Chapter 1 – New Town Jitters

Sage sat on the bus going from Zuzu City, rubbing her hands over the key her grandfather had left her. It had been a few years since his passing and only a week since she reached her breaking point at Joja. She thought back to that last day, just hours before being able to clock out for the day.

Her supervisor stood at the edge of her cubicle, talking about how she needed to pick up her pace if she wanted off the ground floor. She would have started off of the ground floor part of the corporation if she had gotten her bachelor's degree instead of just her associate degree, but she didn't mention this to the short man berating her on her current work output.

"… and you really should think about putting in extra hours! That would really make you a shoo-in for that promotion." He gave Sage a toothy grin before another man walked over and slapped a hand on his back.

The two walked off lost in a new conversation about a golf game she had no interest in. She looked at the picture she had set as her computer background. An old photo of her, her parents, and her grandpa on his old farm. She was maybe seven and sporting a large grin, missing several front teeth. Her parents hadn't looked as happy as she did, but her grandpa had a matching grin and a hand on her head.

She looked down and over to the drawer that held her grandpa's letter. She had never opened it, the loss of her grandpa had hit her harder than anyone else in the family. She gingerly picked it up, turned it around, and looked at the seal holding it shut. Gently picking it off, she opened up the letter.

Now, a week later, she was on her way to his old farm. Wildflower Meadows was what her grandfather had called it. She hoped some of his beloved flowers stuck around through the seasons, but she knew better than to expect too much.

"I really hope this place isn't too overgrown," she muttered to herself, "I haven't done any weeding in years."

The guy sitting in front of her turned slightly as if wondering if she had directed the words to him before returning to his original position. She shook her head slightly and went back to running her fingers along the bus ticket.

0.0.0

Sage stepped off the bus and looked around. The Pelican Town bus stop was overgrown with dandelions and bushes. She walked to the main road and out of years-old muscle memory made a right-hand turn. From behind her, she heard a woman's voice yell "wait for me!"

"You," she stopped and bent over trying to catch her breath, "you must be Sage! Good to meet you! I'm Robin, the local carpenter! Also, the one Lewis talked into showing you to the farm." Robin said the last part under her breath, but Sage giggled at it.

"Hi, Robin! I appreciate the help, but I think I remember how to get there." Robin looked her up and down, taking in the few bags she was dragging with her.

"Let me help you with your bags, at least! I have to say, I'm also curious as to the state of the old farm!" Robin gestured to her bags. Sage shrugged and smiled.

She shrugged off a bag and handed it over before starting down the road again, now with Robin at her side. Robin made pleasant small talk about the bus ride and the weather until they arrived at the farm. It was in rough shape and Sage held back a grimace. It was nothing like her childhood memories, but it had also been over a decade since she visited last.

An old man wearing a tragic hat waved at them. "Hello, Sage! I'm Mayor Lewis and you've already met Robin! Welcome to your farm! Are you going to keep its old name?"

Sage stepped backward in response to the old man's loud voice. He was almost too excited. "Yeah, I suppose so. I'd also like to get started today if I could, so," She paused, hoping the pair would take the hint.

Robin was the first to notice the awkward air that had settled in and nodded slightly as if hearing Sage's internal groaning. "All right, Lewis, we'd better head out to get our own days started. Sage, let us know if we can do anything to help and come visit me when you decide to upgrade this old place!" She finished with a wink.

Grateful for the help, Sage smiled back at Robin. As the two turned to leave, Sage turned too. The old farmhouse looked pretty much how she remembered it but her worries were about the inside more than the exterior. She made her way to the door, put her grandpa's key into it, and opened the place.

The door groaned, and she stepped in. There was old furniture covered in plastic tarps and a surprising lack of bugs around. She looked around for any cleaning supplies that may have been left and her eyes settled on a broom.

Getting to work, she removed the plastic wraps and started sweeping. Dropping everything in the garbage outside, she thought to herself, ' this isn't too bad. A bed, table, old tv, and farm tools. I can make this work.'

0.0.0

With the inside of the house cleaned as well as it could be without a trip to the store, Sage picked up some of the farm tools and inspected them. They were looking a little rough, but they should work just fine until she could get them fixed up. She could just buy a new set if it hadn't been for having to pay her way out of her Zuzu apartment lease.

Stepping outside, she saw that her mailbox flag was raised. She pondered the mail system in such a small town but walked over to check it out. Inside was a small note from Lewis saying that he forgot to give her a few starting packs of seeds. Flipping the seed packets over, the picture on the front was of parsnips.

Shrugging, she tucked them into her pocket and set about checking out her farm. It felt odd to think of it as her farm, but she shrugged off the feeling and started walking. Her head began to hurt at the idea of having to tame the land surrounding her. Trees, large bundles of grass, sticks, and rocks had taken over the farm in her grandpa's absence. Her absence, she thought. She was the one given the farm and the one who hadn't taken care of it after his passing.

'I may be in over my head here,' she thought, stepping over a log, 'this is going to hurt. I'm in the worst possible shape for this.'

Sage was fairly tall, at about 5'9", and was toned from jogs she took around the city. This work, however, would require a whole different set of muscles. As she finished this thought, she made her way back to the entrance of the farm. She set to work on the patch of land right in front of the house seeing as it would make for the easiest part to clean up. Just a few trees, some branches, and stones.

As she set to work on the first of the trees, she considered the idea that she may have made a huge mistake.

"How in the name of Yoba am I supposed to chop down this tree!" she kicked at it with her boot, only a few sad chops in.

"Probably with the ax and not your foot." Sage quickly turned on her heel, seeing a group of three standing by her mailbox. The one that spoke was a girl with the most otherworldly purple hair and a smirk on her face.

She looked at the other two, a man in all black, slouching behind his friends, and another man with golden hair and a large smile. Sage raised her hand meekly, her sad attempt at a wave with how bad her arms already felt.

"So, uh, I'm Sage. New farmer. As you may have been able to tell." She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She was so awkward it hurt her heart and her stomach twisted. What an introduction.

"I'm Sam, this is Abigail, and this is Sebastian! We heard from Sebastian's mom that you arrived and thought we'd come to say hi! We don't get new people around often so we wanted to be the first to invite you out tonight!"

"Oh, yeah, okay, I can do that probably." She waved her hand behind her, "Depends on how much I'm able to get done on this tonight."

The trio looked at each other and nodded. Sage couldn't help but notice the was Abigail made extra eye contact with Sebastian and the light blush that found his cheeks in return. 'That's cute,' she thought to herself, 'they definitely look like they could be a couple. I wonder if blondie is dating anyone."

She shook that last thought out of her head and just as she got over the thought, Abigail opened her mouth to talk. "Well, we're gonna leave you to it then! Good luck! Meet us at the Stardrop later tonight if you can! I'd love to see if you're better at pool than Sam is!" She laughed as Sam made a groaning noise and Sebastian smiled slightly.

The trio turned to leave and bickered amongst themselves about how Sam would beat Sebastian tonight. Right before they left eyesight, Sam turned around as if sensing her eyes still on them.

"You gotta come! The farm will still be around tomorrow, you know!" His eyes sparkled slightly as he said it and she knew her decision was made for her. She waved, better than the first time, and turned back around to look at the tree.

"All right, you're coming down, I've got plans." And she swung the ax one more time, with a loud chop the tree swayed before crashing down.

Thanks for giving my story a chance! I'm not going to stick 100% to the game script and I'm going to be making some changes here and there! Please let me know what you think! 3