The one conceit of this meme: humans (or human-expies, whatever beings they may be) mate for life. With this comes the typical trappings of "mating for life" - indescribable closeness, contentment around your "destined," and, of course, in your all-too-familiar worst case, jealousy and rage should the bond be threatened.
Oh, and there's also the little caveat that, should your mate die, you die as well. But that's not too much to swallow, is it? The whole thing is only a small conceit, you know.
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PROMPTS
romanticism | You approach the potential of mating with a dreamy hope. It will be just like a romance novel! distaste | Ugh, mating? You're going to put it off...or maybe even try not to do it at all. imprint | That's them. That's the one. You both know it, and you can't keep away. first | The first time you come together sets the bond in stone, not to mention sets the stage for the rest of your lives. share | Some mates are able to communicate and share their secrets through a mental link; others have to do it the old fashioned way and just speak up. calm | When one partner goes berserk, there's only one person in this world who can get them to settle down. comfort | Merely being in the presence of your mate can turn your stormy day around. heal | Scars, mental or physical, can be mended with the right love from a mate. need | Your body is going through actual physical withdrawal due to being away from your one and only. protect | Whether the threat be real or jealously perceived, you have to keep what's yours from harm. obsessed | You're beyond jealous. You've taken it too far mistake | Mating with them was not the right decision, but you can't take it back. cheat | Despite your being mated, you've chosen to break a sacred trust and go outside the home. death | There's not much will left to live in you after your mate has passed. Even if there was, it's not like you have much of a choice not to die. old mated couple | You've lasted a long time. This may be your "happy ending."
[Sarah actually does pause there though, thinking on the question only a second or two.]
Maybe? I enjoyed it anyhow and I would get complimented by my teachers. I used to act out the bedtime stories I told my brother and everything. He really loved that apparently.
[So at least she had one fan?]
Well I didn't get into Juilliard and it just really did something to me. I was young and idealistic and I thought if I couldn't go there and hone my acting skills, I might as well just forget about it all entirely. So I quit my drama classes, I quit outside plays and telling stories and everything else. And then he made me an offer. He couldn't approach me, not physically, but he sure could still talk.
[Now she blows out a breath once more, brows pinching together and expression clearly displeased.]
I let him take all of those dreams. My interest in acting, my interest in writing... pretty much anything creative. I guess my memories of here were tied up in all those fantasies and hopes because those went too. And he made an ablation out of them.
[Her gaze is distant now, settled on some random bit of greenery while her mind is tripping over the memories that were hers. Hers and Moppet's own, the ones that had gone with her ablation. Hoggle shuffles uncomfortably for the first time in all of this, hands behind his back.]
We didn't know nothin' about any of it. Kept her up in that tower all that time then just threw her away when he got tired of her.
Mm. I threw her away first though.
[There's a distinctly sad, wistful ring to her voice.]
[» It's not your fault. » Why would you let him do that? » That's horrible. » ...]
He's right. Whatever that slimy prick promised you, he twisted the deal around. That's what Fables like him do.
[The word slips out before he's had a chance to censor himself. Should he even bother, though? It's what Jareth and the rest of his kingdom are at the end of the day, and what Sarah is probably half way to becoming herself. Might as well start crossing that bridge sooner than later.]
What happened to her? [His eyes stop roving enough to focus back on Sarah. She's still around, isn't she?]
[That part is the easiest question to answer thankfully. She doesn't even question the Fables part for now because she knows this is such a doozy of a tale.]
We reunited. When the Labyrinth itself was falling apart, she found me and demanded I help her save it. [She leaves out the part about being caught in yet another dream world because that part really did still piss her off.] And in order to give him the will needed to keep all of this together, she had to become part of me again.
[She rubs a hand against her cheek.]
That's why I remember any of it. Believe it or not, I didn't remember a thing about this place for nearly thirteen years. And beyond Toby I've never told anyone else any of this because...
[And now all she does is just gesture around her as if to say, "You're seeing all this too, right?"]
[This is the point where a cigarette would be reeeeeally nice. Luckily, he still has his pack and lighter. When he agreed to take this... god, should he really call it a mission, that sounds so sci-fi, he knew he'd need to stock up on rations — a "break in case of bullshit" emergency reserve, so-to-speak. Good thing those instincts can still be relied upon.
Bigby reaches into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes, and then into his other for his lighter. He puts the pack to his mouth, tapping the bottom with a finger to edge a cigarette out enough so he can pull the rest of it up with his teeth. Then he lights up one-handed. It's a quick and dirty but surprisingly fluid motion that can only come from a lifelong smoker.
When he's had time to take one long draw, he turns his head back to Sarah with a measured look and replies, exhaling smoke.]
You're not though. And they're wrong. You're just not hanging around the right people.
[There's a slight moment of hesitance before he offers her the pack, like he's not sure if she'll accept.]
[And there stands Sarah, a hand against her cheek after laying out much of this twisted mass of a story her life has become. The one she's been culling over and hacking apart for months to form into some semblance of a good fantasy story. Oh the first part works fine but the second part...
Anyhow here she stands in this courtyard with the sound of the Wise Man snoring, his hat snoring, Hoggle grumbling something about leaving cigarette butts on the ground and the most normal thing in her life right now is Bigby just standing over there lighting up a cigarette like he's a hard-boiled detective at a murder scene.
How's the line go again? Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.
Then he offers out the cigarettes to her and she just...
...]
Oh what the hell.
[Give her one of those, she doesn't want to think about Raymond Chandler right now after all of that exposition.]
[He almost looks relieved as he lights her cigarette for her, actually rather pleased, like he wasn't actually sure that she'd accept the gesture. These days, you can never tell. It's not 1986 anymore. Smoking the way he's used to isn't the type of thing you do so openly in public anymore.
Though, he's not entirely sure if this is a brand Sarah would agree with even if she is a smoker. It's a running joke that Huff 'n Puffs are king on the mountain of crappy brands, but it's all slander as far as Bigby's concerned. They're cheap and they get the job done. What more do you need?
He turns to Hogwa—Hoggle when he's done and offers him the same pack, to which the dwarf turns on his heel and folds his arms with a gruff hmph! Well, you can't say he didn't try. Bigby stands in the closest thing that's come to contended silence since he got here, mulling everything over as he smokes.
Finally,] Honestly, the craziest thing I'm taking from all of this is that I'm probably talking to two different people sharing one body right now. [Although he doesn't seem weirded out by that at all, just thoughtful, like he's not sure how he should feel. Regardless, none of the options are bad ones.] That would be a first for me.
