Alright, This is my second one-shot posted. Second entry ever actually. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon
Be My Partner
Mysbe stepped off the boat and took a deep breath.
"Finally, clean air!" she smiled. That ad in the newspaper was a smart choice and one she did not think she would find herself easily regretting. "Now just to find my farm." She glanced around the beach seeing a beautifully kept building. She would have called it a shack but it sounded degrading next to the care put into keeping it in shape. Her bright silver eyes rested on the stairs that lead farther into town and she grinned before heading off. The square was empty except for three older women in the corner who stopped their gossiping to glance at the new visitor. Mysbe smiled and waved in greeting not noticing the looks of confusion of their faces as they returned to their gossip with a new vigor. Looking around she found three paths, one leading straight in front of her to a large building she assumed to be an Inn, the right path led to a elegantly simple church and the left to a ranch. Quickly going down the path to the ranch she noticed how it was occupied and continued on towards a chicken farm. She waved in greeting to the young man in the chicken pen who waved back with a slight frown on his face. Mysbe took note of how he removed his glasses, cleaning them before trying to look at her again. Confused herself she just smiled and continued on her way to the farm next door.
Entering the farm she found it to be in complete despair. The field was in ruins and several of the buildings looked like they could barely stand up. She glanced around with a slight sigh.
"Of course it wouldn't be as good as the ad said. I should have expected that." She found the shack, this building much more suitable to the name, which was to be her new home. "Now the realtor said I should find my key in the mailbox," she mumbled to herself opening the rusty, dull red mailbox placed next to the house. She frowned when she found it to be empty. "Okay," she closed it before continuing to gaze at the house. "Am I sure she said mailbox? Maybe it was under the mat," she quickly discarded the mat question when she found there was no welcome mat. "Well now what?" she asked herself. "Maybe I should ask the mayor. Thomas was it?"
"Hey!" Mysbe glanced towards the direction of the voice. It was the young man she had spoken to earlier. He waved her over. She came over leaning on the fence separating her property from his.
"Hi, can I help you?" she asked. He smiled fixing the white headband holding back his red hair.
"Actually, I thought I could help you. If you're looking for Claire, I believe she went down to the supermarket." Mysbe raised an eyebrow brushing back some of her black hair that came loose from her ponytail.
"Who is Claire?" He stared back at her silent for a moment.
"She owns the farm."
"Umm, no. I own the farm."
Claire began walking back checking her rucksack to make sure she got the right amount of seeds.
"Ok, four bags of turnips, four bags of potatoes and four bags of grass seeds so I can prepare for livestock. That should be enough for now right?" She returned the rucksack to her back removing her blonde hair so it wouldn't get pulled. Returning her blue eyes ahead of her she recognized Rick the poultry farmer talking to a young woman across her fence. Why was this girl on her farmland? Approaching closer she began to hear a little bit of their conversation.
"She owns the farm," she heard Rick reply confused by something the dark haired girl had said. The girl moved some of her hair back and replied,
"Umm, no. I own the farm." Claire stopped walking dumbfounded as to why this girl would think she owned Sunny Ranch.
"Umm, hello?" Claire finally called out approaching the two from outside her farm.
"Hey, Claire." She returned the greeting before taking in the new girl. She had long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail by a red scarf. A vivid red jacket covered a black tanktop and she wore dark baggy jeans. She wore red and black gloves on her hands and her arms were crossed with her silver eyes slightly narrowed in concentration examinging her back. Claire subconsciously wiped her hands on her faded blue overalls before fixing the collar of her white plaid shirt.
"So, I overheard you say that you owned the farm?" she questioned. The girl nodded before rummaging through her black rucksack and pulling out some type of receipt. Claire carefully took the paper from her hands. She discovered that her name was Mysbe and that this paper did indeed say she owned the farm.
"Mysbe, will you follow me for a second?" Claire asked waving goodbye to Rick. Mysbe nodded taking back her receipt and followed Claire inside her home. Claire pulled a blue binder off her bookshelf and took out a very similar piece of paper and handed it to her. Mysbe took the paper and read it curiously. "I think we should talk to the Mayor about this." Mysbe nodded returning the paper to her and they headed to Mayor Thomas's house. They got there just as he was leaving. He smiled broadly at seeing Claire, the young woman who finally decided to take the pathetic looking ranch.
"Claire! How good it is to see you. How is the farm coming?" Claire shot him a glare still not too happy about the scam he had played before. The mayor backed up remembering the frightening encounter with her hammer when he revealed the truth about the ad.
"Do you care to explain why there are two owners for the same ranch?" she asked producing both her and Mysbe's deeds. Mayor Thomas frowned taking both papers. He looked up at both angry girls.
"I honestly had nothing to do with it." He replied holding his hands up. "I only sold the farm to you Claire."
"Then who sold the farm to me?" Mysbe asked getting irritated wondering if her coming to Mineral Town was going to be a wild goose chase and she would come out with nothing.
"It looks like some other realtor. Oh! You bought it the day after Claire did." Mysbe and Claire watched him.
"And?" they asked together. Mayor Thomas flushed.
"I must have forgotten to tell them the farm was already sold." He looked away unable to meet the furious girl's gaze.
"Wonderful. Well since the farm has been given away already I might as well head home." she sighed. Claire stood there for a moment watching Mysbe's retreating back.
"Hey Mysbe!" Mysbe turned around her silver eyes glinting in the sunlight.
"The farm is in pretty bad shape. And since you've already bought it as well, do you mind being my partner?" Mysbe watched her silently. Claire could see the slight excitement in her eyes at the suggestion. Mysbe finally smiled and nodded.
"Sounds good to me," Claire smiled back and gestured for Mysbe to walk back with her.
"Since the shack only holds one, one of us needs to sleep at the Inn until we can upgrade."
"So, who is going?" Mysbe asked sensing a friendly argument.