Sarah sat silent in Jareth's little make-shift office. Goblins scurrying idly under feet. He was being a pedant again, trying to treat her like a mental patient as he was sometimes wont to do. Sarah had played along the first four minutes, but seeing as he could not laugh at himself, she decided to cut the game short.
She'd been silent for the past forty minutes. At first he'd tried to get her to talk some more, but then he'd guessed her little trick. So he went silent too. A battle of wills.
Sarah'd been here before. Ah when she had that eating disorder as an adolescent after the problems with her mother, Karen had taken her to this hoot of a child psychologist. He'd given her the heebie-jeebies. So she'd just clammed up out of protest. The guy thought he could maybe pressure her to speak after say an hour of enforced silence, but in the end Karen had ended up the one getting psycho-therapy and Sarah had read her book in the lounge.
After all, what did creepy older men have to do with young adolescent girls—getting inside their heads, weighing them, talking about body and self-image. Yuck. Maybe Sarah was too harsh, but she just really hadn't appreciated the experience.
And now Jareth thought his little trick just might work. She could detect the impatient flicks of his fingers against his very enticing haunch.
Nope! Nope nope nope nope nope!
Sarah was just peachy and she didn't need a goblin king to tell her so.
Ah Jareth, you hide behind hundreds of years of seniority when you yourself are just as wacked if not more so than me.
Double bubble standards, mister.