riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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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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[Ivar's been crumbling inside for a while, and eventually, he just sort of shuts down emotionally, too caught up in memories of his parents. Feeling just barely better than numb, he turns to the girl speaking. At least he's not the only one out here who has lost someone, judging by the amount of people picking up lanterns.]

What?

[There's no expression on his face, but it's the look of someone trying to hide what they're feeling.]

[Without knowing him, it's hard to decipher the look on his face and it causes her to hesitate on her question, despite bothering him to begin with. She pauses, then smiles and raises the lanterns higher up.]

It's kinda hard for me to decide. Which do you like?

[Normally, Ivar would respond with a curt 'I don't care' and leave it at that. But he thinks about how agonizing the decision has been for him thus far. She must be missing someone to be picking out a lantern. So he has more patience than he normally would.]

I'd go with the one on the left.

[It's nice he's kind enough to give a response, especially since this is likely a difficult time for him too.]

Thanks. That really helps.

[Iris lowers them both and sets the one he didn't pick back onto the shelf. She almost turns away, but he's been in the same area for as long as she has, if not longer. Maybe he needs assistance too.]

Have you decided on one?

I've got one for my mother. [He holds up the delicate-looking white one with the faint design of lilies all over it.] But it's the other one for my father I'm having difficulty with.

[Both his parents were dead before he had even hit eighteen. Being an orphan was no easy burden to bear. All he had left for family in his world were his brothers.]

It's beautiful.

[While she spent her time looking for only one parent, she feels bad that he's been here trying to get lanterns for both. In her own small way, she can sympathize.]

What was your dad like? Maybe talking about him will help.

He was a king and a warrior, a legend in his own time. One of the smartest men I ever knew. [He pauses, the next detail personal enough to make it hurt when he spoke of his father.] He was one of the only people to ever believe in me.

[A king? Did that make this guy a prince? It's a question she's going to leave for another day since it's not the time or the place to ask about status. Not when it's clear this discussion upsets him.]

He sounds like a good father. Maybe there's a lantern that shows that part of him?

[Iris gestures up to one of the bigger ones, unsure if it will help, but at least it's a baby step towards picking it out.]

Like that?

[Indeed, a prince Ivar had been once, but no longer. Not since his father's first wife had usurped his mother's throne. But that was a tale for another time.]

He was, especially when he wasn't perfect. [An odd thing to say, perhaps, but Ivar had come to love his father when he could see him as an ordinary man with just as many faults as anyone else, instead of putting him up on a pedestal as a famous legend.

Ivar examines the lantern, and while he likes the size, the color is all wrong.]

Too blue. Something darker, maybe.

[A man his son loved even when he wasn't perfect. That's hard to put into lantern terms, but so help her she's going to find it. She scans the next few shelves, even kneeling to the lower levels and pushes through some misplaced lanterns to check behind them.]

You sound close. Did you guys do lots of things together?

[She's thinking hobbies like fishing or cooking.]

Not as much as I would've liked. He sort of abandoned his duties as king and his family for ten years.

[It's the one thing that Ivar held against him, running away from everything as if that would've eased whatever pain was on his mind. It hadn't worked or he wouldn't have come back at all. Ivar knew he should've let his anger go, for it served no purpose now that Ragnar was dead. But it was hard to forgive him for ten wasted years of wondering where he was, not knowing if his father was alive or dead..]

He just left you all?

[That makes her pause and turn back to look at him. It's difficult to imagine why a king would leave his people or family. She knows royalty can have burdens that go beyond what anyone can imagine and that sometimes difficult decisions have to be made, but this? It doesn't sound right and she can't understand it. At all.]

Where did he go?

He was a broken man. I guess he needed to go find himself or run away from himself or some shit like that.

[Ivar didn't really understand it all. But then he'd never had the weight of an entire people resting on his shoulders. He wasn't sure if it had been a good decision or not, but it was the one that Ragnar had made and had to live with.]

I don't know. He never told me. [Just another thing that Ivar would never have the chance to ask him.] He was more interested in making up for lost time when he came back.

It sounds like it was hard-for all of you. I'm just glad you got to see him again. Sometimes that's all you can ask for.

[It's none of her business and she realizes that, but king doesn't leave his people, no matter what. He shouldn't. Even if he's a broken man, he has an obligation to his wards. But it's not her world and not her burden. She has more concern for the guy next to her and what he's dealing with for the time being.

Iris turns away, back towards the lanterns and says a little 'ah ha!' as she finds darker shaded one.]

This one?

It was. My brothers wanted to kill him when he came back, but they couldn't go through with it.

[That was irony at its finest. Usually, it was Ivar who was the most bloodthirsty and willing to kill out of the Ragnarssons. But when it came to their father, Ivar had defended his actions to his older brothers, for Ivar understood the way Ragnar's mind had worked far better than they did.

He looks over the lantern that Iris pulls out. Inspecting it, he gives a satisfied nod.]

This one works.

[While it's wrong he left, and she can certainly understand how that would hurt his family, killing him seems too extreme. It sounds like they had come to their senses before causing any harm though. That part is good.

She grabs the lantern and holds it out for him to take.]

Your dad would like this. I'm sure of it. He's gonna be happy you picked out a lantern for him.

[Ragnar, despite all his faults, had been good at keeping his family together. No matter how his sons had resented him, they still cared about him and loved him in their own different ways. That loyalty had extended even beyond death in their quest to avenge his death.

Ivar picks up the lantern, examining it closely. He likes what he sees.]

Yes. I think you're right.

[His father was hopefully content in Valhalla right now.]

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introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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