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Fairy tales start with a story of despair, well known fairytales were rewritten for children so they could read them and be hopeful for the future. Happy ever after they could achieve one day in the future, a true love that will stay with them. Prince and Princesses that could be completely designed and shape the world if they put their minds to it. Those were the type of stories children were raised on, the first introduction to romance.
Unfortunately not all children were raised with stories and fairy tales. Not everyone had the opportunity to understand what romance exactly was. What would Cassandra Cain know about being a romantic when she could simply tell what a person wanted with one look. This applied to both men and women, they weren't intrigued in her or what she was about, they were after something else, the bigger goals.
The wealthy were the closest thing to nobility, the fairy tales got it all wrong there was no chivalry or a prince that would swoop a princess off her feet. There were no romantic gestures or even that ballroom dance that was unforgettable. There was gossip and eyes watching every move that you would make the moment you stepped into the room. Those tight knit groups were the problem and there was no solution to it.
It was like a play and everyone there was a puppet there was no orchestration or the person holding the strings. Everyone thinks they have one on each other or have blackmail on another person but that person has blackmail on someone else who can blackmail the person back. Cassandra Cain had no interest in those types of people or playing politics or even playing God. She knew she would be a target, it was obvious. The one untenable man had one sole daughter, Brucie Wayne who was an open book.
He was rich but he wasn't intelligent and since they couldn't exactly understand his motive they might as well go for the second best option, of course. The quiet daughter who was clearly pampered for being the only girl among her four living brothers. Not that she cared about what they perceived her to be, since she had her own self-image she could do what she pleased. So since she wanted to put on a show she might as well do the one thing that she does enjoy doing.
Dancing.
Social gatherings were never exactly expecting her to be dancing but since it was common knowledge that she loved to dance and a lot of the parties that she does attend have included many people trying offering themselves as her partner. Stubborn one might be, this was the perfect opportunity for her to take out her frustrations on those who try preying upon her. She was an expert after all, a celebrity in her field, but the ballerina was not only specialized in ballet. She learned several different styles of dancing from Bolero to Waltz anything that involved the partner she learned it all. She would switch styles mid dance and they would fail to keep up with her.
The best thing about dancing is learning how to read your partner's moves so you wouldn't step on their toes while working the dance floor. And since Cass was skilled in reading people not only for her night job but in general, it was a perfect plan. The floor was her battlefield and her number one goal was to make sure she was never caught, she couldn't be blamed if they didn't think it was from her. Because who would think that the daughter of the highest society would purposely trip her partner. Though she does feel bad for whichever staff or waiter who's nearby, rich people can't handle when their ego is broken so they blame the lesser.
So when it does happen where they get upset she makes sure that no staff or any member on the floor was nearby; they couldn't be blamed if they were out of reach. Watching their soul crushing dreams come to an end after they clearly couldn't dance in front of a crowd. Because Cassandra was always being watched so they embarrassed themselves in front of all their colleagues and lost so many partnerships along the way. Her favorite part of the day, destroying High society from inside. It wasn't the original goal but it ended up turning that way so she just kept doing it, it wasn't like her family was complaining.
A lot of her partners tend to be bigoted people who fund the harmful things and defund certain things that could benefit the community. Tim had given her a very extensive background check on certain people when he realized what her plan was every single time they went to an event. It was the best thing when they came to her instead of her seeking them out, but the idiots came to her and afterwards she got to watch as their lives crumble after she deals with what she needs to deal with and Tim gets what he wants.
That was her life plan and she kept on doing that, it was the best way to entertain herself while at a gala. So when she hears the bruise for some reason besides agreeing to 'one of the most annoying richest people that he knows' gala. She knows that this is definitely going to be something that she's going to want to go to. The list of people going was ridiculous and some of them are a few of her former dance partners. The most important person on that list was the godson of the person throwing the party. Daniel Fenton, a science student for The University of Chicago.
The gala was obviously for Daniel to make connections with people who could possibly hire him. Since he was never introduced to high society until now people are going to take advantage of the opportunity. Tim always complained that Vladimir Masters was a very sketchy person, which is why they had no connections to his company despite him coming to Gotham on several occasions. At least now Cass has a reason to approach him or he will end up most likely approaching her just like all her other partners.
