His Other Half

[Trillian]

continued from Barefoot Bum


BEN ARRIVED AT THE CHAMBERS of the Oligarchy via the back entrance, where he removed what looked like a credit card from out of his wallet and swiped it over the panel beside a heavy looking door.  He stole a glance at Halwyn before moving in front of the numerical keypad, blocking the other vampire\'s view of it before punching in a six digit code.  Inside there was a buzz and the door clicked open.  Ben pulled on it, knowing that there were two Mimic Demons just inside, and wasn\'t sure if they were transformed into their human appearance or not - otherwise Halwyn would be met by two very large albino demons who made sure that security wasn\'t breached.  He was lucky to find that both of them were in their human skin, and both nodded acknowledgement to him as he entered.

"C\'mon in, it\'s just a short walk to the lift from here," he said, and even though the back door of the hotel wasn\'t the usual entryway, it was still a glamorous enough foyer with polished timber flooring with a couple of stairs leading up to rich forest-green carpet, which would take them to the secondary lots of elevators.  These lifts wouldn\'t take Ben to the penthouse where he lived with Kerr and his new blood-brother Ichabod, but it could drop off guests to swanky large rooms with spa baths and double-headed showers.  It was one of these lush rooms that Ben intended on dropping Halwyn off in.

[Saccharin]

Halwyn hesitated just inside the door, taken aback by the entryway of the building. When Ben had mentioned a hotel that catered to vampire clients, he imagined a ramshackle place more like a safe haven for junkies than a retreat for the elite. Really, he shouldn\'t have been overly surprised, because every vampire he knew other than himself had some amount of dignity and preferred places like the one he was standing in to the crummy shacks he usually claimed for himself. As long as it would be completely dark during the day, he didn\'t care where he ended up.

When Ben called for him, he snapped back to the present and hurried to catch up with the younger vampire. "Nice place," he commented, and he did sound impressed, but also slightly uncomfortable. He felt like every step he took was soiling the pristine state of the hotel, but his mind was tugged another direction when his feet insisted he pay attention to the wonderful sensation of his toes sinking into thick carpet.  After walking as many blocks as he had without shoes on concrete and asphalt, it felt like he had stepped onto clouds.

It wasn\'t long before a loud ding signaled the arrival of the elevator that had been requested with a press of a button and he slipped inside after Ben. As the doors slid shut, he edged his way to a far corner of the box and waited for Ben to select the floor they would be going to.

[Trillian]

The selection was for twenty three floors (though there were twenty eight in total), as well as a G button for the ground floor where they\'d come from, and beneath that was a B6 button which took the rider of this particular elevator to the carpark level, bypassing levels B1 through to B5.  The limited access of this lift had been another choice by Ben, for he didn\'t want to get cornered by Halwyn - who\'d been savvy enough to take over the city some years ago with Lazarus\' help, according to the blonde Ancient.  Funny though, he\'d always thought Halwyn had been another Ancient as well, but he could sense that the brunette didn\'t have that kind of age to him.  Ben selected the sixteenth floor, only because it seemed a purposeful number, though he could\'ve selected almost any, for there were empty rooms on each floor.

The lift gently yet rapidly took them to their destination, and as the doors bonged, Ben moved to step out first, and ushered Halwyn to the first door they came across.  He hoped this particular room wasn\'t taken, and knocked first just to make sure before pulling out his card again and entering it into the keycard slot, letting himself and Halwyn into the room.

"I don\'t think this one is taken," he said, entering first yet again and looking around to make sure there weren\'t signs of someone living here.  The room had one bedroom - though it was a nice spacious one - and it was easy to see that the windows had large roll-down security screens that would block out the sun once it was up.  "Those are automatic, but you can lock them in place once they\'re down, too," he said, heading for the phone in the room.  "The bathroom\'s through there, I\'ll call up someone to give you a key," he said, and hoped Halwyn would head straight for the shower.  To help Halwyn along, he gave the other vampire a winning smile - the kind he\'d used to pull out for the camera when working as a model, and with all that practise in New York, even his artificial smiles looked genuine.

[Saccharin]

It didn\'t take much more than the suggestion for Halwyn to head into the bathroom - though the smile had done a fine job of reassuring him it wouldn\'t be rude for him to take off. He would\'ve immediately hopped into the shower, but he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror after closing then locking the bathroom door and had to take a moment to peer at his reflection curiously. Seeing how filthy he was made him wonder if Ben was truly his guardian angel. He certainly wouldn\'t have stopped to help out someone that looked like a walking zombie. His face was a sort of brown color with pieces of dried mud still crusted in places (especially around his ears). The vampire reached up and squeezed a piece of his hair between his fingers, recoiling when it crunched.  

