#semi verbal cassandra cain

[emilyarmadillo]

Neurodivergent Bats headcanons:

Autistic Bruce, autistic Damian, ADHD Tim, semi-verbal Cass

#autistic bruce wayne #autistic damian wayne #adhd tim drake #semi verbal cassandra cain #headcanons #batfamily #emarma's #my edits #dc

[dc-sideblog]

Not Cass learning ASL instead of spoken English because her brain’s language centers made a magic exception for it but yes Cass learning ASL as soon as she’s got a semi-good handle on words because speaking aloud feels genuinely uncomfortable after a lifetime of silence

#Cass is autistic because I’m autistic and I say so #if sounds for communication is uncomfortable for me sometimes then it definitely is for her #speaking is so loud #listening hurts sometimes #there are a large population of autistic people who prefer sign #even those who are verbal or semi verbal #like hell semi verbal is so common. #we got more people at work who are autistic and using sign than who are deaf and using sign #also! #ptsd and auditory sensitivities fucking suck when mixed together #and guess what absolutely no one has only one diagnosis #and Cassandra Cain definitely has both #dc #cassandra wayne

[fantastic-nonsense]

I might be wrong but I figured you'd be the person to ask: Someone in a Discord server I'm in was talking about the "popular fanon idea of Cass learning ASL and sometimes preferring it to speech." And I... don't think this is fanon? Doesn't she canonically know ASL? I know she learned English and (I believe) Mandarin but I'm almost positive there are also lots of canon instances of her signing.

Okay so I'm going to split this ask into two questions:

Does Cass know American Sign Language (ASL), canonically?

Could Cass learn ASL?

The answer to #1 is no, Cass doesn't canonically know ASL to my knowledge (caveat: this does not, apparently, apply to the Young Justice cartoon universe; Cassandra Wu-San does appear to know some form of legitimate sign language). Canon!Cass, on the other hand, knows some basic signs and does use them, but it's more charades, 'loud gesturing,' and basic hand signals than it is ASL. The reasons Cass knowing ASL is such a popular fanon misperception are rather complex, but it largely comes down to two things: misunderstanding how ASL works and misunderstanding what Cass's disability actually is.

ASL isn't just some fancy hand gestures that translate one-to-one into spoken English; that would be "baby sign" or spell signing at best. ASL is a language, with all of the complex grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure that implies. It takes years of learning and immersion to understand, learn, and utilize properly, just like any other language. Treating it as anything else is a form of ableism.

Someone like Cass who has difficulty processing language is going to have just as much trouble learning ASL as she would English, Mandarin, or any other language, because her problem isn't that she just "doesn't know English." Cass's disability is not that she can't read or communicate verbally: it's that her brain is literally built different because of how Cain raised her, and that affects how she processes language (and thus how she communicates with other people):

"David Cain…had some unusal ideas about combat. He experimented with infants. Trained them in isolation and deprived them of human speech. The goal was to adapt the language center of the brain to interpret physical movement as a language. She can…read you. Your body. That's why she understands what you're saying when she doesn't know the words. It's why in combat, she knows what you're going to do before you do it." -Batgirl (2000) #1

"The language centers of your brain are all over both hemispheres. Not centralized like with most people. When you try to read or write, your brain doesn't know how to keep it cohesive. But the good news is--you can learn. It's just a matter of figuring out how." -Batgirl #67

It's actually specified somewhere (I don't have the panel on hand, unfortunately) that she doesn't know sign language; Cain wanted her to read natural body language and nuance, not artificial hand gestures. Cass's primary "language" (and thus form of communication) until her brain was semi-rewired was body language.

