Rumpelteazer ran her paws through Mungojerrie's fur, ruffling it and tussling it slightly before she stood back to admire her handiwork. She shook her head, combing down some patches and teasing some other. Apparently there was a delicate balance to be obtained. "You don't want to look too proper," she told him, as if to explain for her current behavior. "Like you stopped and gave yourself a bath before coming in." Which he had. Turns out that was an 'amateur' mistake'. "But you don't want to look like you went through grease trap either. It has to look natural. Which it doesn't... yet." Mungojerrie sighed as she resumed trying to make him look presentable. Was this really necessary? "You have to look natural," she repeated. "Like you had a bath earlier before you went playing and running and came across here." She scrutinized him once more, shrugging her shoulders. Anymore fussing and it would seem forced. "Just give yourself a shake. It'll help."

Mungojerrie sighed inwardly as he shook himself out. Might as well do what she asked since she was the 'expert' around here. "There, perfect," she nodded. "Or close to. Now - do you remember what you're supposed to do?"

"Follow your lead," Mungojerrie sighed dishearteningly. He did have to admit that he was lost on the situation and she has claimed to have done this many times before. He really had no choice.

He didn't seem that scary. Or that dangerous. A bit full of himself, perhaps.

Mungojerrie studied Munkustrap as Rumpelteazer filled in most of the answers to the question. He should really to commit them to memory. Where are you from? Nowhere, tend to haunt around Kensington Square for food and Hyde Park for shelter. Relation? Just friends. How they met? Saw one another at the Square a few times and decided to help each other out. They kept their own names - no code. Got to the junkyard - went to hunt mice, chased one towards into Jellicle Territory.

"Do you have any family," Munkustrap asked, looking at them kindly. He really didn't seem like a threat.

"I don't. Well, I'm sure I did at a point," Rumpelteazer corrected casually. She seemed so unprofessional. And she called him an 'amateur'. Disgraceful. "I mean, I am here after all, but I can't say that I know them."

Munkustrap nodded understandingly. "That is quite common around these parts. The street can be a most unforgiving place. What about you, Mungojerrie; any family?"

Mungojerrie went to speak; feeling a gentle paw placed upon his. He followed it up to Rumpelteazer's sympathetic face; such beautiful features, but such sad eyes...

"Mungojerrie recently lost his mother."

What? What did she just say? Okay, okay, don't panic. She's probably just lying. Ha, ha. Really funny...

That was so not funny.

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that," Munkustrap said with a respectful bow of his head. "I do hope that it wasn't forced."

"No," Mungojerrie assured, looking away from Rumpelteazer. Follow her stupid lead. "It was natural causes, from what we could figure out."

"Well I do suppose that we should get off of such a somber subject and help you two get settled," the silver tabby decided as he stood up; shaking his fur out slightly. "We do have a small cluster of vacant dens near the east of the clearing. It is a quiet little spot; only a couple other of our Tribe mates live there currently. Unless you are not opposed to kittens chattering every waking moment... There are some larger dens elsewhere if you wish to room together."

"I think the east will just fine," Rumpel assured as Munkustrap started to lead them off to a side.

"Our leader, Old Deuteronomy shall be by in the next few days; I am certain that he shall be pleased to meet you - as will the other members of our Tribe. They shall undoubtedly be stopping by later on to meet you. But do feel free to come out and socialize, you're not to be confined in the east."

"Thank you, we will," Mungojerrie said, walking between the two. This whole 'undercover' business was a piece of cake. Little Miss 'Follow-My-Lead' thought that she was so great for having done this before. A day old Peke could do this. "If we're going to be here for a while, we should be kind enough to greet our neighbors."

"They'll be most glad to hear that we have new members. It has been a while since anyone new has joined our Tribe."

"Oh, why's that?" That's right, Mungojerrie. Be a mole. Burrow for information. Be sneaky.

"Few of them seem able to meet the standards," Munkustrap said offhandedly, coming to a stop in front of a pile of discarded junk. "There are a few dens in here. There's the dryer, a pipe, a couple of boxes and you may always feel free to format your own. There are cats in the next pile over; though I do believe that they are currently out. But do feel free to look around and choose your own. I'll be back to check upon you later," he bidden with a final box of his head.

"Junk," Mungojerrie asked once Munkustrap was out of hearing. "We're going to live in trash?"

"It's a junkyard, what did you expect? You can probably find a good, sturdy box if you search hard enough. I'm going to claim that pipe," she said, going over to the pipe to inspect it.

"Hold up," Mungojerrie said, jogging after her. "Why did you tell him that my mom is dead? There's no harm in her being alive."

"If she was alive, he'd invite her here. We'd have to debrief her on everything; watch what she says, and it'll just get messy. And remember what we were told? He's dangerous. If we did something to piss him of, he wouldn't be coming after me, and he wouldn't be coming after you - he'd go for your mom. He would use her against us. He would hold her life in his paws and wait for an opportunity to extinguish it. So it's either she is dead or she will be dead. I decided to just cut to the chase."

"He wouldn't do that," Mungojerrie defended. "He's a nice guy."

"They are won over by his charisma and his outward earnest smile," Rumpelteazer stated. "Do you know who said that? Weren't you paying attention when we were told that? We're you not noting that we should not be lead astray by his friendly demeanor? If you want to risk your mother's life - and straight away prove us to be liars - then by all means go blow our task and expose us so we may be executed. If not; do what I told you to do and follow my lead. Now... go pick out a den and get washed up. We have some new friends to make."

A/N: I know I said that I would have this up before Toronto.. but I didn't. Writer's block. I did get started on another fanfic though which will be up…. Sometime.

But Toronto went very well – the weather was beautiful, the plays were great – we got some awesome reviews for ours… And now to cure myself of this sickness and get back to work!