riverviewlogs | 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

"Nope, I'm like a thousand percent sure they aren't from my world. But... they are mine, I'm sure of that too." Lola is sure she's making sense, in spite of how both phrases directly contradict each other. Something that is her's, but also isn't of her world. But the two statements are certain to her, without question. She knew what they did by holding them, even if she isn't the best at it.

"But it is interesting, that's for sure.

He frowned. None of what she said made much sense. How could the boots be hers if they weren't from her world? Unless her world also had people jumping in and out of it like Riverview?

"Interesting is a good word for it." He didn't think prodding more would help. With the vagueness of it all, asking more about it would probably just make him more confused.

Thinking this subject was over, Link moved on to the next one. "So," he said, waving his arm towards the crowd and tables loaded with food, "what do you think of all this?"

Lola is a very confusing person to talk to, ending up confused is just how that works.

"I love it! You get to dress up, there's good food, and all the dancing..." Lola was completely in her element with these things. "I mean what a great thing for people to come into the Quarantine to finds, a huge party with a lot of food. Don't you think?"

Lola's enthusiasm made him smile. "Well, the food is definitely nice to come back to." He had tried so many new things his first time here, and there were still more dishes to experience. "The music and dancing is pretty fun, but I would rather wear my own clothes." Link had yet to see himself in a mirror, and regardless of how well he wore a tux, he still found it to be too stiff and stifling for his comfort. The shoes were especially uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to take them off and go barefoot, especially since he was sure the golems wouldn't let him get very far if he did.

"You wanna check out the dessert table?"

Don't mind Lola as she hops up and moves around Link to look him over, the servers here, as much as she has a distaste for soulless beings doing artistic things, do at least know how to size and fit outfits for those that didn't come properly attired. Still... "You do look a little like you're trapped in a very stylish cage." A lot of people here had that look, the 'everything on them is wrong' look that is not knowing how to handle fancy dress.

Lola was about as comfortable and at ease as she got. Which is why at his offer she had very little issue hanging off his arm and smiling, "That sounds like a marvelous idea!"

He chuckled at Lola's description. "I guess it's because that's what feels like." He couldn't have put it better, and as much as there was to see and do here, a part of him couldn't wait to get back to the commons and toss everything off.

But dessert was more important. He smirked and straightened himself, mocking the 'sophisticated gentleman' look. "This way, M'lady."

The dessert table was laid out just as lavishly as everything else. Large cakes that seemed to defy gravity, cookies cut into various shapes and decorated with delicate detail, chocolate fountains, anything you could imagine was there, in all kinds of colors, shapes, and flavors. The only problem was where to start. He handed Lola a plate before grabbing one for himself. "It might be best to approach this strategically." It was the only way to sample everything and not get sick in the process.

"It's a skill, most people don't have a lot of practice at it." Everyone was good at fighting, adventuring, being heroes. They didn't learn all the ins and outs of this sort of thing. But Lola was sure they could if they wanted.

And Dessert is far more important. At least for now. Lola eyed the table and its offerings. "Some foods change how what you eat taste, you need to think about that when selecting." Lola was studying the offerings, dipping close to sniff at them to figure out as much as she could without having to taste everything. "Like, don't try to eat that and that together, it'll go wrong."

The big travesty of these big elaborate parties was Lola could only eat so much at one sitting, as she was tiny, health conscious, and very vain. Which was a shame as usually everything was really good if they could be spread out over a longer period of time.

"Of course," Link replied to Lola's advice about being selective about what foods you should eat with others. Lola probably didn't know this, but Link was an expert in that department.

Link was not in Lola's position at all. He didn't really care about limiting how much he should eat, and managing food was never a problem for him. Fighting monsters, climbing mountains, and exploring for shrines burned a hell of a lot of calories. As he did before, Link started piling up his plate, caring more about not getting things mixed together that he didn't want than looking like the glutton he was.

"We'll have to come in phases. The plates just won't hold enough." Well, not unless he grew more arms and was able to carry more, but that didn't seem very likely. Coming back later for more would let them both digest and rest anyway.

monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

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