Disclaimer: I do not own Cats. If I did, it would tour constantly.
This is my first Cats fanfic, inspired by the fact there are hardly ANY Electra/RTT fics! Like, what? Not really a pairing fic, but some VERY minor Tugger/Bomba near the end, and I guess some Victoria/Misto if you squint really hard, but it can be interpreted as platonic or siblings as well. Rated K+ for fluffiness. (I spend SO LONG trying to choose a title and I still don't know if I'm satisfied with it...)
Author's note:(You don't have to read this for the story to make sense, I'm just rambling. XD) Anyways, the other kittens all get their fair share of the Tugger, so I thought I'd give Electra hers too. Also, a trend in fics that I've noticed is that in order to pair whatever fankitten with whatever other cat, they have Tugger be an ass to them as a plot-device for the other cat to run in and comfort them, which kind of bothers me. I mean, he IS an ass, but I think he cares about the kittens just as much as anybody else in the tribe. He just has an, um, unconventional way of showing it at times. As for Electra, I think she's very underappreciated, so I explored it a little in the fic.
Anyway, enjoy!
Electra was lying forlornly in a forgotten pipe in the Junkyard, her coat lightly covered in dust.
Her eyes scanned the area, and the feeling of despondency grew in the pit of her stomach. The kitten sighed and flopped onto her side, wanting to curl up into the tightest ball she could manage and never emerge from it again, ever.
A breeze blew through the yard, sending crisp packets and old newspaper cuttings go flitting across the ground like bizarrely-colored butterflies. A lone buttercup bobbed in the slightly puff of wind, yellowy petals catching the light. Distantly, she could hear the Jellicles.
The other kittens had been worried about their friend, but each attempt at communication with the dark-furred kitten was quietly rebuffed.
For it was Electra's friends that were the problem...
There was a sharp intake of breath as Victoria's leg climbed higher and higher, the snow-white kittens face never showing any distress at the enormous amount of effort her body was exerting. Even Etcetera, who normally could not sit still for five seconds, was lying beside Electra and Jemima, perfectly serene, content to simply watch Victoria dance.
As Victoria completed her routine, there was a sigh of awe from her three female friends, and some of the younger toms had also come to watch. Pouncival was jiggling excitedly on the spot, Tumblebrutus was grinning and Mistoffelees (despite the fact he was known to simply vanish half the time, Victoria's dancing seemed to be one of the few surefire ways to tempt him back to the Junkyard.) looked wistful. Electra could see Plato and Alonzo sitting together on top of the oven as well.
Victoria smiled as she padded softly back over to her friends, settling down and resting her aching limbs with a look of contentment on her features. Although her legs and arms were aching slightly, she wouldn't have traded the rush of euphoria she always felt whilst dancing for anything.
"That was amazing, Victoria!" Pouncival piped up, bouncing even more enthusiastically as he spoke.
"You're so good!" squealed Etcetera.
Jemima and Electra merely grinned at their friend to signal their approval, and Victoria accepted the compliments as well as she danced, a little smile flitting across her face...
"Electra?"
Electra cracked open an eye to see Jennyanydots peering kindly down at her, her face etched with an anxious concern.
"Are you alright, dear? You seem to have been a bit out-of-sorts in the past couple of days."
"I'm fine, Auntie Jenny, honestly." Electra said, which was true. She wasn't terminally ill or anything, but she opted for a white lie. "My...my tummy hurts."
"Ah," another voice said, as though they had just made a great revelation. Electra didn't need to open her other eye to know the voice belonged to Jellylorum. "I thought that might be it. I hope it's not because of that mouse I saw you kittens playing with the day before yesterday."
"No, Auntie Jelly," Electra replied, truthfully.
The two older Queens fussed and speculated on what could be making Electra sick for a few minutes, which the dark kitten tuned out. Then, after concluding that all the kitten needed was some rest, they bid her farewell and left, presumably to go tell the other kittens to leave her alone for now and let her sleep.
Electra wished it was that simple.
