Quote:
The Holidays are supposed to be a time for cheer, and yet there's something strangely dismal about tonight. You're out by yourself and you pass by a building completely coated in a strange sheet of ice. When you catch your reflection, you're trapped reliving your loneliest moment. The illusion can last for as long or short a time as you like, but the hollow sensation lingers even after the memory fades. What memory did you find yourself reliving and, now that it's over, what are you going to do to shake this mood?
It had been a good shopping trip, Glen being able to find plenty of things his friends and family would like, but he had lost track of the time it seemed, for night had descended on the city, and in this quiet night, the sound muffled by snow, he felt thoughtful, thinking of christmas pasts, and how he hadn't really had anyone to shop for then. Well, he had two people, but both had...no.....no, he wouldn't think of either of them, of that time. Except, he couldn't stop thinking about it now. As he unknowningly stopped, leaning against what seemed to be a very cold window, he felt his mood plummet, memories of old friends long gone , and in ones case, passed on, stopping him in his tracks with their memories. Their faces, their smiles, sorrow, and leaving trapping him.
God, he didn't even say goodbye to either man, one just a boy when he died!
Before he realized it, Glen was sobbing softly, the memories just too strong right then. At some point he finally looked up, noticing that he wasn't leaning on a window, but in fact....ice? A sheet of it? He dried his eyes, looking up with a sudden sense of unease mixing into his sorrow and melancholy. How could a building just, be covered like that? It made no sense! Well, he thought sensibly, this was destiny city, way more strange and worse things did happen.
He backed away slowly from the building, walking faster the further he got from it, though his mood never lightened. Whatever the buildings goal, it had achieved it so it seemed, and now Glen had gone from relatively happy, to exhausted and miserable He thought of something to take his mind off it, anything once he got home, and determined two things would help; making christmas foods and feeding one of his friends, Vivi and Abby seeming best in this case. So once he had got home he cleaned up, hid the presents, and called Vivi, then set to cooking, and baking.
---
Vivi had just been about to settle down into a good cold case podcast, when she saw Glen was calling. Did something happen? Picking up, she was surprised by the invite to his house, and the way he sounded on the phone, so tired and rough. So she agreed to come over, Abby in tow. And that was how they wound up at Glen's, watching him cook as if eh were possesed. Abby was delighted by the manic energy, Vivi was only concerned. "Glen are...did something happen? I know i miss things normally, but this odd, even for you." He paused momentarily, putting chesnuts and other ingredients into the blender for a fine puree for icing. He scowled "Nothing happened, and I cook like this all the time you just never see." He turned the blender on, drowning out Abby's giggles and Vivis determination, which did not dissipate when the blender was off. "Glen, noone cooks like this unless it's one of those terrible shows where the woman is stress baking, are you? Stress bak---cooking?" She corrected, but it didn't matter, Glen didn't answer her question, confirming her pseudo fixing the friendship friend was indeed living a cliche. He ignored any questions she had about his mood the rest of the time in the kitchen, forcing her to block the door once he was finished and Abby had run out with the extremely sugary chestnut cake. He Glared, trying to look menacing, and maybe if wasnt a whole two inches shorter than her and just generally sad looking, tired under the stains and flour, she maybe would have been intimidated.
"Please? It's like, palpable, your mood." She gestured, the kitchen proof of this. He looked around and sighed, sitting in the closest chair. "It, it's not much of anything right now okay? I was getting thoughtful on the way home and just, got sad? Happens to the best of us." She wasn't a fan of his answer, but she would let it stay, she didn't feel like she had the right to keep prying anyway. "That's okay, for now, I won't bother you anymore. But you still look sad, would a marathon of those awful hallmark christmas movies help?"
He looked at her excited, and like she was asking him something stupid. "Of friggin course!" He avoided cussing when Abby was around. Glen grabbed the other treats and food, then he and Vivi sat on the couch to begin the great tv war with Abby until they emerged victorious, settling down to watch movies.
As the two, plus the now food comad Abby, sat in front of the TV Glen was beginning to finally feel better. He may have lost relationships, but he was making active efforts to rebuild old ones and forge new ones, and that trounced any sad memory.
