sphererpmod: (Default)
Sphere Mods ([personal profile] sphererpmod) wrote in [community profile] thespherelogs2019-01-01 02:35 pm

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

gristle: (ek18Nmj)

Re: closed to Bev

[personal profile] gristle 2019-01-25 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I know Ubbe!" Beverly announced quickly. "We talked about you. He's nice, but I haven't actually seen Ivar yet though. I just heard he's here." Taking a deep breath, Bev brushes her fingers over the bridge of her nose as she tries and puts all this together.

"Stan's here and he doesn't remember. Strand and his girlfriend don't either, Jeff was here for like two seconds and he didn't either. I wonder how the Sphere would decide which people come from where. It's just. Really weird."

The entire thing.
like_quicksilver: (doesn't believe)

Re: closed to Bev

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2019-01-26 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"I...accidentally mistook him for Ragnar," She confessed. "He looks so much like father when he was younger, more so then any resemblance to Bjorn."

True, she confused Ivar as well, but that was different. She'd been sick and delirious with fever and all she really noticed was his eyes.

She frowned at what Bev told her next about some of the others they knew in Riverview. "Explains why you were hesitant at first." There couldn't be any real way to know if there was recognition or not. "What if..these places take people from various points in their life. Suppose a person's sent home, but then they arrive here from a different point..and before they knew this place?"

That didn't entirely make sense, but then she had a strong feeling that timeline jumping never made sense in the first place.
gristle: (ek18Nmj)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-01-27 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, it sucks. The last thing that I want to do is to go and think that I can trust someone and then have it turn out that they have no idea who the hell I am." Stan was the exception, of course, but that was beside the point. She didn't want to trust anyone and get to close, open herself up and end up being sad when they didn't know her, or acted like she didn't exist.

It was something that she'd already had happen here with one of the few men that Beverly had ever liked and trusted, and she didn't want to give anyone the ability to do that ever again. Even if Gyda wasn't a man and had been her friend. Jeff was her friend too, actually, and look how well that had gone.

"I don't know. Stan seemed like he was at the same place from home that he was in Riverview, but I don't know. And I don't know Strand or his girlfriend well enough to know."
like_quicksilver: (listening in)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2019-01-28 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
"I think caution would be the better option." To think that someone she knew and trusted no longer remembered here, not only was it disturbing to think about, but how would the person have reason to be loyal if those bonds weren't set. "Better to see if they recognize you first then to fully put your trust into them right away."

It only made sense in this place. Not everyone was pulled from the same time or world, and it couldn't be rude to be sure they remembered you at first. "As for Alex and Strand, perhaps if you just mentioned Riverview, Strand might look at you like you're crazy, but I think that's just how he is with everyone."

She never spoke with the man that often, but she recalled his posts in the Network enough to figure it out.
gristle: (aDsDD9V)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-01-30 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't put my trust in anyone at first," Beverly just huffed the words quickly, because they weren't wrong and she definitely wasn't lying. She didn't put her trust in someone until they had earned it. Which was why it sucked that there were people who had been ones she trusted and who now weren't. Or hadn't been, now that Jeff was gone--Bev had never really figured where she ended up galling on the trusting Strand thing.

"Yeah, he definitely acted like I was crazy. But there was also this memory thing that happened that showed him as a kid with some crazy shit going on in his house I guess. Because there was definitely some demon stuff there I think." It seemed familiar in ways that Beverly definitely didn't want to think about.
like_quicksilver: (watching)

[personal profile] like_quicksilver 2019-02-01 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
"In my world, that's always the safest bet." She only had hints of what her world was like, but violence was all too common in hers-violence or the threat of it.

"So he's experienced something to do with monsters, but he still denies them," She wondered what the entire experience was for him to try and ignore it. "Perhaps he believed them at first, but then tried to find answers, and everything he saw proved false?"

She'd been around bookshops and the library enough to know not all stories were true; some could be elaborated on while others were simply made up to take advantage. This wasn't like home when there was only word of mouth to pass on stories, people could afford to make them up. "That would certainly make a person doubt their experiences."
gristle: (9KEAjcR)

[personal profile] gristle 2019-02-04 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Or perhaps he doesn't want to believe in them," Bev countered, looking at the food in her hands for a moment. "Life is easier when you don't believe in them." Bev did believe in them, but she had seen how it was for the other kids and the adults who didn't believe in them, and how they didn't have the same sort of fears and terrors that those did.

Leaning forward, Bev just added, in a low voice that was just for her friend. "IT's dumb to willfully not believe though. Cause if you don't believe it means you're not ready when they come after you and that means it gets you and you die."