Chapter Text
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Darkness.
Void.
Silence.
Cold.
Stone.
Scott gasped with shock as he finally came to awareness.
He was cold, frozen like a corpse. He did not know where he was- what happened, where was he? Why?
Scott did his best to feel around, twitching his fingers, and recalled as much as he could. He remembered the town, his coven, the fights… he was just leaving, finally escaping that cursed town. He had looked and walked towards the sunset with his girls, his covenmates, watching as the grass blew and a butterfly flapped its wings overhead. He was grieving, but he was thankful, and when they got to the edge of where they had been trapped in for weeks, he even dared to feel hopeful.
But… then he got woozy; nauseous as he swayed where he stood. Shelby and Drift had begun yelling in panic, but it all felt distant as Scott fell. He remembered being grabbed, remembered being resigned to his fate and simply accepting that he could live no longer. Even after surviving Oakhurst, he was truly just too old.
At least Shelby and Drift got out, he had thought.
But here he wakes again.
Did they really put him back in his coffin?
Scott could feel the intricate runes carved into the stone, the spacious deathbed all too familiar to the vampire. Aggravatingly, pushing the lid off felt just as straining to his muscles as it did when he first awoke. Sitting up, he cleared his dry throat, grimacing at his thirst and the dust around him.
Scott lifted himself and sat on the ledge of his resting place, face twisting from discomfort to disgust as he realized not only how dirty the place is with dust, stale air, cobwebs and dirt, but that he had gotten so starved that he appeared human again! Again! His hair is teal!
Scott scoffed, stretching himself to get his ancient body used to moving once more. Traveling back up to his castle Scott glanced around, searching for Drift, Shelby, Cleo, or even Pearl. It was too quiet, too still, and Scott was confused. It was only as he dragged himself out of the stairwell did he see the ruins.
The castle- it was in ruins, again. But not the castle his coven and him had built ruins, no, these were the ruins Scott first woke up to after his cursed slumber was broken. Gone were many of the walls, the roofs, the stone and wood now crumbling in ways he hadn't seen in weeks, maybe months.
Did… was he… somehow, someway…. Was he given a second chance?
Scott's mind raced, but he was frozen atop the stairs. His castle was back to the way it was before… anything. Before the people in town arrived, before vampires had been made known, before the fighting…. Was this caused by a holy book, perhaps? Scott was just as weak aga-
….Scott was just as weak again. If Scott truly was given a second chance, he must not squander it. With a steadying he did not need, Scott straightened and turned to the forest. He had not met anybody from Oakhurst until he had entered town the first time around, so Scott crossed the bridge–not nearly as damaged and dangerous yet– in search of animals.
Scott sliced grass blades for seeds, drank any pigs he saw dry. He managed to coral the few sheep that were left on the island of his castle into a small pen next to where he built the chicken coop.
Scott needs to get his castle up again in this new time. Somewhere safe to stay, go back to, hide, before he goes to town. Just as a precaution, a backup.
Overhead, a blue butterfly flaps its wings in a stutter.
The sun is around noon, it's been at least a few hours since Scott woke up, and he's sure that the town has met up by now.
Scott looks around at his castle ruins.
The Elder Vampire has work to do.
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With dusk, Scott had scraped the ruins of wood to rotten and stone too crumbled to use. The layout felt barren and was still broken, but it was fresh for Scott to rebuild stronger. He obviously did not have nearly enough materials yet, but progress was progress.
Scott had begun gathering materials though as he dug escape tunnels, hidey holes, hollow walls, and hidden safe rooms throughout his crypt. He also painstakingly led a few chickens to the hidden room he had made behind his coffin room, a room for him specifically. It was an annoying and tedious task, but no matter how much he trusts any coven he builds, he needs his own room and precautions.
Because Scott will build his coven again.
And even if they betray him, his coven will be safe.
Scott sighs as he claps dirt off of his hands, he hates getting dirty and rustled but what needs to get done will be done. He should find a duster for the place…. No, his castle needs to be built, and Scott needs to build it. The humans hadn't begun truly searching the wilderness until about a week in, and it's been barely a day since he awoke, Scott has time.
