Welcome to Gaia! ::

Laureth sat on the stool behind the counter, strumming through a magazine on farming subculture. Her previous energy had sunk into heavy boredom, as she had been sitting there for over an hour without a single customer.

She sighed and looked at the clock. "Maybe it's just a slow day," she thought aloud. She clenched her fists in determination. "It's okay, I won't let it get me down!" she coached. Her stomach growled loudly. She laughed sheepishly to herself. "But maybe I should take a lunch break, first."

Humming to herself, Laureth headed for the backroom, just as the front doorknob turned. She barely had enough time to get to the kitchen when she heard someone call.

"Helloooooooooooo? Is anybody here?"

"A customer!" Laureth gasped happily. She charged back to the door, paused to fluff her clothes and hair and compose herself, and then put on her biggest smile as she opened the door to the front room again.

"Anybody at--ACK!"
"Yes, hello, wel--AH!"

The two stared at each other, speechless.

"Lau...Laureth..." the newcomer said.

Laureth stared at her for another moment, and then a gigantic grin curled on her lips, and she charged toward the customer, arms spread in a glomping postion. "JILL-CHAN!!!!" she cried as she hugged the girl. "It's been so long! I haven't seen you in ages, cousin! How are you?" Laureth beamed happily at her.

Jill sighed and straightened herself, her hair dissheveled from the power glomp. "I'm fine, Laureth-chan..." she said, exhaling again. "But what're you doing here? I thought you were living with Uncle Parsley and Aunt Lyla over in Flowerbud?"

Laureth frowned huffily. "I was, but then I decided I wanted to make it on my own, so I moved out here to start my own shop. Daddy didn't want me to go," she added sadly. She brightened. "But, when I tell them you're here, maybe he'll feel more at ease!" She giggled.

Jill sighed. "Maybe..."

(That's all for now; Gaia's acting up for me, probably because of the Halloween event, so I'll do more later. 3nodding )

"After I'm done with my house, which shouldn't take much, I'll stop buy and help you get the barn back up and make you some fences, how's that?" he said with a calming, gentle smile.

As she came up and touched his arm, he blushed a bit, though he still smiled as he watched her, placing a hand under her chin and lifting her up so he could look into her eyes for a moment. "Y'know, you're very cute when you blush," he said with a smile, his own face still red.

=== Meanwhile...

Sean sat there, munching on another one of the colored grasses he had found when on his way home. Thanks to several of them, he was feeling pretty good. "Why wait 'til tommorrow," he told himself, and began running off towards the mine. On the way, he saw that there had indeed been people moving in, but he decided that he'd go and meet up with all of them later.

Once at the entrance, Sean found that it was covered by rocks, and he sighed. "Hm..." he groaned, and readied his hammer. He began to swing and smash rocks, and after a little while and a lot of effort, he opened up a path for him to get in. The interior was very stable, he found, and he was glad about this. He found what looked like a second shaft and climbed down...

Loche blushed a darker shade of red, free hand scratching the back of his sheepishly. "Thanks..." he managed to get out after a moment, and he smiled at her. "I've got everything I need for now, though I'd love to hang out sometime."
"And if you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to ask," he told her as he waved in return, standing there for a moment, mind lost in a flurry of thoughts.



==== Meanwhile, again.

Sean sat down on a rock, chewing on a rice ball. Nine floors, and he had a healthy supply of copper, silver, gold, and even some mystrile. He had already found the ladder leading down one more level, but he was taking a break. "Hm..." He thought again about what Jill had said. Evil chickens? he thought, and laughed again. After finishing his snack, he climbed down. The floor was the same as the others, dark and damp. But, this time, there were a pair of small, red eyes watching him in the shadows. "W... what the hell?"

Loche sat down on the stump of a tree he had cut down, trying to sort out his thoughts. He was too distracted by them to work properly. "... Maybe I should walk along the beach..." he said to himself as he stood up. He walked along the path on the way to the beach, passing by the farm Robin was at, but not realising it at the time. In a few minutes, he stepped onto the beach, looking out over the still water on the lake and taking a deep breath.

"You just like her," a voice in his head told him. "It's only natural that you'd end up liking someone..."

"But, what if she doesn't like me the same way?" he thought, "What if I say I like her and it comes out wrong?"

"You saw the way she looked at you! She likes you too!" the voice told him. "Just tell her how you feel, you can't go wrong like that."

"But, I just met her..." The thoughts went on and on, as he stared out almost blankly over the water.

"... Okay. Next time I see her, I'll tell her," Loche thought to himself, smiling confidently and taking a breath. He turned, thinking he would be able to tell her tommorrow, maybe ask her to go for a walk with him, but he stopped. He saw her, and his face went cherry-red. Everything he had been preparing himself for up to this moment collapsed on him. "Ah..."

"Keep your cool! It's just a bit sooner than you thought," the little voice told him, and he took a breath.

"Robin!" he called out with a wave, smiling, though his face was still red. He walked up to her, taking another breath. "I wanna tell you something..." he said shyly, taking a deep breath and looking at her. "I... Well... I like you!" he burst out, going silent afterwards, looking down at her feet.

Loche breathed a sigh of relief, smiling but blushing as she kissed him. "I'm so glad to hear that!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her gently and nuzzling against the hand. "I was kinda worried... That it'd be too soon..." he admitted, the redness in his face not fading.

He smiled, fingertips stroking along her back. Time stood still for him, the moment felt like it would last an eternity. He smiled again as she kissed him, and he kissed her back, placing a hand on her head and running his fingertips through her hair gently.

OOC: Yeah. ^_^
I'm gonna swap back to Sean and have him fight with the evil chick. Dx