"You look like shit," he said to his reflection before he started peeling off his clothes. If the trash bin had been large enough, he would\'ve stuffed them in there, but he had to suffice with kicking them to a corner of the room.

The shower he took was one of the best and longest he\'d ever had. At first, his main priority was to see his skin again, but once that had been achieved, he pressed his hands against the tiled wall and let his head hang forward, allowing the water to cascade down his neck and back. It was truly one of the most satisfying things he\'d experienced in a long while. He ran the shower until it started pumping out cold water and even then it was with great reluctance that he turned it off and stepped out. Halwyn grabbed a towel and was running it vigorously over his body and hair when his eyes strayed to the mirror again. This time he grinned impishly at his reflection. That was more like it. He was a little more gaunt than he would\'ve liked - his cheekbones even more prominent than they typically were and his eyes a bit sunken from lack of blood, but he felt like Halwyn again.

He grabbed a white robe he\'d spotted on the counter and slipped it on. He was still tying the wide belt as he walked out of the bathroom. "Man, you\'ve no idea how much better I feel," he said, hoping to find Ben still there. However, he wouldn\'t be surprised if the other had wandered off after he realized Halwyn was going to take a half hour shower.

[Trillian]

Ben, in the meantime, had waited for the shower to run before using the phone to call up a couple of donors to come in roughly a quarter of an hour\'s time.  His next call was to Security where he requested the presence of a couple of Mimic Demons to stand guard outside the door of room 1601, in order to halt any of Halwyn\'s potentially spontaneous decisions to leave.  After hanging up the phone and giving it a thoughtful look, he called up his sire, who was in the penthouse at the very top of the building - and kept his voice low while speaking, like he had with his second call to Security.

"Hi, Kerr.  Um, I\'m in room sixteen-oh-one at the moment, with Halwyn, Lazarus\' co-conspirator during the Apocalypse."  He paused and waited for his sire to speak before replying.  "I found him on the street on the way back home.  He\'s um, a little worse for wear.  He was in the ground for a few years, sleeping or something."

He stopped himself from asking; did you know vampires could do that? because there were more pressing things to attend to.

He listened some more and then looked at the bathroom with the phone pressed against his ear, still able to hear Halwyn sloshing around in the shower.

"Um, I called for a couple of Mimics to stand at his door, but I didn\'t know if you wanted to talk to him yourself?"  He waited for Kerr to give him his reply, nodded even though Kerr wouldn\'t be able to see it, and finished with: "Okay.  He\'s in the shower, I\'ll just introduce him to the blood donors I\'ve got coming here in, uh," he looked up at the room\'s clock, "ten minutes."

The blood donors arrived on time, which meant they had to wait for a little bit before Halwyn was out of the shower.  Both of them were athletic young men in their early twenties, with physiques that could stand for a little extra blood letting.  They were keen, for they hadn\'t been drunk from in a while and so had much to offer the starved and now fresh-smelling vampire.

Ben was sitting in an armchair while both donors were seated together on the sofa.  Ben stood when Halwyn exited the bathroom, prompting both of them to stand, and made his introductions.

"Halwyn, this is Robert and Jaden," he said, gesturing first to the strawberry blonde and then to the brunette.  "They\'re blood donors," he said, clarifying the reason why the two mortals were in the room.

[Saccharin]

Halwyn glanced at Ben briefly when he spoke, but his eyes were drawn to and remained on the humans after. His nose was filled with the heady scent of warm flesh and his ears with heartbeats that had picked up in tempo as he stared at them with hunger clouding his green eyes. He\'d been able to briefly push aside the constant demands his body made for sustenance, distracting himself by concentrating on his surroundings verses the hollow feeling at the very center of his being, but the close proximity of the humans forced  his attention back to it.

He moved to the blonde and without preamble, took him by the hand, leading him to sit down on the couch again. As if arranging a doll, he pulled at him until he was situated between his legs, facing forward. He looped his arms around Robert\'s middle and nosed at his neck when he made it accessible to the vampire behind him. His bite, despite his hunger, was gentle. The mortal in his arms relaxed and all that could be heard was the wet noise of Halwyn feeding. When he sensed he\'d taken from him what Robert was reasonably able to give without slipping into unconsciousness, he drew back.

