Merrily we go along (Three Seperate Journeys Rewrite)

mostlikemokey

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A little while back I began writing a sequel to my fraggle rock story, but I found that it was almost impossible to write because I was telling too many things at once so I went on a very long hiatus. I finally created a basic structure and the first chapter of the rewrite, so I'm finally ready to go. Basically the entire plot has been recycled except for a few of the story elements. The Fraggles still end up looking for Gobo, but they do it in a distant part of the rock rather than Outer Space. It does have an OC in it, but she has a reason for being there- since they were going to be on their own in a place they'd never been, I thought that they could use a guide who knows the area. Plus, as you'll see, she's far from perfect- she's lucky if she can get through the day without unintentionally causing problems.

So, how many years have you been waiting for this? Almost an entire year? Wow... Better stop yapping and get on with it. :smile: the first chapter basically tells you what the part of the rock Gobo ends up in is like.
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Merrily We Go Along



(three separate journeys rewrite)


Chapter one: The Mysterious Appearing Fraggle


Candonella thought about other fraggle colonies a lot, especially after the mysterious orange fraggle with the strange brown hat appeared one day out of nowhere.



If the colony was willing to move, things might have been different. They might have had more time to play if the rock formations weren’t so unstable. But it was beautiful where Candy lived- the deep canyons and the colored translucent crystal that grew between stalagmites and the pools of blue green water. Most fraggles loved it too much to give it up: it was home. She loved it. She loved it with almost everything she had.



Almost.



When she had been little, she had never thought that she might decide to leave one day. She wanted to make her parents happy, and become a good fraggle who was good at her job.



When she heard her song for the first time, though, she began to see that she might not exactly be in the best place to spend the rest of her days. She still remembered the night she first heard it.

She had been sleeping when the first snatches of a lively melody reached her ears. It was cheerful, but not frantic. Mellow, but still turning itself out and a rigorous pace. Excitement for life sounded in every note.

She had been scared at how unconventional and spirited her song was. When she was called before The Elder Of Song to play it, she only played the part she thought the council would want to hear. The Elder had not been fooled, and after he made her play the entire thing, he gave her her Song Name, her song translated into a short phrase in the Tongue of the Ancient Fraggles. Strictly speaking, the song spoke for itself-she’d heard of places that didn’t even have Song Names. Still, Candy thought it was useful to have a shorthand for explaining yourself. The Elder of Song was one of the last Fraggles who could speak the Ancient Tongue. Hearing your song spoken in an ancient language gave you a certain thrill, no doubt coming from some part in deep within your roots- the only thing more satisfying was hearing the song itself. Hers was Sacral, Chancefinder. And it was true- she saw what no one else did everywhere, often coming across things by accident.



And it was by accident that she ran into (or rather, smashed into) Gobo Fraggle.



Candy was never completely still- either her mind was going in a thousand different directions or her body was buzzing with an energy that felt like a nest of humbugs humming their tunes inside of her. So she’d learned to get her energy out in ways and places where she was least likely to bother anybody.



So when she looked back on the incident and blamed herself for it, she consoled herself with the fact that if she had managed to crash into somebody four hours before sunrise in an abandoned storage cavern, it was just her fate to cause accidents.



She was on the verge of perfecting her latest board game when she decided it needed more running, so she ran around a bit to see how it felt, only to trip over the set of marbles that were serving as game pieces. She swiveled on her ankle, hitting something solid, which fell.



Oh no! I hope I didn’t smash someone’s irreplaceable painting…again. I’ll be doing Disciplinary Duty for two weeks.



She looked down and instantly realized that she had a much bigger problem. A fraggle, a strange fraggle in a funny hat, lay face- up on the cold rock floor.

“Uh… sir? Are you alive? Sir?”



He didn’t move. This was bad. Very, very bad.



So she did what any fraggle misfit in her situation would do. She panicked.



“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”



She ran. She ran over rickety stalagmite bridges, climbed up narrow, twisting rock formations that would give any foreign fraggle vertigo. She splashed through the calm, blue pools lined with moss that her best friend used to harvest before she left. The small amphibians at the bottom of the pool croaked in protest, annoyed at having their rest disturbed. Candy was naturally a klutz. It was only the home field advantage that kept her from causing a major crisis- well, more major crises anyway.



“Sorry!” she called to the frognewts over her shoulder.



Just outside of the mouth of the central cavern, Candy felt a wrinkled hand on her arm.



Startled, she turned, half expecting the weird fraggle she’d found to be behind her, demanding compensation. Instead, there was a wizened, white- haired fraggle with a short goatee, mottled tan fur and enormous glasses, rocking peacefully back and forth in his rocking chair.




She sighed. It was only Gorntruckle.



“You all right, Candy? Eh? Setting up quite a stir you are. The council will be out here any minute.”



