"Thank you for flying with Dodo Airlines! We hope you enjoy your stay in Cherry Pop, Miss…"
Sasha yawned. He'd conked out something fierce during the flight and was still waking up. His carry-on hung limply from his paw.
The dodo by the gate gave him a second look-over. "...ter Sasha. Ahem. When you need to travel, just think… 'What would dodos do?'"
"Thanks Orville!" Sasha beamed. After exchanging a final wave with the steward, he shouldered his bag and walked out onto the pier, forgetting his sleepiness at the airport.
Cherry Pop's main plaza was just as he remembered it. Bright and sunny, smelling of sea breeze, and with cute butterflies fluttering about. The town flag proudly waved above, bearing the proud image of a gushing can of cherry cola.
This was his fourth time on the island, but today was special. Today, he wasn't heading west across the log bridge to the camping site. Today, he was moving in.
"You hear that, Mister Grasshopper?" Sasha told a little green bug leaping by, "I'm moving in!"
Just then, something new in the scenery caught Sasha's attention. Two somethings, actually. Two pretty rabbit gals chatting excitedly while rifling through a visiting salesman's handbag display.
The bunny on the left was red like a ripe strawberry. Sasha found himself lost in her smile and adorable blush until she bent all the way down to look at the lowest shelf. Her plaid green dress hiked up, and Sasha's heart did a little hippity-hoppity when he got a flash of frilly white panties.
He frantically looked away, only for the other gal's eyes to catch his like a pill bug in a net. Big beautiful red eyes like shiny rubies; he could almost see his reflection in them. Her freckled cheeks dimpled into a big smile, and she waved at him with both hands.
Had she been a billboard, "Hi, new neighbor!" would have lit up in ten foot tall neon letters backed with snow-white fur.
Hoppity, that would have been a weird billboard!
Sasha waved back and dragged himself onwards, but not before giving their pretty smiles one last glance. He'd have to find time to greet his pretty neighbors late, because a long day of getting everything ready was waiting ahead of him. He needed to dust, sweep, and take a nap before he could even start unpacking. Then, he'd have to unpack his snacks, his clothes, his snacking clothes, his plushies, and, if there was time, his furniture.
Also, maybe take a second nap. Second naps were nice.
Sasha had just finished swishing the feather duster around like a cool ninja sword and had moved on to waltzing with his broom when someone knocked at the door.
Sasha dipped his sweeping partner as low as he could go before giggling and twirling into a semblance of ordinary sweeping. "Come in!"
"Sasha! You made it!"
It was Jamie, the town representative, stopping by with a basket of cherries. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I brought a snack!"
"Hi, Jamie!" Sasha waved, leaned the broom against some stacked boxes, and hopped over to accept the fruit. "These look yummy! Thanks again for inviting me, Cherry Pop looks wonderful!"
Jamie sparkled with pride. "Glad you like it! Listen, I can't stay right now. I need to go check the trees for furniture and then dig a new waterfall out. I'll swing by tomorrow with a real welcome gift, alright?"
"W-wait!" Sasha reached out to stop his guest. "Um… actually…"
One eyebrow raised under the rim of their straw hat, Jamie turned around. "Mhm?"
"I, um… I saw these two girl bunnies by the plaza earlier, and I was wondering…" Sasha swayed from one foot to the other, wringing his fingers. "Where do… Um… Are they…?"
"Oh! You mean Bunnie and Ruby? Don't worry about them, they'll be very happy to meet you. Bunnie lives by the big rock on the east beach, near the lighthouse. Ruby's house is just across the stone bridge south of the museum, but you're more likely to find her at Bunnie's than anywhere else. When you're ready, just go and say hi. They'll take care of the rest."
Sasha's head tilted in confusion. "The rest…?"
Jamie smirked and pulled a small but bulging envelope out of their pocket. They set the envelope down on one of Sasha's boxes and smirked. "Consider this an advance on your welcome gift. Don't open it just yet. Trust me, you'll know when. See you around, don't be a stranger!"
Before Sasha could process what they'd just said, Jamie was already out the front door and pulling out a fishing rod.
