almost that silence*[NATHUR<3]

[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]At least once a week, there was always something out of the ordinary that happened. Typically, those weren’t good happenings. The type that would have to get his title involved and someone else kicked out. Or couldn’t kick someone out. Or had to break up a fight. There was always something. The life of a bookstore owner wasn’t as peaceful and quiet as the title predicted it would be. Still, it was much better than where he had been in the past. That was all that mattered. He had to repeat that in his head over and over to keep it sane. This time of year was one of the worse. Don’t get him wrong- he enjoyed the holiday generally. It was all of the crap that society liked to place upon the rest of the citizens and the stores. All the ‘at least once a week’ was starting to turn into ‘at least twice a week’ type of thing. There were always people wanting to come in to try to get away from the cold. Arthur tried his best to keep it cozy and quiet in there, but there was only so much he could enforce and do. This week, however, no instances have occurred. Which made him predict it was going to be today. He wasn’t that lucky to have a week off.

Despite his suspicions, nothing too bad had happened so far. It wasn’t very late in the day, but at least morning had already passed. Morning people were usually the calmest. Every once in a while, he encountered some people that were still drunk after the entire time of gulping down as many shots as they could muster. They had to be kicked out immediately. Arthur was sure he was one of the few owners who enforced the law and right to kick anyone out for any reason like it was part of his religion. As far as he saw it, if he was able to do it, he would. If he was abusing the power, someone could come in and warn him. It wasn’t as if the police force was going to come in full force after never being told this before. Sure, he got complaints. Reality was it was impossible for any business not to get complaints. Before the previous owner died, he had told Arthur a couple of tricks that was only learned on the job. There were times he missed the old man, but how was that different than most of the other people in his life?

He took a break for a moment to go upstairs and have lunch. There were many people who wondered was on the upper level, possibly thinking he was stocking more books up there. Nope. That was his home. He lived in his business. Sometimes it was a pain, but the convenience made up for everything else. The place was simple. No extra little things here or there. No pictures. Few knick knacks. It might as well been a place with a bed, stove, fridge, bathroom, and dresser. There was a few other things he had, like a microwave. A few nightstands here and there. It could have been said that his room much matched his personality. There was much more to Arthur than met the eye, but it was so far deep in him that he himself didn’t bother going to look for it. If others had the wrong impression of him, it didn’t bother him. Not in the way that it should have bothered most people. With a shake of his head, he lurked through his fridge for some jelly to make the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Living on the street during his young adult and teenage years for so long made him almost immune to food. Good food had to be the best thing he would ever experience, but it was a luxury he didn’t have often.

Next to his stand was a potion that he was let sitting. It had to sit for twenty-four hours before he could add the other ingredients. He had made it before, and it was for the constant ache that he had in his shoulder. Many times, he had told himself to go to the doctors or something to see what was going on, but he never had the opportunity to go over. Arthur kind of thought the industry of doctoring was pretty useless for witches and warlocks. What humans could do in a couple of moments, a witch or warlock was able to do with a couple of magic tricks. Literal magic tricks. Something he had tried to do for a while, but it hadn’t been much. Finishing the last crumbs of his sandwich, he glanced lightly at his abandoned guitar. When he had the heart, he went out and played it. Not one of those days.

He walked back stairs to see that everything was still standing. A couple of people had come in and some left while he was on his small ‘lunch break’. Arthur wasn’t one of those people that needed a constant need of entertainment. Honestly, a boring day with little events and few people sounded better than the alternative. As he walked back to the counter, filing a couple of new orders and requests made by the frequent visitors, he heard his little bell on his shop rang. At first, he had been hesitant to put in the bell for the thought of how annoying it could potentially be, but it did give the right atmosphere for it. Walking into a homey bookstore. Course it had to have a bell. Plus, he always liked to take a glance and see who it was. Or who was leaving. The bell wasn’t truly as terrible as he might have thought in the beginning. The bell seemed to always be an automatically switch going from Arthur to professional Arthur. His head shot up and stood very tall to see over the counter properly. Little did he know that the ring of the bell introduced a customer he was going to know well for the rest of his lifetime.

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KEL/NATALIE. THAT BETTER? NEED TO READ THREAD OF JFOEPAWJ

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TILLIE AT CAUTION

[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

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baby, maybe i’m a little bit confused

Take one glance at Natalie Hawthorne and you wouldn’t peg her as a book person. For the most part, it was true. She was a party girl, the one who liked to dance the night away and wasn’t always the most sober every time it happened. Natalie was the type of person who liked to be up and moving and constantly have some sort of activity going on or otherwise she’d feel like nothing was happening. The girl could get easily bored and loved surprises because they kept things new and interesting. It could be hard to hold her attention sometimes when she always expected to.

With all of that, it was hard to believe that Natalie liked to read. People often did a double take or laughed at her if she said it, thinking she was joking. The two things – her personality and enjoying reading – just didn’t seem like they should mesh together in one person. But that seemed to be Natalie for you; the girl was full of contradictions sometimes. And well, she did enjoy reading from time to time. She wasn’t a super huge bookworm who read all the time nor was she the type of person who could sit down with a book like War and Peace or some other challenging book and get enjoyment out of reading it. But it didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate getting to escape reality for a couple of hours with a book that was well written and not necessarily hard to get into.

Though Natalie definitely had a type of story she liked and gravitated towards: love stories. Happy, sad, modern, or old, it didn’t matter to her. There was just something about love stories that made her heart feel as if it would swell and burst. She loved falling in love with the characters and rooting for them to be together despite all odds and impossible circumstances. And even when you finished the book, the characters stuck with you. Sometimes she would wish her life could be like one of those love stories. One of the ones with a happy ending of course. It sounded so middle schoolish, but it didn’t stop Natalie from sometimes wishing she was whatever character so she could find her perfect Prince Charming too.

