#but you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me shane from Stardew would be skinny

[transgender-catboy]

Nothin worse then folks purposefully turning gay ships straight and desexifying miserable hairy fat men by making them anime twinks

[stardew-shitposterino]

“Here comes a thought” - Stardew Valley Shane/Female Player Fanfiction

(content: fluff, comfort, hurt)

(Here is a link to the song I'm refering to in the story)

————————————————-

He knew too well how it felt to be desperate, to lack the motivation to go along with recovery. It was so tempting to numb those feelings of hurt and sorrow, but he knew it was not an option. Not anymore. Shane loved that he had a reason to push through, a reason to wake up in the morning, a reason to …love again.

That reason rose with the sun every morning, leaving small pecks of adoration on his forehead before heading out on their farm. He woke up every time she did, as he missed the warmth of her soft body next to his as soon as she got up. Shane still pretended to be fast asleep so he wouldn’t have to miss those small moments of admiration she thought he wouldn’t notice. He loved when she was tender and sweet without him having to ask for it, because she wanted to. Because she loved him.

But even those moments of total bliss didn’t last forever, the thoughts that plagued him for all he could remember creeping in and trying to get him back on the wrong path. He wished he could turn them off, but it was beyond his capabilities to do so, at least most of the time.

This time the thoughts greeted him in his dreams, a silent slumber turned into a nightmare he felt he couldn’t run from

————————

“T-Tell me why shouldn’t I roll off this cliff right now…”

“…because I’ll gladly do that for you instead”.

“W-wait what?!”

she glared at him from above, Shane has never seen such demonic eyes on another human being.

“You really thought I’ll keep up with this pathetic shit for forever ? Shane, you clearly don’t have the power to change, look at you…so pathetic. Your life truly is a joke”.

The person he thought to be the love of his life came closer to him. He never felt such a dread, especially from the person he trusted the most. She lightly kicked his side, then a little more. His body started to move from the spot.

“-s-STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“…releasing you from your misery Shane…we all cannot be the winners of this game…”

He fell…he screamed but couldn’t get a word out of his mouth…it was as if he was screaming on mute…he heard a beeping in his ears…it became louder as closer as he got to the ground.

…a crack….

—————-

Shane woke from his dream. Sweating like crazy, his eyes wide, fear written all over his face. He gulped, trying not to wake the sleeping form beside him. He looked at his hands. They were wet. Shane rubbed his eyes; they were wet as well. He couldn’t get out a noise for the life of him, but he felt the urge to scream, to cry for help. It’s wasn’t the first, nor the last time this had happened, he was sure of that. Every time he thought he’s got it figured out, that therapy was working on him, he came back to those dreams. Dreams that enabled his fears. Those fears made him want to grab a six pack of beer and drown himself in it, hoping by sunrise he won’t remember. He wanted to, but he also didn’t. He couldn’t. How could he. He didn’t want to fail…but it was so unbearable, so hard to endure this pain alone.

Shane pressed one of his palms on his mouth, muffling the weak sobs coming from deep within. Tears rolled down his cheeks, wetting his hands. The last thing he wanted was to wake up his love. He wanted to move, but he couldn’t. He was paralysed, his tears disabling his body from any autonomous action. He sat like that for a minute, his wife still fast asleep next to him, not a clue at what was going on with her husband.

He felt like such a burden. He was a failure. Maybe she should have shoved him down that cliff when she had the chance to. At least she wouldn’t have to keep up with his bullshit then. No one would. Neither Marnie nor …Jas…

The thought of disappointing Jas like that brought back the feeling in his body. It felt awful, everything prickling and stinging as if he was perforated by a million tiny thorns. Pained, he was able to get up, slowly but steadily, silently sneaking past her out the door. Once Shane closed the front door, he inhaled as if he was with his head underwater. Deprived of oxygen, he couldn’t but breath uncontrollably, some tears still forming. They were salty…and bitter. As he didn’t know what to do, he went to the dock at the lake. That’s the place he always picked when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Away from people that might got hurt because of his negativity. His demons were his problem alone, no need to force him onto people he loved too much to ever hurt. He shivered, looking down the dock into the depths of the dark blue water.

