Title: Alvarna Rhapsody
Author: abernaith
Summary: All of the Alvarnians knew that newcomer Kyle was going to change their lives. They just didn't expect how much change he was going to bring to everyone, especially to the seemingly closed hearts of four young men.
Warnings: This chapter is actually a mild T, or even a K+. Later chapters, however, will contain light M. Since I'm playing it safe with the ratings, the series will have a general M rating.
Further Notes: I enjoy playing the Rune Factory games in my DS, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that RF2's characters are much more fleshed out in many ways that RF's characters are not. The idea for this fic came to me gradually as I followed the drama of the villagers. It was a supreme delight working with these characters for myself.
Disclaimer: This work of fanfiction is only for fun and gains absolutely no profit. All characters, environs, and objects used and referred to freely in this fic are properly owned by Neverland Co., et al.

ALVARNA RHAPSODY
A Rune Factory 2 Fantasy!pr0n Production

THE FIRST MOVEMENT: Gossip

That night, the girls of Alvarna congregated in their respective bases. Alicia, Mana, and Cecilia gathered at Mana's room. Dorothy, Julia, and Rosalind met at Dorothy's room. Neither group knew that what they were about to reveal to each other was really all about their favorite innocent farm boy…

The glow of the lamp warmed the huge stones of the church's back rooms. These rooms were once used for storage, way before Gordon came to the town as a priest with his two little girls in tow. Julia decided that the ambience was perfect for her tale, and so she began…

It was about that time in the afternoon when Julia was supposed to take her quick break. She was supposed to nip off to the Parts store, but then she had forgotten something. (Not even in the privacy of Dorothy's room would Julia admit to her girl friends, however, that she had neglected to put on fresh lipstick before stepping out the door that afternoon.)

Julia had rushed back into the bathhouse when, to her surprise, she heard noises in the men's bath area. There were only two possible customers at that particular time: Jake, being the most likely. Julia knew he liked to be left alone when bathing, and so arranged his bath at the time when Julia leaves the building for her break. Julia wasn't offended by that, really, as she preferred to leave Jake alone.

As for the second person, however, Julia suspected that he was none other than her favorite person in Alvarna—Kyle! The noises she heard were indeed very strange and her ears turned bright red. She had wanted to investigate their origins and determine the people who were making these noises. But then, in the end, she got too flustered and embarrassed. At that point, she decided to escape to the Parts store before things got out of hand (i.e. before she fainted).

The three girls sigh deeply at the end of the tale. It was certainly unexpected. The whole thing sounded so unbelievable, but Julia was never one to make up stories. That was more Rosalind's specialty, after all. After a moment spent individually contemplating Julia's story, the girls decided to hear what Dorothy has to say.

Dorothy also had a similarly odd experience of hearing strange noises. This time though, it was in Trieste Forest. She hadn't gone there since the last time Barrett took her there on a festival, purportedly because she was the quietest girl in the village and he would not have to speak to her. (Although, Dorothy suspected he had really taken her out on a date.)

Dorothy recalled hearing moans and sighs. At first, she had wanted to rush to the source of these sounds, thinking it was someone terribly injured that they could not even call for help. But then, her keen ears picked up not one but two distinct voices in the forest. And after a while, she heard quite acutely that both voices were moaning and groaning. It took maybe just a couple or so loud heartbeats in Dorothy's ears before the first of the screams pierced the silence of the forest. It wasn't someone screaming in pain, no. It was the kind of scream when someone has failed to hold back the onslaught of ecstasy…

A supremely flustered Dorothy all but collapsed onto her bed, exhausted and hyperventilating. It proved too much for her, remembering that ordeal…

While Julia and Rosalind saw to their friend's health, the other group was gathering around Mana's bed to share their own stories. Mana and Alicia hugged pillows and sat rapt in attention as Cecilia began her tale…

Cecilia was going about her tasks around the mansion's kitchen when she thought she heard a loud thump like a heavy weight falling onto the floorboards right above her. Thinking that Max had gone into another of his 'secret' hissy fits when he can't find his favorite musical composition, she had gone up to his room to inquire discreetly of his condition. She had only taken a few steps toward his door when she noticed it was ajar.

