Notes: Okay, I gave up on only having notes at the end of chapters. I have too much to say.
Seeing as no one has actually said "NO, NO PRESTOFFELEES" then I'm going to do it. It'll take time, durr, but it'll happen eventually.
Oh, I made a love triangle. Presto is not in it.
This chapter sucks and is not corrected. Just a warning. I mean, seriously. I'm disappointed in myself. I only have time to write at night and on the weekends (If I'm not doing anything)… my creative juice is low as hell.
Misto, Vicki, and Presto are stuck in a tub! OMG!
P.S. I went pretty light with Teazer and Jerrie's accents. So… there. And some of Presto's grammar in here is… bad, but you don't care, right? And don't over think the sponges, or how I say the cats have paws and fingers. Just don't think so much about it.
P.S.S./P.P.S. (I don't know which one) I LOVE MY REVIEWERS. All two and a half of you. :D
We sat in silence for a while. It was cold, though the water had warmed slightly. It felt like there was a small breeze where Vicki, Quaxoffelees, and me were, trapped in a tub, on our backs. The dust goo had settled, and we were all sticky and damp, as the water had begun to dry.
"Should we call for Jenny?" I ask.
"I think I saw her leave," said Misty, from the other side of Victoria.
"This is humiliating." Came Vicki, who had her arms stuck above her head. The price of freedom, babe.
"I can't feel my butt." I whined, wiggling. The tub rolled, but nothing happened. Damn. We were stuck good.
"Well, should we call someone?" suggested Quaxie. (Ha, ha. Quaxie.)
"No!" Victoria objected. "What if it was Plato? Or Mun—" she stopped, catching herself. I cocked a brow. Awkward. "I don't want people to see me like this—"
"Who, Victoria?" Mistoffelees interrupted, his voice venomous and suspicious. I really didn't have any idea what was going on. I knew Victoria was with Plato, but who was the other guy she was talking about? Mungoteazer (note to self: find out his real name)? Munkustrap? Or maybe some other tom I didn't know about.
"No one," Victoria said quietly. She knew she was trapped—literally, too.
"Victoria."
"What happened to calling me Vicki?"
"Who is it?"
"Soooooo!" I shouted. I didn't want to be stuck in a tub with arguing siblings. I wondered why Quaxoffelees sounded so angry. I really wanted to ask, but decided not to. Bad timing. I could still feel the tension in the air, thick and suffocating.
"We need to focus on getting out…" I added nervously.
"Yeah, sorry." Agreed Quaxoffelees. At this point, all I wanted to do was get out of the tub and… well, figure out what's up. I guess my hours-long talk with Etcetera and Vicki didn't tell me as much as I had hoped. I wondered just how much juicy gossip loomed in the lives of the Jellicles… Jeez, I'm like a parasite.
"So because of Vicki's pride, we can't—shouldn't call for anyone… Should we just wait till Jenny gets back?" I suggested, scratching behind my ear with my free hand.
"I guess, sure." Said Victoria before clearing her throat. We just gave up, I assumed. Not that I really minded—this was kind of fun. Despite the current conditions, sure, it was a bit undesirable a situation, but I'd get to talk to them. Or so I thought—we were silent for a while, and the air was still tense.
"So… Presto." Victoria began, breaking the silence. I wanted to hug her—I was ready to scream. "Got your eye on any of the toms here?"
"What? No. This is my second day, remember."
"And yet it feels like you been stuck to us forever," interjected Quaxoffelees. I snorted, Victoria giggled.
"I'll pretend that's a good thing." I said, smirking.
"Presto, you've got to have your eye on someone."
"Fine, Tugger." I thought I could hear Quax chuckle.
"He doesn't count." Said Victoria, as if she'd make a tsk tsk motion. I knew that he didn't count—duuuhhhh. He was like a superstar and I was a fan girl—just like Vicki, Jemi, Electra, and Etcy.
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
"Being in the middle of your girl talk is awkward." Said Quaxoffelees. I would have glared at him if I could see his face. Cheeky butt face. (Is it just me or was that rather oxymoronic?)
"Technically," began Victoria matter-of-factly, "you're to the left of our girl talk." I giggled. She got him. He made a strange noise—like a snort.
"Hey, Mistyface." I said.
