Hey everyone! Wow, two chapter tens in one day; both Dear Molly and The Grass is Always Greener were due for updates. This chapter is more transitional than anything, but I hope that you like what you see :). Read, review and enjoy please, as always!
Chapter 10: There's no Place Like Home
By the time we left the bar, nobody was walking around. The deserted streets were only lit by the moon hanging high overhead.
If I'd had more time to consider the fact that Castanet resembled a ghost town at night and that I couldn't see what was lurking in the shadows, I would have been terrified. Being a morning person and a people person, I've never been good with the dark or a lack of people. The prospect of both combined usually sent shivers down my spine.
But tonight was different. Clarissa and I spent most of the walk to our respective homes discussing…well, everything.
"And you have to feed him twice a day. Every day." She said seriously about her dog, Charlie.
"But I don't get it, why are you so serious about his feeding schedule? I'm sure the little tyke would survive if you fed him only once by mistake." I said. Clarissa turned her head sharply towards me, her gold eyes glinting in the dim light.
"Luke, you have to make sure that you feed him twice a day. Charlie's a nice dog most of the time, but if he doesn't get fed his normal amount he can get…testy. He'll bite you if you're not careful."
"Alright, alright, I get it." I told her. Although I had never had any pets myself, I was pretty well acquainted with my forest friends. How bad could taking care of one dog be?
"Changing the subject, any idea where the Finn-meister went? He was on my shoulder when we went into the Brass Bar, but by the time we left he'd vanished. Poof!" I suspected that the little bugger must've followed Clarissa everywhere, and was surprised when I looked to my shoulder and found that he wasn't there.
Clarissa laughed heartily. "Did you really think that he was always around? No, no, no, we have an agreement that he'll give me my privacy. Although he's fun to be around, it'd get pretty invasive if he was always there. Usually he stays with me on the farm and when I'm taking care of stuff that needs to be done, but when I'm just hanging out with my friends, he leaves."
"Does this mean that we're friends?" I asked hopefully. I didn't quite know why, but approval from Clarissa mattered a lot to me.
Clarissa shrugged, "We'll see." She answered. My hopes fell. Gee, thanks Clarissa, way to tell me absolutely nothing.
Clarissa, however, seemed oblivious to my dashed hopes as she checked my watch again.
"Look, Luke. Are you sure I shouldn't go on ahead? I have people waiting for me, and you don't. I'll be able to take longer strides with your legs than you'll be able to with mine, so I can move faster if I'm going by myself." Her argument was a good one; Pops and Bo were never happy when I was home too late. But I really didn't want to walk to Clarissa's house alone…
"Can you just walk me to your house? I…erm…don't know where it is." That was a total lie. I knew exactly where Clarissa's house was. I just didn't want to have to go there by myself.
"Fine, alright. It's straight up ahead anyway." She conceded, which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.
When we got to her doorstep, Clarissa and I did a final review.
"So you're going to wake up tomorrow, wash up, then feed the dog and yourself. There should be some left over orange juice in the fridge to drink—"
"Why orange juice?" I interrupted.
"N-no reason," she stuttered. "Anyway, you'll eat breakfast, and then I'll come over later on to help you with the farm work if I can. Got it?"
"Got it!" I nodded in affirmation. "And you'll wake up, wash up, eat breakfast, and then come over to help me with the farm work. And remember to ask Pops for your carpentry assignment for that day!" I knew that if she forgot to ask Pops for her work that day, he'd throw a loony. He was very strict about business, especially in the fall when demands get higher as we get more customers. I didn't want Clarissa to have to face his wrath if she didn't work hard enough.
"Sure, sounds good." She nodded.
"And don't give away the secret!" I reminded her.
She just rolled her eyes at me. "C'mon, Luke, I'm not stupid. Of course I won't reveal the secret."
"Good." I told her.
"Fine." She said. We then proceeded to stand out on her doorstep awkwardly. Should we hug or something?
"Well…I'll, uh, see you tomorrow!" I said, finally. Anything to break the awkward silence surrounding us. At a loss of what else to do, I stuck out a hand.
"Sure…see you." Clarissa said, shaking my hand like we had just made a business transaction.
"G'bye!" I shouted and waved as she ran off towards my home in the Garmon Mines. I watched my old body quickly wave back before disappearing into the shadows.
Unsettled by the lack of noise and the fact that I was now the only one around, I fumbled with Clarissa's key a few times before entering her house.
