Feeling Ok (Redux; Nova)

[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

It took a few weeks longer than planned to get everything ready for the cat café, but Honey was relieved that her new pride and joy was finally open for everyone else to enjoy, too. Cats and staff were both busy, but it was the good sort of busy. At St. Mungo's, the busiest times usually weren't joyful occasions, but now? Honey had created her own slice of happiness in Horizont Alley, with wooden booths along the walls on either side, tables in the middle, and the cats' own space towards the back. It was light and bright without being sterile. She wanted it to be welcoming and enjoyable, and she felt that she might have succeeded.

Even stepping outside of the café to run an errand in Diagon Alley, it seemed that she was becoming more widely known. When someone stopped her on the street just a few paces from the cat café and asked if she was Honey, she nodded and gave them a smile. "Yes, I am," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

nova hypatia vector
OOC: Redux of an old open that got archived/locked before being claimed.

[nova hypatia vector]

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Cat cafes were such a muggle thing that Nova had never anticipated to see one pop up in Horizont. The recent dive into modernization had radically changed how people her age did things, and there were a lot of new shops and storeowners starting to break ground in the side-street shopping district that focused on drawing in those that wanted an almost mall-like experience versus a magical one. The prime location of the bakery meant that the majority of her own patrons were drifting in from Diagon, thus she tended to pay attention more to what went on in that area. The niche business-y atmosphere that the rest of the stores in Horizont exuded was drastically different from Diagon (and Knockturn), relying on more specialty services like Blishwick Matchmaking or specialty wands and furniture. Even the lamp store was too eccentric for the whimsical Diagon Alley, which had always fascinated her. Plus the rent was cheaper in Horizont, so it made a lot of sense to want to settle off the main drag even if it meant less customers. A cat café was sure to draw in the children though. And her as well.

It had been Nova’s idea to visit the café right when it opened to introduce herself, as part of a way of trying to be more welcoming and open with other people, but she hadn’t had the time with how crazy the end of summer and lead up to the start of the school year had gone. She should have known better considering it was always crowded this time of year, but with it being the first of September there was finally some respite now that the mass of families were gone and at Platform 9 ¾. Her aunt was as well, playing peacekeeper with the ‘step-mother’ in front of the younger Vectors, so Nova spent the morning prepping for the afternoon rush in her stead. Finishing early, she decided that now was the best time to pop over to the cat café and introduce herself, assuming that the owner would probably be in the same position that she currently was. Quickly whipping up sugar cookies in the shapes of cat heads and yarn balls, Nova felt pretty good about her presentation and went about closing up the shop for the little bit of time she would be gone.

Honey’s Cat Café wasn’t too far, but Nova admittedly didn’t head that deep into Horizont all too often these days. Being on the corner of Diagon, it was so much easier to get home from there, as opposed to taking the longer route. With the lack of school crowds leaving the street almost entirely empty, aside from a couple of dusty old warlocks hobbling along, she was in front of the cat café almost immediately. A woman stepped out from inside as Nova hustled down the sidewalk, and she immediately assumed that this must be the proprietor, Honey, since she didn’t recognize the woman. “Erm…are you Honey?” she asked carefully. The woman responded that she was, and Nova felt slightly more relaxed that she hadn’t just called some random person honey in the middle of the street. “I’m Nova Vector. I work at The Pi Patisserie, the bakery up on the corner? I wanted to introduce myself and welcome you to Horizont,” she explained, holding out her free hand to Honey.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

Honey wasn't someone who viewed herself as being terribly remarkable, really. She didn't overstate her abilities at all and knew that she was hardly the most impressive witch in the world. Even if she had earned NEWTs, she had never had the Hogwarts "experience", per se, and she certainly didn't think of herself as being noteworthy enough to end up stopped by someone else on the street. As it turned out, though, the woman who had stopped her in her tracks introduced herself as Nova Vector and explained that she worked at the Pi Pâtisserie, another one of the businesses there in Horizont Alley.

"I wanted to introduce myself and welcome you to Horizont," Nova said, reaching out her hand to give a handshake.

