Skyline part 3

JestaAriadne

(jesta_ariadne@mail.com)

Notes: Well, I STILL don't own CATS, if anyone was wondering...

Norbert and Trirarien and anyone else who *doesn't* want to be depressed over Christmas: here's a little lighter chapter (keep reading, you'll see...).

Sorry, I was in a bit of a rush to get it up by Christmas Eve...

THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed so far because, as you probably know, such lovely words can really make your day!!!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all!

Chapter 2. Scherzo

It was OK the next day. Simple as that. Strange, but things do tend to boil down to their simplicities when you haven't got any choice.

We'd come to a sort of mutual understanding, I think, that... these things happened. It sounded like such a "grown-up", Jennyanydots-style platitude and made me want to be sick, but I tried to ignore that. I was having enough trouble with all the other things that kept making me be sick.

It hadn't taken the humans much of scrubbing the mess I made off the carpet before they tried the sensible tack and put my kitty litter practically right next to my bed. Which, I'll admit, was useful - in more than one way, although I didn't usually have much to excrete in the usual way, it was so not worth the effort of standing up and going to the other side of the room - but it was hardly pleasant. They didn't clean it out anywhere near as often as I'd've liked and the smells merged with the smells of medicine and sterilised dressings until it made me dizzy just to breathe sometimes.

But we weren't going to let these things get to us or spoil anything. I wasn't going to let me get me down. I hated even the memory of that morbid, pathetic loss of control and I was never, ever going to let it happen again. Genuine cheerfulness and optimism was the way to go. After all, it had always worked for me before, after a fashion.

Mungojerrie ...borrowed... me a new pearl necklace to replace my old one. (The girl human was going through some sort of phase.... she had about a hundred plastic bits of jewellery which she left lying around in careless places like sideboards and desks and locked boxes and things...) And a ruby necklace (fake, but still sparkly). And a sapphire one. And two more pearl ones.

Eh, of course the humans noticed the rapidly growing pile of jewels around my bed, but then I gave them The Endearing Look, perfected from months of begging food of humans in parks and they went "Awwwwww!!!" and patted me and went away saying things about the Darling Traits of the Dear Little Thing... or something.

...And a couple gold chains, and I'm pretty sure those were real, or at least pretty-high-carat plated, and .... am I getting carried away?

And Jemima and Pouncival bouncing up the stairs.

Wide-eyed and grinning and bouncing with - OOOooooh, it was chocolate, they had a packet of chocolate creams each!!! Bounce, bounce, across the room... It was a most accomplished bounce, really. It was bouncing to rival my bouncing. It made me want to bounce too, and I obviously hadn't become completely bone-tired or world-weary or sensible or any of that rubbish, because I actually tried.

Bounce / Splat, was basically how it went. What comes up must come down, they say, but I'd kinda been hoping my legs would disprove that for at least two seconds. Come on, isn't that fair? Up / Down, and then I was lying uncomfortably on top of one of my legs - the one in a plaster cast - , and I'd completely spoiled everything.

Jemima dropped the chocolate creams and gracefully leapt the remaining distance.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concern just spilling out of her eyes.

"Mm-hm." I nodded industriously, kicking my other feet against the bottom of the basket until I was sort of sitting up.

Pouncival landed to the left of Jemima, now carrying both packets of chocolates.

"Hi!" he said perkily, nervously. Something told me it had been Jem's idea to Visit The Poor And Injured. He looked altogether well-meaning but confused.

Then happened one of those awkward silences you hear so much about. You tend to notice just how many other things there are to do rather than saying anything in those moments; Jemima examined her paw and removed something invisible, Pouncival took his time rubbing his nose. Mungojerrie, predictably, scratched an ear. They all avoided looking at me, so I took great interest in watching them. Of course, at the same time a few seconds lasts about an hour and half and you can just imagine pins dropping noisily everywhere. Or needles, thumbtacks, whatever.

"So are you gonna give me chocolates or what?" I said at last. That was good. Good thing to say, to let them know that it was still me underneath the bandage and the funny tatty fur and cracked voice.

Pouncival looked like he was about to say something when Jemima spoke up.

"Oh no," she said seriously, "They're for Mungojerrie. Tokens of my love, you know."

Mungojerrie looked worried.

