Chapter Text
LATE SPRING
“Please please please can you do this for me?” Maru said, her hands clutching Shane’s own tightly. “Please please please?”
“What the hell do you want me to do for you again?” He asks, exasperated. She had surprised him during his shift at Jojomart, peeking around the corner observantly while trying not to be seen. When he noticed her, she walked quickly towards him and started speaking. At first he thought that she was just asking a question about some product, and over complicating it, but the more she spoke the more he realized that she’s talking about something else entirely.
Maru blinks at him quickly, as if shocked by his lack of comprehension, then recovers quickly. “I’m doing an experiment,” she explains slowly. “I want you to be in it. As a subject.” She lets go of his hands to pull out a small notebook that she has in her back pocket.
“You want me to be a test subject,” Shane deadpans. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”
“An observational one. You will not have to do anything differently; I will simply record behavior from your life and use it for my calculations.”
Now, Shane surprisingly isn’t against the whole idea of scientific observation for Maru’s projects- hell, when he dies he’d rather donate his body to her or anybody else for science or something than be buried in the town cemetery. But he is against people meddling in his personal life and affairs, and ever since the farmer moved in a couple weeks ago it seems like that sort of thing is going to be happening a lot, judging by the way they always start conversation with him. So having two strangers plus Aunt Marnie stress over him sounded like a real pain in the ass.
“Don’t think so. I can’t just have you watching me while I do things.”
“It won’t be me. I’d be attaching a small electronic device to your jacket that would inform me of how much energy you used when completing certain tasks. It would transmit to me electronically, so I wouldn’t be stalking you or anything, and you can simply remove your jacket if you are, say, going to the restroom and don’t wish for that data to be recorded.” Maru pushes her glasses up her nose.
“Ok, but again, why me?” Shane gestures at himself with the hand that isn’t holding a can of peaches. “I’m not the best example of a doer. If no one else in this town agreed to this, what makes you think I would?”
“You weren’t my last choice. I need two test subjects, one high energy and one low energy- that’s you.”
“Rude.”
Maru ignores that. “Sam already agreed to be the high energy subject.”
She looks over her shoulder and when Shane also looks, there’s Sam, peeking around the corner at them. He grins and waves upon seeing Shane notice him.
“I’m not doing this,” Shane deadpans. “No way. I have better things to do with my time than to partake in some ridiculous experiment.” He doesn’t really, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“I’ll pay you.”
He blinks. “Excuse me?”
“I want to pay you per month of observation. I’d be observing you for about… four months, so would about 1,000 gold be fair?”
“1,000 gold?” Shane is aware that his mouth is open, but he doesn’t really care. It’s less of a shock to hear about the amount of money and more about how she’s offering it to him. Maru nods quickly. “If that’s not enough, I’m sure we can work something out.”
“No, it’s just uh- I don’t think that I’m the best guy for this. Surely you could find someone else.” Shane winces at the insecurity in his tone.
“I’ve done the calculations several times over, and I’ve been preparing this experiment for months. You are the perfect candidate, based on schedule and mannerisms.”
“Have you been stalking me?”
Maru ignores him again. “It has to be you. You don’t have to decide right now but at least think about it, will you?” She stands up and smiles before walking towards the exit, saying a quick goodbye to Sam before leaving. Shane is left standing there for a few seconds before the sound of Sam approaching draws him out of his thoughts.
“You gonna take the deal?” Sam says, as if it’s a shady operation instead of a young girl’s science experiment.
Shane scoffs. Sam and him had been working together ever since he had come to live in town, and the blonde still didn’t seem to understand what kind of person he was.
“Fat chance. It’s a waste of my time.” Shane turns to continue shelving.
“Oh come on,” the younger man ignores Shane’s attempts to end the conversation. “It’ll be fun! Besides, it's practically free money.”
Shane just stays quiet, still wishing for their communication to end.
“I mean you just do what you normally do. And she records it and maybe that’s weird, but if it’s for science it’s probably a good thing.”
Again, more silence. But Sam just continues.
“She’s Sebastian's half sister, and he’s my best friend. He’s complained about her but it’s never stuff like her hurting people. Sometimes she leaves her dishes in the sink, and sometimes when she tells him something in his room she doesn’t close the door when she leaves. Nothing dangerous- a bit annoying, yes, but not dangerous. If anything, that stuff isn’t really worth mentioning. I mean, sometimes I leave my clothes on the floor, but if it’s in my room-”
“BOYS!” The sharp voice of Morris cuts through the air, and the two of them quickly turn to see him angrily leering from his counter. “I pay you to work, not to chat. Get back to it!”
Shane glares at Sam, who just shrugs sheepishly before putting his headphones, which were around his neck, back onto his head and going back to his mopping.
