A/N: To me, the mark of a good Harvest-Moon-esque games is that you're actually disappointed when there's no rival marriages because you want all your beloved friends to have love and happiness too. XD So I've come up with several rival-scenarios that I really love/ship together, but so far in trying to write any of them, FordxSiluka have been the only ones to work out. I'll keep trying on the others though, so who knows if you might see them later.
The oppressive heat and humidity of summer…if Ford were ever to give into a more creative line of thinking, he would call this force of nature his nemesis. It was a source of much-too much-unpleasantness. Heat caused sweat, and sweat caused stench. What's more, it wilted the plants he used in his experiments and several times a day Wayne was helping another person stagger in with heatstroke.
Every time a patient stepped into the clinic he had to resist scolding them for leaving the door open a second longer than was absolutely necessary as it was his only barrier against the muggy inferno.
Indeed, the height of summer was an endless battle against misery for him, and it was inevitable that he would start getting headaches. He'd managed to stand his ground so far, but a recent typhoon had kicked up the humidity levels to a suffocating degree-at least by Westown standards.
Ford realized he'd been staring blankly at his vials for the past two minutes, having forgotten what he was doing for the fifth (or was it the seventh already?) time during his research today. He sighed quietly, rubbing at his temples.
The clinic doors opened and closed so softly, it might have been an ethereal breeze, and was followed not by the pungent scent of sweat, but rather the earthy aroma of freshly cut herbs. He looked off to the side to see Siluka standing just within the entrance, eyes drifting lazily around the room as though she'd never seen it before.
Ford had deduced she always looked at the world like that.
"That was prompt," he commented, rising from his chair.
Siluka wandered next to him, still seeming dazed by the unchanged appearance of his clinic and lab until her eyes landed on him and she blinked, handing him the medicinal herbs.
"I woke up early to get them. It's too hot today to get a late start," she stretched her shoulders as the light bundle was removed from her arms.
"Thank you, Siluka. Ah…and you're still sure you don't want payment?"
She smiled faintly at him and shook her head, "I'm just glad my knowledge of medicinals can be used to help more people. There are many in need that come to you that would never ask me for aid."
Right… Ford tried to hold back his sigh. There was a word medical professionals used to describe people like Siluka and her twin.
That word was "crackpot".
But Ford had learned not to use that word out loud after getting earfuls from many passionate fanatics in Lulukoko.
The herbs were an unbundled mess, so he began to arrange and tie them into sets of five that had similar sizes and leaf shapes. Some would go immediately into his experiments while others would be dried for later testing.
Much to his surprise, Siluka took a piece of loose twine and began to follow suit…albeit not so precisely as he would like. Wondering if there was something more she needed, he cleared his throat as he subtly moved the pile of herbs closer to himself so that Siluka couldn't make too many uneven bunches for him to have to retie later.
"If you ever change your mind about payment, I would be happy to compensate you for your time and work. I want you to know that. Your assistance has been invaluable to my research these past few months," he watched her tie a lop-sided bow onto one of the bunches and his eye involuntarily twitched, reminding him of his growing headache, "Or if there's anything else you require."
She looked up at him with a more evident smile this time, "Mahalo. Actually there is one thing…"
Ford hated it when people kept him in suspense. Brad seemed to get a kick out of it and he'd eventually learned to just not rise to the bait. He continued quickly making his bundles, making a far more sizable stack than Siluka's lackadaisical one.
The moment came and went for Ford to implore her to continue, but for once it didn't feel awkward. It was strangely…natural. As though Siluka hadn't meant to leave him hanging, she was just taking a very long breath.
"I heard from Wayne you have a lot of books. Would you mind if I browsed them sometime?' she rubbed her arm, looking less sure of herself as she continued, "I would understand if you don't want to let me borrow them, but if I find any that I think would be useful to me, I might be able to forgo a nap a few days a week to come and read in your clinic?"
Ford froze. The request both unnerved and delighted him at the same time. He would be thrilled to share his vast medical library with someone! But on the other hand, it felt odd that she would offer to stay at his place of work while researching.
Then again, it's not like he wanted her taking any of his precious text books back with her to Lulukoko where the humidity was unfathomably higher and not to mention the sand and the ocean being right there ready to shred the pages of his beloved books!
He tied the last bundle and pushed them neatly aside, turning to face Siluka fully, "You've clearly thought this through," and he even managed a smile, "After all you've done to aid my research, it would be hard for me to turn down your request, as almost reasonable as it is."
He thought about it one moment more as Siluka watched him, eyes frozen with the anxiety of waiting even as the rest of her posture looked relaxed.
"Yes, I would allow you to visit a few times a week," he looked back over at his experiments, realizing dejectedly that he'd completely forgotten what he was working on as his headache continued to pound.
Something about Siluka's warm smile was helping it, though. Maybe it was just the surprise that he hadn't seen her smile that big before. And when he described it as a 'big' smile, he noted the description didn't quite fit because it lacked the overbearing brilliance of Frank or Miranda.
