Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Rune Factory series. I don't even own a copy of Rune Factory Frontier.
Buddy Talk.
Order of POV's: Anette, Erik, Tabatha, Danny, Lara, Lute, 3rd person.
I sat on top of the counter, waiting for Tabatha to finish my tarts. I was literally drooling with the idea of eating her food. Of course, I'm sure Erik could have made it too, but Tabatha's cooking is out of this world.
"Is it ready yet?" I asked, jumping down to check her progress.
"Not yet, Anette…" said Tabatha, chuckling. What was she doing? Was that Lobster? And spices? What is all this stuff doing outside? Oh, well. Tabatha is the cook, not me. It was her headache. It did not matter what she put inside it, it still tasted good.
Somebody knocked at the door, and to my astonishment, I saw Lara walk inside. Tabatha and I smiled at her, and she did the same. Lara came up to us and turned serious and scary, like she did when I had fainted in front of Raguna's house the other day.
"Well, Tabatha, not much, but she will be out cold for about an hour or two…" she said. I was quite confused. Who was she talking about?
"Who will be out? What? Huh?"
"Miss Bianca. She will be alright, I hope." she said, looking concerned. Lara smiled and nodded.
"Oh." I said. I wondered what was wrong with her, except her huge attitude, of course. Maybe she was allergic to something? Again: It was her headache. I was getting one due to the lack of food. Lara and Tabatha were making small talk, as usual. My ears picked up the word 'Lunch' and I immediately began to pay attention to them.
"…stay for lunch here, both of you, I'm sure Miss Bianca would not mind." said Tabatha. I nodded, while Lara debated over it for sometime. I mean, this was Tabatha's food. What was there to think about?
"Of course, I would love to stay over for lunch, as long as…" Lara began, but I cut across her immediately.
"I'm sure Tabby wouldn't mind, right?" I asked, giving her the 'adorable eyes' look. She nodded, and turned back to her cooking, as Lara sat on a chair and I re-took my position on the counter.
~*~
Danny sat down on the chair, giving an exaggerated sigh. Lute, on the other hand, carefully wove through the house and sat on the chair, ready for our weekly lunch together. I got out the food and placed it on the table, and Lute helped me, while Danny just extended his long legs and put them on Lute's chair.
"Hey! I was sitting there!" protested Lute. Danny stretched more.
"So what?" he said smugly. Lute sighed and continued to help me.
Once everything was set, I signaled them to begin eating. It was not a big spread, but it was pretty good cooking, if I may say so myself. Through his first helping of rice, Danny asked a question Lute and I had been waiting for him to ask.
"Where's Anette? Doesn't she usually come here for lunch?" he said through a mouthful of rice.
"She's eating with Tabatha." I said, smirking at both Lute and Danny. I guess the proverb 'Two Birds, One Stone' comes into effect here.
Both of their faces went bright red. It was fine for Danny, as he did not look too bad. For Lute, however, the blush contrasted with his red hair and eyes, and he looked like a tomato with an eggplant on top of it. Isnickered at their expressions. Danny was the first one to retaliate.
"Wh-what about Lara?" he spluttered. "You were totally hitting on her yesterday!" I casually flicked away a strand of hair that had come onto my face.
"My dear Danny, the art of love is not with you at all." I said, glancing to see if Lute had gotten over my teasing. He still looked like a tomato, so I guess he was still thinking about my words to him. I decided to pester Danny a little.
"For example, your pathetic attempt to ask Anette out for the flower festival yesterday was simply…pathetic." I said, sneaking a glance at his face, which was, of course, turning crimson. I ploughed on, nonetheless.
"You began with a volley of stammering, and then you proceeded with a hesitant attempt to make conversation." Lute laughed. "…Anette had a lot of mail for you that day, so it would have been easy for you to ask her out, buddy boy. All you had to do was just tell her, 'Will you come with me to the flower festival?" and it would have been fine. All you had to do was muster up some courage. It seems that you cannot even perform the simplest task in wooing a girl, Danny."
His face was now a shade of red nobody could describe. He stabbed a potato with his fork for a while, before muttering something.
