Supercat prompt: Kara can fly across the world in minutes, obviously she goes to foreign places on a semi regular basis. She has a restaurant in Scottland that has a dish so similar to her favorite Kryptonian dish that when she’s upset she’ll go there to decompress and get comfort food.
Only this time Kara turns around to come face to face with Cat Grant, hands on her popped hip as she waits for her former assistant to explain just what she’s doing in Scottland when just this morning she tweeted from National City.
It’s the texture that really gets her. The taste yes, but oh Rao, the way it feels when she bites in. It’s so similar to larqk that she felt a little sick the first time she tried it. It had been a kind of accident. A dare. She was flying over Scotland with Kal-El one evening and he got this mischievous look on his face, because they’d just saved a school of whales. That was worth a feast, of anything was. They’d eaten their way through several cakes and other kinds of meats when he got that look in his eye again.
“It’s a delicacy…” he smiled. “Come on.”
“Sure. But what’s in it?”
The fun had ended when she took one bite and burst into tears. Even after she got him to try it. Please, try it. He couldn’t understand.
It had this nutty consistency, like the koro beans on Krypton she thought she’d never get to try again. It wasn’t made from the same animal parts, of course. The spices were a little off. But the way they served it….
“Well, well. Kara Danvers? In the middle of Glasgow. Eating Haggis?”
“Miss Grant!”
She felt a little faint, worried she was imagining things. But it was her alright, standing with her hand on her hip, looking like she had won a bet herself. Cat didn’t wait to be asked, she just sat down. Kara nearly choked on her mouthful, swallowing to rush into an explanation.
“Oh, don’t bother,” Cat waved her away. “You tweeted from National City this morning. I’m looking forward to the explanation, though. But I think it might be more productive for you to simply continue eating.”
“Really, Miss Grant. There’s this story, and I…”
Cat sighed, looking disappointed, and Kara felt the lie shrivel up right before she could spin it. She steeled herself. she could be brave.
“Well, what are you doing here, Miss Grant?”
“Edinburgh Fringe.”
“We’re not in Edinburgh.”
Cat gave her a bored-looking glare for stating the obvious.
“Carter found this bookshop in Glasgow he insisted we go to.”
Kara grinned, suddenly. She looked around for him but Cat stopped her, with an unexpected hand on her arm.
“He’s with his minder. Even I deserve some time off.”
“Time off from time off?”
Cat rolled her eyes.
“So, why Scotland, Supergirl?”
“Miss Grant…”
“Please, call me Cat. And stop insulting my intelligence.”
Kara closed her eyes, but she felt Cat’s grip on her arm tighten. Her heart sped up. To her surprise, so did Cat’s.
“It’s ok,” Cat’s voice was unexpectedly soft. “This will be the last time I harass you over it.”
And then her hand was gone, and Kara felt suddenly cold.
“No!” she said, before she knew what she was even intending to do. Her face heated up. She indicated to the food on the plate. “It’s similar, so similar.”
Cat was watching her closely, and she hesitated, barely managing the word.
“Similar to larqk.”
“To what?”
“A delicacy,” she breathed the words. “On Krypton.”
Cat opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Not until she managed to stutter.
“Oh.”
“Potstickers are good, I mean they’re all wrapped up, they’re kind of close. But they’re not…the same.”
“And haggis is?”
Kara laughed at Cat’s bewildered expression.
“Yeah. Somehow.”
“Who would have thought,” Cat’s eyes were bright, taking her in. “I’d love to hear the story behind it.”
“I think you owe me a few classified secrets of your own first.”
Cat smirked.
“I do have a few good ones.”
Kara fought a blush, feeling nervous for an altogether different reason. She started to eat again and Cat tilted her head to the side a little, watching her fondly.
“You really just…I’m guessing flew? To Scotland?” Cat paused. “For haggis?”
“You came for some Arts festival.”
“Edinburgh is a UNESCO City Of Literature, it’s not cow stomach. Sheep stomach?”
“Well, I had a bad day,” Kara hated how her voice wobbled. “I needed a pick me up.”
