Happy late Halloween I guess. I can't believe it's already November. Well, it's freezing outside so yeah, baaaaaaaaah I don't want winter, I don't want to be cold, but it snowed a couple nights ago so, it's coming. :(
Todd stood there in the glaring light with a smirk and Rio began to remember why she was even scared of men in the first place. She could just tell from his stance, he was not pleasant company. Despite his obvious neglect of hygiene he carried the confidence to look a woman up and down critically as if he weren't a middle-aged man with a beer-belly and receding hairline.
He grinned at Neil with no trance of pleasantness, "So aren't you going to invite me over to your place? I need somewhere to crash for a few days."
"Why would I let you into my house?" Neil said with a dark calmness.
The man scowled, "You punk, do you realize how much I've done for you? You weren't even my kid and yet your mother runs of with your real dad to get hitched and leaves you behind."
Neil stood there and took in the info, his expression indicating that he had heard this story many many times before.
"And all the trouble you've deliberately caused me! Stealing milk, coming and going as you wanted-" The man continued.
"Alright." Neil interrupted and turned on his heels, Rio found herself in front of the man again and quickly scrambled away. "I live this way." The animal dealer said.
They stopped in front of the house and the man whistled, "Not bad." He looked over to Rio, "Is blondie coming in too?"
She had hoped that maybe he had forgotten about her existence. The question was directed to her rather than Neil so he looked at her and she frowned, "Oh, um." She could tell that Neil wanted to be left alone with the guy about as much as she did. As a friend she felt obliged to help, he was too proud to send her a pleading look, but she knew that he wanted her to stay.
She couldn't.
"Actually, I have to go, um, check on the animals and such." She said with a shaky voice nearly tripping on her own feet as she stepped away. She couldn't even bear to look at the animal dealer she simply turned and speed walked away, "Bye." She squeaked.
0o0o
A couple days later and it was starting to seem like Todd was not just there to crash for "a few days." The dynamics of the entire town seemed to suffer a little bit as a result. Before it was almost a fictional place free of danger but the middle aged man brought an uneasy feeling with him. The whole town knew he'd never actually do anything but he was a reminder that the world wasn't perfect. People began to remember their street smarts that they forgot about after coming to the peaceful village. Suddenly, realistic curfews were set on the village children by they're parents and people wandered around a little less at night. The other day Iroha actually knocked on the famer's front door and waited for her to answer. The indignity!
Really everyone was hoping under their breath that the unpleasant man would leave.
"Riiiioooo," Could you bring the fodder to me so I don't have to get up?" Jessebelle called to the farmer depositing the grass into the feeding troughs.
"I'm sure you can get up and walk a few steps." Rio shook her head.
"But Riiio, I'm pregnant!" Objected the cow. The farmer sighed deeply and grabbed a handful of the fodder dropping it in front of the cow. "No need to be sassy." The cow mooed.
"You're only a week pregnant!" Said the farmer in exasperation.
"Well, guess what I'm going to be telling you when you have Neil's baby." Said the cow, "What you can't come take care of us? You're only a week pregnant!" Exclaimed the cow sarcastically.
There were no words. Just, no words at all for the cow. Rio let out the hundredth of long irritated sighs. A pregnant Jessebelle was not a good idea. Reference to the two humans reproducing didn't even get to the girl anymore, she had heard it too many times. She also knew they wouldn't listen to any objections so she gave up trying.
However, mention of Neil made her feel guilty. With Todd in town for Goddess knows now long, Neil became grumpier by the day and much more elusive, she hadn't really seen much of him. He probably needed a friend more than ever though.
Finding him was the difficulty. She just shook her head and tried to let it go. If he wanted to talk he could come to her. She had checked usual spot periodically in case he was waiting there. With the work day over she leaned on the fence crossing one leg in front of the other and closing her eyes.
She had the whole rest of the day ahead of her to do whatever she wanted. The problem was, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. It was the first time she realized that there actually wasn't a lot to do in terms of recreation in the village.
