'Another failed interview...' Philip thought to himself as he walked down the streets, cars rushing past him on the street next to the sidewalk. 'When I get home it'll be another lecture on interview strategies that aren't going to work... Fuck, I hate this...' He continued his train of thought.
'Well, I'll at least have another week to be a Neet, there's that at least, I suppose...' He thought, trying to bring himself some amount of optimism. "Who am I kidding? The moment I walk through those doors, I'll be asked about the interview, and once they hear that I failed... Again... They'll probably destroy anything they deem as a distraction...' He thought as he turned right and approached the door of a house.
Hesitantly, he put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door. "So?" A man with an intimidating aura asked. Philip looked at the ground. "Worthless." The man said abruptly. "Are you not trying? Are you telling them to fail you!?" He asked angrily.
"No..." Philip said quietly.
"I can't hear you!" The man yelled.
"I said no." Philip said in a normal voice. 'He's angrier than normal...' He thought to himself.
"Then why can't you find a fucking job!?" He asked in a yell.
"I-" Philip spoke.
"You what!? You actively sabotage yourself!?" He asked.
"No!" Philip said as he looked the man in the eye. "I keep trying... But they always say the same thing! I tried being different, I tried being the conformist, I tried everything!" Philip yelled.
"Leave." The man said in a low, gravely voice.
"What?" Phil asked.
"I said leave." He said with the same tone.
"You mean the house?" Phil asked.
"Yes." The man said.
"But my stuff's in there." Phil said.
"No, my stuff is. Now leave." The man said. Phil was stunned and just stared blankly. "Leave!" He yelled as he pushed Phil. Phil fell onto his but on the smooth stone walkway behind him, shocked. He stood up, looked at the man for a second, then turned around and walked away slowly.
Without realizing it, he had walked into the street, and suddenly, there was a loud honk, and a truck collided with Phil. 'What...?' Phil thought as pain filled his body. Suddenly, light was filling his eyes brightly as various voices spoke, one tired, the other two excited. Phil, of course, was breathing heavily, but he noticed there was no more pain, aside from whatever ghost pain remained.
"Evant kan tev hesad lah kina?" A male voice asked.
'Hm, my vision is rather blurry, but that aside, what language is that?' Phil wondered.
"Inas yusa unpa gat. Lek junva ret kavan." A woman spoke.
"Gat lita nea junva ret ingar fas ka ganam pora tevet." The tired woman spoke
"Ra opank nea ingark fas ka ganam katas." The man spoke again.
'I still can't tell what they're saying, but I have a feeling it's about me...' Phil thought to himself.
"Ra taga." The woman said with a bit of a chuckle. "Theodore jat kan." "She said after she finished chuckling.
'Oh! I recognize that one, it's a name!' Phil thought to himself. 'Wait, blurry vision, a tired lady, a man, another woman...' Phil thought as pieces started to fall into place. 'Does this mean that I... Reincarnated...?' Phil wondered as he skimmed his memories for any further information.
"Hata loat, Kendra." The other woman spoke. (loat is pronounced Low aht with that more guttural a sound.)
'Alright, so the odds of me having reincarnated are probably roughly sixty percent...' Phil thought to himself.
"Lep, Iris." The tired woman, Kendra said.
"Ra theto et yukat jin than hata.' The man spoke.
"Unpa jak itarnak, John." The woman, Iris, spoke.
"Lepo." The man, John said.
'Based on all that, I think I can assume my name is Theodore... I certainly do hope I can come to understand this language at some point...' Phil thought to himself.
'It's been a few months and I've come to understand part of the language through inference. Yes, no, and hungry were the easiest for me to get a grasp on since they are said to me the most. After that was you, I, me, mine, basic pronouns basically.' Phil, now Theodore, thought to himself as he crawled around the house, organizing his current understanding of the language around him.
'From there, I was able to infer more and more about the language. Also, I can see now. Well, clearly, that is. My mother is a very beautiful woman with brown hair and blue eyes, my father seems to be a fairly attractive man with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. The other woman that was present during my birth seems to have left the house a few days after my birth, which leads me to believe she is this town's midwife.' Theo continued to organize information as he crawled around the dining room area which is next to the kitchen and entryway.
'Now, I have a new project; learning to read. Of course, that will be no easy feat considering my age, but I believe that I can copy the tactics in manga and anime. I will learn to read by paying attention to what people are reading to me!' Theo thought to himself as he left the dining room area and crawled into the hallway.
The hallway has two doors on both sides of the walkway with stairs at the end of it. The stairs are segmented into two parts, the first part leads up to a small landing where a door sits. if you turn right, take two or three steps, and turn right again, you can continue going up the stairs.
On the second floor, there is a short hall with three doors, one on the right, one on the left, and one directly straight.
"Ah! Theo! Mama said you aren't supposed to go up the stairs!" A young girl with red hair and green eyes said.
'Damn, I thought I gave her the slip!' Theo thought as the young girl ran over to him and picked him up awkwardly. 'This is my sister, Sydney. I assume the red hair comes from one of my grandparents, but I haven't met them, so she could be adopted for all I know.' He thought to himself as a displeased expression appeared on his face.
"Did he try to go for the stairs again, Sydney?" Kendra asked from the kitchen.
"Yeah, mama!" She said excitedly.
"Alright, sit him down next to the couch and play with him until the food is done." She said.
"Okay, mama!" She said happily.
'Welp, my search for books has been thwarted once again...' Theo thought to himself as he was carried clumsily to the couch and set down in front of it. She laid down on her stomach to be on eye level with me.
"Can you say Sydney?" She asked. "It's Syd-ney!" She sounded it out.
'What does she expect from an infant that's barely five months?' Theo wondered.
"Hmm, how about hi?" She asked happily.
'I mean, I could give her the satisfaction of me saying something to her, but I'm not sure I wanna.' Theo thought. 'Or maybe...' He thought as an idea popped into his mind.
"Sydney is fine too!" She said with a wide smile.
"Sydney, he's still a little sma-" Kendra said as she looked at Sydney and Theo but was abruptly interrupted.
"No." Theo said with a large smile on his face. Sydney frowned.
"That's not it! It's Sydney! Syd-ney!" She said dejectedly as she stood up and crossed her arms. At the same time, Kendra put her cooking utensils down and walked over to Theo. She picked him up with bright eyes filled with excitement.
"You said your first word!" She said happily as she lifted him above her head. "And so early! You're so smart!" She said as she went in a circle.
'Well, I am mentally a twenty-nine-year-old, so...' Theo thought to himself. "No." Theo said.
"Ahh! You did it again!" She said.
"Yeah, but he said no to saying my name! Hmph!" Sydney said as she stomped her foot and looked away as she puffed her cheeks annoyedly. Kendra lowered Theo a bit and held him on her hip as she crouched down to be on eye level with Sydney.
"It's alright, he's still small, so he doesn't fully understand what he's saying, alright?" Kendra said warmly.
'I definitely knew what I was saying.' Theo thought to himself.
"Hm." She said as she glanced at Theo, who had an innocent smile on his face. "Alright!" She said happily as she uncrossed her arms and went to hug Theo.
"Alright, now take your brother again, I need to finish cooking." Kendra said as Sydney hugged Theo.
"Alright!" She said happily.