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Running past the dozing Blathers, James made his way to the bar and placed the book before Brewster, surprising the pigeon slightly. "Already?" "I want to...ask a few questions." "All in the book." "Not about coffee. About where the coffee came from." "Problem?" "Yes there is actually. I don't wanna be like this with my new boss, but...everyone in this town told me that they never even heard of Chicago or the USA, and yet this book talks about everywhere else on Earth like Tanzania and Kenya and shit. So tell me...what's the deal?" "......talk to Nook." "What?" "Handles my coffee supplies. Handles all supplies. Talk to him." "...alright. Uhhh, I finished reading so-" "Keep reading. Take it and return tomorrow." "Okay...sorry." With his attitude now humbled, he headed out the door feeling like a complete jackass for getting up in his boss' face, before heading towards Tom Nook. His thoughts were rather hazy with confusion at how seemingly influential Tom Nook was. What the hell's with that raccoon, he's got his fingers everywhere in this fucking community! He knocked on the door and walked in, the raccoon chuckling wryly. "Ho ho hoooo James, at this rate you might as well start living in this place." "Cut the crap, I'm not in the mood for your banter." "Why now? What's wrong?" "...do you know where Chicago is?" "...why do you ask?" "Just. Answer." "I do indeed." "Then WHERE THE HELL AM I!?" "Woah woah woah, settle down there lad!" "No, YOU settle down, I thought I was never going home and I find it's on the same world!" "Well you're the one who ended up here, yanno people don't come here to visit." "What do you mean?" "I mean," said Nook with a patient tone, "that we live far far away from any civilisation...didn't you ever wonder why we seem to be completely cut off from the world? No newspapers, no television, no national radio stations. Just us." "So...where IS this place then?" "I'm not at liberty to say." "...wait what?" Tom Nook took on a serious tone, his hands clasped together like a mafioso. "Do you realise what this place is? It's an escape from reality. If everyone knew about it, everyone would come here and it'd be no longer an escape but the reality itself." "So...we're living in some kind of secret resort?" "You could say that. Nothing stops you from leaving of course, but we do have a warranty to not mention this to everyone." "So how do people come here then if nobody is told?" "You could say we...recruit those unhappy with their lives, scout them out." "Sounds real shady." "If you put it like that yes, but there is nothing to stop you from leaving as I said. It's all your choice here." Pondering over the words, he felt betrayed at first, but then he noticed the calendar near the cash register, marking the 7th of February 2006. He didn't realise the year, having never been told what year it was. And then he realised. Either he was in the same world as his own but far back in time, which was impossible when everyone knew anthros did not exist that far back. Or, more likely, he was in an entirely different alternate Earth. Somehow this did not help his mood. "I...okay then. Sorry to bother you Mr. Nook."

He turned on his heels, dragging his feet slowly, dejected, the one tiny sliver of hope of returning home shot down, as he sat on the bridge watching the fish go by, putting his head in his hands in frustration. After a while he heard a familiar "pbbhhht" from nearby. "Well well, look who's down in the dumps." "Go away Bob." "Awww what's the matter?" "...I thought I had a chance to go home. I can't really explain but...now I really do know there's no way of going back home." "Well that's unfortunate I gotta say. But at least you can hang out with everyone here, who says you're alone?" "I just miss people back home, I wanna know if they're okay!" "Well, if ya can't do anything about it, you just gotta move on, pbbbhhht." "Easy for you to say when you have nothing to worry about, this whole town is just perfect." "Yeah...perfect." He said this with an odd tone that made the raptor turn around to look at his gaze, always so piercing as he cast his view across the town. "Sooooo perfect...not a single blade of grass out of place, not one tree unblemished, even the water runs symmetrically somehow...you get the urge sometimes to go a little crazy and shake things up now and again, right?" "...yeah. I guess so." "I know your type James, the kinda guy who doesn't take a backseat to plans, when there are plans to be made. But for now...all you can do is wait...and hope to be there when a plan is revealed, and when it is you DIG RIGHT IN THERE JAMES!...pbbbhhht." The oddly inspiring words lifted him up as he said: "Yanno what? You're right, I shouldn't be moping around, and I should be doing something, I should make a plan! A plan that will make me happy and hopefully someone else!" "Ohhh? Who might that be?" "Hehehe, that would be telling." "Whatever. Go on, I gotta fish here anyway." "Alrighty, thanks Bob!" With renewed confidence, James headed back to his house, leaving the cat to his fishing as he began his personal plan. If he didn't do anything he would only start thinking about what he couldn't do, and one of them was going home, but now...he wanted to make this town his home. James grabbed his shovel from the house and began to walk out and around Crossville, searching and digging, covering holes whenever they didn't bear the reward he was seeking. He would continue this arduous personal chore long into the night until he could barely see and realised it was 12am, before returning to bed, carrying with him only one item along with his shovel back home, which he soon planted in the ground deep enough nearer to Daisy's house. "Hehehe...Operation Planting Daisy has begun."

