Fall 17th
"I know I shouldn't be having this for breakfast, but I can't help myself. You don't think Lumina actually baked thisherself, did she?" Jill asked, seated in a manly fashion atop her overturned crate, digging into a large chunk of leftover cake. The two girls still lived in an empty room, and with no funds for at least a refrigerator, the cake would have to be eaten quickly.
Claire licked a dollop of blue icing off her finger. "Who knows. Rich people work in mysterious ways. She could easily afford rush delivery service from Flower Bud, or maybe that Sebastian guy really is that good at the culinary arts." She was sitting cross-legged on their freshly swept floor, wondering why their dog Moon hadn't come by to beg for scraps yet. Their little brown farm mutt was scampering about near the bed, gnawing and clawing at something they could barely recognize.
"Moon-chan! What's that in your mouth, little baby?" Claire called to him. She noticed white strings stuck between his teeth and his nails, something damp and red in his mouth. Red with green and gold flashes on it.
"That's my party hat," Jill said with a chunk of cake in her mouth.
"No, Moon-chan, no!"
"He's not going to give it up, you know. Maybe he wants his own birthday party."
An abrupt knock at the door startled the tiny household, causing Claire and Jill to jump. Jill looked to the window instead, noticing that sunrise hadn't even come yet. The sky was still deep violet, and both the girls' eyelids were still heavy from waking only about ten minutes ago. Somehow Moon still managed to bark like crazy even with a wad of cardboard cone in his mouth.
"I'll get that," Jill told her, carrying her plate with her. Though they would have to surrender a little bit of pocket money to replace the dying light bulb, Claire could still see the azure bracelet sparkling on her friend's wrist.
"Leftover cake? Can I have some?" Takakura stood there with a warm smile, something rarely seen.
"O'course you can," Jill replied while still chewing, using one hand to brush back her messy hair. "Sorry, we just woke up a few minutes ago. Something up?"
"No, not really. I just thought you might like to know that a very large and very special delivery arrived today." Takakura craned his neck, peeking in and frowning at Claire wrestling with the little dog.
"Oh? But we didn't order anything."
"I think you should probably come out and see for yourself."
Moon was fighting desperately to keep his newfound snack, so Claire scooped him up into her arms and followed her friends outside. In the fall it was even colder when it was dark, and goosebumps formed on her arms. Moon stopped squirming in her arms when he discovered the towering creature staring back at him, shadowy and frightening. He began to whimper.
"Oh my GOD!" Jill exclaimed, dropping her plate into the grass. Claire hung her mouth open, dumbstruck, and Moon fell from her arms with a tiny bark, but sniffed and licked at the blue, marble mush in the grass.
Claire and Jill trembled side-by-side, and not just from the cold. Subconsciously they held hands tightly as they gaped in wonder at the massive structure in front of them. From the cute twitching of his pointed ears to the white stripe on his nose, to his rough dirt-colored mane and tail, all the way down to dusty, graying black hooves, with each glance Claire could tell that Jill was falling deeper and deeper in love.
Takakura had bought them a horse.
"He's such a fine one, too. He's well-behaved, a little bit curious, and I haven't been able to feed him anything that he doesn't like. Take a look at that coat. In the daylight he almost has a rusty, copper color. Kinda like a shiny penny, which I won't deny -- he cost a great many of those," Takakura gloated, patting the beast on his muscular side. The horse only looked around the farm with gigantic, glossy innocent black eyes. He had a natural expression that, from any angle, looked very close to a human-like smile.
Jill's eyes were swimming with tears.
"Takakura-san," she said politely in a quivering voice full of emotion, "if this is your idea of a late birthday present, I really cannot accept--"
"What, are you kidding? If I wanted to buy you a fancy birthday present, I'd buy you a doll," Takakura teased. "But you're a big girl now anyway, and you've shipped over a thousand items from this very farm. I have to reward you two for all your hard work and all the revenue you've brought in. I was waiting patiently for the day we could afford to get a horse just like this one."
"I--I--"
"Thank you very, very much. And I mean, so much," Claire addressed him. "Trust me, we'll take exceptional care of him, even if we have a lot to learn about horses."
"What's the matter?" Takakura lifted a finger and pointed to the streams of tears flowing freely down Jill's cheeks. "Did she always want a pony when she was a kid or something?"
"He's so beautiful!" Jill whispered, approaching the horse carefully and reaching out to touch his slender face.
"No need to thank me with tears, sweetheart. Now I'm getting a little overwhelmed!"
