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?
Brooks and his band were playing at the most popular bar in town that night, Harland's Alehouse. Brooks wasn't sure how they'd managed to pull that off but he certainly wasn't complaining. They'd arrived earlier in the evening to set up before the club opened and their set began right at 10. They had even had time to put up some flyers and invite friends and family so people knew they'd be playing that night. Not that Brooks had family in town to invite but that wasn't the same for his other band mates.
Sitting behind his drums, a place he always felt at ease, the band was introduced and soon began to play. He was wearing a pair of black jeans with ripped up holes in various places, as well as a black sleeveless top in hopes it would hide too much sweat from being visible when he was done with the set. As always he also wore a couple of necklaces and several rings on his fingers.
As he played, his drumsticks moving like they were a part of his body, he got lost in the beat and the music and nothing else in the world seemed to matter at all.
It wasn't Mikey's usual hang out. Then again nothing had been usual for him for the last two years. He wasn't normally keen on the music played in the late hours at the Harland's but there was something about the flyer that made him decide to give it a chance. He had seen it while doing the obligatory rounds to put up information about the student-run college radio station. It must have been recently put up when he got there since it was at the top of the jumbled mess of papers on the community bulletin board.
He had shown up a little before the band was set to play with a handful of the flyers like an excuse. Crowded places like this still made him a bit nervous albeit for different reasons now. He still wasn’t all that comfortable running into people that he used to know. Luckily when he turned up it looked like even if someone did know him they wouldn't have much chance to talk to him over the noise. He had thrown on a wind breaker and a pair of torn up jeans, but the bar was hot enough he would likely end up in just the t-shirt later. He had a quick chat with one of the bar keeps and handed over a flyer for them to tack up somewhere.
He found a spot near the front of the stage and wasn't disappointed when the band started up. They were good. Too good for here maybe. Or maybe Mikey just wanted something loud for a while so he didn't have to hear his own thoughts.
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 4, 2023 22:11:58 GMT
The band played three songs before they took a little break for the lead vocalist to start chatting up the crowd and urging them to raise their voices a little louder. On cue, the cheers and whoops increased and Brooks played a little encouraging beat with a grin as he turned his attention from his drums to the crowd for the first time.
It was pretty good turn out tonight. Better than the last time they'd played anyway. Truth be told, Brooks wasn't in this for fame or popularity. He was here for the music and the thrill of playing to a live group of people. If they never left Sweetwater he'd be more than content. Not that all of his bandmates would agree. Some had stars in their eyes or little green money signs, or both.
As their vocalist continued to rev up the crowd, Brooks let his gaze wander to the people there, trying to see if he spotted anyone familiar. He managed to see a couple of people he recognized from the college, some by name, others just by their familiar face. His gaze paused on the sharp features of an attractive man that he guessed to be around his age. His eyes lingered for a moment and he offered him a little smile just before the next song began and he refocused his attention back to the music.
The Band's lead vocal began working the crowd and Mikey watched on with mild amusement. His eyes were sort of dissociativly drifting over the crowd and then over the band until he locked eyes with the drummer. The guy was just his type. His hair tousled, easy going expression and guns out. The quick smile sent his way made his stomach flip. He returned it with a smirk and a cheeky wink.
Afterall it was probably just a coincidence that the guy had looked over just as Mikey was admiring his drumming arms. Might as well have fun with it. The music kicked back in and he watched the drummer focus back on playing. He of course stayed for the full set and maybe enjoyed it just a bit more than before the interlude. He had intended to leave a right after the end of the set to beat the rush but instead he lingered around.
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 10, 2023 22:28:16 GMT
Brooks caught the returned expression from the other man and it made his chest tighten as his heart skipped a beat. Having been severely repressed his entire life and not able to explore this side of himself, he had no idea how to react to a cute boy giving him attention. He liked it. Too much. No, not too much. Only more than his parents would approve of. And God. Supposedly.
