A/N: I don't own Stardew or any of its characters, just wrote this as an idea I got playing the game one night. Hopefully you enjoy :)

Chapter 1

Marlon made his way out of the guild for his usual evening rounds. Sliding his sword into its holder and making sure he had his other necessities, he made his way out the door, with a nod towards Gil being his only human interaction for the day. Exiting the guild, he walked in the direction of the mines, hoping that soon the work would get to a point where he could move forward with his life. He'd been keeping the slime and monster population somewhat at a reasonable number, a mission that he loved in his twenties, but now in his mid forties weighed heavier not only physically, but mentally. Truth be told, his mission had started to feel pointless, until the new farmer came along. She'd been helping him reach deeper in the mines, even inadvertently helping him gain an apprentice along the way, Abigail.

She'd been training with him a few times a week now, and was tasked with keeping slime control in the first few levels of the mines. Her training had been a welcome addition to his life. Taking on a mentee had given him a new spark, and welcome break in his monotonous life. It did ruffle a few feathers though, Pierre had refused to speak to him on his latest trip to the store. Apparently, he was not on board with his daughter's ambitions. He felt for the guy, but if there was anything he'd learned about Abigail, it was that with or without Marlon's help, she was going to try and get into the mines anyway. This way at least someone could keep an eye on her.

Lost in his trail of thought, Marlon realized he was by the river headed towards Marnie's. He realized where he was too late. Halting abruptly he ran into Shane on his way back from the Saloon. As usual Shane just glared at him before going in the front door. Marlon kept walking towards the farmer's house. He walked by the familiar path north, hoping to see his friend before she called it a night. She was out by the greenhouse, noting that she saw him walking up the path.

"Hey Marlon, how's the patrol going?"

"So far so good, saw your buddy Shane but no monsters."

"I promise, he's not as bad as everyone thinks. He's a good guy deep down."

Marlon caught the wrinkles around his eyes in his reflection from his smile. He was so grateful for his friend, she'd had a great influence on the community, not just his own life. Seeing her thrive had been one of the recent joys for the town.

She caught him lost in thought, "sooooo, did you come over to talk about Shane or something else on your mind?"

He smirked, unsure of what to say next. Luckily, she picked up the cue and kept going.

"Still no luck on the Marnie front huh?"

"Depends on what you call luck, I suppose." She cocked her head sideways but didn't say a word, letting him continue albeit dejectedly.

"I greeted her when I went to grab some groceries the other day."

Nessa half smiled, "no luck."

He smirked at her empathetic tone, "How about you?! Any luck with a certain writer?"

Nessa blushed immediately. "As a matter of fact…maybe?"

She sighed and continued, "I'm not sure. The other day one of the ducks shed a beautiful feather and I thought he'd love it as a a fountain pen of sorts so I gave it to him. He seemed thrilled and really grateful. We got to talking on the pier for a while about books and music and before I knew it a couple hours had gone by. He seemed just as shocked as I did when we realized the sun had begun to set. But the next day I see him down by the lake lost in conversation with Leah, he barely even noticed me outside of our accidental eye contact and a small smile as I went to drop an order off for Magnus."

Marlon didn't know what to say. He didn't know much about Elliot, though the few times he'd seen him at the saloon he was courteous, definitely one of the friendlier people in town towards him. He finally settled on what he'd say to Nessa, "he'd be crazy not to give you a shot, hell he'd be the lucky one."

Nessa gave him a small smile. "Same goes for Marnie, my friend. She deserves so much better than what she's got."

Marlon just nodded, his lips tightening as he thought of Lewis. He'd known they'd been an item for a while now, he caught Lewis slipping out of her house one night while on patrol. Naturally, Lewis had told him to keep his mouth shut, promising grants for the guild. Marlon told him it wouldn't be necessary, he knew if Marnie wasn't public with the information then he would never be the one to divulge it. Little did he know Lewis was the one who didn't want word to spread.

"Hellooooo, Marlon, come back!" Nessa waved her hand across his sight line.

He smiled at her, "Sorry got lost there."

She laughed "No kidding."

They spent another few minutes catching up on Abigail's progress and some guild topics before parting ways. Marlon smiled to himself as he left the farm, circling the familiar loop back to town. How Pelican Town lucked out with Nessa showing up, he'll never know, but he did make a note to go pay his respects to her grandfather next time he was on the farm.