"Mistyface?"
"Yes. Explain the whole Quaxo-Misto deal." I ordered. I would have crossed my arms if my left arm was free, but I think my tone did the job.
"I thought I already told you!" Victoria protested.
"You did, but I still don't get it."
"Because you're stupid," said Victoria jokingly, a smirk on her face. At least, it looked like a smirk, since I could only see the side of her face. It felt like the tub got smaller. I imagined it shrinking until it crushed us and we died. But that was a grim thought, and it was pretty damn gross, so I mentally shook it off. Ew.
"Ha. Anyway, Quaxoffelees—"
"When did I consent to all of these nicknames?"
"Spill."
"Why are you so interested?" Oh, damn. That shut me up. I didn't exactly know why—I assumed I just didn't like being confused. Who does? That was a dumb excuse. I tried various excuses in my head, hoping I wasn't taking to long.
"I need to know what to call you."
"You already know that. When my fur is all black except for my face and chest, I'm Mistoffelees." I bit my lip. He got me again. I wanted to shrug, show him I didn't care anymore—though I guess I did—but I only had one shoulder I could use, and he couldn't see me.
"Never mind." I said, hoping it would suffice. Wait, why did I care? Whatever. New subject.
"Something is, like, stabbing the back of my thigh," said Victoria, attempting to reach her legs. She was so close, but she'd need to lean forward to get to her leg, but we were too stuck.
"Okay, maybe we should call for help." Quaxo (I guessed that, since I knew for sure now, I should call him by the right name at the right time… Just kidding, that's not gonna happen) tried. I could hear slight urgency in his voice. Stuck in a tub with two chicks? Even if one of them was your sister, it still had to be embarrassing. In fact, being stuck in a tub alone would be, too. If not more so. Victoria made a frustrated sound. She obviously still didn't like the idea.
"Fine," she huffed. I was sure she would have crossed her arms if she had room. My eyes widened as I realized something.
"Were we supposed to get in the tub all at once?" I asked, trying to crane my neck so as to see the others' faces. I could see some of Quax's face now, and most of Victoria's. They had surprised faces, like they just had an epiphany. I nodded, but then my neck got tired and I had to relax again.
"Well, that sucks. We've been in here forever." Said Victoria.
"…Let's not dwell." Said Mistoffelees—erm, Quaxo—albeit grudgingly. I nodded, though I knew he couldn't see. Victoria nodded as well.
"What should we yell?" I asked.
"'Help', I guess." Said Victoria.
"…'Kay then." I said. We were silent for a moment, hesitant. "On the count of three…?" I said weakly. Victoria and Mistletoes made noises of agreement.
"One, two… three?" nothing happened. Simply nervous noises, and a few uncomfortable giggles.
"Help! Help!" Victoria shouted. I wanted to give her a big hug for having the balls to do that, even if she was hesitant before. Misty and I joined her. Variants on "Help us" filled the room. I worried that someone would think we were seriously in trouble (we kind of were), so I yelled, "We're trapped in a tub!"
"WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?" Victoria demanded. I was sure she would have hit me. I knew she wouldn't say it, but she probably didn't want Plato or the other guy ("Mun-") to see us like this. Or even know that it happened.
"I just want to get out of here!" I cried, though I wasn't really crying—I'm too cool for that. Victoria agreed, flustered. Mistoffelees simply scoffed, and I really, really wanted to hit him.
Soon enough, someone heard our pleas. As we heard steps coming closer, I could just feel the air getting thick with excitement. "You a'right in there?" a voice called. I didn't quite recognize it, but Victoria did. I could just feel her tense up. I could hear footsteps—light, stealthy footsteps. The speaker came into view. I didn't recognize them. It was a tom, with orange, white, and black markings. His face screwed up, and he burst out laughing—but not before flashing a look of pity at us. (Actually, I don't think it was directed at all of us—just Victoria…) I heard something hit the floor with a clunk and a shatter. "Teazer! You gotta see 'is!" he called, trying to calm down. He had an accent. A funny one.
"Wha' is it, Jerr?" a female called. I could barely hear her footsteps. She soon appeared next to the tom, bending over so she could see us. She pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. She looked like she was going to cry. But instead, she began laughing, and her partner joined in the fun. The queen, Teazer, looked a lot like the tom. However, she had fewer markings, which were lighter. And she had a pearl necklace.
