I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON AND OC'S PREVIOUSLY (CURRENTLY) MENTIONED WITH THE NAME OF THEIR CREATOR. I ALSO DO NOT OWN MODEST MOUSE OR QUEEN, OR THEIR SONGS: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY AND FLOAT ON RESPECTIVELY.
I DO OWN MY OC'S AND THIS IDEA.
Thanks so very much for you guys' support! I could not have done it without you: LollipopLullabyRedStar, MadnessCouldBeMadder, CoveredInHisBlood, Ketsueki no Kuki (your PM made me sob hysterically. You are amazing), Peanut-Bata, leapingleameer, CrimsonWind25, and Update-Do. Izumi-Maia-chan for the favorite and follow! (I have no idea if I thanked you already, so thanks.)
In honor of all of you and your amazing love for my story (I never thought anybody could love my writing so much, thank you.) I made this chapter SO DAMN LONG YOUR BRAINS WILL EXPLODE FROM CONTENT OVERLOAD.
I am so so so so so so SO SO SO SO SORRY though. I legitimately thought I'd be able to update every week, alas, I was wrong. Thank you for being understanding, and I swear to you that I will be more careful when telling at which time I will update. From the bottom of my heart I apologize and say thanks for still sticking by me anyway!
So, for now, my updates will be IRREGULAR (as mentioned on my profile). There, now I am not a liar. Forgive me pwease? *puppy dog eyes*
Here we go! The surprises and the Jam session, can ya'll handle this? *sassy voice*
Warning: T for alcohol/drug references, suggestive themes, and brief strong language.
10. Party Time: Part Five: Jam Session: SUPER LONG ADDITION
(BECAUSE I LOVE THOSE FACES YOU HAVE.)
The two large front doors of the mansion opened letting in a quick flurry of wind and slicing rain, Jin smiled, standing just next to it with a Red Solo cup full of some strange slushie and noticed the two people who began to stride inside.
One male and the other female, both standing at an awkward distance apart and dripping wet. They obviously didn't know who the hell the other person was, but they'd attempted to find the mansion together.
The male was a lean yet muscular (that shown through his soggy shirt) and slightly olive toned man with dyed silver hair. His chocolate colored eyes surveyed the bustling men and woman and he smirked. He wore a white, button up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of jeans and black Osiris shoes. A black tie also fell over the top of his shirt, and he held a leather jacket over his arm, obviously put on a bit to late because it was dryer than the rest of him.
The way he held himself was with an air of pride - maybe even conceit, as he locked gazes with many of the others.
He whistled as June went by, and she turned around and hollered. "NOT GONNA HAPPEN."
"You'll come around."
The girl refused to look anyone in the eyes, opting instead to stare at her black high heels. A matching peplum dress hugged to her petite figure nicely, flaring out at the ends. She had black and wavy hair cut in an A-line sort of bob with side bangs, and dark brown eyes the shape of Almonds. One could tell she was Asian, but of which country it wasn't too sure.
Jin strode up to them and brusquely shook their hands, being - essentially - the host of the whole affair.
"Elise Finn Yan and Lock V'eer, I presume?" when the two nodded, Jin smiled once again with sparkling teeth, "Welcome to Moonshine Valley! Just so you know, you're so excruciatingly late that we're now doing clean up."
"Really?" Elise - the small woman - asked, her eyes slightly panicked. Lock - the male - looked virtually indifferent.
"No." Jin laughed, shaking his head. "Oh I'm just kidding, we're still in full swing, just needed to pull it inside. No need to be so jumpy." he patted Elise's shoulder in a gentle sort of manner, feeling a bit bad at her reaction "Welcome once again!" he greeted.
Then he strode away, and Elise and Lock parted ways and disappeared into the crowd.
William and Hollie had pretty much been dueling it out on pranks the entire night. The last prank was to Hollie's credit - a thumb tack on a plastic molded chair that Jin had meant to use for the courses that would be held upstairs. It embedded itself so far into William's ass that he started to sing Soprano along with Toni's guitar playing for a few seconds (to be honest, he wasn't that bad.) when he shifted in his seat at the weird uncomfortable pressure, if you know what I mean.
Hollie was in stitches so bad that she tripped over Jude, who'd been kneeling down to pick up a pencil and landed inside the punch bowl on one of the lower tables. She laughed even though her face was painted in a red that would rival that of a fire truck, and William did too.
"Jude! You're so my man right now!"
