Stardew Valley-ish

Chapter One: Introductory, Kinda

Typically, as a, uh, a proud member of Joja Incorporated, one should be used to the lackluster greetings and welcomings its employees give. Typically, as in absolutely never. They're about as warm as their Soda; granted, their soda is pretty warm often times, so... uh... right, bad simile. Point is, everyone that works for them — besides me! — can learn a thing or two about friendliness.

That, and privacy. Seriously, as dispiriting and solitary most of them are, they really don't care for boundaries. Sorry, getting off topic. Where was I? Blah blah blah, something about soda... ah! Okay, let me regale you with my short tale of how I first started this job: my interview.

"Hi, I'm-"

"I don't care. Busy. You're hired. You start in ten minutes."

By "short", I meant short. Joja Corp. is just, that, life-draining. I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did — dammit Murphey, you died the day I was about to quit — half expected to lose my marbles sitting behind that desk-o-mine almost 24/7. Fricken slave drivers if you ask me. But hey, paid well enough. Kinda.

Not really.

Okay, that was the main reason why I quit — shut up! I'm tryna tell a story here.

Lemme tell you a comparison, in regards to my new home, Pelican Town. Right off the bat, there, I could tell things were going to be unique. Nothing "off the wall" crazy unique, but something special in its own right.

"Woah, wait. You're that new farmer who moved just west of here, right?"

"Uh, yeah! That's me, who're you?"

"I'm Sam; trust me when I say this, you're going to love it here. Nice to meet you!"

"Decent meeting you too, Sam. I'm-"

It was heartwarming, and definitely something I'd gotten used to. I've no regrets moving to this little sanctuary just off the map. It was funny, how different things are around here. The folks just, well they know how to treat people right. Even strangers. It's nice, certainly no Joja, and I'm glad.

Every day, working at Joja for the past three years, I just seemed to die inside. Like, a part of me was being eaten away at, just dissolving — sorry! I don't mean to reflect negatively on my past experiences there, but thinking about it now, it just... wow, made me realize my life was a wreck. No regrets, thankfully. I'm just, I dunno I'm just sorry it had to be my grandpa's passing to bring me here.

That sweet, old fool. Never even knew I'd one day inherit his farm, even less so come to love it and everything it brings to the community.

Anyway, before I bring on the waterworks again, for those not really "in the know" as it were, Joja Incorporated — or Joja Inc., Joja Corp. or, you get the gist of it — is this multi-national business famous for one thing, and one thing only. Joja Cola. The most bitter tasting, yet somehow remotely refreshing, thing anyone will ever drink.

As an ex-employee, it was really all I could drink in most situations as it was easily accessible, cheap, and — huh, I was about to say good for a second there. Jeez, the place still has its hold on me, after all these years...

So glad I quit.

It was fated to happen sooner or later, and even to the expenses of my family, I am damned glad it was sooner. When I found the note and deed signed from grandpa, I wanted so badly to express every emotion I could feel at the time. Grief, in remembrance of my grandfather's passing; anger, that I could've quit that dead-end job any time without repercussion on my end; and most important of all, contentedness, as I could leave my miserable life behind and start anew. Directly after, I picked up the deed, left those crude drawings of my boss in my desk, and quit without any remorse.

I was free.

The day after, I'd already packed my things and went ahead on this new-found adventure. A bus heading out to my exact destination wasn't as hard to find as I'd thought it to be.

All of those years of slaving away were at the back of my mind, at that moment on, I was looking forward — until now, but hush. I'm still regaling.

At this point, we're all but caught up. All that's left to tell is me taking up residence in this quaint town. We can save that for tomorrow though, it's fine. I can see you're in a hurry. Oh, before you leave, I never told you my name.

"I'm-"

-On a green, somewhat modern bus-

"-and we'll be arriving at Pelican Town in roughly ten minutes, please remain seated." A bigger man, the bus driver, spoke through the intercom. His voice ragged and filled with little breaths.