The next day, James woke up around 10am, more joyful than last night especially after putting his little plan into motion. He went for a walk in the town, taking in the sights, gladdened by a day slightly more overcast than usual. Hoping it wouldn't rain, he made an ambling route through Crossville, examing each tree and thinking to himself how the oranges had grown back, and how Tom Nook did give him money for them. Why not a bit of on the side before the job? He took a few and walked towards Tom's store but as he neared it, he heard an argument from inside the Able Sisters' store. Heading closer he listened in from the door. "And just WHEN did you ever show sympathy for me about this?" "Sable, I'm just the messenger, please-" "You are FAR more than that you filth, now get out." "Don't you talk to me like that!" "Sable, Mr. Nook, please-" "Quiet Mabel!" "DON'T EVER TALK TO HER LIKE THAT!" A violent sound landed on someone, a male grunting in pain as he replied back: "FINE. I don't care what happens to you two, you were both abandoned, blame me all you want, it won't bring your parents back!" He heard footsteps marching to the door so he dodged back around the store, peeking to see a bruised Tom Nook march to his store and slam the door with a violent thud, the silence broken by small whimpering tears from the tailor's store. "Wh-...why did Mr. Nook say that?" "He was angry...when people get angry they say bad things to hurt you." "But...but what did he mean abandoned?" "Shhh sis, please...stay strong for me. Mom and dad wouldn't want to see you cry." "I...I wanna see Label." "I know....I'm sorry." The tearful dialogue of a small reveal into their life made the raptor blink back moist eyes. He wanted to walk right in and hug them and give them some sort of empathic warmth in a fellow orphan. But they would probably not appreciate a customer eavesdropping, so he decided on another idea. He remembered the town had a post office and was halfway to his house before realising he had no paper, so he headed tentatively to Nook's Cranny. "Morning, Mr. Nook." "Hmm? OH!" The raccoon had been facing away tending to his face before turning back towards James, rubbing a cold press to it. "Woah, what happened to your face?" "Oh I had a bad fall, don't worry about it." Covering the conversation of course, so he didn't go further and asked: "I wondered if you had any letters? I wanna write something to a friend. Also I got some oranges here to sell." "Ohhhh sure sure. You uhh, do realise we always send via the post office, not in the mailboxes directly right?" "Uhh why would you do that?" "Some do it for privacy but mainly union rules or something." He brought out some paper and offered to take the oranges, handing back the raptor 1200 bells who then paid with a bit of the money to get his writing paper. "Do you have a pen?" "Uhhh...oh crap no I don't." "Well since you're a new customer here, have this." He was given a complimentary pen free of charge by the raccoon with Nook's Cranny on the side, heading out on his way back home to write properly on the table.

