Solo or RP Format Counts as 5 RP growth Points Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7
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).
[ We are looking for reflection more so than the actions, but here are the funeral rituals in tendaji:
A lot of it is just burials in cemetery like lots of land. The Alkidike take their Sisters back to the Islands where they have a night ceremony, bringing them back to Aisha, and then floating them off to sea on a pyre.
The earthlings have funerals and bury their dead, leaving a stone marker in their place. They usually bury their deceased and pass their belongings down to kin during the ceremony. Each earthling tribe uses a specific burial blanket during their funerals.
Many of the Kahikinans conduct burials in the soil near the waters (Rivers/Samps) or release their dead to the sea (Reef/Sea/Caves). ]
In the din of the evening twilight an elarian hybrid sat along by the riverside. Her legs were crossed underneath her, a casual assortment of stones at her side that she would occasionally pick up and toss out over the water. It was calmer here, much calmer than it had been back in Zinris where the ceremony was taking place...
There was an expectation for her to be there and yet, here she was, as far away from her own kind as possible. Kahukura didn't do well in crowds which was probably why her mother hadn't pushed the issue but the look of disappointment in her expression was clear enough. She'd upset her, had probably upset the family of the deceased and the pressure of it all weighed heavy on the teen's heart.
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Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 3:44 pm
A silver quristine with a broken horn practically skipped through the underbrush, bouncing as though it was a foal and wasn't carrying a bag of bottles on its back. It knew the path it needed to take to get home, and was more than happy to slip on and off the beaten trail for its own amusement. When a bit of splashing caught its attention, it sprang into action to follow the sound.
The quristine walked quickly through the foliage, head lifting with interest when the river and the solitary figure came into view. Unlike most of its kind, this quristine was curious and quite friendly, and walked boldly up to the girl to sniff at her.
Nok had been walking in front of the beast, attention lost in his mind while his feet walked on auto-drive. Hearing the quristine's steps grow distant, he looked up and let out a sharp whistle. "Hey! Back here!" Groaning with irritation, he turned to follow the tracks. If those bottles broke, he was going to be in for it at home! He stiffened up slightly when he saw his beast approaching a stranger and mentally groaned again. Why was he always running into people out here? From his angle, he could only see the gray skin and purple hair... "That's mine," he stated in a mix of possessiveness and apology.
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:41 pm
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Kahukura's antennae flickered a bit at the approaching sound a moment before the hybrid herself lifted her gaze. While it wasn't uncommon to hear creatures passing by this one didn't sound like the rest. It wasn't as cautious of it's footing like a wild creature, and instead bumbled closer to her with all the grace of a toddler.
The sight of a quiristine was always a welcomed one, but it's broken horn and the backs upon it's back were cause were worry. She hesitantly lifted a hand and hovered it just a touch above it's snout. Had it's master mistreated it or...? The sharp whistle instantly made her recoil before she even saw the earthling. Kahukura instinctively brought her legs up and wrapped one arm around them while the other instinctively went to her side to grab one of the stones.
An earthling. A male, from the sound of it. One with a scar of his own.
"...Okay." Kura answered without a fight. Was he expecting opposition? Well, there was something she wanted to say... "What happened?" She nodded vaguely toward the poor thing's horn.
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 4:09 pm
The constant mist of Yael was thin enough around the river to make seeing much more clear. When Nok finally bothered to actually look at the girl... Even with her shrinking posture, he dropped down and snapped a hand to the hilt of his sword. Was this a trick?! Yaeli hairs and stones, but Elaria skin?!
Yet, she was innocently asking about the quristine... He wasn't about to let his guard down that easily! His eyes darted around, looking for other Elarians that might be lurking about before aiming a glare at his pack beast as well. Why was it approaching an Elarian?! Dumb animal.... "I dunno. Got him that way," he managed to reply, still looking around for any sign of a trap. "...Elarian want to be us now? Dye your hair or something?" The concept of a hybrid was just.. far too alien to even consider. How were the stones sticking to her skin?
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 4:29 pm
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Kahukura gripped her stone all the harder when she noticed his lowered stance. She could make out the hilt of a sword, heard it move within it's scabbard and felt her blood run cold. If she needed to she could make a break for it upstream. The fog would lift for just a bit, but then double around a small waterfall. It might be enough cover to save her...
"I don't want to be you." Kahukura's tone was still as soft as before and while there was little bite to her words they were as true as the setting sun itself. "I've never dyed my hair; it's from my father." He wasn't the first to ask her, but it still scared her, never the less. It was one thing to have someone spit at her or shout angry words, but this time a weapon was potentially involved.
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:16 pm
"Your.. father?" The inkling of an idea encroached in his mind, but he quickly pushed it away. There was no way! Of course... Nok couldn't help himself as his curiosity took hold. "Elarian come from trees; they don't have a da. I never heard of Elarian with a hanger." Not that he had ever seen an Elarian's privates, but all he had ever heard was that the bug ladies were just that- ladies. The babies grew on a tree like leaves and fruits.
The quristine let out a bleat and reached down to sniff at the girl some more, making Nok growl. "You, back here or next burial be you!"
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:29 pm
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"...a hanger?" What...was he talking about? Her father had never called earthling men hangers, but maybe there were places that did? she furrowed her little brows and considered saying something else when the quiristine made her jump. Her spine stiffened, eyes widening when the man addressed it so sharply. She was starting to think now more than ever that it hadn't been injured 'when he got it' if his tone was anything to go by.
"Stop snarling like that. You'll scare it."Like you're scaring me. She gently reached up and this time Kahukura wasn't too scared to touch it. Her fingers ghosted over it's snout before coming down to affectionately pat the creature.
