16319/...Said the spider to the bat.

...Said the spider to the bat.
Date of Scene:	29 May 2024
Location:	Interior - Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Ghost Spider, Batgirl (Cain), Robin (Wayne)

---

Ghost Spider has posed:
when Gwen looks back on this moment, she might realize it was the very first faint rays of sunshine through the blinds that woke her up. The unfamiliar smells, the unfamiliar sheets, the unfamiliar weight next to her in the bed...

Unfamiliar, but not at all unwelcome.

Last night had been a surprise -- maybe not as much to Damian, she wasn't sure, but certainly to her. After all, she'd left her things in the guest room. She'd had no intention of sleeping in Damian's room. Much less.. anything else.

But here she was. And, he was asleep, and.. she needed to clear her head.

Water, maybe. Or some sort of granola bar? Or.. whatever. She remembered the kitchen. It was the first place he'd shown her once they'd come inside. It was getting there that was worrying.

Down... two flights? Three? And then.. two lefts? Ugh. Whatever. She'd figure it out on the way.

So, she slips silently out of bed, grabs his shirt off of the floor instead of making a lot of noise looking for her own clothes in the dark, rakes her fingers through her hair, and then, as quietly as she can, slips out into the hallway.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
Gwen had chosen her direction, made it down at least two flights of stairs and was rounding a corner when she came face to face with a young Asian woman with short black hair. She was only about two inches shorter than Gwen. Difficult to tell her age but she looked younger than she actually was so probably might be presumed as 18-20. It was difficult to tell much more about her as she was in an oversized black hoodie, with the hood down, along with a pair of loose-fitting gray sweatpants. She had socks on her feet but no shoes, perhaps the reason for the silence of her approach to that corner.

Her brow furrowed and there was a sudden frown on her face as she took two steps back and shifted her weight to her back foot and her body ever so slightly on an angle to the woman. Most people would think nothing of it. Just someone startled and putting some space. Someone with martial arts training might realize she had positioned and balanced herself just so, to be ready should she need to do something.

Because this was not a person that belonged in the house. Not someone she had ever seen before even in the social outings the rest of the family did that ended up in the press. Complete stranger. In the House.

Thus, she waited. Hands at her sides. The frown faded and her face went to a neutral expression as she just stared at the woman, waiting to see what she did.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Spiders are a different breed. It's not that Gwen has _never_ had any sort of martial arts training, but that's not really how they fight. It's all instinct. Enhanced reflexes. Enhanced speed. Enhanced strength. Spider-Sense. And, frankly, a heavy dose of pluck and witty banter.

Gwen certainly wasn't trained by the League of Assassins, much less Batman or anyone remotely that qualified. She beat bad guys because she was a Spider, not because she'd spent her formative years practicing anything other than ballet and drums.

It wouldn't take much for someone with Cass's keen eye to notice that there's something different about the woman she's suddenly come face-to-face with, though, even if that 'something' isn't immediately apparent in her tousled hair or over-sized men's shirt.

Gwen stops and corrects a bit too abruptly for an 'average' sleepy blonde overnight-guest. She takes the same step back that Cass does, only she does it a half-second sooner (though without the deeply-trained martial prowess). Plus, the initial shock of seeing someone unexpected looks more like a quick survey of everything that could go wrong instead of some warrior's technical appraisal of an enemy.

"Hey!"

Well, that's disarming. Or, it's obviously meant to be. Gwen's lips quirk into an embarrassed grin as she folds her arms under her chest self-consciously.

"Sorry.. I.. I think I'm a little turned around. I didn't realize there was anyone else here. In the Mansion, I mean. I guess I should have. It's.. like a bazillion square feet. It's just that it was so quiet yesterday.."

And she's rambling. Because that's another Spider-quality. Maybe it has to do with all the Enhanced-Thinking going on at all times, that sometimes it just spills out of her mouth.

"...I'm Gwen." She offers her hand. "Stacy. Gwen Stacy. I'm Damian's..."

There's a flicker of discomfort in her eyes. Girlfriend, at this point?

"...uhm... friend." Obviously. She was wearing his wrinkled shirt. "I didn't mean to startle you." Did she notice Cass's stance? If she did, she didn't seem threatened by it. She was either oblivious or too cocky about her own abilities to let it bother her.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
It's a weird thing, to do something completely and entirely unexpected. Damian wasn't *expecting* to end up in the same room with Gwen at the end of the night, but honestly? It worked out splendidly. Damian had his first goodnight's rest in a long time...that is, until he felt Gwen leave the bed. There's a moment of caution from the notoriously light sleeper. Green eyes scan his room as he slowly sits up out of bed. Adorning himself in black sweatpants and a black tanktop, Damian calmly exits his room.

