LOG Visitation

Details
Summary: April 20th 1928: Catwoman pays a visit to the home of Piotr Rasputin, looking for answers.

Characters: Piotr Rasputin, Selina Kyle

Log
Piotr Rasputin does not actually live at Xavier's for one very big reason, he is not a student anymore. He is a mercenary with his own life who happens to have a standing contract with the Xavier School for Exceptionally Wayward Youth. He also has other contracts and it doesn't do to bring a date to /that/ place either! While not a penthouse apartment, Piotr does live in a nice place in Metropolis, on the top floor of a brownstone that has been converted into a series of apartments. His just happens to take up the whole top floor so what would be four apartments, is one. But it's only a four story building. What that does mean however is there are a lot of windows. And there is roof access to the apartment.

Inside the apartment it is set up in somewhat spartan fashion with a lot of space but what furniture there is is very nice. A lot of leather and oak or cherry wood. He even has one of them newfangled televisions but it is turned off at the moment. A phonograph sits not far from an easy chair and a couch. The kitchen is a pretty standard gas stove with a small dining table and a pair of chairs, quaint and intimate perhaps. There is also a single bookshelf that holds a bunch of Russian literature, the classics and more but not a single English book to be found. Piotr himself is sitting at the dinner table, having apparently just finished a meal and there is a half-finished glass of wine nearby. Judging by the lingering smells it was chicken and asparagus with some white rice.

And the fact that Piotr Rasputin did not live at Xavier's anymore is probably one of the things that saved the thief known as the Catwoman's life. For she was an Extremely Wayward Child herself, for better or for worse. And on the rooftop outside of the apartment, on the next building over, a silhouette lifts, clawed fingertips flicking a zippo lighter closed, from where it was held for light over an ID.

A frown touches the features of the woman as she leans forward to surveil the apartment proper. She had been waiting here for hours for him to leave the place; and apparently, he was well set for the night. So she had a choice: take the risk and try to burgle the apartment with the man inside, or wait longer for him.

And she heard it was going to rain soon. Something she shared with her furry friends is a vast dislike of rain.

With her thumb caressing over the photo on the identification the mysterious and deadly Catwoman glances back across the space between the buildings, curling her nose with distaste as she surveils what she can of the brownstone again. And against her better judgement... she decides to take it.

Whisper soft, she leaps the distance between the two buildings, landing in a fluid roll that she can rise from easily enough. Long hair flowing from the back of her leather hood, the entire upper half of her face was obscured in the thick black leather, the lenses of her helmet-slash-mask bearing enough color to prevent easy identification of the eyes... but not dark enough that she could see.

It was when she cracks the window that she catches scent of the food cooking within. Moving as slowly as possible, her heart alights. If he was eating, she might have ten minutes or so to herself while he relaxes.

And she didn't need nearly that long. She hoped.

Piotr doesn't even notice the crack of the window especially since others were already open to allow for a breeze, it was already starting to get hot during the day with May around the corner. The ceiling fans also obscure quite a bit of sound due to the mechanical clicking of them as they circulate air through the big apartment. His meal is finished and he takes the dishes over to the sink, draining the last of his wine glass and then he starts to wash his dishes immediately, humming a soft Russian song to himself as he goes about being a happy Russian homemaker, of sorts. It's more than just his plate and silverware though, there was also the pans used to cook his chicken and asparagus, and the pot for the rice. If she's quick and quiet, she might have even more time than she thought!

And one imagines the ceiling fans of those days would be noisier than one might suspect. But the Catwoman already knew that the man could turn to iron - who knows what other tricks he might have up his sleeve?

And the challenge, for better or for worse, sparked a little smile dancing up the edges of her lips. She was human. Highly skilled, and highly trained - especially for a woman of her time. But still... only human in a world of gods.

And she pitied those for such things.

What was she looking for? Well, the leather clad woman brings her clawed hand to her belt, tapping fingertips once on the pistol, and once on her bullwhip. Everything was there, she thought. She would head for his bedroom, looking to nightstands and the like. A filing cabinet or an office along the way would be something she would stop for. But that was her goal.

