"The moon goes through many phases and displays several colors, but I find my favorite moon of all is the bright orange moon that comes just in time for the harvest."
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.
The next day at school repeated the same rotation. Gray walked to school with Karen and he even carried her books. He'd never done that for Jill. At lunch they ate together too. Jill stole glances from a distance while both Popuri and Ann badmouthed Karen. Not for Jill's sake, but their own. Meanwhile Karen seemed, at least to the other girls, to have weaseled her way into most of the boy's hearts. Aside from Rick, Trent, and sometimes Jack; all the other boys seemed enamoured by her.
After school Jill decided she had to talk to Gray, she waited until after dinner, and rushed outside to put a lead on Molly. Then she rode bareback toward town. Jack shot out the door and hollered after her, but she was too far away to hear him. As she approached the entrance to town she noticed someone walking along the side of the road. She couldn't get a good view, but for a moment she thought it was Gray. She leaned to get a better view and when she almost could see his face she lost her balance. She fell into the ditch, screaming.
The figure rushed toward her and as he got close she smelled the mint. "Jill!" Trent yelled at her.
She rolled over and thanked her stars she wasn't on cobblestone yet. Molly had turned around and was walking slowly back toward stretched out her legs when she felt the sting. Trent was upon her when she'd started pulling up her skirt to look at the cut. He halted quickly.
"Are you mental?" He asked, covering his face partially, until he saw the blood on her hands. "Hell's bells, ugh…" -he looked around as if hoping to find a solution- "we have to get that cleaned up." He bent down and lifted her up. She was light, he noticed.
"Hey now-"
"Shut up." He cut her off. "Suck up that pride and just let me help ya'." He hoisted her onto Molly's back. "Keep this on the wound." He took off his shirt and placed it on her cut. Jill tried to push his hand away, insisting it'd ruin his shirt, but Trent forced it. "I can get a new shirt. Your dress it already soiled, at least this is clean." Placing Jill's hand over the shirt and instructing her to add some pressure, he then took the reins to lead Molly towards the clinic.
Jill couldn't argue anymore. She hurt all over now. Her brain seemed trying to escape her skull, her heart felt heavy, and she just couldn't hold in the tears. She was crying a lot lately and she tried to hide them in Molly's mane, but they weren't unnoticed by Trent. He just chose to not inquire about them, assuming the injury was the reason.
"Sit down here." Trent aided her inside to a seat and went upstairs to get his father. Meanwhile, Jill looked around. She hadn't been in the clinic either, but it seemed rather typical. "Dadgummit!" Jill heard Trent swear from the floor above, before she saw him coming back down the stairs. At least he had a new shirt on.
"The one night I need my father to be the perfect doctor he ain't here." Trent walked past Jill as he talked and toward the shelves. Pulling off some supplies he came back to Jill and started to lift up her skirt, before freezing.
Jill's mouth was agape, but she wasn't moving. "I'm just going to look at the cut, okay?" Trent finally spoke, gathering his mind and shoving it into a corner of his head. He couldn't see her as a girl right now, he had to look at her as his father did everybody. It was extremely hard to do though and he wondered how his parents did it so effortlessly. He found the cut above her knee, it wasn't too deep, but he wasn't sure if she'd need sutures or not. He did his best to clean it before wrapping it up in gaze. As he finished the clinic door opened.
His father and mother walked in to see their son setting between the legs of a girl, whose dress was up past her thighs. His father dropped his bag before walking over. Trent sprung up. "She fell off her horse and you weren't here." He stuttered as he tried to explain, but his parents just walked past him and over to Jill.
"I was on a house call, sorry I couldn't be here." Trent's father proceeded to remove the gauze Trent had just finished wrapping to look at the wound. "Hmm…" He looked up at his wife, who nodded and walked to fetch a kit. Then he turned back to Jill. "I'm afraid you're going to need a couple of sutures. And we'll have to watch it closely. This area moves a lot and could reopen the wound if you move it around too much." His wife began spinning a needle through a flame as he started to clean the area around Jill's cut. "Trent you did a good job, not great, but good."
"Seems like someone does want to follow in the family footsteps." Trent's mother tapped his shoulder as she walked over to give her husband the needle and thread.
Without warning he began suturing her opening. As if by instinct his wife was already holding Jill's leg in place and good thing too. It hurt, it hurt a lot. But still...Jill couldn't help but think that there were plenty of things that hurt worse.
"We're finished." The doctor nodded to his wife, who handed Jill a wet rag for her face. "Now you only need four sutures, but even those could pop if you stretch that leg out too much. So no running, no jumping, and I'd even try not to do a lot of walk for the time being. You don't want a scar. Come back in a week and I'll remove them."
Jill nodded, while wiping her face. She probably looked like a mess. Her dress was dusty and ripped, plus the blood. She'd have to sew a no one to replace it. Her grandpa was definitely going to pop his top.
"You know.." the doctor started, "I'm curious why you were riding into town so late at night. That's not the typical behavior of a lady."
"She's not a lady." Trent spoke up from the corner he'd been settled in since his father returned. "She's always been this way, reckless and brash."
Jill shot his a look, but just couldn't argue with that. She had decided to see Gray on the spur of the moment. She'd left in a rush and hadn't even told anyone where she was going.