It was your typical two roomed country home. Beside the door where he had walked in sat a bookshelf with lots of farming reference books inside and a cabinet in which it appeared Clarissa kept her various odds and ends. Rummaging through things revealed that the odds and ends were indeed rather, well, odd.
Why in the name of the Goddess does she have a purple and blue mushroom from Fugue forest in here? And there's a lapis lazuli, too! And what's up with that aging piece of spinach? I wondered, and then shrugged it off. I decided that, if Clarissa really did have an affinity for collecting odd things, then it wasn't my business to know about it. In one far corner of the house was a kitchenette, complete with mini refrigerator, mixer, oven, and pot. Nearby was a door, one that presumably led to a bathroom. There was a queen-sized bed in the other far corner with a bedside table beside it, and a dresser beside that.
"Hmm, guess I should get changed then." I said to the house that was otherwise empty of people. I walked over to the dresser and, in a sleepy fog, pulled out what I guessed were her pajamas.
I waddled into the bathroom, pajamas in hand, and stood there for a few moments before the gravity of the situation hit me. Wait a second, I have to change!
Fully awake, the gears in my head began spinning rapidly. What to do, what to do, what to do…Ah ha, I've got it!
I reached over to a panel right next to the door, flipped the switch that was inside it, and the lights were out. Good thinking! I pat myself on the back for my inventiveness, and then quickly got dressed in the dark. I tried as hard as I possibly could to imagine that I was dressing my own body instead of Clarissa's.
You're just postponing things. A little voice in my head chimed in. You're gonna have to shower eventually, you know.
The voice did have a point; even if I could get dressed in the dark, showering in the dark would be a whole different beast to conquer. And I doubted that Clarissa would want me walking around smelly for who knows how long we'll be like this.
Head hurting from too much thinking, I decided that I would cross that bridge when I came to it, and that the best thing to do now was get some shut-eye. Clarissa and I had a big day ahead of us if we were ever going to fix this.
I walked over to Clarissa's bed, lay down, and created a cocoon for myself out of her thick quilted covers. I was a little sad when I realized there was no Bo in the bed next to me, and, therefore, nobody to say good night to. That was when I spotted the little orange harvest sprite laying on the pillow beside me, curled up into a tight ball, snoring lightly.
"Finn." I whispered, and shook him. He didn't budge.
"Finn!" I said, this time pushing him a bit harder. Still no reaction.
"FINN MEISTER! FINNICUS SPRITICUS! FINNY BOY!" I shouted, shaking him back and forth.
"Ugh, what is it, Luke?" he grumbled. "Why did you have to wake me up?"
"Oh, I just wanted to say goodnight!" I told him with a smile. To my dismay, the sprite did not look amused.
"Good night, Luke." He said, curling up again.
"Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!"
"Mmhmm…" Finn muttered.
"I'll see you in the morning, buddy!"
"Yup. See you in the morning…buddy." He finally said. I smiled triumphantly at my success, not to mention his acknowledgement of me as something more than a pain in the arse. I then closed my eyes, and drifted off into an easy sleep.
The Harvest Goddess smiled to herself as she watched who appeared to be Clarissa climb into bed through a watery orb. With a flick of her wrist, the floating orb fell and the water that had made it up dispersed itself throughout the pond beneath her feet.
"Ignis! I know that you've had good ideas in the past, but this was brilliant, positively brilliant!" she ran up to him and hugged him amorously.
"I take it they've survived day one, then, have they?" he asked, chuckling a bit as he did so.
"Yes, yes they have. Oh, but surely they'll have many more trials to come!" she giggled.
"Darling, how long exactly do you intend for them to stay like this?" he asked.
"Just as long as it takes for them to learn their lesson." She winked.
Ignis sighed. "Well…alright then. But please do change them back as soon as they're ready. I hate to see them occupying all of your time."
"Ohh, Ignis, is somebody feeling a bit jealous?" she shook her head. "Tsk tsk, that's no way to go about things! And besides," she said, leaning in closer to him. "I'll always have time for my number one."
Ignis smiled widely. "Shall we, my mistress?"
"We shall…" She purred. And, in the blink of an eye, the two gods were behind the rocks and out of sight.
Thanks for reading! Also, just as a note for all of you who didn't pursue Chase in ToT (I married him and ToT, and married Luke in AP), orange juice is his favorite drink. That's why Luke asked about it, and why Clarissa got all flustered x).