"What was that?" asked Lute.
"I said, I asked her after her rounds, when she was at Mists' house. She seemed surprised, but she accepted anyway." he mumbled.
"Nice going, dude!" said Lute, whacking him hard on his back, causing Danny to squirt out potato from his nose. "Oh, sorry…"
~*~
Anette gazed at me hungrily while she sat on the counter, pleading for food. I smiled at her, and told her to wait for a while. She groaned and leaned back.
"Erik takes a shorter time to prepare food, but your food tastes better, so I guess it's worth the wait." At the mention of Erik's name Lara gave a tiny sigh. Or was it a gasp? I think it was something between the two. Anette sat straight immediately.
"What was that you said, Lara?" she asked, smirking at her. Lara blushed, and then fiddled with her dress a little. Her humorous reaction was good enough for me, but not for Anette. She had to tease her more.
"Did Lara just give a sigh of longing?" teased Anette, stifling her giggles. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh out loud; as Lara spluttered something I could not catch. I heard Anette's response, though.
"Oh, really? You didn't? Then what was it?"
"A-Anette, I-I…"
"You LOVE him, right?" she smirked, as Lara blushed harder. "Did he ask you for date yet?" Lara turned magenta.
"How did he ask you, Lara?" I asked, trying to tease her further.
"H-he came up to me when I was praying and then asked me." she whispered.
"Man, I was expecting a more romantic one…he asked you with Stella there?" said Anette sorrowfully. Lara seemed to be matching the color of the beetroot in my hands.
"D-did you say yes?" I asked, trying to stop laughing.
"Y-yes, I did!" she said, a bit too defensively. Anette jumped off the counter and shook hands with her.
"Congratulations in advance for your wedding, Lara!"
~*~
I wiped my nose with a towel as Lute apologized frantically.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Tabatha…" he said, and then stopped dead, realizing what he had said. Erik and I looked at him, and he turned red.
"N-no! I-I meant-" Erik cut across him.
"When did you do such a thing to her, the poor girl?" he asked, faking offense.
"N-no! N-nothing like that!" Lute spluttered. I smirked at him.
"Oh, really? Then what really happened with you two?" I asked, as he blushed harder.
"I-I…" Lute looked around desperately, as though looking for a distraction of some kind. None were there, so he had to finish his sentence.
"L-last autumn, I was painting the leaves at the lake. I was in the middle of sketching with my…"
"Get on with it." snarled Erik, hungry for more.
"A-alright, alright. Well, after a bit, when I was painting, my hand hit my paints and fell on somebody. I turned to see who it was, a-and it w-was…" Erik cut across him again.
"You mean Tabatha was there all that time?" he smirked.
"She was admiring you, Lute, dude, awesome!" I said, enjoying the show going on.
"She could have been admiring the painting!" spluttered Lute.
"You hadn't even painted the thing." I said.
"And your sketching is too light to see." added Erik. Lute was speechless for a minute. I urged him on.
"Then, what happened?"
"S-some paint fell on her a-arm…and I apologized. That's all." he finished lamely.
"I don't think so." said Erik. "Tell us the truth, Lute."
"Or else." I added. Lute shuddered.
"O-okay, you win. She stayed after sometime, and then asked me to take her to the island; you know the one in the middle-"
"Yes, yes, and then?"
"A-and then I took her there, and then we spoke, and then when it was turning dark, I took her to her house, b-but before she went inside, I-I kinda…"
"Kinda did what?"
"K-kissed her." he whispered. We hooted.
"Cheek or Lips?" asked Erik, the specialist.
"L-lips." his voice was very low now, and I hooted again.
"Kiss or French?" he pressed.
"Huh?" this was from both Lute and me. Erik sighed.
"Did you simply kiss her, or did your tongue go into-"
"French."
~*~
Tabatha had finally finished and was laying the table. I rushed to help her, and soon the table was set with plates of her marvelous cooking. We sat down to eat, and before doing so, we all said a quiet prayer to thank God. Anette immediately began to devour the food.
"Anette…" I said reproachfully, but she waved her hand at me and continued to eat in that shameful manner. I shook my head and began to eat.
