Chapter Text
It was winter of your final semester in college when the letter from your grandfather was handed to you. You had opened and read it immediately, considered its contents for all of four seconds, and quickly tossed it in with your ‘important documents’ folder that you stash under your kitchen sink for safekeeping. And then you promptly forget about it.
It wasn’t until well after you graduated several years later that you were even reminded of that letter and the contents in it. You were on a fifteen at work, sitting on a beaten armchair in the crowded break room of the insurance call center job you’ve been employed at for the last year. Said chair isn't helping the weird knot in your lower back, and you sit in discomfort while you doom scroll on your phone. It's kind of hard to distract yourself with silly videos when work has you stressed and overwhelmed, and you're still upset from earlier when a google calendar notification popped up of you and your ex's anniversary date night that you forgot to delete. You feel your brain melting a little, and you lazily let your eyes unfocus and drift away from the device in your hand. When you refocus your gaze nearly a minute later from dissociating, you feel your phone vibrate.
More messages from your mother. You ignored the wall of text she sent you this morning, not bothering to read what you know is just her disappointment in you and your life choices. You can only ignore her for so long though, because by later tonight she'll be spam calling you to make sure that you're not dead.
Regretfully, you open your messenger to read whatever drivel she has to say to you today. Some shit about her receiving your mail, why you don't have your license yet, and.. about the farm. Something about a timeline. This is when you actually focus, sitting up in your chair; she gave you an ultimatum. If you don't figure out what you want to do with what your grandfather left you, then I'm going to sell it. I'm only going to pay the next year of property taxes. That's how long you have to decide.
You read that last sentence a few times, slowly comprehending. Lately, you've been daydreaming about leaving this job, this city, this society. Even with it being several months since you and your ex called it off, you've been feeling too awkward to be around your shared friends and it's made you crave solitude like some kind of forlorn wizard in a tower. Work makes you want to drink yourself to sleep, and some nights you give in to the urge. You're exhausted from living under the constant pressure of capitalism, and you don't want to do this anymore. Working in a cubicle is pointless when the planet is currently melting humanity to death, anyway.
That evening you leave the job early, and rifle through many W-2’s and various tax documents from the multitudes of shitty jobs you’ve had since graduating before finally finding that buried letter. You sit on the kitchen floor in disbelief, reading the same lines your grandfather wrote over and over.
And then you grab your phone and call your twin brother with a grin on your face and an offer on your lips.
-
The bus you’re on shakes and rattles over every pothole. The air conditioning on this thing is definitely broken, there’s a busted window in the back and a hole in the floor, and you’re a hundred percent sure it’s one more skipped maintenance appointment away from falling apart entirely - wheels first. You’ve got the window open and the breeze is nice in this stifling vehicle with less than a dozen people on it, and the old bus seats burn your exposed shoulders in the sun. The view is nice out here, far away from the city. The expanse of rolling green mountains with the coastline in the distance speeds by, and you think that it's nicer to look at than the skyscrapers you would see every day.
The guy sitting next to you sneezes 3 times in a row, each one increasing in volume. An elderly woman sitting two rows ahead mumbles out a ‘bless you dear’.
“You sneeze like dad.” You say to him without missing a beat, chin resting on your palm and head leaning against the window frame. The wind feels lovely against your face.
“It’s almost like I inherited his allergies, you bitch.” your brother retorts sarcastically, not even regarding you with the grimace that takes up his facial features constantly. He’s resting his head behind him on the plastic-covered bus seat. “I’m starting to regret this already. It smells out here.”
“Don’t be a princess, Adrian.” You turn to face him, his features reflecting your own. “You’re too used to the scent of rat piss, you’ve gone nose blind I swear.”
“Have not ,” he sneezes again. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” His frustration gets a chuckle out of you.
“You’ll just have to get used to it, seeing as we’re gonna be living here for a year.”
“If you’ll last even that.” He wipes his nose on his sleeve, and then grossly wipes that onto his pants. “What will you do without your daily iced coffees?”
“I can still make my morning coffee myself you idiot. We’re not going back to the stone ages.” You scoff, only half insulted. “What are you going to do without any decent internet? You know it’s basically dial-up right?”
“I’m just gonna kill myself I think.” He sighs, blowing his fringe off his forehead. “I don’t know, finally draft that book I’ve been meaning to I guess.”
“You for real haven’t started? Dude, I moved out over three years ago.”
“I know.” He stares outside the window, not meeting your gaze. “I just haven’t had the motivation.”
