Chapter 35: Mine, all Mine!
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Winter-7-XXX1

More snow. Joy. Nothing good happens in snow.

When I step out, though...

Karen? I feel a bit of nerves, after everything that happened. The best thing about my usual approach is that no one's really invested enough to be hurt.


"The wine from this year's newly-improved grapes!"
She smiled brightly. It seems like there's no hard feelings.
"That's great!"

"But this is the first wine of the year. And...You did enough that I feel like you earned it. Try some."


All my hard work...Paying off. I'm so happy.
Also, this is really good wine. Compared to what I've usually had from this vineyard... This stuff is amazing.


"From before. This might even become as good as Grandma's wine. And so...I wanted to thank you.
Oh, and feel free to take some from the barells in the storage; you're a friend of the family, so it's OK!"
"Free wine, you say? Thanks, Karen!"



And with that, we're off.
Well, after I tend to the animals. Clara's getting restless.



Oooh, that sounds like something to check out!

I run up there, since I have nothing better to do.

...Except it's not open right now.
Very sad.

I find Kent and Stu wandering around on my way back down.

"And she always smells like flowers <3"
"So, do you like flowers, or do you like Popuri?" I joke. He's way too young, but... On the whole, sometimes it's cute to watch a kid crush on someone. They're just so innocent about it.
"W-well...I think she's an amazing big sister." He smiles with bright innocence. I guess I misread that one... I guess in a small town like this, it's really easy for people to feel like family.


"In the mountains! But I don't want to bring her out here in the snow..."
"Besides, there's nothing to chase."
He nods and agrees.

I head into town and hang around Saibara's shop. The kiln makes it warm.
"You don't make a lot of things, do you? Is this shop doing OK?"

"It's winter; you'll learn how to get by here, too, farmer-boy."
He says. I'm not worried. I'm getting a greenhouse.



Anyway, I've got fishing. I'll always have fishing, I guess.

Even if I don't really catch mutch.

Winter-8-xxx1

In the midle of the night, something wakes me up. The whole house is shaking, Link shivering in the corner with fear. Sitting up in my bed, I move a little off-sync with it. My teeth rattle.
And then is stops, and I blame it on bad fish and go back to bed.

When I wake up, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. The snow is falling gently outside...

And the carpenters are waiting for me.

"You mean it's done?"
They nod.

Behind them are the frosted walls of my own personal greenhouse.


On the outside, it's pretty unassuming...
But inside, it's warm and slightly damp, and pretty expansive.


It has a water pump and a shipping bin, so it's got everything that I need!


It's about 16 x 16 squares across, give or take. There's a lot of space for plants, particularly ones that can only be harvested once, since I don't need to be able to reach them all at once.
Of course, you could keep corn or tomatoes or eggplants in here forever, I bet...

Oh, but...
It's Sunday. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Since I can't go and get new seeds for my new greenhouse (I am cackling with pride when I think of it), I guess I'll see about that mine.

"Once you go in, you can't come out until 5:00 or until you run out of energy. But you might find some buried treasure!"
I like treasure.


"I've got my hoe."
It's hoe time!



"Are they good medicine?"

"...But you can only get them in this mine."
"I'll keep my eye out."

I start digging around for a bit...

And even get my first treasure! It's not worth a lot, a coin... Just a measly 10G. I probably won't ever mention them again.

But the iron's probably worth a little something, right?

After digging a bit more, scraping the earth aside layer by layer, turning it over and looking for a glimmer...

I find a way deeper down.

One of the carpenter twins is there, too.

"Hit pay-dirt here, it makes a big difference!"
"Good luck."

I wonder how much pay-dirt-y Iron Ore is, on a scale of Pay to Dirt.


However much, this is probably way more pay than dirt! It's so shiny!


And this is very, very shiny!


And maybe I can give this to the old potion-maker. I bet he'd like that, and maybe I could get nice medicine from it.


With this, I don't have any room for more iron ore...Or, actually, any. Let me estimate here.



...Yeah, I'm guessing I'm better off without iron ore. Or, at least, with me carrying it in a less certain position.

When 5-o clock comes around, I decide to head on home and ship...Most of it. I have a good feeling about the blue stone, and I've already decided to keep the pontana root for a gift...But I bet when these get sent off, there'll be a pretty penny in it for me.

I'm worn-out from working all day in the cold, and the bar's closed anyway...I curl up into bed.

Winter-9-XXX1


I put my crystal up in my cabinet; one does not need to refrigerate a rock, after all!
I'm hoping to find the potion-maker in his store before hitting the mine.

Or so I think...But I see Kent, first.



"Wasn't that in fall?"
"That was the harvest festival!"
In most places, those would be the same thing...

Cakes? What?
...Are people thanking me?
What for?
He sees the confusion.

"Not really, no."

Oooohh...So it's *that* sort of thanks.
Well, I bet I'll be getting a nice one...I can't decide if I'm dissapointed or relieved to have cleared the air before getting hit with cake from all sides.

He shakes his head, probably thinking adults are great fools.


I get off Agro immediately...I know that voice.
It's Elli, smiling softly.