All he could do at the moment was focus on playing. If he got distracted and screwed up then his band mates would be pissed and he'd never hear the end of it. That was far from ideal. So he focused. Or tried to. But he couldn't help that his gaze would occasionally glance back over to the other man as much as he tried not to.
Somehow he managed to get through the rest of the set with everything still intact.
"THANK YOU EVERYBODY!" The lead vocalist called out to the crowd to the response of cheers. "We are The Outcasts!" More cheering erupted and the rest of the band moved off the stage to greet their fans, new and old. Brooks, smiling at the thrill of it all, was also twisting his drum sticks in his hands as he convinced himself to stop being a coward and he followed them off the stage as well, his sticks still with him.
Once at the level of everyone else, he was quickly being bombarded with praises and claps on the shoulder and a girl who was getting too close for comfort. Normally he would be all about this sort of thing and would thrive on the noise and the crowded floor and the attention. But tonight he was feeling a bit claustrophobic. He knew why, but he tried to push those thoughts away as he attempted to move closer to the wall to find a bit of spare room to breathe.
Mikey had plenty of experience now with exploring his sexuality. Albeit only really in the past year or two had he acted on it. He however still assumed when it came to guys that looked like this one that any befuddlement with his flirtations was more due to a rejection and fear than simple bashfulness. He clapped with the audience as the band bowed and hopped down to meet their fans. He watched as they fawned and pushed in seeking attention. He wasn’t above that sort of fan behavior but he wasn't going to climb over the other audience members either. He stepped off more toward the wall next to the stage.
As luck would have it his new crush stumbled out of the crowd and more toward the wall where he happened to be. Seemed like lady luck was still his patron deity. He saw the poor guy making the sort of slightly panicked smile of someone looking for a way out of the crowd. Mikey reached out to take hold of the drummer's arm and led him over to the nearby patio exit. "Hey~ got a minute? No lord's and saviors involved, promise." He pulled his new friend outside and onto the considerably less crowded patio area. He made some gestures at anyone the moved to follow them that was akin to 'sorry private conversation' and for some reason that worked.
The night air felt much more refreshing than the stuffy not so well circulated ac of the pub. "Sorry, it looked like you needed a breather." He explained as he fished around in his back pocket for a flier. Though looking at the guy this close was making it hard to stay casual. Damn he was so good looking.
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 12, 2023 21:46:36 GMT
It was as he reached the wall that his stomach tightened in the surprise of seeing the man from the crowd, it wasn't hard to recognize someone this attractive, especially when their eyes had met earlier for longer than a mere glance. Before he knew it, the man's hand was around his arm and while surprised he felt compelled to follow along. The Lords and Saviors comment helped and he chuckled appreciately. The man moved them through the crowd with surprising ease and as soon as they stepped outside it was like Brooks could finally really breathe.
He took a long inhale, his eyes closing briefly as he looked up at the cloudless sky to see the stars above. Being in the middle of town didn't make them particularly bright but they were still far more noticeable than his hometown when Sweetwater was so small and didn't have as much light pollution that Savannah did.
After a second he looked back down at his own 'savior' and he smiled. "Was it that obvious?" he asked with a light laugh to his words. "For real though, thank you. I don't normally get that...overwhelmed in crowds." He gave an almost embarrassed little shrug. "I'm Brooks by the way," he introduced himself, looking expectantly at his handsome companion, on the edge of his seat for a name.
He watched the drummer take a breather and look out at the calm night sky. The Weather was good tonight. It almost made him want to drive up to the mountain. The easy and grateful smile on the other man's face was reward enough. It helped that the guy definitely wasn’t from here. He would remember if he had run into someone this good looking before. He preferred it that way. Like a fresh start.
