At the Vicarage Old Deuteronomy suddenly awoke with a start from his rest. He looked around, searching for the source of the disturbance to his rest. Finding nothing, the old tom closed his eyes and relaxed. Letting his mind empty, the Jellicle Leader entered a trance-like state which he often used to communicate with the Everlasting Cat. It was his way of finding what the Jellicle deity wished for her kittens to do.
There is something strange nearby. he thought gently, knowing the answer would come if he was simply patient.
::There is one in every generation...:: the Voice replied.
The slightest sign of a furrow showed itself on the brow of the old tom. There is one?
::One whose Inneffible Name must be known...::
But there is no danger to the Tribe?
::He has accepted it. There is no danger. Time is the only obstacle to keep the One from being one of the most powerful Jellicles.::
Then there was silence. Old Deuteronomy knew that the Voice would not come back. She had told all she wanted known to him. But for now he was satisfied. The Voice had said there was no danger and he had absolute faith in the Voice. Slowly, the old tom drifted back to sleep.
Quaxo's eyes slowly opened to the first rays of light that were flickering through a small hole in his pipe. He frowned, slightly annoyed. That hole had needed patching for a while. One of these days he was actually going to have to do it. The small tom started to roll over, but found that he was stuck in the rather confined position of having his back to a wall, and one of Tugger's arms around him. Quaxo smiled, this was a hardship he could live with for a little while.
Settling back down next to Tugger, Quaxo noticed that his right paw was white again. During the night his coat had once again changed color. Puzzled, he sighed. Now that he finally accepted this change, why couldn't the voices come back and help him understand what to do? He knew now what caused him to change from Quaxo to Mistoffelees, but what caused him to change back? Sleep? Unconciousness? It couldn't be lack of concentration. After all, the previous night had given Quaxo little reason to concentrate on what his coat looked like. All his attention had been rivited on the tom that was laying next to him.
Turning his attention away from the problem, Quaxo nuzzled Tugger gently in the larger tom's mane of fur. Tugger stirred a little, finally waking up. Looking down to see Quaxo curled up next to him, Tugger smiled. "Morning."
Quaxo looked up. "Morning." he replied softly.
Off in the distance they could hear the happy cries of the kittens about. "TUUUUUUUUUUUUGERRRRRRRRR!" Etcetera's voice dominated the pack."
"Your public awaits." Quaxo said, looking up with an amused smile. Tugger grumbled and sat up.
"Don't those kits ever get tired of chasing me around?" he muttered, finding his collar and fastening it around his neck. "It's not like I'm the only tom in the Junkyard."
Sitting up, Quaxo laughed. "Oh, but I can certainly see the attraction." The impish smile crossed his face as he watched Tugger get up, his blue eyes following the single fluid motion.
"Yeah, but I'm gonna have to break their hearts eventually." Tugger replied. "And I don't think they'll be too happy when they see who beat them."
"Especially Bomby." Quaxo nodded. Tugger gave a small shudder at what the red queen's reaction was going to be. He didn't think that being beaten out by a tom was something Bomby was going to take very well.
"So what's the plan?" he asked the smaller tom. Quaxo was quiet for a few minutes.
"I need to see if I can get those voices to come back." he finally answered. "They know what's going on. Maybe if I just try to think about it, they'll come back and help me."
Tugger knelt down next to him, laying his hand gently on Quaxo's shoulder. "Anything I can do to help?" he asked.
"Don't think so." Quaxo replied with a smile. "I think this is something I need to figure out for myself. But thanks, Tugger."
"So Tugger gets the day off." Tugger grinned. "I think I can handle that. Maybe I'll just go exasperate Munk or something." Quaxo just laughed and shook his head. Tugger's grin got a bit bigger. "Get a few of Skimble's hairs out of place, generally be a pest. That sounds like fun today." Then he gently took Quaxo's chin in his hand and looked into the bright blue eyes of the smaller tom. "You just be careful, alright? No more fits. I have to start worrying about you now, you know."
Quaxo blushed a little. Tugger smiled, glad that Quaxo was still innocent enough to blush. That was one of things that mildly turned him off from Cassandra and Bomby. Both of the queens were too worldly. "I'll be careful." Quaxo replied quietly.
"Good." Tugger purred softly. Then he leaned forward and gave the tuxedoed tom a light kiss on the lips. Not the passionate, desire filled kind of the night before, but a tender one passed between two lovers. He felt Quaxo's fingers alight on the side of his face, lingering just a moment before the two toms pulled away from each other. "See ya." Tugger said, reluctantly, before slipping out of the pipe and into the Junkyard.
Quaxo sighed as he wached the older tom walk away. He knew his face was red, he could feel the heat in his cheeks where the blush had risen. He wondered if that would ever cease. A small smile passed over his face as he hoped it would not.
::You have accepted...::
Quaxo jumped. The voices! Y... Yes... he stammered mentaly, not quite sure how to go about talking to this mysterious voice now. It was one thing to yell and scream at it, another all together when you wanted to be civil to it.
::You must now learn. Go.::
Go? Quaxo thought, confused. Then, a mental image flashed in his head - A section of the Junkyard he had never seen before. Deserted, remote, hard to find... And he knew how to get there. Quaxo sighed. Sending things into his mind and body was apparently the specialty of whatever this voice was.
Poking his head out of his pipe, he heard the distant sounds of kittens mewing happily around Tugger as he was giving them every excuse as to why he had slipped away from them the night before. Quaxo couldn't help but snicker. If they only knew the real reason... At any rate, Tugger would manage to keep attention away from his den until he could get away. Scurrying out of the pipe, Quaxo dashed along side-paths and trails through the Junkyard, much as he had two nights previously. This time, however; he had a destination firmly in mind. The voice had made certain of that.
