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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( She stills at the mention of his father, grey eyes widening. And then she bows her head, expression vividly reflecting the empathy they had shared earlier. )

Then he must be more than simply a little proud of you. I have not found one single fault in your manners. He raised you well, and it does you both credit.

But I am simply myself, Jon Snow. There is— ( She hesitates, and then forges on. ) —a certain relief and peace in that.

Officially. A half-sister was born to a woman he met two years before I came along.

I don't know. I hope he would be proud of me.

[It's something that consumed his mind since he had broken his vows. How would Lord Stark respond or view his decisions? He wanted his father to be proud, but somehow that didn't seem likely.

Now, after coming back from the dead, it didn't seem as pressing as it once did.]

I understand. [Better than she might know.] I will call you 'Elizabeth', if you will let me.

[A bastard?]

Did you know her?

Was he good and kind to you in life? If so, then I believe you have your own answer.

( She has deduced this very simply, borne of a surety of having known her father her entire life long, and having also been secure in knowing she had his love. That she was the favourite of all his children.

And yet, not bearing his name nor the title she had inherited by having been born his daughter affords her relief she had never dreamed of. )

I can see it in your eyes. ( Which are beautiful. Her features soften, and she inclines her head. ) Then, I will. Please do.

( Indeed. )

Nay, I did not. My mother was, ah. Not at all fond of her, nor the others. One of them, Grace, was brought to court as her lady-in-waiting. I was not permitted to socialize overmuch with her, but she seemed a good, if quiet girl.

( Quiet, because of her mother. Elizabeth smiles, remembering the girl fondly. )

She looks a little like me.

He was.

[As much as he could be. While Lord Stark looked after him and cared for him, a part of him wondered. Was it the insecurity he had as a boy that made him suspect he wasn't treated in the same way by him as his siblings? He didn't know his mother either, the one thing he had wanted to talk to him about since he was a child.

However, it didn't remove how much he loved his father or how much it pained him to be without him.]

She was a bastard?

[Elizabeth's mother seemed to treat her husband's bastards in the same way Lady Stark had treated him. Rather than feeling anger at either woman, he felt only pity for them, but especially for Grace.]

It's the same with my sister and me.

Then he was proud of you. There is naught there to give cause for doubt.

( She says matter-of-factly, and does not linger on the subject. Elizabeth nods her head to his question, her smile turning into a wan, fragile thing. )

Yes. So am I, now. And all of my trueborn siblings. By "law." All the grumblings of my Lady Mother could not avert that.

( Now, she and Grace are not quite so different at all. She understands well his meaning, and decides to share that with him. )

Is she kind to you, your sister? I hope so. But the stroke of a pen differs the trueborn from those who are not in the end.

There were those who doubted my own father's legitimacy. Even his own brother. Do you know, though? My country knew peace and prosperity thanks to him that it had not in nearly half a century.

( What she means by sharing this with him is clear, and her smile brightens a little. ) We find ourselves somewhere our character may determine our worth, as well.

[He didn't know what to think about meeting another bastard. There weren't many highborn bastards, raised in the way he had been. The feelings it brought out in him were conflicted and too many to focus on.

He wishes he knew what to say to her about her own state, but words never came easy to him and there was little to say in regards to it. Eventually, the word loses meaning on its own.]

They both are. I have two.

[Where was Arya? Sansa had said she was out there in the world, but she hadn't come to find him at the Wall. Would she know it was safe to return home?]

It's clear you admire your father.

[He nodded. He had heard that at the Wall as well, but that hadn't exactly proven true. He was still a bastard to them there. It didn't matter where you went, it mattered how you responded.

Whether or not you made it your armor.]

I am glad to hear of it. I, myself have four whom were born of my mother and a further four more whom were not.

( It pains her still to exclude Mary. Even after all this time, the absence of her presence, her spirit, her smiles—stings. )

Mm, adore, more like.

( Elizabeth pauses, a frown marring her pretty face as the silence stretches onward. )

Have I given cause for offense? Please forgive me if I have.

Your father was very...[think of a good word] passionate.

[He knew of men like him. Supposedly King Robert was the same, jovial with a great love for life, including all its pleasures. Still, he didn't want to make assumptions or judge.

As he said, she seemed to care about her father.]

He raised you well.

[She had said it to him about Lord Stark, but the same could be said for her as well.]

No. I've never met other high born bastards before.

So the men of my family tend to be, though typically that manifests moreso in fits of foul temper. He did love my mother, though.

( Even as he had dishonoured her one time after the next, on and on until he had perished. That had certainly not impacted the passion he and her mother had shared in the marriage bed, if nine brothers and sisters are aught to show for it.

She blinks, and smiles sweetly. )

You are mind to say it. He was more present in my upbringing than was my mother.

( And knowing he had been a king, that is a sad statement to the character of her mother. )

Mm, well, perhaps we should have a care for one-another in this foreign land, then?

Was it a love match?

[It was such a rare thing in his world. Very few married for love and if they did, it didn't always end well. All he needed was to think of Robb, but that image alone was enough to turn his stomach.]

Your mother wasn't with you?

[It's hard to imagine a mother not looking after her true born daughter, as Lady Stark did.]

