The tapping of his cane echoed down the sewers, he didn't really seem to care if others new he was about at this time. He had his top hat neatly placed upon his had, the dark red accent cloth rapping around the hat nearly matching the black. His dusty black hair tangles down just to his shoulders, swaying slightly as he negotiated his way into the Hovel. His French nobleman's long coat,  black in color with dark red accents, waves back slowly with the wind from his movements as he walked. His pants are fitted to his body, and he wears a pair of French High Boots on his feet.

This was James Wilt, a Nosferatu who normally walked this path only when it became hard for him to find some work for him to do. His face gave the appearance of an older man who was recently in a fire, even to the point that some of his skin flakes off at times. He whistled slightly as he walked, bouncing with the beat of the tune.

He entered the center of knowledge for the city, what many called the Hovel. He moved around the area, looking for a familiar face digging into the one of the many knowledge bases that were scattered about the area. He found one, wrapping a grin around his face as he approached his fellow Nos. "Hello, anything exciting happening?" His voice was thick with a French accent as he took a seat near the Nos who was probably deep in reading about some poor soul above ground that didn't know that those below them knew more about them then even they did.

Hyde looks rather ridiculous, waxing scholarly while sitting on his makeshift chair cobbled together from cinder-blocks, pieces of broken concrete, stones, and mortar. “All of the other ones are too damn small, an’ besides they keep breaking.” He once defensively responded when Grey asked him what the hell he was making that thing for. Though it has held up for years, which is more than can be said for most things that find their way down here.
Scattered all around him are hardcopies of various city planning records, tomes depicting layouts of everything from electrical and sewage lines to fibre-optic cable. Before him is a rudimentary drawing-board with what looks to be a map or blueprint that he is working on.

As he hears the question, he looks up from his work as one would expect someone with bifocals to do, peering over the upper edge of the lenses without moving the head, cocking an eyebrow slightly, though he is not wearing glasses. “Ello Mr. Wilt, aren’t we chipper this’evenin.” he says before returning his eyes to his work.

“Not much going on around ’ere, but I here tale that that little party fer the film crew sticking their noses about down ‘ere is tonight. ‘Course Beauty told me ta steer clear of it cause gambling means cameras. Kindred owned an’ operated or not, I don’t want that Ventrue having any home movies of my ugly mug. Yeah, we’re all on the same side ‘n all, but safe is safe an’ sorry is sorry. An anyhow, the Tremere’re s’posed ta be handling that little problem.”  

--Last edited by mourningstaar on 2008-04-13 17:52:46 --

James with held a chuckle about the odd looking Nos. "Well, at least I'm glad that its not just me thats having a slow week here.' He frowned slightly as he leaned against a near-by broken/burn-out car, hard to tell if the frown was from the slow week or the fact that he knew his jacket was probably getting dirty.

"I don't think any of us want the Venture to have anything on any of us, when they have that they treat us like slaves till they say everything good." He grimaced, as if he had dealt with the irritation first hand sometime in the past.

He cocked his head slightly as he strained to see what his fellow Nos was working on, without moving to close to let him know he was probably memorizing everything that the man was working on. "Whats that all about," he had tried to keep his curiosity at bay, but with little to no work in the Kindred and Mage side of life it proved futile.

Sitting upright from his hunched-over position and shoving his ratty bowler toward the back of his head while looking around at the mess of paperwork he has surrounding him, he replies, “Ah this? Just a little ongoing project of mine. Most of it is zoning records for the buildings topside; a paper-trail of all the political gerrymandering for the various neighborhoods and districts up there. There are pieces missing, but there might just be enough here ta give me what I need. There are a couple of places that are up for “urban renewal” if I have anything ta say about it. I just need to make sure as to who owns what so I don’t step on the wrong toes. I think it’s high time that we had a place of our own up there.”

