"Anyone for Stardew Valley?" The fat guy yelled down the corridor. The fat guy was wearing a big blue shirt, but that doesn't matter at all. Irrelevant.
Oh, when I say fat guy, I mean bus driver. And by corridor I'm referring to the isle of the bus, between the two rows of seats. Or would that be columns of seats? I get the two mixed up all the time.
I pulled the yellow string, which ran along the edge of the inside of the bus on both sides. It linked up with a bell at the front, which promptly made a large 'ting' noise. 'TING'. In the city the busses have electronic buttons that signal the driver for the next stop. If I hadn't witnessed other passengers operating this archaic contraption a few minutes ago, I'd probably be stuck for a while longer.
The bus soon grinded to a halt, quite literally in fact. I think the back of the bus might have touched the ground at some point.
I thanked the bus driver, because anyone who doesn't thank the bus driver is a rude asshole, and stepped off the bus, into a new life. The dirt. I quickly retrieved my bags from a compartment accessed from outside the bus, slammed the locker shut and waved goodbye to the side mirror.
The bus chugged off into the distance, leaving nothing but a smell of dirty smoke, and me, with my bags. Standing on the dirt. Alone.
Not for long though, as soon as I'd strapped my bags onto my back, and sort of half carrying/half dragged my last, larger suitcase looking bag, I was approached by two people.
One of them was an old fellow, looked like he'd be a shop owner? Or a cheese maker? At this point I am guessing and really, lets be honest I have no idea. The other was a woman, wearing overalls. She had orange-y hair tied loosely in a bun/ponytail, not so sure what you'd call that. I'm not a girl, nor am I an expert on hairstyles. If I had to guess, she makes shoes or something. Or perhaps she chops logs, a carpenter?
Whilst debating the appearances and professions of these two people, they walked all the way up to me and said-
"Hello! It's nice to finally meet old John's grandson at last." The older bloke spoke up. He had a softer voice which seemed to indicate he was still not that old. Perhaps late sixties if I was guessing.
"I'm Robin, you must be the new farmer" The woman chimed in. "And this is Lewis, the mayor of Stardew Valley".
So, I crafted the perfect response, one that without any doubt would leave a huge positive impression.
"You're the mayor?" I stared a little. To be completely honest I was still thinking in the back of my head what on earth this guy did for a living. And because I was so busy thinking, I said something I wish I didn't. This is a reoccurring theme, I promise its not cheap comedy.
"Why yes my boy, I am the mayor of this town. It's a nice place if you'll give it the chance." He stopped for a moment, before asking "Well, what is your name?"
Oh yeah, I hadn't introduced myself yet. I haven't introduced myself in a long time, working in Joja taught me that people simply didn't give a single **** about who you were. Your interests, your hobbies, your tendencies to go off on descriptive monologues. Nothing! But as it turns out, the world isn't Joja. And thank Yoba for that, if he even exists.
"I'm Ian" Again, you'll have to forgive me for the vanilla introduction. I haven't done this in a long time. Since school maybe.
Lewis spoke up "Well Ian, let me show you your house, did you ever visit your grandfather?" he asked as we began walking along the grassy path.
"No… He sometimes visited me but I never got the chance to come out and see him." I spoke, the last part through gritted teeth.
My grandpa and my father never got along. Now they're both gone and I got tossed out into the world alone to fend for myself. I let out a breath. This place was a new place. A new place.
Robin took my breaths of air as tiredness and offered to carry one of my bags. Naturally I refused- okay who am I kidding I hate carrying heavy stuff, I handed it over immediately. I was already carrying two bags on my back for Yoba's sake.
"Here it is, your grandpa's farm" Lewis spoke, a hint of pride clear in his voice.
The place was overgrown, lots of wood was lying around everywhere and rocks had somehow formed everywhere.
"He never did give the place a name, I thought it odd at the time but perhaps he just didn't see a need for it." Lewis sighed.
"Well, I think a bit of work would make this place look incredible!" Robin exclaimed. She seemed to make up for the plainness of the old guy with some extra energy of her own.
"I'm the town's carpenter, you need something built, anything just let me know!" She smiled at me, a warm smile. Honestly it was a refreshing reminder that people were good. At Joja, a smile was rarely used and if it was it was sarcastic, bitter, or simply unrelated to you. The person wearing it was probably profiting off some misery elsewhere. That would cheer any Joja employee up.
"But I don't work for free" She added quietly after.
