Writing Bobbi? I suppose...

Lew Zealand

Helper
dzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzz

mmmmuhhhhhhh...whuh...?

Oooooohhh and I was having such a nice dream. Snails or horseshoes or salamanders or something.

dzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ

Grrrrrrr, what with these car alarms? Nobody wants to steal your 15 year old rustpile, instead you steal my sleep!

Unable to fend off the heat of the day, Bobbi threw off the covers and discovered that was quite an improvement, unlike previous days. Now, this can't be good as bed is better than anything. Except for the boring bit, bed needs to figure that one out.

Mildly annoyed by the unseasonable heat, Bobbi opened windows and then the front door, only to be greeted by the very seasonable heat of Summer. And the similarly seasonable drone of

dzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Cicadas.

I wonder if Pierre sells earplugs?

Wow, and I thought the farm looked bad yesterday! Everything was either dead, doing a great impression of dead, or so not-alive that it had forgotten to be dead. ...waitaminute, all except for that plant Gunther gave me to grow in that magic potion I mixed into the ground. This thing had better grow into a huge beanstalk fruiting with gold geese or at least reasonably yellow looking lemons on it.

Checking the mail, Clint sent a reminder that Bobbi's fresh sharp new steel axe was ready. Those trees don't stand a chance now! And Willy's got new fishing rods in stock. Wow, you spend a little g on tools and now everyone thinks you're Ms. Moneybags and wants in on the profits.

Checking the Coop, Bobbi was surprised to see that her chickens had grown up and laid eggs already! They weren't altogether happy about Bobbi fetching the eggs from their makeshift nests but she kind of threw some hay at them to distract and dashed out of the coop with only a minimum of pecked hands and knees. These boots work better on the chickens than the slimes!

Heh, Cooper. Finally living up to the family name.

OK, I could make some omelets. If I had a kitchen. Robin knew this would happen, sell you the gateway building and then hook you for the rest of the notably more expensive upgrades. I don't even remember what the Barn goes for but that ain't gonna be cheap!

Wait. Wait waitwait... There's a thingy thing for eggs, what was it? Checking her notepad, Bobbi found her previously dampened Mayo machine notes from what felt like ages in the past, also known as two weeks in this new lifestyle. Finding the resources for it in her junk box, Bobbi knocked it out in a few hours and popped in her first egg, cranked the flywheel up to speed, and let it churn away. She absently wondered if part of the function of this thing was to bait a trap inside with the Earth Crystal, magically tricking, er... recruiting one of those Junimos to do the job manually in a hidden compartment inside. Sounds like something the Wizard would design just to spite them for remaining mute in his presence.

Leaving the Farm towards town, Bobbi mused that while it was almost pleasantly warm, this was certain to get worse before it got better. All the better to spend time at the beach or river. Or woods or Mine. Anything but the farm. Lol, Summer 1 and already a bad attitude. Good attitude! I'm doing the Valley a service here not spending all that time being antisocial out on the edge of town.

On the way to town, Bobbi foraged up a berry-looking thing that had a sharp smell and she suspected an equally sharp taste. The type of thing that old people say reminds them of when they were young. When the world was black and white, Geology moved faster making the walk to and from school uphill both ways, and fruit was tart instead of sweet. I'll keep it as there's probably some nut here who likes them. Like Marlon. He's getting a tartberry cake for his birthday this year! Accompanying the berry was the rib-shaped skeletal remains of probably the last living thing to like them. Maybe they're poisonous and that's how this thing died, better confirm with Gunther first.

Bobbi picked her steel axe up from Clint and finally remembered to have him to crack open her pocketsful of geodes. Amongst other things, he grunted in the general direction of the Iridium Ore and Star Shards which suggested that these were reasonably good finds, and even offered Bobbi 500g for the Shards when Bobbi mentioned she'd take the new stuff to Gunther. She told Clint she'd hold on to them for now while checking the prices for Summer seeds at Pierre's but she's probably be back for 500g.

Clint knows me too well, he'll have his Star Shards before the day is out.

Bobbi hopped over to the Archaeology Library and dropped off Jade, Aquamarine, and a Frozen Tear, which to her surprise netted her a couple of donations. One was a pretty cool standing open-cut Amethyst Geode which would look great in a house that had... nice things in it. And the other was a painting called Night on Eco-Hill, which was pretty, um...

Green.

It was unsigned and gave the impression that perhaps someone had donated it both out of the goodness of their heart, and as the first thing they parted with after deciding to declutter the house. Thinking of her small, bare walls, Bobbi decided that hanging it had a chance of being a small net positive.

Thanking Gunther while blocking the faint glow from the undonated Star Shards, Bobbi closed her pack and perused the country life book set in the Library for new ideas and interesting things. She took notes on recipes for treats, lunches, a Bee house (fun!), a Life Elixir (!), fishing lures, rings, and some Foraging strategies to find better quality items. But this kind of stuff always threatened to put her to sleep no matter how interesting it was, as the room proceeded to enclose around her into a tiny, warm bubble and the rest of reality slowly faded into the mental distance.

...

Breaking out of this doldrum, Bobbi remembered that it was still planting day and she had no seeds yet. Barely awake but forcing her limbs to do walking-type motions, she headed out for Pierre's. Inside, Gus and Marnie were browsing his selection, not all of which looked unfamiliar to Bobbi.

"Oh, hi Bobbi," Marnie said, "How have you been getting along with your chickens? They should be laying by now if they're happy."

"Actually I got 2 eggs just this morning!" Bobbi said more excitedly than she anticipated, probably still trying to break out of the strange warm-Library induced malaise.

"That's wonderful, you must be treating them very well," Marnie said with a beaming smile. "If you're kind to animals, they'll love you back. Oh, and if you ever end up with extra eggs, my nephew is always interested. It's been nice to have him around these past few months and he really helps out with the chickens. Hi Gus, making anything interesting with those parsnips?"

"Ah well," Gus started, "you'll just have to wait and see what flavors I can add and extract from it. Of course I'll need a few other things but it's a secret, no peeking!" He wagged a mock admonishing finger at Marnie and covered the rest of his basket. "If I give all my secrets away then what do I have left to sell?"

"Ambience, friends, Friday half-price drinks..." Marnie started listing off.

"Half price! Nice try but my happy hour prices are cut to the bone as it is." Gus turned to Bobbi. "However you could visit more often and maybe get to know everyone better. The more time you spend the more you hear, one of the benefits of the Saloon." Marnie gave him a slightly guarded glance but he continued on, "but I don't hold on to all my culinary secrets. Come on by and we can discuss cooking and recipes!"

"Ok Gus I really want to do that," Bobbi said earnestly, "but I don't even have a kitchen in my house yet. The farmhouse is barely more than a walk-in closet with an indoor outhouse."

Both of their mouths stood ajar for a second or two, staring at Bobbi.

Marnie recovered first. "No cooking?" She paused. "What do you eat?"

"Gaspacho?" Gus offered. "That's pretty good!"

"Uhhhh... Salmonberries and spring onions?" Bobbi paused. What do I eat? "Oh, and field snacks! They're like granola." Bobbi's brain was blanking on her.

"...they're granola-colored." Bobbi paused again. "They have calories I need." Wow. No wonder you left your phone service job. Good thing you didn't work in advertising or Joja'd be out of business.

Marnie put her arm around Bobbi, saying, "Now Miss Bobbi, please take a bit of advice from a fellow rancher and get a kitchen installed in that farmhouse so you can enjoy some of the nicer things in life. What was your grandfather thinking? Country life isn't all scraping by with the minimum, you need some spice in your life."

"Yes, without spice your food is dull and boring and nobody wants that," agreed Gus.

"OK, I promise I'll do that," Bobbi agreed. "I probably need to get more wood and things as I'm fresh out from the coop and silo. But as soon as I can deforest the rest of my farm, I'll go see Robin!"

"Oh it's good to hear your animals are so well loved, you bought them a house before one for yourself!" Marnie said, looking relieved. "I needn't have been worried. Take care, dear!"

"Yes, take care and come see us," said Gus.

Why did I buy the animals a house before me? Well OK I technically had one first but it's still the same railroad boxcar I moved in to, even though Robin's pushed nice upgrades that I can almost afford.

Ah yes, the almost afford bit. That's gonna get worse...

Bobbi bought 28 melon seeds, hops, corn and pepper and made for home to plant and water them as she was worried the Ancient Fruit was getting lonely and considering ending it's life from sheer boredom. A few hours of sweet vegetable companionship later and the furrowed patch of soil near the house looked almost like it was tended by someone who knew what she was doing.

Passing by the mayo machine Bobbi noted that it was done, or at least stopped. Collecting it, she thought she could sell it at Pierre's for g and melon seeds. This brought out the businesswoman in Bobbi and she decided that those Star Shards really did need a cozy home in Clint's shop and Clint's g needed a cozy home in Pierre's pockets in exchange for even more seeds. And sure, some other stuff.

