A month or more has gone by since Rumpelteazer had joined the tribe and taken Mungojerrie under her wing and taught him almost everything she knew about stealing. Mungojerrie did the same to her with teaching her everything he knew about the Jellicle Tribe. Although both had some things that you learn easier by doing it yourself; like break-ins go better when you use hand signals instead of yelling across the room; or not to ask Demeter where she thought Macavity was when ever she screamed the name in warning. The two have become nearly inseparable and at times it was hard to tell the two of them apart. It was always harder when Jerrie was wearing pearls; Rumpel refused to take hers off saying that she felt naked without them. They were rarely Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer anymore; they were now Mungojerrie AND Rumpelteazer; the Notorious Duo.
The two of them were currently stretched out on the hood of the old car soaking up the sunlight before they were to head out to get supper for the kittens.
"She we get some fish this time" Mungo asked as he opened his eyes sleepily.
"I suppose we should go and pay him a visit. Do you think that we should wear our name tags again?" Rumpel giggled as she thought of the signs they hung around their necks the last time they visited 'The Fish Man.' Neither of them were very good at the art of using a pen, so their writing came out looking like a four year old did it. The man was able to make the names out though... thankfully. The two stretched themselves out and began down the street towards the smell of fish.
"Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer; I was hoping that you two would stop by today." The man said as he spotted them coming around the corner. Mungo began purring just at the sight of him, making Rumpel choke on her laughter. Mungo hurried over and began getting pampered affectionately.
"Why can't you do this to me Rumpel?" Mungo purred in delight as she sat beside him.
"You want me to?" She asked as she ran one of her paws down his back, making him shiver.
"Come here you two," The man said as he beckoned to them. They did so only to be picked up and placed tenderly into a cardboard box. They felt it bounce as he walked and he placed it down in the back of a car. Somewhat like the one at the junkyard, only nicer.
"Jerrie, what's going on?" Rumpel asked as a loud noise came from beneath them.
"I'm not to sure Teazer," He said as he put a comforting arm around her and pulled her close. They stayed like that for several minutes; trying to see out the window but not seeing much more then clouds in the sky. The car came to a stop and the man lifted the box out of the car again. They soon found themselves in a brightly lit building and on a sterile metal bed. Numerous objects, much like Mungojerrie imagined Macavity's torture items would look like, were across and a counter.
"Hello Doctor Messing" Fish Man greeted as a woman dressed in a stark white coat walked in to the room. "I brought my little friends here in for a check up before I bring them home to surprise the girls."
"What does he mean by 'check up' Rumpel?" Mungojerrie asked fearfully. The Man picked him up as he left Rumpelteazer on the table.
"I'm not sure..." Rumpel said as she saw the girl in white approach her. She began to check the inside of her mouth, examining the teeth rather closely. 'Come any closer and I'll bite your nose off,' Teazer threatened as the doctor closed her mouth and picked up her paw. 'You want to see my claws do you?' Teazer unsheathed them and went to swipe at the girl who turned around and was now out of reach. 'Where in Heavyside do you think you're going to put that?' She immediately became uncomfortable and fell to table, trying not to show pain, which was a pretty hard thing not to do. The 'discomfort' was soon removed for a few seconds of happiness; but then Rumpelteazer felt a prick. A rather PAINFUL prick, near the back of her leg. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming, and the pain started to leave.
"She's fine" She told the Fish Man as they switched her for Mungo. They, quick as they could, nuzzled their heads together to comfort each other before they were separated once again. The man said down with Rumpel on his lap, stroking her and talking with the girl. He kept calling her "Doctor." 'She's no doctor though, she's a quack. Injecting something into me and say that I'm fine? It hurt like a son of a Peke! Don't tell him I'm fine when I'm not.' Rumpel though bitterly. Jerrie seemed to have the same idea that she was having; he was trying to evade the girl though. 'Stupid, why didn't I think of that?' After this 'Doctor' said that Mungojerrie was fine Rumpel was put on the table with him, she quickly went over to him and crouched; ready to strike.
"Do you want the male cat fixed?" The Doctor asked Fish Man who shook his head.
"No, I can sympathize with him. I'm not doing to him what I won't do to me." The man said as Rumpel was trying to hold back her laughter. They went into another room, leaving them on the table as she busted out into laughter.
"Um... Teazer, what did she mean by 'fix the male cat'?" Mungojerrie eyed her nervously.
"You've got to be kidding me." Rumpel laughed as he shook his head no. She got up and began to whisper in his ear. He jumped back in horror and disgust.
"They can't do that!" Mungo hissed. "That's... that's just not right!"
"They're not going to," She smirked. "Didn't you listen to the Fish Man? Although I do wonder if it was done to Tugger. I mean, he sleeps with all those queens, or so he says, and none of them seem to have gotten pregnant yet."
