Who: Wondercat What: Dealing with poison gas and emotions When: July 7th Where: Diana's house Status: Complete Rating: PG-13
This new set of Dreams that Diana had been having were odd. Overall they were far less dramatic than her first set. There was no one she loved dying (yet). But they were still in the middle of a world war. It was a lot of fighting Nazis and getting captured by them. Diana tended to be left annoyed by these new Dreams more often than not.
The Dream she had tonight was little different. Only this time there was a visitor from outer space. Andros. He was to pass judgement upon mankind and things could very well end with everyone on Earth dying. Diana was going to ensure that such a scenario didn’t happen. So when the Nazis jumped Andros in the Library of Congress, Diana leapt to his immediate defense. However, she’d been taken out by a poison grenade of some sort. She was knocked unconscious.
Upon waking, Diana definitely didn’t feel good. She groaned a bit and sat up, pressing a hand to her forehead. She muttered in Greek and tried to get up, but the room was spinning around her and she ended up on the floor in a heap.
“Damn it,” she cursed in Greek.
Kitty had learned more than enough Greek to understand the cursing, and peeked out of the bathroom where she was getting ready for her day. “Hey, you okay? Okay, you’re not okay.”
She rushed over, kneeling next to Diana and checking for her pulse. It was a lot more fluttery and bird-like than Kitty was comfortable with and she wondered what could have affected Diana like this. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Dream-related, yes, but Kitty had never actually seen most of the Wonder Woman tv Series so she wasn’t sure if this was related to that or new parts of her first dreams.
Diana closed her eyes, hoping that she could try and center herself enough so the room wouldn’t spin around her so much, but it didn’t really help. When Kitty came over and took her pulse, she definitely felt sick, to say the least. It was little wonder how she’d ended up at a hospital in her Dream after that experience.
“I got hit by some sort of poison grenade. Nazis attacked and tried to kidnap someone in the Library of Congress. I tried to stop them, but I failed.” Her breathing was shallow and uneven, on par with what her pulse was like.
“Nazis in the Library of Congress with a poison grenade?” Kitty clucked her tongue, pressing her hand against Diana’s chest. “I’m not sure what that poison will do with your demigod biology in this world, but I’m also not sure what to tell a hospital.”
They certainly wouldn’t believe that story,even if it did sound to Kitty like something that could happen to either of them.
“Yes. There was an alien named Andros who was visiting Earth to decide whether or not we were too violent. If we were deemed too violent, we’d be destroyed.” Diana started to focus on her breathing, trying to breathe slower and deeper. “The Nazis kidnapped him, most likely to try and get him to give them the secrets of his advanced technology.”
She managed to sit herself up, but she didn’t dare try to stand up yet. “I should be okay in a couple hours. It didn’t kill me in the Dream, so it shouldn’t kill me here.” Or so she hoped, but Diana was a demi-goddess. Her healing should kick in at some point along the way.
“Yeah we’d be fucked, especially in World War 2.” Kitty kept her hand on Diana’s back, but let her keep herself sitting on her own. It was a good sign, actually.
“But you’re not allowed to die. So lets get you into bed and let me take care of you, okay? The Agency can do without me for a day.”
“Exactly. I was doing my best to show Andros that despite the war, there were good people here. He did seem to be more sympathetic towards humans than his kind seemed to be.” Diana was optimistic that she could prove to Andros that there were enough good people in the world to stave off the genocide of the human race, even during the dark times of World War II.
“Are you sure? If the sky starts falling or an invasion happens, you should go do your job with the Agency.” Of course, in such an instance, Diana would be able to stay in bed herself, no matter what condition she was in. She was going to protect innocent people for as long as she drew breath.
“Try not to speak that into being, thanks.” Once she had Diana safely in bed, she sat on the edge of it herself, stroking her girlfriend’s hair. “But until such time as the world stops spinning or you get better, you have me at your beck and call.”
At least this alien was sympathetic. Unlike many of the ones in Kitty’s dreams.
“I’ll try not to,” Diana quipped with a little smirk. Once in bed, she rested her head back and again focused on taking even breaths. “Okay. Thank you. I should call in to work and take a sick day. Or are you planning to keep me home and in bed for longer than just today?”
There may or may not have been innuendo there. Mostly Diana was trying to focus herself on anything other than the way she felt. She just hoped she’d get over it quickly enough so she didn’t lose the entire day to feeling sick.
