I'm writing a few chapters to see if the story goes somewhere and this seems to do so, let me know what you think! I'm posting a few more that I've already written but love input on those and what you hope for future ones :)
no cats for me to own..
The kitten had been so excited about meeting the other cats that Old Deuteronomy was starting to think there was nothing that scared her at all. He had noticed that this kitten was quite fearless about most things and she usually managed to make things turn out the way she wanted them to. It had been really easy in the beginning when they stayed together. She mostly listened and did as he asked her but as soon as she had set her mind to knowing more about the Jellicles and herself he was defenceless. He had seen this kind of stubbornness in getting what you want in one of his own sons and he chuckled to himself as he remembered that there was no doing anything about it.
When they got closer to the junkyard Old Deuteronomy realised that even though the kitten wasn't scared she had gotten so worked up that she might just fall asleep as soon as they entered. He saw her letting out a big yawn and decided that they might as well start out small. 'Let's start with Jenny and Jellylorum to begin with' he thought to himself as he picked up Iz and carried her the rest of the way.
As they entered the junkyard Izabella was sleeping in his arms and he carefully made his way towards Jenny's den. He was just about to knock on the door when he felt a paw on his shoulder.
"Hello dad, what brings you- and who might this be?" Munkustrap said lowering his voice and turning his eyes towards the kitten in his arms.
"Hello Munk, this is Izabella and she is the reason I am sneaking around like this. She just fell asleep." he added a bit unsure about how to continue since he had not prepared to introduce her to one of his sons yet. "She has been staying with me for the last six weeks to have some peace and quiet but I thought it was time to introduce her to the rest of the tribe." he said. It was just as well to let Munkustrap meet her first, he was the protector of the tribe and he would have a lot of responsibilities regarding Iz anyway.
"So she must have turned up right after the ball then? Where did you find her?" Old Deuteronomy bit his tongue for giving away the date so exactly, but that didn't seem to mean that much to his son anyway, he just connected the timeline.
"She was given to me by an older queen who was dying and I was asked to care for her as she grew up. She was done nursing and has been in perfect health so I just thought she could use some peace and quiet during the first weeks." he repeated himself.
"You should have let Jenny take a look still, don't forget that you are getting old, you can't take on all responsibilities for the tribe, we would love to help you you know." said Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy sighed. His son had grown so mature and was acting just like the protector the tribe needed. He smiled proudly.
"I know, I know, but let an old man listen to his gut feeling for once, this kitten needed somewhere calm to start her life." he said with a chuckle. He didn't want anyone to know that the main reason he had kept Iz from the others was to see if she looked anything like Grizabella or if she had any memories of her mother.
"I trust you" said Munkustrap smiling back at him. "But from now on we will all take part in raising little Izabella" he continued and carefully scratched her behind under the chin. The kitten opened her eyes and looked surprised but fully awake in a second.
"Are you one of the Jellicles?" she asked and tried to climb over to Munkustraps arms instead. Munk just looked at Old Deuteronomy as he picked her up.
"Iz is not that shy and she is very eager to meet you all" he said with a smile thinking that this will probably work just fine.
"Hello Izabella" Munkustrap said. "I am Munkustrap but you can call me Munk and yes I am a Jellicle cat." he continued and felt immediately his heart warming up to the kitten.
"I don't know if I want to be called Izabella or Iz or Bella, which one do you like?" she asked with a demanding look and Munk could tell this kitten is not someone you say no to that easily. He just raised his eyebrow towards Old Deuteronomy and got an eye roll back.
"I like Izabella but I might try out the others in time as well, they are all very pretty names" he said diplomatically.
"What is going on out here?" said Jenny as she opened the door. "Are you coming in or are you gonna stand out here and keep- oh and who might this be?" the old queen said squinting her eyes and smiling towards Izabella.
"This is Izabella" said Old Deuteronomy and sighed. "We might as well go inside so she doesn't have to meet everybody at once"
"But I want to meet everybody!" Iz was protesting as Munk carried her inside.
"You will eventually" Munk smiled down at her and saw her reaching out to touch Jenny to climb over to her instead. "Here she comes Jenny, she's not shy" he said laughing as he helped her over to Jenny's arms.
"You will have no problem at all blending in with the other kittens" Jenny said to Izabella and nuzzled her face. Iz tensed at the comment about the other kittens.
"Are they here? Can I meet them? Can I play with them? Can they be my brothers and sisters?" she asked looking around the room.
"We might as well take her there" said Old Deuteronomy with a laugh. "When she sets her mind to something there is no stopping her" Both pleased and and a bit heavy at heart by the realisation that Iz had almost forgot he was there.
All the adult cats were nervous as they entered the room where the rest of the kittens were. This was always a struggle even with the ones that were not shy. Meeting so many new faces at once was a challenge and Old Deuteronomy reminded himself of the fact that these were probably the first kittens Iz saw in her life. Before Jenny could introduce her she was in the air, going straight for the centre of everybodys attention and landed with a bit of a tumble among the kittens. Old Deuteronomy just shook his head and laughed, 'why did I even worry?' he thought to himself. Izabella stood up on her hind legs and introduced herself to the others and then they all started playing like she was an old friend who had been away for the day. The older cats laughed together and decided to sit down and talk as they watched over the little ones.
"Why on earth have you kept that little angel from us for so long?" asked Jennyanydots looking over towards the kittens and smiling.
