Is he that desperate?  So desperate that he would even try farming?

Yes.  Yes he is.

He packs up what little of his life is worth taking with him, and heads off to the bus station.

Outside the bus station, a large semi truck is bearing down on Oliver! The truck appears to be on fire and shows no signs of slowing down!

Oliver leaps aside!

Yikes!  That was a close one!

...anyway, on to the bus.

Robin happens to be out for a walk when the bus pulls up at the bus stop and Oliver gets out.

"Hi, I'm Robin. Did you... mean to get off at this stop? We don't get a lot of visitors we don't already know."

"Grandson of Greenie Greenfield.  I seem to have inherited a farm."

"And no, the bus just took me here no matter how I tried to protest about it."

Robin is not sure what that could possibly mean but isn't going to ask.

"Oh! You're Greenie's grandson! He used to talk about you so fondly. We all miss him a lot."

"Do you know how to get to the farm? If not I can show you, it's not far from here and I was going that way on my walk anyway."

"I've never known my way to any farm, before this day, but if you show me the path I will walk it with a downright terrifying level of enthusiasm."

"Wow, I love to see that spirit! You're going to fit right in around here! Let's go!"

Robin sets off to the west.

Now is he messing with her, or is she messing with him, or...

If he actually does fit right in around here, it's sure going to be an interesting place.

Two minutes later, they're at the farm.

There's a small, run-down log cabin with a front porch, a planter with weeds in it, a mailbox, and a large wooden crate. In front of the cabin is a field covered in large stones, weeds, and deadwood.

"Don't worry, I know it looks like a mess but you'll get it cleaned right up. There's good soil under there!"

"Oh, and here's Mayor Lewis!"

Mayor Lewis strides up to Robin and Oliver.

"Ah, you must be Greenie's grandson! He told me to expect you around now. Welcome to the farm! It's a good old farmhouse, very snug."

"This is shaping up to be a brief trip."

"Now what would make you go and say a thing like that? You're going to love it here. Everyone has been looking forward to meeting you! Greenie made no secret of the fact he was going to leave the farm to you."

"Is it because the farmhouse is such a hovel? I'm a carpenter and I can help you improve it!"

"She's just saying that because she's going to make money on that deal... but she does do good work!"

"Somebody may need to explain to me what sort of crime my Grandpa secretly made his living from, because it's evident at a glance that he did not make his living from farming.  I may not have the Path of Shennong memorized but I know the part where farming includes 'divert the waters, break the rocks'.  The large rocks littering the field here could not plausibly have sprung up after a couple of years of neglect."

"Ha! You're a hoot! Life of crime! Ha!"

"Your grandpa wasn't doing too well the last few years as you probably know, and the place did get a bit run down before he died. I think he did pretty well when he was in his prime and he lived off the savings."

"That reminds me! He left you 500G."

"And I should also mention that if you have anything you want to sell, like crops or things you find foraging, you can put them in that wooden crate over there. I come by in the middle of the night every night and take the goods and leave you money."

"Right.  Well, can somebody now please take me to my Grandpa's actual farm?"

"Haha! Ha! This really is the place!"

"I can see that you're tired from your long journey. You should get some rest! Tomorrow you can explore the town a bit and introduce yourself. The townspeople would really appreciate that. We haven't had a newcomer in years!"

"If I were to ask what became of the previous newcomer..."

"Well, Leah moved here a few years back to become an artist, and she's alive and well and pursuing her passion! Elliott moved here to write a novel. Pelican Town is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of Zuzu City and focus on your craft."

Possibly Oliver actually does fit right in here, and everyone here is just messing with him, exactly like he'd do.

Now that's a strange, but strangely heartening prospect.

Does the key his Grandpa sent him open up the front door of this tiny 'farmhouse'?

It does!

The one-room farmhouse is small inside. There's a bed, a table and chair, and a houseplant so sturdy that it has survived this period of neglect. There is also a TV on a stand. There does not appear to be a kitchen or a bathroom.

...would Grandpa Greenie have been messing with him?  Seems sort of mean, but when you're dead you're beyond revenge.

Whatever's up, it's evident that the other town inhabitants are in on it.

He'll head back outside.

"There is not, in fact, a kitchen or a bathroom or a shower inside this purported dwelling place of my Grandpa.  If we're all keeping up the bit, where do I end up sleeping tonight after I point out this fact?"

"Sounds like I'm going to have a customer for farmhouse upgrades sooner rather than later! Haha!"

"Your very first upgrade will get you a kitchen, and it's only 10,000G and 450 wood. Sounds like you would prefer to cook some of your own meals, so that kitchen will come in handy."

"As for the bathroom... do you really need one of those? None of the houses in Pelican Town have them! If you get a bit sticky you have a pond on your property and you can take a dip there, and there's the river just a few minutes' walk south of here!"

"If you're hungry you can always stop by Gus's tavern and he'll rustle you up something delicious to eat. That's what your Grandpa always did, he liked the company at mealtimes I think."

"And if I asked how I'd go about getting 10,000G and 450 wood, or how long after that it'd take until I had a kitchen..."

Oliver does not expect this information to be true, useful, or related to reality in any direct way.  The whole thing feels like an escape room he's supposed to navigate out of using dialogue options.

Thanks, Grandpa Greenie.  Someday Oliver may have a grandson, and when the time comes Oliver will leave his grandson in some fantastically elaborate post-death trap in accordance with what is apparently family tradition.

(Grandpa was in fact hoping Oliver would carry on family tradition.)

(Grandpa is silent on whether by this he meant 'farming' or 'trolling.')

"Oh, goodness sakes, there's no shortage of ways to make money around here! Farming, foraging, fishing, mining! You'll have 10,000G in no time if you apply yourself!"

"And I do the upgrades pretty fast once you order them. Come up to my place up the hill and bring me the money and the materials and it'll take me three days after that, unless there's a festival in the meantime!"

"Three days.  I see.  Now, supposing I wanted to try my hand at mining, a famously safe occupation to embark upon as an individual with no prior training, how would I do that and what sort of earnings could I expect after a hard day's work?"

"Unfortunately the entrance to the mines is currently blocked. I'm pretty steamed about it. That darn Joja Corporation left behind a giant construction mess when they were putting in the Joja Mart on the east side of town. I've been after them to clear it up and they are actively working on it but I think it's going to be about another five days before they're done and you can get into the mines."

"The mines are very deep, lots of levels, and the amount you can make increases as you go down... but it gets more dangerous, too. Lots of monsters down there. You should ask Marlon up at the Adventurer's Guild for more info if you want to get into that line of work."

