A New View

[Existentially Odd]

(Continued from \'The Watcher\')

After extricating himself from Ash\'s sexy little speed machine - muttering about having one just like that once and wishing he\'d caught the demon who took it from him - Kerr was relieved to slide behind the wheel of his roomier (but no less expensive or sleek) sedan and lead them to the Capital Building at a more sedate pace.  It wasn\'t that he didn\'t normally speed himself, it was just that something in him seemed to be provoked by challenging Ash and the fact that he\'d sped the whole way to the Oligarchy\'s chambers only made the Irishman want to be contrary and keep Ash to a snail\'s pace on the way to his penthouse.

He went so sensibly, in fact, that the boom gate just about came down on Ash\'s car as it drove into the car park behind him, and he had to telekinetically hold it up for his visitor.  It brought a lovely smile to Kerr\'s face, so by the time he got out of his car and clicked it to lock it, he was looking exceptionally more relaxed than he had all night.  It could also have had something to do with the fact that he was home, now.

That\'s mine, he mentally sent to Ash as the sportscar pulled in to the carpark to the left of his car, these ones will be yours, I guess, he finished, jerking his head towards the four empty spots to the right of his.  They were roomy carparks and although they were in the corner of the parking lot, they had plenty of swing room to get in and out - in a limousine.  They were obviously cornered for safety and security.

"Find it okay?" he smirked as Ash rounded his car and headed for him - he was standing in front of the lift, after all.  His right hand was already working the knot on his tie loose, his left occupied holding a black case that held a laptop, which he\'d brought with him from inside the car.  He\'d hit the button as he arrived and, as if on cue, the doors slid open behind him at the exact moment Ash got there, so they were able to walk straight in.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Upon the question, Ash smiled crookedly and made eye contact with Kerr, thereby relieving him of answering with something unnecessary.  The doors closed while Ash admired the mirrored back and wood panelled sides.  Tasteful.  The two of them rode up halfway in silence broken only by classical music.

"Bach, Violin Concerto in A minor," he identified, turning to look at Kerr to see if the other would be impressed or bored.  Such things usually did the former for the older ones.  Thanks to Isaac\'s social training, Ash had some knowledge of classical music, though mostly Bach, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi and Handel, which were Isaac\'s favourites.  It had been lucky, in this case, that the elevator was playing something that Ash knew.  "Is it always classical?" he asked, hoping it was, for orchastrated modern music (or Muzak, as it was called) wasn\'t a favourite for him.

[Existentially Odd]

The identification of the piece had Kerr\'s eyebrows raising with respect - as Ash likely predicted, he belatedly realised (when a certain amount of smugness registered), and internally chastised himself for conceding a \'point\'.  When their conversation had become points based he didn\'t know, but it seemed he was keeping a tally now.

"Yes," he chuckled, "though varying composers," he amended, as if that might assure the other vampire of the quality of his residence.  When the lift reached his floor he stepped forward and unlocked his front door, not bothering to tell Ash of the locks that could be imposed on the lifts so that only those with a key could reach his floor.  The property manager would do that, if the vampire was serious about buying.

He gestured for his guest to precede him into the darkened apartment once he\'d opened the door, knowing the other would see perfectly well if he didn\'t turn a light on and also that the view would be that much more impressive.  All four of the plate glass windows directly across from the door had their curtains open at all times, since the shutters did their job perfectly, and the twinkling lights of the city would provide enough ambient light for Ash to see the layout clearly.

"Welcome," he stated as he entered and put his keys on the kitchen counter to his left, closing the door and locking it before following after Ash, wherever he\'d walked.  "I know it\'s not the top floor - there\'s a mirror image to this apartment across the hall, we have half each - but I think you\'ll find the view\'s beautiful," he said proudly - as if he\'d personally constructed each building and screwed in every light bulb himself.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash moved past Kerr to stand a few centimetres from the glass, looking beyond it at the enchanting scene before him.  He knew he would have these same views from upstairs, plus the other side of the city that Kerr couldn\'t see thanks to the two-apartment based floor.  The interesting thing was, as Ash turned his head and looked diagonally downward, he could see into his room, and found himself admiring the little knick-knack of a glass-blown three headed snake - the Hydra - which he\'d purchased a couple of nights ago on a whim and had placed on the windowsill of his bedroom.  He could\'ve given Kerr a show last night, if he\'d picked up that woman, because Ash wasn\'t the type to draw curtains closed at night, whether the light was on or off.

