Stars Align: Don't Give a Flying Pig (Stardew Valley/My Time Crossover)

Don't Give a Flying Pig

Sunshine invaded Sebastian's eyes when he stepped outside his dark basement bedroom. An arm shot up, shielding his eyes from the onslaught as he headed into the kitchen, where he was greeted by Maru's cheerful face, which only resulted in him frowning even more.

He shook his head, not bothering to look out the kitchen window at the glistening lake just outside of the home his mother built with her own two hands; personally not in the mood for the tranquility of the valley, the "lie" that kept plaguing him, making him want to leave. Instead, he dropped some pieces of bread into the toaster while waiting for his late lunch.

"So, about my project."

Sebastian's head snapped up. His mouth opened slightly upon realizing Maru, his half-sister, was looking right at him. "What? What about your project?"

Maru started rambling, not paying attention to her older brother's lack of interest beyond the fact he knew when the rambling stopped, she would expect him to fetch whatever items she needed for her project, which she often listed off as she rambled, making ignoring her, not an option. His eyes started drifting to the window momentarily, only to shoot back as the bright sunlight made him want to crawl back into the dark hole of his basement room.

The radio clicked on as she rambled, part of her early morning routine, making Sebastian wonder how he'd gotten up so early. He shook his head, unexpectedly interrupting her rambling. "Maru, have you ever wondered about what came before?"

"What are you talking about?" Maru murmured, her head tilting as her eyes twinkled with curiosity.

"You know. The old-world tech. The buried stuff," Sebastian said, his body tensing, knowing full well if they started talking about old-world tech—if it was a shared interest...

"Why?" Maru said, turning up the radio. "Old-world tech is boring."

The tension in his body broke, his eyes looking away as his jaw clenched together, his fingers tightening around the edge of the counter, saying nothing rather than going off into his ramble.

"Look. It's not as if they'd have anything of interest," Maru said as his toast popped up, and he started buttering the pieces to flee back to his room. "I mean, it's old, while what I'm doing is new and innovative."

"I don't see what's so innovative about your research," Sebastian snapped, continuing to butter his toast, refusing to look out the window at the bright, peaceful valley.

Maru let her annoyance at what he said be heard, which made him imagine she'd just rolled her eyes at him. "A.I., of course. And plenty more."

Sebastian let out a sigh, turning to leave when—

"The fight against the Gotoro Empire..." His hand reached out, turning off the radio as a cold sweat broke up and down his back.

"Hey!" Maru said. "I was listening to that!"

"You can finish listening to it once I'm back in my room," Sebastian muttered, grabbing his toast and almost taking the butter and knife with him, only to step back and drop them unceremoniously onto the table as Maru scolded him about acting like he was twenty-four-years old. He ignored her and left the room.

...

"Meet the pigs, Sargent."

Kent grimaced, stiffening upon hearing one of the lower-ranking officers refer to the rag-tag unit from the former Alliance of Free Cities pigs. "I don't think calling our allies pigs is appropriate."

His hands tightened around the papers his commanding officers gave him, slowly taking in the group in question, letting out a deep breath at how disorganized the group appeared to be.