A/N: I just backspaced and deleted all of my author's note.
Screw me running/extrapointsifyougetthatreference
Basically, this chapter could've been better. Not so proud of it. Specially since I couldn't think of any juicy plot bunnies.
Also, no updates 'til somewhere past Nov 13. My final exams are 28 Oct - 13 Nov, so I need to study like hardcore.
Armageddon Expo is happening a few days before exams, and well, I'm going lol I'm planning to cosplay as APH Seychelles (but my mum doesn't know how to make the dress, even though it's rather simple)
REVIEWS (i swear if i stuff this up again)
ScipioPB: Thanks, I'm glad you think it's interesting as of now! Hopefully you will continue to like it as the story progresses c:
Mnema: Really? I hope all goes well for your fanfic! Is any of the chapters out yet, because I'm rather curious to read xD I'm glad that you too like this story so far! Do they? I'm glad, because I was going for a 'hate/hate relationship' in the beginning that slowly became 'love/love' instead of the typical 'hey we just met and i think we're made for each other let's get married' type of thing, y'know? Oh, and yes. My icon is my artwork! Haha, yes, that was also my favourite line, if I do say so myself xD When I typing out the previous bit, I thought of that line and I just had to add it in xD I hope you continue to like this story in it's future chapters :D
Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter! I wasn't expecting any for the first one actually haha ;;; Ehmmmm, that's it really.
SUMMARY
Cliffaire-ish. Basically how Cliff and Claire met.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Claire stood in front of the church. She had made it a habit to go there whenever she had time.
She opened the huge doors and walked in.
The church wasn't as big as the ones back in the city, but it was just as beautiful. Maybe even more.
The tiles were polished and clean, making a tapping noise every time her heels made contact with the ground. Claire liked that sound, though. Especially how it echoed a bit inside the church. The wooden chairs looked quite worn, but had a chestnut glow when the sun hit them. It made Claire want to lie down and sleep on them. The glass on the windows looked vintage, having a tint of brown, instead of the normal colourless see-through glass. The windows further up, closer to the altar, had many different coloured glass, maintaining the vintage look. When the light shone through the coloured glass, different colours would glow faintly, giving the glass a rather gentle look. The window ledges themselves had small intricate designs, probably traditional designs belonging to this small town. The first time she came to the church, she couldn't pry her eyes away; the designs were just so beautiful. Looking at the walls of the church, candles lighted up the sides with a yellow flame, giving the building a warm, welcoming feeling.
Claire liked it there. It was calm and peaceful.
Up ahead, Claire saw the pastor, Carter, talking to another young man.
"Carter! Good afternoon!" Claire exclaimed, half running, half skipping towards the pastor. She took out a wine bottle from her rucksack, and handed it to the smiling pastor. "Here, it's my treat!"
"Thank you, Claire. I don't get paid money, so gifts like these are always appreciated it," Carter's gave a hearty smile as he took the wine bottle out of Claire's hands. "May the Harvest Goddess look after your kind soul."
Claire beamed and turned to face the other young man sitting on one of the church's seats. He was tall, and looked rather tough and ragged, due to his long, dark brown hair tied up messily in a ponytail and his foreign clothing. That was just his appearance though. His personality was similar that to a sad, neglected puppy. He always wore the same sad expression, as if to burst in to tears at any moment. It was either looked like he was sad or he was worried. He would always mumble to himself, and when approached, he would start panicking. Quietly, of course.
"Hello Cliff, how are you today?" Claire said softly, walking over to the sullen male. As weird as it sounds, Claire felt like she was approaching a lost puppy or cat.
"Oh, Claire… Hello… I'm… fine, I guess…" Cliff responded meekly, shifting his gaze from the ground to the blonde walking towards him. He noticed that Claire was rummaging through her rucksack. "What's that?"
"Hm? Oh, this?" Claire took something out of her bag and held it in front of Cliff for him to take. "Just like I said I would yesterday, I got you grape juice! Take it, it's all yours!"
"But, I… You didn't… I mean, I didn't… Th-thank you…" Cliff smiled, accepting her offer. "You really didn't have to though…"
"Don't worry, it's fine! After all, our lives right now are currently in the same boat, right?" Claire giggled and sat on the seat next to Cliff. "We gotta stick together!"
"Ahh, yes, that's true." Cliff mumbled, but spoke up a bit louder on the last two words.
