henleyxmoore-blog

[henleyxmoore-blog]

Leap of Faith | Nightowl & Somnium

Nightowl was not okay. No matter how many different ways she tried to convince herself that she would be fine, that she just needed to go home and sleep it off, that wouldn’t happen and she knew it. The Bo$$ had possession of the egg. The Bo$$ had possession of the egg. The egg that she was supposed to be guarding. She could make excuses, blame it on the lack of backup, blame it on the less than ideal location, but it was her fault in its entirety and that wasn’t an avoidable thought. Not only that but now she was struggling--- struggling--- to even escape the mall parking garage on what she was almost certain was a sprained ankle. How the fuck was she supposed to get home, huh? There went the whole sleep-it-off plan. Nightowl was not okay, and that was simply an irrefutable fact.

As she finally reached the top level of the parking garage, her plan to escape onto the roof of a nearby building and quietly slip through the streets back to her apartment went out the window as she slid down the retaining wall, clutching her injured ankle close to her body. Nightowl let out a growl of frustration, the side of her fist making contact with the concrete floor, an act that she instantly regretted. Would it be so bad just to camp out here until she could walk? Well, yes, obviously, the police would eventually send officers to search the garage, where they’d be overjoyed to find one of the most popular pain-in-their-ass vigilantes just chillin’ on the top floor. That had to be her worst option yet.

Her mind was turning a million miles and hour just to create some semblance of a plan, so much so that she couldn’t hear the approaching footsteps until they were far too close, startling her from her thoughts. Glancing up, though, she was relieved to see that the intruder was not, in fact, a bitter officer but another fellow vigilante. “Hey,” she called out as casually as she could, though she felt herself wince as her voice shook. Still, she kept up the charade as if it was second nature to downplay her own pain. “How’s it goin’?”

@kato-wolf

[henleyxmoore-blog]

Prompt 003: Written Aesthetic

Henley

floor-to-ceiling windows, a bright computer screen in a dark room, half-empty coffee cups, black nail polish, the echo of boots hitting the floor in an empty hallway, cheap mixed drinks in fine crystal glasses, under eye circles, an accidental brush of shoulders on the sidewalk, a perfect hit in the middle of a dartboard, the surreal feeling of leaving the movie theater at night.

Nightowl

legs hanging over the edge of a tall building, a polluted night sky, a finger resting on a trigger, dark shadows shivering in the cool night breeze, pristine laced-up boots, the sound of footsteps overhead, a crumpled figure on the asphalt, the whiz of an arrow past your ear, the tension in a drawstring, the paranoid feeling like you’re being watched.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

☣

☣ : Worst influence on you as a kid?

“Probably my brother’s friends, to be honest. They weren’t exactly stand-up citizens. Not that we were either. God, our parents would be mortified if they found out about half of the shit we did when we went out in large groups...”

[henleyxmoore-blog]

thaliawinsor:

There was a calm sense of equality between the two that Nightingale appreciated. She felt listened to without needing to lead and without push back from Nightowl, when two people had the same goals aligned it made working together effortless. Maybe she should mention how easy it had been to formulate a painless plan, with absolutely no ridiculous flirting either, to Pitch next time she saw him as a way to inspire him to do better.

“When you say it like that every muscle in my body aches for bed,” She laughed softly, the joke not completely untrue. Being a Vigilante was exhausting work, made easier with the load shared out with others. “The good news is once dawn breaks more people will be in the park, far less chance of a heist and we can all pop off to sleep without the worry of Bo$$ or the eggs… until tomorrow night anyway - the sooner this whole ‘egg hunt’ thing is out of the city the better,” Nightingale’s tone had an extra bitter edge to it, brought on from the fact it was her father who was the one calling the shots within the city. Right down to the local events that now had Vigilante’s all over wasting their time.

“That sounds reasonable, I really just wanted to make sure you were okay with staying and potentially missing out on any action.” Nightingale smiled softly, nothing too overly familiar, and readjusted her mask slightly in preparation of heading off. “I know we didn’t really get a chance to do anything other than babysit some guards but working with you has been quite nice tonight… you know if you ever decide you want to do it again let me know. I don’t have a Nightingale signal… or you know, a special red phone you can call me on. But I’m sure we can figure out a way to get in touch, unless… you have a Nightowl signal?”