“Well if being out in the sticks for a year doesn’t help with that, then you probably just have brain damage.” You quip, and your brother gives you the nastiest look before outright smacking your leg like an eight year old.
The both of you catch up and bicker about shit for the rest of the hours long bus ride, quietly annoying the rest of the passengers that can do nothing but wait until their own destination.
-
Your bus finally drops the two of you off at Pelican town as the early evening sets in, and you can practically hear the relief in the bus driver’s voice as he politely says goodbye. The backpack you have over your shoulder is quite heavy with things, as the rest of your belongings won’t arrive for another several days.
“Oh my god.” Adrian says after the bus leaves, cupping a hand over half his face. “My nose is burning. Too many smells.”
You take an audible, deep whiff of the air. "Smells fine to me." This makes him glare at you.
“Sometimes you say things in a certain tone that makes me just want to beat you.”
“Someone has to.” You laugh, and it just makes your brother sigh very loudly. You pull your phone out of your pocket to double check the actual address of your grandfather’s plot of land. It is indistinguishable from the rest of this tiny town. Village? Whatever. Google maps doesn’t exactly have distinct road lines here. Just like.. blobs of various shades of green like it’s a national park. Also, you have no service here whatsoever, so you don’t even know if the offline map is loading correctly. “So… looks like we’re going to have to ask around, because I don’t exactly know where this is.”
“You’re shitting me.” Adrian replies, deadpan. “I have enough new-place anxiety, that is probably the worst thing you could say to me right now.”
“Oh I’m SORRY,” you show him your phone screen, “I thought that maybe when we actually got here, there would be like, I don’t know - a road sign? You know, to point to the city center?”
“Girl we are in absolute bum-fuck NOWHERE!” He practically yells at you, slightly hysterical sounding. “This ain’t no city! This is where people go to evade their taxes and have a secret family!”
“Get a grip you giant fucking baby!” You reply, not phased whatsoever by his tone. You start to walk toward the dirt path that looks like it leads over to the town (it’s the only path outside this road) “We’ll figure it out.”
“HOW are you SO calm?!”
“Dude.” You stop for a second, and give him a particular look. “I just quit my job. I’m free! If the only thing I have to worry about is like.. seeing if we like this place enough to restore it in the name of gramps, then I don’t have anything to fret about for a while. There are worse things to me, y’know? Like having to cold call poor people about their medical debt.” and then you turn to keep walking.
“Okay well, as long as you do all the talking.”
You roll your eyes and keep going. Siblings.
It takes you only two minutes to reach a split in the path, and Adrian nearly loses his shit.
“GREAT.” he smacks his hands together, looking absolutely irritated. “We’re already lost.”
“Yeah yeah, chill.” You say casually while looking down both paths, used to his shit. “I bet it’s down the right.”
“Don’t just pick one at random!” He bitches, “you’re so irresponsible.”
“Fifty-fifty chance of being right. Remind me again who can hold down a solid job?” You snap back, unoffended. Before he can even reply with something nastier, you spot a woman jogging up the path from the left.
“Hey! Are you my new neighbor I’ve been emailing?” She asks, slightly out of breath. “I figured I’d meet up with you to show you the place.”
“Robin?” You confirm with her, and she nods.
“Your mother phoned me and asked me to make sure you didn’t get lost.”
Adrian looks at you. “She has not changed with you I see.”
“Tell me about it.” You sigh. “She still treats me like I’m ten.”
“Well, I for one am glad you’re here to show us where it’s at, because she was very much willing to get us lost just now, y’know, as the sun is setting .” Your brother says, gesturing at you.
“Bet I was going in the right way,” You reply, thumb pointing in the direction you were going to choose. Robin nods, and you smugly grin at your brother. “See? I’m just better.”
Robin lets out a chuckle as you all start walking down the path, clearly amused by the two of you. She gives you the rundown on your grandpa’s farm, giving you a brief speech about its history. Adrian trips over a rock and nearly slams his face on the ground, and it brightens your entire week considerably.
“Aaaaand, this is it!” Robin exclaims, several buildings in various states of decay are sparse around overgrown lush grass and weeds and trees that surround you, with a single cabin that looks like the only livable shelter on this plot of land. If you could call it that . “Your grandpa used to call it the ‘ol Reliable, but you can name his old farm anything you want. It’s yours now.”
“Uh, this is the farm?” Adrian’s jaw drops. “Oh. My. God.”
“Look, I knew some work was needed, but this..” You trail off, taking it all in around you and trying to not get overwhelmed.
