一期一会 » MEETING ONCE IN A LIFETIME

[stormbelow]

He didn't stay in the nexus after the encounter left him all tense and anxious, two sensations he'd pretty much been hoping to avoid for at least a little while longer while he got things back to normal. He didn't even bother finishing the rest of his errands; there was no time for that.

Instead, he goes straight back home. The second he sets foot in the house, he senses around for Harvestman's presence, hoping like hell that he won't have to track him down anywhere else.

"John?"

Comments

[fuckvampires]

Harvestman would be fine with that if there wasn't alcohol in it. (There was probably alcohol in it.)

"HQ."

[stormbelow]

There is a lot of alcohol in it.

"No."

Arashi's answer is sharp and immediate. He looks at Harvestman as if this is some kind of joke that's landed not just wide of the mark, but on an entirely different planet. As if he's honestly suggesting they walk directly into a nest of hunters run by the one person that Arashi has specifically asked Harvestman to avoid.

[fuckvampires]

"It's the safest place they have." His voice is gentle, because he knows exactly what Arashi is feeling. If he hadn't been there before, multiple times, his reaction would be the same. "And it ain't what you think. Brisbane's group is a network organization - there's very few people at their HQ at any one time, and I know them all."

[stormbelow]

"Do you trust them all? How much surveillance equipment do they have? How much of that building itself could kill or detain either one of us if for some reason this happens to be a very poorly concealed trap? How many of these people would immediately send a message to Brisbane to let him know that you are there or had been there?"

[fuckvampires]

Harvestman looks away. That should answer all of Arashi's questions.

[stormbelow]

"Once again: no." He throws back the glass and drains the rest of it. "Emphatically no."

[fuckvampires]

"What alternative would you suggest? That he come here?"

[stormbelow]

"No hunters in the house," Arashi says, the same way he might have told Harvestman to get his shoes off the furniture, if that was something he'd ever bothered to say. "There has to be more neutral territory than his headquarters, John. And frankly, he would be safer on this side of the doors than we would be on that one."

[fuckvampires]

"Anywhere that's not hunter territory for me over there is fucked, Arashi. Even going to Chinatown was risky, and someone spotted me while we were doing it. I can't... I can't go back. Someone who fucks hunters is dead walking." He sighs again, running a hand through his hair. "I can ask, Arashi, but you gotta understand. Safety ain't an option for me. It never was."

[stormbelow]

"All of that would be the best reason for you to argue him into meeting us somewhere else." He folds his arms. "Not here in my home, but in the nexus, even, or in this world -- where no one knows who he is, and no one would think to look for him."

[fuckvampires]

"Where here? Not my apartment, not around Brody." He doesn't notice it, the way he puts Brody over himself, even with someone he supposedly trusts.

[stormbelow]

Arashi thinks about it, as he distantly contemplates pouring himself another glass.

"Why not Necropolis?"

[fuckvampires]

"I'm not going back to that place even if you pay me."

Harvestman is still bitter. Just a little.

[stormbelow]

His subsequent eyeroll is only mild. "I think you're being a little dramatic."

[fuckvampires]

"No demons, Arashi. I mean it."

Dramatic is kind of Harvestman's thing.

[stormbelow]

"What about incubi?"

[fuckvampires]

Harvestman's look is decidedly unhappy. "As long as none of them fucking touch me."

[stormbelow]

"Erasmus' strip club has a few private rooms in back that aren't for lapdances et cetera. At least, they aren't explicitly for that. It's not the most innocuous venue, but it would be very safe for all three of us. But, honestly, you could pick anyplace familiar out in the human world and just be subtle about it. You're part of a coven, remember? You have the run of the entire United States."

[fuckvampires]

"I... I don't know where to go," he says lamely.

[stormbelow]

Arashi sighs, and stares at nothing on the counter for a second or two.

"All right. What about a rest house."

[fuckvampires]

Try as he might, there was no objection he could think of against that idea. He obviously tried, though, before sighing. "Fine. I'll see if he can wait a little longer."

[stormbelow]

"I'm sure he's on the edge of his seat," Arashi murmurs, filling up his glass again.

[fuckvampires]

Harvestman gives him a dirty look and considers taking the alcoholic blood away, but maybe Arashi would be less obnoxious while drunk.

(This is clearly wishful thinking.)

"We're going to have to meet him in the Room, or something. He can meet us in twenty minutes."

[stormbelow]

Arashi pauses before drinking, narrowing his eyes. "I thought he was too busy to meet us anywhere but HQ."

[fuckvampires]

"Maybe," Harvestman pauses, stressing every word. "He considers this important enough to work around his schedule. And since you got your shorts all twisted up and he's walking into a vampire's den, he's bringing a friend. I'll vouch for him, by the way. If it makes you feel better."