"Do you ever just look out at the grass swaying in the wind and think: I like that, it looks like a lot of fun. Or stare at the way the the birds fly in groups and patterns and think: I wonder what it must be like to see the world from above? You do? Well isn't that great! We've already found something that the two of us have in common. What else do you like to do? Running? Do you like running? I love running. I'm not really that good at it, short legs and all y'know, but I just love the feeling of the air running through my fur and the way my lungs feel like imploding. But...mhm? Oh yeah, you're probably right, running isn't as interesting as I make it out to be. What else? What else? Ooh, what about singing? I love to sing even though I don't know that many songs, but I do know the lyrics perfectly to the ones that I do know. I'll let you in on a little secret if you promise to keep it. I use to sing to my dad all the time, especially when he got older, he always used to love that. Sometimes I wonder if- oh you're leaving? Well, it was nice meeting you, hope I see you again soon!"
Dizzy watched as the butterfly flew off and then stood there standing and staring at the eventually empty skies, devoid of life, neither sentient nor non-sentient, to keep her company. She hummed a small tune to herself and then when the wind blew again, shook her head fiercely.
"Dangit Dizzy!" she began to scold herself. "You have got to stop talking to random things when you're feeling so lonely."
There was a point in time where on a day with nothing to do but take in the beauties of the windy city, Dizzy might have slipped through the small hole in her owner's fence and wandered off to pay her friends Lady and Tramp a visit. That was an arrangement the three of them had gotten used to after their brief adventure in the city and while she was grateful to have such friendly friends, it eventually dawned on her how much of a third wheel she began to feel like. They were committed after all, bound by their own words. There was a point even further past the present time where she would have spent her days following Ward around religiously. She was never stupid, not even back then. It was easy to tell that the dog would have much rather been doing anything than entertaining her boredom, but eventually she'd charmed her way into his life and him into hers. There was a lot they used to do together. Once he had convinced her to try her paw at swimming and while her first few attempts had been disastrous, resulting in several near-drownings, eventually she had gotten the hang of things. But that was all but a distant memory. Ward was...gone. Had been gone for three months by her count. She held out hope that he would return, but she knew it best not to hope for such things. And with Lady and Tramp preferring their own company over her own, Dizzy began to find herself feeling quite lonely, with only the passing leaves and the occasional butterfly to keep her company.
She sighed and hung her head, still stuck to the place she had watched her insincere friend fly away from. "At least it's more butterflies than leaves nowadays," she muttered gloomily. Then she was struck by a polarizing question: return inside, or venture out further?
Inside was where all the essentials to her life lay. The warm bedding she slept in, her food and water bowls and the green ball that she sometimes liked to watch roll around. That was where she'd be able to heartily greet her owner upon his arrival and be relieved of at least some of her loneliness. On the other hand, the sun was still a little too high in the sky which meant that there was still time to go before he would return and that would likely only result in her regressing into speaking to the leaves...
With all that in mind, she skidded across the yard and slipped out of the hole in the fence, paws touching the paved sidewalk with a soft thud before she went on her merry way, watching as the usual horses and carriages passed her by. If she entered the heart of the city, she knew that she would see an endless amount of busy cars. If she went right, she would be well on her way toward the park, not the many scattered around the place, but her favorite one. Just down the street was where she knew she'd be able to find Lady and Tramp, she purposefully avoided so much as even looking that way.
After contemplating for only a few more moments, she went left to where the butchery was. Whilst she had all the food she could ever wish for, it was always nice when the butcher was willing to throw her a scrap or two from the window behind his shop. Some days she avoided that spot for feeling guilty about it. On others, she used to drag Ward along with her, worried that he was not eating as well as he should have.
"Hey Miss!"
Someone called out to her, prompting her head to rise out of curiosity. From down the street, two dogs trotted, both hardened mutts by the look of them. They came to a resounding stop in front of her.
"Miss," one of them repeated. "Me and my pal Bull here needed some help with directions. Specifically, we're looking for a dog. Figure you can help us?"
"Sure," Dizzy eventually answered, "but I-"
"Well, seeing as ya can help us, we're looking for a short dog, about your height with about the same shade of vanilla as your coat and with about the same shape of the tail that you're wagging," as he spoke, some of Bull's saliva dripped to the ground before he could catch it. "Is that right Tuffs?"
"Bull!" Toughy admonished. "We're not s'possed to make it so obvious who we're looking for. Remember that it's been years since we've seen the little brat. Didn't anyone ever tell you 'bout overwhelming one another with emotion?"
"I don't follow..."
"Of course you don't."
Bull. Toughy. It was all coming back to her in a moment too quick to recall. Distantly, she could also remember a Cliff and a Rick. And behind all that, as foggy and shady as it was, she could easily make out her-
"Any luck yet guys? I knew the chances were low but-"
The dog suddenly before her froze and Dizzy found herself having the same reaction.
