MY PLACE s01:e23 - To Raise One's Approval Rating

Okay, so:
Clothes? Changed.
Fossils? Donated.
Nook? Mad.
Bells? Earned.

Now all I had left was that stupid approval rating.
I had already met Simon, and he’s shown his support enough, so it was only a matter of meeting the others. I saw them all last night during the fireworks show, but didn’t talk to them much, if at all. It was now time to become one with my people. Joy.

The first specimen I encountered was a green bird wearing a sports vest. He looked kinda like a parakeet maybe, but his eyes were… hard to read. He stood by the lake, a tattered old slingshot in his wing, staring up at the clouds as if waiting for it to rain. Needless to say, I approached with caution.

“Ahem” I coughed. No reply. “Ahe-ahem” I coughed again, this time louder, which finally got his attention.

“Oh” he said with his thousand-mile stare “Hi.”

“Hi” I replied “I’m your new mayor. Why don’t you like me?”

“I like you”

“Then why didn’t you say so?”

“Oh, I thought the jingly dog was talking about Tortimer when I was surveyed earlier. He was cool. He used to tell me to stay indoors whenever important people visited. I didn’t like him” I couldn’t help but noticed that this bird tended to jitter a lot, as if he were cold or on something he shouldn’t be.

“Right” I said, “And your name is?”

“Jitters”

Oh my god.
“What are you doing exactly? Cloud gazing?”

“Huh? No, I don’t think so. I’m waiting for a present tied to a balloon to float by so that I can hit it with my slingshot and grab what’s inside.”

“Yeah, sure thing buddy” I said, humouring him “I’ll see you around”.
As I left the weirdo to stare at the sky, I heard a POP and a light thud on the grass. Turning back, I saw him rummaging through an opened Christmas-present-looking box with a burst balloon tied to the end of it.

Travelling to the far left of Place, I cam across a house resting next to the top of a waterfall. Outside was an old goat. No, I mean literally, an old goat. Despite his miserable appearance, he wore a bright blue tank top with a huge star in the middle. He was tending to the myriad of flowers surrounding his home when he spotted me coming his way.

“Ah” he brayed “You must be the new mayor”

“Yep. That’s me!” I said with fake enthusiasm.

“Little young aren’t ya?” he asked, paying me little attention as he continued to water his garden.

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes” he replied, bluntly. “A role of any authority shouldn’t be given to kids like you. Now Tortimer, he was a leader. He knew how to run a town. No nonsense. No orange dresses and turbans…”

“Well” I said, casually looking around “He sure did do a good job giving this place such a cosy, empty, barren sort of atmosphere.”

“A smart one, are ya?” he said, finally turning my way “Well if you want me to boost your little approval rating, which I know is why you’re here, then you’re gonna have to work on that sass, boy.”

I couldn’t be bothered with him. I at least learned his name though: Gruff. Yeah, suits him.

“Oh, and can we get a few more bridges around here?” he bellowed as I walked away “An old man like me shouldn’t have to hike around the whole village to get to these firework shows!”

I couldn’t help but approach the next villager with ease as they were just too adorable to ignore. A little blue bear cub sat down on the grass watching a butterfly flutter between the flowers.

“Hey” I said walking delicately towards her, making sure my first words were carefully chosen. “I’m the mayor now. Give me you name and start liking me.

“Hello mayor” she greeted, somewhat shyly “I’m Bluebear [oh come on now], sorry for not giving you a good review earlier but I don’t know anything about you. I’m sorry…”

“Oh no” I said, won over by her cuteness “don’t apologise. I didn’t exactly make a great first impression, did I?”

“I liked your dress” Bluebear giggled “And your hat. And your funny socks!”

“Thanks” I chuckled. Her comments didn’t improve my opinion of that get-up exactly, but it was nice to here it complimented for a change. Before leaving her, I had to agree to have tea with her sometime.

Finally, I ran into Yuka.
She was koala who didn’t seem to be that impressed with me either. Three orange trees stood beside her house – a nice change of scenery amongst the countless pear trees, acting like golden gems in the sunlight. I noticed that Yuka was wearing the same patterned dress as Bluebear.

“Ah yes,” she hummed “little Bluebear was wearing this ghastly shade of pink when we first met, and I just had to put her in something more fitting”

“And she just listened to you?”

“I have that impression on people, darling. You know, I care for Place as much as you and your little assistant in town hall. Mostly when it comes to aesthetics. See these orange trees? I just had to plant them you see. I was getting so sick of seeing nothing but pears wherever I went. They are lovely, aren’t they? They are mine, however, so don’t touch.”

“Noted. Say, you wouldn’t happen to slip in a good word for me next time you’re asked about how I’m doing? I need to get this approval rating boosted and—”

“Are you asking me to lie for the sake of political gain?”

“Well, I mean, uh, yeah. That’s not illegal is it?” I hadn’t noticed how close she was to me now.

“Oh, I’m afraid I won’t be an accomplice in your corruption, mayor. However, I am willing to change my mind if you pretty this dump up a bit”

“S-sure. Any requests?”

“Stay right where you are, I’ll go fetch my sketch book. It has my concept art for what I want to see Place look like”

I’m never getting to 100%.

~Author’s Notes~
Quite a long one today, but I had a lot of fun writing it.
One of my favourite parts about Animal Crossing and its fandom is how people interpret their villagers. They all operate under the same selection of personality traits, but our experiences with them and their overall design influence the way we see them, you know?

For example, I always say Gruff as a crotchety old man, whereas online I’ve found art of him as a chill teenager. I hope you enjoy my interpretations of these characters going forward.