Chapter 11: Share a Story

Wednesday, December 24

Nookway was a nice store, bigger than Nook'n'Go and looking more like a department store. I had originally come in to pick up some paper and a new pen, but he had a special on a piece called a Classic Buffet. It was a coffee table, actually, but it came with a pretty lace tablecloth and looked quite nice. However, even as a special, it was expensive, so I had to spend the better part of an hour getting enough fish to cover it.

I rearranged my house for a bit, to fit in the new table and recalling that my neighbors were going to visit later on. My house didn't have much for decorations, just the tree. But I could put on K.K.'s album and it felt Christmas-y.

At eight in the evening, I met up with the other villagers near Patty and Deena's houses, as we had planned. It was snowing, so a few had umbrellas while the rest of us just bundled up tight. We did a tour around of everyone's homes, except for Pike who insisted that his place was not interesting and should not be visited. Goose, Bob, and Patty all tried to tease him into changing his mind, but the ferret insisted.

We ended up at my house last, around nine-thirty. "Aw man, my feet are hurting," Bob complained. "It wouldn't be so bad if somebody didn't live all the way around the lake."

"Hey, it's good exercise, buh-kay," the rooster teased him.

I came back in with a tray of hot cocoa for everyone. "Here you go. Sorry about the lack of seating."

"Floor's just fine," Pike said, sitting by a wall near my phonograph.

"So what're we going to do now?" Monique asked.

"Well usually on Christmas Eve, everyone tells a personal story," Friga said. "It can be from your life before, or your life here, whatever you think has the spirit of Christmas to it."

"And normally we'd stay in the anchor's house for that," Goose said. "But, pardon me for saying, but your place is still cozy with all of us in here."

I smiled. "I know it is."

Then he winked at me. "Hey, why don't we go to the secret hollow? That'd be a great place."

"The secret hollow?" Patty asked. "There's a secret place in Verdant?"

"Yeah," I said. "We might want to bring some chairs, or at least blankets. And some good lights; we haven't lit that path yet. But maybe not from your place, since it's so far."

Goose laughed. "Well I thought of it earlier, so I brought my own two couches. Why don't you bring yours, and then we can get something from Rodeo's place, and we should be set."

"Um, sure, I have one that should work," the bull said. "But where are we going?"

"Over to the tree," I said, turning my couch once Deena and Monique got off it.

"Which tree?" Bob asked, puzzled. "There's lots of trees in Verdant."

"The tree," Goose said. "Come on."

So we headed across town, stopping by Rodeo's place for a fourth couch. He had his rose beds marked off with small fences and a sign warning others to be careful around them. But despite the cold, the red, white, and yellow blossoms still held on.

"We'll have to go single file until we're in the cave," I said, once we got near the giant tree. "Careful, it gets a bit rough back here."

There was snow the first couple of feet, but as we went down, it got to warmer. "This place could use lights," Deena said. "It's kind of spooky."

"Like there could be ghosts down here?" Patty asked.

"Oh, I hope not," the duck replied, a bit fearful.

"Don't worry," Goose said, as he brought up the rear of our group. "I'll scare any ghosts off, no problem."

"Do the mists reach down here?" Pike asked.

"No, not that I've seen," I answered.

"I haven't seen them either," Goose added.

"Then what's that light ahead?" Monique asked.

"That's where we're going."

The cave with the glowing crystal was much as I had seen it last. It caused much gasping and awe as the others came to see it for the first time. Goose and I found a decent spot and set up the furniture we had; I had even thought to bring my buffet table so everyone could set their drinks down. Once Rodeo added his, we settled into seats. Monique and I were on my red couch, while Deena and Patty took one of the Ranch Couches. Goose and Rodeo took the other one, while Bob and Friga sat in the Cabin Couch. Pike brought out a cabana chair he had been going to sell and sat in an open corner.

"Anchor goes first!" Bob called out, getting some laughs.

I blushed, but laughed it off. "Trouble with that is that my memory's not quite back. I haven't been here long enough and I don't know if I remember enough to put together a story yet."

"You should have something, though," Goose said.

I considered it, looking at the large mossy crystal. "Well it not quite Christmas material, but I can tell you more about this tree. I've been reading folklore about it."

"That sounds marvelous," Friga said. "It is something special."

I nodded. "Very special. This tree has a name, Yggdrasil, the World Tree. And according to Loki, this is only a branch of it, what appears in Verdant."

"Only a branch?" Rodeo asked in disbelief, which was echoed in the looks of some others.

"B-but this thing is huge," Bob added. "It's bigger than any other tree in Animal Crossing, and it stretches over a quarter of the town."

"And from a corner, no less," Pike muttered.

