Title: Stealing a Goddess (4/6)
Rating: K+
Notes: A little time has passed since "The Guardians," and Munkustrap is much more comfortable among the Jellicles now. Things seem to be looking up for him. This is set during "Power to be Strong."
Really, you should be reading this arc in order, as each story builds upon the ones which came before it.
Many thanks to Puddycat for providing Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer with their voices!
The Cats RP I participate in (as Munkustrap, Etcetera, Tumblebrutus, and a variety of minor characters) is in dire need of several characters, especially a gay Quaxo/Mistoffelees (more details on the site) and Plato, Admetus, Rumpus Cat, Exotica, Jennyanydots, Jellylorum, Macavity, Electra, Bustopher, Gus, Skimbleshanks. Come check us out at o u r j e l l i c l e s . p r o b o a r d s 5 1 . c o m
Believe it or not, absolutely NO ONE has joined the RP since the last chapter!!
I do not own Cats, but I do own Simbol!
Stealing a Goddess
Munkustrap had never actually gone thieving with Mungojerrie before, though he had heard all sorts of stories about it. From how Mungojerrie talked, though, and how the two acted, Munkustrap thought for sure that this would be bungled by their jokes and pranks. He was completely surprised, however, when the siblings fell silent as soon as they stepped back into Monnik territory, slinking along in the shadows. They used paw gestures, tail language, and facial expressions to pass messages back and forth. Munkustrap only caught some of the nuances of this silent language, as he hadn't been trained in it as they had.
All three cats had rolled in as much dust and soot as they could find before crossing the border, to dull their fur and help them blend into the dirty alleys. Rumpleteazer vaulted up onto some boxes, and then onto a fire escape. Mungojerrie gestured for Munkustrap to go next, touching a paw to his lips. 'Careful!' he mouthed.
Munkustrap followed Rumpleteazer's path up, wincing as the fire escape squeaked a bit when he landed. It was one of the types that could fold up, and so it moved under the weight of the cats.
Rumpleteazer gave Munkustrap a worried face and pushed him behind her, creeping down to the very bottom of the metal ladder. Mungojerrie, meanwhile, jumped up onto the boxes and leaned against the wall, stretching up as far as he could. Rumpleteazer hooked her paws around the last rung and let herself drop, hanging by her feet. When she stretched and he stretched, Mungojerrie was able to catch her paws. The stayed like that for a moment, linked together, before he smiled and she smiled, and he jumped off the boxes.
Rumpleteazer swung after Mungojerrie jumped, curling around to throw him upward. Munkustrap stepped back as Mungojerrie caught the rung above Rumpleteazer. His landing made a soft thud, but it wasn't as loud as the squeal of metal from Munkustrap's landing. The siblings exchanged grins again before they began to climb up the ladder, nimbly stepping onto the platform Munkustrap stood on.
Munkustrap smiled at them and touched his paws together a couple times, silently applauding the duo. They grinned at him and bowed before pointing up. Stairs this time.
At the top of the escape was another jump they needed to make, from the railing to the roof. Mungojerrie went first this time, balancing on the narrow beam before jumping up. He showed off, though, adding an unnecessary flip, and looked smugly down at the other two. Munkustrap went next. He mimicked Mungojerrie exactly, flip and all, and landed with a cocky smirk at the striped tom. Tugger's dance lessons were paying off!
Rumpleteazer did the jump quickly, making almost one smooth leap from platform to beam to roof, giving herself no time to rebalance on the railing. That had been a risky move, as if she was even slightly off-balance, she could have fallen four stories. She sauntered past the toms with a jaunty flick of her tail. "Comin', boys?"
Munkustrap and Mungojerrie looked at each other and grinned before racing off to catch up with her.
"We can talk up here," Mungojerrie told Munkustrap. "As long as we're not too loud. Most cats stay first-story or lower. Only the thieves use the rooftops."
"I don't see why," Rumpleteazer said, taking a running jump to carry herself to the next building over. "It's really the safest way to travel, so long as it's not rainin'."
