#but its about DOUXIE you guys

[foursthemagicknumber]

Krel holding olive oil: What the kleb is an extra virgin i know what a virgin is but what’s an extra virgin? Like a nun? Like Eli?

Douxie: Krel…

———

Jim: Ok we need to find the peppers if we want an acutely spicy salsa- steve put the ground pepper down

———

Toby: It’s always fun when we go shopping together because I get free entertainment like this

Camera pans to look at Douxie and Eli*

Eli: Is it true that Benjamin Franklin was a woman?

Douxie: Sigh* Are you going to help me listen to the watermelon or not?

———

Claire: Wait where’s steve?

Toby: He’s still trying to get all the free samples he should be able to find us as long as Eli’s here.

Claire: Oh ok… Wait where’s Eli?

———

Aja: And this one is a lemon!

Krel: That’s actually a grape fruit you can tell because it’s painted to be pink with an orange rind and also it’s larger than the lime. Grape fruit is also known to help with digestive issues despite being commonly agreed to be the most disgusting of the citrus. Which circles round to the idea that the more poison is in food the more likely a human is to eat it. This is also displayed through the foods known as chocolate and peppermint both of which are known to be poisonous amongst most earthly animals meanwhile humans eat it for its taste.

Aja: Watch this he’s just gonna keep going

Krel: Still talking about food*

Jim: I need to get this guy to write my college thesis

[daydream-believin]

a real stand up guy ba dum tss

summary: you get stood up by an internet man. douxie, your waiter and secret admirer, remedies that jackass’s mistake.

warnings: uh. swearing, alcohol, i’m too lazy to proof, the yooj. oh and doux doesn’t know how to handle this crush without getting slightly into stalker territory sorry. its a red flag but i think its cute. you may not think its cute.

a/n: tumblr was glitching while i tried to post this so idk how many paragraphs i accidentally erased. i mean i tried my best to make that number 0. but anyways if something is off let me know. the challenge for this one is that im not allowed to use italics. which you should know was very hard for me agshjfkgjdjh

taglist: @moppetwithamanbun @alovesongshewrote @blixeon @prismarts @fantasyiswaybetterthanreality @ukuleles-and-roses

okay quick psa i know it’s been years so if you want off the taglist just hmu. also if you were on the taglist and got taken off thats bc tumblr says you don’t exist anymore

uh this was a request. i’m not doing requests tho dont think that. looking back yeah that ask if from march 2022 and this doesn’t even match up to what you asked 😂 im so sorry @rose-writes-shit

you took a peek at your watch. 7:34 o’ clock. letting your head fall into the open palm of your propped up hand, you sighed.

coffee meets bagel boy was supposed to have met you at 7:00.

of fucking course. you let your plucky pink-haired coworker convince you to download a fucking dating app and make a profile, just for the only guy who had actually been interested enough in you to ask you on a real date to stand you up. makes sense.

it’s not like you’ve ever had luck with these kind of things. it’s not like you’ve ever had luck period. your kind might be the black cat of humans.

you’ve spent way too long eating the free bread at a mr. benoit’s of all places. it was the “classiest” establishment in the certain suburban hellscape of california you inhabited, albeit. you took in the scenery for the millionth time that night with a renewed sense of disgust. at least now you had a legitimate reason to hate this place.

your waiter slinked over, and you could tell he felt bad for you with the awkward shuffling gait to the pity grimace on his face.

“so, uh, perhaps more bread?”

you rolled your face towards him, arbitrarily throwing animosity his way with your dead eyes, just because he was there. but soon your compulsive desire to be the funniest pathetic wretch in the room won out.

“i’m considering burning this whole place down right now, actually,” you joked.

he grit his teeth, sucking in a breath, “could i perhaps convince you to do that on a night i’m not closing, instead? tomorrow is my least favorite coworker’s turn, for your consideration,”

“hmm,” you pretended to think, “i’ll do that then, it’s only kind,”

“thank you for your generosity,” he grinned, “now, are you still waiting for someone or?”

-

douxie had been watching you for over half an hour now. not creepily. he swears. he just got a little excited when he saw you come into the restaurant is all.

anddd maybe he might have badgered the host into giving you one of his tables. but again, he was just excited. he’s been looking for an excuse to talk to you for the past three months, after all. forgive him for jumping on the opportunity.

he maybe fancied you. just a wee bit. perhaps a rather large bit. or at least, the version of you he’s cooked up in his head from the way he sees you interact with people at house parties and the things he’s heard from zoe.

but he’s sure he’ll love you. as soon as he gets to know who you actually are. which, hopefully, is about to be sooner rather than later.

he did not anticipate this situation, however. whatever benevolent deity blessed him on this night decided to throw a jar of pickled herring in with the otherwise yummy pastry filled gift basket they left for him.

not long after you arrived at 6:56 pm, not that he marked the time you came in or anything he just happened to glance at the clock around that time, he watched you, how they say, deflate. your demeanor shifted from antsy to sad to downright annoyed.

you were dressed nicely. not fancy, not pretending like this wasn’t a benoit’s. but nice. orderly. like you wanted to make a good impression on whoever it was you were expecting to meet. so either a date, or mayhaps a job interview.

not that you didn’t look nice or orderly on other days. you just weren’t in your hex tech uniform shirt. or in the incredibly casual clothes you wore when he saw you around. you were just. clearly cleaned-up, is all.

whoever it was, it was obvious that they were not coming. doux applauded you for being patient enough to wait this long, but again, they obviously weren’t coming. which, if it was a date, was good for him, but bad for you. very bad for you.

and honestly who does this person think they are? letting you down like this? horrible. disgraceful. this person was a grade A jerk-off. they have to be dead from the neck up to leave you waiting here like this, publicly embarrassing you as you sat at a table set for two all alone at one of the busiest restaurants in town. shame on them.

he was glad you seemed to be in the joking mood, however. and about arson, too. oh, he’s always had a soft spot for arsonists.

he hoped you’ll forgive him for having to do his job. if it was up to him, he’d give you all the bread in the pantry just so you wouldn’t leave. but alas, he had to deal the killing blow.

“now, are you still waiting for someone, or?”

your eyes drifted downward to the empty wineglass in your hand as you swirled it sarcastically as if it were still full.

you sighed, “yeah, no, it’s clear he doesn’t plan on showing,” you looked back up at him ruefully, “i’ll order now. i shouldn’t have waited this long for an internet man, anyway, huh? could’ve made it less pathetic.”

“i don’t think there’s a way to make these things any ‘more’ or ‘less’ pathetic,” he began taking out his notepad, ready to write, “because i wouldn’t call it pathetic at all. getting stood up is a thing that’s done to you, not because of who you are, but because of who someone else chooses to be… unless you stole this guy’s car or something. then it’s your fault.”

you laughed. genuinely.

“no, no, it’s a first date. i haven’t known this guy long enough to steal his car yet. but thanks… that’s. a better outlook than mine. kinder,” you apologized, “… uh, can i have like, the cheapest bottle of white wine you’ve got back there? the whole thing this time.”

“i take it back. that definitely made it pathetic.”

while you shared a laugh, douxie mentally congratulated himself. you had just given him the information that a) you were single and b) you were into men. a good day to be a charming single man, then. he had a chance.

“so are you ordering any real food as well? or did you plan on just having wine and bread for dinner? have to say, i don’t think that’s wise, love.”

“well i suppose i gotta, since, i’ve, uh, eaten three baskets of complimentary bread,” you stumbled over your words for a second there, “and i’m sure it’d make the manager mad if it didn’t, right?”

“right you are. he’s uh,” douxie lowered his voice, “he’salreadybeenonmydickaboutyou so yeah, you gotta. plus i’m just— you should eat something, yeah.”

you awkwardly turned your attention to the menu as you did that thing where you hold it and pretend to look over the menu as you order like you forgot or something, “the duck confit sounds good for tonight, i think,”

douxie snorted.

“no, no, that wasn’t a joke,” you shook your head, smiling fondly, “i actually just like duck, i promise. no sarcasm. i do understand the irony though. i get it.”

he didn’t completely believe you, “well then, one order of duck confit, coming right up. be back shortly, love.”

doux grabbed the breadbasket on his way out.

when he glanced back to throw you a short and unnoticeable but longing stare, as he paused in the kitchen doorway, you were fidgeting with the flowers on the table. he should get that order in now.

-

when your waiter came back with food, he placed two plates down on the table. you looked at him like he had suddenly grown a second head as he took the other seat as well.

“what are you—“

“i called in a favor with the owner. i’m still working but, i’ve got a bit of free time now. if you don’t mind me joining you,”

you shook your head in astonishment.

“not at all,” you smiled, still absolutely flabbergasted that this man would do something like this for you, “you’re douxie, right? zoe’s mentioned you a lot.”

“oH—,” he coughed, “oh, uh, she has?“

“yeah,”

he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “only good things, i pray?”

“oh, sure. sure. good things,” you took a demure little sip of your glass to torture him with the pause implying the contrary.

he swallowed audibly. nervous, then. what dirt did zoe have on him. you watched as he awkwardly shoved up the sleeves of his shirt, perhaps feeling a bit warm now. it was cute.

you’d be sure to ask zoe all about him later. how could you not. this was the most interesting thing to happen all year. and it’s december.

you racked your brain for what you knew of this guy for conversation topics.

“you’re in zoe’s band, right? the lead guitarist.”

his face lit up at the mention of it, “oh, yes. you’ve seen us?”

“once or twice, i believe.”

it wasn’t really your thing, live music. you mostly hung around the back of the bar when you got dragged to shows. you liked loud, sometimes. just not often. it really depended on how your brain was feeling that day.

“well, you’ve gotta come to the next gig, then, at least. i’m sure zoe’s already invited you?” you nodded. “the venue’s holding a wee little music festival, it’s going to be nuclear,”

“ah, that’s fun,” you smiled. that sounded like hell but now that two very enthusiastic wizards have invited you, you don’t have the heart to weasel your way out of it. you’ll bring the “XTREME” ear plugs.

“but yeah, the bands great. i love that i get to play with my mates now. a team that works as well together as we do is rare, so i really appreciate them.”

“speaking of,”

doux hummed inquisitively.

“what’s going on with zoe and that new girly y’all’ve got on the drums?”

“oh,” he paused to take a sip, narrowing his eyes mischievously, “they’re boning.”

you clasped your hands together excitedly, “thank you! you’ve just won me a betting pool.”

he almost had to spit the wine back into his glass,“hhhh. how many?”

“oh, just the entirety of the hex tech arcadia staff.”

“i’m not sure she’ll be happy to hear that.”

“which is why you won’t tell her, mr. casperan,” you placed your hand over his with a cheshire cat grin.

well, he couldn’t argue with that.

dinner progressed. alas, you can’t say you lingered as long as you wanted to on conversation. you were kinda rushing things because you felt a little guilty doux was getting someone to cover for him while you had your little date. was this a date. it had to be. as mentioned, he’s going out of his way for this, and you can’t imagine he’d go through all this trouble because he wasn’t interested in you. but then again, you couldn’t believe he was interested in you either.

“do you like cryptozoology?” douxie tried his best to ask nonchalantly while he scratched the bridge of his nose to look a little less interested. he was feeling a bit energized since talking about the band. you had been paying attention to him like he’d been paying attention to you, if only in passing.

“a tad more than the average californian wizard, why?”

“well, later this weekend, i’ve got a job exterminating a goblin infestation in the next town over,”

“snelling?”

“yeah, snelling. the guy i was partnering with told me he was backing out this morning, so now i’ll be going it alone. and im sure you know how fighting goblins alone usually goes.”

“makes it easier for them to gang up on you, yes.”

“see, that’s why i’m asking if you’d be interesting in taking his place?”

