So transfixed was I with my own mental projections that I had scarcely noticed the stringy shadow which had crept just out of my field of vision.

A loud knock against the windowpane later, however, I had very nearly been caused to spill my tea. When my gaze came to rest on the perpetrator, I found myself staring in half-shock, half-indignation towards a pair of beady little eyes topping an idiotic grin that seemed as though it took up most of the individual's speckled face.

By then, my own countenance had been taken wholly with my irritation, and not a little because I knew the owner of such an imbecilic grin. I turned away in a huff, intending to ignore any further attempts at getting my attention.

Suffice it to say, it did not work, and I mouthed something quite close to an obscenity as I saw him saunter through the door of the bakery, coming towards me with a chipper step to his gait.

Jeffrey Dobbs was perhaps one of the single-most vexing individuals to inhabit Nevarynn City, or at least so far as I dared to hope. A crooked, gaunt man of thirty-five, he was under the employ of the local courier's office and regularly carried letters in the surrounding wards. As ill fortune would have it, that included both my personal residence, as well as my place of work, meaning that I was cursed with his presence more than twice as much as I'd have preferred.

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He sat down across the booth from me, and proceeded to watch me with that doltish smirk. Knowing that further attempts to ignore him were about as likely to succeed as previous ones, I let out a deep sigh, marked my place in my book, and met his gaze, which only made his smug expression widen.

"Shall I presume you're stalking me for a particular reason, Mister Dobbs?" I asked, pointedly rasping on the off chance that it was not obvious that his presence was undesirable.

He face twisted in mocking pain and he pressed his lips, trying to take on the look of a kicked puppy. "Aww, there's no reason to be so callous, is there? Can't an honest fellow just drop in and say hello to a friend?"

"Only when wanted," I hissed in return, narrowing my eyes.

In most cases, I fondly welcomed my consistent visitors, and would gladly partake in a casual chat or two to break the drudgery of daily grind at the office. Dobbs, however, was an exception, in part because his personality was that of a crude, ornery nuisance that liked nothing more than to give me the runaround. Just the other day, he'd pulled a particularly cruel prank with the swinging door of my counter, and I'd not yet deigned to forgive him.

Dobbs chucked. "Still sore, are we? Guess I can't much blame ya'. I did got a bit over the pond with that one," his words sounded innocent, but his face showed bemusement. After a moment, however, he dropped a pair of coins on the table. "But here, let me pay for your breakfast, as recompense for me crimes."

I watched him through a sidelong glance, my nose hiked above eye level. The baffoonish sneer never wavered, but he nonetheless seemed sincere, so I relented.

"Ah, there's a good girl," he pressed, and called for the proprietress.