Katherine Lily Peony Davenport (whitewitching) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-03-01 19:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | grayson wilder, katherine davenport |
Who: Kitty Davenport & Grayson Wilder
What: First Meetings, and gentlemanly rescues
When: March 1st, morning
Where: Jack's Diner
Rating: PG
It had been pretty early by the time Grayson slipped out of the motel room he’d stayed in the night before, hands tugging on his t-shirt and fastening his jeans to his hips before he pocketed the cash. It wasn’t much but it was enough to cover a new sleeping bag as his last one had been pretty beaten up and he definitely didn’t want to face nights on the street without a fairly decent one. He’d stopped off on the way to the diner that Billy had dropped him off the first morning after the full moon to grab himself a new one before heading into Jacks to grab a coffee and pancakes with what he had left over. He grabbed himself a booth and tucked his possessions away protectively even though nobody had any interest in him or his things but the bag was literally all he had in the world so he would, in fact, guard it with his life. “What can I get for you, darling?” The waitress asked as she approached Grayson. “Uh,” Grayson said before digging into his pocket where he soon realised he had a hole in it which of course fucking meant he didn’t have as much as he had earlier that day. “Whatever I can get for ten dollars?” The waitress gave him a bit of a look before she made a couple of notes on her pad. “What do you want to drink?” Jacks had a good deal on coffee first thing in the morning and that was if you ordered before eleven ‘o’ clock then you got a bottomless cup of coffee for as long as you were there. “Just a coffee thanks.” Another scribble on her pad and she was walking away leaving Grayson on his own. Grayson wasn't alone for long. One Kitty Davenport was sliding in through the doors of Jack's Diner looking a little harried and unhappy, heading towards the bench and looking for a familiar, friendly face that she could sit with as the guy that had been following her for the last three blocks walked into the diner behind her looking more pleased than he had any right to. It was the last thing she needed, really. Her conversation with Jesse about his succubus booty call was still fresh in her head and a raw conversation with Elijah about why that had upset her so much she just wanted to eat her entire body weight in burgers and soda and milkshake. But then this guy had appeared behind her and followed her, and she thought she'd just been paranoid by he followed her in and she saw him approaching out of the corner of her eye. Shit. Though she didn't know anyone, she did see a guy about her age sitting on his own and she did something she never normally did. She pushed off from the bar, walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, muttering "please just play along," as she slid into the booth opposite him, not looking over her shoulder to see if the guy was stopping or backing down. Grayson's metaphorical fur prickled at the back of his neck before standing very sharply on edge when some stranger, a blonde woman to be exact, pressed a kiss to his cheek and plaintively asked him to 'play along'. What the fuck? His confusion was evident but thankfully his back to the would-be stalker of Kitty's so the other man couldn't see Grayson's face. "Uh, can I help you?" "There's a guy that followed me into here, and he followed me all the way from my workplace and I don't know anyone in here," she told him quietly, eyes pleading with him to just not make a scene. "I'm so sorry, I'm not normally like this and- I'll buy you breakfast to say thank you. Please just- please just play along." Grayson frowned when the blonde admitted that she was being followed and sure he didn't really care all that much about anyone aside from himself but that? That was pretty messed up. "You want me to go talk to him?" Because he would and probably put the fear of God into the creeper. "No- no, I just- let me sit with you for a while? We can just... talk some? Like I said, I'll pay for your breakfast as a thank you." Her eyes moved past the guy opposite her and caught the attention of the waitress who came over, but as she watched she could see the man backing off a little and moving to sit up and the main counter. It made her skin crawl a little. "Kitty, honey, wasn't expecting to see you today." She gave the waitress a tired smile. "I know, Gloria, I just- it's been a bit of a rough morning. Can I get a large strawberry milkshake, a stake of blueberry pancakes and... uh- what do you want?" she glanced at the guy opposite. "My treat." Los Angeles was a really weird place Grayson concluded. It was nothing like the place where he'd grown up where it was pretty much every man for himself and if you weren't quick enough or strong enough that you just got trampled on. It was also clear that this Kitty was a regular given how cosy she seemed to be with the waitress. He glanced to his right as he clocked the guy in question, pretty easy to do for a) a kid who had pretty much grown up on the streets and b) a wolf who had something of a sixth sense for trouble. Yep, he looked like a grade-A creep. "I'll uh have a stack of the pancakes too." "Sure thing sweetie," Gloria said with a warm smile at both of them. "I didn't know you were Kitty's friend," she added, "I'll bring your coffee right out, sweetheart." She walked off and Kitty deflated, "I'm Kitty, by the way," she said, "I would offer to shake your hand but, uh, that might look a little suspicious." It was on the edge of Grayson's tongue to tell Gloria that he wasn't but then he was conscious that the creep might overhear him and realise that all of this was just one big giant ploy to get him off her back. "Yeah, it would," he offered simply and bluntly as he shifted to fold his arms across the table. "I'm Grayson." Kitty rested her chin in her upturned palm as she put her elbow on the table. "New in town?" she asked, blue eyes