Kitty gave her a look over, then leaned in and checked her pulse again. It was still a little more bird-flighty than she liked, so she shook her head. “Call in today and we’ll see how you’re feeling tomorrow. A day of resting should help but sometimes you go to sleep and wake up with crud part deux. And I do mean rest, as tempting as it is to relax you in other ways.”
Diana wasn’t sure how good of a ‘patient’ she’d be. She hadn’t exactly been sick like this before. She’d try to not be too cranky about things. She nodded a bit, reaching over for her phone and calling into work. Diana explained she needed a sick day as she’d woken up with the flu. It was close enough to what she felt like that it worked.
That done, she set her phone aside and turned her attention back to Kitty. “Even if I was in the mood, I’m not sure I’d even be up for those other ways of relaxing me right now.” Diana didn’t have the energy for it right now. Give her a couple hours and that could change, but as it was, she was more than content to just sit there.
There were worse things to wake up for, but Kitty wasn’t going to play who had it worse. They all had it worse, as far as she was concenerned. Even seeing Diana like this woke old fears she’d had about being left alone. Conveniently when she was thinking about maybe making things permanent with Diana.
But she swallowed those fears, that old worry about being cursed.
It was just a little poison gas, Diana would be okay she was a demi-goddess.
Right?
“Toast? Bagel? You should have something in your stomach though I don’t think anything heavy would be good right now.”
They all definitely had it worse, and there was little use in arguing about it. Everyone had their own gripes with the Dreams and the various happenings in Orange County, and they were all valid.
“Toast, I think. With strawberry jam. And some tea.” Yes, tea would be good to help settle her. Or so she hoped. Diana felt terrible and was only 50% certain she’d keep the toast and tea in her stomach. But she’d at least try to eat something. If she ended up throwing up, she’d deal with it then.
Kitty kissed Diana on the nose, then ran out through the wall, phasing her way into the kitchen, though careful to avoid the coffee maker this time. She tossed a mug into the microwave to heat the water quickly and started up the toast. And a few minutes later she was phasing back through the wall, toast and tea in hand.
While Kitty was in the kitchen, Diana laid her head back and closed her eyes. She kind of felt like how Bruce must have felt after he’d gotten hit by pretty much everything they’d fought, only with an overlaying sense of feeling sick. She really was loathing these new Dreams of hers where she seemed to be far more mortal than in the previous set. A single grenade or knock out gas could take her out whereas she’d been able to walk through a cloud of hydrogen-based mustard gas and be perfectly fine in the previous set.
When Kitty came back, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. “That was quick,” she commented, attempting to keep things light. She would try to keep Kitty from worrying more than was absolutely necessary, so she was hoping in a couple hours she’d be back to normal.
“Never tell my British friends but I used the microwave for the tea.” She smiled with more lightness than she actually felt, careful to set the tea on the end table and the tray with the toast onto Diana’s stomach. “You get started and I’ll uh… get you a bucket.”
“You secret is safe with me,” Diana responded with a smile. She shifted a bit so she could sit up and eat without choking. “Thank you. Hopefully it won’t be necessary, but better to be prepared.” It would be much better than suddenly running for the bathroom or something, at any rate.
Giving Diana finger guns, Kitty disappeared in search of a bucket or basin. She returned with the latter, something usually used for soaking one’s feet. She figured it would do for now and could be cleaned later.
She’d cleaned far, far worse in the past. “how you feeling so far?”
Diana worked on her toast, though she didn’t eat it too quickly. She felt that eating quickly would only increase the likelihood that she’d throw up. Still, when Kitty came back she was almost finished with the first piece of toast and had already had some tea.
“I feel like how Bruce must have felt after every fight we had, only internally and with a sense of nausea.” She wasn’t going to lie on that front.
Kitty was pretty sure that Bruce’s dump stat was wisdom, but she kept that to herself. She knew a number of high INT low WIS people Hank McCoy she’s talking about Hank McCoy, but that was besides the point.
“You know, there’s something to be said for knowing what it’s like to be mortal.”
Bruce definitely had his moments. He and Diana had butted heads for a while, but she’d eventually come to understand why he’d been pushing her the way he had. She was a natural leader, but she hadn’t wanted to be a leader again going into the battle with Steppenwolf. The last time she’d done that, Steve had died. Not because of anything she’d done, but she really didn’t take losing people she cared about well.
“Well, it could stop reminding me in this life. I was mortal here to begin with,” Diana commented, a bit of a cranky tone to her voice that was uncharacteristic for her. But given the circumstances, it was understandable that she’d be cranky.
