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riverviewlogs2018-05-01 07:34 pm
- !mod post: holiday,
- !mod post: monthly mingle,
- almost human: dorian,
- halo: forward unto dawn: chyler silva,
- imperial radch: breq,
- marvel (616): billy kaplan,
- marvel (616): tommy shepherd,
- marvel (mcu): bucky barnes,
- marvel (mcu): loki,
- marvel (mcu): peter quill,
- marvel (mcu): steve rogers,
- marvel (mcu): tony stark,
- marvel (mcu): wanda maximoff,
- once upon a time: victor frankenstein,
- original: shigeru miyata,
- ppz: elizabeth bennet,
- rivers of london: peter grant,
- star trek (aos): james kirk,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: finn,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- star wars: poe dameron,
- voltron: keith,
- ✖ marvel (mcu): shuri,
- ✖ original: freya vaughn,
- ✖ original: the tetherer,
- ✖ persona 5: akira kurusu,
- ✖ persona 5: makoto niijima,
- ✖ shadowhunter chronicles: alec lightwoo,
- ✖ the finder: willa monday,
- ✖ the raven cycle: ronan lynch
monthly mingle: MEMORIA
what: monthly mingle: memoria
when: the month of may
where: anywhere around the city
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines
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.
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!
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!
no subject
[he hums a thoughtful sort of noise.] Honestly, I don't really drink coffee for the flavor. Is it just as caffeinated?
no subject
[They smile a bit sheepishly at that, admitting their inexperience.]
Oh, yes, it's just as caffeinated. I think you can make it more caffeinated, by making it an... ex-- "espresso"?
no subject
My usual preference is just a black coffee. [he's just tired like 90% of the time!] It would have to be a very strong espresso.
no subject
[But if he's tired, they're happy to accommodate.]
Would you like a black coffee instead, maybe with a shot or two of espresso?
no subject
[not to mention the caf back home was never this fancy. it was scrounged up from rations and rarely could people even use milk or sugar consistently with it.]
I'll take a large black coffee, just one extra espresso, but I will also take the smallest size of that honey lavender. [maybe he'll try it! maybe he's just gonna bring it back for jyn.]
no subject
They run his charge card first -- already made the mistake of forgetting once today -- and set about starting the coffee brew and getting a shot from the espresso machine. They take a bit of time to remember where things are and what goes in what order, especially since the order involves two drinks, but they manage alright in the end, if a little on the slow side.
They offer him the drinks, the black coffee and the flavored latte, setting both on the counter when they're done. It's a pretty slow day, so they're the only one here to both work the register and make the coffee, which means... they have a lot more room for mistakes. Hopefully, though, they got it right.]
I hope the honey lavender is received well.
no subject
[he puts coffee cup sleeves on both before taking them, the nods.] I hope so too, thank you.
[the fact that it's slow and no one else is around makes him feel better about making any sort of further conversation. he knows baristas get busy and don't care most of the time, but this one seems more more chatty than others.] Do you mind if I ask if you are new here? [a beat.] To the cafe, but I suppose it applies could apply to the Quarantine. I just have not seen you here before.
[he frequents a couple cafes tbh.]
no subject
[His question probably wasn't "are you new to any cafe" but that is definitely the question they answered.]
Both take some getting used to, I'm finding. But I'm enjoying myself so far.
[So much so, that they have no intent to leave.]
no subject
[some jobs it's easier to see why a person might have ended up there in the quarantine. barista is too broad! especially for someone who doesn't seem to have any experience in it.]
[maybe they just like people? cassian supposes genuinely friendly persons do exist.]
no subject
I've always enjoyed meeting people of different worlds, hearing their stories. At least if they care to share them, anyway.
Most meetings from my end of the coffee shop are brief, but I like... being able to see things from this side. I've always been the one being served. Now I'm doing the serving.
no subject
I am used to meeting people from other planets, but not until coming here had it been other worlds as well.
[their comment gives him pause.] What did you do before? You make it sound like you have some sort of royal blood.
no subject
They'd like conversations to start getting less about them soon, though. They don't want to be a product of their past any longer.]
I was brought up to be one of the three gods of Natures, something I've found holds little weight in worlds such as this one. Realities where Natures have no hold. I was the Tetherer.
[They pause.]
I still am the Tetherer. That's sort of also my name. I don't have another one.
no subject
Gods do not have much meaning at all in my universe either. We have the Force, but I have never put much stock in it either.
[he gives a little shrug.] You can always come up with a new name, if you prefer. People rename themselves all the time.
no subject
[After all, the first thing Finn said when they mentioned they have no other name was, "Do you want one?"]
I just wouldn't know where to start.
no subject
Name books? [okok, not entirely a real suggestion.] I've used many names, but only to hide my identity. They came from all manner of places. I don't think there is a real place to start. Something may just jump out at you one day.
[a beat. oh right, he does have an actual name.] Cassian is mine.
no subject
[And further divorce them from their old life, which is the main thing. Though it's amazing how quickly they've started thinking of their godhood as their "old life".]
Cassian is a fine name. It's good to meet you.
no subject
I like it. [he likes getting to be only cassian. distancing yourself from the Old Life is relatable.] It's good to meet you too.
no subject
[They grimace at both of those possibilities. They like Teth a little, but it feels very weird, definitely. And is that even a name? They're pretty sure it's not a name.]
Heather is definitely more commonly a girl's name, so not that.
no subject
There is no rush. If you have just gotten here, you have plenty of time. Keep a collection of the names you hear working. Different universes have different kinds.
no subject
Thank you, Cassian.
no subject
Perhaps I will see you around.