Cannonball
“The kids are having a ball.” Sarah laughed as a small goblin took her comment a tad too literally when he shot out of one of the water slides, his head and limbs curled tightly to his body in a surprising approximation of an armadillo. When he hit the water he bounced several times before he scrambled the side of the pool and ran to the top again.
Once they’d learned that one of the foxes had skipped across the surface on exiting the tube, half of them were trying to emulate her trick with various degrees of success. The other half were vying for the biggest splash, so spectating was best done from a distance.
“I knew they would.” Jareth applauded a huge splash as a young elf hit the pool with a gleeful yell. “I took them to a toboggan run a few years back.” He sighed dramatically. “Getting over excited goblins to use toboggans correctly proved somewhat challenging.”
Sarah covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to suppress a giggle and ended up snorting rather inelegantly. “I’m sorry, but that seems fairly obvious. Was anyone hurt?”
“My last nerve may have met its demise in the endeavour, but the children returned home intact,” Jareth groused. “The equipment, however, was very much the worse for wear and the track was heavily damaged. After removing the evidence I felt it best if the disaster wasn’t repeated.”
“A wise decision.” Sarah grinned at her husband, amused that he could still be caught by unexpected surprises. “How did you hit on a water park?”
“The guardians were watching an Above entertainment that I saw in passing.”
Frowning in thought, Sarah tried to think what he’d seen and couldn’t figure it out.
Jareth shrugged. “It involved a time travelling phone box.”
Sarah tilted her head in thought. “Was it a man with a blue box? Or teenagers with a clear box?” Jareth indicated the second, making Sarah laugh as she got the film reference.
A huge splash came close to their sun loungers and they both looked up. “Are they hitting the water faster?”
With a flourish of his wrist Jareth produced a crystal, Sarah leaned over to peer into it. Rook had been assigned to monitor the top of the slides, but she had apparently reached the end of her patience and was yeeting goblins into the tubes, much to their delight. Her usual forbearance for goblin handling had apparently been exceeded by their excessive sugar consumption.
Jareth stood up, handing the crystal to Sarah. “I’d best relieve her before she puts someone into orbit.” He lifted Sarah’s chin and bent to drop a kiss onto her upturned lips, before commandeering the nearest guardian and disappearing them both.
Sarah watched as Cressida smoothly took over. Jareth stood to the side holding one hand around the back of Rook’s neck, their foreheads pressed together and made a mental note to insist he helped his friend decompress when they got home.
labyfic - drabble #163: friend
Part of the Balance!verse
Once they’d learned that one of the foxes had skipped across the surface on exiting the tube, half of them were trying to emulate her trick with various degrees of success. The other half were vying for the biggest splash, so spectating was best done from a distance.
“I knew they would.” Jareth applauded a huge splash as a young elf hit the pool with a gleeful yell. “I took them to a toboggan run a few years back.” He sighed dramatically. “Getting over excited goblins to use toboggans correctly proved somewhat challenging.”
Sarah covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to suppress a giggle and ended up snorting rather inelegantly. “I’m sorry, but that seems fairly obvious. Was anyone hurt?”
“My last nerve may have met its demise in the endeavour, but the children returned home intact,” Jareth groused. “The equipment, however, was very much the worse for wear and the track was heavily damaged. After removing the evidence I felt it best if the disaster wasn’t repeated.”
“A wise decision.” Sarah grinned at her husband, amused that he could still be caught by unexpected surprises. “How did you hit on a water park?”
“The guardians were watching an Above entertainment that I saw in passing.”
Frowning in thought, Sarah tried to think what he’d seen and couldn’t figure it out.
Jareth shrugged. “It involved a time travelling phone box.”
Sarah tilted her head in thought. “Was it a man with a blue box? Or teenagers with a clear box?” Jareth indicated the second, making Sarah laugh as she got the film reference.
A huge splash came close to their sun loungers and they both looked up. “Are they hitting the water faster?”
With a flourish of his wrist Jareth produced a crystal, Sarah leaned over to peer into it. Rook had been assigned to monitor the top of the slides, but she had apparently reached the end of her patience and was yeeting goblins into the tubes, much to their delight. Her usual forbearance for goblin handling had apparently been exceeded by their excessive sugar consumption.
Jareth stood up, handing the crystal to Sarah. “I’d best relieve her before she puts someone into orbit.” He lifted Sarah’s chin and bent to drop a kiss onto her upturned lips, before commandeering the nearest guardian and disappearing them both.
Sarah watched as Cressida smoothly took over. Jareth stood to the side holding one hand around the back of Rook’s neck, their foreheads pressed together and made a mental note to insist he helped his friend decompress when they got home.
labyfic - drabble #163: friend
Part of the Balance!verse