#i like maru as a character but in my head she and penny are dating so

[winter-jay-official]

Pls... this game has taken over my life ik I don't talk about it but thats bc. Idk. But I want to knooowwww

Mutuals I want to know everyone's sdv opinions I'm nosy and everyone has drastically different opinions on anything

[groovy-rat-man]

reasons i would or wouldnt date/marry the stardew marriage candidates

Alex - im playing as an afab farmer for like the first time and holy shit im surprised he hasnt smacked my ass and told me to smile more, hes getting better but also ive been feeding him cookies from his grandmothers trash can as recompense

Elliott (?) - hes a cool guy but also VERY gay and tbh i dont know if im a dude or not so im just gonna let him be, plus I think id rather be writing buds

Harvey - havent married him yet but I really want to one of these days, he seems like a sweetie!!

Sam (?) - I think hed make a cool roommate/bff but I just dont see him that way idk

Sebastian - just vibes, I kinda fuckin hate him a little bit

Shane - reminds me of my dad a little bit except younger, dont like it

Abigail (?) - I dont know why I dont like her, shes cool but idk

Emily - just not my type I guess, plus I 1) ship her with Clint (sue me) and 2) am dating her sister

Haley - god I love her so much, when I first started playing stardew I just fell head over heels for her man (also she looks like, acts like, and HAS THE SAME NAME as the first girl I ever had a crush on so ya know)

Leah (?) - mega lesbian, kinda in the same boat as Elliott except I would 100% date her like in real life so it's complicated

Maru (?) - fucking adore her but mostly platonicly I think, also I lowkey ship her with Penny

Penny (?) - shes real sweet and I do like her character but I dunno, also same thing as maru

Krobus - fuck yeah we love Krobus, queer platonic partners for live baby!!

[spongek-squidge]

You know what, I’ve done some character development, I’ve finished the current character arc, so here’s an updated version of…

My feelings on Demetrius (as a Maru lover)

Let’s begin with the basics: Demetrius to me feels like a nerdy, socially constipated dad who doesn’t know how to talk to people. Is this partially down to his almost definite autism? Most porbably, but I also feel he generally prefers to stay indoors with his science experiments which has led to an additional lack of social understanding on top of the initial struggle that typically comes with being autistic regarding understanding social stuff. Ultimately he comes off as a lovable nerd and I get what Robin sees in him.

Speaking of Robin let’s have her have a bit of a say in this, after all she is married to the man! Despite a lot of cutscenes confusing both of them having them bickering, I do think that this is only in cutscenes for a reason: it’s not a common event. Sure, they conflict during misunderstandings and a lack of intimate knowledge about each others interests (simply due to the fact they both are quite content simply doing their own thing most the time) but during their regular routines they spend an awful amount of time together quite contently! Every time I head up to the mountains in game the pair tend to be standing side by side looking over the valley. It doesn’t seem like they’re saying much but they’re still peacefully hanging around each other. It is clear from this that both of their love languages are quality time, hence why most their interactions are literally just them being around each other rather than any intimidate discussions. All of this is basically just to say that I don’t think Demetrius is a bad husband and he and Robin are a very good pairing, which is nice to see amongst all the other parents in the valley! (Looking at you Pierre and Caroline 👀)

Now let’s get to his relationship with his daughter, Maru. He loves his daughter, plain and simple, he wants what’s best for her and to protect her. However, he does go to far with it a lot and as consequence pushes her away and blocks her from social opportunities. Both her friends in the valley being Penny, the local sweet school teacher, and Harvey, the town doctor who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Highly suspicious, especially given her personality matches very well with people like Sam, the local skater boy. And let’s not forget the Maru 2 heart event, the farmer has basically only just met Maru and is only just getting to know her, yet Demetrius practically threatens them and warns them not to touch his daughter? He could at least wait until they start dating… But, he does it from a place of care. This isn’t to say he’s justified in trying to push away Maru’s new friends, just that his reasoning is not outlandish, in fact it’s rather common (sadly so). He still sees Maru as his baby and wants to protect her a tall costs, though this means that he forgets she’s a grown woman now and is capable of looking after herself, like in her 10 heart event when he tries to catch the farmer in the act of canoodling with his baby girl (even though they are officially dating it’s to be expected). All this to say he does still have a rather good relationship with Maru, they share interests and hobbies and he wants her to thrive in the scientific and engineering routes she so clearly excels at. This makes it easy for him to talk to and bond with Maru, which makes their relationship rather strong. Ultimately, he is a brilliant father to maru in all aspects of her life EXCEPT social.

Now I hear you all saying from the corners of the internet ‘what about Sebastian?’ Well he definitely fucked up in that department. The pair clearly don’t get on well at all, Demetrius never quite respecting Sebastian for who he is and considering him a bad influence on Maru. I imagine this all began when he first started dating Robin, after all explaining why his daddy had left and there was this new stranger in the house would’ve been difficult to explain, especially to a child that was still learning his abcs. In this department both Demetrius and Robin probably fucked up, with clearly neither of them doing a very good job at explaining the prospect of a step-dad to the young Sebastian at a time in his life he probably wouldn’t be very receptive of the concept, purely due to not being able to fully understand what was happening. This would’ve been amplified by the birth of Maru and Demetrius doting on her more and Sebastian feeling abandoned and tossed aside for the new baby due to all the attention she would of gotten, especially from his supposed step-dad Demetrius. While Robin would’ve definitely kept giving Sebastian as much attention as she could, a baby is a handful so she would’ve had to divide her attention up which would’ve fueled the abandonment Sebastian felt at the time. This would be a feeling that continued throughout his entire adolescence, with Maru shining bright as the golden child while Sebastian was deemed a delinquent in the eyes of his step-dad, being over looked in preference of his half-sister. This favouritism by Demetrius has had a massive impact on both Sebastian and Maru. Sebastian was impacted for the reasons previously stated, feeling neglected and abandoned by the only father figure in his life at this point and Maru for creating a rift between her and her brother, someone who she has expressed a deep desire to close the gap with and have a proper relationship between them. While Sebastian would’ve spent most his life pushing Demetrius away, Demetrius did not help that at all, and is ultimately the one mainly at fault for their rocky relationship. He may have tried at some point, given the ‘first time step-dad’ book in his room, but he gave up on Sebastian too soon, leaving Sebastian with one proper parent.

Now how about the farmer? How does he interact with them? Well, he isn’t a bad friend to the farmer at all, giving them the fruit/mushroom cave for free and generally just being his nerdy self during conversations with them. There are times where I get annoyed with him after him being overly protective of neglectful regarding his kids then he goes on a rant about trees or something and it endears me to him. His relationship with the farmer seems mostly to be someone who he can talk to and just info dump whatever scientific information he’s currently focused on to.

Ultimately Demetrius is a significantly flawed character and has bridges to build and people he needs to apologise profusely to, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Feel free to hold a grudge on him for his attitude towards Sebastian, for his over protectiveness over Maru, for his arguments with his wife, but don’t let that overshadow the rest of the character, as, once again, his flaws don’t make him a bad person. They just make him a shitty step-dad!

[audioaujom]

Movie Night

Stardew Hub, < prev, next >

Hello hello! Sorry about not having an update for last week, but I hope the fact I’m on a long-running fluff streak now can make up for the delay. Enjoy Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, Maru, and Penny having a late night movie night!! ((: For legal reasons, I’m supposed to say that I definitely do not condone pirating movies. I would never do that kind of thing myself… definitely not. Ever. So if you need a way to do that, I definitely wouldn’t know how.  Oh, and a mild spoiler warning for Murder on the Orient Express (2017). I recommend you see it if you haven't already, it's fantastic. I'm so looking forward to seeing A Haunting in Venice.

Anyways, enjoy the fluff!

Word Count: 1625

--

“Okay, Vincent’s asleep.” Penny smiled at the assembled friends as she slowly shut Vincent’s bedroom door, keeping her voice low. “We’re good to go.”

“All right!” Sam cheered from his spot on the couch, Sebastian smacking him upside the head.

“Dude! Shush, or you’ll wake him up.” Sebastian chastised as Penny jogged into the living room, plopping herself down between Sam and the arm of the couch with a laugh.

“Vince sleeps like a rock.” Sam defended, earning another light smack from Abigail—who was perched on the arm on Sebastian’s other side. “He does!”

“Can we just watch the movie already?” Maru complained, draped over the nearby chair with the bowl of freshly made microwave popcorn in her lap. “I’ve been waiting all week for this.”

“I got you.” Abigail leaned forward to snatch the remote off the coffee table, nearly falling off the couch in the process—only saved by Sebastian throwing an arm out at the last minute to keep her upright. 

“And I got you.” He rolled his eyes, taking the remote from her. “Be more careful.”

“Yup.” She grinned, a little sheepish, watching Sebastian turn the TV on before tossing the remote to his sister.

Maru reluctantly got up from her seat as she caught it, setting the popcorn down on the table so she could plug her laptop into the TV. “Be careful over there.”

“Careful’s my middle name.” Abigail grinned wide, Sam and Sebastian both rolling their eyes.

“I still can’t believe you’ve never seen Murder on the Orient Express.” Sam turned to Penny beside him, teasing. “It’s such a good movie!”

“I’ve seen the original!” Penny defended, shoving him lightly. “It’s not my fault I didn’t know they redid it.”

“You’re so out of date that it hurts.” Abigail whined, tipping her head back to rest against the back of the couch. “What about Death on the Nile? What did you think that was?”

“...I was just confused why they waited so long to do a sequel.” Penny admitted quietly, the three assembled friends on the couch bursting out in laughter. “Hey! Come on! You know I don’t have a lot of time to watch movies!”

“That’s what tonight is for.” Maru turned to Penny, stifling her own laughter long enough to look sincere. “It’s fine. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve never seen, too.”

“Uncultured.” Abigail declared, not shifting her gaze from the ceiling. “The both of you.”

“Says the girl who’d never seen Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Sebastian interjected, grinning as Abigail shot up to punch his arm.

“That’s my dad’s fault, not mine!”

