i am brave, i am bruised

anne shirley-cuthbert & cassandra cain-wayne

[dcwomenofcolor]

20 years ago, CASSANDRA CAIN dons the suit for the first time & inherits the BATGIRL mantle with Barbara Gordon’s blessing.

– Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120  (released on June 2nd, 1999)

[daringspirits]

dcwomenofcolor: 20 years ago, CASSANDRA CAIN dons the suit for the first time & inherits the BATGIRL mantle with Barbara Gordon’s blessing. – Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120 (released on June 2nd, 1999) dcwomenofcolor: 20 years ago, CASSANDRA CAIN dons the suit for the first time & inherits the BATGIRL mantle with Barbara Gordon’s blessing. – Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120 (released on June 2nd, 1999)

[daringspirits]

simpleexistence‌:

“I’m fine. You should see the other guy.” It was true, Jason might’ve received a few punches, but the other guy was ready to be taken the hospital if he had gotten a few more minutes alone with him. There were some major anger issues surrounding Jason, and it was hard to keep them in check. With everything that had happened, he had just gotten a little bitter and didn’t care much for anything anymore. Why should he? He’s only going to be let down in the end anyways. Thinking he had maybe found his people, some that he could get along with, but they were so quick to judge him and accuse him of things he didn’t do, that it showed him their true colours. Fuck them. He was better off on his own. He had managed to do that ever since he was a kid.

He didn’t recognize her. So it wasn’t like Damian— he didn’t know her at all. Like— like he really was as young as he looked. But he looked older than 16— Older than the pictures she’d seen at the beginning of her time as Batgirl. But not too much older— this was confusing. She needed to talk to Kate. And Dick. First, talking to Jason. A soft smile crossed her face at Jason’s quip. She could hear Dick saying that too, and Tim, and Damian. They were all similar in their own small ways. 

But there was something angry about Jason. Bitter. Dangerous, but familiar. The kind of dangerous that they all were. “As long as it’s not murder,” Cass replied, shrugging as she did so. Maybe he remembered being Red Hood, but just didn’t remember her. No— but the way he spoke, the way he moved. He hadn’t died yet. He can’t have.

[bicanthropus]

open starter

Blue was exhausted.  If she’d thought she’d felt exhaustion in Battery City before, she was wrong because it was nothing compared to this.  It was her own fault.  She’d kept herself up listening to the album she’d found over and over and over again.  Danger Days.  It was ringing in her head.  It’d brought her to Cherri, but that was the only good thing that had come of it.  Preliminary research online showed that there was more.  There were comics, damn comics about their lives.  As though life in Battery City and the Zones were anything to enjoy.  She still didn’t know what this meant, if there were Zones hidden away in this world somewhere.  

She got to her shift at the bar feeling as though her feet were dragging.  She forced on a smile.  She was good at this.  Good at serving people.  Usually.  Perhaps being tired wouldn’t work out well.  

“Hi, what can I get for you?” she said to someone who looked like they hadn’t been served yet.

[daringspirits]

Evelyn walked into the bar— she needed a fucking drink. Her path lead straight to the counter as she situated herself on a stool, crossing her legs as she did so. The woman who was serving her was vaguely familiar— she checked the name tag before nodding internally. A racter— with really good hair she had to admit. The shock of blue was pretty to say the least. She herself would never dye her hair, but she could appreciate people who could pull it off.

The smile on the other woman’s face wasn’t fully genuine— she would know. Her whole life had been filled with less than genuine smiles, and her job required her to smile like her world depended on it at everybody who walked through the doors of the Center requiring assistance. Tiring, to say the least. “I’d like a Long Island iced tea.” The espresso martini was also tempting, but for now just the one drink. One drink at a time. 

“Your hair is beautiful, by the way.” She was feeling nice, and it was true. The hairstyle was unique too.