[Congratulations, is what his eyes say.]
Jareth said you keep coming back to those dungeons. Is that why? Because you still want to help everyone?
[Not "she", "you." Sarah, other-Sarah, the both of them together. Take your pick.]
[It's been years since Sarah last smoked. Socially with her friends, sure, that's what you did in college. Cheap cigarettes and even cheaper alcohol because who could afford better? And one took up smoking back then so you could sit outside at some horrible house party you didn't want to be at to shoot the breeze with your friends because the Internet was still too young to socialize on.
One drag in and tears spring up in her eyes, reminding her of why she had never taken it up as a habit. It sure does bring back memories though. After a brief moment of covering her mouth and trying to remember just how this sort of thing goes again, she sighs out a plume of smoke.]
Toby -- my brother -- got caught up in all of this that happened recently and ended up in one of the oubliettes. And when he talked about what happened there...
[She glances over at Bigby, her expression indignant. Apparently getting messed with herself doesn't bother her half as much as watching it happen to someone else but that's not that surprising of a revelation.]
That's beyond cruel. And I've told him before I'm not going to stop letting people out of those things or pulling them out of the Bog of Eternal Stench either but he just starts in on all of that --
[And here she affects a British accent that sounds honestly pretty damn good for how posh it is.]
"It wouldn't need to be this way if you joined me, precious. You could make whatever changes you like to this place. Just fear me, love me, blah blah blah."
[With Moppet's return Sarah had gotten some of her attitude back. Not that she'd entirely lost it but with Moppet being a sum of her most passionate parts, her snark had been limited and her wit much drier. And in these last few months she's fit back into her old stubbornness and sharp tongue with ease.]
[...Huh, guess she's not used to it after all. But to her credit, she's still taking it like a champ. Bigby's lips wince around his cigarette as he listens to her coughing, then they purse as he takes another drag listening to her explanation, and then finally they lift in a half-smile with a look in his eyes to match.]
You know, with enough eyeliner and hairspray, you could pass for him. [This is a grade-A, deadpan, one hundred percent authentic Bigby Wolf joke you won't get anywhere else.] Need to stress your r's a little harder, though.
[But then he gets serious again, drat.]
They're magic, aren't they? The oubliettes. I think you said back there that, when you're thrown in one, you start to forget. About yourself, everyone. Everything. [Another drag, a little more sudden this time compared to the languid motions he's been making.] And then what happens after that is even worse, right?
[He can only imagine and the pictures he's playing in his head are not pleasant at all. What would happen if he forgot about Fabletown, about the Woodlands, about Snow? What if he forgot he was even human? Would he become himself from the bad old days or something else entirely?]
[Hey now, a bit into it and she's sort of adjusted. She would never make smoking a habit but she has to admit, it's nice after exposition dumping. If she were a book she would have just closed her up and put her away around the point of "let me tell you the next stupid teenage thing I did", if not before.
She rolls her eyes on the comment.]
No thanks. I did my time with big hair and colored mascara, thanks.
[She was a teenager in the eighties. Her mind drifts to the topic of the oubliettes once more, a frown tugging on her lips.]
Everything here is magic. The oubliettes are where you put people to forget them. I was trapped in one too the first time I came here.
[Now she points what's left of her cigarette at him, brows raised.]
The hands dumped you in, right? After you got the door wrong?
[She hmphs out a breath.]
I still think that has to be rigged.
[Aside from that though, the frown on her lips slips into a smile.]
You're here on your own helping mission. I'm pretty sure it would have been bad luck for me if I just left you in there.
[As to what happens in the oubliettes, well...]
Toby said the creatures he saw in the oubliette were just shapes and shadows by the end. If you have someone who remembers you or loves you outside of the oubliette, you last longer but even then...
[She shakes her head gently as she looks away again, dark hair swaying as she does so.]
No one deserves to just forget everything until they forget what they even are, no matter who they are to begin with. And the people who care about them don't deserve to wonder where they are without any chance of helping them.
Well I did hit one of them, that probably didn't help. [A looong beat, and when he realizes how that sounds he elaborates just a tiiiiny bit sheepishly,] It was making faces. [Oh god, that sounds even worse. MOVING ON—]
That's about the kind of answer I'd expect from someone who loves fairy tales.
[He doesn't mean to sound dismissive, he really doesn't. But this isn't him being flippant or sarcastic — this is him deflecting. What he can't himself from sounding like is tired. Emotionally more than physically, now especially after hearing all of that. She doesn't need to know that he probably wouldn't have lasted long down there. Maybe a little long, but depending and actually caring are two very different things. One doesn't necessarily beget or obligate the other. And the fact is, if he were to disappear? He can only count a few people on one hand who would care enough to wonder what happened. Like car accidents and muggings and fae abductions and near-death experiences from an out of control machine pedaled by a pair of goblins, life would just go on.
His cigarette's just about out. He takes one final puff, finishing it up.]
If I don't come back, it'd be bad for more than just my people. It's everyone.
[Finally done, he drops the butt on the ground and grinds it under his heel. He can hear Hobble make another disgusted noise behind him, but what's he supposed to do? Swallow it?
He's silent for nearly a minute before he begins for real this time, slowly and uneasily. Fuck, maybe he should taken it slower with that cigarette.]
... At first, we were just worried the door was hiding something small. A secret chamber. A tiny self-contained little world at worst. Nothing like [his tilts his head at the hedge closest to him, but his eyes are roving again at the path, the courtyard, everything.] this.
[To say it's a gutpunch would be a pretty big understatement.]
It was glamoured pretty well too. The only reason we found it was because one of us cared enough to read the paper. [That would be Snow.] Turns out, people have been disappearing in that area for a while now, around six months, maybe longer. They don't leave anything behind and the bodies are never found, if they ever were killed.
But the one thing they have in common is that they had all been in or around that theater.
[It sounds like the plot of a bad horror movie, doesn't it? Bigby sure thinks it does. It was his initial reaction when he heard all of it himself.]
[He punched one of the faces. He punched it. Sarah gives him this look like that was the last thing she expected him to confess to and she's right there on the edge of going, "but why?" when he makes his quip about fairy tales.]
Sorry, I'm not completely jaded yet. Ask me when I hit thirty.
[Oh she's jaded, she honest to goodness is. She spent thirteen years as a nose to the grindstone hardass of a person without passions, without creativity and almost without humor. She was rediscovering all of it now and those years with their strings of broken relationships had jaded her.
