The whistle from the engine blew loudly and the train slowly started to stop, as an announcement from the passenger car's speakers rang out. "Attention passengers, we have arrived at our destination in station 24, please remove all of your luggage from the upper and lower compartments and wait for the doors to open." As soon as the announcement was made, everyone on board started to grab their bags, wake up the sleeping passengers next to them, and prepare themselves for the train's doors to open.
"We hope you enjoyed this four day journey with us. Have a good day and we hope to see you again soon!" The speaker stated, their voice cheery and full of life.
As everyone started to go out the door, a security guard stood outside the train, with a clipboard and pen in his hands-err, wings. The guard in question wasn't exactly human, more-so a blue feathered eagle, standing on his talons upright like a person while wearing a security guard outfit.
As the passengers disembarked from the train, the eagle security guard started to write down everything he saw onto his clipboard. "Alright, let's see here…" the blue-feathered guard thought, as he looked up from his hand-held list to the departing train-riders and then back down towards it.
"Ten lizards, two sheep, six swans both black and white, four pit bulls, and…Oh" The bird thought, as he looked up from his board and saw the last passenger exit the train car.
The last passenger wasn't a bird, or a frog, not even a raccoon.
It was a human man.
The man was six feet tall, with dark brown skin, light brown eyes and jet-black curls for hair. He wore a white button-up shirt with a professional looking black tie. He also wore a pair of black slacks with a black leather belt around his waist and a pair of work shoes to match.
"Hmm, who's this guy?" The eagle thought, as he flipped through his endless number of pages and found the one he was looking for. "Ok, here we go. This train left station 84 four days ago from New York to here, with all the passengers I listed and the human…Why would he book a train here?" The bird guard tapped his lower beak, and pondered about the subject, until said subject popped up in front of him.
~oOo~
"Uhh, hello there?" The man spoke, causing the beaked officer to jump and shout in surprise. "Oh, terribly sorry, I did not mean to startle you." The blue-feathered eagle calmed down when he realized it was the man from the train.
"Oh, you didn't startle me, I was just practicing my-uhhh…Mosh Pit Yelling! Yeah that's it." The security bird lied, hoping his dignity wouldn't be more injured than it already was.
"Anyways, what's a fella like you doing around these parts?" Inquired the blue-feathered guardsmen, which the professionally dressed human stranger provided the answer.
"Oh, I am supposed to be heading towards the mayor's office, I got a proposition for a new job there."
After hearing the words "Mayor's Office" and "New Job", it was more than enough evidence for the bird to realize the human's reason for arrival.
"Oh, you must be the new mayor for this place, huh? Well, it's a pleasure to meet ya!"
~oOo~
The man was shocked at the humanoid bird's cheerful response.
When he received a letter from the mail about a new job opportunity, it left out a lot of vital details, such as the fact that he had to go to an island somewhere that could only be reached by a four day train trip and not by car or plane.
Or the fact that the residents on the island weren't people, but walking, talking multicolored animals.
Or the fact that his new job here was going to be MAYOR for said residents.
The man wished that whoever wrote the letter in the first place wasn't so obviously vague.
In full honesty, the animal who wrote it probably wasn't civilized like the other residents around.
Probably a unevolved monkey or wild bear or something along those lines.
Nevertheless, the man shook off his shock to hear what else the bird officer had to say.
~oOo~
"Anyways, Name's Benjamin Hawkington, 'course everyone around here calls me Benny or Ben for short. What's your name, pal?"
"Jason, pleasure to meet you Ben." He greeted himself, holding his hand out to shake. Ben lifted his right wing, revealing four blue fingers and grasped Jason's hand, before giving it a good squeeze and shaking it.
After the two shook hands, the gentle sound of footsteps drew closer. They both turned to see a finely dressed female shih tzu walking up towards them.
"Hi, you must be the new mayor right?" She questioned Jason, who responded with a simple head-nod yes.
"Well, it's nice to meet you! My name is Isabelle, and I'm your assistant and secretary. Whatever you need, I'll be able to help and provide."
"Jason, pleased to meet you." He greeted, holding his hand out to shake Isabelle's.
Despite her being a shih tzu and having a very nice personality, she has a very firm grip.
And an even more firm shake.
If it wasn't for the formalities, Jason would've figured Isabelle engaged him in a standing arm wrestling match and was planning to pile-drive him into the earth, before pinning his body to the ground with her fur-covered paw and pull his arm nearly out of it's socket like a fancy wrestling technique.
Thankfully she stopped after a few shakes and asked Jason to come with her to meet someone, allowing him to shake off the stinging pain from Isabelle's death-grip while her back was turned.
~oOo~
The walk to where Isabelle's colleague worked was a bit long, about five or so minutes, but at least the pain in Jason's hand went away. That is, before it left a few small bruises on the spots where Isabelle's fingers laid when she vice gripped him.
"We're here!" Isabelle called out cheerfully to Jason, who lingered behind her to treat his injuries. He then stood beside her and took a gander at the site Isabelle was looking at.
The building the two were staring at appeared to be a bank of sorts. It stood at a dozen feet tall, with an inclined roof and marble pillars. There are two machines parallel to each other on two sides of dark oak doors that look reminiscent of ATM's. On the banister tightly secured to the roof by four pillars was the words "Bank of Nook" in big golden letters. Right next to the building, a green-and-white flag with a symbol of a leaf blew around in the wind.
"What are we doing here Isabelle?" Jason questioned, to which the female shih tzu answered, wagging her tail in joy.
"We're going to see a colleague of mine. He'll get you registered into his banking system, get you a house to live in, and help get you started on your first day."
"Thank you Isabelle, you did not have to do this for me."