Sasha blinked a few times, put his hoppity little smile back on, and resumed waltzing.
"Humans are so fascinating."
Sasha was out surprisingly early the next morning. He made his way back to the plaza, planning to have a look at the seamstresses' boutique he had spotted yesterday. A new house called for new clothes. He nibbled a carrot-and-walnut muffin on his way, daydreaming.
Maybe those two bunnies would be there and he'd get to say hi!
The idea put a little hop in his step, and so off he went, only stopping to pluck a stray weed.
"Doo dee doo~ Keep our town clean~"
Our town. That was a nice thought.
Unfortunately, Runnie and Buby—Wait, were those the names? Something about that sounded weird. Uh-oh.—were nowhere to be found. Still, he'd hardly made the trip for nothing. He'd found the comfiest purple dance-team jacket. It would keep him nice and cozy in the fall.
The girls weren't at the museum café either, but coffee with pigeon milk was really tasty!
By the time Sasha got back home from his little museum tour, it was the middle of the afternoon. He heard his mailbox ringing at a distance.
He rushed down the path and found a handful of letters waiting for him, which he immediately began flicking through. It was important to start with the most important ones first.
"Bill. Bill. Something something HHA? Bill… Hoppity, that duck really wants to be friends!"
The fifth and final letter in the stack was the one to really catch his attention. A dainty music-note-patterned envelope with more than a few wrinkles. Someone had been really excited to send this out!
From: Bunnie
Bunnie! That was her name! So the other one was… Ruby! Now he had a letter from one of them and he remembered their names!
Thank you, new lucky jacket!
Getting inside the house could wait. He had to read this letter now, and there was a perfectly good mailbox to lean against right here.
Hi, new neighbor!
My best friend Ruby saw you by the plaza yesterday, and she said you look nice and friendly. Also Jamie (that's our island representative, but I imagine you've met them before) said the same thing, so I'm really excited to get to know you, and Ruby is too! (She's sitting with me while I write this letter. She says hi.)
You know what we should do? We should have a little party, just the three of us! Ruby wants a party too. Right, Ruby? Oops! I wrote that instead of asking out loud. Tee-hee, I'm so silly!
We'll be waiting for you at my house at 7PM tonight! Bring your best smile and your danciest feet!
See you tomorrow!
Hi! This is Ruby! Looking forward to seeing you there, li'l ears!
—Hugs, Bunnie and Ruby
They wanted to party? With him? Tonight?
Hoppity! There was no time to waste. He had to pick out the perfect outfit, and the best snacks to bring.
But first, a nap. It wouldn't do to show up all sleepy.
Sasha rushed inside, set down his shopping bags and mail and pulled the curtains shut. He set his alarm clock for a quick snooze and rolled into bed.
As he drifted off, he wondered what he should wear to the party. Would the girls want him to wear a fancy shirt? Would it be better to go for something more party casual? Maybe his meme shirt would get a giggle.
Everybody loves Laser Cat!
He finally decided on his new purple jacket right shortly before the giant robot Tom Nook in a fairy dress unleashed a volley of Tanuki Torpedoes to stop a meteor from crashing into his house. The dancing teddy bears brought out lots of cupcakes to celebrate his decision.
Sasha politely waited for the seven o' clock chime to end, potato chip bag in hand, then knocked at Bunnie's front door. The door swung open between the second and third knock, and the red bunny from yesterday appeared in front of him, chatting at a mile a minute.
"Hi Sasha! You made it! Come in, come in!"
She all but dragged him into the house, and practically threw him at Ruby, who was putting on some music.
Ruby caught him in a big hug. "Hi there, li'l ears! Nice to see you!"
"H-hi girls!" Sasha choked out. He gently extricated himself from her bone-crushing, bubblegum-scented embrace and held the chips out to Bunnie. "I brought some snacks!"
"Woo!" Bunnie took the bag and shoved a cup of soda in his hands. "Thanks! Now it's a real party!"
"C'mon, c'mon! Take a seat!" Ruby tossed him a sitting cushion before taking a seat of her own. "Tell us about you!"
"Yeah!" Bunnie plonked herself down and placed the chips, now in a bowl, between the three of them. "Tell us everything!"
