Cape City: A World of Darkness Roleplaying Game

Who: Hamilton, Fatima, other patrons of the Nite Owl
What: Hamilton and Fatima retreat to a local dive to discuss their evening in a less infernal environment.
Where: Nite Owl Waffle House
When: Sunday night (August 14), 4:30 a.m., 3.5 hours after mass ended.

[OOC: This scene is open to any who would be in a place like this at a time like this, though it starts with a segue from the midnight mass scene. All welcome, but keep in mind sunrise is ~1-2 hrs away!]

The day is sliding somehow past late hours and into early ones, but no one's told the patrons of the Nite Owl Waffle House. Scattered among the plentiful booths or sitting alone at the stools in front of the bar, they are truckers and nurses and prostitutes and cops, people with nothing in common except that each is at the bottom of his or her totem pole.

These are people to whom passes the kind of god-awful night shift that leaves them hollow-eyed and sitting in a booth among total strangers, cramming thick wheat waffles drenched in syrup down their throats and drinking black coffee to ward off the darkness a couple more hours.

A waitress floats between them every fifteen or twenty minutes, refilling coffee and taking orders with a laugh that's like dragging a steel chair across the linoleum. Sinatra is playing faintly over the sound system. In the back, Dmitri is flipping some pancakes and watching infomercials on a miniature set.

Despite being cleaned almost every day, the Nite Owl seems to itself emote the same kind of grimy depression that inhabits the drooping eyelids of its clientele. This place is an institution in Cape City, it's been in business over 50 years - not that that's anything for a city to be proud of.

[Please make sure to read this OOC post before tagging! Characters are free to have been in the church during any point of the description.]

Who: ALL
What: The Mekhet are burning down the Bishop's church, rescuing captured Mekhet
Where: Lancea Sanctum Church
When: Sunday night (August 14), 3 a.m., 2 hours after mass ended.

Mass had started exactly at midnight, as usual. Penthesilea's voice had carried her thoughts effortlessly, and tonight, she paid particular thanks to the Sheriff: Eran Anah. May his soul be saved, even though we are members of the damned, for his contributions to the covenant, and to God, have been endless.

As custom, after mass, many sanctified stayed in the church, repenting, or meeting to discuss covenant affairs.

At 3 a.m., an extremely uncomfortable heat surrounded the church, and within minutes, it was clear that the building was on fire. Three members of the Mekhet underground kicked open the doors, each individual carrying a container of gas and a lighter. If they were frightened for their lives, their faces did not show it.

By 3:15 a.m., the benches inside the church were ablaze, and no amount of smoke was setting off the sprinklers. Some kindred were in Rotschreck. Others fled. A few, including Penthesilea, had become blurs of their own, and were pursuing the three perpetrators who would commit this unspeakable evil against God.

---

When Damion found a trap door beneath the altar, he slowed down, adapted to the shadows and entered a cold, marble room. He hoped Valerie and Thomas would be able to buy him enough time. He placed his finger to his temple and activated his heightened sight. There was no one else down here -- wait. Oh my god. Then, he saw her. "Alice," he whispered. They weren't sure they'd fine anyone here, much less -- "Oh god Alice" -- a fellow Mekhet they thought had been already lost.

Rushing to her side, Damion nearly tripped over the chains that bound her ankles and wrists. Alice was suspended, near the back of the room, a stake in her heart. The room, even with his normal sense of smell, reeked of blood and dead beetles.

As he pulled out the stake, a bright light flood the room. The trap door had been opened, and Damion temporarily stood blind. Penthesilea's voice echoed through the walls. "Eran. Get them."

Who: Mekhet rebels, sympathizers, random drunks, bar patrons
What: Tensions are rising
Where: Jaberwocky's Den, Wonderland
When: Sunday night (July 24)

It's a well-known rumor that the underground sometimes meets at Wonderland. Trick is, no one can ever prove it.

This unholy night has not been designated as an information dropoff. Knowledge is not being passed, a revolution is not building, and the underground, they certainly are not preparing for anything.

--
The lights in the room rotate between flashing scarlet and black. The music is too loud to hold a conversation. The patrons are too drunk to care.

Sixty or is it eighty men and women are dancing, very close to one another. Drinks are knocked onto the floor. Someone throws a punch, and very quickly, that person is nowhere to be seen.

A man stumbles out of the bathroom, looking aroused yet sedated. His smile is wide open, and his expression looks like a fools -- an unnatural pairing to his spiked hair, dragon tattoo, and pierced ear. The fool rubs his neck once or twice and falls down on a nearby couch. A woman exits the same bathroom. She's beautiful, but you can't really put your finger on why. Her hair is slicked up into a pony and she's smiling out of satisfaction. She chuckles a bit at the fallen-over man and exits towards the back alley.

