introductory mingle: MEMORIA

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Memoria Commemoration
when: May 1st - May 8th
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

memoria

In the days leading up to May 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Memoria. A more solemn celebration than Sampremi or the Flower Festival, Memoria is a week-long time of remembrance for those lost in the Great War and the epidemic that decimated Riverview Quarantine's population 10 years ago. Memoria traditions include lighting lanterns for the dead, telling stories about lost loved ones or lost homes, eating meals with loved ones, and a special gathering to send floating lanterns down the river in honor of those lost.

a solemn commemoration of those lost

While the main city-wide event associated with Memoria is the floating of lanterns down the river on the evening of May 8th, the holiday is generally seen as a time of reflection on and appreciation of things that have been lost - people, homes, cultures, and planets. It is also a celebration of the things that remain. Many locally-owned shops will host displays of culturally-significant food, and will hand out informational flyers sharing the unique customs of their own homeworlds. There is a heavy emphasis on sharing time with family, friends, and lovers, and anyone who is able to will cook meals or treats for loved ones, or at least purchase them something good to eat.

i. hanging lanterns

Throughout the entire week of Memoria, residents will be hanging lanterns around the city. Lanterns are generally placed in greater number in places of passage - streets, bridges, and all alongside the train lines are particularly well-decorated, as are any trees alongside paths, and most homes and businesses have a profusion of lanterns around their doors and windows. This tradition is twofold; some people believe that the lanterns are hung in these places in order to guide the spirits of the dead back to those who still love them, other people believe that the lanterns are to give light for living loved ones to find their doors in times of darkness...many people believe both.

No matter what your character might believe, you can be sure they will find themselves offered a lantern for free from various businesses or friendly citizens passing by, and invited to hang it before the sun sets, or they may be handed a bundle of lanterns and asked to help share them with others.

ii. sharing life

Throughout the city, characters will find groups of people gathering to share hot drinks and talk about their loved ones lost, their homes and planets, or their experiences during the Great War and the epidemic. Anyone who has lost someone, who has fought to survive, who is feeling cut off and homesick, is welcome to sit and share their story. If your character chooses to sit and to share their story, they will find that people will gather to listen, will generally be respectful of the telling, and may share their own similar experiences in return. This is an excellent time to air grief in an environment where most people understand and respect grief, and a good time to deepen the connections to others around you, to understand them better.

There is also a very large focus on cooking or purchasing meals or treats for loved ones during Memoria, with many people taking meals with everyone they care about during the week of the holiday. Some go the extra mile and will hand out baked goods (usually chocolate or cinnamon), packets of candy, or other little treats to acquaintances, especially if they would like to form a closer bond with them. This is a great time for characters to reach out to someone they would like to get to know better with a surprise treat!

iii. floating of the lanterns

On the evening of May 8th, just before sundown, many of the city's residents will head toward the banks of the river, where they will light lanterns in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, in honor of their dead loved ones. The types of lanterns vary wildly, based on personality (either of the person floating it or the person they are honoring), culture, and many other factors. Some lanterns are very simple, others are incredibly complex, but the one common feature they all have is that people write on the shades of them - they write about their feelings for their loved ones, their wishes for their relationships and friendships, a memory from childhood or home, or even just lines of poetry or lyrics from songs that express something they miss, or something that hurts them.

Once those emotions are written on the lanterns, the lanterns are set free, floating down the river in the darkening evening, in a cathartic gesture shared by most residents of the city. Waves of lantern floating will start around 7 pm and continue until the sun rises on the morning of May 9th.

iv. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Memoria, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: glowconcepts, image ii: by trenchmaker, image iv: cherryorange; image iii: found uncredited on Pinterest - please let the mod know if you find credit!

navigation

Comments

[ I ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Wasn't that an unusual reaction? It reminds him a little of Banner's lurking monster, under his skin. ]

Allergic to company?

[idolpire]

More like allergic to niceness.

[Spike scowled, answering before he'd even bothered to turn to see who was addressing him. A nancy boy with long dark hair and a face that looked prone to smirking. But at least the accent was familiar. Sort of.]

Or stupidity. Same thing, really.