With an air of efficiency, he sealed the still bleeding bite marks with a bit of blood from his thumb after biting into it. He did not wait for Robert to remove himself from his lap after he was finished, as the human was too drowsy and overcome with a sense of satisfaction to do anything other than lean heavily against Halwyn - so he hooked his hands under the man\'s arms and deposited him on the far side of the couch where he curled up, a content smile hovering about his lips.

The vampire returned to his seat and gestured for the brunette, who hastily mimicked the position his fellow donor had taken.  Halwyn, his sense of urgency dissipating as his body absorbed the blood he\'d recently acquired, took his time with the mortal nestled against him. His hand went to Jaden\'s chest and he rubbed at it idly as he fed, drawing circles and other random shapes into the front of his shirt. It was with the same sort of laziness a big cat would have after feasting that he pulled his mouth away from him, sealed his wounds, and then rubbed his cheek against the crook of the man\'s neck, savoring the feeling of his soft skin.

From there he looked at Ben with heavily lidded eyes and smiled. "Sure do know how to treat guests," he remarked fuzzily, completely unaware of all the phone calls Ben had made while he was showering.

[Existentially Odd]

Ben\'s phone call had interrupted Kerr\'s third night of being with his new fledgling.  Their first night had involved a brief tour of the Chambers and a trip outside; their second night had involved a more in-depth tour, a little bit of work and base-touching with his employees for Kerr and some phone calls to have some designers and architects come to interview for the job of completely redesigning the penthouse.

Tonight, they\'d begun the new-immortal\'s training in earnest, anticipating that the professionals Kerr had called the nigh before would arrive around midnight.  The prospect of meeting Halwyn would delay things somewhat, but it was an opportunity the Luminary would never pass up; apart from knowing of the vampire by reputation (but never person) from the time he\'d arrived in the Apocalyptic city, there was also the fact that he now employed his brother to consider.

Vomas had impressed Kerr with his reserved and insightful manner while interviewing for the position of Oligarch; would his sibling - a man who\'d voluntarily associated with Lazarus during a time of chaos and mayhem - be anywhere near as steady and reliable?  Kerr doubted it, and something about that doubt also made him subconsciously concerned by Ben being downstairs with him, Mimics outside the door or not.

He excused himself from Ichabod\'s presence but ended up having his fledgling follow him into his bedroom as he got changed out of the jeans and T-shirt he was wearing and into something a little more respectable - black slacks, dress shoes and a dark blue business shirt.  Explaining himself and his history with Vomas - and what he knew of Halwyn - to Ichabod while he dressed took a little longer than expected because his fledge was full of questions that required elaborate answers, rather than succinct ones.  Instead of getting down to room 1601 in ten minutes, it took more than twice that.

He spoke to the demons at the door as he rapped briskly upon it, considering using his master cardkey to let himself in and save those within from having to answer the door - Ben had told him that Halwyn would be feeding soon and he could sense mortals within the room, so he didn\'t want to interfere at an inconvenient time - but choosing not to.  He told the demons they would likely not be needed to stand here all night, but he would let them know.  He was secretly impressed that Ben had had the forethought to call security; it made him feel more confident about allowing him out of his sight and worry less about his beloved being taken from him without preamble.

[Trillian]

Ben, who was a lot more confident and less self-conscious nowadays thanks to his time in New York, sat himself on the armchair diagonally across from Halwyn and the two mortals so he could watch the other vampire feed.  When he\'d gone to Risk, he would always watch how others would perform the deed, looking away when it got heated - not out of embarrassment but as a respect.  It would feel like watching porn if he watched others get carried away.

Halwyn was surprisingly reserved, and Ben was disappointed that the first mortal - Robert - who was the type to be dazed on feeding.  Ben personally knew Jaden wasn\'t, as he would squirm and moan.  He wondered how Halwyn would handle that, but Jaden didn\'t push things, content enough to sigh and groan at most.  Ben figured it was probably because he was in the room with them, wondering if Jaden would\'ve offered himself up for the taking to Halwyn if Ben hadn\'t been sitting across from them.  His eyes flicked down to see Jaden\'s obvious excitement at being fed from before he looked back up at Halwyn in time to be spoken to.

He could sense his sire on the other side of the door, about to walk in.  The closer Kerr got, the more his blood felt the calling to him.  It gave him the ability to reveal that he knew more about Halwyn than he\'d previously let on.

