Sarah set her book aside as she recalled her morning. “I saw some unfamiliar birds today.”

Jareth walked across the room to stand behind her chair. “Where was this?” He placed his hands on her shoulders, making her moan as he ran his thumbs up her neck.

“They were walking along the Labyrinth wall not far from the gate near the patisserie.” Sarah gestured in the direction of her sighting.

“What did they look like?” He dropped a kiss on her head and walked out onto the balcony to look across the vast expanse of the Labyrinth.

Sarah joined him, wondering why Jareth was scanning the landscape below when her encounter was on the far side of the castle. “They were big, mostly white and looked like Thoth.”

She was confused when he muttered under his breath. “Bin chickens.”

Turning to face Jareth, Sarah placed her hand on his arm, feeling the underlying tension. “I may have more of a grasp on Egyptian deities than I do on identifying birds, but I think I would recall a god of bin chickens.” She tried to remember what they were called. “They have a flower name. Iris? No, ibis!”

A surprised huff eased Jareth’s tension slightly. “They would have come from our last wish.”

“Someone wished them away?”

Jareth shook his head. “Possibly, but they’ve been on the block list for years. The goblins can’t resist them, they would have birdnapped them when they had the opportunity.”

That didn’t make any sense. Sarah was sure their last call came from Australia, which did not explain an Egyptian bird. “I’m missing something here.”

“There are ibis that are native to Australia. When their habitat was impacted by human activity, the ibis relocated, adapted to urban environments and thrived.”

“That’s a good thing isn’t it?” Sarah queried.

“They adapted so well they’re considered a nuisance by many.” Jareth grinned and held out a crystal to Sarah.

She could see a man in a suit sitting on a bench. He opened a paper bag and started eating his lunch as he watched the other people in the park. Taking advantage of the distraction, a knee height bird walked up and deftly stole the sandwich from the man’s hand.

Her startled snort of laughter caught Sarah by surprise. “You don’t feed the birds, they help themselves.”

“Indeed,” Jareth agreed. “They’re adept at rummaging through garbage receptacles, hence the local sobriquet.”

“Bin chickens.” Sarah wasn’t too clear on the local idioms, but she could easily draw a conclusion.

“The goblins adore them, but the ibis aren’t as enamored in return and it gets a little messy.” Sarah shuddered at the thought. “As they’ve proven their adaptability, we would soon be up to our ears in trouble.”

“You’ll return them home?” Sarah couldn’t imagine a bird larger than some of the goblins would accept their shenanigans without returning fire.

“Of course. The Underground aren’t responsible for their loss of habitat, so we shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences.”

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labyfic — drabble #218: chicken
Part of the Balance!verse

Sarah would be most appreciative of a night out Above without another drink spiking incident. The perpetrators had been easily spotted, subdued and zip tied. Rook and Bishop had passed them off to the local constabulary without the need to enlist Jareth’s talents, which was a good thing as he’d downed several adulterated beverages and was not at his best.

If Sarah was being cynical, she strongly suspected this was deliberate, not just to ensure the safety of those in the venue, but to test the drugs on someone not human. While she appreciated that Jareth didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, she’d prefer it if he didn’t use himself as a guinea pig. Whether he was cataloguing the effects to weaponise the compounds Underground or just to recognise reactions, she was yet to determine.

Fortunately, Rook was experienced in Jareth wrangling and redirected his urges to tangle with the traffic.

Sarah, however, found herself having to hang back slightly due to Jareth experiencing time slippage. While it was certainly entertaining to hear Jareth wax lyrical about her younger self, every time his focus was drawn to her he kept trying to escort her back to her old university accommodations until Rook distracted him again.

When he started skipping along the bollards it was decided that it would be best to return Underground until Jareth finished metabolising whatever he’d consumed. Drunks interacting with street furniture may have been a common enough sight, but when the bollards were round topped, it was wet and the footwear was inappropriate, it started to draw curious glances.

Jareth’s gentlemanly urge to escort Sarah back to school did not end once they were home. Sarah didn’t want to find out if his magic was as disjointed as his time perception and she wasn’t sure how he’d handle seeing two Sarahs in his current state. Fortunately, they found that if she was screened from his view, they could hold a conversation, provided it was kept light and didn’t allude to the present day.

When they’d returned to the castle library, Jareth had found a seat on the floor by the fire and was engrossed in an impossibly complicated game of Cat's Cradle with Rook.

Sarah chuckled quietly as she watched Bishop writing notes. “How long do you think before it wears off?”

Bishop tapped his pen against his teeth. “One of the officer’s ran a test kit, so we know what the pharmaceutical was. The initial euphoria is typical, but humans tend to pass out, especially at the levels he imbibed and, as we can see, Jareth is alert and active. We've curtailed his attempts at magic, for obvious reasons, but I am curious about any impacts. If he’s still exhibiting any signs of impairment in an hour, Rook will flush it from his system.”

“I don’t like him harming himself like this, but it is sweet to hear him talk about when I was at university. He was always fun to study with.”

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labyfic — drabble #217: voice
Part of the Balance!verse