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

[ikols]

Never? Ah, well, the books are always better anyway. [ Instead of looking disappointed that no juicy morsel was upended, Loki's smile breaks on a laugh. ] Do you have something against cheesiness, Mister Cool?

[antietam]

Oh, you noticed? [ Apparently Mister Cool is a compliment he will accept. ] Cheesy icebreakers are a two-way street. If you're not participating, then I can't either.

[ More like they both just want to be secretive assholes. ] But you're still showing me the way to the pizza place, yeah?

[ikols]

No, I'm leading you into a back-alley to rob you of your pretty peepers.

[ Giving him a Look. ]

[antietam]

Given how little I know about you, it could be either. You are really obsessed with eyes. [ But he's still walking along with him and looking amused, so. ]

[ikols]

No, you're just gorgeous and I like looking at you. [ Have some solid honesty. ] You're a bit of a pain in the ass but, ah, I don't mind that either.

[ BADUMPSHHHH. ]

[antietam]

[ Is that direct enough? From the dumbfounded look he gives him, probably. It's a mixture of having never been flirted with so directly and also doubting that an alleged god would find him interesting in any way. ]

... Come on. Can't a guy like you do a little bit better? There are superheroes here and you're wasting solid lines on me.

[ikols]

[ Two supers are already in his pocket, so to speak (Tony and Billy) but he neglects to mention those ... evolving relationships. ]

What makes you so unworthy, Adam?

[antietam]

I didn't say that. [ Only sort of. He looks off. ] Just that there are more impressive people here. Unless you hit on every guy you meet?

[ikols]

[ Hmm, not missing that Look. ]

Not every guy. Sometimes women, too.

[ Which is a lie throughout; he hardly flirts at all. ]

[antietam]

[ He snorts. So that's how it is. ]

Equal opportunity, then. Respectable. Not sure how many bites you're gonna get during this grief festival, but I guess that's the challenge.

[ikols]

[ That prompts a genuine laugh which crinkles his eyes, the ridiculous notion too much for Loki to keep a straight face at. ]

How many hot babes can I pull while they're weepy? That's the spirit!

[antietam]

Literally, if you can catch them before they pass on. [ He nods to a lantern. Then laughs because that was horrible, in a few different senses. ]

Isn't that usually the point of these festivals, anyway? I heard about the last two.

[ikols]

[ Rubbing his eyes at the pun so as to keep his laughter down. It could become inappropriate fast but, luckily for them, they arrive at the hole-in-the-wall pizza bar on the streetside soon enough. Loki hops up on a stool. ]

I didn't take part much in the last one.

[ Another smooth, total lie, but this time because he's not eager to admit he lost himself to the magical dust. Not entirely, of course, he was lucid, but it all feels like a serious of stupid decisions in retrospect. ]

Here, see? They make the pizzas in front of you in that stone oven. What's your preference?

[antietam]

[ The pizza place distracts him enough that he doesn't ask any further about the festivals. Just the smell relaxes him and reminds him of sitting around a table with his friends, chatting around a deep dish.

He follows suit, eyeing the oven and then the menu. ] Fancy. I like sausage, but I'll eat mostly anything. Let me guess... anchovies? [ He's Nordic, right. ]

[ikols]

Ew, no way. Who eats anchovies? Meat feast! [ Clapping his hands together, he bows on his seat to the servers. ] Bring on the bacon-slathered dough!

[antietam]

—Please. [ A quick addition to the servers.

Then back to Loki: ] Don't get my hopes up. Is it really slathered with bacon? My best friend usually only wants avocado, so I think I've been missing out.

[ikols]

Your friend is a misguided fool, bacon really is magic.

[ Chinning a hand, he orders two drinks for them; only fruit juice, with manners and all in tow so that Adam doesn't need to entertain any on his behalf. Cute. ]

Do you usually only eat what your friend wants?

[antietam]

[ He eyes the fruit juice a little warily when it comes. He shouldn't be splurging, but splitting the costs will help. So he takes a sip. ]

We always get half-sausage, half-avocado. Deep dish. No bacon-crust allowed. Not that the place we go to would offer that anyway. It's got metal ovens, angry waitresses, and only sodas. [ He grins around his drink. ]

Tough competition.

[ikols]

Well, with me you can eat whatever you want. Out of curiosity, what was Avocado-Friend's name?

[antietam]

Gansey. He's not here or he'd have interrogated you worse than me. [ Which brings him down a little, but the pizza is set in front of them soon enough.

And Adam seems to abandon all polite pretenses in favor of digging in. He's a hungry teenage boy. ]

[ikols]

[ Loki nibbles his slice of pizza with a bit more decorum than Adam, the human trashcan. His attention remains on him, peering sidelong. ]

Do you love Gansey?

[antietam]

[ Shockingly, his eating habits come back to bite him when he chokes down a bite of pizza after the question. ]

What? God, no. I mean, he's like my brother, so... [ He's actually never considered if he loves Gansey in a familial way. That's too much to think about over pizza. ]

Do you really want to talk about your love life with a total stranger?

[ikols]

Why did your mind immediately go to romance?

[ Chinhanding the sight of Adam choking. ]

You can love your brother, you know.

[antietam]

[ He sets his pizza down and looks quite constipated. ]

I doubt that's what you meant. [ But romantic love is the only type he's experienced. ]

Why else would you care?

[ikols]

I don't, I'm just trying to get to know you.

[ Taking another bite, he shrugs and glances away carelessly. ]