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Tweak says, "PAWPRINT!"

sarah_williams (sarah_williams) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2009-02-15 20:10:00

Entry tags:

arrival, complete, day 32, jareth, sarah williams

Day 32: Intro
Who: Sarah Williams & Jareth
What: Sarah arrives
When: Day 32, just before sunrise
Where: Garden
Status: Complete
Rating: PG at the moment

It was so quiet that Sarah could have heard a pin drop. If she had been paying attention. She was more focused on something else. Something that had settled in her stomach like an icy ball of dread. Her knuckles were white as she held the blankets tightly to her chest, eyes wide, staring straight up at the ceiling.

It's finally happening.

The clock was ticking in the hallway. The clock that had been there 3 years ago. The one that was safely at her father's house a thousand miles away with Irene and Toby and their perfectly normal, ignorant lives. She had no clocks in this apartment. None that could tick, that is. Yet there it was. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

He's finally coming back for me.

Something about the room changed. It wasn't as dark anymore. Light was creeping in through the blinds? No, it looked more like cracks in the walls of the room. Sarah sat up straight as an arrow in the bed with a muffled cry in her throat. Tears began to stream down her cheeks and she opened her mouth to scream.

Then the garden.

At first she thought she must have passed out or had been dreaming of being in her own apartment a few moments ago. Because this garden looked exactly like the one in which she had been practicing her lines all those years ago on the night she first visited the labyrinth. Upon inspection she saw she was indeed wearing the long, white dress she had used for playacting then and the wreath of flowers in her long, dark hair.

It was all a dream? All of it?

"Am I fifteen again? That's not f-" and she stopped herself, feeling the old petulance rising and the fear subsiding. And as it did she realized that this garden was nothing like the one she had practiced in. In fact, it was so dissimilar that she reached up to be sure she hadn't imagined the wreath of flowers in her hair. But it was still there.

"Where am I?" she whispered.

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sarah_williams
2009-02-19 10:15 am UTC (link)

Sarah thought she had caught a glimpse of something flutter beneath the surface of Jareth's calm exterior as she'd turned to tell him the number on her key. Had that been ... envy? What he could have to be jealous of in this situation she had no idea and she didn't want to spend any time trying to figure it out because as soon as she thought she'd seen it, it was gone again.

Your imagination is far too colorful, Sarah.

Then he'd snapped, startling her out of her thoughts and the riding crop had disappeared. In its place a key appeared. A key nearly identical to her own. His tricks of illusion never failed to marvel her. Even when he had incited terror in her by tossing a snake-turned-scarf at her throat there had been something fantastic about the magic he weilded with such effortless grace. Still she didn't like it that the Planet had chosen to allow him to continue to have such power even if it was ineffectual in forcing his will on the Planet and its servants.

Stop with the frightened rabbit routine. You're stronger than this.

It did not amuse her as much as it seemed to amuse him that they were roomed so closely together. An entire country between them would not have made her feel safe enough to go to sleep. Though, conversely... well she wouldn't think about that.

Smiling tersely she tilted her head. "How convenient. So you can show me to my room then? Did you have it decorated like my old bedroom to try to fool me into staying with you again?"

As soon as the words left her mouth she bit her lower lip as if she could keep them from being spoken if she bit hard enough. She mistrusted him, yes, but in admitting it aloud again she knew she sounded weak and petulant. He'd start talking about hatred or destruction again now, she was sure of it.

All of a sudden she realized that while vacillating about how she felt about Jareth, she was unconsciously trying to force her will on him. She wanted him to walk between two lines within her comfort zone. He was to have no power but the same attraction to her she'd seemed to feel each time he'd appeared to her in the labyrinth so that she could have the upper hand. Ridiculous! She could no more control him than she could control the fear she'd felt by self-destructive behaviors. Nothing was fair and no "upper hand" would change that. That was the lesson. It was an epiphany and her green eyes suddenly sparkled. She took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eyes.

