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

[hellshot]

[At least he and Gladio would find something to agree on, there. It's easier to just not acknowledge death of those in your life and to just move forward. Not that he'd blurt something like that out to the other.]

'Your way'. [But he's apparently not against asking questions, it looks like.] And what exactly might be your way?

[As he decides whether or not to answer the others' question--deciding that the other would owe him an answer if he gave one of his own:]

...The old bag didn't give me a chance to refuse before shuffling off to take a nap or something. [...Not truthful in the least, but.]

[leatherdaddy]

[ His way. His way was more like not... dealing with it at all. ]

In my position I don't really have the luxury to stop and think about it all that much. I get over it and press on.

[ That is, until later on during the festival when everything he knows about his position changes, followed by a little sister who he can never deny gently pulling him into facing it. Not fun.

But upon hearing that someone like Reaper got conned into handing out these things by some 'old bag', Gladio's stormy expression relaxes into amusement. ]

Heh. I'm surprised you didn't just throw them out. You got a soft spot for the elderly or something? [ Teasingly: ] That's kind of cute.

[hellshot]

Don't call someone who's likely double your age 'cute.' [That's what he says instead of answering Gladio's question if he has a soft spot or the elderly or not, because he fucking can't.

The ghost of his long-passed on Abuela would have him hung by his toes if he fucking dared.]

'In your position'. Talk like that makes me wonder. Are you a mercenary or something?

[leatherdaddy]

[ Gladio grins, and this time it actually reaches his eyes. Banter can improve his mood, and he files 'old man' and 'geezer' into his verbal arsenal for later. Thanks for that, Reaper. ]

What, scars don't give it away?

[ But it's a fair question, there's a distinction between a man who has given up ties for personal gain or protection... and a man who has given both up for another's. Best to clarify what kind of man he is. ]

I used to be a bodyguard. King's Shield, actually.

Now it's... [ Complicated. Noctis doesn't need a Crownsguard, he needs a friend and tonight he kinda blew it in that regard. Just a week ago he was wondering if he'd ever see his friends again, and now that he's got them and more - his sister - he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut, had to have them both push each others' buttons as if that would help him deal. ] Well, here we are, right?

[ So much for not sharing his story. Gladio completely fails to notice, or willfully thinks this is different. Crosses his arms as he asks the next logical leap in conversation: ]

I take it with a name like yours, you're a mercenary.

[hellshot]

[He'll grump and gripe about being called old man later, and he'll only have himself to blame. But look at this, it's a conversation between the both of them that isn't filled with odd silences or bitter remarks. if there's something Reaper can enjoy, too, it's banter.

Even before he took up the mantle of The Reaper, he was good at bantering with men in his own military sect. So it was... oddly comfortable. He lets out a gruff sound, thinking about the others' answer.]

Who knows. Maybe you got your scars from some wild beast. Or you took an unnatural fall and landed on someone's sword. [He's even letting himself joke a bit, the dry sarcasm almost drying out his words.

'Here we are, right'? It's a sentence that hits hard home, at the very least--what with that's how he felt, too. Whatever they used to be, back home--it's hard to fit yourself into that role so far from home.]

Mercenary. Yes. I was working for a sect called Talon before I got here. So i suppose my job isn't really that much different than it was back home. Just with the perks of being able to walk around without having people scream in terror on my approach.