A Life More Ordinary Ch. 02

Author's note: Welcome to chapter 2 of this Stardew Valley story! I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. By way of a content warning, it features intersex characters, large to massive breasts, oral sex, a tenuous grasp of modern fashion design, incestuous relationships, large cumshots, horrifically purple prose, a lot of non-sexual content, mild Socialist leanings, and most importantly, an amateurish ability to write sexy scenes. These warnings will be updated per chapter as necessary. If any of these are of little interest to you, the reader, I offer my apologies.

Disclaimer: All characters engaging in sexual activity are at least 18 years of age.

*****

Chapter 2: Meetings, Messages, and That Dragon, Capitalism

Kaylia awoke with a start as the skies above began to open. The rain was cool, but not as cold as she would have expected for an early spring rain. It was still quite dark out, and she slowly made her way to the pile of clothes by the southern pond. She took her time gathering her things and making her way back to the cottage, the rain washing the sticky remains of her incredible orgasm away. She laid the clothes over the dining chair and set it a few feet in front of the fireplace, hoping the heat from the dying embers would dry them out. She climbed into the creaky bed and wrapped herself in the blankets. Before long, sleep claimed her once again.

*****

Spring 3, Year 1

The rain was expected to continue through most of the day, but would make way for clear skies tomorrow, or so said the morning weather report. Kay had casually flipped the television on for the first time since arriving in town, and the local morning show was acceptably pleasant and low-key. She realized she should probably pay attention to at least the weather report on a daily basis, and the ads for nightly reruns of Queen of Sauce sounded like a great way to end the day, but she otherwise tuned out the box as she got ready.

She regarded the large assortment of seeds she had gathered from yesterday's clearing work. Acorns, rock pine cones, and maple seeds from the logging; and a broad variety of Goddess knew what from the small shrubs and other undergrowth. Kay figured the random seeds would be good filler if she wanted to have crops in the ground, though she wasn't sure what she'd get. The tree seeds presented a solution to a different sort of problem, as Kay started fashioning them into field rations. She had learned this trick on the battlefield, where such rations were nutritious, energizing, and woefully necessary in the absence of a proper resupply.

She stored them in a chest along with her tools, one of a pair she had cobbled together the day previous. The other was just outside the cabin and currently held the bounty of her space-clearing: fiber bundles, jars of sap she had collected from trees otherwise labeled for demolition, another large pile of assorted seeds, and a surprising amount of anthracite and bituminous coal left over from rock-smashing. She'd even found a lump of copper ore randomly, and had wondered about what to do with it.

Kay thought about the day ahead of her. She didn't need to water the field, the rain would graciously shoulder that task. She knew some additional logging would likely be the most productive use of her time, but not in this weather. She eyed the fishing pole and decided a bit of angling was in order. She grabbed it and, passing the chest outside, also the copper nugget. She still needed to meet the blacksmith, this seemed a good opportunity for it.

After trying her hand at catching some fish, anyway.

*****

"Turn this way, something about that line still doesn't look right."

Haley shifted on the box as Emily looked at her sister's reflection in the array of mirrors before them. Emily had developed serious skill as a seamstress over the past year, thanks in no small part to Haley. The sisters discovered a shared passion for haute couture, and they eagerly collaborated on all manner of dresses, gowns, tunics, blouses, pants, suits, pantsuits, and hats. While they both involved with design, Emily was a master of production and tailoring, while Haley took photos of finished pieces that looked straight out of a professional magazine layout. They worked great together as a team, but that should be no surprise for two young sisters with deep bonds forged over shared trauma.

The dress in question was a sleek bodycon/sheath hybrid number Emily had been thinking about for a while, in a fabulous black satin she'd found on a fabric trip to the city. Currently, the girls were considering the key feature, an asymmetrical skirt that sat above Haley's left knee before dropping dramatically, tapering to a point above her right ankle. As it was still being stitched together, they hadn't had Haley walk yet to get a sense for its movement; the concept looked great in the sketches, but something about the realized look was...

"Is it the skirt drop?" Haley asked.

"Maybe." Emily frowned. "It just looks... off? Like it's off-balance, but I know it isn't."

