(A/N): Split POV, Jerremyah and Lisbet. Leo and Jerremyah discuss what they're going to do about the deer. Lisbet witnesses their return, and welcomes them home, the only way she can be expected to. My dad got to come home today- he had to stay in Hospital overnight because his heartbeat was a bit abnormal after he woke up from the anesthetic, so they wanted to keep an eye on him. He's in a bit of pain, and he feels a bit gooey in the guts, but other than that, he's doing really well.
Jerremyah
It was a little while later, that I noticed Leo was upset. I thought at first that it was something I had said, before I realised- no, it wasn't something I had said, but something I had done. The deer, he was upset about the deer.
He kept glancing back at it, looking equal parts disgusted, and saddened, before pulling his eyes away, as if he was worried I would catch him looking- which I had. I pretended that I hadn't, and waited a few seconds, so I could try to bring it up organically.
"So... what do we do about the deer?" He jolted, and his eyes darted to meet mine, wide with surprise.
"I- I don't know. I mean, when I'm at Hogwarts, in the Forbidden Forest, there are plenty of predators that are willing to clean up my... messes. Acromantulas, most notably, but these woods, like most of Britain, don't have any large carnivores. I'm sure it would be scavenged eventually, but..." Yeah. But would that be done quick enough to avoid dissuading the rest of the herd, and any others that might be in the area, from returning?
"We could eat it ourselves. Venison's good eating- for those that eat." Leo shook his head. "Oh, don't tell me you're going all 'vegetarian' about this- someone's got to eat it, whether it's us, or the other animals-" He cut me off.
"I don't know about you, but I don't have much practice butchering large game animals." Oh. Right. He... he had a bit of point, there.
"I have a little experience, but not anything I'd be comfortable putting to use. It's been a long, long time since I've had to butcher anything myself." Very, very little experience. I had spent most of my life in the cities, and by the time I was out on my own, in a place where I would have needed to find my own food- butcher my own meat- I no longer had to eat. A bit lucky, I suppose. Not that it would help us here- now.
"And at least if the other animals eat it, its death will give back to the wildlife." I suppose. "But if we leave it here, not only is it likely to drive away the rest of the herd, but it will draw in predators- which will do the same. And while foxes, badgers, and birds of prey are easy enough for us to deal with, having to drive them off will slow down the... carcass removal." He grimaced, probably at the word 'carcass'.
"We could bury it." He shook his head.
"Won't help anyone but the worms, then. Unless predators dig it up, but if so, why bother?" Another good point.
"We could... move it elsewhere." He looked at me, curiously. "Out of the Hunting Grounds, but not too far. We... want to return to this ecosystem- the one we took from." He gave me a smile that made something in my chest glow- it was proud. Proud... of me.
I didn't normally care much about preserving an ecosystem, other than that of a human society, because I never tended to stay in a place long enough to make much of an impact. The only reason I cared about the humans was to avoid catching the attention of the Hunters- they tended not to take it kindly if too many humans were obviously being preyed upon, whether that just meant feeding on them and wiping their memories, or deaths- accidental or otherwise. Leo, however, seemed to care about it quite a bit, so I guess... now it mattered to me, too.
"Okay. I- I think that should work." He straightened to his feet, but when he took a step towards the carcass, I shot up- then almost immediately lost my balance, as pain sparked in my leg.
"Wait- Ah, fuck-" As I was trying to figure out how to get around my injury, I felt a hand, tugging lightly on the front of my shirt. I looked down at it, and saw my own blood, staining fingertips- Leo. He stepped around, keeping his fingers gripping the fabric, and slotted his other arm under my own- supporting me.
"Yeah, sorry. There are some... unforeseen, extended side effects, to my, uh... well, y'know." No. No.
"Don't you apologise for that." I told him, a little more harshly than I intended, but he needed to know I was serious. "'Extended side effects' are a good thing- they'll help me keep in control, for longer. And if you need to do it again, it'll compound. It was a good idea- smart. Won't work for Lis, but she's not the one that needs the help. Grey- anyone else? This'll help." He was silent for a second, and I tried to ignore the feeling of his arms around me, even if they were only there to keep me upright.
This was the first time I'd been hugged since Grey, when he had shown up. Before that was Lisbet, when we had been speaking, alone. Before that was Evie, when I had gone back to collect my things. Other than that, there were multiple embraces throughout the years, from Grey, Evie, Minsi, and even, rarely, Nuria, but yet still before that was, once again... Lisbet. I suppose it was fitting that his unintentional embrace reminded me of her intentional ones.
"Okay." He said quietly. "I won't apologise for it." Why did I have a feeling there was a, 'out loud', after that? "Come on, I'll set you up over here, by a tree- you can hold onto my lunch. Drink's probably shaken all to hell, but I think she wrapped the sandwiches tight enough, that-" I cut him off.
