Title: Stealing a Goddess (2/6)
Rating: K+
Notes: A little time has passed since "The Guardians," and Munkustrap is much more comfortable among the Jellicles now. Things seem to be looking up for him. This is set during "Power to be Strong."

Really, you should be reading this arc in order, as each story builds upon the ones which came before it.

Many thanks to Puddycat for providing Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer with their voices!

The Cats RP I participate in (as Munkustrap, Etcetera, Tumblebrutus, and a variety of minor characters) is in dire need of several characters, especially a gay Quaxo/Mistoffelees (more details on the site) and a Rum Tum Tugger. Come check us out at o u r j e l l i c l e s . p r o b o a r d s 5 1 . c o m

I do not own Cats (but I do own Simbol)!

Stealing a Goddess

After the day's lessons, as he walked back to the trunk he called his den, Munkustrap heard a very familiar voice, one he thought was safely locked away in his recent past.

"Heeeey… do I know you, tomkit?"

He whirled around; his ears laid back, eyes wide. Mungojerrie!

Sure enough, the striped thief, Munkustrap's old friend, was sitting on top of an old car, watching Munkustrap with his head cocked to the side, an inquisitive expression on his face. Lying next to him was a cat nearly identical to him in colors and markings, but who looked to be a queen. She giggled and waved at Munkustrap as he looked at her.

"I… you must be mistaken. I don't know you."

"Hmph." Mungojerrie twitched his whiskers. "Fine way o' greeting an ol' friend, Ritz-"

"Shut it!" Munkustrap hissed, arching his back and taking a swipe in Mungojerrie's direction. He looked around, but it didn't seem like there were any other Jellicles in sight. "C'mon!" With a wave of his tail, Munkustrap ducked under the car, wriggling his way to a cavern created by the rubbish piles. Moments later, Mungojerrie and his matching queen squirmed in as well, managing to look graceful as they did so. "Don't call me that! My name's Munkustrap now." Munkustrap reached out to smack Mungojerrie on the nose.

Mungojerrie pulled back, rubbing his nose. "Owww… How was I s'posed to know that?"

"What are you doing here?" Munkustrap demanded, circling around the pair so he was blocking their only way out. "This is Jellicle land."

"We know that! We're not stupid!" Mungojerrie retorted, pouting at Munkustrap.

The queen leaned up to kiss Mungojerrie's nose with another giggle. "Jerrie said you might be able to help us."

"Who are you, anyway?" Munkustrap frowned at the queen. She did look a bit familiar, vaguely, maybe. He hadn't had much contact with queens, though, so he couldn't place a name to that mischievous face.

"I'm Rumpleteazer!" The queen doffed a bow in Munkustrap's direction.

"She's me sister!" Mungojerrie pronounced, beaming at her. "Ain't she a beauty?"

Munkustrap looked between the two, surprise on his face. "Your sister? You know this?" The Monniks tried to separate litters as much as possible, to keep their members from knowing just who, exactly, was their family. Knowing the identity of your sister or brother, therefore, was incredibly rare.

Mungojerrie rolled his eyes and pointed over at Rumpleteazer. "Just look at her, Ritzkin!"

"Munkustrap!"

"That's what I said! Munkustrap! Just look at her, and then look at me." Rumpleteazer leaned over, pressing her cheek to Mungojerrie's. "We're practically identical! How can we not be siblings?"

"Twins, even, maybe," Rumpleteazer said, pressing her paws together. "Like you and Macavity."

Munkustrap glared at the pair, crossing his arms. "Right. We need to get some things straight, right now. I am not Ritzkin of the Monnik tribe anymore. I am Munkustrap of the Jellicles. I am not Macavity's brother, nor was I ever. You cannot call me that… not if any of us want to survive here."

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer nodded in unison, holding paws and having matching expressions of fake fear on their faces. Munkustrap managed to hold his stern glare for a few seconds before he snickered, shaking his head. "She really is your sister, Jerrie!"

