Once Upon My Heart.

[Leyla]

Hmm... I'm liking this. I'm liking it a lot! Especially the ushy gushy... but not just the ushy gushy. Lovely Kermit Robin bonding, and the dream was interesting.

Looking forward to more!

Leyla

 

[Ruahnna]

Hey there--I did check out your story today, er, tonight. Here were the things I liked about it so far:
1. You have an over-arching plot line: Kermit wants to get the old gang back together and Robin wants to see it happen. THis is tempered with more urgent concerns, such as Robin's recurring dream and the need to have it explained/interpreted to him.
2. You also have good delineation of characters--you've established not only where Kermit and Piggy are geographically (away from the boarding house) but where they are in relationship to each other. Ditto Robin and Kermit. Ditto Kermit and Gonzo. Ditto Gonzo and Camilla.
3. You have some nice dialogue.

Here something that might help: You're changing your tenses around a bit--easy to do when writing first drafts, but luckily, easy to fix in revision. In simplest terms, you're letting us watch some of what's happening by showing it to us through dialogue and behavior, but you're also "telling" us some of the story instead of letting us see what's happening for ourselves. Does that make sense? I believe that, when writing, the most important thing is to get the thought down. You can rewrite to your heart's content after that, but it's also good to rewrite to the audience's eye as well. Keep up the good work, dear--I'd like to see more.

 

[green stuff]

Thanks, Ruhanna, I didn't even notice I was doing that. I'll be sure to be more careful when posting more. But, for now *wipes sweat off of forehead* must go and post more, before those nagging sticks come out again..

 

[Muppet Matt]

Great start so far Green Stuff! Love Kermit's and Robin's bondage.

 

[green stuff]

A Slight Warning:

This chapter is a bit longer than the first one. It's not really a bad thing, but it's longer because the second part of it is mostly Robin's thoughts. Sorry if this is boring to some of you guys, but it's important that everyone understand what he's thinking. That way, the events that follow won't seem random. Just bare with me, everyone, it's going to get a lot better, I promise! And now, without further adieu, chapter 2!

Chapter 2
‘’Frank, are you sure about this?’’ Penny asked apprehensively. Never had she been so uncertain of anything in her life. Her fingers drummed nervously on the arm of the green cushioned chair that she was uneasily seated in. In her other hand, she fiddled with the ruffles of her mint colored dress, and stared down at the ground. Penny had made big movements in her career before, but never anything like this. This morning, on the other half of the world, Penny the Panda Bear was being advised on a huge career decision by her agent, Frank. Penny was quite a successful actress in China, much like any mentionable movie star that can be named in America. Despite the fact that she was not human, she found herself in success’ doorway almost immediately. However, this was exactly why she was in Frank’s office in the first place. Frank was trying his hardest not only to convince, but to actually make her see that Penny had gone as far as she could have in China. Almost effortlessly, she had reached the top, and now she could go no farther as far as her career was concerned. So now, if Penny really wished to continue to expand her talents and build her career up, she would have to branch out- to America. Unfortunately, the mere thought of moving to another country, especially for the sake of work, scared the living daylights out of Penny.


‘’Penny Baby, I’m telling you, this is the only way you’re gonna truly get to the top. China’s got nothing left for you, America’s got everything.’’
‘’But Frank, my family, my friends! My whole life is here in China; I cannot just uproot myself like that without any real thought first! And what about my daughter? I cannot make her move now, this is her last year of school before she goes to college. Her life and all of her friends are here as well. What will she think?’’

‘’Penny, just think about it. I know your daughter is making friends and becoming popular, but there’s nothing saying that she can’t do that in the United States. And you, the offers you’ll get in America will be much better, not to mention you’ll get bigger parts in the movies, and many more chances to branch out. And- and, you’ll earn more money. That’s more money towards a better life for you and your family-- and your daughter’s college fund.’’
That thought got Penny stirring a bit. It was true that going to America would make more money for her daughter’s education, but she herself really had no use for money, she was a very simple panda bear; not high maintenance at all. The fame and fortune that had been so quickly thrust upon her really had no affect on her; she still went to public places like the library, and still shopped at the local thrift stores that she used to before she became ‘’famous.’’ In fact, she didn’t even like to be referred to as famous. Yes, she admitted that she was successful, but anything beyond that, she denied whole-heartedly. If she had to describe herself and her career, she would say, ‘’ I’m just an ordinary panda doing extraordinary things.’’

