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

[dothelokimotion]

No doubt she got inspiration from her name.

[dust_of_life]

I'd never really thought of it that way before.

[She bites the inside of her cheek, tilting her head at him.]

How about you? Does your name inspire you to play pranks?

[dothelokimotion]

[ He shrugs. It seems graceless on a man like himself. ]

A few, when I was younger. I might have lost my touch now, but I do enjoy a tease now and then.

[dust_of_life]

That's the way it goes.

[She laughs.]

My senior class pulled a couple really shitty pranks on the school.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki attempts to parse that. He's never had schooling the ways mortals do and certainly he never had school mates. ]

How so?

[dust_of_life]

Oh, the old favorite.

Released three pigs in the halls with the numbers 1, 2, and 4 painted on their sides.

[She pauses.]

Where we managed to find the pigs, I'm still not sure.

[dothelokimotion]

No easy task I'm sure.

[ And probably not that normal any more among mortals, though who can say? ]

[dust_of_life]

[She shrugs.]

Guess we just wanted to go out with a bang.

[dothelokimotion]

I was . . . ah, homeschooled as you say. My brother and I did not have much in the way of school mates.

[dust_of_life]

[Her nose wrinkles up a little bit.]

Was there a reason your parents decided to go that route?

[dothelokimotion]

No.

[ Thor and Loki were princes. For obvious reasons, they could not be allowed to mingle with commoners. They had the finest clothes, the best teachers, everything one could ask for. But not much in the way of friendships.

Thor was Loki's only friend. He had no other. ]

It was a tradition and we rarely deviated from tradition.

[dust_of_life]

[Tradition. Fatima has a lot to say about tradition, most of it unkind. Which may be due to the fact that she's basically breaking thirteen generations of tradition in her own family line. Or it may be about the fact that the most sacred laws of the vampires are called 'Traditions.'

She's learning not to let her biases show so much in the multiverse. But the struggle is real.]

Well. I guess that explains why you know the Edda. They don't exactly teach that in public school.

[dothelokimotion]

My tutors were thorough. But I have a vested interest in words. Song, lyric, the beat of a poem. The weakness of a dialogue.

[ He is the wordsmith. Whatever his flaws are, he has not lost his power. And power must be maintained. ]

[dust_of_life]

[Well, that sounds like Auntie Diana.]

Is that what you do for a living?

[dothelokimotion]

Here? I'm a researcher at the Gramarye Research Facility.

[dust_of_life]

I meant before here but...

[She tilts her head.]

What, exactly, do they have you researching?

[dothelokimotion]

Magic.

[ His grin is faint. ]

[dust_of_life]

[She turns her face slightly, raising an eyebrow.]

You enjoyed that, didn't you?

Hoping to drop a mic on me?

[dothelokimotion]

What does mics have to do with anything?

[ That has lost him. ]

But yes, I suppose I did.

[dust_of_life]

[Fatima gives him a laugh. She would have done the same, really. Nothing more fun than showing off.]

Tell me about it.

Hang on.

[She reaches into her bag and pulls out a fraying notebook, quickly flipping through to a blank page.]

Okay. Magic. Go.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki gives her a flat look. ]

And where, precisely, am I meant to start?

[dust_of_life]

Do they have you researching blood-based magic or something involving an external power source?

[Fatima's already scribbling a few notes across the page.]

[dothelokimotion]

They've given me freedom in that regard. The facility is quite new and there isn't much to go on.

[ Unsurprisingly, since the main issues are with the perimeter. ]

[dust_of_life]

All right.

[She makes note of that.

A slightly smile expression nearly graces Fatima's features, but she keeps it in check. She's playing one of Arty's games. Figures there's a 50-50 chance it works.

Her voice remains calm and dispassionate.]

And what type of magic do you practice?

[dothelokimotion]

[ His lips twitch. ]

Magic is rarely relegated to types. I can manage a few tricks, nothing more.