"Trying my best"-Stardew Valley

The Meeting

It's had been a couple weeks since Toby had moved into pelican town, and he was doing pretty good! Sure he hadn't really introduced himself to anyone other than the shopkeeper (Pierre, maybe? Possibly Peter? Toby was terrible at remembering names, anyways). But he'd cleared away a lot of weeds and debris scattered around the farm, and chopped down all but a handfull of trees! Maybe it would be a good idea to go visit the saloon Mayor Lewis had talked about, he'd saved up some money from his last couple harvests, so he could reward himself with a nice meal and introduce himself to some of the townsfolk.

It was about 6pm when Toby finally made his way to the Stardrop Saloon. It was kind of late for him, but he was hungry and didn't plan to stay long. He wandered in through the heavy oak door, and was met with a rather small group of people. There was Gus, the owner and chef of the Saloon (he seemed kind),Pam (who was a regular, and reminded Toby of an old tv show he used to watch as a child), Emily (who worked part time, and had bright blue hair) and a woman named Leah, who Toby didn't really talk to, she seemed busy with a sketch she was working on.

Toby was having an nice time, chatting to people and eating his food, when he noticed a man sitting in the corner, right beside the fireplace. He went up to the stranger to introduce himself.
"Hello! I'm-"
"Why are you talking to me? I don't know you."

... Ouch.

Toby hurriedly walked back to his half eaten meal and hunched over, feeling pretty self-conscious (that was a stupid thing to do.)
Emily took notice of the conversation (if it could count as such) and tried to comfort the man.
"Don't mind Shane, he's like that to everyone."
Silence.
"If you want to get on his good side, maybe buy him a beer? That's what he usually orders."
Toby cheered up a little. He immediately bought a beer and took it over to Shane, wordlessly passing it over to him.Shane raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you."

Toby silently smiled, paid for his food and then left.
Shane sighed to himself.
"Well that was weird."

It was a few days later after Toby first visited the saloon, and after buying some seeds at Pierre's when he noticed a calender on the bulletin hour right next to the entrance. Out of curiousity he wandered over to it and looked at it. It was Shane's Birthday today (Huh, I'll have to tell him happy birthday). Maybe Toby could buy him a pizza? Toby normally had pizza on his birthday, and who didn't like pizza?

Shane was sitting around his room like he usually did when he didn't have work. He'd finished his share of household chores so it's not like he had much to do, he didn't really have friends outside of Marnie's chickens and Jas (and Marnie herself of course). But Marnie and Jas were family, did they really count? Would trying to make friends even be worth it? Everything he does goes wrong anyways, so why bother?Shane realised with a start that it was already past 6, and that he was really craving a nice, cold beer.

By the time Shane had gotten to the saloon and sat in his usual spot with a drink in hand, Toby had already walked over with a fresh pepperoni pizza.
"Happy Birthday! Do you want some pizza?"
Shane looked at the pizza and back at Toby, he looked so exited to be giving Shane a pizza. Honestly Shane was exited too, he rarely had enough money to buy a pizza straight from the oven (and even when he did, he'd normally just buy beer instead).
"You remembered my birthday? I'm impressed. Thank you!"
Toby grinned happily and again walked away and out of the saloon, leaving Shane confused and with an entire pizza all to himself.

It had been a couple hours since Toby had been to the Saloon, he had decided to stay up late and try his hand at fishing (which he wasn't very good at). He'd finally gotten bored of trying to catch anything other than algae, and it was time to head home. He decided to take the route past Marnie's farm, Toby doubted it was any faster than his usual route, but the lake looked nice at night.

Toby made his way home rather slowly, it wasn't like he was in a rush. His dog was asleep inside his cottage and had already been fed, so why hurry? As Toby walked Marnie's house he noticed a humanoid shape sitting at the end of the pier. Toby decided to go check it out. As he got closer he noticed it was Shane,staring out across the water with a six-pack of what Toby assumed was beer.
"Oh, hi Toby"
"Hello."
Toby sat himself down next to the other man.
"Buh, life.Here, have a cold one."
Toby accepted the can. He was thirsty, and he'd been taught that refusing gifts was rude, anyways.
Both parties sat in silence for a moment, before Shane spoke.
"Do... Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, you're gonna fail?"
Toby said nothing.
"Like your stuck in a hole so deep you can't even see the light of day?"
Toby downed his can of beer, he knew exactly what Shane was talking about. Not that he really wanted to share that with anyone.
"Fast drinker, eh? Man after my own heart"
Toby again didn't answer.
"Just don't make it a habit, you've still got a life ahead of you."
"Welp, my liver's begging me to stop. Better call it a night." And with that Shane walked away, leaving Toby sitting there, thinking to himself

A:N

Whoo, first chapter finished!! Sorry if the details are wrong, this is mostly about how I perceive the world of Stardew Valley (and also I'm almost falling asleep as I'm writing this, whoops lol)

I hope anyone who reads this enjoys, and even if nobody reads this I'm going to continue because I can <3