But body language isn't actually a language; it's a form of non-verbal communication that functions through the (largely subconscious) 'reading' of both conscious and unconscious physical movement. Cass's childhood and training simply elevated that ability to ridiculous heights:

"A special ability to predict my opponent's moves. That doesn't begin to describe it. Time...ran together. The future...blending...into the moment. A blink of an eye...the knife thrust that follows...both one. It was like...like I could predict my opponent's moves. Okay, that does describe it. But it doesn't do it justice. All this knowledge. No substitute for knowing." -Batgirl (2000) #7

We see explicitly how this ability plays out on several occasions throughout her Batgirl run and the Detective Comics Rebirth run, and it's pretty clear she's reading subconscious feelings, thoughts, and movement, not language:

Cass absolutely communicates via hand gestures before and after Batgirl #4, but it's not any form of cohesive language, much less ASL. It's effectively advanced charades mixed with some universal non-verbal gestures:

"You don't speak any language, do you? Except violence." -Detective Comics (1937) #734

"Is he giving you any trouble?" *Cass flaps her hand to indicate the guy is a blabbermouth* "Got you. He talks too much." -Batman: Family (2002) #7

*Cass gestures to Jason's heart, Tim's mind, and Dick's voice to indicate she understands how they work as a team*-Batman and Robin Eternal (2015) #3

People learning a English as a second language already have an understanding of how language works, but Cass doesn’t have that foundation. Her primary language isn't sign language, it's body reading. Thus, she struggles to speak, read, and write in English not because it's a different language than she's used to communicating with but because it's the first actual language she's ever learned. Fanon largely projects ASL fluency onto Cass because they fundamentally don't understand how her abilities work (and thus don't understand how her disability works either).

Does Cass have the ability to learn ASL? Absolutely! Would ASL be a really cool way of depicting Cass communicating with other people and an interesting way to showcase language learning difficulties and communication disabilities in the visual medium that is comics? Absolutely! I would actually be genuinely thrilled if canon and the fandom actually worked with what a physical, visual-based language like ASL might mean for Cass's ability to communicate given her childhood training. But as it stands, "Cass knowing ASL" is a well-meaning but misguided fanon attempt to showcase inclusivity while being...well, frankly kind of offensive.

(As for why she would theoretically "know" Mandarin, it's a product of the incredibly racist and ableist writing that defined the "Evil Cass Era." This culminated in DC putting her on a bus and shipping her off to Hong Kong because "Asian girl knows Asian languages, right? Brilliant! Send her off!" while ignoring literally everything about Cass ever. She's never actually shown speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, or any other dialect of Chinese on-panel, but we can reasonably infer she probably picked up SOME level of comprehension while living there.)

#cassandra cain #cassandra cain meta #batman #batfam #batgirl #asks #ableism #fanon vs canon #disability #note: I have not read all of Reboot!Cass's appearances so she theoretically MIGHT know ASL even though it's super doubtful #but pre-reboot!Cass DEFINITELY doesn't #long post #batman meta

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Bruce Wayne Girl Dad of the Year?

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Aa0Y9St by Inkwell1013 Cassandra gets jealous of all the reporters commanding Bruce’s attention, and decides to teach Gotham a lesson. Bruce is her dad, and he loves her the most. Or, Cass asks to dance with Bruce at a Gala, and Bruce can't say no to his daughter. Written for March 19th/Column. Words: 516, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 22 of One Word Prompts Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Fluff, Family Feels, Wayne Gala (DCU), Dancing, Cassandra Cain is Bruce Wayne's Favorite, Good Parent Bruce Wayne, Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Sign Language read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Aa0Y9St

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the caped crusader #the dark knight #dcu #ao3 #ao3feed

[fancyfade]

im making a big list of DC’s disabled characters to chronicle how the comics treat them

(already made a list that got some reblogs here (link) a gazillion years ago)

On my list i am NOT including characters who the reader believes/headcanons as disabled, only characters who are in text disabled

send me disabled characters, heroes and villains

(on the heroes side, an astrik * means that they have been written as villains at one point, even if they returned to heroic roles or it was retconned as OOC, because this is to analyze how the characters were treated by the writers. Some characters on this list may have been written as that way but missing the astrik because I did not read that arc with them yet)

so far ive got

Heroes

Barbara Gordon (Oracle) - paralyzed, uses a wheelchair - magicured

Wendy Harris (Proxy) - paralyzed, uses a wheelchair

Victor Stone (Cyborg) - missing large sections of his body, replaced with cybernetics

Joseph Wilson (Jericho) - nonverbal

Thom Kallor (Starboy/man) - schizophrenia

Rose Wilson (Ravager) - missing an eye *

Charles McNider (Dr Mid-Nite) - blind

cliff steel (robot man) - entire body is destroyed except for his brain, interacts through a robot suit

