In the shadows, as mentioned, huddled against the side of an old building, near the entrance of an alley, is a young girl. She hugs her knees, hiding her face, and her brown braid is messy, old. It needs to be undone and rebraided.

And she sits there, rocking gently back and forth, and if you pause to look closely you can see the wings, brown and black and patchy somehow, as if someone decided to pull the feathers off an angel, rather than the wings off a fly.

She isn't thinking, just feeling, and what she's feeling is confusion and fear and pain.

Because this girl doesn't know who she is, you see. Or where she comes from. Or where she's going.

And she sits, and she rocks, and she trembles.

It's Matteo's day off. No work this evening, so he's returning home early (for him). To make the most of his extra time, he's taking a shortcut through this part of town,... and he's keeping his head down and his eyes on the ground in front of him. His curly hair is as neatly arranged as curly hair can be, partly because it's stuffed under a hat. As he hurries along, there's a distinct clatter of hooves that any rational person would put up to hard-soled shoes, or high heels.

He's just passing the alley when his ground-fixed gaze catches on the small figure hiding in the shadows. He slows, then stops completely, staring at her with puzzled green eyes.

"... Hey...?"
The faun edges towards her, looking around for anyone to whom she might belong.
But no, she's really alone...

She glances up at him, face blank.

She's been crying. She hides whatever she might be feeling, very thoroughly.

She can still do that.

Could she do that before?

...she doesn't know.

"A- ...are you alone?"

Mentally, Matteo kicks himself. Of course she's alone! And unless she lives around here, which he doubts, she must be lost.
And therefore scared.

"What are you doing out here?" He tries to make his voice as soft and soothing as possible, and draws a bit nearer. "Are you lost?"

"Yes. I don't know. Yes."

She can't think of anything else to say except the honest answer.

Her tone is blank. Her pupils, if you happened to look at them, would be dilated.

She's in shock. Real, honest-to-god shock.

It's cold out, you see, and she isn't dressed for the weather.

She continues to meet his eyes. There'd be no point in looking away, and she wants to keep an eye on him - doesn't trust him.

Poor lost girl...

Matteo edges close enough to be within arm's reach of her, and crouches down so that he's at her level. A hesitant but earnest smile tugs at his lips.

"Where do you live?" he asks kindly, offering his hand. "I can take you there, if you want."

"I don't know." She's such a serious child... has she ever had fun? Real fun?

Don't answer that.

"I don't remember anything before wandering around."

Recognize the symptoms, Teo, in more pronounced form?

At this distance, he'll see the wings easily, especially as she's cold, and she just now wraps them around herself in a feathery cloak, shivering.

She doesn't take his hand. It would be pointless.

This is definitely familiar.

He eyes her wings, trying not to make it obvious that he's doing so. With a trait like those feathery things, he couldn't simply drop her off at a police station and expect them to find her home. He certainly couldn't leave her here - just look at the poor thing, all alone and scared and lost...

Matteo persists in offering his hand, and puts on his best coaxing smile.
"Listen,...why don't you come with me? We'll go to my place - out of the cold - and we'll see what we can do about finding out where you live. How does that sound?"

She takes the hand.

There's nothing else she can do.

No one, nowhere, else to turn.

She nods, having run out of words.

Matteo closes his hand over hers and stands, pulling her up with him.

"C'mon, it's this way," he says gently, nodding in the direction of home. "Not far at all."

She follows, stumbling over her own feet, keeping her eyes on the ground in the hopes of, well, not falling.

After a few minutes' walk, they arrive at Matteo's apartment - a partitioned-off portion of the basement of an old house. The main perk of this apartment is that the furnace is close by, so he never has to worry about the place being cold.

Matteo nudges the girl towards the heap of cushions that passes for a couch, grabbing a blanket from the bed for her and attempting clumsily to drape it around her shoulders.
"There,... you'll feel better in no time. You just, er, sit still, and I'll..."
What he was going to do was never stated.
"... I completely forgot to ask your name."

She takes the blanket gratefully, and once more huddles.

She takes cold so very easily.

"I don't know it."

Blunt girl.

Emotionless girl, apparently.

If you don't pay attention to the way her feather's lie, slick with fear.

"You... don't know."
That would make sense, if you consider that she didn't even remember where she lived. He wanted to ask "Are you sure?", but why would she lie about something like that?
Matteo droops a little.

"Well, mine's Matteo," he offers, after a pause. "...You really don't remember anything?"

Pause.

"I remember... academic things. Math. How to do things. But not where I learned them." Pause. "Classic symptom of short term amnesia. I probably hit my head on something. I'll be fine."

Of course, dear. That's why you're shivering. That's why your voice has that tremble in it.

