Traditional Charlotte's Story (Updated 6/13, Chapter 2 & 3)

Discussion in 'Fan Works' started by GreenWombat, Jun 13, 2016.

  1. GreenWombat

    GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

    Hi there. I'm not sure if anyone is interested in reading a story/fanfiction/whatever you want to call it on this forum but I like writing and I like stardew valley so I figured why not try mixing the two, and with this whole fan works section I decided to take the plunge and post it here as I go.

    Just to mention I'm an amateur at this so I'm not promising some masterfully told story or anything it'll just be me kind of writing a story around what goes on as I play through the game following my new character. I've written some in the past just for myself and I at least like to think I'm decently good at it but I'm by no means a professional at this and this will be the first time I've made anything of this sort public.

    So before I ramble any further I'll just say that I hope at least some of you enjoy this and if not at least I'll have fun writing it for myself. And thank you for reading :)


    Chapter 1: A (Star)new beginning

    [​IMG]

    You could say my work life up to now was to an extent predetermined. My mother worked for Joja my father worked for Joja, so of course as soon as I graduated high school I ended up working for Joja as well. Admittedly I started higher up the chain than the cubicle where I currently reside thanks to my parents influence but my tendency to drift off out of boredom or just wishing I was somewhere other than this cold grey building quickly undid that and lead to the demotions that landed me down here in this rectangular jungle.

    It's not all bad though. Sure it's boring, and grey, and slow, and grey, and repetitive, and did I mention grey... okay not making a good case here but I swear it wasn't completely horrible. Down here among the dregs of Joja there are at the very least some nice people. I even met a beautiful woman by the name of Lana who I started dating for a bit making this place mostly bearable.

    Mom wasn't too happy about her daughter seeing a woman but I think she tolerated it in the hopes that it might motivate me into working my way back up the ladder. Or maybe she was just bidding her time waiting for a chance to split us up.


    [​IMG]

    Either way Lana was unceremoniously fired a couple months back and subsequently fell mostly off the face of the earth. To be fair she did talk to me and broke up with me to my face, mostly due to wanting to "move on" and "get away from Joja now that she wasn't held back by her dependence on a paycheck from them", but that didn't make it any easier to just be cut loose like that and to realize that I didn't mean enough to her for her to stick around at the very least for me.

    And it certainly didn't make work easier as one of the only bright points of my job quickly faded away.


    [​IMG]

    And so I've spent the last couple months slogging through life here at Joja. Once again back to wishing I was anywhere else than here as I soullessly type away on my monitor without direction or desire.

    "Life's better with Joja." Yeah right. What life would that be?

    And that's when I stumbled across it.


    [​IMG]

    On one particularly slow afternoon I was sifting through my desk drawers, half searching for a stapler to deal with some loose sheets I needed to send up to management and partially just trying to kill time until I got to go home and sleep before repeating the process all over again tomorrow when I stumbled across the letter.

    Grandpa had passed away a few years earlier and had left me the letter with the instructions not to open it immediately. Thinking back on his words he obviously had guessed where my life at Joja would lead me as they honestly seemed borderline prophetic. I remembered thinking about opening it after my second demotion all those months ago but quickly pushing it to the side when Lana came into my life. But with her gone and things back to the monotonous grey crawl I figured I'd hit rock bottom and might as well see what he wrote.

    And with that I became to inheritor of PetalBreeze farm. A plot of land out in a place called Stardew Valley. I'd known Grandpa had been a farmer, I'd even seen picture of the place at a family reunion or two, but it had never even crossed my mind that I might actually try that life for myself. But now from where I'm sitting with day after day slipping by and no light at the end of the tunnel, I decided to take a chance. It was time for a change.


    [​IMG]

    Stardew Valley, here I come.




    Thanks for reading :)
     
      Last edited: Jun 13, 2016
      Pudassassin, mrobake, Gabaw and 4 others like this.
    • CjBeats

      CjBeats Weight of the Sky

      That's pretty good! I'm excited to see where you take this story.
       
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      • rhomboid

        rhomboid 0118 999 881 99 9119 725... 3

        all the imgs are broken ;-; but the chapter (prologue?) is nice!
         
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        • GreenWombat

          GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

          That's odd, they are showing up fine for me. I'll see if I can fix that.
           
          • rhomboid

            rhomboid 0118 999 881 99 9119 725... 3

            it says my access is denied and i have to log into wordpress and be a member of the blog haha.
             
            • GreenWombat

              GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

              Okay I think they should be visible now. I was just using the blog to host the pictures so I set it to private and I think that was screwing with things.
               
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              • Alkanthe

                Alkanthe Supernova

                I can see the images fine. And aside from a lack of commas, this story seems quite interesting!
                 
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                • GreenWombat

                  GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                  Sorry about that. I'll go back and see if I can fix that a bit. I usually just write this type of thing for myself so I don't usually notice :p
                   
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                  • Gabaw

                    Gabaw Spaceman Spiff

                    It's a safe bet to say that we f**king love fanfics. Speaking of course for those who agree, of which there are many already established. So the more the merrier. This introduction has hooked me in and the creative use of screenshots and game images lend to the narrative. Can't wait for more :confirm:
                     
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                    • MagicallyClueless

                      MagicallyClueless Master Astronaut

                      This is certainly a good start! I really like the inclusion of pics, too. I'd like to see where you take this!
                       
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                      • GreenWombat

                        GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                        Thanks. I'm happy to see that people are enjoying it :)
                         
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                        • mrobake

                          mrobake Zero Gravity Genie

                          There must be a continuation yeah?
                           