"Son, take her home." Trent's father began washing his hands.
"What? Why me?"
"It's like you said," his father smirked as he spoke, "you need make sure she doesn't do anything reckless. Now hurry up, it's getting late."
Trent proceeded to argue some more, but the moment Jill stood up to leave on her own he rushed over to her. "Are you stupid?" He didn't expect an answer, but started to move her arm over his neck. "I'll help support you." Behind him he could hear the knowing smirk forming on his father's father. "Geeze. Let's get you home already."
Trent walked her to her horse and watched a moment while Jill tried to climb on herself.
"Let me help you."
"No thank you." Jill said firmly. She was past tired of his hot cold attitude. "I have been jumping on her back for years."
"You're not supposed to be jumping." Trent didn't wait for permission and proceeded to pick her up by her waist and sit her down on Molly. He took the reins again, before Jill could grab them. He was almost positive she'd have rush off and left him behind if she'd reached them. "Learn to accept help when it's offered to ya'."
"I don't mind accepting help, but don't you hate me?"
"I never said I hated you." Trent lashed out. He paused a moment as they were about to pass the town center, remembering the first time he'd met this crazy girl. He had been positive she was the one stalking him, until he learned caught Popuri following him one afternoon. She had confessed it was her and not Jill that was interested in him. Since then he had tried to apologize multiple times, but each time lead to a fight instead. Jill was so stubborn, like a mule.
As he continued on, Jill spoke up. "Can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Forget it." Jill clenched her hands together, what was she thinking. Asking Trent for advice was stupid.
"Sorry." He laughed. "Go ahead. I'll listen." He looked up at her, but her face wasn't showing any sign of believing him. "I'm serious."
Jill sighed. She didn't care what Trent thought of her and he'd likely be more honest than those closer to her. "It's about Gray."
Trent's face fell. Of course it would be about that carrot top, he thought.
"I have been trying to express my feelings to him for a while now, but nothing has worked. Now I seem to have a rival in this new girl. I don't know what to do. I'm not confident I can win him over. Karen is so beautiful…" She trailed off the last part.
As the smell of pine surrounded them, Trent whipped his nose. Hell, he could understand her problem. Too well, actually. "Listen. I know it's hard to try to express your true feelings to someone, especially when they seem to already treat you indifferently."
"I never thought Gray treated me indifferently." Jill place her hand to her head. Had she been completely beguiled by her own feelings that she hadn't noticed.
Trent swallowed, clearing his throat. That last part he'd said just came out. "No, no. I misspoke." He ran his empty hand through his hair. "What I meant to say was, maybe you need to be more direct. Subtle advances don't work on every person."
They made it to the town entrance and Trent stopped. Without warning, he hoisted himself up behind Jill. "What are you doing?" She practically shrieked it. Trent was right up behind her, she'd never been this close to a boy before. And then he put his arm around her waist.
Trent felt like he'd just grabbed a wild cat from the way Jill was trying to wrangle out of his grip. "Stop moving. I don't want to fall." But that didn't stop her. "Look we can't walk to your house, it'll take too long and I'm not great at riding, especially bareback. So calm down woman."
Jill finally calmed down a bit to listen to him. He was right, but she couldn't stand the closeness. Her body stiffened like a stick against him. But he didn't seem phased as he put Molly into a trot, keeping one arm around Jill. Trent was surprised by how nicely she fit in his arms. He just didn't understand why she was so fixed on Gray. They'd spent just as much time together and he always thought their was some flirtation in their fights. Maybe it was just him. At least she seemed nervous in his arms, Trent thought, that meant she thought of him as a guy and that was a start.
They'd only made it halfway down when Trent spotted Jill's grandfather driving his wagon toward the town. When he saw them he was livid. Trent explained what happened and helped Jill into the wagon.
"Trent, take Molly back to your place. It past time to douse-the-lights." He instructed the boy.
Trent nodded. "Yes sir." But he cut his eyes at Jill for a moment. She was definitely in for a tongue lashing, probably why her head was hung so low. "Jill, I don't mind helping you this week, you know, until that heals up." When Jill didn't respond he shrugged. Tipping his head toward Old Pete, Trent leap back on Molly and went home.
As her grandpa turned the wagon back for home it started. She knew it would. She'd been beyond reckless and argumentative lately. "I swear ya' lost all your cow sense. Only a calico queen would be cavorting at dusk. Jack been in a fix since ya' run off."
Jill leaned her hands into her hands. "I'm in a hobble. What do I do, grandpa?" Jill caught her breath as the tears came down. Trent hadn't really helped ease her worries. Her grandpa wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He'd meant to put her through the wringer a while longer, but she was a sucker for her tears.
"It'll be right Pony. Grandpa will make it right." He held her like that the rest of the way home, as she cried it all out of her system.
Welcome to the world of Harvest Moon, and yeah this is a farming RPG. But I love this game so freaking much! It is crazy how much I love this. So, anyway, Jill is formally known as Pony in the series. She is the one of the first three girls to come out on Harvest Moon. If you couldn't tell I used Sara and the first Pete as their parents in this story. Jill is going to be seeing faces from all of the Harvest Moon games, so if you have a favorite, don't worry, it will show up eventually. But I have to start where my Harvest Moon game addiction started, Mineral Town.
