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[b][u]MY PLACE s02:e04 - Happy Home Academers[/u][/b]

I’m not as scared of Tom Nook as I used to be.
Sure, I still get the impression that he thinks I’m an idiot and that he’s constantly judging every decision I make and every word that comes out of my mouth, but I know that deep down inside that fuzzy exterior of his, he’s just a big ol’ softy.

That said, his surprisingly warm greeting when I stepped into Nook’s Homes this morning still managed to take me by surprise.

“Welcome! Welcome!” he said as he heard me enter “Yes! Mayor, you have a most excellent sense of timing. Allow me to introduce you to someone…”

“Oh, it’s okay Tommy boy, I’ve already met Digby. Hey Digby.”

Digby, who was struggling to adjust a cardboard model of a roof renovation at the back of the store, turned with a pained smile, unable to wave with his hands full.

“Not him” Tom grunted. He was like Isabelle in the sense that he hated being thrown off his groove. Unlike Isabelle however, he’d just get grumpy whereas she would try (and usually fail) to improvise. “This is Lyle. The Happy Home Academy’s special advisor.”

He gestured towards the little desk on his right, where what I believe was an otter stood with thick rimmed glasses, dressed up in the same red blazer-yellow tie combo as Digby. Colleagues, no doubt.

“He’s going to start coming out here on a daily basis to offer advice on the building of wonderful homes.”

“Hey. You. Nice to meet ya.” Lyle said without provocation.

“Wazzup Lyle?” I asked. I say wazzup now.

“Me?” Lyle replied “Like the raccoon said… I’m Lyle. The Happy Home Academy? I’m the Place-area manager. Bang! Right?”

The ‘bang’ made me jump.

“You’re the mayor? Of this burg?” he continued “Lucky me. You got a house in Place? Congrats. You’re good people!”

“’bout time somebody acknowledged it!” I said. Lyle talked fast and snappy, as if to disorientate you so that somewhere within his lengthy diatribe he could slip in an innocent little scam without you ever even noticing.

“Here’s the deal. The skinny” he went on “The Happy Home Academy? We research day and night! We’re the experts. Here’s the truth. Happy homes make happy people! This here? Nook’s Homes created this space. Just for Lyle. Bang.”

That ‘bang’ didn’t scare me.

“Why? Me. You. Opportunity. Business basics, right here, right now. Oh, members only. You want to talk, mayor? You know where to find me. Come find me. Bang!”

That ‘bang’ was loud enough to startle Digby, who dropped one of the displays he was trying to prop up. Poor guy.

It took a moment for Tom to realise that his business associate had finished talking. I guess even he has trouble keeping up with Lyle, despite the history I presumed to had with each other.

“…well, you heard what he said, hm?” he asked “If you have any questions about putting rooms together, you should ask Lyle for advice, yes, yes!”

And so I did. Lyle definitely knew what he was talking about when it came to decorating houses. I won’t ask how he was able to grade the interior of my house without me knowing (apparently “his people” are good at what they do) but I wasn’t surprised to find that he had given me a low score. I only had two rooms, which was one more than what everybody else in town had to work with, but I wasn’t keeping them in very good condition. I hate to admit it really, but I was becoming kind of a hoarder.

Lyle told me to focus on obtaining the essentials; beds, chairs, tables, toilets… all that kind of stuff. He also introduced me to the concept of “feng shui”, which is basically where you put certain colours in particular places around the room for the sake of good luck. Probably a Chinese thing or something. Yellow to the west and Red to the east, I believe it was.

I might give it a go. I could definitely do with some good luck right about now…

~Author’s Notes~
My mission for this season is to give Digby more screen time.
Also, I’m gonna make sure that Tom is noticeably more in-character this time around. I have my reasons for making him so cold in s1, but from now on he’s going to be a lot more familiar.

In an attempt to redeem himself, the mayor of Place goes the extra mile in improving the village he's been tasked to take care of. However, when a seemingly innocent new neighbour arrives in town, weird things start happening right under the mayor's nose and it's up to Alice to get to the bottom of it before Place falls into the wrong hands...

Created by CookieBoy011.

[u]Previous Season:[/u] "Season One":https://e621.net/pools/48551 [u]Later Seasons:[/u] "Season Three":https://e621.net/pools/52413