Author's Note:
Thanks for all the reviews and follows! I truly appreciate every single one of them :) Anyway here you go, Chapter 2 is up! This one is pretty long so please bear with me. Please R&R! xo MartiansWearOrangeSocks
Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon (sadly). Natsume does. No copyright infringement is intended. *insert more legal stuff here*
The zoo was his favorite place to visit. Somehow, he found comfort in the company of the animals there. His whole body burbled with glee, as though he had drunk to much fizzy juice.
"Mummy look! It's an alpaca!" shrieked the six-year-old boy. He flashed his mother a toothy grin. Neil especially liked the dancing alpacas. They looked so silly when they were excited! Giggling, Neil reached out to pet the animal. You weren't supposed to do that.
The boy relished the feel of the alpaca's coat beneath his chubby fingers. It was so soft and velvety! A smile crept across his face as he thought of how warm and snuggly it would be to own a blanket made of this.
No more cold winter nights! He imagined Mummy tucking him into bed on a cold wintry night with his new blanket. The thought made his insides feel all warm and fuzzy.
I'm gonna call you Snowy, he decided.
"Neil! Don't do that!" frowned Daddy. "They're germs on it! It'll make you very sick. Hurry along and wash your hands. Make sure you scrub between your fingers."
"Yes Daddy," Neil sighed dejectedly. Daddy was a doctor and he knew a lot of things. But surely Snowy meant him no harm? He flashed a longing look at Snowy. He would miss her very much. He wondered how long it would be till he could see her again. Daddy was very busy at the clinic and Mummy couldn't drive.
Maybe he could walk there! Nah, Neil's eyebrows furrowed. It was much too long a walk. He could get lost! Mummy and Daddy would be really worried then. Daddy might get really mad. He could get grounded!
Mummy made a soft 'tsk' sound but she wore a smile on her face. "Come on Neil, let's go get some watermelon sherbet and I'll get you a t-shirt from the gift shop okay? Then I'll make you some delicious shrimp chili for dinner."
She ruffled his hair. He liked it when she did that. It made him feel like he was her special boy.
He nodded glumly. Maybe if he were a good boy they would bring him to the zoo again next week.
"Bye Snowy, I promise I'll visit again. Don't miss me too much. Be a good girl until then you hear?"
Snowy seemed to be smiling at him. But out of the blue, her serene expression morphed into that of alarm. Her glassy blue eyes widened in fright. Screeching hysterically, Snow banged on the fence with such a ferocious intensity that it made Neil flinch. In shock, he took a step back.
Snowy's lips formed an O. "NEIL!"
The boy's feet stayed rooted to the ground. His jaw dropped.
"NEIL! I SAID WAKE UP! OPEN THE DOOR!"
Wait what?!
My eyelids flickered open in anxiety. Oh, I was having that dream about Snowy again. Whoever was at the door was going to pay dearly for this.
"What the hell," I grumbled under my breath. Who the fudge is awake at 5.30am on a Saturday morning?
Apparently Rio was. I opened the door to the sight of her disheveled face. A plethora of curses swirled around in my head but I was too sleep-addled to come up with anything coherent.
In the end, I just settled for an irritated "What?"
Rio ceased her sniveling. However, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. Huh?
"Um…Neil you…you're not um decent…" Rio stuttered meekly.
The hell? I looked down. In my haste, I had forgotten about that. I was dressed in nothing save for a pair of boxers. To make matters worse, they were the ones with the cartoon cows printed on them. What? Don't judge. I like animals okay?
My cheeks burned. She was the last person I wanted to catch me in such a humiliating situation! Ugh I could imagine Miss Sunshine here teasing me about it for the rest of my life.
"Wait here!" I squawked in the most intimidating voice I could muster in these boxers and slammed the door in her face.
Come to think of it, she looked more like Miss Thunderstorm today. Never mind, it's not my problem anyway.
I threw on the nearest pair of jeans I could find and a stray black t-shirt that had been lying around. I don't own much variety in the clothing department anyway. Just a couple of jeans, cargo pants, t-shirts in basic black, white and grey and my maroon coat for when the weather got colder-it's the only pop of color you're ever going to find on me.
"What the hell do you want, woman? It's 5.30 in the morning for god's sake!" I didn't particularly enjoy being interrupted from my sweet blissful sleep for the sake of this blond bimbo.
