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According to the silver watch adorning his wrist, the hour was half past two. A hearty lunch prior to his first day at work gave Redeta all the confidence he needed to succeed. Of course, he was notorious for his ego (even without the meal.) Always the top of his class and always the best at what he did, the term 'perfectionist' had never done him justice.

The things he accomplished through hard work were all masked by an arrogant attitude that belied his steadfast determination. Redeta had no reason to act in such a manner, other than perhaps he had a twisted sense of humor. At least, that was what he told everyone, and no one had thought to object to this line of reasoning so far. Thus Redeta was a cocky b*****d and few bothered to put up with him.

Redeta Hawthorne arrived at the office upon his own two feet. The job location was close enough so that there was no need for gas-guzzling transportation. He hummed to himself and strode up to the doors. Knocking just twice, Redeta opened the door and slipped inside. "Am I late? I did try my best to arrive on time. A faint chuckle escaped his lips soon after his words.

He was enamored by the elegant decor of his employer's office, obviously impressed but unwilling to say that out loud. Redeta only gave praise where and when he believed it to be due. As per his policy, compliments were reserved for those who went above and beyond. Even then, Redeta rarely commended a stranger - especially within a professional setting.

---------i'll run [ you ] dry
------with passionate l.i.e.s.
-------------. . . that make MEN cry

CHASE

A man with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes made his way from his bedroom into the kitchen while tugging a shirt over his head. Reaching up and flicking his still damp hair from his eyes Chase glanced around the room and immediately noticed the two other occupants. Sloan,his room mate,stood at the stove cooking up God knows what while whistling some kind of random tune. The other occupant was a young boy that had chocolate brown hair that was usually kept restrained in a low ponytail,but at the moment was allowed to flow freely just past his shoulders. His own pair of emerald green eyes,the only thing that suggested the two boys to be related, were curiously watching the blonde's movements as he prepared some food for lunch.

"Well I'm out of here. Don't know when I'll be back." "Where are you going?" Cody demanded from his seat on the kitchen counter,just now noticing his elder brother. "I have to go into work today for some kind of meeting,so behave yourself,I gave Sloan my permission to beat you. You don't mind looking out for him right?" Said blonde just shook his head. "Don't you worry about it,I'll take good care of him." He responded happily as he sent Cody a sly gaze and a wink. Cody didn't appreciate the gesture and sent his brother a scathing look. "I don't need a babysitter." "No,you need a muzzle and a shock collar. Just do what your told for once in your life will you?" Cody snorted while muttering "Your one to talk" as he watched his older brother walk toward the door. As a last thought he jumped from the counter and ran after him.

"Can't I come with you?" "No." Letting out a huff Cody narrowed his eyes at his brother who he noticed was ignoring him. "I used to come and hang out at your old job." "That was different." When Cody had first come to live with them he had tried to run away countless times,so in order to keep an eye on him Sloan and Chase would take him a long to gigs that their band played at. "This club isn't like the old ones we used to go to. You need a membership to get in and its only for certain kinds of people." "Fine! I don't want to hang out with you anyway!" Chase rolled his eyes as his younger brother folded his arms and turned his face away from him in a stubborn pout. "If your good for Sloan I'll take you for a ride later." Cody instantly perked up at the bribe. He loved going for rides on Chase's bike,though he'd never admit to it. "I'll think about it." "Whatever." Grabbing his helmet and giving his brother's long hair a playful tug,Chase walked outside and locked the door behind him. 'I swear that kid is going to kill me,or put me in a mental hospital,whichever comes first.'

It wasn't long before he found himself outside the club and slowly dismounted his bike. Yanking off his helmet he studied the place with interest. It was big,a lot bigger than he had expected,but he found it to his liking. Leaving his helmet hanging on the back of his seat he began walking toward the front doors. Entering the building he made his way to the office where he was told the meeting would take place. As he made his way through the hallways he glanced around at various things that caught his eye,but didn't bother to inspect anything up close. There would be time to explore the place later,right now all he wanted to do was get the paper work aspect of starting the job out of the way. Reaching a pair of wooden doors Chase didn't bother to knock and simply pushed them open,they should be expecting him after all. Walking into the office he simply muttered out "I'm here" and wondered if he was on time. Seeing as there were only two other people in the room Chase determined he was slightly early. 'There's a first.'

