Conflicting Loves
Chapter 3: Touring A Wonderful Life
A/N: There was something said at Mage's funeral on Monday that told me what the future would bring me. "She touched each and every one of us in ways that nobody would be able to do again. Now that she has left us, we have to remember her touch and continue with her heart next to our own. That is the way that she would want it." So, I'm back, still heavy hearted, but I am doing this for her. It is what she would have wanted.
(-)
Nami had been right about Jack needing to get to work. After stumbling through the darkness of the early morning, Jack managed to locate what he assumed was his father's farm. The fields were completely barren, looking as if they had yet to be touched since the snow of winter melted away. One field was completely overgrown with grass, or maybe that was supposed to be a pasture? There wasn't even a pond to place fish in. Jack wasn't sure about anything; it just looked so completely different than Gramps' farm back in Mineral Town.
Jack's little self provided tour of the grounds led him to discovering the existence of one healthy cow. "So you are all that's left of my father's work?" Jack stated, rather to himself than to the cow. It would just be crazy to talk to cows. Like they understand what you're saying. But, it would help pass by the countless hours spent alone on the farm.
Jack was kneeling down beside the grown cow, wondering exactly how she had managed to survive with nobody taking care of her. It even looked as if somebody had milked her already today. "Now, how did that happen?" Jack thought out loud, realizing that he had just broken his resolution not to speak with the animals. He gave it a week, max, before he went insane.
"I was the one who milked Ol' Betsy." A gruff voice announced. Jack jumped at the sound of the voice, clearly not expecting to have company. The young farmer turned to face the newcomer. Standing at the door of the barn was a hunched over elderly man who resembled the trainer from the Rocky series of movies. He even wore the same grumpy expression on his face. "You must be Jack, I presume." The hunchback declared, holding out a dirt covered hand towards Jack.
Jack hesitantly shook the stranger's hand, wondering who it could possibly be that was intruding on his new property. "Yup, that's me." Suddenly, it hit him. "Oh! You must be the guy father hired to replace me when I moved to Mineral Town! Takakura, wasn't it? Pleasure to finally meet you."
A tiny crack of a smile emerged through the cover of wrinkles. Takakura placed a warm hand on Jack's shoulder, guiding him out of the barn. "Your father told me so much about you. I already feel as if I know you."
Jack blushed slightly from embarrassment, nervously scratching his head as he smiled jokingly. He wasn't used to getting praise from complete strangers. "So, my father told you about all of the good times, eh?"
"No, he told me how much of a pain you were as a kid." Takakura deadpanned, wiping the grin of Jack's face. The elderly man wasted to time in getting straight to business. "I see that you took the liberty of giving yourself a tour of the grounds. All that remains is to show you the tool shed and your house. There are some seeds in the tool shed that'll help start you off." Takakura pointed to the two buildings as he stated their purposes.
"Anything else that I should know before I get started?" Jack asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. Working on a farm by himself wouldn't be nearly as hard as he had thought.
Takakura looked at the surrounding area and shook his head. "Nope, that's everything for the farm. I'll take you to meet the villagers in a few hours. It's too early for most of them to be awake."
Jack nodded his head in understanding. He probably should have been tired, but his body was used to this time. But, that was across the ocean where his biological clock was set to the local time. It was the complete opposite here compared to what he was used to. Night was day and vice versa. In a few days, he might have slept in enough to reprogram himself to wake up at decent times. But at the moment, he was wide awake.
Takakura had already vanished off towards the far offs hills, leaving Jack alone o figure out how to work. Jack headed towards the tool shed, taking his assistant's advice. He easily located the heavy tools that were left over as well as the few packs of seeds left behind. "Wow, two bags of tomato seeds. This will help me so much." Jack murmured sarcastically as he loaded the items into his rucksack.
Now, Jack understood some things about soil conditions, so he figured out that the field furthest away from the house was the best spot to plant the seeds. Jack hauled out his gardening hoe and tilled up two three by three squares not far apart from each other. He stood in the center of one of the squares, reaching his hand into one of the bags. The farmer proceeded to toss the seeds into the air, just as he had done when he had helped back in Mineral Town. This process was repeated with the second square.
You could imagine his surprise and confusion when he stepped off the field and turned around to look at his handiwork. "What the…" Jack cursed when he looked at the two nearly empty squares that he had tilled up. Only the central squares had seeds planted. "Looks like the seed bags here only hold enough for one plot. Stupid seeds."
Jack stood there, wondering what he should do with the empty plots. A tiny little plant near the field caught Jack's eye, drawing the farmer over. "Some sort of herb." Jack thought, adding the tiny herb to his rucksack. "Maybe I'll find some sort of book that tells me what it is inside the house." On the way over to the small building that served as a house, Jack located another one of the strange plants.
A pair of high pitched barks forced Jack to stop and turn around. A pair of young puppies were following closely behind the farmer. "Hey there, pups." Jack welcomed warmly. The dogs barked in reply. "Are you guys strays or are you part of the farm?" Once again, the puppies barked in unison.
The farmer considered the two dogs, wondering what he should do with the duo. They looked fairly similar except one was a bit paler, with pointed ears and was wearing a red bandana around his neck. "I think I'll keep both of you. Welcome to the family, A and B." We'll just say that Jack wasn't the greatest at thinking about names for his pets. The darks barked again, apparently agreeing to their new names and new home.
