thespherelogs | January Welcome Event

Entry tags:

January Welcome Event

Who: Everyone!
What: January's welcome log.
When: Jan 1st-7th
Where: All over the place.
Warnings:
Notes: This is your January welcome log with Sphere New Year Traditions. Come in, go nuts.

A new day has come.

So unlike many other places, the Sphere doesn’t celebrate New Years on New Year’s Eve. Instead they celebrate it in s three day festival commencing on January first to the third. The festival starts on the first at dawn with people waking up early to watch the first unofficial sunrise in the Sphere. Unlike most other days, this sunrise is universal, moving into each of the domes and filling them with such a bright light that it looks like an idealized version of a bright summer’s day. Groups of people join together to watch it in the dormitory dorms as well as in several public areas. The agriculture dome and the recreational domes are popular places for such activities and there are several places where there appear to be flowers blooming and almost the sound of birdsong.

Also in the more public places, there are large tables filled up with what seems to be a standard light breakfast of fruit, cheese and various loaves of bread, including a particular loaf of bread that everyone is given either in their attendance or in the dome itself. It’s a circular loaf with nuts on it that’s perfect for sharing. Indeed people keep trying to share a piece with the characters around them.

One thing that’s missing though? None of the places seem to have any sort of caffeine in any form. If questioned about it, someone knowledgeable will respond: “you can’t have caffeine until the sun sets!” The words come with a good natured laugh and characters are then handed a glass of fruit juice.

Out with the old and in with the new.

As the sun is about to set on the first day, crowds gather in the rec dome. There in the middle of the area there’s a large bonfire set up. The smoke billows up towards the top of the dome before it disappears. People gathered around the fires are throwing old possessions into it, some of which are their own and some of them are the possessions of the people who had left. The idea is to unburden yourself of things to face the new year with a clean slate.

There are smaller fires around, and they burn different colors with the smoke being sweet smelling and light. Some people show the newcomers how to gather the smoke in their hands and release it over their heads, in order to clear out dark thoughts and whatever is troubling people. The smoke gives people a slight feeling of euphoria, and makes them feel as if whatever is happening isn’t quite as bad as they think it is.

And we’re dancing through life.

On the second day, the public domes are fairly dead. The merchant dome is closed and only a few restaurants are open, and only those are for delivery. The entire city almost seems to be holding their breath and waiting for something. When the clock turns to eight pm, it’s almost as if the entire city is lit in a combination of stars and candlelight. In the gardens in the Rec dome, a large ball has been set up. Everyone in the city has been given their ideal fancy dress outfit, including mask in order to wear to it. The idea behind it is that the characters are in the middle of their transitional state. Day one was the day they put their old life behind them, and day three will be the day that they form their new selves for the year ahead. Which is why at the ball, people wear masks and have the option to give into some of the things that they wouldn’t normally do.

Wanna eat that there whole pint of ice cream? Go nuts. Wanna drink a bottle of vodka? Hey it’s your liver and it’s not like you can die! Wanna hook up in a dark corner with a stranger. It’s your life and there’s some nice velvet couches over there; out of sight and out of mind.

Dinner is in the form of an elaborate meal, sort of along the idea of Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, no expense is spared and everything is extremely well done and extravagant. Rich food, insane desserts, open bar, everything this night is too excess. At various points in the evening, the sky which has been showing stars shifts into things like fireworks, and glowy nebuleuses, causing people to burst into spontaneous bouts of applause.

All the while, there are various and shifting dance floors with an assortment of music to dance to, including classical, swing, fiddles, big band, pop, R&B, and basically anything that you can think of. The dances that people do there are as varied as the population, the drunkenness level and of course the all important dances of people's native Caucasia.

The party goes until dawn, at which point, the drunken releveries spill onto the streets, and people return to their personal domes singing loudly and off key.

A new day a new you

So despite however much you may have done the night before, or whatever else you may have engaged in, and however long you may have stayed awake for, when your head hits the pillow, you wake up feeling well great for lack of a better word. You have no hangover, you're not tired, you're not in pain, and any heavy or dark thoughts will suddenly seem not at all so bad. It may be better than you've felt in your entire time in the Sphere, or better than a long time depending on how things are at home.

Either way, when you wake up, day is late (even if your character doesn't normally sleep) and there is a crowd of people in the agriculture dome. People are there working together in order to plant new things in the greenhouse. They're planting baby plants that will grow to feed people in the new year, according to Annie, and it's all about breathing new life into the world.

Afterwards, there are different things like yoga and meditation classes, and people just spread out smiling among the flowers. No one is as pushy as normal, it's just kind of there. They're just kind of there, stretching, enjoying the sunshine and just kind of chilling.

Later, people set up a large sort of barbecue and outdoor kitchen. Food is cooked communally, and people will ask your character to come and cook. Even if you can't cook, passing out food or cleaning up. This is a community building activity people tell ya, so you can go with it or not. But the rest of the city is, so please enjoy some delicious food your characters may or may not have a hand in cooking or giving out. Wine and fruit juice is in a wide abundance here, as is water and caffeinated drinks. A few people can even be found having some harder stuff (vodka and whiskey) if your character looks to be in need of it.

