Brothers and Sisters

[Slackbot]

Troglodite = cave dweller.

Heh, I once wrote a ReBoot story in which a came cube came down and put our heroes into a cross between Scooby-Doo and The Blair Witch Project. It was an indecent amount of fun to write. I ain't doing that here, I promise.

I wanted to like MWoO. It had its good points, such as incorporating bits of the book that weren't in the '39 movie. But there were so many things about it that made me cringe. It really could have been so much better.

Yes, more will be coming soon, I promise. There will be swimming! And singing! And parkour!

 

[The Count]

Was your Reboot/SD crossover anything like the Cyber Chase game? And why not do that kind of crossover? Heh, I remember AnimatedC9000 posting in one of the HV/dorm threads about having her roomies in the parts: Vicki from JHH = Velms, Lips = Norville, = heiress, = Great Dane, and = trapster or something like that. Fun times.

 

[Slackbot]

I've never seen Cyberber Chase, whatever that is. My casting was: Dot Matrix as Velma, adult AndrAIa as Daphne, adult Enzo as Shaggy, Glitch Bob as Fred, Frisket as Scooby, and Hexadecimal as Old Man Jenkins the witch. The story is Sticks and Stones.

 

[The Count]

Hmm, I'll probably go and read that then.

Cyber Chase is the fourth entry in the now eighteen-long DTV (Direct-to-Video) animated movie franchise.
Okay, Music of the Night which was released and aired on CN recently was #17, but there's the update announcement of Big Top Scooby-Doo following as #18.
Anyway... In Cyber Chase, the gang visit a friend of theirs who's a university student and has come up with a multi-level video game where the object is to beat the baddies off in order to grab the box of Scooby Snacks so you can advance from level to level. Sure enough, once they get to the campus, they're attacked by the movie's true menace, The Phantom Virus. And because of their trademark meddling, the gang ends up getting digitized into the game itself, where the only way out is to beat the game. The Scooby-Doo Wiki has the article with all ten levels, the last is the gang meeting up with the already-programmed cyber duplicates of themselves who made it that far and were hiding out from confronting the final threat: The Virus and digitally real versions of five former haunts at the carnival funfair.

Yeah, add SD to my list of fandoms, and I have my faves from the entirety of the run so far.

 

[Misskermie]

You know...
If Janken and Skeeter race...
...
Skeeter's screwed.

I kept thinking that for some reason.

Anyway, great chapter!
More pleasez! (Adding Z's make it cuter)

 

[Slackbot]

Maybe, maybe not. They're both athletic, Skeeter by training and Janken by nature. If the race involves swimming, Janken would have a big advantage. However, if they raced through the woods Janken would probably get lost. He's a cave critter at heart, and all those trees look alike to him.

 

[Slackbot]

Lookee! It's another chapter of...

Brothers and Sisters​

Part 2: Yakkety Yak​

by Kim McFarland​

*****

Eventually hunger called Scooter, Skeeter, and Janken out of the water. Knowing how blind the twins were without their glasses, Janken got their eyewear, which they had left on a rock by the side of the stream, and handed them to their owners. When Skeeter put hers on she was looking at Janken. His hair and fur was plastered to his body, making him look weird and scrawny. She stifled a laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You look like a wet rat," she told him, giggling.

Mildly Janken replied, "You've seen a lot of wet rats?"

Scooter said, "I have. They shower in the morning like everyone else. Jan looks nothing like 'em."

Scooter and Skeeter toweled off. Janken did not have a towel; the air was warm and he was comfortable wet. They made their way back to their camp. Scooter and Skeeter took turns changing back into their clothes in the tent. Then the twins built a campfire. Janken, never having made one himself, watched with interest. By the time the fire was big enough for them to break out their lunch Janken was merely damp. Fraggle fur dries fast.

Scooter and Skeeter both spitted hot dogs on sticks. Janken, being an herbivore, carefully spitted several radishes and held them over the fire. After toasting their lunches, they ate them right off the sticks. Skeeter said, "Admit it, doesn't it feel good to get away from it all?"

"Yeah, you're right," Scooter replied.

"Yep," Janken agreed.

