Celestia
-
TaylorGS
- Got Marsh Badge!
- Posts: 644
- Joined: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 11:43 pm
- Pokémon D/P Friend code: 0
- Location: Somewhere in the US, SC
~ Chapter 2: Part 2 ~
---
As I was being led by Tangy my thoughts wandered from one thing to another until settling on that blue and white cat that led me to Porter and the animal residents I had seen so far in this town. Specifically, the cats. Tangy was a cat, but she was not exactly like the cats in Miro. I was unable to put my finger on the exact difference until I saw a blue squirrel sleeping under a tree near a purple cat in a patch of tulips. Then the difference struck me like a thunderbolt: the animals were proportionally about the same size! I was slightly taller than Tangy, who looked about the same height as the sleeping cat who was slightly taller than the squirrel. But in Miro, squirrels and cats were noticeably smaller. Here, it was like everything had a cartoony or a manga cutout appearance.
I had the sudden need to see another person in this town, so I worked up the courage to ask, "Hey, ummm... Tangy?"
Tangy suddenly stopped walking causing my face to run into the back of her head. I took a step back and stared fervently at my shoes when she turned around.
"Yes, Tay?" She asked with a mixture of excitement and apprehensiveness.
"Ummm... Do mostly uh... animals live in Looksus?" Unintentionally, I stressed the word ‘animals.’
There was a small amount of hesitation in her response. "Well, there are two that live in Acre B-3, and two others, but I don't see them much..."
"Ah...?" I said with my confused and flat tone. Tangy burst into a fit of laughter. "Wh-why're you laughing?" I had to wait for Tangy's laughter to subside before she answered.
"You talk like that on the forum, with all that 'ah...' stuff, mee-ow!"
"Uh... Yeah...?" I had an idea at what she was getting at, but I ignored the notion. Talking through a keyboard is much easier than face-to-face.
We resumed walking, and I was grateful that my right hand was not being held, but I still walked behind Tangy. She's my guide, so it makes sense that I walk behind her, I thought uneasily as we approached four houses. A message board was erected in the middle of a loopy cobblestone path that connected to the doorstep of each of the four houses. The raccoon from earlier stood there waiting.
"I was wondering when you would come," the raccoon said. He looked me over, as if to appraise my worth. Uncomfortable, I shifted the weight on my feet.
"Umm... Nice to meet you... er..."
"Tom Nook." The raccoon said simply. He grasped my hand with his paw and firmly shook it. My arm stiffened at the touch of more fur, which resulted in an awkward handshake, but Tom Nook continued speaking in his brisk business-like manner. "I have two houses for sale," he pointed to two houses, smallest of the four nearby, "Look inside them and choose which one you want to buy." When he saw my hand hover hesitatingly over the doorknob of the house with the yellow roof, he added with a laugh, "There are no locks on the doors, so go on in!"
I was disturbed that there were no locks on either of the two houses. Was there no fear of burglars in this town?
After a few minutes of inspecting each house, I discovered both were practically the same. Both had a dusty crate in one corner of the house's small solitary room and a primitive tape deck in another corner. With worn and torn wallpaper complete with shabby floor tiles, the two houses for sale ought to have been advertised as a pair of cozy run-down shacks. It was as if Tom Nook slapped together the houses to sell for some quick cash.
"I guess I'll ummm... choose this house," I eventually said. Tangy had left already.
"Are you sure you want the house with the green roof?" Tom Nook inquired.
I nodded, not seeing why it mattered which house I chose. They were basically the same...
"Very very good!" Tom Nook exclaimed cheerfully. "This must be a very important day for you!"
You'd think he just won the lottery, I thought to myself.
Tom Nook began to lecture me on the house and bits of information that might come in handy. His words went in one ear and out my other until he came to the amount of money I would need to be paying him. "… That will be 19,800 bells," He said.
Sheepishly, I dug all of my coins from my pants pockets and gave them to the raccoon. "Umm... I think my currency might be a bit different..."
"That is not a problem," He replied, counting up the money. Then he looked at me straight in the face with a face more sympathetic than I would have given him credit for. "You don't have enough money here to buy a house. However, you need a place to live. A thorny situation..." He shook his head as if he were in a debate with himself. Suddenly his eyes lit up with an idea. "You can work at my shop to pay off some of your house. Think of it as a loan, hmm?" I nodded dumbly. "Very good! Then I will see you at my shop in a few minutes."
Before he gave me a chance to disagree with him, he scurried up the cobblestone path to his shop.
