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

[earthy]

About a month ago... I got pulled in around then, too. [He hasn't been keeping count of the days.] Or a little later, actually...

[He reaches for the lantern, his expression pensive. Yeah, some people have been here for quite a while... That was their choice, their decision. To start a new life in Riverview rather than go back to where they came from.]

Are you planning on staying?

[howlongiwonder]

... No. Not any longer than necessary.

[The words escape 2B's mouth with some hesitation, but in the end, it was never a secret to anyone she knows. She will go back, certainly.]

I'll just have to make sure bringing me here wasn't a waste, first.

[earthy]

Make sure bringing you here wasn't a waste? You mean, doing the work they require? The... community service?

[There's a hint of frustration there in those last two words... but only a hint.]

[howlongiwonder]

Something like that.

[Does she notice the frustrated tone? If she does, she doesn't comment on it.]

My assistance here is also, in a way, a part of that. It's no problem.

[earthy]

[Terra thinks he understands.]

I've been doing everything I can to get back, too.

[He turns the lantern in his hands, absently checking it for damage.]

All of this is wrong. This... taking people from their worlds business.

[The frustration sticks in his voice but doesn't graduate to any kind of real anger. He's come to find out it's a pretty complicated situation, in general and for some people specifically. Like people who have nothing to go back to.]

[howlongiwonder]

It's a selfish thing, isn't it? Force your will on others to save yourself.

But this kind of thing happens all the time, not just here. Everywhere. At least the local authorities allow you to eventually go back...

[Hard to say if 2B is happy with how the Quarantine is being run or not. Mostly she sounds melancholic right now.]

[earthy]

[Terra's eyes narrow and his fingertips dig against the lantern.]

Yeah... [He doesn't think anything quite like this has ever happened where he's from... He would have heard about it and been sent to stop it, if it had.

But this definitely isn't the first time someone's tried to save themselves by forcing their will on someone else, that's for sure.

She has a point about them at least being willing to let people go, too. How much worse would this all be if they were just trapping people here indefinitely, refusing to give them any say in their fate?

... Anyway.]

I should get this lantern back to the old woman. Thanks again for your help, Toobee. [... He'll figure out the spelling someday.]

[howlongiwonder]

It's no problem.

[She mentions offhandedly. It looks like this is where they part ways, except 2B stops to add...]

Regardless of how the world might be, remember this.

You helped get the lantern back not because you were told to. You decided to do it by yourself.

[earthy]

[His eyebrows furrow at that but he musters up another nod. He'll... give her words some thought.

With a final duck of his head that's a bit more of a bow than the last, he turns and heads off into the crowd...

... Only to hurry back a moment later with an extra lantern someone was giving away. He sets it next to the snoozing cat.

(If nothing else, it might keep the cat from stealing from someone else.)

Then Terra's off for good.]