Out of the passengers that heard it, given how few there were, there was only one who had lifted their heads.

It was a young lady, no older than 19 with ruggedly brown hair. It was pulled back into a rather messy ponytail with her bangs left to fall along the sides of her face; determined, light orange eyes glistened with mirth as she looked up. She had a childish aura about her, a bubbly grin blooming across her cheeks. "That's my stop, Chief." She spoke up, her voice cracked at the sudden use of her vocal cords. Her cheeks tinted red for all of a second.

The bus driver looked up in the large panoramic-esque mirror and glanced at her with an unimpressed stare. "Thanks for the notice, kid. Wouldn't have known who was getting off otherwise. Not like I really care." He mumbled the last sentence under his breath. His eyes turned back to the road as he ignored the loud hum of the engine. He let out a low sigh as he continued to press down on the gas pedal.

The girl took this time to turn and look out through the window, her curious eyes glanced between trees and far off hills. Awe simply struck her. There wasn't much in this area, but what was, was gorgeous. Grass laden with flowers, trees buzzing with nests of birds and mammals of sorts. Nature visited all but the road she found herself on. She could only wonder to herself what Pelican Town might be like. Mom would love to see a postcard from this place.

With one question, more came. Would she be able to do her grandfather proud? How hard is farming? Couldn't be too bad, right? Will she... would she make any friends? She had no clue of what was to come for her, and that excited and scared her simultaneously.

She was so caught up in thought, she never heard the activation of the breaks nor the gassy sound of doors that had propped open. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the voice of the driver yet again. "Alright kid, this is your stop. Have a nice stay in Pelican Town-" he gave a smile, though the kid could tell it was forced. The smile dropped rather quickly "now get off my bus."

She was half tempted to call him a Marcus.

The kid's eyes widened slightly but hurried to do as the driver practically commanded. In a rush to leave the bus, her foot missed the final step downwards and tripped out through the sliding door. "Wahh!" Her shout was quickly interrupted by dirt and gravel.

The bus driver looked down at her and shook his head, closed the door, and drove off. Leaving the girl to herself.

With a grunt, the girl lifts her head from the dirt and places a hand tightly over her nose, a bright red rash forming quickly across her face. "Oww..." She mumbled quietly as she raised from the dirt. She sniffled a little, her nose now hurting, and motioned her head side-to-side to ease the newfound daze.

Eventually, her head cleared up enough that she was able to look around and notice she was in a fenced area, at the end of a road; behind her, a mine cart that seemed bluntly out of place. She did her best not to question it. Even though she really really wanted to.

She turned around and looked at the retreating lights of the bus just in time as they dimmed slightly, the vehicle disappeared from view beyond the long tunnel that had brought her here. "Well, that's a way to get off of a bus." She joked with an embarrassed chuckle.

She scratched the back of her head as she looked around once more. Spying an opening, along with a trail, she decided it best to follow it.

She had entirely missed the "Welcome to Pelican Town" sign, and since she was without any indication of where she had to go, she took a left.

Pointing East - Pelican Town Centre

Pointing Weast - DeMarco Farmstead

It wasn't a long walk, about a minute or two, but eventually, she found her way to the town's center. And just as she had thought — okay, not exactly — it was smaller than she imagined. In any direction she looked, there were very few buildings: far and in between of each other.

Even the Clinic and General Store were planted in close proximity to each other. Not a normal mix of buildings, certainly not back in the city. There also weren't many people about as she thought there would be, especially in such an outdoorsy area. With a curiosity that could kill a lion, she stepped onto the cobblestone pathway and continued to look around.

"Time to make some friends and/or acquaintances!" She said to herself with a wide grin, glancing around from the center of the town.

Of all the people she did see, she saw a red-haired female (roughly around her age, perhaps a tad younger), seated by herself under a tree. By her guess, she was in the middle of a book. Probably.

