Chapter 2. I hope to move things along quickly! Introducing is going to take quite awhile...
Claire breathed in and out slowly, before opening her mouth to yell atrocities at the mayor.
"What the heck is this supposed to be?"
"Ahh..well," the mayor nervously wiped his brow with his red handkerchief and continued, "The old farmer who lived here died, and we were supposed to give this farm to the heir mentioned in his will. Sadly, the heir never responded, and we need the income from the farm so we decided to advertise it in newspapers.. and you called in so this is what you get."
"You're kidding me, right?" Claire surveyed the field once more and glared down at the midget standing in front of her. "You expect me to live here?"
The mayor meekly nodded while glancing at Claire reaching into her bag, what..what was that she was pulling out?! A watering can? A hammer? A projectile weapon!?
"Fine." Claire pulled out a pen and looked meaninglessly at the mayor. "Where's the contract?"
Instantly perking up, Thomas pulled out a few sheets of paper from you-know-where and presented them to Claire. "Just sign here and here, and this farm is yours."
Quickly flipping through the pages without showing much interest to the actual subject, Claire scribbled her name onto the places indicated. "No last name..? Well, alright. Please meet the other villagers before you do anything else; there has already been a lot of rumors about you." Thomas stuffed the papers back into that-place and walked briskly away towards the exit.
"So, I guess I'm left with this mess..." Claire brushed her bangs to the side and suddenly shouted, releasing all the pent up anger she earned from conversing with the mayor.
"What the hell is this crap?! I'm supposed to live like this for how long?! Why did I give up everything?!" She violently kicked a brown object on the ground before it suddenly whimpered.
"Wha-? Ah! I'm sorry!" Claire suddenly noticed the brown puppy looking up at her with pain in it's big brown eyes. It whimpered once again, backing away slowly from her.
"Here, here. I'm sorry...I didn't mean it!" The blonde gently picked up the puppy and rubbed it's stomach, then kissing it's forehead. She then walked towards the shack she was meant to call home.
There was a musty smell in the air and it was extremely damp in the closed area. Claire placed the pup down and cracked open a window, letting light fill the dark space. There was a bed in the corner, a table in the center of the room, and a TV against the wall. At least it would provide basic living functions, thought Claire.
"Where's the bathroom?" She said this thought out loud, shocked that she may possibly have to use a outhouse. What a terrifying thought! She glanced up disgustedly at the 'home' in front of her and sighed deeply. Claire rolled up her sleeves and violently ripped her bag open, searching for work clothes. She pulled out a overall, and decided it would work for the time being.
x
"We don't get much visitors these days!" Zack yelled loudly over the crashing waves, "So where you coming from?"
"Oh, the city."
"What's it like where you come from?" Zack glanced over at his talking companion, noting that he was extremely healthy looking.
"It's quite loud and overall, very fun. But, I've decided to go to Mineral Town to try something new." There was a tone of lying behind this reply, but Zack decided not to question it. Zack looked once again at the visitor, who was mesmerized by the waves. He decided it was a bad moment to continue talking, so he kept quiet.
x
Claire walked down bravely towards the first building she saw when she stepped through the exit of her farm. She entered quietly, closing the door behind her. Brushing her bangs aside, she faced an elderly man.
"Can I help you?" The man had a rough edge in his voice as he spoke.
"I'm the new farmer, you know, the farm nearby?" Claire slightly trembled as she spoke.
"Ah, yes. Thomas did say a new farmer was to be arriving soon. Nice to meet you, my name is Saibara." Although his tone did become friendlier, he still sounded gruff.
"I'm Claire." Peering around the giant stove, she spotted a hat. "And you are...?"
"I'm Gray." The connection between him and Saibara was obvious; both had very cold voices.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Gray." Claire was slowly regaining her confidence and smiled brightly when she was met with Gray, someone who was probably more nervous than her.
"We sell all the tools you need to use at your farm. We can upgrade tools and make accessories, so if you find any ores from the mines, stop by." Claire took this as a cue to go, "Alright. I hope to see you soon!" She walked out and closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief. She was glad that that went smoothly, but now to face the rest of the village.
She turned and strolled down the road, until all of a sudden, a chicken shot straight out from a building diagonal from her, flapping it's wings and causing a very loud commotion. Claire froze up due to fear, but quickly regained her senses and grabbed the chicken.
"Thank you!" A girl ran towards Claire, reaching her arms out to receive the chicken.
"You're welcome?" Claire stared at the girl's hair, it was very distinct. Bright pink, and curly, it looked really pretty on the girl in front of her. She placed the chicken into the girl's waiting arms.
The girl smiled happily, her cheeks tinted pink. "I haven't seen you around! Are you the new farmer? My name's Popuri!"
Claire nodded her head slowly, this friendliness was something new to her. "Yes, I'm Claire."
"I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to bring this chicken back to Rick! Come visit! We sell chickens and feed for them, so if you ever need eggs you can come on over!" Popuri's bubbliness overwhelmed Claire but, remembering her manners, she grinned and said, "Yes, I will, soon."
Popuri just smiled once again, her bubblegum hair bouncing up and down as she waved and walked towards the store.
That was..relatively overwhelming. Claire shrugged off the thought, and continued down the road.
Characters from Harvest Moon do not belong to me. ;_;