He moves like a shadow. Nearly completely silent. Only Cassandra could probably notice - lets be honest, even she would realize he's not trying that hard - to be almost as though Gwen's shadow.

Though seeing Gwen try to survive a conversation with Cassandra is...well, hilarious, he keeps his full focus and attention on Gwen in that moment.

Then he speaks.

"Oh good, you two have already met."

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
There is a whole lot going on with the blonde before her. Cassandra picks up on every nuance, every tiny shift or change of expression, every detail that most people will never noticed in a lifetime. Even those trained on body language have nothing on the girl raised with no language outside the movement of the human form. They wouldn't be able to tell someone was about to pull a trigger and be able to move before they did to ruin their aim. Not that there were weapons involved here.

Unless one counted looks as weapons.

Because after the babbling and discomfort, Cassandra eyed the hand that was being offered to her in greeting. Her eyes were narrowed as she considered. She'd seen people shake hands. She knew what they did. She just did not know why. Barbara had explained it was considered courteous. Cassandra had nodded and smiled, had taken Barbara's hand when she offered it in practice. And now that she was faced with it in reality, she was just staring at that hand like she'd been offered a serpent.

Then her gaze rose back up to the other woman's face and over her left shoulder, focusing on something else. Which is the moment that Damian made his presence known fully instead of sneaky around following his... friend.

She still hadn't taken that hand but she gave a terse nod of greeting instead to Gwen.

Ghost Spider has posed:
How is it possible for Gwen to be so awkward and yet so physically relaxed (or, again, perhaps just too oblivious to know that she's standing between two trained soldiers)?

Talent. Pure, raw Spider-talent.

"Ooooookay..."

Gwen had left her hand out there _well_ into the awkward range, even for her, and it was obviously starting to dawn on her that Cass just wasn't going to take it. Maybe wasn't going to do anything other than stand there and size her up.

It was the shift of Cass's eyes that moved Gwen's body -- had her drawing her hand back to fold across herself in turn just in time to catch Damian's words leaving his own lips.

God, those lips.

With Gwen's profile to Cass, there's even _more_ going on with the blonde now than there was a moment ago -- a war of emotion that she's probably glad isn't _quite_ so obvious that any passerby on the street would notice. She smiles at Damian.. that kind of morning-after glow returning briefly as affection to her eyes.

"Hey, Trouble. Yeah... sort of. I guess."

It's a sheepish admission that betrays a level of... disappointment. Discomfort. Cass had said nothing other than just to nod, which Gwen apparently took as disapproval.

...and her first _actual_ sign that staying over was as bad of an idea as she was afraid it would be.

"I was just..." She thumbs towards one of the libraries. "... trying to find the kitchen. But I should probably..."

Get dressed. And maybe... go. Before the rest of the family got together and chased her out with torches and pitchforks.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
As Damian disappeared almost as quickly as he appeared, Cassandra turned her attention back to Gwen. That long assessing gaze, the stretching silence and discomfort. At least on the side of Gwen it seemed. For Cassandra, there wasn't such a thing as an uncomfortable silence. The two women couldn't really be more different.

Yet with Damian wandering off to the kitchen and not taking the woman with him, that left Cassandra here wondering what to do. She didn't want to let Gwen to wander around. Not that she cared she was lost. It was more there were a lot of secrets in this house. Though they were well hidden, it just wasn't a good idea. She was certain that was why Damian had been tracking the woman after she left the bedroom.

Cassandra frowned anew as she realized this was going to require her to communicate with the woman. So she went for what she hoped would work. She pointed to the room the Gwen had suggested might be the kitchen. Then in ASL, she signed the word 'library'. When that didn't seem to ring a bell, she had two options. She could try spelling it. Some people might not know all the signs but they could do the alphabet. Or she could do the thing she hated most in the world because even now, it felt so strange to do.

"Library." Just the one word. Nothing more given. Because Cassandra knew she had given a Lot by sharing a spoken word to someone. Sadly, Gwen had no way to know that and likely was still thinking Cassandra was ready to fling her out the front door if given a chance.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Damian mentions getting them coffee before he disappears, and Gwen's eyebrows lift. "Are you -- " Sure that's a good idea?

But he's gone.

So the blonde is left looking back to the Asian woman who seems like she'd rather earth open up and swallow Gwen rather than have to deal with her.

That makes two of them.