Another person she had seen was a blue outfitted man who stood under a streetlight wearing a strikingly familiar hoody that read "Joja: We care" on the back, which suggested he was an employee at one of the market branches.

And last, but not least, she saw a bluenette, her eyes as strikingly blue as her hair. She was dressed in an astounding red dress (which the girl assumed was home sewn) and was on her way towards the general store.

She quickly made a plan of action: first she will approach the blue-haired girl. It seemed unlikely she will see her again soon so she will get her out of the way first. With a kind of bounce in her step, she made her way to her with a wave.

The bluenette stopped and looked at her oddly for a moment before breaking out a large smile. 'Step 1: get her attention, check' the girl thought.

'Step 2: introduce self, che-,' "Hi, I'm-" she started, only to be quickly interrupted.

"Hiya! Nice to meet you, you're that new farmer that moved in aren't you? Oh, you're just going to love it here!" Does owning a farm make you a farmer? The question went unanswered.

'Uncheck.'

Apparently, news travels fast.

Very fast.

"Oh, yeah I am and, well, yeah I am." She chuckled and the bluenette followed suit.

"Well, nice to meet you farm-gal. I'm Emily, right now I'm on my way to a Jazzercise workout, but we can totally talk later! Take care." She said in sort of a hurry; with a smile, she took off yet again. She paused for a second, turned back around and waved good-bye.

The girl waved back, a similar smile on her own face. The edges of her lips dropped however as she realized she never told Emily her name. "Crap." She mumbled, she'll make sure to fix that next time they meet. For now, apparently, it's "farm-gal."

Still, it was a nicer meeting than she'd get at Joja.

With a sigh and renewed vigor, she turned back around and noticed the Joja man was still standing by himself, it just now she noticed the earbuds drooping from his neck. 'Alright, I can say my name first. I can do this. Sorry fellow brooder, but I need to make some friends!'

She approached the man.

"Hiya, I'm-"

"That's cool, go bother someone else. I'm busy."

Yep; definitely Joja, if that attitude was anything to go by.

"Well can I at least tell you my na-"

"My name's Shane. Now get lost, Rudolph."

Oh wow, she'd entirely forgotten about her red nose. Wait — did Emily notice and not say anything?! 'No wonder why she seemed in such a hurry! I wouldn't be caught dead with rashed fool!'

Backing away, the girl cringed a little at the sourness in Shane's tone, very much unlike Emily's. She was definitely more kind.

She turned around yet again and spotted the red-haired girl, still sat underneath the shade the tree. 'Hmph, jerk,' her mind drifted from Shane to the ginger 'must be a good book?' She wondered as she walked up beside her. "'The Dwarves: Are They Real?' What's that about?" She asked without realizing it was a rather stupid question. Regardless, it startled the redhead as she didn't expect some stranger to interrupt her reading session.

"Wahh!" She shouts, tumbling around and dropping her book to the grassy floor (and somehow managing to keep her page). At this, the brunette nearly jolted as well, she did not expect that reaction.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you! Oh man, I'm sorry!" She apologized rather quickly and bent her knees down to pick up the stranger's book, a finger placed in between the pages so she wouldn't lose her spot.

The startled girl looked up at the strange girl and blushed slightly. She couldn't speak, a metaphorical cat grabbed her tongue.

The brown-haired girl extended the book out to her and waited for her to grab it. "Again, I am so sorry. I did not at all mean for that to happen." She apologized again, crossing her legs as she sat across from her.

The redhead looked away slowly, a red tint still visible over her cheeks, but she sighed and took the reading material back with a low 'thanks'. She placed it on her lap without another word.

The two then shared an awkward silence together.

Thankfully, the brunette doesn't care all that much for silence. "So, ah, what's the book about anyway?" The question brought the redhead's green eyes to hers.

With her hands intertwined over her dainty — and lengthy — brown skirt, the girl's face turned back to normal. "O-oh! Um..." slowly raising the book once more, she showed her the cover. "I-it's about, um..." her cheeks started gaining color once more.

