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

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

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."

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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?"

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

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

"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.

"Sure," Louie said with a shrug. He didn't love the outdoors like Gobo did, but at least they'd be decidedly away from Scrooge's ears out there. He lead the way out into the yard - though not after grabbing an orange for himself.

He waved as Scrooge did, then turned to walk with Louie outside, unaware of the old duck's gaze on them until they'd left the kitchen. Gobo himself didn't speak again until they were out there, but mostly because he was busy working his way through that apple.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?"

"Nah, it's nothing. I mean, I just wanted to get out of there for a bit," was all he said at first, as he rubbed his hand up and down the opposite arm.

"...Gobo, when did you know you wanted to be an explorer?"

He thought about that a moment, looking up.

"Let's see..." A pause, then he nodded. "About a couple years ago."

Louie sighed at that piece of information. If it had taken Gobo until recently to figure himself out...

This did not bode well, not that he was exactly surprised Scrooge had been right about it being a process. Still, as he'd said before, the waiting was... Not something he enjoyed.

"Man, that's... Yeah. Okay, thanks."

He seemed confused at the answer, then half-shrugged.

"I mean, I guess I always knew I would be? There's Uncle Matt of course, and his uncle, Great-Uncle Gobo. And my dad was an explorer, too." Finishing the apple, core and all, he tossed the seeds into the grass behind him then started on the orange. "But when I was little, which," he snorted softly, "wasn't that long ago either, I wanted to be a juggler. Uncle Matt decided I'd be an explorer for me, but it took some time for me to discover that really was what was right for me."

A lot ran through Louie's head as he listened to Gobo - like how did Fraggle age even work, anyway, for one thing - but what really stood out to him wasn't even really about his own struggle. It was something that made him upset on Gobo's behalf.

"Didn't that make you mad?"

"Sure it made me mad! Once I remembered that little bit from my childhood, I was deadset on becoming a juggler after all. But something else interfered."

He considered a moment. "'Fore I tell you that story though, I should probably go back to the start of that day."

Louie quirked his head slightly. "Yeah? What happened that day?"

"I let a monster out, that's what."

Finding a good spot in the garden, he hopped up onto a bench and continued with the orange while he talked.

"The first few weeks I went to gather the postcard were scary. I'd never seen Outer Space, didn't even think it was real, and there was the strange Silly Creature and the Hairy Monster- Doc and Sprocket, of course. And consider how much bigger a dog is than a Fraggle, eh? It was frightening! Well, after one particularly rough day where despite multiple tries I'd failed to get the card, I was feelin' pretty low, and wondering if doing that kinda thing- facing fear and dangerous situations, exploring -was right for me. Well, Wembley and Boober showed up, wanting to go out to a cavern for some of Boober's laundry supplies. I didn't wanna go, but I gave them directions. The wrong directions. I'd accidentally sent them toward the Outer Maze, where the Invisible Gargoyle lurked. Once I'd realized that I set off to find them, completely unaware that they knew they'd gotten turned around and had made it safely away from there on their own.

"Well, you know me. I searched up and down the Outer Maze, not caring how torn up I was getting wandering through the rough terrain, only caring about finding Wembley and Boober. While I was doing that, unknown t'me I'd attracted the Gargoyle's attention, and it followed me out and back to Fraggle Rock, where I'd returned when I didn't find them. I limped back in the room to find that they were safe and sound, and that I didn't have to go out there at all! That made me feel even worse, and I'm not proud to admit it but I got into a pretty sour mood that the others tried, and failed, to pull me out of.

"Then, the Gargoyle started attacking other Fraggles. I realized I must've set it loose on accident, and though the others were afraid, I knew that I would have to set things right. I got the thing to follow me to the Outer Maze and trapped it back right where it belonged. And when I got back to Fraggle Rock, I got back to cheers and calls of being a hero. At first, I couldn't understand them. Sure I'd fixed it, but I had set it loose in the first place! But then it hit me. I did what I wanted to do. I thought nothing of going out there and facing danger, walking through the unknown and dealing with tough situations. Just like being an explorer.

"After that, getting the postcards was a piece of cake."

Louie rolled his eyes with a soft snort. "Of course you let out a monster." His smirk faded away, though, as he went on. "I guess I get that. I definitely get how it made going to get the postcards less scary, anyway..."

He didn't like to think it had to take something that big - that scary - to figure out what one wanted to do and who one wanted to be, though.

That first remark got a short look, before he waved a hand some.

"It definitely helped with the postcards, though I've kept a healthy bit of fear since all the same. I just never really tell people about it."

Louie blinked. Sure, he never thought Gobo was completely fearless... When one was scared as often as Louie was, one came to realize that you couldn't be fearless, really. It was more the ease with which Gobo admitted it, just then, that surprised him.

"But you just told me about it."

"Yeah, but you're like my brother, if I had one. It's different."

"Oh," Louie said softly. He gave Gobo a light and playful punch on the arm. "Hey... Thanks, man."

And maybe if Gobo could be open about those things... Yeah. Maybe it would be okay for Louie to open up to him now, too.

"So, I was talking to Unca Scrooge before - about how I don't usually feel like I know who I am, or who I want to be, anyway."

He smiled at the gesture, and gave Louie a nudge with the back of his wrist in return. While he talked, Gobo finished the orange, then glanced at the peels, which he'd held onto. A bit of a shrug, then he started eating those, too.

"I don't know about Silly Creatures, but we Fraggles don't usually figure it out until we're older. Or at least, what job we wanna take. 'Til then, we're just encouraged to try anything and everything."

Just when he'd thought Fraggles couldn't get weirder. Louie shook his head, sighing a bit. "Well, Unca Scrooge said it would probably take me a while, too. But didn't it bother you? Not knowing? ...It bothers me."

"I don't know if I'm the best comparison, considering it got picked for me. I know it bothered Wembley, though. You won't be surprised to learn it took him ages to find out who, or what, he wanted to be."

"Yeah, that's not exactly shocking," Louie agreed, setting to work peeling the orange he'd brought out. "It's kinda weird, though, because Dewey knows he's an adventurer already. Huey knows he's a nerd. I... I can't imagine either of them not being who they are."

He watched Louie, his reply simple.

"I bet you they're not as confident with those as you think they are."

"Maybe, but..."

But man, the grass really did always seem greener on the other side. Louie shrugged as he trailed off, before passing the peels from his own orange over to Gobo.

Gobo nodded his thanks as he took them, adding them to the rest of his that was left, as he ate on them.

"Did you know Red tried to be Mokey once?"

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