Tatiana

CHAPTER 1: Tatiana

Tatiana wandered into the junkyard. This was the third time she had passed it, and finally she had given into her curiosity. No, curiosity wasn't quite the right word (Tatiana was not, by nature, an overly curious cat). Perhaps interest was a better word. Yes, that was it – interest. Tatiana sniffed the air. More cats. Maybe this was where some more cats made their home! Her interest was steadily building. Seeing no other cat about, however, she ventured further into the yard.

Tatiana was a black cat with patches of white and bronze all over her body and she had a bronze chest. Her left front and right hind paws were white and her left hind paw was bronze. Her right front paw was black. Her tail was black and bronze, almost stripy, and she had a rather unusual marking on her lower back – this was a bronze crescent, and there was a white spot near it. Her face was most striking. It was black on the left side and white on the right with a perfect line of symmetry down her nose. The black section went off to the side at the corner of her mouth, which meant that the majority of her face was white. Her left ear (the black one) had a bronze tip. Out of this striking face peered two large, soft eyes of dark brown. Tatiana, who was one year and four months old, wore a black collar around her neck. This collar had silver, diamond-shaped studs and a loveheart-shaped metal tag with the name 'Bella' etched into it.

"Meow…"

Tatiana turned her head quickly. To her surprise, she saw a small kitten of light colouring.

The kitten edged a bit closer. "Meow…"

Tatiana kept her distance warily. Her stance resembled that of a statue.

"Hi," said the kitten with a bright, friendly smile. "I'm Etcetera. What's your name?"

Rather taken aback at the somewhat abrupt introduction, Tatiana stepped away slightly. "Hello," she returned shyly. "I'm Tatiana."

"Oooh, that's a pretty name!" Etcetera extended her paw slightly. "I think you're pretty as well."

Tatiana could not help but do the feline equivalent of a human blush. "Thanks," she managed to get out of her now-constricted throat.

Another cat suddenly appeared on the other side of Tatiana. This one was a black-and white-tom.

Etcetera bounced up to him excitedly. "It's okay, Lonz, she's new. Her name's Tatiana."

Alonzo looked the new queen up and down appreciatively. "Welcome," he said, extending his paw. "I'm Alonzo."

"Oh, hi, thanks," Tatiana squeaked. "Ummm…are you part of some sort of a tribe or something?"

"Most certainly. We are Jellicle Cats."

Tatiana noticed the way this tom was looking at her, and was immediately on her guard. "Oh. Are you like the leader?"

Alonzo chuckled softly. "Not quite. Old Deuteronomy is our leader."

"Is he here? I mean, I suppose I would have to see him if I wanted to… You see, I'm searching for a tribe to join, and…well…this looks like a pretty nice place, and…" Tatiana stopped, looking confused.

Alonzo understood. "No, Old Deuteronomy isn't around at the moment. In fact, he hardly ever comes here. He has his own humans, you see," Alonzo explained. "However, my cousin, Munkustrap, is here. He's the second-in-command." Quite cute… thought Alonzo to himself.

"Well, can I speak to him, then?"

"Sure. I don't know where he is at the moment, though."

Tatiana noticed another cat approaching them. "Who is that?" she asked, nodding towards the tall, silver and black tabby tom. Wow, she thought to herself. He is handsome…

The other two cats turned.

"Oh, that's Munkustrap now," Alonzo said.

Tatiana purred quietly, then, realizing what she had done, crossed her claws, hoping that her purr had been inaudible.

Alonzo raised his paw in greeting to his cousin. This, Munkustrap returned.

When he neared, Munkustrap looked at Tatiana curiously, his head cocked to the side. "Hello. I'm Munkustrap, the second-in-command of the Jellicle Tribe. And who might you be?"

After collecting her thoughts, Tatiana smiled shyly. "I'm Tatiana. I was wondering…er…if it would, uh, be possible for me to, er, join your tribe…?"

Munkustrap smiled. It was a gorgeous smile. It was the type that just melts a young queen's heart. "Well," he said, "that's up to Old Deuteronomy. I'll see if he can come down tomorrow. But I can't see that there would be any problem."

"Oh, thankyou," Tatiana said gratefully.

"'EY!"

Tatiana jumped at this loud shriek.