Even the bravest can be scared by the unknown. And everything is unknown right now.

"Oh. Um,... alright then."

Matteo frowns, biting his lip. What's he supposed to do with her?... Police aren't an option. Social Services is not an option. Maybe there'll be something about a missing girl on the news. Surely someone's noticed she's missing... But would they have reported it? 'Missing: Girl with Wings'? Not likely.

But, just in case... he ought to check.
He turns and heads into the small kitchen, meanwhile shrugging off his coat and giving a dismayed sigh. There's a click as he turns on the radio.
"...and that's it for local news. Moving on to international news, a new study suggests..."
And another click as it's turned off. "Drat," Matteo mutters, and returns to the main room. Even if she'd been reported missing, he's missed the report that would have stated it.

"...Can I get you a drink or something to eat...?" While I figure out what to do with you?

She shakes her head.

She isn't hungry.

(This is due to still being in shock.)

I think she'll fall asleep soon, though. She is tired.

Matteo gives a small nod, and a weak supposed-to-be-reassuring smile.

"Right. Um,... well, just let me know if you change your mind."

There is an awkward pause. Matteo has just come to the conclusion that he's going to have to look after her until he figures out where she's from.
He doesn't mind.

I think she curls up and goes to sleep, since he's no longer talking to her and it doesn't seem necessary to be awake anymore.

Anything that'll happen can happen as easily while she's awake as asleep, or vice versa.

The faun loiters about the apartment, scribbling meaningless notes of things to check out in the morning - newspapers, for example. Oddly enough, it doesn't occur to him to take the girl to see Dr. Gardinier. She doesn't seem injured, after all.

Having planned out the next day, Matteo goes to check on the nameless girl. Finding her asleep, he crouches down, scoops her up, and transfers her to the bed.

And tucks her in, just because.

She sighs, cuddling into the blankets, but doesn't wake.

Morning comes?

Despite being a night-shift worker, Matteo is an early riser. He gets up at about six-thirty, wanders around until the news comes on the radio (which he has on very quiet, so as not to wake the girl). There's no mention of any strays or runaways or suspected abductions - none concerning her, at any rate.

He sits at the kitchen table, drinking a mug of tea and repeatedly scratching out the 'listen to news' option on his list. That's one down, and not many to go.

She wakes up, slowly.

She doesn't know where she is.

She doesn't know who she is.

Sadly, she doesn't regain either of these pieces of information with further thought.

She gets up, wraps that blanket around her shoulders, and goes looking for her... savior?

Maybe.

Possibly.

"Morning...."

She's a light sleeper.

He blinks up at her, smiling drowsily. (Just because he's an early riser, doesn't mean he isn't still tired.)

"G'morning." Matteo nods to the other chair, inviting her to have a seat. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes."

She tries smiling, because it seems right, but it doesn't fit quite right on her face, and she gives up.

Whoever she is, apparently she doesn't smile at people.

She sits, looking uncomfortable, out of place.

Scared?

Maybe.

"That's good to hear."

He smiles at her, and, setting down his pen and paper, stands.

"You must be hungry by now... you didn't eat anything last night. How about some breakfast?" He ambles over to the fridge. "There's... cereal,...yogurt,... um,..toaster waffles...?"

"Bread?"

She likes bread. In toast form. With a glass of milk.

"I... cereal would be nice."

She isn't going to impose.

"Sure."

He fixes her a bowl of cereal and brings it to her, then settles in the chair across from her and picks up his tea.

"So... have you remembered anything yet?"

She shakes her head, eating quickly, neatly, quickly.

"What should I do?"

She doesn't know what to do, where to go... anything.

She's lost.

Matteo sighs into his tea.

"I think... for now, what you should do is stay here. I'll try and find out if anyone's looking for you. In the meantime, you can, um,...try and remember things?" He blinks at her over the rim of his mug. "On that note, I can't call you, 'Hey, you'... what should I call you instead?"

"I... I don't know. If I decide on a name by tonight, would that be okay?"

She doesn't want to rush into it.

"Yes, that's fine." He smirks. "In any case, you probably won't need it for long."

Clink as he sets down the empty mug.

"Well, I'm going to go see what I can find out. Do you want to come, or would you rather stay here?"

"...I'd rather stay here, if that's alright."

She really, really, really doesn't want to wander the city.

"That's fine..."

The faun retrieves his coat and shrugs it on.

"Uhh,... so, make yourself at home. Take a shower if you want, the bathroom's over there-" he points "And uh,... I'll be back before too long."

"Okay."

She waves one hand in farewell, and then returns her attention to her cereal.

She'll shower and choose a name, later.

Celandine.