Sure, some people thought Natalie was being ridiculous when she expressed things like that. They wrote her off as having her heads in the clouds and believing in things that didn’t exist. Maybe it was true in some aspects – Nat had never been one to accept cold, hard reality – but she wasn’t too concerned about it. Wasn’t it better to be happy and expect the best out of things, even if it could lead to disappointment sometimes, than to automatically assume the worst and resign yourself to having little to no hope. She didn’t see how people could be happy that way, though she did know people sometimes lived like that.

But well, that was their choice, even if Nat didn’t agree with it. People could do whatever with their lives, she guessed. So Natalie was going to do what she wanted with hers. And today that consisted of going to get a new book to read because she had finished her other one and she needed another love story. The last book, while good, had pretty much torn her heart to pieces and stomped on the pieces for good measure. Now she needed a happier love story to help her get over the heartbreak of the last story. Basically a love story pick me up, of sorts.

Natalie decided she should visit the new bookshop to find her book. Well, it wasn’t really new to Manuka, seeing as how it had been there for a while, from what she understood. But it was new to Natalie because she had never actually ventured in there. She had only ever really gone to big chain bookstores since they pretty much always had what she was looking for. Nat had heard good things about this store and thought it might be a nice place to venture to. At least it was supposed to have a homey atmosphere and she thought it might be a nice place to curl up with a book for a little bit.

A ring of a bell announced Natalie’s arrival and at first it seemed like she was the only person in the store. At least, she didn’t see anyone until someone popped up from behind the counter, most likely alerted by the bell. Now he was quite attractive. Natalie didn’t even have to be all that close to him to know that. Just from here, she could take in his dark eyes and hair, both of which Natalie found highly attractive. Damn, she should’ve come here much, much earlier. It would have made book shopping that much more entertaining and enjoyable. Nat smiled one of her charming smiles and waved slightly. “Afternoon!” she greeted, before wandering off to look at the shelves. The girl wanted to find a book as quickly as possible so she could go flirt with the cute bookshop owner.

Only problem was, Nat had no idea where she was going. It wasn’t that the bookshop itself was disorganized, per say, but Natalie herself was. She was so used to the bookstore chains that had every section clearly (and sometimes excessively) labeled with big signs hanging from the ceiling or with little tags on the shelf so you could know exactly what you were looking at. Nat was sure there was some sort of system to everything here, but she couldn’t say she was quite acquainted with it. At this rate, it would take Natalie days to find something that could fit her criteria. On the plus side though, needing help meant she’d have to talk to the store owner.

With that in mind, Natalie turned and headed back towards the front of the store, a small smile on her lips. She waited until she was at the counter before actually talking. “Excuse me,” she said lightly, trying to get his attention without seeming pushy. “Sorry to bother you, but could you point me in the direction of your romance section?” If she was lucky, he’d offer to walk over with her, providing more time to try to chat with him. This was a good bookstore indeed.

TAGGED: EMILY WITH ARTHUR <3 OUTFIT: CLICK

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY WILMETTA OF CAUTION.

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[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]As soon as she stepped in, Arthur could tell she was something else. Whatever that other else was, was the mystery he was going to be forced to find out. There was just a shift in the air. When one was able to do magic (although not very well), one could sense a shift in the air when a particular soul walked in. Arthur was never sure on how it worked, but he never really questioned it in the past. He just nodded and did what he was told. Much like how he survived multiple times in the past. It was amazing what one could accomplish if one just let their pride go. Although it wasn’t as if he was known for his pride. How could someone like Arthur have much pride after the life he had been through? He wouldn’t be really called modest or humble either though. Arthur just knew the facts. He knew what he was and that he was very ordinary. Another man in another time.

She was certainly beautiful. Arthur had been able to meet many people, but he did have to admit this was among the greatest he had ever met. It could have been just new sparkly first impression, but he was amazed at first. Still, looks only caught his attention for a few seconds of enlighten memories. Then his mind shut back to its normal position. Like most beautiful women he knew, she was probably vain and liked to push it whenever she could. He wanted to huff, trying to figure out what she was doing in there. But he supposed that most could read a couple. It always amazed him of what kind of people walked in here. Quiet were the typical ones- and they were his favorites. He liked to keep them welcome and invite them in at any time. Every once in a while, there was a single soul that he wondered if perhaps the person was lost. This woman could be lost. They often liked to think he was suddenly a damn atlas because he owned the place.

Still, he knew better than to judge. He knew what it was like to be on that other side. To be on the other side of the face that was looking down upon him. Oh, a man that had no home and was playing a guitar for a couple of change dollars. Must have been on drugs. Must have drunk himself out here. Must have had a family and is probably father to five children. He’ll only use this money for more of the lifestyle that got him there. Even if he understood most came out there like that (even Sadie had gone down that path) it was unfair to think of all of them. So he kept his cool and tried not to overthink that extremely perky greeting. ”Afternoon mam.” He focused on the charm of her smile instead and gave a small one back. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with what he might have assumed, but as she went over to look at all the shelves, his worries went away. He went back to what he was working on, separating and labeling some of the newest additions. More tedious tasks, but they made it easier for customers. That’s what it was all about.

