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amberskywrites · 2 years

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Self-Care Days

Masterpost | AO3 Link

Fandom / Genre: Stardew Valley / Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort

Pairing: Elliott/Male!Player, Elliott & Male!Player

Warnings: Implied/Referenced eating disorder, Implied/Referenced suicidal thoughts, Self-harm, Parental abuse, Child abuse, Abuse, Bullying (Everything here is stuff that the characters discuss, and are not currently going through nor doing but admit to doing in the past), lmk if I need to add anything else!

Prompt: Requested by @hartlee-sux :

Elliott x male!farmer. I was thinking that Elliott visits the farmer while they're working and their sleeves are rolled up/they're wearing short sleeves and he notices old scars. The farmer obviously doesn't mind them being on show and it leads to a conversation about both of their mental health and their struggles. Is that something you'd be okay with writing?

Summary: Sometimes, it's just nice to vent. Even on a good day.

It wasn’t often that Elliott visited the farm.

More often than not, it was the farmer who visited his shack or caught him on the docks or joined him in his trips to the saloon. And it wasn’t that Elliott didn’t want to go to the farm, he absolutely did, he could just rarely find the time to drop by as inspiration took hold and allowed him to make progress on his novel.

Though it had been a while since the farmer had last visited - okay, he’d last visited Elliott a week ago, but for Elliott, their time apart seemed to have lasted a month by now. Not that he’d ever admit to that aloud. The farmer didn’t need any more ways to tease him.

The break in the farmer’s routine, the lack of his presence even just for a few days, sapped Elliott’s motivation to write completely dry.

Curse the writing gods, making a busy farmer his muse.

So that’s how Elliott found himself visiting the farm for the first time in far too long. He had told Elliott to drop by whenever he wanted, though Elliott hadn’t ever taken him up on the offer. He was coming to the conclusion that he really should have.

Elliott remembered how rundown the farm was when he first arrived, the cabin falling apart and weeds overtaking the entire place as though they were kings of old conquering new land for their mighty empires. Now, though… now the farm looked almost unrecognizable in the best possible way.

The sign leading into it was much the same, and the farmer either just hadn’t gotten around to redoing it or he decided to keep the faded but nostalgic entrance. But beyond the wooden gate?

Elliott felt pride well up inside him, unable to suppress a grin at all the farmer had managed to accomplish in his time here. The farmhouse was in a far better condition than the one Elliott had seen pictures of when the farmer’s grandad still lived there. Most of the weeds had been cleared, new buildings had sprouted up and animals wandered around the growing summer crops.

He finally spotted the farmer, cutting down a tree a little ways down a path the farmer had made early on in his journey to becoming a farmer. Elliott remembered running into him that day at the bridge leading to the beach, and he’d excitedly shown the first person he saw a new path layout he’d received from Robin that day. At the time, Elliott wasn’t sure what to make of the brand new farm layout plans that the farmer had pushed into his hands to look over, nor did Elliott understand how the farmer was so excited over pathways of all things. Walking towards the farmer on the very same pathway Elliott had seen blocked out on a blueprint just months ago - almost a year now that he thought about it - there was a skip in his step.

The farmer didn’t notice Elliott at first, still working on cutting down the trees into smaller and more manageable logs, along with the stumps they left behind. But when he did finally notice Elliott, a smile so bright it put the sun to shame lit up his face, and a weight that had been on Elliott’s heart finally eased away.

“G’afternoon, Elliott!” The farmer said as he dropped his axe onto the nearest stump.

“Good afternoon!” Elliott exclaimed, sidling up to the farmer and taking another look around. It was hard not to, now that he was in the middle of the farm. They were in a tree patch that the farmer had complained about having to keep tidy over the past month, adjacent to a mini-orchard with some rows of trees looking close to giving fruit. At the end of the path they were on, Elliott could make out a seating area peeking through the trees with flowers surrounding the bench.

“This all looks incredible,” he said in awe. The farmer’s cheeks took on a pink hue, and he laughed lightly.

“Thank you!” He too glanced around, his smile full of complete and utter pride. “It’s really nice to see it all coming together, y’know? With how long it’s taken to get to this point.”

Elliott nodded, looking at the pile of wood the farmer was creating for a moment before looking back to the farmer. “I can imagine. Wanna show it all off with a tour?”

The farmer somehow perked up even more, a grin splitting his face. “Y’know? That sounds like a great idea!” He grabbed Elliott’s hand and pulled him along the path - not that Elliott needed much prompting to follow.

After a two-hour long tour of the farm - Elliott may have gotten sidetracked by the farmer’s baby cows and goats for a while - they finally retired to the sitting area Elliott had spotted before, and it was prettier than the glimpse he had caught the first time.

The farmer had a slight flush on his face and a grin, rolling his sleeves up as they settled on the bench. “Sorry about Mira,” he chuckled, “I wasn’t expecting her to go after your hair like that.”

Elliott slung an arm over the back of the bench, laughing gently himself and touching the place where said baby cow attempted to grab his hair. “It’s fine, really. Impossible to stay mad at something so adorable.”

The farmer hummed contentedly, slumping into the bench himself and closing his eyes, practically basking in the afternoon sun. Elliott took the chance to not-so-subtly look over the farmer.

He’d found his gaze lingering on the farmer longer and longer every time they spent time together. At first, Elliott would catch himself and correct his behavior - because, really, how gentlemanly was it to just stare at someone? - but after a while and catching the farmer doing his own fair share of looking, Elliott decided that it wouldn’t hurt to admire him occasionally.

He’d noticed the farmer primarily wore long-sleeves, even on the hottest summer days, and today was no different. But Elliott had never seen him roll up his sleeves before, and he found himself staring at the farmer’s arms.

The joy of the afternoon very quickly sapped out of Elliott the longer he stared at the farmer’s arms, and instead of fluttering like always when around him, Elliott felt it sinking. Littered across his arms were thin scars of all sorts of lengths, scars that didn’t align with ones that came from monsters in the mines. They were too clean to have come from monsters other than the ones Elliott knew could plague one’s mind.

The farmer peeked at Elliott through one eye, startled when he noticed Elliott’s intense stare trained on his arms. “Elliott?” Elliott finally tore his gaze away from his arm. “You alright?”

His eyes flickered between the farmer’s face and his arm, mouth opening and closing a few times as he tried to find the right words. The farmer tilted his head, frowning slightly.

Elliott finally seemed to give up on trying to figure out what he wanted to say and, hesitantly, rested a hand on the farmer’s arm, tapping just one of the many scars.

The farmer looked to where Elliott was pointing and relaxed as he realized what had gotten Elliott so worked up. “Ah, those.”

Elliott cleared his throat, removing his hand from the farmer’s arm. “Obviously, you’re not obligated to say anything, but… but when did you… get these?”

