It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor - could you be mine?

[noimpulsecontrol]

Della didn't much mind the cold, so long as she kept moving, which was (part of) why the visit to the other Duckburg's Manor had become a walk out in the slush. According to Scrooge, the snow had been fierce just a week ago, but now conditions were safe enough to be out in, though they were sticking to the Manor grounds just in case things got bad again. Della wasn't nuts about that limitation, but at least she was in good company.

She smiled over at Scrooge. "You do this regularly with my uncle, right?" she asked.

Comments

[gobetween]

"Well... yeah, I was, but... But it was Cantus! It's not like I could've said no to him. And he was right, too! I was able to put it together and unite everybody in and around Fraggle Rock, even if just for that one event."

[noimpulsecontrol]

"And I'm glad you did! But Gobo, you absolutely could've said no to him. You never just - have to do something just because someone else wants you to. I mean..." She sighed, and shook her head. "Gobo, I'm not trying to bring you down, I just want you to be okay."

[gobetween]

A distressed noise rose from his throat before he said anything, though the heart of that sound remained in his eyes. "I know that! All Fraggles know that, that's why we don't have a ruler of any kind! Sure, someone like World's Oldest or Cantus may designate one of us for a task, but that's it!"

He stepped back, tail tucking in closer behind him. "And I am okay! I may get confused sometimes like today, thinking about why I left the Rock, but-!" His expression hardened and he jerked a thumb at himself. "I know what I did was right! Right for me, all of it, no matter what anyone else has said along the line!"

[noimpulsecontrol]

"What? Gobo, I- I'm not saying something's wrong with you, or anything! I'm just making sure you can see that you don't need to have all this pressure on you - so you can stop always worrying about these things! Don't you get it?"

[moneymatters]

He noticed Gobo bristle and draw in a breath, working up to some sort of reply. Scrooge looked quickly between them both, then his expression narrowed and he stepped around until he was beside them. Snapping out his hands, he clapped one hand around Della's beak and the other around Gobo's snout.

"Enough!" A stern look to them both. "Arguing is not going to solve anything! Gobo, Della is looking out for you. Della..." He glared at her, then his look relented and he sighed. "Stop telling Gobo what to do. People have been doing that his entire life."

He'd glanced back toward the Fraggle as he said that, and he watched that statement go across Gobo's eyes- from confusion to widened surprise and finally looking away. Yep, just as he thought. Stepping back, he released them both.

"Gobo's out here on his own, and he's questioning if it was even right for him. It's probably one of the first major decisions that's been his own. True, he's not out here alone anymore, and he may've been seeking some of that in the first place. I know I would have, after years of being in a position like that from such a young age! But everything out here, every decision, has been truly his, and not you, not me, not anyone needs to take that away from him."

[noimpulsecontrol]

Della's look of indigence as she was very much made to shut up faded when Scrooge hit that point - the point about everyone telling Gobo what to do; making up his mind for him. She saw that look in Gobo's eyes, and she sighed when her beak was released. First, a quick "thanks" to Scrooge, because she'd needed to be interrupted, but then her attention was on Gobo.

"Gobo, I'm sorry," she breathed. "I was so worked up about other people doing that to you that I didn't realize I was doing it... You don't need that."

[gobetween]

Gobo was quick to shake his head, looking up at her. "No it- it's okay! I didn't realize that that was my problem too. Uncle Scrooge," he looked up toward him, gesturing at him at the same time and then turned back to Della, "is absolutely right. Little decisions have been made by me the whole time, but the big ones have almost all been made for me, and..."

He paused, drawing in a short breath and then he looked off again, in the direction Fraggle Home lay in though it was far from visible here. "I need to talk to Wembley."

[noimpulsecontrol]

Maybe someday, she thought briefly, she'd learn... Learn something, anything, that would help her not put her foot in her beak all the time. But for now, she was at least lucky that Gobo was forgiving.

"Still... I shouldn't have done that." She brushed a hand through his hair. "Wembley? Is everything okay there?"

[gobetween]

"Yeah- No- I don't know." He seemed agitated now, looking up at them both like he needed them to understand, but couldn't put the words together.

"Wembley, he- he's not great at decisions, y'know? And I just realized that what everybody was always doing to me, I was doing to him! I've been dragging him along this whole time, making decisions for him and- and it almost got us killed a few weeks ago! I can't believe- Why didn't he ever say anything??"

[noimpulsecontrol]

Della nodded along, getting up from her kneeling position. "I haven't been around you guys together very much, but if you think you need to- Wait. Almost got you what now?"

