Fall-16-xxx1
You know, it's a week from my birthday. If anyone who reads my diary is thinking of getting me something.
And it'll be a rainy day tommorow, but that's way less important.
OK, so a moment of schedule notes, since it's been a while.
Step 1: Water Crops. Today, there's nothing to harvest, but with the golden can, it goes by quickly.
Step 2 (Midmorning to Noon-ish):
Go to the mountain, talk to the people there.
Today, that means Kent.
"I feel like I lost something."
"Yeah, there's something a little gloomy to fall. The dying light, the chill..."
He looks a little dejected when I say that. Wrong form of sympathy, I guess.
"Well, don't worry. Summer'll be around again before you know it."
"Yeah, I hope so. The rain's taking my other day off tommorrow! At least summer's dry!"
Except for typhoons. But yeah.
And I collect some herbs for the Potion Master, while I'm in the area.
And I find Popuri in her favorite spot to break my neck with.
"...Yeah, I could see that. I mean, winter, you just start chanting 'it'll be spring soon,' but you can't say that in fall."
She nods.
"Yeah. My mom's loneliest in fall, too, so I can't even go home for a good feeling. In the winter, we've settled back down, and the snowflakes look like little white petals..."
A wistful sigh escapes her.
"Everything ties together in fall, because everything goes away at once."
That's...Not something I know how to relate to, exactly. My father's always the exact same level of overbearing and detached. Once something's gone for me, it's gone forever. But Popuri...She lives on a tide of green, the way a sailor's daughter lives with the oceans.
Still, when she looks wistful and sad like this...I'm reminded that while she's young, she's not a girl. She looks like a pretty woman, a poppy with a bowed head, full of the rattling of seeds like ideas.
It makes her, and her cheerfulness the rest of the time, heart-thumpingly beautiful.
"Well...I guess if things get lonely around you, it's up to you to hold together?" I offered. "I'm sure you can do it."
She beamed.
"That's right! I'm going to have to try harder for a while...But, you know, since you came...It's not as much work to be cheerful as it was last year <3."
I return to my schedule, and to today's formatting!
Step 3 (Noon-Ish): Go to Town!
Elli wouldn't be at the bakery today, so...Lunch at the library...
And meeting with Rick, why not? It's been a while.
"Is any season not a good season for thinking?"
"Well, now that you mention it...No, but!"
He raised a finger.
"The crisp air, the crisp leaves...The smell of smoke from somewhere other than the workshop... I just get inspired!"
"Then I'll have to stop by, see what you're working on."
He nods cheerfully.
"I think it's closed today, but you should also check out the shop next door; it's an odd little place, but I kind of admire Saibara."
"Why?"
"He only sells what he feels like making; I sell whatever I can, to make up for gaps between inventions...Ah, but I guess you should go see."
I nod; I guess I'll do that.
Step 4 (Early Afternoon): Visit the Ranch.
Nothing to report there today.
Step 5 (Mid-to-Late Afternoon): Take Care of Animals, Finish Chores.
Today, that last step is just a matter of tending to the animals. Oh, wait...
I also need to bring them in.
Clara's right by the entrance, so I get her in quickly, while I can
I forget when the animals eat, so I feed her, too.
Ditto the chickens. I may want to start thinking about how I'll manage winter feed.
I need to ring the bell for Lambo about 50 times, maybe. It drives me mad.
Zack comes to pick up the shipments midway, so that also means it's time to check funds.
Not bad! I've got enough to impregnate Clara if I wanted to, or to buy a chest of drawers or a rug or something from Rick...
On top of greenhouse money, of course.
Step 6 (Night): Decide a way to spend the evenings.
Since I can't work tommorow due to rain, I decide to till the soil a bit.
And that's my day in less than 7 steps!
Fall-17-xx1
Nothing like picking eggplants in the freezing rain...Well, you know, except for living tied to the belly of a wet yak.
On a day like today, I'm surprised I even bother getting out of bed. It's cold, it's wet, no one's wandering the mountain... It's just miserable.
To escape, I check out that shop Rick reccomended.
It's warm, anyway. I guess that's a kiln or something back there... Still, the atmosphere's kind of cramped and opressive. No one comes in here, I guess.