You're not alone I know your pain too Be strong for other people

He had nothing else to add, feeling it would be enough and if he elaborated a bit more, it would be creepy. He headed to the post office with the letter and asked it to be delivered to the Able Sisters, before heading to the museum for his job. Even if it was sometime before it would start, he picked up the coffee book from home on the way to return it. Arriving at the bar, he met with Brewster, still polishing cups as he laid the book carefully down. "Read it all?" "Three times." The raptor said this with a grin of pride. The pigeon made a stifle of a small chuckle as he said: "Eager?" "You bet. I don't really mind how much you pay either, I just need something to do." "Every day?" "Every day and overtime if you ever want." "Not needed. Just daytime." "Fine by me, I always liked the night time more." "Good." And so began in a few hours James' first time working in a coffee bar. He spent the remainder of it memorising the coffee brands they had, checking the book now and again as Brewster left for whatever he was doing. The place was mostly quiet apart from the droning hum of the fan. Occasionally a customer would come in and he would serve them appropriately with whatever selected blend Brewster had chosen for the day. He felt a little odd not being allowed to ask them what they wanted, but instead they would ask for coffee and he would give them whatever Brewster had selected. He considered it to be rather snobbish, but he did say not many drank coffee around here. But the ones who did come were happy with their drinks, some letting it cool down with others taking it piping hot. Daisy however never came around, which worried James slightly. Soon enough it was 6pm, passing the time away with reading the book continuously from cover to cover, letting himself be drawn away to exotic lands such as Tanzania. Brewster poked him on the shoulder to wake him from a slight reverie. "Time's up. You did good." "Hmm? Oh, uhhh really?" "Could keep you on, if you want." "That'd be great Brewster, thanks!" "Here. See ya tomorrow." Without another word, he gave James 500 bells, which delighted the raptor certainly before heading off to find Daisy. He was more excited about that than this job, especially for his secret plan.

Heading to get his shovel first from home, James dashed straight towards Daisy's house around 6:10pm and knocked on her door, which opened nearly immediately to her smiling face. "Hi there!" "Hi hi, bow-wow!" "Ready for a lil digging in the night?" "I was born ready for digging, James!" With her shovel in tow, the two headed out like excitable children about to make a snowman as they went to work on the ground. James already knew the location of one fossil as they went across the town, digging into various places either one of them assumed fossils laid. For a long time they found nothing as James asked: "Any more luck?" "Nope, but we'll find them for sure! Where do ya suggest going now?" "...you're asking me?" "Well I was leading but how about you?" The perfect time, he thought as he suggested: "How about we skirt around near the guards and back down to your house?" "Sure!" As they unsuccessfully digged and digged and refilled empty holes, James tried to open up to her, nervous as he was of slipping up. "So uh...why do you like fossils anyway?" "Well, I always did love digging as a kid, always trying to find treasures at the bottom of the yard or something at my mom's house, and when I found out these huge ancient skeletons were sometimes found, like the ones in the museum, I was so excited to try and make discoveries myself. I even got lucky a few times in my life, and I spent a long long time trying to fit the museum up here with fossils." "You've been doing a really good job so far, I had a wander through it before my job." "Hehehe...do you feel okay with this?" "Watcha mean?" She rubbed her arm nervously. "Well...these are like...your people, literally yer ancestors we're digging up. Doesn't that....offend you or something?" "Hmm....not really. Besides I never knew anything about my people as you call them, dinosaurs that is, I mean a part of me is amazed there's evidence of them still around. I mean I wanna say something but the fact they're like MILLIONS of years old doesn't have the same impact." "So...what'd happen if you met a real dinosaur from back then?" "I'd...uh...hmmm...not sure really. What were they like?" "Well, depends." Fruitless digging around James' home kept the mood light for Daisy's anxiety of not finding anything yet. "There were two kinds of dinosaurs, herbivores and carnivores. Herbivores eat plants, usually really gentle especially the real big ones unelss something's gonna attack them, and they either got long necks or spiky bodies or heads. The carnivores eat meat and they'll eat anything if they think they can take it on, slashing away with sharp teeth and claws. You're a carnivore in case ya didn't know, bow-wow." James looked at his trusty claws curiously, wondering how they'd be used millions of years ago to tear flesh apart for eating. It intrigued him. But then he saw the back of Daisy's house and knew the fossil was near. "I'll check this spot over here, how about you check that bit over there?" "Sure."

