Chapter Text
It had been three weeks since Molly moved to Castanet. Settling had most definitely been a struggle for the young girl, but with Renee and Kasey's help she'd managed to make at least a few friends, as well as land a few pass time jobs to help her brother with funds.
Presently, Molly stood in her brother's barn alongside Renee and a woman in her mid-twenties of whom Molly had come to know as Kathy. Kathy had long blond hair, tied up in a ponytail. Her outfit could just barely be deemed appropriate for such casual outings- a low v-neck tank-top that proudly pronounced the size and shape of her breasts. Her denim jacket concealed some of the scene, but what lacked in sight up top was made up for with the short skirt she wore down below. Because of Kathy's skimpy clothing, Molly had almost been turned away right away.
But Molly had found herself drawn into Kathy's surprisingly large circle of friends. Despite her appearance, Molly had learned that her assumptions about the blond were wrong. The two had quickly bonded over the same thing Molly and Renee had bonded over, which were horses.
The three girls giggled as they huddled around Molly's brother's horse, Chalk, braiding her mane carefully. The usually grumpy mare seemed to enjoy the treatment. She seemed to enjoy the three girl's presence in general. This was good, because so far Molly had proved her only talents to be horse care and various amounts of simple volunteer work around the island. She was much too clumsy to work with the other animals, or Kasey's crops.
The girls were busy at "work" when a sudden call echoed through the doors of the barn, carrying Molly's name. The brunette excused herself from her group of friends and dashed outside, only to find herself crashing face-first into her brother's chest. With a grunt, she stepped back, rubbing her forehead.
"Oops! Sorry Kasey. What'cha need?" She chirped, tilting her head as if it added emphasis to her question. Kasey rolled his eyes at his sister, unruffling the spot in his clothing that Molly had smashed into. He quickly explained to her that the town doctor, Doctor Jin, had called for her. Molly nodded, before charging away towards the house.
Kasey's home was large with two stories, a full kitchen, three bedrooms, and a large bathroom with a bath-and-shower built in. In a way, it almost reminded Molly of home.
The girl shook away her thoughts, remembering the task at hand, and made way for the phone. She cleared her throat and attempted to compose herself before picking up the phone and addressing the man on the line.
"Err- uh…Jin?" Smooth.
"Doctor Jin, yes. Good afternoon, Molly." The doctor greeted in his usual, uninterested monotone. Despite his rather blunt correction to Molly's mistake in addressing him, she found herself smiling, twirling the phone cord around her finger.
It was no unknown fact that Molly had a massive crush on the doctor. Even Jin himself was aware of her feelings. But Jin blatantly reflected nothing back, as it was also a known fact that the doctor was already dating someone. A farmer named Anissa. 'Besides', he would always say when questioned, 'She's far too young.'
"Y-yeah. Sorry, J-… Doctor Jin." She stumbled. The girl tried to stand up straighter, hiding her blush from no one in particular. "W-what did you need?"
Jin cleared his throat pointedly on the other side of the line. "Yes, about that. Molly, I've heard rumors that you're good at scavenging. Is that correct?" When he received a grunt of confirmation from Molly, he continued. "Ah, yes, good, good. My supplier, you know Anissa," Molly flinched at the brightened tone he used as he mentioned the girl's name, "her and her family are going out of town for a few days, meaning I won't be able to get my shipment of herbs for the next week." He paused for a moment to let Molly take in what he'd said, before continuing.
"I'm aware that your brother Kasey doesn't grow the plants that I need, but I do know that it's possible to find what I need in the wild." Molly smiled, holding back a squeal. Was Jin asking her for help?!
She tried to remain calm as she spoke, but her voice still came out high pitched with excitement. "Are you asking me if I can collect the herbs for you, Doctor Jin?"
An audible sigh could be heard from the other side of the line, before Jin murmured a nonchalant, "Yes." He paused a moment when a series of muffled squealing erupted on Molly's side. Luckily, this subsided quickly. Jin proceeded to list off what he needed, and wasted no time in hanging up when he'd finished answering Molly's questions.
Molly burst from the house, prancing around like a child who'd just met Santa Clause. Kathy and Renee stood outside now, and watched her with mild interest as Molly danced towards them. It didn't take long for Molly to explain in extreme and exaggerated detail what had happened. The two friends just rolled their eyes at each other, but their faces held amused smiles.
After a short chat, Molly's friends departed, leaving Molly to start her search for herbs.
Molly managed to start off well just by patrolling the edge of Kasey's farm. She found 2 patches of what she assumed to be what Jin had called "Green Herbs". They didn't seem to be quite grown well, but she remembered Jin mentioning they wouldn't be, and that that was fine. It was only Spring, and Summer herbs, especially in the wild, would be hard to come by and be fully grown for harvest.
The brunette decided to deem herself lucky she'd found so much, and she quickly gathered small handfuls of the newly-sprouted herbs up and placed them carefully into her rucksack. She took a breath of the fresh air triumphantly, before setting off in search of more herbs in other areas.
