Moonbeam's Fanfiction Predilections -- LiveJournal

Sarah was fascinated by the mix of housing in the area. Half of the properties had been gentrified with the work swinging between pristine restorations and modern confections that looked as if they’d been designed by architects who didn’t seem to understand how houses worked. The properties that hadn’t yet fallen into the hands of developers were cheerfully decorated share housing, whose mostly student occupants were still sleeping off the previous night’s hangover. She just hoped that no one needed to use the upper balconies, as they all looked like death traps that were nominally attached to the buildings by spit and string.

“That’s an unusual design choice.” Sarah indicated the corner pub that featured exterior tiled walls.

“Made it easy to clean up the vomit.” Jareth grinned and Sarah wasn’t sure if he was joking. “When work finished at five and the bars closed at six.”

“Men are disgusting.” Sarah shuddered at the thought of working men desperately trying to get all of their drinking done in that hour before heading home to their unfortunate families and really hoped a lot were wished away to the bog.

Jareth’s excitement at the array of stalls set up in the school grounds provided a timely distraction. He loved a farmers market and she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from one located in the inner city, but it seemed to follow the usual mix of businesses.

Sarah was happy to wander amongst the stalls and take in the sights and smells while Jareth bounced around like a toddler on a sugar high.

The Bavarian bratwurst stall smelled devine, and she discovered that momo were delicious Nepalese dumplings but the sugarcane juice was too sweet for her tastes. A group of Turkish ladies were making gozleme with rapid military precision and a Greek man with a souvlaki stall was proclaiming that the lamb was especially good today.

The mystery of what exactly vegan jerky was made from would have to wait for another day when she saw a stall closing early. It had little pots of different spreads that you could taste and she was planning to try them all in her next circuit.

A pleased Jareth appeared at her side. “Their jams and marmalades are incredible and their honeys are spectacular.”

“I missed out on taste testing them,” Sarah sighed, looking wistfully at the cheerful couple who were packing up their wares.

Jareth slung an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You can try them when we get home. I purchased all the stock they brought for the day. They seemed quite delighted about the arrangement.”

“Would that be the same reason the cake stall is closing early?”

“You’ve caught me, you clever thing.”

“Is there any chance of you sharing your bounty from that haul?” Sarah asked slyly.

“I may require some convincing.” Jareth’s purr dropped into a register that curled Sarah’s toes.

“I look forward to the challenge.”

“As do I, my love.”

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labyfic — drabble #259: tasty
Part of the Balance!verse

Sarah smiled broadly as Bishop walked through the door. He strode past her to hand a pastry box to Jareth and Rook before returning to drop into a chair at her side. “How was your trip Above?”

“It was just handling queries, nothing major.” Bishop shrugged, offering Sarah a paper bag.

“What is it?” She screwed her nose up at what looked like chocolate covered worms. Taking one out of the bag didn’t dissuade her from that assumption.

“Chocolate coated orange peel.” Bishop popped one in his mouth and chewed in evident delight.

“That does not sound appealing.” Sarah reluctantly took a piece and glared at it in suspicion before taking a tentative nibble, grinning as she tasted a sharp tang of orange balanced by dark chocolate. “It’s really good. What else have you got?”

“Chocolate ginger and salted liquorice, amongst other things.” He dropped a bag full of small, unmarked paper bags on the table.

Sarah eyed the bag as if she’d just been introduced to candy roulette. “I’ll take your word on the ginger and I like liquorice, but why would you salt it?”

“It’s a Dutch thing.” Bishop helped himself to another piece of chocolate peel. “If you like liquorice, it’s still something of an acquired taste. I suggest you start on the mild form and work your way up to the saltier types.”

Sarah wasn’t certain if Bishop was being serious and was about to ask when her train of thought was derailed by giggling. She turned to see Jareth with a pastry in one hand and a sheaf of brightly coloured paper in the other hand.

“Look at the gold.” Jareth snorted in amusement and passed the papers to Rook. “It’s all the same colour regardless of purity.”

Rook leaned over and pointed at something. “The stones are all a uniform colour, but why have they made the sapphires black?”

Jareth rifled through the papers and found what he was looking for. “They have aquamarine looking gems with a pretentious name that likely indicates they’re altered from their natural state that are using the blue overlay.”

“Well, obviously, two blue gems would just be confusing.” Rook and Jareth dissolved into laughter.

Sarah was certain she could hear the eye roll that Rook made. “What did you give them?” She asked Bishop in confusion.

“Marketing brochures for the jewellery chain stores that infest shopping malls.” Sarah nodded, recalling the junk mail that was unavoidable Above, but still not seeing the humor. “They’re entertained by the terrible print design.”

Sarah looked at her husband fondly as he playfully nudged Rook’s shoulder to point out another design gaffe with a laugh. “This is an artist thing, isn’t it?” Bishop nodded.

Sarah sighed, realising that while she loved Jareth to bits, he could be a total weirdo at times. Turning back to Bishop, she raised an eyebrow and grinned as she poked at the bag of candy. “You’ve thrown down the challenge, my friend, let’s try this salted liquorice.”

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labyfic — drabble #258: ring
Part of the Balance!verse