Harvest Moon: For A Different Girl

What the…? ANN came to the farm? All of a sudden single boys are given heart meters? What's going on?!

PS: I made up one character to fill Ann's place, ya know, on the marriage meter(?) (i.e: Popuri goes with Kai, Karen goes with Rick, ya know…)

I know this is similar to For Girl, but I haven't played that!

**********=Flashback/End of a flashback

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I yawned, reaching out of the bed-clothes to grab the glass of water on my bedside cabinet. I glugged the contents down in one go, wiped my mouth and got up, shaking my head dizzily.

"Ann! Something came in the mail for you!" Dad shouted up the stairs. I heard water running- he was cleaning wine glasses or something.

"Nrrn…" I grumbled, grabbing a hairbrush and attempting to work all the tangles out of my hair. "Just a second, Dad!"

"Okay…"

I jumped down the flight of stairs, raising my arms above my head and cracking my knuckles. "What was it, Dad?"

"Hmmm…" Dad passed the letter to me. "Do you know who Mayor Thomas is?"
"Un? Yeah….Grandma owned a load of farmland in that town he governed while she was alive, remember?"

"Un….Hunn…" Dad murmured, picking up another glass and wiping it.

I dropped the letter and jumped up and down in ecstatics. "YEEEEEEEE-HOOOOOOOOOO!"
Dad sighed. "I guess you're at that age…Are you sure you want to go?"

I paused. "You're kidding, right?"

"Well, it is a big responsibility, taking over an entire farm…plus, you'll have to work hard, and you KNOW that it isn't all going to be fun…"

"And….living here in the Clearwater Inn is your idea of a fun life? Come on, Dad! I'm eighteen! I can run my own life from now on!" I pouted.

"Well…all right. But the Mayor expects you to be there for tomorrow, which means you have to get packing now."
"Thanks, Dad!" I flew at my father and hugged him around the middle.

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I brought one hand up to shield my eyes from the Spring sun. Weeds festooned over the soil that had grown unfertile over years of neglect- twigs and branches were strewn over the ground, stones were ground into the field and stumps, rocks and boulders jutted out in random places. I sighed. This was my new home?

"I see you're getting acquainted with the farmland."
I spun around. A little man was standing by the gate, a grin over his moustached face.

"This farm is alive, you know. Your grandmother's spirit still lives in the land," the man spoke seriously, but his eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Ha ha, very funny. Will you help me find Mayor Thomas? I think you already know who I am, but anyway, my name's Ann-"

"-And my name is Thomas. Such a coincidence, no?"

"Oh!" I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry…"

"No problem, young lady. Now, would you like to take a tour of the village? I'll send Zack over to unpack your things."

"Um, sure!" I walked off outside of the farm, then jogged on the spot impatiently. "Are you coming?"
The Mayor sweatdropped, then hurried after me. "What you are passing is the blacksmith…"

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"This…is…the library," Thomas panted, standing by the door and mopping his brow.

WHAM!

The door banged open and a boy came out, accidentally crushing the mayor with the door.

"Hey!" I cried, running after the boy and grabbing him by the collar. "You say you're sorry!"

"…Hn." The boy turned around, looked apologetically at the crushed mayor, then stalked off.

"Yikes, he seems like a people person," I stated sardonically, raising one eyebrow.

A girl walked out,her black hair in a braid and black glasses perched in front of her eyes. She looked a little worried "I'm sorry about Gray opening the door on you, Mayor." She looked at me. "I'm Mary, I run the library- A library that's full of my own father's books, but still. That was Gray, he's really kind of shy."
"Shy? He practically ran me over! Why I oughta-" I started off after Gray again, but this time the Mayor grabbed me by the back of my coveralls and held firm.

"Bye!" Mary waved cheerfully, clutching a book in her other hand. "I'll try to visit you on the farm sometime!"

"LET ME AT HIM!"

"Ann, control yourself! As Mary said, she works at the library, she's a nice girl. You should try to get to know her. And just a little further…" The Mayor jogged up. "Here is Ellen's house, and there's my house!"
"Yawn." I murmured, folding my arms behind my head boredly.

"And…this is the Supermarket," Thomas stated, leaning against the fence. It abruptly gave way and he banged his head on a Moondrop flowerpot.

