She moved silently, barely disturbing a leaf or twig as she followed the young man watching his body language and the way he interacted with the world around him. It was the only thing she could do; there was no crime here like in Gotham and there was nothing for her to do except train and patrol. Barbara wouldn't have been happy about that, she would have been happy about what she planned to do next though.
Watching him bend down Cass deliberately threw a rock into a bush in front of him, watching as it disturbed the branches. Whilst he was distracted she landed behind him, cape spread out before she rose to her foot and stood. Cassandra waited, staring at the back of his neck before finally replying. "Yes."
Beneath the mask she smiled, this was still her favourite game.
He convinces himself that it's likely some kind of island wildlife, a boar or a bird or some form of rodent. While a significant portion of the island's fauna isn't necessarily native to a tropical climate- a vast variety of dinosaurs being more suited to a tropical monsoon climate- it doesn't mean that there aren't typical creatures hiding in the brush.
Hank is completely convinced of this fact until he hears a voice behind him and turns, nearly jumping out of his skin when he finds himself face to face with someone in a costume.
"Hi," he says, hoping his pulse will slow sooner rather than later, "Sorry, I- I didn't know there was anyone else here."
Cassandra smiled, tilting her head as she watched him knowing his pulse was probably racing and would slow soon enough. She hadn't thought to approach him, at first she was just going to watch him but the part of her that Barbara had encouraged made her want to go down and see what he was doing.
"Hi," Cassandra replied closing her fist, soft and relaxed in her own silent greeting. "Just me. I was... patrolling when I saw you. What are you doing?"
This is one of the odder things that Hank has experienced on the island, which is saying quite a bit, considering he spent an entire weekend as some kind of half-man half-fish hybrid. Why the need for anonymity? Everyone on the island are relative strangers, at least at first, so it's easy enough to go unknown if someone so chooses.
"Plants," Hank says, taking a step back, posture somewhat guarded, body tense, "I'm- I'm looking for a specific one."
Cass watched as he stepped back from her, his posture shifting. Mouth set in a defiant line beneath the mask, she held her hands out showing there were no weapons before she placed her palms flat towards the floor. The gesture of peace and calm rather than danger or anger.
"Plants? There are lots of plants," Cass said, the corner of her mouth twitching before she looked around. "What kind? I'll help."
He relaxed visibly, still not entirely comfortable with holding a conversation with someone in some kind of costume, but at least she's trying to be helpful.
"Acacia confusa," Hank says, though he doesn't expect her to know it. In his time on the island, he's studied a bit on tropical plants and has grown more familiar with them, but be doesn't suppose the majority of the island population have taken the same initiative.
"It's a tree. Yellow blossoms." He's not looking for the blossoms themselves, but it's probably the most identifiable characteristic, if it's on the island at all.
"Ack-... is that English?" Cassandra pressed her lips together confused by the words. Shoulders tense at her lack of understanding, she listened as he described the tree to her. Cass didn't like words they felt like cement in her mouth, heavy and wrong but images she could work with. Cass picked up a stick, bending down to draw a crude representation of the yellow blossom in the dirt. "Like this?"
"Latin, actually," Hank helpfully informs her, though he wouldn't have expected her to know the plant by its formal name. He pauses, watching her draw a blossom in the dirt, and somehow, it's not far off from the actual shape of the plant.
"Yeah, something like that. Have you seen it around?"
"Hnnn, English is confusing enough." Cassandra murmured, she was about to draw a different plant in the ground one that she had seen in the opposite direction when he confirmed her first guess was correct. "Yes, this way. I'll show you. Why are you looking for that?"
"There's a chemical in the plant that I want," Hank replies as he begins to follow her, and while he gets the feeling that everything he says should be simplified a bit for her benefit, he's not entirely sure how to make it simpler than that.
"No. Yes. Both?" Cassandra replied, making a face beneath her mask. It was hard to explain her father's methods and hard to explain how he had given her the ability to read body language as if it was a spoken one. "It is my first spoken language. I'm still learning words."
"So are you going to the school?" Hank asks her as they head in the direction she indicates. It's only occurred to him in passing that it's more than likely that people will arrive on the island unable to speak English, or unable to speak at all. He's surprised that so many people happen to speak familiar languages, given the island's tendency to pull people from different times and supposedly different planets.
"No," Cass said quietly, shaking her head as her nose wrinkled at the thought. Cass knew Steph wanted her to go with her, if not this term then next, but it wasn't anything she had ever experienced before. "My friend used to teach me words. She was teaching me how to read and write too. But she's not here."
"You should consider it," Hank replies, "The teachers here are pretty good. They could definitely be of help."
Hank doesn't have any experience with any of the lower-level courses, but if the advanced ones he's taking are any indication, the island has a better pool of teachers to work with that he ever could have anticipated.
"I'm not... like most students." Cassandra replied, small shrug tugging at the corner of her shoulders. Looking up she checked their position before altering their course slightly leading Hank towards a group of yellow blossomed trees. "Are you a student? Teacher?"
"A student," he says, "Unfortunately, I've got about forty years of catching up to do."
Most of the people on the island are from so much later in the century that, more often than not, he feels like he's missed out on fundamental concepts discovered after 1962.
Watching him bend down Cass deliberately threw a rock into a bush in front of him, watching as it disturbed the branches. Whilst he was distracted she landed behind him, cape spread out before she rose to her foot and stood. Cassandra waited, staring at the back of his neck before finally replying. "Yes."
Beneath the mask she smiled, this was still her favourite game.
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Hank is completely convinced of this fact until he hears a voice behind him and turns, nearly jumping out of his skin when he finds himself face to face with someone in a costume.
"Hi," he says, hoping his pulse will slow sooner rather than later, "Sorry, I- I didn't know there was anyone else here."
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"Hi," Cassandra replied closing her fist, soft and relaxed in her own silent greeting. "Just me. I was... patrolling when I saw you. What are you doing?"
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"Plants," Hank says, taking a step back, posture somewhat guarded, body tense, "I'm- I'm looking for a specific one."
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"Plants? There are lots of plants," Cass said, the corner of her mouth twitching before she looked around. "What kind? I'll help."
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"Acacia confusa," Hank says, though he doesn't expect her to know it. In his time on the island, he's studied a bit on tropical plants and has grown more familiar with them, but be doesn't suppose the majority of the island population have taken the same initiative.
"It's a tree. Yellow blossoms." He's not looking for the blossoms themselves, but it's probably the most identifiable characteristic, if it's on the island at all.
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"Yeah, something like that. Have you seen it around?"
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"Is English not your first language?"
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Hank doesn't have any experience with any of the lower-level courses, but if the advanced ones he's taking are any indication, the island has a better pool of teachers to work with that he ever could have anticipated.
Reply
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Most of the people on the island are from so much later in the century that, more often than not, he feels like he's missed out on fundamental concepts discovered after 1962.
Reply
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