The bickering was quick to die down as Maru searched for the movie in her browser and fullscreened the video, starting it with a click from her trackpad and then plopping herself back down on her seat.

The movie began loudly in the silence of the living room, all five watching the opening dutifully for the first two minutes until—

“Wow. That’s a mustache.” Abigail giggled loudly, Sebastian shushing her while trying to suppress his own laughter.

“It’s for the character!” Sam defended hotly, Sebastian shaking his head.

“Pass the popcorn, Maru?” He asked, earning a muffled protest from her.

“No.” She didn’t even spare him a glance, popping more morsels in her mouth and keeping the bowl firmly in her grasp.

“I know you can’t eat all that by yourself.”

“Watch me.” She turned a grin to him, before picking up a piece from the bowl and chucking it at his face.

“Hey!” He turned to stand up, but Abigail accidentally blocked him by giggling so hard at Poirot stepping into a pile of shit she slid off the arm of the couch and landed on top of him. “Abby!”

“Sorry!” She said unapologetically, stretching out across the couch to slide herself into everyone’s lap with a stretch. “I think I’m comfier here.”

Resigning themselves to their new positions, everyone did their best to actually get reinvested in the movie and keep their commentary (mostly) to themselves. The occasional jokes got small laughs or other comments, but the next few minutes were rather peaceful.

Sort of.

“Dude just got kicked in the face!” Sam exclaimed only a few minutes later, punching up into the air with a wide grin.

“Yeah! Get ‘em!” Abigail cheered as well, copying Sam’s punch but at an awkward side angle so she wouldn’t hit anybody she was lying on top of.

“This is not quite what I was expecting.” Penny commented after a moment, though she was smiling shyly.

“Do you wanna watch something else?” Sam’s eagerness immediately died down, turning worried eyes to the girl beside him.

“I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Sam.” Penny giggled, watching Sam visibly slump in relief. “It’s fine, really.”

“Simp.” Maru called out through a mouthful of popcorn, Sam sitting up straight and starting to stand in a rush to defend himself. 

“I am not—!” 

“Don’t get up, jackass!” Abigail whined, catching herself just in time to not slide off of him and land on the floor.

Sebastian watched as Abigail and Sam turned to bicker with each other, shaking his head slowly. “It has been—at most—15 minutes.”

“Are you really surprised?” Penny asked, hiding her laughter behind her hands.

“The only thing surprising is that it took fifteen minutes to get here.” Sebastian shrugged, before interrupting Sam and Abigail with a snarky, “You kids have fun!”

“Hey!” Abigail and Sam protested at the same time, ceasing their fighting long enough for Sebastian to get up from the couch and swipe the popcorn bowl from Maru.

“Dude!” She reached to snatch it back, but missed as he lifted it up above his head with a grin, going to sit back down.

“You need to learn to share.”

“Next time we should do separate bowls.” Penny suggested as Sam settled back into his seat and Abigail went back to sitting on the arm beside Sebastian.

“That’s a good idea.” Sam nodded, watching Abigail steal a handful of popcorn from the bowl as Sebastian glared at her.

“Candy would’ve been better.” Abigail shrugged, crunching on it a little louder than necessary.

“I can’t keep it around the house ‘cause of mom’s rules for Vincent.” Sam sighed, before reaching around behind Sebastian to shove Abigail for the noise. “Well, I can’t keep a lot around. Not enough.”

“Jodi’s been gone all day, though.” Maru pointed out, Sam’s face turning a bright red.

“If I’d known you didn’t have any, I’d have gone and bought some.” Abigail sighed, resting her head in one hand as she turned her attention back to the movie. “A little late now, though.”

“If only we could just watch the movie.” Sebastian sighed, setting the bowl on the table in front of him so Sam and Penny could also reach it.

“In your dreams.” Maru called from her seat, grinning.

The chaos didn’t diminish at all, though it relatively calmed down as the movie continued, occasionally buffering as Maru had to get up and make sure that the site was still working and the movie would play to the end. It wasn’t until the height of the movie, however, that things got horribly out of hand again. WIth everyone in the tunnel and Poirot confronting all of the passengers, Penny was on the edge of her seat only for Abigail to interrupt the moment.

“Mystery’s too easy.” 

“Excuse me?” Sam turned an incredulous look to his friend, who was staring at him blankly.

“Mystery’s too easy.” She shrugged, boredly lounging backwards.

“There's no way you saw this coming!” Sam complained, leaning over Sebastian to argue louder over the last scene of the film.

“It's obvious. Poirot puts it together from the clues presented, so why can't I?” Abigail could no longer hide her grin at Sam’s reaction, tipping her head back to keep him from noticing her glee.

“Abby, come on.” Sebastian rolled his eyes, noticing the way she was provoking him but only half-heartedly trying to quell the rapidly escalating argument.

“I didn't see it coming.” Penny tried to mediate, giving Sam a wide smile. “And I think having everyone involved was very creative!”

“Thank you, Penny, for respecting the intelligence of the plot.” Sam nodded gratefully at her, before sharply sitting up as Maru laughed from across the room again.

“Simp.”

“I'm not!” He whined, shooting up to his feet.

“If you know they're all in on it, then it's painfully obvious the whole time.” Abigail turned to look at Sam, fully smirking.

“I… what—?” Sam stuttered, flailing a little in his surprise. “Are you saying it’s obvious because you’ve seen the movie before?” 

“Yeah, obviously.” 

“Abby.” Sam said warningly, Sebastian pulling his legs up onto the couch and shifting away from Abigail with a sigh.

“Here we go.” He commented mostly to himself, sliding further over to end up next to a confused Penny.

“Wait, Sam—!” Abigail quickly backpedaled as Sam launched himself at her, tackling her off the couch as the two began wrestling on the floor with a loud laugh. “I was kidding, Sam, stop—!”

“So, my mom and Demetrius are gonna be out next weekend if you wanted to come over and watch the sequel.” Sebastian turned to Penny, completely ignoring his other two friends on the floor. “With more of whatever this is.”

“That sounds like fun.” Penny smiled, before looking past Sebastian at where Abigail had finally gotten on top and was trying to pin Sam down. “And chaos. But mostly fun.”

“If only I had some more popcorn, this would be perfect.” Maru chimed in as she unplugged her laptop, Sebastian rising to his feet with a heavy sigh as Sam yelled some unintelligible insult.

“I’ll go break them up.”

[hades-least-favourite]

my friend started playing stardew valley today and i've discovered her opinions on stardew characters by watching her play:

harvey - who's dad is this

shane - emo/j

sebastian - emo/gen

elliott - side profile scares her... what he look like head on

sam - goku

alex - decidedly avoids

abigale - bothered there's someone else with purple hair (she is jealous)

haley - she's so mean i want her carnally

emily - blue hair and pronouns? sign her up

maru - thinks she's dating penny

penny - thinks she's dating maru

leah - let's go lesbian!!!!!

robin - "i thought that was leah????"

demetrius - hey sir your son is hot

lewis - great value marlon

morris - almost 100% positive he's satan in disguise trying to take her soul with a joja membership

gus - neutral

linus - gives him all her crop because he needs it more than she does

marlon - "finally! a weapon! thanks dad"

gunther - has not stepped foot into the museum yet

clint - thinks he should touch grass. become one with the grass. leave

marnie - wants to steal her farm animals

jas - "AAH A CHILD"

vincent - (see above)

jodi - has somehow also not encountered her yet

rasmodius - weed dealer

caroline - neutral, jealous she got to sleep with ras

pierre - lol get cucked

evelyn - "oh no there's a leak in her ceiling! can i fix it? :("

george - damn why you angry

does not know of the others yet. curious what she'll think of krobus

[froegs]

My Stardew OC’s!

long post, but feel free to read up if u wanna ask questions or request to see more of them!!

Ivy Sodbuster!

Quick Facts about Ivy:

She worked in customer service @ joja for 6 years

She was a dedicated scene kid 8th grade and all through high school, unfortunately she had to trash (almost) all her clothes and redye her hair bc of joja 😞

She only wore business casual bc she would go and work for seven hours and come home, sleep, repeat. When she started working on the farm she was broke as hell so she had to rip the sleeves off her shirts and cut her jeans into jorts so she could have work clothes

Emily was her first friend in town bc she saw ivys busted ass and said..... let me help you

She became friends with Sam second just because. He was around.

She inherited grandpa’s farm with her cousin, Oakley (my friends oc, once she finalizes a design I’ll draw them more).

Oakley’s more “mature” (bc shes 30) but she just is really anxious. Ivy tries to set her up with Leah but they don’t click,,, Oakley ends up falling for chicken man.

Sam introduces Ivy to Seb and instead of Farmer falling for NPC its the other way around Fr.

Seb crushes on Ivy immediately

His first attempt at flirting was like “hey ivy...... wanna see me beat Sam at 8pool for 3 hrs straight?” And Ivy immediately joined Sam’s side and demolished Seb in 8ball.

Ivy ended up hanging out with the ASS trio on a daily.

Seb and Ivy started dating Fall 1 of year 1 after they confessed their feelings for each other during the dance of the moonlight jellies festival

They moved in together 3 days after Seb’s bday

And were married Summer 10

They fast burned this bitch but they are so stupidly in love

In Year 3 Spring Ivy’s other cousin on her moms side became pregnant and chose to give it up for adoption, but beforehand she asked everyone in the family if they wanted a baby

Ivy looked at Seb like 👀

So on Year 3 Winter 1 they brought home their son, Finn

I think this is a classic trope for all Sebastian lovers but he def dresses Finn up in a frog onesie and calls him tadpole !!

Her favorite activity is fishing, that’s how’d she find excuses to hang out with Seb by the lake

She loves making artisan items, especially truffle oil. Oakley prefers large crops and agricultural designing and ivys like fuck yeah mushroom >:D

Milo NoLastName!

Quick Facts About Milo:

Milo was smuggled into Pelican Town by the Traveling Merchant when he was 6 and was taken in by Gil and Marlon.

