[AN: This chapter contains the 'request' I mentioned at the start of the story. Hopefully I'll work it in well enough that not everyone will hate it! Hint: Instead of a cat or dog, we end up with a... well, you'll see.]
Vicky remained where she was, staring at the farm for a while, the sad state of the land, letting the feelings and thoughts wash over her. She didn't really want to move, but she knew that she'd have to eventually. After a few more minutes of wallowing in self-pity for the situation she put herself in, she realized that she was still carrying both her bags and they were starting to get quite heavy.
Using that as impetus to get moving again, she headed over toward the house, passing the drop box on the way to have a look inside. True to their word, the tools inside looked perfectly serviceable if a bit old, the handles perhaps needing some polish and sanding, but she'd brought sturdy gloves just in case, packed away in her duffel bag. The Mailbox had been freshly repaired and painted, the words "Finley Farm" in new stenciling on the side. That brought a smirk to her lips, injecting a needed bit of mirth. She'd never thought she'd see her last name on a farm, that was sure.
Lewis had given her a key after signing over the land to her officially, and she dropped her duffel bag with a worrying creak from the boards of the porch to pull it out of her pocket. The lock creaked audibly but clicked over with just a little effort, and she stepped inside after shoving the door open. The hinges protested but gave after just a couple shoves, and when shut the door behind her she could see the marks on the floor in the dust from where it'd been shoved open yesterday as well. Judging by the footprints she could see just from the entryway, they'd rather thoroughly checked before leaving, as she could see multiple paths scuffed through the fluffy film.
At least they did a good job checking the house for me. I should thank them when I get the chance.
She made her way toward what she assumed was her bedroom, judging by the large bed and the dresser against the wall, as well as what looked like a walk-in closet in the back of the room. The sheets on the bed looked new, or at least had been washed recently, which brought a smile to her lips. These people didn't even know her and they'd taken the time to replace the bedding so she'd have somewhere to sleep that wasn't dirty or disgusting. She had to wipe away a tear at their kindness, still feeling overwhelmed by everything.
Okay, she thought to herself in the silence of her new bedroom, we need to get these seeds in the ground, then we can come back and clean the house. Get the plants growing first, start working on getting some income, then we can worry about comfort. Priorities.
She stepped back outside after retrieving her gloves and a straw sunhat from her bag, then headed over to the drop box to pick up the tools she might need. From what she could see, she had a hoe, a pickaxe, an axe, a large scythe- I have no idea how to use this- and a rather large watering can. She'd have called it 'industrial size' if she hadn't seen just how big the farm was, and she knew she'd probably need it. She grabbed the hoe, the scythe, and the axe and set to work on the fields.
Vicky'd decided she'd just clear a patch large enough for the seeds she had right now and work on expanding the usable area over the coming days and weeks, but even that proved to be an effort of hours from the sheer tenacity of the plantlife she faced. She never would have considered herself out of shape, she'd eaten well enough and exercised every Saturday, but she was completely winded in short order, and had to take a break just a few hours in to catch her breath. She'd managed to clear a somewhat sizable chunk of land, and still didn't really know how to use the scythe, but she'd figured out 'sharp end cuts grass', and figured she'd learn the technique as she went.
Two trees were left standing, but she'd broken up a few rocks and tossed the remnants to the side, cut a fair amount of grass, and even decimated a few saplings with her axe. She'd started hoeing when she finally decided to take a break, drinking lukewarm tapwater out of a plastic glass she'd brought with her. No ice, and it wasn't cold, but it was doing the job despite tasting pretty awful. She'd also heard a few weird noises coming out of the forest, but chalked it up to the land being overgrown. Probably a rabbit or squirrel or something else distressed at her presence, it didn't sound big enough to be anything threatening or particularly frightening. Too bad she was wrong.
She returned to her chores a few minutes later, not wanting to get too comfortable sitting down, and had started hoeing the land again to try to till up something of a proper row to plant the seeds in. It wasn't pretty, or very straight, but she make things look better when she had a better understanding how to, and when she had the time and wasn't concerned with everything else she currently had to deal with. That was when she heard the noise again, like an odd rustling through the grass and tiny feet moving across the ground. She turned and stood, looking around herself, but didn't spot anything. "... hello?", she asked to the empty forest. Maybe she'd scare it out that way?
When she was met with silence, she shrugged and went back to her work, only to hear the rustling again, this time almost directly behind her. She whipped around again, trying to see it, only to see a rustle of the grass disappearing off into the trees. Confused and a little bit alarmed, she watched for a moment to see if she could spot whatever it was, to no avail.
Now a little worried, she decided there was nothing she could do for it but go back to work. She was nearly done, anyway.