Todd Rice (Obsidian) - schizophrenia *

Niles Caulder (Chief) - paralyzed, uses a wheelchair

Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) - nonverbal for some time, then is semi verbal *

Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr) - mobility impaired in non superpowered form

Amon Tomaz (Osiris) - mobility impaired in non superpowered form

Rhosyn Forrest (Thorn) - DID - wiki lists her in the heroes categories, I only saw her in birds of prey where she was treated initially as a villain then as like... not the person they had to stop? more sympathetically at least

Roy Harper (Arsenal/Red Arrow) - briefly lost an arm (universe got reset), recovering addict

Garth (Aqualad/Tempest) - partially color blind

Elizabeth Chapel (Dr Mid-Nite) - blind

Bart Allen (Impulse) - unspecified neurodivergent coding - not including headcanons but this seems intentional on part of the writers and coding can count

question mark on alignment

Mace Gardner (militia) - paralyzed, uses cybernetic bodysuit/parts?

Harley Quinn - unspecified mental illness * a hero in more recent years don’t know how hard DC leads into that or if she’s more anti-hero/morally gray

Villains - this is almost CERTAINLY not going to wind up being a complete list, because so many villains are disabled

slade wilson - (if we’re counting rose’s missing an eye here thing we’re counting his too)

Harvey Dent (two face) - DID

Peyton Riley (ventriloquist) - also DID

Arnold Wesker (ventriloquist) -referred to as schizophrenia sometimes in comics sometimes multipersonality disorder (DID)

Rose Canton (Thorn) - schizophrenia

brain (entire body is destroyed except for his brain, interacts through a moveable robot thingie)

Sean Sonus (Discord) - Deaf

Walter Shreeve (Shriek) - Deaf - Batman Beyond Universe

David (black manta) - was autistic in one continuity

Joker - changes between whether the writers want to portray him as ‘evil cuz crazy’ or just like a 4chan person

komandr (blackfire) - interestingly enough not a human disability (she can’t metabolise solar radiation and fly) but she is still portrayed as disabled and ‘crippled’ according to tamaranean society which makes her bitter and evil

Victor Fries (Mr Freeze) - requires usage of assistive tech (his cryo suit) to live

Barbara Minerva (Cheetah) - uses a cane in her non-cheetah form

characters who were disabled or received a disabling injury at one point but have had most of their definitive appearances as able bodied/NT after being magicured or before being disabled

Dick Grayson (Ric) Dick while Ric experiences blackouts and seizures among other symptoms

Bruce Wayne - Paralyzed in the thoracic region, alternated between using a wheelchair and walking with assistive devices like canes and crutches

Damian Wayne - paralyzed, spine replaced almost immediately afterwards - TBH unsure how much this “counts” as magicuring as the audience is never expected to believe Damian will stay paralyzed

Jason Todd - nonverbal and with some type of cognitive disability due to brain damage after being raised from the dead before being lazarus pitted

#dc comics #disabled characters

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

memento mori

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/HThn2Pq

by astrovagant

(n.) an object serving as a warning or reminder of death; latin for "remember that you have to die"

Danny stared at the portal, mesmerized by its glow. His hand tightening around the navy blue duffel at his side—he'd packed clothes, food, ecto-weapons, some stim toys to fidget with, and not much else. He didn't need anything that would tempt him return.

This was the right choice, he reminded himself. It was the only choice. He needed to protect them, even if leaving hurt more than a high caliber ectoblast fired directly at his chest, even if he could hear his core whisper stay protect family home safe.

He took a step, then another. He was close enough to reach out his fingers and touch it now. Another step. His hair rustled in the breeze whispering in from the other side. Another. He could almost taste the ectoplasm in the air, a hint of ozone, the beginnings of a thunderstorm. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. This was it.

He dove in head-first.

