Kitty is aware of the irony, thanks. (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kittynorville) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} chances_rpg,@ 2025-01-03 20:30:00 |
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| Entry tags: | dc: jason todd (comics), kitty norville: kitty norville |
LOG: JASON & KITTY
Who. Jason Todd & Kitty Norville
When. July 21st; the Buck Moon
Where. around & herhunting ground
What. The deer thing freaked her out.
Warnings. talk of wolfy predator things?
"But go on with your wolfy self."
When. July 21st; the Buck Moon
Where. around & herhunting ground
What. The deer thing freaked her out.
Warnings. talk of wolfy predator things?
And then the next full moon was just as weird and Kitty’s hackles were up. She didn’t want to ask Stiles to go with her for a few reasons though she knew he would if she asked. Kitty had no question that he would drop everything and stay up all night for her just to feel safer about the whole thing and then to feel settled in the morning. Bucks and does were all around San Francisco and just in general being a nuisance. Someone with power had humor: it was the Buck Moon.
Kitty groaned and finally sent the text message.
Hey
Can I beg a favor if you don’t have plans tonight? It’s an all-night sort of thing.
Which, if Jason paid attention to the calendar at all, would make sense in a wolfy sort of way. She managed to stop herself from back-pedaling and anxiously telling him that it was okay if he was busy, if he already had plans to not cancel them. She knew he and his brother got up to weird nighttime activities and maybe that was more important.
It took Jason a few minutes to answer, but not because of any weird nighttime activities. No, it was because he was so close to the end of the chapter, just a few pages away, and he had to finish them before he could pick up his phone and check what the buzzing was. It probably wasn't that much of an emergency, right?
He clicked on the text, read over it and yelled out to Dick who was somewhere else in the apartment; Jason was in his room and not exactly keeping tabs on him right then. "Hey, Dickiebird! I've got plans tonight, you're flying solo."
I'm in.
What are we doing and where am I meeting you?
If Kitty asked, there was usually a good reason for it, and it was sort of second nature now. Making sure that she got back and forth from where she was going safely. He knew that her teeth were a hell of a lot sharper than his, but he had guns to make up for it, if there was trouble. It didn't sound like trouble though. Sounded like... a favor. Something that a friend would do for another friend.
She probably could have just sucked it up and agreed to hunt with Lestat but Kitty was being paranoid; neither she nor her wolf knew him and the last thing anyone needed was her wolf deciding now was a good time to get aggressive. The blonde blew out a breath when her phone buzzed with Jason's reply and she tucked her hair back behind an ear.
Meet me at my apartment? Not urgent like you need to run out the door. Pack snacks and a book I guess?
The whole deer thing is freaking me out and I just need to know someone is nearby tonight if something gets weird and my wolf can't get herself out of it.
And I'll feel a lot better if I know I'm walking back to someone rather than just my empty car that I hope wasn't towed for overnight parking somewhere it shouldn't have been.
There. That was all honest without sounding pathetic, Kitty thought. She scribbled out a note to Stiles to stick to the fridge and went about making up her own go-bag of food for the morning, a travel size hygiene bag, a couple bottles of water, and extra clothes just in case something happened to those, too. Her 'werewolf backpack' was ready to go in no time. Years of practice, really.
Jason hadn't put his phone down between texts, waiting patiently for Kitty to get back to him since it sounded at least a little urgent, regardless of what her next text message said. He read it over a couple of times, then his thumbs flew over his phone's keyboard.
Hey, you don't need to justify it with me. You want company, you've got company.
Fifteen minutes?
Probably better pack two books, Jason decided as he grabbed his bag. He was about to the halfway point of the one that he was on, and he didn't want to be sitting there in the car in the woods bored because he'd been wrong about that being enough.
And his guns, of course. He was bringing his guns, just in case something more sinister was up with the deer. Maybe they weren't showing their true colors until the sun set.
Kitty breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as she reminded herself that Jason had basically adopted her as one of his. She shouldn't have been so worried about judgment from him; they'd had enough of her early morning pick-ups that she should have known better. He was the protective type and even more so with people who were his and it warmed her. She texted him the thumbs-up emoji.
She was at his door within the fifteen minutes and still gave him a sheepish smile as he exited the apartment. Kitty fought down the urge to apologize or further explain, fingers tightening around one strap of her backpack. Her other hand cheerfully held up her keys and they jingled; there was no reason to take two cars and Kitty knew where they were going anyway. Jason could drive them home if she was feeling particularly hung over in the morning.
“Your brother going to be okay…?” Kitty couldn't help asking. She was aware that she was likely taking Jason away from something and Kitty had to ask in person; she had to watch Jason as he answered.
"He's fine," Jason waved her concerns off. He nodded at her keys, then started down the hall toward the... "Stairs or elevator?"
