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The Rum Tum Tugger is not the best kitten-sitter. He knows that. But he truly tries to be.
Sometimes, he's the only cat available to take a few of the kittens for a few hours. And despite some of the older cats' thoughts about him, at least Munkustrap trusts him enough to hand off his girls every once in a while. This is enough trust that he's asked to kitten-sit sometimes, for other kittens, too.
"Am I your favorite?" Electra asks him, with wide eyes. She's one of the ones he's been handed today.
"I don't have favorites," He replies, crossing his arms. "So, no, you are not my favorite."
"Mister Mistoffelees is his favorite!" Etcetera chirps from his other side, "So it can't be us!"
"Cettie," He whispers harshly, and she smiles up at him if what she's said is not a big deal at all. "I told you, I do not have any favorites."
"Yes, you do!" She calls, in a sing-song voice.
"You have a favorite?" Jemima sits up, stopping whatever she is doing and pushing her sister, Sillabub, down.
"It's me!" Sillabub squeaks, still being flattened by her sister.
"It's Mister Mistoffelees!" Etcetera replies, louder than he'd like her to.
How he has ended up with this group today is beyond him.
Tugger moves to pull Jemima off of Sillabub. "Be nice. And no, I do not have a favorite."
"Mistoffelees?" Jemima says, and he realizes that this is going to quickly spiral into a shouting match if he doesn't do anything about it.
"No, not Mistoffelees," He says, "My favorite is Old Deuteronomy because he is the most important cat in the tribe." This is a simple enough answer to get their minds off of Misto and Deuteronomy is important.
"Deuteronomy!" Electra squeals, the name a jumble of unknown syllables coming from her mouth. "I think Skimbles is my favorite."
"Mama's my favorite!" Sillabub giggles and Jemima shoves her lightly.
"Papa."
Etcetera makes a show of tapping her lips in thought, her tail lashing.
"I think you're my favorite, Tugger!"
He doesn't quite know if he should be honored or not.