#the cat's name is shiva because cass thinks it's funny

[but-a-humble-goon]

Thing I would put into a hypothetical new Batgirl solo: Cassandra adopts a cat. She rushes into the Clocktower one night distraught and panicking with a starving, freezing stray cat wrapped up in her cape and asks Barbara for help because she doesn't know what to do. Once the crisis is averted the cat becomes Cass' project. She begins offhandedly asking every other pet owning superhero she knows for advice on how to look after it. She starts going to the store regularly for pet food and eventually the cashier (who you can probably just make Brenda Miller) takes notice of her and begins striking up conversations. She buys one of those treehouse tower climbing frames and a variety of plush playthings for it to gnaw on that give her otherwise totally spartan room some much needed life and color. One day she's watching TV and the cat hops up on the sofa and curls up in her lap and starts purring. Having no idea how to respond, Cass simply freezes up like a deer in headlights and stares at it for several entire minutes before hesitantly scratching its ears. Later that night while Cass is out as Batgirl she jumps in front of yet another gun for a stranger. She's fine as always but at that moment she's struck with the terrifying realization that if that bullet were a few inches closer to home the cat would have been left alone in the world. She has a tiny life that depends on her now, she can no longer afford to throw her own life away. It's sunrise before she arrives home and the cat greets her by rubbing against her shin. She's left pondering who it was who saved who in this relationship.