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@darkerthanyouthink
Labyrinth: The Icy Heart
Darkness has descended over my Labyrinth, swept through my castle and nestled itself deep inside of my heart.
Where love once blossomed in my soul, the emptiness of apathy now resides; unchallenged.
Turn back, before it’s too late.
A cup of hot Glühwein was set on the side table for Jareth, lightly steaming with a tag on the handle. “Happy Holy-nights! - ❤️ Mel”
"I don't understand.."
Jean-Joseph Carriès (1855-1894) "The Frog with Rabbit Ears" (1891)
Parc del Laberint d'Horta, Barcelona, Spain.
🌲🦌🏹🐺🌲
☾ Eternal Lovers ☽
Conjuring Goldfish
Sweet dreams
Wendy Froud
Wendy Froud
Ok but hear me out:
Jareth trying to study human traditions and thinking he has to come down the chimney to deliver a gift, where he either gets stuck and needs rescuing or falls and gets covered in soot for his troubles.
Der Erlkönig (MissMel|Closed Starter w/darkerthanyouthink)
The Grenztruppe was coming home from her shift at the wall when she spotted a stunned owl on the side of the road. It was cold, even for an East German winter. Poor thing is probably going to freeze to death if I don’t get him under shelter. She thought. She took the coat off her back and bundled the owl up to keep it warm for time being. Underneath the stern cap she wore were kind eyes with no intent to hurt the creature, but there was a determination to help it.
Opening the door to the apartment she was squatting in, she turned up the stove to make sure it would be warm enough for him to recover. “There… you should be okay now…” At least the owl could be company for her otherwise lonely and humdrum routine, even if temporarily.
@darkerthanyouthink
(1/2)
Mel blushed a little when Jareth said she appeared human, as if the part that was still human remembered what it was like to be complimented. "Well, it wasn't your skin that tipped me off... even though it does smell nice..." The color of her eyes changed from their natural ice blue to purple, still glowing in the dark of the night. "As I said, you were in rough shape. And... as for whether I'm human or not, that part of me died in 1815."
One of her hands went to the side of her neck, a physical tell of how it happened.
Initially, Mel thought that for a fae man, Jareth certainly lacked decorum, as she completely expected him to go with it. Weren't the Fair Folk all about rules and manners? "Chalk one up for this strange, yet handsome fae man I have in my flat." She thought.
Even though she respects the fact that Jareth would have been of a higher authority in his realm, here, there were no kings, though there were dictators who lived as such. She was certain that unlike whatever colorful world he came from, East Germany had to be greyscale by comparison.
"Anyway, that's not important right now." She resumed her strictly-business demeanor, pulling out a weathered old book from her bookshelf, which seemed to be older than everything surrounding it.
She took her full-length mirror and pulled it a couple feet away Jareth's bedside before picking up what looked like charcoal and writing down runes onto the surrounding wood.
Mel then set a couple of white candles on both sides of the mirror, taking her lighter to light each of them. "Now, feel free to correct me on any of these runes if I'm wrong, but according to what I read, these should take you back to your realm, yes?"
@darkerthanyouthink
Jareth grew curious about the strange tint of blush that suddenly made her face glow, but of course - She was in the presence of royalty. He figured she must be very humbled, impressed by him. He was important, or so he believed it of himself. Her odd reveal did have him thinking for some moments before he realized what she must be. It felt rather strange to share space with this creature, of such he had only really heard bad things.
"Everything is important!" Jareth remarked, watching her set up this mirror. His gaze trailed along with the movements of her hand, the one which held the lighter. He was unfamiliar with the object and gently startled when it flicked flames from it's mouth.
Her runes were not too bad, though he was in a slight state of upset right now.
"Must we use such a primitive device?" Jareth huffed.
His powers were weakened, which was why they simply couldn't pass into his realm using his own magick. That didn't mean he wasn't going to fuss.
"What is that?" Jareth gestured to her lighter. "The little fire spitter, what do you feed it to make it obey you so?"
He found her presence not so intolerable now, hardly even remembering his false accusations of being abducted. She had saved his life, he owed her. Big time. But if she didn't know this, he wasn't about to reveal it voluntarily.
“Oh… this? It’s more chemical and mechanical than it is magic, but…” Mel chuckles as she flips the lid open and shows the wheel inside with the windscreen next to it. “So, you press on the wheel here with your thumb and…” with a flick of the wheel, it lit up the wick inside. “This one’s windproof. Great for having a cigarette while you’re on shift.”
