Disclaimer - We do not own any of the original characters from the movie and we do not profit from our storytelling in any way.
The front door to the one bedroom apartment made a soft clicking noise as it was unlocked from the outside, causing the three goblins lounging on the sofa to suddenly freeze, then scramble for cover, dragging the bags of snacks they'd raided from the kitchen under the piece of furniture in the process. Luckily, they hadn't been watching TV and wouldn't have to deal with the female calling her 'Land Lord' and complaining about vandals. After dealing with a strange man searching the mortal's apartment and dodging discovery for a few hours, they'd learned to be rather inconspicuous. Well, more like Scrabble had organized and Slug kept Slink in line - but she didn't mind.
In fact, Slink was peering curiously around the edge of the sofa when the mortal walked in from work, carrying a few sacks of groceries with her. Her nose quivered and her stomach rumbled quietly as she smelled the delicious scent of braised short ribs (her favorite!) and the odd mix of vegetables along with the other bagged items in her human's purchases from the store.
Scooting back before she could be seen, she barely suppressed a yelp as Slug grabbed her wrist and yanked her back beside him. "Ya want Lady ta see us?" he growled. She trembled but frowned, ignoring his rude stare.
"I just wanted to see what she brought's home. Lady looks very pretty today. You think we should tell Sly when he visits tomorrow? He says Kingys been 'specially unhappy this week," she whispered, keeping her voice low, breathing a sigh of relief when the human began to play some music from the entertainment center.
"Well, it's that time of year when...you know," Slug rumbled, letting go of Slink's wrist.
"Yeah," she said sadly, handing him her bag of chips when he noticed she still had them in her hands. Sitting down and watching Slug eat, she wistfully looked back at Sarah. As she watched the human woman, Slink and dreamed of the day when she'd give up this mundane human existence to come live in the Labyrinth with the King and make him happy again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm tellin' you, this year is even worse than usual," grumped Sly, leaning against a pillar in the throne room that was, luckily, very far away from the King's dais. If a goblin or chicken even neared the fae, he would scowl and send it flying across the room with a well-placed boot swing. He sighed, watching the fifth goblin that day go flying.
"You think we should ask him if he wants to see her? I heard Scrabble talkin' the other day that the girl is still..what do they call them up there? Single? What's single even mean?" Chatter whispered, staring at the King as he kicked another chicken across the room with a squawk, making him wince as Tripp tried and failed to catch the creature, stumbling over a mug of ale and angering the King even further when the loud crash echoed in the room.
"SLY!" Jareth roared, gesturing with a grimace. "Get rid of this fool!"
Sly sighed, shaking his head. "No, certainly not. Look at him, he's in too foul a mood to risk it. I'm goin' to visit Slink and her group tomorrow, we'll see about it then. Until then, just keep an eye out and make sure those fools Aboveground are staying out of trouble. This plan will only work if we remain incognito."
Chatter stared, dumbfounded. "What's incognito?"
Sly moved to shake Chatter's teeth loose with his annoyance at the goblin's constant questions but another roar from Jareth had him slinking across the throne room to do his King's bidding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scrabble crawled up next to Slink, who was peering around the corner, watching Sarah put the food away in the kitchen. "What's she doin'?"
"Puttin' the food away," Slink whispered.
The lady looked in their direction and they both ducked back around the doorway. They froze with their backs against the wall, listening intently for any sound of approaching footsteps. After several moments they heard the fridge open. They relaxed, both breathing small sighs of relief.
"Won't Sly be here soon?" Scrabble asked Slink.
The smaller goblin girl shrugged. "He said he'd visit, but its that time of year again, and we both know how Kingy gets at this time of year. Sly might not be able to sneak away for long enough to visit today."
"If he doesn't come today, he might be here tomorrow," Slink offered helpfully.
Scrabble scowled and then sighed. "I thought we'd have some sorta plan by now," she whispered in distress. "We've been up here months and still have no idea how to- to alienate the Kingy's sadness.
Slink looked at Scrabble, her brow furrowed at her use of yet another big word. Slink wasn't always sure that Scrabble knew the meaning of every word she used. "Alienate?"
"Yeah… you know, to make better. Kingy and Lady both sad. We gotta alienate their sadness somehow," Scrabble replied before peeping cautiously around the corner once more.
Slink shook her head and sighed before joining Scrabble in spying on Sarah. After several minutes, Slink forgot about Scrabble's questionable use of vocabulary as she watched Sarah set out a platter of braised ribs and several sides. She blinked in confusion. That was more food than she had ever seen the Lady eat.
She was just wondering if the Lady was expecting someone when Sarah strode toward the kitchen door. She and Scrabble darted for cover as Sarah approached, diving behind the entertainment center just as Sarah entered the living room.
Sarah stood just inside the doorway, blocking their path to the kitchen, and placed her hands on her hips. "All right, I know you're there, you rascals. I'm not moving from this spot until you all come out."
"FRAK! She knows!" Scrabble shrieked softly, backing into the others and sending them crashing together to the floor behind the curve of the couch.
"It's frell, stupid, and with you idiots making all this noise, of course she knows!" Slug whispered deeply, glaring at Scrabble from over his knees. Slink did her best to remain as quiet as possible, risking a peek around the edge of the couch, only to come face to face with Sarah's intense stare, the human having moved across the room and knelt down on her knees, investigating the sound.
"FRAK! FRELL! HELP! SHE SEES ME!" Slink screamed, backing up as Sarah reached over and scooped her up from where she was hiding. Instantly, she broke into tears, clutching at Sarah's shirt lapels. "Please don't be angry, Lady! We only wanted to see you! It's been terribly lonely and the Kingy's never in a good…"
She trailed off when she felt Slug toss something, hitting her in the back of the head with a mushy piece of fruit. Sarah scowled down at the others as they slowly crawled out from their hiding spots.
"Hey! No throwing things at one another," Sarah scolded, holding Slink close as she soothed the little goblin, smiling as Slink dried her tears. "And what's with the words? Where'd you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Slug asked, plopping down on the couch and making himself comfortable.
"Frak, frell…" Sarah responded, watching as Scrabble stood and dusted herself off, holding her nose high as she tried to wander across the living room with dignity, ignoring Slug's glares. Eventually, she settled herself on the loveseat beside Sarah, away from Slug.
"The little people in the glowing box," Slink responded, looking up at Sarah with wide eyes. "You're super pretty, lady." Sarah chuckled, studying the small goblin in her arms.
"Thanks, but that still doesn't explain why you're here, eating my food, invading my home. You've been doing it for weeks, haven't you? Don't you have a King to satisfy or something?"
Slink opened her mouth to respond but Slug's responding growl had her closing her mouth. She glanced fearfully back at the others before shrugging at looking back up at the woman. "Well, my brother's coming t'morrow, so maybe he can s'plain it better. I isn't very good with words, miss."
Sarah stared, her eyes widening. "Wait, there's MORE of you coming?"
Slink smiled and opened her mouth to respond when Slug shot off the couch, glaring at Slink and pointing a finger. "Shut it, Slink! You've already told the Lady too much! We agreed to keep silent!"
Slinks lip started to quiver and she made a small effort of hiding in Sarah's hair as she whimpered. Sarah hugged her tightly and leveled her 'serious business' eyes at Slug, who seemed sufficiently terrified by them.
"Now see here, this is MY home. And I will NOT tolerate bullying. I am not angry with you for coming here but if you are going to continue to stay then you have to follow MY rules. No bullying is #1. #2 is to answer my questions honestly because it is wrong to lie, especially to a host. If you continue this behavior you will have to stand in the corner PERFECTLY STILL for the rest of your stay. Have I made myself clear?"
Slug had removed his helmet and was lowering his eyes in contrition. "Yes, Lady," he murmured.
She nodded in satisfaction. "Good! Now apologize and we can get on with dinner."
The others were huddled together now and watching all this happening with shifting eyes. Slug never apologized. But without even a brief pause he raised sincere eyes to Sarah and Slink and said, "I'm sorry I bullied you, Slink." Slink looked at him with surprised eyes.
"Thank you?" Manners were very unfamiliar territory for Goblins, but it seemed they would have to learn if they didn't want to be banned from Sarah's apartment.
"Excellent," Sarah asserted. "Now all of you go and sit quietly at the table and we can eat while we discuss your presence here."
The Goblins were especially careful to do exactly as she said, she was too much like Kingy when she was angry to take risks.
Sarah gently bounced Slink who giggled at the new sensation. "Now where would you like to sit, Pumpkin?" Slink looked confusedly at her, "What's Punkin?"
Sarah smiled gently at her, "Pumpkin. It's a kind of food but it's also a term of endearment for those who are especially sweet. Since that's what you are, 'Pumpkin' is what I am going to call you!"
Slink blushed a deep green, "Is...it a Name?"
Sarah considered for a moment while she placed Slink in the chair on her own right, "Yes, I suppose it is."
Pumpkin stood on her chair and puffed out her chest at the others. In a sure voice she addressed her comrades.
"The Lady has Named me 'Pumpkin'!"
The other goblins immediately stilled, their eyes going wide as they looked between the newly named Pumpkin and Sarah.
"Awww, man! How we supposed to explain this to Sly?" Slug said solemnly, casting Pumpkin another quick glare. "See, this is why I said to stay quiet!"
Scrabble was the first to notice Sarah's perplexed look as she watched the discussion with amusement, addressing the inquisitive human. "You see, we're...ah..sort of yours once you Name us. The King don't know we're here and...well...don't do it again, please. I'm Scrabble, this is Slug." Scrabble pointed to her chest then to her left at the plump goblin who seemed to always be scowling.
Sarah bit back a laugh at Slug's expression but got serious when she listened to Scrabble explain the significance of naming a goblin. Nervously, she shifted in her seat as she passed plates with food around for all of them. "Does the King know when he loses a servant? I mean, from the sounds of it, you've been here for days and yet I haven't seen anything else suspicious…"
Suddenly, all intelligent conversation was lost as the goblins spotted food. Letting out various cries of surprise and joy, they all flung themselves into eating happily, not noticing the horrified look that came over Sarah as she paused in her own eating.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" She yelled, tipping her head back to avoid a flying bit of food. She stared, gawking at all the sudden mess over the table.
Slug belched and looked at her like she was dim-witted. "You said we could eat. So we eat!"
"Like that?" Sarah was aghast.
All three simply shrugged and started eating once more. Sarah waved a hand, bringing one up to her face to hide her brief gag.
"Not like that you're not!" She started, only to have Slug groan.
"Lady's got more rules than Kingy…" he grumbled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pumpkin yawned and sat up on Sarah's bed. She'd slept there the night before, curled up in a little nest of covers that she'd made. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked around. It was still dark but Sarah was no longer in the bed. Instead, light shone out from under the door to Sarah's bathroom, bits of steam escaping through the same crack.
Pumpkin scrambled across the bed and dropped to the floor. She carefully pushed the door of the bathroom open slightly, wincing as it gave a tiny creak in the damp air. Peering through the gap between the door and it's frame, she saw Sarah, a towel wrapped around her body, using some sort of wind thing to blow her hair around.
Puzzled, Pumpkin abandoned stealth and pushed the door open, stepping fully into the bathroom.
"Lady?"
Sarah shrieked and jumped away from her, dropping the noisy wind thing on the ground. A blast of hot air rushed over Pumpkin and she also yelped in surprise. The blast of air burned her slightly and she rushed toward Sarah, frightened and upset, and threw herself against the Lady's bare legs.
Pumpkin watched the Lady scoop up the noisy thing. Suddenly, the noise and air stopped and the little goblin found herself pulled against the Lady's side in a hug.
"Oh! You scared the life out of me Pumpkin!"
"You killed the Lady!" Scrabble screeched from the doorway. Pumpkin looked over and saw both Scrabble and Slug standing there, their jaws agape.
"No, no, I'm fine, everybody," the Lady said hastily, scrambling to her feet again, the towel held firmly around her chest. "Pumpkin just scared me, is all."
Scrabble shot Pumpkin a dirty look. "Not nice to scare the Lady, 'specially now that you're her goblin.
Pumpkin shuffled her feet. "I didn't meant to. She was just using that wind thing and I wanted to know why."
"This?" The Lady held up the noisy thing and Pumpkin nodded.
"It's a hairdryer," she told them. "I use it to make my hair dry after I wash it."
"Why? Kingy just uses magic!" Scrabble said, wandering into the room and boosting herself up to sit on the closed lid of the toilet. The bathroom wasn't very large, and it was getting rather crowded.
Pumpkin happened to be looking at Sarah as Scrabble said this. She noticed that Sarah blushed when the King was mentioned. She would need to remember to tell Sly about it.
"Well," the Lady replied at last, her voice sounding rather strangled. "I don't have magic like the King, so I have to do it this way."
She pointed to the door. "Now out! All of you."
Scrabble and Pumpkin shuffled toward the door. Slug was already gone. Pumpkin could hear his feet slapping against the kitchen floor.
"And stay out of the kitchen!" Sarah called as she shut the door. "I'll make breakfast after I'm dressed!"
The second attempt at the dining table went much better than the first. The threat of having their pancakes taken away meant that the stakes were super high. Scrabble even tried her hand at what she called 'Miniscule talk'.
"That's where you talk about only very tiny things," she said sagely. So the conversation flowed from ducklings, to pebbles, to things that look like pebbles but are not pebbles. And towards the end found Slug and Scrabble in a very heated debate about the effectiveness of buttons vs buckles. Pumpkin wisely stayed out of it and snuck an extra piece of bacon.
All too soon it was over, and the Lady was putting on her working clothes and gathering her things. Pumpkin faithfully climbing into her large purse. Preening with pride like a prized chihuahua. Scrabble and Slug started to shuffle nervously. Neither liked being left out.
"Lady go to work now?" Slug asked.
"Yea guys, although I feel like I've already been looking after children." She laughed, they laughed too even though they didn't quite get it.
"Can we come?" Scrabble couldn't entirely keep the pleading squeal out of her voice.
Lady didn't seem to like that. Her brow furrowed and she started to shake her head. Scrabble jumped to interrupt her.
"It's just the portal won't open again 'til after sundown for us! We'd be stuck here. Alone. All day long."
Some time later they all arrived at Sunny Skies Daycare Center.
They were to stay out of sight and out of trouble or else they would all certainly be kicked out and reported to the King. Lady even said she would find a bog up here if she had to. And so they all watched quietly as Sarah played with the kids in the age 4 room, occasionally taking toys to play with themselves or silently following along to stories and games. Lady would also drop lovely salty snacks for them to scoop up and share.
To Pumpkin, it was the most beautiful place in the world. She was too afraid to do much other than stare in fascination, enthralled with all the items and things to do. Scrabble and Slug looked less impressed when the Lady came by, but she knew that they also enjoyed the place from the periodic stares they would give the toys that Pumpkin would touch.
As soon as it was time to leave, Sarah commended them on their good behavior and rewarded them all with ice cream cones on the way back to Sarah's apartment. While he'd never admit it, Slug was even beginning to like the Lady since she allowed him to have TWO cones when he asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sly was about at his wit's end trying to placate the King. Today was the anniversary of when the Lady beat him and he was horribly cross, no matter what the goblins tried to do. Eventually, most simply avoided him and loitered about the town square, which is where he had ended up when Jareth threw a bowl of porridge at him for accidentally mentioning the Champion's name at breakfast.
Pouting, he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled as he looked over at his friends Chatter and Tripp, watching them make typical fools of themselves in the square with the others of the horde. Grimacing, he trotted forward when Tripp offended one of the females - which in turn led to her slapping him across the face, therefore leading him to trip over a chicken and ruin Chatter's chance at another when said chicken ran up Chatter's tunic. Wrenching them apart and apologizing to the females, he glared at them as they shoved him away and scowled.
"Hey! We were havin' fun!" Tripp shouted, glaring at Sly.
"Yeah, I almost got Greasy to let me sit with her at dinner tomorrow! Thanks for nothin'!" Chatter added, opening his mouth to launch into a tirade that - given his penchant for never shutting up, wouldn't end anytime soon - made Sly jump forward and shove his mouth in front of Chatter's face.
"Will you two SHUT UP!" Sly growled, rolling his eyes. As if either of you idiots would have stood a chance with those girls anyways, he thought with annoyance, staring between the two. "We've got a SERIOUS problem on our hands, gents."
"Huh?" Tripp said, having briefly lost his train of thought as he smiled lazily at the female he'd been trying to woo. Sly didn't miss the look of horror on the girl's face and elbowed Tripp in the gut, bringing his attention back to him.
"Yes, idiots. The KING! Didn't you catch his mood?" Sly hissed, pinching his nose in exasperation.
"Yeah, so?" said Chatter, glancing over Sly with an equally annoyed look. "It's that day - the day the Lady won. He's always like this around this time. Why? You still sour about gettin' porridge dumped on your head this morning? That's what you get for sayin' her name...you know the rules!"
"Whatever! I say let's bugger off a little early this year, go in the morning, see what Slink and those others have been up to. I KNOW he's like that every year and I'm sick of it! Aren't you?" Sly asked them both, which prompted them both to respond with a noncommittal shrug.
"Sure, it's gotta be more fun than standin' out here while Kingy is in a mood," supplied Chatter, looking at Tripp for his opinion. Tripp shrugged and nodded, making Sly grin.
Chatter followed Sly thought the portal and into the Lady's home. Behind him, Tripp caught the edge of the portal with his foot and went sprawling, narrowly missing the floor lamp that stood in the corner. The standing mirror wobbled, bumping against the wall.
"Would ya watch it already!?" Sly hissed, glancing past him to look at Tripp. Tripp shrugged apologetically
"Sorry 'bout that."
"Slink!" Sly called out in an undertone, still trying to stay as quiet as possible. "It's us! You can come out."
They waited, but Sly's little sister didn't appear.
Sly headed toward the bedroom door and Chatter followed. He saw all sorts of neat things that he was simply dying to point out to Tripp, but he decided that maybe now wasn't the best time.
One by one, they slipped through the door and tiptoed into the living room. Once there, they paused and looked around.
"Woah! Look at this Tripp!" Chatter scurried over to the television. "I bet this is the box with the little people in it Slink was talkin' about when she came home last. D'ya think we can get it to turn on? It would be really cool to be able to see the little people run around like they said they did and maybe we can find that G'lactica thing Slug was tellin' us about. He said somthin' 'bout a 'mote. It has buttons on it. The buttons make the people change and-"
The sound of something clicking near the front door made them all freeze where they stood. As the door began to open, they jolted into action, scurrying to find a hiding place.
They might have succeeded, if Tripp hadn't gotten the table runner on the coffee table caught on the chicken feet he'd sewn to the shoulders of his jacket to make him look scarier. As he dove behind the couch, everything on the table slid off with a crash, just as the Lady stepped into the room.
The Lady immediately placed her hands on her hips. "Well? I know you're here, so you might as well come out."
From behind the recliner, Sly scowled and shook his head, so Chatter didn't move.
"I said, come out here! Right. Now."
Chatter stared at the Lady, his eyes bugging out. She was almost, but not quite, as scary as Kingy when she talked like that. Suddenly Slink's face popped up in the Lady's bag. The Lady smiled down at her and nodded so Slink spoke up.
"Come out guys, Lady Sarah had food!"
At the mention of food, Tripp poked his head out from behind the couch. "Food?"
"Food!" Slug cheered.
For the first time, Chatter noticed that Slug and Scrabble had come in behind the Lady and shut the door. Slug looked as big and dumb as ever, but Scrabble! He couldn't take his eyes off of her. There was something about her that just turned his insides to mush.
Without realizing what he was doing, Chatter walked straight out into the room, heading for Scrabble. He didn't see Sly's silent arm waving, and he paid no attention to Tripp's stare of amazement. He only had eyes for the beautiful little goblin standing by the door.
That is, until he was tackled by Sly.
"Idiot!" Sly hissed as he grappled with Chatter. He was about to ream Chatter out when something barreled into him. Sly was usually the fastest, but caught off guard he became pinned to the wall by the helmet horns of Slug.
Scrabble stomped up to the pair and bonked Sly on the nose with the sole of her shoe.
"This is the Lady's house! When we are here we follow her rules! Rule #1 is no bullying! Got that?!" she chastised with a final boop on the nose before putting her shoe back on. "Let him go now, Slug."
Sly couldn't believe what had just happened. As the King's spy he had a certain amount of weight amongst the horde. But without so much as a how de do he had been hit on the nose like a dog. He looked up towards his sister.
"Slink! What's been going on?" But she only shook her head as she climbed down from the purse.
"Is Pumpkin now. Lady Named me. Better do as she says, brother. There's worse than bogs up here. Lady says something called Axe is much smellier. You should apologize."
Sly visibly blanched at the very idea that something could smell worse than the bog. He dazedly turned to Chatter and said, "I'm sorry."
Chatter wasn't paying attention though. He was straightening his clothes as he once again approached Scrabble. The many bottle cap and can tab earrings clinked as she looked at him.
He made a sort of wobbly bow and there was a brief moment of silence before words just started pouring out of him
"Hi there Miss Scrabble, I mean Scrabble Ma'am. You sure do look lovely today. Like freshly baked cakes. Although, I'm not supposed to have cake, Sly says they make me talk to much. But I'd be happy to bring you some if you want. Do you like cakes? What am I saying, who doesn't like cakes? I can't share it with you but I sure would like to sit with you while you eat it. Or stand, whichever you prefer. I know lots of places we could do both…"
Scrabble preened under Chatter's babbling, shyly looking over Chatter as she puffed up her hair and stood straight next to Chatter. However, once she noticed the others - including Sarah - staring, she shoved at Chatter and rolled her eyes, despite a pink tone shifting under her blue tinged cheeks. "Stop it, you dolt! I'll...think about it."
Chatter didn't even seem phased, staring at Scrabble like she walked on water. He grinned at her vague response. Sly simply rolled his eyes and looked back at Sarah with a frown.
"So, Lady, you're prolly wonderin' what all this is about…" He started, but Sarah had already breezed past him, grabbing for a strange object with a cord protruding from the side as she grabbed a pamphlet by the fridge. Making a humphing noise, as he wasn't used to being ignored, he watched as she punched in something on the object and cupped her hand over one end, looking around the room.
"Wait, do you guys eat chicken?"
All the goblins stopped what they were doing and stared, looking horrified.
Sarah seemed to take this in stride. "Thought so. Vegetarian it is." Then she spoke into the object as she looked over the pamphlet in her hand.
"What's vegetarian?" asked Chatter, looking between the others with confusion.
Scrabble beamed, seeing this as her opportunity. "It means no meat!"
The others stared at her and began to laugh. "It does not!" they cried out, guffawing at her expense. Scrabble scowled and rolled her eyes. Little did they know, this was the first time she'd been correct.
Chatter merely stared at her and sighed, "What a beautiful word." Scrabble's blue ears blushed to a deep purple.
"So how in the Bog did she notice you guys? I thought we said this was supposed to be a sneaky mission!" Sly started in, once the others huddled around him. Meanwhile, Sarah was busy talking to the object against her ear - which was really odd, if he did say so himself. Must be something magical like the King has, his mind immediately supplied.
"We ate her food, so…" Slug shrugged and sat down, already overtired with the small amount of physical work he had to do today. Sly blinked, looking outraged, and his sister cut off his rant before it started.
"Don't be mad, Sly. She's been super nice. We got to go to Daycare!" Pumpkin started, launching into what they'd been doing all day. Sly would never admit it, but it did sound kind of fun. It had to beat having a bowl of porridge dumped on your head, at least.
"Ugh, FINE!" Sly grumbled, cutting off Pumpkin's description of toys and children. Personally, he hated kids. All they did was cry, poop their pants, or drool all over things. Shuddering, he looked at Scrabble and Slug. "And you went along with this?"
Slug shrugged. "She gave me ice cream."
Scrabble nodded, looking back at Sarah with a smile. "We even got to eat dinner and breakfast with her! She made pancakes!"
Sly, Tripp and Chatter simply stared, mouths agape.
"Man, we got so screwed!" Chatter started, groaning at the idea of pancakes - he didn't know what they were but they had the word 'cake' involved, so he was already sold on the idea. "Can I trade with Slug? This is SO much better than home lately…"
"Hey! I don't think so!" roared Slug, shoving Chatter with a grunt. "Thems MY pancakes! Back off!"
"Lady said no bullying!" shrieked Scrabble, jumping up to Chatter's defense. He took notice and she flushed, looking around the room and trying not to meet his gaze. "Well, she DID…."
"Are you guys already breaking rule number one?" Sarah called, giving the group a small smile as she wandered into the living room.
"Nooooo…." they all chirped in unison, giving Sarah innocent smiles. She simply grinned.
"Good. Now, what does everyone want to watch during dinner?"
They were well into watching something called "A Nightmare Before Christmas" when the food arrived. Sly had been sure that with a title like that, it would be a gruesome, scary, and completely thrilling movie. He was disappointed.
"What's wrong with the sewed up girl?" he asked, staring at the screen in confusion. "Why's she so… droopy?"
"She's uno!" Scrabble exclaimed, politely accepting a plate of something the Lady had called 'Vegetable Lo-Mein' and sitting in front of it at the coffee table.
"Uno?" He was bewildered at pretty much everything about the Lady and her house. She had way more rules than Kingy, but she also seemed a lot nicer most of the time.
He heard Sarah snicker and he looked at her. "Emo," Sarah said, leaning close to his ear so Scrabble couldn't hear her. "The word is Emo."
Sarah handed him a plate, looking meaningfully at him as she did so. "Mind your manners, please."
"Yas'm," he said.
He put his plate on the table like Scrabble and the others. "Emo…" he muttered.
"That's what I said!" Scrabble chirped brightly before slurping a noodle from her plate. The end of the noodle swung up and left a smear of grease on her nose before she sucked it in with a loud slurp.
"Well, whatever," Sly said in annoyance. He pointed to the screen, where Sally was singing sadly and proclaimed, "But she acts just like Kingy!"
He looked over in shock as the Lady Sarah choked and sprayed her drink over the whole coffee table.
"Eeee!" Pumpkin squealed, standing up and dancing around. She had been sitting closest to the Lady and had been hit with the most liquid. Pumpkin swiped at her wet clothing, trying to dry it off with her hands.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Pumpkin! Here, let me help you." Five pairs of eyes stared at Sarah as her face flushed crimson and she held her hands out to the littlest goblin in their group. Sly noticed that she carefully avoided looking at any of the others.
"Oh dear, you'd better come with me. Those clothes need to come off." Sarah scooped up Pumpkin and hurried off with her, still not looking at the others.
"What's her package?" Scrabble asked, staring after Lady Sarah.
Sly shared a shocked glance with Tripp. Being as close to Kingy as they were, they knew that "package" wasn't the word Scrabble meant to use.
"Ummmm, I don't think Lady has a package," Tripp said.
"Of course she doesn't! Girls don't got packages!" Sly retorted, tossing a noodle in Tripp's direction.
"They can so!" Scrabble retorted. "Anyone can have package! It means a problem!"
"Does not!" Tripp said, tossing a handful of noodles at her.
"Does so!" She shrieked at them and grabbed up two whole handfuls of noodles.
She was just getting ready to fling them toward the others when Pumpkin came skipping into the room, followed by the Lady.
"Lookit' what Lady gave me!" Pumpkin twirled around in the middle of the room, showing off her new clothes. "Its called a t-shirt dress and it gots punkins on it!"
Sly watched his little sister. The fluffy orange skirt was glittery and the pumpkins on the front of the black shirt also sparkled. He sighed. Slink- er- Pumpkin always was a girly little thing.
Lady Sarah stared hard at the rest of them. "There isn't going to be a problem out here, is there?" Her voice was soft, but her tone was scary and all the goblins shrunk down a bit where they sat.
"No Lady," Sly said.
"Nuh uh!" Tripp looked nervous.
"No problem," Scrabble said meekly.
Slug shook his head, noodles hanging out of his mouth. He was too busy eating to reply. Meanwhile, Chatter was unusually silent. Sly looked over to find him staring at Scrabble in adoration, his head resting on his hand and his food all but untouched.
"Chatter!" Sly rebuked.
"Huh?" Chatter started, knocking his plate and spilling noodles on the table.
The Lady sighed. "I should have known that would happen."
After cleanup and what can only be described as a bedtime assembly line, all the goblins were snoring in a nest of blankets and pillows on the hide-a-bed in the living room. Well, all but two.
Pumpkin and Sly were sitting opposite each other on the windowsill, looking out at the sea of city lights. Sly reached across to hold his sister's hand.
"You really gonna stay?" His voice was tight even as he tried to keep his posture aloof.
Pumpkin nodded slowly. "I havta. Kingy has many Goblins, including you. I can still visit, but Lady has no one. She always alone. Someone has to look out for her. Besides I thought you'd be happy. I'll know everythings she does now. Like earlier, I mentioned Kingy and her cheeks got all pink. I almost forgot to tell you."
Sly's ears pricked up at that. The gears in his goblinoid mind starting to tick with purpose.
"Is that so? Does Lady have a man-friend?"
"No. At least, we haven't seen one. That's why I think she's lonely. Work, home, work, home. That's all Lady does. It's fun being with her now. Like at daycare! She sang songs and told stories. We even got to eat snackies and play with toys! As long as we behave. You'll see tomorrow."
Sly jumped down and helped Pumpkin lower herself safely to the ground. Then hoisted her up onto the sleeping pile with the others. Sly hesitated a bit, looking towards the mirror they had used. He really should be getting back. But if Kingy was as into his bottles as he usually is this time of year, maybe he could be gone an extra day. It always helped to know as much as possible. Mind made up, he jumped up onto the bed and curled up next to Pumpkin. Tomorrow, he would see all things himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sly hated daycare. The kids were loud and smelly. And staying hidden was absolutely no fun. After an hour he had gotten so sick of being crammed into tight places with the others that he had made his way up the the tops of the book cases. He had stealthily gotten a few good startles on a particularly nasty boy when Sarah gathered everyone around for storytime.
The kids immediately started arguing about which story they wanted to hear and Sly gritted his teeth. He should have just gone home. He was mulling over the merits of slipping out the window when he heard the first few lines of the story Sarah had chosen.
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose parents always made her stay home with the baby... "
Sly froze. Watching with rapt attention as Sarah told her story to the children sitting around her. It was different than the accounts he'd heard of her run, and much simpler, but the details that only she would know couldn't be missed. The dwarf, the rock-caller, the bog and it's yappy little foreman... and of course Kingy. But she didn't talk about him with anger like Kingy had talked about her, rather, she seemed quite sad at the end. When the victorious young woman said her right words and finally made her way home, Sly could even have sworn he saw the slight mistiness of threatening tears in her eyes. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a question.
"Miss Sarah? Did they ever see each other again?"
"Not yet," she replied automatically.
Yet.
Sly rolled on his back and smiled with wickedly sharp teeth at the ceiling.
How promising.