Before he knew it, she was at him again. He did appreciate her not sounding impatient or annoyed like so many ‘excuse me’s he had to deal with. His brown eyes looked back up and saw that the redhead had found herself up there. As soon as she opened her mouth, he understood completely. Ah, he should have guessed. The ones that were the target of every single romantic book on the planet- hopeless romantics. Arthur wasn’t the one to believe in any of that. He had come close to it once, and it only caused him pain. He couldn’t imagine if he had actually truly loved her like one would love a soul mate and then loose her. It could have been cowardly of himself, but he was content with his life and saw no desire to change it. Still, there was something out there that most people were willing to fight for and he respected that. Plus, she wasn’t the only person in the world who enjoyed them, so there was no reason for singling her out. He was also interested in how many excuses he was having to make. Clearly this wasn’t really his day for flattery. But he was going to have to push that away and give that friendly face anyway. There was no smile, but there wasn’t an unpleasant look on his face. Just almost interested as he paused for a moment. Now where did he put those?

She looked older than a teenager, so he would just have to skip the little teenager supernatural romance section. It was amazing how accurate some of them were while others he knew were enough to choke up and laugh at. It was a different world when one knew the actual truth. But he supposed she was any other human. He nodded and walked around his counter, ”Of course, right this way.” Pointing was pretty useless in a place like this. Because of the small, but tall scruture, there was quite a lot of corners that needed to be gone around. It wasn’t as if he could say the ‘third one down’. It was more like the second one down, five to the left, around the corner, and at the very bottom to the mid area. On the wall that was perpendicular to the wall. Arthur walked in front of her, walking straight to the place and hoping he wasn’t going to have to direct her out of there. It was right next to the coffee place, as he found that romantics loved to read and drink. Just a nice combination. ”Right here. You have the uh- history based all the way to the angels.” He pointed pleasantly- completely faking it and not wanting to say supernatural. Somehow seemed taboo to say. ”Anything else I can help you with?” The usual answer was ‘no’ or she would have asked, so he was ready to go back to his counter and start once again.

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KEL/NATALIE. NO ARTHUR NO FLUFFIES STOP IT

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TILLIE AT CAUTION

[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

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baby, maybe i’m a little bit confused

Well it would seem that Natalie got her wish. He was going to have to direct her. The bookstore was too crammed with shelves to have the simple point and direct method to work. Not that his bookstore was overfilled or messy or claustrophobic or anything of the sort. No, Nat liked being surrounded by so many books. It was a homey, comfortable feel, like she was welcomed to stay for as long as she liked, looking at books or reading the first couple of pages of ones to see if she wanted to buy that book. She didn’t have that feeling that she needed to get in, find what she needed, and leave as soon as possible like you sometimes got from chain bookstores. The girl had to say, she’d have to come back here next time she wanted a book.

And if Natalie had thought the owner was attractive before, his voice made him over the top irresistible. His big, dark eyes had been enough to suck Natalie in but his voice. Actual music to her ears. He had one of those voices that sounded like it could perfectly reflect any emotion he might have. Like if he were happy about something or super passionate, you’d know it simply from his tone because it’d become that animated. And if he were upset, just the sound of his voice would break your heart. That was all Natalie working with her basic intuition though. She hadn’t really heard much other than a polite, professional tone from him, but Nat had always followed her gut instinct and it was telling her he’d have this kind of voice that would make her go crazy. She’d just have to try to get him to be happy about something. If she was lucky, maybe Natalie could get him to laugh because she could guess he’d have a nice laugh too.

Natalie was so distracted by her inner curiosity and planning that she basically missed the guidance he had just given her to try to find a book. Well whoops. It wasn’t unusual for Nat to zone in and out of a conversation, especially when she started in depth thinking about feelings and coming to conclusions like she was right now. She felt a little guilty about it, seeing as how the bookstore owner was really trying to help her, just like she had asked him to. But unfortunately, little Miss Natalie rarely had control over where her focus would wander next. Most of the time it was a bad thing, but she hadn’t really been able to fix it, no matter how hard she tried.

Luckily, Nat caught the last question he asked or she might’ve lost more of an opportunity to talk to him. He had asked if she needed anymore help and Natalie got the feeling that if he said no, he’d just head back to the counter and continue whatever he was doing before he got here. So the girl was going to need help. She quickly flipped through questions she could ask him before settling on one. Something simple. Natalie really shouldn’t have taken that long to come up with it. “What book to you suggest?” Nat questioned, lightly touching the bookstore owner’s forearm by the elbow to get his attention since he had already started to turn to head back to the counter. “I’m trying to find something with a happy ending.” There. That should at least buy her a couple more seconds before she could think of another question. And Natalie really did want a good book with a happy ending. It had been the entire point of going book shopping, after all.

The girl picked up books with interesting covers while she waited for suggestions, flipping them over to glance at the back description before placing it back on the shelf. Natalie knew you weren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but she found herself doing that more often than not when it came to her picking a book. She was rarely patient enough to read through the entire summary of the book before she was reaching for another cover that looked more promising. It was just what happened when she was so excited about buying and reading a new book. In all honesty, the best equivalent Nat could come up with for herself was a little five year old with a gift card for a toy store. There was an endless possibility of things she could buy and it always made her choice super difficult. Exactly why she needed the bookstore owner to help.

She just hoped he didn’t get tired of her super quickly. Some people did, seeing how Natalie was kind of the tiring sort of person. It took a lot to keep up with her sometimes and it could annoy people if they didn’t have the energy to do so. Nat definitely didn’t want to make this store’s owner hate her, especially after she had already started to fall in love with the store itself. Sure, the super adorable owner was a plus, but Nat was starting to realize that she could spend a lot of her time here and be very content with it. It’d be hard to spend so much time here if the guy who was in charge of everything disliked her. And, well, Natalie couldn’t say she really did well with people disliking her, especially ones of the handsome variety.

TAGGED: EMILY WITH ARTHUR <3 OUTFIT: CLICK

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY WILMETTA OF CAUTION.

