Relief flooded through her as she heard Lexi shouting out to her. Emily had been slightly worried, more anxious than anything. After Lexi had left with the money, Emily began to realize how easy it would be for her to never come back again. Though, she knew now that that would never be the case... She had Lexi's word. "I'm in h-" Emily shouted as she turned around and cut off mid sentence when she saw Lexi stood in the same room. "Oh, sorry" she smiled and blushed a little. "How is Phen? Was the money I gave you enough?" she asked and then noticed a rather familiar looking ball of fluff draping over Lexi's shoulders. She giggled a little and then looked at Lexi again and waited for a reply...

While she was waiting on a brief update as to how the little one's friend was doing, she began sorting things out to give to Lexi for her to do before she shop opened. First, she picked up a pile of neatly cut swatches of fabric; all in different colors with random patterns on, off her desk, then she collected a ball of thread and a rather strange looking needle. Then, she picked up a large sheet of lining and smiled at herself when she had collected all of her items. Somehow, she had managed to do this all in lightning speed (not literally of course) and without taking her eyes off Lexi. Emily had gotten very good at multi-tasking from her years of running the store all by herself.

"Yeah, the money covered the cost," Lexi said beaming, having forgotten about her scrapes. "I even have money left over!" She was a little confused as to why Emily giggled, but then remembered the cat sprawled across her shoulders. Yeah, he was annoying, but Lexi didn't mind his presence. He quite easily warmed up her neck. "I hope Phen gets better soon. She's been sick for months," Lexi said as she watched in amazement at the speed Emily used to gather materials and set up a workspace. It was nothing like art. Art took time and patience to get it just right, and, from what she could see, sewing and weaving took much less time to be just as beautiful. "So, what do you need me to do?" Lexi asked again, shaking off most of her amazement.

Emily took a slight mental note to ask Lexi what was actually wrong with Phen later on, but first she needed to tell the little one what was to be done before she opened the store. "Okay dear. There are your patches and some thread and a patchwork needle. Have you ever made a patchwork blanket?" she asked and then decided to tell her what to do anyway as this one was different. "Okay, I'll tell you how to do it, so watch closely because I will only do this once. First, you take two patches" she said as she pulled off the top two patches from the pile, "and you place them together, then, once you have threaded your needle, you sew them together neatly. Now, I know this may seem like any other patchwork blanket, but, once you have sewn all of the pieces together in a rectangular shape, you must attach the lining and then padding. That is the hardest part and I will show you how to do it once you have attached all of the patches together!" she smiled, hoping so much that she had not overwhelmed Lexi. She had been doing little gestures all the way through her explanation to demonstrate, so at least Lexi had an idea of what she really needed to do. "You have an hour, but it should not take you that long. It only takes me ten minutes, but I have been practicing this for years, so I estimate around 45 minutes for you" she nodded as if she agreed with her own statement. "I'll leave you to it!" she smiled again and then rushed off to continue sorting out her fabrics into order on the shelves.

From across the room, Emily said "So, if you do not mind me asking, what is the matter with Phen?" she spoke whilst folding a large piece of cream silk and placing it nearly on the lowest shelf.

Lexi sat on the recently vacated chair, legs dangling freely a good foot-foot and a half off the ground, and began sewing the patches together. She took her time, falling back on her experience with art to take her time. She honestly couldn't wait to get to the store; those four dollars would buy a decent canvas. The feel of the fabric on her hands was wonderful to Lexi, feeling way better than her ragged clothing, but she didn't bother mentioning it. Instead, she answered her boss's question. "I don't really know. Temp never told me. I think its because he thinks of me as a kid," Lexi explained, nose wrinkling as she said the last bit. "She's covered in blackish bumps though. And she looks white as paper." The cat around her shoulders yawned and stretched suddenly, scaring the bejeebus out of her and causing her to prick her finger with the strange needle.

"Yow!" she yelled suddenly in response to the pain, finger shooting towards her mouth. "Blashted cat," she continued over her finger, sounding almost like a child with a thumb in its mouth. "That shtingsh." She pulled her tiny index finger out of her mouth after a few seconds and inspected the red puncture wound carefully before going back to her work.

At the forty minute mark, she finished and announced it proudly with a "Ta-da!" as she held it up for Emily to see, grinning from ear to ear.