“Oh, yeah, I mean it has been practically abandoned for years,” she laughs. “But I’m sure you guys will get this place back in order in no time! The soil here is very fertile.”
She takes you to the cabin on the property, and hands you the keys.
“Should I worry about being attacked by wild animals?” Your brother asks while you fumble with the lock on the door. Robin gives him a look that says have you ever been outside of a metropolitan area?
“What? No. Not unless you go into the mines.”
“There’s a mine?! Wow, we really are far out from the rest of civilization.” Sometimes you hate the dumb shit that comes out of his mouth. “By the way, how do I set up the internet out here?”
Robin straight up laughs at him. “I can set you up with a hotspot tomorrow, but you’re not going to like it. Sebastian complains all the time about it.”
You finally get the door unlocked, opening it wide with a loud creak. The first thing you notice is the cobwebs that cover nearly every single surface.
Adrian wails as he enters the cabin, like walking through the doorway will hopefully transport him to narnia instead. “WHY is there only one bed?!”
“Gramps lived alone, idiot. You can sleep at the foot like a dog.” You cough a little from the dust as you wipe your hand over the table that is sitting off to the side of the room. “This ain’t too bad in here. I can work with this.”
“I want my own room and bed, you know I can’t deal with you tossing and turning.”
“We can arrange that if you wanna stop by my workshop sometime tomorrow. Oh!” She claps her hands together like she just thought of something. “I almost forgot, Lewis gives his apologies for not making it over here and greeting you guys, he’s had something come up. You should stop by his place tomorrow and say hi. Honestly, everyone’s been anticipating your arrival since there’s not that many people here, you should probably introduce yourself to all of them sometime. They’d love that.”
As you’re staring around the interior, you notice what looks like a semi-opaque window that pops up in the top left corner of your vision that distinctly reads ‘1/28 people greeted’. What. “You guys see that?” You ask, blinking rapidly, as the window pops in and out of your view multiple times.
“See what?” Both of them reply almost in unison.
“Nothing,” You feel nuts. “I must be tired from traveling, because I’m seeing things in the dust.”
“I’ll let you guys settle in then,” Robin, completely unfazed, says. She makes sure you don’t need anything before she leaves and says her goodbyes, letting you guys relax for the rest of your evening.
You and your brother tidy up the cabin and eat shitty instant ramen before passing out in a bed that smells a bit like mildew. You lay there in the quiet of your brother’s snoring on the spare cot wondering just how quickly you can get adjusted to the task list in your peripheral, and pass out.
-
You wake up first, before dawn even arises. You check your phone and it’s barely past five in the morning, and you can hear the distant sounds of birds. You lay there for ten minutes before getting up quietly so as to not wake your brother. Not that it matters, as he’s always been a heavy sleeper. You make yourself a cup of instant coffee, and slip out the front door of your grandfather's cabin.
It never quite occurred to you how loud nature was, far away from the city. It’s almost deafening.
The brisk morning air feels sharp against your cheeks, early spring frost defrosting on the ground under your footsteps as you venture out onto the plot of land that you decided to temporarily uproot your life for. The hot mug of coffee against your lips feels nice, and smells even better.
The sun hasn’t broken the horizon yet, but the light has already reached past the hills and you get to see the farm in all its morning glory. Full of weeds and rocks and trees and shrubs, and the only tillable ready land is a six by six-foot plot that you wince at. Sure, you barely have read up on your farming almanac’s and kind of know what you’re going to be doing, and that’s not enough. Didn’t this entire place used to be a farm? It’s so overgrown that your arms feel pre-exhausted.
You take a long drink of your coffee, meandering your way around the pond and through thick brush and bramble, pulling branches apart and making yourself a path as you wander. This place is going to take more work than I thought. You think, mentally preparing yourself for the day ahead of you.
-
Adrian wakes up a couple hours later to find you pulling weeds and sweating like a workhorse.
“What the fuck? How long have you been awake?” He looks appalled.
“Since morning. Couldn’t fall back asleep.” You say, gripping and pulling a hefty looking clump of dandelion roots out of the ground.
“It’s only nine. What is wrong with you?” He scoffs, and you roll your eyes at him.
“This place isn’t going to weed itself, Adrian.” You toss a fallen branch at him, and he dramatically dodges it. “If you don’t want to help me, there are other things you could do.”
“Demanding things of me already? It’s our first day. Let me explore the place at least, you witch.”
You rip a small shrub out of the dirt, using your feet to give you the leverage you need as roots and small rocks spray the ground around you. You glare at your brother.
