step the fuck up, kyle | kyle & nell
TIMING: shortly after kyle attacked bex. LOCATION: the forest in the outskirts. PARTIES: @darkh0wl and @nelllraiser. SUMMARY: nell takes matters into her own hands when it comes to convincing kyle to let her help in his quest for control.
Kyle had explicitly said he didn’t want Nell’s help. But apparently that meant nothing to the witch as Nell followed the tracking spell she’d set into play, intent on finding the werewolf so that she might begin her entirely genius plan of helping him learn how to better control when and where he shifted. Even if it was true that he’d only hurt people twice in his lifetime, she couldn’t help but feel that disaster was simply waiting to strike with an untrained werewolf...and she’d meant it when she’d said she didn’t want to kill him. At first news of Bex’s attack, she’d been ready to greedily plunge the silver of her knife clean through Kyle’s heart. Then he’d cowered in Morgan’s basement and talked about being at fault as well as hurting his mother. She hadn’t wanted the story to sway her sympathies, had tried her best to keep her compassion from winning out in lieu of her anger, but it had become more impossible as time passed. What had happened to giving supernaturals second chances? Was she really so desperate for his blood because he’d accidentally attacked her student and friend? A part of her that was built from the memory of seeing too many die and get hurt had told her killing him was the smartest option, and perhaps that was true. Was she willing to live with the guilt down the line if Kyle continued to become a problem, adding more people to his list of injuries?
Nell’s spell came to an end, signaling that her quarry was hidden somewhere within the swath of trees and forest a mere thirty feet in front of her, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. She’d already made her decision to be here, and do her best to give Kyle his second chance. Casting another spell, she uttered the latin words that would grant her complete silence of her movements. It was necessary to catch Kyle by surprise for her plan to work. Then she set to climbing the nearest tree, using practiced movements and muscles to hoist herself up into the branches towering above the forest floor. There. She could see the black hair of his head bobbing below her from this better vantage point, and with nothing to lose she launched herself towards her target, using another bit of magic to ensure she didn’t go splat when she came to a stop not five feet in front of him, arms high as if she’d just landed one of her gymnastics stunts. “What the fuck is up, Kyle?”
A jog through the woods always set Kyle at ease. Even if he was running on two legs instead of four, the forest felt like he was returning home. He’d made a habit of these jogs enough times that he felt like he knew these woods; their ins and outs and what made them breathe. He popped earbuds in, turning on a heavy playlist to get his blood pumping, and he took off.
He hadn’t been running more than a few minutes when someone was falling from above and yelling at him. Kyle couldn’t understand what was being said over the music that blared in his ears. His heart was already beating fast, but now it threatened to tear right out of his chest. He could feel the damp hair at the back of his neck standing on end. He fell back in surprise, landing on his butt. His mind was already panicking, running through a thousand scenarios all at once. It took a lengthy moment before it fully clicked with Kyle who he was looking at.
“Nell,” he growled, through gritted teeth. Breathe, Kyle. Just breathe. But he couldn’t catch his breath. Why would she surprise him like this? She knew— It dawned on him that this was what Nell had been planning to teach him restraint and control. His chest heaving, Kyle closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. He could feel it already. Breathe. But it was happening and he couldn’t stop the wolf once it was in motion. “Nell!” This time he was yelling. Kyle’s hands dropped to the ground and he gripped handfuls of dirt and the detritus of the forest floor. He just had to breathe.
Nell couldn’t help but take Kyle’s instantaneous reaction as something that was almost validating. Maybe he hadn’t mauled that many people over the years, and maybe he’d just gotten lucky. She supposed people didn’t usually fall out of trees in front of one another, but that wasn’t to say that more surprising things could happen in the day to day life of a werewolf. To be honest— she hadn’t expected his reaction to be so visceral, thinking that her surprise would simply get his heart-rate pumping healthily, and they could go from there. Instead it seemed as if he’d already begun his shift, and she knew that once that had been set into motion...there was generally no going back.
