#batgirl 33

[breawycker]

Happy birthday, Cass!

[acaiyatree]

saw ur art requests thing but could i perhaps ask for steph and cass dressed for a gala (maybe with cass in a suit?)

a bunch of random versions because i was??? indecisive as hell????? but yeah huehue wanted to draw cass in a qipao so < 3 (also wanted to draw steph holding a glass of wine. i originally wanted to draw her tipsy but. i completely forgot mid way thru drawing lmao)

i still have a bunch of reqs however i am still accepting reqs! if yall wanna know the deets it's here!

also. below the cut is another version but might be a lil eyestrain-y!! :]]

[flashdoesahundredyarddash]

Under blue moon, I saw you 🦇

[bittersweetstargazer]

Chapters: 10/? Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Maybe bruce/selina actually, we'll see - Relationship Characters: Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Jim Gordon, Officer Martinez (The Batman Movie 2022), Justice League (DCU), Barry Allen, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Oliver Queen, Clark Kent, Diana (Wonder Woman), Victor Stone Additional Tags: TV show about the batfam, but their identities have been revealed so, it adds to the plot, some things may not add up, maybe a bit ooc, I tried my best, Identity Reveal, Not Beta Read, Reality Bending Summary:

Welcome to Batwayne. Where identities have been revealed and crime still runs rampant.

The audiences of Gotham city have no idea of the kind of danger that's lurking over them.

This is a documentation of the lives of the Wayne family has they about their usual business.

Keep a few rules in mind: 1. Don't trust anyone 2. Don't ask questions

3̶̲̿̀́̒̽͘̚̚͝͝.̸̦̐̃̆̚ͅ ̴̺̳͙̌͑̏̀̓̊̓̓̚͝ͅR̵͕̬̹͈̤̲̝͙̭͂̀͗̐͌̽̾͜͠͝ę̸̖̋͝a̶̡͈̻̯͉̠͚̞͊̃͋͌̌̈l̷̪͐̒͛̂́̈̒͝i̸̢̢̧̥͈̦̟̮̦̖͐͐̿͗t̷͉̘̭̺͋̄y̷̬̖̖̣̰͓͉͌̎̀͒́̏̽͘ ̵̙͖̒̋̂͂̇͐̚ḯ̶͉̟͎̮͋̀̀́̊̋̋͠s̴̖͇̻̞̞̥͇͎͖͑̿̂̄͑͘͝͝͝ ̵̙̩̠͖͈́̄̐̀ẉ̶͇͉̗̰͙̈́̓͌͒̒́͂̀́̀͜h̵̢̨̭͖͊͘͘a̵̖̝̙͚͊͌͑̎͘͠͝͝ṫ̸̛͎̗̻͎̻͖̠̼̱̒̈̎̀̄̏͆͝ ̸͔͔̮̖̺̞̳͗̑̑̋̃̄̚I̴̻͆̒̋̎̽̾̊͝ ̵͇͓͕̘́̎̈́̊̋͝ͅc̶̖̅̐́͒̀̀̾̇̚͝h̴̥̟̻̀̇͊̄͑̕̕ȯ̶̡̢̨̰̺̗̪̣͋̓̐ͅo̷͓̼̟̜̭͕̹͋̋̽̍͆̂͒͘ͅs̴̡̱̯͖̯͎̩͎̣̀͂ḙ̶̙̇́̐̓̾̀̍͊́̕

[martyrbat]

[ID: a panel of Cassandra Cain in their Batgirl costume. They're extending out their hand to originally offer a paper bag, but a Furby bong has been hastily edited to be over it. END ID]

[stephaniebrownthespoiler]

Does anyone else constantly think about Bruce and Babs and the relationship they have with each other

or is it just me

(in order of appearance: Batman chronicles#5,Nightwing#66, Batgirl#27, No Man's Land Vol 2)

[jasontoddssuper]

I saw someone make Timsteph in this picrew so i'm doing the same!!

To quote one of my friend's:All Robins are poc idc

[summerfrwrks]

[in my janice voice mimic] oh. my. god.

[proceeds to bang pots and pans to get everyone's attention] HOLY FUCK-

it's been years!! finally!!

link to article - enjoy everyone it's a good year to finally come out that you've been supporting them let's goooo ahsjagshahshaga

[teleportationmagic]

Only unmessy Robin transitions were pre-crisis Dick -> Jason and modern Damian -> Tim (if you count that as a transition) and I find the absolutely hilarious

[incorrectbatfamandpals]

[About Dead Poets Society]

Steph: Don't kil yourself, you're not Jesus... I don't know what that means.

Babs: Jesus, famously the only man to have died.

[a-wild-things-rambles]

yes i can cry over cass AND stephs batgirl runs at the same time<3 its called range darling <3333

[acaiyatree]

mommy issues amirite !

[timbourinedrake]

Coming out of my gotham knights focused haze only to find I've been playing for 4 hours and didn't even progress to the next challenge

You mean to tell me that all I did was fight crime and crash my motorcycle into things

[incorrectbatfam]

Could you please do some headcanons about Batmans cooking disasters over the years?