Dick hadn't even questioned it when Jason said he'd be busy. They were both as used to working alone as they were used to being a team. More, honestly, because they hadn't been on good enough terms to be a team for real the way that they'd been a team with other people, before they'd been here.
There'd been a lot of things in Jason's life that didn't even come close to comparing to the life he had here. Having real friends (aside from Roy) was probably the biggest part of that.
"Stairs," Kitty said without hesitation. She had that anxious sort of energy humming under her skin with the need to shift so moving was key. She bumped her shoulder against Jason's arm (he was more than half a foot taller) with a smile. "And thank you."
As they walked, Kitty was quiet but it was clear that she was thinking about something. It was nothing big or she would have already been talking away. While Kitty could keep secrets just fine, she was pretty good at talking with the people she trusted. This? She was simply rolling thoughts over in her head until she was ready to bring them up.
It wasn't until they were in her SUV and she was turning the key in the ignition that she seemed ready to talk. But music blasted out of the speakers because she'd forgotten to turn the volume down before getting out of the car the last time she'd used it. Kitty slapped her hand on the volume button and turned the stereo off. She kept her hand there while she waited for her heart rate to climb back down and then she laughed. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Well, at least it had been Metallica.
"My ears are only ringing a little bit," Jason joked, rubbing at them dramatically. It hadn't been that bad, really, compared to the explosions and all the other normal sounds of Gotham at night, but it was still fun to give her shit about it because that was just what Jason did with the people that he cared about.
"So..." Jason leaned his arm against the door, looking out the window. "You don't normally take company for full moons, right?"
At least, she'd never asked him to keep her company before, and he sort of figured that as one of her designated walking buddies he probably ranked decently high on the list of people that she would be willing to let tag along on her full moon field trips.
Kitty rolled her eyes, at least catching that he was teasing her so she didn't need to feel guilty. It wasn't like his ears were as sensitive as hers and she still blasted the music. It tended to settle her. They exited the parking structure and Jason's question reminded her of her thoughts.
She chewed on her lower lip and shook her head as she answered. "No. No one unless they're a were or that time when we were stuck in proximity to people. I didn't really have much of a choice in bringing Marisa along. But..." Kitty cringed. "That might change. Lestat offered. I didn't take him up on it this time because the wolf doesn't know him and he doesn't know her," she went on and her words started to speed up as she tried to fend off what she assumed were going to be words of judgment and caution and Kitty didn't really want to hear them. They weren't things she hadn't already heard or told herself. "And, yes, he's a vampire and, yes, it's probably stupid and foolish and dangerous but it would be nice to have a hunting partner and maybe feel less alone out there..."
Kitty's fingers tightened around the steering wheel with her anxiety, trying and failing to just stop talking. She missed her pack. Her wolf missed her pack. The pack that could run with her. And it wasn't that Jason could run and hunt with her; he was there to ease her stress of the whole deer issue. A scared wolf was a dangerous wolf.
"You're not used to running alone," Jason said, an observation instead of a question. It made sense. Wolves were pack animals and he'd bet that werewolves were supposed to be, too. He hadn't really known any before Kitty, but just... going by association and what he could put together in little bits and pieces. Kitty was a pack animal, period.
Which made sense why she'd want someone out there with her even if that someone wasn't another werewolf.
"Kind of a shame that there aren't more werewolves around here. Seems like you'd see more representation, but... I get it. Something that's a little like it is better than nothing at all." And Jason guessed Lestat was okay. He was friends with Q, anyway, and Jason generally trusted Q's judgement about pretty much everything.
The relief she felt at Jason's observation and subsequent acceptance of her situation, well, made her shoulders fall. Kitty hadn't realized that they had been slowly raising like her wolf was cringing until they suddenly weren't. Kitty gasped and threw her right arm out protectively as she slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a deer that bounded across the city street. It probably seemed silly to have the instinct to protect Jason but he was pack and pack protected each other. She would have done it with Stiles all the same.
The steering wheel creaked as her fingers curled more tightly around it. Her foot pressed on the accelerator again but her eyes were trained on the road for the next deer-shaped obstacle. They were raising her hackles because they were unnatural and Kitty couldn't take one down solo. "The werewolves have largely come and gone," Kitty sighed, forcing her fingers to relax before she broke something. "Enid is sweet but she's not a hunting partner."
The blonde risked a glance at Jason and she offered a smile. "So the best I'm gonna get is knowing my human self can come back to something safe while things are being really weird. I appreciate you coming along."
"Don't mention it," Jason said with a grin. "Gives me plenty of time to catch up on my reading."
And he liked the idea of Kitty having someone to come back to, even if he couldn't run with her the way that another werewolf could have done. It was a shame, but... it was what it was, honestly, and he'd do his best for her even if he was just waiting in the car.
