A treat to teach

[homeless_pard]

Who: Khem, Trevor, phone messages.
When: A day after Jason is arrested.
What: Khem finds skin again.

Khemrys stretched slowly in the small bathing chamber. It was a kindness her chemise now shifted with her so she might not be utterly unclad after a moon cycle, but it was ever a kindness to see herself without fur in a mirror.

This had been a first honestly. Her professor friend, Scholar Trevor, had asked if she might teach him of any herbs in the area near the cabin his 'campus' yet held for students in the biology realm. It was a stepping stone to ensure that such as she, an outer realm shifter, might be safe around a human in his worlds but the intent was true and honest. To learn and observe in the deep wood as she was present, no matter what skin she wore.

Her wedded lord had been unhappy as a matter of course and yet he'd agreed; the professor was no rival to their bond. If she had to guess at the emotion behind the offer it would best be placed as a distant relative or kindly adoptee in fact. Someone who wished them well but did not wish the day to day of a married life no matter how charming or soft their friend might seem.

Honestly it was quite refreshing to speak with a scholar who was NOT interested in her. A fair change from the comradery with Nenniv that would oft shift to intense awkwardness in their travels together. "My thanks for the time to set myself arights," she smiled as she exited, tying off the end of her braid.

"Always," he laughed. "I imagine you were dying for a shower, most are after a day or two out here." And she'd been in fur for three! "You're a delightful companion by the way. The greenery you plucked from trees I couldn't reach is going to be fun to catalog!"

She laughed, amused, "aye and useful as well...ah?" She was opening up the silk bag she wore at her waist to carry the cellphone and the screen was showing far, far too many messages and notifications?

"Ah?" he blinked, looking up from carefully packing greenery and herb bits in a cooler with sample jars.

She held up her phone, eyes wide? "I have never in my experiences with this....device...seen such a number?"

He winced, looking at the screen, "that usually means ether very good news, or very bad? My phone exploded when I got divorced..."

She blinked at him then hesitantly tapped on a text message from Beryl. Was one of her children hurt or ill?!

GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT NOW THE FUCKING COPS PULLED SOME BULLSHIT. CALL ME ON THE WAY DO NOT LISTEN TO THE MESSAGES I'LL JUST TELL YOU AND IT'S BAD.

She actually dropped the phone and stepped back like it had bitten her, eyes wide and bubbling toward gold. "We need to go home. We need to go home RIGHT NOW."

Trevor froze and then crammed the rest of the plants into the cooler with little regard to protocol, "grab your bag! We can be out of here in five." He'd come back later to clean up for the next person using it from campus? Not that there was much to clean as he was naturally 'fussy' and his partner this round of research was habitually busy. But that tone of voice in a woman he had so far known as calm and collected was looking very, very scared.

It made her look far younger than he'd ever thought she was honestly. Even in his first meeting with her he would have assumed the far side of thirty at the least due to her poise. Right now, this moment, just past a full moon and weathering that time with someone she had never done so with before...and she looked like a scared teen.

She wasn't. He knew that, intellectually, but...

...he could get them back.

She had odd body language in the vehicle when they'd driven up. Tense and untrusting, but also oddly resigned and forcibly relaxing? Not so now, she was curled in the front seat of his modest little truck, knees to her chest on the seat, knuckles pale as they clutched the seatbelt over her chest. Now that he knew to look for it her eyes were nearly half golden bubbles. He didn't fear that she'd shift and harm him in her worry, she was a timid thing in fur, even going so far as to thwack him with her tail when he'd worriedly watched the properly full moon rise and snuck glances at her, but he didn't like the stress evident.

At all.

It could hurt her honestly. He'd had a student hit seizures due to exam stress so he was a little hyper vigilant these days...

...right, not helping to get caught up in his own head. "Here, this is a phone holder. We'll plug it there since you don't like holding it while you talk okay? Let your friend tell you what we're driving into. If you don't mind me hearing?"

The weight of her gaze as she turned her head hit him like a baseball bat and he was reminded that a woman, less than a week in his world, had waged a crusade against capitalism. Strong like silk wrapped steel. Chriiiiist. She stared at him for several miles before the heat of that regard turned aside and she nodded once, fingers shaking as she set her phone where he had indicated, "you are kine if not kith Scholar Trevor. If you wouldst share our troubles I wouldst not deny you."

