Keepsake

— Rogue Entity Encounters

Common Habitat: Junk drawers, desk drawers, jewelry boxes, coat pockets.
Appearance: Usually very small. Frequently worthless.
Danger Level: Surprisingly high.

A Keepsake is an object that has somehow survived long past its practical usefulness.

A movie ticket.

A smooth stone.

A dried flower.

A birthday card.

A tiny plastic toy.

Something you picked up on a day you didn’t know would matter.

Consider the stone.

It’s just a stone.

Gray.

A little flat.

Nothing special.

Stone.

Then someone tells you:

“I found that on the beach the summer we went there.”

Oh.

Stone + 1.

It was the first vacation after something difficult.

There was a particular afternoon when the sun came out after it had rained.

Someone you loved was there.

You put the stone in your pocket because it looked nice.

You forgot about it for years.

Until you found it again.

Stone + 2.

Now it sits on a shelf.

Visitors see a rock.

You see an afternoon.

That’s a Keepsake.

The remarkable thing about Keepsakes is their complete lack of concern for monetary value.

A diamond may be worth thousands.

The little plastic dinosaur from a child’s first birthday may be worth approximately nothing.

Try throwing the dinosaur away.

You may discover that its owner has suddenly developed the defensive capabilities of a dragon.

Field Note:

Keepsakes are usually harmless.

Do not underestimate them.

Their physical size is a poor indicator of their emotional mass.

A Keepsake can weigh three grams and somehow contain an entire summer.

Identification Test:

Ask:

“Why do you still have this?”

If the answer begins with:

“Well, this is kind of a funny story…”

you have probably found one.

Proceed carefully.

You are about to be introduced to a memory that has been waiting patiently inside a very small object.