“Sometimes I wish I could just jump in and just….sink to the ground. Soundly existing at the bottom, no noise, no air to waste on thinking bad thoughts…

Shane sobbed again, now having a harder time to keep quiet.

“I just…why can’t I just be happy for fuck’s sake !? I just want to be happy, I just want to be a good husband, a good father to Jas!“

He cried profusely at the words he spoke. He looked at the lake into his own reflection. He looked at his sad eyes, his unkept beard stubble, the hair that desperately needed a trim . His eyes were so tired and miserable. The once so strongly green eyes now had a grey cast over them paired with that glistening of someone who had endured too much in their life. The torture his soul endured over the years reflects onto them.

c Rather smallish compared to his broad, chubby frame. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore it. He didn’t want her to deal with him like this, he asked her too much already.

“Take a moment to think of just, flexibility love and trust~”

She began to sing in a soft tone, quietly and a bit raspy, but it felt like the most beautiful sound to Shane.

She came closer, seating herself next to her husband who sat at the dock, legs dangling off over the water. She took his head and leaned it near her chest, one arm wrapped around him, stroking his arm tenderly.

“Here comes a thought, that might alarm you~ what someone said, or might harmed you~”

Shane started to well up again. His head resting against her soft chest, easing into her loving touch. She slowly rocked from side to side, singing to him silently. She didn’t judge him, she didn’t ask anything. She was just there, being who she was and doing what she knew was best for her husband at that very moment.

“And, oh, you're losing sight, you're losing touch~

All these little things seem to matter so much~

That they confuse you~

That I might lose you~”

Through his wife, Shane has learned to love watching cartoons with her on lazy Sunday mornings when they decided to stay in a little longer before heading out on the farm. He thought it was “lame children’s crap” he’d only endure for her sake, but he ended up falling for those short episodes full of madness and bliss. It reminded him of a time he didn’t get to experience much as a child. Being carefree, allowed to just experiment and explore the world. He only knew that from when he spent his summers at aunt Marnie’s, right here at the lake.

One thing about those days stuck with him immensely. It was that one show about a boy who had to grow up too fast, to sort out the mess his parent left him with. It comforted him to know that he’s not alone in this battle, despite that other person being fictional.

“Take a moment, remind yourself ~

Take a moment and find yourself~”

This very song she sang so lovingly to him reminded him of those Sundays, the time he could just lounge on the couch with her, watch tv, eat cereal and cuddle her to death. Her head on his chest as they are together, being mostly on top of him, relaxing even more feeling his strong heartbeat. He felt at ease when she was near him like that. He disliked to admit it, but he loved to cuddle with his loved one. It reassured him that not everything is bad.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok~

We can watch, we can watch, we can watch them go by,

from here~”

She leaned down to Shane who was curled up leaning on her chest. She gave him a loving, lingering kiss onto his dark hair, her free hand taking his. Shane’s heartbeat got slower, his crying a little less. He felt his adrenalin levels lower as he felt himself becoming sleepier by the second she rocked them soothingly.

As she sang all there was to her little song, she hummed the melody repeatedly. The vibrations of her low voice trembled against Shane. There was no place he’d rather be than right there, at the lake, by her side. He was embarrassed at her having to comfort him like that, as if he couldn’t do that for himself, but he didn’t have the heart, nor the willpower to reject her in moments like this.

“Shane-“, she said quietly. His gaze finally meeting hers. She looked into his eyes, those puffy, swollen ones, still glistening from tears. He looked sheepishly, she on the other hand gave him the most tired, yet loving gaze he has ever seen on any other human being.

“It’s ok to ask for support, you know I love to help you”.

He felt uncomfortable answering her. Everything about his breakdowns was embarrassing to him, at least when he drank he didn’t remember them.

“You don’t have to say anything, my love”.

She wiped the remaining tears off his cheeks; it made him blush a little. It always did, even after all this time together.