One of the rooms in the large apartment is indeed an office, but she will have to sneak past the man as he washes his dishes, or go and try to get access to that room through an outside window. Choices choices. There was also a darkened bedroom that she could see through one of the outside windows as well, but in her casing of the apartment she had discovered the office windows were shut and locked. Through the window of the office all she could see past the curtains was a globe resting on it's stand, and a big oak desk. On the desk were a few papers in folders that looked to read location names upon them. Maybe job offers?

It was the office that was her goal then. That was far more likely to hold the information that she sought to find. Already having entered the apartment through a window, she was set to get to that little office then, pressed up against the side of the wall near the man washing dishes, her head canting to the side - a little mirror slid from her belt that she holds up to the corner.

It might reflect. But she was waiting for a moment for him to turn his back to the hallway, before slipping across it, her leather-padded feet moving less or more silently.

That desk was her major goal, and she intended to get a look at whatever information was on it.

Stealth Roll: Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 2

Perception Roll: Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 10 10 9 6 5

Piotr Rasputin has rolled a Miracle! 9 9 8 7 4 3 2 2

Sneaking across the apartment is not hard, not for Catwoman. She makes her way behind the blithely unaware Russian mercenary and Piotr just continues to hum his little Russian song, occasionally when some 'bombastic' part goes through his head he waves his hands around like he were conducting an orchestra, which gets soap and water in places it shouldn't otherwise go but he just goes back to washing the rice pot, which is being determined, because it's rice... and he doesn't want to accidentally break the pot.

The office door is /right there/ and it is probably unlocked from this side! Something catches Catwoman's eyes though, there is a small thin wire running along the top of the door frame, and then down the sides of the door frame and then along the floor as well. Possibly some sort of trap, or security system like a closed contact alarm system.

Security system roll: Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 10 8 8 8 8 6 3 3

Catwoman is an expert catburglar, alarm systems like this? Easy as pie. The only problem is how is she going to reset it when she is on the other side? She can get through it without setting it off but the door will have to remain open until she leaves the room if she wants to try and reset it... if she shuts the door while in the room the alarm will probably go off again... choices choices!

Expert she was. The thin wire running atop the door frame - Selina spies that security setup, and grins to herself. With a glance back towards the kitchen briefly, Selina returns her attention to the door, rising up from the low squat that she was in to stick to the shadows of the apartment all the more.

Not that if the lights came on, the shadows would remain but.

Selina was nothing if not resourceful. Running her tongue over her painted lips, she taps her claws along the frame of the door idly, finding the trap and tracing it back to the mechanism that would trigger the 'surprise'. And maybe she'd get a hint of that surprise. Regardless, she was also a woman that disliked closing her point of egress.

Deciding to leave the door open, Selina gives a brief glance to the windows, hoping to spy something similar on them - or if Piotr had foolishly decided not to wire them at all. But her eyes would quickly return to the desk proper. If she had a tail, it would be wagging by now, so self-confident was her cattish smile.

The windows of the office are not wired, but the answer to that is obvious, they have been /nailed/ shut. The only way to get into those windows would be through damage to the window itself. Because those windows are shut the room is warm, hotter than the rest of the apartment, the ceiling fan in the office working to try and disperse heated air but with the doors shut.... There is another door leading off in the direction of his bedroom, and one more that leads out into the hall with the stairs that lead to the hall with the stairs down the center of the building.

The office has another oscillating fan in it that rattles and clicks loudly every time it turns all the way to the right. Behind the big oaken desk is a high backed chair that looks big enough to support Piotr, there is also a pair of metal filing cabinets with locked drawers. The globe looks very fine but probably isn't what she wants to steal. There are pictures on the walls though, framed, mostly look to be individuals he might know, a small picture of a young girl, a young big man, and an older couple on his desk.

Some part of Selina's mind was whirling over escape plans and exits - but that was constantly true. What was catching her attention now, and what always caught her attention, was the mystery. Everything attached to Xavier's seemed to have mystery and danger attached to it. And while curiosity killed the kitten...