---
Notes:
~ The houses in acre B-3 are arranged as… (I’m using the roof colors)
[] Big blue house (top left)
[] Big red house (top right)
[] Empty small yellow house (bottom left)
[] Tay-fic’s small green house (bottom right)
~ 1,000 Bells is about equivalent to $1
~ Chapter 2: Part 3 ~
---
Instead of immediately going to Tom Nook's shop, I nervously walked up to one of the two larger houses that dwarfed mine: the one with a blue roof. An object that resembled a beige-colored fire hydrant in front of the house's window sprung to life when I neared it. Its beady eyes blinked with a vacant expression as it recited a message. "The master of the house is not home right now, but if you would like to look inside his house, you may."
"Um... Okay." I said stupidly to the fire hydrant before turning the doorknob.
The door opened easily and nervously I stepped inside. The interior appeared to be solely one large room, although the outside had led me to believe that there might have been an upstairs and a much smaller first floor. Appearances were deceiving.
The room was cluttered with a random assortment of furniture and a variety of plants. A sword and bow were on display by the door. Colorful bonsai plants rested on the two windowsills on opposite sides of the room. In the back corner was an ebony piano, and beside it was an unusually large red metronome on top of a comparably small round table. In the other back corner was a harp next to a classic-styled desk and chair. Bookshelves were built into the remaining unused space along the back wall and were loaded with many fiction and recipe books. Potted plants positioned around a grandfather clock and a dull bronze phonograph in the center of the room took up the remaining space. There was barely a small pathway to walk around the house.
The blue ceiling light cast an eerie glow across the room causing a small chill to go up my spine. Other than a haunting dirge that played slowly on the phonograph, the house was absolutely silent. Even the clock whose frozen hands were stopped at 8:14; its pendulum was seen unmoving through chipped glass.
'This is a strange house,' I thought, walking a semi-circle around the room. Like a cat, my curiosity got the best of me and I plucked a string on the harp. A cloud of dust rained off of the instrument and into the air. Coughing and sneezing, I stumbled backwards a few steps. When I removed my glasses to clean them on my shirt, I saw that my fingertips were a whitish color from the dust. Hastily, I wiped my hands on my pants. A quick glance around the room revealed that almost everything in the room was coated in a layer of dust.
BANG! ... BANG!
I must have jumped several feet in the air and let out a startled yelp. There was a splashing sound nearby. Warily I looked about myself, half-expecting to see my neighbor behind me, but I saw no one; I was alone. It was only the sound of a pair of symbols crashing together in the dirge song, and now the creepy melody had quieted. Then I was aware that the bottom of my pants legs was clinging to my ankles. They were wet. I was standing in a puddle, but why would water...? Or was it water?
In the back of my mind, I thought of many other possibilities besides water due to the house's peculiarity. My body stiffened at one thought. 'It couldn't be blood...? Right?!' I thought, alarmed. 'One way to find out...' Scared at what I would see, but feeling that I had no other choice, I slowly dropped my gaze to the floor underneath me. I was standing in a jet-black puddle of a thick liquid littered with many tiny shards of shattered glass. Paper torn to shreds was scattered on the floor a foot away. I let out a breath that I hadn't known I was holding in, relieved that the puddle was only ink.
Then it occurred to me that I was standing in a puddle of ink, and it would probably ruin my only pair of shoes. When I backed out of the ink puddle, I tripped over a potted plant and did a face plant on the floor. Luckily, I did not land on anything, but nevertheless I berated myself for my clumsiness. As I picked myself up from the floor, I could not help but take notice of the ceramic tiles that made up the floor. Although I could not see much of it, I let out an awed gasp. The tile served as a canvas for the colorful mosaic of bright and dark colors. It depicted a skyline with night clashing with day, the darkness of night fusing the bright blue of day. Noticing that the ink mess was covering up a portion of the day side of the artwork, I inched towards it. A feeble halo of yellow paint could barely be seen under layers of dried out and wet ink blotches. I inferred that that was the sun, but unfortunately, ink had spilled on it.
I couldn't help but wonder if this person went on vacation or something. If they were home, why would they leave ink undisturbed on the floor so that it could start to dry out like that? Would the stain even be able to come off the floor? It seemed like such a shame that a this mural was marred by the black ink.
On the way out of the house, I saw something I hadn't seen earlier. There was a blue bean bag chair hidden among the cluster of potted plants, and I could clearly see an impression left by someone who had recently sat in the cushy seat. That detail only added to my musing as I wandered in the general direction towards Tom Nook's shop.
