Chapter 161 - Christmas Date

Luna and I cuddled as the movie came to an end and Christmas was saved.

“Oh, it’s over already.” I said, “That was fun!”

“One of the bests.” Luna said, “Should we watch another?”

“Hm…” I thought about it for a moment.

Of course, watching another couldn’t go wrong. But, we could watch movies together anytime. And, since it’s Christmas, a day that only comes around once a year, I kind of want to do something more special together.

“How about we go on a date?” I said.

“A date?” Luna’s eyes widened slightly before she smiled, “I’d love to! Where do you wanna go?”

“Let’s just drive around. We haven’t been out of the house much lately.”

“That’s true.” Luna nodded, “Alright, give me a second to get dressed.”

That ‘second’ was probably going to be like thirty minutes, but, that was fine. I also need to put on a cute outfit and then I’ll be able to watch some more chaos! Hehe!

…

I looked in the mirror and appreciated my outfit with a smile. I even took a few selfies and sent them to mama!

I wore vans with a raccoon design, I found these at some store ages ago; Sheer stockings and a cute, red, plaid skirt covered my legs. Covering my top was a simple but comfortable black cardigan; Though it was Florida and we don’t get snow here, it can still get pretty chilly. So, this’ll keep me nice and cozy. Other than that, I had a simple plaid beret to cap it all off.

I did a little twirl in the mirror and nodded satisfied. I look as cute as always!

“Mouse,” I said, after heading to the bedroom.

Luna was sitting at the makeup table, applying some finishing touches. I think what she had in her hand was called ‘setting spray’ or something? I’m still not too sure, I should spend some time learning it eventually.

Luna finished whatever she was doing before turning to me,

“Yes?”

“Wow! You’re so pretty! I’m falling in love all over again!”

Luna blushed a little,

“You’re even prettier; I love your outfit too,” She said, “It’s super cute.”

“Hehe, thanks,” I did a little twirl to show off my outfit.

Luna stood up. She was also dressed.

I took a step back to admire what I saw.

Luna wore a pretty, long black dress. The dress complimented her silver hair so beautifully, it was like the moonlight on a starry night. And for shoes, she had plain white ones on—She didn’t really like wearing heels.

“Wow! Stunning! Supermodel gorgeous!” I said, snapping several photos in succession. I felt like one of those runway photographers.

Luna let out an amused chuckle before striking a few poses for me.

“Perfecto!” I said, and after a few more photos, I turned off my phone.

“Did you get my good side?” She asked.

“It’d be harder to get your bad side!” I replied with a smile before going in for a hug.

Luna opened her arms and we embraced.

“Shall we go, then?” She asked after a moment.

“Mm,” I nodded. We switched from hugging to holding hands as we walked.

After closing the front door, I paused,

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

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“Let’s go wish grandma a merry Christmas first.” I said.

“Oh, yeah, we should.” She nodded.

We pivoted direction and knocked on grandma’s door.

“Coming!” A muffled, familiar voice came from inside.

She opened the door, seeing us before showing a warm smile,

“Well, if it isn’t you two. It’s good to see you again. You’re both dressed quite prettily, are you going on a date?” She asked.

“Hi grandma!” I cheerfully said, “We are!”

“Hello, grandmother.” Luna politely bowed slightly, “Thank you for your compliment.”

“That’s wonderful.” She said warmly, “Is there something I could do for you?”

“No, no, we’re just here to wish you a merry Christmas, grandma!”

“Merry Christmas, grandmother.”

“Oh!” Her eyes widened slightly, “Merry Christmas, you two.” She smiled, “Thank you for thinking of an old lady like me.”

“Hehe, what’re you talking about?” I said, “You’re still in your prime!”

We all chatted for a bit before Luna and I headed to the car. It was nice to see grandma again even if briefly. Maybe I’ll make her a potion before I move out.

…

“So, where should we go first?” Luna asked.

“Hm…” I pondered for a moment before asking, “Do you remember that piece of land we were looking at?”

“The one over by xx? 40 or so minutes from here?”

“Yeah! That one,” I nodded, “How about we look for cool places near that area?” I suggested.

“Sure! That sounds good.” She nodded, “I haven’t really ever been in that area before, so, it’d be nice to get an idea of the surroundings before we buy it.”

Luna and I had pretty much picked where the house would be built, all that was left was to send Ashley the confirmation after we bought the land. We had actually decided this a little bit ago, but, we pushed it back until after Christmas.

The land we chose was semi-rural; It wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, but, there also weren’t many key buildings near it. By key buildings, I mean stuff like the association or a large publix or something. But, the driving selling point was that it was 10 acres of land! That’s huge!

And although it’ll cost nearly all of the profit I made from my bouncy potions, I think it’s well worth it. We can use all of that land for so much! Like the strawberry plantation I was planning, or a greenhouse for materials, or a training area for Luna…Maybe even all of the above! The ideas are endless!

As we drove towards the plot, Luna and I casually chatted, pointing out interesting looking places as we passed by them.

It was interesting, despite being in a semi-rural area, the infrastructure looked quite nice and clean.

“I wonder why this place isn’t more built out.” I commented, “It seems like a pretty good place to live.”

“I remember reading that a bad gate outbreak happened in this area about 20 years ago or so. I think everything was destroyed, and they had to rebuild it, but, not many people wanted to move here because of the superstition.”

“Superstition?” I asked.

“Wherever outbreaks occur, a worse one will return later.” She said, “I think the outbreak 20 years ago was a high mid-tier one?” She said uncertainly, “So, people think that if another outbreak happens here, it’ll be a high-tier one.”

