Acclimate
Oct. 7th, 2025 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redwolfSarah was curled up in a chair by the fire in Jareth’s office. She picked up her teacup from a side table, closing her eyes as she detected the subtle aroma of lavender from the honey she’d used as a sweetener. Taking a sip, she observed Jareth as he worked.
They both had staff to handle the bulk of their correspondence and reams of paperwork associated with running the kingdom, but there were always things that needed to pass across their respective desks.
Jareth had rolled up his shirt sleeves and would occasionally rake his fingers through his hair, which added a layer of disarray to his usual regal splendour. He was sporting dark streaks in his hair and Sarah was uncertain if it was an intentional affectation or displaced ink.
With a flurry of final notations, he set aside his pen and stretched his arms above his head to work the kinks out of his spine with a series of satisfying cracks.
“How are the kids handling their transformations?” Sarah asked. She’d noticed that George had been using a staff to help him get accustomed to walking upright.
“They shift easily, but they still need to work on their other forms.”
Sarah assumed this was due to the children being around shapeshifters. Rook had told her of shapeshifters Above who had difficulties shifting due to their concept of transformation being derived from terrible media. She suspected that if she were to witness someone go through a drawn out and painful shift to a malformed monster, her response would not be to smack them over the snout with a rolled up newspaper and ask them what they were trying to achieve, but she supposed that if it worked, who was she to argue the technique.
“George’s balance issue seems to be a matter of overthinking. When he plays with Ada and runs after the goblins, he’s fine. When he’s walking, he starts thinking about how to balance as a biped and stumbles. The staff has helped.”
That made sense to Sarah, as her issues with magic were much the same. She wondered if keeping the boy distracted with other things like play or a conversation, would help the muscle memory build faster.
“What about Ada?”
“She flies like she was born to it,” Jareth smiled in delight. “However, her landing skills need work.”
Sarah had seen more than a few rolling tumbles as the new raven shifter fumbled her landing.
“Did you find out why she’s a raven rather than a wolf?” George’s human form bore a close enough resemblance to Ada that they appeared sibling, so Sarah assumed that he would have had some input into the end result and would have expected Ada to mimic his wolf form.
“She said that the Labyrinth had many wolves, but it needed a raven.”
Sarah frowned. “Is that her opinion or the Labyrinth’s?”
“I’m uncertain,” Jareth shrugged. “But she doesn’t seem to be disappointed with the way things have turned out.”
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labyfic — drabble #230: exhausted
Part of the Balance!verse
They both had staff to handle the bulk of their correspondence and reams of paperwork associated with running the kingdom, but there were always things that needed to pass across their respective desks.
Jareth had rolled up his shirt sleeves and would occasionally rake his fingers through his hair, which added a layer of disarray to his usual regal splendour. He was sporting dark streaks in his hair and Sarah was uncertain if it was an intentional affectation or displaced ink.
With a flurry of final notations, he set aside his pen and stretched his arms above his head to work the kinks out of his spine with a series of satisfying cracks.
“How are the kids handling their transformations?” Sarah asked. She’d noticed that George had been using a staff to help him get accustomed to walking upright.
“They shift easily, but they still need to work on their other forms.”
Sarah assumed this was due to the children being around shapeshifters. Rook had told her of shapeshifters Above who had difficulties shifting due to their concept of transformation being derived from terrible media. She suspected that if she were to witness someone go through a drawn out and painful shift to a malformed monster, her response would not be to smack them over the snout with a rolled up newspaper and ask them what they were trying to achieve, but she supposed that if it worked, who was she to argue the technique.
“George’s balance issue seems to be a matter of overthinking. When he plays with Ada and runs after the goblins, he’s fine. When he’s walking, he starts thinking about how to balance as a biped and stumbles. The staff has helped.”
That made sense to Sarah, as her issues with magic were much the same. She wondered if keeping the boy distracted with other things like play or a conversation, would help the muscle memory build faster.
“What about Ada?”
“She flies like she was born to it,” Jareth smiled in delight. “However, her landing skills need work.”
Sarah had seen more than a few rolling tumbles as the new raven shifter fumbled her landing.
“Did you find out why she’s a raven rather than a wolf?” George’s human form bore a close enough resemblance to Ada that they appeared sibling, so Sarah assumed that he would have had some input into the end result and would have expected Ada to mimic his wolf form.
“She said that the Labyrinth had many wolves, but it needed a raven.”
Sarah frowned. “Is that her opinion or the Labyrinth’s?”
“I’m uncertain,” Jareth shrugged. “But she doesn’t seem to be disappointed with the way things have turned out.”
labyfic — drabble #230: exhaustedPart of the Balance!verse
