Donor

[Malkavian Riddler]

The young mortal man was the only one seated in the waiting room.  He was reading a magazine called Howl, which came out monthly.  At first he\'d wanted to snigger at that, but upon the dawning realisation that there were enough werewolves around to support a printed publication on a monthly basis, he found it hard to be amused.  He was flipping through it to see if he could glean ideas on how to protect himself.
 
Cain was dressed in his usual black-clothed style.  Tight black t-shirt that was a size too small, black jeans that were so old they were mostly dusty grey, steel capped black boots on his feet because he\'d recently had to sell his motorcycle to make rent and buy food.  His new transport was now the subway and his feet, because the bus just didn\'t run as late as he would like.  He had a thick leather band on his wrist for decorative purposes, and his fingernails had been painted black.  Black kohl around his eyes enhanced them.  He\'d come here straight from Risk after a no-go night.
 
He just couldn\'t do it any more.  He was a reliable donor, and he felt like he deserved something more official than simply turning up at Risk and offering himself.  He\'d applied for a donor position at the VIP section at Risk but was refused.  Apparently visiting Risk regularly in the past had been a sure way of not making the cut.
 
Now he was here at the Oligarchy.  He\'d not known that they accepted donors every year into their ranks, during the month of January.  Now it was far too late but fuck it, he was going to apply anyway.  He figured he could apply and be told no, which was better than not trying at all.  Maybe he\'d get lucky.
 
The person who\'d made him sign the book to sit in the waiting room now opened a door and popped his head around it.
 
"You probably won\'t be able to see one of the vampire Oligarchs after all," he said, which had Cain staring at him with blank incomprehension.  "It\'s a bit late."
 
"It\'s not fucking daytime," he said, and after noticing the way the other frowned at him, he regretted his rude retort.  "What does probably mean?  Are either of them still in the building?"
 
He didn\'t know that they had housing in the Chambers themselves, not that there was a guarantee they lived there anyway.
 
The other guy shrugged and Cain closed the Howl magazine so that the cover could be seen on his lap.
 
"Can I wait here until one of them can be told I\'m here?" he asked, defeatedly.  It was Friday night, he had no work on the weekend.  Not even the casual oddjobs were available to him.  He should count himself lucky he\'d still retained his apprenticeship, but the pay was too shit to live on.
 
The response he got for his request was a curt nod and then he was left alone in the waiting room again.

[Existentially Odd]

A few minutes after Cain had been abandoned, the Oligarch Luminary came wandering into the room looking anything but important.  He\'d been upstairs, in his office, reviewing files for a few Oligarchs, but hadn\'t been feeling very official that night.

In fact, he was wandering the halls of his enormous home barefoot, a pair of ratty, faded blue jeans trailing threads along the pristine carpets beneath his heels and a teal coloured button-up shirt untucked over them.  The sleeves were rolled up haphazardly to his elbows and the top three buttons were undone, exposing a fair amount of his hairy chest and drawing attention to the the leather necklace about his throat.  A silver figure of Bastet hung from it, between his collar bones.

When he dawdled into the waiting room, the fingertips of Kerr\'s left hand were tucked into his front pocket and his right held a respectably thick stack of manilla folders, swinging airily as he strode.  He glanced Cain\'s way, smiling vaguely and still heading for the door to the back offices, when he suddenly realised who it was and did a double take.  He stopped.  And stared.

Those mis-matched eyes... that gorgeous physique... that sexy makeup.  It was familiar.  A little older, yes (well, it had been a couple of years since he\'d seen the mortal), but known to him all the same.  Most of it appeared in Kerr\'s fantasies, whenever he had the urge to allow his mind off its tether... he\'d played out many different endings to the scenario he and Ben had experienced with this boy all that time ago, and all of them were erotic.  Downright filthy, in some cases.  Always satisfying.  And now... the object of all his recent, conscious sexual fantasies was here?  He didn\'t know whether to be overjoyed or worried.

"Cain," he said in surprise, still rooted to the spot and staring.  "What are you doing here?"

