Frozen Tears (OC x Stardew Valley Sebastian)

9- Rescue Mission

SEBASTIAN POV

For the last two days, my mom, Robin, has been working over at the farmer's farm (haha?). She's been building a coop for her, and so she gets up early and stays late at night. I don't see her much, so I've just been eating plenty of mac and cheese. Demetrius cooks, but I'm not very fond of it. On occasion he will make me sashimi, and even though it is my favorite, I still tend to avoid it when it comes from him. It's not... bad, or anything, I just don't like Demetrius too much. I guess it is kind of petty, but I don't want to give him the satisfaction of watching me enjoy his cooking.

My stomach grumbles. I guess it's mac and cheese time.

I push my chair backwards from my computer where I do freelance programming. Maru's always trying to get me to do experiments with her, and Abby's always stopping by when I'm trying to work. I swear no one actually realizes that I really do work hard. They assume because I'm alone all day that I am not doing anything important. Sigh.

Getting up from my chair, I leave it pushed out and head for the door. I pass my Solarian Chronicles: The Game table. Sam's supposed to stop by later to play. Usually we play with three people, but Abby's mom has been mad at her lately and wants her to stay home.

I exit my room and head up the stairs. Entering the kitchen, I see my mom taking off her jacket and setting it on the chair by the table. She notices me, and smiles.

"Hey, Seb. How are you doing? How's everything been?" She asks and I shrug. She doesn't usually get many building projects and so she doesn't leave the house for long periods of time much. It makes sense that she would be curious about how everything was while she was gone.

"I'm good, it's been fine. I've been eating mac and cheese," I tell her. She laughs a little.

"Yeah, I bet so," She responds. I walk around the table to get into the fridge. There's leftovers, some milk, a carton of eggs...

"If you want I can make you something?" Mom offers. I nod.

"That would be great, actually, thank you," I pull out a chair and sit at the table. Mom gets busy in the fridge.

"So, I guess you finished the coop?" I ask, stretching my feet out under the table and brushing a bit of dark hair from my eyes.

"Yeah, it's all done. Weirdest thing, though; I haven't seen Francesca once since I've been working on the coop," She explains, audibly confused. I watch her as she turns on the stove and places a pan on top of the little flames.

"What do you mean?"

"The whole time I was there, she didn't come out or go into her house once," She explains. I shrug.

"Maybe you just didn't see her," I suggest. Mom shakes her head as to say no.

"No, from where I was building I had a clear view of the door. She didn't come talk to me at all or leave her house once," She continues. I furrow my eyebrows.

I may not know much about the farmer, but I know that she is not one to be quiet. She's made that much very clear to me. She might be sick in bed or something.

"Didd you knock on the door at all?" I question.

"No, I didn't want to bother her or make her uncomfortable or anything," She says. She grabs something out of the fridge.

"It was just so weird! She didn't even water her crops or feed her cat, and so I did it for her, but still, it was so odd!" She mumbles to herself.

An idea pops into my head.

"If it would make you feel better, mum, I could go down and check on her," I offer. I don't know if I really want to go down to talk to her, but I know it would make my mom feel better. She turns around to look at me.