"Take your medicine," Jellylorum, the thin yellow calico Queen, flicked her ear at the dark mackerel pattern tortoiseshell kitten Electra. She was annoyed at the kittens continued refusal to swallow down the medicine for her cough that she had thoughtfully coated a nice plump mouse in.
"Don't wanna," Electra whined for the thousandth time, turning away her head.
"Would you do it for Tugger?" Tugger asked with a leer. Electra considered, but turned her head away again. Still that bit too young to fall for the Tuggers charms. Hmph. Tugger reached over and poked Mister Mistoffelees, who had been watching the struggle with glee. Tugger frowned at him and Mistoffelees sighed, getting up and motioning for the mouse.
Jellylorum gave the male kit an odd look, but handed the medicine mouse over. Instead of feeding it to Electra however, he made a few passes of his paw and it disappear. Jellylorum went to protest, but Tugger grabbed her elbow and held her back, giving a knowing wink as he did so.
Mistoffelees cupped his paws, concentrated - and another mouse appeared, this one coated in fish paste. He offered it to Electra. Quick as a wink the little kit stuffed it in her mouth, then made a pained face. Chewing vigorously she gave Mistoffelees a betrayed look, then swallowed the mouse.
"No fair – you swapped it back!" she complained.
"Presto," said Mistoffelees. Tugger laughed hard at the look on Jellylorum and Electra's faces, then pulled Mistoffelees away before the kitten could take any retribution on her betrayer. Queen kittens were sooo cute, but they could be mean also!
"Come on, you should really have a costume when you do tricks, to warn a cat when they are coming. Let's go look at the clothes heap."
"Um," said Mistoffelees, and Tugger turned to find himself towing a total stranger. He yelped and leapt backwards. Where was his friend?
"Don't you like it?" Mistoffelees asked sadly. He'd been working on a transformation to his fur all week and had hoped the other cat would think it cool. Tuggers eyes were wide with surprise and his mouth hung open a little.
He let his gaze roam over the now sleek fur, the compact body, the twinkle of … what was that, starlight? It couldn't be common old glitter, and if they were gems them Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer would have to have been at work for months to have gathered them … his mind was blathering.
"That is amazing!" Tugger finally announced, doing a little dance of excitement. "Needs more sparkles, but still amazing! Oh, wait till they see you at the Jellicle Ball! Munk is gonna go nuts!"
"Is that a good thing?" Mistoffelees asked, concerned, as he ran a hand down his magically smoothed fur. He wanted his dance to impress Old Deuteronomy so he could go to the Heaviside Layer and find out what was up there. Maybe even see his mother. He didn't want to annoy Munkustrap, the Jellicle Protector.
"It'll be great," the Rum Tum Tugger assured him, knowing Mistoffelees plan to impress his brother and get sent above, and not really wanting him to go. He slung his arm around the Tom kits shoulders and started walking. "But definitely more sparkles, and I'm not kidding on that one."
"Tugger, you always say that!" Mistoffelees sighed. But he smiled just the same.