Fraggle Rock Fic: Loneliness and the Lily Creature

Plaid Fraggle

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I had a nearly sleepless night that left me with this :excited: It's got less plot than my first one, but I tried to write it carefully because I really love the relationship between Red and The Last of the Lily Creature. Just a short little ditty that takes place not too long after my first one that first fic of mine (*all you need to know is that Red has short hair now*). Hope you like it :smile:

***

There were pink apples lying everywhere across the rich, mossy ground, and Red could hardly believe how delicious they looked.

“Hey guys! Come quick!”

From a distance, she could see that her friends Gobo and Mokey were in the middle of a discussion, and that Boober and Wembley were playing a quiet game of pebble jumps. They took no notice of her.

“Uh…guys? Don’t you see all these apples? They’re amazing! I want you to try them with me!”

When they still took no notice of her, she decided to run to them and demand their attention. How could they miss out on such a sweet and glorious feast? She snatched an apple from the ground for proof and dashed.

It took forever, but she reached Boober and Wembley. She cleared her throat loudly. “I found some delicious apples and I want you to see them, they’re shiny and PINK! Look!”

Boober took no notice of the apple, though it was right in front of his face. Instead, he took one of his pebbles, had it leap over Wembley’s, and then placed the jumped pebble into a pile of discarded stones. Wembley’s nose curled tightly inward in frustration.

“Grr…at least tell me ‘They could be contaminated,’” Red sneered in Boober’s face. She then hopped up right in-between Mokey and Gobo, just to make sure that they would see her. Though Gobo was mid-sentence, she asked, “Hey Mokey! How about you and Gobo come and join me in trying some delicious pink apples?”

“Gee, I’d love to!” Mokey kindly replied.

“All right, let’s go!” Gobo shouted.

And though Red was between the two, Mokey was able to pass right through her as though she was a ghost. She accompanied Gobo along a path headed toward the opposite direction of the apples.

“WHAT?!” Red made a sweeping gesture toward the mossy field a ways off. Holding hers up and shaking it, she cried, “These are the most beautiful apples in the world! Forget it, I’m going to go and eat them all by myself!”

Just when she had made her way back over to the mossy den of apples, the wind began to pick up. Her hair, newly short, tickled her face as it swept over it lightly. She closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze, but then a large gust came about. It prompted her to squint and comb her hair back until it had passed. When she opened her eyes again, the only apple left was the one in her hand!

“AHH!” she yelled. “No! Where did all the apples go!”

“Apples?” A haunting, cavernous voice echoed from above.

Startled, Red surveyed the cave around her quickly and gulped. “Who are you? Give me back the apples!”

“Apples, hm?” A laugh.

“Stop mocking me!” she cried. Vaguely sensing that her hand was free, she looked down at it to, surely enough, find that the last pink apple was gone, too.

All around her, that same dark voice echoed, “Wake up… Wake up…”

"No! I will not..."

"Wake up..."

“Hmm…?” Red slowly opened her eyes. All that was before her was purple and shimmering. Gaining focus, she looked up, and found herself in the presence of a friend—The Last of the Lily Creatures.

“Oh!” she started, rubbing her eyes as she propped herself up off the moss. “Wow…thank you. I had a terrible dream.”

“Oh did you?” asked the sea monster. He leaned down to rest his snout on the mossy rock where Red had just been napping. “Tell me about it.”

She smiled. She was always amused at how silly the large monster looked when he made simple gestures like anyone else would, such as resting his gigantic head lazily on a stone.

“Well,” she began, “I found myself in a mossy den of apples. They were just scattered there! They looked pretty.”

“It sounds pretty,” The Last of the Lily Creatures mused.

“Oh, was it ever,” she agreed. “And they were pink.”

“Ooooh…”

“Right? So, I knew I just had to share them with my friends! But when I went and told them about the apples, it was like I didn’t even exist!”

“That’s terrible,” the monster interjected earnestly. “So then what did you do?”

“Well, I was really angry, so I tried to just enjoy them by myself. But then they all disappeared when...you started talking.” Thinking about it now, she laughed to herself a little bit.

“Haha, I didn’t mean to steal your apples,” chuckled the Lily Creature.

“Naaah, it’s okay,” she smiled. “Come to think of it though, your voice is really intimidating, you know that?”

He grinned. “You should have heard my father’s voice.”

A shiver ran down Red’s spine, though she remained smiling.

“Hahaha,” the monster laughed. Tilting his head to the right, he asked, “That's an interesting dream. Have you been lonely lately?”

“Well…maybe a little. I don’t really know why, actually. But most of the time, I just try not to realize it. I look for ways to be unlonely.”

“What has been working for you?”

“Well…” she sighed, “nothing, really.”

“So you came here,” he stated with a peaceful, sharp-toothed smile.

“That’s right!” she replied.

“I would hope that you would come here just to show me your new hair!”

