riverviewmod: (Default)
Riverview Moderator ([personal profile] riverviewmod) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2017-05-01 07:22 pm
Entry tags:

introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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

[personal profile] ex_clobbers559 2017-05-19 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
( Oh, he's nice! It's a pleasant surprise, and more than enough to have her beaming brightly back at him as if the sun's just come out from behind the clouds. )

Nice to meet you, too! ( She shakes his hand, grip a bit too strong. When she releases it, she looks sheepish. ) Sorry. The art of the handshake's still a work in progress for me.

( Calling Kal a friend is all he really needs to say in order for her eyes to dance, and her features to grow gentle. She nods, slowly. )

My parents sent me to look after my baby cousin before, uh. Everything. Others survived, too, but I fought them last year and most of them are in stasis. I think?

( That's what Non had said, anyway. She raises her shoulders in a slight shrug, ruefully. )

I mean your friend no harm.

[personal profile] ex_clobbers559 2017-05-19 09:30 am (UTC)(link)
Oh boy. That's one think Sarah and her friends left out. And probably why she told me to ignore him. Uh, well. This is awkward.

( As weird and, uh, colourful as Mick had originally come across to her, the overwhelming desire to punch him is definitely present in her mind right now. She shakes her head, heaving a sight as she seems to deflate a little bit. There's also a distinct feeling that she's stepped in it a bit unkowingly by mentioning Heatwave now, and she regrets it. Big time. )

I'm so sorry. I won't mention him again. ( Which works out for her, anyway, because she's pretty sure he's almost as old as she should be, and he'd been hitting on her blatantly. In public. Kara's hands ball into tight fists at her sides, though that tension eases as he decides to mercifully changes the subject. In short order, a wistful little smile crosses her face instead. )

Yeah, we did. And it was—they were on the ground all over the world. They also had an anti metahuman bomb that would've wiped out a good portion of the city.

( Kara, trusting him still, despite not knowing him at all, laughs awkwardly and then responds with honesty: )

You said "Earth-38." But I was actually born on a different planet altogether. Is there somewhere less, ah, public we can talk about this?
Edited (typo!) 2017-05-19 09:31 (UTC)
spellslots: DNT (beauty queen on a silver screen)

[personal profile] spellslots 2017-05-19 10:33 am (UTC)(link)
Trust me, if that was an option, I'd be so for it, but we can't take anyone else with us.

[For... various reasons.]
nikolaievich: (12)

[personal profile] nikolaievich 2017-05-19 10:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Illya hesitates for a second. He doesn’t know Dick all that well… but he’s just offering to pay for some coffee. And he’s been pleasant to talk to when they have interacted with, so Illya really can’t think of a reason to say no.]

We can get some coffee, sure. Any particular place in mind?
supersweet: (Or what powers you have)

[personal profile] supersweet 2017-05-19 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
Is it that scary?
spellslots: DNT (all I ever wanted was the world)

[personal profile] spellslots 2017-05-19 10:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Taako shakes his head, scary might be part of it, but that's not all it is.]

The Starblaster, that's our ship, no one else can travel on it, they'd die.

[...probably.

They don't know for sure.]
supersweet: (They will stumble)

[personal profile] supersweet 2017-05-19 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
That's weird. Ships shouldn't care who is on it.

[ But it's possible. He supposes. Maybe Krypton had those kinds of ships. They seem like the kind of people who cared about who was allowed and who wasn't. ]
spellslots: DNT (to misbehave)

[personal profile] spellslots 2017-05-19 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
[He has a theory, about who stitched them back together at the start of each cycle, but it's just a theory.]

Magic, little man. The ship kinda resets itself, each year, kept us alive but it wasn't super great for anyone else on it.
supersweet: (Did you ever hear of Superman?)

[personal profile] supersweet 2017-05-19 11:01 am (UTC)(link)
. . . Your life is weird, Taako.

[ Even for Jon. ]
spellslots: DNT (every day is a chore chore chore)

[personal profile] spellslots 2017-05-19 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
Trust me, I am well aware.

[Part of him misses his boring life that revolved around his cooking show, even if he couldn't remember Lup.]
supersweet: (Superman is the most vulnerable)

[personal profile] supersweet 2017-05-19 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ He shrugs, nonchalant. ]

My life is weird too. Riverview seems normal to me, really.
followhim: (* and we'll all float on)

[personal profile] followhim 2017-05-19 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[while dick gets dressed, poe tries to tidy up the mess he made in the kitchen. it's not a lot, really. so it's fine.]

Not exactly ... we have kitchens with appliances like this, but they're different. Or just similar enough to be confusing, it seems.
howlongiwonder: (surprise)

[personal profile] howlongiwonder 2017-05-19 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Humans don't seem to mind having them around, however.

[Once again she states something in a strange way. 2B's attention drifts away from cats and towards the spell demonstration. She observes the cure with wide eyes, not that Terra can tell because, you know, blindfold.]

So it's magic, then? More humans can use this power than I thought...

Ah, but yes. I am fine. Look.

