COUSINS
Chapter 1: The Village in the Forest
It was pretty unusual when Cheri, Olive and Cupcake came to town. The three of them are cousins, each with a different personality. Cheri was a very outgoing red bear who loved making friends, and was almost always cheery. Olive was a shy grey bear, but was very loyal and sweet. Cupcake was a snobby, popular pink bear, who could be very honest when she wanted to be.
They arrived in late April. Everyone was preparing themselves for spring cleaning, one of the chirpiest times of the year. There hadn't been any new faces in the village since the Sports Fair, which had been held in late March.
Tom Nook, the local businessman, greeted them at the train station. The three bears descended upon their new village: Veltron. They were dressed in summertime attire, despite the fact that it was still the slightest bit chilly outside.
"Make room for the cousins!" Cupcake called out, playing with the bonnet she had on her head.
"YIPPEE! This is such a pretty town!" Cheri exclaimed, an enormous grin on her face.
"How... pretty..." Olive commented, taking in a couple deep breaths. "Let's go look for our house."
Tom Nook told the cousins that they didn't have to worry about looking for their house, and that he would lead them right to it.
"Cheri, Cupcake and Olive are your names?" Mr. Nook asked the girls. They each nodded. "Very good, then! Very good! Your house is located in Acre D-2, which is located next to the wishing well, situated in Acre D-3. Please do not forget that valid information, ladies."
While walking to their house, the bears were introduced to two of their fellow townies: T-Bone the bull, the local town botanist, and Pierce the eagle, the local town craftsman. They were also introduced to the local police officers, Copper and Booker, who were located in Acre C-4.
They finally arrived in Acre D-2. There was a large empty house sitting between two elm trees. The roof was a romantic maroon red, with streaks of snow white running down the sides of the house. The head was a beautiful peach with gold surrounding it.
Olive sighed when she saw the house and said that it was the most breathtaking thing that she had ever seen, but Cheri broke into her thoughts and said that it probably wasn't. Mr. Nook and Cupcake laughed.
"So... the total of your house comes to... two hundred and forty-eight thousand bells," Mr. Nook said, with a small smirk on his face. "That's a lot of money for three young lasses like yourselves. In my opinion, you'd better get jobs and cut down on purchasing the island clothing."
"Shut your trap, sir!" Cupcake exclaimed, annoyed. "How dare you tell me what and what not to wear! Clothes are my pride and joy! If you expect me not to buy clothes, then I'd have to eat you alive! I'm certainly not getting myself a job! I'll leave that up to my cousins."
Cheri gave her cousin the evil eye. "What did you say? We're gonna work and you're not? I DON'T THINK SO!"
"Girls, girls, please... can we go get our belongings from the train station? I don't want to just sit there and argue over who's gonna work, and who's not gonna work. If our debt is that much money, then we're all gonna work, day or night, rain or shine!" Olive told her cousins.
The other two agreed with the grey bear, and they went back to the train station, grabbing their belongings that the porter put on trolleys for them. They unpacked very fast, and went to sleep, even though it was only 4:00 p.m. Jet lag had taken its toll on them.
April was coming to a close. The girls woke up the next morning, which was the 30th, at 6:00 a.m.
Cupcake was the only one who was able to cook, even though she loathed it, which ticked her off. Cheri and Olive were having a conversation about the turnip stock market while she was cooking, which got them into thinking about what kind of jobs they were going to have to get.
"Clothing is more of Cupcake's thing... we should leave that to her," Olive said to Cheri. "I should get some kind of painting job. I know that I'm an artist, but... what if I'm not good enough? What if the animals just laugh at me?"
"They won't," Cheri assured the grey bear. "Just don't think like that and you should be good to go, 'kay?"
Sighing, Olive nodded. "Okay."
Cupcake finished making breakfast a few minutes later. Pancakes were on the three plates, with a side of toast dipped in raspberry jelly. The smell was absolutely amazing. Cheri liked it so much that she didn't even want to touch her food.