"Let's say I have a good eye for panic and call it even." He replied keeping a similarly light teasing tone. "Besides, I had ulterior motives~" Although he didn't mention the real ulterior motive which was getting a bit of one on one time. He fished out one of the fliers and held it out to Brooks. "Michael but pretty much everyone calls me Mikey. I help run the student radio station for the local college." That was why he had come but it certainly wasn't why he had stayed. Brooks huh? It had a tough ring to it that Mikey liked. "Mostly I run the late sets. " he added, gesturing at the flier.
"You been in town long? I don't think I've seen you around?" Well it wasn't like he had been back in town long either. Not that much had really changed in the year or so that he was away….aside from the obvious change.
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 14, 2023 15:39:26 GMT
Ulterior motives? The idea had Brooks stomach fluttering but those butterflies soon disappeared as Michael...Mikey handed him a flyer. Ah, so he just wanted something. That made more sense anyway. He swallowed away his previous thoughts, pushing down the embarrassement for having even thought them as he looked down at the flyer which he held with the same hand that still also held his drumsticks.
"I don't think I even knew there was a student radio station," then he gave a soft huff of a laugh and patted the flyer with the back of his hand. "Hence the flyer I suppose." Then Mikey was asking about him.
"Um, about a year. Not too long. Though maybe long enough that we ought to have run into each other. At least at school." It was a small town after all but he didn't remember having ever seen Mikey before. Maybe it was just timing and luck. Or lack of luck.
"What do you play for your late night sets then?" he asked, glancing back at the flyer briefly before looking back to Mikey.
Mikey saw the disappointment as he handed over the flier. He didn't think much of it though because that was honestly the usual reaction he got when he bothered to hand them out. "Yeah" he replied with a laugh and a shrug "it's not exactly famous, people don't listen to the radio like they used to. But the station does have a digital version too."
Ah so brooks had moved here almost right after he had left. Funny. He might have thought harder about sticking around if he knew the college was bringing in hotties. "Ooh, we must have just missed each other. I grew up here but I was going to school out of state until this semester. So you moved here for college then? "
He watched Brooks look over the flier and shrugged again. "We get more freedom since it's a student station. So…whatever I want to play mostly. Usually I play rock or indie." There were only a handful of volunteers for the station and they had pretty different styles so the overall selection was pretty chaotic. Honestly the only times the station actually hit high listener count was when they covered home games. Go sports.
He awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets and added "I have a little radio show too, about once a week I tell some scary story over the air. " Mikey knew there was a chance that the guy might actually tune in and the thought of him catching one of the episodes was kind of embarrassing. If only because half the episodes were about dumb shit he had down in the caves or up on the mountain. Honestly the guy probably already thought he was a massive nerd anyway. "You been up to the mountain yet?" He asked quickly changing the subject.
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 19, 2023 15:32:29 GMT
"Oh yeah?" he asked when Mikey mentioned having left around the time that Brooks got there. "That's too bad we missed each other then." Did he just actually say that? He quickly continued so as not to linger too long on that comment. "What school did you go to? And what brought you back?" he asked. He was enjoying Sweetwater himself, but he could also see it as a place that people who grew up here would want to escape one day.
"Yeah, came here for college. It seemed a good place to...get away from it all," he said with a small shrug and an absent wave of his hand. It was hard to explain and didn't think he needed to get too heavy when they had just met. He grinned though at the idea that Mikey could play whatever he wanted, and also that he chose rock and indie which Brooks was certainly a fan of as well.
His interested only peaked at the idea of listening to Mikey over the radio tell scary stories. "No shit, that sounds awesome. I never really got into the true crime buzz but I've always liked scary stories. I'll at least have to tune in for that...though the rock and indie music sounds great too." Was he talking too much? Why was he caring if he did talk too much anyway? He was definitely overthinking this.
He looked in the direction of the mountain, which was easy to do since they were pretty much surrounded by them on all sides. Though it was hard to see much of them in the dark. "I've been on a few hikes but never very high into the mountain. I'm not confident to go alone and none of my buddies are really into tagging along with me."