"Oh," Honey paused, momentarily surprised that she had received such a warm welcome. She thought that it was awfully nice of Nova to go to the trouble, though, and shook her hand with a smile upon her face. "Thank you, Nova. It's a pleasure to meet you," she replied. As different and sort of scary as making the leap into owning and operating the cat café had been because it was new territory for her after having worked at the hospital for so long, she felt strongly that it had been the right move.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Had she been too forward? In her attempt to cast aside the iciness that plagued herself and her siblings due to their upbringing, she sometimes wondered whether or not her approach to talking to strangers was too aggressive and proactive. Dealing with customers was one thing since most transactions were brief and simple. This woman though, Honey, was basically a neighbor now though. They would be seeing a lot more of each other whether they liked it or not, and she figured getting a jump out on it would be good for her and the bakery. “My Aunt Decima owns the bakery,” she explained, “But she said she would stop by on her first free day to introduce herself as well.” As her aunt put it, mostly because she wanted to see all the cats and hang out with them for as long as she wanted. Nova’s own cat would spot the traitorous act almost immediately, and he got jealous if she stopped to scratch a street cat on her way home.

“Does your café work similarly to muggle ones? I’ve been to a few that take in overflow from shelters to try and help cats get adopted.” An advertisement she had seen of the café stated that there were cats (obviously), but what she was really interested in was whether or not Honey had kneazles and hybrids as well. She had always found the magical cats fascinating but never had the chance to see one up close. The few that wandered the shopping district were skittish at best, usually watching from their various perches on top of walls and store rooves. She would have loved to have her cat around the store, but the hair and cleanliness of the store would be in question if that were the case. He tended to like countertops. A lot.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

Nova clarified that it was her aunt, Decima, who owned the bakery but that she, too, would be stopping by at some point to introduce herself. It made sense, though Honey could hardly judge Nova by her age in that regard. Still, Honey didn't mind getting to meet Nova's aunt and helping to better establish herself among the existing businesses along Horizont Alley.

"Tell her to pop round whenever she's free," Honey said to Nova. "I'm usually around," in the same way that she typically had been around the tea room at St. Mungo's constantly. In her mind, she didn't see the point in ownership of a place if the owner wasn't going to show up and put in the work.

"Does your café work similarly to Muggle ones?" asked Nova. "I've been to a few that take in overflow from shelters to try and help cats get adopted."

Honey nodded, surprised that Nova was familiar enough with the concept. "Yeah," she told her. She had taken her inspiration from the Muggle idea and made it work for the magical world. "There's one in Bethnal Green, actually," she explained, "but they let the cats wander around whilst people are eating, and that felt a bit…" As cute as that might have been, she didn't feel that that would be particularly safe for the cats or the human patrons. It was mostly the humans she was worried about, because not all people understood cats and their needs. The cats couldn't help that they were cats, though. "So I started doing some research," she continued, "to see if I could do it like how other places have done, and decided to have the cats in their own area." It meant less immediate interaction with the cats for patrons, but it was more hygienic and allowed people who weren't really "cat people" to enjoy the café itself without feeling compelled to interact with the cats. For the cats, it kept them from being as overwhelmed as they might have been, so that was good for them, too.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Well that was good to hear on her aunt’s part. Decima was bound to be overjoyed by that. Baking and cats were basically her thing, and Nova secretly viewed her as a cat lady, though from outwards appearances nobody would ever be able to actually tell. There were a decent number of cats at any given point at her aunt’s house, usually a rotating cast of fosters on top of her pets. Nova’s own cat had been one of those foster fails, which tended to happen more often than not in the Vector household. It was all good though because Decima’s house was huge, and having that many cats and personalities whilst growing up had been unbelievably fun. Better than the alternative for sure.

So this one was different than the muggle ones! Nova wasn’t particularly weird feeling about having cats around the café portion since she had basically grown up like that at home, but she could see the reasoning behind Honey’s decision. That was the exact reason why she would never have her cat at the bakery. It was technically unsanitary, even if everything she did with her baked goods was done correctly and clean. “I totally get that,” she said nodding her head. “My cat can’t come to work with me, as much as I wish he could. Trying to keep him out of the kitchen at home is hard enough.” Nova laughed as she imagined the chaos her cat would cause. Knocked over bags of flour and paw prints everywhere. She would have a white cat going forward, as no amount of cleaning charms could keep up with that.

