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

[mannerism]

[ she knows this one from two places. one, he's a colleague, one of the men ( is he a man? there is no way to tell and she deemed it ill-mannered to ask ) working at the Riverview Police Force. Secondly, he's a neighbour of a sort. One of those she shares the tenth floor with.

She doesn't know a whole lot about him, she does know one thing. ]

Mr. Sans.

[ it's an affirmation of his question ( carter, yes ) and an introduction of a sort. it's long due. ]

Not a fan of sentimentality?

[ takes one to know one. ]

[bone_idle]

[ Yeah, he's the guy who catches naps throughout the day, but doesn't really spend much time doing it in his own bed -- which is never made. The guy's as much of a slob as he appears, leaving take-out boxes and sometimes condiment bottles to litter the area immediately around his bed.

He's a pretty terrible roommate to have, probably to the chagrin of roughly 9 other people who have to share the same dorm setting. ]

Eh.

[ He doesn't wave a hand dismissively so much as, uh, vaguely lift his phalanges off the bar, one shoulder shrugging, the other hand too preoccupied with cradling his skull. But he grins at her -- not that he ever stops grinning -- and doesn't seem bothered at all. ]

I passed a kid tellin' a story about a guy who spent the rest of his life stranded on an island, just to keep the memory of his old partner alive. A kid.

[ He huffs a sound that might be a chuckle. ]

Just gets to be a little much, y'know? I'm guessing you don't disagree.

[mannerism]

No, I do not.

[ she'd give him that. he may be the polar opposite of her and not simply physically, peggy is far too devoted to her work, over-professional and strict, he seems laid-back and lazy but peggy has learned that some men, while insufferable, can be good at their jobs. she's not sure what to make of this one just yet. ]

-- Is that tomato sauce?

[ she's eyeing his glass and before long, she reaches for it, sniffing and - ]

Bloody hell, it is tomato sauce.

[bone_idle]

[ As time may tell, Sans must be doing something right, because he naps at his desk, leaves a mess, and is neglectful of just about anything else he can get away with, and manages to keep his job.

But he's still a mess who could hardly be accused of being the adult he should be, in his thirties. ]

Yep.

[ Despite his indolent inattention, he somehow seems to be grinning a little wider while Peggy investigates. ]

Plus a little something extra.

Least mine doesn't look like something you'd use to clean one of your weird human toilets.

[ Ah, said like a guy who has absolutely zero personal frame of reference for how gross it is to mention toilets in a setting involving food and drink. ]

Eh, don't worry. I'm not gonna ask you to unlock your tragic backstory for little ol' me.

[mannerism]

What?

[ and lord help her, peggy laughs, looks down at her glass. as it turns out, british lady or not, her manners can be put aside in the right circumstances. ]

I'd give you that, you're not entirely wrong.

[ and there's a bit of a scoff, honestly sans. ]

If I wanted to talk and you wanted to listen to any of those, we'd find one of those groups outside that do exactly that.


[ but they're in here and that says it all. ]

[bone_idle]

[ They're two emotionally-unavailable people drowning their either unintended or intended apathy in a bar during a somber event of remembrance and mourning. That makes this the PERFECT time for toilet humor.

Sans? He just looks a little tickled he got her to laugh, shutting one eye socket somehow in what's unmistakably a wink. ]

'Sides, don't think anybody's gonna shed a tear over how I dropped my Nice Cream a week before I got here.

[ And in one sentence, Sans establishes firmly that he hasn't suffered like these other guys, and has absolutely no legitimate reason to participate in all this hoopla. ]

So, how d'ya like it? Workin' for the force, I mean.

[mannerism]

Hardly what I've done at home, but it's not uneventful.

[ she sips her scotch before giving him a bit of a look, sharp but not without an air of humor. ]

Do you? Comfortable sleeping-spot, the office?

[ what. he's napping half of the time. ]

[bone_idle]

Wooden you know it, I sleep like a log at that desk.

[ Sans, no. ]

Hey, the work gets done, doesn't it?

[ But he'll back up a moment, since he finds it interesting she uses the term 'home'. ]

Y'know, I think there's two kinds around here. The ones who talk about where they've been like it's home,and then the guys who act like this is the only option they got.

Funny how that works. [ He tips his bottle. ] Guess that portal brings in all types.

[mannerism]

--- That was horrid, you realize.

[ and if she's smiling it's exactly because it was so bad. so horrible. ]

If you ask the people who brought us here, there is only man. Didn't they give you the speech? people who do not belong? Those who feel out of place?

[ it's all said with heavy disapproval. ]

[bone_idle]

--but you're smiling.

[ This, with an eye socket shut and a gesture with one hand that might actually be the fabled 'gunfinger'. Sorry, only one. The other hand is too preoccupied with his drink, and moving it is simply asking too much.

Sans doesn't seem to sober at that, so much as become a little more non-committal. ]

'Course they did.

But most people feel like that at least once in their life. Pretty convenient, ain't it?

[mannerism]

Hardly.

[ she's going to bite back on that smile now before he goes and get even more ideas about what she finds humorous. ]

It is a fine ploy, is it not?

[ find a good enough excuse to fit just about anyone at a given point in time and fetch them from that exact same moment. for peggy, it was moments after emptying a vial of blood into the east river. ]

How long has it been since they plucked you from your world?