"Um, who are they?" I whispered to Victoria.
"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer," she answered, her tone shaky. I wanted to shout, that must be the mystery tom! But I still didn't know what exactly was going on. And I certainly didn't want to make things awkward, or to assume.
"Can you guys help us?" Mistoffelees asked over their laughter. They calmed down, and I noticed that I couldn't see them as well anymore. They came back into view—I thought they'd begin laughing again at any moment.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mistletoes," said Mungojerrie. So I wasn't the only one who called him that! "Teaze, you 'ake the other side," he said, and Rumpelteazer nodded enthusiastically. They were pretty small cats…
In moments, they were slowly righting us. Not without making fun of us, of course—Rumpelteazer made a point of stating how heavy we were. I felt really dumb. Soon enough, we were right side up—but still stuck.
"Since yer 'ands are free, Vic, we'll get ya out. Then there should be room for Misto and… you ta get out," said Mungojerrie, directing "you" at me. I hadn't met them yet… Damn. I glanced over to Victoria, whose face was flushed. I was quite curious now. Curiosity killed the cat, Presto.
Soon, Mungojerrie was standing over us, pulling Victoria by the arms. She wiggled, and I truly though we'd get stuck worse. But, with what I swore was a pop, she was out. Victoria stepped out of the tub, Mungojerrie keeping his hand to hers like a gentleman. I could see Mistoffelees now, and his face was just as curious as I assumed mine was. Or maybe his expression was suspicious…?
Mistoffelees and I stepped out of the tub. If my suspicions were correct, Victoria was in a relationship with Plato. But she also liked Mungojerrie. And that was really all I could come up with. I thought of asking her about it, but thought against it. At least for now.
"Thanks," I said. "My name is Presto." I finished, holding out my paw. Rumpelteazer took my paw and grinned at me.
"Nice ta meet ya. Name's Rumpelteazah. Y'can call me Teazah or Teaze. Or some'in like that." Yup, I got it. I nodded, and grinned back. She breathed awesome. And she was tiny. I could tell that Rumpelteazer was small, but upon standing, I was at least a head taller than her. Mungojerrie stepped forward and held out his paw.
"Charmed. The name's Mungojerrie." Got it. I fought off the urge to giggle at their accents. They were so… cute! I beamed at him, and shook his hand. Remembering my Vicki-Jerrie-Plato love triangle, I quickly withdrew, hoping it didn't seem awkward.
"So... um…" Victoria started, scratching behind her ear, "I guess we'll be going—wait. We're still… dirty." She sighed, slouching. I groaned, seeing the now crusty dust mush on my fur. I picked at it with a claw. It was gross and cracked. Mistoffelees and Victoria didn't look much better. In fact, Victoria looked worse than before. We were damp, covered in pink crust, with our fur all spiky. If we dared to shake the water out, we'd turn into fluff balls. Or at least I would.
"What 'appened?" asked Teazer, getting a good look at us. I could see the duo trying not to laugh again. I glanced at Jerrie's feet, where a brown bag was. That must have been that noise I heard, I thought, he must have dropped it when he was laughing.
Mistoffelees answered for us. "I was trying to make a doll disappear, but Presto accidentally got involved and the doll blew up. We got all covered in pink dust and sparkles. Then Victoria and her friends showed up." I could see the duo nodding, like they were agreeing with him on something. "Presto started chasing Vicki. We were all covered in dust and sparkles, and went to Jenny to get cleaned up. But then we got stuck in a tub. Victoria made us fall over."
"Hey!"
"… And here we are." He finished, shrugging. I nodded—his story was accurate enough. I was pretty happy that he didn't include the sneezing part. That was… a little embarrassing.
"Nice, now y'all... crusty," Teaze giggled, tapping a rather large spot of crust on my arm. I made a funny noise of frustration.
"I guess we should go rinse off…" said Victoria. I knew that none of us wanted to. Jenny may have had running water, but she didn't decide the temperature. Who knew, it might have been scalding when we went to rinse off. Or it could have been freezing again… I shivered at the memory, but agreed with Vicki.
