monthly mingle: FAJRO & LUNAR NEW YEAR

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: fajro & lunar new year
when: The month of February.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

fajro & lunar new year

In the days leading up to February 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Fajro and the Lunar New Year. This is a combination of various traditions from several different universes, all of which involve cleaning house, physically and metaphorically, in preparation for the upcoming spring and summer months. The traditions associated with these celebrations involve getting rid of clutter and unnecessary junk that is then burned in large bonfires along the beaches, clearing the air of lingering resentments and old wounds with magical penalties for those who choose not to share, and a broad sampling of Lunar New Year traditions from a variety of cultures.

an opportunity to shed negative energy

There's nothing that's more detrimental to the forming of a good, solid community than lingering resentment and anger - this is something that most residents of the Quarantine tend to agree on. In recognition of that fact, Fajro is geared toward cleaning out the negativity, getting rid of clutter and trash in the home, body, and mind. Residents do spring cleaning in their homes and businesses and either give away or burn the things that they don't need and that are only serving to add an extra burden. Likewise, residents are encouraged to clear the air with friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else interacted with on a frequent basis. The second half of the month is taken up with the Lunar New Year, which is an almost universal tradition in this reality, and focuses on letting go of negative energy and welcoming positive energy into life going into the new year.

i.cleaning house

The first thing that most residents do during the month of Fajro is cleaning house. This means going through all the junk in the house, all the little things that clutter up a place, and clearing them out. A commonly-heard saying in the Quarantine during Fajro cleanup is "does this bring me joy?", a proverb that encapsulates the meaning of the tradition - to shed the parts of the past that bring pain or add to a person's burden, and keep only what brings joy into each person's life. The rest is either thrown away and burned, or donated to bring joy to someone else's life.

After the cleaning is complete, residents carry what they no longer want or need to the beaches of the river, where bonfires are set up each night for two weeks, in order to burn the excess and let the ash float down the river, a symbolic city-wide purging of bad memories, pain, and burdens.

ii. clearing the air

Another tradition in the Quarantine during Fajro is to clear the air with friends, family, acquaintances, coworkers, teammates, or anyone else that takes up space in a person's life. Every relationship comes with some amount of resentment, and the residents of the Quarantine take pride in being able to shed that resentment every year, to start fresh on relationships, building them into something newer and healthier. However, with every wave of new people that arrive during a year, there's a common pattern - those who haven't yet fully come to accept this particular tradition may avoid airing their grievances. Whether it's because they don't care to understand what they're feeling, don't acknowledge the resentment, want to appear strong and unaffected, or just because they don't like confrontation, there are any number of reasons people might choose to keep their hurts and resentments to themselves.

Of course, that doesn't really lend itself to clearing the air, so several of the higher-ups at Gramarye Magic Research came to a quick and easy solution in the form of a magically-infused mist that falls over the city on the morning of February 1st, which will burn off by the evening of February 3rd. Anyone who inhales the mist or absorbs it through their skin by going outdoors or being close to doors, windows, or air vents, during the first few days of February will find themselves thinking more often of the things that have hurt them, the resentments they've built up, and the desire to talk about them, to excise them. Starting on February 15th, any character who has been exposed to the mist and who has still kept their grievances bottled up will find themselves...afflicted with something very uncomfortable to remind them of how unhealthy it is to keep things to oneself and let them fester.