Mungojerrie looked at her curiously for a minute before laughing too. "That has to be it."
The man came back and placed the two of them into the box again. Same routine as before although the cats were laughing at the thought of the 'fixed' Main Coon. They were picked up again and peered over the top of the box; they were in front of a large white house with blue shutters. The man told them to keep quiet as he began to go towards the house. They heard him open the door and close it soon afterwards.
"Frank is that you," a woman's voice rang out.
"Yes, and sorry that I'm late. Was with a few friends that I want the girls to meet and I brought them home with me." Fish Man Frank said as he began walking again.
"What are their names Daddy," a younger voice asked.
"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer." Frank said as they walked into a different room.
"That's rather odd names, don't you think?" the voice asked again.
"It suits them rather well," Frank said as he picked them up out of the box and set them down in front of three women. They all looked down at the two cats that began to look around. There was an older woman, like Jennyanydots, the mother most likely. Then there was a young one, like the kittens and one that was some where between the two. Not quite kitten; not quite full queen; like them.
"Daddy they're just precious," The middle one said as she began to pet Mungojerrie who began to praise her under his breath. The younger one took Rumpelteazer in her arms and began to play with her.
"Which one is which?" The Jenny like one asked as she looked at them.
"Rumpelteazer's the one with the pearls. She's the one that I would you about from the fish market. About a month ago she shows up with Mungojerrie. I doubt that they're brother and sister or else I would have seen them together before that." Frank said.
"And they're ours?" The youngest one asked looking up at her parents.
"Yes, Lydia," The mother said. "They are."
"You're going to sleep with me tonight Rumpelteazer," Lydia proclaimed as she picked up the queen from beneath the arms. Lydia carried her into one of the rooms where there were two beds and she was placed at the foot of one of them. The older one of the girls, who they found out, was Olivia, watched as her little sister grabbed a blanket from her doll's bed and tucked Rumpelteazer in. Olivia decided to do the same but merely covered Mungojerrie with it. A few minutes later, the lights were out and both girls were asleep. Mungojerrie carefully stood up and walked over to his trapped friend. Rumpelteazer was wrapped up rather tightly and was having difficulty moving. After a minute or two of the two of them struggling, Rumpel was free.
They jumped onto the ground and walked over to where the girls got the blankets; they each seemed to have the same idea. They threw their blankets up into the bed as Jerrie jumped up into it. She shoved the doll out as Rumpelteazer stayed on the ground and caught it. Much like they would do when they would steal things in high places. Jerrie extended a paw towards Teazer and helped her up. They climbed under the blankets and cuddled up to each other.
"Teazer," Jerrie said as he subconsciously threw an arm around her. "If I did get fixed, would you have mated with me?"
Teazer rolled over and licked the tom's cheek. "What do you think?" She asked before he fell asleep with her face in his chest, purring contently. Rumpel didn't fall asleep as fast as he did, although she didn't move. She loved how it felt under his arm, she felt safe. It almost made her forget about her life before Jerrie, her life as Valjean. She almost forgot the year of hunger, dehydration, fear, false hope, and for the last week; pain and torture. She almost forgot about who she was. She was a thief, a guard, a worker for Macavity. She was living a lie at the Junkyard; she was more truthful at Macavity's base. There was no way around it. She didn't tell anyone besides Old Deuteronomy the truth of where she was before she became Jellicle. So, the reality was that she was keeping a big secret from them; she was lying to them everyday. She'd tell them next time she saw them all. She'd trade everything she had in the world; objects, pearls and memories, for the tribe to fully accept her and to keep this feeling she had in Jerrie's arms. She yawned into his fur and fell asleep after muttering. "I would Jerrie.""Let me out of this house!" Rumpelteazer cried a few days later as she tried to claw her way through the door.
"I got to get outside; I didn't breathe fresh air in so long!"
"Relax, Teazer," Mungojerrie said as he dragged her away from the door. "You'd think that you'd put that energy to better use."
"Like what," She asked as she eyed him suspiciously. "Do you miss getting petted?"
"Yes, but that's not what I was thinking of," He said as he began to walk off.
"Where do you think you're going Jerrie," Rumpelteazer asked as he slowly turned around.
"The litter box... " Jerrie said slowly.
"Jerrie, wait." She called after him. "Go on the carpet!"
"What? No, Teazer I'm not going to do that! They'll get mad at us." Jerrie protested.
"Yeah, and throw us outside," Rumpel said as if it was plain as day. "Come on, I won't watch."
