9481/The Cat and The...Other Bat

The Cat and The...Other Bat
Date of Scene:	05 October 2019
Location:	Central Heights, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	Under the guise of scouting out some activity at an art gallery, Catwoman and Batwoman meet.
Cast of Characters:	Batwoman, Catwoman

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Batwoman has posed:
Old Gotham. Midnight. The gala at the Gotham Art Museum is just concluding, with streams of guests filtering out through the various exits. Perched discreetly on the roof of the museum, a dark figure watches the guests as the parking valets do their job.

Batwoman isn't necessarily looking for trouble tonight, it's more that she's finished her usual patrol for the evening and thought she'd kill some time. Crouching back from the roof's ledge, she sips a coffee while she watches.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman is pulling a little double duty tonight, so to speak. Some time at the gala as Selina Kyle, rubbing elbows with some of Gotham's wealthiest, but also some of the criminal element looking to wrap the tentacles of their organizations more firmly around certain parts of the city.

Now, a rooftop across the street from the art museum, watching, waiting for the crowds to let out. Where she'd stashed her costume, only she knows. It was a discreet place with an easy escape into the night to take up her perch. She is well hidden against the backdrop of the night, but not impossible to spot if someone is looking in the right place. The building across the street is of a similar height.

Batwoman has posed:
Having a visor that scans multiple spectrums, including infrared, certainly makes it easier for Batwoman to monitor her surroundings. And in this case, the nearby rooftops as well. Admittedly there aren't many who roam Gotham's rooftops, and fewer still who are female.

The infrared silhouette is pretty distinctive on certain points.

Perhaps because it's a slow night, or maybe because Kate is just feeling adventurous, but her reaction isn't completely what might be expected. She rises slowly to her feet, offering a wide and jaunty wave to the woman on the other building.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman's focus is lower, initially. She's keeping tabs on some of the people on the way out, making mental notes..but also utilizing her goggles to take some enhanced snapshots of a few in particular. "Falcone, Maroni, Sabatino..that's a lot of the families in one place," she muses under her breath, allowing herself a slow, languid stretch as she moves over to another spot a few feet away for another angle into an alley.

Then, a bit of motion caught out of the corner of an eye, higher up, closer to her level. "Eh?" Someone atop the museum building, trying to get her attention? She squints over that way, but the wave is not returned, not yet. "Ah, figures. Is that..?" Batwoman? Someone she's heard of, but not really seen. Not like Batman.

Batwoman has posed:
Batwoman may not have the stoic reputation of Batman or the brutal reputation of Huntress, but waving amiably across rooftops? No, that's definitely not in her playbook. Spotting Catwoman and judging the reaction, she figures that she's also been spotted.

The caped redhead pantomimes herself walking over to the other rooftop, then tilts her head again with an exaggerated shrug. Outstanding. She wants to come over.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman's gloved, clawed hands come to rest at her hips, one near the bullwhip that's coiled up. Head tilts notably toward one side, then she returns a gesture that is probably not common for her: an exaggerated curtsey followed by a palm out toward the same rooftop she occupies.

Batwoman is either going to come over anyway or leave, she figures. Might as well find out what this is all about. Besides, there hasn't been an attack yet.

Batwoman has posed:
The movements are rapid for being so smooth. Batwoman produces a grapple gun from under her cape and shoots a line across to the other building. Swinging out and down, the woman in red and black reels in the line while briefly free of gravity's effects.

Hitting the building feet-first, she uses the spring in the line to rebound upward. The cape is a blur of black and red as she tumbles over the edge onto the roof, landing on her feet in a crouch. Relaxing, Batwoman gives the gun a shake and reels in the line.

"Evening. Saw you hanging out over here, so I thought I'd pop over and say hello." she offers, red lips pulling into a smile that would normally be considered 'feral'.

Catwoman has posed:
Of course one of the Bat-types has a grapple gun. Maybe they all do. By the time the woman has joined her on the rooftop, Catwoman offers a round of slow, mock applause at the landing and roll. "All right, not the first time you've done that, I'm guessing." A brow slides upward behind the tinted goggles, the hands returning to her hips.

"You do know who I am, I assume," she adds, head cocked toward one side at the smile she's given. Her black-painted lips remain a thin line.

Batwoman has posed:
That red-lipped smile broadens a moment, then Batwoman offers a husky chuckle. "Only by reputation, of course. Lovely costume, by the way. Not sure I'd be bold enough to try and carry it off." The line finishes reeling in and the caped vigilante slips the grapple gun into its holster.

"And no, this isn't my first rodeo, as it were. But it's a slow night, and no one's done anything *illegal*, so I thought you might like a chat."

And, of course, it also gives Kate the opportunity for a closer look.

Catwoman has posed:
A skeptical expression in the face of the Cat. "Says the one going around in that, a female Batman. Or would that make him a male Batwoman?" Catwoman wonders, a hint of a tease to her tone.

She practically slinks her way around the woman, circling her. Curiously? Measuringly? "Well, I don't see any crimes either, but I have seen quite a few members of the crime families filing out of there." She indicates the museum below.

Batwoman has posed:
Batwoman toses her head at that, red hair flouncing with the gesture as she laughs. "Oh yes, I'll be -sure- to mention that to him." Male Batwoman indeed! As Catwoman stalks slowly around her, Batwoman remains in place but follows the movements by turning her head.

"Are there really?" she replies with mock-surprise. The smile returns, then, and she raises her left hand to turn the inside of her wrist upward. A smart-device display lights up and she offers. "Would you like to compare notes, perhaps? Or did you have any plausible explanations for such a high concentration of potential felons?"

