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mobsuma · 9 months

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"You know," Xisuma said, peering cautiously over Cub's shoulder at the museum's latest addition, "When you said you wanted to show me a new exhibit, I wasn't expecting…" He trailed off.

Evil Xisuma glowered at him from inside their enclosure.

"…This."

To say Evil X looked a little miffed about the situation would be an understatement. At least Cub had done a nice job decorating, Xisuma thought, between the blackstone and crimson wood, Evil X looked right at home - if they weren't sitting grumpily in their 2-by-1 lava pool, surrounded by the mangled remains of whatever Cub had put in there for enrichment.

"Surprise!" Cub grinned, doing jazz hands at the enclosure, "I know what you might be thinking-"

Xisuma doubted that somehow.

"- 'Cub, Evil Xisuma hasn't done anything this season! They aren't a historic artefact! They shouldn't be in a museum!' But!" Cub wagged a finger triumphantly, "They are important to the history of Hermitcraft as a whole. So really, if you think about it, they definitely belong in a museum."

"… Okay?"

"Glad we're on the same page."

Xisuma wasn't sure if anyone was ever on the same page as Cub. Except maybe Scar.

"Now! As you can see, I've been decorating their enclosure, trying to add some interactive elements for guests and such." Cub pointed towards a line of redstone lamps at the top of Evil Xisuma's enclosure, "These show you how much electricity they're generating when they do their lightning hands thing. I'll be honest with you, it's broken a few times already so it's still a work in progress-"

"… Is that what all the lightning rods are for?" Xisuma frowned, eyeing the entirely lightning rod-ed ceiling.

"It is indeed!" Cub said, ignoring the twinge of concern in Xisuma's voice, "Well, a little. Mostly it's a safety thing, it wouldn't be good to have guests being electrocuted, now would it?"

"I suppose not… And it definitely works?"

"Oh yeah, it's been very thoroughly tested. Hey, Evil Xisuma," Cub walked up to the glass and tapped on it a few times, much to Xisuma's silent horror, "Wanna show X how the lightning rods work?"

In response, Evil Xisuma stuck their middle finger up at him and yelled something muffled to almost inaudibility that sounded a little like: "When I get out of here, I'm going to rip your head off and use it as a coffee mug, you stupid e-boy twink."

The pair on the other side of the glass blinked.

"… That's a no then." Cub turned back to Xisuma, "They do this a lot."

"They certainly do," Xisuma nodded faintly.

"You can probably tell the glass is uh... Mostly noise-cancelling, had to install that because Helsknight is in the next enclosure over and he's still hibernating. You know how Wels gets when you wake him up early, don't wanna find out how that guy is."

"… Of course," Xisuma sighed, pinching the nose bridge of his helmet, "Do I want to know how you got hold of those two?"

Cub laughed in the slightly unhinged way that gave Xisuma visions of Cub spending several weeks toying with the evil hermits as he hunted them for sport, "Nah man, it's not an interesting story."

Somehow, Xisuma doubted that.

"Anyway," Cub said, changing the topic before Xisuma could ask if he knew there was still someone's blood on his left sleeve, "What I really called you for is that I need an Evil Xisuma expert, and you're the man to ask about all things Evil Xisuma."

"Except for Evil Xisuma."

"Except for Evil Xisuma, yes." Cub nodded sagely, "So. Obviously I wanna make sure everything is nice for our new residents, give them plenty of enrichment and all that, but it hasn't been working out so far."

"I can see that."

"Soo… Any suggestions? What kind of thing does Evil X like? Food? Blocks? I dunno, fake derpcoin or something?"

Xisuma hummed, tilting his head in thought as he gazed at Evil Xisuma, who had clambered out of the lava pool to press their hands against the glass and give Xisuma the saddest, most pathetic puppy dog eyes their LED screen could muster (which, admittedly, were very sad and pathetic) in a silent plea to not leave them here with that madman, they'll be good for realsies this time they promise-

"Well," Xisuma said, turning to Cub, "They like to knit, so maybe they'd like some wool… Oh! And if you can find any old Wormman merch, they'll love that too."

