(Test) Cass Cain
Nov. 8th, 2013 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
A drop reaches her lip and Barbara Gordon-Grayson tastes the brine of her own sweat. She sucks in a harsh breath between her teeth. The bars she hoists herself up on feel slick under her hands, despite the powder she put on them - what? An hour ago? Two?
There's an annoying strand of red tangling in front of her eye. It's glued to forehead. She wills it aware and leans forward. One more step. One more
Step.
One -
More -
There's an annoying strand of red tangling in front of her eye. It's glued to forehead. She wills it aware and leans forward. One more step. One more
Step.
One -
More -
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Date: 2013-11-09 07:13 am (UTC)As she watches Babs take the last few steps, already seeing that her body isn't going to let anything more than the next step happen, Cass gets up and moves quickly over with a slightly concerned look. It's after the fall that she reaches out to gently push Babs's shoulder with a look in her eyes that asked 'alright?'.
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Date: 2013-11-09 07:53 am (UTC)"Useless legs!" she spits, furious with herself.
The surgery made her better. If she worked at it - hard - she could walk again. She could stop the damn pity looks people gave. She could navigate Bludhaven without wondering how she was going to get a chair over curbs. She could run after Sandra.
She remember Cassandra being there, likely still confused. "Sorry," she murmured.
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Date: 2013-11-09 08:01 am (UTC)"Legs useful," she says simply once the outburst is through. "Just tired." She offers both hands to help Barbara up as she crouches next to her and shakes her head briefly to say 'no need for sorry'. Outbursts she could handle, from Barbara especially, she owed this woman a lot, and if she would stick through any perceived mistreatment, it would be for Barbara.
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Date: 2013-11-09 08:16 am (UTC)"Better than before," she says to the younger woman as much as herself after settling into an armchair. "Right?"
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Date: 2013-11-09 08:35 am (UTC)"Yes," Cass nods seriously. She was always going to be of few words, and certainly not the flattery or niceties type. Body language was always obvious to her, direct, her speech was the same, so when she agrees, she really does mean there had been improvement. Cass then smiles and makes an attempt to say a bit more, for Babs, and because she's always encouraged to speak more. "Is better." She then almost shyly gestures with the closed book in her hand. "Is not better, hard. Not easy like bodies."
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Date: 2013-11-09 09:12 am (UTC)Motherhood changed her. To a point, it allowed her a thin excuse to look into childish things and allowed her to rediscover childhood as a happier place.
"You're starting with English. That means you're jumping into the deep end of the pool language-wise." She looks over the thin book. "Aesop's Fables?"
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Date: 2013-11-09 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-10 08:02 am (UTC)There are three main parts to reading fluency - syntax, vocabulary and comprehension. She decided to test how her pupil was doing. "Try reading one of the fables."
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Date: 2013-11-13 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-11 10:12 am (UTC)"Just read. I think I just should focus on you right now and not try to tear myself up in my eagerness to get back on my feet."
It also gives her time to consider her kitchen. Baking was as close to patience as she managed some days even with a toddler around the house. A pang of guilt hit her. As important as her work was, Sandra had to come first. Balancing that wasn't easy, even as a stay-at-home hero with independent wealth. She should make something nice tonight, like shepherd's pie.
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Date: 2014-02-11 11:56 am (UTC)One preparatory deep calming breath, the same she started all her training sessions with, and Cass began at the title of the tale she'd picked for the title name really. "The Bat. The Birds. And The beasts."
Normally 'a', 'the' and other smaller words that she often saw as less than essential, were dropped in her speech. But in reading it was clear she was making the effort to hit them all, sometimes with a bit too much emphasis, evidenced by her including all the words in the title. Though a few were still missed in the short story and her pauses often made commas seem more like periods. But her vocabulary was better than it had once been, and her understanding of punctuation was certainly progressing at a steady clip.
"...peace was made. No battle took place. So The Bat came to The Birds and wish to join in the....re...rejoo...re-joo-ih...what word?"
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Date: 2014-02-12 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-11 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-16 05:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-16 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-17 11:37 pm (UTC)"Rejoicing," she repeats. "Now, read the sentence again now that you know the word."
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Date: 2014-03-19 04:58 pm (UTC)Cassandra just looked up from the book, back to Barbara, to see if her sensei had any feedback.
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Date: 2014-03-19 09:58 pm (UTC)"So, can you tell me what happened to the Bat in your own words?" She thinks on it. "You don't have to use words to explain. Not right now."
Mechanics are nothing without understanding.
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Date: 2014-03-19 10:58 pm (UTC)"Bat not in battle. So Bat not let in victory."
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Date: 2014-03-19 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-19 11:17 pm (UTC)"No. Must put in work to get reward."
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Date: 2014-03-19 11:34 pm (UTC)Because you can get very lost if you don't.
She eyes the bars. "I could a spotter." Because it's time to stop trying to heal all on my own.
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Date: 2014-03-19 11:58 pm (UTC)She doesn't glance back to the bars, but her smile gets a little wider with the next nod. This area she understood more. But because she found that people could confuse it if you nodded only, they weren't sure what part you were agreeing to, she verbalized her agreement this time. Small steps, but progress never came overnight. "Can help."