Hot Stuff

For TheVoiceOfTheJellicles

"Don't you think we did enough for today?" Bombalurina asked with a voice that could best be described as 'annoyed'.

"I guess," Jemima answered to Bomba's delight. "But dad did say I had to make sure we hung up enough of these," she said as she hung up one of the posters they had been spreading across London. Lost cat, it said in bold letters, followed by a picture of none other than the Rum Tum Tugger. Answers to 'Rum Tum Tugger'. If found, bring to the address Junkyard Str. 21, London. Reward: Old Deuteronomy's full gratitude.

"Well, I'm sure Munkustrap will be happy with the result. Now let's go back to the Junkyard."

"Just as second…" Jemima glued down the final corner of the poster and admired her work. It went really well with the Macavity; Wanted for everything poster it accompanied on the brick wall. "There we go."

"Finally," Bomba said as she walked away in the direction of their home.

"Bomba," Jemima said as she struggled to keep up with the queen's fast pace, "Care to tell me why you're so… grumpy?"

"Wouldn't you be if you just spent half a day doing an effort to get back a tom you hate with your entire heart and soul?" the older queen answered, not even looking away from the street up ahead.

Jemima rolled her eyes. Another Tuggerina drama had gone down, apparently. "What happened this time?"

"In short, two days ago, the evening before he disappeared, he decided to act like an even bigger son of a Pollicle than he usually does," Bomba simply said. "And I may or may not have punched him in the face."

"What?" Jemima blurted out. "Uh… Don't you think that might be the reason he ran off?"

"I sure hope so. And after he ran away, he got lost or drowned in the Thames or something. Typical Tugger. That'll teach him."

Jemima sighed. "Well, if he returns, I'm sure the two of you can make things up… Right?"

Bomba just scoffed. "Sure." Then, she suddenly froze.

"What?" Jemima asked.

"Oh, how much I've wished I would never smell that scent again," Bombalurina said as she squinted. She then turned right into a narrow alley.

Jemima, who was pretty certain she knew what Bomba had smelled, ran after her. "Are you sure he's here?" she asked as she looked around the alley. She was not at all at ease. The alley might as well have been called Murder & Abduction Str.

"Damn right I'm sure. I'd recognize that Pollicle's smell form a mile away.

"In that case, are you sure he's not a mile away?" Jemima tried.

"No… He's here." She kneeled down next to a broken basement window and went through.

Jemima shivered and moved to follow her.

"OH EVERLASTING POLLICLE YOU DIDN'T!" a loud scream came from the basement, causing Jemima to hesitate, but she then quickly jumped in.

She found an infuriated Bombalurina who looked like she could explode at any moment, Tugger with a terrified look on his face, and an unknown white queen laying on a sheet, looking as if she had just been awoken seconds ago.

"W… What happened here?" Jemima dared to ask.

"That Pollicle… The stupid, arrogant, emotionless…"

"Calm down, Bomba," Jemima said. She turned to Tugger. "Tugger, can you explain the current situation?"

Tugger gave her a nervous smile. "Can we discuss this on the way home?"

Jemima took a look at Bombalurina, who had anything but calmed down. "Okay then," she said as she made her way up to the window.

"Call me!" Tugger shouted at the white queen before following his niece.

oo0O0oo

"What do you expect me to do?" Tugger said to break the awkward silence as the trio of Jellicles walked back to the Junkyard. "I can't help the fact that I'm such hot stuff."

"Hot stuff?" Bomba sneered. "You're just a sad, desperate Pollicle."

Jemima mentally added another one to her Bombalurina-calls-Tugger-a-Pollicle-counter.

"You know what I think?" Tugger said.

"I don't want to know," Bomba replied.

"I think you're just jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. You're jealous because she got the 'hot stuff' you've been wanting all your life."

"First of all," Bomba said, anger building up in her voice again, "Stop calling yourself 'hot stuff', second, I don't want to have anything to do with you!"

"That's not what you told me two days ago."

"That is exactly what I told you two days ago, right after I punched you in the face."

"But only a minute before that, you were begging for the 'hot stuff'."

"I. WAS. NOT!"

"Okay," Jemima firmly said as she stopped walking. "The two of you seriously need to cut it out!"

"It's all his fault!" Bomba said, pointing at Tugger.

"I SAID BOTH OF YOU!"

Bomba lowered her paw, taken aback by Jemima's sudden outburst.

The three continued their way in silence, until Tugger suddenly chuckled. "Wow, is this what was supposed to get me back?" he said as he looked up at one of the posters the queens had glued to the wall. "Reward: Old Deuteronomy's full gratitude? Really? Is that all you guys are willing to offer for my safety?"

"It's still way more than you deserve," Bombalurina said, earning her a glare from Jemima.

"You can be glad we went through so much effort, Tugger," Jemima turned to the tom.

"And where did you get that picture of me? If my stunning beauty wasn't on it, it would be a horrible picture!"

"Well, Tugger," Jemima said, starting to lose her patience with the cat as well, "Next time, you can design and hang up all the posters by yourself. Okay?"

"Sounds good," Tugger said. "First of all, a better picture. Then, I would change the text to 'Lost cat. Reward: 3000 GBP. You may recognize him by his stunning appearance. Answers to Tugger," he turned to Bombalurina, "or 'hot stuff'."

By the time they reached the Junkyard, Tugger had several scratches all over his body, as well as a black eye.

He told his fanclub he had fought his way out of Macavity's lair, and his fanclub cheered.

The next day, he had two black eyes.

The End