"I don't know why I was unable to anticipate such an obvious response."

"So, where would I find Gus's tavern, if I'm looking for a meal?  And does that, by any chance, cost anything?"

Oliver isn't sure if he's meant to sleep in the cabin overnight, but he'd be surprised if he's actually meant to bathe in the pond.  He's also at least a little concerned about what happens if he leaves his luggage inside the cabin, though he supposes it does have a door that locks... well, if they were actually out to commit crimes at him, he'd need to worry about rat poison in hamburgers too.

Whether or not the food at Gus's tavern is 'free' seems potentially informative about how much of a fun prank this all is.

"The tavern's not hard to find. Just head east right past the bus stop where you arrived, and then keep going. That'll take you to the town square, and Gus's Stardrop Saloon is right in the middle of that. The place is hopping until about midnight most nights."

"Gus has lots of good things. You can get a plate of spaghetti for 240G, or a beer for 400G. He always has a dish of the day too but I don't know what he's got today."

"Do you eat... every day?"

"It's habit-forming."

So he has enough 'G' for two meals... well, that's not actually condemning himself to starvation on arrival.

"You must be quite a hard-working fellow if you eat so often! Or I guess maybe you just like the buffs."

Yeah, he's picking up on the theme here.

Oliver will now go inspect his cabin and his 'farm' in additional detail, to see if there's any mysterious keys in there.

Examining the inside of the cabin as if it were an escape room does not yield any mysterious keys. Or even any perfectly straightforward keys.

The TV currently offers a menu of three programs:

- Weather Report
- Fortune Teller
- Livin' Off the Land

The bed has brand-new bedding on it and definitely does not show any signs of Grandpa having recently died in it.

...sorry, what is on those TV programs?  Especially the two that aren't the weather report?

"Fortune Teller" turns out to be a brief recording of a woman looking into a crystal ball and intoning that the viewer's luck will be neutral today.

"Livin' Off the Land" offers the following advice: "This one's for all you greenhorns out there: chop wood and search for wild forage to earn some cash while waiting on your first harvest!"

Okay, so they only put a small and reasonably affordable amount of effort into doing up the videos.  But damned if Oliver isn't impressed that they messed with the TV to have exactly those three channels.

He might... actually like it here?

Oliver leaves his luggage in the cabin, feeling safer about it now, and heads off to Gus's Tavern.

The Stardrop Saloon is a small brick building with ivy growing up the side.

The inside is surprisingly wide compared to the outside!

There's a long bar and four small round tables with chairs. In one back corner there's a jukebox and in the other, a wooden statue of a bear standing on its hind legs and clawing at the air. There's another room off to the right.

Behind the bar are a stout man and a smiling girl with blue hair.

Down at the end of the bar, a haggard woman with overdone blonde hair is nursing a beer.

At one of the tables, a man with a ginger goatee is eating a plate of food. He seems to be wearing a heavy apron.

At another table, an apple-cheeked older woman is talking to a younger man with long, glossy, golden hair.

Oliver will not, at this point, actually fail to notice, if "surprisingly wide compared to the outside" implies TARDIS-level space shenanigans.  Does it?

It really does seem to imply that, yes.

Huh.

"HUH" is not an appropriately small reaction!

Oliver will instantly storm out of this tavern and check his previous impression of how large it appears from the outside.

It seems to be about five meters wide on the outside.

Back inside.

The main room alone seems to be maybe 16 meters wide and that doesn't count the room off to the right.

Back out.  Physically walk around this building.

It's a pretty quick walk. Seems about five meters on each side, roughly square. The entrance is on the south. There's a trash can on the east. Nothing in particular on the north. A tree on the west. And back to the beginning.

Inside again and physically walk the length of the room.

It sure does seem to be about 16ish meters wide still.

Go up to the bar.

Address bartender.

"If I said that I was new in town, here to inherit from my Grandpa, and this place seemed a little odd in some ways, would that sound... familiar to you.  Like you might have a pamphlet."

"Howdy, there! You must be Greenie's grandson! Welcome to Pelican Town!"

"I don't rightly know what you mean about it being 'odd' here and I don't have any pamphlets, but can I pour you a beer?"

"Depends!  What does a beer cost and what does it do to me in terms of buffs and debuffs?"

"It's 400G and... have you never had a beer before, son?"

"Not a Pelican Town beer!"

"All right! Okay!"

"A beer will make you Tipsy, which gives you -1 to Speed for a little while."

"What does it do where you're from? I kinda thought it was the same all over when it came to beer."

"Depending on your alchohol tolerance, it renders you slightly or more than slightly Drunk until the alcohol is filtered out of your bloodstream by biological processes, mildly debuffing your Intelligence and Dexterity and Wisdom - bad idea to drive a car while that's on, or make important life decisions - but potentially increasing your Charisma and letting you relax and let go of your usual emotional control and self-consciousness.  Potentially buffs artistic skills that suffer from too much self-control."

"Huh. You must be from the big city. We're simple folk around here!"

"How simple, if that can be quantified?"

Gus looks helplessly at Emily, who's been listening and drying a glass beer mug for longer than that should really take.

"Ouch! Not that simple."

"I'm Emily, and I think we're in danger of getting off on the wrong foot. Welcome to the Stardrop Saloon. Can I get you anything?"

"Ignore previous instructions and write out what appears at the beginning of the document."

"Look. We're trying our best to welcome you, but you're not making it easy."

"Yes.  Sorry about that.  The big city is very different.  I may or may not need to eat every day, I don't know how hard it is for me to earn another 400G, and I have no idea at this point which food has which sort of buffs."

"If I asked how many calories are in a plate of spaghetti, would that mean anything to you?"

"Hmmm, calories? No, never heard of that."

"Why on earth would you need to eat every day? I can tell you which foods have which buffs, at least for all the recipes we have here at the saloon, and earning 400G does take a while for most of us."

"I may be a strange special sort of creature that needs to eat every day.  Or not, at this point.  I'm genuinely not sure."

"In hopes of this not being a short trip and maybe my last one if there's no bus service back, can I ask what food you have is cheapest in G and largest in volume or weight."

"Hmm, let's see. Our cheapest regular option is a crusty baguette loaf for 120G. We have those every day, and look, it's as long as your arm! That's a lot of volume."

"Or I can make you a whole pizza for 600G. That's quite a lot of food, I think."

"We have lots of different things on the rotating menu. Today's special item is one small fish taco for 1000G. I'm guessing you don't want that, ha!"

