Chapter Text
As the sun rose over the hills, so did life in Fraggle Rock. Fraggles quickly woke and flooded the great hall with noise and music, something Boober Fraggle was much too tired for.
As a fraggle who preferred his peace and quiet, he wasn’t mentally prepared to deal with another day full of yelling and excitement, especially with his banging headache. He hasn’t been able to sleep well recently, causing his entire head to hurt.
“Hey, Boober! You in there?” A familiar voice yelled from outside Boobers cave. He didn’t want to be bothered this early in the morning. “Yeah?” He said groggily. Gobo walked in happily to greet his friend. “Mornin’! Me and the gang were just gonna have breakfast, wanna join?” Gobo asked. “Oh, uh yeah, I’ll be over in a minute.” He responded, still half asleep.
“Gee, you sound like you just woke up!” Gobo laughed. Though truth was, he did. “I did.” Boober said. “Oh... you just normally don’t sleep in this late.” He said awkwardly. To Boober, it didn’t feel that late in the day, but apparently he slept in a lot later than he thought he did. “Well, we’ll be in the great hall. Mokey made radish pancakes!” Gobo continued, walking out of Boobers cave with a wave. Boober just nodded. He debated if he actually wanted to go have breakfast with them or not. Though he already told Gobo he’d be there, and he’s not too fond of lying.
The fraggle quickly got dressed, with the little clothes he actually wears, and headed out to breakfast. A few other fraggles gave him a “good morning”, emphasis on the few, as he walked through the commotion. “Oh there he is!” Said Mokey, pointing out towards Boober. Boober waved and sat down at the round table. “Here.” Mokey passed the plate of pancakes to him, along with a glass of water she poured. “Thanks.” He nodded. As he was serving himself, he noticed the pancakes actually looked decent. He was proud of Mokey’s cooking skills.
As everyone began talking to each other, Boober stayed silent and just listened as he ate. “What do you mean?! I totally won that!! If he cheated that means he lost!” Red shouted. “I did not cheat! You’re just jealous you’re not as skilled as I am.” Gobo said back, cockily. Boober was listening, but also not listening at the same time. He had no idea what they were talking about.
Red said something sarcastic, and Gobo just blew it off. “Hey, you ok?” Gobo whispered, leaning into Boober. “You’ve barely said anything.” He continued. “Ah, I’m just tired, sorry.” Boober quietly said back, trying not to interrupt the others conversation. “Oh yeah, Boober, you slept in real late!” Wembley said, casually and innocently eavesdropping.
Red and Mokey looked over at Boober, who sighed. “I hardly got any sleep last night. I can’t function properly when I’m tired.” Boober responded to the four. “Why’s that?” Wembley asked. Boober thought for a quick second if he actually wanted to tell them. “Don’t worry about it. Just, a couple of nightmares.” Boober said, flicking his wrist. “Aw, again? Boober, bad dreams can have so much meaning behind them. I could help you reflect on your nightmares, and get that issue solved!” Mokey said very kindly. “Again, don’t worry about it.” Boober repeated, and Mokey shrugged.
The four soon continued their previous conversations. Boober didn’t exactly want to “reflect” on any dream of his. Although Mokey may be right, he didn’t know if there was much meaning behind any of it. And if there was, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know.
Time slowly passed through the day. It was probably time for Boober to do the laundry. He couldn’t leave anyone with dirty clothes of course. As soon as he started his chore, Wembley barged through the cave entrance without any warning. “Hiya, Boober!!!” Wembley said and he jumped, startled. “Hi, Wembley. How are you?” Normally he would be irritated with someone interrupting his alone time, but with Wembley, he accepted it. Actually, he was quite glad he came along.
“Oh ya know. What are you up to?” The blonde asked. “Just started the laundry, there’s a lot to do today!” Boober said contently. “Do you want to stay and help?” He asked, hoping the other would agree. “Yeah sure!” He responded. Usually Boober would leave all the laundry for himself to do, but Wembley’s company would be nice.