Jill flung her arms around Takakura, nearly knocking him over onto the lawn. Moon finally dropped the cardboard birthday hat and sniffed his way up to the horse, mouth and nose covered in icing, and barked up at it in a way that Claire couldn't tell was threatening or cordial.
"He's used to smaller animals, so don't worry. He probably thinks Moon-chan is a little baby for him to look after," Takakura explained good-humouredly, offering Jill his white towel for her tears.
"I'm--I'm going to go buy every horse book I can get my hands on," Jill choked. "Thank you…"
"Wave bye-bye to your little playground," Claire told Moon, picking him up and waving his little paw up and down in the direction of the empty stable.
"I finally have a real farm," Jill sang out loud, twirling and dancing around the stable as the horse watched in confusion. Pages of old books fluttered around in the dirt and hay as the girl spun. "A full coop of chickens, a sheep, a cow, and now this beautiful creature!"
Claire sat down on an overturned metal bucket, thumbing through handfuls of loose pages.
"I wonder what kind of horse he is," she commented.
"Who cares? He's so strong and so pretty! He's the champion of my dreams!" Jill dunked a brush into a bucket full of water and overflowing with bubbling soap suds.
Claire rolled her eyes and tried to focus on studying the books. There was no doubt in her mind that Jill would treat him with complete devotion and tend to him as if he was a new husband, but Claire wanted to be able to help if there was ever a situation. Did Jill know that aspirin powder came in apple flavor? Or how to treat dry hoof? Or how much a quality blanket would cost in winter, which by the way was just around the corner?
"I loooove youuuuu," Jill cooed, resting her cheek against the horse's, soap and water pouring down her clothes as the colt blinked and made gentle sputtering noises.
Claire swore that if she rolled her eyes one more time, they might just fall right out of her head. Instead she sighed and followed Moon out of the stable.
"Looks like I've got the other animals for today. And the crops. You're welcome, Jill!" she called over her shoulder.
"Whew! Finally," Claire sighed, sealing off a fresh jug of Momoko's warm milk and giving the cow a thorough petting. "Don't worry, you guys. Jill loves you all equally, no matter what," she added with clenched teeth. Momoko and Snowy still looked at her without any sign of comprehension, just thankful for the food and the attention no matter whom it came from.
Moon, Claire's little helper and supervisor, lifted his nose to the air and began to bark. Claire silenced him and moved closer to the doors of the barn, leaning against the dirty, splintering wall and listening intently.
"Oh, cool! I want a horse too! How much did it cost? Can he play fetch yet?"
Claire didn't have to look, didn't even have to recognize the juvenile voice, to figure out who that was.
"Hey, um… I don't think you can just up and buy a horse at any time. And I've never played fetch with a horse before--" Jill responded in a worried tone.
"Hey, you big dummy! Look at me! Wanna give me a ride around the farm?"
"Rock, no, don't -- hey -- DON'T FREAKING DO THAT!"
Claire gasped and flung the doors open, freezing in her tracks at the sight of a particular blond idiot lying on the open field, flailing and deciding to huddle in a fetal position. The horse's eyes reflected panic and fear, rearing up on his hind legs and doing what looked like a bicycle motion with the front two. He cried out in a loud whinny.
"OWF!" Rock called out as the horse's hoof met his upper arm at a glancing angle.
"What the FREAK!" Claire screamed, running up to the scene of the accident and placing her hands on her hips. "Jill! Do you know how to calm him down?"
"I'm trying," Jill called back, bravely stepping in front of the colt and cooing to him in hushed tones. "Easy, boy, I'm here. Calm down. He's not going to hurt you, he's just retarded…"
Claire grunted in anger and bent to drag the boy away. Rock was trembling and whimpering as grass and dirt smeared his expensive, brightly-colored clothes. When they were several feet away, Claire had a mind to kick him hard in the shins, but hesitated. Moon came running up, thinking there was a game he was missing out on, but Claire shielded him with her foot.
"And what the hell do you think you were doing?" Claire demanded, towering over him with her arms crossed.
"I want my hacky-sack back!" Rock whined, arms still bent over his head.
"Your hacky-sack? Don't tell me…"
"How was I supposed to know that horses are so dumb?"
"We just got him this morning, you dumbass! What the hell were you trying to do?"
"I thought he knew how to fetch. And he didn't. So I thought I'd try the only thing that horses are good for, riding!"
Claire narrowed her eyes. "You threw your stupid bean bag at him and then you tried to climb on him like a freaking jungle gym. You're lucky you didn't get trampled to an unrecognizable pulp."
Jill had finally led the colt back into the stable and came out with her skin pale as a bed sheet, wringing her hands in anxiety. She lifted her finger and pointed to someone who had come to help… or possibly sue.
