#cain project

[bootyyyyshaker900]

@cain-project I'm not opening that.

[bitesonmyneck]

Ethel Cain shot by Silken Weinberg // The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

@mothercain

[causticowboy]

(mixed textile and embroidery)

what have you done, daniel?

[fleur-dans-la-nuit]

Dick gaslights himself 💀.

These images aren’t mine, they’re from the Wayne Family Adventures comic on Webtoon. I just used them as they’re easy identifiers of each character, also in the same style.

[morbimoth]

when the torturous god truly cares about your identity lol, Happy Pride

[its-kinda-snowy]

Gotta be a part of your soul and of your heart all the time Nothing in the world that I do Means a thing, without you I'm just half alive in my struggle to survive without you

[ultimate-marysue]

Cassandra Cain has played Undertale a thousand times and all of them she has chosen the pacifist route. Tim offered to play the neutral and/or genocide routes for her so she could find out what happens but the second he hit Toriel Cass snatched the laptop from him and killed the power so it wouldn't register for the game. They're both looking at the black screen, Cass with the saddest most concerned look ever so Tim tries to calm her down.

"I don't think it counts like that, the game won't remember."

And Cass turns to look at him all miserable with a tiny "but I will".

They replay the entire pacifist run again and Tim never suggests the other routes again.

[puppetmaster13u]

Hear me out: Demon Batfam but Bruce gets them as babies because people won't stop trying to sacrifice their children and he is So Tired

And it is semi-early Batman Bruce too.

[valkugo]

"my partner died in this room."

(i just wanted to be yours

can i be yours? can i be yours?

just tell me i'm yours

if i'm turning in your stomach,

am i making you feel sick?)

[guardcanine]

[m4-t-y]

home for the holidays

[bootyyyyshaker900]

You are a bad friend. Stop making it so hard for me to stand up for you. - Cain

Didn't we just have this conversation in reverse yesterday? Pot, kettle.

[graytodd]

When to get along they find 'a common ground'

[batboopp]

as much as I love batgirl 2024, I have to admit the lack of Barbara Gordon mentions in the whole series so far, especially with the first arc having such a big theme of motherhood/daughterhood and the things that comes with it, makes me soo sad. Barbara was the first person Cass actually considered as a mother! Barbara, although she wasn’t the best at it at first, truly did try to understand and love Cass unconditionally even when she was separated from the Bat mantle! And that panel where Cass overhears Barbara tell Dick that she doesn’t know how to really care for Cass could’ve been the perfect parallel to the whole “is a Mother just being connected by blood? No, Something more is owed/Being a daughter is more than being connected by blood” lines that Cass says in the last (current) issue because Barbara, though she did not physically bring Cass into this world, has sacrificed SO much for her, and in return Cass gave so much back.

[casscainmainly]

So as much as I loved Batgirl #5, I did kind of raise an eyebrow at this panel:

It's a sweet sentiment but not one I think Cass would have; this kind of sympathy towards her younger self, particularly this idea that she had "no control of her life," runs counter to my view of her self-hatred and guilt. Elsewhere in this sequence she talks about that self-hatred, which feels more true to Cass, and to me somewhat contradicts the way Cass is fully embracing her child self here. I do not think Cass would ever shift the autonomy of her killing away from herself by saying she was "lost" and had "no control."

But then I thought harder about it, about the times when Cass was more forgiving of herself, and realised there was a common denominator: the one and only Stephanie Brown.

From the beginning Steph is associated with communication and language - Brombal nods to that here, where Steph allows her to "find those words." In Batgirl (2000) #20, arguably the start of the Steph-Cass relationship, Cass goes to Steph for reading help. Stephanie has always been a source of communication and connection for Cass, both things David Cain withheld from her.

Then we have this scene in Batgirl (2000) #28, which is SO important to Cass' conception of Stephanie. The "you... won't last" isn't only referring to their sparring, but to Steph being Cass' "best friend" - Cass doubts whether anyone can truly love her like that. But Steph impresses Cass with her tenacity, making Cass realise that this is someone who never gives up, no matter the odds. Someone who might actually, truly be able to love her.

It's this foundation that allows Cass to relate her experiences to Steph's abuse from her own father:

Steph's friendship allows Cass to acknowledge, on some level, that what David Cain did to her was abusive. It's a crucial step to mitigating some of that eternal guilt she holds, and seeing herself as someone worthy of love.

It's why Steph's conversation with Cass in #38 kickstarts Cass' journey of romantic discovery. It's not necessarily the possible crush she has on Steph, but that Steph as a whole represents romantic possibility.

Then Stephanie dies, and we get #62:

Imagined-Steph encourages Cass to fight for her life. This is huge compared to Cass' death wish in the beginning of Batgirl (2000) - even though Shiva helps her overcome that in #25, this is the first time we see Cass fully embracing her desire to live, fully choosing to live. And this choice is framed not through her own voice, but through Stephanie's. It's as if Steph represents the fact that Cass is actually worth saving.

So although some other people might have worked for this hallucination, for this specific part - Cass embracing her younger self - I think no one would have allowed her to do it except Stephanie. Nobody except Steph allows her to look at herself as someone worthy of compassion and love.

Batgirls (2022) #14 and #15

[bananafire11]

Buncha freaks