Rumple's Midnight Encounters: For Rumbelle-is-magic
Time had been fleeting and unkind to the golden man. As he sat behind his desk and tried to piece two and two together to create his ultimate curse, he found the machine in the corner of the room buzzing and turned his head to face his new visitor. As he had expected it was yet another girl, this time a voluptuous one of average height, with blue eyes and brown hair down to her shoulders. He opened his mouth in surprise and let out a delighted squeal.
"Ah, You must have come to admire my work, dearie."
The girl smiled and stepped out of the teleport area. "No?" Rumplestiltskin asked when he received no reply. "Have you come to keep me company?" He then asked, and she shyly brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.
By this time Rumplestiltskin wondered if she was even able to speak, and with a deep frown he settled for a much calmer "What's your name, dearie," when she suddenly bounced past him and launched herself upon his desk.
The glass vials and plates shattered to the floor and the contents of his flasks dripped all over his desk. Rumplestiltskin spread out his arms in agony and gnawed his teeth. "What's this?" he cried out impetuously, "why this?"
The girl sat up straight on the desk and smiled. "Oh, it is real?" She said, feeling her way around the shards on the desk.
The imp just glared at her, eyes narrowed, and clipped his lips tight.
"I'm Haley," Haley said, then leant on her right arm and yelped when a shard nicked the skin of her finger. She brought it up to her lips to suck but Rumplestiltskin snatched it in his own hands.
"Now, now, dearie, don't do that," He hastily said. He was aware that the potions might have odd effects and he did not want to poison his visitor, no matter how weird she was. He looked around in search of a piece of cloth and once he found one he wrapped it around her finger. His hands glowed with magic as he healed her skin. All the while his large eyes were locked with hers and his smirk was wide.
"Whatever possessed you to jump my desk like that, Haley?"
The girl stuck out her tongue, ever so slightly, and bounced her right leg up and down nervously. It was a quirk, she couldn't help, a tick she could not suppress. "I wondered if it was all real." She said as a reply, then smiled at him and looked as he released her finger. The wound had gone.
"Cool!"
Rumplestiltskin sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "You seem to possess a lot of energy." He remarked. "Most of my visitors have been rather shy."
"Well, I'm not like most." Haley giggled. "I'm active, yes, and when I saw you I thought I was dreaming because this all would be too good to be true and I had to try and see for myself whether you were real or not and the best way seemed to me to jump your table."
She smiled sweetly but Rumplestiltskin had been overwhelmed with her words, all said within the same breathe, and reached for his head.
"I see." He said.
"There was simply no other way." Haley confirmed.
"Wasn't there?" Rumplestiltskin was oddly amused.
"How come you know who I am, dearie?" He asked her, and Haley smiled at him.
"Anyone knows who you are, sir Rumplestiltskin." Her reply erupted a giggle from his throat.
"And how could they not know the famous mister Rumplestil-" Haley jumped off the desk and trotted to the wall to study the pictures there. "Hey? Where did you get these?"
Rumplestiltskin, surprised by how easily she was distracted, pushed himself from his chair and followed her to the wall.
"These? Oh, they're all little souvenirs I've been given." He traced a finger past the pictures. "This one's from my first guest. It's a dinosaur." He gave Haley a meaningful look. She beamed back at him.
"And this next shows me on a pie. And this one…" He halted, "We can skip this one." Embarrassed and a bright pink hue, Rumplestiltskin quickly hid several of the drawings he had received from another of his guests. He was wearing very little on them.
"My, my, would you look at this next-" He turned to face Haley but she had darted off again and stood staring at him from the other side of the room, a pensive look on her face, almost accusingly so.
"Why is there no drawing of Belle amongst them?" She suddenly asked, and the imp's shoulders slumped. "Excuse me?" He asked her, but Haley shook her head firmly and pointed a finger at him.
"She's missing from your wall!"
"Why should she be on my wall?" The man retorted with a cry.
"Why should she?" Haley echoed discriminated. "Why should she not? Have you never felt for her, Rumplestiltskin?"
It was at this point the effect of the transporter given to Rumplestiltskin by Rush had started to fade, and with it Haley slowly dissolved and disappeared from his dungeon. "Why not?" He called after her, panic-stricken. She had been right.
With a sigh and a soft mumble Rumplestiltskin slid back on his chair. His words where but a whisper.
"Because I've not had anyone to draw her for me yet."