Time passed quickly in Stardew Valley, and for Victoria, it was no exception. It seemed like she'd only arrived a few days ago, with the valley turning her life upside down several times within those first few important days, and now she'd been here almost a month... a third of the way through spring. Most of the inhabitants of the town were familiar faces now, and she got to see Abigail every few days, which suited her just fine. She'd made a habit of turning up on Fridays to the Saloon, mingling, having a few drinks, and talking. Gus even stopped asking if she was going to try alcohol yet, and had a soda ready for her when she arrived.

She'd also started getting an underlying feeling of... something being off with the town. She wasn't sure what was causing it but there seemed to be a tension in the town that she noticed more the more familiar she got with everyone within it. There was an undercurrent of unease and uncertainty in the town, and she was starting to feel like it was going to come to a head soon.

With Scellia's help, Vicky pulled up her crops for the day, a wonderful batch of Cauliflower, a very healthy crop of Parsnips, beans, and even some potatoes that looked big and full. They rivaled some of the ones she'd seen in the city, and she was quite proud of her haul... she was even considering buying a larger cart, maybe from Clint, or Pierre if he had something on sale. She loaded everything up, the tiny dragon taking up her position atop the pile to keep things from bouncing their way out of the wheelbarrow, and she headed off to town.

The day was sunny and calm, pink petals drifting their way down from the skies above, blown aloft from trees near the ocean by the breeze off of the sea to settle down all over the town, giving the day an especially cheery feeling. It was helping to distract her from the heavy thoughts that had been weighing her down this morning, and the feeling like she was doing something wrong even though she couldn't really place what. She felt successful, the farm was thriving, she'd managed to clear back the worst of the forest over the last month, and she was starting to prepare the ground for the summer... she was planning on really kicking things into gear. Might even hire some of the people in town to help her out around the place...

She pulled up alongside Pierre's store right around opening time, greeting him with a smile and a friendly wave. He seemed cheery enough if a little drawn... maybe he hadn't slept well. They went through the normal motions of bringing her crops indoors, and Lewis even stopped by "Just collecting Pierre's business tax!" and lent a hand bringing everything inside in crates. She knew she could just leave things in her drop-off box on her farm, but it felt more... real if she brought things into town on her own.

"Hey, Pierre? Do you sell any bigger carts? This wheelbarrow just isn't really cutting it anymore and I could use something bigger.", she asked as they made their way inside, and began to get everything ready near the counter so it could be accounted for, weighed, and priced.

The man put a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment, his free hand resting on his hip while he considered. "I think I have an old cart I could sell you. It might be a little big for your bike, but I think you could manage it. It's much bigger than your wheelbarrow but it's not as big as, say, a truck or something. And I could give you some crates to use with it so you don't have to bring everything loose like this." He held up a cauliflower, which had gotten a little bit smashed during delivery. "Keep things like this from happening."

Vicky nodded with an embarrassed little smile. "That's a good idea. I guess I'm starting to grow too much for this thing anyway."

Time wore on as they worked over Vicky's produce, and soon enough the store was bustling with customers, Gus shopping for the Saloon, Marnie picking up a few things for her home, Jodi getting some cereal for her kids, even Demetrius looking over some of the baking supplies with a critical eye. Scellia had taken up position on the counter, out of the way, curled up around a knapsack that was on sale ('Great for adventurers!' read the sign).

The little dragon perked up as the bell for Pierre's store rang for the second time in ten minutes, but Vicky was taken by surprise when she leaped up and hissed loudly, arching her back and baring fangs as she faced the door.

"What the-", Vicky started, but she stopped just as soon as she heard a soft 'oh no' from Pierre. She turned quickly to see who the new visitor was that had gotten such a reaction out of the little dragon and Pierre at the same time, only to see a person she'd never met before.

A new man stepped into the shop, looking around with what could only be called a pompous air, thumbs hooked into his belt, a dark blue jacket, and a red bowtie. It was Vicky's turn to let out an 'oh no' because she recognized that outfit- A JojaMart store manager.

