Disclaimer- I do not own Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life or any of it's characters. I'm simply borrowing Jill (Jo here), and using my imagination. The prompts themselves are given by 100_situations on livejournal.

Title: Shelter
Rating: PG/K
Notes: Written for the 100_situations prompt, "Shelter". We're back in summer again, rain and all.

"Achoo!" Jo covered her face with her hand and blinked a few times, the sudden sneeze catching her off-guard.

"Someone must be talking about you," giggled Muffy. It was an early day, but both found themselves in the Blue Bar; in Muffy's case it was out of habit, but for Jo it was a calm place to retreat to in the rainy weather.

"I doubt it. I'm not the most interesting of people." she muttered, taking the tissue offered to her. "Then again, I thought all the talk of someone new would've died down by now."

"You're still new and different. The way you act and go about your day is a lot more interesting than you would think. I know a few people who've said a thing or two about you, actually."

Jo raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

The coy smile her question received in turn made her curiosity worse. She knew that Muffy was teasing her on purpose, but she couldn't resist. It was raining. Her work was pretty much cut out for her in between mud, a messy and affectionate Paku, and a sluggish Omi. All that she had right now was the blonde across the counter, and the opportunity to learn more about everyone's opinion of her was too tempting to pass up.

Besides, listening to gossip isn't as bad as spreading it, right?

"Now you're just being mean, Muffy." Jo mumbled, resting her head on her arms.

"Oh? I think you're just wondering if one of those people happens to be a certain someone."

Jo raised her head. "Certain...someone?",

"A certain, grouchy someone."

Muffy's wink sealed it for her, and Jo immediately began waving her hands in front of her. "No, just no, Muffy. I don't think anyone who gives me the evil eye as consistently as him has anything positive to say about me."

"Jo..." She continued to shake her head, even in the face of Muffy's disappointed look. "Marlin doesn't hate you."

"Then he strongly dislikes me." Muffy put a hand on her hip and Jo sighed. "Mostly dislikes me?"

"Not even that." she stated, leaving Jo more than a little confused. "He likes that you've taken care of the weeds and that you know a thing or two about taking care of plants." Muffy then leaned closer, her smile continuing to grow. "The other day he asked me about all the watermelons you were growing and if they were your favorite fruit. I think he's interested!"

Jo cracked up, the action almost causing her to fall out of her seat. "And Omi will sprout wings, and my farm will suddenly turn into a field of plenty." she joked, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We barely talk to each other, Muffy. It's not like I haven't tried to be friendly to him, but..."

"But what?"

Jo leaned back in her seat and glanced off to the side. "I don't know. I just don't know. It's almost like I'll never be able to convince him that I'm taking this seriously. I expected more of that from Vesta than anyone else, honestly, but all she's done is congratulate me on how I've taken to farming in general." She sighed. "All Marlin did after that was point out the holes Paku had dug by my tree roots."

Muffy's eyes widened. "He dropped by your farm?"

"Uh, yeah." Jo replied, shrugging. "One day I came outside to see him kicking at the dirt by my orange tree -or rather my 'future orange tree- and all but doomed me to failure unless I kept Paku in check. I don't see what that has to do with-"

The blonde giggled, clasping her hands in front of her. "Now that's a surprise! See? I don't think Marlin would take the time to drop by if he didn't care about your progress."

"Even if all he did was point out what I was doing wrong?" Jo huffed.

"Especially because of that." She blinked a few times before noticing Jo's confusion, and then laughed again. "He wants to help you! I thought that much would be obvious, but maybe that's just me. Still, give it some time. I think you two will get along wonderfully someday. It'll probably sneak up on you before you know it!"

Jo rested her head on her hand and gave her a hesitant smile, listening to the rain continue on outside. Would it really take a miracle for her and Marlin to get along? Muffy definitely didn't think so, but Jo wasn't even half as optimistic about the whole thing, especially after the fiasco with Celia and him back in the Spring. Still, would it really be so bad for things to settle down? For both her and Marlin to come to a cease fire and maybe even have a decent conversation? None of that seemed too unreasonable, right?

She laughed to herself and ordered a lemonade, ignoring Muffy's amused look. "Maybe so, but if it starts snowing in summer and my cow takes flight, I still have every right to say that I told you so."

Muffy handed her the glass and threw in a tiny umbrella for good measure. "We'll see about that."