"Put me down you big, freakin' idiot!!" Sarah wailed in anger as the clouds
swooped around her like strange ships. The snowy owl looked at her with a
bemused expression, and abruptly opened its talons.
"What?? AAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhHHHaaAAAHH!!" Sarah screamed as she began to plummet. "Help me!! Someone!! ANYONE!!" Her breath was almost knocked out of her as she landed on the broad back of the snowy, which had swooped up beneath her. As soon as she had gotten her breath back Sarah began beating her fists against the bird's back. "How dare you???? How DARE you??? Put me down this instant!!! AND DON'T YOU EVER DROP ME AGAIN, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A FEATHER-DUSTER, OR I WILL PERSONALLY DISEMBOWEL YOU, YOU HEAR ME???" Obligingly, the snowy alighted, but on the top of a huge pine tree that was at least 85 feet tall. Sarah tumbled off its back and hung desperately onto a nearby branch. She had never minded heights before, but there was something about being almost 100 ft. above the ground on a tree branch that made her tongue cleave to the roof of her mouth. In a whirl of feathers and moondust, the snowy transformed into Jareth, complete with mocking smile.
"Why the angry threats, my dear Sarah? I thought you wanted to learn about the flight patterns of birds? What better way to learn than from first- hand experience?"
At this, Sarah's tongue loosed itself and her fear receded to a corner of her mind, waiting until she had time to pay proper attention to it. "I wanted to learn from the book you imbecile!!!" she yelled at him, "You had no RIGHT to do that to me!!" In her anger, Sarah didn't notice that the small branch that her hand was grasping was cracking. With a snap it broke off completely. Sarah's arms windmilled around her and she teetered on the branch under her before her flailing hand grasped another twig and held her steady.
Jareth had started forward as he saw the branch break, but she jerked away from him and glared into his concerned eyes.
"You stay away from me, you hear?? Don't come near me again!!!" But her words didn't have the sharp edges of before. His concern had not gone unnoticed by her, and try as Sarah might, she could not seem to build up the fire of her wrath as high as before. Jareth noted this and allowed himself a smug mental grin.
"Am I that repulsive?" came Jareth's response in amused tones, "Odd, for until now I had been assured by all I met that I cut quite a fine figure, especially when I dress in black."
As he said this, a convenient gust of wind caught his dark cape and made it billow behind him. His lean body and fine, elegant features were held in high relief against the sky. Sarah wasn't blind, and in all actuality she had a hard time to keep her baleful gaze from growing admiring as it wandered up and down his lean form. Black did look good on him. Really good.
Sarah shook herself, "Eyes UP, girl!" she told herself severely. "Now is NOT the time to have him catching you drooling. You're supposed to be angry!" She snapped her gaze back onto his eyes. "I don't give a monkey's behind for what others think of you. All I care about that concerns you is the distance you keep from me, which I want to be considerable."
"Oh?" Jareth asked in his most annoying, innocent tones. Sarah had the uncomfortable impression that he had somehow heard the conversation that had just run through her mind. "But one does not always get what one wants in this world. You of all people should know that."
He started walking towards her along the branch, gravity seemingly ignoring him. Sarah only wished it would give the same consideration to herself, too, as she had to scramble backwards towards the trunk to keep the distance between them large enough for comfort. But there was only so much branch, and Jareth was shortening the distance with alarming speed.
A feral gleam lit his eyes and his mouth quirked up in a predator's grin as he saw the unreasoning fear and strain in Sarah's movements as her back pressed up against the trunk. There was no where else to turn.
"You keep away from me!!" her panic stricken whisper caused Jareth to pause in his advance.
"You want me to go away? Is that it, my dear Sarah?" he asked in his most reasonable tones.
"Yes!" She sighed, relieved that he had finally seemed to get the picture. "Please, just go away."
"Well, if that is your wish." His eyes gleamed with a mischievous light,
"So be it."
And with a swirl of his cloak, Jareth disappeared.
************
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." This was the hundredth time in the last half- hour that Sarah had repeated this litany. Yes, she was still there in the tree. At least she was no longer at the very top, having in the last 15 minutes managed to make it to almost 30ft. down the tree. She had been sitting on this branch for about half an hour now. See, the funny thing about pine trees is that as they grow, the lower branches wither and fall off so that more sap can be sent to the upper branches that actually see sunlight and make food for the tree. This is great for the tree, but not for Sarah. She was still over 40 ft. from the ground, and she wasn't going to be getting lower any time soon. At least, not unless she decided to jump or something.
