Chapter 6: Love-Dove moments and Magical Potent… (Tial)

Disclaimer: Still don't own Rune Factory… -_-'… I might start working for Natsume one day though…. one can dream ^O^

'No! Why Ray? WHY?'

"Hailey, could you hand me that thing over there?" Hailey nodded and reached over to a small table near the front of the store. The General Store had been renamed 'Lockett Shoppe' and now earned about 10000G on a bad week. Anyway, Hailey swiped a black stone from the table.

"An onyx? Where'd you find it?" she asked, with a hint of astonishment in her voice. Lavender shrugged, meaning 'the usual'. They heard a tinkling sound from outside. "Better boot. Brent's gonna hound me if I'm late one more time," she playfully scrunched her face to resemble his scowl, "Hailey! I will eat you because you were late! Rwlrwlrwl*!"

Lavender waved bye to her friend as she exited in a rush. Simultaneously, Adamo walked in, barely avoiding Hailey on her exit. "Slow down!" he cautioned. He averted his attention to Lavender, who had come off her stool and was smoothing out her 'work clothes'. "Good day M'lady," he said with a bow. Lavender curtseyed in return and joined in his fun.

He dug into his knap sack and produced a small green envelope. "From Mr. Alex at the Mayor's house." Lavender snatched up the letter, leaving a hundred gold in return as she usually did, "See ya soon M'lady!" And with that, Adamo scampered out the door, his letter pouch dragging behind him. If she had anymore mail it would be delivered to the mailbox at her farm, 'The Guna' which she was pretty sure meant 'The Goon' or something like that.

She opened up the letter and read aloud:

Dear Lavender:

Meet me at the entrance to the Beluum Hills A.S.A.P.

Alex

P.S. It has something to do with magic.

When she arrived, she found him perched on a long rock at the entrance. "Lavvy!" he cried cheerfully while childishly brushing stray orange hairs away from his big baby blue eyes. Lavender waved back shyly. "Anyway. Let's get down to business." Lavender nodded in anticipation. "Many may know I am a master of magic." How modest of him, Lavender mentally mocked him and pictured him in a dress… which wasn't too bad considering… "Lave. Lave? LAVE?"

"YES YOU'D LOOK GOOD IN A BLUE DRESS!" blushing shortly afterwards, Alex heaved a long sigh. Then he looked at her forgivingly.

"It's okay Lave. We'll do this another time." Lavender looked solemnly at her saddened friend, "In the meantime, I want you to use these." Alex handed her two green hardcover books entitled health and flee. "These are magic books. Using magic costs rune and if you run out of rune, then you start using health." Alex seemed to blush, "So- you be careful out there? Kay?" she didn't respond for a few moments but stared adoringly- or at least he thought. "Lave? LAVENDER!"

"PURPLE WOULD LOOK NICE TOO!" Alex sighed and bitterly muttered 'You're hopeless' under his breath. He looked around at the large jade sundial at the entrance. There was one at every entrance and near the ends too. "Oh, sorry Al, I gotta get back to the store!"

Alex sighed with partial relief, "Don't worry, we'll try again later," he waved at her with his long fair fox tails before stumbling ungracefully out of the entrance.

"There you go Cammy!" Ray said as the little girl jumped off the table, "Thanks for being a big girl while I got that cleaned up. Would you like a treat?" Cammy squeaked with delight, causing her large pink ponytails to jiggle with life, "Okay then! Have Rosalind make you some Hot Milk." Cammy sprinted contently up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Ray breathed a sigh of relief and snapped off the black band surrounding his wrist.

Almost instantly the skin discolored and turned a murky purple. His nails grew long and black, resembling a females', the purple traveled through the rest of his body till he was completely consumed. His eyes tingled as his blue irises took over the white. He opened them at the very end when a white light flashed out of them, completing the transformation.

"RAY!" he heard his name called, it was way too close for him to snap the brace back on. He let the voice near him because in this form he couldn't speak in English "RAY! COME MEET YAKUTA!" a yakuta was a form of clothing, why did Yue want him to meet clothing item? He walked unsteadily out to the main, relying on the counter for support as his feet had grown twice their normal size.

The man had shiny black hair and eyes of amethyst. He wore a long unbuttoned vest like thing over large, poofy pants that tied at the bottom. He bowed down low and murmured something that Ray could understand alone, Hello, but it was in demon tongue. He didn't smile but stood stone faced, making Ray feel uncomfortable. Yue noticed this and whispered something into one of his pierced ears. He immediately broke into a smile.

"Thank Rune!" he heaved a long sigh, "My name's Yakuta. I'm a traveling merchant," how surprising, "But my costumers are mostly of the magical aspect. I met a demon once… such bad tempers… such fine gold…" his eyes shone and his mouth quivered with want.

