2936/Night Sisters

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Night Sisters
Date of Scene: 16 August 2020
Location: Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis: With an ambush, a fight, and a thrown ice cream cone, three sisters unite! Well, sort of. They had to meet sometime.
Cast of Characters: Cassandra Cain, Laura Kinney, Gabby Kinney




Cassandra Cain has posed:
A pin drops. Night has just about fallen, and in the evening's dusk things are decidedly low-rate. Gotham City has a lot of problems though, and it's not hard to find one. Laura has already finished dealing with something...unimportant. It barely matters, something with guns maybe.

It's looking like a boring evening, until the instant that the sun falls behind the building. That moment, the beginning of night, is when she sees it. Smells...something? Familiar, a muted scent. But the movement was there, something crossing an alleyway.

Things move in cities. Things don't move...like that. That...was furtive. Hiding, and fast, too fast. That was someone trained to hide. No sign past that gives Laura anything, whomever it is is dead quiet. Still, that scent. The mute girl?

The mute girl.

Laura Kinney has posed:
One thing Laura had always been taught, one thing that was ingrained into her was to keep her awareness, her senses attuned. It's not at this point, anything she can 'turn on' or 'turn off'. Certainly some situations she might be more keyed up than others, but it's a -part- of her nonetheless. A part of her, like breathing. And so when the familiar scent touches her nose, she pauses, her mind registering the scent and the brief encounter with the girl in the Roost.

A severe look touches Laura's features and while she does not feel threatened, she is at the very least, interested. The girl in her mind had displayed rather efficient skill. So, slowly, but without fear or hesitation, Laura follows that scent, tracking it without drawing attention to herself for doing so. Methodical. Like a trained hunter.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
You know that if she's there, she's going to be hiding. She's already shown her penchant for that kind of little trickery. Scent is definitely the way to go, and it seems as if the little lady isn't hiding hers very well. Likely doesn't know that it's required; not yet anyway.

Her scent is on a few things here. She ran in, strongest at the entryway; she'd been watching there, and Laura could get a good feeling of her fingers touching the concrete, watching Laura herself come closer. She'd have turned and run, still lingering in the air. The top of the dumpster in the alleyway, she stood on top of it for a moment. A ladder above it, within leaping distance. Difficult, not impossible.

She'd be up there then..possibly...how sneaky is she really? She's not visible but that barely means anything. Where, where.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura turns into the little alley nook where the scent leads her. She can be heard sniffing, lightly as if she had an allergy - or, as if she were scenting, like a hound. Curiously, perhaps, to the watching eyes from under the dumpster she follows the mute girl's path of exploration, or of movement, following. But the many scents, with them all over the place make it difficult for Laura to pinpoint where she was.

So, Laura, after moving up the ladder a bit and realizing that the scent doesn't lead up there, also jumps off and tilts her head, to consider, focusing instead on what she can hear. Like, a heartbeat.

To observational eyes, it'd almost seem, however briefly, that Laura is meditating. Which isn't entirely off the mark.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Oh she's good. When Laura moved upward, the watcher moved as well. She came out from under, shifting to a place beside where she could work from more easily, beside rather than trapped beneath. She is so quiet, she wouldn't even register on a computerized system. She moves only when Laura isn't looking, reading her moves with the precision of a grandmaster. Yet Laura knows that she's there.

Eyes shaded so when Laura returns down she doesn't get that glint, that reflection, Cassandra Cain starts to move. Slowly, her hands reach. A small thin wire stretches between them, and she takes a step, then another. Closer. Silence is key, and she watches Laura's body. Waiting for the right moment.

And Cassandra Cain tries to loop the wire around Laura's neck.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Cassandra has the edge of surprise, briefly. And she's quiet enough, aware of her surroundings and the city enough to get that edge on Laura who is more curious and not considering the situation a 'threat' or a 'course' or even a 'test' of her abilities. Yes, she's tuned in, but not as tuned as she should be.