“You can start washing the jackets, and I’ll do the shirts.” He said, pointing over at a pile of jackets and vests. “Ok!” Wembley walked over to the pile and gazed upon all the washing tools, not exactly knowing which to use. He’d hate to ruin someone’s belongings. “Um, Boober?” Wembley said. “Yes?” “I’m not sure how to do this...” He said sheepishly. “Oh! So for these kinda jackets, you want to use the blue colored soap. And for the rest the green.” Boober said, showing Wembley the different types of clothes. “Ohhhh ok!”
Later on, Boober learned Wembley wasn’t very good at remembering which soap to use which material on. For the most part, he just stood there debating which one to use for five minutes until Boober gave a hand. Luckily, Boober was glad to help. In all honesty, he found it a bit cute.
Not too long after, they hung up all the clothes for drying, and sat down on Boober’s bed for the usual “watching laundry dry”. “Hey Wem, thanks for helping me out.” Boober said sincerely. “Yeah no problem, Boober!” Wembley laughed and slouched against the wall.
Boober rambled about laundry drying and other laundry related topics for what seemed like forever. Finally, he looked over to Wembley, to find him out like a light. He wondered how long he’d been talking to himself. Thought he didn’t blame him, it was getting late, and most fraggles find the topic “painfully boring”, as said.
Boober decided it was better not to wake him, being that it wasn’t unusual for Wembley to spend the night over with a friend. He laid a blanket over Wembley and thought he should probably head to bed also. If he was gonna have a hard time sleeping, he should at least try to get as much sleep as he can.
Boober sat on a small rock, about in the middle of nowhere. The cave was dark but where he sat. Like only his presence was lighting up. Although everything around him seemed so dark and ominous, he wasn’t scared. He almost felt at peace.
A dandelion grew right beside him, bright and healthy. It almost looked like it was glowing. In awe, Boober picked it, without giving much thought. As soon as his hand touched the poor flower, it immediately started dying, and shriveled up. As the flower died, so did the area around him. The cave walls were crumbling and the floor sunk in. Boober panicked, and tried to run from the destruction. But it was like his feet were glued to the ground, causing him to be immobile. He looked down at the flower, and back up at the chaos surrounding him.
As the floor crumbled away, he fell into the dark abyss below. There was no air, he couldn’t breath. Without realizing, he dropped the flower into the nothingness. But the flower wasn’t just a plain old dandelion anymore. He couldn’t make out what it was, but it looked like someone. He felt like his brain was tearing apart as he listened to the screams as the body fell down, and down, eventually out of sight.
Boober jolted up, causing him to wake. He quickly looked at everything in the room. Nothing was falling apart, no one was getting hurt... Another bad dream. It felt so vivid. He took a moment to take in his surroundings and get centered. He heard a few voices talking outside his cave. It was probably already morning. At least he got a full nights rest.
He felt something move next to him. Wembley seemed to also be waking up. “Good morning, Wembley.” Boober said. “Hmm. Good morning, Boober.” Wembley mumbled, sounding very tired. He sat up with Boober, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “I had this really weird dream.” He said. Boober thought to himself. ‘Me too.’
“I couldn’t tell who, but someone was sitting in this really dark cave. They seemed so happy, but then everything was falling apart! It’s hard to explain...” He said. Boober thought on that. That sounded exactly like the dream he just had. “What happened next...?” Boober said curiously. “Well, everything kinda... disappeared. I was with... whoever it was, until I wasn’t? I started falling, and the other fraggle was crying, and I was so confused why they were sad. The whole dream was confusing.” Wembley said, trying to figure out how to put this dream into words.
Boober panicked. That was exactly like the dream he just had. He looked back down where he was laying, and where Wembley was. They’re heads weren’t touching. There was no way they had the same dream on the same night.
Although... it was a somewhat know fact in Fraggle rock that there was another way to share dreams with other fraggles, without touching heads of course. It was said that you and your soulmate would have the ability to share dreams. But Boober never believed in soulmates, or long destined partners, or anything like that. He found the whole thing crazy. If soulmates could share dreams, then how come fraggles only started sharing dreams at a certain point in their lives? Wouldn’t it be... well for forever?
