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Elliott has learned that moving to Pelican Town is one of the best decisions he has made in his life, despite it seeming completely spontaneous and altogether frightening when he initially made the decision. His well-connected family had all but disowned him when he decided to make this life-altering decision to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. The decision of his family to cut him off entirely from their vast fortune to teach Elliott a lesson left him with relatively little money in the bank and a run-down cabin on the beach with only a bed, piano, and desk to his name. Because he was working from the ground up and had all but lost his muse in those early days of living in Pelican Town, Elliott found himself straying from any semblance of a normal routine. In actuality, his days as a bachelor in Stardew Valley had no real routine at all and the townspeople would all emphatically agree with this sentiment, particularly if someone were to ask Willy or Leah about the town’s resident writer.
In that lonely first year after moving into Pelican Town, the auburn hair writer often awoke at odd times in the day simply whenever he felt rested enough from whatever obscure hour he trudged to bed. More often than not, Elliott stumbled into his bed after midnight, attempting each long, grueling day to work through the massive case of writer’s block he was afflicted by. After waking in the morning or early afternoon, Elliott would attempt to write more of his debut novel, though he often felt truly abandoned by his muse, tearing up more of his written pages than he kept. Since writing was a fickle mistress with no set hours, Elliott could exit his cabin and spend time on the beach whenever he felt like it, which often led to a two-hour lunch on the beach. After he ate, Elliott could often be found with his emerald eyes closed, listening to the waves crashing against the sandy shore and the pier. It also was a common occurrence for the villagers to come down to the beach to find Elliott with his shoes tossed haphazardly in the sand as he soaked his feet in the tide pools or the ocean, enjoying the squelch of the sand and the cool water against his lower extremities, grounding him more than anyone else could appreciate. Occasionally, he would venture into the woods surrounding the town to speak with Leah, discussing the hardships that came hand in hand with being a budding creative mind or he’d stand at the pier and chat with Willy while the older man cast his line repeatedly into the ocean to test his luck against the sea’s creatures.
On the nights that the muse had truly abandoned him and Elliott felt as if maybe his family did have actually have a point that it would be nearly impossible to make it as a writer, he would take himself to the Stardrop Saloon. It was on those nights that Elliott became close to Shane, often taking it upon himself to ensure that the town’s infamous drunk made it back home safely and didn’t engage in any harmful activities after the saloon closed down. Thus, despite having earned himself the reputation of the valley’s hermit, Elliott became more well known in the community during his time at the saloon. Yet, even though he was still an enigmatic recluse to most of the townspeople, Elliott earned a reputation for being a man prone to dramatics due to his propensity for spouting poetic phrases and cursing the continued fickleness of finding his inspiration for his debut novel. It got to the point where Elliott could not even determine whether or not he wanted to write a mystery, romance, or a sci-fi novel, which did not bode well for his output. Yet, Elliott believed in his dreams to be a writer and did truly find himself more at peace in Pelican Town and Stardew Valley than he had ever felt in the rest of his life. Thus, the days and nights continued to pass in a mundane fashion, his routine still nonexistent as he simply drifted through the new life he found himself living. A year passed in such a manner and if Elliott had been a weaker-willed man, the auburn-haired writer might have decided to throw in the towel and move back home with his tail tucked between his legs to beg his family to let him back into the fold. Then, one day, a change so startling would take the town by storm and change the Elliott’s life for the better.
It takes meeting the town’s new farmer to change the trajectory of Elliott’s very existence in Pelican Town. The day he meets the brunette, blue-eyed farmer walking out of Pierre’s shop laden with turnip and potato seeds, Elliott is stricken with the return of his muse, not correlating the two events immediately. However, the day that the new farmer gifts him a pomegranate for his birthday, Elliott determines that the woman before him had the potential to launch his fervor, his passion, and his overall zest for life back into him. He quickly grows to learn that the farmer, unlike Elliott himself, thrives off of a routine and can often be found walking about town, combing the beach, fishing in the ocean and lakes, scouring the mines, and working on the farm at certain predictable intervals throughout the day. For instance, through careful observation of the farmer, Elliott has learned that she is up nearly every day by 6:00 AM on the dot, never wanting to waste the daylight that could be used to complete farm chores and gathering resources. After watering her crops and feeding her livestock each morning, the farmer would come into town and check the community board for requests from her fellow townspeople, often making new friends in the process. Elliott came to learn that after checking in with the town that the farmer would often then come down to the beach for a spot of fishing or to sell yesterday’s catch to Willy when the bait shop opens at 9:00 daily. It is with this daily routine the farmer has adopted in his mind that Elliott begins ensuring he is in bed by eleven o’clock or midnight at the latest where he can emerge onto the beach at 8:00 AM for even the smallest potential of seeing the farmer fishing on the pier, feeling refreshed and lighthearted every morning that they share a conversation. Even if the conversation ends up being something as trivial as whether they believe it will rain tomorrow or how the fishing is going, Elliott finds himself completely recharged and ready to start the day filled of writing. He fills an entire notebook with pages upon pages of a romance novel within the first season of the farmer moving in, inspired solely by the brunette’s taste in literature and overall calming demeanor. He credits her for bringing the spark back into his life.