It's not until the wire is coming down towards her throat that Laura reacts. And, react she does. Her body language screams attack as she plants her feet and slams the back of her head towards her assailant's face - hopefully their nose, even as her right hand comes up.

*SNIKT*

There's something Cassandra hasn't seen before. Couldn't, perhaps, even have prepared for unless someone had told her about Laura's ability. The twin-adamantium blades cut through the wire like butter, and the targets moves to slip away to put a bit of distance between herself and her attacker, to give her room to manuever.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The wire is released even as Laura notices it, the blade cutting it easily. She knew that she'd been detected, if not about the blades. Laura's abilities are epic, but the girl knew; the headbutt is met with a soft cushion of a hand, not striking the bone or nose as intended. Cushioned..

Then moving, and as Laura moves herself she finds the woman in her face. Tracking her as she chooses her actions, not afterward. Close quarters then, she puts a foot in the place where Laura plans to step and causes her to shift stance. Not something a normal fighter could even attempt. She did it...easily.

Though up close there's something new. Those eyes are flicking to the blades, taking them in with surprise. She wasn't expecting that! But also isn't allowing them to stop her, as she tries to plant her hands on Laura's wrists. Defensive move, she's buying time to find out what the new threats can do.

Simple enough, but doing it at this range is almost ridiculous. Effective, sure, but there are other ways for Laura to attack.

Laura Kinney has posed:
It is going to be an interesting fight, to be sure. Just as Cassandra's not fought someone with blades in their hands before, neither has Laura met with someone who could seem to know what she was going to do, and put up such good defenses, or even potential counterattacks.

But, Laura was forged in a fire similiar to that of Cassandra's, and the other trained assassin will recognize the way Laura's body moves as she moves to attack. Not one specific martial art style, but a blending of them; a mastery of multiple facets and techniques. And she, every bit as young as Cassandra.

For now, Laura keeps only the right claws up, and out, using them to create an effective defense against Cassandra's would-be attacks, and trying to open up the others.

It's also clear to Cassandra, then, that Laura recognizes this for what it is - a testing, a training scenario, rather than an actual fight. She's not trying to kill, or maim Cassandra. But, beyond that? Laura clearly isn't holding back as she lunges forward with a series of swipes of her claw to put Cassandra on the defensive, and attempts to hit spots across the girls body that will cause pain, discomfort, and give Laura the clear advantage.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The human in the match is at a strong disadvantage, that much would be obvious to anyone planning the matchup. She isn't ready for Laura's tools, nor her regeneration or her other bonuses. She planned this for someone of roughly her own talent level it seems, and as she moves it becomes obvious.

Cassandra shifts to defensive with a fluency that suggests that she was expecting it, planning for Laura to take this move. She doesn't insult the other combatant with pretend fear or emotions that could 'lure' her. It becomes combat, and while the claw strikes are coming close they aren't really landing much.

It takes only a second before Laura would realize: Cassandra Cain can read her moves, before she makes them! She's evading -before- Laura starts to strike. So when she throws a counter, the human is working on pure skill and evading mid-motion. A punch thrown at Laura's wrist or forearm helps the claw to miss, but it's a stalling tactic. She has nothing of real threat here, as she's slowly backed into the corner. By the dumpster, and the wall.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The girls innate talent is processed by Laura - a fact to be studied, and considered later. It is certainly not something she thought to be so easily done, and she having no idea on just how Cassandra is doing it, and there is - easily read, comprehension and a mutual appreciation/respect for her opponent. Laura understands without her claws, she might in fact be losing this fight.

Laura doesn't stand down, just yet, but finally breaks the silence in the air that had only been taken up by the sounds of feet on pavement, scuffling, and flesh-on-flesh as defenses and attacks were made.

"You are good." The words aren't easily given by Laura, to anyone. But, like recognizes like.

Her right hand claws retract, back into the back of her hand as if they never were, and she holds herself there as if half-inviting Cassandra to continue the fight - this time without Laura using her claws - or, to call a truce.