"You're not moving that deer on your own." He tried to protest, but I plowed over him. "It's not your mess- and even if it was, Lisbet would kill me if I let you go off on your own, given your history of getting attacked." He rolled his eyes at me, and started guiding me towards the closest tree.
"You're part of my clan, that makes it my problem." So much for, 'I'm just the one that's here.' "If you can't walk, you can't exactly carry- or even drag, not that I recommend that- the deer however far it has to go." Unfortunately, I thought he was right.
"Then we either wait for me to heal, or we go home, and either get one of the others, or clean up this wound and heal me up, and then you and I come back to deal with this." He was silent for a second, clearly considering it.
"I guess that depends. How much pain are you in?" Oh... I had a choice here. Lie, and protect his feelings, but stay in pain for a lot longer, or... tell the truth, upset him, but get aid sooner.
"A bit. I can handle it, but I would prefer not to." He hesitated a second, then nodded.
"Alright. Then... then we'll go home." He tightened his arm around me. "Don't suppose you could apparate us, could you?" Oh, uh... maybe?
"Right. Uh, good idea." I gripped his shoulder- the one not under my armpit, with one hand, and the elbow connected to the hand gripping my shirt with the other. "Hold on tight." He did so, and I concentrated, before disapparating us.
Lisbet
With my ears strained, I heard the crack of someone apparating in, and immediately, I panicked. Leo and Jerremyah had ran to the Hunting Grounds, and Leo had food- more than enough, apparently- so I couldn't think of any reason that they would apparate back, unless they had been attacked. As my eyes found them through the window I had taken to waiting by, I saw that my fears were confirmed.
Jerremyah was covered in blood, and Leo was at his side, under his arm- was he supporting him, or had Jerremyah tucked him under his arm to protect him? To shield him from blows? I didn't have time to inspect the situation further, because after I got that short glimpse, I tore myself away from the window- I heard a rip, and in the back of my mind, I recognised it as my claws in the curtain, not a potential threat- throwing myself down the hall, and launching myself through the front door- literally through it, seeing as I didn't have time for door knobs right now.
Jerremyah's head snapped up, his nostrils flaring, and he had the barest second where his eyes scanned me, as if he were checking me for wounds, before he seemed to relax slightly- which was odd to me. My gaze went to Leo next- he had much less blood on him, but as he lifted his head, clearly reacting to my presence, I saw splatter on his face, and as I examined the rest of him, I saw more blood on the fingertips of his right hand.
As his eyes landed on me, I saw his immediate relief- before he seemed to take in my terror, and he came to attention. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, I reached them, and unintentionally cut him off when my left hand cupped the left side of his face, and my right hand did the same to the right side of Jerremyah's. My left and right, not theirs.
"What happened?! Are you okay?! Was there an attack?!" They both blinked, but where Leo continued to look confused- and maybe a little touched, Jerremyah's face split into a grin. I watched him take his hand off Leo's elbow, to cover mine on his cheek.
"We're fine." Somehow, I doubted that. "I was attacked- by a vicious animal-" My heart would have skipped a beat, if it could have, before Leo reached out and punched him in the opposite shoulder.
"Shush, you're freaking her out! Lis- he's fine, minor injuries, no enemy combatants, no threats to come after us." 'No enemies'? 'No threats'? Then what-?
"Alright, alright- although, it's kind of her fault for not taking a good sniff in the first place." I- what? I did as he suggested, and took a deep breath in through my nose- and noticed something I hadn't before. Or rather, the lack of something.
They didn't smell like anyone else. All of the blood I could smell was either that of a deer- this was all of the blood on Jerremyah's face, neck, upper chest, hands and forearms, and Leo's face- or Jerremyah's own, but there was only a little of this, and it was coming from around his ankle- and Leo's right hand. What-?
"Now she's got it." Jerremyah said, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb, and I realised I was still cupping both of their faces- I didn't stop, though.
"I thought- you apparated back, I thought you were escaping an attack-" Leo shook his head, pushing his cheek into my hand, ever so slightly. My chest ached at the sight- not just of him pushing into my hand, but the fact that he seemed perfectly happy to stay under Jerremyah's arm, as he did so.
"No. No, we're fine- well, we had to apparate back, because Jerremyah can't walk." What?! I spun on him, and he shook his head lightly, keeping my palm pressed to his face with his own.
"I can walk just fine-" Leo scoffed, and we both shot him a fond look- though, Jerremyah's was ever so slightly frustrated. "I can-" Leo cut him off.
