A Star Too Bright

"I'm nervous."

"Opening night jitters."

Once upon a time, Asparagus was known only as the greatest actor of the feline scene.

He had become famous for his West End roles in Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, Woods' The Earl's Daughter and even Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where he claimed to have invented the word 'caterwaul'. At one fell stage in his career he even performed as understudy alongside Fay Compton in a production of Dick Whittington and His Cat.

Though his acting credits were those of legend, Asparagus had set out to separate himself from those performances. At sixty years of age, it was his wish to now be remembered as a remarkable director of cats, to place his mark on the feline scene for all eternity by writing a series of pieces starring the most wonderful young talents to be found in the Junkyard.

And for Asparagus, the brightest talent to be found in the Junkyard was a now sixteen-year-old Macavity.

Of the youthful cats in the tribe, Macavity showed the most raw potential and promise. Asparagus would regularly tell him that with the proper coaching, he could go on to become great. Though kittens such as Tugger and Bombalurina showed great confidence and charisma, they lacked in emotional depth. Macavity had that in spades.

Under Asparagus' wise guidance from the age of ten, Macavity had performed admirably in a hoarde of plays. He wowed crowds in comedic roles, performing as the Pussy-Cat in The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and taking on the titular role in Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. At age eleven, he was placed in a role that combined comedy with philosophy as the Cheshire Cat in Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. At age twelve, he performed in an original biopic of one of the greatest cats of legend – the title role in The Great Rumpus Cat.

At age thirteen, Asparagus began to hand Macavity more serious roles to explore his depth. He was given rave reviews for his remarkable representation of Liszt in Dahl's Edward the Conqueror, and learned to take criticism after Asparagus' misguided attempts to adapt Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's by enlarging the role of the cat. Though the show itself was a bust, Macavity was nonetheless praised for his performance.

By age fourteen, Macavity had performed in no less than fifty shows adapted by Asparagus. His greatest review of the year came for his portrayal of Petronius the Arbiter in Heinlein's The Door Into Summer. His acting was so accurate and remarkable that he was given three cat-calls, an incredible feat.

At age fifteen, Macavity realised that he had never been handed a negative review in his entire life. This caused him to take fewer risks and only perform roles that he was sure would fit him perfectly, which in turn led him to perform a number of much darker roles that fit his teenage mind. His portrayal of Pluto in Poe's The Black Cat laid the ground-work for a script he penned himself - a performance of Growltiger's Last Stand so vile and malevolent that it was banned after only two nights. Yet once again, his performance was labelled as historic.

By the time he reached sixteen, it was widely accepted by all that Macavity was going to become the greatest actor in the history of felinity. Even Asparagus once quipped that: "Macavity's star shines so brightly, it is as though he is channelling the spirits of great actors who now reside in the night sky."

So it came as little surprise to the tribe when Asparagus announced one summer's evening:

"I have decided to cast young Macavity as one of my finest roles. If he is truly to outshine me, then he must perform the most difficult role that I ever tackled – that of Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell."

This was the role that Asparagus had become famous for, that hordes of cats once stormed Alexandra Palace to see. He had last performed the role thirty years ago, long before many of these kittens were born. There was excitement as many wondered what Macavity could bring to the role under the guidance of this legend. What was for certain was that everyone – bar none – believed that this would be an incredible success.

And yet there was a problem.

A problem so vast that it had the potential to destroy everything that Macavity had ever worked for and desired. A problem so incredibly impossible that it could utterly decimate his relationship with Asparagus if it were to be discovered.

Yet despite being so complicated, the problem was tautologically simple – Macavity had fallen in love with Asparagus.

It all started rather harmlessly at first. Asparagus was a great friend of Old Deuteronomy after all, so even when Macavity was four or five he spent much of his time in close proximity to the actor. His love for the stage came naturally as he had spent so much time in and around concert halls whilst growing up. By the time that Asparagus started taking a shine to him, it was all he could do to impress the cat that he spent so much of his youth admiring.

Macavity was ten when he first started feeling strange feelings for the much older tom.

At age eleven he tried to impress him with philosophy as The Cheshire Cat, at age twelve he tried to impress him with his bravery to leap across the stage as the Rumpus Cat. At age thirteen he tried to impress Asparagus with his philosophical patter, and at age fourteen he tried to impress him with his charisma.

At age fifteen he discovered his dark side, and finally found that he could truly impress Asparagus with his performances. Macavity became so excited that he spent an entire month rewriting a version of Growltiger's Last Stand just to surprise Asparagus, who responded very well to the metaphor and imagery. By the time Macavity was sixteen years old, he had become certain that he was in love with Asparagus. Hopeless, romantic love.

