(Assume that there is a witty disclaimer telling you that I do not own cats at the beginning of every chapter from here on out. Meowy Christmas, all!)
Nine of Spades: The Submissive
Jemima skittered down the spiral stairs, being dragged by the bag of gifts almost as big as she was. She managed to pull it into control to branch off into the library, dragging it back to the vaults. She dropped it and sighed.
"I've never felt old before…" She said to herself as she rubbed the small of her back, which was sore from dragging the bag through the maze-like hallways of the library. She heard a laugh from behind her.
"Old…?" It was her sister, Etcetera. She had an amused grin on her face. "What does 'old' feel like?" Jemima rolled her eyes and upturned the bag, letting all the gifts fall onto the floor.
"Will you help me put them in the right vaults?" She asked, picking up a whimsically wrapped gift.
"Where did you get all this paper?" Etcetera asked, looking on in awe. She extended her paw for an especially shiny gift.
"Actually… they were for me…" Jemima said reluctantly, pulling at the tag on her dog collar. Her sister's jaw dropped.
"You're kidding! They're for you and you're giving them away?" She asked, slightly stunned.
"Well I don't need them! My pets just like to spoil me." She said, a satisfied smirk on her face. Etcetera looked down at the dog tag hanging on the piece of twine tied around her neck. She sighed.
"My pets give me food. That's enough for me." She said, her tail flicking back and forth nervously. Jemima sighed and handed her a box with bits of foil taped to it.
"This one's for you." She said with a kinder smile.
"Oh, Jemima… thank you!" She squealed, taking the box from her. "Can I open it?"
"It is Chriss-mass." She said, stumbling over the human word. She watched her sister pull at the foil until it was unwrapped.
"It's a box." She said, an odd look on her face. Jemima laughed worriedly. If she had to explain this to every cat in the tribe, she'd never get all the presents handed out.
"I think you're supposed to open the box." She said slowly, not wanting to make her sister feel silly or stupid. It didn't work.
"I knew that!" She said, ripping the tape with a claw. "Oh! It's a mouse."
"What?" Jemima asked in a shocked fashion.
"A stuffed mouse!" Etcetera corrected herself, picking it up.
"Oh. It's cute." She said with a grin. "I hope there's nothing girly in here…" She said, suddenly realizing that the presents were for her, and not the toms of the junkyard.
"Maybe we should open them all, and then choose what to give who?" Etcetera suggested, glancing at the pile and then back at her sister.
"That's a good idea. Why don't you start at that end?" Jemima asked, picking a present up.
As the kittens finished their job, they starred at the pile of toys and ribbons in front of them.
"Couldn't they think of something to give me besides stuffed mice and ribbons?" She asked, a tone of concern in her voice. Etcetera sighed.
"Pets can be really stupid sometimes." She offered while she sorted through a pile of mice.
"I know! You can even call them stupid and they'll just smile and say how cute you are." She laughed with her sister as she lay out multicolored ribbons in a line. "What are we going to do with these?" She sighed as she picked up a green and blue ribbon with small pearls dripping off it.
"Why don't we give the queens ribbons and the toms mice?" Etcetera offered, sniffing a mouse. "This one has catnip in it!" She said, plucking at the seams.
"Cut it out! You know we're not allowed catnip." She said, snatching for it.
"Let's give this one to the Tugger." She said with a giggle, holding it just out of Jemima's reach.
"Oh, Cet, that'd be so rude!" Jemima said, still snatching for it.
"Everyone knows he's a niphead!" She said, still laughing as her smaller sister grabbed at the illegal toy.
"Etcetera, give me that mouse." She demanded in a stern voice.
"What are you going to do with it?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes at her.
"Give it to Jenny, or Demeter, or morra! Someone who'll do something responsible with it!" She said, holding a paw out for her sister.
"Fine. You're no fun." She said, dropping it in her paw. "But I still think we should give it to the Tugger. We're short one, otherwise." Jemima looked at the pile and bit her lip. She didn't want anyone to be left out.
"Okay, fine. But if anyone gets in trouble, it'll be you." She said, throwing it back at her.
"Why? You're the one giving out the gifts." She said, playing it happily.
"Oh, you'll be giving that one out." She said slyly, returning to the ribbon pile.
"Really?" She asked excitedly. "I'd do anything to get his attention…"
"I know that about you. Now, come help me choose which ribbon will go to Rumpelteazer." She commanded, hanging over the pile of satin and silk.
"Oh, the one with the pearls!" She said, pointing at the green and blue one.
"Perfect." Jemima said with a smile, slipping it into a box.
Demeter padded up the staircase with Cassandra. They spoke quietly of what they had learned from Iony and when the tribe would be arriving.
"She mentioned a name- LeFaye." Cassandra said, thinking hard. Demeter nodded.
"The LaFaye Lot. They live in a building that was being demolished, but nobody every finished the project. It's always been a small tribe, if most of them died then there can't be many left." She observed as they reached the main room of the Hall.
"And then there's the other question." Cassandra said, nodding to the dance hall. They turned into the slightly smaller room, which was wide and open with various pillows lining the walls.
"What's that?" Demeter asked, settling down to watch the others practice.
"Why did they send her? She's only a kitten. Why would they think that a kitten would be more likely to make it than a full-grown tom?" She pondered, watching as Victoria sunk into splits.
"I'm not sure… she does have a certain air of…" She said, trailing off while thinking for the right word.
"Stick-to-itiveness?" Cassandra offered. Demeter snorted.
