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Summary: An explanatory fic by one of my fave authors.
Authors note: I'm sorry, I had to, everyone else has a story
introducing their own character, I just had to. Besides this has been
floating around for soooo long.It's funny how unusual things are
rather like buses. None will come along for ages, and then, all of a
sudden, several come along at once. It was one of those nights, when
three unusual things happened. The first was the stirring of the
twins in there home, the two entwined bodies stirring at the exact
same instant, a movement, a sound and a drop back into darkness, all
perfectly synchronised. Two minds that in sleep became almost one, so
closely was it entwined. A mind that was also so sensitive, feeling
the minute changes happening around it. The second was the stirring
of another sensitive mind. The black and white cat half awoke, looked
up above the rim of the basket he was sleeping in. The shift woke his
mate, and deprived of his warm body she moaned, before dragging him
back down to her. He came gladly, the momentary disturbance already
explained to himself as the echo of a dream. He curled back up,
enjoying the warmth of the snow white queen. The night was bitterly
cold. Sharp, biting winds whistled past the stone buildings that
marked the old city, and dirty, driving rain beat hard against the
weathered pavement. The cat that was the third walked against the
driving wind and rain, her progress slow as her already battered mind
and body coped with this latest onslaught of weather. She grimaced
before finally giving up the thought of any more travel tonight, she
ducked behind the wreck of an old car. The place was sheltered, and
surprisingly warm. She looked at the long narrow exit, it seemed to
lead onto a larger structure, that she could not see. She lifted her
paw, ready to go on and explore the passageway, but exhaustion beat
over curiosity and she curled herself up tightly and dropped into a
light sleep. Her head was kept just above the level of her body, as
she slept one eye open, claws almost unsheathed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jemima tripped happily towards the junkyard, head so far in the
clouds it was amazing she had enough oxygen. She trod the well worn
route down towards the main clearing of the junkyard, and ducking
past the old Morris, nearly fell over the cat curled up in the path.
She would in fact, have fallen over her, if the cat hadn't suddenly
lept about a foot in the air, and then fallen back to earth, back
arched and claws unsheathed. She hissed at Jemima and flattened her
ears against her head. Jemima watched the stranger in apprehension,
having no wish to fight her. "Who are you?" Jemima asked tentatively,
not wishing to alarm the cat. Jemima gauged her to be slightly older
than she was, though her haggard appearance made her look aged. Her
once white coat was caked in mud, and some of her ribs poked though,
grim testament to starvation. The cat looked at Jemima with menace,
and hissed. "Who's asking?" Jemima struggled for a reply, wishing she
knew what the cat wanted to hear. "My name is Jemima," she settled on
finally, "what's yours?" Some fear seemed to drain from the cats eyes
at when she heard Jemima's name. "Solstice" she said, and looked at
the ground. "Solstice" she whispered again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, for the rest of the junkyard morning had started fairly
normally, Jellylorum, listened to the conversation she was having
with her friend Jennyanydots, while at the same time they both kept
an eye on the youngest of the kittens, many moons ago they had
perfected the mothers art of concentrating on two things at once. She
smiled as she saw her mate Skimbleshanks, heading towards them. "Good
morning" she grinned, and then looked him up and down. "You're
covered in soot again" she said and Skimble looked sheepish. "Station
grime." he explained and headed to the oven to wipe it off. He picked
up an old cloth and brought it up to his face. "What exactly do you
think you're doing with my nice cloths?" Jellylorum asked, Skimble
froze and looked at the cloth. "This?" he asked sceptically, turning
the cloth over in his paws. "I can't get anything better, and you
never bring anything back, do you?" Jellylorum answered tartly.
Jennyanydots had to cover her mouth with her paws to keep from
laughing out loud. Skimble smiled and rose his paws in surrender.
"You shall have the finest silks my lady" he said, "when my ship
comes in." Jellylorum regarded him coolly. "That cloth and I will be
six foot under, before your ship comes in my dear." She smiled to
show she meant nothing by the scolding, "now get the soot off, or
else I'll never let you inside." Skimble, hurried off quickly, deftly
avoiding another tongue lashing. Jelly turned back to Jennyanydots
who, in the silence, had begun to absent mindedly dust the chairs
with her tail. Jelly smiled and tapped her friend on the shoulder.
"Where's your Jemi?" She asked, faintly surprised that the young cat
had not yet appeared. Jenny looked positively startled by the
question. "She was with me, but now she's not." She stated matter of
factly, "maybe she's with her friends." Jelly nodded in absent minded
agreement and the conversation drifted, as so many do, to nothing in
particular. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No one is going to hurt you." Jemima said soothingly, trying to calm
the cat down. For her part, Solstice had finally stopped hissing and
spitting, though her claws remained half unsheathed, and her eyes
darted nervously, as if she expected new threats to leap from every
corner. "They'll like you." Jemima tried again, even with feline
perception, what made this cat tick was still a mystery to her. She
was giving up hope, the fact that the Queen blocked her entrance to
the Junkyard and that Jemima knew that a step towards her would
almost certainly begin a fight, that Jemima did not want, kept her
going. The cats guard seemed to lower a minuscule amount and her
claws retracted back into her paw pads. "Who are you?" The Queen
asked again. "Jemima" She reminded the Queen, wondering how she could
have forgotten so quickly. "Not your name, what's your denomination,
your caste?" Jemima looked at her peculiarly. "I'm a Jellicle.." she
answered cautiously, unsure of quite the right thing to say. Solstice
stared at her in total disbelief. "Jellicle" she rolled the unusual
word round on her tongue, and then squeezed her eyes shut. When they
opened they were glazed over, as if half of her had left her mind.
"Jemima," she asked unsteadily, staring at the young cat with strange
intensity."Where am I?"
To be continued...