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Eric sighed as he leant against the cool bus window, his breath fogging up the edge of it as he stared out into the green valley below.
Back when his grandfather, bless his soul, had given him the deed to his farm, Eric was hardly at the age to understand what that had meant. His grandpa was the best! He’d gotten sick before, he’d be fine! Besides, what use would Eric have for a farm?
All statements that had caused his grandfather to laugh, his father to sigh, and eventually been left to collect dust in the back of his head.
Until last week.
His grandfather was right, as he always was. Eric didn’t know what exactly caused him to snap that day. Maybe the fatigue had just been building up inside of him for years, maybe his newest project for Joja Corp. had just sent him over the edge. Maybe he’d just gone insane. Did it even matter?
No, he decided simply, it didn’t.
It was a miracle he still had his grandfather’s letter at all, come to think of it. Eric was almost positive that he had lost it at some point many years ago, but when he got home and checked his nightstand drawer, lo and behold, there it was. With all of the other signs the universe was giving him, who was he to ignore the biggest one yet?
Eric had called ahead last night to confirm that yes, Pelican Town still existed and yes, his grandfather’s farm was still there, waiting for its new owner to come and take up the mantle his grandfather once held. Mayor Lewis, a name he recognized solely from his grandfather’s final letter to him (how old could that man possibly be?), had answered the phone and all his questions, and encouraged him to come down to the valley as soon as he could.
So here he was. No tools, no knowledge of farming, just about no money, and nothing but the clothes on his back and the junk in his duffle bag.
Despite it all, Eric smiled. At least it couldn’t get any worse.
“Next stop, Pelican Town!” The bus driver called, prompting Eric to stand up with a huff.
It looked like it was his stop.
Time to see what Stardew Valley had to offer.
–
The bus creaked and groaned as Eric stepped off, before speeding off to who knows where. After only a moment, the bus was gone, leaving Eric alone with his thoughts and some exhaust fumes.
“Hello! You must be Eric!”
Or not.
A woman with orange hair was walking towards him from down the street (it was more of a dirt path than anything), a bright smile on her face as she got close.
“Um, hi,” he tried weakly, offering a flimsy wave back, “I’m Eric.”
The woman nodded. “Thought so, not too many people come to Pelican Town just to visit, you know?”
Eric most certainly did
not
know, so he just shrugged awkwardly. The last time he had been here he had barely reached his grandfather’s knees, was he supposed to have done his homework on this place or something?
He was screwed if he was - he had left Zuzu City in a hurry, and was about as green as the grass at his feet when it came to the world around him here.
The woman suddenly facepalmed. “Shoot, where are my manners!” She shook off her frustration after a moment, suddenly offering Eric her hand. “I’m Robin, the local carpenter. Mayor Lewis sent me here to fetch you and show you the way to your new home. He’s there right now, tidying things up for your arrival.”
Eric took the offered hand after a moment. “Thanks. I’m, uh, Eric, as you probably know by now.”
He cringed at the terrible greeting, cursing his lack of people skills. Robin didn’t seem off-put by it at least, just chuckled as she turned and beckoned for him to follow.
“The farm’s right down the road here, if you’ll follow me.”
Without waiting to see if he’d join her she quickly walked off, causing Eric to blink in surprise at the speed at which she was moving through this whole introduction thing. Most people at least tried to engage in small talk.
Regardless, it wouldn’t do for him to not follow her. He didn’t exactly have any other choice right now.
–
If by ‘right down the road’ Robin meant ‘a twenty minute walk at a brisk pace’, then yes, the farm was right down the road.
Mercifully Eric was in better shape than most people who lived in Zuzu City, so he wasn’t forced to take a break every few minutes to catch his breath, but if this was just the walk from the farm to the bus stop (which itself seemed to be a ways away from Pelican Town proper) then he might be in for a rude awakening.
At least the walk there wasn’t completely silent. Robin had made some conversation by talking about the valley and town, and went on a small tangent about herself and her family.
Eric appreciated it, even if he didn’t contribute much to the conversation himself. He was, however, feeling a bit irked by this Demetrius fellow Robin was apparently married to.
Seriously, who gets tomatoes from the store when they’re told to buy fruit!
The moment it appeared in view, the sight of a small house in the distance immediately caught his attention.
“This is Sunrise Farm,” she narrated, joining him in taking a good look at the area, “I guess since it’s yours now, you could change the name if you want!”