"That's not a word!" She said between her laughs and Cassandra's. "But yeah, actually, that's just about it… Stick-to-itiveness." They giggled for a while longer as they watched Victoria and her brother dance.
Etcetera and Jemima bound through the hall, delivering gifts. Finally all they had left in their sack was the catnip mouse. Etcetera giggled. Jemima sighed.
"Well, let's go find him then." She said, slinging the almost-empty bag over her shoulder and continued forward. "I bet he's in the upper hall. Come on."
They hurried up a smaller staircase to the upper hall, where the Tugger was indeed showing off for some queens. Etcetera sidled into the crowd and Jemima followed her. As they watched the Tugger show off, Etcetera slipped a tag over the neck of the mouse.
"Hey, Tugger, catch!" She mewled loudly, tossing the toy in his direction.
"Discreet, Etcy! That wasn't discreet!" Jemima hissed, pulling her out of the crowd as the Tugger winked at her. She struggled but then gave up and followed her sister behind a bit of an old car, which separated the hall from the lounge.
"I don't even know what discreet means! Hey, who're you?" She said, suddenly noticing another queen was hiding behind the car door, looking out on Tugger. She'd never seen her before. The little white queen jumped, a red paw flying to her face to protect it.
"Oh… I'm Iony, ma'am." She said, peeking over the door again. "Who's that…?" She asked, absolutely enthralled by the Tugger. Etcetera puffed up.
"Who's that? Who is that?" She asked, as if highly offended. Jemima made a cutting motion at her throat to indicate that it would be a good time to stop talking to her sister, but her mimed attempts were in vain. "That is the Rum Tum Tugger, who's only the greatest tom of all time!" She said, now pacing back and forth.
"He's got lovely eyes." Iony said quietly, still glancing just over the top of the car.
"And legs." Etcetera said, joining her. Jemima gagged a little. Her sister heard the sarcastic noise and whipped around. "What? Can't a queen admire the most handsome tom ever?" She said, sinking back against the car door, still facing her sister. Iony joined her shortly afterwards, looking equally love struck.
"I should go talk to him." She said in a half-trance-half-daze. Etcetera puffed up again.
"Oh, don't do that. He'll only ignore you." She warned, a strange look of earthly knowing passing across her face.
"Surely a tom so lovely would have very nice manners as well." She said, moving to leave the lounge area. Etcetera grabbed her tail.
"Stop calling him lovely! That is such a gender-specific word. And, anyway, if anyone's going out there, it's going to be me." She said, letting go of her tail and crossing her arms over her chest. Mistake. Iony scurried out into the upper hall's main room, settling down to the left of the crowd for a moment before making her way up to the Tugger.
"Hello, sir." She said rather bashfully. He shot an amused look at the crowd of queens who had fallen silent and then turned his gaze back to Iony.
"Hello, there. Don't think I've met you." He said, holding out a paw for her to shake. She stammered.
"My name's Iony… ah…" She said, her arms locking up. She figured just in time that she should shake his paw.
"It's nice to meet you, Iony. Would you like to dance?" He asked. Surprisingly, there was no noise of disagreement from the crowd, only sly giggles.
"Why that little…" Etcetera said, making to go out and take her place with the Tugger. Jemima put a paw on her shoulder.
"He's got that look in his eye. Like that one…" She said, trailing off. They both thought hard.
"Right before he dropped Bombalurina!" Etcetera breathed. Jemima nodded. "We should do something! She thinks he's a gentleman… and she's new! Poor kit…" Etcetera sighed. Jemima pulled herself up to the window again.
"Let's hope she figures it out for herself." She said, watching them dance. Etcetera didn't feel like watching and ignored whatever Jemima said after that point in time. The only things she heard were a dull thud and then the malicious laughter of the crowd of queens. Jemima sighed.
"Well, what happened?" She asked, underwhelmed. She hated it most when Tugger was mean to queens.
"Well, when they finished dancing, I think Iony got the impression that she was going to kiss him." She sighed, flicking a piece of dust off her arm.
"And?" Her sister prompted with a sad sigh.
"He let her get pretty far. Then he moved, she fell on her face, and now they're all laughing at-" She began, but she was cut off by an angry voice.
"Tugger! What the hell are you doing?" The kittens slumped behind the car door perked up again.
"Bombalurina!" They said in time with Tugger, although their tone was much more amused than his.
"What happened to her?" The red queen asked, pointing at the kitten who was curled up on the floor.
"I- uh…" He muttered, backing up. Bombalurina was ever-so-slightly taller than her mate, though at the moment she seemed to tower over him.
"WHY do you always insist on hurting other queens?" She asked, backing him up into a wall while wagging a finger at him.
"I didn't h-hurt her!" He mumbled, cowering slightly. The crowd of queens had begun to disperse and some of them were giggling. Etcetera had a feeling that Iony was no longer the laughing stock.
"Maybe, just maybe you didn't hurt her physically, but look at the kitten and then tell me she's alright with a straight face." She said, her nose wrinkled in anger.
"She looks alright to me…" He practically whispered. The sound of Bombalurina's paw hitting his face rang out through the room and there was a collective 'ooooh' noise that rose from the various queens that had stuck around. Bombalurina wheeled around and began yelling again.
"This is OUR business!" She said, jabbing at the Tugger. "Get back to yours. You're coming with me." She added, dragging him out of the room.
Jemima glanced at her sister.
"Merry Chriss-mass, Etcetera." She said with a wide grin on her face.
"Meowy Chriss-mass, Jemima." She giggled.