"There\'s my room," he said, gesturing at the topmost floor of the Templar Hotel.  He didn\'t know why he was inviting Kerr to look at it, but he turned slightly in order to watch the Irish vampire.  "So far," he added, implying that he would make good on his promise to move out of it and into the Capital above.  "Nothing as grand as this," he had to concede, even though he hadn\'t been shown around.  The penthouse room he currently had was likely bigger than Kerr\'s place presently, but it was a typical sterile hotel room, without character.  Kerr\'s place had bold colours and taste, screaming his personality.  If Ash had seen its original decor he might not have been so impressed, but there was no way of knowing such a thing now.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr obliged Ash and looked down at the young man\'s current room - it prompted him to ponder things he certainly shouldn\'t have been pondering right then and so he laughed as he pulled back.  He hoped the noise didn\'t come off as nervous (because thinking about whether Ash slept alone often and whether he wore clothes or not made him nervous, somehow).

"Let me show you around," he offered, and did just that.  As they went, he removed his clothing and by the time they\'d worked their way to the main bedroom, he was quite happy to drop his coat, vest and tie on the bed, followed by his socks once he\'d kicked off his shoes.  "Have a look out here," he invited, opening the sliding glass door onto the balcony and stepping out.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash had watched Kerr\'s transformation from professional to professional-casual, and did as told.  The balcony out of the main bedroom offered a good view, and the wind whipped Ash\'s hair the second he stepped out into it.  Grasping the railing and leaning forward slightly so he could take a deep breath of the current, smelling a mixture of smog (but nothing as bad as LA) and fresh air (as well as something perfumy, strangely enough, likely wafting from some woman, somewhere, upwind).  He\'d closed his eyes while doing so, and opened them again before turning so that his hip rested against the railing and he could see Kerr.  The hand that released the railing (rather than reaching across his waist to awkwardly hold it) moved to swipe his hair back and out of his eyes unsuccessfully, until he gave up and let it whip about his face, grinning at Kerr finally.

"You can almost feel alive, up here," he said, not bothering to raise his voice even though he knew the breeze threatened to rip it away.  Kerr would hear him.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr had positioned himself with his back against the building\'s wall, resting predominantly on his lower back with his feet side by side and angled ahead of him to support this somewhat slouched pose.  He\'d tucked his fingertips into the pockets of his pants and was watching his guest through eyes narrowed against the wind.

It was reinforced to him, in that moment, that Ash was very attractive and that the young vampire held a fair amount of appeal for him... he was pretty sure he could ignore it, though.  Just because he\'d fallen into the habit of bedding nearly everyone he\'d met in the last few weeks didn\'t mean those rules had to apply to everyone.

Especially with people he could see himself falling for.

"Really?" he asked, emitting a laugh that wasn\'t genuine - and was more a bitter breath, at that.  "Oddly, whenever I come out here I\'m more filled with the urge to hurl myself off than to live.  Nightcap?" he asked with false brightness, pushing himself off the wall and striding into the apartment again.  He yanked his navy blue business shirt over his head and dropped it on the bed as he passed by, leaving his torso dressed in a white singlet (mostly tucked into his pants).  He went to the kitchen and set about warming up a bag of blood - human, because he\'d drunk all the porcine stuff Ben had once bought - for he and his guest to enjoy.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash watched Kerr\'s departure with interest.  The statement had held a note of seriousness to it which the falsely bright offer hadn\'t managed to remove.  Ash found himself reassessing Kerr once he was left alone on the balcony, and took one more last look out once Kerr had disappeared from view before returning into the bedroom and shutting the balcony door behind himself.

He glanced down at the crumpled business shirt on the bed and reached out to touch it lightly with his fingers, feeling a cotton and silk blend.  There was a nice softness to it behind its crisp facade, and he had a feeling that Kerr was much the same.  Anyone with old eyes like Kerr (and Isaac) were haunted by the many pasts and lifetimes they\'d lived through.  Once, he\'d even seen it in a mortal, thirty-something but her eyes could\'ve belonged to someone three times that.  It had been eerie.  Ash was always the most intrigued by them, regardless of the colour.  When he\'d looked into the mirror he couldn\'t see it in himself, and knew that any hardships he\'d faced (not many at all) couldn\'t even cast a glimmer to whatever those that possessed old eyes had gone through.

