You gotta be someone, you gotta be strong, when you got the goods y'know you can't do anything wrong

[gobetween]

There'd been a few days since his visit to Bridge after his illness, following dropping by Perdita, and now here he was racing through the tunnels doing it all over again. This time involved a quick vault through the T. Matthew Fraggle Room, one moment spent to get his bearings, and then off he went again.

The world on the other side would require just a bit more caution, but hopefully Louie would be rather close to the Fraggle hole and he wouldn't have to spend time looking for him.

Comments

[talkyourwayout]

Louie had stashed the postcard from Gobo in the hiding spot under a floorboard in his bedroom - not because he was keeping Gobo's existence a secret from the family, but because that card was his, and some things could be just his, it was only fair.

He and Gobo had, previously, discovered there was at least one entrance to Fraggle Rock from Louie's own home. Louie had been checking by that spot about every other day - more frequently before the postcard, of course, but once he'd known Gobo was okay, laziness had taken over.

Since he'd not checked yesterday, though, he had headed out for the spot that afternoon. After a moment of sitting by the Fraggle hole, he ducked in just up to his shoulders...

He was pretty sure he'd just heard someone moving in there, or was it wishful thinking?

[gobetween]

Gobo rounded the corner, the hole ahead of him- that Louie was sticking out of- he put on the brakes, skidding, shouting his name-

CRASH

Part rammed into Louie, part rammed into the wall, Gobo staggered back a bit and fell over onto his pack, his landing jingling loudly with several different things.

"....Hi... Louie.... Are you alright....?"

He'll get up and check in a minute, don't worry. Just as soon as the tunnel stopped swirling around him.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie winced and ducked out - mostly - when he saw Gobo coming, although his beak did get some of the blow. He rubbed the end of it, eyes squeezed shut from embracing for impact.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I didn't reali- Gobo, jeez!" He'd opened his eyes, and he then crawled part-way back into the hole to lean over his friend. "Are you alright?"

[gobetween]

"Yeah, I'm fine..." He shut his eyes, then blinked and sat up quickly, "Louie-!"

Only to bonk right into Louie's head and fall back again, groaning faintly. Okay, both hands were going up to his hair now.

"Sorry."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie made a sound that was far too close to a "wak!" for his liking, then, "It's fine, just... Don't get up again yet, one second."

It was harder to crawl out than crawl in, since he didn't currently have the room to properly turn around, but soon enough just his face was sticking in the Fraggle hole. "You sure you're okay?" he asked with a weak smile.

[gobetween]

"I'm fine. I think my nose is crooked, but that's alright." He chuckled weakly as he sat up, taking a moment to grab the end of his snout and wrinkle up his face a moment. Nope, still good. So he rolled up to his feet and stood up, brushing himself off.

"Sorry it's been a while." He paused, then snorted gently. "But I guess technically that's why I'm here."

[talkyourwayout]

"Yeah, I got your post...card..." Louie trailed off, squinting as light reflected off - something? - and hit his eye. He took a closer look at Gobo, and a downright wickedly amused smile quickly spread across his face.

"What. Is that."

As if he wasn't already pretty sure he knew... But all the same, he should be sure before he really gave Gobo a hard time.

[gobetween]

He gave Louie an odd look, taking a half-step back. That expression on the young duck's face was.... off-putting, and he only really remembered seeing it one other time, when Red invented the "Red and Gobo Gobo and Red Slide." Following Louie's line of sight to just below his neck, he patted himself-

Then realized what it was and quickly stuffed it back under his shirt.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

[talkyourwayout]

Well, if that wasn't confirmation enough, he didn't know what would be.

"Oh man. Oh man, you have a collar. Who the heck gave you a collar?" he asked, gradually breaking down into laughter as he spoke. "And you're wearing it!"

[gobetween]

Gobo sighed, and turned to look over his shoulder. He was still in the tunnel, he could just go right back home now. Louie knew he was fine...

