New Player In Town

5

Your days in Stardew Valley were starting to fly by. The farm had been keeping you pretty busy. After your parsnips had grown and given you a taste of gold, you bought more seeds than you could really handle in a poor decision fueled by greed.

A week had passed since you had first arrived here, and you were definitely falling into the swing of things. You still hadn't met all the townspeople yet, but that would take a while anyway. It was only the 9th of spring.

It was raining today, so you finally had a break from watering those damn parsnips. After feeding the chickens and cows, you walked into town with your umbrella overhead. Today was a perfect day to read, and you were in need for a new book.

You weren't entirely sure if you needed a library card, so you brought your wallet with you just in case. Umbrella overhead and boots squelching in the muddy dirt road, you made the trek through Pelican Town.

Gunther, the librarian, greeted you as you entered the library. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," you say back, wiping your shoes on the rug in front of the door thoroughly before heading deeper inside, making sure to leave the umbrella by the door.

A woman with beautiful copper hair pulled back in a bun was seated at a table, two small children on either side of her. She was reading off flashcards to them, but your presence had captured their attention. You tried to disappear into a different row, but it was too late.

The boy jumped up from his seat. "It's stranger girl!"

The girl gasped and jumped up too. "I wanna meet stranger girl!!"

"Come on, you two. Don't bother the nice woman," their tutor said.

You smiled apologetically to the woman before walking over. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

The boy stands up on his chair as if trying to get on eye level with you. "You know Sam right?"

You nod. "Mhm."

"He's my big brother!" He grins, clearly proud.
The girl, not wanting to be left out of the conversation, stands on her chair too. "Well, um, miss stranger knows my aunt!"

"Yeah? Well.. Miss stranger knows uh.. um.." he fails to think of something.

"AND she knows Uncle Shane," the girls grins, putting her hands on her hips like she won a gold medal.

"Vincent, Jas," their tutor tries to grab their attention.

The boy, who you assumed was Vincent, perked back up as you thought of another thing to say. "Well, my older brother is friends with Miss Stranger!"

The girl, Jas, thought for a moment. "Aunt Marnie says that miss stranger is the nicest person ever. And Uncle Shane talks about her all the time! She's the.. uh.. what did he call it? Oh yeah! She's the bane to his existence! Whatever that means."

Vincent huffs and sits back down. "Fine, you win."

You stood there, highly confused. You didn't know whether to feel embarrassed the kids were having a "who knows miss stranger best" competition, happy that Marnie thought you were really nice, or offended that you were the bane of Shane's existence.

The woman snickered into her hand. She clearly adored these children. "Miss stranger has a name, you two. Why don't you introduce yourselves? Just how we practiced."

Vincent, the pep back in his step, turns around in his chair and holds out his hand. "I'm Vincent! It's a uh.."

"Pleasure," their tutor encourages.