Was he attracted to pain?  Was it more than pain, though, to be able to continue on even though sometimes it felt like there was no point.  Bravery?  Strength?  Character?  Did that mean he didn\'t possess such things yet, if his eyes weren\'t yet aged in his face?

His feet and thoughts led him to join Kerr in the kitchen, smelling the blood bag in water that was not yet boiling.  His nostrils flared and his gaze met Kerr\'s as he moved to a spot across the bench from the other vampire.  There was no need to say anything immediately, and so he watched and waited in companionable silence until the blood was warm and his host poured some into two glasses, handing one over to Ash.

"Cheers," he said in his common replacement to thanks, which he\'d adopted from his first agent before dumping him in order to be represented by Isaac.  He drank quickly and deeply, polishing off most of the liquid immediately, leaving only a cordial amount at the bottom of the glass.  He resisted the urge to wipe the back of his hand across his lips, though he did bring his tongue out to lick them while looking at Kerr.  It wasn\'t a sexual gesture, but it did make him wonder if Kerr was interested in him beyond the beginnings of friendship that seemed to be forming between them.  If so, it was likely the older vampire would make a move on him soon.

He couldn\'t read Kerr or his intentions, and that thrilled him more than anyone else had so far in his past (though it was much like it had been in the early days with Isaac, before he\'d known of the other\'s vampirism).  He was watching Kerr closely now, and likely there was a different expression on his face now - he could feel it, but he couldn\'t see it for himself for there was no mirror handy that he could glance into and check how much he was giving away.

[Existentially Odd]

"What?" Kerr laughed, feeling suddenly (and strangely) uncomfortable beneath Ash\'s intense stare.  The younger had a habit of looking at him like he was trying to figure out what was going on beneath the surface and that was exactly the last thing Kerr wanted.  Even to himself, he was busy pretending there was nothing going on; that he wasn\'t still stinging from losing Ben, that he wasn\'t still grieving Jack, that he didn\'t go to bed every dawn thinking about tearing Samuel\'s head from his body and how futile everything was... how empty and futile everything was.

"I\'d offer you more," he continued, nodding towards Ash\'s near-empty glass as he suavely strolled out of the kitchen, left hand fisted in his pants pocket and right holding his own glass of blood, "but I don\'t get my new supply until tomorrow night, so you\'re out of luck.  You\'ll just have to pick up something on your way back to your place."  His tone was flippant and cheerful, now that he was no longer beneath that golden scrutiny; he headed for the sunken lounge and placed his glass on the coffee table - he\'d kept it, despite trading the lounge suite in for tall-backed chocolate-coloured suede couches (two four seaters and a recliner armchair in the middle, all specially made) - while he set about starting a fire.

He berated himself as he did; he should\'ve kept his mouth shut about wanting to jump off the balcony, then maybe Ash wouldn\'t be looking at him like he was about to off himself any second.  The desire to jump didn\'t mean anything, it was just an insane urge he had - like wanting to veer onto the wrong side of the road every time he drove across a bridge... just to see what would happen, if he\'d lose consciousness, how long it would take him to mend, whether he\'d truly die or not.  He wasn\'t suicidal (any more), just morbidly fascinated with ways he might meet his end and that was a secret he\'d never shared with anyone, so he had no idea why he\'d bloody alluded to it now, with a relative stranger!

"So, when you move in upstairs," he began once the fire was going and he\'d shuffled back onto his usual couch (unless Ash had taken it, in which case he took the four seater opposite), picking up his glass of blood and reclining back onto his elbow, "will you buy a pool table?  I\'ll come up and visit you for a game or two, then," he grinned, finally looking away from the fire and towards his companion.  Ash would find he had two fireplaces in his apartment, but Kerr had always thought one would be a lounge and one would be in the bedroom; that would be nice.  He\'d be keen to see if his theories were correct, if Ash was serious about buying upstairs.