“Well...I guess we just have to wait for you to finish now,” Nell commented with a somewhat miffed expression, already amending any future plans she had for helping Kyle with his control. Note to self: Must begin with something that causes less stress than falling out of a tree in front of him. Depositing another spell onto her person, she prepared herself to climb the tree once more, this time aided by the advanced speed the magic would grant her. “I’ll just wait up here, alright?” Then she was sprinting back towards the tree she’d come from at breakneck speed, readying herself to climb it once more. At least then she wouldn’t have to hop around dodging him while he worked this out of his system.
Kyle was pissed to say the least. Nell had gone against his wishes and forced him into a shift before he was good and ready. His last coherent thought was of her words. Irresponsible, she’d called him. Hypocrite. He let the anger wash over him, almost relishing in the feeling and the justification that came with it. “Nell,” he yelled again, but this time her name turned into a roar in his throat. He sat there for a few moments, panting, before his nose reminded him that there was prey to be caught. Shoving himself to his feet, Kyle shook out his coat, black and wavy like his hair. He licked his lips, salivating at how close his prey still was. Kyle stalked forward; head low, eyes locked on Nell. Her back was turned as she started her ascent up the tree and his predator instinct told him she was vulnerable. Carefully, quietly, he came closer. Kyle began to circle her, coming toward her side for a better angle on her throat. He tensed, ready to strike. After a few moments, he leapt at her with his teeth bared.
“Sorry- I don’t really speak wolf,” Nell commented as he roared, perhaps too unperturbed while being faced with a beast that was intent on ripping her throat out. But after five years of traveling the world to deal with supernatural threats, bringing in fighters for the Ring, and continuing in her line of supernatural bounty hunting— she was decently desensitized to danger when it was only her life on the line. With no other collateral damage present it was easy to slip into the ways her body knew well, as if it were another day at the office. “Ah, ah!” she tutted as Kyle leapt, turning from her spot on the tree to extend a hand in his direction as she balanced herself against the trunk, magic sprouting forwards from her fingers to create an invisible shield, one that most creatures tended to slide off of. “No! Down! Bad!” Then she began climbing higher, doing her best to get out of werewolf jumping range. “So...how long do these usually last for you?” she asked the wolf, knowing Kyle had no way of actually responding, or perhaps even properly understanding.
Kyle bonked off the shield, dropping back onto the ground sideways with a thump. He snarled and staggered back to his feet. Circling around the trunk again, he repositioned himself. Every time Nell shifted, he shifted with her, always a step behind. Trying a new tactic, Kyle stood on two legs, with his front legs braced against the tree. This time, he leapt straight up. His claws dragged against the bark looking for purchase. He only managed to slow his descent before he was back on the ground. With a frustrated huff, Kyle tried again, using his claws to drag himself upward. He got within a few feet of Nell’s feet as he snapped at the air.
Nell couldn’t help but think that Kyle looked a lot like Taki braced against his favorite scratching post while the werewolf stretched himself along the tree. Unfortunately, the differences were that Taki wasn’t a werewolf, and he also didn’t have any desire to kill Nell. Maybe this would actually be a little cathartic for Kyle in the end. He could get his anger at her out in wolf form, and then they could actually talk and work together on a plan for monitoring his control. An “oop” of surprise slipped between Nell’s lips as Kyle made attempts to reach her once more, his latest method getting him closer than any other one had. But she simply continued to climb all the higher as his jaws snapped somewhere below her, letting the speed of her magic grant her another few meters up the tree. “Maybe I should have figured out how you usually come out of shifts before doing this…” she mulled thoughtfully, wondering how long she might be stuck climbing a tree. Maybe if she...fed him? If she gave him something to sate his bloodthirst, he might change back? Leaning against a branch of the tree, she summoned a large steak from the inside of her fridge at home, the meat cut magically blipping into her hand as she waved it for a moment. “You want this?” she asked before letting it fall towards Kyle’s open maw.
