Queenfic4

Macavity's Queens: Part Four

As a refresher from last time, the Jellicles are using their everyday names to avoid panicing the new arrival to the Junkyard, Demeter. Here are the names and Jellicles they go with: Spot=Rum Tum Tugger, Boots=Alonzo, Alexander=Munkustrap, Andy and Ann=Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer, Dusk and Dawn=Coricopat and Tantomile, Miss Jessy=Jennyanydots, Lillie=Jellylorum, Tiger=Skimbleshanks, Houdini=Mistoffelees, Patch=Tumblebrutus, Marx=Plato (get it?!), and Clark=Admetus (figure that joke out yourself - DC reference). When the everyday names are used in narritive, rather than speach, it indicates that the PoV is more strictly Demeter's or any of the new queens. Otherwise, Jellicle names will be used. The four kittens kept together in a tight cluster in the queen's den as Jennyanydots, Jellylorum and Tantomile manuvered throughout the room. Rumpelteazer had long since run off to join Mungojerrie in who knows what sort of mischief, but the two older queens thought it probably for the better that she wasn't there at the moment. Rumpelteazer had a way of winding people up. These kittens were wound tight enough as it was already. Bombalurina and Cassandra looked to be in better shape, although they too were watching the three strange queens with mild suspicion as they went about their business. Demeter was doing her best to calm all six of them, to show them that the three queens were there only to help, but she wasn't having much success as they could all feel the nervous energy that was practically spilling over from within the gold and black queen.

"Now come, kittens, the four of you are absolutely a mess. How long has it been since you've had a decent bath?" Jenny asked, going into full Gumbie mode. She held out a hand to the timid kittens, smiling gently. Eventually, more out of curiosity than anything, Etcetera looked up and took the matronly queen's extended hand. Taking it gently, Jenny led the striped kitten to a pile of pillows and proceeded to painstakingly clean her coat from ear to tail. After a while, a white undercoat started to appear under the grime and orange, yellow and gray stripes soon followed. "There you are!" Jenny said with a smile. "All clean." Etcetera gave a little shake to fluff out her fur. When the other kittens saw the results of Jenny's handywork, the three of them timidly crept forward toward the Gumbie cat with Jemima in the front, then Electra, and finally Victoria.

Jellylorum smiled at the slow change in the kitten's attitudes. Laying a gentle hand on Etcetera's shoulder, she caught the kitten's attention. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked.

Etcetera nodded a little. "Yes, please." she said quietly.

Jelly smiled and dissapeared outside the den for a little while, and when she came back, she was carrying a large sack. Inside was a number of different types of food that Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had managed to obtain for the occasion. The other Jellicles decided not to ask where it came from this time. "Here you go." she said to Etcetera, handing her a little bit of potted grouse. The kitten looked at the food for a minute, not sure whether or not she should take it but finally, between Jelly's urging and the smell of the grouse, Etcetera finally took and quickly devoured the meal. "Hungry little thing, aren't you?" Jelly laughed gently. Etcetera just blushed and gave a little burp.

Eventually, all of the kittens were bathed, fed, and fast asleep on the large pile of blankets that all of the queens shared. Even though they were all curled up together for warmth, Jelly and Jenny lay blankets on top of them as well. Bombalurina, Cassandra and Demeter were happy to see that for the first time in as many months as they had known the kittens, the four were sleeping peacefully and with smiles on their faces. "How long do we have to keep this up?" Tugger asked, a sour look on his face. "If I have to go on hearing that stupid everyday name my humans gave to me..."

Alonzo laughed. "You're just mad because you know you can't score with any of those queens with a Policle name like Spot!"

"Like Boots is much better?" Tugger gave a low growl. Then his mouth curled into a smirk. "It ain't going to score any points with that Abyssinan queen. Cassandra, right? I saw the look you gave her." Alonzo blushed, the red showing easily through the white on his face.

