Over Your Shoulder
Title: Over Your Shoulder
Author: kerrykhat
Fandom: The Kitty Norville Series
Rating: PG
Summary: “Kitty, there’s a woman for you in the conference room,” Ozzie called out to me as soon as I entered KNOB’s studios.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and related characters; Carrie Vaughn owns "The Kitty Norville Series" and related characters; I own nothing.
Spoilers: Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Word Count: 1016
Author's Note: Takes place after Tipping Points.
“Kitty, there’s a woman for you in the conference room,” Ozzie called out to me as soon as I entered KNOB’s studios.
“Who?” I asked dumbly. I wasn’t expecting anybody today. I already had my guest booked for this week (my first guest, to be honest. I was kinda mentally freaking out over that), so I didn’t think it could be related to that.
“She left her card,” Ozzie supplied, holding out the small piece of paper. “Said it was about the show.”
“That’s not at all bad news,” I muttered, taking the card from him and giving it a look. It was plain white, with the words, “Buffy Summers, Head, IWC” emblazoned in black. “What’s the IWC?”
“No clue,” Ozzie shrugged. “Maybe a talent agency.”
“Huh.” Well, finally somebody with a stranger name than me. Palming the card, I walked over to the conference room and opened the door. “Buffy Summers? I’m Kitty Norville,” I introduced myself, holding out my hand. “Ozzie said you wanted to see me?”
Buffy Summers, a petite blonde wearing a worn leather jacket over a green blouse, stood up to shake my hand. “Glad to finally put a name with the voice,” she replied, her smile reaching her bright green eyes. Her grip was solid, her hand calloused. My werewolf enhanced senses picked up a strange combination of scents: leather, dust, iron, and a hint of vanilla. I wasn’t sure what could create something that odd and dissonant.
There was also something… different about her, something that Wolf didn’t like. She wanted to snarl at this seemingly nice woman and warn her away. I silently hushed her and smiled back, careful to keep my teeth from showing. “I’m happy to oblige. How can I help? Ozzie didn’t say why you were here.”
Her smile dimmed and she reached into her bag to pull out a piece of paper. “Have you ever heard of Slayers, Ms. Norville?”
Huh? She didn’t look like a conspiracy theorist. “No, I haven’t,” I answered cautiously. “What are they?”
“As I’m sure you already know, given the content of your show, the supernatural and things that go bump in the night are real. Some are just your average Loose Skinned demons, looking to play a few rounds of kitten poker. Others…” she grimaced, her fingers tracing a scar on her left hand. “Others just want to destroy and kill. Slayers are there to stop them. They’re girls chosen because, well, we don’t know, but they receive an upgrade in strength, stamina, senses, you name it. All we know is that they’re chosen to fight the evil in the world, no matter what the cost.
“It used to be that there was just one Slayer, but things changed. Now there are hundreds throughout the world. Some are about my age, but others are barely teenagers when their powers start to manifest. We try to give them a choice about the life they choose, but even if they don’t want to be an active Slayer, it doesn’t mean the power goes away.”
She kept her voice tightly controlled, but I could smell her anxiety.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked when she paused, feeling a chill run down my spine. This didn’t feel like a threat, but it passed being a casual conversation long ago. “What’s your role in all of this?”
“The IWC is a reboot of an organization that’s older than dirt,” Buffy Summers answered, folding her hands in front of her. “We’re there to support the Slayers and do our best to make sure as many of them as possible survive and thrive. Sometimes, that includes protecting them from people who would want to exploit them. Right now, information on who we are is fairly limited and we want to keep it that way. The fewer people know about us, the fewer rogue agents we have trying to kidnap one of my girls.”
I didn’t miss how she started using “us” and “my”. This was beyond personal for her. The fierce protectiveness shining through her reminded me of a mother wolf trying to protect her cubs. Funny, I don’t think I’d ever seen that look in Meg’s, our alpha female’s, eyes.
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“We have a fairly decent control of what mentions Slayers on the internet, believe it or not,” Buffy Summers admitted. “But what happens if somebody calls into your show and starts talking about Slayers? What happens if people take them seriously? All I’m asking is that if anybody tries to bring up Slayers or discuss them, you shut them down or disconnect the call. Something. I need to be able to protect my girls.”
I had a mental image of a girl, about twelve, suddenly finding herself kidnapped and trapped because of something that happened on my show. I did my best to make a difference, that was the whole point of The Midnight Hour, but what if I put a little girl in danger?
“There isn’t much I can really do,” I finally said after a pause. I could see the plea in her face and hear it in her voice. “I can try, though.”
“That’s all I can ask.” She got to her feet and smiled tiredly at me. “Thank you.”
She brushed past me to leave the room and started walking down the hall.
“Wait!” I called out before she went out of earshot. I walked quickly to catch up with her before asking, “Why not just ask me to shut the show down? If it’s that big of a risk?”
She laughed, somewhat embarrassedly. “One of the girls listened to your first show and got the rest of us hooked,” she admitted. “The Midnight Hour has become a standard Friday night tradition. I didn’t want to have to explain to our cook why it got canceled.”
“Oh.” There wasn’t really much I could say to that.
“Have a good day, Ms. Norville. And thank you again.” Smiling, she turned around and continued walking, leaving me standing slightly stunned in the hallway.