"I have a bit of free time now," he continued…why was he continuing? This was the point when he should set up a date and time for her to make her visits but this was going to give entirely the wrong impression that she could just drop by whenever she wanted...why was his voice so rebellious to his logic right now? "If you'd like, we can take a quick look at my library and you can see if there's even anything you want to read."
"Mahalo, Ford. That would be perfect!"
She followed him upstairs. It was the headache. Surely that's why he was behaving so out of character….
Siluka hummed appreciatively as she admired the stocked shelves of his library, and despite the throbbing pain in his head, Ford felt a surge of pride.
"Ah, you might like this one. It's full of traditional herbal remedies."
She looked at the cover and started to giggle, "You're right. I do like that one. In fact, I already own it. My sister bought it for me."
"In that case we must arrange to discuss it sometime. There are some chapters that I can't seem to make sense of and perhaps with your expertise, I may be able to gain more insight," he set the book aside and pulled out another one, trying to recall through his fogged mind if it was worthwhile to recommend or not.
"Speaking of headaches," he stiffened. There was a wary tone to her voice, and he knew exactly what that meant.
"I noticed a dreadful aura embalming your head. It's presence has steadily grown, and if it's impossible for me to ignore, well…"
It was hard to maintain his disapproval when she was looking at him in such earnest concern….
"I don't believe in auras," he turned quickly back to his bookshelf. And this was partly why he needed so many of her medical herbs for his testing. He planned to be very very thorough in looking for unwanted, potentially hallucinogenic side-effects…
"But I'm not wrong. You know what helps me get over a headache? A cup of tea and a nap!"
"Some of us have duties to attend to. I am not going to take a nap in the middle of the day."
Siluka plucked the book from his hands. He blinked at the empty space where the book once was before turning to scowl at her.
"I'll wake you if you have any patients," an almost coy smile, "Our little secret."
As inviting as it sounded to just sleep his pain away, he shook his head.
"I have medicine I can take."
"Medicine that will take time to work. In the meantime you can rest."
Siluka, apparently done with their discussion found a seat on one of his chairs, dropping her shoes off and pulling her feet up underneath her as though this was a chair she'd been sitting in for years as she casually started flipping through the pages of the book. Ford found some medicine in his kitchen, resolving to go back downstairs. Even if he didn't have his maximum focus until the medicine kicked in, he was still capable of making some minor progress.
"I follow a perfectly reasonable sleep schedule and receive the rest necessary for full function that way. Naps are unnecessary."
Siluka looked up from the book, tilting her head to the side, "If you say so."
He stood there a moment longer. Maybe he'd expected more of an argument.
But before he headed back downstairs, where he was surprised to find someone waiting for him.
Brad didn't usually drop by in the middle of the day-it was more of Wayne's thing. And usually Ford would have been pleased to see him (not openly of course, because it was still a nuisance for friends to interrupt him at his place of work), but today he just really didn't even want patients coming in until his headache was alleviated. He'd already invited one person to sit in his house completely against sound logic, who knows how Brad might take advantage of his inability to think straight.
The chef opened his mouth to greet him and explain what he'd come in for, but he took one look at the doctor and his expression changed to a small, sympathetic smile instead, "You don't look so good."
"It's been a long day," Ford sighed as he looked at the pile of herbs now sitting on his work, and most notably Siluka's pile that he was dreading having to fix, "What do you need?"
"Just had a man stumble into the restaurant. Carrie and I think he has heatstroke. Thankfully my dad stayed inside today and he's handling the kitchen while I ran to get you."
Ford nodded, heading for his cupboards, "Keep him there until he cools down and make sure he drinks lots of water," he gave Brad a glare over his shoulder, "That's plain, pure water Brad. Please don't give him any specialty drinks."
"Yeah, yeah. I learned my lesson last time," the chef continued to smile. Ford turned back to the shelves in the cupboard, blinking blearily at the rows of bottles as he realized he was unable to remember what any of them were, "Need some help?"
"No…" no they still weren't looking familiar if he blinked three times in a row, "…Possibly."
"You might need some water yourself, my friend. What are we looking for?"
"Ah…I believe it's a red labeled bottle with a blue cap."
"This one?"
Ford read the label. At least he could still read…
"Yes. Give the man one of these, it should help bring his temperature down. You might as well take the bottle with you in case you have any other emergencies."
That got the smile to drop clear off Brad's face, "You sure?"
Ford sighed, "It's not the first odd decision I've made today and I'm going to follow your suggestion of properly re-hydrating myself right now."
The chef had pivoted his body to leave, but hadn't moved other than that. Couldn't he just take the gift and leave Ford in peace with his miserable headache?
"Not the first?"
"I currently have a guest upstairs, reading one of my textbooks," Ford clarified, "I was even the one that suggested she could do that today."
"Who, oh is it Siluka? Wayne said he's seen her dropping by a lot. Well that's not so bad. You guys going to compare medical practices or something? I hear her aura-readings are really spot-on."
"Auras," Ford scoffed, not really giving thought to the fact that Siluka was just upstairs and might be able to hear him (even if really she should have figured out how he felt about the subject by now), "At best it's a pseudo-science for enhanced reading of body-language and at worse she and her sister, as the saying goes, are 'high as a kite'."