“Uh…” He trailed off as he took in the farm, and everything that was on it.
All the trees, weeds, random stones, and fallen logs. It looked like a hurricane had swept through.
“What’s the matter?” Robin asked, “Sure, it’s a bit overgrown, but there’s some good soil underneath that mess! With a little dedication you’ll have it cleaned up in no time.”
“If you say so…” Eric responded quietly, still taking in the giant junk pile he had inherited.
Overgrown wasn’t exactly how he’d describe the place. Decrepit seemed more accurate.
They finally approached the house, which was thankfully in better shape than the farm was.
But not by much.
It was a quaint little cabin, just the way he had remembered it from all those years ago. Of course, it had clearly seen better days like the rest of the farm, but at least it didn’t look like it was going to collapse anytime soon.
Small mercies.
“...And here we are,” Robin continued, unaware of Eric’s minor mental struggle, “Your new home.”
As if on cue, the door opened up, and a well put together man stepped out. He looked old for sure, but not to the extent of someone who had supposedly known his grandfather well. His mustache quivered as he stepped out into the fresh air, and his eyes lit up as he took in the sight of Eric.
“Ah, the new farmer!” The man exclaimed happily, putting out his hand for Eric to shake once again, “Welcome! I’m Lewis, mayor of Pelican Town.”
“Eric.” He replied swiftly, eager to not look like a fool for a second time in two introductions. He nearly winced as Lewis eagerly shook his hand - for such an old fellow, his grip was tight .
“You know, everyone’s been asking about you!” Lewis said cheerily, causing Eric to raise an eyebrow.
“They have?” He responded cautiously.
“Of course!” Lewis nodded, “It’s not every day that someone new moves in. It’s quite a big deal!”
“How big is Pelican Town, exactly?” Eric asked, “It can’t be
that
big of a deal, right?”
Lewis shook his head mirthfully. “On the contrary, young man! When a town of thirty-odd residents expands, it’s quite the talk of the community - especially when you’ve come to take control of old Nathaniel’s legacy! But I digress.”
Eric just nodded along quietly, already dreading what being the ‘talk of the town’ would mean. Meeting new people was such a chore - he had zero clue how he was supposed to fit in here.
“So,” Lewis continued, “You’re moving into your grandfather’s old cottage. It’s a good house… very ‘rustic’.”
Robin chuckled. “Rustic? That’s one way to put it… ‘Crusty’ might be a little more apt, though.”
Lewis gasped. “Rude!”
Robin just continued to laugh, Eric looking on awkwardly in between them. At least they were more expressive than people back in the city.
“Don’t listen to her, Eric,” Lewis insisted, sending Robin a dirty look, “She’s just trying to make you dissatisfied so that you buy one of her house upgrades.”
“I would never!” Robin denied, “As an expert on carpentry, I just thought I should put my two cents in on the state of this home! We wouldn’t want our new arrival here to have his shack fall on him in the middle of the night, would we?”
“House upgrades?” Eric repeated, confused, “That’s a thing?”
Robin nodded eagerly. “Yep! If you ever wanted to add a second floor, or a few extra side rooms, I’m your guy! Or, well, gal, but you get the point!”
“You should probably focus on getting settled in before you think about any of that, though,” Lewis cautioned, “Her skills get sharper every year, but so do her prices.”
Even Eric couldn’t hold back a snort at that jab from Lewis. He was pretty quick-witted himself.
“Anyway…” he finished, clapping his hands together, “You must be tired from the long journey. You should get some rest. Tomorrow you ought to explore the town a bit and introduce yourself, everyone would appreciate that.”
With that, Lewis turned to leave, but right as he passed the little mailbox that was set up beside the porch he turned around one last time.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” He prattled, “If you have anything to sell, just place it in this box here. I’ll come by during the night to collect it.”
…
Was he serious about that?
“Uh…” Eric paused, still trying to process just what Lewis had told him, “Okay.”
Lewis nodded back, seemingly sensing the awkward atmosphere he had created. “Well… good luck!”
And with that, Lewis and Robin left him to his own devices.
Suddenly, he yawned, and realized Lewis was right.
He could use a rest.
–
The interior of his grandfather’s… well, his cabin left much to be desired. It was a single open room, complete with a bed, a fireplace, a table and chair, a positively ancient television with a million wires sticking out the back, and that was it. There was a small bathroom off to the side thankfully, as well as a very small kitchen area, but he was just a few amenities short of a complete spartan lifestyle.