“Ah, I see,” I nodded then paused, “Eh? Wait! What if we build our home here and then it gets destroyed!”

“See,” Luna chuckled, “That’s exactly why it’s not more populated because of thoughts like those. If you want to ditch the idea of buying it, we can look at that backup plot we were thinking of.”

“What!? No way!” I quickly shook my head, “Superstitions are nothing! This is actually perfect!”

“Perfect?” Luna inquired.

“It’s a nice place to live and there aren’t many people here! Plus, it isn’t a far drive from anything! Plus, plus, we could buy even more land in the area! I was worried about where the guild building would eventually be, but, this place would be great!”

“Right, the guild building could fit here. There’s no other major guilds nearby either.” Luna nodded, “Are you looking to get into real estate?” She asked.

“Real estate…Eh,” I shrugged, “I was more thinking of things we can own. Like my own atelier and a potion shop. Also, just to stop other people from buying land close to us. Think about it! A whole Raccoon district and a whole Mouse district!”

“…That’s quite a lot of money, you know?”

“Hehe, aim for the stars and you’ll at least hit something.” I giggled.

“Huh, I like that philosophy.” Luna said, “But, superstitions aren’t exactly nothing, you know?”

“Fearmonger!” I pointed at her, “I aint afraid of nothing! Even during hurricanes I step outside to enjoy the breeze!”

“Pfft, alright,” Luna chuckled, “Well, we’re here.” She said, stopping the car.

We stopped on the asphalt road, as to continue, we’d have to switch to the dirt path. But, that was fine, we could see the land perfectly clearly from here. The land was stripped bare of trees, instead, being a field of grass. And…Well, that was it.

The ten acres really was just grassy land. But, that’s actually perfect.

“We’d probably have to replace the dirt with a driveway,” I said, “But, that’s nothing.”

“Mhm,” She nodded, “The houses are pretty nice and spread out too. We wouldn’t have to worry about noise.”

“Oh, are you that loud?~” I asked teasingly.

“What? No, I mean-” She paused as the words registered in her brain, “W-W-What are you talking about!?” Her face flushed red.

“Hehe,” I giggled, “I mean, are you going to shout for some reason? Looking to become a singer or play the drums or something?”

“O-Oh…” She let out, “I thought…Never mind.” She shook her head.

“What did you think I meant?” I asked.

“N-Nothing.” She looked away.

“So,” I smiled, dropping the subject for now, “How about we go knock on someone’s door? Ask them what it’s like in the area.”

“Sure.” She said, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.

Luna started the car again and we drove a little bit before stopping again. We didn’t drive into their driveway, instead, opting to walk the short distance to their house.

The house had an older design, despite it having to have been built within the last twenty years. Honestly, if I didn’t hear that everything was destroyed and rebuilt, I would’ve guessed this house was from last century. It had that nice, old, country sort of vibe.

That’s a positive of rebuilding. Not everything has to look like modern architecture. Seeing the same old house repeated as if it was copy and pasted over and over again gets boring quickly.

As we stepped onto the porch, I appreciated the rustic furniture sitting outside. There was even a rocking chair that looked fun to sit in.

I pressed the doorbell and stepped back and stood next to Luna.

“Who do you think lives here?” I asked.

“Probably an older fellow if I had to guess.” Luna said, looking at the furniture, “It’s the same kind of furniture my grandparents would use.”

“Right, right,” I nodded, “I like it though. It’s nostalgic.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. But, it is a little outdated.”

“Mm,” I said, “By the way, couldn’t you use that trait of yours to see if there’s actually someone inside?”

“That’s breaking many privacy laws.” Luna said, “There’s also an unwritten rule for people with similar traits or skills to not abuse it like that.”

“Hm…But, how would they know you’re breaking the law?”

“Every building has some privacy measure built into it. Some invention or skill or something, I’m not too knowledgeable about it. Both the homeowner and association would know when someone’s trying to peek from the outside. Don’t you remember that alarm near the smoke detector? If that beeps, someone is trying to peek in from outside the apartment.”

“Eh!?” I let out, “Really? I never knew that, I thought it was just a fake alarm or something.”

That’s pretty good though! It’s be creepy just knowing anyone could peek inside my home if they had the skill. Salute to whoever prevents that!

“But,” I said, “For a passive trait like yours, how do they know that you’re not intentionally trying to peek inside?”

“So, for one, I have to mute it as much as I can. That privacy measure I mentioned makes it so that as long as I’m not actively trying to peer inside, vision is blocked by some barrier. Then, you also have to register it with the association. If the skill or trait has it as an additional effect, you only need to include that part. There’s some other minute things, but, just know that you’ll get in a lot of trouble if you get caught for peeking where you shouldn’t.”

“Good, good,” I nodded. Honestly, I only kept up with about a quarter of what she was saying. I kind of zoned out when she was speaking and just ended up staring at her kissable lips.

But, before I could give her a kiss, the door opened, revealing a man who had to be above 60. He had gray hair and wrinkles covered his body, he wasn’t frail, but, he was definitely weak.

“Hello?” He said.

“Hi!” I said with a smile, “We’re so sorry for bothering you, but, we were thinking about moving into the area, and wanted to ask the people who lived here what it was like. Could we have a moment of your time, sir?” I asked kindly.

“Oh!” He let out, sounding pleasantly surprised, “Of course, please sit down.” He gestured to the furniture on the porch, “I’ll be out in a moment.” He said before closing the door.

Luna and I looked at each other before taking a seat.

“He seems nice.” I commented.