Afflictions can vary in scope depending on how thoroughly the character was exposed to the mist, how intense their feelings of resentment lie, and most of all, player preference. They are primarily physical effects that can range from mildly embarrassing to extremely uncomfortable. Whether it's the addition of a tail or horns, skin that changes color depending on the character's mood, loss of a sense, or any other physical effect, the sky's the limit. Afflictions should be something the character finds uncomfortable, and will last until February 28th or until the character clears the air, whichever comes first. Talking to a third party about their feelings of resentment will provide a temporary relief from the symptoms of the affliction, but the only way to permanently remove it is to talk directly to the source of the problems. If a character carries feelings of resentment toward someone who is not in the game, having a deep conversation with someone in the Quarantine will permanently clear or preempt the affliction.

iii. lunar new year

Originally, Fajro was celebrated all on its own in the Quarantine, but over the years, the traditions have evolved - the major change that's happened in the past decade or so is the addition of an entire other set of traditions surrounding the Lunar New Year, the celebration of which has proved to be a pretty universal constant across many different planets and in many different universes. Lunar New Year is celebrated with special food, activities, and street markets that pop up across the Quarantine throughout the month of February.

This year, the patron animal of the Lunar New Year is the dog, so residents are encouraged to bring their canines out with them to be spoiled, dressed up, and primped.

Thank you to Mari and Anna for suggesting the celebration and submitting the activities and images for this prompt!

hound town

Anyone wandering the city will find it beautifully decorated with beautiful red lanterns, and paper or cloth dog effigies. There are lots of stalls selling adorable themed dog clothing. At night, the red lanterns light up the streets, bathing them in a warm orange-red glow each night.

The entire city looks festive, and residents can be seen wearing red and gold or dog-themed clothing, strolling through the night markets with their pet dogs, sharing drinks of warm alcohol or other warm beverages. Booths selling a small toy called a jegi can be found very commonly, along with instructions on how to play the traditional Lunar New Year game, jegichagi (video), which involves kicking the jegi to keep it from falling to the ground, with the winner being the one to keep it up for the longest number of kicks.

Other booths are selling a wide variety of dog-themed items, red lanterns for residents to carry around on sticks, and giving away some very special red lanterns that the sellers will advise residents to hang onto for later in the season...

wish lanterns

Toward the end of the festival, the special red lanterns that residents received will start to glow, displaying a set of instructions outlined in magical light on the shade - residents are encouraged to take the lanterns down to the beaches by the Fajro bonfires on the last night of the celebration, and whisper to them a wish. Once the wish has been whispered to the lantern, it will lift into the air, hanging there for a few moments with all the other lanterns. For a few moments, the night sky will be alight with bobbing lanterns.

And then they will all pop into an explosion of colorful confetti, showering the crowd below. Anyone standing in the crowd who gets showered with confetti will feel a glowing wave of positive energy sweep through them.

street food and games

Street food is very popular in Riverview, and special food for the Lunar New Year is no exception, and considering how many different cultures and alternate realities have some version of a celebration for the Lunar New Year, there are a ton of seasonal snacks that are being sold from carts and featured in restaurants throughout the city. While you can find just about anything that's ever been associated with the Lunar New Year, some of the most popular dishes are sliced rice cake soup, savory pancakes, a cooked vegetarian salad, stuffed sticky rice cakes, and beautiful candy boxes that are usually given as gifts or brought to Lunar New Year parties. Besides these treats, tiny citrus fruits ranging from mandarin oranges to tangerines to any alien variety of small citrus.

And for people who bring their dogs along, many stalls are giving away complimentary biscuits for them, with the option to buy boxes or gift packs of the biscuits to take home.

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: Roman Ignatowski; image ii: Jan Vavrusa; image iii: Federico Belingheri; image iv: Yuechi Lee

navigation

Comments

Amilyn Holdo | OTA

[protectingthelight]

ii. clearing the air
After Amilyn's first meeting with Kylo—with Ben, damn it—she avoided him, and avoided him even more studiously in the wake of her conversation with Leia. What could she even say to him, anyway? Look what you've done to your mother barely began to cover it.

So it's not really surprising that when mid-February rolls around, things start happening. It starts out with a paralysis in her left hand, which at first fills her with horror and alarm until a combination of a medical scan and finding out about the mist puts her—not exactly at ease, but at least explains it enough that she isn't afraid that she's had a stroke. Then the throbbing headache starts, which waxes and wanes with the day in a mostly predictable fashion. And finally, most embarrassingly, she wakes up one morning to find that a small, palm-sized pair of Bantha-like horns have sprouted from her temples.