"Told ya!" Mungojerrie caught Rumpleteazer in a headlock, ruffling her fur with a paw, but she ducked out and turned the move on Mungojerrie, giving him a noogie.

"So, what are you two doing here? You need help?"

Rumpleteazer looked at Mungojerrie, biting her lip. Mungojerrie lay down, nodding solemnly. Rumpleteazer curled up next to him. "So… y'know how queenkits get that mating dance when they become adults?" he began.

Munkustrap nodded. Both the Monniks and the Jellicles had similar traditions – when a queenkit had her first heat, she was considered an adult, and the tribe celebrated with a dance in which the queen received her first mate. The Jellicles had these dances at the Jellicle Ball each year, often with multiple queens at the same time, with the tom being a good friend of the queen, someone both parties want to participate. The Monniks, though, had the dance for each queen individually as she entered heat, with the tom chosen by Leviticus, and a complete stranger to the queen – indeed, her mating dance was the first time any queen was supposed to see any tom.

"Well, Teazer got her dance about a week ago. When she came out… cor!" Mungojerrie shook his head and grinned. "I knew who she was right away! An' she's a great dancer!"

Rumpleteazer giggled and shoved Mungojerrie. "And Jerrie's an 'orrible flirt, even to his own sister!" She stuck out her tongue at him but was grinning.

"Macavity was chosen for her," Mungojerrie said quietly.

Munkustrap looked up, and then over to Rumpleteazer, who ducked her head, looking embarrassed.

"I… you know I don't like Macavity much, Ritz- er, Munkustrap. Munkus? Munky? Munk? 'Straps?"

"Munk, Munkus, 'Straps… don't call me Munky."

"'Straps. So, I don't like Macavity… and I did not want him sleeping with me sister!"

"Please tell me you didn't fight him," Munkustrap said, biting his lip. He could almost see where this was going.

"Well… not exactly… kinda… I asked him if I could have her." Mungojerrie's blush could be seen even through his ruddy fur, and Rumpleteazer's giggle was definitely embarrassed this time.

"And he said yes?"

"Er… no." Mungojerrie rubbed the back of his head. "He actually laughed and said he was looking forward to fucking her."

Munkustrap winced and closed his eyes, bracing himself for…

"And then I hit him."

…that.

"You survived?"

"Yeah. I kinda, uh… er…"

"I grabbed him," Rumpleteazer said. "No idea who this tom was, but he looked like me, so I figured, maybe he's my brother or something, and wouldn't that be cool? 'Sides, he was sticking up for me! We'd all been talking about the dance, and who our mates were gonna be, and about half of us really wanted Macavity, because he's like the new Leviticus, or something, but the other half…" She wrinkled her nose. "Meh. Who'd want a wicked tom like that going anywhere near you? I certainly didn't! Even though he was kinda cute… he just felt slimy. Not when I touched him, but just the air around him, you know?"

Munkustrap nodded and shivered. The sliminess could be attributed to Macavity's true personality, beneath the charming exterior, or it could be a manifestation of his magic, the magic he had stolen from Munkustrap himself.

"We ran," Mungojerrie said. "Just ran and ran and ran, and Macavity was shouting at us, and Hendrunkus and Ruusu were chasing us… I've never been happier to be a thief."

"I'm a thief too!" Rumpleteazer chimed in. "Jokaste was training me, and her current mate, Surripus, taught Mungojerrie! Funny how that works out, ain't it?"

"We were able to get away because Macavity can't sneak around the same way we do. He just poofs in and out of things. We actually know how to hide."

"We've been hiding for a while, trying to get away from Monnik land," Rumplteazer said. "And then we saw you, and Jerrie said, 'Hey, I think I know that cat!'"

"You've taken a bath, though," Mungojerrie said, nodding. "I never knew you were silver. I always thought you were kinda a grimy smoke color. An' you have stripes!"

Munkustrap rubbed at his nose. "Well… the Jellicles are more concerned about being clean than the Monniks, so I have to keep up appearances…"

"It looks very nice," Rumpleteazer said with a smile and a wink. "I appreciate a tom who washes behind his ears."