With two infectious smiles facing him, Sasha was happy to oblige. "I'm Sasha, I'm from a big boring city, and I moved here yesterday thanks to Jamie. I like fashion, plushies, and taking naps! Um… Oh! My favorite song is K.K. Lovers and I love chocolate donuts."
"Oooh! Lovers~" Ruby playfully elbowed him.
Bunnie leaned in above the chips and tried to read him like a fashion magazine. "Do you have any… cruuuuuuushes?"
Sasha recoiled back, stammering. "Um… um… um…"
Bunnie held a hand to her mouth and pulled back. "Tee-hee! Just teasing."
"It's okay, li'l ears," Ruby muffled through a mouthful of chips. "We're not going to pry. Plus, you just moved here, so…"
The subject was forgotten when Bunnie spread a board game out between them. "Wanna play?"
"Oh! I love this one!" Sasha beamed. "Even if Dreamy Unicorn beats me every time!"
The evening rolled on like a charm. They played, danced, and baked cupcakes. Bunnie and Ruby spilled the local gossip all over Sasha. He told them about the big city and how much nicer his new house was compared to the crummy little apartment he'd been crammed into before.
As the night came to a close, they clinked glass of colorful vacation juice to toast to a new friendship.
A big yawn eventually escaped Sasha, and spread out to the girls.
"Whoops! It's past my bedtime. It's been a really fun evening and I'd love to hang out with you girls again, but I should probably head home and turn in."
"Aww…" Ruby deflated. "But we're having so much–yawn–fun!" She paused, picked her droopy head back up, and blinked. "Okay, maybe it is time for a snooze, yes."
"Oh! Oh!" Bunnie snapped awake from a sleepy torpor. "You know what we should do? We should make this… a sleepover!"
Sasha thought about it for a moment. It was only his second night on the island and he was still getting used to his new house, but a slumber party sounded really fun.
He struggled to his feet and stretched. "Yeah! Slumber party! I'll just run home and grab my pajamas real quick, okay?"
Ruby scoffed and waved the idea away. "Pajamas, shmajamas! It's just us girls here."
Bunnie giggled. "Yeah! We can just sleep in our undies!"
Sasha's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, leaving no room on his face for his mouth to speak up. "W-w-wait! Wh-"
Before he could object, the girls had whirled out of their dresses and into highly revealing undies.
"See?" Ruby shrugged. "No biggie!"
Sasha stood still as a statue. He barely blinked.
"Um…" Bunnie approached and waved a hand in front of Sasha's eyes.
Ruby tilted her head. "I think we broke her."
Bunnie inspected Sasha from head to toe.
"I think we broke him."
Ruby blinked and gave Sasha a careful look over. An unexpected appendage had made itself very noticeably known between his legs.
"Oh!" she gasped, struck by surprise.
"Oooooooooh." she droned while processing the situation.
"Oh." she uttered as she came to a realization.
"Well then!" Bunnie smiled.
She slinked over and provocatively pressed her scantily-clad self against Ruby's body.
They exchanged complicitous whispers. Sasha's brain was still running in circles trying to catch up.
A little smirk traced itself onto Ruby's face. She leaned against Bunnie and playfully caressed her side. "Like what you see, big boy?"
Still failing to react to these two beauties, Sasha panicked and went for the first thing that came to mind. Jamie's envelope was still in his pocket.
If there was ever a situation, this was it. He tore the envelope open and could only gawk as the contents unfolded like a string of pictures from an old wallet.
Nook-Brand Safe-Fun Full-Sensitivity Condoms ~ (12-Pack)
"I… um… Hoppity?" was all he could squeak out before smooches swarmed over him like wasps out of a shaken tree.
Sasha staggered out of Bunnie's front door the next morning. He wore countless lipstick marks, a dopey and satisfied smile, and, mistakenly, one of Bunnie's dresses.
He turned around to blow the girls a little kiss, and stumbled off the doorstep.
On his way back home, he tripped into a shallow river basin that hadn't been there the evening before.
Jamie hadn't been kidding about digging out a new waterfall.