He hummed, tracing the scars on his own arm for a moment as he thought. “I… used to cut throughout most of my teen years and a little bit into college,” he admitted. “I haven’t done it since the beginning of third year.”

Elliott’s brow furrowed, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking the most definitely not-his-business question he could ask: “Why?”

The farmer’s gaze flickered over Elliott and he tilted his head again. Elliott was quick to rush out, grimacing at his own rudeness. “Sorry, sorry- that was insensitive, you don’t have to share.”

He shook his head. “No, no, it’s okay. I don’t mind sharing. But, it’s… not the easiest thing to digest when someone tells you. Are you in a good enough headspace to hear?”

Elliott nodded. “Yeah, I am.” Really, he hadn’t been in a bad headspace since moving to the valley. In a writing slump, sure, but his mental health had gotten so much better since moving here. “What about you, though?”

The farmer smiled reassuringly. “I’m good.” He took a deep breath. “Alright! Feel free to stop me at any time if it gets to be too overwhelming, okay?”

Elliott nodded again. “Same goes for you.”

The farmer shifted on the bench into a more comfortable position, and Elliott followed suit, knocking their knees together lightly as the farmer considered where to start.

“Okay. So. My dad was, most of the time, a good man. He treated me well when it was just the two of us, and when he was sober. Until around junior high, there were days he’d get egregiously aggressive drunk. So I’d have to walk on eggshells around him. It wasn’t until middle school that he finally started dealing with it, seeking help and going to AA meetings and all that. He got better.

“My biological mom, on the other hand, was terrible. Not the worst mother to ever exist, but she was still abusive. To both me and Dad. She was…” He drummed his fingers on the back of the bench, pausing for a moment to think on how to phrase it. “She was controlling, to put it simply. Overbearing. She was never physically abusive. Never hit me or Dad, never threatened to hit us. But she micromanaged our lives, and from what I’ve been told, she only started to get like that after she married Dad. She… cut him off from most of his friends and family, and after they finally got divorced Dad once told me that he was scared of her because for the longest time he thought he needed her, and if he lost her he’d lose everything.”

He cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Sorry, getting off track a bit. So. What she did to my dad, she did to me. I wasn’t allowed a phone until high school, she would control who I was friends with and if I made friends with someone she didn’t like, she’d threaten to take away certain things. Once, when she found out from a teacher that I hung out with someone in class that she despised, she destroyed my favorite stuffed animal as a ‘warning’. When I got my phone, she’d randomly go through it so I could never really do anything on it.

“And, because Dad was scared of her leaving him if he stood up to her, he never stood up for me. I had… I had no control whatsoever over my life. I couldn’t do anything without mom always breathing down my neck. Then, one day, I was helping Dad cook dinner on the rare night that mom was out with her friends and accidentally cut myself. I had ignored Dad’s warning about cutting toward me and sliced my hand a bit. Not seriously, and it still hurt, but… it was my choice to cut toward myself. And then I had this… sort of sick realization, that this was a way for me to have control over something in my life.”

He looked down at his arms and sighed heavily. “Mom… never found out about this. She bought all my clothes, and they were usually long-sleeved, so they were easy to hide from everyone. My parents finally divorced my junior year of high school, and… and mom got full custody of me. Didn’t allow contact or anything. Threatened to bring him to court if he tried. Then I went to college, still cutting as a way to control something in my life. Because mom even dictated what I should major in, and threatened to stop paying my tuition if I tried to do anything against what she said. I’ll be honest when I say the only thing that stopped me from committing suicide was my dad. My dad and his new wife.

“I managed to contact him without mom knowing through a friend of mine. I didn’t ever tell him that mom was worse than when he was married to her. But then one day in my second year, I wasn’t careful and that friend who helped me contact Dad in the first place found out about my self-harm. And. And they told him. They told my dad and stepmom - Mama - about my cutting and…” He clenched his fists, and exhaled slowly, a little shakily. “And they were stunned. Worried. Furious. After they found out, and since I was technically an adult, they helped me get away from Mom. I dropped out of college and moved far, far away, and cut all ties with Mom. At one point she tried to get the police involved because she thought I was missing, but threats of a restraining order got her to turn tail real quick.

“Mama and Dad helped me get onto my own feet, and I got a therapist, and it was hard, y’know? But I slowly got better. I relapsed twice, and I’ll admit, sometimes I’ve wondered if it’s really worth it, trying to heal. Actually healing. But I got better, and I’m getting better every day. I haven’t cut in years, I’m in control of my own life, and that wench is out of my life for good.”

The farmer took a deep breath and laughed, shaking his head. “Sorry- that was. A lot. I didn’t mean to dump all my emotional baggage onto you like that.”

Elliott, who had listened to him silently the whole time, sympathy and despair and anger boiling just under his skin, grasped his hand and held it tightly. Elliott shook his head.

“Don’t apologize. I’m- you’re right, that was a lot. But I’m happy you told me. And it makes me happy to know that you’re doing better.” He took a deep breath, shifting his hold on the farmer’s hand to intertwine their fingers. “I… I also have had my fair share of struggles with mental health.”

The farmer squeezed his hand, rubbing small circles into the side of Elliott’s hand. Elliott smiled slightly at him. “Throughout school, I… I always had problems with other students. It was difficult for me to make friends, no matter how hard I tried. The friends that I did make weren’t… the greatest. They were, plainly said, toxic. I’ve had ‘friends’ who would mock me, belittle me, and then pretend to be my friend for an easy grade. It took a major toll on my self-image, and on my mental health. My parents began to take notice after a while, but when they tried to intervene I was so nervous about becoming an outcast in school that I lied and then cut them out.

“The bullying continued, I continued to lie to my parents… and I just went into denial about everything. Denial, and a shut-down of sorts. At the time, I thought, that if I just ignored it, and pretended to feel nothing, then it would be over sooner. But I was miserable. Eventually, it started to take its toll. Because pretending could only get me so far, and it was a flimsy way of trying to deal with everything. My grades began to drastically drop, and I could no longer hide that things were wrong to everyone else because it started to bleed into my physical health.

“I had no motivation to take care of myself. Skipping meals to avoid talking with my parents, to avoid my so-called friends at lunch. My hygiene began to deteriorate, too. It was just… so hard to get out of bed every day.” Elliott was silent for a minute, taking a deep breath and grounding himself. “Eventually, my parents had had enough. They did care a lot for me, but I had just been shutting them out and refusing any help they could have tried to give me. So, around junior year of high school, they decided to move. We moved to Zuzu city, I went to a new school, but I wasn’t better at all. They thought that my first school, and the people there, were the problem. And they were. But, by that point, it was no longer a simple fix.