Myra walked out of her house and locked the door, she walked down the the steps and down the lane to the village. Her black long black hair tucked into two ponytails swayed as she sprinted farther down the lane, her mittens made she hands feel warmer that or they matched what she was wearing. Myra was a little scared of walking through the village without her family but she felt that she'll get use to it. She walked to her favorite tree and sat there by herself, she didn't want to bother anyone since she didn't know that many. 'Thats funny, I've liveed here my whole life and I dont know a soul.' Myra giggled quietly to herself amused by this irony. Myra placed her knees to her chest and remembered all the sweet memories of her mother.

Tears creeped out of her eyes and rolled down her face as the memories played in her head like her personal home movie. Myra's little hair scarf dropped over her face as she looked down; her bangs tickled her knees the moment her head landed on her legs. "I wish she was still alive" Myra said quietly to herself.

When Lexi told her about Phen, Emily shuddered and cringed a little. She had heard of illness like this before, but not recently, though she guessed it happened a lot and she just never heard about it. "Well, I do hope she gets better little one" she sighed and continued to manouver her way around the store. About 20 minutes passed and Emily glanced over at Lexi to see what she was doing. She looked so content, sat there with her needle and patchwork and black cat draped over her shoulders. Something was missing though, something looked out of place. Then it hit her, and Emily rushed into the cabinet by the back of the store and pulled out a few things and hid them under her sketching desk. She smiled almost mischeviously again, as she had before and then jumped almost off her own feet when Lexi yowled in pain. Looking over with a shocked expression, Emily gave her small body a once over check and then saw her finger sticking out of her mouth and smiled as she realised that Lexi had just pricked her finger.

40 minutes passed and Lexi jumped off her chair seeming rather happy with herself. Emily looked over from her sketches (something she had began to do around 10 minutes ago) and saw a beautiful patchwork blanket dangling from Lexi's small hands. "Wow" she breathed and stood and walked over to her new assistant. "Lexi, dear. That is wondeful!" she gushed feeling so proud of her little intern. "And for that, here" she said as she handed out a small bundle wrapped in a beautiful sheet of black silk. "Try them on, I hope they fit!" she smiled. Inside the bundle was what she had taken from her cabinet before; clothes for Lexi. New, shiny, beautiful clothes that Lexi could wear. "You need to look the part in here. Plus, I think you deserve them for what you have just managed to create. Here, I will finish the lining on this, you go and try that on" she smiled and folded the blanket over her arm.

Lexi positively beamed with happiness at Emily's compliments. This happiness changed to shock when she was handed the gift; no one had ever given her a gift before, except for her fellow gang members at Christmas time and they usually forgot or got her something she didn't want. She hurriedly obeyed and left the room, the cat looking up from its perch on her shoulders as it detected movement. Lexi was further surprised when she saw that the bundle was filled with clothes. They matched her old ones pretty well, the only exception being that they were much brighter and softer. She didn't recognize the material, but she loved the way it felt anyway. Her old clothes had been made of wool, which was very itchy. Keeping the new bow and scarf in the bundle, she returned, radiating happiness like the sun does heat. The cat stalked after her, seemingly ticked at having been moved for something so trivial. When Lexi sat back down, the cat jumped up onto the desk before moving to her shoulders, where it resumed its previous position. Lexi continued sitting, waiting for Emily's approval and further directions.

When Emily heard Lexi coming back in, she looked up from her latest design sketches and smiled so wide that her lips practically touched her ears. "Lexi, you look wonderful" she said and then giggled as she also saw her grumpy cat stroll in after Lexi rather than being perched on her shoulders. "Looks like someone has a new friend!" she giggled even more as the cat jumped back onto Lexi's shoulders and made himself comfortable.

"Okay Lexi, all I need for you to do now is get a jug of water with some ice in it and set it on that table over there for the customers. After that, all we need to do is open the store" she nodded to herself and then went back to her sketches.

Emily sat behind her sketching desk and looked around for a moment. A photograph of her parents caught her eye and she sighed adn felt a sudden pang of something strange. This feeling seemed to be creeping up on her quite regularly today and she still could not figure out what it was. A sadness decended on her then, and she began to feel dark and sad. There was somthing, she just knew it. Though she could not remember it, she knew it was there.