Haley studied the skirt and immediately saw what Emily did. The skirt cut a pretty severe diagonal across her legs, and the effect was off-putting. "Wait, how about this?" Haley took hold of the outside edges of the skirt, holding the left edge in place as she raised the right side. The resulting line descended gracefully until turning sharply at about the middle of the right thigh and dropping almost straight down.

"Ooh, I like that," Emily agreed. She helped Haley out of the dress and put it back on the form, kneeling down to start marking the needed alterations as Haley slipped into her pajamas.

"So..." Emily said, casting a devious look out of the corner of her eye at her sister, "how's Maru doing?"

Haley sighed as she dropped into a big beanbag chair. "She's still super nervous about talking to her parents. I mean, I get it, I totally get it, but I HATE that we can't just be out."

"You think they would have a problem with that?" Emily looked over with concern, she wouldn't have thought Robin and Demetrius could be that close-minded.

Haley shook her head. "Oh! No, not about about her being gay or anything like that. Because, well..."

"Sebastian." the sisters said in unison.

"Like, I'm sure Robin would be super chill with it. It's mostly her dad has pretty high expectations for her, you know? She's so smart, she will absolutely change the world someday, and I don't think he likes the idea of anyone getting in the way of that?"

Emily nodded sagely. "His little girl is becoming a woman. That's a tough pill to swallow for a parent. Sounds like they've got a communication problem."

Haley nodded in agreement. "Did you ever feel like that when I was younger?"

Emily got up and dropped into the beanbag next to her sister, throwing an arm around her and snuggling in. "You know, I did a little when you first told me about Maru. But I was also so proud of you putting yourself out there for someone like that, it made it more manageable. There's a pretty big difference between me and Mr. Wright, though."

Haley looked at Emily, curious.

"I've gone through this on both sides. Also, I, too, am a woman."

"Ah!" they said, again in unison, before devolving into laughter. Haley snuggled deeper into Emily's arm, closing her eyes and appreciating her big sister's presence.

"But, really," Emily said, "how was she?" She laughed as Haley smacked her in the face with a pillow.

"She was good, we really miss each other. We both needed it."

"Did you get caught? That new farmer moved in two days ago, you know."

Haley's face turned beet red as she tried to sink as far down into the beanbag as possible. "I mean, we didn't know that, so we thought we were still okay..."

Emily's eyes grew wide. "Oh no! You didn't wake her up, did you?"

"...maybe?"

Emily's body shook with laughter, and Haley punched her in the shoulder. "I'm sorry! It's just, oh my Goddess, that's hilarious!" She wiped a tear from her eye as she calmed down. "Did she at least wait for you to finish?"

Haley sat up. "That's just it! We didn't know she heard us until yesterday morning, she left us a note apologizing for perving on us!"

"NO."

"Yeah! She didn't want to interrupt us and then she admitted to watching us fuck and getting off on it! I wish I'd known she was watching, I would have turned around so she could see that thing Maru does with her tongue..."

"YES, THANK YOU." Emily blanched a bit; she loved her sister, but she wasn't super interested in all the gory details of her sister's sex life. Haley laughed at her sister's reaction, it was nice to tweak her a little from time to time.

"Do you need to find a new hideaway?" Emily asked.

"No, and that's the crazy part. She said she wouldn't tell anyone, she just wants advance warning when we're going to be around."

Emily thought for a moment. That absolutely tracked with the read she'd gotten on Kaylia at the Saloon. "Well, I'd say you got off easy."

"Oh, ha ha." Haley rolled her eyes.

"I'm guessing you and Maru snuck off without introducing yourselves, then."

"Yeah, we were pretty embarrassed. Why?"

"I think you two would like her. Like, a lot."

"Have you met her?"

"I did, at the Saloon that night, actually. She and Gus were joking around like they were old friends. Caroline told me she was exactly the same way with Pierre, she introduced herself in French and they talked like that for 10 minutes."

"What?"

"It's all they could talk about at fitness club yesterday."

"What does she look like?"

"Well, she's tall, a lot taller than me, even, and she's so pretty. She's got this silver-white hair in this RPG hero cut, you know, spiky with a headband?" Haley nodded, that sounded pretty hot. "I bet she'll grow it out, it didn't seem right on her. And her skin is this amazing shade of light purple, I've never seen anything like it. I heard Dr. Becker mention something about Imperial medical treatments having weird side effects like that sometimes."