Ink only takes a few days to dry up... Or was it only a few hours? There was a wet ink puddle in that house, and it was on top of a layer of dry ink. But why...? Things didn't seem to quite add up. Why was the house so tidy, yet dusty? Why was there an untouched ink mess? I thought, 'When I meet my mysterious neighbor, I'll be sure to ask him.'
---
Two updates in one post... Whoo... x_x
I spent a while wondering about the ink, but no one really knew the answer since no one leaves an ink mess unattended, you know? @_@;
---
As I was being led by Tangy my thoughts wandered from one thing to another until settling on that blue and white cat that led me to Porter and the animal residents I had seen so far in this town. Specifically, the cats. Tangy was a cat, but she was not exactly like the cats in Miro. I was unable to put my finger on the exact difference until I saw a blue squirrel sleeping under a tree near a purple cat in a patch of tulips. Then the difference struck me like a thunderbolt: the animals were proportionally about the same size! I was slightly taller than Tangy, who looked about the same height as the sleeping cat who was slightly taller than the squirrel. But in Miro, squirrels and cats were noticeably smaller. Here, it was like everything had a cartoony or a manga cutout appearance.
I had the sudden need to see another person in this town, so I worked up the courage to ask, "Hey, ummm... Tangy?"
Tangy suddenly stopped walking causing my face to run into the back of her head. I took a step back and stared fervently at my shoes when she turned around.
"Yes, Tay?" She asked with a mixture of excitement and apprehensiveness.
"Ummm... Do mostly uh... animals live in Looksus?" Unintentionally, I stressed the word ‘animals.’
There was a small amount of hesitation in her response. "Well, there are two that live in Acre B-3, and two others, but I don't see them much..."
"Ah...?" I said with my confused and flat tone. Tangy burst into a fit of laughter. "Wh-why're you laughing?" I had to wait for Tangy's laughter to subside before she answered.
"You talk like that on the forum, with all that 'ah...' stuff, mee-ow!"
"Uh... Yeah...?" I had an idea at what she was getting at, but I ignored the notion. Talking through a keyboard is much easier than face-to-face.
We resumed walking, and I was grateful that my right hand was not being held, but I still walked behind Tangy. She's my guide, so it makes sense that I walk behind her, I thought uneasily as we approached four houses. A message board was erected in the middle of a loopy cobblestone path that connected to the doorstep of each of the four houses. The raccoon from earlier stood there waiting.
"I was wondering when you would come," the raccoon said. He looked me over, as if to appraise my worth. Uncomfortable, I shifted the weight on my feet.
"Umm... Nice to meet you... er..."
"Tom Nook." The raccoon said simply. He grasped my hand with his paw and firmly shook it. My arm stiffened at the touch of more fur, which resulted in an awkward handshake, but Tom Nook continued speaking in his brisk business-like manner. "I have two houses for sale," he pointed to two houses, smallest of the four nearby, "Look inside them and choose which one you want to buy." When he saw my hand hover hesitatingly over the doorknob of the house with the yellow roof, he added with a laugh, "There are no locks on the doors, so go on in!"
I was disturbed that there were no locks on either of the two houses. Was there no fear of burglars in this town?
After a few minutes of inspecting each house, I discovered both were practically the same. Both had a dusty crate in one corner of the house's small solitary room and a primitive tape deck in another corner. With worn and torn wallpaper complete with shabby floor tiles, the two houses for sale ought to have been advertised as a pair of cozy run-down shacks. It was as if Tom Nook slapped together the houses to sell for some quick cash.
"I guess I'll ummm... choose this house," I eventually said. Tangy had left already.
"Are you sure you want the house with the green roof?" Tom Nook inquired.
I nodded, not seeing why it mattered which house I chose. They were basically the same...
"Very very good!" Tom Nook exclaimed cheerfully. "This must be a very important day for you!"
You'd think he just won the lottery, I thought to myself.
Tom Nook began to lecture me on the house and bits of information that might come in handy. His words went in one ear and out my other until he came to the amount of money I would need to be paying him. "… That will be 19,800 bells," He said.
Sheepishly, I dug all of my coins from my pants pockets and gave them to the raccoon. "Umm... I think my currency might be a bit different..."
"That is not a problem," He replied, counting up the money. Then he looked at me straight in the face with a face more sympathetic than I would have given him credit for. "You don't have enough money here to buy a house. However, you need a place to live. A thorny situation..." He shook his head as if he were in a debate with himself. Suddenly his eyes lit up with an idea. "You can work at my shop to pay off some of your house. Think of it as a loan, hmm?" I nodded dumbly. "Very good! Then I will see you at my shop in a few minutes."
