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Another boring day had come and gone. That’s how it was supposed to go, but Kerrine had thought that the Muppets deserved a break from working on the “Up Late with Mr. Piggy” show. With that, the others had decided to disperse to their own thing, leaving the amphibian alone in her office for work. But this story isn’t about her, nor is it about the Pig and Aunt Deadly’s wardrobe dilemma, it’s about the House Band of the Muppets, Lady Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. As soon as Kerrine had announced the day off, all six members already knew what they were going to do. Well, maybe not Zoot, but she tags along no matter what happens. Currently, they were all crowded around their van, attempting to shove as many portable instruments on top of the roof and in the small space in the back that is supposed to be the trunk. Almost everyone was accounted for in the moment and all of Lady Teeth’s harmonicas were in the box under the seats. Key word: almost. Their resident bassist, Florence Machina, had claimed that she forgot something important on the stage and ran back inside to retrieve it. She has since been unaccounted for in the past 10 minutes they’ve been packing the essentials. “Joan, where’s your girlfriend? If we wanna skedaddle outta here, we gotta be on the road in a minute or so,” Lady Teeth asks, securing the mountain of items on the van’s roof. Joan turns to her and gives her a shrug, unsure about it himself. Sure, they stuck together almost like glue, but that doesn’t mean he should be so into her life that she hates him. Relationships need patience, trust, and other things he doesn’t remember off the top of his head. “Do you want me to call her?” “Please and thank you”. “Florence! What’s holdin’ you up? We, like, totally gotta get going if we wanna get that spot!” Joan yells, packing his guitar with the other stratocaster tucked safely in its case. Florence had always been a bit late to things, but on occasion, she would be ready before anyone else and being extremely impatient. Joan takes a quick glance inside of the vehicle and takes a few notes about where his bandmates were. Animal had, quite literally, hopped in the passenger seat while Lady Teeth was trying to gather her jewelry from the front compartment, making the area more crowded than needed. Zoot and Lips had already made themselves at home in the far back seats with at least three feet between them. Lips was brushing her hair out with her hands, a bandana tightly settled between her teeth, and Zoot was already snoring away next to her, long blue bangs obscuring the eyes of the mysterious saxophonist. No sign of Florence anywhere. “Joan, I saw Florence in your hangout area. She was looking at stuff on the floor,” Crazy Harley informs as she and Lewanna walk past the van. Both had recently begun to date and many wonder if it’s a good or bad thing. Relationship questions aside, Joan nods at the girls and strides into the building in an almost desperate search. The corridors inside twisted and turned in such a way that could make even the smartest person to get lost. Carol the Big Mean was also an obstacle if one wished to get from the Office to the door without an annoyed yell. She was, thankfully, taking the day off as well, creating a quick path for Joan to the hangout spot. The smell of lavender and chamomile would overwhelm a person’s senses immediately if one were to step inside. Using those scents helped two things with the band: to calm down an extremely rowdy Animal and to keep the smell of cannabis on a down low from the executives, though mainly from Samantha Eagle’s nose. Joan was hit with that smell as he brushed past the hanging, hand-strung beads, his eyes adjusting to the darkened atmosphere to find Florence seated on one of their two couches. Strewn in front of her were a few CD’s in their cases, one in her hand, that she quickly covered up upon Joan’s entry. “Florence, we really need to go. Lady Teeth is really pressed on time for this trip,” Joan explains, pointing in the general direction of the parking lot. Florence just nods and stuffs the disk in her pocket as she stands up. For a moment, Joan forgets that they’re dating and smiles softly at Florence, silently reminiscing when he was first falling for Florence in their “Muppet Show” days. Back when Florence’s hair was almost down to her knees. He’s brought out of his trance when Florence grabs his wrist and practically drags him out of the building. Reminiscing for too long can do that to him, next to meditating for over four hours and tuning his guitar’s A string. Both weaved their way through the empty office area, to the stage, and out to the parking lot. Lady Teeth stood leaning against the side of the van, drumming her fingers on her arm in a rhythmic pattern. “What took so long?” she asks as the