Jude fumbled and scrambled over himself just to help Hollie out of the bowl. Roxanne let her use a blanket she found on one of the couches to dry off in. Hollie was still laughing, tears running down her cheeks. "You win this round, Will!"
"You bet your sweet ass!"
"Oh come on, too far!"
"Hahaha!"
Caius watched the display of William and Hollie with eyes that were like a void in the universe, a whole lot of nothing shone in them - well for a second if one paid close enough attention, a sparkle of quick amusement was held there, but it was all too fleeting in its existence.
June strode over to him and tapped his shoulder, "I don't think I've met you yet," she managed to say levelly, her voice was actually pretty melodious, and sounded vaguely French with a weird smear of Chicago within it.
Caius tipped his head to the side to look inside her ear for the aid, its setting was at 8. He'd remember that and save it for later. It could be of some use to him, and maybe a little bit of amusement for once.
"I'm June," she grinned sticking out her hand, "June Johansson."
"Caius."
They shook hands, and June cocked her head to the side. "You always this dull?"
"I'm only as dull as everybody else in this place."
"Then why're you still here?"
Caius shrugged, even though his next words were an answer to that exact question. "Rein."
"OH, I THINK I'VE MET HER."
Caius sighed, and turned her hearing aid. "Thanks!" June grinned, "Sometimes it sliPS AND I END UP YELling and people get VERY FRUSTRATED WIth me."
"Ever considered getting a new one?" Caius asked with a long suffered sigh, as with almost every syllable she spoke the sense device malfunctioned and turned the gear down and June's voice up.
June rolled her eyes, "Doy, I'm not an idiot. It just has SENTIMENTAL VAlue."
"I see, and why is that?"
"It belonged to my grandfather, he passed away from Leukemia almost a year ago."
When Caius blinked this time around, a little more of a flicker showed in his eyes - empathy. Now the thing was, he may have basically been a robot, but he had a soul. "I'm sorry for your loss."
June waved it off, "Everybody losses someone. It is the circle of life."
"Anyways, I used to live in his house whenever I wasn't camping on site, and when he passed away I had to find somewhere else to stay, and here I am!" June smiled, talking so quickly it was hard to keep up. Caius simply nodded after deciphering her slur, offering no words in response.
June sighed, lip stuck out in a pout as a strand of ginger hair lifted and fell, and then when she got no reply again, she nodded at Caius in a form of farewell. "I'm off to speak with the chef! The tiny girl who came in here earlier, should be INTERESTING."
"Have fun with that." Caius drawled, before smirking and waving goodbye at the retreating form of the senior miner, cornering poor Elise with shouts of salutations.
Lock approached Sola a lot more tentatively then his grand entrance and short banter with June would have deemed even remotely possible. He shuffled his feet along the hard wood floor, stopping short of the Doctor, and began to blush so intensely that it looked like he was suffering from asphyxiation.
"H-h-hey there."
What the hell was wrong with him? Why the sudden stutter? He asked himself these questions as Soladat stared at him somewhat indifferent with her gleaming evergreen eyes.
"Hello." she stated simply, blushing a bit herself. This fueled a little bit of Lock's ego, although Soladat merely blushed because she was being approached by a stranger, which she'd been dealing with most of the night.
"What is your occupation?" Lock asked, swallowing long and hard and running a hand through his hair, which was wet with rain water still. Was he really this nervous? He was just talking to a small town Doctor for crying out loud, not Megan Fox.
Why did he suddenly lose the ability to breathe and form coherent sentences?
"I'm the Doctor," Oliver snorted somewhere, to which Sola shook her head, but smiled and asked Lock, "and you are?"
"I am the uh. . . The uh. . ."
"The uh. . ." she teased, grinning even more hugely as well her face tinting even further into a vaguely maroon-like shade.
"I'm just a student, I don't really have a set job." Lock felt shame coursing through him for that statement, would the Doctor find him a joke?
Sola did laugh, but did not give a reaction he expected. "That is okay, it takes everyone a little while to - you know - find their calling or whatever." she shrugged, "It happens."
Lock was so flabbergasted all he could do was twitch and stutter a little bit, his cheeks still painted a ruby red.
Hollie was over by the piano, stroking the keys as Toni continued to play "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. He cocked his head to her when he noticed her hesitance to sit, "Why don't you play?" he asked, bringing his own strumming to a stand still.
Hollie shrugged, "Thought maybe I should wait for you to finish your song first! Wouldn't want to intrude on it."
Toni waved it off casually, "Come on! I would have been fine with it."
Hollie shrugged and blushed a bit, but nodded.
