Luna the Tapir

The night before had truly shaken you and your perception of the island. Tom Nook was clearly using you so he could become richer and develop his ideal island. You decide to set out on your own to try and find a means of getting back home. The most obvious way of leaving the island is through Dodo Airlines, which is operated by Orville and Wilbur. You’ve flown with the airline a few times before at the request of Tom Nook who asked you to find villagers that may be interested in moving to the island. However, knowing that the Dodos have close ties with Tom Nook makes you nervous to ask them for any favors. You instead decide that the sea may be your best option of finding a way to escape. After buying a wet suit and pair of goggles from Nook’s Cranny, you practice swimming out into the sea as far as you can. But as you make your way towards the horizon, you realize that a barrier prevents you from swimming any farther. No matter how hard you attempt to swim past it, an invisible force pushes you backward.

Feeling more trapped than ever, you take a long stroll through the garden to brainstorm more ideas. Suddenly, a red owl appears in front of you.

“Why, hello! It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Celeste. Perhaps you’ve met my brother, Blathers? He’s a museum curator. Anywho, have you been admiring the sky? So many shooting stars tonight!”

You look up and realize that she is correct. The sky is full of stars and you can see a few of them pass by and leave streaks of light behind them.

“If you make a wish at just the right time, they say it will come true the next day,” Celeste says to you before vanishing into thin air.

You look around to see if she is somewhere nearby so you can ask follow-up questions, but she is nowhere to be found. After looking up into the night sky again and finding a shooting star, you take a deep breath and make a wish to return to your world.

The next day, you unfortunately awaken on the same island. Instead of granting a wish, the shooting star left bits of star fragments for you to collect on the beach. While this was a rare find and great addition to your inventory, it was not what you were ultimately hoping for. But you refuse to give up just yet. Celeste mentioning her brother, Blathers, the night before reminds you that he may be a great source of knowledge. You pay him a visit and see if he has any advice on how to leave the island.

“Well, there is a tale of a tapir that travels through dreams. Perhaps summoning her could provide you the answers you need. You wouldn't happen to have any star fragments on you, now would you?” the owl asks.

Your face lights up as you pull the fragments out from your inventory and show them to Blathers. He gives you written instructions on how to conjure the elusive tapir and you run back to your house with a hopeful pep in your step. Following Blathers' directions, you draw your best rendering of a tapir onto a piece of paper and use your star pieces to build a wand. You then place the drawing under your pillow and wave the wand over your bed. After many hours of tossing and turning, you finally drift off to sleep. However, you immediately awaken to find yourself no longer in your room, but in a space covered in purple fog. Someone slowly approaches your bed and you recognize that it is a tapir.

“Welcome to the Dream Suite. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luna. Think of me as a guide to the library of dreams. Where should I take you?”

Without hesitation, you ask her to take you home.

“No problem! Let me prepare your dream right now.”

Her wording confuses you, so you ask her to elaborate by what she means by “prepare your dream.”

“You didn’t think I could actually take you home, did you? No, I can only help you travel within the dream space. So I can only take you to a pleasant dream of your home, not to your actual home. Sorry about that,” she says curtly.

Your hopes of escaping the island on your own were now completely dashed. The next morning you decide to confront Tom Nook himself. You march up the steps of the Residential Services building and stand in front of the tanuki's desk. He lifts his head up from his computer and gives you a big smile.

“How’s my favorite islander doing this morning?”

Before letting him charm you into doing more work, you tell him that you know he’s been lying to you and you want to leave the island.

“Leave? Oh, there’s no leaving the island,” he says to you in a definitive tone.

Your heart rate quickens as you try to make sense of what he just said.

“Yeah, I thought I warned you before you came here that there really isn’t any way to leave. But the good news is that I have a new project for you to work on!”

While he prattles on about constructing pathways around the island, you stand there in disbelief, regretting ever ordering from GrubHub in the first place.

~The End~