Penalty by Ignorance

[Trillian]

Halen was pleased with the latest turn of events. The Oligarchy was well coming into practise now, with a number of risk-taking supernaturals being punished for their crimes, and many of them vowing not to be repeat offenders. So far they\'d already received requests for pets and fledglings, new werewolves and so forth. Halen usually reviewed the reports by his Oligarchs, his time too valuable to bother with normal maintenance.
 
This was different though, this was a name that Lazarus himself had talked to Halen about. It was not in the same context as the charges the vampire in question was facing now, but Lazarus and Halen had a long talk about a number of things, and Kerr had been a name the blonde had remembered. After coming to a decision that Lazarus would not inflict the Oligarchy with any rule-breaking behaviour, he was released.
 
It was interesting, how this city cycled around itself. Now he had one of the blonde vampire\'s worshippers (or so Lazarus had put it) coming before him on charges that were serious indeed. If he was anything like the vampire that had taken over the city last year, then he would have to be punished with severity.
 
Shiroan, the Oligarchy\'s Enforcer, showed Kerr in as per Halen\'s instruction. He\'d wanted to question them each in turn. He\'d sent out a message to Declan - the vampire Oligarchy - but he hadn\'t arrived yet. He continued regardless, knowing that Declan was smart enough to catch up with events on his own.
 
"Give me your full name," Halen demanded from his position at the head of the giant circular white marble boardroom table. There was only Kerr and Halen in the room, for Shiroan had gone to collect the last element of this hearing.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr was suddenly glad that he\'d chosen to wear the Nehru suit tonight, considering the formality of the room - hell, the entire establishment - he\'d been shown into.  His outfit befit a hearing, which both pleased and horrified him.  The whole succession of events had become surreal, starting at the moment he\'d learned that he\'d been lied to about taking his companion to her home; he needed to be far less trusting and a lot more cautious.  Obviously.  Fuck.

Passing through the cavernous foyer and being ushered into an elevator (he\'d watched in surprise as the buttons below ground floor lit up) had been a blur, the forced separation from Mandy as she was instructed to sit in a waiting seat outside the conference room panic-inducing.  He doubted anything bad would befall her, though.  He wondered if wiping her memories of his revelation would be necessary and he hoped desperately not.  If he could keep one thing between them, it would be the honesty he\'d given.

He opened his mouth to answer the calmly-demeanoured gentleman at the end of the unique table and found his voice had deserted him.  Grasping his hands contritely behind his back, he lowered his head and closed his eyes briefly, in an effort to regain his composure.  After a moment (and a firm clearing of the throat), he looked straight into the other man\'s hazel eyes.  The scent of him was unnatural, even from this far away, but this was not what was foremost on Kerr\'s mind; pleasing him was.

"Kerr Donahue Galvin," he answered gravely.

[Trillian]

Halen was leaning back in his chair, also dressed for the occassion, though he was in a sedate grey pinstriped business suit with bright orange tie which brought out the orange from his blazing eyes. A tiny smile played the corners of his lips, but it was not a kind smile.
 
"Kerr Galvin," he began, "you\'ve been brought before me to answer to the charges laid against you." A flat buff coloured folder that had been lying absently on the table was now pulled over before Halen, and he stroked it with his fingers before opening it and looking over the typed report.
 
"Failure to seek permission to reveal your supernatural nature to mortal, Ben Samson. Failure to seek permission to reveal your supernatural nature to mortal, Mandy Lynn. Failure to seek approval by the Oligarchy to acquire a mortal pet, Ben Samson." He now looked up at Kerr with something akin to genuine amusement. "You\'ve been very busy. How do you respond to these charges?"

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr blinked a few times, composing his answers before speaking, unaware of exactly what sort of penalty was hanging in the balance and too afraid to ask, lest he be deemed offensive. He would need to concentrate first on the charges, despite his desire to argue vehemently that it was all bullshit. One phrase in particular echoed; mortal pet.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?  Ben\'s not a pet, he\'s a friend.

He hadn\'t even known Ben\'s last name (which embarrassed him even more), but his presence was far more significant than that of something owned. Kerr also wanted to know just how the Oligarchy had found out about his exploits during the most active week of his life in the city so far - and also that containing his biggest mistake. It occurred to him that Sawyl may have something to do with this situation, but he pushed the thought aside in order to concentrate on his answers.

"On the charge of failing to seek permission to reveal my nature to Mandy, I plead guilty. I deny that Ben is a pet and propose guilt by proxy in the matter of my revelation to him; circumstances declared my nature. I was enjoying a solitary drink when he approached me at Risk. He... entered, knowing that it was a vampire establishment - his roommate had told him about it. Sir," he finished stiltedly, knowing that he probably shouldn\'t be arguing but determined to present his view.

