|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:55 am
Quote: Prompt 16 (Sounds of the Season): This time of year, seasonal music is heavy in the air, and you’re never far from someone’s festive music. You won’t be surprised to hear many modern tracks, and an array of timeless or nostalgic songs as well. Somewhere along the way, though, you hear something different. Someone puts on an old holiday record; you might not recognize the music at all, but you have a sudden, powerful image of someone you ‘ used to know’. It doesn’t feel like an illusion; you can see them, you can hear them, you can feel them. Maybe it’s someone you lost contact with in this life, maybe it’s an old friend you haven’t seen, maybe it’s someone your starseed knows but you’ve forgotten, maybe it was a ghost from another life, a memory engraved in your heart but brought to life for a brief moment–whoever it is, it’s someone important to you. Whether you know why, or not. The song is only a few moments long, but for the duration of the music, they’re real. And then, on the last note, they disappear. Whatever magic was on the record has faded; even if you hear the song again, your companion does not return. ( While you may converse with this person, they are an illusion and can only speak vaguely about things your character doesn’t know. They should not talk about meta information or detailed past life or pre-side swap information without staff approval but you can PM The Space Cauldron if you have something in mind!)
It seemed like people were getting their Spring Cleaning done well ahead of schedule, at least, according to the chatty antique store owner Zac and Talia had encountered. They were window shopping for the holidays, but with the chill outside it was easy to convince themselves to dip in for a closer peek. The antique store was cozy and smelled like old wood and paper, with a faint hint of gingerbread. Probably a wall fragrance, but Zac hadn’t been able to find it yet.
He didn’t much care for the antiques; he liked modern conveniences. It was a bit like going through a museum, only you could pick things up and examine them. Most of them weren’t interesting enough for him.
His hands were shoved deep in his pocket as he skulked about. He and Talia had split up when they got here, but such was the nature of Christmas shopping. He kept an eye out for something she might like or need but he wasn’t getting his hopes up.
There was an old record player singing some vaguely familiar tune. He must have heard it in an old movie or something because it was familiar enough to recognize but not so much so that he could place it.
The antique store was full of strange wall placements and was packed full of tables to display all of the oddities. He’d gone down the end of one path and turned, just in time to see Cambria put something back down on the table.
His heart stopped. He stared at her.
Sometimes Talia looked like Cambria, but in the way that a sister might. She wasn’t a mirror copy of her.
His heart played tricks on him, all the time. His mind did, too.
He blinked once. Twice. She was still there. He watched her brows narrow, watched her lips press together. Watched her turn to look at him with one raised brow. Watched her smile.
It lit up her whole face.
Zac took a step towards her. She opened her mouth to say something and he leaned in to listen, and–
The light flickered, only for a split second. The record skipped, but continued on as if nothing had happened as soon as the light was back.
But, she was gone, and Zac could only stare at the empty space.
His thoughts felt like a stack of papers scattered in the wind, like his mind had been thinly sliced into a thousand layers and each one was slowly sliding to the ground. He felt out of place, like he was in the space between waking and dreaming but couldn’t figure out which direction to pull himself in.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:36 am
Talia hadn’t seen anything in the store that she thought anyone would really like. There was an old cast iron skillet that she vaguely thought about getting for Evan, but…the idea of using an old pan was kind of…off putting, even if cast iron was supposed to be seasonsed and kept for…well. Forever…it just. Didn’t sit right, so she put the thought out of her head.
There was some soft music playing nearby and she made her way towards it, only to see Zac there, looking as though he had seen a ghost.
For a moment, Talia hesitated, but then lightly reached up, touching his shoulder. “Zac? Are you okay?”
Her mind jumped to a youma or…something worse, even. Had he been attacked? Had his energy drained? Was there something sinister planted in this store?
It wasn’t a normal path for her thoughts to jump but…when was anything normal. “Can I help?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 2:49 pm
Zac rolled his shoulder at her touch, as if the contact sent a ripple of realization through him. He was a quick thinker, quick at reacting, even if he wasn’t usually much of a planner. “I’m fine,” answered instinctively. No bite, no hesitance. There was a faint softness to his voice, like he’d already had it in his mind to be gentle when he answered.
He looked at the empty space for a second and then almost immediately seemed to snap back to himself. Even if it was a mask, it was a convincing one.
“Zoned out for a minute. Must have been too much coming into this heat from the cold. Feels a little smothered in here, too. Pretty cramped.”
Zac cleared his throat and shook his head, but that just made him feel an echo of dizziness. With Talia next to him, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and turned towards the table he’d just seen–imagined–Cambria at.
There was a little box there that he hadn’t seen before. It was old and wooden, hand carved, and easy to miss, but it had been in the space she’d been. He still felt a bit like he was floating, but he reached out a hand to lift it up for examination.