“well, i’ve got the weekend off and nothing to do,” he knew that, he got the hex tech schedule from zoe every week(to know how to schedule band practice. and, if he also took a peak at your schedule, it was purely accidental. yeah.), “so, i don’t see why not.”

doux grinned, both relieved he wouldn’t be fighting goblins alone, and feeling clever that he found an excuse to spend more time with you, “perfect, i’ll text you the details? but, oh, i don’t have your number do i?”

you were about to ask why he couldn’t just tell you in person right now, but he said that soo hammy. it took .01 seconds to understand what he was doing. you snorted.

“okay, okay, here,” you held out your hand and he gladly placed his unlocked phone in your hand. you made the contact and sent yourself a text of the first emoji he had in his recents, which happened to be🫀. ah, a goth romantic. you gave him back his phone.

“perfect. thank you, love.” he tucked the phone into his chest dramatically before placing in back into his pocket.

you rolled your eyes fondly, “you know, goblin smashing isn’t exactly my idea of the perfect second date, you might have to turn up the charm.”

“oh, i’m sure i’ll make it worth your while,” he let his head fall into his palm propped up on the table, gaze going soft, “so was this a perfect first date, then?”

you laughed, “hardly. all things considered. but—“

“but?”

“but i’m glad it happened this way. i’ve had a good time, mr. casperan.”

he grinned in agreement, “me too.”

you put your hand on top of the one he left resting on the table, and he took the opportunity to take that hand and gently lay a kiss to the top of your knuckles. he lingered for a moment, eyes shut tight to take in the tenderness of the moment.

alas, he has to go back to work now.

doux pulled out your chair and helped you to your feet. you thanked him as he started stacking the dishes.

“should i—?”

“no, god no,” he chuffed, “i’m the waiter, remember? i work here.”

“oh yeah.”

that reminded you. you shuffled for your wallet, but he stopped you.

“i’m paying for dinner, love. go enjoy the rest of your evening, i’ll text you after i close.”

“you sure?” it didn’t really sit right with you, considering he probably took a pay cut by not working the whole time you were on this little “date.”

“well,” he paused, and placed the dishes back onto the table for time being, “you could leave me a tip, if you know what i mean. just a teeny thing—“

“c’mere,” you snickered as you pulled him down by the lapels to kiss him.

chaste, just a peck. but perfect and sweet all the same.

when you pulled back, you watched as douxie held his eyes closed for just a moment longer than he need to before letting that blinding all encompassing smile bloom across his face.

“well then, a very goodnight to you, y/n l/n.”

[winter-leftovers]

Til The End Of Eternity || Chapter Four: To Catch a Changeling (4/?)

(Douxie Casperan x f!reader)

Summary: Y/n is trying to figure her life out but is going to be hard since her brother is the new trollhunter and she is plagued by dreams and feelings she doesn’t understand.

Chapter Summary: Y/n visit Douxie’s library

Word count: 1902

Warnings: no!

(Season 1 Episode 7)

Song?: Crush by Tessa Violet

Previous — Next

Masterlist

“You look like shit” Randy hit the counter with some papers distracting Y/n from her computer.

“I feel like shit” Y/n closed the seventeen tabs she had opened looking for information about Killahead, all useless “I haven’t been sleeping well”

They shared a look for awhile. Y/n rolled her eyes. She knew her coworker very well by now. There was only one reason why he didn’t interrogated about her sleeping schedule: he needed something

“What do you want, Randy?” Y/n looked back at the computer, a picture of a rat eating a fry stared back at her.

“Okay, remember my idea of a battle of bands?” He didn’t give her time to answer “Well, I need to help to set it up and I know you are a musical genius so your input would be much appreciated and I won’t be able to do it without you…”

“Aha” She cut him off “Would I get paid?” She raised a brow.

“Yes! And…and the free afternoon right now so you can sleep”

“Wow! you really want me to help” she started to pick up her stuff before he could change his mind.

“Great! Thank you! Here, have flyer”

She took the piece of paper. The colorful flyer made her smile.

Randy always loved music. She remembered when his mother told her the story of how Randy had threatened to steal a guitar if she didn’t buy him one. Music was everything to him and he saw the same emotion in Y/n when they met. She always loved music, even before she could remember.

When she was six, Barbara took her to school for the first time and there, on music class, she touched a guitar for the first time and it felt like coming home.

Y/n doesn’t remember her biological parents but as a kid she liked to think that they loved music as much as she did but, as she grew, she stopped thinking about her biological parents and at seventeen she stopped playing completely until last year. Three months into college she got lost, hopeless. She didn’t like what she was studying and didn’t know what she wanted to do. One weekend, while visiting her family, Y/n heard a piano. Someone was trying to tune a piano and awfully failing. She felt like the strings were calling for her, asking her to end its misery.

Entering the music store she had spent too many hours browsing back in high school she saw two guys not much older than her debating if that is how the key was supposed to sound.

“It’s really not” Y/n got close to inspect their work.

“Hello? You need help looking for something?” The man with the long blonde hair asked.

“You’re doing a shitty job” she pointed to the man with his finger in the key.

“No shit. I don’t know I’m doing” he laughed.

She looked back and forth between them.

‘Maybe I can make a quick buck’ she thought.

“How much for tuning it?” She crossed her arms.

The blonde man looked at his watch and back to his friend and said:

“I’ll give you twenty bucks to tune it in half an hour”

Y/n laughed

“It can take up to two hours to tune it after god knows what you did”

“Hour and a half for thirty bucks”

“Forty five minutes and sixty dollars” she stretched her hand.

“Fifty”

“Deal” They shook hands.

She took her jacket off and started to work.

“I’m Y/n”

“Randy” the blonde said.

Tuning the piano made her feel something she thought lost, the feeling of home and she’ll always be grateful to Randy for that.

“Hello, Y/n”

“Hey, Douxie! How are you?”

“I’m fine. How about you?” He looked concerned.

Y/n knew she wasn’t looking her best. No one would be after the night she had.

“Oh, this awful eye bags? Courtesy of my little brother” she laughed.

“I didn’t know you had a brother”

“Yeah, he is still in high school. How about you? Got any siblings?”

“Nah, it’s just me and Archie” he point to the window of the library where a black cat was grooming himself.

“Oooh he is so cute” Y/n crouched down in front of the window.

Archie meowed and rubbed himself on the window as a response, melting Y/n’s heart.

“Don’t feed his ego too much. He’s a total diva”

Y/n laughed “I thought the guy with groupies would be the diva”

Douxie blushed.

She chuckled. She thought guys like Douxie didn’t blush.

“Are you jealous, love?”

Now it was Y/n’s time to blush.

They stood there, smiling at each other. Y/n found Douxie so intoxicating: his hazel eyes, his blue hair, that smile that brought her down to her knees. Even though they saw each other a few times, she was enchanted by him the first time.

“Would you like to say hi to him…you know…without the glass” Douxie broke the silence. He seemed nervous.

“That would be nice” she smiled.

Douxie opened the door to the library, the smell of books, tea and something else filled her lungs making her warm inside.

The moment she stepped inside, Archie rubbed himself between Y/n legs, stealing her attention from the beautiful library.

“Hello, sweet boy” she sat on the floor to pet Archie more comfortably.

“He likes you” said Douxie. He was leaning against one of the few walls that wasn’t covered in books “He isn’t usually that nice, you know”

Y/n swears she saw Archie roll his eyes but assumed her tiredness was playing tricks with her.

“He seems super nice to me” she rubbed Archie’s cheek and he let himself fall onto her hand.

“Oh, don’t let him trick you. He has a temper”

They both laughed and shared a look. The power Douxie has on her made her crazy. Ever since the day they met at Benoit’s, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Every time she saw him she would stare at him like if she moved her eyes he would disappear.

“Battle of the bands? Are you entering the contest?” Douxie pointed to the flyer long forgotten on the floor.

“No, I’m just helping set it up. Are you interested?”

“Yes, I have a band…”

“Oh! Ash dispersal pattern, right? Randy is a big fan” she tried to play it cool. She couldn’t tell him that she knows most of his songs by heart “I heard some of your songs. You’re good”

She saw a red tint in his cheeks and this time, she was sure her tired brain wasn’t playing tricks on her.

“Thank you” he scratched the back of his neck “I heard you play the piano you have at the store. I thought you’ll enter”

“Mmmh, I’ve played since I’m kid but I don’t think I’m good enough to enter. I’m helping cuz Randy asked” she looked at Archie, he was belly up between her legs, napping.

“What?! I heard you at the store! You’re nuclear!” Douxie crouched next to her.

Y/n turned her head and looked at him “You think?”

With Douxie so close the world seemed to slow down. They were the only people in the world. Their faces just inches apart. So close that a small breeze could change everything.

“Of course” He smiled

The door opened and the world was no longer theirs. Douxie stood as fast as he could and assisted the customer.

Y/n looked down at Archie, who was already looking at her and smiled. Her face was so hot that she thought it would explode.

She yawned and Archie mirrored, the last of her energy left with Douxie.

“Sorry, Archie but I have to go” she stood up and petted his head one last time “Maybe I’ll see you later. Tell Douxie I said goodbye”

—

Y/n fell on her bed like a bag of sand. Her body gave into sleep before she could take her shoes off.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a forest. Civilisation was nowhere to be seen. The air smelled fresh, familiar.

She kneeled in one of the trees and saw a heart with H written inside. A smile erupted from her chest. She mindlessly caressed the indentation, trying to remember something, someone, but she just couldn’t reach it. Only finding a warmth feeling in her chest.

“Y/n! Where are you?” A man’s raspy voice distracted from the tree “Come home, little bird”

A sword made of sadness and forge by loneliness stabbed her chest. Her eyes filled with tears.

“I don’t know where I am” she whispered as a tear fell down her face, burgundy streaks of light surrounded her. Electricity ran through her body burning her fingertips and heart.

She looked at her hands, they were surrounded by red smoke.

Y/n woke up covered in sweat, her heart was racing but she felt fully rested. She looked at her hands and when she saw no red smoke, she relaxed.

Outside the sun had already set. She looked through her phone to see if her brother or mom had sent a text. Jim sent her a text telling her about her study date with Claire. She smiled. Jim had a crush on this girl from his class for a while now and apparently it was going somewhere. She wished him luck even if hours had passed. When she went to answer a text from Randy Toby called.

She couldn’t understand what he was saying, only the words: changeling and dental hygienist.

“Ok, Tobes I’m on my way”

Y/n jumped out of bed and drove as fast as she could to Dr. Muelas office. She would probably get a lot of tickets but she didn’t care. Knowing what she knows now, she couldn’t risk disregarding a call from Jim or Toby.

“Toby? Jim?” She screamed as she followed the sound of struggle.

She got to the door and saw her brother stabbing a troll followed by a flashing blue light.

“There goes proof” said Aaaargh!.

“Oh, my gosh! She’s in my mouth!” Toby coughed. The troll’s ashes were everywhere.

Y/n couldn’t move.

“Oh no! I killed our only evidence of a changeling in Arcadia” Jim pulled his armour off.

“And my dental hygienist” Toby screamed.

Y/n laughed. Toby could make her laugh even on her worst days.

“You finished the fight, Master Jim, and in self defense, for that matter. Vendel may continue to have his doubts but we continue to have our lives. A fair bargain, I’d say” Blinky tried to comfort him.

“He’s right, Jim” Y/n grabbed his brother by the shoulders trying to make sure her eyes didn’t deceive her and he was ok.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?”

“Toby called”

“And just out of curiosity, what are you doing in Toby’s dentist office?” Jim looked at the trolls.

“I thought it was possible that danger may come to either of you should you cross paths with the wrong changeling. So, we followed Tobias as a precaution” explained Blinky

Aaaargh! Fell from the ceiling making Y/n jump.

Blinky started talking about how he was curious about human’s oral hygiene but Y/n didn’t listen. She was more worried about dusting the troll off her brother before getting to her car.

A/n: 👀

[quartergremlin]

vack om my trollhumters vullshit

i love you varvara never change. those horns sure are for his deceit.

steve calling coach his dad and them havimg to correct himself. i love them. THEM ARE COVERING FOR THEIR FAMILY-MESS AT SVHOOL

GET THEY ASS UHL

they really are terrible students huh.

