2. Love
WORK(S) USED: Animal Crossing
On a perpetually-moving island on the back of a centuries-old sea turtle the size of the state of Delaware, there were many towns scattered all around. These towns featured many things alike to one another--a variety of animals were the residents of these towns, along with a handful of humans; many fish and bug species lived here as well, waiting to be caught depending on the time of day and year; and all of the inhabitants had an interesting super-deformed look to themselves. They enjoyed their daily lives ever since April 14, 2001, and they called it Animal Crossing. To the Japanese, however? Animal Forest, or DÅbutsu no Mori.
We'll visit a town named Akrillic. This town featured six quirky residents living within, along with a shop, a museum, a tailor, and the gates that led outside of town. These residents were all animals, although they caught word of someone new moving in. This someone wasn't an animal, however; she's a human known as Samantha.
---
The time was 6:30 PM on February 27, 2016, a Saturday. In front of the town gates, a bus reached its destination. Samantha left the bus and waved goodbye to Rover, a traveling cat, before the bus drove off into the distance.
You might be curious about Samantha, right? Well, she looks something like this: she wore a turnip dress wherever she went, for it is her favorite article of clothing; she had oval-shaped eyes with three eyelashes on the bottom of them as well as greenish-gray pupils; and she had brown hair that came down to the ears and turned outwards, resembling oddly-placed horns. She was also a bit on the shy side.
Boy, was that a long ride, she thought as she began to walk around Akrillic and follow the directions of the map she was given.
The town of Akrillic looked something like this, starting clockwise from the north-west corner of town and spiraling into the center: a variety of flowers and trees, some of the latter growing peaches, were scattered all over the place, the museum occupied this corner of the town, and directly to its east were the houses of the lazy frog Jeremiah and the cranky anteater Cyrano. Further east of these houses were the bus stop and town gates, along with the beginning of the town's river crashing down from a waterfall that snaked its way to the west and then the south towards the ocean. There was also a vacant house with a red roof near this area. Not too far away from the beginning of the river was Nook's Cranny, a humble little store owned by a kind raccoon tanuki named Tom Nook.
Directly to the south of Nook's Cranny was the beginning of a cliff face; this drop downwards reveals a small area for one to easily hide in. After this hide-away were the town hall and a vacant green-roofed house facing the ocean. To the west of the unoccupied house was a ramp that led to the area above the cliff face and a house occupied by Jay, a jock bird, a few feet to the south of the ramp. Further west, you would find a large clearing with a pond connected to the river as well as a cobblestone bridge to get one across said river. This bridge led to another ramp to the upper part of town. There was also a vacant house with a yellow roof not too far away to the west from the bridge.
North of the second ramp was the Able Sisters' store, known to many for being run by a pair of hedgehog sisters. East of the tailor were two more houses near the river, the houses owned by Patty, a peppy cow; and Whitney, a snooty wolf. There was one last house south of these two and across the river owned by Marina, a normal octopus. The house was near a bridge as well, and it was next to a vacant house with a blue roof.
With the town's description out of the way, Samantha entered the town hall, as Rover had told her to go there first. She then exited it after receiving directions on what to to next--go to a house that she wants to live in, see how it looks on the inside, leave it and meet Tom Nook, then talk with everyone in town, including Tortimer, the mayor. She did all of these. The house she had chosen? The green-roofed house facing the ocean. Why she had chosen that house is because green is her favorite color, mostly because of the turnip dress she wears all the time. She doesn't like taking it off...unless she sees something of a similar color, which she's perfectly fine with wearing instead.
---
Seven minutes later, after having talked to everyone, Samantha entered Nook's Cranny. She was given a work uniform, which she immediately put on, as well as directions as to what she should do to start paying off her debt. She followed these directions with relative ease and got them done in twenty minutes, resulting in her part-time job coming to an end shortly after she was hired.
After having finished her chores for Tom Nook, Samantha left the tanuki's store and put her turnip dress back on. The time was already 7:30 PM when she walked out the door.
I'm glad that's over... Samantha thought as she started to do a variety of things to keep herself occupied until 8:00 PM. She gathered up various things around town to sell; she bought a net and fishing rod to help her out with hoarding Bells; she talked with the townsfolk and did tasks for them whenever necessary; heck, she even went to the city for fifteen minutes when she felt like she was done with the town.
