HAT: Yes, another contest. You're gonna have to deal with it. This goes to one of my favorite reviewers, CatFanGirl! This is for her June CHALLENGE. So, this one's going in as 'Unusual Couple' and as you know, the Random Pairing Generator speaks to me and if I think, "I can do that without running away from the laptop forever" and "That won't end up as bad as Thundering Lust" then I'll write about it... especially with Skimble. *zones out*

Mungojerrie: Crap... *throws bacon in front of her face*

HAT: *snaps out of daze and catches the bacon in mouth* Oh yeah. At first it was going to Tantomile and Electra, then Demeter and Rumpelteazer, but then I decided to do... well, this. Well, here it goes! Review at the end please!


Tantomile rests on the TSE1 car beside her sleeping brother, praying that Jennyanydots will not awaken for a little while longer and open the trunk that has come to be her resting place. Skimbleshanks rushes into the junkyard with some sort of bundle in his arms and goes straight into the medical den that's currently being occupied by Jellylorum, the other medical cat other then Skimble's own sister, Jennyanydots. Tantomile grows curious and glances at her sleeping brother before jumping down and sneaking towards the den. She smells two kits, a she-kit and a tom-kit, and wonders what's going on. Their scents aren't familiar to her at all so she knows they've never been in the junkyard, but when she focuses, there's something familiar.

Mystia, she thinks, remembering when her crush, Skimbleshanks, had her heart broken by her. Mystia was a great friend and otherwise good to Skimbleshanks, but she left a while ago... but when did she have kits? Did she and Skimble- no, they don't have Skimble's scent in theirs other than Skimble having been the one carrying them. She wonders what is so important and her ears prick and she uses her mystical... abilities, per say, to listen in on the conversation.

"They're both healthy," Jellylorum assures Skimbleshanks.

A sigh escapes the lips of the one that many young queens have a crush on at the moment, Tantomile, herself, included. "Oh, thank the Everlasting..."

"They're hers aren't they?" hesitantly asks the emerald eyed queen.

"Yes..."

I was right, Tantomile thinks when suddenly she's grabbed by the scruff by an orange paw and lifted up so her dark brown eyes meet his glass-green ones and at this she chuckles nervously. "Hehe... hi, Skimble."

"What are you doing here?" he demands.

Tantomile's eyes lower. "I was wondering what was going on and what you had in your arms."

He blinks and sets her down and she figures that he must be contemplating because he sets her down slower than usual. "If you must know, I found two kits and their names are Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer," he informs. "They're new to the junkyard and lost their mother."

She can hear the grief in his voice and hugs him tightly along with Jellylorum. "I'm sorry," the queen-kit mutters.

A humorless laugh. "It's okay... anyway, I'm going to take care of them as my own and you're going to have some pretty young friends."

Tantomile nods, sensing that it will make him happy that she and the other kits get along with these young new additions. Sure, she and Coricopat are the youngest aside from Plato and Admetus (though the mystic twins are about a year older than the eldest brother, Plato), and are on the verge of being adolescents, but they can still play kitten games and entertain the kittens around them as well. It's not unusual for them to entertain kittens, though they're gradually pulling away due to the amount of time they have to put into training to make sure their powers don't being any harm and keep bringing good things to the junkyard like they're supposed to.

Then rouses the queen kit and Tantomile can't help but to observe her. She's a bit lighter than her brother due to having less black stripes, the top half of her face is white while the bottom is orange, and her lips are full, but curled back as she yawns, revealing a row of perfect, sharp little teeth. Tantomile decides to find other differences between the two. Her brother's lips are thinner, but still existent, the white on top of his face is a bit less pronounced, he's a bit bigger than her, but that's to be expected, Tantomile's brother is bigger than her. Then the queen-kit, Rumpelteazer, opens her eyes. They're a beautiful dark brown and when she focuses around her and tilts her head a certain way, they have a greenish tint to them.

Her eyes are amazing. Just as much as Skimble's, Tantomile thinks, moving forward and smiling kindly. "Hi, I'm Tantomile."

The calico queen-kit blinks before smiling back. "I'm Rumpelteazer," she replies with a Cockney accent.

Tantomile and Rumpelteazer sit beside each other and laugh while watching Coricopat and Mungojerrie wrestle each other, placing bets on which tom will win.

