All that time never truly seeing the things the way they were...

[moneymatters]

Scrooge walked away from the balcony room, shaking his head lightly and chuckling, faintly, to himself. What an interesting day this had turned out to be.

At a thought he glanced beside him, watching Louie out of the corner of one eye. When he figured they were far enough away from their other guests, he spoke.

"I never would've figured you for a romantic, lad. That seems more Huey's area than yours." A more defined chuckle. "No offense at tha', o'course."

Comments

[moneymatters]

Scrooge waved a hand up toward the ceiling, and let that first 'answer' hang a moment before he decided to elaborate.

"Tell me, lad. How do you feel when you're on your own versus around other people? What about the way you feel when you've stolen treasure rather than earned it on your own? Or earned it for other people?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie raised his eyebrows, and made a weak attempt at laughter. "Con. I con people into giving me things, I don't steal. And when I do that, it's kind of - I mean, I feel really clever, but... Especially lately, it kind of feels crummy. But when I've really worked for it, for myself or someone else... That's different. I feel clever then, too, most of the time. But I also feel warm, a-and... Like I did something worth doing."

He shrugged a little, tapping his fingers against the mug. "That first question, though? That's really complicated..."

[moneymatters]

"It feels kind o' crummy because it is crummy, lad. No matter how much you try to differentiate it, a con is theft. What's truly worth doing is going to be making it for other people, or yourself, honestly."

He rested his elbows on the tabletop, the mug held between his hands. "If you'd like to take the time to work out an answer to the first question, time is what we have."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie’s blush, which hadn’t quite faded, deepened. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself to respond to that statement honestly. It was theft... But admitting that wasn’t something his pride was ready for.

So he just nodded, and gave the other question some thought. “...Okay, hear me out: I don’t like being alone. I don’t know what to do with myself when I don’t have someone I can talk to, for one thing.” Besides, the silence have him far too much space to think - and to worry. “But when I’m with most other people... It’s not totally real. I mean- I’m not totally real, or not totally honest, I guess? I don’t know, it’s not like- I don’t think about it, it just happens.”

He sighed and slumped forward in his chair, defeated.

[moneymatters]

He was quiet a few moments, digesting that answer, looking off toward the window. At length he drew in a breath, and let it out in a slow, soft sigh.

"It's only natural to put up a defense, or feel like you have to, when around other people. Particularly when you feel you need that shield, to protect who you are."

He turned back to Louie, watching him. "Or... who you think you are. I know you have some conflict o'er that. Could that be why you have problems being alone?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie shrugged, and at first that was all... But after a few moments passed, he gave a single nod of his head.

"Maybe."

[moneymatters]

He nodded, that having been the answer he was expecting.

"And now, suddenly, you have a friend that's someone not from the Manor. Either o' them. Not only that, but this friend is someone who, to my understanding, places a high value on individualism by the very nature of his culture. And yet, there's still an overarching nature of cooperation, of how the individuals work together.

"Is it any wonder you bonded to him so well, so quickly? You have the need to figure out who you are, and you find someone who can help you do just that."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie nodded again, this time more than once. "Yeah. I... I guess so. But-"

But that was scary, in a way, because what if he found out who he was and other people didn't like him? What if he didn't like him?

[moneymatters]

He caught something in Louie's tone, looking up toward him curiously.

"But what?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie glanced away with a sigh. "I... I don't like talking about this stuff. You know that."

[moneymatters]

"I do know that, which is why I hope you can see that I wouldn't be asking this idly."

[talkyourwayout]

"Well... Yeah, I know," Louie murmured. "Okay, fine. Maybe the thing about all of this stuff that's hard is... What if who I am isn't, you know, someone I like?"

Being liked by others if he was truly himself was, again, also a concern... But it was also more embarrassing to bring up, in Louie's mind.

[moneymatters]

"The nice thing about that is, who we are is not a permanent thing. If you don't like how you're comin' out, you can change that."

A ghost of a smile, the faint laugh in his throat. "Unfortunately that's going to take work, but such is the way it is."

[talkyourwayout]

"That's good, I guess?" Louie said, still not meeting Scrooge's eyes. "But it's also really overwhelming, Unca Scrooge."

It wasn't even the work- Okay, it totally was the work, too. But it was also the idea of how much power he had over all of this that had him frightened.

[moneymatters]

"You've already taken great strides on that path, if I do say so meself. And your new little friend seems to be doing a lot to help you down it even further. Remember what I said one o' the first times you were here though: Time. Take the time you need, lad. Cherish what you have going on right now. You shouldn't be in a rush to find out who you are."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie couldn't help the frustrated huff that escaped his beak. "How can I not be in a rush? Not knowing sucks!"

Louie wasn't particularly fussed over labels, all things considered, but it was hard to deny that something about a level of labeling oneself just seemed.... Comforting, at least to him.

1/2

[moneymatters]

He was quiet a moment or two, considering. Then he tilted his head up slightly, looking past the kitchen.

"There may be someone who can help better than I can right now."

2/2

[gobetween]

What Scrooge had heard was a bit of soft humming, which beat Gobo's actual appearance by several seconds. He walked in, his towel from before draped around his shoulders like a small blanket.

"Moon, moon, shine tonight, hold us in your glowing light. Soon, soon, silver bright, fold us in your cloak of light..." He was halfway into the kitchen before he realized the others were there and he paused, looking up.

"Oh, hey guys. Uh- am I interrupting anything?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie sighed wearily, the humming reaching his ears as well just a split-second later. Dropping the topic was fine with him, although he wasn't sure he wanted to discuss it with Gobo, either.

Looking as exhausted as he sounded, Louie shook his head. "Nah, man, don't worry. Where's Mokey?"

1/2

[gobetween]

"Upstairs still. She wanted to draw the sky before it got too dark to see." He walked over to the counter where he knew there was a bowl of fruit, and he hopped up to it, but paused before grabbing something.

"I'll er, replace those pens from your desk with ones from the Rock, Scrooge."

2/2

[moneymatters]

He'd been getting up to rinse out his now-empty mug when Gobo addressed him, and a strange choked sound came from his throat when a scoff and a laugh rammed together.

"Don't worry about it, lad." Stepping away, he caught Louie's eye and gestured toward the back of the Fraggle currently clinging to the counter's edge pawing through the bowl. Then he walked over to the sink, busying himself with the mug.

[talkyourwayout]

Louie looked wide-eyed over at Scrooge. Really? Really, he didn't get to drop this? He gave an exasperated scoff, but got up and headed over to where Gobo was feeling his way through the fruit bowl.

How the heck did he even bring this up? He looked to Scrooge once more, this time his expression not annoyed - just back to tired.

"Hey, Gobo?"

[gobetween]

He had an apple in his mouth when he turned to look at Louie, and was holding an orange as he dropped back off the counter, landing swiftly. One moment spent readjusting his blanket, then he took out the apple- by biting it at the same time -and looked up curiously.

"Yeah? What's up?"

[talkyourwayout]

"Uh... Can we talk about something? Not in here, though."

Maybe he could just let Scrooge think they had the conversation... Maybe.

[gobetween]

"Yeah, of course. Wanna walk outside?"

Honestly, he couldn't get enough of the starry sky either, and the expansive yard and garden was the most private place he could think of in this place.

Besides, after a while even a huge building like this starts to chafe. He wouldn't call it claustrophobia, not for someone who lives underground, but he was just always more comfortable around rocks and grass than he was carpets and chairs.