Prequel/Outtake
"No, not the reindeer paper. It detracts," Jareth dictated whilst arranging the electric blue bow on top of his head.
"Well, now that's not very festive, now is it?" The goblins gave to raucous laughter as their king magicked the bow into a much more occasion-appropriate bright red.
Jareth summoned a chair from the kitchen. It was no throne, but it would suffice in this.
"Who has the manacles?"
"Me, majesty!" A small goblin waved frantically.
"Bring them, Shrump."
The creature rushed forward and Operation: Christmas Kingy Surprise began in earnest.
Jareth manifested a crystal to dispel the bindings at his will, placing it carefully- accessible but out of sight. Then he allowed himself to be tethered to the chair, relaxing as his subjects set about their patchwork method of decorating his person.
The telltale chink and sound of rolling glass told the king that his oblivious subjects had dislodged his get-out-of-jail-free card and sent it careening.
Hearing the tape being pulled free of its spool, and thus initiating the final phase of his decoration, the king set to issue his final commands.
"Retrieve the crystal and leave it within reach of mmmph mfhhg mmmrrgg!"
"Okay, boss," The closest goblin tipped his cheese grater hat before the whole lot of them vanished back to the Labyrinth.
The crystal had rolled halfway across the room, far out of reach unless he managed to tip the chair and inch his way there, which was not an indignity he was willing to suffer. Yet.
Bound and tethered by magic dampening handcuffs, the Goblin King found himself left to Sarah's tender mercies.
And he suddenly realized that he really needed to use the facilities.
A/N: A short scene that didn't fit into the story proper. (I apparently wrote it last year and nixed it.) This fic will be getting one more proper chapter/sequel a bit later in the month, and then this story will go back to being 'done.'