"Hey!" he exclaimed suddenly, holding up a finger as his others held a blue pick clinched between them, "I have an idea, why don't we both play?"
Hollie blinked, but her mouth soon spread into a crooked smile, mischief in her eyes. "Sure you can keep up?"
Toni scoffed, "It is YOU who needs to worry about keeping up." he faked his indigence horribly, because he was still smiling. Eyes twinkling too.
Hollie laughed, "You are so on." she set herself down on the sleek black bench, sweeping her dress just under her with her arm so she could sit on the fabric of it. She slid off her shoes and pushed the pedals lightly just as Toni tuned each one of his strings precisely, nose wrinkled in concentration.
"Okay," Hollie began as she cracked her knuckles, "What're we going to play for everyone."
Roxanne smiled from next to Toni, who had his tongue pinched between his teeth in thought. "How about you play Bohemian Rhapsody." she suggested, as choruses of agreements circled through the residents of Moonshine Valley.
Toni broke into a huge grin, "That should be freaking amazing."
Hollie cracked her knuckles once more as well as her back, each vertebrae popping audibly. Soladat shook her head from next to Lock, "You'll be seeing me before the night is done."
"If you say so, Doc."
Toni began plucking away to the introduction of the song, and giving a dashing smile to Hollie he asked, "Would you do the honors?"
Giggling, Hollie piped in with the notes of the piano as she began to sing.
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality."
Toni picked up the next lines smoothly, his voice a handsome baritone that left even Lock and William in shock and quiet respect.
"Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see, I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy. I'm easy come, easy go."
"A little high, little low. Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me." Hollie picked up, running her hands along the keys to make a dramatic affair of the whole situation. The large instrument thrummed with the whacks of the chords.
"Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he's dead." Roxanne stuck a finger gun to Toni's head and pulled the trigger, causing the man to stick his tongue out and tilt his head to the side as Rein joined in with the next few lines.
"Mama, life had just begun! But now I've gone and thrown it all away~!" Rein threw her hands out in a twirl of mock tragedy, stifling a fake sob with the back of her hand.
"Mama, ooo!" carried everyone in unison, fits of chuckles and snickers and giggles echoing just afterwards, at which point Jin filled in the next lines.
"Didn't mean to make you cry! If I'm not back again this time on, carry on, as if nothing really matters!"
All sixteen of the people planning to live in Moonshine had gathered together to sing and to play with Hollie and Toni.
"Too late, my time has shivers down my spine, Body's aching all the everybody - I've got to leave you all behind and face the truth!"
"Mama, ooo - (anyway the wind blows)." the males all sang the 'anyway the wind blows' somewhat silently while the woman belted out the Mama part.
"I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all." Elise chimed in with Soladat, their blushes evident but their voices clear and splendorous.
"I SEE A LITTLE SILHOUETTE OF A MAN. SCARAMOUCH, SCARAMOUCH WILL YOU DO THE FANDANGO! THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING - VERY VERY FRIGHTENING ME!"
"June is very, very frightening me!"
"William, I will kick you in the nads!~"
"Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo Figaro - magnifico!"
"But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me!" Jude pretend-sobbed, as Oliver slung an arm over his shoulder, Irish drawl thick and sending Lock into a fit of laughter.
"He's just a poor boy from a poor family! Spare him his life from this monstrosity!"
"Easy come easy go - will you let me go?" Jared asked, gazing at Jin who promptly shook his head.
"Bismillah! No - we will not let you go - let him go! Bismillah! We will not let you go - let him go! Bismillah! We will not let you go - let me go!" Pixie would shout, and June would state that she wouldn't let go. Gary pleaded.
"Will not let you go - let me go (never)!"
"Never let you go - let me go! Never let me go - ooo! No, no, no, no, no, no, no -
"Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go!" Caius even threw in a quick alto, downing a quick shot to which a ton of people cheered.
"Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!" Hollie sang, a cross over her heart.
"For me! For me!"
"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? So you think you can love me and leave me to die?" Pixie shouted angrily in a believe-able way that was easily broken by the smile that split her face.
"Oh baby - can't do this to me baby! Just gotta get out - just gotta get right outta here." Gary hummed.
"Ooh yeah, ooh yeah! Nothing really matters! Anyone can see, Nothing really matters - nothing really matters to me." Roxanne belted, to which wolf-whistles rang in the air.
"Anyway the wind blows…" everyone ended together.
The last chord was strung, the last note was hit, and everyone was thrown into a flurry of applause and boisterous celebration.