"On reading more about it, I would agree that it's just a branch," I responded. "According to Nose myth, this tree extends across nine worlds, or realms as we know them. Perhaps it extends to even more and that's all the Nordic folk knew of. Loki just told me that it goes up to the highest heavens and down to the deepest hells. Some people say that it was the first tree, while others say it is the most powerful. It is a force of life and its fruit can grant wisdom, if you can reach the fruit.

"At one level, it is said that four hinds, or deer, live among its branches and eat its leaves, attempting to cause it ruin. But the tree Yggdrasil endures and is stronger. At another level, deep within its trunk, it is said to bind the great serpent, a snake that is so massive, it could swallow the earth whole."

"Oh my gosh," Deena said, shivering. "That's a massive snake."

"Well it was chained down, so it's no threat now," I said. "The legends say that the chains will be unbreakable until the end of the worlds, when there'll be a massive battle to decide the ultimate fate of everything. But then, the Norse people were strong warriors and thought highly of strength and valor."

"So what about this Loki guy?" Goose asked. "Is he really a god or something else?"

I scratched my chin. "I'm not sure exactly what he is. He appears as a mantis person in this realm. The Norse people believed that he was a trickster god, one who was as likely to help you as to humiliate you. You have to be careful around beings like that. But then, I recall there being some amusing myths of him. Maybe when Helen gets in more books on that mythos, you can read them yourself."

"That's good to know," Friga said. "How about you next, Monique?"

"Me?" She turned shy for a moment. "Well… I do have this one memory that's in the spirit of Christmas, I think. It's kind of sad, but makes me happy at the same time."

"Well go on," Patty said.

She smiled at me. "It was back in my old life, back when I was just a kitten. I lived with my mother and two siblings in an old stump. One foggy morning, she took my sister away, planning on moving us somewhere better. She came back and got my brother, but then she never came back for me."

"Aw, what happened to her?" Deena asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. She might have gotten killed. We were near a road, but I don't know where she meant to take us. After I realized that she'd been gone too long, I started crying out for her. She never came. But I was found by a dark-haired human woman. That was Nadia. She brought me into her classroom and kept the students away from me. It was so strange and noisy that I was scared. But then she took me home and made sure I was okay, and we were inseparable after that."

I smiled. "Oh yes. You even came back to class with me when you were older."

"And I even got to know French, although I didn't really speak it. I just understood what Nadia was saying to me in English and French. So how about you tell us a story, Friga?"

She chuckled. "Well all right. I suppose it's only fair. I'll tell you about one of my dearest friends, Joe. He's a goat with black and brown patched fur and if you just happen to meet him, you'd think he was a cranky slob. But no, that's just the image he likes to put on. He's really a good worker, enough that he came in as a town anchor, and he will go well out of his way if one of his villagers is having a problem."

"You remember people like that really well," Patty said.

"Of course," Friga agreed. "When I first arrived in Animal Crossing, I came to his town of Galacia. It was July and I thought it was so hot. I bore it as best as I could, wearing light clothing and staying indoors for the hottest parts of the day. It was okay at first. But then August hit and the weather did something I thought wasn't possible: it got even hotter and drier."

"Summer's not too bad," Rodeo said.

"For you, perhaps," she said. "But I'm an arctic creature and I was unprepared for that heat. It got to where even at night, I felt like fainting after spending too much time outdoors. Well Joe noticed and he did his best to help me. He brought me some fans to use in my home and showed me how to make my room chilly. He came over and checked on me everyday.

"But then, I started getting sick due to the heat. Joe then decided that he liked me, but didn't want to see me suffer like this. So he made contact with a fellow anchor whose town was in January. Joe came to my house, helped me pack up, then stayed up past midnight to take me to the train station. He even came with me to the second town. Sure, he grouched for a while about being up so late, but I could see that he was just joking. He helped me move in, although I was starting to feel better in the colder town.

"Of course, he had to return back to Galacia, but he visited me a few times to make sure I was better. We've been pen pals ever since, and once Galacia got into winter, I moved back for the season. And that's how I've been living since, going from winter to winter, but always returning to Galacia when the season comes in there.'

"I suppose it must be nice to always move back to a familiar place," I said.

"Usually," she replied. "But it seems that most of the faces change, like all the neighbors, and even some of the workers. All except for Joe, of course. His ten year review is coming up and I think he may pass. I'm going to try to be back in Galacia for that Christmas, in case it's the last for that town."

"That would be something to return for," Patty said. "So who next?"

"Ladies first?" Bob suggested, to some chuckles.

"Oh, well," Deena looked to Patty. 'I haven't been in Animal Crossing all that long myself. Just about a year."

"We can both tell about the time we met," Patty said, clapping her hand-hooves together. "That's a great story."

"Right." Deena put her hands on her lap. "Well I ended up moving out of my first town after three months. I just never fit in there. There was a group of close friends to the anchor and it was very hard to get into that group. They planned events together and never told anyone outside their circle. So I ended up moving to Appleton, where Patty lived."

