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

"So? Like we'd care what you think of us," Clef remarked. "Look at the Fraggles you do think much of."

"Yeah, there's that tall one, too!" the female Fraggle spoke up, seeming excited to have remembered. "She thinks she's so smart, right? Tried to be the new Trash Heap? That's so dumb if you ask me."

Louie had been looking away and down, awkwardly, but he looked up then. "Tall one...? Hey, Mokey's not dumb-"

"What do you know about dumb? You some kind of Silly Creature?" Clef asked, really regarding Louie for the first time. "I guess Gobo ran out of failures to collect down in Fraggle Rock, huh? You look like a real dimpy thing."

Gobo's sleeve tightened as he pulled one hand tighter, scrunching up that fabric.

"Man, Silly Creatures are ugly," the Fraggle spat. Elbowing one of the others, they laughed. "No wonder Fraggles don't wanna go up there!"

Something gleamed in their eye and a dark grin spread their face.

"Now I know why I remember Gobo so much, besides all those times he rocked up!" A laugh in their throat. "He's a freak! Always going up on the surface. What's it got up there that Fraggles don't have, huh?"

Louie considered protesting the "ugly" remark, but this was getting a little tense for his liking - Gobo was trembling and everything.

"Hey, now," Clef started to say in a mocking tone, "he's not the only Fraggle who goes up there. There's another freak - that Pat guy, Or something. Years ago, he went up there for ages! Man, that's so pathetic, isn't it?"

"Absolutely pathetic!"

A tension went through Gobo then, arms dropping to his sides.

"Hey, and remember when Pat came back to the Rock? Who wanted him! All he did was mess everything up too, just like Gobo."

As the other Fraggles laughed, Louie would be able to see Gobo's body go stiff. His tail, held up behind him, frizzed out to the last hair of the belouvious, and then a bristle started going along his spine, like an angry cat. His head dropped down, an angry flush deepening his color, and- rather abruptly, the other Fraggles stopped all sound.

Oh, no. Louie knew that shift in posture, knew fur - or feathers, as he was more used to - standing on end like that. He'd seen that with Uncle Donald countless time.

Thoughts of what he should be doing ran through his mind. Huey sometimes tried to calm Uncle Donald down, but then again, Huey would have lashed out at being called ugly and dimpy, by that point. Dewey was a wildcard; depending on his mood before the mocking started, he might have done anything from tried to play it off as a joke he was in on, to shouting and hitting in retaliation.

Louie was predictable in most conflict, on the other hand. In this case, as was usually the story, he wanted no part of it - the young duck was quick to duck behind a large, craggy rock formation. Sure, it didn't hide him, but if he shut his eyes, too, maybe he could pretend this wasn't happening.

Gobo's expression darkened, teeth gritting in an aggressive expression so unlike the usually-cheery Fraggle, at least so far as Louie knew him. The others started backing up a bit, but that only made the problem worse. An enraged cry tore out of his throat as Gobo lunged ahead, arms going back enough to let the pack slip smoothly off his shoulders and bodily drop to the floor.

Two of the other Fraggles moved back out of his immediate range but the third, he didn't even care which, got caught by the front of their shirt in one fist. The other reared back and punched them square across the jaw, knocking them out easily. He dropped them and then jumped for another, grabbing them by their tail and yanking them backward. He planted his feet and, with a rising growl, spun his body around and pulled them with it, releasing them to go flying into the third Fraggle. They crashed together and got bowled over, quickly scrambling to their feet and scooping up the third, scattering off down the tunnel. Gobo took a few steps after them, then hopped to a stop, cupping both hands on either side of his mouth.

"Yeah! Yeah, you'd better run! Get you some real Fraggle attitudes, and don't you make fun of me or anyone else ever again!!"

Man, it was almost - though not quite - enough to make Louie feel bad for those three jerks. And he was only hearing what was going on; his eyes remained squeezed shut until he heard Gobo's words and the sound of fleeing footsteps.

He'd be out in a second, really. He just needed to breathe a bit.

Perhaps it was for the best that Louie didn't come out yet, because Gobo hadn't quite expended his temper. He paced in a tight circle, hands to his head, then punching the air, then gesticulating with the definitely unfriendly words he was muttering under his breath. He drove his fist into the rock wall, then yanked it back with a sharp curse, shaking it and sticking it under his other arm.

Yes, this was all extremely reminiscent of Uncle Donald. Which was weird, but also not a huge concern of Louie's at the moment - especially when Gobo punched the rocky wall. He sighed, curled up on himself a little more, and spoke out with unusual uncertainty and timidness.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay Louie-" He stopped and drew in a short breath. "Louie!!"