Gil was 55 and Marlon was 46 when they “adopted” Milo

Gil took the most care of him and Marlon kind of had the attitude of like... a dad when your family pressures him to get a dog. First week their like FINE I GUESS we have to TAKE CARE of HIM. Next week: me and the bestie!

Milo looks up to Gil so much. His favorite brown jacket was Gil’s old one.

Marlon took Milo into the mines when he turned ten as a sort of “coming of age” trip and.... a bat nipped a part of his ear off.

Marlon said it’ll build character

But he was freaking out about it

Gil was upset but got it patched up.

I head canon that Evelyn taught the kids in town before they went off to high school, so four times a week (he’d usually stay home Friday to reset and relax or help out his dads) he’d have to socialize with the others

But he was always a few years older than them so he felt kind of distant

The others in question were Alex, Penny, Sam, Abigail, Sebastian, and Maru

Once he graduated middle school he convinced Gil to let him homeschool so he could find geodes and sell them during most the day.

When he was 17 he finally reached floor 120 of the mines, but on his way climbing back up he got attacked by three squid kids and void spirits, lost his left ear, and blacked out

He was rescued by Marlon, who rushed him home and took care of him

Because Pelican Town didn’t have a doctor at that time, the bus was broken down, all Marlon could do was try and clean up his ear and give him antibiotics and make sure it didn’t become infected

He lost his hearing in that ear

That was the biggest injury he’s gotten so far, but he was grateful when Harvey moved to town

Harvey opened his clinic, fresh faced (ish) at 26 and immediately some scruffed up 24 year old saunters in like “thank GOD ur here dude, here’s fourteen years worth of problems. Good luck.”

It didn’t actually go like that

But

Basically

Milo’s not really a social person, at 25 he discovered he could easily buy a car and drive out to the desert to try his hand at skull cavern. He came prepared but ended up needing emergency surgery that night anyway

He slowly but surely became friends with Sandy and the desert trader. He liked the trader for her prices and Sandy for her kindness.

He also fell in love with....... HARVEY!! (shocker)

Harvey actually fell in love with him first :))

Idiots to lovers slow burn

Hell they’re not even together by the time ivy rolls around and they met like.... 6 years ago??? My god these bitches.....

Pheobe Dy

Quick facts about Pheobe:

Pheobe actually grew up closer to the desert than Zuzu City or pelican town!

Her parents own a decent sized cacti farm and she’d bus into town for school where she met Sandy and Emily!!

I like to believe there’s another town (not as small as Pelican) but close knit in the desert. I hc that Sandy’s shop, skull caverns, and the trader are just like the entry road to a nice desert town

Anyway

She got into fashion and design when Emily pulled her and Sandy into it in sophomore year of high school

Sandy didn’t like it that much and would usually hit glue or staple pieces bc she’d procrastinate the whole time lol

But Pheobe and Em where DEDICATED

they’d hang out after school to design clothing and critique each other’s work (with love, of course)

Pheobe went to college for clothing design with her backup being IT and computer work (another passion of hers)

She started dating Sebastian when she met him during a trip to a small computer repair store in ZuZu city

He thought she was cute so he gave her his number and they met at Stardrop Saloon

She felt a need to like him, not because she was actually attracted to him in any way, but because she was a ~closeted lesbian~

So that relationship didn’t last too long

Ok maybe a little

2 years

But she’s bad at cutting off things, ok?

That’s when she realized she liked her best friends... Sandy and Emily

Emily and Sandy were already in a pretty open relationship by the time Pheobe came around, but it still took her some courage to admit her feelings to them.

They started dating when all three of them were around 26.

Emily moved with her sister Haley to pelican town a year into their relationship, and Sandy and Pheobe followed.

They bought a car so Sandy could maintain her shop in the desert

There is now a house where that garden that Harvey stands in 25/8 is. And Sandy and Pheobe live there. I don’t make the rules.

Pheobe and Emily work together on a small clothing company, they design the clothes together, Emily makes them, Pheobe made a website and uploads them there, and Sandy sells some at her shop :D

The three of them would like to tie the knot one day, but right now they’re super content on where they are, so sometime in the future :)

[delightfulstarlightparadise]

Imagine Reader/Sebastian Part 6

I may or may not have exagerated on the size of this chapter heheh.... sorry

Previous part here: https://delightfulstarlightparadise.tumblr.com/post/629648429892665344/before-we-start-i-once-again-remind-you-that

I would like to remind you that English is not my main language, but I am doing my best. 

  You spend all morning collecting parsnips, but you get a very nice price for them at Pierre’s, enough to cover both your hospital and saloon bills, and also buy some food for the farm. It is a little less than what you used to make in a week, but you feel really nice about yourself.  

    You are happily walking back to the farm when you hear someone calling you.  

“Did I get your name right?” a blonde girl says coming down the stairs that lead to the fountain in the community center. “I really wanted to take a look at you. Emily had told me you were very good-looking.”  

    You turn to her and see that she is analyzing you from head to toes. This makes you feel a little vulnerable.  

“I guess under all that dirt and with some different clothes you might actually look pretty nice.” she says.  

“Excuse-me?!” is the only thing you can stutter behind a gag of disbelief.  

“I am Haley. My sister is the crazy blue haired girl that works at Stardrop.” she says.  

    You can’t even bring yourself to greet her.  

“I guess you won’t be much of a menace, then.” she speaks just like those mean girls you thought were only seen in movies. “See you around.”  

    The same sudden way she came, she goes away, charmingly walking in heels, moving her hips in an 80’s movie sexy way.  

“Told you being weird over here is nothing.”  

    You look behind your shoulder and Sebastian is smoking ,  coming from the bus stop path.  

“You know, Sam kicked me in a place that hurts this morning and I think somehow it is your fault.” he says without even greeting you. “Did you say something about the crush I told you?”  

“I just asked.” you say, shrugging.  

“How are you?” he asks.  

“Fine. Why?”  

“Because. Isn’t it something normal people ask when they meet?” he lets go the cigarette smoke almost in your face, he doesn’t seem to care about here the smoke is going. “Also, I overheard my mom and Maru talking about you being in the hospital yesterday. Did you drink too much again? We already have two alcoholics in town.”  

“It was nothing like that. I just...” met a wizard and drank a green potion he gave me? That seemed to support more his theory of what happened. “... had an insulation?”  

“Yeah... don’t push yourself too hard.” he says. “See you around, drunk farmer.”  

“Bye gingerbread.” you reply with a whisper.  

     He freezes at his spot as if he was just hit in the stomach and slowly turns to you over his shoulder.  

“What did you just say?” his voice i s  rough.  

“Nothing.” you say with a giggle.  

“No, no. Repeat that. I heard you say it.”  

“I didn’t say anything.” you  shrug . “I better be going, I still have to eat lunch, I don’t  wanna  pass out somewhere else, again.”  

“You are that fucking kid that used to hang around with Alex and call me gingerbread man, weren’t you?” he says. “I fucking hated you back then.”  

“That is why you tried to kill me?”  

    His infuriated expression was quickly overrun by a nervous one.  

“I didn’t try to kill you, it was an accident. And I saved you.” he says looking sideways a bit ashamed.  

“You don’t call me what you just did, I don’t tell her you used to be a red hair.” you say.  

“Her?... ABBY?! HELLO.”  

    Abigail shows up from behind Sebastian, holding his hips as if she was trying to scare him. It actually worked because he turned red right away.  

“Hi  Seb . Hey farmer! What are you doing?” she says.  

“Hello. I was going home.” you say.  

“The two of you are getting along well, right?” she says and you can feel something weird in her voice. “It is the third time I see you hanging out.”  

“We used to know each other.” you say and Sebastian sends you the most infuriated and threatening look you have ever seen.  

“I see...” she says, looking a little worried. “Did I interrupt something? Do you want me to leave?”  

“No, it is fine. I was just leaving.” you say and organize your food packages in your hands. “See you later.”  

“Wait a moment!” Sebastian says. “Abby, excuse-us just a second.”  

    Sebastian hugs you from your shoulders and takes you a little further from Abigail, that keeps staring at you both, curious.  

“You don’t ever tell anyone I was ginger. EVER.” he whispers by your ear. “Neither how you used to call me. Got it?”  

“Or what?” you say, bumping into his chest with your shoulder and smirking.  

    He steps away impressed with your strength. He stares at you as if he is about to do something that he doesn’t even know what is.  

“Relax. I was just kidding.” you say, and wave at Abigail. “See you around.”  

“Hey y/n wait!” Abigail calls. “We are  gonna  play videogames at Sam tonight, come too.”  

    Sebastian chokes at his own breath and you start feeling very anxious over the invite.  

“I have... something... I...” you stutter.  

“Come on!” she says, coming closer to both of you. “It is going to be fun, like that day in the saloon. Tell the farmer to come, Sebastian.”  

“Cooome...” he says in a VERY sarcastic way.  

“I... I will see about that.” you say very quickly. “I really need to go now.”  

“Sebastian will pick you up when he is coming! He will be there at seven!” she says in such a firm way you don’t even know what to reply.  

“Abby, what the...” Sebastian whispers at her.  

“Didn’t you say Sam had a crush on the farmer.” she whispers back. “Let’s help him!”  

“Yeah, but he likes Penny, now.”  

“Oh, come on, Penny... so boring.”  

    It couldn’t be possible that they thought you were not listening to them. She keeps insisting and even pokes him on his ribs until he agrees to her.  

“I will pick you up.” he says.  

“O...k...” you say in a very uncomfortable way.  

    You go away living the two of them behind and, as you look over your shoulder you can see Sebastian discreetly lowering his face... maybe for a kiss? Were these two dating after all?  

    You quickly think that this is none of your business and when Sebastian comes over your house you can find an excuse for that unwanted social interaction.  

    When you arrive your house, there is a man sitting on your porch. He wears an eyepatch and a long cape, just like some character from a videogame.  

    You stand still by the gate while staring at him, wondering why can’t you avoid social interactions AT ALL in that town. As he sees you, he stands up in a very noble posture and greets you:  

“Good afternoon, y/n. I am Marlon, the Adventure’s guild master.”  

