Well, the sleaze from before totally blew off helping. How annoying, thought Keita. Though, Doctor Iago stayed to help. That was good, with his help the decorations for the festival would be finished much quicker. The good doctor gestured his strong muscles which made Keita smile again. Asking her where to place things she used her usual gestures to symbolize lifting, pinning and placement. (Well the tables go there, some of the streamers go here... I'm sure we can figure it out) Placing her finger on her lip she thought a bit. Peering just behind him was a girl who she had seen around the town from once before. The girl was lying on the ground deathly afraid of the needle that Iago, twiddled in his fingers. Keita walked over to her and waved. She turned back to Iago. Signaling him to put it away, just for a bit. (Hello. Its nice to meet you. Doctor, you're freaking her out. Perhaps you should just put that away for a little while...)

Iago nodded at Keita's indications and followed suit, placing the table he had in his hands where Keita had told him to. He then returned at quickly as he could to take another table, but Keita interrupted him, gesturing towards the syringe he was playing with a moments ago. Iago was a bit confused, but when he saw Julia he understood. **"Ah, right. Okay, let me do something about this."** He took off his coat, put the syringe inside of one of its pockets and then put it away in a tree branch where it hanged with the syringe safely in their pockets. **"See, it's gone now. The shots can wait for after the festival preparations, right Keita?"** He said, first turning to see Juliet and then turning to see Keita. Iago was about to follow up with the work Keita apppointed him to do, but he thought of something he could do to tease Juliet a bit. **"You know, I heard of a new treatment for your fear of pointy things. It involves a shot, though."** He said, giggling a bit under his breath. **"I'll continue with the festival preparations, then."** He took another table and started carrying it to where Keita had told him before. Though, as he was carrying it, he thought. _'Now that there's a new scaredy cat in town, maybe I can pull something of...'_ Iago was resolved when he left the table in place. He wiped away the bits of sweat that had appeared on his forehead and then took a deep breath. **"EVERYONE! DOCTOR IAGO WILL BE GIVING AWAY FREE SHOTS FOR WHOEVER DOESN'T HELP WITH THE FESTIVAL PREPARATIONS!"** He shouted out. Well, that should motivate at least a pair of people to help around.

**"Thank you."** She nodded, followed by a relieved sigh. She couldn't stand being near anything pointy and sharp. Even just the thoughts of it made her shiver. She always hated going to the doctors since she was younger. One day in her childhood, she chose to held back the pain of the worst tooth cavity of her entire life rather than seeing a dentist. She hated it that much, but she couldn't find the exact reason for her fear. Maybe she had a trauma or something, she just can't remember what or when or why. She just let it be and avoid those things as quickly as possible. Then she heard about the doctor's statement about the treatment. **"I don't need any treatments! Especially.."** She quickly shrunk, and lower her tone a little. Was he teasing her? **"Especially when it includes shots.."**. Juliet hoped he was just kidding. If only people understand how deep her unreasonable fear, how nice would it be if they won't make fun of it.. Unlike those mean kids in grade school. They always make little Juliet cry by only waving a tiny little needle in front of her. Her face turned a little bit gloomy as her thought drift back to those memories. What a terrible trip to the past.. Her conscious snapped back to reality when the doctor's voice was heard. Another creepy statement from him put her feet back on earth. She then quickly grabbed the nearest table from the spot the doctor was standing. **"That wasn't necessary at all, doctor Iago."** She released the table from her grip to roll the sleeves of her plaid shirt. **"Well, are you going to just stand there forever or will you lend me a hand with this?"** She said to the doctor, putting her hands back on the table. **"You heard this cheesy doctor, guys. Let's get working or he will inject unnecessary chemical into your veins!"** She shouted energetically. Her hype went back quickly, it was a festival prep anyway. Festival should be fun for everyone. Making sure that the preparation was done well is important. Helping out with the preparation is a must for a good citizen. So she turned to the girl who organized the whole thing, he heard the doctor calling her Keita. **"So, Keita, right? Where should WE put this one?"**. Juliet put an extra emphasize on the word 'we' so that Iago would lend her a hand with the table.

