Sunshine

Empty promises, tired feet, and a broken heart.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ F a l l } || Popuri&Cliff

[pink-chickadee]

"I don’t think he’d let you," she laughed, shaking her head. "He’s fine though. Ya know, hard worker and all." Rick was a powerhouse, always doing something or other. Or well, he liked to act like he was full of energy. Popuri knew he could handle raking up a couple of leaves, so she let him be.

Her grin widening and she gushed giddily, happy to now have plans. “Yay!” She clapped her hands together, hooking her arm around Cliff’s. A furrowed brow appeared on her face and she pursed pink lips up at the brunet. “Don’t say stuff like that! I mean, I could say the same thing, ya know.” The pinkette perked up once more, lifting her chin up slightly as she looked back forward.

"I just choose not to~"

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

The man shrugged a light laugh coming to his lips, "Yeah, I think you're right about that. Well, at least he works hard." Cliff thought to himself that perhaps he worked too hard.

He blinked a bit as she grabbed hold of him bashfully accepting the fact that the two of them were going to walk out of town like this. He laid his own hand over hers protectively, "R-ready?"

Cliff took her words as a compliment and laughed deeply, "If you say so. Honestly, I don't think a bad thing could come from your mouth, you're too sweet for that." Thinking over the words that had just left his mouth, the man nearly choked over them, his eyes growing a bit wider. Perhaps she wouldn't comment on it, maybe he should correct his words? It figures the minute he opens his mouth something stupid would come from it.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ Drinking Buddies } || Gray&Cliff

[steel-waiting]

Working day in and day out was tough. All work and no fun made a blacksmith, well, okay. Walking back to the inn, Gray decided just to stop at the bar, get a drink and relax.

When the man opened the door, he realized how busy the bar was tonight. It was best to keep himself, he just wanted a drink anyway. He didn’t notice that he was sitting by someone himself, especially that someone being Cliff.

Waiting for a drink, Gray looked over at the quiet man and nodded his head slowly. “Good. Work is hetic. What about you?”

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

The man shrugged, "Same ol' same ol', you know what I'm talkin' about." Cliff focused on the shape of the glass in his hands, staring at the liqiud.

"Farmers have sure been quiet recently. At least no one's breaking into any windows anymore." He chuckled lightly to himself recalling the rumors that went around.

[trick-blue-flowers]

[Cliff/Nami]

It was funny, really, that Nami didn’t spend more time in Mineral Town, considering how close it was to Forget-Me-Not.

Although she always included it in her ever-growing List Of Visited Places, her relationship with the town was more along the lines of passed through than visited, so on one of her off-air days, she packed a rucksack and headed east. It wasn’t a long trip, and by about ten, she found herself standing in the middle of Rose Plaza.

What now…? Nami found herself at a bit of a loss. As much as she’d loved the idea of coming here this morning, there wasn’t really that much to do in Mineral Town as a tourist.

The traveler meandered through the streets, glancing at the signs, until she finally spotted a small, pleasant-looking winery set up beside a well-maintained orchard. There were patches of reddish-orange intermixed with the green leaves, as expected for early fall.

Something about the way the light hit the leaves sparked her interest. I wonder if I could get in there…?

She stayed along the line of the fence, glancing warily to make sure nobody was watching, and yanked a small leather-bound travel journal out of her bag. Taking out a pencil, as well, she opened to a blank page and-

Oh, no.

A man, who she could have sworn hadn’t been there two seconds ago, had noticed her. Nami hurriedly stuffed the journal back into her bag with a heavy sigh. He probably worked here or something. Knowing her luck, he was probably the owner of the place, and he was probably not terribly happy to have a random stranger wandering around on his property.

"…Sorry," she muttered. "I didn’t mean to trespass or anything."

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

Cliff was lost in thought harvesting some of the grapes and had just finished chopping some wood. Fall was their busiest season and he had to be on his toes at all times. Duke wasn't exactly  a spring chicken and he knew some of this work took a toll on him.

About to go trim some of the lower endings on the grape vines, the brunette noticed a flash of red. A girl was sitting along the edge of the fence -- drawing or writing apparently?

He stood there a good two seconds taking the situation in and hearing her apology. Mustering up a reply he looked away not sure how to deal with it. Tell her to leave? He couldn't do that with a good conscious. What if she was lost or needed help?

