Labyfic

Sarah was curled up in an armchair, quietly decompressing from a day of meetings. Her meandering thoughts were interrupted by Jareth entering the room. He was a vision dressed all in white and both her eyes and her thoughts went south as she wondered about the structural integrity of the very tight trousers he had seemingly had painted on.

Jareth grinned in delight at her perusal and took an exceedingly long time to carefully place each cushion on the floor, making sure to bend over each time to shamelessly flaunt his assets, before he draped himself across the pile.

“See something you like?”

Sarah tilted her head in open appraisal. “The work of an exceedingly talented tailor.”

“You wound me!” Jareth dramatically clutched his chest.

“If anything rent the fabric of those pants they’d explode off you like a stripper’s prop.” Sarah laughed at her husband’s theatrics and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know that they’d survive your getting excited.”

“Is that a challenge?” Jareth’s eyes glittered in amusement.

“Perhaps. But first tell me how your project is fairing.”

They’d had a handful of adults from a small town who were wished away by unrelated children to deal with and Jareth had taken an interest in finding a solution. It seemed that two groups had ensconced themselves on the periphery of the town and were making life difficult for the community. Their members managed to tick multiple boxes for antisocial behaviour and, for all of their proclaimed desire to avoid others, they went out of their way to alienate their neighbours.

“They all have a fetish for weaponry, yet no comprehension of their proper use and storage.” Jareth shook his head in disgust. “They wave them around like toys and carry them like a child’s security blanket. Their encampments are riddled with holes from accidental discharges.”

“Are the goblins safe?” Sarah knew they’d been involved on the ground, but not the potential danger of the situation.

“They’ve been spell shielded. We’re dealing with highly paranoid people who are phobic of everything not like themselves and they walk around armed to the teeth. I wove a rebound into the spellwork.” Jareth’s grin was malevolent. “That’s taken care of several of the offenders.”

Sarah appreciated the elegance of the solution. Regardless of whether someone shot or swung a gardening tool at a goblin, the impact would instead injure the attacker. “What of the rest?”

“All it took was a little goblin shenanigans in moving things around and a trail of glitter.” Jareth chuckled darkly. “The two groups launched an armed assault against each other and the Above authorities finally took an interest in their behaviour.”

Sarah shuddered. She would have preferred a less lethal ending, but they had allowed a known child molester to prey on the local community and threatened them in a myriad of ways on a daily basis. “I don’t expect the township will mourn their demise.”

“Indeed.” Jareth stretched provocatively. “Now tell me more about these stripper trousers.”

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labyfic — drabble #255: sparkle
Part of the Balance!verse