"I'm, like, eighty-percent sure I didn't kill that guy."

Aside from the soul-crushing monotany and lack of any respect for your humanity, Joja was a fine place to work. So Mandy was happy about inheriting her grandfather's farm. But only, like, a normal amount. Not enough to do have done anything drastic to make it happen. Just the standard level of happy to be while grieving your recently deceased grandpa. The official story was that he died of old age. She loves that story.

When Mandy arrives in Stardew Valley, she's content to mine, farm, and otherwise keep to herself. Unfortunately for her, she has a run-in with one of the locals that forces her out of her shell.

Quotes

First Meeting:

"Oh! Hey... you!"

(Crap. Is this someone new, or did I forget their name?)

Regular:

"...?"
"Uh... Bye!"
"I'm sorry — I'm not bothering you, am I?"
"I should... Go back to work..."
"Oh! I, uh, wrote you a letter... Did you get it?"
"...Sorry."
"AUGH — Hiya! How's it hangin'?"
"What day is it...?"
"I hope we get some rain soon..."
"*yawn* Huh? Oh, I just... couldn't fall asleep last night."
"Huh? I've got something on my face? ... Oh, it's just coal."
"Do you know anything about ghosts? ...Nevermind."
"I miss my 3DS." / " Oh, I didn't lose it. I just haven't played it since this morning."
"Hey, do you see a comb stuck in my hair?" / "Uh... No reason."
"Uh... You shouldn't get too close to my farm... Sorry."
"I've been getting really into finger-painting. It's a lost art."
"Sometimes I wish I didn't have to leave my house."
"You're not scared of me, are you? I guess I don't blame you..."

6+ Hearts:

"Oh, hey! I was just about to head to the mines."
"*poke* Whatcha' doin'?"
"Bug meat is actually pretty good."
"Do you want snacks? I want snacks."

8+ Hearts:

"Hey, dude! How goes it?"
"Heheheheheh."
"Wanna come over tonight? There's gonna be a new Queen of Sauce episode!"
"Things have gotten easier lately. It's sort of hard to explain."

Green Rain:

"Oh, I've actually been running around outside all day! This weather makes me feel really good for some reason."

At Ginger Island:

"Ugh... It's so... hot..."
"I'm so excited to swim! I bought a cute bathing suit just for this."
"...This is making me miss winter. I want ice-cream."

Dating / 10 Hearts:

"...*bites you*"
"I'm trying something new with my hair! Whaddya think?"

After catching the player digging through a garbage can:

"...Yeah. There's a lot of good stuff in there."

Events:

Egg Festival:

"The egg hunt's gonna be so fun! I'll probably give all mine to Jas."

Flower Dance:

"I really wanna dance, but I really don't wanna embarrass myself... Maybe I'll just sit out."
"At least the flowers look nice."

The Luau:

"I threw in some peppers! Heh... Grew 'em myself." 😼

Dance of the Moonlight Jellies:

"Pretty... Are jellyfish edible...?"

Stardew Valley Fair:

"Ahh!! I'm so excited — I'm gonna play every game!"
"Do you think any of the booths have cotton candy!?"

Spirit’s Eve:

"This is my favorite holiday!! Everything's so spooky!"
"These are so much cuter than real monsters!"

Festival of Ice:

"I'm building a snowgasaurus!"
"I'm not great at fishing... Maybe I could try spear fishing instead?"

Night Market:

"It's so comfy here... I wish we did this every night."

Feast of the Winter Star:

"It's so cold out, but I still feel all warm and cozy inside."
"You don't believe in magic? Haha!"

Misc. Mandy Notes

social anxiety: the girl
regularly roots through everyone's trash
talks to herself all day long
prefers the company of her farm animals to people (with a few exceptions.)
- talks to them like they're people
doesn't know how to do makeup. like at all. wishes she did and is kinda embarassed about it
keeps her hair long cause it makes her feel safer (easy hiding spot)
wants to be cute, doesn't always think that she is
didn't have any outfits besides her work clothes when she moved to the valley, so that's what she wears!
has a new favorite color every week

most often yellow and green

stuck glow-in-the-dark stars all over the ceiling of her cabin
her favorite musicians are Beach Bunny, Avril Lavigne, and the Beach Boys
sometimes worries that she should act more grown-up
LOVES dinosaurs
her favorite weather is green rain! her favorite normal weather is thunderstorms
total lightweight, won't admit it
when she gets drunk she gets really clingy and loud(er). and does terrible karaoke
lets the grass on her farm grow really tall so it's comfier to lay down in
likes kids and gets along with them well
decent at knitting! sometimes makes hats and scarves when she has the time
writes rpf about the people in town
- determined to get Marnie and Lewis together. convinced they're endgame
queen of density, patron saint of the friend zone
joke-flirts with friends for fun
scared of being too much
randomly gets really bad patches of acne
has a collection of candy-scented lip balms
loves most video games. her favorite is animal crossing!

