What's a Jellicle Cat? [SIENNA]

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025

When Sybil found out about the cat cafe, she was positively delighted. She had been to Muggle cat cafes around the world as they became popular, but had never seen one in the Wizarding World before. She was always happy to donate to animal charities, but could only have so many pets around the castle. They already had the family dog, but Sybil had also adopted a bonded pair of cats last year, and with the owls that brought their pet quota to five. Still, there was always room for more perhaps!

Arriving at the cat cafe, Sybil paid the fee and went behind the partition to see the cats. She had been here a few times with friends, but she had ventured out solo today since most of her friends had to work. She sat down on the floor, and was immediately greeted by a large orange cat who promptly began sniffing at her shoes. Just as she reached for something on the table however, the cat decided that she was good enough for his attention and climbed into her lap. She gave a laugh of surprise as he curled himself into a ball and promptly closed his eyes. She supposed this meant she wasn’t going anywhere, for a while at least.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

23 December 2025

Okay Sienna, take a deep breath. There was only one day left until the royal ball, and Sienna was so excited that she couldn’t keep still. Growing up with fairytales and Disney movies had fired up her imagination, and as a little girl Si had wanted nothing more than to be a princess – that had been a rough wake-up call from her father once she started primary school. Still, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t follow news about the European royal families, especially the one from her own home country of Belgium. And, after her move to London to seek better fortunes, the English family as well.

All in all, it meant she was dying to have the opportunity to see what a royal ball was like for herself. The magical community was fairly small, so she was doubly excited to see people she normally couldn’t on a daily basis. With one day left, it was practically the only thing on her mind, but the prospect of sitting around her flat all day waiting for time to pass didn’t appeal to her. So really there was only one clear answer: the cat café. Sienna had found it by accident one day, and she’d originally started with no intention of doing anything more than enjoying a cup of tea and playing with the cats. Her own cat Giselle was enough for her. But the more she began to pop in, the more it occurred to her that maybe Giselle got lonely throughout the day while Si was at work, and maybe she’d appreciate a friend. Sienna had been working extraordinarily long hours the past year working on Aware Wolf, and her heart skipped a beat at the thought of her cat alone all day.

So she kept it in the back of her mind as she entered the little cat café again, bypassing the café entirely to cross to the closed-off section with the cats. She grabbed a squeaky toy and caught a nearby tabby’s attention, until the cat eventually got bored and wandered away. Si’s eyes wandered until she caught sight of a cat that had decided to take a nap on someone’s lap, and she stifled a laugh. She vaguely recognized the other girl as a frequent visitor, although they’d never spoken before. “I hope you don’t have anywhere to go today,” Si commented, unable to keep the amused grin off her face.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Sybil looked up and laughed, spotting a vaguely familiar face in front of her. “I do, but I suppose I can stay for a little while,” she said, scratching under the chin of the cat plopped in her lap. The cat purred loudly and stretched over her lap, obviously content to not get up any time soon. “I don’t remember seeing her here before, do you know if she’s a new recruit?” she asked the woman. She definitely had seen her around the cat cafe before, so maybe she knew if Honey, the owner, had gotten a few new cats recently. Sybil hadn’t been in about two months; between her work, Lysander coming back and the ball Lusie had decided to throw at the castle, all of Sybil’s free time had been spoken for. Today she had finally gotten a few hours to herself, and what better way to spend that time with cats?

Her cell phone however, did not seem to realize Sybil wanted some time to herself, as she could hear it buzzing on the little table she had set it on. After the fourth time, Sybil sighed and looked at the woman pleadingly. “I’m so sorry, but do you mind grabbing my phone for me? It’s probably my little sister,” she asked, giving her a sheepish smile.  "I'm Sybil by the way, I feel like I should introduce myself if I'm asking for your help," she added with a giggle.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna might die of a cuteness overload. The cat café was certainly one of the coziest places where she spent her time – as opposed to the backroom of an apothecary (which tended to make most people uncomfortable) or her small flat (which was packed to the rafters with potions supplies and things Si always promised she’d get to later). She always felt her willpower crumble whenever she entered the play area with the cats – and promises like ‘only five more minutes’ or ‘I don’t have time to take care of another cat’ always withered away. She was definitely going to end up adopting one of these sweethearts. It had only become a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if.’

