Stardew Valley AU
The farm itself was pretty basic, although extremely rundown. Her ‘house’, if she could call it that, was still standing. That was pretty much all she could say about it. It was sad inside, although someone had left a brand new broom and some cleaning supplies on the table for her, which was nice of them really. She’d set her lone bag full of the only things she’d bothered to bring against one wall and had spent her first day doing basic chores.
She swept. She scrubbed. She washed the linens and laid them out on some grass to soak in the sun and clear the musty smell out of their fibers. The first night she’d slept incredibly soundly, and then the second day she’d woken up to a note pinned to her door.
<i>Hello and welcome to Lantana!
We’re delighted to have you! Please be sure to do the following tasks so that way you will fit right in and enjoy your stay.</i>
Pomni didn’t know what to make of it. Clearly it was a ‘to-do’ list of some sort but how and why they’d left her a to-do list when it was <i>her</i> farm was a total mystery. They had some gall. Pomni balled it up and tossed it in the bin. If some unseen person thought they could micromanage her now that she was <I>finally</i> her own boss they could take their little notes and shove them far up their ass.
She would do things her way.
The sun was already bright on the farm, and she felt overly warm in her jeans and light spring jacket. The wood of her deck was sturdy underfoot, despite the clear age and weathering. And the farm was…a mess. A really big, scary, overwhelming mess. The lawn was covered in weeds and trees and there looked to be pieces of trash and debris mixed into the overgrown grass. This was going to be a fucking nightmare to clean up, but she knew she needed to do it.
So day two was spent picking up all the trash and cutting all the grass. It felt easier than she’d feared but it wasn’t <i>easy</i> by any stretch of the imagination. By noon she was wiped out, and by the time she could head to bed, she could barely make it the twenty steps into her house to lie down properly. In the morning her body hurt for a moment, but as soon as she ate breakfast (a singular boiled egg) she was right as a fiddle.
When she stepped onto her porch, a new note was pinned to her door, this time in all caps. She tossed it into the trash and jumped down the steps to continue the miniscule progress (but still, progress!) she’d managed to do the night before. And so day three she was out in the field again, cutting, axing down trees, clearing as much area as she could. By the time she headed to bed she had a sizeable amount of the field cleared well enough that she’d be able to plant some crops as soon as she could get into town and figure out where she could buy seeds.
Day four she was feeling <I>rested</i>. Breakfast had perked her up, naturally, but even before she’d had her singular fried egg she was feeling pretty solid. She was starting to feel like she’d found her footing, too, she’d gone to bed so pleased by her new yard that she’d woken up feeling a little burst of confidence. May she <I>could</i> do this. Maybe she wasn’t crazy for leaving her completely fine job to pick up farming in the middle of her life. Maybe this was good, actually!
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t even heard the shuffle of feet outside her front door, so when she yanked it open she nearly got knocked right on her head. The poor guy yelped and jumped back as she blinked up at him, surprised that anyone had come onto her farm. Although maybe she shouldn’t be, since she’d gotten two notes so far.
The man was a tall, lean guy, all pink. Well, his body was, anyway, from the bare feet on her porch to the tips of his slightly-drooping ears. He looked sheepish when she looked stunned and he blushed a little, hands wringing together in front of his pretty purple overalls. His toes brushed over each other too, and he bent over, looking the very picture of a shy, contrite man who was found doing something he probably shouldn’t be doing.
”Uh,” Pomni said, and then cleared her throat. Okay, so not speaking to <I>anyone</i> for three days straight was probably not the best plan. “Hi?”
”Hi,” He said, flush deepening. She glanced around when she heard something strange, but nothing was in view. Odd. Then he was talking again, before she could investigate further. “I’m, um, Evil Jax.”
”Is there a good Jax?” Pomni asked, amused.
“Well, yeah, my—um, sorry, that’s not why I came though!”
Well, of course he hadn’t come to talk to her about a man she didn’t know existed before this strange conversation. That would be weird. And silly. But he was kind of seeming like an odd guy. Cute, though.
”Um, I came to see, ah, you haven’t been doing the…checklist? It’s to help!” He said, eagerly, “So you can get used to your new life here in the valley.”
”Oh!” Pomni narrowed her eyes a little, “Was that you coming on my farm to leave notes? Well you can stop, I’m not following your checklist.”
”Aw,” Evil Jax pouted, “You don’t want to meet the rest of us?”
Pomni stared. Wait, <I>had</i> the checklist just been a bunch of stuff she’d normally be fine with and she’d simply been avoiding it because she was stubborn? Or had it been more…list-y, before, and now he was changing the goals? She couldn’t remember. Weird. And the trash was taken, apparently, every single night so she couldn’t check, either.
“Um, do you want a tour at least? I can help!”
Pomni frowned a little, hating to disappoint him, “Well—“
”Oh <I>please</i> let me help!” Evil Jax said, and he leaned forward earnestly, “I <i>love</i> helping and Jax <I>never</i> lets me help him no matter how nicely I ask and until you showed up I didn’t know if I’d <I>ever</i> get to help again!”
“—okay,” Pomni said, defeated by his big eyes and nervous smile.
He looked delighted at once and his shoulders relaxed. He hopped off her porch, but before he could turn around to take her hand and help her down the steps, she found out what the odd noise had been. He had a little tail, and he must have been <i>very</i> excited by her agreeing to go with him, because it had been wagging a mile a minute.
It was still wagging as she followed him into town, him leading the way for only a moment before he lagged back to match pace with her.
“So, how long have you lived here?” Pomni asked, when it seemed he wasn’t going to start the small talk himself.