“Boober?” Wembley asked the other, who was off in a daydream. “Huh? Oh, sorry. Your dream just got me thinking. It sounds pretty scary.” Boober said, hoping he wouldn’t ask what he was thinking about. “It was! But honestly I was more scared for the other fraggle. They seemed so sad.” Wembley said, sounding a little sad himself. Boober nodded, not fully paying attention.
If the whole soulmate dream situation was true, what would that mean for the two of them? In a way, it scared him. “Boober are you ok?” Wembley asked. “Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Boober said, shaking his head. “Are you sure?” Wembley said in a caring tone, making direct eye contact with him. Boober stared into his eyes for a while, not saying anything. It was like Wembley saw right through his hair.
“I also had a bad dream. That’s all.” Boober responded finally, breaking eye contact. “Oh yeah? What was yours like?” Wembley asked. “I’m just wondering... have you ever shared a dream with someone?” Boober said, completely ignoring the question. “Well sure! Remember when we shared a dream and I met side-“ “No no. I mean like.... like without touching heads.” He said cutting the other off.
“You mean like sharing a dream with a soulmate?” “Yeah.” He nodded. “Well, not that I know of! Why?” Wembley asked, oblivious. “Hypothetical question.” He lied. “Ah, hythopetical question.” Wembley said and nodded. “I was just wondering.” Boober re-worded, seeing that he didn’t seem to know what hypothetical meant...
Boober thought about it more. If Wembley hasn’t had a “soulmate dream”, that just upped the chances that it really could’ve been the case with Boobers dream... Although normally fraggles would only have one soulmate, there was always the exception. Boober new a couple of fraggles who were in a relationship with more than just one partner.
Boober needed to talk to someone about this. But he didn’t have the courage to tell any of his friends...
Later, Boober decided to pay a visit to Majory the Trash Heap. He hated going alone, but he couldn’t let anyone else know of his... predicament. “Looks like you’ve got a visitor!” Philo said before Boober reached where they were. “You are in the presence of the all knowing, all seeing, Trash Heap!!! Nyahhhh~.” Philo and Gunge said as they’re usual introduction.
“Hello, young fraggle.” Majory greeted. “Hello, Madam. I need your help with... well I need your help with a dream I had.” Boober said, nervously taking off his hat. “A dream you say?” She said. “Mhm.” Boober nodded. “I’ve been having odd dreams lately, and last nights was really bad. But I think I shared a dream with one of my friends?” Boober shyly said. “Yeah? Are you afraid of this friend knowing about your dream?” Majory asked. “In a way... we weren’t touching heads... but we had the same exact nightmare.” Boober said, hoping he wouldn’t have to explain anymore.
“Ohhh, ok. So you had a dream with your soulmate.” She said bluntly, folding her arms. “That’s the thing I don’t know! The whole soulmate thing is silly. I’m not sure if the ability to share dreams without touching is even possible. And it just can’t be right. We’re just friends, I know that....” Boober said. “Does she know your sharing a dream with her?” She asked. “Uh, him, actually.” He commented. “Ah, I see, well does he?” “I didn’t tell him about it, no.” Boober shook his head. “Well I think you two need to communicate. Communication is key in these types of situations, you know!” She said. Boober looked down at the dirt and grass, thinking.
“Poor communication may lead to more drama I’m sure you don’t want. And if you two don’t talk things out, you’ll never know if you did have a soulmate dream or not.” Majory said. Boober didn’t disagree with that statement, but he didn’t know if he could talk to Wembley about it. So many things could happen. For better, or for worse. And to Boober, probably for worse.
“Ok, thank you.” He said bowing and putting his hat back on. He walked off, quickly moving through the garden and into the rock. Boober kept his eyes on the ground, reflecting on what the Trash Heap said. He hated that answer.
With Boobers eyes on the ground, he ran right into Mokey, almost knocking himself over. “Oh, sorry Mokey.” He said in a depressive tone. “It’s ok. You sound sad, are you alright?” She asked. She was able to read others so well. It almost creeped him out.
Boober sighed, out of all of his friends he could talk to, it was Mokey. “Honestly, no.” He said. He surprised himself that he told her. “Aw, lets go talk about it back at my cave, ok?” Boober nodded, following the girl.