“I-“, Shane spoke for the first time since his awakening. He exhaled strongly.

“I want to be a better person and finally find my happiness, I want to have that life and share it with you…”

She blushed at his kind words, still listening attentively.

“B-but I-I can’t beat those thoughts creeping in on me. I wish I could, I mean, I should be able to by now, after all this therapy and-and you a-and”.

His look grew concerned as he didn’t know how to articulate his thoughts. It was in the middle of the night and he was dead tired. Shane felt how she squeezed his hand tightly, reassuringly. He gathered his thoughts once more.

“I’m sorry you have to put up with this. You deserve so much better”.

She looked at him, almost teary-eyed. Shane couldn’t but also feel new tears forming around the corners of his eyes. Seeing her sad felt devastating.

“Shane, YOU deserve so much better. You deserve to be happy and you deserve to be loved. You deserve to be loved by me as well. I WANT to love you”.

He gulped visibly at her words.

“If I could, I’d take those demons from you and burden myself with them so you wouldn’t have to fight like this anymore. It’s soul-crushing how you silently suffer. But let me tell you how it doesn’t stop you from being a wonderful human being. Y-you’re so kind and caring, I’ve never met a person as incredibly sweet underneath their shell as you are”.

“Oh stop it”, he said sheepishly, unable to keep up their eye contact. She let go of Shane’s side and cupped his face in-between her hands. Now it was inevitable to look at her. Her eyes were laced with tears that awaited to roll down her beautiful face.

“I’m serious when I say this, Shane. You are loved, you are deserving and you might be broken, but you’re still so god damn perfect that I can’t believe that someone as incredible as you even wants to spend their lifetime with me. You’re so funny and dorky, your hugs feel like sunshine on a gloomy day and oh god don’t let me start with your intoxicating laugh”.

Shane felt flustered. The feeling made its way right into his heart. It felt warm and comforting.

“You know, you just get me, you know when to be what I need. When I need your support, when I need room, when I need a good laugh at good-old Shane shenanigans-“, she paused for a second, Shane looking at her, a faint, small smile on his lips.

“I’m babbling aren’t I? What I want to get at is that… Shane, you keep saying how I deserve better, how you’re unworthy, but all I can see is an incredible soul inside an incredibly cute body”.

“Ok now you’re just buttering me up, love”, Shane chuckled in a low tone.

She smiled at him, also feeling a laugh coming from inside.

“It’s nice to see you smile again.”

Shane looked at her adoringly, now leaning her against his broad chest, caressing her sides and stroking his rough hands over her delicate skin. She eased into his soft, warm body. She couldn’t believe how enamouring her husband was as she brushed her own hands over the hair of his arms.

“You never had a real family, your parents respectfully started a new life without you in it, you lost the only support system you knew and took in their daughter to raise her as your own”.

Shane frowned at her re-telling of his life story. He didn’t like to think about it too much. What was she getting at. He felt like drinking again, but he decided he needed to go through this sober, not that he had any other chance.

“You have so much weight on your shoulders, and yet you changed your ways and want to be there for the people in your life, it’s incredible”.

All of a sudden, he couldn’t just listen to all this praise. He knew it was meant well, but his insecurities told him it wasn’t deserved. He just blurted out what his head told him.

“You are telling me all these sweet things, b-but yet we sit here, at Yoba knows what A.M. and talk about my stupid alcoholic bullshit behaviour. There are other people who had it way worse and they still manage to…”

He trailed off, he didn’t know what he wanted to get at, he just felt the need to tear down all those kind words his wife had told him, words that felt true to her.

She kissed him on the lips. They were dry, but hot. Her touch cleansed his mind from all the negativity in his brain, even if it was for just one second.

“And you know what? “, she said with a bit of sass, “I am moody as hell, my long hairs are EVERYWHERE in our home, I keep forgetting to feed the chickens, 90% of the time I reek of monster guts and the most disgusting sweat smell of all history and I’m a horrible blanket hog. Not to mention that I am extremely emotional and literally cry all the damn time as well as I love to moan about literally yoba and the world when I feel like it”.