I glared. It took her less than five seconds under full Teazer-glare-power to start laughing. Then again, it only took me a couple seconds longer. Making sure Mungo couldn't hear, I giggle-growled: "Keep yer paws offa my tom!"

I imagined jumping at her and rolling around the floor in a play fight for a minute - it's what I would have done, ordinarily, until.. a week? two? three? ago. Sigh. Being an invalid sucked.

"Here you go." Pouncival pushed the chocolates my way.

And as I stared at them zooming across the carpet, the implication suddenly hit me with the force of... something forceful. CHOCOLATE!!

"Eeeeee!!" I squealed, hyperventilating pleasantly as my claws closed around the first box.

I think I worked myself into some sort of chocolate-frenzy as I tore open the packets - everyone offered to do it for me, but I refused violently. This was probably something like an ancient hunting ritual - you corner the prey, you pounce, and you tear it to shreds. Right, chocolate creams, yer gonna get it!!!

And... oh wow oh WOW, it was like food of the gods that they'd given to me! Not cos the gods didn't want it, but maybe they just hadn't known it was gone when someone pinched it from their banqueting hall. Like Prometheus, only with chocolate!! Can you imagine that? Pouncival Steals Chocolate From the Chocolate-Place they'd call it. An epic tale of a quest to bring the sweet substance to mortals. Wonderful chocolate. Magical chocolate. Celestial chocolate, I worship you now!!

I wasn't thinking tremendously clearly, I'll admit, but things were going blurry in a good way this time.

I hadn't had chocolate in so long. I hadn't had anything other than that slime food in what felt like years. The probability that I was going to be sick later on certainly did cross my mind. It would be a real shame, a waste of both the valuable chocolate creams and of the carpet which was... well, rapidly decreasing in value, the way things were shaping up. The thought did cross my mind, but then I sent it off to cross a major road. Ha ha.

When I'd eaten the first packet, I slowed down a bit and let the others have some of the second and we daintily picked out the interesting shaped ones and had fun guessing what they would taste like.

I probably ate one with rum in it or something, because I felt impossibly happy; or maybe it was just the effect of the chocolate in general. And Jem and Pounce and Mungo and all of us eating chocolate by the stinking kitty litter and pretty much forgetting that I'd nearly died however long ago it was and swapping crazy stories and admiring my jewellery collection... Mungo and I were probably instilling some pretty... dubious, I think Jennyanydots would say,... ideas in these two young minds; they both were absolutely enthralled by all our exploits that were just on the shady side of borrowing'.

We talked and whatever all afternoon, then Jem and Pounce left. I wasn't sick. I was probably too tired to be. It just felt like the most fantastic day of my life ever, and I still felt high on chocolates as my eyelids drooped and I settled down comfortably, somehow, for bed.

"Ya look loike a royal princess with all this bout," Mungo said as I pawed through the necklaces, watching them sparkle in the lamplight like hypnotists' toys.

"A queen," I said, grinning widely and sleepily.

"Yeah, a roight royal queen with er crown jewels an' sweetmeats at a banquet an' all..."

"Do queens eat chocolate?"

"Oi dunno... But yer the queen, ain't ya? Wot you say goes."

"Oooooh, the POWER!!" I turned the tickling cough into an evil Muahaha-Macavity-laugh - a rather good one if I say so myself.

"An' we can all be yer loyal subjects."

"Yeah," I said happily, my mind running away with the fantasy. "An' you all ave to bring me jewels an' chocolate an' tha', an' bow down afore me... An' you all ave t'wear those silly things round yer necks.. y'know the things Oi mean?"

"Er... collars?" he hazarded.

"Nah... loike... all fancy an' tha'."

"Necklaces?"

"Nonono, only Oi getta wear necklaces. They're... whoite, Oi think.. and loike, frilly."

"Lampshades??"

"Nooo!! They're in the uman pics with the old queen Eliz'beth or wotever..."

"Ruffs?"

"Yeah, tha's the one." I grinned evilly.

"We gotta wear ruffs?" he exclaimed in elaborated shock.

"Yuh-huh."

"Really...?"

"Yup. Queen's orders." Giggle. The POWER!

"...Do we ave to...?"

