Anima, Ch.4: New Life

[Anima, Ch.4: New Life]
----------------------------
--01-- [Scene: none] <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun> {SFX: chicken}
I rubbed my eyes as I pulled myself out of bed. Quarter past dark o'clock. Ugh.
I feel as if me-that-was hadn't been an early riser either.



--02-- <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun> {SFX: slam}
Suppressing a yawn, I left my room at the inn, and descended the stairs in time to see
Caitlin walking out the doors after making a morning delivery of fresh bread.
Where does she find the time?


--03-- <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun>
(Piaras)
Good morning, Meara.




--04-- <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun>
"Morning," I half-mumble in passing as I walked past the front desk.
I pushed through the blinds to the dining table, sat down, and ate one of the small loaves of bread set out.
Hmm, still warm.


--05-- <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun>
I've been in Tir Chonaill for...twelve days now?
I'd worked out a deal with Piaras for room and board at his inn, as long as I chop firewood for him every day...
Keeps me out of the cold at night.


--06--  [scene:Tir Chonaill] <BGM: I'm Fine>
After my modest meal, I stepped outside. The first rays of the sun peeking over the hills stung my eyes a bit.
Nora was nearby, beating the dust out of a rug with a heavy wooden club.



--07-- <BGM: I'm Fine> {SFX: pow}
(Nora)
Morning, Meara! *whump* *cough*
Ugh, dusty!



--08-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves> {SFX: pow}
"Morning." So cheerful for so early. Do none of these people sleep?
Well, time to earn my keep. I went behind the inn, picked up an old lumber axe,
crossed the wood bridge, and got to work.


--09-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves> {SFX: success}
I have a feeling that me-that-was didn't do much physical activity.
It also occurs to me that it's terribly strange that I can keep chopping the same trees
without ever completely cutting them down.



--10-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves> {SFX: success}
Why is it that things like this seem bizarre to me, but not things like bags that appear out of nowhere
that somehow have enough room on the inside to carry triple my weight in random junk?



--11-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves> {SFX: success}
The world I came from must have been really weird.
Another world...
I can't expect to find any direct evidence of my past here.
All I can hope for is something that reminds of who I was, and what I was like.

--12-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves> {SFX: success}
There. Done. "There's your firewood," I shouted at the counter, as I piled all the freshly cut firewood up
just outside the inn's front door. I barely caught Piaras' reply in passing.



--13-- <BGM: The Dance of Leaves>
(Piaras)
Thanks, Meara! Enjoy your day.




--14-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign>
If only it were so simple.
I sat down on the edge of the bridge near the blacksmith, dangling my feet and legs over the side,
and flipped though a book, "Easy Part-Time Jobs," to where I left off.


--15-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign>
I'd tried taking on several jobs for the villagers over the last week, with...varying degrees of success...




--16-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: success}
(Ferghus)
Back already? That was fast!




--17-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: huge failure}
(Malcolm)
You call this stitching? I can't sell this!




--18-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: success}
(Caitlin)
That'll do. Thanks, Meara!




--19-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: failure}
(Endelyon)
I'm sorry, Meara, but...some of these eggs are broken. Please be more careful next time?




--20-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: failure}
(Alissa)
How do you even mess that up, when it's the windmill doing all the work?




--21-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign> {SFX: huge failure}
(Shepard Boy Deian)
No, no, no! Stop tying up the sheep!

"But they keep running away!"


--22-- <BGM: A Credible Roadsign>
And thus I learned that I'm bad at almost everything but deliveries. Well, one more thing to drop off today...




--23-- <BGM: Buy Something!> {SFX: success}
(Dilys)
Right on time! Would you mind sitting down? I'd like to try something else.




--24-- <BGM: Buy Something!>
Dilys treats me like a lab rat. Here we go again.
I sit down on the chair by her desk, as she picks up one of the heavy books sitting on it, and opens it up halfway.
More questions....



--25-- [Scene: none] <BGM: Buy Something!>
The first day I'd met her, she tugged on my ears thinking they weren't real, then asked me literally
hundreds of questions from her books, thinking to diagnose my memory loss. She'd concluded...



--26-- <BGM: Buy Something!> {SFX: success}
(Dilys)
Retrograde amnesia. What it amounts to...is that memory of your past life history is inaccessible,
but basic skills and muscle memory remain. It can result from injury, or from...emotional trauma.



--27-- <BGM: Buy Something!>
Emotional trauma?
Does a few millennia of disembodiment and completely sensory deprivation count as emotional trauma?



--28-- <BGM: Buy Something!>
(Dilys)
If the cause is physical; if the brain is damaged, those memories might simply be gone. Erased.
You don't seem to have any physical brain damage, though. It's gotta be in there somewhere.



--29-- <BGM: Buy Something!>
"I don't have brain damage? Thanks, Dilys. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
My expression is as flat as my voice, and my words are dripping with sarcasm.



--30-- <BGM: Buy Something!>
(Dilys)
I understand you're frustrated, Meara. There's a bright side to it. If your amnesia *is* the result of
emotional trauma, it means your memory's just buried. You might get it back...you might not.



--31-- [Scene: Tir Chonaill] {SFX: slam}
Today, Dilys only subjected me to a half-hour of verbal probing into my empty headspace before letting her
new favorite test subject go. I might have time to go do a delivery job for Ferghus, but....




--32-- <SFX: huge failure>
Nah. I think I'll just go fishing. Kind of boring, but it gives me time to think.
For someone that's only been alive three weeks, I have a lot to think about.
Maybe.
I...don't have any reference.

--33-- <BGM: Close to Nostalgia>
With a worn fishing pole and leftover bait, I walked out onto the pier by the school.
Two other people I hadn't seen before were there fishing, transfixed.
Other Milletians, I guess?


--34-- <BGM: Close to Nostalgia> {SFX: plop}
They don't notice me at all as I walk by, sit down, and cast my line out.
Every time I see someone else fishing here, it's as if they're in a trace.
They never speak. They just sit there and fish.


--35-- <BGM: Close to Nostalgia>
I propped up my pole between my knees to free up my hands for a moment, and stretch my arms out.
My back feels stiff after a long day.
I heard something fall out of my pocket, onto the wood planks.


--36-- [scene: Sidhe Sneachda] <BGM: Close to Nostalgia>
Oh. It's that earring. I'd found it a few days ago when I went exploring in that snowfield up north.
Apparently it's somewhere way up in the mountains, linked to town by some kind of...teleporter?



--37-- <BGM: Close to Nostalgia>
There were a bunch of snowmen in a clearing. I found this earring in among them.
There was another gateway too, but I didn't want to go any further.
It's really cold up there. I hate the cold.


--38-- [scene: Tir Chonaill] <BGM: Close to Nostalgia>
I'd asked around town about this earring.
Nobody seems to have lost it, though Duncan gave me a funny look when he saw it.
Maybe he...lied to me? I really need to get better at sensing motives.


--39-- <BGM: Close to Nostalgia> {SFX: plop}
Oh, well. I can't wear it...
I don't have pierced ears, and I'm not about to subject myself to having a needle stabbed through them.
I threw the old earring into the pond. No use to me.


--40--
Probably wasn't important, anyway.
Oh! There's a tug on my line. Feels like a big catch. You won't get away this time!



[chapter end]