Arlen Summers's Questionnaire

For as long as I can remember, I’ve called Ephrata, Pennsylvania my home. From the house I grew up in to the old bar that has somehow ended up in my name, I could never imagine myself living anywhere else. From what I understand, my dad’s side of the family is pretty close to the history of this place. From the way my dad’s old books tell it, his family was part of some group called the Philalethes, who were descended from the Rosicrucians, who came to America from Central Europe. They were all philosophers and Alchemists, though I don’t know the full picture on how my family connects to it all. As for why I’m staying, it’s a long story. To tell the shortest version of it, I worked at a bar in Ephrata, the Marble Arch, over summers between college semesters and transitioned to full-time after I graduated. While I worked there, I grew pretty close to the owner, an old man by the name of Mr. Grant. Mr. Grant didn’t have any family left, he had outlived them all, so he took me under his wing pretty quick. He taught me how to bartend, how to run a business, and gave me a place to read through my dad’s old books when I smuggled them out of the house. Eventually, age caught up to him and he passed away. When the will was read, I learned that he had left everything to me, including the bar. So, I’m sticking around to keep the old thing running; I figure it’s the least I can do. 

As it stands, most of my money goes to getting this bar back on its feet. I wish to god more people would pick up those “help wanted” fliers; it’s not that I mind the work (I find a strange peace in the chaos of the evening rush), it’s just that a few extra hands wouldn’t hurt. That said, in my few moments of reprieve from that never ending battle, I have a few passions that eat the rest of my disposable income, the first of which is books. Since my mind could string words together and understand a sentence, I became an unstoppable book-reading machine. Now, I read whatever I can get my hands on, with fantasy and old sci-fi being personal favorites. I also learned a passion for smoking cigars from Mr. Grant, a hobby I indulge in slightly less now that he’s gone, but retain some love for it. 

For most of my young adult life, my sole passion was to learn enough about every scientific and supernatural study I could so that, someday, I could finally become whatever my father is waiting on me to become and learn about all of the things he has spent my whole life hiding from me. Now, though, I’m not as sure. When Mr. Grant left the bar to me and my father’s cancer got worse, I suppose I’ve had a shift in priorities. I owe Mr Grant for everything he’s done for me and, seeing the writing on the wall regarding my father, I think I’ll take this strange opportunity to immortalize both of these family histories. I’m working on renaming the bar to “The Summer Court” and am starting to read more about the alchemy that my father can’t properly keep me from anymore. I want to make this bar into more than what it was handed to me as, a perfect image of both of the father figures in my life and a starting point to my own future. 

For most of my life, my only drive was to become educated, trained, strong, and somehow worthy enough to learn about my family properly from my father who, for whatever reason, has deemed me too lacking in those categories to learn. However, the trajectory of my life changed drastically when Mr. Grant passed away. When he died, having no other family, he left his bar, The Marble Arch, to me. Now, I have a new dream. I want to make this bar something special, a monument to both of the histories I hold dear. I want to turn this place, which is being renamed "The Summer Court" as I write this, into something more than just a bar.