Ray tried smiling but another downside to this form, he didn't have a mouth. "Yaku-kun is going to take me to one of his more popular towns!" Ray was honestly happy for Yue but he couldn't show it in any way.

Yakuta looked at the sky. A raven flew overhead with a yellow cloth tied round its neck, "Yue-chan, we need to get going if we're going to get to the port on time." Yue pouted unhappily,

"Fine Yaku-kun, we'll leave real soon. Bye Ray!"

Boy was that man in for a lot.

Lavender tilled at the fields in the back of her home, taking extra care on her favorite crops, the strawberries. As for the spinach, she couldn't care less, but Torin insisted on giving her cheaper prices if she traded them with him though… what kind of saleswoman would she be if she gave up that opportunity? She only needed to harvest this bunch for little Cobi's request. Apparently Tristan had a love of them.

Just a few more... tug, tug, oh dear- she fell flat on her bum as she tugged once more with all her might. Owie… she was going to rub it to sooth the ache if it wasn't for the sadistic chuckle that followed. She turned towards the laugh with her face burning and saw it was Brent. What the rune was he doing there? Normal guys would've offered to help her up if they were in his position, but since he was Brent, he just stood and chuckled.

He gradually walked over to her hoe which was protruding erect from the ground. "Where'd you find this piece of work?" he asked, running dark nails over it. "Practically useless in the state it's in." he looked as if he were weighing something. Was this how he treated every thing he worked on? he looked at it intensely, swinging it here and there and eventually sticking it back into the ground where it'd come from. "Get me some bronze and iron and I'll fix it up for you." Was… Brent… being… nice?

He'd apparently seen her wondering gaze and his typical glare returned to his pale face, "This changes nothing." What was there to change? "Get it to me soon or else I'll change my mind." there was a long silence as Lavender struggled to regain her footing. She had both items in her rucksack and just needed to bring them out to finish his request. Momentarily she'd produced both items and held them happily for him. He looked surprised; a strange look compared to the uge and took both items.

"It's an easy fix; shouldn't even take half a days work…," he picked the hoe up without any effort and slung it over his shoulder. "By the way…" he added so casually that Lavender had to do a double take to make sure he was talking to her, "Have you seen Hailey?"

The question was answered by a startled, "ORCSSHIT IT'S BRENT!" followed by a wondering, "Why isn't he at work?" Brent's dark pointed eyebrows twitched with annoyance and he yelled in an almost playful voice,

"Hailey, get your butt back to work right now!" but of course, he's Brent and he can't be playful. He walked away without saying so much as bye. He only left one thing, and that was the question that plagued Lavender's mind. How am I supposed to till without a hoe?

ILIL

Ava's Grandmother smiled at Lavender with her archaic eyes crunching at the sides. She leaned in on the counter and smiled cheekily, "So Lavely," one of the many nicknames she'd been dubbed with, "Have you thought of a husband yet?" Lavender didn't hear the question and asked for a repetition. "There're many nice men in this town Lavely. You need to pick one of them."

Need? No. Lavender hadn't even thought of it yet. There was so much she hadn't done! The old woman probably wouldn't hear any of it, so she shrugged bashfully, "Not completely… there're so many choices… they're all so nice…" Ava's grandmother cocked an eyebrow, suspecting she wasn't being completely truthful with her. She was about to say something more if it wasn't for the tinkling of a bell.

"GRANDMA!" Ava barged in with her face and hair wetter than a spring pond. She sat on a large bench and crossed her arms in annoyance, "Look at what he did!" by 'he' she meant who exactly?

That question was answered when a tanned boy with golden eyes came rushing in with another concoction "don't worry M'dear! This'll have you all dried up in no time at all!" he didn't see a sphere roll out into his path until it was too late. The veil went flying with the cover off. "orcsshit." he cursed bitterly under his breath as it came down on Ava's black curls with a purple smoke cloud and a loud thump. "Um… Dearest, I think I'll be outside… somewhere… Tenetsu is calling!" with that he dashed off, leaving behind a set of satin gloves.

Ava gasped and coughed, waving away the foul smelling cloud, "What the Grimiore did he do to me this time?" she honestly wouldn't like to know. Her usually obsidian colored hair was now a pleasant indigo, Ava's most hated color. "I hate him! I HATE him! I HATE HIM!" she repeated this several times as she gazed into Lavender's display mirror. She fingered at it as if were infected, shuddering in fright. The tears were evident in her emerald eyes, she loved her hair more than anything and now this had to happen. "I'll KILL Jason the next time he tries anything like that on Me." she went back to her pouting.

