Jareth's Summer Bash (Dorm fic)

[RedPiggy]

CHAPTER ONE

In the middle of the night, as the sky was pitch black with only a few specks of white bright stars to illuminate the way, Jareth, the Goblin King, sat on the roof of the highest tower of his castle, in a nightgown and cap. He sighed. There was no moon. Only holding a torch to a crystal ball would allow him to see the goings on of the Labyrinth, which surrounded the Goblin City, of which he was king, though he wasn’t a goblin at all.

Ever since he had started dating again, much to his dislike, as it wasn’t with the woman he had actually wanted since the eighties, even though she was just some teenage girl at the time, not like it mattered what with him being well over a thousand years old anyway ….

He sighed.

He had forgotten where he was going with that.

He turned his back on his kingdom.

He needed something to do. It had been far too boring lately. The full moon would be here after the clouds moved east, so at least the goblins could be counted on to act strangely under its light.

But it just wasn’t enough.

There were always goblins running amok. He wanted some fresh blood (so to speak).

“Hoggle!”

The three-foot-tall or so dwarf, shuffled into view. “Y-yes, Your Majesty?”

“Prepare invitations. I want to have a ball.”

Hoggle looked confused. “Don’t they sells them at a sports store or somethin’?”

Jareth grit his teeth. “Not some sports ball, you half-pint, rank Prince.” He grabbed the Prince of the Land of Stench by the collar and lifted him up off the ground. “I want to throw a party. As prince, you’re more than authorized to extend the invitations.” He dropped him. “Now, go.”

“Who are we invitin’?”

“Whoever will show up.”

Hoggle sighed and growled softly. “There’s a lot of people in the universe.”

Jareth nodded. “Compose the list to your liking.” He smirked. “Inform them that the deadliest of traps shall be disabled, so they needn’t worry for their lives.”

Hoggle gawked at the six-foot or so blond-haired king that could make females of all species swoon with every movement. “Yer gonna make ‘em go through the Labyrinth first? Why not just take ‘em straights to the castle?”

Jareth laughed. “Because I want to be amused. Parties can be so dreadfully stuffy.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty,” he replied finally. He bowed and began to leave. “I’ll gets right on it.”

“Inform them also that it will be the second weekend of July,” the Goblin King informed Hoggle. “Thirteen hours and then they will be returned home immediately.”

Hoggle didn’t stop walking. He nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I gots it.”

At his small home in the Bog of Eternal Stench, a bubbling cesspool of vile black liquid. One step in and it’ll never wash off – supposedly. Admittedly, it was never really tested, Hoggle thought. He didn’t want to find out, though. He sat and sat, wondering how to come up with a list of creatures to invite to Jareth’s stupid party. He had just had one a decade ago.

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

Deep in the human world was a small town called Hensonville. When not attending formal duties as prince (and really, what duties could there be to watch over a swamp?), he stayed with a human girl who reminded him a lot of Sarah Williams, though shorter and more overweight … but a good deal smarter.

In fact, there was an entire roster of tenants in a place called the Muppet Central Dorms. Most humans had a good one to five roommates, so he could fill up his invitation list easy!

He began the slow process of writing down invitations, namely because he didn’t have much paper and his attendants ate the pens.

Dear Dorm residents:

As you might be awares, I am Hoggle, Prince of the Land of Stench in the Goblin Kingdom. The Labyrinth would like to extend an invitation to a party in the second weekend of July. Feel free to come as you are. Only an idiot would try to navigates the Labyrinth in high heels.

Sincerely,
Hoggle

Hoggle smiled as he stared at his note. Then the awful truth struck him: not everybody might accept the invitation. He sighed and buried his head in his hands. He’d have to write a lot more invitations ….

 

[The Count]

*Huggles the brave new start, excited to see where this leads all of us. More please.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Oh cute! Count us in (me and Red).

 

[theprawncracker]

This is AWESOME, RedPiggy! SO good! You have Jareth and Hoggle down pat--love it! Can't wait to get me my invitations.

 

[RedPiggy]

This is going on both here and in the Dorms. Hoggle put up a note and everything. No one reads anymore, sigh.

Out of curiosity, how would you describe yourself prawnie? Are you on Facebook?

 

[The Count]

Hey... We read... At least enough to keep up at times. And he is, check my friend list for guys from IL.

 

[RedPiggy]

Rofl.

 

[RedPiggy]

CHAPTER TWO

Kelly, a thirty-one-year-old denizen of room 2 at the Muppet Central Dorms, found herself getting dressed in front of her bedroom mirror. She started to daydream about Jareth. It was a long story, but there were times she felt a connection to the Goblin King, especially when she started seeing barn owls in broad daylight. She twirled around happily, imagining Jareth taking her by the hand and dancing with her, like the ballroom scene from the movie Labyrinth: white walls, colorful banners, golden utensils and plates, dancers twirling about in masquerade costumes.

And then she felt a hand touch hers. She looked up. Jareth was smiling down at her, for she was only just shy of five feet tall. He phased in and out as they danced, as though Kelly and Jareth couldn’t keep the connection going. Suddenly, Sarah, the girl Jareth had had his heart set on in the movie, burst in with her blue jeans and her long-sleeved white shirt and tons of blue glitter in her long dark hair. She started mouthing off at Jareth, about how he could never please her because she just didn’t like him that way. That, however, was nonsense as she was obviously there to interrupt Kelly’s dance and take Jareth away from her.

Kelly growled at Sarah, prepared to do battle.