Kitty chuckled, brushing back some of Diana’s hair as she watched her eat and listened to her crankyness, which she found to be very adorable. And she said so. “You’re very adorable you know that?”
Diana sipped her tea, peering at Kitty with a wary eye. “Am I?” She asked. “I don’t feel very adorable at the moment.” Which she didn’t. But of course, anyone in Diana’s position wouldn’t feel adorable currently.
“Well, you are, and I’m an expert on it.” Staring at her, Kitty felt a profound sense of worry and emotion. It gripped her heart, squeezing it tightly until she felt like she was struggling to breath.
She knew that Wonder Woman didn’t exactly die in her TV series.
But she also knew that she was vulnerable, at least a little bit, to whatever threats might exist in the OC. Even gods could die, and Diana was only half of one.
Kitty couldn’t lose her, and her fingers itched and she took a few deep breaths. “I love you, Diana.”
“I’ll take your word on it, then,” Diana commented as she finished her toast up and set the plate aside. Diana could already tell she was far more fallible in this new set of Dreams than she was in the first set. The first set she had yet to meet anything, other than her brother Ares, that came close to really hurting her. But in this new set, it was obvious that she was more human and her powers seemed to come from the special metal they had on Paradise Island as opposed to coming from her state of being as a demigoddess.
She looked at Kitty, reaching a hand out to her to pull her close. “I love you, too, Kitty.”
“So I’ve been thinking,” Kitty started, before trailing off and worrying at her lower lip with her teeth. It was too personal to suggest out loud. If she suggested it out loud everything would go to hell again.
Everything always got ruined when she was prepared to really commit to someone.
Diana looked at Kitty, noting the expression on her face and how she worried at her lip. There was clearly something on her mind, and it was causing her distress. She didn’t like that something was distressing her girlfriend, and she wondered if there was something she could do to help. Because focusing on anything other than how she currently felt was what she needed.
“Is everything alright?” Diana asked, deciding to go for a less confrontational approach to the subject. She wasn’t certain yet if this was a topic Diana should push until Kitty talked about it or not. So it was trying to determine that.
“What?” Kitty started, then shook her head. “Yeah, everything is fine…I just… I’ve had a lot on my mind and this probably isn’t actually the best time for this now that I think about it.”
She looked sheepish, and a little guilty.
“You can talk to me. I’d really welcome thinking about anything other than how I currently feel.” Diana noted, pushing for focusing on anything other than herself. “I don’t mind listening if you’ve got something on your mind, love.”
“Have you…” Kitty sat on the bed, rubbing her palms on her knees. “Have you ever considered what it would be like to marry someone?”
“Sometimes, yes. Though never in too much detail or seriousness because I hadn’t met anyone who caught my attention in that way. But that was some time ago, and things are different now.” Diana had entertained the thought now and then since she’d been dating Kitty, but she wasn’t one to thrust that on Kitty if she wasn’t sure she felt the same way or was ready for it. Diana was more than willing to move slowly.
Picking at one of her nails, Kitty nodded, listening. The thought of Diana rejecting the idea had never really been a worry. Not much, anyway. But in her experience, marriage and long term commitments…
Kitty had been burned so often, and it was a constant sore point for her. “I’ve been engaged before, and married you know. But in the dreams too. And they’ve died. Or they left me. Or it had just gotten ruined between us. Or it was just a bad idea. But I keep wanting it, I keep trying, and sometimes I wonder what I’m thinking.”
Diana reached out and gently took Kitty’s hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. She knew it wasn’t easy, but that was why she wasn’t pushing it either. Pushing could be both good and bad, and this was a delicate subject.
“I can assure you that I’m not going anywhere. I can’t promise that I won’t die at some point, even at my least fallible I can still be killed by another god. But I want you to know that I’m not going to push you into anything you aren’t ready for. I know it’s undoubtedly frightening to you given your history, and I am okay with taking it slow. I am okay with going at whatever pace you feel comfortable with.” She hoped that that was reassuring and eased Kitty’s fear even in just the slightest amount.
“I’m tired of feeling like … “ Kitty flailed her hands. “Feeling like I’m living half a life waiting for shoes to drop. I love you, so much so that it hurts.” She ran her fingers through her hair, which had grown out some since she’d last cut it. “You make me happy in ways I’d forgotten about, and in other ways I didn’t think were possible for me. But I’m scared of...scaring you away.”