The rest of his shift went by completely uneventfully. When he went home after closing, as he walked down the street he found himself thinking about Maru’s offer. It wasn’t something he understood, and the idea of having to interact with people he didn’t know was extremely unappealing, the extra money was extremely helpful; Joja mart seemed like it would be nonexistent lately, with how the fresh crops now being sold at Pierre’s were so well loved, and he could afford to pay Aunt Marnie a little extra as thanks for putting up with his sorry ass. Plus he could get Jas a really nice gift, seeing as the last one he had given her was a doll that she already had.
“Made up your mind yet?” Sam’s voice startled him. The other man was leaning over his shoulder.
Shane jumped back a full foot. “Get away from me! Can’t a guy have any alone time?”
“I was just wondering if you made a decision yet. You seemed pretty deep in thought there.”
“Why do you care?”
“Ok, I get it man. I’ll leave you alone.” Sam rolls his eyes at him. “See? My house is right here. I’m going in. Bye.” True to his word, Sam unlocks the door to his house and slips in.
Shane rolls his eyes and continues walking home. He’s practically there already, but the last two minutes he takes to get there still have him thinking. The only thing stopping him from doing this is his usual disdain for others, brought on by his general confusion about life itself. And if he isn’t a hundred percent certain that he wants to do something, he won’t do that thing. But maybe it’s the way Maru asked, or the recent addition of the farmer into the valley, but Shane feels an inexplicable pull to do something interesting for once.
So as he bids Marnie goodnight and climbs into his bed, he decides that he’ll do it.
Shane has half a mind to tell Maru right now before he changes his decision- she’s definitely the type of person to be awake, even at this hour of the night- but he doesn’t feel like trekking across town right now, so he resolves to tell her first thing tomorrow.
For now he just sinks into his bed and drifts off, sleeping to the tune of the crickets chirping.
-
Hurried knocks make Maru rise from where she’s seated and dash towards the door. Her mother has stood up to open it, but before she can get there Maru darts ahead and opens the door.
On the other side, as she had expected, is Shane. He looks at her, confused.
“Morning Shane. You could have just come in, you know.” Robin says from behind the counter. He gives her a confused look too.
“We’re a hardware store. Remember?” Maru supplies. “Store. You can just enter basically anytime.”
Shane blinks. “Oh, yeah, uh- guess it just slipped my mind. I mean it is just a house, from the outside.”
“Don’t worry about it!” Robin grins. “Does Marnie need something done, or is this a personal project for you, Shane?”
“Actually, uh, I’m here to talk to Maru.”
Robin looks confused at this, but she doesn’t say anything. Maru leans through the doorway to whisper to Shane.
“Is this about my proposal from yesterday?”
“Yeah I guess it is. I just wanted to say that I accept.”
“Knew it!” She says, pumping the fist that isn’t holding the door. Shane gives Maru an incredulous look and red tints her cheeks as she averts her gaze. “I mean, I thought you would accept. Just had a hunch.” She says, embarrassed.
Shane nods at her. “Okay then. You know where to find me if you need me then.” He then turns around and makes a quick exit.
“What was that about?” Robin asks as Maru walks past.
“Nothing. Just science things.”
“Shane’s into science? Didn’t expect that.”
Maru shrugs. “People surprise you. See you later mom.” She then heads back to where she was before Shane had knocked, with Sam sitting there as well waiting for her.
“What did he say?” He scoots closer to her, eager.
“He said yes!” Maru beams. “I was so certain he wouldn’t, but he really surprised me.”
“Me too.” Sam says.
“Me three.” Abigail, who is there too, says from her spot right below them on the floor.
“Well he agreed. All I have to do is get things all set up, and we’ll be right as rain!” Maru beams. “This experiment and the resulting machine will hopefully get me into the science program at ZU, if I do it all right.”
“We believe in you, you can definitely do it!” Sam clasps a hand onto her shoulder, and Abigail nods in agreement. Maru was trying to get into a selective program at Zuzu university in the city, and if that wasn’t hard enough she also was attempting to get the scholarship in order to not cause any financial burden or problems with student loans. She had decided to make a couple of machines as a part of her application for the next fall, however her issue was that without scientific basis she was worried that it would appear as if she was just making things for fun. Therefore, she decided to conduct an experiment measuring the energy spent doing certain tasks so that she could deduce what took the most energy and create a machine to help with it.
The downside of living in the valley was that there were few test subjects, which was why she had to settle for Sam and Shane (although she was very grateful for them for being onboard). The plus side, however, was that since practically everyone did work involving physical labor of sorts, she could create practical machines that would be useful to a wide range of people and that showed off her talents well.
“It’ll be difficult. But if anyone can do it, it’s you Maru!” Abigail says cheerfully, reaching up to pat Maru on the knee.
“I sure hope I can,” sighs Maru. “Only one way to find out.”
