Title: A Little Game
Word Count: 1,886
Recipient: Cassandra
Rating: PG
A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope you like this little fic!
The situation was an odd one, and to be honest, Bombalurina wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten into it. Sitting around with Cassandra, Tantomile, and Etcetera wasn’t really her idea of a fun time, but there she was, leaning back against a wall of junk as the other three lounged around her.
“So,” the red queen started finally, and three pairs of eyes snapped towards her. Cassandra and Tantomile were on either side of her, similarly propped up against the junk pile, while Etcetera was laying on her stomach, stretched out in front of the three. As Bombalurina started speaking, she rolled over onto her side so that she was facing the older queens.
“So,” Tantomile repeated in her slow, lazy way.
There were a few moments of silence.
Now Bombalurina was starting to see why she never spent time around these three. Tantomile and Cassandra were both content to sit in silence, something that Bomba could never stand for long. And Etcetera…well, Etcetera annoyed her to no end.
“So, who wants to play a little game?” she asked desperately, wondering why she didn’t just stand up and leave. It wasn’t as if she had any problems with being rude. More likely, she just didn’t feel like getting up and finding a new place to waste away the day.
“I would prefer not,” Cassandra said gravely, frowning slightly. “I am happy to remain right here.”
Bomba rolled her eyes. Of course.
“I’ll play!” Etcetera squealed. “I’m so bored just sitting here! Let’s do something fun!”
“So why aren’t you with the other kittens?” Bombalurina asked, rolling her eyes a little again. Etcetera shrugged as best as she could without rising from the ground.
“I dunno,” she answered honestly. “I just saw you guys laying here and figured I’d hang out with you.”
“And the others are resting as well,” Tantomile added, earning herself strange looks from the other three as they wondered how, exactly, she knew that. “They grew irritated with her constant giggling and squealing, as I anticipate I will shortly. Like Cassandra, I am perfectly content to sit here in silence.”
“Well, great,” Bomba said with false happiness. In truth, she was getting more and more annoyed with all three of the other queens with every passing moment, but she still couldn’t convince herself that it would be worth moving. This was the perfect spot—right in the sun with shade nearby in case she needed it, an area where not too many cats passed by, but that still wasn’t completely isolated. Perfect.
Except, of course, that it had already been occupied when she found it, and she simply could not be around other cats without talking at least a little.
“So, the game,” she went on, ignoring the dirty looks she got from both Cassandra and Tantomile. “It’s a human game. I’m sure you haven’t played it before. We go around and choose to either answer a question or do a dare. You have to answer honestly, no matter what the question is, and you have to do the dare, no matter what it is. Got it?”
“I do not believe I agreed to participate in this game,” Cassandra said, her eyes half-closed as she began to drift off again, slowly shutting out all of the distractions around her…
…until Bombalurina reached out with a paw and gave her a shove hard enough to knock her over.
“Well, I’m bored, and so is Etcetera,” the red queen stated bluntly, smirking as she noticed Etcetera’s frantic nodding. “If you two want to be here, you have to join in. But I say we skip the dares, because honestly, I’m not going to be getting up any time soon.”
Tantomile sighed, shaking her head. “Very well. We will both play this…game, for a while at least.” Cassandra straightened herself, growling very audibly as she brushed the dirt off of her short coat.
“Great! So, Tantomile, first question’s for you,” Bomba started, grinning madly as she considered her next course of action. “Is there anything going on between you and your brother?”
Dead silence. Etcetera looked as if she were ready to burst out laughing and Cassandra looked surprised, but Tantomile’s expression was absolutely priceless. Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widened and her entire body stiffened. She gasped, and then something changed. Her eyes narrowed again, her mouth snapped shut, and the fur along her back raised.
“Do you care to repeat that question for me, Bombalurina?” she hissed, her voice somehow managing to sound both sweet and menacing at the same time. Bomba simply smiled back at her.
“Is there anything going on between you and your brother?” she repeated in her most innocent voice, which, admittedly, wasn’t quite convincing.
“There is nothing,” Tantomile snarled, her teeth bared in threat. Cassandra and Etcetera were watching intently by now, their gazes alternating between the two queens.
“But you guys are always together and never with anyone else!” Etcetera put in, giggling a little with excitement towards the end. Bombalurina smirked. It must be thrilling for the kitten to be hanging out with three older queens, gossiping and teasing and fooling around. Even if the object of her teasing was currently looking as if she would like nothing more than to murder the little kitten.
“We are twins,” she ground out through her teeth, then visibly forced herself to calm. “We are twins,” she repeated. “We are siblings and close friends, and nothing more. I apologize for my reaction, but knowing that the tribe has been gossiping and making assumptions about our relationship is most upsetting.”