Kelly woke up before the fight began, leaving her wondering just how much was dream and how much was reality. She stepped out of her dorm bedroom, watching the floor to make sure Cotterpin Doozer, a six-inch tall green-skinned architect from Fraggle Rock (though she’d never say it that way, as it was racist to just assume the whole thing belonged just to Fraggles – naturally, Doozers just said they were from Doozer Dome) was driving around the floor on her motorized scooter.

Pearl Sinclair yawned as she stepped out of her western-themed bedroom. She was fifty years old, roughly seven-feet tall, over two tons … a powerfully strong but extremely gentle megalosaurus who fled the Great Freeze. It was her great dream to build a saloon, though currently she lacked the capital to do so, which was a real shame, since she had already picked out the perfect spot over on Mullin.

The two girls shuffled out of room 2, only to be glomped by Ailie and Caitlyn, though Ailie could barely budge Pearl. Ailie was a rambunctious young woman with soft dark hair (though natural or not, Kelly never bothered to ask) and a warm smile. Caitlyn was fortunately nearly the same size as Kelly, though half her age, both with brown eyes and hair, so Kelly didn’t get pinned to the floor, just jammed up against the wall.

“Let’s go do bad things to Chamberlain," Ailie suggested cheerfully, sticking her tongue out. “Don’t worry, he deserves it," she continued when Kelly gave her a weird look.

Caitlyn shrugged. “I gotta go help Digit and Waldo work on his biography. If I don’t keep up with it, the poor guy’ll be on Social Security before I reach the last chapter.”

Kelly blushed.

Caitlyn didn’t seem to notice Kelly’s reaction to Digit’s name. “Hey, let’s go for a walk! That’ll help get things moving along.”

Ailie pouted. “Do I still get to drop Chamberlain off the roof?"

Caitlyn laughed. “Maybe afterwards.”

Ailie smiled. “I’m in.” She clenched her fists and grit her teeth, then shook her fists far above her head. “The Skeksis must die!"

The females all laughed.

“Woohoo!" screamed Red, a two-foot tall red-haired Fraggle as she zoomed past them in the hallway, carrying some towels. “Last one in the pool is a big ol’ Gorg snotrag!"

A tall tanned male with black hair came walking out of the room right across the hall from Kelly.

“Hey, Ed," came the group reply.

“Oh, hi, girls," Ed, the Dorm head honcho replied. “Care to take a dip in the pool?" He grinned.

Pearl laughed sweetly and put an arm around his shoulders. “Long as I can get an escort, sugah.”

Ailie, Kelly, and Caitlyn all headed upstairs to the second floor common room so they could get a bite to eat before walking out over to the poolhouse, swimming suits draped over their arms. A huge splash could be heard.

“Red must have gotten there," Kelly noted dryly.

Caitlyn listened intently. “That was an awfully big splash. Maybe Pearl beat us there.”

Kelly shrugged. “How are we even hearing anything at all? We’re still just outside the back door and it may be nearly a quarter of a mile to the poolhouse, which is enclosed in an actual building.”

Caitlyn pondered this over several moments. Finally, she shrugged. “The walls aren’t that soundproof?"

“I don’t wanna be a snotrag!" Ailie exclaimed pitifully.

Beth, a woman in her late twenties, with a friendly smile and dark framed glasses slid halfway down her nose, casually strolled past the female trio after Red. “Oh, hi guys! Have you seen where Red went?"

They all pointed at the pool.

Beth laughed. “Yeah, I figured.”

“Waits up!" growled Hoggle loudly, huffing and puffing. He stopped right at the women and panted some more. He snarled, “Can’t ya stay in one spot?" He took out some invitations. “Here you go.” He sighed with resignation and plopped his behind on the ground to catch his breath.

They all took their invitations and read them.

“Cool!"

“Neat!"

“Of course I’m in!"

Kelly grabbed hers but it vanished in her hands. She heard Jareth’s voice whisper in her ear, in that awesome seductive voice of his, “I already invited you, didn’t I?"

Kelly rolled her eyes, saying under her breath. “Creepy stalker, much?"

They all eventually made it to the poolhouse, where Ryan, an athletic looking young man with dark hair buzz cut, was playfully spashing Spamela, the porcine lifeguard roommate of Ailie’s. Spamela rolled her eyes and splashed him back.

Gonzo, a blue hook-nosed something or other, hurled himself into the pool and swam over to Ryan and whispered some suggestions.

Ryan shook his head. “I’m not sitting on the pool drain. That can rip your intestines out.”

Gonzo brightened. “Yeah! Isn’t that great!"

Meanwhile, Digit was spotted deep in the back of the poolhouse, working on the temperature controls for the pool. He had a plexiglass barrier in front of him to keep the water from damaging the exposed circuitry on his chest and back of his head. Lindbergh, a little brown kiwi with a beige jumpsuit on, advised him every so often.

Waldo, a living blue and white computer graphic that looked kind of like a rubber duck, flew around, periodically morphing into a camera and taking pictures of the women as they splashed around.

Hoggle slipped invitations into plastic zip-lock baggies and tossed them to the people he missed. He sat outside the poolhouse, listening as everyone cheered and laughed and splashed inside. This was going to be a long day.

 

[theprawncracker]

LOVE IT! ! ! Kelly this is AWESOME! Glad you found me on the ol' Facebook--but I've never considered myself particularly athletic looking... so thank you very much for the compliment! This is such a fun read! Can't wait to see how it progresses!

 

[redBoobergurl]

This is great! I love how detailed you are making the descriptions, it's awesome! And Gonzo was hilarious!