"Dwarves?" Sheesh, this girl was nervous.

With a curt nod, she attempted to continue speaking. "It raises the question whether... whether or not that this race preceded ours. The book it-itself shows the reader evidence pertaining to certain ruined cities, some of which predating-" but to be frank, what she had to say was quite boring. However, she was kind enough to let her finish. "-h-honestly though, I f-find it difficult to believe such a race c-could exist. I'm... I'm reading it for the laughs." Her quiet chuckle brought the brunette back to reality.

She wasn't paying attention. "Oh, pfft. Yeah. Definitely, there's no way they could've existed. Especially since, y'know, Unicorns were too busy trying to create their own stories at the time." She really hoped that sounded believable.

Not a second later though and the other girl's quiet laughter loudened. "Th-thank you, I needed that-" her smile dimmed for only a moment, "-I'm Penny. It... it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." After placing the nerd book off to the side, she raised her now free hand in greeting.

The girl blinked for a second and smiled, finally a chance for her to say her name. As she extended her hand out and grabbed Penny's with a loose shake, and with a nod of her head in recognition, she spoke. "Hiya Penny, I'm-"

Sadly, her name was not to be mentioned as just as she was about to say her name, Penny sneezed. Cutely. Annoyingly cutely.

"Oh, bless you." She smiled as she interrupted herself unintentionally.

The girl turned her head from the elbow of her arm and smiled kindly back to her. "Thank you... You know, I-I believe we're going to be fast friends." She mentioned with a hum, her hand lowered to swipe the grass sticking to the sides of her skirt.

Hearing this, the girl smiles greatly. "Really?! That's great!" She mentally cheered for herself as they both rose up from the ground.

Penny nodded, her red hair bouncing up and down along with her movement. "Mhm, well I've-I've got to go for now. I-if you see any children running along this way, s-send them to the library for me, will you? I'm a tutor for two of the town's kids. I-I mustn't be late. Take care!" She waved to her as she walked off to where the brunette assumed the direction of the aforementioned library.

The girl smiled to herself as she watched her go. Agreeing with her statement. "Fast friends? I'd like that. I need some people to talk to." She said to herself, her thoughts going to that of the bus ride here.

With a blink and yet another smile, the orange eyed girl went off towards the general store, determined to meet everyone in town.

However, she paused for a moment as realization struck.

"Wait a sec... Dammit! I forgot to tell her my name!"

With an angry grumble, the girl continued towards the General Store, "Pierre's".

"Sounds French." She said after calming down. She glanced through the glass door and sees a teller standing behind a counter. "I guess that's Pierre?" She questioned.

Before she could open the door, she could barely hear the thumping of music from the inside. This confused her, why would there be — oh that's right.

One of the people she'd met earlier, Emily, had said there was a Jazzercise workout going on today. Now, the girl knew what that was, but she had never seen a group partake in such an event, thus, her curiosity was filled yet again. Finally, she pushed open the door and waved to the man behind the counter.

"Hi-"

"Hi, welcome to Pierre's shop! I'm Pierre!"

"That's nice, I'm-"

"Currently, my wife's in the back with her friends, doing their Tuesday thing, know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, but I'm-"

"What am I saying? Of course, you don't know, you're new here! They're doing their jazzercise, and since our family has the biggest indoor area, we don't mind sharing it with our neighbors. Here, let me show you."

Interrupting the girl multiple times, Pierre had left behind the counter and walked towards the back door. As soon as he had opened it, the thumping of music got louder.

"Every Tuesday, Caroline, my wife mind you, and her friends like to join up together and dance. It's a great exercise for them. It's fun to watch occasionally as well, but I can't do it often because I have to tend to the shop, I also pull my hip more often than naught... You go on and say hello to everybody for me, will you? Kay thanks!" He said with a wave, his glasses glinting as he turned back through the door.

The girl stared at the back of the man's head. Pierre had not let her let out a single word.

