Pouncival rolled over in his sleep, right on top of Demeter. His eyes popped open as he felt himself hit her.
"Sorry," he whispered quietly, not sure if he had even awakened the older queen. She opened one eye and smiled at him.
"It's ok. I've got a rather small box for a home. Usually it's just me here. I'll be sure to find a bigger one for us in the morning," she told him. He nodded, then turned over so she wouldn't see he was still awake. Pouncival wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. He missed his mom and dad. Demeter and Munkustrap were nice, but they weren't as good as the real things.
A tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered when his dad had been trying to teach him how to catch a mouse. They had a ton of fun that day, but in the end, Pouncival still couldn't catch a mouse. He wondered who would teach him now.
"Etcy," Pounce whispered, poking his sister's side.
"What Pounce?" she asked through a yawn.
"I was just wondering, who's going to teach us how to hunt mice?"
"Pouncival, I don't know. Probably Munkustrap. Why do you care this early?" she asked, annoyed.
"I was just remembering when Daddy took me mouse hunting."
"I remember that," Etcy whispered, her tone softening. "Mommy took me bird hunting that day. I didn't do too great."
"Me neither." The two giggled softly into the blanket they were lying on.
"I guess we better be quieter or we'll wake Demeter. What do you think about her?" Etcetera asked Pounce.
"I like her. She's really nice and cool."
"I agree with you. Victoria doesn't like her though. I don't know why. Admetus heard her say something mean about her and got really mad. It was scary," Etcetera told Pouncival.
"I think I would like Admetus too. He seems like a nice kit. I wish I had an older brother. That'd be cool," Pouncival said.
"Yeah. Then he wouldn't let anybody pick on us." The two nodded in agreement before Etcetera fell back asleep. Pounce sighed out of boredom. He saw through the hole in the box that served as a door that the sun was starting to come up. Carefully standing up and stepping over Demeter's legs, Pouncival put his paws down outside the door. Seeing something move out of the corner of his eye, Pounce turned his head. It was Munkustrap about to leave the junkyard.
"Munkustrap!" Pounce yelled as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake anybody else up. The kit quickly caught up to Munku. "Munkustrap, when you get back, will you teach me and Etcy how to hunt mice?" he asked, out of breath.
"Calm down Pounce. Why are you so eager to learn?"
"Well, it's just, that's what Daddy was teaching us before he disappeared." Munku smiled at the sad kit in front of him.
"Sure bud. As soon as I'm back. Right now I have to go though. I promise when I get home I will." Munkustrap patted Pouncival's shoulder as he stood up. "Be good for Demeter, ok?" Pouncival nodded as he watched the tabby walk down the street.
Turning to go back to his new house, Pouncival saw somebody else walking along the top of a small tire at the bottom of a junkpile. Wondering whom it was, he walked over.
"Hi!" Pounce said enthusiastically. The cat jumped in surprise. Pounce saw it was another kitten.
"Um, hi. You're the new kit, aren't you." The other kitten said it as more of a statement than a question.
"Yes. My name's Pouncival. I met you yesterday, but I forgot your name."
"Oh, sorry. My name's Mistoffelees. You can call me Misto though," the tuxedoed kit told Pouncival.
"Ok. Sorry if I scared you earlier," Pounce apologized.
"That's ok. I was just surprised. Nobody else is usually up this early. I practice my magic now, when I can't hurt anybody. I've had some bad experiences," Misto explained.
"You're a magical cat? I've never heard of any before," Pouncival said, curiosity filling his voice. Misto nodded.
"I'm not allowed to do any without Coricopat and Tantomile's permission though. Once I almost took off Victoria's ears," Misto whispered, ears down. Pouncival laughed.
"That would've been pretty funny. I don't think I like her too much," Pounce admitted.
"Why not?"
"She was making fun of Demeter."
"That's Victoria for you. She doesn't like too many people being better than her. She's weird. Don't tell her I said that though. She might kill me."
"I won't," Pouncival promised. "I don't think I'll be talking to her too much."
"Yeah. Well, I better go before Tant wakes up. Cori will cut me a little slack, but Tantomile will not be happy at all if she know I was practicing magic." Pounce waved goodbye as Misto walked away.
"I like these cats. I wonder who else I can meet?" Pounce leapt on top of the giant tire to better survey the area.
"Excuse me," a low voice behind Pouncival said. Turning, Pounce saw a large Maine Coon. He remembered Munkustrap telling him that he was the leader, but couldn't remember his name either.
"Um, hello," Pounce said politely.
"Pouncival, right?" Pounce nodded. "Well, it seems you've found your way onto my tire."
"Oh, sorry sir. I'll move," Pouncival said standing up. The Maine Coon sat down.
"None of this sir business Pouncival. My name is Old Deuteronomy. Call me that instead. You're more than welcome to sit here anytime I'm not, but during the day I have to. I watch the Jellicles from here, ok?" Pouncival nodded, thinking that the leader of the Jellicles was a bit strange. "You be on your way now." Pounce padded away.
Not seeing anybody else to talk to, Pounce started to head back to Demeter's box. As he passed by the old car again, he saw a furry thing start to poke out the window. Curious, he stopped to watch. Soon, a black cat emerged. He looked to be part Maine Coon.
"Stupid doors. I hate it when they get stuck," he muttered to himself, brushing his mane down.
"Hello," Pounce said.
"Oh, uh, hi kid," the cat said, turning around. "Hey, you're Munku's new kit, right? Pouncival." Pounce nodded. "Hey, I'm The Rum Tum Tugger. You can call me Tugger though. So where's Munku?"
"He left this morning. When he gets back, he's going to teach me how to hunt mice!" Pouncival told Tugger excitedly.
"Why wait till he gets back? I can teach you," Tugger told Pouncival.
"But, Munkustrap said he was going to teach me. Cause he's my new daddy," Pounce explained.
"Are you going to starve for two weeks? Come on. I'll teach you now." Feeling like he had no choice, Pouncival followed Tugger to a part of the junkyard that looked like no cat had touched it for quite a few years. Mice were running everywhere.
"Now, all you have to do if you hunt here is stick out a claw, dip your paw, and," Tugger stuck his paw down. When he pulled it out, a mouse was wriggling on the end of his claw. "This place is swarming with them. Nobody else knows about it," Tugger said as he finished killing the mouse. "You try." Pounce extended his claws and put a paw down. He felt his claws attach to something. When he pulled his paw up, a mouse was attached.
"I caught one! I never got one before!" Pounce yelled excitedly.
"See kid, it's easy here." Pounce nodded as he bit into the first mouse he had ever caught.
"Thanks Tugger!"
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A/N: Who will cry for me? Sorry, I have that song stuck in my head and had the urge to type it here. I'll use this space to say that I love all you reviewers. We had our Veteran's day play today. It went very well, actually. I wasn't so sure how some of the actor's and actresses' would do, but they all did their parts well! Especially the two guys that had to take over my brothers part cause he was sick. They had less than an hour to learn their lines, but did it anyway. I'm still feeling the excitement, sorry.
Krissy4: I'm glad I was able to help cheer you up a little bit. Some of our teachers get upset at cussing, but not all of them. It's weird. They don't like us to write words, but if we say them, it's fine.
Mystitat: Ok, in this story, Demeter is about 3 human years old. Admetus would be 9 months and Electra is 5 months. I hope that cleared some things up for you. It would be weird to think of them being the same age, but Demeter raising him.