[Malkavian Riddler]

If Cain knew he\'d been remembered so vividly and with such debauchery, he would\'ve been filled with hot satisfaction.  As it was, the biggest impression Kerr left on him was the fact he was superior to all vampires, as part of the Oligarchy, and that they\'d met in passing a long time ago.  Cain didn\'t remember the conversation properly, though would\'ve remembered the night had Kerr taken up his offer.  He was fairly certain how the conversation would\'ve gone; take me home.  The fact Cain didn\'t properly remember Kerr other than the fact they\'d met, had him knowing that any offers he might\'ve made had been refused.  Perhaps if Ben was with Kerr right now, he would\'ve remembered more, but he\'d forgotten completely about the blonde.
 
He\'d missed Kerr\'s double-take at him.  He\'d been looking down at the magazine on his lap, thinking that the guy on the cover looked pretty hot for something that turned into a terrifying beast once a month.  He didn\'t like the idea of it; at least a vampire was always a vampire and you knew where you stood with something like that.
 
At the sound of his name, Cain\'s stare lifted until he met Kerr\'s eyes.  A spark of recognition flared in them and he was silent for a short moment after the question was asked in order to collect his thoughts.  He didn\'t consider the fact Kerr knew his name to be complimentary.  He\'d chalked it up to one of the superior skill sets vampires inherited along with heightened strength.  Surely heightened memory along with heightened senses wasn\'t such a stretch of the imagination?
 
"Hello, sir."  He wasn\'t sure how to address Kerr.  There was a feeling of formality amid the look of informality and it was displacing the teen.  "I\'m here to speak to an Oligarch about placement here."

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr grew flustered as he realised Cain didn\'t recognise him, yet he was still being polite about running into him, and responding submissively.  It was embarrassing, to have such a (false) strong impression of a person inside one\'s head, only to realise that they barely had any knowledge of you at all.

He cleared his throat and ran the hand that had been tucked into his pocket through his already-tousled hair, not realising he was making it stick out in a few new directions since he\'d been doing it constantly while taking case-file notes.

Kerr\'s brain was working rapidly, to adjust to where he figured Cain was in this conversation; when they\'d met, he and Ben had been experimenting with being a couple again, and experimenting with experimenting, and it had sort of worked.  They\'d concentrated on their relationship heavily for the year after that and Kerr had won a place in Ben\'s heart once more (on his own merits, rather than by those he\'d scored historically), but there\'d been no more fanciful trips to Risk.  No more talks of threesomes (even if Kerr\'s brain hadn\'t complied).  He was pretty sure Cain didn\'t know what his position was, though he\'d recognised his tattoo as belonging to an Oligarch back when they\'d first met.  The mortal really was clueless.

With things happening so quickly in his own hamster-on-a-wheel of a brain, Kerr misinterpreted the response he\'d received and gave an enthusiastic smile as he took a step towards the visitor.  "Oh!  You\'ve got a placement here!  I haven\'t seen you around."  It was inane, jovial conversation, spat out in order to give him some time to settle out of stunned embarrassment and into his usual calm, collected self.  Hopefully.  "How long have you been here?  I take it you\'re a donor?"

A highly sensitive, hyper-aware part of his being knew he was talking too fast and likely giving away his awkwardness.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Cain was never unaware when he was being stared at and assessed. He didn\'t straighten up or move unnecessarily, not wanting to give Kerr reason to look away. He liked the look of this vampire, which was mostly the reason why he remembered Kerr at all. With the amount of contact he had with vampires at Risk, remembering one that had rejected him some years ago was certainly a feat. Unless, of course, he was the kind of gorgeous you liked.

And Cain liked.

His brows shot up at Kerr\'s misunderstanding. Weird, that he hadn\'t scanned Cain\'s thoughts, or heard correctly. He supposed this vampire, being an Oligarch, was busy and had a hundred things flying through his mind, and that Cain\'s predicament wasn\'t terribly important.

"I\'m not a donor yet," he said, speaking a little slower so he could choose his words precisely. "I\'m trying to be one, but I\'ve missed the application stage. I\'m here to speak to a vampire Oligarch about... any vacancies still left."