[soulbrcke]

@daringspirits​ / evelyn

with his eyes remaining on the book, will smiled– a charming smile. “the only way to save yourself is to feel nothing. it works, i promise you.” the shadowhunter exclaimed, this tone bored. “feelings only ruin all that life can give us– i say we just exist if that.”

[daringspirits]

Evelyn looked up, sipping her coffee as she did so. This racter was pretty— his smile was charming in a way that was less disgusting than the boys on frat row at UCLA. But— good god were his words pretentious. She rolled her eyes, looking at her coffee cup as she did so. “Is that so?” She would ask him to explain, except she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to explain. “Some say that feelings are what makes humans human.”

[soulbrcke]

@daringspirits​ / anne

the smash through the window had alerted sabrina, dropping the large books that soon formed a cloud of dust and racing towards the sound. a rock– about the size of her fist now rested on the floor in front of the work desk– homework papers completely scattered as the wind howled angrily through the shattered hole in the glass. “did someone throw that?” the blonde questioned, a dark eyebrow raised as she turned her attention to the student in question.

[daringspirits]

Anne had jumped, a flash of a memory passing through her mind as the window next to her work desk shattered— breaking the peaceful silence. Her head had whipped towards the noise, staring in abject horror at the rock on the floor beside her before turning to the blonde who had come rushing in. “It wasn’t me, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I— Someone most definitely threw that, but I’m not entirely sure what happened. I was working on my paper when... this happened.” She got up, moving towards the window, moving through the glass shards on the floor. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone outside though, or at least, anyone who could be a possible perpetrator.”

[daringspirits]

bcrealis‌:

Benoit smiled warmly when Anne seemed intrigued by his profession.  “I do quite enjoy it!  And in my experience people solve more crimes than they think they do.  It could be as simple as finding a lost pen or as complex as unfolding a con job.”  Benoit said slowly, trying not to reveal how much he knew of Anne’s life.  After all, how do you tell someone that they are just a character?  “Maybe you could help me out with a case some time.  I’m sure you would be fantastic at it.  Sometimes they can be morbid but if I am honest I have never taken a case that wasn’t interesting.”  He laughed, amused and delighted at her thoughts always.  “I always try to call it that, some former clients and interviewees are not so fond of the practice but you can learn quite a lot.  See you’re a natural born detective already!  The first step is imagining the lives and then the second is trying to figure out if your imagination is right or not based on clues.”

Anne couldn’t help but lean forward as Benoit continued to speak. Something about his manner was infectious, and his easy demeanor made her feel comfortable. “Perhaps I will take you up on that offer. After all, there’s only so many hours I can spend at the library before people begin to believe I’ve taken up permanent residence.” Powell Library was divine and she adored the building so very much. “I’d never thought of it that way, but I suppose you are right— a mixture of imagination and logic is necessary for most endeavors, and when you only have some of the puzzle pieces to complete a picture, your imagination is needed to create possible solutions to fill in the gaps.” 

[daringspirits]

bcrealis‌:

Felicity grinned at the other’s excitement and interest.  “I study art.  A mix of application and art history, so clearly my mother thinks I’m not going anywhere in life.”  Felicity laughed, knowing all too well the lectures she got from her mother.  “Honestly school flies by fast, not to be an old fart but enjoy it while you can.”  She grinned and took her hand.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you Anne.  My name is Felicity Coulter.”  She held onto Anne’s hand a bit longer as she quickly took a pen out of her bag and wrote her number on her hand.  “Here, it really would make it a lot easier.”

Anne laughed at the blonde’s words. “How interesting! I wish I was more artistically inclined, but alas my talents lie with words.” She nodded understandingly as she continued— her schoolgirl days felt like it had passed by so quickly, and she supposed university would be something similar. At the name Coulter, Anne’s grin slipped slightly before it came back in full force. Perhaps Coulter was a common name— besides Lyra would know if she had any sisters or brothers. Once Felicity had finished writing out her number, Anne quickly inputted it into her phone, sending off a quick text once she’d finished. “There, now you should have a text from an unknown number— which is most decidedly my phone number. As horrible as it doe sound, I am glad that your dress ripped. I doubt I would have found myself in your wonderful company if you hadn’t fallen into me!” The world truly did work in mysterious ways.

