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

[hevenly]

[ Angela is not trying to hang a lantern. In fact, she is refusing to help others hang lanterns, no matter how tall she is and how many high places she could reach. So it's a good thing Thor comes along to offer his help. The small child with the lantern happily hands it over, while Angela looks on in consternation. ]

[worldsaway]

[With a little more ease, Thor crouches to take the lantern off the child with a warm smile, ruffling their hair before he rises again to hang the lantern off the most suitable perch he can find.

The child deems this satisfactory, and runs off to find their family. Leaving Thor to turn and raise a brow at his family.]

Is a festival of mourning any reason to look so dour? [Says pot, to kettle.]

[hevenly]

[ This Odinson is a puzzle. He is kind, rather than bloodthirsty. He gives his help freely, rather than resisting at every turn. This proves to Angela that she has much to learn of him, and the differences between this Odinson and the one she knows.

Is she looking dour? Where is Sera to nudge her into a smile? Back in Brooklyn, of course. The thought just serves to deepen Angela's frown. ]

I have little to celebrate.

[worldsaway]

[This Odinson is less jaded. He's suffered loss and frustration, to be sure, but not for so long that he's lost his love for humanity or his desire to be helpful.

He does wonder about the Thor she knows, just as he wonders about the Thor that the smaller Loki knows, but he fears it's a book he doesn't want to open.

Still, he's curious about her, and just at a point where he's eager to welcome new family into his life.]

I did not ask you to celebrate, I asked why you were so dour. [Sort of.] We are in agreement. There is no reason to celebrate being here.

[hevenly]

We have been stolen from our homes and-- [ and loved ones, she almost says, but she wishes to make no assumptions on Odinson's part. And speaking of Sera so carelessly seems vulnerable. ] Why should we not be dour?

[ She's less dour, more furious, but her anger will get her nowhere in this moment. ]

[worldsaway]

I should think the child had precious little to do with that. [He remarks dryly, but she has a point.]

It is frustrating beyond words, I will grant you. Who can say if time continues to pass while we remain idle here? [It's a concern he hasn't particularly wanted to air, but he had been interrupted from a very important trip home and now. This. Maybe he should be a little more dour, but it's not his first time at the Stuck in Another World rodeo.]

Mother would have said there is opportunity in everything.

[hevenly]

[ Now that is a statement that gets Angela's attention. ] You think they do not wait for us? That we are outside of time itself?

[ The kind of power to do that-- well, perhaps it is not a far departure from the power to draw in those from different universes. ]

[worldsaway]

I think it is possible, but I've no way to be certain. I'm not sure if anyone can be certain, unless we were to seek the counsel of those who understand portals better.

[He's heard there's two Tony Starks here, surely someone must know.] I can only hope that time is suspended while we wait to return home.

[hevenly]

[ Angela is not sure whether she would prefer such an explanation or not. On the one hand, no time passing outside of the quarantine means that Sera would not be waiting long for her to return. On the other, that is a lot of power to speak of. ]

I suppose we must deal in hope, then.

[worldsaway]

For once, I'm not sure what else can be done. [His smile strains somewhat, but it remains.] It is humbling to feel so powerless, but I don't feel I'll revel in it long.

[hevenly]

No, I do not intend to either.

[ She intends to find a way out of this place before too long. ]