Cliff also being an outsider made it a bit easier for Claire to talk to him, as she too, was new to this town. When she first met Cliff, it was during her first few days within being in the town. She had wondered into the church, hoping to find some directions, as she had thought that it was a splendid idea to explore the town. It was a splendid idea until she got lost and realised that she wasn't a very streetwise person. When she entered the church, of course, she was taken away by how gorgeous the church was.
After Claire had managed to set her eyes of the church's structures, she introduced herself to Carter, who immediately told her that she should talk to the young lad sitting on one of the church benches. Carter had told Claire that said young lad was also new to this town, and was quite lonely. When Claire tried to approach him, he started to become anxious and nervous, visible by his slight trembling.
"Oh, u-uh… H-Hello there…" he was shaking.
Cocking her head at to one side, Claire asked, "You… okay there? Everything alright?"
"Uh… Y-Yeah… I'm fine…" Cliff was obviously not fine, as he was shaking a more than when she approached him. "Actually… N-no… I'm not… Oh dear Goddess… I'm just nerv-nervous… I haven't talked to… much people… in a while… Oh Goddess… I'm too nerv—"
"Hey. Just relax. Calm down, you'll be fine." Claire squatted down and gently whispered as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Just breathe in and out… You'll be just fine."
Doing as he was told, Cliff took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself, much to the delight of the blonde.
"See, I knew you could do it!" Claire smiled as she patted the lad's shoulder. It gave his ego a bit of boost of confidence.
"So you're new too?" Claire asked. Cliff replied with a nod, not saying a word. The two sat in silence. Well, Cliff sat and Clair was still squatting.
"S-so... What's your name?" she asked quietly, taking a seat next to Cliff, who shuffled over to make space.
"Oh... I'm..." Cliff cleared his throat. "I'm Cliff..."
"Cliff, huh?" Claire extended her arm towards the male, holding her hand out for Cliff to shake. "I'm Claire. I'm new around here."
All Claire received was a blank stare from the young man as he shook her hand. Breaking the silence, she said, "I hear you're new here as well?"
Upon seeing Cliff's 'yes-how-did-you-know' facial expression, she told him that Carter had told her.
"Oh, is that so..." Cliff mumbled, but attempted to speak up a bit. "Yeah, I'm new... I... Are you the one who bought the farm?"
Claire nodded. "Yep, that's me! I just arrived a few days ago though..."
"I see..."
There was another silence.
"I, um, I kinda got lost while exploring this town... I was wondering... Do you know the way to this place...?" Claire showed cliff a map and pointed to the one and only store in the whole town.
"Oh, the store. It's just down this road... I can show it to you..." Cliff said. He had arrived in Mineral Town a while earlier than the farmer, so he knew where everything was. "Oh! I mean, that is... If you want me... to show you... then I can..."
Claire smiled brightly. "Thank you Cliff. I would love your help."
Cliff escorted the young lady to the store and helped her carry seeds back to her farm. He also offered to help her sow dirt and plants seeds, to which Claire replied to saying that she could do it herself. Cliff ended up playing with her puppy, Drew, for the entire time that Claire worked on her farm. After her work was done, Claire exhaustedly plotted herself down next to Cliff. Her stomach grumbled and she looked at her watch. It had just hit 1:30pm.
"Are you hungry Cliff?"
Cliff glanced at Claire, then back at the puppy that he was holding. "I guess so… yeah."
"Well then! Let's go eat!" Claire jumped up and pulled him up as well. Cliff cringed. He wasn't used to being handled with so much force. Nor did he like it very much.
"Oh… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done that… Sorry about that…" Claire had noticed his expression as she pulled him up, and immediately felt guilty of her actions.
"No no no—it's fine!" he rubbed the nape of his neck, avoiding eye contact with Claire.
"Even if you say so… I'm still sorry…"
Cue awkward silence.
"Let's go, shall we?" Claire exclaimed, scaring the life out of poor Cliff. Cliff nodded, and they walked towards the inn. Despite Claire's attempts of trying to keep a conversation going with Cliff, a deafening silence would keep ensuing after Cliff had replied. The farmer found it rather, awkward to say the least. In the end, she did manage to keep a conversation with the brunet, lasting the rest of the walk to the inn.
Upon entering the inn, they were greeted with the upbeat smiles of a certain red head.
"Welcome to the inn!" she bobbed her head playfully as she took full account of the guests that had just walked through the doors. "Oh, hello Claire! And if it isn't Cliff! What brings you two here together on this lovely afternoon?"
