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?
Brodie finally gave in. He called up his pals at the station and got the number for the Head Nurse they'd been trying to set him up with for years. He wasn't exactly sure why he was doing it--if it was for himself or to make another woman jealous, but it didn't matter. He'd called her up and set up a date for them.
It was a casual date. They were meeting at Munchies. Brodie wore dark jeans and a nice gray v-neck. He'd arranged to meet her here.
He arrived early to make sure he got there first. He'd be waiting, sitting in the driver's seat of his car, on the lookout for the raven-haired nurse.
She had spent way more time getting ready than she cared to admit. The moment her phone rang and she answered, her stomach had been a bundle of knots, waiting for the day she'd finally get her date with @brodie . He was handsome beyond belief, a little damaged, and quite a bit older than her, making him exactly her type. Her friends at the hospital had teased her more than once about her lingering gaze whenever he came in, but she had always denied it. She had been single and without intimacy for so long, she was scared to give in to the thought. Sometimes a woman just needed to be touched.
Her outfit was simple enough, a nice contrast to the navy blue scrubs she always donned, but she had opted for the most expensive items in her wardrobe. Her hair she had left down, relieved to have it out of a pony tail for once, and her makeup was subtle. She wanted to impress him, but worried that she had maybe gone a little overboard, after all, he knew what she looked like after a night in the ER. This was different however. She needed to look good.
Heels clacking on the sidewalk, she glanced towards the car where her date was and gave a wave. Had she been braver, she would've approached him, but her social anxiety was getting the best of her. All she had to do was make it through the date without making a fool of herself, and God only knew that was an ordeal in an of itself.
Brodie was looking down at his phone when he had the creeping feeling--like a spider crawling up his neck--that someone was watching him. He snapped his head up and caught sight of a very beautiful Latina woman. He definitely had a type, and dark hair and caramel skin was it. He wasn't here to meet that woman, however, so he looked down again. Then again, the woman he was here for surely wouldn't come in scrubs. He looked up again. It was Katerina.
Brodie quickly got out of his car, instinctively turn his head and panning his eyes over the rest of the lot, making a judgement about their safety and the kind of company they could expect. His presence would likely scare the hooligans away, so they could have a pleasant time.
His eyes subtly--unless she was watching him closely--panned over her outfit, admiring her taste and noticing that her body, beneath the scrubs, was toned and sexy.
"Katerina." He said her name as a greeting. Shaking her hand would be totally inappropriate, but even as he was going in for the hug he felt that might not have been right either. He didn't back away--he couldn't at this point. He'd just have to suffer the potential awkwardness it cast them into. Clearly Brodie hadn't dated in many, many, many years.
"You look lovely. Thank you for meeting with me." He was a professional at small talk.
As the tall older man got out of the car, her heart began to race, flushing her olive skin red and she had to tell herself to breathe. It was easy to converse with him when she was at work, there she didn’t have to impress him, she just needed to do her job. But this was uncharted territory. Running her fingers nervously through her hair as he approached, she smiled in greeting, suddenly tongue tied. her heart pounded faster when he leaned in to hug her, and she shied away slightly, only hugging him back with one arm before pulling away abruptly, a light laugh escaping her.
“Thank you, you look great as well.” Accent thick due to her nerves, she stared at the ground, feeling like a school girl in front of her crush. Rubbing her lips together she looked back up, and gestured towards the diner. “uhm, shall we?” Her mind was racing with ideas on how to start a conversation, but all of them were dry and pertained to the weather. Hopefully @brodie was more socially adept than her.
Munchies was like Sonics; you parked and they brought the food to your window. The alternative was to sit at the picnic tables on the center slab and be served there. That's where Brodie intended to sit and eat with Katerina. It was casual enough not to hype up this date, and let them enjoy the air. It would likely make both of them feel young, too. He had thought about taking her somewhere nicer but thought that was better left for a second date...
"Yeah, let's go sit." Brodie said, opening his arm towards the picnic tables, intending to follow behind her. "It's nice seeing you under different circumstances." He was usually bringing someone injured to her, whether it was a teen or an adult in handcuffs.
