starlightcafe | But I ask you please, don't fence me in.

Entry tags:

But I ask you please, don't fence me in.

"I'm doing this for money, I'm doing this for money," Louie reminded himself under his breath, as Dunlin gummed on his hand. Sure, he may not be as driven by greed as he once was, but it was still nice to be on the payroll of - one of - the richest ducks in the world. Nothing wrong with having some extra spending money, and all that. Still, he was getting impatient waiting for Gobo to wake up. Impatient, and pretty grossed-out.

"How does one tiny little guy have so much drool in him?" he muttered, then sighed with relief when Dunlin let go of his hand. Louie got up and grabbed for a sheet off the roll of paper towels over the sink - he hadn't torn it off, though, when he heard a familiar voice crying out wordlessly. He gasped and ran to check on his friend, without letting go of the paper towel - sheets trailed after him until one finally ripped away from the roll. He arrived in the sitting room to see Gobo tumble off the couch and onto the floor, limbs a tangled mess in the blanket he'd been sleeping beneath. When the Fraggle came to his senses, the first thing he may see was Louie leaning over him, looking concerned.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It had been a bleary day- had been a bleary couple of days, honestly. He just couldn't get to sleep nor stay asleep, not with- so much on his mind. As of late he'd taken to falling asleep in random places at random times, his body so worn out and demanding some quality downtime that he was liable to drop wherever or whenever. Today that'd been up in Scrooge's vegetable patch, right on top of a large pumpkin. That was where the old duck had found him and suggested, without much room to argue, that he try to get comfortable somewhere inside. Gobo hadn't been confident about that, but he was game to try anyway.

So he'd gotten settled on a couch in one of the spare rooms, given a blanket and a small pillow, and left alone. He lay there just staring off for a while, until finally his eyelids got heavy and he snuggled into the covers.

The next thing he knew he was letting out a loud cry, at the same time trying to kick free of the blankets, which had wrapped themselves around him fairly tightly in some tossing and turning. The activity unbalanced him and sent him crashing down to the floor, where he lay there stunned a few seconds. Then he registered the shadow standing over him and reacted oddly, to Louie's POV anyway, by suddenly jerking back with a startled sound, fear in his eyes. He scrambled back, tripped over a coil of the blankets and went down again, where he lay with a soft, understated groan.

"Gobo, nonono, it's me!" Louie said quickly but softly. He was no stranger to nightmares, after all - nor to the disorientation that came with waking up from one. And it sure seemed like something as simple as that from his perspective, at least right now. "It's Louie. Man, that must've been a really bad dream you were having."

"Louie...?" He blinked a couple times and gently shook his head, and gradually his eyes came into focus as reality settled in around him. Sitting up, he pulled at the blankets, then a little quicker and less controlled of a way when they just wouldn't come OFF-

Louie frowned and leaned down to help untangled the blanket from Gobo's legs. "Hey, it's okay - you're awake now." His considerable calmer handling of the blankets got them off Gobo soon, and once they were tossed aside, Louie placed a hand on top of Gobo's head. "It wasn't real."

Once he touches him Louie will immediately notice he's trembling, and at that touch he almost jerked away- almost, but stopped himself before getting far. Gobo let out a deep, shaky breath, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Not real... Right..."

"Gobo..." Louie said quietly, and when Gobo lowered his hands, he could see how exhausted the Fraggle looked, his tired eyes underlined by bags. Between that and all the shaking... H'oo boy, he didn't like this.

He was used to people in his life overworking themselves - Uncle Donald, both Scrooges - especially Uncle Scrooge - Huey, even Webby and Dewey would get so wrapped up in projects or adventures they'd forget to sleep. And not too long ago, Lena had had those sleepless nights that led to the nightmarish sleepover party. He sighed, though, because familiar with this though he was, he was never really sure how to handle it.

"Buddy, you need to get more sleep."

"You can tell, huh?" A weak, humorless laugh, then he sighed and stood up, wavering a little before he found his balance. "I know. I just... haven't been able to, lately. I keep having nightmares."

"Huh... Well, I know what that can be like. You want to, uh-" Louie paused, glancing away uncomfortably. "...You want to talk about them?" he asked after a moment, his gaze still cast off to the side - both because of his reluctance, and because he felt bad for feeling that way about something that might help his friend.

"No."

Leaving it at that, he picked up the blanket and started folding it up, admittedly just for something for his hands to do.

"Oh, okay."

He could understand that - but it sure seemed like Gobo needed some help. Louie walked over to where the room entered into the hallway. Fortunately, someone who was always really good at getting him, at least, to open up - well, he was just a shout away.

"UNCA SCROOGE!"

"Lou-iiieee!" He huffed, looking up with a glare that thanks to his exhaustion, had no fire behind it whatsoever. "I don't need Scrooge!"