"Yeah… where's the spout thing?" I asked, looking to Jerrie and Teazer, then to Misto and Vicki. Vicki pointed to a little whole thing, through which I imagined was the spout. "…Shall we go?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure." Said Mistoffelees, shrugging.
"Well, we'll be off," said Mungojerrie, draping his arm around his sister. Well, actually I didn't know if they were siblings or what at that point. Going with my little "hypothesis," I glanced at Victoria. She looked… disdainful. (So maybe they weren't siblings?) At that moment, I realized just how pretty Victoria was. Sure, the white fur was a big plus, but Bast, she was still really pretty. And, I had to admit; her brother wasn't all that bad either. Not bad at all…
Wuh-huh-ho, Presto.
Victoria saw me looking, and for a second she looked startled, but quickly replaced it with a smile. I cocked a brow and smirked at her, and looked away before I could see her reaction. "Toodle pip," Rumpelteazer said, earning giggles from Jerrie, Misto, and Vicki. I didn't get the joke, but I chuckled anyway. The duo saluted to us, picked up their bags, and left. I could hear Rumpelteazer scolding Mungojerrie about something, but then they were out of earshot. It probably had something to do with the bags…
"What were those bags for?" I asked Misto and Vicki, loosely crossing my arms. I quickly decided against it, though. I didn't want to seem snobby.
"They're thieves," answered Mistoffelees, as if he was just talking about the weather.
"Thieves…?"
"Petty thieves, as Munkustrap would say," he elaborated. I nodded slowly. Was that how Rumpelteazer got those pearls? Nice. I supposed there really were shady things in Catland. But, being so noble, I'd never get involved in stuff like that… not that it wouldn't be totally glamorous.
"But," Victoria started, leaning in as if she were telling a secret, "people think they've got ties to…" she stopped, and glanced around. "Macavity." She said the name with such disgust, and said it so quietly, that it surprised me. I remembered that Old Deut had asked me about… it. I didn't know if Macavity was a man or a woman or not. Macavity was a pretty name… so maybe it was a woman? Men's names can be pretty. But that's a really pretty name…
"Who's that?" I asked, totally oblivious. I assumed Macavity was a bad cat, I just didn't know what for—or the extent. Vicki and Mistoffelees looked at me like I was crazy.
"He's a really bad guy," said Mistoffelees. Okay, Macavity was a tom. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Maybe he was hot. "He's, like, the crime lord of cats." He continued.
"Macavity's a mystery cat, he's called the Hidden Paw…" Victoria sang. I had to admit she kinda… sucked, but at least she was pretty. And I did notice she had a certain style to the way she moved. Graceful. Maybe she was a dancer? Not to mention she was nice. Jeez, I'm so… material? No, that's not the word.
"The Hidden Paw?" I said quizzically, stifling a laugh. "That's a little ridiculous."
"You have no idea what he can do." Said Mistoffelees warningly.
"Well, we kind of don't, either…" Victoria said quietly.
"Demeter does." He said, elbowing her gently.
"Demeter? What does she know?" I asked, tempted to rephrase. That sounded really bitchy. It seemed they didn't notice, though, as the conversation continued like normal.
"He did something… really bad to her. I mean, seriously. That's why she's so… so…" Victoria trailed off, pity—for Demeter—in her eyes.
"…Skittish?" Mistoffelees tried. Victoria nodded.
"…Oh." I said. I didn't want to pry further. This was depressing. We were silent, the topic of Macavity hanging in the air. It felt a little hard to breathe. But I still didn't quite understand what was up with Macavity. I hoped I wouldn't have to find out.
"Let's go rinse off," Victoria said, breaking the silence. "I think Jenny has a scrubber. Maybe two."
"A sponge?" I ask.
"Something like that." She said, shrugging, and led us to the spout.
The faucet was a thick silver worm sticking out of a wall of garbage. How it worked, I'd never know. There was a knob with a blue circle on it next to the spout, and I noted that on the ground there was another one, with a piece of paper that said, "do not move." That one had a red circle. I assumed the blue was cold, and the red was warm—which explained why the water was so freezing. On a stool against the wall, there were two weird brown squares. I picked one up—it was a sponge. It was damp, so I squeezed it, and a bunch of brown water came pouring out of it.