"A friend of mine gave me the collar, moss mouth. So if someone picked me up, they could contact her." Snorting, he turned back to Louie with a look. "Because of what happened, so if you wanna know, you'd better stop laughing."

[talkyourwayout]

"No way," Louie chuckled, shaking his head. "You don't get to show up with a collar and expect me not to laugh! Who is this lady? Are you her pet now?"

[gobetween]

His fur bristled, and he half-turned.

"I'm going home, bye Louie."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie sputtered - although honestly, it was mostly from trying to stifle laughter - and moved further into the tunnel. "W-Wait, no, Gobo...! Come on, man, you'd do the same thing!"

[gobetween]

Oh good, Louie's within range- er, well if he happens to get accidentally boofed by the end of his tail as he turned and started walking (at the easy, established pace the two of them have when travelling together, mind), then surely it's just an accident.

"That's beside the point."

[talkyourwayout]

More sputtering, at that, before he caught up with Gobo and began to stroll alongside him. "I'd say it's exactly the point, but whatever. Seriously, though, what exactly happened? And how did it end with you wearing a collar?"

[gobetween]

"What happened was," and he paused, maintaining the bratty attitude for a beat longer before all pretenses dropped and he sighed. "I got sick. Like, real sick."

So, as they walked down the tunnel, he explained to Louie the story. How the city had been having problems with its pipe system and how it'd polluted the groundwater, as well as the environment Gobo had been travelling through. How that'd wrecked his system, and it was all he could do to crawl up to said friend Perdita's yard, and how it was only through her intervention, and a friend of hers, that he was alive at all. He included the more recent visit, the one that'd come with the collar gifting, and how Perdita had explained it so if he was ever hurt or in trouble again, he'd have an outside contact someone could make since he didn't really carry any other methods of doing that.

And at the end of it all, "...so that's the story. After I got better is when I sent out the postcards, and since then I've been going around doing, well, this. Visiting in person so that you and anyone else knows for sure that I'm okay."

[talkyourwayout]

"Holy-" He cut himself off abruptly, then glanced back over his shoulder. He could still see the light out of the tunnel, and honestly, even if he couldn't, he was pretty sure he would be safe from Uncle Donald killing him if he finished that thought. "...Wow. Dude, that's awful. I'm, uh- I'm really glad you're okay, now." A quick pat on the shoulder for his friend.

[gobetween]

"Yeah, I'm glad too." A bit of silence, then he snickered through his nose. "Though I kinda wish most of my friends lived a bit closer together, right about now. I'm gonna be a Fraggle made out of thin air if I keep this up."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie smirked a bit, grateful the conversation had taken a lighter turn, and poked Gobo's side. "You sure about that, buddy?"

[gobetween]

"Ah- Hey!" He laughed as he shoved Louie's hand. "I'm exactly as much Fraggle as I need to be."

[talkyourwayout]

"Oh, please, you're a Fraggle and a half," Louie teased, before pausing a beat. "Hey, are we going anywhere in particular?"

[gobetween]

Gobo snorted, then considered the question. "I don't think so?" He paused long enough to wave back the way they'd gone. "We're still close enough to tell 'em if you wanna go to Fraggle Rock for a bit."

Not having an issue like what happened the first time, no sir.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie considered this with a light eyeroll. "I guess, but then I have to go all the way back there..." All the way? "...And then come all the way back here. We can just wander around a little, though."

[gobetween]

He looked at the still-visible light from the other end of the tunnel, then shrugged and smiled, walking on.

"Sure! You never know what you'll run into down here anyway."

[talkyourwayout]

"Wait, what?" Louie asked - he'd run into other Fraggles down in Fraggle Rock, last time, but those were definitely not whats - they were whos. He had slowed down already when he heard some sound coming from around the nearest turn in the tunnel, at which point he came to a complete stop.

Fortunately, this was another of "other Fraggles down there" - a group of three were chatting softly as they rounded the corner, and stopped upon spotting Louie and Gobo.

"I don't think we know this one," one of them said to his two friends, focusing on Gobo.