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[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]It wasn’t that Arthur had many things to do. In all honesty, he had all day and all night. Some people were under the impression that he never left the store. That part wasn’t true, but sometimes he really felt like it. He couldn’t complain much since this place really did save his life, but there were times he actually got out of the walls in order to receive some different air. He also liked to visit the few amount of friends. When he meant small amount, he meant enough to count on his hands, perhaps one if he narrowed down the definition of friends further. Most of the time, when he knew someone in Manuka, it was on a bad reputation. Arthur had been there relatively a long time now. Ever since he ran away from foster care, he had been running around the streets of Manuka. He wasn’t sure if people still recognized him. His face hadn’t changed very much, although his hair had been cut short as opposed to past his shoulders. What? During that time, haircuts weren’t exactly on his priority list.

Arthur was hoping he didn’t have to be here with her very long. Although there wasn’t much else to do around there, he got annoyed easily. His face showed nothing but a professional look, but on the inside, he was grumping and groaning all over the place. Arthur didn’t like to base off of first impression, but he knew that almost every judged the book by the cover. If people didn’t, the authors wouldn’t have made the covers look the way they did. They’d all be white paperbacks with words on the front if it had nothing to do with the title. While he was sure this was a very nice woman or whatnot, he couldn’t help but get the feeling she was just the type that he dreaded. It could have just been a first few moments. Arthur needed to learn to calm himself down faster. There was no right in his eyes to be able to judge someone else because of the first things that popped out of their mouth. He knew he was going to do it, but the least he could do was not have it effect how he treated her. One of the reasons immortals terrified was him was the thought of one of them sticking their head into his business.

Leaving the point had been really on his mind, but this beautiful beauty had another plan in her head. Arthur compressed a wanting sigh and turned to look at her instead with the same facial expression. This question was asked often, so he wasn’t sure why it irked him so much this time to be asked. Must have been the day or the section. This was also a bit of a struggle. He read most of the books in this place just for years of gaining them and all the free time he had in this place, but the romance section he knew very little about. He knew reviews and what some of his customers said. However, they only seemed to rant about books they were mad about, which wasn’t really going to help with this particular one. ”I’m afraid you caught me on this one. I don’t read romantics often.” He admitted, saying it with a lighter tone, but again, faking it. Although he wasn’t going to lie to her, he wasn’t going to bash down something she was obviously very passionate about. Whatever fit her he supposed. It was all he had to repeat in his head to keep from making any faces.

Of course she was going to want the one with the happy ending attached to the end. The one that had to be the most unrealistic out of all of them. The one thing that he did like about romantic books (and trust him, it was even a stretch) was that some of them were able to grasp reality. Really, in real life, was the man that had never met you before going to fall in love with you at the first glance? Was he going to run in the middle of the wedding proclaiming his love for you? Furthermore, he also noticed any ones that included a wedding someone engaged and then suddenly leaving them for a man they knew for a month. Or the best friend or something. It had worked out for him for a little bit, but he had known her for years and was taking his sweet and precious time with asking her out in his later years. Did someone think they loved each other at first sight? When he first saw her, he was very weary of her and only went with her out of desperate measure. That was reality. They had even fought while they were together not living happily ever after. Everyone figured that out one day or another.

Still, even him that didn’t read romantics knew the ones that ended happily. Some of them were over a set or series and finally getting to an ending that everyone could enjoy. Those at least showed something over time, but even those didn’t really satisfy all the complaints he had. It didn’t help that he had more than enough to make a book himself on. Something he had always considered but never did. ”I can tell you these end up happily.” He said, bending down just a little bit so that he was able to see where the ones the was talking about were. He saw that her attention span had already put a couple of other books in her hand. This time actually sighing, he picked out three of them out of the rows. All of them with the beautiful titles and a couple of them with a man and a woman looking up at each other in full bliss. Models that were trying to recreate the look someone got when in love. Impossible, but he supposed lust was confused with love most of the time. Instead of leaving right away, he stood in case there was something else, as it seemed this girl knew exactly what she wanted.

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KEL/NATALIE. NO ARTHUR NO FLUFFIES STOP IT

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TILLIE AT CAUTION

[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

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baby, maybe i’m a little bit confused

If Natalie had been a more observant person, she probably would’ve realized that Arthur didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t that he was being over obvious about not wanting to have to deal with her anymore, but anyone less oblivious than Natalie Hawthorne (and trust me, most people were less oblivious) would’ve caught onto it. The polite but never the less curt replies and little inclination to talk more than he had to were pretty big signs that Arthur would rather be doing anything other than standing here having to deal with her indecisiveness and bubbliness. It wasn’t all that surprising, seeing as how Nat could be a lot to deal with, especially when you first met her.

But the problem with Natalie was the fact that she couldn’t understand subtle hints. She just didn’t look for them and if on the off chance she did, she normally interpreted them wrong. Her head was way too far into the clouds for her to be able to deal with reality like a functioning human being. No, if you wanted to get a point across to Nat, you basically had to hit her over the head with it. And sometimes, that didn’t even work. Sometimes she had to be told again and again in a very apparent manner for it to stick in her brain. As one could imagine, this could get really tiring really quickly.

So even though Arthur’s comment of not reading romantic novels had been more of a courteous answer than an invitation to start a conversation, Natalie decided to take it as such. In her mind, she found it hard to believe that someone couldn’t like romance novels. It wasn’t that she thought her mindset and beliefs were correct and that everyone else’s was wrong – she knew she had opinions that the general public didn’t attend to agree with – but when the girl loved something with all her heart, she couldn’t imagine someone else not loving the said something. She just couldn’t make sense of how someone, especially a bookstore owner who was exposed to all sorts of genres, couldn’t love those books too.

