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riverviewlogs2018-02-01 10:29 pm
- !mod post: holiday,
- !mod post: monthly mingle,
- legend of zelda (botw): zelda,
- logan: laura,
- magnificent seven: billy rocks,
- once upon a time: victor frankenstein,
- original: shigeru miyata,
- ppz: elizabeth bennet,
- star trek (aos): james kirk,
- star wars: poe dameron,
- vikings: gyda ragnarsdottir,
- ✖ animorphs: marco,
- ✖ dctv (flash): cisco ramon,
- ✖ legend of zelda (botw): link,
- ✖ miraculous ladybug: marinette (ladybug,
- ✖ mutant x: brennan mulwray,
- ✖ my hero academia: toshinori yagi,
- ✖ original: freya vaughn,
- ✖ original: minsu oh,
- ✖ original: rosalina nurumi,
- ✖ osomatsu-san: osomatsu matsuno,
- ✖ persona 3: makoto yuuki,
- ✖ the finder: willa monday,
- ✖ the raven cycle: blue sargent,
- ✖ the raven cycle: ronan lynch
monthly mingle: FAJRO & LUNAR NEW YEAR
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
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.
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.
Credit: image i: Roman Ignatowski; image ii: Jan Vavrusa; image iii: Federico Belingheri; image iv: Yuechi Lee
i. housekeeping!
She should have been helping, but instead was much more content sitting firmly on her butt doing the very opposite.
"You should clean this stuff up more than just once a century." She offered up (helpfully!) just as Ronan had set down the box he was carrying, looking between him and one of the items that had fallen overboard a few feet behind him. "You'd probably have at least half as many boxes that way."
She paused a beat. "You dropped that."
no subject
It knocked a dog's food bowl over. The metal clanged as it hit the ground. Once it came to a rest, its flaw was apparent: a heart shaped hole at the bottom. Anatomically correct heart shaped hole, actually.
"This is like four month's worth. So unless you're volunteering to come once a week to get rid of my dream crap, you can shut up."
In other words, Ronan had missed her.
no subject
"I'm not." She paused, one of her brows lifting curiously at the heartless dog bowl. (She's not quite sure what sort of purpose it could have had, but over time Blue had learned that very few of Ronan's dream things had real purpose. Some were simply nonsensical for the sake of being nonsensical.
"But, you could always give it a try. It is all of your dream crap." Taking a few quick steps, she closes the distance between herself and Ronan, picking up another dream item that had fallen from the heap -- a glass sphere with floating orbs of light dancing inside of it.
no subject
"And stick a target over my head with weekly bonfires? No way." Ronan held out his hand in a wordless demand and with a glare that said 'that's mine.' His trash was not going to be another man's treasure.
Chainsaw decided not to help by flying over to Blue and trying to land on her hand. Her attention was captured by the lights as she pecked at it with her beak, totally blowing his moment. He'd need to have a talk with that bird.
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"Are you really a target here, too?" She knew for a fact that there were people back home who wanted Ronan as some kind of human-dream-vending-machine, or some sort of magical-object-museum-exhibit.
But here, too?
With Chainsaw landing right on her hand, Blue's thought were easily pulled away and she smiled wide, using her opposite hand to gently pet the bird's back. "Ah, I was just wondering where you'd gone off to."
no subject
His father had trained him well. Better than he'd trained himself.
Since Blue was so intent on keeping the damn orb and Chainsaw was in the way, he let her keep it. He bent to pick up the box again. "Stop harassing my bird."
Chainsaw looked far from harassed.
no subject
Someone only knew as much as Ronan wanted them to know. Which usually was as little as possible.
"I'm not harassing her." Blue chimed matter-of-factly, holding out the orb for Chainsaw to investigate further. "I think she missed me, too."
And yes, that was, in fact, the biggest shit-eating grin on Blue's face as she spoke.
no subject
"She likes shiny dream shit. Do you need me to pop the balloon that makes up your fat head." He didn't say it unkindly, considering the words themselves were.
no subject
(And for no other reason than probably to annoy Ronan even further, Blue took up the task of talking to the raven in the same annoyingly saccharine tone used with babies and puppies.)
"It's okay, Chainsaw. I missed you, too." Blue grinned, pointedly ignoring Ronan's comment before plopping down right where she stood, taking a seat and completely giving up the orb to Chainsaw.
"Why are you getting rid of all this, anyway? You don't keep everything you dream?"
no subject
"Because it's garbage, Sargent." Ronan balanced the box on one of his knees and grabbed what looked like a battery from the top of the pile. "See this? Couldn't power a toaster." He reached in again and pulled out a dog bed this time. He let it fall to the ground so that the metallic clang spoke for itself. It only looked soft. "No one's going to want to sleep on that. Not everything I dream is a work of art."
no subject
The useless battery pulled a short chuckle from her, while the undercover-metal dog bed visibly startled her when it clattered loudly against the ground. She supposed she could see Ronan's point, even an artist didn't paint a masterpiece every time.
"You aren't worried about someone finding them? Poking around and figuring out where they came from?"
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And Chainsaw. He was still sore about her. Just like she was still playing happily with their friend. Her friend. He meant her friend.
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Then again, sometimes the easiest answers were the right ones.
Rarely, but sometimes.
"How do you know the fire will work? What if you take it all down there, throw it in and it comes out just the same?" Not to rain on your parade or anything, Ronan, but Blue was simply trying to cover all the bases. "I hope you've dug a really big hole, just in case."
no subject
The strain from holding the box for this long was getting to him. He picked up the pace, not checking to see if Blue was keeping up.