Altaica's Story-Part Thirteen
Unexpected Sorrow
Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, okay, you know the drill...Alta, Ocenir, and Engle belong to me, the rest of them belong to RUG.....the plot is mine, I suppose...well....just enjoy! Hehe you may not exactly like the outcome of this one....
Ocenir sat, glowering, in the box that he had moved into when Alta came back to the Junkyard. He watched as Engle crept up behind Alta in the pipe, heard her soft laughter as he kissed her. Then, the sheet was drawn across the mouth of the pipe and the candle stub extinguished.
He scooted back farther into the box as a cold wind picked up. It was a disgrace...Engle being accepted into the tribe after all he had done to Alta, and then moving in with her! They were the only non-mated pair who lived together, and although there were faint mumbling among some of the elders, nobody else seemed to mind much. Nobody except him, of course.
He drew away from a puddle of water forming on the floor of the box with a sigh. It was nearing spring, if the heavier-than-usual rains were any sort of a clue. They seemed to be, since the number of newly mated pairs was increasing every day. Everyone had someone else...everyone except him.
For a moment, the sky looked as if it were about to burst, but the rain held back and the clouds cleared. Ocenir peeked outside, estimating the amount of time till the next storm before climbing from the box. He was restless today, standing and stretching before walking away from what he had come to think of as his post. A walk would do him good.
Alta moaned softly as Engle's lips met hers again, running her hands across his firmly muscled chest. She was learning to trust him again, to love him. They were walking on eggshells with the tribe, but as a couple? As a couple, they were as good as on concrete.
She caught his paw as it began to wander slightly. "Engle," she said warningly.
"Mmmmmmwhat?" he mumbled, kissing down her neck.
"You know what," she said with a smile, moving his paw again.
He sighed. "Fine, fine.....you don't need to give me the lecture this time," he said before kissing her again.
"I'm worried about my reputation is all," she mumbled around his lips.
He kissed her once more before standing. "I know, I know. Tell you what...I need to go and talk to Misto about something....an afternoon separated, eh? It'll give us both time to think."
Alta nodded, standing and stretching. Engle's eyes glittered hungrily before he came around behind her to hug her around the waist. She pulled him off with a smile, half-pushing him out of the door.
Their reunion had been quick and passionate, and somehow they'd been able to forget past years. They truly belonged together, most of the Tribe could see that. Some were too old and too set in their ways, but the rest seemed fine....except for Ocenir.
Alta flicked the curtain aside, surprised to see that the box was empty. She soon saw his tall, patched form working its way to the entrance, and she smiled inwardly. Good, he was getting out more...getting over it. She pulled the curtain across the rest of the way and started down toward the main Yard, smiling happily. Life was good.
Macavity narrowed his eyes from where he sat on a window ledge in his apartment. Since that striped chick had arrived in the Junkyard, most of his plans had been thwarted by the combined threat of her and those two devil-kittens. He lay his head down upon his paws. Life was dull.
He surveyed the patched tom named Ocenir as he approached the window. Mac raised his eyes to glance at the lock on the window, which released with a soft click. Standing and stretching, the ginger-furred tom leapt out of the window to stand in the street beside Ocenir.
"So, 'Cenir....long time no crime," Macavity said, sizing up the slightly larger tom. "How's the honesty business?"
Ocenir chose not to answer this. "What have you been up to, Mac?"
The ginger tom growled low in his throat. "Nothing since that striped whore and her gang of psychotic kittens gave me the 'keep out for your own good' speech...."
Ocenir snickered and leapt onto the top of a garbage can. "Yeah, well, just thought you'd like to know..."
"Like to know what?"
"Engle's back."
Mac raised an eyebrow so high that it disappeared into his headfur. "Where's he staying?"
Ocenir glanced down and muttered something. Mac leaned forward. "Come again?"
Ocenir's head snapped up, his eyes narrowed to slits. "He's. Living. With. Alta."
Mac frowned. He had never been too fond of the queen, but he knew Ocenir was. "Right. Well, "cenir....I'd say something, but I don't know what to say, so I won't." he was gone a split second later, leaping back into the window.