The gala was being held in Illinois which meant that they had to make a trip. Most people were checking into fancy hotels and she could already scope out some of the people who were going to be attending the gala. Since it was the largest gala that was going to be held in the midwest in a very long time there were several famous people that she could care less about. There were way too many people but since I wasn't considered one of those hero cities she didn't think too much about it. They weren't that far from Metropolis so if anything Superman would get involved.
The gala was noisy with too many people. You can tell which ones were used to the crowds and who would only show up for smaller gatherings but were there because of the press. She kept eyeing the doors, the exits, and waiting on the main source of interest. They only had old pictures of Daniel Fenton for some odd reason. Anything past 14 were either too blurry to actually confirm that it was him or nonexistent. He was scrawny, not exactly her type but he was cute. The crowd shuffled about until a man with gray hairs stuffed on stage to make an announcement.
Vladimir Masters just screamed evil. But with his body language alone he looks pleased with the crowd that he has created. He was definitely egocentric since he liked being the main focus. She could understand what Tim meant by him being extremely shady, off to the side of the stage was a tall man about 6' 8 he looked out of place in the suit that he was wearing. One would assume that he was security if it wasn't for Vlad immediately pointing him out. Daniel Fenton.
No it wasn't the problem that Daniel Fenton looked nothing like she was expecting. It was the fact that he looked so out of place that he could literally fit anywhere else but in a ballroom. His smile is strained and he definitely had the body language of wishing to be anywhere else but here. Daniel was not the spoiled brat she was expecting at all, if anything he peaked her curiosity more. Someone like him shouldn't be in high society yet he was here anyway most likely against his will.
The moment Daniel was off that stage he stopped smiling and he looked about ready to murder Vladimir but Vladimir told him something and his smile returned. Whatever it was he wasn't happy so just decided to do something that normally she would let others do for her. She walked up to Daniel, introduced herself and asked him to dance. Daniel seemed stunned but did a quick glance at Vladimir and accepted. So he would take any opportunity to get away from the old demand at least she knew that was correct.
The music was slow so she decided to take the first step in slowly, normally the way she caught her partner off guard was doing it correctly then doing it incorrectly. Build up that level of trust one would have when with a partner then destroying that trust by making them doubt themselves. True intentions come out when people are frustrated, their emotions are both portrayed on their face and in their body language. Daniel was a bit awkward but perhaps it was because of their size difference not that Cass was short. A healthy 5'6 and she was above the national average after all. But if this is his first time in high society then this is most likely his first dance.
First misstep, she wanted to land on his foot but for some reason when she tried swaying in a way where she wasn't going to be caught stepping on his foot, he was catching her and twirled her right back around into the same position she was previously. They started with Foxtrot but now she changed her style to Tango, the second song started playing and that she let him alone he followed along rather quickly. She was positive he didn't know what she was doing but he clearly didn't care because he followed along with her leading very well. There were no missteps allowed after the first two times, he would catch her and correct her playing her back into a different style opposing her own.
The third song started to play and Daniel held on to her because giving her a daring look, he was challenging her as he took the lead and they started doing swing instead of tango. Honestly she was more surprised that he decided to start doing his own version of what she does. He was clearly enjoying it more and took it as a personal challenge to her. So why not take the opportunity she decided to let him have his fun before she took control again and returned back to her graceful dancing.
No one could account for the fact that being a professional dancer that she was, putting in ballerina moves even though she was in heels instead of her usual flats. It didn't stop Daniel from accepting her challenge, honestly he moved quickly behind her almost like a figure skater. So she couldn't get away, he had done to her what he would normally do on the ice and twirled her around in his arms. Cass wasn't uncomfortable, actually she felt more comfortable with him doing such risky moves.
Most of her partners who tried taking control over her dancing treated Cass as a doll. As if her marionette-like aspects of her body were fragile and that she couldn't handle them. They treated her as inferior so in turn she broke their ego, they looked down on her when she danced because they didn't understand her because they did not want her. Daniel wasn't like that, he didn't treat her as fragile or inferior. Actually they weren't even considered equal, he treated her like she was the higher priority here.
