Stardew Valley Fanfiction:

'The Farmer Witch'

Chapter 17:

Alice had ben too drained to even make it back inside last night.

She awoke to someone shaking her awake. She was startled and slipped down a step.

"Wha? Oh… Robin, hey…"

A worried looking carpenter was peering down at her. "Alice, are you alright? You weren't here all night were you?"

Alice looked around. It was morning, Robin had come to finish up the second floor of the farmhouse no doubt. She slowly got up, still a bit out of sorts. "Yeah… I think I did. I stayed up late getting all the seeds in the field… must have dozed off." It occurred to her now that this was kind of embarrassing….

Robin still seemed concerned. "Let's get you back inside. You need to be careful, there are all sorts of monsters and strange magic folk that wander about at night." She helped Alice back into her home as the girl felt a bit awkward. She wondered how Robin would feel if she knew Alice was a magical being herself? Her son didn't seem to mind, so Robin probably wouldn't care either. But something about the way she had said it still made Alice worry.

The red-headed carpenter wouldn't leave until the girl washed up and had something to eat. "You're sure you'll be alright?"

Alice was pulling on a fresh t-shirt. "Yeah, I'm totally fine!" She didn't want the woman to worry. Besides, she had work to do today. "Sorry for the trouble."

Robin looked like she wanted to protest and keep Alice here a little longer. But she sighed and shook her head. "You take after your grandfather alright. He never slowed down either. Not a day of his life!"

Alice grinned from ear to ear. "I know~" She let Robin get to work for the day and went to let her animals out into the fields to roam a bit.

As she worked, she found herself hoping that Robin wouldn't tell Sebastian about how she slept on the porch. He had already seen her crawl into a sewer, she didn't need to embarrass herself more in front of the man. Her face turned red as she remembered that look Sebastian had given her at the Moonlight Festival a few nights back. She had avoided thinking about it yesterday by keeping busy, but the truth was her mind kept wandering back to that moment.

He had clearly been staring at her. It was also pretty apparent that he hadn't wanted her to know that he'd been staring at her…. But why?

She knew that there was probably only one reason for a boy to stare at her like that, but she wasn't the type to go looking for the sort of attention. She barely thought about relationships and things of the romantic sort. She was just now getting her own life together; she hadn't even begun to wonder what came next.

And Sebastian? Alice wasn't sure how she felt about that. Sure, he was smart and good looking… they liked a lot of the same things…. he was fun to be around…. kinda' cute….

No! She hadn't come all the way out here to be independent only to settle for the first guy to glance her way!

But what was she going to say if he brought it up? What if he did have feelings for her and he asked her out some time? Would she even want to say yes?

These thoughts kept her busy all morning long. By the time she finished tending to her cave of mushrooms – ingredients for her potions and filled with magical properties – Alice had decided that, if Sebastian really did bring it up, she would just deal with it then. No point thinking up hypotheticals now when she had no way to know if her really felt that way about her. It wasn't that the idea of Sebastian liking her was bad or anything - it was really flattering! – but she had little experience in this field and didn't want to start acting weird around her friend until she knew for certain.

Deciding to avoid her problems for now, the farmer headed out to town. She took a shortcut at the mine cart tracks and headed north of Clint's shop until she got to her destination….

JojaMart….

She took a deep breath and plunged inside. She needed to eat some humble pie and bow to the Joja Corporation in order to get what she needed this time.

Morris greeted her with his usual fake smile. He was expecting her. They had talked last week about an upgrade to her farm that Robin couldn't offer her – the internet.

"Yes yes, everything is all set up farmer girl. I reached out to JojaCoverage, personally, and they can install it all by the end of next week – assuming, of course, that you pay today~"

Alice nodded. "Let's do it. I appreciate your help with this Morris." It took all her willpower to keep cordial. Morris had a habit of bringing the worst out in people. He was just so…. slimy. He never missed a chance at talking down to the farmer just because of her profession. Apparently being a farmer wasn't a respectful enough position to the local JojaMart store manager.

But JojaCoverage, another branch of the Joja Corporation, was the cheapest and best way for the witch to be able to get high speed internet and phone service on her farm. Because unfortunately there weren't any spells that provided faster internet… not that she knew of anyway.

After spending a good hour signing paperwork and working out timing and logistics, Alice was finally finished. She and Morris shook on it and Alice had to run by Clint's on the way home just to ask to borrow his bathroom sink to scrub her hands clean.

WiFi is the only thing worth trading with Joja. Joja bad. lol

Another day another chapter. Let me know what you think! - Mystical Jelly