Age 5: Bruce puts tinfoil in the microwave. Alfred shakes his head and laughs

Age 6: He decorates a cookie so badly another kid cries until they throw up

Age 7: He tries to make a PB&J and the countertop is sticky for a week

Age 8: He tries to make Martha's chicken noodle soup but ends up crying on the kitchen floor surrounded by half-chopped vegetables

Age 9: He tries to impress a houseguest by recreating Thomas's mixology tricks (sans alcohol). There's still a stain on the ceiling to this day

Age 10: He makes green eggs. It's not on purpose. He's never even read the book

Age 11: He makes lava in the school cafeteria

Age 12: He tries to make cheese bread by drilling holes into a baguette and filling it with melted nacho cheese

Age 13: He melts a cutting board in the oven

Age 14: He folds a Pop Tart

Age 15: The chocolate-covered bananas he makes for the school bake sale come out looking very very wrong

Age 16: He's asked to drop a home economics class after mistaking refried beans for pumpkin puree in a pie

Age 17: He boils eggs in the carton

Age 18: He makes his entire freshman dorm evacuate after burning his ramen to ash

Age 19: He sculpts a severed hand out of meatloaf and is sent to the university psychologist

Age 20: He tries to bake a cake but doesn't have a cake pan, so he pours the batter right in the oven

Age 21: He tries Thomas's mixology tricks again, this time with alcohol. One of the tricks is flipping it over his head. He ends up losing part of his vision for 3 days

Age 22: He burns water. Harley Quinn is there. She still holds it over his head

Age 23: He packs his first patrol snack as Batman. It's a chocolate bar wrapped in a tortilla. The chocolate melts onto his gloves and he drops the tortilla down a sewer grate

Age 24: He makes an ice cream cookie sandwich to eat while he and Batgirl work on a case, but he's so engrossed in the work that he doesn't notice it melt until Babs points it out

Age 25: He enters the first annual Justice League cook-off and immediately gets banned from ever entering again

Age 26: He tries to comfort little Dickie Grayson by making fried cornbread from a book of Roma comfort recipes. It turns out about as well as you'd expect when you give Bruce Wayne hot oil. Bruce is genuinely bummed out, but Dick says it's the thought that counts

Age 27: Clark delivers a huge hunk of beef from the farm. Instead of waiting for Alfred to come back, Bruce and Dick try to break it down with a power saw

Age 28: Bruce and Dick's latkes are burned so badly they can play floor hockey with them

Age 29: He makes stuffed mushrooms. Badly. Like imagine the worst way you can fuck up a mushroom. It still won't compare to what Bruce did. And it's for a potluck with the West-Allens that Barry won't let him live down

Age 30: Bruce sees Dick struggling to make ravioli and he's like "Let me show you how it's done" before proceeding to make it infinitely worse

Age 31: Bruce sees a hungry Jason Todd and the first thing he does when they return to the manor is make a double-decker bread sandwich. That's bread with two more slices of bread in between

Age 32: Bruce packs Dick and Jason's lunchboxes when Alfred is out of town. They're supposed to include a salad. Instead, Dick gets a whole head of lettuce and Jason's is just a bottle of ranch

Age 33: He makes hot chocolate after patrol... but forgets the chocolate

Age 34: The Manor is too cold, so Bruce tries to warm it up by making Jason's favorite soup. His hands shake the whole time. Suddenly, he's eight years old again, sitting on the kitchen floor surrounded by scraps reminding him of his failure

Age 35: Jack and Janet Drake are out of the country again, leaving young Timmy by himself. Bruce decides to bring some dinner over. It's baked perfectly, but it's full of things that shouldn't be anywhere near a casserole dish. They end up ordering takeout and watching old detective movies together

Age 36: Steph walks through how to make waffles. Bruce is standing there, watching closely and taking notes. They still come out looking radioactive

Age 37: Cass asks if they can get smoothies. Bruce says he can make them at home. She gives him a warning look but that's not enough to stop him. Cue Bruce forgetting to put the lid on the blender

Age 38: Jason's first night back at home, Bruce tries to make that soup. It shoots out like a geyser and hits the lights. He's panicking until he hears Jason laugh, and then the soup doesn't matter

Age 39: Damian screws up hummus and he desperately tries to hide it so people won't see him as inadequate at something so basic. Instead of getting upset, Bruce assures him it's okay and offers to fix it. (He doesn't fix it, he just makes it worse)

Age 40: Bruce's birthday happens while he's fake-dead and away from home. He grabs a convenience store cupcake and sticks a single candle on it. Then he closes his eyes, pretends his family is around him, and makes a wish. (The candle droops and sets the hotel sheets on fire)

Age 41: Back at the Manor, he attempts to make lemonade on a particularly hot day. Selina offers to help, but Bruce declines, saying, "How hard can it be?" (Spoiler alert: it's not supposed to be full of seeds)

Age 42: Kate shows him a video of Canadians pouring maple syrup into the snow to make candy, so he gets her to boil the syrup so they can do it together. The problem comes when they can't control the pour and end up with a glob the size of Damian

