"Hi, Red!" Came the familiar call of Pogey's voice as soon as Red made her way out of hers and Mokey's cave "Heya, Pogey!" She said with a smile, waving at them as they raced down the tunnel towards her "I'm Pogey!" Pogey cried cheerfully, throwing their arms around her and giving her a big hug, like they always did whenever they greeted her "Ya comin' with me to the pond today? I've got a new dive I've been practicing that I really wanna show off!" She asked, returning their embrace "Yay! I mean-yes!" Pogey replied, excitedly jumping up and down "I love watching your dives, Red!" At that she grinned proudly. She always loved hanging out with Pogey, and they were always a great audience too "Race you there!" She cried, ending their hug and booking it towards the Great Hall, giggling the whole way as Pogey struggled to keep up with her. She was one of the quickest Fraggles in the Rock, and she loved taking every opportunity to show it. When she reached the pond's edge she turned around, expecting to see Pogey not too far behind her, rushing to catch up with a silly smile on their face, like always when they had a race. But they were nowhere in sight. Had they stopped following her? Maybe they'd gotten distracted by something. She was about to run back down the tunnel to find them when they finally turned the corner, grinning at her and waving "Hi, Red! I'm back!" Pogey said brightly, stopping in front of her and catching their breath for a moment. She noticed they had one of their arms behind their back, clearly hiding something they were holding from view "Where'd you even go? You totally lost the race!" She said, amused and curious "That's okay! I always lose when we race, Red! You're so fast!" Pogey laughed. They were always such a good sport "Ha, yeah, I guess that's true! You really had no hope of beating me even if you hadn't gotten sidetracked!" She chuckled "So what were you doing?" She asked again. Pogey's reaction to her question confused her; they didn't respond right away and shifted from foot to foot in a nervous manner, but they were smiling still. Though something about the smile felt different then Pogey's usual goofy grin, she'd almost describe it as shy, which threw her off because Pogey was always so confident, in their own silly way "I picked these for you!" Pogey finally answered, enthusiastically holding out to her from behind their back a tiny bouquet of flowers. She blinked in surprise "Oh, uh..Gee thanks, Poges!" She said awkwardly, taking the flowers from their hand. It's not that she didn't appreciate the thought, she just wasn't really much of a flower kind of Fraggle, that was more Mokey's thing. She was also just unsure how to respond to being given a gift in this way; Pogey's odd demeanor was really making her feel weird about it. Pogey had gone back to shifting from foot to foot, twirling some of their hair around their finger and blushing slightly "You're welcome, Red! I saw them and I thought they were really pretty, and I just wanted to give you something really pretty, because, well, I-I think you're real-" "Say, do you think you could actually hold onto these for me for a while longer? Thanks! I have to go do my dive now! Bye!" She interrupted in a panic as she shoved the flowers back into their hands, not wanting to hear them finish their thought, though she knew exactly what they'd been about to say "Okay! Bye, Red!" Pogey said smiling, not seeming at all perturbed by being cut off "I'll be over here cheering for you!" She heard them call as she took off towards the tallest diving rock, feeling completely flustered. She tried not to look at Pogey when she reached the top, taking a huge deep breath, and diving quickly into the pond. After she was under the water she stayed there for as long as her breath holding record would allow her, which, even though she prided herself on it being longer than most Fraggles, she felt it was nowhere near long enough now; she wished she could hold her breath forever so she wouldn't ever have to go back up to the surface again.
