New York, New York

[Trillian]

The question made him look over at the vampire at his side once more, and the glass slowly lowered back onto the table, most of the blood within already gone.  This time he did lick his lips, though he pulled them in first to do so, running his tongue across them to clean up any blood that might be staining them, out of sight of Sotiris (whose name he did not yet know).  When Ben released his lips he spoke again; another one word response to a question put to him.

"Daniel," he said, unsure whether he was breaking some sort of taboo by mentioning who\'d referred him, and if the mortal was going to be in trouble for talking about it.  Daniel had seemed rather free and easy with his information however, and it wasn\'t like Ben was a groupie here - he needed a place like this club, and with the free glass of blood, it seemed they liked to welcome newcomers.

Ben continued to look at the club owner now, expecting more questions, or maybe an invitation to leave the club right now and never come back again.  Ben couldn\'t properly read the other\'s signals.  He\'d never been able to deduce what confident men would want with him, until they came right out and said it.  His expression belied his thoughts - he was wary.

[Existentially Odd]

"Ah," the ancient breathed, getting his answer (and slightly disappointed by it).  He thought he knew the person of whom the newcomer spoke - he knew enough to pinpoint the name as belonging to a mortal, not a vampire, anyway, and that was all he\'d really been after.  If the new boy was already known to another club vampire... well, Sotiris was interested in having first dip into the well, so to speak, and seconds weren\'t his thing.

He unclasped his hands and unfurled himself around Ben, laying his right arm along the back of the booth and lifting his left hand in a position to be shaken, in front of the youngling.  His chest was pressed lightly against Ben\'s upper left arm, pointedly making contact before their hands touched.  "I am Sotiris," he announced, his tongue rolling prettily around his boldly-spoken name, looking expectantly down his Grecian nose at the other.  "I run this club.  And you are?"

[Trillian]

Being that he was offered a left hand for the shaking, he had to reciprocate in kind.  Moving away slightly so he could retrieve his arm from being pressed between himself and Sotiris, Ben grasped as confidently and firmly as he could, though it wasn\'t in him to squeeze hard in some kind of power struggle.  He was conscious of not wanting to shake hands limply, not wanting his feeling of inferiority to translate to the elder vampire.
 
"Ben," he said, self-conscious about his common name for the first time.  He\'d met so many vampires and heard of others with ethnic or interesting names; Kerr, Declan, Lazarus, Arles.  Now there was Sotiris.  Here he was, Ben, modern vampire, boring youngling.  Why was he even being spoken to?  Was it normal for the owner to meet all the potential vampiric regulars in this club?  Perhaps so.  He couldn\'t think of any other reason why.  He smiled a nervous smile after shaking Sotiris\' hand and then attempted to be released, so he could hold his almost-empty glass with both hands, to get what little warmth from it there was left.  "I\'m... new to New York."

New to New York? God, sometimes he felt like such a dick.

[Existentially Odd]

Sotiris smirked - because he\'d deliberately positioned them so that Ben would have to wriggle against him to get his hand out for the shaking and also because of that quaint little comment.

"Of course you\'re new," he murmured, not releasing the hand once it was shaken; instead, he turned it over and flattened his own hand so that Ben\'s was atop his, palm to palm, and he could look contemplatively down at it.

"Otherwise, you wouldn\'t have that vaguely stage-struck look about you that all immigrants to the nest have and I wouldn\'t find you half as interesting as I do.  And I do... find you interesting... Ben," he admitted jiltedly, lifting his gaze on the speaking of that final, personal word to look into the youngling\'s beautiful eyes.

As he spoke, his hand was not dormant beneath Ben\'s; rather, it stroked gently, the ancient\'s fingers testing the dips pressing between rigid, nervous fingers in attempt to sidle in and clasp playfully.

[Trillian]

Ben stared at the way his hand was handled, before his gaze eventually drifted back to look at Sotiris directly, making eye contant once more when the other spoke in a way that sounded quite flirty.  But no, he couldn\'t possibly be interested in some insignificant newcomer, could he?

"Interesting because I\'m agog with wonder?" Ben asked, not intending for the comment to be sarcastic, but it ended up sounding a bit that way even though it was softly spoken.  He immediately wanted to apologise, and he shook his head ever so slightly but stopped more words from coming out, lest he look like a bumbling idiot to go with his star-struck noob-ness.

He found himself staring at Sotiris in a way that befit his words.  Yes, he was star-struck alright, but he didn\'t want to be, and he was very conscious of every nuance his expression gave.

[Existentially Odd]

Sotiris tilted his head as he gave the question serious consideration, his hand sneaking up so that his fingertips could play lightly across the inside of Ben\'s wrist in between his strokes of the rest of his hand.