Gwen's hand slides up to the side of her neck, apparently not intending to follow Damian (since she has no idea where he went) and not sure how to make Cass less likely to want to punch her in the face.

Good times.

It's Cass, though, that bridges that gap first. The sign might have earned a confused little shake of Gwen's head, but it also seemed to enlighten her in a way that made _so much_ clear. Her eyes go a little wider. Her whole expression shifts to understanding and apology.

Oh. My. God. She's. DEAF! You. Self-Conscious. Self-Loathing. Self-Absorbed. Jerk.

"I'm _so_ sorry."

There's nothing fake or put on about it. If Gwen could rewind the whole morning and do it over again, she would. She pours her heart out in her eyes as she raises her own hand to sign the apology as well.

"I don't... I don't know very many signs. Just... you know... what you learn as a kid."

Cass must read lips, right? Or maybe she just does it all on context clues, and Gwen is _totally_ talking to herself in that moment?

"I always meant to learn and then... one thing leads to another, you know? Suddenly I'm working at Alchemax, and then I'm trying to write a thesis, and there's the band that's _constantly_ falling apart, and... then one day you look up and all the things that you wanted to do didn't happen..."

Rambling.

Again.

"Sorry."

That small, sheepish smile is back on her lips.

"I can just... go back to Damian's room and wait. You don't have to... anyway... I'm sorry."

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
It was like Cassandra lit a bomb under Gwen. Suddenly she was everything all at once. All those emotions, all the shifts in the dynamics of her body, the quick signing of the little bit she apparently knew even as she was babbling.

She seemed to talk a lot. Like Steph. There were other things that reminded her of the woman that she knew. She wasn't able to put a finger on it as a lot of abstract things made no sense to Cassandra. Things were as they were and the internalized stuff was harder for her to get. She could tell Gwen was bothered by how she'd reacted to Cassandra but she also had the wrong idea.

Cassandra shook her head negatively because that was what was required. So much movement wasted! People were complicated. But then she realized there was no way for Gwen to know what the negative shake of her head was actually for. In fact, the last thing she said was she was going to go back to Damian's room. Which was a lovely idea.

Except Cassandra had just told her not to with that shake of the head. It was meant to answer the comment on her signing being due to deafness. Yet, here they were again. The corner of her lips ticked up the tiniest bit, more self degragating because she had managed to mess this up. Which also probably sent the wrong idea to Gwen, since the woman had been sheepish smiling at her.

Where was Damian with the coffee? Did he fly to South America to get that fancy blend they all seemed to like? And pick the beans himself?

She was stuck. She brought up her hands again and spoke in that way, which was easier for her brain. But she added spoken words to help since Gwen was limited on her ASL. What all had she babbled? Alchemax. No idea what that word was. It had no connection in her brain to anything she knew. Thesis. That was something with words and schools. She knew that much. But there were two things she could understand. "Busy." Meaning that Gwen seemed to have a lot in her life. Followed by a question. "Band?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
No? Don't go? So this was WORKING?!

HA!

Eat your heart out, smooth talkers of the world. There's a new Spider who can win people over with raw charm and.. you know.. stream of consciousness!

The suggestion, however misunderstood, that Gwen _shouldn't_ go back to Damian's room and that Cass was, in fact, perfectly happy to stand her and 'talk', as it were, has Gwen a little closer to beaming. Especially once she sees that smile on Cassandra's lips.

_Busy._

Gwen laughs, the sound warm and edged with only a little of that awkward nervousness from before. "Yeah. Very. Um... I'm a drummer?"

She air-drums. Because that MUST be the sign for drummer, right?

"The band is called the Mary Janes. Which is ironic, because Mary Jane only came back for the last tour, which sort of ended up costing me my last relationship _and_ breaking up the band. She's our lead singer, and she's gone again, off on some international modeling gig? Which, I mean, great for her.. I get it. But Glory got mad and.. I'm not even sure if there's a band anymore. Which is also fine because I'm working on my Doctorate in Molecular Biochemistry, and I should probably be focused more on that than... you know... the next gig."

Yeah. There are no signs for any of that. Just hand motions which seem to vaguely go with some of it.. like a microphone or a little fluff of her hair for 'modeling.'

"I don't know your name," Gwen finally admits, "and I'd like to. I'm not trying to move in or anything. I just... I like Damian, and I'd like to know the people around him. Do you... live here, too?"

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
It was kind of fascinating watching Gwen talk.