He hoped Kerr would see him, though all the papers in his hand meant that he had a ton of other work to do. Cain\'s heart started beating faster as he considered he might be closer to his goal. He shifted in his seat and the Howl magazine slid off his lap and onto the floor, causing him to drop his eyes in order to reach down and pick it up.

[Existentially Odd]

There was something entirely indecent about the way Kerr\'s libido seemed to be directly connected to the pace of Cain\'s heart; it picked up and so did Kerr feel even more attracted to the youth, his vampiric instincts kicking in as well.  It didn\'t help that he hadn\'t fed in... he wasn\'t sure how long since he\'d fed.  A few nights.  He\'d been busy and what with one thing and another, he\'d been meaning to get to it tonight, with a person or two, to buoy the mugs of blood he ingested every now and then.  While he worked.

"Oh!  I see, I\'m sorry, I misheard," he exclaimed, waving a ridiculously girly hand around his left ear - to indicate where he heard from, no doubt - while Cain bent down to retrieve the magazine that had fallen off his lap.  Almost immediately, the four hundred year old was glad that Cain hadn\'t been looking at him at that moment, to see his action and the giddy expression on his stupid face.  He had to get a grip.

Pressing his lips together and frowning a little made him look like he was giving some thought to Cain\'s comment, and using both hands to hold the folders before himself also centred him somewhat.  He had a choice to make but he doubted he\'d make the right one if he was still in a flap, so he took a bit of time to consider things carefully.

Cain wanted to live in the building and be a donor.  There were plenty of rooms available in the Chambers but no more reserved for donors, that Kerr knew of.  The screening happened at the start of each year and there was always a lot of competition for the few spaces that were vacated as prior donors moved on with their lives.  As far as the Luminary knew (and it actually wasn\'t something he had a hand in), the donor ship had sailed for this year.

On the other hand... he was the Luminary... and Cain wanted to live in the building and be a donor.  A donor that he could find to drink from whenever he wanted.  He had final say on budget allocations, housing, timetables, all of it.  He could just make Cain\'s acceptance happen immediately, and he could drink from him tonight, just like that!  Just.

Ohhh but that, too, was a scary thought.  How would Ben react to Kerr\'s favourite little sex fantasy toy (he was pretty sure Ben knew the extent to which he fantasised about Cain, for he could read his mind and it wouldn\'t take much for his lover to peek while they were in the heat of making fantasy become reality) suddenly being in the building?  He knew he wouldn\'t be able to stay away from feeding from Cain (well, he could, but it would be torturous) and he didn\'t trust himself to keep his hands (or other, more damning parts of his body) off.  Was he ready to broach the threesome thing with Ben already?  They had had a pretty great year, he supposed...

It was much too complicated for him to make a decision right now, without facts.  And

permission

backup.

"I tell you what," he said, trying to sound as thoughtful as he\'d been looking, "I\'m pretty sure Vomas is still here.  How about I go and see if we can\'t set something up for you, so you can get a definite answer now?"  It was a pointless question, of course, because naturally Cain would agree, but something in him obviously wanted some sort of affirmation to come from somewhere.  And when had he taken two more steps so that he could get nice and close to Cain, anyway?

"It\'s really an Oligarch\'s decision to make and not my area of expertise but I\'ll put in a good word for you, okay?" he grinned encouragingly, his mind quietly seeking out Vomas\', to see if he was downstairs or up in his quarters.  Jake was already gone, he was pretty sure, and since he didn\'t live in the building, he was well beyond reach.

[Malkavian Riddler]

At the first statement and corresponding question, Cain tilted his head flirtily and lifted his hand to stroke his neck with his fingertips, at the spot where the bite would be made.

"Can\'t you?" he asked with a slow smile, but as Kerr continued and spoke of it not being in the area of expertise and that he would fetch Vomas

Vomas, wasn\'t he the one who helped you get home when your bike broke down?

and put in a good word, Cain\'s smile fell somewhat.  He\'d thought Kerr was a part of the Oligarchy.  One of the decision makers.

"You don\'t also have your own, personal, donors?" he queried, for to be specifically for one vampire - and especially this one - would be the best scenario.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr blinked, looking somewhat befuddled as the question sent his mind careening off in another direction entirely. Or perhaps it was the way Cain was stroking his neck distracting him. His gaze had certainly not strayed from that exact spot since it began happening.
 