Before he gave me a chance to disagree with him, he scurried up the cobblestone path to his shop.
---
Notes:
~ The houses in acre B-3 are arranged as… (I’m using the roof colors)
[] Big blue house (top left)
[] Big red house (top right)
[] Empty small yellow house (bottom left)
[] Tay-fic’s small green house (bottom right)
~ 1,000 Bells is about equivalent to $1
~ Chapter 2: Part 3 ~
---
Instead of immediately going to Tom Nook's shop, I nervously walked up to one of the two larger houses that dwarfed mine: the one with a blue roof. An object that resembled a beige-colored fire hydrant in front of the house's window sprung to life when I neared it. Its beady eyes blinked with a vacant expression as it recited a message. "The master of the house is not home right now, but if you would like to look inside his house, you may."
"Um... Okay." I said stupidly to the fire hydrant before turning the doorknob.
The door opened easily and nervously I stepped inside. The interior appeared to be solely one large room, although the outside had led me to believe that there might have been an upstairs and a much smaller first floor. Appearances were deceiving.
The room was cluttered with a random assortment of furniture and a variety of plants. A sword and bow were on display by the door. Colorful bonsai plants rested on the two windowsills on opposite sides of the room. In the back corner was an ebony piano, and beside it was an unusually large red metronome on top of a comparably small round table. In the other back corner was a harp next to a classic-styled desk and chair. Bookshelves were built into the remaining unused space along the back wall and were loaded with many fiction and recipe books. Potted plants positioned around a grandfather clock and a dull bronze phonograph in the center of the room took up the remaining space. There was barely a small pathway to walk around the house.
The blue ceiling light cast an eerie glow across the room causing a small chill to go up my spine. Other than a haunting dirge that played slowly on the phonograph, the house was absolutely silent. Even the clock whose frozen hands were stopped at 8:14; its pendulum was seen unmoving through chipped glass.
'This is a strange house,' I thought, walking a semi-circle around the room. Like a cat, my curiosity got the best of me and I plucked a string on the harp. A cloud of dust rained off of the instrument and into the air. Coughing and sneezing, I stumbled backwards a few steps. When I removed my glasses to clean them on my shirt, I saw that my fingertips were a whitish color from the dust. Hastily, I wiped my hands on my pants. A quick glance around the room revealed that almost everything in the room was coated in a layer of dust.
BANG! ... BANG!
I must have jumped several feet in the air and let out a startled yelp. There was a splashing sound nearby. Warily I looked about myself, half-expecting to see my neighbor behind me, but I saw no one; I was alone. It was only the sound of a pair of symbols crashing together in the dirge song, and now the creepy melody had quieted. Then I was aware that the bottom of my pants legs was clinging to my ankles. They were wet. I was standing in a puddle, but why would water...? Or was it water?
In the back of my mind, I thought of many other possibilities besides water due to the house's peculiarity. My body stiffened at one thought. 'It couldn't be blood...? Right?!' I thought, alarmed. 'One way to find out...' Scared at what I would see, but feeling that I had no other choice, I slowly dropped my gaze to the floor underneath me. I was standing in a jet-black puddle of a thick liquid littered with many tiny shards of shattered glass. Paper torn to shreds was scattered on the floor a foot away. I let out a breath that I hadn't known I was holding in, relieved that the puddle was only ink.
Then it occurred to me that I was standing in a puddle of ink, and it would probably ruin my only pair of shoes. When I backed out of the ink puddle, I tripped over a potted plant and did a face plant on the floor. Luckily, I did not land on anything, but nevertheless I berated myself for my clumsiness. As I picked myself up from the floor, I could not help but take notice of the ceramic tiles that made up the floor. Although I could not see much of it, I let out an awed gasp. The tile served as a canvas for the colorful mosaic of bright and dark colors. It depicted a skyline with night clashing with day, the darkness of night fusing the bright blue of day. Noticing that the ink mess was covering up a portion of the day side of the artwork, I inched towards it. A feeble halo of yellow paint could barely be seen under layers of dried out and wet ink blotches. I inferred that that was the sun, but unfortunately, ink had spilled on it.
I couldn't help but wonder if this person went on vacation or something. If they were home, why would they leave ink undisturbed on the floor so that it could start to dry out like that? Would the stain even be able to come off the floor? It seemed like such a shame that a this mural was marred by the black ink.
On the way out of the house, I saw something I hadn't seen earlier. There was a blue bean bag chair hidden among the cluster of potted plants, and I could clearly see an impression left by someone who had recently sat in the cushy seat. That detail only added to my musing as I wandered in the general direction towards Tom Nook's shop.
