The next day was mainly uneventful, he watered, planted, and visited the town. He was pretty eager to go to the bar especially after the encounter at the inn. If anywhere was a good place to make friends then the bar would be it. Despite being early in the afternoon, he heard music trickling through an open window. The old withered sign read, The Blue Bar.
Mark only popped the door open a crack and peeped through and he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. Blonde and curvy, leaning over the counter. Oooh, this is gonna be good. He suddenly felt better about moving to the Valley. Making sure to puff out his chest and stroll in like he's knows what's-what. "Oh-hellllooo" she drew out upon seeing him.
"Hello, fair maiden" he came to the main counter and cringed ever-so-slightly at the greeting. She giggled though so it couldn't have been too bad. "I haven't seen you before. You must be new" she said with a grin. "Yes, I'm the new farmer" he pointed in the general direction of the farm. "Well, that's good! We could use a new farmer"
"Yeah, I'm here to take over the farm up yonder"
"Well of course, what other farm is in the Valley?" she leaned in close as she laughed. Her nose wrinkled in an ugly way that was cute to him. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Ha" he scratched at his hair. "I'm still in the process of moving in right now. It wouldn't be bad if there weren't so much cob webs and candles"
"C-candles?" the tone of her voice made his goofy expression break for half a second. "Oh, I just was surprised there being a lot of cobwebs, the owner didn't pass too long ago" That didn't explain why she said 'candles' though. "Yeah, it was pretty intense and it's so cold! The window inside just opens by itself. It's kind of creepy. I thought dad would take better care of his house"
He was startled by the sound of glass breaking. She was staring right at him with her hands in the same position as when she was cleaning the glass. He wasn't sure what to say. The corner of this mouth tugged into a forced grin. He didn't like the look in her eye but soon it didn't matter.
"Oh sorry!" she regained her bouncy composure so fast it could've him whiplash. She dropped to the floor and started plucking up the shattered pieces. In the meantime, he sat on a stool waiting. Just then the door to the back opened and a man with bristled eyebrows tangled with brown and grey emerged.
"Did something break out here?" The man asked with hand on the door and the neck of a guitar in the other. "Uh… yeah" Mark pushed up on the counter to get a better look at the woman sweeping the glass into her hands. "Oh, no don't worry Griffin! I just dropped a glass" So his name is Griffin, Mark couldn't help but think. She rose passed the counter with the shards in her palms. Mark reached across the counter to take the shards-he was wearing gloves after all- but without even looking to him, she cut her figure away from him. She quickly scuttled out of the room, her heels clattering on the hard wood. Mark thought he saw a quick glance between her and Griffin.
Just as he settled his eyes on her retreating figure, his peripheral vision was filled with the man-Griffin, standing on the other side of the counter. "I don't believe we have met. I'm Griffin, the owner of the bar" he thumbed back to the door the woman when through, "and she's Muffy"
Muffy. Not a bad name. Muffy, he rolled his head, like her fluffy blonde hair. "Interesting name. Well mine's Mark. I'm the new farmer" he reached out his hand to shake which Griffin took it no hesitation. "I run the bar from most of the day, though late in the evening is when it's the most lively"
"Well, I do plan to come back" his vision drifted to door Muffy was behind, "definitely". Despite the strange occurrence, she was still fine. Hot damn. If it weren't for the silence from Griffin, Mark may not have glanced to his straight expression. It was as if his intentions were obvious, not that Mark made any effort to conceal his interest in the blonde woman. Still, something about the dark hollowness in his eyes made Mark quiver in his spot. He's never felt so… seen before. It was just then that the back door opened again with Muffy returning without the glass.
"Did you cut your hands?" he called to her, feeling Griffin's eyes on him. Muffy didn't respond immediately and in that time Mark had never put so much focus into looking at one thing while avoiding something else. No part of him wanted to even see Griffin. It was only when he heard Griffin speak to Muffy, that he felt the tension torn away. What the hell?
