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
heavyhead: (giant baby eyes)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-07 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[No, don't do this, free him.]

How about chips and dip in the park instead? My treat.
finethanks: (Default)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-07 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
[He's still going to bring tea for himself.]

A chance to try this "chips and dip?" I couldn't pass up on something like that.
heavyhead: (what shitty meme to use as keywords)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-07 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
[Tea and sour cream? Gross, Eichi.]

You're not gonna talk about it like it's a huge deal once you've tried it, believe me. But it's a plan.
finethanks: (☆ 77)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-07 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
If you like music, you could also come see me perform some time. [Since they're listing out things they can do. Be his friend. He wants more friends!!]

I wonder what else there is? There are plenty of things I've never tried before, but they're not all to my taste. And as much as I'm curious about what's beyond those fences, it's been dangerous each time I've tried to leave, even with a group.
heavyhead: (http://i.imgur.com/ukYQYG3.png)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-07 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[That's not really hanging out...] Yeah, maybe.

[but Eichi stop doing dangerous things??]

Something tells me you shouldn't be going anywhere dangerous. Can't you just get a normal hobby like everyone else?
finethanks: (☆ 48)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-07 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
My hobby is collecting teacups.

[That's normal and harmless, see?] Hmm, how can I put this? I wonder why it is that I don't want to simply sit back and avoid what I'm not permitted to do, but somehow it makes me want to do it even more.
heavyhead: (i'll be back with lyrics)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-07 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
You've— [do not say "got a death wish"] you're weird?

[Perfect save.]

Still, are you really having a great time if it's always nothing but danger?
finethanks: (☆ 22)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-07 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[He frowns a little, almost like a pout, taking a little more offense each time Noct calls him weird.]

It's not as though I enjoy being in danger. Rather, the idea of sitting behind, alone and without anything useful to do... I can't stand it. If friends of mine are going out on a mission and offer me a spot, it's only natural to want to go, too.
heavyhead: (http://i.imgur.com/ukYQYG3.png)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Hmm no he's never experienced this feeling. And Eichi should quit being weird if he wants to be called weird less, just saying.]

Alright, alright, you don't have to give me the whole speech. Still, it wouldn't hurt to do other things.
finethanks: (☆ 29)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
Fufu, ideally... What I'd really love to do is live life like a normal high schooler. But it seems I've missed my own graduation, anyway.

[Hmmm. He glances at that last lantern again.] We can go out into the city from time to time, if you're up to it. There must be plenty to do.
heavyhead: (finally some slightly neutral faces)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah sure they can go to the city, whatever, hang on-]

You're in high school? [If he missed his graduation, does that mean... because he was here?? Has Noctis been associating with children this whole time??]
finethanks: (☆ 31)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it was close to graduation when I vanished only to appear in space. Since then, it's been about five months... Though this is only my second month in this place.

[It's confusing, but look here, he is 19 now!!] My birthday also passed, so I'm 19 now, you know.
heavyhead: (i was listening to the radio)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
[to appear in where the fuck]

This happened to you before? You really are unlucky.
finethanks: (☆ 24)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[He lets out a little breath that could almost be a laugh if it weren't slightly miserable.]

If I believed in anything like luck, I'd be inclined to agree with you. I wonder if this is karma? [Eichi] Fufu, anyway, it seems you have one more lantern to get to. Do you want me to look away?
heavyhead: (http://i.imgur.com/ukYQYG3.png)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Noctis has not been through sensitivity training yet, okay....]

Probably just bad luck. [how bad can a high schooler be,] And- no, don't worry about it.

[He'll put down the candy and pick up this lantern, finally; somehow its candle hasn't gone out yet. This one... What should he write on it? Sorry my old man sacrificed so many of you for my sake? That's a little...]

Too many names to write on this one. I'll just let it go with feeling, right?

[Cheesy enough?? He'll give it another quiet look for a moment, then lean down to let it drift away. Bye.....]
finethanks: (☆ 62)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
"With feeling" should work just as well, if you ask me.

[He watches the lantern float out with the others, then looks down to the ground where his pen is still sitting. That's it for the lanterns, then.]

You don't have to answer this, but does it help at all?
heavyhead: (begone sinners)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Does it help... That's a good question. Noctis watches the lantern drift off, thinking about it; he's not sure. The feelings are still heavy and he doesn't think they ever won't be, and for all he believes there might still be something to achieve, some hope of some kind- well, now he's here.

So it's a toss up. He shrugs, looking down, the fudge baggie crinkling as he curls his fingers into it. Hmm...]


I guess we'll find out the old-fashioned way. [waiting, and being sad meanwhile,] I don't feel any different, if that's what you mean.
finethanks: (☆ 6)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
I see...

[So it doesn't really help. That's what he had assumed, but then why are all of these people here, trying this? He doesn't understand. But he does want to help a little. He shifts, pushing himself up and pocketing the pen, then dusting himself off.]

Why don't we go for a walk? [Fudge and all. Sitting here isn't helping, so.]
heavyhead: (i'll be back with lyrics)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Better idea: he goes home and goes to sleep. He's probably a bad example to make assumptions about this whole festival from, as shaken up as he still is about things he's apparently supposed to be over and done with already. There's a time limit on these he just didn't get the memo about, but - oh well.

Meaning only that he's a little surprised Eichi wants to go do more stuff now, instead of just sitting here until it's time to go home. But... alright, he'll get up.]


Not to another tea party...
finethanks: (☆ 31)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
[He laughs.]

Not to a tea party. Honestly, it's as if I was trying to torture you. Come on, we're moving far from here.

[Away from this festival for a while. There are lanterns all over the place, but the festivities center around the river. So, he'll move with him away from the river, and down streets with shops that are far less active thanks to everyone being near the lanterns.] Sitting there and staring sadly after the lanterns as they've moved on... Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand it at all.
heavyhead: (http://i.imgur.com/ukYQYG3.png)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-08 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yes, take him away from people, that's totally fine... He's down for this.]

Maybe you're just impatient. [he understands,] So, where are we going?
finethanks: (☆ 35)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-08 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Nowhere in particular.

[Exciting, right? He still gives Noctis a look for that impatient comment.] I have plenty of patience, you know? That's why I find enjoyment in something like this, where we walk until we've found somewhere nice and calm away from the rest.
heavyhead: (Default)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-09 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Okay Noctis is the one who's impatient, he'll cop to that.........]

Or we could go home. That'll be quiet.
finethanks: (☆ 12)

[personal profile] finethanks 2017-05-09 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
That wouldn't be quiet at all, since you'll likely start playing that game of yours.

[He says that with a playful sort of smile and moves on quickly from it.] Are you going to leave me to head home by yourself? That's not any fun at all.
heavyhead: (shock me like an electric eel??)

[personal profile] heavyhead 2017-05-09 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Don't test him, he can play and walk at the same time.]

Maybe I just don't like having to walk everywhere. Want me to say it's not you, it's me?

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