Entry tags:

inactive: cassandra cain, inactive: tim drake

Cassandra and Tim

This afternoon, Batfam reuniting.

They'll pluck the heart right out your chest
They'll truss you up in your Sunday best
And stuff your mouth with cotton

Squiggles. Everything on the page was squiggles. Cassandra sat on top of a table as she waited for Tim to show up and was doing her best to not get pissed off at a book. She turned it this way and that and the words still didn’t make sense to her. Her costume was tucked away somewhere safe and she was stuck wearing a black shirt and a pair of yellow running shorts, with some black sneakers- compliments of Diana. The woman was helping her for some unknown reason and the young caped crusader was taking it for now. Tim would help her sort stuff out easier in person since their conversation could only go on so far in the little emojis.

The book was making no more sense and she hurled it up in the air before lashing out with her fist. Flesh connected with the cover before the book went sailing across the room. It slammed into the wall next to the doorway just as Tim seemed to step through. Cass’s eyes widened and she promptly jumped off the table, landing without a sound. Not a word was said as she used her speed to appear in front of him, reaching out to snag his wrist so she could bring his hand up. She gently smacked her closed fist into his palm as her way of saying hello before she dropped his arm.

She pointed to her eyes as if to ask where his costume was before shrugging. It wasn’t like they were on a mission or something, but it was always strange to see him not geared up. The Batkids tended to be costumed up when they interacted… except Cassandra had some issues keeping the mask on.

“Lost… can’t reach Oracle,” the words came out a little shakily as she pointed to her ear and frowned. The comm was useless. “I want to… go home. Bruce.”

Tim, to his credit, didn't flinch when a book slammed against the wall as he walked into the rec room but he did do a double-take at seeing Cass without her mask on. He wandered around the mansion without it, and had a public persona, but Cass? Well, he'd only seen her once or twice without it on. Still, he recognised her. He'd recognise her anywhere, as he would the rest of his family. And his initial joy upon seeing her here - confirming with his own eyes that she was here outside of their... conversation(?) on the network - was tempered by the obvious frustration in the lines of her body and across her face. The sadness as she spoke in the very typical, broken manner he associated with her.

"No suit," he answered first, "when the Entity pulled me here I was at Wayne Enterprises, at a board meeting."

He tipped his head, watching the frown crossing her face and reached out, hovering near her shoulder before letting his hand drop, enough time to let Cass move if she wanted to, squeezing gently and then letting go.

"Yeah, me too," he told her quietly. He turned to pick up the book, leaving through it quickly and then offering it back to Cassie. "But I think we're stuck here for a while. At least you're not alone. I'm here. We can stick together, right?"

She screwed her face up in a look of disgusted annoyance. No suit? She didn’t have the skills to make him one and she doubted he was going to go the face paint route she had done when defying Bruce. Cassandra made no move to escape his touch, instead she merely stood there as she tried to sort out all the thoughts in her head. Her hand came up to grab the book without a second thought as she nodded. Yes, stick together.

“Diana,” she blurted out as she pointed to her eyes again and then up towards the ceiling. Her suit was in Diana’s apartment. Yes, it was probably a stupid move, but it was honestly easier to blend in dressed as a civilian. “Said she friend of Bruce. Truth.” She wasn’t asking, she had read it in Diana’s body language. The woman did care about Bruce and she had obviously known that Bruce was Batman from how she had reacted seeing Cass in her suit.

She glanced down at the book and wasn’t exactly positive if she was holding it upside down or not. She spun it in her hands a couple of times before moving to put it back where she had found it resting. Suddenly she spun around and dropped down into a fighting stance, except she wasn’t asking for a fight. No, she raised an eyebrow at Tim before pointing in the direction she knew outside was. Was he still fighting if he didn’t have his suit? They weren’t in Gotham and he said they were stuck for awhile, but that didn’t mean they just stopped being heroes.

A loud sigh escaped her as she let herself go back to standing in a relaxed manner. This was hurting her head. Plus she wanted cereal, but her cereal was at home and not here with her. She put a hand on her stomach as she began to wonder faintly how she was even going to get food here. She didn’t have money.

“Oh, yeah.” Tim chewed his lower lip and settled near her, leaning against the table. “Diana is Wonder Woman. She and- well, Bruce isn’t here anymore but she and Bruce were from the same reality. Not our reality, a different one. They don’t know who we are, not really. But Diana is nice.” He didn’t quite know how to break that down further if Cass didn’t understand, but he’d try. But Bruce had almost felt the same, though he was full of anger and grief, he hadn’t had the same experiences as the one who later adopted Tim Drake.

He shook his head at her question. “No, no bad guys here. No point. I’m training though, could use a sparring partner.” His lips twitched up into a grin. “And I’m going to get a group of us together so we can fight if there’s a need for it. Wanna join?” It’d help keep Cass busy as much as Tim was hoping it would take his mind off things. Off the other Cassie and Conner and how they were- well. Best not to spend too much time thinking about that. “You hungry, Cass?” His eyebrow arched. “What floor are you on, are you on the eighth floor?”

