starlightcafe | Living was a game. But now I seem to walk in dreams...

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Living was a game. But now I seem to walk in dreams...

It shouldn't require any thought. This was just hanging out with her friend. Alone. Sure, the last time they'd done that, everything had gone wrong, and Gobo had nearly died. But it was okay, now. He was even due to try speaking again soon. And on the mend or not, Gobo was still Gobo. So why did Lexi feel uneasy and a little sick?

She arrived directly inside the Other Duckburg's manor, for once, and was relieved for having that much less to do or think about. She was directed to conservatory, not at all surprised to hear that's where Gobo was.

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"Gobo, it's me. And you know I get being scared more than anyone. You don't have to talk, or leave the garden, or anything until you're ready- If you're ready! If you're not, that's okay, too, but... Just let me know what's going on. Please."

"I AM ready!!" A vehement sign, then a little more pulled back with a sigh. "I am ready... Just something keeps stopping me. I know everything is okay, that I can do whatever I did before and not hurt myself.

Signs a bit slower now, his gaze fairly firmly on the ground. "I just haven't yet..."

Lexi sighed and knelt down entirely, wrapping her arms around Gobo's back. "Look, I'm sure it's hard. I may not know what you're going through, right now - not firsthand - but like I said, I know about fear. And it'd be weird if you weren't afraid after all of that."

He simply leaned against her for a bit before he lifted his arms to hug her in return. One hand patted her back in silent gratitude, though it- none of this, really -didn't feel like he had his heart in it.

She didn't know how to navigate this, and nothing scared her more than situations with unknown factors. Angles she couldn't see. There had to be something she could do, right? But- What?

She gave Gobo a single little nod as she stood back up. "I- Well-" But she didn't know where to go from there, so she just turned around and headed further into the garden.

He stood where he was, watching her walk off. Then he turned his head away, following her almost automatically.

Once inside the garden, he found a spot to sit for a while. This wound up being something a bit high; one of the ivy walls had lattice work with large holes in it, enough for a Fraggle to scale up six feet or so, thread his legs through one and arms through another. There he sat, folding his arms and resting his chin atop them. At least a third space beneath him provided a little personal amusement, ticking his tail back and forth through it.

Yes, this spot would do nicely. He could see Lexi, his hands were free enough to sign whenever he needed to, and he was high up. It didn't take much for him to figure why he wanted to be high, but that wasn't exactly something he felt like elaborating on even if he were to be asked.

She wanted to tell him to be careful. She also wanted to pull on his tail, just to be a pain in the butt. But she did neither... Neither felt quite right, after what had just happened. Telling him to be careful brought too much pain to mind, while bugging him was too normal; too much what they'd normally do.

So Lexi just sat, her back to the wall of ivy, and stared ahead.

Gobo sat like that for a good little while, looking out across the garden himself. Then... While Lexi might have been hesitant to get back to their shenanigans immediately, Gobo didn't have quite the same pause. That bench she was on was certainly close enough...

So, a little while into her sitting there, she's going to get boofed in the head a few times by his tail, innocently swinging back and forth. Oops didn't see you there, Lex.

Oh, so it was like that, then? Lexi sat through the first handful of hits to the head, but after a point... No, on the mend or not, this meant war. She caught Gobo's tail on the next hit, tugging it towards her.

That caught him completely by surprise and, precariously positioned already, he lost his balance and fell backwards. This created a quick flurry to grab the edge of his perch, feet snapping to brace against the one below, and with it a quite startled, quite loud, quite vulgar curse.

"Gobo-!" Oh man, that had been a horrible idea, that had been so stupid, how could she have thought- Oh. Oh, he was okay, judging by the healthy volume of the swearing she heard.

Wait a second.

"Gobo!" Lexi whirled around, beaming - laughing from relief, and genuine amusement on top of it. "Gobo!"

Gobo clung onto the ivy wall, tail trying to tug from Lexi's hold every now and then. Hearing her exclamation he worked his chin up to where he was clinging so he could look at her. And what she'll see is a deeply flushed, extremely sheepish grin.

"...I.. didn't mean to say that."

His tail pulled a bit again. Let go...? Please?

She just couldn't stop laughing, it was too funny - too wonderful - though she had enough peace of mind to let go of his tail after a second, finally.

When she finally managed to speak, her eyes were brimming with tears, and it was impossible even for her to know if it was from laughing that hard or from the joy.

"It's good to hear your voice," she said, managing to speak clearly for nearly the whole sentence before dissolving into giggles again. "No more hanging around Unca Scrooge for you. Or Huey, or-!" There was, honestly, no shortage of people Gobo could have picked up on that habit from, but giggles ate the rest of the list.

Once his tail was free he hopped back up, crouching in a space in the wall. That had certainly not been his intent, or his idea of a 'first word' to say. Though... Lexi's giggles were infectious, and it wasn't long at all before Gobo himself was laughing. An honest, hearty laugh- with his voice.

"Welcome back," Lexi breathed out when the giggles finally subsided. She was still grinning, though, looking smug. That laugh, that voice... Music to her ears.

"Yeah, I..." How easy it would be to just drop back to his signs.

But how GOOD it felt to be using his voice!

"...guess I just needed a little push." A soft snicker. "Or a pull."

Lexi nodded, lightly plucking at her hoodie. "Happy to be of service," she joked lightly. She'd been looking behind her all this time, but now she fully turned around, sitting cross-legged with her front against the back of the bench. "You did it, man."

"Yeah, I guess." He settled in the wall again, much as he had been before, resting his head atop his arms. His voice was mostly normal, though it had that same husky quality to it one might in the early morning after waking up. Would definitely have to have the kinks worked out.

Still... Voice was just one thing, wasn't it? If Lexi asked if he wanted to leave the yard, honestly.. he wouldn't know his answer.

"You guess? Sure, Gobo, it was an accident, but you could've gone right back to signing. You didn't." She lay one hand over both of his, poking through the holes. "Give yourself some credit - you're usually really good at that."

"No I'm not." But there was still a pleased smile there, though it did fade after a moment. He'd have to bring up his concerns, wouldn't he? Particularly with what he thought of as he went to speak.

"I think I was using my voice as an excuse, though."

Lexi glanced down at her lap, then looked back up at Gobo and nodded. Okay, so they were doing this, if Gobo was ready - and it seemed like he was, now. "Yeah. I know."

Now that his voice had been "unblocked," it felt like everything else was coming as a rush, able to be properly expressed now, without having to hide behind a restricted number of signs.

"You were right earlier. I have been scared. I've been... kinda feeling like I did when I was a kid, actually. Nervous, wanting to stay where it was familiar instead of go out to the unknown, that sorta stuff. Not wanting to use my voice, I guess, what just the easiest way of avoiding everything."

Lexi nodded calmly when Gobo finished speaking. "I get that. So... What do you want to do about it?"

A simple question, but it said a lot: That this was his call, his choice, and no matter what choice he made, she'd be there for him.

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Living was a game. But now I seem to walk in dreams...

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