IC: “How do I behave when I find a long-lost possession of mine? How should I behave? Did it show up at my doorstep, wrapped in fine paper, with a love letter carefully scrawled on a card in fancy calligraphy? Did it wash up like a castaway on the beach of Costa del Sol, covered in seaweeds and mystery, just to land before my sunkissed, bare feet? Or was I specifically searching for it, only to find it in a treasure trove of other stolen trinkets? Guess it doesn’t matter. I thank Nymeia and I reclaim it.”
OOC: That’s basically the long and short of it (Malika’s unnecessarily playful descriptions aside).
However, what she didn’t say here is that the question makes her wonder: How long lost? Until very recently, she didn’t have possessions of her own. Anything given to her was sold for profit by the caravan she was a part of. And boy did she resent that. If she found any of the things that they took away from her, there would be no stopping her from trying to get them back, no matter how cheap or how stupid the objects might actually be. Frankly, she’d risk everything just to get her hands on the things she felt were stolen from her back then. Even if it got her arrested or badly hurt.
Also: if she stole the sentimental item from somewhere, she’d leave a different item in its place. It’s a weird, compulsive quirk she has; she just tries to live around it.
Thank you for the Ask!
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
Woke up to this mundane question by Daily Prompt. "What would you do if you lost all your possessions?" Seriously? What do you think I'd do?
#lostlife #movingon #startingover #JessicaReedy #Better #Musician #singer #writerslife #writerscommunity #blogger
Dumbest Question Yet
First, I’d fucking scream.
Second, I’d take a deep breath and count to ten.
Finally, I’d start from scratch and start all over again replacing what I could.
Jessica Reedy
“Life, it can leave you so bitter. But you must believe that it gets better” – Jessica Reedy, Better
You can find my sites on Linktree. And if you enjoy my writings, please consider hitting that cup…
I see myself sitting in a dusty, dank attic, looking through boxes of lost possessions; most of which have been eaten through or destroyed by bugs and worms. I pick up a book, open it, sit down and begin to try and read what remains; the pages are full of holes.
Nothing makes sense, yet attempt to read this book with understanding of…
Got paid today as well. Not used the damned thing these past 3 days so didn't even realise it was missing!
Also means I've lost my colleague discount card for work (which sucks because I need so much stuff from work!) And my various loyalty cards and rewards cards.
Though I bet now I've cancelled my debit cards it'll show up.
Chapter 15, part 3/3: Lost possessions, feelings found (2.820)
(Trigger warning: bone injury, no blood)
(Easter egg warning: Star Trek)
“Do you think Kenny is faster than my horse?” She asked, approaching with her ride and smiling.
“Darling-”
You laughed and turned your stallion, rushing after her. You could win this race in a matter of seconds, with or without magic, but you wanted her back to her usual self, happy, kind and, most of all, forgiving, so you let her ride ahead. Keeping yourself not too far in order to not making it obvious you weren’t trying at all to beat her, you followed her as she turned left and entered a narrow hall in a stone gulch covered in ivy. It was too narrow for you to pass her, which made your little plan work perfectly. Suddenly, a small group of birds emerged out of some crack or whole in the stone wall, cawing in a high pitched sound. You worked a spell to make you and your horse pass right through them, but your mount got scared and stopped asudden. A bit angry and somewhat frustrated, you pulled the halter and kicked it on the ribs to make it go foward as fast as possible - you had to at least reach Hyda, she didn’t know these woods. Coming to a fork in the path, you stopped for a second, looking at the ground. There were very recent horse tracks to the right.
“Oh, no. Not the Maze of Tunnels. No, no, no!”
You sped up following tracks. When you were a boy, you used to run and hide in those tunnels whenever you felt hurt and wanted to be alone, which all worked fine - you used your newly found magic skills to conjure light in the dark and fire against the wild animals, and your sharp memory allowed you to remember the way back without much trouble. But Hyda had never been in the Maze - honeslty, the most harmless thing that could happen to her was getting lost.
“Oh, please, just ride across it!
You found as easily as usual and rode towards it. Before going right across it, you stopped in the middle of the main tunnels and made a clone of yourself - and your horse - dividing your attention between the maze and the forest.
(“Oh, please, don’t be in the maze. - Oh, please, don’t be in here. - Come on, love, where are you? - Please, don’t be in here, this place is so dangerous, I don’t want to lose you… - You’re pathetic, you knew that? - Where did you go? Come on, love, where did you go? - You getting lost here is the least of my worries…Oh, the traps and the creatures… - Tracks!”)
There were horse tracks heading towards a stream, just outside the tunnel. Your clone in the maze disappeared and you speeded up, following the path left behind. As you crossed the brooklet you heard a horse neighing and trotting to your left,. Sighing in relief, you pulled the halter and turned, racing upstream as fast as you could and rushing into the orange and golden forest that laid by the foot of a mountain. Much to your despair, far in the distance you saw the horse you had just given Hyda as a gift, but she was not mounting it. Your afflicted eyes scanned the area and saw her nowhere near.