She could pick up two voices from within the room with her sharp, elven hearing. She recognized one easily as that belonging to Max, but the other one was oddly muffled, and she could only make out that it was definitely a male voice. Cecilia wondered if Max's father, Herman, was in there and possibly choking on a bone. But then Max's voice rang clear, saying, "If I had known that you'd be such a pretty sight like this, I'd have kept this scarf when you first offered it to me." Cecilia was so puzzled by what she heard that she barely stepped away in time before the door opened just a little wider to let Max slip out of his room.

Half the buttons of Max's shirt were unbuttoned, he had a satisfied glow about him, and he was wearing a bright RED SCARF.

At this, Mana couldn't help but gasp. Hadn't she knitted a RED SCARF for her favorite farm boy not so long ago? Before Mana could work herself into a fit, Alicia deftly caught the others' attention with her words.

The day began auspiciously, as all days were auspicious to a fortune-teller, at least until proven otherwise. It was also predictable of Alicia that her tale would start on an iffy note. Reluctantly, she admitted that she was spying on her favorite farm boy's whereabouts via her psychic abilities.

Alicia was immensely pleased when her location spell had pinpointed Kyle's whereabouts. He was often running around Alvarna on errands or adventures and sailing every day to Blessia Island so much so that it was futile to keep track of him. According to the spell, however, Kyle was currently on Blessia Island. Alicia knew that Yue sometimes set up shop there, and it was always a pain when that happens, because she is another rival for Kyle's heart. But then, Alicia remembered doing a location spell earlier on the merchant and found her in Messhina Valley entrance, as far away as possible from her favorite farm boy.

She was thinking of making even better fortune for herself by letting Kyle run an errand for her. She would have him collect some GREEN GRASS for her dear brother, Ray, who was currently working on a personal project to record the flora in Alvarna and its surrounding environs and list all their medicinal properties. She knew that GREEN GRASS only grew in summer, and Blessia Island was the perfect place to find it. Since that island was filled with monsters that her little brother—wuss that he is—would definitely avoid at all costs, it made sense to let Kyle do the work for him. Alicia thought it was a perfect plan. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone, getting Kyle to come to her, and then helping her brother out as a bargain. All that Alicia had to do now was convince Ray to have Kyle fetch GREEN GRASS for him.

She went hurriedly to her mom's clinic to talk to her little brother, but then found the reception foyer empty. Her mother promptly told her that Ray was already out with Kyle--ostensibly to collect the very GREEN GRASS that was central to Alicia's plot. This made Alicia furious, of course, and she sought out her brother with a location spell. Indeed, he was in Blessia Island with Kyle!

Alicia spent the rest of the day fuming at the port, and her foul mood deterred customers from approaching her all day. It was close to 6 PM when Alicia finally spotted the boat making its way to port from Blessia Island. Kyle and Ray hopped out of the boat and made their way up to the town. They would have passed Alicia by without even a greeting if she hadn't called out to Ray in her sweetest, acid-laced voice.

She saw that the two boys were grimy. They both had grass stains on their hands, elbows, knees, and bums. They both looked flushed, exhausted perhaps from wasting a perfectly good day for romance on fighting monsters and picking weeds. She inquired politely to Kyle if they were successful in acquiring some GREEN GRASS. Ray was immediately suspicious of his sister's words and asked, quite harshly, how she knew about that. But then Kyle distracted both siblings with his cry of panic. It turned out that they had forgotten to pack the GREEN GRASS. When Alicia asked why they'd forget such a thing, Kyle and Ray just gave each other this LOOK and then they shared a private laugh. Alicia had this very strange feeling of being a third wheel then and there. She wisely shut up and let the two boys make their way up the town together, their arms brushing companionably.

The girls of Alvarna collectively hugged their pillows tighter against their heaving bosoms. Of all the tales that they have heard (and they have heard a fair share already), these stories are by far the wildest and most terrifying. Unbeknownst to one another, each girl expelled a secret sigh into her pillow, mouthing the name of their favorite, perhaps not so innocent, farm boy.

-%-