Diamond in the Rough
by Kiche

"Great job today, boy," the man said, giving the red and white dog a loving scratch behind the ears. He projected a cheerful smile, almost matching the one worn by the dog himself, panting and grinning after the day's work. He stepped out of his harness with a bit of help, and waved his tail briefly as the man gave him one more pat on the head before dismissing him. "Go on, Kodi. Mail run's done for the week!"

Dingo watched with reservation as his brother received the praise and attention. He sat on his master's porch, not wanting to draw attention to himself, as he waited for Kodi to come talk with him, as was customary at least a couple days of the week. The larger and stronger of the two brothers, and possibly the whole litter, Kodi was quite proud of his job as the lead dog of the mail sled team. Their other brother, Dago, was part of a racing team in Nome - not the worst in town, but not quite the best, though Dago himself likely couldn't care less. Dingo, on the other hand, never was trained in the harness, instead having been adopted as a pup by a child who only really kept him as a house pet and fetch-partner. His family was loving enough, and Dingo grew more or less used to the somewhat sedintary lifestyle, but he still sometimes would wistfully imagine what it would be like to live in his brother's paws.

Speaking of whom, Kodi came sauntering over to the other red dog, eyes bright and tail high. "Hey, Dingo," he greeted. "How's it going?"

"Oh, pretty much same old," Dingo replied with a small smile.

"Well, do you feel up for a walk or something? I kind of got a little energy left to burn before sundown..." He can't be serious, Dingo thought, not without amusement. From Nome to Rodney and back in two days flat, and he still had "energy to burn"?

"Why not," Dingo conceded. "It's not like I've done much today, anyway..." He stood up, stretched his legs in place, and plopped himself off the wooden porch, by Kodi's side. "Let's go."

The two brothers began their stroll straight down the road, talking of the days events to each other - Kodi more about exciting things, like black ice and almost being attacked by a bull moose, while all Dingo had to offer was that he finally found the rawhide he'd buried in the yard last month. As the road came to a corner, they turned - however, around the bend, who was walking their way was none other than Steele's daughter, one of the most popular dogs in town, and her tight posse of friends. They just barely missed a collision, but rather than growl and complain, the beautiful female smiled seductively.

"Oh, hello," she ejected, seeming to eye Dingo in particular. "Sorry about that, Kodiak, and... what was your name again?" She swished her up-curling tail playfully.

"Uh... it's, uh, Dingo..." the red and white mutt responded, dumbstruck. She was the most gorgeous dog he'd ever seen; she had a rich apricot and white coat, a forked blaze running up her forehead. Her hind paws had a dark, mud-splashed appearance, while her forearms seemed to bear long, elegant white gloves. One of the girl's friends giggled loudly and he realized he must have been staring. He couldn't see it, but the female who led them - Steele's daughter - delivered a swift, light kick in the knee to shut her up. Then she spoke again.

"Nice to meet you, Dingo," she said sweetly, almost sounding insincere. "I'm Tiffany. See you around, I guess. You too, Kodiak." Then she pushed onward, leading her group of ogling, grinning gossiping girls with her. Kodi turned his head to watch them leave, a "good guy" sort of grin glued to his face, but Dingo frowned and kept walking.

"Hey, what's with you?" Kodi chuckled, trotting to make up his lost strides. "The prettiest dogs in Nome ask your name and you just keep walking like you don't care?"

"I don't," Dingo muttered, staring down at his paws as they walked. What could a dog like Tiffany want with an underclass mutt like himself? There was no sense in getting his hopes up.

"Yeah, okay..."

"I don't."

"Mhm... truth be told, you look a little embarrassed - did they catch you on a bad hair day? Or do you--"

"It's nothing," Dingo insisted, a little defensive now. "I just have no interest in dogs like them. Can't we just keep walking?" He sighed and raised his gaze skyward. "Hasn't been this warm in weeks, huh...?"

"Changing the subject," Kodi observed aloud. "Listen, Tiffany may -seem- out of your league to you, but hey, I can introduce you - more I mean - if you want - I've got good connections in town and --"

Dingo interrupted him this time with a laugh. "Sounds like you should be the one sniffing around after her." Though Kodi seemed delighted by the prospect of his little brother getting some popular girl, Dingo remembered that Kodi was currently single as well. Not that he actually thought he was interested in Tiffany - neither of them were, he reminded himself - but Kodi was always happiest at work, and he didn't seem like the type to want to settle down with a girl.

