Chad White, Sexiest Mayor 2013, Hates When Someone Moves From His Town
When I purchased Animal Crossing New Leaf back in late June, I was going through some interpersonal stuff. My birthday just occurred which made me feel as though I haven’t accomplished much. I realized I was getting older and my window of opportunity for many things was closing fast. I felt as though I had to get everything done so that I could make something of myself. This idea coupled with the fact that I had recently lost something that was very important to me made me have an insatiable need to get moving, to get something done.
In a very large sense, this website is what spawned from the early mid-life crisis. Clearly I was not in the right state of mind to make such a big decision. I made other important decisions too including buying this game on sale (thanks Amazon and Cheap Ass Gamer).
I didn’t expect to get this game and become so attached to the anthropomorphic animals that populated my small town. I didn’t expect to find some type of weird solace within this strange world. And, most importantly, I didn’t expect to become mayor*.
For weeks, I’ve been playing the game every day for about 20 minutes at a time. Sometimes more if I want to go fishing or catch some rare bugs. The game is a sim game that goes by in real time. This means that everyday can bring new possibilities; every season brings new bugs; every holiday brings new gifts.
Etcetera. Etcetera.
The people in my town of Pallet, aptly named after the town that forever young Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum came from, love me so much. I’m their mayor and I respect them. Most of them anyway**. Talking to your citizens is a task that you must do every day. They usually have some funny things to say or a task that you can complete. Some may even have a request that can help the town.
Look at her. She's so rad.
At certain points in the game, some people- err animals- tell you that they plan on moving away. They plan on moving next week, two weeks from now or at the end of the month. You have a choice to either persuade them to stay or tell them to leave***. I like being told in advance so that I can convince the animals I like to stay. Sadly though, one of my favorite townspeople, Felicity, moved away without warning.
This caught me by surprise. Even more so than those test results that I got last week.
Maybe I missed it in one of our conversations. Perhaps I didn’t read on the towns’ news board. I wish I paid more attention.
I found out in an odd way that she planned on moving away. The day that she was moving, Felicity sent me a letter while she was still in town. I ran as fast as I could to her house (that’s something you never should do in Animal Crossing because you kill grass and flowers and scare off bugs and fish. Oops.) I walked into her house to find that everything was already packed. She was so happy that I could see her go.
Felicity is a cat that was always peppy whenever we spoke. She had creamy white fur and a small, triangular smile that made even the rainiest of days bright. Her birthday is on March 30.
I didn’t even get to spend enough time with her to celebrate her birthday.
Now I hate to play favorites but Felicity is definitely in my top three villagers, right under Rolf and Jay respectively. (She’s way above this stupid piece of crap duck that moved in and won’t leave named Quillson. I hate his face; that stupid, dumb duck. And another duck named Derwin but to a lesser extent****).
Still chipper.
We talked about so much including how great the town looked because of me. Felicity often told me how cool I am. She had this attitude that we were best friends and often jokingly referred to herself as my idol. At one point, she asked me to suggest another nickname for her to call me. I told her to call me “hot stuff” which she loved. She often yelled it which made the text read “HOT STUFF.” Felicity even entrusted me with hiding her time capsule. What a gal. It sucks that she wasn’t able to open it though.
About a week after she left, she sent a letter to me. She told me to dig up the time capsule and keep whatever she put inside. How sweet. Inside was something called a low screen. When I displayed it in my house, it looked like half of a screen***** which I’m sure was the point of it. In a few days, some other animals moved to Pallet replace Felicity.
The letter Felicity sent to me. Man, I'm sad.
A letter she sent to herself from the future. Sigh.
They included the likes of some jerk off named Lionel and a rabbit named Bunnie. Lionel wanted to move away about a week after he came to the town. I told him to stay. Maybe I’m warming up to him. And Bunnie is cool in her own way. She’s peppy and everything but she talks like a valley girl using terms like “ohmigosh” and “totally.” I can see her winning a place in my villager’s heart. Not mine but my villager’s.
No one can take Felicity’s place though. She was the coolest person in town. I like to imagine that she’s somewhere out there following her dreams of becoming famous or whatever they were. Every day, I hope that I get a letter from her saying that she’s moving back.
Until then, I'll just have to wait.
*In the beginning of the game, you answer a bunch of questions on a train such as the name of the town you’re going to, your own name, and what the town looks like. Once you get off of the train, you’re greeted by some of the townsfolk who mistake you for the mayor. There was a big mix-up but you’re not saying anything and no one seems to notice. Then, THREE REAL WORLD weeks later, you get a letter from the real mayor who doesn’t plan on coming back. What kind of luck is that?
**There’s a small duck in my town named Quillson and I hate his fucking guts. He’s annoying and calls himself my brother/best friend. Who the hell does he think he is?
*** Quillson told me once that he was leaving and I told him to go. Turns out he was just messing around. He thought I was joking too. I wasn’t. Fucking Quillson.
****If a duck moves into your town, delete the save and start over. They are the worst ever. I’ve heard the same for penguins.
*****Apparently, it’s from Japanese culture. I still don’t know what it does. Sold it for 370 bells. Also, fuck Quillson.