m"Rum that's enough! Why can't you behave like the second son of Old Deuteronomy which you are? What's so difficult about it?"
The cat in question, a young Maine coon tom, snickered from behind his shoulder and kept running from the main square in the Junkyard. On his face there was a cocky smirk and no trace of repentance. Behind him another young cat, this time a silver tabby tom, kept running and screaming trying, without much success, to inculcate at least some common sense into the thick skull of his younger brother. After a little while the silver tabby, whose name was Munkunstrap, decided that he was not going to have his way with his brother, even if he could have caught him, so he stopped his chase and went back to the old tire that housed his father thinking that his brother was eventually going to come back to the Junkyard.
After a while, not hearing any steps from behind him, the young Maine coon started to slow down his mad dash till he was merely walking around. Fluffing his still short mane a bit he started sashaying by himself muttering something about stick-in-the-mud-brothers; he perfectly remembered a time, not so long before, when his brother was his best friend and playmate, his role-model and counselor. But that time had been cut awfully short by the sudden death of their mothers at the hand of Macavity. After that his father decided to start training Munkunstrap to be the new Jellicle Protector, so he separated them; but if Munkus had someone to help him cope with the grief from their mother sudden demise, Rum was completely left to his own devices that turned out to be a continuous scandal for the Jellicle tribe. He started to act out and mouth off the elders and, probably worst of all, started to lead on every single queen in the Yard, creating a stage persona, the Rum Tum Tugger, that completely substituted the shy and thoughtful kitten that he had been previous their mother's death. By the time that Munkus had been able to talk to his brother the damage was done and nobody could do a thing to reverse it if not bear with it and hope that, someday, something or someone would be enough to change back the young tom. Nobody really knew that the wheels of destiny were already moving and the Rum Tum Tugger was about to meet the two most important people in his life.
A soft meow cut through the musings of the tom kit who, at first, thought he was imagining things. But then another pitiful whining came and he whirled around so to pinpoint exactly the place where the sound had come from. After a couple of minutes of searching Tugger stumble across a carton box from where, apparently, the whining was coming from. Cautiously, fur sponged up and claws unsheathed, he peered into the box and got badly startled when his nose came into contact with another nose. Jumping back hissing he managed to pull the box with him and from the carton out came tumbling two small cats. Bewildered Tugger only managed to remain crunched into a defensive position, completely speechless with was definitely strange for him, while one of the two kitten produced a defensive stance of its own in front of the other one who simply curled itself behind the first. The one in the defensive crouch looked ready to attack, realized the Tugger, who decided that the best course of action was to sheath his claws and relax his stance; he definitely knew he had the upper hand with the small kittens, but this didn't mean that they couldn't do some damage to him.
Seeing that the Maine coon didn't want to attack them, the kittens relaxed their positions as well, one sitting and the other one uncurling. This allowed the young tom to have a good look at them: they were probably brothers even though he couldn't really be sure about that based on the coloring: one was a small tuxedo tom kit, with white back paws, black tail with a white tip and white fur on his face. The other one, the one that was curled, was again a tom kit, but a completely black. Deciding that the best course of action was to get the kittens talking he started circling them giving them a wide berth so to understand he didn't want to harm them. The kittens seemed to get the fact he wasn't dangerous and they let him sniff them.
"Hello, I am the Rum Tum Tugger and I come from the Jellicle tribe. Who are you?"
The tuxedo kit looked to the other one, who simply nodded, and went back to looking at the coon. After what felt like a lifetime to Tugger the kit decided to satisfy his question: "My name is Quaxo and this is my brother Lenny. Our family has been killed by an evil cat. We currently have no place to go, and we are afraid that the henchcats will come back to finish the job and kill us."
In that exact moment Tugger realized that the two kittens were badly hurt and that only their black fur managed to keep the long gashes hidden from a passing glance. While trying to assess the damage without being caught spying the coon realized that the speech he had just been given was too long and articulate for a cat he supposed to be just a small kit; he knew he had misjudged their ages, or at least Quaxo's so he asked: "How old are you? How long will it take for you to become Toms?"
This time the answer was provided by the small black tom and when he started to speak Tugger felt like he was completely captivated by the deep and rich voice of this kit. His beautiful and soft voice caressed him like the light breeze in spring and his lilac eyes –odd color for a tom and yet so different from the emerald green of his brother, sparkled like shining stars. So lost in the magic the Maine coon almost lost half the answer: "My brother will become a Tom in a year and I will become a one six months after that."