“That’s the spirit!” Sam gives her another enthusiastic shoulder clap.
“Excuse me, why are we hanging out with my sister in my room right now?” Sebastian, who is typing away on his computer says. It is his room- Maru and Sam are on his bed while Abigail lounges a foot or two away on the floor.
Abigail raises an eyebrow at him. “Did you seriously just notice?”
“I’m working right now,” Sebastian says defensively. “Maru, leave.”
“Alright. See you guys later.” Maru hops off the bed and quickly goes up the stairs. She thinks that she hears them say something after she leaves, but she doesn’t hear, too focused on her upcoming project to think about it.
-
SATURDAY, SPRING 27
The next week, right before the end of spring and the start of summer, Maru finds herself with a backpack full of the devices she made purely for this experiment and in extremely good spirits. It sort of hurts her shoulders, having to lug these things down the mountain, but it’s going to be so worth it that it doesn’t even put a damper on her mood. When she gets into town she knocks on Sam’s door, and he opens it rather quickly.
“Come on! I gotta get this stuff set up.”
Sam looks confused. “Can’t we just set it up here?”
“I would, but I want you guys to put it on at the same time so I can troubleshoot, and Shane won’t agree to come over to my place or your place.” Maru explains.
They head over to Shane’s quickly, and it only takes them half a minute to get there. When Maru knocks on the door, instead of Marnie or Shane they get Jas, who opens it and eyes them suspiciously.
“Oh, hi Jas.” Maru says. “Is Shane home?”
The young girl narrows her eyes. “What do you want with Uncle Shane?”
“We’re working on a project together.” Jas seems to want to question her on that, but just nods and opens the door so they can enter. A flustered Marnie, covered in hay, enters from the left room.
“Thanks for getting the door, sweetheart.” She says. “I was stacking the hay, and couldn’t come to the door. Anyways, what can I do for you guys?” She makes to get behind the counter, but Maru holds up her hand.
“Really sorry to bother you, but we’re here to see Shane. Is he home?” She asks.
Marnie’s brow furrows for a second, but then she looks really happy. “Oh my, are you guys friends? He’s here, yes! I’ll go get him!” She trots over to a nearby door, and knocks on it sharply.
“Shane, your friends are here!” Marnie shouts. They wait a few seconds, but there’s no response. Marnie knocks again. “Shane?”
She holds up a finger to Maru and Sam, urging them to wait. Then she slips into the room, which appears to be very dark based on what little Maru could see through the crack. They wait for a few seconds, listening. They hear the sounds of empty cans clinking and things being kicked out of the way. After another few seconds, they hear quiet voices. Marnie then slips out as quickly as she had entered and smiles at them awkwardly.
“Just give him a second to get dressed.” She says apologetically.
True to her word, Shane opens the door about a minute later. He’s wearing his usual outfit, but the hoodie is zipped and his eyebags appear to be more prominent than usual.
“What.” He says.
Marnie slaps him on the arm. “Don’t be rude Shane,” she chastises. “They came here to see you.”
“We’re here for Maru’s thing, remember?” Sam pipes in from slightly behind Maru. She nods.
“Well, I’d love to hear about this thing once you guys are finished!” Marnie claps excitedly. “Would you guys like anything to eat for breakfast?”
“No thank you Marnie.” Maru says.
“Already ate, but thank you for the offer!” Sam smiles at her. Jas, who was standing a few feet away, raises her hand as high as it can go.
“Can we have pancakes?” She blurts out, excited.
Marnie gives a look of pondering before nodding. “Since it’s the weekend, yes.” She says. “Shane? Any requests?”
Shane shakes his head and lets out a gruff noise. “Not hungry. I’ll finish up with these guys and come back.”
He tries to walk past Maru and Sam, but Maru grabs the sleeve of his sweater.
“Let’s just sit down and do it here.” She says, motioning towards the kitchen table. “If that’s alright with you, Marnie.”
She nods, going over to the table and clearing off a few papers. “Go ahead! I know you guys said you aren’t hungry, but I’ll make a bit of extra food anyways while you’re working.”
Maru urges Shane towards a chair while she sets her bag on the floor. After digging through it for a minute she pulls out two plastic baggies, both of them containing various black wires and such. Sam sits down next to Shane and the two wait patiently while Maru unbags everything and starts setting up.
She starts with Sam, clipping a black device to his jacket near his heart. After making sure that it’s on securely, she does the same to Shane. The stench of beer floods her nose as she grabs his sweater, and Shane seems to take notice and almost looks sort of apologetic as Maru rubs her watery eyes.
Jas is staring at them from the other side of the kitchen table. When Maru is finished connecting the device, she approaches Shane to stare at it, but doesn’t touch it. She seems nervous to be around Maru, and honestly she doesn’t blame her; at the age, she distinctly remembers thinking that adults were scary too.