"I think we're going to be very good friends," Tantomile says, earning looks from the older cats in the room.

Rumpelteazer smiles. "I'd like that..."


Coricopat wakes up and finds that his twin is no longer at his side as the TSE1 trunk opens and he slides off the back. Jennyanydots, the one residing in the trunk, shoots over and checks for any injuries before smacking him and begins the scolding.

"If I told you once, I told you a thousand times," Jennyanydots complains. "Don't sleep on the trunk when you know there's someone underneath."

He nods, blushing. "Y-yes ma'am."

emCrap, where's Tanto when I need her?/em He thinks, knowing she's better at soothing the raging Gumbie Cat when she gets like this. Obviously she is nowhere in sight... but he senses her in the medical den. His eyebrows come together and he wonders why she's in there if she's not injured. She's not panicking so no one else is injured, but... He shakes his head and slips into the den that contains his sister, the brother of the one that just scolded him, Skimbleshanks, and the best friend of the Scottish siblings, Jellylorum. He then notices two others, two that he hasn't met before, and Tantomile is talking with the both of them, but she pauses to look back at her brother, quickly informing him of what happened before mentally.

"I'm Coricopat, pleasure to meet the both of you, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer," Coricopat says, nodding in their direction.

The other set of twins seem startled. "H-how do you know our names?" demands the male, darker than his sister due to more black stripes.

Coricopat's blue eyes meet his sister's brown ones and he sighs. "We're mystics and since we're twins, we're psychically connected and can hear each others thoughts and feel one another's emotions. So she just filled me in on everything that's occurred."

The both of them blink. "What's so cool!"

The mystic twins smile shyly at the compliment and continue to chat. He decides to make out differences between the twins before him. Both of their eyes are dark brown with a hint of green in them when the light catches them just right, they both have a slight scent of Mystia still lingering on their pelts, but that will be forever there since it's a part of their natural scent, Mungojerrie's lips are thinner than his sister's full lips, the top halves of their faces aren't exactly the same, Rumpelteazer's white is more pronounced, their size difference is to tell them apart when you look directly at them, but not enough when they're a blur and running.

Coricopat and Mungojerrie wrestle one another, listening to Tantomile and Rumpelteazer place bets on which tom will come out victorious.

"I think us four are going to be very good friends," Coricopat says, echoing what his sister said earlier.

Mungojerrie smiles. "I think I like the sound of that..."


Tantomile walks with Mungojerrie, and hears him sigh and her hears prick. "What's up?"

She could dig into his thoughts if she wanted to, but that would be an invasion of privacy and she knows how much he and his sister value that (well, the entire tribe), so she just waits for his answer like she usually does with everyone, but an image flashes in her mind from his... her brother.

"Nothing."

"What about Cori?" she asks.

Crap, was a very loud word in his head, something that she couldn't block out if she tried just like the image of her twin. "Well... it's kinda..."

Do you want to say it mentally? He won't hear, I promise, she says in her friend's mind, blocking her brother out just as he blocks her out. Odd, but she doesn't think of that right now.

Slowly the calico male nods. Um...

You can say it as if I'm not here, Tantomile advises, wanting to help her friend as best she can.

Right, he thinks with a nod and the female mystic pulls away slightly so that way he'll feel like he's alone in his mind, though both know he isn't. Cori's eyes are amazing and he looks amazing... I wonder what it's like to kiss him...

emThat's new,/em Tantomile thinks to herself as she blinks in surprise. You've got a crush on Cori?

The thief nods slowly. "Y-yeah..."

The mostly black queen nods. "Okay, so you have a crush on my brother..." Feelings of guilt come off the tom beside her so she puts her paws on his shoulders and makes him look her in the eye. When dark brown and dark brown meet she then speaks. "Listen, I think it's cute, and if you want help, I'll give it to you."

Mungojerrie grins and hugs Tantomile as hard as he can. "Thank you!"

Crap!

"C-can't," she manages out before he lets go with blush covering his pale cheeks with embarrassment.

"Sorry," he mutters.

A smile. "It's okay. Now, let's set you up with my brother."

emWow, that's not a sentence I ever thought I'd say,/em she thinks.


Coricopat walks beside Rumpelteazer, his insides churning and he can feel Rumpelteazer's curiosity as he sighs. "Yes, Teazer?"

"What's wrong?" her scratchy Cockney accented voice asks.

