World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Down and Out in LA [Finished]

[Rorx]

night 1st Jan 2009

Scott loiters near the back of the small crowd of onlookers as the SWAT team checks out some abandoned buildings on the edge of the park from which they think shots came earlier that night. He looks as much at the crowd and the surroundings as he does the plice activities in front of him.

Damn it Sarah, where are you? I know you got away from the tree where you were shot,and from the tracks you were on your own two or four feet. Christ knows how you survived that wound, but then I suppose I don't know many facts about the undead.

He fingers the slip of paper in his jacket pocket for what feels like the hundredth time in the last half hour. It contains the scant info he got on the Hummer the hunters had been using before they got too far away from him.

And there is Ariel again, in with the cops. Doesn't look like I'll have any hope of getting the note to her either. Shit, what a fucked up night. Well, nothing for it but to fade away for a while and see what I can do later on. Damn, that's been a good bike as well.

No-one pays much attention to the biker leaving the crowd and heading back off down the street, but it is a careful 10 minutes later that Scott approaches his bike only 3 minutes walk away on the edge of the park. Having checked as best he could that it wasn't under observation from any of the nearby buildings he quickly walks across to it, runs a hand over and under exposed places where a bug or explosive might be quickly put, then starts it up and pulls away into the New Years night traffic. 5 minutes later he pulls into a quiet alleyway that still gets some light about a mile away and gives the bike a more thorough check.

Well at least thats clean, but I still think I better get rid of it. Question is how to do it, and which way would be safer for me and for others. I guess I better do it now rather than later.

It took several hours of driving around to find a pointer to an appropriate bikers bar, and another hour to get the regulars settled enough with his presence to broach the subject of selling the bike. His hard luck story of being new and skint in town went down well enough, but was familiar enough that they weren't going to be generous to him. Eventually though he found someone who would take it off his hands for a reasonable, if a little low price, and suggested that they could find another bike for him when he needed and could afford it. That task completed he caged a lift to the Y where he was staying and crashed for until morning.

2nd January 2009

Waking early he tried to shake off the hangover from his time with the bikers last night, but to little effect. The shower and coffee helped though, and the breakfast completed the recovery. Grabbing his gear, just a pair of panniers and his crash helmet now, he walked out onto the winter morning streets of LA.

Time to disappear I reckon. Christ I hadn't intended coming thousands of miles just to end up on the streets again. Oh well, better get on with it, the sooner done the sooner I'll drop off their scopes.

...

[Rorx]

By lunchtime he had walked across several neighborhoods, trying to get the feeling of the places as he went and looking out for any territory markings. If he found any he paused long enough to leave a brief message, "Neutral traveller respects territory, may visit for information in future" in First Tongue glyhps in a hidden location near a boundary marker, and then went around the territory. Eventually he reached an area with enough abandonded buildings and yet few hobos to feel able to take a break. Heading into the buildings he checked several out before he found one that had a couple empty around it and safe enough structure to get a couple of floors up. Having found a good place and being careful not to leave a trail to it he hides his gear inside the wall cavity where it will be secure and safe from the environment. Having left his bags, helmet and bike leathers behind, he was now clad in more typical jeans, t-shirt, 'lumberjack' shirt and old Aran sweater. All old friends from days on the streets back in the UK, and more fitting for the cold nights he suspected to be coming.

One more thing needed to complete the street uniform, find a charity or thrift shop with an old army long coat. Might have been one a neighborhood or so ago, just have to mind out for those latino homeboys I spotted eyeing me as I came through.

Moving slowly Scott spent the rest of the day picking up odds and ends of typical gear for the street, largely from trash or in extreme cases by purchasing them in small shops in rundown areas with loose change. However, he had to be careful finding machines or people he could get the change from in the first place. Food was largely a case of what he could scrounge for, and a couple of cheap burgers.

[Rorx]

For the first two weeks Scott just did what the rest of the guys on the street did, wander around, try to beg some quarters to get a cheap burger every now and then, keep his eyes open and his mouth shut. When some guys meet up by a fire then he would join in the stories and songs with the rest of them, and like most of them you rarely spoke of your real past and whatever brought you to the streets.

After that, with his 'credentials' set in at least one area of the city, Scott started to spread out a bit, using information that he had picked from the others on areas to avoid or if he needed to move through an area what the dangers might be. Largely these were the tangibles like increased or more hostile police patrols, gangs that were hostile, or more hostile to particular ethnic groups, where drug dealers wouldn't stand for potential observers and the like. However, occasionally he'd here a whisper of darker things, places where street people had turned up dead in various ways. Over the next couple of days Scott steadily made his way closer to the area of the city that Sarah had claimed for her territory - the park near UCLA. As he got closer he noticed the border marks, both Sarah's and those of another of the People around UCLA itself. Keeping clear of their territories he spent another couple of days with his netbook, mainly at night and hidden as much as practical, looking for unsecured wifi points he could tap into.

That done he could finally set up a reasonable place to get back onto the CalNet Chat and recontact the others again. The chat [17th Jan] went well for Scott and by the time he had to bail due to a police patrol turning into the alley he was in he had already arranged to help Amber out with some Rites the following morning [18th - Extended Hands] and to meet up with some of the others to help someone else out the following night [18th - Looking Down the Rabbit Hole]. After avoiding the police by the simple expedient of diving into a dumpster around the corner before they spotted him, Scott made his way carefully back across the city to his original area.

Early in the morning, using the dawn to cover his movements Scott made his way back into the building he had chosen almost three weeks ago and recovered his gear before making his way back across the city to Amber's place.