There's nothing for it. She has to talk to the boy. (Man, very well. But still a boy to her, all the more so now.)

[ Primarily this is meant for Kylo Ren, but anyone is welcome to talk to her while she's afflicted, before her confrontation with him. ]

iii. wish lanterns
She takes her lantern down to the beach with everyone else. What will she wish for? It's obvious, of course. There is a whispered prayer for the survival and victory of the Resistance, and then she lets the lantern go.

wildcard
[ Before her clearing-the-air symptoms kick in and after she finally gives Kylo a piece of her mind, Amilyn will be out and about, participating in the various festivities and also happily greeting and playing with any canines that come her way. ]

lanterns;

[tanker]

He doesn't mean to eavesdrop - blame his enhanced senses for it, but he picks up on the whispered words, talking about a resistance, and he turns immediately, eyes finding the statuesque, almost-ethereal looking woman standing only a few feet away, releasing her own lantern to the sky. He digs his hands in his pockets, taking the few steps between them.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, don't mean to intrude, but - I heard you mention a Resistance. You're a freedom fighter?"

[protectingthelight]

She turns, sizing him up with a glance. Young, but with the look of someone who's seen things, done things. She nods.

"I was. Though perhaps I still am; it's not something you ever stop, in a way." She offers her hand. "Amilyn Holdo."

[tanker]

"No, it isn't. Even here, where me and my kind are free, I still feel like I should fight for the right to be."

He nods his understanding, shaking her hand when she offers it - careful and conscious of being firm without putting too much strength in it. It wouldn't do to break her hand.

"John Proudstar."

[protectingthelight]

"A pleasure to meet you." She wonders briefly if she imagined caution in his touch, but shrugs it off. Physically powerful men can be like that, sometimes. "If you don't mind my asking—'your kind'?"

[tanker]

He shakes his head, all too used to the question. He doesn't look different than any other human, after all - unlike Shatter, or Clarice. If he wanted to, he could pretend he was just an average guy.

He didn't want to pretend.

"I'm a Mutant. Where I come from, we carry this mutated gene that most humans don't, and it gives us... abilities."

There is something about her - something he can't quite put his finger on, but he feels like she comes from a world entirely different from his own.

"So, technically, we're not exactly human."

[protectingthelight]

She tilts her head slightly, trying to get her head around this idea.

"Where I'm from," she says, a little cautiously at first, "there are humans like me, of course, but we mix freely with other species that look nothing like us, and it's ... rather ordinary. That someone would be shunned for not being 'human'—that's strange to me. And terribly wrong. Not that prejudice doesn't exist here and there, but mostly—" She looks at him, saddened and sympathetic. "That's a terrible thing to have to fight against."

[tanker]

John pushes his hands in his pockets, looking down at his boots for a moment. A world without the kind of hate his own is full of feels like an utopia, to him, but she did say she is a fighter, herself. There's a Resistance, where she's from, but for what?

"Back home, humans are scared of what they can't control, and what they think can take power from them. And some Mutants do want that - supremacy, but most of us just want to live our lives, without being discriminated against."

Peaceful types like Shatter, that can't even walk out in the street without risking their lives. People like Clarice, running her whole life.

"What do you fight against, if not prejudice?"

[protectingthelight]

"Tyranny." She starts to say more, then pauses. "Walk with me?" She nods along the shore. "It's not a short story; if you want to go all the way back, it starts before I was born."

II

[killthepast]

At the best of times, Kylo Ren is barely holding it together. At the best of times, he's seconds away from coming apart at the (poorly, haphazardly stitched) seams.

Right now, he's so far from his best that it's just... kind of pathetic. Especially when one considers his position. He struck down Snoke, one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. He is now the Supreme Leader. The Resistance has been whittled down to a handful of stubborn rebels, and he knows they'll be unable to escape the inevitable creep of their demise, no matter how much they run...