On the way to making that happen, she came across Haley enjoying a chat with Alex at an ice cream stand outside of Clint's shop which Bobbi swore hadn't been there before. Maybe Alex just set it up for the summer? Maybe I'm just unobservant? Weigh the possibilities: Alex doing something constructive, me not paying attention... hmmm, close call. Alex gets the benefit of the doubt as I know myself too well and I'd totally miss something like that!

Both of them were having a discussion about different methods of summer tanning and asked if Bobbi would be joining them at the beach. She responded that as a paying guild member, she was contractually obligated to sport a raging red Farmer's tan at all times and couldn't join them. Alex was clearly confused but Haley let out a giggle and a "you silly farmer girl!" as Bobbi departed back to Pierre's.

OK, spread this out a bit and not go entirely for monoculture. Blueberry, tomato, sunflower, maybe some wheat. But yeah, 6 more melons, please! Purse empty but seed bag full, Bobbi remembered the Community Center where there should be a summer forage slot, and maybe some of the leftovers from the Mine would fit somewhere.

The shiny but not actually gold thing from days before was a solar essence, which completed the Adventurer's Bundle, netting a gift that was engraved as a Small Magnetic Ring. Ehh, not too small as it barely fit her middle finger and slid off the others. I guess the Big Magnetic Ring can go around my ankle. Soooooo... does this thing add to my naturally magnetic personality? I'll be the most popular person in town! Yeah but with my luck, it'll have the opposite polarity and everyone will run away. Well, at least I'll get more done.

Whoa, whoa Bobbi, slow down there, there's no need for crazy talk! I'm sure with the right application, this thing will only result in less work for me. Whew, dodged a bullet there!

Finding the summer forage bin, Bobbi deposited the spice berry she'd found with only a little regret as she knew there would be many more this season, all with Marlon's name on them. Only grape and sweet pea were left and that bundle would be done, too!

On the way back to the farm at dusk to plant by the fading late evening summer light, Bobbi realized she hadn't given any gifts for a while and that there might not be any daffodils around any more. I wonder who likes grape (who doesn't??) and sweet pea?

...

Bobbi.

What—

have you been doing with your day?

You have a shiny new steel axe and haven't chopped a thing with it yet!

Hacking at the big logs on the farm, the axe didn't quite make quick work of them (heh, quick work, what an oxymoron...) but they did succumb to the sweet shiny sharpness and one even left an odd seed which she planted. That'll be that magic beanstalk I'm looking for.

And then she remembered. A rare and special occurrence to be treasured and then lost amidst the encroaching jumble of daily life. The log in the woods. The Log.

Hastening to Cindersap and hacking away at it almost before she got there, she passed through the newly-exposed narrow cleft between the stone and clumps of trees and came upon an almost-clearing. Feebly lit by the waning three-quarters moon, she could see many old dead hardwood stumps amongst the overgrowth of trees, and small clearing further away.

Wandering in, she was met by...

an old friend...

with a warm, slimy hug.

Bobbi failed to jump out of her clothes in fright and surprise because that would have actually solved the slimy problem. Instead she flailed about with the axe before extracting her sword from its straps in her pack and proceeded to flail about with that weapon until the slime was no more. ...than a slick all over her. So what color will the hair be tomorrow then?

More carefully now, Bobbi advanced, peering into the dark recesses of the forest. Which seemed to be made of nothing but those recesses. Dark ones. This place needs a lighting consultation. And why does everything feel like it's moving?

Carefully avoiding the moving bits, which conveniently cut down her options, she made it to the clearing where there was an old statue with an open mouth and a plaque below it, stating "Old Master Cannoli - still searching for the sweetest taste..." And an outline of... something. A blob. A slime? A vegetable.

This place is weird. And the only reason I don't just dismiss this as a joke from Marlon is I know he's too lazy to make it all the way over here. But then there's the Wiza—

Whack! Another slime came up from behind and got Bobbi on the head. Seriously what's with the head? Sword ready this time, Bobbi recovered more quickly and was ready for a third which clearly was jealous that its sisters were getting all the good hits in. Extracting herself from a portable slime cage, Bobbi noticed a small pond while beating a hasty retreat to Cindersap proper and was left to wonder on her warm and slimy trot home whether there were any interesting fish in there.

dzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzz...

The trot didn't last long as those noisy bugs were serenading her to sleep. Not even wanting to take the time to clean off while attempting to remain upright, she took a dip in one of the farm ponds which was almost disturbingly warm this time of year. Fish need to pee, don't they? Why are you thinking of that now?? OK fine, a quick rinse at the house and off to bed.

Seriously. That whole thing could have waited until tomorrow and you could have had a slime-free evening for once. Bobbi fell asleep wondering how often anyone else had to de-slime themselves before bed...

Emily doesn't need to do that does shzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........
 

FairyRing

Farmer
Working my way through your narrative, highly enjoyable. I started a written fanfic months ago and there are some interesting similarities. Love it! And sorry but you're going to get all the likes pooping (NOT pooping POPing) up as I read it and make new comments. Because crack me up with lines such as the one about the egg festival and trying not to fall for every NPC you meet (that happened to Fairy Ring as well).
 
Last edited:

Lew Zealand

Helper
Working my way through your narrative, highly enjoyable. I started a written fanfic months ago and there are some interesting similarities. Love it! And sorry but your going to get all the likes pooping (NOT pooping POPing) up as I read it and make new comments. Because crack me up with lines such as the one about the egg festival and trying not to fall for every NPC you meet (that happened to Fairy Ring as well).
Thank you thankyouthankyou! And I'm back to writing more after some time off. It's no good writing when you're avoiding it or not daydreaming about it, and after apparently a dark winter I'm enjoying it again. So updates soon.

Have you posted yours here? Or is it about another topic?
 
Last edited:

Lew Zealand

Helper
It's Stardew Valley but not written well at all. Very embarrassing to post kindergarten level writing on here, okay more 3rd grade I switch tenses a lot. I Clumsily throw down sentences and thoughts.
Sentences and thoughts are all I start with. The problem is that I do my most creative thinking while taking a walk at 10pm in the neighborhood and by the time I get back I forget half of it. And I'm too self-conscious to speak everything into my phone while walking, even though there are very few people about. I usually see more coyotes than people.

But as long as you enjoy doing it for yourself, then that's just the best! It's about doing what makes you happy.
 

FairyRing

Farmer
Sentences and thoughts are all I start with. The problem is that I do my most creative thinking while taking a walk at 10pm in the neighborhood and by the time I get back I forget half of it. And I'm too self-conscious to speak everything into my phone while walking, even though there are very few people about. I usually see more coyotes than people.

But as long as you enjoy doing it for yourself, then that's just the best! It's about doing what makes you happy.
It's a lot of fun being able to flesh out more story from SDV there is so much there for interpretation. If I ever feel better about my presentation perhaps I'll post some.
 

FairyRing

Farmer
What's that gonna smell like? Must remember not to pull any fingers... and Bobbi snickered inwardly at being juvenile
I love this one of my favorite lines. heeheehee.

Why am I remembering <eggs> again?
this bit is great <eggs>

Lewis laughed, "Aaah, this old place is probably full of rats."

"Or mice selling hats?" Bobbi mumbled, rhyming without thinking.
:laugh:

I love the wizard part, it's hilarious. I like your sense of humor.
"Look, it's not done and I hate this stupid #$@* project now and I really need my time now before I blow up." Abigail's eyebrows raised and she continued, "See? You made me do that, I warned you!" Abigail finished, clearly flustered. And she turned back to the stacks with her book.
damn she is such a brat.
 

FairyRing

Farmer
Sebastian wandering about out in the daytime brought Bobbi back to now, and she and wondered what the occasion was. Genuinely surprised, she kept her distance as outside of their native habitats, the movements of feral Sebastians were likely altered by the slightest of environmental perturbations.
BAHAHAHAH!

square watermelons
that look a-round.

Abigail's look was predatory or not
oh it is, it is.

Alluring Abigail eagerly urges aggressive egg excitement. Reaaally liked the egg hunt chapter.
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
I love the wizard part, it's hilarious. I like your sense of humor.
Alluring Abigail eagerly urges aggressive egg excitement. Reaaally liked the egg hunt chapter.
The Wizard part was just a whole lot of fun to write, especially as my head-canon has always been him as a bit of a theatrical faker, or really embellisher. He has skills but they're not as impressive to other people as they are to himself. I usually have to take a long walk beforehand to run through the dialog and interaction with no distractions and that time I just couldn't wait to get home to start him, and I know I forgot a few things,. But really it's being able to hang my interpretation off CA's already-existing framework. He has a restriction in how much he can do within the game and still get everything else done and out the door, so that gives anyone else the chance to expand on the already amazing base of information if they have a crazed imagination.

The Egg Hunt was exactly the same. All the extended interactions between characters are just the best starting point and then I get to put in how I see their personalities work. I was looking forward to the Egg Hunt and then the Flower Dance for the longest time. And it's the same for some of the heart events for certain people (they're already written in my head) but that's like forever in the future...