Is it just me, or is Ann wearing a slightly suspicious grin right now, or…? Claire thought to herself. Perhaps I'm just hallucinating…
She wasn't hallucinating though. The bouncy red head dressed in her usual blue overalls with her plain yellow shirt underneath, wore an odd expression on this peculiar day. Her expression resembled more of a smirk, than of a smile. Usually she had a friendly smile as she welcomed guests warmly, but her current expression was more than enough to make the two exchange glances worriedly. Whatever ideas this girl had, it was never good. Ever.
"Ann… what are you thinking?"
Claire was brave enough to speak up and ask Ann what was going on.
"Oh nothing~"
This girl… Thinks she can hide things from me. She and I both know she's cunning. I may have just met her a few days ago, but I will find out what she is thinking. I can never tell what exactly she's up to though, a defeated Claire sighed deeply as Ann pushed (more like dragged) the two to a table, and left shortly after, leaving the two to their thoughts.
Ann came back after a few minutes with a pad and pen.
"So what do you want?" She pulled on her signature smiled. Claire ordered the daily special, which was cheese fondue accompanied by grape juice, which Cliff got the usual curry rice.
Ann left again and entered the kitchen, most likely going to help make the food alongside her father, the inn keeper, Doug.
The red head didn't emerge from the kitchen until she had actually finished making the two dishes. She walked over to Cliff and Claire and gracefully put the two platters on the table, the cutlery following.
"Bon appetite, my dear friends. When you're done, just leave the dishes there." Ann took the gold that Claire held out in her hand and counted them before she smiled briefly and left.
It took the two young adults around 20 minutes to eat their meals and as they were instructed to, they left their dishes where they were. Claire left a tip, as she thought that the food Ann and Doug made was delicious. Especially the cheese fondue. The way the cheese would melt in her mouth, delicious. Just simply delicious. She never had anything that tasted so good in her life. So it was natural that she would leave a tip.
Cliff and Claire parted ways in front of the inn's door. They waved each other goodbye, saying that it was actually fun, and that they should do it again. Claire thought he must've forgotten about what happened earlier. That, or he had forgive her. Either way she was relieved. She didn't want someone hating her so soon. She turned on her heels and headed back to her farm.
Cliff and Claire had been talking for about an hour or so about many different topics. By now, they were quite comfortable with each other. Well, Cliff was beginning to be.
"Oh would you look at the time." Claire had taken a glance at her watch. It was nearing 5pm and she still needed to do some stuff before she turned in for the day later.
"I gotta run. Still got some things to finish." She stood up, ready to leave. "Make sure you enjoy that grape juice now!"
A small smile appeared on the man's face. "Thank you, Claire. I will."
Back at the farm, Claire was rummaging through her drawers, grabbing a change of clothes and a towel. What for? So that she could take a relaxing bath at the hot springs. It was quite troublesome for Claire, as she didn't own a bath tub or shower at the very least. That was how small her house was. In fact, it was so small, it didn't even contain a kitchen. Just a table, bed, TV and bookshelf. The bare necessities for Claire to survive. This was the reason why she went to the inn for meals and the hot springs for bathing every day. She did hope to get a bath or shower installed and a kitchen made soon. After all, she did find it both troublesome and tiring trudging up a hill just to bathe and trudging back down to put away towels and used clothing before going to the inn. And as much as she loved Ann, whom she quickly befriended and became close to within the past two weeks, Claire could feel her money slowly draining away. Claire sniffed and faked a tear at her realization of this. Soon she would have to live off water, which was free.
Well, it's free, but bland, she reminded herself. She wasn't one for blandness. She preferred things with taste, flavor and personality.
Claire found herself conversing with herself in her mind.
This was not a good sign, she thought. Whenever I start talking to myself, something's bound to happen. I can't wait to see what's gonna occur this time.
Don't we all?
…
Claire definitely wanted to take that bath she really wanted as soon as possible. She really wanted to rid her mind of these conversations taking place. She glanced at her watch. It was twenty past five. If she left now, she would be at the hot springs by half past. She would finish around quarter to six; six at the very latest, if she was feeling lazy. Since Claire was meeting up with Ann and some of the other girls, she had to be at the inn around 6:45. That meant she would have around half an hour to walk back to her home, drop off stuff and walk to the inn. She took another look at her watch. 5:22. Claire clicked her tongue and rubbed her temples. During the time that Claire was calculating how long it would take to do everything, she kept checking the time. This gave her headaches if she did it repeatedly. She didn't have a clock yet so she had to rely on her watch. What do you expects? She's poor.
Claire sighed, and left her house, intent on taking that long bath of hers.