[daringspirits]

bcrealis‌:

Ethan put his head in his hands for a second, trying to compose himself for a moment.  It wasn’t that he was embarrassed about crying, he always felt comfortable in his emotions, but he never liked crying in front of other people in case it made them uncomfortable.  Once he pulled himself together he wiped away the rest of his tears and sat up.

He nodded, happy that he wasn’t the only one.  His life was a whirlwind of events the past few months and Ethan found it hard to keep his footing.  “Honestly I don’t know if my change is for the better or not.”  Ethan sighed, the memories of his choices and the choices other people made for him were heavy on his mind.  “I feel like I haven’t been able to breathe for months now, let alone sleep.”  He knew he looked like it, the ever permanent bags under his eyes never seemed to leave him anymore.

A vacant laugh escaped Ethan as he ran his hand through his hair.  “Shit, you didn’t come up here to listen to a stranger cryptically explaining his life.”  He sighed and shook his head.  “My name’s Ethan.”  He offered, not really worrying about if people knew him or not.  He figured that he didn’t care if word got back to the Banished Brawlers about him being there.  Hell, Ethan even wished they knew so at least he could see familiar faces

Cassandra watched him. Head in hands— he needed a moment. Trying to pull everything together— like a drawstring bag pulling tight. The set of his shoulders— he’d seen things. Like a soldier, but not— and anybody could see he didn’t sleep. The bags under his eyes were big, and the one streetlamp made it look worse. He felt guilt, and... heavy. Like sandbags and boulders dragging you underwater. 

He was tired. It was a tired she understood. It was a tired that everybody in her family knew— a tired that everybody her family worked with knew. It was a tired where the world was just too much and you just wanted a nap— but there was no time. No time because there was another threat, another danger, another problem to deal with. She didn’t know why he felt like it, but she understood.

“My name is Cassandra.” Ethan is his name. “Change is change. You make it good or bad.” She didn’t know what else to say— what else there was to say, to someone you didn’t know when they had been crying before. But his mood now— before he was more inward. Now he didn’t care? But still so tired. “Are you from here?” Cass hadn’t met anyone who was really from here yet, which confused her— were they all like her and Kate? Was now the time? Maybe not the best time, but she still needed to know— and Ethan looked like he needed to not think.

[daringspirits]

bcrealis‌:

Hearing someone approached, Ethan tried to quickly dry his eyes.  But he was a bit shocked to see that she was talking to herself, not that he minded, it was just putting things into perspective for him.  Ethan gave a small smile and shook his head.  “No I’m alright.  Just going through a tough time right now.”  He said honestly, not knowing any other way to put it.  “Though it sounds like I am the one who ruined your moment alone.  It seemed like a nice monologue you were working up, I’m sorry to interrupt it.”  Ethan knew all about monologuing.  His buddy Matty did it quite often and frankly Ethan knew it was best to not interrupt and just let his friend go.  So he felt bad interrupting her.

Ethan had to admit he was a bit shocked that she sat down next to him but he moved to give her some more room.  He let out a low sigh, taking in what she had just said.  “I feel like none of the things that have lead me here was my doing.  I know that’s not really true, I made choices and they clearly had consequences, but too many of the incidents were so far out of my control.  I just feel like a puppet in other people’s games and I haven’t stopped running for months now.”  It was true, ever since Detroit he kept looking over his shoulder.  The Phoenixes said he was safe with them, but Ethan never settled down fully before he had to be on the run with them from the Brawlers.  “The world I am in now is way different than the world I was in a year ago.”