Laura herself seems up for either choice.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The dark-clad young woman grins then, looking up from where she's been trapped. She should not be grinning, not with what's happened to her cheaply laid trap, her plan in shambles. Yet she is. It's not the grin of a person who's been caught and who's playing a game. She's seen this before. On the face of a teacher who's won the match.

The ground beneath them both. It shifts, and the nearly invisible net that they'd been walking on tightens around ankles and legs. Half a step back is all she needed and she takes it, leaving Laura alone in the trap. A gossamer webbing of stickiness touches her limbs, so fast, so fast! She was ready for this, planned for this.

And she stands there, a simple young lady watching the outcome, a throwing dagger balanced in one palm. You know, in case she was actually a threat.

Simple my ass. But she doesn't know about the feet.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Where was Gabby during all of this? The little excursian to Gotham had her along with it but she'd been absent for... a bit. Enough that this fight could occur without a younger sibling getting in the way, for sure. Still it had gone down an alleyway which causes FINDING this to be a little difficult at least until she hears some sounds of conflict. Bracing herself she turns the corner to announce, "I got icecream!" cheerily with a bright grin.

Indeed she does have icecream. An bag of it she holds aloft proudly displaying the random mix of assorted icecream bars, pops and the like she'd gotten from the convenience store not far away. The nice lady there had urged her to take a lot, and she had definitely done so.

In spite of her cheeriness though she pauses with sharp green eyes focusing on the fight she knew she was about to become a distraction to. Or end of the fight?

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura had, indeed, been unaware of the net, and as Gabby walks into the scene, she sees Cassandra facing off against a Laura, netted and bound, and at the mercy of the other woman who looks both like, and yet unlike, Laura. Not a clone, but a girl of similiar build, ethnic background, age - and, by the way she captured Laura? Likely prowess and capability as well. Gabby's training would not miss that aspect.

Laura doesn't answer Gabby's cry about ice cream. Nor, in fact, for the moment tell Gabby to go away, or to help.

Cassandra is grinning, triumphantly. But, the girl will see something strange in Laura's body language that would translate to something along the lines of 'time to get out of this' or 'this won't hold me'.

Out of each foot a single blade pops, each with its own *SNIKT* and with a swift movement of coiled muscle and the net that bound her only a second ago is in ribbons.

She tells Cassandra, "I was created to be a weapon," by way of explination.

"Watch, Gabby. But do not interefere. She is not an enemy." Still, Laura's laurels are up, her guard high. She's taking this -very- seriously.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The darkling creature, the near-clone of...well, of the clones, watches things happen without a word. Gabby's arrival turns her head, of course it would. How long it took tells of normal hearing; just a human after all. She looks Gabby over, eyes flickering up and down. In a way it's a bit creepy, as she keeps her own emotions inside. But damn if she isn't making sure that Gabby isn't a threat, there's no mistaking that stare.

Then Laura shifts, and the tiniest change of her body language gets Cassandra's eyes again. She steps back making space, and then the sticky ropes fall away. Bits of them would still stick to Laura, but not enough to stop her. Not remotely, and though Cassandra's knife still waits in her hand it's clear that she no longer thinks of it as enough.

So she leans her head to the left, shaking it softly, and rolls her eyes. Then she spreads her hands, the knife vanishing into her shirt, and grins. No attack comes afterward. It's almost a surrender, and she leaves her hands empty of weapons.

A quick glance from her to the alley, and she sighs. She clearly has run her gamut dry.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Stay out of it? Stay out of it!? Gabby gives a little huff as she stares at the net captured Laura who quickly frees herself anyway. Like that was really an issue. While she does so, distracting Cassandra again, she turns her attention back to the icecream bag.

"I know, I know, its your fight, stay safe, blah blah." Even though she says this it's with a hint of a grin. It WAS nice having someone to care and worry about you.

But she doesn't stay out of it.

As soon as that knife is gone and Cass spreads her hands in surrender, she'd find a fudgecicle thrown with expert skill through the air landing SMACK in her empty palm. "Here, I heard these are good. You want one Laura? I got a strawberry one in here too."

