Ever the performer, Hinata went right into the task of sharing his beloved like a book, like one of his scripts, with much enthusiasm and feeling to his voice, "Now of COURSE with a name like that, Momo grows the best darn peaches you'll find ANYWHERE! Anywhere in the whole world, PERIOD, you won't find peaches better or bigger than Momo's! So world famous she named the farm after them, Peachy Keen Farm! These peaches are as close as you get to a real life James and the Giant Peach, I'm telling ya! These peaches could practically be melons they're so enormous! Speaking of which she also grows amazing watermelons, and all kinds of other great Summer crops, since she was born in Summer! She grows the juiciest, most vibrant colored shiso, which she makes into the most delicious shiso juice! She's a sweetheart so she always brings me some to work every day, along with a SUPER delicious lunch! OH, and her PUMPKINS-!"
He had to stop to take a breath, he was about to go on another tirade without taking in air from the last. Once oxygenated, he went on again, "Just, ENORMOUS pumpkins! When the Pudding Jamboree comes around, the contents from just a couple of her pumpkins can make enough pudding for EVERY kid from EVERY town! Better believe all the kids holler for Momo's famous pumpkin pudding every year!"
He grinned even bigger as a blush added itself to his face, "Momo just loves kids… We just learned the other day that we're pregnant with our first, like you guys, Wayne! We're already thinking of naming it Yoh if it's a boy, and Anna if it's a girl!"
He was so excited, everyone gave him a long and loud round of applause. He bashfully rubbed the back of his head before continuing, "Boy or girl, I don't care as long as they're healthy. But I hope that whatever it is, they look just like Momo. She's so beautiful. She's got pale skin, and pale pink hair. Pink like a peach. Sometimes she dyes it a slightly darker pink or reddish pink. And her eyes are green, like two big perfect peridots! Pretty as she is, Momo of course has fantastic fashion sense, and a preference for pink. She's got a huge wardrobe! She wears a plum skort and a pink puffy flower skirt outfit in spring time, her pink morning glory yukata, the pink apron flower dress and the violet apron skirt in summer, the pink poncho and the pink girl's hanbok in fall, and the pink and red travel kimono in winter – Whew! Good thing my babe makes tons of cash on her own, because that clothing addiction would be hard on a starving artist's budget!"
He took a deep breath, then sighed it out. "But… Beautiful as she is, that's not the biggest reason I love Momo. Second biggest definitely, but the first is… Because she always believed in me. She watched me recite my lines, and helped me practice them. Then she actually came to my plays! She applauded for me! She congratulated me when my play got pretty good reviews! But she was there for me when I got bad reviews, too. She told me to keep believing and working on my dream when I got down in the dumps over it. Even now, I'm not at the top of my game just yet, but I've been making a lot of really promising progress! I have a new play coming out in the Winter and people are getting really buzzed about it! Me and Momo are really hopeful it will do well!"
Komari grinned for her friend, "I'm sure it will, Hinata."
Hinata grinned back at her and gave her a nudge. "Well Komari, how about you? Who's the guy who stole your heart and what crazy thing did your dad do to him to try and get it back?"
Komari turned red and puffed, "Watch it, Hinata! And anyways…" She went on, not even trying to deny it. "My Michio was smart enough to butter my dad up before ever trying to make a move on me! He came to my dad not long after we first met, and offered to provide the restaurant with fresh ingredients from his farm. But my dad let him know right off the bandwagon, our restaurant had a quality standard! Now his stuff was good, market worthy definitely, but my dad told him, no offense, but he'd have to do better if he wanted to do business with him and the reputation of his restaurant. And well, he took no offense at all. In fact, we hardly saw him at all for a year because he took it as a personal challenge. When he came back, he had some of the best quality rice and sticky rice around, the greenest, most pungent wasabi you ever got a whiff of, amazing quality soy beans and an assortment of great Tsuyukusa veggies. When my dad saw his dedication to the ingredients, he offered to teach him how to cook too. And Michio most humbly accepted…"
She reached into her apron pocked and pulled out a picture of him. He was a red-haired man with dark grey eyes, and in the picture she held, he was wearing a very handsome red cook's uniform. "He won that outfit from a big cooking competition after studying under my father for another year. By then he was practically family. And to me, well, he was a lot more than that, because by then he had confessed to me that the whole reason he worked so hard hoping to impress my father, was that he hoped that he could stay near me… But I had to ask him something! I asked him, do you really wanna stay by a loud-mouth like me forever and ever? Especially because my mom was gone so often… I didn't want to put a lover or a child through that. So I had to be sure that he really wanted to stay for the long haul… But then I already knew as much, as he reminded me too, that of course a guy that was willing to wait two years and dedicate himself to juggling a farming and cooking career just to get close enough to confess his feelings to me, wasn't going anywhere… So we decided enough beatin' around the bush, and we got married the next year! And well, we don't have any little ones running around just yet, but, I'm sure we'll have one sooner than later!"