Words: 2534, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Aster's DP x DC fic brainrot

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, DCU, Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen

Characters: Danny Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Billy Batson, Jason Todd

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton & Jason Todd, Billy Batson & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Justice League (DCU), Batfamily Members & Danny Fenton

Additional Tags: Found Family, Dimension Travel, Eldritch Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, (he does Not know yet), Identity Reveal, Danny Fenton has ADHD, Autistic Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Has PTSD, Homeless Billy Batson, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Billy Batson Needs a Hug, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Trans Danny Fenton, They/Them Pronouns for Clockwork (Danny Phantom), Autistic Bruce Wayne, Autistic Damian Wayne, Autistic Tim Drake, Dick Grayson Has ADHD, Dick Grayson has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, gonna make that a tag if it kills me, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Jack and Maddie Fenton's D Minus Parenting, Traumatized Danny Fenton, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Selectively Mute Cassandra Cain, Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Autistic Cassandra Cain, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated For Violence, Rated for cursing, The Lazarus Pit is connected to the Ghost Zone

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/HThn2Pq

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

[dc-sideblog]

Semi verbal Cassandra Cain who can speak in understandable words and sentences but sometimes temporarily just can’t, her words leave her

#there is middle ground between nonverbal and verbal and Cass is in it #cassandra wayne #dc

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Bruce Wayne Girl Dad of the Year?

by Inkwell1013 Cassandra gets jealous of all the reporters commanding Bruce’s attention, and decides to teach Gotham a lesson. Bruce is her dad, and he loves her the most. Or, Cass asks to dance with Bruce at a Gala, and Bruce can't say no to his daughter. Written for March 19th/Column. Words: 516, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 22 of One Word Prompts Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Fluff, Family Feels, Wayne Gala (DCU), Dancing, Cassandra Cain is Bruce Wayne's Favorite, Good Parent Bruce Wayne, Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Sign Language via https://ift.tt/Aa0Y9St

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the caped crusader #gotham #dcu #dc #ao3 #ao3feed

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Triage

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QzC69uA by Ashynarr The Bat Man is dying, the Weapon thinks as she watches.   [Whumptober 2023, Day Twenty-Eight: Bloody Knife | Sacrifice | “You'll have to go through me.”] Words: 923, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 28 of Whumptober 2023 (Reverse Robins edition), Part 10 of Earth-198 (Reverse Robins) Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Whumptober 2023, Batkids Age Reversal, Mentioned Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne is Not Okay, Cassandra Cain is NOT okay, but they'll both get there eventually, A Lonely Place of Dying Arc, Dehumanization, (It's mild and it's cass but be warned), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Suicidal Bruce Wayne, (This is the LPoD arc what were you expecting), Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Young Cassandra Cain, Stalking read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QzC69uA

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the caped crusader #the dark knight #dcu #ao3 #ao3feed

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Triage

by Ashynarr The Bat Man is dying, the Weapon thinks as she watches.   [Whumptober 2023, Day Twenty-Eight: Bloody Knife | Sacrifice | “You'll have to go through me.”] Words: 923, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 28 of Whumptober 2023 (Reverse Robins edition), Part 10 of Earth-198 (Reverse Robins) Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Whumptober 2023, Batkids Age Reversal, Mentioned Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne is Not Okay, Cassandra Cain is NOT okay, but they'll both get there eventually, A Lonely Place of Dying Arc, Dehumanization, (It's mild and it's cass but be warned), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Suicidal Bruce Wayne, (This is the LPoD arc what were you expecting), Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Young Cassandra Cain, Stalking via https://ift.tt/QzC69uA

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the caped crusader #gotham #dcu #dc #ao3 #ao3feed

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The Absence of Jason Todd

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/1sWJT2E

by monemin

After a particularly bad patrol, Jason disappears from Gotham. He's gone for a long time. Not everyone worries the same way.

Words: 984, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Kon-El | Conner Kent, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas, Cassandra Cain, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Relationships: Jason Todd & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Poetry, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Humor, Therapy, Dick Grayson is Not Okay, Jason Todd is Not Okay, Bruce Wayne's B+ parenting, Camping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, (not from Bruce), Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, no beta we die like jason, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Not Red Hood, (will make sense later i promise), Other Additional Tags to Be Added

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/1sWJT2E

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The Absence of Jason Todd

by monemin

After a particularly bad patrol, Jason disappears from Gotham. He's gone for a long time. Not everyone worries the same way.