"Jeez!" I hissed, moving my feet out of the way as the gross water hit the ground. "Eeew." Victoria cooed, looking at the puddle funny. I held the sponge out an arm's length away from me, holding it with a death grip.
"There are two sponges," Misto began, "you two can go first…" he trailed off. I gave him a funny look. Either he was being gross, (which I doubted, since Vicki was his sister and I was… well, not sexy) or he was just being a wimp. Victoria made a throaty noise, before turning the knob.
The spout made a creepy, high-pitched sound that made me cover my ears. Then, it made a low, horn-like noise and a faint rumbling. Soon, water started pouring out, and hitting the ground with sharp noises. Victoria grabbed the other sponge, and wrung it out. It did not have gross brown water in it. I tried not to think about what had changed the color of the water in my sponge. But it was hard, as I was still holding it.
I stuck my paw under the spout, letting it graze my fingertips. I quickly withdrew—the water was colder than the stuff in the bathtub had been. Ugh. "This will be fun…" I said sarcastically, sucking it up and putting the sponge under the water. Any remaining brown liquid flowed out and n to the ground.
"This is horrible." Victoria said, picking pink crust off of her arms and legs. "We're gonna have to scrub really hard to get this stuff off."
"Maybe we should pick as much off as we can before we start," Misto suggested."
"Before we start, you mean." I said cheekily, gesturing to Victoria. She nodded. I turned off the water, and wrung out my sponge, then set it aside. I sat on the stool—wiping it off first—and began picking at the stuff on my legs.
"This dust is, like, really weird." I said, wincing as the piece of crust I was picking off pulled at my fur.
"It really isn't dust any more, it's—" Misto started.
"It's crust, we know." Victoria sighed, and walked over to the stool. "Share your butt space." She ordered, nudging me off.
"Uggggghhh!" I whined, scooting to make room for her. Quaxoffelees just shook his head, a smile playing at his lips.
I swear it took us an hour to get cleaned off. Maybe longer for Victoria. By the time we were as clean as we could get, it was late afternoon. The three of us stumbled out of Jenny's den, in pain. We had been pulling crust out of our fur, and ached everywhere. Not to mention having to scrub so insanely hard to get the leftovers off.
"It hurts," Victoria groaned, resting her elbow on my shoulder.
"What hurts?" came a voice I recognized right away—Etcetera. "Hey guys!" She said cheerily, walking towards us quickly. "What happened to you?" she asked, giggling. She was clutching something really tightly in her left paw.
"You know that explosion and the dust? Well, we had to clean off." Mistoffelees explained. Etcetera nodded enthusiastically. Rubbing below her eye with her index finger, Etcy sighed, "You look horrible!"
"Gee, thanks…" I said, rubbing my shoulder. I couldn't help but giggle—as did Victoria.
"Found you, Etcy!" came Electra's voice. I turned to face the source, and the tortoiseshell kitten was coming towards us, a paw out so as to catch Etcy.
"Oh, crap—gotta go!" she said, glancing over her shoulder. "Hope you look better soon!" she said, laughing, and ran off.
"Etcetera!" Electra called, running after her. Those girls were fast. "Hey!" she said as she passed us, giving a quick wave. I saluted, and watched as she ran off after Etcetera, who was long gone.
"Um, whoa." Victoria said, chuckling. "I wonder what they're playing?"
"Something really heated, apparently." Misto said, whistling. I glanced at him. He was really cute.
No. Shut up.
"Shall we… rest or something?" I suggested, stretching. Victoria snapped, her face showing utter surprise.
"I forgot! I need to be somewhere!"
"With Plato?" asked Mistoffelees.
"…Yes!" Oooh, she hesitated. I thought, trying to keep from smirking. My eyebrow twitched. That girl was up to something… "See you!" she said, then scampered off in some random direction. Jeez, she was really graceful. I was rather envious. Not totally realizing we were alone, Mistoffelees and I were silent. Until my stomach completely roared. I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything. I skipped Madigan's offer to feed me, and didn't hunt. Not that it would do me any good. I was a suckish hunter… it was pathetic, really. My only excuse was that I was a house cat. I could go home whenever and get food. Mistoffelees looked at me funny, his eyebrow quirked and a smirk playing at his lips.