The steak smacked Kyle in the face as it fell, and he dropped from the tree with it. He nosed at the meat, not trusting it at first. He glanced back up at Nell again. She would be a much more filling meal, but the meat was right there. He snapped the steak up in his maw and darted away to feast on his prize where Nell couldn’t take it back from him. Once he was far enough away that he felt safe, he lay down on his stomach with his hind legs splayed out behind him. Kyle gnawed at the steak with the side of his mouth, thoroughly enjoying himself. His tail wagged slowly, Nell all but forgotten in the tree.
He splooted. Kyle had taken the steak and sat himself in a sploot. Nell could barely contain her amusement as she watched Kyle drop into a pose that was nearly infamous for being one of the absolute best canine poses of all time. If she hadn’t been vaguely worried about the concept of exposing Kyle as a werewolf to anyone that might come across her phone, she would have taken a picture then and there- if only to show Kyle once he was back in the mind of his normal self. And maybe Morgan. And Mina and Bex too. And definitely Taki. Either way, she was pleased that he’d taken the food, and let herself drop a bit closer to the ground so that she could get a better view of him. “So are you...feeling better now?” Food calming him down was something to work with, right? Maybe there was something in that to help with releasing himself from his shifts faster. “Did you want more?” Would that help him return faster? Nell decided that Kyle was much more likable in his werewolf form when he couldn’t talk.
Nell addressing questions to Kyle only earned her a half-hearted growl. He turned farther away from her, but not far enough that he couldn’t keep an eye on her. Turning his back was a sign of trust and he didn’t trust Nell. As he ate, his heart rate began to come down. A full belly always calmed him; it made him a touch sleepy. That, and the exertion of trying to catch Nell, and Kyle was halfway to being himself again, or at least his human self. The concept of self, when he could conceptualize it, was complicated. He was a wolf for sure and felt connected with the wolf. But he had all these human emotions that he didn’t know what to do with. The wolf was easy; there were no emotions to deal with, just instinct alone. The same instinct that had nearly killed Bex, that had wanted to kill Nell just a few moments ago. All that ebbed away slowly now as he settled considerably.
Before he was fully aware what had happened, Kyle was coming to his senses and shifting back. The steak gone, he was half naked, laying on the forest floor, his clothes in tatters. “What the f—,” he mumbled before spinning around and looking up in the tree. “Nell.”
“Hey Kyle,” Nell waved a lazy hand in greeting from her perch on the tree, legs swinging in the air as she looked down at him. She carefully averted her eyes from going anywhere below his waistline, figuring the young man was already upset enough by the recent turn of events. “You don’t happen to have any clothes nearby, do you? If not I can just get you another blanket or something.” That’d be easy enough to summon from home- just like she’d summoned the steak. “So did you wanna come up here, or should I go down there?” she asked as if she were requesting his preference on what he wanted for dinner. Part of her wanted to gloat to him that she’d been right- if she’d been anyone else less equipped to deal with werewolves she’d most likely be dead meat by now. But even she knew that you caught more flies with honey, and though she wasn’t exactly the sweetest bait in the world, she could at least be sure she wasn’t straight vinegar.
Kyle wanted to kill her. Not the wolf brain, but the coherent, thinking human brain. He wanted to make her eat her words. Instead, he took a deep breath and sighed. “I, uh,” he stammered, covering himself as best he could. He was dazed from changing and then coming to so abruptly. It left him foggy. He cleared his throat. “I have a change of clothes in my car. Can you...poof them here or whatever?” Nell was probably feeling pretty justified right now. She was probably gloating to herself in her head. That thought made Kyle take another deep breath. His body ached from the pain of the shift and he couldn’t do that again now. Steak or no steak, he didn’t have the energy to push it like that again right now. Nell didn’t need to be proven right again; once was enough.
“Where’s the car?” Nell asked, needing a bit more specific of an area to work if she was going to summon the clothes. “Then I can ‘poof’ then,” she said while raising her hands to form little quotation marks with her fingers. “And what kinda clothes are they?” The more details the better when she was summoning from a place she wasn’t exactly sure of the location of. Nell paused as she waited for his answer, her feet still swaying in the air as she sat comfortably on her branch. “You never said if you wanted to come up here or the other way around.” Her change in demeanor from their last two encounters might have been...puzzling to say the least, but this was simply a part of reminding herself that Kyle wouldn’t want to work with someone he hated. “So did you ever message those people you said you were going to message?” That was an easy enough transition into what she really wanted to talk about.