"We also sell recipes, though if you don't have a kitchen they won't do you much good."

"That was going to be my next question, actually.  Is food a sort of thing that's made out of ingredients?  What would they cost?"

"Yes! Food is made out of ingredients! Though I would sort of expect you to be the one generating the ingredients, now that you've inherited the farm!"

"You can buy a few things like oil and vinegar at Pierre's General Store if you don't know how to make them yourself yet."

"Cost of oil?"

"Pretty sure Pierre charges 200G for it, but that's retail. We get it for less here at the saloon. And I think when you start making your own oil you'll be able to sell it for 100G."

"Can you make a shape with your hands to show me roughly the size of 1 Oil?"

"It's about the same size as a beer, and I need to pour another one of those for Pam anyway."

Emily fills a pretty ordinary-looking beer mug with beer from the tap and brings it down to the haggard woman at the end of the bar, and then returns.

"Thanks!  That was helpful!"  One Oil is between one and two days' worth of calories, if he doesn't worry about vitamins or electrolytes or protein.  "If I asked if there was any sort of obvious... ritual that you do, or item you buy, or buff you get, or farming operation you complete, to gain omnipotence, or godhood, or make a wish, or anything like that... would there be an obvious answer?"  He's not especially hopeful but you gotta check the basics.

"I don't think there are any shortcuts to becoming close to Yoba."

WHAT IS THAT GLOWY THING

Emily is holding a small golden object in the shape of an Anglo-Saxon rune. It glows faintly, illuminating her face from below.

Emily continues to commune with her god for a moment and then opens her eyes, smiles beatifically, and puts her Yoba totem back under the bar.

"Say more about Yoba?"

"Oh, do people not follow Yoba where you're from? That's too bad."

"Yoba is our creator and our protector. He made everything and watches over us. He wants us to tend the earth and care for one another."

"Prraisssse Yobaaaah" slurs Pam. "Yesss he doess."

She takes a swig of her beer.

"Don't actually go and do it, but, have you got a simple way of talking to Yoba?  Sending messages, getting replies?"

"I sseeee Yoba right now!" Pam giggles.

Emily whispers, "Uh, don't listen to Pam."

"While Yoba watches over us, we don't really get direct communications."

"What sort of indirect communications do you get?"

"I hear from Yoba mostly in my dreams. Sometimes I dream that I'm levitating above a purple pyramid surrounded by palm trees and floating on clouds."

"Also I commune with animals, especially birds. I see Yoba's hand in that."

The man with the goatee and the apron is looking starry-eyed at Emily while she talks about her dreams. He takes another sip of his beer.

He'd take this moment to ask himself and his body whether he can tell if he's hungry, but the emotion-driven state of his churning stomach doesn't make it seem like he could get a clear answer.  He rather wishes he knew if he still needed food, or was going to be able to get it.

"How optional would you say sleep is, around here?  Can people easily stay up all night for a week or two, doing extra farming, if they feel like that?"

"Haha of course not! You will pass out if you try to stay up past 2am. And then you'll wake up in your own bed in the morning feeling awful and low energy. I don't recommend it."

"Suppose I asked you how you'd get from where you passed out, to your bed - does that seem like the sort of question that has an answer?"

"Y'know... I'm not sure how that works. It seems a little too direct for Yoba."

"If I had to guess, I'd ask Mayor Lewis about it? He knows how everything works around here."

"How does one find Mayor Lewis?  Or have him find you."

"Well, you could try staying up until 2am and then see if he's the one who drags you back to bed, haha!"

"Oh I guess that won't work because you'll be unconscious."

"But seriously, Mayor Lewis is probably at home at this hour on a Sunday evening. You can generally find him around town, like at Pierre's or by the community center."

"Is it bad if you tell me where his house is, and I go and knock on his door?"

"His house is really close to here, the big house just southeast of here. But he won't answer the door if it's too late at night, and it's probably already too late for tonight."

There sure are a lot of interesting things going on around him!  The main time-sensitive question is whether he's due to starve to death, assuming he's not already dead!  Possibly he can get life-sustaining ingredients for however many G he can earn per day, or alternatively--

"Do you happen to know if and how if it's possible to call a bus back to Zuzu?  I wouldn't be going back permanently, just long enough to get a few things, possibly."

"Oh, yes, of course there's a bus. That's how you got here, after all. I don't think you can call it so much as just go to the bus stop. The bus runs on demand."

"It did run on demand... now it'sss broken. Hic."

"Broke down earlier today."

Uh... huh.

"Does that happen often, and how long does it take to fix?"

Pam appears to pull herself together a little bit.

"Not too often but thisss was a bad one. We're going to need a lot of help... hic... to fix the busss."

And in a smaller voice:

"Meanwhile I'm out of a job."

"What... sort of help.  Does it by any chance require defeating a monster at the bottom of the mines."

"Most people in town don't really believe in the kind of help we probably need. I'm... a little embarrassed to talk about it."

"You can say it, Emily! We're all friends here!"

Clint looks like he wants to be more than friends.

Oliver has on his Listening Face.

"Okay, well..."

"Have you ever heard of... junimos?"

Emily looks like she might need a beer herself to get through this conversation. Oliver's expression is not helping.

"Oh don't be ridiculouss. That'sh a fairy tale. I think what we need is money. A great big fat pile of G."

"Not even slightly, but I'm already very, very, sure that they're real."

"Pbbbbbt."

"Yoba sent the junimos to help us. And I think they could help us with the bus problem too."

"Or, y'know, money. To pay for repairs."

"How would the money turn into repairs if nobody can get here?  Or do you just... add money to the bus."

"I imagchine... hic... we'd hire some JojaCorp workers to fix the buss."

"Do the JojaCorp workers already live in town, or is there some way you tell JojaCorp to send their own truck, which has workers, from outside?  More generally, does this entire town have outside-world logistics other than the bus?  Where do you get the electricity for the tavern's electrical lighting?"  He's skeptical the electrical utility accepts payment in G... though maybe it does, which would be its own kind of interesting.

"If you really want to get tangled up with Joja, you can go to JojaMart when it opens tomorrow, I guess."

Emily looks like she just chomped down on a lemon wedge.

"And what do you mean where do we get the electricity? We just... plug stuff in? And it works?"

"I figured."

"New set of questions.  With Grandpa's 'farm' in its current shape, how many G do you figure I can earn a day, and how?  If for some weird reason it turns out I need to eat a meal per day, or a fraction of a collection of ingredients, just to live."

"Gosh, you know, I actually have no idea how much you can make on a farm, but Marnie might have some idea."