"I'm honored," he swallowed as the phone dialed.

It didn't dial long before it was picked up, "Khem, you are going to hate it," Beryl noted grimly. There was a chorus of 'Mommy?!' in the background.

"Tell me," there was that weight again. Like a wave waiting to see which ship it would destroy. Not for the first time he wondered, honestly, what the hell her world was like.

"Police were on a hunt for a potential killer, got sent to your address specific, I don't have details on that yet, and you know kids."

"WE WERE BAD AND THEY TOOK DADDY!" Kirion wailed.

"No, no baby, " Beryl soothed, "you were just being a kid and someone bad was waiting okay?"

Khemrys went, somehow, paler. "No my little love, no. The Left Hand will ever work in ways that make us doubt ourselves," she soothed softly.

"Arrested, I picked up the kids from the station, took them from a bitch of a social worker, it was full moon night, he was sent to Tender Mercy Holding," Beryl summed up. Some things were best delivered....simply. Better a clean stab then twisting knives later.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE PEOPLE ANGRY WHEN I ATE LIKE A DINOSAUR!" Kirion was ramping up to inconsolable wailing until someone, probably both the other kids, tackled him honestly.

Khemrys dropped her head a moment, gathering herself, and when she looked up her eyes were purely golden, though she stayed firmly human. "We will bring your father home my children. This I promise you as an oath."

He actually felt the hairs on his arms standing on end and he had to pull off the road as he SWORE he could feel static crawling through the car. Just heavy, heavy atmospheric pressure hat made the cellphone screen dim a touch and made him try to remember what he should do if lightning hit a vehicle...

The children on the other end were utterly silent for a long moment before Beryl AND them offered a firm "Witnessed". Some things you learned fast. That single word had the atmosphere ease until he could breathe again, though he was unduly aware of the sound of his own heartbeat for a few minutes after.

"The high lord?" Khemrys asked.

"Working in high gear. Call him. See you soon as you're here okay? Hell, I'll simplify things and we'll go camp at the Circus. Babies, grab your bags!" she called.

Khemrys nodded. "I love you all, I am sorry that I must hang up now and call the High Lord."

"LOVE YOU MOMMY!"

She sobbed once, harshly, then reached to end the call, swiftly pulling up the other number, "High lord."

"Come home." Jean Claude noted, voice full of power.

"Of course. Beryl and the children are coming to you as well."

"Good."

She nodded, trying to breathe normally. "Permission to bring my companion, Scholar Trevor?"

"Of course, we must thank him."

Trevor swallowed at the odd duality in that tone, midnight promise and anger. "Thank you." Seemed the safest response? He waited until the call ended before he got back on the road, "are you going to be...safe there?" Because that was probably a vampire judging by what he knew?

"There is no place safer I assure you," she admitted. "He is quite wroth over this, which aids my own worries."

Okay, cool, cool. Staying open minded it was. "I'm sorry. If you need anything during...this? Rides, or an ear, anything? I can help."

She finally smiled, though it was a pained, battle weary one. "my thanks. This will be a harsh battle, but likely one that is necessary in this world."

Oh. Oh dear. That was...

...true wasn't it? "You see things too clearly here," he admitted quietly. "It must be hard. I'm sorry we're so very messed up."

She shook her head slightly, "all worlds hold both darkness and light Scholar Trevor. All. And it is of import to stand for the light if that is the side you choose."

"Still...I make a mean casserole? I can deliver dinners for you and kids like once a week?"

She rested her chin on her knees, "like it will be a great kindness. I do not know how oft I may be home in this battle."

"You'll grow sick of my enchiladas and bag salads," he promised, wondering, honestly, where he could stand with something like this. This was a battle coming. He could feel it.

Was he...ever a warrior?

That was going to be an interesting thing to think on as he drove.

Comments

[jasonpschuyler]

A part of Jean Claude missed when he wasn't capable of 'sleep', especially days like this when he felt the sun dipping below the horizon and he'd been awake the entire time it had crossed the sky. Only a part, though: he would be even more of a wreck if the sun still completely controlled what he could accomplish and when.

Especially with the children here.

Especially knowing Khemrys was on her way.