A sympathetic smile crossed her face as the older man spoke. She knew something about tough times. She turned her gaze towards the other, hoping that he saw her sincerity— only to blush as he continued. “You needn’t apologize for that. The moon will be waiting, should I decide to continue my conversation with her. I don’t often monologue as such these days, but I’ve found that sometimes talking about what’s in my mind, even if it is to the trees and the breeze, helps with it all.” Katie Maurice, her friend in glass, had been a good listener. But there was something freeing about releasing thoughts into the world around her— and almost comforting. 

His words— she nodded along, brushing her hair out of her face as some wind blew rogue strands into her eyes. “I can’t say that I have much experience with feeling like a puppet— although I do understand feeling like everything is spiraling out of control. I’ve made choices without fully considering and comprehending the consequences, and thus starting domino effects that I’ve had to rush to fix.” Cole and Billy— Josie and the town, she shook her head slightly, dispelling the thoughts from her mind. “And I definitely understand the latter sentiment. Sometimes I stare at the world around me, and I have to ask myself how I got here.” The twenty-first century— Marilla would call it un-Christian. Mrs. Lynde would call it Satanic. Anne herself simply didn’t understand. 

A part of her wanted to hold his hand or touch his knee, to offer some sort of physical comfort, but she knew that not many would appreciate a random girl touching them in the middle of the night. “We can’t control what other people do, whether it is to us or to the people we care about. We can not blame ourselves for their actions. All we can do is do our best.” It was another lesson that was hard-won, but Anne had learned it all the same.  

[daringspirits]

volatilejoy‌:

Kate smiled as Cass dug into her pint of ice cream.  Really, how could you tell Cass no to food when she lit up to eating it like she did?  Besides, having something not as sweet as chocolate ice cream was probably good?  Not that it mattered.  Not that Cass needed someone fussing over her.  She was an adult!  And Kate wasn’t that much older than Cass either.  More along the age gap of a big sister than a mother.  

But she wasn’t supposed to be.  She was supposed to be the cool cousin that stopped by every once and a while.  It should be Bruce here.  It should be Bruce leading them.  Kate couldn’t lead a team.  She’d learned that much in the army.  On Coryana.  With Julia.  She’d learned it over and over again.  If she was leading instead of following, she fucked up. But Bruce wasn’t here.  And the kids needed someone.  And as much as Cass would be an amazing leader, she didn’t want that weight to fall on the girl.  Not if she could help it.

“Cass, you don’t need to thank me for letting you stay.  We’re family, aren’t we?” Kate said.  She gently kicked at Cass’ side, smiling at the other girl.  “I’m glad that we’ve gotten to hang out though.  We didn’t hang out enough back at home. I didn’t hang around any of you enough back at home.”

Kate was thinking, and it wasn’t 100% happy thoughts. What was she— Bruce. She had the look on her face, the look that said she wished Bruce was here. Cass knew that she made a similar face sometimes. When things went wrong, people looked to Bruce. To Batman. He had plans, and back-up plans. Contingency plans. And when there was no Batman— when there was nobody but her and Kate, it was difficult.

At the mention of family Cass met Kate’s eyes, a wide smile spreading across her face. She swallowed another huge spoonful of pistachio ice cream before shifting to smoothly avoid the kick aimed at her body. Her spoon stayed in her mouth as she quickly signed family in agreement, her smile never fading. People joined them and their mission to find justice, to find reason. She joined to find purpose, and now she also has family. Sometimes she wondered, what would have happened if David Cain had never tried to kill Commissioner Gordon. How long would she have run— how little of life she would have felt.  

It didn’t matter. She was here now. Cass leveled a look at Kate at her words, her eyes saying it all. Not your fault. They were all family, but family didn’t always have to be together all the time. Dick and Tim had been wary of her. Jean-Paul had not been, nor had Steph nor Babs. But even Bruce had had his concerns. And in Gotham, there wasn’t much time for fun— her first years had been one crisis after another. Besides— she spent a year trying to fight everyone and everything. She released Joker just to beat him. Stupid. All because of Shiva. “My fault too,” Cass continued, shrugging. “We have time now.”

