Arthur West's page

I finish my second cup of coffee and most of my pancakes,"Superb pancakes. Amanda, my dear, what can you tell us about the trails in the forest? I ask because I don't get out much. Do any of them lead to a beige house, something modest but striking?"

I add to the pile of cash for the bill, a sizeable tip included.

"Have you been having any weird dreams here as of late?"I lower my voice to a whisper and lean in,"I've been going through historical records for the town. Some strange happenings in these parts long before I got here. Amanda was saying she knew of some trails and I figured why not? She's pretty sharp and I respect her opinion."

I smile warmly at Amanda and swig my coffee.

I sit down and order a small stack of pancakes and a coffee.

"I appreciate her candor but I think I'm gonna need something sooner,"I load my coffee with sugar and creamer and nod to Amanda,"I think we should take a jaunt into woods when we're done here. You're welcome to join us, Mr.Pryce. "

The red haed says "Great to meet you. I am Cassie and this here..." She jerks her thumb in the other girls direction "Is Katie. We were all just planning a hike into the oak forest at some point this week. Interested?"

"Certainly, ladies, Amanda and I were about to discuss just such an excursion."

Sorry my posting's been sketchy lately. Had a few RL emergencies, I'll do better. Also, just need to plug in a few more stats for the Spire City, my skills mainly.

Damnit. Was really hoping to just talk with Amanda. Hmmm, maybe these people will know what I'm talking about. Hey, that's Mr.Pryce. I should let him know about his books.

"Arthur West,"I announce as we approach,"Nice to meet you all, only been here a few months."

I nod to Mr.Pryce,"Your books have arrived, Mr.Pryce. Once we finish up here we can stroll over to the library and get them to you."

Amanda ponders for a moment, raking her shoulder length sandy brown hair, with her long slender fingers. "No..." She says after a quiet moment. "Though, of course the oak forest is easy enough to find, with it surrounding the city and all...Have you gone looking for it yet? This house?"

"Well, how about I take you to breakfast, I haven't eaten yet this morning,"a common occurrence as of late,"Pancakes sound alright? You can tell me about anything you've seen in the forest around here in return?"

I like the sound of that and would love a link to the rules :)

"Well, I've been having this dream of sorts for a while now,"I pause as I look out the window, the sight of trees bringing the dream back into hard focus,"...a beautiful beige house wreathed in vines... red ceiling tiles... oak trees, yeah, oak trees all around. That voice... melodic, euphoric... so inviting..."

I snap back to reality, light and sound rushing back in as the dreamscape recedes. I shake it off and move around the desk.

"Ever hear of anything like that before?"I whisper as I sit down.

"Well, I had this dream... There was this voice and a,"I glance down at my phone,"9:15! Time to open up, 'Manda. Mind if we continue this a little later?"

I rocket out from behind my desk and quickly unlock the from door.

Good thing this is such a sleepy town... Sleepy? Now why would I use that word? Must have sleep on the mind still.

I shrug my shoulders and head back my desk.

"Let's see..."I slide my rolling chair over to the abnormally large number of packages I'd received overnight,"Got a few books here for Mr. Price, that'll make his day... Ah! Here we are: Maldrine's Keep, still haven't put it up yet."

I hand her the book and don't let go for a moment,"Have you been having any trouble sleeping lately?"

The details of the dream are still fresh but as I go to call them into focus they stay just out of reach.

"One of those days,"the anger ebbs away and I manage a wide smile,"Good morning, Amanda."

As if nothing was wrong before, the key easily does its job and the large wooden door creaks open.

"Ladies first, madame,"I say genuinely,"You know the routine."

Amanda arrives before I open fairly often so I usually give her free reign of the place while I sort through the small stack of mail, strangely infrequent email requests from town hall (usually newspaper articles), and any books turned in the return bin (my only genuine contribution to this place since I moved here.)

I reach the return bin, a few books are properly bound and lying on the cushioned bottom haphazardly while a number of them are simply splayed out, their pages ruffled and visibly bent or folded.

"Damnit,"I mutter as I frown deeply and begin righting the mess,"Simple instructions always seem hardest to follow."

Cage is back upon request...

I yawn loudly and wander groggily into the bathroom, the afterglow of the dream still fresh.

Thirty minutes later I'm speeding into town to work on my bike, the voice from the house still echoing in my ears and the image of that strange house lingering at the corners of my vision.

My master key to the town library catches in the lock and a flash of anger blinds me for a moment, my senses weirdly amped today...

Let me know if it's too much/too little.

OMG!!! Don't do that... O.o, scared the Nicholas Cage out of me, lol.

Cool, soon with the scares :D

Nick Cage can play any age! :P

Dropping in to let you know I am still here :)

Alrighty

My bad, so. When do we begin?

I am a Scooby doo picture it seems, lol

My eyes follow everyone...

LOL, was the least Fantasy human avatar I could tolerate.

This is JABIII, whaddya think?