Penny’s daughter was no different. Beside from the fact that she had to put her in a private girl’s school because of her fame, she was no different from any other teenage girl. She loved shopping, hanging out with girl friends, cooking, playing soccer, roller blading, and of course, dancing. Dancing was her forte. She had such grace and style in every movement that she did; she could captivate any audience with a simple sashay. And, as a reward for her high school graduation (or fourth year finishing school -- in China, it's not called high school) Penny had saved virtually all of her pay to buy her daughter the nicest and best car that she could afford. While this was all good and well, this put a rather sizable dent in the amount of money that she had left for her college fund. Now that Frank was so insistent on her going to America to rebuild her career, that seemed to be null and void now as well. (If Penny and her daughter were to go to America, her daughter could never drive it there-the steering wheels are on the right in China.) And as for the rest of her family…..well, suffice it to say that they weren’t so easy to leave either.

‘’Jen-Li,’’ she whispered. Penny then heaved a heavy sigh, and smoothed a hand through her beautiful dark braided hair. She looked straight into Frank’s eager eyes. She knew that he was just trying to encourage her and look out for her well-being, but it just wasn’t that easy.

‘’Well, Frank, thank you for laying out the possibilities for me. You’ve given me quite a lot to think about. But I’m afraid I cannot make a decision right now without discussing it with my daughter first. If I go, I want it to be a yes on both of our parts; this affects her life as much as it does mine. But I promise, I will call you this weekend, and I will give you my decision then.’’
‘’Of course,’’ said Frank patiently, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder. He then took her hand, helped her out of her chair, and walked her to the door. With a wide grin on his face, he opened it for her. He then gave her a look that said everything. Everything he did say, and everything he wanted to to further convince her. Penny saw it, and it made her just a little uncomfortable. He responded with a smile, and moved a little closer to her.


‘’America has plenty of opportunities for you, Penny. Don’t be afraid to take them.’’ Penny’s only reply was a smile as she walked out the door and through the massive hallway that led to Frank’s office.

‘’Think about it, ‘’ he said, half to himself. He then watched the most deserving and talented client he had ever had walk away with the biggest decision she would ever have to make in her life.
………………………………................................................................................................
‘



’But Uncle Kermit, I still don’t understand what the interpreter meant when she said that I have an ‘’inner struggle’’ that I need to deal with.’’ The three climbed into the car after their bizarre, yet informative visit with the dream interpreter that Brian had recommended. Unfortunately, it only confused poor Robin more. Robin was seated in the back seat of the family car, staring up at his aunt and uncle from the rear view mirror.

‘’You know, I think all that she was trying to say was that there’s something that’s bothering you that you have to get out of the way first before you can do anything else,’’ Piggy replied matter-of-factly. Her response was an astonished look from her husband.

‘’You mean, you were actually listening to her? Every time I looked at you, you were busy applying your make-up.’’ His response was a look from Piggy saying, ‘’Don’t go there.’’ Needless the say, the frog backed down.

‘’I know she said that I‘m sort of off, but how am I supposed to find what it is that’s bothering me? I mean, I’m happy, Uncle Kermit, I really am. I’m completely happy with my life and the way that things are going right now.’’
‘’Well, there must be something that’s making you unhappy Robin, even if it’s deep down inside of you.’’

At that, Robin wrinkled his face in thought. He still didn‘t know what the interpreter meant, but he had a good idea of how to find out. Mentally, he pieced together the elements of his dream. The star.. His dreams. The ones that he had always had. And the girl. According to the interpreter, she represented something he wanted out of life; something that he felt was missing., and the star stood for whatever was bothering him. Kermit had hit the nail on the head with that one. Thinking long and hard about it all the way home, Robin put two and two together, so to speak: the only things in life that have ever truly bothered him were his fears. As a young frog, he had many fears: fear of heights, fear of bees, fear of blood, and later, an almost obsessive and unnecessary in nature, fear of girls. And lately, there was a slight fear that Robin had in his hearts of hearts. Not a fear of oversized insects or the cutie at the coffee shop, but a simple fear of himself. A fear that he would not be himself, a fear that he would somehow stop himself from getting what he truly wanted, a fear that somehow, his innermost desires would be thwarted, one by one. From what the interpreter said, he was going to have to crush that fear at once in order to move on; but, like any other fear, that was easier said than done. Not only that, this was no ordinary fear. Unlike heights, he couldn’t just expose himself to the highest step on the slide like he did when he was little. This fear would require so much more to get over, and the mere thought of it made him nervous.


As for the girl, he still wasn’t quite sure about her. He had no significant other in his life, so that ruled out a huge range of possibilities. He just wasn’t quite sure that it all meant. Just when he was about to rule out that part of the dream for the time being, he remembered: she stood for something he wanted. Surprisingly, this was the thing that really stumped him. He couldn’t think of a single thing he wanted. Kermit had taught him to be selfless and not want much. He had lived by the rule, and it made Robin feel selfish to even think of something he could possibly want. ‘Oh well,‘ he thought to himself. Perhaps that part wasn’t to be figured out at the time.


