Hi! This is my First Fanfic. Well...technically speaking it started out as a Crackfic, and it sorta still is one, but still!
Anyways, I do not own Harvest Moon (But I'll accept the rights as a late Xmas Gift!)
It had been three years since Karen had first moved to Castanet, but little about her has changed since she had left Mineral Town. She was still a terrible cook, still rubbed off as a snob...and was still an alcoholic.
It didn't help matters when one, night, in a drunken stupor, she had said some rather nasty things about the bar's cook, Chase.
Granted, from the moment she had stepped foot in Castanet after leaving Rick, Chase had not liked her. Not one single bit. In fact, of all the people Chase did not like, Karen made at least the top ten. Not that the feeling wasn't mutual.
It had started off when she had just stepped off the boat. After saying goodbye to a pathetically heartbroken Rick, and three tedious hours of listening to the ferry captain droning on about boats, Karen was starving, and in the need of a good drink. The move to Castanet had been a hasty one. She was already pending the move when she had finally had enough of Rick and his over protection. The decision to leave was final when he had attempted to beat up Kai for flirting with her. It was only one wink but Rick had taken very seriously because Kai was with Popuri. Honestly, half the time he didn't even think she could handle herself. Forcing the decision to leave as a final choice.
Upon reaching the docks, she burst out of the boat and dragged her bags with much haste to the inn.
Faintly, she could hear the Captain suggesting sweetly to help her with her bags, but she was way too hungry to deal with that boat talk any longer, if she heard to words mast or deck one more time she would surely scream to death.
After checking in with a rather...ravenous looking girl, she asked where the town's bar was located.
The girl had a twinkle in her purple eyes, her smile looked ten feet wide.
"It's right by the beach. You've got to eat though. Chase is the best cook. His food is super yummy-licous!" the girl exclaimed, clutching the sides of her peach maid's dress.
"Okay." she left, leaving to odd girl behind her.
Upon arriving to the bar she found that it was a dreary place, not that she minded. The lights were low and there was some chick in exotic clothes dancing off to the side. The music was blues, befitting of the bar's image.
Karen sat in the bar stool a took a look at the menu.
Wow. That menu was short. I mean SHORT! There were like, three dishes on it. What somewhat made up for it was the large and very prominent alcohol selections that were expected of a bar, which unfortunately, were all of the cocktail variety. Not one type of wine or beer listed. For SHAME!
How was she supposed to get drunk off that? Well...she could try.
And try she did. So much so that she had started to make the dancer feel uncomfortable, resulting in her removal via unwilling, sarcastic cook.
Whom she had repeatedly barfed on.
That first day was more than enough to warrant her being kicked out of the small town bar. But, it had taken three years before they had finally worked up the nerve to kick their loyal, but ever so drunk customer out.
One night, She had just received a call from Rick, telling her about how happy he was without her. While Karen had been the one to break their relationship, she still missed him bitterly at times, and this call had made her feel the need to drink. And by drink, I mean get drunk.
After getting efficiently drunk, she then sprung for some food.
"Hey -hic- girly! -Hic- it better be darn -hic- good food too. Tons of flavor. -Hic- not like the -hic- food you u-u-usually serve. M-man! That stuff is nasty! -Hic- its like moldy cow pies and worms. Worse than that chick Maya's -hic- food. Heck, ev-even worse than mine! -hic-" she exclaimed drunkenly, which, was an overstatment. Maya's food was way worse than hers.
Chase angrily slammed down a single plate of food down in front of her and Karen look down upon it. On the plate was a spinach cake with a side of eggs, which was, surprisingly good in its own right, but in Karen's drunken stupor, it looked like the sort of goop that only a goat would have the guts to eat. And a stupid goat at that.
"What is that?" she looked at it in disgust.
"That, is what you ordered." Chase smirked, then turned back to wash the dishes.
Karen started to stare deep into the dish, and she began to see things. Wonderfully amazing things. It felt as if she had seen into the future. It felt as if she was incredibly high instead of drunk. She could see the most poetic things in this dish of yellow and green.
And then she barfed.
"Wow! That sure -hic- improved the color! B-bet it tastes better too!" Karen reached for her fork but was stopped by a sensible Chase, who no matter how much wanted to watch her eat her own barf in a drunken stupor, knew that he could easily get fired if he did. (not that they'd every dare replace him!)
Karen pouted, and moved to the other side of the bar. She chose the seat that allowed her the best view of the dancer, Selena.
Karen sat there, staring at Selena as she danced. Which made the girl particularly uncomfortable, because the drunken girl was making the most odd faces. She then started to hiss and boo, as well as shout various profanities at her, causing the other, less drunk patrons to leave just to avoid being subjected to more of the horrific scene.
"You gotta -hic- be kidding me! I could dance better than you!" Karen climbed her way up to the stage and a started to disco to the music, requiring Chase regretfully to drag her out and escort her to the Inn on request of Hayden, the bar's owner.
The next day, upon entering the local bar, she was promptly kicked out by a smirking Chase.
"I'm sorry, Karen, but I can't let you in here." he smiled.
"But why? I'm the bar's most loyal customer!"
"Did you really forget what you did last night?"he raised an eyebrow.
"No, why?"
"Come back when you become more mature. Boss's orders." he practically sang.
"Fine." she stalked off, on the hunt for alcohol.
Today, she had an even better reason for wanting to be drunk. Rick was even happier apparently then he had let on.