Wait, that couldn't be! No sooner the Tugger had thought it than the smallcat caught up with his doubt and, smiling, proceeded to give an answer: "We come from two different mothers who lived together when they encountered our father. Qauxo's mother died giving birth to him so he was raised by my mother. That's why he introduced us as brothers."
Too busy to breath and clear his head so to take a smart decision, Tugger missed the knowing glance the two brothers shared.
"Oooooook, so let me get this straight: you two are half brothers, who lost their family due to an evil cat, and now you have nowhere to go and you fear you have some henchcats hot on your tails."
While muttering to himself he started pacing back and forth on the spot and missing, again, the snickers and smiles the two brothers shared. Nodding their assent to the absent minded coon who really wasn't expecting an answer, they waited patiently while the young tom took his decision.
Do you think we will be safe with the Jellicle tribe? Or Macavity will harm them as well in his mad search for us?
I don't know Lena. With Macavity on the loose we will always be in danger, but this Tugger seemed to believe our story, so if we are presented as half brothers – male cats – we shouldn't draw HIS attention. And by the way how do you know we will go to the Jellicles?
I've read it in his mind Misto. He is trying to decide whether or not he should talk to his brother before going to his father. He is a troubled cat. His mother just died and he has been neglected by the entire tribe so he avenged himself by becoming a trouble-maker. The side of him we are seeing now will disappear as soon as we'll enter the Yard.
You sure that he is not trouble himself? We'll be ok to trust him? 'Cause I really think he is a cocky show-off!
Don't judge a book by his cover Misto! Otherwise you know what everybody will say about us! The attitude he's showing and will show is just a defense against the entire world. I really think he doesn't really have a close friend and I think you two will make quite a pair.
Are you looking into the future again little sister? Or this is another hunch of yours? And what about your role into this young tom's life? Surely you don't plan on disappear, and I can already detect a trace of interest. Am I wrong?
The young queen blushed scarlet and ducked her head in order to hide his blush from the coon, who was still pacing in front of them.
Misto! What are you insinuating? I haven't looked into the future, I don't need it to know that you two fit perfectly into a friendship. And no, I don't plan to try a disappearing act and yes I might have some interest: c'mon look at him! He will make a really gorgeous looking tom once he turns. Look at the mane he has: I'm sure he'll be a really good mate for any Queen he will desire. And no, I won't pursue him, not to put him in danger: you know who we are and what we could do, and you also know I will never take a mate. Plus I'm currently hiding as a MALE cat, so there's no chance in Heaviside that he will look at me with that kind of interest.
Her brother had the decency to look abashed and scooted a little bit closer, nuzzling her cheek trying to apologize and comfort the black cat.
I'm really sorry Lena, forgive me! Of course I know who we are and what we could do and I know as well as you do that there is no mate for us. If they discover what we can do, they'll be frightened of us. If not we should take into consideration that Macavity will probably kill us before we can even think about having kittens. Even if all of this is true, though, you look good as a male, so I think you'll definitely have a problem with the queens we'll meet.
All the young cat could do was smile sadly at his brother before the coon whirled towards them and, cocky smile back in place, he looked at them and uttered his decision: "You are coming to the Junkyard with me! You can talk to our leader, Old Deuteronomy, and plead your case. I cannot guarantee you that he'll say yes, but we can take it from there if he says no…"
Both the cats looked at the coon who was growing uncertain and depressed by the minute, which was really creepy in contrast with the devil-may-care attitude he had sported a few minutes before.
Before Tugger could question himself any further and lose whatever little faith he had in himself, Quaxo's decided to trust his sister's hunch of a great friendship between the two of them and approached the older tom and nuzzled him. "There is no need for you to worry this much! We are very much grateful for everything you are doing and will do for us! If your leader doesn't accept us, it will not be your fault and you'll not lose our friendship."
The bewildered look the Maine coon sported had the small tux thinking he had said something terribly wrong, but the next words cleared everything: "Friendship? You sure you want to be my friends? Nobody is my friend and my brother just left me, saying I wasn't mature enough for my age…"
Lenny decided to help his brother out and got closer to the male cats, nuzzling Tugger's chest in a gesture of affection. "Of course we'll be your friends. You seem a very good cat and we never judge someone from his actions but from his heart, and you have a very big heart! Thank you for helping us!"
Tugger could only stare at the two younger cats while they kept nuzzling him, trying to reassure him of their goodwill. Finally accepting their words and trusting them, as he never trusted anybody before except his mother, he nuzzled them in return.
When they stopped cuddling he motioned his two new friends to follow him and started his way back to the yard.