Author's Note: This is more of a filler chapter than anything else, but I think it's some fun character interaction. In-game Takakura mentions while showing Jill around Forget-Me-Not that the villagers across the way are "a little strange" for his tastes. Inspired, I felt I had to give Gustafa a chance to shed some enlightenment on our man's feelings for Tanya.

Enjoy my completely self-indulgent chapter! XD

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Chapter 8: Advice from a Brother

"My what a voice she has," I heard someone declare in my direction.

I should've known who'd say such a thing, but I still turned to see despite that fact. The "long-haired, leaping gnome" was sitting at his usual post beneath the tree that shaded his yurt. I had never spoken at length with Gustafa, not even at the Blue Bar, for he and I were opposites in every way though I do admire that trait in the valley. However, I never could've expected to have a heart to heart with him. Still, he motioned me over, and I had no reason to refuse his invitation.

He waited until I had shifted my body down onto a small log he had set as a chair. Behind his beetle shades, I wondered what he saw in the world. His songs never made much sense in my mind, but I didn't really have a creative license to begin with. "So you were impressed, hmm?" I asked rather stupidly.

"Of course, man," he said with a grin. "Even someone not musically inclined could dig that voice of hers. You're a lucky man to hear it more often than most, my brother."

"Well, she's never sang for me, either," I informed him somewhat grudgingly, being that she had performed for him exclusively until this point. Not that I was bitter about her keeping a secret from me...

"That's a drag, really," he sighed with a slight frown. "I always felt she fancied a cat like yourself."

"She claimed she wanted to surprise me, I guess," I remarked with some double meaning. "However, she did tell me she sang for you a few times."

"Yes, but it was nothin' like that night's jam, man. She needs the guy playing behind her to really pump it through, you dig? I play too soft for a voice like hers."

We sat in silence for a moment. Gazing up into the branches above me, I grimaced to see they were bare. There wasn't a single, lonely dried up leaf to be seen which only reminded me that another season had passed. Soon winter would set in, and I'd be stuck making deliveries in the snow. That was an ugly thought in itself.

"How are things with Nami?" I asked quietly, trying to think on another topic. I didn't want to think of the chill although I suppose Nami wasn't all that warm, either. I doubted very much that anyone got the fuzzies when her name was mentioned. Then again...

"Oh," he whispered, pulling his green brim down over his eyes. "She doesn't even remember. I had Muffy ask her..."

"Couldn't you ask yourself? You were the one she kissed..." I pressed with some reluctance. Gustafa was so open with how he felt, yet he hadn't been the one to find out how she felt about him. It was sad, really. The woman had stumped even him, I guess. I sure as hell wouldn't be able to figure her out.

"Nami's defensive enough with me as it is," he replied giving me a soft smile. "She keeps everything she feels inside."

"Does that come with travel?"

He thought on this before offering a kind reply, "Not always. I enjoy sitting for a spell with all kinds of people, but being a poet, it's sort of what I do." He continued to dwell on it for a moment and added creatively, "I collect stories to share. Nami keeps the tales to herself."

"I see..." Yes, that certainly made some kind of sense although I was normally dense with pretty wording. Still, I understood enough to make a coherent idea out of it. "Hey, the love songs you write are about other people then?"

"Some, but others are my own experiences, man," he admitted with a bit of sadness in his voice. "Why do you ask?"

"Listen, I'm not one to talk about love or anything, and it's rarely on my mind-" I started while feeling my cheeks warming to what was probably a nice shade of scarlet.

Gustafa interrupted me, placing his hand on my shoulder, "There's nothing wrong with loving a woman like Tanya, brother. In love, age doesn't matter, man. If you feel groovy with a woman, it'll just happen."

"Thanks," I mutter, blushing a little more at the surprising comfort I found in his touch. "I'm sorry I never had the chance to sit with you before now..." I confessed with a slouch, "I thought you were a bit strange for my liking..."

"No problem, man. I know I'm not a hip cat in this scene with my crazy digs an' all," he laughed, gesturing to his striped shirt, leather vest, and bell-bottoms with embroidered flowers, "but I keep true myself. All is groovy with me, man."

Smirking, I called him out. "You talk like that on purpose don't you?"

He merely answered with another smile.