"You said earlier that my hair was like yours and that Elaria don't have fathers, but I do. So, what do you think I am?" She may have seemed calm, but the teenagers fingers were shaking and she never once took her eye off him. Even if it was just peripheral Kahukura kept him in her sight.
"....Why are you here?"
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 6:14 pm
"See? You'd know it if you knew it," he stated firmly as though his point had been clearly made. There was no way a male Yaeli was involved there!
Brow rising, he peered to the animal with confusion. "It ain't scared of anything," he said with a huff. "Would listen if it was scared." Indeed, the quristine seemed less than concerned by its grumpy master. Instead, it knickered and pushed its head against the affectionate hand.
Nok groaned, looking around again suspiciously. He couldn't afford to get distracted. Still, the question came up, and his attention returned to the girl, quite oblivious to her concern as well. Both Yaeli and Elarian features, has a father.... After a long moment, his hand unconsciously rose to rub over his tough scar. "I guess... unless there's strange magic.. you're a hybrid." Saying it out loud made just as much sense as it had in his head.. which was to say it made no sense.
"Elarians wanna kill us. Why would they make you together?" He looked over to his pack beast again and the bottles hanging on its back, his posture softening the slightest bit. "It's for my uncle. Died yesterday. Gonna make sure he gets buried with nice covers that had to come from town. Ain't having some beast dig him up later, you know." He narrowed his eyes slightly at the girl. "You saying you're not here to fight?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 6:35 pm
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Despite the general fear surrounding her, Kahukura offered a small smile to the quristine. They really were lovely creatures and every time she thought about tucking her arm back to her side it pressed that much harder for pets.
"I am." At least he was finally starting to accept it. She didn't blame him, exactly; he wasn't the first to react with anger nor was he the first to make assumptions. Still, it didn't settle well with her and maybe it was the emotional fragility of her day, but Kura wasn't keen to roll over. "Not every Elarian is mean just like not every Yaeli wears lens." The two of them were perfect examples of that. "My parents are merchants and they love each other very much." Her mother was far sterner than her father, but that didn't make her a monster. Life was harder than it would have been if she were pureblooded, but it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be.
"...Sorry, about your Uncle." She didn't have a lot of emotion to dredge up, considering his earlier treatments of her, but...well, she knew about loss and it hurt. Maybe that's why he was being so mean? "My friend died and the ceremony was today."
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 7:07 pm
A hybrid. He could hardly believe it, yet there she was sitting right there looking just like a form of hybrid would look. Yet, the comment of meanness and lenses... the girl did have a point. Similarly to himself enjoying visiting town unlike the rest of his family... but wasn't that completely different? Could there really be Elarians who could be friendly with Yaeli? He wasn't in town often enough to see any signs of that, but the crowd of general foreigners had been growing lately.
.....There still must have been something seriously wrong in the head of her father to fall in love with one of those things.
The condolence made him pause further. She was relating to him? Really? While he continued being alert to their surroundings, he couldn't help a wary and curious step closer. "Then why alone out here? Is friend buried here?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 7:16 pm
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"No, Elarians don't bury the dead." For just a brief moment she turned her eyes down and inhaled a soft, shaky breath. "She was brought back to Elzira and then after the ceremony they were going to set her out to sea on a pyre. I didn't...want to see it." If that made her weak then so be it. She really just couldn't stand the thought of watching her only friend being set off to sea, never to return again...
Still, she didn't want to be that open in front of him, so after collecting herself a bit Kura looked up. "Do you miss him? Your Uncle?"
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:06 pm
Wow. She seemed genuinely upset by her friend's death. It was.. strange to see. After all, he had only ever seen an Elarian face twisted with anger and hate. Perhaps it was the Yaeli influence? Still... how did that work to get that kind of hybrid?
A pyre? He knew what that was at least. A pyre made sense. His brow knit when his feelings came into question. He couldn't help being surprised. No one had asked him that.... "Yeah. I guess I do," he murmured. "Our family isn't big. Someone dying always leaves.. space."
Still keeping a safe distance, he found himself relaxing enough to sit down, torn between wanting to get back home and away from this thing but also having so many questions. "Your friend.. They die peaceful? ..We woke up and found uncle dead in bed. He always said he didn't want to die sitting on his butt." Pleased by this development, the quristine trotted over to nuzzle Nok's shoulder.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:43 pm
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He didn't seem as angry now, just...lost. She could empathize with that. Losing someone, no matter if it was a prolonged end or a sudden event, burned like nothing else. "...I'm sure his spirit is happy to know he was loved so much." She offered an awkward, sadden little smile, "Even if he didn't pass where he wanted to."
Kahukura turned her gaze down just for a moment to collect herself again, this time raising a hand as well to brush away some tears and the shift in movement had her turning back to the earthling. At first she feared the worst, but he was...just sitting?
"She was sick. There was a cut on her leg that got infected and it never got better..." One day the two had been exploring the wilds of Yael together, away from prying eyes who wanted to judge them and then next she'd been laid up in bed with a fever.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:16 pm
Nok pursed his lips slightly, making the effort to keep his scarred lips from turning contemplation into a snarl. "I dunno about spirits and all that, but he was pleased enough living." Nok had mixed feelings with his belief in spirits of those passing, but he knew it gave others comfort during hard times. While his uncle hadn't wanted to die sitting still... it seemed like it had been a peaceful enough way to go.
His hand rose to his face again, thinking about the painful fog that surrounded his initial recovery. He had nearly met a similar fate at the hands of fever from injury... He had been lucky. "Don't always get to choose where 'r how we die," he murmured. "I guess.. just gotta hope there's gonna be someone after to miss us like we miss them."
