#jareth.

Implicitly trans muses:

             “ ⸻ you’re a what now? ”

glancing over the other’s frankly bizarre appearance, he didn’t think much could surprise him anymore, but this is something else. any introduction is completely missed, replaced instead by a large amount of mental question marks.

             “ sorry but ⸻ “

confounded seems to be the right word for how he feels about this entire situation. fighting demigorgans was one thing, he could just grab a bat and go for it, though realistically that had been more difficult.

Guess who had so much work that he literally forgot it was his birthday on the last day of May again? Jareth.

⤷ for Luceus : .ㅤwhat’s the quickest way to set them off, even if they hide it well ? ⤷ for Roza : ㅤis there a pain they refuse to heal from ? ⤷ for Jareth : what kind of future do they crave, and who’s in it ?

Insulting or attacking his family. It warrants immediate distrust, in the best case scenario, and a violent reaction, in the worst case. He might manage to control himself enough for the latter to be delivered with just an icy stare, but his anger is never quiet, and he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve even when said heart is wounded.

Being an outsider that cannot belong. It's been haunting her for years, and even if she has become eerily good at blending in and wearing the mask of indifference, when she allows someone to become close to her, their differences haunt her. That, paired with the specific, odd, personal way she expresses herself often makes people think of her as a weirdo. At this point, Roza is happier to put distance between herself and the other person before they can see her true face with all of her flaws. It's the cursed circle of being a stranger and wanting to stop being one, but being unable to because that means being known, and she's judging herself so harshly she expects other people to do it as well - and she'd rather they never get to know her at all.

He thinks he needs more excitement - but Jareth is at the stage of his life where things usually settle down for people. He has almost everything figured out at that point, and it's because he tends to second guess himself in secret that he doesn't believe he already has what he wants. He has security, a career he's devoted to and people that care about him. Even if most of them are patients and he finds it hard to make friends, it's undeniable most people that have crossed paths with him have wished him luck rather than cursing at him, even if he still sometimes thinks vampirism is a curse and he's afflicted.

REASONS TO CARRY SOMEONE.

This time, he had deserved what he’d gotten. And it hadn’t been anything good.

Jareth had been lucky. He had acted like a teenager who thought he was indestructible, like nothing bad would happen to him just because he believed himself and thought he was fast and strong, and most of all untouchable. But how he saw himself sometimes had nothing to do with how other people saw him. Especially if those other people were hunters, and he was on their territory.

Then again, to get to the point where the stranger had left him curled up on the ground in pain - the point at which Howard had discovered Jareth and scooped him up in his arms - Jareth had gone through giving a snarky response to the stranger’s annoyed quip. Just when he had only been minding his business, too... But Jareth knew himself - and unlike him, some people had shorter fuses.

An annoyed reply to the unknown man’s irritating comment to ask why Jareth was looking at him that way did warrant more taunting. Yes, even if it wasn’t his business why Jareth looked the way he did at all. Jareth had saved himself trouble on many occasions by either not responding, slipping out of the place like a shadow before either of them started throwing fists around, or used his speed to his advantage and succeeded in overpowering the hunter, twisting their hands behind their back before they could pounce.

His hunger took the crown for the 'worst thing ever in that possible moment', though. Had he not been slightly on edge from hunger - forgetting to eat was always a problem, and it didn’t help Jareth tended to forget he was hungry while he was focused on reading or working - he wouldn’t have become worked up. And had he not become worked up, he would’ve been able to act more rationally. To think before he spoke.

It was too late now, though. All Jareth had was a throbbing pain in his sides and stomach and the haunting feeling of fists pummeling into him. The hunter had caught him unprepared, and Jareth had defended himself there where he would not be struck. After a few hard blows, he had been left a crumpled mess on the floor, the pain paralysing him, stopping him from walking away with his pride intact.

This was precisely how he wanted to not be seen by any familiar faces. And this was precisely how Howard had walked in on him, writhing on the floor in agony from the pain that the hunter’s sharp-nosed shoe and unforgiving foot had given him. It was ironic. He hadn’t wanted any more company, not before the hunter had noticed him, and especially not now when he was at such a low point. But the fact that it had been no one but Howard to make an appearance was a silver lining.

Jareth had no idea what he had managed to croak in response to Howard’s words, or exactly what Howard had said to him - but in the next moment he found himself picked up, Howard’s strong arms lifting him off the floor. He was being carried away. If being stripped from his pride in such a way was a crime (and he did judge himself for not having defended himself harshly enough for it to be one), this was the crime scene, and Howard had cleaned it up just like a good vulture.

“You came in both the worst and the best moment possible. Thank you,” Jareth managed to whisper, then a faint smile appeared on his face. “I’d be even more grateful if you could get me outside. Some cool air will fix this, it ain’t serious.” The pain had already started to lessen. But he needed to not move for a little while.

"Well, I am immortal, after all."

"...and that was not meant to happen." He was fated to die. And yet.

"...and realised she's been the monster all along."