“She does look new, I’d remember such a beautiful fur coat,” Si cooed in agreement as she shifted closer to the somewhat-familiar girl and the definitely-new cat. She smiled at the question, if only because it showed she wasn’t the only frequent visitor to the café. There was something fundamentally relaxing about being surrounded by animals looking for a little love – no problem seemed important enough to stress over when you were being tentatively approached by a cat. A calico cat, not much more than a kitten, sauntered past and Si ran her fingers over the cat’s head as it approached. “I’m Sienna,” she said, her smile widening at Sybil’s introduction and giggle. “And it’s no issue, I know how it works. When you’re a cat’s pillow, the worst thing in the world you can do would be to move,” Si added, playfully rolling her eyes at the snoozing cat. They were the kings and queens, after all.

Sybil’s phone was nearby, so Sienna reached over to grab it as the screen lit up with a new notification. “Oh, the royal ball? Are you going?” she asked, passing the phone over as her eyes glanced at the brief snapshot of the text. “Oh er, sorry though, I wasn’t trying to read it,” she said as she realized a moment later that it was quite a violation of a stranger’s privacy to glance at their texts. Si shot Sybil an apologetic smile.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

“Nice to meet you Sienna,” Sybil said warmly, stroking the head of the cat who made its’ home in her lap lightly. She knew she had too many animals at home already, but she couldn’t deny his adorable nature. Plus he was in the cat cafe, so that meant he at least could get along with other animals, which was a positive sign!

She momentarily froze when Sienna mentioned the royal ball. It meant two things; Si was clearly excited over the ball her sister was putting together, but also that she didn’t recognize Sybil as the princess who was “co-hosting”. She rather liked the idea of her anonymity, so she decided to go with option B for now. She could always tell Sienna who she was later. “Oh yes, my sister and I are rather excited for it,” she said with a smile. That wasn’t a lie after all; although she could tell Lusie was a bit more excited than Sybil herself was. “What about you? Will you be going?” she asked her. If Sienna was this excited, hopefully that meant an invitation had been extended to her. If not, well then Sybil would just have to reveal who she was a little earlier than expected. She had been raised to deal with this sort of thing though, so she didn’t feel too much pressure currently.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sybil didn’t seem to mind that Sienna had gotten a glance at her phone, so Si relaxed slightly and leaned back into a more comfortable position. She usually came to the cat café to be alone with the cats and her thoughts, and she’d been working through some very complicated ones lately. She knew that she would need to talk to Gus at some point, but there was something inside her that wanted to procrastinate. They’d always been able to talk to each other about anything, but how did one start a conversation about all the struggles Si had been having with his level of fame? Especially when she and his father had been the ones pushing him to pursue music in the first place. It felt too hypocritical to say anything now that he’d done something amazing with it, so she couldn’t see any other way forward except to suffer silently from the negative attention.

So yeah, that was usually what was on her mind as she played with the cats. Still, this conversation with Sybil seemed to be going in a positive direction, especially since most strangers didn’t seem to appreciate random exchanges on the street. It wasn’t just a British thing by any means, but Si was still happy to see Sybil’s warm smiles. “You’re going with your sister? That sounds amazing,” Sienna gushed as her eyes lit up at the thought. She’d never been lucky enough to have any siblings, all things with her mom’s early death considered, so she always loved to hear about how other people spent time together with their family. “Do you often do things together?” She could almost imagine the thought. Going shopping with a sister, or giving a brother a shove when he said something stupid. People with big families especially didn’t know how lucky they were.

“I’m going with my boyfriend,” Sienna confirmed excitedly as Sybil asked about her plans. “He’s probably tired of how much I’ve been talking about it lately, but it’s going to be so different. And the wizarding community doesn’t seem so big, so I expect to run into a lot of people I know.” That had been an interesting observation, coming into this world as a Muggleborn – there really didn’t seem to be so many witches and wizards out there. Most families seemed to know all the other magical people in their area, and friendships formed during school that lasted ages. Sienna was a newcomer, but she couldn’t wait until that could be her too.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Sybil smiled faintly. “You could say that,” she said as the big cat in her lap got up, stretched, and hopped off. "Aw, you tired of me mate?” she cooed, scratching his back end a little before he sauntered off.  “Ooh, that will be fun!” she exclaimed as Sienna mentioned she was going with her boyfriend. She wished Lysander was around to attend with, but she knew he was doing very important work for magizoology and she would be damned if she would ever take that away from him for a ball.