Munkustrap looked at both toms. Alonzo was a fighter and Tugger, dispite acting like a dandy, had put his fair share of clawmarks in many a Peke. He decided to step in before things got any hotter between the two. Besides, if these two got rilled, he was going to have a harder time keeping the tom kits under control. "Down, both of you." he said, drawing himself up to his full hight. "It's going to be like this until I feel certain that those queens are out of any and all danger." Tugger and Alonzo both stood down, both glaring at each other.

Munkustrap moved away from the group. He needed the advice of Old Deuteronomy. Things were heating up too much and the Jellicle Protector didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to control it. Daylight broke, and small rays filtered into the Queens' Den, gently waking those within. As usual, the Gumbie Cat was slow to rouse, but as soon as she remembered her new charges, she sprang into action, ignoring her habit of sleeping in sunbeams. Jellylorum had gone to the Theater the night before but returned with fresh milk for the new arrivals.

Jemima was the first kitten to wake up. Being the smallest, she had learned that getting to the food first ment that she would have a better chance of getting fed. Walking past then entrance to get to Jellylorum and the food, she was surprised when a head popped in. "Hey! You four gonna play with us today?" came the perky voice of Pouncival. Jemima froze, not certain what to do. Pounce tilted his head. "Hey, can you talk?" he asked, curious. Jemima just nodded. "What's your name?" he asked. "Mine's John."

"Jemima." came the soft reply. Pouncival grinned.

"So you four gonna come out and play with us, Jemima?" he asked again. "Patch found a ball and we're gonna go play with it."

"They're not going anywhere until they get breakfast." came Jellylorum's voice. Pouncival looked up and smiled.

"So later, then? Okay!" he replied before bounding away.

Jelly sighed and turned the the buffudled Jemima. "John's always like that." she explained. "Now were you looking for something to eat?" she asked. Jemima nodded shyly. "Well then, what would you like?" she asked.

Jemima paused. She wasn't used to having to chose. Not sure what to ask for she ventured out on a limb, asking for something she hadn't had since becoming a prisoner of Macavity. "Do you have milk?" she asked quietly. Jelly smiled and dissapeared for a moment, reappearing with a bottle.

"Help yourself." she smiled, pouring some into a bowl. "Just make sure not to drink too quickly, or else you'll get a stomach ache." Jemima just kept wolfing the meal down. Jellylorum looked at her with some concern. "Here now," Jelly said gently as she knelt next to the kitten. "What's your rush, dear?"

Jemima looked up at the queen with large eyes. "I... I just want to eat before the others get up." she said quietly. "I'm the smallest, so sometimes I can't get to the food fast enough and I don't get much."

"Oh you poor thing..." Jelly's brow furrowed. "That monster must have been starving you little ones." She smiled and gave Jemima a gentle nuzzle. "Don't worry. This milk is yours. If the others want some, I have plenty more in the next room." "The tribe, well, the toms at least, are starting to get on edge." Munkustrap said as he sat in front of the Jellicle Leader. Once more, the trail of Old Deuteronomy had led to the vicarage wall, and Munkustrap had jumped up to join him. "Mungojerrie and Coricopat don't mind so much, but Tugger, Alonzo, and their group are starting to jump down each other's throats at the slightest provocation."

Old Deuteronomy sighed and pulled himself up so that he was sitting, a sure sign that he deemed the matter of enough concern to give it his full attention. "How are the queens?" he asked.

"Well, the older queens, Demeter, Bombalurina, Cassandra, they all seem to be well." Munkustrap said. "They've been keeping to themselves, but with a tribe of strange toms about they can't be blamed for that."

"And the kittens?"

Munkustrap frowned. "A little harder to say, sir. Two of them, Etcetera and Electra I think, have taken to following Tugger from a little distance. They seem a little more curious about us than the other two. Jemima and Victoria are alright around the queens, and all four of them are more or less alright with the tom kits but they stay away from grown toms."

Old Deuteronomy nodded. "They will need to be told soon." he said. "The Jellicle Ball is coming in only a short while, and it will simply not do to have them there during it if they are uninformed about what is going on."

Munkustrap nodded. The Jellicle Leader was right, of course. "How should we do it, sir?" He asked.

