Author's Note: Another warm thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, follow, and review my story. Your words of encouragement mean so much to me!

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Claire flipped to the weather station on her television as she looked outside.

"… And it will continue to drizzle all day…"

The farmer let out a happy sigh and pulled up a floor cushion in front of the television and plopped down. She didn't really have any plans for the day and she didn't mind that one bit; her crops weren't quite ripe enough for picking. Claire flipped through the few stations on her old fashioned television and grinned when she heard a familiar theme.

"… Is he a friend/ Or enemy?/ Maybe you're my destiny!/ My Dear Princess…"

Claire settled in and got more comfortable. It was her favorite guilty pleasure program, and she was surprised it played all the way out here in Mineral Town. Koro curled up in a ball beside her and fell asleep, but his master took no notice; she was transfixed on the television screen.

She jumped when she heard a knock at the door. "Yo! Claire!"

The farmer looked up at the clock and was shocked; she had been watching the television for hours since she first sat down. "Come on in," She stood up and stretched.

Karen collapsed her umbrella and stepped inside. "I figured it would be a slow day for you…" Her eyes moved to the screen. "Oh, Goddess… Is that My Dear Princess? That has got to be one of the corniest anime out there."

Claire reddened and looked at the floor. Enjoying the sappy show wasn't something she wanted to eagerly admit to.

Karen roared with laughter. She took off her shoes and stepped through the door. "Who am I kidding? It's one of my favorites, too. That Demon Lord can kidnap me any day!" Karen confessed with a giggle, winking at her friend.

"The network is running a marathon today," Claire explained. Her eyes lit up. She was very pleased to find a common interest with her friend; sometimes she and Karen seemed like complete opposites.

Karen had already grabbed another cushion and sat down in front of the television. She gestured toward the bag she left at the door. "I brought snacks."

Neither woman made a motion to them; a new episode had started.

*Rustle rustle rustle*

"Good morning, O Demon Lord. It's time to wake up. You'd best wake up soon, or else breakfast is going to get cold…"

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Claire stood up because her legs were stiff; they had been quietly watching the television for a few hours, absorbed in the drama and romance of the anime. She let Koro out and hurried outside to use her makeshift outhouse. As she washed her hands in the river, she noticed that the weather forecast had been right; there was still a constant drizzle.

Karen was waiting inside with a bag of chips. "Still yucky out there?" She looked out the window with a slight frown; she wasn't planning on going to the Goddess Spring today, that was for sure.

"I don't consider it yucky; I don't have to water today," Claire pointed out. It felt nice to have a day to let her body rest a bit; her muscles had grown sore from all of the work she wasn't accustomed to yet.

Karen laughed. "I guess any day you don't have to work yourself as hard can be a good one, huh?"

The farmer's dog followed her through the doorway and shook himself dry.

"Koro!" Claire frowned as the puppy splattered mud and water all over her overalls. She took an old towel and crouched down to wipe down her pet, but she quickly learned that the dog had rubbed most of the mud off on her. The puppy barked at her playfully, but Claire was furious.

The grocer's daughter looked at her friend curiously. Claire didn't strike her as the type to be overly tidy about her appearance, although Karen noticed a rather spruced-up blonde out of the corner of her eyes many nights at Doug's silently creeping upstairs. "Just change your clothes," Karen shrugged.

The blonde reddened.

The grocer's daughter couldn't believe that the farmer was still so shy; the two had already seen each other completely nude at the hot springs, after all. What was there to be embarrassed of? "Oh, please. I'll just turn around," the brunette rolled her eyes.

"I-It's not that…" She stared at the floor.

Karen stared at the barren room, and realized at once that she had only ever seen the farmer in her overalls. It couldn't be… "Oh, Goddess… don't tell me that's the only outfit you own!"

Claire looked like she was about to cry for a moment. Karen rummaged through a cardboard box of her friend's things. There were some fresh undergarments, but there was one other outfit in the box; it was folded with care and looked pristine.