“This however,” he says poking a grotesque finger the thickness of a wrist in the direction of the schematic before him, “is our ticket out of here if this situation with the Sabbat goes afoul. See, this is going to tell me exactly where to dig once I perfect the tools I need to do so.” Briefly losing his often jovial manner and becoming more somber, he leans forward ever so slightly before continuing.

“Just between you an me,” he pauses to glance about “its encrypted.” Returning to his normal tone, he goes on to explain, “See, everything on the print is offset by three cubits to the east of its true position. It’s an old Mason’s trick, ‘cept that it’s measured in MY cubits.” He adds emphasis to this last part by holding up one of his gargantuan forearms and smirking. “Les’ see one of them haughty, so-called high-clans figure THAT one out, huh? Looks like this cursed form has at least a couple of advantages.”  he says, clearly proud of his cleverness as he repositions his hat.

Becoming somewhat morose again, shuffling papers back into their proper files, stacking dusty tomes, and folding the drawing along its pre-existing creases and putting it in his breast-pocket, he says, “I dunno if you can read this thing at all, I just thought perhaps you ought know, in case, well you know, something… happens… to me. Maybe at least one of us will make it out of here to spread the tale.”

Becoming more agitated, his accent thickens, “I mean, things are bad up there. Worse’n that Carter an’ them are lettin’ on. It just don’t make sense, some of the Kindred here are powerful, even by our standards, yet they can’t manage ta get outa here either? Call fer help? Somethin? I dunno, maybe it’s jus’ politics. Never was my area of expertise.”

Now re-shelving a stack of books, he suddenly becomes jocund once more, he turns to look James in the face and says, “But one thing’s for sure, which ever way this thing ends up going, one thing it won’t be is dull.” Grinning sadistically, he goes back to putting things back where they were, and if one were to listen closely enough, to tune out the white-noise of human excrement flowing nearby, one might hear him softly humming  a cheery tune reminiscent of a certain septet of dwarves on their way to work.  

--Last edited by mourningstaar on 2008-04-14 22:12:57 --

James was intrigued by his friends information about the layouts of the city, something he really hadn't had the time to dig into himself... or didn't really care. Most of the time things didn't fall down upon him, and when it did he had his ways of dealing it back. He soaked in everything he saw, taking in detail after detail, his photographic memory helping a lot with that task.

When the conversation started to shift slightly, he looked upon his friend with a slightly concerned stare. James always enjoyed acting like a monster, but when it came down to it, he was a very caring individual. "I assure you my friend, if one of us is going to get out of here, the other will be following behind their footsteps."

He shifted slightly and moved back to his full height, a sadistic grin crossing his face as a gloved hand reached up and pealed off one of the flakes that made up the skin on his face. "Not to mention if someone were to threaten you and I hear of it... I have my ways of dealing with dead-beats like that." He rolled up the skin as he talked, then tossed it in his mouth as if to give a hint of what he would do to someone that he considered a friend.

"Anyways, I was hoping that you had something that we could do to waste the time. Nights young... we could always go and scare someone at one of the clubs, thats always good for a few laughs." He chuckled to himself, then turned as if to lead the ways back through the cities sewers. "Or, we could always stop by Alice's place, that Malkavian always has some odd job for us to do." His voice seemed to linger slightly on the 'odd job' part of his last statement.

Not wanting to shrug off James' rare bout of outward camaraderie, but also not entirely convinced that all the Kindred in the city combined are prepared to deal with the impending doom he feels approaching, much less a solitary Nos, tough little bastard that he is, he answers "I'm sure you're right, we shall persevere, that's what we do."

It has been a while since they have gone out just to go out. Noting that he still has not received any reply from that tree-hugging Tremere, Hyde concludes "Ya know, maybe I jus' been cooped up too long, need ta get out. Just so happens I'm in the market for a new monitor... a really BIG one. You game?"

As he follows James down the tunnel for a bit, instinctively dodging hidden tripwires and triggers, he suddenly looks toward James and says "Who's Alice?"

(sorry for the delay on a return post, been very busy these last few days. Been working 12 hour days at work and I've just been wanting to come home, sleep and spend time with my girlfriend.)