"No," Jerrie said sternly as he walked towards the laundry room. Rumpel sat for a few minutes, but got more and more fidgety by the second. She stood up and took off down the hall. She crept into Frank and Bobbi's room, no one was there. She carefully jumped onto the vanity dresser and opened the jewelry box. She grabbed several shiny chains, closed the box and carried them back to the door. She laid them down in front of it and took off to find more things to add to her pile; the pile had grown with Lydia's costume jewelry, books, couch pillows, clothes, and some silverware. Jerrie came back and sat; watching Rumpel make an obvious trail to where everything was. It was very unlike her, she didn't like getting caught. Soon, she began making a stepladder out of the books. He'd watch as she would walk up the books and try jumping for the doorknob; she eventually got it.
"Jerrie, which way am I supposed to turn this thing?" Rumpel asked as the hung off of it.
"Rumpelteazer, what are you doing?" Bobbi scolded as she came around the corner picking up the trail as she followed it. "I swear a tornado just passed through." Rumpelteazer innocently meowed as she continued to try to open the door.
"Alright" Bobbi sighed as she took Rumpelteazer down. "I supposed that you've been here long enough to know where home is."
"I couldn't agree more," Rumpelteazer said as her eyes darted from the doorknob to Bobbi. Bobbi slowly opened the door and the two cats took off outside. Rumpel immediately began cheering "Fresh air, sunshine, grass, FREEDOM! Taste that Mungo? It's liberty!"
"Alright, calm down, Teazer. We have to find out how to get to the junkyard." He said as he led her to the road. They looked down both sides of the street, but the all looked the same. "Which way do you think we should go?"
"Mungojerrie! Rumpelteazer!"
The duo turned and saw Rum Tum Tugger and Mistofelees running down the road towards them. They pounced upon them pulling them into a rather big hug.
"We were so worried," Mistofelees cried as he hugged the two even tighter.
"We were terrified when you didn't get back with the food. We weren't sure if Macavity found you, or if you were hit by car, or attacked by a Pollicle, or dying on the side of the road." Tugger added, as he tightened his grip on them as well. "You're mother was hysterical Mungo! Munkustrap sent out a search party just before dark and we followed your sent down to the waterfront, we were starting to think that you both fell in." "We're going to suffocate soon if you don't get any air," Mungo gasped. The two toms let go of them as they fell to the ground, panting.
"Sorry, we were just happy to see you; we thought that you died," Mistofelees said.
"Thanks, for the optimism" Rumpel said sarcastically. "But we were brought home by the guy from the Fish Market; then they wouldn't let us out for forever."
"Yeah, humans do that to you when they first get you," Tugger said. "My owner kept me inside for over a week."
"Do you two live around here?" Mungojerrie asked as he got his breath back.
"Tugger lives two houses down the road and I live across the street from him." Mistofelees said.
"So you'd know how to get us to the junkyard" Rumpel cheered as she hugged them both, Tugger hugged back and refused to let go. Almost ten minutes later, the three toms walked in to the junkyard, Rumpel still hanging from Tugger who didn't drop her until they were a few feet away from the tire, no matter how many glares he was getting from Mungojerrie.
"Look who we found," Mistofelees said as they cats' heads turned and saw the notorious duo sitting with the two toms. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were immediately thrown to the ground as Jellylorum and Etcetera pounced upon them. Jelly ranting to them about how worried she was and Etcetera just hugging Rumpel, to make sure she wasn't a ghost. After them explaining their whereabouts for the past few days and Rumpel's numerous escape plans, the two found their way back to their favorite spot; laying on the car in the afternoon sun.
"You two better get some rest," Exotica said as she walked by them. "The Jellicle Ball is tonight."
"Tonight!" Rumpel said as she sat up. "The ball?"
"Good thing we got out then," Mungojerrie said as he curled into a ball and fell asleep, like Exotica advised. Rumpel, however, did not fall asleep. 'I can't tell them tonight.' She thought miserably. 'From what I was told, it's supposed to be a time of celebration. I'd just ruin it.' She slunk off the car and began to walk around the yard.
"Rumpelteazer," The queen turned and saw Jellylorum walking over to her. "Are you busy?"
"No, I'm not." Rumpel said as she shook her head.
"Would you mind watching the kittens for me then? Nobody else is around and I'm, frankly, exhausted. It'll just be for an hour or so, a quick catnap is all I need." Jellylorum explained.
"Sure, don't worry about it." Rumpel told her with a smile.
"Thank you, dear. I'm so glad that Jerrie fell in love with someone like you," She said tenderly as Rumpel started to giggle.
"Jelly, I'm afraid you're wrong; Mungo's not in love with me" Rumpelteazer said with a small smile.
"Oh, he's not is he? Then I suppose that you never saw that sparkle in his eye whenever he's around you. And he's much more open to you then he ever was with a queen, even more then he is with me. And... oh, I don't know if I should tell you this – just don't let him know that you know – you remember the night that you two went missing, or should I say taken home? Mungo came up to me earlier that day and he told me that after supper, he was going to go ask Old Deuteronomy if he could do the mating dance with you at the ball." Jellylorum said sincerely.