With a grin on his face unseen by Daisy, the raptor dug away carefully to not make a big mess to clean up later on, awaiting Daisy's euphoric cry, which came three minutes later. "JAMES! JAMES I FOUND ONE!" "Wh-what!??!" "OVER HERE!" He headed immediately to her side and sure enough, was the fossil he had planted there, perfectly preserved and in Daisy's hands. "Aw wow, that's awesome Daisy! We finally found one!" "Hehehe, this is great...although..." "Hmm?" "I...already have this one." "Wait, whatcha mean?" "Well the museum already has this one and all, it's great we found one but it's not a new one." "Awwww...crap." "Well it wasn't a total loss tonight right?" "Yeah I guess. Whatcha gonna do with it?" The raptor was rather annoyed his plan did not go perfectly, hoping he had found a new one, but she instead handed it to him. "You take it." "Huh?" "We did find it, and I don't want it, so...go ahead." "Really?" She nodded with a joyful grin. In return, he hugged her with a kiss on the cheek before he realised what he was doing. "Th-thank you! Ah...oh...um..." "Hehehe, you're a real romantic James, bow-wow!" "Uh sorry I got excited there." "Oh it's fine, I get like that too! So...whaddaya think, call it a night?" "Yeah it must be like...8pm? Kinda early though to leave." "You wanna go dig for more?" "Sure! I'd just wanna spend time with you Daisy, if...that's okay. You're my best friend here." "Awwww, yer kidding me!" "No, really! You're so perky I feel so happy around you. Makes me not regret paying Nook to live here." "Hahaha, okay then! Let's go down near the beach for more!"

The two headed towards the beach, running in full sprint only to be halted when James suddenly tripped into a near-invisible hole that opened up under him. "Wha-AAGH!" "Watch out James!" He fell into the hole, fully entrenched with half his body in and struggled to get out of the hole. Daisy helped him out as he shook himself clean of dirt. "Sorry that was a Pitfall Trap." "Ugh not another one of those fucking things." "You fell in one before huh?" "Yeah like yesterday or so." "You okay?" "Yeah yeah just dirty, nothing's hurt. Why do people do that?" "It's funny...apparently." "My idea of a joke is something less messy, maybe a whoopee cushion." "Ohhh, were you a real prankster as a kid?" "Ahhh...something like that. I wasn't a good boy lemme tell ya." "Oooooh watcha do?" "Heheh oh the usual stuff of pranking the teachers. Gum in the drawer to make it stick, whoopee cushions, maybe a bucket of water but that was really risky cuz well, teachers do NOT like getting their clothes wet." "I don't think anyone does." "Well I don't, not after the first night I was here when I was lying face down in a ditch." "Really?! What happened, did you get hurt?" "I...don't know really." He felt somehow he could not tell Daisy the same thing he told Bob. Bob was someone who did not scare easily he felt, but with someone as sweet and tender as Daisy, he didn't want to make himself out like some sort of dangerous fugitive. "I must have fainted on the road, I've been travelling a long time." "You mean...travelling from back home?" "Well...." "Cuz it seems a bit weird that you wanna go home but are now living here." "...I...um...this is a bit awkward now." "If you can't tell me, it's okay James." "Thanks." Guess I can't get away with just saying I was travelling then, thought James as the two headed down to the beach at last and continued their digging. It wasn't too long before Daisy found another fossil, which surprised both her and James. "JAMES, ANOTHER ONE!" "Wha?!" Sure enough it was a fossil, making the raptor think what a lucky dog she was, especially when this wasn't one he planted, making this discovery genuine. "Holy SHIT, awesome!" "I know! Oh my god I feel like the luckiest doggie in the world!" "Totally...hope some of your luck rubs off on me." "Heeheehee, well let's not get too cocky, we dunno if it's a...oh bow-wow...." "Wh-what? What's wrong?" Nervous of her loss for words he held her shoulders tightly as she analysed. "I...I've never seen this before. The pelvis of a Pteranodon." "Wait...you don't...so this..." "Is completely new! AH! AHAHAHAH! JAMES!" She hugged him tightly, making him gasp and blush unbeknownst to her eyes which were buried in the raptor's shoulder in her excitement. "I finally found a new fossil! Another one! Oh my god, Oh oh...OH! AAAH!" "AAAH!" "AAAAAAAHAHAHA!" "AHAHHAHAAA!" The two were too excited to even speak properly and jumped in each other's arms excitably. Daisy began planting her lips all over the raptor's face, and James did so in return, until their lips met once. And then excitement turned to smirking embarrassment as they let go of each other and looked away. "Ah...s-sorry." "No no no I'm sorry, I started it." "Uhhh...let's just say we're both sorry, okay?" "Okay...but this fossil!" "I know, that's-" "Awesome?" Finishing his sentence, the raptor smirked and began laughing, with the canine joining in. They laughed together long into the night, their eyes moistening in the joy and mirth of each other amongst the waves of the sea, gently stroking the sandy beach they now sat upon.