"You should have plenty of room for it - and it would save me sacrificing that fourteenth century dining suite for the sake of some occasional entertainment," he chuckled, tilting his head towards the dining area behind him.  He knew the exact origins and life story of said dining suite - as he did with all his antiques - but he rather hoped Ash wasn\'t intereste in such things.  The last thing he needed was another young vampire showing interest in his life or his passions; that would defeat all his defences very quickly.

"Unless of course you come with an entourage I know nothing about, who will be occupying all that room by draping themselves statuesquely over the furniture and such?" he teased, raising his eyebrows pointedly as he took a sip from his drink.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash followed Kerr into the loungeroom, getting his answer about how interested Kerr was in him with that flippant comment about picking up something else to drink on the way back to his place.  No sleepover then.  He was caught between feeling disappointed and relieved, not knowing which way he felt more.  Instead of analysing it, he sat himself down on the four-seater and watched as Kerr gracefully settled onto the couch opposite.

"I\'ll buy a pool table," Ash said committedly, musing on the fact Kerr had already promised to visit him.  He\'d half hoped that the place would already be furnished, a ready-made home to move into, but there was also something appealing about designing the place from scratch.  Likely he wouldn\'t choose anything that would make an interior designer proud, but he could at least surround himself with things and styles that he liked - whether they matched or not didn\'t matter, he felt like a jumble within anyway.

"My entourage days are behind me," Ash said, toying with the blood in his glass by rotating it quickly, allowing the thick liquid to climb and colour the sides with centrifugal force.  His gaze moved from it to Kerr and back again before he leant right back and crossed one leg with his ankle, his free hand creeping along the back of the furniture and stretching out to lightly caress the chocolate coloured material.

[Existentially Odd]

"Going to be pretty empty up there, then," he mused, watching Ash through hooded eyes - he was fascinated with the swirling pattern the blood made, also.  "This place is big enough with just me in it now... maybe I should get a roommate?" he grinned, taking another swig of his blood.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"Seems like too much trouble," Ash replied absently, finally swallowing the last portion of blood, but not cleaning the glass completely thanks to the swirling.  With his finger he swept around the inside of the glass and sucked it off, not looking up at Kerr for he was paying more attention to his task at hand.  "Throw parties when you\'re bored, kick them out when you\'ve had enough," Ash said, shrugging.

The nightclub had been much like that for him, though he\'d retreated to the upstairs bar when he usually had enough of the bump and grind downstairs.  Very few people were allowed upstairs - though it was less like a VIP area and more like his own personal retreat.  The bar upstairs supplied blood to him, while the one downstairs was far more conventional.  The Asp Club had not been a vampire club, and he wouldn\'t have wanted it to turn into one.

After his suggestion, he glanced up at Kerr for his reaction.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr appeared to be taking the suggestion with a brevity that it may not have been issued with.  "I\'ve never thrown a party," he mused seriously, his tongue stud flicking around the roof of his mouth as he pondered what throwing a party would be like.  who the hell would he invite?  the thought brought forth a burst a laughter that was slightly tinged with bitterness.  "I wouldn\'t have anyone to invite!" he confessed jovially.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash\'s eyebrows lifted slightly at Kerr\'s confession and he stared at the older vampire for a long moment before explaining what he\'d thought had been widely accepted and known.
 
"You don\'t have to know a lot of people to throw a big party. If you offer free food and drinks they\'ll find you. All you have to do is tell a few of the right kind of people and they\'ll bring all of the crashers. It just depends on whether you want the party to be mortal-strong, vampire-strong or mixed." He shrugged. "I\'ve seen a lot of our kind in this city already," he said, musing. There hadn\'t been so many in Hollywood so eager to show their faces on the streets than there\'d been in this city.

He looked steadily at Kerr now, a light smile playing on his lips. "Do you want to throw a party?" he asked, seriously.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr pulled a face that showed he was considering the proposal - but that he was not certain how good it was.  Having a whole bunch of people that he didn\'t know inside his house, just so he could... what?  Get to know them?  Didn\'t sound anything but inconvenient.  It also sounded a lot like what he did at Risk, anyway.

"Mmm, I don\'t think so.  I\'ll just stick with visiting Risk; the ratio there is generally proportionate and I can pick and choose who I want to come home with me," he chuckled, looking at Ash with twinkling eyes as he finished off the last of his blood and placed the glass on the coffee table before him.