Shane began to laugh.

“But that’s what makes you so real and you.”

“Exactly”, she exclaimed.

“And your traits make YOU real, Shane. Everyone has their little quirks and that’s what makes them human. I don’t expect you to be happy-go-lucky all the time. I want you to be real and honest and speak your mind…and just be there for me”.

Now Shane gave her a generous kiss on the cheek. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside as she felt his stubble scratch over her face. He started to pepper her with loads of kisses all over. She squeaked as he made his way down the crook of her neck. She squirmed under his lips and laughed uncontrollably

“Shane please s-stop I-I’m so tickli-ish“.

Shane smirked widely as he enclosed her in his arms to stop her from scooting away. She wiggled and giggled away, way out of breath when he stopped his shenanigans.

„This reminds me of the time we went here just two years ago. Also in summer”.

She was confused for a second as to which day he meant. They spent a lot of their free time at the lake as it was the place where they started to bond and form a friendship.

„Don’t tell me you don’t remember.“ He pouted at her goofily.

The frown on her forehead made it clear that she thought hard about what he was referring at, but then she knew. Her face turned bright red and she almost choked on her saliva.

„Oh my Yoba how could I ever forget that night”.

She kept her gaze on her lap, trying to hide her face behind her hand.

Shane also had flushed cheeks, seeing how she reacted thinking of that night they went skinny dipping. It was the night they were intimate for the first time. He was so shy about it and wanted to dip out of it before it even started. Shane isn’t the most confident man, and he was even less confident when they started dating. He panicked at the idea of her seeing his entire body without any fabric to cover it. Ever since he got injured and had to call the curtains on his gritball career, he gained a lot of weight. As a former six-pack owner, he felt embarrassed to have swapped it for a barrel. He was hairy and chubby and had rough, calloused hands from work, there was no way he could feel confident showing himself to a goddess like his love. But she encouraged him to do it, talking about how she thinks he’s the sexiest and cutest. They agreed on undressing each other one by one. Once they were fully bared, she shoved him in the lake, jumping right after him. It felt so raw how close they were, physically and mentally that night. It was the first time Shane felt truly loved.

“That night…I had quite the hickeys to hide from the town, you know”. She looked at him pretend-judgingly, nudging his arm with her fist. “And it’s not easy to do that when you sweat like a pig from working”.

“You think you had it bad?”, Shane exclaimed, “I had to explain to a 5 year old girl what bit me on the shoulder. It took a lot of imagination to think of a good story”.

They both laughed, then they shared a prolonged gaze before closing the distance between them. Shane sighed in contentment when holding her close to him while kissing her lips.

After a shared, sweet moment of silence, she drew her lips away from his, placing her index on them instead.

“It’s quite late now, and I’m probably just as tired as you are…let’s go back to bed”.

He nodded in silence, taking the hand she had placed on his lips to kiss it gently.

She held out a hand for him to grab and helped him stand up in the dock. Shane looked at the deep blue of the lake once more. The ground of it wasn’t as appealing to him any longer as his mind was akin the calm after a storm. The only reason he’d want to be down there was to pepper kisses all over the wet body of his beautiful wife while holding her close to his heart.

When he looked back at her, she squeezed his hand once more before leading them back to the farm. Shane had to think of his dream, less scared and distanced from the emotions he felt in that moment. His wife knew how to calm him, to nurture his soul so lovingly like a mother nurtures her new born baby.

“She’d be a great mom, not just to Jas”, he thought to himself, but that was a conversation for another time.

--------------

Thanks for stopping by and reading my little story. I need more angsty and fluffy Shane on the internet >-< I'll post it on AO3 as well.