She was still Sarah though. She had bound herself to a world she didn't really want to inhabit and an immortal fae she had no intention of ever accepting as a husband or master or anything close to those two just so the creatures in this world wouldn't suffer. She would probably stay that much of a fairy tale forever.
Once he mentions the disappearing people, Sarah doesn't even try to hide how it shocks her. Her own ciagrette has made it to the filter and she crushes the end unthinkingly between her forefinger and thumb, tucking the butt in one of the pockets of her jeans.]
Six months?
[There's a thread of disbelief. Not that she doubts him but... six months.]
I never realized he had everything planned that long in advance... he came to me one night. I didn't know who he was of course and I didn't know he was powerless or had abdicated his throne. And later it never really occurred to me...
None of this ever occurred to me either. I didn't know. None of us did.
[Maybe if they had something would have been done, but the nauseous ball at the bottom of his stomach twists and whispers, No it wouldn't. And he knows it. Doesn't want to admit it because against all rational logic, he likes this girl. He can tell she's a good person. But ask him if he would have cared six months ago and he honestly doesn't have an answer, and that's bothering him just as bad if not worse than anything else that's happened.
Fabletown's only concern is Fabletown. Not mundies. What they do to themselves is their business. As long as they don't start poking their noses around and remain blissfully ignorant, they can do whatever they want. Shoot up their drugs, murder each other for whatever petty shit their lives are entangled in, live their lives however they damn well please. That's how it's always been.
If he didn't know Sarah and didn't know a thing about what was going on and had just passed by her on the street (which all feels like it could have very well happened if he thinks back to "Julliard") as one stranger to another — would he have picked up on the hollow, joyless look in her eyes? Would he have picked up her scent the way he did back in the oubliette and would it have stuck with him long after he returned back to his crummy apartment, passing the time until night came and the phone calls start coming in — domestic disturbances, black market activity, mundy drug peddling near the Trip Trap again — and all he'd be able to think about is the smell of fucking flowers and paper?
Would he have cared then?
He doesn't know, and it makes him sick.]
Word got around. My... I guess you could call her my boss, she asked me to check it out. There's been a problem with drugs going around in our town lately. I think she was worried that this scumbag of a petty criminal we knew would try to use the place to sell shit out of. That or some of the kids in town would dare themselves to go in and end up running into a serial killer. I don't know.
[If it was the former, he can't say he'd really mourn the aforementioned scumbag too much, or even worry about him for that matter. Jack has the most uncanny ability to get out of the strangest problems no matter how life threatening they are, even if he really should get his shit kicked in anyway nine out of ten times.]
So when I went to check it out hoping to run into someone I knew, I heard... something. And then I went inside. And then I found the door. Kind of fading in and out of reality, like whatever was holding it in place was starting to weaken.
[He pauses to run over the rest of the ensuing chain of events, trying to streamline it for relevancy.]
And then I went back, told my boss, and we all had a meeting to figure out what to do with it. We eventually decided that, whatever it was, it couldn't stay out in the open. Mundies were already going missing because of it. It was bad news for everyone.
[Sarah takes a few moments to let that all soak in, a pinched look on her face and a hand back to briefly rubbing at her cheek. Everything that happened between them had been at most three months ago, maybe four?
And she knew just when his plans begin. And she knew just what part she had played in all of it, what part Moppet and Jareth's inability to bend even her shade to his will has played in it. All those people...]
I'm so sorry.
[There's sincerity there and her sorrow absolutely dampens down her scent.]
I mean he did a majority of it but...
[How was she going to be able to look at him again? His callousness to those in the Labyrinth was enough to anger her of course but this... where had all of those people gone to?! She's suddenly seized by the urge to hunt each and every one of them down after she leaves here, once she can get her hands on a list of them all. They had to still be somewhere in the Labyrinth, even if this place had changed them, even if maybe they fell in those oubliettes or the Bog or--
She takes in a breath. Once this was all done, maybe she could get a list from this guy or his boss somehow. Then she would track each and every one of them down.]
We'll close that door. If he tries to open any others, I'll close those too.
[Sarah's sadness smells like her anger, just not as sharp. It's just as overpowering though. And she does a better job of holding in her emotions than he does, but just how absolutely worn her face looks does a pretty good job of telling Bigby how she's feeling anyway. He half regrets telling her for this reason. Of course she'd blame herself. He would too if he was in her situation.]
Yeah. He did. [His voice is soft.] None of this is your fault, Sarah.
[She might not believe it, but it's something that she should hear anyway, and enough times. Behind his own quieter feelings, any vestigial anger he has left over for Jareth from their meeting simmers into potent hate. Left alone and dwelt upon for too long and he knows it's going to take the leap and turn into rage.
And the guy's still on his bullshit, even after whatever happened with him and Sarah's other self. He's not going to quit. That they might have to make him is—
Well. It dampens the anger, just a little.]
I know people who can help. They're good at what they do. If there are any other doors, they can find them. [Maybe they already have. The people on the Thirteenth Floor are strange like that; just because they work directly for Fabletown doesn't mean they don't keep secrets. A troubling idea, but when you've dealt with this job for as long as he has, you get used to those.] And they can figure out how your magic works. They can help you.
[He looks directly at her when he speaks, and at first he thinks it would be best to leave the implication unspoken, but again — there are some things you need to hear sometimes.]
[Now probably really isn't the time to be amused or make a joke. He's being sincere, looking right at her and everything. And there's that something that stirs up again, the thing she can't put a finger on that's been wanting to tug at her quietly since the oubliettes. The Labyrinth's draw is ever present while she's here, a whisper in it's walls and through it's ground that she had never known her first time here.
And then there's a whisper in whatever this is that wants to stir up with his look. If she were a teenager again she would call it -- yeah, no, that's stupid. It was dumb then to dream of Goblin Kings with yearning hearts and it's something left firmly in those fairy tales.
She'll still probably think about it later though when the door is shut and she's home alone in her quiet little suburban house. For now though she huffs out an amused breath, quirking a grin at him.]
That sure sounds like a fairy tale answer to me, you know.
[There's no accusation in her tone, just teasing. She sighs out though, nodding.]
Good. I'm glad someone can. I'm sure it doesn't go any further than the Labyrinth itself... maybe. I don't know really.
[What was she anymore even? Was she still human? She wasn't a fae like Jareth, was she? Then again, she had eaten that peach all those years ago. Only a bit but then again it had only taken a seed for Persephone so...]
[He allows himself a tiny snort at that.] I never said I was above them, y'know. I'm only— [human] ... I'm not perfect.
