(A/N): Leo and Jerremyah drop off the deer, clean up, and have lunch while they talk. Also, as of right now (4/5/23 - 4th May 2023), my mother has Covid, my dad started feeling ill, took a Covid test and was negative, but we thought we might have tested him too early, now I'm sick as well. My mum can't taste or smell anything but dad and I can, so we're not sure if I have Covid or just the flu. It's different to the last flu I had, definitely, but not necessarily worse- it's bad in different ways, and that killer sore throat isn't here, so as long as that stays away, I'm okay with it, to be honest. Still, I'm having trouble getting stuff done. I did do some location scouting though (basically, searching up places to try and find where I want certain things in the story to be set, that don't currently have a concrete location- like Château Du Sang, which I decided is in Saint-Benoît-du-Sault, in the Loire Valley.

Leo

In the end, we didn't have to go that far. We spent maybe half an hour, total, running around looking for a good spot, before we found an area that was only about a ten minute walk from where we had killed the deer, that we thought could work. Jerremyah once again bent at the waist, and slipped the carcass off of his shoulders, so he could set it down gently on a reasonably clear section of snow, before we retreated a short distance away- close enough to monitor things, but far enough to not have a direct effect on things.

Without much conversation, we set ourselves up on a large, moss covered rocky outcropping, that had mostly escaped being dusted with snow by virtue of the thick tangle of branches, high above our heads. As I sat cross legged on the ground, Jerremyah pulled his wand out from a pocket hidden in the side seam of his jeans, and pointed his wand at the palm of his off hand.

"Scourgify." After a second, he twisted his hand around to clean the back of it, as well, and the smell of soap wafted over to me, fresh and slightly citrus-y. He swapped his wand into his now clean hand, and pointed it at his recently emptied dominant hand. "Scourgify." More soap. I eyed him carefully, and he seemed to take notice. "What?" I hesitated.

"Can you do mine?" I let things sit quietly for barely half a second. "Now would be the perfect time to dig into those sandwiches Lisbet made me." His movement stuttered as he continued making his way over to me, before he seemed to recover from whatever had affected him, and he stopped, just in front of me.

I held my hands out, palm up, and he stayed where he was, standing over me for a few seconds, before he jolted, and quickly dropped into a crouch- then seemed to reconsider, and slid onto his knees, instead. It was as if someone had shoved him down- maybe Lisbet's spirit was looming over his shoulder- I wouldn't put it past her. He pointed his wand at my hands, and for a second, nothing happened.

"Scourgify." The scent of soap hit me a lot stronger, and my flesh felt freshly scrubbed. I made sure to turn my hands over before he had to ask me, and he cast the spell again. "Scourgify." I felt a lot cleaner- I inspected my hands briefly, and nodded to Jerremyah. It took a second, but he dropped his hand- still holding his wand- to rest on his thigh.

I decided to ignore whatever was going on with him right now, and grabbed the more than slightly beat up bagged lunch. I rolled it open, and gingerly placed the- now a little worse for wear- can of pop down on the uneven stone in front of me, before starting to pull out the sandwiches- which seemed to be remarkably intact, considering the journey they had been on. I picked a sandwich off the top, and set it on Jerremyah's thigh- the one that wasn't occupied by his wand- before getting back to the rest of them.

"She did a really good wrapping these, they still look great." I reached over, and popped open the can- taking full advantage of being able to use vampire speed to pull back out of the way in time to avoid getting splashed. "Well, the pop didn't hold up as well, but we knew that would be the case. Still, it's more than drinkable." I started unwrapping the top sandwich, and glanced up- only to find Jerremyah staring at me, all wide eyed, like I had done something both incredible, and shocking. And incredibly shocking. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" He floundered for a second, his mouth flapping open and closed, before he just reached down, and tentatively raised the sandwich I had given him, as if I had somehow forgotten it already.

"You- I- sandwich-" I felt my eyebrows furrow, and I waited for him to collect himself in order to be able to form an intelligible sentence. "Ya- Y'know I don't have to eat... right?" He seemed genuinely curious, and not like he was making fun of me, so I shrugged.

