introductory mingle: FEAST OF THE DYING

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Feast of the Dying
when: Feast of the Dying from October 1st-8th; various other prompts over the whole month of October.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

feast of the dying

In the days leading up to October 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: the Feast of the Dying. There is an old, widely-known, and widely-believed superstition or proverb in Riverview Quarantine: 'The greater your fear of death, the easier it is for death to find you.' This is a cornerstone belief of a lot of the residents of the Quarantine, most of whom have survived intensely difficult and violent pasts on their own worlds and who are still willing and eager to throw themselves into exploring and settling new worlds, starting their lives fresh. To honor this spirit, the Feast of the Dying is a celebration of the transition between life and death, an opportunity to face death both figuratively and literally, and come out on top.

celebrating the transition from life to death

During the month of October, a particular natural phenomenon on the moon weakens the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead, allowing for the crossover of those dead into the world of the living, with ghosts from the pasts of both the residents and the Quarantine itself to take corporeal form. The festivities during this time feature tests of courage in highly haunted places, escape rooms both virtual and physical with varying levels of danger, and the week-long Feast of the Dying itself, between October 1st and 8th this year.

i. ghosts from the past

During the 10th month of every year on the moon, due to a complex series of chemical, electromagnetic, and magical forces that no one has ever exactly distinguished or completely understands, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead are weakened almost to the point of nonexistence. During this time, residents of the moon are able to see and interact with the dead - ghosts, manifesting in ways that run the gamut from being a strange sense of being watched or being visible or audible all the way to more corporeal spirits that can affect the world around them. The barriers are weaker in some parts of the city than they are in others, with some areas experiencing little to no ghost activity, while others are so populated with these ghosts that residents can barely go a few feet without running into one. The ghosts are generally the unsettled dead, people who died violently, or who were lost, seeking a place to call home, and their behavior is as varied as it was while they were alive. Some ghosts are angry and vengeful, some are simply lonely and lost.

While some people tend to interact with the ghosts only a little and as necessary, others avoid them as completely as possible, and yet others actively seek out souls who are suffering and try to ease that so they can stop coming back year after year. There are other people who have found that ghosts from their home worlds have come through with them, following them through the portal when they arrived, even if they did not die on the moon...

Whether facing death or making peace with those who have died, this is a time to reflect.

A Few OOC Guidelines:
● Characters may see or interact with ghosts from the Quarantine's past. These people will be as varied as the NPCs, from a multitude of different worlds, and characters are welcome to either engage or avoid, as players wish.
● Most Quarantine-based ghosts will have died in either the Great War with the neighboring reality or in the Pandemic that wiped out the population of the Abandoned City years ago.
● Characters may also see or interact with ghosts from their own or other characters' canons, providing the character in question is dead in canon and is not currently being played in the game.
● Canon-based ghosts should not be simply transplanted into the game as they were in canon - they are ghosts, and therefore 'not quite right,' and should not be used as an excuse to NPC a canonmate for a month. These ghosts are there to be used as plot devices to open up new avenues of CR, to create angst, to help a character make peace with their past, or other similar reasons.
● Ghosts should not be complete corporeal physical presences indistinguishable from living people, but barring this, how strongly the ghosts manifest and how much they can interact with the world around them is up to player discretion. Ghosts shouldn't be present the whole month straight, but can disappear and reappear at random times.

● Mod questions and plotting regarding this prompt can be found here.

ii. the feast of the dying

The month's holiday is named after a long-standing tradition in the Quarantine - the Feast of the Dying - that starts at sundown on the first day of the month and continues until sunrise on the ninth day. The Feast of the Dying is a costumed masquerade-style party that is continuously available for the entire week. Set up by volunteers specializing in both magic and science, the Feast of the Dying is hosted in a large conference center that has been decorated and magically altered to provide a very formal, intensely creepy atmosphere. The decor can run the gamut from fancy and classy decorations featuring iconic skeletons or ghosts to incredibly realistic catacombs or any other frightening settings that you can think of. Rooms often become more and more foggy the more people enter them to mingle, and in many rooms the air pressure will be slightly played with to make the atmosphere seem more oppressive and spooky. Costumes and masks are required, and anything from a Halloween-style costume to a formal outfit with mask is acceptable.

Players can feel free to go wild with ideas for decor at the Feast, including linking to inspiration images in their posts - it is, essentially, like having a Masquerade ball inside a disturbingly realistic haunted house.