The full moon shone down upon the Junkyard, its soft silvery glow making every tiny scrap of metal glitter enticingly. It had the strange ability to do that, the moonlight. Turn trash into treasure, morph grime into glitter. In the moonlight, almost everything looked beautiful.
That was how listening to Jemima's voice felt.
Electra had closed her eyes as the youngest Jellicle's voice floated through the air. It was so sweet and pure, almost as if something had descended down from the Heaviside Layer just to sing to them for a few minutes. Nobody spoke as Jemima's voice soared into the final part of her song- like a great, gossamer bird soaring upwards towards the inky-blue sky and join the stars that glittered as they were suspended above.
"Jemima...wow..." murmured Tumblebrutus supplied, rather weakly, seemingly lost for words.
Jemima smiled shyly and looked down as the other kittens fawned over her. While Victoria was always gracious and polite when being praised, it seemed to embarrass Jemima. The youngest kitten loved to sing, but often the power of her voice got her more attention than she was prepared for...
Electra could hear squealing and glanced towards the noise. Etcetera was playing some kind of complicated game with Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, and she leapt forwards to jump on a sparkly object on the ground, before one of the two tomkits playfully tackled her and stole the object for himself. Victoria was sitting nearby, chatting with Mistoffelees. Electra suspected that he'd probably come around to amuse the others with a new magic trick that he had learned. Jemima laughed as Etcetera yanked the twinkling ball from right beneath the two males' noses and darting off with it, causing the other two to give chase, and the trio quickly vanished from sight.
Etcetera was good at that, Electra reflected- although her hyperactive, energetic nature often tired out the adults, she was always making people laugh with her clownish antics. It was no wonder that everybody had a soft spot for the light-colored kitten.
Electra looked down at herself. She felt small. Small, dark and plain. Like a rock amongst diamonds, they glittered brightly beneath the spotlight while she was simply there.
Just Electra.
"Yo. Any room for one more?"
Electra jumped as a drawling voice suddenly sounded above her. Looking up, her mouth fell open slightly in surprise as she saw the last cat that she was expecting standing right in front of her- it was none other than the Rum Tum Tugger.
Without waiting for Electra to respond (probably because she had yet to close her mouth) he padded inside the pipe and lay down beside the dark kitten. She glanced at him, wondering if he was only teasing her or climbing into the pipe to get something, but he seemed to have firmly settled down, right there next to her.
Electra was stumped. Normally she was only in the presence of Tugger with the other kittens, so his full attention was always divided into four, at least. Normally she would have been thrilled that the Curious Cat was alone with her, but he had caught her not only completely by surprise but also whilst she was lying around like a forgotten ragdoll and feeling distinctly disheartened and lonely.
"So. Why the sad face, hmm?"
Electra jolted a little again (why was she suddenly so skittish? Had she turned into Demeter or something?) when Tugger spoke, but she quickly recovered and gave her standard response.
"No reason...I'm fine."
"Hm," Tugger said, sounding amused. He looked at her with those beguiling golden eyes, and she found herself getting lost in them for a moment. "Not buying it, dollface. Something's the matter, or you wouldn't be sitting in this grimy old pipe on your own. Why aren't you with the other kittens?"
Electra laid her head on her paws.
"Just don't feel like it." she mumbled.
They were both quiet for a minute. By now, the kittens had moved on and Electra could no longer see them, and the adults had drifted off to either keep an eye on the errant children or do their own thing.
"They seem worried about you," Tugger commented offhandedly, but he was watching Electra for a reaction. She seemed unsurprised by this remark, so he guessed they hadn't had a fight or she probably wouldn't have expected them to care. So it had to be something else...
"It's just..."
He waited as little Electra struggled to find the right words.
"...they're so...so much better than I am."
Tugger blinked. Whatever he had been expecting the dark kitten to say, it hadn't been that.
"What're you talking about, doll?" he asked.
Electra heaved a deep sigh.