--
Molly had been searching for hours with little to no luck after what she'd found on her brother's farm. But she wasn't giving up. Before the girl stood a tall forest, one that resembled that of a story book tale's setting. She remembered Kasey telling her of this area once.
He'd had to travel all over Castanet, just to find the key that unlocked the darned place! Molly giggled at the thought. Kasey had since had the door demolished, deciding it was unnecessary. The forest paths had been hacked clean in a joint effort between Kasey and a now mutual friend of the siblings, a man named Luke. Fugue Forest was safe for just about anyone.
Anyone who wasn't Molly, anyway.
Molly confidently strolled into the forest and began her search. The sky was becoming dark, but Molly took little notice, too involved in her task to care for the sky as it changed from day to night quickly.
The brunette managed to find several more of the needed herbs as she searched the forest, including a peculiar sparkling mushroom. Jin hadn't requested this particular fungus, but Molly had found herself captivated by its shine, and had pocketed it, praying to the Harvest Goddess that it would earn her a brownie point from Jin.
When Molly finally came to the realization that it was night time, she suddenly realized how tired she was. She sighed, ruffling around in her rucksack for something that would boost her energy for the return trip. It was then that she pulled out the sparkling mushroom.
Without much thought, she snapped the stem in half, and popped it into her mouth. Anything that grew among herbs had to be safe enough to eat, right?
Wrong.
Molly stumbled in her tracks as the world around her began to spin, and she collapsed to the ground. "Goddess, help me!" She choked, trying to force up the herb as it tormented her. But she was unable to do much before she passed out.
--
Stranger's P.O.V.
Tp.
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Gravel was crushed against black leather boots as a man made his way through the night-veiled forest area. He donned a silky purple cloak on top of his black turtleneck, cotton sweater. A rather intricate and complicated array of beaded necklaces hung around his neck. His pants were white and baggy.
His most peculiar feature were his eyes, two different colors – green and gold – two colors that contrasted greatly with the white mark below his golden eye, and his head of platinum-gray hair. Despite his silver locks, which were tied into a neat braid on the left side of his face, the man looked no older than twenty-five. He walked with confident steps through the forest. He seemed to know the area very well.
But he stopped dead when he spotted a shadow splayed out on the forest floor several feet away. He hesitated a moment, blinking at the shape to assure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. They most certainly weren't.
Slightly less comfortable now, the man moved timidly towards the body. It was a girl. He wore a ruffled orange outfit, and her brown hair was messy and ruffled from what looked to be a hard day's work. The man squatted down, nudging her hand. Her hand fell open, suddenly, and a mushroom rolled from her palm.
"A…fugue mushroom?" The man questioned, reaching out to grab the sparkling thing. "There's a…bite…Oh!" The man looked to the girl once more. Had she swallowed some of the plant? He sighed, and scooped her up carefully. He would take her to the clinic. Hopefully it was open this late at night. Luckily, as he'd studied the species of fungus for a long time, he knew that the fugue mushroom was no life-threatening danger.
But he was aware that it often caused dizzy spells, nausea, and hallucinations. Or in this stranger's case, it was too overwhelming, and made them pass out.
The man quietly made his way towards Harmonica Town. But as he crossed the farm territory, owned by an acquaintance of his, Kasey, he heard a shout come from up the path.
"Yo! Wizard! Wait up!" The voice unmistakably belonged to Kasey the farmer himself. The man, deemed Wizard, turned on his heels to face the farmer, and was met with a loud gasp. "Ah! Molly? What happened?!" He shouted, springing forward to look down at his unconscious sister in the cloaked man's arms.
"She ate…a fugue mushroom…in Fugue Forest…" He murmured in an almost broken sounding sentence. "You…know her?"
Kasey nodded at the gray-haired man, reaching forward to take his sister from the man's arms. "Yeah. She's my sister. Err…the clinic's closed, Wizard. Do…do you know how to fix her?"
Wizard stared down at Kasey and this newly named Molly for a few moments, before nodding uncertainly. "I do…We can…go inside?" He murmured, hesitantly.
Kasey nodded, and led the way to his home, Wizard trailing behind.
--
Molly's P.O.V
Molly blinked awake to the sound of a voice- no, two voices. One, the softer of the two, was being blocked out by the booming, familiar voice of Kasey.
"Yeah, thanks, man! We owe ya one." He was saying. Molly blinked her eyes open just in time to spot the retreating figure of a gray haired person she'd never seen exit through the front door. Who?
"Molly, you're awake! Goddess, do you know how worried I was? You're damn lucky this fella came along when he did!" Kasey scolded his sister, flicking her nose in a loving-yet-stern manner.
"Who…Who's…that?" Molly asked, rubbing her nose as she moved to sit up. She immediately flopped back to her previous position. "What happened? Why's my head feel so funny?" She asked, her words began to slur together, and before Kasey could answer her questions, Molly had fallen asleep once more.
Whatever treatment the stranger had given her, it was working to at least keep the girl under control.