I considered. "Hmmmm... since yer beggin' so noicely, Oi suppose Oi'll let ya get away with it." I looked around the room. "Sides, we'd ave a job foindin' any round ere..."

"But ya still get the jewels an' chocolate an' tha'."

"Yeah...."

A human walked into the room.

I scowled at it, then shrugged. Mungo rubbed my nose with his and I giggled.

"Night, Mungo," I said as the human picked him up to carry him downstairs.

"Yeah, night-night, Teaz. See ya in the mornin'."

I burrowed comfortably into the blankets and had a dream about sailing through the air in my bed which was stuck on a giant square of chocolate. Nice.

~~~

Three days later. I was sure this time. I'd been able to keep count. Absobloominglutely fantastico!!

I couldn't keep much food down yet, but I was kinda getting used to being sick and I even hit the kitty litter a good bit of the time. Still, it was NOT NICE, which really goes without saying so I'm not sure why I said it, other than I just love stating the obvious. Other such obvious points include the fact that I was totally, totally fed up of that laundry basket. Oops, sorry, royal throne. Bet most queens' thrones don't stink like this one did... And I bet they get to leave the throne room once in a while, unlike me.

Heaviside, I wanted to run again!

Fur flying, a new string of pearls jumping jovially around my neck and my body soaring through air - this was the stuff of my dreams. I'd be looking over at sky through the window, bathing in the strips of sunlight across the carpet, impatience niggling at every cell, just hoping the world out there would wait for me to come back to it. I lived on Pounce and Jem's stories, closing my eyes and trying to float on the sunbeams. Early Autumn. Oh, I didn't want to miss that season... Summer was great, and winter had its charms as long as you could stay inside, but Autumn with the golden leaves and harvest hymns and everything... it was my time.

I wanted it to hold out for me. Patience had always been missing from otherwise-absolutely-complete set of virtues. Hang in there, everyone... Teazer's gettin' back on her feet...

But, for now... I was High Queen Teazer, and I would not only survive, but I would Ruuuule the Wooooooooooooorld!!!! Or something like that. There was definitely a time of fever-dreaming when that seemed like a very good idea indeed, but I'd gone off it a little since then. Far to Macavity-esque for me. Empress of the Living Room was the limit of my ambition at this current moment.

Well, actually, I did have another plan, too....

~~~

Mungojerrie blew a triumphal pretend fanfare.

"Preeesenting.... Is Lordship Pouncival...."

(I'd accepted a couple select kittens as official members of my royal court.)

"....von Wonderbar, Master of the Oly Rocking Chair!"

(but the titles had been completely their own ideas... I had nothing to do with them. Nothing!!!!)

"Lady Jemima del Sol, an' Lady Victoria de la Lune!"

(I was thinking that maybe Jennyanydots had instilled in them a shaky grasp of a few European languages. Very shaky in Pouncival's case.)

"An' where's Sir Plato de wotever-it-was-"

Victoria chimed in immediately. "Plato de Poulet!"

Nothing to do with me!!!!!

" - of... er... y'know, tha' place...?"

"Falcon's Reach!" Victoria again. Everyone stared at her. "What??" she asked. Saw where that was coming from, right?

"Yeah, im. Anyway, where is e?" I asked, staring around like he was gonna pop up any minute.

"Gone to the vet's," Victoria pouted. "Flea check or something."

Icky icky icky. Flea check or heart surgery, I wouldn't wish anyone anything to do with any stupid vet. Despite the fact that one had probably kept me alive, I resented the fact that I hadn't been informed while it was happening and that the man was so ANNOYING. "Eugh," I said. "Give him my best an' all, poor guy."

"Yeah, I will."

I giggled. "...D'ya miss im?" I asked, really tactfully. Dropping hints from a height of fifty feet, I was.

Pouncival grinned. "Probably. Don't you, Vic?" He turned to me. "But it's a bit pointless hinting like that, Teaz. They've officially been an item since sometime last week."

Victoria nodded, smiling nervously.

"Oh, right." I saw I'd been out of touch with everyone. Just shows what a matter of days can do to your corner of the world... Never mind. A couple weeks. I could deal with that. Still, might as well catch up on the gossip. "So..." I asked, doing my best Bustopher-voice-impression, the closest I'd got to royalty. "Wot's the news with my loh-wly subjects dah-own at the junkyaaahrd? Has anyth-aaang interestaang -" Oh screw this! "Wha's the gossip? Wha've Oi missed?"

