A young Mistoffelees crawled out of the pipe, eyeing the view of feline shapes under the faint glow of the moon, and the dim lights that hung about the junkyard. The Jellicle home was coming awake, and the Jellicles shifted about the area in their way of quiet grace. Well, except for, perhaps, Pouncival, who leapt about in his kittenish, rambunctious manner, landing on top of a surprised Tumblebrutus.

Mistoffelees continued to watch in silence, when his gaze suddenly halted at the sight of Munkustrap, in what appeared to be deep conversation with two strange cats.

They were similar in appearance, one a lean, striped tom, the other a young queen, not even old enough to be considered an adult. She kept looking over her shoulder, possessed with curiosity at her surroundings. The tom looked at her with an expression that struck Mistoffelees as oddly protective.

He must be her brother, He thought.

"Mistoffelees!"

His thoughts were interrupted by the call of Jellylorum. He turned to find her behind him in the depths of the pipe.

"Look after your sisters! Goodness knows, Pouncival isn't responsible enough to do it." Mistoffelees nodded his head a little reluctantly as the energetic Etcetera and Electra bounded after him out the pipe, followed shortly by a clumsy Jemima, the youngest. Mistoffelees was very fond of them, but sometimes their outgoing behaviour, especially that of Etcetera, he found a bit overwhelming. They squealed now as they rolled about on top of one another into the clearing.

Of course, he knew, he wasn't actually their brother. Many wouldn't have thought so anyway. He bared no resemblance to either his adoptive siblings, or Jellylorum and Skimbleshanks.

"Come on, Misto! Play with us!" Electra called out from under Etcetera's giggling perch. But Mistoffelees merely smiled and shook his head, continuing to watch from a distance.

"Good of you to finally come out, Misto." Misto turned around, and gave a small grin to see Tugger lounging on top of the lip of the pipe.

"But what do you mean? I came out yesterday, and almost every day before that."

"One wouldn't have thought so, you make yourself so scarce," he rumbled with a devil-may-care toss of his head.

Mistoffelees was confused.

"Come on, Misto, you know what I mean." He slid down from his perch. "Keeping to yourself in the shadows and corners, barely speaking. One would think you didn't want anything to do with the rest of us."

"Oh, that's not true!" he insisted. "That's not true at all! There are no other cats I'd rather be around!"

Tugger looked at him curiously, and gave him a playful pat on the head. "Then stop hiding away. You don't need to."

At that moment a ball happened to hit the back of Mistoffelees' head, bouncing at Tugger's feet. The maned tom laughed as Misto shot Pouncival a glare.

"Come on Misto, go play, like a real kitten!" he kicked the ball back to Pouncival, who looked utterly delighted at having gained some attention from the notoriously popular Tugger. He gave Misto a hopeful look, and the black Jellicle relented, joining his brother and sisters in their game.

Tugger had always been fond of the kitten Mistoffelees. This was something noticed by all of the Jellicles, for it was so rare for the Rum Tum Tugger do give anyone special attention, especially one so unassuming as Misto. But ever since his strange appearance in the tribe, Misto was always treated as a friend by the Tugger, at times affectionate, and often teasing. No one really knew what to make of it, but they stopped questioning it a long time ago.

Tugger now met the eye of brother, still in discussion with the pair of cats unacquainted with the tribe. Munkustrap appeared distracted. He could see that he was wary.

The conversation appeared to have ended, and the orange cats wandered off. Tugger approached his brother.

"What was that about?" He enquired in his lazy tone.

"They want to join the tribe."

"So?"

"So there's no reason why the shouldn't," he answered stiffly. "I've no knowledge of an ill reputation on their part."

"What are their names?"

"Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer."

"You're right. I haven't heard of them at all, let alone anything bad."

That was to say, neither of them had yet.

The ball rolled towards Mistoffelees, and he kicked it back to Pouncival with a little less enthusiasm. Pouncival, vivacious as ever, leapt on the edge of the ball so that it bounced right past Misto, at the paws of the strange new queen, who looked down at it in mild surprise. Misto approached her shyly.

"Did you want to play?" His voice was quiet, as usual, so she only just heard him. She glanced at her brother, who stood tall next to her. He only shrugged.

"No," she said looking back at him. He felt a bit stupid having asked.

"Oi'm gonna look around wiv my brother," she quickly added. "Maybe another time."

