When it's nice and bright, and it brings delight, let your heart choose right

[moneymatters]

Scrooge huffed as he wandered through the garden, picking up another scattered leaf. This went into a basket he was carrying, which was already full of torn and chewed stems, roots divorced from their vegetables, and other torn leaves left behind. Spotting something in the soil, he bent to examine a clear print left among the other, more smudged ones he had been seeing.

"Ah-hah. I had a feeling." Standing back up with some effort, he resumed his cleaning. "Goin' to have to set some bigger traps..." And other such mutterings under his breath, most not repeatable in this post made for the reading of mixed company.

Comments

[getrichquick]

"So, you map out new places?" Lexi asked with a smile. "That's not exactly my thing, but I've always been around people who love adventures, so..." she trailed off with a shrug. "Anyway, I came here to find what I want to do for a job."

There was, of course, more to it than that. As she'd grown up, she'd felt increasingly more understood and comfortable here in the "Other" Duckburg. It wasn't that things back where she'd come from had been bad, either, but... Something about here just seemed to work better for her.

"I haven't figured it out yet, though," she said, and though she didn't want to load all her recent struggles onto a fuzzy little stranger, she couldn't keep the sigh out of her voice.

[gobetween]

Gobo did hear that sigh, looking up at her. For a moment the map shifted a little closer to himself, then he lightly touched his hand to hers, leaning a little. There was understanding in that expression, as he watched her.

[getrichquick]

That gentle gesture made her smile, but it was a sad one. The way he was looking up at her felt like an invitation to go on, so with a sigh, she did. "I spent most of my life knowing exactly what I wanted to do in that way, but then I didn't know who I was. Now I've got more of a handle on that, but knowing what I want to do? I'm not sure anymore. It's hard, you know?"

She shook her head and sighed. "You probably don't. I mean, you just told me, you're an explorer. You do know what you're doing."

[gobetween]

His eyes drifted down and to the side, and he sighed after a moment. Stepping ahead, he stopped in front of her and held his hands up, so she would stop too. Gobo reached into another pocket and pulled out a small stack of what seemed to be postcards. These he held up, fingers pointing at the signature until she read it out loud: "Your uncle, Travelling Matt." Glimpsing at the rest will give Lexi the context of the card seeming to be an adventure; and more, as Gobo went from card to card to card... Lowering them so they were facing him now, he shook his head and sighed. Card, to card, to card...

Then, putting away all but one card, he took the map out again and unfolded it. Looked from the map, to the card, then hugged them both to himself, and dropped his arms. With a- genuine -sigh he waved the card to indicate himself, and then at the map, almost angrily so. His expression shifted, forlorn almost, and he turned to toss the map away. His now-emptied hand sank slowly as he watched it, and though he did go to retrieve it as he tucked the postcard away again, the complicated pantomime routine was still clear.

[getrichquick]

It didn't take Lexi too long to pick up on what he was trying to say, and once she did, keeping up was even easier. So Gobo had gone into exploration because of his Uncle...? It hadn't been his choice, just where he'd ended up. He'd had his doubts, it would seem - even still did, as to whether or not he was living up to the work of those before him.

"I'm sorry, man," she said quietly. She knew what it was like - feeling like she wasn't good enough to do what was expected of her. Feeling conflicted about if she wanted to do what was expected of her.

[gobetween]

He stood up, carefully folding up the map to put it back.

"It's alright, I enjoy exploring now... Oh, shoot, words, hold on-"

Now, how the heck to communicate that part?

[getrichquick]

"Wait!" Lexi said quickly, eyes going wide. "No, the words were okay. I mean... I got that. I heard that."

A light laugh of disbelief. "What just happened?"

[gobetween]

He blinked and turned to look at her in surprise, pointing at himself.

"Wait, you- you understand what I'm saying?? But I'm still speaking Fragglish! How is that?"

[getrichquick]

Lexi blinked as well a couple of times, still quite perplexed.

"I don't know, I just... It doesn't sound like a foreign language anymore, it's weird."

[gobetween]

He still seemed confused, rubbing his head. Then he blinked, realization dawning on him.

"Ohhh... This has happened before! I mean sure, it was over being able to see me in the first place, but it's kinda the same!" He walked back over, pointing up at her. "You... you touched a part of me. And then- then I touched you. We had a moment of really getting it, and then that- that's why you can understand me now!"

Gobo shook his head a bit in disbelief, rubbing his hair some, other hand resting on his hip. "Boy, you really can't leave the magic, can you."

