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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It dulls over time, but it's always there. The same way the joy and delight will always be there. Everything ends someday, you know? You can't stop that, and you can't let it stop you from beginning things.

[He lifts a shoulder slightly in the mildest of shrugs, turning a hand palm-up towards her in silent invitation. Did she want to share? He'd listen gladly.]

An endless spiral of death and birth.

[Not the first time she used this phrase, but now 2B sounds a little puzzled. Like if there was something more to it and she didn't fully grasp it.

Seeing that inviting motion, she shakes her head ever so slightly, with a sigh.]

THeir own stories, is it... everyone in my world must have an untold number of them.

I didn't come from a peaceful place.

I didn't guess you did. [A robot that fights -- maybe somewhere out there, in a perfect world, AIs have full rights and autonomy immediately after creation and can feel free to peacefully choose a study of martial arts, but Morgan wouldn't lay two cents on a bet that any robot like 2B is from such a world. And his net worth is astronomical.] On the other hand... I'm not saying that the state of your world is a good thing, but good things can still come out of it because of what it is, if you think about it.

[2B isn't sure what she expected, but not this. Morgan's last sentence was positively puzzling. She quickly turns her head in reaction, but the actual response doesn't come until only a second later.]

Because of what it is...? What do you mean?

Well, if you didn't know how to fight, we wouldn't have had a good spar... and we wouldn't be sitting here talking over a drinking bird.

[He shrugs slightly, cocking an elbow over the back of his chair.]

It's a good thing, that came about only because of bad things.

I... see...

[That's one way to look at it. Really makes you think, which 2B continues to do.]

Circumstances brought us here. Who knows what would happen if they were different.

Yep. The lives we lived, every piece of them, led to us sitting her being friends. I won't say everything was good, but that's a good thing, and I'll be damned if anything takes that away.

[Really, that's the secret. Never forget the good. Accept the bad that comes.]

[It was a very hard lesson to learn, and here on Memoria, Morgan is proud to live it.]

I suppose.

So much had to happen before we met, though.

[Was it worth it? Would 2B do things differently in her past if she knew it means she won't end up in the Quarantine, a place that feels like a paradise compared to her earlier life?

She can't be sure. She knows only one thing.]

No, nevermind that. Thinking about what-ifs is unnecessary.

The past already happened, didn't it? I only have the present to live in now.

Right. Exactly. [Morgan hit the table lightly with a fist, coincidentally in time with the clatter from the bird as its dive tapped the side of the bowl.] No matter what led you here and how bad it was, a good thing has happened. And it will end someday, which will be bad, but the point still remains, a good thing happened. Is happening. Will continue for a while if I have anything to say about it!

[2B tilts her head, questioningly. Instead of asking anything though she allows herself to a light, somewhat melancholic smile.]

You have a really positive attitude, don't you.

[Well, it's a smile, even if not much of one. That seems like progress.]

[(Did she have some laborious process of 'learning to understand emotions' she had to go through? Was she activated as basically an adult mind in an adult body, without a learning process? He has so many questions!)]

I earned it the hard way, trust me.

Understood.

[2B sighs, but it's a sigh of relief. It seems like she's happy with just sitting there for the moment, not saying anything more. Just one artificial creation of man on the chair, right next to another one dipping its beak into water on the table.]

[Good timing, too; the food Morgan had popped by the counter to order now at last ends up at the table, brought by a girl Morgan flashes a grin to before he spread out his affair.]

So if it's not too personal a question, what do you do for energy? [He has to ask, because eating about two meal's worth of food right here while she doesn't eat at all feels mighty strange.]

It's not.

[The silence of the moment is broken but 2B doesn't seem to mind.]

As an android I have a system for breaking down water to provide power and sustenance. Technically it works for other liquids and foods too.

However, the further from pure water they are, the more troublesome the process is. For certain foods it can even be lethal.

[Silences that go on too long can sometimes be dangerous. Besides, this is a chance to learn more about her, which Morgan will gladly take.]

Just hydrogen and oxygen, huh? [Fuel cell technology?] That's really useful!

[And then he stops, nearly snorts a fry, and has to duck behind an arm to try to get his composure back.] Oh my God, and I gave you the drinking bird--!

Yes. Just like the bird, I too can survive for hours from just a single glass of water.

[It's hard to say if she's joking or not.]

Hey, I'm with you. Keep me hydrated and I can keep going for a few hours too.

[Morgan, with a wink, has apparently decided to see if 2B is more inclined to recognize and respond to flirtation outside or a spar.]

I assume eventually you will need more than just water, though.

[She sounds pretty laid back, as much as 2B can be anyway. It's hard to say if she's receptive or just hanging out casually though.]

[He'll be damned if he knows. But hey, the challenge is part of the appeal, isn't it?]

Yep. That's for before and after, though. No need to interrupt!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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