Day 2

I woke up this morning at 9:37 AM. This morning, I opened my window to my tent and found that Hamlet was up, the mild breeze came through my window, it felt good in contrast to my humid tent. I had decent sleep, better than I would expect in a tent. I turned on my stereo Tom Nook gave me, he's a really nice dude.

I put in my copy of "K.K Jongara," in the stereo, it's my favorite K.K Slider song. Not to be a fangirl or anything, but I love all his songs, but I couldn't help requesting "K.K Jongara," whenever he came to Valora.

I sat there, I then remembered my phone was here, I grabbed my phone and turned it on, I saw seven apps. The names of them were very basic, there was Camera, Nook Miles, DIY Recipes, Custom Designs, Map, Passport, and Rescue Services.

I don't click into anything, just to make sure I don't do what I'm not supposed to do. I close my phone and put it in my pocket, I leave the tent and head to resident services, the most helpful place I can go! The autumn leaves crumpled under my feet as I ran.

"Good morning! You seem hyped, So whatcha doing hammie?" Hamlet calls me, I guess I can forgive him after what happened yesterday, so I go up to him.

"I'm going to resident services, I've never been before! I'm hoping to learn a little more about the island and to get a few Nook Miles while I'm at it," I tell him, Hamlet turns his head to the side.

"Nook Miles," He says, I laugh, I explain to him that I forgot to pack bells with me from Valora, and that Tom Nook made a program that gives you points whenever you complete a challenge.

"Hm, interesting," Hamlet says, he jogs away with his eight-pound lift in his hands. I go over to the plaza, where it was dusty when I ran on it, I understand that it might have been four days before the package when Tom Nook thought to make it, but dang is it hard to do anything near it without coughing up a storm!

I go over to the tent, crouch down, and walk in and close the flap behind me, bug season is still not quite at it's low yet, so we have to keep a good watch for bugs. I see Tom Nook smile at me with Timmy by his side, I wonder where Tommy is.

"Starra! Welcome to the resident services," Tom Nook said to me, he signals me over.

"This is Timmy, he is my employee, he will buy absolutely everything from you, whether it be shells, clothes, or trash. It's not the best business plan, but I won't judge. You see, he buys in bells, you know what those are right?" Tom Nook says to me, I nod my head. I walk over to the workbench.

"What's this?" I ask, the bench has glue, construction paper, a protractor and a pencil. It's all laying on a green grid. I looked at the shelf under the table, it has paint buckets and spray paint, I don't think I should touch those, since I don't know how to paint.

Tom Nook rushes over to my side and says, "Oh, you've found my DIY workbench! This is where the public can craft using their collection of DIY recipes. Although I think you'll need a bit more knowledge before you start crafting, I will give you these, read them both over and collect the materials listed, when you do that, come back and we'll get on to step two."

I look at the piece of paper, it says I need five tree branches for a net and five tree branches for a fishing rod, I remember when I was searching for cherries when I shook the tree a second time something fell out that looked a whole lot like what was on the sheets of paper.

I turn to my left to face the tree that was right next to the service tent, I shake the tree, something falls on my head. It was a tree branch! I smile, this would be an easy task!

I go over to another tree, I shake it four times, three tree branches come out of it. I only need a couple more before I could get to work. I shake two more trees, I receive three more tree branches.

I run over to another tree, I shake it, no branch comes out, I am confused, if a branch doesn't come out then what is? Then I realize, wasps, I had not planned ahead and I didn't have a net, so the best option is to run!

I run over to Hamlet, I yell to him "I'm kinda in a sticky situation," he just kinda shrugs his shoulders. I run to my right, I bump into a tree, I think "Oh no it's too late now… accept defeat," I stand up, the wasps start stinging me, I dance around in a circle to get them to go away. The leaves crumble under my feet, causing sound, which should make them "buzz" off. They eventually go away after some time, leaving me with one eye swollen shut.