Whatever she wanted he would give to her and return it tenfold, no amount of twirls or missteps. She wanted a challenge and he easily accepted by offering a challenge of his own to make her more excited. Risky moves that could easily land someone who wasn't a professional in a hospital especially with his strength cause he was clearly strong. But he didn't care and he could tell that Cass didn't care either because they were having fun and that is what Cass wanted. He made her night better.
Perhaps this is what it was like to be a princess, there was no godmother or magic behind it. It was just her being her devious chaotic self finding someone else who could also relate in being in a situation that neither of them were raised for. She didn't belong at parties like these; she was raised to be an assassin, Daniel wasn't raised for this either. The calluses on his hands meant that he worked a lot to do what he does, he was a builder, a tester not a politician or even nobility. He could care less about the social class he wanted to go home.
Neither of them were tired but they had to separate in their own ways. By the end of their last dance together there were people watching and almost everyone in the gala was watching them. But that didn't matter because Cass didn't care and neither did Daniel. She went to go pick up a pen and a piece of paper from her purse that she handed off to Tim. She quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper and looked back at Tim. He had that knowing smirk on his face and Cass grinned back.
Before she was able to leave she quickly passed Daniel, slipping the piece of paper in his hand before tapping him lightly on the hand and running off to join her brothers and father who were leaving. She looked back to see Daniel clutching the piece of paper that she gave him, he wasn't looking at her but at the ceiling. He actually looks happier than evening minus dancing of course. So she does feel bad that she had to leave him in a room full of people that he definitely did not want to be meeting. Didn't speak words to each other there was no need for that their body language spoke for them.
She was interested in Daniel and Daniel was interested in her. The slightest issue with understanding body language the way that she does is that her family also understands body language. So getting back into the car to go to their hotel all she could hear was the grumbles and complaining from her older brother and her father. Bruce can be grumpy all he wants but she knows that he would get over it because he normally does. Even if he didn't get over it he would be a hypocrite to say otherwise. Yet her brother has had other things to talk about.
"This Daniel Fenton is an interesting character. Rediscovering a species that was known for being extinct, saving the endangered. Cassandra, you couldn't have picked a better partner." Damian read off an article he found attached to Daniel's name. According to the said article he preferred Danny instead of Daniel so at least when he texted her, she knew what to call him.
"The way he moved was so odd . Honestly I was surprised that his suit didn't rip." Dick teased which had Cass kicking the back of his seat. Dick was flexible and he often did a bunch of party tricks while in his suits, they never ripped so why comment about it now. Dick put his hands up in surrender, if he didn't surrender she would have started stabbing him through the seat with her knife. Not insulting her potential love interest, he was the first person to actually consider her her own being. Insults will not be tolerated, not even from her brother.
"Aside from that I do think that he definitely didn't want to be there. Perhaps this isn't a bad thing, we can hire him and keep one crazy mad scientist off the streets. Give him a good opportunity to get away from Vlad because honestly he keeps me creeper/stalker vibes every single time he is next to Danny." Tim looked like he could relate heavily, which he could because Vlad was the weird Rich weirdo who kept following him and wanting him to be his family that would track with Ra's always coming after Tim.
Whatever Danny's relationship with Vlad was, perhaps Cass could help him. It wasn't exactly a good relationship by obvious standards and for whatever reason he had to stick by Vlad aside from the time where she pulled him out of that corner. Had she not gone tonight Danny may have ended up somewhere he didn't want to be, with people who could care less about him or what he wanted. Tonight wasn't just magical or feeling like fiction for her, it was fun, genuine fun. Not just for her but for him too, perhaps Danny wasn't being treated like a person before now.
Because in fairy tales they always expect the prince to save the princess. For a knight or hunter to save the denzel in distress from the monster. But Cass was no Denzel, no she saw the prince in absolute despair and gave him one peaceful night of nothing but pure joy. Her temporary solution with dealing with people gave him something new for his very first time in high society. There is clearly more to him than just one act of kindness and chaos but that was for her to figure out later.
When it came to true fairy tales the ending was a grim one, there aren't real happy endings unless someone makes them. If she was going to live out this strange fairy tale of meeting a prince at a gala then she's going to make sure that her prince doesn't feel the same fate as every princess in a storybook because despite everything princes deserve to be happy too. Seeing Danny smile made her happy too because honestly someone that cute shouldn't look grim. He doesn't deserve it.