[He scratches the back of his neck, hand on his hip, and pulls his eyes away from her for a moment to look back around them. Distracting himself with the sight of the Wise Man's hat bobbing gently as it tries to fight off its own sleepiness makes for as good a sight to focus on as any. Telling her so much and so readily is doing a number on his comfort levels. But it's why he's able to slip in words that don't have any meaning to her yet like Fable and mundy; he's trying to get used to it just as much as he's trying to get her used to it.
And they haven't even gotten to the really fun stuff yet.]
There's a couple ways we can figure it out. If my boss — Snow — were here, she'd probably want us to do more research on it with the people I was talking about. That's how we found out this place was called the Underground.
[Wish they could have found out a bit more about its king, though. He chews the inside of his cheek, thinking.]
Wasn't much else to go by, though. [Back to light disgruntlement.] I don't even think the mundies have any stories about it.
I always wondered about that afterward. I wouldn't have known of any of it either if I hadn't found that book but I couldn't tell you where I found it either.
[This sort of shit always has to start with some mystery, right? An enchanted book found by a lonely, angry teenager who then spins an even more elaborate story and ends up changing her whole life sure sounds like one of those typical young adult novels anyhow.]
There's plenty of stories of people being spirited away, even by goblins but --
[Here she shrugs. And here Hoggle speaks up for the first time in a while.]
Probably cause the Labyrinth is all Jareth's design. It ain't a natural thing like none of us around here who live in it... or it weren't at first. Found this place and made this Labyrinth on his own, y'know? They's even some stories about him doing it all to outrun a woman.
[And there Sarah outright snorts, brows raised as she looks over at the dwarf.]
What, you mean he has a stalker?
That's how the rumors go. Don't know if it's true but after all the business with that Mizumi woman and her ablations, wouldn't surprise me none.
[Sarah gives Hoggle a bit of an incredulous look.]
What good did building a Labyrinth do to keep a woman of that power away from him?
[From the way he raises his eyebrows (and boy, are they getting a workout today) at that piece of information, he wasn't expecting to hear this. Going by the unfamiliar name Hoggle tosses out, it seems like part of it — at least the part that has to do with Mizumi, whoever she is — has something to do with the long story Sarah's been trying to avoid. And here they go, looped back around to things they've been trying to avoid discussing.]
Probably desperation. I don't think he's as brave as he lets on. We're talking about a guy who'd rather sit in a crystal ball than get his hands dirty killing us.
[Eye-rolling aside, scared people do drastic things when they want to stay hidden, take it from him. But that gets into something else that's just as vital and similar in all the worst ways. Bigby can't believe he didn't make this connection sooner, and he mentally kicks himself for it when he addresses both Sarah and Hoggle.]
Have... either of you ever heard of someone called the Adversary? Out of curiosity. [He's been so occupied thinking about the worst case scenarios for what would happen if Jareth were to meet the Adversary that he didn't stop to realize that maybe he already has.]
Oh he's not. I mean I bullied him around when I was a kid after all.
[Then again he was all about control. And when he could no longer control her, he simple feared her and was determined to bend her to his control. And he viewed all of that as love because... well, that was the way fae were.
At the question she looks curiously back at Bigby, shakes her head and then looks down to Hoggle.]
[And the absolute relief that bubbles up in his chest is reinvigorating and downright wonderful. Wherever this world is, it's small enough to avoid the Adversary's attention, just like the mundy world. It's a massive bullet dodged, because if Sarah and the ablation inside her don't know, and if Hoggle who's lived here his whole life doesn't know, then it's perfectly reasonable to assume Jareth doesn't know either.
And if he doesn't know, you could really spin it to your favor in two ways. Either they don't tell him and don't risk the chance of him stupidly seeking the Adversary out himself...
Or it can be our bargaining chip.
He looks mildly blindsided, but not upset in the least. Slowly, he shakes his head.]
Then you're lucky. [Another solemn topic again, and one Bigby has to be careful with how he explains; this must be a lot to take in after all. So he looks back out over the courtyard to focus himself on something else for a moment as he starts,] There are a lot of worlds out there like this one. I used to come from one. It wasn't exactly the same, but it had most of... this. Royalty, kingdoms. Faeries. [He tilts his head back to the castle briefly, and then at Hoggle.] Goblins.
[It doesn't sound like a briefing or an exchange of information anymore. It's more intimate as nostalgia tends to be.]
It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't... horrible.
[Most times.]
There was a war. [Now the softness grows an edge. There's no way to sugarcoat it no matter what nice words he picks out.] It started far away, in a place no one knew or cared about. And when that kingdom fell, it moved on to another. And another. Until it was everywhere.
[There's a pause.]
No one knew who started it. We still don't know, but we call him the Adversary.
[It's a bit of a cliche name, that's her first thought. And yet it's a perfect name for a more fairy tale villain. The Adversary really sums it up and tells you plainly that this is the 'big bad'.
And yet... her eyes drift off to that castle. She wonders not for the first time how much of this he can hear. She didn't feel his presence here and if she hadn't been distracted in the tunnels she was sure she would have felt him before that crystal of his rolled into view. Now that she was actively, honestly listening to that thing that presented as gentle tugging, she somewhat understood that he couldn't just creep up again.
And she understood that he knew that too. Her brow furrowed at that thought. What else hadn't he told her? Did he know about this Adversary? Did he not? Or did he just not care?
Meanwhile the word 'war' has Hoggle leaping straight to attention.]
Not again! Ooooh, after all that with Toby and Mizumi and the Labyrinth near breaking apart! Do you know how much spraying I had t' do?! All them pixies sneaking in through the cracks in the walls round here!
[He throws his hands in the air.]
Well I ain't doin' it again if another fight or whatever comes here. You can all just get bitten up like crazy by them for all I care!
[NOBODY KNOWS HIS PAIN.
Sarah sighs out. She can't even comment on Bigby's obvious nostalgia trip or how terrible any of it sounds because Hoggle is having an absolute meltdown now.]
It's going to be alright, Hoggle. Nobody is going to break apart the Labyrinth again, trust me.
[He gives Hoggle an authentic "are you serious" face. Haven't seen one of those for a while, have you?
And finally:] Yeah, she's right. The Adversary wouldn't break it apart.
[He leaves enough of a pause there to give them a moment to feel comfortable before continuing harshly:]
First he'd roll in with his army and they'd start pillaging and killing everything they see. Every village they find, they'll kill everyone in it except the women and children. Those ones they'd split up into who gets to live as slaves and who gets saved for rations on their way through the rest of the kingdom. Everyone else, they torture to death. Then they'll go to the castle and kill everyone inside except the king, who gets to be last.
