It was a good day to go outside. Although in the main he had trouble stirring himself from his room without being turfed out by some nurse of orderly or other, Puff did actually prefer to be outside than in. Today he had awoken with some energy, and some energy was better than no energy, and was enough to get him dressed and out of his room and into the sunny courtyard. Once there, he intended to sit down on the bench and take in some sun. The sun was good for his psoriasis, he knew, but he often was too ashamed to bare any of his skin, looking as it did, like scales. Before he could even sit down, however, he caught sight of a glinting, and he looked up to see a beautiful sight - a young man moving a ball with incredible dexterity, the sun shining off it causing the glinting that had caught Puff's eyes. After a few seconds of watching, Puff found himself drawn to walk towards the figure on the bench.
Months of Cheshire had done Paul some good at least - when he had first arrived at the hospital he would not have dared to speak to anyone uninvited, let alone anybody as grand as The Goblin King. Puff was in awe. From his regal bearing to his impressive hair and make-up, Jareth's appearance screamed 'better than you,' especially to someone with self esteem as poor as Puff's. He would have wanted to speak to him, yes. He would probably have walked past several times in hopes of being spoken to, but actually ?approach someone who looked like that? Never! Even with his improved confidence in the setting of fellow crazy people, Puff would be unlikely to approach Jareth if it wasn't for what he was doing with his hands. It was like magic! And magic was something which had long held a fascination for Puff the 'Magic' Dragon.
He stood trembling but resolute. Eventually he managed to speak.
"Excuse me," Paul said. "But that's amazing! How do you do it?"