[color=00a651][b]Dr. Arthur West - Salem Church Clinic Front Door[/b][/color]

[i]“Well Frieda, can’t expect us to live in darkness and fear forever. That’s why a good town defense will be necessary. Rook seems on the up and up, plus, in all my experience I’ve never seen a mutie think ahead that far...”[/i]

"You'd be surprised," Arthur pipped up, once Ace had finished speaking, "They possess a remarkable brutish cleverness, and certainly are capable of laying a trap or an ambush. However..." He paused for a few seconds, thinking over his next words carefully, "I'm less concerned about the possibility of Rook trying to lull us into a false sense of security than I am about the possibility of him turning aggressive at some point. Its odd that he's remained docile for so long and its well...an anomaly. Perhaps...perhaps I might have the chance to examine him at some point? As a precaution?"

Arthur didn't get an answer to his question as Ace had continued on, only turning back to ask Rick to join him. Meanwhile, Frieda was stewing in clear distaste, having apparently been angered by what Ace had said. She turned to Arthur with a huff and said,

[i] "I'm going home to raid Brandy's fridge, then I'll be at the diner, if you still want that drink."  She finished her cigarette, flicked it to the dirt, and quickly took her leave.[/i]

"Right, I'll uh...see you there then," Arthur replied with an unsteady wave. He then returned to the inside of the clinic and finished up the remaining work he had in mind for the day, which mostly included ensuring that the girl, Summer, was still stable and able to take care of herself. The fresh bandages and medication she'd received was already visibly improving her condition. Confident that she would be alright by her lonesome and thus give him a few hours of respite, Arthur packed up some of the excess equipment that had been strewn about in the chaos of the morning's events, closed up the clinic, and took the very short walk over to Ace's diner.

Once there, he saw that Freida, just as she'd said, had made her way over to the bar and was nursing a beer. Hesitantly, Arthur approached, and sat down on the stool next to her. Before he could say anything, a young woman approached from behind the counter, carrying a notepad and looking rather disinterested,

"What'll it be Doc?"

"Pardon?" Arthur replied.

The girl rolled her eyes at him,

"What do you want to drink?" She asked, enunciating the question more slowly this time. 

"Oh...uh..water, please. Just water. Make that purified water if you have it," He said with a nervous smile. Once the waitress had left, he turned his attention back to Frieda. He cleared his throat, and did his best to break the silence with conversation,

"They are quite fascinating you know," He began cheerfully. He then lowered his voice, leaned in, and whispered the next few words more softly, "...wastelanders that is..." With a nod, he sat back up and continued talking normally, "You can live among them for months and come to the likely conclusion that they're a very simple people, and yet....they still find ways to surprise you. Take this diner for instance, I would never have imagined that out here there would be such a thing as an old-world style diner. Serving, umm...delicious food. Well, serving [i]food [/i]anyway."He chuckled to himself and looked around, taking in the sights and smells of the diner around them.

"What about you? What do you think?"