“...You find anything you like?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:00 pm
For once, Talia didn’t pull back when his shoulder rolled, and she went so far as to kiss his cheek, and rested against him when he moved to hold her.
It was warm in here…but she wasn’t going to refuse affection. “Not…really? A cast iron pan that I thought about getting for Evan, but then I got a little…uncomfortable about the thought of like…eating from a pan that’s who knows how old and has been used by who knows how many people…for who knows what…and like…you can’t really wash the pans unless you want them to be ruined and rust so…not really.”
She gave a soft laugh and looked at the small box he was holding. “That’s pretty, is it a music box?” There had been music playing, and though she knew it was from something else, that was the first thing that her mind had jumped to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:34 am
“Looks like it,” he mused. He ran his finger over the back of the box and found a small knob. Without removing his arm from around Talia’s shoulders, he twisted it between thumb and index and opened the box.
Inside, a miniature stage began to spin and the crystal unicorn inside caught the light as it rotated. A soft, tinkling song began to play–something almost familiar.
In the back of his mind, he could hear Cambria humming it. His breath caught again but he had much more resolve this time. He didn’t falter.
A few seconds passed; he couldn’t remember hearing the song from anywhere but Cambria’s lips.
He tilted his head a bit to see Talia’s face. “Do you know this song?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2024 7:10 pm
Did she know the song? Talia listened and shook her head, but seemed thoughtful. “I…it feels like I want to know the song…like I should know it but…It’s something that’s just out of reach…”
It was really pretty though, even if it made her feel…just a little untethered…it wasn’t…a bad feeling but…
“...Can we get it? I feel like…it’s a song that I’d like to know again…if that doesn’t sound too…dumb.”
She couldn’t imagine him not getting it if she asked but…
“It would be a nice song to be played at some kind of special event, I feel. I like it a lot.”
An event like a wedding…the first dance at the reception…there were a lot of different to play it.
As a lullaby for a child…her cheeks grew warm at that thought but…Oh well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 5:12 pm
One way or another, Zac was certain they’d have gone home with the music box. He was too practical to want to believe there was some supernatural meaning to it, to think that the–what, hallucination?–of Cambria had some hidden message?
…But he didn’t know that.
There was magic in this world.
He’d seen so much and still knew so little.
“It is a nice song,” he mused. He ran his thumb along the side of the box once more. Maybe Soleiyu could figure out how to figure out what the song was, or where it was from.
“I like it.”
There was a familiar weight in his heart, just a reminder of her. She didn’t have to appear before him to make her presence known.
He watched the spinning unicorn for a few seconds more and then closed the music box. He turned, like he was ready to check out, but paused.
“You’re pink, are you too warm in here?” He squinted. “...Or getting sick?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 7:11 pm
“I like it too…and uh, no I’m not warm or…sick. Just thinking of. Dumb things I guess. It’s a really nice song and I just had…thoughts of what it might have been used for, or might be used for, I don’t know.”
Talia drew away from Zac and ran a hand through her hair. It was almost too long now, nearly to her butt…and really…she thought about hacking it off but.
She wasn’t really sure. “I’m ready if you are…maybe, could we stop at the salon across the street too? I want to make an appointment to get a haircut, it’s…getting to be too much and like. I want it…shorter.”
Reaching her hand up, she mimed to just above her shoulders. “I don’t know though…what do you think?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 7:45 pm
Zac squinted still.
“In this weather? I think you’re crazy.”
He ran his hand down her back, letting his fingers gently comb through her hair along the way.
“You should get it however you want. Anything would be cute on you.”
Hair that short made him think of Cambria again, but he knew Talia wasn’t doing it on purpose. She might not have even known. For a brief moment, he glanced at the empty space where Cambria had been, and then he just pressed a light kiss to Talia’s temple.
“Let me go pay for this and we can head over. And maybe we’ll get something to eat afterwards, how’s that sound? There’s a nice little cafe, if we get a seat by the window we can watch the snow fall. I think I could use something warm.”
Maybe he’d just worn himself out from all this walking around. Or the chill was dragging him down. Winter had a weird effect on everyone.
But, good food and good company could cure just about anything.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:20 pm
Talia snorted. “I mean, you’re most likely right. Maybe during the summer then. I swear sometimes I wake up and the hair keeps trying to strangle me.” Reaching up, she kissed his cheek. “Sounds good to me. All of it…I love you, you know. And I really enjoy times like this that we get to just…spend together. It’s fun.”
The idea of a cafe and watching the snow and drinking something warm...oh and maybe eating a fresh something out of the oven…yeah. That was perfect.
“Lead the way, Zac. I’ll be right by your side.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