She heard Pierre growl a soft 'Morris' from behind her, and he stepped out from behind the counter, Vicky's produce forgotten for the moment. "Excuse you, I told you that you weren't welcome in my shop anymore!"

Morris just laughed softly under his breath and fished out a fist full of blue tickets that Vicky instantly recognized. Coupons. "I might not be, but I'm sure these discounts are!"

He chuckled again, lifting his hand into the air. "Come and get it folks, coupons for 50% off your purchase at JojaMart!"

Pierre gasped. "What!? 50%!"

Vicky heard a few more gasps of '50%!', but they sounded less alarmed, and more amazed... and sure enough, just about everyone started walking toward Morris.

"Any takers? Any- oh, yes, here you go." Smug as could be, Morris began handing out a coupon to anyone who would take one... which happened to be everyone except Vicky and Pierre himself, who looked absolutely distraught. Morris wasn't stingy with the coupons, either, some people left with a handful of their own... Jodi even shot an apologetic look toward Pierre. "I'm sorry, but I have to think of my kids! With this, I can buy them even more food... You know with Kent gone times have been hard."

Within a few short minutes, Pierre's store was rendered a ghost town, with only Victoria, Pierre, and Morris left to inhabit the shop.

Pierre let out a distraught sigh, and Vicky wanted to hug him as the man just seemed to deflate. "But... I can't match those prices. I'd be selling at a loss!" While Pierre deflated, however, Vicky seethed. She'd left the city to get away from exactly this sort of behavior, and it had followed her even to here.

Morris made his way over to the counter where Vicky stood, glaring daggers at the smug man, who even had the audacity to offer her a coupon, though she didn't move to take it. "It must be so difficult for you, losing loyal customers like that." He even let out a derisive little laugh. "But can you blame them?" His face contorted into a giggle. "Joja Corporation is clearly the superior choice! Soon the whole town will realize that."

He finally turned his attention to Vicky, and even his self-sure composure faltered for a moment once he got a good look at the glare she was giving him. "What about you, little miss? Don't you want these savings?"

Vicky growled quietly under her breath but swiped the offered coupon out of his hand.

She heard an offended "Vicky!" from behind her from Pierre, but she wasn't done yet.

Just as Morris turned to gloat some more at Pierre, Vicky shredded the coupon with a few quick movements of her hands, drawing a confused look from the JojaMart manager.

"YOU POMPOUS FUCK!", shouted the farmer, and she tossed the shredded coupon directly into his face, decorating his stupid haircut and bow tie with tiny pieces of paper, even lodging some behind his glasses.

"Now see here!", spluttered Morris as he tried to block the paper with a hand, and failed, and began to try to pick them out of his glasses.

"You see your ass out of my friend's shop!", cried Vicky, and she practically manhandled the alarmed JojaMart manager away from the counter, giving him a shove that nearly sent him to his knees. "You're not welcome! You're lucky Pierre doesn't call Lewis for your trespassing!" She gestured with an extended arm to the door, pointing Morris exactly where he was wanted- out.

The man sputtered indignantly but wasted little time in beating a retreat out the door, the cheery little jingle announcing his departure just as it had announced his unwanted arrival. Now only Vicky and Pierre were left in the store, aside from Scellia, and the brown-haired man seemed too taken aback by Vicky's outburst to know what to say for the moment... but an appreciative smile did tug at the corner of his lips. He finally recovered a moment later, while Vicky still stared at the door Morris had just beaten a retreat through.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who despises him as much as I do."

Vicky suddenly realized she was still clenching her fists and staring at the door, and she had to force herself to relax, releasing the tension in her balled fists as she turned back to Pierre, who was giving her an appraising look as if he was seeing her again for the first time. "Sorry! I just... I left the city to get away from people like him. I can't believe he'd come into your shop and do something like that!"

Pierre just looked down at the ground, not able to meet Vicky's eyes, putting his hands into the pockets of his blazer. "Yeah. It takes some nerve. But that's not the first time he's done something like that. I can't do anything to stop him, either. If he didn't do it here, he'd do it in the square as they entered or left, or he'd just do it in the JojaMart itself. I just can't match him."