"Fine, just let her go," Kodi said with a shrug. They continued on in silence for a moment or so, when suddenly Kodi's voice broke the silence again. "Race you back to the post office, go!" He spun around in one swift motion and charged back the way they came, laughing.

Dingo followed after, laughing and smiling himself, even though he knew he was going to lose, for sure. It reminded him of being a puppy again, when the whole litter would race and tumble and play on the beach, only this time it was just the two of them, a large shaggy blur of red and white dashing down the streets of Nome.

+++

The gang was all settled down in the boiler room, content to chat amongst each other in pairs or trios. Tiffany hung back from the conversation for a while, smiling and nodding to seem interested. In her head, she thought back to that time just a couple of hours ago - when they'd run into Balto's sons on the street. The smaller of the two... Dingo, he'd said his name was. He was nothing like the dogs she normally hung out with.

"Tiff, are you listening?" barked one of her friends. The silver-grey husky, Naomi, had her eyebrows raised as she stared at Tiffany, looking a bit irritated.

"Sorry, what?" Tiffany responded, her normal beaming smile spread wide across her muzzle.

"The Glacier Derby's coming up soon," another dog, a collie, explained. "Whose team are you rooting for?"

"I don't know... maybe Brecken's, I've seen them practicing a lot lately," she said, thinking slowly.

"You mean you don't think Cartier's going to win?" Naomi gasped with fake astonishment. It wasn't surprising, really - though Tiffany was fairly close with her brother, she tended to shy away from looking biased by supporting he and his team too much. Instead, she liked to look at every team fairly... or at least, for the most part, she did. Besides being fast, Brecken was pretty good-looking, too.

"He might, I guess, if he stops spending all his time with that girl," she snorted. "and a little more time actually running. Come race day, he'll be all out of shape." Cartier's newest infatuation, she'd noticed, was a black and white husky mix who seemed to steal him away all hours of the day. She was quiet, though - never having to demand he follow her... just sort of attracting him.

"It won't last," the collie insisted, not quite hiding her bitterness. Sheba had always had a thing for Cartier for as long as Tiffany could remember. Poor thing, Tiff thought. She couldn't bring herself to tell Sheba that her brother thought she was a little weird... always following him around when she could and inviting him places. "She's a mutt, anyway - Steele wouldn't like it!"

"Like my brother cares," Tiffany muttered, looking at Naomi, who also understood Cartier's feelings about what his father wanted. "He probably gets enjoyment out of watching dad squirm and complain..." Steele had essentially slavedriven his only son, wanting to make him a racing star like himself - resulting in a rather unmotivated, rebellious dog. Not to say he wasn't good at his job, but it usually took a lot of persuasion these days to get him to run without a hefty reward waiting at the finish line.

Sheba rolled her eyes and sighed. "Whatever."

"Speaking of mutt-love, though," Naomi said suddenly, a sly grin creeping upon her features. "What did you think of those dogs we ran into earlier... Tiffany?" She swished her tail, waiting for a juicy answer.

"Who?" Tiffany asked, tilting her head a bit to feign forgetfulness.

"Kodi, and his brother... what was his name again?"

"Oh, Din-- uh... Dintmoore, or something like that?" She couldn't let on she remembered the nobody-mutt's name, much less that she'd been thinking of him...

"Dingo, I thought it was," Sheba offered.

"Yeah, that was it," Naomi agreed. "He looked like he really had it for you."

"Oh, stop it," Tiffany said goodnaturedly. "You know I play that card with nearly every guy - they all have the same reaction. It doesn't mean a thing to me." It was true, she was known as a bit of - or a lot of - a flirt. Her bubbly hello's, and the award-winning smile - few were resilient to her charm.

"Except most of them try to act all suave," Naomi said. "and want to get you to leave with them or something. This one looked like he'd just seen god or something." Her voice dripped with amusement. Tiffany sighed - her friends, who were obviously the popular, 'top echelon' sort, always seemed to find it amusing when a lesser-known mutt showed interest. As if it were a game or a contest. She was well aware of her beauty, sure - her mother and friends had always assured