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

[ Look, I'm gonna keep this short. Kylo Ren's here, at the ball. He's not dressed up, but rather in his usual monochromatic glory (look, he's broke, he's not buying a suit), and he's observing with a sense of vaguely contemptuous curiosity. He's also doing his best to UTTERLY AVOID HIS MOTHER AND ANYBODY ELSE FROM HIS GALAXY.

Except for Rey.

lbr he's looking for Rey, in that casual "I'm totally not looking for Rey" way. ]

Edited 2018-01-18 20:59 (UTC)

[ Well well well well well well well. Look who the hell it is.

I won't lie and say that Finn's first thought isn't something along the lines of "how can I drag this guy behind the local Denny's and PVP him." As far as he's concerned, that's a perfectly reasonable first thought to jump to. And obviously the real testament is that he doesn't gun it.

After all, they're both trapped by societal convention now. Finn's impulsive, but he's not dumb.

He's also here to have a neat time people-watching, if you swap Kylo's contempt for a general sense of awe, in his coolguy suit. This is an activity he kind of didn't expect to intersect with anyone that's tried to murder him in the past. Guess that's happening though that's cool. the vicinity has been breached. he's gotta commit to what's already in motion and he's salty enough to be like "fuck it, I'm committing 100%". ]

Never saw you as the "dress for the occasion" type.

[ Crazy weather, right. Man, I hate your guts, Kylo Ren. You know. Small talk. I just woke up from a nap or there probably would have been a lot cooler introspection in here. ]

[ Wow, that sure is a suit, all right.

(No, seriously, it's awesome, even if Kylo fails to appreciate it as it deserves.)

And if there's one thing they've got in common, the sight of the other is enough to spark a "FIGHT" response. But, as societal convention dictates, they'll have to keep that at bay. For now.

He spares Finn the briefest, most venomous glance before returning his gaze to the people milling about. ]

I do when the occasion warrants it.

[ This one DOES NOT WARRANT DRESSING UP, far as he's concerned. And so, his usual garb will suffice. ]

You must be lost, traitor.

[ The chance to PVP again is always off on the horizon, somewhere, when it's not where they are now. This is how to live their best lives.

Finn really doesn't want to end up making a big scene in the middle of this party. There are a lot of people rounded up in here just trying to get by and have a nice night.

Kylo Ren calls him a traitor and his face twitches. It's a strange thing to hear it again, especially in this setting-- not something he likes. Not because it's wrong, from the perspective of anyone holding to the First Order, technically. He betrayed everything he was raised for.

Maybe because of how the word implies that something he knows he was right to do was wrong.

(He thinks of Han Solo. He thinks maybe he isn't the only traitor standing here right now, no matter how they both came into it.) ]

What makes you say that?

[ In a dark suit threaded with metallic gold, most definitely dressed up to match his helm, Loki wanders the halls of the palace whenever Billy wants some time alone. His boyfriend is a far more social creature whereas Loki prefers to stand aside and observe. When the fussy goth-guy he's spoken to in passing a couple of times crosses his path, peering around without wanting to appear as though he's doing any such thing, Loki stalks him curiously for a minute before appearing around a corner waiting for Kylo, arms crossed where he slouches against a pillar. ]

Have you lost something?

[ Dark suit and gold thread? Now that's a look Kylo approves of. It almost makes up for the fact that Loki actually manages to catch him off-guard. Almost.

He tries not to let it show, though his face isn't as impassive a mask as his, well. Mask. Which is a long ways away from this moon. Ren studies Loki for a moment before he responds. ]

No. [ Pause. ] Am I that out of place? [ As if the only reason he'd be wandering around here is because he's lost something! He's just. Engaging in some totally normal people watching. ]

[ It's fun to put in some glitz at times, his usual scalemaille is a walking disco-ball under false lights, but for now the only true point of colour is in Loki's green eyes as they rove over Kylo in a parody of the look he receives. Straightening, he slips his hands in the pockets of his pants and shrugs. ]

You're not dolled-up like everyone else and you don't seem to be satisfied staying in one place, so I'm interested in where you're going. Unless you don't know, in which case ... may I join you on your stroll?