Evil Xisuma's head hit the glass with a despairing thunk.

#hermitcraft #xisuma #cubfan135 #evil xisuma #my writing #dont ask me what possessed me to write this the answer is i have no idea #anyway the museum continues to contain both normal things and creatures

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obaewankenope · 5 years

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Modern day Mummy AU with Eliot Spencer as Rick and Evie’s grandson. The team are in Egypt for an unrelated op, when a Medjai takes one look at Eliot and just goes, “Oh, shit. An O’Connell in Egypt is a recipe for disaster.”

I love this prompt so much, you have no idea!

"I hate sand, guys," Hardison said for the fourth damned time in as many minutes. Eliot had been counting. "It's hell on my equipment."

"We know," Eliot drawled, rolling his eyes even as he continued unpacking Hardison's precious equipment.

"I like sand."

Eliot and Hardison both looked at Parker. She frowned. "What?"

Eliot shook his head. "Nothin." Twenty-pounds of crazy.

"Listen up guys!" Nate's voice echoed in the tent they were setting up shop in. In the middle of the desert. "We haven't got much time to get this off the ground!"

They weren't really in the middle of the desert, but anything more than a klik from civilisation might as well have been the middle of nowhere for Hardison. The guy had already complained about how much work he was going to have to do to rearrange satellites for a good connection out here.

Three. Times.

"Nate! We're in Egypt!" Sophie — voice of reason that she was — exclaimed, following behind Nate as their mastermind wandered into the tent already planning the rest of the con. "Gibson isn't going to disappear tonight! We have time. Breathe. Live a little."

Ford wasn't impressed with her plea. Eliot sighed.

"We have less than twenty-four hours before Gibson is selling that diamond he killed innocent people for." Nate bit out, staring at Sophie with that look he got whenever he was trying to emphasise the whole 'do-gooder' thing they had going on. "If we're not ready than Shanier's widow gets nothing and the man who killed her husband walks away with ten-million-dollars."

Eliot placed the case containing some of Hardison's more sensitive equipment down with a silent sigh. Ford was right, obviously, but still.

The guy needed to lighten up a little.

"Why are we camped outside of the city anyway?" Parker asked, missing the tension in the tent entirely and causing everyone to instinctively relax in her unique way of failing to read the room.

It was pleasantly surprising every time she derailed the tension with an honest question like that.

"Because someone—" Nate shot a look at Sophie "—is known in every high end hotel in Cairo and renting rooms in one of the less high end ones isn't possible thanks to him."

Okay, so Eliot might have a bit of history with Cairo.

And the rest of Egypt too.

"Yeah man, why are you known by so many rug sellers in this place?" Hardison asked, looking up from his precious laptop he'd been all but clinging to the entire time. "Like, how many of them have you beaten up for them to know your face and name no matter what?"

Eliot shrugged. "Not that many," he answered vaguely, busying himself with unpacking the equipment from Hardison's cases of tech.

"Maybe they hold a grudge here for like, a really long time?" Parker jumped up on one of the fold-out tables they had set up, her legs swinging over the side in such a childish gesture that Eliot paused to watch her. "Cairo museum still remembers me."

"That's because you stole a priceless artefact without tripping their alarms four times." Hardison pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Parker beamed.

"Listen, it's late, it's going to be dark soon. And I don't know about any of you, but I'm still feeling tired from our flight from Athens." Sophie sidled up to stand beside Nate, closer than normal. It got the guy to look at her and focus on her so Eliot figured, whatever, let her try and butter him up with her charms.

Ford was more than a match for Sophie Devereaux.

"Okay fine." Nate finally sighed in defeat. "We get some rest tonight, but tomorrow we hit the ground running," he said, looking around the tent at them all and everyone nodded in agreement. "Right."

