Joker strolled down that path, holding up a map of the area in one hand and shielding his eyes from the bright afternoon sunlight that turned his ice blue hair into a white beacon to any who would seek him.

"Now... if Joker reads this correctly.. there should be a village there abouts..." Joker muttered to himself, not looking up but waving his arm in a general direction and then pointing it to where he feels is right. Glancing up, he sighed when he noted he was wrong and all that lay before him was an expanse of fields.

"Perhaps Joker should actually pay attention to the map..."

After much traversing over fields and meadows Joker was able to find himself at the village, noting it was oddly quiet for this time of day. There were no children that he could see running through the streets, instead they were bare of any people or sound.

"Odd... Joker expected.. more?" Joker mused aloud as he poked around buildings, trying to get a sense of where people were. Peering into one house, Joker was confronted with a still scene: A couple sitting side by side, not saying a word but smiling aimlessly at one another. They barely moved and had Joker not noticed them breathing he would have assumed they were statues.

Abruptly, the couple turned to face him and he pulled back thinking they would attack him for peeping into their home. Instead, their smiles remained in place as they stared at Joker.

"Ara... sorry to intrude~" Joker called, backing away and frowning, his mind turning on the strangeness that permeated the entire village.

Entering a bar, Joker paused as all the occupants swiveled to stare at him, their faces frozen with eerie smiles. A waitress silently led Joker to a table, seating him and giving him a menu then standing still, pencil poised over a pad and obviously waiting for Joker's order, all with a smile upon her face and nary a word spoken.

Blinking, feeling oddly supressed by the silence, Joker sent a quick glance at the menu then up at the waitress, "Joker will have a steak sandwhich and a glass of water please."

Nodding, the waitress took the menu and slipped into the kitchen, leaving Joker in a sea of smiling faces. Unused to such silent obeservation, Joker ate his meal as quickly as he could, not even tasting the meat due to his trepidation.

Standing up in haste, he nearly toppled his chair over and righted it, noticing the regard he was recieving was unchanged.

"Um... how much would this be?" Joker asked the waitress, holding a handful of coins in his hand. Her face fixed, she closed his hand over the coins and pushed him gently towards the door.

Confused and wary, Joker left, his senses warning him that something was sinisterly odd about this quiet village. Backtracking, he peered into the house he had early spied upon.

The sight that greeted him was the same as before, the still couple and their silent smiles. Neither had moved in the time Joker had taken to eat his meal and return.

Shaking his head he left the village, surprised at the amount of time that had passed without him noticing.

"This was wrong... Joker will have to investigate..." Frowning, looking back at the village he was leaving behind, he settled himself on a boulder amid a field of wheat, enjoying the sounds that he had taken for granted and waiting for night when people would sleep.

Then he would enter their dreams and see what was influencing them.

__________________

RIP Duke
BA Characters:
Joker Kyralie Calista
Artwork - No requests =(