"Jemmie's the youngest and she has the most beautiful voice out of allof us. Everyone says so. Victoria's got that beautiful snowy-white fur and she's the best dancer, or the best along with Mistoffelees. And 'Cettie's so funny and giggly and everybody likes her and then I'm just..."
She paused.
"Electra." she finished, lamely.
Tugger felt surprise, then a pang of sympathy. So this was what the moping had been about? He had heard Jenny and Jelly fussing about one of the kittens and had noticed his fanclub seemed a little smaller than usual (which had at first alarmed him slightly) and after observing that Electra had been lying all by herself in a pipe yesterday for almost the whole day, he had assumed she was just sick or tired or something and gone back to what he was doing. But who knew that she felt this way? If he hadn't decided to personally investigate the matter, who knows how long the dark kitten would have stayed in that pipe. (Tugger decided to ignore the fact that Jenny and Jelly had only been to see her a little while ago.)
"Babe. Look at me." he instructed, not unkindly, and Electra glanced up at him, looking worried, as if she was expecting to be told off for feigning illness. But instead, Tugger chuckled slightly.
"Alright, so 'Mima's a brilliant singer, right? That's her talent. It's what she's good at and it's what makes her happy, right?" she nodded, and he continued. "Same with Vicky. She's an amazing dancer and she'll always be an amazing dancer. But we also know that 'Mima's not the best dancer in the world and Vicky isn't all that big on singing. And as for 'Cettie, she's alright at both, isn't she? She just has a little bit extra because, well...she's 'Cettie."
He shrugged.
"Now, take a look at me." he went on, and smirked at Electra's enthusiastic nod. "I'm The Tugger. Nobody can compete with that, it's what I do and it's what I do best. Obviously. Whereas Munk's the leader, which is what he's good at. A little TOO good if you ask me, but anyway..." he stretched. "You're a good singer anddancer, 'Lectra. You might not be as good at singing as 'Mima or dancing as Vicky, but you can still do it. And you're not like 'Cettie- which is good, because otherwise, it wouldn't be 'Cettie's thing anymore, would it?"
"I guess so." Electra agreed, cocking her head a little bit.
"And anyway, you're only a kitten. Not every kitten figures out what their talent is as early as 'Mima and Vicky have," Tugger said, to which Electra looked surprised. "I mean, I was born being the Tugger, but I'm an exception. But everybody can do somethingbetter than everyone else. You just don't know what that is yet. If you think about it...you're the whole package, 'Lectra."
Electra thought about that. The possibility that she might have an undiscovered talent had never occurred to her- everybody she knew just seemed to have it already firmly established. At this, Tugger stood up and began to walk out. Just as he did, though, he turned back.
"And just between you and me, dollface..."
Here, Electra leant in; her eyes wide as Tugger leant down and spoke quietly into her ear.
"You...have the most beautiful eyes out of anybody in the whole Junkyard."
He smirked at Electra's soft gasp and pulled back, fluffing out his mane as he did so.
"But that stays just between us, alright?"
Electra nodded enthusiastically, and he chuckled and flicked a paw.
"Now go off and play, or whatever it is you kittens do."
Electra scrambled to her feet, her face positively glowing with happiness. She began to sprint off, but she turned and smiled radiantly at him at the last minute.
"Thank you, Tugger!" she gasped, delighted, and then streaked away, a mere black-and-gold blur as she raced around the corner to catch up with her fellow kittens.
The Rum Tum Tugger smirked at Electra's complete shift and demeanor and sauntered off, feeling very pleased with himself. As far as he was concerned, cheering up a member of his fanclub was his good deed for the day, and he now intended to spent the rest of it doing exactly as he pleased. (Speaking of which, he needed to go find Bombalurina...)
However, he couldn't help reflecting on one thing in particular he had imparted to the dark kitten during their little chat.
He really hadn't been exaggerating about her eyes.
Liked it? Then please review! :D
(Electra means 'shining' or 'light', so I thought the title was appropriate. Yes, I am such a tragic nerd.)