A Very Jellicle Christmas
"Just set it down and go," Jellylorum snapped as Tumblebrutus entered the den, carrying a little mouse with him. The tom-kitten started at her tone, his ears flicking forward in surprise.
"Uh…where do you want it?" he asked, edging back a little as she aimed a fierce glare in his direction.
"Anywhere that has space. Now put it down and leave," the elderly queen hissed, and Tumblebrutus obeyed instantly, dropping it from his paws immediately and fleeing the den.
"And bring back more! We still need more!" the matron called after him, but got no response—the kitten was already out of hearing range. Jellylorum hissed, her lip curled back slightly as she retrieved it from the ground, flinging it towards a little pile of similarly obtained mice.
"Is he coming back, then?" Jennyanydots asked as the other queen returned to her place. The two were settled around a little fire where they were preparing an enormous meal for the entire tribe. Normally, of course, the cats did not do any sort of cooking, preferring their prey fresh, but today was a special occasion, and the two had wanted to try out their skills for once.
Of course, they couldn't gather all of the supplies they would need on their own, so they had recruited all of the kittens to hunt down their food for them. So far, they'd received a large supply of mice, and a slightly lesser supply of birds. The queen-kits had abandoned them a while ago to meet Victoria at her house, but the toms were still running around for them. Then there were some of the older cats, who had managed to procure treats and other foods from their human families for the meal today.
Some of them (the Rum Tum Tugger) had complained about this, but under threat of Jellylorum and Jennyanydots, had complied anyway.
"Pouncival, get away from there!" Jennyanydots snapped suddenly, her head whipping up to glare ferociously at the little tom-kitten currently reaching a paw towards the pile eagerly. The kitten in question froze immediately, his paw just a few inches away from his prize, and grinned nervously at the two queens growling in his direction.
"I just wanted to try one!" he whined, pouting a little. "I've been out hunting for you all day and I haven't eaten anything!"
"And you won't, either, not from this kitchen," Jellylorum said, putting her paws on her hips as the two queens continued to stare at the young tom. "If you want something, you can go and find it for yourself. I wouldn't believe for a minute that none of the others have gone hungry all day, just as I don't believe you have either."
Pouncival shrugged, still grinning a little sheepishly, and Jennyanydots pointed firmly at the door.
"Now, get," she said in a warning tone, sending Pouncival scurrying away out the door and out of sight.
Jennyanydots and Jellylorum turned to each other with exasperated expressions, rolling their eyes simultaneously before getting back to work.
Now, if only they could get through the rest of this afternoon without any further interruptions…
A/N: Oops! So, I'm a little bit late with this. My apologies, but the last chapter probably won't be up until tomorrow either. It's been a busy few days for me. Of course, I seem to be snowed in now, so it'll probably be done by tomorrow morning. Better late than never, right?
Disclaimer: I do not own Cats or any of its characters.
