"You shouldn't go into the woods alone. It's against the rules," the little girl whined, her hair pulled up into two short pigtails, trying to get Jack to stay. But like any little boy, he wasn't about to be persuaded from his brilliant idea. Especially not by some girl. Pulling his cow patterned hat snugly onto his head, Jack glanced back at her. "Aw, I won't get lost or nothin..." His argument did little to settle the other five-year olds' nerves. Looking around nervously she shook her head, "But...but you'll get in trouble..."

Jack paused, eyeing the girl for a moment before saying, "Come with me. Then I won't be alone." She seemed shocked by this idea, and stared at him, "N-no way...we'd both get in trouble...!" It wasn't that the woods scared at her; but the thought of the punishment she might receive...now that was terrifying. Still, she did want to go with Jack, but if it meant getting a spanking, it wasn't worth it.

Shrugging, he started off towards the woods, "Okay. Bye, I'll bring ya back a bug or somethin!" The girl watched after him worriedly, taking a moment to realize what he had said. Huffing, she yelled after him, "I hate bugs!...you jerk!"

"Hey, what are you doing?"

A young woman's voice snapped Jack out of his thoughts; he was glad he had stopped crying, though he was sure his puffy eyes were still a dead give away. Looking up from his position of leaning against the building, he smiled weakly. "...um...sitting...?" He had always been horrible with excuses. The woman huffed, crossing her arms, "Yeah, I can see that smartass, but what are you doing sitting here? The bar isn't open yet, and it's no good if you just sit around waiting 'til six! That'll make us look bad."

Blinking, Jack stared up at her, rather taken aback by how brash she was being. She didn't even know him! At least, he didn't think so. Readjusting his hat, Jack slowly stood up, "Oh...s-sorry..." Trying to explain that he hadn't even known that he had ended up behind a bar seemed like a pointless endeavor. She had already pegged him as an alcoholic after all. Eyeing Jack as he stood, the young woman didn't offer any response for several minutes. A heavy silence fell between them, and Jack didn't have any energy to start a conversation; drained of all emotion, all he wanted to do now was collapse on a bed and forget about everything. '...I guess I better get out of here before she chews me out again...' "Um...well...I have to get going so..."

"You're the grandson, huh?"

Tensing, Jack only nodded, not wanting any more words of sympathy or how much his grandfather would be missed. 'As if I don't know that already...' In fact, he was about to just leave it at that when she spoke again. "...I didn't know him very well. But he always gave my family grapes and stuff," uncrossing her arms she tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear, "He was pretty nice."

Another silence fell; Jack really didn't know what to do. This girl, despite her kind words about his grandpa, continued to feel closed off and cold. Her words felt a bit forced too. 'This isn't a big deal to her. She's just saying what she thinks she's suppose to say...' And somehow, this was okay with him. Actually, it was a relief to finally meet someone who had no emotional connection to his grandfather. He wouldn't need to worry about her going off on a story about something the two of them did together or watch her burst into tears as she tried to comfort him. Nope, this girl was an unconnected third party who could care less about the funeral going on in the square. And it was glorious.

"...on you."

Coming back once more from his long thought process, Jack stared at her blankly. She rolled her eyes and repeated, "I said, 'Don't think just because your gramps was nice to my family I'll go easy on you!' Geez, are you drunk already? Even I'm not that bad." Tugging on her purple vest, she stepped around Jack and headed towards the bar entrance. Watching her leave without even so much as a 'goodbye,' Jack could only call out awkwardly, "...nice meeting you!" Glancing back at him she rolled her eyes and scoffed before going in, slamming the door behind her.

For a few moments, he stared at the door trying to piece together everything that had just happened. His brain was still jumbled up from the funeral. Shaking his head, he turned away from the bar and started making his way down the cobble stoned street. Other than the brunette with blonde streaks he had just encountered, Jack didn't see anyone. 'I guess they're all at the funeral...or just taking the day off.' The town was so small, he figured any sort of big event like this affected everyone, even if it meant shutting down for the day. At first he looked around at the shops, but they quickly became a sad reminder of someone he would never see again. Lowering his gaze, he didn't even look at the church as he passed it. '...if the Goddess is watching over me, she's doing a pretty crappy job...' Still, he muttered a quick prayer that the Goddess would help him get back the house without any more human interactions. Being in the damned house would be bad enough without someone trudging up memories of their own. 'I doubt there's anyone else like that mean girl who didn't know him at all...'

As he crossed from the cobble stoned streets onto the dirt road that would lead him back to his grandfather's ranch, Jack stopped and finally lifted his eyes from his feet; what was he going to do? If he couldn't even look at the shops, how was he going to handle being alone in the house his grandfather lived in? The house his grandfather died in? Honestly he didn't know. Anywhere he went would bring back memories of him; short of just leaving Mineral Town all together he had no where to go that wouldn't break his heart. And as much as he wanted to jump on the next boat out of there, he couldn't. Taking a deep breath, he started walking towards the ranch; he could already see the faded red roof over the trees.

Entering Rose Ranch, Jack sucked in his breath; it was physically painful to look at how run down it was now. Rocks, tree stumps, and weeds were littered everywhere. The barn had holes in it's roof, and the stable was practically non-existant. The chicken coop at least was still whole, though it had obviously seen better days. And the house...it looked more like a shack than a place where someone actually lived; paint peeling, patch work on the roof and on it's sides. It was barely big enough for one person to live in, and even then not comfortably. 'It looked so much bigger when I was a kid...' Wiping his eyes, Jack refused to start crying again. Luckily, a cheery bark sounded and the young man was quickly tackled by a small brown dog. Falling back onto the ground, Jack yelped, then laughed as the dog licked his face. "Taro-! Haha, hey, cut it out ya mutt! I'm trying to have a sentimental moment here!" Finally pushing Taro off of him, he smiled; grandpa had gotten him just a few years ago, when his old dog of the same name had died. Though Jack had only just met the pup a few days ago, he had already become attached. The little thing was just too loving and friendly to be sad around. Even when his grandfather had been in great pain, whenever Jack had put Taro on the bed, the old man had smiled. 'Hard to not love a dog that can do that.'

Rubbing Taro behind the ears, he chuckled lightly before looking back up at the house. His smile slowly faded. Sighing, his shoulder's drooped and his hands fell onto his knees. "...grandpa...why in the world did you give this place to me...?" Scanning the ranch he sighed again. Just because he had dreamed of being a farmer as a kid didn't mean he could be one now. Especially not with a place this bad. "What do you want me to do? ...what CAN I do?" Beginning to feel neglected, Taro leapt into Jack's lap with a bark, licking his new master's fingers. Chuckling, Jack looked down at him and shook his head. "...ya know, you're making it very hard to concentrate on all the big decisions I need to make, Taro." Peering back up at Jack, the little dog only panted with a goofy grin. Shaking his head, he rubbed Taro's head, "You goofball..."

"Well, then that makes two of you."

The familiar voice made Jack jump and scramble into a standing position. Taro tumbled off of the lap he had just gotten comfortable in, and dashed off; he wasn't exactly a guard dog after all. A man with thick glasses and a suit moved toward Jack with the stiff walk he had memorized by now. He felt his palms get sweaty and his back go rigid as he gazed at the unsmiling face before him. "Y-yeah..." When the man finally stopped in front of him, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes; he had obviously hadn't slept in awhile. Slipping the glasses back on he stared at the younger man who was in a much more meager outfit-overalls, boots, baseball hat turned backwards-not saying anything. Swallowing, Jack bowed his head, unable to keep eye contact, "Hello...Dad."