Cassandra had seen plenty of people who used their hands when they were speaking. Only, most of them didn't presume she was deaf. So they weren't trying to create some sort of symbolism with their hand movements, unlike Gwen at the moment. The fact that she did the microphone in hand talking about singing. The fluff of hair at modeling. It was like watching people on television or in movies. They did all sorts of motions to sell what they were saying even when it didn't make sense to someone like her. There was a reason she didn't consume any sort of media. It was all so blantantly fake for her.

Course, so were most people. They always said things they didn't mean. Or said the exact opposite. Or who knew what was going through their heads.

She didn't understand a lot of what was being said. Molecular Biochemistry. Glory she didn't understand as a name. Gig she wasn't sure what that meant either. The final bit had her frowning ever so slightly again as she considered. She wasn't sure how to answer that. Technically, she had a room here and could stay here. But Cassandra didn't stay here very often. In fact, she was actually only here today because she had agreed to meet Barbara this morning at the library before the other woman went to work. Normally, she would just hole up in one of the secondary or tertiary bat caves that were set up around Gotham. They weren't all caves. Safehouse was probably more the term. But she liked that privacy. Or perhaps it was because she always felt like an outsider. Being different had that effect on a psyche.

She finally just shrugged as that was the best answer she could give. But one thing she could tell Gwen. "Cassandra."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Cassandra. That's a pretty name."

A name is good.

A name is progress.

They didn't have to be BFFs. Cass certainly didn't have to answer any questions she didn't want to. If the whole living here thing was too personal? No big deal. Gwen could move past that.

"So are there actually cows outside?"

It's so _wildly_ off topic, but her index fingers come up, fists on the sides of her head. Bull horns. Then she points out towards the back. Or the front. Or.. whatever way she's currently facing.

"Damian said he rescued a cow. Well.. cows. He was going to show me, but then we got... distracted."

A little heat touches her cheeks, coloring them pink.

"That was part of the reason I agreed to come up here. I live in New York, and I'd heard of Wayne Manor before... on TV. Huge houses of the obscenely rich, you know?" TV remote sign. "I mean, I never expected it to be _this_ big, but I also never expected it to have a cow farm out back. Also, it's a _little_ hard to picture Damian as a cowboy?" Lasso. "I mean, I'm sure he'd make a fine one." He has the body for it. She doesn't say it, but it's in her eyes. "I've just... mostly seen him in a tux."

Which probably provides just a little more insight on at least the kinds of places they could have met.

Where _was_ Damian, anyway? She looks over her shoulder, feeling that awkwardness start to creep in. He'd been gone a while.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
At the mention of cows, Cassandra had looked very confused. It wasn't what most people led with upon visiting the Manor. In fact, it wasn't advertised. Of course, most people didn't get to sleep over here either so this wasn't a morning of normalcy. Or at least as normal as the nocturnal residents were. Which was not very except when pretending. Although some of them did better than others blending into the 'real' world outside the cowl.

And there she went again. The pantomimes were coming faster and quickly becoming more amusing. Cassandra couldn't hide her grin as she went from cow to remote to lasso to blushing. Well not actually blushing. No color stained her cheeks. But the blush was there in her eyes, that little furtive drop of the gaze to the side, that hint of discomfort in her neck for an instant before she forced it to relax again. She might as well have finished the sentence outloud for all the good it did it to say mostly in a tux. Because it was right there. In a tux and out of it apparently tonight.

She pointed in the correct direction, toward the back of the house. Gave a nod. But the idea of cowboy and lasso, that really did hit her and she had to smile. Because the act that this woman thought Damian would make a good cowboy? How? He didn't know about ranching and all that. Not exactly something taught by the League. Oh wait, was this one of those masculine things that were supposed to be attractive to women? Cowboys. Uniforms. Bikers. Knights. All those weird things that made zero sense to Cassandra. Especially ones that were supposed to be fighters or warriors because all the ones she had seen were in media or in costume on rooftops. The ones in media were a joke. She could take all of them with one hand tied behind her back. Maybe both tied. Vigilantes at least could usually fight. Sort of. A lot of them sucked too.

Her standards were entirely too high and so skewed by her early life that it was understandable she avoided all that. But that probably is what normal girls liked. She took looked the direction Damian had disappeared because she sure as anything was not going to take Gwen out to look at Damian's cows.

Ghost Spider has posed:
A nod. Okay. So there are cows.

Huh.

Somehow deep down, Gwen actually expected that to be a ploy to get her back here so he could sleep with her. The more she thought about it, the more she wasn't positive if she'd be upset or impressed that he'd stuck with such an absurd story just to get her in bed -- after all, a lot of men had given up a lot sooner with a lot less effort.

But it wasn't a ploy. There were cows.

Huh.

