The following is my contribution to Rumbelle is Hope. I don t do fluff that much, and I was having a hard time until I saw the Lady and the Tramp .gif. That inspired me. The following also borrows heavily from Patricia Finney s delightful book, _I, Jack_ (by Jack the Dog.) So it s a Rumbelle / I, Jack AU crossover!
Hi. Hello there. Down here. My name is Rumpelstiltskin. They also call me other names, like Rumpel, Rum-tum-tum, RumpelTerror, and Bad Dog, but my name is Rumpelstiltskin. I am a Good Dog, but I do lots of Bad Things, so my humans call me Bad Dog a lot. I give them tummy and paws-up, but they can not smell the Big Bad Things that try to attack our pack, so they do not understand that I must protect them. And I must protect Belle, because she is small (smaller than me) and pretty and gentle and a Good Dog. Sometimes my humans are very stupid.
I love Belle. She is a dog, like me, only not like me. Her ears (so pretty!) are long and soft, and her tail is furry, and she has lots of long, soft fur, and she smells so nice. She is smaller than me, but she can jump higher than I can, because she does not have a crooked hind leg from a Bad Hurty Long Ago. Belle can jump to the tables and the counters in the Food Room of our den, but she does not because she is a Good Dog. I would jump up there if I could, because there is Food there, and I would give Belle the food.
I am not beautiful like Belle. My ears are not so long, and they poke up partway, and my fur is not as soft or as pretty color as hers. But Belle likes me. She says I am her brave, smart Packleader and I do not play too rough for her and I do not let the other dogs scare her. But I do not understand this. Belle is never scared. She is braver than me. But Belle has never had a Scary Bad human give her a Terrible Hurty and leave her with a crooked leg. And she never will, because if any Scary Bad human or dog comes near Belle, I will EAT HIM! I am not big, but I have sharp teeth and a bad bite.
And now I will tell you about Belle s Bad Day.
It started early, even before Food Time. Usually Belle races me to our Food Bowls (but not too fast, because Belle knows I cannot run as fast as her), but this morning, I was waiting by our Food Bowls as the Pack Lady came into the Food Room, and Belle was not there. She was still walking, very slow. I went to sniff her. Very Sad, her smell said.
I yipped an nipped at her to show her I love her. What is wrong, Belle? Why are you sad? It is Food Time.
I cannot find my mouth-happy-chewy-thing, she told me. Henry and I were playing with it and now it is not in the Toy Place with the other toys.
This was Very Bad. I started to go to the box that holds our Toys, but the Pack Lady put our Food in our Bowls, and I had to go and eat because it was morning and I was Very Hungry. Eat, Belle? I asked her. She ate most of her Food. I hurried and ate the rest before the Pack Lady saw me, because otherwise it would be Bad Dog, Greedy, you ll get fat! What is fat? I ate Belle s food so I can unswallow it for her later if she wants it.
We have lots of Toys. We are mostly Good Dogs and put our Toys back in the Toy Place when we are not playing with them, but sometimes Henry must help. Belle s mouth-happy-chewy-thing was not there.
It is not there, she said.
I found one of Henry s socks (wonderful taste!) and carried it to Belle, but she did not want it. The tennis ball? No. Stick? No. The hard-poky-Spiderman? No? I even brought her my own mouth-happy-squeaky-thing, but she did not want it. No, Packleader, that is your favorite Toy. I want MY Toy, thank you. I know you can find it for me, because you are smart and you know all the best hiding places. Can you find my mouth-happy-chewy-thing for me, please, brave Rumpelstiltskin?
Oh, poor Belle! I sat and tilted my head and did hard thinking things. I will do my best, Belle. Where did you smell it last?
Belle lay down and set her head on her lovely paws. Her beautiful ears spread out across the floor, and I licked them. So nice. I think it was two days ago. Henry was playing Tug with me, and we were using that Toy. We started playing in the Sitting Room, and then we went to the Pack Lady s clicky-clacky room. She growled at us, so Henry picked me up and we went over by the stairs. Belle got up and trotted to the stairs. We were about here. I was on this step, and she sniffed at the steps until she found which one she had stood on, and I was jumping and dancing with Henry and my Toy, did I forget to mention that Belle can stand up on her hind legs like an apedog and can dance and jump like one? It is SO PRETTY and it makes the humans laugh and do happy-sounds, and then the Pack Lady came and told Henry that he had to go visit Pongo. So Henry put me in the Outside. And I didn t see my mouth-happy-chewy-thing again.