[moneymatters]

"There was a bad blizzard around then, and Gobo and Wembley got trapped outside in it." When Gobo started to argue, he held a hand up. "Gobo, it might've been your idea to go outside, you hardly would've known there was a storm coming. And Wembley, indecisive though he is, still has all the agency he needs to to know if he wants to go with you or not. And besides that, it was him that saved you both when things were lookin' bad."

He knelt down, putting a hand on Gobo's shoulder. "That day is not all on you, and I'm sorry tae hear you're still feelin' guilty about that whole thing, even given what happened afterwards. I think you ought to talk to Wembley about that, no matter what else you've got on your mind."

[noimpulsecontrol]

Della smiled bittersweetly and crouched down at Gobo's other side, and tapped the tip of his nose. "I'm glad you two are okay, no matter how any of it happened," she said softly. "You go talk to Wembley if you need to. Sounds like there's a few things Uncle Scrooge needs to catch me up on, anyway."

1/2

[gobetween]

He nodded, and looked between them both before giving them both hugs in turn, swinging his arms around their neck and shoulders.

"Thanks you guys, thanks for everything. I'll talk to you soon!" Bouncing a little on his feet he took off running, straight toward Fraggle Home.

2/2

[moneymatters]

He stood up as he watched Gobo run off, waving. He was silent for a few moments, resting his hands behind his back, then he half-turned his head.

"This is about the plural Scrooges thing, isn't it?"

1/2

[noimpulsecontrol]

"This is about a lot of things," Della snorted, standing up straight. "But yeah," she said, as she picked back up on the walk, "that's one of them."

2/2

[forachange]

Meanwhile, Wembley was peacefully alone at Fraggle Home. He'd had several ideas for what to do with having the place to himself for a bit, but - unable to settle on one - he hadn't done much of anything until he'd gotten hungry.

Now, though, he was munching on a leaf of lettuce with a smile, settled in on the couch - he loved Boober and all, but while he was out Wembley could eat wherever he pleased, which was nice.

[gobetween]

That had been quite a rush to get to the door, and he paused at it with both hands, both because he didn't want to BLOW INSIDE and likely scare Wembley half to death, but also because he had to brace his hands on it and take a minute or two to get his breath back. Man but the thin winter air didn't make that easy...

Once he was recovered he opened the door and stepped in, looking around. "Wembley? Ah-!" Spotting him on the couch he walked over. "Hey, Wembley. Uh, listen- can we talk about something?"

[forachange]

While Wembley's initial response was entirely unintelligible, once he'd swallowed he gave it another go. "Sure thing, Gobo!" he chirped brightly, patting the spot beside him on the couch. "What's going on?"

[gobetween]

"Well... I've had a lot on my mind today, but I've gotta ask an important question." He sat beside him, though he fiddled a bit with the fur on his knee before finally looking up.

"If- I tried to drag you to do something you didn't wanna do, you'd say no, wouldn't you? Even if it was with me?"

[forachange]

Wembley was quiet for a moment, giving the question some thought. Then, he smiled. "Yeah, I think so - well, no, I know so. Now, I mean," he chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair. "But it took me a while to figure out I could do that with - well, with anyone."

[gobetween]

Gobo himself was quiet for a long while, watching Wembley with a mixture of emotions on his face. Then he turned and looked down at his knees, his fists braced against them and arms straight.

"....Wembley, I'm-.. I'm sorry. I took you, take you, for granted so much and- and that's not fair of me."

[forachange]

Wembley looked off ahead with a shrug. "Yeah, you used to. But I wouldn't say you still do." He smiled weakly. "B-Besides, back when you did, I was such a little wimp. I don't blame you."

He looked back to Gobo with a somewhat forced little laugh. "And now things are good! I've changed a lot, so it's not a problem!"

[gobetween]

"That doesn't make what I did back then okay though! It's just what everybody else at the Rock used to do to me, make my decisions for me. There's nothing fair about that, and there's nothing fair about me pulling you after me so much then, or- or even now!"

[forachange]

Wembley shook his head, scooching a bit closer to Gobo. "But you don't pull me after you anymore. I really like going on adventures and doing things with you - it's fun!"

He reached over to squeeze Gobo's forearm. "All of the things that... That weren't so okay are all done now."

[gobetween]

He looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and rested a hand atop his, leaning closer to him at the same time.

"...Y'know.. I still feel bad about the blizzard. Uncle Scrooge talked to me a bit about that, and he said I couldn't have known that that big a storm would've shown up. But we were still walking in territory we shouldn't have been in conditions like that even before the blizzard showed up. I got in over my head again, and I almost dragged you down with me."

Closing his eyes, he nuzzled up under Wembley's chin. "Some good came of it..." A fleeting smile, and it was gone. "...but I still messed up. Even now I keep thinking of myself first, like the drinking incident, and I should- I do -know better. I'm sorry."