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

"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."

"It is if you want to maintain a clean environment, which living underground is a daily battle," Boober continued, leading him up into the room. Louie's going to immediately see that it's crisscrossed several different ways with hanging laundry. Once inside, the Fraggle walked over to a sudsy tub in the middle of the room, pointing at it.

"Luckily for you I just put some wash on. Go ahead and put it in."

Louie looked around at the drying clothes, brows furrowing in a vague sense of concern. "You're... Really into this clean environment thing, huh, Boober?"

"Yes. Believe me, there's a lot that can happen otherwise. Now, off with the hood." He looked up and around, considering, then walked over to a low line. He considered some of the shirts hanging there, including one that seemed to be one of Gobo's. Grasp, slight stretch out, a glance up and down Louie, then he shook his head and moved on. Choosing a shirt, a blue one with purple sleeves and a bright radish on the front, he unclipped it and draped over his arm, walking over to Louie.

"Here, you can wear this in the meantime. Shouldn't take more than a couple hours for me to properly wash and dry it, and it'll be back to you good as new."

"...Okay," Louie sighed, feeling less uncertain now that he had something to change into, at least. Even if the shirt Boober had given him sure was- Sure was something, alright. He unzipped and shrugged off his hoodie, then tossed it Boober's way and pulled the radish shirt over his head. "Just go easy on it, okay? It's pretty old."

A thoughtful hum as he caught it, looking it over. Louie's admission had him taking an extra glanceover at it, and he toyed momentarily with what looked to be a fraying hem.

"I'll have to repair this before it goes into the wash. Don't worry! I'll take all the care in the world with it." Turning back, he walked over to his supplies, the hoodie over one arm and pointing a finger up with the other. "I take laundry very seriously. It's my job."

"Oh, uh..." Louie faltered a bit, taken by surprise. He and Boober hadn't spent much time together at all, really, so he hadn't expected that offer. Even if laundry was the focus of Boober during that thirty-minute work week Louie so envied. "That'd be cool. Thanks, man."

He gets one of Boober's- rare? -smiles, as he glanced back and nodded.

"Of course." With sewing supplies in hand he takes a seat on a ridge of rock, setting everything out. He paused, seemed to look up a moment, though really it was hard to tell, then back down so he could thread the needle.

"Er, feel free to stay here if you want...?" It was also hard to tell how much he really meant that offer. He seemed a bit nervous though again, that was hard to tell from the norm.

The tentative invitation to stay had Louie frowning a bit, as he tried to gauge what Boober really meant, and what was just good manners. But eventually, what won out was that he wasn't sure where else to go... And that he wanted to find out more about what he'd seen today; about just why Gobo had been so set off.

"Sure," he said, once he realized how long he'd been quiet in thought. Now the only problem was how to bring it all up. "So, have you known Gobo long?"

"For years." He dutifully sewed the hem, using a stitch that would hide the thread in the fabric yet keep it close and tight. "He was one of the first Fraggles that ever really reached out to me."

Boober paused, unsure about revealing his next thought. But Louie was an Honorary Fraggle, he knew, and more than that, he was one of Gobo's friends. That would make it alright, and he nodded a bit before he looked up.

"I'm... not exactly like the other Fraggles in the Rock. But Gobo didn't care. I wasn't exactly ignored or disliked, or anything like that, but- There was something different, once I met Gobo. And then I met everyone else after that, and..." A bit of a shrug, and he returned to his work.

"The rest is history."

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