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

[advanced]

[That's a joke, right? He glances sidelong at her, he can't be sure because she's the sort of oddity who cartwheels out of nowhere.]

I've never done anything like this. You just set it free in honour of the dead?

[He doesn't have to say which dead?]

[dust_of_life]

[Not as much a joke as it probably should be. Fatima does have some pyro tendencies. After all, vampires are so very flammable.

But that's beside the point.

She gives him a nod.]

It's sort of a way to privately mourn someone in public. If you want, I think you can write someone's name on the side. Or a message.

Then you just...let it go. Which, I assume, is some kind of symbolic way to let go of the sadness or something.

[advanced]

[He supposes that makes sense, but he's not really got anyone to let go of. All the people that he should be mourning will have died long ago, and he doesn't remember them well enough to feel sad.

The people he does remember aren't ones that he deserves to send a lantern for, usually because he's the one that killed them.]

Right.

[He doesn't know what to say now, he has his explanation and he's not good at small talk, so he starts to slowly move away.]

[dust_of_life]

[A sane person would let him go. But for reasons she can't explain, Fatima's developed a little bit of an attachment to the hobo.

Helping people is what she's trained to do, after all. But this place isn't exactly crawling with anyone who...needs her.

That's it, really. She kind of needs to be needed. Which is unfortunate, since Ian's made it clear he really doesn't want--much less need--her. But Fatima's stubborn as hell and has time on her hands so...fine.]

Hold up, Ian.

[But really, she just trots after him.]

Let me show you how we do it in my world.

[advanced]

[He hesitates, glancing back at her with a slightly confused expression.]

You mean the lanterns?

[It's not a tradition he's heard of before, but she seems pretty knowledgeable about it, so maybe that's what she means.]

I can figure it out. Light them up, let them go, right?

[dust_of_life]

No. Not lanterns.

[Her eyes flit from side to side.]

Just the "light them up" part of it.

[advanced]

You want to teach me how to set a fire?

[He doesn't get it, is that really what she's offering?]

[dust_of_life]

Mmm, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to teach you. You might be a little too normal for that.

[And the irony of that statement is definitely not lost.

She sets down her bag and holds out her lantern to him.]

Hold this. I'll show you.

[advanced]

[She's unnerving to spend time around because she never really explains herself, just rockets off on a course of action that makes no sense. But he takes the lantern all the same, watching her warily.]

I know how to set a fire.

[He has some survival skills, after all.]

[dust_of_life]

Not like me.

[It's an assumption, but Fatima hasn't really sensed any of the supernatural in him. Just a healthy dose of cray-cray.

She bites down on the inside of her cheek, hard enough to taste blood. Not that hard at all, really, considering how often she's been abusing her powers lately. The blood pools on her tongue. The rest of it is showmanship. She rolls her wrists. Then rolls her shoulders. And then she channels the power of her blood into her skin and without warning, her hands catch on fire.]

[advanced]

[It's an incredibly stupid thing to do, not give him warning for something like this, because all he sees is fire and power and threat.

He reacts on instinct, drawing one of his guns from where he keeps it concealed and levelling it at her as he backs up.]

[dust_of_life]

[Seriously? Who the hell gave the crazy hobo a gun?

Guns inhabit an interesting place in Fatima's life. They don't kill vampires, so very few people in the Order actually use them. They might kill a civilian by accident, after all. But this isn't the first time she's found herself looking down a barrel.

The key is to remain calm, of course. And to let a little blood linger in her mouth. She's only tried it a couple of times before, but she has managed, in the past, to deflect a bullet.]

Okay. If you shoot me, I won't light your lantern for you.

[advanced]

What the hell are you?

[Her flippancy isn't really helping, and that isn't even slightly an incentive. He's already dropped his lantern on the ground so that he can be better prepared for this to end in a fight.

He hasn't fired yet, and he'd prefer not to, but she did just light herself on fire in front of him, so he doesn't trust her at all.]

[dust_of_life]

A friend.

Or I would be, if you'd stop immediately assuming I'm trying to hurt you.

[She sighs, rolling her wrists. The flames go out.]

Better?

[advanced]

Someone with good intentions warns the people around them before doing shit like that.

[It's not like it's not obvious he is jumpy, surely only an idiot would think a surprise like that is a good idea. At least that's his opinion.

He doesn't lower the gun.]

[dust_of_life]

In my defense, I did tell you I liked lighting things on fire.

And that you couldn't light fires the way I can.

[She holds her hands palm out. Passive. A gesture of surrender.]

[advanced]

[He does finally lower the gun, though he doesn't put it away yet.]

You're an idiot if you thought that was a good idea.

[Blunt.]

[dust_of_life]

Apparently.

[She lowers her hands, glancing down at his gun.]

I like to show off. It's one of my many failings.

My mother always said it would get me in trouble some day. I'm hoping that isn't today.

[advanced]

I could have killed you.

[He doesn't want to do that again, but he's still on a hair trigger when it comes to threats to his life or freedom. At least he doesn't seem about to attack her any more.]

You didn't answer the question; what the hell are you?

[dust_of_life]

Believe me, you couldn't have.

[She tries to say it with bravado, but it's pretty obvious she's not entirely convinced of that. Guns are just such an...anomaly.

Fatima shakes her hair back, trying to find equilibrium. But it's harder than she wants to admit.]

I'm not going to tell you what I am if it's just going to get me shot at, Ian. I'm pretty sure I won't deserve it.

[advanced]

I'm more likely to shoot you for continuing to keep secrets.

[He doesn't do well with surprises and his mind is just going to fill in the blanks in worse ways if he doesn't have the truth.]

[dust_of_life]

It's not like I'm the only one. I'm pretty sure you're keeping plenty of secrets from me, Ian.

[But, really, Fatima's not seeing much to lose in this scenario. She hasn't run into a single, actual Cainite in this place. Not yet. She seems to have a secret no one cares about.

So she sighs and shrugs.]

I'm a dhampir.

[advanced]

[She's not wrong, but he's not flaunting his secrets at her by setting his hands on fire all of a sudden.]

What's a dhampir?

[Is that a weird pronunciation of vampire? Please don't tell him that vampires are real as well as aliens.]

[dust_of_life]

A freak of nature that shouldn't exist. But does anyway.

[People always say that Fatima is stubborn. Clearly, it's written in her genes.]

Look. I'm not gonna hurt you, Ian.

[advanced]

Are you going to answer the question or not?

[He's getting really tired of her never giving him a straight answer. Always vague, or teasing, or cryptic. He's about ready to walk away and hope he never runs into her again.]