#sillybubs

So obviously this'll change with production/interpretation but as with everything I'm going on '98 to make it easy for us all, and also on my default headcanons, which are almost shamefully basic and therefore pretty well known.

Jemima is (biologically) the child of Demeter and Macavity. Obviously she's never known Macavity and was raised by loving parents in the Junkyard tribe. She never actually shows signs of magic as a kitten, and she's the sweetest cat that ever lived, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief about having dodged the Mini Macavity bullet

While she never showed signs of active magic, she was.... distant. (This gets into a thing on how magic manifests and how it affects its hosts and it's kind of involved and we'd be here forever, but just know it makes sense ok? I can expand on it if so desired.) She bonded with the other kittens but not... as much as the rest of them bonded with each other, and she had a tendency to wander off for seemingly no reason, and stare into space for long amounts of time. Which isn't so weird- she is younger, and quiet, and maybe just not quite as social as her peers. Apart from those couple things she's thriving socially, so it's whatever.

When Jemima is just getting to be an older kitten, however, (think seven or eight in human years) things... change.

Tantomile and Coricopat move into the junkyard. They're older kittens (late teens), and they are, without a doubt, magical. They can not only sense cats out of eye and ear range, but identify them correctly. They seem to, to some level, be able to see the future, and the present. And not only that but their powers are honed- they can tell the fortune of a specific cat or the outcome of a specific event, and while they're cryptic, they're unfailingly accurate.

Jemima latches onto Tantomile the second she meets her. The twins are... offputting, to say the least, to any cat who's grown up with some kind of social expectations, but Jemima doesn't see it. She isn't bothered by the unblinking stares and creepy unison movements, and she follows them (but especially Tantomile) wherever they go, as much as she's allowed. Coricopat is kind of neutral on her, and doesn't mind her, but Tantomile actually enjoys having her around.

In fact, Tantomile is the first to notice her magic. The adults in her life barely bothered looking for it, since she never displayed any of the physical traits that indicate magic and never levitated or teleported anything. But a month after they move there, Tanto and Cori argued, and Jemima found Tantomile sulking thinking things over afterward. Jemima has no siblings, and certainly no connection like Tantomile and Coricopat experience, with anyone. But when Tantomile refused to tell her what was wrong, she sympathetically put her paw on Tantomile's shoulder, and proceeded to relay exactly everything Tantomile was feeling, in an "I know you must feel...." way. Word for word, and even some of the things Tanto had yet to find words for. But she was exactly on the mark.

Even if she hadn't Felt it, Tanto would have known she was talking to another magical cat.

The thing about Jemima's magic is, it's passive. She can't start or stop it, like Mistoffelees can, and can't choose when to use it to it's fullest, like the twins. She's kind of hovering in a space of half-magic, where she can see and feel and understand the things magical cats can (and then some) but she herself has no powers to wield. Which is why she doesn't Look like a magical cat- the stress Demeter was under during her pregnancy effectively quashed any development Jemima's magic might have undergone. But that doesn't mean it's not there.

Her magic is what we see during Moments of Happiness, and again in Memory- the twins can feel that Grizabella was there, but they can't feel or speak what she was feeling, like Jemima can. And Jemima can't make that initial connection, because she doesn't have enough magic to reach out with, without Grizabella right there. Which is why in moments of happiness, Tantomile has to touch her before she gets up and sings. But once that happens, Jemima understands what's going on and who Grizabella is (not just to the tribe, but her whole life, her triumphs and hardships and fears, everything) and that's why she sings in the reprise of Memory, she doesn't need Grizabella to tell her who she is.

It's why she's so insistent on trying to touch Grizabella before Moments Of Happiness- not curiosity, but because she can feel her, just out of reach.

Most of the Jellicles never find out about Jemima's magic, and write that one instance off as an effect of the Jellicle Moon. Tantomile and Coricopat know, of course, and so does Demeter, since Tantomile told her almost straight away. Old Deuteronomy knows, as he has some magic himself, and magical cats can identify each other, at any time throught any disguise. It follows that Mistoffelees knows as well.

(Misto is the most powerful cat there, and when he first met Jemima he almost immediately understood what was going on. He was still pretty young and incredibly skittish, but the first thing he did when they met was allow her to touch him, since she could sense his magic but wouldn't know anything about it and whether or not it was safe.)