fh_adventures | In Jareth's Castle, Saturday Afternooon

In Jareth's Castle, Saturday Afternooon

Well... That hadn't gone quite as planned. The right words have been said, and Jareth has simply laughed in the faces of our would-be rescuers. What now? Three challenges? That wasn't in any of the clues! Play fair, Goblin King!

Then again, saying, "It isn't fair" never really seems to do anybody any good in here anyhow, does it? Drat.

[Follows this post! For Team Jareth and for our pretty pretty Princes and Princesses! If any of you need an NPC for your trials, please, visit us over at this post and we'll send somebody by as soon as we can!]

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"WHY?" she screamed at him. "So why did you? Why didn't you just stay in the dorms and leave me be?"

Because unlike yer new friend here, Jono thought, casting a quick glance at Jareth before looking back at her, unperturbed by her screaming, I care enough to ask you what it is that you want, before going right ahead and forcing it on you. He didn't even kidnap you in person, did he? He probably sent some of those bloody goblins of his to do his dirty work for him. There's how much you mean to him, Emma. Yer a pretty new toy to him. An item on his shopping list for somebody else to round up and deliver. That's all.

"You're lying," Emma whispered, looking at him in dawning horror. "You're making that up. You're lying."

Jono shook his head a little, the angry orange fire shifting a little, until it was flickers of blue flaming his face.

You'd know if I was.

"You're lying," she repeated, although this time it was more to herself, as if to try and convince herself otherwise. "He said we were safe here, Jono. You're lying. He wouldn't do that."

Yes, he would, and Emma was internally fighting for those little bits of herself that weren't completely lost under the Goblin King's magic.

"You have to be lying. It's safe here, he promised."

Emma, come home, Jono thought toward her, holding out a hand. His thoughts were quieter now, almost pleading. I've been worried.

He could have said 'we.' Could have. But this was as much the truth as that was, and so much easier to prove.

You can be so much more than princess of scurrying things that bump in th'night. You know that.

'Can be so much more.' That was the crux of it, wasn't it? Emma was never going to be satisfied with what was given to her, and deep inside, she knew it.

"But...no one worries about me." Everything inside her head was jumbled, loud and confusing, and Emma took his hand out of reflex, for something to focus on. "You don't need to worry, I'm..."

Dizzy.

"...you don't think I'd make a good princess of nightmares?"

Jono shrugged a little, giving her hand a squeeze.

I think you're far more suited to be Queen than Princess. And you'll never get that while yer here.

"Queen, huh?" It was getting easier and easier to focus through the fog, and Emma managed to give Jono a wobbly grin. "Does that make you one of my knights?"

There were worse things to be than a knight, Jono supposed. But if it meant that this Emma was going to try to put him into the tight red uniform of Generation X, too, then he was going to ask for demotion to jester.

Knight in shining leather, he mused. Just so long as you don't expect me to ride a horse. I'm bloody terrible with horses.

They could substitute for a motorbike. He knew what he was doing with one of those, at least.

Edited 2010-12-12 02:16 (UTC)

"There is nothing wrong with leather," she retorted, tiredly. Look at what she's wearing, Jono. LOOK AT IT. Emma was wearing the corset and leather pants as if she had been born to wear them. "Or horses. I liked horses, when I was a kid."

Honestly, now. From this close up, it was difficult to miss what she was wearing. You'd think he'd be used to it because of Miss Frost back in Massachusetts, but on this Emma, it was kind of new and novel.

No horses here, luv. What do you say we head back, away from this place? At least Fandom's got th'stables.

"Are you going to let me teach you how to ride a horse?"

Somehow, that seemed important, but Emma needed to hold on to something to tell her that she was needed outside these walls. Wanted. That this wasn't just some trick designed to make her hide further inside herself.

Jono nodded a little. If that was what it took? Certainly.

And mock me when it throws me on my arse, every time.

He was going to be mocked a lot.

He hesitated for a moment, and then added, And... possibly teach me how to control my power... better than I do.

It wasn't horses, but it was certainly more real, wasn't it?

It was more real, and Emma squeezed his hand back, the crystal falling, forgotten, from her lap as she tried to stand up.

"I think I want to go home, now. If only to laugh at you."

"...and I want that bit about your powers in writing, Starsmore."

That was almost a smile, pulling at the corners of Jonothon's eyes. He stood, holding out his other hand as well, to help her to her feet.

That can be arranged, too. C'mon, luv. Let's get out of this place before the Fireys want another go at Red Rover.

"Is that some sort of British slang?" Emma asked, taking the other hand and letting him help her up. "Or do I not want to know?"

He'd mentioned a minotaur; clearly, it had been an adventure.

For th'sake of my dignity, we'll say it's some quaint little Cockney colloquialism. Absolutely.

Jono and his dignity had ended up waving around disembodied muppet limbs in a bit of a fit. Slang? He'd like that.

"For the sake of my dignity, I never had a magically-induced meltdown," she bartered. "Deal?"

They could Never Mention This Again, unless Jono tried to weasel out of working with his powers. Emma would be fine with that.

Jono was pretty weaselly when he wanted to be, but considering the circumstances under which he asked her to help him with them, he really wasn't about to try to sneak out of it.

Deal.

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In Jareth's Castle, Saturday Afternooon

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