Harvest Moon: Magical Melody

Revalations

Eight Days Later...

Fall 10

Rothe,

Hey, old friend! It was really convenient I was able to get your new address like this! I wasn't sure if you were serious about pursuing a farming job at first, but I guess, considering how often you complained how boring and unfulfilling our old librarian job was, any occupation seemed better at that point, huh? Anyway, the academy was an interesting experience. I ended up doing a pretty good job with all the drills, but a few of my fellow cadets kept teasing me, complaining about what a "baby" is doing in their ranks. Ledah, on the other hand, was really impressive out there. I'm actually jealous of his skills at this sort of thing! The higher-ups were really eager to make him an officer on the spot, or at least grant him some high-level promotion. Admit tingly, I was surprised by this. I mean, Ledah always had a professional air about him, but before Lorelei died, I couldn't picture him doing all this violent military stuff. Then again, I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, either. I guess... death effects people in unusual ways. By the way, how are you doing recovering from the shock? I remember that you were really close to Lorelei, too. I know you've managed to go back to your usual self, but you've still lost your interest in detective work. Please don't let your grief keep you from your dreams. I understand. Lorelei's death has affected us all pretty badly, especially Ledah, but we're still trying to keep our future hopes and dreams in mind. In the mean time, I hope this farming thing works out for you. To be honest, I didn't picture you as the farming type, but I guess we've all gone crazy nowadays, huh? Maybe this'll give you the perfect opportunity to start appreciating some of the simpler things in life, and stuff like that.

Anyway, I've been recently transferred to a training camp in this lovely town called Elendia. I even met some interesting people here, too. Some especially noteworthy characters are the two ladies I'm momentarily staying with. First of all is this nicely-dressed girl named Fia. I usually see her in a proper white dress, and her long green hair is really gorgeous. I've really come to enjoy her company. She's always so kind and gentle with a warm smile, and she's a really good cook! My other roommate is this energetic girl named Lina. She's always skipping about in her yellow coat, and going out to hunt with a longbow instead of a riffle. She always wears her hair red hair in twin tails like you, and she's an adorable little scamp, but she almost never leaves me alone since she likes to drag me all over the place. In any case, I'm actually starting to love it here, and I just know I'm going to miss this place as soon as they transfer me again. I'm hoping you'll be able to find the kind of joy in Flower Bud Village that I've managed to find here. Well, Lina's tugging at my uniform again. I guess she wants some help with her daily hunting. Good luck, and please respond soon!

Best Wishes,

Ein

P.S.

Uh... you weren't... irked by that last bit, were you? Knowing you, you probably had a really rough start well it sounds like I'm enjoying paradise here. And I notice you pick on me more whenever I seem to be on the verge of a good relationship with a girl. I was beginning to think you were jealous or something, but you always assured me that we're just friends. In that case, I hope we're cool. And... Lina's begging me to go hunting with her now. I'll have to stop here! Till next time!

With a burning fury in her eyes, the enraged city girl crumbled the letter in her hands.

"EIN THAT WRETCHED PERVERT! I BET HE'S HAVING A WHOLE LOT OF FUN, WITH THEM, HUH! DAMN IT! I SHOULD'VE ENLISTED WITH HIM WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE! WHO DOES THIS FIA CHICK THINK SHE IS! AND WHAT'S WITH THIS LINA? IS THE LITTLE GIRLY GIRL HAVING FUN HOGGING "BIG BROTHER EIN" TO HIMSELF?"

A calm shush filled the air, which managed to silence Rothe's bout of fury.

"Quiet, please. We have other patrons that are trying to read their books in peace" a relaxed woman with long blue hair in a grey dressed calmly announced.

Rothe sighed as he looked around her environment. Books were all neatly arranged in rows upon shelves, with very few patrons scanning through them.

"How ironic. I'm in a library" she groaned.

Desperate to escape her surroundings, Rothe grabbed a few books from a nearby shelf and dropped them right at the blue-haired Librarian's desk.

"So... you'll be checking out these books on fish, then? One of these hold a really good history of the local legends, while another is an extensive compendium on every fish---"

"Yeah, yeah! Sure, sure! Just check these out for me, will ya, Maria?" Rothe demanded.