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's Laura's turn to smile, then, as Cassandra 'surrenders', and the blades pop back into her feet. She probably goes through SO many shoes, doing that ...

... "Cassandra and I met once before. She is as good a fighter as myself," Laura says, with a measure of respect for the other girl.

"Yes. Strawberry." She walks over to take the popsicle from Gabby, "I did not want you misreading the situation," she explains. "And yes. I was enjoying myself."

The elder clone turns to look back to Cassandra, perhaps guessing her mind even if she can't read it. "Gabby is my sister." It answers things in part, at least. Like, how eerily alike, save Gabby's eye-scar, the two look.

"Cassandra is a friend, of a new team I have joined here in Gotham. They asked for my assistance. I am helping them, when I am not at Xavier's," she tells Gabby. "I would like you to meet some of them, soon."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
And over where Cassandra is? She's staring at the ice cream that fell into her hand, almost uncertainly. The look on her face is surprised, and definitely not that of a warrior. If one had to gauge it, it would be confused.

She looks up, picking the thing up by the stick, upside-down. She looks from Gabby to Laura to the new item and back, her cheeks not bristling upward into the smile one normally gets from gifts of sugary ice. In fact most of the words that Laura speaks, that Gabby speaks, simply get her glancing in their directions. She's yet to speak a word or to show that she's grasping what's being spoken.

She looks pointedly at Laura, then points at Gabby. Then she leans back against the wall of the alley, the place where she'd been fighting, and slouches a little. Body language: noncombatant. And still inspects the thing-on-a-stick.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grins warmly at the pair as they apparently stand down, and Laura explains that she knew her. "Oh, that's cool! I'm supposed to go to Atlantis with Namor and Lorna to help fight some things that are going to apparently eat everyone if they escape soon. But that's not yet," she adds with a shrug. The strawberry popcicle is taken out and offered to Laura.

Noticing the apparent confusion on Cassandra's face she grins at the girl warmly. Yet another popcicle is taken from the bag and unwrapped to hold up by the stick. Then she nods to Cass, and pops it into her mouth still holding onto the stick with a quite obvious, "Mmmm!"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura peels the wrapper off her strawberry popsicle, telling Gabby, "Cassandra doesn't speak much." At least, that is what Tim had said about her, and Laura has found that Tim isn't a person to mislead her, or anyone on the Outsiders in any respect. Also, Laura doesn't seem to mind. It's not like she's not very self-aware she is an 'odd duck' herself.

"If you wish training before you go, we can fight," she tells Gabby, even if she doesn't know what the other smaller, younger 'sister' of her own genetic material is exactly talking about.

Only then is she putting the popsicle in her mouth, and is forced to agree, "It is exteremely good," after a several licks.

She looks to Cassandra, and her fudgescile. Asks Gabby, "Chocolate?" Because, well, it has the faint smell of such.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra is testing hers, not really sure what to do with it. She seems to be focusing, paying absolute attention to what she's got in her hands, and only once in a while glances up to see if Gabby or Laura plan to murder her. They don't (probably) so she pauses, then lifts the thing toward her mouth.

A drip falls, and she catches it with a finger instead. Then she lifts her finger to her lips instead, and...

The pause is..audible. She looks up from the finger that she's suckling, eyes on Gabby alone. And then pulls out her finger, opens her mouth, and says:

"Cho...lat?"

SHE CAN TALK!

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shrugs at the mention of Cassandra not talking much. "That's okay, Xena didn't talk much either but we knew what we meant. She was cloned right before I was." Even though she's enjoying her own popcicle she grins at Laura's reaction to her own, and nods at the mention of chocolate. "Yep! It's called a 'fudgecicle' the lady said. It's really popular..." She trails off when Cass speaks and gives her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah! It's really tasty! And it's cold so it's good for cooling off on a hot day. Most icecream is. Icecream is the best," she gushes with a little bounce on the balls of her feet. Then abruptly changes topic again. "We can always train, I'm up for that."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura looks back to Cassandra, nodding as well. "It is quite good. Yes," she agrees. And, takes a few more dips of her own popsicle in her mouth, savouring the strawberry sweetness. She looks at Gabby, and ventures to Cassandra, "My sister is much more adventurous than I am. She likes to try new things. And, often makes me try new things. I am still getting used to my freedom."

