Marchen walked across the stone bridge red faced.
Of course her first time meeting her neighbor just had to go over so well.
She walked forward, not wanting to remember how badly she'd messed up. She was just happy that he happened to be a bit good-natured, laughed heartily and patted her on the back, introduced himself as, "Elvis, the big-cat 'round town," then picked her up and moved her out of the way. Granted, she was blocking the entrance, but she would have moved quite happiily as opposed to being twice as high as she was used to being and set aside like a doll.
As she crossed the river, she noticed that this side's beach was just about a quarter of what it was on hers.
Huh. Guess the other side had quite the view compared to this one.
The town, she quickly learned, was divided into four parts due to a river splitting it one way and a cliff splitting it the other.
Looking at the map, the section where Town Hall was was at the northeastern corner, right next to only one resident's house and dubbed after the building she recognized it for. It was a little smaller than the other two inhabited points.
Marchen and Elvis lived to their south in what she called Little Fantasy for the sheer beauty of it, the size of it just a little smaller than the main part.
Mini Beach, as she was now calling it, lay in the southwest corner, was the smallest region of the four, and had one vacant house, the one that overlooked the beach.
Up a slope due north was the main and biggest part of town that she called the Social Blossom (due to the insane amount of flowers sprouting everywhere). Here, the busline, tailor, museum, shop, the other two empty houses, and most of the residents lived.
And that was Marchen's destination as she walked up the hill.
Nervously, she knocked on this next house's door, not quite knowing what to expect.
This time, the door swung open, hitting her in the face. An orange dog that looked more like a stuffed toy quickly rushed to her side.
"Oh! My bad, dawg!" he said. "You okay?"
Marchen nodded slowly, trying to will the pain away. Good thing she was wearing a hockey mask.
"Really? That's great!" he sighed in relief. "The name's Biskit and if you're looking for an sweet time, you're in the right place, dawg! Nice to meet you!"
Her eyes smiled, and she reached out and offered her hand, which the other took and shook energetically.
"If you ever need any help, feel free to call me, okay, dawg?"
She nodded quite cheerily, before waving goodbye and moving towards the next house. On her way there, she noticed that a rabbit with a watering can had started to walk up to her.
Heart racing slightly, she turned to face her.
"Excuse but... are you that new girl, li'l hare?" the bunny smiled. Marchen nodded her head. The other girl's smile grew even bigger. "I thought so! My name's Pippy! It's so nice to meet you!"
As with Biskit, Marchen also offered up her hand. Pippy took it delightedly and said quite basically what Biskit had said about needing favors. The two waved goodbye and the couple went their seperate ways, Pippy back her home, and Marchen to meet her next neighbor.
In the back of her head, she was quite pleased with herself. Even without saying a word and dressed as oddly as she was, two out of three neighbors seemed to be okay with her. In fact, with how much Pippy talked, she thought that it didn't matter if she ever said a word.
Of course, meeting Baabara made her good mood about face.
"Hm? What's this? Why would a new person come walking up to me? Hmmm? Are you... trying to be nice? Are you introducing yourself?"
Despite the lack of malice behind those words, somehow, Marchen felt as if she were doing something terrible, and felt herselftrying to blink back tears.
"I rather like you," the sheep baa'ed after a few moments of silence. "Maybe I just might take you under my wing. Of course, we'd have to give you a total makeover, dahling, because your outfit's a mess..."
She started to draw circles on the floor with her foot, fidgeting anxiously and wanting nothing more than to get away from this woman right now.
"Well, I'm rather busy, so if you'd kindly leave for the moment..."
Opportunity seized. She was out of there as soon as she could be.
Rod was the next neighbor she met with.
The energetic mouse ran right up to her and took her hand in his paw, grinning the entire time.
"Heya! I was expecting a new face, and then I see yours!" he laughed. Well, here's another someone who didn't mind the mask too much. "Name's Rod, the ace of all aces, ace! Nice to meet you! If you ever want an awesome time, look me up, 'kay, ace?"
He looked at her expectantly as she bobbed her head. He just kept right on staring even though she stopped a while back, and suddenly Marchen felt herself rather self conscious. She began to squirm under Rod's gaze.
"You don't talk much, do you, ace?"
The girl shook her head, feeling uncomfortable, drilling holes in the ground with her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt her hat lift up and a paw petting her head. She looked up in surprise, Rod grinning brightly before gingerly replacing her hat. He left with only a wave and a smile, then scampered off, leaving Marchen simply standing where she was.
Huh.
Odd.
Fighting off her blush, she headed back towards Town Hall. Just before she went to in meet the mayor (Was she ready? Would she be okay?), checked her map one more time. And there, in the corner of the Town Hall Area, was one more lone house just south of where she stood.
Okay, there first.
She walked along the cobblestone to a nice house, and knocked on the door softly.
And when it opened, she blanched.
Pink.
Bright, neon pink.
Not only was the furniture and walls that horrible color, but so was it's resident.
The small (pink) bird smiled sweetly, oblivious to the other's thoughts.
"Yes, tweedledee?"
Grateful for the mask, Marchen bit back her surprise and forced a shaky hand out, which the other stared at confusedly.
"Oh!" she said after a few moments. "You must be the new girl! Nice to meet you, tweedledee! My name is Midge. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
She merely nodded as Midge took her hand in wing and turned tail the moment she could, hearing the other chirp about "how cute she is when she's shy."
She ran back to the Hall and hurried herself inside, leaning against the door and breathing heavily. She stared at her hand as if she'd grown an extra finger.
"Excuse me, Marchen? Are you alright?"
Her snapped up to meet Pelly's worried gaze. Quickly, she nodded.
It was about then that she noticed the old tortoise with a cane standing in front of the mail half of the counter.
As she approached him, he suddenly shouted out, "You! Whippersnapper! Who are you? And while I'm asking questions, what is your favorite animal?"
Not knowing quite what to do, the girl bit her lip, thinking of a way to answer.
The old man grew impatient, however, and huffed. "Whippersnappers!" he shouted. "Always disrespecting their elders! Why, when I was your age, I had to... um... had to... Ah, what were we talking about again?"
"Um, Mr. Mayor... That's our newest resident, Marchen," Pelly explained patiently.
"...What's that? Ah... come to think of it, I did hear something like that... Or did I? Who can remember with all these newfangled things going on?"
The pelican cleared her throat loudly, causing something to click in the elder's head.
"Ah, yes! I am the Mayor of Eichel, Tortimer! Quite normally I'll be here in Town Hall working, but during events and such, I'll be out in the square, waiting. Yes, that's right, waiting and WATCHING."
Tortimer wheezed a laugh. Marchen bowed in respect before taking her leave.
As she left Town Hall, she noticed for the first time that the setting sun had dyed the already beautiful town magnificent shades of red with slight hints of a refreshing orange.
The people were odd, but somehow, she could sense that they were all good people.
Yes, she was going to love living here.
Marchen smiled behind her hockey mask as she made her way back to Social Blossom.
Next on the agenda: Working for Tom Nook.
[Timeline] Same day as last chapter
[Actual game play] Friday, August 26th, 2011
Explanations:
[Geography of the town] There are two reasons for writing this. 1) It'll make life easier if you've some idea of the basic layout. 2) I'm terrible at describing places and need some practice.
[Naming place] However, my nicknaming places is really just something I do. :)
[Marchen's reaction to Midge] I was really not expecting so much pink to gather together in one compact place. *shivers* I can't stand the color, and despite the fact that she really quite nice, I generally avoid Midge.