riverviewlogs | 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

[A small furrow appears between his brows, he doesn't agree with the idea of anyone who isn't Steve carrying the shield, but this man isn't from his world and it's not for him to judge.

Except--]

It shouldn't be him.

[The other him. It should never be him.]

[Steve is surprised by that answer. He hadn't intended for Bucky to take the shield after him, but once he returned to find Bucky as Captain America, it seemed to make a lot of sense. He frowns at the way the man in front of him seems to solidly reject the whole idea.]

He's carried the shield for a while now. He's leading his team all right. I don't see any reason to take it back now.

[There might be just a lingering sadness in his voice, but it is faint.]

If the shield and Captain America really are symbols of hope, or something greater, then it should never be me-- him. Us.

[Hard to separate them when it comes to this particular instance, no matter their other differences.]

We have too much innocent blood on our hands.

[The frown of disapproval appears before Steve really finds the answer to why, but Bucky's words hit him close to the heart. He's quiet for a moment, because he does understand the pain Bucky is talking about. The struggle his friend went through that was ultimately his fault.]

We all have innocent blood on our hands. Some of us more than others, but... Bucky was my hope.

[For once he's not arguing or pushing his side. His reason isn't prompted by an ideal or greater cause. It's a soft answer, spoken as a man looking up at the symbol rather than speaking for it.]

[He has a feeling that his Steve would say the same as well. It makes him uncomfortable in a way that he can't name, angry and choked up all at the same time.]

Then you're a goddamn idiot.

[It's not said with any real heat, more tired than anything, as his body language closes off and he clearly prepares to leave.]

Maybe. But I wouldn't be standing here now if it weren't for him. At the very least I owe him the chance.

[And his Bucky has already proven himself. Steve watches as Bucky starts to retreat.]

You never asked if I deserve it.

I already know you do.

[He's Steve Rogers, and he's seen enough to know that he's not that different from his version of the man. It means he deserves it with no question, not because of the serum or his muscles, but because of who he is.]

You don't know that.

[Saying that comes out heavier than Steve intends. He does want to deserve the shield, however hard it might be to carry sometimes. And Steve gave it up because he knows that he falls short, no matter what this Bucky may believe. He isn't perfect. The living legend is a fluid image that one man can't always reach.]

Maybe I'm not really the person you think I am.

I don't think you're anyone, you're not the Steve I know, just like I'm not the Bucky that you know.

[It's one of the first times he's referred to himself by Bucky, even by proxy, and it makes his skin crawl.]

If you thought you deserved every second, you wouldn't. Trust me.

[ He can't help the way his heart clenches when Bucky says his own name. It hurts. Steve's muscles tense and he looks at Bucky like he's searching for something in him that might ease the pain. ]

The same is true for him, isn't it? He doesn't have to think he deserves it. He just does.

No, it's not the same. He doesn't deserve it, we'll never deserve that.

[Abruptly and angrily, Bucky turns and starts to stalk away, so done with this conversation.]

He deserves the chance.

[Steve is suddenly, acutely angry at Bucky for saying that. For claiming that he will never deserve better, when Steve believes he deserves everything to make up for how his life was stolen from him.]

He's my friend.

[It's just like Steve to be stupidly loyal, but being a friend doesn't make them worthy of that sort of mantle.

It doesn't matter what's said and done, he knows that nobody who has been through the Winter Soldier deserves to wield the shield, not properly, and so he ignores Steve completely to keep stalking away.

Sorry, pal.]

introductory mingle: MEMORIA

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