“It’s just outside the woods, parked on the side of the road. It’s a silver Jeep Cherokee.” Kyle crossed his legs, trying to give himself any semblance of respect. “The clothes are in my back seat. It’s a gray hoodie and black sweats.” He could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. What was Nell’s angle here? She’d pushed him to his limit the last time they’d spoken. Before that, she nearly killed him. Today, she’d pushed him well past his limit. Did she feel bad for him? That made the anger he held worse. “I don’t really care if you come down here, can I just have my clothes?” He needed to buy a new pair of shoes. That was two that he’d lost already. This shit was stupid expensive. Maybe Nell was right… Kyle grit his teeth. He didn’t want her to be right. If he’d learned anything from his altercations this past week, he’d learned that it was better if he stayed away from anyone he cared about. It was better if he kept everyone he knew at an arm’s length or longer. “No, I didn’t fucking message them,” he spat. He didn’t even mean for it to come off aggressive, but Nell was just messing with his head. She had to be. This was one of her control lessons, and Kyle wouldn’t let her win. Not like this.
“Alright, hold on,” Nell said as she began to climb higher up the tree once again. She ascended until she could see above a good portion of the forest, looking in the direction Kyle had talked of and she could see a silver car like the one he’d described. After a brief moment of concentration and sparked magic, the clothes were in her hold. This time— instead of descending normally she uttered another piece of magic that would grant her the ability to fall slowly from the great height. She dropped no faster than a feather to the ground, landing gracefully as she held the clothes out to Kyle, signaling that he should come and grab them. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna look or whatever,” she said while pointedly turning her head away from him. Dealing with Kyle was obviously going to be tricky based on the way he spat about not messaging other werewolves. She needed to boil him slowly- like a frog. Unfortunately...patience and doing things slowly wasn’t Nell’s strong suit. “Kyle…” she began to speak as collectively as she was able to, “I don’t understand how you plan to not become dangerous if you don’t talk to other wolves.” Perhaps somewhat wisely, she chose not to tell him that she’d messaged Ariana for him.
Kyle’s blush had crept all the way up to his ears. He was a deep pink by now, as he awkwardly got up, still covering himself, and took the clothes from Nell. He turned his back to her. Quickly and rather clumsily, he pulled them on, only turning around when he was fully dressed. “Thanks,” he mumbled, the residual anger audible in his voice. He tried to take a deep breath, but it came out shaky. He didn’t want to lose it again on Nell. She seemed like she was genuinely trying to help him now. Not that he wanted, or needed, her help. But she seemed to be coming from a good place. That was enough reason to try to chill out for a second. Still, when she spoke, sounding like she was trying to talk down a wild animal or a particularly cranky toddler, he grit his teeth. Kyle had to take a second breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, and this time it was steadier. “I want to talk to other wolves. On my own terms. Things have been-- It’s complicated. I’ve been focusing on Bex, like I think you should. I want to make sure she’s okay after I-- after what happened.” He couldn’t let himself think about his claws in her chest, or the way she screamed. He hadn’t been able to close his eyes without seeing it--seeing her on the ground beneath him as the streetlights flickered. Kyle’s eyes squeezed shut and he took one more breath, trying to forget for only a moment.
Nell shrugged off his thanks, knowing she probably didn’t really deserve it after being the reason he needed new clothes in the first place. But now that he was decent, she strode closer to him so that they could have an actual face to face conversation. It wasn’t until she was stood directly in front of him that she remembered he was a decent chunk taller than her. Suddenly she wished that she’d insisted on him coming up to the tree. At least they would have been roughly the same height sitting in it. On second thought maybe she should go back to the tree. Then she’d really be taller than him. It took a long moment for her to remind herself that there were more important things at stake here than her feeling tall, and finally she remembered to address why she’d come here in the first place.