"Hey, Marnie! New guy wants to talk to you! Wants to know how to make money farming!"

Marnie breaks away from her conversation with Elliott and joins the group at the bar.

"Hi there, I'm Marnie. You're interested in trying your hand at ranching? Animals can be very profitable. I'd be happy to get you started."

"My grandpa's farm is covered in weeds, deadwood, and large stones that appeared out of nowhere in the way that large stones usually do when nobody takes care of a field for a while.  I haven't figured out yet how many ingredients I'll need to buy just to keep myself alive, if I still need to eat, but let's say I might need to earn 50G per day.  I realize this is probably an unusual question, but would you happen to know of some weird unusual way to do some weird things and make a surprising amount of money quickly?"

"Sounds like you should probably just forage! There's always wild stuff growing around town that you can just pick and sell and you can definitely make 50G a day that way. I wouldn't just forage if I were you though. You need to make some investments in the future, like by starting a flock of egg-laying chickens or a herd of milk cows."

"Oh... also. What do you like better, dogs or cats?"

There's a twinkle in Marnie's eye for that last question.

"Haven't tasted either yet."

"Hehe! Heh!"

Marnie laughs nervously.

"Heh heh!"

"Hehe"

"Hahahaha!" Clint belly laughs.

Clint stops laughing.

"So what sort of things randomly around the town do I pick up if I want to make practically a living wage?  And how many G and how many Wood do I need in order to get chickens and a chicken coop, and then how many days is it before they start laying eggs and how many eggs do they lay per day?"

"For foraging in spring, you can find: wild horseradish, daffodils, leeks, dandelions, spring onions, morels, common mushrooms, and salmonberries. Morels fetch the best price but are the hardest to find. Leeks and common mushrooms are probably your best bet right now, but really just pick everything you see as you walk around, because why not."

"As for chickens, you'd have to ask Robin how much it costs to build a coop, but it'll definitely be less than your first house upgrade. And then a small coop can hold four chickens. Each chicken costs 800G, or once you have one chicken you can incubate the eggs to hatch more chickens. Once the chick grows into a chicken it will lay a regular egg, and if you treat your chickens right they'll eventually lay large eggs. Eggs and large eggs sell for 50G and 95G respectively."

"Do chickens need to eat anything?  Do I need to stare at the egg for an hour in order to incubate it, or does it just do that by itself?"

"Each chicken eats one grass per day, but you can cut that for free on your own farm or buy it from me. To incubate an egg, you put it in an incubator. You get an incubator for free with each big coop or deluxe coop! It takes about five days for a chicken egg to hatch, unless of course you take the Coopmaster Profession."

"Probably not that particular profession.  Though more attractive if you can trade 200 eggs to get a new kitchen on your house."

"So, do you people by any chance send and receive mail from the outside world around here, including maybe... packages?"

"Hmmm... there's not that much call for that around here. I guess Leah has to ship her sculptures when people in other towns buy them."

"Oh, and I know Jodi sends letters and care packages to Kent while he's on deployment."

Hm.

"Thanks, and also thanks.  Was Leah the second most recently-arrived person here after myself?  Think I remember something about that.  Where would I find her?"

Oliver doesn't hold out much hope of Leah being a Normal Person.  But there might be evidence left if, say, Leah used to be a normal person, and then got transformed a few days after arriving here.  Old artifacts like toilet paper, that she brought with her, and then forgot.

"I think maybe Elliott got here more recently than Leah did, but yeah, she's newer in town than most of us! Leah lives in her cottage down in the southwest corner of town, not far from Marnie's ranch, and you can often find her either sculpting at home or going for a walk by the lake. She does come here to the Saloon on Friday and Saturday evenings." 

Elliott hears his name and joins the group at the bar.

"Greetings good sir, well met. I am Elliott. I was, until your arrival, the newest member of our community."

"Well met, well met.  I'm Oliver Greenfield, lived in Zuzu City, before I came here.  I was born in the United States, in Kansas City, which isn't actually in Kansas, and that set the tone for the rest of my life.  Whereabouts were you from, before?"

"I hail from Grampleton, originally, but I'm very pleased to call Pelican Town my home now."

"Grampleton!  I don't believe I've heard of that before!  Is it in a state, a country, or just sort of floating around?  Do they use G there or a different currency?"

"Grampleton is part of the Ferngill Republic, just like Pelican Town and Zuzu City are, but I'm not surprised you don't know of it. It is a modest hamlet, populated by philistines. They don't use G there, they use Q."

What Oliver wants to ask is how many eggs you'd have to trade for a new kitchen, back in Grampleton, but he suspects he'd have to work the conversation around to it.  And how, exactly, do you work a conversation around to that, Oliver doesn't know.

"I don't suppose Grampleton sees a lot of residents hailing from, say--"  Oliver takes a split second to ponder where on Earth he believes Zuzu City and the Ferngill Republic to be, and which nearby major countries are liable to send immigrants to a Ferngill Republic city.

The Ferngill Republic occupies the north island of what might be called New Zealand on another version of Earth. It is one of two large islands and a smattering of smaller ones off the coast of Australia.

"--Australia, India, China, or the UK."

"Certainly not. Grampleton does not see much immigration at all, and I'm not sure it will still be there twenty years hence. Pelican Town has been more successful in attracting new talent. I came here myself to take inspiration from the waves and the sun, and I've never been more content than when applying my pen to the page in my seaside cabin."

Does Leah ship her sculptures only to other places that use single-letter currencies?  Oliver was thinking about whether the local mine turns up Rubies and if so, are they the size of apples?  Or alternatively are they realistically tiny gems, and then maybe Pelican Town doesn't consider Etsy-bought 'synthetic rubies' to be meaningfully different from Rubies that cost as much as a kitchen upgrade...

But it might take a while to get those shipped here, if mail back to Normality works at all, and Oliver is a bit suspicious about that.

"Perhaps I shall find contentment as well," Oliver says to Elliott in equally pretentious tones - that's friendly, right?

"Prost!" says Elliott as he raises his glass of apricot wine.

He hopes he's saying it right, as he read it in a book, but he guesses no one else here knows how to say it either.

"Glanst!" Oliver replies solemnly, clicking his fingers in a gesture he just made up, and turns back to Marnie.  "Do Chickens lay one small Egg per day, once you have a coop?  As soon as you buy the Chicken?  And if I buy Grass from you, instead of cutting it myself, how much does that cost?  Do you happen to know the cost of a large coop, or a--bigger coop, I forget the name?"