Travis walked around his bar and whistled for Bob who came scurrying onto the bar table. "Can you get me a glass of milk?" Travis said in a mocking tone. "God, I haven't seen so much pretentious attitudes since I held that Poetry Slam in the Inn." Travis got out a glass and a jug of milk he began to pour the glass to about 3/4ths full when he heard Patchy announcing that people will get shots if they don't help. "Well I've done my work in setting up the beer drinking competition. So I don't have to worry. Travis, wanting to have everyone's defenses lowered, pour the final quarter of the glass with alcohol. "But Patchy seems to have a lot of power over everyone with that stupid syringe." Travis taps his finger on the counter. "A lot of people must have a fear of needles in this town, so they'll respect the doctor because he has access to them. Plus that syringe could help me with some "transactions"." Bob sniffed the milk and began to sneeze. "Oh right." Travis said, noticing Bob "Too strong a smell". Travis reached into his pantry and pulled out a squirter that says "Liquid Star". "Ah, Liquid Star, My best friend. Next to you of course." He says to Bob. Travis begins pouring it into the milk which begins to transform into "Star Milk" (From HM: A Wonderful Life). Bob smells the drink, sits up, and chatters. "Thank you, Good Boy" Travis tosses a piece of cheese toward Bob, to munches it down then scurries to the backroom. Travis picks up the drink, "Looks like Star Milk, smells like Star Milk, tastes like Star Milk, and covers up any ingredients an ingenious bartender like me could possibly add in. This is the best investment I've ever made." Travis closes the pantry door, turns out the lights and walks back outside. Putting on his friendly persona. He walks to Estelle and hands her the drink. "Here you go. I hope it's okay that it's star milk. Star Milk from the finest star cows. The cost is usually 540g, but because it's the new years festival, I'm giving away my non-alcoholic drinks at half price! That'll be 270g, if you please. I apologize for it not being free, but I run a small business, I need to be able to eat something other than complementary peanuts and burgers at "The Tree Sap"."

Lucy watched Travis leave, unsure of what entirely to feel about the man. He seemed nice, and he didn't seem to like mr. evil robot doctor either, so that was a plus. He even offered her a drink, and even if she didn't accept it was still a nice gesture. Now though, she was more interested in the woman named Estelle. A novelist who wrote books appropriate for young women her age? She had no idea what that would be, but if it was for the age groups of adults, then she was skeptical that she would enjoy it. She preferred fantasy novels with grand adventure, romance, and magic. Still, she seemed like a nice person. **"Oh, uhm nice to meet you Estelle. I'm Lucille Verity Proulx."** She introduced herself with her full name again, though it probably wasn't entirely necessary. She walked over to the woman, a somewhat nervously friendly smile on her face. Occasionally, she cast glances over to the doctor and his pointy stick of death. **"So...uhm, you write?"** She hesitantly asked. **"Do you write any fantasy novels?"** She continued, her normal cheerfulness slowly returning as the topic turned to something she liked. **"I'm really into adventure and stuff. Especially adventure and romance novels~"** She giggled. _"EVERYONE! DOCTOR IAGO WILL BE GIVING AWAY FREE SHOTS FOR WHOEVER DOESN'T HELP WITH THE FESTIVAL PREPARATIONS!"_ Unfortunately, that evil robot doctor saw to it that her good mood was completely shattered. She gave Estelle a look of pure terror as she continued. **"U-uhm, excuse me! I like living."** She squealed. As quick as she could make it, she was out of the square within seconds. She had no idea what festival they were planning for, but she had no intention of sticking around if it involved needles or doctors. Though, now that she thought about it, a festival might be a good place to show off her skills as an entertainer... Too late now though, that doctor had completely scared her off for the next few hours. Instead, she was taking shelter in the first building she saw and not coming out for the rest of the day, and as luck would have it, it was exactly the building she was looking for. She opened the door to the library in quite a hurry, almost slamming it shut behind her. **"Aww...come on Lucille. You're a witch...pointy things like that shouldn't scare you..."** She whined to herself as she rubbed the sides of her face, trying to take her mind off of the object that she was terrified of. Now...where had she ended up? She took a quick look around the place and surmised she had been right. This was the Library. A impossibly happy grin spread across her face as she began to run through the aisles. Books! So many books! Her Auntie had a library, but she had never been allowed inside to read them. And sure, she had seen some bigger libraries in the other cities she's been in, but something about this many books being in one place...she just loved the smell of the written word. By now, she had collected a rather large pile of books on the floor she intended to read.