"Yeeeees," the Greek agreed, dragging the word out simply because he was tasting the phrasing for his amendments to the agreement, and he wanted to say it in just the right way.  He got the impression that if he was flippant with Ben, he would lose ground - and, possibly, his quarry altogether - rapidly.

"But you are not, I think, nervous for the usual reasons that others might be.  Not - for instance - because I run the club and because I have connections that would make your head spin, but... for other reasons.  Purer reasons, I think, yes?" he hinted, wanting Ben to tell him that he was agog because Sotiris was ancient and beautiful, not because of what he did.  Everyone was awed by what he was, he believed that Ben was different... and he was enervated by the hint of this change.

Certainly, he recognised that it was arrogant to have a discussion about him and his interest in someone, but it was a means to a very appealing end and he only hoped the youngling would overlook his ego, rather than be swamped by it.  He seemed the level-headed type.  Sotiris trusted that feeling already.

[Trillian]

Ben thought about his answer, while trying to recover from the dry-mouth feeling he was getting from being touched so intimately by Sotiris.  It was just his hand, just his wrist, it wasn\'t anything that he could pull away from (or anything that he wanted to pull away from, considering the nice tingles he was getting up and down his spine from it) without looking overly prudish.

Purer reasons, he\'d said.  What was purer than owning the club and having a wide network?  The blood connection of course - even though they weren\'t connected in that sense, there was always a vampiric sense between their species.  He could feel the other\'s presence, not because of who he knew but because of who he was.  Age, wisdom and experience, rolled up in a beautiful and youthful package.  Yes, Ben was stage-struck, but he also wondered if he was being caught up in some lovely play where his part was usually filled by someone new every night.

He frowned and opposed Sotiris\' viewpoint, because he wasn\'t nervous because he was being talked to by an Ancient.  Well, not entirely so.

"I\'m nervous because it\'s smart to be nervous," he said, his words coming out a great deal smoother than his thoughts, which were jagged and disassembled in his head.  Still, he knew the gist of what he intended to say, and finished his intention.  "I\'m new, I\'m young and so I\'m prone."

I can get into a lot of trouble, he thought, but didn\'t send.  You look like trouble.  Nice trouble, but trouble all the same.

[Existentially Odd]

Sotiris tilted his head back and laughed, his Adam\'s apple bobbing merrily in his throat as the rich, appreciative sound welled out of him.  He released Ben\'s hand in the process, letting his own drop to the table directly beneath so that it would be a natural move for Ben to let his fall down also - or an unnatural move, where he moved his hand elsewhere.

When he looked at the blonde again, his eyes were twinkling his appreciation and his smile revealed slight dimples in his beautifully-sculpted cheeks.  "I don\'t believe you\'re prone, Ben," he grinned, his tongue poking out to slide along his lower lip - stopping along the way to prod thoughtfully while he cast a quick and obvious glance downwards at the youngling\'s seated position, "not yet, anyway."  His tongue disappeared and his smile became charmingly lopsided as he stared frankly at the fair vampire.

[Trillian]

The laugh caught him by surprise, to the point that his eyes widened a little when Sotiris released his amusement and he withdrew his hand into his lap.  He waited it out, not feeling the polite urge to smile as he usually did when others laughed around him.  Perhaps it was because he felt like he was the butt of the joke, but then when Sotiris continued by telling him he didn\'t think he was prone, a small smile began to form at the compliment before it dropped completely at a line that could only be considered a pick up line to the n\'th degree.

Embarrassed at something so forthright, his lips parted slightly and his gaze fixed on the glass in front of him with now cooling blood.  He wanted to say something witty, or blase, but didn\'t have it in him.  There was a part of him that was thrilled and flattered, and another part of him that was horrified.  After a long pause, when he believed that Sotiris wasn\'t going to say something immediately, he found his voice, though it was soft and shy.

"I\'d like to think I\'m the first one to hear such a thing, but I\'d guess I\'d be wrong."

It was a double-edge comment, revealing his positive reaction to the flattery (without meaning to), while implying Sotiris wasn\'t after anything special in him.  Just something new.

[Existentially Odd]

The ancient\'s firm, pale hand raised off the table once more and cupped Ben\'s chin with surprising gentleness, turning his face so that it was obvious he wished the youngling\'s gaze to follow.  His cheerful grin had faded now, replaced by a more sombre one, the corners of his pouty mouth only slightly upturned and his expression serious.