[Trillian]

Halen listened as Kerr carefully rebutted one of the charges whilst pleading guilty to the other.
 
"I\'ve been informed that Ben is a hobby researcher," Halen said, and looked down at the report before him again. "Apparently it is widely known among the Protected Risk mortals that Ben is fascinated with vampire \'stories\'. What is the nature of the information you\'ve been imparting him?"
 
Halen\'s stare was steady, expressionless, practised.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s chin lifted proudly, despite feeling the urge to buckle beneath the weight of that gaze.

"The only stories I have the right to give; mine.  My history and the history of those in my care.  My family\'s.  He enjoys the tales and I enjoy the telling - I\'ve shared them with no-one before this week."

[Trillian]

Halen smirked.  "So you\'ve told him about your life, and nothing of a vampire\'s powers and abilities?  He\'s ignorant to what strengths and weaknesses they have?  You\'ve neither confirmed nor denied questions asked by him of you about your species?"  He shook his head.  "I find that hard to believe of a recognised researcher.  I\'ve not met him, but all those that have define him by his committment to the discovery of vampire history."

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire blinked, slightly confused and desperately trying to recall every word he\'d said to Ben thus far. He thought there was only a single incriminating detail among it... at this stage.

"Well... I don\'t know the vampire history.  Only mine.  The one thing I might have told him which could be construed as a revelation about vampire abilities, is to warn him against... well, to tell him that my beloved Sawyl has powerful mental abilities and that he sh-should be wary of angering him. I didn\'t elaborate- well, actually I did tell him that Sawyl could overpower all but an Ancient, including me, but that was the extent of it, from memory. Sir," he finished with a frown, upset by his own inability to present his case succinctly. He was too addled to be certain, but he thought that was everything.

He prayed that there wasn\'t anything written on those papers that would prove him a liar.

[Trillian]

Halen stared at him for a very long time after this revelation came.
 
"For what reason did you not seek Oligarchy permission to acquire Ben as a pet?"
 
It appeared that Halen had moved on from information gathering to Kerr\'s next crime, taking Ben in.

[Existentially Odd]

"I... didn\'t... he\'s not a pet," Kerr objected forcefully, "he\'s just a friend. Now. Initially he was just an acquaintance. I strongly disagree he should be classified as anything close to a pet - I find the term offensive and I\'m sure he would, too. As for requesting approval for our relationship, I wasn\'t aware that I needed permission to make a friend," he finished bitterly.

The fact was, he wasn\'t aware of any of the Oligarchy\'s rules, but he was fairly certain that this detail had not escaped the man before him and he was merely being tortured by having to admit to it on every charge. It was sadistic, but he expected no less from a ruling body intent on making its point soundly to someone who had defied them; in ignorance or otherwise.

[Trillian]

"In layman\'s terms, the definition of mortal pet to a vampire is as a recurring blood donor," Halen explained.  "Due to the nature of your relationship, we shall classify him as a pet.  Unless," Halen looked at Kerr steadily.  "Unless you deny that you feed from him and that the nature of your relationship is storytelling alone?"
 
Halen\'s eyes were hungry now.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s jaw set stubbornly and he took a few moments to glare at the other, but was forced to concede the point.

"I feed from him," he admitted through clenched teeth.  "Three times exactly.  Does that qualify as recurring?"

[Trillian]

Halen wasn\'t oblivious to Kerr\'s rapidly angering state, but he wasn\'t perturbed by it either.
 
"That it does," he said, and looked down at the papers in the buff folder, shifting over a page and reading over it briefly before asking his next question, without even looking up.  "Have you put thought into siring either Mandy Lynn or Ben Samson?"

[Existentially Odd]

"No," he answered truthfully. "I won\'t do it. Ben would like it, I believe - he\'s said as much - but Mandy hasn\'t had time enough to process the fact that I\'m immortal to even bring the subject up," he said, his look pointed. He knew that the waspish comment would no doubt wash over the other supernatural like so much water off a duck\'s back, but he needed to to say it anyway. The rapidity of the events that had led to this hearing still had his head spinning. "She probably will; she\'s the type to believe that we\'re destined to... uh... be together forever. Emotion-driven. But I won\'t do it."

His lips pressed together stiffly after he finished speaking, his gaze sliding above the other\'s head, to the wall behind him. It was obvious that this was a subject he was not willing to expand on.

[Trillian]

Halen looked up at the insistence Kerr gave that he simply would not sire Ben, the look becoming measured as Kerr repeated the statement about Mandy.
 
He looked back down at the paper.
 
"How long have you known Ben and Mandy?" he mused, looking at the first dates Kerr had been spotted and unsure whether they were the first times Kerr and his crimes had come into contact with one another.