IMPORTANT NOTE READ FIRST!
This is technically a Chelsea is Faun in this story. To put it simply, I much prefered the name Faun which I started out my game with. It was a surprising coincidence to find a similarly named character. So instead of keeping the traditional name of the female starter character I wanted to use a different one :3
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Chapter One
"Faun, Faun wake up!" an aged voice called from the door. I groaned cranking both eyes open with strenuous effort. Sitting up, bleary eyes scanned the room. Save for the bed which I lay on, the wall calendar and a deserted flower pot in the corner, the room was empty. Confusion assaulted my system, and I could feel prickling beneath my skin as my nerves endings flared to awakening. Where was I? This was definitely not my apartment. "It's Taro! Rise and shine," the voice sounded yet again after not receiving a reply.
The confusion I felt instantly flushed out of my system as I recognized the voice belonging to my new neighbour; an aged rancher by the name of Taro. I had asked him the other day to wake me up if I ever overslept. 'That's right, I just moved into this island. This is my home now,' I thought glancing at the clock, taking note that it was already 8:30 am, over two hours later than the usual 6:00 am ranchers are expected to rise. "If you don't open up in the next minute I'll have to barge in". Hastily, I hopped out of bed tossing the sheets haphazardly to the side carelessly tugging the white night dress off my person pulling on my uniform: a poppy yellow shirt and blue denim overalls. In the next moment I had the door thrown open, "Good morning Taro, I'm so sorry I overslept". The old man's wrinkled face crinkled into a grin (his moustache covered his mouth so it could be possible that he was frowning...). "That's alright Faun. Just don't make it a habit!" he scolded lightly. "Yes sir!" I smiled weakly wondering if I could truly keep the promise. With a nod, the small man shuffled off, bidding me good luck with the 'crops and such'.
And boy was I going to need it. I turned my head towards the field looking out at my meagre plantation. Most of the area was still littered with rocks, branches and various coloured grasses. I had managed to plough a chunk to sew my turnip seeds but they weren't exactly coming along so well. I kneeled beside a turnip examining the leafy growth. "I watered you and everything, but why are you withering?" I asked it noting the leaves were plagued with a brownish tint that wasn't there yesterday. It's been almost 2 weeks since I moved onto the island and things on the ranch haven't been going any better. Not only do I have to support myself but Taro's four person family is also depending on me to ship goods to keep us all alive. The added pressure has had me scavenging around the town daily when I've finished work on the farm to find pieces of grass or flowers to ship. Not surprisingly, the money is only just nearly enough to pay the shipping fees. If that weren't enough to be stressed about, the sun hasn't been shining since I got here, the skies were almost always overcast or shedding fat raindrops on us on the world below. My turnips haven't had enough sunlight to grow. I only came to the island with a mere 500 gold to my name, half of which I spent on those particular turnip seeds hoping that after the crop was cultivated to maturity I'd be able to ship them for profit, or at least have something to eat.
My stomach let out a hollow rumble, I blushed and clutched my middle fruitlessly attempting to muffle the sound. Hunger was part of the reason I haven't been able to wake up early enough to start work on the farm. Not having a kitchen in my run-down shack of a home didn't help matters at all. I was luck enough that Taro's family would invite me for dinner the first few days on the island, but I could only impose so much before my company becomes tiresome.
I sighed in defeat leaning back to fall beside my failing crop looking up at yet another overcast sky, arms splayed at my sides. "Why doesn't anything ever go my way..?" I muttered shutting my eyes for a moment realizing in the way my lids readily glued shut just how tired my body really was. My ears picked up on the sound of shuffling noises not long after making their way over to the field. The slow dragging of feet reminded me of Elliot, Taro's grandson who kindly offered to help me around the farm; surprisingly the boy was even more of a disaster around the farm than I was. He would kick up portions of tilled field to and fro, throw away perfectly shippable coloured grass and nearly trample my only crop. The man meant well but I was relieved when I finally managed to shake him out of helping me just a few days ago setting him up with some work at Mirabelle's. Hearing the steady approach of feet now only indicated that I didn't do a good enough job of it the first time. Not bothering to move from my spot on the ground I called out, "Don't worry Elliot, I'm almost finished with ranch work today. But I hear Julia needs some help around the shop maybe you can help her with some boxes". The footsteps stopped for a brief moment before moving yet again in what I surmised to be the opposite direction. I allowed myself to sigh once more, 'well I better get back to work, there is still a lot to be done today' I reminded myself pulling up a mental checklist.
"…Howdy" a voice from directly above me snapped my mind from it's planning. My eyes flew open at the greeting to find a tall man in cowboy attire standing in front of me his facial features shaded by the angle at which I was looking at him. "A-a-ah, howdy!" I greeted back rather lamely pushing myself off the ground dusting myself off rather furiously. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were Elliot," I apologized getting a good look at the person before me. Now that the light fully hit his face I realized that it didn't help much. The man had a rather substantial fringe of silvery white hair that hung over half his face effectively covering one eye, his eyes -or eye really from what I could see- were such a pretty warm amethyst colour. Despite having such expressive eyes, the look on his face was nothing short of enigmatic, the way his brow furrowed ever so slightly and the upturned curve of his lips gave the man an effective no-nonsense expression that only made me feel even worst about my slacking off.
"I'm the animal trader for the island, I'm sure you've heard about me from Mirabelle," the man spoke ignoring my apology, his words taking on the tone of a statement rather than a question. I nodded in response, staying tight-lipped suddenly feeling pressured under the person's intimidating gaze. "The name's Vaughn, I'm the one to ask if you need any cattle, chickens, horses, what-have-you" he introduced himself almost as an afterthought. Hearing the man before me introduce himself as Vaughn I felt the corner of my lips twitch into a smile as I let out a small chuckle. The silver haired cowboy glared, with the most curious mixture of confusion and irritation I had ever seen, "What's so funny?".
"Nothing!" I managed in mid-giggle. "It's just, heh, my name's Faun" I smiled extending this information to the man before me as well as an outstretched hand. I watched his facial expression as my introduction sank in. He lowered the brim of his hat just above his eye and smirked amiably into his neckerchief giving my hand a nice firm shake, "Well, I never expected to meet someone with the similar namesake in such a small island". "Likewise, it's going to be really confusing for the neighbours. So where did you move in? East town? West town?" I laughed releasing his hand. The man nodded once appraising me once more, "I don't live on the island. I work out of here two days a week. You'll find me at Mirabelle's Wednesday and Thursday".
"Oh.." I managed feeling a small sting of disappointment, just when I thought I could finally make a friend on the island. Sensing the end of the conversation, the cowboy tipped his hat, "It was nice meeting you… Faun" he said testing out the name on his tongue. "You too… Vaughn" I smiled finding it just as awkward to say aloud a name so similar to my own. With that Vaughn wasted no time, disappearing momentarily down the path towards West town.
"Maybe having a few animals on the farm would be easier than this…" I mused aloud with a wayward glance towards my field. But cattle and poultry cost money to buy. And there's always the fees for upgrading the barns, not to mention the food problem…
Exhaling noisily I rolled up my sleeves I began the day's work. There were plenty of flowers to be picked and shipped after all.
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A/N: That's chapter one! It's a little boring right now but I'll be sure to have some fluff an' character development in the coming chapters. I'm kind of torn on whether to include Vaughn's perspective. Reviews an' constructive criticism is greatly appreciated 3 Oh! And I kind of want to change the name of this fanfic, name suggestions would be loved.