capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

WHO: Charlie, Cass, Babs
WHERE: Chez Oracle
WHEN: Jan 17th, early morning
WARNINGS: None? Maybe some angst.
SUMMARY: the Oracle household is suddenly short a member.
FORMAT: Para.

Charlie yawned as she pushed the door to Stephanie's room open, walking as quietly as she could...until she noticed the bed was empty. Huh. She must have been in the bathroom. Well, that made borrowing a shirt easier. Some quick closet rifling and Charlie emerged from the room holding an eggplant colored t-shirt in her hand. "Steph, I'm borrowing a shirt." She said, knocking on the bathroom door...which swung open at her tap. Huh.

"Steph?"

She peered into the bathroom, frowning, and then turned and moved into the kitchen. "Stephanie! I am totally stealing a shirt!" She called out. That always got a response, and it wasn't like the blonde girl was ever out of the house before Charlie had bounced off for school.

No answer.

Normally she tried to avoid bothering Cass in the morning, since the girl was generally coming back in about this time and a tired Cassandra Cain was probably one of the more dangerous things in the world. Almost as dangerous as a grumpy Barbara Gordon, really...But...well...suddenly Charlie was worrying. So a quick bounce and she was outside of the Asian girls room, rapping on the door and then pushing it open.

"Cass, have you seen Steph?"

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Cass was just getting ready to climb into bed when Charlie came through her door, causing her to give the younger girl a tired glare. "No." Her expression softened a bit when she noticed Charlie's body language, and then turned to one of concern. "Why?"

"I can't find her." Charlie let the door swing the rest of the way open, and held up the shirt she had taken from Steph's closet. "She's usually asleep when I sneak in to borrow a shirt but she's not in there. Or the bathroom."

"Maybe went out," she said, feeling an unsettling feeling forming in her gut. Steph wasn't supposed to go out on patrol on her own, but... when had that ever stopped Steph before? "Tried her... comm?"

"You think she would? I didn't try...I mean, she's always here. My comm's in my room." Charlie didn't seem to be planning on leaving, so it was up to Cass to call, from the looks of it.

Cass picked up her comm and quickly dialed Steph's number. She waited anxiously, not even noticed that she was starting to pace slightly. After a few seconds, she could hear a familiar tune coming from Steph's room. Rushing by Charlie and into Steph's room, she glanced around before finding Steph's comm hidden in the blankets on her unmade bed. Like she'd vanished before she'd put it away for the night...

Edited 2011-01-18 00:00 (UTC)

Charlie frowned at the ring as well, and raced after Cass into Steph's bedroom. It hadn't even occured to her to look for the other girls phone. She frowned when the other held up the phone. Instinctively she curled her arms around her stomach, biting her bottom lip.

"You think..."

Cass turned her back to Charlie, clutching the communicator in slightly trembling hands and already feeling the tears starting to well up. It wasn't fair. She'd already lost Steph once.

She tossed the comm roughly back onto the bed and brushed by Charlie again, returning to her room and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Hey wai-!" Charlie was easy enough to push past, and she hurried after the other girl just in time to get a door slammed closed. Crap.

She almost bounced in, but after a few seconds of thinking knocked lightly. "Cass..."

There was no response. But a few moments later, the sound of splintering wood came from the room, followed by soft crying.

"Cass!" Charlie shoved the door open after the breaking noise, her eyes wide, staring at the shattered desk.

"Jeez..."

Cass was sitting against her bed, face in her hands and trembling slightly. She didn't even seem to react to Charlie as she entered the room.

This was not something Charlie was good at, comforting people. She could do kicking ass, taking names, and being awesome sure but this was...quieter. Precise. She wasn't very good at either of those, honestly.

But she couldn't just leave Cass sitting there like that.

Socked feet carried her across the room to sit down on edge of the bed, leaning down to put a hand on Cass's shoulder. "I...uhm."

Not sure what to say, she just gave the older girls shoulder a squeeze.

Cass didn't react for a few more moments, until her quiet sobbing seemed to lessen. She finally pulled herself up onto the bed, sniffling slightly, her eyes red from the crying. She sat in silence, shoulders limp and a dull, weary expression on her face as she stared at the corner of the room.

It seemed even more painful to be separated from Steph the second time, since they'd only been reunited again for such a short period. And worst of all, she was taken by an enemy that Cass couldn't even fight back against.

Charlie moved her hand away as Cass moved up to sit on the bed, but after a moment she put it lightly on the other girls back, rubbing lightly. "You know. She's probably coming back. I mean...lots of people disappear and come back, right?" Charlie talked quietly. Talking she could do.

"She'll come back, and she'll yell at me for swiping her shirt, and tease you about breaking your desk. And then everything will be right back to normal." Who was she trying to convince, anyway? As she trailed off, she put her head lightly on Cass's shoulder and let her arm snake around her, giving the other a one armed little hug. "You'll see."

Cass tried to smile, but it came out halfhearted. She'd managed to get control of herself, her training kicking in. After all the loss she'd experienced, she almost thought that she would have gotten used to it. But she hadn't. And maybe that was a good thing.

"I need sleep," she stated suddenly, in a weary, emotionless voice.

Charlie nodded but didn't move right away, continuing the little hug. Finally she sat up. "Okay. I think I'm gonna stay home today." She smiled faintly, doing her best to be cheery. Most of the time it was easy for her but sometimes...well, she was glad she had long hair to hide her face behind.

"I'll make pancakes in a while. I'll wake you up when they're done."

Cass just nodded unenthusiastically as she climbed into bed and turned her back to Charlie. She didn't really feel like pancakes, to be honest.

Charlie watched Cass turning away, staring at her back for a moment. And then suddenly she moved over and hugged the other girl from behind, tightly.

"It'll be okay. Really!" Charlie actually managed to sound completely sure of herself. Go her.

"And there will be pancakes." She added as she uncurled from the other and headed off into the kitchen to make them. This was probably going to get messy...

Barbara was blocking the door, but she wheeled back a bit to let Charlie out, even though Charlie was probably just as apt to bounce past. (It seemed like silent approaches were simply inherent to all members of the Bat-family, whether or not they used their feet.) Her expression was layered, concern and sorrow, but she gave Charlie a small smile for what she knew without checking any records (as she tried not to) must have been an unsuccessful attempt at comforting Cass.

Charlie didn't say anything until she'd closed the door, looking a bit awkward as she stood in front of Babs.

"Uhm. Steph's...not here. But her phone is and her clothes and, uh...we think she might be gone..."