"We\'re much better to our guests now than when you ran the city with Lazarus," he said, wanting to see Halwyn\'s reaction.  He was smiling politely, but there was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes that revealed his earlier manipulation in getting Halwyn here.

[Saccharin]

His reaction wasn\'t immediate, as his face was blank and his body unmoving while he scrambled to completely grasp what Ben had said. He knew about his connection with Lazarus? How? Well, it wasn\'t like he\'d had enough sense to use a name different than the one he\'d given when he\'d worked with Lazarus to inject chaos into the city\'s veins, but why hadn\'t he said anything when they first met? When he caught the gleam in Ben\'s eyes, it began to dawn on him that perhaps the younger vampire had been intentionally misleading him... but why?

We - Halwyn reminded himself - he said we. We\'re much better to our guests.  Who was this little shit? His eyebrows took a dive as he glared at Ben. And who the hell was he to say which scenario had been better? Surely he hadn\'t been a vampire long enough to have experienced what it was like to walk the streets without worrying about obeying every single fucking unspoken rule that...

Oh ho. Oh. Fuck me. Fuck me with a broken broom handle.

... the Oligarchy had taken up again. Fuuuck! The hotel, the guards, the donors - it all clicked into place and if his hands had been free, he would have smacked at his forehead with his palm. How could he be so stupid? So fucking stupid.

He stood abruptly, not caring or noticing if the mortal that had been in his lap gained his feet or tumbled to the ground, gathered his bathrobe around him and then walked past Ben and to the door. His intention had been to leave, but when he opened the door, it was to a no-nonsense sort of looking vampire and two more guards. When had they arrived? He hadn\'t heard them or the sound of knocking moments prior, having been so lost in his thoughts and growing panic.

He took a deep breath, preparing to blast profanities at them for being in his way when he caught the otherworldly scent of demons. Halwyn hung onto the doorframe with his hand and bowed his head briefly, his still damp hair falling forward as the breath of air turned into a sigh. If it\'d just been the vampire, he would\'ve been able to get by, no problem at all - but demons? Fucking demons hurt. The ones he\'d had close encounters with had been more than capable of wringing every single ounce of pain from their victims they could. Hell, he knew what they could do to a vampire his age from personal experience. It made him justifiably wary of the ones just outside.

When he lifted his face again, he aimed his sickly looking smile at the taller vampire standing in front of him. "I guess you\'re coming in," he mumbled, and backed away from the door to allow him entry (though he certainly wasn\'t gracious enough to hold it open and there was a chance it would shut in Kerr\'s face if he didn\'t catch it first).

[Existentially Odd]

Nothing like Vomas, then.

Unsurprised - yet wearing an expression that denied that emotion, for his eyebrows were raised - Kerr looked Halwyn over, stepping into his lee as the door headed his way.  "Thank you," he said with false cheer, sidestepping the swinging wood neatly and quietly closing it behind him.  He schooled his features into something more neutral as he did, so that when he turned to face Halwyn, Ben and the mortals once more there was nothing but a vague smile dancing about his lips and curiosity glinting in his brown eyes.

"I\'m Kerr Galvin," he introduced himself, stepping towards Halwyn with an extended hand, ready for the shaking.  He was surprised to sense that the vampire was less than Ancient; he\'d expected anyone that had endured Lazarus\' presence for an extended period of time would have been equal in age and insanity to the blonde ass at the very least.  Still, it wasn\'t like Laz was especially picky.  "Current Luminary of the Oligarchy and your pleased host, at this stage," he smiled.

Unless Halwyn chose to make trouble, he would remain pleased to host the vampire in the Chambers, frankly, though he didn\'t have faith that the arrangement would work all that well for his new Oligarch.  It wasn\'t anything specific said by Vomas, more the way he\'d responded when mentioning his brother while interviewing for his new position; embarrassment mixed with a sense of not wanting to see Halwyn any time soon.  Kerr supposed that as soon as their blood bond started twanging (though he only assumed they were sire-related and understood that they might not be so), each would realise the exact proximity his sibling held.  Would the quarters then be too close for comfort for one or both of them?

"Welcome back to the city.  I expect it\'s changed a great deal since last you were here," he confided with a little laugh, smiling his bemusement.  Damn straight the place had changed; it was no longer a Hellish war zone locked up tighter than the Queen\'s crown, for a start.