Katima walked out of her house closing the door quietly as she went to the side of the porch. Not much has been going on around her part of town, it was like everyone was dying inside, not wanting to even try to have fun. Sighing she looked up at the dead tree in her yard, the lifeless limbs swaying in the wind. Her house was a dreary gray and white. The dead tree didn't help much. Her orangish red eyes stood out in the scene as her white hair fluttered across her face. "It wouldn't hurt to climb the tree no?" With that being said she pushed off the railing of the porch, hopping over it in her black and white dress, and started towards the tree. Once she got there she knew her shoes were not good for climbing so she took them off. As she started to climb her fishnet stockings ripped on some of the twigs, but not to bad. Finally as she made it to the highest point she could without falling off she looked around at the dreary town, only a few houses here and there looked up beat with life. This saddened her.

"Yeah, he's weird," Lexi responded to Emily's comment about the new friend. "He seems to cause me a lot of bad luck." She stood and fetched a pitcher to place the ice and water in after speaking, calling out, "Where is the pitcher?" when she arrived in the spacious kitchen. Spotting it on the counter, she said, "Nevermind. I got it."

She filled the pitcher with water before adding ice and setting it on the main counter. After this was done, she silently opened the door and sneaked out, oblivious to the cat around her shoulders, heading for her supplies she had forgotten. She passed through several side-streets and alleys, dodging the people of the sizable village. Eventually, she arrived at the alley where she had taken up residence. She entered and went over to the cardboard box that had served as her home for the past several years. Lifting it up, she began digging into the dirt until her fingers hit something. Her fingers clasped around it and her arm began withdrawing from the hole. A small bag followed her thin, childish arm. She opened it to check its content, and exhaled a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. All of her supplies were there: the paints, paintbrushes, charcoal pencils, chalk, and a couple of her smaller works. She shook the dirt off the bag before heading back to the shop. Overall, it took her around twenty minutes to get down and back.

Upon arriving, she opened the door silently and stepped inside before closing it just as silently. This impressive amount of silence was shattered as the cat let out a huge meow. "Shh!" Lexi harshly scolded the cat, though her voice wasn't much louder than a whisper. Lexi stood, waiting a few seconds to make sure the cat hadn't disturbed Emily. What she really hoped for, however, was that Emily hadn't noticed she had left, though it was highly unlikely.

Emily stood at the door, her back to the doorframe and began to tap her fingernail's on the actual door. When Lexi snuck back in, Emily raised one eyebrow at the dirt that ran up her arm and through her nails, not to mention to bag that also looked a little dirty.

Emily almost laughed when Lexi told the cat to be quiet, it was quite funny that she had not noticed her boss stood by the opposite door watching her. Emily made a throaty coughing sound and then raised her eyebrows even more. "Where have you been little lady? What did I say? If you want a break, ask me!" she began to shake her head from side to side and then walked slowly over to Lexi. The bag in her hand was suspicious, especially as there really was nothing that Emily could think she would need. "What is this?" she asked and held out her hand as if to ask Lexi to show her the contents of the bag...

Lexi jumped when her boss cleared her throat from the other side of the doorway, easily clearing at least two feet. "I-I was g-getting this," Lexi explained weakly, indicating the small bag. "I'm sorry, but it was important." When Emily stuck out her hand for her to place the bag, Lexi complied only reluctantly. It seemed as if the bag was glued to her from the way she set it in her boss's hand. Verbally, she responded with, "It's just my stuff from where I lived." She really hoped she wouldn't confiscate it; that would be awful! She wouldn't be able to do anymore art until she saved up enough money to buy some more supplies, not to mention it had some of her best work in it. She was proudest of the painting of the dragon circling a phoenix and spewing fire at the Earth. It had taken her forever to get right, and was inspired by a book she didn't have anymore. To her, the artwork inside was much more important than the supplies. She could always get more supplies, but the artwork could never be replicated. Anxiously, Lexi waited for Emily to make a decision.

Myra stood up and whiped her eyes from the tears from her eyes, and dusted off. She looked around the village and started walking around random places. The village sm to have grown overnight there were many interesting things that she hadn't noticed when she was out and about. Not really paying attention to what she was doing or where she was going, Myra closed her eyes and started to dance and sing to herself.

Emily had to force back a giggled when she saw Lexi jump. It was quite funny, but she knew that if she laughed she would not seem as serious as she was.