A loud clang could be heard as Sophie dropped the broom in her hands as the girl rushed passed her and into the library, slamming the door behind her. She stood there a bit dumbstruck for a few minutes, looking around for whatever she was running from... Not many people like books _that_ much. Though, if she was excited about books, Sophie had no right to judge her. Taking a peek inside, Sophie watched as the girl went to town gathering books in the center of the room, on the floor. She blinked, trying to comprehend the strange behavior. After all, there were tables... and chairs. She closed the door back for a second to clear her throat and her judgments and then opened it again to walk inside. **"Good Afternoon."** She greeted the girl, smiling sweetly. She noticed from the corner of her eye, Kiri walking down the steps rather slowly, as if watching this strange girl as well. **"I'm Sophie. I don't believe we've met. You are?"** She asked, tilting her head ever so slightly. She had to admit, the clothes the girl was wearing did nothing to help Sophie stop judging her. The girl was weird, beyond weird... She could barely wrap her head around the idea of her...

Well, with the help of the others, all the decorations had been set up, the tables and chairs had been placed in the correct arrangement too. All that was left was for anybody who need to has to set up their own stall. Keita smiled and clapped her hands together softly trying to gesture a celebration that they had finished and she was being thankful. Thinking, she wondered how she could thank them. (Yay! We've finished! I couldn't have done it without you guys! ... Hm... How Could I repay you?...) A light bulb went off in her head. She could invite them to the bar tomorrow and sing for them, some entertainment and drink is the least she could do. She pointed at the duo, then performed some gestures symbolizing the day after today, the bar and her singing. (You both should come over to the bar tomorrow night, I can get you some free drinks. I'll be singing so request a song!) Keita tiled her and smiled. She wondered where the mayor was... The festival doesn't become official without him.

Lucy currently had her nose buried in a book, flipping through the pages of it when Sophie came up to her. She had been so caught up in the atmosphere of the library, she hadn't even seen the other girl there. Oops. That probably seemed a bit rude to the other girl. She closed the book and turned her head to the other girl with a friendly grin. **"Ah, sorry about that~"** She giggled. **"I got distracted by the books here."** She finished the sentence by tossing the book she had just read onto her already growing pile of books. **"Nice to meet you Sophie. I'm Lucille Verity Proulx."** She introduced herself with a slight bow. She was thankful this person didn't seem to have any pointy objects on them, especially a syringe of sorts. Normally, she could handle being around normal pointy things, like knives and such. But a Syringe? Nope. Nope nope nope. Just nope on so many levels. It was then she noticed the rather...large pile of books she had collected on her short little spree. **"Oops."** She chuckled. **"Sorry about this too, I'll clean up my mess, promise~"** She said, waving a hand to the pile of books. **"And yeah, I'm kinda new in town. I've been here for a few days, but I've been holed up in my room in the Inn until today."** She paused for a moment, thinking about the best way to ask about checking out all of these books at once. Surely she just couldn't take them all at the same time, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. **"Are you the Librarian? I hope it's alright for me to check out all of these books."**

