I played Stardew Valley a long time ago, and kinda fell out of it. Now, though, I've been back to playing it (on a new file) and... damn. I can't stop. So here's a third IOC for the series! If you know me, you'd know I'm already working on two other IOC stories. Is this wise? ...no, it probably isn't. Oh, well. Into Stardew Valley, we go!

The bus ride wasn't quiet as loud as she expected it to normally be, but nevertheless it was quiet an unsettling ride.

What bothered her more was the silence and somewhat heavy atmosphere within the vehicle, however.

Save for the slight music she could hear from the guy sitting in the back, playing with his music player and skateboard, the other passengers didn't really do much. That was respectable, of course; she wished the guy in the back would turn down the volume of his stupid device.

Letting out a sigh, she soon noticed that another girl had sighed at the same time at her.

To the left was a blonde girl looking out the window.

The girl stared at the blonde quietly, wondering if she was also headed for her destination - Stardew Valley.

...in fact, were all the passengers here headed for Stardew Valley?

What does 'stardew' even mean, anyways? Stars are stars, and dew is dew. Or were there a surplus of stars somewhere in this place, which is why it's like a lake of stars, alternatively, stardew? ...the girl closed her eyes, her head hurting a bit. None of her thinking made any sense to her at all...

None of this made any sense to her at all anyways. Why was she even here?

Oh, well. What's happened has happened, and it's not like she could do anything to change that.

As the bus came to a stop, she glanced out the window only to see nothing but trees and wilderness down below.

Not there yet, I guess. The girl sighed again and slowly drifted to thoughts of how this came to be in the first place...

Until someone's loud, condescending voice took her attention.

"Yes, sir. Nothing impressive, really, the locals all look pretty poor. Commoners and the likes, I bet."

She raised an eyebrow and leaned slightly to her left to see some geeky-looking guy in glasses, holding a phone to his ear. His voice was already irritating enough, and now she had just been insulted out of nowhere along with everyone? Talk about snobby. The girl huffed but tilted back and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the man in the back of the bus growled. "I'm just here to visit a friend! Piss off!"

As the women in front of the girl closed her son's ears, the condescending man sighed. "Interrupting phone calls, too. Pretty disappointing, sir," he spoke to the phone. "...yes, I'll do my best to ignore them and hopefully the bus'll get there soon."

"Lad, you're really no better than that young'un..." an old woman sitting in the front, a caged pet besides her, remarked. "Don't you know not to use them phones on the bus?"

"...I'm afraid I'll have to call you back later, sir. Yes, thank you." He put away his phone. "I apologize, ma'am. Would you like a can of our product, Joja Cola?" he asked and pulled out a bright blue can for the woman.

"No thank you. That unhealthy stuff's going to kill me of sugar before old age can."

"Hmph. The thought process of the uneducated never fails to amaze me," the man said, then turned to a different man sitting near the elderly woman. "What about you, sir? You seem like quite the smart person. Would you like-"

"Hands off, sonny," the other person growled before going back to his newspaper.

He huffed. "Don't be like that now. How about I give you this can for free? Here, I'll even put it in your bag for you-"

"Hands off my bag!" the newspaper man yelled more loudly this time.

Flinching a bit, the Joja employee mumbled something inaudible under his breath before turning to the mother and child sitting in front. "How about you, ma'am? Surely your son would like a-"

"Oh my god, can you, like, shut up and take a seat already!?" the blonde girl to her left yelled. "You're being loud and annoying!"

The man huffed, but proceeded to put his Joja Cola product away. "Rude as expected. Ungrateful locals won't bet getting an discount coupons from me, that's for sure..." he mumbled and sat in the seat in front of the mother and child pair.

She blinked, staring at the blonde girl with surprise. As grateful as she was, that outburst wasn't something she expected at all.

Then the blonde girl noticed her staring. "...what?" she growled, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, um. Sorry, it's nothing," she replied and looked away.

Feeling the blonde's gaze lift off of her, the girl could do nothing but sigh as she wondered how much longer it'll be until the bus reached her new, temporary residence.

Stardew Valley, huh? she thought. I hope it's a nice place.

...

Around ten to fifteen minutes later, the bus came to a stop again. She had dozed off a bit at some point, but upon looking around, it seemed like most of the passengers had suddenly become revitalized and excited about something. Did the bus pass some amazing, beautiful view somehow?

The girl sighed to herself for the umpteenth time. Of course she'd miss that too. The entire trip, she hadn't felt too into this new story at all.

Do I really have to spend time here? she thought to herself.

"...hey." The girl jolted to her feet. Standing next to her, the blonde girl was looking at her with a deadpanned expression.

"W-what is it?" she asked.

The blonde blinked. "...everyone's already gotten off. Like... aren't you?"

"...oh. Um. I will." The blonde shrugged before moving to exit the bus. "T-thank you," she called after the blonde, who didn't respond nor react to her. She sighed again. "Well, that was embarrassing..." the girl mused before heading out as well. Giving her thanks to the bus driver, she watched as the vehicle closed its doors and drove off through the tunnel at the opposite side of the one they went through.

"Hey," a new voice called. "You're the last one to get off, and the others haven't reacted at all, so... I'm guessing this is you?"

The girl turned to see a new woman waiting for her, a card or sign in her hands, with a name written on it.

"S-sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," the girl replied. "I'm... not used to this whole... traveling thing, yet."

Laughing, the woman with orange hair waved her hand off. "That's alright, I don't really mind." She extended her hand to the girl. "I'm Robin, the local carpenter of Pelican Town. Nice to meet you."

"You already know my name, I guess, but... nice to meet you too."

The girl took her hand, managing to return a smile.

"I'm Sheena Hatsumi."

As with before, things to note:

1) There's a lot of personal dimension/universe/etc. theories incorporated into the shaping of these IOC stories, and fourth walls have an actual place in it. I'll try not to utilize too much fourth wall humor, but they will exist from time to time. Feel free to walk away from the story if you dislike that.

2) I initially planned on using Mikan Hatsumi for this IOC, but she's currently in my other IOC story, Terrarian. I could theoretically have another of her in this story at the same time, but it'd involve a lot of the aforementioned personal theories for dimensions and universes, etc, which I want to save for way later when we reach a good point. I also considered using another non-fandom-specific OC I had, Hachi Hatsumi, but she's now in my second IOC story, Galarian Colors, so... I'm putting a third, different non-fandom-specific OC who I've drawn, like, twice, but never really used. Once again, meet Sheena Hatsumi. I'll give more details on her next chapter.