"Well in my town," Patty said when Deena paused, "I had another friend who I'd known for a long time, Robin. We were good buddies, until we had this big argument one day. It was kind of a stupid argument, when I think about it, but we were mad at each other for weeks. I only felt angry at her until she moved, and then I was upset because I missed her. But I don't know where she ended up."

"Robin?" I asked. "I met a bird by that name in Chime City. She works at the main library."

Patty looked surprised. "Does she, how now? Maybe she switched over to being a worker so she could live in the city. Maybe I'll go visit her sometime and apologize."

"You should," Deena said.

"Anyhow, back to when this duckling moved to Appleton," Patty said, "I saw her coming out of the station. Deena looked so nervous that I felt bad for her. So I helped her find a place and get moved in. I really wanted to be a better friend and not get into anther silly argument."

"Well I was kind of scared," Deena added. "I wasn't sure how to make friends and I was afraid it'd be the same as my old town. But Patty helped me out without asking, even showing me things that I hadn't picked up yet."

"Yeah, and after a couple of months, she had her mortgage paid off fully. She invited me over for a sleepover party and that was such fun! We sang karaoke for hours, and played board games and were up pretty much all night. And that's when we said that we were best friends forever."

"That was pretty cool," Deena said. "Um... I want to hear Rodeo's story next."

"Huh, me?" the bull asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, you seem like you'd be an interesting person."

"I'm not sure about that," he said. "Well, um… well chaps, back in my old life, I lived on a ranch. Big ranch, with lots of gentle hills, delicious grass, and beautiful flowers. I was so happy out there, sniffing the flowers and enjoying the day."

"You would be," Pike snarked.

Rodeo missed the sarcasm. "Yes, it was great. But the rancher, he wanted me to be aggressive so he could send me in to the rodeos. You know, where those cowboy types get on an angry bull's back and try to stay on while the bull tries to launch them."

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Monique asked. "It sounds dangerous."

"It is a dangerous sport," I said. "But many people find it entertaining."

"I didn't," Rodeo said. I just thought of my flowers and didn't get mad, no matter how small a cage they stuck me in. Some of the guys were saying that something was wrong with me because I was so docile. But I didn't care. And the rancher's kids liked me because of that. They could come right up close to me while I was in the fields and know that I wasn't gonna hurt them. And I never did hurt anyone. Well, except that once."

"What 'once'?" Goose asked, prodding his shoulder.

"Oh, well," Rodeo blushed. "It was late at night and I was just about to fall asleep when I heard one of the daughters scream. I was awake immediately and went around looking. There was this guy hitting her, trying to get her into his truck. Well that finally got me mad, but I didn't want to hurt the girl. So I charged the guy's truck. That hurt, but I was able to turn and face him. He was as pale as a ghost and tried to run, but fell on the gravel. He twisted up his ankle and banged up his hands and knees. The girl was all right, but that guy ended up in jail. And, I think that might be the reason I ended up here. And, that's it."

"Whoa, that is awesome," Goose said, grinning at him. "You're the man!"

"Uh, yeah, I am a guy. So?"

"I think he means that you're a real hero," Deena said, while some others tried to suppress laughs.

Rodeo shrugged. "Maybe. I was just protecting my friend."

"So what about you, Goose?" I asked, as Rodeo seemed to be done.

"Me, well," the rooster blushed. "I don't have anything to tell that's that amazing."

"But you've got to have something about the Christmas spirit," Patty said.

"Hmm, well, actually, whenever Christmas comes around, I like to go into the city to check the residential database. I find all my old buddies, no matter how long it's been since I've seen them, and send them all Christmas cards." He laughed. "Only thing is, except for my current neighbors, most of them aren't in the Christmas season! One time, I wrote a guy a half joking note along with the card. Angus, he's a really hardcore guy, and strong even though he claims to not be a total road jock, whatever he meant by that. But then he sent me an angry letter back. That upset me for a bit."

"That is rather harsh," Friga said.

Goose smiled, though. "I thought so too, so I wrote him back saying that I didn't mean to anger him and I was just sending a friendly Christmas card, right? Well a few days later, I got a letter back from Angus with an apology and a gift to say that he was sorry. Which, from him, was an unusual thing to do. As it turned out, they had just passed April Fool's Day and my card arrived then. He'd been the victim of a particularly muddy prank and he was just so angered at that that he thought I was playing a prank with my jokes too.

"I ended up writing him back, because some people take April Fools way too seriously and I know how it can be trouble when a prank turns bad. And we ended up being really strong pen pals after that, even if we haven't seen each other in a long time. So I guess we got closer in that, which is in the Christmas spirit, right?"

"Right," I said, smiling back at him.

"Oh, I love pen pals," Bob said. "You get to find out about so many other towns and places, and hear things about people you'll never meet."