“Well there will be some Muggles there, it’s all part of the cover. No magic allowed of course, but the importance of the ball is for everyone to sort of let loose and have a good time.” Sybil closed her mouth, and smiled sheepishly. “Well, I suppose I should truly introduce myself then,” she admitted with a giggle. “I’m Sybil Windsor, my sister Lusie is hosting the ball and I’m sort of...helping her,” she introduced. She didn’t like using her title of Princess, like she used to when she was a younger teenager. She had thought it made her seem more important to the witches and wizards she went to class with, but she had learned (it had taken her longer than it really should have) that her title didn’t matter. Now that she worked with the Ministry, she rarely mentioned it in the Wizarding World. “I come here because the wizarding world doesn’t care about my royalty or my titles, and I rather like it that way,” she explained as a siamese cat wandered over and sniffed at her hand.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

The idea of a mixed ball with both magical and non-magical folk was interesting – incredibly interesting because the thought was so out-of-place in the wizarding world. Really, it was impossible to separate magical society into two camps. As easy as it was to believe sometimes, the world wasn’t split into Purifiers and non-Purifiers, just as the same had been true for the Death Eaters once. There was every shade of ideology in between the two – radical thinkers that called for an end to the Statute of Secrecy, wizards so talented with Muggle technology you couldn’t believe they weren’t Muggleborn, average people that didn’t hate Muggles but still wanted almost nothing to do with them. So the idea of a ball being organized with the intention of mixing the two groups, well…there were very few people who would ever advocate for such a thing.

“That sounds brilliant, it’s such a good idea,” Si gushed excitedly as she tried to imagine an elaborate ballroom with spectacularly dressed people. She voiced the thought out-loud by admitting with a laugh, “I keep trying to imagine it, but I know nothing I dream up will be able to compare to the real thing.” Sienna was too caught up in her own imagination to notice that Sybil wasn’t speculating about the importance of the ball – no, she was talking as if she actually knew, as if the organizers had told her themselves. She didn’t catch that observation, but it became readily apparent a moment later as Sybil introduced herself for real this time. Si’s mouth dropped open in shock as she realized exactly who she’d been speaking to the entire time, and her heart sped up rapidly at the thought that she’d been gushing about the ball for a few minutes now to the host. She could die of embarrassment, but Sienna still tried to keep her cool. She had spent enough time around Gus and Camila and their crowd to know that celebrities didn’t usually like when people fell to pieces over meeting them. “Um, w-wow,” she stammered, losing her thread of thought for a moment when a tabby wandered over to her and settled comfortably into her lap. Stroking the cat’s fluffy head absentmindedly, Si swallowed slightly and tried for her normal smile – the same one she might use whenever she was about to tease Gus. “Well, I think everyone knows who the true royalty is here,” she joked, gesturing at the cat now snoozing on her lap. It was the worst-kept secret, naturally, that every cat acted like they were the king of the world, after all.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Sybil laughed gently at Sienna’s comment as the tabby cat settled himself into her lap. “It’s hard, but I have to defer to the noble Sir Kitty here,” she agreed, inclining her head towards the cat, who yawned loudly and went back to sleep. She could tell though that her revelation had affected Sienna, and she felt bad. When she was a child, she lapped up all the attention that being royal permitted her, but after her father was murdered, she had grown to hate the paparazzi, always looking for snapshots of the broken hearted royal family. Still, she understood the fairytale feel that royals exuded. Besides, trying to say ‘oh I’m just a normal person’ never really worked anyway; they never believed her.

