Chris wasn’t entirely pleased with his current lot in life, but he knew his hand had been forced on the threat of death. He didn’t like lying to his mum either, but he didn’t have any other choice, really. It was a little easier, he felt, with her being back in London than with her still being in New Orleans; still, he didn’t like it. He was at his sister’s whims, and while he wasn’t happy about that – hell, he wasn’t even sure how much he liked her to begin with – he wasn’t about to jeopardize his well being, either. He could be curious to a fault, but he was far from stupid or naive.
It was his current lot in life though, that had him chauffeuring an occasionally moody, wheelchair bound guy around. His sister had volunteered him at the bequest of a vampire she knew, and while the work itself wasn’t the worst thing in the world, the company wasn’t that great. He preferred to converse with people who could hold conversation on topics that interested him or were something he could debate on, or could tell an interesting story or teach him something. This guy was none of those things. Sure, he’d tried bringing up a variety of subjects, but the guy seemed closed lipped about a lot of things, so eventually he quit asking questions, and the guy, although nice enough, just didn’t interest him, and didn’t really initiate conversation.
So here he was, after a day of running him around, growly about the fact that he was nothing more than an unpaid intern. He’d come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t change his current lot without dying in one manner or another, so he’d resolved to be as useful as he could. That’s how he found himself overseeing the installation of top notch security system at the new house they would be moving into soon. He knew the ins and outs of it well enough to know how good it was, and knew he could tweak it as needed. At the same time, it wasn’t as intrusive as the one his father had installed at the apartment.
Beyond being security guy, he wasn’t really sure how useful he was being. He knee Michael felt the same way to some extent, hence his drive to become the protector he felt she needed. Her personal warrior, so to speak. At the same time, he was essentially an advisor to her on a variety of subjects, the most well-equipped of which he seemed to be was in the fashion field. Michael, it seemed, had a certain natural aptitude toward helping her no matter the capacity. So where did that leave Chris? He swore under his breath, starting to regret the fact he’d ever entertained the idea of tracking down his birth father, even if it was for his mother’s sake.
I need perspective. he thought. But where do I go to get that?
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Lucas was sore the day after moving. Ash had tried that morning to get him up and going, being all happiness and sunshine as was her way, he was learning. He sent her off though, telling her to make up for lost time and get some game time in and, if she were going to be online, maybe see if she could find some locals with which to put a team together. She’d agreed, and let him be. As far as she knew, he was trying to get more sleep. In reality, he couldn’t. He’d had some highly unpleasant dreams the night before. At least on involved Michael getting shredded by bullets and dying in his arms, while still another involved his father risen from the dead as a zombie, intent on eating him.
After some tossing and turning, he gave up, and worked on setting up his computer. He’d told Michael to try joining a gym and hooking up with a personal trainer, but he wasn’t sure if he’d done that yet or not. In case he hadn’t, he researched local gym’s, finding the best rated ones and making a list. Next, he made a list of the personal trainers that worked there and how well they were rated. After he’d done that much, he took a break to shower and try to ease his aching muscles, as well as grab something to eat. His research was almost ready to send to Michael, but not quite ready.
The next step was to assuage Lucas’ own insecurities. He looked up photos and videos of the trainers, both from the gym websites and their personal Instagram accounts, and started taking into account looks. He couldn’t help it…the last thing he wanted was to potentially lose Michael to a gym rat that could support him in this new endeavor more than he himself could. It didn’t help that he felt Michael deserved better than a meek artist and murderer in the first place. He narrowed things down, managing to not eliminate all the men completely, and then went about seeing where their specialties lay, and finalized the list before sending it off. There were still more male trainers than female, but that was just the way it seemed to be in general, so he sent a link to the research, along with a quick text before lunch rolled around.
Hey handsome 🙂 I know I only mentioned the gym thing to you recently, but I thought I’d help out further in case you hadn’t had time. Take a look at the link. Ttyl!
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The coterie had been sent from Chicago to covertly investigate New Orleans. Members of the Ivory Tower older than they had sent them, viewing them as acceptable losses, should they fail to get promising information to topple those responsible for the fall of New York. While unhappy about this, this small group of three were unwilling to risk the wrath of their Elders.
