Welcome to the Guess the Author story contest. The topic this time, chosen by our previous winner Sir Sebastian, was a simple one… RUFUS. Seems SS felt the little guy wasn't getting the recognition he deserves.
The rules are simple. Read through all the stories in the contest and determine who wrote which story. Email or PM them to me, Zaratan, by the 15th of January and the one with the most correct wins. The winner will then get to pick the topic of the next Guess the Author contest. Simple huh? And now, let's meet our entrants;
Fighting Chicken
MaceEcam
NeoSaiyanAngel
Screaming Phoenix
Thomas Linquist
Whitem
Zaratan
So that's the list. Seven stories, one each by the listed authors, and you have to guess who wrote which story. Good luck to you all!
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Even Naked Mole Rats Believe in Santa
3:10 am, Christmas morning… Rufus' little eyes snapped open, and he groaned while rolling a bit in his bed of Ron's socks. Something had woken him up, but he wasn't sure what it was. His finely tuned rodent ears then picked up a small sound. It was coming from… the roof? Then along with what sounded like numerous small thuds came the distinct tinkling sound of… bells?
"Santa…" Rufus said to himself in both wonder and amazement. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake up some more, and looked around the room. At first he was a bit confused as to where he was, but then quickly remembered that he and Ron were sleeping in the guestroom of his other humans house, Kim. It all came back to the little guy now, that he and Ron were sleeping over at Kim's house on Christmas Eve.
Quickly Rufus scampered over the bed sheet, onto the floor, and out of the guestroom door. He wanted to see Santa! Silently he pattered down the hall, and into the Living Room of the Possible's house. Sure enough, there was Santa, taking items out of his large red bag and placing them under the tree.
Being as small as Rufus was, he couldn't get a real good look at the Big Guy, so he silently scampered up a book shelf that was next to the fireplace, and made his way along the mantle. He had to be careful, as Kim's Mom had placed quite a few decorations up there. He bumped into a small Santa figurine, and quickly caught it before the curio fell onto the floor. That would have been very bad, as it was a family keepsake.
Finally after stepping over a few boughs of holly and other small Christmas decorations, Rufus made his way to a point where he could see better, and sure enough, it definitely was Santa Claus! Suddenly Santa stopped what he was doing, and stood there for a few seconds. He slowly turned around, and Rufus quickly ducked behind one of the toy Santa's.
He stayed behind the little Santa for only a moment, but when Rufus came out from his hiding place, the man in the red suit was no longer in front of the tree. Rufus quickly looked around the room, and then he heard a shuffling underneath him inside the fireplace. He leaned out over the mantle in an attempt to get one last look, and Rufus lost his balance. With a little yelp, Rufus thought for sure he was going to land on the stone hearth below, but instead he found himself bouncing off the belly of… a teddy bear?
Looking around at the sudden change of his surroundings, Rufus saw numerous brightly wrapped gifts, and other toys all around him. He was inside Santa's bag! Immediately Rufus tried to climb out, but he was suddenly squished into the belly of the teddy bear, and he had the sickening feeling of being in a very fast elevator going up.
The next sensation Rufus felt was the bitter cold of night air against his skin. He heard the muffled crack of what sounded like a whip or reigns, and again he was thrown around in the bag as it felt like he was on a jet taking off into the sky!
"Oh no…" Rufus squeaked as he knew exactly what was going on. Santa was continuing with his delivery of presents, unaware that Rufus was inside the bag! After everything seemed to settle down, the little guy knew he had to get out of the bag, get to Santa, and hopefully ask the Big Guy to take him back home. Using the gifts around him like rocks on a cliff edge, Rufus was able to make his way up to the opening of the bag. As soon as he poked his nose out, he immediately knew that he wasn't in Colorado anymore.
