Disclaimer: The story of the brave Maneki-neko comes from Japan. You can probably find it somewhere. "The Cat That Walked By Himself" is written by Rudyard Kipling, and can be found if you Google it. I thought they would be appropriate stories for a Jellicle to tell.
The first part of this chapter is dedicated to Sir John Mills, who played Gus the Theatre Cat in the CATS video. He passed away on the 23rd of April 2005 after a chest infection, at the impressive age of 97.
In your time, you played every possible part
Twenty-One: Story Time
December arrived with another shower of snow, and this time, it stayed on the ground. Like sugar it covered the roofs of the TSEs and the Jellicle junkyard, gathered on the hut in the mini-Pollicle pen and powdered the corridors through the junk. It also brought freezing winds to OFUC, causing the students to prefer staying inside their cars.
Sometimes however, emergency called.
"Pleeease, Misty?" pleaded Joanna, who was bouncing in her seat. "I really, really, really have to go!"
"Then go!" growled her roommate and cuddled up under her blanket. "I refuse to leave! You can't make me!"
"But it's dark out!" Joanna looked at Misty with her largest Jemima eyes. "There are dangers! Please, please Misty? I'd do it for you!"
Misty looked up from underneath the blanket and peered at Joanna. Her green eyes gleamed in the half-darkness. "I don't like the cold. What's in it for me?"
The human girl whimpered. She really didn't have time for this. Misty rolled her eyes.
"Fine, I'll go. But be quick, you hear?"
Joanna nodded in relief. "Oh thank you thank you thank you..."
They went out into the early night, half-running to avoid feeling the cold, and had soon reached the toilettes. Misty stayed outside, jumping up and down to keep warm while Joanna hurried inside and... did her business. When Joanna came out from the bathrooms, looking very relieved indeed, her roomie stood listening into the night. Her ears were perked, and her tail latched from side to side.
"What is it?" asked Joanna.
"I'm hearing something," whispered Misty. "From the Jellicle junkyard. Voices."
Joanna shrugged. "So what? There are probably people there. What's the big deal?"
"They're canons." Misty smiled. "Maybe Tugger's there..."
Joanna froze immediately. "Really? Misto too?"
"Maybe. Shall we go and... investigate?"
The Mistoffelees fangirl didn't have to think it through. "Oh, yes we are!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight.
The pair snuck up to the Jellicle junkyard, both listening intently. It took Joanna a little longer to hear the voices, since she lacked Misty's superior feline hearing, but soon she did. To her great disappointment, it wasn't Mistoffelees.
It was Gus. They could see him sit by a large bonfire in the middle of the junkyard. He had scotched up close to the fire, to warm his shivering paws at the flames, and by his feet sat a large number of Jellicle cats. They were looking at him with large eyes, completely engulfed in whatever it was he said.
At first the girls paid him no heed. They were much too busy looking around for their Lust Objects to care about the old Theatre Cat.
But then they saw that there was another fire burning in Gus's eyes, a fire much wilder than anything they had seen before. His face, wrinkled and old, was shining with an otherworldly light. He was smiling.
Joanna and Misty found themselves standing completely still, barely even breathing, and listening to his voice.
"Unfortunately, the brave cat could not be saved from the venom of the snake, and he died. His noble mistress, whom he had saved by sacrificing his own life, decided to honour his memory by carving images of him, and to this day, these images serve as talismans for good luck. Still, the brave cat protects the humans against disease and unfortune." He raised his head and smiled at the kittens, who sat closest to him. "And that, my young friends, is the story of Maneki-neko."
"Can't you tell us another one, Gus?" asked Etcetera and tilted her head at one side. "Please?"
The Theatre Cat chuckled. "Little one, will you ever tire of my stories?"
"Nope!" chirped the kitten. "Please Gus, just one more? We promise we'll sleep after that!"
There were some murmurs of agreement from the other cats. Gus sighed.
"Very well, but only one more for tonight. I hear my voice is cracking."
"You think we can go out there?" whispered Misty and turned to Joanna. "I'd like to hear this."
"I don't think we have much of a choice," Joanna murmured back. "The Twins have seen us."
She nodded towards Coricopat and Tantomile, who both had sat up straight and were staring into the darkness.
"Students," they both chorused. "Students in the junkyard."
Gus turned his head and winced in pain. Jellylorum, as always by his side, put her paw in his lap and nuzzled him tenderly. He smiled weakly at her.
"Well, let them come out," he said. "They might learn something about story-telling."
"I'll get 'em!" exclaimed Etcetera and Jemima at the same time, and then they both giggled and hurried away from the fire.
They went up to Joanna and Misty, who both couldn't believe their luck. Honestly, how often did you get the chance to sit with real Jellicles, listening to real Jellicle stories?
The snow had melted near the fire, and the ground was dry to sit on. Joanna and Misty sat down as close as they could to the flames without burning themselves. It was nice to sit there. They felt good.
Gus cleared his throat. "And now follows the story of the Cat That walked By Himself," he said, his voice no longer weak and sickly. "Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The Dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild as wild as wild could be and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him..."
It was a good story, one of those stories that you know you'll remember for the rest of your life. Gus's voice was strong and soothing, and his words melted together into a warm stream, like a song or hastily mumbled prayer. That, combined with the warmth from the bonfire, soon made Joanna's eyelids drop. Misty was already asleep, curled up in a furry ball near the fire. She had a smile on her face, and she was purring contentedly.