He should feel victorious. Instead, he's a bundle of misery. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Only now he's faced with the prospect of independence, in a way he's never experienced before. No Masters, just... himself and his own will.

And he has no idea what to do with it.

When Holdo goes looking for him, he can be found in one of the communal kitchens, nursing some tea because... well. He's got one hell of a hangover.

EVERYTHING HURTS. Go away. He doesn't even notice the horns at first, because he's too busy closing his eyes against the too-bright lights, scowling, ready to tell this phantom of his past to just leave, before he ends her.

[protectingthelight]

He looks as bad as she feels, she thinks. Because the headache is starting to peak again and she can't use her left hand, so she's not very happy ... and her patience for bantha excrement is at an all-time low.

She doesn't hesitate. Just pulls out a chair, plops it down in front of him, and seats herself.

"We need to talk."

[killthepast]

Even before he opens his eyes, his expression twists into a scowl. And then he looks at her, eyes dark with his usual resentment, before he takes in the horns, and curiosity briefly flickers across his face. Well... that's new. If they weren't so clearly sprouting from her skull, he'd have half a mind to snidely ask if it's some new and unusual fashion trend she's sporting.

Except their relationship isn't what it was when he was a boy. They're enemies now. She's Resistance scum.

And he has no idea she was the one responsible for the damage to the Supremacy. No idea that she's as dead as his father and his mother.

(He also has no idea that his mother's still alive, okay.)

"We don't."

[protectingthelight]

She pinches the bridge of her nose.

"All right. Maybe we don't. But I do." She leans forward, useless left hand clasped in her right, and tries to look him square in the eye.

"I've spoken to Leia. I know what happened, what you did. And I know who you are now. Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to simply hate you?"

[killthepast]

Though his gaze flickers down to her hands, briefly, Ren looks up at his mother's friend, holding her gaze, trying to be Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order. Trying not to wilt into Ben Solo, the boy who used to find her so fascinating and fierce-- inspiring, actually, in her refusal to blend in.

He used to admire her nonconformity.

"Do you, now?" he questions, voice softly contemptuous. "And what did my mother tell you?"

That he, unprovoked, murdered his fellow students and burned his uncle's Jedi temple to the ground, no doubt.

"You should hate me."

[protectingthelight]

"It would certainly be easier for both of us," she says. "Hate is so simple. So direct. And so suitable for someone who's broken his mother's heart in more ways than any human should bear. Luke, his apprentices, Han ..." She pauses for a breath; holding his gaze, she realizes, is not easy. He's clearly not at one hundred percent, though, and she wonders what it would be like if he were. Probably impossible.

"Not to mention the terror you've wreaked across the galaxy as Snope's attack dog," she says, and immediately wishes she hadn't gone for the insult. Even if it's exactly how she thinks of him.

[killthepast]

His own gaze remains steady, anger rising with each example she gives. He broke his mother's heart, as if she's blameless, as if she didn't fail him by always putting her causes before him. As if she didn't send him away. And Luke, his uncle, a man he once regarded as a second father... A man who saw him as so monstrous that he'd have him put down in his sleep. The only apprentices he'd killed were those who stood with his would-be assassin; the rest still live as the Knights of Ren.

("I failed you, Ben. I'm sorry." The words still ring in his head, haunting him, despite his attempts at drowning them out.)

He holds her gaze with defiance until that final utterance. Han. It's only then that his inner hurt and conflict spells itself out in the way his breath catches for a moment, and his stare wavers, breaks, so that she can't see it in his eyes.

The insult snaps him back into himself. It gives him the strength to be Kylo Ren.

"You're right. I did all of those things." Broke his mother's heart, destroyed lives, wreaked terror across the galaxy. There's no lie there, even if that only scratches at the surface of the story. He leans forward, his voice earnest, but insistent. "There's no light in me. So hate me."

iii. wish lanterns

[luckyescape]

Freya can't bring herself to release her lantern into the sky. It's beautiful but it's also complicated. What could she possibly wish for? Maybe something frivolous or silly... this doesn't seem like that kind of event.