The old man gives me the eyeball. Or, to be more accurate, the eyebrow. They're pretty huge.
"Hello, Sir. I'm Fox."
"...Souvenirs?"
"I guess you could call them 'knicknacks.' Little sculptures, musical instruments... Little things."
"...Is there much market for souvenirs out here?"
He gives me another look. A sort of 'shut your mouth, fool boy' look.
"What does it matter? I don't make it for a market."
"...I see." I guess he's a starving-artist type...
Well, let's look at his stock.
"Then why is it...?"
"So I can figure it out!"
I guess I don't get artists.
"What do you think?"
"...I'll think about it. I don't like to rush when I shop."
He nods, because I guess that's an acceptable answer.
"Some of the festivals here involve music; you may want an ocarina then."
I nod and head off to the library.
May and Harris are there; May's got that grave look common to kids her age when they're thinking.
"What is it, May?"
"...I was thinking...About the kitties."
"I know I get cold when it rains. Why don't you go bring them in and snuggle up with them; that'll keep you both warm."
She gives me a big smile and nods.
Anyway, on with my day, ducking into the Green Ranch's store to get some water out of my boots... (How much water can they store? The answer is 'a lot.')
"Ann is sick in bed. And it's not because of overeating or anything."
Why would I think it was?
"She has a bad cold."
"Sure, I guess."
This seems to happen a lot out here.
Ann in something other than over-alls. What is this, I don't even.
"Why are you staring at my chest?"
No sense lying, with Ann.
"...I just don't think I've seen you in just a shirt before."
Her room has a warm look, but it's also kind of...You know, it's almost what I would have expected. Something about the color and atmosphere feels very cozy and a little beat-up. It's not an overtly girly room...
But there's a touch of something feminine. It's exactly Ann's room.
"So, why'd you come all the way out here in this weather?"
If I said yes, I think...Just from the way she's bracing herself up on her pillow... She'd go running out there in a heartbeat.
I laugh off the sudden rush of tender feelings that inspires in my head.
"No, nothing like that; don't worry. I came by because I wanted to see you...And when your dad said you were sick, I got a little worried. I mean, I couldn't even imagine you getting sick before now!"
She laughs, too; it gets interrupted by a cough midway, though. We wait for it to subside. Ann's face looks shy and apologetic, but I just give her a relaxed smile. It's dumb to apolgize for getting sick.
"It must be the work of my parents. Dad said Mom was healthy as a horse, too!"
"...Then how...?"
She looks aside.
"...An accident. Hey, though, don't go making sad faces! You're no better off!"
That's true I guess... I don't think of Ann as pitiful or unhappy. That's just...Antithetical to Ann.
"Whose face is sad, huh?"
If it's lonely sometimes, after something like that, well... Ann's the sort of person who'd yell at loneliness until it cowered in a corner. In that way...We're not very much alike.
It's admirable; I just sort of shoved it all back somewhere where I don't have to see it. Like putting a picture of your ex girlfriend in the back of your closet, instead of throwing it out or keeping it...
That sort of thinking makes me want to move around.
"You mind if I have a look around?"
"Well... I guess so. Just as long as you don't mess around too much."
She looks almost immediately like she regrets that choice.
Still, no take-backs! It's not like I'd really poke around her things.
she collected them from our beach, I guess. I look at it; it's just a little collection of shells, but some of these are very nice.
"I won't, I won't!"
"Good. H-hey...What's in here...You won't tell anyone, right? I mean, if there's something that seems private and..." She blushes and trails off.
"I won't tell, I promise."
She looks both ways, nervously.
"Don't you trust me?"
There's a moment of silence. A long moment, with Ann's warm, flustered face watching me. Her eyes are big and glowing in the firelight.
In that time, she doesn't say anything, and I pace the room a bit.
"...I trust you."
I turn my head.
"What?"
"I said I trust you, ok? You're..." She fumbles about for words.
"You're a special person. I mean, special like...Not special like 'special,' but special like...Like irreplacable, or something."
She flusters about.