“My parents forced me to see a therapist, after a couple of months at the new school went by and no improvements were shown. I didn’t… it took me a while to start opening up. I did eventually, though. My therapist suggested giving some kind of creative activity a try - any creative activity I could think of. I tried different kinds of art, music, gardening, writing… When I tried writing, I ended up liking it more than I thought I ever would. I liked it more than I certainly ever did in school as well. So, I continued with that. And… and things slowly got better. Writing was my escape for the rest of high school, and I went to college as an English major as a result of my enjoyment. A lot of my earlier works were vent pieces, and when I first wrote them I was still somewhat in denial of how things were.”

He took a deep breath and offered the farmer a small smile. “I’m much better now, happier. Sometimes I do have the occasional bad day, but that’s to be expected. Writing has helped me, so much. But so have the people I’ve met since getting help. Like Leah! I met her in the city and we just clicked, and while she moved to the valley before me we still remained friends. She was a huge help, alongside my parents, encouraging me to continue writing and always cheering me on.”

The farmer gave Elliott’s hand one more squeeze and a small laugh. “That’s great to hear,” he said. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do on bad days?”

Elliott hummed softly. “The most I end up doing is getting out of bed, getting dressed, and brushing my teeth. Sometimes I read my favorite book, and sometimes I’ll write a vent piece, but when those are too exhausting I’ll just sit in bed and try not to think. What about you?”

“My self-care days come early when it’s a bad day. I can’t exactly neglect my chores, so on the bad days, I get them done as fast as I can and then spend my day in the kitchen messing around with recipes because it gives me something to do, and even if I make a monstrosity it usually ends up being fun and still something that I can control. When that’s too much, I’ll sit in the animal pens and spend time with them for the day.”

“You have self-care days?”

“Mhmm. Mama told me about them. Every other Wednesday is a self-care day for me.”

“Why Wednesday?”

The farmer shrugged. “Pierre’s closed on Wednesday, and there’s no way I’m buying from Joja if I can help it. So, I usually don’t have too much of a reason to go into town on Wednesday unless I want to go talk with someone.

“What about you?” he asked. “Do you have any self-care days?”

Elliott shook his head and sighed, once again slumping into the bench. “I didn’t even consider them, now that I think about it. It does sound like a good idea, though.” He hummed softly. “Don’t really know what I’d do, though. Because my bad days aren’t self-care days. They’re just a way for me to make it through the day.”

The farmer tilted his head. “Well, when you think of a self-care day, the perfect activities to help you relax, what do you imagine?”

Elliott stared at him for a moment before a soft smile appeared on his face.

“Honestly?” The farmer nodded. “Doing anything with you.”

The farmer’s cheeks dusted red, but he grinned nonetheless.

“Y’know, I can get behind that.”

#stardew valley #sdv elliott #stardew valley elliott #stardew elliott #elliott stardew valley #sdv #sdv player #stardew valley player #amberskywrites #tw self harm #tw suicidal thoughts #tw eating disorder #tw abuse #tw abusive parents #tw child abuse #tw bullying #ambersky

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razumdars · 16 days

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I find it kind of funny that Shane is labelled the "i can fix him" romance of sdv but...he really isn't. You, the player, actually do very little in terms of "fixing" him. You watch him have a few breakdowns, and you intervene when he's drunk on the cliffs, but...he's the one who decides to start going to therapy. He's the one who decides to quit drinking. These are not things that you ever encourage him to do. You can headcanon certain interactions all you want, but this isn't like "the player chooses the genre of Elliott's future book." You have no impact on whether or not Shane cleans up his life. You support him at a few key moments, but the desire to change and be better comes from Shane, not the player.

You don't fix him. He fixes himself.

#sophie.txt #stardew valley #shane sdv

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ieatsmallorphansnamedtom · 10 months

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Hi, could you do the bachelor/ettes with an s/o that plays an instrument in the orchestra? (Violin, cello, viola, bass)

Btw love ur work, and I hope you are doing well <3

-🌙anon

Bachelor/ettes x Strings Orchestra Player

My knowledge on instruments and music in general is very limited. So, expect mistakes. Still, this seems like a really fun ask (and cello is a really cool instrument), so I'd be happy to do it! I'm not sure if you meant in an orchestra as in the reader is actually in one or just an instrument from one, but the former seems more fun. Thank you for your patience in getting this done. Thanks for the ask, 🌙!

Oh, and I don't know how much tickets cost but I'm imagining they're expensive okay? Please don't get mad at me.

Oh, and an important(ish) announcement! My @ask-sdv blog is back up and running, now with a new coat of paint (aka I updated it a bit)! You can go an check it out and send in an ask if you want (it even has a running timeline!). So far we're on day two, so not much is there yet, but it will be soon!

Bachelors:

Sam

Join his band, please. He'd love to have another musician playing. And what better musician than the person he cares about most? Listen, I'm not sure how conventional it'll be to have strings instruments in a rock band (if he's doing a rock band, anyway), but Sam wants to make it fun and experimental anyway. And I know you're in an orchestra, so that may be hard (and he understands!), but he just really wants you there. The two have jamming sessions all the time together and use what knowledge you have on the other's instruments to help yourselves improve.

Elliott

He's a big fan of the piano, being a classical-based pianist himself, so if you're playing something like violin or cello, he'd love to do a duet with you. I imagine on the nights when you're sick he likes to play a bit of piano to help you sleep, so he'd really appreciate if you'd do the same for him. Like Sam, he helps you practice. Pays a high fee to get the best seats when you play. Man is in crippling debt (probably still paying off his shack), but will put that all aside to see you shine. Not the best investment, but... Eh... It's worth it to him.

Sebastian

Also a piano player (well, keyboard). He's a little bit shy about his skills, so he's not as keen to play duets with you. But he'd love to listen to you do a solo! He's got an ear for mistakes and how to fix them, so he makes a great tutor. And he'll do it for free, too! Or maybe a plate of sashimi. But that's close enough.

He usually can't afford to get tickets for your show, and all the people make him really nervous - he's not very confident he'd look 'appropriate' there - but when he can and he'd feeling up to it he will try to go! He really does want to support you; he just needs some extra help anxiety-wise.

Harvey

Adores listening to you play. He's quite the jazz guy, so if you're into playing that stuff he'd just fall in love (if he hasn't already). I like to think he comes from a rich family, though they don't really associate anymore, so he's had the chance to learn an instrument or two in his time - though I think he'd go for saxophone or French horn. So, he remembers a few bits and pieces to help you out with if you need it. But honestly, he just prefers to listen, mistakes and all.

Like I said, he's not really associated with his family anymore, and he's living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so money is very tight. He can't really afford to go to your shows, so sorry about that. But his dream is to meet you backstage after you finish and give you the biggest gift of support he can. He gets so flustered seeing you all dressed up for your shows like that and can't help but take as many photos as possible.

Shane

Doesn't know anything about music, to be honest. He's a punk or alternative rock guy with a bit of an interest in metal, so if you're a classical musician it's going to be quite the change for him. But don't worry, he's still willing to sit down and listen! He can't provide much help but will show you CDs/tapes he's found in your genre. If you like his taste in music, however, oh boy; he's so happy. Again, not sure how strings instruments fit into death metal, but we'll make do. And who knows, maybe it's very common (though I doubt it).