Ocenir sighed. Now he truly had no one to talk to outside of the Junkyard...he didn't know what he had been playing at, thinking that Macavity would have advice of all things. He turned, whiskers drooping slightly, and padded back to the Junkyard.
Engle poked his head cautiously into the box where Misto made his home. "Hello? Mistoffelees?" he called out softly.
Misto looked up from the back. "Engle? Something wrong?" he placed a couple of things aside and beckoned for him to enter.
Engle ducked and came in, his tall frame barely squeezing into the smaller cat's home. "I was just wondering....well....I was thinking of asking Alta about....eh..."
Misto smiled. "I believe that humans have a slightly more delicate term for it than we do...to be your wife?" he asked gently.
If you could have seen it through the fur, Engle was blushing. "Eh....sounds about right," he mumbled, looking at his feet.
Misto smiled and would have spoke if the patched tom had not appeared at the doorway at that very moment. "Ocenir?"
Ocenir froze as Engle turned. "Never mind, Misto....I can see that you're busy," he said stiffly before turning and fairly flying down the junkpile.
Alta was talking with Demeter when she spied Ocenir looking quite like he had a rabid Pollicle on his heels. "Something wrong, "cenir?" she called out, almost like a reflex action.
The patched tom jumped, almost as though she had struck him. "No, nothing," he managed to stutter out before darting behind a pile of junk.
Demeter shook her head. "I can see now why you chose Engle over him...I mean, at first I didn't believe it, but Ocenir's been acting so STRANGE lately..."
Alta punched her lightly in the shoulder. "I haven't chosen anyone yet! But I can see your angle....believe me, I never thought that I could trust Engle again....I thought that I'd stay with Ocenir, but now..."
Demeter smiled. "I think that you're better off with Engle, really...Ocenir's too...too...."
"Hill-billy-ish." Bombalurina put in as she sauntered over.
Altaica laughed lightly and shook her head. "You two are so awful! But you're pretty accurate...I mean, I just couldn't go back to that...boy scout!"
Bombalurina snickered. "You can't be insulting boy scouts when Demi's around, Alta....remember, Munkus is the biggest Boy Scout to walk the earth...YEOW! Demi! Watch it with the elbows!"
The three queens laughed, and, behind the junkpile, Ocenir cringed as their laughter hit them. That's what they really thought of him? Well....there had to be someone here that appreciated him! He set off at a rapid pace as thunder boomed overhead.
"Buuuuuuuuut Ruffles...."
"Truffles, I'm telling you, if you cover yourself in this aluminum foil and stand outside flying a kite, you'll never get hit by lightning again!"
Truffles narrowed her eyes at her sister. "You promise that I won't get electry-kay-uted this time?"
Ruffles sighed. "I promise. Here, tie this key to the string for good measure..."
Ocenir glanced behind the oven and, despite his foul mood, cracked a large smile. Truffles was so completely encased in tinfoil that she looked like a leftover meatloaf, and Ruffles was tying a key to the string of a kite, forcing the end of the string into Truffles' paw.
"Uncie Funny-Looking-Tom!" Truffles cried, waving the kite string around.
Ruffles eyed him carefully. "Uncie Funny-Looking-Tom? You look all deadified....so, d'you want to cover yourself in tinfoil too?"
Ignoring this, Ocenir plopped his head onto his paws. "I should have never been born," he mumbled to himself.
"Agreed," Ruffles said, tightening the knot on the key.
"Excuse me?"
Ruffles looked at him like he had less of a brain than Truffles. "I was agreeing with you. You never should have been born..."
Truffles took over. "I mean, ouah Auntie Altie hates you, and we looooooove our Auntie Altie, and Bast knows that WE'VE never liked you..."
"And Tugger says that you're a sad little bastard..." Ruffles added, looping a little more tinfoil around Truffles' tail.
Ocenir stood. He didn't need to take this from two little kittens....he plodded off, heading for the train station. There, he knew, Skimbleshanks would have a cup of tea for him, and a friendly orange ear to listen.
