In My Mind Oliver Queen And Bruce Wayne Are Best Friends. They Are Uncles To Each Other’s Kids And

There's a serious comparison to be made between how Barbara fails as a teacher for Cass and how Cass fails as a teacher for Stephanie. Barbara's brain is biological supercomputer with an eidetic memory which can learn a new language in like five minutes. Cassandra is likewise superhumanly talented at fighting.

In both cases these aren't just learned skills to them. Cassandra's fists and Barbara's mind are core to their identities. They're the things that make them heroes, that give them agency, that make them matter, it's who they are. The reason they have no patience for teaching these skills to others is they're incapable of contextualizing a world without them.

Barbara can't teach Cass because the prospect of a life without language is simply inconceivable to her. Likewise, Cassandra can't teach Stephanie because she has no context at all for what learning to fight must be like for other people without her natural affinity. Their respective talents are so core to their being that people who can't do what comes easily to them must simply not be trying hard enough.

Ironically it's one of the very few ways in which they're actually extremely alike.

athena realises odysseus had never seen his son in song 38

Thinking about Cass Cain, the world's biggest proponent of "nobody dies tonight" still taking the time to desperately search for Steph even as she's working overtime to save the rest of Gotham. Wondering what she saw in Steph's body language in those last moments together, when she feared Steph was lying to her but couldn't chase after her. Wondering if she saw the fear, the hurt, the regret, the overwhelming despair and desperation, all in the anxious and exhausted tremble of her body. Wondering if the reason she couldn't tell for sure if Steph was lying was because there was just too much there, too many feelings, the weight of them too great, for Steph's body language to make any sense at all. Wondering if she knew, somehow, that if left on her own that the panicked-rabbit thrum under Steph's skin would lead her directly into something horrible. Thinking about Cass Cain, the girl who killed a man and saw him die in a way no one else could, in a way that changed her forever; who saw the shock and fear and pain and then the nothing, hearing that Stephanie was dead. Wondering if she imagined Steph's last moments as something other than what they were, because she wasn't there and she wouldn't ask and Bruce certainly wouldn't tell. Wondering if she thought about Faizul and imagined Steph terrified in the instant of realization, Steph knowing she was dying, Steph knowing that she would never run rooftops or play tag or feel her mother's arms again and that everything she could have been would remain unwritten forever; Steph alive and afraid and then nothing, nothing, nothing. Just thinking about Cass Cain and her way of perceiving things that no one else could understand, and a grief so deep that she didn't have the words for it and probably never will.

I don't think that the civilians in the DC universe are picky with regards to who's saving the day, per se, but they are very attached to their respective local superheroes and are extremely sensitive and scrutinizing if someone unfamiliar shows up. Like there is a general understanding that superheroes aren't tied to their respective cities 100% of the time, but there's also a very intense Local Civilian Vibe Check if you're superheroing on someone else's turf.

POV: You have just stopped a rampaging supervillain in downtown Metropolis (You are Booster Gold):

Incorrect Batfam Quotes

Clark (as a reporter): Mr. Wayne, have you ever thought of having more children?

Bruce: You mean, adopting?

Clark: Adopting. Abducting. However you got the last four.

Bruce: …

this is hands down my favourite Cass quote and imo people at times take it too literally. "i don't kill but i don't lose" doesn't mean she is physically incapable of losing a fight or she's Just That Skilled it means if Cass really wants to win she will do whatever it takes short of killing to come out on top. she will fight till her legs give out till her body breaks down till the bitter end and then she will get up and keep fighting. "i don't kill but i don't lose" isn't a mere statement of fact, it encapsulates the powerful "do or die" mentality she brings to every single fight. fight like you're dying. fight to win. do anything but kill.

Cass's civilian identity being paper thin is so important to me actually. Barely anyone on the street knows Bruce Wayne's daughter and any of the press who are interested can't uncover a single thing other than him adopting her when she was 19. It leads to a whole lot of speculation but no actual facts.

Meanwhile you have assassins who are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and anyone who is someone in the evil assassin underworld knows all about David Cain and his daughter who turned rogue and became Batgirl.

Which means most of them see her with Bruce Wayne and are like ohoho a clever plan by Batman indeed! Putting Batgirl undercover as Bruce Wayne's daughter to guard and protect Wayne, who's a key part of all the recent projects to improve Gotham City. Masterful gambit Mr Batman sir, you also get a spy who reports on everything Wayne's doing whenever you need it.

This gives Cass the freedom to not even try to hide herself behind some sort of helpless civilian persona. Attempted kidnappings of Bruce Wayne and his kids have dropped by 90% since she got adopted, as the first one to try and take a fancy party hostage got the shit kicked out of him by Cassandra Wayne while her father watched proudly.

The next attempt brought a gun and she disarmed him then broke his hand. Finally they sent a whole squad of mercenaries to kidnap Bruce and Tim on the way to a W.E business meeting only to find Cass in the car with them. The kidnapping did not go as planned and the goons have several questions as to why the fuck Bruce Wayne's daughter is a metahuman who dodges bullets. They never get answers.

She's the only batkid who never has to fake her abilities. Damian is highly indignant about this but she just pokes his forehead and tells him it's a skill issue when he complains.

non-gotham locals think the most prolific bat-villain is the joker, or scarecrow, even the riddler — or any of their assorted highly dangerous deluded rogues.

but a real gothamite knows how big a pain in the ass condiment king is, in fact, urban legend says that the bat kids have formed a pact to not tell batman if condiment king just happens to turn up… at the bottom of gotham harbor.

So, I was thinking about Cass and Shiva, and I remembered the time when Cass became a villain. If Shiva appeared during the stories of that time, how do you think she would react? I imagine she would be extremely pissed and murderous towards the ones that forced Cass to act against her will.

Yeah, you nailed it. I think Shiva should always respect Cass walking her own path, becoming her own woman and finding her own strength. But I also think that should come with a certain degree of weird, messy protectiveness.

Shiva seeing Cass letting herself stray from her path should piss her off, not least of which because she knows that it can only result in a weaker, brittle, lesser version of her daughter. She knows how strong Cass can be when she's at one with herself and how weak she is when she's not, and she should rightfully think that's a waste. It should greatly upset her to see Cass holding herself back.

And Shiva seeing Cass being forcibly led astray, brainwashed into being someone else's lackey, turned into something she's not by the machinations of weaker, jealous men...

There should be blood. Rivers of them.

odysseus and diomedes would be terrible coworkers. the office mean girls who hate their jobs, are overqualified, and only like each other

pictured: ody and diomedes plotting palamedes’ death