Catwoman had nine lives.

Silent so far, she allows herself a little sound to herself. "Mmn-hmm-hmm..." as she gives a brief glance of the globe, uncaring of leaving fingerprints with her clawed gloves. The photographs - given a brief glance, are looked over.

Selina moves to the filing cabinets, however, with a glance towards the doorway, the Catwoman's hand dipping down to her belt again. A set of lockpicks removed from there as she considers the path forward.

Security System roll: Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 10 10 10 10 10 9 7 4

The lock is no challenge at all, the lockpick clicks almost the moment she works the thing into the lock through sheer luck and skill she presses the tumblers in the right combination on the first try. Inside the top drawer of the first cabinet is a bunch of folders that are all labelled by location and date: Latveria 1-12-28, Genosha 11-17-27, so on and so forth. Each folder is full of contract information such as: Protect this location, protect this person, attack this compound, breach this prisons defenses, etc. It all seems very legalese for the most part, and the names of the contract holders are all blacked out along with some details like they were classified.

The problem with the noisy fans though becomes apparent when the door swings open further and what light it would generate is blocked out by a large form in the doorway. As the ambient light levels change there is a *CLICK* and the overhead light on the ceiling fan turns on illuminating the room from within.

Piotr is standing just inside the doorway and looking over towards where Catwoman rifles through some of his papers. "I do not know who you are but you have made a mistake." The big man takes in her leather clad appearance, the whip, the gun. He does not however, turn to steel just yet. "Close the filing cabinet, have a seat," One large hand gestures towards the chair, "And we will have a polite conversation, da?" His tone is anything but nice however.

Intimidation Roll: Piotr Rasputin has rolled a Miracle! 10 9 6 6 4 3 2

Stability Roll: Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 6 6 3

This security system - it was really finely done, overall. But even the best of locks and traps often fell to the skill of the Catwoman. The ease in which she pops the tumbler doesn't seem to surprise her in the least, the woman literally purring now, a low, throaty rumble as she pops open the cabinet and starts thumbing through the headers. Latveria, Genosha... it was the category of information that she wanted, and she understood that when she pulls the first folder out to give things a lookover.

But Xavier was not one of these folders. Or New York. Or Gotham.

So frustration starts to replace the purring a bit, her smile falling as...

The door flies open, and Selina pauses a moment, her hand hovering over the files. Only a moment of surprise, and she lets a smile spring onto her lips. "Of courrrse," she says, letting the 'r' roll with a self-satisfied purr. Her voice was deliberately deeper than at the party, as it often was in her Catwoman getup. And the r's were more punctuated. She spreads her arms wide, placing a wide, toothy, perfect grin on her lips. "I think I took a wrong turn, and ended up here. Won't you help show me the doorrr?" she asks, her hands far away from her pistol. She wasn't going to sit down.

Her strength was in her mobility, and sitting robbed her of that. Piotr no doubt filled the doorframe. So she was going to make him step into the room after her if he disliked that.

Piotr steps into the room and shuts the door behind him. "If you are here, you know who I am, and what I can do da?" He smiles but it is not a pleasant smile, "I do not wish to hurt you, but I have no compunctions about hitting a woman if I must." He starts to make his way towards her then, gesturing towards one of the chairs that a client might sit in at the desk, "Please, sit. We talk. You answer questions. I let you go. I do not wish blood in my apartment. Do not make this get... messy." There might be ways out, glass is only glass of course, if she can get past him there is that door. The other door leads to his bedroom which... all things considered is probably not where she wants this to go.

Selina somehow thought he wasn't beyond hitting a woman. With the door shut, and him stepping forward, Selina narrows her eyes. The other way out was through the glass of the windows, and that was far preferable to her to trusting in the good graces of a mercenary whose house she was caught robbing.

Glass was only glass indeed.

"Do stop right there, kitten," she purrs, bringing her hand up to grasp the handle of her bullwhip. "We can talk from across the room, very friendly, hmm?" she says, tilting her head to one side. She knew he could go steel - but maybe he didn't know that she knew.