If you want to check in on future fics, here's the link to my AO3 account:

[brightwanderer]

Untitled Stardew Omens Fic (18)

(Index)

Fall 9

The drive to Zuzu City is quiet, which Crowley wasn't expecting. Normally they never run out of things to talk about. It's one of the reasons he likes spending time with Aziraphale, one of the reasons he spends so much time with Aziraphale, one of the reasons he feels the way he does about Aziraphale—

He pushes that thought to one side - not hard, just a gentle shove, because although he's been working his way up to it for a while, he's not quite ready to get there yet.

Aziraphale is quiet because he's nervous, that much is clear. He's clutching a thick folder of papers, and he's dressed in an actual suit, which Crowley has been selflessly refraining from teasing him about. He's also sticking to the speed limit and hasn't put his usual mixtape on, opting instead for that station Aziraphale always has his radio tuned to.

"So where do you want me to drop you off?" Crowley asks as they take the exit for the city centre.

Aziraphale sighs.

"The courthouse," he admits, which does not particularly surprise Crowley, who is extremely familiar with the particular suit-and-anxiety combo of someone about to engage in a legal dispute. "Are you sure you want to spend the day—"

"Got my itinerary all figured out," Crowley interrupts. "I'll pick you up when you're done. Then I'm taking you to dinner. Right?"

Aziraphale gives him a lovely, wan smile.

"I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it."

Crowley passes a perfectly acceptable day in the city. He even drops in on his ex-coworkers (unannounced and at the most inconvenient time he can think of, of course) so he can regale them all with the life-satisfaction to be found in returning to the soil, at least until Ligur throws a stress toy at him.

Aziraphale looks tired, frustrated, and wrung-out when he gets into the car, but the anxiety is visibly gone as he sinks into the Bentley's passenger seat with a sigh of relief.

"Well that's that over with," he says. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yep. Saw some people, did some shopping." Crowley deliberately doesn't glance back at the large cake box carefully wedged into place behind the front seats, but Aziraphale looks anyway, and Crowley can't help grinning at his delighted noise when he sees the bakery logo. "Put in an order for two dozen trees, had lunch at a little Greek place on—"

"Wait, what? Trees?"

"Fruit trees. Saplings. Thought an orchard would be a good use of all that space over on the west side of the farm. They'll be arriving in two weeks."

"But you haven't cleared that side of the farm yet."

"Nothing like a deadline to get the motivation going." Crowley's so busy laughing at Aziraphale's expression that he almost misses the turning he wants, and has to cut across lanes to a chorus of honks and beeps. "Plus I've got Alex half-convinced that chopping wood is better than weights, won't take much to tempt him into helping out."

"Is it better than weights?"

"Hell if know, but that boy spends too much time in his room with his muscle mags, in my opinion."

"That's kind of you." Aziraphale says softly, failing to hide a smile from Crowley's sideways glance. "I saw you talking to Shane the other day, as well. It's not easy to get through his shell."

Crowley mumbles something, feeling his ears turn red at being called kind, and seizes with relief on the sight of a particular sign up ahead.

"There we are, I'll just pull the car around—"

"Crowley!" Aziraphale gasps, exactly as wide-eyed and flabbergasted as Crowley hoped. "You cannot possibly be taking me to dinner here—"

"Why not? Don't like it? Seems like exactly your sort of thing." It's billed as fusion, but it's the kind of fusion where they have specialist chefs for each of the different cuisines on offer, and eye-watering prices to match. "Lots of different things to try, they've got five different tasting menus and a la carte desserts—"

"Crowley!" Aziraphale repeats, half-scandalised, half-breathless. "I really can't let you—"

"Oh? So I'm eating on my own, then, am I?" Crowley challenges, eyebrow raised as he turns them neatly into the carpark and slides the Bentley into a customer-only space. "Won't be as fun, but if you insist on waiting in the car..."

Aziraphale sputters like a blocked tap. He's turned quite red, which wasn't exactly in Crowley's game plan, but he thinks it's a good kind of blush, from the way Aziraphale's looking at him.

"Well, I suppose if you put it like that..."

Crowley grins triumphantly, and pretends not to see the way Aziraphale rolls his eyes as they get out of the car. He loses some of his swagger a few seconds later, when Aziraphale loops one arm through his, and smiles at him so brightly it's rather like looking directly into the sun.