“Oh,” Cat’s face fell, the teasing gone from her tone. She seemed to be struggling with how to proceed. Whether she was allowed to continue to prod and question, whether it was even something that Kara needed right now. Kara felt warmed by the concern. She gave Cat a challenging grin.
“Want to try some?”
“Hmmmm.” To her surprise, Cat grasped the proffered fork and took a bite. She frowned, and swallowed. “It’s not bad. For offal.”
Kara rolled her eyes.
“Well, I’m not a fan of lettuce wraps.”
“I’m not even sure I am, but they have an acceptable amount of calories.” Her eyes widened as a server turned up at their table, and took one of Kara’s old plates away. He replaced it with another. “How much of that are you going to eat?”
“As much as it takes.”
“That’s rather cryptic.”
“Cat…”
“I’m not asking. I’m actively not asking,’ Cat said. “But I’m offering. If you ever want to. Talk about it. We used to have some decent discussions on my balcony, if I recall.”
Kara looked up then. Cat’s expression was warm, open. It was an offer of something. Something tentative. Something real. She nodded.
“We did, didn’t we?”
For the record, I’m one of those annoying vegetarians, and have thus never eaten anything this exciting.
Tag: supercat
2×01 || 4×01
“You realize you’re turning into Cat, right?”
YES YES YES
cat: did it hurt?
kara: what?
cat: when you fell from—
kara: WHAT?! haha what do you mean- i never- ME? falling from space?? miss grant, that would be ridiculous! i’ve been here. on earth. this whole time
cat: [looks into the camera like
she’s on the officeshe owns the damn office and can have a camera crew follow her around just so she can have a camera to look into because HONESTLY, KARA…]
And lastly a different prompt I sent a while ago with another so I think you chose not to do that one, where Cat is dyslexic but she doesn’t want anyone to know, but Kara figures it out and starts switching out the font on things she hands in to Cat to make it easier for Cat to read
The best part of lasting this long as Cat’s assistant was knowing Cat entirely, inside and out. Kara could sense on-coming migraines, lunch demands, and imminent firings. She knew when to refill the M&M dish, when to pour Cat a bourbon, and when to cancel a day’s meetings. But the worst part of the job was knowing a problem without being able to fix it.
She knew about Cat’s dyslexia, despite the older woman’s incredible ability to hide the disability. She’d been there after hours, as Cat pored over documents, muttering profanity under her breath. With her super hearing, she’d heard a program on Cat’s computer reading things aloud, and she’d been in meetings where Cat claimed to not have time to read documents, so the speaker would have to summarize their point.
But what could she do? She couldn’t impose herself into Cat’s life as a personal document reader, nor could she record herself reading all the documents for Cat to listen to later. She felt helpless, which was unusual and frustrating. She was the Maid of Might, and she could do anything! Except overcome someone else’s disability for them. She sat at her desk and wished for an answer.
Then, as she’d done since adolescence, she turned to the great answerer of all questions. Google supplied her with a number of solutions. She gnawed on her lower lip and decided to wait until Cat was in a meeting to implement anything. She’d start slow, just to see if any one thing helped Cat more than others.
The first meeting, she installed a new font and used a bit of Kryptonian ingenuity to force the computer to substitute the dyslexia-friendly font for everything text-based on the computer, from documents to internet pages. Cat complained at first that someone had meddled with her belongings, but Kara had gently explained that IT had installed an update, and this was nothing to be concerned about.
There was a bit more grumbling, but then, Cat seemed to settle into her new reality. Kara waited a week, watching and taking notes, and then slipped in to install her next change. This one was a bit subtler, using a gradient of grays and blacks to transition from line to line. When Cat returned, there was no comment, although Cat did shoot Kara a curious glance on sitting down and starting her computer up.
Long days got shorter, Kara noticed. Cat left the office closer to seven than nine. Meetings went smoother as Cat demanded less from the presenters.
So, when it came time to install the last device, Kara didn’t wait for a meeting. She eased into Cat’s office during a quiet moment and held up a pen.