The tortured bell rung one more time. In walked Torin with a piece of parchment in his arms. He held it close to him and looked at Lavender queerly, as if she were a thief trying to take it. He took one look at Ava and his eyes glittered like a prize diamond, "Ava! Your hair has given me a new idea! Thank you for your individuality!" he shook his head and turned his attention back to Lavender just quick enough to not notice Ava's face become as red as a strawberry. "Lavely! Look what I got!" he stopped and motioned for her to come closer, "its top secret… you'd better not show anyone..." he looked around again and slowly slid the paper across the counter.

It was a picture of a boy with girly purple hair. His sapphire eyes looked sleepy but intelligent. "What's this for?"

Torin smacked his palm on his face, "Since you can't remember anything, I got this picture for you! It took all last week, but I finally got enough information to draw him, then even more to paint it in!" he had the joy of a young child. "His name's Ray. He's supposed to be your brother!" Lavender was overjoyed, but there was still a part of her that took hold and told her not believe all of it. Torin saw her pained expression and his face dropped to match it. He began putting it away, "I'm not completely sure but…"

Lavender's hand jotted out and stopped his in its tracks, "Please?" he let go, "thank you." She looked up and smiled brightly. His face followed suit and bended into a coy grin. He skipped out of the store happily and didn't look back.

Ray hadn't had any trouble sleeping since the Max incident. It was strange, but that goat man had calmed him down completely… He laid his head on a swan feather stuffed pillow at the end of the day, looking idly up to nowhere. Orchis… Orchis… Come Orchis… he obliged and fell asleep straight away.

"Orchis! It seems you inherited your mothers demon side!" the goat man was either really good at hiding his annoyance or was genuinely happy. "It does get boring in here…" Ray was a bit shocked; he thought he'd wanted to train him or something.

"Why did you say Alvarna was in danger?" He still didn't get it. Aside from the Max attack and the Cloud incident there was nothing out of the ordinary. The mood suddenly tensed and the room turned darker than midnight before his eyes. Like blood in water it spread feverishly. "Where am I?" he heard a cracking noise as a flaming red Dragon came into view and it took all Ray had not to hide behind a stone. It staggered and limped, falling on a wall of the darkness. Its bloodshot eyes closed in an attempt at sleeping.

"That's your enemy Orchis," Ray was steadily warming up to the idea of fighting a pathetic, old, Grimiore such as this one. Even he could win against it! "Do not be fooled by his exterior. You are not to defeat him, Alicia is." Alicia was DEAD. How many times did he need to go over it to Goat Man? It was plain as day. Plainer even! "Your duty is to defend Alvarna against him." Of course, give him the hard one. The GM must have been amused by Ray's objections because his mirthful laughter echoed in Ray's ears. "Do not kid with me. His name is Tenetsu. He wishes to be freed of his prison on this world and the only way to do so is to be defeated." then lose. There were too many easy fix problems, "My punishment is to remain in this realm till that is accomplished." the scenery changed once more. The calmed skies contrasted dancing blades of green beneath them.

"Where are we?" Ray saw many monsters running freely in uncharacteristic ways. Silver wolves were playing tag with orcs; wooly's were getting their fur conditioned by faeries and more. "Is this," it struck him like a bullet, "The First Forest?" GM nodded with youthfulness practically pouring off him. He looked around, walking towards the monsters and being surprised when they didn't try to attack him.

"Orchis, they won't attack you here. It's mutual territory. None of them are scared." sounded like something he'd heard Cecilia say once, "Monsters only attack when they feel threatened or infringed." That sounded more like a 'Kyle' thing. GM's smile faded as they heard a warping sound. "Here is the reason I brought you here." A black hole ripped into the middle of the field, drawing many of the monsters into its depths. "Tenetsu is losing control of his powers. There will be demons that will come and stop anyone who will alert Alicia," WHO WAS DEAD, "so she won't help him stop it."

This was wrong. This was horrible! This was why he needed Ray.

"Earthmate magic will only do so much damage against actual magical creatures." the scenery faded back to real life, "By the way; I'd make sure you have extra feed."

Chappie 6

Chapter Six peoples! I'm seriously starting to doubt if anyone actually reads all of this, it was tedious for me to read over…. and I'm the one who wrote it!

*this is property of the 'I am Murloc' song from YouTube. I AM MURLOC!

Kay Guys, so you know where Lavender/Alicia (whatever you've been calling her) is with the villagers so far, here's a little thingy!

Brent: 3 LP, 2 FP

Alex: 2 LP, 3 FP

Torin: 4 LP, 4 FP

Hailey: 4 FP, 3 BFP *best friend points*

Ava: 4 FP, 3 BFP

Grandma: 3 FP

Adamo: 3 FP

Next one in: Two chapters. The fave character thing will be next chappie XD (there was absolutely no point in that…)

Also, Torin is gonna be hitched to Nadia in six more chappies. If you want to save him, you will have to vote 'no'. If you don't know who Torin is see this chapter and chapters 4 and 5 (mostly five because four is a bit tedious)