Two men sitting in a back booth clink their beer bottles together. The labels have both been ripped off, or perhaps the bottles never came with any.

Who: Fatima, the Keeper, the Seneschal
What: Introducing a new member of the city
Where: Elysium
When: ...a long time ago.

Elysium is an imposing building, dominating the city block where it was built. It's a modern structure, built in curves of glass and steel, elegant and beautiful and somehow subtly threatening.

Once inside, the lobby is cool marble and plush chairs. There is a public bar and restaurant, one of the most acclaimed in the city, on the ground floor. Of course, the real quality is in the bar and restaurant on the roof, but that's members only.

The intervening floors function as... well, something like a hotel. There are certainly rooms for rent. That they have certain... specifications, such as extra facilities or blocked sunlight, is incidental.

Below, of course, are the dungeons. A haven for every secret desire, for debauchery and pain and pleasure.

Today, the Keeper of Elysium, Lady Sandra, is performing an inspection of the restaurant on the top floor. Her ghouls know how to contact her, if necessary.

Who: Eran and YOU!
What: Eran's monthly hearing of disputes related to supernatural law. This is also something of a monthly gathering of Kindred etc. without the formality or exclusivity of court. An announcement no doubt went up in advance, so feel free to have your character have heard about it.
Where: The Cape City Marshall Museum of Art -- a series of gathering rooms in the back.
When: Wednesday -- today!
Warnings: None so far.
Notes: Feel free to also tag each other and make new threads, if you like.

In the main room, the marble floors are polished. Tables are set up with varied refreshments, appropriate for ghouls, retainers, werewolves and Kindred alike. Uniformed attendants, employees of the museum, are close by to attend to every whim.

Along one wall is a queue of those who wait to speak with Eran. Past a pair of deep wood doors, Eran's office: lit with stark lamps, decorated in rich carpet and polished wood.

There are also several private meeting rooms, available on request.

Eran, early in the evening, can be found taking care of the petitioners. Late, he stalks out of his office, and takes refreshments, observing the gathering with a glowering eye.

Who: Fatima and YOU
What: Meeting the peoples
Where: Cape City Marshall Museum of Art History
When: Just after sunset

Now that she no longer felt the need to be vampire bait, Fatima had significantly cut down on the whore-factor of her wardrobe. As much as she enjoyed being at the height of fashion, it could get expensive. Sometimes, it was just easier to wear jeans and a tee shirt. And that is exactly what Fatima chose to wear when she left for the museum: Faded white blue jeans, a black, off the shoulder blouse, and one of her mother's old, silver scarves. Casual elegant. That's what Fatima would call it on a party invite. Her long, brown hair was twisted up into a knot, held in place by a pair of silver chopsticks. Completing the look was a silver charm bracelet, skillfully crafted by a Daeva friend. And not just any friend. She was a Facebook friend.

Fatima breezed into the museum, glancing casually at the displays. Really, she had very little patience or care for art. If it was over a hundred years old and couldn't walk or talk, it was generally pretty boring. She was more of a science museum sort of girl, but this was apparently one of the city vampire hangouts. Which made sense. Fossils loved hanging around with other fossils.

Her phone buzzed and Fatima took it out. A text from Prince Stephens: How are things going? Fatima smiled wryly, composing her response. "Things are..." She paused. She wasn't quite sure how to answer. Things were going...slowly, she guessed. Things were...fine? Really, she wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't made any real progress so far. Which would be fine, she supposed, if she were a vampire. But she was a mortal and had a limited amount of time. She wasn't going to waste all of her pretty years stuck in Cape City.

Quickly, she punched out a reply: If you have an ambassador here already, why the fuck did you send me? And with that, she pocketed her phone.

WHO Everyone!
WHAT The Steppin' Out! Festival
WHERE Everywhere in the city, but specifically an area of downtown near the harbor.
WHEN June 8, 2011 - June 11, 2011
NOTES This counts as a party post -- start your own threads, tag other people, go crazy! This post also marks the opening of Cape City.

Every year, the citizens of Cape City come together in a huge, joyous festival to usher in the summer. Today is the first day of that festival: STEPPIN' OUT.

The roads are jammed with cars heading to and from the festivities.

Several blocks of downtown have been cordoned off, and designated pedestrian-only. The streets are filled with stalls, peddling arts, crafts, food, and many other street fare. There's new music every block, from local to national bands hired for the occasion, and for each set of music there's an area for dancing.

The festival lasts all day and night for four days. Though it tends to be rather less active at night, especially the child-friendly areas.

Oh, and there are t-shirts. They say 'Steppin' Out' and have an old map of the city as the design on the back.

Vampires have been warned not to feed on mortals too obviously. As usual, if you break the Masquerade, you will be blood-hunted.