[WoD] And All That Jazz.

[Ezra Khaine]

Ezra slowly inserted the blade back in the body of the cane. With a twist and a click it was once again just a cane. He looked sideways at the Lupine, "Yes, it would seem I'm quite the attraction," He commented before returning his attention to the woman. He did not utter a word, the last thing he was going to do was stoop even lower and ask her to tell him what she knew. It was either she told him or she did not, and if she did not then he would simply dispatch her and return to his business with the Lupine.

[Martin Le Roux]

“Nice to meet you.” Martin was completely disarming. Everything was quite fine. Relaxing was a good idea, especially since he seemed equally under-dressed. Well, not really. There was an air of purpose about him. But it was wonderful, and Michelle should certainly relax some. Smile shyly. You’re overwhelmed, but its ok, you’ve got nothing to worry about around me. Excellent, we’re getting somewhere.

“Well, I had to be here, after missing last time.” After that complicated business in Berlin, that almost no-one knows about. Martin fumbled through his camera bag as he talked, as if his hands were operated by a separate brain from the rest of him.

“So, Michele, how’d you end up with our friend?” You can tell me however much you want to, but tell me something. If you’re with Fiona you’re important.

[Jason Dreggs]

He waited in the elevator impatiently watching the floor numbers go up and up. God he hated this city more then any other city in the world, Heck New York was ten times better then this place. What he wouldn't do to be back in London or Alexandria Egypt for that matter, but know he was in the forsaken city of Chicago.

Why was he here because the camarilla got it stuck up their butt that they owned this city. In truth the anarchs still reigned, so Jason was here to straighten that all out. Why because his bosses as he like to refer to them as thought he was the best man for the job. The camarilla need a Blow to there ego so why not send in the man who sent the setites packing from Alexandria Egypt perhaps he could do the same to the camarilla.

Finally the dang elevator reached the top floor it was time for Jason to meet the camarilla prince he would be warring against. Of course though this was just a social call so the camarilla prince could size up his new opposition. Jason was prepared for anything camarilla could not be trusted because their motives where always hidden unlike the sabbat whom you could always read like an open book.

[Michele Hawkins]

It was weird. Martin had this aura about him. It was like you knew him for years and were best friends. Very casual. I found it easier to relax, well at least around him. Some people in life just have this gift of helping people to be at ease around them. Course, that could mean they want something from you too. Oh how I know that.

"I was hired as a waitress for the club." My lips curl into an adoring smile. "We just ... hit it off. Y'know?"

I crane my neck to see what he was fumbling for. "You gonna take pictures since you missed Fiona's performance last time?"

[Sierra]

Attraction? I smirked incredulously. I could count what was attractive about a Lasombra on the fingers of a man with no hands. I turned slowly around, figuring that the shovelhead had calmed down for the time being. To be honest, he looked kind of scrawny, though I suppose you don't need to be built when you have the Tzimisce guard dogs on a short leash.

“I was hoping Jonas here might have more of a tip, but I guess we'll just have to go on what I've already learnt. The Silver Hand is one of those organizations who stretch back across time, right into the dark ages. They're a pretty small operation, but they pride themselves on being the best of the best – kind of like your lot,” I said, nodding at Ezra as I leant back against the dumpster.

“Anyway, for a long time they were pretty much a joke, but in the last couple of decades they have started living up to their own hype. There's a rumour going round that they hired in a couple of jaded vamps who got so sick of kindred politics that they flipped out and started kicking the crap out of their own kind. It wouldn't be so bad, only these guys aren't your average ten-a-penny neonates... they've got some serious years behind them, you know? I'm talking like eighth, maybe seventh gen psychotic bastards who can sneak up on you and turn you inside out before you know what's happened to you.”

[Jonas Bellinger]

Jonas looks to the vampire.

"Girl, please.....Seventh gen or eighth? All I have to do is get them in the sunlight. I've clearly got that advantage on them. And the ones I tangoed with were pretty good, but not Kindred good. So, unless the ones I got were ghouls, I don't see how crazy damned Kindred got in this one."

Jonas walked past the two vamps, and rummaged into the dumpster. His nose was right! CHICKEN!!!!!! Taking the almost uneaten bucket of fried chicken, Jonas pulled out a large drumstick and began to chew on it.