“Do you only have regular cats? I thought I had heard that there were kneazles as well…” Or half-kneazle, half-cat. That was so unbelievably popular nowadays, especially with any felines that were taken in around the shopping district. Even with the amount of cats lurking about, they dealt with the pest problem unbelievably well, which always mattered to her when it came to the bakery.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

"I totally get that," Nova told Honey of the way in which she had decided to structure the cat café experience for the cats and customers alike. "My cat can't come to work with me, as much as I wish he could. Trying to keep him out of the kitchen at home is hard enough."

Honey laughed along with her. Knickerbocker was good about not getting into too much around her flat, but she could only imagine how much of a mess she could have had on her hands if the cats were allowed to roam the cat café freely. They would have been just about everywhere, and it would have been a chore just to keep them out of the areas where they really weren't meant to be.

"Do you only have regular cats?" Nova added. "I thought I had heard that there were Kneazles as well…"

"I've got a full Kneazle myself," Honey explained to Nova with a shake of her head, "but none of the cats at the café are full Kneazles at the moment. It's because of the licensing and paperwork with the Ministry, mostly," she continued. She didn't completely mind taking on some Kneazles, but it was something of a challenge—and not from her end. "And Kneazles can be aggressive occasionally," which was part of why they were classified by the Ministry as being "XXX". They weren't particularly dangerous, but it was more of a liability on her shoulders in the event that anything were to happen. It was unfortunate, since Honey knew that Kneazles were also highly intelligent creatures, but it was what it was.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Her eyes widened at the thought of owning a full kneazle. Maybe one day, after Mars was gone, because like Honey was explaining she knew that they could be aggressive. Not knowing what went on at home during the day would keep her on edge constantly and that was not something she wanted to put her animals through as well. The other option was to go full on cat lady, though that didn’t exactly sound like the most fun thing in the world. It all depended on how often she was home, because work sucked up a lot of her time. Cats were obviously independent and didn’t always care, but she did. If she hadn’t had her own, she probably would have ended up at this new cat café almost daily. Even her aunt’s ridiculous amount of pets weren’t enough to satiate her dopamine fix that she needed from purrs.

“Merlin, I can’t imagine,” she stated upon the realization that such a thing wasn’t nearly as feasible as it sounded. Idealistic ideas on how magical shops should be run never ended up that way, all because of how the Ministry ruled. She’d spoken to plenty of the shopkeepers in the area over the years, so she felt like she had a pretty good idea on what was chill with the government and what wasn’t. They didn’t really care about the bakery because she wasn’t selling anything with magical qualities, despite the use of her talent. And the side business only mattered if parents got involved, which hadn’t happened yet.

“Do you think they would create groups if you could have them? Like cat cliques? I haven’t had a lot of experience with kneazles, but I know they tend to be on the higher end of intelligence and feel like they’d maybe take advantage of normal cats if they could…” It was certainly a theory that she’d like to see in practice, albeit safely. The magical creatures that she normally dealt with were on an equal level with mundane pests: the occasional niffler trying to break in and steal the bell above the door or the gold leafed chocolate (in which one did abscond with an entire cake out the back and greedily ate it all in the middle of the alleyway, much to her horror), or a ghoul that accidentally got itself stuck with a shipment of fondant. Suffice to say, Care of Magical Creatures was not her best subject in school because it got her hands dirty, and not in the fun, creative way, and her experience with animals of the magical sort was somewhere between taking that class for a couple of years and the occasional browsing the Magical Menagerie down the street. Kneazles seemed cool though.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

Honey was bordering on being a complete cat lady (or Kneazle lady) at not even thirty years old, but she didn't mind it. If she did mind, she wouldn't have started up a cat café. She definitely didn't consider herself to be an expert in cat cafés, but she had some knowledge of how the concept had been achieved elsewhere. Bringing it into the magical world was interesting, too, because there were things that she had to account for that probably weren't issues in the Muggle world—wands, for one.