“The what, now?” you mutter.  

    You remember Linus saying something about that man but... couldn’t he be just some crazy guy? If a man dressed up like that in Zuzu  city came towards you saying he was of some Guild, you would probably runaway. Maybe you should find a way to lock that gate on your farm...  

“Linus told me you had a battle with a Wilderness golem.” he says. “And that you were very brave.”  

    That was not what happened, but you didn’t really know what to tell him.  

    He slid  his cape to the side, letting you see an old and rusty sword that he, then, handed to you. It was very light, but you felt unease about being holding a white weapon that could easily hurt someone.  

“Here, it is for your protection at night.” he said. “Also, if you enter the mines, you will certainly need it.”  

    You just nod at him, as yo u  don’t know what to reply.  

“I can see in your eyes you have the adventurous spirit in you. I will tell you! If you can slay 10 slimes I will give you a pass to the guild.”  

“If I can what?” you think to yourself as you shake your head in agreement.  

“Farewell my fellow adventurer.” he says, and leaves as if he is a knight going for battle.  

    When you see he is far enough you immediately let go the sword, letting it carve on the ground in front of your porch. You didn’t want any of these!  

    You get inside your house, but the memory of the Wilderness golem attack comes to your mind as soon as you see Dog l yi ng on the carpet, he is waving his tail at the sight of you, and you notice that he has a scratch on his back. You hadn’t stopped to take a good look at him before. You feel bad for him having gotten hurt while defending you.  

    You get back outside and grab the sword.  

“Come here boy, let’s give you a shower and take care of this injury.”  

    You take a long time bathing Dog and then making a bandage on the hurt spot... and you forget to eat again... Dog is probably hungry too, it’s a nice thing you bought some dog food for him. As for you, maybe you should microwave a pizza.  

    You hear a knock at the door.  

“What is it now, someone bringing me some bows and arrows? A fucking witch?” you say to yourself while getting to the door.  

    As you open up, you face Sebastian staring at you with a sneering face. He looks really good, the hair is a little less messy and he is wearing a black shirt and a leather jacket instead of the usual hoodie you see him in.  

“What the hell were you talking about?” he asks between dragging and exhaling the smoke of his cigarette.  

“Damn it. I forgot.” you say. “Look, I can’t go, I haven’t eaten yet.”  

“I can wait, I am early. Besides, I am taking some snacks too.” he says.  

“Why don’t you just... say I was not feeling ok? Please.” you insist, trying to slowly close the door.  

“Abby won’t fall for that. And... Sam was pretty excited when I told him you were going, I don’t want to disappoint him.” he replies pushing the door open and getting inside.  

    He stops at the sight of your cottage. Just a little room with a bed, a table and a chair. The smallest fridge he had ever seen (for sure you had seen too) an old tv , a microwave and a small bathroom. That was all.  

“You should get my mom to upgrade this house sometime.” he says without any regard to  whether  that would sound rude or not.  

“Do I look like I have that kind of money?” you reply with a little frown.  

    He sits on the only chair available and puts the package he is carrying on the table, beside a... helmet.  

“Aw man...You did not came by bike, did you?.” you say anxiously. “I am not riding with you, you can tell them anything, I am not going.”  

“Hey what is your deal with motorcycles?” he says. “I will ride safely, don’t worry.”  

    You cross your arms and take a deep breath.  

“It is... personal.” you say.  

    He stares at you seemingly worried but then he just looks to the other side and nods.  

“Ok then. We walk and then I come pick up my bike.” he says.  

    You sigh as you see that he is probably not going away without you.  

“Wait there, I will dress up.” you say with your head down.  

    You get to the bathroom and take a quick shower, then dress up with one of the only nice set of clothes you have left, you tide up your hair (and maybe put on some make up if you like it). You don’t have any perfume left, so you can only hope that the shower was enough to get off the smell of dirt from the farm.  

    When you get out of the bathroom you see Sebastian glance at you, quite surprised, but he quickly stands up and gets the package with snacks from the table. You realize this is probably the first time anyone sees you and you are not tired from a long trip or all covered in farm dirt.  

    As the two of you are leaving, you look at the sword behind your headboard and wonder if you shouldn’t take it with you, just in case... but he would probably think you are even weirder for doing so. You remember Linus saying the town’s folk are protected by some spell, so you hope being with Sebastian helps those monsters from attacking you... but maybe...  

“Hey, what is taking so long?” he says.  

“How weird would you think I am if I brought a sword along?” you ask.  

    Sebastian stares at you a little surprised.  

“What, have you met any slimes around the forest? I guess spring is also their breeding season.” he says. “But you don’t have to ask me anything about it. You do as you please, I don’t judge you.”  

    He scratches his neck a little blushed.  

“Abby sometimes brought a sword to your farm when we came here.”  

    You get impressed that Sebastian talks about slimes, but you then remember what Linus said about some magic in the valley that made people think those magic things were normal. You feel very relieved to be able to bring the sword with you.  

    It is kind of a long walk and Sebastian smokes two entire cigarettes along the way. You walk in silence until you arrive the forest entrance of the city, where you can see a blue house with a navy sign above the door, not far away.  

    You then see that a man is staggering from the road to your direction, holding a can of beer. He is grunting and does not seem to see either you or Sebastian coming in the opposite direction. Sebastian pulls you aside so you get out of the man’s way.  

“What?” he says, staring at you. “What did you say?”  

“Nobody said anything, Shane.” Sebastian replies. “We are just going to Sam’s house.”  

“They keep staring at me, I don’t know what these people keep looking. Why they don’t leave me alone...” he mutters while passing beside you.  

    As he says this you notice that you WERE in fact staring him and you feel a little bad about it. Maybe that is why the man engaged in such a rude talk. You saw a lot of people like him in the streets of Zuzu  city.  

“Don’t worry about him.” Sebastian says, and signs for you to keep walking.  

    Something about that man pulls your attention and you keep looking at him until he disappears in the forest.  

“Is he ok?” you ask. “Is it ok to let him go like that. Isn’t that forest dangerous?” you ask.  

“He gets like this every night... never died.” Sebastian says shrugging. “He works with Sam.”  

    You think that is very bad of him to say something like that, but you think again, if you were willing to do anything to help anyway. You continue to walk to Sam’s house.  

“Why are they taking so long?” you hear a worried whisper.  

    Abigail and Sam are waiting for you outside his house. She looks absolutely stunning with a nice black dress and a denim jacket. Sam is wearing some stay-home shorts and a T-shirt and when he sees you and Sebastian arrive,  he gets quite embarrassed.  

“Man, what do you think I invited you to do?! It is just videogames! Why are you guys all dressed up?” he complains. “Now I feel like I have to put on some pants.”  

“You look fine.” Sebastian says and pushes the snacks packages against his chest. “Go get us some food, y/n haven’t eaten yet.”  

     None of them seem to care about the sword you are caring on your waist.  

    You get inside and it is quite a charming home, it seems to have been tied up very carefully and gently. A ginger lady (that was quite a ginger town) was seated on the couch watching TV while that boy who kicked a ball on your had some days before was playing with toys on the floor.  

“Abby!!  Seb ! Ah... and y/n!” Vincent say very happily.  

    He runs towards Abigail and hugs her legs, then Sebastian fist bumps him. He stops in front of you and waves, uncertain of what to do, but showing a small smile.  

“Good night Mrs. Jodi.” both Sebastian and Abigail say.  

“Good night.” you follow, in a clumsy way.  

“Oh, hi kids!! Welcome!” she replies with a smile. “Hello y/n, nice to finally meet you. I am happy that you are already friends with my son.”  

    You nod and try to smile, once again, uncertain of what to do, but Sebastian just pushes you forward to the direction of Sam’s room.  

“You are a social disaster.” he whispers at you.  

“Don’t tell me!” you reply.  

“You are not much better  wi th people yourself.” Abigail says. “ I don’t think you get to say anything about the farmer.”  

“ Yeah, but I chose to be this  way” he replies.  

    Sam suddenly grabs you by the shoulders and excitedly yells that combination of your names he made up  during the snooker game.  

“Let’s team up y/n!!”  

“Aw man, I  wanna   team up with the farmer! Sebastian doesn’t know how to  do teamwork.” Abigail complains.  

“Why do you think I chose y/n??” Sam replies, showing her his  tongue  in a  very childish way.  

    A loud noise comes from your stomach, and you go red with shame while hiding your face between your hands.  Abjgail  let go a giggle  while Sam slowly steps back , heading outside his room, probably to the kitchen to grab you something to eat.  

    He comes back full handed with bowls of snacks, sauce and some soda bottles, but for you he gives a plate of what seems to be a complete dinner. This makes you even more  embarrassed.  

“Don’t worry, my mom always makes too much food.”  He says with a smile.  

    While you are eating, and it is absolutely delicious, both you and Abigail watch while Sam and Sebastian play a combat game . Sebastian wins two of the three rounds but not as easily as he won in snooker a couple of days before.  Abigail, then, takes Sam's control. She wins the first round  but Sebastian is way too good in the game and beats her the same way he did to Sam.  

“Your turn now, farmer.” Abigail says, handing you the control.  

“I wouldn’t even bother…” Sebastian brags , putting the control on his lap and cracking his fingers.  

    You wipe your mouth with a napkin and take the control, then choose one of the tiniest characters in the game.  

“Are you kidding? Chose another character, this one sucks.” Sebastian says.  

“But it is so cute.” You reply. “I  wanna  play with it.”  

“Suit yourself. This is  gonna  be quick.” He replies.  

    You smirk while pulling the control closer to your body. The screen announces the beginning of the match and you quickly start pressing a combination of buttons that is so well memorized you don’t even need to think about what you are doing. Your character hops around the screen punching and kicking Sebastian's and it is so fast that his character can’t hit it with their strikes. Just a few minutes later the screen announces your flawless victory.  

    Sebastian drops the control on his lap, staring at the screen in disbelief, he then turns to you in a mix of anger and awe. You can’t contain  a victorious smile.  