sparkling as she looked at him. She had a feeling he wasn't human, but it wasn't something that you could just ask outright. From behind her, the door opened, sending a breeze ruffling through the diner, causing her hair to ruffle. "I really appreciate you not freaking out. I'm so sorry." It was as the breeze caught Kitty's hair and caused it to ruffle that Grayson got the most confusing mix of scents. It made him curious especially as he'd never encountered somebody with such a unique smell about them but Grayson knew better than to let his curiosity get the better of him. "Yeah, something like that," he answered evasively as he didn't know Kitty and had no desire to share too much about his life with her. "Pretty sure you deserve a better welcome to LA than some random person bothering you when you were trying to just have a peaceful breakfast." She watched his expression shift a little, something like curiosity flickering behind his eyes before his expression hardened again. Oh, she definitely wasn't his welcome wagon to LA. That had come in the form of the CPD and a vampire by the name of Billy who had been really nice to him but Grayson was still suspicious. Nobody did anything nice just because, that was not how the world worked, there was always something they were looking to gain. "Worst ways to be introduced to a new city." Kitty laughed softly and looked up as Gloria came back with her milkshake and Grayson's coffee. "There you two go," she said with another warm smile, "Pancakes'll be out shortly." The door whooshed closed behind them again and Kitty lifted her shoulders against the breeze. "Where did you live before?" she asked, "I've been in LA my whole life, and I've never left..." She had wanted to, she had plans to, but... everything changed. "Thank you," Grayson said to Gloria as he sat back and reached for the sugar shaker as he really didn't enjoy coffee without sugar. He was struck in that moment just how forthcoming Kitty was, just offering up information about herself like it wasn't a big deal. "You'll wanna watch that," he cautioned as he looked up from adding sugar to his coffee. "Offering up personal information to strangers. It's dangerous." And there was that damn scent again. Kitty's eyebrow lifted. "I haven't offered up that much," she pointed out, but even if she did, for the most part, she was never alone. Kyle could be with her in a heartbeat if she needed him to, she lived with a werewolf. Pushing a few fly-aways back away from her face again after another breeze from the door and Kitty slumped down a little in the booth to try and avoid it. The weather was warm, balmy, but the chill was unpleasant whenever the door opened. "You're not planning on using it to murder me, right?" "Well," Grayson drawled. "I know your name is Kitty, you come here often enough that Gloria knows you by name, you were born and raised in LA and you're super friendly which I imagine is why mister creepy over there is following you as he probably misread your kindness for something else." He stirred his sugar into his coffee and took a sip. "And not that you know of, no." Kitty paused, watching Grayson stirring the sugar into his coffee with wide eyes. "You- you have a good point," she told him. "Man, I better watch that." Thank goodness she lived with a werewolf. But that was just how she was, she was kind of a type A personality and was genuine. She wanted to like people and get to know people. "I hope not, I'd not want you and my housemate to get into it." Grayson gave a small smirk at her admission that he had a good point and then he tipped his head in interest as she referenced a housemate that she wouldn't want him to get into it with. What sort of person or, rather, what creature did she live with? He could pick up wolf but there was also something else mixed in there and he had no idea what it was. "Okay, I gotta ask," he said as he leaned forward again to link his fingers together atop the table. "What are you?" Kitty's eyebrows lifted again and her lips curled up into a small smile. It bordered on impish but she wasn't the type to mess with anyone, let alone a stranger. "Me? Um, oh." It took her a moment to work out why he might have been asking her but it struck her then that she was right; he wasn't human. And with enhanced senses, he was likely a vampire or a werewolf. "I'm really not that interesting." That breeze blew past her again and she huffed out a breath. "I wish people would stop walking through the door." She tapped her fingers against the table. "I'm a witch," she shared. "So... I'm human. But I live with a werewolf. Can you- can you smell that?" Witch. Human. Gotcha. The werewolf scent now made sense but there was still something else. "Yeah, I can. I mean I don't know one hundred percent what everything is because this whole thing is new to me but I know what wolf smells like and you smell like one." He shrugged. "There's something else but I can't put my finger on what it is." Kitty frowned a little, what else could there be? She looked geuninely puzzled, sipping at her milkshake and pondering what else he might be able to smell. She even lifted her sleeve to sniff the sleeve of her cardigan. She couldn't smell anything else, other than her perfume and her body spray. She was going to say something but Gloria came back with two plates of pancakes, both piled far higher than the other stacks given to the table three booths down. "Give me a holler if you need anything," she said with a small smile. Kitty eyed the stack and pushed her plate towards Grayson. "You wanna take the top four? I'd never finish all of this and she's used to feeding me and another werewolf so she gives us both extra." Grayson's eyebrows arched when Gloria came over to their table with what looked like a small mountain of pancakes though he wasn't going to complain especially as he was starving. Becoming a wolf sucked in so many ways but no ways more than the fact it always seemed like he was hungry and trying to feed that was damn near impossible. He was grateful and thankful however that his