Prompt 2 - A Special Object - open for posting!

[Kyar]

Gossan averts his attention from the other trinkets spread around him to return to the shopkeeper, his hesitation clear.

"Well," he begins timidly, "I imagine you're the type who does well for keeping secrets."

From his bag, he carefully digs through... is that a hidden pocket? Only visible for a moment, he moves his hand quickly in and out and it disappears into the fabric folds once again.

"I would say... this is, I suppose." A small bundle of delicate fabric opens to reveal his treasure. He holds out a rusted, battered necklace, an unfamiliar symbol faded with the passing of a great many years. "I haven't been able to pinpoint its exact origin," he goes on to explain, "but I know it belongs to some ancient religion." His voice lowers, and he looks to you in a great deal of concern.

"I'm afraid what might happen if someone knew what I know," he whispers. Cryptic, concerning, but he doesn't seem to want to elaborate. "I trust that you won't say a word of having seen it." But he gently holds it out, not to be touched, but for closer inspection. The fabric it had been folded in still covering his hand, protecting the already worn metals from further damage.

Its crest, some kind of two-headed beast, holding in one clawlike hand an orb with tendrils that could perhaps be a representation of the sun, the other a curved shape, though it has faded to the point where any further details have been lost.

"I know it must sound frightening. But I only seek answers, not power, not to change the world. I just want to know what they knew," he mumbles, his eyes fixated now on the symbol. "I'm sorry... I don't mean to bring you into this. Perhaps its best you forget you knew me." A sadness washes over him. You can see he wants to say more, to share his experiences or perhaps his burden.

"Maybe... perhaps someday if I ever return here... do you think we could speak again?"


(343)

[dreamyEnding]

"Here, you can have my pick. Break a leg!"
"Y-yeah...!"
Hibiku + Maxine

[Peppermint Mist]

Joe

[carpe]

from Euthalia's perspective

Let me bring you to a small forest river.
As a child, I loved to wander along ponds and rivers, looking for some interesting and beautiful pebbles to add to my collection, especially the kind of pebbles that become almost translucent in water. I admired the endless variety and the beauty of the pebbles, I took time to sort them out, to look at them in the sunrays, then I would carefully set aside the most amazing ones. 'It's just pebbles, throw them away, there's no need to pick up junk!' adults would say. With bitterness, I listened to them and wondered how they do not see the beauty in this miracle. Pebbles would sparkle and shimmer in my paws like real gems. And they were so much dear to me!
But then I started to notice that while I collect a handful of pebbles in my bag, they tend to dry out and fade.
So are our memories. Memories are like colorful pebbles lying at the bottom of that river. As soon as I return the pebbles to the river of memory, they come to life in a trice, they get saturated with blue water and glow from the depths of the time running with the water.
Different pebbles lie at the bottom of the river: some of them are light and smooth, some of them are bright and peculiar, some are even dark and almost obsidian. All of these pebbles are beautiful nevertheless. I take them out of the water; clear drops drip from my fingers, and water evaporates, and the pebbles dry out. My memories lose their charm, starting to disappear. Only at the bottom of the river, under the depths of the water of time, they are able to live.
Leave the pebbles there. Find a flat and smooth pebble on the shore and throw it, let it skip and bounce of the water: one, two, three...
Let it fly forward and then peacefully go under the water.
Let it be.

[335]

[Midnightkitkat]

Osiris has a large collection of magical items and artifacts over his years of practice yet his most prized possession isn't the most powerful, nor the most exciting. In a locked, sealed and protected drawer a tattered and aged scroll lays. The scroll iteself is an old wood wraped with inked parchment. The ink istelf is fadded and dull but still legible after all its years. The first passage of spells he was ever taught and the last connection he has to his teacher. Who had become the closest family after the accident. Not many can find themselves considered close to Osiris let alone part of his family. Its a hard title to obtain after all. The parchment hasn't been opened in years as the necromancer is fearful of damaging its worn text yet he could recite every syllable contained within. He has often thought over passing on the craft to his sons but is cautious of opening the door to such a dark craft to them. Chi has often given him advice on how to protect the material in a more modern or permanent manner such as scanning or lamination but her old mannered husband refuses to disgrace such a sacred object in these manners. Only once did the object come near to destruction and unruly youth thought it would be hilarious to break into the weirdos workshop. After a few hours of panicking, screaming, begging, and a bit of traumatizing the would be thief was sent on their way.
[251]

[cocoa]

Diarmund

Ever since he was a little kalon, Diarmund has had a small, jade pendant that sat tightly around Diarmund's neck as a choker. Tom, Diarmund's pa, had told Diarmund it was a gift from his dragon-godfather, for he had not been born with the same scales his sister Elris was. The pendant was a scale from his godfather himself, a worn, jade-colored piece of armor that had once saved his godfather's life.