Like Sebastian, he's not really looking forward to going to your shows due to his anxiety. Yeah, he's getting help for it and may be medicated, but that doesn't mean it's an instant fix! Situations like these where he feels out of place or unworthy can really trigger his self-doubt, so it's harder to go. But he has been able to save up for those really expensive shows Jas wanted, so he's doing better than Seb money-wise.

Alex

This man listens to The Beach Boys, '60s/'70s hits, and SWING BABY! Listen, this man is living in the past, okay? Metal is the biggest shock to him. It's the equivalent to showing a Victorian child TikTok to him. Please be patient. Anyways, if you're willing to play that sort of stuff he loves it! Well, he loves strings instruments in general but still! He loves it.

As for seeing your shows, he hasn't got the money for it, and Yoba knows he isn't asking his granny or grandpa for some. You'd honestly have to just pay for him, which would make him feel really guilty (he'd make up for it, though). He's also a little nervous in a suit; I headcanon that a lot or at least some of his confidence is a cover-up. But that all goes away when he sees you up there.

Bachelorettes:

Penny

She enjoys listening to you play a lot. I think she'd like classical songs, 10 Hour Deep Sleep Rain Noise for Deep Sleeping videos, and Fernando by ABBA (plus the songs I have for her in my other post). As a child I imagine she'd wanted to learn viola, so meeting someone who plays that very instrument or at least something in the same family of it will make her heart soar. She loves just closing her eyes and listening to you play.

As for her shows, she could never get in on her own. Girlie is living in a trailer, and she doesn't even have a car to get herself there. You need to pay for her, end of story. And despite it happening all the time, she will still feel guilty about it. It's just how it goes with her. So, do not - I repeat, do not - make her feel even worse about it. She will cry (maybe, alone).

Leah

Artist x Artist of Different Medium? Let's go! I just love Leah so much and she's such a perfect partner you don't even understand. She'd be so supportive of you in your musical endeavors; always giving you encouragement and even doing a little bit of research so she can better provide constructive feedback! She also may or may not have designed a few album covers for your own music (if you make it).

Once her art business gets up and going, she finally has the money to buy tickets to the show (that is provided they don't sell out). She probably went to Haley and Emily for help in picking out the best dress for her to wear, and the two teased her over being so in love.

Abigail

Musician x Musician? Yes please! She's currently working her way through mastering two instruments, so she'd be happy to help you out with yours. She plays her flute while you play your strings instrument in a wonderful duet that has the whole town captivated. You two make your own songs together and maybe even have a little 'band' on the side of Sam's!

Abigail has some money on the side for her shows, but in general she might have to ask for some money from her parents. Despite them being pretty strict about what her interests are, they do give her the money because they trust her and you. Abigail doesn't really have the best dress to wear, so she rocks the place by stealing borrowing her father's old suit.

Maru

Maru likes pretty much any music, but if you want to know the specifics check out my post I made for it in the General Headcanons post (link in my pinned post). Anyway, she loves what you do. Maru's definitely recorded you playing to a tape that she's looped to play when she's working. Demetrius is getting a bit sick of it, but Robin finds it cute.

I feel like Maru doesn't get paid much for her work as a nurse at the clinic. It's not that Harvey doesn't want to, it's just he's barely keeping the business afloat and he literally can't pay Maru any more without crashing the clinic as a whole. Maru understands this, and so does her family, so it's no biggie having to ask for a little cash just this one time. They happily pay, and Maru gets to go to your orchestra while donning an absolutely amazing outfit curated by Emily.

Emily

Speaking of Emily, she's quite the fan. She prefers upbeat tunes she can dance to, but if you're more of a mellow or sad type she'll still listen. I feel like Emily would really like to come up with unique dances for each of your songs - dances that rarely fit the theme. But in her words, "it's about how the song makes you feel, not how it's supposed to look."

Emily and Haley are having the easiest time getting to see one of your shows. Their parents are rich, rich enough to go and get milk on a holiday, so it's no problem for them to leave some extra money for their daughters. Emily spends a lot of money and effort making the perfect dress for the night, and you can easily spot her from the crowd due to all the fancy colours and frills.

Haley

Haley isn't the biggest fan of any music that isn't pop, so she's not as excited to hear you play. But don't be fooled; because it's you she's listening to, she'll sit there and hear it through. She doesn't hate it by any means, it just doesn't really grab her attention. But she would love it if you were to do a cover of one of her favourite songs. Now that is something she could listen to for hours.

As for going to one of your shows, Haley's all down for it. As I said, money's no issue. She takes you, Emily, and herself on a shopping trip in Zuzu City to get the one and only best dress for the occasion, no matter the cost. She'll have the room for it too after she cleans out her wardrobe. At the show, she's kind of bored, but passionate enough about you to loudly shush anyone talking.

-~-~-

Hello! I am doing well, 🌙, thank you for asking. I hope you are doing well too! With my @ask-sdv blog now open for asks, I'd really love it if people took the time to send stuff in. And this time with all the free time I've got I'll be able to actually get to them on time, haha... Anyways, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

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not-poignant · 5 months

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Stain is such a great story, Alex and Sebastian have made so much progress understanding each other, and I'm excited for their relationship to continue to develop (not just physically... but okay really excited for that too!!)

Wondering what gave you the inspiration and what you like most about the Alex/Sebastian pairing, or any other thoughts about Stardew Valley as a fandom you want to share!

Honestly the thing that inspired me the most was just playing the game! :D

I have nearly 1800 hours in Stardew Valley, and that's like...what I would call a few hours to just daydream about all the characters. And me being the multi-shipping fiend that I am, I do also just like to imagine all the characters in relationships with each other.

I'm not someone who really cares about my farmer (or PC) in the central romance, which is why I don't write this in video games that have you as a player character! I didn't do that for Stuck on the Puzzle, or The Wind that Cuts the Night, or Palmarosa. I don't actually care as much about whoever I'm romancing, I care more about what relationships can happen between other characters.

And I think because I daydream about that, rather than my farmer character (or me) with the NPCs, that gives me like a lot of time to think of different things.

I started daydreaming about Sebastian as a top several years ago, he had that energy to me even like 2 years before I romanced him (the amount of times I've romanced Alex is criminal at this point). I sometimes imagined him with like Sam, but mostly Alex. I also imagined him being good goth literature friends with Elliott lol

Even in The Wind that Cuts the Night I have Sebastian as a top with the farmer :D

I don't actually get that involved with the fandom in general. I've tried a few times, and some of the fanart is incredible (and the MODS omg), but I've never really loved any of the SDV fic that I've read (or more accurately: skimmed). I don't like farmer/NPC pairings. The vast majority of people wrote Sebastian as a bottom (or a fluffy vanilla top which is somehow worse) in m/m like 4-5 years ago and I'm too tired to check how much that's changed.

