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That was the last thing that Winnie expected. Well two of the last things. She didn't expect him to even want to enter, much less with her.

Did he know that she wasn't all that great of a cook? She made great pancakes, and fabulous desert, but knew nothing about what to do with meat when that came into the picture. Her cooking skills were all about the carbs. Pasta, bread, cake, muffins, pancakes. She could do all of that, but fish, chicken...beef? There was no way they'd win just on her, she was only an average cook.

She couldn't let him down though. That wasn't in her nature. If someone or something needed help, she would take the time to help them. Even if it meant taking time out of her own life. Anyway, Herman was her boss, this could get her a pay raise if she performed well.

Performed well? That wasn't the best way to put it. Like the word favor, the word performed came with many implications. Strippers did favors and preformed well, housewives didn't.

Maybe her mind was stuck in the gutter? Maybe those words didn't have such disgusting meanings? She couldn't help it though. She was trying to be two people at once, and it had all come so sudden. She would live to be pure, warm hearted Winifred, but the sultry Gwen wasn't quite ready to be put away. Especially with a girl like Bela around, Gwen would surely make her look like an angel.

No, that wasn't right? She needed to get her mind out of the gutter, and off of those actions. If she were to ever get married and have a normal life, rather than people treating her like dirt, this was the way that things would have to be. Besides, it wasn't that bad. She still got attention from men, even if it was purely friendly.

She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and looked up at Herman. Of course she couldn't say no. Why, she couldn't even tell him that most likely she would let him down. Maybe a big burly man like him was used to cooking meat? Maybe he was a hunter of some sort. If that was the case they'd make the perfect team. She smiled to herself, there was another phrase with further implications, perfect team. However this time, they were good.

Winnie mused about words perfect team, blushing harder. If only Herman knew what thoughts ran through her mind.

Missy reacted to Herman's touch, leaning her head to one side a little so he'd scratch her ear. Enough of that, it looked like he was taking Winnie to a more crowded place, people were in a line of some sort. The dog sat back down in the bag, putting itself as far in as possible.

"I can't guarantee you won't make a fool of yourself," the girl said, honestly, "however, it would be my pleasure to be your teammate." She smiled, it couldn't hurt to work with Herman. After all, she'd be doing it for years to come, he was her boss.

"Actually, I wasn't planning on entering, I was just going to watch, to see what the expert cooks did, and try to improve on my own. I guess it's probably more true, however, that practice makes perfect. So this is a better idea."

Ahh practice makes perfect, there goes another one of those phrases.

Bela? That didn't sound like her at all! Belle, perhaps, but Bela.. It wasn't as pretty as Jessica. Definitely not as good as that. So, instead of abiding by this silly, though pretty, woman's name, he would for now on call her Jessica. Now, to study – hm. Blond hair – almost platinum – full lips, deep blue eyes, her nose.. it was actually cute! And Gaston was a very picky nose person. He once had to have a moronic painter redo his work thirty-eight times to get the pesky nose right. He supposed it came from his mother – the woman had her plastic surgeon do the same on her nose. ..Not that it turned out very well in the end, but there was only so much a doctor could do. Especially if he was currently making a mediocre living in some third world country treating bot fly ailments. But, Jessica had a cute little upturn – a button nose. Skin looked smooth, nails could be done better, but she was a commoner. Hm.. Possible! Very, very possible! Oh! And she was flirting.. He returned that smile happily. She had brushed off that other man, hadn't she? Even if she was still.. looking.. But her attention was completely on him, as it should be! The woman knew taste! “Me? Cook?” He laughed, “No, no, no, Jessica, I've never been in the kitchen.” Which was completely true. “Florence has been, multiple times, though, and I decided that since he accompanied me, he should be allowed to try. After all, if those.. things over there,” He waved his hand towards those pesky Sex Bullets, “are allowed to join, then my Florence should be as well.”

~~~

Conor was about to retort with that same 'The ********' Keith threw at him, but then he actually listened and got what he had done wrong. That was right.. Blaire was some childhood friend, wasn't she? Meaning, she would recognize them if he started calling her by name and chatting, wouldn't she? Oh, ********. Maybe she didn't hear? ..Hell, he had been screeching her name for all to hear, so much so that that blue dude with Blaire had started to turn his head in curiosity. Though, Kade wasn't the best example, the man had ears like a bat when he wanted.. Conor didn't know that, though. He started looking for some kind of.. escape.. Blaire was over that way, couldn't go there.. ..Was that a panda? No, no, back onto subject – that was Blaire. Over there was Keith's brother and.. grandmother - “I don't.. think.. she knows who you are.” He said in awe before breaking into a snicker, “Your own granny doesn't recognize you! That's ******** up.” He shook his head and pushed the other towards the judges – they were still entering, right? Needed the food. “And you were scared shitless.. Come on, man, we'll just ignore them.”