“Wow! I didn’t even know this character could do  these kinds of maneuvers!” Sam exclaims while taping you in the back. “This was so awesome!!”  

“Wow! You play very well, farmer!” Abigail congratulates.  “You beat  Seb  to the ground.”  

“Round two!” Sebastian  angrily  says, picking up the control while the screen announces the second round.  

     You rest the control on your lap and start lightly pressing those same buttons making your character hop around the screen in that same way, with the same result. Sebastian's character drops in slow motion in another “flawless victory"  announcement .  

     He turns to you in what seems an expression of complete defeat and makes a gesture of questioning.  

“I used to play a lot of videogames on my free time.” you explain. “Also, I know a lot of special moves from reading forums.”  

“Yeah, I do that too.” Sebastian says, upset, tossing his control to Sam.  

     You kind of pity him for getting so bitter over his loss, but it is pretty satisfying  winning over him after that pool play. You are a bit of a competitive person and he seems to be too. You spend the rest of the night defeating the three of them using the most underrated characters of the game. Each match Sebastian seems more determined to win, but even when he gets close to it, you find a way to win using a special power he didn’t know about or a combo you made up yourself.  

“You are REALLY good at it!” Abigail says excitedly. “You have to teach me this combo.”  

“You just press triangle and x while moving forward.” you say, getting close to her and showing the way you move the buttons. “Using the analogic is better than the arrows, see? It is faster.”  

    Abigail tries to replicate your movements, frowning her browns and biting her tongue in a very adorable and concentrated face. You blush at the sight of it and barely notice that she is doing everything wrong.  

“No, wait, you have to move your finger to this side, unless you want to invert the control’s settings.” you say.  

“Can you do that?! It seems much easier to turn this way.” she replies. “Maybe that is why I can’t beat my game at home! Hey, can you come over and teach me how to do this?”  

    Sebastian stares at you with the most outraged face while Sam glances from the two of you to him in a worried expression.  

“I can write you a tutorial.” you reply.  

“ Nooo ... I hate messing with these kinds of things, I might even burn the console. Please come and help me, I live behind my father’s store.” she says in a very slick way. “ Pleaase ...”  

    You can almost feel Sebastian’s eyes burn the back of your neck, but Abigail’s stare is just as intimidating. You are afraid that if you give her any excuse she will read into your soul and then find a way to curse you into accepting.  

“Ok...” you reply completely uncomfortable.  

    She smiles at you in a victory gesture. Sebastian on the other hand, grunts and stands up turning off the videogame.  

“We should be going now.” he says.  

“What? It is still so early!” Sam complains. “I didn’t even brought the sweet snacks.”  

“I am pretty sure y/n has to wake up early to attend the farm’s business.” he replies. “Also, I have a code to finish.”  

“Aw man, I was going to ask y/n to teach me how to unlock the mysterious character.” he grunts and puts the controls beside the console.  

“Haven’t I already told you how to do it?” Sebastian is almost growling at him.  

“Yeah, but I never get to do it when you are not here. You don’t explain things very well.” Sam mutters.  

    You can see Sebastian discretely slapping him in the back of his head while Abigail is still busy moving her fingers as if rehearsing the new move  she has learned from you.  

    Sam takes you outside and waves goodbye  at you as you walk towards Abigail’s house to escort her there before you go back to the farm. It is not a long walk until you get to Pierre’s.  

“You should hang out with us more often.” she says and taking you completely out of guard, she kisses you on the cheek.  

    You freeze completely, your face becoming a bright tone of red as you hear Sebastian gasp in outrage. Abigail doesn’t even bother saying goodbye to him, she just gets inside and you see her long purple hair waving through the glass door.  

    Both you and Sebastian stay put for a while.  

“We should be going right?” you say.  

“Yeah...” he replies with what, for you, seems to be a roar of threat.  

    You walk in silence until you get to the entrance of the forest. Sebastian seems so stressed that he puts out two cigarettes in that short walk.  

“Listen, I don’t want to stay in your way.” you apprehensively say.  

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” he replies, sharply.  

“Abigail.”  

“What about her?” he asks and his voice barely comes out.  

“Aren’t you, like, her boyfriend or something?” you ask.  

    Sebastian chokes in his cigarette smoke and spends quite some time coughing, but it seems to be more about making you stop talking. As you keep staring at him, he stops and looks back at you, his eyebrows frowned and cheeks a little blushed.  

“It is complicated.” he says.  

“Ok, none of my business.” you say, putting your hands up beside your shoulders.  

“Thanks.” he says.  

“But you do seem to like each other.” you can’t help saying.  

“I said THANK YOU.” he yells and you giggle.  

    You keep walking through the forest, passing a little cabin near the river and then, Marnie’s ranch until you reach the bottom entrance of the farm. When the two of you are entering, you hear a terrible screech and Sebastian stops to look around.  

“What the hell was that?” he asks.  

“A bat, maybe?” you say, your hand is already on the handle of your sword.  

    You hear it again and out from between the trees a giant skull head comes dashing at both of you, cracking its teeth as if it is about to bite you.  

     You push Sebastian aside and swing the sword at it, but it ducks and attacks you with a bump in your chest, sending you flying to the ground near him.  

“What the fuck!? What the fuck?!” he yells while standing up and trying to help you stand up too.  

     The skull takes a turn and aims at Sebastian, but you push him aside again and this time, you get to hit it with your sword knocking it back a few yards. It makes a horrible sound and quickly comes back in your direction. You wave your sword, but  miss, and it bites your arm.  

     You hear Sebastian scream your name in worry, and it hurts like hell, but you find a way to set yourself free and knock the skull with the sword again.  It let go a cry of  anger and try to advance, but it is suddenly knock down by a shadow.  

    It is D og! He came to save you once again .  

    Dog bites it and presses it against the ground while it screams and tries to escape. With a big effort from your hurt arm, you stab the skull as hard as you can, and it shatters into pieces that start disappearing.  

    You let go the sword and fall on your knees, puffing and moaning in pain. Dog comes closer and licks your face, his tail slightly wagging.  

    You feel a touch on your shoulder and turn around quickly in a defensive pose, but it is just Sebastian checking on you. He is covered in dirt and his eyes are  wide open with the scare.  

“It's me, it's me.” He says, kneeling by your side and trying to make you let go of your hurt arm so he can see it. “ This is ugly, I should take you to the hospital.”  

“And say what, that you bit me?” you reply trying to make him get away from the wound, that clearly looked like a human bite.  

“Do you have any other ideas?” he asks.  

“Take me to the Wizard!” you yell in pain.  

“The WHAT now?” Sebastian says.  

“You know, the guy that lives in that weird tower in the forest. He will help me... I guess... damn it, it hurts so much!”  

    By now you have started crying and Dog starts barking at Sebastian, as if he is telling for him to hurry. He stands up and runs to get his motorcycle.  

    Besides you starting to say that you are not going to hop on that, Sebastian lifts you with a strength he does not seem to have and forces you to sit in the backseat.  

“No!!” you yell and tears are coming down.  

“Just hold on ok. I promise you we’ll be ok.”  

    You shake your head negatively, but Sebastian takes your unwounded arm and makes you hold onto his hip. He stops for a moment, holding your hand and staring at it, as if he has just zoned out in some thought. His hand is cold, probably because he is nervous and scared, but you feel suddenly comforted by it. You slowly stop crying with small sobs.  

“Can you hug me with the other arm?” he asks.  

    You nod and pass the other arm around his hip. He starts the motorcycle engine, and you let go a shout of fear, hugging Sebastian tight and pressing your face against his back. He starts riding fast towards the west of the forest.  

“Are you ok?” he asks midway.  

    You can only bring yourself to nod.  

“You are holding a bit tight...”  

“I am sorry.” you sob, but can’t loosen the hug.  

“It’s ok...”  

    When you arrive, as soon as Sebastian stops the bike, you hop out and fall on you knees of it giving him a big scare. He hops after you, and even lets the motorcycle drop on the forest floor. He helps you stand up and walk to the tower.  

    You knock at the door.  

“Who can it be at this time... Oh  Yoba !” the Wizard attends and gasps in surprise to see you bleeding. By that time your sleeve is all red. “Come on in! Come on in!”  

     The Wizard gives you some weird red medicine to drink and Sebastian stares at it very uncertain if he should let you do it or not, but you quickly grab it and gulp it down. The pain starts to fade away while Rasmodius  cleans up the wound and infuses it with herbs.  

“So, what happened?” the wizard asks when you finally seem better.  

“I ask you!” you yell at him. “I don’t remember signing up to fight MONSTERS. A fucking flying skull BIT ME!”  

“Hmm... it seems like your ability to connect with the valley comes with the hazard of attracting the cursed ones.”  Rasmodius  says. “Not even my strong spell can protect you as it does to the townsfolk. It impresses me that you were attacked along with one.”  

    Sebastian is staring at Rasmodius  seeming VERY confused. That is probably the same face you made when you first met him.  

“I will be going back to  Zuzu ! That is it!” you say.  

“I am afraid it is not possible anymore.”  Rasmodius  replies, scratching his purple beard.  

“Excuse me?!”  

“You see, once you are now connected to the valley, you will find very difficult to leave.” he says. “You may try to take the bus, or any other way of transportation, but you will always find yourself back here.”  

“I don’t believe it! You are saying this to keep me here with those monsters and the...  Junimos ! They are telling you to do this!”  

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sebastian asks.  

“Those little apple things that live in the old community center! They are behind this.”  

    Sebastian stares at you as if you were the craziest person in the world.  

“Show him!” you shout, turning to the wizard.  

“Only those connected to the Elementals can...” he starts lecturing.  

“I DON’T  FUCKING CARE, FUCKING SHOW HIM!!!” you yell while beating your feet on the ground.  

    Both the Wizard and Sebastian jump in place scared by your sudden lash out. He takes off his hat and scratches his head.  

“What is with this new generation and curses?” he sighs. “So be it...”  

