homeless_pard: (Beryl)
Khemrys ([personal profile] homeless_pard) wrote2024-03-04 03:13 am
Entry tags:

Ghosts of the Past

Who: Beryl, Nat, a reporter?
When: Once she's back on the low level MMA circuit, before the looking at buying a place.
What: Being...traced?

She adjusted the tape along her hands and smiled loosening up a touch in her corner. It was good to be back honestly, she'd taken four out of five matches so far and things were doing okay. She was getting her rhythm back, and she could see Nat sitting in the stands, that delicate mix of apprehensive and delighted to watch her. She could get the mixed feelings honestly, they made sense...

...but she was belatedly glad her boy was tall yes. Else she couldn't have picked him out so easily with many of the 'fans' choosing to fill the bleachers near him. She blew him a cheerful kiss before sliding her bite guard back in and ignored the honest to gods flashes going off as she turned her back to eye her opponent. A lot of sports enthusiasts and writers actually went with real cameras instead of cellphones so it could get a little bulb happy out there.

Given where the majority of the crowd was, well, the photography had to be getting great shots of her opponent's form...and her ass. Great, Nat was going to scrapbook the shit out of any magazines she ended up in and it would be nicknamed the 'hot in spandex' book or something by Eric and Lani. It made her snort a laugh, which pissed off her opponent, making him swing just a touch wide so she could bend and lash her heel into his hip, then her knee to his chin ad he buckled. TKO.

She grinned, adrenaline singing through her as she turned to beam at Nat, and caught another faceful of flashbulbs. Bah. "Excuse me, Beryl? Are you Ms. Beryl?"

"Hey, yeah, but I'm busy," she snorted ducking under the ropes to go to Nat for a kiss before hitting the showers! She barely registered the unassuming man muttering an apology and just flashing a few more pics before she was happily padding to the showers. Charles was going to demand she try that move on him again in a few days as they practiced so she didn't bother trying to poke him now. Let him go home and grump about getting old to his teens, who'd reassure him and make him a protein shake before he got a beer. He was a good guy, just competitive as shit.

After Beryl was safely away the man wove carefully through the crowd to smile hesitantly at Nathaniel, "hey, can you spell her name for me? I want to be sure to get things right but she...I guess she doesn't do ringside interviews huh?"
nathanielgrayson: (Default)

[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
Jason nodded. "I'll get some started; 'll use a pot if they don't have a kettle." Not that he'd judge: the only person he'd ever seen own a kettle before had been Richard.

Nathaniel was trying to settle Beryl into the bed, but he was still having a hard time letting her go. By the time Jason was back, Nathaniel still hadn't moved away from her.

"Nat?" Jason called gently, "Why don't you come with me and get some of that blood off you so you don't get it all over the bed."

Nathaniel frowned and it was clear he wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea.

"Come on. I'll help and it'll be quick and you can be right back in here with her." He held a hand out to Nat, who still hesitated but gave a questioning look to Khemrys.
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel looked visibly distressed as he tried to move away from the bed. He could feel in his bones the truth to Khem's words, so the moment he was out of arm's reach of Beryl he hurried over to begin scraping blood off of his body and drawing Gunnora's symbol. Thankfully the apartment didn't have high ceilings so he didn't need to get a chair...

Jason stood waiting beside him, turning his attention away only once to send Khemrys a proud, loving glance. Nathaniel finished and began to turn back towards the bed, but Jason caught him and gently guided him back to the door. "I know, Nat. Trust me, I know. Let's do this quick and we'll get you back in with her."
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Jason smirked at Looney's reaction, muttering to himself. "Keep your evil ass out, too, fuzzball."

He turned the shower as hot as he could get it and ushered Nathaniel under the spray. Nathaniel crouched down to the floor, hugging his knees to his chest as Jason began carefully washing the blood off him.

Which revealed some of his own injuries. "Motherfucker," Jason said in disgust as he looked at the angry red laceration around Nat's throat. "They brought silver?"

Nathaniel growled quietly. "Yeah."

And several other irritated cuts across his neck and shoulder. They must have whipped the thing at him before getting it around Nat's neck. And then his side....Jason tenderly cleaned the area. "You shouldn't need stitches but it doesn't look like it feels good."