She scratched her head, resigning herself to doing more work. After all, there were always restoration plans to be done. She unrolled the paper, a well. She thought. Easier said than done.
First, she needed to locate a place she could actually reach ground water, then there was the matter of digging the hole, really Dunhill should just call in a professional, she thought bitterly. "Momo!" She called.
The brown mole erupted from the earth in front of her and she jumped back. "What's up?" Asked the mole.
"I have to make a well." She frowned.
"What's a well?" Asked the mole.
She blanched, of course Momo wouldn't know, no one builds wells in this day and age, all the houses had plumbing. Dunhill's insistence on a well made little sense. "It's like a hole in the ground that reaches all the way down to water."
The two sighed. "I guess I can look for water." The mole volunteered.
"Thanks that would be a big help." She nodded and the mole hopped back into the ground.
In the meantime, she headed out into the town.
She felt like she really ought to help the mole but didn't even know where to begin. She glanced around at the open land blindly as she walked until she bumped into someone. "Sorry!" She cringed and then looked up at the lack of response.
Neil had already began to pass her. "Yeah." He said emotionlessly. She watched him go with some worry, he looked tired. Was he mad at her?
Tina who was dropping some mail in Hana's mail box looked up as he passed, "Yo! Neil!" She greeted.
"Yeah." He nodded again and kept walking.
Tina and Rio exchanged a look. "What was that about?" Asked the mail carrier putting a hand on one hip, "well, it's not like he usually responds to me much better."
"His dad is probably just wearing him out." Rio frowned.
"No kidding." Tina scoffed, "Have you met that guy?"
Rio nodded and watched Neil head into the river area. "Poor Neil." She said clutching her scarf.
"Where is the old guy anyway?" Asked Tina.
"Probably still in the house he doesn't go out much." Rio responded.
"Well no wonder Neil is always out." Tina sighed, "That guy really has to go." She tilted her head and patted her cheeks before breaking out into a smile, "Look at us getting so depressed! Let's do something fun later!"
"Something fun?" Asked Rio.
"Yeah, I've been thinking, there's a lot of girls our age in the village! We should have a weekly girl's night out or something, like maybe eat dinner or something." Tina grinned.
"That sounds good." Rio nodded. If she continued to only have her animals to talk to she might go crazy. Also it might be nice to have company who wasn't constantly shipping her with Neil.
"Then it's decided!" Tina beamed, "tonight at five thirty! Come to Clements!"
"Today?" Asked Rio a little talked aback by the sudden plans, "O-ok."
Tina smiled one last time shot the peace sign and then bolted off to her next delivery. Not a minute later a geyser of water came shooting from a hole in the ground. A small brown object was shot up into the air and Rio quickly caught it. Momo shook like a dog in her palms and she cringed at the dirty water projected at her face. "Found the water." He said.
It took them the rest of the day to figure it out and she found herself frantically rushing to the restaurant. The group of girls were waiting at the corner table.
"Nice of you to join us." Tina joked.
Rio blushed and sat between Iroha and Michelle. "Sorry I was building the well and lost track of time."
"A well?" Iroha rose an eyebrow."That seems impractical."
Michelle stuck out her tongue childishly, "Bleh, I wouldn't want to drink dirty water anyway."
"Right?" Rio exclaimed.
The group conversed long after they finished their food and it was much later in the evening by the time she got out. She left in a good mood, humming a little after triple checking that there was no one around to hear her.
Her soft hums were silenced by the sound of shouting.
"Darn it old man! Stop leaving crumbs all over the couch!"
"Is that any way to talk to me you brat?!"
"You're leaving a mess all over my house! And I almost broke my neck slipping on the dirty magazines you hid under the rug!"
The yelling continued and Rio bit her finger nail nervously, they were fighting every day now about every little thing and it always ended the same way.
"Whatever!" Neil finally concluded, emerging from the house before slamming the door shut with so much force that the bang could probably be heard throughout the village.