"Don't think I won't find a way to pay you back for this," he murmurs.

Crowley swallows hard and concentrates on not tripping over his own feet as they head for the restaurant door.

[squidshadow]

"heeeey, lucy," sarah starts, stepping over piles of clothes to peer over her friend's shoulder. "uh, what're you doing?"

"stardew," lucille deadpans, slumped forward in her seat. she looks, quite frankly, like shit, with messy, unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes. she reaches for her mug with a shaky hand and sarah catches a glimpse at the liquid inside - a horrible dark green color, and it smells burnt.

"oh, summer got you to play it?" lucille nods and takes a slow sip, her body beginning to shake even further. when she sets the mug down, sarah slowly inches it away from her, eyes threatening to water at the stench. "have you, um... found anyone to marry? leah sort of looks like summer, if you haven't..."

"krobus," she mutters brusquely in response. her voice is gravelly and strained. briefly, sarah considers asking her how long she's been awake, but she knows the answer would probably give her a stroke.

"... you know you can't, um... you can't marry him," sarah says quietly, and lucille's shaking frame stills as much as it can.

"i what?"

"... yeah. you... you can't. it's physically impossible." lucille turns to face sarah, strands of dirty, damaged hair falling over her eyes. right now, she looks crazed, with impossibly small pupils and scleras tinted pink. "is that what you've been trying to do all this time..?"

"yes," she breathes out in a long sigh. "yes, it is."

"there's some other good characters in stardew, so... i, um. i wouldn't worry about it too much?" sarah offers in a feeble attempt to placate her. "like, um... leah kind of looks like summer, you sort of remind me of abigail, um... shane's a garbage fire personified, if you're into that..?"

"krobus," lucille says firmly as her hands tremor. sarah begins to realize that the hell liquid in the mug is probably 75% caffiene and 120% cocaine, and she will have to ask lucille about that never. "i only want krobus."

"you can't have krobus," sarah attempts to explain. "it's impossible. it's literally not programmed into the game. seriously, marry someone else, or, like... take a shower, or a nap, or both."

"if i cannot live in a world where i peg krobus," she begins, "then i would rather die."

"... that's a horrible mentality. you should strive for maybe the opposite of that." lucille's lip twitches. sarah can't tell if it's from the hell liquid or the fact that lucille looks like she's been awake for thirty-six hours straight. "at least stand up so you don't die? you could get a clot in your leg and it'll lodge in your heart."

"so now the med student's going to preach to me," she grumbles, rubbing her face with her sleeve. her eyeliner is smudged to the point that it looks more like awkwardly-placed soot. her breath reeks of the burnt hell liquid and not much else, and now sarah fears lucille hasn't eaten at all either.

"i feel like i should be the one preaching to you, of all people." lucille shrugs, or maybe twitches. at this rate, it's hard to tell. "have you, um... eaten anything lately? anything at all?"

"my desire to peg krobus is more than sufficient," she deadpans, clicking away.

"... why do you want to peg krobus specifically?" sarah asks, curiosity getting the better of her.

at that, lucille turns her laptop towards her. "he lives in a sewer," she explains, showing her the pelican town sewers. "he's the ideal man."

"is that the only reason?"

lucille nods.

"lucy, that's. that's a horrible reason. are you even into men?" before lucille can respond, sarah groans. "you... you look insane. you look worse now than you did during finals week."

"when jesus walked the earth, they too thought he was a madman."

"you CANNOT seriously be comparing yourself to a religious prophet right now." lucille swears beneath her breath. "look. you're going to do eat something and drink water and then sleep for forty-eight hours. whatever you have in your cup is awful and you're absolutely not drinking any more."

"two parts adderall, one part coffee, three parts mountain dew," lucille deadpans. sarah's heart stops because she fears lucille's will. "i'm not dead yet. it's fine."

"what do you mean, it's fine??" snatching the mug, sarah slams lucille's laptop shut. "you look insane. you... need to do literally anything else."