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                          • GreenWombat

                            GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                            There will be :)
                             
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                            • GreenWombat

                              GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                              Chapter 2: I want this different

                              [​IMG]

                              I've been here for fifteen minutes and I already feel out of place.

                              For so long I've been surrounded by grey environments and stiff people. Cubicles and rules accompanied by silent and emotionless people who would rather just finish up for the day and go home than hold any thing remotely close to a conversation with you.

                              In comparison I now find myself standing in a bright environment of green plants and blue skies next to Mayor Lewis and the local carpenter Robin as they bicker back and forth in a fashion that simply feels distant from anything I can remember experiencing before.


                              [​IMG]

                              Robin had been the first person I'd met in Stardew Valley as she'd greeted me as I climbed off the bus after the overnight ride. It was at that moment that I'd first started feeling like I'd entered some foreign and alien word. Life growing up at home and then at Joja had always been so organized. People greeted you sure but it was always out of courtesy and propriety and was never as warm as the older woman's greeting to me a complete stranger she'd never met.


                              [​IMG]

                              She'd then shown me to the farm that until now I'd only seen in photos, and it was clear from the moment I set eyes on it that the farm had seen better days back when those photos were taken. In that brief moment as I stared across my new life in horror starting to deeply regret my decision to leave my boring yet simple cubicle was when Mayor Lewis walked out from inside my new home where he had been cleaning things up for my arrival.

                              Grandpa had mentioned Lewis in his letter and now having met the man in person I had no trouble believing that the two of them would have been friends. The warm and welcoming smile on his face brought back faint memories of the rare times when I'd actually gotten to meet my grandfather and it quickly calmed my fearful mind as every other fiber of my being was telling me to go back to the city and the life I was used to.


                              [​IMG]

                              And so I find myself now the pairs' banter having calmed as we turn to look at my new home, Lewis' hand patting me on the shoulder as the last of my fears of this strange and unknown place that this sudden turn in my life has lead me to fade away.

                              And I oddly feel happy.

                              I feel excited.

                              I'm not going to lie and say the mass of twisted weeds, rocks, and trees behind me isn't intimidating, and I can't say that I'm yet used to the cheerful feel that separates Stardew Valley so much from my previous life. But I know I'm not going to run because while it may be different, I want this different.
                               
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                              • GreenWombat

                                GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                                Chapter 3: The First Day

                                [​IMG]

                                I slept in this morning. Probably not something I should get used to doing but simultaneously kind of a nice perk of my new life. The bed was warm, I was nice and cozy, and for once I felt like I was actually in control of my life meaning that if I wanted to spend half the morning right here I could... sadly if I actually did that I would quickly run out of money so I figured I should get up.

                                As I climbed out of bed and quickly got dressed I realized that Mayor Lewis had left a gift for me. He'd actually hung around to help finish getting things straightened up yesterday before wishing me a good evening and heading home. I was glad for him being there as I'm not sure I would have gotten any sleep if I'd had to deal with all that dust and cobwebs that were coating this place on my own, plus he talked a bit about Grandpa... I get the sense that Lewis thinks I knew him better than I did. From what he said about him I kind of wish I had.

                                It turned out my thoughts yesterday had unsurprisingly been correct. The farm had seen much better days back when those photos were taken, in fact it seems that Grandpa had almost single-handedly provided most of the produce for the town. Lewis had gone on and on about the sight of how far the fields of tomatoes, berries, and other various crops had stretched across the farm, yet Grandpa had simultaneously charged little for his crops feeling content with his small home and the fact that he was helping the town and the friends he had there. Honestly I'm not so sure how well I can follow his example in part because I've never farmed before so this will be an interesting experience to say the least, and partially because there's no way I could live in this small a home for the rest of my life. I like it here don't get me wrong but I need some more space and I definitely need certain amenities like a kitchen and running water. Plus if I ever decide to... no after what happened with Lana I don't really want to think that far ahead. For now I just needed to get to work otherwise I really would be stuck in this one room house for the rest of my life.

                                Back on the subject of the gift Lewis had left it turned out to be a bunch of parsnip seeds. Not really what I would have expected as I'm honestly not even sure what a parsnip is but hey I can't complain about a helping hand to get me going...


                                [​IMG]

                                ...Though a bulldozer might have been a more useful a helping hand.

                                But that thought didn't exactly help me out much other than soliciting a weak laugh from my body which was already feeling tired at the mere thought. so I should probably just get started. I'm a farmer now so I need to get used to working the land or whatever the phrase is. Besides it's just some rocks and debris for the most part how hard can it be...


                                [​IMG]

                                Answer: pretty damn hard. As it turns out never having swung an axe, hoe, or pick in my life has left me woefully unprepared for this.


                                [​IMG]

                                And by the time I finally finished clearing a small space, tilling the ground, planting the parsnip seeds and finally watering them I was seriously beginning to question how Grandpa had ever managed to take care of this entire field each day. I was only four and a half hours in and I was exhausted. But I did have my small field and that brought about some pride.

                                Now grow.


                                [​IMG]

                                I really should have guessed it wouldn't be that easy...
                                 
                                • Pudassassin

                                  Pudassassin Hard-To-Destroy Reptile

                                  Looking good so far! Nice journal you got here.
                                  And, welcome to the community!
                                   
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                                  • GreenWombat

                                    GreenWombat Cosmic Narwhal

                                    Thanks, I'm happy to be here :)
                                     
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