I go over to Mira's house, I open her flap to her tent, she invites me in warmly. She says to me, "Welcome, is there anything I can help you with?"

I look her straight in her eyes, she jumps back a bit, she says to me, "Oh dear, what have you gotten yourself into cottontail? I packed some medicine just in case I got sick, but your situation right now seems worse than a little bit of the sniffles, here you go, but I'll make sure to give you a DIY recipe on how to make some," she hands me a bag of medicine and a DIY card.

I look at the card, three weeds and a wasp nest, I don't know where to find weeds though, that might not be good. It pops into oblivion, this island is weird.

"Thank you! I owe you for that," I say to her as I exit her tent, she sighs a bit of relief. I close the flap and start running around to find a tree.

As I approach a tree I realize I haven't applied my medicine, I rub the medicine around my eye and let it dry. I open my injured eye, it feels so much better! I can now get back to work.

I shake three more trees once, giving me three tree branches. I then look on the ground by a tree I hadn't shook, it seems there is already a tree branch there, so I pick it up, that is the tenth tree branch! I think about sprinting back to the service tent, so I do so.

Tom Nook is sitting in the back with his reading glasses on reading a book about economics. He then looks up from his book, tilts his glasses, and puts his book on the table to the side.

"Welcome back, I see you've collected all the materials listed on the cards, now to step two, actually crafting the recipes," Tom Nook sighs, he takes the twigs in one of my arms and puts them on the table.

"Now… to actually put it together, basically you take this string I provided for you, wrap it around the largest branch you have here, attach this bait to the string. Eventually you'll learn how to make your own bait, but for now we need to learn the basics," He was walking me through the process of making a fishing rod, but I wonder why I needed five of these things if I'm only gonna use one… Seems strange honestly, but I'll listen to what he says, he's been here longer than I have after all.

"What do I do with the rest of the branches on the table then, it seems they have no purpose," I say to him, he just closes his eyes.

"Well, it looks like you finished, so let it just sit there for a couple of seconds, it's magic what happens after that short wait," I nodded, I saw the most magical thing in that moment, all of the extra twigs disappeared, leaving just my creation on the table.

"Boom goes the dynamite! You did it! Although with that sort of performance the fishing rod won't last that long, you see, on your NookPhone, there's an app where you have the recipes I gave you saved, well you should expand your collection of recipes to be able to craft furniture to place around the island,"

I nod, although I must mention that the table literally just stole my twigs, I say to him, "Hey! What the heck! I could have used those extra twigs for my other thing! But on a different note, where do I find these recipes you're talking about, I'm quite curious,"

His eyes light up in delight, he grabs my shoulders and tells me, "Haha! I knew you'd ask! Well well well, you see, your neighbors can give you some, you get some out of balloons, but you don't need to worry about those now though, get them out of the message in bottles that wash up on our shore, or even you get some by coincidence, it seems you already have the medicine DIY," He starts nervously shaking, like I wasn't supposed to have that.

"Um, and about what you said with the furniture around the island thing, YOUR LETTING US DECORATE OUR ISLAND AS WE PLEASE!? OH THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE," I geeked out a bit, as much as I loved the town projects back in Valora, I couldn't set a rattan armchair outside near Marshal's house if I wanted too, but here, we can decorate any part of the island that we want!

"Well… It's an exclusive privilege, to you and only you, since you're the island representative of course, your neighbors can put an input on where they want things to be, but if they place something outside of the home they will get in big trouble," Tom Nook said to me, I nod. But to me, that rule sounds ridiculous! I shouldn't be the only one with such a privilege! That puts a bit of pressure on me to make the island the best it can be!

"Now, to make the net, place the five branches on here. Take one branch and place it here standing up, now take a strip of tape I have here, and connect it with a broken in half twig, now, take the other half and tape it to the side. Break one more stick in half and do the same thing, and boom! You have a net! Although it's not as great of quality as I expected, it will only last a little while," As he explained, I did it step by step with him.