"Oh…" A very feminine pitched voice piped up, for the first time tonight. "How romantic! He waited so long and worked so hard for you! That's just wonderful, Miss Komari…"
Komari blinked and blushed, "Aah, Lisette! Thank you so much! And do tell us about yourself now! You're such a beautiful fairy-tale flower-princess, I bet your prince is a handsome and chivalrous fella for sure!"
The Flower Princess blushed as all eyes now focused on her. Wayne added in encouragement, ever the charmer, "Hey, yeah! You been awful quiet tonight, darlin'. Tell us all about your Prince Charming. I'm sure he's a real swell fella, even if he isn't really a prince!"
Lisette blushed and struggled to hold back a giggle, covering her smile with her hand politely. "Oh, well, thank you, Wayne… But truthfully, the man who came along and swept me off my feet… Just happened to actually be a prince!"
A few eyes went wide in shock at this as well. A few looked less than surprised, though. Looking down bashfully, Lisette went on to explain. "My husband's name is Cyril. He's a lesser prince who wasn't needed for ruling or other responsibilities, so he decided to become a farmer. I'm afraid his father was right to worry about him, though! At least, at first. He wasn't exactly a hard worker or a genius at farming. Honestly he was a bit silly and flighty. His produce was standard and not very plentiful, more for just his own use at home than marketing. He was awfully fond of letting days go by fishing too. He didn't really have any motivation until he met me… Then suddenly, it seems, he was struck by inspiration."
Growing nearby were a couple of precious calla lily plants, in full bloom. Approaching them, Lisette carefully stroked a petal, though she dared not pluck it from this sacred place. "Like your Michio, Cyril almost disappeared for over a whole year. He would only been seen in town once in a great while, to buy supplies and seeds. He bought a lot of flower seeds from me, so I saw him more than almost anyone else at that time. He told me he was working on something big, but that he wouldn't say until it was done. Well then, one fine Fall day, he came to me out of the blue and announced that his year-long toil was complete, and that he wanted me to be the first to see it. Excitedly I followed him to his farm, and when we arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes…"
Even now, those eyes filled up with happy tears as they had then. "He had PERFECTED the art of flower growing! Every single type of bloom that can be grown in these parts, he grew to absolute perfection. Every flower was bursting with color, and so unbelievably sweet and fragrant, I could still smell their perfume on me hours later! And the best part… Oh my goodness, the best part is, my sweet dashing prince, he had placed all the pink and red flowers in his field in a giant arrangement that read, 'I LOVE YOU LISETTE'!, inside of a giant multi-colored heart made of all the other flowers!"
Komari and the twins immediately burst out into coos of adoration for the grand gesture, and Kasumi had to cover her mouth to keep from making the undignified noise herself. After a short squeal of delight at the memory, Lisette went on, "He told me, that I was the princess he'd always dreamed he'd find someday. And of course, I'd been dreaming someone would do something so amazingly sweet for me ever since I was a little girl! I never thought an actual prince would be the one to do it, but that didn't matter to me anymore anyways. Cyril was first and foremost an honest and upstanding man, ready to work hard for something to believe in. He just needed someone to believe in him too… So we started a little life together, and we became well-known together. Him, for his gorgeous and fragrant flower fields, and me for arranging them into beautiful bouquets and making the sweetest perfumes from them. He also got at least a little better at growing fruits and vegetables too. He keeps a small garden right in front of the house that he takes very good care of. It's enough to keep us more than well fed. Leftovers go to our chickens, which my husband adores! Um… And I'm sure he'll adore our child too… Though I haven't even told him about it yet, because I just found out myself the other day!" She exclaimed bashfully, blushing and holding her stomach protectively.