"Hey, guys. Have you seen -- WHAT THE--!" Nami held her hands up to her mouth and gaped in horror at Rock moaning and writhing on the ground.
"It was an accident," Claire explained. "We're so sorry. He wanted to play with our new horse, and--"
Nami held her hand up and interrupted. "Whatever happened, it's totally my fault and I apologize. I told him to go and hit on someone else, and had the feeling he'd end up here. That little dill-hole is not to be trusted by himself." She walked toward the boy and nudged him hard with her boot. "Get up, you wuss."
"Actually, the fact that he's okay is amazing in itself," Jill said timidly, shame and guilt written all over her young face. "I've heard worse stories of what happens when you frighten a horse."
"I for one don't blame your horse at all," Nami commented. Claire nodded her head in agreement.
"But this probably means we'll have to ask Takakura to take him back." They could easily tell that Jill's heart was breaking. She'd only had a few hours of joy, and now that was completely ruined.
"Not if I can help it," Nami told her sympathetically. "Let's just get him to Doctor Hardy, and then sooner or later we'll all be able to forget that this even happened."
"I'm not going to the doctor!" Rock wailed childishly. "I can't be seen there!"
Nami nodded to Claire, and they each took one end. Rock protested as they lifted him off the ground and made their way toward the dirt path leading down into the town.
"It's not a long distance," Nami grunted, disliking the weight. "Jill, go to the Inner Inn and get yourself a cup of coffee. Tell Ruby that it's on me. We'll meet up with you there later."
"Ow! Oh! The pain!"
Claire and Nami exchanged worried looks when they re-entered the clinic ten minutes after delivering the heavy, pompous patient. Rock lay on the bed in the corner with a flower-patterned bandage taped at an angle across his forehead, his shirt open to reveal an eggplant-colored bruise just beneath the sleeve of his white cotton T-shirt.
"No need to be overly-concerned. He's just a bit of a crybaby. An annoying one," Dr. Hardy complained in his gruff voice.
"How long will he need to fully recover?" Claire inquired.
"Oh, not long. Not long at all. Not much I can do for something like this, but I supplied him with aspirin." Hardy shrugged, sliding off his fancy executive-style chair, his short stature barely reaching Claire and Nami's shoulders.
"Hmph," Nami grunted. "All right then. Time to get him back to his mama."
"Oh, and this visit costs only 1500 gold."
"Only?" Nami opened her wallet and paid the doctor, mumbling under her breath while Claire helped Rock to his feet.
"I bet Mommy will make me a big sandwich for being so brave," Rock said.
Jill was seated on the couch with her head in her hands, a steaming cup of coffee on the side table next to her. Ruby was doctoring hers with generous amounts of powdered creamer and sugar when the doors swung open and she saw her son using the blonde farmer as a crutch.
"Oh, my sweet little baby boy," Ruby said, her voice iced over with sarcasm. "I heard all about what happened and Jill's beating herself up over this."
"Mommy," Rock moaned with a pathetic smile, his eyes gleaming with feigned innocence.
"You go on up to your room and I'll bring you something whenever I feel like it," Ruby instructed him firmly. Then she sighed. "Oh, girls. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't even blink an eye if you tell him not to ever go to your farm again. Just say the word and I'll keep him away."
"No need to go that far," Claire answered. "I won't hold too much against him because he really didn't know what he was doing."
Nami sat on the couch next to Jill and began massaging the brunette's shoulders. "Hey, don't be like that. It was definitely not your fault, you know. You gotta admit that was pretty damn funny, huh? Huh?" Nami held her hand up for a high-five. "You're gonna leave me hanging like that?"
"Nami, dear," Ruby addressed her. "Would you mind checking the labels on Rock's prescription? I don't need him getting jolly highs off his painkillers."
"Will do." The redhead got up and carried the brown paper bag into the kitchen.
"And Jill. You'll find something that'll cheer you right up, just waiting for you upstairs."
Jill seemed to have caught some hidden meaning, and nodded before heading up the staircase.
"Claire," Ruby explained. "Don't you worry about a thing. The situation has begun to right itself already. You have yourself a cup of coffee if you like, but Jill's going to take awhile up there. She should be home in a couple of hours."
"Thanks." Claire took Jill's place on the couch as Ruby gave her a tiny tray bearing creamer and sugar. Claire carelessly glanced at Jill's abandoned coffee cup, took in the aroma, and blew on it a few times before exploring a curious sip. The strong bitterness soiled her tongue, only adding more to the bad taste that the day put in everyone's mouths.