“Believe me when I say that you won’t scare me away. I’m here, and I love you. I don’t run away from the people I love, no matter what. I stand by them.” Diana said simply. And she most certainly meant it. Kitty couldn’t scare her off.
“Okay,” Kitty said, and remembered how to breathe. She looked at Diana, meeting her eyes. “Sorry, I get like this sometimes.”
Diana gave her a gentle and encouraging smile. “Do not apologize. We all have these moments about different topics. This one just happens to be yours.” She reached out and gently squeezed Kitty’s hand.
“You’d think I’d be more confident, more… more.” She waved her free hand, squeezing Diana back with the other. “I of all people should understand how transient life is. I think that kinda of helped push me to date you, rather than miss out on one of the most fulfilling relationships I’ve ever had.”
“We cannot always help what frightens us, or how we respond to it when confronted by it.” Diana responded. Though she smiled. “I am glad that you took the chance. That and I’m sure the kids would not have let you simply not try,” Diana commented with a wink. “But there is truth to the saying that sometimes you find precisely what you are looking for without actively looking for it. I know that is true for me.”
Kitty always worried they’d be upset. And sometimes she felt like it would be justified. At least with some of her exes. Particularly… She pushed those memories aside.
Someone possessing her girlfiriend to torture her wasn’t something that one just got over.
“What do you think about the future? Where do you see yourself?”
It was a good question, and one that Diana hadn’t contemplated much before meeting Kitty. But in recent times? It had been something she’d thought about now and then.
“I see myself with you, and hopefully a more exciting job.” Diana liked her job, but a large part of her wanted to work at the Louvre. Well, a museum like the Louvre, at any rate. But the commute between here and L.A. every day would get taxing, even when she could fly.
“What kind of exciting job, hon?” Kitty understood that need. Life was too boring and too simple without some kind of danger involved. Every time she got into danger, she wondered what a normal life would be like. But every time she tried to live one, she’d get pulled back in one way or another, and Kitty wasn’t so sure she was blameless in that.
After all, she could have said no.
But if she said no, she’d be shirking responsibility.
“Working at a larger museum. I don’t mind the challenge of working at a smaller museum with a smaller capacity for artifacts, but I suppose I got the taste of working at the Louvre from my first set of dreams. I would kill to have that job in this life.” Of course she wouldn’t actually kill anyone for that job. Diana was one who tried to not kill people unless they either gave her no choice or it would be a greater danger to let them remain alive.
“France is pretty far away, but in the Blackbird it’s only a few hours,” Kitty mused, not entirely sure she wanted to pick up roots and move away. She’d considered that a few times but something always kept her here.
“What about something that involved travel?”
“I wouldn’t actually try to work at the Louvre here. It’s too far away. My best option would be a museum in L.A. But even then the commute would still be bad.” As much as Diana might enjoy being an archaeologist and going on digs to find ancient artifacts, that would require her going back to school and getting the necessary training for it.
“I don’t know, I still think the best option is L.A.” There was also San Diego, possibly, but L.A. was a larger city, and probably had a larger museum there.
“We could figure it out,” Kitty said, eyes flashing as she thought about it. And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted Diana to be happy. “I want you to do something that you love, that’s fulfilling and exciting and not some sleepy little museum, as nice as it is. We can figure it out, together.”
“Alright, I like the sound of that.” Diana responded with a smile. She had looked into L.A. initially when she’d thought about moving to the U.S. for work, but nothing had really caught her eye there. But taking another look at what was around wouldn’t hurt anything.
Kitty came to another decision, but this one she kept to herself. She needed to let it marinate in her mind, needed to see if she truly wanted it or if it was just an impulse. An impulse that had been spending months in the back of her mind, but an impulse none the less.
That, and she needed to find a ring.
“Come here,” Diana said, holding an arm out to Kitty, inviting her to snuggle up to her. She felt like being a snuggle bug at the moment. And it did seem that she was keeping the toast down currently, so that was a good sign that she hadn’t immediately thrown it up.
Like the cuddle-whore she was, Kitty slipped into Diana’s arms. It felt nice to be held, to be the one supported. She sometimes forgot that she herself needed that on occasion.
It didn’t hurt that this position allowed Diana free range access to her hair, either. She didn’t deserve Diana, but she was selfish enough to not argue it. “I love you.”
There were times when Diana almost vocalized how Kitty could live up to her nickname. This was one of them, but she didn’t point it out. Instead, she held her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before she started running her fingers through her girlfriend’s hair.
“I love you, too,” she responded, enjoying the closeness.