Of course, to get some rest meant setting everything up before they crawled into their sleeping bags. A job that was, unsurprisingly, Eliot's. He was quicker at it than the rest of them anyway. For several reasons.

None of which he'd ever tell his team.

Ever.

* * *

"Eliot! My friend!"

Eliot sighed. He really needed to stop doing that; saying he'd never do something because he always, always ended up doing it. It was like he was asking the universe to contradict him every time.

"Friends of yours?" Ford gave Eliot his best I'm-not-impressed-with-this look.

Eliot smiled. Sort of. It was more of a grimace. An awkward one.

"Of a sort," he muttered, glancing at the Leverage team and then at the group of six black-robed figures sat on horses that had appeared at their tent in the dawn light.

"Long time no see, Penre." Eliot gave the group of riders an awkward wave, shaking his head a little to move his hair out of his face.

Penre Bay gave Eliot a knowing grin.

"Last I heard of an O'Connell in Egypt, my grandfather asked why Allah hadn't let him die before another disaster plagued us!" Penre laughed at the murderous look Eliot threw him. "Come friend! Have you not missed me?"

"O'Connell?" Hardison cut in, before Eliot could tell Penre how much he hadn't missed him. "I thought your real name was Spencer?"

Eliot looked at the hacker. "Spencer is my mothers maiden name." He shrugged. "Less problems that way."

"Less prob— dude! You're an O'Connell!" Hardison did a double-take, waving a hand at Eliot. "You're treasure hunter royalty my man!"

Penre laughed.

Damn but Hardison didn't even know the half of it. Royalty. Literally.

Even through reincarnation it counted.

"I suppose they did not know of your family, my friend?" Penre asked innocently and Eliot glared at the Medjai.

"Ya think."

"Ah, my apologies," he said, not looking at all apologetic. If anything, Penre's smile grew. "But I believe your people may need our assistance."

Eliot groaned. "Now what?"

Penre's smile dropped and he became serious. "The creature," he said gravely, "the man you are after is attempting to wake it."

"Fuck."

Penre nodded. "My sentiments also, my friend."

Eliot shook his head. "I'm gonna need some guns."

"Guns? You?" Ford looked at Eliot, frowning in confusion and annoyance at everything. The mastermind always did hate not being in control. "You hate guns and what— what is this about some— some creature? Eliot explain."

"Aw man," Eliot shook his head again, "you're not gonna believe a word of what I say until you see it for yourselves."

And maybe not even then, he thought.

Every time he came to Egypt, every damned time, something always happened. His grandfather and grandmother had definitely left a long shadow of chaos in this country. It was like the sands remembered Carnahan and O'Connell blood and pitched a damned fit any time one of them dared step foot in Egypt.

Eliot sighed again. Maybe it did.

"I really wish we hadn't taken this job," he muttered to himself as the Medjai climbed out of their saddles and joined the Leverage team in the tent to talk strategy.

Ford definitely wasn't pleased about the added variables — heck, neither was Eliot! — but the ex-insurance investigator took it with more grace than he would have a year ago. Thankfully.

Still, that didn't mean their case would end well. Idiots were a never-ending supply and all it took was one fool with just enough knowledge to bring hell on earth; again.

Just once Eliot would like to visit Egypt without his family history causing problems.

Keep dreaming Eliot, he thought, keep on dreaming.

#Leverage #The Mummy #Leverage AU #The Mummy Returns #The Mummy AU #Eliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Devereaux #Parker #Alec Hardison #Ardeth Bay's grandson is a lil shit #Eliot is Rick and Evy's grandson #he laments this fact #Egypt HATES them lmao #kat writes #prompt fic #ursaerythraeus #Kat answers #People talk to me!!!

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themurphyzone · 7 years

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Mayor Murphy Ch 8

It would be really amusing to me if Animal Crossing had their own version of those shows on HGTV with the home improvement and vacation home stuff.