She had run clean out of branches.
*************** Merry Christmas All!!! PEACHES!
"What?? AAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhHHHaaAAAHH!!" Sarah screamed as she began to plummet. "Help me!! Someone!! ANYONE!!" Her breath was almost knocked out of her as she landed on the broad back of the snowy, which had swooped up beneath her. As soon as she had gotten her breath back Sarah began beating her fists against the bird's back. "How dare you???? How DARE you??? Put me down this instant!!! AND DON'T YOU EVER DROP ME AGAIN, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A FEATHER-DUSTER, OR I WILL PERSONALLY DISEMBOWEL YOU, YOU HEAR ME???" Obligingly, the snowy alighted, but on the top of a huge pine tree that was at least 85 feet tall. Sarah tumbled off its back and hung desperately onto a nearby branch. She had never minded heights before, but there was something about being almost 100 ft. above the ground on a tree branch that made her tongue cleave to the roof of her mouth. In a whirl of feathers and moondust, the snowy transformed into Jareth, complete with mocking smile.
"Why the angry threats, my dear Sarah? I thought you wanted to learn about the flight patterns of birds? What better way to learn than from first- hand experience?"
At this, Sarah's tongue loosed itself and her fear receded to a corner of her mind, waiting until she had time to pay proper attention to it. "I wanted to learn from the book you imbecile!!!" she yelled at him, "You had no RIGHT to do that to me!!" In her anger, Sarah didn't notice that the small branch that her hand was grasping was cracking. With a snap it broke off completely. Sarah's arms windmilled around her and she teetered on the branch under her before her flailing hand grasped another twig and held her steady.
Jareth had started forward as he saw the branch break, but she jerked away from him and glared into his concerned eyes.
"You stay away from me, you hear?? Don't come near me again!!!" But her words didn't have the sharp edges of before. His concern had not gone unnoticed by her, and try as Sarah might, she could not seem to build up the fire of her wrath as high as before. Jareth noted this and allowed himself a smug mental grin.
"Am I that repulsive?" came Jareth's response in amused tones, "Odd, for until now I had been assured by all I met that I cut quite a fine figure, especially when I dress in black."
As he said this, a convenient gust of wind caught his dark cape and made it billow behind him. His lean body and fine, elegant features were held in high relief against the sky. Sarah wasn't blind, and in all actuality she had a hard time to keep her baleful gaze from growing admiring as it wandered up and down his lean form. Black did look good on him. Really good.
Sarah shook herself, "Eyes UP, girl!" she told herself severely. "Now is NOT the time to have him catching you drooling. You're supposed to be angry!" She snapped her gaze back onto his eyes. "I don't give a monkey's behind for what others think of you. All I care about that concerns you is the distance you keep from me, which I want to be considerable."
"Oh?" Jareth asked in his most annoying, innocent tones. Sarah had the uncomfortable impression that he had somehow heard the conversation that had just run through her mind. "But one does not always get what one wants in this world. You of all people should know that."
He started walking towards her along the branch, gravity seemingly ignoring him. Sarah only wished it would give the same consideration to herself, too, as she had to scramble backwards towards the trunk to keep the distance between them large enough for comfort. But there was only so much branch, and Jareth was shortening the distance with alarming speed.
A feral gleam lit his eyes and his mouth quirked up in a predator's grin as he saw the unreasoning fear and strain in Sarah's movements as her back pressed up against the trunk. There was no where else to turn.
"You keep away from me!!" her panic stricken whisper caused Jareth to pause in his advance.
"You want me to go away? Is that it, my dear Sarah?" he asked in his most reasonable tones.
"Yes!" She sighed, relieved that he had finally seemed to get the picture. "Please, just go away."
"Well, if that is your wish." His eyes gleamed with a mischievous light,
"So be it."
And with a swirl of his cloak, Jareth disappeared.
************
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." This was the hundredth time in the last half- hour that Sarah had repeated this litany. Yes, she was still there in the tree. At least she was no longer at the very top, having in the last 15 minutes managed to make it to almost 30ft. down the tree. She had been sitting on this branch for about half an hour now. See, the funny thing about pine trees is that as they grow, the lower branches wither and fall off so that more sap can be sent to the upper branches that actually see sunlight and make food for the tree. This is great for the tree, but not for Sarah. She was still over 40 ft. from the ground, and she wasn't going to be getting lower any time soon. At least, not unless she decided to jump or something.
She had run clean out of branches.
*************** Merry Christmas All!!! PEACHES!