Self Care Is for Everyone

[Laurie Strode]

Not many people in her previous life would call Laurie Strode the 'nurturing type'. She was cross and overly blunt, had a reputation for being drunk and disorderly, and had in fact been such a crap mother her daughter was taken away by social services even though she was white, reasonably well paid, and worked a government job. Anyone in Haddonfield except for her granddaughter and her friends would've laughed their asses off at the idea that she'd be any good at taking care of anyone.

But.

Laurie was much older than she'd been when she lost Karen, she'd had a lot of time to learn and grow and deal with the trauma that had caused her to do so badly as a younger woman. She'd not had someone to take care of her in the way she needed after her own trauma, but as she aged and grew, she'd become determined to help other people so they didn't end up like her. She'd started with giving Allison a steady home while she still needed it, then had started work on her refuge upon arriving in this new world.


She hadn't expected that she'd also end up on somewhat casual speaking terms with the damn Goblin King, but somehow she had-after signing up to help kill him. Perhaps her subsequent concern for him was a bit inspired by guilt, but it was mainly recognition. Jareth was an almost eldrich monarch of a magical kingdom, but he was also a deeply traumatized man recovering from horrors inflicted on him by a horrific nightmare entity. And... he was not taking care of himself.

She'd come into the labyrinth proper to attend to the court duties that came with the land she'd been given for her refuge and been horrified to discover the man to be harrowed, jumpy, and with massive dark circles under his eyes. Was there a protocol for expressing serious concern for her monarch? She was too American to have any idea. But he was a decent sort, as long as she was tactful and spoke to him privately so as not to draw attention to his difficulties in front of others she was pretty sure he wouldn't punish her for speaking up.

She knocked on the door to his private study one evening hoping to catch him alone after other advisors and the like had retired for the evening to prepare for dinner. Jareth, she knew from experience, tended to burn the candle at both end these days. He'd be working until the last minute, all alone.

"Jareth?" She called through the door, as politely as she could manage. "It's Laurie. Can I have a few minutes of your time? I'd like to talk to you privately if possible."

[Jareth]

Another long, hard day in a string of long, hard days. Heaving a great sigh, the Goblin King collapsed into his chair, cradling his pounding head in his hands. He had missed his goblins, but their pestering was growing tiresome. Vexing, even. At least he could retire here, to his office, without being bothered.

He still had plenty of work to do. Running a kingdom of goblins came with a surprising amount of paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense. But nobody would know if he took a nap right here, would they? Just a little shut-eye. Fifteen minutes, that was all he needed...

A knock at the door startled him awake. How long had he been asleep? He didn't need to glance at the clock; the drool on his chin was enough to tell him that it had been a far longer and less elegant nap than he would have liked. Sitting up, he quickly cleared any evidence of his lapse in consciousness. The last thing he needed was to be caught sleeping on the job. The goblins likely would not have cared, but Sarah and Laurie would have fretted over him like mother hens.

"Ahem--you may enter."

[Laurie Strode]

Laurie entered the room as soon as Jareth gave permission, looking her friend and monarch over with obvious concern. She had no way of knowing he'd just been napping, but there'd been a note of alarm in his voice when she'd knocked that matched the almost childlike glint of stubborn independence in his eyes. In Karen or Allison, that glint would've meant they didn't want her to find out they'd broken a rule. In Jareth... he'd been neglecting himself again, she suspected. "Good evening, your Majesty." She greeted him with a respectful nod- her only real concession to the casual ceremony of monarchy outside of ceremonial contexts.

"I'm sure you've been working hard, I thought you might have lost track of time. It's almost time for that banquet, but I thought I'd see if you needed a bite to eat to tide you over til you'll actually have an opportunity to eat." She smiled wryly. "For events focused around a meal, banqueting takes quite a while to get anyone important fed, I've noticed. I got a couple sandwiches for us." Laurie pulled out a pair of wrapped sandwiches- the sort of thing Laurie could get without too much fuss but would be considered far too lowly to be officially given to the King.

[Jareth]

There was the prideful, knee-jerk response on the tip of his tongue, but inner wisdom bid him bite it. She knew him well, after all; he had once again forgotten to feed himself. In truth, he'd forgotten about the banquet as well and might have missed it entirely had she not sought him out. The simple sandwich she brandished was enough to make his mouth water. 

With a sigh, he pushed away from his desk, sparing a glance down at the unfinished work piled upon it. He wouldn't be getting to any of it today, he knew. He just didn't have it in him. He rose, hand extending for the offered lunch.

"Rather thoughtful of you," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat across from him. "I assume preparations are going as well as to be expected?"

[Laurie Strode]

Laurie handed her friend and monarch his sandwich with a smile. One day she'd have to deal with the fact that she had this much in common with a literal fae king with depression, but for the moment there was a quiet camaraderie in being able to predict he'd forget to eat because she had so often done the same thing. If she wasn't at court, she very quickly lost any sense of consistent meal times, caught up in her work preparing her compound for other residents or her contracted work hunting down monsters. Having someone else to take care of made it easier for her to take care of herself, too.

"I've been steering clear of most of the prep, they don't need me in the way. But the cooks weren't swearing at each other when I got the sandwiches, which is usually a good sign." She smiled wryly as she sat down in the indicated seat. "No one seemed panicky, which is I suspect the best we can hope for with a big event like this."

Technically, she was supposed to wait for Jareth to start eating before she could do the same. She knew that, in theory. But in practice, she had no patience with that sort of ceremony. Jareth had never seemed to mind her 'aggressively American' approach to royalty, and she was hungry. Laurie took a quick bite, trusting the monarch to do the same now that the food was in his hands. "Also, the food did smell incredible. This feast might actually be worth the faff."