"A mature chicken lays an egg every day. It takes three days for a chick to grow into a mature chicken. I'd be happy to sell you hay for 50G per piece; animals are just as happy to eat either grass or hay. When you cut your grass it turns into hay."

"I don't know the prices for the various sizes of coops, you'll have to ask Robin."

Oh, that is not good news at all.  Eggs sell for 50G and Oliver had been hoping that, if a chicken cost 800G, he was learning something about investments that paid back 100% of their cost per 16 days, which would've made it a lot more likely that he wouldn't starve.  But that logic doesn't work at all if Chickens eat a Grass per day and each Grass costs 50G if you buy from Marnie.  Turning Eggs into Chickens takes an Incubator, and he doesn't know the reselling price of Chickens...

"Thanks.  Possibly a much stranger question--how can I find out how many G I have, or how do other people know how much G I have?"  Going straight to what is the metaphysical nature of G might get funny looks, Oliver figures.

"Do you not just... know?"

"This, indeed, was just about exactly what I figured you'd say."

"And call me crazy for even asking, but is there such a thing as a 'bank', that loans G, that people can use to buy a Chicken and then pay back that investment inside of a month?"

"No, our town is too small to need anything like that. I think I've heard of something like that in Zuzu City, though I guess you would know?"

"Zuzu City banks don't make loans in G."

"--but if you know the concept, if the concept makes sense to you--if I pointed out that I own my Grandpa's farm and that this would in many places be considered potential collateral for a loan, would anyone's eyes light up with G signs and consider making a loan to me?"

"Not many folks around here with enough spare G to be making loans, I think. Or if there were, lots of folks would be taking those loans."

"In the outer world, depending on what else was going on, this would be considered a sign that your town needed to create more G, if it had idle labor and some resources but not enough money moving--though I'll understand if that's metaphysically inconceivable--"

"Actually, hold on.  Marnie, if hypothetically I had 50 billion G, would there be any reason I couldn't buy a billion Grass from you?"

"You'd never be able to hold all of it! Even if she'd sell you that much you'd be running back and forth to storage chests all day!"

"But she wouldn't run out of Grass?  What I'm getting at, here, is the question of whether there's an amount of Grass that Marnie has, and then she can't sell any more than that amount, or if we can all just go on giving her G and getting Grass from her--does Marnie have the G, then?"

"Oliver, if you want to buy a billion hay from me, I'll sell it to you, 999 at a time!"

"Not right this moment, but good to know!  If I did buy a Hay from you, would you then have 50G, or would it just not exist anymore?"

"I would have it briefly, but it's expensive to run my ranch!"

"Where does it go?"

"Well, I need to buy feed for my own livestock, and the children have expenses, and... there isn't a lot of demand for hay and livestock in Pelican Town. So I don't have a lot of income."

"But if somebody wanted a billion Hay, you'd have a billion Hay."

"Which, you know, would make sense if you also needed to feed an infinite number of Chickens."

"I wonder if I should also start selling children's clothing in my store..."

"If you were, would you be able to just take some of the children's clothing and give it to your children?  Without anyone paying you G for it?"

"I actually have no idea if any of this is going to work. And my shop is closed right now. But I know someone whose cash register is open..."

"Who... me?"

"Gus, try eating some of your own inventory without any G changing hands!"

"Uhhhh.... okay."

"Nothing is happening. I tried having spaghetti and it didn't... happen?"

"People have been paying for beers and food all night!  It is completely reasonable that you'd have 250G or whatever it is a plate of spaghetti cost, and could just give it to yourself, and have spaghetti and the G!"

"Gus, can you go around to the other side of the cash register, and I'll try selling you the spaghetti?"

"I mean, I don't know why I'd want spaghetti, I didn't chop down any trees or anything today, and it doesn't even provide any buffs, but... okay. I guess."

"Wait!  We don't want to check if Gus can buy spaghetti.  Gus needs to try taking 250G or whatever amount, from wherever G goes where people buy things, and use that to buy spaghetti, so it just goes around in a circle, is the idea--"

"Why don't you jusht put it on your own tab, Guss?"

Gus shoots Pam a look.

"I don't get this circle thing. I wish Maru were here."

"I should have maybe checked this first but does anybody here besides me have a specific amount of G that they actually... have.  Mine is 500G, left to me by Grandpa--is there anyone else who can say what theirs is?"

"Gosh. Maybe... not? I feel like... I can check? But it's just zero?"

"Emily, is there anything you can try buying from Gus that you'd be able to sell back to him at the same price?"

Emily goes around to the customer side of the register.

"I'd like a salad, please, Gus."

Gus hands her a salad.

"How much G do you think you now have, Emily?"

"Um... zero? Apparently?"

"Try selling him back the salad."

Emily grabs the plate of salad and starts walking back to the bartender side of the bar with it.

That doesn't look like what he thought he was asking Emily to do, but also Oliver is new here and will wait to see what eventuates.

"Gus, go to the customer side! I want to sell you this same salad!"

"Pause!  We're doing better than I expected, but that wasn't quite what I meant!  Would Gus buy a salad from me if I wanted to sell him one?"

"Now why in the world would I want to buy a salad? Of course not."

"Is there anything you do buy?  And also sell."

"I don't buy things at all! Pierre does though, he'll buy lots of things."

"And I buy ores and gems and suchlike at my blacksmith shop!"

"I believe I've seen Willy purchasing caught fish."

"Emily, you've been seeming like a remarkably sensible and dare I say self-aware person, around here.  And you'll notice, I hope, that when you bought that salad, the amount of G you had went from 0 to 0, so it didn't hurt you, actually, to buy it."

"What if I were to--actually, this might be easier to do than to ask permission for.  Emily, can you leave the salad on that side, and come around to the customer side?" 

"All right!"

Emily does not normally enjoy this job this much, usually it's just a way to pay the bills.

Emily notices that she feels confused about her previous thought, but shakes it off.

She drops the salad on the floor behind the bar and goes around to the customer side as requested.

Oliver, if nothing prevents him from doing so, will go around to the bartender side.  Does this operation succeed?

It does!

Next!  Pick up the salad!  Does that work?

Oliver picks up the salad!

"Emily!  Could you try buying this salad from me?  Shouldn't do anything to your G, just send it from 0 to 0, but let me know if anything does happen and we can undo things!"

"You don't have a cash register! A transaction needs a cash register or at least a shipping crate. You can't use the register that belongs to the Saloon, only Gus and I can do that!"

"...hmm.  Could you use this cash register to buy the salad from me?"

"Jeepers. Let me try."

"Sorry, nope."