On the other hand, some people's personalities I really struggle with as they're pretty bland and I haven't found a way to spice them up while maintaining their essential character from the game. Penny, for instance. I kind of dread writing dialog for her but she's everywhere in town so she's hard to "avoid." I have a bead on most everyone else except Harvey as I just don't interact with him in-game much. He will be worse for me than Penny and may just not show up very often.
 

Dr. eeL

Farmer
Certain characters also make a minimal contribution to Middlewalk (Penny included). My approach to Harvey is quite clear in Middlewalk, chapter-80. It's a 2-part story, so you'll have to wait for chapter-81. Also, Chapter-70 has an egg hunt where Abigale wins, but does she really?
 
Last edited:

FairyRing

Farmer
And her heart sank. No it's not. Tomorrow's the Flower Dance.

Laying wide-eyed in bed, Bobbi realized her faulty memory had delivered her a pretty great day but ruined it at the last second, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
In my Love Life story universe I spent my first flower dance in bed.
 

FairyRing

Farmer
Oh no I've finished...:hmm:
I love your writing style. You capture the unique voices and stories so well mixed with that ever present Bobbi humor. Really excited to see what slimes you pull out of your deluxe pirate hat. :heart::heart:
 

FairyRing

Farmer
So do you remember dialogue details and specifics? Or do you have to go back to the game/screen shots to remember? Also is slime dye a game thing or a Lew thing?
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
So do you remember dialogue details and specifics? Or do you have to go back to the game/screen shots to remember? Also is slime dye a game thing or a Lew thing?
I take screen captures as cutscenes happen and I take notes on everything else that happens each day including all dialog, as those are the skeleton for the creative bit. I'm playing it through as a straight game but it's become clear that I'll need to push some things faster than the regular gameplay to get to those Heart Events that I really want to write about (so many are ready and waiting in my head...). And to the little story I want to tell about Morris (this takes planning to get right and I'm not great at planning, sound familiar?). These take too long for storytime when playing through the game normally so I've allowed Bobbi to find out people's favorite gifts as I need them to get those moving along ASAP.

Missing Emily's Birthday happened for real while playing through and Bobbi's annoyance is but a fraction of mine. I'm VERY annoyed at that but it's also life, eh? Bobbi and I will spend time recovering from that mistake.

And yes, the slime hair color is just something I made up as it's fun to incorporate as much realism as possible into the utterly nutty things that happen in this game and explain them somehow. Which is also why the Wizard is such a great character as he's just infused with this nutty balance!

I got a bunch written today so I hope to have another installment in the next few days. Winter has worked it's way into my head which has surprised me and I hope to be pulling out of that now. And yeah I'm just a slow writer, it takes me 3-10 hours to write each one of these. 🤪
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
What an odd feeling.

Something felt wrong— different? nah let's go with wrong, but the more Bobbi searched for meaning, the quicker any possible understanding receded from her grasp. Someone needs to figure out how to bottle that fading dreamstate where everything feels possible, the narrative feels real no matter how insensible. Because sometimes there's understanding there, the inkling of new ideas.

Or maybe it's just that dream flying is cool.

Giving up, she sat up in bed as sunlight streamed through the farmhouse windows, glinting off bright strands of aquamarine hair dangling before her eyes. Yep, still no curtains, I wonder which colors would match my new townie hairstyle?

Rummaging around the farmhouse getting her pack ready, realization slowly dawned on Bobbi... I'm not tired. I feel like a halfway decent human being this morning and...

Waitaminute, sun is coming through the south windows, not the east ones. Someone turned the house 90 degrees in the night and didn't even wake me up. Definitely not the Wizard, this takes a level of competence he's unaware even exists.

Ooooor... it's not morning anymore and I overslept. Strike that! Oversleeping is impossible.

I slept exactly as much as needed of course, and really on all those previous days I showed a dangerously high level of morning motivation which could result in sweating and heatstroke under the full glare of the pelting summer sun.

The prudent farmer must take care of her health and delicate skin during this long, overheating, siesta-inducing season.

Peering outside through hazy farmhouse windows, Bobbi mused that unfortunately those crops also need taking care of. Some silly and overzealous farmer who utterly lacks planning skills planted a surfeit of melons and other stuff yesterday, thus sentencing herself to a dismal future of watering for the rest of the season or her life, whichever came first.

You fool, you planted stuff twice on the same day at different times. Seemed reasonable at the time, but now you've got to take care of everything all at once. The next time Demetrius comes looking for you, all he'll find is a dried Bobbi potato chip twisting in the breeze near a pathetic field of shriveled melons.

Surprisingly, all this musing and complaining (go with your strengths!) made the task proceed reasonably quickly and soonish she was off to the coop to fetch eggs and practice dodging chicken pecks. 'Mostly successful' still means blood loss, but perhaps a tad less this time. Checking her cooled storage chest, Bobbi realized she hadn't run yesterday's second egg through the Mayo machine after harvesting the first and now she had even more to do. Tossing one in the machine, she considered that one more day of forgetting and she could take up a juggling career.

Or wait a few weeks and join Sebastian and Sam in a rotten egg toss and get summarily blacklisted by Lewis. So many wonderful options, each better than the last. Hard to choose among them.

Noting the majority of her life savings out the top of per pack redirecting the midday sunlight blindingly into her eyes, Bobbi decided to chop all the stumps, clearing them from the farm once and for all. She noted that they gave her quite a collection of heartwood which might come in handy for building... something? Furniture? Yeah that's about 38 times too crafty and creative for me as sticking them in a pile is roughly the limit of my wood-based capabilities. But maybe Robin has a use for this stuff, I remember something in her catalog that took... hardwood, which is super likely what this is. Or kindling? That's a wood-thing, too.

Remembering her duel with the slimes in the dark woods the previous night (totally a duel, they just cheated and shot me from behind... twice!), Bobbi made directly for the scary forest. By way of the river of course, where she did maybe only a couple of hours of clearly overdue fishing seeing as she hadn't smelled of the shoreline in upwards of 3 days now. Noting the Cindersap Lake, Bobbi decided that it was perfectly in the way to those slime woods and it wouldn't do to just skip it and miss some good sleep fishing opportunities.

Nope.

Not avoiding that deep woods at all, just taking in the showy grandeur of nature and giving the wonders of the normal forest their just due. After wondering whether Mr. Purple Pants could see into the dark trees from the top of his leaning tower of mostly mortar and chewing gum, and discarding that idea as even he wasn't so addled by huffing mongoose-hair potions to risk his life at the tower's apex, Bobbi warily eyed the entry to the scary woods.

Stupid curiosity. Well known to kill animals graced with an excessive number of lives. Just to spite them. Such a power cannot be grappled with even by those acolytes most devoted to avoidance behavior, the laziest of farmers. Curiosity's power drives mere mortals to bet it all on red, stick a finger into a device clearly labeled as 'finger torture device', and well, just have a wee little peek beyond that clump of trees over there. It's a brightly lit summer day, it's totally super safe in there because unsafe things... don't like glaring light. Hurts their big googly-eyes.

Peeking in, Bobbi noted that while it was dimmer, the place didn't actually look like the endless dense forest of psychological terrors and excessively toothy squirrels she though it maybe just might have been the night before. She did note some slimes and avoided them as best she could, chopping the less-infested stumps for more Robin wood. She gathered 2 white spotted red mushrooms which had that clear color combination which screams: don't eat me you utterly foolish idiot.

Or: dice 5 cups and add with minced vole mandible to roiling cauldron in the Big Book of Wizard Boy's Useless Stews.

Noting the small pond again and the lack of slimes in that area, Bobbi picked a corner and cast her rod a few times, catching mostly trash and one sunfish. Wow, so exotic and mysterious. The town's sewers probably dumped out here before they were routed to the ocean so the kids could play around the effluent in 'safety'.

After the fourth cast, all the hairs on the back of Bobbi's neck were standing on end, signaling that she'd overstayed her welcome and was just asking for a slimy pounce. You know you're not thinking straight when your neck hair is doing the cogitating while your actual brain is going, "should I skinny dip in this secluded pond?"

Beating a hasty retreat to more familiar surroundings, Bobbi noted that all the slimes were green here like in the Mines, wondering if they were somehow connected. Bobbi's brain, not quite ready to grasp the mantle back from her neck hair just yet, considered that it'd be cool if there were other color slimes like purple or whatever, so she could get a new hair color. This blue-green really isn't me and makes me think of the sea too much.

No wait, that's just the smell of the fish from the pack, never mind.

Back at home, she dumped the fish off in the bin ASAP and headed off to turn in a chub, the spotty red mushroom, and a sweet pea to the Community Center bundles but nothing was done yet. Probably end up needing one for each bundle at the end and then get the whole thing done in a day. Very frustrating.

Taking the long way around towards home, totally not at all because it took her farther still from the scary woods, Bobbi came upon Robin enjoying some late afternoon sun outside their mountain house.