Misto nodded.

"Oi'm Mungojerrie," the tom spoke up. "She's Rumpleteazer. Wot's your name?"

"Mistoffelees, but everyone calls me Misto." He mumbled shyly.

"And I'm Pouncival!" Pouncival nearly landed on Mistoffelees in his eagerness. The siblings awarded them with matching smiles.

"Well, we gotta get goin'," Mungojerrie said quickly, dragging his sister along with him by the paw, while Mistoffelees, Pouncival and also their sisters watched them curiously as they went.

Very early that morning, Mistoffelees was woken from his short sleep by a dream. A strange dream, involving bright, flashing lights, then himself hovering about a maze of dark streets, with the sensation of being carried, and a deep, rumbling growl, or could it have been a laugh?

He lay on a cushion, squished between Pouncival and Electra, their heavy breathing surrounding him. His was wide awake, physically in the middle of their slumber. He knew everyone in the junkyard must be asleep. Cats took only minutes to fall into a comfortable sleep.

That was when he became aware of a noise coming from outside the den.

His feline curiosity piqued, he struggled out of the pile of sleeping kittens, making his way out.

It was still dark out. The area of junkyard was silent. Except for the hushed giggling coming from the direction of an orange-striped tail disappearing around a corner.

Wait, what?

Thinking fast, Misto pounced on the tail, and a high squeal came from its owner. Rumpleteazer turned and glared daggers at him in the thin beam of moonlight, clutching a clattering pillowcase in her paws.

"Rumpleteazer? What are you doing?"

"Oi might be askin' you the same thing." Mungojerrie appeared behind his sister, his expression equally amicable as his sister's.

"I heard you making a ruckus, and decided to investigate."

Rumpleteazer fidgeted uncomfortably at the word 'investigate.' "Look, gimme back moi tale, will you?"

Misto was torn.

"Let go of moi sister, Mistoffelees!"

"Not till you tell me what you're up to! Or I'll wake Munkustrap!"

The two exchanged glances at this. "Look, Misto, it's better for all of us if you remain ignorant," said Mungojerrie, adopting an air of sophistication.

"I don't think so," the small cat insisted.

"Look, we was burglerin', all roight?" Rumpleteazer threw her arms up, aggravated. "And if'in you be tellin' anyone, you'll be sorry!"

"Yeah!" Mungojerrie suddenly agreed.

Mistoffelees was growing scared. Mungojerrie was much bigger than him, and there were two of them. Would they hurt him?

"N-no!"

That's when the bag in Rumpleteazer's paws exploded.

They all stared in shocked silence, the only thing remaining of it was the scorched, frayed bit of fabric. At first Rumpleteazer's expression was of disbelief and fear, but it quickly turned to anger.

"Now look wot you did! Do you know how much that was worth?"

"What's going on?"

The all jumped when they heard Munkustrap, invisible as his voice carried around the corner. Misto looked at them in alarm. In his confusion and panic, he quickly said, "Don't tell anyone!"

Mungojerrie frowned, a protective paw placed on his sister. "Same goes for you."

He nodded. "Okay."

Rumpleteazer yanked her tail free, just as Munkustrap rounded the corner.

Munkustrap stared at the three of them in confusion. "What are you all doing?"

They all struggled in silence to come up with a reasonable explanation. "Chattin'," Mungojerrie suddenly piped up.

"Chatting?" Munkustrap's expression was even more bewildered.

"Yeah! Chattin'!" Rumpleteazer confirmed.

"About how I wasn't born in the junkyard either," Misto added with the first idea that came to mind. The others turned to him, surprised.

Munkustrap didn't seem to notice their unguarded expressions, instantly reassured by Mistoffelees' alibi.

"All right then. But Mistoffelees, you should be getting back to bed. Jellylorum might worry about you."

"Yes, I will," Misto quickly agreed.

Munkustrap gave him a small nod, and continued on his patrol.

Misto turned to look at the two perpetrators. The brother was eyeing him curiously, but Rumpleteazer was obviously still furious about the loss of her luggage.

"An' I was thinking' you might be alroight! I certainly won't be playin' any ball with you!" She turned tail and left to their new den, Mungojerrie following slowly after.

Mistoffelees barely noticed their displeasure though, all the time thinking to himself, What's happening to me?