Nobody really knew where Gorntruckle had come from; it had been so long ago that there wasn’t a single fraggle around who would have remembered. There were rumors that he had come over from the nearest colony, and outcast of sorts, ostracized for drinking too much mulled mulberry juice. He was sort of made fun of by the whole rest of the colony, as he was an eccentric who sat staring at his own reflection for an hour every day and often forgot whether it was a Rest Day or a Workday. Still, Candy liked him. He gave good advice, and he was always ready to hear a joke. She inhaled deeply.



“Iwasinacaveandiranintothisfraggleliterallyimeanandhe’snotlikeotherfragglesbecausehewearsahatthat’snotaworkhatbecauseithasafeatherandonesecondhewasnowhereandthenexthereandhefellandhegotknockedoutandthat’swheniranawayscreaming.”



“Woah, woah, there, Candonella! Simmer down. You’ll never win the respect of the colony actin’ like that. The Time of Choosing is comin’ up soon for yeh, ain’t it?”



Tears filled Candonella’s eyes. “Oh, Gorntruckle, I don’t know whether to stay or not! I love it here, but everyone’s so stiff. There’s no room for anything! My life is so small…



“There now, don’t cry. You’ll make your decision in time. Let’s go check on this mysterious appearing fraggle, huh?”



Candy nodded, looking around her at the landscape in which she had been born. It was scenery that most could only dream of, and yet, the thought of staying made some part of her deep inside whisper, There is more.



How was she going to decide?
 

mostlikemokey

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Hi, guys! Sorry. First I had writer's block and then my headset was being finicky so I couldn't dictate. This was a really cool chapter to write for me, and I tried really hard to stay true to the characters. Let me know what you think!


Chapter Two

The Story of the Storyteller

It was night in Fraggle Rock. The caves were dark, the ditzies having extinguished the light that signaled the day. It was not a normal time for fraggles to be out- and it was certainly not a time for a fraggle to be paying a visit. Yet that was exactly what Red Fraggle was doing. After all, she wouldn’t be caught dead doing this during the day.



“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Red grumbled. Still, it was something she had to do. She told everyone that Gobo had gone on a long exploring trip to a place he’d never mapped, but she had a feeling that they were starting to get suspicious. She hadn’t been in a very good mood lately, so she hadn’t been running around quite as much as usual. The consequence of that had been about three hours of listening to Boober moaning about some plague that he was certain was the cause of Red’s lethargy, and about how he was sure it would sweep the entire Rock and bring its inhabitants to their knees. Mokey, for her part, had suggested everything from aroma therapy to deep trance meditation. They had annoyed her so much that she had finally lost it and yelled at them. Satisfied that they had brought her back to normal, they departed for a romantic afternoon of doing laundry.



The only one who hadn’t said anything was Wembley. The entire time that her friends had been bugging her, Wembley stood staring at her in a way that was kind of creepy, like he was guessing what was going on. After Boober and Mokey took off, it took a few minutes for him to leave. Red hadn’t ever considered what went on inside Wembley’s head, but without Gobo to distract her, she noticed that he seemed startlingly perceptive when he wasn’t concentrating on accommodating everyone.



Maybe Gobo kind of kept him out in the spotlight by accident. He is as dense as a boulder, after all.



Red knew this accusation was a little unfair, but she didn’t care. Since when had Gobo gotten caught up in all this love stuff? He was such a baby. You wouldn’t catch her making a mistake like that.



At last she reached her destination.

“I hope the Storyteller is awake,” she mumbled, ranging in the small, star-shaped bell on the door of the Storyteller’s hut.



“On my way.” The door opened, and a slightly shabby fraggle popped her head out through the door.



“If you are a representative of Mr. Sandman, tell him that he’s at least four hours late and I will no longer require his services. Good day- er, night.”



The door shut in Red’s face. She had just enough time to feel shocked before it opened again. “Just kidding! Ha ha! What’ll it be, kid? Perhaps the story of Colin the Confused? He was a great pole vaulter in his day, until he landed on his head. Went a bit funny after that-- thought everybody was his Aunt Mabel. Or maybe—“



“Actually… I wanted to hear about you and Traveling Matt the Great.”



The Storyteller broke off. She narrowed her eyes.



“You’re kidding.”



Red grimaced. “Believe me, I wish I was.”



The Storyteller looked Red over for a moment, as if sizing her up.



“Come inside."





“It's been a long time since anybody has asked me about Matthew. Nobody wants to listen anymore- they are annoyed when they discover that it's a story I can't stop telling. Nobody ever listens to the whole story, you know- not unless it feels like their own. Have some tea, dear.”



