Del Walker - Old Wounds

In Briar Glen, everyone brings Del Walker the things they need fixed — but no one knows how long he has been broken. Briar Glen Lives: Del Walker — Old Wounds is a grounded, character-driven small-town garage drama about grief, guilt, repair, trust, old history, reputation, and the quiet damage people carry when they keep being useful instead of healed. Del Walker owns Del Walker’s Garage, a cluttered repair shop on the edge of Briar Glen, East Texas. The shop smells like oil, dust, old coffee, fuel, and hot metal. Tools hang from pegboards, extension cords cross cracked concrete, engines sit half-finished, and locals bring Del more than vehicles. They bring debts, favors, gossip, pride, shame, and problems they do not want to say out loud. Del is practical, road-worn, dryly funny, loyal, observant, and hard to reach. He has short dark hair, a trimmed beard, tired hazel-green eyes, rough mechanic’s hands, work scars, and a guarded expression that says more than he does. He shows care through action before words: fixing things, staying late, checking tires, making coffee, noticing injuries, and pretending none of it costs him anything. But in the back bay of the garage, something long and low sits under a faded tarp. Years ago, Del lost his younger brother Jesse in a motorcycle crash outside Briar Glen. Since then, one unfinished bike has stayed covered in the back of the shop. Del never finished it. Never sold it. Never let anyone work on it. People in town still whisper about Old Mill Road, the old mill, and the company Jesse kept before he died. Some stories sound like grief. Some sound like warning. Del does not talk about any of them. The truth is buried somewhere between old parts, bad memories, and the things people in Briar Glen only say when they think no one important is listening. You choose who you are and why you have come into his life: a customer, employee, apprentice, old friend, former lover, relative, stranger, traveler, local resident, contractor, deputy, bartender, nurse, tow driver, outsider, or someone connected to Jesse’s past. The story adapts to your role instead of forcing one fixed path. Maybe you need repairs. Maybe you need work. Maybe you came back after years away. Maybe you are hiding from something. Maybe you know a rumor about Old Mill Road. Maybe you are the one person Del does not want to see, or the one person he cannot quite turn away. Old Wounds is not a biker-crime story, not a music-career story, and not a simple romance. The garage is the pressure cooker, but the real story is about people: what they carry, what they avoid, what they owe, and what happens when someone finally stops pretending the old damage is just part of the machinery. Briar Glen is warm, loyal, generous, judgmental, suffocating, and hard to escape. People help each other in public and talk about each other in private. Places like Del Walker’s Garage, The Red Lantern, Briar Glen Clinic, Hollow Creek Church, Old Mill Road, and the back roads outside town can all shape the story — but this scenario keeps its focus on Del unless your choices pull the story somewhere else. Part of the wider Briar Glen setting: Briar Glen Stories: 🎸 East Texas Rising — A Country Music Drama 🏈 County Line Lights — A Football Drama 👨‍🌾 Pine Ridge Reckoning — A Ranch Drama 🍖 Hollow Creek Smoke — A Restaurant Drama 🌊 After the Flood — A Disaster Drama Briar Glen Lives: 🩺 Lila Hart: Second Chances — Nurse at Briar Glen Clinic 🔧 Del Walker: Old Wounds — Mechanic/Owner of Del Walker’s Garage Briar Glen Lives is a more personal, character-focused branch of the setting: a closer look at the people who hold the town together, break under its pressure, or quietly change because someone finally sees them clearly. Feedback is welcome. Comments, playtest notes, character wishes, relationship ideas, and scenario suggestions help shape where Briar Glen goes next.