Ch 8- Home Sweet Home

Milo rubbed his eyes, feeling the hardwood against his bare feet. The small bed was surprisingly comfortable, though he definitely preferred the height his loft bed at home gave him.

Wait, hardwood?

“Hello, mayor!” a voice chimed.

Milo yelped and fell back on his bed in surprise, banging his head against the wall with a hard thud. “Morning Isabelle. Ow,” he groaned, feeling a dull throb.

“Oh my gosh! Mayor, are you all right?” Isabelle yelped, grabbing his head and checking for bruises. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Digby is always telling me I need to stop waiting by animal’s beds for them to wake up because it’s creepy and I wasn’t being creepy, was I? Don’t call Copper on me! Please don’t!”

“I don’t know who that is, but I promise I won’t tell him,” Milo said. “What are you doing here anyway?”

Isabelle tentatively held out several wrapped presents. “I wanted to be the first to see your new home. And I brought you housewarming gifts!”

Milo opened the first present, unwrapping a yellow wallpaper with pawprints covering every inch. “This is a really pretty wallpaper,” Milo said.

“You really like it?” Isabelle blushed, her tail wagging. “I made it just for you!”

Milo glanced at the small room, eyes flicking between the bright yellow wallpaper he held and the unsightly dull gray that currently covered the walls of the house. “Would you mind if I put this up now?” he asked. “The walls right now look kind of, um....”

Isabelle squealed, then clapped a paw over her mouth in horror. “Sorry. I’m just really happy you like it so much. And yes, I agree. Your current wallpaper is much too depressing. Anyway, to change the wallpaper, just tap the wall with the one you’re holding.”

Milo obeyed, and Isabelle’s wallpaper unfurled and spread through the house while the gray curled and folded in, finally dropping in a heap into Milo’s lap. “I wish redecorating was this easy at home,” he laughed. “One time we were painting the guest room and I wasn’t watching where I was going and I stepped in an entire can of orange paint. Then my dad got his entire arm stuck in a roll of blue tape.”

The second present was a special set of coffee from Brewster. “We don’t have the Roost yet in this town, but Digby knows Blathers who’s buddies with Brewster,” Isabelle explained. “Speaking of the Roost, I should put that on the list of public works projects. And onto the topic of public works project, we can now get somewhat started on your duties as mayor. However, before you can start improving the town, first of all you’ll need a 100% approval rating.”

Milo nodded. “Okay, I can do that. I think....”

“I know it seems like a lot, but the residents already like you. If you go around helping them today, you can get your rating up to 100% in no time! The good news is, you’re already at 35%, which is pretty good considering this is only your third day,” Isabelle cheerfully said. “Now, why don’t you unwrap that last present?”

Milo held up a lantern, which he set up in a far corner. “Thanks for everything, Isabelle,” he said as they exited the house. He took the coffee set with him so he could share it with the others.

“No problem, mayor,” Isabelle said. “I’m going to get back to Town Hall. You know. Paperwork as usual. Toodles!”

There was a creaking noise underfoot, and Milo stepped off a slab of wood. Now he noticed the giant pile of scrap materials that a group of raccoons were clearing away.

“Excuse me,” Milo said to a heavyset raccoon. “What’s going on?”

The raccoon chewed the twig in his mouth before responding. “That darn house kept collapsing on us when we tried to remodel it! Told my cousin not to put newbies in charge of the roof, but would he listen to me? No, course not! Took until five this morning before the house actually looked like a house!”

Milo examined the exterior of his new house, made of solid white brick. Tom Nook had delivered on the red roof, a chimney standing proudly in the back. There was a beep coming from the mailbox, and Milo pulled out two letters. The first was from Marshal, written on blue and white stationary.

Yo, Milo!

Thanks for a great time yesterday! Reminds me of firefly hunting with my siblings when I was little. My mom freaked when I swallowed one, but it made my mouth all tingly and glowy so I just kept stuffing my cheeks with them. Let’s continue being friends!

