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

[ Finn grins, then sort of leans in her direction a little, like a true conspirator. ]

Definitely not. Between you and me, this is my first formal anything.

[ A lot of people have probably picked up on that as the night's gone on. But it's one of those things he doesn't mind having out there. Could be worse than inexperienced. ]

Wanna sit?

(Lucretia chuckles, dropping her voice to match his false secrecy.)

I never would have guessed; you're a natural.

(Sitting would be great. She is not accustomed to wearing heels.) Please, (she agrees, casting about for a bench. There's one close at hand in front of a beautiful fountain that she points out to Finn, walking toward it with purpose.)

[ Sure, I see how it is. Make him smile bigger, Lucretia, that's fine. I mean legitimately it is, and yes his smile does get bigger.

Finn follows Lucretia to her bench of choice. He takes a few seconds to investigate the fountain before he sits himself. Water features, man. They're so Extra, but everything at this ball is Extra, and he likes that about it. ]

(It's fun to watch him get distracted by everything, actually. Has he seen a fountain before? Apparently not, if she's judging by the way he's studying it.)

Everything's a bit over the top here, huh.

Yeah, definitely.

[ Frankly, a lot of star destroyers could use a nice fountain to break up the monotony. ]

I'm not usually big on over the top. But I think it's working out this time. Nice to watch.

Yeah? What are you usually big on?

(She doesn't know a lot about Finn's origins. Granted, he seems to prefer it that way, but maybe he won't mind a little light questioning? Lucretia's picking up on a few hints from the way he's been acting alone, but...)

[ That's a valid line of questioning. He's been getting a little less cagey about things, as days have gone into weeks and months, here. Not especially prone to a lot of sharing, but better at handling questions.

With so many people around, it's better to get used to questions. Finn thinks about it for a second or two. ]

Not much, I guess. I'm good at a few things, but it's not really the same as getting invested. [ Hm. Now it's like a point of pride he has to make to himself personally. There has to be something that's not "my friends," right. ] I liked sledding. You know, before we lost all the snow.

(It's not what Lucretia meant by the question but she's fine with him interpreting it differently. Or maybe he's avoiding her questioning by means of misdirect which is also fine (and very clever of him) but... she's so curious Finn, whyyyy)

Sledding is pretty great.

(She smiles at the sky. She hasn't gone sledding in a long time.) I don't really mind that we lost the snow, though. It's– I don't like that it makes everything one colour. Being outside feels so bleak.

[ God bless her. ]

Yeah? Maybe the charm wears off after you've seen enough of it. If we're both still here the next time it rolls in, I'll let you know.

[ Starkiller was all snow all the time when he was stationed there, obviously. He doesn't count it, though. It wasn't the same as really getting to be out in the snow. Being inside was basically the same in terms of everything looking samey. What was he missing, realistically? ]

Yeesh, I don't want to think about that.

(About being here long enough to see snow again that is. Lucretia sighs, and rubs the back of her neck.)

I think the charm of anything wears off eventually. Like this place, a little bit.

[ Finn feels the spiritual equivalent of "oh, worm". ]

I feel like you're not wrong. [ He's not gonna lie about it. Life here started with a firm stream of trying to unruffle his feathers even slightly, only for something generally horrible to happen and wear his tolerance thin.

This is an unruffling period. He's trying not to consider what the next really terrible thing is going to be. ]

Maybe it just takes a while for things to start charming me.

Yeah? Are you hard to impress?

(Lucretia chuckles. She knows that Taako has described her similarly to other people; it's true, in a way. It hasn't been especially hard to take to Quarantine but six months in she's restless now, waiting for something to happen. Anything.)

Well, you can be assured that this place will do everything in its power to try and charm you.

Sometimes.

[ War heroes? Meh. Big fancy parties and fun winter events? The real champions, so far.

Logistically, he's probably too easy to impress equally as often as he is tough to impress. ]

It's easier to make room for being impressed when you know nothing's gonna make you stay long-term, though.

(She likes that he's candid about it. Nothing wrong with being hard to impress.)

Yeah? Something in particular waiting for you at home?

[ He shrugs. ]

I'd like to say it's nothing that can't wait, but we're sort of in the middle of a war. Even if I'm not sure exactly what I'm gonna be doing about it yet.

(oh, worm)

Same.

(Can it be called a war when it's only seven people versus a universe destroying entity? More like a single, extended battle. One that has the entire fate of the multiverse hanging precariously over the outcome. Lucretia sighs, and looks at the sky.)

