A few days later, Tugger and his friends were officially settled into the Tribe. Electra, Etcetera and Nextia were playing catch with an old ball, a little way away from the tyre, when Tugger and the black and white tom Alonzo came over to them. Etcetera turned to stare at them; she was so distracted that, when Tia threw the ball to her, she hardly noticed it bounce off her. Tia sighed exasperatedly, but Electra thought Etcetera had a point. The cream tabby kitten was staring intently at Tugger, and as El stared at him as well, she could see what her friend's point was. She thought he was incredibly handsome, and Etcetera clearly thought so too. But Nextia just rolled her eyes, took the ball and scampered off to find someone else to play with.
As he drew nearer, Tugger noticed the kittens' dreamy look, and, fluffing up his mane, 'swaggered' the last few steps. Etcetera practically fainted! Now, Electra thought, she was going over the top, but Tugger didn't appear to mind; clearly he was used to a lot of attention. And with that mane, Electra could see why! As he approached, Tugger turned to Alonzo and said "Hey, buzz off, why don't ya? I don't want ya stealin' my limelight! Go on, go find Plato or Admetus."
Alonzo looked a bit put out, but as he was clearly the younger of the two, and used to being bossed around, he nodded sullenly, and walked off. With a satisfied smirk, Tugger turned to the two kittens, who were staring up at him, bright-eyed and eager. Grinning more, Tugger strutted past them, only taking his eyes off them to climb up onto an old drainage pipe. Once he was settled, he beckoned the kittens to him. Both jumped up immediately, but before they could take step towards him, a shriek pierced the air; a very, very angry shriek.
"Etcetera!"
The two kittens jumped, and whirled round, to see Jellylorum marching towards them, her face thunderous! Behind them, on the pipe, Tugger stood up, as if readying himself to run. Jelly came storming up to them, gave El and Tugger a look of ultimate disgust, then grabbed Etcetera's paw, and pulled her away from the two other cats, muttering something about her being a disgrace, mixing with riffraff, and something about how perfect Victoria was.
El scowled after her, but then turned her attention to Tugger, who was once again sitting down, on the old pipe. Once more he beckoned to her, and this time, she came to him uninterrupted. Reaching down, he lifted the kitten up, and sat her on his knee, and said "So, little kitty, what's your name?"
His tone of voice was pleasant, and the look he was giving her was kindly. Electra said "My name's Electra."
"Well, Electra, how old are you?"
This question might've puzzled Electra. But, all she could think of was how good-looking he was, and any suspicions she might've had were squashed. She replied "I'm six months, nearly seven. How old are you?"
Just as soon she'd said it, she remembered what Jelly had said about asking adults their age, and said "Er, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to off-"
"Hey, think nothing' of it," Tugger replied, laughing ", I don't get offended that easily. I'm two. Years, that is."
"Golly," Electra mewed ", I s'pose that's pretty old."
"Hey, now, I'm not ancient you know," Tugger chuckled. Electra grinned, and snuggled down on his lap, but before she could get comfortable, yet another piercing scream knifed through the air. El sat up, puzzled and startled, but the next second Tugger was setting her down on the ground and pulling her into the shadows as fast as he could. Electra didn't know what the maned tom was doing, dodging about, and appearing to be running from something. A moment later, the kitten found out what.