Jareth and Sarah Do Disney
Chapter 5
Pirates of the Caribbean
…..
Coming out of the Swiss Family Treehouse, which had been a bust, she spotted a stand called Aloha Isle. Jareth kept walking determined to enjoy this vacation no matter how many pint sized humans got in his way or the uneasiness that had settled between the two friends.
When a small child stepped on his boot leaving a small dirty footprint on the previously shiny leather he turned to Sarah to relay his thoughts of population control except she wasn't anywhere to be seen to listen to his grumbling. He turned his head sharply from one side to the other as his hair whipped wildly about his head his eyes searching the crowd for his brunette companion.
His eyes narrowed when he found her standing in line. In a few steps, he reached her side placing his hands on his hips letting his body language display his displeasure.
"Precious, what are you doing?" Jareth asked in completely condescending; full Goblin King arrogance.
She jumped at his voice as if she'd been so engrossed in staring at the menu board in front of her that she'd not heard him approach her. She smiled motioning to the stand in front of her. Jareth stared curiously as he saw churning containers of a yellow substance too thick to be a liquid. Jareth briefly wondered if the substance was some kind of bottled pus. He cringed at the thought. Surely, mortals wouldn't sell bottled pus to their patrons.
"I'm getting a Dole whip," Sarah stated as she pointed to the menu.
"A whip, Sarah?" Jareth asked curiously he peered around the whirring machines trying to find the long strips of leather that Sarah was referring too. He smirked as a dirty thought came to his mind about things that could be done with whips.
Sarah rolled her eyes, laughing. Why did he have to take everything so literally? "No, Jareth, a Dole Whip, it's ice cream. You've had ice cream before. Remember the double cream vanilla ice cream we had in London?"
Jareth perked up at the mention of the delicious frosty treat. He did, indeed, remember the double cream vanilla ice cream they'd shared in London. Sweet, melt in the mouth, sugary, wonderful, delicious…Jareth sighed audibly. Oh he really liked ice cream. He nodded eagerly.
"Well, this is like that only with pineapple and orange flavors."
Jareth's shoulders slumped, "I don't like citrus flavors, Sarah," he whined as she placed her order. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave the cashier a pointed look when the young man's eyes lingered a little too long on Sarah.
…
Sarah walked a little ways ahead of Jareth as they walked through adventure land. She had been destined on taking him to the Jungle Cruise to see some of the animals of her world which they didn't have in the Underground but the wait had been 75 minutes. She highly doubted Jareth would stand still long enough to wait in that line. Even though he was over four thousand years old, Jareth acted like a very impatient child sometimes.
Glancing to her right, Sarah noticed the Pirates of the Caribbean ride causing her to grin from ear to ear. It was one of her favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom. An instant classic not to mention she loved the movies with Johnny Depp. She looked over her shoulder to see Jareth looking at some of the cutlasses at the gift shop.
"Come on, I want to go on this ride."
Sarah grabbed Jareth's hand and pulled him towards the entrance. The greeter wore bright colored striped socks and torn capris and a red vest over an off white shirt. "Argh, matey's right this way. Only a five minute wait to sail the seven seas." She called out to everyone.
Jareth paused mid step turning towards Sarah. "Are we going on some sort of ship, Sarah? I must tell you that I do not have sea legs."
Sarah smirked decided to file away for later that the Goblin King didn't like to be out on the water. "Jareth, it's not really a ship, well, it's a boat ride, but I promise you won't get sea sick."
"But what if I do?" he asked apprehensively as he continued to stand in the middle of the entrance. People were brushing past him staying as close to the wall as possible as if bumping into the wild haired man would be a bad idea, which incidentally it would be.
"Then just puke over the side of the boat. Really, don't fuss you'll be fine." Sarah gave him a reassuring smile and continued to pull him through the queue line.
As they entered the building which looked like a castle, Jareth slowed his pace to admire the things around him. The lanterns reminded him of the ones in his own castle, the sandstone also not unlike his own. He felt an odd pang of sadness as he thought of his castle in the Underground with the goblins running freely. He sighed inwardly, there was going to be one hell of a mess to clean up when he returned home, but the girl that had her hand warmly in his was worth the mess. His only friend.
He glanced down at her to see her looking around as well lost in her own thoughts. He longed to read those thoughts, to see what it was that put the small smile on her lips. They came to a section of the building where an opening was barred. He stopped kneeling down to look inside. Sarah muttered an apology to the family who'd been following them so closely.
"Sarah, is this where the dungeon is?" Jareth asked excitedly as he craned his head to see inside. He glanced back up at his companion to see her eyes bright with laughter.
"No, it's just decoration. There isn't anything in there."
"This whole castle is decoration then?" Jareth asked a bit disappointed. He didn't understand why this place, this Disney World, was full of fake rooms and castles. Why would all these humans flock to this place only to see fake things?
"Yes, Jareth, it supposed to add atmosphere to the ride. It's not to be taken literally."