"Pretty convenient, too," Mungojerrie said. "Sometimes, the humans leave windows open on the stairs, and we can nick stuff."
"You two are good at this," Munkustrap said. "I didn't think you could be quiet, Jerrie, much less be this stealthy!"
Mungojerrie shot Munkustrap a grin. "Hey, what can I say? I have multiple abilities! Silence, jabber, I do it all!"
"And what he can't do, I can!" Rumpleteazer cartwheeled past the toms. "We're makin' a really good pair! Maybe we'll even be better than Jokaste and Surripus… someday."
The three broke into runs and leapt across another gap between buildings. "Argh! You beat me!" Rumpleteazer clasped her chest and staggered around as if Munkustrap had killed her by jumping farther.
"Sh, sh, shh!" Mungojerrie flapped his paws at the other two. "We're here!" he whispered, pointing to some raised windows.
Munkustrap hung back as the thieves crept up to the windows, peeking past the broken glass. He knew what this building was, even if he had never seen it from the roof before. This was the fire-gutted warehouse that the Monniks gathered in, much like the Jellicles' junkyard. Just across the street, the docks began, bringing a steady stream of goods and visitors to Monnik lands, as well as a supply of fish and rats, food for the cats.
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer pulled their heads back, whispering and pointing. They sketched out some basic plans in the ashes on the roof, and then they turned to stare at Munkustrap. "Um… 'Straps? How would you like a part in this plan?"
The plan was incredibly simple. While Macavity was distracted, Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie would dangle down and grab Demeter, pulling her out of his clutches. The room Macavity used as his den (he had a whole room, just like Leviticus) had a hole in the roof where part of it had fallen in. Underneath the fallen beams, some grubby blankets made a bed, which they found Demeter and Macavity's scent all over. By clinging to each other's paws, much like they had to get up the fire escape, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer should be able to use those same beams to get to Demeter.
Munkustrap's problem with this plan came with his part… he was the distraction.
"More ashes!" Rumpleteazer called, rubbing her paws against Munkustrap's fur.
"More soot!" Mungojerrie countered with, throwing another pawful of the aforementioned soot into Munkustrap's grey fur.
"Achoo!" Munkustrap sneezed, then wiped his paws across his muzzle, but Rumpleteazer batted them away.
"Do you want to ruin all our hard work?" she scolded him, smearing more ashes across his nose.
"He's never going to buy this," Munkustrap said, shifting irritably and trying to stomp down on the urge to scratch the dirt off him.
"Bah, what are you talkin' about? You look like a regular Monnik, you do!" Mungojerrie stepped back and scrutinized Munkustrap. "What do you think, Teazer?"
Rumpleteazer flicked her paws across Munkustrap's ears one last time before she too stepped back. "You look filthy," she told Munkustrap.
"That's the point." Munkustrap laid his ears back, wanting to shake so badly, to knock off all this extra grime. "But do I look black?"
Most of the Monniks were black-furred, so a black-furred tom in Monnik territory wouldn't be as suspicious as a silver tabby. Ritzkin had been a grimy grey most of the time, since he never bothered with baths (most Monniks didn't). That had been the one issue with disguising Munkustrap's fur in this way – none of the three wanted him to end up looking like the supposedly-dead Ritzkin. By using excessive amounts of soot and ash, the hope was that they could darken his fur enough so he could pass as naturally black.
"Umm… no. Not black. You look kinda greyey-browney-blacky." Rumpleteazer squinted and cocked her head to the side. "But… you don't look like a tabby at all!"
"Darker than Ritzkin," Mungojerrie said, frowning as he studied his friend. "Not quite black, but if you're goin' fast enough, that shouldn't be noticeable."
"You remember the plan, right?"
"Of course I do," Munkustrap said, shifting from paw to paw. "I run in front of Macavity, and then keep running. It's not that hard."
"Just remember to dodge," Mungojerrie said, dusting his paws off. "Mac's getting' really good at flingin' lightnin' around. He nearly scorched off me tail when Teazer and I fled."
"I think you're ready," Rumpleteazer said. She crept over to the roof hole and looked in. "Now, we just have to wait."
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