CASSANDRA CAIN

Warmth floated through the atmosphere, coaxing it in a gentle glaze of love; sitting in her lap, you found yourself focused on the children’s book. As the now child of Batman—Bruce Wayne—you found yourself fitting in with the robins, but specifically his daughter, Cassandra Cain, who was quiet at that.

Your older sister wasn’t one for words, but that was something that made you so attached to her, she was affectionate through actions, not speech. The bond you shared led you here, sitting in her lap on your bed as Cassandra attempted to read a children’s book to you. Barbara had given her some simple ones to help with Cassandra’s speech struggle, yet here she was, still struggling.

“Rrrrraauhh.. aaa.. rraaa!”

Cassandra struggled, her eyes instinctively squinting, resting her head against your hair as she attempted to read to you, struggling given she herself was still learning to read. She struggled for a bit, trying not to get frustrated with her failures before pointing at the colourful pictures of the page, giving up on verbally reading to you for now, hoping you’d be able to follow along with the imagery.

Naturally she felt insecure that she couldn’t read well—she wanted to read to you, hoping to be able to give you the relationship with a family member that she never had. She saw herself in you, she didn’t want to allow you to suffer the traumatics she did.