“Okay, fine. I’ll walk around and find where Robin’s shop is, okay? I need an actual bed.” He rubs his lower back, scuffling away as you hear him mutter something about first borns.
You go back to clearing out what you can of the ground around you, and lose several more hours in the process. It isn’t until the sun’s directly overhead in the sky when an older man you don’t recognise approaches the entrance to your farm. On aching knees, you stand from your kneeling position to jog over and greet the guy.
He introduces himself as Lewis, the head honcho of this quaint little town. He’s nice enough to give you the rundown of where things generally are, and you make note of it in your head. As he’s talking, you notice that the quest window changes to ‘2/28 people greeted’. Okay. So that’s really a thing. You continue to ignore that completely for now, lest you go insane this instant.
He finally leaves after talking your ears off about the past twenty years as mayor, and you try to not be visibly relieved when he’s gone. And as you stand there, the small breeze pushing your hair into your face, you realize just how tired you are from how much you’ve been working. You check your phone to realize you’ve been at this for much, much longer than you thought.
Looking around the farm at the progress you’ve made on eradicating the unnecessary flora for now, you feel a little impressed with yourself. You think you deserve a treat. Plus you desperately need a break from this, and to get some deodorant from the general store that Lewis told you about. Wiping your hands on your pants and not bothering to change out of your dirty clothes, you meander your way over into town.
It’s nice out, if not a bit too warm for physical labor, and the sun is shining brightly down on you. You wave at some of the kids in the town center as you pass by, and once you’re in Pierre’s shop you realize it’s empty aside from him at the counter. That’s fine with you, you didn’t really feel super chatty right now anyway.
The air is stagnant in here, but you don’t mind as much since the sun is no longer beating down on you. You take your time perusing the shelves, browsing the various wares. Obviously, there is very little variety of products here, if there’s any variety at all. Eventually you grab everything you need, and despite you not really being in the mood Pierre makes some small talk at the counter, going on a slight tangent about his prices versus Joja’s. You pretend to care enough to scoop up your items in your arms and exchange pleasantries before heading back outside, running face-first into someone outside the shop.
Your items explode out of your hands everywhere as you both stumble back.
“Excuse you!” The person you ran into scoffs out.
Your brain halts in place for a moment, because you can now see a stamina bar in the corner of your vision. You blink a few times to get it out of your view and ignore it entirely.
“UH, HELLO?”
Snapping out of your trance, you look up to lock eyes with one of the prettiest girls you’ve ever seen in your life. “Schwhoops, my bad.” is what comes out of your mouth.
“Yeah, it was. ” The girl retorts, voice not at all kind. “Ever thought about watching where you’re going?!”
“Haley! Don’t be rude to the newbie.” The brown haired guy next to her hisses out, and elbows her in the ribs. “Sorry, she's had a bad morning.”
“It’s no biggie, I get it,” You bend down to quickly grab your fallen items, slightly embarrassed. The guy reaches over to pick up your tampons before you can, and hands them over to you with amusement all over his face.
“I’m Alex, by the way.” He grins as he stretches out his hand to you, and you give it a shake without a second thought. “We met your brother earlier. Funny guy.”
“Not if you’re related to him.” You quip back before introducing yourself as the new farmer. Out of workplace habit, you also offer a handshake to the girl. You watch her gaze linger on your palm and fingers, her nose wrinkling in disgust. She frowns, and her face reminds you of one of the girls who used to bully you in middle school. You also notice the quest window went up by another two people.
“I don’t touch dirty hands.” Is all she says, her blue eyes meeting yours. You retract your hand and put it into your pocket as if burned.
Be nice. Be nice.
“Yeah, okay, wow. Great first impression.” You say, smiling through your teeth and trying to not get offended. “I was doing a bunch of weeding earlier. Sorry that I ain’t all squeaky clean.”
“Yeah well, some of us bathe before going out in public.” She retorts, like a bitch. You feel your eye twitch.
“And some of us run errands after a long day of work - not that you look like anyone who’s lifted a finger their entire life, princess.” You reply, running your mouth before you can even think.
“Excuse me?” Haley’s face twists in anger as Alex bursts out into laughter, and you instantly wish you could go back to five minutes ago.
“Listen I’d love to keep talking, but I’m still in the middle of way too many chores.” You spin around to leave before you can make this moment any worse, like you usually do. “I’ll catch you guys around later probably!”
You only get a few paces away from them before you hear an angry scream.
“THERE’S DIRT ALL OVER MY SHIRT.”
You shuffle away faster.