"...You, too, Ann." Wasn't I just thinking that? Still, this only makes it harder for me to hold back. "You're..." What crazy words are about to spill out of my mouth? My nuetrality is threatened! How does Switzerland do this? "You're someone I only found here, and...Could never replace."
Nice save, mouth.
"Aww, that's cute. Where'd he get it?"
"The races. They're a prize for medals, and our family's got an eye for racehorses. It was a breeze earning enough!"
And on the table.
So I took up knitting as a hobby. On days like this...I knit."
I turn and look up at the thing hanging on the wall -- a throw blanket? What do you call a knit tapestry?
I point at it.
"Did you... Make that?"
"Yup. It was a lot of winter nights. I'm not completely undomestic."
I whistle.
"Clearly not. I don't think I could ever make anything like this. It's really cool, Ann."
She smiles and fidgets with the outer edge of her blanket.
"I could make you something, if you like... Like socks or...Something. A scarf..."
I nearly jump back, I'm so caught off-guard.
I get the impression that, even if she makes an offer like this a lot...This one means something. Unless I'm just projecting; it means something to me. I mean, something like that would be a lot of trouble... I don't think anyone's gone through that much effort for me before. Or even offered.
Still, if Ann's offering, then I'm sure she means it. It's easy for her to pull back without meaning it, but to press forward? That's that 100% sincerity she's good at.
"I'd really like that, Ann."
She smiles with a sudden new energy.
"Get moving then! I've got work to do!"
As I head out, she calls out,
After that, I do my chores and head out to the beach to fish. I don't have any luck, though; sometimes, I just can't manage the dang exact timing.
Well, my failure and I can go by another day.
Fall-18-xxx1
The best part of waking up is eggplants
in your cup on your plants. Gee, thank you, commercial life.
Anyway, harvesting makes it hard to water and still have time, so I'll have to come back for that this evening. This handily erases the part where I make decisions.
On the mountain, I find Elli and Maria, taking their days off from their respective closed places of business. They were having good days off, it seems.
In town, I go visit Rick, since it's been a while.
"How's the inventing business?"
He shakes his head.
"Well, it's all about perspiration, right?"
He nods.
"Still...I'd like my work to be the big draw of the shop. But it never turns out that way. And I have to sell just odds and ends."
"Like that wierd feather?"
"Wierd?"
I approach it and point it out.
"Oh, that blue feather...That's for if you have a girl you want to propose to; that's what a blue feather means around here."
"It's an
engagement feather?"
Who proposes with a feather?
Still, he nods.
"A feather like that...Is said to have come from the blue bird of happiness. That's why it's a proposal custom. Rings are flashier, huh?"
I nod. That sort of commitment...Is way beyond me. I can't even pick a girl to date!
Besides, what good is settling down? My life's going to be every-which way, sooner or later...
Bah.
I also stop by the potion shop, because why not?
"Did you actually put any of that stuff I gave you to use?"
He pauses for a moment and nods. He's giving me an odd look.
"...What?"
"When I saw you come in, I kind of thought I was dreaming of a bygone time."
"...We really look that much alike?"
He nods.
"The spitting image...More like him than your father, I think...Or maybe that's something that happened recently; I don't recall thinking it when we first met."
He admitted. It seemed like an odd thing to say...So I didn't really know how to reply.
I went home...
And went through all the bother of pushing the animals outside. One of these days, I'll just leave the chickens indoors or something...
But that does remind me...About feed.
I water my crops, and to pick a task...
"I guess I'll make some fodder."
I mean, the cows and sheep eat stuff that just looks like cut and dried grass.... Mine should do, right?
I get out my sickle...
And get to work. It's hard going; I didn't expect it to be this hard to organize all the grass as it falls... And then there's the matter of the animals moving about. But it's easier to save if they're eating, so...
A lot of the pasture will have to be outside the enclosure, one of these days. In the spring or summer, I'll re-plant...
But in the meanwhile, I'll just cut two, and Lambo and Clara can have the rest.
Yeah, this is...A lot of work. I'm feeling bad, so I'll head to bed, I think.
Re: 64 Times the Harvesting: Let's Play Harvest Moon 64
Originally Posted by Herpestidae
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