Time. Right. Scott needs a plan, he can't just isolate himself and expect nothing to happen, expect nothing to change. He takes out some empty journal he found besides one of the many coffins in his crypt and sat on the edge of his own, hand to his chin as he thought.
When he had first woken up…. He had hunted a bit before he entered town, too hungry not to. Well…
Page 1.
Change :
1. Hunted for animals ➛ Built coop in Castle & crypts
Hm.
It will probably do him good recording the changes that are made in this new time. The more things that Scott does differently in this time, the more of what he experienced in the first time will differ. He didn't go into town today, he can't predict what that changed, but he can assume that it will affect how the town reacts to him when they do meet, particularly Avid and his paranoia.
2. Went to Town ➛ Cleaned Castle & built precautions
- Town will meet me at some later point, affecting their perception and opinions of me. May make Avid's paranoia better or worse, undecided/unknown.
…. Scott could just… stay in the castle. Continue to fortify, let them come to him. Really, there are no downsides for him aside from the unpredictability of how people's thoughts of him will form, but he’s always been a charmer. The first time around, he had been suspicious from the start and made up his backstory on the spot, however now that he's expecting a backstory being needed….
3. Introduced as traveling Nobel, curious about common people and tired of the manor life ➛
Hm.
What would make the town favor him? His hand wavered as his quill hovered over the page.
…Shelby was always quite liked. She was sweet and kind and quirky and optimistic, people liked her; even as a vampire. Martyn was rash and impulsive and loud but his word was respected by the townspeople, his misdeeds dismissed with the excuse of fear and his you-
Youth. Martyn, Avid, and Shelby were the youngest of the dozen humans in Oakhurst, and people would accept them doing wrong, though begrudgingly in more serious cases, but they would forgive them.
Youth, kindness, naivety, and all the things that could never be tolerated in a ballroom were what commoners, Town, appreciated.
Admittedly, Scott is younger physically than others initially assume when they first meet him. Those presumptions however are often made due to his personality and attitude, he has quite the baby face, or so he's been told. Shelby from before had assumed that he was around 22, Pyro believed he was closer to 24. They were both wrong, but he did not correct them. When they pestered, he told them that he was so old he could not even remember his life as a human, the age he was turned seemed so unimportant. He lied to them, he has lied as long as he could remember to protect Sire, especially after they were burned. For the memory of them, what they gave Scott, their teachings, them, he treasured it all.
They had first mistaken Scott as 16 when they met, teased him about his sass and round doe-eyes he used to possess. He was 19 when they turned him, and the innocent eyes he used to display were shaped sharp and adapted with cruelty over the centuries.
…They always did like manipulation –of humans, brood, and inferior, not coven– they taught him themself. One had to manipulate and study their cards right to make it through the brood. Claw your way up and you'll properly meet the coven heads, do it right and you'll be accepted by them. Tell the right people the right truth –simplified, sugarcoated, glorified, biased– and you'll gain information, gain allies. Tell those with the most power the plan and you'll be respected, accepted.
Scott is good at acting, he's always been a charmer, and he knew exactly who to tell what with his Sire encouraging him to use the disloyal and weak.
Why change a mask that never broke, only grew dusty?
Brush it up and give it a shine, add a thing or two so it's not old, but vintage!
Scott's Quill scraped against the paper, sliding smoothly. With a flourish, he smiled down at his vague beginning of a plan.
3. Introduced as traveling Nobel, curious about common people and tired of the manor life ➛ Young Nobel heir, sent by his mother to ‘fix-up’ their ancestors abandoned manor. Naive & skittish, unfit for the life he was born into, but dedicated for her approval.
- ◆ Further Notes To Be Added
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Property of Scott Goldsmith,
Oakhurst Journal
Page 1.
Change:
1. Hunted for animals ➛ Built coop in Castle & crypts
2. Went to Town ➛ Cleaned Castle & built precautions
- Town will meet me at some later point, affecting their perception and opinions of me. May make Avid's paranoia better or worse, undecided/unknown.
3. Introduced as traveling Nobel, curious about common people and tired of the manor life ➛ Young Nobel heir, sent by his mother to ‘fix-up’ their ancestors abandoned manor. Naive & skittish, unfit for the life he was born into, but dedicated for her approval.
- ◆ Further Notes To Be Added