"it got us through finals," she mumbles, not looking very upset at the closed device. "remember? i made you a thermos of it."

"where the fuck did you even get that much adderall? neither of us have adhd." lucille stares at her blankly. "actually- never mind. i don't want to know."

"mm," lucille replies.

"now... get up. i'm making you actual food." with a small nod, lucille stands up, trips on a pile of clothes, and falls flat on her face. "oh my god, are you-"

"yeah," she mumbles, voice muffled. "go ahead. i'll be there in a moment."

"... you don't look okay."

"'m comfy. go."

sarah hesitates for a moment, sucking in an inward breath. "... yeah! yeah, okay. sure. this might as well happen."

as she leaves the room, she hears rustling, presumably from lucille moving and maybe not being dead. she's not sure what god she angered to put herself in this situation, but it happened anyways.

if eight were to play stardew valley, who would she romance?

krobus and shed be very disappointed once she learned she couldnt

[katedoesfics]

Under Shadow: Chapter 43

It only took them a week to replace Harvey’s medical tent with a more appropriate building, set up with a large fire place and solar power for lighting. They continued to cut wood for buildings and homes in preparation for the winter. The sun was low in the sky, casting orange streaks across the sky when they returned from another day’s work. The men united with the women on the dirt road as their paths’ crossed and they chatted amongst themselves until Vincent and Jas interrupted, running to them from the beach.

“A boat!” Vincent shouted. “There’s a boat and it’s coming right to us!”

They fell silent immediately, looking to one another.

“It can’t be the Shadow People,” Linus reminded them. “They won’t come near light.”

Curious, they traveled to the beach, standing on the shore as the boat neared. A man stood on the bow, waving excitedly as the boat came closer. When he was close enough to shore, he tossed his lines out onto the dock and the men secured the boat as he climbed over the side.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the man said. “There’s a whole crew of ya here.”

Lewis approached and held out his hand. “Welcome to Stardew Valley,” he said.

The man shook his hand eagerly. “Willy,” he said quickly. “I saw the light. Drawn to it like a moth. Figured there was no way there would be Shadow Brutes here.”

Lewis shook his head and smiled. “Not-a-one.” He walked Willy onto the shore, who tipped his hat to the women and children.

“I was sure this would be some desolate area,” Willy said.

“This is our little survivor’s camp,” Lewis said. “Come, let me show you around and get some food. Marnie’s been cooking all day, I’m sure.”

“Drinking all day,” Leah said under her breath and winked at Najia.

They followed Lewis back into their little town. Najia and Shane trailed behind as the others walked ahead.

“Are you okay?” Shane asked, studying her carefully.

“Of course,” Najia said, not meeting his gaze. “Why?”

Shane shrugged and kicked at a small stone in front of him. “Just checking. Wasn’t sure if you had any more of those dreams.”

Najia sighed. “No,” she said. “Just the one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well,” she started. “I did have this one dream where you left me the hell alone about it.”

Shane smiled. “Too bad it was just a dream, huh?”

*****

They each gathered in the community center in groups, hungrily eating their dinners. Najia sat with Leah, Shane, and Abigail, while Emily, Sandy, Elliott, and Clint sat together. Alex and Haley made googley eyes at one another from the couch. Sam, Sebastian, Maru, and Penny sat in the kitchen, while Jas and Vincent ate with Marnie, Lewis, Kent, Jodi, Linus, and Willy at the largest table.

When she finished, Penny grabbed another bowl, bringing it to Harvey who was still inside the hospital. She poked her head inside, knocking on the door. Harvey was rearranging the beds in the corner of the room. He looked up and smiled.

“Am I interrupting?” Penny asked.

“Of course not,” Harvey said. “Just trying to get everything all finished up in here.”

Penny made her way inside. “I brought you some dinner. I didn’t want the guys to eat it all before you had a chance.”

“Thanks,” Harvey said with a grin. He took the bowl from Penny as she looked around.

“It looks like a real hospital,” she said.

