stormbelow | 一期一会 » MEETING ONCE IN A LIFETIME

Arashi withdraws to Harvestman's side again, but anger is still burning in his eyes; he isn't looking for a reason to get in Gabriel's face, despite all of his annoyance about what happened earlier, but he's not about to let Gabriel call Harvestman a liar and walk out on him.

At least, whatever mysterious reason there is for this Martín person to be here, he's turning out to be very helpful. So Arashi goes silent and once again curls his fingers into the back of Harvestman's chair, just in case he needs to crush something that doesn't belong to someone else in the room.

Silence reigns while Harvestman stares at his hands, Martín glaring at Gabriel while the Hunter seems to be trying to figure out what to do.

"I saw him kill a guy," Harvestman says finally, his voice steady. "His old partner, London." Gabriel starts - the name is obviously familiar. "Told him to kill himself, and the guy did. Just like that. Didn't know he was doing it. Brisbane said he - said he's always been able to do it. He's hidden it, nobody knows. He's losing control, Gabriel, he's getting - he's getting angrier. People are gonna get hurt."

Gabriel sighs, shoulders sagging. "You brought Martín because he has no powers over the dead?"

Harvestman nods.

"Who told you he had no power over the dead?"

"I..." The room, somehow, seems smaller. "He did," Harvestman whispers. "He told me."

Martín mutters something in Spanish. The anger returns to Gabriel's face, but after a moment of searching, it fades. He sighs again. "And you believed him. Christ, you're right. This is fucked."

The sound of ancient wood splintering is just enough to distract Arashi from sudden shock to make him release his grip on the kindling that was once the back of Harvestman's chair. His eyes are wide with a sort of angry disbelief, but it's not just at Harvestman -- it's at himself too, for not thinking to ask that exact same question.

Of course Brisbane told him that. Of course. Arashi had simply taken for granted that Harvestman knew these things for proven fact.

He doesn't say anything. Martín and Gabriel have handled that well enough; Arashi just purses his lips shut and tightens his jaw, and delicately picks a few stray pieces of wood out of his hand.

Harvestman leaps from the chair at the sound, only stopping when he twists around and realizes it's just Arashi. He can't get any paler, but he looks sick. Slowly he wraps his arms around his chest and holds them tight, gaze flickering at the other two.

"This changes a lot," Gabriel says finally. He too had to visibly relax after Arashi destroyed the chair. "And it's going to take priority. I can't - we can't let this keep happening, not if I want to keep the people in my network safe."

"Dude." Martín gestures toward Harvestman, shaking his head.

"...Okay. We should go." Gabriel looks up at Arashi. "I need to take care of this now, if I want to keep my people safe. Can you lead us out of here?"

By way of a response, Arashi goes to the door of the dining room, shuts it, takes a few seconds to twist his skeleton key in the lock, and then opens it again to let them head on through to the nexus on the other side of it. He doesn't even think about it. His mind is very much elsewhere, and whatever they're going to do, he's obviously not going to be a part of it.

And neither is Harvestman, who has already done what he needed to do. Arashi simply gestures through the door for Gabriel and Martín to leave when they please, frowning at nothing -- maybe at the chair splinters, because they're annoying him.

Quietly, they both leave, although Martín touches Harvestman on the arm and slips something into his hand before he follows Gabriel out. Without looking at it, Harvestman sits back down on the ruined chair, head sinking into his hands.

Neither of them look back as the door closes behind them.

For a little while, Arashi doesn't move, just thinking. He keeps coming back to the Brisbane thing, the part about his powers over the undead, whether or not they exist, how they currently have no way of knowing. On the one hand, he's so angry -- not at any one person, just generally pissed off -- that no one thought of this sooner. He's furious that they don't know, and that the advantage that they may have had before, might just be complete bullshit now.

And then there's a very, very small part of him that actually sort of hopes that Brisbane does have those powers, and that it would explain Harvestman's feelings for him, because in some ways that would just be so much better than the thought that Harvestman genuinely cares so much about someone who treats him like this--

--except that there's really nothing better about any of this and Arashi knows that.

Eventually he does move, and it's to circle around the chair and crouch down in front of Harvestman, folding his arms across the vampire's knees and tilting his head carefully up at him.

"You did it."

He stares at Arashi, uncomprehending. He feels like he should be crying, but everything's dry. "Did what?"

