homeless_pard | When the Council comes calling

Entry tags:

jason au

When the Council comes calling

Who: Khem, JC, Asher, Nat, Req, any?
When: Two months after her shop has been open.
What: Well, the Council. And everyone gets to be a badass.

Khemrys chuckled, sealing the last of the small jars she was working on with wax and intricately knotted, colored strings. "My last gifting to the lady did not go well," she pointed out. Not well at all given the sour looks and the fact the woman practically danced when Khemrys had moved to the apartment. Khemrys was still at the Circus, often, to cook and for the dance nights that they al enjoyed but...

...well, the space hopefully had the woman forgetting about her?

"Oui," Jean Claude admitted, running fingers along plants. They'd come to look over the property and the books, a pleasant outing, honestly, to check in on their newest holding. And on Khemrys. He was a little uneasy having her away from the Circus honestly, something neither he nor Asher could pinpoint so here they were on an excuse. "But this she will not know is from you. I ask you to make something on my behalf as a gift."

She moved smoothly from sealing the bruise balm to the next chore of blending a headache powder as she considered that, "I am uncertain if that will work, high lord. My stitching is...distinctive at this point?"

"She has a point, I have to keep my nice clothes at the Circus now," Nathanial pointed out, lounging under the sun lamps. It was his evening off and he'd been intending to trade bread recipes with Khem but then the vamps had wandered in!

"We were afraid that might be the case," Asher admitted, looking up from the sale ledger. "And I suggested a leatherworker instead..."

"Aye, I've no deft hand with leather," Khemrys admitted. "No matter it may act as fabric at times, the thickness throws me?" No matter what they might intend for Anita?

"Ah," Jean Claude looked disappointed but not entirely surprised at least? She was grateful not to fail him in something he truly hoped for!

"May I at least offer some su-" she blinked, freezing a moment, herbs actually trickling from between her fingers. What was that? A feeling, nothing more, but one that slid along her spine like ice, then the front door chimed, someone throwing themselves inside with a pained gasp. She dropped the herbs entire to run for the shop entry, seeing a young rat on the floor, writhing. "Lords, MY KIT!"

The two vamps blinked, uncertain as to where such might be but Nathaniel rolled to his feet and grabbed a bag, tossing it, "what happened?"

"...he told me to run...get here..." the young man gasped, fighting a shift. It nearly took him, but he managed to pull his leg inside the shop and his body eased immediately, some boon or blessing by crossing under Gunnora's symbol no doubt. "Rafael said to get safe, but I didn't get far enough...here's safe..."

"Here is safe," Khemrys confirmed, feeling along the boy's limb's for injury. No blood, no tearing...

"From what?" Jean Claude's voice rolled dangerously, making the boy wince and curl on himself.

"The Circus. They took the Circus, they were calling us..."

"...oh shit," Nathaniel blinked.

"You will stay here," Khemrys noted grimly to the boy. "Upstairs, there is stew. Do not leave until I return." That said she was standing to grab a heavy apron with pockets and a proper backpack to stuff things in.

"You will not be going," Jean Claude noted.

"They will need a healer, high lord. And you may need blood," she noted in the calm voice of a battlefield medic. "We do not seem to have time to argue."

No, no time at all if the Circus was in danger. That was a home. Not her only home now, but certainly Jean Claude and Asher's, and it was NOT to be taken.

They'd see what the may when they arrived hmmm?

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Jason frowned, closing his eyes and trying to keep quiet as Requiem checked his legs. The Council...the Council had come. He had been dying...had he been dying? Morte D'Amour. He remembered that much. The trembling started anew. She'd called him Arthur...

"The Council," he gasped.

Nathaniel continued to stroke him, murmuring soothingly as he felt Jason start to tense again. "You're safe now. He can't hurt you now."

His eyes darted again to Khemrys lying pale beside him. The Council had seen Khemrys? "What did they do to her?"

"Relax, Jason," Requiem noted gently. It was hard to work with muscles when tension came singing back.

"Yes, they were here. Some still are, in a 'waiting to be executed' way. As for what was done to her...Padma pulled on her leopard form? And it offended and angered her." That summed it up, right?

Sure.

Yeeeaaaaah.

"She shattered them. Then apparently woke a healing power."

He still looked confused. "She...how?"

Then he paled, leaning back and closing his eyes briefly as he tried to relax his body. "Who? Who is still here?" 'Waiting to be executed' meant nothing to him: the Council was so good at slipping away and avoiding consequences themselves. And if Arthur and that other woman, Moroven, still lived...

"I do not know." No one really did. "But she pulled on the fealty oaths I think, what a Council is owed to those below in return for their loyalty? They betrayed such and she...I have no idea." Yup.

"I believe the rats and wolves are taking Padma apart in pieces," he admitted. "Likewise Asher and Damien have Moroven for the same purpose." He was NOT going to mention Arthur, no. Not his place to do so.