"Hungry, are we?"
"Shh." I hissed, resting a paw on my stomach. I'm quite the slender cat, if I do say so myself. Of course, Presto never wins. I was slender and long, but I had no curves, and tits the size of mosquito bites. But I had a huge ass. (Excuse me, I mean butt.) I imagined that before I was born I had to fill out a questionnaire—choosing which traits I'd get and which I wouldn't, but I could only choose a few. And little unborn me didn't choose a lot of good stuff.
"Err, are you a good hunter?" I asked reluctantly.
"Mhmm… sure." He said, shrugging.
"Well, I suck. Can you catch something for me? I asked, giving up on beating around the bush. He looked at me, rather surprised.
"Really? Are you sure you're not just lazy?"
"Excuse me, but this body doesn't maintain itself." I said as I flashed a flirty little pose with my lips puckered out in a weird fashion. Misto just shook his head disapprovingly, smiling a little. I scowled, but quickly tried to covering. Oh, come on. I can't get anything out of anyone? Dang it! I thought, though in the back of my head, I wondered if it was just because it was him. Yeah, no. Time to go home.
"Actually, never mind, Quaxoffelees. I'm gonna go back home for today."
"Really? It's pretty early."
Do you want me to stay, Mistoffelees? "Yeah. I need to give Maddie some love."
"Maddie?"
"My owner. See you. Tell Victoria I left, please?" I said, as I began spinning on my heel.
"Yeah, sure." Misto said, nodding. "See you tomorrow." He said, and with that I was off.
I lied. I didn't feel like giving Maddie any love. (Poor girl. I'm such an independent cat.) Instead, I took an extremely long walk home. I needed to think. Firstly, I was moving to fast. With myself. How can one develop a crush on someone within two days? It just felt wrong to me. Or maybe it was just the feeling—being smitten over someone—that felt wrong.
I began contemplating love at first sight. That would be completely physical, though. And I didn't feel a rush of emotion when I first met Misto. You're supposed to feel that way when you fall in love, right?
Okay, good. I am not in love. That is for sure.
It's just a kitten crush. Yeah, that's right. I'm just so excited to be a Jellicle that I unconsciously decided to make myself fall in love—no, I already decided that this wasn't love.
But why couldn't it be Tugger or someone? I'm sure he's had his share of admirers. Like Etcy. It would've been totally normal, right? Or maybe Mistoffelees was some sort of heartthrob in his own right, and had his fair share of admirers too.
I guess that made sense. Like I said, he was really, really cute. Okay, I needed to stop thinking about it.
Maybe leaving the junkyard wasn't such a good thing. What would I do at home? Oh, well. I kept walking home slowly, dragging my feet. I did quicken a little.
When I reached home, Katherine and Madigan were leaving, dressed up in gym stuff. I ran up to them, and rubbed myself against their legs. "Finally decided to come home, eh?" Maddie asked, scratching my head. She straightened up and looked to Kathy. "I'll be back in a sec. I'm going to let Presto in." she said. Katherine nodded.
Madigan lead me to the room wordlessly. I noticed that when Madigan was with me, I got less attention—which was a good thing. I didn't need random people I hardly recognized ruffling up my fur or calling me the wrong name.
"You going in or what?" Madigan asked, nudging me gently with her foot. Her shoes were muddy. I gazed up at her, then to the door that she was holding open. I meowed at her, and head butted her leg before entering.
"Petri! Petri!" I shouted, looking around for the black and white tom. He was nowhere to be seen—or smelled. My ears lowered—I wanted to ask him about… guy stuff. If I knew he was out, I would have stayed at the junkyard or looked for him outside (which, I admitted, would have been frivolous). Sighing, I hopped back on to my perch. I needed to think more.
I really, really like Mistoffelees.
Okay, that sucked. Like, bad. I'm sorry. I was having writers' block. I would have done more with the love triangle, or Prestoffelees, but I couldn't come up with anything, and the hunting thing was awkward and boring.
Plus, I had to keep in mind that it was Presto's second day.
Should I do a time skip? Maybe a week or two? 'Cos I wouldn't expect much to happen in the next few days.
Or I could skip to some random time at which Presto isn't such a new face anymore.
Share your opinions, please! I love you all! Bye!