03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
The drive back was quiet at first. As if the assorted crowd might have heard them through the metal interior of the Jeep.
He had been procrastinating the discussion while there were other people about. Here in the car with only the sound of the radio and the rumble of the tires the topic hung heavy on his shoulders. Once they had turned onto the main road Mikey cleared his throat a little and softly broke the silence. “I meant to come talk to you…eventually. Really.” He certainly hadn’t expected their reunion to turn into a wild adventure with a life or death finale. He had a feeling that maybe things could have turned out better…or worse. They were both more or less unharmed, that was what mattered. He had thought about how he would explain himself to Giacomo Ettore a number of times but had never found a way to say it that made sense. Just texting or calling him had also felt not right. Here he was face to face and he knew that he owed the guy at least an explanation for why he had been avoiding him. Especially since the man had saved more than just Mikey’s life tonight. Mikey knew that Giacomo had likely saved Ferris from being dogchow only because of his request, but sharing knowledge was new. Perhaps the vampire had changed a little too. The thought was touching but also filled him with a little anxiety. He seemed somehow more vulnerable without his mentor around. speaking of "....how have you been, You and Annika?" He was sure they were just still getting up to more or the same. Socialite parties with the occasional 'dinner' in.
He just wasn’t sure where to begin. Mikey was so different from the person he had been several years ago when he naively stopped his car to help two strangers with car trouble. He wasn’t sure how to tell Gia how much had changed for him in the time since he left Sweetwater and returned. The whole time Mikey had known Mikey must seem like a grain of sand in an hour glass to someone who has lived so long.
Post by Giacomo Ettore on Mar 10, 2024 17:28:17 GMT
The silence in the car was deafening. Gia was all too aware of the caged proximity that he was in with Mikey. The smell of him filled the car and an underlying thirst rested in his veins. Not only a thirst for blood though, also a thirst for connection. Giacomo liked to pretend that due to his age he was simply unbothered by mortal feeling and woes but the truth was that those kinds of things always remained. The vampire could be pretty nonchalant about most things in his life but that had never been the case with his relationships. He cared deeply. Perhaps too much.
So yes, it had truly hurt him when Mikey stopped coming around and even their conversations on their phones had halted. He wanted to believe that Mikey really had intended to come and talk to him again, though that 'eventually' didn't make it hurt any less. He didn't reply, instead he turned away to look out the side window as they drove along.
At the mention of Annika though his shoulders visibly tensed. He kept his gaze out the window as he replied. "Annika left." He didn't say anything else for a long moment but then turned his gaze out of the front window instead, sitting stiffly in his seat with his hands clasped tightly together in his lap. "A few months ago. She didn't want me to accompany her." Long ago he'd told Mikey that he'd been at Annika's side ever since she'd turned him. Should he remember that detail then he would know that this would be the first time in his vampiric life that he'd been without Annika. "I don't believe she intends to return." He had tried to keep his voice neutral but it cracked slightly at the last word. He cleared his throat and changed the subject, though it wasn't a less painful one.
"And you didn't want me to know you'd returned," he said as a statement, though his clasped hands grew even tighter. "You don't have to see me again after you drop me off." If Mikey didn't want to be around him anymore then Giacomo would just have to accept that. He wouldn't force someone to be around him who didn't wish to be.
Mikey felt like an asshole. It was true that he had been working through his own things but it was purely his fault that communication had broken down. Mikey had always thought that Giacomo would be alright regardless of what happened. That he would have Annika and that being a vampire insulated him from the harsher parts of life in some way. He couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for leaving the vampire alone when he needed a friend the most. Mikey knew some of Gia’s history with Annika but even if he hadn’t he had witnessed how close they were. “I’m Sorry…I didn’t know…” But that too felt like it was his fault to some extent. He hadn’t kept in touch and so there wasn’t a reason for Giacomo to tell him. Then again if he had known, then what? He wasn’t so sure. He could feel the magnetic pull of Gia just sitting in the car with him. It was hard to put into words the sort of allure that the vampire had even when he was moping. No moping wasn’t quite right. This was different from the artist pouting over a piece that didn’t come out right. Mikey could tell that Gia was being genuinely vulnerable right now. Had he ever seen the man this wounded? He replied in a soft tone “It’s not you….not really. I just…My dad died…a little while ago…things sort of changed. A lot of things…” Mikey struggled to find a way to communicate how strange it had been. The weird hole that upended and reshaped his life. Suddenly everything had gone numb but everything that used to thrill him had become meaningless. There were things he had never worried about before, who would look after mom and who would manage the shop? could he really risk being the second wave of pain if he gave in to one of his more reckless urges and it went bad? He was much closer to his family than he had ever been but at what cost? “I’ve changed……I didn’t want to…be tempted to do something impulsive….or drag you down.” He glanced from the road to Giacomo his voice gentle and earnest “I did..- I do want to see you.”