---
After she went home from the city, at 8:06 PM, Samantha made a beeline to the museum. Someone special was there in the Roost--a coffee shop in the museum's basement--on every Saturday night, that someone being no other than K.K. Slider. She walked up to the famous dog and said that she was ready to listen to what he had in store. After she took a seat nearby, K.K. began playing Neapolitan.
---
About three minutes later, Samantha walked out of the museum with a different version of Neapolitan in her inventory. She made her way back home and popped the song into her tape deck upon returning.
After listening to the song for forty seconds, she began thinking to herself. This song...it isn't half bad, she thought. It reminds me a little too much of my younger brother, Clover, though... When will he move here? He's the best brother pretty much ever... After this thought, she went upstairs to rest for the following day.
---
The next day--February 28, 2016--at 6:00 AM, the sun rose above Akrillic and the many other towns on the moving island of Animal Crossing. A myriad of its residents awakened from their slumber. Some of them got up right away, whereas a few of the human residents just waited until Tom Nook's store or anything similar opened up in their towns. Samantha, however? She got up right away and ran to the bus stop in the hopes that Kapp'n would pass by and drop Clover off. She sat there for twenty-five minutes until Whitney walked by and noticed what was going on.
"Excuse me, Samantha? Why are you up this early in the morning sitting by the bus stop, snappy?" Whitney asked. "Whitney, I'm waiting for my little brother Clover to show up," Samantha said.
"Clover, hmm? I don't think I've heard of anyone with that name. Care to explain what he's all about?"
"Definitely." Samantha began to talk and gush about her little brother.
---
Fifteen minutes later, Samantha stopped talking about Clover by saying "...with that said, now you know why Clover is an amazing little brother." Whitney became even more curious about him now.
"Hmm... He seems like a very interesting boy, snappy. Once everyone else wakes up, I'll feel free to talk to them about him," Whitney said. She then pulled out a fishing rod and went to the ocean shore, hoping that she would be able to reel in something that wasn't a sea bass. Samantha continued to sit at the bus stop...and wait...and wait...and wait...
---
Twenty minutes later, Samantha got bored of the waiting and started doing other things around town. She caught several bugs and fish and donated anything she hadn't caught before to the museum. She dug up fossils and donated them to the museum as well. She re-arranged the furniture in her cramped house. It helped pass the time waiting for Nook's Cranny to open, even though she had to wait about three hours.
After getting bored in the span of ten minutes, Samantha headed to a reserved, empty lot south of the museum. It had a signpost that said it was reserved for the house of someone named Poppy; this house would be built on the upcoming day.
Well I'll be darned... Someone new's coming to town soon, Samantha thought. She went further south from the lot and saw a boar with a basket full of turnips on her back walking around the area. This boar was no other than Sow Joan, but everyone called her Joan for short. Samantha walked over to the boar, then asked her about how much the turnips cost.
"Today, I'm selling them for 88 Bells each. Sunday isn't Sunday with ol' Sow Joan!" Joan said. "And if you think white turnips aren't enough, then I'm selling red ones as well."
"...Joan, I'm not interested. One reason why is because I'm quite unsure about how much they'll sell for during the entire week. I'm also quite aware about the fact that they won't last more than a week, and a little birdie told me they'll immediately spoil if I set my clock to a different date," Samantha said. She went east to her house, then entered it and began to rest until everyone else woke up.
---
At the strike of 10:00 AM, Samantha got up again and started selling off many things she didn't need to Tom Nook. She made lots of Bells this way. After this, she returned back home.
---
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the back of the gargantuan sea turtle known as Animal Crossing, there was a bus driving through a tunnel on the way to Akrillic. It seems like the bus was driving through said tunnel for months on end, and yet it didn't run out of fuel. A few more humans were on said bus; they were Clover, Nigel, and A Creep.
Clover, as mentioned earlier, is Samantha's younger brother. His eyes were shaped like thick pills and had thinner, mocha-colored pupils of the same shape inside them. He always wore his four-ball tee wherever he went, as it is the one article of clothing where his name comes from. His hair was brown like Samantha's, but it was a somewhat darker shade of brown. It also had a curl on top going to his right. He was asleep on the bus seat closest to the exit.
Nigel's eyes had large, black pupils that always looked to his upper-left. He liked wearing his No. 1 shirt everywhere he went, as said article of clothing is what explains the reference his name is making. His hairdo was a brown bowl cut. He was on the seat behind Clover, and was coming close to falling asleep.