Her head turns and her stormy gray eyes focus on the woman standing next to her. Freya inhales and picks up the woman's perfume as she takes a small step closer. Maybe it isn't perfume, maybe that's just how she smells. Whatever it is, it's nice. "Hey." Her voice is light, cautious and curious. "What did you wish for?"

Freya is barefoot, her tank-top revealing a wide collection of tattoos on her arms and shoulders. Her blond hair is long and hanging in a messy tangle between the thin set of her shoulders.

[protectingthelight]

Holdo is still looking up at her lantern as it drifts up to the sky. "For the survival of hope," she says. Tears blur her vision for a moment; she blinks them away, and now she can't tell her lantern from the others in the sky. She lowers her gaze, turns to look at the young woman next to her. "Well. A little more specifically than that, but—that's the essence of it."

[luckyescape]

"Hope, huh?"

Freya turned towards her attention towards the lanterns, her eyes alight with the many lights that dot the night sky. "That sounds very vague." Vague and idealistic. From Freya's experience, war brought out the darkest sides of people. Human and non-human alike.

"It's nice though." Sometimes she wished the world was that black and white. That hope was all you needed to keep going.

[protectingthelight]

She smiles a little. "I suppose it is." A pause, and then, for whatever reason, she decides to elaborate, at least a little. "There are people—friends I've left behind, in the middle of a war. I'll never be able to return to them. I'm not sure a little wish here can do much, but—it can't hurt, can it?"

[luckyescape]

"I mean... it might but it probably won't hurt." Freya was sometimes depressingly overly practical. If something from this world can help then it can theoretically also hurt too. Things rarely went in one direction and nothing was completely linear. Fate was filled with twists and turns along it's path.

"But, I like it. The way you think. I don't think I've ever had hope like that." Which was fine for Freya. She survive the way she knew how; running from place to place without ever looking back.

[protectingthelight]

Hope is like the sun...

She almost says it, but there's a faint bitterness to the words that wasn't there before, even though she still believes it. "Never?" she says. "That sounds like an unkind world to live in."

[luckyescape]

"Not completely unkind." Freya replied with a shrug, her eyes taking in the sight of the lights that dotted the heavens. "Everyone is involved in their own stuff and living their lives in the best way that they possibly can. Hope is something that is inspired when you need it and ignored when you don't. Sometimes it's there and people try to ignore it because they want to be sad, because when their sad, it reminds them that they're still alive."

She grimaced. "That got depressing. I actually didn't mean it in a depressing way, just that everyone is different. We all view the world differently. Things suck but I'm not sad so I don't need hope. When I need it, I'm sure it'll be there."

Freya wasn't sure where she was going with that.

Wish Lanterns

[thesavior]

Emma wouldn't say that she was getting used to this place completely, but she was learning how to live confined in a place like this. She had missed last months gathering because of Lucy, but thought that it was a good idea to put in an appearance at this gathering. The mood was somber but that suited Emma just fine, she wasn't the most happy go lucky people on the best of days so she meshed well with the mood on this night.

Emma regretted a great many things in her life, many of which she could never begin to repair. Her thoughts drifted to Neal as they often did on days like today. She let go of most of the guilt surrounding his death, but part of her wished there was something she could have done, a way to save him. She stood near Holdo, a lantern in her hand.

"This is nice, don't you think?"

[protectingthelight]

She nods in agreement. She's let her own lantern go a while ago, but hasn't wanted to go home, and is still watching as others let their own go.

"I've seen similar rituals all over the galaxy," she says. "Letting lights go down a river in tiny paper boats, firing arrows into the ocean, even dropping lighted coals down into wells. For letting go of troubles or making wishes or sending good thoughts into the world. This is one of the prettier ones I've seen, I think."