"I'm aware, yes. Just as I'm sure you're aware, that I don't have to eat four sandwiches in one sitting- but I also would prefer not to bring home extra food, and see the disappointed look on Lisbet's face." His eyes widened again, quite dramatically, before they dropped to the sandwich in his lap, and he rushed to unwrap it. I guess I should have known that Lisbet's hypothetical disappointment would be the key to getting him to cooperate.

I finished unwrapping my sandwich and bit into it- doing my best to pretend I wasn't watching Jerremyah like he was the most interesting thing I had witnessed in a long time. He started by eating all of the crusts off the sandwich first, before moving on to the main part- the part that held the contents. By the time he finished his first half, I was moving on to my second sandwich.

"Are you enjoying your food?" I asked, in between gulps of soft drink, and Jerremyah shrugged quickly, before nodding.

"I- yes. Honestly, I forgot how good Lisbet was with food." Hm. Well, I mean, it was just a sandwich- not exactly gourmet. I couldn't wait to see how he would react to a more impressive meal, like a roast or something.

"Speaking of Lisbet..." He blinked, and paused with a mouthful of food, looking like he thought I had just sprung some sort of trap on him. "You know I mentioned that I wasn't done talking to you," He nodded hesitantly. "And I figure I'll leave some of the more... complicated, stuff, for after we've finished eating-" He looked like he appreciated that, but also wished that I would last past that limitation. "-but I thought maybe you could tell me more about the tattoos." He perked up again, much like I thought he would. "When I asked about them the last time, you mentioned, 'what tattoos mean to you'- I would like to hear about that." He smiled, brushing his hands clean on his jeans.

"Right, so... unfortunately for me, I only have so much skin to work with- this means that I have to be extra careful about what I choose to put on my body. After all, I don't know how long I'll live- the things I liked when I first started getting them, may not be relevant to my life now- let alone in one hundred, two hundred, three hundred years. So, I only get tattoos that correlate to things that have had a significant influence or impact on my life. For that reason, most of them center around the people I know- or have known." I blinked, and started to trying to search the skin I could see, trying to see the inked images through the blood staining him.

"Does that mean you have a tattoo for Lisbet?" His smile turned into a grin- one of, if not the biggest I had seen on him.

"Several, in fact. She is my mate, after all." When he said that, his voice got so soft- not quiet- well, not just quiet- as if he were trying to caress her through time and space, back at the house. I wondered if she would feel it- the breeze in her hair, or her clothes brushing against her skin, in a way that was uniquely him.

"I suppose that makes sense, but... where?" He reached up, and pulled down the already deep neckline of his shirt, to show an image maybe the size of my hand, right over his heart. It was a white swan- not something I would have associated with Lisbet, typically- outlined in black, to stand out against his skin.

"This is one of my favorites, and Lisbet's, too- although, I don't think I was supposed to tell you that." Did I want to know why not? I doubted it.

"Why a swan?" His eyebrows furrowed slightly, before they cleared, and the corner of his lips quirked up.

"Specifically a white swan- because it's her patronus form."

(A/N): Leo: *gives Jerremyah a sandwich*

Jerremyah: '...' *stunned*

Jerremyah: 'Leo has given Jerremyah a sandwich- Jerremyah is free!'

also

Jerremyah: *uses magic to clean his hands*

Leo: 'Can you do mine?'

Jerremyah: '...'

Jerremyah: 'He... he's asking me to... to do something for him?'

Jerremyah: * :') *

Basically, Jerremyah is big on expressing love through acts of service, so whenever someone asks him to do something for them, it's kind of a big deal.

(So I took the time to work it out, and Jerremyah's love languages are as follows - he expresses love through acts of service and physical touch [and words of affirmation, but only if you're really, REALLY close], and receives love through physical touch and quality time. Not that you probably care, but I thought it was interesting. I've also worked out Leo and Lisbet's, so if you want to know, let me know.)

Also, I originally forgot there was snow, then forgot that there are very few or no leaves on the trees in winter, so I had to go with the 'thick tangle of branches' keeping the ground from being covered in snow. Not that they ground where they were sitting couldn't be covered in snow, I just didn't want it to be.