stomach didn't take this moment to growl very loudly because last thing he wanted was for anybody else to know just how ravenous he was. "Uh, yeah, sure," he muttered as he helped himself to the four pancakes that she referenced. Kitty pretended she hadn't heard his stomach growling but made a decision that she wasn't going to finish her pancakes, so he could have the last two as well, because he was obviously hungry, he was obviously suspicious and guarded, like he'd had cause to be wary. "Thanks," she said, relieved. "I hate wasting food." She tucked her hair back and started eating. After about five minutes of the two of them eating in silence, she made a small sound of exclamation, hurrying to swallow her mouthful. "Oh! I know what it might be." Grayson tried not to guard his food because well he was in human company and also he'd been a human longer than he'd been a wolf so he was trying desperately not to give into certain... whims. It was hard though, really hard. "Huh?" He asked around a mouthful of pancakes. Kitty leaned forward and said, "Hellhound." Say what? Grayson just blinked at Kitty like he wasn't totally sure he had heard what she had just said. "The other scent," Kitty said, when it was clear that Grayson wasn't following. "That'll be what it is." "No, no," Grayson returned. "I got that much but I'm kinda still what the fuck'ing over the fact that Hellhounds exist." Kitty nodded, "Mm, they're not common," she told him. "I've never met another one. But Kyle's been with my family for hundreds of years." She tipped her head, "I'm guessing you're a..." she pointed her fork at him which had a piece of pancake speared on it, "werewolf?" "Yeah," Grayson agreed because it was what he was whether he wanted to be or not. He supposed he should be grateful that he wasn't dead like the rest of his friends. "That's what I am." He took another couple mouthfuls of pancake. She smiled, falling quiet as she ate her pancakes, until she hit the last two and she sighed loudly. "I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought," she grumbled, rubbing her thumb over her eyebrow. "I hate wasting food." She glanced up, "You wanna finish this?" Grayson's eyes slid from Kitty's face to the plate and then back to her face, not wanting to appear desperate and hungry warring against the genuine fact that he was both those things. "Uh, yeah, sure. I mean if you're not going to don't want to waste food like you said." Kitty hid the way her lips curled up a little as she looked down at the table and pushed her plate towards him, her fingers snagging on her milkshake and pulling it closer. The guy had moved away from the counter, and a glance around the diner showed that he wasn't still there. She felt a knot release in her stomach. "Help yourself." And help himself he did, spearing the pancakes with his fork and dragging them over onto his plate. It honestly didn't take him very long to decimate what remained on his plate because he could and did eat quick. Partly because food had been sparse when he'd been younger and then throughout his life so he'd learned pretty damn young that you either ate it fast or it would vanish. "The guy gone?" "Mm," Kitty said around a mouthful of milkshake. "it looks like it. I- um, thank you. Again." She didn't think he quite understood just how grateful she was that he'd not shooed her away or made a scene. She had probably been worrying over nothing, that creeping embarrassment was already starting to crawl up her spine which made her feel like she'd totally overreacted. "No worries." Grayson pushed aside his now empty plate and finished off his coffee. "I mean it's shitty that you felt you needed to seek out the help of somebody you don't know because some asshole decided it was his right to follow you and weird you out." Kitty opened her mouth to argue that maybe he'd made a mistake, that she'd overreacted, but she changed her mind and just finished off the last of her milkshake. "Yeah, I guess." She reached into her bag and pulled out a notepad, scribbling her number and her name on a ripped strip of paper and pushed it over the table to Grayson. "In case you ever wanna meet up for breakfast again," she told him, sincerely, "I think I probably owe you more than just the one." He'd finished his food and coffee so she figured he was probably looking to leave. Which was fine, she should head home anyway, since Elijah had told her if she was upset she should just go and have a day doing something relaxing. So she'd probably just go home and clean. Since Jesse was out for the day - as far as she knew - she'd have plenty of time. Grayson arched an eyebrow as Kitty gave him his number and he reached across to collect it because whilst he might not have a cellphone (because those were fucking expensive) he did know how to use a payphone. "Alright, I'll uh bear that in mind." He tucked the number away into his pocket before he reached for his bag and his newly purchased sleeping bag. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Kitty." Kitty's eyes caught the sleeping bag and she felt a cold pool of dread in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah," she started, "You too." But, as he got to his feet and started to move away, she got to her feet and took two steps to catch up with him. "Wait-" as he turned to look back at her she hugged him quickly, only a split second, and then she withdrew, lacing her fingers together. "Call me if you need anything, okay?" She glanced up at him through her lashes and then back down at her feet. "See you soon." Grayson froze as if he'd literally been rooted to that spot as Kitty hugged him, a veritable stranger, and he honestly had no idea what to do with that. "Uh, yeah," he said with a small frown and clearly confused. "I'll remember that." Not that he would do it but he would recall that if he did need anything then Kitty was there on the end of the line which was surreal to think about given that Grayson was so used to doing everything on his own. "Uh, see you later." And with that he made his way out into LA. |