(A/N): Leo and Jerremyah talk about their concerns. Well... mostly Leo's. There's a lot of dead deer talk, especially near the start of the chapter, so if you don't like that sort of thing, skip down to the line that starts with, 'In fact, before our conversation earlier'. I think that should skip most of it, and the rest isn't vital to the story, so you aren't missing anything important. There is some mention of innards later on, but it's literally just that, a mention. Nothing in depth- if you made it through this authors note, you should be good. The last chapter took a few days to write, this chapter took less than five hours.

Leo

The deer was utterly pitiful to look at. On top of the fact that it smelt like death- which probably wasn't something a human would have been able to smell- it also smelt... well... like lunch.

When I say the deer smelt like death, I don't mean that it smelt like rot or decay- I'm sure that someone with enhanced senses like me would be able to smell decomposition earlier than a human could, but even I couldn't smell that yet. It just smelt... empty. There was no other way to say it. It was like that side of me, that wanted to kill everything, knew there was nothing here for it. But, Jerremyah had been... distracted, before he could drink the deer dry, and he had instead ripped open its sides with his claws, and the considerable strength of his arms.

There were other smells- besides death, and blood- that I didn't want to look into too closely. I think I was smelling entrails- internal organs that you usually never wanted to smell- and spilt... uh... partially digested food matter. Unfortunately, none of that erased that smell of 'food', so I just resolved to try not to breathe in near it- much like I was trying not to look at it, as much as possible.

It wasn't just as simple as breathing through my mouth instead of my nose- my sense of smell may have been stronger than my sense of taste, at least when it came to breathing something in, but I could still taste the blood in the air, and tasting it made it that much harder to force myself to stay out of Sensory Alert.

Jerremyah's plan wasn't a plan. Under the watchful, glassy gaze of the dead deer, we had a conversation about my newfound tendency to want to plan- maybe over plan- for every possible outcome of something, rather than just winging it. Vaguely, I had told him about what had happened during the last full moon- he had seemed a little lost, but had never once made me feel bad for not telling him. In fact, he had told me that I didn't have to tell him if I wasn't comfortable- which wasn't something I would have expected from him.

In fact, before our conversation earlier, I would have expected him to bug me about it until I gave in, or to have made fun of me for being anxious- but no. He had surprised me, once again.

"Right, first off, let's address some things." He said, rubbing his hands together, and I stared at him.

"Like what?" He shrugged with only one shoulder.

"Well... one of the things that you mentioned repeatedly was the possibility of an attack." I blinked.

"Oh, I... I didn't think you..." He raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were changing the subject." He watched me carefully for a second, then shook his head.

"No. You're concerned- and that concern, unfortunately, isn't unfounded." Well... it was nice of him to say so. "You have your necklace- that'll tell them where we are if we're attacked, right?" Right. We... we needed to get him one. Not necessarily for the Folley's, but... in case we were attacked. I'd have to talk to Herc about that.

"If I activate it, yes." His eyebrows furrowed, but then, he nodded slowly.

"I think we should decide, ahead of time, whether it's worth it to take the time to activate it, or whether you should just focus on getting to me as quickly as possible, so I can apparate us out of there." I took a second to consider this, and he pushed forward in the meantime. "As soon as there's even a whiff of danger, I throw the deer from my shoulders- it would be nice if I could throw it at the threat, to try and delay whatever it is, but I doubt I'll be able to take the time to aim- and get to you as fast as I can, too." I was quiet for a second longer.

"I think it depends on the situation- how much time we think we have- but I would like to be able to activate the charm first. Hopefully, with you heading for me, we'll be able to get out of there before they reach us, but if we don't... if they stop us, we'll need to have activated it for the others to know we're in trouble. If they don't, but they reach us... we need to warn the others that a threat is incoming." His face twisted, going from shocked, to pained, to impressed, back to pained, to almost blank- Lisbet was right, he was a shitty liar.

"So one of the main things influencing your decision, is protecting the others?" I shrugged a bit carelessly.

"Most of my decisions are." His face flickered again, displaying the same course as earlier, but this time, he cut each emotion off quicker, before once again flattening.