"That's weird, right?"

Because it is.

Gwen shrugs, her smile so broad that it touches her eyes. Just like she was being watched, Gwen had also been watching Cassandra's expressions. Maybe not as observantly, but she seemed pretty pleased with herself. She'd gotten the girl from looking like she wanted to _literally_ throw her out the front door to actually smiling.

Still, they'd hit another lull, which meant Gwen was going to have to launch into _another_ whole thing just to get another friendly smile, or she was going to have to let Cass go back to whatever it is she was doing before.

"Listen, I should... probably go wait for Damian in his room."

At least she doesn't sound upset about it this time. She's not being driven back there. She actually seems kind of excited to go share a cup of coffee with Damian.

She's walking backwards towards the stairs, but she doesn't turn. Because Cass still needs to see her lips. Because she's deaf.

"It was really nice meeting you, Cassandra. Sorry, again, for nearly running into you." Beat. Fingers pointing all around. "Unfamiliar house, you know?"

Doesn't stop her from taking a step up onto the bottom stair without looking. Or touching the handrail. She's barefoot, but she has a ballet dancer's grace.

"I hope I see you around again before I leave."

Another step. Then two. Three. Ascending the stairs backwards, still without looking. She's not paying attention to how that would _look_ to a casual observer. Most people don't care. They just assume she's super coordinated or _really_ familiar with her surroundings.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
How was she doing that?

Now she had Cassandra's full attention again as she started to move up the stairs. Backwards. Without stumbling. Each step seemed sure and easy. No thudding her heel awkwardly in the stair above as she misgauged or the like. There was the tiniest tilt to Cassandra's head as she considered the ease of movement and tried to puzzle it out.

"Not lost?" came the question from her. Because she didn't want the woman to suddenly end up out and wandering the house again. But with her getting lost going to the kitchen, she might be equally confused as to how to get back to Damian's room. And that would never do.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
It takes Damian perhaps a little longer than he would like to retrieve coffee.

But alas, better late than never, yes?

Though the true reason for his delay was the very idea that Gwen needed to show she could survive the presence of firmer hands, like Cassandra. That she could survive on her own. It was less a question about Gwen's ability and more a cure to Damian's anxiety. If she can handle Cassandra, she can handle anybody.

Damian's eyes firmly rest on the pair from a distance, Damian decides to reappear, Gwen's back bumping against his chest as he holds some cups of steaming hot coffee in his hand.

"Hey. You doing okay?"

He turns his eyes to Cassandra. "You're taking it easy on her, right?" Damian asks her with a worried look reflecting in his eyes, even if hte rest of his face is perfectly neutral. Though regardless, he returns his attention to Gwen, offering her some of that coffee. "Here. Sorry that took me a second. Alfred got a new machine and sometimes it's...infuriating to get them to work."

In short, Damian kicked it at *least* once.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen shakes her head. "Two flights up... then left." Pause. "No, right." She nods. "Definitely right. It's fine. I'll find it. I promise. There was a Degas print." It probably wasn't a print. She wasn't an art scholar -- Degas just happened to be one of her favorites because... ballet.

"I'll be fine. I pro -- "

Gwen squeaks when her back his Damian, and the next moment is such a study in fluidity -- it's like she's doing it all in slow motion (at least, in her own mind). She pirouettes on the stair, her hands up a little to make sure she hadn't knocked the cups out of his, ready to catch them if she had (though thankfully didn't need to), and then she's slipping an arm around him... as if nothing at all was wrong. As if she might even have needed him to balance her, but there's no _pull_ of his waist that might suggest she was actually off balance.

That last part was just sort of... a ruse. Or, at least, an excuse to put an arm around him.

"Great."

Gwen smiles, lifting her other hand to take the offered cup and touch her temple against his chest in a quiet show of gratitude. She was still a step below him on the stairs.

"Thank you. No, it's fine. I got to meet Cassandra."

Which is something she now seems grateful for.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
That also was not normal. Yet, Cassandra just took it all in. She saw the look from Damian, her dark brown eyes meeting his blue. A moment as she got he was hoping she'd been nice.

There was a derisive snort from Cassandra then she started down the hall in the direction she'd originally been intending before the running into Gwen. Though she had only taken two steps when she heard those words from Gwen. She glanced over, her brow all knotted anew as she looked confused because Gwen seemed sincere that she was happy with having met Cassandra.

Shaking her head a little as she tried to make sense, she did lift her right arm and offer the tiniest of waves. Then she turned and was padding away silently to leave the pair to whatever they were up to.

Which may or may not involve cows.