…Wow guys, really? Only two reviews, one of them being my brother? I can understand that not all of my subscribers will have heard of CATS, but good gravy, I was expecting at least some of the other CATS fans to take some interest… Ah well, I'm not here for you guys anyway…Just kidding, I love you all, even when you ignore me!
Disclaimer: I don't own Cats or any of its characters.
Chapter 2: Their Jellicle History
Leaving the rest of the tribe behind, Munkustrap, Kiara and Cookie followed Old Deuteronomy between various piles of junk before stopping before an old bed with ratty old blankets and pillows. They each jumped up onto the bed and sat down. "Now then," said Old Deuteronomy once everyone was comfortable, "What's the story here?"
Munkustrap told the Jellicle Leader what Kiara and Cookie had told him, and Old Deuteronomy listened attentively. When the telling was done, he turned to the sisters and said, "So, before this day you've never known what a Jellicle cats is?"
Kiara shrugged. "Well, like my sister said, we've heard the term 'Jellicle cat' before, but we never knew exactly what I meant. Honestly, it's driving me crazy not knowing where I've heard that term."
Old Deuteronomy nodded, but he wasn't looking at Kiara; he was looking at Cookie. It was making Cookie quite uncomfortable, and she was starting to squirm. At last, Old Deuteronomy said, "You said you've never left your human's abode before in your life?"
Nervously, Cookie nodded.
The Jellicle leader looked very confused. "It's so strange," he said quietly, "You look so familiar…"
Cookie nervously scratched her ear. "That's really weird," she mumbled, "Because I've never left that house…"
Old Deuteronomy thought carefully. Then he looked to Munkustrap and said, "See if you can find Skimbleshanks; perhaps his memory will be better than mine."
Munkustrap's ear twitched, and he looked a bit uncomfortable. "Skimbleshanks has not yet arrived, father. Rumpleteazer said that the stationmaster's daughter was holding him back and he would be a bit late."
Inwardly, Cookie thought to herself, "'Father'? He's the son of the Jellicle leader?" Of course, now she could see the resemblance between them.
Suddenly, a voice with a thick Scottish accent said, "Actually, Ah just got heere."
Cookie and Kiara turned to see and orange tabby cat with a vest on walking towards them. He looked like he could have been a Scottish Fold, but his ears weren't as…well, folded as they should have been. Old Deuteronomy smiled warmly at him. "Ah, Skimbleshanks, good to see you."
Skimbleshanks bowed his head respectfully at the Jellicle leader. "Ah do apologize for bein' late. I was takin' a shortcut through heere, but it appears ah'm needed heere more than at the—"
When he saw Cookie, he froze in the middle of his sentence, his eyes wide with shock. Cookie looked around to see if he might have possibly been looking at someone else, but there was no one behind her or close enough that his gaze might be mistaken. He shakily stuttered, "S-Scarlet?"
Kiara's ears perked up at this. "Scarlet was our mom's name! You knew her?"
Old Deuteronomy looked sharply at Kiara in amazement. "Scarlet was your mother? So that is why your sister…I can't believe I didn't see it sooner!"
"Wait, how did you know their mother?" asked Munkustrap, who looked just as confused as Cookie and Kiara felt.
"Are ye kiddin'," asked Skimbleshanks, who was now grinning but still looked a bit shaken up, "She was one o' our top singers!"
Kiara's and Cookie's jaws dropped. Their mother, a Jellicle cat? Suddenly, Kiara gasped. "That's where we've heard that term! Our mother always told stories about a tribe of cats who could sing and dance like no other cats! I thought it was a fairytale for so long that I completely forgot about it!"
Cookie was amazed. "I can't believe we didn't remember that…" she said, trailing off.
Munkustrap looked to his father. "But doesn't this mean…?"
"Yes," said Old Deuteronomy, "While not officially, they are technically members of the Jellicle tribe."
Cookie was so shocked that she could hardly find the air to breathe. Of all the things she had expected to happen that night, this wasn't even on the list. She looked to her sister for something so say, preferably in protest, but her sister's reaction was a bit different than what she was thinking at that moment. "This is the coolest thing ever! When I was a kid and mom was telling us stories I had always dreamed of being a Jellicle cat! It's like all of my dreams are coming true!"
Cookie gave her sister a look that she hoped was conveying, "Have you gone completely and utterly insane?" but Kiara ignored it.
"Again, you're not officially a Jellicle yet," said Old Deuteronomy, "While you are of Jellicle blood, you haven't spent enough time with the tribe to be an actual member of it yet."
"Well how much time do we have to spend with it then?" Kiara asked eagerly.
"Kiara," hissed Cookie.
