Today, as I was standing by the curio cabinet, twiddling my thumbs, I heard a thumping and squeaking from below me. Curious, I carefully leaned over the edge of the dresser. The bottom drawer was pushed open, and two heads were peeking out, looking around cautiously. One head had dark plastic hair, while the other had the longest and blondest hair I'd ever seen. They were whispering to each other and seemed to be deciding whether or not to venture out. I'd heard about Beast'sbelle's Tangled dolls. This had to be them! Beast'sbelle must have finally taken them out of their boxes.
I leaned forward a little more and let out a loud, "Psst!"
They both jumped. Two heads jerked up in my direction, and two pairs of eyes looked into mine. The male's were suspicious and protective, while the girl's were soft and trusting.
I motioned for them to come up. The guy put his arm protectively around the girl and shook his head firmly.
I motioned again. Still he refused. Sighing in disgust, I turned, lowered myself over the edge and climbed down to the drawer, using the drawer pulls as footholds.
I landed right in front of them. The guy was still looking at me like I might suddenly start to breathe fire.
"It's okay!" I assured them in a whisper. "I was just trying to welcome you to the collection," I said, a little more haughtily than I meant to.
The girl turned and gave the guy an "I told you so" look. He looked a little sheepish. She turned from him and extended her hand, a friendly smile covering her face. "It's nice to meet you," she said warmly. "I'm Rapunzel, and this is Eugene."
I was instantly won over by her friendliness. "I'm Belle," I offered with a smile.
"You'll have to forgive Eugene," Rapunzel said. "He's very protective of me...ever since he saw some of the clips from our movie." She looked back at him with a mixture of affection and exasperation. "I keep trying to tell him that there are no real Mother Gothels out there."
"You can never be too cautious," Eugene inserted firmly, coming up behind Rapunzel and putting his hands on her shoulders. He looked over at me in an embarrassed manner. "All the same, I'm sorry if I offended you. We've had quite an ordeal getting here, and we're still not sure what to think of this place."
"It's not so bad," I assured them. "Beast'sbelle is pretty nice. She basically leaves you to yourself, so there's a lot of freedom. We just have to make sure we don't go wandering around when her girls are home...they're not supposed to know we're alive unless they say the code."
[Just a guide for those non-vinyl readers here: there's a special code or phrase that humans have to say to us if they want us to come alive in front of them. What is it? Sorry, that's top secret. You have to discover it for yourself. As dolls, Eugene and Rapunzel already knew about this, so they didn't question me. Okay, back to the story! :) ]
"Beast'sbelle?" Eugene asked sharply. "Is she the grown one who takes everyone out of their boxes?"
"Usually," I said slowly, confused at his tone. "Why?"
"You may think she's nice, but I beg to differ. Do you know what she did two nights ago?" He was seething.
I shrugged my shoulders, at a loss for words.
"She took Rapunzel's freckles off, with nail polish remover, no less! And no anesthetic!! Do you know how much that stuff burns?"
I glanced over at Rapunzel. She placed a hand on Eugene's arm. "I told you I'm fine, Eugene. No harm done. And I like my new complexion. They didn't paint my freckles anything like Rapunzel's in the movie."
"Maybe she didn't realize it burned so much," I suggested.
"Maybe she would if we tried removing hers with it!" he responded cooly.
"Eugene, would you mind going and checking on Pascal for me? He could probably use something to eat," Rapunzel said softly.
Eugene didn't look too thrilled about this request, but he crawled back in the drawer anyway.
Rapunzel came up close to me. "I hope you won't think badly about him," she whispered. "He's really very sweet once you get to know him. He's just extremely protective, and he gets a little uptight about change. Once he's used to the place, he'll be a lot more fun. I promise."
I wasn't too sure I believed that possible, but I smiled. I did know that I wanted to get to know this girl who was so sweet and kind. I'd been wanting a friend for so long, someone I could talk to and laugh with. Rapunzel seemed like the perfect candidate. I just hoped she was right about Eugene, because if not, having him around was going to be a big pain.
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