When Yasmine started to come too she heard voices talking around her. She couldn’t quite remember exactly what just happened, but this feeling was strangely familiar. The dull throb in her head from when she whacked her head yesterday told her exactly what happened.

“Crap, did I hit my head again? I’m gonna get brain damage at this point…Uhgg, who is that talking?” Her thoughts were muddled, and it was hard to focus.

“Roger, just what didja' do to the poor girl?” A female voice said, sounding like they were standing right near her.

“I didn’t do nuthin'. I just asked her if she needed something, and she starts to get pale and freakin out, so I hop over the counter, and she just conks out like a light.” That was the same voice of the man that she thought was robbing the place.

“You done scared the poor lil' thing half ta' death ya did. Have ya looked at yer self? Yer a complete mess. What, did Lilly go and kick you out again?” The feminine voice spoke with a twang that reminded her of an old western romance she had watched with her grandpa once. It was sweet and soothing.

“Nah, I just had a bit too much ta' drink and decided it was best I sleep here sted of go’in home drunk and gettin' a thrashin'.” The woman let out a heavy sigh at this.

“I swear, how you ever got to become mayor, I will never know.” She said with a grumble.

“The homeless burglar was actually the mayor?!” This was probably what actually woke her up the most as she let out a groan, her eyes slowly fluttering open.

“Ope, she's wakin' up.” The woman said in surprise. “Easy now there, darlin', take yer time gettin' up, you took a Lil snooze on us.” Her voice still rang sweet and kind, obviously the nurturing type.

When Yasmine finally got her eyes open again, she was greeted by the strawberry blonde curls of a woman looking down at her with a bright smile. Her face was somewhat concealed by her large chest covered by a dark pink pantsuit.

“Mornin' sunshine,” Roger said as he looked over her as well, but he was standing and was way up high. Yasmine’s head was resting on something soft yet firm. Like a good pillow, you finally break in. That was when she realized that she was actually resting on this woman’s lap. Her face flushed pink at this.

“Will you move back, ya oaf? Yer scarin' the poor thing. Sorry bout him, dear. He may look like a complete mess and act like one, but he’s mostly harmless.” She said, brushing her fingers through Yasmine’s dark brown locks.

“W-who are you people?” It was the only question that she could ask as she slowly started to push herself up. The woman was quick to hold her and gently help her sit up.

“Hehe, we were wonderin' the same thing' bout you, but my name is Marla Sinclair. I’m the town clerk. That big guy there is Roger Dupoint. He’s the Mayor, though there are more mayoral traits in a striped bass than him.”

“Now, what’s that spose' ta’ mean?”

“At least a striped bass looks like it’s wearin’ a suit.” Marla gave Yasmine a wink as she straightened out her pants and stood up before offering her a hand. The joke was a little odd, but she couldn’t help the small smile it garnered. They both looked at her, obviously expecting her to introduce herself as well.

“Oh! Sorry, I’m uhh, Yazzie- I m-mean Yasmine Roberts, I was- I am here for the deputy city clerk position. I was told to meet someone here at seven.” Marla’s face lit up at this news.

“That's right! I plum forgot you were comin' today!” She said, clapping her hands together. Roger looked less than impressed, but granted, he also looked like he was nursing a nasty hangover as well. Still not sure how someone like him was the mayor unless they were just playing a joke on her.

“Oh, I am so excited to finally have some help round here at last. Ooooo, I might actually get to take a vacation this year!” Marla gushed, grabbing Yasmine’s hands in excitement.

“What were those two weeks you took off a few months ago, then?” Roger chimed in, and she turned to scowl at him.

“Ya mean the two weeks I spent knockin on death's door cause of that spoilt venison ya brought in.” Roger just raised his hands in defeat, having obviously forgotten that little fact. When Marla turned back to Yasmine, she had the same cherub-like smile on her face.

“Come on, I will show you to your new station, and we will get you all set up with payroll and duties. You will be working directly under me, so I’m sure we are gonna be like two peas in a pod in no time!” She quickly linked up arms with Yasmine and started to pull her along. At this point, she was just going along with whatever the over enthusiastic woman was saying. She seemed very sweet, at the very least.

Marla turned to look at Roger once more, her face twisting into a vicious snarl. “And you! Go home and get yer self cleaned up, and don’t come back till ya do!”

“Gad ya nag worse than my old lady.” Roger shot back, wincing from her loud voice.

“How that woman hasn’t lost her marbles dealin' with you yet, I will never know. Now go!” She shouted once more, making him wince and cover his ears.

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“Alright, alright, I’m goin', sheesh.” Roger was about to leave like she said before, but he felt something was missing. His hand went to the empty holster on his hip. Turning around to the counter, he leaned over it quickly.

“What on god’s green earth are ya doin' now, ya bafoon?!” Marla said with a groan before looking back at Yasmine. “I am so so sorry bout him dear, he ain’t normally like this, I swear.”

“Ah, there ya are,” Roger said with half his body over the other side of the counter. When he stood back up, in his hand was a shiny silver long-barrel revolver. The sight made Yasmine freeze up at the sight. He really did have a gun on him.

“Roger!” Marla nearly screamed, making him nearly crumple to the floor in agony. “You brought yer colt into a government building while drunk, no less!” Her face was beet red in fury, squeezing Yasmine’s arm with hers tight. It didn’t hurt, but it showed just how angry she was at the man. Roger quickly held out his hands to her, the revolver hanging from his finger.