As if on cue, Rio burst into tears again. Hey don't you look at me like that! I didn't mean to make her cry! It's her own fault for being so darn sensitive!
"It's Lucy. I don't know what's wrong with her. She won't eat and she feels so hot to the touch. It's been getting worse and worse since last night. I don't know what to do! Henry went to town to get some new strings for his guitar. Oh Neil…please do something! I beg you…"
I knew she couldn't be trusted to take good care of Lucy! Rage boiled inside me. If there's one thing I hate, it's people who don't take good care of their animals. How irresponsible!
"It's your own fault for being such a lousy farmer!" Time to knock some sense into that blond head of hers.
"Please Neil," Rio rambled on, tears streaming down her pale cheek. I don't mean to bug you but you're the only one who can help Lucy now. Please Neil. I…I don't know what else to do." Her blue eyes widened.
It was impossible not to give in to those puppy dog eyes! Well played Rio, well played. Besides, it wasn't as if I was going to let poor Lucy suffer due to the incompetency of her owner. My guess would be that Rio had left Lucy out in the rain yesterday and the poor dear had caught a cold. It had been raining buckets yesterday! Jesus, I felt so sorry for Lucy. It must have been hell.
"Here, dry your tears," I handed Rio a wad of tissue. "We don't want the other villagers to think I made you cry!" Emma was due to begin her rounds soon. Being unsociable is one thing but having the other villagers think I'm a big bully is quite another.
After grabbing some medicine, we dashed over to Acre farm. She moved with the speed of a geriatric so I pulled her along. There is no time to waste when dealing with sick animals.
Upon arrival, I was quite impressed to see that the twins' farming skills had markedly improved. At least the crops grew in reasonably neat rows now as compared to the haphazard mess I had laid eyes on a week ago.
Rio led me to the barn where I found Lucy mooing miserably in the corner. Her color didn't look too good. At least Rio had the sense to wrap her up in a blanket.
As expected, Lucy was burning hot to the touch. Stroking her gently while making soft soothing noises, I motioned for Rio to come over. She was standing by the door, looking completely lost. Maybe I had gone a little overboard by calling her a lousy farmer, inexperienced would have been more apt. But SHE had barged into my house at 5 in the morning.
"Here, do as I do. It's easy. Keep her comfortable while I feed her some medicine. Remember it's one spoonful. You're gonna have to do this on your own in the future. Don't expect anymore favors from me!"
"Got it!" She was her usual infuriatingly cheerful self again. Boy did she recover quickly. Rio stroked Lucy gently and nuzzled up against her. Lucy responded by mooing happily. Perhaps there was some hope for Rio yet.
A thought popped into my head that I should warn Rio against nuzzling sick animals. My father was deathly scared of animals, believing them to be a breeding ground for bacteria and germs. When I was little, he insistently cautioned me against touching them and always made me scrub my hands with foul-smelling antibacterial soap after any contact with an animal. He decreed that no pets were allowed into our home. Though our dwelling place was more of a house than it was a home. Ugh, stupid old geezer's still bothering me even when I'm a hundred miles away from him.
Remembering that Lucy enjoyed being scratched behind the ears, I reached out to do so. Apparently, Rio had the same thought. Her hand made contact with mine, grazing it ever so slightly.
She mumbled a flustered sorry and quickly retraced her hand. Oddly enough, tingles ricocheted through my hand. That was…strange. Probably just the static. I brushed it aside. It was nothing, really. Anyway, I had to go. There were some things I had to straighten up at home. Rio could jolly well learn how to cope on her own.
"Um I need to leave. Feed her another dose of medicine tonight. Her fever should have broken by then. And don't leave her out in the rain again!"
"Alrighty, thanks Neil!" she beamed. "Yeah I promise I won't."
"Hmph…and don't tell anyone about this morning okay? I'll make you feel very sorry if you tell." I had to preserve what was left of my dignity. Imagine if word got out that I wore boxers with cows on them to sleep…The horror! I could already hear Dunhill's hysterical laughter.
"You got it," Rio winked. "I think you look cute in them anyway!"
For the second time that morning, my cheeks flushed tomato red. Damn you Rio!
The next morning, I found a container of shrimp chili by my door. It even had a pink ribbon tied around it. Hmph, talk about excessive. Picking it up, I noticed the card attached to it.
To Neil, thanks for the help!
How the hell did she know I liked shrimp chili anyway?