Ink only takes a few days to dry up... Or was it only a few hours? There was a wet ink puddle in that house, and it was on top of a layer of dry ink. But why...? Things didn't seem to quite add up. Why was the house so tidy, yet dusty? Why was there an untouched ink mess? I thought, 'When I meet my mysterious neighbor, I'll be sure to ask him.'
---
Two updates in one post... Whoo... x_x
I spent a while wondering about the ink, but no one really knew the answer since no one leaves an ink mess unattended, you know? @_@;
I drop by every now and then... I shall never be just a memory! *cackles*
... Not back to the regularly scheduled thread... ^^;
... Not back to the regularly scheduled thread... ^^;
-
TaylorGS
- Got Marsh Badge!
- Posts: 644
- Joined: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 11:43 pm
- Pokémon D/P Friend code: 0
- Location: Somewhere in the US, SC
<> Chapter 3: Part 1 <>
---
The first thing Tom Nook said when I entered his shop was an impatient, "Took you long enough." Then he thrusted a faded green apron into my hands. A white apple on the front of the apron was its only distinguishing mark. "That's your uniform. It's an old model, so you will have to throw it over your clothes."
"Ah..." I said. My hands fumbled to tie a bow with the strings in the back of the apron behind me, and Tom Nook watched me with a bemused expression. It felt like he was appraising me. "So, ummm... What am I supposed to be doing?"
"You will work as an errand runner for me. However, instead of receiving pay, I will deduct from your loan based on your performance." The raccoon gave me a sharp look, as if to jibe at my so-called late punctuality. "Your first errand will to be to deliver this," he handed me a shiny green leaf, "to Tad in acre C-2."
I turned the leaf over in my hands, examining it. Its color was a shiny lime green and it felt not like a plant leaf, but... it was as soft as cloth, but as tough as iron. The texture was so unusual that there were no words to describe it.
"What are you waiting around for?" Tom Nook asked, "It's not going to deliver itself, hmm?"
"A-ah, yeah, right..." I muttered to myself as I walked slowly from the shop. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't the slightest clue where this Tad lived. What was an 'acre' anyways? Frustrated, I wandered for a bit until I came to the train station. I stopped in front of the map posted there and looked for Tad's house. It was a bit southwest from my house. That wasn't too far from here.
Soon I reached Tad's house and saw a teal-colored frog standing outside. When he saw me approaching, the frog asked, "Is that the elephant slide from Tom Nook, slurrrp?"
"I uh... guess so. It looks like a leaf though." I said, holding up the green leaf.
"Of course it's not just a leaf." Then the frog momentarily paused. "I didn't realize it until now, but you're new here? I never introduced myself. My pals call me Tad."
"Oh, and I'm Tay... I'm working at Tom Nook's shop for a while, I think."
"I should give you something for this delivery," he said when I gave him the leaf. I shook my head in protest (It was only a simple delivery...), but he said, "Tom Nook doesn't allow his workers to buy anything at his shop. Come inside for a bit!" Then Tad entered his house and I followed him.
His house was a single room filled with equally random objects, just like Tangy's. There were some of those funny dancing fire hydrants (Tad told me that they're called "Gyroids.") and small tables shaped like lily pads and frog-themed chairs in the corners of the room. What Tad wanted me to see was the small kiddy pool that had a slide positioned next to it.
"This," Tad said, pointing to the slide, "is an elephant slide."
"And... That leaf you're holding is supposed to be a slide just like that one?" I asked quizzically.
"Right. See?" He tossed t he leaf to the empty corner of the room opposite of the slide and the leaf materialized into an identical slide like the first elephant slide.
"Cool..." I said, clearly awed.
"It's Happa Kyodai..." and at my confused look, he added, "Leaf mana system."
"Umm... Okay...?"
"Now for your reward." Tad handed me a shiny leaf. "I won this at a raffle, but it clashes with my pool gear. Just throw it somewhere in your pad, and it'll appear there, slurrrp!"
"Thanks..." I said with uncertainty before leaving his house.
~ Chapter 3: Part 2 ~
---
When I stepped inside the shop, Tom Nook pointed to a parcel and packets of flower seeds on the counter before briskly turning around to return back to his phone conversation. "Only SIX days?!" He thundered into the receiver.
I grabbed the packages and quickly left the store to avoid hearing the raccoon's heated conversation. Outside, I realized that I hadn't the slightest clue what my current errands were. The package was marked with a bunch of "fragile!" and "right side up" stickers, addressed to someone named Bob. The flower packets on the other hand, left no clue what I was to do with them.
