riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: MEMORIA

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: MEMORIA

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: memoria
when: the month of may
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 each Sunday evening of the month, 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 and inviting others to share those customs. 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 each Sunday evening of May.

iv. down with the sickness

The epidemic that happened 10 years ago was an incredibly traumatic experience for the people living in the Quarantine, on a cultural scale as well as a personal one. While most people who live in the Quarantine are able to leave after 5 years, the trauma lingers in any number of invisible ways in the city. Besides that, there is a small population of people who have chosen to live permanently in the Quarantine, who have made it their home and embraced its melting pot of cultural diversity as their own. Many of these people are survivors of the epidemic, and have a particularly poignant connection to the Memoria celebration.

One of these long-term residents is an engineer specializing in magically-enhanced robotics who lost most of her family in the epidemic, and as each year passes she becomes more and more distraught by how the population turns over and slowly loses track of the importance of Memoria. In her eyes, it's become symbolic, commercialized, a celebration of general grief and not the very specific grief the Quarantine experienced 10 years ago. And she has decided to do something about it, something to make the specific trauma of the epidemic very real and very current to everyone in the city.

On May 1st, she will be releasing a small cloud of self-replicating magically-enhanced nanites near City Hall. The nanites are drawn to warm, living bodies, and once they enter, they find their way to the brain and central nervous system (or equivalent, depending on physiology) and start to take effect on the parts of the brain (or equivalent) that control a person's sensory experiences and psychosomatic responses. In effect, the nanites work as an artificial virus that makes residents horribly ill, and which can be passed from person to person like a contagion.

Throughout the month, reports of this mysterious illness will sweep through the Quarantine, with residents uncertain of how to cure it. Symptoms vary widely depending on the person, with each affected person facing a uniquely personal set of symptoms - but each case has the same thing in common: it ends with the victim losing consciousness and lapsing into a coma.

How It Works

● Participation is opt-in, and while the "epidemic" can't be ignored in the city, characters are not required to get ill even if they are exposed.
● The "disease" can be spread from person to person by skin-to-skin contact or exchange of fluids (kissing, coughing, spitting, etc.) There is no set symptoms for the "disease," and how much or little a character is affected or in what ways is up to player discretion. Incubation period (time between exposure and first symptoms appearing) is also up to player discretion.
● Since the nanites are based in both tech and mgaic, they are much harder to defeat than they would be otherwise. However, they can be deactivated and destroyed through a combination of electromagnetic pulses and magical nullification or spell-dispersing abilities. Players are also welcome to come up with other ways to deactivate the nanites, keeping in mind that it should not be too easy.
● Affected characters can be sick for as long or short a time as the player decides, and once they lapse into a coma it can last as long as the player decides. Once the character wakes from the coma, they will no longer be sick and the nanites will no longer be present in their system.
● Once a character has been infected, they will be immune and cannot be reinfected.
● All sick characters will be well again by May 31st and there will be no long-term effects.

● If any players wish to pursue or bring to justice the perpetrator, please send the mod a PM and we can discuss your ideas!

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 Memoria, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

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

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( it's supposed to help. billy has had time and plenty of opportunity to grieve his own losses, but it doesn't make it any easier. no one likes to lose people. you never truly get over it, even if it gets easier to pretend.

wanda's voice snaps him out of his own thoughts, head turning around to face her and--it's. wanda, even if it isn't his wanda. he's met her, before--knows her face, her voice. )

Letting go isn't easy. ( never is, thanks. he turns to look towards her lamp, eyes the writing on it but he's not quite close enough to make out what it says. billy can't tell if she--remembers meeting him or not, he knows she disappeared, but now isn't really a good time for the whole multiverse spiel, so he settles instead on: ) Who did you lose?

[She's still staring at the blue lantern, too lost in her own head to notice any signs that Billy recognizes her. Thor had mentioned something about her being here before, but no one else has said anything yet.]

My brother. My twin brother.

[She can...not get over, but come to accept the rest, just not Pietro. She should never have let him out of her sight.]