And then they fucking take your kingdom for theirs, strip everything they can from it to use for their army including stealing anything magical you have that the Adversary might want. And then they turn it into a fucking wasteland.
[He's well pissed by the time he's done. Thinking about it is infuriating, but having to explain it to someone who's more worried about pixie bites is up there too. And unfortunately, while he may have self-control and patience in some areas, there are others that.... ehhh. A little improvement wouldn't hurt.]
That's what he'll do to this place. [He gestures to the castle, to the hedge, to everything. End fucking sentence.]
Edited (it needed a more edge) 2019-05-25 00:27 (UTC)
Hoggle stammers out something or other. It might be words but it's incoherent enough to be nothing at all in the end. Real honest-to-goodness war is so outside of the dwarf's purview of life that he doesn't seem completely sure how to take Bigby's words. The biggest tyrant he's ever known had been Jareth after all and the Goblin King's deeds are nowhere close to Bigby's description of what the Adversary does.
And at seeing Hoggle so baffled, there's a quick protective flash of anger all through Sarah that leaves her muscles momentarily tense. And yet... if what Bigby says is true -- and she doesn't doubt it if for all the vehemence in his words -- it could quickly be something that the dwarf and many, many others here would have far too intimate knowledge of.
Bigby's being harsh and sharp for a reason, so she thinks. And so she can't bring herself to react to that initial flash of protective anger inside herself. She can still react though and her voice gentle as she speaks to Hoggle himself and calls his attention back to her.]
Hey. Let's just focus on getting out of here first, okay?
[The dwarf snaps his gaze to her. And then bobs his head a little, still looking a little ill.]
Yeah. Sure.
[He seems happy to head off first and the brunette herself sighs, hands on her hips a moment and eyes directed skyward before she looks back to the man himself. A gesture of her head in the direction Hoggle has went, the direction she had been meaning to go before the Exposition Dump Stop, with the distinct look of a teacher herding up disruptive students.]
You too, let's go.
Edited (i started a thought and accidentally a word in the process) 2019-05-25 00:48 (UTC)
[And once the intense but brief burst of anger passes, Bigby's left in awkward silence. It dulls even more when Sarah addresses him in that disappointed tone, prim and terse with a look in her eyes to match. It reminds him very distinctly of how Snow acts whenever she has to rein him in, and it makes him feel just as embarrassed. His brow creases and his eyes avoid hers.
But regardless, he slowly and dutifully follows behind anyway. If he had a tail, it would definitely be tucked between his legs.]
I have a name, y'know. [Which he just remembers he never gave to her. Goddamnit.]
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bakerstreet2019-05-20 09:28 am
no subject
Lucky guess.
[Sarah actually does pause there though, thinking on the question only a second or two.]
Maybe? I enjoyed it anyhow and I would get complimented by my teachers. I used to act out the bedtime stories I told my brother and everything. He really loved that apparently.
[So at least she had one fan?]
Well I didn't get into Juilliard and it just really did something to me. I was young and idealistic and I thought if I couldn't go there and hone my acting skills, I might as well just forget about it all entirely. So I quit my drama classes, I quit outside plays and telling stories and everything else. And then he made me an offer. He couldn't approach me, not physically, but he sure could still talk.
[Now she blows out a breath once more, brows pinching together and expression clearly displeased.]
I let him take all of those dreams. My interest in acting, my interest in writing... pretty much anything creative. I guess my memories of here were tied up in all those fantasies and hopes because those went too. And he made an ablation out of them.
[Her gaze is distant now, settled on some random bit of greenery while her mind is tripping over the memories that were hers. Hers and Moppet's own, the ones that had gone with her ablation. Hoggle shuffles uncomfortably for the first time in all of this, hands behind his back.]
We didn't know nothin' about any of it. Kept her up in that tower all that time then just threw her away when he got tired of her.
Mm. I threw her away first though.
[There's a distinctly sad, wistful ring to her voice.]
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» Why would you let him do that?
» That's horrible.
» ...]
He's right. Whatever that slimy prick promised you, he twisted the deal around. That's what Fables like him do.
[The word slips out before he's had a chance to censor himself. Should he even bother, though? It's what Jareth and the rest of his kingdom are at the end of the day, and what Sarah is probably half way to becoming herself. Might as well start crossing that bridge sooner than later.]
What happened to her? [His eyes stop roving enough to focus back on Sarah. She's still around, isn't she?]
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We reunited. When the Labyrinth itself was falling apart, she found me and demanded I help her save it. [She leaves out the part about being caught in yet another dream world because that part really did still piss her off.] And in order to give him the will needed to keep all of this together, she had to become part of me again.
[She rubs a hand against her cheek.]
That's why I remember any of it. Believe it or not, I didn't remember a thing about this place for nearly thirteen years. And beyond Toby I've never told anyone else any of this because...
[And now all she does is just gesture around her as if to say, "You're seeing all this too, right?"]
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[This is the point where a cigarette would be reeeeeally nice. Luckily, he still has his pack and lighter. When he agreed to take this... god, should he really call it a mission, that sounds so sci-fi, he knew he'd need to stock up on rations — a "break in case of bullshit" emergency reserve, so-to-speak. Good thing those instincts can still be relied upon.
Bigby reaches into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes, and then into his other for his lighter. He puts the pack to his mouth, tapping the bottom with a finger to edge a cigarette out enough so he can pull the rest of it up with his teeth. Then he lights up one-handed. It's a quick and dirty but surprisingly fluid motion that can only come from a lifelong smoker.
When he's had time to take one long draw, he turns his head back to Sarah with a measured look and replies, exhaling smoke.]
You're not though. And they're wrong. You're just not hanging around the right people.
[There's a slight moment of hesitance before he offers her the pack, like he's not sure if she'll accept.]
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Anyhow here she stands in this courtyard with the sound of the Wise Man snoring, his hat snoring, Hoggle grumbling something about leaving cigarette butts on the ground and the most normal thing in her life right now is Bigby just standing over there lighting up a cigarette like he's a hard-boiled detective at a murder scene.
How's the line go again? Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.
Then he offers out the cigarettes to her and she just...
...]
Oh what the hell.
[Give her one of those, she doesn't want to think about Raymond Chandler right now after all of that exposition.]
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Though, he's not entirely sure if this is a brand Sarah would agree with even if she is a smoker. It's a running joke that Huff 'n Puffs are king on the mountain of crappy brands, but it's all slander as far as Bigby's concerned. They're cheap and they get the job done. What more do you need?