Claire had called her, inviting her to the wedding. The couple had apparently been dating a few weeks since she left and had hit it off great. Claire had straightened his attitude out quite a bit during that time, as well as Kai's and the two couples would be having a joint marriage in two weeks, so Claire could look good in the wedding pictures. Meaning that not only were the two getting married, Claire was already two months pregnant.
It was surprising in the very least, for while Rick was overprotective, he was also a coward in romance, at least when Karen was with him. It took him the longest time to even ask her out. Heck, she had to ask him out, or else he wouldn't stop drooling all over the bread in the produce aisle. And even then he wouldn't keep his eyes off her, or his sister for that matter, on a constant goal to protect them.
Maybe...Claire was better for him?
The thought made her feel better, but didn't reduce her need for drink.
But how was she to get alcohol? The only bar in town has permanently banned her, and she was just getting used to this town. She didn't want to move just to feed her pending alcohol addiction.
Karen sighed, plopping sloppily down on a park bench, settling in for a little nap.
As she started to fall asleep she saw from hazy eyes a shady, dark house. One's who's resident(s) she had never met, which was unusual in such a small town.
Maybe...she could check in? Introduce herself? Maybe see if they had a bottle of wine she could buy off of them.
She pulled herself off from the bench and walked her way over the the house.
Upon closer inspection, the outside of the house appeared to be simply decorated in dark purples and grays with a small sign on the door that stated in simple cursive: Fortune Teller.
"Well, maybe I could see if the future gets any better." Karen sighed, ringing the black doorbell. After a few minutes, she was forced to assume that either no one was home or simply no one lived here. If the later, she might drop by the town hall, as living at the Inn, she discovered, was not the best home in the world.
But before she could leave to buy her newly found home, the door creaked its way open in the most eerie of horror movie-like ways.
She turned and tentatively made her way into the house.
It was dark and shadowy, and she could see the outlines of furniture such as bookshelves and couches. The glow of a Crystal ball lit the place, suggesting it was occupied.
What further suggested the house's previously questionable occupation was the fact that a dark skinned man with silver hair sat at the object's table.
"Come closer." The man ordered. Despite Karen's better judgment, she sat in the seat across from the man.
He looked up from the Crystal ball, revealing to Karen his eyes. One was a grassy green, the other, a sparkling golden hue. They weren't exactly average, but they were astoundingly beautiful.
"What do you seek?" he asked, raising a thin, silver brow.
"Nothing in particular...just, someone to talk to, I guess, a glass of wine would be nice, too."
The lights slowly rose, making the room brighter.
"My...apologies for the darkness, I prefer the lack of light." the man got up and walked quickly over to the small, kitchenette in the corner.
"Do you like coffee? I'm afraid I don't keep alcohol on hand." he asked, starting to prepare the drink.
"Mhm." she nodded. She was still quite taken aback by all of this. His mood had switched so quickly from ominous and spiritual to friendly and well, he was offering her coffee!
The man sat back down and gestured her to make herself comfortable.
"So why do you feel the urge to speak to me?" He asked, raising a brow once again at his guest.
"I guess...I'm lonely. I've lived here for three years and I still don't have a decent friend." she answered.
"Oh, really? I wasn't aware of your movement to this island. You see, I rarely go outside. I'm hardly aware of the goings-on of the townsfolk." he replied.
'Hmm...well, considering I hadn't even noticed your house for three years, duh!' Karen thought.
"You know, I do not normally let people quite so openly into my home. But you are very...special. Tell me about yourself? Why are you lonely?" the Fortune teller asked, as if loneliness was something he had never heard of.
And so Karen told him of Mineral Town and all of the petty arguments that had led her to Castanet.
"Interesting. I have never understood humans and their way of dealing with things. So odd." he produced what appeared to be a small hint of a smile. "Oh, the Coffee is finished." the odd man stood up and came back promptly with two cups of coffee and the coffee pot.
"Cream? Sugar?" he asked.
"No thanks, I drink it black." Karen replied, taking the cup. She snuggled into her seat and took a big gulp of the dark substance.
"Good. I haven't got any either way." the man took a sip of his, savoring the addictive flavor.
"So..." what an awkward moment. She was drinking coffee with a total stranger. Well...he didn't have to to be a total stranger. He certainly was cute, in his own weird way. Maybe its just the hangover talking (who am I kidding, I don't get Hangovers! Mwahahaha!) Either way, I might as well introduce myself, after pouring out whats built up after three years.
"I'm Karen." she stuck her hand out. "What's your name?"
A small smile once again sneaked its way onto his face. "I'm afraid for now, you'll just have to call me Wizard."
Karen huffed. What a weird dude. But, he was nice. And if she was going to stay in Castanet, she was going to need somebody to talk to. Especially now that she couldn't walk into the bar without a certain pink haired chef "politely" escorting her out upon sight.
Although...this "Wizard" made some damn good coffee.
The "former" alcoholic reached over to the coffee pot only to find that it was already empty.
Upon looking up, she saw the Wizard smile sheepishly. He got up, and started up on another pot.
Ahh...She had the feeling that this was going to be the start of a wonderful relationship.
Wow...That was so horrifying! It feels like I wrote Karen soooo out of character. Anyways, this fic was written for The Village Square Forum for Floridapanther28!
I hope the fic was good, cause it felt so confusing while I was writing it. :/
Anyways, please review! And apologies for Karen being OOC, this is the first time I've written her character.
That's all, Folks!