The venue the Feast is held in includes several large rooms intended for dancing with different themes and decorations that can change off and on throughout the week, two large dining rooms where feasts will be held at mealtimes and snacks or drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) will be promptly served to anyone who sits at one of the tables, and a plethora of rooms meant for mingling and relaxing. Additionally, there are a large number of smaller lockable rooms set up for sleeping or private encounters.

iii. escape rooms

One of the fun and more commercialized aspects of the season are the many Escape Rooms that pop up throughout the Quarantine. Residents are encouraged to test their survival skills by grouping up with friends or strangers to escape difficult and scary situations together by solving a series of puzzles.

Escape Rooms can be either physical, set up inside buildings with realistic decorations, or they can be Virtual Reality, where the players don VR masks and cooperate in a virtual world. While the former can be more challenging and realistic, the latter provides for higher stakes. Physical Escape Rooms are generally set up to avoid any kind of physical harm to participants, but the Virtual Reality Escape Rooms can simulate pain and injury quite handily, and therefore can put participants in more dangerous situations.

While players can make up an Escape Room that uses whatever theme they like, some prompts are below:

● Zombie Attack
● Torture Machines or Traps
● Cannibal Warlock
● Wrongly Convicted: Escape from Prison
● Escape from Sewer Monsters
● Mad Scientist Experiments

iv. tests of courage

As mentioned before, there are certain parts of the city where the ghost activity is much stronger than elsewhere. These are places where terrible things have happened - hospitals that treated the ill during the Pandemic, insane asylums or prisons where inmates were mistreated, homes where terrible murders happened, places exposed to dark magic, and other similar places. Every year during October, these places are shut down or vacated (unless they were already sitting empty) and entrance is allowed to people wishing to partake in a traditional Test of Courage - to enter these deeply haunted and dangerous places, and stay there as long as possible, sometimes even overnight.

In these particularly vulnerable and terrifying places, ghost activity is intense and almost constant. Characters will encounter strange sounds, smells, and visions; will encounter ghosts that are capable of throwing items or people; and most of all, they will experience powerful and realistic hallucinations due to the sheer lack of boundary between the worlds of the living and dead in these areas. Whether the hallucinations are manifestations of their own worst fears, the ghosts retelling their own tortured stories, or any other kind of terrifying vision, they feel very real. While characters will not be injured by the hallucinations, the sensations of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, or other sensations will be almost impossible to tell from the real thing until the hallucination subsides at daylight.

While the haunted locations are highly unlikely to kill characters, whether or not they experience serious injury due to physical actions they do while under the influence of a hallucination (eg. falling down a flight of stairs) or attacks from ghosts (eg. an angry ghost throws books at a character) is up to player discretion.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the Feast of the Dying, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view; images may contain disturbing themes


Credit: image i: Olivier Le Gall; image ii: John Watkiss; image iii: unknown (wallpapersfan); image iv: signed (pinterest); images v and vi: unknown (pinterest)

navigation

Comments

Hiccup Haddock | HTTYD

[thisisamazing]

[IA. Ghosts, City of Riverview]
[The shopping district is bustling. A lot of places are selling costumes and masks for the feasts, others are buying sweet treats. It would be nice, if it weren't for the spectral visitors wandering aimlessly through the crowd or screaming the voiceless screams of the damned. Hiccup hasn't run into any that can affect the physical world yet, but even the incorporeal spirits are unnerving. Toothless walks at Hiccup's side, crouched a little low to the ground, mouth pulled back in a teeth-baring snarl.

He apparently does not like this ghost thing. Not at all.

Hiccup rests a hand on his scaly head, right between his ear fins, and murmurs soothingly,] I know, bud, but they can't hurt us. We're alright.

[IB. Ghosts, By the River]
[Hiccup and Toothless haven't been residents of Riverview for very long, but the dragon tends to attract attention. His video on the network had been proof of that; most worlds, it seemed, didn't have dragons at all, or only had vicious dragons. It's a nice, cool evening when they fly out to the riverside for some time away. A bustling modern city is a huge change from even busy, advanced (relatively speaking) Berk.

It's quieter out here, besides the ghosts. Sat up against the thick trunk of a tree, overlooking the water, Hiccup has one leg stretched out, the other drawn up to rest his sketchbook on his knee. He's putting charcoal to paper, scratching away, drawing all sorts of things across the pages. Toothless is down at the water, crouched and staring alertly. Occasionally he strikes, quick as a snake, and pulls a wriggling fish from the water to chomp on with enthusiasm.

