It took Victoria several days to even want to leave her farm after embarrassing herself in front of her friends, even calling Lewis to her home to pick up the produce of her farm instead of going to Pierre's shop to drop it off herself. It got her several concerned looks from Lewis the first time, but it seemed he understood after a while... perhaps someone in town had told him what happened. She'd gotten texts and mail from the others, of course, Pierre sent a letter asking if she was feeling okay and if Harvey had a look at her, Abigail texted her at least once a day... But those she was just ignoring, at least for now. She read them, but she hadn't answered. She just didn't know what to say.
Even Sebastian and Sam had sent her a couple messages, wondering if she was okay. Sebastian even said he was sorry and that he wouldn't have said yes if he'd known. Apparently Vicky had been hiding her attraction to Abigail so well that nobody in town had realized... Though she was sure that it was going to be common knowledge before too long. She supposed she'd have to go out and face people eventually... and sure enough when Summer rolled around she found she'd have to do it sooner than she wanted. Perhaps as some kind of odd quirk of the Valley's magic, or maybe the seeds she bought, she wasn't sure, as soon as the first day of summer hit, every single plant that she'd put in the ground for Spring withered and dried up overnight. It got her cursing more than a little bit, considering she'd put a fair amount of money into seeds that were now dead.
However, she still had a decent amount of money saved up, the Valley had been good to her this spring, so she knew she'd be able to get a good amount of seeds for the new season. Hanging out around her farm exclusively over the last few days had another benefit that her farm was now almost completely cleared- when she was feeling particularly upset she'd just go throw herself at her work until she was completely exhausted, meaning she'd gotten a monstrous amount of the farm cleared. However, she'd decided to leave one area more or less 'natural, and she'd even put up a makeshift fence of logs around it to help rope it off.
Scellia had sat next to her while she was doing it, too, giving the farmer curious looks all the while, until she finally decided to explain herself. "I thought... Since you're living here, and the forest and nature took such good care of the farm..." She glanced back at the ground, churned up here or there from where she'd pulled up trees and roots and stones... Some of the bigger boulders and older trees still lay here or there, her tools simply not up to the task of getting rid of them. She'd have to upgrade to pull those out of the ground. "I thought I'd repay that a little bit. Leave a corner of the farm in it's more natural state. Show that I didn't want nature completely gone, that ..." She shrugged. "Maybe I'm just 'borrowing' the land until I have to pass it to someone else."
The little dragon seemed to smile at that, and when Vicky finished talking she scampered off into the underbrush in a streak of black and purple. Vicky could hear her off in the distance, rustles, and noises of plants and sticks as the dragon ran about, and that at least put a smile on her face.
Regardless, it was now summer, and she needed a new crop of seeds. She'd tilled out a nice big area of the farm for her to plant on, using what felt like almost a third of the available space. She'd even discovered a small lake that she hadn't even known was there down near the south of the farm, putting the little pond on the east side of the property to shame. She still had some of the west side of the farm to clear out, especially in the north, with the section she'd decided to leave untamed down in the southwest corner. She pulled her bike out of the shed and strapped a backpack she'd ordered from Pierre's shop around her shoulders, then finally resolved herself to head off into town. She'd have to do it sooner or later, and if she wanted to get a good, strong start on the season, sooner was better.
She put in a detour to the Community Center first, deciding to check on what the Junimo wanted that she could provide in the summer. More foraging, she found, so she'd have to take a few days and go wander around to see what had sprung up in the new season, as well as a list about a mile long of different crops and fruits. She also found they wanted some particularly high-value crops... though she was a bit miffed to learn that she'd already lost the chance to give them the parsnips they wanted for that. She did have some normal ones for a different bundle they wanted, but the real high-quality stuff would have to wait for next year.
Her list now made, and now including a fair amount of fertilizer to give the crops the best chance to grow up big and strong and healthy, she headed off to the store to buy her seeds. When she walked through the door, the bell jangling happily, she was greeted with a shout from Pierre. "Vicky! Gosh, it's good to see you! I was hoping you'd come around and..." He paused for a moment as he looked her over, and he continued more quietly than before. "It's good to see you today. Are you here for Summer Seeds? We have a real good selection." He gestured to the seeds inside of the case of his counter, and Vicky couldn't help but smile at his salesmanship.
