AT LONG LAST, CHAPTER 7 IS HERE~

Okay, it's been here for a while, buuuuut you didn't know that. 3;

...WOT. THERE IS A LACK OF DAIRY HERE? INCONCEIVABLE!

Well, there's Juli, so it's cool, right…? -shot-

[House]

….and the weather tomorrow will be sunny and hot all day. Be sure to bring protection and keep hydrated- it's going to be a scorcher!

Bea stared at the little picture of Elli, appropriate for the screen of her low-def TV, her eyes squinted in a lazy fashion to see the picture, making her appear almost zombie like. Glancing back at the clock on the wall (which had mysteriously changed places without her doing) she took note that it was about 12 PM.

Deciding that she probably had to get up tomorrow, she yawned and laid down in bed… To find it warmer then usual. Feeling a sudden burst of hot air on her neck, she turned around to see Luke suddenly crouched next to her with a mischievous grin. "Heya. It's about time. If you're a good girl, I'll make you a Shining Box Lunch tomorrow, 'kay?"

Bea opened her mouth to say something, but she was tackled off to the side. The last thing she saw was a blur of blue hair as she felt herself being shoved down against the covers of her bed… (Which was meant for one, mind you)

…Which quickly changed randomly into a winged maiden decided to grace the farmer with her presence. Again. Standing back up and smiling politely, her eyes turned to the heavens, her expression quickly changed to that of pain and sadness, letting her hands fall around to her waste area. In a pretty, but very quiet voice, she spoke-

"……..Nausea……. Hea….rtburn…. Indi…gestion…….. Upset….stoma….ch…… Dia…………riah…. Peptol……………..Bis……….mol…….plea……..se."

With that, she once again began to fade. The sacred message having been said, it was now time for Bea to arise and act on the situation.

[House (NO, SERIOUSLY THIS TIME!)]

Bea's eyes snapped open to the sound of twittering birds outside the broken window. Forcing herself to sit up and look around, she found herself completely alone in the house, with everything just the way she left it. Puzzled, she yawned and stretched, hopping out of bed. "I'd like to have seen how that'd end, actually."

Finding that her own thoughts were confusing, she gave a small "Let's go!" and trotted out to the general direction of the door. Breakfast was out of the question- she had chores to do, windows to purchase (the broken glass had been swept up, but that did nothing to stop the draft), and choice questions dealing with mind rape to ask Luke.

Well, until she ran into a mysteriously strangely shaped wall, which fell over with an "Oof!" on impact.

"…Gill? What are you doing here…? Is everything all right?"

The blonde shuffled and looked down at his elf shoes, fidgeting a bit. He sighed. "I came… To apologize for yesterday. Clearly, I took Luke's antics a bit too seriously, and ended up hounding you and Chase for his faults." He paused a moment, chuckling. "Why, I was so blind with rage, I could have sworn I saw you two run over a rainbow with Daren."

Now it was Bea's turn to fidget. Smiling politely, she scratched the back of her head, uttering a nervous giggle. "Mm'hmm.. It's okay. Luke is a bit annoying sometimes."

Gill smiled. "I'm pleased that we have an understanding. I've brought you a small gift as a token of our friendship. Here." With that, the mayor's son placed a rather large chunk of gold ore in the girl's hands, immediately causing her to light up like a Christmas tree. Figuratively, of course. "W-why thank you so much Gill.." She stammered out, Gill giving a small nod.

"Think nothing of it. Well, I've taken too much of your time. I must be going."

Looking between the parting Gill and the gift she had just received in silence, Bea had only one thing to say as she darted off towards Ramsey's Place in the Ganache Mine District.

"Look at the size of that rock!"

[Ramsey the Blacksmith]

"Sorry dear, but it's only Scrap Iron."

"Wha? It's… fake?"

Mira gave a small chuckle at the flabbergasted, slack-jawed expression of the farmer upon hearing her results of the refinement. "I'm afraid so. Only Fool's Gold.. What's done is done, I suppose."

Handing back the final product to Bea, she stepped over to a nearby sink to wash the excess dirt and rock that decided to cling to her hands during the refinement. Bea sighed, sticking the chunk of metal into her rucksack to sell later or something before turning away.

"Ah… That jerk. Getting my hopes up for nothing."

"Well, it's usually the thought that counts~ " A voice rang out in her head, which provoked a small nod. That was true- he didn't owe her anything, he gave it to her from the….uh, goodness…. Of his heart…

Then it struck her- she didn't think in Lucky Charms! Glancing back, she noticed a smiling, multi-colored-but-mostly-purple haired… man (right?) standing beside her, smiling.

"Glad to see you agree. So did you just come here for that, or..?"

She shook her head. "Actually, I was going to ask Ramsey to make me a new window." She explained, glancing around. "Where is he anyway?"

"He's gone to deliver some tools that Dale ordered. Chloe and Owen went off to play in the mines, so he had to do it himself." He chucked. "Though he'll probably stay a while there. Those two are good friends… Why do you need a new window anyway?"

Bea, who was taking three steps towards the door, stopped completely in her tracks, shuddering a bit. "Do you really want to know?" Please don't say yes, please don't--

He nodded. "But of course! I'm curious now~ "

Bea sighed. "I'll explain it on the way, if you want to come." Please don't want to come…

"Oh, but I do! I don't have anything else to do today." He chuckled. "Mira will be fine if we get any orders. Now, what happened…?"