"Eat up women," Cupcake told her cousins. "We have a long list of things to do today! First, we have to go grocery shopping and buy some sports goods from Nook's place. Then we have to go sign some contracts at the police station... I can't remember why though, but it's a valid reason. I'm so stupid, but yeah, anyway. Then we gotta go to the Able Sisters so I can find out my shifting schedule. Yes, I applied yesterday while you guys ran around getting familiar with the village."
Finally taking a bite out of her pancakes, Cheri commented, "Don't keep building up your self-esteem, Cupcake. You may just blow a fuse." The pink bear just rolled her eyes, and took a deep breath, sipping her morning tea.
"Where do you plan on working?" Cupcake asked Cheri.
"Not sure..." Cheri said, her voice growing smaller. "Maybe... hmm... I don't know. Never mind that previous thought. I just don't know. Maybe I can help out around the museum or something... or maybe not. I don't know, I really don't know."
"For a start, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. I mean, we do need the income, and any job is good for now, even if it doesn't end up being your career, Cheri," Olive told the red bear, who was now picking her nails.
Stuffing the last of her pancakes into her mouth, Cupcake mumbled between chews, "Just go for it if you'd like to, Cheri. No biggie. No biggie at all!" A bit of pancake crust dropped into Cupcake's lap and she shrieked at the top of her lungs, announcing to her cousins that she no longer looked presentable toward the town.
"Please don't take a few hundred years to decide upon another outfit, please," Olive demanded her cousin, in a sweet tone.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll hurry!" Cupcake shouted back.
The women left the house at half past ten. Their first destination was the department store that Mr. Nook owned. He didn't just sell home furnishings, gardening and household necessities, but he also sold groceries and any sports goods.
Mr. Nook greeted them at the door. "Hello, Cheri. Good morning, Olive. Nice to see you again, Cupcake. What do you bears need?"
"Groceries and tennis equipment. The three of us are expert tennis players. Especially Olive," Cheri complimented her cousin. "She got third place in last year's Country Championship, better known as CC. She lost what could have been a silver medal to the eventual gold medallist. It was a sad moment. I got ninth place while Cupcake got eleventh place. All in all, we did fairly well!"
There was silence for a few minutes.
"Y-y-yeah... Can we just get what we came here for, Cheri? Long stories aren't necessary right now..." Olive stammered in a quiet voice.
Mr. Nook picked up all of the things that the girls requested. "My, my, my, my, my, my, ladies. You're already blowing your cash and you haven't even been here for eighteen hours yet. That's very unfortunate. You have only two weeks to pay back ten thousand bells, so you'd better move yourselves."
"I hope God damns you when it's your time!" Cupcake yelled at the businessman. "You stupid raccoon."
"What did you just call me?" Mr. Nook shot back, but the bears had already left the store. It didn't look like they were going to put up with him.
The girls continued to go sign the contracts at the police station, which ended up being crime forms, asking if they'd ever been involved in any sort of crime or offense before. They hadn't been though, so they didn't stay for long.
Cupcake got her shift hours from the tailor, which didn't please her too much, but if she was going to be making money, she was content. Her hours were 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. from Tuesdays to Sundays, excluding Friday. Her pay was 300 bells an hour, which meant she was making 1500 bells a day. Once that's multiplied by five days, Cupcake discovers that she's making 7500 bells during her work week.
"That's NOT bad at all. For all you know, Olive, you may not need to get a job at the museum!" Cupcake exclaimed with glee.
"I'm going to one way or another," Olive told Cupcake. "I need to occupy myself. I can't just sit around lounging all day. What a bore that would be. And my life is not going to be a bore. I'm gonna be working."
"Okay, well that's your decision. So if you want, then go ahead!" Cupcake said.
Once everything was taken care of, the bears decided that they were going to go to the pond and practice their fishing, which they hadn't been able to do in a while.