"No blood. No uniforms." He smiled, hoping to help her feel comfortable. He spoke to people every single day all day long. He may not have known how to be romantic, but he knew how to hold a conversation.
"Is there something specific you'd like to eat? They have burgers, burgers," he looked at the menu on the board, "and burgers." His attempt at humor. He was a fifty-one-year-old dad, give him a break.
Even though she had been in Sweetwater for several years, she had never eaten at Munchies. She’d driven past it without so much as a glance, and had heard her younger coworkers talk about it, but it had never piqued her interest. It seemed a little ‘divey’ for her tastes, but it was a new place, and it seemed appropriate for them to meet there. She hadn’t thought it was an eat outside deal though; didn’t they worry about bugs in their food?
Offering a small smile at his comment, she moved towards the picnic tables, adding a little more swing in her hips than was natural. Her footwear made it easier; of course, a cute pair of shoes always made her a little more adventurous.
“Yes, it is a nice change. Though I do enjoy you in your uniform.” She replied slyly, tossing her hair over her shoulders so that her black mane of unruly curls fell between her shoulder blades. Seating herself at the table, she rested her elbows on the table, and looked around. It wasn’t busy, which was good. She could only imagine the gossip that would go around if the wrong person saw the two of them. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to be seen with the older man, it was just that it could make her job awkward.
“Well, with all those options, how is a gynaíka like me to choose?” Tilting her head to the side slightly, she smiled slightly, then glanced at the menu as well. “I think a plain hamburger, and a Diet Pepsi sounds wonderful.” She finally decided, her mind wandering to whether or not she should pay. She wasn’t paid an outrageous amount, but she assumed she made more than a small town sheriff.
--- tags: @brodie notes: she's so awkward, i'm sorry xD
Brodie didn't notice the hip swaying, but he would wish he had later. Instead he was focused on trying to make her feel comfortable. She seemed out of her element, even more than him, and he wanted to make it clear--without directly stating it--that he had no expectations from tonight. It was just a test drive, you might say. They'd either hit it off well or they wouldn't, and either way that was fine. Brodie wasn't hooking his will to live on this date. It was casual, after all.
At the mention of him in uniform he felt a heat rising to his cheeks, but he kind of liked that, and the way she flipped her hair. It was confident and sexy suddenly he wasn't so worried about making her feel comfortable. Before he could think of a good return she was moving on to the menu choice, so he tucked his smirk away and moved on with her. Maybe later he'd find an opportunity to return the compliment.
"Gynaka?" He asked, pronouncing it stupidly compared to the way she had. Before she could say anything back a waitress on roller skates rolled up to their table with a pencil and pad in hand.
"What can I get for you?"
"One plain hamburger and one double cheeseburger with everything on it. A Diet Pepsi for the lady and a Mountain Dew for me." He hoped, only afterwards, that she wasn't offended by him ordering for them. He knew some womenfolk could be sensitive about that kind of thing...
"It'll be right up." The waitress promised, returning to the land of kitchen from which she had come. Brodie planted his elbows, like Katerina, and continued their conversation,
"I've always been meaning to ask: where are you from?"
Katerina bit her lip to hide the amusement at him trying to pronouce her Greek slip. She didn’t generally switch to her native tongue around those who spoke english, but her nerves seemed to make her roots more prominent. The only time she spoke Greek consciously was when she was on FaceTime or the phone with her family. They knew very little english, she didn’t really have the patience to translate. She was about to respond, but was interrupted by the waitess. She watched him speak: the way his lips moved, the little quirks in his face that he probably didn’t even notice, and then her eyes travelled down to his arms, admiring the muscles in his forearms.