Haley looked at Emily. "Did you get a read on her?" she asked tentatively, referring to her sister's strange psychic talents.

Emily nodded. "I did, sort of. I played it off like usual, you know, real moon child stuff, and I think she bought it. I think so."

"What did you see?"

Emily looked away for a moment, deciding what to say. "There were some things I'm not comfortable sharing. I'm not trying to hide anything from you, but she's... complicated."

That was a first for Haley. The sisters shared everything with each other, and this was the first time Emily ever felt the need to hold something back. She could tell it hurt Emily deeply, having to do that, and she hugged her sister.

"It's okay, Emmy, I trust you. Thank you for telling me."

Emily sniffed a little as she hugged Haley back. "Thank you."

"She's not dangerous, is she?"

"Goddess, no! I do know that this is exactly where she needs to be, and that she needs all of us just as much as we and this whole town need her. She wouldn't do anything to hurt us, I sure of it."

*****

The splintered remains of a bucket flew off into the sea, propelled by a massive kick.

"DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID FISH! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"

Kay's luck had not been great that morning. Arranged on the pier behind her were the fruits of her few hours' labor: three pieces of driftwood, five clumps of sickly green algae, four maki rolls' worth of seaweed, a six-pack of Joja Cola (caught as individual cans), two pairs of broken glasses, a veritable bounty of old JojaOnline trial CDs, six lumps of otherwise indeterminate garbage, and two minuscule sardines, currently swimming in an intact bucket of freshly-drawn water.

Kay placed her hand to her head, breathing deeply and attempting to calm down. Fishing as a pastime was supposed to be relaxing, a chance to kick back and maybe catch some dinner. It's not like she was sport fishing and in the hunt for a 500-pound trophy tuna, for Goddess' sake. But the fish she seemed to be attracting were not the kind to briefly attempt escape and then resign themselves to their fate. These were vicious survivalists, using every ounce of stamina and strength they had to triumph in a desperate struggle of life and death. Which, Kay mused, was completely accurate in the fish's case.

With a resigned sigh, she flicked the rod, casting again into a pitiless sea. The rain had let up a bit as the day progressed, and Kay was determined to make a go of this. Pride was on the line, but also a leg up on the next few days' cultivation: Kay hoped to turn her catch into enough money to start crop expansion a little early, rather than wait for the parsnips to mature. At this point, it would mean the difference of one day, but if other crops grew at similarly accelerated rates to the parsnips, one day could mean a substantial profit.

That thought turned Kay's mind to something she had been mulling over, the question of what she actually wanted to accomplish with this farm. Initially, it was an opportunity, an escape to a life far preferable to that of a celebrated military commander for a ruthless empire. Just three days in, however, she realized there had to be more to it than that.

The reactions she got meeting the locals, how excited they were that she was getting the farm back on its legs, the subtle signs around town pointing to... to something on the horizon, something bad. There were pieces missing, though. Kay couldn't quite put her finger on whatever tragedy might befall Pelican Town and its residents. She likely needed to meet everyone first before she could see the entire picture, and decided that would be her next priority.

There was another thing bothering her, too. Everyone that knew them swore up and down, to a man, that she was the exact image of Kimberly Gardner in her prime. Based on Daniel's description of his lovely wife, Kay was positive there was no actual similarity between Kim and herself apart from the rather prodigious endowments. Wouldn't he have said something if they bore more of a resemblance? Also, she was heartbroken to hear about their only child dying in a car crash, dooming that branch of their family tree, but if that was the case, where could a grandchild come from after that? Why hadn't anyone asked that question yet? Puzzles upon puzzles.

She shook herself from her maudlin reverie and looked down at a pile of fish on the dock, and then at the sizable flounder hanging from the line currently in her hand. Had she caught all of these fish on autopilot while she pondered her situation? Willy had mentioned something about not thinking too hard about it. After a moment's contemplation, she shrugged and started packing up Poseidon's bounty.

"That was pretty cool." a low voice next to Kay said, startling her. She turned to see a young man in a black hoodie and black skinny jeans standing beside her, taking a slow drag on a cigarette. His face was young and fair, his features delicate, and his hair was dyed coal-black and styled in a long side mullet. Everything about him screamed 'goth twink.'

"Thanks," Kay replied.

