The backstory of some of the most popular characters of the Animal Crossing series.
When Tom Nook receives a letter from an old friend, he realizes his dreams are well within reach. To Sable, this is bittersweet news as she doesn't want to say good...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The day was finally here: the store's grand opening. It seemed as if the entire population of Animal City had gathered to witness the grand opening of our very first business establishment. The air was filled with excitement, almost making the chilly autumn air feel like summer again. The establishment was something we had been organizing and planning to create for quite some time, but with the help of Mr. Lungorio, Lyle, and Tom, we were able to pull through to the end.
Redd & Jerry's Art Emporium. Nook didn't approve of the name but one of the conditions for Jerry's financing was that his name be in the title, and Tom & Jerry was already taken.
This place was a glorious wonderland filled with high end art, accompanied with high end prices. The art may not have been totally legit, but hey, what the people didn't know couldn't hurt them. It's all paint on canvas anyway!
It was going to take more than a few hundred bells to afford anything from this store! Tom kept saying that the prices were too high, but little did he know the kind of customers this place would attract. Only the wealthiest of the city's inhabitants would shop here. When he saw the great crowd of people who had gathered, I saw a gleam in his eye that I had never seen before. "You didn't think it would get this busy?" I asked smiling.
"No," he answered. "I knew it would be big, but this is bigger than I imagined." he said with a large smile and bells in his eyes.
"Well, we better get up there." And with that, we sauntered over to where Jerry stood next to his daughter, at the front doors of the store. Jerry held a large pair of scissors in his hands, behind the bright red ribbon which signified the opening once it had been cut. I stood beside Gracie posing for the pictures everyone was taking. Jerry slowly snipped the ribbon in two.
It was an extremely busy day. Customers came in and out purchasing different pieces of art. Some statues, some paintings, big, small, landscape, portrait. Were they all authentic? Maybe. Maybe not. The only thing that mattered was that our register was full, because that meant so was my bank account!
The day was over and it was closing time.
"Looks like this was a big hit! I must say you surprised me today." said Jerry as he patted my shoulder.
We've only just opened the store but I could already see it: promotion, promotion, promotion. I hit the jackpot with Gracie, when I found out her father was Mr. Lungorio I couldn't help myself. It's been a hard couple of years living in the city but everything's finally paying off. And if Nook can get a piece of the pie then that's great too.
"I was expecting a colossal disaster, but you've proven my lawyer and I wrong. I'm glad this was a wise investment. However, it's only day one, so I expect you and your business partner to keep it up." He walked over to grab a glass of champagne and made a toast. The room was filled with lots of strangers, strangers with deep wallets. Jerry had invited all of his own people from the business world to come by the stores grand opening.
Gracie had been distant and had an annoyed look on her face. More annoyed than usual.
"What's wrong, honey? Today was a big win! You see the look on your old man's face when we hit the million mark?" I said bringing her a glass of champagne.
"Hmmph! Hardly an achievement worth celebrating." She said taking both the glass offered to her and the one in my other hand as well. She drank one and then the other.
"C'mon sweetie, what's got you in a poor mood?"
"Ask your BFF. He harassed me earlier today and you haven't done a thing about it!"
"What? Tom? He wouldn't do a thing like that..."
"Oh so I suppose I'm a thief and a liar now too."
"Thief? Oh no. I'm sorry, Gracie, I'll talk to him!" I went over to Tom right away.
Tom was chatting with some men in suits. Jerry's people. They handed him some business cards and walked to another section of the store.
"Making friends with the locals I see?" I said in teasing tone.
"Today was a huge success, Redd! Things have been off to a rough start but maybe it'll only get better from here on out. Still, I hope the police find something on the thief who stole my rubies."
"Yeah, about that... Look Tom, Gracie told me what you did. You really should have let me handle it."
Tom gave me a sorry look, "I shouldn't have spoken to her without you knowing. Is she upset with you? I promise it wasn't my intention to offend her."
I shook my head and took a champagne glass off of one of the waiters' tray who'd just walked by. "Don't sweat it, to be honest she blows up at me every other day, so I'm used to it at this point."
Tom looked at me curiously, "How did you two meet?"
"Oh its a real romantic story, real classic. I was at a VIP party with a fake name and a fake ID. They let me in, and word was going around that Lungorio's daughter was there. And you know me, when opportunity presents itself, Crazy Redd'll strike!" I said chuckling and taking a gulp of the drink.
"Huh.." Tom looked around the room and I could already tell what he was thinking.
I cleared my throat, "Look Tom, things are different around here. The city's not like Animal Village. That place is for chumps. If you wanna survive out here you gotta be willing to fight for it."
"Chumps? Our friends live in Animal Village."
"Forget 'em! All you need is this glass of fizzy right here and a fat wallet, and tonight you've got both! You and me buddy, we're going straight to the top!"
"Sable lives in Animal Village."
"Fine, bring her here. She could work for us, help clean up the place during closing hours or something."
Tom didn't like the sound of that one bit. He couldn't see the great opportunity it would be for her to work in the city.
"Look here Tom, you're one of us now. You're a new man, you need to stop living in the past." I said, turning his attention out the store window and at the city's night life which was in perfect view, "Look at that splendor! This is where you belong."
He was aggravated. He didn't like my words of wisdom. "We're all going down to Club LOL, the biggest club is right here in the city. You should join us, the night is young!"
Just then he got a call and stepped outside into the cold night air. The season for cheer and giving was approaching. Tom came back inside almost immediately, "It's the police, they've got a lead."
----- Author's Note -----
If you enjoyed the chapter, please support it by voting!