Age 43: As part of a school project, Bruce and Duke try to deduce the Coca-Cola secret formula. Duke's teacher takes a point off because at the beginning he told her he'd taste the results, but there's no way he's doing that now

Age 44: The family gets together to make a full English breakfast Alfred's birthday. Each person takes a part—Dick has eggs, Jason has the grilled tomatoes, Tim has mushrooms, Duke has the bacon, Steph and Cass are tag-teaming the sausages, Damian just has to open a can of beans, and Bruce needs to put bread in the toaster. It goes South immediately when Damian reaches for his katana instead of the can opener

Age 45: Bruce puts tinfoil in the microwave. Alfred shakes his head and laughs

[martyrbat]

batgirl (2008) #2

[ID: a long, vertical panel of Cassandra Cain dressed in her Batgirl costume and confronting her sister, Marque. Cass is illuminated by the bright, full moon as she perches on top of a battered basketball hoop and looks down at Marque. Marque's back is to the viewer as she stands on the ground and looks up to talk to Cass. END ID]

[halfagone]

Cassandra Cain and Communication

I've been noticing an interesting trend in DPxDC fanfics lately where people write Cass like she's psychic, or in simpler terms: she can read someone and in an instant know how to help them. And while I can definitely see the merits of this kind of approach, there are a lot of things to keep in mind.

I cannot stress enough how isolated Cass' childhood was. When it's said that David Cain trained her only in the language of killing, it is not an exaggeration. In many early renditions of her character, Cass cannot speak at all, and if she can, only in short, brief sentences. Cass goes the first seventeen years of her life not knowing how to read.

That is a canonical plot point too. We see Barbara teaching Cass to read in Batman Volume 1 #567:

Based on the context surrounding this scene, this is a regular occurrence between the pair. Cass has also sought out Stephanie before to read something for her (Batgirl Volume 1 #20). If you're curious about more analysis surrounding this particular subject, this post has some interesting points and shows the gradual shift in how DC handled her character.

But this is early into her time with the Batfamily. What about later on, when she's more assimilated to the Waynes and her fellow vigilantes?

Well, you don't even have to be a hardcore comic fan to see how she continues to struggle with expression and communication. In Wayne Family Adventures, episodes 32 and 33, we see how Cass' ability to read body language has also hurt her and her relationship with the people around her.

She doesn't mean to hurt Stephanie's feelings in these episodes, but the damage is real and it happened. Cass means well, ultimately, but she still doesn't know how or when to address these problems. She sees that Steph is hurting and wants to help; those are all admirable qualities! But in the end, she only pushes Stephanie further away, and is left feeling guilty and carrying self-loathing in the wake.

Here is also a reminder: Cass killed her first man at the age of 8 years old, and consequently ran away from her father when she realized killing was wrong. She did not know what he felt was fear. She did not know the definition of fear, nor the word for it. She just saw the expression on his face as he died, and realized that something was wrong, and ran away.

Cass doesn't arrive to Gotham until she's 17 years old, around the No Man's Land era, if I remember correctly. She is on the run for 9 years in this time, and sadly, she did not pick up many- if any- language or communication skills during this period. This isn't a fault on her character either, when she likely had to keep moving and didn't have time to connect with anyone like she did with Barbara, who could teach her how to speak and read.

But at the end of the day, it makes sense that Cass doesn't know how to socialize. Think of a real life example: some kids who grow up homeschooled struggle to make connections once they reach adulthood and start looking for a job. They've never had to make small talk, or address strangers face-to-face, so they don't know how to interact with people. Cass' situation is a more extreme version of this scenario, but with blood, brutal training, and child abuse involved.

At her core, Cass is a good person. And she will continue to be that good person. But she doesn't always have the answers. Nobody does! She'll continue to help people to the best of her abilities, but sometimes those abilities can be limited.

Cass is not a perfect person. When Bruce was lost in the timeline, and the remaining Batfamily members started to splinter and fall apart in the wake, Cass didn't remain in Gotham to help with the rising violence with Batman's absence. Instead, when her family needed her most, she went to Hong Kong, because she didn't want to be there without Bruce. She did briefly meet Tim in Paris, when she had saved him from the Daughters of Acheron, but she still doesn't accompany Tim, nor does she return to Gotham even after finding out the city is extremely understaffed.

Cass is well-meaning, but she is not faultless. We might not like to acknowledge the flaws of our favorite characters, but those flaws are a part of them! Just like how Bruce consistently fails to express himself is a part of his. Or how Dick tries to pretend that everything is fine so he doesn't have to address his own problems. Or how Jason can be inconsistent with his motivations and people get hurt as a result. Or how Tim keeps too many secrets and pushes people away, ruining multiple relationships in turn.

I could go on and on, but all these characters are more than just their flaws. The same thing with Cass.

So don't be afraid to show a Cass that doesn't know how to fix things. Don't be afraid to show a Cass that doesn't know what to do, but just tries her best. It's one of her most admirable qualities: always trying no matter what.