They remained there in silence as Kay cleaned up the rest of her catch and the goth stared out at the ocean, flicking the ash from his cigarette periodically.

"I'm Kaylia," she eventually introduced herself, getting a brief side-eye in return.

"Sebastian," he replied. Kay nodded.

Silence. Waves lapped against the pier as the wind picked up a little.

"I think you know my mom?" he said, "Robin? The carpenter?"

Kay nodded. "I do. She seems really nice."

"Yeah. I like her."

More silence. A seagull landed on a nearby post, regarding the two humans briefly, before taking to the air again.

"You come out here to smoke often?"

"Yeah, it's pretty chill."

Still more silence. A distant foghorn tolled, warning passing ships of dangerous waters.

"You're working on Red Dragon farm, huh?"

"Sure am."

"How's that going?"

"Slowly."

"Oh, sure."

It was growing increasingly more difficult for Kay to hold back laughter during these pregnant pauses in this ridiculous conversation. The half-formed smirks she caught on Sebastian's face told a similar story from his perspective.

"So... you just killing time until the coven meeting, then?"

"Ugh, fuckin' drama queen bitches, sometimes I can't even."

They looked at each other dead in the eyes, and Sebastian let out a brief snort. Kay shrieked, peals of laughter escaping as the dam finally broke. Sebastian looked on, grinning in victory.

"Kay Gardner," she said after she recovered, extending a hand.

"Seb McCarthy," he replied, accepting the handshake.

Once again, silence. This time punctuated with snickering from both of them.

"Well, talk to you later." Kay hefted her pack and set off down the pier.

"Sure thing," Seb replied, flicking his cigarette butt into a nearby can.

The more people she met, the more Kay realized she really liked it here.

*****

Kay was very thankful the rain had decided to pick up on her way back to the farm, and after a quick change of clothes, she barely smelled of fish at all. She dropped the fish as well as some random bivalves she dug out of the beach in the shipping box. If Pierre was right, there'd be a nice little paycheck in the mailbox in the morning.

Her stomach was rumbling, and the field rations did not look the least bit appetizing at all. Looking through her wallet, she was pleased to find her previous day's scrounging left her with enough for a meal. So, girding herself against the rain once again, she set off for the tavern.

The Stardrop Saloon was quite a bit livelier that evening than it was previously, possibly due to the rain. Gus and Emily were behind the bar, Pam was in front of it, and Shane was by the fireplace as before. Willy was sitting at a table near Pam, his pipe lit and a snifter of cognac resting nearby, chatting amiably with the older woman. Leah sat at the table Kay had occupied previously, splitting a large bowl of salad with a rather gawky man in spectacles and a green tweed blazer (with leather elbow pads!), messy brown hair with matching mustache. Over to her right, she heard the clack of billiard balls accompanied by the chiptune music and sound effects of an arcade. She looked over to see Sebastian leaning over a handsome billiard table, lining up a shot, while a taller man in a blue hoodie and a big mop of blond hockey hair looked on, sipping a beer. Kay couldn't see who was playing the arcade game.

She caught Gus's eye, who nodded professionally as she gave him the universal "drink, please" signal. She turned and smiled as Leah beckoned her over.

"I'm guessing you must be the town sawbones," she said as she approached, offering a hand. He nodded before standing and wiping his hands, accepting the handshake.

"Kaylia Gardner, may I present Harvey Becker, M.D." Leah introduced them before gesturing to the chair across from her. Kay accepted and sat with the pair.

"Are you settling in okay?" Harvey asked, returning to his own seat.

"I am, thank you," Kay replied, raising her right sleeve and flexing a bit, "it's really helping me maintain this girlish figure." Leah nearly choked on a spinach leaf, turning red at the display, before she noticed a spiderweb of scarring all along Kay's bicep.

"I'll bet," Harvey replied, "I'm sure clearing the land would be a great all-around workout. Just be sure to take proper breaks and avoid over-exerting yourself."

"Harvey takes everyone's health very seriously," Leah added, "you know, 'eat a balanced diet', 'at least thirty minutes of activity twice a day', 'no, pizza is not a food group.'"

"I said pizza could be quite healthful!" Harvey defended himself, "I just maybe should have recognized that 'kale, tofu-sausage, and vegan cheese pizza' would be as joyless as it sounds."