"Hi Bobbi," Robin said as she walked up. "Just enjoying the sun and cool breeze after a stifling day in the office." Robin winked. "What an office, eh? This could not be a better 'office' compared to what people in Zuzu have."

"Yeah," Bobbi agreed. "I shared an 'office' by which I mean, a big room filled with half empty cubes and loud, stinky people talking at their phones all day. And those were the good days because if we weren't talking at our phones, then the boss came in and asked us why we weren't busy." Bobbi shuddered involuntarily. It had been days, weeks, a lifetime ago since that had been her lifestyle. And that was just daytime. Nighttime was angry driving, horrible teammates and just the worst attitude. Also occasional burns but rarely enough shrapnel that she needed stitches.

Bobbi came to again to find Robin looking at her with a small smile. As Bobbi started to apologize for mentally wandering off for the eleventeenth time, Robin cut her off. "No no, don't say anything, I know where you were. Not specifically but in general, we were all there before we arrived here in Pelican Town." She paused as Bobbi unwound from the tight ball she had crept into during the brief span of her previous life's recollection. "Open your eyes again for the first time and look around at the sunset. The light filtering through the trees, the lake, the river and ocean barely there in the distance," Robin gestured over the trees south toward the docks.

"This is what you came here for," Robin continued. "This is what everyone came here for. We all need this place, for different reasons. Sometimes it doesn't work out, and some people leave. Sometimes it doesn't work out all the way, but it's enough. And they stay."

"Sometimes Stardew Valley works out so well that those people leave and rave about how great it is to people out there," Robin turned and gestured in the vague direction of Zuzu, "because they know that other people need this place more than they do. And they give those people an invitation, like you got." Robin paused and looked down for a moment. "Like we did many years ago as a newly formed family, created from the ashes of 2 former ones." Robin's face threatened to fade to the place where Bobbi had been a few minutes earlier but she caught herself quickly.

"But that's the point, we're here now in this place and it's fantastic. A real community of real people that don't always get along but are interested in making it work, and I'm glad you're here." Robin gave Bobbi a hug, which she returned. "And Maru's told me she's glad you're here, too. The more friends the merrier!" Robin glanced towards the house. "And Demetrius is heading over so you better get going or we'll all get pronunciation lessons for Escherichia. You don't want that."

"Bye Robin, thanks for the talk, it was reassuring," Bobbi said as she turned for home."

"Bye Bobbi, any time."

Bobbi said "hi" to Demetrius as she passed him but he was in thought and genuinely surprised to see Bobbi there, answering with a late "Oh, hi Bobbi." and continued on his way. Bobbi found some wild grapes behind the mountain house, and realizing only slightly later that this would complete the summer forage bundle at the Community Center, hurried back there, rewarded with 30 Wild Summer Seeds.

Nice try. I'm on to you, town, you can't fool me!

This is a death sentence, and there's exactically zero chance I'm planting these after breaking my back over those acres of melons. Square miles of melons. Maybe a square meter or two of melons?

Whatever, too many! Might be time to upgrade the watering can. What does Clint do, drill a couple of extra holes in it and say, "there ya go!"

Mmmm no chance, that's asking too much of his personality. We'll see eventually...

Back at the farm, Bobbi found the mayo machine done and popped in another egg. My juggling career is at a quick and merciful end before it even started.

And so the world rejoiced as Bobbi hastened to bed.
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
The Fates and perhaps the world in general, but rather more specifically local geology conspired not to let Bobbi get even 2 good nights' sleep in a row. Betraying only the slightest tendency of mercy, the soft but ever growing rumblings of seismic shifts of the planet's crust drew everyone awake in Pelican Town as the first streaks of dawn broke over the eastern mountains. The last to arise with a "Buh, Joja Cola?" were Shane in his remote bedroom at the Ranch after a typical dedicated evening in the Saloon, and relative newcomer Farmer Bobbi, as her brain seamlessly added passing freight trains to the already nonsensical world of aggressive purple dodos sporting aquamarine bangs and golden scythes, ransacking the fair lands around her fledgling farm of mutant, articulated cabbages.

It was a love story.

However an overly tired brain can fail to add enough passing locomotives, jet engines, and 50 kiloton explosives to maintain proper immersion even after a paltry 5 or 6 hours of sleep and Bobbi slowly woke up in her ship's quarters during a rather shouty storm.

A groggy Bobbi managed a "muhhhh, the Gem Sea's usually pretty quiet, what's with all the racket?" Noting her compartment was tiny and surmising she'd stowed away in steerage, Bobbi got up and noted she hadn't quite acquired her sea legs yet, tumbling to the floor but at least not hitting her head.

As Bobbi's brain slowly and fitfully relinquished its fictional account of the morning's events, so did the protests of the local geological fault lines, both coming to calmer and more lucid equilibrium. Bobbi sat on the floor in silence for a few minutes trying to remember her dream, but it had already been replaced by her morning's maritime delusion, which in turn was quickly fading.

Also, it's hot in here already. I need to let the windows open overnight or I'm going to boil my brain in here and Ms. Brain clearly doesn't need any more excuses to sidestep reality.

I wonder if anything changed, or does Robin merely have an even better view as her house rises along with the mountains. Maybe I'll ask Maru if I see her. And have a strawberry with me. And finally Bobbi's brain clicked into gear. It's gifts day and I don't even remember what I have that's good.

Bobbi exited the farmhouse and got to watering, which to her utter surprise was done by 7:50am. Um, maybe I should have planted those 30 seeds. No! No second guessing all that work. Plant something else like more melons or whatever, those probably get more g per hour spent watering. I really need to see about sprinklers here.

Now that's our Bobbi, outdoor plumbing comes before indoor plumbing!

Thinking of the costs, Bobbi remembered the shipping bin and found 1300g from the previous day's fish and forage. OK Robin, I'll be visiting for that plumbing upgrade after all. Passing the mailbox on her way back, Bobbi almost missed the letter hiding inside.

Which would have been a real shame.

There she found something which might have seemed completely insane if not for the brain-softening events of the previous few hours. It was a....? Trick? Formletter. Prank!

A supposed letter from the MAYOR who's lost some favorite pair of purple shorts and wants them back without anyone knowing about the whole thing. Oooo but it mentions money payment, Bobbi's kitty cat ears perked up for that bit at the bottom.

OK a weird trick to pull if it's a fake, mentioning being discreet and reward g. But who else got this thing, and if nobody else, why me? OK granddad and Lewis were kinda buds, so that makes me the go-to when someone drops their drawers and forgets them? But where...?

Ewww... don't wanna know.

Wait. Waitwaitwait.

Purple shorts.

This is the Wizard, isn't it? That cauldron-huffing old fraud who's improbable tower probably teetered over last night and fell in the earthquake. So did he and Lewis have a tiff? Are they each other's best friend, with all the local tax breaks (wink, wink) that come with that?

Wait! Are these timeshare shorts the Wizard won't give back, and Lewis is using me as a frilly, lacy missing special purple shorts retrieval mercenary?!?

At this point, Farmer Bobbi was rolling around on the ground beneath her mailbox laughing her cauliflower off. This was too good. Exactly the type of thing in retrospect that she came to the country to experience but didn't know could even happen before deciding to emigrate.

Catching her breath again, coughing dirt from her lungs, Bobbi pondered that having your day peak before 9am is risky and the prudent course of action would be to head to bed and end it on a high note. However she hadn't even visited her hit squad-in-training in the coop yet and rather did want to hand out gifts to everyone she'd been avoiding for the past few days. Ooo and Robin!

In the box were 25 Daffodils which should hold her over for a while, especially where Emily was concerned. Which Bobbi was quite concerned about since missing her birthday. Bleah, there goes that perfect day feeling... Ok ok just let's use our brain in the future and avoid mind-altering slimes.

Unless they have some cool colors, of course. Never pass up a hair salon consultation giving out free samples.

Bobbi grabbed a passel of other gifts, noting she had no driftwood for Leah, but maybe some lazy fishing could result in losing all the fish but occasionally pulling in some relaxation. Uh, yeah and driftwood.

Actually using her brain, Bobbi realized:

"I have eggs." Well, in the coop, that is. Letting the chickens out to graze first resulted in no perforated skin for the first time in days while fetching the eggs, and that pithy, eggy realization of a few moments before came with the thought that Alex had mentioned eggs for his legs (lol, rhyme!). Maybe he'd like one. OK, OK another gift and only process one egg per day in the mayo machine.

All I need is to remember that! Easy peasy...

Off to Robin's to peruse her kitchen upgrade selection!

On the way Bobbi came across the crack in her farm which Demetrius loftily described as a cave and poked her head in. To her utter surprise, there was some decent looking fruit on the cave floor, much of it looking quite a bit cleaner than herself after that earlier dustbath under the mailbox. A not very fuzzy peach (those things have a name that escapes me right now), a very tasty looking cherry, 2 Marlonberries, a blueberry and... that thing that eventually becomes a prune.

Purple and wrinkly. The Wizard!

Close enough...

A plum! Yeah, well the Wizard is heading that direction too and no amount of ingesting the entire forest is going to change that.

