Duncan's haven

About here..

https://maps.google.fr/maps?q=bordeaux&hl=fr&ll=44.831359,-0.574336&spn=0.004657,0.026157&sll=46.75984,1.738281&sspn=10.161645,26.784668&hnear=Bordeaux,+Gironde,+Aquitaine&t=m&layer=c&cbll=44.831362,-0.574336&panoid=fye28KAzXa-qmK8Y3ljKgQ&cbp=11,5.76,,0,8.64&z=16


Lyle's email was sent on Friday evening, but only an hour after sunset or so. It comes from "contactdirector at theregent dot com"
It goes roughly as this :

"Here's a link to the files. I almost forgot about those...
The password is Theo's last name.
I'll be in the Regent most of the time if anything. I'm sure He would love to hear all about what happened, from your own perspective.
Regards,
LK"

The files are indeed in a few links to follow, and with indeed, the password of Jacob works (although it may have taken a couple of tries, with or without the capital letter).
The first thing to notice is that indeed the files are different, but only with minor changes. As Lyle said, he noted out the differences for them to be easy to notice.

Both files tell the same story. It's a journal of a man, but his name is only stated as "Fernand". It's been kept for about one year or so. It's written in French. It doesn't give openly where he is, but all the names appearing in the files are in Spanish.
There isn't much time to read the two long files, which are a good hundred pages long each, but the first glance and read through shows that this Fernand is extremely well organized, maybe a little maniac about it. It'll be easy to gather all information from both files, and study the differences in about four hours.
The quick read also shows that the differences are mostly about approximations, but also about doubts Fernand had about Lambert (which he calls "the Sheriff", but as he described his OCD, it's clear he is talking about Lambert).
Despite his odd writings, Fernand seems like a very bright person, yet a little outcast somehow, a little paranoid (or maybe a lot), and always planning all kinds of possible outcomes for every little detail he could find or think of that made some vague sense. It was a few of the possible outcomes he declared on Lambert that he erased (the original file, at least the one Lyle marked as such, states that the sheriff has trouble with women and despite working for him, he'd rather not, he'd rather continue take a global view of news papers and continue on writing articles on his blog...). His heavy meticulousness to write is in total opposition to a messy life he seemed to had.
The last few entrance talk about strange movements in the local Sabbat. It's like they've been beheaded, and that the tensions are growing and growing, that nobody controls those beasts anymore. The date confirms that such "beheading" happened sometime after the Sabbat attack that stroke Bordeaux a few months ago. Facets of this have shown into politics (riots, rants, open dossiers...). This detail can be linked up with recent news and the Spanish names to guess that indeed, this Fernand was settled in Spain. His plannings and his warnings on the journal state that the outburst may be for soon. He started planning out about two months ago a way out for the worst scenarii. He found a nice promising girl, a girl (he refers to her as "my star") which would had been a perfect girlfriend for him if the situation would have been different. He seemed to like her a lot, despite how little they could rest and just chill, and he was sad for what he had done to her. He entrusted her with the mission if something had to turn wrong. It obviously happened.
There are a few names, including Frederic Vonzel's, as some kind of other outcast, maybe a potential target to switch sides. But it dates back from other entries, and studying those will take much longer than available at the moment.

When Duncan gets home, he is a little unsteady. He knows this will pass, though. After he hooks up his phone and laptop computer on their respective chargers, he checks his various email addresses. When he finds nothing new, he grunts and comments, Don't know why I thought he'd send them tonight. Not in the shape he was in.

Duncan spends most of the time before sunrise doing what would normally be considered exercises; although this is not normal exercise. Despite the fact that he can no longer build muscle mass, he uses furniture, iron rebar, and scavenged concrete blocks to stretch the limits of his strength. A few martial arts exercises follow, before the furniture is put back into place; but this is obviously an afterthought. The main focus of this session was power, not agility. Afterwards, he goes straight to bed.

Dead until dark.

At sunset, Duncan wakes and hops into the shower. Sweat and body odor are no longer an issue, of course; but most people would not suspect someone who is freshly showered of being anything other than human. The Masquerade is in the details.