“Well, without the white walls and floors and the iodoform smell.”

“Is that what hospitals smell like?” Penny asked. “I never liked it, anyway.”

“Me neither,” Harvey admitted. “To me, it just smells like death.”

“I guess you’ve dealt with that a lot,” Penny said softly.

“It’s inevitable,” Harvey said. “Sometimes, there’s only so much I can do.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Penny said. “Having someone’s life in your hands like that.”

Harvey smiled at her. “I used to think it a very powerful experience. Holding a heart in your hand. Bringing someone back to life. But I quickly learned it’s just terrifying. People are more than just their organs. I learned that their lives didn’t stop at the door to my OR. On the other side of those doors, their lives continued, waiting for them. Friends, family, lovers.”

Penny watched him as he seemed to drift off as he spoke, his eyes glowing.

“My patients became very personal to me. It wasn’t just about fixing them because it was my job. It wasn’t a thrill. It became a much deeper experience. When it came to life or death, they depended on me, and I had to fight for them. And when I lost patients, it crushed me.”

“I could not deal with that kind of emotional stress,” Penny muttered.

Harvey met her gaze. “I’ve learned to find a balance. I care for my patients, but have been able to distance myself just enough when that time comes. It’s been a skill that I’ll probably never perfect. But at the end of the day, I remind myself I did all I could, and at the beginning of each day, I tell myself to always do the best I can.”

Penny smiled at him. “Do you think it will be harder out here?”

Harvey sighed. “In that back of that Hummer, I’ve monitored concussions, I’ve performed CPR, and I’ve cleaned an infection and stitched it up.” He hesitated. “I think that will be the easiest thing I’ll have to do. I’m not used to not having my hospital and my staff around me. But all I can do is my best. I think I’m doing okay so far.”

“I think so, too,” Penny said. “You know, Maru was going to school to be a nurse. Maybe she could help you out in some way.”

Harvey’s eyes brightened. “I could always use an extra set of hands,” he said. “I’ll have to talk to her.”

“Don’t get lost in here,” Penny said as she made her way to the door.

Harvey held the bowl up in front of him. “Thanks for dinner.”

*****

The discussion in the community center was heated when Penny returned.

“Winter will be here before we know it,” Lewis said. “We need to stock up on all the supplies we can before it settles in and potentially blocks our way in and out of the valley.”

“The Shadow People don’t know we’re here in the valley,” Jodi said. “If you go out and they find you, they could potentially follow you back here, right to us.”

“The Shadow People cannot enter the valley,” John reminded her. “The light will drive them away.”

“But they’ll know we’re here,” Jodi insisted. “They’ll find a way in.”

“It will be a very long, cold winter if we don’t go out and prepare now,” Lewis said. “We’re working double time to get some more buildings up so you don’t have to all be crammed in this little space. But without supplies, walls are just walls. We could stock up the pantry, get our hands on some more solar panels, maybe some nice heaters. We have entire stores stocked full of supplies that we can take as we please. We need to take advantage of that.”

“Supply raids are not new for us,” John said. “And no one has to come if they don’t want to. Especially if you don’t have experience with raiding and fighting. We don’t need anyone holding us back or making things more difficult while we’re out there.”

“John’s leaving tomorrow morning,” Lewis said. “He’ll take all the help he can get from anyone who is able.”

“You know Marlon and I are down,” Gil said, patting his rifle. “We’re itching to get out there again.”

“Fine,” John said. “Lewis, keep the rest of ‘em in line while we’re gone. Don’t need anyone slacking on their fair share of work.”

Najia followed her grandfather out of the building, into the night.

“I know I don’t have to ask you twice,” he said over his shoulder. He stopped and turned to face her and smiled.

“I have a few things on my shopping list,” Najia said.

John looked passed her. “You might not get anywhere without that body guard of yours,” he said quietly. He winked at his granddaughter before heading back down the road towards the farm.

Najia turned as Shane approached. “What?” she hissed at him.

Shane smiled and walked passed her. “See ya tomorrow morning.”