"Texas A&M, but only for a semester or two before I moved back." He shrugged, it had been an interesting two semesters that's for sure. "And I had some…family stuff. " he added vaguely, Mikey didn't want to ruin the mood by bringing up his dead dad. He had to laugh at Sweetwater being a good place to get away. He indeed had been someone trying to get out of Sweetwater his whole life. Still he understood the appeal. Sweetwater was scenic and interesting in its own way. It was a welcome distraction to talk about the radio show. Usually he was met with feigned interest but Brooks seemed genuinely interested in the show. "Yeah, well, I did cover the nutty putty cave incident on one of the shows but I dunno if that counts as a 'crime'. usually I just talk about the caves or the local legends here. Seems like the tourists like that sort of thing." His eyes also turned to the mountains "huh, you're missing out. they're like the one redeeming part of this town. Well, if you ever feel like getting a real view I could show you one of my favorite spots. " he realized he was basically asking brooks out as the last word left his mouth and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He fumbled around in his pockets for his phone. "Only if you want, that is.." He cleared his throat "I know most of the trails pretty well."
Post by Brooks Sterling on Apr 25, 2023 17:24:29 GMT
Family stuff. It was a fairly commonly used phrase and one that could mean any number of things. It wasn't a subject he intended to push. Especially with someone he'd only just met. He had to admit though that in this moment he was pretty happy that Mikey had decided to return back home so that the two of them got this opportunity to meet.
It was clear that Mikey didn't have a great opinion about his hometown, at least based on the fact that the mountains were the 'one' redeeming part about it. He had to admit though that the idea of going on a hike to see what was sure to be a great view was pretty appealing. And the company...he definitely wasn't ready to admit was a big part of that interest. In a moment of courage, Brooks decided to just dive right in.
"I think that sounds great, I'm totally game. When would be a good time to go?" he asked, heart racing as he decided to attempt to actually plan it rather than leaving it at a vague 'sometime'.
Mikey certainly noticed the very non-vague question. He wasn't sure if Brooks was just genuinely excited about hiking or if there was the chance for more but he was going to take the chance nonetheless. So without even waiting to pretend he was thinking about it he replied "How about tomorrow then? " he shrugged and pulled out his cell. "Say like 4 or 5ish? I'll text you the spot. Hike up to the view, have a couple of brews, watch the sunset?" Mikey was aware that it sounded like a date and his tone was playful enough for it to be a joke if Brook took it wrong. But it was also an easy way for him to test the waters a little. His smile getting a bit more flirty than he meant it to. He held out his phone for Brook to add his number in. It was a bit gutsy considering he'd just met Brooks but being gutsy when it came to good looking guys was a fatal habit of his. As much as being back in this small town told him it was safer to slow down it was hard not to want to make a move on that friendly smile.
Post by Brooks Sterling on May 2, 2023 14:21:39 GMT
Tomorrow. Brooks stomach flipped with a mix of nerves and excitement. It was so soon, but he realized it would have been even worse to wait. It would give him more time to overthink it all. "Yeah. Great," he replied, imagining what it would be like up there on the mountain. "Sounds like the perfect place to watch the sunset." He couldn't help the smile that played on his lips. He did love watching the sunset and was genuinely excited for the view.
But it was more than that too. He was imagining what it would be like up there with Mikey, the two of them hanging out and drinking after a good hike. He hadn't yet considered that it would mean hiking back down in the dark but it would come to him sooner or later.
He took Mikey's phone, his fingers naturally brushing against the other man's. It hadn't been intentional but it still sent sparks through his fingers anyway. He tucked his drumsticks into his back pocket so he could use both hands and forced himself not to think about the touch so he wouldn't type his phone number in wrong. When he had it saved he handed it back.
"Send me a text with your name so I know who it's from," he said with a charming smile which faltered a little as he realized maybe that sounded weird. "Not that I get a lot of texts from numbers I don't recognize..."