Hmmm, just how bad is bat spit for you? It's probably got protein or something in it... Ewww...

Bobbi cleaned off the fruit at the farmhouse and considered that a stop at the Community Center beforehand should be good for donating some of these, right? That way I don't have to eat rejected bat food... aaand I'm contributing to the local Junimo economy, whatever that might be. Everyone wins.

Foraging on the way there, Bobbi remembered Robin and the kitchen upgrade for the third time that day, probably a new record, but mused that she was already committed elsewhere and hopefully could remember an unprecedented fourth time to visit before 5pm. Barring a now-expected volcanic eruption, there'll always be tomorrow, right... Sigh.

Noting Haley wasn't found in the park any more, Bobbi wondered if it was anything she'd done wrong or something. Maybe she got annoyed at Bobbi missing her sister's birthday? Even though they're not super fond of each other... OK Bobbi, stop that. Second guessing yourself isn't going to help anyone.

In the Community Center, the apricot (the bald peach!) and cherry went to the Artisan Bundle. Bobbi found herself mildly annoyed at the cherry donation as it had cleaned up nice and looked good. I'll get the next one, then! And the plum and blackberry went to the Autumn Forage Bundle, wow, those bats are on to something. Maybe they'll drop that... purple mushroom next. Mushrooms are totally a fruit, right? Also Truffles.

Root Fruit.

Perusing the requests she noted she had hay and was growing a poppy at home but those will wait until way much later. Like, tomorrow or next month. Already this day is too long. Which Jodi confirmed outside while walking with Sam to the Jojamart.

"It's noon already? I have so much work to do today!" Jodi said while scurrying off towards the bridge.

"Hey Bobbi," Sam started as he lagged behind, "Did ya feel the rocking and rolling this morning? I'll bet Seb thought I got a new system and was bringing down the town!"

"Yeah... so does that happen a lot around here?" Bobbi asked, wondering whether Robin might build her house out of stone or steel now that she thought about it.

"Kinda?" Sam answered with a look of questions marks on his face. "Though a lot of it gets blamed on Joja from their blasting away before setting up the 'mart." Sam paused. "Heh funny, Mom and I and some other people totally complained about it while they were building. But now she shops there and I work there! Stuff is weird, man." Bobbi was about to agree with a quip about the Wizard when Sam cut her off with a surprised "Oooo!" with accompanied monkey face.

No monkey face could compete with Bobbi's one but still Sam's was pretty good if you don't mind your monkeys with blonde spiky hair.

Back to the conversation in the nick of time, Bobbi caught Sam saying, "...I think Morris is back onto his plans for the town and he seemed pretty excited about it."

"Mmm? Wait, really?" Bobbi asked, caught off guard but intrigued.

"Yeah, he was talking to corporate about the boulder that's blocking the mountain stream, which was totally their fault in the first place... uh, but don't mention that bit to Morris, ok? He's kinda touchy about that." Bobbi nodded. "Also something about getting the bus working again. I think Pam used to drive it years ago and if she finds out about that, she'll probably lean hard on Lewis for that. But it sounded like he was arguing with corp about money again so, like, there's no way Lewis'll go for that, right?"

"Yeah," Bobbi agreed, "but the money's probably going to come from me." The question marks were back on Sam's face. Bobbi wondered how many times Evelyn saw that one over the last decade or so of school... "Well, I mean it's not going to come from me, but seeing as Morris already approached me about going in halfsies on fixing the bridge out east, it makes sense." Sam's face was entertaining to watch as she explained things, and not in an altogether unpleasant way. "Luckily, I don't have that kind of g laying about. As an accomplished layabout, of course." Sam smirk. I wonder how many faces I can draw out of him?

"I still think that Lewis doesn't have the g to spare..." Bobbi started.

Sam snorted. "You mean doesn't want to spare. I think he's been up to something of his own for years but nobody's ever figured out what, and we've all kind of given up on it. Heh, who knew that skinflint Lewis would actually work out for the town?"

"Hey Sam, why are you so concerned?" Bobbi asked, considering. "I mean you work for Joja."

"Well, it's just a job, right?" Sam seemed to be struggling a bit for words. Heh, probably bringing him back to school Q&A time as well, Bobbi thought. "And only half time anyway, I can always find something else. And... I dunno. Something just bothers me about changing the town that way." He paused. "It was almost OK when they went in across the river. And then the huge sign went in afterwards which kinda bugs. But sticking a warehouse in the center of town? It doesn't feel right."

Suddenly Sam realized something, with yet a different look on his face. "Uh-oh! Mom's gonna be yelling in about 10 seconds, I gotta catch up. If she doesn't get my employee discount, I'll never hear the end of it! See ya, Bobbi!" Sam yelled as he ran off towards Joja.

"See ya, Sam!" Bobbi called to Sam's back. Food for thought. I wonder when I can get the first part of the Community Center done, it's such a hodge-podge and just impossible to keep straight. I suppose I could look at each room and figure out the easy one... Ha fat chance, I'll forget that in an instant! And I should cut Sam some mental slack, he's doing a pretty good job for me.

Still pondering mental slack, Bobbi spotted Alex outside his house and walked over to say "Hi Alex, I have an extra egg, fresh from the farm this morning, want one?"

Alex's face lit up with a big smile. "Hey thanks, this is cool! I'll add this to my protein shake tomorrow morning for a big boost! So you have chickens on the farm, huh? Awesome."

"Yeah, they're finally laying so I have more if you need them," Bobbi replied.

"Cool." Alex paused for a thought. Which didn't take too long. Maybe. "Hey farm girl—"

"Who, me?" Bobbi said, looking around in mock confusion.

"Yeah," Alex continued, oblivious. "I've got a question for you. Do you think I'll ever turn pro?" Pro... backgammon player? Ballerina? Clown college instructor? Dude, what the heck, I barely even know you.

"Yeah maybe if you practice a whole lot." That sounds reasonable, right? The chat with Sam had overextended her brain word count for the morning and it was fast entering its protective coma mode.

"I've practiced so much already that I won't even need to do that much," Alex said without an apparent trace of self-awareness. "Just keep things up and hit the gridiron fall league. I'm practically there!"

"Well, good luck Alex and I'll keep you supplied for eggs if you need them," Bobbi said as she headed for the Library.

"Thanks, farm girl." Alex said as he started some exercises. Names are tough for some people I guess. That egg certainly seemed to get him chatty but, ah, maybe that wasn't one of his better points. I could just keep those eggs and conversation to myself...
_____

Where is everyone? OK it's hot out and my brain is baking (maybe that's Alex's problem, too) but have I even given out a gift yet? Oh yeah, the egg. Heh, and I'm complaining about Alex... And I need to find something for Sam.

Entering the Archaeology Library, Bobbi found where the town was hiding, under the shady boughs of old growth trees and by complete coincidence, some decent air conditioning. Handing over a dandelion, Penny's eyes lit up and exclaimed, "Ooo thanks, can you get these in summer? I never find any after it gets too hot."

"I saved a few from Spring," Bobbi admitted, but she realized she had no idea how many. Uh-oh, need to find what else she likes. Probably any type of flower, maybe try those sweet peas which were kind of unimpressive, or the poppy which at least looked nice. I'll bet I can find driftwood at any time, maybe I should hang with Leah instead.

Glancing back to Penny, Bobbi noticed a little smile on her face accompanying the soft eyes as she looked back. "Lost in thought again?" she asked.

"Yeah well, I just gave Alex an egg fresh from the farm but somehow fried my brain instead outside in the sun while talking to him," Bobbi admitted.

"Oh, I can't imagine how that could have happened with such scintillating conversation," Penny sympathized with the subtlest smirk and eyeroll, adding a knowing look while the kids continued reading. It seemed that Jas might have picked up on that as her page turning had ceased, but Vincent was still flipping pages at a rate which suggested either an accomplished speed reader, or perhaps page-skipper. Penny smoothly reached over and flipped his book back about a chapter and pointed to a spot with a soft "there," practically without breaking eye contact with Bobbi. Hmmm, Penny's almost a different person in teaching mode, exuding more confidence than expected.

Penny's face brightened again and she said, "You know what, I should take the kids on a longer field trip sometime." Both pairs of smaller eyes looked up immediately, interested in new developments, or at least entertainment. "Maybe to the forest?" Vincent had apparently been thinking of roller coasters or a gridball game as he slumped a bit, but Jas maybe maintained interest. "A guest speaker would be nice, maybe someone familiar with Nature..."

Bobbi missed Penny's meaningful look as she was still considering Vincent's thought process. But Penny's words eventually sunk in and Bobbi's still simmering brain immediately jumped over to the Wizard lecturing through fraudulent guesses about Junimo culture, how to use dead slimes and muskrat spit to shore up a recently-condemned building, and the best way to grind lizard kneecaps and 'forest greens' to make the perfect forest potion to alleviate stress, pain, and most importantly weak appetite.

