[If things had gone smoother here the answer would be great! Sure! Of course! Instead however, Cass shifts a little uncomfortably on the counter. She's not comfortable with any of this since coming here. Everything has been thrown up in the air since they got here.]
Steph doesn't even remember living with me. [She says as if that's an answer to the question. It's not, but it's clearly something that's been crawling under her skin for a while.
Maybe even more so than Bruce himself who she hasn't made an effort to meet yet. It's easier when it's just a different person with the same name.]
[ It's calm, quiet, methodical. Except for the barest hint in her voice that maybe Cass alone could catch the wrinkle underneath. Dick would know it was there without seeing it, decades into knowing how she carries everything she does, no matter how heavy or how unending, but it's there. The smallest whisper of it. It's pinned under the mountainous problem with Bruce, but it's still the same kind. The disassociation from the known in some dearer than words could qualify. ]
But I can't just leave her out in the cold, either. She's still Steph, even if she appears to be from so much earlier.
[Her tone is blunt with a hint of annoyance as she shoots Babs a look that's something straight out of years ago when she'd first ended up living with Babs. It is a little bit indictive about how she's been feeling here. Like she can't settle down and get a handle on everything.
Cassandra very much thrives in being in control and isn't enjoying anything about this place. There is a very small hint of besides you have Dick. Hidden somewhere back behind her voice that she hasn't even registered herself. ]
[ Barbara's look up from her sandwhich is moderately slow, and her eyebrows are peaked briefly at Cass' snap. It lasts long enough for Barbara to make eye contact with the girl sitting higher up on the counter before she returns to her sandwich. ] Nor would you.
[ Ask.
Or consider it. ]
I know, in some ways, it's even harder with her than with Bruce. [ They're so close after all these years, and that's a rarity for Cass. ]
[She's not wrong and yet Cass doesn't even want to think about it. It's upsetting, it's not that she didn't like Steph back then. It's just they've been through so much and it's weird and different and not right. She's not sure how she'd feel about living with everyone again when things aren't right. ]
I haven't met Bruce.
[The comment is cold, like there's a hint of annoyance at the idea. She's been avoiding it on purpose since everyone mentioned it. ]
[ Barbara had wondered, but she'd decided she would have heard about it long before now. There's a careful pause as Barbara decides how to say what she's going to say—because with Cass, she's always going to say it; she knows Cass is already reading it in her body language, the faintest shift of anything instinctual she hasn't even realizing she's done before getting to the thought of it even. ]
I am sorry for that, and— [ There's a vague nod to one side. ] —maybe even more sorry that it's probably for the best at the moment. Things... aren't going all the easily with him on any angle for anyone.
[ Even Damian has pointed out he was young, emotionally vulnerable, and nothing like the man they all knew Bruce Wayne to be. And Etraya's never seen much of Batman in the field besides the labyrinth. But Cass' second comment shuts down the first tread of a hamster wheel. She can't stop her brain from retreading too often. ]
It's not okay. None of this is okay, Cass. None of us are okay with any of it.
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Steph doesn't even remember living with me. [She says as if that's an answer to the question. It's not, but it's clearly something that's been crawling under her skin for a while.
Maybe even more so than Bruce himself who she hasn't made an effort to meet yet. It's easier when it's just a different person with the same name.]
no subject
[ It's calm, quiet, methodical. Except for the barest hint in her voice that maybe Cass alone could catch the wrinkle underneath. Dick would know it was there without seeing it, decades into knowing how she carries everything she does, no matter how heavy or how unending, but it's there. The smallest whisper of it. It's pinned under the mountainous problem with Bruce, but it's still the same kind. The disassociation from the known in some dearer than words could qualify. ]
But I can't just leave her out in the cold, either.
She's still Steph, even if she appears to be from so much earlier.
no subject
[Her tone is blunt with a hint of annoyance as she shoots Babs a look that's something straight out of years ago when she'd first ended up living with Babs. It is a little bit indictive about how she's been feeling here. Like she can't settle down and get a handle on everything.
Cassandra very much thrives in being in control and isn't enjoying anything about this place. There is a very small hint of besides you have Dick. Hidden somewhere back behind her voice that she hasn't even registered herself. ]
no subject
[ Ask.
Or consider it. ]
I know, in some ways, it's even harder with her than with Bruce.
[ They're so close after all these years, and that's a rarity for Cass. ]
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I haven't met Bruce.
[The comment is cold, like there's a hint of annoyance at the idea. She's been avoiding it on purpose since everyone mentioned it. ]
How can you all just act like this is all okay?
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I am sorry for that, and— [ There's a vague nod to one side. ] —maybe even more sorry that it's probably for the best at the moment. Things... aren't going all the easily with him on any angle for anyone.
[ Even Damian has pointed out he was young, emotionally vulnerable, and nothing like the man they all knew Bruce Wayne to be. And Etraya's never seen much of Batman in the field besides the labyrinth. But Cass' second comment shuts down the first tread of a hamster wheel. She can't stop her brain from retreading too often. ]
It's not okay. None of this is okay, Cass.
None of us are okay with any of it.
I'm not.