"Right. I don't know why I'm surprised." I shifted my weight from foot to foot, a little uncomfortable.

"What's next?" He blinked, apparently surprised by my attempt to change the subject.

"Um, well... Okay, well, we know the deer haven't come back- we would be able to smell them." Oh. Right. I would have been able to tell, if I had been willing to breathe in. "I'm already covered in blood, so that doesn't really matter-" I cut him off.

"You are so showering when we get back. No just... Scourgifying, and calling it a day. A long, hot shower, with lots of soap." He shrugged, and his lips quirked up into a tentative smirk.

"It would be a lot easier to convince me, if you could get Lisbet to join me." I rolled my eyes at him, but tried to make it clear that I wasn't bothered by this suggestion- in fact, I was just glad that someone no longer felt the need to tiptoe around me.

"It would be a lot easier to convince her to join you, if you weren't covered in offal." He shrugged loosely.

"I don't know, she-" I held up a hand to stop him, and his smirk intensified.

"Stop. In this instance, I am happy to take advantage of my, 'innocent ears' privilege. Deer innards are where I draw the line." He grinned at me- a big, bright thing, with a flash of dimple.

"Fair enough. Alright, I promise, I'll shower- hell, I'll take two, if that's what you want. Hm... I wonder if I should wear that jumper she likes..." Well, as long as it was a jumper, and not a pair of skimpy leather underpants, I guess I couldn't complain.

"Look, man, I had to help Jo try to pick out Lisbet's outfit before you got here- I consider this payback." His grin changed slightly, and I thought it might actually merit the term 'smile' now.

"I'll be sure to let her know you gave me your permission." I shook my head quickly, throwing my hands up as if to hold him at bay, and he barked out a laugh.

"Oh no, you leave me out of this! Trust me, Lisbet has more than earned this by poking fun at me over the years. Even if it was well intentioned, that Poetic Thesaurus went beyond embarrassing- this is my first really chance to tease her back." He sobered slightly, then dragged another- much smaller- smile onto his face again.

"Well, I'm glad I could help." I stared at him for a minute, then eventually gave up on trying to figure him out, and shrugged.

"I'll ask again- what constitutes a good spot?" He seemed to consider this for a second.

"Somewhere far enough away to not deter the deer from returning here, but close enough to still return to this ecosystem- not to mention easily accessible. Somewhere that doesn't currently have predators lurking in the shadows, but is likely to be able to host them in the near future. We can handle any non humanoid predators we might run into, but that's kind of counter intuitive." True. He... he had addressed most of my concerns easily, and without ever being condescending. That... hm.

"Do... do you have any concerns?" I could see that he immediately went to shake his head, then paused, as if he realised that he had been about to dismiss my question without even considering it, and then thought better of it.

"I- I mean... as always, most of my concerns are about Lisbet." This didn't surprise me. "Which also means I'm worried about you." This did.

"Me? Why?" He stared at me like I was being oblivious- what else was new- then shrugged in a way I suspect he thought was nonchalant.

"Because Lisbet cares about you- which means you're one of my top priorities." Right. I... Right.

"I... we should... the deer." I gestured to the deer, and the dimples reappeared as he smirked, before I lost sight of them as he turned, stalked over to the carcass, and bent at the waist to be able to sling it across his shoulders.

"Let's, 'the deer', shall we?"

(A/N): Leo: 'This is my first real chance to tease Lisbet back.'

Jerremyah: *trying not to tear up*

Jerremyah: 'Well... I'm glad I could help.'

also

Jerremyah: 'The decision you made was influenced by trying to protect the people you care about?'

Leo: 'Ding ding ding, congratulations! You have unlocked my core personality trait!'

Leo: 'Most of my decisions are.'

also

Jerremyah: 'I wonder if I should wear that jumper she likes...'

Leo: 'As long as it's not a pair of skimpy leather underpants, I guess I couldn't complain.'

Jerremyah: 'Don't be silly! ...They would clash terribly...'

also

Jerremyah: *goes through about five different emotions, before managing to mostly hide it*

Jerremyah: 'I am so subtle, I am so sneaky, he has no idea!'

Leo: 'Wow, Lisbet was right, Jerremyah IS a shitty liar.'