Getting the Lay of the Land [open]

[Omar]

How did he end up here, in a Casino in Canada of all places? It was cold here. Much colder than he was used to. However, much nice than in Mexico where he had just recently departed. And why was he here? Choices. Choices he made in his life. Choices that caused reactions by others. Reactions that tended to be detrimental to his way of life. Omar was not what one would call ‘driven’. He, in his own words, was a lover not a fighter. He preferred to live and let live. He refused to get bogged down by other people's petty squabbles over money, land or riches.

Coming from a wealthy family of Aristocracy, he had grown up with a measure of entitlement. He enjoyed the things that money could get him. However, he also did not feel the need to actually.. Work for the money. He had been given a position in the family business when he reached his majority, but his work ethic left a lot to be desired. He spent more of his time romancing the female employees than actually working. Having become fed up with his son’s carefree attitude, he demoted him, to junior position. This did not phase Omar, after all it was just a job. A job he never wanted to begin with. One he took because his father insisted.

Omar felt there more important things in life, than a job. There was people. People with interesting lives, lives that wove intriguing tales. Omar enjoyed fellowship. He enjoyed having a good time and he enjoyed having those around him have a good time as well. To Omar, hearing about his fellow co-workers lives and family meant more than their productivity during business hours. He believed that if the company really cared about their employees, the employees would be loyal to a fault. They would be reliable and diligent, because they knew the company cared about them as well. And Omar’s philosophy would have proven right, had he more time. Time to show his father that being a harsh task master was not the way to go. Time to show his father, that a little attention to staff would go a long way.

But Omar did not have time. Omar made the mistake of seducing the Board Chairman’s wife and secretary. Things would not have escalated had he just seduced one or the other.. But both? The Chairman wanted him gone. So Omar was shipped off to Mexico to his uncle’s branch of the business. No longer would Omar have the beautiful Costa Del Sol as his playground. No longer would the name Ruiz de Alarcon open doors for him. Because in Mexico, the well established old world name meant nothing to the Mexican inhabitants. It was a name just like any other. A name that had no powerful cartel behind it. Omar was a no one. Just one of the many that lived and worked in Mexico City.

Omar knew his father was waiting for him to call and apologize. To beg forgiveness, and promise to return to Costa Del Sol a changed man. But this, he could not do. He knew in his heart he would never be that son. Omar was a dreamer, not a drone. There was too much to this life for him to see and experience, than for him to waste it on some corporation that did not know how to appreciate it’s people. So he embraced living in Mexico City, even though it was oppressively hot and humid with no gentle sea winds to lighten one’s mood. There was no breezes, but there was plenty of women and Omar did enjoy the company of women.

His latest amour had been Elisa. She had soft brown eyes, an inviting mouth, and long luscious ebony hair. When she smiled at him, he knew he had to meet her. She was a diamond amid quartz. Her laugh was delightful and she had an easy going nature. Omar had never seen himself as the sort to settle down, but this one had come very close. Until, he discovered this goddess was his Uncle’s mistress and it all went to hell very quickly.

It was commonplace in his realm for the men to marry and have a mistress on the side. So this new found knowledge had not bothered him. To him, this meant she was getting her financial needs taken care of by his uncle and he could take care of her other needs. To Elisa however, Omar was young, handsome, and from a wealthy family. She had her eyes on marriage, so she dumped his uncle. His uncle was livid at being dumped, and being dumped for his own nephew. He threw Omar out of the business, and the family home. To her credit, Elisa took Omar in, that led to his uncle acting angrily and rashly, which resulted in a hit being put out on Omar.

For two days Omar dodged, hid and evaded thugs in his uncle’s employee. He wasn’t sure how far his uncle would go. A call to his father, in hopes of some sort of help, resulted in him being cut off completely from the family. It had the last straw in his father’s eyes. If Omar wanted to live that sort of life, go live it, do not contact them anymore, Omar was dead to them.

So Omar sold all his belongings, save his guitar, and prepared to leave Mexico. it was with sorrow in his heart that he kissed Elisa goodbye and boarded a bus for the north. Once reaching Texas, He found the landscape and terrain dead and unappealing, further north he traveled. Memphis was his next stop, and though he found the city to his liking, there were far too many struggling musicians. He did not need to want the competition. Further north he traveled until he landed in Ontario. The weather was mild, the people polite. Playing his guitar for change on the street corner he was heard by a booking agent. Omar had a job, if he was willing to travel to Harper Rock.Three nights a week, at the Golden Lion Casino. Omar had a choice. He took the job.

[Atabei Narcisse]

Bare calloused feet pounded heavily against the cement on the floor in the sewers as the woman in a black silk bathrobe zipped through the depths of the darkened passage ways in heavy pursuit of another vampire that had taken something from her home. Not just from her home, but from the sacrifice to the lwa last night. A coin of mediocre value, but still wasn't meant for him. His hands shouldn't be touching things that weren't meant for him.

Now, while Atabei did believe that things happened for a reason and happened because they were destined to happen that way, it didn't mean she wasn't going to try and retrieve the shiny ring that Harmony had given her to gift to the beautiful lwa. If she caught the male, then it was in her favor and blessings to have the item. If she didn't, then he was supposed to have it and Atabei would have to deal with the repercussions of a potentially angry lwa spirit later.

The woman weaved and bobbed through the sewers, splashing through water, feeling the nicks of sharp cracks or other things floating in the water, scraping against her feet, causing them to bleed with such ferocity as the wounds touched the water time and time again. A long arm reached out to grab the man by the shoulders, but all she grabbed was air before he disappeared into the inky depths of the dark tunnels, leaving Atabei puzzled at his disappearance as the sound of laughter, steps and music could be heard from grate above her head. Slightly intrigued, but cautious, Atabei wrapped her fingers around the metal grate and pulled her body up to the metal bars, an ear pressed to the grate as she listened to the city dwellers as they passed by. Everything was so loud and foreign to Atabei. She didn't understand why people preferred to live the way they did. How anyone could be happy living up top.