"Welp," Peg spoke up after a minute, "not quite how I imagined this going, but I guess now is better than never."
"Mama?"
Before the actual authors' notes, I would just like to say on my part that it has been a pleasure being involved with this fic, even to the limited extent that I was. When PenName099 suggested to me a prequel centered around Peg and set in New Adventures, I told him it could be worth exploring but might prove unnecessary. A month later he came to me with some ideas and the entire prologue. A month after that, Jaiden113 joined the project and then just like that, it took off in a way that I never could have imagined. When I read the first draft, I knew that they had crafted something special and unlike anything that had ever been written in the Lady and The Tramp fandom before and for that I congratulate both of them and look forward to collaborating on future projects. That's all on my end.
PenName099:
I came up with the basic idea of Pound House Rock over a year before it was published and to see it finally come out in it's entirety is extremely gratifying. It's inception came from a few different places: a song by Peggy Lee, 'You ain't nothing but a pound dog' by Jaiden, the life and times of Elvis Presley, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, the general shadiness that can come from being made a spectacle. For all of it to come together in the end after all the deleted words and even a few deleted chapters, has been eye opening for me from a creative point of view. Thank you so much to Jaiden113 for proving to be such a great writing partner and to SkibidiBopmmDada for his continued support and guidance. Also, thank you to mustachetwirling-villian2 for the additional input he provided and to you, the reader for having read through the entirety of this work.
Jaiden113:
I did think at first that doing a story focused on Peg and Peg alone seemed completely impossible. Outside of the short origin I wrote for her in 'You ain't nothing but a pound dog', it seemed pointless. And then I was shown one concept and another and another, before I finally decided to help out and not long after, had totally thrown myself at this world and these characters. My work on this has been a learning experience and I'm excited to carry on with more in the future as the sole writer of next year's follow-up.
Songs used (in order of appearance)
He's a Tramp
Amazing Grace
Hushabye lullaby
Kisses sweeter than wine
Early morning blues
Hat caved in
Silent night
You better come in my kitchen
Tramping on
Blue moon of Kentucky
Plaisir d'amour
Hell hound on My Trail
Last fair deal gone down
I'll overcome some day
Ode to joy
This land is your land
It's a good day
The old master painter
Why don't you do right (Get me some money too)
Bridge over troubled water
Sweet sixteen
I ain't got nobody (And nobody cares for me)
Jesse James
I wonder where my easy rider's gone
After the ball
You made me love you
Interesting tidbits from the writers:
Peg likely knows what a monkey is from wherever her parents and her were before they arrived in the town at the start.
Sebastian was inspired by Sam Elliott's character from The Big Lebowski.
The Major's name is in reference to the rank in the United States military.
We approached the writing with the goal of making it seem as close to a Baz Luhrmann film at different times.
The Otto crime family are Spanish.
Charlie's light back story was inspired by Carl in Up.
Various scenes were deleted in accordance with this being The Major recounting the story. Some of it may not even be true and most of it is sensationalized for that reason.
The Major is religious but skeptical of the bible (or what he knows of the bible) itself.
Clint and Marie spent several years together as criminals before they agreed to settle down and make an honest living.
Cliff and Rick have a traumatic past, which is alluded to, after which they were taken in by Ma Fitz.
Sparky is named after a dog Jaiden had when she was six.
Much of Robert's appearances and dialog is meant to be a sort of fairy tale for Peg. Similar to how Sibyl Vane viewed Dorian in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Chapter 11 takes place over a considerable period of time.
In case it was not clear, Ma Fitz is the 'All-Seeing Owl' from The Windy City and will continue to play a role in the sequel.
Bull and Toughy are old enough to be like uncles to Cliff and Rick (if you consider their ages in human years).
Roman is so loyal due to a gift he received at the courtesy of the original Mr. Otto which will be elaborated upon later.
Peg is a perfectionist, a quality she will later lose.
The Crescent was initially conceived as a sort of Carnegie Hall where Peg would have made a controversial statement. This was changed early on in the writing process.
Yes, mud is considered ancient and sacred in this universe.
Peg's stage names grow more ridiculous the more famous she gets.
Kromer is just one of many dogs that holds influence in the ragtag industry Peg was apart of.
Chapter 16 had a scene deleted which depicted a drunk Clint attempting stand-up comedy before breaking out in a pathetic dance. It was removed for being pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Dizzy might not be Robert's child. Also, note that dogs usually give birth to a litter of more than one puppy.
Robert also cheated on Peg.
In chapter 19, each scene is representative of one of the three sixes in '666'.
The newspaper reporting Peg's disappearance is being read from The Major's perspective much like how it was done in chapter 3.
Peg's farewell to Dizzy is the only truly unbiased part of the story except for the prologue and epilogue.
Pound House Rock and it's sequel set up the next phase of New Adventures' works.
Lady and The Tramp and all of it's official associated works are owned exclusively by the Walt Disney Company.
All OC's are owned by SkibidiBopmmDada.