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Red Hood met Orphan on a rooftop three blocks into Crime Alley. His men were good, but he must have already been in the area to have intercepted her so fast. He was only the normal amount of annoyed so he was on patrol, not something more important. She'd have to tell Red Robin his patrol routes were still up to date if she found a way to do it without letting her secret slip. Hood had picked one of the few buildings in Crime Alley that still retained the gargoyles and wall around the edge from its Park Row heyday. Hopefully that meant he wasn't expecting too much of a fight.
Hood glared with his whole body, like all the Bats did, all of them used to their eyes being covered by a mask. "You know the rules about Bats in Crime Alley." he said, voice modulator adding menace to his voice while his body stated annoyed/trespasser/go home.
Cass stood tall but left her hands loose at her sides, projecting peace/not a threat/family, but also not backing down. "You were in the Pit." she said.
Confusion entered Hood's body language, "That's common knowledge," he said. "I bring it up a lot."
She frowned, "How do you hide it?"
"What do you think I'm hiding?" He threw his hands in the air, tension causing him to move but not making any move towards his weapons. "I joked about giving into Pit Rage in the cave three days ago when Wingding stole the last snickerdoodle."
She rolled her eyes letting her frustration at not being understood show. "Not that part. The part you've been hiding."
Hood stilled and he crossed his arms, protecting his chest and partially hiding the bat. Also making his biceps look bigger, but he did that all the time anyway. "What makes you think I've been hiding anything?"
She gave him the look that she had copied from Alfred, the one that said hiding things didn't work. She had other ways to say it, but her family knew this one best. "Little brother could keep his secrets, if none of the others noticed."
"Then why say something now?" he asked. The confusion was back but his arms came uncrossed a bit no longer posturing.
She wrapped her arms around herself for comfort, not consciously mirroring his position. "I don't know how to hide. Nearly hurt littlest brother when he came into my room to get me for dinner."
Hood stilled. Then he took off his helmet. His domino still hid his eyes, but his stance changed, 'Red Hood, Get out' changing to 'Jason, worried.' "When did it happen?"
Cass looked towards the skyscrapers at the heart of Gotham so she wouldn't have to see his face when she admitted, "Went looking for Lady Shiva. Died. Mother brought me back."
Not looking didn't stop her from hearing the pained laughter. "It's a good thing the rest of B's flock knows who their parents are."
She looked back, Jason was still standing tall, brave in the face of a reminder of his death that he wasn't in charge of. Sympathy rounded his shoulders and made him reach out. He walked over slowly, careful to keep himself from looming. "So you know why I'm so insistent on everybody staying out of my territory."
She snorted as she got the joke, let herself lean towards him, welcoming his closeness. "That's how? You don't hide your instincts?"
Jason grinned, pleased she had figured it out and puffed up, smug that his plan of hiding in plain sight so the world's greatest detectives don't notice he's hiding anything had worked for so long. "Nope. I tell the guys that a full moon's bad for business and make sure B doesn't know when to expect me, and I hole up in the one safehouse I've managed to keep O and RR from finding from moonrise to moonset."
She frowned again. "None of that will work. Don't have territory or a safehouse in Gotham."
"I mean, you could claim a piece of territory, maybe the area around the tower, or GCU." HE waved vaguely towards both. "And you could move out of the Manor so you didn't have to worry about Baby Bat poking his nose where it didn't belong."
"Like living at home," she sighed and sat on the edge of the roof they were standing on. She made sure to leave plenty of room between herself and the gargoyle on the corner.
"I honestly don't know how you could hide that you were a werewolf while living with other people. How has no one noticed yet?" Jason asked as he took her up in the offer and sat beside her. He sat close enough to touch, and welcomed the closeness, but let her be the one to cross that last little bit.
"Got lucky. Full moon was three days after. Was on the way back home. Landed the plane and hid while I figured out what was going on." She leaned into him the closeness soothing something deep inside her that had been aching since she woke up seeing green. "Good thing you got me those books of fairy tales for Christmas. Knew what was happening."
Jason shrugged. "Good timing then, I might have been testing the waters about telling someone. I certainly didn't think you were going to beat me to the punch."
She grinned. "Still faster."
"Not a race you anyone wants to win, but you sure are," he said appreciatively. He sat and thought for a moment. She let him think because he had been doing this longer than her, and because he obviously had figured out how to live with it. When you went to someone for training you didn't rush them. "I suppose. If you can't claim your own territory, you could try claiming the others?"
"What?" She sat up in shock at the thought.
"My guys and everyone else are allowed to live here." He waved his arm in a motion that encompassed the surrounding neighborhood. "The Alley's mine and that includes everyone that's supposed to be in it. If you claimed the whole Manor, then maybe you wouldn't be so annoyed by anyone moving around in it."
She shook her head. "Not mine. Agent A already claims it."
"Well the idea that you're going to hide this from him for much longer is pretty silly, maybe you could negotiate for sharing the claim."
"Does he know? About you."
"He knows something's up. I don't know if he knows what." he laughed ruefully, "My steaks have been a lot rarer since I started coming back around though. And there's always some type of meat on the menu. No matter how much the brat complains."
Cass thought about that and about what she felt it was important to lay a claim on. Places had never been very important, people though. Jason hadn't meant claiming people when he said claim the others, but he was obviously claiming them all the same. She carefully pulled off her glove and swiped her wrist and hand across Jason's exposed jaw and hair, ruffling it for good measure and causing the white tuft in front to stand up even higher than normal.
He squeaked and his posture changed to surprised/outraged/family, "What did you do that for?" he asked.
Cass smiled smugly, "Claiming territory. Little Brother, family. Family, pack. Mine."
"You can't just declare me Pack!" he said, outrage filling every line of his body but not heading towards challenge or offense. That would change soon enough.
"Just did. Have to go claim the others," Cass said simply as she stood up. She exaggerated the mischievous and challenge in her stance as she pulled out her grapple. "Race you to see who can claim the whole Pack first?"
"Oh, you're on," he said. Challenge/pride/claim filling his movements as he leaned over to kiss her cheek so he wouldn't have to bother with taking off a glove. The burst of warmth and contentment that happened when he did gave him time to put his helmet back on. Then he pulled his grapple and swung off to the south while she headed east.
"Good Little Brother, he knows Red Robin's patrol routes," she thought as she headed for the Bowery. " But I'll reach Spoiler first."