[daringspirits]

bcrealis‌:

“God I wish that was possible, watch if that happened somehow I’ll get pulled into the higher ups for drinking on the job.  Though at this point when am I ever not on the job?”  Charlie rolled her eyes and grabbed the coffee.  She practically lived on coffee based on how often she stayed up here in Los Angeles.  Between school work and watching over the characters in some form or another she was tired.  “You know at this point I wouldn’t put it past the magic users.  There’s so many different types here it’s crazy.”  She had some in her dorm and saw some around the city.  Charlie was always curious how they acted around each other.  “My dorm is all racters.  It’s like they assigned me there as my own personal hell.”

Evelyn nodded along as Charlie spoke— each different tv show and book had different rules for magic, and so that meant that each magic user used magic differently. It was a pain, that’s what it was. A sharp laugh escaped her, and she smirked, sipping her own latte as she did so. “Easy for you to figure out what makes them tick— just read their wikipedia pages. You’ll probably find everything you need there.” She rolled her eyes as she did so, shaking her cup. It wasn’t that she disliked racters, she just liked them most of them less than she liked actual humans. And besides— most of them were obnoxious, or had problematic behaviors that the writers defended as quirks. What the hell was quirky about stalking? “And how’s your other charges? The ones not in your dorms?” Charlie needed to vent, and Eve would be lying if she said that she wasn’t amused by the level of bullshit the Riverdale racters dragged everywhere— even if it was giving Charlie stress lines that no cream could ever hide.

[daringspirits]

Hi! Now that I’m off-hiatus, and have a new character, I figured I may as well do this: like for me to slide into your dms (for plotting or just figuring out relationships), and reply if you want a starter from any of my characters to yours!

Although tbh, if you reply, I’m probably still going to slide into your dms.

Evelyn Rose Miller: 

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert:

Cassandra Cain-Wayne:

[mizzswan]

[brokenxtragedies]

@daringspirits​

The brown hues flared at the woman, while Bellamy’s expression remained grim with discontent across his features. His eyebrows dipped down with his lips pursed. Bellamy grazed his hand slowly to his back pocket where he pulled out his own gun and aimed it back at the other. He had hurt so many people in the name of protecting his own or even himself.  He was still haunted by the guilt, years later. If Bellamy was certain of anything, it was he didn’t want to hurt anyone else.“ We don’t need to do this.” He spoke in a steady tone with his eyes stagnant and unmoving. 

Today the city was in disarray, with fear from the residents all around. It reminded him of all the clan’s terror, just days before primfaya. Nobody knowing who would be chosen to survive or die.  A number of the residents in Los Angeles gained powers, and Bellamy was one of them, though he at the moment was trying to dismiss it for now. It was too insane to process. However, ignoring that was difficult, when Bellamy now could anticipate other’s thoughts and even move items with his mind

[daringspirits]

Patrols in costume were usually boring. This— she hadn’t expected this. At the appearance of a gun, Cass paused, tensed as she waited to see what he’d do. She could dodge bullets, she’d done it before. But— she watched the other man, noting the tenseness of the shoulders, the creases in his eyes, and listened to him speak. His words were steady. His gaze was steady. But his body said something different. He would shoot if he had to, but he didn’t want to. Old guilt, like hers. Maybe not because of parents— but blood was spilled all the same on his hands. Blood he hadn’t wanted. She could see that. She could understand that.

It was that revelation that had Cassandra taking off her mask, letting the man see who he was facing. “No we don’t. I’m not here to hurt you. Only if you’ve hurt somebody else.” Knowingly. Key-word was knowingly. Unknowingly could be fixed. Knowingly was different. She smiled tentatively, not really caring much about the gun still trained on her body. If he shot, she’d move. Until then, she’d just talk to him. “Are you okay?”