Bobbi turned and opened her mouth in protest but a considerate Penny had held her meaningful gaze until a dulled Bobbi finally caught up to the present, looked over to Penny, and stopped herself. Mouth still open, available for woodpeckers to start nesting.

Penny quickly followed with, "It was just a thought, something to consider." She looked to the kids, "back to your books Vincent and Jas."

"That's a great idea," Bobbi managed. Today was proving a higher challenge than most, best to beat a hasty retreat! "I'll not distract the kids anymore. Take care, Penny."

"You too, Bobbi." Penny said as she returned to her book, giving Bobbi one last sidelong glance and a smile.

Walking through the stacks realizing she'd truly missed the day's early opportunity to pack it in at 9am, Bobbi almost bumped into Abigail.

"Oh, Bobbi, hi! Too loud!" Abigail said as she jumped almost as high as Bobbi, and then changed to a whisper. "Hi."

"Hi Abigail." Who's that with the scintillating conversation again?

"Um, so have you decorated your farmhouse at all?" Abigail started, still maybe a bit out of sorts. "If I had a house, like my own house for me, that's what I'd be doing."

Bobbi stopped and tried to picture the inside of the house. It was easy as there wasn't much to it. "Um, I don't think I've done a single thing to it since I moved in." Gah! I need to talk to Robin, gabbing the day with everyone else except the person I need to! And I even know where she's going to be. Anyway...

"Hi!" Abigail was waving her hand in front of Bobbi's face. She moved in real close and whispered, "did you forget to wake up today?" Abigail was wearing some perfume thing or something. Or not perfume, didn't smell cloying but was weirdly powerful. Or it could have been the nearness of Abigail. "No response. Hmmm, does this place have some AED thing here because I'm gonna need one here for you." She poked Bobbi's forehead and Bobbi finally arrived at the present. Abigail is a poker, she poked me at the Egg Hunt I think.

"I'm here. I mean I'm awake, long day... there's not much space in this Library is there... and I think the A/C's out." The words tumbled out of Bobbi's mouth with barely any input from her brain.

Abigail pulled away, saying, "whew you had be worried for a second there. I'm not sure I can carry you all the way to Harvey's Clinic." She narrowed her eyes. "Mmmm, but I'll bet I could do it." You just like catching me off guard. Like, you see weakness and then pounce. I need to see you in the morning when my brain works.

I didn't say that out loud, did I?

Reaching into her pack now that she had room to maneuver, Bobbi produced a quartz she'd stowed amongst the gifts and gave it to Abigail saying, "for you, my savior from an early siesta." And taking a second while Abigail eyed the quartz, she added, "if I need someone to carry 95 pounds of potatoes, I know who to call now."

"Har har, let's make it a competition and we'll see who can carry them the fastest from dad's store to here." Abigail quipped back with a challenge. "And thanks for the tasty quartz, David and I need something to gnaw to keep our teeth from growing too fast." She took an exaggerated fake bite from the mineral, then looked down at her book, rolled her eyes and sighed. "I gotta get back to this reading assignment, Bobbi. Thanks for the diversion though, it was fun!"

"You're welcome Abigail, see you later." Who's David?

"Later, Bobbi."

Seriously, you're gonna drop a David on me like that and not explain him? I haven't met any David. Pen pal? Of course this is Abigail, she probably just made him up for the joke. Yup, that's totally it.

...

David. Hm.

_____

Before leaving the Library, Bobbi read something in a book she'd recently donated, and Gunther restored for the shelves, about a local Ferngill tradition of sending recipes in the mail as you got to know someone. And how everyone needed a well-stocked kitchen to return the favor.

Grandpa.

Seriously.

Were you illiterate or just anti-social? Anti-indoor plumbing? Too cheap to spring for a fridge and stove?!? What's with this stupid house? ...and did I even answer Abigail's question about decorating it?

David.

Doesn't exist. Stop it, Bobbi.

Bobbi wandered with little purpose but found herself on the bridge towards the beach as there were some shells needed for the Community Center if she was going to beat Morris to the punch, but once again fate had other skin in this game...
 
Last edited:

Lew Zealand

Helper
Lol, this was too long and exceeded the max character count (30,000 for those interested). Part 2:

__________


Here was the missing Haley, wandering about and generally not acting like any familiar Haley that Bobbi knew. She caught sight of Bobbi as she fought though the sand in her ungainly farm boots.

"Bobbi!" Haley called, "Bobbi come here quick, I need some help, oh thank you for being here!" Bobbi eventually made it to Haley as she continued on, "My bracelet is gone, I know I had it on when I got here! But now it's gone and I can't find it anywhere... Oh, I'll never find another one like it..." Haley looked disconsolately towards her feet and then feebly around her.

"Haley, I'm really sorry, maybe someone has a metal detecto—" Bobbi trailed off not knowing if that was the best thing to say.

Haley sighed and cast her gaze towards the ocean, looking beyond the glittering horizon. "Maybe it'll wash up on some distant shore, where some other girl will find it and cherish it." Haley looked close to tears. "I can't bear to think of it at the bottom of the ocean." Head down, she continued, "Sorry, Great Grandma, I lost your precious bracelet. Please forgive me."

"C'mon Haley," Bobbi said, "I'll help you look for it again. If I had glasses, we'd now have 6 pairs of eyes looking for it." Haley paused for a split second, which was the slightest improvement on her previous disconsolate state.

"OK."

"So where did you go on the beach today, let's retrace your steps," Bobbi suggested.

"Oh, oh yes, I didn't do that. That sounds good," Haley said. "I laid on the blanket, then walked the shore a few times, then checked the reeds for shorebirds, then back to the blanket for the other side."

"Not out to the pier?" Bobbi asked as they headed for the blankets.

Haley wrinkled her nose. "No, it usually smells funny there." Note to self, don't talk to Haley on fishing day. Or the day after. Maybe skip the whole week.

Not finding it around the blankets or along the shoreline, they searched near Elliott's cabin where Bobbi caught a glint in the sand. If that's just an old gold doubloon, this'll be the most disappointed I'll ever be when finding treasure.

It wasn't.

Bobbi, not being a very subtle person and generally lacking nuance, turned and ran to Haley a short ways away with the bracelet held out in front of her saying, "I found it!" Later on, Bobbi would reflect and consider that there are other ways to present things but she is simply not capable of those more suave of approaches in the heat of the moment. Bull, meet china shop. Match made in heaven.

Upon seeing the bracelet, Haley's eyes grew 3 sizes, not unlike a Grinch's heart, while seeming to reflect the entirety of the sun's afternoon efforts. "Is that...?" She approached apprehensively, almost scared of what it might or might not be. "You found it!" Apparently I found the right one, Bobbi realized after a moment's panic. And she wrapped Bobbi in a great big bear hug, accompanied surprisingly by a kiss.

Not a short kiss.

...

Don't drop it. Don't drop... what?

Quite an extendedly long time later yet all too soon, utterly unaware if any time had passed at all, Haley pulled back and said, "Thank you so much Bobbi, you're a lifesaver." And I'd have needed one soon as I was running out of air. There's something weird with the weather here with these heat waves coming up every hour or so... Bobbi handed Haley the bracelet after realizing she still had it. "I wont forget what you did for me here. I need to put this back before I ever lose it again! Oh Bobbi, thanks a million!" Haley said, running off to home, golden curls bobbing behind her, illuminated by the slanting late afternoon sun.

...

Bobbi eventually realized she was standing on the beach and looked around. Was I doing something?

Probably.

Probably back towards town. OK feet you're in charge because brain is... goo. Must revel in this goo as this is... pretty good goo. Bobbi smirked. Stupid brain already playing with me.

Eyeballs still doing a reasonably decent job, Bobbi noticed Emily almost at the saloon and gave her a nice daffodil which she thanked Bobbi for, though she had to head in quickly for her shift. Bobbi might have noticed Emily said something and Emily might have noticed Bobbi was not quite herself. But it was easy enough for Emily to chalk that up to another bout of Bobbi brain.

Feet still wending their way north, Bobbi noted that George had requested a tuna fish for 300g and those collected zeroes brought her back to reality just a bit. And she realized that Robin might still be open. Reaching the Carpenter's Shop just at 5pm, Bobbi got the jolt she needed for a full return to reality.

10,000g, 450 Logs. Yeaouch. Logs are a few days weeks work but 10,000g?

OK grandpa, you're off the hook. That's a lotta g. Also the hardwood building was a stable.

"I'll even throw the horse in for free!" Robin said with a smile.

"Aren't those like a ridiculous amount of work?" Bobbi asked skeptically. "I gave up on a horse by the time I was 14. Does it plow my fields or something?"

"Well, I don't sell plows," Robin admitted, "and I don't think anyone else here does either. There's not much demand, what with you being the only farmer. And about 5 weeks ago, having..." She flipped through her catalog, "ah yes, zero farmers."

"OK OK I get it, no horse for me then. And thanks for staying late so I could see the catalog."

"Hey, for 10,000g you can catch me early or late on a Tuesday around my workout day off," Robin offered. "For my best customer only, don't spread that around, ok?"