Kiara gave a look of surprise to her sister. "What? Don't you want to be a Jellicle, Cookie?"
"Kiara, this is crazy," Cookie said, "We're ordinary cats! We shouldn't have even left the apartment tonight! There's no way we could be Jellicle cats!"
"If you were ordinary cats, you wouldn't have been able to make it into the junkyard tonight," Munkustrap spoke up. "There's a spell that misdirects cats who aren't Jellicles on the night of the Jellicle Ball."
Cookie shook her head. "No, no, this is all wrong!"
"Cookie," Kiara said, a pleading tone laced in her voice, "There's no way that our coming here was a coincidence. All my life I've felt that there should more to my life than being a housecat, and I know you have too, because I've seen you staring out the window. This is where we're meant to be; what's holding you back?"
Although Cookie would never admit it, there were times when she wished that she could be something more. Even now, She wasn't quite sure what was holding her back, but by now she was just looking for excuses. "What about the family? We can't just not go back to the house, it would kill them."
At this, Skimbleshanks spoke up. "Lass, did ye think ye would be the only Jellicle cats with humans? Many o' us live with humans, our dear leader and his sons included."
Cookie looked up in surprise. "Sons?"
"Yes," said Old Deuteronomy, "Munkustrap is one of my sons, and next in line for the title of Jellicle Leader. The Rum Tum Tugger is his brother, along with…one other that we don't like to talk about."
As if the night couldn't get any more surprising. Cookie stared in amazement at Munkustrap thinking, "He's related to that handsome tom from earlier? But they look and act nothing alike! I wonder who that other cat is…"
Now the three toms were looking both sad and slightly angry, so Kiara cut in to release the tension. "So, what do we have to do in order to join the tribe?"
Old Deuteronomy shook himself out of his reverie and said, "First you must spend all of your free time with the Jellicle tribe for a full year. Once that year is up, you must attend the next Jellicle Ball, where you will be given your particular name and you will chose for yourself your Jellicle Name, which you will not tell us. Then and only then will you be a true Jellicle."
"What do you mean by 'particular name'?" asked Cookie.
Old Deuteronomy smiled. "Well, Cookie is your family name – the name that your family gave you." He then began to quote one of the songs from earlier. "But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, a name that's peculiar and more dignified, else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular, or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?"
Kiara nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, so if we go to the next Jellicle Ball, you're going to give us a name like "Ishkabibble" or something else that humans wouldn't be able to think up, and we'll be Jellicles?"
Old Deuteronomy chuckled at her name choice. "Sort of; you must also choose a Jellicle Name for yourself, and this name will be one that only you will know."
Kiara gave her sister a pleading look. Her eyes were full of more passion than Cookie had ever seen in her, and that was saying something, because Kiara did everything with passion. She was sure that if she really insisted on leaving, Kiara would follow her; she had never done anything but take care of Cookie. But while she still felt an overwhelming sense of danger, she knew that she wouldn't be able to live with Kiara's disappointment if she said no. She sighed and said, "Alright, let's do it."
Kiara squealed with delight and pounced on top of Cookie, bowling her over. Cookie chuckled nervously. Old Deuteronomy smiled at their display. "Now then" he said, "I believe we should get back to the Jellicle Ball. We still have several introductions to do before the sunrise."
Everyone headed back to the clearing. On their way back, Skimbleshanks asked Cookie and Kiara, "So…how's yer mother been? Has she been well?"
Kiara shrugged. "We don't know, we haven't seen her since our family took us home a little more than two years ago."
Skimble's ears drooped. "Oh…Ah see…"
Cookie looked curiously at Skimble. "Were you really good friends with our mom or something?"
At this Skimble looked sheepish. Well, that's the thin'," he said, "How old were ye when ye were picked up by yer human family?"
Kiara and Cookie looked at each other, both wondering where this was leading. "Not very old," Kiara said, "Probably only a few months."
"Well," said Skimble, scratching the back of his head, "Then there's a good chance that ah'm yer father."
The sisters actually stopped in their tracks to stare at him. "You…but…but we don't look anything like you!"
Skimble shook his head sadly. "Aye, Ah know, but…yer mother dinnae say anythin' about me even once?"
The look on his face made Cookie want to think back as far as she could, trying to remember as much as she could about what her mother had said about the Jellicles. This wasn't much, because she had been so little. "I…do remember her saying that our father was someone she wished she didn't have to leave behind."
"Yeah," said Kiara, "And I remember she always talked about how he was really kind to her. So I guess it really could be you."
Skimble lit up considerably after that remark. Just then, Munkustrap rounded the corner and said, "Hey, are you three coming?"
