Disclaimer: All your Harvest Moon are belong to Marvelous Interactive.
Melancholy and Content
It was Friday evening at the Sundae Inn, when the bar hours were open.
A gruff, bearded man behind the counter looked worriedly at the blonde with a ponytail wiping up the tables.
She was his daughter and employee, and someone who was usually full of life when on the job; however, today, like the past few days beforehand, she was in a bit of a slump. He already tried consoling her in every possible way he could think of as her father, and while she showed some signs of lightening up, her melancholy remained. The only think he could do at this point was wait. He believed his daughter was a good child, and a sensible one with good reason, so he had faith that she'll be able to pull herself together.
While father and daughter were lost in thought, the entrance to the Inn opened. Along with the light of sunset came a stranger previously unseen on Waffle Island. She had straight, long crimson red hair and sharp green eyes with a piercing gaze. She wore what appeared to be a full black business suit straight out of a mafia flick with the odd addition of a loose red ascot tied around her neck.
She looked rather aloof and composed, yet estranged and out-of-place at the same time. It seemed as though she lacked something more apparent most, but was oddly content despite it.
"I didn't come too early, did I? Is the bar open?" the stranger asked in a very forward tone.
"No, you came just in time, Miss." The man behind the counter replied.
The stranger's indifferent expression folded into a slight smile.
"Alright, good. Can you make me a rice cocktail?," the stranger requested, " I don't know if it tastes anything like eastern sake or rice tea, but the word around here is that's one of your finest concoctions."
"Will do. Now, if I can just have your name, Miss?"
"Er… Althea Connors, Sir."
"Well Miss Connors, just take a seat and you'll have your rice cocktail in just a moment. It'll cost you 345 gold." The bartender told her.
Upon saying that, the stranger reached inside a blazer pocket and placed the precise amount of coins for her drink with a banged fist.
"Done," Althea proclaimed with a smirk.
The bearded bartender gave her a startled look.
"What, you assumed some city folk like me would just ask you to put it on a tab?" she asked.
"N-no, it was just… that was so soon. You usually wait until after you're served to pay" The bartender explained.
Althea shrugged.
"I just wanted my end of the deal to be done as soon as possible. I'm punctual like that." She replied coolly.
The bartender simply nodded back, then resumed making the drink.
As soon as Althea took her seat, she glanced curiously at the busy barmaid to her side. In a matter of moments, she noticed the same things that the barmaid's father had been observing the past few days: a look of subtle melancholy, repressed regret, and yearning for hope. Her eyes remained locked on the oblivious employee until a finished rice cocktail came her way.
"There's your drink, Miss Connors."
"Uh, sure… thanks." Althea said with a nod before she picked up her drink.
Like most of the stories making up my roster, don't expect much in quantatiy after this. This is a setup prologue to an otherwise short story, and will only be followed up with one more "Chapter". Otherwise, thanks for reading.