victory_road | [video + closed action]

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So people sell Pokemon eggs, right? That's what you do...?

[Boober is holding one egg carefully against his chest, and carefully standing as still as he can manage. His mouth is pulled into a very nervous frown.]

Traveler and Tales have four more, too. It'd be nice if people wanted them, because five is a lot to take care of... More than I can do. So if anyone wants to buy one for 300P, just tell me. Traveler is my Hisuian Growlithe, and Tales is a Patra-- Well, no wait, he's a Watchog now.

...About that. Evolution is kind of weird, isn't it? It's like deciding to have a birthday, but then they change how they look too, and that just happens all at once.

(ooc: The post for claiming eggs is here! Please make sure to hit that up if you want one, regardless of if you tag here.)

Mando: Outside of Mt Moon
[Boober can't avoid the training he and Mando agreed on forever, no matter how many seconds thoughts he's having. He should know how to escape from dangerous situations, after all, and it doesn't seem like Mando expects him to actually fight. Still, he's hesitant as he goes over to Mando.]

Um... I think I'm ready to learn that stuff you told me about.

Riz: Inside Mt Moon
[The amount of preparation Riz is doing for the upcoming tournament is admirable. He's even got Boober in on it, by making flashcards he can use to test Riz's knowledge-- Which Boober much rather do than help with actual practice battles. It's helping him learn more, too, which is important. He can't avoid every challenge, especially with Archie so eager to fight. So usually, Boober pays close attention during these quiz sessions, but as they walk through the caves of Mt Moon, he's very distracted. It's such a nice, homey place for a little Fraggle.]

Wait a second... Darn. [He sighs as he flips the top flashcard back over to the question side.] I read that one wrong again. It should've been the use for a charti berry, not a cheri berry. Sorry, Riz.

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[Boober's smile grows at that idea. While the homesickness has become easier to deal with over the weeks, he still misses his friends. Talking about them helps with that, even if it's in a bittersweet way. When he's telling a story about the gang back home, it's almost like they're here with him for a little while.]

Yeah, yeah that sounds good!

[He's genuinely excited, which isn't all that common for him-- Especially when laundry or cooking aren't the subject at hand. But here he is, ready to jump right in, although for a moment it's hard to decide where to start... Oh!]

My friend Wembley, he's a li'l guy, but he can be really loud, so his job is to be the siren for our fire fighters. He's good at it. [A little snort and a toss of his head as he goes on to clarify:] Well, he's good at making a lot of noise, anyway. Once he ruined a soup I was making by alerting the rest of the fire department to it.

[A siren? Boy, Fraggles certainly have weird jobs, but then, Riz is certain that Fig would absolutely jump on the chance to be a fire-station siren. Though if she were allowed to do so, the alerts would probably get a whole lot more rock-like.]

Was... was the soup on fire?

That's the thing, it wasn't at all!

[Judging by his volume and emphatic arm gestures, this is something that Boober has not yet put behind him.]

I was almost done preparing a lovely green pea gazpacho! Do you know what that is? That's a cold soup, Riz!!

[Riz cannot help but snicker at the retelling, biting on the inside of his cheek. He doesn't begrudge Boober his annoyance, but also, there is something very funny about the sheer level of affront that Boober managed to pack into the single word 'cold'.]

What did he think he was doing?

[With a very tired sigh, Boober shrugs.]

I have no idea. I mean, I usually don't understand the way my friends think, to be honest, but Wembley's logic is especially strange. [But Boober can't help a bit of a smile.] He always means well, though, and he'd do anything to help the rest of us out.

Yeah, same. Sometimes I check out for five minutes when my friends are talking, and when I check back in, they are arguing about whether Centaurs are technically insects or not.

[Riz just shakes his head. The Bad Kids can truly be on a different level.]

Yeah, that's exactly it... I think. I don't know what a centaur is? But I know what it's like to have friends who are different. Or, well, my friends aren't different. I'm different.

[It's still a bit of a sore subject, because that goes far beyond his tail glowing. But he does his best to shelf that for now.]

Okay, it's your turn now.

[Riz could explain what a centaur is, but it doesn't hugely relate to their friend information swap. Also, he doubts that learning that a centaur is a half human-half horse creature would help Boober understand the insane argument between his friends any better. Riz knows perfectly well what a centaur is and he still hadn't understood how they had even gotten onto that subject.

And as for being different. Well. Riz knows more than his fair share about that.]

Right.

[but which of his friends to start with? They are all great!]

Well, you told me about your loudest friend, right? Then, I should tell you about Fig. She's definitely the loudest of my friends. She's an actual rock star, you know. Like, she and Gorgug went on a tour and everything. People wear her shirts.

[Riz shakes his head. It's still a bit insane to think about the fact that the girl who carried around a dead oyster for a few weeks is now a goddamn superstar.]