“I’m not trying to be a dick, Kyle,” Nell began, doing her best to keep her frustration from getting the better of her. It was easier now that the Bex incident was a little more removed. “Focus on yourself and then Bex. You can’t do shit for Bex if you’re still worried about whether or not you’re gonna rip her to pieces. And thankfully I can focus on more than one thing at once,” she insisted, having no intention of letting this go. “I can take care of Bex. And so can Morgan and Mina. And then so can you once you figure out yourself.” But she recognized that look in Kyle’s eyes, had seen it in the mirror on more than one occasion while she wondered whether or not she was more of a risk factor than not. “Listen- if you don’t wanna be a liability, and don’t wanna feel the way thinking that makes you...feel...then you have to do something to make sure you’re less of one. And running off into the forest and refusing help isn’t gonna be the thing that does that.”
Kyle had forgotten that Nell was so short. She seemed far less intimidating when he towered over her like this. He was glad she’d come down out of the tree. Their height difference had Kyle’s lips pulling up halfway to a satisfied smirk, but the conversation they were having was serious enough that he pursed his lips instead. “I don’t want you to focus on me. It’s--I don’t like it. I don’t deserve anything from you.” He looked away, fingers trailing through his hair absentmindedly. “I don’t want to be a liability. I’m just--it’s hard. It’s complicated. I’ve never had a super tight hold on my shifting, but it feels like I’m slipping more and more. And I don’t want to, but…” But what if he lost himself? Or was the wolf who he really was? How do you separate what you are from what controls you? Kyle sucked in a sharp breath and looked back up at Nell. “Have you ever done this? With another wolf, I mean. Have you ever taught someone else control?” If she said yes, he had follow up questions. If she said no… Kyle was already resisting the urge to run off into the forest, even if Nell said it wouldn’t help him. It felt like it would do something.
Nell’s eyes narrowed briefly as she took in his smirk, resisting the urge to try and smack it off his smug little face. She was trying to help now. Not get him to shift back. Obviously that hadn’t worked out the first time. “I know you don’t want me to focus on you, but someone has to.” Kyle wasn’t a responsibility she’d wanted after seeing the way he’d hurt Bex, but she’d thrust it onto herself nonetheless. “If it’s slipping, then we’ll find a way to make it un-slip. You’re gonna stand a better chance if you just let people try and help you.” She was speaking as calmly as she could. It was easier to be rational when she hadn’t just finished healing the wounds that might have killed Bex.
“Not...technically a wolf, no. I was preparing to at one point, though.” He didn’t need to know that the wolves she’d been worried about controlling had been herself and Adam. That had been almost six months past now, but Nell still remembered how they’d worried about hurting the people they didn’t want to hurt. She still worried about that, though not in the terms of a wolf. Their bites had turned out to be null and void with loup garou being unable to turn others into werewolves. “And I’ve tried to help other supernatural people learn control. I know it’s not exactly the same, but it’s something— and you need something, Kyle.”
Kyle’s skin crawled with anxious energy. The way he saw it, Nell was mothering him and that felt bad. He didn’t like that at all. So she’d never done this before and Kyle was her wonderful little guinea pig. Great. Nothing could go wrong there. He pulled at the strings of his hoodie and worked his jaw, trying not to look at Nell. “I think I’d do better on my own,” he started. “But clearly you’re not going anywhere, so I guess it’s fine.” He sighed deeply. “We gotta set up some ground rules, though.” If he was gonna be stuck with Nell, he might as well have some agency in the agreement.
“First off, you cannot jump out of trees at me. Or jump out from behind a bush. Or--just don’t jumpscare me, okay? That wasn’t enjoyable for either of us and you’re gonna get someone hurt doing that.” He couldn’t shake the what-ifs that circled his mind like hungry vultures, preying on his fears. What if Nell hadn’t been as fast as she was? What if he’d been better at climbing the tree? What if he’d bitten her or attacked her like he’d attacked-- “Secondly. No more bringing up shit that I’ve done and holding it over me. Like my mom. I know what I did. If I want to talk about it, it’s my decision. Not yours. Same with talking to other wolves. I don’t need you to talk to them on my behalf or anything. I’m--I’m working on it.” Finally, he looked back over at her, jaw locked now. The urge to kill her still gnawed at him, but he was pushing it down. It helped that she was short. He could take her on, but he didn’t have to. Not now.