"Here, wear this! … Oh, this is really pretty yukata, Claire. Why don't you ever wear it?" The brunette removed a pale pink yukata from the box and noticed a gorgeous red obi and brand new set of geta tucked underneath it.

The farmer immediately got defensive. "Th-that's for special occasions!" The young woman retorted, reaching for the pink outfit.

The grocer's daughter held up the garment and noticed it still had the tags on it. "What kind of special occasion?"

Claire's eyes welled up with tears and her hands fell at her sides. "I told myself I wouldn't wear that until I had a special reason to," she mumbled, staring at the floor. She realized that she probably sounded irrational, but she wasn't in the mood for explaining the emotions tied to this piece of clothing.

In a job where mud, compost, and manure reigned supreme, it hardly seemed practical for the farmer to own just one single outfit to complete her chores in. "Well, that's silly. It seems like you need a fresh outfit now." Karen stared at her friend, confused.

"No." The farmer stubbornly unbuttoned the straps of her overalls and let the suspenders and bib hang down. Most of the mud got on her sleeves and chest, anyway. She took off her flannel, but kept on her white undershirt. "There. Good enough."

"You need some more clothes, girl," Karen raised her eyebrows.

Her friend gave her a pointed look, and the grocer's daughter knew to drop the subject. They sat back down in front of the television together and Karen noticed that the farmer seemed to have mellowed out a bit. "So… would you go for the Demon Lord or Hero?" She crunched on a handful of chips.

"Definitely Demon Lord," Claire's eyes were glued to the screen.

Karen nodded in agreement and laughed. It seemed that the awkwardness of the yukata had been pushed out of the farmer's focus, at least for now. The brunette encouraged her friend into talking a bit more. "Ah, so you like the bad boys?"

The farmer shook her blonde head and looked at Karen with a sappy smile. "Nah... I like his sensitive side."

It seemed Claire was a romantic type as well. Karen looked back at the screen as a grin crept across her face. "Sensitive, eh? I can see that… I like the idea of a guy who can make me swoon and provide for me and spoil me rotten." The brunette giggled and crunched happily on her snack. "It wouldn't hurt if he's hot, too."

"Of course not," Claire giggled, grabbing a few chips for her own. As timid as the young woman was, she didn't mind admitting that she enjoyed a bit of eye candy just as much as the next girl. "He is studly, after all; even the well-mannered, dainty princess in the show said so."

The girls giggled together, and Karen was relieved that Claire had stopped dwelling on her poverty for the moment.

"The poor Hero doesn't stand a chance. Not only does he get his ass kicked by Demon Lord, but he doesn't even get the girl." Karen rolled her eyes.

Claire crunched on some chips thoughtfully. She had watched this particular show several times through since she was a teenager, and now that she was a bit older, she had a better understanding of the character of the Hero. "I got the impression that he wasn't all that interested in the princess; he was just doing his job, and if the princess fell for him, he saw that as a bonus."

"Well, aren't you cynical?" Karen laughed. She hadn't expected her friend to analyze characters from a silly anime, but she wasn't about to complain; she was having a lot of fun. "But that ruins the whole romantic drama of it all! Of course they're both fighting for the princess's heart!"

"I guess it's a little more poetic if you think of it that way," Claire admitted with a shrug. "But honestly, if the Demon Lord or Hero existed in real life, I don't think I'd be interested in either of them."

"Whaaa-?" Karen's potato chip fell out of her mouth. "You don't want a hot guy to pamper you?"

Claire shrugged again. "Not that one, anyway. He still kidnapped the princess, either way you look at it. It's kind of creepy; he's making her dependent on him."

"Oh, pooh! You're sucking the romance out of it," Karen chided, rustling in the noisy potato chip bag. "If that Demon Lord came knocking on the door, I'd have to say, 'Sorry, Rick, you waited too long, babe'," She cackled.