Maria responded with a friendly grin as she proceeded to check out Rothe's books. "Come now, Rothe! No need to be in a rush! There's still plenty of time left in the name!"

Rothe lowered her head in disgust, but remained silent. "By the gods, this day sucks! Just please let it end!" she thought to herself.

After Maria got done recording all the books to be taken, Rothe snatched them off of the checkout counter and stormed out the door.

"Thanks for your patronage! Please return your books on time, and I hope to see you again!" Maria calmly announced as she waved the former Librarian goodbye.

After taking in a fresh breath of nature's air, the city girl finally regained her composure. She then contemplated over her sudden outburst back in the library.

"Man, what is WRONG with me today? I expected Ein to be meeting with other girls during his service! I've never been THIS sore about something like that! Geez, whenever I'm around, all I'd have to do is crack a little quip here and there, and what little stress I've built up goes away then and there! I guess... not being around him to act like my usual witty self is starting to take a toll on me. This sucks! I wasn't expecting to go irate so quickly! I'm actually starting to act like that violent Serene girl I met at that time I studied abroad in Lacrima! If I continue going down bloody this path, I'll probably go around beating the crap out of the nearest person available for my convenience! GAAH! I don't wanna start toting around my sickle like a psychopathic gangster!" she screamed in her mind.

"Hey, those are some nice fish books you got there! I tried to check some out myself, but, well, that ended up being more difficult than I suspected." A male voice called out

Rothe looked in front of her to see a young man with a brown ponytail in blue robes. He was casually carrying around a fishing rod and looked at the city girl indifferently.

"Oh, nice to see you again, Ray. I was actually just desperate to get out of there, so I grabbed a few books, and... here I am." Rothe loosely explained.

"Okay then, can I borrow those books for a few days?" Ray asked.

"Sure. Just give them back to be well before they're due. I'm really not up to paying some library fines in the future" Rothe sighed.

Ray nodded as he slowly took the burden of books from Rothe's grasp. "Thank you".

He then placed them in a pack and started heading off towards the Northern path when Rothe noticed a pack full of shrimp he also carried.

"That's weird. I never see any shrimp around this town! I've been fishing all over the place to calm my nerves, all I've caught are common-shaped fish and those little crawfish! Where do these babies bite?" Rothe asked.

"Oh, I catch these often in an island off the coast. That dolphin you see by the pier gives me ride there everyday. You can do it too, but you'll have to earn its trust by feeding it a few raw meals, first. My flippery friend's just demanding that way" Ray explained.

Rothe nodded. "I see... well, maybe I'll try it sometime. Considering all of this, it sounds really easy, especially when I managed to befriend a fishing hobo like you with little effort" she grinned.

"Yeah, I don't understand it myself. Normally, ladies would have me running scared, but you just came up to me relaxed like that of it and we just hit it off like that. I guess fishing nuts like can just click like that" Ray contemplated.

"I guess so... speaking of which, tell Joe I said hi, and that he really should calm down when trying to catch the bigger ones. His enthusiasm reminds me of an old friend of mine at times" she admits.

"Will do." Ray said. Again, he tried to walk off to continue his own business when remembered another bit of information.

"Oh, right. I happened to see Jamie on that island, and that mysterious cowboy was about ready to head back when I got on the Dolphin. I understand how much you hate him, so I just thought you should know this. You should probably head off to wherever you wanted to go before you cross paths with him. " Ray warned.

"Alright, thank you. Just remember those books I loaned you, okay?" Rothe reminded him.

"I'll keep that in mind. It was nice to have this little talk. I hope we share some more in the future" Ray said. Finally, the fishing vagabond was able to make his way North, but turned back to face Rothe and gave her a final wave farewell.

"See ya, Rothe!" he called out.

"Til next time, then!" Rothe waved back.

"Ah yes, Ray. One of the more decent people of this village, especially for being the wandering hobo of the bunch. I gotta hand to him, the guy really loves his fish, but I guess that's an endearing quality about him, huh?" she thought.

