Disclaimer: They're mine! All mine! *maniacal laugh* No, just kidding, they're not. However, they are little puppet people who I make do things. Enjoy. :]

Claire stepped onto her farm and looked at her field, only to see seven men at the end of the field getting rid of the last rock. Claire's hands flew up to her mouth. Her entire field had been completely cleared. Every rock had been moved into a pyramid formation at the very corner of her farm. The larger rocks and tree stumps had been smashed and chopped. Her field was completely clean. The seven men were sweating up a storm, all in work clothes and breathing heavily. Was this why Sasha was in such a hurry to get her off of her farm? Stunned, Claire took a couple steps forward before stopping. There wasn't a single weed in sight. The land was clean and ready to be worked for crops. There was no way she could work it all right now, she barely had enough energy to water the crops she had! But she would get stronger. Claire felt the land beneath her fingertips. It was warm and alive beneath her fingers. She got up and looked to examine the hard working men that had accomplished all of this in a mere four hours.

There was an old man with gray hair that had his shirt off. He had abs of steel, and seemed to be doing a lot of the work and the supervision. His face was covered with sweat, and as he carried along a hammer that glinted blue in the sunlight, Claire couldn't help but wonder if he was a real dwarf from one of the countless TV shows or video games she had seen. Even his voice sounded dwarf's voice, especially when he barked out orders. He was extremely muscular, and Claire wondered if he could touch his shoulders before another man caught her eye. As the dwarf barked orders at one particular man, Claire changed her focus to him. This dreamy man, who looked around her age, had a head of mildly orange/yellow hair with a pair of focused and almost scary blue eyes. Sweat soaked through his shirt and his jeans looked uncomfortably hot as he turned to keep doing his job. His eyes were still focused on the stones around him, this time with determination.

Another man clad in brown passed in front of the orange haired one, and Claire's eyes changed focus. His shirt was brown, his pants were tan and his shoes were brown, making Claire wonder both if he had no money for brighter clothes and why he wasn't collapsed on the ground from heat exhaustion. He moved the rocks around with ease. He seemed very happy to be working this day, but behind the happiness in his eyes, Claire could see a hint of sadness, as if he would already be sad to leave. Claire heard an 'Ow!' shouted by the pyramid, following some mumbled curses which drew her attention to a weaker looking man. He had taken his shirt off, probably to prevent heat stroke. Unlike the others, he wasn't muscled in any way, but walked much faster. Claire could tell this wasn't his forte. As he recovered from his mishap, he pushed his big round glasses up closer to his face and moved on.

Claire, still watching the pyramid, was surprised at the ease with which the next man did his work. He moved carefully yet swiftly, giving off a grace that surpassed the others by thousands and making his cool brown eyes seem even cooler. As he set down the rock on the pyramid, he took a deep breath and moved his shiny black hair out of his face. His calm brown eyes came up to meet hers. Claire's eyes locked on. For a moment, she forgot everything she was doing and just stared back. Suddenly, a voice snapped her out of it.

"Hey! You're here!" Claire was startled and pulled her eyes away from the black haired man just in time to see Karen approach. "Pretty great, huh? This place cleans up real nice." Claire laughed and looked out at her farm. It looked a thousand times better than it had before. All of these people had come to help, and she hadn't even asked. She assumed Sasha had been behind it all. Maybe she had been saving up favors for years in order to get everyone to come and help.

"Yeah, it's pretty great." Claire said, "I didn't think this field would have been cleaned in a million years..." Karen stood there for a second, taking it all in before she couldn't wait anymore.

"So, you probably want to know who everyone is right?" Karen questioned. Claire could tell it had been awhile since she'd gotten to talk about boys with another girl. Claire looked back over to the seven men, and then back at Karen.

"Well duh! Most of them are gorgeous." Claire replied, looking back at the men who had all resumed work by that point. This time she pointed a blonde man who was a little older than the rest, but still very good looking. He was working hard but always smiling and talking to the guys around him. The last man was tall tan and burly, carrying around the big rocks that the others couldn't carry, like it was his job to carry large items everywhere. That was all seven men, all able bodied and helping out despite what they might have been doing.

"Alright then!" Karen said, "See that one with the glasses? That's my friend Rick. He's been my friend forever, but please, feel free to take him off of my hands any time." Claire laughed. "No," Karen said, "I mean it. Please. I have things to do and places to see and he's always there! But that's alright. He's good company most of the time." Claire nodded and then looked through the workers.

"Who's the one with the blonde hair? He seems to get along with everyone." Claire said, pointing out the man who was now chatting with the gray haired man.

