Hey there, I'm Jello. This is my first ever fanfic, and it's based on a game I've only been playing for a few weeks now. XD So please, if there's anything in this which is completely and utterly wrong, correct me, or at least guide me to what it should be. Like I said, I've only recently been sucked into the Harvest Moon franchise, but I'm completely addicted. XD Please note that I'm European, and I spell a few things differently to those across the pond (just a few extra vowels here and there).

Harvest Moon and all its related characters belong to Marvelous Interactive, I don't own any of the original characters in this story. :3

Hope you enjoy! -

Chapter 1 - Another Hand-Me-Down

That day, everyone had commented on how beautiful the bride looked. Right from the moment when the mahogany doors swung open to reveal the enchantingly radiant woman bedecked from head to toe in an ensemble consisting of white silk, satin and muslin, there had been gasps from the guests who were readying their tissues and best embarrassing speeches only irritating relatives were capable of. With a huge smile plastered upon her delicately made-up face (they'd swept a thin layer of silver glitter upon her eyelids and painted the rest of her like the exquisite thing she was), she seemingly floated down the aisle in the cliché way customary of all blushing brides. Even her father, who was rarely seen wearing any emotion, let alone the pride which was so evidently swelling from the body language he exhibited, had fallen victim to the hubbub of happiness joyfully lingering in the atmosphere.

It was a shame that the groom was captivated by the vegetables collected for the Harvest Festival, rather than how his fiancée (and soon to be blissfully wedded wife, until his diet ended up killing him prematurely and leaving her a widow to raise their five buxom kids) was literally blinding the whole congregation with her virgin-beauty. They were an odd couple, yet their pairing made sense. She was a pretty farmer, who lovingly grew crops and tended to her animals so that they would produce the finest dairy products in all the land, and he was a fat, greedy freak who enjoyed traversing the globe and stuffing his face with anything edible. Perhaps they weren't the kindest of words to describe my prospective brother-in-law, but then again, the Gourmet wouldn't be able to encapsulate my appearance and personality in more affectionate terms. I just didn't understand what Claire saw in him, especially when she'd written so animatedly about the bachelors of Mineral Town in her letters to me and how much she enjoyed their company.

Our grandfather had told me that sometimes, people consumed various things which made them delirious, and distorted their perception of everything. He'd rattled on about how when you went to 'strange' places such as Mineral Town, you had to be careful of what you ate and drank, else you'd be riddled with disease for the rest of your life. I replied to him that the water was fine, and that it was probably because Claire had some sort of mental problem due to the amount of times I (reportedly) whacked her over the head with my rattle, or one of the other toys from the plethora which literally swamped our family when I was born.

So as my big sister was making her final preparations to marry the Blob (it came from a place unknown!), I was scouting out aforementioned bachelors from the decent position I held, looking out at the crowd seated in the pews, trying to match up various faces with the descriptions Claire had given me. Rick had long blond hair and a penchant for wearing headbands; Gray's was auburn, and he wore a hat with 'UMA' emblazoned on the front along with a scowl; Cliff had brown hair tied back in a ponytail and seemingly had something on his mind all the time; Doctor barely changed out of his white coat and stethoscope ensemble; Kai was somewhat tanned and stood out from the rest with his purple bandana. My search resulted in that three of the five boys were there (Rick, Gray and Cliff, respectively), whereas the latter two were absent.

I brushed the matter aside as I caught my mother's eye, her hawk stare tinged with salty tears instructing me to keep still and listen to the pastor recite the first of the vows. I hoped that my wedding won't be as dull and boring as this one was panning out to be. I also hoped that I wouldn't have a lobotomy in the next few years like my sister obviously had, and marry another one of Nature's disasters. I was still in a state of incredulity, to be honest, even as I stood there in my pale pink bridesmaid's dress watching the darn ceremony take place.

After what had seemed like an eternity of standing there, holding my miniature boquet of flowers (a replica of Claire's roses and other plants which I couldn't pronounce the Latinate names of), we were finally permitted to venture outside, and watch Mr. Gourmet try and catch the rice paper scattered by the enthusiastic members of our party with his mouth. It was perculiar that he was the only one of his 'clan' present, but then again, we all wanted to eat later on, and didn't want to be a) put off our meal by the delights of Gourment Senior and family, or b) left starving after watching the food being devoured in nanoseconds. They might not have all fitted in the church either, let alone in between the pews.