"Hey! I wash!" Mungojerrie protested.

"When I remind you!"

"So, you're running from Macavity. How am I supposed to be able to help you?"

"Ain't you running from him?" Mungojerrie asked, looking at his friend. "I mean… we all thought you were dead. Leviticus made the announcement that your body was found, just like those other four, the ones you said were your brothers and sisters, and that he was going to do everything he could to find and stop the kitten killer, and I'd be damned if Macavity wasn't looking so smug and happy, instead of scared. I mean, if all five of my siblings had died, and they didn't know why, I'd be scared, even if Leviticus did promise to protect me. So we," he nodded toward Rumpleteazer, "figured he was involved somehow, or knew what was going on. Didn't expect to ever see you alive again, though."

Munkustrap smiled, leaning forward to nuzzle Mungojerrie in a friendly way. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again either. I'm… well, I'm kinda running from Macavity, but he thinks I'm dead, so I'm just hiding now."

"The Jellicles let you hide here?"

Munkustrap shook his head. "The Jellicles don't know who I am… that's why you can't call me Ritzkin, or make references to 'my brother, Macavity.'"

Rumpleteazer looked between the two toms. "D'you think they'll let us hide here?"

Munkustrap shrugged. "I have no idea. They seem nice enough, and Tugger says that they'll let anyone join… so I guess it can't really hurt to ask. Just ask Deuteronomy, and not Simbol."

"Why Deuteronomy?" Mungojerrie asked.

"An' who's Simbol?" Rumpleteazer added.

"Because Deuteronomy's kinda nice," Munkustrap said. "He's nothing like Leviticus. And Simbol's the Jellicle Protector. He's big and gruff… but he's not mean. He's just really, really strict and stern."

"Oooh…" Mungojerrie gave a shudder. "Simbol, he's that big white and gold patched cat, ain't he?"

Munkustrap nodded. "You know him?"

"He caught me once, thieving. I had to turn over my loot and got boxed around the ears by him, and then Surripus boxed my ears too. I couldn't hear right for a week!"

"That's not good…" Munkustrap said, flicking his tail in agitation.

"I'll say! I swear, my ears were black and blue-"

"No, I mean, it's not good that Simbol knows you. As a thief." Munkustrap paced in front of the pair. "If he knows you as a thief, he'll call you out on any bluff we try to do. Simbol's insanely protective of this tribe, and he's not going to let a thief join. He's having a hard enough time letting a street cat join, judging from how he's been treating me. Tugger's not going to be able to sweet-talk him. It's going to be all up to Deuteronomy. But… if Simbol says no, I don't know if Deuteronomy will say yes. They're very good friends, you see."

"So we get Ol' Doot to say yes before Simbol says no?"

"Piece o' cake!"

Munkustrap stared at Rumpleteazer. "Did you… just… call him… Old Doot?"

Rumpleteazer nodded and grinned. "There a problem with that? You said he's nice."

"But you're supposed to respect him, not insult him!"

Rumpleteazer tsked and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come off it. It's not like he's here to complain!"

Munkustrap narrowed his eyes and growled. "But I'm here. You take that back!"

"What's gotten into you, Ritzy?" Mungojerrie asked, putting an arm around Rumpleteazer's shoulders.

"That's not my name anymore!" Munkustrap snapped. "I'm not a Monnik anymore! I'm a Jellicle, Munkustrap, and I'm a guardian. I'm sworn to defend this tribe and these cats, but mostly to defend Old Deuteronomy, our leader! So don't you go insulting him in front of me!"

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer looked at each other. Mungojerrie raised an eyebrow, and Rumpleteazer smacked him. "Okay, we're sorry, 'Straps. We didn't mean any offense."

Munkustrap still scowled a little, but he nodded at Rumpleteazer's apology. "Just… don't do it again. Now come on. Deuteronomy's usually in the yard in the evenings, so we need to hurry if we want to catch him before he leaves."

I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter. The next ones shouldn't take as long (shouldn't!).