Quote:
The holidays are close to ending and it’s time to start packing away your decorations. In a stroke of bad luck, you drop an ornament (or other small bauble) and it shatters. Inside was a strange, glistening dust that you accidentally inhale. You are immediately met with a strong hallucination of a previous holiday memory. It only lasts for a few moments, but it feels like you are back in the memory, reliving it. It seems so real but when it ends, you are back in the present with no trace of the dust left in sight. Which holiday memory did you relive, and how do you react to being torn from it?

(You can only relive a memory from a holiday in December and it must be from this lifetime. Characters who have lost civilian memories, such as in a side swap, will have a much vaguer memory. Locations and faces will be blurred and unrecognizable, and the memory will not reveal anything about their previous life. These characters may be left feeling a little hollow after the memory.)


The annual holiday clean up was one of Mari's least favorite things to do. It meant acknowledging that the holidays were over and taking down all of the decorations that she'd worked so hard on a month ago. Sometimes all of the effort didn't seem worth it, espescially when she was the only one putting it together and taking it down again. In fact, it always made her think of how different her life would be if she had a family to spend the season with.

As far as she knew, her parents had left her a long time ago. Her early memories of them were extremely fuzzy, and anything else significant was lost with all her years spent in the homes of other families. With the help of friends and adults who truly believed in her, she was able to leave the system and make a life for herself here in her own little apartment, something she'd never thought she could do on her own. Having the right people in your life really made all of the difference and, in hindsight, not having her parents didn't really matter. If they'd wanted anything to do with her now, wouldn't they have made the effort long ago? There was no use dwelling on it.

She'd gotten most of the decorations down and boxed when she decided that it was time for a break. Her arms were getting tired of all of this carrying around and she didn't want to pull a muscle from working too hard. She gave a stretch, yawned, and moved toward the kitchen.

"Just a quick snack, then I'll get back to work." She muttered, a hand smoothing itself over her hair. Boy, was she getting tired. How long had she been working? It couldn't have been more than two hours. She needed something to boost her energy and quick!

A quick raid of the pantry later and Mari had returned to the living room with a bag of potato chips and a cola and settled herself down in a chair to eat. Sure, it wasn't the best choice, but she didn't feel like making herself elaborate. Plus, she was all out of cold cuts for sandwiches and there was no way she was going to go out shopping now. She munched, hummed, and observed the rest of the room.

... It all looked so empty now, didn't it? No cheer, no sparkle, no lights. What a dreary way to start the new year. She was sure that she could spruce it up again with some seasonal crafts and maybe a new set of cute knick-knacks, but right now it looked so dull and she really didn't want to put the effort into making it pretty again just for herself. She sighed and closed the bag of chips.

"Better not eat all of these." She said, nudging the bag to the side and standing. "And, anyway, there's only one thing to do when you're feeling down. Get right back to work!"

Though they were heavy, Mari scooped up each box one by one and stacked them in the hall closet for another year. However, the last box proved to be more difficult than the others and slipped straight out of her hands. Ornaments scattered in all directions and tinsel and glitter flew up into the air like a cloud of smoke, drawing a groan from Mari's lips.

"Dang, I think one broke!" She exclaimed, clamoring down to her knees and retrieving the ornament in question. It was a tiny glass unicorn, styled as though it were a carousel horse, but the tumble had caused it to lose it's head. She felt sorry for it, honestly. What a cruel way to go.

But, as she looked the poor delicate creature over, she could see a sparkly white powder spilling out from it's neck. Was it supposed to be filled with glitter? That seemed a little strange. She raised her palm closer to her face and sighed, before coughing violently afterward.

"Oh God, why did I breathe it in?" She gagged, grasping her chest. "Where's my soda?"

Heaving, Mari rushed back to the living room and guzzled down half of her soda, before plopping herself back down in her chair. Maybe it was just the shock from her coughing, but she was starting to feel weird. Was the living room getting blurry? Was she going to pass out? She rubbed her eyes furiously, blinked, and gasped.

This wasn't her living room anymore. It was still very blurry, but there was no mistaking the changes. There was a fireplace before her, a tree in the corner decorated with lights, and the place she was sitting... It was a warm, comfortable couch.

"W-what's going on?" She stammered, eyes darting left and right as the room continued to change around her. She could see a rug under her feet, a table, and what looked like an open door across the room. She squinted, struggling to make out anything from where she was, and leaned back when a light turned on.

"Santa?"

A little voice, muffled but clearly there. Instinct told her to answer, to call back, but her voice caught in her throat. A small, shadowy figure peered out from the next room and the vision quickly faded away, leaving Mari shivering and stunned back in her living room.

"... Come back." She pleaded, her hands moving to cover her eyes. "Please, come back!"

She couldn't remember a time where she'd felt something so strong or so warm. That fire, that tree, and the figure... It was so real.

But, as she allowed herself the time to think it over, she reasoned that there was no possible way it could be real. And even if it happened to be real, there was no reason for her to think about it any further. Memories like these were meant to stay locked away and forgotten. It was only her end of holiday malaise getting the better of her. She had no use for such bitter nostalgia and she wasn't going to let it affect her. She had work and a future to look forward to.

"It's too bad. You were cute." She sighed, giving the unicorn ornament a final sorry look. "But I think I know where you belong now."

Without a second thought, the unicorn ornament was tossed into the trash and Mari went back out into the hall to finish clearing up the mess she'd made. Next year she'd be able to make herself a new set of ornaments and, maybe, find herself a roommate or two. The holidays weren't just for families, after all.

Word Count: 1096