~~~

Aha! And Herman had his winning teammate! He grinned broadly and patted the shoulder he had his hand on before letting her go. Winifred was a total sweetheart, big blues, gentle demeanor – she was the perfect picture of a housewife, so of course she knew how to cook! Probably could make a delicious meal, too. He hummed contently, breaking the tune to point over at the judges and say, “Perfect, sweetheart! Thanks.” He added sincerely and went on with a step in the judge's direction, “I'll go sign us up! Why don't you go get us a table to work with?” He suggested before leaving her to go fill out whatever form they needed. As he moved, he spotted a few faces of students and.. huh. They looked young, but he didn't see them as one of the transfers.. Oh, well, must be the baby-faced sort. That hairdresser he'd run into a couple of times was like that too. Kid looked like he was fifteen and acted like he was seven.. Which was why he moved around the line to avoid him, even though he seemed already wrapped up with a pair of cute girls. Vatonage – he remembered.. He turned his head back towards the judges and frowned as he saw the only one there he was willing to talk to was wrapped up with the mayor. Oh, well, he could stand here until they were done, no hurry.

~~~

Romane and Rachel had spoken for a short.. very short time before the redhead had her attention on the crowd again. They didn't need to speak, correct? They were working, no time for small talk. Besides, Romane was already putting more than enough attention on finding out whoever didn't want her here, even if she didn't have one – ah. She stopped in her constant scanning as she spotted something that was far too obvious for her to ignore. Fans. The monk – he was suspicious from the beginning, could be dangerous.. Well, everyone was dangerous, but his level was higher considering he carried that spear or staff around with him. Not to mention he was odd period. Was he giving away fans..? Why? That made no sense! This was a cooking festival, whatever could he be trying to do other than.. Was he hiding the fact he was selling something obscene under the table? Drugs? Weapons? The fans were flammable, she knew, he could be planning on setting a fire.. or – or he could be a serial killer doing some odd ritual to pinpoint a victim. That would be more than enough reason to – ah. The officer had already left Rachel without a word to cross the festival and stop in front of Cid. ..Alright.. Be subtle, she shouldn't be barging around demanding - “What are you doing here?” She demanded as she gave the box a look over, not touching the fans yet just in case there was some sort of needle tainted with poison inside. One never knew.

Gaston held a hand to Bela as the other girl came up and in.. a rather unusual outfit. Not bad unusual, it was pretty.. charming. Like an obscure painting or one of the statues he adored so much.. Foreign, exotic, uncommon. Though.. she appeared young.. Could it be the outfit itself? Oh, well, either way, he was mayor! He could do what he liked! Right? Right! He grinned to himself and raised a brow at what she was doing.. Was she writing a note out? ..Mute? Or.. perhaps she was afraid to speak in his presence! How humble! “'Could I please pet your panda bear'?” He read aloud (yes, he still had to do that, even at his age). He considered that for a second, looking around to ask Florence what he wanted, but then he saw that.. Florence was gone! His panda! Baby! Best friend in the whole world (or for that season) gone! Without a trace – oh, the tragedy! He bit his lip in worry for a total of fifteen seconds before he realized that he.. could get another one. Oh, phew. He was worried for a moment there. “Well, if you can find Florence, then you may. Now, shoo away.” He waved his hand towards her like one would a fly and turned back to Bela.

~~~

Ah. Well, suspicious or not, at least he seemed to understand her authority, which was more than some people could. Hm.. and she was also.. at height with him. Interesting, she was used to looking up at males, not being at eye level. She wasn't sure if that was alarming or not, but it was an observation she made before his staff.. spear.. spade, whatever it was, fell. She tensed, backed up a step, and had her gun halfway out before she could figure out whether he was attacking the table in some odd, maniac rage or not. Did those sort of things usually – ah! Damaging public property! He should be fined and that weapon should be confiscated! And he would be, after she was done interrogating him for leaving a fan inside her mailbox and threatening – oh. The redhead's train of thought stopped as he handed her the letter, looking as confused as she was when it came to it. But – then – what was he doing with – ah, first.. she should read this. She frowned and let her gun slide back into it's holster, eying the red ink curiously before opening it to read.