"IT'S A NEW CAT!" An orange-, black- and white-striped adolescent queen came bouncing over to the group. "'Oi," she said to Tatiana in a funny accent which Tatiana assumed to be the type that humans call Cock's Knee. Tatiana thought that people who spoke with this accent did sound rather like chickens. It was kind of cool, though. "Oi'm Rumpelteazer. What's yer noime? Are you joinin' our troibe? 'Ow did ya foind us? JERRIE!"

At this strange cat's announcement that Tatiana was a 'new cat', Tatiana resisted the urge to say, "Actually, I'm an old cat." Instead, she just answered Rumpelteazer's rather hurried questions accordingly. "Hello, I'm Tatiana, yes, I would like to join your tribe and I just happened to stumble across this…junkyard." She was about to ask who Jerrie was, when a tom with the same, albeit heavier, markings as Rumpelteazer bowled up. Tatiana decided that they must be twins.

"So it is!" The tom grinned at the newcomer. "Oi didn't quoite catch yer noime. Oh, Oi'm Mungojerrie." This cat had the same accent as his sister.

"Uh, I'm Tatiana…" This was one cute cat. No, he wasn't cute…he was hot. Yes, that was the word. Tatiana shivered slightly. Hot and handsome in one tribe in one day? Surely not. But, yes, it was.

Such a lovely noime, Mungojerrie thought. Beautiful oiyes, a rather stroikin' appearance. Aloud, Mungojerrie addressed himself to Munkustrap. "So is she joinin'?"

Munkustrap looked at him, hiding a grin. "You know the procedure…"

"Oh, roight." Mungojerrie looked back to Tatiana. "Well, Oi 'ope it orll goes well."

Tatiana was a bit confused about his meaning, but didn't say anything.

Etcetera was bouncing up and down once more. "So can she stay the night?"

Munkustrap smiled. "I suppose she must."

Tatiana returned his smile gratefully. "Thankyou very much."

Etcetera grabbed Tatiana's paw, startling the poor queen. (Tatiana wasn't used to other cats touching her.) "Can I show you around? Can I? Please?" Etcetera opened her eyes pleadingly as if she needed permission from Tatiana.

"Um, yes, okay, I would like that."

Rumpelteazer immediately grabbed Tatiana's free paw. "Yes, let's go!"

The two bubbly queens fairly pulled Tatiana towards the centre of the junkyard. Tatiana hazarded a quick glance behind. First, she noticed Alonzo and Munkustrap chuckling at the scene unfolding before them, and then she realized that Mungojerrie was tagging along behind the queens.

"Let's see…who's here at the moment…?" Etcetera looked around thoughtfully.

"Well," Rumpelteazer began unhelpfully, "there's a toiyre over there, a poipe, a 'uman travel thin'" – Rumpelteazer pointed to an old car – "some chairs 'n' an oven."

Etcetera playfully glowered at her.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang.

Rumpelteazer took no heed and shrugged. "Well, ya soid we were gonna show 'er 'round…"

Tatiana bit back a chuckle.

"Yes, but I meant introduce her to –"

"MACAVITY!"

"Macavity?" Rumpelteazer suggested. "Woit…Macavity?!"

There was a lightning-fast movement past the small group.

"Macavity?" Tatiana asked, confused.

"Evil cat," Rumpelteazer said quickly by way of explanation.

"Right…" Tatiana was still slightly confused. She peered at the queen peeking out from behind Munkustrap's leg. She was a rather attractive-looking queen of black and gold.

"And that's Demeter."

A loud giggle came from nearby. A black ear was momentarily visible from behind a box. Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer and Etcetera obviously realized what was going on, as the three of them began giggling also.

Demeter looked confused for a moment, and then she also figured out what was happening. "MISTOFFELEES!"

The black ear poked out from behind the box again, then became a face, and gradually morphed into a whole body.

"'N' that," said Rumpelteazer between fits of giggles, "is Mr. Mistoffelees. But we jes' call 'im Misto."

Noticing Tatiana's extremely perplexed expression, Mungojerrie hastened to explain the situation. "Misto is a magical cat."

"Oh…" Tatiana's brow cleared.

"Yeah. 'E's evidently bin practisin'."

"Okay, Mistoffelees, what did you do?" demanded Demeter.

"Made an empty drum-thing fall." Mistoffelees looked sheepish…and rather cute in a young-tom-ish sort of way. "Sorry, Demeter, it was only a joke."

Demeter growled, at which Mistoffelees scampered away.