A few more minutes of hoeing and she heard the noise again, right behind her once more. Deciding to ignore it for a moment, she instead tried to think of a way to surprise whatever it was, since it was apparently at least a little intelligent since it kept disappearing when she tried to get a look at it.
Maybe I can make it comfortable...?
She began to whistle as she worked, though she was concentrating more on trying to listen to the weird rustling noises the thing was making. It was like... grass rubbing against grass, or leaves, plants rustling against each other, even though they were in the middle of the cleared area, and by the quiet cracking and rumbling of stones against one another and the little movements of dirt she could see out of the corner of her eye, it was doing something to the dirt...
After trying to pretend she wasn't paying attention for a minute or two, whistling some tune she'd heard on the radio, she whipped around with a loud "AHA!" and a pointed finger.
Greeting her sitting in the dirt was... she had no idea. Her brain seemed to refuse to categorize it for the moment. Four legs. A tail. Wings? A reptilian snout? Scales? Claws? Teeth? Eyes staring right back at hers? She was frozen, as the thing appeared to be, even as it held a... tiny rake?
She stared openly for a moment, her eyes looking it over as her poor overworked brain tried to figure out what the hell was she looking at. It was like a... very, very small dragon. Like she'd seen in movies.
Her mouth opened, and a few seconds later her brain caught up with her body as she started to scream. "HOLYSHITWHATTHEFUCKOHMYGOD"
She ran terrified into the house as a high-pitched screeching met her panicked response, the thing zipping off into the underbrush, leaving the tiny rake behind in the dirt as Vicky scurried away into the house, slamming the door open with her shoulder, as she dove for her backpack under the bed. Shaking fingers punched a few numbers into her phone, and before long she had Lewis on the line.
"LEWISOHMYGODWHATTHEFUCKTHERE'SATINYDRAGONTHING"
"Vicky!? Vicky, slow down. I can't understand you."
"There'satinylittledragononthefarmanditwaslookingatme."
"What? What's going on?"
She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, running a hand over her face to try to gather her emotions in some way she could communicate more clearly.
"I was clearing the farm."
"Okay."
"I heard some weird noises."
"Okay."
"AND THEN I TURNED AROUND, AND THERE WAS A FUCKING TINY DRAGON."
"A what? A dragon? Okay, give me a moment."
Lewis went quiet on the other end of the line as Vicky did her level best to calm herself, taking deep breaths and trying to get her heart to stop racing before it exploded. She could hear typing and paper rustling, maybe the old Mayor consulting records on his computer and in his office. It was a minute or two as she stared at her door, which she'd left partway open, as she waited for him to find what he was looking for.
"Vicky?"
"Yeah?"
"I found an old farmer's journal. Gunther went through all the old stuff last year and scanned it or categorized it, he's the librarian in town, and I found something about a dragon."
"Okay. Then what's going on?"
"Apparently when Stardew was very young, a farmer reported seeing a little bitty dragon in his lake one day. He scared it off and it never showed up again. However, later in the journal, he reports someone else having seen something that looked like a bat flying above her fields in the daytime." She could hear paper rustling. "This was, uh... three years after the first sighting."
"Okay. And?"
"Vicky these records are over a hundred years old."
"What the fuck. Okay, so there's a really old, really small dragon flying around?"
"I don't know. Alex just left to be at your farm, he should be there in a few minutes. He's a strong lad, he can keep you safe."
"From a dragon?"
"You did say it was really small."
Vicky sighed, putting a hand against her face, trying to calm. "Okay. I'll stay inside and look for him."
"I'll gather some of the others and meet you down at the farm in a while. Okay?"
"Sounds goooood." She could hear her voice shaking a bit, but she supposed there was nothing she could do for it right now. She hung up after saying goodbye, and slowly tried to extract herself from her bed, though she realized she'd shoved herself a little bit too deep in her panic to get away from what was apparently a very small dragon. It was a struggle, though eventually she managed to squirm free a few inches- until she felt something tugging on her boot.
Her heart sprung up into her chest as she turned to look, and sure enough despite never seeing it enter the house, the tiny little dragon thing was tugging on her foot, trying to help her get free. She stared at it for a moment, watching as it kept tugging- though it felt too weak despite all the effort it seemed to put into the motions to do more than tug her foot around. She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, but the noise of it caused the little thing to freeze again and stare at her.
It was tiny, barely a foot and a half tall, almost like a cat in size if it wasn't for the wings furled against it's back. It had a tail with a little tuft of purple hair on the end, as well as a thin pouf of purple hair on it's head. The underside was stark white, with a line of purple where underside and top met, and the top of the thing's scales were jet black. It had four legs, the front two ending in paws with five little fingers, even with thumbs, the claws on the end currently grasping her boot.