    Rasmodius  starts saying some incomprehensible words and each and every one of the rocks of the tower start shaking. Sebastian holds tight to the chair you are sitting and you start regretting saying anything at first place. A big flash of light blinds you for a second, and in the middle of the room a summoning circle appears. In the middle of the circle, the tiniest apple appears.  

    It is a little green Junimo . It waves at you and Sebastian and starts making those funny noises it does. You turn to Sebastian and gesture at it.  

“I have been smoking too much pod.” he says while rubbing his head.  

    You stand up and force him to sit down on the chair you were sitting, then hush to pick the Junimo  on your hand. You squish it while showing it to him, and then, you start, very dramatically, telling him EVERYTHING that has been happening to you since your arrival: the old memories, the plants growing too fast, the community center, the monsters attack.  

    He listens to everything staring at you as if some engine has just broken inside his head. When you finally finish, he keeps staring in silence.  

“I think it was too much for this young man.”  Rasmodius  says, analyzing Sebastian’s face from up close. “Maybe I should wipe his memory.”  

“No! No messing around with my head anymore, please!” he says, standing up quickly. “I knew you were trouble! I should have stayed home washing the dishes and let  Maru  hang out with you.”  

“Excuse me! I am clearly the victim here. Also, this bite here? I got it protecting you!” you say while shaking your previously wounded arm.  

“Apparently you were the one who put me in danger in first place.”  

    The two of you keep staring at each other in infuriating rage. Rasmodius  makes a wonderous pose and then smacks his fist on his  hand as  if he had just made a discovery.  

“I see... your destinies are connected. You are the ones for each other.” he says.  

“THE WHAT?” you both yell.  

“He has a girlfriend!” you say pointing at Sebastian outraged.  

“Abigail is NOT my girlfriend.” he replies.  

“Interesting, interesting.” the Wizard mumbles. “You have found yourselves so soon in your journey, such a connection is rare.”  

“Excuse me Mr. But farmer here isn’t my type.”  

“Wow! What?! Am I too ugly for you?” you don’t even know why you are still bickering over it, but you don’t feel like letting him say something like that about you.  

“Did I say that? You said that. I didn’t say that.” Sebastian talks back.  

“I see, I see...”  Rasmodius  isn’t even paying attention to you. “Quite a journey you have ahead of you. You shall, then, rest for tonight.”  

“ Wha ...”  

    Before the both of you can finish the sentence, the Wizard gestures with his open hands and a big flash of light involves you...  

…when you realize, you are waking up on your bed. There is no bite in your arm anymore. You can hear the rooster sing in the distance.  

Next part here: https://delightfulstarlightparadise.tumblr.com/post/629832532423213056/imagine-sebastian-reader-part-7

[thegreatyin]

what were ur first impressions of the characters? :0 (about sdv)

Long post incoming, I actually had to pull out the game and check my social list to remember all the names and shit, so this is in order of that list

Maru seemed nice! She seems like a cool farm gal. 10/10 might not hang out with her much but she's cool in my book

Penny is cool! Honestly, she's the kinda person I would be friends with if I knew her in real life. Still don't know why she's sad.

Pam was a bit of a little bitch, but a good kind of little bitch.

George is a grumpy grandpa. He likes leeks. He probably would swear if the game allowed it.

Alex is a fuckboy. The absolute dictionary definition of idiot sport boy.

Willy is my fishbuddy!! I love him. He lets me sell fish so I can make money.

Lewis is chill. I like Lewis.

Emily is a weird hippie and honestly? I respect her life choices.

Linus is hoboman!! I love hoboman!!

I'm genuinely considering marrying Elliot ironically, because he seems like a total fucking chad. Big himbo that lives by the ocean. Seems legit.

Jas and Vincent are the kids. Not much else to say there.

I don't know much about Abigail, but she hangs out near a wizard tower. Honestly? Mood.

Robin is another girl I would probably be friends with! Kinda wish she was a romance option, but shrug.

Evelyn is a good grandma. I like good grandma.

Wizard invited me over to his tower just so he can give me weed. He probably lives away from the rest of the town for a reason.

shane is stinky and has no rights

Haley is another love interest I'm considering ironically dating! She's a little empty-headed and stuckup, but I have a strong hunch she gets character development. Strong. Hunch.

Sam likes guitar. Idk man, he just does.

I don't have any opinion about Leah. She seems nice, that's about it.

Demetrius is also pretty cool! Clint and Gus also fall in this category.

Harvey doesn't interest me that much. I'm sure he's a wonderful romance option, but personally, I'm not into it.

Everyone else I either haven't met yet, or don't have any major opinion on/think people would find my opinion noteworthy. I also think I've met all the love interests at this point?? There's a weird emo kid that's marked as single and I think he's a love interest, but all I've seen of him is him hiding in his basement like a fucking coward.

[ataritastic]

Stardew Valley romance feels

Let me preface this by saying that I want to marry everybody. I love them all.

Penny - Penny is sweet and pretty and cute and I want to give her a better life than she has right now and I punched a pillow when she said “So a farm’s a good place for kids right?”

Shane - I was fully expecting to already be married to Shane at this point, honestly. I got invested early, and I went into his 10-heart event ready to become an emotional trainwreck, but the game just didn’t deliver for me. Like, all this heavy story and important character development that... doesn’t change anything. He still spends all his free time at the saloon, he still drinks, he never says anything that even hints at romantic feelings. It’s just a bit of a let down for me. Also, I poked my head into Tumblr’s SV tag and.......... I really didn’t like what I saw. Alcoholism isn’t a cute character trait, especially when we see just how severe it is for him. I still really like him though, and I do still want to marry him bc this poor boy needs some love in his life, but I don’t think it’ll be me this time.

Leah - Leah is such wife material?? She’s cute, she flirts like crazy, her lifestyle would fit on the Farm well, but I never want to actually follow through with the first romance option that catches my eye. I went through the same thing with Cullen in DAI (except Leah’s got tougher competition than Cullen I think) because it feels too obvious?? Clearly I’m not looking hard enough at the others?? Also, she already has the best life going for herself of anyone else in-game and I don’t really want to wreck that? Especially compared to, like, Penny, who needs an opportunity to get out and live her best life.

Alex - I was completely unprepared for how much I like Alex. The weirdo I was in High School is furious that he’s one of my top marriage options here. A dumb jock?? Yeah right! Except he’s hot and he’s kind and he’s been through a lot and he loves his grandparents and dogs and is trying so hard and wants to better himself and every time he does his blush face I punch something.

Sebastian - Conversely, my inner 13yo weirdo was instantly attracted to Sebastian, which makes my 28yo self apprehensive. But I have such a weakness for getting the gruff stoic guys melt and Seb totally delivers on that front. He totally started reading that book about farmers when he realized he had a crush so he knew what he was getting into. Getting him to crack a blush is the best. Once again with the punching things when he says something cute. He’s also hot. 

Harvey - friggin’ adorable. I’m such a sucker for awkward blushing attempts at flirting and Harvey is the best of the bunch.

Elliott - Elliott is the alternate universe Fabio of 90′s romcoms instead of romance novels. He’s a handsome single aspiring writer who lives in a beach hut for inspiration, and he takes you out on a date in a rowboat. He is so much and I love it. “Oh! A tiny crab has made its home in my shirt pocket!” jesus. He’s not in my top contenders, but I can’t seem to write him off completely.

Abigail - I started off really really liking Abigail, but while everyone else was getting cuter and I was liking them all more and more, Abigail just kinda stayed the same. She plateaued early, and now I’m more excited about everyone else I guess. 

Maru - Maru is cute and I love her, but tbh I find her kinda forgettable.

Haley - I love Haley herself, but I L O V E everything about her place in the game. She is a masterwork of character creation. The writers had a clear journey they wanted you to go on with her, and they did it splendidly. She was obviously made to attract a certain breed of straight male gamer and to teach them about rejection and women’s personhood beyond their looks. I love her so much.

Emily - Emily���s cute, and I love how FORWARD she is (fuckin’ in the hidden forest on the first date HELLO) but tbh I’m really turned-off by her lack of resolution with Clint. You spend so much time trying to help him ask her out, he does, and she says yes! But then he walks in on a scene he misinterprets as romantic, and he gives up. This is in her 8-heart scene, still in the platonic zone. I wish the game gave you a chance to talk to Clint about it, or for Emily to turn him down, or SOMETHING. 

Sam - He’s sweet, and his 10-heart event is STUPID and CUTE and STUPID. But he’s also kinda forgettable. And he has stupid hair sry2say

So I’m here, stuck between Alex, Sebastian, Penny, Leah, and Harvey. And I wish I could marry them all. Decisions are hard and Stardew Valley is full of cute bisexuals.

[shiny-the-strange-writes]

Ohara Man and Matsuura Boy

Fandom: Love Live! Sunshine!!

Summary: After witnessing Mari terrorize their friends with constant SpongeBob SquarePants references, Kanan decides to watch the show for herself.

Genre: General

Rating: G

Featured Characters: Kanan, Mari, Dia

Pairing(s): None

Chapters: 1

Word Count: 2545

Publication Date: 14 May, 2017

Warnings: none

Extra Notes: Constant Spongebob references. Approach at own risk.

Alt. Links: AO3, ff.net

“All right pinhead, your time is up!” Mari, wearing a cowboy hat, leapt into the water. Her hat flew off and landed on Dia’s face.

Kanan frowned. She looked at Dia, then back to Mari. “Who you calling pinhead?”

Mari laughed. “Ooh, did you watch it again, too?”

Dia placed the hat back on Mari’s head and groaned. “Great, do I have to deal with both of you making references to that cartoon?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Kanan. “I didn’t realise there was a reference to a cartoon in anything we were saying.”

Eyes widening, Mari clutched Kanan’s shoulders. “You mean you weren’t playing along? How could this be?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” said Kanan.

Sighing, Dia brought a hand to her forehead. “Didn’t you hear? Mari’s rewatching SpongeBob. She’s been quoting it non-stop for the past couple days. I’d never seen it myself until she made me sit through a marathon of it. I’m surprised you never got any of her texts while you were gone.”