All traces of his anger evaporated in an instant there, as he looked around for his friend, taking a step forward. He looked toward that rock, his expression fearful- heartbroken.

"Louie, oh man I'm so sorry you had to see that! I don't... normally..." A tremble went through him and he stepped back, turning a half circle. "Fraggles don't- fight! What have I done...??"

Louie's eyes went wide as he watched Gobo shift from enraged to ashamed. No, terrified. And Louie knew how it felt to worry other people saw you as bad. Gobo wasn't bad, though - it had been scary, but those creeps had had it coming - and he should know that.

In an instant, Louie had scrambled out into the open and grabbed his friend in a hug.

Gobo swayed back a bit at that, completely taken by surprise. He returned the hug almost instantly, held it for a long, needing squeeze- then roughly pushed him back, stepping away. He gave Louie a quick apologetic look, hopefully communicating it wasn't Louie that was the problem, then he turned away and dropped his head, sighing softly.

"I think you'd better head back," he said softly, walking past him to pick up his pack. He shouldered it, hands still on the straps as he looked up and away down the tunnel. "Your family'll probably be missing you soon, and... I've got somewhere to go, anyway..."

He frowned a bit when pushed away, more because of how just upset he was realizing Gobo was.

"Yeah, you do," Louie said decisively, striding up to Gobo's side. "You've got to go back to Fraggle Rock. We've got to go back."

He could worry about how much he was letting his walls down later. When he knew Gobo would be okay.

Gobo blinked twice and turned his head, looking at Louie in- relief? then surprise.

"Fraggle Rock-? Us? Oh Louie, I don't know-..."

"Well, I do," Louie responded with a slight shrug, taking Gobo by the wrist. "Come on, I think I remember the way and everything."

He let out a little "woop" as Louie started walking him down the tunnel. The note about remembering the way got something that got an almost-laugh out of him, but he looked away after a moment, head down the entire trip.

Louie tried humming a bit of "Muck and Goo" as they went, but the song died out rather quickly. It didn't seem to be helping Gobo, if he even noticed, and Louie's own heart just wasn't in it when he was this worried.

Louie led them unerringly down the tunnel to Fraggle Rock, or vice versa; either way, soon the sound of music and activity was around them, the small tunnel opening up into the wider, more active ones around the Rock.

Something was different, though. It was hardly every Fraggle- maybe one in a couple dozen, if even that -but as Louie and Gobo passed, a few eyes watched Gobo in particular. Quiet murmurs followed them, and even the occasional one decided their time would be better spent going to another cave.

All in all, by the time they got to the Great Hall, Gobo's tail was dragging on the ground behind him, and there was hardly any perk in his head and shoulders at all.

If the dark rumors had started to spread, well, at least it meant the news of Gobo's return had as well. Mokey was the first of Gobo's four friends to rush up to greet the duo.

"Oh, Gobo! And you brought Louie! It's so good to see-"

She hadn't been ignoring Gobo's clear bad mood - but she'd wanted to bring up the positive first. But then something caught her eye, and she gave a little gasp.

"Gobo, what happened?" she asked quietly, picking up his bleeding hand in both of her own and inspecting it.

Gobo only partly lifted his head, then let it drop again. He mumbled some sort of "Just a scratch, Mokey" sort of response, but his heart just wasn't in it.

"But Gobo-" Mokey began to protest, her tone lightly scolding. However, motion from Louie's direction caught her eye - she glanced over to see the duck shaking his head, and she sighed. Fine, she could let it be for now, but... "At least let me wrap it for you."

Gobo half-glanced up toward her, then away. A refusal was on his tongue but he just couldn't say it, so he just sighed through his nose and nodded.

"Alright."

She blinked - not upset or even surprised that Gobo was being stubborn, just confused by the whole situation. She clearly missed something, and no matter what Louie had indicated, she had to know what it was - how else could she help? She ushered Gobo along.

Louie almost went to follow, but thought better of it quickly. Maybe some time alone with calm and wise Mokey was what Gobo needed.

There was clearly something going on here, he just knew it. He hated when his intuition was right.

Boober considered going off after Mokey, particularly when Red followed, but he chanced a glance at the Silly Creature- Louie, right? -and then a second glance.

"What happened to your shirt?" He reached out and snatched up a bit of the green fabric. "There's dirt and grime all over the back here. No, this won't do. Come on." Back around to the front and he took Louie by the wrist, dragging him off in the direction of his room.

When Boober asked that, Louie looked down a bit frantically to see what he'd done to his favorite article of clothing - but when the Fraggle went on about dirt, he breathed a sigh of relief.

And then... Okay. Going this way now. He was too lazy to protest, really, so he allowed himself to be led away, though not silently. "It's not a big deal."

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