Cool as a cucumber, Marshal

There was a shirt attached to the letter. “A gelato tee?�� Milo wondered. “Well, he’s got good taste!” He decided to put it on for the day, stuffing his normal sweatervest and shirt into his backpack. He reminded himself to thank Marshal later.

He read the second letter on the way to the Plaza. There wasn’t a name attached, but whoever wrote it thought he’d do a good job as mayor and congratulated him.

Sara was already at the Plaza, several pastries lying on a plate next to her. Milo set the coffee down, sitting on the cobblestone and biting into a large peach. “Where’d the coffee come from?” Sara asked.

“Isabelle. She was in my house when I woke up,” Milo explained. “I’m not really sure how they built a house around me. I didn’t even wake up once.”

“I wonder how many times it collapsed,” she said casually, taking a bite of her toast.

“There was a large pile of debris outside my house that the construction crew was hauling away,” Milo said. “So probably a few. Where are Zack and Melissa?”

Sara pointed to Main Street. “Melissa’s visiting Lottie in Central. I think Zack is donating a few things things to the Museum right now. I don’t have anything planned for today though, so I can help you do whatever you need to do.”

Milo grinned. “That’s perfect! Isabelle says I need to raise my approval rating so I can actually do stuff as mayor. I’m thinking I should go around and help the villagers today.”

“Well, I definitely approve of my little brother,” Sara gave a thumbs up. “Melissa and Zack too. You seem like great pals with Marshal already, but I don’t think you know the other animals too well.”

“Then it’s time to fix that!” Milo exclaimed.

“Gronk! Get off me! You two are scraping away my scales!” Del snarled. Zack and the museum curator, Blathers, were currently using Del as a gator jungle gym so they could get away from the horrible monstrosities that laid before them.

That is, if one considered ladybugs and sweetfish horrible monstrosities.

“I think it’s staring at me!” Zack shrieked.

“Hoo-hoo! Ladybugs can emit powerful chemicals if threatened,” Blathers fearfully clung to Del’s jaw, trembling. “Are we threatening right now? I’ll have that smell on my wings for weeks!”

Del stumbled around for a few seconds before tripping over his tail, landing on his back painfully. Zack extracted himself from Del’s stomach, carefully prying Blathers’ wings from Del’s jaw.

“Both of you put those creatures into the proper exhibit. If you’ll excuse me, I have a flower garden to attend to.” With that, Del stood up, shaking his head and muttering curses. The door slammed behind him, causing a little plaster to rain down from the ceiling.

“Hoo!” Blathers hooted. “He’s something all right. And you room with that guy?”

Zack shrugged. “He was willing to show me his electric guitar collection. Moving on, we should really get these to the exhibits. I don’t mind taking the ladybug if you’ll handle the sweetfish. I can’t wait to get that dead-eyed stare off me.”

Zack approached the ladybug’s container carefully, picking it up at arm’s length so he didn’t get too close to the sweetfish. The ladybug inside rested on a leaf placidly, not moving when the container was slightly jostled. Blathers grabbed the small tank that held the sweetfish and left for the fish and sea creature exhibit.

The only sound from the bug exhibit was the tapping of Zack’s shoes. There were all sorts of plants, from cedars, fruit trees, and flowers, but he didn’t hear anything that sounded remotely like an insect. Zack normally disliked too much noise, but now there was too little of it. It creeped him out.

In the next room over, Zack found a post that marked the ladybug’s habitat, but there was no other text that gave more information about the insect. “Bye, bye, little ladybug,” Zack said as it flew out and landed on a white rose.

“Doesn’t the museum seem a little empty?” Zack asked Blathers once he returned, his feathers slightly wet.