Skeeter fed several more sticks to the campfire. "We've got several days out here with the forest to ourselves. They said nobody else is coming up 'til the weekend. So there's one rule I wanna set right now."

Scooter asked, "What's that?"

She looked up from the fire again and looked at Scooter and Janken, sitting together on the other side of the fire. "I know you're... boyfriends, or lovers, or whatever you call yourselves. I'm fine with that. In fact, I think you make a great couple. And you're good at keeping it a secret, otherwise it'd be all over the fan sites. But now there's nobody but me here, so don't put on an act, okay?"

Scooter and Janken exchanged surprised looks. Scooter said, "Ah, what do you mean?"

A little flustered, Skeeter said, "Just act like you want to. I mean, I'm not going to get weird about it, that's all."

After an awkward pause Janken said, "I understand what you mean, but, well, we really aren't hiding anything. Single-sexed Fraggles don't act any special way, and neither of us got into the gay scene. We never learned to act different."

Scooter said, "I know what you're saying, sis. And thanks." He put his free arm around Janken in a one-sided hug.

Relieved, Skeeter said, "Yeah." She ought to drop the topic then, she thought, but she had one more thing to say. "Y'know... at first I thought, 'they're gay, so what, nothing wrong with being different.' But it doesn't seem like that any more."

"How so?" Scooter asked.

"The more I see you two together, the less different it seems. I mean, once you wrap your head around the idea that you're both guys, well, you just act normal. I mean, you seem like a typical couple. Doesn't really matter that you're both guys." She leaned her chin in one hand. "I bet if people knew more couples like you, they wouldn't think it was weird at all. Peoples is peoples."

Surprised, Scooter said, "I never thought I'd see the day."

She replied, "What, that I'd get some sense?"

"No, that you'd quote The Muppets Take Manhattan at me."

Janken nudged him. "I like her."

She teased, "So when're you getting married?"

That startled them both. After a pause Janken said to Scooter, "Why, are you pregnant?"

Scooter replied in a tone of bafflement, "No. Are you?"

Skeeter said, "Dang! I remember when that would've thrown you for a loop, little bro."

"Hmmm...take two?" Scooter said. He handed Janken his stick and found his canteen. Unscrewing the cap, he told Skeeter, "Feed us again."

It was her turn to be puzzled. "What?"

"Say it again. The straight line."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. When are you getting married?" she said as Scooter took a swig from the canteen.

Janken turned to Scooter and said, "Why? Are you pregnant?"

Skeeter jumped as Scooter spat a fine mist of water at the campfire, which flickered wildly, sending up a puff of steam. Wiping his mouth, Scooter said, "How was that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing worse than smart-alec theater nerds. Nice special effect, though."

"Cheap effects are a Muppet specialty," he told her, clearly pleased with himself.

Janken handed Scooter's stick back, saying "Mind if I field this one?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Janken told Skeeter, "We haven't really considered it. On one hand, that makes it public, and as far as we're concerned it's nobody's business but our own. And on the other, Fraggles don't marry. We form bonds, sure, but we don't claim each other, 'you're mine and I'm yours and nobody else's.' That's just not how we think. If love is real, it's real with or without a ceremony or legal permission. And it's real." He kissed Scooter's cheek.

**

The conversation faded as they ate their toasted lunches. After that, they set out for a hike. They only took their canteens with them, as they were going to come back by dinnertime. After a little while Janken asked, "How do you keep from getting lost?"

"I know this place. Trust me."

"I do trust you—but how can you tell where we are? All I can see is trees! They all look alike!"

She told him, "There's the slope of the ground, and familiar paths, and little landmarks, and the direction of the sun, and a lot of other little things. If I got lost—and it may or may not have happened once or twice before—I could just go east to find the creek, then follow it upstream until I get back to familiar territory. Or walk north. Or, if all else failed, I could call in to the station and tell 'em to make some noise or shine a beacon for me to home in on."

"Call the station? On what?" Scooter asked suspiciously.

Oops. "Okay, so I have a cell too. Sue me."

"Gotcha," Scooter said with a grin.

"Anyway, if you get separated from us, just yell and we'll find you," she told Janken.