”Uh, hm, ah,” Evil Jax thought about it, “I’m not sure. A while. It’s a good town, I hope you’ll like it.”
”I’m sure it’ll be…fine,” Pomni said.
Truth be told, it was day four and she was already missing her accounting job. Her friends. Her apartment. Her beat up Honda Civic. The smell of a greasy taco after a late night at the office. The view of the river from her porch. Maybe she would have been happier if her farm had a river, but as it stood it was mostly dirt. Boring. Predictable. God, what had she done? Well, she was in it now. Might as well do the best she could.
”You um…never told me your name,” Evil Jax said shyly, glancing at her.
<i>Cute</i>. He was cute. She liked his nervous looks and his expressive ears and his little tail that was beating so fast she could barely make it out. At least if she was stuck here she had some eye candy. That was nice. And it would be kind of nice to meet the others and get a lay of the land. She really had <I>no</i> idea what the valley was even <I>like</i>.
“I’m Pomni.”
”Pomni,” He sighed dreamily, “What a beautiful name.”
”Thank you,” She said, amused. “It does what it has to.”
”Gosh, and you’re so pretty and dedicated. You’ve already done so much! Your farm was so clear..” Evil Jax paused and then lit up, eagerly touching her arm before tucking his hands behind his back, “I bet you’d want some seeds.”
”I would love to buy some seeds. Where can I do that?”
”Kinger’s General Store. Come on, it’s just right here!” He led her past a pretty blue store front and to a larger, warmer one.
The door swung open into a general store, alright. There were three or four shelves lined with various cooking supplies and a few shelves filled with seeds for the season they were currently in. The walls were clean and well cared for and the floor was freshly swept. There were a few photos on the wall behind the cashier, and there was one locked shelf that had a little sign in the glass window:
<i>ID Required, Ask For Help</i>
The shelves inside were covered in bottles of liquor and several squeezy tubes of what appeared to be a pink sauce. Weird. But Evil Jax didn’t seem interested in any of them and instead led her through all the shelves to the counter itself. There was a big display on one side that had a bunch of backpacks in various colors and on the other side was, presumably, Kinger.
He was a tall man, pale wood with big eyes in a pale blue. He seemed out of it when they approached but when Evil Jax said hello his eyes focused and snapped to their faces. His hands floated in front of him and he adjusted his purple cardigan so it fell over his shoulders better. He had no mouth, but she knew he was smiling not only from how his eyes crinkled but how his voice sounded.
”Oh, Evil Jax. I didn’t see you there!”
”This is Pomni,” Evil Jax said, stepping to the side. She waved awkwardly.
”Oh, hi Pomni! Nice to see you again. Are you having fun?”
”Uh, what?” Pomni said, brow furrowing.
”Don’t mind him,” Evil Jax said, “Hey Kinger, Pomni needs some seeds.”
”Seeds! Well why don’t you come to my general store and I can get you some?”
Pomni stared at him and then shifted her attention to Evil Jax, who was watching her take in that this poor guy, who apparently ran the only store in town that sold seeds, was…not right. That was the polite way of saying it, right?
“Uh, sure, thanks…” Pomni said.
The older man reached under the counter and then brought out some packets of seeds, that he spread out over the counter so she could see. Her eyes glazed over after she read the third name and she realized, belatedly, that she didn’t know how to fucking farm. She’d moved out to a farm, given up her life, set herself up to be trapped forever in a place she didn’t like very much with people she didn’t know and she didn’t even know how to do the <i>one thing</i> she had come here to do.
Farm.
Well, maybe it wasn’t too late to jump in the river. Ugh. She sighed, wide eyed, staring at the seeds.
”What would you like?” Kinger asked politely. “Just tell me what kind and how many and I’ll bag it up for you!”
Pomni made a noise of desperation, and her heart beat was starting to pick up as her hands shook. Oh, god, she didn’t know how to farm. She didn’t even know how to plan these. Or what to do. What was she going to do? She was going to lose <i>everything</i>! And just as the walls started closing in and she was getting dizzy, she felt a gentle hand on her elbow.
”Can I help?”
”What seeds should I get?” Pomni asked at once.
”Um, well…I like rhubarb,” Evil Jax mumbled, “And carrots. Jax likes strawberries, but don’t tell him I told you.”
”Uh, sure, great, those three, um, please. Kinger. Two of each.”
”Rhubarb and carrots only sprout once,” Evil Jax told her, “But you can harvest strawberries more than once.”
”Uh..huh, okay. Thanks for the information.”
”Kinger?” Evil Jax asked, “Is it okay if she pays you now and we pick it up later? I want to show her the valley.”
”Of course,” Kinger said, “You two enjoy your little stroll! Ah, to be young and in love!”
”We’re not—“ Pomni started, but Kinger looked surprised, which silenced her.
”Oh, Pomni! Isn’t this place cute?”
Evil Jax’s hand took her elbow and turned her around, walking with her towards the shops front door.
”Have fun storming the castle!” Kinger said, and then laughed to himself as they pushed through the door.
”That was weird,” Pomni said to Evil Jax.
Evil Jax wasn’t looking at her, though, he was focused on where they were going. He led her up a staircase and then down a path that wound through trees. The wind was cool and crisp and she liked how it felt when it brushed her hair around her face and sent her ponytail flipping. Evil Jax had let her go at some point and now they were walking side-by-side, feet crunching on the cobblestone pathway that poked out of the grass. Something kept catching her eyes, and she kept glancing into the trees, certain she could see something there, but Evil Jax mentioned nothing and by the time she’d decided to risk it by asking and being a weirdo
Down from the store’s front entrance was a bar, and he led her that way now.