Hi there, Harvest Moon fandom! Nice to meet y'all. Long story short, I am absolutely obsessed with Animal Parade. I've owned it about three times, but sadly bad things ended up happening to either the console or the game itself and I never really got to play it. But this year I finally managed to play through the game past the first week of spring and um... I'm in love with Chase. I got inspired to write a fic which rarely happens nowadays because I'm a binch who never finishes stories but I hope you guys enjoy this little passion project that has literally no direction oh god what am I even doing? ~Shaymie


Angela

"A farm? You two are starting a farm?"

Kasey burst out in drunken laughter as he looked between his two sisters. Molly's face went red from embarrassment. Angela's was red from a different reason, her eyes narrowing as she stared down her twin. Just because he was content living in this rotting house doesn't mean that he can crap all over them for wanting to do something with their lives. She couldn't stay here anymore. This house held nothing but bad memories.

"It's not funny, Kasey! We're being serious here! Can you please be just a little bit supportive?"

"It's a ridiculous idea." Kasey ran his finger along the rim of his glass and looked up at Angela with bloodshot eyes. "You two don't know the first thing about running a farm and you want to move to some island and start one on a whim? Ange, you don't have the patience to run a farm and Molls is..."

"I'm doing better now," Molly protested, her voice barely above a whisper. Kasey's eyes softened slightly at his baby sister. Angela was still heated. She knew she could be a bit negative, but Kasey took it to a totally new level. Ever since their father passed in that work accident, it's like he's a completely different person now.

"Why don't you come with us if you're so worried about us failing?" Kasey turned his drunken gaze to Angela, a scowl on his face. She kept her expression steady. She couldn't back down now. Like it or not, they could actually use his help. He had a degree in environmental science after all. "Come on, Kase, it'll be fun!"

"I'd hardly call taking over a decrepit old farm fun. How'd you even find out about this place?" Molly slid over the pamphlet she had been offered at the mall. Kasey blinked at it in disbelief. To him, it probably looked like a scam. Even Angela had thought so until she called the number on the bottom. Hamilton, the guy on the phone and the mayor of Harmonica Town, said it was completely legit. They had been trying to find a buyer for months and decided to spread their search to the mainland.

It was obvious Kasey still had his doubts, but nothing he said would change their minds.

Angela was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. She closed the book she hadn't really been reading and smiled as Molly walked into the room, basket in hand. She spent a majority of her free time hunting for berries to use in her baking, checking in on the farm occasionally to make sure the animals were doing alright. The sisters had quickly discovered that fieldwork was too much for Molly after she passed out while they were prepping the land. So instead she was in charge of the animals.

It was an awkward start at first. Kasey was right, they didn't know what they were doing. Molly was good at dealing with pets, but farm animals were a completely different ball game. They seemed to be immune to her charms and had an attitude to rival Kasey's. Angela had underestimated how hard farm work really was. She spent most nights soaking in a warm bath to soothe her aching muscles. She thought it would be easy once the seeds were planted, but lugging around that heavy watering can was tougher than it looked.

"I saw Luke in the forest. He offered to do some repairs around the house if you could get the lumber." Molly's voice was barely audible over the rushing water from the sink as she washed the raspberries she had gathered. Angela looked up at the roof, towards the spot they had haphazardly covered with a tarp. It wouldn't be much help in a storm. It barely even helped when it rained.

"The hell I look like, a lumberjack?" She blew her bangs out of her face with a sigh. "What kind of carpenters don't supply their own material? We're not all jacked up himbos!"

"Angie! Don't be rude!"

"Come on, you know it's true. That guy's dumber than a bucket of nails." Molly shook her head with a small huff, her curly hair fanning out slightly. Luke wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was fun to hang around and easy to talk to. Angela found herself becoming fast friends with him and spent most nights with him at the bar. It was a bit of a surprise to find that she could hold her liquor better than him. Kathy, the waitress at the bar, seemed relieved to have someone else to handle him when he had too much to drink.

They had been worried about being treated like outsiders, but the people on the island were surprisingly welcoming. The hospitality was almost enough to make Angela forget about how much she missed her life in the city. She missed the hustle and bustle, the chaos and the noise. She missed spending nights out at the club with her friends and flirting with random strangers. Reina complained about losing her favorite clubbing buddy to "a bunch of country hicks". Angela had rolled her eyes at that and promised to visit the first chance she got. Video calls just weren't the same, especially since connection on the island was spotty at best.

She got up from her seat and returned the book to the bookshelf. It was sparse, most of the books in the family having belonged to Kasey. Granted, most of them were old textbooks. He was the only one in the family to graduate college, after all. Molly dropped out in her first year, while Angela never attended to begin with. She bit back a sigh at the reminder of her brother. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted him here. It didn't feel right being split up like this.

He had promised to find a way to convince his boss into giving him more vacation time so he could visit. She just had to hope that his self-proclaimed "silver tongue" worked in his favor for once.