twisted little star, darker shining » 嵐

Arashi is not called back by his coven to deal with any further issues; when he does receive updates, he mostly doesn't share them with Harvestman, unless there's a specific reason why Arashi thinks he would be interested. Neither one of them should have to think about it for a while, as far as he's concerned. The world moves on, the Masters do what they need to do. There will be an emergency meeting of the whole Council soon, to discuss what happened in New York, decide if anything else needs to be done. Better minds, and so forth. Arashi turns his phone off most nights, and drapes himself across Harvestman's lap for petting like a spoiled cat.

The Americans themselves continue to rebuild, keeping their headquarters underground but slowly appropriating a small section of Brooklyn by the river. There is, at the time, no specific talks about resurrecting Eternity itself, perhaps in one of the abandoned warehouses being bought up left and right; instead, little shops begin to open up in this odd section of the docks, an art studio, a restaurant for midnight brunch. There is a visible effect lingering behind in the young vampires of the coven, who no longer have such a whimsical grasp of immortality.

And Charlie reopens her bar. As soon as she does so, she calls Harvestman to inform him, and to ask him if he would be willing to take one of the first shifts. No real explanation is offered and they don't actually talk about anything that happened, but the reopening itself is bullheaded enough that Harvestman could probably infer what he needs to from that.

It's no surprise that things are pretty quiet for a while, but Charlie is insistent that they stay open, just in case. Gradually, customers start to filter back in -- at first they're mostly travelers, Independents and outlying vampires and companions who are venturing to and from the main coven to check in or offer help. Then the hopeful humans begin to show up, and then a regular or two. It begins to feel normal again.

Tonight, it's a very small but mostly familiar crowd. Charlie carries a box of whiskey and pushes it up on the counter beside Harvestman, blowing her bangs out of her face.

"They keep sending this stuff and I still can't get anyone to drink it. What do you think, blend it with the B-positive and drop it to half-price?"

The next night, Arashi does in fact make it a point to visit Harvestman at the little bar in the backwoods of new York State. He doesn't leave when Harvestman does, just to add a little aspect of mystery to his arrival, but even playing that ridiculous game, he can't pretend that he isn't looking forward to it.

Which is why it's really less than an hour after Harvestman clocks in that Arashi shows up, in jeans and a dark blazer with the scarf Harvestman had given him wrapped loosely around his neck. The dogtags are visible through the open jacket, hanging against his chest beneath the scarf. It's still pretty early (relatively speaking) but there are already other vampires there, most of them in small groups, laughing and joking and drinking just like humans would do.

Arashi just strolls up to the bar, slides easily onto a stool, and smirks at the cute bartender behind the counter.

"So, is there some kind of special today, or what?"