Engle approached Alta cautiously. "Alta?" he said, ignoring the first raindrops of the storm.
She turned, still laughing, headfur getting slightly plastered down from the storm. A raindrop was perfectly balanced on her nose, and her eyes had taken on a darker shade of blue, as they always did when there was a storm. The smile faded from her face as she took in Engle's serious demeanor. "Engle? What's wrong?" she asked, becoming concerned.
Bast, she's beautiful, Engle though, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Nothing's wrong, Alta. I've never been happier," he said, taking her paws.
Slightly confused, Alta glanced back at her friends, and then up at Engle. Slowly, activity ground to a halt as the cats of the Tribe took in the scene unfolding. "Then what?" she asked, shifting uncomfortably.
"Alta, I love you, and....."
"And?" she smiled teasingly, raindrops lightly clinging to her fur.
"Alta......in the Human's world, when two Mate they become husband and wife. Will you.....be mine?"
Alta hesitated. Did she love him?....yes. She knew that she did, now, after time. She looked at him, holding her hands out, palms cupped. "What can you put in these hands?"
He took her hands, kissing the palms. "My love and devotion," he began.
She touched his face gently. "Love and devotion are wispy, Engle," she whispered.
"Rays of the sun and beams of the moon," he finished, bringing his own paw over hers.
"Two opposites to fulfill one Destiny," Alta murmured. "I am yours, forever."
"Forever." Engle repeated, kissing her soundly.
There was hardly a dry eye among the Tribe as the two broke the kiss, smiling in the rain. Suddenly, thunder boomed overhead, sending the cats fleeing for cover. It was amazing that they had stayed in the rain for as long as they had to begin with.
Inside an overturned trash can, Alta turned to Engle. "Skimble will want to know," she said.
"In this weather?"
"Why not?" she countered, and the two darted from shelter to shelter on the way to the station. Several others paused for a moment before following. The train station was a lot warmer and dryer than the junk heaps, anyway.
"Well, me boy," Skimble said, looking at Ocenir as they lapped up some cream from a saucer. "There's nothing tae dae but tell the lass."
Ocenir sighed. "It's so difficult, what with tall, dark, and ugly hanging around...."
Skimble chortled as several of the Tribe entered, Alta and Engle in the lead.
"Uncle!" Alta cried, skidding across the floor slightly.
"Och, lassie, whit have ye done to yeerself?" Skimble asked, standing and jerking a towel off of a chair. "Ye're soaked tae the bone!"
Alta giggled and sneezed a little. "Well, we wanted to get over here right away, to tell you the good news," she said, taking Engle's paw.
"We're Mated," Engle said, giving Alta a glowing look. She smiled ecstatically, and the others held their breath.
Skimble smiled happily and embraced the two, jumping as Ocenir's voice sounded coldly from behind him.
"No, you aren't!"
Alta looked at Engle swiftly and then at the patched tom. "What are you on about, Ocenir?" she asked nervously.
"Have you miraculously forgotten what he did to you and to everyone else? To me?"
Alta's eyes were blazing. "Why should I forget, when you're around to remind me?" she snapped. Ocenir recoiled slightly, but the queen was on the warpath. "Just because everyone ELSE is finding happiness doesn't mean that you have to be sulking around like some sort of circus clown gone wrong! Tell ya what, why don't you go to the clue store and BUY ONE!"
Everyone was shocked, but none more than Ocenir. "Is that how you feel?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, you fricken Boy Scout, it is!" she snapped.
He turned then and walked out onto the train platform, staring down the line. Everyone hurried after him, unsure of what he was going to do.
As a train whistle sounded from around a bend, Ocenir turned back to Altaica.
"Whether you care or not, Alta, I love you. Goodbye."
"Ocenir!" Alta cried as the patched tom turned and flung himself out onto the tracks, right under the wheels of the train.
The tribe stood in shock, tears streaming down many a face. Alta buried her head in Engle's chest, turning slightly back to the tracks to whisper, "Goodbye...."