He smiled, he always loved going into high end stores and creeping out everyone around him. The look on his face as he looked back over to his friend gave away what he was going to say before he said it, "Of course I would." He then turned from the main sewer path to a smaller one off to the side. "I just want to stop by at home for a second, want to check my e-mails to see if anyone has work for me to do."

He took a few more steps down the tunnel, his mind turning over itself as he tried to figure out the best way for him to describe Alice. She was crazy, and not just like the normal Malkavian crazy either, but James figured thats what he liked about her. He paused before a old rusted metal door that looked like it shouldn't be able to open anymore. "hmmm... she's a friend of mine, a malkavian who gives me tips and does random digging around in the malkavain network for me... as well as gives me some really really odd jobs."

{I hear you, it's almost finals week for me, glad you're still with us though... for however much longer that might be}

Hyde is almost giddy with the thought of the two of them going out on the town, it has been far too long. Still, he wonders why he hasn't heard of Alice before, not that he kept the company of many Kooks. Still, crazy or not, they made better companions than the Degenerates or Blue Bloods, quicker to forgive us our flaws at any rate.

"Take your time, night's young yet." he replies as they stop.

"Tips, digging, odd-jobs, hell she sounds like a keeper to me."

James pushed the door open, allowing Hyde time for him to come in and rest for a moment. Inside the room looked more like an hotel suite from the Victorian age, then a sewer room. He moved in across the carpeted floor and took a seat at the computer that was set up on a hand crafted wooden desk, something that seemed to be fit more for a ventrue then a nos. He quickly signed in, check through a few files then opened the internet to check his e-mails.

He glanced back to Hyde as he was signing in, "yea, she's a keeper alright. But some of the jobs she sends my way put the hairs on my back on end." He turned back to his computer, checked a few e-mails that were in his inbox then sighed. "Nothing but junk mail... as always."

He spun around in his chair, stopping so he could see Hydes face. "So, we got a truck to take or we taking the bus with the new monitor." He chuckled to himself with the image of the two of them one a bus with a massively large monitor taking up the back of the bus.

Hyde issues the unmistakable whistle signifying that he is impressed as he enters the chamber, looking around.

At James' explanation of Alice's sort of jobs, Hyde raises an eyebrow and curls the corners of his mouth downward in a thoughtful expression as he considers what it takes to give his companion 'the willies.' Much less to do it on more than one occasion. "Sounds interesting." he says with an impish grin.

A brief mental image of a Department of Transportation worker reviewing a video capture from a public bus in which a three-hundred and fifty pound hairless ape dressed in a Victorian suit and taking up three seats sits talking to the empty seat next to him with a huge flatscreen tucked under his arm.

"I don't drive, and only weirdos ride the bus."

(forgive the lateness of my post, I had made the mistake of forgetting to bookmark the website, but I've fixed that recently, so I shouldn't have a go this long without a post again)

James smiles slightly, "Oh, its very interesting. Why do you think I keep going back to her for jobs when ever I have the free time to do it." He leans back some in the chair he was sitting in, his mind lost for a moment on some of the jobs that he had gotten from her, then snapped back to reality when Hyde spoke again.

He raised a brow at Hyde, then laughed some. "So, we going to just walk down the street with the new monitor then, sounds like a plan." He raised to his feet, grabbed up his cane, then moved over and opened the door to the room and pushed it open. He would lock to door after Hyde stepped out and then head off towards the nearest secure street access point.

Hyde seems exited, his accent always thickens when he gets fired up about something. He also tends to gesticulate more wildly. "Well, sorta, I figured we'd jus' do a smash and grab. Go around the back, knock the power out, kick the door in, break a buncha stuff ta make it look like thugs or crackheads, grab what we need an' scurry back down'ere."

{OOC: shall we continue on the surface somewhere? Downtown perhaps? Or would you prefer the mall in the burbs?}

{ooc: lets head to the mall, I'll make a post later today or tomorrow.)