"If we're going to be stuck here in the same space, forever running into each other because it won't be helped, I think we need to put the past to rest."

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labyrinth_king
2009-02-19 10:40 am UTC (link)

Jareth tilted his head to the side and his eyes narrowed. Though clearly he had changed with the destruction of his world, it had really only been a couple of days ago for him. Old habits had not died, not completely, and though he was far more resigned now than he had been while she was in the labyrinth, it wasn't complete. Something dangerous flashed in his eyes, and he opened his mouth as if to snap at her. His fingers twitched, crystals wanting to be produced and used.

But the problem with illusion is that, once it's been penetrated, it loses most of it's power. So what would the point be? She said he had no power over her, so his illusions would simply be pretty, or not so pretty, pictures. So he took a deep breath and let it out with a shake of his head. "No. You design your room. Make a wish, tell the Planet how you want it to be, and it shall be done."

This whole dynamic was strange. While he'd been scrying on her before the labyrinth incident, she'd been unaware of him. In the Underground, she'd been subjected to his will numerous times. Now, however, it seemed the only control he had was over himself. And there were no goblins here to do as he told them. Was it destined, then, to be a constant power struggle between himself and the pretty girl?

Well, if so, so be it. At least she was here. And in reality, if he understood it correctly, this was the safest place for he and Sarah to be in the same place. By the rules, neither of them could kill the other, so he need not fear destruction. And of course, the same went for her, since surely his anger had concerned her at least a little. After all, when you broke someone's world, it was probably better if they didn't see you again. Safer.

The chain of thoughts that he was having were completely dispelled as he turned back to her. He was going to talk, he was going to say something, only he hadn't figured out what just yet... but her eyes were practically throwing off sparks, or so it seemed to him, and though he probably could have looked away, he didn't want to. Not even remotely. So he returned her level gaze with one of his own, and even half-smiled.

"Oh? And how exactly is that going to happen?" His voice was slightly sardonic, but at the same time, interested. "Are you going to put me in a Labyrinth, and I must find my way through? Then, I can destroy your world and we'd have symmatry." But of course, that wouldn't be allowed, not here. So while it might be fair, it wasn't possible. "Although, of course, it could be said that we've already played that out. Yes, I kidnapped both you and your brother, and yes, I put you into my labyrinth. But you won through, took back the child, and destroyed my world. And almost me." He grimaced, not liking to admit that. "So perhaps that's the only fairness we can expect."

It hardly seemed fair to him, but that didn't matter. He'd come to the conclusion many centuries ago that life wasn't fair, even for powerful fae illusionists. Not while there were others around.

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sarah_williams
2009-02-19 11:01 am UTC (link)

Jareth seemed to go through his entire repertoire of emotional responses in a brief moment and it was a little frightening. Sarah knew he would constantly be reminding her of his vast power, even if it was done unconsciously, every time she was in his presence. It was funny that he credited her with such large scale destruction. She had known he would. That was why she’d feared him. But she had no powers of destruction unless it was aimed inward. The words had done the damage. “You have no power over me” had been a line in a play. Whatever had empowered them to destroy his world had not come from her, she was sure of it. She thought about saying so but figured it was neither here nor there anymore.

Instead she sighed longsufferingly at his grandiose assumption of her idea on burying the hatchet. “No, Jareth. I didn’t say I wanted to be on equal footing. I said put the past to rest. Rest. No destruction. No revenge. We can either decide here and now to avoid each other. Didn’t you say once that it’s only forever - not long at all? Or we could…”

She smiled slightly at herself, turning her face away toward the golem who seemed to look a bit impatient. What she was going to suggest sounded so absurd in her mind and she didn’t think he’d even be vaguely interested considering how sarcastic he sounded. She wondered briefly if he was so acerbic because it was just the natural position of an immortal king to be elevated or he masked other things with it, using it as a defense mechanism as she did sometimes. That also was neither here nor there.

Brushing hair from her face, she looked back at him. “We could have coffee and try to find a way to get past this thing.”

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