My next issue was that of what Pierre liked. Because in Stardew Valley, what was elsewhere just a fun holiday game was a whole-city tradition.
All I knew was that he was the cashier at the general store where I got all my seeds. Was he a farmer, too? Did he like farming tools and seeds and stuff?
If anyone other than him was ever the cashier at that place… how shitty would it be if I just bought some fertilizer or something and gave that to him? His own stock?
I was slipping my coat on a few days before the big event as I thought about how shitty yet simultaneously funny that would be, so I'm pretty sure Laslow just saw me laugh at nothing.
That day consisted of me fishing, as usual. But you ever have what doesn't really feel like a revelation, but really is when you get down to it? A real stretch of an idea, but at least it's something? No?
Well, I did, right as I was about to make my first cast of the day. Maybe Pierre would like a gem of some sort. Oh, wait, yeah! If he didn't like it, he could always sell it! Gems went for good money!
I reeled in some seaweed, put my pole away, and headed for the mines.
When I got down there, down to the point where those bug creatures were minding their own business, it dawned on me how… empowering it felt. All by myself, breaking rocks and slaying my enemies… even just having a sword in my hand for a good reason… it made me feel good. Like I had a good place in this world.
That feeling of power jumped ship as soon as I felt pain course through my left leg. I winced and looked down to see a gelatinous blob biting at it.
One swing of my sword was enough to dislodge the creature from my leg, and a few more made the poor oblivious thing explode into nothing more than a film of slime.
I stood for a moment, temporarily going through the paranoia of whether that thing had injected me with a venom of some kind. The pain in my leg was going away, rather quickly as well, but… Ah, I just had to be more careful, I eventually decided.
I saw exactly what I was looking for before I even got off the ladder on the next level. One of the stones had a beautiful purple mineral protruding from all over.
I went over to it and picked away at the stone. Ended up, I could only get one solid chunk of the purple mineral out of it.
Still, though, it was a beautiful specimen. I almost wondered if I could find some more and DIY it into jewelry somehow. Never really saw myself as an entrepreneur, but that would certainly be a hell of a backstory for one.
On Winter 25, I walked into town with the amethyst, which was within a nice gift box, which was within some nice Winter Star wrapping paper (I was going back into the city a lot more than I thought I would… which was not at all, I suppose).
I was initially confused. How did gift-giving happen? Would Mayor Lewis call everyone together, would we put our gifts in a pile and open them, and would we try to guess who gave our gifts to us? That's the way this was done back where I was raised.
I'd learn in what shouldn't have been a less-than-pleasant way… if that makes any sense. It may in a moment.
I looked over and saw that everyone seemed to be seated with their families, at big tables. This included Sam, who was seated with his mother and little brother.
Someone was speaking with Sam, though. It was the same orange-haired girl that had the kids in tow last I saw her.
She was giving a gift to Sam. And she seemed a lot less composed this time, if the flushing of her face was any indication.
"It's you this year?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's me," Penny replied, her voice trembling just that tiny bit. Enough for me to notice, but not for Sam to, apparently.
Sam opened his gift, which appeared to be a box of guitar picks. A good-quality box, too; the lettering on the box was shiny, as were the picks themselves.
"I lose these things all the time!" said Sam. "Thank you so much, Penny!"
It was Penny, then! Sam had mentioned her as the tutor of the kids, and she was the one who'd had them with her when Vincent joked with me. Honestly, I… should have made the connection way sooner.
"You're w-welcome!" she replied to Sam.
Feeling a sudden surge of pain in my stomach, I made myself think about other things.
Like if any of this food was mine, and if there was anywhere for me to sit. I then looked around and saw that many people, including Mayor Lewis, were standing on the sidelines. That was probably the best place for me to go now.
Before that, though, I knew how the gift-giving process worked now. I took a breath and approached Pierre, who was sitting with Abigail and a green-haired lady. Right before I spoke, his mouth was full of food.
"H-Hello," I said to him. I held out my gift. "Sorry to bother you, but… I've got your gift this year, I suppose."
Pierre swallowed his food, looked up at me, and replied "Ah, so it's you! Thank you!"
He took the gift and opened it, which only took a few seconds but felt like a few minutes. He took the gem I'd found out of the box and held it up to examine it. It almost felt like I'd brought it in to be appraised rather than to be gifted. Also, was I really that insecure, or had the gem lost some of its vibrant purple color since I'd wrapped it?
Also… was it just me, or did Abigail seem extremely fixated on it?
"Ah, it's an amethyst!" Pierre exclaimed. "Thank you!"
"Of course!" I replied.
I took a few steps away, closer to the tree. I then made sure I was facing completely away from Pierre, took a huge breath in, and let that breath out, perhaps a bit more dramatically than I'd anticipated.
Without really thinking, I next turned to the tree, put my hands on my hips, and looked up at it. I let my mind wander, and it primarily reflected on what was coming up on my first year here, in this new town.
More specifically, I went back to a question I'd pondered before: Where would I be if I'd stood just one millimeter to the left, spoken a little louder, spoken a little softer, or decided to speak to certain people at certain points in time? Would I be a yakuza? That sounded kinda cool, but probably just because the media made it seem cool. More realistically, I suppose, would I be standing on the other side of this tree? Would Pierre's hair be blue? Would Sam never have said a word to me? Would Sam and Abigail be into each other, Sebastian being the one to-
"H-hey," Sebastian said from behind me.
Seemed like it was just as I was going over that last hypothetical, too. I hadn't exactly been expecting to hear that voice speaking to me, like, ever again, so I whipped around a bit too quickly. Took me seeing Sebastian's face to even register completely that it had been him, honestly. He didn't exactly look happy to be speaking to me, although that wasn't too much of a shock.
He was also holding a small box.
"It's, um, me," he said, holding out the box. "Here."
I took the box, a bit slowly, mostly out of surprise.
"Thanks," I smiled.
The box wasn't wrapped. Rather, it was a simple, light blue gift box with snowflakes, with a white bow. All I had to do was unravel the bow and lift the top.
I'm surprised my jaw didn't fall to the floor. It was a golden chain bracelet, with an emerald-encrusted moon as its sole charm.
Sebastian took a half-step closer to me and lowered his voice.
"Don't tell anyone," he said. "But my mom was actually the one that found that. I just… agreed you'd like it, I guess." He shrugged as he said that last part.
"Fair enough," I shrugged back. "Well, thank you guys so much! This is freakin' beautiful!"
In truth, the only jewelry I ever wanted to wear were rings on my left ring finger, the first presented by someone knelt to one knee, and the next in front of an altar. Still, I loved that charm. I wondered if there was a way I could attach it to Laslow's collar. If the chain wasn't so long, I'd just attach the entire bracelet.
"You're welcome," Sebastian said before walking away.
Hm. I don't think I'd ever been so interested to constantly be reminded that someone wasn't much for conversation.
When I closed the box and looked back up, I thought I caught Sam looking at me. Weird how your own brain can fuck with you.
Author's note: WHAT'S UP, FUCKERS?!... *ahem* Er, I'm back! I've gone and picked up Stardew Valley again after learning two months after the fact that it got a decent update. And despite the fact I perfectly could have left this where it ended, I got a slew of ideas for scenes I want to write. So we're back!