MO STEVE!!!!!

honestly, this whole episode is nearly indistinguishable from like. a regular teacher breakdown. rip to everyone with those stories about purple flyimg momky.

"emotionally commect with him" sticktler the MVP I guess? for at least giving them advice instead of going "a cat?? rip to you buddy better put that thing down."

mrs. jameth that's mot good for your digestive system.

MO SMR UHL MO

"a pep talk from your favorite student?" mot for long eli. just wait until krel gets here.

Smr. uhl honestly the scarriest here. turms into somic. "gatito" ... the meowing.

oh fuck you strickler.

weird-ass relationship there tho. that's fun. i omce saw you as a father but you've betrayed me and threatened the ome we both love dearly. etc etc

.

Jim thimgs that are funny to me amd I hope they never chamge:

1 - imsecure avout skimmy legs.

2 - mervous around claire when mot im immediate danger - impulsive spanish

"girls domt pee. they conspire!"

jim you are failing so hard. you're lucky you're both such nerds.

DOUXIE!!! my little sopping wet meow meow loser.

RULE THREE!!! *comfetti* love me some rule three.

love that this is the same bathroom set from the museum. yaas team keep recycling those sets so you cam put more energy into other things. like all those fire effects. jesus.

loving morgamma. keep being absolutely unhinged. also the voice effects are cool.

*tries to stab jim with a butter knife* "she's flirting with you"

"begome servant" > *the distinct sound of 1000 years of douxie servitude immediately clicking into place*

its also interesting to see how these people have changed from the past im wizards to mow. even if they didn't plan on having Morgana be a pretty normal person in the past like. i can see how being imprisoned for that long would drive you insane. how you'd completely lose your shit, try to kill a guy with a butterknife, and them down a raw steak im negative 2 seconds.

jim only hitting morlaire in the face with pillows while motemrique has no qualms about knocking her out cold. that's the sibling effect right there.

claire gravs motemrique by the scruff: *vaguely annoyed*

morgama does it: *kills her with cast iron pam*

kmowimg what I do about merlim. i get it. guy sucks. i would absolutely want to destroy everythim he's ever touched too. sorry yall ever met him.

also I like that while they do have a light/dark good/evil thing going om it's not that dark magic is vad necessarily. vlimky defimetly doesmt think much of dark magic. its just the connection between claire amd morgama is able to ve exploited by morgama, who is looking out for her own self-interest.

it happens again amd again but im always somehow surprised when trollhumters says: good amd vad are subjective. what really matters is if you can look out for the people you care about amd hold your values. something like that. im sure I could say something more coherent about it later. im multi-taskimg.

[lovedropletsdreams]

Lost time - 1970 | Hisirdoux Casperan

Plot : You’ve known him for almost a thousand years, he’d known you for a few centuries when he should’ve known you the same (Hisirdoux Casperan x reader)

Word Count: 1.2k+ 

Warnings: none

A/N: it’s not as long as the previous one but I hope they offer the same enjoyment to you guys as it did to me while writing these, thank @prismarts for being such a dear to help me beta read this, any suggestions and feedback are welcomed :D

Taglist: @furblrwurblr @prismarts @alovesongshewrote @castle-of-my-dreamsj

So, the miracle happened. You woke up. Full of confusion obviously, imagine waking up in the middle of a what? A cave, surrounded by trolls, looking at you with curiosity. Wait, is that piece of heartstone under your nails, what. One troll approached you, you assume he was the leader, from the looks of it. He introduced himself as Vendel. You struggled to get up, it felt like you hadn’t used your legs in a very long time. You wanted to introduce yourself, but your throat was parched. Vendel stopped you and signed to the other trolls to bring you to a room following him.

In there, he gave you a glass of water and said, “I know who you are, apprentice of Merlin. Centuries ago, he brought you here in dire need, and told us he needed the heartstone to help you,”.

And that’s where you learned that you are in the Trollmarket, home for the trolls, along with what transpired within the time you were unconscious. Merlin found a way to embed you in the heartstone which synergizes with your magic and helps to save your life due to its healing properties. You realized Merlin left the fact that you are Camelot’s princess, seeing Vendel address you as Merlin’s apprentice. And you chose to keep it that way, you remembered your last wish, for nobody to remember the princess of Camelot, you.

You spent several years in the Trollmarket, getting back on your feet. It was not easy, at first, the trolls were wary of you, a human. You tried hard to get yourself back on your feet. Over time, seeing your determination and your attempts to befriend them, they opened their hearts around you. There are still some that disagree with your existence in the Trollmarket, but they didn’t do much aside from snark and pranks here and there. Vendel, however, was different, you can feel his indifference to you, true, you being human plays a part in his dislikes but you find out he really is just looking out for every troll. As a leader, he must stay composed at all times, something you learned being the figure back in Camelot. But he found your talent at life magic interesting and decided to teach you how to utilize that magic better. Within your years in the Trollmarket, you learned how to do your magic better and some basic combat training. You also learned about trolls better, their habits, their likes and dislikes, and many more.

But you always miss the sun, sure you get out sometimes to help the trolls either with hunting or escaping from the Gumm-gumms, but it was always at night. You missed the smell of the grass in the morning, the way the sun warms your skin, you missed life in the daylight. So, after several years, you decided to embark on a journey, to see the world, and see how much of it has changed.

And boy, how much has it changed. You felt like a fish out of water, you felt like a newborn where you have to learn anything, including how to clothe yourself to match with the people (well you know, trolls are not exactly the right example of how a human should be dressed).

About Camelot, you’ve heard about the battle of Killahead from the trolls, along with the things that happened within the time you were in a coma, but hearing from humans, however, turned it into another story. Funny how things could change one or another, especially the ones supposedly with you in it. But neither mentioned the information you wanted the most, about a certain wizard’s apprentice. You wondered how Douxie had become. You remembered how he was dreaming to be a master wizard, is he one now? Or did he find a new dream?

You’ve spent most of the years living in the daylight, being with other people’s company that just comes and goes, seeing how things changed. But you also like laying low and enjoying teas from cafes, a hobby you found quite familiar yet comfortable in a way. Not to mention the things you’ve learned, both magic and nonmagic stuff, learning always excites you.

Then come the 1970s

It was quite an interesting year, any era would do the same to you, fascinating how an era could create changes within the people. But this one is different.

You were in a bar, something that you were not used to, but enjoyed from time to time, not because of the drink, no, the drink was just an accessory to you. You enjoy the environment, the feeling of rowdiness, how people bonded on nights with the liquid truth, or just the fun. You didn’t quite remember the name of the place really (is it moonlight? Moonlit? Moonacre? Alas the name just keeps slipping away)

And there he is

The 1970s was something in Douxie’s experience, meeting the Beatles (great lads with great music, he always said), the fashion is something he could get used to. Tonight, however, he just wanted to relax with some familiar faces and Archie.

You almost ran to him, you almost called his name, and you wanted oh-so-badly to run into his arms. But you didn’t, you remembered the thing you don’t want to recall the most, the memory spell. There’s no way he’d recognize you. The spell was meant for permanent activation. Instead, when he and Archie took a seat (fortunately) near you, you just tried to listen while taking a look at him. He looks a tad older (considering almost 900 years have passed, but ehh who’s counting), he changed his hair, it looked pretty cool with those blue streaks, it suits him. His laugh, god, how much you missed the sound of his laugh, how much you wished that you were the one he laughs with.

You swallowed the bubbling tears rising up your throat and drank your beer, which turned out to be a bad idea since the drink’s bitter and you dislike the feeling. But somehow the bitterness just makes you laugh at your own condition, bitter drink for the bitter one.

That laugh made Douxie’s head turn. It was not loud, barely heard by anybody else, but there was something to your laugh and he heard it. He catches your eyes and you quickly turn away, but then you heard the sound of the chair being dragged in front of you.

“Hi, I’ve never seen you around here, you new here love?” that smooth endearment causes you to look at him, did he just, call you what now? The Douxie you knew never used endearment, he was too shy to do it, he was a moppet (with a man bun ;) ) did you mishear him?

A hand waved in front of you, “you alright love? Do I have something in my face?” he smiled

You did not mishear.

“No, uh, I’m alright, good” you tried to calm yourself by drinking, bad move. You choked on your drink instead.

“Woah, slow down, careful…” he said softly patting your back

Great, you just embarrass yourself, seconds after meeting him. This wasn’t good. You put your hands covering your heated face. “I- I’m sorry, I—“, then you heard him chuckle, lips lifting to a soft smile.

He took your hand that was covering your face, and his hazel eyes once again found yours

“How about we repeat the introduction again, I feel like we put ourselves in the wrong shoes, we could put our better shoes this time, what do you think?”

Maybe this is your second chance?

“Let me introduce myself once again, I’m Hisirdoux, Hisirdoux Casperan, you can call me Douxie, nice to meet you!”

“I’m (y/n) (l/n), Nice to meet you too Douxie”

[tenebrius-excellium]

19 and 21 for fandom asks

Hi El!!! Long time no see!!! How are you???? Thanks for sending something into my inbox!

19. your current fandom(s)

Uhhhhh my current fandoms are a mess... I don't have what you could call 'fandoms' anymore right now cuz all of them ended. I'll happily go back to them sometimes but there's no point in revisiting old stuff that has, however lovingly, been overanalyzed by the community by now. If there aren't new takes on the material to play with, why stay in the samey rebloggable slush.

If you're asking me what I'm looking forward to watching next? Well I intend to see Arcane Season 2, TDP Season 6, and The Fall Guy. All just casually though. I wish there was another fandom to attach to. But on the other hand, as there's nothing to watch, I am getting propelled forward in my irl life, so. I'm not actually mad, I think!

21. a fandom you're not active in anymore but that you still really like

Well give me anything Narnia-related or anything Robin Hood and I will activate like a sleeper agent. Bruh. I wish they had made the rest of the Narnia movies. Upon thinking about it though, now would really NOT be a great time to still do it. There's too much unrest in the world and in the movie industry for it to possibly have quality, and its values are finally problematic for the tastes of current audiences as well. So. I'd rather not have it right now.

As for ToA...nope, I think I'm mostly over that. Keeping it alive feels like a chore. I'm still pissed they didn't finish it properly, I'm so sorry for the characters, but I'm even over Wizards. I happily outgrew Douxie, and watching a 19yo has nothing to teach me anymore. Wish he'd gotten a second season, but you know very well where we're at.

What I like, what I like. Nothing much. I'll admit it. We need fresh stories. I "blame" the writer's strike, which likely postponed a lot of cool new content. But can I wait? Ab so lute ly. A healthy industry comes first.

Didn't mean for this to come across so negatively lol! What is kinda dragging along in my fandom existence right now, is vibrant and thriving in my irl life! So I'm happy! Truly!

Thanks for asking!

Cheers

Reddie

[rohanrider3]

Brace Yourselves, I have THOUGHTS on this guy

Okay so I just watched Wizards (Tales of Arcadia) and I, along with many other folks, adore one (1) wizard in particular--Hisirdoux Casperan, better known as Douxie. I’m sure you’ve seen the art, the posts, and, well, the internet lately.

BUT HERE’S THE THING. One of the (many) reasons I love this guy. He’s not what one typically gets in a main character, AND he’s very different than other protagonists we’ve met in Arcadia. 

TLDR: Protective, kind-as-summer, ultimate “good older brother vibes” wizard who simultaneously 1) doesn’t think much of himself, 2) tries his hardest, and 3) is actually SUPER FREAKING POWERFUL is unique and I love him for all those reasons and more!! (Details (and spoilers) below the cut)

1: He’s young, yes, but he’s extremely experienced. He looks 19, but is 919. As the first episode shows, he’s been doing his best to live a good life and master magic for NINE CENTURIES. All the while looking like a kid! Douxie lived through the fall of Camelot, has seen technology blossom and evolve, AND has seen countless people come and go, all the while completely on his own except for Archie.