“How have you not?” exclaimed Nat, clearly incredulous. “You have millions of them!” Maybe it was a slight exaggeration, but that didn’t even register in her head. To her, any amount of anything could seem like a lot. “If I worked here, I’d probably be reading those all the time instead of doing actual work! I’d be much too tempted.” It wasn’t like Arthur had asked her opinion, but Natalie was going to give it anyway. She was like that, most of the time. The girl just babbled on and on about whatever came to her head first, regardless of whether or not the person really wanted to hear it. It was one of the many disadvantages of not having a mind to mouth filter.

By the time Natalie had reached over to grab the books Arthur had picked for her, she had quite the growing stack in her hand. These could last her for forever, considering it took just about that long for Nat to finish a book, unless it grabbed her attention and refused to let it go until she had finished the entire thing. It had happened a few times but such occurrences were far and few between. On any normal book adventure, Nat would’ve bought all the titles without a second thought, even though she knew she’d probably never get through all of them.

In this case though, that knowledge made her panic. Natalie wanted to come back to this bookstore. She couldn’t tell if it was because she found the atmosphere so warm or inviting or if it was because she wanted to come back and flirt with the owner (despite him not wanting to deal with her). Regardless, she didn’t want to have to spend a long time away from the bookstore. She wanted to come back as soon as she possibly could. But the girl felt as if she couldn’t do that unless she finished all the books she had already bought. With this pile, it’d probably take her until the next century.

She definitely couldn’t have that. So Natalie quickly shelved the books she had arbitrarily picked out and took the three that Arthur handed her. She would’ve felt bad if she hadn’t taken the ones he had picked out since she specifically asked him for them. Besides, he probably had a better idea of which books were good than she did, even if he didn’t read them. He worked here, after all, and got to see which books were the most popular and which books customers liked to talk about. Nat trusted his opinion more than she trusted her own in this matter. And then she could say she didn’t waste his time by getting him to help her make that selection.

With a winning smile directed towards Arthur, Natalie tucked the books between her arm and chest, indicating that her search was finally over. “I think I have to get you to walk me back to the counter,” she admitted, sounding a slight bit embarrassed. With all the excitement over finding the romance section and then books to read, she had entirely forgotten how to get back to the front of the store. Nat was going to need to learn the layout of this place better if she planned on frequenting it more so Arthur wouldn’t get really annoyed with her. That, or think that she was extremely stupid since she couldn’t even find her way around a bookstore.

TAGGED: EMILY WITH ARTHUR <3 OUTFIT: CLICK

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY WILMETTA OF CAUTION.

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[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]Arthur was so dangerously close to actually answering that question. He wasn’t exactly a blunt person. Whatever was on his mind wasn’t said out in the open for everyone to hear. However, when someone asked him a question, he felt that it was only honest to tell the entire truth. No matter what else was going on. Business was different. The girl wasn’t as bad as he was making her out to be. Arthur was just expecting all of this to explode at any moment. She seemed like the type that would explode with something. He supposed he did have to give her some credit. Reading was an improvement. Even if it was the type of books she was looking for. He supposed that if everyone thought the way he did, there wouldn’t be anyone in the romance industry that dominated. Everyone liked the idea of soul mates and love and all that. He just wished people would be way more reasonable about it.

She was right on one thing. Arthur spent most of his time browsing his own shelves. It was his favorite get-aways from the rest of the world. She seemed baffled that he wouldn’t touch any of the romance books. If only she even knew. The girl seemed oblivious. Which was good considering Arthur’s face was pretty solid for only so long. ”I do spend a good amount of time. I just never seem to pass through here.” Though it was purposeful. He wasn’t going to try to discourage her from anything. Anything bought was anything. Knowing this type, she was going to buy everyone she could and then probably have it sitting there for the longest time because she was too busy socializing. Not that it mad her any different than most people he ran into. Arthur was a cynic. It was just something he automatically thought of everyone he met. Though people called him what they did, he was right most of the time. The underdogs always the ones in trouble.

Once he directed her towards the right path, it was time for him to leave. He working there the first time that it was uncomfortable for someone to stand over your shoulder as if they were waiting. She could take all the time she wanted. Read all the descriptions and decide which one was sappy enough to get home. However, he didn’t wander very far off. He more went into view because he was sure that he wasn’t done with her. Arthur paid no attention to her and her picking. Instead, he looked over and saw a corner that needed a little more organizing. Someone that had been also looking at the back of books but didn’t really have the curtsey of putting them back. Putting them back in the wrong order was just annoying. Leaving them around was just rude. He kept his back to his newest customer. His eyes just focused on the little key words he had in the beginning to help him. Just the same thing. It was better for him to just stick to stuff like that. It might have been somewhat of a rut, but Arthur preferred it that way. Anything outside for him usually meant bad news. Not pessimistic. Just observation.

At one point, he rolled up his sleeves, almost feeling tired. For no reason at all. He had gotten enough sleep the night before, but now it felt that he was drained from any energy. There was probably more energy running around in the bookstore than there was for him at that moment. It was a sign for him to get out and start exploring a little more soon. Being cooped up, even in a place that was highly regarded on his list of favorite places, probably did that to someone. Arthur had to learn to go out. Feel a little more free with his choices. Freedom was something he had always wanted. There was a point where he gained too much freedom to the point where it was hard to feed himself. That wasn’t a point he wanted to reach again. Still, it never hurt anyone to let the chains lose just a bit. Just a bit.

