Stardew Romance

Making Acquaintances

I woke up the next morning a little sore but otherwise feeling wonderful. I sat up in bed and wrapped my blankets around me. The cool morning air and the woodsy smell of the farm filled my room. I smiled as I sat in bed and thought about how different life would be. I didn’t have much money, but I had my freedom and happiness.

I got up and got ready for the day. I planned to meet some people today so I wanted to look nice. I put on a nice red and white shirt and my favorite pair of jeans. I brushed through my long reddish brown hair, and washed my face. I grabbed the new boots I bought before I left the city and slipped them on before heading out the door.

It was still quite early so I decided to start with watering my little parsnips. I refilled my water can before putting it up and then took a look around my farm. It felt like I did so much work yesterday but in the sunshine of the day, it didn’t look like much. It was still only 7 am, so I decided to clear a few weeds. Once I felt satisfied with my huge pile of fiber, I threw it in an old wooden chest and left to go meet some people.

My nerves were on edge as I walked to town. What if the townsfolk didn’t like me? Some city girl turned farmer. My heart skipped when I saw the first person - an average sized man, with dark purple tinted hair. He looked to be about my age, maybe mid-twenties. I ran up to him with a smile on my face, and opened my mouth to speak, but he started before me.

“What do you want? Leave me alone.” He turned and walked away.

All I could do is stand there with my mouth open. Uhm. What on earth was that all about?! I thought to myself. Then I noticed off to my right a handsome young man with light reddish brown hair tossing a football in the air and standing in the shade of a big tree. I took a deep breath and walked over to him.

“Hi there”, I said, waving my hand gently. His eyes moved to me and he smiled sweetly.

“Oh hello! I’m Alex, you must be the new farmer! I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.” He grinned at me. His kind words made me feel so much better.

“Aww I think so too! So nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Harmony.” I held out my hand for him to shake.

“Psh. This isn’t really a handshake town.” He gives me a light hug, and ends it with a gentle squeeze. “At least not for me.”

I grin at him as he releases me, “well I love it!”

“Hey, and don’t worry about Shane over there. He’s like that with pretty much everyone but especially new people.”

“Well, thank you so much for saying that. That’s actually really nice to know. For a second, I thought for sure everyone was gonna hate me.”

“Nah, definitely not. Oh, you ought to meet my grandparents, right inside here. They’ll love you!”

“Oh! Uh, okay!” He guides me to the door and opens it for me. I walk inside and find a sweet old lady cooking in the kitchen. Alex notices my hesitation and calls out to her. She turns and sees me and smiles.

“Oh hello, dear!” She comes up and hugs me, “my name is Evelyn, but you can call me granny!”

“Well hello, granny Evelyn!! It’s so nice to meet you!” I smile and hug her back.

“Come, come meet my husband, George!” She takes me to the living room where there’s an old man in a wheelchair watching TV.

He looks up to us and huffs, “It's irritating to have to meet all these new people, huh? Now buzz off!” He clicks the remote and changes the channel a little harder than necessary.

I look over at Evelyn who rolls her eyes and beckons me to the kitchen. She whispers to me, “don’t you mind him. He’s just an old grouch. He takes some time to warm up is all!”

I nod my head and smile. I say my goodbyes to Evelyn and George then smile and wave to Alex as I walk away. Off to meet some more people! I walk around and explore the town for a while, meeting an older blonde woman named Pam, the owner of the general store, Pierre and his wife Caroline, and Clint, the town blacksmith. As the afternoon grows later, I decide to go to the bar for a drink. There I meet the bartender, and owner, Gus. He slides me a free beer and welcomes me to town. His other bartender, Emily, smiles big and tells me she’s happy to meet me. I drink my beer slowly as the evening crowd trickles in. Not too many folks, even for a Tuesday night. I say my goodbyes and slowly walk back home. Once I’m home and in the safety and warmth of my bed, I watch some TV and fall asleep.

The next day dawns and I wake up early to get a good head start. I roll out of bed and get dressed, have a glass of water and I’m out the door. I tend to my new crops and do a couple of chores before heading out for the day. I had decided that today I would explore up the mountain. I walked up the path behind my farm and down a trail that had some good wild radishes and dandelions. I got up to the house in the mountains and almost immediately saw my first new friend. An older man wearing some kind of animal skin. Tentatively, I approached him.

“Hello,” I said quietly, “my names Harmony.”

He turned, looking slightly startled, “oh! Well, hello. My name is Linus. It’s nice to meet you.” He stands and nods once.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you as well!” I smile at Linus and nod, “well, I actually have a ton to do but if you need anything just give me a holler.”

“Oh! Uh, thank you,” he said, seeming a little taken aback.

I smile and wave as I walk away, towards Robins house. I enter into Robin’s carpentry shop and say hello to her, then take a brief look around. I find a man, probably in his 50s. He smiles and walks over to me.

“Hello, miss! My name is Demetrius, I’m Robin’s husband.” Demetrius says, holding out his hand.

I shake his hand, smiling, “it’s nice to meet you! You know, Robin was one of the first people I met here. You all seem like lovely people.”

He laughs, “I’m happy you think that! Now, you should meet my daughter Maru. Today she’s working down at Dr. Harvey’s office. She’s been so excited to meet you!”