Nathaniel offered a silent shrug.

"You see them again and we'll beat the shit out of them." Jason offered.

"They're dead." Nathaniel was staring off, his chin resting on his knees. He seemed to be struggling to say something, then at last choked out. "I might be in trouble, Jay..."

"No." Jason said firmly, though his eyes widened at Nathaniel's admission that they were dead. "Look, Asher called me and I know he's not gonna let anything like that happen. I mean, he's got centuries of practice hiding shit like this from humans, so don't worry about that."

Nathaniel didn't answer, but Jason wasn't going to push him: if he had been the one to kill those guys, this was huge for him. He finished cleaning Nat up and helped him to his feet, wrapping a towel around him. "We'll get your hair braided and out of the way after you get back to her, ok?"

Nathaniel gave a slight nod. "Thanks, Jay," he murmured.
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel heard Beryl's growl and shoved Jason to the side, rushing into the room. "Beryl?" he asked anxiously. "You're awake!"

Jason followed close behind holding out Nathaniel's dropped towel. "Dude, you're dripping everywhere and now my wife is staring." he teased gently, "Put the towel back on."
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel either didn't hear Jason or didn't care (likely the latter); he was already crawling across the bed to Beryl. "I was worried, they gave you so much and you weren't waking up," he babbled.
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
Jason smirked at that. "It'll be my best tea yet." He pursed his lips to blow her a kiss and disappeared from the room.

"Are you ok?" Nat continued worriedly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel sighed against her lips, feeling relief rushing through him. "You are so strong, babe. You held off a shifter dose for so long and still fought them."

Jason came back with the two cups (he could listen sometimes!) and set them on the dresser. "Still steeping but I figured you'd know better than me if it was ready."
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't care about that," Nathaniel said, but he didn't pull away from her exploring fingers. "I'll be ok; I was more worried about you." He paused and gave her a faint nod to her question.

Despite the worrisome night, Jason couldn't help but smile at her touch. He always felt such pride and awe watching her work...

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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel...smiled. "Babe, this is nothing. Barely broke the skin." He nuzzled gently against her cheek. "They're all gone. All except...Dan." He couldn't help the growl when he said the man's name. "But Asher has him."
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-04-27 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
Nathaniel's eyes very nearly sparkled at her fury: this was his Beryl. Seeing her drugged and weak had been...he growled again, his lips threatening to curl into a hiss. "I don't care if he apologized," Nathaniel said bitterly.

Jason looked at all of them, then quietly pulled out his phone and texted Asher: 'Don't kill the Dan guy yet'.
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-05-23 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
The rumbling didn't cease, but he molded against her without a hint of resistance. "Asher and the rats are probably doing that now, there's no reason for you to have to go anywhere near him again." He actually glowered as he pressed himself closer. "Unless it's to kill him."

The growling might have continued, but Khemrys's words snapped him out of it and he blinked up guiltily. "She was finally awake, I had to see she was ok..." he insisted weakly. His eyes dropped down to their bed with concern. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get everything wet. I can change the bedding for you..."
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-05-23 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
There was a defensive flash to Nathaniel's eyes as he glanced up at Khemrys, and suddenly Jason was at her side staring Nathaniel down. "It's been a long upsetting night," he said evenly, his tone offering both opportunity and threat to Nathaniel, "I'm sure Nat can handle everything fine tonight. And tomorrow we can talk to Asher and figure out what's next. Ok?"

The question offered, but he clearly was only going to accept one answer; Nat impressed the hell out of him, but he was on edge and Jason wasn't about to risk his pregnant wife getting hurt.

And to his utter shock, Nathaniel held his gaze for several extremely long seconds before lowering his eyes in submission.
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[personal profile] nathanielgrayson 2024-05-23 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Jason was still watching Nathaniel, as a reminder more than anything, but his energy pulled back with that sign of acceptance from Nat. "I'll send a text to your Eric friend and see if he can have someone come by in the morning to fix it for you." He didn't know the guy that well, but even if he was vague (and he planned to be) he was sure Eric would be quick to help. He stepped back, casually grazing his hand along Khemrys's back.

All well and good, since at that bite the worked up wereleopard's intense gaze was solely on Beryl.

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