Alex actually gets a lot of hate in the fandom - at least amongst most of the queer players - and seeing a character who is a victim of child abuse treated like that just kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth (it seemed to be based around Alex's initial rudeness, which doesn't last nearly as long as Shane's, who was hero-worshipped long before he got his whole storyline, because he wasn't romanceable for years).

So I really avoid the fandom, and I couldn't tell you who's writing the most popular fics or the most popular pairings or anything like that. I don't look into the tags, and almost all the fanart I've ever shared here or at @capillata has been shared to me by someone else first.

So yeah the answer is mostly just that I daydream a lot and I've had many many hours to do it in! :D

I like Alex/Sebastian as a pairing mostly because I've always just liked troped opposites in enemies to lovers. The jock vs. the goth nerd has been a long-term media troped opposition romance pairing, and even outside of romances, is often shown as 'oppositional.' Many people even have memories of that in their school experience.

To me, the idea that Alex is always shown as completely alone (sans Haley or grandparents), and that Sebastian is nearly always shown with friends when he's not being like... deeply moody in a goth way, was really fascinating to me. ConcernedApe was already working hard to say 'this isn't what you think it is' even within the game. Alex is the one who apologises to you for being so desperate and also unrealistic about his sporting/goth abilities. Sebastian is the one who already has a job and is incredibly social - he's in a band that regularly practices and even performs outside of his hometown, he regularly plays TTRPGs with friends, and he regularly goes to the bar and plays pool and hangs out with friends. He's not a 'loner nerd.' He is hands down the most popular and social person in Stardew Valley who you can romance, outside of Sam, who is the same amount of popular. Like, Sebastian is literally a socialite social butterfly who is successful and charismatic and rides a motorbike. Subversion pretty fucking successful on that trope :D

To me, the game gives us the set up to a bullies-to-lovers scenario just by giving us the trope, and then subverting the trope. I always kind of liked that, but could never imagine writing it, until I aged them up and had Sebastian and Alex both mentally kind of growing up a little.

All right that's enough rambling from me! It's time to make lunch. But yeah, that's basically sadlfkjas er the sum of it (I say after rambling for ages)

#asks and answers #personal #a stain that won't dissolve #thespectaclesofthor #the long and short of it is really 'the game and daydreaming about the game'#that's usually where most of my game-inspired fics come from dsalfkjasd #i am very pedestrian that way

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stardropsaloongossiptrain · 8 months

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SDV Headcanons pt 1

-- Elliott comes from money. His family wanted him to become a lawyer like they are traditionally, but he chose to leave and write instead. He has a small trust fund they gave him because even though they were very disappointed and things are very strained, his family didn't want him to end up in a bad way.

-- Elliott used the trust to buy the cabin, but nothing else. His living expenses are covered by small cash prizes and writing grants until his novel takes off. Before the novel, he published a lot of poetry and short stories.

-- Shane was a minor league gridball player briefly but his career was short lived.

-- He likes Alex but is annoyed that he isn't pushing for his dream more. He knows you aren't recruited just standing around.

-- Sebastian has strong opinions about emo and what does and doesn't count, and will list a bunch of obscure bands, but his listening history is like 80% MCR and the Used

-- Kent taught Sam guitar when he was a kid, but his hands shake too bad for him to play anymore.

-- Pam used to sing professionally briefly. Her career never went anywhere, but it's how she met Penny's dad

-- Emily and Haley are distantly related to the Witch

--Harvey only has a mustache because for the life of him he cannot grow a beard. He has tried multiple things to encourage beard growth. Will absolutely say he thinks the mustache on its own it the most fashionable

-- the second Lewis lets down his guard Marlon is sweeping Marnie off her fucking feet

-- literally everyone already knows they're together they're too polite to call them on it

#sdv headcanons #stardew valley #sdv hcs #some of these i think are v common

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stardewvalleyficrecs · 3 years

Link

i've done everything and i've been everywhere you know

By polyproticamory

It took a few years of sunrise-to-sunset work, but Hana turned the overgrown fields of Illumine Acres into the organic farm of her dreams. After she fixed the community center with the help of the Junimos and set up the farm to pretty much run itself, she shifted her attention to the rest of Pelican Town—especially a certain red-haired writer on the beach.

Words: 11488 Chapters: 5/11 Language: English

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/M

Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)

Relationship: Elliott/Female Player (Stardew Valley)

Characters: Elliott (Stardew Valley), Sam (Stardew Valley), Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Leah (Stardew Valley), Shane (Stardew Valley), Abigail (Stardew Valley)

Additional Tags: Secret Crush, Pining

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micechicken · 3 years

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Based on something that a friend experienced.

#my art #stardew valley #sdv #sdv leah #sdv farmer #stardew leah #stardew farmer #if you are a little confused it seemed like she drank the water from the fish tank #as she was staring at it when the player talked to her #also the fact that I tend to go after Elliott and someone I know goes after Leah is funny to me #for something I sketched for a joke this took forever

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pokemonruby · 6 years

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i hope everyone is having a good evening! i’m playing stardew valley. about to finish up my 2nd year! rn my goals are to A. befriend all of the townspeople and B. construct new buildings so i’m trying to save up hardwood & other resources. also get rich.

#my farm is not like. spectacular like most avid sdv players but #i'm enjoying myself nonetheless & that's all that matters!#i'll have to draw my farmer sometime bc he's such a cutie . his name is juniper and he's gay 4 elliott and has an adorable fashion sense #celestial records.#i love talking about sdv like. other than pokemon this is my favorite game

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stardewstrawberry · 2 years

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Ppl: "Elliott is in his early thirties!" Me: : || Awww booo... no <3 Honestly, I think it's almost weirder how many people guess that the younger bachelors, and bachelorettes are only in their early twenties or even TEENS???? If you skew it all towards the "barely adult" side of things, of course they'll assume guys like Shane, Elliott, and Harvey are barely out of their late twenties. (Maybe I'm biased, or just a bit weirded out, but I imagine the youngest B to be like 23-24 for my own sanity.)

yes i agree! there was a really good comment (sorry i can’t remember who/where) on one of my posts saying that a lot of the people who play sdv are younger, so it’s easier for them to imagine the bachelors as close to their age, but obviously older players are going to imagine the bachelors as their age, because dating a teenager as an adult is gross

#stardew valley #sdv #ask #anon

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amberskywrites · 4 years

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Thunderstrike At Midnight

Masterpost

Pairing: Elliott x Male Farmer (my oc Julian)

Fandom / Genre: Stardew Valley / Fluff

Summary: Elliott's afraid of thunderstorms, and receives a surprise visit from his boyfriend when his birthday turns out to have the kind of weather he despises.

