#spent wayyy too long on this one pls reblog it if you like it dskjfjlksd

[ultravhasart]

6: Facial expressions & Body Language

If Cass can get her point across just using her face or other non-verbal gestures, that’s her go to. No point using words when your face does the trick!

The page below is one of my favourites, since it really shows Cass communicating a lot without words.

[Birds of prey, issue #7: Cass makes her opinion on potential outfits known with her facial expressions.]

She’d also rather nod or shake her head, as opposed to saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

[Batgirls #3: Cass nods her head.][Spirit World #4: Cass shakes her head.]

7: Miscellaneous

Cass can’t storytell well at all:

[Birds of Prey, Issue #1: The team tells Cass she’s really bad at telling stories.]

Cass uses a lot of emojis:

[Nightwing issue #79: Babs remarking that Cass can’t help herself when it comes to emojis.]

8: Veering into Headcanon Territory:

Cass has a very basic grasp on describing what she’s feeling. In my mind, this translates to a very basic grasp of her feelings as a whole.

In the panel below, Cass is very confused about why she’s putting in effort towards her father, and describes him as terrible. She pauses a lot, indicating she’s having a hard time putting together how she feels:

[Batgirl (2000) #65: Cass tells David Cain he ‘sucks’, very simple vocabulary for everything that’s gone down between them.]

I also think Cass has echolalia, which is the ‘meaningless repetition of words spoken by another person’. This only happens a few times but I’ll peddle it.

[Batgirls #2: Cass repeats Stephs words ‘still sucking’, without much reason.]

Conclusion:

Obviously, different writers write her differently, and I’ve tried to grab from a lot of different series to get the main points down. It’s also important to think about what point of Cass’s life you’re writing. In the current stories, Cass can express basically anything she needs to (except anything too complicated like feelings, lol), but in the early 2000s she was struggling with simple sentences. And of course, she didn’t speak at all for the majority of her life! Anyways, I hope you find this guide useful.

Cassandra Cain’s Speaking Patterns

I was trying to write some fic and started saving a bunch of comic panels to analyze Cass’s speech patterns, so here’s my notes for myself and others! Most of the panels are taken from more recent stuff, like Birds of Prey (2023), Batgirls (2022) and Batgirl (2024).

I have nine points:

Only speaking when necessary

Typically monotone

Sentence Structure

On the job vs off the job

Slang

Facial Expressions and Body Language

Miscellaneous

My personal headcanons (still with some evidence)

I've also been forced to split this post up, since I can't add more than ten images per post :(

1: Only speaking when necessary

Unsurprisingly, Cass doesn’t talk much. This is especially true in group situations, since she doesn’t need to drive any conversation.

[Birds of Prey, Issue #2: Zannah and Black Canary are discussing plans, going back and forth about how to get onto Themyscira. Cass adds “or they’ll be on high alert.”]

The panel above is from a scene showing the Birds strategizing, and this is the only time Cass talks. She’s silent the rest of the time.

For one-on-one situations, she still doesn’t expand much, preferring single-word sentences.

[Batgirl (2024), Issue #2: Lady Shiva dropping some exposition, and Cass asking a question with one word.]

In tense situations, she can forget to speak ‘properly’, dropping words like ‘I’ll’ in the panel below:

[Batgirl (2024), Issue #2: Cass fights Kalden the Unseen after he hurts her friend.]

Also, she’ll talk more casually with people she’s comfortable with, like Steph!

[Batgirls, Issue #4: Cass and Steph banter a bit before being interrupted by Barbara.]

2: Typically monotone

Cass sounds very monotone, a lot of the time. She barely ends her sentences with exclamation marks or asks rhetorical questions. It’s fun to see her contrast her with characters who are more excitable/long-winded!

[Birds of Prey, Issue #7: Cass and Bertha go back and forth after being beaten in a fight.]

Cass also keeps up her usual tone in most fights. Here she is, battling a giant squid creature, focused as ever.

[Spirit World, Issue #3: Cass chides her teammates for bickering at each other rather than focusing on the fight.]

When in more alarming situations, she’ll raise her voice like everyone else. It’s uncommon, but only because it’s uncommon for her to be overwhelmed.

[Spirit World, Issue #4: A mysterious force takes control of Cass and Constantine, Cass looks scared, shouting “Can’t control… my body!”]

Once again, she’s more expressive with Steph. She’s more comfortable with her, and matches Steph’s energy when they’re both excited.

[Batgirls (2022), Issue #2: Steph and Cass exclaim “Bondo?!” at the same time, christening the car.]