A few minutes later, Duncan is dressed and ready. He unplugs his phone and laptop from their chargers, tucks the laptop into its padded bag, and heads out of the door. He pauses only long enough to set the usual telltales, in case of visitors.
Then he is off into the night. He does not head for his motorcycle... it's a fine night for a walk.

Duncan does his usual check at the door, to see whether anyone has entered while he was gone.  When he sees the telltales are in place, he enters and quickly strips off his dusty, moldy clothing and puts it in the hamper.  Then an equally quick shower, followed by clean clothes.

Before leaving, Duncan hooks up his laptop to its charger, which he didn't do when he dropped it off earlier.  The charger is then plugged into the outlet behind the faded armchair, so that the laptop is not just sitting in the open.

Note: Duncan is wearing the Spectra (armor) T-shirt under a dark green T-shirt. The flattened stakes go back on his forearms, secured by thick rubber bands, and a light jacket is worn over that.  The jacket is mostly worn to conceal the stakes; but also so that he doesn't draw attention by wearing just a T-shirt in the cool night air.  The pepper spray pen goes in the jacket pocket.  Duncan frowns at the slight discomfort of the rubber bands, and mutters to himself.

I need to get sheaths for these things.  Or maybe some Velcro straps, from a mail-order website.

The entire process takes perhaps fifteen minutes.  Duncan locks up and replaces the telltales (thread near the doorknob, slip of paper behind the door, etc.).  Then he walks briskly back to his motorcycle, to wait for Miriel's return.

Franz answers after a few rings. He sounds a bit surprised to get a phonecall.
(Franz) Hello, no you're not disturbing. What is it? Something to discuss?

He's not particularly pushy, but the Brujah wants to get to the point and not chit-chat.
His second question is more aimed at if Duncan wants to meet rather than discuss sensible subjects over the phone. (It's just that the ST can't phrase it in English XD)

Duncan gets right to the point, since Franz is direct.
I'm sure you've heard about the disappearances of those students from Bordeaux 3; the ones who have been turning up in the river.  Mike is looking into it, and I'm sort of giving a hand, because it's stirring up the news media, which isn't good for any of us.  Theo tells me that you have some influence in the college, so I was wondering if there was any way I could get access to their student records, to look for links between them that weren't mentioned in the news.

I know a little about computers, so it shouldn't take too long with the right access.  I also didn't want to just go digging without permission, since it's your area.

What do you think?

Franz seems to ponder a moment.
(Franz) Mike, uh. I thought he was more worried about the Roms. Theodore told you the truth, I've got some openings here and there. I'll give you access if it can be of any use, but there are others who have a hold around. Make sure you don't anger the wizards !

He's half-bitter, half-amused.
(Franz) If you're going to have access to the system, you'll need to come to the campus because most information is hosted locally only, especially student files. When do you want to do this ?

The Brujah seems to know enough of the system and seems confident about information being only accessible locally. So Duncan will probably need to ride all the way south west to get to the campus (Pessac, tram stop Montaigne-Montesquieu, Montaigne being Bordeaux 3 Université Michel de Montaigne, and Montesquieu Bordeaux 4 Université Montesquieu).

Yeah, I think Mike's looking into the disappearances of all those foreign women too, but I don't really know where to help with that one.  At least with the students, I have an idea where I can help.  I'm no Nossie hacker, but I have some... experience with searching databases for leads.

As for when... hmm.  I guess I can do it first thing tomorrow evening.  I'm not sure how long it'll take the tram to go that far from Victory Plaza... Do you think maybe an hour after twilight will give me enough time to get there by tram?  If not, I guess I can take my motorcycle, although I have no clue where I'll park.  I'm only familiar with the more popular areas of Bordeaux.

Franz lets out a chuckle.
(Franz) There are parking places all over the place, just behind the campus. They installed this new rent-a-bicycle thing just next to the administration room and many students park their own bikes and scooters around. If you're taking the tram, it's a 20 minutes direct ride, but if you take your bike and follow the tram lines it'll be around 10 minutes or so (even if you follow actual circulation). So it's all up to you being an early well-fed bird or not. I'll be around tomorrow evening anyway, so give me a call whenever you arrive and I'll show you around. As for the roms and travellers, ask the Setites, and whoever hunts there.