His guess had been correct. It didn’t take long before he heard her pipe up behind him, seeing to have found him at least this far. Arthur was sure that if he were new he might have the same problem. For him, he could walk this backwards with this eyes closed. That came with many long hours with nothing to stare at but the shelves. Her smile was bright and her eyes matched it. If Arthur hadn’t been… well, Arthur, perhaps that would have gotten a good smile from him as well. However, what she got was the same small professional one he carried around all day. He stood up and looked at her. She looked like a kid that was ready for the first day of school. A much… uh, older one. ”So I take it this is your first time here?” He pretty much knew the answer, but like he mentioned before. He didn’t spend all of his night and day there and she might have came when someone else was taking over for him. They probably left her out to wander. However, he doubted it. There was always that chance though. It probably should have been a question first, but he hadn’t known how much she was the chatting type. In the small split seconds of her presence, she answered that question for him. Arthur walked over, turning the memorized corners and went behind the counter once again, noting three books in her grasp.

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KEL/NATALIE. NO ARTHUR NO FLUFFIES STOP IT

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TILLIE AT CAUTION

[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

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baby, maybe i’m a little bit confused

See, he could have a conversation! Arthur wasn’t so grumpy that he’d only give her one word answers and try to rush her out the door so he could be done with her as quick as possible. Not that Natalie would’ve thought that about him because she rarely thought the worst about people. It was hard for her to. She always tried to find the best in people because she knew people were essentially good and she’d want people to do the same for her. Natalie just had to go about having a conversation with him in the right way so she didn’t sound annoying and pushy. She knew she could get that way when she got too excited sometimes.

“Oh yeah?” Natalie asked, shrugging lightly. Too each his own, she guessed. Just because Nat liked love stories, it didn’t mean that they were everyone’s favorite. Some people like entirely realistic, non-fiction books. And people on the other side of the spectrum wanted nothing to do with reality and instead focused on sci-fi or fantasy books. She could respect that and there was no need for her to judge people based on their reading preferences. She knew she got judged enough. But it did make Natalie curious about what genre Arthur gravitated towards. He owned a bookshop, after all, so he literally had every genre of book at his fingertips. The possibilities were endless. “Then what do you like to read?” Natalie was actually curious. She wasn’t trying to pry into his life or anything, but she thought maybe if she knew what he liked to read, then she’d have a better handle on his personality. That was what Natalie was about, anyways; getting to know people the best she could. There was no room for strangers in Nat’s book, only friends.

Arthur wandered off while Natalie studied the back covers of the books. In all honesty though, she was doing little more than blankly staring at the back, skimming the words but not really retaining what they meant. A lot of her attention was focused on Arthur, what he was doing and where he was going. Part of her was afraid he’d forget she was there since she was trying to be as least disruptive as possible while another part was afraid he’d wander off and leave Natalie to deal with the maze of bookshelves. But the main reason that Nat couldn’t focus was because she was just a little more than boy crazy.

It was a phase she really should’ve grown out of but had somehow managed to avoid it. The girl had a little bit of a problem that included her having mini, head over heels crushes on guys that she just met. It happened nearly every time Natalie found someone handsome or interesting or funny. Said mini crushes rarely lasted long. Once she got to know someone, they normally disappeared. Maybe it was because Nat was convinced her soulmate was out there and she could run into them at any moment so she had to be ready, though that sounded like a really flimsy excuse. Regardless of what the reasoning was, Natalie had one of those mini crushes on Arthur right now, even though she was only catching his professional attitude.

Unfortunately, Natalie couldn’t entertain herself by pretending to read book descriptions for too long. She didn’t want to annoy Arthur, but she also couldn’t take staring at them anymore. The girl just wanted to talk to Arthur, make a new friend. She was sure it could happen eventually, as long as she made herself seem like she was friend worthy. So Natalie found Arthur and asked him to help her find her way back to the counter. She legitimately needed help back to the front of the store but it also provided another excuse for her to talk to him. Not the greatest excuse, but one that worked regardless.

At least he didn’t automatically peg her as stupid for not knowing how to get back to the front of the store. Or if he did, he didn’t show it. That was okay, she supposed. He could think she was stupid as long as he didn’t treat her like it. “Yup, first time,” Natalie said, glad he at least sounded somewhat understanding. “I wanted to go to a bookstore that wasn’t part of a chain so here I am.” She paused for a moment to glance around the shop, considering the fact that she really hadn’t taken the chance to do that. She had been too distracted by the handsome owner to really take a chance to appreciate the store. “I really like it here,” Nat told Arthur, being entirely honest. “You have it set up really nicely in here. It feels really homey and comfy here.”

She followed Arthur up to the counter and stopped while she waited for him to go around the other side. Once there, she handed him her books so he could ring them up. While he did that, she scanned the store from where she was, noticing little details that probably would’ve been helpful earlier had she taken the time to actually look around. It really was a wonderful place. Nat had no idea how Arthur had been able to give it such a wonderful atmosphere, but she absolutely loved it here. She had the feeling that if she worked here, she’d never leave it.

TAGGED: EMILY WITH ARTHUR <3 OUTFIT: CLICK

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY WILMETTA OF CAUTION.

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[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]The quicker he could get her in and out of here, the better. Arthur wasn’t generally very pushy. It wasn’t good business. No one liked to feel rushed. He was certain that he hated it with a passion. This was a man who used to move at a fast enough pace to watch his entire life go on by with all the horrors and everything. Currently, his life was slow. Very slow. He preferred it that way. There were some bad things about having a life that wasn’t as fast paced, but he liked the negatives of that over the negatives that could happen with a fast paced life. He had already suffered those consequences. The last thing he wanted to do was repeat some of those mistakes. Repeat some of those things that he had found himself in before. He would much rather deal with a too hyper happy-go-lucky redhead than running from the police once again.