ɲathan__________________________________

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To their credit, the other employees arrived before the arranged meeting time, all entering a little awkward and uncomfortable in Li Wen's office - as expected. He remembered when Li Wen first took him here, and he was more than just intimidated by his office then. After having successfully rescued the contracts from the tsunami of work on Li Wen's desk, Gabriel scanned the people present, as he slipped a copy of the contract into each of their files, an amused smile gracing his lips at the insult directed towards the decoration of Li Wen's office. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," he said gently, though Li Wen would be displeased if he were to hear that. Thankfully, the owner of Midnight Reverie was nowhere to be seen, for now. The man who had spoken, Tanay, seemed to feel rather out of place with the office, but recovered fast enough. "However, i do hope that you would refrain from saying that before Damien... he does take pride in his office and work, you know," he added slowly as an after thought, grey eyes twinkling.

The employees had more or less all arrived by then, and Gabriel handed out their own files to them all, each with a copy of the contract in them and personal details. "Welcome to Midnight Reverie, we're glad that you all have decided to take up on the job we've offered you. Basically, today, we're here to, uhm. Sign the contracts," he said brightly, extremely straight to the point. "Do please check if your personal details are accurate, and inform me of any changes in the future. I'm Gabriel, pleased to meet you, and will be the one in charge of you all, so nice to meet you all, indeed. I hope your punctuality for today will continue throughout your time working here, because not only are you all not late, but you're early."

Distracted then by the latest arrival of Hisoka, Gabriel beckoned him over, taking out his file from between the two who weren't here yet. "Yes, this is Damien's office, and do call him Damien or Mr Wang... he'll tell you what he prefers, but not Li Wen." With that, Gabriel's eyes flashed with a hint of what seemed to be possessiveness and a slight annoyance that accompanied it, though the young man never thought himself to be possessive of his lover, but actions speak louder than words, which unfortunately Gabriel never realized he had been doing. "Everything else is explained in the contract - you'll be provided with accommodation and food here, too. The chefs make good food, too." Gabriel took a while to think about dessert with a dreamy expression - he did so like chocolate cake - before pulling himself back down to earth - to work. "If you want any other arrangements, you will have to tell me, and Li Wen will have the last decision."

"Your job here is fairly simple - as we are a club, all your work here is to make our patrons happy. So basically, you know, like hosts. Sometimes we do other ad hoc jobs around, but that's our main work. So don't really have to do anything, just some simple interaction, and just to keep them happy. That's my job too, other than just looking after you all. So... no questions, i hope?"

With that, Gabriel handed them all pens he took from Li Wen's desk, and proceeded to wonder where Li Wen himself could be, biting his bottom lip nervously, for the man was seldom out in the day, and was such a workaholic to the point one might just find him sleeping in the office, as well as where the other two employees would be. Though, as they would be staying here, punctuality wouldn't be that much of a problem. From what he saw today, he supposed that he would come to like this batch very much. Very much indeed.

James woke up early. He had always needed to wake earlier than most people. It took long showers to wash his beautiful, long hair. He looked at the unopened pack of new razorblades he had purchased the day he had received the letter. He had not cut since that day to avoid having any stains on his white button-up shirt.

"If all goes well today I might not even need you tonight." James said in his Irish accent to the package. He had brought it with him in case it didn't go well and he would have to go back home.

The motel room was small but that was all James could afford at this point just surviving on the wages paid by the government for having a dead mother, but even those checks would stop coming as soon as his next birthday passed. He needed this job. He called up to the front desk and asked them for bring more shampoo bottles. The one tiny bottle that they supplied was not enough. It took them longer to get it there than he had expected but the delay could easily be fixed by skipping breakfast. He showered and stared at his naked form in the mirror. 'Back home I had looked pale,' James thought to himself, 'but compared to the people who live here, I seem ghostly!'

James picked his whitest shirt out of the closet and put it on. He then walked over to the dresser where he had packed his clothes. 'Jeans aren't normally professional looking at an interview, but when they're as white as these ones, most people don't realize that they're jeans,' James smiled as he thought this. Brushing his hair was the next part of his routine. This is what took the longest out his daily schedule which is why he saved it for last. Today, however, he needed to apply a new coat of fingernail polish. After brushing and pulling back his hair, he painted his fingernails his favorite dark purple. As he headed out the door James placed the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on his door.