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Elliott flinches as thunder rolls over the valley once again, biting the end of his pencil to try and distract himself. The normally soothing sound of waves was drowned out by the steady downpour, not that the waves would have made the writer any more relaxed, crashing against the docks and no matter how many terrible days like this they have in the valley, and Elliott knows it won't happen, he still thinks the docks will break.

He lets out a soft sigh, running a hand through his unusually tangled locks. He refused to go outside when it was raining like this, with lightning striking every other minute.

Elliott was exaggerating a bit, but it certainly felt like it, and Elliott was starting to lose focus on his work. Not that he'd gotten much done, editing his novel.

Groaning, Elliott let his head fall to his desk, and he scrunched his eyes closed as he tried to ignore the next round of thunder, but it was difficult when the entire cabin seemed to tremble and his shoulders hunched even further.

He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath until he heard a knock on his door, startling him enough to make him yelp. Swallowing, he wondered who in their right mind would ever decide going outside on a day like this as reasonable. But still, Elliott stood on shaky legs and answered.

His eyes widened at the soaked farmer in front of him, Julian grinning wide as he bounced on his heels. "May I come in?" He asks, tugging on his backpack straps. Elliott nodded immediately, almost dragging his boyfriend inside the little cabin.

"What in the name of Yoba were you doing out there?" Elliott questioned, staring as Julian stripped off his jacket and muddied boots to not drag it into Elliott's home.

"I wanted to visit! Also, happy birthday!" Julian opened his bag and pulled out a basket - how it fit inside Elliott did not know - full of fresh pomegranates. It took Elliott a minute to register his words, the basket being pushed into his hands.

"Oh, Julian, these look wonderful!" Pink dusted Elliott's cheeks as he looked back up to Julian, smiling a bit in embarrassment. "Thank you."

Julian rolled his eyes fondly. "You were that in the zone, you forgot today was your own birthday, huh?"

Elliott felt his cheeks warm up more, because that would have probably been the case if Elliott could just relax, but he couldn't-

A bright flash and the sound of lightning striking not far made Elliott jump without meaning to, colliding into Julian who was equally surprised. Julian didn't push him away, arms wrapping around Elliott and pulling him closer. The thunder that followed was much louder, and Elliott couldn't stop the muffled groan that left his lips as he buried his face into Julian's neck. Julian frowned, feeling Elliott tremble against him.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently, bringing one hand up to run through Elliott's hair, quickly getting caught on a knot. Elliott took a few moments to respond, still practically clinging to Julian. Julian was, surprisingly, very warm, but also very grounding for Elliott.

"I really, really hate storms," he mumbled, and Julian hummed softly. Silence encased them, only disturbed by the rain steadily beating against Elliott's cabin. The writer felt his boyfriend press a kiss to his temple, rubbing Elliott's back slow but comfortingly with one hand as his other massaged Elliott's scalp.

"How 'bout I stay here for the night?" Julian finally asks, and Elliott pulls back, blinking at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Stay here, with you. If you're okay with that, of course." Julian moved Elliott's hair out of his face, tucking some behind Elliott's ear as he waited for Elliott to respond.

Elliott's cheeks were now a light red but he nodded, and Julian smiled warmly, pulling Elliott close again. When the lightning struck again, Elliott had closed his eyes and felt Julian's hands wrap around him tightly, protectively. Then he felt a shift as he was pulled down onto the bed with Julian, laughing softly when Julian nearly fell off Elliott's smaller bed.

They both got comfortable as the thunder rang out, and although Elliott still tensed, he didn't stay that way for long as Julian started to untangle his hair carefully with his fingers.

The duo stayed up late into the night, talking above the rain until they could hardly keep their eyes open and both fell asleep, cuddled close.

#Stardew valley #sdv #sdv elliott #stardew valley elliott #sdv farmer #sdv player #farmer julian #fanfic #Stardew valley fanfic #amberskywrites #ambersky oc #ambersky #fluff #tw thunderstorms

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disastergay · 3 years

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I wanna hear your sdv headcanons...

okay alright so

emily is a lesbian

yes I know any player can romance emily regardless of gender, but have you seen sandy

shane, haley, and abigail are chubby, and I will die on this hill

maru and penny would be an unstoppable power couple

autistic harvey (planes are his special interest)

leah is nonbinary and sebastian is trans

elliott is a crybaby when it comes to sad movies, but shane is much worse

once a month, sam steals fresh grapes from jojamart and brings them home to his little brother

clint is a recovering incel

leo, my precious autistic bird son, develops crushes on both vincent and jas for helping him study

if the farmer/player didn’t exist/doesn’t romance abigail, sebastian, or sam, they’ll all end up in a polycule eventually

sebastian is the only person in town who uses google, therefore the only one besides leah who knows what 'bisexual’ means (which they both are)

marlon would sweep marnie off her feet if he got the chance, fuck you mayor lewis you don’t deserve a woman like that

the blue-haired mermaid has a crush on leah and likes watching her draw the tide pools in the summer

caroline and pierre divorce on amicable terms, and she starts up her own local tea shop that everyone loves to visit

the wizard eventually figures out *what probably happened* and decides to take on abigail as his apprentice

#sdv #stardew valley #sdv spoilers #asks #sdv headcanons

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what-the-witch-stuff · 3 years

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Allright. Elliott thread that nobody asked for. Part 2

Missing something? : Here is Part 1

Lets start with what we know or what has already been discussed

What, I think, is already well established (maybe canon), is that Elliott wants to be seen in a certain way. His portrait in-game shows him in profile. That's most likely done because it is his 'good' side, which highlights his luxurious hair and striking facial features. To me, it's a game design decision to foreshadow certain character traits of his. Some people, quite understandably, don't like this depiction of him.

Firstly, it does look kind of weird and it does make him come across as self-absorbed and arrogant. And I certainly see where this interpretation is coming from. Through the profile depiction, he is merely "side-eying“ us. His main focus is not the player when we talk to him. He is concerned with „more pressing“ things, from which we are interrupting him. I like the: "omg-its his chocolate side! And does he not look so~ dramatic by gazing into the distance, wind in his hair?“ - interpretation better. But yes, there can be many possibilities on why his portrail is the way it is.

That does not mean, the more negatively tainted view on Elliott's character is wrong. Yes, he is actually vain in many ways. We know that he spends a lot of time on his hair because he tells the player so, at one point in the friendship/dating arc. The way he dresses is weird (!), even for the game setting. Sdv plays in a quasi-modern reality that seems to be technologically advanced in ways similar to our world. I think Joja is the fictional Amazon or something? So even to the ppl in Pelikan Town, Elliott's get-up probably looks like a victorian costume as well. There is some common "joke" in fics, where a character or the narrator points out, that Elliott looks like he stumbled out of a Jane Austen novel. NEVER SAY THAT TO HIS FACE. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS. HE WILL LOVE IT AND YOU WILL ONLY ENCOURAGE HIM TO DO EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS STUFF. I read ff's in which Elliott is embarrassed about the way he talks and looks and just cannot help himself. Or how it is part of his upbringing or his social standing from where he comes from.

