See Tom Beg

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire meandered into the plush hotel like he owned the place, boots clicking on the wooden flooring until he came to a stop just inside the doors, thumbs hooked in his jeans pockets, weight leaned arrogantly back on his right leg and left leg thrust outward while he took a moment to get his bearings.  He wore a simple black button up shirt - top three buttons undone - and his calf-length, camel-coloured suede coat.  A cowboy hat would not have looked at all odd, on his russet locks - he even had the suspicious squint down pat.

Deciding that the reception desk was the place for him to head (even if he couldn\'t see anyone at it, it extended all the way back down along the enormous foyer so there could\'ve been anyone beyond that huge-ass staircase in the middle of the space and he just couldn\'t see them from where he was), he strode towards it.  Once there, he smacked the closest little bell smartly, watching for movement and muttering, "Who do I have to kill to get some answers around here?" beneath his breath.  His attention was then taken with examining the clocks - especially the one labelled \'Sydney, Australia\' - hanging on the wall behind the counter, while he leaned nonchalantly against the marble-topped object.

[Trillian]

There was an intercom set into the walls in discreet locations, wired so that they could project anything into the lobby with crisp surround sound ability.  Mostly it was for any alarms that were needed when the hotel had been used as a hotel, but now it was something Halen used whenever he wished to hand out instructions.
 
Most of the demons had thinned out at this time, out patrolling the streets to police the rules the Oligarchy had in place, so there weren\'t many in the hotel with the Luminary.  Halen didn\'t need them anyway, there weren\'t that many visitors and the place mostly ran itself.  He enjoyed watching the camera\'s though, being the king of his mostly silent kingdom.
 
Tom caught his attention as soon as he walked through the door, setting off a small bleeping alarm that lasted 10 seconds for Halen\'s attention.  He eyed first the main doors camera, then the lobby camera, then the reception counter cameras.
 
He flipped a switch to talk, not hearing what had been said into the lobby\'s empty space because he hadn\'t set up to receive.
 
"Make your way to the bank of elevators on the left of the counter.  Press the button marked B.  Walk through the double doors on the floor it opens.  Be respectful."
 
He flicked off the switch and watched.

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire\'s only reaction was a pair of slightly raised eyebrows.  The quality of the voice had told him him that it wasn\'t uttered by anyone nearby, so he didn\'t bother to look around, realising he was being watched and some form of speaker system had been employed.  His expression smoothed after that brief moment and he did as he was instructed, loping casually along the edge of the counter - fingers jumping idly along the marble surface - and running what was said through his head, to be sure he knew what he was doing.

The voice had sounded authoritative - enough that being instructed to be respectful seemed superfluous.  And objectionable.  Something rebellious tickled along Tom\'s spine but he fought it down, not showing any of his feelings as he found the elevator and pressed the B button.  He reminded himself that he wasn\'t here to cause trouble, but to avoid it.  The doors slid open smoothly and he stepped in, giving his shoulders a roll once he did, like a fighter preparing for a bout.  Insanely, he was enjoying the prospect of this already, this... challenge to play nice.  With the owner of a voice whose tones dripped with the unspoken command that they always got the respect they deserved, and he\'d better fucking bow down.

When the lift doors opened again (he thought he\'d descended but wasn\'t certain), he headed for the double set he\'d been informed about.  He grasped a knob in each hand and couldn\'t resist opening both at the same time, wishing to make a semi-grand entrance.  It was a flourish, in his opinion, something to make him memorable in this no-doubt teeming hive of vampire requests.  And respectful, yes... as long as one approved of walking the thin line between it and disobedient, and was willing to err on the more generous side... in his favour.  The smirk upon his lips was slightly less so.

[Trillian]

The look on Halen\'s face was far from impressed as Tom made his grand entrance. The vampire would likely find it disappointing to learn that most made entrances such as the kind he\'d made. Halen found that most of the time, when this entrance was made, he disliked the one that made it. Already his first impression was biased.
 
Halen was on his own at the head of the circular table, the other chairs gathered around it were devoid of the other members of the Oligarchy. The Luminary had the tallest backed chair, but not so that it dwarfed him, rather it wasn\'t all that obvious, enough to make a distinction in case the position itself wasn\'t enough.  He was dressed in a button-up long-sleeved cream coloured shirt, the top two buttons undone in a casual manner, though the cuffs had links.
 
"State your name and the nature of your business," he declared, not announcing himself.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom sauntered over until he was opposite Halen, thumbs falling from his jeans so that his hands might be clasped respectfully behind his back.  He gave a grunt of acknowledgement to the question, then his expression turned thoughtful as he wondered whether he should provide the truth... or the story that he normally went by.

"Huh.  Well, the name on most of my bank accounts and the deed to the house I bought here says Tom Matthews," he nodded sagely, skirting both.  "And I was just wondering about what I have to do to be able to tell someone I\'m a vampire."

[Trillian]

When Tom explained his name wasn\'t quite his name, the Luminary wasn\'t very surprised.  Many creatures of immortality changed their names as the world changed.  Halen wasn\'t rightfully Halen either, but right here and now it was the best one that suited him.
 