He turns to Hogwa—Hoggle when he's done and offers him the same pack, to which the dwarf turns on his heel and folds his arms with a gruff hmph! Well, you can't say he didn't try. Bigby stands in the closest thing that's come to contended silence since he got here, mulling everything over as he smokes.
Finally,] Honestly, the craziest thing I'm taking from all of this is that I'm probably talking to two different people sharing one body right now. [Although he doesn't seem weirded out by that at all, just thoughtful, like he's not sure how he should feel. Regardless, none of the options are bad ones.] That would be a first for me.
[Congratulations, is what his eyes say.]
Jareth said you keep coming back to those dungeons. Is that why? Because you still want to help everyone?
[Not "she", "you." Sarah, other-Sarah, the both of them together. Take your pick.]
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One drag in and tears spring up in her eyes, reminding her of why she had never taken it up as a habit. It sure does bring back memories though. After a brief moment of covering her mouth and trying to remember just how this sort of thing goes again, she sighs out a plume of smoke.]
Toby -- my brother -- got caught up in all of this that happened recently and ended up in one of the oubliettes. And when he talked about what happened there...
[She glances over at Bigby, her expression indignant. Apparently getting messed with herself doesn't bother her half as much as watching it happen to someone else but that's not that surprising of a revelation.]
That's beyond cruel. And I've told him before I'm not going to stop letting people out of those things or pulling them out of the Bog of Eternal Stench either but he just starts in on all of that --
[And here she affects a British accent that sounds honestly pretty damn good for how posh it is.]
"It wouldn't need to be this way if you joined me, precious. You could make whatever changes you like to this place. Just fear me, love me, blah blah blah."
[With Moppet's return Sarah had gotten some of her attitude back. Not that she'd entirely lost it but with Moppet being a sum of her most passionate parts, her snark had been limited and her wit much drier. And in these last few months she's fit back into her old stubbornness and sharp tongue with ease.]
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You know, with enough eyeliner and hairspray, you could pass for him. [This is a grade-A, deadpan, one hundred percent authentic Bigby Wolf joke you won't get anywhere else.] Need to stress your r's a little harder, though.
[But then he gets serious again, drat.]
They're magic, aren't they? The oubliettes. I think you said back there that, when you're thrown in one, you start to forget. About yourself, everyone. Everything. [Another drag, a little more sudden this time compared to the languid motions he's been making.] And then what happens after that is even worse, right?
[He can only imagine and the pictures he's playing in his head are not pleasant at all. What would happen if he forgot about Fabletown, about the Woodlands, about Snow? What if he forgot he was even human? Would he become himself from the bad old days or something else entirely?]
... I never did thank you, by the way.
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She rolls her eyes on the comment.]
No thanks. I did my time with big hair and colored mascara, thanks.
[She was a teenager in the eighties. Her mind drifts to the topic of the oubliettes once more, a frown tugging on her lips.]
Everything here is magic. The oubliettes are where you put people to forget them. I was trapped in one too the first time I came here.
[Now she points what's left of her cigarette at him, brows raised.]
The hands dumped you in, right? After you got the door wrong?
[She hmphs out a breath.]
I still think that has to be rigged.
[Aside from that though, the frown on her lips slips into a smile.]
You're here on your own helping mission. I'm pretty sure it would have been bad luck for me if I just left you in there.
[As to what happens in the oubliettes, well...]
Toby said the creatures he saw in the oubliette were just shapes and shadows by the end. If you have someone who remembers you or loves you outside of the oubliette, you last longer but even then...
[She shakes her head gently as she looks away again, dark hair swaying as she does so.]
No one deserves to just forget everything until they forget what they even are, no matter who they are to begin with. And the people who care about them don't deserve to wonder where they are without any chance of helping them.
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Well I did hit one of them, that probably didn't help. [A looong beat, and when he realizes how that sounds he elaborates just a tiiiiny bit sheepishly,] It was making faces. [Oh god, that sounds even worse. MOVING ON—]
That's about the kind of answer I'd expect from someone who loves fairy tales.
[He doesn't mean to sound dismissive, he really doesn't. But this isn't him being flippant or sarcastic — this is him deflecting. What he can't himself from sounding like is tired. Emotionally more than physically, now especially after hearing all of that. She doesn't need to know that he probably wouldn't have lasted long down there. Maybe a little long, but depending and actually caring are two very different things. One doesn't necessarily beget or obligate the other. And the fact is, if he were to disappear? He can only count a few people on one hand who would care enough to wonder what happened. Like car accidents and muggings and fae abductions and near-death experiences from an out of control machine pedaled by a pair of goblins, life would just go on.
His cigarette's just about out. He takes one final puff, finishing it up.]
If I don't come back, it'd be bad for more than just my people. It's everyone.
[Finally done, he drops the butt on the ground and grinds it under his heel. He can hear Hobble make another disgusted noise behind him, but what's he supposed to do? Swallow it?
He's silent for nearly a minute before he begins for real this time, slowly and uneasily. Fuck, maybe he should taken it slower with that cigarette.]
... At first, we were just worried the door was hiding something small. A secret chamber. A tiny self-contained little world at worst. Nothing like [his tilts his head at the hedge closest to him, but his eyes are roving again at the path, the courtyard, everything.] this.
[To say it's a gutpunch would be a pretty big understatement.]
It was glamoured pretty well too. The only reason we found it was because one of us cared enough to read the paper. [That would be Snow.] Turns out, people have been disappearing in that area for a while now, around six months, maybe longer. They don't leave anything behind and the bodies are never found, if they ever were killed.
But the one thing they have in common is that they had all been in or around that theater.
[It sounds like the plot of a bad horror movie, doesn't it? Bigby sure thinks it does. It was his initial reaction when he heard all of it himself.]
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Sorry, I'm not completely jaded yet. Ask me when I hit thirty.
[Oh she's jaded, she honest to goodness is. She spent thirteen years as a nose to the grindstone hardass of a person without passions, without creativity and almost without humor. She was rediscovering all of it now and those years with their strings of broken relationships had jaded her.
She was still Sarah though. She had bound herself to a world she didn't really want to inhabit and an immortal fae she had no intention of ever accepting as a husband or master or anything close to those two just so the creatures in this world wouldn't suffer. She would probably stay that much of a fairy tale forever.
Once he mentions the disappearing people, Sarah doesn't even try to hide how it shocks her. Her own ciagrette has made it to the filter and she crushes the end unthinkingly between her forefinger and thumb, tucking the butt in one of the pockets of her jeans.]