Jareth scoffed as he stood and continued towards their destination reaching his arm behind him so Sarah could take it. When they reached the merge point of the ride where the cast member was asking how many in the party, the cast member stared for a few minutes at Jareth. Sarah felt a small twinge of jealously in her belly as the girl admired her friend. Instinctively, Sarah squeezed Jareth's hand causing him to look down with a warm smile. The female cast member frowned assuming that the handsome man was already spoken for.
"How many?" she asked irritably.
"Two, precious," Jareth said in that slightly accented, baritone voice of his.
The girl blushed as she pointed to aisle 1. Sarah frowned even though she was happy to be in the front. Jareth let go of her hand and went in front of her eagerly looking around the dim surroundings as he had been the entire walk. Sarah studied her friend's face still feeling a bit of jealousy. She chided herself thinking it was nonsense that she was feeling this way. Jareth was her best friend, not a lover. In all the places they'd been together, she never once felt any romantic inclinations towards him.
The boat pulled up and they were loaded quickly into the front seat; the only two passengers in the tiny row. Jareth leaned over far to look at the water. His face paled a bit as he thought of how sea sick he usually got. Hopefully, Sarah was right about this ride. From the looks of the choppy water, he sincerely doubted it.
He jumped as the ride started and Sarah whipped her head around her eyes lingering on his face. He tried to keep a blank mask to ease her worrying but whatever she saw there caused her to wrap her fingers around his in a comforting embrace. She leaned a little bit into him as the boat started into the water.
"Dead men tell no tales," echoed through the now darkened room. Jareth looked around for the source of the voice, his eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness. Suddenly, in front of them, a man appeared in the mist to warn them of their journey. Jareth squeezed Sarah's hand. She had assured him that all of these attractions were fake and none of it was real but what if there WERE pirates waiting to bombard them? Wouldn't they be surprised to discover him aboard?
As they rounded the corner, skeleton lay in the sand and Jareth leaned into Sarah. "These are all fake yes?"
She nodded her head but then whispered close to his ear. "Yes, they're just props and animatronics. Not real."
"Good, because I thought it would be dishonorable to display a dead man to so many people."
Jareth leaned back in his seat feeling a little more relaxed when suddenly the boat went down a hill. He hadn't been expecting it and it scared him. Sarah tried to pull her hand from his. "Jareth, you're hurting me." She told him. He muttered an apology as he loosened the iron grip he had on her. He turned away from her humiliated that such a stupid ride had scared him.
As they passed by a scene where the pirates were dunking a man in water for information, Jareth leaned into Sarah and whispered, "that is an ineffective way to torture someone for information. The prisoner usually drowns before you can get anything useful out of them."
Sarah started at his admission. Sometimes she forgot that he was a four thousand year old immortal being who just happened to also be a king. "You've done something like that before?" She asked in disbelief.
He studied her face for a few moments realizing he upset her and chose to only nod instead of comment further. He felt a loss when she pulled her hand completely out of his and leaned away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold.
He blinked a few times unsure of what to do. Would she be repulsed by his touch if he tried to comfort her? Sometimes he forgot that she was a young human; only been alive for twenty five years, and sometimes his experiences were too barbaric for her to comprehend.
The rest of the ride went by in silence. As they neared the end, Jareth started humming along to the tune. They had been stuck in the unloading area for a few minutes while they unloaded a disabled person from a few boats ahead.
"This is a catchy tune." Jareth said to Sarah as he continued to watch the pirate holding his jewels lounging in the chair as he swung his foot to the tune. "I think I shall teach it to all of my subjects and they can sing it to me in the throne room."
Sarah laughed, a smile on her face for the first time since his comment on torturing. "Can goblins even sing?"
"Oh yes, not well mind you. Perhaps I won't teach it to them after all." He replied with a smirk. His face grew serious just as he was about to apologize their boat lurched forward onto the unloading platform. Jareth stepped out of the boat and offered his hand to Sarah.
She stared at it for a second as if she was going to refuse but in the end she grabbed his leather wrapped hand. He hoisted her out of the boat with ease and she brushed past him without a word. He followed behind silently. This vacation wasn't off to a good start. They'd only been on two rides and already they weren't speaking to each other. He knew he was going to have to apologize. He didn't want to see her frown again for the rest of this trip.
"Sarah, I'm sorry." He said as they walked back into the sun. He grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned to face him chewing her lip as she peered at him through her lashes. "I shouldn't have said something so insensitive."
Sarah sighed and looked away. "It's ok, Jareth. It's just sometimes I forget that you aren't human. I shouldn't raise you to the same standards."
Jareth frowned. Somehow that didn't feel like an apology. "I'm not human and I've done things you probably don't approve of but I can't change that. I am King sometimes you must do regrettable things."
"Yeah, I get that but… You know what let's just forget about it, ok? I want to enjoy this vacation. Where should we go now?"
"Wherever my lady wishes." Jareth replied quietly. Somehow, he felt like this changed the dynamics of their friendship. Sarah said forget it but he just knew that she saw him differently now and he'd kick himself for the rest of eternity for being so foolish.
…..
So, what do you think? A little bit of angsty drama in Disney World! Don't worry all will be well again with our vacationers soon! What is your favorite ride at Disney World? Anywhere you want to see our dynamic duo go to?