Nova said that she couldn't imagine, speaking in response to the challenges that came with Kneazles (or the Ministry's classification of them, because the creatures themselves weren't really the problem). It wasn't really that bad, though she wouldn't have minded being able to include a full Kneazle or two, provided they could behave themselves. "Do you think they would create groups if you could have them? Like cat cliques?" she wondered. She added that she didn't have much experience with Kneazles herself, but she said that she knew that they had a high level of intelligence. They did, and Honey nodded her head a little as Nova spoke. Nova then said, though, that she felt that Kneazles might try to take advantage of normal cats if they could, and Honey promptly shook her head.

"Maybe some Kneazles might try to take advantage of them," she granted her, "but cats can be clever themselves." Kneazles had a certain… distinctiveness about them, though. "And they are more solitary, really," Honey acknowledged, "but it's about their personalities, at the end of the day. If they're comfortable in that sort of setting and don't mind if people are touching them and all."

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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In her extremely limited knowledge of kneazles (which came almost exclusively from reading about them), she knew that having magical qualities weren’t the only differences they had from their more mundane counterparts. Though she had always chosen to believe that even the most average cat had magic – nine lives and all that. The completely normal cats that lived in the dorms back at Hogwarts had always had extra-sensory powers in telling where the ghosts were before they actually showed themselves, and Nova distinctly remembered watching a roommate’s cat giving away Peeves’ location outside the Ravenclaw Tower more than once, as he always liked to prepare horrid pranks at the start of each term. Or maybe that specific cat had been part kneazle? It was sort of hard to tell now, with that being so long ago now. Regardless, that tabby had never steered her wrong during her years in the castle, at least when it came to ducking under clanking dustpans that hovered over her common room entryway.

She could see how personalities would definitely take shape in something like a cat café. Mars would personally hate it, though he was also used to it being just the two of them, and more often than not, just himself throughout the day. Getting a second cat would come across as a slap in the face to him. A personal affront. Sharing attention between two animals would absolutely not work either, and her cat was smart enough to pick up on that. He got upset if she spent too much time around her aunt’s animals, and that was without him around.

“Right,” Nova thought out loud. “Wouldn’t want one that couldn’t handle constant attention. That’d be like torture for the poor thing.” Mars had no problem batting away at unwanted hands, and if healing spells weren’t a thing, her hands would be littered with scars from tooth punctures and scratches. Sometimes he was just an asshole for the sake of being one. Belly rubs to attempted murder, and there was no in-between for the jerk.

On another note though…“If you ever need anything for events or whatnot, like cookies or whatever, just let my aunt or I know. One of us is always there.” And Decima would absolutely use any excuse to go cuddle cats for an hour or two. Didn’t matter if there were things that needed to be done in the bakery. That door would be locked and the ‘CLOSED’ sign flipped around in an instant.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

Honey had done her research into cat cafés, but she knew that the concept was still unfamiliar to many people. She didn't doubt that—even five, ten years down the line—she would have to explain to people what her business was. She had had to clarify to a few people already that the café wasn't for cats, nor was it for eating them.

"And of course there are the people, too," Honey nodded in reply to Nova's comment about not forcing the cats to do anything they weren't comfortable with. It was a lot easier to handle felines than humans, but that was another story.

Nova also offered her baking abilities, should she ever need it for an event or anything of that sort, and Honey paused, immediately hit with a thought. "Actually," she smiled, "I've got an idea now…" It would make perfect sense to sell pastries from the pâtisserie instead of making them in-house.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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People. The ultimate factor in any sort of business. Nova disliked dealing with anyone that couldn’t mind their own business or follow the normal rules society established. Rude customers were the top of her shit list, and she knew she would never want some of them handling cats. Pouring a coffee or handing someone a pastry usually got them out the door in a matter of seconds, and a lot of grumpy witches and wizards were only actually like that because they hadn’t had their morning coffee yet. Honey definitely had a lot of different factors that weighed into her café with the cats involved in the way they were. She imagined there had to be a lot less tolerance over crap there than what she dealt with on a day to day business. And usually it wasn’t even the regulars. The problem customers were always the ones that wanted specific orders completed or catering. Her aunt had a much better handle on those ones. Nova knew that came with years of experience, but she could never see herself bending over the way Decima did sometimes. Good service always brought the worst back too.