She's also crazy. But like. In the best way. She comes up with all the craziest plans, but she is so good at fucking faking it, that it works. You know she once smuggled me into a hospital pretending to be a doctor. We even ended up doing a surgery cause her disguise was that good.

Edited 2022-10-03 23:53 (UTC)

[Boober prefers his music not be very loud, but all the same, music is the lifeblood of Fraggles. Even Boober! So he's pretty keen on hearing about Fig.]

Fig sounds like she'd fit right in at the Rock... The music stuff, but also the craziness. Does she play an instrument, or is she more of a singer?

But, um.... [Okay. While most of that was interesting, part of it was very concerning. He's not sure he wants to know the answer, but he just has to ask.] What happened with the surgery?

[Fraggles do not have the means to perform surgeries, but ever since he got a handle on looking things up with the Pokegear, Boober has been reading medical sites. It's nerve-wracking research, but you never know what you'll need to be prepared for!]

Both. She plays the base and she sings. She can drum too, but that is mostly Gorgug's job.

[But, oh wait. The Surgery. Riz is more than happy to talk about that particular bit of insanity, his hands coming up to jot and shoot through the air, illustrating events as he speaks.]

Okay, so, this happened last year, when we were dealing with Kalvaxus and the missing girls. We had one girl who was trapped in a palimpsest-- a sort of crystal [he adds, assuming Boober won't be too familiar with the phrase] but we needed to get her out. There was this guy-- we fucked up, we shouldn't have trusted him, but we didn't know that yet, but anyway, he was going to help us get her out.

Except then suddenly he lets us know he can't help anymore cause he's in the hospital. So we're like, we gotta figure out what happened, you know?

So, me and Fig sneak in. Fig can bullshit her way through anything, and I'm sneaky. It kinda felt like we were the best ones for the job, you know? But actually, it turned out Fig was a little too good at the bullshitting, cause before we could even get to our guy, some nurse dragged her into the operating room cause they actually thought she was a doctor.

[Riz gives Boober a very serious look.]

Boober, Fig doesn't know anything about Medicine. She once carried around a dead oyster for weeks cause she couldn't tell it was dead. So obviously I had to follow her in.

Anyway, there was this guy suffering from Mummy Rot. Just... this ancient cursed being that was trying to ingulf this dude in sand. And Fig's just... trying to toss some spells at the thing. She's a bard. The only medicine thing she's got is Healing Word. It's not like she could actually do anything.

So I shot the thing with my gun, and that is how we did surgery. I guess those first aid classes I've been taking paid off.

[Deep breath. Info dump done.]

Edited 2022-10-07 02:17 (UTC)

[Boober is intent - and frankly, stressed - as he listens. From what Riz has told him about his gun, he's not sure he'd exactly credit any first aid classes with what happened, but who knows. And at least the patient was okay. He breathes a sigh of relief.]

Wow, uh...

Well, first of all, Mummy Rot sounds absolutely terrifying. It's a good thing you guys were there! Or-- [He rubs his chin.] Well no, I guess it would've been better if you weren't. Then there would've been a real doctor there. But at least you were with Fig.

I kinda wish we hadn't been there either. We didn't get anything good out of Biz and I ended up having to watch Fig make out with some middle-aged doctor, which was concerning both in terms of consent issues and just Fig's taste in men, and also just. Deeply gross.

[Riz is certainly making an appropriately icked out face. It is one thing to witness a little peck on the lips. Still not Riz's favourite thing, but he can deal with that! But a sloppy make-out sesh with some old guy? Nope.]

Edited 2022-10-16 22:32 (UTC)

[Boober shudders and makes a disgruntled sound. Physical affection in general isn't bad, but it's not his favorite-- And kissing isn't really a display of affection he's used to, which makes it particularly weird, even before the questionable morality. Boober's biggest personal protest, though, is the timing.]

I don't understand how everyone does that. They go through something scary and then it's like they're fine, just a minute later! Right back to fun and playing like everything's okay.

[Boober's shudder and grumble is heartening to Riz. Of course, Boober could just be reacting to the idea of kissing middle-aged men, which would be extremely valid, but Riz is going to allow himself to believe that the reaction is to kissing in general. It would be nice to have another friend, other than Adaine, who doesn't care about that sort of thing.]

Right? I love my friends but they are really easy to distract. [Riz shakes his head.] One of us got kidnapped and-- it's not that they don't care, and we couldn't immediately go and save her, but... they were still so eager to mess with the weird elves and I don't get how they could just relax like that.

[Riz can barely understand how people can relax in general, but at that time? He'd been on tenterhooks the whole night.]

[Boober sighs heavily, because that sounds exhausting and also like how his friends would handle such a situation. But hey, he knows exactly who to bring up next, now.]