Suddenly, a loud scream filled with pain reached your ears, but it was all the way back from where you came from. Not wasting a second you turned and raced, kicking hard on your stallion’s sides. (“The horse is out here. She’s out here. She’s not in the maze. She’s not in the maze…”) You thought to yourself, trying to calm down and think straight. Why would her horse be wandering about? What had happened? What was that scream? Was she hurt? Had she encountered a beast? Approaching the steamlet again, you saw a log cabin not too far from you and also not too far from the exit of the maze. Could she be in there? But what about the scream? Why was she hurt? What had happened to her? Your heart beat hard and fast, tight against your chest; you felt your stomach twirling inside you and your whole body was heating up, making you feel sick.
Stopping the horse, you dismounted and looked around searching for any sign of her. You knew there was a ravine just below the log cabin - it stood right on the bank, actually - and it was right ahead, just down the river. Looking at the ground, you saw horse hoofbeats markings that did not stop, but headed straight to the embankment. (“Oh, fuck! No, no, no-”)
“LOKI!”
You heart dropped to your stomach - her voice was close, but filled with fear, despair and pain. It was coming from down the bank and instead of rushing, you made it there quicker by teleporting directly down there. Feeling the water rush around your ankles, you turned around and saw her lying there, sitting with her legs in the water and her back leaning lazily against the embankment. Although you felt quite relieved to have found her, you could not help but worry about the state she was. She was covered in dirt, soaking wet, pale as the moon and her eyes were full of tears of pain and fear - once she saw you, though, a faint smile forced her lips to curl. She was shivering, clearly feeling cold, and her left hand shankingly held her right arm, which you noticed to be in a weird position.
You ran towards her, conjuring your fur cloak and undoing the laces. She laughed - faintly, but she laughed. How could she be laughing? When she spoke, her voice was weak and quaking.
“You really are a god… I just fucking summoned you…”
You knelt by her side and covered her with your cloak, taking a couple of wet locks from her face.
“I was just above the bank. I heard you screaming and came as fast as I could. What happened, dear? Were you attacked?”
“No, I was just plain stupid. I didn’t see the ravine and when I did it was too late.”
“You arm looks injured. Are you bleeding?” You pulled the cloak to take a look and noticed the ugly bump on her shoulder.
“No. But it hurts like hell. I think I’ve dislocated it.”
She was still panting and pale, but the warmth of the cloak seemed to be warming her up as the shivers faded away. You furrowed your eyebrows and pressed your lips, swallowing at the idea of the pain she was must’ve been going through.
“We need to go back, take you to the healing room.” You gently laid a hand on her cheek.
“Yeah, right.” She scoffed. “It hurts to fucking breath, Loki, you think I’ll be able to mount a horse?”
She coughed and moaned at the pain it caused. Seeing her like that made something turn in your stomach.
“Oh, God…” She whimpered, leaning her head on the ground behind her. “You’re going to have to put it back.”
“What?!” You couldn’t believe your ears. “No! We’re taking you back, come on.”
You tried to get up, but her left arm slid out of the cloak and held your hand. She looked dead serious, gazing deep into your eyes.
“Do it.”
You swallowed hard and cocked your head, kneeling back on her side.
“My dear, I don’t want to make it worse. Let’s go back to the castle, they can take care of you.”
She shook her head and squinted her eyes - you knew she was in pain.
“No… I can’t even get up, this hurts like hell. Please, just… just fix it.”
“Darling, I have no healing training, I have no idea how to fix a dislocated shoulder.”
“Well, do you know how a normal shoulder is supposed to look?”
“Of course.”
“Then make it look like that again.” You rolled your eyes at her stubbornness. “Look… Just push it back in place. Be quick. And don’t do it too hard… just enough to put it back in place.”
“How do you know those things?” You narrowed your eyes as she pushed your fur cloak off of her.
“I don’t. It’s only logical.”
She pulled on your arm, forcing herself to sit up straight. You could tell that the smallest movement of her right arm made her wince “Now come on, I’m gonna need something to hold on to.”
“What do you mean hold on to?” You still didn’t think this was a good idea.
“Loki, darling, you’ll be pulling me to one side. It’s no use unless I’m holding firm on to something. Come, I can hold on to those steps… pull me up.”
She threw her arm around your neck and you held her by the waist, your other hand making sure her arm wouldn’t slip from your shoulder. She moaned in pain and slightly limped as you helped her walk towards the steps that led up to the log cabin. Once by the side of it, she leaned against it and hugged tight to one of the columns using her left arm.
“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s going to hurt.”
You stepped around her, placing youself by the side of her injured arm.
“It’s already hurting. Now, put it back in place and make it stop.”
You licked your lower lip with the tip of your tongue.
“Alright… I can do a spell to make the pain go away momentarily, would you like that?”
“That… that would be nice, thank you…” She was panting.
(“Alright, let’s end this.”)
“Ok, then, darling… take a deep breath.”
