The girl stood under the overhang of the building, peering half-mindedly out into the street as cars passed by, splashing up water onto the sidewalk. It had started raining at some point, but she couldn't have known through the windowless second floor of the building. Especially with all the constant white noise of computers running, keys clicking, and phones constantly ringing in the distance.

In the dim light of the side lot, she rummaged in her bag for her phone.

"Pack of tissues, spare keys, loose change, a bag of cookies leftover from lunch—Aha!" She pulled the phone from her bag and clicked the side button, illuminating her face in the dark. It was 12:45 already. She was really looking forward to getting her jammies on and sleeping in this weekend.

Raine inhaled the fresh air of the night, albeit mildewy, slipping the cell into her pocket for easier access. Her workplace was located in the downtown area, so she had to be wary of strangers lurking in the late hours.

Closing her eyes, she took in the sounds of zooming cars over the wet pavement, and her thoughts returned to the letter in her bag.

"If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change…"

It wasn't quite a pick-me-up letter, nor a check for any amount of money. In fact, she couldn't have possibly anticipated what her grandfather had in store for her—the entire deed to the family farm, located in rural Stardew Valley.

When she first read the words, her head was spinning. She thought it was some sort of practical joke. Her grandpa mentioned in the letter that he wasn't even sure if the acting mayor of the valley would still be alive whenever she would read it. But once she turned the letter over and saw the address and contact number (who knew if this information was still current), she was reassured of the bizarre reality of the situation.

But why her? Raine had a handful of brothers and sisters; all of whom were much more able-bodied. And all of them succeeded her in age by at least 12 years. They had her beat in terms of life experience, finance, and of course physical strength. She was just a petite 20 year-old who could barely hoist a gallon of milk up to her ribcage. It didn't help that she was babied and barely lifted a finger in her life that didn't land on a keyboard. The thought of herself toiling out in the sun with heavy farm tools had her in disbelief.

This lead her to believe two things; One, that she personally hadn't been ready to read the letter—and two, that she was not expressly chosen to take over the family farm, but the job just sort of fell to her. After all, it was narrowed down to her mother's kids. All her grandpa had to do then was pick the youngest who could put in a few decades of work before passing the hoe to their possible offspring. And if the latter was true, then perhaps all the stuff about moving on to better things was just a method of her grandfather's persuasion to keep the business alive?

Leaning up against one of the concrete supports, she began to chew her lip. As she tried to make sense of things more, her conscience intervened.

"Don't make your grandpa out to be some sort of villain. You know he loved you and your family. Besides, what more does he have to gain from the great beyond? I don't think Yoba accepts cash."

Just then, the redhead's train of thought was broken by a pair of footsteps dragging on the asphalt. Somewhat startled, Raine looked over to see a familiar figure leaning up against the adjacent column—it was just her coworker, Henry, from a couple stations down. It was a shame he was most definitely always under the influence of… something. Though she tried not to judge him since he was one of the nicer guys on her floor and pretty much always had some good words to put in.

"Hey, look who survived another day!" The shaggy brunette smiled, his eyes looking a little glassed over. "I'm so ready to go home. How about you?"

Raine nodded, sticking her hands in her pockets to keep them warm. "Definitely."

"Ohh, the sleep I'm going to get tonight." Henry yawned, rubbing his face in his hands. He too peered out into the nightscape, looking just as beat as anybody. If she could recall correctly, he had already been sitting in his cubicle before she walked in that afternoon. Come to think of it, she never recalled coming in before him. A few moments passed before he started to nod slowly to himself.

"Sometimes I think some more about what I'm doing with my life and where I'm going." He said in a low voice, before pausing. "Do you ever think about stuff like that?"

Raine was caught off guard by this and turned to look at him with a stunned expression. She was kind of surprised at her coworker's level of self-awareness. But also given her recent discovery, she had to wonder if he was some sort of mind reader. Maybe all those substances had managed to open some chakras or whatever. After opening her mouth slowly only to close it again, Henry chuckled.

"Hey, sorry! Not trying to throw you any quizzes or anything." The tall man looked around, then started to pace around. "You're one of the youngest ones on the floor. I mean, I'm not that old myself. But you've got all the time in the world if you decide there's anything else you wanna do."

She nodded slowly, even though Henry had turned his back to her. She wondered why he was even telling her this, but she didn't question it. Feeling guilty for being a bad conversationalist, she cleared her throat and decided to humor him. "Is there something you wanted to do?" She asked.

The brunette turned around, looking just as surprised as she did when he asked her before. He screwed up his face, rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe…"

As the familiar car pulled up to the entrance, the coworker was lost in thought, taking a sip from a flask which was previously hidden in his jacket.

Raine nodded to him as she lifted her jacket hood over her head. "Well… See you next week then."

"Have a good weekend." He waved back at her.

She stepped into the minivan and it rolled away through the lot.


Notes:

Before I go any further-yes, Henry is the name I decided to give that cowboy-looking guy from the beginning of the game whose hopped up on pills. I think he's become a subject of many people's fanfics... I mean, how can you ignore him? Anyway, I decided to throw him a bone because who's judging? He could be a nice guy!

Raine is very much a self-insert. Probably at least 75%. The part about having a bunch of siblings is true, and a lot of her personality, habits, and thought processes are based on me. I wanted to get away from the game canon (ex: being an only child with the father writing letters to them) a little bit so my story isn't too much of the same. That's already my goal by trying not to jump straight to the farming stuff too fast, so I hope nobody finds it really boring! I just don't want to write my farmer as a cookie cutout that's 'super great at all the right things!11!1'