Vicky stared as the thing stared quietly back at her, it's eyes glancing to the door every few seconds before looking back to the young farmer. Vicky slowly pulled her hand away from her mouth, and the thing let go of her boot, looking like it was going to bolt at any moment. "... h-hi?", she offered, and the thing's eyes widened slightly.
It looked behind itself, as if looking for something else she could be talking to, then spun around to look back at Vicky. One claw came up to point at itself. Vicky, confused, nodded her head as her eyebrows drew together. "Yeah. You."
The thing shrunk back, eyes going even wider, skittering up against the wall to press into the corner.
"No! It's okay." Vicky's voice grew quiet. "I'm just... stuck. One..." She struggled again, trying to free herself, eventually just having to lift the bed a tiny bit so she could finally squeeze free with a huff of breath. She began to brush herself off, then turned to look for the little thing... which had vanished. "... second."
She let out a quiet sigh. "Great. It's gone."
From outside she heard an engine crawling closer to her shack, and she stepped outside to see an old-fashioned blue truck with a wooden bed pulling up, a male maybe around her age with brown hair, wearing what looked like a green varsity jacket, stepping out of the cab. He waved as he shut the door and moved toward the back. "Hey. You must be the new girl. I'm Alex."
"Yeah. Hi, nice to meet you." She wrapped an arm around herself, hopefully so he wouldn't see it shaking. "I'm Vicky, though you probably heard already. Thanks for bringing the bike around."
"Yeah, no problem." He lifted the bike from the back with one hand, not bothering with the tailgate, and placed it on the ground to walk it over to Vicky. "I got a call from Lewis on the way over? You had a... rat problem or something?"
"A rat? No, it was..." Her eyes were drawn to the top of the truck, where the little thing was sitting again. She looked to Alex then pointedly looked to the top of the truck, then back again a few times as he just gave her a confused look at first until it finally seemed to click.
He turned to look, stared for a moment, then turned back to peer at Vicky, still confused. "Are you okay? There's nothing up there."
Her head whipped back to him to stare incredulously. The little dragon was still sitting on top of the cab. "Seriously? You can't see it?"
He turned to look again, then back to Vicky, smiling a little. "Is this a prank or something? I don't see anything."
Vicky sighed and shook her head, then stepped forward. "No, sorry. I guess I'm just working too hard. Thanks for bringing the bike over."
"No prob. You need help with the farm?" He raised an arm and flexed, showing off how the fabric of his jacket stretched around his arm. "I can totally do whatever you need. I did like a thousand pushups this morning."
Are you serious?
Vicky had to fight off the urge to facepalm at the display, and shook her head. "No, I should do it myself. I appreciate the offer, though. Really. I'll buy you a drink Friday."
"Sweet. I'll see you there, new girl." He stuck out his finger and thumb in a fingergun, making a click noise with his mouth as he moved back to the truck. "Lewis and the others should be here soon. See you around, new girl!"
"It's Vicky!", she called after the truck as he backed, turned, and then drove off down the road, waving a hand out the window in a 'whatever' gesture as he pulled away. She just groaned as she moved back toward her field. She'd known plenty of guys like him while she was in High School, though he didn't seem quite as bad as them. Maybe a little... dimmer, though.
She went back to work, spotting the little dragon-thing at least three more times before Lewis and the others finally turned up. It had taken to sitting near her foot while she tilled the ground, and while it remained quiet and didn't do anything hostile, she did her best to try to ignore it until she could figure out what was going on with it.
Perhaps ten minutes after Alex left, the others drove up in a newer-looking truck, two people sitting in the back, one male and one female, with someone sitting in the cab with Lewis. As they all piled out she got a good look at them, leaning over onto her hoe with the head stuck in the ground. One, an older-looking gentleman with greying hair peppered through an otherwise-rich brown, wore a large stetson hat and an interesting mustache and pointy beard combo, along with glasses, his whole outfit a denim blue.
The woman had bright red hair and carried a hammer slung over her shoulder, a yellow track jacket covering her as she came to stand beside Lewis. The third was another older man wearing an extremely beat-up old cap with a large beard, and a fuzzy red sweater. All three of them stood gathered around Lewis as he spoke something to the blue-hat man and handed him a book.
"Vicky, this is Gunther", he gestured to the blue man, who tipped his hat, "Robin", he gestured to the woman, "And Willy. Pierre told you about him yesterday. Robin's the one who built the new box."
"Nice to meet you.", she said.
Vicky nodded, offering her a smile. "Same. And you two gentlemen as well."
"We had a bit of a disagreement on the way over, Vicky," Lewis said as Gunther flipped through the book. "We hoped you might be able to help."
"Uh... alright." She stepped closer, looking at the book as she did, as Gunther offered it to her and let her take it into her hands.