"Hey, beautiful."
She laughs and blushes, a bit surprised. I guess even after a confession like that, she's didn't expect forthrightness.
Well, I meant it. I won't take it back.
She kisses me on the cheek, tenatively.
"Have you been finding things to do in the winter?"
She turns and notices the greenhouse.
"Oh, wow. I see you have."
"It's empty right now. What's up?"
"I came here to buy some eggs from you, actually. It's the..."

"It's a high-demand event, so I'm making lots..."

"If I wait for our usual shipment, we won't have enough."
"Well, you're welcome to them. No need to pay."
She shakes her head fiercely.
"I'm buying them as a business, not as...your girlfriend." Her tone when she said that could have melted the snow. "It's only fair. I'll need six eggs."

I run the math.
"Normally, that'd be about 300G."

"Probably gather them up myself... Unless maybe you'd like to come with me? And show me around the coop?"
"But of course."

We walk out through the snow towards the
"I never really looked around here... It's a really pretty place, now that you've tidied it up... It must have been a lot of work."
"Well, the freeze did the weeding for me, at least. But...Yeah. This is probably the hardest work I've done on anything."
"Yeah... Are you going to stay here, Fox?"
I consider it; it's not like I know what the future will hold. My dad could decide it's not good enough, everything I've been doing.
But if I got my way?

Elli's looks out over my fields, frost cracking under her feet. The white snow, her white apron. The blue sky, her blue dress. The world seems to conform around her, only her little brown head bobbing through the cold air knowing the difference. She smiles at me, and the whole world could just melt.
I'm not sure this world is one I could leave.

Darnit, Goddess...you were right.

"...I'd like to stay."
"Good. I don't think I'd like to move."
...
...
I grip her hand, and we head into the coop.

We look over the chickens and we collect the eggs. As we do, we talk. Just idol conversation, nothing special. We walk back, her arms laden with eggs.
"I've been thinking of a lot of recipes; this is my favorite holiday, really. For once, everyone's thinking the way I think...That food can express feelings, too. That love can live in taste, and spread through the whole awareness of your mouth..." She sighs dreamily. "I've got a lot of new ideas this year."
She adds.

"I can't wait to try some."


A pleasant way to start the day, I think.
I tend the animals and head to the greenhouse. With the store open, I'd like...to do a little bit of prepwork.


I clear two patches up against the wall; a slim start, and I can only plant single-growth crops there...But there's bound to be something.

I head over to the potion shop to drop off the pontana root there.
"Here you go."

"You said you wanted one, right? I don't know what to do with it."
"Thank you very much; you've made an old man very happy, kid."
I smile merrily.


As I walk by the bakery... I feel like it's shaking with energy flowing through it. I think I hear a determined mixer going... She probably wants space.


Ooohhh...That pink one's new.


New and expensive! But it's a rare plant, so it's bound to be worth money. I'll take it for my two squares.




"...Like what?"
"That's the thing. There's nothing to *do* here in winter!"
She sighs and lets her head fall into her hands.


OH GOD.
WHY.
WHY ARE YOU HERE? HAVE YOU COME TO ABDUCT ME?

...I don't have anything with me, thank goodness. Otherwise, he may have mugged me for it.


Nightmare monsters aside, I decide to head to the mine.



Another request...
"I'll keep my eye out for it."
Rick's my buddy, after all.


That's a good omen. Lucky!

I have quite a streak with the iron ore for a while.

Culminating in something a bit nicer.


Absolutely.

This one's...probably just for me.

Niiice.


Oooh, there's a third level? This, I need to see.


...Wait. Rick was above me. Now he's with me. But he didn't cross through the middle...
How?
Has he finally built a teleporter?


I will go all the way down!

But in the end...

4th-floor loot wasn't much better. I need to make it down there with more time, next time.


But tommorow is for cake...

But today's not for bad loot. Looking at my money...Last time must have come to about 4000. I've got 3000 more than I started the day with, and I spent 1000.

I head home, ship the lot...

And plant my new strawberries.

But with them planted and watered...I'm really just too tired to go out again. I flop into bed, and dream of cake.


Ok, so we've got some things to talk about!

#1: What we load up our greenhouse with. You don't need to do a specific pattern or order if you don't want to, but I have some specifications if you do. Otherwise, you can just pass me general notes.
It's essentially a 16 x 16 grid. With our gold watering can, we only need to be able to access one side of a 3x3 square to water a whole section. Of course, harvesting is another matter. For singe-harvests (turnips, potatoes, cabbage, and strawberries which can only be bought in winter), that still works fine, since we'll be able to access new plants as we harvest the old ones. For multi-harvests (corn, tomatoes, eggplants), the max we can do is a "Fat U" shape, with all sides accessable ...Of course, we don't have to do 3x3s, or even fat U shapes for the re-harvestables. We could also do 2-wide lines easily, for example.
We may not have the stamina to do the whole greenhouse at once, at least not now.
We can change the load-up as often as you guys like, and try different stuff.


#2! What should we name Clara's baby? By our current cow-naming scheme, Jules or Verne would be the obvious ones, but there's no reason for that to hold dominance.

#3! How often should I hit up the mine? If need be, I can save-state my way to getting everything we need done in a single trip. (Please provide an alternative time-passer if you want less mine-time.)

#4! What should we do with our remaining funds, once the greenhouse is stocked?