2: He’s extremely humble. He’s apparently been working odd jobs FOR ALMOST A MILENNIUM--so he can work from the shadows to protect people from terrors they don’t even know about--and works hard AT ALL OF IT. Menial jobs AND demon-fighting. First episode, he clearly WANTS to use magic to clean up the cafe (and as a former customer service worker I would have sold my wisdom teeth for magic, LET ALONE magic clean-up help!) but he refrains from doing so, because he really took Merlin’s advice to heart.

(Side note: IMO, Merlin’s an ASS. But the advice he gives in the beginning of “Wizards”--along the lines of “Relying on magic alone isn’t enough, first you have to master how to live well and THEN you can master magic, hard work is extremely important and not to be skipped”--is good. AND DOUXIE STICKS WITH IT FOR OVER 900 YEARS. OF HIS OWN VOLITION. Merlin’s in a tomb, he hasn’t been glaring over Douxie’s shoulder all this time!) Which brings me to-

3) Douxie, although a hard worker, sincerely good guy, and all around badass wizard, doubts himself a LOT (thanks Merlin’s endless snarking and yelling.) BUT, instead of always fighting/planning to get Merlin to approve of him, Douxie instead focuses on doing the right thing. But it isn’t easy and Merlin’s dismissal of him/his ideas/Merlin’s constant disparaging put-downs hurts him. But he doesn’t let it stop him.

4) Douxie CARES. A LOT. He’s patient, kind, eager to help, works hard, and has protected humanity from horrors it didn’t even know about for CENTURIES. While he was still an apprentice, with no master, and no other magic users (that we’ve really seen) that could teach him more about his own magic or how to use it. The hedge wizards are cool, but we don’t get to see much of them and it looks like they’re more of a side society in Arcadia than something Douxie’s strictly a part of.

5) Douxie protects whoever he can whenever he can. To him, all life is precious, and he gives off major “is anyone else protecting this person or trying to make things better okay cool cool cool, I’m gonna try to do that as much as I can for as many as I can right now!” attitude. Which gives off major older sibling vibes to me. 

(To emphasize, he cares about EVERYONE. He’s distraught at the thought of Arthur’s death, HE’S the one who uses his magic to remind--not enchant, REMIND--Arthur and Morgana of their old love of the forest and of Gwen (apparently the glue that held their trio together) and how, each in their own way, they miss her and still love each other. HE’S the one who’s constantly checking the time continuum, and keeps trying to tell Merlin that it doesn’t have to be Arthur vs. Morgana. But Merlin outright pushes him aside/ignores him, and events take their course. Interesting note: Right during the big fight scene in the past with Arthur vs. Morgana, just before Arthur cuts off Morgana’s hand with Excaliber and she falls to her death, you’ll notice the time continuum is blue. Which means it’s fine. The future is good. Douxie could go back to his future no problem. BUT WHEN HE SEES MORGANA’S DEAD FORM as part of the repaired timeline, HE SHOUTS AND RUNS TOWARD THEM TO TRY AND STOP IT. Morgana being DEAD didn’t mess up the timeline. Excaliber being broken did. But Douxie was still trying to save Morgana AND Arthur, and only the blast of magic from their fight knocked him back. And he still grieves her death as one of the parts of his failure, even while Merlin pushes him aside and focuses on Arthur and Excaliber in the aftermath of the battle.

6) Does anyone else think Douxie has a major guilt complex/super messed up self esteem? Because Douxie tearfully shouting “I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!” to Merlin, AS DOUXIE’S OWN LIFE IS IN DANGER AFTER HE TRIED TO SAVE HIS FRIENDS and keep the Arcane Order from destroying the world...that hit hard. His life is on the line and (most likely) his last words are a plea for forgiveness to the Master that routinely dismissed him as an incompetent idiot and was more than happy to leave teenagers (!TEENAGERS!) who’d fought and risked everything to protect the world to die horribly at the hands of his enemies. Douxie--caring, kind-hearted, I-get-my-ass-rountinely-handed-to-me-but-always-get-up-again DOUXIE was the one who ran back to get Jim and Claire. Not Merlin. Merlin was *this close* to leaving to protect Nari for the greater good, and only reconsidered because Douxie had thrown himself into the fray (and despite his best efforts got thrown hard into a rock wall by The Green Knight. And then volleyball spiked into the (equally hard rock) floor and crushed by MindControlledTrollJim.

7) Douxie DOES NOT GIVE UP. Merlin writes Jim’s injuries off as hopeless and him as a lost cause, but Douxie relentlessly tries to figure out ways to fix things. Arthur and Morgana’s relationship, Jim’s injury/worsening curse, all the scenarios where they (it looks like) have to choose between saving their friends AND the world. He doesn’t just shrug and write off losses the way Merlin does. Douxie keeps throwing himself at problems and putting himself at risk to solve them.

8) He’s honest. (Certain Lad of Fortune bowl games aside ;) ) Merlin only told Jim the problem with the wound and left it at that. Douxie makes sure that Claire knows the reality of the situation and promises he’ll find a way to fix it. He knows their situation isn’t ideal, but he refuses to just shrug and leave things as they are. He’s more than willing to throw himself wholeheartedly into finding a way to fix things and refuses to let defeat stop him. Which leads me to, finally--

9) Douxie willingly, without flinching or making a big deal about it, walks into the jaws of death for his friends and the world. For Pete’s sake, he does it with a SMILE. He KNOWS getting his friends back is a long shot. He KNOWS the Arcane Order cannot get Nari AND the Seals, or else the world is doomed--AND he could easily have chosen to go on the run, with the Seals, for the rest of his life. His friends would have died (or worse), Nari would have been trapped with the Order for the rest of time, but the world (and Douxie) would have been safe. Why? The Order doesn’t know he has the seals. Merlin said they could be FOUND if his staff was destroyed, he didn’t say they were STORED there. (And yeah, I wanted Douxie to trick the Order with fake Seals too, but after some thought I’d argue that they’re ancient and powerful enough where they probably wouldn’t have been fooled by or chased after a fake.) Also, going on the run with inanimate objects your hunters don’t know you have and having the kind of magic Douxie does--he could have had a niiiiiice life. Maybe a little mobile, but arguably MUCH easier than constantly making sure a small forest spirit doesn’t get snatched up by her angry brethren. In any case--

Douxie’s plan included--and even hinged on--his willingness to die buying his friends and Nari time to escape. He BUILT IT INTO HIS PLAN. And that bravery, courage, and matter of fact heroism--along with that defiant smirk he gives the Order when they threaten to kill him--is why I love this guy so much. 

[dbssh]

trollhunters season 2 episode 11 unbecoming was not the best animated show in the last decade just for the entire rest of the franchise post-trollhunters to undermine its message over and over.

[nattikay]

hmm...just thinkin’ about how to deal with Bellroc and Skrael in my headcanon, which lead to hmm, let’s try taking some of the general ideas from the movie but make them less dumb. I wouldn’t call this a rewrite per se, nor even something that I’m set on “officially” incorporating into my headcanon--just some idle hypotheticals.

Douxie uses his magic to mask Nari’s magical signature, thus making it much more difficult for Bellroc and Skrael to track her down. As such, the Titan reawakening takes place much further in the future--approximately 10 years from the events of Wizards. 

.

Jim has long since regained his half-troll form as per my headcanon, with the upgrade of being able to walk in daylight. He has probably already received the new amulet as well, and has had plenty of time with Douxie and Krel to troubleshoot and perfect its abilities.

.

Jim and Claire are married and already have their lil hybrid babies cuz heck if you can stop me. They are living in the New Jersey trollmarket, where the trolls have successfully settled after the Eternal Night. Thanks to Claire’s portal abilities, it is very easy for them to get from there to Arcadia and back whenever wanted/needed. The need to protect not only their friends but also their children puts 10x more ferocity into their determination in battle.

.

Strickler and Barbara, Toby and Darci, and Aja and Steve are all also married. Toby and Darci probably also have kids.

.

We can still even have Aja and Steve be expecting, but Steve is very most definitely NOT pregnant. And actually neither is Aja, cuz let’s flesh out this whole “seventh kiss” bs:

So Akiridions are made out of energy, and their bodies are a projection from the central “life cores”, correct? To form a new Akiridion, you need a new life core. So let’s say that to make a life core, two Akiridions must take bits of their own energies and merge them. Once merged into a new core, said core is put into a special device that keeps it safe and nourished while the projected body develops, kinda like a fancy electronic egg. Once the body is developed enough to properly take in and interact with the outside world, the “egg” is opened and boom, there’s your Akiridion baby.

Obviously this is very different from human/Earthling reproduction. If Steve is human, how is he gonna take bits of energy that he’s not made of in the same way Aja is to merge it with hers? Lucky for them, we are constantly reminded how advanced Akiridion technology is supposed to be. They take a DNA sample from Steve and use their technology to convert it into the required energy, which is then merged with Aja’s aaaaand...there you go. Because of this, while the bab(ies?) can resemble their dad in certain ways, they will be functionally fully Akiridion in that they are made of energy and fueled by a life core rather than human carbon-based biology and DNA.

So how does the “seventh kiss” play into this? Obviously the seventh kiss itself does not “make baby”; the process is much more intentional than that. BUT, let’s say that when a couple shares their seventh kiss, it means by Akiridion standards that they’re pretty devoted to each other. As such, it is the trigger that makes it possible for their bodies to split off a piece of energy to merge if they so desire. So the seventh kiss does not automatically make a baby, it merely makes it possible for a given couple to do so.

You’re welcome. Moving on...

.

Speaking of Steve, he is a knight, and has brought back a form of the roundtable as he promised Lancelot. He splits his time between Earth and Akiridion-5 thanks to Krel’s wormhole device, which has been refined over the years, and leads factions of knights/warriors on both planets.

.

Nana (who is pretty much semi-immortal at this point ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) and Barbara watch the great/grandkids during the battle, because someone has to do it, and neither of them have any particular magical powers to fight in the battle themselves anyways. This not only keeps they themselves safely out of the way while the magical heavyweights do the hard part, but also still gives them a sense of purpose in keeping their beloved great/grandkids safe. I was originally gonna have Darci with them but then I came up with a better idea:

.

Darci is one of Steve’s new knights. Inspired by Toby, she was keen to sign up when Steve started accepting applicants. As one of the first recruits, she is now second-in-command of the Earthling faction.

.

Claire is officially Douxie’s apprentice and her magic has improved leaps and bounds with a formal teacher to help her. That said, not only have Claire and Douxie not been nerfed, their power level has actually increased since Wizards.

.

Strickler doesn’t die suicide-bombing the titan because that’s dumb. He just drops the bombs onto it from above and gets the heck out of the way.

.

Nomura also doesn’t die because no one was stupid enough to let a troll try to fight a titan in the middle of the flippin’ afternoon.

.

The titan battle between Nari and Skrael still happens, but Nari is basically a distraction to keep his attention and efforts occupied while the rest of the team swoops in to take him down. Thus, Nari doesn’t die.

.

No Khronisfere bs, and therefore Archie and Charlemagne don’t get trapped in the Chinese trollmarket and are still present for the final showdown against Bellroc.

.

The showdown with Bellroc is now 10x quicker and easier as Nari is present, no one’s been nerfed, the whole team’s still kickin’, and everyone’s actually competent. Toby does not need to sacrifice himself.

.

All the good guys survive and everyone goes back to their families and live happily ever after with no more world-ending threats of for the rest of their lives because they deserve their hard-earned peace thank you the end

[killian-whump]

How would Colin Character Coven help Colin get a job?

As you all know, this is NO-vember, the month of doing nothing whenever possible, and for no reason whatsoever. In the spirit of this, when asked to convene in order to discuss this topic, the Coven sent along its newest representative to deliver a firm

(Dr. Callahan, as you might have guessed, is really digging this whole "NO-vember" thing.)

So in order to answer this question, we had to be a little sneaky and approach each coven member individually. And since most of them have little to no knowledge of the acting world, we thought it best to just ask them if they had any work or spare jobs lying around that they could give to our Colin.

