Twenty-Six: Frustration and Crankiness
It was a completely normal day at OFUC campus. The snow was falling gently on students walking arm in arm on their way to the cafeteria; fangirls were plotting on how to get their Lust Objects (but very quietly, since mini-Pollicles were on the prowl); Mystitat was showing off her new Most Deaths Award (a picture of Mistoffelees with his pawprint on it); and miss Minnaloushe was on her fourth interview with the Cheshire Cat.
She still hadn't gotten an explanation as to what it was doing in her university, and it was slowly but surely getting on her last nerve.
"So you were out in Wonderland one day, and you ended up here?" she asked, as patiently as she could.
The Cat grinned. "I might have been asleep," it said. "This might be just a dream. Or I'm finally awake, and Wonderland was a dream. It can be quite confusing, sometimes."
Miss Minnaloushe felt her headache come on. It always did when she was dealing with this particular cat. She turned towards the Twins, who were both hunched over some sort of magic book. They did not speak with each other, but the course coordinator knew that they somehow had a conversation going on anyway.
"Anything?" she asked.
Coricopat and Tantomile looked up at the same time.
"Not yet," they chorused.
"And until we have figured out how and why it got here," began Tantomile.
"We cannot tell how to get it back to its home," her brother continued.
"It is all something of a mystery," they finished together, and returned to the book.
Miss Minnaloushe groaned inwardly, but nodded. "Very well. Let me know once you do."
They nodded without looking up. Miss Minnaloushe looked at the Cheshire Cat, or at least she tried to. It had disappeared off somewhere, and only its eyes hung in the air. One of them winked at her, and then the eyes were gone too.
Miss Minnaloushe huffed. "How rude."
In the TSE 4, there was a study circle going on. Technically there were only two people there, so it probably was more of a study line, but still.
It was the last day of Christmas break, and it was best to start the reading early, Joanna reasoned. Misty had been somewhat reluctant, but had agreed in the end. They would take some new classes this term and were currently studying the book they'd gotten for Jellicle Legends, (A Collection of Tails by Billy McCaw) the class that focused mainly on the characters Griddlebone, Growltiger and the Rumpus Cat.
"'When writing Griddlebone, do remember that she is called the Lady Griddlebone, which indicates some form of nobility, perhaps that she was born into a wealthy family'," Joanna read out loud and leaned against the back of her seat. "'Another reason for this to be likely is that she is a pure white Persian, a very expensive breed that mainly stays indoors.'"
Misty, who up until now had been busy following the snowflakes whirling outside the car window with her eyes, looked up. "Doesn't it say in Growltiger's song that he doesn't like Persians? They took his ear or something."
"That was the Siamese. But yeah, he shouldn't like Persians either." Joanna frowned. "Why is it that Griddlebone is one, then?"
"He converted to Persians by the power of love, sweet love!" giggled Misty. "The beauty of Griddlebone made him see reason, and LUUURVE brought them together!"
Joanna pointedly ignored her. She skimmed the book until she found something interesting. "Hey look, they have a picture of Maneki Neko!" She held up a page with a picture of a tricolored Japanese bobtail, which was sitting on its back legs, holding one paw up in the air. "Like the story Gus told us about a month ago, remember?"
"Let me see." Misty snatched the book from Joanna's hands. "Hm. Says here that the Maneki Neko is such a cultural icon in Japan that a lot of characters have been inspired by it. Like Meowth, you know, the Pokémon?"
"I'm not much of a fan of Pokémon, Misty. Give me back my book now."
The Jellicle handed back the book. "Right, right, don't get yer knickers in a twist. Hey, want to come with me to the cafeteria? I could use a snack."
Joanna shrugged. "Sure, let's go."
They left the car and waded through the ankle deep snow, all the while muttering profanities and wishing said snow to a much warmer place. Since they had somehow gotten smaller (or everything else had gotten bigger) once they'd arrived on OFUC campus, the weather was somewhat bothersome.
Suddenly Misty stopped, frowning. Immediately, Joanna stopped as well, afraid that there might be something possibly lethal hiding nearby.
"What is it?" she whispered, fully prepared to run at any moment.
Misty didn't reply, but walked over to a pile of junk nearby. Right in the middle of it was an old closet, which had gotten its doors ripped off at some point in existence, and it was that piece of furniture that Misty peeked in to.
"Hello?" she asked tentatively. "Anybody in here?"
"Who is it?" came a voice from the depths of the closet. It sounded slightly nervous, and clearly male.
Misty grinned. "Oh, hello, Araka. Why are you hiding in there?"
Joanna also grinned and joined her roommate's side.
"Ehm, no reason in particular," said the voice of Arakasema, trying to sound as if he did these sorts of things all the time and there was really nothing to it at all. "Eh. Is that Cheshire Cat still around, by any chance?"
Joanna and Misty both looked around, and then they shrugged almost simultaneously.
"Doesn't look like it," said Misty calmly. "Why?"
"No reason, it's just that it's... creepy." Slowly Arakasema emerged from the closet, scratching his head and looking slightly embarrassed. His tail waved lazily from side to side, and his eyes darted nervously around to look out for possible attacks from grinning felines. "So, eh, what are you guys up to?"