“Yes, well, seeing as Fortuna is a new town, it can’t be helped,” Blathers sighed. “It’s my dream to see every exhibit filled up, though that could take a long time, with the scarcity of some of these creatures. Anyhoo, you did a great job handling that ladybug. If it wouldn’t be so much trouble, perhaps you could stop by every now and then to help with the bugs? I’m afraid of creepy-crawlies, you see....”

Zack nodded. “I’ll be sure to tell everyone that they should try to donate their catches. Also, I don’t mind the bugs if you’ll take care of the fish. At least bugs don’t have gaping mouths and gills.”

“So what’s on the to-do list?” Milo asked.

Sara glanced at the checklist. “Deliver a package to Diana that was given to Cesar by in a post office mix-up, find furniture for Coco, and catch a zebra turkeyfish for Del.”

“A zebra turkeyfish? Those exist? What kind of animal is that anyway?” Milo said.

“The lovechild of a striped equine, Thanksgiving dinner, and a scaly marine creature,” Sara suggested, wiggling her fingers. “Legends say it comes after those who dare to laugh at its name.”

Milo laughed, his voice an octave lower. “You’re mocking the ancestral name of the zebra turkeyfish, Sara Murphy. You will be eliminated by the the kraken.”

Sara ruffled his hair. “I don’t think being a demonic zebra turkeyfish will do wonders for your approval rating.”

After messing around, they found Diana relaxing on a hammock by her house. A pair of sunglasses was over her eyes, her polished hooves holding up a screen. She hummed contentedly, her legs crossed in relaxation.

“Hey, Diana!” Milo greeted, tripping over a stool next to the hammock. He threw out an arm to catch himself, his hand accidentally catching on the hook that attached the hammock to the tree trunk.

Diana let out a not so ladylike scream as the hammock flipped over and sent her crashing to the grass below. The screen landed on her head, covering her eyes. Milo quickly helped her up. “Sorry, didn’t mean for that to happen. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am quite fine,” Diana said coolly, her gaze flicking over to Sara. “Both of you shall mention this incident to nobody. I have an image to maintain. And in return I shall gladly accept your apology.”

“We have a package for you,” Sara said. Milo handed Diana a letter, attached to a small box. “It was delivered to Cesar by mistake. I had to put it in my pouch for safekeeping because he kept going on about how ‘anything Diana orders will ruin my mustache’. Then he attempted to Cesar Crash it and managed to break the couch.”

“That fool,” Diana sighed. “I must have a word with him later. I insist that I repay with you with this alpine dresser. Please accept it.”

She handed him a leaf, then started rolling up the hammock.

“Now we help Coco find some furniture,” Sara said. “Um, any ideas of what that rabbit is into?”

“We heard about your roomie program, and we’re like, so totally interested!” a white cat exclaimed as Melissa walked through the door of Nook’s Homes. “But the other towns are destroying our vibe, like, I don’t go anywhere without Kiki, mweee!” She clung to her companion, a black cat who shuffled nervously.

Kiki opened her mouth to say something, but Lottie cut her off. “Then I think I know the town just for you! The mayor is fresh off the train, he needs all the help he can get to develop Fortuna! And oh, you’re timing is perfect, Melissa!” Before Melissa could say anything, Lottie wrapped an arm around her shoulders with a wide grin. “This is Melissa! She’s a friend of the current mayor of Fortuna! Melissa, I’d like you to meet Merry and Kiki!”

Melissa awkwardly waved. “Hi.” Everyone covered their ears at Merry’s loud squeal.

“O.M.G. You know the mayor of your town?” Merry suddenly started to inspect her closely. “I can totally believe that. Like, look at the stitching of her jacket. This is Gracie style quality. What do you think, Kiki?”

Kiki shifted from paw to paw, nervously wringing her paws. “Does your town have tuna in it?” she asked.

“I don’t know about tuna, but there’s plenty of other fish in the sea,” Melissa replied. “Though my friend Zack is afraid of them.”

“Why? Fish are adorable!” Kiki’s eyes widened.