"Just needed some 'me' time, Bomby." he grinned. "Why? How much did you miss me?" It surprised him how much the excuse made his stomach turn. He knew he had promised Quaxo that he would keep everything quiet for now, but he wasn't much getting into this lying thing.
Bombalurina tussled his mane. "Missed you enough." she smiled. "Wanna let me show you how much?"
"Nah." Tugger replied. "I was going to see Munk."
Bombalurina frowned. "Munk? How come? Don't tell me he's more fun to be with than I am."
Tugger shook his head. "Nope. I just wanted to see how my favorite Jellicle Protector was getting on." he smiled as he easily got away from the red queen and started towards the giant tire where Munk was most likely going to be found. And he was indeed there. Munk was sitting alone on the tire, carefully surveying the Junkyard. Tugger smiled and shook his head. Munk was entirely too serious about this protecting thing. Although, now that he had something to protect himself...
"I heard you weren't in the Junkyard two nights ago." the silver tabby said casualy as Tugger came to sit next to him. Actually, it was more an inquiry. Munkustrap didn't like it when the normal routine of the tribe was disturbed.
"Quaxo got himself lost. Had to go find him." Tugger shrugged.
Munkustrap looked over. "You should have told me. We could have formed a search party. Between you, me, Skimble, Asparagus and Alonzo we could have had him back here in an hour."
Heaviside... Tugger swore mentally, Why's he got to be so damn responsible!?
"It was my fault he got lost in the first place." Tugger replied. "So I figured I should be the one to get him back. Besides, we're both fine." Munkustrap sighed.
"Well, I suppose I should be happy you're at least showing some responsibility. But," he gave Tugger a small smile, "next time let me know. Demeter was giving me the worst chewing out because I couldn't stop pacing."
Tugger laughed. "Okay, okay. Gotcha."
"Old Deuteronomy..."
Tugger's head snapped up to look in the direction Munkustrap had turned. Sure enough, the Jellicle Leader was slowly making his way towards the tire. Tugger felt his heart sink. There wasn't any way he could hide anything if the Jellicle Leader asked him. Old Deuteronomy could see though a lie as if it wasn't there. Heaviside, don't let him ask anything... Just this once! He noticed the rest of the tribe (minus Quaxo) starting to gather at the base of the tire, so Tugger jumped up to his usual position on a nearby pipe. When Old Deuteronomy looked at him, Tugger flashed his biggest smile, gave his standard bow, and hoped that the old tom wouldn't notice the fact that every nerve in his body was on end.
As he got onto the tire, Old Deuteronomy looked out on all the smiling Jellicle faces that were staring back at him.
And he noticed the one absent one.
"Where is Quaxo?" he asked. Each of the Jellicles looked at each other with confused looks on their faces, each trying to see if anyone else knew. "When was he seen last?" he asked, wondering if another question would bring better results.
"I saw him when Tugger brought him back yesterday." Jemima said, quietly. The other kittens nodded, as did Bombalurina. Old Deuteronomy turned to look at Tugger, who pretended to be preoccupied with some dirt stuck to the end of of his tail.
"Tugger? Do you know where Quaxo might be?"
"As in right now?"
"That would be preferable."
"No clue." Tugger said. Perfectly true. Quaxo's den was probably too close to the rest of the cats for the small tom's taste right now. He'd probably left for a more secluded area. "He did mention that he had some stuff to do today, though. Nothing specific."
Old Deuteronomy frowned. Nothing Tugger was saying was a lie, but he didn't seem to be giving the absolute truth. He would have to talk to the Curious Cat later. If he was hiding something, then it was obviously something that he didn't want passed around the tribe.
Quaxo looked around the small clearing. It was the one that he had seen in his mind, not much different from other areas, but he was sure that he was in the right one. He sighed. All he could do now was wait for the voices. Quaxo crossed his arms and waited.
Nothing
A furrow creased his brow. Might as well keep himself entertained while he waited.
With a light skip, Quaxo started into an inpromptu dance, gingerly twirling and jumping around the small clearing. Aside from the stars, dance was his next favorite love. Well, Tugger certainly merits a place in there now, too. Quaxo smiled, twirling several times before finishing with a small flurish.
::You are ready?::
Quaxo jumped, surprized. Ah, yeah... Umm, you weren't, like, watching that, were you? he asked, kind of embarrassed that he was asking the question of a disembodied mental voice.
No answer...
Ummm, right. So, uh, what did you want me to come here for? Quaxo asked.
::It is here you will learn.:: the voice replied.
What am I going to be learning? Quaxo's tail flipped about nervously.
::The skills of the Conjuring Cat.:: the voice answered. ::To create light where there is darkness, to create illusions, to make things vanish and then reappear, those are the skills of the Conjuring Cat.::
Quaxo scratched his head. So, I'm supposed to be some sort of magician?
The voice was silent for a moment. ::If that is how you would prefer to think of it, then yes.:: it finally replied. ::Now, there is much work to be done. The Jellicle Moon is not many months away, and you must be ready.::
T... The Jellicle Moon? Quaxo felt his heart jump. What am I supposed to do there?
::The Tribe must know of you. There is no other way. Events will come to pass that will leave you with no choice.::
Quaxo didn't like the cryptic tone of the voice. Events? What do you mean by that?
::It will become apparent when the time comes. You will know what will need to be done then.::
The small tom sighed. He wasn't going to get anything out of the voice this way.
::Are you ready to begin?:: the voice asked. Quaxo nodded.
As ready as I'm ever going to be.