The weather was dry which meant the morning dew had yet to form. Walking was his main way of getting around, and that was how he was getting to the interview. He had calculated the distance to the conference building and the time it would take to get there. The walk was going to be a few hours.

*~*~*

Upon arrival James found a receptionist and began to ask, "Excuse me. I'm here for a job interview-"

"It's down this hall, up the stairs to the left. You can't miss it from there, it's the one with the Chinese knockers." He cut of James with a scowl. 'Apparently,' James thought as he walked, 'the receptionist had heard the question several times before.'

James arrived in the room at the exact time that was appointed in the letter to find the room was full of other people. Before entering the room he removed his shoes, there was a Chinese theme after all and that was traditional. The red carpet was a slightly lighter color than his hair and it made him feel that he blended in better.

'I hope that all these people don't make it harder for me to get the job.' James thought grimly reflecting back on the razors waiting for him back at the motel.

Sometimes if you love someone so much,
it will actually hurt more.

The vampire's morning and afternoon thus far had not been pleasant. First, there had apparently been some kind of system fault, causing the automated fridges to order more food then necessary, and when the grocer delivered a truck of food to the door, he had been woken up to deal with it by one of the junior chefs.

After getting rid of the food, he was about to go back to sleep when the head chef entered from the employees' quarters to ask about the delivery. Apparently, the head chef had decided to replace the menu last minute, and had ordered accordingly, but had forgotten to tell the junior chefs.

Needless to say, the vampire was not amused.

The team of designers and contractors that he had hired to help decorate the ballroom for tonight's Annual Ball had delivered the wrong items, and those that they got right were of the wrong size after a week or two of "adjustments".

And that was precisely why the vampire was making his way to his office.

He needed to get the plans, and to get the items rectified in time for the ball, and it was a superhuman feat that even he was not sure could actually be pulled off in time.

The vampire pulled his long hair back and tied it with a dark blue ribbon. He glanced at a mirror on the way there, knowing that the new employees where already in his office, and not wanting them to see their new employer frazzled, and getting the wrong idea because of it.

"Frazzled" was a word not supposed to exist in Midnight Reverie. If there was anything the club excelled in, it was in Perfection. Everything was done right, at the right time, in the right way. There was no margin for error, for all the human employees were literally seconds away from death if they offended one of the members.

He saw in his reflection a tall, vaguely Chinese man, elegant, dressed in a crisp white shirt, deliberately left untucked, and blue designer jeans, and black ankle height boots. He did not look stressed, or angry, or worse, sloppy.

That was the way it was supposed to be. Centuries of turbulence, warfare and travels had a marvelous way of teaching anyone composure. He smiled slightly and went on his way, grabbing one of his secretaries, the one responsible for planning, or rather, implementing Li Wen's plans, for the Annual Ball, and literally dragged him, sending the man stumbling after the light footed vampire in an ungainly way.

"I told you the curtains were to be dark red this year, velvet, and from ceiling to floor, not window to floor. The menus need to be reprinted, with embossed silver lettering on black paper, because Chef Lacroix has decided to change the menu to better suit the theme. The table cloth is to be made of silk, black silk, with silver trimming. The chairs were supposed to be re-upholstered to blood red. The new employees have to be in black and red. Of all these items, none have been done. Tell me, Jason, when is the Ball again?" The vampire said cheerfully, although his red eyes were steely.

The secretary stuttered his excuses, and the vampire paid no attention as he dragged the poor man into his office and all the way down the long red carpeted pathway. There was a way to make an entrance, and then there was the way to make an entrance.

The vampire leaned against his desk casually, releasing the secretary who tried valiantly to regain as much of his dignity as possible. He then picked up a stack of papers and riffled through them, passing the various relevant documents to the secretary and saying, "We really don't have much time, Jason. Get all of these settled, then go and pass it all to the new accountant to get the bills all tallied up, before getting the final sum to me."

As Jason scurried off, harassed, the vampire turned to the new employees and smiled, "Welcome to Midnight Reverie. We're a very easy going establishment. We give you a box, you may roam in it. Step out of the box, and we're not responsible for what happens. It's in your contracts. Section 2A. 1.1.7. The Club is not responsible for any consequences an employee may face for not complying with the rules."

"I hope you enjoy your time here. In any case, it's only a year."