"Tell you what," Bobbi said. "If I can even remember that through tomorrow, I promise not to tell anyone, including myself."

"It's a deal!" Robin said, rounding the counter and heading outside into the evening shade.

Back outside, Bobbi dug up what looked like a misshapen doll from one of the root spots blowing in the feeble summer wind and remembered that the Museum stayed open late unlike most places. Getting there at 5:50 and donating the Ancient Doll netted Bobbi... nothing. Local businesses getting pretty cheap with their gift donations these days. She spotted Abigail still there perusing books, which got Bobbi hot under the collar 3 different ways so she beat a hasty retreat outside before overloading the building's inadequate cooling system.

Today has been a strange day and there were still ungiven gifts in the pack, most pointedly for Maru. Having given up that cherry about 50 hours ago, the strawberry was looking pretty tasty. Still a touch of light left in the early evening, Bobbi decided that fishing the Mountain Lake would be the coolest pastime as her farm was likely still a sparse collection of hot coals. Maybe chop trees down farther from the house next time? Lol, for that next farm!

Heading for her favorite fishing spot on the lake's SW edge, the darkening gloom revealed Maru, just turning away from a deep gaze over the lake and heading towards the house.

"Hi Bobbi, here for the cool breeze? Sorry I got it all already, maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow!"

"Oh I'll dig up some around here," Bobbi countered, casting her gaze about. Looking back at Maru, she continued, "I think there's enough to cover both of us."

"Was that a short joke? If so, touché," Maru said. "I'll bet I'm a half inch taller than you." She raised her eyebrows imperiously and stood up straight. "Shorty."

"I hear that strawberries make you even shorter. I got one here..." Bobbi teased.

"Ah! Well then, that's just the kind of risk I'm willing to take." Maru stopped to consider. "Hm. Also explains things. Thanks Bobbi! So are you enjoying the season so far? It's been so warm this year."

"Uh, yeah, today's been a pretty enjoyable day and I've totally noticed the unseasonable heat come and go all day." Bobbi paused. "Unmistakable."

"Take care, Bobbi," Maru said and she walked back to the house."

"You too, Maru." Bobbi said. Another rhyme? Stop that, you sound like a TV clown.

Bobbi fished for a few minutes but quickly got bored and headed back but not before saying 'Hi' to Sebastian who was occupying the same spot at the lake as Maru, but taller and smokier. So... they just trade places at different times of the day? Keeping some vigil for a Spirit of the Lake? Perhaps there's a sword waiting to emerge they're waiting for, which they'll argue and fight over like good half-siblings.

Bobbi chopped a local tree or two before heading home, looking to get ahead of that kitchen upgrade. Eh, nobody's gonna notice a few missing trees, right? But those hideously loud chopping sounds... Weird how the lake amplifies the sounds of local... beavers, eh?

On her way home, the dim flickering light of Linus' campfire played tricks on the very tired, stretched, pummeled, and tenderized brain in Bobbi's head to the point where there seemed to be a gap in the mountains. Drawn there, Bobbi found her hallucination to be quite tangible and not even questioning reality anymore, she headed up the path.

To a train crossing on a small plateau with weeds, trees, debris and...

a... bathhouse? OK, I'm not touching that place at 10pm, but still it might just be less ominous than the scary woods. By a hair. Bobbi scythed the weeds (always make time for the scythe), knocked town a couple of trees and decided that she had well overstayed her welcome away from the farm. At this point her bed might be putting ads in the local paper just to make ends meet and Bobbi realized that she might need an extended stay to repair their relationship.

Back home, she put her junk away and the few fish and mayo in the shipping bin. Reviewing her notes just before bed, she noted that she could get rid of some of those junk items in her box with a recycling machine, which wasn't too expensive. Tomorrow's work.

The day after.

Quickly fading, Bobbi's last semi-lucid impression was a warm, wavy vision of 2 crystal blue pools of light surrounded by a golden lasso...
 
Walking towards the bridge, Bobbi spotted Sam and Penny chatting. She stopped absently and watched for a few seconds as they seemed to be enjoying each other's company. Hmmm, maybe not everyone is drifting apart in the town but as people change, getting a little older, things change along with them. Not necessarily bad, things aren't getting worse. Just different.

Bobbi noticed that Penny was waving her way and she broke out of her reverie to walk over.

"Bobbi, are you OK?" Penny asked, a bit concerned. "You were just sort of standing there like you were... in another world," Penny trailed off and looked slightly away. "Huh, actually I've been there myself, um, never mind," she finished with a smile.

"Hi Penny, actually I didn't want to intrude on your conversation and yeah," Bobbi agreed, "I was kind of somewhere else."

"Oh, you wouldn't be intruding on anything," Penny denied with a slight pink tinge to her face, "we were just chatting."

"Yeah Bobbi," Sam agreed. "Penny wa-, I mean we were just talking about stuff." Penny shot Sam a small annoyed look which Bobbi almost missed. Bobbi smiled inwardly thinking Sam was getting Penny's goat. She seems to take things seriously and Bobbi got the impression that Sam sat on the completely opposite end of that table.

"Well I'm tutoring Jas and Vincent today so I'll see you two later," and Penny headed towards town.

Sam turned towards the river and said, "It's nice to see you today, Bobbi." Sam wasn't much of a conversationalist, maybe he wasn't kidding Penny all that much. "You know, I took a part-time job at Joja Mart recently. It's kinda nice as I still have time to skate and play." As if realizing what he just said, Sam quickly added," play guitar, I mean!"

"Oh cool, how long you been playing?” A slight pause. “Guitar, you mean," Bobbi finished with a smile.

"Heh, nice. Uh about 3 years now, me 'n Seb 'n Abby practice together every week at least!" He sounded pretty proud of that but it occurred to Bobbi that maybe once a week wasn't great if you were going to take it seriously. Sam started walking slowly down to the river, Bobbi followed.

"Have you guys played in front of people or are you mostly, ah, studio musicians?" asked Bobbi.

"Yeah studio, we haven't played, uh, performed in front of anyone yet," offered Sam. They ended up next to the river somewhat hidden by bushes. "Hey Bobbi, I've been talking to Penny and she mentioned that you seemed pretty cool." He was looking a bit nervous, probably too much talking.

"Ah, did I pass some sort of test then? I don't need to make it up or ask for extra credit?” Bobbi asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, no way. No more school for me thanks, I got just enough of that," Sam explained. "No, this is about Joja, or something I kind of overheard..." Sam tilted his head to the side, trailing off.

"Kind of overheard?" Bobbi prodded.

"Yeah well, I guess not really kinda, that's not how that goes," Sam said with a laugh. "Anyway I was cleaning up a mess near Morris' station and heard him talking about adding a building here in Pelican Town. He kept talking business this and that, stuff like strategy and location and it'll be good for the town. I kinda couldn't hear everything as I only heard his voice sometimes and I was making too much noise sometimes. And then he saw I was near and I couldn't hear anything else." This all came out in a stream of consciousness.

Bobbi wasn't sure what to think. There’s Morris again, second time today. He seems involved in everything Joja around this place. Should I tell Sam about what Lewis said? Would he understand? Should I tell Lewis anything?? Bah, too many decisions...

"Bobbi?" Sam waved his hand in front of Bobbi's face.

"Sorry Sam, my little pea-brain has had too many things crammed into it today and I think some stuff is leaking out the other side," Bobbi said lamely. "I don't get Joja, though. This town is tiny compared to their usual customer base. Two dozen people really doesn't keep a Joja Mart afloat."

"We have more than 2 dozen people in town," Sam countered. "Well, probably. Though all of them don't shop at Joja. People come in from neighboring communities but not all that often, maybe once a week? One of the ladies loves to mention that she makes her weekly trip every Monday afternoon. She says I remind her of her daughter." Sam looked annoyed. "Not her son of course. Well I don't know if she has one, but really!"

Bobbi giggled. "Hey, you're likable, take it as a compliment."

"Pfft! To an old lady...," Sam rolled his eyes, clearly not enthused about this idea.

"Hey Sam, thanks for the info about Joja," Bobbi said genuinely. "I don't know what it means yet but it doesn't make a lot of sense. Let me know if you hear anything else, ok?"

"Will do, Bobbi! Take it easy," Sam said as he fished his phone out of his pocket and turned towards the river.

Returning to town, Bobbi bumped into Penny again and with Sam not in the area, offered her another dandelion, receiving a predictably warm smile accompanied by a hug. "Thanks Bobbi, I even got mom to eat part of the salad last time, I told her they were good for her morning headaches.” A small laugh. “That might even be true and it's certainly better than what she had the night before." A slight disapproving look flashed over Penny's face, which quickly disappeared, replaced with the smile again. "I'll get this home while it's still fresh. Thanks again, Bobbi!" And Penny whisked off with a wave.