Nightowl related to the whole body aching for bed thing far easier than she’d like to admit. She overworked herself, sure--- as Nightowl and during her daily life--- but she was surely used to it at this point. Three-to-four hour resting periods were almost the norm at this point, any night that she got more than five hours of sleep was a luxury and one that she didn’t allow herself to partake in often. There was work to do, she reasoned, and so her personal needs were brushed under the rug in favor of late nights and early mornings and lots and lots of coffee. It was a system that worked well enough for her, at least for the time being.

“Oh don’t worry your pretty little head, I’ll be fine. I can handle a little boredom. Might end up pulling all of my hair out by sunrise, but I’ll survive.” How she’d manage to do that with her curls all braided down and tucked under the multiple layers concealing the top of her head was a mystery, but if anyone could manage, it was her. Nightowl found that she’d also quite enjoyed working alongside Nightingale despite the fact that they hadn’t been able to actually do much. There just seemed to be an air of mutual respect between them, a sort of give-and-take, where neither of them minded actually listening to each other and taking each other’s concerns into consideration; it did help that Nightingale was a woman, if only because Nightowl got enough of men refusing to listen to her during her day job, she didn’t need it now too.

“Oh yeah, there’s a vague bird silhouette flashed into the sky followed by a series of hoots and everything,” she joked, shaking her head as if to emphasize that she was being a sarcastic little shit. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll find you. Promise.” And Nightowl found that she was actually being honest, despite the fact that most times she uttered those words, they were simply an act to get someone to leave her alone. If there was one thing that she was good at (besides the obvious, of course), it was tracking people down.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

→ Self Para: Olympus Mall Heist.

It wasn’t supposed to be such a big deal, it really wasn’t. The mall was large and cluttered, but the egg exhibit was set up in an open area, in view of multiple high points where Nightowl could hide to wait out the night. In all reality, she was more concerned about the rest of the stores in the mall being hit while hers and the mall security’s attention was focused entirely on the egg. And that was her downfall, she reasoned, allowing her focus to shift to the smaller stores instead of keeping her eye on the prize and letting mall security do their damn job. Taking her eye off of the egg for even a moment while she reprehended a petty thief trying to break into fucking Victoria’s Secret and subsequently causing all of hell to break loose. 

This was it. This was inevitable chaos that she’d been feeling the pre-effects of all week long, jittery and anxiety-ridden as she traveled from site to site, watching over these dumb priceless eggs. Briefly, she wondered if someone would manage to show up as backup, but she buried that thought just as quick as it came. She couldn’t treat the situation as if she was expecting help, not when she didn’t know that for sure. And so, she leaped into action. She was doing good, too, downing targets from her height advantage on the second floor balcony, taking out potential thieves like ants as they spread themselves out between the egg and the other stores in the area, trying to maximize their profit. So much, so, in fact, that she wasn’t paying any attention to what was happening right there with her on the second floor.

There were footsteps approaching, she realized, but she realized too late as, in a split second, she was backed up against the balcony railing, strong hands around her throat as her crossbow fell to the first floor with an unsettling crack. Nightowl recognized her attacker, of course, because nothing wasn’t personal between herself and the members of the mob--- they all knew her and she knew all of them, and it was a mutual agreement that they were sworn enemies. “Remember me, birdie?” he growled, and he truly sounded like an over the top supervillain in an action movie. She did remember. He was the hitman she’d targeted on her first night out, the man she’d left injured in the alley without waiting for police backup. He’d escaped--- of course he’d escaped--- how utterly naive of her to think that somehow he’d been incarcerated. Nightowl had no answer for him. One, because she could hardly breath with his fingers tightening around her throat and two, because she didn’t exactly feel like humoring him at the moment. And so, she remained silent, wriggling in his grasp as if she’d be able to escape--- but close quarters combat had never been her strong suit and they were both aware of that.