Her food was perfect. Each flavor went with the dish, and the smell of spices filled my nose, preventing me from smelling what else was in the dish. The taste for each ingredient was distinguishable, yet they were blended in a way which you could get confused.
"Do you like it?" asked Tabatha. I nodded, taking a big bite out of a gyoza she made. Anette laughed.
"Now you see why I love her food?" Anette said smugly. I nodded again.
"You could become a great cook, Tabatha." I said, pausing eating for a second. She laughed. Anette gave a huge gulp before speaking.
"Really, you should! Danny was saying the other day how unfair it was that Bianca would just boss you around for food. You would be able to be a whole load richer than her if you owned-" Tabatha cleared her throat loudly, obviously getting the same thoughts as I was. Anette looked at us, confused. I decided to get some payback or her earlier comments.
"Really, Anette? What did Danny say?" I said. For some strange reason, I enjoyed teasing her, and watching her face turn red. "Where was he saying it?"
"W-we…that is to say, I-"
"We? Oh, my Anette, how could you?" I teased, seeing her blush harder and deny what I said.
"Th-there is nothing going on between us! I-I swear! He just asked me out for a date yesterday!" she spluttered.
"Well, congrats on your wedding too, I presume." said Tabatha. I giggled, happy to have the tables turned against her. Anette suddenly whipped around to see her.
"Oh! Congrats for your wedding then, Tabatha." she said, smiling. Tabatha, who had just taken a sip of water, choked on it. Even though I know that choking on water could kill somebody, I couldn't go help her because her expression made me laugh too much.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" she asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
"I mean…" began Anette, waggling her eyebrows. "…that once Lute gets a house, you will be able to marry him, right?"
"I-I-"
"Oh, please, Tabatha." I scoffed. "I saw that fiasco that happened that day. You got a bit carried away, didn't you?" I was referring to the day in autumn, where Lute had kissed her. She turned a deep shade of red.
"I-He-We-"
"We again! Honestly, what is up with you and your 'we'?"
~*~
I ate my food quickly, wanting to leave, as I was rather late to the next town and that Danny and Erik were mocking me. They had just stopped and were finally concentrating on the food. Suddenly Danny spoke.
"You know, Erik, I think Lara likes that farmer Raguna." he said, between a mouthful of curry. I turned to see Erik's expression.
His mouth was open, and he was turning red with anger. He grabbed Danny's collar angrily.
"What do you mean by that?!" he demanded, shaking Danny. Danny looked a bit dizzy.
"Ugh…" moaned Danny.
"My Lara? Loving Raguna? Not possible! She belongs to me! After all the time we spent! After all the tears we shed! After all the happy memories we had together! After all those sleepless nights I had, thinking about her! She likes RAGUNA?" Erik bellowed, shaking Danny with every syllable. I broke them apart, and made sure Danny was okay. I then turned to an emotional Erik.
"…she was my true love! Her hair! Her eyes! Her luscious curves! Her horrible, yet attractive dress! I want her so-"
"Okay, calm down, Romeo, calm down." I said, trying to soothe him.
"I must talk to her! After telling me that the kiss I gave her, that winters' day, was her first one, she dares to do this! No! This is not my Lara! My Lara would never do such a thing! My Lara loves me, and only me! Come boys!" he proclaimed, grabbing our hands.
"Let us go to the de-Sain…Sain… Bianca's Mansion! Come!"
#~#
Lara, Tabatha and Anette were leaving the mansion when Erik, Lute and Danny were leaving Erik's farm. The two parties bumped into each other.
"Erik?"
"Lara?"
"Lute?"
"Tabatha?"
"Danny?"
"Anette?"
"Um…" They all remembered the embarrassing moments that they experienced with their own group.
"That is, uh…" They were determined not to embarrass themselves again.
"I…err…"
"…N-need to go." they said simultaneously, and saying this, all of the young adults turned and went their own directions.
This story is for Rune Heaven's second monthly contest, theme being 'Reminiscence'. Thank you all for reading~! My first contest entry~ wOOt~ gimme a hoot, Erik and Danny!
~LL.