Author: kerrykhat
Fandom: The Kitty Norville Series
Rating: PG
Summary: “Kitty, there’s a woman for you in the conference room,” Ozzie called out to me as soon as I entered KNOB’s studios.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and related characters; Carrie Vaughn owns "The Kitty Norville Series" and related characters; I own nothing.
Spoilers: Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Word Count: 1016
Author's Note: Takes place after Tipping Points.
“Kitty, there’s a woman for you in the conference room,” Ozzie called out to me as soon as I entered KNOB’s studios.
“Who?” I asked dumbly. I wasn’t expecting anybody today. I already had my guest booked for this week (my first guest, to be honest. I was kinda mentally freaking out over that), so I didn’t think it could be related to that.
“She left her card,” Ozzie supplied, holding out the small piece of paper. “Said it was about the show.”
“That’s not at all bad news,” I muttered, taking the card from him and giving it a look. It was plain white, with the words, “Buffy Summers, Head, IWC” emblazoned in black. “What’s the IWC?”
“No clue,” Ozzie shrugged. “Maybe a talent agency.”
“Huh.” Well, finally somebody with a stranger name than me. Palming the card, I walked over to the conference room and opened the door. “Buffy Summers? I’m Kitty Norville,” I introduced myself, holding out my hand. “Ozzie said you wanted to see me?”
Buffy Summers, a petite blonde wearing a worn leather jacket over a green blouse, stood up to shake my hand. “Glad to finally put a name with the voice,” she replied, her smile reaching her bright green eyes. Her grip was solid, her hand calloused. My werewolf enhanced senses picked up a strange combination of scents: leather, dust, iron, and a hint of vanilla. I wasn’t sure what could create something that odd and dissonant.
There was also something… different about her, something that Wolf didn’t like. She wanted to snarl at this seemingly nice woman and warn her away. I silently hushed her and smiled back, careful to keep my teeth from showing. “I’m happy to oblige. How can I help? Ozzie didn’t say why you were here.”
Her smile dimmed and she reached into her bag to pull out a piece of paper. “Have you ever heard of Slayers, Ms. Norville?”
Huh? She didn’t look like a conspiracy theorist. “No, I haven’t,” I answered cautiously. “What are they?”
“As I’m sure you already know, given the content of your show, the supernatural and things that go bump in the night are real. Some are just your average Loose Skinned demons, looking to play a few rounds of kitten poker. Others…” she grimaced, her fingers tracing a scar on her left hand. “Others just want to destroy and kill. Slayers are there to stop them. They’re girls chosen because, well, we don’t know, but they receive an upgrade in strength, stamina, senses, you name it. All we know is that they’re chosen to fight the evil in the world, no matter what the cost.
“It used to be that there was just one Slayer, but things changed. Now there are hundreds throughout the world. Some are about my age, but others are barely teenagers when their powers start to manifest. We try to give them a choice about the life they choose, but even if they don’t want to be an active Slayer, it doesn’t mean the power goes away.”
She kept her voice tightly controlled, but I could smell her anxiety.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked when she paused, feeling a chill run down my spine. This didn’t feel like a threat, but it passed being a casual conversation long ago. “What’s your role in all of this?”
“The IWC is a reboot of an organization that’s older than dirt,” Buffy Summers answered, folding her hands in front of her. “We’re there to support the Slayers and do our best to make sure as many of them as possible survive and thrive. Sometimes, that includes protecting them from people who would want to exploit them. Right now, information on who we are is fairly limited and we want to keep it that way. The fewer people know about us, the fewer rogue agents we have trying to kidnap one of my girls.”
I didn’t miss how she started using “us” and “my”. This was beyond personal for her. The fierce protectiveness shining through her reminded me of a mother wolf trying to protect her cubs. Funny, I don’t think I’d ever seen that look in Meg’s, our alpha female’s, eyes.
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“We have a fairly decent control of what mentions Slayers on the internet, believe it or not,” Buffy Summers admitted. “But what happens if somebody calls into your show and starts talking about Slayers? What happens if people take them seriously? All I’m asking is that if anybody tries to bring up Slayers or discuss them, you shut them down or disconnect the call. Something. I need to be able to protect my girls.”
I had a mental image of a girl, about twelve, suddenly finding herself kidnapped and trapped because of something that happened on my show. I did my best to make a difference, that was the whole point of The Midnight Hour, but what if I put a little girl in danger?
“There isn’t much I can really do,” I finally said after a pause. I could see the plea in her face and hear it in her voice. “I can try, though.”
“That’s all I can ask.” She got to her feet and smiled tiredly at me. “Thank you.”
She brushed past me to leave the room and started walking down the hall.
“Wait!” I called out before she went out of earshot. I walked quickly to catch up with her before asking, “Why not just ask me to shut the show down? If it’s that big of a risk?”
She laughed, somewhat embarrassedly. “One of the girls listened to your first show and got the rest of us hooked,” she admitted. “The Midnight Hour has become a standard Friday night tradition. I didn’t want to have to explain to our cook why it got canceled.”
“Oh.” There wasn’t really much I could say to that.
“Have a good day, Ms. Norville. And thank you again.” Smiling, she turned around and continued walking, leaving me standing slightly stunned in the hallway.