[ Well, he can appreciate Loki's observation skills, even if he's not thrilled with the fact that he's been watched. ]

Perhaps I just don't have anything to 'doll' myself up with. [ Which is true! And he was not about to let any golems dress him. But, after a moment's consideration, he inclines his head in a little nod. ] You can join me. I was just enjoying the sights.

[ Says the guy who doesn't look like he enjoys much. ]

[ If Kylo is looking for something or even simply wants to avoid other people, Loki thinks he has a plan that will please him. The perfect location. ]

Thanks. I know of a certain sight you may like, it's this way.

[ His wandering next to the taller man (being 6'1" it is a novelty to feel shorter than anyone but another Asgardian, okay) may seem aimless but he steers them toward a staircase. ]

When you said you didn't have anyone to fancify yourself for, do you mean you came stag?

[ He casts a quick glance between Loki and the staircase before following the Asgardian's lead. So far, the people he's encountered here have been, for the most part, sincere in their apparent friendliness, but even still, he's always at least a little bit cautious, wondering what angles they're playing at. In his experience, nobody's kind for kindness's sake.

And... 'stag'? He's not exactly familiar with the term, so it takes him a moment to put it together in context. ]

I didn't bring a... date, no.

Ah, well. You said it yourself, you haven't dressed to impress either. I wouldn't have come if not for my boyfriend, he enjoys investigating magical places like this golden fortress. The threads of its resonance call to his power ...

So I thought I'd better keep an eye on him.

[ One eye on Kylo as they head upstairs, Loki offers brief, wide smiles to passers-by on the opposite way down but his lips always drop when they're gone. The same demure pleasantry remains for the newest not-quite-a-stranger at his side, though. ]

[ Interesting. The boyfriend sounds intriguing. But, more than that, Loki's demeanor holds Ren's attention. ]

So you don't want to be here. Is that why you're wearing your own mask? [ Which is to say: a mask of friendliness. There's nothing accusatory in his voice, just simple curiosity. Himself, he may look at others as they pass, but he doesn't acknowledge them otherwise. His expression remains as neutral as possible. ]

[ That draws out a huff through a smile that actually touches his eyes for a moment, tearing his attention off his companion to better navigate the lofty halls ahead. Most people wouldn't comment on mere manners as a mask, but this dour boy-man at his side isn't as inclined to let white-lies pass.

It's interesting, hearing a different perspective to so small a detail. ]

I don't mind being here. The constructs of power that built this place are fascinating, especially when picked apart or ... rearranged. As for wearing a mask, ah ... is it truly a mask if the indifferent don't care to look beyond it? What they see becomes their reality. No one here cares to muddy a pretty smile, not tonight.

[ He gives a short, thoughtful hm, looking about the place as they move. What powers this place isn't the Force, but something unknown to him, like much of the magic he's seen here. Yes, he can see why it's fascinating, even if it's not what drew Kylo himself here. ]

I think it is. A subtle mask is still a mask. [ As somebody with a great deal of experience wearing masks! ANYWAY... ] What sight are you leading me to, exactly?

[ Is he chatting with Victor Von Doom, gosh, so much mask-talk. ]

It's pretty great. This entire building wasn't here long before the ball was announced, they used sorcerers and reality-warpers to conjure it up. Predictably. I happen to be both, so I started poking around ...

[ Up more stairs they go, with Loki focused on the highest tier ahead. ]

Not far now. [ He glances sidelong, a tease slipping free upon noticing that sombre face. ] Don't be afraid.

Kylo Ren | GLOW BALL | late and open

sticks same galaxy foot in the door

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i have missed these assholes in my inbox

ME. TOO.

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