A small group of ghosts mingle aimlessly across the river on the opposite bank, drifting, lost. Hiccup keeps glancing up from his sketchbook, eyeing the spirits with a curious frown.] I wonder what they want...

[III. Escape Room]
[This is one of those physical escape rooms. Hiccup was absolutely not ready for anything like 'virtual reality', but to sate his curiosity, he picks one of the normal ones from a flyer. Loosely premised on a hostage situation of some sort, it promises challenging puzzles and the adrenaline rush of trying to beat the clock.

He leaves Toothless at home for the evening (it's likely to be too stressful for him, even Hiccup being in simulated danger), the dragon safe enough in the common room of floor one, and he's standing outside the repurposed warehouse space waiting for a partner or a group.] Are you looking for someone to do it with?

[V. Wildcard]
[Come up with another scenario or hit me up on plurk at nekky for a custom starter.]

IB. hey, like the game~!

[de_evilise]

[ Technically she probably should have stayed home because... well, she was still recovering. But she had gotten bored and wanted to get some air, so she wandered outside - mildly disturbed by the sight of the ghosts around the city. She doesn't draw too close to Hiccup, out of politeness, but she does stare first at the curious looking dragon, wondering if it was with the other boy, before looking at Hiccup himself. ]

I'm not sure, but they don't seem to be trying to hurt anyone. Maybe they just..can't move on?

[thisisamazing]

[Hiccup doesn't startle when another person joins their quiet moment, though he hadn't known she was there when he spoke. (He talks to himself, and to Toothless, quite a bit.) His leather-bound book is open to a page of rough face sketches interspersed with close-up details of the black dragon bent over the water. Toothless looks up briefly when he hears the girl, ears perking up, but then he seems to decide she's not a threat, because he goes back to staring at the surface of the water, pawing at it with his claws.]

I guess so. There are so many of them, though. [He frowns down at the book in his lap.] And I think one of them has been following us around, but they never get very close.

[de_evilise]

[ Silly her, she thought he had seen her approaching and was addressing her. Whoops! She does give a curious glance at the drawing pad before giving Hiccup a worried look. ]

Following you around..? That's... kind of creepy. [ Pausing for a second, she pointed over towards Toothless. ]

I see you have a sketch of him there.. is he with you? [ She's guessing yes, because otherwise how would a 'monster' get in the city so dociley? ]

[thisisamazing]

It's weird. It's not someone we've ever met before. [A few of the sketches are of the same face that he's been seeing here and there, the only real reason he knows one is following him.

He looks up, follows her gaze to Toothless, who is lashing out at another fish. When he pulls back, dripping, he's crunching on it noisily. Hiccup smiles wryly.] Yeah, that's my dragon. Toothless. It's cheaper if I let him get his own dinner.

[Hearing his name, Toothless looks at them curiously, and pads over the grass to Marinette. After a moment, he... horks up half a fish at her feet. Look he's a dragon, he probably thought the staring and talking about him had to do with dinner. He's sharing.]

Oh, c'mon, bud, she doesn't want any of that.

[de_evilise]

Yeah, if it was someone familiar to you I might understand them following you but... if they're not even a little familiar that's kind of strange...

[ She trailed off a bit, distracted by the dragon catching his dinner, then glances at Hiccup. ]

So he IS a dragon. I've never seen one quite like him -- or..at all... he looks pretty cool though! [ Ah, oh, and he's coming over. ]

Wait, Toothless? [ He CLEARLY has teeth though and ...and he just horked up a fish at her. ]

.......... [ EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW. ] Uh... um... thank you...?

[thisisamazing]

I haven't seen any of these... ghosts... from my home. [He frowns at that; apparently it's been something he's thought on since all of this started happening. In truth, once he heard some were ghosts from people's lives, families and friends, he'd had a thought his mother might be among them.

He pushes the thought away, and reaches over with a little smile to rub Toothless' head between his perked ear-fins.] Thanks but no thanks, we're good here. Go finish your dinner so we can go soon, yeah?

[Toothless looks from Marinette, down to the half a fish covered in dragon slobber, back up at her, and then quickly snatches it back up to. Re-eat it. He barks out a few short roars like laughter, teeth retracting into his gums, and bounds back to the water.]