"Lexi, I understand that it may have been important. But, you should stll have asked" she sighed and took the bag off the very reluctant Lexi. When she said that they were her things from where she lived, Emily felt a little warm and happy that she had managed to provide something better for such a small, sweet child... Opening the bag, when Lexi finally let go of it, Emily peered inside and smiled when she saw Lexi's art supplies. "You are an artist?" she asked as she began to take things from within the bag. Everything she did, she did gentally to make sure that Lexi would have no reason to panic. Emily pulled out a small sheet of paper and looked at what was sketched onto it. "Wow" she breathed as she looked over the image of a dragon and a phenix. "Lexi, this is amazing! How come you never mentioned this before?" she asked, absolutely fascinated by the image that little Lexi had drawn. It was beautiful.

"I know. I'm sorry," Lexi apologized as her boss scolded her. Her fear and anxiety instantly vanished when she saw Emily smile, taking it as a good sign. When she asked if Lexi was an artist, she only nodded dumbly, unable to speak. She would have to be sure to rub her good fortune in the cat's face later. Her anxiety was dampened even further by the way her boss handled the supplies; it was almost the same as Lexi would handle them. A blush shot to her cheeks when Emily praised her artwork. Only Phen had ever shown appreciation for her skill. "Beats me," Lexi shrugged in response to why she hadn't mentioned it before. "You don't advertise that you're a great seamstress to your friends do you? And Mr. Jack doesn't tell everyone he's a magician." This was the closest she could come to explaining why she hadn't thought of it; resorting to the most basic rationality: childish logic. She waited patiently for a response, and for her art supplies back. She had a great idea for a new drawing that she wanted to get working on as soon as possible.

Emily nodded in understanding to what Lexi had said. She had never advertised her skills, this was true. But then again, she never needed to as it was obvious... Lexi should have said something! Maybe, she could... Emily burst into a goofy smile when she finished off her last thought. "Maybe, you could do some sketches for me. When you aren't busy that is. You could sketch some new designs if you wanted to" she smiled and nodded as if to agree with her own thoughts. Lexi was talented indeed, and she needed to show her talent off.

Realizing that she was still holding onto Lexi's bag, she quickly handed it back. However, just before she let Lexi take it off her, she pulled back a little. "No more running away. Okay?" she said and then gave Lexi her supplies back. She then picked up the jug of water and made her way through to the store front. When she got there, she looked at the time and then tutted at herself. "Should have opened seven minutes ago!" she said. Seven minutes was nothing really, if you were anyone other than Emily and her customers. She then tottered off to the door, opened it and turned the sign so that it said 'open', then closed the door again so that he rain couldn't get in.

Emily then turned back to Lexi and smiled. "Will you quickly put this garment on one of the manequins for me dear? I lost track of time!" she said as she picked up a beautiful white summer dress made from lace and cotton with a deep blue silk sash around the waistline and the same blue colored buttons down the back to fasten with. It was one of her best dresses, made for a wedding.

Myra opened her eyes then stoped dancing and singing and noticed a pair of shoes by a tree "Those weren't there before." she said out loud, she looked up and saw a girl sitting up high in a tree. It was Katima, sitting in a tree; Myra didn't know her then again she didn't know anyone of the village. "Hey, what are you doing up there?" Myra yelled at the top of her lungs at the girl sitting in the tree.

Katima heard a small voice from down below, slightly startling her she twitched a little. Finally looking down she saw it was just another girl asking what she was doing up there, "I climbed a tree you see, to see the town fall down. It's slowly turning to nothing, can't you see?" Smiling sweetly she looked back at the little town. "Not many can see the destruction that lays within ourselves pouring it's way out. That is what destroys this town, not the curse." Sighing she looked back down now. "You want to come join me?" Her voice so apathetic, dripping with it actually.

Lexi took the bag back gratefully, hugging it to her chest. "I promise," she replied to Emily's request. "This was the only thing I had anyway." She was slightly excited at the prospect of drawing designs, something that showed in her youthful face. While her boss went about changing the sign to open, Lexi wandered off to the kitchen and washed off her arm. As she came back in drying off her arm, Emily shoved a large white dress at her. It looked a lot like the dresses Lexi had seen brides wearing, beautiful silk and cotton combinations. "Sure, I'll put it up for you," Lexi said, shuffling off to do as requested, though how was a completely different story. She walked over to the mannequins and selected an unadorned female to put in the dress. Staring at it for a few minutes, Lexi contemplated exactly how she was going to get it on. Deciding that the best method would be to put the mannequin on her level, she knocked it over rather ungracefully. It landed with a whump, but remained intact. After much wriggling and repositioning, the mannequin was clothed in the dress and held up by Lexi to keep the dress off of the floor. Unfortunately, it was all she could do to hold it up that high, her strength and reach being that of a little girl. There was no way she could raise the mannequin by herself, so she decided to use what God gave her. She inhaled deeply before letting off a cry not unlike an injured toddler. She hated herself for it, but she didn't really have much say in the matter. All she could do was hope that it would get Emily's attention.

