[Harvest Moon: A New Beginning] Rio to the Rescue

Gifts

Five o'clock approached slowly for Rio, probably because she was looking forward the evening so much. While she had never been sad about attending these events alone, it was going to be much more fun attending them with Neil. Especially tonight's festival, nothing was more romantic than cuddling up together in front of a bonfire. And then they could cuddle at her house after, and maybe a little more... 'No,' she thought, 'I need to focus and get ready before he gets here.'

She slipped into the outfit she and the other girls picked out and glanced at herself in the mirror, turning to one side and then the other. 'Not bad' she told herself. However, something was missing... 'My hair! And makeup!'

She grabbed a couple of strands of hair and looked confused. She didn't really have any idea how to fix her hair like Allen did and she couldn't bother him at the salon because he and Felicity had a dinner date beforehand. Her hair had dried somewhat wavy so she decided to leave it as it was and just wear a beanie over the top.

She didn't feel like wearing too much makeup because it was a pain to wash off when she was tired before bed. She opted to keep it simple by lining her eyes with grey liner and putting on a smidgen of mascara. She turned her head this way and that and said, "Good enough for me!"

A bark startled her as she turned to the door, apparently Goldie agreed. Either that or Neil was at the door; she was leaning towards the latter option. "Silly puppy," she murmured while patting its head. As she walked to the door, she grabbed a blanket and a heavier jacket to bring with her, as it would most likely become a bit cooler as the night progressed.

She opened the door to find Neil waiting for her with a single poppy in hand and a shy smile on his face. He cleared his throat and thrust the flower towards her, "Um...this is for you."

Rio giggled and thought to herself that the flower looked familiar, but decided to keep her mouth shut about it. "Thank you Neil, that's very thoughtful of you. I didn't peg you as the type to give someone flowers."

He scratched the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh, "Well, it's from your garden so...I don't know if it counts."

'Ah, so that's why it looks familiar,' she thought.

"But," he continued, "I thought you would like it regardless of where it came from."

"I do, I love it! But what's the occasion?"

"Well, tonight is kind of a date I guess, and Allen told Rod and I we should probably do something sweet for you girls so...this is what I came up with."

She smiled sweetly and gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen so that she could place the flower in a vase. "It was very sweet! And very like Allen to do such a thing." She turned and wrapped her arms around him firmly, pulling him to her, "Now I feel bad because I didn't get anything for you."

He pulled away and took her hand in his own, "The fact that you will be spending the evening with me is all I could ever ask."

She giggled and followed him out the door, "Okay, I think you've been hanging around Allen too much! You're starting to sound like him."

The couple arrived at the festival just as it was about to begin and made their way towards the rest of the younger villagers. Iroha was the first to greet them this time, "Good evening you two, you've made it just in time."

Rio smiled in return, "Yes, good evening to you as well! How have you been lately? I feel like we don't see each other around much."

She nodded, "Yes well, we both are very busy with our chosen paths, but I suspect that we will see more of each other in the colder months."