Jack left the dogs to explore their new home as he entered his. The building was furnished rather lavishly, with more than enough stuff to keep Jack happy. He was instantly drawn to the television, but decided against turning on the brain drain device. There was also an old record player, which had been modified into a radio. Jack turned on the radio and a familiar voice boomed over the airwaves. "Now, we've had a few callers say that what we are doing to Jack is unfair, so we shall quit our programming. But, first we have one more song dedicated to him."
Once again, the haunting sounds of that song that Elli had dedicated to Jack came floating out of the speakers. "Stupid radio with stupid songs." Jack cursed as he switched off the device.
Besides, books were much more appealing to Jack than music. There was a large bookcase, stuffed full of various texts. Jack made his way over to the case, scanning the titles. He located a book entitled "Plants of Forget-Me-Not Valley". It looked very similar to the novels written by Basil back in Mineral Town. Jack opened up the book, flipping thru the pages to find a picture matching the plant that he found.
After several minutes of distraction caused by the dogs outside, Jack finally located the correct page, which happened to be the second page. "Healing herb which alleviates hunger when eaten. Found in spring all around the Valley. Can be sold for a tiny amount of money. Money! To the shipping bin we go!" Jack announced purposely heading outside.
Takakura was back, obviously none too pleased with the fact that there were two new dogs as part of the farm. Jack approached the withered man and calmly asked, "Where's the shipping bin?"
A rusty laugh escaped the mouth of Takakura. "Shipping bin! We don't have any of those around here. Everything we produce is sold in town, or at the market."
"So I have to hold onto everything I find around here? That's stupid." Jack scoffed.
"That's right." Takakura nodded his head in agreement. One of the puppies was barking madly at Takakura's heels. The elderly man was trying his hardest to ignore the annoying creature, but he wasn't doing to well.
"I take it you don't like dogs." Jack joked.
Takakura grunted slightly. "No, I like dogs; just not puppies. They bark too much. On another subject, how about I introduce you to the people around town now?"
Jack nodded his head in agreement. The idea seemed like a good idea. Jack needed to find some new friends and having someone introduce him to the villagers would be really helpful. Takakura motioned for Jack to follow him as he walked towards the exit of the farm.
The first place that Jack and Takakura stopped at was a place called Inner Inn. It was the same building that Nami had headed towards when they arrived in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Jack wondered if Nami was still hanging around the building, wanting to strike up another conversation with the red-headed girl. There was something about Nami that had Jack intrigued.
Takakura introduced Jack to the friendly couple who ran the Inn, Tim and Ruby. Jack didn't really pay much attention to the introductions, instead looking up at the window on the second floor. The window was open and Jack could see Nami moving about on the inside. "So Jack, what are you interested in?" Ruby was asking.
"Huh? Oh, ah… uhm, yeah." Jack fumbled, his mind clearly distracted by the sight of the beautiful girl. Takakura followed Jack's gaze, also noticing Nami and smiled a bit. This was working perfectly for following the tradition. Master Jack already had a crush on one of the girls. Takakura stepped in for Jack, asking about the girl for him, "I hear that a new girl is visiting Forget-Me-Not Valley and is staying at your Inn."
Tim nodded his head in response, "She came by earlier this morning. Didn't say much to us, just that she wanted a room and her name was Nami. Don't even know how long she's going to be staying here."
It was at that exact moment that Nami was exiting the Inn. Instantly clueing in to the fact that the conversation was about her, she decided that it would be best if she tried to sneak away. But, Jack had caught sight of her. "Hey, Nami…" He began, only to be quickly silenced by Nami. "You talk too much." She stated coolly, heading off towards the other buildings in town.
Takakura shook his head, suddenly realizing that his early assumption as to the possible relationship between Jack and Nami was going to be much harder to achieve than one with one of the other girls. He bid farewell to Tim and Ruby, pulling Jack with him as they walked over to the next building. There, Jack was introduced to Griffin and Muffy, a very attractive blond, who didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to flirt with the young farmer.
Unfortunately, Jack didn't seem to take the same interest in Muffy as he did with Nami. He made polite conversation with the seductress, but did not falter under the flirtatious eyelash flutters that Muffy gave him. Takakura noticed the lack of attraction between the pair, coming mostly from Jack though, so he decided to end the conversation for them.
After introducing a few of the other villagers, Takakura led Jack to the other farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Surely Jack would find a compatible match in a fellow farmer. Takakura knew that Vesta, the owner of the farm, was trying her hardest to find someone for Celia to marry. He also knew that Celia was looking for honest, hard working guys, so Jack met her standards fairly well.
Once again, Jack didn't seem interested. There was a greater level of compatibility between these two youths, but it didn't quite match what was there between Jack and Nami. Jack was going to be for a hard future if he was going to successfully court Nami.
Takakura's fears were worsened considerably when he witnessed Jack's action later on in the day. The young farmer, once finished with his farm work, had gone off to collect flowers. Takakura watched as Jack searched through the village for Nami, finally locating the redhead near the little pond. Jack presented the flower to Nami, who considered the gift with a strange look before refusing to accept it.
Jack stumbled back up to the farm, obviously shocked that his gift had been shot down. "I'm in trouble." He admitted, "The only thing I've ever given girls is flowers, and Nami hates them."
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A/N: Although I am back, I'm not sure if I'm totally back. I felt really off writing this chapter, mostly because it was the result of five or six sittings, each one only committing a few hundred words. Every time I sat down to write, I thought about her. I know that this is what she wants me to do, but I just can't do it right now. I'll keep trying until I return to my true form. At least one good thing has arisen from all of this. I've got a new signature that will mark the end of every chapter I submit on this site. Here it is. Dedicated to the loving memory of Mage.