Arnold woke up around noon time since he had a long night helping the owner get ready for the festivities that were about to happen. He wasn't completely comfortable handling them but himself since it was his first time actually having to set up for anything of this caliber. Arnold was going to be around to actually help as the night progressed. He decided to take a long around his place to see what needed to be cleaned around the house since no one else was going to clean his place for him. After he picked his head up off the pillow he thought he heard voices coming out from his living room. Arnold walked out into the living room where he was hearing the voices which just ended up being his television that was turned on but he didn't remember watching it when he got home in the morning, that was when he looked at his couch and noticed that his dog was lying down staring at the TV. Wait could it ... No it must have been a coincidence, but regardless Arnold turned off his television and gave the dog some food to eat before he took Calvin for a walk. Calvin was still just a little dog but did he ever get destructive if he doesn't get walked in the morning or before leaving for long periods of time. As Arnold opened unlocked the door and turned around to pick up Calvin's leash he was already at the door waiting. So Arnold clipped the dog up to the leash and opened the door his dog started to run excited to see all the old sights that is sees everyday with the possibility of seeing something new. He swore that if Calvin ever got lost that he would find himself at one of two places, home or "The Golden Tiger" the bar that Arnold was assistant manager of. Arnold was working hard to train Calvin to be civilised enough that he could occupy the back room so that Arnold could see him more during the day. So Arnold found himself jogging down the street with Calvin by his side. Thank god it was now spring and he could wear shorts comfortably since he would always sweat when he had to wear pants in the winter. When they got to the front door of "The Golden Tiger" Calvin had sat while Arnold had just poked his head into the bar to say hello to the manager when obviously the dog seen something attractive since it bolted and since Arnold wasn't 100% ready the dog took the whole leash with him. Oh dear lord! Arnold was chasing the young but speedy puppy down the road Calvin was having the time of his life thinking that it was a game and to keep running. Thankfully he had stopped in the towns square but the thing that caught Arnold off guard the most was that the puppy had been sitting completely still right in front of a woman who had not been introduced to yet. It's truly weird since the only two times Maaaan sits that still is when it's food time or walk time, that's it! All he heard coming from her mouth was "You heard this cheesy doctor, guys. Let's get working or he will inject unnecessary chemical into your veins!" Since the dog was sitting so still Arnold thought that he would get him for sure before he took off again but when he got close the dog ran again. However this time she must have stepped on the leash because when he took off this time it took her feet out from under her. Luckily he had been close enough to catch her before she hit the ground. **I am so sorry about that! Let me apologise properly truly later, I am a bartender at "The Golden Tiger" Oh this dog is going to be the death of me** He placed the lady down on her feet and ran after the dog again. Arnold caught the dog twenty minutes after it had caught a hold of a squirrel. Ugh! Sweaty, tired and sore, but worse than all of those he made a fool of himself in the town square in front of tons of people ... And he was going to have to clean a half chewed up squirrel off of his floor by the time he gets home from work. **Maaaan what a grand start to my day**

Sophie's forced smiled melted into a more genuine smile as she realized the nature of the girl in front of her. Lucille? It certainly was a very pretty name. She shook her head and held out her hand as the girl promised to clean up her mess. **"Don't worry about it!"** She almost shouted, laughing to herself. **"I have to reorganize and inventory the books anyway."** She explained, smiling gently. She lifted a slight brow when she asked about checking out all of the books she had in her pile. **"Uhm... Maybe not... ALL of them..."** She spoke softly, an awkward smile on her face. **"But certainly most of them."** She added, trying to not upset the girl too greatly. **"The check out limit is 10 books and they would all be due two weeks from now."** She explained. She made pains to make sure what she was saying was well articulated and clear, as she'd had problems with mumbling before. **"Oh! And yes, I'm the librarian."** She chuckled, almost having forgotten she'd even asked that question. **"Grandma sort of left me in charge when she left. So, it's just me and Kiri."** She explained, motioning towards the cat on the shelf. The cream colored feline was sitting on top of the shelf where the sun shone down from one of the taller windows. With eyes closed and legs sprawled out, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

**"All right, all right, I'll help. Don't look at me like that."** Iago said as he took the other end of the table Juliet was holding. **"We have to put them over there."** Iago said, with an impish smile and rushing to the place to try and make the other girl trip. **"Can you keep up?"** He said, laughing a bit. After getting the table into place, he saw that his persuasive phrase had helped a lot. They were done in no time now. **"Well, would you look at that. I should become the mayor or something, I seem to have a real good ability for persuasion."** He said, letting out an snicker and then turning to see Keita. It seemed she was offering to sing something for them. **"Oh, that'd be wonderful. Though I don't know that much about music..."** He turned to Juliet again. **"I only know one or two related to syringes and scalpels, and Juliet here wouldn't like them. So, why don't you decide?"**