Yeah, Tim got a blank look from Cass as she didn’t fully understand what he was saying. The words didn’t make sense to her so she merely spread her arms wide and shrugged to show she didn’t quite follow. Realities didn’t mean anything to her, but she could at least figure out that Bruce was not Bruce, but also Bruce? That one hurt her head. “Different,” was all she settled on saying. “Okay.” The confusion on her face cleared up as a smug look appeared on her face as she sized up Tim. “I don’t hold back.” She would spar with him and she wouldn’t make it easy. Cass smacked her fist against her palm as she gave a firm nod. Yeah, she would spar with him. The shift in conversation had her blinking. A group of fighters? The Batgirl gave a faint fistpump with a nod, duh. Of course she would join. She would get bored otherwise.

“Yes. Kid’s floor-” That clearly upset her and she clenched her fists. “Not kid. Diana said she wants me. I need no one.” There was a second before she realized what she had said. “Maybe you. You are okay… and hungry.” She dropped down into a crouching position and let her arms rest on her legs so her hands dangled between her knees.

“Not kid.” This was really the most she had said in a while and her voice got a little hoarse. Man, psychic powers would have been great right now.

Tim settled beside her, sitting on the floor and gently tugging her down so she was sitting next to him. He bumped her shoulder with his own. “Diana’s going to look after you so you don’t have to be on the kid’s floor? That’s good. Jason’s… ‘looking after’ me. It doesn’t mean anything except you can stay with her and eat all the food you want out of her fridge and cupboards.” And though Tim didn’t eat much, coffee was definitely his vice of choice, the fact that Goodland provided good, consistent food was great. It meant when he had a 2am craving there was usually something to fill it.

He smiled at her a little, “And yeah, I get it. I feel the same. We’re used to being on our own, right? So having to rely on someone over eighteen to ‘take care of us’ is really annoying. Makes me feel like no one trusts you, right?”

He bumped her shoulder again and then lifted his knees to his chest, leaning forward to rest his chin there. “You hungry, Cass? We can go grab something to eat if you want? Either up in my apartment or we can go out somewhere?” He paused, offering her a little smile. “I did find a cereal bar a few blocks away…”

She didn't fight being pulled down and her lips even curled up slightly at the shoulder bump. Safe. Familiar- and then Tim threw a curveball. If a physical exclamation point could have appeared over her head it would have at the mention of Jason. Jason was...dead. Bruce said so. She shoved that aside to sort out later as she leaned her head to the side slightly as she tried to figure out if Diana would get upset at how much she ate.

Cass nodded in agreement. People didn't trust her normally and she had worked at being trustworthy for the Batfamily. Now she was in the position she might not be trusted again and that caused her to blow a raspberry to show that was how she was feeling. Tim got it.

Once food was mentioned her whole demeanor changed. Cereal bar? As in like candy bar or… drinking bar? Cass raised an eyebrow. "Cereal bar? I don't…. What? Either works." She was curious about the apartment, but the explanation about the cereal bar was more important than deciding on food.

"...thank you."

Tim noticed the confusion on her face but wasn’t quite sure what it was in relation to. He played the conversation back, trying to work out what he’d said that might have caused her confusion. He couldn’t work it out, but he supposed that they could circle back to that later. He bumped her shoulder again.

“A cereal bar. It’s… it’s a restaurant that serves cereal.” Since a fair bit of the bat-family had a… propensity for cereal, he’d been really pleased when he found it. When she thanked him, his smile softened into something truly gentle and affectionate. “You’re welcome, Cass. I’m just glad I’m here.”

Cass' eyes widen in amazement at the idea of a whole restaurant serving cereal. She shifted just enough to give him an extremely awkward hug, just showing how off balance she was. This place was something she didn't understand and using the cellphone had only been frustrating. She couldn't figure out what people meant because she didn't have the option to read their body language.

"Glad too." She pulled back from the hug and her features settled into her normal indifferent expression. There was a moment before she pointed to her mouth and said one simple word.

"Cereal."

Cereal fueled the bats.

Tim grinned, having briefly lifted his arm to hug her back.

“Okay. Cereal. Then I can catch you up on what’s happening here. At least, as much as I know.”

He got to his feet, offering a hand to help pull Cass up. She didn’t need it, and he knew that, but it didn’t hurt to keep a little bit of the contact going. Tim wasn’t huge on physical contact with most people, but there were a few precious exceptions to that and Cass was one of them. Besides, he’d felt so isolated and having Cass be here all of a sudden had helped him feel like a weight had lifted off his shoulders.

“C’mon. I’m buying.”

She stared at the hand for a moment and then looked at Tim. Cass finally reached out and took his hand so she could be helped up. They both needed contact it seemed.

"Good. No money," the words were cheeky as she pulled him in for another hug because she sensed he needed it… or maybe she needed it. Either way, the hug happened.

She took a step back so she could pull her hair back into a haphazard ponytail with the rubberband from her wrist. Barbara would have scolded her about not using a real hair tie and something about breaking hair. She grinned and motioned to the door, asking Tim to lead the way.

"Best," she pointed at him and nodded. Tim was the best right now, buying her cereal- even if he said no stabbing. They'd get back to that later.

“I try,” Tim replied with a little smile and headed towards the door, knowing she’d be right behind him. Food and then talking. And then maybe a tour. At the very least he could help her get situated. And then talk to her about joining his not-Titans. “It’s good to see you, Cass,” he added, since she’d been in China, maybe, when he’d last checked. “It’ll all be okay, you’ll see.”