"Oh, dearie, dearie me," she said, looking me up and down. I looked down at myself as well, suddenly very aware of my rather rumpled appearance. I probably looked like a homeless person. Which, for all I knew, I could have been. I tugged self-consciously at the dark green scarf wrapped around my neck when her next words caught me off guard, "You must be one of them again."
"One... one of whom?" I asked. Did this woman know something about me? About why I woke up in the middle of the forest? Were there more people like me? Did she know how to help me? She waved her hand and took a step back. For a moment I was worried she'd close the door on me, but then she spoke up again.
"It's not matter, just come in from the cold for now," she said and I realized she'd stepped back to give me room to get in. "We don't want to keep the door open too long, lest all the heat escape."
"S-sorry for the intrusion," I said quietly, knocking my heavy boots against the porch floor to get rid of most of the mud they were probably covered in, before I stepped in through the door. I ducked my head slightly, even though I didn't need to. The old lady closed the door behind me and with the last of the cold shut out, the warmth of the house flushed over me, seeping slowly into my being. I took a deep breath and felt myself relax slightly.
The woman walked past me towards the fireplace located around the middle of the house and chucked a log into the happily crackling fire. I watched it with fascination as the flames danced around and around, casting light and shadow around the room. I looked around.
The room took up about a little under half of what I assumed the total area of the house was. There was a long table in the far corner, with wooden benches along both sides of it, and a lot of books and plants and dried herbs sitting on top of it. It seemed untidy, to be honest, but who was I to judge. On the other side of the table were a cabinet and a small pantry, but curiously no bookshelf. There would probably be one in the other room, the door to which I could see peeking from behind the fireplace.
On my right side was a rocking chair, while on my left side, behind the front door and next to the fire place, was a bed. It was neatly made, and while not much to brag about, it looked much more comfortable than the ground I had been previously sleeping on.
There was a bright orange, red, and white cat curled on top of it and it opened one yellow eye to stare at me disdainfully for a heartbeat, before closing it again and continuing its sleep.
"My name is Ulula," said the old woman, distracting me from my thoughts. She went over to the cabinet by the table and started to dig around a drawer. "And the cat is Vesper. Don't mind her, she just ate so she's going to sleep for a while now."
"I see," I said. I rubbed my hands together awkwardly, not knowing what I should be doing if anything. I was just about to ask if she lived there all alone with just a cat for company when my stomach growled loudly. Ulala laughed and I blushed, putting a hand on my stomach as if to keep it quiet. I hadn't noticed how hungry I was until now, my mind more focused on the cold and getting out of the forest, than whether or not I'd eaten in the last... I didn't actually know when the last time I'd eaten was.
"Hungry, I gather," said Ulala with a clear hint of humour in her voice and handed me a small block of something brown. For a moment I thought it was something to eat, but then I realised it didn't look nor feel particularly edible. I looked at her, confused. She raised her eyebrows. "It's soap, go wash up." Right. Of course. "Through the door, there's a basin of clean water and a towel right by it. I'll fix you something to eat while you're there."
"Thank you," I said and hurried to the other room.
As she had said, there indeed was a wash basin just by the door. It was sitting on a small table, and had a mirror hung over it. I also found the missing bookshelf that I'd thought I would - or rather two of them - and a small wardrobe against the wall next to the door. There was also another bed in the corner of the room. I guess Ulala didn't live alone after all.
Something caught my attention. In the other corner of the room, between the two bookshelves was another door. I frowned at it, not having realised there would be a third door. Although on second inspection the back room was smaller than the main room had been, so the two rooms combined wouldn't be as long as the house had been from the outside, leaving a small amount of space unaccounted for. For a moment I entertained the idea of going over there and peeking into the final, third room, but decided that it would be incredibly discourteous towards Ulula, who had allowed a complete stranger into her house and had shown me nothing but kindness so far.
The door also had a big golden lock in it, its keyhole staring at me from across the room, so it wasn't like I could actually open the door even if I wanted to. It did make me wonder what could be so important to lock away in such a small cabin in the middle of the woods...
I turned away from the door, and directed my attention to the mirror.