Last but not least, A Creep was christened with her name because she looked a little scary. Her eyes being round with three eyelashes on their bottom halves along with green pupils didn't help matters, as they were the reason why she has her current name. She always wore her rugby shirt wherever she went, and she had a hairdo with three ponytails; that is, one above her face sticking up all the time and two on the back of her head. She was on the same seat that Nigel was on, as these two humans were close friends.
A minute later, the traveling cat Rover walked up to Clover's seat and sat on the one opposite from him, the cat preparing himself to talk with the human. After the cat sat down, the bus drove out of a tunnel and into the countryside, conveniently brightening up the inside of the bus and causing Clover to slowly get up out of his period of rest. The first thing he noticed was Rover sitting across from him.
"...who the heck are you...?" Clover asked. "Me? Oh, I'm just a cat that likes traveling. Call me Rover," Rover said.
"Oh...okay. It's interesting to know that our names easily rhyme, huh?"
"I can believe you. Speaking of which...what is your name?"
"The name's Clover."
"That's nice to know. Anyway, we're headed to the town of Akrillic; I've heard someone who lives there is awaiting your arrival." After Rover said this, Clover became surprised. He nearly shouted, but had to keep it at a low enough volume to not wake the other two humans on the bus, "W-w-w-wait...someone's awaiting my presence there? I'm certain that "someone" is no other than my big sister Samantha!!!"
"And yes, it is Samantha who's awaiting your presence. I saw her on this bus yesterday; she told me all about you during that time. With that out of the way...you definitely sound like you're excited to move here, right?"
"Obviously! I mean, Sammy and I are siblings; I'm the little brother!" Clover and Rover...heh, rhyming names...continued talking for a few more minutes as the bus drove into a tunnel again. When they hadn't realized it...
...they got to the town of Akrillic at 10:30 AM. Clover hopped off the bus, and Rover said a few things to him before the bus drove off. The human then looked around for the town hall, the blue-roofed house, and all of the non-human residents, then headed to Nook's Cranny, which had already opened. It only took him a full minute to find the house and thirty seconds to find the store, as it was in the north-east corner of town and he was running.
---
A moment later, Clover stepped out of Nook's Cranny, now wearing work clothes and holding several flower seeds and tree saplings. He planted the flowers and trees quite close to each other to get his job done faster before he entered the business again. He then left with a modern table and ran all the way over to Patty's house to deliver it to the cow and then write down his birthday of November 5 before returning to the humble little shop again. He then sped out of it again with an axe to give to Cyrano, then wrote a letter and mailed it to Patty, then, after heading back to Nook's Cranny again, ran to the bulletin board near the town hall and wrote absolutely nothing on it in an attempt to advertise for Tom Nook. Clover, after returning to the store again, was out of breath and talked to the tanuki again. His job was over as quickly as it begun in a staggeringly-quick time of about five minutes! He then left the store.
"Pant...Pant...phew... Man, Clover...you did a good job there," Clover said to himself. He checked his map. What caught his attention was that Samantha's house was on it, and it was right next to the ocean coast in the south-east corner of town. This immediately caused him to run towards said house like he was being chased by bees.
Fifty seconds later, Clover reached his sister's house. He rapidly pounded on its front door and started to wait.
---
Samantha was resting on her bed in her house's attic. As soon as she heard Clover pounding on the front door, she got up and went downstairs. She then went to the front door, opened it...
...and was very surprised to see Clover, her younger brother again.
"Clover!!!" Samantha happily shouted. "Sammy!!!" Clover shouted back. They hugged each other.
"Clover, I missed you so much..." Samantha said, tears of joy starting to go down her face. "I missed you too, Sammy," Clover said. "So...what should we do now?"
"I'm not so sure. I'll give you some of the Bells that I'll get from selling things so you can pay off your debt faster and buy a few things you'll really need."
"I'm alright, Sammy. I can find Bells on my own."
"That's something very good to know. Heh, I wonder which one of us feels like the bigger sibling..."
"It's obviously you, of course; you were born a year before me!" After the conversation ended, Samantha went back to sleep. Clover ran back to his house, then began resting, too.