Oh yeah, there was also a huge package on the floor that he had ignored earlier, opting instead to collapse into bed the moment he walked inside. The trip from here to Zuzu City was agonizingly long, and after being cooped up in a cramped bus seat for hours the old, rickety bed he was privy to was like sleeping on a cloud.
At least until he woke up and felt a million little cricks in his back that hadn’t been there before. That wasn’t quite as pleasant.
He eyed the large package on the floor curiously, before walking over and picking up the small note left on the top.
“Here’s a little something to get you started,” Eric muttered to himself, reading the note off, “Mayor Lewis.”
Well, he could be grateful to the man for one more thing now it seemed. Allowing him to reclaim this farm after decades, welcoming him in so easily, and now this? Mayor Lewis was a real stand-up guy. No wonder he and his grandfather were such good friends, they seemed to be very like-minded people.
Eric turned his attention back to the package. He hoped it was something useful, because as nice as a bottle of wine was, it wouldn’t exactly teach him how to become a farmer.
He tore through the package with only minor difficulty, and as he triumphantly opened the top, he could only gasp in awe at the contents.
First up was a few seed packets - parsnips, as they were labeled - but that wasn’t what caught his attention.
Rather, beneath the small pile of parsnip seeds, a handful of tools sat.
Gingerly, Eric pulled out each of the tools one by one - a dull ax, a chipped pickaxe, an old hoe, a watering can, and a reedy scythe - and placed them on the floor in front of him.
They weren’t quality by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn’t really matter. They were far and away the greatest gift he could have received upon his arrival. The fact that Mayor Lewis (and by extension, Pelican Town) had given him such a great boon meant that either this town was really desperate for some economic stimulation from him, were well-off enough that a gift like this didn’t matter, or that this town was simply willing to put a lot of trust in a more or less complete stranger.
Based on how… well, not desperate, maybe eager, Lewis was on the phone with him before he had finalized his plan to come down to Stardew Valley, Eric’s bets were on option number one.
Great. Even more pressure to succeed. What could go wrong?
Well, no time like the present.
He stood up, pocketing the seeds and grabbing the handful of tools in his arms as he made his way towards the door. It must have been quite the sight, watching him stumble and teeter around trying to get everything outside so that he could start working (he was too stubborn to just move things on at a time), but he managed to make do.
Eric dumped all the tools into a messy pile in the dirt, before taking a look out at the untamed wilds that were Sunrise Farm. There was a lot of work to be done.
He sighed as he picked up the scythe. He had to start somewhere.
–
Eric did not get a lot of work done, but not for a lack of trying. He had spent the better part of the morning working on clearing out some of the land closest to the cottage, and had made some progress against the rampant weeds and smaller stones, but the moment he had tried to fell a tree with his ax it had bounced off the bark like it was made of rubber.
After that, combined with his soreness from breaking down even the smallest amounts of debris, he decided that it was finally time to put those parsnip seeds in the ground.
Even in his weakened state, the hoe slammed into the ground with ease, moving through the dirt like a hot knife through butter as Eric put his all into clearing the way. However, even this was too much after a while, so he had to settle for only so much tilled soil.
Oh well. It was probably best to not plant everything immediately anyways, in case he ruined this batch of seeds somehow. Knowing his luck, it was a smart move.
He gave each seed plenty of room to grow, trying his best to give them each enough water while simultaneously not flooding them either. Eventually, even he got tired of caring for the dozen or so seeds, and realized there was nothing more he could do for them, leaving him with nothing to do for the rest of the day.
Well, not quite ‘nothing’.
Mayor Lewis’s words echoed through his head as he cleaned himself up in the shower, removing all the sweat and grime that had accumulated on his body over the last six or so hours of work. All of the townspeople had been interested in his arrival, and it couldn’t hurt to meet his new neighbors, right?
Then again, everybody in the city was a complete asshole. He wouldn’t lose sleep over these new faces if they were anything like those he used to know. But Lewis had specifically asked him to go and introduce himself to everyone… it was the least he could do to return the man’s kindness.
Besides, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. The TV only had three working channels anyway.
His mind made up, Eric sighed as he dressed himself up and ran a hand through his unruly hair.
He hoped that at least some of these people were accommodating.