"And how about you take the next turn, buh-kay?" Goose asked, nudging Bob from across the couch corners.

"Oh, all right," Bob said.

"And nothing about chasing girls," Pike stated, causing laughs from other people

"Whaaat?" Bob asked, looking shocked but soon laughing too. He fell against the back of the couch. "Aw, but that cuts out all my best material!"

"Surely you have something else," Monique said in a teasing voice.

He sat back up. "There is a fun story about a friend of mine, and how I met him. See, back in my very first town, when I'd been here only six months or so, there was this huge deal when a big time movie producer came in and wanted to film a movie in our town. Cel Brooks, you know?"

"Oh yes, he makes hilarious movies," Deena said.

"Yeah! And he came to my town to film his great piece, 'When Cheeseballs Attack'."

Over by himself, Pike snorted.

But Deena looked shocked. "Oh my gosh, 'When Cheeseballs Attack'? That was a great one!"

Bob grinned. "Yeah! They were doing most of the parts in the studio, but they wanted to do some scenes in a town. And they held an open casting call for a few roles there too, open to anyone in that district. So as you can imagine, there were lots of people who came that day. And I tried out too. They weren't telling us what part they were casting for, and I never did find out what, but the new actor they hired would get to move out to Hollytree, where all the movies are made. But I didn't get the part."

"Aw, you didn't?" Rodeo asked.

He shook his head. "Nah. They said I was too clumsy. I was really upset about it, but then I met a guy who had also been trying out. Cube, he's a penguin. And he told me, 'Don't worry, it was just a bit part. Besides, I hear being an actor is a hard job.' I wasn't sure how, but we did some reading on it, and yeah, the actors have to work long days under bright lights and doing scenes over and over again until the director is satisfied. Now when I think about it, I don't really want to do that. And then Cube and I went out fishing and we got to be good friends. I even moved out to his town to keep hanging with him. He taught me, you know, not to let bad things get you down cause even here, there are disappointments."

"That's a good thing to keep in mind," I said.

"Yeah. So that leaves you, Pike."

The blue ferret gave him a cold look. "Really?"

"Aw, come on, cheer up Pike," Patty said. "It's Christmas Eve, after all."

He grumbled a bit, fidgeting. "Well I haven't been to a Christmas town in a while," he said. "Not since I was last with my girlfriend."

"You had a girlfriend?" Bob asked, pricking his ears up.

"And we were serious about it," he said sharply, as if to counter Bob's rather casual attitude towards flirting. "We were very happy together. Her name was Nadia."

"You dated Nadia?" Goose asked, perplexed.

"She was a swan," Pike said, correcting any mistaken thoughts that it was me. "And she was a lot more chatty, and singing all the time. She sang so nicely, though, that I often told her that she must have really been a nightingale. Swans are supposed to be mostly silent, I believe. She wasn't. But then, after our last Christmas, the first one too, as we'd been dating for just four months, she overcame her faults and ascended to heaven."

"Aw, that's wonderful," Deena said. "It's good when people can finally do that."

Pike's look softened some. "Yeah, I was happy for her for a while. But then she was gone. I thought she might stay for me, to wait, but she was gone."

After a moment of quiet, I said, "Well, you can remember how you were happy with her then."

"Maybe," he said, but he didn't seem to want to talk more.

"Oh, you know what I just thought of," Bob said. "This place is really cool and all, but now we can't get more hot cocoa!"

Most everyone in the cavern laughed. "Sorry about that," I said.

"Hey, did you hear that Brewster is offering cocoas for half price this week?" Patty said. "Do you think he's back open again?"

"I don't know," Goose said. "I mean, their deal can take as long as ours. We can go check, and if not, you all can come over to my place for cocoa."

"Your place?" Friga said. "But you live all the way around the lake."

"You can come by my place then." Deena said.

"Oh yeah, and mine, so we can combine what we've got to make awesome stuff, like mochas!" Patty added.

"Oo, a mocha sounds nice," I said.

"I've never had that," Monique said.

"Well you ought to come try it," Patty said. "Maybe we could even sneak into the town hall to be warm."

"I don't think the clerks would be too happy with us about that," Deena said.

We ended up leaving to check if the café was open. Since it wasn't, we ended up at Patty and Deena's homes for homemade cocoas and mochas. But Pike didn't stick around with us for that.


And I'm back from NaNo! I got two chapters squeezed in because I found ideas for them in the middle of the month. I didn't have time until now to edit. So, here you go, and we return to our regular updates.

I must admit, the title 'When Cheeseballs Attack' came from another person. Not for a movie, but it was a chapter title for another fanfic. If you like Pokemon fics, head over to the Serebii forums and hunt down 'The Adventure of Adventurness' by Missingno Master for some good crackfic fun.