"You can count on that."

They came to what at first looked like a clearing, with sunshine on the other side of the trees. Janken looked through, and was startled to see low, covered mountains stretching off into the distance. In a low spot between two of them sunlight glittered off the surface of a lake. Up above, the sky was a serene blue, light at the horizons and vivid overhead, spotted by wisps of cloud.

Scooter said, "Quite a view, huh?"

Mesmerized, Janken said, "I can hardly take it in. I've never seen so much distance. Even though I know I can't, it feels like I ought to be able to reach out and touch the other side."

Skeeter guessed that, being a cave-dwelling creature, he wouldn't be used to seeing things more than a few hundred feet away. But he'd been on the surface for years...in a city, with buildings blocking the way in every direction. "Scary?"

"No. Strange. Overwhelming, I guess. Makes me feel tiny." Needing to change the subject to something more immediate and practical, he stepped back and asked, "Um. Is anything that grows around here good to eat?"

"Huh? Yeah." She glanced around, then plucked a few tightly curled fern heads that were just starting to grow. "These, for instance. Fiddleheads." She gave one to Janken and offered the other to Scooter. "Have a taste?"

"I'll pass," Scooter said.

"Suit yourself," Skeeter said, and bit in.

Janken did as well. He chewed thoughtfully—it was pleasant and crisp—then said, "Nice. Salady."

"There are other things. Um, if you can eat what we can. You can, right?" she asked, suddenly concerned.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I can tell if something's bad for me. We Fraggles are good at not poisoning ourselves," he assured her.

"Good. Still, stay away from mushrooms. It's easy to mix up the good and bad ones without really knowing your biz, and with some one nibble is enough to do you in," she said seriously.

"Okay, okay."

Scooter said, "Sounds like you've spent a whole lot of time camping."

"Yeah. Camping, hiking, mountain climbing. I thought that looked like a whole lot more fun than spending four more years in school, so I ran off to the national parks after high school. That's why you didn't hear much from me. I wasn't in range of a post office all that often."

"Oh," Scooter said, nodding.

"Anyhow, either of you any good at fishing? Wait, herbivores don't fish, right?"

"Yeah."

"Does it bug you if others do?"

Smiling, he shook his head. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine as long as I don't have to eat it."

Scooter said, "Take that part seriously, sis. You don't want to know what happened the one time he tried a hot dog."

Janken made a face. "Thanks so much for reminding me."

"Sorry."

Skeeter said, "In that case, let's catch our dinner, Scoot."

"Yeah."

**

Scooter and Skeeter fished in the river. Skeeter had brought line and hooks, but they had to supply their own rods and bait from what was available. The result was, in Scooter's opinion, Tom Sawyer-ish. But it worked, and they caught one decent-sized fish each while Janken swam upstream, safe from their hooks. Janken also absented himself while they cleaned the fish—and, truthfully, Scooter wished he could have skipped that part as well. But, he supposed, they were going to be doing this a lot while they were here, so he grimly did his best at the messy task, ignoring Skeeter's smug grin.

It was worth it, however, when they roasted their catch over the campfire. Forget fancy cooking; there was something cool about catching and eating your dinner by yourself. Janken felt a little of the same pride, having gathered a meal of various greens and nuts and berries that he had found nearby. He had had Skeeter look it over, more for her peace of mind than his. He didn't have to wait for it to cook, either; he ate his salad raw. After he finished he sat back, looking at the patch of sky above the clearing and listening to Scooter and Skeeter's conversation.

"Does this remind you of anything?" she asked.

"No. Should it?" Scooter replied.

"Remember how we used to have adventures when we were little kids."

Scooter laughed. "Oh, yeah. We made up all sorts of stuff."

"Expeditions, battles, anything neat on TV..."

"We had one heck of a fantasy life back then."

Skeeter poked at the fire with her stick. "Not much else you can do when you're cooped up in a nursery. But we didn't know that at the time. We just had fun."

"Yeah."

They both were quiet for a moment, thinking about those years. The earliest they could clearly remember was the nursery they had spent their time in before they were old enough to go to school. Scooter said, "You know, I can remember our nanny's voice clear as anything, but heck if I can remember what she looked like."