"It was one little piece in the great shield of scales that has saved me," his godfather had once said to him in his rumbling voice, his long neck craned down to see him face to face. "Without one scale, the blade would've pierced clean through my neck. So you know what that means?"

"A lot of things! You can't forget even the little things when trying to keep something, someone safe, and working, and alive. And there are things in the world so small holding you up, but you don't realize it. That the smallest parts in ecosystem, without them, would perhaps even mean death for us."

"I've taught you well!" His godfather had exclaimed, loud and boisterous. "And that's why you must take great care for the scale, now, and remember your lessons. Such a small scale, in a time of such peace, will grow back for me. But for you? It is a piece that I hope will give you strength."

It was only by melting a metal loop onto the scale had Tom ever managed to make the scale into a necklace for young Diarmund to wear. And once Diarmund was older and wiser, he would imbue magic into his pendant: make it an even more literal source of strength for himself.

If anyone touched it, these days, they might just find their hands fried off.

[302 words]

[stan.]

Nothing more than a pitch black cloth to protect his eyes from a familiar light far gone, it still meant the world to Erik. Nowadays, he would wear it more loose than back in the day, but never bother to fully take it off.
Heavens forbid he lost it.

"Yes, I have many. This blindfold," Erik tugged it down from a side to take a better look at Devin, "-It is a very special thing. No light passes through. It was made so my eyes wouldn't get hurt when I saw him. He glowed so brightly, you see...He was so thoughtful..."

Carefully, he fixed it in place once again for a moment, just while he dried a few tears that threatened to get out of his eyes. It wasn't much but he's promised he wouldn't be sad anymore. He had to be happy now.

His hand brushed against the cross earring. Cold and silver in color, but he guessed it wasn't worth much.
It would make for a better-for a happier-tale.

"This one is too," Erik said, voice cracking slightly as he tried to push away the other thoughts, "It's not from him, no. It's from his son. My...nephew."

He gave a small smile, oh, Kokichi would have raised a fuss about his words, he thought. He was a strange kid to him.

"We don't get along very well, you see...but he gave me a little gift last time we saw each other. He lives with his other parents-he...he has a big family. But he doesn't like his father very much either. And he doesn't like listening, says I repeat myself too often, you see."

Although that was not all, but he kept it to himself. He knew Kokichi did not like being told he was like his father, but Erik had told him so much. Mostly because he missed him. Yet, as his hand remained on the earring, Erik thought they could maybe try again. After all, he had accepted the gift, even after Kokichi bluntly told him that he had stolen it.

Erik just needed to get a bit better at this of being an uncle. Maybe then he would have many more, most likely stolen by Kokichi too, trinkets to talk about.

[373/250]

[SilentMelody]

Mattie grinned and pointed at the pips on the collar of his shirt, signifying his rank. All of the other crew members on the Enterprise have pins similar to those, but he has the highest number.

"You see these? Well, each of them was given to me at different times. Each of them is just as special as the first," he explained and gestured to his neck. If the kalon looked closer, they would see two gold pips, a star pip, and two more gold pips. "Those mean that I'm a Star Fleet Captain. Pretty impressive, huh? Imagine if I was an Admiral!"

"I was given one gold pip when I became an Ensign. Boy, I worked my butt off then! I wanted to impress the current Captain, so I was a big kiss-up and I did everything he asked," Mattie reminisced with a laugh.

He pointed to the first two gold pips. "These two were given to me when I became a Lieutenant. I was head of security, and I made sure everyone was safe on board. That also included me going on a lot of off-ship trips and leading patrols. I think it made me braver and more courageous," he boasted gently, but it was simply just him remembering his ambition.