He was too restless to pretend to sleep anymore. He rose and began to dress, his hands moving by rote but not nearly as meticulously as they usually did.

[homeless_pard]

Little kids had a rather uncanny sense for when an adult was awake. Also an ability to slip away from people...

...which was probably why the door handle shook a few times before actually managing to turn and Kir stuck his head in? "Uncle JC?"

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude's gaze had already shot to the bed when he heard the door handle, but Asher had merely huffed a sigh and jerked the sheet over him and went back to sleep. Jean Claude turned to the boy with a gently chiding smile. "Come in, Kirion, though I believe I have spoken to you about entering rooms with closed doors."

[homeless_pard]

He stared at the floor a moment but then slipped inside and and closed the door behind himself before trotting over, "I'm sorry! I just...wanted to ask a question? You never tell lies!"

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude smirked. "You are certain of that? Perhaps I am simply an accomplished liar?"

[homeless_pard]

Cue the worried staring! And the slow creep of his thumb back into his mouth! He'd been losing that habit recently but backsliding was certainly understandable this week!

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude let his expression soften and he held his arms out to the small boy. "I would never do anything to cause you harm, little one. Excuse a very old man for sometimes forgetting how to speak with a child?"

[homeless_pard]

Kir stared another long moment before practically throwing himself into Jean Claude's arms, "I'm sorry!"

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude's face genuinely crumpled with concern and he drew the child close against him. "Whatever do you have to be sorry for?"

[homeless_pard]

"They took dad away because of me!" he wailed. "I don't kn-know how to fix it and they're scary!" But maybe if he said sorry to the police they'd give back dad?

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude forced his body to breathe to counter the angry stillness creeping in. "Mon caneton," he soothed, "you are not at fault. No one should have made you to feel as if you were."

[homeless_pard]

"DAD DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" So obviously it was his fault? "The lady wanted me to color on the pictures where dad hurt me!"

[jasonpschuyler]

"He did not, but neither did you. There are many who fear us, for fear is far more convenient than true understanding. And fear blinds them to truth."

His words were soothing and gentle, but he made a note in his mind to ask Requiem what became of the child advocate: he trusted Requiem had similar opinion of the woman, but he certainly had thoughts if action had not yet been taken.

[homeless_pard]

"I stood on the table!" Which he wasn't supposed to do and he knew that! "It's dumb!"

Oh, yes, Requiem had gotten a background check on the woman as well as had her routine already noted in fact. Not pleased was an understatement but she wasn't a current priority, especially before Jean Claude's say so!

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude leveled a steady gaze at the boy. "And you believe standing on the table resulted in such? I assume your father then chastised you and ordered you off the table?"

[homeless_pard]

He nodded against Jean Claude's neck, "I was bad. Dad was angry but it wasn't bad angry the police hurt him though so it was really bad!"

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude found himself swaying every so slightly with the boy in his arms. "Your father was angry? Did he punish you for what you had done?"

[homeless_pard]

He shook his head, "no?"

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude nodded seriously. "Your father does not punish you for misdeeds?"

[homeless_pard]

"Sometimes I have to clean or stand in the corner but but that's not like..." a spanking or anything?

[jasonpschuyler]

As well Jean Claude knew, but he would never not feel a tidal wave of relief for how beating a child as punishment was frowned upon by these modern parents. "Ah. So you received no punishment for standing on the table. What did your father do, then?"

[homeless_pard]

"He cleaned up the milk an' I bit my lip!" he lifted his head to show the small cut on the not so swollen now lip.

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude studied his lip and nodded. "So I see. It looks to have bled, mon coeur, and looks to have been quite painful. So instead of punishment, your father cleaned up milk that I assume was spilled when you were on the table?"

[homeless_pard]

He thought long and hard for a moment then shook his head, "I got on the table to drink the milk!" At least he was honest? "He gave me ice."

[jasonpschuyler]

Jean Claude gently brushed his thumb over Kirion's cut lip. "Ahh. Your misdeed was actually an attempt to clean up after yourself. That was very thoughtful of you to try to help your father clean up a spill. And the ice," he pretended to be deep in thought, "I have not needed such in a very long time, but I recall ice being a remedy for pain and swelling, non?"