| Marajade opened her bleary eyes. �What exactly do you mean?� �I mean, I don�t hit you but�.� He grinned knowing they�d get his point. Ria�s eyes widened, realizing what he planed on doing. �Monster!� she hissed. �Then it�s settled,� Macavity said, his cheerfulness only partly fake. �We�ll go for a new style.� �No,� Marajade moaned, closing her eyes and trying to inch farther away from him. �No, please�� �Dearest, you must understand, I can�t be breaking rules here.� With this, the tall ginger tom scooped Marajade up with one large ginger paw. He took her across the room to a small bed. Setting her down in it, he crawled in and began to nuzzle her. �No,� she mumbled, trying to push herself away. �Now, now,� Macavity scolded gently, �you know the rules.� �Wait!� Ria glided across the room to them. �Don�t do this to her.� Ria bit her lip nervously. �Take me instead. Take my innocence, not hers. She�s the sweetest cat. She�s never done anything she truly shouldn�t have done. Just let her be. Please. Her freedom in exchange for my staying with you.� Macavity stared carefully at Ria. �Why would you give up your freedom?� �Because she�s my best friend, and I love her. I can�t let her be hurt.� Marajade looked up through bleared eyes. �Ri, what are you doing?� she whispered hoarsely. �Don�t do this. He�ll kill you.� �No,� Macavity said, gently putting a paw to Marajade�s lips. �I won�t kill her.� He gazed almost lovingly down at Ria. �Deal. I free Marajade, and you stay with me forever.� Ria nodded and stuck out her paw to shake on it. Macavity took it firmly, and shook. �Go now, Marajade.� Pulling herself to her feet, Marajade whispered, �I�ll never forget this, Riana MoonDancer.� �Go!� Ria muttered, unable to face her friend. �Just leave, and tell the Jellicles whatever you like.� With a last, tearful glance, Marajade whispered, �Good bye, my friend,� and darted out of the liar, tears coming freely. �Good bye,� Ria whispered, tears coming to her own eyes. So as not to lose her tomboy image, she wiped her eyes and turned to Macavity. �So I guess it�s just us,� she said with an air of confidence she didn�t really have. �Ri, you don�t have to be so�� Macavity searched for the words he needed. �So tough all the time. You just left your best friend for life. The least you could do is cry over it a bit.� �I can�t,� Ria replied, turning away. She paced back and forth in front of the bed. �I can�t,� she repeated. Macavity reached towards her and touched her shoulder lightly. She growled softly and shrugged his paw off. �Don�t touch me,� she muttered, the cringed, waiting for the blow that wouldn�t come. �Ria, I�m not going to hurt you now.� Biting his lip rather nervously, he said, �I want you to trust me now.� Ria snorted. �Fat chance.� She resumed pacing. In attempt to start a conversation, Macavity offered, �So, your full name is Riana MoonDancer?� Ria nodded. �That�d be it.� �How�d you manage to come up with that? �Well� The name my mother, whoever she was, came up with was Ariana. They ditched me when I was a kit, and so I didn�t want that name anymore. I liked it okay, it just was almost insulting to me to keep that name. So I changed it to Riana, Ria for short. I found the Jellicles sometime after my parents left me. I�d been on the streets for a while before I found them, though.� She paused to think, and take a quick breath. �That old bat, Jellylorum, will claim that she found me, but I really found them. I fit right in, �cause I like to dance. I�ve been told I�m an expert. Can�t say I blame them for saying that. I am quite good. But anyway, I also like the moon, and if you can�t find me, I�m probably out dancing in the moonlight. Dancing under the moon all the time gave me the name MoonDancer.� Macavity smiled. �Well, it�s a very beautiful name.� Ria blushed and looked to the floor. �Thank you.� �Well, that explains on of my questions.� Ria looked up to Macavity. �What do you mean? You have a lot of questions about me?� Macavity�s eyes sparkled. �Yes, Ria, I do. I�ve watched you in the junkyard, and you seem so� mysterious, and carefree.� Ria blushed again. �Well, thank you. What other questions do you have?� She went over to the bed, which Macavity was still lying on, and settled down, facing him. �Well,� he started, �why do you act so tough?� �That�s how I learned to be on the streets. My parents certainly helped too. I had a brother, I don�t remember his name, and he was� a total wimp. He was sort of prissy, and stuff, and my dad hated that. So did my mom. They were tough strays, and wanted their kids to be the same. If anything, they�d have thought I�d be the wimp. But I wasn�t. I wanted to be tough. So they trained me instead. I think my dad ended up taking my brother to the pound. He sure wasn�t very nice, but he thought the pound was really bad, and he didn�t like to kill anyone. So, after that, they began intensely training me. Then the just� ditched me. I was left on the streets alone when I was about six or seven months old, and so I just went searching. By the time I was close to a year old, I�d found the Jellicles. Munkustrap had this kit called Marajade. I believe you know her.� Ria�s eyes held a teasing look. Macavity smiled slightly at her teasing. �At least she�s lightening up a bit,� he thought. �Anyway, she was very sweet to me, but she wasn�t very tough, or confident. I had to sort of� break her. I taught her how to fight back a little, but I couldn�t teach her too much. Munkustrap caught me training her, and he didn�t like that one bit. He told me if I ever taught her anything like that again, he�d have my skin. So, I had to stop. That was okay. We were still friends. But she wasn�t nearly as tough as I was. I didn�t care. She was one of the few cats in the �yard who liked me. The rest pretty much hated me, and would pick fights with me. No big deal, I whopped ass every time. They sucked at fighting, I ruled. They called me an arrogant bitch, stuck up slut, any thing they could think of. Stuck up slut really should be the last thing they could call me. I�m far from a slut! �They hated me, but kept me �cause Old D said I had every right to stay. Well, with all the fights and shit, I stayed tough. I never let my guard down, �cause they were always trying to surprise me.� She grinned proudly. �Never once worked. I kicked their ass when they tried.� Macavity smiled again. �Sounds like you�re a regular tomboy.� She grinned again. �Yep, and damn proud of it.� �Well, that answers any questions I can think of right now. Sounds like I just heard you life story.� Ria smiled suggestively, and pulled herself up close to Macavity. �What about your life story?� Macavity laughed and shook his head. �You don�t want to hear it.� �Yes I do! Come on, tell me,� she pressed. Macavity chuckled a bit. �All right. Well, I was born Jellicle to Old Deuteronomy and Grizzabella. My siblings were, in order from oldest to youngest, Tantomile, Munkustrap, Rum Tum Tugger, and Tumblebrutus. For a while, I was with Demeter. But she gave me up for Tumblebrutus. Shortly after Grizzabella was banished, I was banished. I took to the streets for a while, then formed my own band. I stole Demeter to try and get her to be my mate, but she eventually went back. Somehow, in the tribe, Exotica managed to get banished. I took her in, and she was my mate. But then a plague spread through my group, and she died. I went partially insane, and here I am now.� �Short life,� Ria joked. �My life has been rather uneventful compared to yours.� �Oh come on. Something must have happened.� �No,� Macavity insisted, �nothing has happened.� �Fine,� Ria finally said, sighing. She yawned hugely. �A bit tired there?� Ria nodded and laid her head on her paws, closing her eyes. �Just a bit,� she murmured. �Go ahead and sleep if you want to,� Macavity said, sounding strangely kind. �Thank you.� She snuggled up against Macavity�s side, sighing softly. Macavity looked down, completely surprised. He relaxed as she began to purr softly. Placing his head on his paws, he carefully curling himself around Ria. Purring, a soft, rusty-sounding purr, he also fell asleep. |
| Chapter Two: Exchanging |