Actually, it turned out to be not much. Well, not much I would have paid attention to or cared about, at any rate. Apparently, Victoria had been enlisted to teach Jennyanydots' mice ballet. Not a great success, by all accounts. Apparently, Jellylorum was seen flirting with Skimbleshanks. Apparently, Alonzo was seen flirting with Cassandra, Demeter and Bombalurina. Apparently, Tugger was seen flirting with Cassandra, Demeter, Bombalurina, Electra, Exotica, Mistoffelees, Jennyanydots, Plato ("Was not!!!" shouted an outraged Victoria...), Etcetera, Tantomile and.... Rumpelteazer.

"Huh? But Oi aven't been aroun' fer ages!?"

"That's why I said apparently'," said Jemima.

"Ah..."

"So, how've things been around here, Teaz?" Pouncival asked. He had certainly relaxed around me since his first visit. He also seemed kinda older and more mature than I remembered. Then again, I probably wasn't remembering a whole lot. It was getting to me more and more that I hadn't really bothered to get to know him, or Jemima, or Victoria, or anyone from the junkyard really. And they'd still come to visit me - not just the once out of cheap courtesy or anything either. I thought/hoped that I'd've done the same for them. Well, I knew I would now, but perhaps it was a good thing I'd never had the need to before.

"Well, y'know." I said weakly. "Alroight."

"How's the royal court?" asked Jem, gently; keeping the talk flowing well enough. "Need any more jewels or anything?"

Oooh dear, the look on her face! Eyes shining and all that - wot have we done to these innocent young kits? Hehe.

"Well.... there's always room for more shoiny things," I said, thus stating a great truth of my existence. Sparkle-powered, that's me.

"We'll get some!" they all said at once.

"Wot, all o' you?" asked Mungojerrie.

"Yeah!"

"No no no!" I said, flapping my paws about uselessly. Then I tried to come up with a reason. "It's....er... three'd be too many. Victoria, you staiy ere, an' you can.... um..." -cough- "talk t'me bout tha' pearly collar. Pounce an' Jem, i's the girl's room - firs' one on the left, can't miss it."

Shrugging, Pouncival and Jemima dashed off.

Mungojerrie looked sidelong at me. "Wot was tha' all abou'?" he asked.

"Nothin', nothin'," I said happily.

"You're playing matchmaker with Jem and Pounce, aren't you!" accused Victoria, grinning.

"Er.... maybe...?" I offered. "Ya don' mind, do ya?

"No, not at all... Only I've been trying for months and they just won't take a hint!!"

Mungojerrie chuckled. "Oi'm thikin' they'll taike Teaza's ints," he said. "They're koinda ard t'miss..."

"Besoides," I said, with an air of finality and firmness that would have worked much better if my voice didn't crack halfway through the word. I wasn't going to let that bother me. "Oi am Er Royal Ighness Queen Rumpelteaza and everyone as t'do wot I want!" I shifted in my mess of blankets, warm and comfortable. "Oooooh!!" I squealed, seeing absolutely no reason not to use my hyperness to the full. "They are SO CUTE!!!!!"

Jem and Pounce came back a minute later with generous amounts of sparkly chains looped round each of their necks. They also had difficulty controlling giggles, and I suddenly wondered if by any chance they had been standing outside the door for any length of time... They solemnly dropped the loot on top of the pile.

~~~

My head hurt majorly after that episode, but - well, it did matter cos it hurt - but it was rather less important that it would have been if the exertion had been for a less worthy cause. My whole body was buzzing that night, but not just from the pain and that junk.

Weird timing, I suppose, but as I drifted into dreams of free falling with a topaz parachute, I felt tiredly happier than I had in ages.

~~~

To be continued

Oooh, hyperness and chocolate. *hands all reviewers an imaginary box of chocolates*

Yeah, well, I felt like I desperately needed something lighter what with all the angsty moans and whatnot (and you haven't even read the next chapters...)

Oh, and if anyone noticed, minded or was wondering: yes, the living room of this house IS upstairs. It wasn't a conscious decision, that's just where I thought it would be. :)

Reviews make me happy! *hint hint hint hint hint*

and... HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!