"Of course, nobody works for free" I replied, forming an experimental smile myself. I hadn't had much reason to smile- okay that's depressing. I meant, a legitimate content, happy smile. No strings attached.
"Well Robin, lets leave Ian to settle in to his new home. Ian I'd recommend coming into town later to meet the other town members, some of them are dying to meet you."
After waving goodbye, they left, walking down the same path that leads to the bus stop.
I opened the door to the old wooden house, expecting dust, cobwebs, I don't know, rats or something. Honestly, not unlike the apartment I'd stayed at before.
To my surprise, it was clean, the whole place had been recently dusted, swept, and even the windows looked polished. On the table there was two things. A single piece of paper and some packets with pictures of white carrots on them.
I shook the packets. Was this some sort of soup mix? Or vegetable flavouring?
Shrugging, I put the packets down and picked up the paper, which had some writing on it.
Hi, if you're reading this, a fairy has cleaned your house.
Please get a nice fluffy sheep or five of them. Or seven.
Thanks!
Well that was strange. The note asked me to get sheep. I've never had any pets, do farm animals even count as pets? I haven't got a clue.
After packing my things away into the cupboards and drawers, which were also spotless, I left the cabin and started to head into town as Lewis had suggested earlier. On the way out I noticed some tools hanging from the outside of the house, an axe, a pickaxe, a hoe I presume, and a scythe. Sitting on the floor was a watering can. And to top it all off, they were all rusted as **** and beyond use.
Well, that's fantastic. Guess I'll need to find some others.
I walked down the path again. Two minutes later I'm in a town square. It had some shops. Like two shops. It was tiny. It was strange thinking that I live in this town.
I was approached by a green haired woman, who smiled and then promptly said "I like purple sea cucumbers". Her face turned beet red, which looked really cool because her hair is bright green, and she half ran inside the nearest building. It was a shop named Pierre's. I wonder if Pierre was as old as Lewis.
I opened the door to the shop. I was greeted with the smell of fresh foods, and then greeted by a hearty man with glasses and brown hair. By hearty I mean he loves your wallet.
"Hello! I'm Pierre! You must be the farmer everyone's been hearing about!" He half shouted to me. He was standing close too. "I've got all the seeds you'll need to grow vegetables, flowers, fruits!"
He motioned to the shelf, which had little packets like the one left on my table. "These parsnip seeds are the best in the country, they'll grow big and tasty, best seeds money can get you!" The man beamed.
Internally I'd already nicknamed him 'Advertising on legs'.
"I sent Emily with some packets of Parsnips earlier to get you started." He held up a packet of white carrots. Oh, shit those are parsnips. It's not my fault, they're not labelled.
I just nodded. "Thanks"
"Dad who's this?"
I turned my head. A girl with, purple hair stood in the doorway at the back of the shop. Her eyes were sort of tired looking and she was blinking as if she'd just woken up.
"This is…" His face turned sullen for a short moment before continuing "…the new farmer!" He smiled. "I was just telling him how we sell the best stuff here, isn't that right Abby?" He smiled.
'Abby' rolled her eyes. "Stuff is stuff dad, also my name isn't Abby".
"Right, this is Abigail, my daughter. And I think you've met Caroline, my wife. She said she wasn't feeling well and went to lie down for a bit." He frowned slightly.
"I'm Ian, Its nice meeting you both." I said, mustering all the polite juice I could.
Pierre smiled again- I was getting a little tired of Pierre. "Likewise farmer. Remember, we sell the best seeds here! Great stuff." Abigail rolled her eyes and went back inside, closing the door behind her.
"Well, you don't have much competition, right?" I asked him. "I mean, this town is so small- not in a bad way"
Pierre sighed. "There is one other competitor in this town. A Joja mart".
For once, I did a Pierre too, I frowned.
"You don't have to worry, no way am I stepping foot in a Joja mart." I spoke firmly. I think I was talking more to myself than to Pierre, but nonetheless he seemed surprised.
"Well, if you feel that strongly about it, we'll be great friends in no time" He grinned, a real grin. Not a fake customer service grin. I'd gotten good at spotting those.
"I'd best be going, trying to meet more townspeople." I said to Pierre, then thinking, technically townspeople are just normal people living in the town. Wait that makes sense to call them townspeople then. Nevermind.
"Okay, take care Ian" he called as I left. He called out while standing right next to me.
As the door shut behind me, I wondered what crazy person I was going to meet next.