“I am from Karditsa, in Greece.” She said plainly. Very few people in America had heard of it, associating anyone of Greek descent with Athens. She had been to Athens a handful of times, but definitely preferred her hometown over the bustle of the city. “I moved to America when I was 15.” She finished, guessing that that would be his next question. She had half a mind to give him her full backstory, but decided against it. If he wanted to know, he would ask. “What made you want to be a cop?” Mindlessly playing with her left ear lobe, Katerina looked at @brodie expectantly. “Police are not - how do you say it? - uhm, popular in America.” It always surprised her the disdain that the general public had for cops, they were there for a purpose: to keep people safe. The lack of respect had always rubbed her the wrong way.
Greece. He should have known, but he'd been thinking Latina. The little he knew about Greece could be summed up in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and he was almost positive that bringing it up would offend Katerina. He didn't want to do that.
The notion of being from overseas was terribly romantic, even for a small town cop like Brodie. Though he could acknowledge the wonder of other worlds, he never hungered to experience them. Traveling around was the kind of life adventurous people led. Brodie? He was a safe guy. He was steady and consistent. He was born and raised in Sweetwater and so were his kids. He'd die here, too, without feeling like he'd missed out on anything.
She turned the tables on him, then, and he smiled as he answered her.
"My father was a sheriff, and his father before him. My family way is one of justice and abiding by the law; we have all either been rule makers, like attorneys or judges, or rule enforcers, like sherrifs and deputies." He smiled and shrugged. "It's just what we do. I was raised up in the same way, and there really was no other course for me." He knew it probably sounded sad to her. It didn't to him. It was a good, reliable job, and he loved it. He was born for it.
"You're right, policemen aren't exactly beloved these days...but that's mostly in cities. Sheriffs are different than police, and we live in a small town. I do still have my negative encounters, believe me," he sighed and shook his head, still smiling, "but knowing my actions make the world a better place, even just a little, make it all worth it." He closed his mouth and nodded, affirming his convictions. It would be a lie to say his job entirely satisfied him. He did want more, like love again, but she hadn't asked that.
He wanted to return the question, so he quickly asked, "How do you feel about police?"
It was interesting to listen to the way @brodie spoke about his family. For her, she had never once looked at her mother's job (or her fathers) and wanted to follow in their footsteps. There wasn’t anything wrong with being a businessman or a waitress, but neither had piqued her interest, much to their dismay. Would she have felt the same way as him if her entire family pursued the same line of work? As far as she knew, there weren’t any other nurses in her family.
“It is a legacy.” She responded, nodding her head in agreement. She could definitely respect that. Kat was sure that her mother was praying to the Gods at this very minute, hoping that she would finally settle down and raise a family. That was her legacy.
Shifting on the uncomfortable bench, she crossed her long legs under the table, accidentally brushing his left with her foot. Heat rose in her cheeks, but she continued to listen, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “I can only imagine.” Her response was empathetic, knowing all too well that kind of belligerent jerks that she had to patch up after he brought them in. She let out a soft chuckle, resting her hands in her lap and leaning against the table with her biceps. “Yes, I feel the same way. It is hard to remember I'm doing good when I’m cleaning vomit off my shoes, though.”
“I have never had a negative experience with police before.” She said smoothly, though she had a fear for them that she wasn’t sure he would ever understand. If she so much as got a speeding ticket, they could deport her. Being a Dreamer was great, but the rules were intense. “I guess I never thought of it before. I see a cop, I wave, and carry on with my day. Aurora was much bigger than here; most cops I rarely saw more than once. But,” she paused, leaning back as their food arrived, “I have a great deal of respect for what you do. I definitely could not do it.”
Brodie felt the pressure of her foot on his, and knew it to be unintentional. Still, he smiled, only slightly, not drawing attention to it just as she'd chosen not to. They could have awkwardly laughed, she could have apologized--there was a handful of ways to respond to it, and she'd chosen to ignore it. Brodie wouldn't force anything different.
"Is Aurora your friend?" Brodie asked innocently, curios about the name she had dropped. He was doing an excellent job of exposing how small-town-minded he was. He never would have guess she was from Greece, and he didn't think about the context of the name to draw it to a location. His question didn't even make sense...good thing for him that he didn't need to be particularly sharp-minded to point his gun at the bad guys.