Still, he had two important pieces. One, he had a fear that he needed to conquer, and two, he needed to have something that he felt was missing. To Robin, that had a connection. A very strong connection. He nodded his head lightly to his aunt and uncle and softly said, ‘’Yeah, I think I know what I need to do now.’’ Kermit smiled and nodded back to his young nephew, while Piggy simply smiled. Little did Robin know that that smile was half to himself. Little did Robin know that the part of Robin’s dream that he wasn’t taking into consideration, the thing that would throw his scheme off balance, the part where Kermit is behind it all, was about to come into play. Kermit had been in the wings long enough with it, and it was time for his ship to set sail. Yes, it was time to put his plan into action now.
‘’Me too,’’ said Kermit, smiling at his wife and nephew. ‘’Me too.’’

 

[green stuff]

Fozzie's in chapter 3, so I promise to deliver some laughs next time!

 

[The Count]

Actually... This was quite good. Only thing that needs cleaning up is where Kermit and Piggy are getting into their car after visiting the dream interpretor, a bit confusing who's responding to whom there.
Interesting schtuff with Penny the Panda and her daughter, I'm sure she'll come into play as the story progresses.

And Robin's fears/thoughts... Very powerful, and it helps explain what he's been going through and how the story will hopefully take shape in future chapters.
Very good, post more when you can.

 

[green stuff]

thanks for the encouragement. More to come soon!

 

[TogetherAgain]

My, it's so intriguing! Oh.......... Wow. I just...

MORE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[green stuff]

Ok, Here's the long awaited chapter 3. Sorry it took me so long to post, but I've been feeling kind of depressed lately. I promise, chapter 4 won't take this long. Here it is, chapter 3



Chapter 3
‘’Thanks for coming down on such short notice, Fozzie.’’ Kermit smiled warmly at his best friend, passing him a hot cup of coffee. (With lots of sugar, of course. Fozzie believed that if you put enough sugar in coffee, it tasted just like Ovaltine.) This morning was beginning in the usual way; Piggy was out shopping, and Robin had just gone to school. Kermit was at home, taking a rare but much needed break to go over…..’’The Plans’’ with Fozzie.

‘’Anything, Kermit. What can I do for you?’’ To say the least, Fozzie was more than a little nervous about seeing Kermit again. The friends hadn’t seen each other in about six months, since Fozzie tried to move out on his own. Granted, Kermit and the family threw him a house warming party, but not since then. He felt that if anyone had come to visit him, that he would be depending on someone, and he wanted to test himself to see if he could survive without depending on anyone for a while. Not to say that he couldn’t do it, but over the years, Fozzie had proven himself a real intovert, but one who thrived on companionship.

Beside from that, Fozzie felt that sometimes, being around Kermit was downright depressing. He and Kermit were about the same age, and had had the same experiences in life, but yet only one of them had the ‘’good life.’’ Kermit had a wife, a nephew he had practically raised as a son, a beautiful house, a promising career, and a great troupe of friends who were willing to do just about anything for him. Fozzie thought that he had….none of those things. He wasn’t married, or even seeing anyone for that matter. In fact, Fozzie never really had anyone that he felt he could actually call a girlfriend. He felt too lonely, so he had to move back into the Boarding House. He had a good job though, he did have to admit that he liked what he was doing. However, even work put a damper on things. Since the Muppets’ retirement, he was back to doing his standup routines, where hecklers like Statler and Waldorf were mere child’s play.

(Quick Flashback)
‘’Kermit, I can’t do this! They keep throwing vegetables at me!’’ Fozzie was covered from head to toe in squashed tomatoes, heads of lettuce, squash, beans, and just about any other kind of vegetable imaginable. Kermit, the ever-encouraging one, felt that sometimes, a comedian is at his funniest when someone makes him laugh. So, Kermit tried a joke of his own.
‘’Well then keep telling jokes. Maybe they’ll throw dessert!’’
(End of Flashback)

Furthermore, he thought that the only reason he had friends was because he was a friend of Kermit’s. Needless to say, Fozzie was quite lonesome. He would never tell Kermit that, but he didn’t have to. Kermit seemed to have a sixth sense about these things, and he could tell something didn’t sit quite right with him from the first.

