Chapter 1: Laura and Tony Bravo

After Tony received a letter from his younger sister in Flowerbud Village, he decided to take advantage of the invitation, and move to the small village. Along with the letter, Laura has included specific directions on how to get to Flowerbud Village, just in case Tony decides to accept her invitation.

The village is much further than Tony had anticipated, but with the directions left by his sister, he arrived in Flowerbud Village with minimal difficulty. He looks up at the large colorful sign over the open gate, and sees that he has arrived at the right place. He enters the village for the first time, and takes a look around. Just as he expected, the village may be huge, but only a handful of people live there.

Houses are small and miles apart. Every home has at least an acre of property behind them. Some of the houses have barns, chicken coops, or field used for growing crops. Other areas are empty, with nothing but wild grasses, berries, and mushrooms growing off the dirt roads. As he walks through the village, he passes through several bridges that crosses rivers with plenty of fish.

The village is quiet, too quiet for his tastes. Even though he arrived early in the morning, he has always been used to the rustle and bustle of the city life. The city has always been active all day and all night, so this new environment may be a bit too much for him. Maybe a little scary.

After touring the village on his own, he finally arrives at his sister's home. He drops his luggage on the floor, and takes a moment to admire the house her sister lives in. It's a pretty big traditional looking two-story house made completely out of wood and brick. Back in the city, his family has always lived in a small apartment, so he can appreciate a large home such as this.

As he continues to gaze at the home, the front door opens. A young girl, about 21 years old, steps out of the house along with the tools she uses for farming. It takes her only a split second to notice her brother standing in front of the house looking up at the second floor of her house.

Her eyes glow with excitement as soon as she sees her brother. Without a moment's hesitation, she drops her tools, and runs over to her brother, and crashes into his arms, giving him an enormous welcoming hug. “Big brother!!” she screamed as she tightens her embrace.

Tony was caught off guard when his younger sister ran into him, so the breath was knocked out of him. But this is normal behavior for her, so Tony forgives her. He pats her on the head like he used to do when they lived together and says, “It's been a long time, hasn't it Laura?”

Tony then grabs on to one of Laura's brunette pigtails and says, “Looks like you still tie up your hair this way. You're still such a kid!”

Laura steps away and yells, “I don't know what your talking about! I have grown up a lot in the three years since we last saw each other! See!” She then twirls around to show herself off to her brother. Tony just laughs it off, seeing that she still wears the tomboy t-shirt, pink vest, and jean shorts. She has grown a few inches and wears a bandanna around her neck, but other than that, she is still just the same as always.

Laura then examines her brother for a moment. Nothing much has changed about his appearance, but his clothing has changed. Laura remembers his brother wearing a plain white shirt, and stylish khakis with leather shoes. His hair was once combed to the side, which was the style back in their hometown. Now he is wearing heavy blue overalls with a white t-shirt, and rubber working boots. A blue baseball cap rests backwards on his head, with only a few girth strands of hair sticking out from the front.

Laura places a hand on her chin and smirks. “What's with the new clothes, Big brother? You look like a farmer already!” she said.

Tony takes a second look at himself and says, “Well, I knew that I would be living in the boonies, so I thought I might as well dress up to fit in, you know.”

Laura raises a thumb up and says, “You look good Big Brother!” She then runs back into the house to drop off her tools. She then runs back to Tony, grabs his hand, and runs off. “Come on Big brother! I wanna show you the town!”

Tony has no say in the matter, but he feels that it may be a good idea to get to know the village, so that he wouldn't get lost in the future. The first place Laura takes him is to the back of her own house, where she shows off her land that she first bought when she moved in three years ago. The land is quite small for being a farming village, but Laura explains that since this plot is among the main village, the usable land is small. She does have more land somewhere else that she will show him later.

The first place she takes him is the Flowerbud square, where many of the festivals are held. She explains that in order for a festival to take place, villagers need to donate some resources to a shipping box in the square. She then takes him to the beach, where she likes to take a swim on her days off, assuming she can get any. After the beach, she takes him around the many rivers and lakes used for fishing. She knows that Tony enjoys fishing on his time off, so she made sure she shows him the best fishing spots.

After the site seeing tour, Laura takes Tony to the various shops of the village. Just about everyone who lives in Flowerbud Village owns a shop of some type. The first place she takes him is a shop called Atelier Saibara, a shop for buying pottery and some useful items. She the takes him to the blacksmith shop, a place she visits often to maintain her tools of the trade. Afterwards they head to the Blue Sky Ranch, where Laura buys her animals from. Laura knows how much Tony loves to drink and hang out, so she takes him to Cafe Callaway, Moonlight Cafe, and the Perch Inn. Afterwards, she takes him to the Clinic, so he would know where to go in case he gets sick. And in case Tony wants to read a book, he is then taken to the Library. They then visit Hearty Lyla for a moment, then the Junk shop. The last place they visit is the Spring farm, where Laura buys her seeds from.

