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[cassassin]

"Uh, hi. This is Cassandra, sorry I... missed you. Leave a message?"



"... Make it good."

[specify cass or batgirl]

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[bodilesswarrior]

[The second Barbara arrives in De Chima, she whips out her communicator.]

Cass?

[She already knows it's been a few months. Just disappearing on Cass was a dread she'd carried with her, in the back of her mind, constantly. The worry screams in the tension of her shoulders, and the irrational guilt plays backup.]

[cassassin]

Barbara?

[ cass is. very surprised. happy, thrilled, but--she stands up, already trying to get herself out the door of the manor. ]

I'm still here. You remember?

[bodilesswarrior]

Yes. [She says it with desperate relief.] And I was only gone for - I don't know, five minutes, on my end?

I'm back in De Chima. 003.

[cassassin]

[ she almost starts responding to the first part, but the rest gets her to pause. and she grins. ]

Was there yesterday. 003. Guess who's there?

[bodilesswarrior]

[Her eyes go wide, and her mind runs through every possibility at once, prioritising the people they've grieved over.]

Who?

[cassassin]

[ there's a laugh of like... disbelief and delight all at once before she says it, like she still doesn't quite believe it's real. ]

Steph. She got here the other day.

[bodilesswarrior]

[Steph.

The knowledge that Stephanie, or at least a Stephanie survived, had hit her again when she arrived, with all of the other memories. She's still processing it all, and -]

Stephanie. [Her breaks a little bit, because she can let it, because it's Cass.]

She's - when is she from?

[cassassin]

After... everything. After she came home, after... I gave her Batgirl. She's in college, back home, it's...

[ yeah maybe her voice is breaking a little too. she hasn't full-on cried on steph or anything, just having her back has been the biggest thing, but...

well. barbara knows. obviously cass is beyond thrilled, it's just a lot. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

College. [God.

She closes her eyes, for a second.]

What does she major in? How's her mother? Has she seen - [She cuts herself off with a shaky laugh.] Sorry. I can ask her.

[She can ask her.]

[cassassin]

Yeah.

[ cass just... laughs, the same kind of shaky sound. ]

She's... okay. Been through a lot, but... better than ever, I think. [ she closes her eyes, dragging the heel of her palm over them really fast. ]

There's... more, other people showing up, but... [ sorry this is the newest and obviously the one that's hitting her hardest. cass sniffs, letting out a watery chuckle. she's letting herself be slightly more open with babs here than she did with steph, even if she was plenty emotional and open with her already. it helps that that comes with fewer awkward conversations than it might with steph. ]

She's okay.

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara is grateful that they can share this, that she saw Cass first, because there is no way she's dumping this much on Steph. The grief, the guilt, the anger, the bitterness that drove her right out of Gotham.]

How was it, talking to her? [She...does not ask about confessions, right now. Not yet.]

[cassassin]

It's, uh... It's been good? Really good.

[ she gestures. ]

I brought over breakfast yesterday. We just... ate and talked and laughed. Like nothing changed. I didn't... I thought I knew? How much I missed her, but...

[ god. somehow the relief feels like so much more than the aching loss ever was.

she's in deep, babs. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

[Fortunately, she can focus on how fucking cute this is instead of, you know, everything else.]

It's hard to realise until you feel it. And then it's like you're soaring and you'll never stop. Every awful wretched thing is a million miles away.

[That's how she felt when she's rescued Dinah. That's - ah. That's how she wants to feel if - how she's going to feel when Dick wakes up.]

[cassassin]

[ cass nods, chest tightening.

if babs voiced any of that internal thought she'd have Things to say, but instead... ]

It... it feels like home. When I'm with her.

[bodilesswarrior]

[Look. Sometimes super geniuses are very dumb.]

Have you, ah. Do you plan to tell her that?

[cassassin]

[ cass just kind of... drags a hand back through her hair. that's a good question, babs. ]

Maybe. I don't-- [ she sighs. ] Tim knows. So I... probably should.

I just... I just got her back, I don't...

[ she doesn't want to make things weird. and she's worrying about rushing it despite the fact either she or steph could vanish at basically any time.

this whole family's stupid as hell. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

Wait, Tim is here? ...Tim knows? [Huh!]

...Don't ask Tim for advice.

[cassassin]

We talked about it. Once. [ it was no one's idea of a good time ]

And I... won't. [ she thinks for a moment, until: ] Earth-Two's Helena is here, too.

[bodilesswarrior]

Right, good. [Then she just stares, as that clicks into place.] Helena Wayne?

[Karen's Helena.]

...What is she like?

[cassassin]

[ another laugh. ]

She's... different. Not like ours at all. A lawyer in her Gotham. Still Huntress, only... a few years older than me. And from the 80s?

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara nods, brow furrowing as she pictures it.] That tracks. With what I do know. [Now, whether she's from the original Earth Two before the Crisis destroyed it, or the new Earth Two after the second Crisis -

No, that's not something she's ever going to ask. Maybe she can stop that information from coming up in general.]

So we've got you, Steph, Tim, Helena - is Jason still here?

[cassassin]

He is. Yeah. And Terry's gone, but...

[ she presses her mouth into a line. ]

Langstrom. From another universe. Where he was Batman, instead of... Bruce.

[ and just. pulling her shoes on. ]

I'm coming over. Want me to... grab food?

[bodilesswarrior]

..Man-Bat? Well, I guess it's a simple reversal. [She's hilarious.]

And...that would be good, thanks. [Turns out she wasn't eating much back home, she'd kind of forgotten.] Your choice, you know the city best.

Should I call Jason? [She didn't quite know where they stood before, and who knows what's happened while she was gone.] Do you know when Tim is from?

[cassassin]

Couldn't hurt. [ things are perpetually weird with jason and cass doesn't really know what to do there ] Tim's... from after us? A year or two. Maybe around the same...time as Steph, I don't... [ she gestures. she's not sure. after a bit of thought she perks up like she remembered something. ]

He told me Kon's back. [ so that answers that question. cass is walking out to her car as she says all this. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara grins, and doesn't quench the relief with what if - not right this moment, anyway, and never out loud.] That's - I'm glad.

It was... [She shakes her head, as the smile fades.] Tim lost a lot of people all at once. I've been - worried. [But Kon comes back. Steph comes back. That's something.]