"Nothing," he lies only to have the one he's walking with fall behind him and he turns around to see her arms crossed over her chest and right hind paw tapping the earth lightly and impatiently. With a sigh, he gives into this calico thief's silent demands. "Fine... I- uh..."

He's never said this aloud and he hasn't even told his mystic sister. How on earth can he tel her? He's not like that, he's very secretive, especially about things like this. And to think his crush was a white and black leopard spotted queen... But due to his sister his other crush for the longest was Skimbleshanks, but since that's faded he just assumes that it's because she grew out of him and isn't interested in any other cat... yet.

"You can tell me mentally," Rumpelteazer suggests, knowing he'll be uncomfortable revealing it out loud.

With a deep breath he nods and connects his mind to his friend's and speaks mentally. I think I like... your brother.

For a second he can't tell what she's feeling but then she breaks into a grin. "You two would be so cute together!"

Coricopat blushes and sadly it shows through his pale brown face. "Y-ya think?"

"Of course!"

"But... he probably doesn't even like me..."

The queen shakes her head. "Toms... Well, I'll help you."

He's at a loss for words, but he manages to stutter out, "W-what?"

"I'm gonna help you. Let's go get you up with my brother!"

Wow... not a sentence I ever thought I'd say, she thinks, causing Coricopat to chuckle.


The sisters shove the other's brother into a secluded area and the two glare back and speak mentally to the queens. This is what you call set up?!

The two queens remain silent, but giggle nonetheless and end up high above on a junk pile and observing the two. At first they're beyond awkward, then, the two start talking as they normally would and Rumpelteazer sighs, shaking her head. Obviously her patience has worn out and she wants something else to do than wait on their oblivious brothers to finally make a move on one another. Yes, those two will be down there a lot longer than the she-thief expected.

"They're never going to get together at this rate," complains the tiger stripped queen.

The mystic rolls her eyes. "Patience is a virtue."

"Yeah, one I don't have," Teazer reminds.

"Oh, come on. You're patient when you're stealing stuff! What's so different about this?" Tanti queers.

"Stealing is one thing, sitting and watching two cats talk while waiting for one or the other to make a move is completely different."

There's a point in there somewhere. "Okay, so what do you want to do?"

A shrug. "I dunno, what to you wanna do?"

The two sit in silence for a while and then Rumpelteazer rolls over and stretches, arching her back to further stretch her stiff muscles. Tantomile watches her lithe form take this particular action and she licks her lips. No, this isn't the best thing for the calico to do in the presence of the one that has the biggest crush on her. Rumpelteazer's dark brown eyes turn to Tantomile and have that hint of green in them that was one of the first things that the black queen had noticed all those years ago when their guardian, Skimbleshanks, brought them to the junkyard as a kit.

She's certainly not a kit anymore, thinks the mystic.

"What's up?" demands the stripped queen, getting on all fours and crawling towards her friend, getting in her face and tilting her head.

So close.

"N-nothing," stutters the black and white queen.

The thief doesn't believe the mystic. "You can tell me."

She's being provoked and so she gives into the urge and kisses the queen. She's more than surprised when she receives a kiss back. Rumpelteazer's heart pounds in her chest and Tantomile's does the same as well. The only thing that both can think?

Finally.


Below the brothers grin, glad that their sisters are finally together after all that time of casting glances at one another. The brothers glance at each other, realizing that they still haven't given into their emotions yet... Mungojerrie decides it's worth a shot and slides his paw over to Coricopat's, causing the blue eyed tom to look at the brown eyed one.

"Cori... I've been keeping something from you for a while..."

"I've been keeping something back, too," replies the mystic male.

Mungojerrie moves forward and kisses Coricopat and receives a kiss back.

Thieves and Mystics... they do make a good pair.


HAT: I hope that you're all happy. Do you know how much BS I had to go through with this one story? First I messed up on a line, I went to fix it, then everything got bumped up and I had to do more backspacing that I've ever had to do in my life! I went through a lot of trouble to make sure you don't have em/Finally./em and that stupid friggin' thing that goes:

p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"

before everything!

Skimble: I think you should calm down.

HAT: *rubs temples* I'm gonna get a drink...

Skimble: NO! You're gonna become lactose intolerant faster!

HAT: I don't care!

Skimble: *sighs* Review...