I think so.

It was. He met her on the side of the road while on campaign and loved her from the moment he saw her. Their tale is the stuff of legend now.

( She sighs, and fists a hand in the fabric of her skirt, blinking twice rapidly. )

Nay. My mother was unconcerned with her daughters, more like.

( Elizabeth Woodville would make Catelyn Stark seem as a paragon of virtue. )

Then I will, with pleasure.

That must have influenced your outlook on marriage.

[It was a simple fact. Sansa had been much the same. She heard the stories of legend and wanted it for herself.

Legends didn't have a way of living up to reality.]

She must still have loved you?

[He couldn't imagine any woman not loving all her children, no matter if they were boys or not.]

In dreams only. I was betrothed to many boys over the course of my girlhood. It was ever impressed upon me that I was apparently meant for greater things than being happy.

That is something meant only for widows lucky enough to lose their husbands young, I have found.

( Nevermind her cheekiness; it is simply that she chooses to take whatever shots she might at her mother now that she is so far removed from her presence. Which she now finds as having been like poison.

Heaving a sigh, she shakes her head. )

No. I have heard the gossip. When I was born, I was not the much-needed boy. She wept, and promised my father a boy 'next time' instead.

And now a crown and an uncomfortable chair mean more to her than all of us did. Even the boys.

( He has thankfully never encountered her mother. Elizabeth glances away, and adds quietly: )

But I do love her, in my way.

Happiness is hard to find, no matter what you were born as. I don't know very many who have lasting happiness.

Your parents were lucky.

[It was easy to imagine why Elizabeth would begrudge her mother that. It had been the same for Jon with Robb. While he never hated his brother, it had been frustrating to see his brother achieve what he wanted so easily.]

Life never goes the way it's planned. You might find something your parents didn't expect for you.

[He didn't know what to say to that. Lady Stark had been blessed to have three boys in near rapid succession. There was never any question about inheritance for him, but he could at least understand the feeling of not being wanted.]

I never knew my mother. I don't know if she wanted me or is dead. My father never spoke of her.

The plight of humanity as a whole, I suppose. A sad thing, if I may say so. The Church says one must suffer in this life to enter Heaven. But if God is at all merciful, I wonder at that very much.

Indeed, they were.

( She does not, could never hate her mother. Nor bear her any ill-will. Elizabeth envies her, and is hurt that she matters less to her than the boys, and less still than the throne and what power it entails. )

Well, I suppose my simply being in this place is such a thing, is it not? No one back home would ever believe it.

( His next words cause her to wince, and her expression softens enough to form a sad little frown. )

As a woman, I cannot imagine any woman not wanting a babe she has borne. Perhaps it was too sorrowful a thing for him to speak of.

Though I can imagine you will always wonder as a result. I am so sorry.

I don't wish to serve any gods that say suffering is the price we pay. [He has no love for the Red God or the practices the Red Woman followed.] Believe in the god that brings you comfort.

[None gave him that, but he wouldn't begrudge anyone who found comfort in faith.

He can't say anything in response to that. While he wants to believe the beautiful words, the truth might not be so sweet. How could he know? The only man that could tell him the truth was dead...and there was a part of him that didn't want to know.

If she didn't want him, better that he never learn of it and suffer because of it.]

I don't know if it's better to know or not know anymore. There is no way to change it.

In truth, neither do I. There is no way I could say such things at home. ( Here, however? She is far-removed enough from the Church to state as much. ) In that case, there is none.

( Features softening now, Elizabeth reaches out to once again grasp his hand. Her grasp is tentative, gentle; uncertain.

But her intent is obvious: to give comfort if she might. )

Fair enough, though it is clear to me that it continues to haunt you. It is only natural to wonder, and to hope that she loved you as all mothers should feel toward their child.

No god will bring you comfort? [He suspects that Sansa would say the same and, quite frankly, he would as well.] We're far removed from the gods of our worlds here as it.

[He flinches at the initial contact, but relaxes soon afterwards. These sorts of gestures had only existed with his family and close friends. He sensed though that Elizabeth was in need of comfort and looked to give it as well.]

The only opportunity to learn is lost to me, even if I wanted it. My father was the one person who knew her and he died.

No; and have not for several years now. ( Would that it were otherwise. But naught at all has brought her any measure of comfort, save for one thing: ) It is precisely that which does soothe me.

( It has ever been the same for her; yet her mother is not here to control her, nor her father to frown in disapproval. Or punish him for a gesture she has made. It does comfort her, and she exhales deeply, frowning in gentle concern. )

I am so very sorry. ( Her hand squeezes his gingerly. ) Would you rather speak of somewhat else?

[He wishes he could find something to take comfort in now. Leaving Winterfell so soon after reclaiming it, losing the only family he had left to him? He didn't realize until now how lonely he felt.

Elizabeth was kind and that was no small thing, not after a world full of ice and cruelty.

It was a bit overwhelming, the world and the feelings this memorial brought out in him. He needed to rest and absorb it all. He places his hand over hers, giving it a squeeze in return.]

I think I am going to return to my room. [A pause.] We'll speak again soon, I promise.

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introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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