#cat royal

[twodoorsnotone]

cat royal of drury lane fame would have been about the same age as jane austen and in short she would have lost her SHIT when she read pride and prejudice aged 37

[sky-vrse]

part 3 of my cat royal headcanons

[notinkbutagoldensplash]

Enola Holmes gives me strong Cat Royal vibes (did anyone else read those as a kid? If not read them now because you missed out) and I am so here for it. Give me more films like this!

(And you know, books too because it’s been like 10 years and I’m still so sad we never got those final Cat books)

[jenjenphotography]

Your favourite series deserves it’s own shelf © Jen-Jen Photography

[thefaerielights]

BEST OF 2018 » Books

Cat Royal series by Julia Golding (partial reread and new-to-me books)

[theselkiesea]

Dialogue Prompt! #17 pls :)

Cat didn’t know how to play cards. She had seen Joe ‘The Card’ Murray perform tricks in the street but he had never showed her how to play games. She knew about poker and blackjack, the backstage crew of Drury Lane Theatre had played often during their breaks and one time she tried to follow one of the games but grew bored of it.

It baffled her that she had to play a card game with Billy Shepard to try and find information about her missing brother. Rabbie had ran away from his tutor after his hand was caned for not learning his lesson and in return her brother had punched his teacher in the face.

The whole scandal had been rather humiliating for her.

“It’s nice of you to visit, Cat. I’ve missed you, honestly” said Billy as he shuffled the deck of cards.

“There’s nothing honest about you Billy” she said, eyeing the deck carefully, making sure he didn’t slip any up his sleeve.

“Oh come on, Cat. You better be nice ter me, if you want that information your ‘ere about.”

Cat smirked. Billy had had elocution lessons some time ago but when he was around her he’d sometimes slip back into his old tongue.

“Now, what card game did you ‘ave in mind?” he asked with a sly smile. “War? Poker? Speed?”

She only knew one other card game and it wasn’t easy to cheat at it. “I pick snap.”

Billy laughed, his smile wide and smug. “Excellent choice, Kitten.”

He quickly dished out the cards and slammed the first card in the middle of the table. The first round went on for several seconds until Billy’s hand smacked back down on two sevens. Cat bit the inside of her cheeks in frustration, she cursed at herself for not paying close enough attention.

She managed to win the second and third but Billy won the next three. He leaned back in his chair, grinning like a fox with being pleased with his successes. He hummed a little tune and then placed done a card for round seven.

His pile of cards were thicker than her small pile, she quickly counted and only have eight cards left. She had to win. She couldn’t lose to Billy, she’d never hear the end of it from him. Her card went down, and then another and another and then finally there was a snap.

Her hand crashed down on the pair but before she could pull away Billy’s hand came upon her’s. It wasn’t a hard impact, it was almost gentle. Cat lifted her gaze to meet his and was taken aback by how soft his eyes looked.

And then, he said: “I love you, Cat.”

Cat’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Was he serious? She looked at his hand still on top of her’s and back to his face. She could feel her face bloom red. Trying to find the right words to say she was suddenly pulled away from her thoughts as a burst of laughter filled the room.

Billy flashed a smile, full with glee then lifted her hand to his lips. “Did I get you, Cat?”

She stared hard at him for a moment. He was trying to distract her! He was getting her flustered to embarrass her and make her lose!

“Don’t be foolish, Billy,” she said through clenched teeth. “You don’t want to give your heart to me. And I don’t think you even know what love is.”

He smirked and placed a kiss on her hand. “You’d be surprised, Kitten.”

[when-bookworms-age]

Iconic Cat Royal Moments

Cat Royal is the ragged queen of my childhood and I haven’t ever found anybody else who appreciates her so I thought I’d share some of her finest moments.

- When she grabbed a broom and fought a sword-wielding maniac

- When she swore enough to stop a lynch mob in its tracks

- When she marched blindfold across a narrow bridge five stories up without even hesitating

- When she drunkenly got a tattoo in Bermuda

- When she danced at the Paris Opera and escaped in a laundry basket. I mean, wow. Do you know how hard it is to get into the Paris Opera?

- When she rode on horseback right into a crowded ballroom whilst dressed as a Native American (complete with weapons)...

- ...and then proceeded to let her horse eat the potted plants whilst she danced with the most eligible young man in the room

- When she saved a duchess with an impromptu concert. Inspired!

- When she persuaded a pirate captain to offer her tea instead of killing her

- “You revolutionaries can only bear so much change, can’t you? It’s skin deep - literally! If it’s an African or Indian - or, heaven forbid, a woman who wants her equality, then you start to panic!” Yes, girl! You tell him! 

- When she threw herself off a waterfall to save her adoptive family

- When she spent a vicious gang fight chilling in the corner with the musicians

- When she disguised herself as a Cambridge student and turned cartwheels across the forbidden lawn. What a rebel.

- When somebody told her to steal the crown jewels so she did. 

- When she crossed miles of vicious terrain in the middle of a bloody revolution just to check her friend was happy

- “I’m going up in the world.” “He means from louse to cockroach.” You keep on insulting violent killers, Cat! You tell them how it is!

- When she was given a slave as a gift so the two of them sat and burned the girl’s deeds of ownership together because no piece of paper can ever tell you who you are or who you belong to. 

- When a schoolteacher didn’t believe she could read and write and told her to try writing “The cat sat on the mat.” on the blackboard so our little Cat wrote it in English, French, Italian and Latin just to prove her point. That is a very intellectual kind of sassiness.

- When she screamed “To hell with you!” at the highest gentlemen in the land before trashing their private club. Smash the patriarchy! Literally!

- And, of course, never forget when our little badass fainted at the sight of a wasp.

[sky-vrse]

part 2 of my cat royal headcanons