Marnie then plops steaming pancakes and fresh fruit onto the table, and while Maru wasn’t very hungry before she hears her stomach growl at the smell. It makes an audible noise, and Marnie laughs.
“Seems like your stomach has changed its mind,” she says, pulling out a chair for Maru and urging her into it. “Have as much as you like, dear. I can always make more. That goes for the rest of you too.”
Sam woops and grabs three pancakes to pile onto his plate. Maru also grabs some pancakes, and after urging from Marnie Shane grabs one too.
Jas is still giving her subtle looks while they all eat, as if she wants to ask something. Throughout the meal she stays quiet. Marnie, however, does not, asking both Sam and Maru about themselves and their parents, while also chatting about how excited she is about the new farmer. Maru notes that Shane doesn’t seem at all embarrassed by this, which makes sense- he is a bit older, so he probably isn’t overcome by the adolescent embarrassment that, for example, prevails over Sebastian when their mom is oversharing about them to someone in town. Instead he just pushes the singular pancake around on his plate and takes a small bite occasionally.
“Sorry if I’m pestering you two, I’m just so excited that Shane’s invited two people over!” Marnie says when they’re cleaning up after breakfast.
“They weren’t invited.” Shane protests. He still hasn’t finished his pancake, and is instead cutting it into little bits and giving them to Jas, who eats them happily.
“No worries. It’s a pleasure to get to speak to you too.” Maru says. Sam nods in agreement.
“I know Shane has to get to work soon, so he’ll be gone soon. But you two are welcome to stay.” Marnie smiles.
“Oh shoot,” Sam looks at his watch. “That reminds me, I start soon too. But thank you for the offer, Marnie.”
“I’ve gotta head out too; I’m helping my dad with something in the lab today.” Says Maru, grabbing her things from the table. “Thank you so much for breakfast, Marnie.”
“Anytime!” She says, escorting them out the door. Jas gives them a shy wave goodbye, and they start walking in the direction of Sam’s house.
Barely two steps out the door and Shane approaches from behind, now in his Joja Mart uniform.
“I know she said anytime, but please don’t come over anytime.” He says.
“What, like you’re busy?” Sam says, and Maru snorts a laugh. Shane grits his teeth in annoyance.
“No, you dumbasses. Because I don’t want to hang out with you guys. I agreed to do this for the money, not for friendships.”
“We can just find him at the saloon if we need him.” Maru points out, seemingly ignoring Shane. Sam nods. They arrive at his house, so he says a friendly goodbye to Maru and pops inside.
Maru herself is about to turn to go towards the mountain when Shane speaks.
“I’m serious. Don’t go harassing me because you think we’re friends or whatever.”
She huffs. “I never said we were friends. You’re the one getting all angry.” Then she turns and walks away. She should be peeved that Shane seems to have a problem with her and Sam, but she got a free breakfast out of talking to him so for now she’s willing to let it slide. Still, she wonders why he’s so defensive about his life, as if he does remarkable things in his free time that he doesn’t care to share with the world.
Maru starts to smile at this thought. Maybe he does. Maybe he breeds super chickens or brews his own beer and he wants to keep it on the down low.
This is a part of why Maru loves science. Some things, like human beings, are just so interesting and mysterious that she just has to know more. It’s actually hard for her to believe that she’s one of them; she doesn’t always get along with others, somehow seeming to always say the wrong thing, and the idea that she’s on the same plane as existence as Alex, who had misspelled ‘strawberry’ on his ice cream stand menu, was astounding. Humans were incredible creatures, that much she knew, but she preferred to study them than acknowledge that she was one of them, and that she also was privy to their flaws.
She had been thinking so hard that she hardly even realized she was back home, almost crashing into the front door.
As she opens the door, her father greets her from his lab. “Hi sweetie,” he says, poking his head out from around the corner. “What were you up to?”
“Nothing important, tell you later.” Maru says, rushing into her room with her things. She throws her backpack onto her bed and opens her laptop, opening up the program that she made for this experiment. It’s a very simple program, with an ugly interface and two lines reading Input 1 and Input 2. She couldn’t figure out how to get Shane’s and Sam’s names in there so she just settled for the default. The lines only show the measurement of effort recorded and when it occurred, concluding each day with a neat little chart with various ups and downs.
She was so excited to begin her experiment that she contemplated sitting there and staring at the screen until something happened. Alas, she reminded herself, she had set it so the data started recording exactly tomorrow at six in the morning, so there was plenty of time until any data came in. She decided to assist her father in the lab until it was time to have dinner, smiling the whole time.
“What’s got you in a good mood?” Sebastian says when he finally leaves his room, seeing the wide grin on her face.
“Oh nothing,” Maru lies. “Just have a feeling tomorrow is gonna be a good day.”