Having no idea of who I am, also meant I had no idea of what I looked like. I'd already discovered my hair was cut somewhat short when I'd run my fingers through it earlier, and when I looked down at my body I could see I was pretty strongly built, but I had no idea what my face looked like. To be totally honest, it scared me a little to find out, although it probably shouldn't.
I took off my coat, gloves, and scarf and threw them on the bed. I was wearing a dark gray, long sleeved cotton shirt underneath, and a thin linen undershirt under that one. My pants were a dark brown and very dusty, one leg also a bit muddy where it had been pressed against the ground when I'd woken up. I desperately wanted to get out of my old, dirty attire, but without a change of clothes there was nothing I could do about it. I sighed, rolled up my sleeves and walked in front of the mirror.
One blue and one green eye stared back at me through the glass. I was surprised. Having different colored eyes did seem a bit, well, not abnormal per se, but unusual anyway, although I didn't really have any kind of basis for this feeling. I mean, I could remember nothing, so theoretically it was entirely possible that every other person had two different color eyes as well. I really doubted that, though, since both of Ulula's eyes had been a warm brown.
I moved on from my eyes and studied the rest of my face. It was covered in grime, yes, but underneath the layer of filth was a rather handsome face. Probably. It was framed by slightly wavy, black hair, and it had a slightly, but not too badly, crooked nose, a strong jaw and a full set of teeth, thin lips, and what looked like a small scar across my left eyebrow (above the green eye). I had no idea where I'd gotten it from, of course, and I wondered what kind of person I'd been before, as I rubbed it with my thumb.
I washed my face and my hands with the soap, drying them on the towel on the table next to the basin, and then turned back to the mirror. Even now that my face was clean it still looked rather dark and I frowned at my reflection until I realised belatedly that it was just the natural colour of my skin. My hands and arms were also a light brown in colour after all, and I felt the sudden urge to apologise to myself in the mirror when I noticed something else that hadn't come off with the washing.
"What the..?" I said half aloud as I traced a finger along the black markings under the blue eye. There were three dots, one by each corner and one in the middle of the eye, and a curving line running under them. Going vertically down from the middle dot, a second line ran down to the level of my mouth, and another slightly curving, horizontal line about a finger's width from the first ran perpendicular to it. I had no idea what the marking meant, if anything. How had I gotten it? When? Where? It didn't seem like a scar, but rather like... pigment in my skin.
There was the sound of a door opening and then voices, drawing my attention away from the mirror to the still closed door. The owner of the second bed must have come home. I couldn't hear the words through the wall, but the voice was definitely female. I gathered my coat from the bed, pulling it on and stuffing the scarf and gloves in one of its large pockets, and walked to the door.
"I got plenty of firewood, granny, so we'll be good through the night," said the new voice as I opened the door.
"Thank you, dear," said Ulula. "That was very smart of you. It's going to be a cold night tonight, so it would be quite the bother if we had to go get more in the middle of it."
"Don't you worry, granny," said the other voice, sounding very determined. "I'll brave a thousand cold nights to bring you more firewood. After all, I- oh."
She stopped talking as I came into view, her green eyes wide as she looked at me in surprise. It was a young woman, probably in her early twenties, small but not skinny, and with a very plucky air about her. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was neatly braided on two braids that fell against her back, and her skin was positively riddled with freckles. It was like someone had taken a wet paintbrush and started to flick paint all over her like an empty canvas.
"Who are you?" she asked, frowning and put her hands on her hips.
"Oh, ah, well," I stuttered, suddenly flustered because I had assumed Ulula would've mentioned my existence.
"Ah, there you are, young man," said Ulula from where she was standing by the fireplace, saving me from further embarrassment. She had been stirring something in the cast iron pot hanging above the flames before turning around and giving me the once over. "My, my, don't you clean up handsome," she giggled and walked between me and the girl to the cabinet. She pulled a plate from it and then gestured at the girl. "This is Rosa, my granddaughter."
"Hello," I said as Ulula went back over to the pot and started to scoop some kind of stew into the plate. The girl, Rosa, looked to be very impatient.
"Granny!" she groaned after it became apparent no one was going to volunteer information. "Who is he?"
"I'm just... a traveler. I think," I said and she glared at me.