Nell had already opened her mouth with a retort hot on her lips to argue against why he wouldn't do better on his own. But the words were stopped in their tracks when he finally seemed to grant her a little bit of wiggle room when it came to helping. “You know it’s really good that you recognized how stubborn I am now. Otherwise this could have gone on much longer than it needed to.” She was certain she would have won anyway, but it was nice that they could skip over the rest of the back and forth. The witch barely resisted rolling her eyes at the mention of ground rules, trying to remind herself that she guessed it was far for Kyle to have some autonomy in the situation. “Sure- fine, alright.” The battle of getting him to accept her help had been won, so she could let him have this moment.
“To be fair I didn’t think you were gonna get that close to shifting by me just jumping out of the tree,” Nell rebutted. “I wasn’t trying to make you shift off the bat. So yeah- now I know you’re a little too jumpy for that method to work.” Apparently she couldn’t just roll over for the rules he was setting down, talking out her reasons as to why she would accept them. “I don’t want you to worry about hurting me, though.” It probably came off as cocky, but Nell was confident in her abilities to dodge a hungry werewolf and tell the tale. After all, she’d done it on multiple occasions before. “I don’t want that to get in the way of us working on your control, I mean.” His second rule left her feeling a granule of guilt, realizing that her online attempts to talk about his mother hadn’t come off the way she’d intended. “I wasn’t...trying to hold it over you. I was just...trying to help.” Still, her natural inclination to go against anyone instructing her on what to do was beginning to kick in, making her want to balk against the authoritative tone he was using. “For the other werewolves thing...it might be a little too late for that,” she mumbled, as if doing so might prevent him from hearing.
Nell really made it so much harder for Kyle to push down the urge to kill her when she went against every single thing he said. “Can’t you just--,” he snapped. He had to take a deep breath, focusing on the tree tops and trying to follow single branches all the way back to the tree. Anything to keep himself from either losing it again, or yelling at Nell. After a moment’s pause, he spoke again. “Can you please not argue every step of the way?” he asked, voice much more steady this time. “I’m sincerely trying with you right now, and you’re making that especially hard. There are some things I’m just not ready to talk about with you. Not right now. And I hope you can respect that instead of justifying why you did it.” Everything Nell said was a justification of why she had done the things he was asking her not to do. Kyle knew this was probably the closest thing he was going to get to an apology, but that didn’t help the frustration he felt. Nell was easily one of the most aggravating people he’d met in White Crest. Whether or not she did that on purpose, he wasn’t sure. He opened his mouth to keep going, but Nell dropped on him that she had apparently already contacted another werewolf for him. Aggravating. Kyle’s mouth snapped shut and he closed his eyes. He just had to breathe, Nell meant well. She was coming from a good place. She didn’t mean to piss him off. “Who did you contact?” he asked tersely, voice low. He just had to breathe.
“I’m not-” the words had left Nell before she could stop them, her gut reaction wanting to make her argue back when it came to whether she was, in fact, arguing or not. Thankfully she finally managed to catch herself, and bit off the reply before it could fully fly. She didn’t agree with his words, but she didn’t refute them either, giving him a look as if to say ‘See? I’m not arguing.’ But the word justifying didn’t sit quite right with her. Not when it left such a hypocritical taste in her mouth. So that was the end of her silence. “I’m not trying to justify things which...sounds like a justification but- I just...wanted to explain. Not saying that they were...right or anything.” She was just lacking when it came to making people she didn’t know all that well understand. Generally, Nell could go one of two ways when it came to getting to know people. The first was that of her being an acquired taste, with the person slowly getting used to the witch with time and hopefully patience while she figured out how to mesh with them. The second was when they were drawn to her recklessness and spontaneity, seeing an opportunity for fun in the young woman that often wore off in them sooner rather than later, making her into something of a temporary novelty until people got tired of it. As for the other werewolf. “Well...I don’t know if you...know them,” she began, having the decency to look at least a little charginned at the fact that she’d already gone against his wishes. “It was just one, though!”