[She opens her hands. The gloves have some rips on them now, courtesy of a jerk animal, but her hands look perfectly normal underneath. Not even a single scratch present.]
burntbridges: To the unknown (Glance ☿ How long baby)

[personal profile] burntbridges 2017-05-19 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Well... she wasn't affecting my weight before. [Her hands move to her belly, which has really been throwing off her balance of late. And making her dizzy a lot more often than she feels it strictly should.] And anyway she's quickened and her soul's detached from mine, and the doctors said she can hear us speak, so I think it's time I started taking her a bit more seriously.

[Not that Letha... really knows how to take motherhood seriously. Aside from maybe not flirting with death as often.]

Perhaps we can invite Morgan along as well... if you don't mind a bit of jealousy, he does like to flirt. [Which she finds more entertaining and flattering than anything.] From what I understand he's skilled in unarmed combat, and I'm curious to see how you two would fair against each other.
pacte: (BARLEY)

[personal profile] pacte 2017-05-19 02:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Just wait, it's get cuter and ruder.

Because when Taako greets Chaser, the bat pauses his consumption of the banana piece to squeak a greeting in return. (Which, naturally, delights Tom all the more too so that's another slice for Chaser.) ]


Yes, they showed me when I arrived here. It's a bit more complicated than the technology we've got back home though.

[ It is plenty unusual, but he more or less got the gist of it. It's more a case of not having the confidence to really use it. ]
pacte: (TOT)

[personal profile] pacte 2017-05-19 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He watches anxiously as she follows his instructions, relieved when it apparently works as she seems satisfied enough. ]

N-no problem, I'm glad I could help.
dirtyredneck: (Neutral Conversation (05))

[personal profile] dirtyredneck 2017-05-19 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Could still sing. Or draw.

[Daryl offered, tone softening again. Unconsciously trying to be reassuring.]

Being army-bound don't change that you can do that. M'brother, he was military. Sniper training. 'Fore he got discharged.

[A pause and a deep breath.]

Just sayin' though, being army don't mean you gotta stop doin' shit like that.
fingerstripes: do not take ((civ) 97)

[personal profile] fingerstripes 2017-05-19 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It's seriously fine. You know the comms actually drove me crazy when I got here?The whole instant communication thing is a little off putting when you're used to chasing down pay phones.

[ They use the Bat comms at home for a lot of different things, but talking shop with Oracle or Batman in the field isn't the same as being instantly accessible to an entire population of mostly strangers. ]
morganknight: (smirking sort of)

[personal profile] morganknight 2017-05-19 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[Good timing, too; the food Morgan had popped by the counter to order now at last ends up at the table, brought by a girl Morgan flashes a grin to before he spread out his affair.]

So if it's not too personal a question, what do you do for energy? [He has to ask, because eating about two meal's worth of food right here while she doesn't eat at all feels mighty strange.]
fingerstripes: do not take ((civ) 97)

[personal profile] fingerstripes 2017-05-19 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Her smile is so infectious he really can't not return it just as broadly. He takes the handshake in stride; he's friends with far too many aliens to not be at least a little ready for an especially firm grip.

There's danger here. Possible danger everywhere. But something in the way she speaks about Clark. The way she'd offered reassurance before he'd even asked for it. ]


Wow. Have you actually- have you met? [ He has to be sure. ]

I know it'd mean a lot to him to meet someone who's actually been there.
carrotkeeper: <user name=livebites> (like the crashing of a thousand waves)

[personal profile] carrotkeeper 2017-05-19 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
That's right. Just like it.

Your name will be pretty easy to remember, Hux. So don't forget mine.

[She's just playing around. If he forgot her name, she wouldn't mind. The important thing is he better remember to tell he about these cookies.]
ikols: i'm a special kinda psychic (read my mind cause baby)

[personal profile] ikols 2017-05-19 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Guess you won't have that problem here. Freedom, Braveheart style!
carrotkeeper: <user name=livebites> (and fire off into job land)

[personal profile] carrotkeeper 2017-05-19 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[This guy definitely has a unique train of thought. He really takes this video game stuff seriously. It's going to make for an interesting shop when he does finally open his doors to the public.]

You bet it will be! You gotta let me know when you open up. I'll be first in line.
starspangled: (pic#9418601)

[personal profile] starspangled 2017-05-19 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
That's the way I look at it too.

[though nothing could really stop steve from doing what needed to be done, but matters are definitely complicated. that feeling is probably what brought steve here in the first place.]

Same ol', same ol'.

[he shakes his head, but there's some hesitation there.]

Things are still a little messed up with Bucky. And Peggy-

[there it is. steve glances up sheepishly, but looks a little guilty too.]

I think about her a lot these days.
starspangled: (pic#7996702)

[personal profile] starspangled 2017-05-19 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Every bond you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy's gun. Try saying that three times fast.

[steve smirks a bit. he used to have to read that word for word, now the words come to him easily. but they leave a little less of a bitter taste in his mouth than they once did.]

I hated every minute of it. But if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have been in Europe, I wouldn't have been able to get to Bucky and the others. It sort of set everything into motion I guess. [he winces after a moment.] Come to think of it, my legs probably didn't look too bad in those tights either.