I let my work sit there as the remaining pieces of the recipe disappeared into thin air, I looked at the bench, that thing would be my best friend for a long time!

Tom Nook then tells me to go test my new tools and to bring him five fish and or bugs, he pushes me out of the tent, I land flat on my face.

I look back at the tent in a bit of disgust, "I understand he wants to have a bit of free time but dang! Why does he gotta be so mean," I think. I see a butterfly flying around, I remember catching bugs way back in Valora, so I sneak up to it like a tiger who is about to pounce on its prey.

I attempt to catch it, but instead of swinging the net like a normal girl, I ended up flopping face first on the ground. The butterfly flies away and I am stuck with an hurting face and no butterfly.

"Starra! Are you okay? That seemed like a horrendous fall, do you need any aiding to recover, because I can assist you in making more medicine," Mira calls to me, she seems quite concerned about the fall, although I didn't really feel a thing!

"Oh I'm good! I didn't feel much, thanks for the offer though, by the way, where do you find weeds on the island? I'm not sure where they would be," I say, she looks at me with the most oblivious look I've ever seen out of any of my neighbors, both from Valora and Safion.

"Starra… where would you find weeds back at your old home cottontail, I'm pretty sure you'd know," Mira says in the most blatant tone, I then realize I was being plain dumb before, of course you'd find weeds on the ground anonymously spread amongst the sleek grass.

I facepalm, she laughs, I wave to her to signify I need to catch more bugs and fish, she waves back and starts collecting sticks, maybe she needs to make DIY stuff too!

I head to the coastline where Hamlet is, he is holding his fishing rod in the water, I walk over to him to chat about fishing.

"Hi," I say to him, he seems quite concentrated on the water, I don't get why he's just letting his rod sit in the water though. He looks up at me and hastily nods his head.

"You do realize that the fish are the shadows in the water, and that there are no shadows around this part of the coastline," I tell him, he reels in his empty fishing rod and looks at me in disgust.

"Well of course I knew that! That's so obvious! Only an idiot wouldn't know that hammie," Hamlet snaps at me, I step back a bit, I didn't mean to call him out like that, I just wanted to help.

"Geez, calm down, I just wanted to help you catch a fish that's all," I said to him, but he only softened up a little. I sigh, this dude can't take advice even if it's blatantly obvious to see what he's doing wrong.

He snapped at me again, telling me I'm a rookie at fishing because it's a sport and he's into sports. We start to argue, again, which is really what I don't want but I'm gonna have to get.

"Would you two stop arguing please!" I hear from behind me, it's Mira, with the most aggravated look. Hamlet drops his fishing rod.

"Look, I can't stand you two arguing, we all need to get on good terms with each other or else island ife will crumble apart, and also, I just wanna enjoy a nice relaxing day on Safion without you two morons getting in my way, so please, I bet whatever the heck you both arguing about is stupid, so shut up," Mira tells us, I mouth a little thank you to her, she nods.

"But, she started it by doubting my fishing abilities," he says, Mira rolls her eyes, I'm not sure if to follow her action. He storms off, going over to his pathetic tent, not saying mine's not pathetic or anything.

Mira walks away to go sit under a tree, I begin to speed-walk across the coastline to find a shadow.

As I walk, I trek a small path along the smooth sand, the water continuously comes on and off the shore, and the cold, crisp breeze is perfect weather, too bad it gets hotter during the middle of the day.

I see the shadow of a fish to my right. "Now's my chance!" I ponder, I cast my rod into the ocean, the fish quickly notices my bait, score! I notice the shadow is fairly big, the size of a sea bass or something like that.

The fish plucks around my bait, nibbling on it, but not fully committing itself to it. After four nibbles it finally grabs the bait, I reel it in. I haven't saw the fish yet but the shadow on the sand looks massive!

I grab the fish and realize it's size, it looks like a pretty rare fish to me. It was big and black. Mira walked up to me in awe of my fish.

