"Well, m'dear, in regards to the second first," George said sardonically, his clipped and proper British accent showing evidence of his time away from the centre of the world, "speaking with<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>is, in truth, 'messing with the dead', as you put it." Leaning back in a nearly broken lounge chair, he grimaced as his thought ran through various processes. He was always distracted by his own mind, a habit his companions were probably used to and tired of. But magic was not a healthy enterprise, as was evidenced by his once handsome face now looking sunken and waxy. Eerie light sometimes shimmered from his eyes, normally a pale muddy colour, and his moustache, once a glorious thing to behold, had fallen into bristly disrepair, as he could no longer be bothered with such foolish details. He chewed on the corner of it as he thought.<br/><br/>"As to the last, a larger metropolis would be far more effective a hiding place for some of our...proclivities. And provide a far better specimen sample for myself." He glanced over at the skull resting on an end table in the shabby boudoir they occupied. It housed a spirit he had summoned and bound, but it was being recalcitrant at the moment. Typical, really. He had been aiming to call forth the soul of some long dead historical figure, one he could no longer recall. Instead he had gotten some lady of ill repute from Paris. Couldn't understand a word the woman spoke, anyway.<br/><br/>"And as for Cairo itself, not only is it far away from most authorities of any import, Colonial forces notwithstanding, there are treasure troves of volumes of knowledge I simply<span style="font-style: italic">must</span>be able to read," or steal, he thought, "however ghastly the environs might be." He glanced at their third, poor sot of a lycanthrope. "And as a further point, I believe some of the locals in these parts may be catching on to certain occurrences vis-a-vis missing sheep and bloodstains. Ahem. Aside from all of that? We are destitute, at the moment. The economical situation there may lead to a boon in our worldly sustenance. You may not need to eat, my dearly departed debutante, but we do."