"That's right. I even made a list. Do you have all these?" She laid the paper down on the counter, facing him, and took the backpack off of her back, starting to unzip it so that she could fit all the seed packets inside of it.
Pierre rubbed at his chin, a finger sliding down the list as he considered it. "You know... I have most of this, except for these." He tapped a finger against one item, and when Vicky leaned down she could see him pointing at 'Red Cabbage'. "The only place I could order these from was Joja, and, well I wasn't about to do that. I'll see what I can do, but I really can't promise anything. I have the rest, though!" He perked up a little bit and smiled at the friendly farmer.
"Well, then the rest will have to do. I need about sixty of each." She placed the backpack on the counter, expecting him to start dumping seeds in.
"S-sixty! Gosh, Vicky... Gonna leave any seeds for anyone else?" He grinned as he reached under the counter and pulled out boxes of seeds, not even bothering with the display, and started counting out seeds. "I'll be a minute, why don't you go say hi to Caroline? She's missed you since the festival."
Vicky nodded, then took her money pouch from her belt and left it on the counter next to him. "Here. I trust you to not take anything you're not owed." She gave Pierre a smile, which he returned with a nod, and then she ventured off into the rest of the house. She was honestly a little surprised that Abigail hadn't come out to see her... but maybe the purple-haired beauty was as embarrassed over the whole thing as she was. Her door to her room was even closed as Vicky walked by. It wasn't hard to find where Caroline was, considering the sounds of a sink running and dishes clinking wafted toward her from the kitchen.
"Oh! Hey, Vicky." Caroline turned toward her for a moment before returning to her dishes. It looked like she was cleaning up after breakfast. "You know, I was just thinking of you! I've been taking care of the little farming plot we have out behind the house, and then I realized we haven't seen you in a few days. Are you okay? Pierre said something about having to go see Harvey?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It was nothing... just a, uh..." She tried to think of a decent excuse for a moment. "I guess it was just an allergic reaction to something out in that clearing. Eyes watering, face puffing up. It got better after I got home, so I never went to go see Harvey."
The woman glanced back at her for a moment, eyes searching Vicky's face, then she shrugged. "Well, good thing it all worked out then. Abby's not home, she went up to the mountains."
"Oh? What for?" Vicky leaned against the wall while she talked, just resting for the moment.
"Dunno! She brings her flute sometimes. Goes and plays music by the lake, I think."
Vicky smiled at that, the thought of Abigail playing the flute by the lake did not at all seem out of character for her friend. It also just might be a cover for her wanting to go to the Adventurer's Guild... She knew that they were up there, though Vicky had hardly been out that way other than to explore the valley a bit back in spring. She was definitely not the combat type.
She was about to say something else when she heard Pierre calling from the shop proper, and she wished Caroline a good day before heading back that way. Her backpack was practically overflowing with seeds, and her coin purse was significantly lighter when she picked it back up.
"Sixty of everything, just like you wanted. I had to put some of the seeds in the back back pocket, and you had just about enough to cover everything." He held out his fingers as he listed them off. "Blueberries, Melons, Hops, Peppers, Corn, Radishes, Wheat... I even threw in some sunflower seeds and a couple of flower starters. Just to help brighten up the farm."
Vicky smiled, letting out a quiet 'oof' as she picked up her backpack... This was going to be awkward to get back to the farm in one piece. "Thanks, Pierre! Now just have to get these back to the farm and get to work... Big plans for this season!"
"Definitely! And hey, Vicky... If you make some beer or ale with the hops and wheat..." He leaned over and held a hand to his cheek, masking his voice. "You'll give me a free sample, won't you?"
Vicky raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Oh!" He stood up straight again. "I thought you knew? You can put wheat and hops in kegs and it'll make beer and ale. It's worth a lot more than the crops on their own, too."
Vicky tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "Really?"
