WHO: Sarah Williams and Jareth. WHERE: Sarah's apartment building. WHEN: Saturday, May 7; afternoon WHAT: Sarah moves into her apartment and has her first face-to-face encounter with Jareth. RATING: TBD STATUS: thread; completed!
Moving into a new place was rather easy when one's possessions were in another city – or world or reality, however it was meant to be viewed – but Sarah had still needed to brave a bus with her taped boxes, as a cab was too expensive, even for this. She made it unscathed, however, and had even been offered help while on the bus. That the offer came from a particularly skeevy person didn't exactly make it something she was glad to take him up on, but the offer had been... nice.
The only trouble now was getting both boxes up the many flights of stairs in her new apartment building. She had an intended bank deposit for the theater (which she had every intention of paying back in full when she was home again) to thank for both the acquisition of the tiny apartment within a decent distance from her new job and the ability to live until this point. The job had not been too difficult to get either, but it was hardly of the rank she was used to after managing a theater.
Stacking one box atop the other, though it obscured her view of everything in front of her, Sarah made the trip up the stairs without incident. It was only as she reached the last step before the landing to her floor that she had to stop, as she had run into something. Judging by the give of what she had hit, it was likely a someone. Apologizing profusely, she steadied herself and bent to set the boxes on the landing so she could continue the apology face to face.
"I couldn't see over the box, I hope you're okay," she said as she stood back up, looking up. The apologetic smile on her face fled as she focused on the person in front of her, replaced by a flash of uncertain recognition as her stomach dropped.
Jareth. Ten years and he looked exactly the same. In several ways both actual and figurative, it was like staring her past directly in the face.
"Oh my God, not you," she breathed, and with that pronouncement, recognition turned to wary retreat as she advanced, but only to get on the landing and put space between them.