“...” Romane raised an eyebrow. Perfect.. The letter was mocking her. But, then, if someone were to leave a note here, then either they wrote it after she arrived.. Though, the fan. That meant that whoever was leading her around knew that the monk would be here with the fans.. And, from the look of that panda doodled at the bottom, that the mayor would be here with his.. pet. The only frustrating thing that she had realized at that moment was that she couldn't really do much aside from play along. Follow wherever she was lead for now, while keeping a watch for whoever was at the panda. The mayor? No, he didn't have a reason.. What was she thinking? Did anyone need a reason to commit.. Wait, what were they trying to commit? She turned from Cid and started to walk away, rereading the letter as she left. 'Someone'. A target.. homicide?! Oh, that wasn't safe in the least. Inform the sheriff? No, the man was incompetent, he wouldn't know what to do. Rachel.. she didn't know her very well, she could be the same as the sheriff. Romane could handle this on her own. Now, to find that panda..

He sure had seen her walking his way. He couldn’t help but stare at her all while his heart beated so fast that he was probably going to throw up in a minute of two. There it goes. Five years of perfect live ruined by a damn festival. He shoves his left hand into his pocket and frenetically started to look for his knife. He needed some protection. Something to assure him he wasn’t ********. Sure, Conor was right next to him and he would have trusted the boy with his life, but right now he needed something more… divine. His knife. Nothing came almost close to the bliss and peace of mind as that sharp tool. It was the only thing that could calm him when he had those panic (and anger) attacks. He immediately felt the usual sharp pain jolting through his arm when he grabbed the tool and sliced his palm. That, however, wasn’t enough. He started to move the tip of his thumb on top of it, making numerous small cuts. He knew how (and where) to cut himself to not leave scares or loose too much blood, but right now, he didn’t even care. He just needed to cut and it was either doing it really badly on his hand, or stabbing the first person that wasn’t Conor. Maybe those three weird person over there. Yeah, he was going to go and stab them. Who cared if he was going to jail or soething for that. Right now, he needed to cut and if he didn’t, he would die. He didn’t know how the ******** that would cause him to die, but he knew it will! ….
And then she walked right pass him. She.. hadn’t recognized him? Well, that calmed him a lot. A ******** lot. Still, not enough. He grabbed his packed of smoke using his hand that was bleeding and put one directly into his mouth, giving Conor a begging look. He was still heavily breathing from his almost panic attack. ”You go… Need to calm down… Use ID names… He told his friend, knowing that he would understand what he meant. Conor was lucky that they weren’t alone because he would have probably started to beg him to let him cut his arm or leg or anywhere really. He tried to do it as less as possible on his friend, but something, he just needed to do it.

Sweetheart? Ugh. She hated nicknames like that. She wouldn't mind it if they meant something. If she was actually his sweetheart, but he called all women that.

She rolled her eyes a little as she walked away to do as told, though she was still glad to help him. Maybe he'd be impressed by her average cooking skills anyway, though she thought otherwise.

She probably prove herself a bad wife, and then Herman would lose all interest in her. After all, he was an old man, he must have been thinking about settling down sometime soon. He was probably looking for the perfect wife. Winnie was far from that in her opinion, but it was what she was striving for.

There was a table they could use. She guessed she would just wait around until the competition started, or if Herman came over. Then they could discuss what they could make. After all, they were a team.

Dante's fingers were just about to touch the soft fur of the Panda when- The sky fell on him. "Oof.." Dante could barely register what had happened as the breath was knocked out of him. Well not the sky persay but three people. Two men and a girl? He wasnt sure. He was squished flat and blushed furiously. But he was disappointed that the Panda had surely run off. He couldnt tell.. someone's arm? Crotch? Leg? He didnt know at this point, was on his head, blocking his view. He could smell the different scents of all the people ontop of him. Another was touching his a**, Dear god where wasnt he being touched at this point!? Dante slapped his hands over his mouth and tried to keep himself from smiling at being crushed beneath three people! Jesus what was wrong with him! He couldnt stop the blush on his cheeks though.