"You told Gabriel about Brisbane, you got it out there." He doesn't mention the undead thing, because Harvestman is probably already shaken up enough by that. "That was a big deal."

This doesn't register. His eyes are unfocused and glassy. "You could've gotten hurt. He could have hurt you."

"John. Hey." He reaches up, pats Harvestman's cheek and cups his face. "Don't worry about 'could have'. You did the right thing. Now Gabriel and... whoever else is going to be involved can figure out how to handle this."

Harvestman curls his hand around Arashi's, but the glassy look doesn't go away. "I'm a fucking curse."

"You're not a curse." If Harvestman were anyone else, that would have come out with a lot more venom and profanity, but his tone remains patient and firm. "People aren't curses. I grew up in the 17th century and even I think that's bullshit."

He mostly says it to try and coax anything out of Harvestman that isn't that dead-eyed look, but it's hard to back it up with a smile. He just gives Harvestman's hand a squeeze.

"Want to head home?"

There's a spark flaring in Harvestman's eyes that indicates he's fully prepared to argue, but it dies before he tries. He shakes his head instead, the glassy look fading, but not completely.

"No. It feels like being in a cage sometimes."

Arashi has several things he could say to that, but none of them are particularly nice so he doesn't. He purses his lips, glancing around the room.

"Do you want to sit quietly in here for a while?"

Harvestman knits his fingers together with Arashi's and squeezes back, gently. "Can we go outside?"

"Sure."

He stands up, tugging Harvestman's hand to bring him along as well. Arashi leads the way back upstairs and out of the rest house into the cool night air.

This particular safe zone is well off the beaten path; there's nothing around them but woods, and visible in the distance are the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Through the trees, the lights of a town are visible down in the valley, but they're far off, and there appears to be no easy path to reach it (at least, not for humans). Arashi doesn't say anything, just brings Harvestman to the edge of the wooden porch, their hands still clasped.

It's been a long time since he's been out of a city, excluding Arashi's isolated home. It was dangerous; no buildings to take cover in, much less food to choose from. In his world, it was also a place to encounter supernatural beings less inclined toward cities - those less likely to take kindly to his unnatural self intruding, no matter how unnatural they may be themselves.

He breathes in deeply, sighs, and rests his head against Arashi's shoulder. "Sorry. I know you don't like talking 'bout it."

Arashi bears no particular attachment to this rest house or this area; he'd only wanted someplace where they would all be the least likely to run into anyone else. Not that he was especially worried, but when bringing a Hunter across worlds, it was better to be safe than sorry. He just stands at Harvestman's side and stares distractedly down at the lights far below them, until Harvestman's words make him blink out of it, wondering how they came back around to him already. "Talking about what?"

"You don't like to talk about Brisbane." He curls his fingers along Arashi's palm, tracing the curves of the vampire's cold skin.

"Well, you don't like it when I yell." And when they do talk about Brisbane, sooner or later it always seems to turn to yelling. "Why does it matter?"

"Because I have to talk about it. Because I'll go fucking crazy if I don't." There's a begging tone in Harvestman's voice. His grip on Arashi's hand becomes tighter. "Because I don't know if I can tell what's right and wrong when it comes to... the way he's treated me. Even less now. I don't know, Arashi. Or I can't admit I know."

Arashi listens silently, not returning the squeeze, not looking at Harvestman. It isn't out of anger -- what Harvestman is saying is (perhaps unfortunately) not unreasonable -- but more a sense of dread, and uncomfortable resignation.

"I can't promise not to get angry," he finally answers, tone even despite that sinking sensation. "I hate him for what he's already done to you. But if you really need to talk about it, I think I can at least promise to stay quiet until you're done."

Harvestman remains silent, unable to subject Arashi to it despite the reluctant willingness. He understood why the other vampire reacted like that - he understood, maybe not completely, but well enough.

And yet he has to shatter that silence somehow, if only with a whisper. "If you hit me, I wouldn't leave you."

It is extremely difficult not to react to a statement like that, but Arashi manages to keep it to an abrupt, violent tension in his whole body, and bites his tongue because he did promise that he would stay quiet. He doesn't actually know what to say to that, or rather what he should say. Never once has it even occurred to him to hit Harvestman (although there's been plenty of times where he's wanted to grab him and shake him).

Unfortunately, he knows that it's true; it hasn't been difficult to gather up to this point how Harvestman handles his personal relationships, as well as the conflicts within them. All he can hope is that Harvestman knows he would never do that.

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