Claire smirked at the brunette and Karen's face turned violet as she realized what she had just said aloud. "Ugh, Goddess…! Claire, not a peep out of you!"

The farmer had a smug smile on her face that she found she was quite unable to remove.

"Yeah, I like Rick… S-so what?" Karen's face burned. She stared at the floor and wished she had a glass of wine to hide behind; if she had said this while she was drinking, she would have had the confidence to laugh it off a little better. "Like you're very discreet! I see you going upstairs almost every evening I go to the bar for a drink!"

Claire blushed deeply; she was not expecting this rebuttal. "Well… maybe you should stop drinking so much," She teased.

A smirk spread across Karen's lips as she saw her opening; she struck quickly. "Why? So I don't catch you flirting with the inn's tenants?"

Claire's face felt hot. "Like it's doing me any good, anyway…" The young woman thought of the ever-changing stack of books by Gray's bed and knew that they weren't a magical delivery from the book fairy.

Karen wanted to make a snarky comment on Claire's statement, but she bit her tongue. She finally settled on something that would make her friend less upset. "Eh, real guys suck sometimes. Some days I'd rather watch the fake hot ones on-screen." Karen grabbed another handful of chips and munched noisily.

"You do realize you're mooning over an anime character, right?" Claire raised her eyebrows.

The brunette sighed. "At least Demon Lord wouldn't be too busy castrating roosters to hang out at the Goddess Spring with me." There was a bitter tone to her voice. Her eyes moved back to the screen and she played with the ends of her brown hair. "Plus, Demon Lord could probably magically turn all those chunks of copper you gave to Gray into a bangle or something."

A piece of jewelry made with Gray's own two hands… The notion still made her swoon a bit. "Actually, that doesn't take magic; Saibara can do that," She reminded her friend with a laugh.

"Well, there you go! You've been wooing the wrong blacksmith!" Karen roared with laughter.

The farmer wasn't sure how to respond to this for a brief moment; she knew Karen was joking, but the notion of Saibara being marriage material for anyone was a bit startling. He seemed so gruff and unapproachable to her, but he had to have been with someone at one point; he had a grandson, after all. "Uh, I don't think Saibara's… my type," Claire snickered. There was a sudden knock at the door. Claire pulled herself off of her floor cushion. "Not to mention the age gap."

Karen chomped on more chips. "It would be a May-December romance! Go get the door; I bet it's Demon Lord! Tell him to take us both!" She giggled.

Claire rolled her eyes at her friend as she opened the door.

A thoroughly drenched Cliff stood in the doorway. Stacks of empty leather satchels were hanging from his body, clinging onto him and bogging him down in the rain. He had a makeshift spear resting across one shoulder. The young man pushed his dripping wet hair out of his eyes. Despite the dreary sky, he looked elated.

"Hey, Claire!" He was glowing.

"Oh, hey, Cliff." She took in his soaked, disheveled appearance, and realized she didn't look so hot herself. "Wanna come in and dry off?"

"You fall in the lake or what?" Karen heckled him from her seat.

The young man shook his head excitedly. "No… I'm just stopping by real quick… Normally, I'd just slide this under your door, but today… Well, today… Let's just say your shipping bin is at capacity!" He beamed, reaching into his tunic and proudly handing her a slip of paper that was miraculously dry.

Claire unfolded the list and studied her friend's scratchy handwriting.

Bamboo Shoot x 12

Mountain Trout x 6

Bitterling x 3

Whitefish x 8

Bluegill x 5

Rainbow Trout x 4

The farmer's jaw dropped as she read the list. To say she was impressed was an understatement; Cliff must have been fishing since the sun rose. "Wow… You've been busy today."

"I love rainy days; the fish are more active!" He nodded eagerly. The young man's excitement over his catches seemed to be providing him with more than enough energy.

"Wait, what did you get?" Karen stood up and walked over to the two friends.