“Do you need something?”
“I wanted to give you this?”
Cat stared her down. “I have my own pens. I doubt I need your Bic.”
Kara shook her head. “It’s Bluetooth. I sort of had my sister help me make it. You can hook it to an earpiece.”
“What, so I can listen to the scratching of the nib on paper?”
“Well, it does write, but that’s not its primary purpose. There’s a scanner at the tip.” Kara stepped a bit closer, so Cat could have a better look. “You just run it over text, and it’ll read it to you.”
Cat’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you give this to me?”
Kara had a lie at the ready. “You’re very busy, Ms. Grant. You’ll be able to multi-task more effectively.”
Silence fell for a moment as Cat considered the offer. “Thank you, Kara.”
The use of her proper name brought Kara up short. She felt a flush rising in her cheeks. “You’re welcome, Ms. Grant.”
ok but au instead of j’onn going into catco at the black mercy and winn telling cat that there was a tick winn tells a somewhat truth–they went to kara’s apartment. and she was on the floor, unconscious. and that she’s being treated right now but they don’t know what it is
like. at that point???? where cat is still angry at kara and the last words they exchanged was cat saying that she and kara should remain strictly professional but what if the reason why she was acting so strangely with adam and “broke his heart” or even bothered writing the letter in the first place and why winn was “covering for her day after day” was because kara was sick and just worrying so much?????????
like. that would be a whole other set of problems, because if cat paid for Leslie’s hospital bill she certainly would pay for Kara’s and probably be like yeah she’s getting the best doctors I can find.
Now Winn (very noticeably Winn, not Witt or hobbit or anything else, there’s no messing around) where is Kara.
and it’s not like Winn can be like you see she is at a secret government facility with a parasite exerting 100 lbs of force stuck to her chest sucking her life away and her sister is the doctor working on her yup that’s totally legal and normal and something I can explain to Cat fucking Grant
he probably ends up nervously saying that he doesnt know, her sister’s with the FBI and was there with her when she got taken away he doesnt know where she went k bye
and probably runs out of there and a lot of his sadness and nervousness is real because now they dont have the distraction of making j’onn blend in as Kara–doesn’t have his friend’s face in front of him (even if it’s not her, it’s easier to tell himself it is, that kara’s fine).
kara could genuinely die and they have no idea how to stop it
and Cat would probably head right down to HR and get Alex’s number and start spamming her with texts and calls because where is Kara do they need help she can fly in doctors from anywhere in the world just tell her what needs to be done she’ll do it.
but Alex is radio silent, which just makes everything worse in cats head (alex is admittedly pretty damn busy) because no news is the worst news she probably starts calling hospitals and simply gets told about doctor patient confidentiality or just a flat out no again and again
and then when Alex finally wakes kara up she looks at her phone and holy fuck what do they do she has so many phone calls from Cat what do they even do how do they handle this because right now she has an even more deeply traumatized than usual kara to deal with, along with non and astra and now astra is dead who knows what kara is going back to and now cat grant is blowing up her phone and they have to come up with an excuse for what happened to kara
they probably figure the simplest lie–rooted in a kernel of truth–is easiest: kara was in a coma. They figured out what it was, and now they’re just having her rest.
but lbr cat would still probably be like are you messing with me i’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours no i am seeing her for myself tomorrow.
kara, turning on her phone: alex. alex i have 117 messages from Cat. what happened
alex, after the boys are gone: uhhhhhhhhhh so. we’re gonna have to go to the hospital the DEO sometimes uses because Winn told her you were in a coma we’ll go early tomorrow here’s more ice cream!
kara: wat
the entire thing is so awkward they gotta go to the hospital and talk to a few doctors and nurses that sometimes discreetly fix up DEO agents and have to be like so…..here’s the thing (not saying that kara is supergirl but just an agent) and in the whirlwind of stopping non and then having to create a cover story to convince cat she’s definitely been avoiding thinking about astra and the black mercy and sure physically kara is fine but she’s finally all alone as alex goes to wrangle the details out while kara is in the hospital bed she probably rapidly starts losing color because she lost all of them again. and then she lost astra, held her in her arms as she died and her friend (she thinks) was the one to do it.