"'Ey, Misto, git back 'ere!" Rumpelteazer yelled. She shook her head when Mistoffelees did not return. "Looks loike we'll 'ave ta foind 'im ourselves."

Rumpelteazer and Etcetera dragged Tatiana around a corner of a pile of rubbish and stopped just outside a rather large, bottomless half-bucket.

"Hey, Misto!" Etcetera yelled. "Where are you? We have someone we want you to meet!"

"Come in," came Mistoffelee's voice. Tatiana presumed that this half-bucket was the magical tom's home.

The four went into the bucket. Rumpelteazer peered into the darkness of rubbish. "Misto?"

"Yes?" The voice was behind them.

The four cats jumped and turned around. No-one was there.

"Are you looking for me?" The voice was in front again. This time, however, a pair of green eyes shone out of the darkness.

"Oh, Misto, I wish you wouldn't do that!" Etcetera squealed.

Mistoffelees shrugged and stepped forward.

Tatiana watched, amazed, as his green eyes turned to black.

"Sorry, but a learning tom has to practise sometime."

"Yeah, I know, and I love your magical abilities," Etcetera said, "but can you not practise them when people are trying to talk to you?"

"Sorry," Mistoffelees said sheepishly, "bad habit. What did you want to tell me?"

"I want you to meet Tatiana," said Etcetera, grinning again.

Mistoffelees looked at the newcomer and smiled. "Welcome to –"

Again, Rumpelteazer broke in, jumping up and down impatiently. "She's a new cat."

Tatiana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. I'm not new, I'm just a stranger to these parts, she thought to herself, gritting her teeth.

"As I was saying, welcome to the Jellicle Junkyard."

Tatiana found herself smiling shyly once more. "Thanks."

"Okay, let's go and find some more cats to introduce you to," Etcetera said to Tatiana amiably. "Are you coming, Misto?"

"Yeah, okay," Mistoffelees said agreeably.

The group of five wandered out of Mistoffelees' home and into the sunlight.

"So exactly what role does that Alonzo dude play in the tribe?" Tatiana asked.

"Oh, he's our sort of protector," Etcetera piped up. "Now, who next…? Hey," she said to Rumpelteazer in what she considered to be a momentary flash of brilliance of the mind, "maybe we should go and wake up the guys?"

Rumpelteazer nodded readily at the suggestion. "Yeah, good oidea."

"Ummm…I'm not sure if –" But Tatiana's words were lost on them, for the other queens had already started pulling her towards a stack of seemingly-empty cartons. By now, Tatiana was becoming more and more embarrassed and self-conscious. As if she wasn't self-conscious enough already, what with being new to the junkyard and all.

Mistoffelees was scampering ahead, just waiting to play a trick on 'the guys'. Tatiana looked back at Mungojerrie, almost pleading to him for help with her eyes. Mungojerrie smiled and shrugged. It was evident to Tatiana that he couldn't really do anything to help her – it appeared that these two queens did this all the time and nothing could stop their excited little minds or bodies from doing what they wanted.

"'EY!"

Guess who, Tatiana thought. Rumpelteazer sure likes yelling.

"What." It wasn't a question.

"'Ey, Tumble, git the other toms up. We want ya ta meet someone."

The cat stood from inside his carton. "But I was having a peaceful dream," snapped the tom grumpily. Nevertheless, he dived back into the carton and appeared a moment later with three other toms at his sides.

"This," said Rumpelteazer, "is Tatiana. Tats," – apparently, Tatiana now had a new nickname – "Admetus, Pouncival, Tumblebrutus and Plato."

"Hi," squeaked Tatiana, trying not to let nerves get the better of her.

"Hi," returned the four toms in chorus.

Tatiana noticed that all four of them were looking at her in the same manner as Alonzo had been. Again, she became wary.

Mungojerrie noticed her stiffen and wondered the reason. And then he noticed it. He found it rather interesting that a queen so striking as Tatiana didn't like it when toms took noticeable interest in her. Feeling it would prove to be rather difficult, he nevertheless made a mental note to try never to look at her as these toms were.

Mungojerrie glowered at the other four toms. Surely they would have noticed Tatiana's reaction and tried not to look at her in that fashion? Mungojerrie didn't think it was very polite to make a stranger feel highly uncomfortable and not do anything to make her less so…especially when the stranger happened to be a queen. Mungojerrie actually felt quite indignant on this point on Tatiana's behalf. "Moiybe we should see if we can foind the other kittens," suggested Mungojerrie tactfully.