Red took the mug offered her. The Storyteller’s house was bigger inside than it appeared on the outside. Soft candlelight lit the room, casting the Storyteller's face half in shadow. The room was crammed with odd knickknacks and- what else? - books.



“Matthew and I met when he crashed into me, and I accidentally broke his jaw.”



This was the last thing that Red had been expecting to hear. “What?”



The Storyteller smiled. “Oohh, yes. I was quite a spitfire in those days. Nobody messed with me. Of course, I didn't mean to hit him that hard. He was a klutz, even then.”



Though the Storyteller had said this in an endearing tone, Red was astounded to hear her say anything negative about Matt. Usually, it was all gushy.



“But- you…”



“I was secretly insecure. I was such a bookworm that I didn't have many friends, so I would punch out anybody got too close. I was so tough, nobody thought I was scared, see?”



“Sometimes I do that.” Idiot! Why did I say that? Red clamped her lips shut.



“Yes, you know, your temperament rather reminds me of myself- except I wasn't particularly athletically inclined. But when you get older, you have a tendency to mellow out a bit. I eventually found some friends who were into books as well, and I found that I didn't have to defend myself so strongly anymore. But Matthew had been the first one to not get angry when I punched him, so I began to admire him- call it hero worship, if you will. His uncle, whom your friend Gobo is named after, didn't treat him particularly well. You see, his sister had died giving birth to Matthew, and Gobo couldn't stand the thought of his own sister’s son having a few screws loose- Matthew was eccentric, but he bent over backward to please his uncle.”



“I thought you just liked Matt because you thought he was a hunk or something.” Red chewed her lip.



The Storyteller smiled. “Yes, that's certainly part of it… Such a fine specimen, but that's another story…”



“Yeah. Skip that, would you? I want to be able to eat tomorrow morning.”



“What really attracted me to him was is nobility- despite the experiences he had with his uncle, he agreed to reconcile near the end. And when his own brother and his wife disappeared on an expedition, their fraglet was only a few weeks old. Matt was the baby’s godfather, and he named it Gobo, and strove to be the best godfather he could be. It would have been very easy for him to become bitter, but he was willing to rise to the occasion and let bygones be bygones. Of course, by then, we were no longer on good terms.”



“So you actually had something going? What happened?” Red had forgotten to feign mild disinterest and was now on the edge of her seat.



“I had pressured Matthew into becoming mates, because I was afraid of losing him to anybody else- I got rather clingy-“



"I can believe that.”



“It became like when we were children, and I followed him around everywhere. I was scared of admitting that I needed him, because part of me still saw myself as the “tough girl.” Matthew had a tendency not to follow through, and he could be quite arrogant. We fought, one thing led to another, and well, you can probably guess the rest.”



The Storyteller set down her cup of tea. “I've heard that Gobo has gone off somewhere. Are you, perhaps…?”



Red blushed, forcing herself to swallow her sip of tea rather than spitting out in shock.



“N-no! N-No! In fact, he's sulking over another girl. Gobo never sees me as a girl anyway.”



The Storyteller frowned. “Gobo always struck me as more levelheaded than Matthew… Perhaps he has more pride. You know young men- it takes them longer to grow up than young ladies.”



Red stood up abruptly. “You will not tell anyone about any of this. I was never here.”



“I’m not into embarrassing young people who walk my way.”



Red turn towards the door, then turned back. “Storyteller, I-“



Red collected herself and continued. “How do you still love him? Matt? After all that? Can't you just get over him?”



“Once you love someone, they never really leave you. True love isn’t selfish; you care for the other even if you can't get exactly what you want. You are very young, and I'm not quite sure how to explain this… ah, I have it.”



The Storyteller took a portrait of Matt off the wall. Slowly, she began to dance, singing as she went, her voice calm in a way Red had never heard before.



I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,
Or tell you that.
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it
where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be




The Storyteller finished her song. “I think it's about time for you to be going, dear. You need your sleep.”



"I still don't get it.”



“You will someday. Goodbye, dear."



“Bye, Storyteller, and- and thanks.”



Red didn't go home right away. She sat near the door for a few moments. She hadn't understood most of what the Storyteller had said, but she still felt a sense of wonder. There was so much about the world that she didn't know, and she might have gone on thinking she knew everything had it not been for a cockamamie old lady.



“And I thought she was just crazy,” she whispered.



She stood up and made the long trek back to her cave. I might not understand everything yet, but I know what I have to do.

The song included in this chapter was "White Flag" by Dido. I don't own it or get money from it, or the Muppets for that matter. If you don't know what it sounds like, Google it. It is awesome.