"Do you think we'll meet any townies we haven't been introduced to yet?" Olive asked.
"We could. Who knows!" Cheri exclaimed, picking up her fishing pole. "One of my favourite parts of fishing is that you don't even have to think. Well, no, that would be a lie. But anyhow, yeah, I never think when fishing. I just wait to see if some animal will come by."
The cousins went off to the pond in hopes of meeting new animals.
When they arrived, there was a dog fishing. He had brown fur, and black eyes, and he was wearing a baggy shirt, along with an evil frown on his face. It didn't look like he was doing a good job at fishing that day.
"Hello! Who are you?" Cheri asked the dog.
"Shut your trap. I must concentrate!" came the reply. He spat into the pond, scaring his prey away. "Aww, drat!"
Olive approached the dog. "If you keep huffing and gruffing, you're not going to get anywhere in fishing. Care for some pointers?"
The dog gave the evil eye to Olive. "You fat little grey bear! I don't need pointers from whom I'm assuming is a novice fisher! I've won the fishing tourney for the past five years in a row in this town! I can't wait to hook some lunkers in June! I'm gonna win the entire thing again! No need for help!"
Shaking her head, Olive grabbed her fishing pole and threw the line into the water.
"Like I asked before, mister dog, do you have some sort of a name?" Cheri asked, in an aggressive voice.
Rolling his eyes, and spitting again, the dog answered, "You know, ma'am, for a cute thing, you're definitely an annoying bug. The name is Butch, and I'm the town fisher. I work at the dock near the waters. I load and unload the boxes that the captain brings from other ports. Well, not that this town is a port, 'cuz it surely ain't. And may I ask for a short description 'bout yourself, lass?"
"Flattered, really," Cheri replied. "I'm a young bear named Cheri and I just graduated from Biennia University in Pomlierville, a few villages over. I was majoring in sciences, but I can't seem to find a job in this town that involves science at all. So I'm basically screwed. Three of my pastimes include playing tennis, gardening and fishing, obviously. I'm definitely into the outdoors."
Butch nodded. "Great. Okay, then. I guess I'll be seeing you at the fishing tourney come June."
"I guess you will be!" Cheri exclaimed.
Cupcake walked over to the socializing two. "Hey, hey. What's up? Who's this dog? I think I saw him coming here earlier this morning while we were running to sign the valid papers at the police station, am I not correct?"
"I don't know. Perhaps," Cheri replied.
"Well, anyhow..." Cupcake said, raising an eyebrow. She seemed to be taken with the dog. "Since fishing wears out your bones and... well, tires you out, would you care to come over for dinner tonight? I make a delicious spaghetti, and that's what's on the menu!"
"CUPCAKE!" Cheri cried at her cousin.
Butch, on the other hand, seemed to be infatuated with this idea. "I haven't tasted spaghetti in the longest of times! I'd die to have it run down my throat again! The only problem is, my cooking is like trash. So, that would be a delightful idea. I accept your invitation."
Cupcake jumped with joy. "Excellent!" she cried, and ran off home to prepare the meal.
"I wonder if your friend knows that it's only noon. I haven't even had my lunch yet, heh!" Butch exclaimed, turning to look at Cheri.
"Her name is Cupcake, and I'm her cousin. Actually, so is the grey bear that you blew off a few minutes ago. I'm the youngest cousin, while Cupcake is the oldest. She's also the only one who can cook out of the three of us, so it's kind of sad, actually, but whatever. I'll stop rambling now."
Butch nodded. "Okay. Then I'll see you tonight. I've got to go wash up and get to work. Tell Cupcake that I'll be over at 7:00 p.m., whether she likes it or not!"
Cheri watched as Butch walked off and complimented him under her breath. "It's too bad that he's already fallen for Cupcake and vice versa. I could really go for a guy like that. But whatever. I'll be destined to find love one day... Olive'll never get a guy... yeah."
Picking up her pole, Cheri began fishing.