If this girl would have known Arthur at all, she wouldn’t have had to ask her first question. The reading one. It had been the only way (besides through music) he had been able to keep himself sane through the hardest parts of his life. If she would have known him, she wouldn’t’ have been at all surprised by his response. If only she would have known what was going through his mind. Although he did have much patience for this, there was a part of him that just wanted to tell her all of it. Just growling and snarling the entire time. Trying to figure out how what looked like a mature woman could appear so childish. Like she was a preppy person that never really grew outside of her teenage years. She still doodled on her notebooks and drew hearts with her crush’s name on it. Still giggled and thought that everything going on in her life was a big deal. Needless to say, Arthur hadn’t really had the high school experience everyone else had. But he had paid attention to the normal life of one. He didn’t really have to think very hard to guess how she possibly could have been during that time. The time she was acting now.

How politely could he say, ‘almost anything else that doesn’t want me to bash my head against the wall’ without sounding hostile or that he was faking it too much? The answer- he really couldn’t. Arthur could put on a professional face, but his acting skills were nothing set. He was sure that in his face, there was tiny bits of cracks. Man, he was trying. He felt like he hadn’t had this much trouble before. ”Adventures, mostly.” Adventures were indeed one of his favorites. Traveling to distant lands was something he actually never did, but he did like the entertainment of it. Sometimes the main person went through so much, it made him feel better of his own life. ”Classics. Some with meaning.” So that it wasn’t just fluffy pages. There was some depth. Some symbolism hidden within the pages that could be anticipated by the reader. He didn’t focus on the fact they were fictional characters. Maybe that’s why he was so magical. Arthur was very logical and focused on reality. So when he found something that wasn’t reality, he managed to think for a moment outside of logic. Then there was the moment he had to place the book down and get back to his regular pace.

Arthur walked her through, figuring she wasn’t even paying attention to the path he was leading her. If he had been in her shoes, he would have been watching every nook and cranny to make sure that didn’t happen again. At least she seemed somewhat embarrassed about it. There was at least one thing that made sense about this girl in front of him. He wondered how often she really faced people like him. Arthur was aware that he was probably the only cynic through the town of Manuka. Supernaturals often liked to live out the rest of fantasy found in stories. He was sure that she would go home and sit, text her many friends. A lot to assume by just a couple of words exchanged by strangers, but Arthur was all about following the types of clichés. There was a reason they were clichés. It meant they were more common than not.

That was the common practice, at least, of the people who came there. There also wasn’t really a lot of chain bookstores around Manuka. One would have to find a bigger city for that, but it was nice to hear, despite the little annoyances he had been making to himself in his head. ”In that case, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arthur Roberts. I own this place.” A routine that he went through most customers. He was pretty sure he used the same exact words too. If she would have came here and said the same thing again (without him remembering her), he would repeat the same words. He was sure that he wouldn’t forget her. Not really a good thing, in Arthur’s eyes. Oh goody, at least she liked it here. Did she have any idea of what came out of her mouth? He never met someone so bubbly. He almost wanted to put a cap on her. ”I’m glad.” Not completely lying. People liking his shop was good. No matter who it was. ”Thank you. That was the appeal I was hoping for.” Cozy. Warm. Setting for reading. None of this commercial electronic stuff. While he saw the appeal, it was still different.

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KEL/NATALIE. NO ARTHUR NO FLUFFIES STOP IT

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TILLIE AT CAUTION

[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

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baby, maybe i’m a little bit confused

The girl was starting to get the impression that the shop owner was a rather grumpy gills sort of dude and maybe it wasn’t just because of her. She hadn’t been that entirely awful, not that she thought at least. But some people were perpetually grumpy, no matter the situation. Natalie didn’t understand people like that, but it didn’t mean they weren’t out there. She always felt bad for those people and wanted to help, but didn’t know how. Intervention normally just seemed to annoy them even more. The girl had to remind herself that it wasn’t always her fault that people were like that. She could say though, she didn’t realize people who worked in a business like this could be perpetually grumpy. She had thought that when you had to work with people, you had to at least like them a tiny bit.

Except, Natalie could also be wrong about the perpetually grumpy too. Maybe he was just having a bad day or it was a front or something, because she really liked this actual conversation and getting to know him. Sure, it wasn’t much, but someone’s favorite type of book could reveal a lot about them. At least Natalie thought that. If she had to guess, from what she knew about this guy so far, she would’ve said he liked something safe, predictable, and boring. Nat wasn’t trying to be mean when she said that. He just didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would like otherwise, from what she had seen of him. And instead, he liked the opposite. Adventures. Something with meaning. It was that statement that got her thinking that maybe she had this guy figured out all wrong. Natalie would just have to come here more often and find out, right?

And then he said his name and Natalie literally could not picture a more perfect name for the bookstore owner. “Arthur who likes adventure books. Got it!” she exclaimed, though it was something that Nat really should’ve said in her head instead of out loud. See, she was pretty awful with remembering people’s names, especially considering the fact that she went out of her way to meet as many people as she could. The girl was a grade an airhead. Things went in one ear and out the other. Unless she spent a significant amount of time around someone and got the chance to talk with them, she usually forgot their name. When she ran into them later, she always felt stupid because they clearly remembered her name but she could only draw a blank. Natalie had decided that if she came up with these silly little phrases, she’d have a better chance of remembering. It had only worked about half the time so far, but Nat figured those were better odds than before.

The only thing was, she hadn’t really told anyone that she did that. Natalie felt like it was just something silly that normal adults didn’t really do. It was a little late for that now, though, since Natalie had blabbed without thinking about it, much like she often did. The best she could do was continue on as if she hadn’t slipped up. “Natalie,” she introduced, though then she felt like she should be a little more formal since Arthur had been. Then again, it was his shop, so maybe he was just supposed to do that. Either way, Natalie figured it was better to be overly formal than under right? The worse she could do was make herself look like even more of an airhead by being super proper. Better than seeming rude or something else. “Hawthorne. Natalie Hawthorne.”