He seems to despise who hunts in those population groups. It's something he considers low, and probably dangerous.

Okay, I didn't know parking was that easy. I may still take the tram though. I'll call when I get there. Thanks for this; I'll owe you.

I'll let you go then. See you tomorrow night.

(Franz) Parking's only a bitch downtown. Once you're outside of Bordeaux it's all fine. See you tomorrow then.

After the mutual farewells, Franz hangs up.

I did a check on Google maps, and there are literally over a hundred bars in the area mentioned above.  Duncan is just looking for one healthy 'donor', who can stand to lose 1-2 blood points (and who isn't too drunk).  He also plans to have a glass or two in Elysium, if it's offered, but he wants to take the edge off before that so he doesn't appear hungry in front of other Kindred.  Between this, and a quick hunt tomorrow before setting out for Pessac and the colleges, he hopes to raise his Blood Pool to a decent (i.e. safer) level once more.

Since I didn't specifically state he was taking it with him earlier (dammit), I guess Duncan will go back home and get that weighted trash bag with the other clothes, and take it to the river.  A moment unobserved and he will throw it in, before he continues to the Place de la Comédie and the Theatre.

All noted either way the whole thing since scoop dropped you took a good hour or so. Hunting is fairly easy at the beginning of the night.

Duncan leaves the bike in front of his building and enters.  He performs the usual checks to see if anyone entered his haven while he was gone; but he doesn't take too much time since he was just here a couple of hours ago.

The young Brujah strips off his clothes and shoes, and dunks his hands and head under the faucet to remove any blood droplets that might be in his hair.  Then he towels off, combs his hair, and puts on fresh clothing and shoes.  Black slacks and a black button shirt are the new look, with black rubber-soled shoes and a dark grey denim jacket.  The stakes are back on the forearms, and the pepper spray pen is in a jacket pocket.

With that, Duncan resets the primitive warning system and returns to his motorcycle.  Then he continues toward El Bodegon, only a few blocks away.

OOC - (Feeding on a Sunday night, this late?  Why bother?  He'll do it early tomorrow.)
Duncan parks the motorcycle in the little courtyard near his haven, and then walks the rest of the way.  After a standard check of his warning system, he enters and plugs his phone into the charger.  The bag with the regular tools is placed on the table.

In the time until dawn (maybe an hour?) Duncan will go over those files from Kersten.  Still about two hours left to go, but every little bit helps.  The laptop is still on the charger.

Then Duncan will rest.

(After subtracting the BP for waking up, Duncan starts off the evening with 8 BP.)
Duncan wakes up and showers quickly.  He puts on clothing similar to the outfit he wore the night before -- Black button shirt, dark pants, rubber-soled black shoes, with the same gray denim jacket.  The main difference is that tonight, he'll add a tie to the shirt.

Spectra T-shirt is worn underneath shirt; stakes are hidden on his forearms beneath the shirt.  Pepper spray pen is in the jacket, along with the new lockpicks.  Even the little flashlight is tucked into a pocket; although Duncan's pistol is left at home again.  The cell phone is tucked into his pockets, and the laptop goes into its padded nylon case, although he places the charger in there too... as well as the phone charger.  He makes sure to bring a small flash drive, with a few gigs (4 to 8)of free memory.

However, the laptop is left at home for now.  For about an hour, Duncan makes a hunting trip to a few of the bars northeast of Victory Plaza and the university, picking up as many blood points as he can.  He will never take too much from any one person; 1 BP per person, maybe 2 BP if they look healthy.  As always, the Masquerade is of prime importance.

When that is done, Duncan returns home and picks up the laptop, then gets his motorcycle.  Once the laptop is strapped down and the helmet is on, he starts out for Bordeaux 3.  (If necessary, he Googles directions.)  Duncan hopes that the strike at the college means plenty of parking is available.  

Once he arrives at the college, he will phone Franz, as agreed.
(PS: I guess we need a Bordeaux 3 thread.)

+3BP in 30 minutes in two vessels


No need to google directions : follow the tramway, which seems to be fairly full.

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