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

[Somehow he'd managed to dress well enough that he was left be by the attendants overseeing the front doors, aside from one of them giving a judgmental look to the state of his hair, a bit longer and more disheveled than typically looked best on him, but aside from an annoyed glimmer, seemed content to leave him alone, which suited Stephen just fine.

A quick stop at the bar before he was back to wandering the place drink in hand. Not in the mood for dancing, he pondered the virtue of settling somewhere nearby to people watch, or maybe availing himself of the gardens or the pools, assuming he didn't run into someone he knew that might want to say hello.]

[Sam just keeps a warning eye on the drink in Stephen's hand. He's not going to make a scene; Stephen knows, and that's good enough. Instead, he tugs him over to one of the benches in the garden to sit down.]

At least you're human for this one.

[Yeah he saw that doggo at the masquerade, Stephen.]

[He's well aware Sam, but one or two isn't going to hurt anything. But either way the sorcerer lets himself be pulled along, brow lifting with a faint grin at the comment.]

Or what passes for human, anyways.

[Hey he was wearing a mask, he was masquerade legal.]

[Well, that's why he's letting him keep it. It's not a conventional treatment, but they aren't conventional people.]

Stephen, I'm not sure I wanna know about your classification system.

[There's a crooked grin on Sam's face as he presses a quick kiss to the corner of Stephen's lips. Look, bro, he much prefers hanging out with you when you aren't furry.]

I think you might just be avoiding dancing with me.

Not many people do.

[The kiss just earned a brief lean against Sam and an upward quirk of lips from Stephen. As much of an ass as he was, he did admit that the perks to hanging out with Sam as a human were nice.]

Surprisingly enough, no. I think you're one of the scant few people I could dance with and even have fun in the process.

[Or the only one because whoops he's a dumb sap sometimes. But shhh, that's a secret.]

Were we technically dancing the first time we met?

[Emphasis on technically, since he only remembers the non-dancing activities.]

Well that's one way to describe it.

[The non-dancing side of things was the most fun part of that to be honest.]

[Sam snickers, a little immaturely.]

Probably the most X-rated dancing I've ever done. But if we dance somewhere classy like this, I'll keep things clean.

[..........probably.]

Mostly to save on the dry cleaning bill for my suit.

[Because unlike some hobos, Sam is actually wearing a three-piece suit.]

[Wow, rude. He passed the scrutiny of the attendants ~~barely~~ so he's fine!]

I'm sure we could figure out ways to make it even more X-rated.

And if you want I could always teach you some of the cleaning spells.

Stephen, you are the worst goddamn role model.

[Said with a grin, though. They both know Sam doesn't need encouragement to be a deviant.]

You gonna put a stripper pole in your bedroom next? Make sure it doesn't have any weird enchantments on it.

Hence why no one ever invites me to do PSAs.

[Sam is a deviant with or without Stephen's help.]

But the weird enchantments are part of the fun.

You know, they had Steve record a whole bunch for kids. All stay in school, eat your vegetables, oh look your body's changing now, that sort of thing.

[Sam just gives him a Look.]

Yeah, it's all fun and games till someone gets turned into a woman.

Some things never change. Did his have the bad 90's fade-ins and bad backgrounds too?

[Look at how unconcerned Stephen is about that Look right now, just taking a sip of his drink.]

I don't know, sounds like there'd be fun and games to be had then too.

[He's the worst.]

No, but I'm never letting him live the puberty one down. 'So, your body's changing. Believe me, I know how that feels.'

[It's done in his best Steve voice, which is actually reasonably good.]

Uh-huh, okay, you can be the one dancing on the stripper pole, then.

[That imitation gets a snort of laughter from Stephen, hiding his face against Sam's shoulder a moment while he makes sure that he's not going to lose it further before he's straightening again.]

Wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to me.

Yeah, no, your regular diet is already weirder than that.

[Plus a few of the things he saw in Stephen's memories. Sam's well aware of the fact that he lives a very bizarre life.

And, okay, maybe he takes advantage of the moment that Stephen's face is buried in his shoulder to run his fingers through his hair. But these things happen.]

You take a look at the incense stuff yet?

My diet is weirder than a lot of things if we're being honest.

[Stephen pauses just long enough to enjoy that little touch. Just a little though.]

Hm? Not yet... heard they've got some interesting effects.

Like dreamless sleep, for one.

[Something that could benefit both of them, but especially Stephen. And, frankly, that's more important than the possibility of incense that makes them hornier. They don't need help in that department.]

You think it's magic, chemicals, or both?

Yeah?

[He doesn't need to tell Sam how intrigued he is about that possibility, it's pretty obvious after this long.

And they definitely don't need help in the sex drive department that's for sure.]

Could be any of them. Hard to say without getting a look or trying them out.

They've got private rooms, from what I hear.

[Sam rises to his feet, offering Stephen a hand up.]

Wanna give it a shot?

Sure, could actually wind up working.

[Stephen accepted the hand as he got to his feet, willing to let Sam lead the way to one of the rooms.]

[When they get to the room, Sam toes off his shoes and drapes his jacket over the back of a chair, getting ready to make himself comfortable.]

Incense is over there, if you wanna take a look at it.

[He waves his hand at a collection of the different incenses on a table, along with a few of the candles and some matches.]

[Looks like Stephen wins there, no jacket to shed, just nudge off shoes and he's good to go.

But even investigating the incense, brows lifting at the descriptions, there wasn't much to go off of.]

With as much magic as they already used to set this place up it's kind of hard to get a bead on anything in these.

[Congratulations, trash hobo, you win at being underdressed for formal occasions. Sam also sheds his tie and vest and unbuttons a few of the buttons on his shirt before he flops bonelessly onto the bed.]

Well, I'd like to think they wouldn't give us anything that could hurt us. So worst it could do is...not give us dreamless sleep, I reckon.

[He hopes.]

[Winning!

Stephen didn't take too long to pick a stick of incense to go into the holder, lighting it before turning to join Sam in sprawling across the bed, a smile twitching at his lips.]

I'm willing to gamble on it.

monthly mingle: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

Stephen Strange | Late as fuck OTA

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