Drabble: Without Words (Supergirl, Batgirl)
Title: Without Words
Characters/Pairings: Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Rating: G
Summary: Kara talks a lot; Cass is nearly silent. Yet they find some common ground.
Word count: 490
Notes: For
greeneyelove's birthday! Very few people do Cass justice like you do, but I thought I'd give writing her a little bit of a try for your birthday...
Kara takes a day to learn English fluently. She becomes well-known--on Paradise Island, in the superhero community--for chattering in it, a bright parrot stringing together word after word. She doesn't mind when people roll their eyes at her loquaciousness--she likes words like that, loquaciousness, like something cool on the tongue--because words make her feel safe. When she's talking, she isn't thinking, wondering who she is and why she's here and why no one seems to understand her and why does she want to scream so much? If people don't take her seriously, then...they don't take her seriously. And that's good. Like a squid with ink, she throws a dizzying wall of meaningless words between her and the world. No one can see her hiding behind them and shivering.
Until the day she goes to Gotham to visit Uncle Bruce for a weekly lecture and finds herself being introduced to a slight girl, her face entirely covered with a mask. "This is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Kara, Kal-El's cousin." And then Batman is gone and Kara is in the cave alone with this...thing with no eyes that she can address.
"Can you breathe like that? It must be a pain to cover your face like that. I could never cover my face like that. Give me freedom, baby, freedom!" Kara laughs, the cute laugh that makes people smile at her and condescend to her.
The black-clad girl doesn't respond, but paces around her slowly, as if sizing up an opponent. It's unnerving. "I've heard about you. You're the best martial artist there is, pretty much. You can...read body language." Kara feels a chill strike through her and the silent girl cocks her head inquisitively. What is she reading? What does she see? "That must be really cool, to understand people so well! I don't understand anybody, it feels like. Not that I care--pfeh, people, who needs 'em, right?" Kara shrugs nonchalantly. "On the other hand, I suppose when you stop to think about it, it probably sucks to not be able to communicate so well. I love talking, I love communicating, I feel like I can really get my ideas across, you know? Without words, I couldn't express myself so well, my real self, right? And that would totally bite."
The masked girl stops in front of Kara and looks at her--at least, Kara thinks she's looking at her, who can tell with that creepy mask anyway? Cassandra speaks, her voice only slightly muffled by the mask:
"Fathers. I know."
And then suddenly Kara is crying, going down on her knees and crying in the middle of the cave, and the girl has pulled her mask off and is staring at her with huge brown eyes, so much pity in them, so much grief...Kara waves her hands helplessly, wordlessly, unable to explain, and Cass steps forward to take her in her arms.
They weep together without words.
Characters/Pairings: Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Rating: G
Summary: Kara talks a lot; Cass is nearly silent. Yet they find some common ground.
Word count: 490
Notes: For
greeneyelove's birthday! Very few people do Cass justice like you do, but I thought I'd give writing her a little bit of a try for your birthday...
Kara takes a day to learn English fluently. She becomes well-known--on Paradise Island, in the superhero community--for chattering in it, a bright parrot stringing together word after word. She doesn't mind when people roll their eyes at her loquaciousness--she likes words like that, loquaciousness, like something cool on the tongue--because words make her feel safe. When she's talking, she isn't thinking, wondering who she is and why she's here and why no one seems to understand her and why does she want to scream so much? If people don't take her seriously, then...they don't take her seriously. And that's good. Like a squid with ink, she throws a dizzying wall of meaningless words between her and the world. No one can see her hiding behind them and shivering.
Until the day she goes to Gotham to visit Uncle Bruce for a weekly lecture and finds herself being introduced to a slight girl, her face entirely covered with a mask. "This is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Kara, Kal-El's cousin." And then Batman is gone and Kara is in the cave alone with this...thing with no eyes that she can address.
"Can you breathe like that? It must be a pain to cover your face like that. I could never cover my face like that. Give me freedom, baby, freedom!" Kara laughs, the cute laugh that makes people smile at her and condescend to her.
The black-clad girl doesn't respond, but paces around her slowly, as if sizing up an opponent. It's unnerving. "I've heard about you. You're the best martial artist there is, pretty much. You can...read body language." Kara feels a chill strike through her and the silent girl cocks her head inquisitively. What is she reading? What does she see? "That must be really cool, to understand people so well! I don't understand anybody, it feels like. Not that I care--pfeh, people, who needs 'em, right?" Kara shrugs nonchalantly. "On the other hand, I suppose when you stop to think about it, it probably sucks to not be able to communicate so well. I love talking, I love communicating, I feel like I can really get my ideas across, you know? Without words, I couldn't express myself so well, my real self, right? And that would totally bite."
The masked girl stops in front of Kara and looks at her--at least, Kara thinks she's looking at her, who can tell with that creepy mask anyway? Cassandra speaks, her voice only slightly muffled by the mask:
"Fathers. I know."
And then suddenly Kara is crying, going down on her knees and crying in the middle of the cave, and the girl has pulled her mask off and is staring at her with huge brown eyes, so much pity in them, so much grief...Kara waves her hands helplessly, wordlessly, unable to explain, and Cass steps forward to take her in her arms.
They weep together without words.