"Oh yeah. I could have sworn..." He looked around for a bit, then with a little 'ah' he pulled out an older version of his pricing list that hung over his counter- a smaller one, probably back from the early days of the store. "See?" He gestured to where 'wheat' and 'hops' were listed, then to the 'pale ale' and 'beer' listings. It was almost three times as much, especially for the ale. "The prices are a bit out of date, but the ratio's almost the same."
"Well! I might just have to think about doing that... Where do I get a keg?"
"You know, I'm not sure." Pierre tapped at his chin. "I bet Robin would know. Why not pay her a visit?"
"Alright, I'll definitely do that." She hefted her backpack again, trying to get used to the weight as she put it on her back. "Thanks for all your help, Pierre."
He gave her a friendly wave as she headed out. "Certainly! See you around!"
The trip back to her farm was a bit harder than the trip into town with how heavy her backpack was, and she wasn't expecting just how badly it threw off her sense of balance, either... But that was nothing when it came to the work of getting all the seeds in the ground.
Vicky had known that it would be an uphill battle planting everything, that's why she'd planned out the farm and tilled the ground first, but she hadn't expected just how difficult it was going to actually be. Planting each seed then watering it by hand, having to run back to the pond every few rows... by the time she was a quarter done she was already exhausted. Even when Scellia reappeared at her side and took it upon herself to run back and forth with Vicky's watering can, refilling it, even using her tail to jab holes in the ground to plant the seeds in, it was still a huge undertaking, and Vicky was certain she'd bitten off more than she could chew.
She'd wanted to stagger the crops, not put too much of one thing in one area, but between having to put up a trellis for the hops and tomatoes, spacing things out so there was room to grow, it was just so much work... By the time she was finally finished, panting on the ground from how worn out she was, the last few fields were just blocks of crops in three by three squares. She'd never felt more tired in her life. Even though it had been a marathon, not a sprint, she still felt like she'd run from town to her farm and back again about six times in the span of an hour! She was completely beat. By the time she crawled into bed, sore and aching and honestly dirty because she hadn't bothered to shower she was so tired, she was really looking forward to the morning when she'd wake up refreshed and ready for the next day.
She was in for a surprise. When she woke up, it seemed she'd pushed herself so far that even the valley's magic, or Scellia's or whatever it was wasn't enough to get her back into tiptop shape, because she was still horrifically groggy. Her arms and legs and her abs all ached from crawling around on the ground, and she still felt fuzzy and fatigued. She hardly had the energy to go outside and weed all of her crops, and when she finally finished watering everything, she sprawled out across her porch, trying to cool off and collect her thoughts.
Vicky hadn't even noticed that Lewis had arrived until he leaned over her and looked down at her, a concerned look on his face. "Vicky? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She managed to say after a moment of collecting herself. She sat up with a soft groan and reached over for the glass of water she'd gotten from her kitchen. She didn't know how long she'd been laying there because while the water was still cool, all her ice had melted.
"You don't look so fine." He turned and looked over her farm with a little bit of a smile, but when he turned back to her it had disappeared. "Your farm looks great, but you can't kill yourself over it."
"It'll be alright, I promise..." She let out a little sigh and drank her water, but she couldn't help but notice Lewis' disapproving look. Vicky sighed, long and quiet, and finally looked up at him. "Okay. It's not fine. I planted too much, it's too much work, but I can't go back on it now. Almost all the money I have is out in those fields. I have to take care of it all or I'm back to square one."
Lewis nodded, then put his hand on his chin, rubbing at his mustache for a few moments. "Maybe you should go see Clint."
"What for?"
"Well, I..." Lewis smiled sheepishly. "I asked him if he could upgrade your tools. He's been drawing up plans for some new ones for about a week now, all he needs is materials from you. He's also been working on something I think you'll like."
"And what's that, then?" Vicky sat up and leaned herself against the wall of her house so she could look up at Lewis more comfortably.
"Well, he knew that you would want to make the farm bigger eventually. I had a little conversation with him the other day about it while I was collecting his business taxes. Anyway, he's been designing a sprinkler system you can use on your farm. It'll take care of watering the plants for you and save a fair amount of work. Like bigger, mechanized farms have, but..." He grinned and shrugged. "A little more home grown."