"I don't have it with me, but I was given a black pip to go along with the two gold pips," Mattie explained and dropped his hand to his side finally. "Those three pips meant that I was Commander, second-in-command to the Captain."

He grinned widely when he was done with his story and put his hands on his hips. "Well, I've got to get back to the ship to get ready to visit the Vulcans. It was nice to visit Earth and see this caravan. Thanks for talking to me! Just promise you'll always remember Captain Picardi."

Mattie pressed the pin on the left side of his shirt and mumbled something, a high-pitched voice chirping back. Once their short conversation was done, he began to sparkle and shine.

Before he was beamed up, he flashed the hand signal for "live long and prosper" in Vulcan.

[recherché.]

Amaryllis

A special object? Amaryllis doesn't have many of those since she technically deals with "special objects" on a daily,
but the first thing that comes to mind when she hears those words is her froggy friend. Although, he isn't just an
ordinary frog, no, he's an enchanted one. Some may call him familiar but Amaryllis calls him her good luck
charm since it's quite difficult to enchant creatures.

He's important to Amaryllis because he's the reason Amaryllis and her girlfriend, Iole, found each other as they were both
searching for the same, important item in the forest. They both laid their eyes upon the iridescent scale at the same
moment but time seemed to stop when the two girls made eye contact. Amaryllis instantly forgot why she was there.
Her only focus was the beautiful girl across the lake, blinking her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming,
but when she opened them, the girl and the scale were gone.

A few days passed in a blur as Amaryllis couldn't think of anything else besides the encounter in the forest but she
wasn't upset that the woman was gone. She couldn't even remember why she was searching for the item. Maybe to
add to her collection? While she was lost in thought, there was a faint knock on her door and to her surprise, standing
outside was the enchantress with a goopy little fella in her hands that she used the iridescent scale for -- the frog.

After that, the two were inseparable and time can only tell when it's Amaryllis's turn to surprise her girlfriend.

[268]

[☆ star child]

Dorris seems a little taken-aback by the question. And then flustered, and then downright mortified.
She hasn't been a vampire for very long but the movies always portrayed vampires as having some ancient artifact from the time they were born, or from a now-long-gone mortal lover, or something from a timeless sworn enemy.
Dorris has been dead fifteen years and well- not much really changes in fifteen years. Not enough for it to be meaningful, anyway.
"Well. Um. You see."
She tries to come up with something quickly, racking her brain for something, anything, meaningful to her.
She comes up empty.
She lives in a small two-room flat and works night duty in a 24/7 supermarket, doesn't know any kals except other vampires (and they're all extremely selfish when it comes to giftgiving!), and is barely paying her bills on the wages she makes, let alone the extortionate price she has to pay for blood on top of the fees to keep quiet about selling her blood.
Frantic eyes scan the items surrounding her, trying to relate to any of the objects, and one of her braids hits her as she turns her head, and the little orange ribbon typing it in place suddenly becomes more than a hastily-picked ex-giftbox ribbon and a very intriguing story.
If she can sell it.
She grabs the lock of hair and throws it forward dramatically, then points at the ribbon at the end.
"This little ribbon was given to me by ma dear passed auntie," she says, willing her voice to be sad. She hasn't really mastered the whole vampires-great-at-acting thing yet. She doesn't think she ever will. "It... she tied it in ma hair when I was a lil kit, y'see. A-and now she's gone and I have nothin' to remind me of her but this here little ribbon of silk."
She throws her hair back, giving Devin the most heartbroken look she can muster. It's not great.
"Talkin' about her makes me so teary-eyed but she was a wonderful woman. She used to make me this lovely blackberry pie an' tell me to take it on down to my friends house and share the whole thing, because accordin' to her sharin' was the best way to fill up your stomach and heart."
Her aunt had never said that. The vampire who'd turned her said that when he explained that you needed to ask before you drank someones blood.
Creator, beloved dead aunt, what's the difference? There isn't one, not really.
Dorris pretends to wipe a tear away and then as quickly as the tears came, they're gone, and she smiles.
"Now you tell me a story, missus. I wanna hear the tales behind these fancy trinkets of yours."
[458w]