“It is nothing you could ever dream of,” Sybil admitted, meaning the ball of course. “I’m only helping with the magical elements since Lusie is still underaged. We can’t go too heavy handed though of course, since the ball is open to Muggles as well, but I think you’ll find a few magic tricks that wizards on hand will recognize as real,” she chuckled, picturing the Muggle attendees astonishment of what she had in store. Nothing too out there of course, but still big enough to exude wonder. “What are you planning to wear? Do you have any photos?” Sybil then asked, turning the conversation back to Sienna. Sybil dearly loved fashion, both Muggle and Wizarding, so she wondered if the girl had a photo of what she planned to wear on her mobile.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna absentmindedly scratched behind the cat’s ears as he settled himself onto her lap for an extended nap. She always said that her trips to the cat café would be short, but really that was a lie she told herself to get through the door. It was easy to waste hours with the cats, keeping them entertained with the option of popping into the café section for a snack or to play a quick round of Wizard’s chess. And really, Sienna needed that – the winter had been long, and increasingly more difficult. Aware Wolf ate up a huge chunk of her free time, but she’d also been getting so much more press attention since she and Gus had started dating. Some of it was good, some of it was your typical outlandish speculation, and some of it was just…terrible. So Sienna needed the escape of the cat café, even if it involved lying to herself a little bit about why she came so often.

She listened with rapt attention as Sybil hinted at some of the magical elements of the ball, promising a good show that wizards would recognize (even if it would leave the Muggles wondering). “It sounds glamorous,” she said admiringly, her imagination already painting up a pretty picture of a castle ballroom decked out with fairy lights and magical drinks. “I wonder what everyone will be wearing,” Si mused out-loud, “I’ve heard wizards always try to show off for each other. I suppose there must be a way to enchant the fabric, or do they apply all the spells the night of?” It was these sorts of questions that Sienna had never thought to ask during her time at Beauxbatons, but Sybil spoke like she had more of an idea of what to expect. And why not? She was royalty, after all, with a foot firmly grounded in each world, Muggle and magical.

They’ve must’ve been on a similar page, because around the time Sienna began to wonder about wizarding fashion, Sybil asked what she was going to wear. Si’s face lit up at the question, because she’d been dying to show somebody her outfit and had pestered Camila enough about it these last few weeks. “Of course!” Sienna agreed immediately, as if it was perfectly obvious that she’d have pictures of her outfit immediately on hand. “I bought a new dress just for the ball! It was a bit of a splurge on my salary, but I think I deserve it.” She smiled to herself as she gently readjusted the sleeping cat on her lap so she could pull out her phone and show Sybil the golden dress she and Camila had found on their shopping spree. “Alright, your turn. You must have something fabulous picked out,” Si insisted after stowing her phone.

@susanvictoria
[Here's the dress!]

[Deleted]

Sybil laughed. “Glamorous is one way to describe it,” she agreed. The royal family never did anything with half measures, and while this was not an official royal event as the queen would not be in attendance, many highly recognized faces would be there, both from the muggle and magical world. “I’m not sure honestly, Lusie’s planned most of this so I’ve left a lot of the details up to her. I think that some might go a little overboard, but because it’s a mixed event, nobody wants to go too crazy. You know what I mean?” Sybil tried to explain. She didn’t think she was doing a great job, but she’d been so busy with her work that she simply didn’t have the time to spend helping Lusie with the ball. Her little sister didn’t seem to mind so much though, so she felt less guilty knowing that.

“I do have a dress in mind,” Sybil replied with a smile. She’d much rather talk about fashion than the inner workings of the ball, since she was not really privy to those. Pulling out her own phone, she showed Sienna a picture of a yellow ballgown. “I almost always wear black, or white, sometimes blue, so I wanted to do something different,” she explained. She had felt amazing when she tried on the dress, and it was tailor made to fit her body. “I’m not sure how I should do my hair though; any suggestions?” she asked, curious to see if Sienna had any ideas, for she was drawing a blank.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

dress!

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Si nodded absentmindedly as she stroked the cat’s fur. Planning such a public and important event sounded exhausting, and she could only imagine how hard the younger princess was working to pull it all off. And besides, she didn’t really want to know anyway. Part of the fun was the surprise, and being dazzled by the final product on the night of. Sienna didn’t always need to know what would happen next, and she certainly wasn’t one of those people that needed all the information they could get before moving forward. Potions required precision, but also creativity and imagination. If Si only stuck to the recipe to know exactly what would happen next – then Aware Wolf wouldn’t exist. And she could already feel that it was going to be her greatest achievement, if she and Rob could pull it off. So she decided, “I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. Overboard or not, it’ll definitely be something to remember.”