Vicky tilted her head. "Really? I didn't think him the type."
Lewis grinned. "There's a lot more to most of the people in this town than you'd think by just looking at them on the surface, Vicky. You'd be surprised." She was immediately reminded of something Abigail had said when they first met, how her parents just saw her as their daughter, and she felt a little ashamed for assuming anything about the people in Pelican Town. "He's a quiet sort, but incredibly smart, and great with that blacksmithing hammer of his. Go see him. I'm sure it'll do you some good."
Vicky pursed her lips and gave a nod. "Alright... Help me up?" She glanced toward Lewis' truck and gave a sheepish grin. "And maybe a ride into town? I'm beat."
He smiled and extended a hand. "I can do that. Throw your bike in the back though, just in case you have to come home on your own."
Lewis dropped her off right in front of Clint's house, and she pulled her bike from the back of his truck with a whole heap of protests from the muscles in her shoulders and back. She leaned her bike against the doorframe of his blacksmithing shop, then made her way inside. She was greeted by the slam of hammer on an anvil and a heat she hadn't expected, even in the middle of summer, along with the noise of his furnace roaring away. He looked up when she entered, giving her a wave of his hand. "Hey, Vicky!" His voice was far louder than it needed to be, but she imagined his hearing was still ringing with hammer blows.
"Lewis said to come by?" When he held a hand to his ear and yelled back a 'what?', Vicky raised her voice. "Lewis said to see you!"
"Oh! Right..." As he made his way over to his counter, his voice lowered, maybe the ringing finally disappearing. "It's about the tools, right?"
"That's right. He said you could make me some upgrades." She leaned herself against the counter, glad that they were almost back at a normal conversational level. Shouting made her abs hurt. "The tools you made me are definitely still working, but I would not at all be against the idea of upgrading to something better."
He nodded, then reached under the counter and pulled out a hoe that looked brand-spanking-new. There was even a maker's mark on the blade. "I was working on these when you walked in. A bigger farm, a few miles back up the road, ordered some of these for their workers. They wanted some axes too, for clearing trees and the like, but I haven't done those yet." He glanced up at her, the somewhat-chubby Blacksmith's face still glistening with sweat. "While I was working on them I got to thinking."
Vicky was definitely interested now, this guy clearly knew his way around farm tools.
"If I made the blade a little bigger, they could actually till up a bigger area at once. It's a bit more work, but if you know what you're doing it would pay off by being faster and easier in the long run. Problem is, it would need to be stronger metal to handle the extra forces involved. They want all of theirs in bronze since it's a little cheaper than iron or steel."
"I thought my tools were made of iron, did you splurge?"
"Well... not exactly. Yours are cast iron. Crude, simple, but effective. I made it out of stock I had laying around that I wasn't doing anything with. I'm talking about high-quality stainless or high carbon. Not sure which yet. I need to do some testing. Expensive, but worth it, I think." He smiled, rolling the tools in his hands. "I've heard what you've been doing around town. Helping Pierre, injecting some life back into the town. Believe it or not, the crops you sell are good for everyone."
"Really?" Vicky leaned a little closer. "What do you mean?"
Clint smiled and placed the hoe back on the counter. "Well, Pierre's got the nicest crops for about a hundred miles in his store right now. You haven't seen it because you've been cooped up in your farm, but he's had more customers than ever. Sure, some of them go shop at Joja after... But he's making a killing on the produce from your farm. And he was bragging in the Saloon last night about how many seeds you bought."
Vicky's face flushed slightly. "You heard about that? News travels fast..."
He nodded, giving her an even bigger smile. "Those hoes I'm working on? They wanted tools that I made." He puffed out his chest a bit. "Because my tools are what's used on your farm."
Vicky blinked and stood up straight. "Really?"
"Absolutely. You may not realize it, Vicky, but your grandpa was a minor celebrity back in the day. People would come from miles around just to buy his produce. And now you've got the farm running again. Tourists are even coming back to the town. There were a few of them at the flower festival, even."