After being subjected to having my photograph taken with the family, I managed to break away from the cluster of boisterous aunties and female friends to indulge in a bit of sight-seeing. Of course, I was restricted to staying around the area surrounding the church, because they were still preparing Rose Square for the festivities, and I'd most likely get lost if I wandered any further. Allowing the hand clutching my flowers to droop limply by my side, I gazed around at the scenery Mineral Town had to offer. It was strange being in a place where there were no skyscrapers obstructing the sunlight from bathing the land in its golden rays, and where the sound of traffic was practically non-existant. Even the air was of a different quality, sparse of toxic fumes and second hand cigarette smoke which found their way into my lungs each time I ventured outside. No wonder Claire was so rosy-cheeked and radiant. I must have looked like a wet mop, in comparison to her and despite everyone's futile attempts to find my inner princess.

I leant forward, resting my elbows upon the wooden fence which marked the boundary of the place of worship and linked it to the road which ran alongside it. The neatly arranged boquet was now mingling with the grass- wouldn't Claire be annoyed if she saw how badly I was treating something she'd bought especially for me? Annoying Claire had always been fun, as a way of venting out my fustrations on the wretched girl. Then she had moved away, and found happiness. Perhaps maybe it was time for me to follow suit, I thought, as I began to pick at the grain, naturally embedded in the material which made up the fence. Oh dear, there went the false nails too. Becoming bored of contemplating my own hopeless life, I decided it was time to survey the town once more, to see what had changed in the short space of thirty seconds. Nothing much, other than the fact that there was a raven haired man staring right back at me, some few yards away. I held his gaze for a second, before he opted to surrender and allowed me to be the victor of our miniature staring contest, walking away with his head hung low.

Why hadn't he been invited? I was pretty sure that everyone from the town was welcome to my sister's wedding, though I didn't blame him for skipping out. Before I had any other chances to ponder, I felt a light tap on my bare shoulder. Slowly turning around, and ready to answer my mother's question of "Why aren't you with the rest of us?", I found it not to be her, but a baby-faced woman with candyfloss-pink hair angelically framing her face.

"You're Erica, right?" She queried, tilting her head to the side, her porcelain doll's lips pouted in a tiny 'o' shape. I guess she was meaning to be cute, and despite this, I found her to be less irritating than the squawking relatives.

"That's me." I replied bluntly.

"My name's Popuri! I'm a friend of your sister!"

"Congratulations?" Is what I wanted to say. But I held my tongue. It was just as well, as Popuri (was that her natural hair colour?) didn't give me a chance to reply.

"Claire told me she wants to see you, urgently. It's weird you know, you look like her from the back, and you do from the front too!" Popuri was very good at stating the obvious, I observed. "Only... You have different colour eyes! And she looks happier than you do."

So that was her plan. Send the most annoying person to drive me insane, and into my sister's devious and cunning plan to try and get Gourmet and myself to like eachother. Sorry sis, but that wasn't going to be happening any time soon. Reluctantly, and with Popuri suddenly bringing up the subject of chickens, I left my tranquility behind to return to the chaos which I was more accustomed to. A somewhat breathless Claire swooped upon me as I neared her, and hauled me aside.

"Erica, I need to ask you something!" She beamed ecstatically, from either the typical bridal ecstasy, or from the amount of wine she'd already drank. She'd need it, if she was planning on going ahead with the wedding night and honeymoon. And the rest of her life.

"What is it?" I felt sorry for any future nieces and nephews of mine. Not for Claire though. She'd made her decision willingly.

"Well. Gourmet and I discussed this after our engagement..." She hadn't even thought of her own children. What a selfish... "We're going to move away from here soon, Erica."

"You mean... You're only going away for your honeymoon, right? And the townsfolk said they'd look after the farm until you get back..."

"That's the thing. We won't be coming back. So um," Claire giggled. I didn't like that giggle, it usually meant something bad was to succeed it. "We spoke to Mother and Father. And they said that it would do you good if you were to come out here and run it! Isn't it wonderful, Erica? I'm going to be leaving my farm in your hands!"

...WHAT?