riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This is not the way Noctis wanted this point proven at all?? He jerks his hand away, which naturally only makes the line longer and worse, but it's too late now.]

Dude, seriously? You better hope you don't fall asleep before I do.

[This would be impossible in all circumstances aside from the one with an Ill Boy involved, so prepare to maybe sleep with one eye open.]

[He can't help but laugh, lifting his free hand to cover his mouth for it.]

You're threatening me? But I heard that you wash your hands, so it shouldn't be a problem. ♪

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.

[He's already stuck his thumb in his mouth so he can use it to try and rub off this ink, treasure that he is. It's smudging...]

I'm just saying, this is like a free pass to get even.

Fufu, if you mess up my face, my fans will be upset, you know? There are punishments for that sort of thing, you know?

[He's egging him on like this, really. But okay, seriously—] I only wanted to inspire you as you did for me. Would you like some more options? Let's see... Words that you were never able to say? Or words that you'd like them to hear, even now. How is that? Does it help at all?

[Sounds like someone wants Noctis to doodle all over his face while he sleeps... He knew it...] Uh huh, sure.

[He falls quiet after that, though, since apparently Eichi can't take the hint and pointedly ignore the actual serious stuff with him. There are just—too many things he never had a chance to say, or things he wants to say now, still. And nothing he wants anyone else reading, either.

After a moment (he's just been staring at his hands in his lap, not even smudging the ink anymore) he looks at Eichi again.]

You're better at this than me. Where do you get all this cheesy stuff?

I wouldn't say that.

[He notices all the hints, but after Noct had made it clear that he wouldn't chase him off, of course he was going to push a little. He was basically given permission. He'll be gentle about it, since he has no idea what he's doing or what Noct must be mourning or feeling, but he does want to be of some use here.]

They're just things that I've heard from others. They say it's this way in stories, or they've said these things at funerals themselves. I never experienced anything like that, but I've been told that's what's "normal."

If it sounds poetic and meaningful, then people are bound to get emotional and appreciate it. To me, it's a little silly... I don't see the point in any of this at all.

[That's rude, Eichi. Not rude in a way Noctis minds, precisely - he hasn't chased him off, after all. It's hard to talk about any of the things that sit in his chest like a thousand lead weights and it's especially not worth burdening this guy who says he could just drop dead at any time—but the effort's kind of nice.

Doesn't solve the problem, though. Doesn't lift the guilt off his shoulders and let him stand a little taller, but it's a nice gesture. Noctis sighs, giving up on his smudge entirely to lean back on his hands and look out at the river, at the rest of the lanterns already released.]

You're kinda weird, you know that? I guess it doesn't matter if you get the point or not. Not sure I really get it myself.

[Does floating a lantern around make it easier? If only.]

I've never... [his brow furrows] I've never been to a funeral, either.

[And like that, another weight settles in his chest, another tendril of guilt wrapping itself around his heart. A funeral? His father never had one, and Luna—it makes him sick to realize it now, separated from everything, that they'd be thrown away like garbage, and no one would even—ngh.

Of course, he expresses all this by sort of rubbing the heel of his hand against his face, because he's definintely not tearing up at all. He reaches for one of the lanterns. Then, to Eichi,] Sorry.

[Which is incidentally what he writes on the lantern's side, smaller and messier than he'd like because someone is looking.]

[He can tell by Noct rubbing at his eyes that it's not the time to correct him and explain that he has been to funerals, to far too many of them, and that his family deals with them so frequently they're more of a chore than anything else. He simply acknowledges the comment with a glance, and then gives him the space he might need by looking back out to the water while he writes that message.

He'll still catch it eventually with the corner of his eye, as small as it is, since he did learn some English throughout school.]

There's no need to apologize. [Not to him, definitely.] There may be these shared traditions between certain cultures, but each individual processes something like death differently, don't they? [He's still looking out at the water, minding Noct's privacy this much.]

Even someone as "weird" as me can understand that.

[Let him live in ignorance until he's done being weepy, thanks. He pauses to think of what he should write next, while Eichi keeps talking. He's still half-listening, since that keeps him from running away with his own negative thoughts, so thanks for that. But there are too many things he's left unsaid, and that tiny scrawl of "sorry" sits there alone while he considers.

Luna is the sharpest pain in his chest tonight, but the longer he looks at just "sorry," the more he wonders if he needs to say anything more. She'd get it, wouldn't she? If anyone could see through to the depths of even his shortest scribbles, it would be Luna. Or at least he hopes so - hopes thinking as much isn't lying to himself to let him take the easy way out.