Vicky must not've noticed them because she was too busy focusing on the dancing and, well... What happened after. "I had no idea!"
"Gus even has a few people stopping by every couple of nights just to enjoy the 'atmosphere' at the bar." He reached out and clapped a hand to Vicky's shoulder, making her wince. "Just keep doing what you're doing. And I want to help you do that. So if you bring me some iron- and I mean good stuff, like what they used to pull out of the mines north of town- I'll make you new tools, with my new designs. I'll need a bit of cash, just to cover the lost time I could be working on other projects, but I'll give you a discount. Custom tools aren't cheap. But I promise they'll be the best you can get made by human hands."
Vicky grinned at that. "That sounds awesome. But how am I going to get the iron?"
"Go talk to the Adventurer's Guild. When I mentioned you might need new tools-" Vicky flushed, apparently she was a topic of conversation even when she was being a hermit, "- they said they'd be more than happy to find someone to escort you down into the mines."
"Can do..." Vicky hesitated for a moment. "Lewis said something about sprinklers?"
Clint's eyebrows vanished into his hair, still slicked to his forehead with sweat. "Right!" He vanished into the back room of his shop, reappearing a few moments later with a few pieces of bright blue engineer's paper. "When I heard how much you were ramping up the farm, I knew you'd need something to help you take care of it all. And I know you have that big lake out on the farm, right?"
Vicky nodded. "I didn't even know about it until a few days ago. The farm was so overrun."
"People in town used to actually go swimming there in the summer, a few years ago." He leaned close and whispered to her. "Do you think me and Emily could go there? Maybe for a date?" He actually blushed as he asked, like he was embarrassed, and Vicky grinned.
"You and Emily...?"
"Well." He shifted and looked down at his counter. "Not really. But, I mean..." He shook his head. "It was a stupid question."
"No, it wasn't. You can definitely use the lake. I even left some trees around it for shade."
He smiled up at her, then turned back to his plans. "Well, there's this little pump here- I can run an electrical line to it- and it feeds into these pipes. There are sprinkler heads scattered along them, and I can fit the pipes into whatever shape you want. That way it covers all of your fields."
Vicky was slightly amazed at just how much of this he'd planned out in such a short time. "This is a lot more than just simple blacksmithing work..." She gave a very surprised look toward Clint.
"Well..." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm not -just- a blacksmith. When someone in town needs something repaired, I'm the one they come to. I've had to learn to fix and make a whole lot of things. I do still need to outsource a little bit, like with this pump- I'll have to order some of the parts- but I can put everything together."
"How much would all this cost?"
"Depends on the sprinklers you want. I could make some cheap ones, water a smaller area. But I'd really recommend going with the good ones." He gestured to some little designs drawn up in the corner of the paper. "But I'd need gold for those."
"Gold? Why?"
"Some of the parts are smaller and hard to repair. I can make an alloy with gold that's very water resistant, so it won't corrode, but holds up enough inside of the sprinkler that it shouldn't need replacing. Not in your lifetime, anyway."
"Alright. So gold and... what else?"
"Quartz, believe it or not. I didn't understand it myself, at first, but you can bond Quartz and gold with a bit of iron at high temperatures and it makes a very good compound for this kind of work. I need iron for the body of the sprinkler anyway, so you can just bring me some of that too."
Vicky nodded, then pushed herself up from the counter. "Jeeze. I guess I need to go to the adventurer's guild sooner rather than later, huh?"
Clint beamed, then looked up at her with a smile. "So you'll do it?"
"Oh yeah. Watering everything on the farm's been kicking my ass the last few days. I need something like that if I'm ever going to have time and energy to get anything else done."
Clint smiled nice and wide, then held out a hand in a thumbs-up. "Great. I'll hash out the rest of the plans and double check everything. As soon as you bring me materials, I can get started."
Vicky nodded once more, then headed off toward the door of his shop. "I'll catch up with you as soon as I can, okay?"
Clint waved as she left, and Vicky hopped up on her bike with a quiet sigh. The mountain was far away and she was already sore... This would not be fun at all.