Sorry. It's how he tries to make friends. [Good intentions, bad execution.] This is the longest he's gone without being around other dragons in a while.

[de_evilise]

[ Wisely, Marinette doesn't ask anything more about the possibility of the ghosts - that could get too close to a personal matter, and she doesn't even know the guy.

Instead, she grins at Toothless as he collects his fish again and bounds off, then shakes her head at Hiccup. ]

Oh it's okay that's,...kind of sweet? [ She steps closer, offering a hand to shake. ]

I'm Marinette. ... you have a lot of dragons where you're from?

[thisisamazing]

[He shakes her hand, grip firm despite his tall, lanky build and toothpick arms.] I'm Hiccup. [Does he need to go on the 'yes that's really my name' spiel again? He decides not to for now.] Yeah, we coexist with dragons on Berk. They're not what people think.

I guess you're from another place that doesn't have dragons, though?

I-A

[livingsymbol]

[ Steve has been having relatively good luck with the ghosts, since not many of them really approach him or seem to follow after him for long. But of course there are some exceptions and Steve has seen the eerie figures that linger in the streets and follow after people like scavengers. He's walking away from one group when he sees Hiccup and Toothless near another, doing their best to ignore the shadowy followers. ]

They don't make the best impression, do they?

[thisisamazing]

[Hiccup is practically glued to his dragon's side right now (or maybe it's the other way around), but his shoulders do relax slightly when he sees the person talking to him is a real person and not a ghostly visitor. Toothless apparently likes Steve, because he doesn't spare him more than a glance before his narrowed eyes are on the spirits again. When one glides too close to the three of them, he darts forward to snap at air; the ghost just lets out an indignant shriek before reforming a few yards away. It mouths, 'How rude.']

Easy, bud. Yeah, they're uh. Something. They're really making Toothless nervous. [He gives Steve an apologetic smile, ushering the dragon back to his side.]

[livingsymbol]

[ Steve watches as one of the ghosts drifts a bit too close and gets an irritated dragon trying to catch it in his jaws. The spirit disappears like a puff of smoke and reappears at a distance, looking more offended than upset or hurt. He's impressed by the dragon's initiative. And, since no one was technically in danger, he doesn't feel as on edge with the ghosts. ]

I don't blame him. They aren't easy to get used to. We don't have festivals like this where I'm from.

[ Still, he's trying to keep an open mind. ]

At least most of them seem harmless.

[thisisamazing]

We don't either. I mean, we have celebrations for those who have gone to Valhalla, that part I get, but not- not with actual ghosts hanging around. Everyone seems so calm about the whole thing. If nothing else, shouldn't it be, I guess really sad, that they're stuck here? [And that sets off a guilty little pang in his chest, when he realizes that he had held onto the slight hope that his mother might be among the spirits.]

Yeah, they're harmless enough, but... it's still creepy.

[livingsymbol]

[ Steve wonders if they are sad. Are the ghosts stuck there or are they willingly visiting the city to see their loved ones and old homes? He has seen a lot of different spirits and they all seem to have their own reasons for being around, but if there's a rhyme or reason to it all that is lost to Steve. ]

Maybe this is helping them to move on. Letting the ones that haven't gotten rest yet know that they are still loved.

I dunno how much of them are sticking around or if they remember us.

[thisisamazing]

Maybe. [He sounds a little skeptical, but there is an undercurrent of curiosity, of wanting to know.] One last hurrah? I wonder why some people's spirits are here but others aren't, though.

[Toothless mrrs, bumping his head against Hiccup's side, and he reaches an arm over his head and rubs his scales; for his comfort or the dragon's it's hard to say.]

[livingsymbol]

Hm...

[ Steve frowns in thought as Hiccup makes a very good point. He hasn't seen many people he would expect to visit from beyond the grave either. Peggy or Cindy or even Wanda, the more likely of spirits to cross the veil, haven't shown up. There are a lot of strangers that Steve assumes used to live in Riverview at some point, and some ghosts that are apparently tied to the current population of visitors, but there should be more in theory. ]

Do you think there's another reason the spirits are appearing here? Maybe not everyone has a reason to appear? Or maybe they only appear for certain reasons.

[ The exchange between young man and dragon gets Steve's attention. ]

Are you worried about someone?

[thisisamazing]

[Hiccup hasn't seen anyone he recognizes, only strangers that he assumes used to live in Riverview. Some people have seen loved ones or old friends, he knows, but... not him. He still isn't sure how to feel about that - relieved, or sad.]