Some of them didn't have much to contribute - or took "NOvember" a little too seriously and slammed the door in our faces. Dr. Callahan, for example, just said, "absolutely not" and walked away. We'll skip those coven members in this summary, and stick to those who actually had jobs to offer.

Storybrooke Hook was quick to offer what he calls a "high-paying opportunity in childcare services". In other words, he and Emma could use a babysitter. He swears his daughter is very well-behaved, and "that levitating thing" only happens when she's really fussy. "Perhaps he might consider bringing a helmet," he suggested.

Detective Rogers said he could use a Jr. Detective to help him with his cases, but considering he managed to fit "go on donut runs" into the job description three times, we're pretty sure he just wants someone to bring him donuts.

Old Hook said he's looking for "a man of great science and few morals" to help him with a secret project he's cooking up - which, frankly, we wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Best to nod and walk away slowly from that one...

Douxie said he could use an apprentice, but was quick to clarify that this is not a paying position, would never be a paying position, and would likely require at least 900 years of effort before anything actually came of it.

Mark's only got a job for him if he's a licensed plastic surgeon. "The license is negotiable," he added. Facelessly.

Gerry said he's "pretty sure" he can get Colin a job at the penny depot, but he seemed concerned about getting him past security. I guess it's a little tighter after all the issues they had with those Latvian leprechauns. After I assured him that Colin is from Ireland and even has pointy-ish ears, he was a bit more confident in his offer. "And he's not human, right?" "Of course not, Ger. Of course not."

Brendan said he's in dire need of a bodyguard in prison, but can only pay in cigarettes and pornography. "We don't think Colin really needs either of those things..." we told him. "For God's sake, they're going to kill me!!" he replied. Sounds sus.

JJ claimed to have many lucrative jobs to offer. He rattled off a bunch of them, but we caught "TV/VCR Repair" as one of them and suspect he just saw a late night Sally Struthers commercial at some point. This is likely a scam to lure Colin close in order to steal his knees.

Professor Harrison's offer of a teacher's assistant position sounded promising, until he said, "Why don't you just give me Coleen's number and-" "Coleen?" we interrupted, "We said Colin. Colin." "A guy?" "Yes." "I've got nothing," he stated before slamming the door in our faces.

Duke Philip said he has need of a translator as he navigates this new modern world the coven inhabits. "Why do the 'local area singles' who wish to speak to me keep sending me tiny portraits of eggplants?"

Phineas Poe popped around. "I got a job for him," he said. "PLAY ME." He then offered JJ a kidney, possibly his own, before leaving.

Conor, it appears, is also seeking a "man of science without morals" for a secret project he's undertaking. He insisted it has nothing to do with Old Hook's secret project. We're more than a little alarmed, and suggested he get back on his meds.

Gordo doesn't have a job for Colin, as it turns out, but he was excited to talk to us nonetheless. "I caught one!" he told us. "One what?" "An alien!!" He then opened a shoebox to reveal Gerry sitting inside. Gerry waved. "That's Gerry," we told Gordo. We helped Gerry out of the box and sent him on his way to the courtyard... where he was promptly caught in a different shoebox by Preacher Peter. "I've caught the demon!" he exclaimed.

...and it occurred to us then that perhaps WE have a job for Colin, ourselves. Clearly, someone needs to be taking charge in here. And he did breathe life into all of these gentlemen... so who better for the task?

[honeyxmonkey]

I've always had the hc that Douxie can do something akin to siren magic where he can entrance someone/s with his voice by channeling magic into his singing

Honestly anytime you have a magic character associated with music I'll throw this siren thing at them XD

When Douxie uses the siren voice, his voice gets very melodic and echoey, just very enchanting to listen to that even people who the spell isn't directed at will start drifting towards him, wanting to be closer to hear it better

And sometimes even he can get lost in the music and not realize the spell is affecting his friends

So he doesn't do it often

The song often affects the listener in a way where they'll be, for lack of a better word, completely head over heels and wanting to do anything for the singer

Lil moppet douxie is just singing one day, absent-mindedly so as he does his chores, not realizing how his singing is affecting the people around him. He looks up to see that he's gathered a small crowd of people, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen, a few maids and they're all listlessly standing around, eyes glazed over as if they're in a trance.

Douxie, horrified, clamps his mouth shut and the spell breaks. He's so terrified of himself, that he did that without even thinking, that he'd too scared to say anything when Merlin asks him what happened. He's too scared to use his voice in fear of what it'll do to them again

One day, Douxie has no other choice than to use his voice in that way he really hates doing it because he hates taking away someone else's control over themselves but he needs to so his friends can live so he steps out in front, standing in front of the group protectively, taking a deep breath.

Archie knows what he's about to do and says, "I'd cover your ears."

And then Douxie begins to sing. His voice floats through the air, gently taking hold of their enemy, luring them into a false sense of security and the enemy they're fighting becomes listless and relaxed.

Before his voice can really do any damage to the team, they wisely cover their ears, all except Steve who wasn't quick enough and is now listening with the same glazed over expression

Douxie feeds more magic into his voice, singing of peaceful sleep and starry night skies and one by one, the army of enemies begin to drop, lulled to sleep by the siren song. Steve also passes out and him falling startles Douxie who falters for a moment, horror passing over his face at seeing his friend so affected by him. Archie gives him a nod of encouragement and Douxie picks the song back up before their enemies can shake off the siren spell

Sometimes Douxie will accidentally use his siren voice but like, it's so brief that it barely has time to work on anyone. He's just vibing, belting out a Disney song or something and then he notices his magic is working and almost immediately he closes his mouth and takes a moment to compose himself. It's so hard to remember to keep a lid on his siren magic sometimes. It's not like his other magic, this sort of siren magic just starts working on its own sometimes.

Claire pops her head into his room to make sure he's okay because he stopped singing so abruptly and the team had kinda been enjoying the show tunes.

Douxie shakily reassures her that he's fine. She isn't convinced he is

One time, the team is having a karaoke night and they have to beg douxie to join them, reassuring that they trust him and that he's gotten so good at controlling his magic.

Douxie reluctantly agrees and when it's his turn to sing, the anxiety pooling in his stomach only grows worse when he starts to sing. He can feel his magic wanting to spill into his voice, but he forces it down. This is supposed to be a night of fun with his friends, not a place for magic. He gets more confident as time passes and soon he's smiling as he sings and when he's done, the whole team is staring at him with these enraptured smiles.

"Yall good?" He asks slowly.

"Oh we're fine!" Toby reassures. "You just have a really good voice, even without all the spooky siren stuff"

The laugh they share lifts a lot of weight off his shoulders

I had this other idea where he could literally channel so much magic into his voice that he can do something like the canary cry if yall don't know what that is just Google black canary 👍 and basically he could demolish a targeted object/person with just his voice

He... doesn't know about this ability until he accidentally destroys a small row of trees after a particularly loud scream cause he got le ✨stabbed✨

Steve was watching and he just watched the guy who stabbed his friend get blasted back by this invisible force and he's like, "haha neat"

Literally just a straight row of forest going back about 3 yards has been completely demolished

Even douxie seems to have no idea what just happened but he's bleeding out and disoriented so there's no time for questions, just run back to town for a ✨hospital✨

Steve didn't know if it was Douxie's usual magic tricks or... something else

Douxie: I am ✨dying✨

Steve: PLS SOMEONE HELP HES GONE LOOPY

Douxie: if anyone needs to know my blood type is... red. [straight up passes out]

While Douxie's in recovery, Steve tells everyone what happened in the forest and they're all kinda in this shocked silence cause usually if it was normal douxie magic there would've been some sort of blue light involved but Steve confirmed that there was no light it just... happened. There was no visible magic, Douxie just screamed and suddenly half the forest was demolished and the guy who stabbed him was crashing through a dozen a trees

So yeah

I want to clarify also that it's his voice that literally has magical properties and its very difficult to turn off or control so it's a gamble whenever he sings or sometimes even talks but he eventually learns to control it to a degree, and then his friends help him get full control over it!

This is sort of what I imagine Douxie's siren voice to vibe like with the echo and everything and it just be in general very enchanting

Douxie casually breaking out some Disney showtunes but his voice fucking sounds like this. Literally everyone stops to listen cause holy shit

But his singing voice specifically always has magic in it, the echo is just more noticeable depending on how much he's suppressing or feeding the magic

The first time Merlin heard him singing was when Moppet was just vibing, doing chores, and humming a lil tune under his breath but it just started to get this hauntingly enchanting echo the longer he sang and that's when Merlin knew... this boy was different, special, dangerous without the proper guidance

One time moppet was just vibing, singing his lil tune while he cleaned up and without noticing, he accidentally started enchanting items to help him clean up. His voice is literally strong enough to enchant inanimate objects without him even trying

Merlin walks in and goes to start his lecture but Douxie immediately slams a hand over his mouth, the items dropping to the ground, tears pricking at the boy's eyes. Merlin sighs, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hisirdoux, it's okay."

Douxie looks at him, lips pursed into a thin line. For goodness sake the boy didn't even want to speak.

"Hisirdoux, its nothing to be afraid of."

"I wasn't... I wasn't even trying to do that, Master." The boy whispered, clearly trying to shove down his tears.

"I know, you'll get control of it, Hisirdoux. I know you will." Merlin awkwardly pats his shoulder. "You're stronger than you know."

AND THEN

Douxie just had like, this outburst of magic one day and accidentally enchanted people just by speaking to them and he goes running to Merlin to try and tell him what's happening but he doesn't want to speak so it turns into a really long game of charades

Eventually Morgana figures out what he's trying to tell them XD

One time Ms. Janeth heard him singing and she begged him to join the school's musical theater group she didn't care that he wasn't even a student. Douxie politely declined, not wanting to be the reason hundreds of teenagers and parents and teachers were suddenly under a siren spell

So.... yeah!

Siren Douxie my beloved

This will absolutely now be a canon thing for literally all and anything I write that's Douxie related, peace and crackers

[mysteriesmuse]

A/N: I’ve kept this in my drafts for a while and I think October is the perfect time to post this and I wanted to go ahead and post this (In time for Halloween and everything!)

* And forewarning for those slightly squimish I do mention blood and a slightly gross description of stitches. It’s really very mild, but so just in case, heads up for you guys on that .

I really wanted to write this cathedral chase and the aftermath of Douxie devestatingly beating himself up about not being able to help keep you out of harms way. Its such a wonderful twinge of dark and I really enjoyed the process and the outcome! I’m really quite proud of this one, so I hope you guys enjoy it! ———————————

“A Cathedrals Chase”

———

Now this Had to have been one of the worst monster hunting experiences you, arch, and Doux had in a while.

”Fuzzbuckets.”

”Come on Douxie. You’ve been seething that saying through your teeth for an hour already.“ Archie said, as he swooped in from the kitchen ahead of Zoey, a can of sardines in hand.

“Yea man, there’s nothing more to beat yourself up about,” Zoe said pointing a finger down the hall. ”You got Y/N back here in in one piece- well,” Zoe clicked her tongue, ”- more or less and now, you can take her home.”

Douxie moved his glutes off a rather cushiony- tattered- flowered piece of upholstery in Zoe’s apartment. Not a particularly appealing asset, but functional none-the-less.

Hisirdoux, somehow, managed to trudge himself over to the door and pick you off the bed (with the help of Zoe and Archie) to get you back home to his apartment.

And Hisirdoux absolutely ground his eyes out with the palms of his hands when he got home. Making dinner, washing dishes, turning on some mindless cable television. All these chores and he still couldn’t cleanse the image of all that gooey streaked red ridden all over your hands.

The way he’d mentally and dutifully noted when doing the laundry for this week that you‘d had some small red stains on the tush of your clothes. he couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t going to press for any answers. After all, that wasn’t really for him to know. . .

I mean, in particular occasions, you had enclosed that information to him in the past. So, would it really have been that weird if he decided to ask you? To confirm? Probably not, but for your safety he wished he had.