Disclaimer: That is completely fine! You do whatever headcanons you like! This is just me doing a written TED Talk.

I am doing rhetoric.

I actually don't care.

Like him sticking out like a sore thumb in this little town is giving him great grieve and that he just wants to live his life or whatever. To which I say: My lads that is not true!!!!

Everything he does is done so intentionally. He talks the way he talks because how else would you know that he is an author???. Well, of course, because that is the first thing he will say about himself. Sure. But how else would.You.KNOW???

_____________________________________

After my beautysleep, that did absolutely nothing, here you go:

Part 3

#stardew valley #stardew elliott #stardew valley elliott #sdv elliott #elliot stardew valley #stardew valley headcanons #i regret nothing #i have way too much time on my hands

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hibiscustea9 · 3 years

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Welcome to Tumblr! Curious to know who your favorite Stardew character(s) is, and why? I'm not going to automatically assume it is Elliott and/or Sebastian, haha

- a fan of your SDV fic

Thank you for the warm welcome! Oh, this is a tough one, because there are so many great characters in Stardew Valley. I’m going to break them apart into marriage candidates versus non-marriage candidates, because I feel like those are two entirely separate categories. Also, just because someone isn’t on this list doesn’t mean I don’t like that character, it just means he or she isn’t one of my very favorites. (Also, these aren’t in any particular ranked order - I like all the ones I’m listing about equally)

Marriage candidates:

Sebastian. Sebastian was the very first character I married in Stardew on my first save file nearly five years ago. In many ways, he’s the character who’s closest to my RL husband, who also has depression and anxiety but who is a very loving person underneath the gruff exterior. I appreciate Sebastian’s slow evolution from being walled off away from everyone and everything (literally at the start of the game - it’s damn frustrating trying to get him up to two hearts so you can go in his room) to slowly opening up to you more and talking about his desires and wants and fears. After marriage, he has beautiful dialogue where he admits his mental health isn’t always the best, but not to doubt that he always loves you. So great.

Elliott. Yes, I’m going with the obvious two off the bat. I actually didn’t pay much attention to Elliott the first few games I played through. I got him through his heart events because I was being a completionist and wanted to see everyone’s heart events, but he was so out of the way on the beach most of the time that I didn’t pay him much heed. Then in my third game, I decided to try something new and started pursuing Elliott early on, and oh, man. He’s so great. He is hands down the best post-marriage spouse with how affectionate and loving and kind he is all the time (and he has some great moments of unexpected humor, like his line about the million iridium bars). I do understand where his loquaciousness can be a bit off-putting to some, but I find him to be an absolute joy, and one of the kindest characters in the game. (Also, the first Winter Star after we got married, Elliott was my secret gift-giver and he gave me a glow ring, which made my heart completely fall out of my chest and go splat on the ground.)

Emily. Come on, who doesn’t love Emily? She’s completely bonkers, but she has such a good heart. One of my favorite cutscenes of every character in Stardew is when Emily meets her friend the parrot and talks to him about how they’re both different and the ones around them don’t understand. Like Sebastian and Elliott, Emily is a bit of an outsider, even though she’s around people all the time. But she has such joy for life and for experiencing everything that I find her to be one of the most satisfying marriage candidates.

Maru. Maru’s awesome. She’s a great balance of being serious about her experiments and her robotics and yet such a dreamer about the future and what she might do. I feel like she gets overlooked way too much, even though she’s probably got the best head on her shoulders of any of the marriage candidates. In a town full of people who don’t know what they want, Maru’s got a clear, strong direction she wants to head in. That alone puts her in a category by herself, but she’s also such a good, kind-hearted person as we can see in the MARILDA scene. She’s got the best combination of her dad’s scientific mind and her mom’s work ethic and compassion.

Non-marriage candidates:

Robin. ConcernedApe knew what he was doing making Robin the first character the farmer meets in game. Not only does she always make efforts to reach out to the player and ensure he or she is part of the community (extending invitations to come visit, making sure everything’s going well on the farm), but she’s a loving, caring mom and wife, she looks out for the rest of the community, and she’s got a snarky side I really appreciate.

Gus. I adore Gus. I didn’t know quite what to make of him at first because he seemed to be almost a Gunther- or Marlon-level NPC who virtually never went out from his business, but then Linus’s first heart event happened and I realized how much Gus cares about other people and wants to take care of them. He’s always cooking massive amounts of food for everyone at all the festivals, ensures everyone has enough to eat, and is incredibly gentle and kind.

Linus. Speaking of Linus, who was my first-ever five-star friend, he is a total treasure. Like some of my other favorites, he’s definitely a little different, but there are a lot of layers to Linus. He’s clearly a very intelligent guy, well-read, empathetic, resourceful, and kind. He is wary of the farmer, but it’s explained that he has to be because of how he’s been treated in the past, and when he does open up to you, it’s clear how meaningful your friendship is to him.

Marnie. The first time I played Stardew, I was incredibly annoyed by Marnie because I could never get her schedule straight and would always swing by the ranch only to realize she wasn’t there. But the more I got to know her and found out how much she cares about animals and other people, I really grew a new appreciation for her. As with Robin and Gus and Linus, Marnie is incredibly compassionate and doesn’t ask for much for herself. And also, I love her happy dance. The fact that we see it both when the community center re-opens and at the player’s wedding shows that she’s genuinely happy when good things happen to other people.

Thanks for the question and for reading “Fire Walk with Me”! I’m in the process of working on the last couple scenes in the next chapter now and it should be up tomorrow for New Year’s Day.

#ask ht9 #stardew valley

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wellship · 4 years

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Hello hi I just wanted to say I am absolutely here for Leah and Haley being girlfriends... hippie artist and pretty fashion girl??? Match made in heaven. Thank you. My crops are watered.

LISTEN…….. You have hereby given me permission to wall-of-text about why I love this ship so much lmao…

I already started off loving Haley because she’s IMO the best bachelorette in the game. I love not only how she grows as a character (compared to some of the others who can feel stagnant, even though I love them all too) but how her “growth” doesn’t mean that she sacrifices her personality completely.She was the first villager I ever romanced playing SDV because I was curious to see how she would be written and I was so, so pleasantly surprised. It’s so easy and common for characters like Haley to either stay as a shallow caricature of a “mean, girly girl” forever as a punching-bag for the writers’ projections, OR for her to do a complete 180 as if being girly, or interested in fashion, or not academic are bad traits to be “fixed” in order for the character to become likeable - especially since this was essentially a first-person dating sim, which often plays into the fantasy where a mean girl is turned into a totally pacified wifey-type by the (usually male) PC. I was fully expecting and bracing for Haley to go from being a caricature of a “mall brat” Mean Girl to being a caricature of an “I’m not like other girls” Cool Girl (or worse, “I’m so glad I Grew Up and realised all I need in my life is my hubby!”, but I wasn’t quite getting that vibe from SDV).