She did hope that she got the runes right, because most of the books she had on fae and sending them back to their realms were written from the human perspective. And if there was one thing she knew about humans, they didn’t always get everything right. She certainly had found some misconceptions about vampires in her search to find out what she was. If her mentor didn’t step in, she probably would have been a worse rogue than any other vampire she knew in East Germany.
“As for the mirror, it’s the only way I can create a portal to get you back, as I have to tap into Otherside to do it.”
She went to the other side of the bed, positioning her feet to a more stable position.
“Alright… it’s been a while since I’ve done this, so bear with me.”
She removed the leather glove that was on her right hand, which normally concealed her burn scars, but if she wore it, the leather interfered with her magic.
She pointed two index fingers from her bad hand to the mirror and connected them to her good hand’s fingers. Both of them began to glow a small light and combined together to make a light blue slice in the air where the mirror was. She grunted out an ancient phrase that no German has spoken in a long time, but it meant the same thing. “Open the door to The Throne of the Erl-King!”
With an intense amount of effort she pulled the slice open to create a portal large enough for him to simply step through. The energy flickered and swirled around it as distorted singing and voices went through. “Whew… alright… that should do it.” she panted, taking a brief glance at the room inside.
It was quite elaborate and otherworldly, but she could appreciate the craftsmanship and architecture of the throne room. She also felt a strong vibration in her magical core, knowing full well that this was fae magic coming into the room. It would almost be addictive for her if she fed on that alone.
@darkerthanyouthink
Jareth was amused by the small contraption, it seemed like such a lot of fuss and bother just to make such a tiny flame happen. He reached up into the hair at the back of his head, just behind his neck and produced a little red dragon. Its tail curled around Jareth's finger, the body of the creature was not much longer than his palm.
It slowly blinked open its eyes, large and blue and stared up at the woman.
"Brimstone pebbles and garden pests," Jareth explained its diet. "It can be fickle at times. - Give me fire."
The little dragon yawned but did not breathe any flames. Jareth frowned and gently shook the creature. "I demand you give me fire!" The King ordered but the little dragon simply looked annoyed.
Jareth lowered his hand and watched the portal open, he was impressed and smiled faintly, showing two fang-tips as he did so.
"Oh, you did it." Jareth felt a little disheartened, as he was curious now and wanted to look around more.
He stood up and held out the dragon toward her, it shivered nervously and blinked up at the vampire.
"Would you trade?" Jareth wondered, "before I go?"
The King was so curious about her world but he was not safe here. Leaving was the best thing he could do right now and if he got away before she asked, he'd owe her nothing for saving his life. She had not aksed to accompany him and he would not invite her if she was unaware of his obligations.
Mel chuckled as the dragon looked up at her. It certainly looked pocket sized but she had no idea how to hide it as it would get older, especially in a surveillance heavy place like East Germany. She did, however, have another idea. Admittedly, she was more fascinated with him and the world he inhabited than her own, but she also knew fae were tricksters.
“He is cute, don’t get me wrong. But I think he’d be more difficult to hide as he gets older.” She tilted her head a little as she observed the dragon. “I have an idea, though… one I think that could benefit the both of us.”
She took a couple of handheld mirrors and placed them back to back, using her good hand to hold them in his. As she closed her eyes, she sent her energy into the mirror to combine with his. She whispered an ancient enchantment that surrounded the mirrors in a green light this time, before it slowly dissipated into the mirrors themselves.
“There… that should do it. You’ll have a way to communicate with me and vice versa.” She nodded.
“All you or I will have to do is hold onto the handle.”
She was trying to do the responsible thing to send him back to his realm to let him heal, however, she found him fascinating enough to want to keep in contact with him.
In a way, Jareth reminded her of her first husband, Paul, save for some of the more fair characteristics he had.
She hoped it would click that she wanted his company, even if it was just through a mirror in their own separate worlds.
It was certainly very lonely to be a soldier of the Berlin Wall in this world, let alone a vampire.
But she hoped that in some way, they could learn from each other. And where better to learn than straight from the source?
@darkerthanyouthink
The tiny dragon's eyes lit up when it was called cute but Jareth merely gave a small shrug.
"This.." He gestured to the dragon in his hand. "is as big as it gets."
Jareth wasn't sure why this woman did not know everything about dragons and he was not about to ask her. Where he came from, dragons were common knowledge. Did this realm perhaps not have dragons? Why would she need to hide it?