"It's a long story" he said not feeling like repeating himself again. "But I think she is more than ready now, we will be staying here at the junkyard and I had planned on using my old den for the both of us, but maybe she would like to join the others kittens right away. Would that be ok with you and Jellylorum?" Old Deuteronomy asked carefully.
"Well of course it is!" Jenny said, speaking for them both. "I can't wait for Jelly to meet her, she is lovely! But she seems to be a bit of a handful to take care of, how have you managed so far?" The old queen asked with her trademarked mother hen-voice.
"It has been fine" Old Deuteronomy laughed. "She hasn't been talking that much and has listened to me but I think that when I told her about the Jellicle ball a few nights ago she set her mind to going here and I was helplessly drowned in questions and demands" he said still laughing at the thought.
"Then you need us more than ever" Jenny said with determination. "She is everybodys responsibility now"
"Jenny is right" said Munkustrap. "Both you and Izabella needs this. By the way, how come she is named Izabella?"
"It's after her mother" said Old Deuteronomy before he could stop himself. "I mean.. eh.. that's what her mother had called her before she died" he said realising this was a secret harder to keep than he thought. Oh well as soon as Izabella was well established among the tribe he wouldn't spend as much time there and the risk of saying too much would lower. And she seemed to be settling in fast so all he needed to do was hold it together for a little while longer.
"It's a beautiful name" Munk said and the others agreed.
Old Deuteronomy, Munkustrap and Jenny sat talking for a long time as the kittens played in the other end of the room. It had been a while since Old Deuteronomy visited the junkyard and some matters were necessary to go through with the protector of the tribe and the old queen had such an important role that she usually needed to be involved in the planning as well. They looked up surprised as Skimbleshanks entered the door.
"Hello, I'm home- Oh I didn't expect company" he said. "Or that the kittens would be up, is there something wrong dear?" he asked concerned. He usually came home from working at the night train during the kittens long nap and he had left the same time as always this night.
"Oh my, look at the time!" said Jenny embarrassed. "They should have all been to sleep by now, no no, nothing wrong, just some distracting company" Jenny explained already up on her feet and ready to start organizing the nap.
"Let me give you a hand" said Skimble as they all had risen to aid her.
"I can manage perfectly well" the queen assured. "Just sit down and have a cup of tea with the guests" she said and started to direct the kittens into the next door room. Old Deuteronomy gave Iz a nod when she looked up at him for guidance of whether she could go as well.
"So tea it is" said Skimble. "Did I see a new face among the kittens or am I more tired than I thought?" he asked with a chuckle.
"There is a new addition to the tribe" said Old Deuteronomy and smiled. "Her name is Izabella and this is her first day here".
"And everything has worked fine?" Skimble asked concerned. He let Jenny be the mother hen but he was always just one step behind her in the concern of the little ones.
"More than fine" said Munkustrap and started to tell the story of the not so shy kitten arriving.
They laughed together as Skimble served the tea.
"She will settle in fine, and she will be more than a handful it seems" laughed Skimble. "I'm glad you finally brought her so we could help you, will she be staying here right away?" he asked looking only happy at the prospect of caring for another kitten.
"If she wants to, you will learn that you don't have much to say in the matter when it comes to that one" Old Deuteronomy laughed and blinked.
"Well you know everything about kittens like that!" Skimble kept teasing him. "Munkustrap here doesn't know what putting your own wants first even means but that youngest one of yours makes up for it" he said elbowing Munk in the side. Munkustrap had to admit the description of the brothers were spot on.
Izabella knew that Old Deuteronomy was a cat who seemed worried most of the time but she couldn't really understand why. There was nothing to be afraid of here. Izabella could only remember one time in her life when she had truly been afraid. That moment wasn't that clear and she understood that it was because she had been so young. She remembered the feeling well though. She had been alone in an old barn with no one around. She didn't know why she had been there or who she was supposed to be with instead but she had been afraid. Really afraid. She felt like someone had left her there forever to never come back and that she would never be taken care of again. She had cried and shivered and tried to go look for someone, but she was put in a basket with high sides and she couldn't get up to look out over the edges. Finally she must have fallen asleep there and she remembered a new face looking down at her. An old, grey face but with a smile on it and she had immediately let go of all the fear she felt. 'Hello little one' said the big face looking down at her. 'I bet you had a horrible night, but I will take care of you and everything will be better from now' it said and she trusted the voice from the first word. The big cat had picked her up and when he held her to his chest she could feel that she had been really cold. As the warmth spread from the bigger cat she relaxed and she could not remember more from that night. Ever since that she had felt that she could trust this old cat and he had made sure she heard him say it every day. She had mostly just listened to his stories and followed him and doing whatever he told her to. She wanted him to know that she trusted him and that he could trust her too. But when she realised that this old cat knew a lot of other cats and that he was their leader she couldn't contain herself anymore, she needed to know more and she wanted to meet them all. Ever since that first day she met Old Deuteronomy she had seen that his smile always had a small wrinkle between his eyes. There was always something concerning him but he rarely let her know what it was. When they had arrived at the junkyard and he had talked to the others she realised that he wasn't only concerned about her but about the whole tribe of cats. But she knew what fear felt like and this was nothing like that. She couldn't really see why he had to worry that much, everything had been better as he promised and today was the best day of her life yet.