Instead, the man gave a shrug and inquired, "'s fine. You alright? Thirsty or something?" He looked around and wiped some sweet off his brow, "It's pretty hot out, yeah?"

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

~ The Rose and the Hobo ~

[the-eglantine]

It wasn’t very hard to find the lush field brimming with wildflowers ranging from bright coral hues to a more pale lilac shade that Ash had brought her too earlier in the week, in fact, it was a lot simpler then she had thought! Lucky for her, Herman had let the young aristocrat go off on her own thinking she was meeting a friend for tea.

Sitting among the wildflowers, her cream-colored dress fanning out on all sides of herself, Rosalind aimlessly knitted the stems of a particularly bright colored species of black-eyes susan’s together as she quietly hummed a merry melody to herself.

It didn’t take much [if only the rustling of branches from the tree closest to her] for the young woman to notice the particularly strange man staring at her. 

”!!! !!! !!!”

Yelling at the top of her lungs, hoping someone, anyone would her her cry for help and come to whisk her away from the danger.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP—!"

Waits a few seconds, frantically looking around for someone to come to her rescue. 

No one came.

Sighing in annoyance before picking up the nearest thing she could find [a perfectly, polished rock, perhaps one that came from the river at some point], Rosalind swung her arm before letting the object lose and watching it fly into the air before hitting the man straight on the noggin. 

"HA!"

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

Content to whittle away his branch, he tried to push the thoughts of his sister out of his mind. The loud scream that erupted from the young lady jolted him from his misery and he peered over anxiously. Fearing the worse, he started to climb down, wondering if maybe she was being attacked or needed help.

Suddenly it hit him. She was yelling because she was afraid of him. Dejectedly he turned around to see if his thoughts were true  -- the pebble that hit him in the forehead was enough to convince him that he was correct.

Sliding down the tree roughly, scraping his knee a bit, he tucked away his knife and held both his hands up nervously. "Look, I -- "

Her hearty and desperate laugh would be comical in any other situation but honestly his ego was too hurt to laugh.

"Miss, there's been a misunderstanding, just relax, 'm not gonna hurt you..."

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ F a l l } || Popuri&Cliff

[pink-chickadee]

The pinkette shrugged her shoulders, lacing her hands behind her back. “I dunno. Maybe! I just got off from work thanks to my mom. So right now, I’ve really got no plans.” Biting down gently on her bottom lip, she swayed slightly side to side. While he explained, she kept her scarlet eyes on him attentively.

"Mmm, well he’s probably trying to find a rake for the leaves." Popuri explained, glancing over her shoulder for a moment before bringing her attention back to him. "You see, the chickens get a lot more mellow towards the middle of this season. Less activities to keep an eye on, he says. So I bet he’s gonna try and clean up the yard a bit."

Smashing her pink lips together for a moment, scarlet met brown and her lips curled up. “Say, what were you going to do? You wouldn’t mind if I.. tagged along?” 

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

He nodded, watching her motions carefully. She was always so unexpected, very much like a child in her mannerisms, the way she talked and her big smile.

"Oh, does he need help? I could help if he wanted..." The man felt silly asking, he was never that close to Rick and he wasn't exactly that familiar with chickens either. He listened to her, his eyes paying attention in particular to her lips which never seemed to lose their shine.

"Me? Not much honestly -- "  He rubbed the back of his head at her question, bashfully matching her grin, " I mean if you want to. I'm not really that interesting or anything..."

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

~ The Rose and the Hobo ~

Sitting in a tree and watching the river flow peacefully into the lake was one of the best ways for Cliff to relax.  His hands were focused on delicately running his Swiss blade against a piece of pine he had found, just something to pass the time. His attention was caught by the unusual site of a woman walking through the flowers in the meadow near the cliff's peak. It was clear that she wasn't from here.

Her dress was far too fancy to be any of the girls' here and though he wouldn't admit it the sight of this fantastically dressed princess left him a bit nostalgic. He was no expert on fashion but he knew his sister was. Is. His sister is an expert on fashion.