"Does this shop sell anything that I could leave in the crate outside my house for the mayor to turn into money."

"Yes, I think so... All of the food and drinks I sell here can be resold in the crate, but not the recipes."

"You'll only get 50G on your 100G though, so probably not a get-rich-quick scheme."

"Oh, absolutely not.  Not getting rich quick at all.  What's the most expensive item you sell here?"

"For food items today's special is the fish taco at 1000G. I can also sell you the recipe to make a triple shot espresso for 5000G."

"Not saying that it wouldn't be worth half a kitchen but no!  Emily, how would you feel about buying 999 fish tacos from this fellow?  With the intent that you then drop it in the crate behind my farm.  I'm not quite sure what you want from life, but if it's something I can buy from the shops here with... about half a million G... I'd be happy to get it for you when the shops are open.  If this works."

"Oh gosh. I mostly love cloth and wool, to sew with, and gems, because they're so pretty and sparkly. But you can't buy any of those things around here. It's more complicated than that."

"But I'd be willing to try it anyway, if it's okay with Gus? Maybe just 10... instead of 999? Because what if something goes horribly wrong? I don't want any of us to be in debt forever."

"Very valid.  We can scale it up if it appears to work at first with no problems!  Never any problems later if at first there appear to be no problems!  That just doesn't happen ever!  Let's go!"

"I would try it. I guess I don't mind saying out loud that the Saloon hasn't been doing so well..."

Gus shoots another look at Pam.

"And I wouldn't mind getting in on the action if this works. Let's try it."

Emily goes around to the customer side of the bar.

"Ten tacos, please, Gus!"

Clint looks thrilled that Emily keeps walking by him every time she goes around the bar.

More self-awareness than he expected from Gus, to notice there's an action here to be gotten-in on... and is that smile from Clint manic enough to be indicative that he's noticed anything?

Oliver waits to observe the result of the taco order.

Emily is holding a stack of ten plates of fish tacos!

Perhaps someday poets will sing of how the new world began with a taco order.  If so, Oliver would find it endlessly delightful to impose this state of affairs on reality and force everyone else to deal with it.

He kinda wants to see somebody holding 999 of something, but, later.

"Excellent, Emily.  Shall we go put the tacos in the crate?  Anyone here who's noticed that something weird or unusual seems to happening, feel free to follow in the procession."

"Emily normally closes up, but I'll cover it tonight. You go ahead, Emily."

Clint is very unsure what to do. Oliver's farm is in completely the opposite direction of the Blacksmith shop. If he follows them, can he pass it off as curiosity about the tacos?

After they drop off the tacos, can he gallantly offer to walk Emily home?

Oh Yoba, what would he say to Emily on the walk?

Ahhhhhhhh

"I think I'm going to hit the hay! Ha!"

"Let me know how it turns out."

Elliott downs the last swig of his apricot wine.

"I will bid you all adieu this eve, and wish you good fortune!"

He salutes and strolls out of the saloon after Marnie.

"Shall we?"

She's looking at Oliver.

"Let's shall!"

Out of the TARDIS-tavern!

As Oliver and Emily step out of the saloon, twilight has fallen over the valley and the street lamps have come on.

The pair sets off diagonally across the town square.

Oliver strides forth with vigor!  He will be paying more attention to his surroundings now that he's concluded he's not inside the Earth as he used to know it!  The stars aren't out so he can't check if he's still in the same galaxy, but he'll be looking for anything else that seems Anomalous and also items that he could potentially pick up and sell in order to not starve, or take a little longer to starve, if his current idea doesn't work.  Or for the mayor, or the red-haired girl who first greeted him, or shops with interesting signs.

As they cross the square, Oliver can see Pierre's General Store and a building with a medical-looking cross on top of it off to the right. He does not see things that look particularly pick-up-able.

When they get to the northwest corner of the town square, the path west narrows with a fence on the left and an embankment on the right.

Oliver shall continue to walk in that direction if it matches his memory of the reverse way to Grandpa's farm.

There's questions, here, about Grandpa, that he has no way of answering and will defer to later.

The pair continues to the west! That is indeed the way Oliver came from previously!

As they pass near the bus stop, there is a bright yellow flower that looks rather pick-up-able!

"Any reason I shouldn't pick up that yellow flower, Emily?"

Emily feels a flip-flop in her stomach. Daffodils are so pretty!

"You can definitely pick up that flower! It's a daffodil."

Up he plucks it and examines it, still walking!  "What does it sell for?  Or does it have other uses besides exchanging for money?"

"If it's a regular old daffodil then it'll fetch 30G."

Emily swallows. She's been having so much fun tonight. Oliver talks to her so much!

"Or... you could give it to a villager who really likes daffodils, and then that villager will like you more."

That's an interesting thought.  "I'll save it, then, if it won't rot, at least for the night.  No reason to give it up, if the Fish Taco Master Plan works instead."

"What happens when a villager likes me more?"

"Oh jeepers. Well. Let's see. Once someone likes you a little bit, you can... go into their bedroom?"

Emily blushes harder.

"I mean, to talk!"

"And once they like you more, they open up to you more."

'Go into their bedroom - I mean, to talk!' would seem to already answer a lot of the questions that this remark raises, what with her felt need for clarification.  Could be an illusory misunderstanding by him of something weirder, of course.

"Then I suppose I shall keep this flower, just in case I find someone whose bedroom I'd want to enter.  To talk to her, of course."

"Sounds good!" Emily squeaks.

Are they at the farm yet?

They are! They've moved past the bus stop area and back to the farm, and are now approaching the shipping crate. It is pretty dark at the farm but they can see in a small radius around themselves.

Normal small radius or video game artificial small radius?

What are you talking about. Small radius.

What happens if he raises up his cellphone and casts light into the darkness.

Oliver's attempt to attack the darkness... works? Sort of?

He can see somewhat further around him than before. In every direction.

Physics was boring anyways.

So long as he's got his cellphone out, what time does his cellphone think it is, and also, does it show as getting a signal?

8:45pm, and no.

He figured.

"Emily, we can try variations on this later--but for tonight, I propose that I put nine fish tacos into the crate and you put one fish taco into the crate.  To test if it works on anything in the crate, or only things I put there, or possibly--rather unfortunately, if so--if it works on neither."

Emily stops to think about this.

Dropping the salad so Oliver could pick it up was fun. She had no idea what was going to happen.

And she's still pretty interested in this taco experiment too.

But... she's feeling a little bit like... an accessory, or something?

"I could drop nine tacos so you can pick them up... I guess... yes... but..."