( oh.

oh, shit. he hadn't known about pietro's death at all. he knows how badly she had responded when pietro did. . die, back home, even if she revived him after. remembers no more mutants. nobody was happy with any of that. it was a disastrous mess on all sides. his expression falls, brows knitting tight as he keeps eyes down to her lantern. )

I'm--sorry. About Pietro. I can't even imagine how hard losing him was. ( can, a little. tommy got lost though, not dead. billy can imagine how far he'd go for him, and it's a little terrifying to think about. maybe best not to. ) I have a twin brother, too. We weren't--raised together or anything. Hell, he disappears on me more often than not, but losing him like that. . I can't.

I would tell you not to let him out of your sight, but...

[Apparently that's already a problem, and besides, the odds aren't looking good for twins to end up here together. She'd been completely shocked to see anyone at all from her world.

But there's a bigger issue here: she didn't say Pietro's name. Or her own name. Maybe...maybe there's some shred of hope, and she can't quite keep it out of her voice.]

Did you know Pietro? Was he here, too?

( except tommy is here, being a huge menage to society as speedsters generally do. billy can't even say he's too surprised: if feeling lost is what helps people fall through the dimensional cracks, he wouldn't be even the least bit surprised if his whole team ended up here at one point or another. that's kind of what the young avengers were: a bunch of misfits trying to help. )

Not here. I uh--knew a version of him back home where I came from. Not the same one you know, but. ( honestly despite how vast the multiverse is, he doubts there's a universe out there where wanda and pietro aren't close. )

You guys were close where I came from, too.

A version of him?

[Sorry Billy, looks like you're going to have to be the one to break this alternate realities thing to her. The newcomer multiverse talk didn't include different versions of herself and her friends.

And although Wanda's racking her brain, she still doesn't know who this is. Is it worse to admit it, or would a little peek be crossing a line? Maybe...maybe something in the middle will have to do.]

Thor told me I was here before. Did you know me then?

( alternative versions is easy to explain. well. easy-ish. a lot easier than explaining what his wanda got up to and all of that nonsense. he supposes starting off slow is fine. )

I met you briefly, but we didn't talk much at all. I--do know the you from my world, though. ( even after all the nonsense that's happened after--their first meeting still holds the most meaning to him. the words she said (be yourself, and the keslers of the world can't touch you. stand your ground, see what happens) have stuck with him through the years. defined a lot of who he became. who he is. )

She's--you're--kind of my hero. ( even if everything has changed since then, even their relationship. ) My favorite Avenger, too.

Your world...

[Slow is good - it's a lot to wrap her head around, even more so that she's someone's hero. The people of Sokovia still love her, but overwhelmingly Wanda is used to being somewhat feared. She doesn't really know what to do with admiration.

It's not something she deserves after what she's done, what she's failed to do. The lanterns are proof enough of that.]

I just joined the Avengers in mine. I don't think we've met yet.

No, I don't think we have.

( unless memory shenanigans happened again, but billy doubts that's the case--here. it's not the time nor the place for any of this, but. they're already talking, it'd make even less sense not to introduce himself, wouldn't it. with a hesitant smile on his lips, billy extends out a hand, offers it to her. )

I'm William Kaplan--Billy. A Young Avenger, back home. I don't think your side of the multiverse has my team--yet, at least.

It's nice to meet you. Again.

[This isn't the best circumstances to meet someone, but after what he's told her, Wanda can manage a real smile for Billy as she shakes his hand.]

How long have you been here?

About half a year. It's been--nice? Quietish. Mostly.

( about as quiet as a place can get with two lokis and two starks running around. no massive wars starting for no reason is always nice. )

You were here twice before--once for only a bit and the time before that you left just as I got here so I'm--not sure how long you were here before that.

[It's a wonder the city is big enough for everyone's egos.

Wanda opens her mouth to say something, but her throat closes up and she has to stop, swallow, and try again.]

Time is...strange here, yes? [Her eyes fall back to the lantern.] Do you...could Pietro come here, too?

He's still alive where I come from.

( died before but that. . happens. people die and come back way more often than one would like to think about. but giving false hope isn't going to help wanda mourn, either. )

It's--it's not impossible. But the chances of ending up here are small, too. I wouldn't bet on it.

[Wanda sighs and falls silent for a moment. She's gripped by both jealousy and a terrible sense of failure. How is this other Wanda so different from her that she's managed to keep her brother alive, to be properly considered a hero?