"Can you read this page for us?" Gunther asked, gesturing to one with a finger.
"Yeah, sure. Uh... 'Spotted the small guardian spirit Scellia swimming in my lake the other day'- Hey!", she spoke up as Lewis grabbed the book from her hands with a whispered 'what?' as he turned the book to read it himself.
"Vicky the page doesn't say anything like that!"
Then it was Robin's turn to chip in, as she squeezed between Gunther and Lewis to read off what she could see. " '-Another infestation of rats, saw one floating in my lake-'",
Then Willy spoke, as if reciting what he'd seen on the pages as Lewis and Gunther began to mumble among themselves. "Spotted the little dragon again, splashing around in the pond."
Vicky's eyebrow felt like if it was going to go any higher, it'd have to detach itself from her forehead. "Lewis? What do you see?"
"Same as Willy, the dragon splashing in the pond."
"Gunther?"
"I see what Robin sees", he spoke up without drawing his head away from the page as the three of them practically fought to hold the book.
Vicky glanced to Willy, who just shrugged, then turned to look at the roof of their truck, where the little thing- apparently named Scellia- was sitting again, looking rather smug. "Okay, I have a question."
Everyone turned to look at her as she continued. "Look at the roof of your truck, do you see anything?"
Almost as one, the four of them turned to look, then one by one swiveled back to look at Vicky. A chorus of 'no' and a couple of negative headshakes were the answer, and she had to sigh. "Okay. Because I see a little dragon sitting on the top of your truck."
Lewis turned to look again, squinting, while the other three continued to look at Vicky in varying states of confusion and disbelief. Gunther looked at Lewis and shrugged, and Lewis handed the book to Vicky again. "Can you keep reading?"
"Sure. Uh..." She traced a finger across the page as she tried to find where she'd left off. "Ah, okay. '-the other day. The crops grew overnight again, perhaps a payment for letting her swim. Flew off toward the Southwest later, probably toward the old tower. We've heard she lives there.' That's all it says.", she added, as she looked back up at the four of them.
Lewis scratched his head under his hat, while Gunther took the book back and continued to scan the page, trying to look for what Vicky had seen. Willy looked somewhat bored, and Robin continued to give Vicky the 'are you okay' look she'd been giving since Vicky said she'd seen the dragon on top of their truck.
"Well, I can't say I know what to do. Uh, Robin, you wanted to talk to her?"
Robin nodded and moved toward the back of the truck. "That's right." She pulled out her own bike, as Willy moved back toward the bed and climbed in.
"We'll go back to the Library and see if we can find anything. Thank you for coming, Willy." Lewis waved to the back of the truck, while Willy just replied 'yep' as he took his seat again.
Robin moved over to stand near Vicky as Lewis and Gunther climbed back into the truck. "Don't hesitate to call if you don't feel safe, Vicky. We'll figure something out." She could hear him look to Gunther and say something quietly, though it sounded like 'should we get Harvey', which Gunther shook his head in response to.
"So, uh, anyway", Robin started as the other three left in their truck. "I just wanted to let you know that I can do repairs on your cabin if you like."
"Oh! That'd be great. What sort of repairs?" Vicky moved back to her little tilled row of land and retrieved her hoe from where she'd let it fall into the dirt.
"Well, I sized up the place while I was here putting your drop box together. I figure I can make a few additions without adding too much of a footprint to the building. Bigger kitchen, extra rooms in the back, that sort of thing."
"That would be wonderful. Though I wonder how much it'd all cost." Vicky leaned over on her hoe again, relaxing a bit while Robin spoke to her, though she noticed her new little friend sitting by her foot again, having retrieved the tiny rake from the dirt.
"Well a basic upgrade, and you can always add input afterward that will raise or lower the price accordingly, would probably be around 15,000G. Though if you provide materials", she gestured to the farm around Vicky with a pointed look, "I can probably bring it down to something like 10,000G."
Vicky smiled, though she was inwardly recoiling at the numbers offered. "I see. That's definitely out of my price range at the moment, but I will have to keep you in mind."
Robin nodded, then started to climb up onto her bicycle. "Great. I live just north of town, past the old community center. Just follow the path toward the mountains and you can't miss us." She started to turn to leave, then looked to Vicky one last time. "And, uh... try to get some more sleep, okay?"
Vicky laughed, raising a hand to wave as the woman left. "Yeah, definitely. Thanks for coming over, good to meet you!"
"Yep yep, see you."
Vicky looked down to the little dragon still holding onto the rake as Robin pedaled away. "So you're Scellia."
The little thing nodded once, then looked down at the ground to start running it's rake across the dirt.
Vicky sighed, then headed toward her house to retrieve her Parsnip seeds. "I should have stayed in The City, I'm already going crazy out here."
