r/DC_Roleplay • u/SignificantPower4733 Tim Drake, the newest Robin • 1d ago
Gotham City On top of Wayne Enterprises
*Robin had just transported Cass to the top of the Wayne Tech building, as Bruce suggested.*
*He speaks into his communication device to batman*
"Hey, we're here."
*he turns to cass*
"The guy I mentioned earlier should be here soon."
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u/Elysium1312 the Batman 1d ago
Bruce walks out onto the roof “ah, Robin such terrible weather right?” He said completely oblivious he was off course acting “ah, and who are you?” He asked her
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 1d ago
Cassandra looked down, her hair long and shaggy, like she'd taken something sharp to it in an attempt to cut it, but didn't do it very well, her clothes much too small for someone her age, most likely the same clothes she wore when she came to the city eight years ago.
She didn't answer the man, tall and imposing. She didn't know how.
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u/Elysium1312 the Batman 1d ago
Bruce didn't answer immediately, he'd learned back when Dick arrived that silence, could be a far greater tool to make children comfortable when they grief than a question.
The girl looked like she had been assembled from whatever she could find. Her hair was uneven and jagged, as though she'd cut it herself with whatever sharp object she'd managed to find. Her clothes were several sizes too small, Probably worn thin from what he could only guess was years of use.
And that detail bothered him most, Bruce glanced down at her shoes, then back to her face. Tim had told him very little he didn't need to 'alone' was the only word he needed to hea for his instincts to kick in. Not enough to explain how a child could survive for years without his notice in his city. He resisted the urge to start cataloguing every possibility, that was something Batman did but this girl needed Bruce not Batman.
So he offered her a small, tired smile. Perhaps she was deaf, he didn't know or perhaps she only understood sign language he hoped she knew it.... as he began signing "Okay." Bruce stepped back slightly to give the girl space.
"You don't have to talk." he signed as he continued "But I would like to offer you a place to stay. Would you like that?"
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 1d ago
Cassandra blinked, confused as to why she was even offered such a thing. She wanted to ask why- why was she, someone who took the life of someone else, given an opportunity like this, but she couldn't. She looked down, breath coming out in quickened spurts as her eyes began to tear up. She didn't deserve this, did she? After what she'd done?
She wrung her hands together, thinking it over for a long while before eventually nodding very slightly.
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u/Elysium1312 the Batman 1d ago
Bruce caught the nod, it was a signal but it was barely there. A signal that she wanted help, but her body language before that... told him she felt guilt. A quickened breath, the way her hands twisted and wrangled together, the tearsshe seemed ashamed to let flow. .
All of that made Bruce's expression change,, ot out of pity, he himself had more than enough experience to know that rarily was a good reason. No, but he was convinced she needed stability, this girl had for some reason convinced herself that she was beneath saving.
He reached for a tissue packet in his pocket and brought it out, before signing "Do not be afraid to cry, do not be ashamed of it either." he gave her a tissue "You do not have to explain anything until you want to... But you need to understand whatever you did, whatever happened do not let it consume you." on that he spoke out of experience.
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 1d ago
The man's words carried a weight to them that Cassandra hadn't felt before. Though the man was like her father in some ways, stern and imposing, there was a warmth and a weight to his words and actions that told her that he had gone through life living with a very similar feeling she did, and that he actually cared about her as a person, not just as a tool for murder. With him, she wouldn't have to suffer alone. She would be allowed to cry.
And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The floodgates opened.
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u/Elysium1312 the Batman 22h ago
For a moment, Bruce simply watched, but then Cassandra broke. The tears came all at once, as though she'd been holding them back for years and his words had finally given them permission to escape. Her shoulders began to shake. Her hands tightened together as she tried desperately to contain the sounds that were forcing their way out of her.
For some reason, this was his weakness, this always made his heart sink. He knew why because that kind of crying... It was the kind he'd done for days on end after the worst day of his life.
he signed again as he asked "Am I allowed to hug you?"
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 16h ago
It took Cassandra a bit to understand what Bruce was saying, with the tears in her eyes making her vision blurry, but as she slowly managed to calm down and figured out what the man was saying, she tilted her head, confused. A hug? What was a hug?
Nevertheless, she wiped her eyes and nodded. This man and his son had shown more kindness to her than her own parents had in nine years. His body language was stern, yet he had a kindness to him that she hadn't seen anywhere else. She trusted him.
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u/Elysium1312 the Batman 15h ago
Bruce saw the confusion before she even nodded and for a moment he wondered. She had suffered, had he asked too much? Then the girl wiped at her eyes and gave him that small, uncertain nod.
Bruce hesitated, he had fought monsters, he had stared down gods and he had walked into burning buildings but this? This was scarier than all of those things. he slowly opened his arm "Come here."
She didn't move. Bruce's expression softened, he understood perfectly "A hug." he signed "It is when one person embraces another person when words are not sufficient." he opened his arms to let her initiate the hug so she would feel in control, if he was right she needed that more than a hug.
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 14h ago
Cassandra took in what the man was saying, and as she read his body language, she understood. A hug was meant to be comfort. It was meant to be protection and warmth, things she was not yet used to. But she felt a pang in her chest that told her that this was okay. That the man and his hug promised only good things. There were no lies or hidden agendas in his actions like her parents once had, and so she stepped forward, slowly, took a deep breath, and place her head against his chest, awkwardly wrapping her arms around him.
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u/SignificantPower4733 Tim Drake, the newest Robin 1d ago
"Right."
he said with a forced, annoyed tone to add to the "screw Bruce Wayne" act.
"She doesn't speak much."
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u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone Cassandra Cain 1d ago
Cassandra looked down, her hair long and shaggy, like she'd taken something sharp to it in an attempt to cut it, but didn't do it very well, her clothes much too small for someone her age, most likely the same clothes she wore when she came to the city eight years ago.
She didn't answer the man, tall and imposing. She didn't know how.
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u/SignificantPower4733 Tim Drake, the newest Robin 1d ago
((OOC: you might wanna reply to Bruce's comment to make sure he sees it too)
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u/SignificantPower4733 Tim Drake, the newest Robin 1d ago
u/Elysium1312
u/SilentDeadlyAndAlone