Labyfic

One of the few things that Sarah missed from her life Above was dancing. When her jobs had been city based there was a fair chance of her joining her coworkers to hit the nightclubs on a Friday. Some of the women couldn’t wait to loosen up with drugs and alcohol, while others were on the prowl for an evening conquest, but for Sarah it was all about dancing. Being packed into a venue lit by lights that strobed to a beat that was felt more than heard made her feel alive.

She supposed that she could crank up some tunes while working out with the foxes, but while it may have generated the sweat, it couldn’t match the experience of sharing the beat with strangers in the dark.

The only dancing that Sarah had seen Underground occurred during formal gatherings. It was a very structured and terribly political exercise. She was forced to keep a polite expression while someone tried to conduct a trade deal; or informed her that their offspring would make a suitable match for children that didn’t yet exist; or talked at her about their hobby of making models of French renaissance footwear from matchsticks. She honestly preferred the pastime info dumps because it was one of the few times she had a chance to see unguarded behaviour from people who tended towards intrigue as a default.

Sarah had mentioned the issue to Jareth after a string of frustrating meetings. Taking out her dissatisfaction on clay could only go so far. There were just times when she needed to let loose on a dance floor. She had thought nothing of it until Jareth had whisked her away to a neighbouring kingdom.

The building looked more industrial than recreational, but perhaps that was due to the lack of windows and the location in a commercial area of the city. The few people that were around, were all heading in the same direction and they were costumed and glamoured in the same manner as her party.

Jareth had explained that nightclubs existed Underground, but they were floating events that moved between venues in different kingdoms. Another feature was the themed dress code. As the events attracted people from all walks of life, to retain anonymity, masks and glamours were compulsory. It made it a little more difficult to determine if a group was a gathering of coworkers or the entitled and their security entourage.

This event’s theme was green, which had Sarah, Jareth and their guardians disguised as seafolk, while other attendees favoured forest folk, gemstones or plants. It was an eye opening experience until Sarah entered the building and found herself in a familiar world. The soundtrack might have been a derivation of Above industrial played by Underground musicians, but as the music vibrated through her chest, Sarah gave herself over to the beat, dragging Jareth in her wake.

If there was one thing better than surrendering to the beat, it was sharing the experience with friends.

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labyfic — drabble #282: dark
Part of the Balance!verse

Sarah stood out of earshot, watching as Jareth spoke with a goblin. The goblin appeared to be both exasperated and apologetic, but with a respectful bow, she thanked Jareth and departed.

“What’s the matter?” Sarah had learned that while male goblins tended to be frivolous creatures that took a ridiculously long time to mature, the females of the species were anything but and she wondered if they regretted being attracted to the males.

“Her husband is missing.” Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “She didn’t want to cause a fuss, but their youngest has an upcoming celebration that the father should attend.”

Sarah didn’t miss the context that if it wasn’t an inconvenience to her children, the goblin would prefer not to have a useless manchild underfoot. “He’s sleeping off too much goblin ale?” Sarah guessed.

Jareth shook his head. “He’s been missing for weeks.”

“Shouldn’t she be more concerned?” She wondered with the length of time, if this could be a fatality.

Jareth waved away her concern. “I’d know if anything befell the miscreant.”

Sarah nodded in agreement. She was learning to find people by asking the Labyrinth and always felt a low level background sensation of people being near whenever she was within the bounds of the Kingdom. “You know where he is?”

Jareth waggled his hand side to side. “That’s a little iffy.” He tilted his head in thought. “See if you can pinpoint that annoying staffer of yours.”

Sarah closed her eyes, thought of the man’s very punchable face and was surprised that he felt dispersed. “That’s weird. I can tell that he's alive, but not his location.”

Jareth nodded. “Now search for a void.”

“How do I look for something that isn’t there?” Sarah questioned.

Taking her hand, Jareth led her to a dark corridor. “Midway down, what do you feel?” he whispered.

Her face lit up, as she felt the anomaly. As they approached the spot, Sarah could see a hole in the floor. She startled as Jareth stomped on the rim then pried at the edge with a knife.

To her surprise, he rolled the hole up like a rug, materialised a mountain of pillows in its place, then flicked the anomaly onto the ceiling. The instant it landed, several goblins and an annoying former staffer dropped into the pillows. Jareth pried the hole from the ceiling and rerolled it.

“We have portable holes?” Sarah asked after Jareth had sent the returnees on their way.

“The Labyrinth picked up the conceit as a means to place the annoying into stasis to give their spouses respite.”

“What happens to that?” Sarah pointed to the rolled anomaly.

Jareth produced a crystal that encapsulated the anomaly and snapped his fingers. “It’s in secure storage, but the Labyrinth will retrieve it as needed.”

“This is like the games room, isn’t it?”

Jareth laughed. “Something like that, but it only targets the truly deserving and they’ll be repeat offenders until they gain some sense.”

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labyfic — drabble #281: tread
Part of the Balance!verse