Story, News, Well-Wishing, and Cartography
A flotsam and jetsam post today, with something for everybody. Don't believe me? Just look at the tags for this entry. Short of "reading notes" (which will resume regularly once fall semester starts), I'm touching on most of my regular topics here.
1.
It's Animal Crossing time! I was tempted, and I gave in. A total crack!fic written in the Animal Crossing fandom. Probably no one will understand this outside of players of Apt. 6K and Domosai. Dedicated to everydaysushi, sunnydlita, and tanechigai.
Title: Dystopia
Rating: If there's a rating lower than G, this would be it.
Word Count: 1,303 according to Word
Warning: Written upon a sudden bout of inspiration, unbeta'd.
None of the animals could believe what they were seeing: Officer Copper left his usual spot in front of the police station, marched up to the town’s bulletin board, and nailed onto it a giant WANTED sign.
A WANTED sign. Wanted signs were marks of shame reserved for other places, for towns with bad mayors and horribly structured police units. Wanted signs did not belong to Domosai.
Tank the rhinoceros nudged Tobot and whispered, “Tobot, you go up and read the announcement to everyone, kerPOW. You’re the human and you can read better than all the animals here.”
Tobot shrugged and approached the bulletin board. Oh, why did he choose to visit Domosai today? Couldn’t another human be in town instead? Must be his luck.
Tobot stared at the WANTED sign with glazed eyes and read in a monotone: WANTED:
Mitzi the Cat
Disruptor of town peace
Causer of havoc
Instigator of harmful pranks
The town of Domosai has officially issued a warrant of arrest for Mitzi the Cat, who has broken into Mr. Tom Nook’s shop last Wednesday and stolen 1,354,289 bells worth of merchandise. She is also charged with pushing Red the fox off Domosai’s highest cliff when the merchant last set foot in the town on Friday. On Saturday, Mitzi was seen ambushing Gulliver the seagull, leaving him unconscious and in the mercy of the ocean waves after she robbed him of several priceless statues.
Anyone who has information of Mitzi the Cat’s whereabouts should contact Officer Copper immediately. A 1,000,000 bells reward will go to the animal whose tip-off will lead to Mitzi’s arrest.
Tobot turned around after he finished and found himself staring at a group of near-hysterical animals.
“This cannot be!”
“Mitzi will never do that!”
“There must be some mistake! I invited Mitzi over to play my NES Donkey Kong (TM) game last Friday!”
Each animal expressed his disbelief and her defense of Flawless Mitzi, who had never, ever, done anything bad.
Tobot shook his head. “Well, that’s what the sign says. Maybe Mitzi’s fooled us all.”
“Then we should call Mitzi here to figure things out, aiya!” said Chow, one of Mitzi’s closest neighbors.
“But that’s not possible,” Tobot pointed out. “Mitzi now lives in Apt. 6K. Everyone knows that.”
“No she doesn’t! I thought Mitzi has left us and moved to Domosai,” a voice called from behind the bulletin board. Tobot scanned his eyes toward the direction of the train station and saw A-ko, a resident of Apt. 6K, walking up to the bulletin board.
“A-ko!” Tobot exclaimed. “You’d never believe what Mitzi -”
“I know. The same sign showed up at Apt. 6K too,” A-ko said. She looked around the animals, now huddled in a group, looking at the two humans interacting with each other. “Where’s Mitzi?”
“She moved to your town,” Tobot said.
“No, she didn’t,” A-ko retorted. “I distinctly remember running into Mitzi when I last visited Domosai.”
“How can that be? I saw Mitzi in your town. She lives down by the river, where Savannah the zebra used to live,” Tobot said.
A-ko opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut again. “Something’s not right here,” she mused after replaying the dialogue in her head. “There’s no way Mitzi could move this frequently from town to town. It’s as if there are…”
“Two Mitzis, twinkles?” Tutu the white bear suggested.
“Exactly!” Tobot agreed. “Two Mitzis, one in Domosai and one in Apt. 6K.”
“So how do we know which one’s good and which one’s bad?” the animals demanded.
“Of course the Mitzi in Apt. 6K is the good one. I’ve spoken with her almost everyday and she’s the most perfectest angel ever!” A-ko said.
