Another room

job info:

The figure walked through Clover Town, going from the main street to the suburbs. It’s walk was confident, arms behind its back and facing straight ahead. It’s crimson clothes stood out of the normal setting, the odd five eyes only drew more glances, some curious, and some nervous. They wondered, what is it doing here? A cult member maybe? Certainly dressed like one. But the figure walked on in confidence, unfazed by these whispers and looks.

The figure, zecarayus, was just as weirded out as they were.

He didn’t have any memories of the town he was in, and yet he walked the path as if he had been down it a few times. Stores and houses stood out, as if he should had remembered what they were. But he couldn’t remember anything. The people out and about did not help his unease. He understood why they could be looking and whispering to themselves, but he was concerned about it all. Did he look like someone frowned upon here? He didn’t know, and at this point he was doing his best to watch his move as to not spook anyone. His attention was caught by a pair of eyes from the tree near further ahead. The young boy, he guessed, was looking at him with the curiosity of a child, unsure if what he saw should be feared or not. He however, had more to say then the others.

“What are you?” The boy asked in a timid tone with the curiosity still in his eyes.

Zecarayus stopped his walk, and felt many eyes fall upon him. He weighed his words with consideration, before answering. “Just a wandering mage, trying to learn about the towns here.” His tone had a slight echo to it, and was kept neutral as possible. If he was alive, he would be sweating at this point with a slight shake to his breath. But to the oddity of those who watched him from afar, he had not even moved in the slightest in answering the boy’s question.

“Are you a good mage? Like Sabertooth?” The boy asked another, he looked more unsure now about zecarayus, but he held his curiosity.

“I do follow that path, yes.” His tone the same neutral. He then asked his own question, accompanied by a slight tilt of his head. “Why do you ask?” He deliberately did the tilt as a hope to ease the tension.

The boy, coming from behind the tree now, looked at him as if to judge if he should answer. “Well I got a younger sister, she’s super sad about her fish being gone and she won’t stop crying. I heard good mages like to help, so maybe can you can help?” he asked. Zecarayus thought about it only for a moment, he really wasn’t doing anything else and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to help others. Maybe he could get answers about the specifics of their opinions on him. “Lead the way.” The boy seemed a little surprised, and ran to the yard behind the tree. Zecarayus untitled his head, then walked over a few feet to the boy’s apparent house.

The boy opened the door for zecarayus and beckoned to him silently. As zecarayus walked closer, he could hear crying now, and a coaxing of what sounded like her parents. As he walked in, the boy went to go get his parents. Zecarayus waited in front of the open door outside, he didn’t really know how well they would react to seeing him in their house unexpected. The parents come, first with a annoyed look, then the same mix of curiosity and nervousness at him. “What are you doing here?” The father demanded, he had a protective grasp on both his wife and son who were next to him. His son got a word in before zecarayus, “Pop he's a good mage! Like those in sabertooth! He told me and he can help with Ann!” The father hushed him, and zecarayus took the time to speak for himself, his tone more sympathetic to help soothe the suspicion. “Your son approached me for help, and I thought it would be good to at least see if I could lend a hand with your daughters crying.” The dad looked with surprise, then shook his head, “No no we got it! Just go we don’t need you.”The mother, who had watched zecarayus the whole time now spoke up, “Dear, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Maybe he could get through to ann?” she spoke. The father shook his head, and the two got into an argument with whispers until the mother gave the father a look that could had been lethal. The father relented, and with a sigh and a suspicious look he asked zecarayus, “You know anything about counseling children?”

Zecarayus gave a nod, and with that he was lead to the daughters room. The door was open, and she was in the corner hugging a fish bowl that had belonged to a fish once. Her tears fell in tiny streams on her face as she sobbed a cry that felt like it came from her heart. It tugged at zecarayus’s heart(or the closest he had to one) and nodded toward the family beside him. He then entered the threshold of the room. The sobbing girl, ann, didn’t even noticed him until he said her name aloud. This caused a temporary stop to the loud sobbing, and she looked at the source. Her eyes grew wide as the ominous stranger, who now stood in her room. She started to give off a noise of uncertainty and fear. Zecarayus again spoke her name, “Ann”. She grew quiet at that point, her eyes glued on him waiting for more. Zecarayus, seeing now that he had her attention, reached to the side of the room for a plush dog on the floor. Ann watched him as he went toward the open door, and dropped the plush dog out of sight of her. He then turned back to face her, who still watched him. “Is the dog gone ann?” He asked her. She seemed unsure of what to do about being asked this, but she managed to squeak a answer, “N-no *sniff*”. “Why isn’t it? You can’t see it.” “Because...*sniff*...because its outside my room.” she answered quietly. He nodded, and squatted down so that his gaze was more leveled with hers. “So why do you think your fish is gone?”

She started with slight sobs, “B-because he ain’t in the bowl and I can’t find him anywhere and momma said he was gone and a-and…” The slight sobs were threatening to escalate into ferocity again. “But your dog is out of sight, why isn’t that gone?” he questioned quickly, his tone neutral but with slight curiosity for her answer. “B-because *gasp* because he's outside my room.” “So why is hard to believe that your fish is in a another room?” That stopped the girls sobs, and with shaky breaths opened her watery eyes at him with a confused look. Zecarayus knowing it, answered her confusing gaze, “When animals move on, like people, they don’t disappear. They just move on to another place, another room. And even though you can’t see them they are still around! Being as they were here.” “H-how do you know *sniff* that?” Zecarayus stood back up, both of them never broke eye contact during the re-standing and he stated simply to her, “Because I have seen there room.” The shift in the atmosphere became one of sadness to now uncertainty. Zecarayus had offered no proof for his statement, but his looks, stature, and ominous magical aura seemed to satisfy the girl enough as she got up and walked back to her family. Her mother welcomed her daughter with open arms and a shirt to clean up tears. They made room for zecarayus to leave and with a silent nod and a wave goodbye to the older brother, zecarayus left. He was glad the girl seemed to calm down enough for her parents to comfort her. But he still wanted to get opinions. But he hummed to himself, not worrying too much about it now as he walked back down the street with his audience watching from afar.

1428/500 WC