[simpleexistence-deactivated2020]

jason had done it again, gotten himself into some trouble. not his fault. he can’t help it that others are just plain stupid. little did they know about his short temper so as soon as one of his fellow students annoyed him, not wanting to let a certain subject go, jason just threw a punch at him, not caring that he was basically twice his size. not that it mattered because with his skilled combat training, he could take anyone. or so he thought. he might be a little too confident at times. one more strike and he’d get kicked out of college. 

tired of all the bullshit, he just left the place, done with classes for the day. sitting at one of the local diners, he had asked for some ice, just to take the swelling of his lip down as the other guy did manage to give him a cut lip and a few bruises on his face. spotting someone staring at him, he sighed, not in the mood to get judged. “what are you looking at?!”

[daringspirits]

Cass walked into the diner, heading to a seat that had both exits in her eye-line. She wanted a milkshake. Or cheesy fries. No. Milkshake. She stared at the menu, her eyes wandering over the options when in her peripheral vision she noticed familiar movement. Raising her head, her eyes followed the boy walking past— No. The way he moved was familiar, but also not. There was less weight of the world, less danger. Just anger. And injury— well, that hasn’t changed so much. But. He looked younger. Like Damian— he looked the same age as Damian now. What was happening?

She quietly sent off a text to Dick before turning back to the other boy, only to get up and walk towards him at his words. “Are you okay?” That’s what mattered most. If he was okay. She hoped that he just looked younger— and that he wasn’t actually younger. Like with Damian— he was older but also not. 

[bcrealis]

“So last week I found someone try to throw a back to school hot tub party out on the lawn.  If I wasn’t so pissed by the amount of paper work I had to do I would be impressed.  They used hay bales to make the structure and different tarps to hold the water in.  Followed by a hose connecting from the bathroom to said hot tub.”  She shook her head, still flabbergasted by the set up.  “Who even finds hay in Los Angeles?”

[daringspirits]

Eve tilted her head and hummed in consideration, taking a sip of her latte as she did so. Her other hand came forward, dangling another coffee in between them, the offer clear. “Got you a coffee— should I have asked for a shot of vodka with the espresso?” She didn’t envy Charlie, not with the bullshit she had to put up with. She herself saw a lot of shit as a clerk, but at least she could have fun with it— Charlie didn’t have that luxury. “Maybe they conjured it up,” she remarked, wiggling the fingers not holding the latte to mimic magic. “Undergrads are idiots. We would know, we were them once. And your dorm’s all racters, right? Probably makes this all worse.”

[daringspirits]

Hold on, did I just see ADELAIDE KANE?! No, sorry, that was actually EVELYN MILLER, but they get that a lot! They are originally from LOS ANGELES. They are 27 and have been living in Los Angeles for ALL THEIR LIFE. Here in the city of dreams, they are a/an CLERK AT THE WELCOME CENTER and when one thinks of them, they think of champagne, rose-water perfume, polite smiles, idle gazes, warm hugs. I guess you’ll never know who you’ll run into in Los Angeles! 

i. what is your full name?

“Evelyn Rose Miller.”

ii. where are you from?

“Los Angeles, California. ”

iii. tell us a little bit about yourself.

“I currently work at the Welcome Center in LA as a clerk. I have a master’s in psychology and a bachelor’s in public relations.”

iv. is there anything you’re hoping to find or accomplish here in los angeles?

“This question clearly wasn’t meant for me.”

v. what’s the strangest thing you’ve seen since your arrival here in the city?

“This LA is weird. We all know that. You grow up knowing that. The rest of you are simply blind sheep. Oh, but I will tell you the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Daniel Anderson trying to chat up Sam. While drunk, in clothes that were definitely not his, at a party he definitely wasn’t invited to, using pick-up lines that wouldn’t even catch the most desperate of woman. It was pathetic, and what’s weird is that he hadn’t shown Sam any interest prior to that day. Undeniably fucking hilarious, but weird.”