“Oh, no, I got them. I just figured it was Mari being Mari.” Kanan raised an eyebrow. “SpongeBob? You mean that American cartoon with the talking sponge? I’ve never seen any of it.”

Mari gasped. “Kanan! How could you have never watched SpongeBob SquarePants?”

“I never watched many cartoons, you know that,” said Kanan.

“That’s going to change! You’re coming over to my room to watch my SpongeBob DVDs on my shiny new projector!” cried Mari, shaking Kanan as best as she could in the water.

Kanan grinned. “Okay, okay, I’ll come watch with you later this week.”

“Hooray!” Mari let go of Kanan and slapped her hat against the water.

“Hey, are we going to sit around talking about cartoons or swim out to that place you were telling us about, Kanan?”

“Of course. If we get there in time, we can watch the sun go down!”

“Yes! Let’s watch the sunset with Squidward,” said Mari. “Then we can swim home—at night!”

Dia looked as if she were on the verge of tears.

~~~~~

Kanan entered Dia’s house to find Mari and Ruby sitting on the floor.

“…And that’s how I lost me millionth dollar,” said Mari.

Ruby’s eyes lit up. “Wow! How much yen is a million dollars?”

Mari chuckled and said the exact number. Ruby screamed.

Dia entered the room with such velocity that everyone jumped. She glared at Mari, hands on hips. “Hey, what’s going on out here? Why are you screaming, Ruby?”

“N-Nothing’s wrong! I was just a little surprised,” said Ruby.

Kanan nodded. “You know what Mari is like with money.”

“Oh, hi Kanan!” said Ruby. Dia and Mari followed suit.

“Did you only arrive just now?” asked Dia.

“Well, I arrived in time to see you rush to Ruby’s rescue.”

A blush spread across Dia’s face. “A-Actually, the reason I came over so quickly is that I was already coming over to tell everyone that the pizza place called. The order is going to be ready soon, so Mari and I should leave to get it now.”

“Pizza? We haven’t had that in a while. Whose idea was that?”

“Who do you think,” deadpanned Dia.

“The Krusty Krab Pizza!” Mari stood and ran to the door. “You wanna come, Kanan?”

“I—”

“Stop right there!” Dia pointed at Mari. “Kanan hasn’t even sat down yet! Kanan, stay here and wait for us to get back.”

“You sure? I don’t really mind going back out.”

“Yes, stay here,” said Dia.

“No, come with us!” said Mari.

“I think I’ll stay and keep Ruby company.”

“Whether you come or not, penny, chip, and used napkin can keep her company!”

Silence. Nobody spoke for several seconds.

“…Let’s go, Mari,” said Dia, shaking her head.

“Aww, okay. See you two—” she made a noise that sounded like a dolphin— “later!”

Dia growled as she shut the door behind her.

Ruby turned to Kanan. “Was it really such a good idea to let those two go alone…?”

“I’m sure your sister will let Mari know when she’s had enough,” said Kanan. “Now, what should we do?”

“Well, Mari left this game that’s supposedly based off a real treasure map here,” said Ruby, motioning to the board game on the table.

The two played the game for some time. Kanan doubted that it had been based off a real treasure map, or at least one that hadn’t already been used to find treasure. Part of her wished that it was still intact and that there really was treasure to find, though. Throughout the process, the lights kept flickering on and off.

“Is there something wrong with the power?” Kanan looked out the window. Not a cloud was in the sky. “It’s not like it’s storming…”

“I-If Mari were here, she’d probably say it was something scary,” said Ruby.

“Like the Hash-Slinging Slasher?” said a voice that wasn’t Kanan’s.

Ruby shrieked.

At the door stood Dia and Mari, the latter holding the pizza with a shit-eating grin on her face. Was this yet another SpongeBob reference? Kanan really needed to check the series out.

Dia elbowed Mari. “Cut it out! You’ve already driven me mad with all your talk of pioneers on the way back home, can you stop making references for five seconds?”

Mari’s smile fell. “Huh? That wasn’t me, though!”

Alarm struck Dia’s face. “Wait, it wasn’t?”

The lights flickered once more. Everyone looked to the side.

There she was, next to the light switch – Yohane.

Mari waggled her finger. “Nosferatu!”

Everyone else screamed.

~~~~

Knocking on the door, Kanan waited. During the events of the previous night, Mari had accidentally left her board game at the Kurosawa house. Kanan volunteered to bring it back, as she had planned to visit Mari the next day anyway.

Opening the door, Mari beamed. “Yay! You made it!” She hugged Kanan before leading her inside.

“I brought you your game,” said Kanan, placing it on the living room table. “It was actually pretty fun. I had to convince Dia and Ruby to let me bring it back to you, rather than letting them keeping it for themselves and going on a real treasure hunt.”

“Ooh, that reminds me! Did you know I invited Dia over today as well? When I called her here, she screamed a ‘no’ out and hung up right away! She’s missing out…” said Mari, slumping onto the couch.

“I think she’s had enough of your memes for now, and we did hang out just last night,” said Kanan. “Now, where’s that essay you wanted me to proofread?”

Reaching over, Mari grabbed a piece of paper. She handed it to Kanan. “Here it is!”

Kanan examined the paper. A very fancy, handwritten “The” was the only word on it.

“This is…”

“It’s joke! I haven’t even started my essay!” said Mari, giggling.

“Okay, you know what?” Kanan slammed her hand on the table. “We’re watching those SpongeBob DVDs of yours, right now.”

Mari stared for a moment before a massive grin spread onto her face. “Really? You don’t even want me to work on my essay first?”

“No matter what Dia or I say, you always leave it to the last minute anyway,” said Kanan.

Within seconds, Mari had seemingly warped to the DVD player. She started the projector. “I had some on last night. I’ll show you the episode I was referencing when I showed you my essay first.”

------

“Aaugh!” Yoshiko flailed a picture around. “I accidentally got paint on Chika’s copy of our first picture together as Aqours! Soon, this picture will burn in the same circle of hell I do…”

“Wait, Yohane, we’re not cavewomen!” Hanamaru motioned to Chika’s laptop. “We have technology, zura!”

“No! Don’t slam the laptop on the picture!”

Maru raised an eyebrow. “…What exactly have you been doing during Guilty Kiss meetings lately?”

------

“Wow.” Kanan stared at the screen. “That was interesting. I think we all know how SpongeBob feels about his essay, huh?”

“But did you like it?” Mari leaned close to Kanan’s face.

Kanan smiled. “Yes. I can understand why people like it, and why you like it so much.”

“Do you want to watch more, from the very beginning?”

“Sure, let’s do it!”

------

“You could’ve just printed a new one instead of licking it, you know,” said Riko, frowning at Chika from her balcony.

Chika rubbed the back of her neck. “Ehehehe…I guess I could’ve done that…”

“S-Sorry for being so loud, Riko.” Yoshiko hung her head. “We only wanted to earn some extra money by painting Chika’s room….”

Riko sighed. “It’s just that your banter made me make a mistake on my painting. Let me show you.” She walked back into her house.

“This whole situation sounds like that SpongeBob episode where he and Patrick paint Mr. Krabs’s house,” said You.

Maru cocked her head. “SpongeBob? What’s that?”

“Only the best cartoon ever!” Chika raised her fists.

You put a hand on Maru’s shoulder. “Hey, do you want to try watching some right now?”

“Hmmm…okay, zura!”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Chika leaned out the window. “Hey, Riko! Do you want to watch SpongeBob with us?”

No response.

“Hey, come on!” Reaching down, Chika picked up her slippers. She threw one at the balcony, aiming for Riko’s window. When it didn’t land far enough, she threw the other slipper.

The slipper ended up hitting Riko’s face as she walked out with her painting. She slipped and tumbled backwards. “Ouch!”

“Oops….”

“You should probably let me throw the slipper next time,” said You.

“Chika, no! You killed her!” cried Yoshiko. “We can’t go to jail!”

Riko stood and rubbed her forehead. “I’m not dead!”

“Oh…I’m glad you didn’t have the same fate as the health inspector,” said Yoshiko.

“Sorry, Riko!” yelled Chika. “Is the painting okay?”

“It’s the same as it was before.” Riko held the painting up for everyone to see: from the shoulders down it depicted a human body in a schoolgirl uniform.

The head was Squidward’s.

Chika clasped her hands together. “Wow, you really captured his beauty!”

“T-That’s not the point!” Hiding the painting behind her back, Riko looked away.

Chika giggled nervously. “Anyway, do you want to watch SpongeBob with us?”

Riko’s eyes widened. She took several steps backwards until she was in her house, shutting the screen door in front of her. “Please, no more SpongeBob! Goodnight!” And with that, she fully retreated into her room.

“Huh, that was weird.” Chika turned around. “Yohane, do you want to—wait, where’d she go?”

“Look over there!” said Maru, pointing in the direction of Riko’s house.

Everyone turned to see Yoshiko standing in Riko’s room, panting in front of a once again visible Riko.

“Yoshiko, when did you get there?” asked You.

The two girls looked over. Yoshiko grimaced before yelling at the top of her lungs, “My name’s! Not! Yoshikooo!” She closed the sliding glass door and pulled the blinds down.

Chika and everyone else’s faces held the same dumbfounded expression.

------

Humming Ocean Man, Kanan drummed her fingers on the table.

“Hey, Mari, I think the movie is over—” Kanan looked down to see Mari fast asleep, the upper half of her body on the floor and the lower on the couch. Drool pooled at the side of her mouth.

Kanan blinked. She looked outside, suddenly noticing that it had gotten brighter outside. Her eyes were sore and her stomach rumbled.

“Mmmmm…” Yawning, Mari opened her eyes. “Where are we…? What did we do last night?”

“We’re in your room, and we watched the entire first season and the SpongeBob movie,” said Kanan. “I think we were up all night…we probably look like SpongeBob and Patrick after their night at Goofy Goobers right now. Not healthy at all.”

“Aqours should sing the Goofy Goobers song,” moaned Mari, fixing her position and sitting up.