She then took a good look at her recent friend and was about to take comfort in it, until a similar image of another guy flashed into her mind. This particular guy had messy, bluish-brown hair atop a baby face with big grey eyes. He wore a casual grey vest over a white t-shirt marked "Grim Angel", right above some khaki pants. His version of the wave, which differed significantly from Ray's, was more vigorous and childlike.

Rothe quickly turned around after that image faded from her mind. "Gah! Why am I thinking about that perv right now? Get out of my head, already!"

The suffering city girl rushed off towards Flower Bud Point, where her newly-built home and farm resided, paying little attention to what was ahead. Unfortunately for her,

she again collided with something in her way. Rothe looked up to find that she had again irked the angry cowboy she knew and loathed.

"You again! I thought I told you to stay away from me! And watch where you're going next time!" Jamie shouted.

Rothe had all this anger built up in her, but upon gazing into Jamie's ice blue eyes, her blood ran cold with an inexplicable fear. There was something about this expression that was frighteningly familiar.

"That look in this jerk's eyes... it reminds me of the way Ledah looked when Lorelei died right before his very eyes. Of course, Ledah's way more mature and composed than this jackass. At least he doesn't go around and treat people like crap because of what he lost! He just takes care of business! And who shoved a stick up this guy's butt, anyway?" Rothe thought.

Despite her witty train of thought, Rothe still found herself unable to snap back at Jamie.

"Damn it, girl! Do I have to tell you again? Get out of my way!" Jamie exclaimed.

With a sigh, Rothe offered little resistance and silently moved out of the way.

"Geez... it took you long enough. I don't ever want to run into your sorry hide again, got it lady!" Jamie exclaimed.

Rothe simply walked onward with her head lowered out of frustration and shame, while Jamie faced forward while shaking that androgynous head in disappointment.

"Stupid people, thinking they can do whatever they want" Jamie muttered while continuing a usual rant against humanity.

Rothe silently took a few more steps forward until she halted out of extreme anger.

"ahhhh... damn it! I never let ANYONE push me around like this before! Why that jerk? Why am I letting some jackass yell at me when I've dealt with worse?" she thought.

Suddenly, Rothe clenched her fists and turned completely around with fire in her eyes. "That's it! I'm not going to let some pompous ass whose gender I can't even discern continue to get the best of me like this! I'm gonna let that puissant cowboy have it, and then some! Because NO ONE, not that wimpy Ein, not even cool and confident Ledah, talks to Rothe Emerald Freya that way!"

Just as she was about to go vent out her anger on the brooding cowboy, Rothe realized that Jamie gained quite a bit of distance on her. She then spotted Jamie heading right past the Jamie Ranch with a basket in hand.

"Wait a minute... that jerk's not heading home? And it looks like "The One Called it" is heading towards Mt. Moon to go foraging! Even better! I can go tell off that jerk, AND ruin a fine day of gathering! That's two points for me! Cool!" she said alloud.

Before making her journey, Rothe took out an iron hammer from her rucksack and stared at it with a violent thirst.

"And if that jerk refuses to listen to reason, I could always serve up a some quality justice with this baby!" she grinned.

And so, with huge hammer in hand, Rothe approached Mt. Moon with a sadistic smile on her face.

Author's Note: Wow... this little introduction to one of this fic's central characters took much longer than I thought! I always imagined drawing "Riviera: Harvest Moon Style" as a fanart, but I end up with this instead. (Yeah... some of you are probably wandering what the heck I'm babbling about right now. Just stop reading the comments right now if this is going over your head) And Rothe (or Rose) is starting to assimilate herself into the Harvest Moon world quite nicely! She hates Jamie's guts already! I suppose those familiar with our catgirl friend might think she's gone a bit OC, but... we don't really know how separating from her friend Ein would've been like, huh? I'm having fun taking personal liberties with this feisty lady. ;) Man, is she cute... ;). But, as the title and summary suggests, our sexually-vague hero is supposed to be the focus of this fanfiction, so we're going to receive the back story Jamie coming up. The androgynous farmer had this story coming to... uh, "it"... ever since my "Carl's Cake Lesson" fic. I felt Jamie deserved my version of a past, anyway.