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Sounds of the Season: (4) : 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!)
There was something about holiday parties amongst theater geeks, Niamh thought as she swept a strand of silver hair from her face. It wasn’t so much that they got wild or anything. But there was a willingness to embrace the season and some of its odder traditions. Or perhaps she was simply seeing things that weren’t there. But it was hard to not project given half the crowd or more were dressed like rejects from a Dickensian novel by way of White Christmas.
Which also includes me, I suppose, she thought. But I always dress this way.
Laughing a little to herself, she ducked around the edge of the room, watching her troupe enjoy themselves. In the dimly lit room. Amidst all the old fashioned furniture, she could almost imagine herself at Fezziwig’s Ball. The only thing ruining her immersion was the fact that ******** Jared had seized control of the music and had insisted on playing every Dr Demento holiday album in existence. ******** Jared. Sighing, she slipped out of the wide open side door and stood in the snow, all bathed in the soft, warm orange glow from the firepit burning away. There were fewer people out here and that suited her fine. The cold, night air felt wonderful after the crowding inside. And she could still hear the music, though it sounded like someone had wrested control from Jared since she could hear soft pipes and fiddles. It wasn’t a tune she recognized, but she found that she liked it.
Tapping her foot gently against the snow, she saw a tall, pale form appear at her side and was turning to see who it was when she felt her hand seized and she was drawn into a slow dance. Glancing up, she was ready to rip her dance partner a new one for daring to grab her without even asking. Only, when she looked up into a pair of twinkling rose pink eyes, the words died on her lips and she felt something deep within her chest twist painfully. She knew this person, but for the life of her, she didn’t know how. The mysterious unknown was taller than her (hardly a feat), slender and very, very androgynous. Their pale skin was dotted here and there with tiny, soft whitish gold freckles and their hair was snowy white and cut into the sort of short, butch pixie cut that she often found herself admiring on other people. Long, pale eyelashes, rakish smile with lovely teeth… I know you, she thought. But I don’t know why I know you.
The mysterious laughed softly and twirled her around in a dance that she didn’t know the steps to and Niamh felt that strange, twisting pain again. And then, she saw the small, golden antlers growing from just about the Unknown’s ears and felt her gut drop. Deep space senshi? No, none of them would be foolish enough to invade a Christmas party without a disguise. Then, she looked more closely and saw hints of pastel rainbow and the faintest glimpse of a starry nighttime sky within the stranger’s cloak.
“Cosmos knight,” she heard herself muttering, annoyed for no actual reason that she could discern.
The Unknown laughed again and pulled Niamh closer before bending slightly to whisper in her ear, “Is my status such a crime now, Lady? Who I swore service to never used to bother you.”
The voice was rough, velvety and sent shivers up and down Niamh’s spine. And through what she now understood to be her starseed. This was someone she had known once. And, for whatever reason, they had been and apparently remained very important to her starseed. The Unknown whispered again, though she couldn’t catch the words over the music. But she felt herself blush furiously as the stranger’s breath brushed her skin. In fact, she was entirely too aware of how warm their hands were; the hand at the small of her back was practically burning through the fabric of her blouse.Shaking her head a little to try and dispel her confusion, Niamh heard the music change tempo and felt herself spun around before being gently positioned against the wall of the house. The Unknown towered over her, looking down with mischief and longing in their eyes. She found herself looking up into those rose eyes and felt herself blush again. Then, to her vast confusion, the Unknown bent and kissed her firmly before pulling away and whispering, “As lovely and charming as ever, my Lady.”
Before she could catch her breath and respond, because holy s**t that kiss, she was aware of the music stopping and being replaced by Weird Al singing about the apocalypse. <******** Jared, she thought glaring at the open door before turning back to speak tot he Unknown, only to find them completely gone. Not even a footprint was left in the snow. She felt her starseed and heart both twinge and slid down the wall until she was crouching within its shadow, face buried in her knees and crying for something she hadn’t even known she’d lost.
Word Count = 860