Louie rolled his eyes, then met Gobo's glare with one of his own. His frustration was born out of misguided concern, of course, but it probably wasn't helping. "Well, you won't talk to me! And Unca Scrooge is good at this kind of thing!" he offered in way of an explanation. "Look, man, I'm worried about you, okay? So just- Let me do this for you."

He huffed, tail flicking behind him.

"Louie, I thank you for your concern, but I can handle it! It's just a nightmare, it'll go away!"

Facing Louie and thus the doorway, he saw Scrooge a moment before he cleared his throat, and Gobo glanced away with a guilty flush.

Lowering his fist from his beak at said "Ahem," he glanced between the two of them.

"Problem, lad?"

Looking from Gobo to Scrooge back and forth a few times, Louie was unsure how to proceed. He knew - from experience - that it would work best if Gobo opened up on his own, and more than that, he didn't want to totally rat his friend out and have him be mad. Maybe if he put a spin on things... He hated to lie to Scrooge, but he'd understand. Right?

"Gobo was just telling me... That he's been staying up all night with Mokey. She's having a lot of nightmares, I guess," Louie mumbled. "Do you know anything he can do to help her?"

"Ahh, I see." He walked further into the room, waving for them both to get up onto the couch. Pausing, he picked up the blanket and unfurled it from Gobo's attempted fold, doing it proper himself.

"What's she been having nightmares about?"

Scrooge didn't believe that. He couldn't have believed that. It was so obvious what the problem actually was.

...But that didn't mean he couldn't keep running with the lie.

"Well, er. Lots of darkness, and.. an earthquake. And a cage. -From the time she was captured by the Cave Fraggles!" he added quickly. "I wasn't there that day, but she'd told me it was pretty frightening at first, they'd... blindfolded her and everything."

Seeing something in Scrooge's expression change, Gobo, knowing that he definitely knew, looked down and sighed, hands down between his knees.

"She's been losing a lot of sleep, eh? And nothing we've thought of has worked..."

That was... Very specific. A cage? Louie was fairly sure these weren't just random, vague nightmares, like he'd suspected initially. He'd heard about the poaching incident - the information from Gobo and Scrooge had been a bit sparse; it had actually been Bridge and Daniel's girlfriend who'd given him the most knowledge of what had happened.

Louie didn't look in Gobo's direction at all, but he did creep his hand across the seat of the sofa to lay over the Fraggle's hand, and he gave it a little squeeze. "Unca Scrooge, when something really scary like that happens... How do you move on?" he asked hoarsely.

"Well, there's a few different ways." He rested a hand on Gobo's shoulder, leaning a bit to look more directly at him.

"Usually, time will be the biggest factor, but there's some things one can do in the meantime tae help. I've found occupyin' your mind to be useful; I tend to go hard into my work, though I know that doesn't fit everybody. And, though this is something that took me a while to learn meself, talking can help. You'd be amazed how much you can get through if you just get out o' your own heid every once in a while."

Louie blinked in mild surprise, because the emphasis Scrooge had put on how talking could be difficult meant he knew they weren't talking about Mokey. Mokey was a pretty epic book... It wasn't a lie he'd put a lot of effort into, granted, but was he losing his touch?

It didn't matter right now, though. "Uncle Scrooge does the same thing with focusing on work. Not just when he's upset, but when anything is wrong - when he had a cold, he almost worked himself crazy. I think what - Mokey really needs is... Rest, really." He shrugged. "But she's not going to get any until she talks to someone."

Gobo looked between them both, then down towards the floor. His expression muddied, then he shook his head sharply and hopped off the couch, walking away a few steps.

"Maybe- maybe it's just something she doesn't want to talk about! Fraggles shouldn't take anything too seriously anyway, it- it'll go away."

"Fraggles not taking things too seriously? Gobo, have you met you?" Louie blurted out, before wincing and glancing over at Scrooge for a moment, sheepish. Okay, he was definitely losing his touch. But for now, he got up from the couch and took a step towards Gobo.

"I know what it's like, man. I know that talking about this kind of stuff is one of the most annoying, gross things there i to do. But I also know it really does help! Please. I want to help, I-I want you to be okay..."

Edited 2019-11-18 17:40 (UTC)

"I am okay!" He whirled around on Louie, giving him a sharp glare. "It's in the past, and everything worked out fine! I've even met new people since then, who didn't want to steal me and sell me!"

Yeah, he knew there was no point in pretending anymore. Might as well do away with the lie entirely.

"It's just that all of a sudden, the nightmares are back, and they won't go away. But they will, so I just have to deal until then."

Louie recoiled briefly at the snapping, then stilled for a good long while. This was a perfect example of how being emotionally available absolutely sucked. It was just getting set up for pain, and it would be so easy to just shrug it off, pretend he didn't care. A few months ago, he would have.

A few months ago, he hadn't known Gobo.