The old tom thought for a moment. "That, Munkustrap, is something we need to think about..." "Patch, quit tossin' the ball so high! The queens can't get it if you do!" Pounce shouted at Tumblebrutus. The older kitten grinned.

"You mean you can't get it, right? Victoria and Electra are taller than you are!" he laughed and tossed the ball to Admetus, who tossed back over Pounce's head and to Etcetera. The striped kitten giggled and jumped to catch the ball. "See? Even Etcetera can get it, and she's shorter than you!"

Pounce flushed. "You're just tossin' it low 'cause she's a girl!"

The queen kits giggled and watched as the two tom kits started tussling with each other, the bigger Tumblebrutus soon getting the better of the smaller Pouncival. "Toms are certainly odd." Victoria said quietly. The others nodded in agreement.

"No, for the most part it's just the two of them." came a silky tom voice from above. The four kittens looked up to see a small black and white tom sitting above them. "Some of us are pretty normal."

"Who're you?" Etcetera asked.

The tom smiled. "Houdini." was the quick reply.

"That's a funny name." Etcetera answered.

Mistoffelees smiled back. "So's Etcetera." The queen kit huffed.

"No it's not!"

"Do you know what it means?" Mistoffelees asked.

"Sure I know! It means... uh.... it's..."

Jemima giggled. "You don't know, do you, Etcy?"

"No." Etcetera had to finally admit. Then, resolutely sticking out her bottom lip, she looked at Mistoffelees. "So what does it mean?"

The sly smile never left Mistoffelee's face for a moment. "It means 'And so on.' It's a human word."

"You're smart!" Jemima exclaimed.

"What's Electra mean?" Electra asked.

"A character from a very old human story." Mistoffelees answered.

Jemima raised a paw. "And Jemima."

"A dove." Mistoffelees replied.

Victoria crept forward quitely. "What does Victoria mean?" she asked.

"It means victory!" Mistoffelees proclaimed.

"Now, your turn." Etcetera giggled. "What does your name mean?"


"My name?" Mistoffelees asked. The kittens nodded eagerly. Mistoffelees shrugged. "Houdini was a famous human magician. My humans named me that because Houdini always performed in a tuxedo. They say my coat looks like one."

"A magician?" Victoria asked quietly.

"Um, yeah. Someone who does magic." Mistoffelees answered. "Not scared of magic, are you?" he asked with a smile.

"M... Macavity said that there was a Jellicle magician named Mistoffelees." Etcetera stammered. "He said that Mistoffelees was an evil black magician."

Mistoffelees raised an eyebrow. Then he smiled and hopped down into the center of the group of kittens. "Don't worry about Mistoffelees. I promise that whenever I'm around you'll never be in any danger from him." The Napoleon of Crime lurked deep within his lair. It had been days since the escape of the rest of his queens, and there was still no word from his agents. There was still a slight tenderness in his side from where Munkustrap had delivered a decisive blow in their last battle, and he was sure that it was the reason for their easy escape.

"Macavity, sir!"

Macavity whirled around to see one of his most trusted agents, Scuttlepen, bowing at the base of his throne. "You have news?" he asked quietly, his tone indicating that it had better be good, else not even Scuttlepen's years of service would save him. But the scruffy tom nodded with a cheshire smile.

"Word has it that the Jellicle Ball is in two days sire."

Macavity nodded. He knew that, he had once been a Jellicle.

"I was spying around the Vicarage and overheard a conversation between Munkustrap and the Old Tom." The name of Deuteronomy was forbidden in Macavity's presence. "They're going to try to break the news of who they are tomorrow. If you wish, I can send one of your more high-end agents to beat them to the punch."

A wry grin started to cross Macavity's face. Suttlepen was his favorite agent for a reason. "Yes... That will do quite nicely." he replied in a dangerously low voice. "Send Perrytwist." he instructed. The queen was a high-society queen, and would easily be able to gain the confidence of his wayword captives.

Then they would run. Run right to him.

Chapter 5 Coming Soon!