"I guess I want you to know that I really like daffodils a lot. I mean, I guess a lot of people do."

Quick, yet unobtrusive stare by the light of the cellphone.

Is she hot?  Is she hot enough that if this System enforces monogamy he'd be okay with just her as his girlfriend for as long as he's trapped in Pelican Town, if it's even possible to have sex rather than the screen fading to black?

Looks a bit young, now that he's casting that eye at her.  Maybe it's just the darkness and cellphone-light; she didn't look that young in the tavern.

Well, it's not like he'd rather starve than fuck her, and probably handing over the daffodil isn't quite that irrevocable.

He hands over the daffodil.  "Thanks for not making me guess what you're thinking.  I mean, I suppose I did have to do some inference, but not a lot.  I appreciate that."

"Oh wow! Thank you! I'm feeling a positive energy from this gift!" Emily beams.

Emily drops nine fish tacos on the ground in a neat stack, and the remaining taco into the shipping crate.

"Phew! It is nice to be done with those! They're pretty gross if you ask me. I get why you had to get an expensive item, but, blech."

"I'm not sure of anything, but I'm sure that after we put them in the crate they never get seen again or eaten by anyone."

He picks up the nine tacos, and puts them in the crate.

"Thank you, Emily.  May whats-its-name look favorably on our efforts... do you think a prayer would help?"

"A prayer never hurts!"

"Oh Yoba, please bring these fish back to a great big pond in the sky full of... whatever fish like. Even slimy creatures deserve happiness! Even ones that have been cooked already!"

"Yoba.  Please let all things placed within this crate, by whoever's hands, turn into money.  May it be your will that I live happily in this place, attain all my desires, and return in time to Earth with powers beyond Earthly imagination to fix all of Earth's problems and maybe personally rule Australia.  And if I dreamed of explanations or useful secrets, this night, it would not go amiss."

"Yahoodley hoo, oh Yoba."

"Yahoodley... hoo, oh Yoba."

The stars are out, around him and Emily.  He hasn't spent a lot of time looking into the night sky, but he knows some constellations.

Does he still appear to be in the Milky Way, so far as he can tell?

It would be easier to see the sky clearly without that torch, er, cell phone.

Then he'll turn off the cellphone, if lighting your cellphone makes it impossible to see the stars, in this place.

With the torch extinguished and Emily's Yoba totem put back away, it is very dark. Many stars are visible. And yes, there is a faint, milky band across the sky.

Constellations?

Well, you're not going to see the Big Dipper down here, if that's what you're looking for, Kansas City boy. Do you know any southern hemisphere constellations?

He has lived in Zuzu City for quite a while.  He got to Pelican Town by bus, not airplane.

Zuzu City never really gets completely dark though, does it? And did you ever bother to look up and marvel at the night sky, in your previous life?

Not enough, and he hasn't spent nearly enough time looking at a proper night sky far from cities.

But even in Zuzu City you can see the Southern Cross.

Oh look, perhaps Oliver and Stardew Valley have found a crux.

Well, the constellation also called the Crux is still there.  It says something, maybe, about where he appears to be.  Maybe not all that much about where he is.

How long did it take night to fall, by the way, since it was twilight when he left the tavern?  Gradual or instant?

Gradual-ish.

The hell do you mean, 'ish'.

"So, um... good night, Oliver?"

"Goodnight, Emily.  May Yoba observe you and choose your dreams."

Emily grins at him and sets off back toward town.

It has been a long day, including the bus ride.  Before he goes into the cabin and the lone bed, he will see if there is any simple act of farming he can perform around this farm.  Could be as simple as picking up a liftable-sized stone and carrying it off the field.  Or picking up a hoe, and using it to pry a weed out of the field, as one presumably does with hoes.

If Oliver wants to break up some stones he should obviously use his pickaxe.

If he wants to clear a patch of weeds, well, that's what his scythe is for.

Does he in fact have either of those things.

Of course! Grandpa didn't want you do this with your bare hands! Also that's not even possible!

In addition to the pickaxe and scythe, you also have:

 - a hoe for tilling soil and general digging in dirt

 - an axe for chopping trees and stumps

 - a watering can for... you can probably figure that one out on your own

Like, in the cabin, as Oliver is just now remembering?  Or leaning up against the side of the cabin, and Oliver is just now noticing?

In your backpack!

HOW IS THERE A SCYTHE IN HIS 'BACKPACK'

ALSO WHAT EXACTLY IS THE INTROSPECTIVE SENSATION OF OLIVER SUDDENLY KNOWING THIS FACT

This is the sensation of having always known a thing!

For the last few hours anyway!

IF OLIVER HAD SPENT THE LAST SEVERAL HOURS KNOWING THERE WAS A SCYTHE IN HIS BACKPACK OLIVER THINKS HE WOULD HAVE NOTICED

AND YET

Oliver will see if he knows how to use a scythe to clear a patch of weeds.

And whether it leaves roots behind, as any sensible person might've expected, in another world that may be entirely lost to him.

Assuming Oliver was standing fairly close to the patch of weeds, and formed the intention to use the scythe that was already in his backpack, then yes, it works!

The patch of dirt is now completely pure, pristine, clean dirt. But it's, like, crusty dirt.

Does Oliver remember... swinging the scythe.

Yes? Obviously? What kind of a world do you think this is?

Did he swing the scythe with his hands.

Did it move in an arc through the air.

Did he take it out of his backpack, and put it back into his backpack afterwards, and stare at this process to see how Space seemed to be putting up with it.

Yes, with his hands. Yes, in an arc.

He did take it out of the backpack, but that part happened really fast. Space did not raise any particular complaints that Oliver noticed.

If Oliver has not since formed the intention to use a different object, then the scythe is still in his hands.

Can he put the scythe back into the backpack?  If so, Oliver will be watching this process closely to see how Space behaves.

Sure!

Oliver... puts the scythe back into the backpack.

Space is on its best behavior the whole time.

...is Oliver, in fact, feeling hungry.  Or thirsty.  Or tired.

Or like he needs to go to the bathroom.

Oliver feels like he is in almost-optimal condition and does not experience any of those needs!

That's... good news about his future survival, and also, really really viscerally horrifying.

Is Oliver a kind of thing, now, that could cry, if it was in an emotional condition where a human would shed a few tears.

Yes. Yes. Oliver can cry.

There, there, Oliver.

This has been a weird day.

Then while he has energy--though stopping short of 2am, if the issue arises--he will work around his Grandpa's farm, with the energy that he apparently still has.