He walked right past her muttering, "Even if he ever does leave, I'll have to burn the place down anyway to decontaminate it."
Rio reached out her hand to try to get him to stop but he didn't notice her instead heading into the forest. She watched for a moment helplessly before finally following him in. At this point she lost track of where he went but without even any words she looked to a worried looking weasel who pointed a claw down the path, "He went to the Goddess Pond." He told her.
"Thanks." She said quietly and began her trek up the mountain.
The messy blond sat hunched in front of the water.
"Neil?" She asked softly.
He threw a stone into the water angrily and she winced, the goddess would not appreciate that. "Neil?" She tried again. He didn't respond so she tentitivly tapped his shoulder, jumping back when he wheeled on her. "Rod, you, Why can't you guys just leave me alone!"
Rio stepped back. "We're only trying to help." She defended.
Neil coughed into his sleeve and then glared at her, "Just go away, you're really annoying."
The words hit her and sunk deeply into her chest. "o-oh." Was all she could say. She knew he was just saying that because he was tired and irritated at someone else and yet… tears still began to sting her eyes.
Don't take it personally, don't take it personally. She lowered her head so her bangs would block her emotions.
He coughed again and she looked up in surprise, "Neil, are you alright?"
"Just go away!" He snapped.
That did it.
Tears began to stream down her face, "Sorry, sorry." She blubbered backing away and wiping at her face furiously now unable to hide them.
"I'm sorry!" She repeated and ran off feeling an immense amount of guilt that she couldn't help him and probably just made him feel worse.
CheetosPotato- Oh my gosh welcome to officially being part of the community! It's a lot easier this way isn't it? I can't even imagine anymore actually having to continuously look up all the stories I was reading to see if they were updated.
Swag Giraffe- Hehehe thanks. You don't need to worry about me, I had thought I might have transcended sleep but then I completely crashed and now I'm much more responsible with my time. Yeah, Todd's pretty aweful, but really hard to write, it's kind of hard to write a character you don't relate with.
XxBlue and CrimsonxX- Vesr? You mean bear right? Lol. I don't think she'd be able to face a bear off on her own, I have different plans for Sampson you'll see. ;)
Sealing Mistress- Yeah it was pretty fast but I couldn't really think how to build up to it. I mean, it was supposed to be sudden and unexpected but at the same time it's surprising hard to write. Also, I'm not sure how much I'll actually show Todd because well, I'm pretty sure Rio would never go within fifty meters of him. Hmm, this is the first time I've actually been stumped, I know where I want all of this to go but the build up is difficult. Maybe a Neil's POV? Oh well, I'll figure this out after my second set of mid terms. Thanks for the research, it's good to know when I'm going into a right direction and when I'm not. Before the next chapter I'll try to think of more ways to develop Todd... Oh Goddess I just thought of something good. OmigoshOmogosh. I know exactly what to do.
Mryhh- Eep! Don't apologize! I get what you meant and totally agree, afterall if I didn't have this plot twist, the story only could have gone on a couple more chapters before it got repetitive. Hmm as to the explanation... she was... born that way. *All readers simultaneously facepalm, "THAT'S IT?" They shout at their monitors.*
SaturnWolf3- Okiedokes, will do. Thanks :3
Spicy Wolf- Hmm I think I get what your saying? xD I tend to talk like that so I'm not completely lost. That's good that you have the game! I bet these ANB fanfics make a lot more sense now. I myself kind of write under the assumption that my readers already have a lot of background knowledge.
CAPJHMPAgirl- Thank you! I'm glad everyone is so understanding about the slower updates, then again you're all in the exact same position as me too.
Strikey-Chan- Whoa, I totally thought I recognized your user name. You're one of the RioxNeil veterans. (It's how I think of all the people who wrote stories earlier on) mad respect to you. I love Average Life, I hope maybe someday you'll pick it back up but I totally get how hard that can be when you've lost momentum so no pressure... (maybe a little pressure)