"Uh... no, what you\'re describing there would be a pet scenario. That does happen, but not here. Vampires come to the Oligarchy to get permission for keeping pets, and they essentially become their masters. In the Chambers, we tend to just call a donor when they\'re desired. If desired - blood is supplied as well," Kerr explained, thinking he was likely talking too much again (and supplying Cain with information he didn\'t really need, but he couldn\'t seem to stop himself!).

[Saccharin]

He\'d been on the elevator, wondering how exactly he should go about disabling the speakers that always seemed to produce the most grating music possible (a xylophone, really?), when he\'d felt the faint tickle of another mind reaching out for his. Curiously, he\'d followed the thread as it\'d retreated from him and found Kerr attached to it.

It would\'ve been easiest to find out what the Luminary wanted mentally, but he was rapidly moving upwards, and the distance between them soon became too great for him to traverse. So, when the elevator came to a stop, he resigned himself to being stuck with the music for a bit longer and pressed the button that would send him downstairs.

The muscles in his jaw and shoulders were still tight with annoyance when he started down the hallway and then into the waiting room.

Nice shoes, he remarked privately to Kerr as he came to a stop near the other vampire. He might recognize that Vomas was joking in his typically dry manner, for his mouth had moved upward in a slight smile as he glanced sidelong at the Luminary\'s bare feet. The head of the Oligarchy had taken Causal Friday to a new extreme, and it bore stark contrast to the suit sans jacket Vomas had on.

With his hands clasped together in front of him, he glanced from Kerr to the seated human who he might\'ve recognized if he\'d been able to get a good look at his mismatched eyes.

"Is there something I can help with?" he asked, looking back to Kerr.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Since this was a question posed to the both of them and Kerr had superiority, Cain kept silent, waiting for the other vampire to explain Cain\'s presence here.  Time dragged for a long moment as the two of them first glanced at each other and then stared at him expectantly.

Oh.  He hadn\'t wanted to speak first, but it seemed they were both wanting him to.  He gave a last pleading look to Kerr before mumbling his reason for being there.

"I wanted to meet with someone about being here.  Stationed here.  Available."

Ugh, his heartrate was still up and now there were knots of anxiety in his stomach.  He wondered if they would be able to smell his nervousness.

[Existentially Odd]

Jealous? Kerr retorted smartly, returning Vomas\' sidelong glance with a haughty one of his own (he took particular care to quirk his right eyebrow at his Oligarch\'s very sensible footwear in order to convey his apparent disdain) before he turned back to smile at Cain.

He felt immensely grateful to Vomas for responding to his questing mind, relieved that he wouldn\'t have to deal with this crazy situation alone.  There was another here now.  A very sensible other, who wouldn\'t make decisions based on hormones

but who would, in all likelihood, turn Cain away...

or misguided generosity.  It was really a much more civilised way of going about things.

Feeling that he should remain as objective as possible, Kerr held his tongue once Vomas asked if he could be of assistance, giving the mortal before them an encouraging smile.  His smile faded as Cain\'s nerves clearly took over and then he stumbled out a travesty of a request, failing to make his case very clearly at all (it was a far cry from the cocky way he\'d explained it to Kerr, that was for sure).

With a slight frown, Kerr turned to look at Vomas.  "Uh... what Cain here is attempting to say is that he desires a placement in the Chambers, in the donor program.  He realises he\'s applying after the annual cut off but he\'s hoping that circumstances might just align in his favour.  I told him that since such things weren\'t under my direct control, I\'d need your advice as to how to proceed from here,"  Kerr said in a very reasonable and business-like manner.

"I think he\'d make a wonderful addition to our ranks," he added quickly, in quite the opposite manner, instantly making his feelings on the matter transparent.  Something inside him cringed but he managed to remain appearing calm on the outside.

[Saccharin]

I suppose you are more comfortable, but no, he answered. Vomas\' smile increased fractionally before it disappeared altogether; his sense of humor had been exhausted for the night.