Macavity began to compare himself to the great Oscar Wilde, a human he idolised as a hopeless romantic. He would write short stories and poems, crush cats with scathing wit and impress those around him with an unbounded confidence. When he was offered the role of Firefrorefiddle, he felt his life changing forever. For Asparagus to offer him that role, it only cemented something in his mind. It took two months and a series of intense, intimate rehearsals for Macavity to truly believe that his feelings for Asparagus were reciprocal.

But the rehearsals ticked on. The new version of Firefrorefiddle, penned by Asparagus, was a tortured soul. With hatred in his heart and a terrifying exterior, he was a magical cat feared by many across the land. Asparagus began teaching Macavity in the art of method acting, to truly put himself into the mind-set of the character. He tasked Macavity to continue writing stories and poetry, but to write them as this character. To get into his mind and understand what it was like to be him.

This proved to be the third-greatest mistake ever made in the history of the Jellicle tribe.

Macavity began changing. It was small things at first, such as the occasional day or two without grooming, but this started to snowball. After a matter of weeks he did not groom at all, his coat quickly becoming dusty under the hot sun. His claws began to grow awkwardly and sharply, while his whiskers pointed at strange angles. In a word, he started to look a physical mess.

His interactions with other members of the tribe soon became abrasive as well. His razor-sharp wit turned into snide remarks, his confidence became over-confidence and his personality started to change overnight. Many of the elders saw this and many consulted Asparagus on what was happening to his prodigy. Asparagus only smiled and said that it was "Marvellous method-acting, so it would be wise to leave him to it."

This proved to be the second-greatest mistake ever made in the history of the Jellicle tribe.

For if someone had stepped in, they could have perhaps prevented Macavity from getting stuck in the mindset of Firefrorefiddle. Someone could have put an end to the poetry, which turned into mad diaries, which turned into insane scribblings on the walls of Old Deuteronomy's den. Deuteronomy tried to stop his son from continuing his madness, but this only proved the catalyst for a fight so loud and scathing that it left their relationship in tatters and caused Macavity to seek his own den.

Of course, he ended up asking Asparagus to let him stay in his den for a while, to which Asparagus obliged.

By the time that opening night came around, very little make-up was required to make Macavity look like a perfect recreation of the demonic Firefrorefiddle. Perhaps if he had managed to take to that stage and perform the role admirably, things may have turned out differently. Perhaps if everything had gone perfectly after five performances, Macavity would have been given a rest. Perhaps he would have been handed a new role after a while, a far more calm and collected figure for him to become. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

But the truth of the matter was far more insidious. With only fifteen minutes until the curtains lifted, Asparagus and Macavity sat backstage in a small dressing-room.

"I'm nervous." Macavity muttered quietly as he drove his palms into his eyes, rubbing them to make himself wide awake ahead of the performance.

"Opening night jitters." Asparagus replied calmly, patting Macavity's back as they sat beside each other on a large sofa. "This is rather unlike yourself, historically you perform admirably under pressure." He turned to the side, lifting a half-full glass from the side-table. "But if you are feeling rather nervous, you ought to take this."

Macavity sat up and glanced at the glass. He reached out and took it, lifting the liquid to his nose and giving it a smell before pulling a face and making a disgusted sound. "This is alcohol!" He exclaimed, holding it at a distance. "I can't drink this! I'm only sixteen!"

Asparagus smirked. "Perhaps you cannot drink this mere toothful of gin, Macavity... but I wonder, is there perhaps a cat who you could call upon to perform this task? I promise I will not tell a soul." As he got older, Asparagus would often revisit this scene in his memory and wonder whether he should have done things differently. Though it ought to be said that giving alcohol to a minor was not the worst thing he did.

Macavity paused for a moment before an awful, insidious smile grew across his lips. His eyebrows furrowed as he lashed his head back and poured the drink down his throat without flinching. After swallowing the foreign liquid he jerked back into position and threw the glass down on the floor. Asparagus looked shocked, but impressed.

There were now only ten minutes until curtain.

Taking a few breaths, Macavity rubbed his paws together. "Asparagus, allow me to thank you." He said, getting to his feet. "For all of the wonderful things you have done for me in the years I have been alive, it is you I am indebted to for this career on the stage."

Asparagus smiled but shook his head. "No Macavity, you must be indebted to yourself. For you have a talent so magnificent, a star so bright, that you will outshine everything else on this planet. You will be the most famous cat of them all, of that I am certain."

Macavity did a few little jumps and cleared his throat. He was getting ready for the performance. "Just let me say that if it was not for you, I cannot imagine where I would be right now other than sat in the shadows of my collective siblings. Now it is they who will sit in my shadow!" He yelled, quoting a line from the play.