[getrichquick]

"Yeah, just like that?" Lexi breathed, with a lopsided smile. "I mean... I guess we did really get each other on that one." Which had been- A huge comfort. She knew her problem was far from unique to her, but almost everyone she knew had such certainty in their goals. She chuckled. "And now, you don't have to be a little mime anymore, huh?"

[gobetween]

He snickered a bit, nodding once. "Yeah, I guess there's that, eh?"

Then, after a moment, his expression softened as he remembered just what they'd been talking about that got to that bit of understanding. He sighed gently, looking up.

"What I was saying though, I do love exploring. My Uncle Matt, he may've made the decision for me, but I would've found it on my own anyway. It's what my great uncle did, and what my dad did. It's in my blood.

"But it's alright to be questioning what you're looking for. That's how you eventually find it in the end."

[getrichquick]

Lexi smiled and nodded.

"I guess it can work that way." Adventure was sure in her blood, and she knew that wasn't her calling, but it wasn't important right now. "Anyway, thanks Gobo, really. For, you know, caring."

About her troubles, and just about her. She was no longer the child who sometimes felt dull and always felt misunderstood, but it was still a pleasant reassurance when someone took an interest.

[gobetween]

He seemed a little flush with pleasure at that, smiling at her. "Aww, well. Yeah, of course. That's what I do."

"Anyway, you told me about yourself, so I guess fair's fair, right?"

[getrichquick]

"You guess right," Lexi confirmed, smiling. As curious as she was about Fraggles as a whole, she was becoming steadily more interested in this specific one. Something about him was just plain likable. She sat down, there on the sidewalk - still kinda gross, but better than basically lying on it - so she could be close to his level.

[gobetween]

He looked at her a moment as if surprised, then smiled some.

"Well, the question now is, what to say?" He snickered some, rubbing his snout. "You already know I'm an explorer. I have been for a few years now, mostly mapping out unexplored caverns of Fraggle Rock- that's the place I'm from. Only recently have I started coming out into Outer Space, which is what we call... well, this!" He held his arms out and gestured around them, then turned back.

"My uncle has explored Outer Space before me, but there's plenty even he hasn't seen. And after I met my first Silly Creature- what we Fraggles call you guys who live in Outer Space -I really got into coming out here, though I'd done it a couple times beforehand. Other than that, I hang out down at the Rock with my friends Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red, just doing what Fraggles do: make music, play games, and generally have the times of our lives."

[getrichquick]

"Outer Space and Silly Creatures, huh?" Lexi chuckled, grinning. "Sounds like Fraggles have a pretty good life at that Rock of yours, but how are you liking it up here?"

[gobetween]

"To tell ya the truth? It's kind of intimidating." A weak laugh, amused and overwhelmed all in one. "How do you deal with everything being so big?"

[getrichquick]

"Yeah, I bet - but hey, I'll let you in on something." Lexi leaned in a bit, whispering in mock-secrecy, "It can still be intimidating when things are to-scale for you."

With a snicker, she got to her feet. "Don't worry, though, man. You've found a good guide, at least for Duckburg."

[gobetween]

"Oh believe me, I know. Despite the way I might've made it sound a second ago, things aren't always fun and games down at the Rock."

A bit of a snort, though her next statement got a bright smile out of him, as he watched her rise.

"Yeah? That's great!"

[getrichquick]

"Sure, why not?" Lexi said, starting back on the path to the diner. "Hey, showing you the ropes around here might help me figure out what I'm going to do, anyway."

[gobetween]

He hopped a bit to catch up with her, tail waving like a flag behind him.

"You wouldn't be the first friend I've helped fiknd a job! Who knows what'll happen from here on out?"

[getrichquick]

That got a more private, personal kind of smile out of Lexi, because usually... She really preferred to know what would happen moving forward. But there was something exciting about the potential here.

And then the first part of what he'd said really hit her, and she gave a small laugh. Friend, huh? Simple as that? She was okay with that... Why couldn't it always be so easy?

"Well, something I know will happen is we're gonna eat," she joked. "Or... Hmm. Are you okay with going in a building full of things and people my size?"

After all, he'd just said the big was intimidating.

[gobetween]

He thought about that a minute, then looked up at her somewhat uneasily.

"Maybe... a little at a time?" Really, he was just fine with new experiences! But the idea of full of them was a little too intimidating at this precise moment.

[getrichquick]

Lexi nodded. "I understand, don't worry about it... In fact, I think I know a place that might work - you like vegetables, right? There's this open-air farmer's market not too far past the diner. Open all week, but most people only visit on the weekends."