“Fine. We’ll skip the conversation and get right to the show, then.” Just then, she was thrown backwards over the balcony, knees hooked over the rail as the only way to hold herself up from from a certain death fall. It all played out so eloquently after that, so utterly ridiculous that she considered loosening her grip on the rail if only to end the embarrassment. The hitman strolled casually down the escalator, joining a hooded woman and a few others around the egg’s display case. The woman seemed to look straight into Nightowl’s soul as she lifted the hood, revealing a smirk so large she was sure it would be engraved into her face. The Bo$$. Of course it was her. Who else would it be? Nightowl found that she couldn’t look away even as the villain took a sledge hammer from one of her companions and shattered the glass case around the egg. Alarms blared around them, but the Bo$$ simply picked up the egg in gloved hands, marveling at its beauty. Then, all Nightowl could hear were her heels clacking against linoleum as she made her way safely out of the mall. With the egg. The egg that Nightowl was supposed to be protecting. What a shit show. 

Nightowl was having trouble breathing, throat restricted and blood rushing to her head as she hung upside down over the first floor of the mall, forced to stare at the mess she’d allowed to happen. And, really, she almost felt content with the idea of just hanging there all night and dissociating from reality. But police sirens in the distance jarred her back to the situation at hand. 

With all of the core strength she could muster, Nightowl reached up with her hand, gripping onto the bottom rail of the balcony and allowing her feet to slip over the rail and hang down with the rest of her body. She was nearly out of options here. The next rail was too high to reach, so climbing back up was a no go. So was dropping to the first floor, as that was obviously undesirable. But then she spotted a kiosk just a little bit ahead and she quickly tried to do some calculations in her head, but with the police sirens getting louder and louder and echoing through the mall’s empty hallways, she couldn’t really think straight. A horizontal jump would always be better than a vertical free fall, she reasoned, and so she swung herself back and forth to build up momentum before finally launching herself toward the roof of the kiosk. 

A gasp escaped her throat as she landed funny on her ankle, pain shooting through her whole leg. But at least she was stable. Ignoring the ache, she quickly climbed down from the kiosk, sprinting out of the building just as the police could be heard entering from the other end of the mall.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

kato-wolf:

He wouldn’t say he resented being here, exactly—no, that wasn’t quite the case. He was glad to be doing his part, lending a hand—or in this case an eye or two—to things that the community of Newhaven felt was important, relevant to the wellbeing of the city and the people inside it. 

But if you were to ask him if he’d anticipated guarding golden eggs when he stepped away from his affiliation with the big leagues, he would have to have said no. Definitely not. 

Like, he got it, the things had value, and a price tag that hefty in the hands of someone with malicious motives wasn’t ideal, to put it lightly. But still… he was antsy, and couldn’t help feeling slightly foolish, hanging around the egg locations for the better part of a week. 

Jumping down from the overhang of the roof onto the balcony, agile on his feet and quiet, he wasn’t surprised to see Nightowl go for her weapon. Nor was he surprised to see her stand down, before he’d stepped from the shadows. Whether they knew each other well or not, it seemed the Vigilantes in the community had a general understanding and knowledge of each other—similar to the Guild, perhaps, but less official—their knowledge of each other somehow more mysterious, and in passing. If Somnium was being honest, in fact, it was an enticing element to being a part of the… collective, if you could call it that. 

He gave a curt shake of his head. “Still nothing,” he echoed, more stoic than he felt. But it wouldn’t exactly do for a supposed masked hero to pout about being bored. He would be the first to admit that his persona as Somnium was a considerable shift from himself as a civilian. Still him—just filtered, maybe. 

“I’ve been hopping between locations the past few nights… placate the restlessness. But no, nothing. How long have you been here tonight?”

Though she was used to working alone--- and more comfortable flying solo, to be entirely honest--- Nightowl found herself both intrigued and maybe even in a state of anticipation by the appearance of this new addition. She recognized Somnium, of course, from newspaper articles and headlines, but also from the online chatrooms that she often found herself browsing through under the prospect of research. There was an ample amount of gossip surrounding the other vigilante, spread by web users claiming to be ‘vigilante experts’ or whatever, some speculating how and where he got his powers, others believing that they had figured out his entire family tree or some shit. Truthfully, Nightowl didn’t trust most of what she read on the internet, especially after reading through some of the bullshit people wrote about her--- but that exactly is what made the prospect of meeting these other vigilantes face-to-face so enticing.