Melissa could think of a few species of fish that she would never consider adorable, but didn’t say that aloud. “He has a lot of phobias.”

“Like, if you’re okay with Fortuna then I’m okay with it too!” Merry exclaimed. “And the best part is, we know Melissa who knows the mayor and that makes us celebrities by association!”

“Well then, in that case, let’s get to work on your house!” Lottie struck a pose as Merry cheered and hugged Kiki. “You wanna help us out here, Melissa?”

“All those interior design shows my dad likes to watch have prepared me for this moment,” Melissa said.

The bonfires cast an eerie glow on the already creepy moving statues. Milo poked one out of curiosity, then jumped back as it emitted a long, mournful howl.

“The Howloids are my favorites,” Coco said. “I want to be surrounded by Gyroids. They make the most beautiful sounds. Besides, I can’t sleep without them.”

Sara stayed by the door so she couldn’t see those gaping black eyes watching her every move. “Yeah, I bet these things have some pretty good lullabies.”

“Anyway, do you think you two could go find another for me?” Coco asked. “I’d go with you, but my room needs a little rearranging.”

“Sure!” Milo exclaimed, taking care to not get too close to the flames that were a little too large for his liking. “As my dad always says, when a rabbit asks you to do a favor for them, don’t refuse or they’ll move into your basement!”

“You can usually find them buried in the ground,” Coco supplied as they exited the house. “Happy digging, doyoing!”

Sara pulled a shovel out of her pouch. “Good thing I bought this. Timmy said to look for star-shaped patterns on the ground to dig up.”

“Like this one?” Milo pointed to one in the shade of a tree, then stepped on it out of curiosity. The ground immediately collapsed, leaving Milo stuck up to his waist in a hole.

Sara promptly dropped her shovel and pulled Milo out. “Let’s avoid stepping on them in the future,” she suggested.

“Mweee, Fortuna is so amazing!” Merry exclaimed. “And I love that we’re near a bridge! This is going to be inspirational for my sketching, I can tell!”

The two cats had decided they wanted to be near a river, so Melissa and Lottie led them back to Fortuna. Once they’d scouted out a location, Lottie handed Melissa a small electronic device. “That’s a portable catalog,” Lottie explained. “It makes things a lot easier so we don’t have to deal with the hassle of moving in by hand. Maybe you could give it a go?”

“Um, sure?” Melissa slid a stylus out of a side hole and tapped it, and a screen with several notes that Lottie had taken earlier popped up. “So an artsy room to sketch for Merry, and an aquarium for Kiki?”

“I couldn’t leave Finn behind,” Kiki mumbled. “He’d be lonely without me.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Finn?”

“Her goldfish!” Merry exclaimed. “He’s not a good subject. At all. Keeps trying to hide every time I try to draw him. Humph!”

“Residents have a few keepsakes when they move,” Lottie explained. “You’ll have to include them while designing a room. Now, we’ll begin with the exterior. Let the magic happen!”

“I know you’ll pick something so us, Melissa!” Merry cheered. Kiki simply gave a thumbs up.

“It’s your house. You sure you don’t want to choose?” Melissa asked.

They shook their heads, so Melissa decided to go with the simple medium house. She tapped the option with the stylus, and a house immediately sprung into existence. She blinked in surprise. “Okay, that’s cool. So if you guys can build a house like this, which wouldn’t even take an hour, what was with the construction crew at Milo’s this morning?”

“Oh, we always manually build the mayor’s home,” Lottie waved a paw dismissively. “Other than the Plaza, the mayor’s home should always be representative of the town! The process we’re going through right now makes it easier on the animals. This way, they’ll be ship-shape for town life straight away!”

Melissa picked out the gray brick roof and white chalet exterior. Some of the options were...interesting, for lack of a better word. Some were too bright on the eyes, others looked as though they wouldn’t hold up the house at all.

And just who in their right mind wanted their house to be made out of cardboard?