Once, someone had called him a Vulcan (whatever that meant) and he\'d raised his eyebrow in response, sending them into a fit of giggles. That same person would\'ve been snickering at him had they been able to see how he watched Cain and Kerr in turn as they spoke, one eyebrow a notch above the other, but his face otherwise expressionless.

Being who he was - having the power he did - Kerr could\'ve bypassed all the rules they had in place regarding donors and made the human one without asking anyone. It was one of the perks of being Luminary.

Even if he\'d wanted to run things by an Oligarch for their nod of approval, wouldn\'t he have been better off involving Jake? Kerr had to know his employees well enough to recognize that Vomas was most certainly not as willing as his fellow Oligarch to break rules. Maybe he wanted Vomas to deny the human. But no, he\'d specifically said he thought Cain would \'make a wonderful addition to their ranks\'.

It was all very puzzling.

"I could put him on the waiting list for next year," he offered, his eyes traveling between them.

[Existentially Odd]

(ooc: I made some alterations to \'Oligarchy Chambers\' to reflect what Kerr says here)

One glance at Cain\'s expression caused an unreasonable twist within Kerr, for he empathised with the mortal\'s pain and defeat, evident right there on his lovely face for both vampires to see.  It was wrong, he knew, to allow himself to react in the boy\'s favour without thinking it through, but the longer he was near him, the less capable he seemed to be of making a rational decision.

"The entire twelfth floor is occupied?" he queried, frowning at Vomas without so much as consulting Cain.  "Not one room is vacant?"  His tone was vaguely incredulous.

He knew the floor was dedicated to housing mortals, but he had no idea how many were donors, how many were other-supernatural drifters that just needed a place to stay for a while.  As far as he knew, the whole twelfth and eleventh floors were full of mortals and there was not a suite to spare... but if push came to shove, there were roughly twenty other floors to choose from.

If he was going to push or shove, though, there would be no point in getting Vomas involved at all - and he doubted very strongly that the other vampire would let him live down the fact that he called him in to play the part of his conscience.  To no avail.  Shit.  His hormones had a lot to answer for.

[Malkavian Riddler]

He was angry at himself for missing the opportunity to declare himself the perfect candidate for the Oligarchy donor ranks.  He hadn\'t expected to be called upon to speak informally.  He\'d guessed that the two vampires would either discuss who would take an appointment with him, or that Kerr would simply tell his subordinate to find a place for him in the ranks.

When Vomas mentioned that Cain would be put on the waiting list for next year (and he was already on it, he\'d put his name down before deciding to rush things his own way), he deflated.

Cain had a knockout grin reserved for Kerr when he seemed to be pushing for Cain\'s inclusion into the donor ranks.  What Cain didn\'t get was Kerr\'s original declaration that he didn\'t oversee such things, yet here he was giving his subordinate strong hints that he wanted Cain to stay on.  Was this because the Oligarchy was as beaurocratic as their human council counterparts?  Cain would be disappointed if such was the case.  Maybe Kerr didn\'t want to step on toes.  He\'d heard that a lot of positions had been shuffled around not long ago.

Cain had the surprising fortune of never having met Lazarus, though he\'d heard the name.

Cain looked to Vomas hopefully, searching the vampire\'s expression and body language for a positive answer.

[Saccharin]

"Of course not," he said. "But it isn\'t a matter of how many rooms we have available."

It was a matter of budget, and how they\'d estimated down to the last penny how much it would require to house the exact number of donors necessary to supply their vampires with warm blood should they request it. The part of him that wanted everything neat, organized and perfect cringed at the idea of adding another variable to an already solved equation.

His dark colored eyes latched onto the human\'s kohl strangled ones, and he pursed his lips. Vomas remembered Cain, finally. The human had unwittingly helped him return his iPhone to life, and in exchange, the Oligarch had assisted him in getting home with his bike. It\'d been a fair trade, even though Cain hadn\'t been aware of a deal having been struck.

"The year is well under way, Cain. Seven more months won\'t be an intolerable amount of time for you to wait," he said, cementing his refusal, but at the same time promising he\'d be prioritized when they next needed humans.