Mirroring the Endless Night | Elliott x Female Farmer |

12. Autumn Follies

She then spread the tarp out, making sure it covered the exposed area before hammering it in. It wasn't the best job, she was by no means a builder in any way, but it would have to do for now.

Climbing back down the ladder, she stored it away in the shed once more before rolling up her sleeves and turning to face the field. It was grueling work, clearing all the land she'd spent so much time prepping the day before, chopping up the fallen trees, and pulling up the invading weeds.

Two hours passed before she was finally done, she was drenched in sweat and the sun had begun it's journey across the sky. 'At this rate I'm never going to get everything done,' she grumbled to herself as she glanced over at the coop, 'I haven't even checked on my girls yet.'

Trudging up the steps of her porch, she kicked off her muddy boots and wiped her brow with the back of her hand before stumbling into the house. She was greeted by cooling air conditioning and happily accepted it, and was also met by a meowing Orion pacing across the floor to brush against her legs.

"Hi, bud," she said with a smile, patting the top of his head before she made her way towards her bedroom.

'I gotta switch shirts,' she thought to herself as she turned the doorknob, 'no way in Hell I can keep this thing on for the rest of today-'

Her train of thought stopped as she pushed the door open and was met by a rather interesting sight.

Elliott stood shirtless in the doorway of her bathroom, dressed only in his trousers as he towel-dried his long, auburn hair. His eyes flicked up and met her own, and a deep blush dusted his cheeks mimicking her own.

"M-morning," she stammered out, averting her eyes and finding sudden interest in the floor.

"Yes, good morning to you as well," Elliott from chuckled across the room, "apologies for my lack of dress, and I did borrow your shower so I hope that's not too much of a hassle."

"No, not at all!" she quickly shook her head, "after what you did last night you're more than welcome to help yourself to anything in my home. I um- I have a pot of coffee in the kitchen, should still be warm."

There was a rustling of fabric, and when Maria finally glanced up once more the writer had just finished buttoning up his shirt, "I'll be sure to help myself to it. I'm assuming you've been wide awake for quite some time doing farm work, yes?"

The farmer groaned and nodded her head, leaning against the wall as her shoulders sagged, "ugh, yes, I've been awake since six just cleaning up 'cause that storm made a mess of my land. I'm so behind, I still have to till the land and then go into town and buy seeds, I won't be done with any of that until sunset if I'm lucky, and then I'll still have to water everything I've planted, and that's not even mentioning I still have to go see Clint to pick up one of my tools that he's upgraded."

Elliott was quiet for a moment, before tapping his chin and speaking up, "if you'd like, I can see Pierre and purchase all your seeds for you while you prepare the land."

Maria's head shot up at this. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

The writer laughed softly, "of course I would."

"Yoba, that would be a massive help," she sighed with relief.

Dashing into the living room, she grabbed a notepad and scribbled down the names of various Fall seeds; pumpkin, eggplant, yam, bok choy, grape, cranberry, and amaranth. Each seed name had a number of packets besides it. Once she'd written everything down she grabbed her wallet and set aside a sizable amount of gold in a coin purse, before handing both the bag and piece of paper to Elliott.