They caught up and the sisters found a place to sit where they could see the rest of the festivities while Skimbleshanks took his place among the rest of the Jellicles. Cookie turned to her sister and whispered, "Why did you say that to him? That he could be our father? You know there's no way he could—"
"Sure there is," Kiara said, "Don't you remember any of our siblings? Two of them had his coloring. And then there's your eyes."
Cookie gave her a skeptical look. "What are you talking about? My eyes are yellow, his eyes are green."
"Yes," said Kiara, "But you have the smallest amount of green surrounding your pupils."
"What?" said Cookie, "No I don't!"
"Yes you do, and you're the only one who has that too," said Kiara.
Cookie was going to argue some more, but just then, Munkustrap spoke up in a loud strong voice. "Jellicle Cats meet once a year, on the night we make the Jellicle Choice. And now that the Jellicle Leader is here, Jellicle Cats can all rejoice!"
The cats leaped in the in the air with rapture. Their act of joy filled Cookie with the same joy and made her want to leap as well. Suddenly, the floor cleared completely except for Munkustrap. He began to tell a story, seemingly for Old Deuteronomy. It was a story about a cat named cat named Cat Morgan, who once was a pirate who sailed the high seas. He was played by a black and white patched cat. He sailed about on an imaginary boat with his crew, found treasure and fought rival pirates. It was quite an exciting skit, and funny at points too. When the Rum Tum Tugger made a cameo as a flashy pirate captain, the sisters couldn't help but giggle.
After the play had concluded, everyone gathered around Old Deuteronomy, who began to sing. "Jellicle Cats and dogs all must, Pollicle Dogs and cats all must, like undertakers come to dust."
Suddenly, there was a crash of what sounded like thunder, and the cats began frantically looking around. The cat who had sniffed Cooke and Kiara earlier cried, "Macavity!"
Everyone scattered, once again leaving Munkustrap as the last cat in the clearing. He placed himself in front of Old Deuteronomy, his arms spread out in a protective manner. After a few moments of silence, a calico cat cautiously walked into the moonlight and began to dance. Old Deuteronomy started chanting, inviting all the cats to come to the Jellicle Ball. One by one, more cats appeared, each saying something to define Jellicle Cats. The clearing became more and more crowded until it seemed like the entire tribe was out dancing. Every cat's moves were coordinated with every other cat's moves, every voice in sync with every other voice. It was almost haunting.
The song seemed to draw to a finish, fading into the night…
…And then suddenly there was a burst of music, and the Jellicle Ball began.
The cats leaped and twirled in intricate patterns that kept any one cat from colliding with any other one cat. They radiated a longing and excitement that couldn't be faked. Then the clearing cleared almost completely and the tribe began to have dance-offs. At first they were one on one, but they slowly progressed to toms verses queens.
The dancing stated to get a little too crazy, and Old Deuteronomy had to step in and calm everyone down. Then, once again, everyone retreated until only two cats were left on the clearing; the calico who had danced the solo earlier and a tom cat who was all shades of grey. Cookie stared curiously as they nuzzled each other. When Skimbleshanks came to sit by her, she asked, "What's going on?"
"The Matin' Dance," he said matter-of-factly.
Cookie blinked. There was no way he had just said that with a straight face. Before she could ask him to repeat himself, he whispered, "Got to go," and slunk up to the dancing cats.
The grey tom was holding the calico now, and he lowered her down so that she was nose to nose with Skimble. He then lifted her back up again and Skimble made a bridge with his body. Cookie watched with astonishment and mortification as all of the cats began to converge into one big pile of squirming kitties. Each cat seemed to have a partner, the old with the young and the young with the old. The only ones who didn't participate were Old Deuteronomy and Munkustrap.
"It really is a mating dance!" Cookie thought, wanting to look away, and at the same time not being able to.
When they were done, everybody got up and began to dance again. The dancing grew more and more frenzied, everyone joining in. They flung themselves about in frantic twirls, spins and leaps. No one was singing now; there was no need, because the dance said everything that needed to be said. It escalated, the cats moving faster and faster until they weren't a tribe anymore, but one cat, dancing for only the moon to see.
Then, with one last burst of music, the cats collapsed, and their dancing was over.
Afternote: Wow, yet another really long chapter! This must be a record for me! This was actually going to end at a different point, but I once again managed to cram more into the chapter than I was going for, and so I'm splitting off one more time. The next chapter should end where I wanted chapter one to end, actually.
More things about my OCs that are the same as my kitty(s):
Their mom's name really was Scarlet
Cookie really does look a lot like Scarlet once did
Things that aren't the same:
Obviously Skimble was not their father
I have no recollection of what Cookie and Kiara's siblings looked like
Here's to hoping I don't screw up the next chapter, and while I'm here, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New year to all of my readers!