"Mmmm, chicken. Finger-lickin' good....Kinda like you...."

Jonas looks over to Sierra at this thought. He then shakes his head...

"If you weren't dead. I'd have to take a lightbulb to you....."

Snickering, Jonas took another bite, and swallowed the previous one, before speaking.

"So, if you know my name, I should know yours, miss. And yours as well, Mr. Lasombra. At least then we'll know who we're working with."

[Ezra Khaine]

A hiss escaped Ezra's lips at the mention of renegade vampires. They where a disgrace and deserved only death. Ezra would gladly suck out their souls. If they had ghouls as well then that would just be more trouble for him. Lasombra had no real use for ghouls. Some Lasombra, namely female ones, used ghouls to do their hair and such. Ezra had found no use for the worthless creatures. He had once employed a pack of them years ago. He had grown sick of them and killed them.

Ezra really did not like the thought of giving his name out, but what would it matter. It was not like he was some high ranking archbishop or something. He was a down on his luck vampire who had lost nearly everything. He had nothing to loose, except his dignity. Pride was the governing feature of all Lasombra and he was not about to let his get trampled. He would go with this for now, but as soon as it was over he would gladly remove the vampire. He did not care as much about the lupine. He had no qualms with the werewolves. They avoided him and he avoided them. A unofficial truce had been struck up a long time ago.

"Ezra Khaine," He said as he tapped the ground with his cane in an impatient manner that was more a reflex then on purpose.

[Sierra]

“Name's Sierra. Introductions over?”

My face twisted in distaste at the Lupine.

“I'm sure you could take 'em without breaking a sweat, but since you ain't in the habit of playing attack dog for us kindred, it don't make a whole lot of difference... anyways, like I said, they got some kindred on their side, as big guns. They'll be the ones who're causing you and me trouble, Khaine. I ain't got no clue where they're shacked up though. I heard some talk from the Nossies that something freaky's been going on in the sewers, but then ain't there always?”

[Martin Le Roux]

“Something like that. Photography is a hobby.” The digital SLR cameras had come far enough to where he was comfortable using them as a substitute for film, and could take pictures as long as the batteries had a charge. Truth told he was trying to get a bead on Chicago’s nitty-gritty again. He had been absent since 1991, and only recently returned from Europe. The Prince, unlike Lodin, was a pawn for the Primogen, occasionally caught in their own schemes and that of highr powers. As a result, his actions were sometimes almost contradictory and mortal politics reflected the Kindred’s own deadlock. Martin, on the other hand, was an interesting but “harmless” outsider with a relatively unknown but extensive network of passive contacts in both Camarilla and Anarch camps. It wasn’t a game so much as an amazing spectacle. It was the art of life, but the more he had learned about the pieces of the moving puzzle, the more it had troubled him.

Michele was striking, but as a companion of Fiona’s, he would leave her be. Fiona had proved invaluable at obtaining certain odd, out of circulation bits and pieces of newspapers and books for Martin’s puzzle over the past three years. Besides, she had mastered the art of conversation in the appropriate language, which was something that always bothered him about the monolingual Americans.

[Jonas Bellinger]

Jonas smiles, tossing the drumstick aside, only after it was clean, the bone gleaming in the dull streetlight. Starting on another, he paused to swallow and rub the grease off of his lips before wiping. Unusual for a Garou, especially a Bone Gnawer, the mangy riff-raff of the streets.

"Yeah. It's most likely either the 'Nossies,' other Bone Gnawers, or the Ratkin....."

Jonas turns back to them.

"But it could be a lead. Even if it is the 'Nossies,' whom you could get info from, or the Ratkin, whom you could also do the same.....the other Bone Gnawers would be hard-pressed, even if I gave them the okay.....Some wouldn't be caught dead workin' with Kindred, but for me, it's all about survival, not about bias. If you can work the crowds, get the necessary info, and the statistic of survival suddenly goes up a bit....."

Taking three more quick bites of the next drumstick, Jonas swallows hard, barely even chewing the large bites.