which is probably when cat walks in on her, looking absolutely distraught, the kind she knows kara isn’t a good enough actor to even attempt to fake–although she cant say the same about the smile kara puts on when she spots cat because that smile is faker than max lord’s new nose
kara’s almost starts freaking out again because cat is being nice??????? cat can be kind and empathetic and righteous and wise but she is not nice–not to anyone who isn’t her sons. but here she is, insisting that Kara take time off and take care of herself more and
like…..you know have a situation where cat hiring siobhan is less seen out of spite or trying to make kara jealous and cat is like “you almost died you have to recover from that and I need an assistant I’m hiring a second one”
and so she still hires Siobhan but it’s a very different dynamic this time because like Cat Grant gets a second assistant so that the first one can relax while she’s recovering from an illness–of which she paid the hospital bills. like. instead of thinking there’s a situation with James and Kara she’s definitely like ok something is going on with Cat and Kara and tries to get on Kara’s good side as well, which Kara just freaks out about and does not comprehend (and is still jealous that Cat gets Siobhan’s name right)
but just so many different things could happen!
Supercat, Harry Potter AU
1. They’re both hatstalls. For Kara, it’s a tossup between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor; for Cat, Gryffindor and Slytherin. In the end, neither of them wind up in Gryffindor, and they thrive in their respective Houses. Cat in particular is very deliberate about wanting to challenge the assumptions people make about Slytherins.
2. Cat is a pureblood, with ancestry stretching back to the Founders. Before the war broke out in earnest, her mother wasn’t opposed to the ideas Voldemort was perpetuating; once his methods became clearer, though, she balked. She loathes that Cat is such a supporter of Muggle and Muggleborn rights.
Kara is also a pureblood, but when her parents were killed fighting for the Order during the Second War, she moved in with the Danvers family. Eliza is a halfblood, and Jeremiah a Muggle. She knows Alex a little from school, but as a first year Hufflepuff and second year Slytherin, they haven’t really spent time together. They don’t really start to bond until the first summer they spend together outside of school.
3. After school, Cat works for the Daily Prophet and quickly rises in the ranks. She resigns in protest when Fudge begins to use it as propaganda. During the Second War she uses her resources both as a journalist and as a well-connected pureblood to pass information to the Order, and she works with The Quibbler, Potterwatch, and other underground organizations to keep the public informed. After the war, she sets out to start her own media company, utilizing Muggle methods like television and the internet to modernize the wizarding media and make it more accessible and accountable. She works closely with the Ministry and particularly Hermione Granger to pass laws protecting the freedom of the press.
4. Kara begins working at CatCo Wizarding Media a couple of years after graduating from Hogwarts. She’s fascinated by the Muggle world and initially works as a research intern studying Muggle media platforms and how to integrate them into the magical world, but she makes her way up to Cat’s assistant after a few years and eventually becomes a reporter with a focus on social issues.
5. Kara is particularly gifted with Charms, Astronomy, and Magical Creatures; she’s a good Defense Against the Dark Arts student but doesn’t like it as much. Cat excels at Transfiguration and Potions, and later in life, she also campaigns for more traditional forms of education such as literature/writing, math, and world history (not just History of Magic) to be incorporated into the Hogwarts curriculum.
Kara is also a talented Quidditch player – she was Seeker at school, which led to some interesting matches against Slytherin, where Alex was Beater. As an adult she doesn’t play as much but they’ll scrimmage now and then and get super competitive. It stresses Cat out – she hates heights – but every now and then Kara is able to convince her to get on the broom with her and take her flying.
(Send me an AU and I’ll give you headcanons!)
people rag on cat but she’s the only character who’s ever tried to take kara/supergirl to a therapist (hey i think you’re having a mental break down let’s go get you to my therapist because good god you need it) so there’s that
Question of Smoke 