Nightowl had to physically stop herself from groaning out loud in response to his answer, if only to save face. She didn’t particularly want someone to try their luck with the egg, but she wasn’t use to the whole aimless patrolling thing. Mostly, she worked in targets, putting all of her time and energy into researching and tracking a specific criminal before finally going after them. This sitting around and watching thing was new and, honestly, annoying. She needed to be doing something or the night would be a complete waste.

“For a while, I dunno... since sundown.” How long ago was that? She didn’t know, to be honest. She’d lost track of the hours. “I’ve just got this... feeling, y’know? Like something’s gonna happen. Maybe not tonight, but... soon. Like something’s lurking around the corner.” It sounded ominous and, really, a bit freaky, but that was the most coherent way that she could put her thoughts to words at the moment.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

bo-abrams:

The Watcher barely contained a groan as Nightowl did the opposite of his instructions. Realizing she would probably do better with a higher angle, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that he really had no idea how to strategize for her.  The Watcher focused his attention back to the possible threat. Two breaths and thirteen heartbeats after he saw Nightowl take up her position, Watcher moved.

The walls in this part of the Garden were short, more decorative than anything. Hooking his fingertips into the cracks he climbed and boosted himself over into the more shadowed space. He landed softly, but yelped when something caught his attention. Yellow eyes stared up at him before the now hissing cat made a mad dash past him. Thin lines of fire sliced across his ankle at it managed a swipe at him on its way past and in his haste to turn around, the vigilante toppled over with a small thud.

With a groan, Watcher pushed himself to a sitting position, then upright. Heaving his body gingerly over the wall again, he shot a minor salute up to the roof. “ Just a cat. How much of that did you catch?” There were plenty of the Watcher’s peers that would love to hear this story. He wouldn’t blame Nightowl if she spread the joke around, but he could hope she’d be merciful in telling it.

Nightowl followed his lead, maneuvering herself toward the other edge of the roof, closer to the action, crossbow ready at her side--- but what really caught her attention was... whatever you could call that sound that just left the Watcher’s mouth. Eyes focusing in on the scene before her, she realized that her companion was not where she’d estimated he’d be but instead on the ground, a dash of color speeding from her peripheral vision, which she quickly recognized as a cat. 

Trying her best to hold back the ridiculous laugh that was threatening to bubble up her throat, she clasped a hand over her mouth, watching as the other vigilante recovered, hoisting himself back over the garden wall. “Uh--- not much...?” But that lie alone was enough to allow a brief laugh to escape her lips. She was briefly overcome by a scene of her and her older brother, her fourteen year old self covered in mud and her brother trying to assure her through fits of giggles that he’d lie about the embarrassing story behind it when they got home. She shook that image from her head just as quickly as it came.

She gestured with a finger and her thumb over her lips as if she were zipping her mouth shut. “Between you and me, yeah?” It wasn’t much of an offer, but it was enough, she supposed. Nobody needed any extra fuel to make light of the vigilantes of the city, especially someone who looked and sounded as young as the Watcher. No matter how much good they did, it always seemed to be the slip ups that ended up in the papers the next morning.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

lyra-rey:

If Lyra was being honest to herself, she didn’t care one bit about the stupid egg hunt. The days before they arrived, her students were buzzing around trying to find them all–something about a drinking game involving it made her a lot less interested than normal. It seemed frivolous to waste funds on fancy eggs that would only encourage the thieves on the streets to take advantage of the government’s idiocracy. And word on the street is that they are planning on doing just that.

She took it upon herself to keep an eye on the egg at the Gardens since it was close enough to where she lived that it would be more convenient for her to keep an eye on it. After a full night of grading homework, she put on her suit and went to the streets. She scoped out the grounds first, as she usually did, to ensure that there was no danger lurking around in the corners. Hovering above the air, she only found a few small pockets of homeless people and teenagers finding a good spot to go drinking. When she deemed her search adequate, she went to the site of the egg, pleased that someone else was already there.

“Nothing at all,” she said, the voice changer that she had installed into her helmet distorting her voice. She was vaguely aware of the vigilante before her, but she couldn’t tell if it was because she had met her before or if her name and face came up during one of her research sessions on the vigilantes in the city. “How long have you been watching it?”

