MY PLACE s02:e10 - An Unfamiliar Friend

Club LOL needed signatures, and my first thought was to scour Main Street to see if anybody was hanging around. I caught Yuka as she left the Able Sisters, looking as happy as ever to see me. She wasn’t impressed by the idea of a club at first, calling it a “loud, preposterous hangout for hipsters and the youth”, but persuasion is my middle name – so after begging for five minutes, she finally agreed to sign it if it meant I would leave her alone.

Other than Yuka, the shopping district was pretty barren. I couldn’t trick ask Timmy and Tommy for their signatures nor could I see if Blathers supported Dr Shrunk’s wild idea – it was the residents themselves that needed to sign, not the business owners.

Pacing around near the post office, I spotted a large hippopotamus whom I didn’t recognise. Probably some poor soul who got off at the wrong stop, or maybe even a curious traveller seeing what this tiny corner of the coast has to offer to the world.

“Excuse me” I said with a tap on his shoulder “Would you like to sign my petition?”

“Oh!” he jumped as he turned to face me “Do… do you know where I could find the mayor of this place?”

“That would be me. I am the mayor of this place called Place. Sign the petition?” I was then, without warning, slapped hard on the back. This was strange, because I don’t recall choking on anything. Turns out, this was the hippo’s way of being friendly, although the sheer force of his hand would make you believe otherwise.

“Mayor!!” he exclaimed “There you are, ol’ buddy! How have you been? It’s been way too long!”

I blinked. “Do I… know you?”

The hippo laughed and nudged me on the shoulder. I’m gonna be covered in bruises by the time this conversation has ended. “Oh, mayor! Always a kidder! This is why you’re one of my best buds!”

“Uhh…”

“Say, what’s that you got there? Is that a clipboard? Are you researching something? I’m doing some researching too! Wait, forget I said that…”

“It’s a petition to open a club” I exclaimed; my head unable to process the amount of nonsense that was going on all at once “That guy over there wants to build one.” I pointed over to Shrunk, who stood there looking bored until he noticed me and replied with a happy wave of his hand.

“That sounds great! They’ll love to hear about this! Um, back home, I mean! Am I allowed to sign it? I don’t live here yet… a-and perhaps never will! But I might do someday because you’re my buddy! I mean, that is to say I’ll move back here, you know?”

“Whatever” I said “just sign the stupid petition…” I was at my wits end with this guy. What on Earth was he talking about?

After I had managed to wriggle my way out of his warm glow of friendship, I hobbled over to Digby, who had been watching the whole scene play out.

“Friend of yours?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“I don’t think so…” I said and checked his signature on the form. “Rocco…” This wasn’t someone I knew. Was he just confused, or did he mistake me for someone else?

“Hm…” Digby thought “Never heard of the guy. My sis and I haven’t been working in Place for long, but we’ve definitely been here for longer than you have, and his face doesn’t ring a bell. Are you sure you don’t know him? Maybe he’s from your last town? Or a childhood friend perhaps?”

“My last town was pretty far away” I sighed “And I’d remember growing up with a hippo, that’s for sure.”

“A mystery.” Digby mused. “Say, what’s this all about?” He pointed to the petition. I was already sick of holding this thing.

“Some fellah called Shrunk wants to open a club right next door to Nook’s place” I explained.

“That sounds like fun” Digby nodded “We could even get KK Slider to play there, maybe.”

“The KK what?”

“KK Slider. He’s really popular in this area. Heck, most folks don’t even listen to much else. Personally, I think he’s overrated. I mean, sure, he has a lot of range, but its more of a jack of all trades, master of none sort of deal, you know?”

“Yeah, that’s great Digby” I called back from halfway down the steps leading to the village. “I’ll see you around!”

~Author’s Notes~
This scene is inspired by this one instance during my New Leaf playthrough were Rocco appeared in Main Street, saying that he missed me despite never having lived in my town before. It was either a glitch or he might have just lived in Place briefly while I wasn’t playing, but now this little oddity has become the first part of this season’s on-going mystery plot! Where will this lead, I wonder…

I’m also trying to get as many Postal 2 references in this portion of the story as possible, for those that know what I mean.