You worked a spell in your mind and, as soon as her facial expression relaxed a little bit, you grabbed her arm and shifted it into position, holding it up and puting your other hand on her ribcage, holding her firm on your grip. Her body shivered and you knew the spell wasn’t going to last long. Feeling it nearly as much pain in your heart as she was feeling in her body, you used your strength to push her arm, directing the shoulder back into position. She writhed and moaned lightly and as soon as you certified that her shoulder was back where it should be, you pulled her to you, holding her in your arms.
She was whimpering and sobbing lightly against your chest, and as you held her close, you teleported you both to the upper part of the embankment. You sweeped one arm under her behind and pulled her up, carrying her in your arms. Your stallion hadn’t wondered far and you could see the horse you had given her trotting not too far into the woods. Conjuring a clone of yourself, the other you brought the horse back and then disappeared. You helped her climb back up on her horse and, after mounting yours, you led both horses back to the castle, pulling one halter with each hand as she held firmly on the saddle with her left arm. The right one, as she said during the way back, was hurting a lot less, but it still bothered quite a lot.
-
It took you a good couple of hours to get back to the castle and when you did the sun had begun to go down. During the whole trip Loki hadn’t stopped looking at you and asking how were you feeling. Your arm still hurt, but a lot less now that your shoulder was back in place. He pulled your horse by the halter and guided you back into the castle, stopping in the front courtyard to dismount. He helped you down and escorted you back to your room, careful not to hurt you. A few people passing by stared at you and it made you remember you probably looked like shit. Loki escorted you back to your room, making sure you were comfortable and safe.
You sat on your bed and laid back against the pillows. Loki stared at you with a worried look on his eyes as you moaned lightly, a mix of the pain you still felt and the nice feeling of being on your bed again.
“I will have a healer come and take a look at you.” You nodded and smiled faintly. “I will also send you your servant to prepare you a bath and bring you a hot meal.”
“Oh my, Ygdra is going to have a heart attack when she hears I’m injured…”
“It is her job to take care of you, of course she will. Though I do not understand why you worry about her at all.”
“Yes, I don’t suppose you would.”
You closed your eyes and turned your head to lay it lazily against the pillow.
“Loki…” You whispered as you felt his weight on the edge of the bed, sitting by your side. “Thank you. For the whole day. Even for the accident, I mean, thank you for saving me.”
He leaned so his face was close to yours and planted a kiss on your forehead.
“Don’t do it again, darling. Don’t be so reckless.” His long fingers tangled in yours. “I don’t want to lose you.”
You opened your eyes and stared deep into his emeralds.
“You can’t lose me, Loki. I’m yours.”
You felt his cold lips on your warm mouth and it sent a shiver through your whole body as his other hand cupped your face. After a couple of seconds he broke the kiss and kept looking into your eyes.
“I’m very tired, my love. I want to rest.” Your eyes felt as heavy as your body.
“Of course.” He got up. “I will send a healer to your room, then. And your servant.”
“Thank you.” You smiled and watched him walk away.
-
You were sitting on the edge of the bed, completely naked except for the towel that laid across your lap, half-covering your body. Loki had sent in two healers and as the younger one had set up a small potions kit on your table and now macerated some leaves in a mortar, the older one held your arm with one hand while the other spread a generous amount of a greenish ointment on your shoulder. Suddenly, the door opened and Ygdra bursted in the bedroom with the mos worrid look on her face. Pale from the shock, she immediately turned bright red when realizing you were naked, eyes wide and avoiding yours.
“Ygdra!” You smiled widely, happy to see her after such a long day.
She took a couple of steps forward but before she could get any closer, the younger healer crossed the room with a cup on her hand handed it to you.
“Drink it all. It will make your hip stop hurting.”
You thanked the girl and drank it. It tasted like foot and mold, and you nearly choked at the first sip, but Ygdra made you go on.
“Now, now, my lady. It is for your own good.”
After many recommendations and the promise of more visits to make your shoulder go back to its normality, the healers left and you and Ygdra were alone. She had prepared you a bath while the healers were finishing their work and now, with them gone, she was heping you walk to the bathroom and get in the bathtub. Not that you couldn’t walk by yourself, but she insisted on helping to make sure you were okay. You were so tired that the first thing you did as soon as you got in the hot water was hug your knees and lay your head on them. The smell of the water was marvelous, chamomile and lemon, very relaxing. Before you knew it, you felt a soapy sponge being gently scrubbed on your back and you moaned with the feeling. It was a bit weird yes, you had never let Ygdra assist you in the bathroom anymore than the strictly necessary, but now it just felt so good and relaxing that you just let her do what you imagined was part of her job as the servant who is supposed to do everything for her master. She hummed what seemed to be some Asgardian song and cleansed your body, then helped you dry and dress for bed, as you were so tired that you had no wish to eat, only to sleep and if possible, only wake up three days later. She tucked you in, felt your temperature and smiled slightly. You were feeling lazy and sleepy, barely able to keep your eyes open.
If you really think about the concept of Storage Wars, it's really sad. Other people lost their things, either because of an inability to pay for the storage unit or because of a death in which the goods were not transferred or left. And now they are selling off those things to make money.