She didn’t respond to his thank you, but instead gave him another one of her winning smiles. The girl loved when people were happy and especially loved it if it was because of something she did or say. While Arthur certainly didn’t look outwardly happy – at least not in the way people normally expressed their happiness – but she was going to take Arthur’s “I’m glad” at face value and believe that he really was. Nat could imagine that people commenting on your store in the way that you wanted to had to be a good feeling, after all. Store owners put a lot of working into making sure their business had the right vibe and came across as they wanted it to. To have that work appreciated must count for something.

Once reaching the counter, Natalie waited a few moments for Arthur to walk around to the other side of it and then placed her books on top of the counter. “How much do I owe you?” she asked, pulling her wallet out of her purse, looking for her money. Nat knew she had enough for the books. She always had way too much cash on her person. The problem was finding it. The girl had this awful habit of just shoving her money in the first place she came across instead of putting it in the little slot meant for bills. Half the time, she’d find wadded up bills in the change part of her wallet, or in the credit card slots, or somewhere equally ridiculous. She just had to give herself time to find enough to actually pay.

TAGGED: EMILY WITH ARTHUR <3 OUTFIT: CLICK

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY WILMETTA OF CAUTION.

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[ARTHUR COLE ROBERTS]

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i've made the hardest mistakes

i need to let them go

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[style=width: 288px; font-family: arial narrow; font-size:10px; line-height:91%; text-align:justify; background-color: #e1e1e1; padding: 15px; color: #000;]Arthur regretted telling her his favorite genre at once because it suddenly gave him a nickname he didn’t like. It didn’t help that Arthur was often attached to King Arthur, who had a million and a half versions of the same tale. Most of which had to do with an obscure theory of being a boy who pulled out the sword with friends like a wizard who helped him throughout the way. Though he was sure there was some truth behind the fantasy, the entire wizard thing and the Arthur thing made that book rather exhausting. One adventure book he put down. When he was younger and more spirited, he thought the book was practically written for him. The only thing that was missing was the fact Arthur and the wizard Merlin were two different people. Now that he was a grown up adult, he knew better of all that fantasy. Though adventure would never fail to be his favorite. Books were where he could be at least a little bit of a different person.

Still, he didn’t stay anything. If anything, it would help her remember this place a little bit better. Plus, most of the people around here knew him with the store. Those that had also wanted refuge. He remembered a couple of years ago, there was a woman outside of his store. It was snowing, as they tended to have cold winters in Manuka, Maine, and she was sitting outside. He invited her in, knowing what it was like to have that feeling. What he would have given at that time to have someone offer the same thing to him while he was sitting in the cold. The woman was grateful, and they exchanged names, but Arthur had long forgotten. While the man was pretty good with names and faces considering his work, not every single face could be remembered clearly. He was sure he wouldn’t forget this girl though. Not in a good one. What was she, twenty? Her looks suggested older but her personality was an indication to him she might just look older than she appeared. He might have asked, but it was too random of a question. Plus, continuing to help the conversation wasn’t appealing.

Natalie. Hm, he actually liked that name. He didn’t know why that surprised him so much. A name was just a name after all. He could have very easily not liked it, and it would have meant the same thing. Arthur tried not to focus on it as she made the greeting more formal like he had. Good, at least that part was somewhat understood. It was always still hard for him to actually like another person. They easily annoyed him, and he was hard forgiving for first impression behavior. Most of the time, he found adults acting way too young for their age. Someone that probably had their parents paying for everything as they went out and still pretended they were in high school. Arthur wished he could take every single one of them, sit them down, and just lecture them for hours. Try to figure out who put something through their head that it was acceptable to do that. Still, it was also very hard to convince others that life should be about surviving, not living. Especially since the generation was all full of living once. Which shouldn’t have been said if there were those who knew about supernaturals. ”Nice to meet you.” without a tone that suggested he was even remotely glad, but almost bored sounding. Let him assure you though, he was not bored.

He did have to admit, when she smiled a giant grin at him, Arthur found himself staring for a couple of moments. He had to dart his eyes away to keep to keep from smiling back. No, he wasn’t in the mood. She did have a beautiful smile though- different from her little flirting one when she walked in the doors for the first time there. Arthur let the feeling pass. Just a moment of surprise on his part, but ah well. He rung up the books with the same attitude he did five seconds ago.

The burning fuse he had was starting to really burn. He kept repeating to himself that it was patience. She was a customer and no matter what, had to be treated with the same respect as anyone else who walked through those doors. That would be the professional thing to do, and if Arthur was anything, he was nothing but professional. Except maybe when it came to his organization skills in the bookstore, but there was simply too many to start a type of project. Plus, the old man before had always liked it like that. The more OCD customers had a rough time, but most at least could make it through as they were in somewhat in a strange category system. Which was all it needed. If someone walked up to his room, they would find everything relatively in good places and shapes.

Arthur told her the amount after she asked, though he was sure she wasn’t fully paying attention. Instead, she was too busy digging through her wallet for the right amount of money. He would have to say generally the money was in it’s own little place in the wallet. He could see, however, a bit of green sticking out of a place she wasn’t looking. Without being able to contain his tongue, he said simply, ”You should really reconsider reorganizing a pre-organized wallet.” As someone really needed to not pay attention to put some money or card in a place where it didn’t belong. He said it and clenched his jaw. Arthur had to be very careful about making sure he kept his mouth shut or it would just spill out. Man was a quiet blunt. And he needed to stay strong. It was almost done. He did for business purposes that she’d be back, but Arthur’s patience would probably always be tested.

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KEL/NATALIE. meanarthurbeingmean

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TILLIE AT CAUTION