"A ton of fish!" Cliff answered, twirling the sharpened stick in his fingers with a flourish before stabbing it into the wet earth with an emphatic nod.

"Yeah, a ton of fish!" Claire echoed him; his enthusiasm was contagious.

Koro let out a happy bark.

"No, we're not going to the mountain today, Koro," Claire rolled her eyes with a laugh. She looked back over at her male friend with a concerned expression. The woodcutter had told her that the mountain wasn't always safe, especially in this kind of weather. "You stayed away from the peak, right? Gotz says it can get dangerous up there when it rains."

"Of course. I'm from the mountains; I know how it works," the young man replied with a nod. His face flushed. "Th-thanks, though… For being concerned about me."

Karen was studying the list. "Well, it's official; you will be filthy stinkin' rich tomorrow morning," She gave him a slap on the shoulder and laughed when his hide tunic splattered water; it had absorbed the rainwater like a sponge. "Now go get changed before you catch cold!"

"You can't catch a cold from being out in the rain," Cliff insisted with a shake of the head.

Karen let out a snort of laughter. "I'm not about to take medical advice from someone who makes up blood types," the grocer's daughter retorted, handing the slip of paper back to Claire.

"Well, I am going to go back to the inn to freshen up. I'll see y'all around," he grinned, pulling his stick out of the ground.

"See ya!" Karen waved to him.

"Hey, Cliff…"

He stopped walking and turned around at the sound of his friend's voice. "H-huh?"

"Good job. You should be really proud of yourself," Claire smiled at him warmly. "Have a good night and rest well; you deserve it."

"Th-thanks…" He turned pink. "You, too." He nodded and headed back toward town.

Claire shut the door.

"Y'all…" Karen had a huge smirk across her face.

The farmer rolled her eyes. "Be nice!" She was not about to say that the young woman's Mineral Town accent sounded just as folksy to Claire.

Karen plopped back down on her floor cushion, shaking her head. "That boy… He's a little crazy, huh? Spending the entire day in that miserable weather…"

"I don't think he saw it as miserable," Claire replied. She learned that since she started farming, rainy weather wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Quite the contrary, she didn't have to run across her fields with that watering can.

"So, Cliff's been stopping by regularly, eh?" Karen asked casually, returning to her bag of chips. She observed her friend for some sort of reaction out of the corner of her eye.

"I told him that he could use my shipping bin," The farmer explained with an excited nod. "He gives me a list of the things he puts in there so I can give him the money for them." She studied the list again for a moment and a smile spread across her face. Cliff was really trying as hard as he could, and Claire was grateful that her simple gesture of sharing the bin with him was going to help him so much.

"You taking a percentage for yourself?" Karen winked at her.

"O-Of course not!" Claire's eyes widened. "I'm trying to help him!" What kind of person would attempt to profit off of their friend who was obviously struggling financially?

The young woman crunched on some more chips. "I'm just kidding, yeesh!" She finished chewing. "I've gotta say, I've never seen Cliff excited before. It was kinda cute." Her gaze moved back to the farmer.

"He has a right to get excited," Claire smiled at the list of items and set it on her table. She was proud of him; the farmer hoped that she had conveyed that to him this evening. The young man needed encouragement…

"I think he was eager to impress," Karen said carefully, raising her eyebrows as she noticed the farmer's rosy cheeks.

The young man was probably going to tell all of his friends about his good fortune today, Claire reasoned. "I'm sure Ann will be impressed to hear about it, too," the blonde nodded with a grin, taking a seat back at the television.

Karen once again bit her tongue and turned her eyes to the emerald-haired hottie on the screen. She seriously doubted the redheaded waitress would hear much about Cliff's haul today; the mountain boy had already bragged to his intended target this evening.

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Author's Note: I loved watching the silly shows on the television in MFoMT. My Dear Princess was by far my favorite, and what better way to have some female bonding than gushing over a sappy anime together?