19805/Night Running

Night Running
Date of Scene:	05 January 2025
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Steph spots Selina and gives chase!
Cast of Characters:	Selina Kyle, Stephanie Brown

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Selina Kyle has posed:
It was a good night, and still several hours before dawn when Catwoman makes it back to the Narrows. In her small pack are a couple million dollars in gems to fund her various philanthropic activities. Three jewelry outlets will be filing insurance claims in the morning, but there's nothing unique or irreplacable.

Pausing for a moment, her silhouette is distinguishable on the rooftop of an apartment building, for those who know what to look for.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Gotham City nights. Dark and usually cold and, depending on your location, even dank. Generally, not a time of day reasonable people find comforting or enjoyable.

But Stephanie Brown's been off her game lately, in her own head and her mood's been fitting Gotham nights really well.

She might not be able to outrun her problems, but she can sure tell herself she can, and just keep running. Which she's definitely doing tonight.

Nominally she's on patrol, but mostly she's using the city as her personal obstacle course to burn off energy and distract herself. But then she spots a distinctive silhouette. Oh my. That's no Batwoman! It's a Catwoman!

Her course alters, distinctive PUFF-HISS of a grappling line firing out to let her swing from one building to the next to close the distance.

She won't be so hard on herself about this terribly ill-advised coping mechanism if she actually catches a criminal. Then it's not a coping mechanism, it was an intricate plan to protect the city.

Selina Kyle has posed:
Selina Kyle's pause is long enough for her to scout the area; a practiced habit before ducking into her Safehouse. The soft *clang* of the grapple hook hitting the next building over breaks her reverie and she turns towards the source. Batgirl outfit. Blonde.

Red lips pull into a smile and she tightens the straps on her pack.

She'll wait until Batgirl hits the roof. After all, it's only sporting. "Nice night, isn't it?" she calls out.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Steph rolls her eyes, which probably doesn't come across through the cowl, but the little back-and-to-the-side headtoss that goes with it speaks volumes as she huffs out. "Gotham has precisely three nice nights a year and they're all in that little two week period before and after Summer, so it's not cold /or/ godawful humid." She plants her fists on her hips in a dramatic heroic pose. But she sure doesn't seem entirely into it. "So what've you been up to? Upstanding and law abiding activity? Not stealing anything?"

Selina Kyle has posed:
Selina Kyle mimics the planted profile stance, although she lacks the dramatically flowing cape. Then she cocks a hip and the playful grin returns. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." she teases. One hand reaches back, uncoiling her whip while she speaks. "Or you can catch me and find out." Catwoman takes two steps, then jumps off the six-story building. The whip lashes out, catching the fire escape across the alley. Swinging up, she does a summersault with a half-gainer and lands on her feet, shaking the whip loose and already starting to run along the rooftop.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown huffs softly, lips curving downwards in a serious little frown, because she's definitely being taunted.

But Selina cocks her hips and she can do nothing but huff even harder, because she's /oh/ so being played with. How did this happen? Cats play with their prey! She's not the prey!! Instantly this is all going so very backwards.

For a moment, Selina's making that offer about showing things off and... okay, okay maybe now it's a little more clear how she seems to outmaneuver every costumed or uniformed law enforcement effort. She's good and she knows it.

Well... she's bad. But so good at it. This is not helping Steph's confusion.

But then Selina's uncoiling that whip, and Steph's tensing and then... Selina's leaping into the air and swinging away and all Steph can do is let out an enthusiastic whoop and fling herself into gravity's embrace in a swift attempt to follow and not lose too much ground to the Catwoman.

Okay. Maybe there /are/ parts of this lifestyle she really does uninhibitedly enjoy.

Selina Kyle has posed:
Selina Kyle is not only graceful, but she is fast. Very fast. Batman has a difficult time keeping up with her, and Barbara has always shown a lot of respect for her skills.

But she is still, mostly, a criminal.

Running flat-out along the narrow roof ledge, Selina does a couple of cartwheels with effortless hand placement. It actually gives her a little more distance, and if's also fun.

She doesn't waste time with look back, trusting Batgirl to keep up as she approaches the edge of the building.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown finds herself nearly gulping for air in between each fired grappling line or twisting, contorting position to slip between flag poles and fire escapes and AC units and all the other unique obstacles that make swinging across the city such a dangerous passtime.

But she's not going to give up, she's going to go all out and.... okay, that little voice in the back of her head immediately shushes 'Catch Catwoman'. She's going to... keep up with Catwoman! Or at least really impress her.

Realistic goals, Steph. It's what she tells herself.

She will not be keeping up by mimicking the burglar's unique style. She's not risking no double cartwheel on a roof ledge.

She'd probably have gained a couple feet if she hadn't put some of her precious breath towards a muttered 'Damn, girl.' of appreciation at that display.

But she redoubles the speed of her strides as Selina nears the roof edge. Oh noooo, you're not getting away that easy!

Selina Kyle has posed:
No whip this time, Selina just *launches* herself across the gap between the adjacent buildings. Sure, it's probably a good ten feet but she's got a running start this time.

The burglar is a study of grace and agility, even arching and spreading her arms in the leap. Bringing it back, she catches the ledge with both hands and tumbles forward, rolling a few times before coming back up smoothly to her feet.

All without breaking stride.

More twisting and tumbling and dodging puts her at the far edge of the building, and with a growing lead as well. This time she'll pause when she reaches the opposite side, turning just her head to look back. And smile.

Steph is going to get a good workout, alright.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown continues the chase, and though she doesn't realize it, as everything narrows, as her eyes dart and sweep, keeping her situational awareness honed to a razor's edge, something she's sure Babs would give her a gold star for.

She keeps her dogged pursuit of Selina up, until it's all that consumes her, her sole and only focus, her breath coming hard and fast, muscles aching, far beyond her usual workouts, which really, is the point. The workouts are to prepare for the real deal.

And once the chase is done, she'll find she feels great. Amazing. The sheer focus of a night spent chasing the one and only Catwoman having burnt out all the lingering bad vibes that have been bothering her for weeks and months.

An eternal lesson in why you need a good workout buddy.

Steph won't even tease Selina about taking those stolen jewels back.