"You think?" she asked and turned back to her grandma. Ulula had placed the plate on the table where I noticed a spoon, some water, and a small piece of bread were already waiting.
"Come now, have some food," she said, gesturing for me to come sit. I started to carefully maneuver around the girl, who sent me another glare when I moved. I gave her an apologetic look as I hurried to the table and sat down, my back to the wall. Ulula patted my shoulder, which she could finally reach. Rosa groaned again.
"Can someone please tell me who this man is?" she practically shouted. I felt like asking the same question, honestly.
"Rosa, no yelling when we have guests," said Ulula.
"I'm really sorry for bothering you," I said, fiddling with my spoon. "I, ah, woke up in the woods and after being lost for a while I saw this cabin. Your grandmother was kind enough to let me in from the cold."
Rosa's eyes were fixated on me again. They weren't annoyed anymore, but rather curious as she looked me up and down. Then she walked over and sat down across from me.
"What's your name," she asked. I looked away, embarrassed.
"I, well," I started and then glanced at her. She looked back, very expectant. "I can't remember, to be honest. I don't remember anything before waking up back there."
"Oh," said Rosa, sounding not as surprised as I would have assumed. "So he's a..." she said, turning to her grandma, who nodded. "Oh," she said again, turning back to me. "Huh." She rested her elbows on the table and stared at me. I felt my cheeks heat up under her close scrutiny and I laughed awkwardly. After a moment I realised that she was going to keep staring no matter what, and my food was getting cold, so I started to eat.
I can say without lying that it was the best food I remembered ever eating.
And even if I had remembered some other kinds of foods, at that point I was so hungry that it tasted heavenly. After I finished eating, Ulula took the plate away to the other room, leaving me and Rosa sitting there alone. She was still staring at me.
"You're gonna stay the night, right?" she asked suddenly. I was startled for a moment and then cleared my throat.
"Preferably, yes," I said. "If that's okay with you... I don't know where I am, what to do next, and I really don't feel like going out there in the dark and cold without any kind of plan."
"Obviously," she said and then nodded to herself. "Well, if you're going to be staying with us, you're going to need some kind of name."
"I told you, I don't remember who I am," I said with a sigh, and leaned back against the wall. Having a name would make things easier, if or when I run into other people...
"That's okay, I can name you," said Rosa. She pointed a finger in my face. "From now on, you're going to be called... Nemo."
I blinked.
"Nemo?" I asked. I couldn't help but feel... somewhat underwhelmed. And a little insulted.
"Yup," said Rosa and hopped off the bench. She walked over to the bed in the corner of the room and scooped up the cat. Vesper, I recalled. The cat made a small protesting noise, but settled against the girl easily. "You can take my bed for the night, I can sleep next to granny," she told me. I stood up as well. "Do you want, like, a clean shirt or something? I'd really prefer if you not make my bed all muddy and stuff."
"Ah, thank you, that would be great," I said and then frowned. "Do you have big enough clothes, though?"
"Don't worry about that," said Rosa easily. "I still have some of papa's old clothes, they'll fit you just fine."
"Thank you very much," I said with a smile as my mind raced to process that information. What had happened to her father, I wondered. Rosa gave me a quick smile and then retreated to the other room with the cat, before coming back a moment later with a linen shirt and some pants. She gave them to me, pulled a small door-like thing in front of the fireplace to reduce the light, and then bid me good night. The door to the other side closed and I stood there in the middle of the room for a moment just thinking, before changing out of my dirty clothes and into the clean ones I'd just received and climbed into bed.
I stared up at the ceiling and wondered what tomorrow might bring with it.
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Whoooo, I kinda like this one. I mean I have no idea where it's going but I like it. Yes.
I hope you don't mind I made the main character a man. I feel like, despite Sorcerer having two guys as main charas, we've had considerably less male characters. Wellllll this guy is a... guy now. Also heterochromia... it's a very groovy mutation. Get it? Get it? You don't get it.
I feel like drawing again, so maybe you'll see some character sketches for my next post. Until then, enjoy this amazing blueprint:
Yeah, your topic for tomorrow (it's so weird to do these every day again, weee) is "Mess".
Pie out.
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