It would be at least six hours before Julius's face returned to its normal color. Bea's explanation had lost no description from within the five minutes or so spent between coming in the door and watching the window exit. Pervert…

[Dale's Carpentry]

"Luke? What's up with your face?"

Bo blinked, looking rather confused as opposed to joking-like. Luke returned the quizzical glance, trying to think of what he meant.

"What do you mean?...." He paused when it hit him. "Oh, you mean the band aid? That's gone! My nose is fixed!" He smiled triumphantly, poking his nose. Noticing Bea walking towards the building, he smirked. "I'm gonna go show her how great I am!"

With that, he dashed towards the door. Though he wasn't quite expecting to see the door fly at him at full force, slamming him in the face and knocking him backwards onto the floor.

Juli blinked, still flustered from the story. "O-oh my. The doorstop is placed awfully close, isn't it?" He commented, Bea giving a small nod of agreement while Luke wallowed by the door on his back.

"Ow… By nose… I tink yew brook it…agan." He cried, Bo sighing and ushering him into the general direction of the first aid kit. Who needs Jin?

….

"So, Ramsey, do you think you could make me a window?"

The elder man blinked, looking away from where he was once talking to Dale. The carpenter may have seen his son's nose broken several times before, but that's no excuse to be a bad father. "What for? Did one break?"

"Actually, yes. There's a whole story behind it if you must know." Juli added, still red in the face. Ramsey gave him a quizzical look before returning his gaze to Bea. "…I don't need to know the details. I'll be over later to take the measurements."

Bea gave a small bow. "Thank you so much! Do you… think you can make me a lock, too?"

Ramsey expression darkened for a minute. "You may want to sleep on that one for a bit, Missy."

"WHAT is that tranny doing in my house?"

The semi-casual conversation was broken when a screaming, and once again nose-bandaged Luke ran in, pointing a threatening finger at Julius. The purple haired man raised an eyebrow. "Is… That how you treat all your guests?"

Luke folded his arms, but somehow continued pointing. Wonder how he did that? "Only the feminine non-female ones." He grumbled, Juli seeming to pick up on the mood. "W-why that's madness!"

"Madness?"

There was a strange silence in the room as Juli and Luke glared daggers at each other. Bea backed away to avoid getting in on the crossfire. Finally Luke spoke, gaze cast downwards.

"This…"

Juli blinked. "This….is…?"

"DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!"

Luke yelled out, two sets of four arrows pointing in the compass directions breaching the fourth wall and floating a few feet above the two competitors' heads. Bea reached out to touch one, but quickly withdrew her hand with a yelp upon getting zapped with a small electrical shock.

Having heard Luke's yell, which seemed to shake the entire household business, Bo ran back into the room carrying a radio. Glancing at Bea's hand for a moment, he frowned. "Would you like some salve for that?"

She shook her head, giving Bo a smile. "It's fine. What's--"

"I challenge you to a dance off, tranny! Loser gets out of the house!"

…Oh.

Juli smirked, now appearing confident, which was offset by the reddish hue in his face. "I accept, if I can pick the song."

Luke, who clearly just wanted this man out, stuck his tongue out. "Fine." Juli waved down Bo. "'Butterfly' if you please." Bo gave a small nod and clicked "play" on the radio.

Luke twitched. "Wha..?"

Ay, iyaiyai,

Bea simply stared as two of those strange message box things appeared, one reading "score" and the other appearing to be something like her stamina bar appeared to the sides and bottom of where Juli and Luke had taken their positions.

Ay, iyaiyai,

"Ready…. ?" Bo stated, Taylor's head appearing at the window as he stared into the house.

A-a-a iyaiyai

"GO!"

Bea stared, absolutely lost when a flurry of rainbow arrows shot out of nowhere as the two began dancing. She only heard a few more words before she felt herself grow faint…

Where's my samurai?

[Ganache Mine District]

What she guessed to be a few minutes later, Bea found herself slumped over the steps of the carpenter's house. Beside her was a rather deflated Luke, muttering about how Juli cheated and the fact that he was kicked out of his own house. Upon seeing that she was awake, he grinned and looked over. "Well? Pretty intense, right?"

"I suppose…"

He chuckled. "Well, you DID black out. Bo laid you out here because we didn't feel like dancing with an unconscious person in the room." Bea frowned. "Tell me to thank him later." She groaned, her tone oozing with sarcasm.

Luke seemed to fail to pick up on this. "Well, wanna go see Chase? I feel like I missed out on somethin' when Gill went hella crazy there." He commented, standing up and offering Bea a hand. Hesitating, she took the help up, only to nearly get slammed on the back of the head with the door. "What are you two up to?~ "

Well, he seemed to be somewhat back to normal now as far as speech goes. Luke stuck his tongue out. "Nothing you'd want to--"

"We're reading Gill's Diary. Chase has it, so we're going to see him." Bea smirked, cutting him off. Luke grumbled a few inaudible choice words as Julius clapped his hands in delight.

"That sounds exciting! You wouldn't mind a third wheel, would you?"

"Not at all." Bea smiled, and started off in the general direction of the Maple Lake area, Juli skipping behind her cheerfully. Glancing back, she noticed Luke was still standing around, brooding. "Are you coming?" She called, Luke giving a curt nod before trotting off behind them, hands in his pockets.

Stupid tranny, ruining a perfectly good day.

(To be continued…)