It's hard to have much faith in herself these days, but Pietro...she can believe in him.]

If there is a way, he will find me.

( he could tell her the story. how bad wanda's life got before it got even mildly decent. the bit with house of m. the death of her children, no more mutants. how she's been pulling herself back together again, being her own person. not depending on her father, her brother, a husband, but defining herself as wanda maximoff, the scarlet witch. she's more resilient than billy has ever been, stronger.

it's one of the things that makes her his favorite avenger. but wanda won't want to hear that, no one wants to listen to stories of how bad things will get before they get better. she's already heartbroken enough as it is. )

I'm sure he will. But--in the meantime. . ( there's probably no one worse at this in quarantine than billy. maybe loki. he's pretty bad at this too. ) Do you want to get coffee? Or -- ( do something that isn't sit around and be sad. )

[Wanda bites her lip, hesitates one last time, and lets the little blue lantern go. Find me, she thinks with all her might towards the empty space in her mind where she'd always been able to feel Pietro's presence. It's easier to let it go if she thinks of it as a beacon, not a goodbye.

She watches it drift away and suddenly the night feels too cold. She just wants to leave.]

I'd like that. [Honestly, Wanda would take any excuse to get out of here and away from everyone else's sadness. She has enough of her own.]

( his are both gone already, floated off into the distance during the time they spent speaking. but he--stops to watch pietro's go, purses his lips together to keep from opening his mouth. his wanda has willed others back to life, caused massive waves of destruction, has spent quite some time trying to get it all back but--

she's capable of a lot for the people she loves, and billy gets it. has made some of the same mistakes himself, despite knowing the things wanda went through when making decisions like that. it's--surprising pietro is still gone, honestly. but maybe this wanda's power isn't quite the same, doesn't have the same impact. )

Sweeter or stronger? There are a few coffee places in town, so. .

( pick your poison, he'll show her the way. and climbs back up onto his feet, dusts off the thighs of his pants. )

[If she could bend reality, the situation in Sokovia would never have gone so far that Pietro got hurt. 'Miracle?' Hardly.]

Sweeter? Maybe somewhere that has tea, too.

[Wanda hardly needs help being an insomniac, after all. She gets to her feet a little unsteadily - ow, pins and needles, she'd been sitting there for a while.]

You got it. ( tea is easy enough to find. walking there would be the normal route to take but the closest good tea shop is several miles away, so billy--raises a hand, blue sparks of magic encompassing fingertips as he murmurs soft under his breath, makes a small rift that leads to the tea shop.

and gestures to it. )

After you?

[Wanda's eyes light up with wonder. That was finally enough to distract her, at least for a little while. She glances back to Billy for a moment...and steps through the rift.]

How did you do that?

( the rift leads directly in front of a nice little tea shop. it--also serves coffee, of course (billy wouldn't come if it didn't) but the shelves in front of the windows are lined with tea containers, labels of every blend they have available. )

I'm a witch. Reality warper, really.

[It's a cute-looking place, just the kind of thing she had in mind.]

It was amazing. I've never seen anything like that.

[And there's his answer and the reason Pietro's still dead: this Wanda's powers are very different from Billy's Wanda.]

( let no one say billy has bad taste in tea/coffee shops. a few steps forward and he closes the rift, moves a hand out to open the door for her. )

No? ( so it must be a lot different, where she's from. ) Can I ask what you do?

[Wanda bites her lip and glances away - would he be afraid of her, if he knew the entire truth? At home, most people were. She isn't sure she could stand to lie to him, but she doesn't want to take away from whatever admiration he has for his world's Wanda.]

It is...hard to describe everything. I am still learning. [Well, that's not a lie.] I can move things with my mind.

[That's the scientific term, right?]

Telekinesis. ( a thing he also has, too. maybe she just hasn't discovered all her abilities yet. or maybe this wanda and his own are really just fundamentally different.

it wouldn't be too surprising. this place brings in all kinds of people. why not a wanda whose magic doesn't work the same way? )

I can do that too. I can also--shift things? Warp it is a better term, I guess. Like my clothes, or an area.

monthly mingle: MEMORIA

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