p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Fingers brushing over the crisp magnolia envelope in her hand, the world outside the car window flying by in a blur of evergreen and mountainous This definitely isn't ZuZu City/em, murmured the woman staring wide eyed into the distance. Having been unceremoniously booted from her coach in the Calico Desert, due to 'budget cuts' meaning her new town had no bus service, she had had to call for a taxi from a small shack selling all manner of goods, manned by a tanned goddess with thick, magenta hair. Her own dark locks paled in comparison to such /"Miss?" The taxi driver called. "This is Pelican Town."/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"She looked out the window to see… a bus stop. Grumbling as she forked out 50g for her taxi, the woman grabbed her two suitcases from the boot of the taxi and heaved her way to the /"This is it…" she said to herself, eyes wide with anticipation. "This is the start of my new life!"/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"The feeling of a wet nose pushed into her face woke Nora from her dream. The expectant eyes of her dog, Bramble, stared back, and she pushed herself back up onto her elbows. Stretching, she stood and made her way to the bathroom, eyes flickering to the window hoping emsomething/em had grown. She hated farming. Fond memories as a child spent running around these vast fields with her brother were being quickly replaced with the harsh reality that she had no clue what she was doing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"After filling Bramble's bowl, Nora's own stomach rumbled. emThere's nothing for me to eat today/em she groaned internally; the last bit of bread she had eaten the night before. It was spring, and whilst her bank account still sat at a pretty 1000g, Nora did not want to spend that just yet. It was her lifeline away from her Grandfather's overgrown farm./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Despite having lived here for almost week, she had not made much effort in getting to know the townspeople, nor to speak involve herself any more than the occasional hello and purchasing of an item. The only reason Nora was here was to settle something quite serious./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Something to the tune of 2 million gold./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"In her parent's will, they had outlined that if her or her brother managed to successfully revive the farm her Grandfather had spent his entire life working on, both her and her brother would receive their parent's fortunes. Until then, the finances of her parent's multimillion company was in the control of a trust fund. It made sense for Nora to relocate to Pelican Town, take over the lease, and her brother Michael to remain in ZuZu City with his wife and soon to be born son and oversee operations. Despite her suggestions that the country air would be good to bring up a child, his wife Cassandra objected obtusely. Thus, it fell upon the younger of the two to up and move 150 miles away to inherit her fortune. She had other reasons to leave too, but the thought of divulging any information to the locals made her skin crawl. It didn't matter anyway – how was she meant to run a successful farm if she couldn't even grow a potato!/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Letting Bramble out into the fields, the retriever cantered to the other end of the field, nose deep in the mud, before lifting his head and emBOOF/em. He sounded the alarm as Nora turned and saw Mayor Lewis walking up the path towards her, from the direction of the forest to the south. emWeird/em, thought Nora, emI swear Mayor Lewis lives in town?/em/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""Good morning, Miss Nora!" Lewis greeted warmly. Nora smiled back. She may not want to get attached to these people, but they were all nice enough./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""Good morning, Lewis. What brings you here?" She asked, watching his bug eyes flit across her dead field./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""Just thought I would come and let you know about the Egg Festival tomorrow!" he grinned, moustache bouncing with every word he spoke. "I've also noticed I've not seen you about in town, so I thought I would invite you as a guest of honour – many townspeople have been looking forward to meet you!"br /"That's very kind of you," Nora smiled, "but I don't have a chicken yet, or anything of that matter…."br /Mayor Lewis threw his head back in a /"You don't need a chicken to participate in the Egg Festival! It's more a bit of fun for the kiddies and a chance to catch up!" He then turned his head, seeing the lack of anything in the field at all./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""My dear, you do know you need to water seeds, yes?"/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"After Lewis left, Nora drenched the seeds in water, and tentatively held the rusty axe in her hands, staring at the mass of branches, logs and trees that permeated her fields. With Bramble safely inside, she set to the debris with vigour, clearing a good chunk of the mess before noon. There was no way she was going to get her money if she didn't put any effort in, and felt she made good progress when she stopped to get a drink of water when the sun was at its highest. After a quick break, she emptied her backpack and headed to the mountains, determined to find something she could eat./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Nora sighed as dandelions and daffodils filled her backpack. Whilst sellable, she had hoped for something she could eat herself. Before long, she would have to brave the Saloon in town for some more bread. Staring at how low the sun was sitting now, her plan of not meeting many townspeople for the time being was coming to an even more premature end. Returning back to the farm, she placed the foraged goods into the shipping bin, before quickly showering and drying her hair. She did not want her first impression on the villagers to be covered in sweat and muck, and as she chucked on a clean pair of jeans and a sweater against the cold spring air, she headed out into the darkness towards Pelican Town./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"The walk was over soon enough, and after staring at the door to the Saloon, Nora pushed past the door and into the warm, fuzzy atmosphere./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"All eyes in the room were on her. People were staring and whispering. Making her way straight to the bar, she ordered a salad and some bread, and perched on a stool. The barmaid who had served her some bread a few days ago, a girl with shocking electric blue hair and one of the kindest smiles she had seen anyone ever have, hurried off to fetch the order whilst the moustachioed man smiled deeply as the chatter in the room returned, though this time peppered with comments about the new presence in the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""The name's Gus." He introduced himself, filling a beer glass and handing it /"I didn't order a drink" Nora quickly tried to defend herself, not wanting to risk dipping even deeper into her emergency money./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""It's on the house, welcome to town."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Nora took the glass with both hands drank deeply, her first taste of beer in over a week was sweet and crisp as the earthy flavour took over her senses. The barmaid brought over her order, and Nora shoved the loaf of bread into her backpack before digging into the salad. With the amount of people in the bar tonight, she would have felt pathetic buying bread just to take home and ration for a few days./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Looking around the Saloon, Nora people watched for a few seconds. Marnie, who she had met before and had brought her Bramble, was sat chatting to Mayor Lewis. Robin, the fiery haired carpenter, was cuddling close to a man with yet again one of the warmest smiles Nora had ever seen. emEveryone in this town is so happy…./em Nora thought, then her eyes hit him. Sitting in the corner, chugging a beer, surrounded by empty steins and a plate of half eaten pepper poppers. He glared back, lowered his glass, and belched unattractively. emMaybe not everyone /emshe decided, placing her leftover salad into her backpack./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Moving past Chuggy McChugsALot, noticed a pool table, with some people around her age standing around it. She decided she'd see if there was a game going, having been good at it in college. Sitting on the chair against the back wall was a girl with vibrant violet hair, staring at the table in front – more specifically, the dark-haired guy in front of her. Lining up his shot was said dark-haired guy, fringe cascading in front of his face. Whilst in theory the volume of hair in front of his eyes should have hindered him, he sank the 8 ball with ease, eliciting groans from the broad-shouldered blond who stood in between Nora and the /"Aww, c'mon Seb, you could've let me won one!" the blond groaned, shoulders slumping. There were 4 stripes left on the table. emThis guy must suuuuck/em./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;""It's only a game" Nora smirked behind him, and all three looked up at her. The purple haired beauty stared at her, looking her up and down. The goth guy did the same, but with less malice in his eyes than his friend./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"Right in front of her, stood the stocky blond. And just like everyone else in the Saloon, he flashed a megawatt /"Hey, you must be the new farmer! I'm Sam. Good to meet you."/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="color: #002060;"A/N: I have yet to find a Farmer X Sam fic on here? I know he's not one of the more popular bachelors but he's my fave so I decided to give him some love! I dont know how frequent updates will be as I am at Uni at the moment, but enjoy it whilst I can update! As always, please leave a review if you enjoyed! Thanks!/span/p