something John never got used to, even after he'd stopped being affected by everything else. The kids, he still dreams about.

He remembers giving a balloon to a little girl, the joy in her eyes as it floated bright and red above her head, and the horror in them when it popped, because she'd never heard a loud noise that didn't mean death, or destruction. Her friends losing limbs, and her mother and father dying, crushed beneath debris, after a drone strike that should have taken out the Taliban instead demolishes her family home.

Give or take five years, a hijab, and some dirt, the resemblance is uncanny. Not her face itself, but the damage beneath the skin. Cracks in the foundation of the mind too deep, too soon.

It hurts John like an old piece of shrapnel, still lodged in his gut after all these years, and no less painful for it.]

They're fireworks. Flares. They can't hurt you.

Edited 2018-01-08 05:18 (UTC)

[ She's blind to the world, heaving without producing anything but bile, when he announces himself by voice. Chyler coughs and straightens, wiping the back of her hand gingerly across her mouth. By the time she turns around, her expression is blank and steady.

This is easy. If it's required, if there's a presentation to be made for someone else, it's easy to be all right. It's the best possible thing for the moment, really. Like basic, where she would throw up and have to snap to attention with a No excuse, sir when they demanded to know why she was slowing down.

With perfect calm: ]

I ate something that disagreed with me.

[ Chyler notes the obvious weapons at once, mind flicking through ways she could get one of them, disarm him, throw or pin him. She doesn’t feel actively threatened, not yet, but the readiness is there. ]

Thank you for your concern.

Edited (tweak tweak tweak ) 2018-01-08 22:41 (UTC)

Yeah, what did it? Let me guess, the sliders on a stick. Some stuff just shouldn't be deep-fried.

[What a half-assed excuse. It sounds like something John would come up with if he were in her position, and he's been there. Plenty of times. Not that he'd ever admit it.

There's always something. Food. Booze. A bumpy ride in the back of a truck. A thousand and one reasons for a good soldier, tried, tested, and true on the battlefield, to lose his lunch seemingly at random, even after seeing things that would make the sturdiest civilian's stomach turn.

It's never the fight that does it. Never the mortar blowing up in someone's face. Never the head shots. Never the triage. Never an Apache going down behind enemy lines. Never seeing what's left of the decent men you graduated pilot school with smeared like Smucker's jam on concrete. Never the look on a child's face before pushing the trigger on a home-made suicide vest.

You see all that, but it goes in your back pocket. You download it later. While you're sleeping, or driving, or flying, and it's too quiet, so you hear everything you wouldn't let yourself hear while staying mobile. That's the stuff that keeps you up at night. The stuff everyone understands, and expects, when men and women return from war with far-away eyes.

What makes you puke is fireworks. Loud whispers. Crowded malls. Diesel. A song that was playing in your buddy's jeep. The smell of something good that was cooking on a relatively sunny day in Kabul before a truck loaded with explosive makes a go at the barricades.

All the little things the average person wouldn't bat an eyelash at, that become your own personal hell away from hell. Those small, insidious triggers you can't explain to anyone who hasn't stood in your boots, and puked the same shameful puke.

John reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a dark bandana. He carries one every day, along with a knife, a gun, and just enough paranoia to note the entrance and exit of every room he walks into. Because if a soldier knows one thing, it's that you never know when shit's going to hit the fan.

He hands it to the girl without ceremony, leaning casually against the wall. If he happens to be blocking the view of anyone outside the alley who might find humour in watching a girl chuck, it's just a coincidence. Kind of like fireworks and food poisoning.]

You can keep it.

[ A confused whisper: ] Thank you.

[ He doesn't believe her. He doesn't believe her, but he isn't challenging her answer. There's no Are you lying to me, Cadet? Even if that question only requires a No, sir to be passed over most of the time.

Chyler takes the bandana, looking away to wipe her face. She's not going to refuse it, not when her mouth tastes like bile and she can feel it at the corners of her mouth, oozing toward her chin. She's also not about to wipe her face on her clothes. Maybe if there hadn't been someone else present, but it would have bothered her until she washed them.

There are so few things here she can control, so few things that make any kind of sense, but at least she can maintain her wardrobe the way she would if she were still at Corbulo. It's one small pocket of perfect order in world that feels like it's spinning too fast. Spinning fast enough to throw her off into the black, if she isn't holding on to something. If she doesn't have one small, small pocket of perfect order to orient everything around.

A blast of artillery, red light across the sky. She closes her eyes and tries not to either throw up again or cry. Pressing the bandanna against her mouth helps, somehow. The smell of bile isn't centering, but it's sharp and immediate enough to keep her in the present.

She lowers it enough to speak, focus fixed on his chest because she can't bring herself to look him in the face.

Flickering light, a boom, a crackle, and she breathes in so sharply anyone else would call it a gasp.

She can't look at him at all, now. ]

I'm fine. [ It comes out broken. In a moment she's going to start sobbing, she can feel it coming, a pressure on her throat and behind her eyes that feels like it could smother or drown her if she doesn't let it out. Muscles contract; she heaves and covers her mouth with the bandana, forcing bile back down. Her throat will be raw at this rate. Chyler coughs and clears her throat. ]

I'm fine.

[ She tries to walk past him then, keeping her head down. She doesn't want to see his expression, to read judgment or pity there. ] If you'll excuse me.

[John watches her. Supports her silently from where he stands. He doesn't touch her, because he doesn't like to be touched, and a strangers hands on him wouldn't make him feel any safer. Just the opposite, in fact.

But if she falls, he'll help her up. He doesn't say it, but he hopes she knows. Knows that she isn't alone. Not unless she wants to be.

When she walks towards him, he steps out of her way way. Looking out towards the crowded street, he doesn't think the night will get any more quiet, or less crowded. He doesn't like festivals. Even here, far away from the Middle East, from Kandahar, and every other dusty town John had forgotten the name of, he can't forget the suicide bombers. They loved festivals.

And so do the Wraith.]

Hey. Let me call you a cab. You should probably call it a night.

[ A cab. In the haze of panic she hadn't even thought about that. She'd been bracing herself for a quick march through enemy territory, each bump and jostle and explosion a doorway back to the halls of Corbulo after those ships appeared in the sky.

Chyler feels tears on her face before she realizes she's lost the battle for control. Still, or even more so, she can't look at his face. She just nods, tries to get her voice to work. It's so frustrating to have her body in complete rebellion. She just wants to talk. She just wants to talk.

The anger helps. It steadies her. It always has.

So she looks up, tears and all, expression cold because cold is all she can manage. ]

That would probably be best.

Chyler Silva - Halo: Forward Unto Dawn - OTA

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