Two mailboxes, both decorated with cat paw prints, were placed on both sides of the door. “You’re so good at this design thing!” Merry exclaimed.

“I guess you wouldn’t believe me if I said this was my first time,” Melissa said.

“Thanks for the Poltergoid!” Coco exclaimed, lovingly placing her new Gyroid, which wailed like a ghost at regular intervals, next to the rest of her collection. “Here’s a gift! I hope you’ll associate this with me from now on!”

Milo stored the leaf in his backpack. “No problem, Coco! Just let me know if you need any more favors!” Sara only waved.

Coco bowed politely as they exited her house. “Before we get started on the last favor, I’d like to get these fossils to the museum,” Sara said. “I am literally carrying the rib cage of a dinosaur right now. All I need is an explorer’s hat so I can act like Fern in the Mesozoic Panic arc. By the way, what did Coco give you?”

“A skeleton,” Milo said. “I’m not sure where she managed to find one of those.”

“Dug it up like we did with the fossils?” Sara suggested. “We need to stop speculating. Crossing Valley is more confusing than attempting to pace out the entire Dr. Zone timeline across all continuities.”

“It’s the best thing you can do!” a voice sung. Milo opened the door to the museum a little, peeking in through the crack. Sara leaned over his backpack, giggling quietly. Inside, Zack and Blathers had apparently taken a break from cleaning the lobby and were now jamming out to The Bettys. Zack in particular was really into the song, using a broom handle as a microphone and dipping it as his hips swished from side to side.

Milo pushed the door open all the way. “Hi, Zack! I like your song cover!”

“Get ready for the Bettys, cause the Bettys are ready for-MILO!”

Zack looked like a deer in the headlights, going wide-eyed when he spotted Milo clapping, then slammed a fist on the stop button of the radio. He dropped the broom and kicked it out of sight, chuckling nervously.

Blathers tried to regain his professional demeanor, straightening his bow tie with a wing. “Welcome to the Fortuna Museum!” he said awkwardly.

“You didn’t see anything!” Zack exclaimed. “I wasn’t singing to an all female pop rock band!” An album for the Bettys fell out of his pocket. “I have no idea who the Bettys are!”

“Actually we came by because we found two fossils,” Sara said. “But the show was pretty great too.”

Blathers’ eyes lit up. “Hoo! Give them to me so that I can identify them please!” Sara obliged and pulled a large ribcage and what appeared to be an ancient sea creature out of her pouch. “Hoo, and double hoo, we certainly don’t have an ammonite in our collection yet! These ancient creatures lived in the Devonian period, and are thought to be one of the oldest ancestors of mollusks today! Quite interesting! And they survived up until the extinction of the dinosaurs. Hardy, yes. Very hardy. Oh, there I go running my beak.”

“Don’t ask about the rib cage,” Milo said. Zack closed his mouth.

“And this T-rex torso is marvelous to behold! King of beasts, indeed! Though it pales in comparison to quite a few sea creatures, a fact sadly forgotten nowadays. But, 40 feet is still an impressive length!” Blathers stored both fossils in his wings. “I’ll be sure to get these up faster than Gracie can spot an imperfection! Thank you for your generous contribution!”

“So, we’re forgetting about a few minutes ago, right?” Zack asked.

Melissa felt her phone vibrate with a message, so she paused in trying to figure out the best placement for a pufferfish TV set to check it. “Sara sent me a video message,” she explained as the other girls crowded around her to see the video.

She hit play and the screen enlarged to show Zack and an owl dancing to the Bettys. The camera quivered slightly as she and Milo tried to stifle their giggles.

Merry and Kiki burst into high-pitched laughter. “He’s so cute when he gets caught,” Merry said breathlessly.

Melissa smirked. “He’s not living this one down. Ever.”

#milo murphy's law #melissa chase #zack underwood #sara murphy #mayor murphy #animal crossing

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