[Trillian]

He was rewarded with an expression that looked like Halwyn had been slapped in the face.  His own internal response was a mixture of smug pleasure and tingling guilt at having deceived the vampire.  Lazarus had spoken of Halwyn fondly and Ben could only assume the pair of them had been fuck-buddies as well as partners in crime.  He couldn\'t imagine Lazarus being friends with someone he hadn\'t bedded or didn\'t want to.  If Ben knew there\'d been no such desires from either of them, he would be extremely surprised.

He was about to begin what would\'ve ended as an apology, except Halwyn began for the door to the room.  Ben knew that Kerr was on the other side of it, along with the guards he\'d called for, and now his guilt began twanging strongly, replacing any pleasure he initially felt at bringing someone important to the Chambers for Kerr to meet.

He sank slowly down on the armchair as his sire and his newfound \'friend\' made their introductions to one another; Kerr being more diplomatic about it, of course.  There was an enigmatic charm about his sire that couldn\'t be matched by many, and coupled with his polite and mostly gentle nature it made him a true gentleman.  It was Kerr\'s greatest appeal and Ben believed it would be the path to Ben\'s falling in love with him again, in time.  With Ichabod as a backup in case Ben let Kerr down again, he felt a little more secure about potentially failing his sire, which he\'d heard he\'d done many a time in his (unremembered) past.

He said nothing until he was addressed, hoping the mortals in the room would be just as quiet until they dismissed themselves.

[Saccharin]

Halwyn, not wanting to give Kerr the satisfaction of forcing him into a formal greeting, ignored the other vampire\'s outstretched hand.  Slowly and deliberately, he stowed his hands into his oversized pockets and took another step backwards to salvage some of the personal space Kerr had taken from him when he\'d stepped forward. It made him look like a petulant teenager, but he didn\'t notice. Even if he\'d cared about how he appeared to the Luminary, it would\'ve been very difficult to maintain anything resembling dignity while standing in front of him in a bathrobe.

Despite the fact he\'d landed himself into a steaming pile of shit and needed to concentrate on how to get out in one piece, he acknowledged the robe was was very cozy. For the most part, clothing just kept getting more and more uncomfortable. Jeans were the worst. He didn\'t care for the feeling of denim or the damnable zippers that caught and ate his pubic hair if he went commando (and he usually did). He wondered if the hotel staff would notice a missing robe... or two. Two would be best, he decided.  Then, he\'d always have one to wear while he cleaned the other. He might\'ve planned to take more if he could get away with wearing a robe all the time, but two would be plenty for lounging around in. Yes, that-

Kerr pulled Halwyn\'s attention to him again when he mentioned the city and he blinked, scrambling to catch up with the conversation he\'d tuned out.

"I wouldn\'t know. Ben brought me here before I had a chance to get a good look," he said, frowning at the youngling.  "Which I don\'t appreciate, by the way," he added sullenly.

How easily he\'d been duped. Halwyn blamed part of it on the boy\'s pretty face and big blue eyes, but mostly on himself. If he\'d had any sense, he would\'ve done everything different... starting with finding somewhere other than the ground to sleep away a few years in.  That way, he would\'ve been able to drink the blood he\'d wisely stored away beforehand, thus gaining his wits before encountering someone like Ben.  Well.  Not like that would\'ve ensured the night would\'ve ended any differently. It was just as likely he would\'ve fucked up the whole thing even if he\'d been full of blood. His thoughts (and in turn his actions) had a tendency to jump around like a grasshopper on crack and he had a hard time staying focused. Like now, for example.

His frown deepened.

[Existentially Odd]

It was an unusual thing for Kerr to be rejected these days; in fact, he\'d have said it was impossible, except for the fact that Halwyn had just blatantly ignored his conciliatory gesture and deliberately snubbed him.  Him.  It didn\'t anger him so much as shock him and it it took a moment - as his outstretched hand slowly retreated back towards his own pants and was fisted (like it was also surprised not to be holding anything against it) before it was pocketed - for the Irishman to understand that he\'d been spurned.

Him!  Not only was it a matter of etiquette, there was also the unspoken understanding that he, as the Luminary, deserved some acknowledgment of his station.  Not having his hand shaken made him blink, the corner of his mouth twitch in consternation, the barest frown of confusion to draw down his brows; never in all his years had such a thing happened in this way.  He could\'ve understood if they\'d been sworn enemies and Halwyn was out to insult him, but the manner in which it was done seemed... sulky, rather than hateful.