The girls all gasped for her then, and the men-folk beamed proud smiles her way. Wayne tipped his hat, misty-eyed.
"Your husband will be ecstatic, trust me." Ludus informed her confidently. "…Probably should make sure he's sitting when he finds out though!"
All the men-folk also murmured in agreement at that, and the ladies rolled their eyes.
Ford cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "My congratulations to you, Miss Lisette. I'm sure the Ford you know will ensure a healthy birth for you when the time comes."
Lisette's blushed burned a darker pink at that. "O-Oh, thank you, Ford… Would you perhaps like to tell us about your lover now?"
It was now the doctor's turn to blush. "I... Suppose I could..."
Clearly though, he was hesitating. They all noticed it.
The first to finally speak up over his deafeningly stubborn silence was Siluka, who finally just said aloud what they were all either thinking or feeling, "Your Aura has gotten rather dark... Is your lover okay?"
His eyes went wide, and he looked down at the ground. His eyes welled up with water against his wishes. He quickly wiped them away with the back of his glove. "She's fine. We're fine. But..." He crossed his arms over his chest subconsciously, defending his heart already without thinking about it. "I'm afraid to say... Our story hasn't been entirely as happy as all of yours so far... You see, although I'm relieved to report that my wife, Kym, is now eight months along with a healthy baby girl, which we expect to deliver close to Kym's birthday in early Winter-time... Our first pregnancy, a son... Didn't make it to full term."
His words laid a heavy feeling over everyone's heart. Without waiting for anyone's words of pity, the doctor explained in a humorless huff, "It really makes no sense. Nothing can account for it. I'm a doctor, of course my wife was properly advised on her pregnancy from conception on! She did everything right, took all her vitamins, didn't over-work herself too much... It just wasn't meant to be..."
They allowed him a moment of silence. Wayne removed his hat and placed it over his heart. After finally returning it to his head, he finally spoke up. But he didn't provide the apology he knew this Ford was dreading. Instead he remarked with a sad smile and tears in his eyes, his voice choked up, "That little girl is gonna be the biggest joy of your life." The others who weren't too choked up immediately murmured in agreement.
"Definitely. Ohana is love, and ohana is life." Ludus joined in.
"For what it's worth..." Inari suddenly spoke up from where the three goddesses stood with their heads bowed, ashamed at having made this poor man relive such a horribly painful memory. Everyone around her went quiet to hear what the goddess finally had to say. "We're sending you all extra strong blessings right now. I guarantee the safe birth of all future progeny..."
Lisette breathed an audible sigh of relief. Komari and Kasumi both reached over and laid a hand on her shoulder in support. Even still though, Kasumi couldn't help glancing again at the stone doors, and this time the twins noticed her too, glancing at them themselves now. They hadn't noticed before, wrapped up in other's tales and their own, but now they saw it clear. There was an extra aura hiding behind each door...
But they chose to ignore it for now. Instead Iluka spoke up to the doctor, uncharacteristically rather kind for once. "I'm very sorry about your loss, Sir... But please, tell us about the good times, too. What made you fall in love with this Kym?"
The memories that accompanied this request, and the added relief of the extra blessings, finally put a genuine smile on the doctor's face. "Yes. I'll tell you. When I met her, I never in a million years would have guessed the beautiful young newcomer at the crossroads would ever turn her eye to me..."
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(( Ford and Kym are up next, after that will be Yuzuki and his lover Kimi, and Kasumi and Kenshin. And then, the mystery guests... ;D BTW hope you guys got a kick out of the special references. Yoh and Anna are characters from an anime, and Prince Cyril is a character from another Harvest Moon game. x3 Alright, hope you enjoyed and if you do please review~ ))