But that didn’t happen. Major props to CA for creating a character who DID grow and learn to appreciate things outside of her little bubble without feeling the need to abandon/criticise the things she used to like. She learns that shopping/makeup/boys (wink) etc. aren’t the only important things in her life, and she expands her horizons, but those things are still important to her. As someone who’s also interested in fashion and makeup it was refreshing to see those hobbies still portrayed in a positive light as opposed to something she had to “move past”.

So. Anyway. That’s why I love Haley so much and why I particularly like a narrative of her discovering she’s a wlw (thank you Stardew Valley for watering MY crops by giving everyone canon bi~ reads) as it ties in with her growing and maturing as a person.

And so when I looked at the roster of girls in Stardew Valley I felt like Leah was the best one to complement her character in a relationship:

Haley’s biggest obstacle in her life right now is that she’s very sheltered and, as a result, a little spoiled. Her parents are globe-trotting and her older sister has been left to look after her. The age gap between the sisters doesn’t seem to be that big and Emily isn’t very confrontational at the best of times, so I think she just took the path of least resistance, which was to do everything herself rather than argue with Haley who still sees her as a peer and not an authority figure.Leah, conversely, has had to become extremely independent and self-sufficient, very recently. Her narrative plot line about leaving an (if not abusive, then at least implied to be toxic/unhealthy) relationship and a position where she was “comfortable” but unhappy is very fresh and it’s exactly where Haley needs to be. Leah is in a prime position to, basically, give Haley a kick up the rear and tell her to get her act together, but without it coming off as too sanctimonious or parental since Leah is still going through it and learning herself. Two young adults navigating their way through adulthood and pulling each other along rather than one grabbing the other by the hand and “fixing” them.

The flipside of this is that Leah is in her position through choice, which she was privileged to be able to make. She CHOSE to leave behind a life in the big city and a stable career to pursue the aesthetic of living in a little country cabin and making art all day. Haley wants the opposite, but can’t make it happen. Haley would KILL to be able to pack up her life and move to the city to pursue her dreams - Fashion? Photography? Fashion photography? - but she can’t. She’s sheltered because she has everything provided for her in Pelican Town, but that doesn’t translate to having the same opportunities for forward momentum as Leah. Her parents aren’t implied to be very supportive of her dreams, so they’re not going to fund a move for her, and we constantly see that there are limited employment opportunities in Pelican Town unless she wants to work for minimum wage at Joja. So she’s kind of stuck. Narratively, we’re supposed to see Leah’s desire to move from the city to the country as a positive story arc (because it mirrors the player’s) while we’re supposed to see Haley’s desire to move from the country to the city as somehow being shallow or consumerist, and I think Leah herself would fall into the trap of thinking that way, which would be eye-opening for her.When you look at it, their narratives mirror each other. It’s easy to say that Haley is spoiled and out of touch with the “real world”, but Leah is also out of touch with reality in that not everyone can do what she did. I like Leah a lot and I’m not saying her life or her decisions were easy - and she definitely does seem to be genuinely “roughing it” and struggling for money when we meet her in-game - but she still got there by choice and she still does have a safety net of sorts, since it’s implied she could probably get re-hired in whatever lucrative field she worked in before moving. Haley doesn’t have that - her “safety net” of her parents’ house and her sister only works to support her as long as she stays put.I can see this being a really delicious and rewarding narrative point between them as they started to get to know each other, because I think they would probably HATE each other at first, lol. Leah would think Haley was childish and represented everything she disliked about “fake” city living while Haley would think Leah was pretentious and ungrateful.

Also I definitely love that hippie girl/mall girl contrast BUT please consider - Haley is also an artist and I think they’d both “get” each other on that level. Nobody in town considers Haley an artist. Leah is a “real” artist, a fine artist and a sculptor. Elliott is a “real” artist by way of being an author. Emily is a “real” artist for her sewing and… y’know… general aura. Those are defining aspects of their character. But to the other people in town, and even to the player, art is not one of Haley’s notable features. Her photography is just a throwaway idea. She’s the shallow, frilly, pink, bubblegum-scented boy-crazy “girly girl” who just also happens to take photos sometimes.But photography is serious TO HALEY. It’s pretty much the only thing she does around town other than wandering aimlessly. She has some pretty impressive equipment and she even builds a dark room for herself, either implicitly converting it from a walk-in wardrobe (which demonstrates how she sees her own priorities, regardless of how others see her) OR she builds it from scratch, which is even more dedicated. I think Leah is the best person in town to recognise that Haley is also an artist who’s dedicated to her craft and probably the only person to really encourage her to pursue it, to tell her that it’s worthwhile and not just some silly hobby. Leah would be able to see a lot of her own internal struggles over art in Haley, about whether it was “good enough”.

Conversely if there’s one thing Haley has which Leah lacks, it’s confidence. Leah is full of self-doubt about her art, her life choices, etc. whereas Haley’s main issue is apathy; once she finds something she’s actually passionate about, she’s very self-assured. I think once they broke the ice and started to become friends, if Leah expressed even a smidgen of self-doubt Haley would shut it down with very over-the-top but sincere pep talks.

I also just think their personalities contrast well, lol. Haley is extremely blunt but she’s not really trying to be rude, it’s just that the things she say often come from a sheltered perspective (i.e. “appearance is important to me” -> “[my concept of] appearance is important to everyone” -> “I should tell people if they’re doing Appearance wrong”). Leah on the other hand is very casual and polite but also hard to offend. She’s mostly content to let the odd comment roll off her back, but as we’ve seen with Kel, she’s also not afraid to tell people off when they’re being inconsiderate, which is what Haley needs - someone who won’t ditch her for putting her foot in her mouth, like most would/do, but also someone who won’t just enable her to stay sheltered.

Also in the context of this being a wlw ship/narrative, I think Haley would need a partner who was comfortable in their own sexuality since Haley (and her thematic counterpart Alex) are both extremely stuck in compulsive heterosexuality and sort of need a partner who… isn’t? Or else they’d just get sucked into a “will-they-won’t-they” vortex for a million years where neither of them know how to make the first move. Leah is the only bachelor(ette) who by default has any canonical LGBTQ relationship before the farmer, and that energy just translates well for Haley, IMO. I think if Haley found out Leah was a wlw then it would force Haley to reconsider her assumptions about her own sexuality.

Leah would go absolutely googoo gaga over Haley IMO and it’s just fun to picture her at the start of their interactions being like “god dammit she annoys me so much but DAMB .. .. .. girl pretty”

I doubt anyone read all of this but I HAD FUN and I’m really really glad to see such a positive response to that art!! I would love it if more people started shipping and making content for them 👀

#Anonymous #Stardew Valley #long post #text

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