“Just one,” Kyle parroted. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, though. Why didn’t you at least ask me first? Depending on who it is, I might know them. Who was it?” If it was Alcher, that was a whole can of worms Kyle didn’t want to get into. Honestly, she scared him. She was intense to say the least. If it was Ari who was contacted, it was a little better, but Kyle still didn’t want her to know that he wasn’t totally in control. He’d worked so hard to keep that under wraps. He’d worked so hard to keep himself in some semblance of control. Ari didn’t need to hear from someone else what had happened. Kyle barely knew her as it was. If it was another wolf entirely, that was just embarrassing. What a great first impression to make. Hey, I’m Kyle, the guy that almost killed that witch in the alley. I’m sure you’ve heard all about me. That would go off great. “Just… Can we--can you--work on it? Otherwise, I don’t think this is gonna work out. I need to have some kind of agency in this whole thing, you know?” There was a sinking feeling that things would still not work out for them, but he tried to push that down with the murderous intentions. This had to work, or Kyle had all but run out of options.
“I- well-” Nell didn’t have all that good of a reason other than the fact that she’d still been functioning off the sense of urgency that came with seeing Bex torn into bits, and thinking a little too much about how fragile an untrained witch could be if attacked by a werewolf...again. “I don’t know,” she lied, not exactly all that willing to let Kyle peek into the place where she kept her trauma and the worries it caused. “I was just...worried.” It was a shitty answer, and he deserved better than that. She just wasn’t sure how to give it to him. “But the wolf- her name starts with an A...and ends with A.” Nevermind the fact that she hadn’t actually heard back from Ari, yet. “So if you know a wolf like that, it’s probably her.” He was asking the bare minimum of Nell, and she mulled over his request for a long moment as the two stood in the forest. Agency was a big part of learning control, wasn’t it? You couldn’t learn control unless you felt in control. That’s what she’d been trying to achieve with Bex. Shouldn’t the same apply to Kyle? “I can...try,” she acquiesced, not all that certain of how successful she might be with the endeavor. “But I might not be great at it so- you might have to be a little...patient.” It was something else Kyle shouldn’t have to deal with, but he deserved a warning, didn’t he? Now that she was feeling less combative, she longed even more for her tree and the security its height granted her. “Now...do you wanna sit in the tree or not?”
Kyle understood. Nell didn’t need to say more for him to get what she meant. She was trying to protect Bex. She was probably trying to protect Morgan, Mina, herself...countless other people. He couldn’t blame her for that, but it left him feeling helpless all the same. His situation felt out of his hands in more ways than one and he didn’t know how to reconcile that. Solemnly, Kyle nodded. It sounded like Nell was talking about a different wolf, he guessed. Alcher didn’t end with ‘A’ and neither did Ari. Wait, was Ari short for Ariana? He groaned softly. That would be his luck. Fuck. “All I’m asking of you is for you to try,” he said, nodding. Christ was he tired. Nell wasn’t only aggravating. She was exhausting, especially after a shift like that. “I can be patient if you can try,” he agreed. “Let’s sit in the tree.” They had a long road ahead of them.
“Great. Then I’ll try,” Nell repeated with a nod, still not sure how the beginning of her butchered attempt to help Kyle had enced them here. She should have thanked him for the offer of his patience, but even that felt too personal, making her feel a sense of vulnerability she wasn’t quite sure she wanted around Kyle. So instead she made her way back to the tree, climbing past the scratch marks Kyle had made against its trunk until she was sat on one of the lower branches, waiting for the werewolf to join her. Once the two of them were settled, her feet began to swing all over again, and she turned to the man beside her as the stiffness of her shoulders dissipated in the slightest. “So...what the fuck is up, Kyle?” She wasn’t sure where they’d end up, but at least they’d begun.