"The sewers would be a good idea. And for a price, I could go along as a helping hand.......but remember, I'm freelance. I'll help where I can, but I don't take kindly to orders.....I'll even give ya a discount, considering that finding out this info and aiding in the potentially inpending doom of the Silver Hand would be good for myself as well. For you Cammies, it would be 'upholding the Masquerade;' for you Sabbat, getting vengance and the don't screw with us message acrossed; and me? It's about the survival: kickin' the tail off of these bastards would up the survival rate for the Garou, and myself, considerably.....of course, it's a calculated risk....What ya offerin'?"

[Ezra Khaine]

Ezra had learned a long time ago that there was always a price for anything, the trick was just finding out what it was, "Anything you want," Ezra said as he shifted his weight onto his other foot, "I possess enough links, contacts, and operatives to be able to supply you with whatever you desire, outside of supernatural items and being turned into a god," Ezra, like all Lasombra, prided himself on his long list of allies, or rather; servants. In the world of mortals he was a god, despite being a worm in the eyes of his fellow kindred.

He did not like the idea of traveling through the sewers, it tended to mess up his clothing and it was expensive to get slime covered trousers cleaned. But his hate for the Silver Hand was more then enough to compel him to do whatever it took.

[Fiona Devlin]

:: Fiona gave Michele's hand another light tug as she nodded to Martin ::

"Come on. I'd like to get a drink or two before my set."

[Jonas Bellinger]

Jonas smiled. Whatever he wanted, huh?

"Ok, this is simple: a double-extra-large Carnivore's Special from Little Joe's down on Thirty-First street, and a thousand bucks to pimp out my pad. Get me those, and you got a deal. But hold on the pizza until later. You know, as a celebratory meal for the death of the members of the Silver Hand."

[Ezra Khaine]

Ezra had to hide the relief from his face. He reached into his coat and pulled a wallet made of a strange grey material that looked too organic to be leather. He fished around in the wallet and pulled out ten one-hundred dollar bills and offered them to Jonas, "There’s your money and I'll get you that pizza when this is all finished," If we live, he added mentally. Ezra turned to face Sierra, "Do you require any payment, anything at all?" He was starting to warm up to the girl, but warming up was not something that came naturally to a vampire, in more ways then one. He was, in fact, willing to give anything. The drug business had been good these last few years. Ezra just wanted to kill those Silver Hand bastards. Money, for once, did not matter.

[Jonas Bellinger]

Jonas took the new cash and smiled....Turning away from the two vampires, Jonas rolls the cash up and puts it into his mouth, swallowing it whole, without getting it wet with saliva. Focusing on the spiritual energies with him, Jonas opened up his other stomach: the one on the plane of the Umbra. The money fell there, waiting for when Jonas would need it....

He covered the swallow with a cough and a sneeze, before cramming his hands into his jacket, to 'place the money' in an inside pocket that did exist, though the money was already gone.

Turning back around, Jonas smiled.

"Good. Now that business is out of the way, it's time for the research and development portion of the job."

[Michele Hawkins]

"Yes." I actually found myself enthused that Martin would be joining us. "You can tell me how you two met."

We take over the corner by the bar and ordered our drinks. I just get a soda tho. Not much of a drinker anymore except for special occasions. Plus, I doubt burly bartender thinks I'm twenty-one.

[Fiona Devlin]

:: Fiona orders herself a rum & coke as they sit ::

"Martin and I met in '74 ..."

:: She smiled, allowing Martin to take the story ::

[Martin Le Roux]

"Well, I follow Chicago's history as a hobby." He had ordered wine, one of the few things he could keep down besides the normal. Actually, he still enjoyed wine. Martin took a sip and continued.

"I wandered into Fiona's book shop. She had some very interesting material. I was so excited I began to mutter to myself in French. Fiona rung me up, and said "Je vous ai offert bonsoir." It had been months since I'd heard a word of it and we spent the better part of an hour discussing each other's interest. We have something of a game of playing with languages. She usually wins, though."

Martin a little sheepishly at Fiona, who was still a bit of an engima. Hopefully the reverse was also true.

[Michele Hawkins]

"Well, I'm jealous." I chuckle lightly. "At least you can understand what the hell she's going on about."

Then I elbow Fiona playing in the side. "I swear she's always talking about me behind my back."

[Fiona Devlin]

"Iiiieee!"

:: Fiona laughs and nudges back playfully in self-defense ::