**"Phew, this one is finally set."** Juliet wiped her not-too-sweaty forehead. She's not the best at physical activities. Her task at the store hardly ever need lifting nor moving heavy things from one place to another. Usually just inventory stuff and restocking. She didn't like sport that much either, even a kid has more stamina than her. She was not lazy, actually. She just didn't want to put too much effort into pretty much anything. **"So what's ne-"** She looked around to find out if anybody else need help, but something else took her interest. One small puppy sat still next to her feet, and it looked curiously at her. The puppy even tilted it's head when Juliet stared back at it. It was the most adorable thing she saw that day. How could she ignore that innocent-looking puppy, with those sparkly puppy eyes staring deep into her soul. So she reached down to pat the puppy's head. It had leash attached to it's collar, so she thought it might got separated from the owner. **"Hi there, little one. Are you lost?"**. Her hand was only a few inch from the puppy, but it dashed away, with the leash tugging her foot. That little puppy surprisingly had such power to trip her. It happened way to fast, she was already halfway to the ground.. before someone caught her. **"I am so sorry about that! Let me apologise properly truly later, I am a bartender at "The Golden Tiger". Oh this dog is going to be the death of me"** He said. He was the one who saved Juliet from the probability of getting a brain injury, and apparently the owner of the puppy too. And just like his hyperactive dog, he also went away right away, before she had any chance to respond. She was confused, her brain was still trying to process what just happened. She just stand right there, watching the guy running after the dog. **"...syringes and scalpels, and Juliet here wouldn't like them. So, why don't you decide?"** The word 'syringes and scalpel' took her attention back to the doctor. **"What about those evil things?"** She sneered to Iago, then turned to Keita. Her offer was too awesome to turn down to. **"I'd love to have some drinks, so I'll definitely be there tonight. I suppose you will be there too, right, Doctor?"** She grinned to both of them, **"It's gonna be fun, I know it!"**

Lucy had to resist the urge to pick up the cat and fawn all over it. It looked so fluffy and soft, like a warm little blanket that she just wanted to snuggle up against. **"Only ten?"** She pouted, turning her attention back to Sophie. **"But I can read three novels in a single day..."** Well, that was if she was really into a book. Normally she'd get distracted by something outside or practicing her spells. **"Oh well~"** She gave a friendly giggle. **"If that's the limit, then that's the Limit."** With that, she knelt down by the pile of books and began sifting through them. **"Ooh, decisions decisions..."** She sighed with a frown. She had wanted to read all of them, and was a little disappointed that she couldn't take all of them. It was then she realized that the books were probably going to take awhile to clean up, and that she had heard something about some festival **"Oh, uh, you sure you don't want any help? I heard something about a festival today or something. It seemed like it might be fun~"** She asked Sophie as she stood up, with several books in her arms. **"I'm probably not going to be going myself, and it would be faster with two people."** Knowing her though, she would probably end up doing more reading than actual work.

**"Oh!!"** Sophie yelled aloud, having completely forgotten all about the New Years Festival. **"Drat! I was suppose to set up a booth."** She shouted, mentally hitting herself. She lifted a hand to rub the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. **"Y-you... wouldn't mind helping me, would you? If you do, I'll let you take more books with you."** she bargained, not to upset over lending more than the limited number of books. **"I wouldn't possibly be able to make it in time on my own and Kiri is sort of useless in that regard."** She continued, hearing a small meow of lazy protest from Kiri. She walked over to the pile of books and began piling them up in her arms to put on the desk so that Lucy could sort them as she liked. **"I need to get the cloth, the sign, the flyers, and the box of free books to give away. I can handle some of it, just not all of it in one trip..."** She explained, turning to Lucy with pleading green eyes. The box she could handle, but the sign was a different story. It would take a whole other person to take down there and Sophie wasn't exactly the most athletic person in town, by far she was probably the weakest next to the children.

While waiting for Estelle's response he spotted...him. He recognized him when he moved in, he works in the "The Other Bar" the one that sounds more like a cathouse than a proper bar. (Then again, Travis isn't above having his bar host such a profession, as long as he got a cut of the profit.) He thought it was best to introduce himself to his rival competitor. It's best for business that he appear as a friendly ally. He reaches for a complementary beer, but decides against it. He had no idea if this man was as friendly as his persona was, or if he was a sleaze like he truly was. So giving him a beer would be a chance for him to say awful things about his bar. (Mostly because he wasn't above doing the exact same thing to awfully named "Golden Tiger".) "Terribly sorry to leave in such a rush. But I have some business to attend to. Here's your star milk." Travis moves an empty glass to Estelle. "Just leave the money in the cup Ta-ta." Travis decided to walk over to the conversation he and the other girl were having. "Pardon me for intruding. But I recall that you said that you were in charge of "The Golden Tiger" and I felt the need to introduce myself to my fellow competitor. Good Day, my name is Travis Rollins, owner of The Tree Sap. I work right across from you." He extended his right hand to Travis, hoping for a shake. He turned to Juliet and extended his left hand as well. "Good Day, I hope you are enjoying the New Years Festival."

