There's Always Next Season
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Summary: More Friends of Mineral Town Oh, Elli's just over-thinking things again. Maybe. Mild Farmergirl/Elli femmeslash, because plot bunnies can be vicious. Written because Elli's reaction when you give her chocolate on Winter Thanksgiving Festival day is just too adorable. Blushing, shiny-eyes...over all, she seems pretty flattered. XD
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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters appearing or mentioned in this piece. Go me.---------------------------------------------------------------
"Hi, Elli! Happy Tuesday!"
The young woman behind the desk looked up in bewilderment at this sudden cheerfully blustering interruption. Her eyes flickered from the snow-covered blonde fairly radiating waves of earthy friendliness along with the snow dripping from wind-tangled hair to pool on the floor, to the prettily wrapped box of chocolates one calloused and sunburned hand was sliding across the papers strewn over her desk.
Back to Vickie.
Back to the chocolate.
Back to Vickie. Soft deep brown, bewildered and lost, meeting bright shining blue, hopeful and expectant.
Of course, there was nothing – particularly – unusual about the little farmer, still recently enough arrived to Mineral Town to be "the new girl" in most minds, stopping by in the afternoon with an offering of chocolate. Elli had tried to explain, more than once, that it wasn't necessary. But Vickie's expression, hurt and a little lost, had a way of making a person relent to almost anything that didn't involve a gross felony and possibly some things that did.
She suspected with a tiny, sad little sigh that the doctor was learning this very, very well. All those herbs and hot milk Vickie carted into his office had to mean something. The idea whispered softly to the little brunette that it might be just as much in the name of friendship as the carefully packed boxes of eggs that Carter had been receiving and enjoying with slightly bewildered thankfulness, but that was logic.
Logic had little to nothing to do with an affectionate young woman's slightly ashamed feelings for her older, adorably over-serious superior.
All of this, decidedly, was beside the point.
Chocolate from Vickie was reasonably within the ordinary.
Except for the small detail of the date.
The fourteenth day of winter. Winter Thanksgiving Festival.
Had she forgotten? It seemed a little unlikely; when Vickie had stopped by Grandma's house last Wednesday morning for a chat, Elli had spent the better part of an hour asking her advice, again and again, on whether or not she should give the doctor some chocolate for Winter Thanksgiving Festival. Would it be too bold? Would he consider it unprofessional? Were they good enough friends outside of work to make it an appropriate gesture? Was she just being a silly, neurotic little goose, like Grandma said?
After that kind of hammering, Elli doubted very strongly that Vickie could have forgotten the significance of the day if she had tried.
But then why could she be doing this, giving a gift specifically reserved for that special someone, on a day specifically reserved for giving it?
This was silly. Vickie hadn't grown up here, and she couldn't be expected to think about Mineral Town's traditions the same way. Just because Elli had learned at a young age to blush and giggle when someone made a gift of chocolate on this day of each year, didn't mean that Vickie knew that.
She was just being friendly; that was all.
Elli smiled, far more widely than she had intended, cheeks slightly warm
"Oh, thank-you, Vickie! This is great!"
"No problem!" the little blonde chirped with a wink, coming around to behind the other girl's chair and resting a hand lightly on each shoulder. Elli tensed slightly, but had to admit that having a close friend so openly affectionate wasn't all bad. "And if you really want to make it up to me," she added mischievously, leaning down closer, her face for some reason radiating heat where her cheek nearly pressed to Elli's, "there's always Spring Thanksgiving Festival next season!"
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End Notes: Geez…I'm probably the most obsessed Elli/Doctor shipper in existence, and my first Harvest Moon fic is Elli femmeslash. Go figure.
Oh, well. My first Elli/Doctor fic will follow closely on its heels, I'm sure. Seriously; Rhianwen discovering these games may be the worst thing that ever happened to the Harvest Moon fanfiction community. And so, I apologize in advance. XD
That aside, I know the gift-giving-to-make-people-like-you thing prevalent in the Harvest Moon games doesn't translate very well into story, but I hope you'll excuse it here. Along with the crack-est of crack pairings. Hey, it's kinda like Jack/Elli, right? ;)