couple files into the middle seats, earning a shrug from Joan. Florence slips the CD to Teeth as she climbs in, the leader suddenly understanding their bassist’s brief absence. Lady Teeth then climbs to the driver’s seat and starts the van, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the busy road. Thus began the long road trip ahead of them. Looking in the rearview mirror, Lady Teeth could see Joan and Florence leaning against each other in the middle seats, Lips playing with her old gameboy, and Zoot snoring in the back. Between the couple in the middle seats was an iPod, an earbud plugged in Joan’s right ear and the other in Florence’s left ear. Lips’ gameboy had a “Pokémon Red” game cartridge sticking from the back and faint sounds of a battle played in the air. Next to Lady Teeth was Animal, sticking her head out the window like a dog and feeling the wind against her face. For now, it was peaceful. Much more peaceful than the set is, which always felt like Kerrine was on the edge of becoming another robot conspiracy theory. It made her smile as a setting of serene is rare for any of them. Especially after the event of Scout and getting her ear pierced a week ago. “LUNCH! LUNCH! LUNCH!” Animal screamed, pulling her head back into the car. Her hair was sticking up in random parts and the bows that were delicately strewn in by Lips lay skewed, hanging on by a few strands. The loud yelling caused the occupants of the vehicle to jump, gameboys and iPods slipping from frozen hands. A snort alerted the rest that Zoot was awakened as well, fixing her bangs over her eyes again as she sat up straight. Under her breath, Animal was chanting lunch as if her life would end without the needed meal. “Are you guys hungry? I need to stop by a gas station for a refill in a minute,” Lady Teeth asks, just noticing the arrow pointing dangerously close to the ‘E’ on the gas. A quick vote and seven minute traffic jam later, the van pulled up to a nearby gas station, all but Zoot and Lady Teeth headed into the small store for snacks, drinks, and hopefully sushi. Animal and Florence paired up, heading straight to the chips and leaving Lips and Joan alone at the front. The cashier paid no mind to them, busy texting something on her phone. “We should get some water for the others. Maybe we can find sushi too”. Joan follows Lips to the beverages and grabs five bottled waters from the refrigerator. Lips was holding three of them in her arms with Joan tucking the remaining two under his arm. Both haven’t interacted much by themselves, as Lips was keen to keep an eye on Zoot and her sleeping patterns while Joan usually wandered around the studio by himself or with Florence. If there was a chance for them to talk, it would be now. And Joan takes the first step. “So, how’s, like, your stuff at that college doing? I heard that you’ve been rully busy with lecturing every two weeks or so, right?” He starts with a smile. Lips snaps her head to the man and shrugs in response. She had been a bit overwhelmed between the show and the lectures, but she would never admit it to anyone. She honestly didn’t want others to feel bad for her stress, that’s something she usually takes care of in her free time. However, Joan was one of her bandmates and he’s trustworthy enough to share more than just a shrug. “It’s been fine. Kinda overwhelming and stressful if I’m being honest, but I’m working my way through,” Lips replies, adjusting the water bottles in her arms. Joan grabs one to decrease the amount of items she was holding, nodding at the response. The woman looked grateful that the guitarist lent a hand to her and began her search for sushi, if the station had any. Not wanting the conversation to fall short, Joan picks it up with another question about her lectures. “So, how much of it are the students taking in?” “Most of it, if not all. I keep putting in metaphors and stuff that they should understand. I’m no writer, but jokes are hard to come by on their own. I almost feel like the bear whenever she takes the stage, you know? But the Statler and Waldorf are silently judging me,” Lips compares, sifting through the bags of gummy worms and Jolly Ranchers. Joan nods again, brushing a few strands of hair out of his face. “Sounds fun. Do you feel like a teacher when you get on stage?” “Sometimes, but other times, it’s like I’m just giving advice to them. Like a counselor for subjects,” she replies, looking over the aisles to find any indication of sushi or other food. The familiar sound of footfalls hit their ears as their two bandmates run up to them. Florence and Animal had rounded back to the others with a few different chips in the latter’s arms, from Funyuns to Sour Cream and Onion flavored Lays to Takis. Florence was holding onto a few containers of sushi she had found in her right hand, balancing them so her left can hold onto Animal’s