Catwoman has posed:
"Ah, so you know him well?" Catwoman questions, raising a brow behind the tinted lenses of her goggles. "Well enough that he's given you his blessing to go around dressed like that?" She gestures her way with a gloved, claw-tipped hand, slowing to a stop in the meantime.

As for the mob families, she uses the same hand to wave away the offer. "I'm sure your reasons for tracking them are different from mine, but I heard a few of them are looking to traffic in some counterfeits along with using the stuff as a front for some other movement. This was a way for them to get some good up-close info, if you know what I mean."

Batwoman has posed:
Batwoman shrugs at the question, the smile softening to a more amused expression. Gloved fingers lightly touch the red Bat emblem upon her chest in response to the gesture, and she nods. "I am, as you suggest, part of the franchise. Officially."

"As for the boys down in the party, I really didn't think that many would know a Rembrandt from a van Gogh. The math is pretty easy to work from there." Hands on hips, a shrug and a shift of the elbows pushes the red-lined cape back. A shift of the hips perhaps distracting as well. "Perhaps an anonymous tip to the museum's security is in order."

But Batwoman doesn't ask about Catwoman's reason for being here tonight. After all, she did say this was only a social visit.

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman rolls a shoulder in a shrug. It's a snug-looking shoulder within the catsuit, a material that's difficult to place. Not exactly glossy, but not completely matte either. Flexible for ease of movement, no evidence of restriction or limitation to be found. It serves almost as a second skin, a protective one, and one that hides the identity well. Even the goggles do enough to keep the face from being obvious thanks to all the rest.

"Their security, or lack of it, is their business. Dial them up if you like, but I'll leave that up to them. All I care about is keeping the gangs and the mob out of my neighborhood," she explains, going no further with the details of how or what that covers. That same hand then comes to rest against a hip. "Do you enjoy working for him?"

Batwoman has posed:
Batwoman's gaze continues following the Catwoman in her rather tight suit. "I don't work -for- him." she replies evenly. There's no rise in her voice, but the response was on the quick side. And while Batwoman's cowl also features opaque lenses over the eyes, there's little doubt that her gaze is roaming freely.

It's just a conversation, after all.

Red lips pull back into a smile again. "If only more of Gotham's citizens exhibited such pride and concern about their neighborhoods. It's no wonder He allows you such latitude."

Another roaming gaze. "Well that and the obvious."

Catwoman has posed:
"I also don't go around killing people and generally acting like an agent of chaos," Catwoman points out, giving a brief roll of the eyes to punctuate the words. "Maybe I'm a bad kitty from time to time, but the people I go after deserve it. I think he knows that, even if he doesn't like it." That doesn't mean there haven't been threats, tussles, and so on. "But, what keeps him busy is good for me, it's true."

She does have to point out, as she slides her hands behind her to clasp over her backside, leaning forward a few inches to practically purr, "Anyone under his cape works /for/ him in one way or another. If he minded you out here dressed up like another bat, do you really think he'd let you do it?" Eyes will roam where they may.

Batwoman has posed:
Beneath those lenses, Batwoman does note the clasp of the hands, as well as their placement. She doesn't pull back when Catwoman leans in, either. "The fact remains that I -am- out here, wearing the suit and the emblem." she declares with some finality.

And then it clicks. If the mob families are planning something at the museum, what better time for an enterprising thief to plan a job in another part of town?

Batwoman smiles a bit more. "Be careful, kitten. His patience aren't without limit, and no one is infallible."

Catwoman has posed:
Catwoman smiles, a wide one. "Which means what it means to both of us," she states when it comes to her going around in the costume she does, calling out her alliance with the Bat. The lean didn't really put her in Batwoman's immediate space, but it was more a symbolic thing, the visual of someone acting playful and not being shy about it.

Drawing back upright, the hands return to her sides, her front, visible. The fact she's here now suggests there wasn't a plan for a job while the mobsters are at the museum, but that isn't clear. "I test his patience all the time," she offers in a drawl.

Batwoman has posed:
Batwoman shifts her hands from her hips to let them fall to her sides, the cape sliding forward to obscure them. "I can certainly see that." she replies, on the subject of testing patience. Catwoman isn't in a hurry to dash off, a thing that Batwoman definitely notices.

"I must admit that you're not quite what I expected." she offers, then.

Catwoman has posed:
There is value in keeping someone off balance. It helps with Batman, it helps with others Catwoman encounters in Gotham City, and it even helps with her alter ego when she's doing one thing or another, be it normal socializing or secret recon.

"Then that means I'm doing something right," she replies, adding after a couple seconds, "But I don't like to linger long on these rooftops. You never know who might find you." She gestures toward Batwoman as if to make the point, then she takes a few steps backward toward darker parts of the space around them. Certain tech would render those shadows pointless, but she's just moving away. "I'm sure we'll see each other around again sometime, somewhere."

Batwoman has posed:
"I'd say you can count on that." Batwoman replies. And as Catwoman steps back into the shadows, the woman in red and black makes no move to follow. If there are any movements under the cape they're subtle and difficult to follow. Batwoman shifts her weight half a step away as well.

"You be good, Cat." And before there can be an answer, the caped redhead points that grapple gun towards an adjacent rooftop and shoots a line to make her departure. It only takes a glance to ensure the hook catches, and in that time she already knows that Catwoman will be gone.

As she swings away, Batwoman murmurs under her breath. "... definitely doing something right."