"I remember she was real tall and wore striped socks."

"Heh, the socks, I remember those too. But do you remember her face?"

Skeeter paused, then said, "No. Now that you mention it, I don't. That's weird."

"Yeah. But...I don't remember anything about our mother at all."

"Ne neither. She died when we were just babies, you know. Who remembers back that far?"

"Yeah..."

There was another pause. Janken sat up and said, "I'm going to go for a swim. I'll be back before it gets dark."

Skeeter said, "What, again?"

Janken replied, "Yep, again. The water's still wet and I'm still a Fraggle. Plus, it sounds like you and Scooter have stuff to talk about. I'll be back at sunset." He patted Scooter's shoulder, then left.

Skeeter remarked, "It's a wonder he's ever dry. He must be a real bathroom hog."

Scooter said, "Not really. I think it's the running water that does it. He loves swimming—says it's the Fraggle Rock national sport—but he can't stand chlorinated water."

"Huh. Go figure," she said.

Scooter said, "Skeet...our nanny, I found out what her name was."

"You did? Funny, I never thought of her as anything but Nanny. What is it?"

"Barbara. After Uncle JP passed on, I had to dig through a lot of old records and stuff, and I found hers."

"Did you try to find her? I'd like to see her again," Skeeter said with great interest.

Scooter shook his head. "Sorry. I did try to look her up. She passed on too."

She wilted. "Aw, jeez. I wish you hadn't told me that."

"Sorry."

"Never mind. Thanks. Um, when?"

"Eleven years ago. Summer."

"Huh...I think I was doing parkour in California then."

"Parkour? What's that?"

"It's when you go from here to there, kind of like a race, but with obstacles. Walls, fences, anything. You go over, under, through, whatever. It's less about speed than style."

"Wow," Scooter said. "Mountain climbing, wilderness stuff, now that. You've done a whole lot I'd never have the nerve to try."

"Eh," Skeeter said, looking away. "So what?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Well, I spent years and years doing that stuff. But after a while I wanted to come back and see my nerdy little brother, and you've been making movies and TV shows while I've been wandering around in the woods and climbing rocks. People will remember you for what you've done. Me, all I've made are footprints."

"C'mon, sis. You always said the Muppets were la-la land."

"I guess some la-la is okay," she said sheepishly. "I just mean, my nerdy little brother's done pretty well. A career, a lot of friends, and Janken. Part of the reason I went back to college here was that, well, you were living here and I kinda wanted to get back in touch with you."

"I'm glad you came back, Skeet."

"Thanks, nerd," she said. They shared a grin. By now that was a term of affection, not an insult.

They were quiet for a while, just watching the fire and occasionally feeding it more branches. Then Skeeter said, "This is something I've never told anyone about..."

"Uh-huh."

"It was years ago. I was touring national parks, hiking around and climbing the mountains and stuff. There are a lot of little groups that do that. You can find small, almost like villages, except they're temporary, all tents and things. Some people spend years there, climbing mountains. Anyhow, I met someone there. Her name was Idgie. She taught me a whole lot more than the Scouts ever did, especially about climbing and other rough terrain stuff. For a while we were a team. Had some great times together."

Scooter had a guess as to where this was heading, but from the way Skeeter was telling the story, staring into the fire rather than looking at him, he couldn't be sure. "Okay."

"We'd been camping together for, I think, half a year, going to this place and that. Sometimes we went into town to get supplies and things, and, well, get away from getting away from civilization, if you know what I mean. This one time she said, why don't we go dancing, there's a club she knows here. I told her I wasn't much on dancing with people I don't know. She said, well, you know me, silly. And I guess I just went blank for a second. Like, huh? Then I kinda laughed and said, what, what the heck do you think I am?"

Scooter didn't say anything, and he was glad that she was looking at the fire rather than his face. After a pause she continued, "We saw a movie instead, and we got our supplies. And, well, soon after that we just kind of went our separate ways. At the time I didn't think much about it, but after you told us what it felt like, being treated like there was something wrong with you... jeez, I didn't have to be that mean about it, did I? It's not like she was being pushy or anything. I could've just said, sorry, that's not my scene."