While Laura can speak, talk, and act like anyone on the street, there is -something- no doubt, a pattern starting to form that speaks in her body language that Laura is, while not uncomfortable with socializing or interacting with people she's still very different from everyone else in that group. Not a self-awareness, but rather her responses and reactions to what everyone else says. It's off-kilter, somehow. Like a record that should be getting played at 45rpm and is instead being played at 33 1/2 instead. There are just things that don't fit with everything else.

"Good. We will train tonight, then. After we get back." Laura seems satisfied with this, and again she smiles, if only briefly in one of her rare moments.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The eyes, they move back and forth. Slowly putting the ice cream into her mouth, Cassandra Cain lets her figure speak for her. She has no defense save for the way she watches, letting the two who got the drop on her have a moment, and she nibbles her way down toward the stick...

And after a moment, she's closing her eyes. If a person's posture could cry out 'yumm..' it would, as she breathes slowly and savours the slow dribbling of fudge on her tongue. She may have chosen her favourite, but one would have to pry her away from the one she's got to make her tell you.

When she opens her eyes it's a little bit languid, her moves so expressive. She's smiling now and it's at Gabby. No not the one she fought who saved her life. Hell, she's done that one before. This is chocolate, in the deepening darkness, as night slips downward and the alley is quiet.

She won't be training with them. She will be out working. Buuuut there might be another reason to do so now?

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Of course I try everything. I CAN try it now," Gabby points out with an impish grin at Laura's assessment of her willingness to try new things. "Really, they only served us oatmeal, veggie mix and chicken breasts at the labs. And vitamin suppliment. It got boring real quick. I mean. We just ate it after awhile as fast as we could." She shrugs it off though as she now had a bag full of icecream that could be sampled. Hopefully before it all melted.

Cassandra's response to eating her own, and the grin after, just causes her to smile brighter in response quite pleased with herself at getting to show someone else something delicious. "I'm glad you liked it!" She chimes up with a bob of her head. "So you two are friends and teammates then? That's cool."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Cassandra's reaction tells Laura a lot, but not enough. She nods in approval, however, at the other dark-haired girls reaction, though Gabby's words give her pause. "We are not teammates. I - do not think?" Tim had never said Cassandra was on the team, afterall. "But she is a friend of my new team's leader. Yes. I trust him. And, so I trust her."
She finds that in her own popsicle, the top of it breaks off and lingers in her mouth which gives her a surprised reaction as well, as she suckles the top broken portion that is an icey cool melting pool of sweetness in her mouth, risks chewing it a little to help with the awkwardness.

"Very good. But poor construction," she criticizes.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The plop of a small portion, almost half, of Cassandra's ice cream hitting the ground tends to lend credence to what Laura just stated. She was watching Gabby as the girl spoke, her eyes not on her ice cream. And being unfamiliar with them, she drops some.

The immediate frown is almost upsetting. She shifts gears quickly though, looking up and licking the rest. Then tucks the sticky stick into her cleavage, looking thoughtfully at the ladies.

Very thoughtfully, as she shuffles off of the wall. But in the end she can't say what she wants to convey. She looks at them, her hands empty, and seems to run her tongue over her teeth inside of her mouth. She's clearly wishing to say more, to convey meaning. A glimpse of frustration crosses her face, and her right fist curls up in internal anger, and she glances away at the fire escape in the alleyway.

And as suddenly she's running, leaping up the wall. A single hand grasps the iron of the ladder, and she's moving with frustrated energy. Up, one-two flights. And then she's on the roof, not looking back.

Because how do you invite someone out to see something you love, or to thank them, when you can't talk? You don't, and it waits for another night.