Rumpel looked at her in disbelief before she adverted her eyes to her paws. "He does love me."
"Rumpel, are you okay," Jelly asked as she saw the tears well up in her brown eyes.
"Yeah," Rumpel said as she nodded. "I just never remember meeting anyone who actually loved me before." Jellylorum pulled her into a hug and whispered
"I love you dear," much like a mother would. After a few moments of uneasiness, Rumpel and Jelly parted as she went towards the kitten area.
"Hey kits," Rumpel said as she sat down with Victoria, Jemima, Electra, and Etcetera.
"What are you doing?"
"Making flower crowns, want to help" Jemima asked as she handed some flowers to Rumpel who began to weave them together.
"Teazer," Electra spoke, "Do you like Mistofelees?" Victoria became shocked as she smacked the kitten upside the head.
"No, why" Rumpelteazer asked, shocked as well.
"Munkustrap said that you were curious about who he was when you were first brought to the tribe and we always see you looking at him, like you're in love" Jemima taunted.
"He reminds me of one of my friends from the house; at first I thought that it was him, but it's wasn't. And before you start asking, my friend from the house was a friend only." Teazer pressed.
"I knew you didn't like Misto" Etcetera reassured.
"Thank you Cettie," Rumpelteazer smiled as she went back to her work.
"Because you're in love with my brother right?" Etcetera finished.
"What; I don't know! Why would you say that?" Rumpel asked as she felt herself blush.
"Well, you're always with him, and giggling and smiling. And you cuddle up together when you sleep together; which is pretty much always..." She rambled.
"Okay, I get your point" Teazer said as she cut the kitten off. "Why did you want to know if I liked Misto though?" She asked, hoping it would get the spotlight off of her.
"Because Victoria does," Jemima sang.
"Oh really, and when did this happen?" Rumpel asked, as she felt the invisible spot light dim.
"I don't know. A week or two ago." Victoria mumbled.
"Are you going to dance with him at the ball?" Rumpelteazer asked with a smile as Victoria shrugged. "Come on; if you dance with Mistofelees, I'll dance with Mungojerrie." Victoria looked up at the smiling queen as the kittens cheered her on to take the deal that was offered. The kittens obviously liked playing matchmaker. 'Just like Munkustrap,' Rumpelteazer thought. 'Leaving Mungojerrie to show me around and then sharing a box... I'll have to thank him later.' Victoria extended her paw, Teazer took it and they shook.(Enter the Jellicle ball from the CATS Video/DVD/Play here. I'm not writing it, you either know what happens or you don't)
Mungojerrie, Mistofelees, Rum Tum Tugger and Rumpelteazer slowly made their way back to Victoria grove, talking about that night's ball.
"I don't see why they got so angry!" Mungojerrie yelled. "It's not like we took any of their stuff; we just went across the street and grabbed a few knick knacks. They didn't have to throw it away. Now we'll have to steal some glue to fix them. They don't seem to mind us stealing when it's food for them."
"And I don't see why you didn't dance during my song as much as the others did Rumpel," Tugger said as he looked down at the queen.
"I was talking to Skimbleshanks, and still laughing at Munkustrap and Mistofelees. That was hilarious at the beginning of Jenny's song." She explained. "What was the deal with Grizabella anyways?"
"She left the tribe years ago, it wasn't like she was banished from it; she just left" Tugger explained. "She said that we were becoming too dull for her taste and went and joined a new tribe; so she became exiled from the Jellicles. I supposed that she seen the wrong of her ways though and that's why she decided to some back; either that or she realized how good she had it here. The other tribes heard of her sleazy reputation and refused to allow her into theirs."
"But it couldn't have been worse though," Rumpel stated as she looked between the toms for reassurance. "Right?"
"Yes it could have been worse Rumpel," Mistofelees told her. "She could have been a worker for Macavity" He said as he gave a sideways glance at Mungojerrie.
"I don't work for Macavity alright, only a lowlife would" Mungojerrie yelled. "I don't know why everybody's saying that!"
"Because there has been reported sightings of a cat, fitting descriptions going to and from Macavity's Lair, that's why" Mistofelees said.
"I don't think that you work for Macavity Mungo," Rumpel told him as she gave him a hug.
"He better not," Tugger said defensively. "Because if he does, he better run."
"Why, what would you do about it?" Mungojerrie asked defensively.
"Kill you," Tugger said simply "Kill you twice if you hurt our little princess."
"Oh, so I'm a Princess am I now" Mistofelees said jokingly. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer stopped in front of their house as the other two continued down the street. They trotted up the walkway and reached the door as Frank was leaving for work. After saying something about how they must have been bar-hopping all night, the cats made their way to their beds, and fell asleep.