**"Ah? I wouldn't want to trouble you by taking more than usual..."** Lucy replied somewhat hesitantly avoiding Sophie's eyes because feeling a bit bad for starting this trouble. **"But sure, I'll help. I have nothing better to do~"** Well, she might as well. Sophie seemed like she would have a lot of trouble otherwise, and she wasn't about to not help her new best friend and it was her mess. Just one problem though...what was she supposed to be doing. She looked at the books and everything, quite lost for anything she could actually help with. **"Uhm...So what do I do? I've never done anything like this before..."** She continued somewhat hesitantly. She had never attended and sort of festivals before and really had no idea how to go about doing them. Aside from her own little shows she did sometime for money (Which really, never amounted to much aside from a few nights rent) she wasn't really into most of these festivals.

**"Eh?"** Sophie asked, looking up from the pile of books she was already picking up off the ground. **"Hmm... I could make a list of things to do..."** She thought out loud, already placing the books down and heading for the desk. She wrote down a few of the things they needed to do before leaving for the festival and then what they would have to do at the festival. - Get the box of free books from upstairs. (I'll do that.) - Get the sign and the cloth from the closet to the right of this desk. - Print the flyers from the computer. (If you're unfamiliar with how that works, I can do it.) Once everything is gathered up we need to take them down to the festival and find where my booth is located. Once we do that, we can start setting up. - Put the cloth down on the table. - Put the sign on the front of the table. (I can show you how.) - Put a stack of flyers on the table. - Place a few of the free books on the table for display. Use the back of a flyer to write "Free Books!" and place it near them. When she was down she looked up at Lucy and motioned for her to come over. **"I'll leave it on this desk for now, but if you have any questions, just ask. I'd recommend that you go get the stuff from the closet while I head up stairs to get the sign.** She explained and then began to head upstairs. Normally, she was must nicer than this, but deadlines usually send her into this sort of tunnel vision frenzy where she gets way too stressed.

It was taking much longer than expected. Keita ran her fingers through her hair. Enough was enough. The mayor was taking far too much time, where could he possibly be? And doing what at that? Keita signaled to the others that she was going away for a bit, she decided not to bother them with what, she was planning on doing that is. Whilst walking down the main street to the town hall, Keita took note of how few visitors the town had been getting compared to when she first got to town. For some reason, the farmer had stopped coming to town too, she wondered what happened to him. He was a nice man. Once Keita entered the town hall, she looked around for signs of life. Though, there was nobody to be found. Strange, Keita thought. Normally the mayor would be here with his family, yet, there was nobody, not even a mouse. Keita peered her head into the mayors office, only to find an empty seat and a hastily written note. "Sorry, I can't handle the burden of this town any longer. After the farmer left, income went downhill and toursim soon followed. I can't afford to keep me and my family here. That is why I have left." - Goodluck. Keita trembled with the note in her hand. "Wha.. Wha.. I.. I HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE!" Keita ran out of the office, note in hand, back to the main square in order to inform everybody of what happened.

**"O-oh, alright..."** Lucy replied, as Sophie began to write down the things that needed to be done. _"This looks complicated..."_ She thought, suddenly realizing she really may not be qualified to help her new friend out with this festival thing. At least though, if she didn't try she wouldn't get anywhere. She might as well give it a shot.She looked over the list, reading what had to be done. **"Right...closet."** She looked to the right of the desk, easily locating the closet, thankful for the rather direct location of it. After that, she opened it and began searching for the sign and the cloth. Thankfully, that didn't take her that long to find it. She grabbed both of them, and started to carry them slowly back to the front of the desk, trying not to damage the sign or the cloth in the process. Lucy had to wonder what these were going to be used for. She had never been to a festival before, let alone actually built a...stall, or something like that. She always had someone else do that when she did her little magic shows.