Vicky reached out, gently placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Don't worry, Pierre. You know I'll never shop there."

He gave her a smile and gently patted the hand on top of his shoulder. "I know, Vicky. I appreciate it."

She pulled her hand away just in time for the door to the back of Pierre's shop to pull open, and Abigail's head to poke out from behind it. "Is everything okay? I heard yelling."

Vicky's cheeks flushed red, and Pierre put a hand on the back of his head with a smile. "It's fine! We just had a little... dustup in the shop, but we took care of it. Morris showed up again."

Abigail's brows drew down into a heavy frown. "Oh, that asshole."

Pierre nodded, then turned partway to look at Vicky. "Hey, why don't you go talk to Abigail for a minute while I weigh everything up? It'll be a little bit, you brought a lot in today."

Vicky nodded and turned toward Abigail. "Sure! Wanna hang out for a minute?"

"Yeah, alright. Come on." Abigail waved a hand to gesture Vicky forward, then disappeared behind the door again. Vicky followed her, down the hallway she'd never been down any of the times she'd been here, to Abigail's room.

It looked a lot like she'd imagined it to, though there was a surprising nautical theme to the wallpaper. Abigail seemed to notice because she chuckled nervously and offered "I wanted to be a sailing explorer when I was little" by way of explanation.

"Makes sense", replied Vicky, while still taking in the sights of the room. There was even a Guinea Pig in a cage in the corner, with a little engraved 'David Jr' on a metal plaque along the top of the cage. She stopped for a moment and glanced toward Abigail. "David... Jr? David I could understand, but..."

"Oh! Hah. Long story, actually." Abigail waved a hand dismissively, and Vicky just rolled her eyes good-naturedly and continued further into the room. She even spotted an Ouija board in the corner, which is something she would have entirely expected Abigail to have. Her friend led her over toward the TV in the corner, where a game system was plugged in, and sure enough, a Prairie King cartridge was plugged into the top. "Do you want to play?", Abigail offered after she noticed Vicky glancing at it. "I can't get past the first level. This game's really, really hard."

Vicky smirked and shrugged, then made her way around opposite the cushion sitting in front of the TV- where Abigail sat down- and picked up the second controller. "Sure. I've never played it before but I've got time to learn I guess."

"Okay, great! With your help I'm sure I can beat it, I've been getting really close to doing it on my own." Abigail leaned forward and flipped the power switch, and soon enough the familiar sound of the Prairie King theme song, the same one as the Saloon, rang out into her room.

There was little warning once the game started, and Vicky had to learn on her feet how to play it. One stick controlled her character, the other controlled where he shot, and as Abigail explained a moment after they started, the little 'X' on the controller used an item if you picked it up.

It took a couple starts for them to really get going; apparently, the game spawned more enemies if there were two players, and Vicky needed to get the hang of it first. But soon enough the two of them were laughing and enjoying the game, leaning this way and that as they tried to guide their guys to victory, yelling "nononono!" and "yesyesyesyes!" alternately in times of defeat or triumph, even taunting each other if one or the other died.

They were nearing the end, the timer at the top of the screen denoting how much time they had left on the level slowly ticking down when Abigail died again and let out a frustrated 'dammit!'. "That was my last life!" She turned to watch Vicky, the tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, leaning forward on her knees as she played, hands working frantically over the controller as she tried to guide her Prairie King to victory. Just a few more seconds...

Vicky's hands shot up into the air with a "YES!" as the victory jingle rang, and a 'you win!' screen popped up over the level. She shot to her feet and did a little victory dance, spinning herself around chanting "I did it, I did it, I did it~"... that is until she turned around to see Abigail staring with a bemused expression on her face, and she felt her own flare up like the sun as she turned red again. "Oh. Uh. I guess I looked a little dumb. Just then."

Abigail stared for a moment longer before bursting out into a laugh, holding her hand to her stomach. "Yeah you did look pretty silly!"

