{a/n: i hate sticking to one point of view, sue me. also, sorry for the near 2 year hiatus on this fic. i stopped playing stardew for a while. please don't hate me.}

it's another day at the worst place on the planet. Shane is stocking the shelves once more, working in the canned foods aisle, while Sam sweeps behind him. they would work alongside each other once in a while, when Shane was in one of his better moods, and today happened to be one of them. he hadn't rolled his eyes at morris more than once today, that must be a record. the sliding doors ding as they open to let in a customer. not like they had that many in town.

there's a bit of a commotion as the customer, from the sounds of it, calls over Morris. ah. anna-molly is in the store. from the sounds of it, she's not happy about hearing his extra push to buy the community center. Shane peers around the corner, can of Extra Sugared Sugar Beets - Now With 20% More Glucose! in hand. she's nuts but at least she cares for the community.

as his vision crosses the corner, he is greeted by the most terrifying visage of bodily horror eyes and tentacles writhing curling sEETHING GNASHING-

oh, no, it was just anna-molly, talking in a low voice to a very terrified Morris. she finishes her sentence very, very quietly, then turns her haunting blistering knowing gaze upon him. anna-molly smiles and waves at him, then leaves promptly.

Sam is peering from behind him, he whistles low, and says, "Fuck, she's scary hot."

Shane can't help but agree. in her own scary as fuck way, yeah.


Shane is coming home from the bar drunk as all fuck and stumbles a bit too far up the main square and manages to lose himself somewhere between town and anna molly's farm. the summer heat was balmy even at… he looks at his watch and squints. 11:30. wow he was out later than he expected. and will be even later coming home because well he's lost in the woods and frankly starting to get concerned. he doesn't remember the old forest being quite so dark when he was young… he proceeds cautiously through the dense underbrush, swearing profusely every time his leg got caught by a passing pricker bush.

Shane stumbles, and after an ass-over-teakettle experience tumbling through the undergrowth, he ends up at the bottom of a grassy gorge. he's bruised, aching, and the alcohol wasn't helping to dull the pain. he peered through drunk-bleary eyes at his surroundings. not a clue where he was. he let his head drop back into the greenery behind him and sighed noisily. maybe if he just closed his eyes, this whole thing will go away and he'll be back home, comfy, in his bed.

he kept into his little fantasy, imagining the dewy grass beneath him as bedding, the overarching ferns as blankets, the stars overhead as nightlights. his head filled with fog as he laid his head down upon the springy moss. the shadows, ever encroaching, crept up upon the unwary man, licking at his heels, wondering what parts the shadows could take—

the shadows heistated, then instead of encompassing the man, gently cradled him; upon a bed of shadows the man floated, past the shadows, past anna, past the farm. she followed closely, watching each lick of shadow caress itself up the man's form. her body tense, as if waiting for an attack. none would come as she accompanied him home.

it was when anna-molly got Shane settled into bed that he came to, and asked anna,

"What are you?"

she looked back at him, her coal eyed glinting jet-black in the candle light, "Here to help."

Shane woke up to find another little black pebble in his hand. again, he had no idea where from. it joined the rest on his shelf.