"Wow! You caught a really big fish there, I'm impressed with your angling skills," Mira told me, I grinned in pride of my fish. She walks away, I go to find another shadow.

I see a seashell by the water, I pick it up, I see a couple more down a bit along the shoreline, I pick them up as I pass them.

I attempt to pick up this blue shell, but it pinches me! I shout in pain as my index finger minorly bleeds. "Get back here you! You're gonna get it when I catch you," I yell at the hermit crab. I swing my net right where it's running and I pick it up with my net.

"Alright, gotcha! You're mine now," I say to it, I put it in my pockets, which are getting kinda full with all the stuff Nook's been shoving in there. I continue my search for fish, my finger's not feeling much better though.

For the next three hours, I attempted to catch bugs and fish, but I only caught a yellow butterfly. I might not be good at this catching thing...

"Miiraa! It's been two hours since my last catch! Every time I find a shadow I end up missing and I have to wait another five minutes for one to show up, and all the bugs go away too," I whine to Mira, she looks at me with sympathy in her eyes.

"Well, I can maybe catch some for you and give them to you for a bit of a cost, like let's say two days of not arguing with Hamlet," she smirks, I agree, she goes off to catch more bugs and fish.

I see that one guy from yesterday, I think his name is Tommy, I go up to talk to him.

"Hello," I say to him, he says hi back, he seems a bit shy. I feel like venting my troubles to him.

"I need help! I've been waiting around for three hours to find three fish and or bugs, but I've only been able to catch one! Do you have any tips for me, like where and when to find them and stuff," I said to Tommy, he attempts to not laugh at me.

"Well, usually more fish appear in the river, although you may run into the same fish multiple times in a row. But when you only go for ocean fish, the chances of a shadow being there are slimmer but there's more of a variety of fish," Tommy informs me, I nod and thank him, and I run through the crackling leaves to find Mira.

I find Mira standing around near Resident Services, she sees me and waves over to indicate that it's her. I look at her hand waving around and I go over to the general area of where she's standing.

"Here you go, it wasn't too hard, missed a couple times but got the job done," Mira hands me the fish she caught as well as the bugs that were promised. I thank her for the help and I go into the tent.

"Welcome, have you caught everything I asked you to? If so, then hand it all over," Tom Nook tells me, I walk forward in his cramped tent and I hand him the fish and bugs one by one.

"Ah, a Football Fish, a Yellow Butterfly, a Violin Beetle, a Wharf Roach, and a Sea Bass, all very beautiful creatures, although my friend overseas wouldn't agree," Tom Nook said, although I'm happy I got the chore done, I'm curious on who his friend is.

"Speaking of my friend! He's a museum curator, I'll give him a ring right now! I just gotta remember his Nook Number," Tom Nook said, I do remember the museum curator in Valora, but I don't think we're talking about the same guy.

"Hey! It's Nook, I was interested in opening up a museum here in Safion! Look, I got a kid here who is really good at catching bugs and fish and soon I'll teach em' how to dig up fossils, I know this is a big decision so talk with the people with you back at the Faraway Museum and make up your mind, make sure to get back to me on your decision," Tom Nook said to the guy on the other side of the line.

The man on the other side of the line talks real loud, so I could hear him pretty clearly.

The man on the other side of the line says to Tom, "Hootie hoo! Of course I'll come, in fact, I'll be here tomorrow, does that sound good? Right on, I'll be packing, I'll see you on Safion," They say goodbye to one another and hang up.

"My friend Blathers from the Faraway Museum company is coming to Safion to host a museum! Now, we'll need a location," I recognize the name, but I don't think about it too much.

"I'll help," I jump in, his eyes light up in delight and he hands me the plot for it. I run out of the tent and near the plaza.

"I think it should go here... " I think, I imagine what it will look like, I quickly make up my mind and decide that it's gonna go right next to the service tent.

Alright! Big steps on this island are happening! Since the power is in my hands, I hope I can make this island the best it can be!