Even Vicky's ears burned as she sank back down onto her knees and stared at the screen, having made an idiot of herself. That didn't last too long, though because Abigail gently patted a hand on her shoulder a few times. "It was also funny, and kind of cute. So don't feel too bad, okay?"

Vicky couldn't help but grin at that as she turned to her friend. "Really?"

Abigail nodded, and the two of them just sort of... locked eyes for what felt like a full minute, just smiling and enjoying their triumph, until a call of "Vicky!" came from near the door, and the moment was broken.

While she inwardly sighed, she leaned around her friend and looked to the door. "Yeah?"

"I'm all done out here. You can leave whenever you want, I've got your money waiting for you."

"Okay, great!" She turned back to Abigail, but she was already shutting down the little game system, the moment gone.

"So what happened out there? Dad just said Morris showed up?" Surprisingly, she even had a little color to her cheeks too.

That brought a surprising little twirl to Vicky's heart, but she made a mental effort to mash it right back down into where it'd come from. She likes dudes, you idiot! "Yeah. He came in, started handing out coupons to everyone."

"What? Seriously! What an asshole!" Abigail stared incredulously, and Vicky got a good close look at just how... pretty her eyes were.

She mentally shook herself, however, and continued. "Yeah! I know. He even gave me one and I shredded it and tossed it back in his face, told him he was a pompous fuck and to get out of your dad's shop."

Abigail's eyes went even wider, and she breathed a soft little 'really?' as she stared.

Vicky felt her cheeks burning again, and she looked away, putting a hand on the back of her neck. "Yeah. I guess I overreacted, I just left the city to get away from-agh!" She let out a cry of alarm as Abigail wrapped her up in a hug, and then a wheeze as her... surprisingly strong arms began to slowly crush the life out of her. "A-abby, c-can't breathe!"

Abigail pulled back with a 'sorry!' and looked away, her face definitely flushed. "Sorry! I just... you standing up for my dad like that is really cool, you know?"

Vicky smiled, and it seemed to be contagious because her friend started to smile again too. "Really? I was worried you'd think it was decidedly un-cool."

"No, no. My dad can be kind of an idiot sometimes, but... he's my dad. And I really care about him. You standing up for him like that is... really, really awesome."

Vicky grinned, but her cheeks were definitely red. "Well, I'm glad I did it then. I mean... even more glad than finally actually telling Joja to fuck off. ... After a fashion, anyway."

"Yeah." Abigail smirked, and they locked eyes again, that is until the purple haired woman turned away and stood up.

Damn.

"Anyway, I guess you should get going?" Abigail didn't turn around, just looking over her shoulder, hands held together in front of herself.

"Yeah, I guess I should." Vicky slowly pushed herself to her feet and dusted off the back of her jeans. "I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely." Abigail still didn't turn around.

A little confused, Vicky frowned slightly and headed out of the room, offering a little wave that wasn't returned as she left.

She found Pierre standing behind the counter again, Scellia sitting atop the knapsack and giving Vicky an odd look. Pierre just beamed. "I even threw in a little extra. For what you did today. I really appreciate you standing up for me, Vicky."

Vicky glanced down toward the purse, pulling her lips a little more tightly together. "Actually... Keep it, Pierre. You'll need the help after Morris stole all your customers."

The man spluttered, clapping a hand to his forehead. "Keep it! But Vicky... this is like five thousand G! That's a ton of money."

She looked toward the purse, nodded, and then looked back up to Pierre. "I know. Keep yourself going, Pierre. We can't let Joja win."

Without waiting for him to answer and gesturing for the little dragon to join her, Vicky headed out the door.

Scellia hopped up onto her shoulder as she got on her bike to leave, craning her head around to peer at Vicky curiously, one little eyeridge raised.

Vicky pursed her lips a little, staring back at the little dragon. "What?"

Scellia tilted her head to the side, then gave a little shrug of her wings and pulled herself back into a tighter ball, head disappearing from in front of Vicky's view.

"Hold on, Scellia. We're not going home just yet."

Vicky had just thought of somewhere else she needed to visit, first.