Neither Hisirdoux or Arch would have predicted that a rogue flock of gargoyle would have been so large and hostile. There was a reason that the clergymen had given a call.

You stuck it out fairly well. The pressure of your corset and stays must have done some sort of excellent job putting pressure on the wound because it wasn’t until the end of the mission- or rather the prompt improvised end of the mission up in the calthrdrals balcony that you’d expressed more than a regular fervent pain.

It was fleeing through the isles. Douxie was long and tall taking long strides to book it out of there and Archie was right there, running across the church pew, and you had been right beside him- oh wait.

He skidded to a stop whirling around to find you having tripped on a step, laying there with your elbow and forearm propped against the seat trying to host yourself up.

Douxie only mildly panicked grabbing at your upper arms to try and host you up.

“Love, come on. There’s no time. Let‘s get you up, upsie daisies. Come on now. Johnny Jump up. Please.”

Curses, he yelped the last part, but who could blame him.

The heavy mechanical flapping of rock through the air was a dastardly sound- and it was approaching closer.

“Y/N, Douxie, I highly encourage regaining our stride to get out of here,” Archie meowed.

He’d now been flapping stagnantly in place waiting for you two. Eyeing Douxie nervously to gauche a reaction.

Douxie only eyed his familiar back a large look of concern and a smaller-well, perhaps medium. Yes, a medium sized look of confusion.

Shaking his head Douxie tried once again to pull you up, crouching down further on the floor between the pews. “Y/N, we gotta get out of here, but you’re gonna have to get up first-”

”Yeah, up as in right now.” Archie commanded of you.

Douxie frowned at Archie.

“What?”

Rolling his eyes he sighed turning back to you.

“Ignore him Y/N. Would you like a second? We- we don’t have much time, but we- we can spare a minute or two for you to regain your strength.”

Douxie’s coaxing received nothing as he peered up under to look at you. Gently grasping at your bicep that clutched onto you side. The skin under his fingers was cool to the touch, although he thought it was sweat cooled from running.

In fact, he could feel your pulse pulsating rapidly underneath the skin of your wrist that stilled, knuckles white, clutching to the back of a pew.

Douxie and Archie could understand why it was beating so fast: running around all night. Douxie and Archie could understand why you were breathing in so ragged and slow, and so Archie said, “Y/N. Do you need to catch your breath?”

What Douxie couldn’t understand why why you weren’t responding to him.

And it was made clear when you’d gotten your strength up, and taken several more steps forward just to collapse once again. Except, this time you had really fainted.

Hisirdoux could hardly remember what happened, except that the moment you fell a deep patch of red seeping through the clothes on your side was revealed.

Hisirdoux couldn’t help but think ‘that was definetly not supposed to be there.’

The heavy wooden doors of the cathedrals entrance slammed open in that moment; reverberating against the whole building.

In fact, the possibility that they’d simply been ripped off the hinges entirely was very likely -or busted into a million splinters. That too was very likely.

Needless to say, it scared him to pieces.

Immediately after your collapsing him and Archie agreed they had no choice but to hold off the gargoyles.

Douxie himself made sure he himself blocked the way to you, standing over your body as the gargoyles bursted in; clamoring and clawing their way up the building. Hisirdoux himself thought they looked much like a lizard wiggling it’s way up the narrow corridor, although much more angry and less adorable. And as nature to their flesh the tall vertical lumber became permanently and forever marred by the rapid feral approach of these creatures, matching that singular scratch just above your hip. . .

The one that Zoe had pieced back together with fresh stitches

Here he was sitting in a chair in his own bedroom, staring at you in the wake of the night as you slept. Douxie‘s fingers waggled involuntarily at the shudder that coursed through his spine.

Indecent.

Douxie prided himself on being a gentleman and dearly hoped he was being gentlemanly enough to watch over you while you slept with this fresh new injury. However, as you steady breaths fell upon his ears he could not help but not take his eyes off that marred scratch on your body. Skin taught where it stretched just above you hipbone. A almost grotesquely pink color of flesh pursing it’s lips together, and sealed like a zipper.

“Not next time,” Douxie whispered into the room. “I won’t let them get to you like that next time,” his eyes darkened, fixated once again on the both simultaneously sickening and relieving sight of the skin and stitches being pulled and released by your sleep filled breaths.

He won’t let there be another close call like this time.

Douxie promises. . .

[talesofarcadia78]

Hello! 😄 Can I request a fluffy oneshot with prompts: “And I love, I love, I love you.” and [a gentle “I love you too” whispered after a soft kiss, followed immediately by a stronger kiss] about Douxie attempts to confess his romantic feelings to shy!female!human! reader and he end up super flustered, but its okay because she thinks it's cute? Hint: She has romantic feelings for Douxie too! I live for flustered Douxie! 💖 Please?? ~🌼

A/n: Special thanks to @itsgabby.2021 for helping!

Confession || One shot

The wind picked up, letting out a quiet whistle. The leaves on the trees had started to change it's colours from the bright green to a warm orange. You wrapped your scarf around your neck and tugged on your jumper, attempting to get warmer.

You continued your way down the path to work.

The smell of coffee instantly hit you as soon as you opened the door of your beloved GDT Arcane Books. You hung your tote bag on one of the hangers next to the entrance.

"Good morning, Y/n!" a chipper voice called from the second floor of the store.

"Good morning, Douxie!" you called back.

You walked over to Douxie's cat, Archie, who was enjoying the morning sun by a window. You pat Archie on his exposed stomach, earning a purr before making your way over to the register.

You had been working at the bookstore for only a month but you felt like that you've been working there forever. Douxie was in urgent need of an employee as his last one had left the state with his wife. He had hung posters all over town, handing any passing person his business card and making calls to his friends to spread the word. Luckily, you had just moved from Europe to the small, quaint town, Arcadia, desperately needing a job.

One day, you were walking around in town, when you noticed a poster saying that GDT Arcane Books was hiring. You rushed over to the store to get interviewed. You were honestly expecting an ageing women/man to be the owner. But it turned out to be your pen pal, Hisirdoux Casperan. He was very happy to meet you in person after years of communicating through letters. He immediately gave you the job, no interview needed, since he knew practically everything about you and vice versa.

After a couple of days of working at the store, you had started to admire Douxie more than just a friend. You had developed a crush on him, which slowly turned into love. But, you knew that Douxie would never feel the same way, so you keep your mouth shut. You were happy with what you had and didn't want to ruin it by blurting out your feelings.

Little did you know, Douxie felt the same way for you.

The offer had been placed to stay at Douxie's place, knowing that you were new in town. But you politely declined, since you were already staying at a pink haired witch's apartment named Zoe Ashildr.

Turns out, Zoe and Douxie knew each other as fellow wizards. Douxie trusted Zoe to keep you safe and kept you company whenever he couldn't.

Back to the present, Douxie came down the stairs with two cups of coffee in each hand, whilst using his telekinesis floated empty boxes behind him.

"Here's a cup of coffee for a lovely lady," Douxie winked as he set a cup on the register as you were counting a new shipment of books.

"Thanks, Doux!" you called, keeping your self distracted as your cheeks had turned a crimson red from his comment.

+ + + + + +

You went to the back, needing to refill a few shelves with new novels.

Almost there…

Your fingers lightly brushed the book you wanted, but you failed to grab it.

You tried again, standing on your tip toes, even though you were on a ladder, you took the risk. This time you successfully got the novel but your foot slipped off of the ladder.

"Douxie!"

Douxie was walking to the back, wondering why you were taking so long, when he heard his name getting yelled by none other than you.

He rushed into the back room to see you falling from a dangerous height.

"Magna tawna truess!" Douxie incanted.

A sky blue aura surrounded you, saving you from the fall. You slowly got placed on the ground.

"You alright?" Douxie asked, frantically looking over you for any injuries.

"I-I'm alright Douxie," you replied.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Whenever you need to get something from that height, just ask me, okay?"

You nodded in response.

+ + + + + +

You handed the book to the petit, old lady, who gave you some cash, along with a tip, before she headed out of the store.

“Time to close up shop,” Douxie stated, coming out from the back room.

“Finally! It’s been a long day,” you replied, stretching.

Douxie laughed at your antics.

“Get some rest, Y/n,” he smiled, heading to the front door and holding it open for you.

“Thanks, Doux. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said as you walked past him, “I-- ummm… Bye.”

“Yes. Bye, love. See you tomorrow,” he chuckled.

You made your way to you and Zoe’s shared apartment.

You couldn’t help but fluster yourself as thoughts of Douxie ran through your mind.

Before you knew it, you had arrived at your destination, Zoe ready to greet you.

“Hey, Y/n!” Zoe called, leaning on the doorframe, “How was work?”

“Oh, y’know… same-same,” you answered as you entered the abode.

“I forgot to mention this earlier! Douxie’s coming over for dinner!” she hollered from her spot in the kitchen as if she didn’t expect a reaction out of you.

“W-w-what?!” you sputtered, spitting out the drink that was in your mouth.

“Yeah! He should be here at 7!”

You looked at the time.

6:45…

“But… that’s… t-that’s in 15 minutes!” you cried as you ran to your room and rummaged through your clothes for something to wear.

“Well, you better hurry!” she snickered, playfully rolling her eyes.

After rummaging through your wardrobe, you finally found (you choose what you want to wear, rather than the usual plain white shirt and black pants.

Abruptly, you heard the door bell rang.

Oh no… Douxie's here.

You scrambled out of your room and into the main room to see Zoe standing in the doorway, greeting Douxie. He walked inside and spotted you.

"Hey, Y/n!" Douxie waved.

"H-Hi Douxie," you said, “W-what a nice surprise…”

“Indeed. I thought dinner was cancelled when you left work, but Zoe reminded me,” he informed.

You all sat down at the dining table, Zoe serving you your meals.

Zoe and Douxie talked over dinner, exchanging quips and banters.

You just sat there with your mouth shut, afraid of saying something embarrassing in front of Douxie.

After dinner, you tidied up the table, carrying the dishes to the sink.

“Hey! We should get some dessert! How does ice cream sound?” Zoe asked.

You and Douxie exchanged excited glances and nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good,” you smiled.

“Great! Let’s go!” Zoe exclaimed, ushering you and Douxie out the door.

+ + + + + +

You all were enjoying your ice cream at the Bluff, as you all had found the ice cream truck there. Douxie and you were sitting on the bench that was provided, while Zoe was sitting crossed-legged on the ground.

You were showing Douxie all the constellations, pointing each one out to him. He was amazed by all of your knowledge on just stars and space. Douxie knew you had an interest in a lot of things, cooking, art, sport, space, and a whole other stuff. Now, he knows you also take an interest in constellations.

Suddenly, someone's phone began ringing. Zoe noticed it was hers and picked it up.

By the way Zoe's expression turned from happy and cheerful from stressed and worried, you could tell, something was wrong.

She hung up and jumped to her feet.

"Sorry, guys. I have to go. There's a problem at Hex Tech," Zoe explained. "Bye!"

She rushed off before either you or Douxie could say anything.

You both looked at each other and shrugged before going back to constellations.

+ + + + +

Now, you two were just gazing at the stars. Douxie was in deep thought.

He had fallen in love with you in the few months he had started to write letters to you. He had only seen you through a photo that you had attached of yourself in the second letter to him, but he also got to know you through the letters. You had poured your heart into those letters, telling him everything and anything. Douxie had done the same.

He wanted to confess to you so badly! Douxie had planned to confess his feelings a few days ago, though it didn't turn out so great.

Douxie had taken you out to lovely restaurant for dinner. Everything was going according to his plan, your hands were in his as he was going to say everything, when the waiter came and interrupted. And for what? The damn bill!

You being you, took out your card to pay. Douxie wouldn't allow that. So, you two started to argue over who was going to pay the bill. Douxie ended up paying, as he planned the dinner for you.

He tried again outside of the restaurant, where there would be no interruptions. Well, that's what he thought.

