Your Advent Calendar 2021

Day 11

Mako

Morning, hope you slept well😊 It's my turn again. Who will Take-chi meet now? What happens? Well, we will find out😊

Part 4

It was about two hours later that Take-chi woke up, or rather was being woken up. His arms felt stiff and oddly positioned, his head was pounding. He had last felt like this when the dwarves had thought it would be a good idea to pour him excessive mead, last Christmas. So he groaned and could only open his eyes with difficulty.

He was lying in the grass... You could see the sun's rays from above, through the blanket of leaves, making their way through the tree line. He groaned again as he tried to roll over to determine where he was, why he was there and better yet... who he actually was? At this realisation he rode up, he must not, he could not have forgotten who he was, could he? Finally sitting up in slight pain, he peered around him, was he alone? But out of the corner of his eye he did spot someone, a figure leaning against a tree. A red piece of cloth peeked out.

Take-chi wanted to say something, but his voice failed him. However, the other person seemed to have been made aware by his movements that he was awake. The figure detached itself from the tree and took a few steps towards him. When the being stepped into the light, Take-chi could see it better. Wrapped in a red cloak, it stood there. Take-chi caught a glimpse of its face and would have thought it was a girl, very fine features, large light brown doe eyes, wavy, shoulder-length dark brown hair.

However, the prince knew, from whatever source, that one should not be deceived by appearances. "Are you feeling reasonably well again? You looked pretty knocked out when I found you. Did you come here to train? Are you a marathon runner or something? My name is Tika and I was just at my mum's, now I wanted to go home and found you like this in the forest."

So a girl after all? Take-chi couldn't explain why it was so difficult for him to distinguish between the genders, it was almost as if he hadn't had much to do with people in his life, which definitely couldn't be true... He noticed that Tika was waiting for an answer and tried to make use of his voice again, this time more successfully than before. "Uh... thank you... for looking up to me, I really grateful.", as he said, he tried.

"Oh no problem, I had time anyway.", Take-chi admired how calm she remained, others would have laughed at him for sure, but she seemed genuinely concerned. "What is your name then? I haven't seen you here before.", her big eyes looked, into his and he strained to remember his name. "Eh... ehm... T.... no... E.... ahhhchi...", it didn't help, his head couldn't properly piece together the individual fragments of his name in this state....

"I see... you must have lost your memory, but don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll just call you... Tachi then, shall I?" the confused brown-haired man nodded and let the being, whose gender he still couldn't place, help him up. The supposed girl was quite pretty, the brown curls framing the petite face with full lips and large, fawn eyes. Her arms were also delicate, but she had strength.

And that voice. "Is everything all right here? Does it hurt anywhere?", she was so sweetly gentle, as if coated in honey. 'Tachi' just nodded, but then indicated that it wasn't so bad. She seemed reassured and Take-chi continued to eye her. Why was she wearing a red coat in the middle of the forest, it made her stand out far too much... the memoryless man pondered, not managing to tear his gaze from her.

"Um... are you really all right? You seem a little distant... well, like you're thinking about the past, which isn't possible, is it?", Take-chi shook his head in dismay and a little embarrassment. "No... Do you know what I should do now?", he therefore huffed out, it was possible for him to speak properly again, but his voice was still rather weak.

Tika stepped back a little and looked at him, who was now standing on firm legs. Then she answered: "Come with me for now. I have a room not far from here, keep me company until your memories return. It would be an honour to have you with me for a while. What do you think?"

The light brown haired man stared at Tika in disbelief. "Are you serious, you would want to? I'd love to, thank you.", he didn't really think about it. This pretty creature had just offered to take him in, how could he say no? Then there was that adorable smile after his reply. She was so cute, this brown-haired, caramel-eyed Little Red Riding Hood.

"Sure, I'll take care of you so that Tou-nii doesn't get to you again Tachi," Tika murmured and Take-chi could not make anything of these words, but simply smiled a little stupidly.