Watching her create the communication devices, Jareth raised his brow and became somewhat impressed. Clearly this was a type of person whom he'd not meet very frequently upon his travels to find his long lost love.
A woman from the kingdom far north of his own, they had been betrothed by their families when they were very young but one day she had simply vanished. Jareth believed that she was kidnapped, or hidden away so he couldn't marry her. Perhaps her father didn't like him? In truth, the woman had died in her sleep one night and Jareth had never accepted it.
Her name had been Sarah, he loved her more than anything. Since then, he'd searched realm after realm, kingdom after kingdom, looking for his beloved. Sometimes, he thought he had found her but Sarah knew his Labyrinth and all of the secrets it held within. They used to play in it almost daily when they were children and none of the Sarahs he'd found had even come close to solving it.
Except one..
But it was still not her, she would never reject him. And so, he would have to keep looking. Jareth was not going to ever give up.
"Goodbye for now, then." Jareth nodded to the woman standing before him. He accepted her mirror-gift and took it with him as he entered the portal and returned home.
With a deep sigh of relief, Mel closed the portal, which took less effort than opening it. Eventually, she collapsed on the bed that Jareth once occupied.
The scent of Jareth and his magic still lingered. It reminded her of the woods she used to play in outside of her family castle. She even took Paul out to those woods whenever she wanted to have more private moments alone with him.
As she closed her eyes her mind began to drift… to an earlier and happier time in her life when Paul started pursuing her. It took a lot of time and patience, along with six attempts to propose.
If given the choice, she really would not have had it any other way, except for one thing, she would have turned him the first time he asked.
Her curse was not something she would give away. If anything, she would prefer if her lovers knew the consequences of immortality. But she also knew that Paul would want her to be happy too, even if she blamed herself for not being able to save him. She was there when he took his last breath in her arms… his last moments filled with love for her in spite of the pain.
As she dreamed of the masquerade where she fell in love with Paul, the dream carried over to The Underground, where one of Jareth’s servants was discussing the events of that night with him. “Your majesty, are you alright? You look like you need to sit down.” They asked out of concern. “And… more importantly, who was that soldier who healed you?”
Before the servant could get an answer, a cloud of rosy pink fog floated in the window of the castle. “Well… that’s unusual.”
The fog seemed to float towards Jareth’s scrying pool in the throne room, almost inviting him to watch.
It had been a while since dreams came through to the Underground, let alone the throne room of Jareth’s castle. Whose dream was it? Clearly someone of strong mental fortitude… someone clever, and yet… this dream was what told the truth about them.
@darkerthanyouthink
Jareth stepped into the castle, still slightly weak but he had not expected anyone to be there. Where had these servants come from? It had been a long, long time since he had seen anyone.
"I thought you had all fled a long time ago.. " Jareth muttered, almost to himself. "Get out of my sight!" Jareth was not welcoming to anyone, he hadn't been for longer than anyone could recall. "Go back to hiding under whatever rock it is you crawled out from!"
He did notice the fog but at first he ignored it. Jareth sat down and closed his eyes, focusing on healing himself first. Within the walls of his castle, healing came swiftly and within moments you'd never have believed he was at all injured. He smiled, a slightly feral smile and opened his eyes. "Aha, that's better!" Jareth sighed. He looked over at the fog, watching where it seemed to settle and he stood up to go over to watch the dream unfolding.
Jareth was alone again now, perhaps he had only imagined there was anyone here at all. It happened sometimes, the castle was void of all life except his own and it had been this way for many, many years. A cold and bitter kind of hate had settled within his heart and Jareth was not about to allow anyone to get too close to him again. Not ever.
"So, you have lost as well." Jareth spoke quietly. There was nothing he could do about this man of hers. He held his hand over the pool, giving a slight wave. Ripples appeared and the dream went a little bit wavy, putting himself in place of Paul. It'd surely startle her awake, Jareth was playing a trick on her but he had no way of knowing how it'd make her feel. She might get furious at him, he chuckled at the thought because he was a trickster at heart.
PSA: “fae” is an umbrella term. The Fae taking your name could result in any number of things. They could replace you in the human world, lure you into the fae realm, compel you to do their bidding, curse you in some way, etc. They could do nothing! Or very much the opposite! It’s largely dependent on their individual abilities and proclivities! Giving the fae your name doesn’t 100% mean that they “own” you or can bend you to their will, but it’s never a great idea to risk it.
the cutest mushroom I saw on a walk 𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼
