Chloé Bourgeois/Cassandra Cain (possible/Stephanie Brown), anyone?
basically, i got to thinking. it's been years since i've watched anything mlb, and i can't claim to be super knowledgeable about dc, but.
Cass deserves more love. so here we are
Important notes: i'm takin chloé away from canon post 'miracle queen' but pre 'throw all possible character development out the window'. i'm also letting her have her dang character redemption arc because goddamn it she was 13 at the start of the show. she isn't evil; she's young, sheltered, and struggling with a lot of parental issues. i don't know shit about anything past, like... the season of chat blanc, and nor do i care to know! canon's a washed out blueprint, but in the end it's just a piece of paper i'm gonna doodle all over anyway so may as well make it my own
as for Cass (and any other dc character imma poke at); i'm doin my best, but i'm very new to dc and its timelines are messes anyway. so im basically taking the webtoon batman: wayne family adventures as canon (for characterizations and interpersonal relationships) and giving it the mlb treatment because It's My Story And I Can Do What I Want, Mom
Have a problem with all that? Write your own fic! Then you can decide what interpretations of these characters you use! (And i get to consume more for this idea-)
For example! A great prompt (in my head) would be to take post-canon chloé (her working with hawkmoth and all), have her move to gotham for school/to get away from paris/whatever, and let her try to have her redemption arc there of all places. (Or that's just where she went because she's in a downward spiral and thinks along the lines of 'well, if im already evil might as well go to the crime capital of the world, right?) Or! Have cass be in paris! Pre or post joining the batfam; you could have hawkmoth be kickin years after canon starts
We're talkin about chloé goin to gotham today tho. What specifically she's doing is up for the writer to decide- if she's goin the fashion route, if she's starting from scratch, if she's planning on just visiting, whatever. Point is: she's in gotham long enough to have a story
Now, chloé isn't actually evil- no matter what her mental image of herself is. And in this story, she's actively trying to do better; to be a better person. She's still snarky and blunt and has high standards, ofc, but she's trying and she is doing better day by day. She falls back on old habits and defense mechanisms sometimes (especially when facing gotham's rogues, which probably happens fairly often considering who she is and the amount of money in her bank accounts) and she definitely isn't a saint or endlessly kind/patient(/good) like marinette is, but don't actions speak louder than words anyway?
For some people, they do!
Enter: one cassandra cain. Who knows real evil when she sees it. Who can see the struggle and improvement of another person so clearly they may as well have shout it from the rooftops. Who can see the emotions as clearly as she can see gargoyles in gotham, and who had her own sort of redemption arc/gear-shift into being on the other side of the hero/villain debacle
Few people in the world can so clearly see or know another person, and cass is very good at what she does.
So what cass sees isn't a selfish, spoiled, bully. No; she sees the guilt that gnaws away at chloe and shuts her mouth when she's about to really snap at someone (until they push more and she can't stop the words but she can take the full brunt of their anger). Cass can see the hesitation that comes when chloe has the opportunity to do something small but kind (like hold open a door or help someone pick up something) and the brief (but strong) flash of why can't i do better why do i hesitate why is this so hard that comes when chloe just isn't fast enough to go through with it before the chance is over
Cass can see chloe's intent and the constant battle she wages with herself between doing the right thing and falling back into the easy, (comforting, even if it's only for a moment and the pang of regret she has after, she can only shove onto the mountain of her fuck-ups) familiar, knee-jerk actions and reactions and thoughts. And yknow what?
Cass was like that once, too. Because she still brandishes a knife first when she's truly startled. Because her mind still whispers when she's got an opponent down, telling her exactly how easy it'd be to make sure they never get back up. Because change is a process, and cass has seen both ups and downs in both herself, her family, and even some of the rogues and criminals she sees on a semi-regular basis. And it's so much harder when you have to do it alone. And a vigilante's job is to help people, first and foremost. And cass hasn't been able to do that in all the ways she wants to yet
Cass usually doesn't interact with civilians when she doesn't have to. She doesn't speak often and sign isn't as widely taught as it should be. But cass can see chloe's strong-willed, determined nature. And yknow what?
It reminds her a lot of steph. Chloé's a 'they asked for no pickles' friend without someone to stand in front of. Cass doesn't mind pickles, but she'd be more than happy to let someone else stand up for her from time to time. It's a win-win in her book; chloe gets a clearer path to 'goodness', and cass gets practice at helping people! (It doesn't matter that it's outside the mask. It's helping, and she can do it no matter what name she's using)
Chloé can't help but see a younger, meeker marinette in cass at first. Though she's lost in how to be good in most ways, all she has to do to be better here is to treat this shy girl the opposite of how she treated marinette. Not easy- not really- but at least she knows she's on the right track every day this cass doesn't cry or get that same broken expression marinette sometimes got when they were kids
(... she's entirely unprepared for Cass to break a molester's wrist a couple of months later. Maybe cass doesn't need chloe, but cass seems happy to let chloe stay, so she will)
(God help everyone else when chloe and steph finally meet.)



