His gaze on Tom sharpened when the request was uttered.
 
"What purpose would you have in telling someone you\'re a vampire?"

[Existentially Odd]

He shrugged, as if he wasn\'t too worried about the whole thing, his hands falling from their demure position and coming back to the front so his fingertips could slip into his pockets.

"Well, there\'s this chick doing some work on my place and she asked what the coffin in the basement was for.  I made a joke of it and said I was a vampire and she didn\'t seem worried either way, y\'know?  So I thought I\'d better come and just... check that out.  She\'s pretty cool, I don\'t reckon she\'ll freak and she hasn\'t brought it up since, but I wouldn\'t mind telling her.  She noticed how cold I was and she\'s going to help me rig these awesome lights over the windows of my place so it looks like they\'re not completely covered with wooden boxes," he enthused, a hand coming up to describe a vague box shape in the air that did nothing to enhance his tale.  It dropped when he caught the guy\'s dour expression.  "Yeah, anyway, can I tell Nimm the truth?"

[Trillian]

Halen blinked.  He stared at Tom for a bit, then he blinked again.  His expression wasn\'t completely blank during this blink-stare-blink process for his frown deepened as the seconds ticked away.
 
"What?" he asked, thinking of coffins and lighting and some woman called Nimm.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom gave him a look like he was a little slow on the uptake and he\'d do his best to catch him up in due time.  He gestured along the huge table to the chair at Halen\'s left, his tone bordering both soothing and exasperated when he spoke.

"May I sit?"

[Trillian]

"No."
 
Halen glared at him, looking back at Tom like he was the simpleton and then began shooting questions his way.
 
"Why did you show her the coffin?"
 
Why the fuck do you even have a coffin? he thought.

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire gave a vaguely reproachful look to his superior, but held his tongue, as if he didn\'t want to point out that there was no need for rudeness and respect went both ways... but it was in his blue eyes anyway.  After a brief pressing together of his lips, he curled his hands together behind his back again - but with a hip stuck out as he shifted his weight onto one leg, rather than standing at attention - and looked the other man in the eye.

"She\'s doing work on my house.  It\'s in the basement.  She has to put lights in to the basement, plus that\'s where we\'re going to put the window box computer power source... thing.  Meh, it\'s not fully worked out yet," he frowned, waving that part aside before continuing earnestly with the jist of his argument.  "I also told her that I had Goth tendencies in a prior life and that I mainly just use ithe coffin for fu... having sex in, but she\'s pretty smart and I could see that she was putting the pieces together, you know?  I don\'t think it\'ll worry her either way, she\'s way more laid back than the buddy I told - before I came to live here," he added hastily, pointing at Halen like he was about to raise an argument, "and he got used to it in no time."

[Trillian]

"You didn\'t have a story already arranged?" Halen drawled, seeing the reproachful look in Tom\'s eye and not liking it one little bit.  He read it as challenging, and that was close enough to what it really was for Halen not to bother analysing it further.  It fit.  Whatever the look in the vampire\'s eye was, it wasn\'t good.  "Tell her you\'re an art-house movie director?"
 
He shrugged for this suggestion was off the top of his head, and he believed it was a good one.
 
"It appears to me as though you\'ve made up your mind to tell her before you even thought about coming here.  Is there anything else you\'ve made your mind up about?" Halen questioned tartly.

[Existentially Odd]

"I haven\'t," he objected indignantly, his posture straightening immediately - possibly because the guy had managed to see straight through his secondary plan to his primary one.  His expression became a lot more wary, head tilted slightly as he put a bit more thought into his next answer.

"Look, I\'ve only just decided to give this city a try and I thought I\'d do the right thing, according to the rules I read.  If you tell me I\'m not allowed to tell her, I won\'t.  Like I said, she\'s not the type to give a fu-fig and I don\'t need to make enemies out of the Oligarchy.  It was just a thought."

He fell quiet, tasting the confession that he was considering siring Reed, but not willing to voice it just yet.  He had no clue if it would even happen, but after New Zealand, it had certainly been on his mind a great deal.  Did he really want to get into a big discussion about that relationship with this relative stranger, though?

Fuck, no.  So he kept his mouth shut.

[Trillian]

The guy, who had been very talkative and mouthing off, swearing and carrying on from the moment he\'d entered this room was now uncharacteristically quiet.  Funny how a question to ask him what he was thinking made him suddenly clam up.
 
Halen watched him for a long moment, letting the silence stretch and disfigure between them, waiting to see if this Tom vampire would break it before he spoke again.  He was interested to see what the vampire would use as a silence breaker as well, if he would use some inane comment, or clear his throat, perhaps to ask the question again - to clarify permission.  So far Halen hadn\'t said anything either way.

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire raised his eyebrows and... blinked a few times, figuring the man in charge was thinking things over.  Or coming up with a few more questions.  He tried to reassure himself that the stranger was not reading his mind... and attempted to blank his thoughts as much as possible, waiting only for verbal stimulus to shake him out of it.

Nothing... nothing... not Reed... fuck... nothing...