Unexpected Sorrow
Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, okay, you know the drill...Alta, Ocenir, and Engle belong to me, the rest of them belong to RUG.....the plot is mine, I suppose...well....just enjoy! Hehe you may not exactly like the outcome of this one....
Ocenir sat, glowering, in the box that he had moved into when Alta came back to the Junkyard. He watched as Engle crept up behind Alta in the pipe, heard her soft laughter as he kissed her. Then, the sheet was drawn across the mouth of the pipe and the candle stub extinguished.
He scooted back farther into the box as a cold wind picked up. It was a disgrace...Engle being accepted into the tribe after all he had done to Alta, and then moving in with her! They were the only non-mated pair who lived together, and although there were faint mumbling among some of the elders, nobody else seemed to mind much. Nobody except him, of course.
He drew away from a puddle of water forming on the floor of the box with a sigh. It was nearing spring, if the heavier-than-usual rains were any sort of a clue. They seemed to be, since the number of newly mated pairs was increasing every day. Everyone had someone else...everyone except him.
For a moment, the sky looked as if it were about to burst, but the rain held back and the clouds cleared. Ocenir peeked outside, estimating the amount of time till the next storm before climbing from the box. He was restless today, standing and stretching before walking away from what he had come to think of as his post. A walk would do him good.
Alta moaned softly as Engle's lips met hers again, running her hands across his firmly muscled chest. She was learning to trust him again, to love him. They were walking on eggshells with the tribe, but as a couple? As a couple, they were as good as on concrete.
She caught his paw as it began to wander slightly. "Engle," she said warningly.
"Mmmmmmwhat?" he mumbled, kissing down her neck.
"You know what," she said with a smile, moving his paw again.
He sighed. "Fine, fine.....you don't need to give me the lecture this time," he said before kissing her again.
"I'm worried about my reputation is all," she mumbled around his lips.
He kissed her once more before standing. "I know, I know. Tell you what...I need to go and talk to Misto about something....an afternoon separated, eh? It'll give us both time to think."
Alta nodded, standing and stretching. Engle's eyes glittered hungrily before he came around behind her to hug her around the waist. She pulled him off with a smile, half-pushing him out of the door.
Their reunion had been quick and passionate, and somehow they'd been able to forget past years. They truly belonged together, most of the Tribe could see that. Some were too old and too set in their ways, but the rest seemed fine....except for Ocenir.
Alta flicked the curtain aside, surprised to see that the box was empty. She soon saw his tall, patched form working its way to the entrance, and she smiled inwardly. Good, he was getting out more...getting over it. She pulled the curtain across the rest of the way and started down toward the main Yard, smiling happily. Life was good.
Macavity narrowed his eyes from where he sat on a window ledge in his apartment. Since that striped chick had arrived in the Junkyard, most of his plans had been thwarted by the combined threat of her and those two devil-kittens. He lay his head down upon his paws. Life was dull.
He surveyed the patched tom named Ocenir as he approached the window. Mac raised his eyes to glance at the lock on the window, which released with a soft click. Standing and stretching, the ginger-furred tom leapt out of the window to stand in the street beside Ocenir.
"So, 'Cenir....long time no crime," Macavity said, sizing up the slightly larger tom. "How's the honesty business?"
Ocenir chose not to answer this. "What have you been up to, Mac?"
The ginger tom growled low in his throat. "Nothing since that striped whore and her gang of psychotic kittens gave me the 'keep out for your own good' speech...."
Ocenir snickered and leapt onto the top of a garbage can. "Yeah, well, just thought you'd like to know..."
"Like to know what?"
"Engle's back."
Mac raised an eyebrow so high that it disappeared into his headfur. "Where's he staying?"
Ocenir glanced down and muttered something. Mac leaned forward. "Come again?"
Ocenir's head snapped up, his eyes narrowed to slits. "He's. Living. With. Alta."
Mac frowned. He had never been too fond of the queen, but he knew Ocenir was. "Right. Well, "cenir....I'd say something, but I don't know what to say, so I won't." he was gone a split second later, leaping back into the window.