“Don’t worry,” Cassandra reassured her sleepily, going back to her former state of half-awareness once Tantomile had calmed down and the excitement was gone. “I have heard none of the gossip before this. Bombalurina was likely trying only to provoke you for her own entertainment.”
“You know me so well, Cassie,” Bombalurina retorted sarcastically, making Etcetera giggle again.
“I believe now it is my turn to ask a question?” Tantomile cut in before things could go any further. She didn’t bother to wait for an answer before charging onwards, directing her piercing gaze towards Etcetera. The look on her face made Bombalurina grateful that the queen had decided to focus on the kitten and not her.
“Etcetera, why do you chase after the Rum Tum Tugger so endlessly when it is obvious that it is in vain?” she asked, and Bomba winced. Ouch. Judging by Etcetera’s expression, eyes too wide and too bright, that had hit just where it hurt. She sniffed once, looking down at the forepaws she was wringing together and looking more sober than Bombalurina could ever remember seeing her.
“I don’t know,” she answered softly, her voice, for once, not the unpleasant squeak that Bomba was so used to. “I guess I…nevermind.” She fell silent at once, her mouth clamped shut and gaze directed at the ground in front of her. Bombalurina was intrigued.
“You have to answer,” she prompted, leaning forward a little with her ears perked. The other two were in similar positions, eager to hear the answer that made the normally hyperactive kitten go quiet.
Etcetera mumbled things under her breath for a few moments, and the queens strained forward to hear again, but Etcetera raised her voice slightly before any of them had to encourage her further.
“I just…I wanna be like you, Bomba,” the kitten admitted. “None of the other queens can get Tugger to like them and you can, and sometimes he pays attention to me…and it makes me feel good, like I’m kinda like you.”
There was another silence, this one more thoughtful than the last.
“You need lessons, kid,” Bomba said finally, grinning. “I think I’m just the cat to do that for you. So we’ll teach you how to get those toms to notice you, huh? Me and Cassie and Tanto.”
“I highly doubt I would be of any help,” Tantomile murmured, smiling and apparently completely over her earlier anger. “In fact, I would wish to take some of those lessons myself.”
“I have to admit, you have it down to an art form, Bomba,” Cassandra said, a smug expression on her face. “But I think I can keep up with you well enough to give lessons. And not all care to use your methods to attract toms. Some have a more sophisticated way.”
Bombalurina cocked her head, tail swishing behind her. “Oh? And how, exactly, do you manage that?”
“Intelligence and class,” Cassandra replied curtly, straightening her back and lifting her chin slightly, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
“Just another way of saying that you can’t manage my way,” Bomba replied. Etcetera burst out into giggles at that, and even Cassandra joined in the laughter after that.
--
“Cettie? Cettie!”
Etcetera sat up straight at the sound of her mother’s voice, sounding all through the darkened junkyard. Her eyes widened comically and she took on a panicked look.
“I was supposed to be home by now!” she squeaked nervously, jumping to her feet and starting to dart off in the direction of her den. The other three watched, bemused, as she paused a few feet away and looked back in their direction. For a moment the kitten looked unsure, as if there was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t quite bring herself to get out.
Cassandra, surprisingly enough, was the one to say it for her.
“I must admit, this was enjoyable,” she said, standing as well and stretching out her long limbs. Tantomile and Bombalurina rose after her, Bomba yawning as she did so. “We should plan to do this again.”
“So, how about tomorrow night?” Bomba suggested, straight to the point. “Whaddya say we teach these two how to get their toms, Cassie? Seduction lessons?”
“That seems fine to me,” Cassandra agreed, grinning in a way that the others had rarely seen her do.
“We should meet back here,” Tantomile said, smiling as well. “But for now, Etcetera, you should be getting back. Before your mother alerts the entire tribe about your absence.”
Etcetera nodded rapidly, mute in her excitement. With one final squeal she was off, waving until she was out of sight.
With amused looks at each other, the three queens trailed after, walking in the comfortable silence of a group of good friends.
--
“Hi, Bomba!” Etcetera squealed, grinning and waving wildly towards the older queen. The other kittens around her gave her strange looks as she bounced in place excitedly, though the greeting was typical for the excitable cat. What wasn’t typical was her giving the greeting to Bombalurina, who had made it perfectly clear in the past that she didn’t enjoy the company of kittens.
So the kittens were very surprised when the seductive, aloof red queen smiled warmly back at Etcetera and waved in response.
“Hi, Cettie,” she answered, and Demeter, walking beside her, swung her head around in shock. Since when did Bombalurina acknowledge the kittens at all, let alone greet one like a good friend?
Bomba just smiled mysteriously, continuing on her way without pause. Just wait until they all saw her sitting with Etcetera, Tantomile, and Cassandra that night, chatting away like the best of friends. That would really stun them all.