“Nonsense,” Groucho the bear snapped. “A-ko, you know what a grouch I am from our neighborly days in Apt. 6K together before I moved here to Domosai, grumble. If Mitzi can get along with a grumpy bear like me, then there’s no way our Mitzi can be the bad one, grumble.” The animals of Domosai murmured their agreement.
“But you got along with the Mitzi in Apt. 6K too,” A-ko pointed out.
At a loss for a retort, Groucho went off by himself to stomp in the bushes angrily.
There was a lull in whispers as all eyes watched Groucho stormed away. Then Tobot broke the silence, “Well, that didn’t help. Other suggestions?”
By now, even Tortimer the mayor had joined the crowd in front of the bulletin board. Hours and hours of frustrated circular arguments later, all animals and both humans were exhausted.
“We don’t have any ideas, do we, snort,” Sue E sulked. “Maybe it’s time I should try out that lock and key set that I bought from Red for 7,328 bells a few years ago. I knew that would come in handy someday, snort.”
“And I should start building fences around my house so no one can accidentally push me into the river, yip yip,” Bones the dog said.
“And we’ll just have to buy stuff from the traveling merchants until Tom Nook rebuilds his shop, buh-uh-ud,” Sven wailed.
Tobot hung his head low. The animals were right, precautions needed to be taken. So much for the legendary utopian towns inhabited by animals. They’re becoming more and more like human towns every day.
“Wait, we should take a trip to the Wishing Well and tell it to keep an eye out for Mitzi from now on, I s’pose,” Otis the bird said.
The animals knew a good idea when they heard one, so they all herded themselves to the Wishing Well. Tobot and A-ko followed.
Once they were at the well, Tobot couldn’t help looking away. It was already painful to hear Mayor Tortimer explain the situation to the Wishing Well; he didn’t want to have to see it too. Tobot let his eyes drift toward the ocean. And then -
“Everyone, look! It’s a boat! Someone must be coming back from visiting the Tropical Island!”
“We should let Kapp’n know about Mitzi too,” the animals said.
But as the boat got closer to shore, everyone could see that Kapp’n was not in the boat. Instead, there were three occupants, all identical…
“It’s Mitzi, Mitzi, and Mitzi, kittycat!” Kiki screeched, shocked.
At once, conversation exploded amongst the animals.
“There are three Mitzis!”
“Which one is ours?”
“One of them is bound, quick, get ready to free her if she’s our Mitzi!”
“Maybe we should take good care of the Mitzi from Apt. 6K too, she sounds nice enough.”
“Throw them all in jail, grumble, let Officer Copper take care of it!”
All voices died down as the two free Mitzis dragged a tied up Mitzi on shore. “Hello, everyone, mew,” the two walking Mitzis greeted.
Tobot looked from one Mitzi to the next, to the next. “Explain yourselves,” he demanded.
The Mitzi on the right pointed to the bound Mitzi in the middle. “This,” she said. “Is Mitzi the Cat from Samurai X, mew.”
“Samurai X!” Groucho exclaimed. “I used to live in Samurai X, grumble. That was a long time ago. My friends there were Annie, Michael, Hally, and Dré. In fact, the same Hally later moved to Apt. 6K, grumble.”
“And Mitzi from Samurai X is the one who’s been causing all the troubles,” the Mitzi on the left said. She and the Mitzi on the right shoved Mitzi from Samurai X forward. “She’s all yours, Officer Copper.”
The officer grabbed the bound Mitzi triumphantly. “Mystery solved, animals,” he said with a wide grin on his face.
“And I believe this calls for a celebration by the lakeside,” Mayor Tortimer said. The animals cheered and stampeded off to the lake.
Tobot and A-ko looked at each other and smiled. Why not? They both shrugged, and quickly followed after the animals.
2.
Today's news, or what caught my eyes -->
Gaza Evacuation: New York Times - Israeli Troops and Police Clear all but 5 Gaza Settlements
False Police Shooting in London: BBC - Menezes' family calls for justice
Men's Tennis: ESPN - Wildcard Ginepri defeats Safin; Federer advances (If I may say so, Ginepri played very well indeed.)
3.
Special message to nenyaentwhistle: Good luck on your MCATs tomorrow!