Words: 984, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Kon-El | Conner Kent, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas, Cassandra Cain, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Relationships: Jason Todd & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Poetry, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Humor, Therapy, Dick Grayson is Not Okay, Jason Todd is Not Okay, Bruce Wayne's B+ parenting, Camping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, (not from Bruce), Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, no beta we die like jason, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Not Red Hood, (will make sense later i promise), Other Additional Tags to Be Added

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/46928188

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

memento mori

by astrovagant

(n.) an object serving as a warning or reminder of death; latin for "remember that you have to die"

Danny stared at the portal, mesmerized by its glow. His hand tightening around the navy blue duffel at his side—he'd packed clothes, food, ecto-weapons, some stim toys to fidget with, and not much else. He didn't need anything that would tempt him return.

This was the right choice, he reminded himself. It was the only choice. He needed to protect them, even if leaving hurt more than a high caliber ectoblast fired directly at his chest, even if he could hear his core whisper stay protect family home safe.

He took a step, then another. He was close enough to reach out his fingers and touch it now. Another step. His hair rustled in the breeze whispering in from the other side. Another. He could almost taste the ectoplasm in the air, a hint of ozone, the beginnings of a thunderstorm. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. This was it.

He dove in head-first.

Words: 2534, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Aster's DP x DC fic brainrot

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, DCU, Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen

Characters: Danny Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Billy Batson, Jason Todd

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton & Jason Todd, Billy Batson & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Justice League (DCU), Batfamily Members & Danny Fenton

Additional Tags: Found Family, Dimension Travel, Eldritch Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, (he does Not know yet), Identity Reveal, Danny Fenton has ADHD, Autistic Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Has PTSD, Homeless Billy Batson, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Billy Batson Needs a Hug, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Trans Danny Fenton, They/Them Pronouns for Clockwork (Danny Phantom), Autistic Bruce Wayne, Autistic Damian Wayne, Autistic Tim Drake, Dick Grayson Has ADHD, Dick Grayson has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, gonna make that a tag if it kills me, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Jack and Maddie Fenton's D Minus Parenting, Traumatized Danny Fenton, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Selectively Mute Cassandra Cain, Semi-Verbal Cassandra Cain, Autistic Cassandra Cain, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated For Violence, Rated for cursing, The Lazarus Pit is connected to the Ghost Zone

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/45891730

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

[fancyfade]

looking at my fave female characters and trying to find out what my preferred archetype is or what traits generally make me go “yeah her she’s the one i love”

DC

Cassandra Cain/ Batgirl

Barbara Gordon/ oracle

Anissa Pierce/ Thunder

Grace Choi/ who needs a superhero name seriously

Koriand’r/ Starfire (the 1980s comics version, live action titans version)

Raven (most incarnations except live action titans)

Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl (DCAU)

Star Wars

Jaesa Willsaam

Elara Dorne

Kaliyo Djannis

Akaavi Sparr

Leia Organa

Other media

don’t kid yourself

dc and star wars is all i think about

jk. okay I liked

Ruby in supernatural

furiosa in mad max fury road

in kaliyo djannis and grace choi, the loveable bitchiness is definitely why I like them (if you’ve only seen grace in the tv show you might be like “Wait grace isn’t a bitch, she’s an adorable nerd”. which she is more conventionally likeable in the TV show. But her bitchiness is what makes me love her in the comics). but way less than i thought would at the start of the list had that quality.

i guess all of them are physically tough (even barbara gordon @@@ ableists who act like her fighting skills turned off the moment she became oracle) but that could be because I focus most of my mental fan energy on action genres.

very few of them wear their heart on their sleeve notable exceptions being Starfire, who gets a luxury that lots of female characters don’t have in this instance which is her anger is just as powerful as her love (and it’s a continuous theme in the comics.