A girl came out of the store, a glass in her hand. "Mayor! Are you okay?! My dad said he'd fix this fence, but he's been having all these stomach turns lately, and-"

"No, no, Karen, that's quite alright," The Mayor mumbled, pulling himself to his feet. "Ann, this is Karen. Her father runs the Supermarket."

"Uh…Hi," I said, put out.

"Hi!" Karen smiled in a friendly fashion , tucking one of her blonde streaks behind her ears. Even if I am a girl, I have to admit- Karen does have pretty devestating looks.

"Well, moving on…" Thomas said hastily as a blonde woman looked out the window at her shattered fence.

"Bye, Ann," Karen waved. "See you!"

"See ya!" I waved, trotting after the Mineral Village governor.

When we got to the next store, there was someone waiting for us. A girl with oaken hair and chestnut eyes was standing by the door smiling, a little boy with black hair clinging to the hem of her dress. "Hello there! You must be Ann, who's moving in on the Mineral Farm? I'm Elli, and this is my brother Stu." She indicated to the little boy.

"…." Stu pulled his tongue out. I sweatdropped.

"Stu!" Elli nudged him gently with one of her feet. "I'm sorry, he's just…playful."
"Sure, and Gray's just shy," I thought to myself.. Raising my voice with a definite upbeat tone, I replied with, "Um, so….is this the Clinic?"
Elli looked blank for a second, then laughed. "Well, there is a big sign up and all…but yes, this is the clinic. If you ever need fixing up then come here, the Doctor'll see to you. And remember to come for an examination once a year!"

"Got it!" I waved, then skipped down the lane after the mayor for the final section of the tour.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The Mayor skidded to a halt, forcing me to crash into him. "I'm sorry, Ann. Maybe we should turn back. Nokura is…trying to cook."
"Nokura? Who's Nokura?" I pushed my way past the Mayor and quickly noticed a girl running around, screaming. She was screaming on account of her blue hair was on fire. Eventually she managed to douse the flames, then sat on the floor panting, wiping the ash on her face with her apron.

"What are you looking at?" She suddenly turned on me, grabbing a spatula from behind her and holding it in front of her like a sword. "Think it's funny, huh?"
"Ummm…" I mumbled, and then… I burst out laughing. "That's some pretty odd make-up!"

Nokura blinked, then laughed as well. "Yeah, I guess I do look kind of strange. I'm Nokura, and I work at the hotel here.(Yes, in this story it is a hotel, not an inn!) I…was MEANT to do the cooking, but…" She sighed.

"Oi, don't worry! I'll show you how!" I said before I could stop myself. I blushed- I hadn't meant to show off like that.

"Really? Great!" Nokura hugged me around the waist then ran into the hotel.

I blinked. "Is she always this strange or am I just having a bad effect on her?"

Thomas shook his head. "Don't worry, she's…friendly. Normally. Anyway, we should be getting back. And as Zack isn't here to tell you, well, Zack is the buyer, and he comes at five o clock to pick up produce that you put in the produce bin on your farm. You can also take food from the wild to put in the produce bin."
"Oh, okay." I shrugged, then nodded. "Goodbye, Mayor. I'll do my best!"
"Bye, Ann," He smiled at me, then took his leave.

I stomped back home, my spirits low. Sure, my Grandma had took me here when I was little…but everyone was so much older now! They all knew each other and I was left out. It SUCKED!

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"My life SUCKS!"

Little Ann looked up at the sky, sniffing. "All I want to do is…go home!" She turned over on her side.

"Why do you want to go home? Don't you like it here?"

Ann blinked through her tears, the figure in front of her blurred. "Uh…*sniff* huh…"

"I've been watching you. You're the new girl on that farm, huh?"
"Yeah," Ann croaked, her face sticky with drying tears.

"I wanna go back too. I liked the city a lot." The boy in front of her bent to his knees, then lay down beside her. "Did you like the city?"
"Yeah…"
"I liked it….but it was so noisy. I like being able to think…I like to be able to work in quiet, but…" the boy sighed. "No one likes what I make."

"Why don't you show me something you made?"
"Okay…as long as you play with me for as long as you're here…and you promise to come back someday."
"I promise.

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Intro! I promise I will not continue it if no one likes it. Really.