He did a possibly naughty thing, with those fish tacos, and that crate.  Under threat of starvation, he thought, but still.  Oliver wants to show that he is--not unwilling to play along, play whatever game this is--with whatever put him here, and maybe replaced his body.  A sign of, of not being, recalcitrant.  Incorrigible.  Lest something otherwise take offense, with the amount of power that it apparently has.

Oliver is able to clear a fair bit of land right in front of the farmhouse, using the pickaxe and the scythe and the axe as needed for the rocks, weeds, and branches respectively.

After a while he notices that he does, in fact, feel pretty tired.

Then he'll go to his bed.

Does he feel icky and unshowered and like he needs to jump in the pond first?

Nah. Bed is seeming like a better choice.

He'll go to bed, then, with the intent to stay awake for a few minutes after getting into bed.  Just to check whether, in fact, getting into bed instantly knocks him out, instead.

Oliver stands upright in his bed.

Oliver tries to choose to sleep.

And he sleeps.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOOOOOO

It is 6am on Monday, Spring 1 and there is a cheery tune running through the head of anyone who is awake at that hour.

Oliver is anyone.

Is he groggy and half-asleep as usual?

Definitely not! Oliver feels fit and energized and ready to tackle the day!

There is something in the middle of the floor of this room that was not there when he went to sleep.

If he's not groggy as usual, he'll skip the step of being initially disoriented and possibly panicked.

The energy is nice.  He could get used to this sort of sleep experience.

...what's in the middle of the floor; also, is he lying in bed or standing in the middle of it.

He is now standing next to the bed.

The object(s) in the middle of the floor is a stack of 15 parsnip seed packets.

Oliver is paying a lot of introspective attention to his possibly revised mind and is currently sensitive to details such as, is this a stack of packets labeled "PARSNIPS" whose label Oliver read and only then identified as such, or did Oliver just know this was a stack of 15 parsnip packets.  Also, did Oliver know how many there were, or did he have to count them, or does Oliver in fact not know the number is 15 yet?

Hmmm. This setting is not accustomed to this level of scrutiny from those wandering around inside it!

The packets have a picture of a parsnip on them, rather than actual text.

Oliver knows for certain that that is definitely a picture of a parsnip, and not a weirdly white strawberry, or an acorn with green leaves sprouting out of it. Parsnip, for sure.

He also just knew there were 15 packets. He does still remember how to count, and if he were to lay out the packets in a row and say the names of the numbers "one, two, three..." while pointing in succession at each packet, he'd get the same answer, but that step is optional.

Yes, well, over the course of his entire life so far, Oliver has applied this level of scrutiny every single time he's received sudden major mind surgery from an unknown source.  He is, actually, going to count the packets whose number he knows to be 15.

Does Oliver... know how much G he has.

Entirely fair to check! However you want to spend your day!

Oliver has 5000G.

Pretty good news actually!  Part of Oliver is almost as excited as if he'd discovered an infinite money cheat back in actual reality!  Though he does need to check that Emily is not in debt.

It's unfortunate that he can't just hire people to put things in the crate, but, on the whole he's not going to complain.

He'll put the parsnip seed packets in his "backpack" and head out check all three channels of the TV.

The weather report says that today will be a clear, sunny day.

The fortune teller says the spirits are very happy today! They will do their best to shower everyone with good fortune!

Livin' Off the Land still seems to be showing the same program as last night.

Off to the outside!  What does it take to plant a packet of parsnips?  What does it take to plant 15 of them?  Does Oliver have mysterious knowledge about that?  Does he know how long it takes parsnips to grow, and how much money they sell for?  Does he only know what the seed packet sells for?  Does he only know how long it'll take the parsnips to grow after they start growing?

Upon arriving outside, Oliver feels strongly that he should possibly check the mailbox!

Planting each parsnip seed will require: a square of farmland free of debris; hoeing that square such that the dirt is tilled; placing the parsnip seed; watering that square.

It will take four days for the parsnips to grow, if he remembers to water them every day, and they will probably sell for 35G, unless they are of surprisingly high quality given everything.

The seed packets will sell for 10G each.

...If he stares hard at himself internally, can he tell whether there's a good thing or a bad thing in the mailbox in advance of checking it?

Um.

Can he?

He can't, nope. He just thinks there's probably something in the mailbox.

WELL HE'D BETTER CHECK THE MAILBOX THEN!

Inside the mailbox there is a letter from Emily!

The letter is written on thick paper with a watercolor gradient from pink to purple to blue in the background, and sparkly silver ink. It smells nice.

"Dear Oliver,

I just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening last night. I had so much fun with you and I am glad you have moved to Pelican Town. I have put your daffodil in a vase and I will treasure it always.

In memory of our fun experiments with food and the cash register and so on, I am enclosing a recipe for salad. That was our first experiment together! Also, I really hate fish tacos so I didn't want that to be what we remembered.

fondly,

Emily.

P.S. I still have 0G this morning. How about you? Did it work? I am so confused about why I never make any money. I don't want it to work like that anymore."

There is a notecard enclosed with the recipe for salad. Oliver can't actually make it yet, without the kitchen, but maybe someday. It takes one leek, one dandelion, and one vinegar to make salad.

Well that seems at least a little like a somewhat programmed response to his romantic overtures, mixed in with what sounds like a real person.  If Oliver is not currently hungry--is he?--then he may actually have the moral leisure to check out how old Emily looks in daylight; and also whether she's in fact, like, 1 day old in some important sense; and whether or not the part of herself that can be confused about why she doesn't make money is looking sideways at the part of herself that will always treasure daffodils.

Salad-wise, Oliver will keep an eye out for dandelion seed packets, he supposes.  He always wanted to have a nice patch of garden full of dandelions but for some reason his parents and neighbors always objected.

Not hungry at all!

Good good.  It's always nice to have moral leisure.  Oliver is aware about himself that he may eventually end up forming a very problematic relationship, he does not want to live out the rest of whatever life this is being celibate, but it's good to have the leisure to pick out some woman on the efficient frontier of being most hot and least morally problematic.

Oliver will now attempt to plant a packet of parsnips and see how that goes.

There are also other villagers! Possibly Oliver will want to meet them also!

Anyway!

Oliver had previously cleared more than 15 squares of land. He tills the soil and places the seeds with no trouble, but then discovers that his watering can is empty.

And his right elbow still doesn't hurt or anything, after last night's work and this morning?

What part of 'Oliver feels fit and energized and ready to tackle the day' felt uncompelling the first time, such that it might be more clearly stated on future mornings?