Nightowl could only give a curt nod in response to the information that she’d seen coming from a mile away, the admission that no, there still wasn’t anything going on around here. Not that she particularly wanted someone to try their luck and steal a priceless egg, but more so that she couldn’t help the ominous cloud that was setting over her, making her nervous that there was a plan in the works. It was always more exhausting when criminals actually thought things through before jumping straight into a situation. Better, for the vigilantes at least, that their opposition was impulsive and greedy.

At the question, Nightowl briefly glanced upward in thought, counting the hours on her fingers as if she couldn’t quite remember. “Four hours? Five? I dunno, it wasn’t so bad at the beginning, setting up the perimeter and stuff, but if I have to watch these two guards make one more loop around their patrol route, I think I might go insane,” she commented, voice monotone and emotionless. “Did you just now get here?”

[henleyxmoore-blog]

♧ for any combo!

Owlwatcher Playlist:

New Heroes - TEN

Our Own House - Misterwives

Wild Things - Alessia Cara

GO - NCT Dream

Thunder - Imagine Dragons

[henleyxmoore-blog]

this or that: 13, 17, 22?

13. know the date you’ll die or how you’ll die?

“Hm, existential, I like it... I think I’d rather know the date. That way I can make sure to do everything I want to do with my life up until that point. Plus, what if I die in a super lame way? I don’t think I could live peacefully knowing that I’ll eventually die via refrigerator or some shit.”

17. travel by car, by train or by airplane?

“I’m assuming we’re talking long distance travel? Plane, then. It’s the quickest route, and I’m not exactly someone to be afraid of heights.”

22. fiction or nonfiction books?

“Fiction. I don’t think I’ve ever read a nonfiction book that was able to keep my attention for more than one chapter.”

[henleyxmoore-blog]

thaliawinsor:

Nightingale stood politely in place, letting the hooded vigilante think through whatever plans she was formulating. She hadn’t worked often with Nightowl but she seemed to have a good head for tactics, she genuinely wanted to know what the best plan of attack would be in her eyes and valued the opinion. At her question the blondes gaze travelled back down towards the park, hovering over the egg before shaking her head. 

“No, if you want me to be honest. Sure it’s well lit but it’s too open a space with too many options to come in and too much ground for the guards to cover. I was down there with them and managed to sneak around no problem…” She crossed her arms and pursed her lips together softly, a telltale sign she was more than concerned. “It might not be Bo$$ or Mainframe but someone will see that egg unguarded and want to take a chance. She doesn’t have to come out and steal everything for it to make it into her hands…Maybe it’s worth just one of us sticking around and the other going?” Splitting up was never something she was fond of but she knew better than to put her own wants ahead of what was needed.

They weren’t an official team or gang, they were all just individuals who happened to indulge in the same… hobby. It’s not like they had a fancy HQ or a designated team leader, Nightowl could leave if she wanted - heck they both could. The fact the Vigilante’s were seemingly pulling together over this event was impressive in itself. “You can split off if you want, I can just keep an eye out here. Keep an ear to the ground in case someone needs… well, me to heal…” 

Nightowl nodded slowly as her companion explained the situation and, truthfully, she’d known the answer would be something like that. It didn’t take a tactical genius to see that the security had a copious amount of faults here, and the fact that these two had been stationed here for so long without alerting the guards to their presence accounted for a lot. “My thoughts exactly,” she commented, if only to let Nightingale know that she was listening the entire time.

She was right, after all--- any good supervillain had loyal followers willing to do the dirty work, and the Bo$$, she knew, wouldn’t mind risking a few of them for her own personal gain. That much was certain. “Maybe... I mean, if we leave it in the guard’s hands, there’s a good chance things could go catastrophically wrong, but if we both stay, it feels like a total waste of time and resources,” she reasoned, springboarding off of Nightingale’s suggestion. “Yeah, sounds reasonable.”

Nightowl considered the offer for a moment before shaking her head in a final decision. “Nah, I’ll stay. Been here since sundown, what’s a few more hours, huh?” Really, Nightingale looked slightly uncomfortable at the thought of defending this site alone, whereas Nightowl was practically a lone wolf as it was--- she usually did most of her vigilante work by herself, this was a special occasion for her, really. “Plus, what if someone needs you? We can’t leave you tied someplace that you can’t leave on good conscience.” It was a bad idea, after all, to leave their only healer immobile.