Post by Giacomo Ettore on Mar 27, 2024 16:22:36 GMT
Giacomo had to admit, though only to himself, that he found it hard to relate to Mikey's troubles. He was so young. Perhaps not terribly young by human standards but so, so very young compared to an immortal. He could recognize how hard it was lose his father though and he looked at Mikey sympathetically. He'd remembered having to leave his family when Annika had turned him and even though he hadn't exactly been close to his parents, it had still been a loss. He didn't know what Mikey's relationship with his parents was like but at the very least, his father's death had been a catalyst for change and he could logically understand that.
He wasn't sure if he believed that Mikey really did want to see him, even with how earnest his voice sounded. So he didn't linger on that comment for the time being. "You couldn't drag me down," he said almost under his breath. What could this little human do...one he cared about more than he had admitted to anyone...to bring down a centuries old vampire like himself. He was more curious about what he'd said before that. "Something impulsive like what?" he asked. His hands remained clasped in his lap but his gaze was locked on Mikey instead of the road, admiring the shape of his silhouette backlit from the window of the driver's side window.
Mikey shifted a little in his seat not sure how to answer Gia. Let alone confess the real truth. Doing somewhat impulsive and some would say self destructive things had been his mode of operation for a most of the time he had known Gia. He had just always assumed he would end up dying young. That was what the caving had been about and the nights trapsing through the dark woods with nothing but a camera. Once he had fallen in to basically attaching himself to Giacomo's shadow he had more or less jumped at any whim the immortal artist had. No matter how strange to himself or how new. That was why it had only drawn him in more to learn the secret.
When he came home to a sobering reality he knew he couldn't trust himself. Well it was true that he hadn't wanted to make Giacomo sad with while he worked things out but there was the darker thought lurking at the very back. There was a very real way he could have dragged even an experience immortal like Gia down. Or especially an experience immortal vampire. He might have underestimated how much Gia had missed him but that only made him all the more sure it had been the right choice to stay away. There were plenty of times when the going got the toughest that he contemplated it. Driving to the manor and seeking Gia out. To rile him up to some point of no return and then just let him keep going until... well luckily he had found enough things to keep himself busy. "You're right...that was stupid of me..." He replied in a lame placating sort of way then awkwardly added "I just couldn't afford to let myself get up to the sort of 'fun' we used to have. That sort of impulsive. I had a lot of...mortal things to do.. " It was only half a lie.
Post by Giacomo Ettore on Apr 29, 2024 19:08:34 GMT
There was something about Mikey that had always been hard for Gia to read. A lot of humans wore their emotions on their sleeves and it wasn't hard to decipher the truth from what they were saying. Mikey had always been different. Even when they'd been having fun together before he left there always seemed like there was something Mikey was hiding and Gia could never quite figure it out. Perhaps that was part of the draw. Being around Mikey was more interesting that the average human who had no depth to their personalities.
"Hmmm," he let out the thoughtful sound at Mikey's explanation and then sighed. "Do you have any idea how hard you are to understand? I'm never quite sure I know what it is you want, Mikey," he admitted, his tone neutral rather than heightened with any specific emotion. "I feel like you just want me to guess what you're trying to say. You are speaking in past tense; 'couldn't' instead of 'can't', 'had' a lot of things to do instead of 'have'..." The vampire still didn't take his eyes off of Mikey, trusting him to pay attention to the road or pull over if he couldn't.
"I missed having you in my life, Mikey Royce, and that has not changed. I want you back," he said, allowing himself to be vulnerable in a way he usually avoided with anyone other than Annika. "But I don't know what you want. You said you want to see me but what does that mean? If you're still figuring it out then that's fine but just say so. I will not force your company as much as I might like to sometimes. So please, Mikey, please, just tell me what we do now? What do you want out of this? What do you want out of me? If you want me to step away then I will do so. For you. Because I- I care about you," he swallowed but didn't stop talking. "As much as I'd like to, I don't have the ability to read your mind. So just- just-" he was trying not to get frustrated, both with how confusing he was finding this and with how little control he felt like he had, "say what you mean, Mikey."