Sybil seemed much more keen to talk about her dress than logistics (which Si couldn’t really blame her for). As she pulled out her phone, Si tried to calm her breathing and keep a cool and friendly expression. Like she wasn’t discussing fashion with a princess, and like she hadn’t just shown literal royalty a dress that she’d taken days to properly search for. She’s just a person, Si. Be cool, she chided herself, leaning forward so she could get a better look at Sybil’s phone and the ballgown she’d pulled up. She gasped a little in excitement. “Oh, you’re going to look just like Belle!” she gushed, remembering all the fond memories of watching Beauty and the Beast on a beaten up VHS tape and hiding her eyes while her dad would rewind the tape so she could avoid spoilers (even if she’d already seen it a thousand times before).

She hummed thoughtfully at the question. “Well, I think I might be biased now because of my Disney obsession, but…you should definitely keep it loose. Maybe add some volume,” Si explained as she ran her fingers through her own hair in an attempt to visually show Sybil what she meant. But she laughed a little sheepishly. “But this is coming from someone who ties her hair up so she doesn’t have to comb it more and more often,” she admitted, wincing a little at the thought. Si didn’t want to call herself shallow, but she’d always cared about how she presented herself in public. Cute outfit, perfect make-up, the full nine yards. But lately with Aware Wolf and long hours at the apothecary…she’d been letting it go a little bit. That was tough to admit, even to herself.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Sybil smiled at Sienna’s comment on how she would look like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. “That was one of my favorites growing up,” she admitted with a laugh. Between Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid, their house had been a Disney madhouse. She was certain Will and Ed had hated it, and her for a little while. Now that she thought of it, she hadn’t seen Beauty & the Beast in awhile. “Hey, here’s an idea. After we’ve had our fill of cat cuddles, would you like to watch Beauty & the Beast with me? My sisters so busy and now I have the sudden urge to watch it,” she suggested. She knew Sienna was a little star struck by her, and she wanted to let the other girl know that she really was just like any other person. With a castle, but they’d be going to her apartments….in a palace. Still, she tried to act normal at least.

“Down sounds good, what about your hair? What are you thinking?” Sybil asked. One of the siamese cats came over, sniffed her hand and rubbed its’ head against her. She scratched the cats’ head before it sauntered off again. “So what do you say? Want to see the insider life of a royal?” she asked, half teasingly. She hoped it didn’t put Sienna off though.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

There was something so…magical about this world, setting aside all the obvious things that made it so (because even just sitting on the floor of a cat café, Sienna could see levitating rags washing the windows and something small with wings that was chasing down passerby on the street outside). Because the wizarding world was actually kind of small, and that meant there was the opportunity for such random and amazing encounters that just didn’t seem possible in the Muggle world. Granted, that was a world that hadn’t been a significant part of her life since she was eleven years old…but she couldn’t remember ever meeting a princess in such casual circumstances (or at all) really. And Sybil left a good first impression – down to earth, easy to smile, and not at all eager to throw her status around like it made her better than everyone else (even if it kind of did).

Sienna felt her face broaden into a wide (and slightly sheepish) smile at Sybil’s invitation. “Um, w-wow,” she stuttered, feeling her cheeks flush at how so-not-cool she was at the moment. Spending so much time around Gus and Camila had somewhat diminished the untouchable look of the celebrity lifestyle for Si, and she didn’t act so awkward whenever she came close to those sorts of high-profile situations. It also didn’t hurt that she’d seen the strain it put on them, which also took away some of the glitz and glamor that everyone else saw. But an actual real-life princess? Si had been obsessed with Disney and the modern royal families since she was a little girl, and she almost didn’t know what to do with herself now. So she cleared her throat and went for the easy question instead. “Probably a simple updo,” Sienna mused out-loud, “Because there’s already a lot going on with the dress, right? So best to keep everything else low-key.” That insight was courtesy of all the reality fashion shows Si liked to binge when she wasn’t at the apothecary, of course.

“Hold on,” Si said, taking a deep breath to try and cool down as she pinched herself hard on the arm. She winced, but nothing around her changed – not a dream, then. She was definitely awake. “Yes, definitely yes. I haven’t seen Beauty and the Beast in forever, and...wow, I can't even imagine where you must live.” Sienna scratched behind the ears of a fluffy black cat that was within reach and let herself enjoy the rumbling of his purrs for a moment. “I should probably leave soon anyway,” Si admitted with a sigh, “Or I’ll try to adopt all the cats here. Watch me.”

@susanvictoria