You had to go to a friend’s house just after the dinner, so they decided to pick you up. Douxie had no idea about this.

Again, he was going to confess, when a car pulled up beside you two, telling you to hop in.

You apologised and headed off.

After you were gone, Douxie kicked the ground and headed to his house.

Defeated.

+ + + + + +

As you were looking up at the night sky, star gazing, Douxie was gazing at you.

He had made up his mind. He was going to tell you. Everything. Right then and there.

"Uh… Y/n? I-- uh… I wanted to tell you something," Douxie spoke up.

You turned your attention to him, "Yeah?"

Douxie took your hands in his, which made you blush a little.

"Okay, here goes nothing. Y/n… ever since I saw you-- I mean… wrote to you… Well, after I got to know you through writing letters-- through the letters, I started to look at you differently. Not in a weird way! Just more than a friend? Then, when I saw you for the first time in Arcadia, before you came to the shop. I was shocked, like I was surprised that you were in Arcadia. It's not a bad thing! I thought you lived in Europe, but turns out you moved. Anyways, I started to admire you than more a friend. I've gotten to know so much about you over the past month. So, all I want to say is that… I love you…" Douxie stammered.

You giggled at his stammering and flustered state.

He is so adorable.

Douxie took a deep breath before he repeated, "I love you." He stared into your eyes before he pressed his lips onto yours, kissing you softly as you kissed back. You both pulled away, keeping your foreheads touching.

"I love you, too," you whispered.

Douxie's eyes lit up like a child before he pulled you into another kiss, though this time, it was more stronger than the first.

You both pulled away for air just as you heard a click.

You turned your head to the source, to see a pink-haired witch standing there with her phone out, clearly taking pictures.

"Aww! You two are so cute!" Zoe cooed.

You furiously blushed and buried your face into Douxie's chest as he wrapped his arms around you.

"Zoe Ashildr!"

Word Count: 1,900

[ssiggss]

I made a whole AU in my head yesterday and I'm debating whether or not to invest in it but chances are, knowing me, I'm gonna do it anyway-

Please ignore the absolute MESS that this is- it is completely disorganized 😭🖐

So basically I replaced the Arcane Order with my own OC I literally just made for this specific reason as the villain.

His name is Pyelan, (pronounced PIE-LAN) and he's an old god of peace- very powerful and ancient. However, he's grown corrupted and angry at humanity for the amount of needless war and death in their history.

He sees the pollution of Earth and the sickness, and takes it upon himself to fix it, having gone mad after the eons he spent alone.

The humans stopped worshipping him, that is why they have no peace, they've destroyed everything, in his mind the only option is to create a whole new Earth with a new species that would do better.

He seeks The Arcane Order, knowing who they are (having once been friends in ancient times) and means to have them open the genesis seals and wipe out humanity forever.

(I'm taking what Tobias said in the interrogation scene in ROTT and running- the bit abt The Arcane Order being the creators of everything.)

(Also, I like to think each of them had a hand in different species, Bellroc creating trolls and changelings, Skrael creating humans and goblins and Nari creating the animals of the Earth- with input from eachother of course. Though I'm still hammering out the details)

In this AU, The Arcane Order do not hate humanity, are more so disappointed and eager to fix the imbalance so humanity and all beings could return to their lives.

They understood his plight, but told him that because they created humans, they would find a way to restore balance without killing them off.

This throws him into a vengeful rage- could they not see that their humans have failed them? Could they not see the damage humanity has done to their planet?

If the gods who created this world were too stupid to see the truth and fix it themselves, then he would do it.

During an opportune moment, Pyelan steals Nari away and holds her hostage- this is where The Arcane Order enlists the help of their old friend's apprentice, Hisirdoux Casperan.

Douxie involves the Trollhunter and his merry band of armored children and various peoples, and there ensues many scenes of Bellroc and Skrael interacting with everyone.

So Pyelan pretends to be remorseful, tells them to meet them at the roundhouse to return Nari to them.

Obviously its a trick, but he still manages to gain control over all three of them and releases the titans- now its up to Jim and everyone else to save creation, and the creators.

Steve does NOT get pregnant but instead, the 'seventh kiss' is an engagement, meaning he would become king- a huge responsibility he's not sure he can fulfill. (Possible subplot about Steve gaining true confidence in himself and a tear-jerking scene where he looks up at the sky and hopes his mentor is proud of him after the final battle.)

Claire, Douxie, Archie, his father and Blinky still go to find the Khronosphere- it was Bellroc who told them to find it this time, their last words before they succumbed to Pyelan's mind control.

Archie chooses to stay with Douxie, there would be a heart wrenching scene where he and his father says quick goodbyes as the wall seals.

"Take care of eachother," he says, "I love you, son."

Varvatos still comes down in the bigass robot, but this time he has a co-pilot and its Zadra.

They actually manage to take Bellroc down, and Jim insists on going up and talking to Bellroc in hopes of breaking Pyelan's control.

"Is this what you truly want? C'mon!" he says as he battles against them upon crumbling molten rock. "You are who you make yourself, don't let him think for you!"

Bellroc is freed from Pyelan's control, discovers that they had been tricked by Pyelan and that Skrael and Nari were still in danger- they go ballistic.

Zoe's called in by Douxie to aid them, and she and Krel pair up as the designated tech nerds and they get a whole scene with some crazy cool akiridion tech/mechromancer wizard shit that frees Skrael from Pyelan's control- two down, one to go.

Claire is ofc a badass, portals Bellroc's titan to Arcadia and then shit really hits the fan.

In this AU, Toby and Steve fight alongside Jim against Pyelan, Strickler doesn't die but instead tends to a severely wounded Nomura with Barbara.

Pyelan uses Nari and her titan against the other two, Bellroc and Skrael are trying desperately to not hurt her too badly, but its not going so well.

Varvatos and Zadra's robot goes down against Pyelan, who ends up fighting Jim, Toby and Steve directly.

Instead of Toby dying, Jim sacrifices himself one last time as the Trollhunter, defeating Pyelan but taking himself along in the process.

This prompts everyone else to make a unanimous decision to use the Khronoshpere to save Jim.

The Trollhunter has saved countless lives, and now its their turn to save the Trollhunter.

Rewinding back to when Pyelan first set the trap for Bellroc and Skrael, they defeat him much much quicker this time.

Everyone knows what his next move will be as they all retained their memories, and Jim is safe.

The balance is slowly but surely fixing itself as time goes on, The Arcane Order are dedicated and often visit Arcadia to take breaks or to enlist help for certain missions.

Steve becomes king, ruling alongside Aja and later in their adulthood, they have children. (with much better designs)

Barbara and Strickler get married, and later so do Claire and Jim, and when I tell you that wedding was a sight to behold.

Toby is much more confident in himself, and is known all throughout Arcadia as a hero, The Trollhunters partner- Keeper of Peace.

"I'll do a much better job than the last guy, trust me."

All in all theres lots of things I gotta figure out for this AU, but its purely for self-indulgence because I can't stand the ending of ROTT. And also I was told all headcanons are canon now so I am doing what I must

[borealisblog]

"Wow the new Rise of the Titans movie Avenger Endgame looks g..."

Now let me say that I really REALLY enjoyed watching this movie okay?

I've been a fan of the franchise since its beggining back in 2016. I have never been so moved by a story and its characters as such as this series did as a whole.

In all my life so far, I believe I've never felt this much attached to a character before. Jim Lake Jr. had and always will have a special place in my heart. I related to him in so many ways that it would be impossible for me to do him justice in this single post!

To see the series end breaks my heart but I will always be thankful that it came into my life. As for that, I wish to give my most sincere thanks to the entire team that has been behind the whole franchise, to, of course, its one and only creator and genius, Guillermo del Toro and, to the late Anton Yelchin. May you rest in peace.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.

That being said, I only need to bring up one particular aspect that kinda left me bitter:

⚠️SPOILER ALERT ⚠️ FOR TROLLHUNTERS: RISE OF THE TITANS

The Avenger Engame-ish ending.

They. all. deserved. a. happy. ending.

Jim. deserved. a. happy ending. IN. HIS. TIMELINE.

I have nothing against time travel okay but the whole idea of KILLING OF TOBY IN ORDER TO GO BACK IN TIME TO THE DAY WHERE HE AND JIM FOUND THE AMULET BUT THIS TIME IT'S TOBY WHO GETS CHOSEN... How is this suppose to fix everything if not to repeat the same story again except this time it's Toby who get the main role and also end up in the same exhausted shape as Jim throughout the movie in the end but anyway i guess?

I mean sure everyone they have lost are alive again and Toby gets to be the hero instead of the "lame emotional support role" I can understand the idea behind this plot but...

It... it just doesn't fit I don't know.

And if i may add something about Jlaire. It's cool that they get a fresh start and all but I dont feel like their relationship will be as powerfull as it was in the original plot.

I mean:

Jim introducing Claire to Trollmarket after their battle in the forest against the goblins

Jim making THE promise to Claire that he would get her brother Enrique back from the Darklands on his own if he had to.

Claire standing by Jim's side, telling him that they will save her brother together right after their Roméo and Juliette play

Jim turning into a half troll. Claire loving and supproting him regardless of this major change, ready to follow him everywhere.

That's what made Jlaire special to me.

All in all, I just feel like the story has been rebooted unecessarly and the whole series plot was pointless in the end.

Again guys, I am not saying that I didn't like the movie! It was still very good!

I just believe it didn't get the proper ending it deserved.

Now to end this post on a more positive note, here is a list of my kudos for the movie <3

The GORGEOUS animation! All hail the Dreamworks team for that!

The INCREDIBLE score! Thank you Jeff Danna for your work!

The Pacific Rim hint was simply delicious.

The FREAKIN None Shall Live instrumental from Two Steps From Hell in the final confrontation between Jim and Bellroc with the Amulet soaring in the sky like it did back in Part 1 during the forest battle. MMMGLOORYYY!

Claire. Fair. lady. Claire.Nuñez. What a queen.

Actually Queen Aja. She's definetly queen material

Nari, sweet bean that you are.

AAAAarrgh and Toby. TRUE. WIGMANS.

Douxie, precious magic boy.

JLAIRE. MY BABIES.

THE ONE AND ONLY JIM LAKE JR. THE ONE TRUE TROLLHUNTER.

*SPECIAL KUDOS* Walter Strickler being, in the end, the best man we all deserve.

In the end guys, the only thing we need to remember from this incredible journey is this:

[nikibogwater]

The Final Becoming--a Tales of Arcadia fanfiction: Chapter Eleven (The End)

A gentle king, a warrior queen, a clever prince, and a Master Wizard. Together with their allies, these four heroes must reform the ancient kingdom of Camelot and rise up to face the Arcane Order in a decisive final battle for the fate of everything they hold dear.

An alternate take on the series ending for those for whom Rise of the Titans didn't quite make the cut.

(Link to Chapter Ten)

Read on Ao3

Or in the post below:

“Hey, Jimbo.”

“Hey, Tobes.” Jim’s voice shook a little as he greeted his friend. Toby was propped up against a mountain of pillows in his hospital bed, his eyes so, so weary, even as he gave Jim one of his trademark grins. Jim took a deep breath as he sat down in a chair next to the bed, purposefully avoiding looking at Toby’s legs.

“...You can look at ‘em, Jimbo,” Toby said. “They’re still just legs, as far as I know.”

“S-sorry,” Jim stammered. “I didn’t mean to make things....Nevermind. How’re you feeling?”

“Tired,” Toby admitted. “And sore. Like, really sore. Like I just got hit by a freight train filled with Diablo Maximuses.” He gave a mirthless chuckle. “But y’know, I guess it could be worse. What about you? Been overrun by the paparazzi yet? I’ve been watching the news--that’s about the only thing they have on tv here. People are talking about everything that went down. Looks like magic’s not so much of a secret anymore. Douxie’s already been swarmed by people asking about wizards, and folks here in Arcadia are bound to think the Trollhunters had something to do with it.”