All Rufus could see around him was stars as far as he could see. The air was very cold, and he shuddered to himself. He had to press on though and get to Santa, or else he might not get back home. Moving on, he hauled himself out of the mouth of the bag, and towards the front of the sleigh. Using his claws to dig into the fabric of the bag, Rufus was able to make it up towards the front, and his last Herculean effort was to push himself into the seat of the sleigh. After landing with a 'plop' onto the seat, Rufus heard a surprised voice next to him.
"Ho, Ho, Ho! Well who are you, little guy?" Rufus couldn't help but just look up in awe at Santa Claus.
"R… Rufus." He finally said through chattering teeth.
"Rufus? As in, Rufus of the Stoppables?" The little naked mole rat gave a nod as he brought his little arms around himself trying to keep warm.
"H… Home?" Was all Rufus could chatter out next.
"I'm sorry little guy," Santa said, "But I've got a real tight schedule. Besides… we're almost to Italy."
"Pizza?" Rufus piped up, temporarily forgetting how cold he was.
"Ho, Ho, Ho! I need to finish delivering presents first." Santa then thought for a bit while still holding onto the reigns and then his face brightened. "I know… But first, let's get you something warm to wear. After all, naked and cold don't mix."
Hearing that last phrase spoken by Santa immediately made Rufus miss home that much more. It had brought back the memory of a mission just last year. He looked on as Santa moved the reigns to one hand, and then reached under the seat and pulled out what looked like a small Santa coat and hat that looked to be just his size. Rufus eagerly took the offered items and put them on, immediately feeling much warmer.
"Now that that's taken care of… I've got a proposition for you Rufus. If you help me deliver the rest of these presents, I'll be able to take you back home. Deal?" There was no way Rufus could turn down what this large man with sparkling eyes had offered him, so he quickly agreed.
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The next hour was a whirlwind for Rufus. So many houses, and so many presents. Quickly the very unlikely duo of Santa and Naked Mole Rat worked out a system. In each house the little guy would keep watch for any children that might happen into the room while Santa was putting out the gifts, and he would quickly notify the Big Guy when they were coming. This actually served to give Santa a better chance of quickly leaving the presents without having to keep watch over his shoulder. Only once did Rufus make the mistake of eating all the chocolate chip cookies before Santa could get one. After all, they were Santa's favorite.
After the last house was taken care of, both Santa and Rufus were sitting in the sleigh on top of the house sharing another cookie, and some hot chocolate. Santa wiped some crumbs off of his beard and said, "Rufus… what are we doing? We gotta get you home!"
With a crack of his reigns, the sleigh took off like a rocket, and in what seemed like just a matter of minutes, the sleigh was once again on Terra Firma. Well, sort of, as they were on the roof of another house, but this house Rufus immediately recognized as the Possible's. The little guy glanced up at Santa with a questioning look, and tapped his wrist, indicating his confusion about passage of time.
"Ho, Ho, Ho… Sorry little fella." Santa gently gave Rufus a pat on the head. "That's a trade secret I'm afraid I can't tell you about. Now let's get you back inside the house.
Santa then picked up his newfound friend, and stepped up to the chimney. Before Rufus could even blink, he was back inside the house next to the tree, and Santa couldn't be seen anywhere. The little guy was too tired though to try and figure out what just happened, so he curled up under the tree and fell fast asleep.
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The twin 8 year old voices of Jim and Tim woke Rufus from a sound sleep. They were going crazy over all of the presents around the tree, and were starting to separate everything out according to who they were for. Looking around, Rufus saw Kim heading down the steps from her room while Ron was stumbling from the hall that led to the guestroom. At the same time Kim's parents were walking out of the kitchen, each with a steaming cup of coffee in hand.
"Looks like you boys took in a good haul again this year." James said with a smile. Kim and Ron sat down next to each other on the sofa, and Kim's parent's continued to stand, watching the excitement on the faces of their twins. Rufus scampered up the sofa and onto his human's shoulder.
Ron looked over at Rufus with confusion on his face, and asked him, "Hey Buddy… Where did you get that Santa outfit?" All Rufus could do was smile, and shrug his little shoulders.