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

[gobetween]

Gobo was still looking down at his hand as Louie spoke, but he nodded, showing he was listening. Then he sighed and looked up.

"...There was a time, not long after my uncle left for the first time, where I found myself really doubting that I had it in me to be an explorer. Because I got so caught up in my own head, I wound up screwing up real badly and unleashing a monster through the Rock, from a labyrinth it usually remains trapped in. I made it right in the end and resealed it, but when I came back to cheers, I didn't really feel right about it, at first. I was the one that caused it to get out in the first place, right?

"But my friends reminded me that, in the end it was how I made it right, that showed who I really was. Even if I lost myself for a minute there and caused some trouble, the real me shone through. The brave explorer, who always knows just what to do to help people."

At a sudden thought he blinked and glanced off past Louie, brow furrowing a bit in thought. He put his hands down on either side of him and hopped off forward out of the bed.

"Come on. We're going out to the garden."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie was smiling and nodding along when Gobo hopped out of his bed - at which point he was suddenly quite lost. He stared as his friend zipped away, out of the room, staying put in his own confusion.

"Gobo? Gobo, wait, what are we doing now?!" He took off after him. "Gobo, hold up!"

[gobetween]

"We're going to the Trash Heap!" He'd gone out of the room at a good clip, but once out into the wider, more populated areas of the Rock, he loped along the pathways instead.

"I've got an idea, but I have to check something first!"

[talkyourwayout]

"You've mentioned that before," Louie said, panting slightly as he caught up with Gobo. "Are we taking about a literal heap of trash?"

[gobetween]

"She's our oracle, knower of all our wisdom. She sees everything, and if anyone knows what I need to know, it's her."

[talkyourwayout]

"So... Not actually a pile of trash, I'm guessing?" Then again, it was hard to be sure with these guys... "What do you need to know, anyway?"

[gobetween]

"You just leave that to me." He jogged down a quieter tunnel, and soon light filtered in at the front. Gobo paused before going outside though, looking at Louie.

"Once I talk to her though, it might get a little dicey. Are you in or out? It's okay if you wanna hang out with the others while I do this."

[talkyourwayout]

Dicey? He didn't like how that sounded - nor did he like that he wasn't being clued in on the full plan. Maybe he should hang back with the rest...

Except he didn't want to hide again because the going might get rough. No matter what Boober had said, Louie still felt like a heel for doing that earlier.

"...I'm in," he said - and if he looked surprise as he said it, it was because he sort of was.

[gobetween]

Gobo smiled, then walked up the rest of the way to the hole and peeked outside. Junior may have been their ally, but notsomuch his parents. Thankfully, though...

"Looks like no Gorgs are out. C'mon, let's go, and keep low."

He jumped out of the hole and stuck to the side of the short stone wall, making a break for the corner around the other side of the garden.

[talkyourwayout]

Honestly, being out there still left Louie feeling jumpy and unsettled, Gorgs or no. Everything was far too large here. But he'd already committed himself to doing this - to not chickening out - so he followed Gobo out and around, keeping his head down.

[gobetween]

As they got closer to the other side of the garden, there would be a particular... smell. Somehow both earthy, leafy, and rotten, like a Gorg-sized compost pile. And, as they came within view, that's exactly what it was.

"Alright, we're nearly there. Let me do the talking, eh?" He chuckled a bit, coming to a stop and glancing at him. "Not that you can't o'course, but we're here for a purpose after all."

[talkyourwayout]

"Gobo..." Louie stopped when the compost pile came into view. "What am I looking at? What am I smelling? What, no, don't answer me. I don't think I want to know... Ew, are those rats?"

[gobetween]

Gobo had been about to answer, but he was cut off by the creatures Louie had spotted, and so he just glanced along at his friend with a knowing little smirk.

"Halt!" One rat started. "You are in the presence of the all-knowing-"

"All-seeing," the second rat added.

"Trash Heap! Nyeehhh!" They said together. Then one snickered and looked up. "Marjory, we got one of the little Fraggles again! Looks like he's got somethin' big on his mind~..."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie looked baffled, edging on horrified, as he stared at the two creatures. It was rare for him to be rendered speechless, but if there was ever a time it was fitting, it was now.

And then the large pile of compost started to move and rise, eventually revealing an area that looked almost like a face-

"Thank you, boys!"

-Oh. It was a face. One that could actually talk. Louie turned his head to face Gobo, while he gestured broadly at the Trash Heap, but the Fraggle seemed totally unfazed.

"So, Fraggle and Fraggle's little friend... You've come because you have troubles, and I know these troubles well! You listen to me, though: You are on the right path."

[gobetween]

"You're right, Madame Heap. I'm in a lot of trouble, and- I think I know how to fix it, but I'm not sure.

"Do you know where a Fraggle named Clef might be found? I've never met them before, and with how big the Rock is I might be looking for a whole month and never turn them up, and I don't have that kinda time."

[talkyourwayout]

So, this was really happening, and Louie wasn't sure what to do - so perhaps it was for the best that neither Gobo nor... The Trash Heap? Were paying him much mind. He couldn't stop looking between them, waiting for the punchline, or the reveal.... Something. Anything that would make this make sense.

"Let me tell you something, little Fraggle: You don't have to worry about looking for a month! Didn't I just say you're on the right path?"

[gobetween]

Gobo paused a moment, and glanced around as if he half expected the other Fraggles to be nearby. One of the rats snorted.

"She means, whatever idea you got in your lil' peabrain there, that's what's gonna work out for you!"

[talkyourwayout]

"This is the new weirdest day of my life," Louie sighed under his breath, barely audible as the Trash Heap began speaking again.

"And if you need to know where you're going, young Fraggle, just think about what they need! People will always seek out what they need."

[gobetween]

"People always seek out what they need..." He repeated it to himself, rubbing his snout for a moment. He glanced up when the rats added "The Trash Heap has spoken!" and he just barely kept from rolling his eyes before looking up.

"Thank you, Madame Heap. I'll- do the best I can!" He started jogging away toward the garden proper, grabbing Louie's wrist on the way and dragging him behind.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie allowed himself to be dragged along, silent until they were well into the actual garden.

"Gobo, what was all of that?!"

[gobetween]

"Our oracle." Reaching the rows of (comparatively) giant vegetables, he let Louie go. "Find a radish, the absolute best one you can. I'm going to put together something to take it back with us."

[talkyourwayout]

That was probably all the answer he'd be getting, wasn't it? Gobo seemed to be a Fraggle on a mission, and there was left effort in playing along, for now.

"No offense, Gobo, but they're all the same kind of thing." Still, he started to look over the radish rows, trying to find one that looked particularly big and red.

[gobetween]

"Find one with a good looking top, too!" He rooted around in the assorted debris around the edge of the garden, briefly considered consulting the castle- but nah, there was no telling which Gorg he'd run into. It was safer if Junior was already out here and he wasn't, so he went back to his making.

After a short time he was able to pull over a makeshift wagon, made out of a squat empty flowerpot and a few rollers tied to it.

"Got one?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie had no idea what made a radish top look "good," but he found a big, red one with thick leaves atop it. He was leaning against it when Gobo approached.

"I think so. How's it look?" he asked, standing up straight.

Hopefully Gobo hadn't expected him to actually pull it up.

[gobetween]

Gobo inspected it himself a moment, then nodded and smiled. "I think it looks perfect!"

Thankfully for Louie, Gobo was able to manage just fine on his own, if with a bit of extra effort at the start. He hefted the radish onto the wagon and lashed it down with some twine he'd also pulled up, then started pulling it away.

"Let's go. We've got a little walk ahead of us, but don't worry, I know the way!"