"I do not know as much as I may, I was aiding with this."

Jason blinked at the ceiling. "Aiding with what?"

Nathaniel glanced nervously at Requiem before smoothing Jason's hair back, but whether the motion was meant to be calming to Jason or himself was unclear. "You weren't in the best shape when we found you..."

"You were dying," he noted simply, "Khemrys did not allow it." Simplest way to put it, right?

"She was able to get you to the point your body could recover."

He had been dying. Memories of that night began to stir and he pushed them back stubbornly. Whatever happened he knew he didn't want to think about.

He made a small pained sound as he tried to turn his head again to look at Khemrys. She...wouldn't allow it. He could feel her hand resting still on his chest as she slept deeply beside him. "Is she ok?" he asked softly.

"I'll work on neck and shoulders next, unless you know how, Nathaniel?" Requiem noted gently. He new how terrible being unable to move was.

Ah, hmmm. "Exhausted. Utterly exhausted, but not injury I or Lillian can determine. For now we are getting nutrients in her via IV and letting her sleep?"

Nathaniel shook his head. "Not medically, no. If you know what you're doing, it would be better for you to do it."

Jason continued to watch her sleep. It was more calming than focusing on what was going on with his own body. Questions swirled, but he was brushing them aside as well; it was as if his mind was standing guard against something very terrible that it didn't want him poking at.

"Alright, then when I ask you to move," he nodded simply, fingers digging into leg muscles properly now.

"We figured it was best to tuck you in the same bed," he noted to Jason's attention.

Jason frowned slightly. "She's not still doing it, is she?" Whatever she had done to help him? Was that why she was still asleep?

He hissed through his teeth slightly as Requiem found some release points...

"Probably to a very mild degree," he admitted. "But she healed almost all injured as well before coming to your aid. She will sleep for some time, that is normal I'd expect."

Jason watched her soft breathing. He didn't want to move; he didn't want her to move away either. But still...

"I don't want her wearing herself out. Can we try to get her to stop?"

He was still in pain and if she was still doing something as she slept, it was going to suck.

Still...

"Likely she'll ease off once you're spasming less, she shifted to touch you when you started making noises," he admitted. "Reflex more than intent? I think. This is all uncharted territory here."

Yes, it would suck, but then it should ease back?

He was struggling to bring his hand up to rest on hers. His fingers were still stiff like he'd been sleeping wrong on it. He glanced down...and then looked quickly away again. His breath was speeding up again.

"What happened to my hand?"

"There was rot that had to be cleaned away Jason," he knew that, but looking at it had been dumb yes. "Since you're awake though we'll get more food in you as well. You need the calories."

Rot.

He hadn't seen, not himself. But he remembered the feeling, the smell, the taste in his mouth...

The room blurred as he stared at the ceiling, the monster slowly pushing that door in his mind open.

"Nathaniel? Something strong smelling to smear under his nose may be in order." He knew the look. As long as Jason wasn't thrashing though he was going to keep working on legs!

Nathaniel resumed his soothing petting, taking moments to quietly wipe away tears that were starting to track down the sides of Jason's face. "He's ok. I think it's all starting to come back."

Jason was fighting to keep that door closed as snippets were slipping through. He concentrated on the sensations he could feel now, trying to use that to keep from slipping into memory.

"Alright, I trust you in regard to shifter senses." He just knew scent to be an incredible powerful memory key for them, and sometimes dissonance helped?

"You will never be so touched again Jason."

There was a strangled sound and a pause as Jason tried to get control of his voice. He couldn't stop the tears, but he didn't want to lose it in front of everyone. "Did they kill him?"

"Last I saw him the rats had him in hand," he admitted truthfully. "And Khemrys seemed about to lunge for him when she decided you were priority." So if he lived, likely, Khemrys should be kept far away from him yes.

"I prefer the choice she made."

It was getting harder to keep from making pathetic sounds, and his face screwed up to try to keep control. "I don't want her anywhere near that thing," he choked out.

Nathaniel made shushing sounds. "He's gone, Jay. Trust Jean Claude; he was furious when he found you. Wherever they took him, he won't be coming back."

At least that's what he believed. He hadn't stopped Jean Claude to ask when he'd stopped by to check on Jason and Khemrys, but with all the fallout from the Council visit he never lingered long.

"Nor I," he admitted. He thought she could probably take on the broken Arthur but best not to say that right now.

Granted, any vamp with a decade under their belt might be able to take them now...

"That's your legs Jason. We'll need to get you rolled so I can work on your shoulders and neck." At least those ribs looked better? It was mainly extremities that were still an issue...

Propping him on pillows helped keep his neck from skewing too far to the side, but moving him was painful enough to leave him shaking again and no longer caring about what sounds were escaping his throat. To move him they had to pull Khemrys's hand from his chest, and as soon as her touch was gone he could feel more of the spasming again.

There was relief that he wasn't draining her, but it was a balm he was missing already.

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