metronome. (reddnook)

☰1☰

Even if the whole of Konoha Island was a relatively laid-back place, it always seemed to be much busier than it was when June, the Resident Representative, was out and about. No matter what time of day it was or what the weather was like, they were always rushing about the place with some sort of tool in hand, attending to a number of different maintenance tasks like their life depended on it. Isabelle watched from the window by her desk as they diligently watered each and every single one of the windflowers they'd planted by the plaza just a few days ago.

"How do they always have so much energy...?" Isabelle wondered idly, feeling only a little jealous. "The thought alone of watering all those plants myself is exhausting to entertain."

June noticed Isabelle watching them and paused to wave at her. The dog froze up for a moment, feeling embarrassed that she'd been caught, but waved back anyway. The representative immediately went back to watering their plants and Isabelle sighed in relief that she hadn't gotten any sort of weird look for being a bit of a voyeur. If it had been anyone else, she most certainly would have gotten at least one of those.

June wasn't exactly the most verbose resident; according to Tom, he could count the number of times they'd actually spoken aloud to anyone besides himself and Isabelle on one paw. They mostly communicated through signing or writing. Despite this, however, June was easily one of the friendliest inhabitants of the island. Isabelle was glad for that. She felt like if there was ever an issue she or Tom couldn't handle, their rep would immediately lend a hand to them without question, and that thought brought the dog a great deal of comfort.

"Something caught your eye, Isabelle?" Tom joked from his side of the room, not taking his eyes off the laptop on the desk in front of him. Isabelle flinched in surprise, once again feeling a bit flustered at being caught slacking.

"Oh, no, Mr. Nook," She said, "I'm just...staring off again, I guess. Watching June tend to the flowers outside."

Tom hummed. "They've done a great job on making this island look beautiful, hm? I'm very proud of June for all the hard work they've done to make Konoha such a lovely place."

"I agree," Isabelle said, sitting back in her desk. That was enough idle time for now.

"Oh, and speaking of," Tom said as though he'd just remembered something important, "There's going to be a new villager moving in soon. I don't know if you happened to notice, but June set up a plot for a home a few days ago and we got a request to move in from someone almost right away."

"Really? Wow, I wonder what sort of animal they're going to be." Isabelle thought about what the new villager might look like for a moment. Maybe they'd be a hamster like Apple, or a wolf like Dobie, or a cat like Tom. There was even a chance they'd be the fourth rabbit to move in, after Ruby and Carmen and O'Hare.

"I--" Tom cut himself off mid-sentence to flip through a manila folder he had tucked in one of his desk drawers. "Now that you mention it, there's nothing in their paperwork mentioning what species she is. It only says that her name is Tamara and she's an Aries."

Isabelle frowned. It was definitely sketchy that the new villager hadn't submitted any more identifying information, but it was probably okay. Isabelle would end up seeing her in person at some point or another anyway.

The door to the Resident Services building opened and June came in, making a beeline for the Nook Stop machine. They gave a quick nod of acknowledgement to Isabelle and Tom before turning their attention to the machine in front of them and rapidly typing in some numbers. A second later, a notification popped up in the corner of Tom's laptop screen.

-June has paid off their loan of 1,248,000 bells!

"Congratulations, June!" Isabelle and Tom cheered.

'It's no trouble,' they signed, blushing.

"Don't be ridiculous," Isabelle waved them off. "That must have taken a lot of hard work, getting all the bells to pay that off."

"I'm proud of you for being diligent as always," Tom added fondly.

June blushed harder.

'Thank you,' they signed with shaky hands.

"Of course," Tom said. "Oh! Before I forget, there's a new villager moving in today, as I'm sure you know. She needs to come by and fill in some missing information on her paperwork once she's done unpacking, so please let her know where to go for that, okay?"

June nodded. 'Will do.' They approached Tom's side of the joint desk in the front of the room and helped themselves to the notepad and pen placed in the corner of it. They wrote for a bit before sliding the pad across the desk for Tom to read.

'Ruby flagged me down earlier this morning. She said she was on a walk with Tom last night & saw a shady-looking boat near the back end of the island. I don't know if it means anything but I thought I should let you know because she seemed really freaked out for some reason.'

"Hm..." Tom thought for a moment after he'd read the note. "That's a little odd. Did she give any sort of description of it?"

June tapped their chin in thought. 'Close to the island,' They signed. 'Looked old. Rusty.'

"Well," Isabelle joked, "if it happens to break down while it's nearby, we might just get another villager before June even sets up a new plot!"

The three of them laughed.

"Well, it's probably not anything to be worried about. This is a big ocean after all, hm? Maybe whoever was on it didn't mean to pass by us." Tom reassured them. "But if Ruby, or anyone else for that matter, sees it again, then you should let us know and we'll determine if anything needs to be done from there. Okay?"

June nodded and got up from their seat. 'Will do. Thank you, goodbye,' they signed before slipping out of the building.

Well, that was a bit odd. Ruby was known to be a little skittish, so it wasn't too hard to believe she was simply overreacting to the sight of a normal ship. Still, there was something about what June had said that bothered him. He decided not to dwell on it too much and got right back to work.

"Do you think it's..." Isabelle trailed off, looking over at Tom uneasily.

"I doubt it," the tanuki returned. "I don't see what business he'd have here of all places if it was."

Isabelle hummed. "Yeah, but...I mean, wasn't he dealing art the last time you saw him? Maybe he's scoping this place out for any potential customers."

Tom's grip on his coffee cup tightened. "Let's not have this discussion right now, hm?" he said after a beat of silence. "There are more important things to be attending to at the moment."

"Of course, Mr. Nook," the dog put a smile on her face. "I apologize."

For the entire rest of the day, however, neither of the two could get the thought of it out of their heads.