He got up, sat beside her, and put an arm around her shoulders. He didn't know what else to do.

She continued, "Sometimes I wish I could get in touch with her again, just to say sorry I was a creep, and I hope she found someone to dance with."

"Have you tried to find her?" he asked softly.

"I haven't had the nerve," she replied.

He offered, "I could give it a try. I have a black belt in google-fu."

"I don't even know her last name. She was just Idgie and I was just Skeeter." She looked at him sheepishly. "I guess I had to fess up to someone. I can't say sorry to her, so I'm saying it to you."

"It's all right," he said softly, patting her shoulder.

**

The sky was darkening when Janken returned, his fur damp. "You should have seen the sunset over the lake. It was beautiful," he said as he rooted around in his backpack. He got out a few radishes and crunched into one.

"Oh, great. Now he's gonna have dragon breath," Scooter told Skeeter.

"It'll be fine by the time I dry off," Janken said mildly, munching on the vegetables. He sat in front of the fire to dry his fur.

They talked for a while longer, until the stars came out. By that time Janken's fur had dried completely and the campfire had burned down to coals. It was circled by stones, with nothing flammable nearby, and there was no wind to blow anything around; it'd be safe.

They settled into their sleeping bags. One for each, to Janken's regret. He liked to sleep cuddled up to someone else, but he understood that that had a different meaning for Silly Creatures, who did not necessarily fall asleep when it got dark the way Fraggles do. Oh well.

**

All three awoke when one side of the tent bowed inward, as if something was scrabbling at it, trying to claw through. They yelled, and something outside cried out as well. Skeeter grabbed a heavy flashlight, one that she knew from experience would double as a bludgeon, and darted out. The fire outside the tent was nearly dead, but the weak light from the coals still managed to mess up her night vision. She could not see the fleeing creature clearly. She shone the flashlight at it, and saw a small brown and white shape disappear into the forest.

"What the heck was that?" Scooter exclaimed.

Skeeter shook her head. Probably just some critter that got curious about our fire." She walked around the tent and inspected the side of the tent. "No harm done. It's not even scratched. Ground's a little scuffled, but I don't see clawmarks in the dirt. Probably a fawn or something. After the welcome we gave it, it'll keep its distance in the future."

"You're sure about that?" Scooter asked.

"Yeah. Nothing dangerous lives around here. Don't worry about it."

"If you say so, sis."

They returned to their tent, and when nothing else happened, fell back asleep.

*****

All characters except Janken Fraggle are copyright © The Muppets Studio, LLC and are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken is copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9@aol.com), as is the overall story. Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.

 

[The Count]

Mmm, a nice good slice of fanfic, just what we were needing. Love the references to MB what with reminiscing about their nanny named Barbara. And the implied reference that this is after VMMC since J.P. already moved on to the eternal boardroom. Also touched that Skeet's opening up to her brother, that's something I rully admire.

Curious as to Idgei and whatever critter it was outside the tent. More when you can post it please and thankyou.

 

[charlietheowl]

Very interesting! I liked how you tossed in the references to Muppet Babies without everything coming off as too self-referential and cutesy. And I'm glad to see that Scooter and Skeeter and Janken, and then Scooter and Skeeter were able to be open and honest to each other. I'm also looking forward to see if/how you develop the story of Skeeter and Idgie's encounter.

Thanks for posting!

 

[newsmanfan]

---------------
I like this. A thoughtful examination, Muppet-style, of orientation differences. Peoples is peoples...and Muppets is Muppets. Nicely handled, without making it The Big Issue. And I loved Skeeter's confession. More than the story itself, her being able to actually display a weakness (regret? awkwardness?) to her brother says a lot about her maturity these days. Again, well done!

Little bits that made me chuckle: "google-fu," Janken's drowned rat impression (bet he DOES look like one, no matter what Scooter thinks), the pregnant pause and spit-take, and Janken having problems with distance perception. (Nice take especially on that...I never considered what Outer Space must really look like to those guys!)

So far, open hearts and a quiet mood...is there drama in store? Waiting...
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