‘’Well, I , uh, actually have a uh, proposition for you. I’ve been working up some- you ok, Fozzie?’’
‘’Hmm?’’ said Fozzie absently. ‘’Oh- yes, I’m ok, Kermit.’’
‘’Are you……..sure?’’ Obviously, Kermit wasn’t buying it for a minute. He gave Fozzie a look expressing so. Fozzie saw that look, and he looked down at the floor in an uncomfortable manner. When he looked back up, he saw the concerned and caring eyes of Kermit straight on him. Startled, he cocked his head back at first, then went back to his nervous stance. Kermit advanced to Fozzie and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.

‘’Fozzie, what- what’s wrong?’’
Fozzie took his coffee colored hat off, and began to wring it in his hands nervously. He looked straight up to find those warm, concerned eyes of Kermit’s staring straight at him. Fozzie’s only reply was a sigh.
‘’C’mon, buddy, what’s the face?’’ Now, Fozzie just looked plain confused.
‘’What do you mean? Kermit, this is the face I’ve always had.’’ Suddenly, Fozzie looked up hopefully, and with a sparkle in his eye. ‘’Is it a funny face?’’
Kermit scrunched his face, trying to find a way to tell the truth without crushing Fozzie’s feelings. After a moment of racking his brain, the frog decided that he just couldn’t lie to his friend.

‘’Well…uh, not really, no. I just thought that you looked um…kind of sad. Are you sure everything’s ok?’’ Fozzie replied (very unconvincingly) with a simple nod of his head. Kermit still didn’t buy it, but, if it’s one thing that he learned from his spouse, it was to NOT push people when they don’t want to talk about certain things. He certainly didn’t like it when it was done to him, so he wouldn’t even dream to doing it to someone else.

‘’Well….if you’re sure….’’Kermit said, rather slowly.
‘’ Yes, Kermit, I’m positive,’’ he said, actually starting to mean it. No matter how bad or hopeless the situation seemed sometimes, somehow, in one way or another, just talking to Kermit always made him feel better. And he liked it; this was the main reason why Fozzie had pledged loyalty and lifelong friendship to him. There was just something to him that was well, sort of magical. Even now, Kermit was working his ‘’magic’’ on Fozzie.

Just as he had once told him at a comedy club not long ago, sometimes to be your funniest, you have to let people make you laugh. In this particular case, he wasn’t trying to make him funnier, just to get him to loosen up a bit. So, in came Kermit with another one of his clever jokes.
‘’Oh, you’re positive,’’ said Kermit leaning back on a plum-colored couch.
‘’I see. But you know, Fozzie, only fools are positive.’’
‘’They are? Are you sure?’’
‘’I’m positive,’’ Kermit beamed, thoroughly enjoying himself.
‘’But that means--’’ Fozzie stopped, suddenly catching on to the joke, ‘’Hey, that’s funny! Wocka wocka!’’ He went from one extreme to the next; from looking downright glum, to oozing out joy and energy.’’
‘’Oh good,’’ Kermit sang out in his calm, mellow voice. ‘’ Now that’s what I like to see. A smiling Fozzie.’’

Little did the both of them know that pretty soon, Kermit was going to arrange something that would have Fozzie smiling for a very, very long time.
………………………………................................................................................................
Later…..
After Kermit explained that plan in the works to Fozzie, Fozzie was overjoyed to say the least, but also very confused. And…he didn’t mind telling Kermit so.

‘’So…this is a movie?’’
‘’No, it’s a show, but a show about the movies.’’
‘’Then it’s a movie about a show?’’
‘’No, the other way around,’’ said Kermit, getting slightly annoyed.
‘’Oh! I get it! So we’re going to show a movie!! Ah-hah!’’ Fozzie chuckled at what he thought was his own cleverness, but he wiped the smile he had on right off his face when he saw Kermit scowling at him.

‘’No Fozzie, I already explained it to you…but I guess I’ll have to explain again. We’re going to get the Muppet Show going again, right?’’
‘’Yes, sir.’’
‘’And we know that most of the people here in Hollywood are movie fans, right?’’
‘’Right.’’
‘’So-- when we bring the show back, the first show that we’ll do is going to be a movie theme. Everyone will pick a scene from a famous movie, and do it Muppet style. Do you understand?’’
‘’Of course I do! We’re doing a movie about the Muppet Show!’’

Kermit heaved a heavy sigh, and reached for the phone. One could surely believe that if Kermit had hair, he would most certainly be pulling it out right now. He pressed a number on the speed dial of his phone, and held it against his would-be ear.

‘’Who are you calling, Kermit?’’ Fozzie asked innocently. Kermit’s only response was a quick slap of his left hand against his forehead. After about another three seconds…

‘’Yeah, honey? Where do you keep the aspirin?’’