Joanna noticed how the Jellicles started to nod off as well, and for a moment she pondered on whether this could be the opportune moment to sneak off and look for Misto. But when she tried to stand up, she found that her body was heavy and that her muscles would not obey her.
'Oh well,' she thought sleepily. 'I can... look for him in the morning... No rush...'
And she slept, and dreamed of cats with fur as black as midnight, walking alone, with their eyes gleaming like the full moon above...
Joanna awoke in the early morning hours from the pain in her limbs. She was groaning even before she had opened her eyes. It was freezing cold, the fire had died a long time ago and only the glowing ember remained. The grey light of dawn was illuminating the junkyard, and the last of the stars faded.
Joanna stood up, to huge protests from her aching body. Her head was pounding viciously as well. How wonderful.
"That's the last time I sleep on the ground," she muttered, and gave Misty a gentle push with her foot to wake her up. "Misty!"
"Wha'?" mumbled the faux Jellicle. "Whazzamatter?"
"We fell asleep," said Joanna. "We should get back to our cars now."
"Mmm..." Misty shivered and hid her face under her tail. "Jus' one minute..."
Joanna rolled her eyes. "Misty! Come on, get up!"
"'S cold. Me no wanna."
Joanna felt her headache growing stronger. Dammit. To get sick now was just her luck. She bent down and poked Misty hard in the ribs.
"Hey!" exclaimed the cat and jumped, completely awake. "I'm up, I'm up!"
She yawned and stretched out, much like felines do, and then stood up. No canons were visible around the junkyard, they had probably left hours ago to rest in the faculty area instead. Joanna silently cursed herself for not having gone for Misto the previous night, when she had the chance.
Ah well, no use crying over spilt milk... Hah.
"You know what time it is?" mumbled Misty and yawned again. "Maybe there's no point in going to bed again, if we're just going to have to get up in half an hour."
"I don't care, I have to lie down on something soft," said Joanna and groaned. "God, my back is killing me... I'll go to Jenny for some painkillers tomorrow."
She sneezed, and whimpered slightly.
"Bless you," said Misty kindly. "Wow, are you okay? You don't look so good."
"I'm fine," muttered Joanna. "Just a small cold. Nothing serious."
"My mum always says that a cold can turn into pneumonia if you're not careful. Perhaps you should skip class today and concentrate on getting better?"
"Mmm..." Joanna opened the car of the TSE 4 and climbed in, swaggering slightly. Suddenly she felt very dizzy. "Maybe. Sleep now."
"Right." Misty climbed in after her. "Goodnight, Jo."
"Night..."
And soon there was silence again.
"Jo! Jo, wake up! Jo, you wake up right now!"
Sleep was nice... She would like to keep sleeping for a while. There had been a dream there somewhere that had been nice, and she wouldn't mind keeping on dreaming it for a while. It had had a cat in it. Cats were nice.
"Jo! Can I get some help here?"
Hm. Noise. Noise was not nice. It disturbed her sleep. She frowned and grumbled something. There was another voice there now too.
"Oh God... Is she okay?"
"I don't know! I can't wake her!"
A cool hand on her forehead...
"Wow, she's burning up..."
"I know! Arakasema, can you run and get Jenny? And hurry! I don't... I don't know if she's..."
The voice dissolved into sobs.
"Take it easy," said a soothing voice. "Jenny can fix it, no problem. It's probably nothing to worry about."
"Probably?"
Bad with noise. She didn't like it at all. She probably should try and tell them to be quiet, but she was just so... tired.
"Hmm," she said.
"Jo? Jo, can you hear me?"
She knew that voice... Yeah, that was a familiar voice. Wow, her head felt really heavy...
"Hmm," she said, again.
"I don't know if you hear this, but don't worry. Things are gonna be okay. Jennyanydots is on her way to check on you."
"Hmm."
"Just try and relax..."
And Joanna sank into unconsciousness once more.
A/N: Please stop asking whether or not you died at the Halloween Ball... I don't keep lists on things like that. You decide.
If you want to write spin-offs, the rules are now up on the OFUC website.
Answers to Reviews:
Aislin of the Shadows: Oh, I'll most definitely allow adoptions of minis at the end of this fic. They're wreaking havoc in my room, all 95 of them! I'll make pretty little pictures of 'em. Not sure if I'll allow people to "call" minis, though. Just be ready to ask me when the time comes. Don't worry though, I think you'll get one. I have three Munkustrap minis to choose from.
Tera Earth: In the video, Mistoffelees is simply called Mistoffelees, and the name Quaxo is only mentioned in "The Naming of Cats." However, in the lyrics of my CATS CD (worship!), it says, very neatly, that Wayne Sleep plays "Quaxo, otherwise known as Mr. Mistoffelees." It is one of those things that I suppose varies from performance to performance. Since I can't possibly bring up every separate show in this story, this is the version I'm going with: Quaxo is Mistoffelees when he is not performing magic.
Eponine: Cat Morgan will show up at some point. Probably in Firefrorefiddle's Obscure Character's Club. Heh. OCC.
Jemima-luvah and Roman de la Croix: What? What did I do?