“Now, Marla, relax, It ain’t loaded or nothing, I wouldn’t bring a loaded weapon in here. I aint that dumb. You know I just feel naked without it. ”He spoke a bit too confidently, like this bit of would calm her down.

“You shouldn’t have any weapons! Did you unplug the detector again!? You… you… Just go home, Roger!” She yelled once more, pointing to the exit.

“I’m goin', I’m goin'.” He said, smoothly holstering the revolver and walking quickly towards the door.

“I swear they don’t pay me enough to babysit that man,” Marla grumbled one last time before taking a long, deep breath, her complexion quickly returning to normal. She gave Yasmine an apologetic look.

“I am so sorry hon, I’m sure we are just makin’ the absolute worst first impression. But we ain’t bad people, things are just done different out here than in the big cities.” It was just something about her soft smile and sweet tone that made forgiving the woman so easy. Yasmine shook her head, giving a small smile back.

“I-It's okay. If I want to be a local official, I’m gonna have to get used to the people that live here at some point. This was a good wakeup call.” She said, making a small joke, prompting Marla to go a bit wide eyed before laughing softly.

“Haha, you are gonna fit right in, dear. An with how cute ya are, I’m sure all the boys will be crawlin on their hands and knees tryin’ ta’ win ya over.” She said with a wink, making Yasmine blush slightly. “Right, now let's get down to business!” Marla then led her over to the elevator. It took a moment to register what was going on, but when it did, Yasmine stopped dead in her tracks, almost yanking the other woman with her.

“What's wrong, dear? Are ya still not feelin’ well?” Marla asked with concern. Yasmine shook her head rapidly.

“I uhh, I’m really badly claustrophobic, and elevators kinda freak me out. D-do you mind if I take the stairs?” Marla put a hand to her mouth in mild shock.

“Oh you poor dear, yes of course, really, since it's only a two story building, the elevator is just here for accessibility standards. But we are just a bunch of lazy S.O.B’s and take it all the time. Come on, they are just to the side here.” Marla quickly led them to a set of stairs, and Yasmine felt her heart rate drop considerably. Once they got up the stairs, they were met with a much more open floor plan that had desks with computers spread all throughout and doors along the walls.

It was pretty much empty aside from the light clacking of keys coming from a single desk. There sat a man who looked a bit ragged. Not as bad as Roger, but not good. His light brown hair was disheveled and his small glasses sat at the bridge of his nose and he wore an untucked and overly wrinkled white button up. If she had to guess, she would say he was in his early thirties. As they walked, a bit closer and walking by Marla spoke up.

“Mornin Jeffery.” Her voice was as cheery as ever.

“Uh huh…” A low, monotone voice said in response as he continued to tap away at the keys. When they got out of ear shot, Marla spoke up again.

“That's one of the I.T. crew. ‘Parrently the poor boy has insomnia something fierce, so he stays here a lot of the nights. He does his own thing mostly, but since he does good work and we don’t have much of a staff here, we don’t mind. Long as he refrains from doin’ anything shady. But he’s good people, just a lil different.” The two then walked to a door that had a plaque that read. "Accounting and Records”

Once the doors to the room were opened, Yasmine saw a forest of file cabinets. Her eyes bulged at the sight. In this modern era, the fact that anyone would still be using this many physical records was unheard of. There was also a large square of desks off to the side of the room by a large window. There were two computers that looked a little outdated.

One of the stations was obviously Marla’s, as it was decorated out the wazoo. There were photo frames everywhere with little trinkets spotting the desk. Quirky and silly comic strips were taped to the back and sides of her monitor. Yasmine was honestly shocked that the woman had enough room to do her job with so much desk real estate taken up. Honestly, it felt like if she sat down at the desk, it would trigger a claustrophobia attack.

“This here is my desk, and right behind me will be yours! Please, feel free to make it your own with whatever ya like!” Yasmine smiled at this, though she really didn’t plan on doing much of anything to her workspace especially. Much preferring a neat minimalist style.

“Thank you, Marla. Ummm, can I ask why there are so many physical files? Shouldn’t all of this be uploaded to the governmental servers?” Marla suddenly looked a bit sheepish at the question.

“Umm, well ya see, the important stuff does, but a lot of the record keepin' doesn’t. It's just been me for several years now, and every time I make a little dent, more things come in, and I’m back to square one.” The look of shame on her face was a bit sad. The fact that she even managed to break even with so much work by herself was impressive. Usually, departments like this would have at least five people all working together to keep everything squared away.

“I-I didn’t mean to insinuate you were bad at your job or anything. Really, I’m impressed you kept all this in check by yourself. You’re amazing, Marla.” Yasmine suddenly blurted out when she thought she might have insulted the friendly woman. The same wonderful smile came back to Marla’s face, and she waved the compliment away.

“Oh stop, I don’t need ya butterin' my bread like that. I am just happy that I will have some help at last. No one from the city wants to come out here to work for less than a retail job there. And all the kids here would rather work on the local farms and ranches. So, we have always been short handed. It's just how things have always been. But enough jawin’. Let's get you all set up, shall we?” Yasmine nodded in understanding and gave a small smile as they walked over to the stations.

As understaffed as it was, it was quiet and work she knew she excelled at. The large window next to her desk also had an amazing view of the distant hills. It felt like she could really grow to love this job if even half the people were as friendly as Marla. Almost certain that this was where she belonged. She couldn’t wait to gush about her new job to Monty when she got home, aside from the rather rough first impression.