Six months?
[There's a thread of disbelief. Not that she doubts him but... six months.]
I never realized he had everything planned that long in advance... he came to me one night. I didn't know who he was of course and I didn't know he was powerless or had abdicated his throne. And later it never really occurred to me...
[She almost feels sick at the thought.]
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[Maybe if they had something would have been done, but the nauseous ball at the bottom of his stomach twists and whispers, No it wouldn't. And he knows it. Doesn't want to admit it because against all rational logic, he likes this girl. He can tell she's a good person. But ask him if he would have cared six months ago and he honestly doesn't have an answer, and that's bothering him just as bad if not worse than anything else that's happened.
Fabletown's only concern is Fabletown. Not mundies. What they do to themselves is their business. As long as they don't start poking their noses around and remain blissfully ignorant, they can do whatever they want. Shoot up their drugs, murder each other for whatever petty shit their lives are entangled in, live their lives however they damn well please. That's how it's always been.
If he didn't know Sarah and didn't know a thing about what was going on and had just passed by her on the street (which all feels like it could have very well happened if he thinks back to "Julliard") as one stranger to another — would he have picked up on the hollow, joyless look in her eyes? Would he have picked up her scent the way he did back in the oubliette and would it have stuck with him long after he returned back to his crummy apartment, passing the time until night came and the phone calls start coming in — domestic disturbances, black market activity, mundy drug peddling near the Trip Trap again — and all he'd be able to think about is the smell of fucking flowers and paper?
Would he have cared then?
He doesn't know, and it makes him sick.]
Word got around. My... I guess you could call her my boss, she asked me to check it out. There's been a problem with drugs going around in our town lately. I think she was worried that this scumbag of a petty criminal we knew would try to use the place to sell shit out of. That or some of the kids in town would dare themselves to go in and end up running into a serial killer. I don't know.
[If it was the former, he can't say he'd really mourn the aforementioned scumbag too much, or even worry about him for that matter. Jack has the most uncanny ability to get out of the strangest problems no matter how life threatening they are, even if he really should get his shit kicked in anyway nine out of ten times.]
So when I went to check it out hoping to run into someone I knew, I heard... something. And then I went inside. And then I found the door. Kind of fading in and out of reality, like whatever was holding it in place was starting to weaken.
[He pauses to run over the rest of the ensuing chain of events, trying to streamline it for relevancy.]
And then I went back, told my boss, and we all had a meeting to figure out what to do with it. We eventually decided that, whatever it was, it couldn't stay out in the open. Mundies were already going missing because of it. It was bad news for everyone.
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And she knew just when his plans begin. And she knew just what part she had played in all of it, what part Moppet and Jareth's inability to bend even her shade to his will has played in it. All those people...]
I'm so sorry.
[There's sincerity there and her sorrow absolutely dampens down her scent.]
I mean he did a majority of it but...
[How was she going to be able to look at him again? His callousness to those in the Labyrinth was enough to anger her of course but this... where had all of those people gone to?! She's suddenly seized by the urge to hunt each and every one of them down after she leaves here, once she can get her hands on a list of them all. They had to still be somewhere in the Labyrinth, even if this place had changed them, even if maybe they fell in those oubliettes or the Bog or--
She takes in a breath. Once this was all done, maybe she could get a list from this guy or his boss somehow. Then she would track each and every one of them down.]
We'll close that door. If he tries to open any others, I'll close those too.
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Yeah. He did. [His voice is soft.] None of this is your fault, Sarah.
[She might not believe it, but it's something that she should hear anyway, and enough times. Behind his own quieter feelings, any vestigial anger he has left over for Jareth from their meeting simmers into potent hate. Left alone and dwelt upon for too long and he knows it's going to take the leap and turn into rage.
And the guy's still on his bullshit, even after whatever happened with him and Sarah's other self. He's not going to quit. That they might have to make him is—
Well. It dampens the anger, just a little.]
I know people who can help. They're good at what they do. If there are any other doors, they can find them. [Maybe they already have. The people on the Thirteenth Floor are strange like that; just because they work directly for Fabletown doesn't mean they don't keep secrets. A troubling idea, but when you've dealt with this job for as long as he has, you get used to those.] And they can figure out how your magic works. They can help you.
[He looks directly at her when he speaks, and at first he thinks it would be best to leave the implication unspoken, but again — there are some things you need to hear sometimes.]
You don't have to be alone anymore.
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And then there's a whisper in whatever this is that wants to stir up with his look. If she were a teenager again she would call it -- yeah, no, that's stupid. It was dumb then to dream of Goblin Kings with yearning hearts and it's something left firmly in those fairy tales.
She'll still probably think about it later though when the door is shut and she's home alone in her quiet little suburban house. For now though she huffs out an amused breath, quirking a grin at him.]
That sure sounds like a fairy tale answer to me, you know.
[There's no accusation in her tone, just teasing. She sighs out though, nodding.]
Good. I'm glad someone can. I'm sure it doesn't go any further than the Labyrinth itself... maybe. I don't know really.
[What was she anymore even? Was she still human? She wasn't a fae like Jareth, was she? Then again, she had eaten that peach all those years ago. Only a bit but then again it had only taken a seed for Persephone so...]
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[He scratches the back of his neck, hand on his hip, and pulls his eyes away from her for a moment to look back around them. Distracting himself with the sight of the Wise Man's hat bobbing gently as it tries to fight off its own sleepiness makes for as good a sight to focus on as any. Telling her so much and so readily is doing a number on his comfort levels. But it's why he's able to slip in words that don't have any meaning to her yet like Fable and mundy; he's trying to get used to it just as much as he's trying to get her used to it.
And they haven't even gotten to the really fun stuff yet.]
There's a couple ways we can figure it out. If my boss — Snow — were here, she'd probably want us to do more research on it with the people I was talking about. That's how we found out this place was called the Underground.
[Wish they could have found out a bit more about its king, though. He chews the inside of his cheek, thinking.]
Wasn't much else to go by, though. [Back to light disgruntlement.] I don't even think the mundies have any stories about it.
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[This sort of shit always has to start with some mystery, right? An enchanted book found by a lonely, angry teenager who then spins an even more elaborate story and ends up changing her whole life sure sounds like one of those typical young adult novels anyhow.]
There's plenty of stories of people being spirited away, even by goblins but --
[Here she shrugs. And here Hoggle speaks up for the first time in a while.]
