Found Family and Keepsakes
Last of my prompt fills for @beauweek! It’s been fun to participate, even if I started late!
Every good family has souvenirs of their life together. Whether they’re big things or little things or even intangible things, everybody has at least one thing they carry with them that reminds them of home and family.
Beau has many things, though she’d never tell you what they are.
From Jester, she’s always kept the ribbon she lent Beau on the first day they traveled together, when Beau was struggling to put her hair up. It keeps her hair and her spirits up, the silky, bright blue accessory never failing to remind her of how her family will always be there to support her when times are tough.
From Fjord, she kept that spare razor he gave her to help him redo his undercut. When he’d said she could have it, Beau discovered what it feels like to have someone care for her, to be given kindness without any strings attached. She’ll never forget the day they traded haircuts, even as the razor grows dull in her bag.
From Nott, Beau kept the plastic costume ring, fit with a cloudy fake sapphire. She doesn’t wear it, fearing she’ll lose it in combat, but it sits her pocket as a reminder of the victories they share. Every once in a while, she’ll run her thumb over the plastic sapphire, letting any small failures of the day fade with memories of Nott’s smile and triumphant distribution of shitty jewelry.
From Caleb, Beau with always keep a feather from Frumpkin, a loose one that fell in her pocket and was never removed. It’s a happy memory of the pocket owl, warm and soft as it rested on her shoulder, but it’s also a symbol of Caleb’s love for his family. Love, in the form of little favors, from the man who can’t bring himself to admit his attachment out loud.
From Molly, she kept the Death tarot card, even when he started complaining about its disappearance after his resurrection. She’ll always keep it from him in secret, as a game of metaphorical keep away with the mortal coil and as a cautionary sign, a warning to remain vigilant in protecting her friends. And, of course, to annoy him whenever he sits down to do some bullshit readings.
From Yasha, Beau keeps a single flower, pressed flat and safely stored in Beau’s notebook. Sometimes, when she’s copying down things to remember from their travels, Beau accidentally opens to the flower’s page and feels something, something between love and heartbreak, something like unconditional devotion to the bleeding heart she yearns to heal.
From Shakaste, Beau keeps a bead from his hair, fallen during the battle with the manticore. She considered giving it back, but she wanted a token to remember him by, not knowing she’d see him again. When he came back, she considered again how creepy it was that she kept the bead but didn’t return it, unable to let go of the memories it triggers of their first forays into the world of genuine heroism.
From Kiri, Beau keeps a handful of birdseed, now scattered and coating the inside of one her purse pockets. She can’t bring herself to throw it away, a gift from one of the best things they’ve ever done, a life they truly saved and changed for the better.
From Calianna, Beau kept just a shard of that cursed bowl, chipping and cracking under the weight of the coins in her purse. Calianna was such an inspiring, carefree soul, cruelly trapped in her own strange conflict. The shard, for Beau, represents more than just an argument and more than just a memory of Calianna, it’s about moving on, making up and smiling again, like Calianna would’ve wanted.
From Nila, Beau keeps a single good berry, dried up and shriveled in her pocket but still somehow spelling like her. As long as it’s there, Beau feels closer to nature and life, as if this one tiny, probably spoiled berry will bring her back from the brink one day. It’s protection and healing, a gift from a fierce mother that’d do anything to protect her family.
From Keg, Beau keeps her morning after letter, tucked away in the back of her notebook. She likes to take it out and reread the scribbled out parts, holding it to her heart like a young girl with a hopeless crush.
From Caduceus, Beau keeps a dried up bag of tea leaves. It keeps his smell and brings her back to the quiet nights in between his arrival and Molly’s resurrection, days of grief and soft, healing words.
From Twiggy, Beau keeps an actual twig. She suspects it’s one of the ones Twiggy had stuck in her hair and it has a bit of dried gum on the end of it, but Beau treasures it anyway because the girl seemed so earnest when she handed it over, a genuine gift that urges Beau to consider the world from a different perspective, one where twigs and gum are the most important things you could have. After friends, of course.
From Spurt, Beau keeps nothing but a scale, torn off in his brush with death. Beau thinks that’s generous, considering she stuck her neck out to pull him back at the last second.
From Dairon, Beau keeps her words, echoing in her mind, scrawled across her notebook, and burning through her muscles. “Stay alive” becomes her creed, a kind of minimalistic but deeply meaningful caring that resonates with Beau.
Beau sighs as she rifles through her bags and pockets, too caught up in memories to remember what she was supposed to be looking for.
With her family growing bigger every day, she’s going to need a lot more bags.
“Hey, Jester! Fjord!”
Jester pokes her head in from the adjoining room, Fjord following just behind and Molly lurking farther behind him.
“How do you guys feel about a shopping trip?”
With ecstatic tieflings and a disgruntled half orc in tow, Beau leads the charge in gathering the rest of their family. The Mighty Nein managed to find each other and they’ll find a way to stick together.
Even when slow shopping days threaten to tear them apart.