4.
I've updated my userinfo page with a map project. If you're a friend, please help me with my cartography project!
.
1.
It's Animal Crossing time! I was tempted, and I gave in. A total crack!fic written in the Animal Crossing fandom. Probably no one will understand this outside of players of Apt. 6K and Domosai. Dedicated to everydaysushi, sunnydlita, and tanechigai.
Title: Dystopia
Rating: If there's a rating lower than G, this would be it.
Word Count: 1,303 according to Word
Warning: Written upon a sudden bout of inspiration, unbeta'd.
None of the animals could believe what they were seeing: Officer Copper left his usual spot in front of the police station, marched up to the town’s bulletin board, and nailed onto it a giant WANTED sign.
A WANTED sign. Wanted signs were marks of shame reserved for other places, for towns with bad mayors and horribly structured police units. Wanted signs did not belong to Domosai.
Tank the rhinoceros nudged Tobot and whispered, “Tobot, you go up and read the announcement to everyone, kerPOW. You’re the human and you can read better than all the animals here.”
Tobot shrugged and approached the bulletin board. Oh, why did he choose to visit Domosai today? Couldn’t another human be in town instead? Must be his luck.
Tobot stared at the WANTED sign with glazed eyes and read in a monotone: WANTED:
Mitzi the Cat
Disruptor of town peace
Causer of havoc
Instigator of harmful pranks
The town of Domosai has officially issued a warrant of arrest for Mitzi the Cat, who has broken into Mr. Tom Nook’s shop last Wednesday and stolen 1,354,289 bells worth of merchandise. She is also charged with pushing Red the fox off Domosai’s highest cliff when the merchant last set foot in the town on Friday. On Saturday, Mitzi was seen ambushing Gulliver the seagull, leaving him unconscious and in the mercy of the ocean waves after she robbed him of several priceless statues.
Anyone who has information of Mitzi the Cat’s whereabouts should contact Officer Copper immediately. A 1,000,000 bells reward will go to the animal whose tip-off will lead to Mitzi’s arrest.
Tobot turned around after he finished and found himself staring at a group of near-hysterical animals.
“This cannot be!”
“Mitzi will never do that!”
“There must be some mistake! I invited Mitzi over to play my NES Donkey Kong (TM) game last Friday!”
Each animal expressed his disbelief and her defense of Flawless Mitzi, who had never, ever, done anything bad.
Tobot shook his head. “Well, that’s what the sign says. Maybe Mitzi’s fooled us all.”
“Then we should call Mitzi here to figure things out, aiya!” said Chow, one of Mitzi’s closest neighbors.
“But that’s not possible,” Tobot pointed out. “Mitzi now lives in Apt. 6K. Everyone knows that.”
“No she doesn’t! I thought Mitzi has left us and moved to Domosai,” a voice called from behind the bulletin board. Tobot scanned his eyes toward the direction of the train station and saw A-ko, a resident of Apt. 6K, walking up to the bulletin board.
“A-ko!” Tobot exclaimed. “You’d never believe what Mitzi -”
“I know. The same sign showed up at Apt. 6K too,” A-ko said. She looked around the animals, now huddled in a group, looking at the two humans interacting with each other. “Where’s Mitzi?”
“She moved to your town,” Tobot said.
“No, she didn’t,” A-ko retorted. “I distinctly remember running into Mitzi when I last visited Domosai.”
“How can that be? I saw Mitzi in your town. She lives down by the river, where Savannah the zebra used to live,” Tobot said.
A-ko opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut again. “Something’s not right here,” she mused after replaying the dialogue in her head. “There’s no way Mitzi could move this frequently from town to town. It’s as if there are…”
“Two Mitzis, twinkles?” Tutu the white bear suggested.
“Exactly!” Tobot agreed. “Two Mitzis, one in Domosai and one in Apt. 6K.”
“So how do we know which one’s good and which one’s bad?” the animals demanded.
“Of course the Mitzi in Apt. 6K is the good one. I’ve spoken with her almost everyday and she’s the most perfectest angel ever!” A-ko said.
