Chapter Text
prologue
”francis, your grandfather is dead. somebody poisoned him, a-according to the doctors.” a young francis keen heard one christmas eve, back in 1997. his mother gave him the news with tears in her eyes, a shaky voice, and a cigarette in her hand. she died early because of those damn things.
the murderer was his deadbeat father. the damned man was put on death row just a few years later.
around a decade and a half afterward, francis, young, impressionable, naïve, sweet francis keen, wanting to make a difference, arrived in zuzu city with his suitcase and university degree, and a head full of hopes and dreams. what he had not realised was that life in zuzu city was hard. incredibly so. for some, it looked like a dream, a utopia. massive skyscrapers, unexplainable wealth- more riches belonged to men there than anybody truly needed- and millions of people. yet, even with so many cultures there, the corporate jobs had sucked the joy, the culture, and the purpose of life for most there.
people outside zuzu city assumed you’d become magically rich and prestigious as soon as you arrived there.they couldn’t be further from the truth. nobody knew this better than francis keen. he, like many others there, had his hopes, dreams and ambitions crushed by the monotonous nine to five, each day, for what would presumably be the rest of his life. each day felt like his own personal hell, and he couldn’t lose that deadbeat job. francis would starve, he’d lose his apartment, he’d be dying on the streets.
he used to pray to yoba, but all his faith in god was shattered once he realised if there was a god, they must have abandoned earth.
he was hopeless, helpless.
he had a boyfriend, noah. noah wasn’t particularly interesting. he was mainly just someone to talk to, to stop francis from going utterly insane. he didn’t particularly care about noah, but it was nice to have someone.
one day, as he sat in his JOJA CORPORATIONS™ office, he thought about his life. it was dull. uninteresting. he had nothing going on. he was no different to anybody else. he was a carbon copy of almost everybody in zuzu city.
suddenly, he remembered. the letter in his desk drawer. the one his grandpa had left him, all those years ago, just before his death. the one that said: ‘open if you feel hopeless, and need a change in life’ or something along the lines. how was he to remember?
as francis saw his manager turning away to talk to some important person (who he had no idea about) he slid open the desk drawer, and felt the letter in his hands. the paper envelope had been laid there so long it had become yellow. he slowly opened it, taking care not to rip it.
the message on the inside read:
‘if you’re reading this, you must be in dire need of change. the same thing happened to me, long ago. i’d lost sight of what mattered most in life… real connections with people and nature. so i dropped everything and moved to the place i truly belong.
you are the sole inheritor of my old farm, manor farm. it has likely seen better days, by the time you arrive there, but i’m sure you can fix it up.
it’s in a lovely part of the country, near the seaside, called stardew valley. if you go by the beach, east from where you live now* there’s a charming place named pelican town. this is where the farm is.
good luck- grandpa.
ps: if lewis is still alive, say hi to the old guy for me, will you?’
*where his childhood home was.
well, that much was decided. he would quit his job and move.
francis was never the type to make rash decisions, but he desperately needed a change in his dull, dull life, so, without thinking, he moved. the journey was around three hours on a cool, quiet day in early april, but those hours flew by.
the last thing he saw before arriving was some cliffs, and a large sign displaying the following message:
‘you have arrived in pelican town. enjoy your stay, and may yoba bless you!’
yoba. what was the point of worshipping a god that had never existed?