the other notable exception is (I think) cassandra cain. Cass is perceived as stoic cuz she can’t talk (or later in the comics, is semi-verbal), but she is extremely expressive non verbally.  she does however save this heart on sleeve thing for friends. in combat (unless someone’s really ticked her off) she’s terrifyingly silent and the bad guys can’t really tell anything about her other than she is kicking their asses. she also does like shut herself off from a lot of people when she’s sad (thinking mostly batgirl 40-50 when Bruce was being a humongous asshole to her and cass was like “Hmmm i’ll just deal with this myself” and eventually withdrew from the family until she and batman had a fight. so i’m not sure how much she fits.

tv show anissa also comes across as a lot more passionate than comics anissa, probably because comics anissa wound up for the most part being a heavy hitter yet team filler whereas tv show anissa is permitted her own arc and something to be passionate about.

anyway i can’t remember where i was going with this originally. mostly just using any excuses i can to talk about characters i like!

#idk evcen #writing #cassandra cain #barbara gordon #anissa pierce #grace choi #starfire #koriandr #raven #jaesa willsaam #elara dorne #kaliyo djannis #akaavi sparr #leia #star wars #dc comics #swtor #ruby

[fancyfade]

[image: we see Cassandra Cain as Orphan zooming through a fight scene. she's inside and there are guys in suits pointing guns at her. a table is shattered as she leaps past it, possibly from bullets and possibly from her. a narration box reads "Sometimes, she dreams of the first time she saw the ballet. The night in prague, already a lifetime ago. Cassandra lands in between two men in more normal clothing. one has his hands raised and the other is about to punc hher. the narration box reads "There was no way of preparing herself for that moment. The understanding that there were people out there who had honed every muscle in their bodies, just like her. Who had the same control and deliberation. Her first language was body language, and these people, they weren't speaking in the ugly guttural dialect of violence."

she lifts a man in a trenchcoat above her head and strikes a pose similar to a ballet dancer -  her back is gently arched and one of her legs is straight out behind her. the narration box read "... they were using their bodies to sing. To create rhythm and poetry and express the full spectrum of human emotion." she leaps forward to punch a guy in the face.  the narration box continues: "She had never understood the purpose of art before that night. she wishes she were capable of creating it on her own. use her first language and be understood fully, properly." she gracefully slips between two guys attacking her and strikes one to the neck and the other in the mouth. blood comes out  from both of them. the narration box reads "from time to time, she'll steal a move from the dancers. almost to see if she can change the nature of the fight through a kind of grace. A message, hidden in the brutality. " Cassandra leaps through the air with her toes pointed like a ballerina and the dialogue reads "But it goes unheard." Here, we can see the point of her fight scene - there was a man holding a gun on a bunch of sitting down civilians. end image]

end image, begin commentary

okay so

a sort of follow up to my last post (link), which included this: “ maybe that girl would be allowed to sit across from Harper and say everything she wanted to say. sometimes, at night, she dreams of standing on a rooftop, and shouting every thought that passes through her mind, for everyone to hear.”

and

Despite how much I love 2002 batgirl series, I think these guys do a way better job of portraying Cass’s nonverbal/semi-verbalness and communication difficulties.

First, we see her wishing she could communicate what she wants to to harper, to everyone, but she can’t. She can’t speak verbally very well.

But then

we see she tries to slip in messages in her language. Body language. to the people she’s fighting.

And she can’t communicate with them that way, either, because they can’t understand.

she’s sort of torn between two worlds and two modes of communication, one which comes naturally for her and she appreciates with great depth - these writers never imply that verbal communication is superior to nonverbal communication, like they did in batgirl (link). Cass can see the depth of communication and beauty in her first language - it’s just that everyone else can’t.

and that is just... ringing very true for me as an autistic woman. I’m not non-verbal (except when I am feeling very sensory overwhelmed or stressed), but I do know the feeling of having your own little world, that you understand perfectly but can’t get everyone else to understand. and it makes you happy but you don’t know how to say so.

anyway

i bet when she wants to, Cass will be a great dancer. she’ll be doing art in her first language and like in 100 years people will still be looking at videos of her dancing and watching the subtle nuances of her performance they couldn’t get the first time, or maybe the tenth time even. But she’d have them in there, for someone who knows how to listen.

#cassandra cain #dc comics #orphan #detective comics rebirth #detective comics #blood w #autistic headcannons #is ti really a headcanon if its this obvious? #violence cw #disabled characters