“Nonsense,” Groucho the bear snapped. “A-ko, you know what a grouch I am from our neighborly days in Apt. 6K together before I moved here to Domosai, grumble. If Mitzi can get along with a grumpy bear like me, then there’s no way our Mitzi can be the bad one, grumble.” The animals of Domosai murmured their agreement.
“But you got along with the Mitzi in Apt. 6K too,” A-ko pointed out.
At a loss for a retort, Groucho went off by himself to stomp in the bushes angrily.
There was a lull in whispers as all eyes watched Groucho stormed away. Then Tobot broke the silence, “Well, that didn’t help. Other suggestions?”
By now, even Tortimer the mayor had joined the crowd in front of the bulletin board. Hours and hours of frustrated circular arguments later, all animals and both humans were exhausted.
“We don’t have any ideas, do we, snort,” Sue E sulked. “Maybe it’s time I should try out that lock and key set that I bought from Red for 7,328 bells a few years ago. I knew that would come in handy someday, snort.”
“And I should start building fences around my house so no one can accidentally push me into the river, yip yip,” Bones the dog said.
“And we’ll just have to buy stuff from the traveling merchants until Tom Nook rebuilds his shop, buh-uh-ud,” Sven wailed.
Tobot hung his head low. The animals were right, precautions needed to be taken. So much for the legendary utopian towns inhabited by animals. They’re becoming more and more like human towns every day.
“Wait, we should take a trip to the Wishing Well and tell it to keep an eye out for Mitzi from now on, I s’pose,” Otis the bird said.
The animals knew a good idea when they heard one, so they all herded themselves to the Wishing Well. Tobot and A-ko followed.
Once they were at the well, Tobot couldn’t help looking away. It was already painful to hear Mayor Tortimer explain the situation to the Wishing Well; he didn’t want to have to see it too. Tobot let his eyes drift toward the ocean. And then -
“Everyone, look! It’s a boat! Someone must be coming back from visiting the Tropical Island!”
“We should let Kapp’n know about Mitzi too,” the animals said.
But as the boat got closer to shore, everyone could see that Kapp’n was not in the boat. Instead, there were three occupants, all identical…
“It’s Mitzi, Mitzi, and Mitzi, kittycat!” Kiki screeched, shocked.
At once, conversation exploded amongst the animals.
“There are three Mitzis!”
“Which one is ours?”
“One of them is bound, quick, get ready to free her if she’s our Mitzi!”
“Maybe we should take good care of the Mitzi from Apt. 6K too, she sounds nice enough.”
“Throw them all in jail, grumble, let Officer Copper take care of it!”
All voices died down as the two free Mitzis dragged a tied up Mitzi on shore. “Hello, everyone, mew,” the two walking Mitzis greeted.
Tobot looked from one Mitzi to the next, to the next. “Explain yourselves,” he demanded.
The Mitzi on the right pointed to the bound Mitzi in the middle. “This,” she said. “Is Mitzi the Cat from Samurai X, mew.”
“Samurai X!” Groucho exclaimed. “I used to live in Samurai X, grumble. That was a long time ago. My friends there were Annie, Michael, Hally, and Dré. In fact, the same Hally later moved to Apt. 6K, grumble.”
“And Mitzi from Samurai X is the one who’s been causing all the troubles,” the Mitzi on the left said. She and the Mitzi on the right shoved Mitzi from Samurai X forward. “She’s all yours, Officer Copper.”
The officer grabbed the bound Mitzi triumphantly. “Mystery solved, animals,” he said with a wide grin on his face.
“And I believe this calls for a celebration by the lakeside,” Mayor Tortimer said. The animals cheered and stampeded off to the lake.
Tobot and A-ko looked at each other and smiled. Why not? They both shrugged, and quickly followed after the animals.
2.
Today's news, or what caught my eyes -->
Gaza Evacuation: New York Times - Israeli Troops and Police Clear all but 5 Gaza Settlements
False Police Shooting in London: BBC - Menezes' family calls for justice
Men's Tennis: ESPN - Wildcard Ginepri defeats Safin; Federer advances (If I may say so, Ginepri played very well indeed.)
3.
Special message to nenyaentwhistle: Good luck on your MCATs tomorrow!
4.
I've updated my userinfo page with a map project. If you're a friend, please help me with my cartography project!
.