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

*Lauren had evaded the party for much the same reason, and a space full of peace, not just quiet, but actual peace was a welcome change from the hopeless dread Lauren usually found in her life. Still, that quiet meant when Lauren made even a bit of noise she was aware, and with eyes on her, Lauren reacted with a step back and an arm up. Her usual defensive stance to use her powers. Which it took a few moments to realize was a stupid response, and when did she get so scared of people?*

Uh... hi.

*Lauren willed her hands to her sides and to stop acting quite so terrified of people. She has to pretend like she fits in even a little bit.*

[ Chyler gets up slowly, recognizing something in that reaction. This is someone who's been to the same places she has. ]

Hello.

[ Her tone is a lot gentler than it is for most people. For anyone, here. ] I didn't mean to surprise you.

Um, you have some stuff on your face still.

*Lauren will just gesture toward the pollen there.*

It's fine, nothing you did really. Being so low to the ground meant I didn't see you right away.

*And Lauren is waiting for some horrible other shoe to drop, but that was everyday for her.*

Some--

[ She reaches up to brush her face, looking at her fingers. For one horrible moment she expects grit and sweat, but instead it's the sparkle of pollen from unfamiliar plants. ] Oh.

[ ...She's not about to just wipe her face on her sleeve, that would be a waste of the best clothes she's had the whole time she's been here. Instead she scrubs both hands across her face, then wipes her hands on the grass. She looks up. ] Better?

*Lauren smiles. It was such a... normal thing. You know, if you forget the alien plants, in a garden, at a wild party, in a giant gold decadent Gatsby building, that's bigger on the inside, on a moon, orbiting an alien world. If you forgot all of that it'd be very normal.*

Yeah. Better. I'm Lauren.

[ It's a lot to forget, god knows, but Chyler has been trying!! She climbs to her feet. ]

Cadet-- Chyler. [ She's briefly uncomfortable, introducing herself as simply Chyler, but tries to force the feeling away. ]

*Forgetting for long is hard, but a brief moment is easy enough.*

I guess you're on the Guard then? Or going to be?

*Chyler seemed pretty formal with how she stood, and the cadet thing added to the military aspect.*

Going to be, yes.

[ She clasps her hands behind her back, at rest. There's no doubt in her mind whatsoever that she can manage a paltry two weeks of boot camp. ] It's what they suggested for me when I arrived. Were you assigned something as well?

Same thing. I haven't started boot camp yet.

*Once her inhibitor collar was removed it really wasn't much of a shock Lauren was suggested for the guard. Protecting things is one thing she's, well, good at. She does not look as nonplussed about boot camp though. Lauren's pretty sure she'll be okay, but she has her own doubts.*

Me neither.

[ Then, because why else would she be assigned to the Perimeter Guard: ] You were military, before this?

*Lauren hesitates. She hadn't been hiding her powers, but there was still a fear about showing them. Even if this place wasn't home, there was enough *

Not exactly... I helped refugees and runaways get away from people that wanted to hurt them.

Oh.

[ Her estimation of this girl goes up, significantly. ] When are you going to go to boot? I was going to do it during the next cycle.

Probably, I'm not really used to having so much free time.

Even after a day I started going a bit stir crazy.

*Lauren does not have as much estimation of herself, she doesn't see what she does as special. She does what she can, and that's all she sees of it.*

Me too.

[ It's funny, how much better Chyler feels meeting someone her own age slated for the Perimeter Guard, someone else who isn't used to having so much time to fill. ]

I'm used to having almost every minute of the day spoken for. This is... It's unsettling, in a way.

There was always more to do. Even on easy days it's training and making sure everyone has as much as we can manage. And on the harder days...

*She had to make a truck fly over a police barricade.*

I do remember having free time, I just don't remember what I did with it. Now all I do is think about things I can't do and people who aren't here.

Exactly.

[ There's more life in Chyler's eyes now than there's been since she arrived. A moment of hesitation, then: ]

Would you want to do it together? Their boot camp?

[ She misses her squad, misses them fiercely, and there's nothing and no one that can take their place. But it would be nice to have someone there to fight through training with. ]

...Sure. Not sure I'll be able to keep up with you, but I'm not really used to being on my own. Having someone to share stuff with will be nice.

*She thought having her own room was going to be great but she got stir crazy in five minutes.*

[ Same hat? Same hat! ]

That's part of what it's about. Learning to keep up. Helping each other do it.

[ That's a kind way of putting it, really, but it's still true at bottom. ]

Oh. Right.

*She learns how to defend herself from a pregnant woman throwing sawblades at her, okay?*

Then I hope I'll be of help then.

You'll be fine.

[ She says it with the implied, I'll make sure of it.. ]

...Thanks.

*Which is her catching that implication. She's glad for the help.*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

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