He draws a few wavy lines, not anything grand, but purposeful; it's a flower, for all his artistic ability... isn't.]

Don't think I'm taking that back. [Weirdo. ... Hmm.] What would you do if people kept getting hurt for your sake?

[hypothetically, unrelated,]

[Whoa, that comes out of nowhere. He thought Noct wanted to only sit in silence, but then he speaks up afterwards? (And what on earth did he just draw?) Everyone really is different about coping. But it's a question that catches Eichi especially off guard due to the topic. People getting hurt for his sake? It's something he's worried about.]

That's a difficult question. I suppose it depends on how they were getting hurt. For example, if it were physically... I would try to become a little stronger myself, I think.

[It's a flower you jerk. But more importantly than that, the topic is one—is the one that he can feel holding him back. Luna, his father, everyone in the city... There's no easy way to shrug off that kind of guilt, is there?

He hums, giving his ugly flower a stem, and a moment later he lets out a laugh that's hardly more than a breath. Goddamn it.]

Yeah... Yeah, I know that one. [enh........] Don't push yourself. You know, just in case.

[Gosh... That's what's on Noct's mind, then? Did the people these lanterns are for lose their lives for him, somehow? He has nothing comparable to that. He's crushed dreams, had friends given up their dreams just to follow him and check on him, but losing life is a little heavier. He decides to not say anything like "I have to push myself to keep living," too, which is surely helpful.]

Since I'm the Emperor between the two of us, don't I get to make the rules? "Don't push yourself." That's my rule to you.

There's one more thing: I would appreciate those friends. Even if you were as strong as you could possibly be, those are the actions of someone quite close to you. They won't stop at anything, so all you can do is be grateful and attempt to repay them in some way.

[the goddamn emperor]

...right. [Of course, this isn't really the time to stop and explain his social status, especially when Eichi is trying to make the mood lighter in his weird way. So Noctis once again just doesn't, and another opportunity floats gently away like one of these lanterns.

It's fine. Well, aside from the fact that he needs to break Eichi's new rule at least a little, if anyone counting on him is ever going to see him become what he needs to be. But that also would involve explaining himself, so he'll keep quiet about it, too.

That leaves him with the lantern he's "decorating," and the guilty truth that Eichi happens to be right; people have already given everything for him, and he's moping about lanterns in some strange world. He writes the name on this one and sets it adrift in the water with an accidental lazy spin, since he was trying to hide the finished product of his drawing from judging idol boy eyes. Oops.]

Didn't say I don't appreciate it. [wellllllll...] Don't tell me you think that's all silly, too.

[He did last time...!!]

Not this.

[He smiles a little at the question, though. Worried about that, how cute. He looks from Noct to that spinning lantern, watching the sad excuse for a flower float away.] Those words are all from the bottom of my own heart. Now, thankfully before it was too late, I've learned to appreciate those precious "friends" of mine, and any more I make down the road.

[He looks back to Noctis. See, he's not even criticizing his flower. Yet.] So now you should repay your own, shouldn't you? Hold your head high and take a proud step forward. I think that's the sort of thing anyone would want for the people close to them.

[Eichi you are watching him draw on dead people lanterns and you have the nerve to say "before it was too late," what the fuck—]

That's a little less weird. But not much.

[But look, Noctis already has enough despair of his own without slapping on any more from Eichi's word choice. It's ironic that Eichi starts talking about this stuff as he moves from Luna's lantern to the next one, for his father, as it only makes those last words come back to echo in his mind again-

Walk tall. Has he been?

...

Trying to write a single word on this new lantern is an utter failure; he can feel himself getting choked up and coughs, awkwardly, to sound less so. Ideally.] Seriously, you sound like a greeting card.

[yes, great]

An idol should always be able to reach out and touch hearts, right to the core. I thought I sounded a little cool, saying those lines~.

[He thinks everything he does is cool, but he still is good natured enough to chuckle.] I've just thought of something, so wait here for a moment. I'll be right back.

[He thinks, from the sounds of it, that Noct probably wants to be alone to write whatever he wants to write now. Eichi can give him this much, but he's still going to try to lighten things. So he pushes himself up to his feet, dusts himself off real quick, and wanders off with one more gesture insisting that Noct stay where he is.]

I dunno about cool...

[Greeting cards aren't where he looks for his coolspiration, but alright. He blinks, looking up and after Eichi as he suddenly gets up, honestly surprised at the suddenness of it. It will take him a second to realize he can write in privacy now...