Although he couldn\'t fathom the other\'s thought processes or motivations (and he wasn\'t about to mentally pry right off the bat), he could appreciate the fact that there seemed no deception at play here.  Halwyn seemed the type to follow his desires, without thought of the consequences.  He supposed that a man who helped overrun a city this large had to be someone of conviction, especially with Lazarus being so fucking lazy.  One of them had to have been the one to do the work and stick to his guns, and Kerr guessed that that had been Halwyn... no sense of social conscience, but willful, it seemed.

He was reminded (rightly or wrongly) of his sire based on these assumptions, and an unwarranted rise of affection struck him, spurred on by the memories of his arrival with Sawyl and the twins at the height of the Apocalypse.  No doubt his fledgling - whom he was aware had sat, though he didn\'t look in Ben\'s direction - would wonder about the welling of emotion he\'d feel through their blood bond, whilst Kerr was looking upon Halwyn, and find it odd.

"Well," was all Kerr managed to say while he processed these thoughts and stuck his right hand into his pants pocket, the thumb of his left - hanging nonchalantly by his side - sliding thoughtfully along the pads of his four fingers, slowly back and forth as he calculated his next words and frowned ever so slightly at Halwyn.  "As someone who arrived and was permitted entry by Lazarus during your... apocalypse," he hesitated over using the word, unsure of how its use had spawned and whether it might be an insult to someone who had crafted - by his vision - freedom for supernaturals, rather than the chaos and disaster implied by the word (his head dipped lightly in deference as he said it, just in case), "I can assure you that the city has changed.  For the better.  Have you returned because you have other ideas?"

Although his tone was cautious and steady, his eyes glinted warningly as he asked his final question.  It didn\'t seem that Halwyn was one to bow to what should be said; Kerr expected to get a straight answer to a straight question and would conduct himself in such a manner until it was proved futile.  His guest mightn\'t agree, but the Luminary valued etiquette and he felt that if Halwyn was going to be blunt about things, it was only right that he do so, too.  It was only polite, after all.

[Saccharin]

"See," he responded quickly after Kerr ceased speaking. "That\'s your opinion. I thought things were better without us following mortal rules. You didn\'t. " He shrugged, the terry cloth of his bathrobe restricting the movement somewhat with how tightly he\'d tied the belt. "But I don\'t have any plans for the city, if that\'s what you mean. Not anymore."

He knew his time had passed. It would take far more than planting an idea here and there to bring about a rebellion, especially since the Oligarchy had probably entrenched itself deeply into the inner workings of the city since he\'d been sleeping. It\'d only been a handful of years, but still enough time to make it so he would have to amass more forces and spend more time than he was willing to devote to a cause he didn\'t really care for that much any longer.

"Don\'t think this means I like you or the Oligarchy," he made clear, waggling a finger. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn\'t alter the flow of things. Everyone likes being safe more than they like their freedom." His snarled lip might make it obvious how he felt about the fact if his disdainful tone hadn\'t. "Anyway," he continued, lip returning to a more neutral position. "If I can get a change of clothes or my old clothes back, I\'ll get out of your hair."

[Trillian]

When Halwyn said his name, Ben automatically smiled even though he knew he wasn\'t being spoken of in a complimentary sense.  He hadn\'t been talked about in a negative way either, rather it was neutral.

Ben brought me here

Yes, he\'d indeed brought Halwyn here, lying by omission.  He hadn\'t exactly said \'I\'m taking you to the Oligarchy\', but he hadn\'t lied about where he\'d taken him either.  The name had been enough for Ben to be wary of a vampire who was older than him, but not so cautious that he avoided Halwyn altogether given a chance (like he would\'ve if he\'d been Ancient).

He was going to keep his mouth shut unless addressed, for this was a conversation that really had to happen between Kerr and Halwyn without any interruption from him.  He watched avidly, however, as Kerr was shunned and then blinked at his sire when the powerful and strangely warm emotion echoed in him.  He was puzzled by it, as Kerr predicted, and now his gaze sat a little more solidly on Kerr instead of on Halwyn - until that rebellious statement was made and then he was caught up in the conversation enough to be very interested in how Kerr would respond.  
halwyn was being far from respectful, in a way that the previous and original Luminary - Halen - would\'ve demanded it.

He itched to tell Halwyn that Lazarus had once run the Oligarchy.  How interesting it would\'ve been to have had Halwyn return while the blonde was still in the big chair.