Choice of Roots - Stardew Valley Fanfiction

Chapter 1 - Life's Restart Button

Waking up in the morning wasn't as pleasant as I hoped it was going to be. While I could hear birds cheerily chirping outdoors, I found that even this slight disturbance was already starting to give me a headache. Weakly forcing myself to open my eyes, I found that half of my body had reclined off of the bed in the middle of the night. My right foot touched the cold ridges of the stained floor below me, before instantaneously lurching back to the warm comforts the sheets provided. For a moment, I cursed myself for forgetting to grab my slippers or put on some socks before I fell into a deep slumber.

I sighed, and let my eyes wander to the roof of the creaky old cabin. While the boards didn't seem so sturdy before, they surprised me in the fact that not a droplet of water was dripping into the room below. I guess there are worse cabins, I thought for a split second. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back towards a new objective—what was I supposed to do with myself now? Well, that couldn't me more obvious, my consciousness muttered sternly, in a more than mocking manner. Go out there and get some work done. It's not like you can just lie down for the whole day. Now that's just lazy. I might have been right, but even with the rest I had earned in the previous night, my physical form yearned to rest for just a little while longer. With all my mental might, I vetoed its request and sat up in my bed.

The springs of the mattress almost literally sprung to life with commotion, squeaking with every soft movement I made. Seeing as the sound was far from pleasant, I heaved myself off of the mattress to give my ears some comfort in silence. This is where I was, again, greeted with the stone-cold floor. Internally wincing, I looked about to see where I had left my duffel bag-

Until I realized that I had left it outside. In the rain.

Cursing aloud, and bringing my palm to my face in sheer embarrassment over my stupidity, I quickly ran forth to the entrance of the cabin, and gazed out onto the deck. A clean layer of sunshine kissed my cheeks as I peered around the door, almost warming my body in an instant. I would have loved to take my time and enjoy the sunshine, if it weren't for my eyes gazing upon the dripping duffel bag three feet away from my grasp. My fists clenched in a mixture of frustration and sadness, before I stepped forward and took the bag by its leash, and threw the mass into my cabin. It skidded across the floor, no doubt covering the floor in a liquid mixture of dirt and water—but I didn't care. Instead of worrying about any messes, I quickly began tearing open the parcel to collect my belongings.

Some items came out of the storm unscathed, such as my journal and a few grocery items. On the other end of the spectrum, my entire collection of clothing articles—from my jeans to my sweatshirts—had been drowned overnight. I didn't expect anything different, and so I gathered up a ball of all that I could and set it off to the side. With no washer or dryer, I was going to have to resort to washing everything by hand—at least under I could afford some an expensive commodity. Some hard labor should do you good, I insisted.

I took a couple moments from my time to organize all of my little knick-knacks I had taken with me in my travels, before I hesitantly picked up the dripping lump of clothing. Immediately I could feel my tank-top become drenched from the contact, but I forced myself onward. Taking my barefoot steps out into the wilderness, I stepped across the front deck and looked about. The atmosphere from the previous afternoon had completely changed. As you may have guessed, the sun was shining through even the tallest, thickest tree tops, and the sky from above looked a mighty cyan. The distance appeared to possess the storm that had disappeared off into the night, now retreating out westward. The vague appearance of clouds created the illusion of an ultramarine sky out into the distance, which blended nicely with the sky overhead.