A pistol round in his head before that point was a desperate move. And one she hoped she wouldn't have to try to make. It would end badly, she was certain. Edging towards one of those windows, perhaps he could sense her intention. "You can let me go from there - unless you're afraid of what a poor little lost kitten can do to big cat like yourself, hmm?" she just about purrs.

The grasp of the bullwhip and the way she shifts causes the big man to sigh softly, "You are going to make this difficult." It's not really a question. "Use the whip, if you wish, pull the gun and I will have to take... steps." He is clearly confident in his physical superiority over the woman, even with a whip! A glance over towards which filing cabinet was opened tells him a few things.

One. She was looking for information about his past. Two. That all the files were still there. Three. That she hadn't found what she wanted because she was still here.

Piotr does stop walking forwards though, instead he leans against the edge of his desk and looks at her and her goggles, folding his arms loosely across his chest. "What information are you looking for?" He asks, "I am not unreasonable, if you wish information you must simply pay for it."

Whips were often underestimated things. A bit like a ranged knife, by some standards. But like he, she exuded confidence. He might have had physical strength over her; but Selina wasn't wanting to try her luck at how snakey she could be in close combat against his sheer strength.

"And what information would be off limits to ask about, hmm? I certainly am not looking for information about friends or family, for starters," she says, letting her head dip downwards, her lips pursing tightly.

"What honors does a man like you hold?" she says, standing there - hip stuck out to the side as she relaxes some. "And what secrets is he willing to sell?" Another voice, drawn low and cooing then, thumb to toy with the hilt of the bullwhip. But she doesn't free it. It's true that closer quarters like this would make it difficult to use. On him, at least.

"You can ask about anything you want. I cannot guarantee I will answer." Piotr says with a chuckle following, "Some secrets I am paid very well to keep secret, one would have to make it very much worth my while in order to get those secrets." He pauses, shrugs, "But it cannot hurt to ask." He lifts a foot and then places it against one of the chairs near his desk and slides it across the hardwood floor to her. "Sit." He then moves around the desk and sits down in the chair behind it. "You will ask questions. I will demand payment. You will decide if you wish to pay it, or if you can."

Piotr leans back and kicks his feet up onto his desk, crossing his feet at the ankles as he takes up a complete non-threatening position. "Sit. Please." Another polite gesture towards the chair. "I do not know why you would wish to make this difficult when it does not have to be."

A glitter of her eyes as the chair rolls over the hardwood floors towards her.

With a brisk kick of the chair back towards Piotr, Selina turns, lunging towards the window as she tucks her arms in close to her body, the tail of the whip trailing behind her as she frees herself. And through the window she lunges, the bullwhip lashing out. Not for the building she jumped from, but for the fire escape across the way, hoping to land safely on the ground of the alleyway outside.

Athletics Rolls: Piotr Rasputin has rolled a Miracle! 10 9 8 8 7 6 6 2 Selina Kyle has rolled a Miracle! 9 9 8 7 3 2

The glass shatters as Catwoman goes diving through it, Piotr moving to try and grab her before she can get to it but he is just a hair to slow and ends up grasping only at the air. The window itself is to small for him to go through without doing even more damage to the apartment than the glass he will have to have replaced and so he just stands there, silhouetted against the backlight of the office. He doesn't say anything because she's already down on the alley but she can hear him chuckling in amusement before she gets some distance from the building.

Turning away, Piotr goes to look at the filing cabinet and starts to gather up all the documents. No doubt they won't be there for much longer and the hunt will begin again.

And as soon as the Catwoman's heeled feet touch the alley ground, the Catwoman breathes a sigh of relief, freeing the bullwhip and with a flick of her wrist, returning it to her side. Now, a broken glass sound, even in Gotham, is likely to draw attention. So it is only with a smirk and a little salute up towards Piotr before she takes off, dipping into the shadows of the city before disappearing, no doubt to prowl elsewhere.

No doubt he's going to move again.

And her trail is now colder.