poly_chromatic | the lost

In my world, we have many traditions to honor and remember the dead. Those who have died are given proper rites and coins for the ferry across the Sanzu River; they are prayed to and worshiped as honored ancestors; they are welcomed with a feast each year, observed by our entire nation.

The City takes from us with no ceremony and no warning, and it doesn't even leave a body or ghost behind. What do citizens do to respect those who have left? They are not dead, but they have been taken away. It is a strange sort of limbo, a death without closure, as if each who vanishes has been dragged into the forest by some youkai, never to be seen again, and all their works and the fruit of their lives are left behind to dwindle and decay.

Does the City find any peace after this? Scattered about like birds flushed from the grass, do citizens simply scatter and take their despair with them? Is there any organized way to provide solace to those who are still here?

...I wonder if some of our customs might be welcomed in this place. The Toro Nagashi, or "floating of the lanterns," comes to mind, where we send lanterns down a river at the end of Obon, to light the way for spirits to return from our world to the other side. It is a quiet practice, beautiful and simple both in its metaphor and its purpose.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

People leave and their portraits appear in the Hall of the Missing--that's it. There's no ritual or respect. The living go home and the dead go to whatever afterlife exists, presumably.

...Yes, that is what I suspected. It is an...unfinished and abrupt sort of ending.

It's not that abrupt if you die before coming here. You expect to be dead, not trapped here for an indeterminate amount of time.

I meant for the others here, not the individual themselves. Quite often, death is something the family and friends of the dying will see before it occurs. It is...peculiar, to wake up and have someone simply gone as if they were never there.

Moreso here than in other worlds?

Probably not more so, but here it seems to be the only way that someone is lost. It just seems odd to me.

How are you faring during the Watch, Pendleton-san?

It can be abrupt.

There isn't much that can be done against the Watch, but the police are doing what they can.

the lost

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