Rude.

The girl shook her head before walking down the short hall, passing by two doors she assumed were rooms, she saw in the main area; several women, each in their early or late twenties.

A record scratch sound occurred when the bluenette of the group saw the girl. Again.

"Oh! It's the farm-gal! How're you? What's it been, ten minutes since I saw you last?" The girl jokingly berated with a smile before turning to one of the other brunettes in the room. "Jodi, this was the nice girl I was just telling you about, she just moved in down the road!" She spoke with enthusiasm. It awed her how kindly Emily spoke of the orange-eyed girl behind her back.

The attractive woman, now named Jodi, looked her up and down for a second before walking over and extending her hand out.

The girl looked at her hand to Jodi's eyes and she noticed off the bat that she looked... tired is the only word she could think of. She mentally shrugged and took Jodi's hand in hers and shook. "Hi, I'm-" she spoke, just too late as Jodi beat her to it.

"Hello, miss! Emily was just telling us about you, but she didn't say you'd be this cute!" She said in a motherly tone, pulling her hand away and raising it to the younger girl's cheeks to give them a pinch. It, being so blunt and forward, caused the girl to sputter in embarrassment.

Jodi blinked and stopped, noticing her red face. She let out a giggle and returned to the group with a shake of her head.

Emily, along with all of the girls in the room gave a soft laugh to her dismay. "Oh, it's alright farm-gal. You don't have to be embarrassed. Here, I'll introduce the rest of them for you. How about that?" She suggested, to which the girl rubbed her cheek, in both slight pain and agreement.

Emily smiled her usual happy-go-lucky smile and pointed each of them out.

"This green haired beauty is Pierre's wife, her name's Caroline. She's a sweetheart unless you say her cooking is bad. " She whispered the last part purposely loud enough for Caroline to hear. The green haired woman stuck her tongue out to her playfully in return.

"The other brunette in the room is Marnie. Lover of all animals... and an animal in be-" before she could finish her sentence, Marnie had playfully punched Emily in the arm. Her cheeks slightly pink. Both of the girls giggled, not confusing the girl as she recalled back to health class.

"And finally, Robin. The town's last true carpenter. She's the best, she can build you anything, for a price and for the materials. She's great." The red-headed woman nodded in agreement and gave thanks for the praise.

The girl smiled as Emily introduced of all of them, she enjoyed how friendly everyone was.

"It's great to meet all of you, really. I'm-"

There was a silence, part of her thought she'd be interrupted again. The women in the room raised their eyebrows in confusion. When nothing happened, she took her chance.

"Sorry, I'm-"

"Dammit!" Escaped from one of the rooms behind her.

"Abigail!" Caroline yelled and scoffed. "We are to not use that kind of language!"

A couple seconds passed.

"Sorry, mom!"

Caroline sighed and gave a sheepish smile to the girl. "Sorry, that's my daughter, Abigail. She plays those videographic games a little too much."

The girl gave a shake of her head and smiled back. "It's fine, I heard worse on the bus ride — "Does anyone have any smokes? No? Sonovab-" — here. Kinda used to it." She shrugged.

Emily gave a sad smile. "Yeah, a lot of the tourists that come here have a mouth on them too, but it's fine. It's never really often we hear it. Unless it's our teenaged youth of course." She giggled as did the others at this. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Oh, I never actually got your name. None of us have, now that I think about it." She said with her ever-present grin, albeit a little apologetically.

At this, the girl seemed to glow. She actually had a chance, a chance to say her name so her new friends will forever remember it. She was not going to ruin it, she was going to draw this chance out as long as she can and relish in it.

"You are the first person to ask me, thank you! I'm-"

She waited.

Nothing.

"I'm-!"

"There you are, Dawn! You never showed at your house, so I've been looking all over town for you since I'd heard the bus dropped you off!"

"..."

And just like that, her chance was stolen. Fate wouldn't even let her be the one to introduce herself.