"Wee one!" Someone behind me called. I was so startled that I nearly dropped the wares. It was a black and white bunny that was addressing me. "My name's Dotty," she said, "What's yours?"
"Umm... I'm Tay."
"Whatcha doin'?" She asked, curiously eyeing my packages.
"I'm umm... making a delivery to someone named Bob..."
Dotty's eyes lit up. "Really?!" She exclaimed. I nodded.
She enthusiastically told me that she was going to his house and would show me where he lived. I followed behind a hopping and cheerful Dotty. We passed my house and crossed over the river before two houses surrounded by tulips and pansies appeared. A purple cat was asleep in a patch of tulips and a blue squirrel slept in the shade of a tree.
Full of energy, Dotty bounced back and forth from the cat to the squirrel chanting loudly, "Wake up, wake up!" over and over. Her childish incantation slowly roused the two from their slumber. "I want you to meet Tay," Dotty said to the two groggy animals.
"Uh... Hi," I said nervously.
Although the purple cat’s eyes still looked half-open, he instantly brightened at the sight of the package in my hands. "You're my best friend in the whole entire world!" He exclaimed, and then he leapt towards me! The cat tightly hugged... the parcel that he snatched from me.
I blankly stared; Dotty laughed and said, "That's Bob for you, wee one," as if that would explain the cat's behavior. "And Filbert's the blue squirrel." As if switching subject in a conversation, Dotty tossed the square piece of checkerboard cloth she was holding and by the time it hit the ground, the square had multiplied in size creating a cloth blanket in a mere second. "Picnic time!" She sang. At everyone's awed and impressed looks, she said nonchalantly, "I bought it over in Maplewood. They just started selling these new Happa Kyodai patterns."
"So it's just plain cloth?" Bob asked, the interest draining from his voice.
Filbert felt the texture of the cloth blanket with his paw, and then licked his paw. He then said, "Yup. One hundred percent cotton."
With their interest gone from the pattern blanket, Bob and Filbert exchanged glances before bursting into a chant of, "Caaake! Cake!"
Dotty opened the package (when did she get it from Bob?) when we sat down. There really was a cake inside, and the bunny divided the it into fourths. They chatted about the yesterday’s Halloween festival while I nibbled slowly on my cake slice. I felt so out of place, but Dotty's stories were entertaining and so were Bob and Filbert's silly antics. Bob told me that once in a previous life, he and Filbert were sisters. A faint smile formed on my face when the comment registered in my head. Although Looksus were full of animals, they sure were funny.
Before I realized it, time had flown by and the sun had set a while ago. That was when Dotty inquired me about my job at Tom Nook's shop, Nookway, and I told them that I was working to pay off a loan.
"Which reminds me, ummm..." I said, looking down at the flower packets.
"Yes?" Dotty asked, encouraging me to finish.
"Well, Tom Nook gave me a lot of flower seeds to plant, but he didn't tell me where to put them..."
"Mike," Bob said, "Used to do errands for Nookster and he planted flowers!" Both Bob and Filbert said the last part at the same time.
"That's creepy, blue," Filbert said with a laugh.
"Copycat!" Bob called back.
Dotty shifted through the flower packets I had and arranged them into two piles while the two were in a childish name calling match that ended in a draw. She gave a handful of red and yellow tulips to me and said, "You and Bob plant those by Bob's house." She picked up the remaining white pansy packets. "Filbert and I will plant these by Filbert's house. It shouldn't matter where they get planted as long as they're planted, you know what I mean, wee one?"
Planting the flowers was unusual, like everything so far in Looksus. The seeds sprouted tulips right after burying them in the ground! "Must be that Happa Kyoda thing," I murmured after the second tulip was planted.
Other than the sound of accelerated flower growth and the ripping open of another few tulip packets, it was quiet.
"How's your house, pthpth?" Bob asked.
Great. Conversation. "It's, ummm... okay?"
Bob quickly asked, "Could I drop by your house tomorrow?"
"Sure, I guess... At, ummm... Noon-ish?"
"Sounds good, pthpth." He said. Then he shut his eyes and promptly fell into a deep sleep that elicited another blank stare from me.
Filbert had fallen asleep outside too in his patch of pansies.
Dotty and I left. We went by Dotty’s house since it was near Tom Nook’s shop, and she told me that Bob and Filbert normally fall asleep around this time. With a small parting wave to the bunny, I entered Nookway. Tom Nook scolded me before I was completely inside for just leaving without being told exactly what to do. He crossly informed me that I had no more errands for the day. He then shoved me out of his shop and demanded that I go home. 'Someone seems mad for no reason,' I thought, confused at Tom Nook's behavior. Was it really my fault? Then again, I was away from Nookway for a while when I was supposed to be on the job. Even though I didn’t know him very long, I probably could count on him docking some of my pay or something.