"Right- and that's why you face planted while trying to attack me. Your leg totally didn't give out on you." He- what? It was at this point that I remembered why they had been out there- and the 'conversation' we had had with Leo about defending himself, if need be.
But... Jerremyah only seemed to be injured on his ankle... why would Leo injure his ankle, of all places? And Jerremyah had said that he had been attacked by a 'vicious animal'- what animal could possibly have gotten the drop on him? And why was he already hurt when he attacked Leo?
"What was that about being attacked by a... 'vicious animal'?" Jerremyah's mouth twisted into a smirk, and he shot Leo a sly look, but Leo, once again, rolled his eyes- I could tell he was trying not to smile, though.
"Oh, a truly ferocious, brutal, fiendish... teenage boy." Oddly enough, despite the fact that the words were, by all accounts, harsh, Leo flushed rather happily, and as Jerremyah looked upon this, his smirk softened into a smile that I could tell was all genuine. Again, my chest ached, especially as Jerremyah wiggled Leo from side to side, with the arm he still had around his shoulders. "He did a good job- my ankle's killing me." Leo's smile dropped into a frown.
"Didn't do much for the deer, though." Jerremyah squeezed his shoulder with the hand still resting there.
"Right. Lis, I've gotta heal up real quick, and then we're going to go back out to move the deer out of the Hunting Grounds- to its final resting place." My eyebrows shot up- since when did Jerremyah care about deer? Then, I caught sight of the way Leo was looking at him, and I got it- Jerremyah didn't care about deer, but Leo certainly did.
"What-?" My eyebrows furrowed. "What did he do to you that you can't walk? That you need healing? I don't smell all that much blood, so it can't be that ba-" Jerremyah cut me off, huffing out a dark laugh.
"Oh, our boy's resourceful, I'll give him that- still, could've been worse, given some of his other ideas." He shot Leo another sly look, and once again Leo blushed, but this time, he shrugged.
"You told me to do whatever I had to do to take you down- and it's my responsibility, as your clan mate, to make sure I do that by inflicting as little damage as possible. I'd say I accomplished that." Good boy. It was always good to see him stand his ground- to see him proud of his actions. It was so rare...
"Let me see." I said, taking my hand from Jerremyah face to tug on his trouser leg. He didn't pull away, but he did laugh.
"Careful, Lis, we're not alone, you know. If I knew this was all I had to do to make you want to get into my trousers, I would've-" I yanked on the material so hard that it pulled him off balance, and I regretted it as I remembered that the only thing keeping him upright was Leo. Leo didn't seem to mind, however- in fact, he seemed downright delighted, huffing out a laugh as he dragged Jerremyah back up straight.
"Don't be so vulgar- Leo, he was on his best behavior while you were away, right?" By Jerremyah's wince, I knew he hadn't been, but Leo simply smiled sweetly, and nodded- looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
"Of course. A proper gentleman." I gave him a dry look, but he held his ground, continuing to bat his eyelashes at me all innocently. I had a dilemma- get on him about lying, or encourage him to stand firm, when defending one of his clan mates?
"Leo..." He kept up his act, so I shot Jerremyah a look, but he was just staring at Leo, looking almost... reverential. That, more than anything, decided things for me.
"Yes, Lisbet?" I sighed, and moved my hand from his cheek to the back of his neck, dragging him- and subsequently Jerremyah- closer, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. When I pulled back, the innocent look was gone, because he was now staring at me like I had lost every single one of my marbles- and maybe some of the ones I had pilfered from Jerremyah, over the years.
"Mon Petit Monstre-" Even this term of endearment made me yearn for more, less joking ones. "If you're going to lie, at least make it a believable one." He looked vaguely chagrined. "Jerremyah has been many things in his life- but a gentleman is not among them."
(A/N): Jerremyah: 'I'll wait, and bring it up organically.'
*Three Seconds Pass*
Jerremyah: 'So, what are we going to do about the deer?'
also
Leo: 'Jerremyah was a proper gentleman.'
Lisbet: 'Bullshit.'
Jerremyah: 'Bullshit.'
The Entire Universe: 'Bullshit.'
also
Jerremyah: 'Our boy (Leo) is resourceful, I'll give him that.'
Leo: *proud*
Lisbet: 'OUR boy?'
Lisbet: '...'
Lisbet: '...I like the sound of that...'
'Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth' = When someone appears demure, innocent or sincere but is in fact devious, unkind or insincere. The idea is that the person in question is so calm, cool and collected that butter wouldn't even melt in their mouth. The phrase was listed as a proverb in 1562 in the work The Proverbs and Epigrams of John Heywood: "She looketh as butter would not melt in her mouth." The term was also listed in Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse in 1530, a work of French terms translated into English by Jehan Palsgrave.