Jasmine was one of these individuals. A former model, she was embraced Toreador after her career tragically ended due to a scandal involving her significant other at the time. Although she wasn’t at fault, racial bias was against her, and she quietly faded from the scene before her career could truly take off.
Kyle had been a police officer in life, having risen to the rank of detective, and well on his way to higher promotions before meeting a violent end at the hands of a petty thief. Were it not for his sire watching from the shadows, he would have died then and there, but his sire was not about to lose a promising childe, and embraced him then and there, pulling him into Clan Ventrue, for better or worse, and worse was not an option.
Lin had come to America as a refugee post-Vietnam. He’d worked hard to overcome the prejudice he faced as a foreigner in the seventies, and eventually the tension wore away as he proved himself a hard and capable worker. He still doesn’t know why his sire chose him, but he has made efforts to worked towards the rights of Asian-Americans, both before and after becoming a part of Clan Brujah.
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They stepped off the curb outside the airport, and flagged down a cab to take them to their hotel. They were graduates of Summit Vista Preparatory Academy, and had been good friends with Mandy and Michael throughout the school years, though had never reached quite the BFF level that they had attained with each other. Still, they missed their friends, and it had been unusual for them not to post to their social media.
It seemed as though Mandy had stopped posting altogether recently. They partially attributed this to her overprotective, paranoid father, whom they often joked about when not in Mandy’s presence. Michael seemed to have slowed down some, and neither of them had mentioned much about their new home and how they were liking it. Michael and Mandy had moved suddenly back in April, and it was now July. They knew Michael had graduated from his new school in early June (he had posted a pic in cap and gown), but Mandy was oddly missing from the picture.
They themselves didn’t graduate until mid-June, and it had taken some doing to convince their parents to let them take a group trip to see their friends, which is why they didn’t find themselves in New Orleans until early July. While they had admitted it to others, they had admitted to each other that they were worried about their Divas.
The hotel they found themselves had a range of rates, from affordable to ridiculously exorbitant. Much like any kid who had attended SVPA, they came from wealthy enough families, and were able to afford a joined family suite with three beds. It didn’t matter if they were mixed gender – nothing was likely to happen, as Jeff was gay.
Julie was the free spirit, and the one who had risked considerable by securing for Mandy her first sex toy. She’d done this a few times for Michael as well, and had gotten into trouble a few times for passing out condoms at school. She repeated time and again that she wasn’t advocating for people to have sex – just that if they did, they be safe about it. After the second time she got in trouble for the condom thing, it was never brought up again, her parents having made a large ‘hush money’ donation to the school.
Jeff was every bit as gay as Michael was, and in fact the pair had initially tried dating when they both came out of the closet, only to find that they made better friends than potential lovers. Jeff was the kind of kid who could come up with a brilliant idea for a story, but hadn’t quite mastered how to make novels out of them yet, so for now he just kept them stored away in a file on his computer while turning other ideas into short-run campaigns for rpgs he’d run for the school’s gaming club.
Riley was kind of like the investigator of the group, but she wasn’t interested in news. She anonymously wrote the school’s advice column for it’s blog, and always seemed to know who was dating who, or where the best parties were. It was she who would supply Michael with info on which guys might be gay, or where the hottest raves were being held.
Madison, or Maddie, as she was more widely known, was among the wealthy elite school, but maintained a very down-to-earth attitude. While friendly to most, she didn’t hesitate to call out those who were bullies, and it didn’t take long for it to become widely known that she could hold her own in a fight and not streak her makeup while doing so. Although she was invited to join the Cheer Squad more t han one, she repeatedly turned it down, in favor of her friends.
Together, they, as well as Mandy and Michael, made up the core of both the drama class and club. Since they didn’t have enough members to every put on plays or musicals, they would often act out scenes from various things for practice in different acting styles, and stage things like music videos for fun. They could always rely on Michael for costuming, and Mandy to bring her amazing voice and dedication to anything they did.
They settled into the hotel after some minor issues at the front desk when checking in, and then decided to go out as a group and grab dinner, before trying to touch base with Mandy or Michael. One last hurrah before college or university stole them all away from each other was all they were looking for.
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