Ocenir sighed. Now he truly had no one to talk to outside of the Junkyard...he didn't know what he had been playing at, thinking that Macavity would have advice of all things. He turned, whiskers drooping slightly, and padded back to the Junkyard.
Engle poked his head cautiously into the box where Misto made his home. "Hello? Mistoffelees?" he called out softly.
Misto looked up from the back. "Engle? Something wrong?" he placed a couple of things aside and beckoned for him to enter.
Engle ducked and came in, his tall frame barely squeezing into the smaller cat's home. "I was just wondering....well....I was thinking of asking Alta about....eh..."
Misto smiled. "I believe that humans have a slightly more delicate term for it than we do...to be your wife?" he asked gently.
If you could have seen it through the fur, Engle was blushing. "Eh....sounds about right," he mumbled, looking at his feet.
Misto smiled and would have spoke if the patched tom had not appeared at the doorway at that very moment. "Ocenir?"
Ocenir froze as Engle turned. "Never mind, Misto....I can see that you're busy," he said stiffly before turning and fairly flying down the junkpile.
Alta was talking with Demeter when she spied Ocenir looking quite like he had a rabid Pollicle on his heels. "Something wrong, "cenir?" she called out, almost like a reflex action.
The patched tom jumped, almost as though she had struck him. "No, nothing," he managed to stutter out before darting behind a pile of junk.
Demeter shook her head. "I can see now why you chose Engle over him...I mean, at first I didn't believe it, but Ocenir's been acting so STRANGE lately..."
Alta punched her lightly in the shoulder. "I haven't chosen anyone yet! But I can see your angle....believe me, I never thought that I could trust Engle again....I thought that I'd stay with Ocenir, but now..."
Demeter smiled. "I think that you're better off with Engle, really...Ocenir's too...too...."
"Hill-billy-ish." Bombalurina put in as she sauntered over.
Altaica laughed lightly and shook her head. "You two are so awful! But you're pretty accurate...I mean, I just couldn't go back to that...boy scout!"
Bombalurina snickered. "You can't be insulting boy scouts when Demi's around, Alta....remember, Munkus is the biggest Boy Scout to walk the earth...YEOW! Demi! Watch it with the elbows!"
The three queens laughed, and, behind the junkpile, Ocenir cringed as their laughter hit them. That's what they really thought of him? Well....there had to be someone here that appreciated him! He set off at a rapid pace as thunder boomed overhead.
"Buuuuuuuuut Ruffles...."
"Truffles, I'm telling you, if you cover yourself in this aluminum foil and stand outside flying a kite, you'll never get hit by lightning again!"
Truffles narrowed her eyes at her sister. "You promise that I won't get electry-kay-uted this time?"
Ruffles sighed. "I promise. Here, tie this key to the string for good measure..."
Ocenir glanced behind the oven and, despite his foul mood, cracked a large smile. Truffles was so completely encased in tinfoil that she looked like a leftover meatloaf, and Ruffles was tying a key to the string of a kite, forcing the end of the string into Truffles' paw.
"Uncie Funny-Looking-Tom!" Truffles cried, waving the kite string around.
Ruffles eyed him carefully. "Uncie Funny-Looking-Tom? You look all deadified....so, d'you want to cover yourself in tinfoil too?"
Ignoring this, Ocenir plopped his head onto his paws. "I should have never been born," he mumbled to himself.
"Agreed," Ruffles said, tightening the knot on the key.
"Excuse me?"
Ruffles looked at him like he had less of a brain than Truffles. "I was agreeing with you. You never should have been born..."
Truffles took over. "I mean, ouah Auntie Altie hates you, and we looooooove our Auntie Altie, and Bast knows that WE'VE never liked you..."
"And Tugger says that you're a sad little bastard..." Ruffles added, looping a little more tinfoil around Truffles' tail.
Ocenir stood. He didn't need to take this from two little kittens....he plodded off, heading for the train station. There, he knew, Skimbleshanks would have a cup of tea for him, and a friendly orange ear to listen.