[henleyxmoore-blog]

(unrequested & unnecessary) Aesthetic of our Bird Girls Thalia/Nightingale ( @thaliawinsor, ) Henley/Nightowl ( @henleyxmoore, ) & Emelia/Phoenix

[henleyxmoore-blog]

{ ◐ } —- send this to get a pantone edit for my character (For Nightowl please!)

[henleyxmoore-blog]

mythicks:

Something the Phoenix had noticed about her other vigillantes, at least thus far, was that they all preferred things to happen. The only one who seemed to share her sort of optimism and happiness when things were mild was Nightingale, and even then she was almost sure that their third bird-themed companion was still happier when she had something to do.

As much as Emelia loved being able to protect the city (and people) whom she now considered home, she liked it when things weren’t blowing up around her. Perhaps that was because her bones were hollow and sometimes explosions would literally shatter her leg and take her out of commission for a week or two, but still!

“I have seen many eg– oh, you mean this one.” the thing that she could never separate, whether in her costume as the Phoenix or her life as Emelia was her malaprops and misunderstandings; it was a core of her personality, “I have not seen it yet, I thought perhaps seeing me might alert some of them and I know how very much you wish to be doing violence tonight!”

She had learned, at least, to control her tone, so that at least when she was showing needless enthusiasm for one of her companions she was not screaming at the top of her lungs and giving away their position; at least not yet.

“People tend to put value more on what someone says something is worth than its actual worth, I have noticed.” A nod here and she continued, softer, “It is likely very ugly yes, but they have been told it is worth much so it is worth much until they find out otherwise. If you break it is still all there and yet would be worthless, how sad?”

As much as Nightowl tried to be as nice as possible--- to her fellow vigilantes, whom she respected, at the very least--- there were just some things that she couldn’t ignore. Phoenix’s misunderstanding of the which egg she could possibly be talking about must have been one of those things, as she soon found herself biting back the snippy “yes, genius. this egg” that threatened to spill from the tip of her tongue. Instead she simply nodded in response, though her eyes were slightly widened in an almost sarcastic fashion. She supposed her hood hid her eyes well enough. Hopefully her partner wouldn’t even notice.

However, a tiny lopsided smile tugged at the edges of her lips at the end of Phoenix’s statement, redacting any thoughts that the other bird-themed vigilante was dumb in any way. No, she just had a funny way of thinking and speaking that even someone as stoic as Nightowl couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Not necessarily violence, so to speak. Doing something would be nice, though.”

Phoenix’s little speech about value was a bit too deep for Nightowl’s current state of mind, so it mostly went over her head, though the last statement stuck a bit better than the rest. “Ah, there’s a solution. If we break all of the eggs, no one will want them anymore. There, we just singlehandedly ended thievery.” Nightowl tapped a finger against the side of her head twice, as if she’d just made some grand mindblowing point. She was joking, of course, the fees they’d have to pay if the eggs ended up broken was much more than she was willing to give, even with her high-paying day job. 

[henleyxmoore-blog]

“Shut up and let me help you.”

Nightowl opened her mouth to protest once more--- that she didn’t need any help, thank you, that she’d rub antiseptic all over the gash in the early hours of the morning after she arrived home, that it really truly didn’t hurt as bad as it looked--- but something about the tone in her companion’s voice made her second guess that course of action. And she trusted Red, at least not to make the wound any worse than it already was. She paused for a moment before letting out an overdramatic sigh of defeat. “Fine. Make it quick, we’ve got a job to finish.”

[henleyxmoore-blog]

thaliawinsor:

Nightingale found that out of the four eggs the one located in The Basement was the hardest to truly keep an eye on. Anything that could afford them a clear view was painfully far away, anything too close would leave them exposed. Yet Nightowl had managed to find the perfect spot that struck a balance between the two needs of the stakeout whilst she’d been monitoring the two guards patrol pattern. The fact they’d left just two men to patrol an entire park area with a priceless egg in the middle confused the blonde vigilante, yet that was one of the many reasons the Vigilante’s were working together to keep an eye on them.