I don't know. I don't really know anything about ghosts. [His laugh is soft and half-hearted, a little awkward.]

N-no, not really, just. I guess I wondered if I would see my mom. She's probably in Valhalla, though, which- which is good, you know? That's good.

IB

[worldsaway]

[Thor doesn't often need to pull away from crowds. He's a social creature, even if he isn't an active participant in festivities. He's finding himself a little too burdened by the guilt he feels from seeing ghosts. He's seen a lot of death, because he's lived and fought a long time. It's nice to pull away and find somewhere quiet, although he still finds himself drawn to the only other person here. ]

Not fish, I guarantee it. [Very funny. Thor invites himself to sit somewhere close, but not too close, to Hiccup. He was likely talking to himself, but Thor is interested in what he's saying.]

More than likely, they're looking for peace and resolution. I can't say they'll find it here.

[thisisamazing]

[Hiccup looks up curiously when a rather big man comes to join him under the tree, though his slight smile says he doesn't mind the company. Honestly, someone big and blond and bulky? Reminds him a bit of home.] You never know. Fishermen die too. [It's a weak attempt to respond to the touch of humor, dark as it is. He supposes you can either be freaked out by ghosts or you can get past it, and most people in Riverview seem to get past it.

Toothless looks up from the water briefly at Thor, but after a moment, he's satisfied that the newcomer likely means no harm to his rider and goes back to what he was doing, trying to catch fish. Sometimes successful, sometimes not.]

Probably they won't. I wish there was a way to help... Everyone deserves to reach Valhalla.

[worldsaway]

[Thor raises a brow at Toothless, deeming him safe purely because he's sure a more dangerous creature would be at Hiccup's throat by now. He assumes they have some sort of connection, which he finds extremely curious.

He'll ask about it later, because Hiccup's choice of words catches his interest.]

You know of Valhalla? [It's as if his voice just got twice as warm and friendly.] Are you Viking?

[thisisamazing]

[Yeah, Hiccup isn't exactly well-protected or on alert out here, despite his distance from the occupied city. He's armed, but with Inferno's blade retracted into the handle and attached to his leather belt, it doesn't much resemble a sword.

Hiccup brightens too, when the stranger knows what he speaks of, and he sets his sketchbook down, along with the charcoal in his smudgy fingers.] Of course, everyone at home does. I'm a viking, yeah, my father is Chief of the Hooligan tribe of Berk. I'm Hiccup.

[worldsaway]

A Viking. [Thor repeats, and he sounds delighted.]

I am Thor, son of Odin.. perhaps not the one you're familiar with. [Thor has conflicting feelings about introducing himself to people who are familiar with him. On the one hand, it makes him cocky. On the other, there are quite a few expectations on their end.

He tries not to let it get to his ego, of course.]

It's good to meet you, Hiccup. You aren't the only viking here.

[thisisamazing]

Oh. Oh, wow. Uh. [This is the third Norse god he's met here, and he is trying his level best not to be too weird about it with them. He wants them to like him, not act like a crazy fan or something.] 'Familiar with' is probably a strong phrase for it anyway, you know? It's not like I've ever met Thor. [But the meaning is clear, and he's keeping an open mind, not about to heap a bunch of expectations on the meeting or anything.]

It's great to meet you too! And you mean Ivar, right? Yeah, we've met. Toothless almost knocked him over at the market.

[worldsaway]

I don't think it's too strong, really. It seems most of you seem to know me better than I know myself.

[Maybe because Vikings are his crazy fans, but he finds it nothing but endearing. Their cultures are so similar, they have similar values and interests. He feels more at home with them than most.

Though he hardly knows Hiccup.]

I do mean Ivar. [Thor chuckles.] Is Toothless his name? [He gestures vaguely at the black beast by the river.]

What is he?

[thisisamazing]

I wouldn't say that! We only know, you know, stories. And vikings love to exaggerate. Everyone in the village says my father tore the head off his first dragon from his cradle, so. We're a real credible source. [He remarks with a touch of sarcasm, laughing quietly.]

Yeah, that's Toothless. He's my dragon, my best friend. A Night Fury. [Toothless perks up, hearing his name, and gulps down the fish in his mouth before he pads over, surprisingly quiet across the grass for a creature of his size. He warbles curiously, peering at Thor.]