 

charlietheowl

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Thank you for sharing this, I liked your take on the Matt and Storyteller relationship, it was very interesting.
 

mostlikemokey

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Thanks guys! I won't be on as much (school is starting soon! Finishing high school! Despite what everybody says, I hope high school isn't the best years of your life.) But I will try and update my stories when I can, and hope to get more in before I have to go back to school.
Charlietheowl: thank you! As always, that was a pleasure to read. I like to think that there's something more between Matt and Storyteller, because Storyteller is pretty smart lady and mindlessly crushing after someone isn't exactly her style. (nearly mindlessly, however...)
GopherCoffee: Aww! That's so nice of you! I'm going to catch up on your story now. Man, it's been a long time since I've been here. I just want you to know that due to my constantly shifting attention span, I go through periods where I'm on this site a lot and others where I'm not on nearly as much. That doesn't mean I forgot- it just means I'm doing other things.
 

Twisted Tails

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I like this story and there are parts that are SO Red and Storyteller.

She hadn’t been in a very good mood lately, so she hadn’t been running around quite as much as usual. The consequence of that had been about three hours of listening to Boober moaning about some plague that he was certain was the cause of Red’s lethargy, and about how he was sure it would sweep the entire Rock and bring its inhabitants to their knees. Mokey, for her part, had suggested everything from aroma therapy to deep trance meditation. They had annoyed her so much that she had finally lost it and yelled at them. Satisfied that they had brought her back to normal, they departed for a romantic afternoon of doing laundry.
Oh yes! Boober always worried about Gobo whenever he's gone onto an exploring trip. Mokey... the mediation... I knew Red was about to lose her temper. Wow!

The only one who hadn’t said anything was Wembley. The entire time that her friends had been bugging her, Wembley stood staring at her in a way that was kind of creepy, like he was guessing what was going on. After Boober and Mokey took off, it took a few minutes for him to leave. Red hadn’t ever considered what went on inside Wembley’s head, but without Gobo to distract her, she noticed that he seemed startlingly perceptive when he wasn’t concentrating on accommodating everyone.
Wow! Great description of how Wembley feels... I wish I had a teddy bear, because I feel sorry for him even though he likes to watch to find out what's going on.

“If you are a representative of Mr. Sandman, tell him that he’s at least four hours late and I will no longer require his services. Good day- er, night.”
That dialogue reminds me of the Fraggle Rock episode, “The Terrible Tunnel”

And then there is a song I never ever heard of before.
I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,

Or tell you that.
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it
where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
Wow! That song is sooo powerful! The song “White Flag” you mentioned… hmmm I got to listen to that song.
Overall, this chapter… ohmygosh! That was deep, but amazing! There’s gotta be more than just two chapters and I can’t wait.
 

mostlikemokey

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Working on another chapter that has a lot of Wembley in it. I like Wembley. My username is mostlikeMokey, but I'm like Wembley in a lot of ways. I'm very perceptive but when rushed or put under pressure my ideas come out like mush :smile:
I couldn't always tell what passages you were referring to because of the formatting, but thank you for the kind words, particularly about the storytellers dialogue. I wasn't sure whether I'd written her correctly. Thank you very much!
 

Twisted Tails

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Working on another chapter that has a lot of Wembley in it. I like Wembley. My username is mostlikeMokey, but I'm like Wembley in a lot of ways. I'm very perceptive but when rushed or put under pressure my ideas come out like mush :smile:
I couldn't always tell what passages you were referring to because of the formatting, but thank you for the kind words, particularly about the storytellers dialogue. I wasn't sure whether I'd written her correctly. Thank you very much!
Yeah I know This technology is so cumbersome at times. Sorry about that! You know what? I am more like Wembley as well. I couldn't decide what to react to, and then the computer was acting all funky and weird.
 

mostlikemokey

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Hi everyone! I know I haven't been here for... wow, a while. But I started college, and made some major life changes, so that took up a lot of my time. I'm thinking of starting this up again. The updates probably won't be too frequent. College is awesome, but it's kind of like a baby- it takes up your time and fusses when you neglect it.

I honestly don't think I could have written on the story sooner than now because of plot snags and thinking serious, adult financial thoughts, but I am glad, because the magic was still there when I went looking for it. :dreamy: I'm proud of the person I'm becoming, and excited to see where the road ahead will take me.
 

charlietheowl

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Hi everyone! I know I haven't been here for... wow, a while. But I started college, and made some major life changes, so that took up a lot of my time. I'm thinking of starting this up again. The updates probably won't be too frequent. College is awesome, but it's kind of like a baby- it takes up your time and fusses when you neglect it.

I honestly don't think I could have written on the story sooner than now because of plot snags and thinking serious, adult financial thoughts, but I am glad, because the magic was still there when I went looking for it. :dreamy: I'm proud of the person I'm becoming, and excited to see where the road ahead will take me.
Congratulations about starting college! I know that it can definitely change your schedule and free time in a hurry. Hope things are going well for you, you sound like you're quite excited about everything.
 
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