It's Only Forever - Not Long At All (Open)

[gobking_jareth]

Who: Jareth and whoever happens upon him
When: Just before the sun goes down
Where: A window at the end of the sixth floor corridor
What: Jareth is feeling a little constrained by the hotel and misses his kingdom.

Comments

[doc_nine]

The Doctor stepped out of the lift, then realised he was no where near the garage. Sighing he turned to go back inside, but the door closed and he was left annoyed and abandoned on some floor or other. Pressing the lift call button he waited, then glanced down the corridor.

A familiar figure was sitting with the window open. The Doctor looked from lift to Jareth and back again. How did that old Earth saying go? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer (or at least close enough to find out what the
hell he was playing at with Rose.)

Ambling down the hallway, he suddenly stopped,then turned back the way he had come. Perhaps this was a little too up close and personal for either of them!

[gobking_jareth]

Jareth heard the lift doors open and close, but he didn't hear a room door. After a moment, he turned and saw the Doctor walking away from him down the hall.

"I don't believe you live on this floor," he said, turning back to the window. "Or are you the latest census-taker, since the vampire disappeared?"

[doc_nine]

The Doctor stopped at the sound of Jareth's voice, turning partially, he peered at the other man's back as he considered what his answer should be. The voice didn't have it's usual edge to it and the Goblin King had never stuck him as someone who wouldn't meet everyone he came into contact with head-on and eye to eye, yet here he was, turning away.

"Nope. The lift dumped me here, not my choice- I was heading for the garage."

[gobking_jareth]

Jareth snorted. "Typical," he remarked, though it was unclear whether he meant for the hotel or for the Doctor.

"Nobody has checked this floor," he said after a moment. He turned and glanced at the Doctor. "I do read that Network... thing. The vampire used to do so frequently. That's how I know he is no longer here."

[doc_nine]

The Doctor shrugged, as far as he knew he hadn't come across a vampire, he wasn't even sure which floor this was, but he had no intention of giving Jareth the satisfaction of seeing him check the nearest door for its room number.

"Saw some of the comments about people going missing," he didn't bother adding that he had been one of those commenting- there seemed no point in telling him what he obviously already knew.

[gobking_jareth]

"Quite a few people, it would seem," Jareth commented. "Nobody of any significance, as far as I've seen."

[doc_nine]

"Everybody's significant to somebody," the Doctor murmured back. Walking up to the window, he looked outside. "How's Rose?" He enquired, not looking at Jareth.

[gobking_jareth]

"As well as can be expected, I suppose," he replied. "She did not take your last trip to the garage well. She has barely emerged from her room since then."

[doc_nine]

The Doctor nodded sadly, he had hoped that perhaps it would have helped rather than hindered, made her believe that the TARDIS was working away on the outside, trying to get them free of the hotel's grip, rather than trapped with them, but clearly it hadn't.

"You'll keep me up to date?" He asked, staring into the distance.

[gobking_jareth]

"If you ask after her, I expect I will answer. She has not expressed any feelings against you."

He looked over at the Doctor. "I believe I have convinced her the ships have been trapped elsewhere. I do not know for certain whether it is so, but the hotel has not killed anybody yet and I do not see what it would gain in doing so when it can trap even the most powerful beings with ease."

[doc_nine]

"Thank you," he replied, then looked across at the other man. They seemed to agree on the situation regarding the TARDIS if nothing else.

"I've no idea what this place has or hasn't done before, but there's a first time for everything," he said bluntly. "but hopefully you're right."

[gobking_jareth]

"That is what she said," Jareth told him. "However, I think I understand the mindset of someone like the power behind this hotel better than you or Rose ever could."

[doc_nine]

The Doctor shrugged and let Jareth's comment about knowing the mindset better than he did pass. He was more than aware that the other man had an ego the size of a double decker bus, but he'd locked horns with far worse than the Goblin King in his time and he needed to keep him on side- for Rose's sake if nothing else.

"Were there many people on this floor?" He enquired, attempting to shift the conversation in another direction.

[gobking_jareth]

Jareth shrugged. "I am not the census taker," he said dismissively. "I know the vampire and his wife live here. I have seen a man with two heads in the corridor and a man who is always wearing..." He had to think about what the attire was called. "I believe it is known as a business suit. Others may live here. I wouldn't know."

[doc_nine]

"Two heads? Really?" He
definitely hadn't come across him! "Well I'm sure Jack will be up here before too long to kick in a few doors," he said cheerfully.

[gobking_jareth]

"Jack Harkness?" Jareth confirmed distastefully. "Tell him to stay away from my door, then. I have seen enough of him already."