"Still the single most brilliant Queen song of all time." Hollie admitted, though she laughed. "All of us need to avoid American Idol though. Simon would boot all of us off."
Laughter signaled an agreement, except for Jin who commented with a sly smirk. "Isn't he in charge of the X-factor now?"
"The point is Simon Cowell would kill most of us." Oliver chortled, sipping at some water.
"Except for maybe Toni."
"Surprisingly, Lock too. . ."
"Hey!"
"Maybe Caius?"
"Analise was good!"
"Roxanne too!"
"The only one especially bad was Hollie."
"Hey now!"
The crowd began to disperse into different sets of people again. Toni casing up his guitar, and Hollie putting some distance between herself and the piano.
William and Lock sat next to each other by the punch bowl that had been cleaned and refilled after Hollie's little accident. They gave each other one glance, smiled, and began to discuss the best pranking tactics. Calling each other bro repeatedly and with the occasional high-five.
"So how long have you been pranking that farmer girl?" Lock asked.
"Oh you know, since we got here. She just looked easy to scare."
"Yeah?"
"and Caius really pissed her off." William snickered, "It was hilarious!"
"Caius seems like a cool guy."
"We should make a brotherhood!" William declared raising a whisky glass with a drooping half-smirk.
"Yeah! The Brotherhood of the Homebound Doucheholes." Hollie called from just across the way, talking to Elise.
"That could actually work." Lock commented back with a smirk, "Thanks sweetheart."
Hollie graciously flipped him the bird.
"So you're the cook?" Hollie asked, smiling at Elise.
Elise nodded, "I. . . I like to cook." she was obviously so far from her comfort zone she didn't even know what it felt like to be comfortable, so Hollie was doing her absolute best to make sure that Elise felt welcome at Moonshine, even if it meant *shiver* being. . . NORMAL.
Talking to people was pretty foreign to Elise. She was the socially awkward one in high school, didn't really have many friends. So talking to Hollie was a challenge, as well as a little bit out of the usual. June before had scared the pants off of her, so she was trying pretty hard not to scream and run away from the woman who'd taken position as a farmer.
"That is pretty cool!" Hollie continued, "I mean, you'll mostly be using my produce, so we'll be working pretty closely together, what do you say?"
"Yeah, that should be fun." Elise smiled a little bit, but it didn't reach her eyes, "Maybe we could have tea together sometime."
Hollie giggled, "Nobodies asked me that since I went to London. No joke. I'm not even being stereotypical about the situation in the slightest."
Elise chuckled a wee bit herself. "Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"What was your favorite tea?"
"Earl Gary."
"I'm more of a Lemon grass myself," Elise began, easing up a little bit, "But Earl Gary is classic, that much cannot be denied."
"I'll say! Hey, maybe after that tea Rein will let us ride her horses and play cricket, she's at the farm closest to the passage to the city. Not the large one leading out to the Inn."
"Isn't that next to where the screaming lady's mine is though, near the entrance to the city?" Elise glanced towards the aforementioned red-head - whom had taken to screaming at poor Gary again about her love of fireworks - with more than a little fear brushed in the garnet depths of her eyes.
Hollie laughed good naturedly, "She give you a fright?"
Elise agreed quietly, still cutting looks to the busty ginger, "She wouldn't stop yelling."
"Broken hearing aid is the main cause of that little issue." Hollie stated, taking her pinky to clean out her ears as June's yelling escalated, "I hope she gets rid of it."
Elise shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."
Gary escaped June with the help of Jude, who came by to ask him if they found any coal in the mines if they'd be willing to give him some. "You use coal?"
"Yeah! Sometimes just charcoal can be a bit of a bore, you know? Plus, it is a lot darker from some projects that require mass amounts of shadow." Jude leaned back in the armless chairs pressed against the walls and kicked up his feet on an ottoman that had a few red cups and napkins littering it. Gary cringed but nodded, and shook hands with Jude by way of a formal greeting, as everyone had been doing the entire night.
"So what're you doing here?"
"Oh I'm, eh well, an artist." Jude announced with his arms folded across his chest, "You?"
"I'm an apprentice under. . ." he shuddered, "June."
"Oh her! Her hair is hard to sketch." Jude frowned, nose wrinkling, "So many different shades of red! You think she dyed it?" Gary was taken aback by his way of analyzing people and his question a bit.
"That is a pretty peculiar question." he admitted.
"I'm a peculiar kind of guy." Jude grinned coyly, "So as a miner - what is your favorite thing to mine?"
"Silver."
"Ooohh, and gold?"