"Good idea," Etcetera agreed, unable to keep still. Tatiana thought that Etcetera and Rumpelteazer must have been in a permanent state of excitement. "Come on," Etcetera added, jerking her cute head in some random direction.

The group ambled off in that very same direction and talked amiably as they searched for more cats to whom they could introduce Tatiana. Before they could get very far, however, a loud cry came from the toms the group had just left behind. "MISTO!"

Mistoffelees giggled and nimbly skipped ahead of the group.

After wandering around for a bit without meeting any other Jellicles, the group sat down on a rare tuft of soft, green grass and soaked up the warm morning sun.

"So," began Mistoffelees conversationally, "I take it you're hoping to become a Jellicle?"

Tatiana nodded. "Yes, but I don't…" Tatiana broke off suddenly.

The group waited for her to finish her sentence, but the ending didn't come.

Mistoffelees' curiosity got the better of him. "You don't what?"

"Oh, nothing…" Tatiana mumbled.

"No, come on, tell us," Mistoffelees persisted. "Maybe we can help you if there's a problem or something."

"Oh, all I was going to say was that I don't know if I'll be accepted into the Jellicle Tribe, that's all." Tatiana shrugged as if it was of little importance.

"Whaddya mean?" Mungojerrie demanded sharply. Realizing, at Tatiana's startled glance, how he had spoken, he softened his voice a little. "Oi mean, what moikes ya think that?"

Tatiana shrugged.

"Of course yer gonna be nervous, but Oi'm sure orll will be foine. Ya 'ave no reason ta be worried."

"Actually, I think I do," said Tatiana miserably. Seeing the confused expressions on the faces of her new friends, she decided she had better explain herself. "It's just that I've heard you have terpsichorean powers."

Rumpelteazer shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, I…I don't have them." Tatiana spoke so softly that it was difficult for the other felines to hear her.

"Oh...that could be a bit of a problem…" Mungojerrie said before he realized how much hope the sentence lacked.

"Yes, I thought as much," said Tatiana, looking down at the ground.

"We can get around it," Mistoffelees piped up with sudden certainty.

"Oh? We can?" Mungojerrie asked.

"Yes," Mistoffelees replied, looking at Mungojerrie pointedly, "we can. Easily."

Tatiana, her eyebrow raised, looked uncertain and rather doubtful, but she was, at the same time, surprised at the magical cat's sudden announcement. "How?"

"Just don't tell Old Deuteronomy when he interviews you."

"But doesn't he ask?"

"Not usually. And if he does, just tell him you do. It's not his habit to make you show him." Mistoffelees grinned cheekily. "See?"

"Do you think it will work?" Tatiana bit her lip.

"Do you doubt me?" Mistoffelees pretended to look hurt.

"I meant –"

Mungojerrie interrupted her with a chuckle. He had been thinking about Mistoffelees' idea. "When ya put it loike that, Misto, it's bound ta work. Oi don't see 'ow it can't not work."

"Really?" Tatiana turned her huge, liquid brown eyes to him, then back to Mistoffelees.

Mistoffelees nodded. "Sure, it will work."

"But that's for the interview," Tatiana pointed out. "How do I get around living the rest of my life as a Jellicle who can't dance? – presuming I am accepted."

"That," said Mistoffelees, "is even simpler. I shall teach you how to dance!"

"You will?!" exclaimed Tatiana excitedly.

"Sure." Mistoffelees nodded. "Why not?"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure!"

"Oh, wow, thankyou, Misto!" Tatiana, who was not normally one for making displays of herself in front of any cat, let alone strangers, excitedly threw her arms around Mistoffelees. Then, remembering herself, she stood back and, again, did the feline equivalent of a human blush.

Mistoffelees chuckled at her reaction, and the other three cats grinned also.

"Well, now that you've got to the 'uggin' stage, do we get 'ugs too?" Mungojerrie asked to break the ice. He grinned and held out his arms, waiting for Tatiana to step into them; hoping she would.

Tatiana smiled. "Yes, of course." She stepped into Mungojerrie's open arms. After giving him a hug, she did the same to Rumpelteazer and Etcetera.

Mungojerrie found that he rather enjoyed holding this beautiful, young queen, and wished it didn't have to have been over quite so soon. He kept grinning at her. "Welcome, friend."

"Welcome," echoed the other three cats.