Now, things were different. Both because of and independently of his new friend, he'd grown a lot. So he wasn't going to give in, not this time. He was going to dig his heels in and put up a fight. "It's not really in the past if it's still bothering you! You're still upset, and you don't have to deal with that alone!"

Edited 2019-11-18 17:57 (UTC)

Gobo huffed sharply, glaring him down. He glanced past a moment, to Scrooge watching them both, then turned back to the shorter duck.

"The only reason I'm upset is that it's stopping me from getting sleep. It's done and behind me, so why should it still bother me??"

Something strange in that last bit though, it almost sounded like he was asking...

"Because it was messed up!" Louie exclaimed, spreading his arms. "Gobo, what happened to you was really scary! And now you know there are really people out there who are okay with doing things like that! That's not going to just... Go away. You need to, I don't know, talk it out, and really figure out how you feel. It sucks! I know it does, but... What else can you do?"

"How I really feel?" He opened and closed his hands a few times, anxiously. "How I feel is- ...scared. Really scared, alright?? Scared like I haven't been since- since the first time I went out to get the postcard. Because I don't know who's safe and who's not, and- and now everyone else is here too! And they're counting on me to keep them safe, and I can't! What if it happens again?? We might not have a lucky break next time!!"

He turned away from them and sank down to the floor, head dropping between his shoulders.

"I can't...! Keep them safe... Sometimes I wish I'd never left Fraggle Rock in the first place, then that never would've happened..."

Louie let out his breath - he hadn't even realized he was holding it in - and walked over to put a hand between Gobo's shoulders, lightly.

"Sometimes I feel that way about Uncle Donald's houseboat. My family is always going on all these adventures now, and- Gobo, I'm scared pretty much all the time. And there's no easy answer. You can't know things will be okay... But it's not your job to make sure of that, anyway. All you can do is take the good with the bad, and... And think of all the things you wouldn't have if you hadn't left Fraggle Rock."

He stayed where he was watching them silently, but there was something in what Gobo had said, something Louie wouldn't get that he did. So, before the Fraggle could reply, he walked over to them.

"The thing is, laddie, it is his job. That's part of being a leader, is makin' sure that those you lead are safe." He gently placed a hand on Louie's shoulder as he passed, then stopped in front of Gobo, leaning down a little to look at him. "But it's not your job alone, Gobo." When he looked away, Scrooge reached out and took his chin firmly and, though not unkindly, forced him to look back up. "No, listen to me.

"I know better than anyone else in the world how much being the boss, being a leader, can be as difficult as it is fulfilling. You've got so many things you're trying to juggle, and when a new worry you never had before suddenly comes intae the picture, it can throw everything out of balance and it'll all come crashing down. You may wish it could go back to when it was simpler, but how happy would you truly be? Why, even if you were back at the Rock, something would come along and make you wish for an even earlier time! That's a never-ending cycle, and you cannae let yourself get bogged down in it.

"The real thing to do is, to not isolate yourself. I know that, in tryin' to be a good leader, it can seem like it's all on you to do what's good for everybody. But they're their own people too, laddie, they can make their own decisions, and they can help you and advise you when you're having problems. That's what a real leader does. He's not an island. He listens to the people he's protecting, so that everybody can work together and make it better than it ever was before."

He'd glanced at Louie before and then Scrooge now, particularly when he tilted his head up so that was all he could look at. He listened, though. He listened to them both.

Think of all the things you wouldn't have if you hadn't left.

A good leader listens to those he's protecting.

He trembled again, though for a different reason as he suddenly dove forward and wrapped his arms around Scrooge, hugging him tightly, gratefully.

"Thank you, Scrooge... For everything."

There was something in that last word that he 'heard' more in the hug than in the actual speech. A lot had certainly happened since he'd met Gobo, hadn't it? And he'd given him, and his friends, a steady supply of food, safety, somewhere- and someone -they could count on, and though Louie hadn't been there to see the poaching incident first hand, he had. So he knew the unsaid, and there was a familiar smile on his face that Louie might catch as he hugged the young Fraggle in return.

"Uncle Scrooge, Gobo." Feeling him lean back, he did the same and smiled at that surprised face, placing a hand atop his head to gently scruffle his hair. "If you'd like. And that goes for the rest of your friends, too."

The second hug just then said all it needed to, to.

Edited 2019-11-18 20:04 (UTC)

Louie sat down on the floor as quietly he could - in part not to interrupt the moment, and in part not to draw attention to himself, or the fact that he was tearing up. It was just- Well. These were his two best friends, really, and seeing them help each other - bring out the best in each other - like this was nice. With a soft sniff, he smiled, happy to just watch them.

How lucky was he, to have friends like this?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But I ask you please, don't fence me in.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2

no subject

1/2

2/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/3

2/3

3/3

no subject