Asparagus got to his feet as he grinned, approaching Macavity to mess up the fur around his chest further. "You must look utterly perfect." He stated simply, moving on to smooth the fur around Macavity's face. "Absolutely perfect. You are the image of perfection, the perfect Firefrorefiddle."

Macavity loved the touching. He grinned and placed his paws on Asparagus' shoulders, who mistook his affection for a hug. "It may be a tad unprofessional..." Asparagus started, before responding with a small hug. "But perhaps we can get away with this if neither of us tells anyone." He was referring to the hug, and doing so with a knowing wink.

Macavity thought he was referring to something completely different. "Deal." Macavity said bluntly, truly and completely believing that the far older tom had just agreed to a relationship. With no further words, Macavity placed his paws on Asparagus' cheeks and moved sharply to press their lips together in a small kiss.

Asparagus completely flipped out.

He pushed Macavity back and yelled at him. He screamed in anger at the ginger tom, reprimanding him for every indiscretion he could think of and demanding that he offer an explanation for such a disgraceful – and disgusting – behaviour. He fiercely told Macavity that he should never even consider doing such a heinous thing again, but he would consider forgiving the tom if he went on stage and gave the most brilliant performance of his life. Only then would he even humour the idea of working with him again.

As you may have already guessed, this proved to be the greatest mistake made in the history of the Jellicle tribe.

Macavity glanced at the clock. Two minutes until the curtain was lifted. Without saying a word, he span on his heel and marched out the room, up the adjoining stairs and onto the stage. A large curtain blocked him from the expectant audience. He was shaking with anger and betrayal. Rejection stirred a madness inside him that only continued to build. By the time the curtain lifted, Macavity was in a frenzy.

"You will all die!" He yelled in anger and malice. He stormed to the front of the stage, fists burning with rage. "I shall tear apart each of you limb from limb, until nothing remains but a shadow of your memory. All of you will be wiped from this earth until your very existence is eradicated from history, nobody will ever even know that you once were! You shall be no more." He breathed heavily.

The hoarde of cats in attendance rose to their feet and gave a rapture of applause. Murmurings of 'brilliant' and 'historic' could be heard, just as whispers of 'mesmeric' and 'ingenious'. This applause, suffice to say, made Macavity even angrier.

For he was not reciting a script of any kind. The applause at his genuine expression of anger felt like taunts to Macavity. His fists began to glow bright red as he clenched them tightly and let out a demonic scream of despair. It was only when Asparagus stormed the stage that the cats in attendance began to question what was going on, and it took Macavity's first ever moment of magic to strike fear into their hearts.

Macavity turned and screamed in Asparagus' face before throwing a punch at him. The clenched fist missed entirely, but something else happened. From his paw flew a fireball so bright that many averted their eyes, though it vanished almost as soon as it had been called into existence – for Macavity's first magic was to unknowingly throw a ball of fire directly into Asparagus' face, which collapsed him to the ground in an unconscious heap.

The cats in the audience began to scream. Many ran desperately for their lives, while others tried to pretend that this was all part of the show. Macavity could not deal with the torrent of emotions in his head and he ran through the exits everyone else used, which only exacerbated the problem as many pointed and screamed that he was a monster.

Macavity agreed with them. He was a monster. A terrifying monster who now had no choice but to run, to just run until his legs could carry him no more, to escape from the Junkyard and find a new home away from these terrible creatures. To make new friends and never to set foot anywhere near the Junkyard – and Asparagus – again.

For Asparagus' part, he recovered reasonably well. His fur never quite grew back properly, while his voice – and vision – became weak after the terrible pain settled. Though he would never regale the true story of how Macavity the Theatre Cat became Macavity the Mystery Cat, he would occasionally think back to those days and consider 'what if'. He began to request that cats call him 'Gus' rather than 'Asparagus' to distance himself from the memories, and it was only on his deathbed that he told Old Deuteronomy the truth, which became simply another story that Deuteronomy knew but would never tell another soul.

For Macavity... well, do you really need to be told what happened next? One thing remained true as he grew older and began to lose his sanity - Asparagus knew that Macavity would become more famous than he could ever manage. After all, his star shone brighter than that of any other Junkyard cat.

In the last glimmering moments of Asparagus' life, he saw Deuteronomy pat him on the shoulder and sadly leave the room. As he drew his final breaths, seemingly alone, his eyes were opened to the sight of something unexpected - the final lines of Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell, performed by Macavity, the Theatre Cat.

All the queens in their beauty, their lives I shall sour,

As under my wonder they will beg to cower.

All the tomcats who love them I promise to harrow –

Now it is they who will sit in my shadow.