---
Eh, I guess I kinda dropped off the Pika Club radar, huh? Sorry if you were waiting for an update! >_>;
---
The first thing Tom Nook said when I entered his shop was an impatient, "Took you long enough." Then he thrusted a faded green apron into my hands. A white apple on the front of the apron was its only distinguishing mark. "That's your uniform. It's an old model, so you will have to throw it over your clothes."
"Ah..." I said. My hands fumbled to tie a bow with the strings in the back of the apron behind me, and Tom Nook watched me with a bemused expression. It felt like he was appraising me. "So, ummm... What am I supposed to be doing?"
"You will work as an errand runner for me. However, instead of receiving pay, I will deduct from your loan based on your performance." The raccoon gave me a sharp look, as if to jibe at my so-called late punctuality. "Your first errand will to be to deliver this," he handed me a shiny green leaf, "to Tad in acre C-2."
I turned the leaf over in my hands, examining it. Its color was a shiny lime green and it felt not like a plant leaf, but... it was as soft as cloth, but as tough as iron. The texture was so unusual that there were no words to describe it.
"What are you waiting around for?" Tom Nook asked, "It's not going to deliver itself, hmm?"
"A-ah, yeah, right..." I muttered to myself as I walked slowly from the shop. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't the slightest clue where this Tad lived. What was an 'acre' anyways? Frustrated, I wandered for a bit until I came to the train station. I stopped in front of the map posted there and looked for Tad's house. It was a bit southwest from my house. That wasn't too far from here.
Soon I reached Tad's house and saw a teal-colored frog standing outside. When he saw me approaching, the frog asked, "Is that the elephant slide from Tom Nook, slurrrp?"
"I uh... guess so. It looks like a leaf though." I said, holding up the green leaf.
"Of course it's not just a leaf." Then the frog momentarily paused. "I didn't realize it until now, but you're new here? I never introduced myself. My pals call me Tad."
"Oh, and I'm Tay... I'm working at Tom Nook's shop for a while, I think."
"I should give you something for this delivery," he said when I gave him the leaf. I shook my head in protest (It was only a simple delivery...), but he said, "Tom Nook doesn't allow his workers to buy anything at his shop. Come inside for a bit!" Then Tad entered his house and I followed him.
His house was a single room filled with equally random objects, just like Tangy's. There were some of those funny dancing fire hydrants (Tad told me that they're called "Gyroids.") and small tables shaped like lily pads and frog-themed chairs in the corners of the room. What Tad wanted me to see was the small kiddy pool that had a slide positioned next to it.
"This," Tad said, pointing to the slide, "is an elephant slide."
"And... That leaf you're holding is supposed to be a slide just like that one?" I asked quizzically.
"Right. See?" He tossed t he leaf to the empty corner of the room opposite of the slide and the leaf materialized into an identical slide like the first elephant slide.
"Cool..." I said, clearly awed.
"It's Happa Kyodai..." and at my confused look, he added, "Leaf mana system."
"Umm... Okay...?"
"Now for your reward." Tad handed me a shiny leaf. "I won this at a raffle, but it clashes with my pool gear. Just throw it somewhere in your pad, and it'll appear there, slurrrp!"
"Thanks..." I said with uncertainty before leaving his house.
~ Chapter 3: Part 2 ~
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When I stepped inside the shop, Tom Nook pointed to a parcel and packets of flower seeds on the counter before briskly turning around to return back to his phone conversation. "Only SIX days?!" He thundered into the receiver.
I grabbed the packages and quickly left the store to avoid hearing the raccoon's heated conversation. Outside, I realized that I hadn't the slightest clue what my current errands were. The package was marked with a bunch of "fragile!" and "right side up" stickers, addressed to someone named Bob. The flower packets on the other hand, left no clue what I was to do with them.
"Wee one!" Someone behind me called. I was so startled that I nearly dropped the wares. It was a black and white bunny that was addressing me. "My name's Dotty," she said, "What's yours?"
"Umm... I'm Tay."
"Whatcha doin'?" She asked, curiously eyeing my packages.
"I'm umm... making a delivery to someone named Bob..."
Dotty's eyes lit up. "Really?!" She exclaimed. I nodded.