“Oh!” She quickly grabbed her soft, feathery hair. “Woops! Yeah, that’s right, you haven’t seen it! Do you like it?”

“I love it.” He lifted his head from the rock and nodded. “Though I really will miss your braids.”

“Aw, yeah, well…” she sneered, “you can blame Gobo for that.”

“You like to complain about Gobo a lot,” he laughed.

“Well, he chopped off all my hair!” Red exclaimed. “How would you feel?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I barely have any!”

“Hahaha!”

They smiled at each other.

“You know...you just missed the lily season,” he told her.

Red’s mouth dropped. “Oh no! You told me to come back especially when the lilies were in bloom!”

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “There is always next year.”

Her heart sunk a little when she realized she had missed the entire season. But quickly, she cheered up. “Well at least my hair will be long enough for braids by then.”

“I bet it will,” the Lily Creature agreed. “I’m sure you have been very busy.”

“Oh, you bet! There’s always so much to do in Fraggle Rock. I’ve been breakin’ all kinds of records, teaching Fraggles to swim better, singin’ all kinds of songs…it’s a lot of work!”

“It sounds like it!” He looked toward the center of the rock, from which he could hear the rumble and excitement of the Fraggles pulsing clearly while he was underwater. “So perhaps you haven’t been as lonely as you think after all.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I’m beginning to think that maybe there are different kinds of loneliness,” Red sighed. “Sometimes when you’re busy, you pretend like you feel like everything’s okay, everyone in the Rock likes you, but inside it feels like you’re doing everything alone. And then you wonder why you even do stuff at all.”

The creature raised his tired eyes to the roof of the cave and nodded. “Yes. That is a type of loneliness.”

“You feel that way, too?”

“No. Not anymore,” he said. “I am the last of the Lily Creatures. I am not a very busy creature at all.”

“Oh, I see.” Red nodded. She knew that he felt this way even before he had said it, but she didn’t feel embarrassed for her question. The Last of the Lily Creatures was a very understanding monster.

“It was nice to find you here again when I came to the surface, though,” he told her.

“Oh, I’m so glad!” Red said with a cheerful smile. “I’ve missed you, I have. I’ve just been—”

“Busy, of course. You have a lot of energy. There is no need to waste it.”

“I agree,” she nodded.

“But you can come and visit anytime,” the Lily Creature said. “Because I could use the busy kind of loneliness more often.”

“Haha, aww,” she laughed. She reached forward and lightly pat his nose. “I’ll come back soon, I promise.”

“Whenever you like,” he said. He then paused pronouncedly for a moment, then declared, “I hear a friend of yours. He’s looking for you.”

“Really?” Red stood very quietly. After a few moments had passed, she could faintly, but clearly, hear Gobo calling her name. “Oh! It's Gobo!"

"Ah, that Gobo."

"Yeah...that one. Wow! You have good hearing!”

“I like the quiet,” he explained, “so I am very good at detecting noise.”

“I see.”

The Last of the Lily Creatures heard Gobo call again. “Don’t let your energy go to waste. I will see you again, maybe even before the lilies bloom.”

“You can count on that!” Red asserted. Then, a bit more softly, she told him, “I have missed you.”

“I have missed you too.” With a trumpeting squeal, he playfully blew on her short, choppy hair with air from the blowhole atop his trunk. It tickled her face as it swept over lightly.

“Haha! Well, you take care! Goodbye!”

“Goodbye.”

And The Last of the Lily Creatures fell back under the water, and into solitude.
 

charlietheowl

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Awwww! I like that Red was able to share her feelings with the Lily Creature, sometimes I think it's hard for Red to let her guard down and open up. I think she feels a lot of pressure to stay in "Red" mode all the time. Thanks for sharing!
 

Plaid Fraggle

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Awwww! I like that Red was able to share her feelings with the Lily Creature, sometimes I think it's hard for Red to let her guard down and open up. I think she feels a lot of pressure to stay in "Red" mode all the time.
I think so too :smile: It's probably nice for her to have a friend she needs to keep secret!
 

Slackbot

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It's good for Red to be able to share her secret, even if it's only with the one the secret's about. And I'll bet The Last Of The Lily Creatures is pleased to have someone to talk to. Lilies are pretty, and possibly tasty, but they're not good conversationalists.

Thanks for posting!
 

Twisted Tails

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Well, I will be doggone, Plaid. You did an awesome with this fanfic. I also like the "Miss Perfect Braids" thing you added too. I was sure you saw "Red's Sea Monster" more than once before you came with the last of the lily creatures. Well, I am sure lily creatures are strange and not great at conversations. I really loved them. :excited:
 

Hubert

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Very nice. I feel like you really captured the lily creature's voice and personality quite nicely. It's been a while since I've seen the episode so that I almost forgot what he sounded like, but your wonderful dialogue made it all suddenly come back to me. Great relationship between Red and the lily creature. :excited:
 
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