He whittled away at the branch more frantically now, feeling his guilt growing. He considered going up and talking to her but honestly he had no idea what he'd ask her. Oh hello there, where'd you get that dress? He probably smelled of wine and grapes. She'd probably think he was drunk. Instead he hoped the thin foliage was enough to hide him from the gaze of the mysterious girl.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ Neither Here Nor There } || Kathy&Cliff

Sometimes when there was nothing left to do in town, he would take a mini vacation to a town or two over. It was an adventure, a homage to the life he had lived so long. In other words, it kept him sane.

Folding his arms trying to keep warm, Cliff stumbled upon the bar and considered walking past it but curiosity drew him in. Cautiously the man stepped in, looking around at the few people there. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business and so he felt less intrusive sitting towards the corner at the end of the bar.

His eyes glanced once or twice to the attractive and exotic lady dancing on stage, however he quickly averted his gaze, instead fixating it on the cheerful blonde now standing in front of him. In that moment he also forget every word in the English language and stared back dumbly his cheeks quickly flushing in embarrassment.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ Drinking Buddies } || Gray&Cliff

Another day of work and now another night of restless sleep and insomnia. Cliff took another sip of the wine the bar always served, a taste he had grown to equate with both a good and a long day. Some days the taste was particularly bitter and other days it was incredibly sweet. It symbolized his connection to Mineral Town and how without him here maybe things in the slightest would be different.

And this was on the man's mind as Ann passed by with dishes, as Claire dropped in to say hi, as Rick and Karen were flirting on the opposite side of the bar. Cliff took a longer swig of the drink, barely realizing that he was no longer alone .

He saluted the blacksmith in training, a nervous smile on his face as usual, "Hey, how's it goin', Gray?"

[nerdybits]

Visit Original Link

So I took what I wanted and put it out of my reach. I wanted to pay for my successes with all my defeats. And if Heaven was all that was promised to me Why don’t I pray for death? Now it seems like the unraveling started too soon. Now I’m sleeping in hallways, and I’m drinking perfume, And I’m speaking to mirrors, and I’m howling at moons, While the worse and the worse that it gets. 

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ F a l l } || Popuri&Cliff

[pink-chickadee]

It wasn’t every day that her mother let her take off from behind the counter work. It was slow, so slow that the young pinkette was falling asleep quicker than usual. Feeling a hand on her head, she awoken by her mother and after a bit of back and forth ‘Are you sure?’ and ‘Yes I’m sure.’ Popuri was making her way out of the shop. 

She was greeted by a gust of chillier Autumn air which blew a few strands of pink hair out of place. Pushing back her hair behind her ear, she smiled at the beautiful fall day Mineral Town was having. Still standing on the porch, she surveyed the farm land with a small smile. Rick was probably trying to find a rake to clean up the few orange and red leaves that had fallen to the ground. He never liked to keep the leaves littering the ground for long, after all.

Then scarlet eyes spotted the familiar brunet and her smile grew. “Cliff!” She called out happily before making her way over to him with a skip in her step. Catching him by the sleeve, she tugged on the fabric slightly to turn his attention to her. Looking up at the taller man, she released his sleeve and smiled sweetly. “Where are you off too? Hmm? Were you looking for Rick or something?”

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

Cliff cringed hearing his name called where once no one was there. Finally realizes that the tugging feeling on his sleeve is none other than the pinkette, Popuri, "-- Uhh"

It took him a good minute to regain his composure a bashful expression staining his face, "Hi, Popi -- going somewhere?" He shrugged, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair, "Nah, not really. And uh no, I just was wondering where he is? Doesn't he normally watch the chicks at this time, or er?"

His eyes glanced from the chickens a good distance away then back to the bubbling and bright eyed girl in front of him.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

{ F a l l } || Popuri&Cliff

Brown eyes watching his faded brown boots walking along a dusty path. No work today and plenty of empty time. So to pass the time and to forget about the nagging thoughts in the back of his mind he considered walking around. But he had walked all around town twice by now.

The church wasn't of much comfort of him lately, the weather was too nice to stay inside anyhow. He felt an itching feeling in his feet to go to the mountains so he figured that would be the best course of action. On his way there, Cliff passed by the poultry farm and stopped for a second.

It was unusual for Rick to not be guarding the chickens and Cliff considered checking up on him but stopped. It wasn't really his place was it? Turning in a step he was walking away but feeling a tugging  on his sleeve that he disregarded as just the wind.

[fallingoff-a-cliff]

If u want a shy hobo mountain man then pls like this and tell me who you want me to write a starter for o/