“I can’t wait! And actually, I probably ought to meet the doctor too, that’s a good person to know.”

“That is for sure! You’re a smart gal.” He smiles, “well I must be getting back to my work. It was wonderful to meet you.”

“Likewise!” I smile back at him.

I turn to say goodbye to Robin when a man comes up the stairs, I would guess that he’s slightly older than me, maybe late 20s. He has shiny black hair, and fair skin. Tall, or at least he’s taller than me. For some reason, I feel nervous in his presence. Not overly so, but I could feel my cheeks flush.

“Oh! Hello, my name’s Harmony. I’m the new farmer in town.” I extend my hand to him.

He lightly shakes my hand and sort of half-smiles, “hey, nice to meet you. I’m Sebastian.” He releases my hand and walks down the hallway, sort of looking back before completely out of sight.

Robin leans in and whispers to me, “that’s my son. Sebby is a bit shy but I bet you two will get along great!” She smiles warmly at me.

I smile back at her, “oh I’m sure! So far everyone is this town is absolutely lovely.”

“We’re pretty close knit here.” She grins and nods her head.

“Well, anyways, I better get going. I’ve got so much to do! But I’ll be back up to see you before long! Definitely going to want some of your services around the farm in the future.”

She clapped her hands together and smiled, “now that’s what I like to hear! Come by any time, hon.”

I smiled and waved goodbye, then headed back towards town. I gathered some more good forageable things on my way down the mountain path. Once I got into town, I headed right over to the doctors office to meet Maru and Dr. Harvey. I stepped in to find a small but well-equipped clinic and a young lady at the front counter. She grinned as I stepped through the door.

“Oh you must be the new farmer! I have been dying to meet you!” She jumped up and ran around to greet me, “I’m Maru! I live up on the mountain.”

“Right! You’re Robin and Demetrius’ daughter.”

“That’s right!” She beamed at me, a brilliant smile.

“Well I’m very excited to meet you too!I think we’re gonna be great friends!”

“Agreed!!” She giggled slightly. My eyes shift over to a man in the back office, engaged in paperwork. He looks older than me, maybe late 20s to early 30s. Maru must have followed my gaze, she says, “oh and that’s the doc. Harvey!”

He looks up and turns his head, adjusting his glasses as he does so. He sets down his paperwork and walks over. “Oh, hello. You’re new, you must be that new farmer!”

“That’s right! Hopefully I don’t get too familiar with your establishment but it’s lovely to meet you!” I reply and smile.

He chuckles, “agreed! I hope you stay in good health, but feel free to reach out whenever you need to.” I can see his cheeks flush slightly as he scans my body. I think to myself is he checking me out or just being a weird doctor?

I smile despite myself, “I certainly will. And same to you both, my farm is just down the lane if you ever need uhm,” all of a sudden I feel so awkward, “fruits or vegetables.” I laugh to myself lightly but to my relief they both smile.

“Sure thing!” Maru says as Harvey nods.

“Well, I’ve got so much to do so I have to get going but I’ll see you around!” They say their goodbyes and I head out the door.

I walk towards the forest, the long way home, laughing at my awkwardness. Not paying attention to my surroundings, I accidentally bump into someone, who catches me as I fall back. He’s probably mid-20s, right about my age, with light blonde hair. He pulls me back onto my feet and holds my arms as I regain myself, smiling at me.

He laughs, “well, I was hoping to run into you but maybe not literally! I’m so sorry to knock you off your feet. I was hoping to do more sweeping you off your feet but I guess chaos is a bit more my style!” We both burst out laughing then he smiles as he gently lets go of my arms, “I’m Sam.”

“Lovely to meet you, Sam. I’m Harmony. And hey, maybe you didn’t sweep me off my feet, but thank you for catching me as I was falling.” I smile, still giggling.

“Oh, you’re falling for me! Well, I mean I know I’m handsome but let me at least take you on a date before you fall for me!” He laughs and winks at me. I feel my face heat up, but I know he’s joking.

Gotta play it cool, Harmony! I think to myself. “Yeah well, I do love a bit of chaos.” I wink back at him.

“I like your style, girl!” He glances at his watch and groans, “I’m so late. I hate to cut this short but I gotta get to work before I get fired. Come find me sometime though! We should definitely hang out.” He starts walking backwards and grins at me.

“Definitely. See you later, Sam.” I smile.

He starts jogging off towards town, “bye, Harmony!” He calls over his shoulder.

I stand there for a moment, watching him run off, giggling. Well that was an interesting first impression. Dude’s got game! I think to myself as I turn and walk off. I make my way through the forest path, meeting Leah, who lives in the cottage below my house. Then I meet Marnie who owns the livestock shop. She tells me about her nephew Shane who lives with her, who I remember quite clearly, as well as her little great niece Jas. I leave there and walk North from the forest to my farm. I clear a path up to the cabin and find myself exhausted by the the time I reach home.

I put away all of my things and clean myself up, reflecting upon the interesting day I had. As I snuggled up in bed and closed my eyes, I found myself unable to stop thinking about two people I met: Sebastian and Sam. Both men had me feeling all- what would the right word be? Giddy? I could definitely feel a crush coming on. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep.