The Peeps Know
Sarah leaned against the railing of the balcony in the mall, watching all the people pass below her. She tried to keep from grinning like an idiot as she made up stories about random people that were unfortunate enough to catch her eye. She sipped from a watermelon bubble tea as she played with the notion that the kid with gauged ears and dark blue hair, below and to the right of her, leaning against the wall and glaring at his phone, was secretly a "white knight." He was upset because he'd just received orders from his king that went against the knights' code of honor. He was to kill the princess of another kingdom. He'd previously been ordered to protect her as she went around his native land as an ambassador.
The "princess" in question was a girl Sarah had spotted down to her left, with thick glasses and a riot of curly hair. She was currently at one of the many cosmetic booths that were set up in the mall. The consultant of the booth was talking with her about their product. From what Sarah could tell the booth sold a makeup line that would make the girl's skin fairer and banish her freckles. The consultant was there to kill the "princess," which was why she was trying so hard to sell the "poisoned" makeup to her unsuspecting victim.
Sarah smiled as the "knight" abandoned the "princess" and headed off towards the other end of the mall, leaving the "princess" to battle against the makeup consultant alone. Sarah started scanning the crowd below her for new victims. She loved to people watch at the mall, it was more enjoyable than shopping in her opinion. Taking another sip of her melon tea, Sarah barely acknowledged the male that was suddenly standing beside her.
"Please tell me I'm the only one that can see you."
"And if you are not-"
"I do not want to be caught out in public with a Ren Faire fanatic when there ain't another Faire for two months."
"I am not a Ren Faire fanatic."
"Don't you growl at me! And people will beg to differ on that one if they can see you!"
"...You have become quite skilled at talking to the air with no one noticing-"
"Don't change the subject, Jareth."
"I said 'talking to the air,' dear Sarah... Only those that have been to the Underground can see me."
Sarah mulled this over as she took another sip of her drink. She noted that Jareth did the same, though from a goblet, which look rather odd with the thick plastic straw sticking out over the lip of it, "what are you drinking?"
"A Purbetch bubble tea. Would you like some, Sarah?"
"Nooooo. No, thank you, Sir!" Sarah fought to keep her face passive as it tried to scrunch up in utter disgust and horror. No, no more fart bog drink for her.
"What human skill am I gaining today?"
"All humans 'people watch' in some form or another, however, instead of my original reason for this lesson, you are going to catalog the current fashions of people below us and poof yourself some modern clothing and a 21st century haircut."
"I do not 'poof' my clothing-"
"So says the one that change his wardrobe oh so many times in my first thirteen hours in the Underground. You'd appear out of nowhere in an explosion of glitter and mist, especially when we first met. What else would I call it..."
"I am a King, you will show respect-"
"Don't growl at me! We are equals, I established that shortly after we we met. Which means as your equal I can talk with you as I please. However, as your friend it is my duty to help you see that your taste in clothing, though it may be impeccable in the tastes of the Underground, it is woefully centuries behind when it comes to my realm."
"Did you just compliment me, Sarah?"
"...Don't get used to it. There was an insult in there as well. Which on the subject of... Well... People may think you're gay what with all the glitter and the poofing as often as you do. Not that there's anything wrong with that. My aunt is…"
"Gay? Happy and joyous?"
"Nooooo... That may have been the original meaning of the word but now... Um," Sarah nervously ran her fingers through her hair, while she secretly wished that the blush she could feel creeping up her face wasn't there, "it means that you're into men- or males instead of females."
Sarah did not look at him but she could literally feel the befuddled amusement bubbling up beside her as he stared at her. A sultry, husky reply came from the Goblin beside her, his eyes seemingly trying to burn holes in the side of her head as she still hadn't turned to look at him.
"I am not gay, Sarah."
Sarah tried her best not to quake, drinking the last of her bubble tea to calm herself, all the while privately praying that he couldn't hear the little voice in her head that had wondered about the topic at hand for some time. The obscene amounts of glitter in both hair and country and the clothing poofing on a whim had led her to a bit of uncertainty on the matter and she was rather sure that these were all things and powers that any drag queen would kill to have. If what Hollywood had taught her was anything to go by. While she mused over all of this, Jareth had turned his attention to the unsuspecting people below. One really awkward silence later, on her part at least, Sarah turned her attention to the male beside her as his body slid out of focus. Sarah blinked and blinked again as she found a blond human male beside her leaning against the railing, his face close to hers.
"Does this meet with approval?" the young man's voice was again seductive yet sinister throaty tone, a shiver raced up Sarah's spine and into her brain where it cause all her internal instincts to scream out at her to run. Yet against all odds, she managed to smile calmly, giving one sweeping glance at the male that vaguely resembled Jareth. All the Goblin sharp angles of his face had turned to the softer ones of humans, only the mismatched eyes and ears that came to a very slight tip clued her in that it was Jareth before her. He wore tight, acid washed jeans, black boots with red detailing and a gray, close fit tee that had a raven and skull design on the front.
The necklace he always wore was a dead give away as well. His hair was close cut all along the sides but fairly long at the top, spiked and feathered to perfect disarray, and not a speck of glitter in sight. She was rather surprised that his new choice in clothes showed how truly muscular he was, not bulking muscle but subtly lean and mean. The end of her quick sweep brought her back to his eyes that were no longer glaring at her but watching her with a slight bit of amazement and a little of some emotion she couldn't identify.
"You're smiling-"
"Yes, yes, were I anyone else, I'm sure I'd be on the floor begging for my life for having anger you so. Don't get your ego in a knot, it might deflate dramatically. I'm just glad that I can be seen with you in public now... What's with you and tight pants?" Sarah quickly turned and walked on through the mall, horrified that her stupid brain had grasped at such a question to get the conversation off herself. Thankfully, the redness of her face had faded considerably by the time he fell in step beside her. Jareth had apparently deemed not to reply to her question. As they walked towards the food court, Sarah notice that every so often girls would glance their way then do a double take. She ignored them and threw away her empty cup making a beeline for Chick-fil-A, while simultaneously ignoring a little, angry voice inside her that wished she was still the only one that could see Jareth.
"Seeing as we can do the original lesson after all, I'll get lunch while you pick a table. The food isn't because we're hungry so eat slowly. It's more so we don't look like fools sitting in the food court as we talk and stare at random people. No food is somehow an unspoken no-no. When you have food in hand its okay to watch people, it adds to the facade of being bored. Everyone knows you're people watching but no one's gonna stop you cause the food renders you harmless. No food means you're up to no good. First skill to learn about the tradition of people watching, find us a good table that has us both out of the way as to seem unobserving yet near enough to the public walkways so that we can get a good view of people. I'll go get the food and come and find you, then we'll see how good at storytelling you are."
Jareth gave her a gorgeous smirk, that cause a ridiculous amount of giddy butterflies to swirl up in her stomach before he turned on his heel and strode away. Sarah wasn't one hundred percent sure but she thought she heard a girl giggle behind her about a real life Draco Malfoy. Sarah bought two chicken burger meals with two Cokes and two cookies and cream milkshakes before turning to look for Jareth. He had chosen a prime table for their so called lesson. Sarah thought over what to teach him next as she made her way through the sea of tables to where he was sitting, desperately trying to ignore her conscience that said she was going to be in a horrid state when she fell for the young man before her. In Goblin form it was easy to tell herself that he was Other and therefore off limits, but the human glamour he wore made it way too easy to forget his Otherness. She was a little irked that both she and her conscience agreed that there was no doubt that she was going to fall for the human him. It was just a matter of when and what she was going to do about it.
