Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this bit of fanfiction nor do I receive any sort of monetary value from writing this. Cats belongs to both the wonderful T.S. Eliot and the amazing Andrew Lloyd Webber in conjunction with the Really Useful Group.
A/N: What's up you ferocious felines? Northern-Outcast here with another Cats fanwork! However, wait for it, this one isn't about Tugger and Mistoffelees! At least not directly about them. At least not their relationship, or Mistoffelees.
And finally one that has a proper summary instead of a deceptive line from the story!
Enjoy the show!
"He's a menace to the junkyard!"
"I wouldn't exactly call him a menace..."
"Then how would you describe him?"
"I don't know Dem, yeah, he's a handful sometimes but I would hardly call him a menace. He's more of a... a nuisance than a menace."
Munkustrap sighed heavily and rested his forehead in his left hand, it was the same argument again and it would most likely end the same way it always would end. They would bicker back and forth for a while, voices would raise and tempers would flare, then before the night was over the tabby would concede and apologize to his mate for the exchange of harsh words. The tom looked up at his mate, the gold, black and red queen looked as frustrated as he felt at the moment. He took a deep breath and released it slowly, he geared himself for round two of their verbal boxing match.
"So Dem, what is it that you want me to do?" Munkustrap's ears fell to the sides of his head, he knew he was walking right into a fire pit with a gasoline soaked coat.
"What do I want you to do?" Demeter put her hands on her hips, her tail lashed angrily behind her. "Munk, I want you to be a tom and control your brother!"
The tabby's golden eyes narrowed slightly, " And how do you suppose I go about doing that? He's Tugger, he's going to do what he wants, when he wants, no matter what."
"I don't know Munk! You're the junkyard leader here, you figure it out!" The queen's ears went back against her head.
Munkustrap's jaw clenched, his hand went up to twist with the gold tag hanging from the ring on his collar. The overturned wicker basket that served as his chair creaked as he shifted uncomfortably, they were nearing the climax of their fight, it would be a downhill slope for him from here on.
"Oh, so your mad at me now." Demeter's hands left her hips and her arms folded across her white furred chest, she gave her mate a look of angry disbelief.
"What makes you think I'm mad at you?" the tabby tom's reply was a little more snippy than he would have liked, and it certainly didn't help the situation.
"Because you always fiddle with your tag like that when your mad at me!"
Munkustrap's hand dropped down into his lap, his tag continued to sway slightly, he frowned and cast his gaze downward.
Demeter pulled over another wicker basket and sat beside her mate, she sighed and put a hand on his arm. "Look Munk, I know you care about your brother but he shouldn't be exempt from the rules, and you need to stop making excuses for him."
"Honestly Dem, I don't think he's that much of a problem, he isn't really hurting anyone."
The queen pulled her hand back abruptly, "Not hurting anyone? What about your ankle? You could have never been able to dance again."
"That was an accident, he hadn't meant to hurt me, and it healed fine" Munkustrap smiled weakly and looked up at his mate, she wasn't amused. "He even apologized...you know, in his own way."
"And what about the way he struts around the junkyard with his tail held high like he owns the place? He's a bad influence on the kittens with the way he dances." Demeter visibly shuddered.
"The kittens aren't such kittens anymore Dem, by next year's Jellicle ball most if not all of them will have mates. And you've seen that tail of his, he has to hold it that way otherwise he'd spend all day picking garbage out of it. I tried to get him to trim it but..."
"What about Bombaluria?"
"What about Bombaluria?" Munkustrap eyed his mate questioningly, this argument was taking a direction it had never gone in before.
"The way he treats her, it's disgusting, and you say he's not hurting anyone? Have you seen how depressed she looks sometimes? The way she looks him when he's looking at other queens? Munk, she cries at night because of him!" The queen's fists were clenched, her breathing was rapid and her tail was lashing angrily
"I know Dem, believe me, I know, but they're both mature ad...Bombalurina is a mature adult. If she wants to keep chasing after Tugger despite how he behaves then there's nothing I can do about that. You can't take it out on Tugger because you want to protect your sister."
"And you can't take it out on everyone else just because you feel guilty about something that happened twenty-five years ago!" Demeter stood up, her countenance radiating an air of fury.
She looked as if she were going to strike and Munkustrap recoiled anticipating the blow, instead the queen turned and left the den.
The tabby released a sigh of relief. The fight was over, at least for now, but he knew the queen was right. As much as he wanted to sit Tugger down and give him an ultimatum he couldn't find it in himself to do so, not after how he had behaved towards the Maine Coon years ago.
A/N: My first Multi-chaptered story, this one wasn't meant to be more than one chapter but there's a flashback that's pretty long so I decided to break it up. Comments and critiques are welcome and as always if you really liked this one I'm open to suggestions and ideas for other projects. Or you can visit my profile and comment on which future story I should do next!
Some notes pertaining to the story. Some of the Jellicles have collars, in the Junkyard they are somewhat of a fashion statement, however only mates who have undergone the matehood ceremony have tags. They're like wedding rings and can be metal, etched glass, stitched leather, or even carved wood.
Jellicle cats develop slowly in a way somewhat similar to the development of humans. The only notable exception is they have their awkward 'teen' years between the ages of 18-21.
And Munkustrap and Demeter love each other very much although it doesn't seem like it.
Look out for chapter 2 soon!