"So, you actually hunt while you're out? Like, catching and eating bunnies?" Maybe Jason should have been grossed out by the idea of it but it was kind of cool, honestly. He wondered what it would be like, having that animal side of yourself that was somehow separate, different. That could howl at the moon and rip into warm flesh with its teeth.
Jason had enough of an animal inside him already. He just didn't have a safe way to get it out.
Kitty probably should have paid more attention to the road in that moment but at the question of hunting, she practically gaped at him. He sounded curious instead of the expected horror that so many others had reacted with. The laugh she gave was part embarrassed, part shy and she returned her eyes to the front.
"Yeah. I mean, nothing big. So bunnies and, don't tell Dee, but squirrels. Rabbits are easier to flush out in the dark. But a deer?" Speaking of-- Kitty made an annoyed noise as she came to a stop and honked at the offending animal. Deer littered the streets of the city, just ambling along and making nuisances of themselves. "But a deer needs a pack to take it down. Or at least a few wolves. Something bigger than that definitely needs more wolves. Elk, really. We don't even attempt a moose." She hesitated. "Didn't... attempt." Kitty mustered a smile and laid on the horn again until the animal moved out of her way. Her skin crawled, the wolf within becoming more and more impatient.
At least the chosen area wasn't much further.
"Huh. Cool," was Jason's response, utterly sincere. The idea of running with a pack appealed to him too, now that he'd gotten used to not being alone again. Of working together to take down something bigger and stronger than yourself. It wasn't sport if you were planning on eating it, but it was sort of sport. More than patrols were. More than the thrill of the chase that he got when he was pursuing someone across the city.
Jason didn't kill anymore. Not here. Not unless it was necessary. That was a decision he'd made to make Dick comfortable, and he didn't regret it. There was still part of him that wanted blood, though.
"Fuck these things," he grumbled. "This is the reason I could never live in the country."
That had to be more common there, right? Getting stopped by deer on the road?
Kitty grinned. "I couldn't either," she admitted. "Even if my wolf would love it."
She turned down a street that, in all honesty, looked like she shouldn't have access to. The car pulled to a stop at a gate and Kitty frowned. "That wasn't locked yesterday," she muttered and put the car in park to get out and investigate the lock. The headlights blinded her from where she would have otherwise seen Jason's expression but Kitty glanced back anyway with a sheepish look... before just breaking the lock off with one hand. The chains rattled and fell to the ground as Kitty maneuvered the gate open before returning to her car.
"I'd have left you here but we're going further in," Kitty explained as she shut the door behind herself and got the car moving again. A lock was replaceable and it wasn't like it looked like it was an expensive one. "Just up ahead and you can hang out without worrying about a light being visible. There's a jump pack in the trunk if you need to run lights or radio in here in the aux so don't worry about the battery. And then my backpack is back there with water and extra clothes." Her speech was turning anxious and rushed. The wolf wanted out. "I'm going to come back here to change, I decided. I don't... want to walk back if the deer are still an issue." Kitty looked at Jason with a wry grin. "Look away if you care about nudity."
Jason stared at her for a second, then laughed and shook his head. Sure, she could break a lock without even trying, that was... probably a totally normal werewolf thing and he was a little jealous. "I could have picked that, you know," he commented, laughter still lurking behind the words. "But go on with your wolfy self."
Nudity didn't bother him if it didn't bother her, he guessed. Kitty had long since ceased to be someone that he would look at in a sexual way, even if he wasn't dating the most lovable nerd in the world. Kitty was family, one of his now, and... he guessed nudity was probably pretty normal for werewolves, too, considering that they had to do the whole thing at least once a month in front of whoever they were planning on running with.
"Don't worry about me," he told her, voice suddenly serious. "I'll be here, waiting. Counting deer. All that fun shit. You just go run and eat some bunnies, come back and tell me about it when you're done. Deal?"
She should have remembered that Jason could have picked the lock and Kitty's face heated. But at least he was amused. When he turned serious, she gave a firm nod.
"Thank you," she said quietly, grateful. Kitty felt safer just knowing someone would be there if she needed help after turning back to human. With that, she turned off the car but left the keys in the ignition. Her phone was left on her seat and her sneakers, socks, as well as the light jacket were all left behind and safely in the car.
Pants, shirt, and underthings were all folded and left on the ground near the driver's rear door. Naked and shivering both from the chill of the air even in summer and the anticipation of shifting. "Okay! Have... have a good night!" Kitty called before beginning her shift. It wasn't an instantaneous thing and she had seen her own shift televised on national broadcast. But the sound hadn't been sensitive enough that she wasn't sure if Jason could pick up on the shifting sounds. He had likely heard worse.
And then she was off, yipping and running from the SUV to disappear into the night. It was a joyful gait rather than the wolf fleeing; she was free for the night.