"Who Carter? Oh, he's the priest. He does get along with everyone. He's really generous and loves kids. He doesn't really seem to pay much attention to females as more than friends though. He's got an obligation to the Harvest Goddess. Or, that's what I think. I don't know, maybe he's just not attracted to anybody. He's 28, and I think he came here from the city. Mom said he started here as a young priest, and that people have always loved his sermons." Karen explained. Claire nodded.

"He looks so much happier than the rest of them." Claire noted. Karen nodded.

"Yep, never been tied down, always looking up." Karen laughed, "It's a wonder he hasn't floated away."

Claire inspected the crowd again, her eyes resting on the orange haired boy who was still too focused on his work to notice she had arrived.

"What about him?" Claire said, pointing him out. Karen looked closely and then made a sound of disapproval. Claire looked over to Karen to explain. Karen saw her stare and sighed.

"That's Gray." Karen said in a bored tone, "He just turned 21. So far, he's just way too focused on what he's doing. He's his grandfather's apprentice. His grandfather is the dwarf man over there, see? Well, anyway, Gray is training to be a blacksmith and his grandpa is waaaay too hard on him, so when he's not working, he's skulking around, and when he's not skulking, he's working. Well, and going to the library. I think he's got a thing for Mary, but it's so hard to tell with those two. Sometimes I think he's just ready to snap and explode, so be careful if you're having your tools renovated." Claire nodded, now being able to recognize the frustration etched deep into his face. Karen looked around and spotted another boy of interest.

"Oh!" Karen said, "See the guy in brown?" Claire nodded.

"Yeah, I saw him earlier. His hair is so luscious." Claire said, taking a hold of her own. It was soft, but it didn't look as good as the boy in front of her. Karen laughed at Claire's comment and explained.

"That's Cliff," Karen started, "He's new in town. He moved here about six months ago, looking for a job. Rumor says he's just about out of money, but nobody here has a job for him yet. I wonder how long he can hold on for before he has to go back to his old town. He's never really told anyone where he's from, I wonder if he just wanders from town to town. He's too distracted looking for work to fraternize... I think. I've never tried. Wait... maybe I have. I don't know. I don't remember half of the things I do when I'm drunk." Claire laughed at her comment and Karen cleared her throat.

"I'll have to go drinking with you sometime," Claire said, "I think it'd be funny." Karen snorted.

"I think you should too. Rick gets it in mind that you have to have deep conversations when you're drunk so you tell the truth. I just wanna have some fun, not reveal my deepest hopes and fears in a lapse of mental judgement." Karen sighed, then pointing out Zack.

"That's the shipping guy. You know, the big buff one. He's totally crushing on Rick's mom, but Rick's father has been gone for years trying to find the perfect medicine to heal his mom." Karen said with a sigh, "I don't hear the end of it... Rick's really sad that his father's gone, and really over worked too. I kind of pity the guy." Claire looked to the seven men again who had finished the pile and were now talking in a group. She found the black haired man again and found him looking at her. She blushed and looked away, turning to Karen.

"I have to know, who's the black haired guy? Please tell me he's not married." Claire said, crossing her fingers and closing her eyes tightly. Karen laughed.

"Wow, developing a crush already? Well, you better stop. That's the doctor. He's Dr. Tim Robins.. Don't ever call him Tim. He's really professional... are you sure he's your type? He's super mature, even though he's only 24. He's smart, handsome, AND kind. But... because of the way he is, everyone thinks he'll get married to his receptionist." Claire dropped her arms and looked wide eyed at Karen.

"What?" Claire said, looking over at him again, "But they're not even together? I have to have hope then..." The doctor looked up at Claire and smiled at her this time. Claire smiled back and waved shyly. Karen looked over at the doctor and then over at Claire. She laughed an astonished laugh.

"Wow... I think he's putting the moves on you. He won't even look me in the eye in town. In fact, he doesn't talk to many people besides Ellie and her family." Karen said, "Huh.. who knew. I wish some guy would put the moves on me. You know, besides Rick's incessant hinting that we should be more than friends."

Claire finally allowed herself to look away. She laughed at Karen and then kicked up a little dust from the ground. Karen smiled devilishly. Claire looked up and then turned wide eyed.

"Let's go meet them!" Karen said, grabbing Claire's hand and dragging her towards them.

"Let's go what!" Claire exclaimed. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute, a group of seven guys she'd never seen before this moment starting right at her approaching. What would she do!

Well, that's chapter seven! I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to read and review!