Heading north in town, Bobbi thought to go over to the Joja Mart to have a look inside for herself. She'd always worked for corporate as a cubicle monkey, never taking the role of customer. However, on her way, the elusive Haley emerged from her apparently well-camouflaged hiding place and presented herself to the world. Or she'd been at the park and was now heading home. In any case, Bobbi had an especially nice daffodil waiting for her.

"Oooo, for me, this is super!" Haley exclaimed with a big smile while turning it around in her fingers, appreciating it from all sides. Haley has nice fingers. What? Bobbi your head is messed up today.

"Hmmm, that's nice makeup you have on today," Haley remarked. What? OK, I was not expecting that. "Or are you wearing any?" Haley giggled. "Well whichever, it looks nice on you.” She sighed. “I was sooo bored today at the park and I forgot my camera again."

Thinking fast, Bobbi asked, "was there a sasquatch there today and you missed it?" Oh, yeah that one could go badly, Bobbi winced internally.

Haley snorted, in a cute way. "Uh nooo, but yeah that would totally have ruined my day. Just boring birds and trees and spring things." Haley sighed again. "This month is taking forever and the Flower Dance is still like 2 weeks away," she said in an annoyed voice. Bobbi hadn't thought about that in a week, what's it even about. Clearly Haley knew all about the Dance but Bobbi didn't want to risk a strained conversation exposing her ignorance, so she let it pass. But I should ask Haley about it later.

Great, yet one more thing likely to forget. I need a secretary. Eyeing Haley, she put that thought out of her mind. "Your hair looks nice today, Ok it looks nice every day," Bobbi recovered, "what do you do with it?"

"Oh thank you, well it's mostly natural. You see...." And Haley launched into a morning regimen that had served her well for many years now, which seemed a little shy of natural. Many minutes later Haley finished and bid Bobbi adieu as she'd been on her way home.

What was I doing now? Bobbi's brain had been emptied of a great many things that day and she needed some recovery time. Ah, heading to Joja to sample the store.

On the way there, Bobbi said ‘Hi’ to Abigail but she volunteered that she wasn’t in a good mood right now, so Bobbi let her be. She felt a bit guilty at being saved from talking to someone else, but there were just too many things happening and she was anticipating some corporate-level brainlessness at Joja. Full mental shutdown. I need what little faculties I can still marshal for this experience.
__________

Entering the clean, white whiteness of the Joja Mart was like passing through a portal to another world.

Another... reeeally boring world.

Buried within a mostly empty row of checkout stands stood an unfamiliar cashier who was barely awake, and a manager-looking person pacing in a fishbowl office to the right. I’ll bug them later, will need to work up to that. Perusing the store, Bobbi came upon Pam who burst out with, “Don’t go snoopin’ around my trailer while I’m out!” She immediately recovered, saying, ”sorry kid, I’m still a little cautious with strangers and this place kinds puts me on edge. Lights too bright or somethin’,” she finished, squinting up to the ceiling. Pam turned back to perusing the stocked shelves.

“Take care, Pam,” Bobbi said as she moved off. So it’s Pam that lives in the trailer, not Marlon. Where does he live? Of course there are no return addresses on any of those letters, and fat chance I’d know which house is which anyway. And what are the odds that Pam is hungover— this late in the day? Bobbi spotted Shane working but he was very busy, also to Bobbi’s relief.

Instead she perused the selection. It was awful, though with quite spectacular product labeling. High-five to the graphic designers and product naming teams. Unbearable torturous blaze sauce. Blue Alien ENERGY - get LAUNCHED! Powdered wine?!? Hair gel.

Hair gel! Hey, is this place where everyone gets their hair done? Is there a hair salon tucked in here somewhere? Who runs it? Quickly scanning the rest of the ‘Mart, no hair salon was found. Well I suppose that’s better, I guess everyone’s doing that for themselves instead of paying into Joja.

Bobbi steeled herself to chat with Mr. Manager and suddenly realized that this just had to be the Morris that Sam referred to. Who wasn’t ginger, heh. Wait, who was also the guy from the letter about the landslide or something? OK, Morris is someone who I need to know, one way or another. Bleah, I don’t like this.

Wait.

......

I came here for an escape. I think. I came here for something... different. This is different, it’s not blowing cars up on the pitch or spending 3/4 of the day avoiding work or the boss. It’s chatting with good people, digging junk up, getting covered in slime, soaking wet smelling like fish.

I should go into advertising.

As Bobbi walked up to Morris, he beat her to the punch saying, “Welcome to JojaMart, we haven’t see you in here before, I think?” with a big smile. Heh lucky, Bobbi thought, I was going to start with ‘Hi, Morris’ which would have been awkward. Maybe I should have left this to tomorrow morning.

“No this is my first time in here, I’m new to the area. I’m Bobbi,” she said extending her hand.

Morris shook it, introducing himself, ”I’m Morris, manager here and it’s great to see more people joining the community in Pelican Town. I hope to see you here for all your shopping needs. And if you’re really interested, we’re having a special on Joja memberships for only 5000g, and you’ll get some local benefits... which we’re still ironing out. One thing we do know is memberships will allow us to expand here and create more jobs, starting with a warehouse.”

“Is there space for a warehouse here?” asked Bobbi innocently.

“This place has nothing but space!” exclaimed Morris expansively. “But we’ll start small by converting the old Community Center. The building’s in Ok shape and a decent size. No new permits needed and it’s currently unused. Practically perfect.”

“Ah, sounds good, you’ve got it all worked out then,” prompted Bobbi.

“Yes well, there are always details to work out of course but nothing the town needs to worry about. So... are you interested in a membership?” Morris appealed to Bobbi.

“Well, the easy answer is that I’m way short of that kind of g right now so it’ll have to wait, but thanks for the offer.” Well, that worked out nicely.

“We’re always here to serve you, Bobbi. Take care and see you soon,” said Morris.

As Bobbi left the store, she had more to consider. I didn’t find out anything more that I already knew. And really anything less as intriguingly, Morris didn’t seem to be hiding anything. Well, everyone is always hiding something but Morris didn’t really say much less than Lewis. But Sam thought he was getting some kind of insider information, so this Community Center to Joja conversion may not be common knowledge? Maybe not to the younger people, or anyone else than Morris and Lewis?

Maybe because nobody else cares?

Well, no. Sam seems to care. Not sure what to do, so do nothing right now. I’m not in a position to buy a Joja membership and I’ll just assume that the rest of the town is at a steady state of memberships. But see if anyone else knows anything.

Bobbi ended up at the river and somehow it wasn’t quite sundown yet so she fished to take a load off her mind. Naturally she caught a Joja Cola. Really? What’s with the people around here? Seaweed and a sunfish completed the day and as she was about to leave, she saw Jodi and Sam entering their house. Ah, Jodi is Sam’s mom. Thinking for a bit, Bobbi realized that a number of people’s parents didn’t live local or at least were well hidden. That could be a good conversation starter.

Or killer. And in a rare flash of insight Bobbi realized that Pam was probably Penny’s mom. Penny complained about her mom’s nights and feeling unwell in the morning and Pam was not in a great mood outside of the Saloon.

Which also means Penny lives in the trailer? That’s probably not a great life, and Penny’s made some comments alluding to that. Sigh. Tread carefully Bobbi, you’re not great at subtlety. And now I’m going to be second-guessing myself. Just be yourself, girl.

Another big sigh announced to the Forest that Bobbi had arrived. She passed Marnie who was on her way in a hurry but still stopped for a brief chat.

“Hi Bobbi, doing well?” asked Marnie, a bit out of breath.

“Sure, how are things on your ranch?”

“Better now as Shane is helping out with the chickens,” Marnie brightened. “He really seems to enjoy his time in the yard tending to them. I actually see smiles on his face when he doesn’t see me, and that’s been a big improvement over the past few months. Oh, I’m sorry I’m running a bit late, talk to you again soon Bobbi!” and she bustled towards town.

“See you!” Bobbi called to her back.

Bobbi did a quick round of forage, already appreciating that seedlings were popping up, replacing the trees she’d cut. Back at the farm, Bobbi brainlessly knocked quite a few rocks into futile submission, which was a great respite from the day’s happenings. Peering into her pack, she found cauliflower seeds. Absently she stood looking at them and then her purse, which was smaller than she expected. I think I bought these at Pierre’s and that was utterly erased from my memory.

That’s what leaked out of my ear. Wow, I need a notebook or secretary. Hmmm Haley. Hmmm. What? Stupid brain, shut up.

She planted and fertilized the magic cauliflower, bunged the fish into the bin, and took out unknown frustrations on another stump that was too close to the house.

I’m done, floomp into bed face down and out like a light. No dreams this time.
Sam turned towards the river and said, "It's nice to see you today, Bobbi." Sam wasn't much of a conversationalist, maybe he wasn't kidding Penny all that much. "You know, I took a part-time job at Joja Mart recently. It's kinda nice as I still have time to skate and play." As if realizing what he just said, Sam quickly added, "play guitar, I mean!"

"Oh cool, how long you been playing?" A slight pause. "Guitar, you mean," Bobbi finished with a smile.
 
Top