"And I credit you with enough intelligence to realise that I\'m too old to pretend I haven\'t said every word in the language many times over - especially the ones that get beautiful boys like you to my bed - and also too old to care that you might be horrified by such honesty.  If you are... so be it.  But, in the spirit of honesty, I can say that you are the first one to hear such a thing in many months because you are the first who seems capable of having a real conversation - one where you say things that interest and educate me.  And I am as interested in what you have to say as I am in what you would look like prone... on my sheets, I promise you."

The former twinkle was restored as he ended his little speech, Sotiris unable to keep the flirtation from his voice as he hinted at only the tamest image of Ben he was testing in his head.  He released Ben\'s chin in order to skim his cheek with the back of his knuckles, looking secretively desirous as his arm then fell to the flat of the table, his hand dangling over the edge and his fingers lightly brushing Ben\'s sleeve.  It seemed he could not resist having some contact with the boy, even if he was about to be sent packing for his arrogance (there was a first time for everything and if anyone could do such a thing, he believed it of Ben).

[Trillian]

His face turned, and not fighting the motion, Ben\'s gaze went to where Sotiris was wanting it.  More tingles travelled along his spine as the other vampire spoke to him so flatly.  Blunt it was, but it was seductive in its own right.  Ben was charmed not only by Sotiris\' charisma, but because he could be seduced by a beautiful face and an attractive body much like the rest of the young men in this club.  Most of the time he didn\'t act on his impulses, and he was proud of this fact, but this time he was wanting the attention.  This wasn\'t about a groupie after a high, or about a sire who had a history with him that he didn\'t remember.  This was about him and the most shallow of compliments - his looks.  Let\'s face it, Sotiris didn\'t know him, not really, though perhaps Ben had intrigued him more than the rest - there was still the fact that Sotiris had joined him not just because he was new, but because he wanted to have him in bed.  Crass, but flattering all the same.

"I don\'t normally..." he began, but didn\'t know where to take the rest of that sentence because he didn\'t want Sotiris to think he was being dismissive.  It was enough on its own, really, that short sentence.  He didn\'t normally.  He didn\'t normally allow himself to be seduced with a few pretty words.  He didn\'t normally feel the urge to have a one night stand with a complete stranger.  He didn\'t normally find himself attracted immediately to others.  He didn\'t normally let himself loosen up and act like he was free.  But that was what he was now, right?  Free.  What did such a thing mean anyway?

"Is this how you spend eternity?" he asked curiously, not realising that such a thing could be interpreted as rude.

[Existentially Odd]

Taking Ben\'s response in a positive way (for he wasn\'t ignorant to the growing tension between them, the contemplative light that had entered the youngling\'s eyes as the flattery was well received and he took that next step... the one where he actually began to think about he and Sotiris together), the ancient sat back to answer this question. It wasn\'t that he didn\'t enjoy being curled around Ben - he left his arm along the back of the curved booth behind him anyway - it was just that he felt it was time for a little reciprocation.
 
Carefully, he folded his left leg over his right beneath the table (it came to rest against Ben\'s, naturally) and toyed with the crease in his pants with his left hand, watching the action as he waited to see if the fairer vampire would shift comfortably back against him as he hoped, or would take the opportunity to slide around the booth so that he could get a better look at him. He rather liked the dangerous feeling the thought was arousing in him; knowing the boy could go either way was deliciously agonising and he was already thinking of his next move for both alternatives.
 
"Well, it\'s one of the ways, I suppose," he told his left thigh ruminatively, "though I haven\'t got through eternity yet, and have given up hope of even calculating my way to it." He lifted his gaze and smiled up at Ben, his head still slightly dipped as he looked up through his thick, curly eyelashes, his demeanour somewhat melancholy as this line of conversation was pursued. Not many ever bothered to ask him about his existence and the events in it, let alone ponder the nature of it, and he found it a refreshing change (also, a nice ego boost) to have the topic focussed on him.
 
"So far, I\'ve had quite an eventful ride and have found that the human condition of \'just getting by\' is closely related to the vampire condition of \'living in the moment\', with one vast difference; one who is wont to live forever does not become the sum total of their parts nor of their deeds, when they have the Godlike ability to reinvent themselves at the end of every cycle. Mortals die at such a point; kindred will absorb what has been and look for what is possibly next. Like history, we only recognise the greatest of times by looking back and comparing them to other \'great\' times; so what of the notion that enjoying oneself fully in any time is the way to do it? You may fnd yourself a pivot or at a turning point that you will, only in the future, recognise for its wondrousness."
 