Probably cause the Labyrinth is all Jareth's design. It ain't a natural thing like none of us around here who live in it... or it weren't at first. Found this place and made this Labyrinth on his own, y'know? They's even some stories about him doing it all to outrun a woman.
[And there Sarah outright snorts, brows raised as she looks over at the dwarf.]
What, you mean he has a stalker?
That's how the rumors go. Don't know if it's true but after all the business with that Mizumi woman and her ablations, wouldn't surprise me none.
[Sarah gives Hoggle a bit of an incredulous look.]
What good did building a Labyrinth do to keep a woman of that power away from him?
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Probably desperation. I don't think he's as brave as he lets on. We're talking about a guy who'd rather sit in a crystal ball than get his hands dirty killing us.
[Eye-rolling aside, scared people do drastic things when they want to stay hidden, take it from him. But that gets into something else that's just as vital and similar in all the worst ways. Bigby can't believe he didn't make this connection sooner, and he mentally kicks himself for it when he addresses both Sarah and Hoggle.]
Have... either of you ever heard of someone called the Adversary? Out of curiosity. [He's been so occupied thinking about the worst case scenarios for what would happen if Jareth were to meet the Adversary that he didn't stop to realize that maybe he already has.]
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[Then again he was all about control. And when he could no longer control her, he simple feared her and was determined to bend her to his control. And he viewed all of that as love because... well, that was the way fae were.
At the question she looks curiously back at Bigby, shakes her head and then looks down to Hoggle.]
Don't sound familiar to me neither.
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And if he doesn't know, you could really spin it to your favor in two ways. Either they don't tell him and don't risk the chance of him stupidly seeking the Adversary out himself...
Or it can be our bargaining chip.
He looks mildly blindsided, but not upset in the least. Slowly, he shakes his head.]
Then you're lucky. [Another solemn topic again, and one Bigby has to be careful with how he explains; this must be a lot to take in after all. So he looks back out over the courtyard to focus himself on something else for a moment as he starts,] There are a lot of worlds out there like this one. I used to come from one. It wasn't exactly the same, but it had most of... this. Royalty, kingdoms. Faeries. [He tilts his head back to the castle briefly, and then at Hoggle.] Goblins.
[It doesn't sound like a briefing or an exchange of information anymore. It's more intimate as nostalgia tends to be.]
It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't... horrible.
[Most times.]
There was a war. [Now the softness grows an edge. There's no way to sugarcoat it no matter what nice words he picks out.] It started far away, in a place no one knew or cared about. And when that kingdom fell, it moved on to another. And another. Until it was everywhere.
[There's a pause.]
No one knew who started it. We still don't know, but we call him the Adversary.
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And yet... her eyes drift off to that castle. She wonders not for the first time how much of this he can hear. She didn't feel his presence here and if she hadn't been distracted in the tunnels she was sure she would have felt him before that crystal of his rolled into view. Now that she was actively, honestly listening to that thing that presented as gentle tugging, she somewhat understood that he couldn't just creep up again.
And she understood that he knew that too. Her brow furrowed at that thought. What else hadn't he told her? Did he know about this Adversary? Did he not? Or did he just not care?
Meanwhile the word 'war' has Hoggle leaping straight to attention.]
Not again! Ooooh, after all that with Toby and Mizumi and the Labyrinth near breaking apart! Do you know how much spraying I had t' do?! All them pixies sneaking in through the cracks in the walls round here!
[He throws his hands in the air.]
Well I ain't doin' it again if another fight or whatever comes here. You can all just get bitten up like crazy by them for all I care!
[NOBODY KNOWS HIS PAIN.
Sarah sighs out. She can't even comment on Bigby's obvious nostalgia trip or how terrible any of it sounds because Hoggle is having an absolute meltdown now.]
It's going to be alright, Hoggle. Nobody is going to break apart the Labyrinth again, trust me.
ow the edge 2019
And finally:] Yeah, she's right. The Adversary wouldn't break it apart.
[He leaves enough of a pause there to give them a moment to feel comfortable before continuing harshly:]
First he'd roll in with his army and they'd start pillaging and killing everything they see. Every village they find, they'll kill everyone in it except the women and children. Those ones they'd split up into who gets to live as slaves and who gets saved for rations on their way through the rest of the kingdom. Everyone else, they torture to death. Then they'll go to the castle and kill everyone inside except the king, who gets to be last.
And then they fucking take your kingdom for theirs, strip everything they can from it to use for their army including stealing anything magical you have that the Adversary might want. And then they turn it into a fucking wasteland.
[He's well pissed by the time he's done. Thinking about it is infuriating, but having to explain it to someone who's more worried about pixie bites is up there too. And unfortunately, while he may have self-control and patience in some areas, there are others that.... ehhh. A little improvement wouldn't hurt.]
That's what he'll do to this place. [He gestures to the castle, to the hedge, to everything. End fucking sentence.]
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...
Hoggle stammers out something or other. It might be words but it's incoherent enough to be nothing at all in the end. Real honest-to-goodness war is so outside of the dwarf's purview of life that he doesn't seem completely sure how to take Bigby's words. The biggest tyrant he's ever known had been Jareth after all and the Goblin King's deeds are nowhere close to Bigby's description of what the Adversary does.
And at seeing Hoggle so baffled, there's a quick protective flash of anger all through Sarah that leaves her muscles momentarily tense. And yet... if what Bigby says is true -- and she doesn't doubt it if for all the vehemence in his words -- it could quickly be something that the dwarf and many, many others here would have far too intimate knowledge of.
Bigby's being harsh and sharp for a reason, so she thinks. And so she can't bring herself to react to that initial flash of protective anger inside herself. She can still react though and her voice gentle as she speaks to Hoggle himself and calls his attention back to her.]
Hey. Let's just focus on getting out of here first, okay?
[The dwarf snaps his gaze to her. And then bobs his head a little, still looking a little ill.]
Yeah. Sure.
[He seems happy to head off first and the brunette herself sighs, hands on her hips a moment and eyes directed skyward before she looks back to the man himself. A gesture of her head in the direction Hoggle has went, the direction she had been meaning to go before the Exposition Dump Stop, with the distinct look of a teacher herding up disruptive students.]
You too, let's go.
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But regardless, he slowly and dutifully follows behind anyway. If he had a tail, it would definitely be tucked between his legs.]
I have a name, y'know. [Which he just remembers he never gave to her. Goddamnit.]
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What, Big Angry Guy? Can I just call you 'BAG' for short?
[Okay, okay, amusement aside.]
You know mine already but I'm Sarah Williams. Now, what do I call you?
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#lethogglesayfuck