"I'm fine. It's not the first time I've dropped a glass" she smiled. The door opened behind him and in entered two guys jabbering. Mark rolled his head over his shoulder to see them. He almost missed them they were so short. Both the same height. With the same hair, and faces. Twins? The only thing that distinguished them was the color of their one-strap overalls. One blue, the other green. They were passing behind him when he felt them stop behind him suddenly then proceed to walk. He side eyed them.
"An' who are you?" one of them asked. It was one in the blue. Mark rotated his body to face him only slightly. "I'm the new farmer up yonder" he tried to smirk. The guy was what- 4 feet tall? He had an intense look about him though, even more so than his twin counterparts. His hair was wiry and curled like old electrical wires and his skin was splotched with red blotches, possible sun damage. But it was his eyes that separated him from the other, they were much more focused, calculated than his twin. Despite this intensity, Mark wasn't intimidated, not that he should be either.
"Oh, finally it's been a while since that old man kicked the bucket" Mark's brow furrowed. He wasn't close to his father but he still wasn't too sure how he felt by that remark. It was the clink of a glass against the counter top that distracted him enough to look. Griffin had a glass frothing set out beside Mark.
"Mark, why don't you have your first drink at the bar. Don't worry, it's on the house" The two hopped up on the stools to the left of him. 'Hop' wasn't an exaggeration either, the two seemingly had to hop to fully get on the seats due to their short stature. The one beside him was in the green, he soon found out his name was Patrick. Muffy was filling a glass for Kassey as Griffin cleaned some more glasses. Kassey leaned over closer to Mark, "So what made you wanna come all the way over here ta the valley anyways?" before he could answer, Patrick had pushed Kassey away, "ay' move. You're in my space"
"-Who are you yelling at? Remember who's buyin' the beer"
"Yeah an' you remember who bought the gunpowder so you could make fireworks-"
"You make fireworks Kassey?" Mark tried to cut in before this became an argument. Kassey's expression laxed. "Yeah, I do. It's how I make my money. It's a hobby" he leaned back to Patrick's relief. He knocked back a drink of beer. "That's pretty interesting. I don't really have any hobbies. I'm barely good at farming" he laughed. "Then how'd you get into farming" Griffin asked, beating Kassey to the punch. "Well, I just thought I could give it a shot" That's not all the way true. It was when Takakura contacted him- Mark's still not sure how he found him- and told him about his father's passing that made him want to come. Some part of him was hoping to connect with his father on the land.
It's not a strong urge but sometimes he thinks about what would have happened if he never left his father on his own. "Yeah but how'd you find the Valley of all places?" Kassey asked. Mark could see Muffy over in the corner filling a glass, her eyes stealing glances over to the group from behind her puffy hair.
"The land was probably put in some magazine or something. Remember when he died, Takakura said he would pull a few strings" Patrick said with a glass to his lips. "Hmm. Say how much did the land go for?" Griffin asked. Mark finished taking a large gulp. "Actually, it was just a part of my inheritance so it was free essentially"
"Inheritance?" Kassey was more still than before. Mark couldn't help but note the silence from the group. "Uh…yeah. I'm taking over my father's farm. I'm his son" It was almost deafening how silent it had become. They three of them slowly leaned away, probably subconsciously. "Oh…really?" Griffin asked. There were those eyes again.
A strange sensation suddenly came over him and he just wanted to escape. "Yeah… I…" he couldn't think of what to say under Griffin's soulless eyes. The eyes you look at an insect with. He barely could get the puff of a letter out before deflating. He immediately went for the drink again. The white froth popped and molded under his nose. He could feel the tension thick like jaws around his throat. He could hear little whispers to the side of him, He does look like him. He pulled the drink away. "I-uh actually, I think I uh- I just remembered I need to get back to the farm to ask Takakura something" He pushed himself back off the stool. He just wanted to escape. The air felt tight in his lungs as he pushed the door open, just turned over his shoulder one last time to see the group huddled together watching him.