[dothelokimotion]

[ The words are polished and smooth, but hard to pinpoint. Loki is the Silvertongue. He only lets himself be recognized when he chooses to. And right now, he's playing a part. ]

So there is nothing that separates the two?

[idolpire]

Between nice and stupid? Not usually. See, nice people expect others to be nice, therefore, they stupidly leave themselves open to being lunch.

[And he was explaining this to the oddly curious man because...?]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Lunch? His brow furrows before the answer clicks. His smile curls, amused. ]

They can't taste all that well if they're infected by niceness and stupidity.

[idolpire]

Fortunately, that sort of thing doesn't taint the blood. Otherwise a vampire would probably starve.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He drawls. ]

How convenient. And yet I see plenty walking quite freely without fear.

[idolpire]

Yeah? And how many of them actually believe in vampires? Though, it is fun to make them scream and then chase them. Little bit of a hunt and all that.

[dothelokimotion]

You'd be surprised.

[ Loki already knows there are plenty here from different realities. Realities that question their own worldview. He had met a sister he never knew and another self he wishes not to know. ]

And I imagine you'd need a better hunting ground than an enclosed city space.

[idolpire]

Trust me, I wouldn't. I'll take piss-scared sots over vampire groupies. Bunch of bloody twats.

[He looked around as they spoke, shrugging a shoulder halfheartedly.]

Vampires go where the people go. People go to cities. Most vamps like skulking around in alleys and campuses.

[dothelokimotion]

Yes, but vampires also need the ability to leave. And I suspect we will have difficulty traveling very far from Riverview.

[ No matter how accommodating they are, this is still a trap of some kind. A gathering of powerful people under one roof. Loki would admire it if he wasn't brought here under the same power. ]

[idolpire]

We?

[Spike's nostrils flared, picking up the very real scent of something with blood flowing through its veins.]

If you're a vampire, I'll eat my bloody arm. Besides, you'd be surprised how resourceful vampires can be. You don't live past your expiration date and not pick up a few things.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki waves him off. ]

A general we.

[ He has no interest in playing vampire. That would be beneath him. Besides, Spike may be old, but Loki is far older. ]

Well, then. Surprise me.

[idolpire]

[He reached into his pocket, brows raised as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, drawing one out to put between his lips and light.]

With what? A song and dance? Sorry, mate. Gave up on trying to be a showman a long time ago. Spike does for Spike. Pisser of this is, I get dragged out of my crypt to be shoved into a bloody dorm room with who knows who -- more bed that I'm comfortable having in the same room with me unless I'm bouncing around in all of them, and they toss me money and just... tell me to go 'do my thing'.

[dothelokimotion]

Your thing?

[ Slang still escapes Loki. ]

[idolpire]

Well, yeah. They know what I am. Told me about a bleeding supply clinic I can go to for a snack. Taking all the fun out of being a vampire.

[Sulk.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ His lips twitch slightly. ]

How convenient. They truly do plan for everything here.

[idolpire]

Implying they meant to suck in a vampire. Or something else. It's all a bit shady, if you ask me. But, what can you expect from an alternate reality, really?

[dothelokimotion]

There are alternate realities.

[ His fingers flick through some imaginary lint off his sleeve. ]

And there are manufactured ones.

[idolpire]

All the same thing, isn't it? I mean, feasibly, you could go ask Anya to magic you up a reality where it rains acid. Or people are all bloody dogs. It's happened before, apparently. Think it and be it, and all that rubbish.

[He took a drag of his smoke, blowing out a white plume as he watched someone who clearly belonged to the upper ranks of whatever society he came from giving him a look. This one was a bit hoity toity, wasn't he...]

[dothelokimotion]

Not necessarily. But it is best not to get into that debate. We are here now, after all.

[ He forgets how limited knowledge is of other realms and realities. Asgardians knew these for fact. Others knew them in the faintest sense. ]

[idolpire]

Seems we are. Now there's just the question of how to get the hell out of here, eh?

[dothelokimotion]

[ We. Loki chuckles softly. ]

That is a question we all have.

[idolpire]

[Look, Loki. If you can do it, so can he. Rude.]

A better one, for the moment, is where the bloody hell can I get a drink?

[dothelokimotion]

A bar. Clearly.