When Mistoffelees' eyes fluttered open, he was cradled in Tugger's arms, in Jennyanydots' den. Tugger was having a mild freak out over his little brother's state, while Jenny was bustling about, gathering supplies.
"Misto, hey, are you awake?" Tugger gasped.
Mistoffelees nodded drowsily. Even the slight movement of his head made him feel dizzy.
Tugger sighed, "Thank the Everlasting Cat. You passed out and hit your head pretty hard."
The young magician tried to remember the circumstances just before he blacked out. He had been in his den, hadn't he? Tugger and Victoria were there, and there were...no. It couldn't be true. It must have been a dream.
Then again, Mistoffelees had been planning to make Jenny a kitten for her birthday with his magic. Had he actually done it? Was he actually powerful enough to make a kitten? He gulped, as his sense of reality slowly began to creep back to him. Was he actually powerful enough to make seven kittens?
"Where's Victoria?" he blurted, suddenly in a panic.
Jenny was by his side in an instant, laying a calming paw on his shoulder. "Hush, dear, don't get all worked up."
"Victoria's back at your den," Tugger told him. "She's taking care of the, um, damages."
Mistoffelees' turned a ghostly pale color. He was beginning to feel sick to his stomach, again.
Jenny addressed Tugger. "He seems to be okay. I'm just going to get him some ice for that bump on his head.
When Jenny left the den, Misto sighed heavily. "Tugger, what am I gonna do?"
"Find some nice stray queen to play along and tell everyone you had a fling. That's what I'd do."
"I'm serious, Tug."
"So am I."
Mistoffelees began trembling, as tears began to silently slip down his cheeks. "I have seven kittens, Tug," he rasped. "I'm barely even a tom, and now you think I'm an idiot, and Victoria hates me-"
"Hey!" Tugger held the younger tom tighter to his chest, resting his chin between his ears. "Victoria does not hate you, and I don't think you're an idiot. In fact, I think it was pretty clever of you, to be able to magically poof up some kittens."
Mistoffelees shushed him, not wanting Jenny to know about his little accident, but his big brother's words were comforting.
After a few more minutes, Jenny sent Mistoffelees back to his den with a bag of ice for his head, with clear instructions for Tugger not to leave him alone for the night. Tugger assured her that he and Victoria were on the case and followed his little brother home. The two were greeted in Mistoffelees' den by a chorus of whining kittens and an incredibly panicked, white queen.
"Mistoffelees, Tugger, thank the Everlasting Cat your back! They're hungry, and we don't have anything to feed them. We have to go to my mom or Jenny-"
"No!" Mistoffelees exclaimed, sounding much more angry than he had intended. "I've got this. I conjured up seven kittens, and you think I can't conjure up something for them to eat?"
Victoria's ears pressed flat against her skull. It looked like she was ready to cry. She turned her attention back to the two kittens she held in her arms: The silver queen and the brown and white tom.
Mistoffelees immediately regretted his tone. "I'm sorry, Tori, I'm just- Here." He poofed up seven tiny bottles of kitten formula. "I guess we'd all better get to feeding."
"Um, Misto," Tugger chuckled nervously. "I haven't the first idea how to feed a kitten."
The younger tom smirked. "Well, this'll be good practice for your inevitable 'accident.' Odds aren't exactly in your favor. Now, grab a hat kitten."
Mistoffelees, Tugger, and Victoria each attempted to bottle feed two kittens at once. Victoria, being a queen, had some level of maternal instinct kick in and had relatively good results. Her kittens finished first and she moved on to the neglected seventh kitten, the black and white queen. Meanwhile, Tugger and Mistoffelees fumbled miserably with the bottles and kittens. It took roughly an hour for all seven to finish their milk. Their three "parents" then took to the monumental task of getting all of the kittens to sleep.
"Maybe we should, you know, sing to them or something?" Tugger suggested, awkwardly bouncing the orange tabby and blue toms in his arms.
Mistoffelees sighed, looking down at the two lightly colored kittens in his arms, who were done fussing but seemed in no hurry to stop batting at their caretaker and go to sleep. "Sing," he agreed. "But no dancing," he added with a wink in Tugger's direction.
Tugger grinned mischievously. "What? Gotta teach 'em young."
Victoria blushed as the rocked the three sleeping kittens in her arms. She took in a shaky breath and said quietly, "Misto, we can't go on forever, like this. We need to get help."
"I know," her friend groaned. "But how am I supposed to explain this? Everyone's gonna hate me."
"Hey, Little Brother," Tugger said, taking a hold of Mistoffelees' shoulder. "We've got your back. Don't worry. We'll figure it out."
"Thanks," Mistoffelees mumbled, secretly wishing Victoria would give him some confirmation, instead of his brother.