A phone buzzed. Mari picked it up and turned on speakerphone.

“Hi! Is this a good time?” asked the caller, who sounded like You. It probably was You, but Kanan was so exhausted that she wasn’t sure.

“No, this is Mari,” said Mari as she hung the phone up.

They sat doing nothing for a while. Kanan could hardly believe she had managed to stay awake and attentive to the show for as long as she had.  Somehow, it did seem as quotable as Mari made it seem.

Not that she would quote it on the same level as her. It would be funny to see Dia’s reaction to the whole thing, though.

“Hey….do you think we should eat breakfast now?” asked Kanan.

“Sleepy.” Mari clutched a pillow and fell to the side.

“I think I’ll leave then.”

“Okay. I hope you had as much fun as I did last night!”

“I sure did.” Kanan headed for the door. “There’s one last thing I need to say before I go, though.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“Write your essay before your hotel catches on fire.” She smiled.

~~~~~

“Quick, everyone be quiet!” said Dia.

Each member of Aqours sat in a line on a bleacher, eagerly waiting for Kanan to sing.

Mari sat directly across from Kanan. She winked.

Kanan winked back as she did a stretch. “You all ready for this?”

A unanimous, enthusiastic “YES!” came from the audience.

Taking a deep breath, Kanan begun:

“F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me! N is for anywhere and any time at all—”

“Down here in the deep blue sea!” joined in Mari.

The audience briefly paused before it broke into cacophony. Yoshiko screamed, Riko put her face into her hands, and Dia looked like she was about to explode. Everyone else cheered and clapped.

“You know, I kind of hate you right now,” said Dia. Her cheeks reddened. “Of all the covers you could’ve done, you chose that? I mean, you sounded good while singing it, but d-don’t think that means I liked the song! I think I’m going to leave now.”

“I was just playing around, Dia. Don’t leave yet,” said Kanan. “You’re going to miss my duet!”

“Y-Your duet? With who?”

Kanan high fived Mari as she came up and stood next to her.

“Are ya ready kids?”

“Aye, aye, captain!” shouted Mari.

“I can’t hear you!”

Everyone except Dia joined in. “AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!”

“Oooooh…who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”

“SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!”

Dia’s face continued to redden.

“Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!”

“SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!”

Dia put her hands on her temples.

“If nautical nonsense be something ya wish—”

“THEN DROP ON THE DECK AND FLOP LIKE A FISH!” suddenly screamed Dia. She glanced around, face at maximum redness. “I-I mean, boo, you stink!”

After a moment of hesitation, everyone else chimed in, “SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!”

“Oooh, I like where this is going,” whispered Mari.

“Ready?” said Dia.

“SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SPONGEBOB…SQUAREPANTS!”

Dia cackled like Patchy the Pirate.

Everyone gave a standing ovation, the third-year students all taking a bow.

“I knew you liked it all along, sis!” said Ruby.

“Q-Quiet, you.”

Mari tackled Dia, hugging her hard. “Hey, Dia, if you liked it, does that mean we can sing it in front of a bigger audience?”

“Absolutely not.”

[foolsiwillshowthemall]

Farm Report:  Return to the mines

Wednesday the 3rd.  Addicted to coffee now.  Can't get started in the morning without a cup.

Seriously, the speed boost is really handy.  I'm going to have to set some kegs aside dedicated to coffee brewing, I'm getting spoiled by being able to run everywhere faster.

The melon path is watered.  Some of the seeds have sprouted, and some haven't - the result of my having to split the seeding between two days.  It shouldn't matter much over the course of the summer.

The spirits are happy with me today, so I'm going to risk the mines.  I want to get down to the next checkpoint, and harvest some more ore and coal.

Favor of the spirits or no, the mines are still full of monsters.  Including these great big brutes.  They have a lot of hit points, don't move quickly but take a lot of hits to kill.  Fortunately, the monster pathfinding in this game is pretty poor, a couple of rocks lets me block them from following me.

Ate a Fried Mushroom for the healing and combat bonus, and powering through to level 90.

Made it to the checkpoint, and received a new sword!  The Obsidian Edge is a great improvement over the old insect head sword I was using, doing about twice the damage per hit.

This will help, too.

Shane still sends me gifts in the mail.  It may be freezer-burned old expired food that he stole from work, but it's still nice of him.

Today, I should not be going to the mines.  I have enough else around town to keep me busy.

Doing a bit of fishing in the river instead.  Haven't caught anything new, but I did have some success.

It's Jas's birthday, so I gave her the last fairy flower from last year's honey garden.  It's not as nice as the one I gave Evelyn, but she's still happy to have it.  There's actually no point in befriending either of the children in town - they don't send you gifts or have much in the way of cute friendship scenes, but I'm still trying to make friends with as many people as I can.

Fishing side by side with Willy.  I keep catching junk.  He thinks he's winning, but I can make this into refined quartz, which may be more useful to me than a fish.

Alas, poor Penny.  All of her dialog at this point is not-so-subtle hints about how she wants to marry the player, move to the farm, and have lots of kids.  And her story doesn't really reach a happy ending until she does.  Unlike many of the other romance-able NPCs who see their lives improve or undergo character growth over the course of their story arc, Penny's life does not improve until you actually marry her and get her out of that toxic situation she's living in.  It really makes me feel bad for having gotten her to this point and then ended things.  If you're going to get Penny to ten hearts of friendship, you should really be prepared to follow through marry her.

Compare this to say, Shane, whose life has already been completely improved through his scenes, and who doesn't have as much to gain by getting married, or Maru, for whom getting married would arguably be a step down from her current situation.

Abigail is at least refreshingly open in her desire to jump the farmer's bones.  She's somewhere in the middle - her life would be improved by getting away from parents who don't respect her lifestyle choices, but she has already started taking steps to follow her dreams and make her own decisions about her life.

Friday the 5th.  Looking for my chickens.  I swear I had some, they have to be here somewhere.  Yeah, I overdid it with this grass patch.  I could support twice the number of chickens with this yard, easily.  Maybe more.

The spirits are back to being happy again, so I'll be trying the mines.

... right after my morning cup of coffee.  Once you start drinking it, you'll be amazed you ever got by without it.

The first level I enter is an 'infested' level full of red slimes.  This is your idea of extra luck, spirits?

Screw that.  I don't actually need gold ore right now, I need iron ore and coal.  I backtrack to the ice levels.  Come here, my little soot sprites.  Most of the creatures in this area die with a single hit from my new sword, so it's an easy harvesting trip.

Demetrius wants a pufferfish?  Well, there's no time limit on the quest, although they're only caught at certain times and places during the summer.  Might as well see if I can fill this one.

Six more kegs built, and loaded with wildflower honey to make mead.  Mead isn't anywhere near as valuable as the specialty fruit wines the other kegs are making, but it processes very quickly and is worth more than the honey was.  This is only worth doing with the base wildflower honey - processing the specialty honeys into wine is actually a loss.

Before I get married, I need to build a shed or barn and move these kegs and bins and stuff out of the kitchen.  The spouse in this game actually will get pissed off if their path is repeatedly blocked as they try to walk around the farmhouse.  Plus, I want to give my Abby a nice home to live in, not a cluttered brewing workshop like this.

Everything is growing nicely, all the plants have sprouted now.  It doesn't even take long to water the melon patch, and the rest of the farm is watered automatically.  Which is a good thing, even with the upgraded watering can it would take all day to water the approximately 400 growing plants I have here.

I've also gotten in the habit of fishing from the pond after I finish watering the plants.  I've never caught a fish from here, but the things I do catch - Joja Cola, broken glasses, driftwood and other trash - still has its uses.

Yep.  Not going to the mines today either.

Chopping tree stumps in the Secret Woods doesn't require the spirits to approve.

Oh, yeah, that's where my pal the Wizard lives.  He's cool.  Brews a real special funky magic potion in that cauldron of his.  I've been giving him little gifts of things I find in the mines, it can't hurt to be friends with someone that powerful and wise.

I'll let him know to turn the stereo down next time I'm there.

I admit, I warmed to Sam a bit when I realized that much of the problems he seems to have appear to be due to untreated ADHD.  I've been there, I recognize the symptoms.  I still don't like him much, but at least I dislike him a good deal less than I used to.

This last bit for the bundle is going to be hard to fill. Truffles come from pigs, under certain conditions only, and pigs are an expensive animal to raise in terms of time and space on the farm.  I've been really hoping to get one from the traveling wagon instead, but no luck so far.

Back when we first met, Abigail would often complain of being in a really bad mood and not wanting to be around people.  I haven't seen her be that way in a long time.  I'm betting a certain farmer had a lot to do with that.  It's not as drastic as a mood shift as I've seen in Shane, but it's still really nice to see.

Clint, however, never changes.  Even if you actually push his storyline to the point where you can force him to actually go on a date with Emily, he never stops complaining about his life.

Sunday the 7th.  The farm is growing very nicely. Starting to see little melons and red cabbages growing.  Fishing from the pond gives me a few broken CDs that I'll refine into quartz.

The mood of the spirits continues to fluctuate wildly.  I don't think I'll have time to get to the mines today, I have errands to do and am hoping to get a bit of fishing in.

Meanwhile, Sam is getting into trouble, riding his skateboard up onto Haley and Emily's flowerbox.

He gets yelled at by the Mayor for this.

Yeah, I'm not getting involved.  I'm not one to set a good example for respecting private property, considering that I barge into people's homes to throw gifts at them or involve myself in private conversations.  On the other hand, I'm reall not feeling like defending Sam or encouraging this behavior on his part either.  I'm staying out of this one, for a change.

Didn't I just say that I didn't see anything?  That's enough Sam for one day, I really don't want to see you again for a while.  I need to go hang out with people I like.

Oh, sir, I am growing alllll the blueberries.  Just you wait.

A bit of fishing with Leah and several children.  I'm afraid I completely fail to impress them with my fishing skills, catching multiple batches of algae in a row.

I have a little more luck in the lake, but I still fail to catch the elusive sturgeon that I need for one of the community center bundles.