Disclaimer: I do not own the musical Cats or any of its characters. However, I do own the kittens.
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The Curious Kitten
"Tugger!"
The Rum Tum Tugger smirked, choosing to ignore the irritating voice shouting his name. Not that he wasn't used to queens shouting his name out for one reason or another, but usually they were happy to see him. This one definitely not happy. And although he couldn't make out the owner of the voice over Etcetera's squealing, the mere fact that the queen wasn't happy with him meant it was either Jellylorum, Jennyanydots, Demeter, or Bomba in one of her moods.
"Tugger!"
The voice was louder this time, but Tugger continued to ignore it, whipping his hips from side to side. The four queen-kittens around him desperately tried to keep up, their eyes just barely managing to follow his movements. Poor Victoria was starting to look a little dizzy from swinging her head around, but Etcetera was enthusiastic as ever (of course). Their mews of pleasure let him know that, oh yeah, he still had it.
Of course. The day the Tugger lost his appeal would be a long way off.
Suddenly the squealing kittens were squealing for an entirely different reason, scrambling out of the way as an irate tabby queen stormed straight through their group and did the unthinkable:
She grabbed the Rum Tum Tugger's mane.
Tugger let out a wordless protest as the queens gasped in shock, their eyes wide as they regrouped, huddling together to the maned tom's left. Jennyanydots didn't pay attention to any of them, giving the Curious Cat a glare that made him want to cringe back, whimpering. He resisted the urge (it wouldn't do to look cowardly in front of his fanclub).
"Come with me," the normally cheerful queen snapped, not releasing her hold as she turned and marched off the way she had come. Tugger had no choice but to follow, half-stumbling but having no choice but to walk backwards as she dragged him. His fanqueens mewed sadly as he left them, but there was nothing he could do while she still held his fur.
"Jenny, Jenny!" he shouted desperately, fearing for the safety of his beloved mane. "What's up? I can walk, Jenny, I'll follow, I swear! Just let go of the mane. C'mon, please?" His begging did the trick, and with a huff Jenny finally let go, glaring as he came to a stop to comb down the fur as best he could. Once he noticed his stare on her, he fluffed the vest-like hair proudly and started walking again.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'," he muttered. "What's this about, anyway? I didn't do anything…recently."
"You'll see," Jenny hissed, obviously angry about something. The reason became clear just a moment later, although when Tugger saw it, he wasn't sure whether he should laugh or feel proud.
Veles had finally been declared old enough to kitten-sit at fourteen years (under the supervision of his mother, Jenny). He was sitting on a junk-pile with his arms crossed, smirking at the sight in front of him. Arion, Meret and Thanatos were seated next to him, Thanatos apparently trying to teach the younger kittens something. That wasn't what caught the Tugger's eye.
Not too far away was another gathering of kittens. Jarilo, Clorinda, Laodice, and Hypnos were all in a circle around Satis. The situation was a lot like the one the Tugger himself had just left, except that it was his seven-year-old queen-kitten that was shaking her hips, and the other four kittens just looked puzzled.
"Explain this," Jennyanydots hissed to him, pointing towards the center of the clearing. "You see what kind of example you're setting for your daughter?"
"Aw, Jenny, lighten up," Tugger said in his most soothing voice. "Looks like the kittens're just havin' fun."
"Having fun?" Jenny asked incredulously. "Tugger! That's highly inappropriate behavior for a kitten who's only seven years old! Not to mention, she bullied those kittens into sitting around her because she thought that's what she's supposed to do! She tried to get Veles in on it too, if you believe that!"
"Oh, I believe it," Tugger snorted, watching his daughter shake in a passable imitation of him, and settling finally on pride rather than laughter. "Looks like he's enjoying the show, too."
Jenny's head whipped around to glare at her son, who was watching Satis with the same smirk on his face. He looked like he was on the verge of laughter, but when he sensed his mother's intense glare, he turned to her with a 'Who, me?' look on his face. Jenny's glare didn't diminish as she turned back towards Tugger, growling softly.
"That's not funny! Tugger, you have to stop this! The kit's just as stubborn as you were, she won't listen to Veles or to me. And you have to tell her not to do it again! She can't force the other kittens into games they don't want to pl—"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Tugger interrupted her, smoothly moving away and heading towards the center. Satis was enjoying her time in the spotlight immensely, but grinned and waved as her father approached.
"Hi, Daddy!" she chirped, not bothering to stop wiggling as she greeted him. "Look! I do it like you!"
Tugger couldn't hide his "proud father" grin, and didn't bother trying. "Nice, babe! Looks like you even got a little fanclub of your own, huh?"
Satis nodded enthusiastically, stopping her shaking for a moment to smooth down her scarlet fur and fluff up the mane she'd inherited from her father. "Uh-huh, uh-huh! But Thannie and Vellie and Mer were mean, they wouldn't play! And Meret wouldn't even let Arion play either!" Satis pouted to show her displeasure. "But that's okay, 'cause I got Jari and Hyppie and 'Dice and 'Rinda!"
The four kittens on the ground were looking up at Tugger with wide eyes, still confused about what they were supposed to be doing.
"Aw, babe, that's okay," he consoled her, holding out an arm. The kitten abandoned her "fanclub" in a hurry, running to take her usual place by her father's side as he draped the arm over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go visit your mother, huh? Show off those moves to her. Make 'er proud."
"'Kay!" Satis responded happily, and the two headed off, paying no mind to the glare still directed at Tugger from Jennyanydots as they passed.
Needless to say, Tugger never told Satis off for what she had done. And Bombalurina was, in fact, extremely proud of her kitten for her "moves".
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A/N: Heh, this is going to be fun to write!
All of the kittens here also appeared in my story A Spark Neglected, albeit only for a sentence or two for most. I also plan on adding in kittens that haven't been born yet in my little world (timelines do not exist here! Who knows? Maybe the next one will be set years in the future, and then back to around this time for the chapter after that!).