Timeline (big WIP):

Year 1

Spring

Mandy moves to the valley

has the wilderness farm! so every night she is accosted by HOARDS OF MONSTERS
doesn't get a lot of sleep
uncomfortably good at killing things
misses 7/11

she's scared of people and worries that they'll find out she maybe murdered her Grandpa, so she keeps to herself as much as possible

therefore nobody meets her for weeks

Mandy starts sending everyone in town gifts by mail

because she wants them to think she's normal and nice and not a grandpa killer
also because she wants friends! sending letters eliminates the scariest part of people: talking to them

Mandy and Shane meet in the last week of Spring by complete accident
- Mandy heads to the lake to wash up after another night of playing high stakes keep-away
- she doesn't think Marnie will be awake early in the morning, so she figures she's in the clear
- at the same time, Shane leaves to go to work
- Mandy didn't even know he existed, let alone that he lived Right There
- so they both panic and he gets the crap scared out of him
- he basically runs away thinking that she's probably a serial killer (her nightmare scenario)
Mandy and Shane run into each other almost every day in the morning from hereon out. Mandy is still covered in fluids a lot of the time

Summer

Mandy writes Shane a letter to apologize for scaring him

she attaches daffodils, which he hates
since she sends gifts to everyone in town, Shane assumes this is just a courtesy/pity gift and double hates it

Mandy keeps coming to clean off in the river

she notices he is distinctly more asshole-ish
he like actively ignores her. just silent treatment

on top of their morning meetings, Mandy keeps sending letters and flowers for the next few weeks. Shane's attitude does not improve.
after work, Shane overhears conversation about Mandy at the saloon a few times
- since she's been so consistent with writing everyone letters, the consensus seems to be that everyone in town pretty much likes her
- but few people have actually met her in person
- they like her gifts and think she seems nice! Shane feels like he might become the joker
Mandy shows up at Jojamart while Shane is working to ask him why he's avoiding her

he's rightfully freaked but can't just leave cause he's at work
he tells her to fuck off (doesn't work) he tells her to stop sending gifts (doesn't work)
she basically harasses him until he tells her he likes food (not flowers) so that she'll go away

Mandy shows up At His House at 7am the next morning with pancakes
- he really wants to slam the door in her face but she is too sad and wet and cute (in like an ugly dog way) and Shane doesn't entirely want to turn down free food
- they eat on the porch before they both head off to their respective jobs

Fall

breakfast becomes their thing! Mandy starts showing up almost every morning with food.
- at this point, neither of them consciously consider each other friends, but they basically are
- Mandy gets way better at cooking just because she's doing it so often
- she takes note of what he likes
- without Shane noticing, she slowly wears him down
- he starts to count on seeing her in the morning. the few times she can't make it, it feels weird for him to reheat frozen pizza like he used to
one evening, Mandy runs into Shane drinking on the pier

they properly emotionally connect for the first time
this is when they start to see each other as people rather than nuisances
she gets really drunk and confesses that she thinks there's something wrong with her and that she's scared of hurting people
for the next while, she hides from him out of embarassment/fear of judgment

Winter

with crops unable to grow in the weather, Mandy has even less reason to leave her farm
nobody hears from her for a week - she even stops sending letters
despite what she's afraid of, Shane actually likes her more after their talk on the pier
- he writes her a pretty indirect letter - he attaches a recipe and says to let him try some if she makes it. he doesn't really care about the food. it's just to make sure she's still alive and give her an excuse to see him. he's half-convinced it won't work
- (all while telling himself that he doesn't really care the whole time, of course. but somebody should make sure the farmer isn't dead.)
a few days go by and Shane doesn't hear anything from her
he's this 🤏 close to a wellness check when she shows up one morning with pepper poppers (the recipe he sent her) for breakfast
- (this isn't a breakfast food. they're both gonna be on the toilet all day. but I'm not writing that scene)