Quote:
The fall always seems to be a somber time thanks to the transition of the cold. With less distractions from the chores required during the summer heat, you cannot help but think about those who are no longer there in your life. Maybe it was your mother and father, prominent figures in your life that you never imagined would be gone. Or maybe it was someone taken from your life too soon, like a friend or a sibling. Or maybe it was an animal, a familiar that you raised when you were a kid but passed away from old age.

How do you honor those you have lost? What goes through your mind this time as you celebrate their life and mourn for the loss? Take some time to reflect on the past, and how that impacted you and shaped you for the future. If you want, you can even roleplay with a friend to discuss each other's loss (but both character needs to speak of their own personal loss in order for it to count).


The trees were starting to turn for the new season, Jianyu glanced up at their leaves and squinted against the sun. This was his least favorite time of the year. Everything was dying around him and it reminded him a lot of the losses in his life. A lot people it seemed talked about death during this time, winter had that kind of affect on people he supposed. This was also the time of year he visited the grave of his mother, he cleaned it and tidied up around it and left some flowers too. It was his way of honoring her.

He had not known her but at least she had not run away to who knew where like his father had. He wished he had known her, perhaps his life would have been very different than it is now. Maybe he'd even be a completely other person if he had been raised by his mother. The thought was quite striking and intriguing for Jianyu, who would he have become? Had she named him Jianyu or had someone else? How had he even ended up where he was today? Perhaps he ought to seek out his mothers family and see if they would take him in...

As Jianyu got down on his knees and began removing the weeds that had taken over his mother's grave over the year he truly did wonder if her family visited. Why did they not clean her grave, was it because they knew he did so? Perhaps he did not want to meet his dead mother's family after all, maybe there was a reason his father had left and it was staring him in the face. Still if his mother did have family it was no excuse not to upkeep her grave properly. It was downright shameful.

Once the weeding was done Jianyu moved on to making sure the grass did not get too long. He liked to trim it down by either pulling it out or just pulling out the ends. He always forgot a blade to cut it down even though he knew it would be a neater job. Once that was done he always just rubbed down the small stone with some water, he water sure to clean out her name properly so she was not forgotten. It also ensured that the weather didn't rub it down to nothing for the months that he did not visit.

And once all the cleaning and trimming and washing was over with he just liked to sit there and empty is mind completely. Forget about the worries and just live in that moment. It was refreshing to just... not think and leave everything behind even if for a little bit.

Maybe he ought to seek out his father of all people. He didn't even know who the man was or if he was even alive or why he had left his mother when he had been born. They were all questions that Jianyu thought about when he visited his mother's grave. He didn't know where he would start, didn't even know if he actually wanted to meet the man. What if his mother had died from heartbreak once she had found out the man had left her? No that was impossible, she had died during childbirth nothing more.

Still it was petty of him. He wished his guardian had more answers for him but the man never truly gave anything away. He was always vague on his answers. Perhaps he had knew who his father was and didn't want Jianyu pursuing him? Now that was a shocking thought, one Jianyu had never pursued before. If that old man knew anything about his father... The Yaeli sighed softly. He didn't know if there was a way of figuring it out, he'd asked before and never gotten anywhere. Perhaps others knew and would tell him enough to seek out the answers he wanted.

Jianyu stood up and laid a hand on his mother's grave with a small smile on his lips. Jianyu wanted to know more, he wanted to seek out his father and confront him.

"Goodbye mother." With a final pat, Jianyu turned and set off through the graveyard back to his home. He didn't know where to start but with those who knew his mother and perhaps he could gleen a name from them. Someone had to know something and then he would confront his adoptive father once he knew more. He would seek out his father and find out the truth of the matter.