I suppose in a way, I should be grateful for this bout of peace huh.

[ He wonders how it is that so many of the people he's met or heard about here are at war with something. It's not always the word they use for it, but the meaning comes through clearly regardless.

Awful lot of worlds where everyone has to be fighting something.

Remembering Lucretia's sketches of the lights in the sky during Hygge, Finn thinks it's a shame that she has one to get back to. Maybe in some ways it's technically better to be fighting, but he doesn't know anyone who'd complain if there suddenly wasn't anything to fight. If people could just find things they love and do them, and not live wondering if today is it. ]

I don't know. Maybe. A couple of days earlier, I would've jumped at the chance to come here. There are a lot of perks. [ At a certain point, he kind of just has to be upfront about that. He thought about it non-stop his first couple of days awake and alert in the city. No First Order, no war, no one necessarily knowing what he comes from. Safety, for the first time. The chance to make a life.

It was what he wanted. Maybe it still is. ]

But I get a little stubborn once something doesn't give me the option.

Yes, (she says, relieved; he's hit the nail on the head. There are a lot of perks. It isn't as if Lucretia hasn't indulged, hasn't dug herself a comfortable little hole in the Quarantine and settled down to enjoy the quiet. She should be glad to be here.

But she isn't, and he's right to say that happiness hinges on having the option to leave. If she could leave right now, she would. She has a lot waiting for her back home. Glancing at Finn, she wonders briefly if he has a lot else waiting for him at home besides war and ruin. She certainly hopes so.)

An elaborate, fancy cage is still a cage at the end of the day. And the week; and the month.

Yeah, exactly.

[ He knew he was right to like Lucretia already. Everything she says makes sense and she usually seems to get what he's saying, too. Sometimes a person is hard to... get a handle on, so to speak. Just sort of figuring out the entire interaction picture.

Nothing against the people he meets, of course, he's pretty sure it boils down to him needing practice, but still.

It's nice every time he runs into someone that isn't always as hard to slot in with. Not knowing her especially well doesn't change that. ]

Learning a lot about patience, I guess. I'd say I learned a lot about suits, but I didn't pay much attention to what people told me when I was shopping.

(She does get that, in a silent way, they seem to be able to relate a lot. They haven't said a lot about their personal circumstances, but Lucretia doesn't feel like she needs to and that's nice. Makes for a refreshing change in a place that constantly seeks to force people into oversharing.

Finn's next statement makes her smile despite her faraway thoughts.)

That's okay. I have a friend who loves fashion and I've somehow never managed to fully absorb any of his advice despite a century of companionship.

[ Well, there is a flavor of reassurance to that statement. The tail-end gets Finn's eyebrows climbing.

He just assumed she's a human doing the normal humans-aging routine. Learn something new every day. Apparently. Does Lucretia is an alien? ]

Says something about how he gives advice, if you ask me.

(That's a good question Finn.)

It isn't giving advice so much as picking things out for me to wear, but I don't mind.

(It's nice. Taako's got a good idea for the things she likes to wear now and aside from the odd plunging neckline he usually gets it all pretty spot on.)

I'd never think about that kind of thing otherwise, you know?

[ The exact nature of things to uncover when ur friendship starts leveling up. ]

Nah, neither would I. Easier to get what's practical or right in front of me. [ Mostly what's right in front of him. That's basically the only way he gets any clothes in the movies. He finds them or someone is like "well here u go pal these are yours now".

And yet here they both sit looking beautiful, thanks to Taako. Taako is the glue holding this city's fashion together. ]

Kinda nice to blend in tonight, though. If we get through the rest of the night and nothing blows up, I'll be happy.

[ Hope for the best and prepare for the worst 2k18. ]

Agreed. (Hopefully Taako is never told this, though it's probably safe to assume he already knows.

Lucretia's expression is one of bemusement.)

But uh, why would something blow up? (Her gaze flickers back to the golden palace automatically, as if Finn has just uttered some kind of prediction.)

[ s

shrugs? ]

I didn't actually-- think of a reason. [ He's calling himself out just by admitting this. Plot twist. ] I just figured if something went wrong, that would be how.

monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

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i saw that icon and realized freshly that i would Die for lucretia

petition to get lucretia a biscuit and a good book

please, someone

it's what she deserves!

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https://i.gyazo.com/4f0e69aeaacfad20d766fba132819b5c.png

thats an important meme i love it

thanks i made it myself

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