Engle approached Alta cautiously. "Alta?" he said, ignoring the first raindrops of the storm.
She turned, still laughing, headfur getting slightly plastered down from the storm. A raindrop was perfectly balanced on her nose, and her eyes had taken on a darker shade of blue, as they always did when there was a storm. The smile faded from her face as she took in Engle's serious demeanor. "Engle? What's wrong?" she asked, becoming concerned.
Bast, she's beautiful, Engle though, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Nothing's wrong, Alta. I've never been happier," he said, taking her paws.
Slightly confused, Alta glanced back at her friends, and then up at Engle. Slowly, activity ground to a halt as the cats of the Tribe took in the scene unfolding. "Then what?" she asked, shifting uncomfortably.
"Alta, I love you, and....."
"And?" she smiled teasingly, raindrops lightly clinging to her fur.
"Alta......in the Human's world, when two Mate they become husband and wife. Will you.....be mine?"
Alta hesitated. Did she love him?....yes. She knew that she did, now, after time. She looked at him, holding her hands out, palms cupped. "What can you put in these hands?"
He took her hands, kissing the palms. "My love and devotion," he began.
She touched his face gently. "Love and devotion are wispy, Engle," she whispered.
"Rays of the sun and beams of the moon," he finished, bringing his own paw over hers.
"Two opposites to fulfill one Destiny," Alta murmured. "I am yours, forever."
"Forever." Engle repeated, kissing her soundly.
There was hardly a dry eye among the Tribe as the two broke the kiss, smiling in the rain. Suddenly, thunder boomed overhead, sending the cats fleeing for cover. It was amazing that they had stayed in the rain for as long as they had to begin with.
Inside an overturned trash can, Alta turned to Engle. "Skimble will want to know," she said.
"In this weather?"
"Why not?" she countered, and the two darted from shelter to shelter on the way to the station. Several others paused for a moment before following. The train station was a lot warmer and dryer than the junk heaps, anyway.
"Well, me boy," Skimble said, looking at Ocenir as they lapped up some cream from a saucer. "There's nothing tae dae but tell the lass."
Ocenir sighed. "It's so difficult, what with tall, dark, and ugly hanging around...."
Skimble chortled as several of the Tribe entered, Alta and Engle in the lead.
"Uncle!" Alta cried, skidding across the floor slightly.
"Och, lassie, whit have ye done to yeerself?" Skimble asked, standing and jerking a towel off of a chair. "Ye're soaked tae the bone!"
Alta giggled and sneezed a little. "Well, we wanted to get over here right away, to tell you the good news," she said, taking Engle's paw.
"We're Mated," Engle said, giving Alta a glowing look. She smiled ecstatically, and the others held their breath.
Skimble smiled happily and embraced the two, jumping as Ocenir's voice sounded coldly from behind him.
"No, you aren't!"
Alta looked at Engle swiftly and then at the patched tom. "What are you on about, Ocenir?" she asked nervously.
"Have you miraculously forgotten what he did to you and to everyone else? To me?"
Alta's eyes were blazing. "Why should I forget, when you're around to remind me?" she snapped. Ocenir recoiled slightly, but the queen was on the warpath. "Just because everyone ELSE is finding happiness doesn't mean that you have to be sulking around like some sort of circus clown gone wrong! Tell ya what, why don't you go to the clue store and BUY ONE!"
Everyone was shocked, but none more than Ocenir. "Is that how you feel?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, you fricken Boy Scout, it is!" she snapped.
He turned then and walked out onto the train platform, staring down the line. Everyone hurried after him, unsure of what he was going to do.
As a train whistle sounded from around a bend, Ocenir turned back to Altaica.
"Whether you care or not, Alta, I love you. Goodbye."
"Ocenir!" Alta cried as the patched tom turned and flung himself out onto the tracks, right under the wheels of the train.
The tribe stood in shock, tears streaming down many a face. Alta buried her head in Engle's chest, turning slightly back to the tracks to whisper, "Goodbye...."