When they marry in summer of the farmer’s second year in town, Elliott finds that his life couldn’t be better. His second novel is in the final stages of editing before he will send it to a publisher, with the dedication on the first page very obviously written for none other than his beautiful, driven, hardworking wife. After the completion of his first novel during their courtship, a romance as inspired by the farmer’s favorite genre, the writing has become easier for him the more he places pen to paper. It is extremely helpful that he lives under the same roof as his stunning muse, able to constantly talk through writer’s block with her, feel her skin and hair beneath his fingers, and watch her craft a glorious homestead from what was once an overgrown plot of land without much potential. Following their wedding, Elliott finds himself more settled in a routine than he ever has been in his life and he finds that the structure has helped him become much more productive than the arduous days he used to spend scrapping his thoughts in the waste bin below his desk. The happily married couple awakens every day at 6:00 AM where his glorious farmer can get an early start on watering her crops, feeding the animals, and planning what tasks need to be performed that day to keep the farm afloat and provide for their little family. When she goes outside to water the crops and feed the animals, Elliott cooks them both breakfast and puts a pot of coffee on the stove for himself, the two sitting down to breakfast by 7:30 AM at the latest.
Following breakfast, Elliott will often pour himself a second cup of coffee before taking himself to sit on the front porch, scratching behind Ace the dog’s ears as man and beast take in the sunrise over the farm, painting the landscape orange, pink, and golden in the morning’s tranquility. After finishing coffee, Elliott will complete any small farm chores his wife has asked of him, which usually includes taking any crops into town to sell, milking the cows and goats, and ensuring the scarecrows are in good repair to keep the pesky birds from eating his wife’s crops she works so diligently to grow each season for a bountiful harvest. Elliott then returns into the house to begin his day of writing, usually spending at least five or six hours writing before he and the farmer both return to the main room of the farmhouse to make dinner together or go out for a date night at the Stardrop Saloon on nights neither of them feel like cooking. They trade off doing the dishes depending on what chores still await the farmer or whether or not Elliott’s muse takes off running and demands he satiate it before calling it a night. They normally call one another to bed each evening, though Elliott has been put under strict orders to ensure his wife comes to bed by midnight at the latest every night, as Harvey was tired of pulling her out of the mines at 2:00 AM and having to treat the injuries she sustained. The town doctors also knows the hours that the farmer keeps and emphatically explains that she needs more than just four hours of sleep at night in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Elliott, meanwhile, has more selfish reasons for wanting his wife to come to bed prior to midnight, including wrapping his wife in his arms and bestowing her with all the kisses, touches, and words he desires to give to her. She equally gives her kisses and touches freely to her husband and the two end up lost in one another more often than not, their union being a perfect ending to what otherwise is a busy and productive day filled with farm tasks for the farmer and chasing the perfect words for Elliott.
Elliott takes the time to reflect on the changes in his life one night as they lie in bed together, his wife head resting comfortably on his chest as the now famed writer cards one of his hands through her brown shoulder-length hair.
“I’ve been taking much better care of myself now that we’re together. The bachelor life wasn’t particularly healthy for me,” he sheepishly admits, thinking of all the aspects of his life that have changed since first meeting and then marrying the farmer of Stardew Valley.
His diet, for one, had improved exponentially as they have farm-fresh ingredients to cook with every day, particularly the farm to table produce, milk straight from the cows and goats, and fresh eggs from the chickens. Another aspect of his life that has changed for the better is adopting a regular sleep schedule, most nights the writer finds himself being in bed way before the clock strikes midnight and waking each morning predictably at 6:00 AM. Although he does enjoy the buzz from his daily two cups of coffee and the effects of a cup of tea, Elliott does find himself with more natural energy once he began prioritizing his sleep schedule over staying up all night in the hopes of finding the perfect words in the hopes they would pull him out of his writer’s block. Now, the only times he stays up later than the farmer are when a particular inspiration comes and grasps his mind, leading to his fingers scribbling furiously in his notebook until Elliott is pleased with the final product. Whenever it gets too late and she does not feel Elliott in bed beside her, the farmer can be known for rising from their cozy flannel sheets, grasping her husband’s shoulders in her hand and pulling him back to bed to get the rest she knows his brain and creative spirit need.
“I’m glad that you’re taking better care of yourself after meeting me, Elliott,” the farmer whispers back, sleeping threatening to claim her as her blue eyes close heavily, comforted by the sound of Elliott’s steady heart beating soundly in his broad chest beneath her ear. “I want to spend many more decades beside you, building the life of our dreams,” she continues, sighing happily as Elliott presses a gentle kiss to his wife’s lips.
“So you shall, my beloved. I’m quite content to spend the next fifty or sixty years by your side if you’ll have me. I love you,” Elliott gently says, curling his strong forearms around his wife’s waist, turning them on their sides and wrapping himself around his beloved, her back pressed securely against his chest.
“I love you, too, Elliott. Now and forever.”
“Now and forever, my love. Now, get some sleep,” he whispers, sleep beginning to overcome them both as they spend yet another peaceful nap wrapped in one another’s embrace.