I growled, just a little. Pongo is a not-my-pack dog, much bigger than me. He is white and black spots and can run Very Fast and jump Very High. He is not an enemy dog, but he would like to be Belle s Packleader, and I do NOT LIKE THAT!
Belle licked and nipped me, just a little. Do not worry, Rumpelstiltskin. YOU are my Packleader. I do not want Pongo. Where is my Toy, do you know?
I did more hard-thinking things. When Henry put you Outside, did he go straight to Outside Outside, to visit Pongo, or did he go back Inside?
Belle licked her back paw and thought hard. He came back into the den, I think.
Then your Toy should be in the den someplace. It is not in the Toy Place, and I have not smelled it in any of the rooms in the Down, so it must be in the places Upstairs. So we should hunt for it Upstairs.
Belle thought for a moment. Okay, Rumpelstilskin. We should go Upstairs, even if it is Bad Dog. But we should wait until the Pack Lady has left. So we did. Henry came downstairs and had his breakfast, and sneaked us little bits of sweet crunchy stuff with mild snarf! Yum! Then Henry went to his Running-Around-Place, and the Pack Lady left with him, to go hunting for paper.
Then we were in Henry s room. Everything smelled of Henry, and Outside, and paper. And Belle s mouth-happy-chewy-thing! Belle yipped and smelled hard. And then she twirled around once, twice, and trotted to a big Box thing. My Toy is here! I can smell it! She ran back and forth, and yip-yip-yipped, but the mouth-happy-chewy-thing did not come out where we could pick it up. Bad Toy. I barked at it. Petra pawed at the side of the big Box, but only a little, because it is Bad Dog to paw at things, even when it is important.
I could hear Henry outside, and the door opened and slammed shut. I could hear him drop his bag of Heavy Mostly Paper (Don t chew! Ever!) and run up the steps. That is okay. We will not be Bad Dogs. Henry will understand.
Hey, you two! You aren t supposed to be up here.
Hello, Henry. Paws-up, tummy. Respect. Belle gives Henry a lick and respect, and then goes back to the Bad Big Box. Can you help us, Henry? The big Box has metal things you can paw at, too, and I pawed at one to show Henry that the Box was a Bad Box.
"What are you two doing? There isn't anything in my drawers. You should be downstairs." He picked Belle up, but she wriggled and twisted away from him and ran back to the Box and barked at it. "My mouth-happy-chewy-thing is here! The Box ate it! Can't you smell it, Henry?"
Sometimes humans are very slow. Even Henry.
"Okay, you dumb dogs. I don't have any dog treats in here or anything, and if you eat another pair of my gym shorts my mom will kill you."
Oh. The Pack Lady will kill us? That would be bad. But Henry wouldn't let her. She will yell at us, but he will do paws-up respect and keep her from doing more.
Henry leans down and pulls out the bottom part of the Big Box that Opens, and now I can smell Belle's toy so clearly. I jump into the box of clothes (smell so nice of Henry) and I can just manage to crawl and twist my way out of the Box-that-comes-out and THERE IS SPACE BEHIND AND UNDER THE BOX-THAT-COMES-OUT and I can get into it! And there are lots of wonderful smells and old socks and Belle's mouth-happy-chewy-thing. I want to get Henry's old socks because they smell so nice, but I am here for Belle, so I get her toy and grip it hard and squeeze my way back into the box-that-opens and dig my way through Henry's clothes.
I jump out and I see Belle's ears and tail perk up because she is SO HAPPY. I drop Belle's favorite toy at her feet and bow to show her how much I love her. She picks up her toy and gives me Much Respect. And then we lick Henry and go back to our corner of the downstairs for a nice cuddle and licks. We are a Happy Pack.