He blinked while he waited for that to be absorbed by Ben, and then the left corner of his mouth lifted again, his smile gentle and seductive (as was the very deliberate manouevre of him not looking at Ben\'s eyes while he spoke now, but his lips). "Take you, here, tonight, for instance," he murmured. "You intrigue me, I\'m attracted to you and so I sit with you to make a connection. Who is to say where that connection will take us in the future, whether it will affect the role I play now - as proprietor of this club - or not? Since it is an offshoot moment, I doubt very much if it will have any great effect on the magnitude of what I am, but you never really know... and so that is how I spend eternity. Seeking the greatness of every moment, enjoying it while it happens and hoping it might at least give me cause to smile when I am able to look back upon it, even if it is not to be a great or revolutionary thing that will make a substantial ripple in the pool of time. So few things are new and great anymore," he finished wistfully.
 
His gaze had lifted occasionally to Ben\'s eyes during his speech, but it ended as it began; on his lips.

[Trillian]

Ben had moved away slightly, turning in the booth so that he could face Sotiris directly.  The movement was the most natural to him, for tucking himself against a stranger (no matter how attractive) was far too bold a motion for him to make, regardless of the invitation - unspoken or not.

Ben listened intently, fascinated with the words that Sotiris used and the vast meaning behind it.  Without the history of his own siring and existence in his memory (save for the very odd vision of his siring through Kerr\'s eyes, who\'d shared that memory with him, making it bittersweet because it hadn\'t been his own experience),  he was still fascinated with every vampiric tale because he didn\'t have anything of his own to draw from.  By all rights, he was still a fledgling, but with advanced age and powers (if three years could be considered advanced).

He was smiling, he could feel it on his face and the excitement in his tummy.  When Sotiris finished speaking and it was obvious where his gaze had settled, Ben began to feel self-conscious about his smile and so it gradually dropped.  This time, in his nervousness, he forgot to contain the wetting of his lips and so he did this, only aware of it afterward and lifted a hand to touch them, half hiding them beneath his fingertips.

At his core, he was brave enough to let Sotiris do as he wanted, though above that, in layers, he wanted to shelter himself from such overwhelming attention mingled with insecurity.  One like Sotiris would have had many lovers, much experience, and Ben didn\'t want to pitch himself against that.  He didn\'t want to worry about feeling inadequate.  Or worse, be considered in that way.  He was intimidated, yes, but he knew himself well enough that should he start something up with Sotiris, usually he could lose himself in the moment and not worry while in the middle of things.

Damn, he was imagining it.  It was getting harder to say no.  It was getting harder to say anything at all, actually.

[Existentially Odd]

"Why do you do that?" Sotiris enquired innocently, tilting his head as he reached forward and plucked Ben\'s hand away from his lips, so that his vision was no longer shielded.  He held the inadvertent prize gently in his own, lowering it to the booth seat between them, where his fingers and thumb stroked it curiously, while his gaze burned into the younger vampire\'s.
 
"You have a beautiful mouth, such... pink... enticing lips.  Kissable, if I were in a position to say so," he grinned, almost breaking in upon his former, rather dreamy-sounding words with the cheeky revelation.
 
He was in a position to say so, of course - and to do something about it, in fact... except that he had a personal hatred for public kissing and never found himself so caught up in the heat of the moment that he would indulge.  The sight of two people groping one another and madly trying to ram their tongue down the other\'s throat in plain view generally turned his stomach; no, talking about it was fine, the action part could be saved for the privacy of his suite upstairs.
 
"Why hide them from me?  Do you not like that I enjoy looking at you?"  His words were frank and designed to turn up the thermostat on Ben\'s awkwardness, focussing attention on it so that it hopefully went away altogether.  He was betting that the youngling was a fighter when cornered in such a way (and the stakes of such a bet were quite high, admittedly).

[Trillian]

Ben allowed his hand to be taken, and his stomach flip-flopped at the touch, this time a great deal more powerful than the first, which had come after a hand-shake and mostly expected.  Sotiris was very hands on, yet not as intrusive as Ben might\'ve guessed, from the way he was talking and coming onto him so strongly.  Groping touches would\'ve given Ben both the courage and desire to pull away, but the way Sotiris was doing it was both teasing and confronting without being overbearing.

He liked the attention, he knew, for who wouldn\'t like attention from a beautiful man such as Sotiris?  He could have anyone he wanted in this club and he was pursuing Ben, so it was flattering.  At the same time, Ben couldn\'t properly trust the other\'s motives, feeling almost like he was the next prize in line, and so what if he was... he was obviously worthy of being regarded a trophy.

Mixed reactions to Sotiris\' words flitted throughout him, but he didn\'t recover his hand.  To a direct question, he gave a direct answer.

"I like it," he said, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips, "I..." he hesitated, not wanting to say anything overly naive, and struggled to finish his sentence.  It was a long pause before he finished.  "I don\'t expect to be looked at that way."

I\'m nobody special, he thought, perhaps loudly enough for Sotiris to pick up beneath his mental barrier.