[hayabusa]

Hehehe... Who wants to take over Chicago's Kindred?

All kidding aside, I'm glad that I've made it into both games.

Matthew Johnson

Human Background

Spoiler

Matt Johnson was born in a small town in Eastern Missouri in the year 1919. He spent the majority of his childhood helping the family out in their small general store. The family was never really wealthy, but always seemed to have enough money to afford a few luxuries even in the middle of the Depression. One of these luxuries were tickets to the carnival when it came to town.

While his father and mother loved the livestock shows and his sister enjoyed the games, Matt was drawn to the goings-on in a tent off to the side. Tickets were a dime and he always seemed to have enough. In that tent, he saw great feats of strength and cunning inside of an old, beat-down boxing ring. He watched as a man stood in the ring, a fancy-looking belt around his waist--The heavyweight champion of all of the world!--and challenged the locals to attempt to wrestle him down to the mat and pin his shoulders to the ground. Many tried, but all of them failed.

When he grew up, he aspired to be just like that man in the ring. When he was seventeen, he found out where the champion lived and begged to be trained. It wasn't cheap, but soon Matt learned the secrets of the trade.

After a brief break in his career after being drafted to fight in WWII, Matt (going under the ring name of Jonny Matthews) continued his pro wrestling career, being billed as a real-life army hero. Matt never really liked the gimmick, having served primarily as a Jeep driver on the back lines, but went with it anyway. It felt good to be cheered on as a hero.

Post-Embrace Background

Spoiler

It was 1953 and the promoter that Matt usually worked for had decided to go back to the open challenge matches for the night. As the Missouri Heavyweight Champion, Matt went out to the ring and boasted, claiming that none of the locals there could best him. It was to his surprise that his usual wrestling opponent was beaten to the ring by an unusually quick and eager man. He was deceptively strong, but Matt was eventually able to defeat him. He didn't know that his opponent that night was the ghoul manservant of a local Brujah. That night, he was embraced as a vampire somewhat unwillingly.

Though he has come to forgive his sire somewhat, there's always some part of Matt that resents her for his unlife. He spent the next few decades in St. Louis with her before heading out to Chicago in the late 1970s. It was a new city that he had little experience with, and it just seemed to fit him. Getting a job as a part-time night security guard at the offices of a local Chicago law firm in the past few years has provided him with enough money to afford a nice used car, a small apartment in a suburb of Chicago and enough to afford almost any wrestling show that comes into town.

A Vignette

Spoiler

"I should have known that I would find you here..." A soft voice said from behind him. It was cool and hid behind it a slight hint of malice that it always had.

A small smile spread on Matt's face. God, how long had it been since he had seen his sire? A decade? Two? "You know me all too well," he said. "Take a seat," he offered, patting the folding chair next to him. "The guy who sat here ain't coming back."

The brown-haired woman takes the offered seat and laughs. "Something you did? How wicked!"

Matt shrugs slightly and lets loose a chuckle quickly followed by a few cheers for the action that's going on in the ring in front of him. "He was being disrespectful to the ladies," he states, gesturing to the women wrestling. "I told him to get lost."

Another laugh from her. "You did more than that, I imagine... Nothing too revealing, I hope. You do know that they're taping this..."

He shakes his head. "I told him to get lost and he started feeling a bit unnerved, but nothing more," he replies. He turns to look at her. The hairstyle is different from when he saw her last, hanging straight down her back, a far cry from the 1980's style she adopted in an attempt to fit in with her prey in those days. "But, I suppose that you didn't come down here to talk wrestling with me. What do you need, Karen?"

"I need nothing, but the 'boss' wishes to see you. Eddie has something important that he needs to discuss with you."

A bit of rage flashes on Matt's face. "If it's about me stop going to these, he can--with all due respect--go to Hell. Besides, I try to be careful."

"Such words..." She teases. "I'll tell him you said that!" she adds with a laugh. "No, it's not this. It's not like he doesn't have hobbies himself, I'm sure. It's about something else. He wouldn't even tell me, just sent one of his lackeys to tell me to tell you."

Matt nods. "You know when?"

"Tomorrow."

"Crap, they've got another taping they're doing tomorrow night, so I'm gonna have to miss it."

Karen rolls her eyes. "You still love this stuff, don't you?"

"I'd have never left it if it wasn't for you. Well, I'll be there."

Hunted Flaw

Spoiler

Going to the majority of every wrestling show in Chicago over the past few decades can be disastrous for a Kindred, even if one does their best to stay out of the way of the cameras. With the advent of DVRs and the proliferation of even the smallest independent promotion selling DVDs of their shows, it was bound to happen eventually that they would get noticed somehow.

One man has awakened to the truth and found out about Matthew's constant appearances, the same middle-aged man on every tape for decades, and he assumes the worst. And he's prepared enough to try and stop him...