And the end of the night, the sky above the dome lights up with aurora borealis, in brilliant lights and hues, and there are what appear to be a smattering of actual, living fireflies buzzing lazily around. People who are here longer than the characters seem puzzled, and more than a few children and adults are out catching them between their palms.

Inspiration images

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A new day has come!

[There are a few things that can take off Alex's grin and her normally chipper demeanor. Demons for sure, dealing with Richard occasionally, anytime she has to deal with Thomas Warren or lack of sleep and yes of course demons merits mention twice. But one thing that makes her more grumpy than the rest of it put together is her going without caffeine. There was no coffee in their dome this morning, and normally by this point, Alex has gone through an entire pot.

And then when she ventured out of her own dome (perhaps maybe stumbled is a better term, honestly.) towards the merchant dome, and found no coffee, Alex just had a scowl on her normally vibrant and smiling face. When the person told her that there was no caffeine, Alex's response is far more like that of her boyfriend's than her own:]

Oh fuck off!

Dancing through life.

[Alex is in a much better state today than she was yesterday, and it's in large part do to the caffeine that she's finally gotten her greedy little hands on in order to stop her headache, and she's been properly fed and watered and also there's the fact that Alex happens to have more than a little bit of a love of being given the chance to go to a ball. And of course a ballgown to go along with it.

So when Alex shows up at the ball, she's wearing silver and is glowing practically, and her hair is pulled back and up into one of those elegant twists that takes too damned long and involves so many bobby pins that her and Strand will be finding them all over their dome later. But for now, she's sans glasses, and all grins and smiles and holding onto a champagne flute before she greets people with:]

Hi.

[You can dress the Alex up and take her out, but she's still her underneath it all.]

[Richard can't help the small swell of pride that her telling people to fuck off brings. It's refreshing to see her doing more than just quietly interrogate people in that all too friendly way she has.

He watches for a few moments before a flask is offered over her shoulder.]

As much as I enjoy seeing you cancerous, you should probably do something about the headache.

[Alex just scowled at him for a moment before she took the flask. It wasn't coffee, but it was something.]

I'm never cancerous! [She just responded sharply, her scowl deepening as she took a long pull of the flask and then grimaced.]

I'm annoyed, there's a difference.

[Or she was wrathful, that's actually what it was.]

I would say more vengeful.

[Once she's finished he replaces the flask into his jacket pocket. Generally, Richard wouldn't be carrying around a flask, but he knew about the lack of caffeine and had decided it was a better idea to keep one handy. Clearly a good idea with an Alex on the warpath.]

Okay maybe I am vengeful. No caffeine, Richard. None. My head is exploding. Do you know how long it's been since I've had no caffeine? I think I was like ten or something!

[And she’s just going to scowl at a local for another moment before she added with a slight bit of her smirk, some of the normal Alex coming out.]

Besides I thought you liked it when I picked up some of your more charming personality traits, Richard.

I find this incredibly attractive, I assure you.

[He offers the flask again. There's a possibility that the depressant of the alcohol will take the edge off her headache.]

[Alex would have laughed, but it definitely would have hurt her head to do so. So instead she just smirked at him and gave him a little shrug before she took the flask and took a smaller sip from it, wincing a bit.]

So basically you're telling me I should just tell people to fuck off and be an asshole more often? Are you included in that list of people, Richard?

Of course not.

[For once he takes the chance to lean down and kiss the side of her neck. In public.]

You'd hate the response if you tried.

[Okay, that does make Alex laugh, and definitely forget her headache for a little while anyway. She's both blushing and little and looking downright pleased.]

I suppose you're probably right.

I'd eviscerate you with words,

[He reaches down to take the hand without the flask.]

Right after I put all the coffee in a high place.

[Alex just poked him in the side, before she took another sip of the flask and closed it one handed, tugging it into the pocket that it had come from in the first place. Like him, she wasn't caring about anyone seeing the intimacy of the gesture. They were together and no one here knew about the fact that she was a reporter and he was her subject once upon a time.

They were just them, and the age difference really wasn't that much honestly, not with the two of them.]

You do that and I may end up strangling you in the mood I'm in now.

Could you reach?

[He raised a brow with a snide smirk. Really, Alex should know by now not to make comments that require height.]

Besides, the bed would be much colder without me in it.

[There was an inhibition to not caring about who saw them, but the comment also brought to mind something he'd been talking with Max about earlier.]

Actually, that's, something we need to discuss.

[Making a mock-offended scoff, Alex just shook her head at him, making quite a face honestly.]

You act, my Richard like I don’t have the ability to climb on the counter when I have too. Or that you’re always taller than I am.

[Giving him a distinct look, Alex bumped him with her hip for a moment before she noticed how serious he’d gotten, and then her steps paused and she frowned a little bit. She knew that it wasn't them breaking up because that simply wasn't a thing that would happen, but Alex knew there was something wrong.]

What’s wrong?

Alex Reagan | The Black Tapes Podcast | OTA

New Day

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