Even though Tony has visited all of these places, none of the shops were open. Laura explains that the villagers usually wake up at the hour Tony arrived in the village, and everyone is busy setting up their shops. Then finally, Tony is taken to his new home.

Tony is amazed at the home he is given. A house about the same size as Laura's house. Two fully furnished stories, just for him. They walk inside, and he notices the brand new smell of fresh paint on the walls. The house was recently built, and no one has even set foot on it until now. It was like it was built just for Tony.

There is a lot of furniture inside the new house, complete with a large kitchen, full sized bathroom, big screen television set, table for up to four people, a large bed that can fit two people, and enough storage cabinets, wardrobe, and bookshelves to hold everything and anything he owns.

Tony drops his luggage, and awes is shock. With his eyes wide open, he asks, “All this is for me?”

Laura nods and says, “That's right Big brother! But in exchange, I expect you to do a little work for me.”

“Work? What kind of work?” asked Tony.

Laura then brings him into the back of the house, where Tony finds a large barn, and a huge fenced pasture. In the pasture, five horses grazes on the grass happily. Laura points at the large mustangs and says, “You see them? You are going to care for them.”

Tony points at himself and asks, “Me? But I don't have any idea on how to care for horses.”

“Oh, it's easy!” Laura reassured him. “All you need to do is bring them out on sunny days, and in before it rains. On rainy days, just take some fodder out of the silo, and fill their bins. Then take a brush, and brush their fur. Even a monkey can do that!”

“I see.” answered Tony. But even after she told him how to care for the animals, he is still not completely sure if he can manage such a responsibility by himself. But the job does sound easier than his old job, so he nods and accepts the responsibility of caring for the horses.

Laura then tugs on his arm and says, “Come on Big brother! I want you to meet the locals now!” She then smirks, and says, “Who knows, maybe you'll find a nice girlfriend out here!”

Tony laughs and says, “Come on Laura! I highly doubt that I'll find anything that interests me here. The best I'll probably find is a blond hillbilly girl with missing teeth.”

“Hi laura!!” yelled the voices of three young girls. Tony looks over, and his jaw drops as soon as he sees three young and beautiful girls standing outside of the pasture waving at Laura. The first girl is a hot blond with red eyes. Her hair is tied up into a ponytail, and her clothing is a tank top, a jean vest and short skirt with leather boots and black stockings. The next girl over is much more feminine than the last one. She is a brunette with her hair tied back with six curly tails. She has very attractive baby blue eyes, and black, white, and red frilly dress. The last girl is also a brunette, but her hair is short, and she wears a rancher style dress. She may be plain and ordinary, but there is something about her that gives off a strange cute and feminine charm.

Laura notices Tony staring, so she drags him over to them to properly introduce each other. The girl with the frilly dress then points at Tony, and asks, “So Laura, is he your brother? The one you've been talking about.”

Laura nods and says, “Yes! This is Tony Bravo, My older brother. He's four years older than me, so that makes him 25 years old!”

The girl with the red eyes takes a closer look at Tony, and says, “Are you sure he's your brother? He does have your hair color, and I can see a family resemblance. But why does he have blue eyes, and yours are brown?”

Laura laughs and says, “He has mother's eyes. And I got father's.”

Laura notices that Tony is still in shock, so she kicks him to snap him out of his trance. She then says, “Let me introduce you to my friends!” She then points at the girl with the red eyes and says, “The girl with the blond hair is Gwen, she works at the inn with her uncle. And the one with the curly hair is Katie, she works at Cafe Callaway. And last but not least is Ellen, she is the daughter of the owner of the Blue Sky Ranch!”

“Hello Tony!” they all greet.

Tony then changes his attitude, and the tone of his voice to act and sound cool to impress the girls. He then says, “Why hello there young ladies. Since you are Laura's friends, that makes you my friends as well. But I think we should get to know one another better. So how's about we go and get a cup of coffee, and have a nice chat.”

The three girls look at one another, and suddenly breaks out laughing. The unexpected reaction confuses Tony, he doesn't remember saying anything funny to them. As they laugh, the girls say, “Oh my god, what a loser! He actually tried to ask us out!”

Seeing that the girls are making fun of him, Tony pouts angrily. But even though they notice they made him upset, they don't show any care or remorse for what they did. They then leave saying, “Bye Laura, we have to go to work now!”

“See you later!” Laura waved cheerfully.

Tony leers at Laura angrily, and says, “Hey, Laura, what was that about? They just laughed at me, and called me a loser!”

Laura snickers for a moment, then says, “Pay them no mind Big brother. They may seem a little rude, but they are nice people. They are just having a little fight with the guys in the village. They assume that you're like the rest of them, so they are treating you like the other guys.”

“Gee, what a very bad first impression. . .” he commented.