"We're heading to the cafeteria for snacks," said Joanna. "Want to come?"
"Actually, I'd rather stay in the closet. It's nice and AH!"
He jumped two feet in the air and with a hiss he quickly dove back into his closet, from which even Joanna could hear scared whimpers come out. The two fic-writers slowly turned around to see what had startled him.
A body-less grin hung in the air a few meters away. "Good afternoon," it said calmly.
Joanna shivered. There was indeed something wrong with a cat grinning like that. It looked like it knew something mere mortals did not, and it was acting very smug about it. Then again, so did most cats.
"Good afternoon," she answered, trying her best to not appear bothered by the grin's sudden appearance. "Miss Minnaloushe still hasn't figured out what to do with you, has she?"
"Not quite," said the grin of the Cheshire Cat and broadened visibly. "She is quite stumped by it."
"I can imagine that a stumped miss Minnaloushe is a rather angry miss Minnaloushe?" asked Misty and grimaced at the thought.
The Cat didn't respond, but its entire head showed up and floated around in the air. Its eyes looked at the two students for a bit, and then the head tilted to the side... and it vanished.
Joanna looked at Misty. Misty looked at Joanna. They both shrugged simultaneously.
"You think it found someone else to bother?" wondered Joanna.
"Probably. Let's just go and get that snack now, shall we?"
It was the next morning. The full moon was shining in through the window, and its rays were tickling the nose of Misty, who sneezed in her sleep and woke up from it. She groaned with annoyance as she found herself completely awake, and then she looked out the window.
It was very dark outside, but the moonbeams on the fallen snow did light it up just a bit. Misty yawned. She was still tired, but what was the point of going back to sleep now? Nah, it was better if she actually did something. Besides, things were quite nice when campus was completely still.
The Jellicle student smiled and reached for her notebook. The arrival of the Cheshire Cat had sparked her creative flame, and she was beginning to get rather nice ideas for a humour fic about it. She'd always been quite fond of weird crossovers. Living in one was pretty interesting.
Misty delicately tapped her pencil against her lower lip as she looked at the empty sheet of paper in front of her. She wanted to write. It was the perfect opportunity to do it now, when everything was serene and deliciously still, but she wasn't sure of how to start.
'Maybe a Delight would help matters,' she thought and started digging around the backseat for the familiar yellow bag before stopping herself.
How often did she eat those Delights, anyway? During the first term she must have had at least ten every day. That were an awful lot of bags, but what could you do when you lived in a world that had no chocolate?
'Maybe I should cut down on these things,' Misty thought and sighed as she looked wistfully at the bag. 'They must be fattening. Anything that good is.'
Using a tremendous amount of willpower, Misty resisted the treats and returned to her unwritten fic.
"Crossovers, crossovers," she mumbled to herself, quietly so that she wouldn't wake up Joanna. "So many possibilities, so few pages left in the pad..."
She shrugged and began to write. If she just got started, she usually thought something up as she went along.
Hm... An idea, an idea. I could make a Harry Potter theme work, with Mistoffelees coming to Hogwarts as Dumbledore's cat. He could make friends with him Crookshanks and that other one, whatshername, Mrs. Norris. Yeah. And didn't Millicent Bulstrode have a cat too?
Misty always found it easy to get an idea if she wrote down details first.
When the alarm clock rang some twenty minutes later, Joanna groaned and turned it off. She sat up and blinked sleepily at Misty.
"Hello, roomie!" chirped the Jellicle cheerily and put down her notepad. "Ready for a new and exciting term at OFUC?"
"No," said Joanna and yawned. "I want to sleep some more."
"Well, that you can't!" Misty pounced with a giggle, and the two rolled around in a pile of hair, fur and limbs until they landed with a thud on the car floor.
"Aaack!" cried Joanna. "Fine, fine, I'm up!"
Misty clapped her paws together. "Yay! You know Rumpus Cat is teaching today."
The human girl winced, then frowned. "How's he supposed to teach when he doesn't speak?"
"I suppose Pouncival helps him out," shrugged Misty.
"But then it's Pouncival who teaches, not Rumpus Cat."
"The schedule says Rumpus."
"The schedule also says right here that he'll be assisted by Pouncival."
Misty yoinked the schedule from her roommate and scribbled something on it. "There. Now the schedule says that you're a poo-head," she said and returned it with a grin.
"You are so childish."
"And you're cranky in the mornings. That's very interesting. I usually don't notice that because I out-cranky you."
"I didn't sleep well. I had my 'you-failed-everything-miss-Swanson-and-we-all-hate-you' dream again." Joanna paused. "Although this time it was Misto who said it instead of miss Minnaloushe, which was so much worse." She pouted sadly.
"Poor thing. Breakfast?"
"You know it."
A/N: Due to it not looking very good to have a long list of review replies at the end of every chapter, I won't be answering any more reviews in this story. Should you have a question that you lie sleepless about at night, you are welcome to email me. My address is in my profile. Know that I still adore every single one of you reviewing lot. :)