“No, I haven’t actually seen guard number two since he told the other he was popping off for coffee. I’ve been watching the East entrance ever since but it’s hard not to be spotted either. Hardly anywhere good to hide around the flower beds and street lamps…” Nightingale edged forward, making no notice of the way the other moved towards the hidden weapon. “I haven’t seen any of the others either, maybe Pitch is out by the Town Hall or something - not exactly a bad idea to have us divide and conquer.“ She mused, keeping her voice low so as not to draw any attention from their otherwise silent surroundings.

In truth it was quiet, too quiet. Almost no one was around at this time, especially not near the park when there were more enticing bars or clubs to attend. Dog walkers and people cutting through to make their way home had been all Nightingale had encountered whilst staking out The Gardens, not that she was disappointed by the lack of action. “If I were Bo$$ I’d want to hit up the one at Town Hall, swing by the bank and jewelers on my way out to make a real trip of it. Maybe we’re better moving on, unless you’ve seen anything?”

Nightowl rolled her eyes at the blonde’s statement, not necessarily a jab at Nightingale herself but at the guard that she’d described. “I know security’s more at ease knowing that we’re all out here as backup but seriously... do your damn job, people,” she muttered under her breath. Maybe the anxiety was coming from a place of someone who worked in a building filled with priceless equipment, but the lack of tight security really was sanding down her nerves. Nightowl hadn’t thought about the whereabouts of the city’s other resident vigilantes, but now that her companion brought it up, she realized that she hadn’t seen anyone else yet either. It did console her at least a little bit, the thought that people like them were spread out to cover all four sites.

At Nightingale’s comment, she couldn’t help but let out a breath that was supposed to read something like a laugh. Truly, that sounded exactly how she imagined the Bo$$ would play her cards--- work smarter, not harder. No, she wasn’t exactly worried about the big players going after the low hanging fruit of an egg that she was surveillancing right now--- she was more worried about petty criminals sneaking through the lack of security and going on some sort of power trip with a priceless object in their possession. “Nope, haven’t seen a single thing. You think security’s got this one covered?”

[henleyxmoore-blog]

bo-abrams:

“Well, no one else gets a view of it like we do, so I’m more hyped for that in all honesty,” he said with a wry grin. “It’s never a bad thing to enjoy taking some time to look at pretty things, though. Stop and… Look at eggs, I guess! Though since we’re in the Gardens, they’ve already stopped for the roses,” he trailed off before hearing her own mutter.

The Watcher straightened up, taking note of the quiet himself. More quiet than Nightowl seemed to realize. The footsteps of the guard who was supposed to be passing on the other side of the wall weren’t audible. He knew tilting his head didn’t actually make him hear better, but it’s amazing what the brain can trick itself into. A few second of intent listening, barely breathing, and wishing he could make his heartbeat quieter, he heard the scuff of something heavy being dragged. Shit.

Dashing away from the other vigilante, he pressed himself just next to the gap in the garden wall. He held a fist up at shoulder height. Hope she knows some signals. Cupping a hand around the ear closest to her, he quickly circled one wrist with the other hand before releasing and pushing the palm of the first hand down. Sinking low to the ground himself, he edged as close to the opening as he could, wondering if she got the message, and hoping she had a better plan of action since his preparation might have already gone out the window.

Nightowl couldn’t help but agree with his statement. When she’d seen the egg up close earlier in the daylight, it had seemed much less impressive--- but now, under the cloak of the night sky, only the garden’s lights to illuminate its surface, seen in wide-shot from a bird’s eye view... dare she say, it didn’t seem so boring anymore. 

The Watcher seemed to have gone silent, prompting Nightowl to glance in his direction, confusion etched into her features. He seemed to be listening for something, so she remained still and quiet, even regulating her breathing as to not interfere. She couldn’t hear much herself, but she hadn’t exactly trained her ears like many other vigilantes had. She relied on sight for the most part, usually positioned too far away from the action to be able to gather much from the noise. She kept her eyes on her partner, though she had to admit that whatever kind of signals he was trying to do with his hands didn’t help much. No, she needed higher ground if she was going to be of any help in this situation.

Light on her feet, Nightowl scaled the wall of the building, propelling herself just high enough to pull herself onto the roof by her arms. She took a moment to glance over the edge of the roofing, making sure the Watcher was aware of her new position, if only to ease his anxieties and make sure his head was still in the situation at hand. Then, she readied her crossbow, loading a dart, and crouching low near the edge of the roof, waiting for her partner’s signal.