harness. Lips had a pleased look on her face at the sight. “Are we ready to go?” “Please, Animal almost pulled my arm off a moment ago,” Florence replies, trying to keep Animal from running out the door. She had seen a bird land in front of the glass door, and the itch to go and pet it started to form. Thankfully, Florence is used to the random tugs and pulls of their drummer, able to keep her arm from being pulled straight out of the socket. It was always annoying though as her face reflected the irritation of Animal’s energy from such a long work week. Lips adds in, “I’m holding off a gym battle with a lv 17 Charmeleon for this, so let’s go”. Eager to get back to the van, the bandmates pay for the snacks and food as quickly as possible. Animal and Florence practically booked it back to the vehicle while Lips and Joan took their time to saunter back, plastic bags in arms. Lady Teeth was finishing up filling the van with gas and smiled at the four’s return, golden tooth shining in the bright sunlight. Her smile contorts to a frown at the bags and she sighs. “Don’t go dirtying up the seats now, capeesh? I’ll have to put some restrictions on consuming snacks if it happens,” she warns, pointing a finger at Florence’s chest. The bassist nods hurriedly before strapping Animal in the front passenger seat, and following Lips and Joan to their, at the moment, clean carpet seats. In the back, Zoot jolts awake from her nap, smiling as Lips climbs next to her with a container of sushi and two chopsticks. Florence and Joan followed suit towards their previous seats, returning to their music once settled in. They had left off on In My Life by The Beatles before Animal had interrupted them. Both jumped back into the jam session for the remainder of the trip, happy to be close to each other. — Lady Teeth and her band had been on the road for a few hours by now, the sun now settled just past 2:10 PM in the sky. By then, they had been on the road for three or so hours and all of the sushi containers had been eaten. Zoot and Lips were leaning against each other, sharing a nap with Animal surprisingly curled up in the front seat. Joan had shifted to reading a magazine, stopping on a coupon for multicolored guitar picks and advertisements of essential oils. With her head laying on the back of the seat, Florence was staring at the ceiling after eating a few chips. Her stomach had growled in retort on the food options and it drove her mad. “Here we are!” Lady Teeth suddenly announced, waking up the three others by jolting the van to a stop. The motion must’ve set something off in the bassist’s stomach because she jumped out and was soon throwing up her breakfast behind a bush. Joan followed quickly behind her, rubbing her back as she was slouched over. Meanwhile, Animal pushed open the door, completely ignoring her owner’s illness, and headed towards the trunk of the van. It was clear that she was eager to play her drums by bouncing on her heels. Zoot joined in with the drummer, jamming her finger on the handle in the process. “Is she alright? Looks like an un-splendiferous feeling” Lady Teeth asks, stepping out of the driver’s seat. Joan shoots her a shrug as Florence wipes her mouth on her sleeve. The duo walk back to the van slowly and sit down on the middle seats, Joan quickly searching for his to-go essential oils kit under the said seats. Florence was swaying by then, holding her stomach as it twisted and turned in her gut. Lips moves away from the duo’s route to the van, grabbing Animal’s leash before she causes an avalanche with their instruments. “Here, lemme rub some of this ginger scent on your arms. It’ll, like, totally help with your stomach ache,” Joan offers, taking his girlfriend’s hand. A cold substance is lightly rubbed on her wrists as the band unloads the rest of the van. The crash of a random cymbal sounds to her right and Lips’ yells of worry for her trumpet blend with the blare of a saxophone. Despite the chaos and noise, Joan worked diligently before grabbing their guitar cases. He hands Florence her bass as Animal begins a fire behind them. “You gonna be alright here?” “Yeah”. “You sure?” Florence nods, clutching her case close to her chest as the ginger hits her nose. Joan cups her face with his hand, running his thumb over her cheek lovingly. The bassist leans into the brief touch of affection before it leaves, the calm aura being taken with it. Minutes pass as the band prepares their area situated in the desert, Florence internally praying that she doesn’t throw up on her case. She doesn’t, thankfully, and is able to join her bandmates when everything is prepared as usual. The band sitting around a campfire with their instruments in arms reach, most leaning against longs or sitting on a blanket. Animal was chained down on a rock, calm and curled up to preserve heat emitting from the flames. The smell of soup