After offering up the bakeries services, Nova listened intently to Honey. An idea! She hoped it had to do with cat-shaped cookies or yarn ball styled cupcakes, because that was a great excuse for getting creative with her work. “Listen, I’m down for almost anything. And my aunt is sort of a cat lady, so I know she would be too,” Nova admitted. Now that she thought about it, working with the cat café would pose an interesting problem: which one of them would be the one to help? That was bound to be a battle between making baked goodies (assuming that was what Honey was going to ask, because the bakery wasn’t much use for anything else) and delivering them in person. Merlin hopefully it wouldn’t come to that…

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

"Listen," Nova responded even before Honey had had an opportunity to tell her more about her idea. "I'm down for almost anything. And my aunt is sort of a cat lady, so I know she would be too."

What she had been thinking about wasn't as far-fetched as Nova might have been thinking it was, Honey observed. She hoped that what she had to say wouldn't seem too underwhelming in comparison to whatever Nova had in her head that she was going to say, but of course she knew that she couldn't guarantee that. Then again, she figured that she was doubting herself too much. Providing Nova and her aunt with a good business opportunity fell under the category of "almost anything", didn't it?

Honey didn't want to sound unsure of herself and have Nova doubt her, so she tried not to doubt herself as she spoke. "Well, er, I can't really have a café without pastries," she began, though she knew that must have sounded incredibly obvious. "And people already recognize the Pi Pâtisserie name," not to mention that it would be incredibly challenging to compete with them in that regard. "Obviously, we'd need a proper conversation with your aunt and everything, but I was thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea to sell your pastries at my café, too?" Saying it out loud, Honey thought that it sounded worse than it had in her head, like some sort of pastry monopoly.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Aunt Decima was basically always down for collaborating with other shopkeepers. That was one of the reasons why she was always 'forced' to help make cookies for the Blishwick Valentine's Day bonanza that occurred every year. Talk about having love shoved down your throat without any say. Creating and selling themed pastries through the cate cafe would be perfect too. Nova was always waiting for new opportunities to flex her artistic flair when it came to design work. Doing so utilized so much more skill than just waving her wand around the kitchen in circles to get things going for the usual spread of baked goods. There were so many more nuances to her job that customers didn't get to see, so she already knew her answer was going to be yes to providing whatever Honey needed.

Of course, Honey was right. This was a decision for Decima, not Nova. As much as she wanted to get into it right now, she wasn't the business owner yet. Yes, she was allowed to make a lot of decisions for the bakery because that was part of her training to one day take over. But it wasn't hers still. "Right! That's a great idea. I'm sure you could source things from the other shops and restaurants around here too." Did customers want to drink butterbeer whilst letting cats? Maybe. If so, the Leaky Cauldron could definitely hook Honey up with their vendor. Plus, there were other smaller pastry shops and the likes in the area. Ones that focused on the more magical variety of goodies. "But yeah, I can tell Decima ahead of time so when she stops by, the two of you could discuss all of this." Nova wanted in on that conversation too, but she already knew she was going to be running the shop when that happened. Someone had to watch the pastries so they didn't get snagged.

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[honey satheesh varma]

September 1, 2025

Honey was thrilled to hear that Nova was on board with her idea, even if it wasn't her decision to make. Ultimately, it would be that of her aunt, Decima, but having Nova in favor of building stronger ties between their businesses meant that she could probably help influence her aunt's opinion on the subject if needed.

On top of working with the pâtisserie alone, Nova suggested that she could partner with some of the other businesses in the area. That was certainly a thought. It was better to collaborate with other small businesses than to compete with them. Making enough money to keep her operations afloat was important, but Honey didn't want to force anyone else to close up shop in the process. If everyone put their heads together, she thought, they could come up with enough creative approaches to ensure that nobody would lose their niche in the market or their customers.

"But yeah," Nova continued, "I can tell Decima ahead of time so when she stops by, the two of you could discuss all of this."

"That would be brilliant. Ta," Honey replied appreciatively. She didn't want to get too far ahead of herself as far as potential partnerships with other businesses went, especially without having spoken with Decima, but she hoped that it would be the start of good things to come.

nova hypatia vector