"No I should. You are a newcomer after all, so it's only fair if I help you out."
Jason took mental note of Isabelle's kindness, and pulled the door to the bank open for her. She replied with a thank you and a quick curtsy, pulling on her small skirt a bit to do so, before stepping in with Jason right behind her.
The inside of the bank was surprisingly quaint for its exterior design. The floors were lined with recently polished hardwood and jungle burch. The walls were coated with green dye, giving the building a lingering scent of freshly opened paint cans. On the roof hung a small brass chandelier, with small glass crystals hanging from it. In the room there were four benches and eight ATM's like the ones Jason saw outside, two and four each on one side of the room.
Isabelle led Jason to the cashier's desk, where she punched a code in a keypad on one of them, making an iron door to the far right slide open. She and Jason entered through the iron door frame and proceeded through the bank's inner workings.
They kept going, passing a break room, the bank's vault, and a small office space, until they reached a room Jason assumed was the manager's office. The door was made from shaved Japanese maple, with a gold leaf symbol engraved on the top portion of the door.
Isabelle knocked on the door three times, and a muffled voice called out from it. "Come in." She opened the door and gestured to Jason to go in first. He obliged and walked inside, with Isabelle taking the rear and closing the door behind her.
[Instrumental of Nook, Line & Sinker by The Stupendium plays in the background]
In the room, the dark oak floors had a simple clean sheen, alongside the walls. In the back, there was a bookshelf with dozens upon dozens of books, a small metal safe, and a small fireplace glowing bright. In the middle of the room, there was a desk-made with the same material as the door, with a spinning chair behind the desk space, its back facing the two.
On the wall in front of the chair, there was a painting that depicted a brown-furred raccoon wearing a green and tan business suit, standing tall over bags of money and piles of gold coins, straightening his red tie while looking down at something.
To the basic observer, it represented the arrogance of the rich. To the experienced art critic however, as Jason dabbled in from time to time, It signified the power, greed and efficiency of a con-man.
"Ahh, Isabelle, it is so good to see you again." The manager spoke, his voice sounding near identical to a man from Yorkshire, his accent having a tinge of Oxford.
"How are you on this fine day?" The Yorkshire entity inquired, to which Isabelle responded. "I am doing fine Mr. Nook, and how are you?"
"The day has been rather…slow. Not many customers came in today, but beggars can't be choosers." Mr. Nook replied, swiveling his chair around to face the duo.
Jason couldn't believe his eyes, as the manager of the bank revealed himself to be the individual on the painting behind him, with every detail on it correct to the real thing. Even the shade of red to his tie was right on the money.
"Ahh, our new mayor, it is a great pleasure to meet you." Mr. Nook stated, nodding his head once towards Jason. "I hope my letter to you was not too vague for you to understand. If it was, I am truly sorry. Writing is rather hard with paws than hands"
After hearing that statement, Jason remembered the letter he received back at New York, and the fact that he may or may not have silently insulted the island's only banker.
After a second, Mr. Nook put two fingers of his paw to his eye bridge and squeezed down on it. "Ohh, where are my manners?" Mr. Nook said, releasing his eye bridge, before straightening himself in the seat and putting his hands together. "My name is Nook, Tom Nook, and as you can see, I am the island's sole business owner."
~oOo~
"Business owner? I thought you were the banker?" Jason questioned. "Well, there's not many businesses around here. Of course, it does get difficult at times. Not much competition or customers interested in my wares. Tom sadly stated, as he slowly slunk into his chair, before straightening himself back up.
"Hmm, if Isabelle brought you to me, then that means you need a place to stay, and I got just that!" Tom stated excitedly, before pushing his chair back from his desk and rolling it over to his filing cabinets. He then opened the top drawer, and dug in it, trying to find something. In a matter of seconds, Tom grabbed a rolled up poster and wheeled his chair back over to the desk, before placing the poster down and unrolling it.
The poster was an ad flyer for a new house, and the house looked beautiful. It was a simple brick cottage, with a red inclined roof and a white picket fence surrounding the buildings outside.
"I can see you're an admirer." Tom observed, causing Jason to snap out of his trance. "Yes, this house is a classic starting house. Very spacious and has access to the beachside, but only has one room."
"This is perfect, I'll take it, how much?" Jason asked, and his jaw dropped straight to the floor once he heard Tom Nook's price.
"98,000 bells, the rent's 1,000. I am sure a man such as yourself can get that right?"
~oOo~
"...Mr. Nook in full honesty, I do not think that I have that many. All I have is this." Jason stated, before digging into his pants pocket and retrieved a small burlap bag with a black star on the front and a red tie around the bag's neck. Isabelle gasped at the bag, seeing it's small size
"Hmm, it appears you're 97,500 bells short. Don't worry, I can hold this house for you and set you up with temporary housing until you give me the rest of the bells." Tom interjected, after taking a good look at the bag.
"But then, I will be broke…"
"Do not worry Jason, I can start up your account here and put in some bells, plus you do not need to worry about paying for the temporary. Your temp. house will be paid with Nook Miles, not bells. It is a new currency I made."
"...Well, it can't get worse than this, right?"
~oOo~
Long story short, it got worse.
Jason's temporary home was a tent in a bug-infested wood, filled with ants, mosquitoes, grass-hoppers, and a bunch of other creepy-crawlers. It was a nice, quaint little thing, but that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that he had to prepare a speech for his mayoral ceremony tomorrow. Luckily, Jason was able to keep his speech short and sweet and prepare his clothes for the occasion.
As Jason stared at the roof of the tent, he pondered about all the adventures he could get himself into at this small quiet town. With that thought in mind, Jason turned over in his sleeping bag and started to fall asleep, peacefully snoozing under the stars of his first night in Konoha.