Johnny C.

The sailor has traveled far into sea,

Elliott sat infront of his desk and stared at the ocean of papers. Most of it crumbled onto the floor, scribbled with his penmanship, and some of it are even blank. He is lost of words and no inspiration came into his mind. Frustrated he was, that he couldn't write a single sentence. He let out a deep sigh "maybe everybody at home were right..." he thought to himself.

"I was so passionate becoming an author, where had the years gone? Perhaps, this was a mistake?". He was starting to question all of the choices he made on his own.

But he doesn't want to give up on his dreams just yet, he wants to keep climbing so he can reach the stars. To prove everyone he's worth something good. Something great. But his imagination seems to be washed away, and he couldn't put his mental images into words properly. Daydreaming about the scenerios inside his head seems more easier than writing all of it down.

Taking a break might be what he needs right now. So he stood up from his chair and put on his coat. When he step out of his cabin he didn't realized that it was already dawn, how long has he been staying inside for? But the breeze was nice on his face and the waves were gentle to listen to.

He walked to the saloon as the sun continued to go down behind him. Honestly he's been there every night, sometimes accompanied by Leah. I do wonder how his wallet is holding up? He opened the door and paused to scan the room to the lively scenery. He always loves the cozy vibrant vibes of the place.

Everyone was there chattering and dancing, the trio playing billiard as usual and their laughing was little muffled in the background, then there's Shane just drinking himself down, poor guy.

He stopped looking around when his eyes landed on Leah who was giving him a tiny wave, then he started walking towards her and he gave her a smile as a greeting.

"I thought you said you're going to write all day? What are you doing here?" She says it in a playful teasing manner the moment he arrived.

His lips went quickly to a frown. "I know, I know... Something seems to be holding me back, writer's block I supposed. It's like being chained into a big metal ball and you can't do anything about it."

He sat down by the table with Leah. She stopped smiling and her face formed a worried look at him. "My head is starting to feel like dark void!" He made a complaint.

"Yeah... I get what you mean. I guess that's just how being an artist work. Maybe you shouldn't push yourself too much and take a break, Elliott." Leah advices him.

"That's what I'm doing! But I'm always here at the saloon. I'm starting to feel bad for my wallet too..." Elliott leaned on the table and palmed his face. He had a long day doing absolutely nothing.

"How am I supposed to make a living with writing when I can't even form a sentence to start the story. How do you make it so easy when you're painting, Leah? You're always making new projects." Elliott's head was now on the table's surface with his hands clutching his hair, groaning aloud.

"You stroke with a quill, I stroke with a brush."

"But that doesn't make us any different" Elliott argues as he slowly sat up.

Leah chuckled softly "well, you are right. Maybe you need to find something that really touches your heart." She gestures her hand to poke his chest.

"Whatever do you mean?" He questioned.

"You need to figure out what you really want Elliott, or else you won't be getting anywhere. Nothing will ever be consistent for you in that situation."

He went silent and thought about what she said, it's kind of like a punch in the guts, but he knows she doesn't mean it in a hurtful way.

She's right, he needs to find a reason to be passionate. A muse perhaps. He can't just sit at his desk and stare at a white paper, imagining the pen floating and the words writing itself down. It felt boring doing that, nothing exciting ever happens to him aside from going fishing with Willy.

They chatted a little more as couple of minutes has passed and Leah was getting ready to leave. "Elliott, I'm going to leave early, I have to finish a commission tonight."

She was already standing up when Elliott turned to look at her.

"Alright, I'll see you around."

"Take it easy, okay? Don't be too hard on yourself." She says it softly and touched Elliott's shoulders before leaving and he watched her disappear out of the door.

Now that he was sitting alone, he thought of whatever he shall do, and he's getting quite hungry. Elliott can't think on an empty stomach. He could go for another crab cake tonight, he couldn't resist it, it's his favorite food after all.

He'll deal with his financial issues later.

He walked over to the counter and sit on one of the stools. Then he called for Gus and made an order.

While he waited, he heard the door open and turned around to see it was the town's doctor, Harvey, who came up to the counter and sat 2 stools away from him. They've only talked to each other occasionally, and they never really strike a conversation outside of town events.

Despite living in town for more than a year already, Elliott doesn't entirely know everyone yet except for Leah and Willy. They're probably the only two he's actually friends with. I guess it's because he struggle to communicate with everyone without making it feel so awkward or giving anybody discomfort, and he keeps forgetting everyone's name. He already pissed off Gus enough before actually calling him by his name instead of bartender.

He wanted to move next to Harvey to start a conversation and get to know him a little better, maybe to also pass the time here at the saloon. He knows Harvey is a bit of loner but it also looked like he enjoys his own company. Although, he felt like he might invade his space and he saw he was listening to some tunes. He probably doesn't want to be bothered either but Harvey saw Elliott staring when he took a glanced at him.

It made him flinch a little.

He took off the left side of his earphones to hear better, he thought Elliott said something to him.

"Do... Do you need anything?" The doctor asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't realized I was staring!" Elliott was snapped back, then he looked away feeling a little embarrassed of himself. Gus placed his meal and he focused on eating instead.

Harvey was a little confused but he brushed it off and continued to listen to his jazz music. He had always found Elliott a bit odd. But not it a bad way? He isn't harming, nor trying to be rude to anybody. But he did get secondhand embarrassment when Elliott put on a show with the farmer here.

He's surprised of how confident he is being himself despite how careless and annoyingly dramatic it may seem to anybody else. He can see Elliott's effort trying to form friendships with the other villagers.

But for Harvey, it often gets a little lonely for him. He thinks there isn't anything interesting for him to talk about, he wasn't much of a conversation starter. Though he's able to talk to Shane at some point inside the saloon, unless he's not in a good mood. Their conversations never really lasted long whatsoever.

He thought about the interaction he had with Elliott during last winter. He was talking about some of his conceptualization that Harvey barely participated into the discussion, but he was listening. He doesn't really know how the writer's mind works, but Harvey was never the one to judge him for that. He thinks Elliott is really creative and has an amusing imagination.

There has been a couple of times he seen Elliott's attempts of befriending some of the town's folks, and most of the time it's disconcerting and they gave him weird looks. Especially from Haley. He felt some sort of sympathy for the guy. After that he only ever saw Elliott by himself or with Leah. Willy occasionally.