---
Over the course of two weeks, Samantha's life in Akrillic became one of the most fun things she had ever been through. It's all because of her younger brother Clover. Samantha paid off her first debt in six days, whereas Clover had adjusted his clock to jump ahead to when Easter took place in order to dig up eggs, show them to Zipper T. Bunny, then receive rare furniture to sell for a massive amount of Bells. Clover then deposited all of the Bells that he earned from selling the rare furniture, then repeatedly jumped forward and back in time thirty years at once. His hair got all messy, but he was getting lots of Bells in his savings account due to interest. He ended up paying his first debt off the moment he finally got around to putting furniture in it; no, not only that...he paid off all of his debts! This quickly led to Tom Nook's store getting some well-deserved upgrades. Unfortunately, all of this fun came to an end after these two weeks...
---
...on a rainy Sunday morning, on March 13, 2016. After Clover's wild acts of time travel, Samantha felt her hair become a total mess as well. This made her somewhat angry as she walked all the way to her little brother's fully-expanded house and knocked on its door a few times. Clover came to the front door and opened it, saying "Sammy, hello there!" What he didn't notice was that she was angry at him.
"Clover...were you abusing time travel again?" Samantha asked, trying not to get any angrier. Clover became nervous and said "...uh...no, no! I didn't, I swear!"
"Yes, you were, Clover. Admit it!" Clover sighed and said "Yes, Sammy, I messed with time again. I just desperately wanted some Bells to spend..."
"Who cares about that?! I don't want my good hairdo to get ruined from me being inactive for about a week!"
"I don't care whether my hair gets messy or not."
"Again, WHO CARES?!?!?" The two humans began to argue for fifteen minutes straight.
---
After the two humans calmed down, they both felt something strange happen to the entire town. It and its many things were slowly vanishing out of existence! It started with the two humans' houses, then all of the residents of town, then the various businesses...
...and then Samantha and Clover themselves.
---
Two minutes later, Samantha and Clover awakened in a highly unfamiliar area. It was a metropolis that the two hadn't seen before, but what was strange about it was that the sun never rose, no matter what time it was.
They had been taken to Main Street, along with all of their belongings, friends, and more. Specifically, the two humans were on the ground floor of the mile-tall Main Tower, located in the center of Main Street. The other residents from Akrillic, including those that worked at any of the businesses in the town, were wandering around the area. Even they were unfamiliar with their new surroundings.
Samantha and Clover ran over to Tom Nook, sitting on the edge of a large fountain and holding hands with Sable Able. The two humans asked "Mr. Nook, where the heck are we?!"
"This place? I've never heard of this place before, but I talked with someone named Hunter earlier about where we are," Tom Nook said. "He said...this place is Main Street, yes?" Samantha and Clover were surprised.
"Wait...this is where Clover and I got taken to?!" Samantha asked.
"Yes, yes! And if you're curious about your houses, I believe I've seen them located atop a five-floor apartment building to the west of here."
"Thanks for giving us directions, Mr. Nook!"
"You're definitely welcome. Please feel free to talk to me...or maybe Hunter, who lives atop this Main Tower, if you need more information about Main Street, hm?" After Tom Nook said this, the two humans headed outside, towards the western sector of Main Street.
Samantha and Clover got back to their houses, which were located on the rooftop of the Villagers' Refuge Apartments. Luck certainly was on their side, as once they stepped in, they noticed that many other humans alike to them were living in these apartments. Sadly, they ran out of room for Samantha and Clover, so they had to live on the roof. Nigel and A Creep, the two humans that were on the bus earlier, however? They lived within these apartments, too. Thus, with that being said, the brother and sister's lives were changed forever when they were teleported here.
---
Meanwhile, in the luxurious house on the rooftop of the Main Tower, a human unlike Samantha and Clover was here, monitoring Main Street. This human was no other than Hunter, founder and mayor of the city. He was on the second floor of this luxurious abode, sitting on a bed and carefully examining the presence of Samantha and Clover.
So...that's one fandom down, Hunter thought as he was typing up a document on who and what was teleported to Main Street. He struck-out the words "Animal Crossing" at the top of the list, then typed out (taken to Main Street on 7-16-16) next to it. He then thought Now...who else should I take to Main Street? It's somewhat lonely with only the many characters from this series... then turned to a nearby case full of PC games. He pulled out a copy of Black & White 2 from the case, then felt a wave of inspiration come towards him. I think I know what I should write about next... he then thought.