She enthusiastically told me that she was going to his house and would show me where he lived. I followed behind a hopping and cheerful Dotty. We passed my house and crossed over the river before two houses surrounded by tulips and pansies appeared. A purple cat was asleep in a patch of tulips and a blue squirrel slept in the shade of a tree.
Full of energy, Dotty bounced back and forth from the cat to the squirrel chanting loudly, "Wake up, wake up!" over and over. Her childish incantation slowly roused the two from their slumber. "I want you to meet Tay," Dotty said to the two groggy animals.
"Uh... Hi," I said nervously.
Although the purple cat’s eyes still looked half-open, he instantly brightened at the sight of the package in my hands. "You're my best friend in the whole entire world!" He exclaimed, and then he leapt towards me! The cat tightly hugged... the parcel that he snatched from me.
I blankly stared; Dotty laughed and said, "That's Bob for you, wee one," as if that would explain the cat's behavior. "And Filbert's the blue squirrel." As if switching subject in a conversation, Dotty tossed the square piece of checkerboard cloth she was holding and by the time it hit the ground, the square had multiplied in size creating a cloth blanket in a mere second. "Picnic time!" She sang. At everyone's awed and impressed looks, she said nonchalantly, "I bought it over in Maplewood. They just started selling these new Happa Kyodai patterns."
"So it's just plain cloth?" Bob asked, the interest draining from his voice.
Filbert felt the texture of the cloth blanket with his paw, and then licked his paw. He then said, "Yup. One hundred percent cotton."
With their interest gone from the pattern blanket, Bob and Filbert exchanged glances before bursting into a chant of, "Caaake! Cake!"
Dotty opened the package (when did she get it from Bob?) when we sat down. There really was a cake inside, and the bunny divided the it into fourths. They chatted about the yesterday’s Halloween festival while I nibbled slowly on my cake slice. I felt so out of place, but Dotty's stories were entertaining and so were Bob and Filbert's silly antics. Bob told me that once in a previous life, he and Filbert were sisters. A faint smile formed on my face when the comment registered in my head. Although Looksus were full of animals, they sure were funny.
Before I realized it, time had flown by and the sun had set a while ago. That was when Dotty inquired me about my job at Tom Nook's shop, Nookway, and I told them that I was working to pay off a loan.
"Which reminds me, ummm..." I said, looking down at the flower packets.
"Yes?" Dotty asked, encouraging me to finish.
"Well, Tom Nook gave me a lot of flower seeds to plant, but he didn't tell me where to put them..."
"Mike," Bob said, "Used to do errands for Nookster and he planted flowers!" Both Bob and Filbert said the last part at the same time.
"That's creepy, blue," Filbert said with a laugh.
"Copycat!" Bob called back.
Dotty shifted through the flower packets I had and arranged them into two piles while the two were in a childish name calling match that ended in a draw. She gave a handful of red and yellow tulips to me and said, "You and Bob plant those by Bob's house." She picked up the remaining white pansy packets. "Filbert and I will plant these by Filbert's house. It shouldn't matter where they get planted as long as they're planted, you know what I mean, wee one?"
Planting the flowers was unusual, like everything so far in Looksus. The seeds sprouted tulips right after burying them in the ground! "Must be that Happa Kyoda thing," I murmured after the second tulip was planted.
Other than the sound of accelerated flower growth and the ripping open of another few tulip packets, it was quiet.
"How's your house, pthpth?" Bob asked.
Great. Conversation. "It's, ummm... okay?"
Bob quickly asked, "Could I drop by your house tomorrow?"
"Sure, I guess... At, ummm... Noon-ish?"
"Sounds good, pthpth." He said. Then he shut his eyes and promptly fell into a deep sleep that elicited another blank stare from me.
Filbert had fallen asleep outside too in his patch of pansies.
Dotty and I left. We went by Dotty’s house since it was near Tom Nook’s shop, and she told me that Bob and Filbert normally fall asleep around this time. With a small parting wave to the bunny, I entered Nookway. Tom Nook scolded me before I was completely inside for just leaving without being told exactly what to do. He crossly informed me that I had no more errands for the day. He then shoved me out of his shop and demanded that I go home. 'Someone seems mad for no reason,' I thought, confused at Tom Nook's behavior. Was it really my fault? Then again, I was away from Nookway for a while when I was supposed to be on the job. Even though I didn’t know him very long, I probably could count on him docking some of my pay or something.
---
Eh, I guess I kinda dropped off the Pika Club radar, huh? Sorry if you were waiting for an update! >_>;
I drop by every now and then... I shall never be just a memory! *cackles*
... Not back to the regularly scheduled thread... ^^;
... Not back to the regularly scheduled thread... ^^;