"Nah, just silver. I like its sheen, and how timeless it is. Gold is too flashy." Gary shook his head in slight disgust. "Silver isn't. So yeah."
Jude nodded slowly, "Oh yeah, sure. Makes sense to me!"
Gary nodded and took a sip of the ale he'd been holding in his hand. "So, you going into art as a serious profession?"
Wrinkling his nose again, Jude shook his head. "Nah, dude. Art isn't serious. Art is freedom, art is expression! Raw passion!" Jude ended with a flourish, standing straight up and throwing out his arms. He was obviously just being a ham by the way he held himself, but Mr. Crimson didn't look amused.
Gary rose both eyebrows, because it was just one of those double eyebrow raising times, "You might want to get serious though, how will you afford the lot of land you set your trailer on."
"I'll find a way! Besides, as Modest Mouse says, "We'll all float on, okay."" Jude quoted, patting Gary's shoulder. "It was nice to meet you, aye Toni!"
The man strode away, leaving Gary in the leather armchair. Stunned.
Jared sloshed around some whisky and Scotch in a glass with Rein and Roxanne next to either side of him, watching over his shoulder as he attempted to make a drink for Roxy to learn and serve at her bar.
Being a scientist, mixing solutions and chemicals and all sorts of potions and agents, Jared knew a thing or two about the properties and uses of alcohol, so he knew just what to stir up to get the perfect mixture between getting totally hammered because you were dumped, and still being able to end up in your own house with your wallet and cellphone.
"White wine." Jared chanted in monotone, reaching for the small shot glass as Rein offered it up to him. Like they were performing some kind of high risk surgery.
"Red wine."
"Schnapps."
"Vodka, NO not that much, and lastly - a blueberry jell-o shot."
As these strong smelling fluids fell into the small flute of what was once champagne, a hiss and a spit came from the glass - sending a puff of smoke into the air that left virtually everyone alarmed. Jared though, smiled brightly. "It is done."
Roxanne took the slender goblet and asked, "What is this monstrosity?"
"I call it Reality." Jared declared evenly, "Very bittersweet with just enough spice to liven things up, and just enough dryness to keep the unique moments special."
Rein grinned, "I like that explanation!"
Roxanne smiled and agreed, "I'll put it on the menu." taking a tedious sip at the glass's edge, Roxanne coughed for a few seconds before smiling and savoring the taste by rubbing her lips together, not a glimpse of anything fuzzy or even remotely inebriated in her eyes.
"This is brilliant! It tastes like red velvet cake, sea salt, and stars."
"That is what the inventor of champagne called champagne. He told his monks in the monastery, 'Come quickly, I am tasting the stars.'" Jared and Roxanne quoted at the same time, sharing a quick grin.
"Alright!" Jin cleared his throat and addressed the entire house, managing to gather everyone's attention. Well, he was a teacher after all. "Thank you all for coming to the opening night of Moonshine Valley!"
A round of applause ensued again, and once it was subsided Jin continued. "So if you could all assist in clean up, that would be great. Should take no time at all." he remarked casually, clapping his hands together for emphasis. "So once again thank you so much, and I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you, as I'm sure you feel the same."
After clean up was finished, everybody shook hands with everybody, friends hugged, bros staggered after a farmer girl to scare in the middle of the night, friendlier bros crashed in a camper. Teachers fell exhausted onto their sheets - the first time out of the many that were sure to follow.
Farmers fainted, miners listened to the beat of the water against the rocks, and so on.
Tomorrow would be their first day as a real town, and they had a lot of unpacking to do.
THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT AND AWESOME.
EVEN THOUGH I SUCK AT UPDATING AND WRITING QUICK.
I'M SORRY I DISAPPOINT.
I HOPE THIS CHAPTER DID NOT DISAPPOINT.
(I WAS GOING TO ADD A TANGO SCENE HERE TOO - I'LL SAVE IT FOR LATER.)
OKAY SO: If you feel that you need to change character interactions (and/or add Elise's and Lock's impressions to your list) please do so. It must be done before the next chapter can come out. Fair?
Character introductions:
Peanut-Bata's OC: Elise Finn Yan
CoveredInHisBlood's OC: Lock V'eer
So just in case you haven't been on my profile as of late, or read the TOP authors note I shall say it again. Irregular updates. I will try not to take months in between though, but there won't be a set date. There will be an estimated one, if any.
Thank you all for making this story awesome.
Show the author some love, and I'll see ya'll next time!
~ Darling-Stardusted-Traverser