wafted into the air as Florence took her usual next to Joan, who was seated in front of a decently-sized rock. “Feeling better?” “Mmhm”. Joan lays a blanket over his girlfriend’s shoulders once she’s situated on the ground, a soft fabric with roller rink carpet pattern on the front. It was a gift from Zoot when she forgot a Christmas present for Lady Teeth, which then turned into a shared gift for the entire band and labeled as “The Therapy Blanket”. Their leader doesn’t mind as long as it doesn’t get ripped apart or thrown out. Between the soft blanket and the flames of the fire, Florence was feeling a wave of calm overwhelm her. A bowl of soup and a spoon was then handed to her, Joan’s special recipe by the smell of it. “Thanks, Joan. Was it a lot to rile down Animal?” she asks, ditching the spoon and opting to drink the soup straight from the bowl. The warmth of the liquid felt as if it soothed her soul from the previous nausea and relaxed her body to a level of tranquility never reached by any Muppet before. Florence lets out a sigh and leans against Joan, feeling the rumble that shook his chest. Looking up from the bowl, she saw her other bandmates slowly playing a tune on their respective instruments. Hums of a saxophone and the mumbled sounds of the trumpet filled the air, mixing together with a harmonica’s tune for a few minutes. By the time they finished, the tongues of the flames had dissipated to ashes in a pile. Lips and Zoot were cuddled against each other, the shorter using the taller as a pillow. Lady Teeth had her hat laying over her eyes, snoozing against one of the logs they pulled over. The two that were still awake were Joan and Florence, awake to reminisce over everything they’ve gone through. “... What about Outside Lands? That was, like, totally fun to play for an audience,” Joan points out, remembering their duet on their cover of Home . Truth be told, they haven’t played a duet for others since the 90s, where Florence pulled Joan down for a kiss on the cheek. Fans were shocked and overjoyed, but the attention has now shifted to the Frog and Pig. Better for them, honestly, as they don’t need to keep up appearances for the public and nothing has to change between them. “Yeah, it was fun for a public display of affection”. “Have you heard that kids are dubbing that as PDA nowadays?” Florence gives Joan a look, furrowing her eyebrows together. Obviously not buying it, she grabs his phone from his pocket and finds Google for a quick search. Both were blinded by the screen’s lowest brightness, blinking and squinting a few times before returning to the task at hand. What comes up when she types in ‘PDA’ is for a computer and huffs, Joan watching over her head with a smile. He takes the phone before Florence could rub it in his face and adds ‘couples’ right after, bringing it to the definition he was talking about. A hint of annoyance flashes across his girlfriend’s face as she reads the google definition, his phone being handed back to him. “OK, they can coin that for now, but I will forever know it as “Public Display of Affection”. Wait, are the kids part of the government? Did they just scan your entire folder and are they taking notes on our relationship?!” Florence rambles, running her hands through her short hair for a moment before calming down. Joan shakes his head and leans back against the rock to look up at the stars in the night sky. The usually faint lights above shone brighter in nature, far from civilization and the pollution that hid even the most colorful parts of the night. Florence lays her head back as well and smiles at the sight, rarely ever seeing the night sky like this since the last time they played out of the state. “Hey, I have something for you”. The bassist sits up a bit and pulls out the CD she had grabbed from their room, almost forgotten because of her nausea. On the CD case in messy handwriting read ‘Songs that remind me of Joan. From Florence’. She practically shoves it into Joan’s hands, pulling her hat over her face as he reads it. “What’s this for?” Joan flips the case around in his hands, running his fingers over the small bumps of the case’s spine. “Well, I just… wanted to do something nice for you. You’re always helping me, like today, and I always felt like I owed you something. So, that’s my payment,” Florence explains, her face heating up to a bright red. Had her hat been removed, she would’ve been as red as Animal’s hair. Which is what Joan does, only for a kiss on the cheek. No words were said after as they sat in comfortable silence, knowing what the other was thinking by a single glance. The couple’s eyes began to grow heavy as they lay comfortably against each other, the wind whistling against their ears being the only sound heard in the dead of night. Well, that and the occasional sound of coyotes finding some food, but they were safe from them.