Emily watched as little Lexi wandered off. She set to work placing other dresses on other mannequins around the store. Her first customer would walk through the door any moment and she needed to be ready.

Emily's blood ran cold as she heard Lexi scream. All she could bring herself to think was the worst... The dress was ruined, Lexi was injured... Something was broken. Someone was in the store, broken in. Murderers, thieves. "Lexi!" she screamed as she dropped the elegant, satin dress that took her hours to make onto the floor and ran over it, scuffing it with her shoes. "Lexi! What happened!" she shouted as she ran into the same room as the little one, sheer panic and terror spread across her face.

The dress was the first thing she noticed; perfect still, hanging delicately off the mannequin which Lexi was holding up. Wait, the mannequin that Lexi was holding up? "Lexi, what's wrong?" she panted, letting the terror settle down as she realized there was nothing dangerous standing in the room waiting to steal everything or kill them both.

Myra looked at the tree and looked at the girl, "um...ok!" she yelled grabbing a tree branch and started climbing it. The tree was easy to climb since she and her mother would climb the outside of her house to get to the roof. Her gloves clinged to the tree and the branches as she climbs to the girl. Her choker amulet dangles as she jumped and climbed to the top. Finally her made it and the girl seemed somewhat surprised how quickly Myra made it to where she was, "May I ask your name please?" Myra asked in a polite voice, her red eyes stared curiously at the girl.

Katima's white hair whisped in front of her face as she watched the girl from below shocked at how fast she could actually climb! Once she looked the girl with red eyes in the eyes with her own piercing red eyes she smiled and let out a small sigh when she heard her ask what her name was. "My name is Katima, and yours would be?" She asked holding out her hand smiling slightly as she took in the other girls looks.

Lexi smiled when she heard her boss's frantic footsteps. In hindsight, she probably could have just shouted her name, but it was too late to think about that. "This thing is heavy," Lexi childishly whined when Emily arrived, asking what was wrong. She had obviously expected the worst. "I got this thing down and dressed, but I can't get it back up. And I don't want to ruin your nice dress. I'm sorry I frightened you. I couldn't think of a better way to get your attention." This last bit was said with a downcast expression plastered onto Lexi's tiny face. She did feel pretty bad about making her boss afraid. She waited patiently, despite her aching arms, for Emily to help or get angry, or both.

Emily stared at Lexi with a furious look on her face. "What?" she demanded and then a shudder of anger was sent though her whole body when the best excuse Lexi could come up with was that it was too heavey. "I just ruined one of my most intricate, delicate, expensive dresses! Because I thought you were hurt or in trouble or something! How dare you!" she fumed, a feeling of disapointment and sadnes creaping over her. She marched over to when Lexi stood and took the mannequin off her. "Go" she nodded to the door to the other room. "Go and see what damage has been done!" she spoke again. Emily placed the mannequin back up and stood there for a few minutes, trying to calm herself down.

Lexi cringed at Emily's obvious anger. She had had no idea that it was such a big deal. When Emily mentioned a dress that had been ruined, the reason for the anger became clear. "I'm sorry," Lexi said, voice bubbling with guilt. "I didn't know." Lexi responded to Emily's command by dashing out of the room, tears building up behind her eyes. The dress lay on the floor, covered in dirt. Lexi hastily picked it up and carried it into the kitchen before filling the sink with hot water. She figured that the dirt would come off pretty quickly with hot water, and possibly an acid. Opening the fridge door, she spotted lemon juice and grabbed it. By now the sink was pretty full, so Lexi plunged the dress into it and began scrubbing vigorously. She added a few drops of lemon juice to the dirty areas as she worked. After she finished scrubbing and her hands were red from the heat and raw from scrubbing so hard, she pulled the dress out and hung it up to dry, seeing no spots on it. Whether it was still dirty or not would be determined only after it had dried. Lexi curled up in the corner of the kitchen with her chin on her knees and hugging herself, still wary of Emily's anger. She waited patiently for the dress to dry, absently stroking the black cat's head.