Really, it's kind of frustrating. I mean it's like... Okay, so Mokey is really good at relaxing-- And she tries to get the rest of us to calm down, too, when anyone gets worked up. It's not always a bad thing? Her meditation stuff can help Wembley when he's wembling, and I don't even want to think about what it'd be like knowing Red if Mokey wasn't also around.

But sometimes calming down isn't the right answer, you know? I don't think so, anyway, but it's almost always Mokey's answer.

[Riz nods, fully understanding what Boober is putting down here.]

Right. They tell me to calm down all the time, but like... if I calm down, who is going to do all the work? It's not going to do itself.

[And if Riz isn't doing the work, then who is going to make sure people aren't being fucked over?

Though, there is one question that remains.]

What's wembling?

Exactly. But they don't seem to see it that way...

Oh! To wemble is to have a very hard time making a decision, it's an old Fraggle word.

Oh.

[Riz thinks for a moment.]

I think my friends have the opposite problem. They are really good at making up their minds. Maybe a little too good. They don't stop to think enough. [He gives Boober a little grin.] Except Kristen and her religion. She's been wembling about that pretty much since I first met her.

Yeah, the rest of my friends are like that, too. In different ways, they all rush into doing things. [He shrugs a little.] Sometimes it works out, though.

You've talked about Kristen and that before, and I can't say I blame her for wembling on it. I still don't really understand the ideas, but it seems like a big thing.

Yeah, she-- her whole life has been about this stuff. She grew up in a crazy Helioc cult. Everything she did was always Helio this and Helio that. And, well, she is a cleric. So believing in this stuff is where she gets her powers from.

I get why it is such a big thing for her, I just wish-- [Riz shrugs, bringing up his hands in a helpless manner.] I wish I could help her, but this really isn't my area of expertise.

[Riz is good at solving mysteries, but the mysteries he solves are the sort with a singular answer -- who did what where and with which weapon. He's no good with the sort of moral quandaries Kristen struggles with, not when his own moral convictions have always been fairly steady and influenced not by unseen gods and religion but rather from the very big footsteps left for him by his parents.]

[Boober exhales slowly and heavily, nodding. That is a familiar sentiment.]

I know what you mean... It's not a very nice feeling, feeling like you can't help friends with their troubles. [He shrugs a little.] You can do a lot of stuff that's normally useful, though, like sneaking around and figuring things out... For what it's worth.

That's true...

[Though, of course, that introduces a different worry -- the fear that he's only being kept around because he is useful. Not that his friends have ever given him that impression, but it is hard not to worry about that some days. It, after all, is how it always used to be. Not that he really had friends before, but when people would tolerate him for a time, it was always because they needed something from him, whether it was his help on a project or his notes. It had been made painfully clear that he was a lot to deal with and a pain in the ass. And so far the Bad Kids had put up with him, despite his stick-in-the-mud attitude or how he couldn't understand why anyone would want to spend time kissing, but what if that patience ever wore out? What if what he could contribute couldn't eclipse his annoyances?

Not that he was going to tell Boober any of that. Boober, after all, was also a friend who could grow tired of him.

So, instead. A change of topic!]

So, what about your other friends? You mentioned Mokey and Wembley. Do you have more?

Yes, there's also Gobo and Red. The five of us are kind of inseparable.

[Boober smiles in a quiet, soft way. When actually with his friends, he almost always feels one step away from a headache. Oh, he loves them and wants nothing more than to be there for them, but they're so much, each in their own ways. He does wish they were with him here, but the truth is it's easier to appreciate them, and express that, with some distance.]

I think you and Red would get along. Because Red, she tries to find answers to problems by being a detective, too. When she's doing that, she calls herself Inspector Red, and well... She's not the best, but she cares a lot about solving every case. Plus, she can have ideas that get pretty dangerous, but she's always so excited to pull them off. [A thoughtful pause.] You can't stop her from doing something once her heart's set on it. And you can be a lot like that, too.

[That's the nicest way someone has ever called him a stubborn fuck. And Riz doesn't mind the description at all. Someone has to be determined and steadfast. Else, how would anything get done?]

She sounds a bit like Fig too. I bet they'd get along.

[Though if this Red can get very excited about her dangerous ideas, perhaps it would be for the best if she and Fig would never ever meet. They'd probably get along far too well and make that a problem for everybody.]

What is Gobo like?

Heh, maybe so. I think everyone would get along with Fig, at Fraggle Rock... She plays music, and that's a big deal for Fraggles.

Gobo is... [Boober scratches at his cheek. How to explain Gobo...?] He's a big goof a lot of the time, but he gives everything his all. Even if it's not important. He loves music even more than the other three, and he writes a lot of songs. Half of them make no sense.

[He chuckles, shaking his head.]

...But the biggest thing you'd notice with Gobo is how he just really loves everyone. He makes friends so easily, and he cares about all of them so much.

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