Ah. Well. Here he is, left alone with a lantern and however many minutes it takes Eichi to do whatever it is he claims he's doing. Noctis spends these minutes staring down into the open top of the lantern at the candle flame inside, watching it flicker like that will give him the power to put to words all the things he could never say to his father. Things he didn't have time to say, questions he couldn't ask—

In the end it's those same words that stick in his mind and all he can think of to write is a response, very simple, under the word 'Dad': 'I'm doing everything I can.'

And then smaller, accompanied by a scribble where he almost crossed the whole line out but decided against it, 'I miss you.'

That lantern is super gone whenever Eichi decides to return, and Noctis is sitting there looking up with his hands over his face because he's blinded by candles and not because he's trying not to get all weepy again. Shut up.]

[Ah, yes, there's the sad boy. Eichi knew he would be done by the time he got back, which is why he made this sacrifice and decided to leave to begin with. But staying gone would invite too much sadness. So, his brilliant plan? Well, he'd seen some other parts of the festival that seemed a lot more friendly, and it was quick enough to hop in line and purchase a snack or two.

When he approaches Noctis again, it's with the gentle noise of something in a little plastic baggy, tied with a fancy bow. Eichi nudges it against his shoulder as he sits, and then holds it out for him. Fudge bites, from the looks of it, and there's a second bag with a few cinnamon cookies held out as well.]

Is your chin up, Noct-kun?

[It's downright saintly of Eichi to give him these minutes to be sad all alone. Maybe not everyone would think that, but Noctis appreciates a moment to sit and think and breathe. Letting these lanterns go doesn't seem to ease up on the guilt inside him at all, right now - maybe it will someday, but right now he feels... hmm.

He feels like there is a 'someday,' and that counts for something. Damn, it's almost eerily convenient how this festival works.

Eichi's crinkling gets his attention and he tries to make it look like he's just rubbing his eyes because they itch, looking up at him again as he sits back down.]

Uh... [literally, yes??? Well, he'll take this bag anyway.] Yeah, sure. Better. Food?

[why this boy buy candy]

You haven't heard? [He sees that crying, boy, but he won't call it out. Successfully dropping the bags into Noct's palm, he shifts to get comfortable himself, his legs tucked to the side as he rests back on a palm.]

This festival also has a side to it to encourage life, it seems. Treats are given in order to tell someone you'd like to get to know them better. That's what they said, at least. [Minor tsun doesn't hide his gay act, but he's barely trying anyway. Especially with how he winks with his chuckle. He's really trying to lighten things.]

You like sweets, don't you?

[Thanks for not humiliating his punk ass, punk emperor!! He's been avoiding this for as long as he can, so while he's seen the food being sold and been handed a few random bags of cookies himself, he's been too down in the dumps to participate in the fun, happy parts of the festival.

Nice one, Noctis. He supposes he can still tug one of these pretty bows open to eat fudge bites!! and not think too deeply for a few minutes after he cried over paper.]

Jeez, how could you tell? [not the soda,] Here, you can handle this much sugar, right?

[He could be extra and give Eichi the first one but no, he shoves the first one in his face and then keeps talking while he holds out the next one. Eat this.]

[What is this fudge regift!! But he still appreciates it, and smiles as he takes that offered one in his own hand.]

Something like this isn't a problem at all. [So, he nibbles it like a dainty prince and glances back out at the water, like he might find the lantern that he missed out on. Sadly, no, it's long gone. He's so nosy, but he chose the right route this time...]

What a relief, they are tasty after all~.

[Shut up and don't judge his sharing!! That's what.]

Yeah, they're not bad. [If Noctis compliments a pastry and Ignis isn't around to hear it, does he still come up with a new recipe?

And that lantern is definitely long gone. Nosy. But since Noctis isn't totally socially tone deaf...] Thanks.

[Hearing that "thanks" is actually a surprise. Not many people thank him like that. It's either out of fear that he'll scold them, or they go without it, too tsundere or bothered to admit their appreciation. A simple, genuine thank you makes him feel a little good, and he lets out a short chuckle for it.]

Your face isn't suited to sad expressions. [What kind of weird way to say you're welcome... Secretly, he's a little embarrassed to be thanked. He's trying to hide it well!] But I was also looking for some company.

[It's not just a one way favor, shush and eat your fudge.]

[Don't say that gay thing just because he was being polite. He's allowed to be polite!! Noctis just gives him a look before rolling his eyes a little and looking down at his fudge baggie again.

He still has one more lantern... He'll get to it. He probably won't cry about that one.]

Don't you see enough of me already? [usually asleep,]

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people who care about ffxv spoilers should just assume my threads are a danger zone

welcome to the danger zoooone

looks to the sky

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