“I think there’s been some news people lurking around our neighborhood, but Mom and Strickler have been chasing them off any time they get too close to our yard. Councilwoman Nuñez wants to give all of us medals of heroism from the city, but I told her I didn’t want to celebrate anything until after you were better.”

“That’s....gonna take a while, Jim,” Toby sighed. “Even though my legs are never going to work right again, there’s still a buttload of physical therapy and stuff that they say I have to do. Kind of a pain, really, but Nana’s threatened to hit me with her feather duster if I don’t do everything the nice doctors tell me to.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, actually. Nari healed Douxie after Bellroc hurt him, right? Couldn’t she--”

“Nope,” Toby interrupted sadly. “I asked Douxie about magic healing once--wanted to know if Nari could regrow some of my Nana’s teeth. He said magic can’t erase what happened, it just kinda speeds up and smooths out the healing process. For something that could never fully heal on its own, magic can’t do very much. Well, not unless you’re okay with being like whatever the Green Knight was.”

“...Oh,” Jim said softly. There was a long, heavy silence. “...You shouldn’t have done that, Tobes,” he whispered. “Bellroc was aiming for me, I should be the one who--OW!” Jim’s hand flew to the shoulder that Toby had just punched. “Geez, what the heck was that for?!”

“‘Cause you keep bein’ a dingus, that’s what!” Toby retorted. “Look, you may be the guy with the fancy armor and the magical sword and the self-sacrifice complex, but you know when it comes to raw tanking power, the only way you ever outmatched me was when you were a half-troll. Well, you don’t have stone for skin anymore--which yeah, that’s great for tanning and beach parties, but that blast would’ve flat-out killed you. I don’t like these broken legs any more than you do, but I’d rather never walk again than have to bury my best bud. And don’t pretend like you would’ve done any differently if you’d been in my place.”

“Okay, fine, I get it!” Jim huffed, rubbing his sore shoulder. He deflated a moment later with a weak laugh. “...Gods, between you and Claire, I can never get away with anything stupid.” He gave his friend a wan smile. “I’m sorry....I’m just so tired of seeing my friends get hurt.”

“That’s okay, Jimbo,” Toby replied. “Comes with the job, I guess.”

“Seriously, though. Are you....doing okay?”

Toby hesitated, then heaved a long sigh. “...I mean, I was pretty scared at first,” he began softly. “I started crying when the doctor was telling me about all the stuff that I have to deal with now. I’m kind of embarrassed about that now.”

“You don’t need to be,” Jim chided gently.

“Well, anyways, it was just a lot at first. And I mean, it still is a lot. But my Nana... You know she’s had to use a walker for as long as I can remember--not really the same as what’s happened to me, but sorta similar. She was telling me about how you can work around it. You just have to change the way you’d normally think about getting stuff done. You get used to looking for access ramps and bars and things. She said you’re never as stuck as you might think, that there’s always another way to get to where you wanna go and do what you want. You just have to be open to finding and taking it. And maybe asking for help if you need it.”

“...Wow,” Jim breathed. “...Gee, I never thought your Nana could be so...uh...”

“I mean, I’m sort of paraphrasing--and leaving out the part where she told a story about a lost cat and an apple pie that didn’t really have anything to do with what’s happening to me--but yeah. It helped. I’m... I’m still really scared, though. There’s so much stuff I gotta figure out now, and like, what I can’t? What if...” He trailed off, hands clenching around the blanket over his lap.

“You will, Tobes,” Jim assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I know you will. And if you do get stuck, then we can figure it out together. Just like we always have. I promise.”

“Thanks, Jimbo,” Toby replied softly, giving the hand on his shoulder a little pat. He looked down at his legs, brow furrowing sadly. “I....I don’t think I can be a Trollhunter anymore. I know Nana said I can still do whatever I want, but I think that one’s definitely off the table for now.”

“...Being a Trollhunter isn’t about running, and fighting, and swinging a weapon,” Jim said slowly. “I used to think it was, but....if you think about it, anyone can do those things, and they don’t need a magic amulet to pick them for it. Being a Trollhunter is about shouldering a burden for others--putting yourself in harm’s way to keep it from finding someone else.” He took his new amulet out of his pocket and ran his thumb over the surface, tracing the incantation engraved around the edge. “Tobes, when we found that amulet three years ago, you shouldered the burden right along with me. Didn’t even think twice about it, even though you weren’t the one the amulet chose. And you did it just because you cared, not because there was anything in it for you. You could have left that first night Bular tried to kill us, but you didn’t. You stayed with me, and held me up beneath a weight I never could have carried by myself. I may have been the one with the amulet, but you’ve always been the real Trollhunter. And you always will be.”

“H-hey,” Toby sniffled, giving a weak laugh. “C’mon Jim, I told you I don’t wanna cry!”

“Sorry. Guess that was kinda cheesy,” Jim chuckled. “But I meant it. I couldn’t have done any of this without you, Toby. And no matter what happens next, I’m going to stick with you, and help you carry your burden for a change.”

“W-well then,” Toby began, clearing his throat awkwardly. “you can start by bringing me some real food. All those jokes about hospital food? Yeah, turns out, they’re not jokes. It’s actually that bad.”

“You got it, Tobes. Anything you want, Jim’s Catering Services has got you covered. Always.”

“Toby!”

Jim winced as Darci’s screech pierced the once-peaceful stillness of Toby’s hospital room. The girl offered no apologies for her loudness. In fact, she didn’t even seem to notice him as he hurried to get out of her way, and instead fell all over her boyfriend, crying, scolding, and praising as she hugged him.

“Hey, Darc,” Toby said softly, sighing contentedly into her shoulder. She pulled back and cupped his face in her hands, her eyes wet.

“Is it true? What they said...You can’t...?”

“...Dead as a doornail,” Toby joked half-heartedly, gesturing to his legs. “But they say I’ll still be able to get around okay in a wheelchair, once I’m fully recovered. Y’know...I-if you wanted to go somewhere...” He faltered ever so slightly with an uncharacteristic nervousness, and with a jolt in his stomach, Jim realized that he must have been worried about what this new condition could mean for his relationship with Darci.

“What about Benoit’s?” Darci suggested brightly. “They just reopened in a new location--I still haven’t tried their duck confit yet. Oh, and then we can go see the Gun Robot movie! The reviews say it’s really good.”

“Yeah,” Toby breathed, face relaxing into a grin. “That sounds great, Darc. Um...Might be a few weeks before I can go, though.”

“I can wait,” she assured him. She pulled him in for another hug, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. Toby met Jim’s eyes over her shoulder and gave him a wide smile and a thumbs-up. Jim returned the gesture.

Claire was right. Nothing would ever be the same again, but they could still forge a new path to the future, one step at a time.

After all, the Trollhunters always finished the fight--together. No matter what.

*****

One Year Later:

Destiny is a gift.

“Douxie, I have seen human dwellings before,” Nari said, clinging to Douxie’s arm and carefully feeling her way over the gravel pathway he was leading her down.

“But you haven’t seen one like this!” Douxie insisted. “Look, just keep your eyes closed as a favor for me, yeah?” He stopped and lifted her over a fallen beam. “...Looks like the crew left a few things behind,” he muttered. “Oh well.”

“Crew? Douxie, what are you--”

“Alright, open ‘em!” he exclaimed. Nari did as he instructed, blinking against the light for a moment before her eyes widened, and she let out a soft gasp.

Standing before them was a small cabin-style house, sitting cozily at the top of a wooded hillside. It had a wide, grassy yard in front, overgrown with wildflowers, and a gravel driveway that snaked down the hill and joined up with a neighborhood road at the bottom. The cabin was placed at the very edge of Arcadia Oaks city limits, and the woods at its back stretched on for miles, before eventually thinning out at the base of the mountains in the distance. The building was fairly simple-looking, with a large covered porch in front, and an oddly-shaped stone chimney peaking out of the side. There was also an unusual platform jutting out of the roof, with rough-hewn railing around the edges and a small telescope perched on top.

“It’s great, right?!” Douxie enthused. “During the awards ceremony a few months back, Councilwoman Nuñez asked me if there was anything the city could do for us--they’d already given Jim and Claire and Toby scholarships, but she said they were at a loss when it came to us. I told her I was looking for a more permanent residence--something we could use as a home base when we’re not traveling for our wizarding work. Obviously the apartment in town has been better than what we had back in New York, but still not quite big enough for all three of us, especially if we end up needing to house a magical artifact or two.”

“I beg your pardon, I hardly take up any room at all,” Archie huffed from his perch on top of Douxie’s shoulder. Douxie ignored him and continued.

“Mrs. Nuñez started looking at city-owned lots straightaway, and when I told her what I was looking for, she showed me this place. The cabin was an absolute mess--gods, I don’t think I’ve seen a sorrier-looking building in my life--but Jim called up his Troll mates in New Jersey and a whole crew of them got straight to work in fixing it up. It’s a little rough-looking in places still, but it’s as solid as you could want, and they even dropped a few spells on the appliances to make them last longer! Best of all, the city is giving it to us--all I have to worry about is paying the electric and water bills. We can live here for as long as we want, and never have to pay a single rent!” He seemed positively giddy with excitement as he pulled a speechless Nari up to the porch and in through the front door.

“Living room,” he said brusquely, scarcely giving her any time to look at it before steering her down the hall. “Water closet at the end there, and--” He opened a door with a dramatic flourish. “Your chambers, my lady!”

Nari’s breath caught in her throat. The room was flooded with sunshine from the enormous bay window at the back. Douxie had already taken the liberty of setting up a few potted plants on the sills, and there was a small, carved wood bed frame just beneath the window. “A gift from the Quagawumps,” Douxie explained when he saw Nari’s eyes land on it. “I’ve never met them, but they were quite eager to help Jim out, so he went ahead and commissioned that piece just to give them something to do. The windows open out as well, so you can get plenty of fresh air. And with this much space, you won’t have to be rubbing elbows with me and Arch all the time. No more tripping over my dirty laundry, eh? And those woods behind us are completely wild--it’s a no-hunting zone, so no one ever really goes in there. You can have the run of the whole valley!” He paused.“...So, what do you think?” Nari’s eyes moved slowly around the room, drinking in every little detail--the sage green wallpaper, the dark oak floors, the dust swirling in the sunlight. Finally, she looked back at Douxie, eyes shining like miniature suns.

“...It is perfect,” she breathed.

“Well, there you have it,” Archie said, leaping down from Douxie’s shoulders and stretching out in the patch of sunlight on the floor. “Our first real house. Only took us nine-hundred years. Now let’s never move again.”

“I’ll do my best, Arch,” Douxie laughed.

*****

Some go their entire lives, living existences of quiet desperation...

“...No, the ionic conversion chamber is supposed to go there, Krel,” Zoe insisted, pointing with her wand.

“But it would be more energy-efficient to put it closer to the neogenic processor!”

“For the machine, maybe, not for the poor witch or wizard who has to power it with their own magic! Just put it where I told you.”

“Wait, if we put an Akiridion wavelength enhancer array here, we could reduce the amount of--” His suggestion was cut off by the buzzing of his phone nearby. “Kleb.” He snatched it up off the desk and answered without checking the caller’s ID. “DJ Kleb speaking, you’d better make this quick, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Krel, where are you?” Eli said on the other end. “The meeting’s supposed to start in like, two minutes!”

“What? No, that’s not happening for another... Zoe, time, please.”

“Two twenty-eight,” the hedge-witch replied around the wand between her teeth, as she fiddled with a few loose wires in their creation.

“KLEB!” Krel yelped again. “Ai, Seklos and Gaylen...! Eli, stall for me, I will be right there!” He hung up and scrambled for HexTech’s newly-installed wormhole generator. “Try integrating a Tyturian Splicer into the enhancer array,” he suggested hurriedly as he punched the coordinates into the machine. “It will reduce the amount of nanoplasmic emissions.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Zoe replied, flapping a hand at him. “Enjoy the meeting. Tell Doux I said hi.”

...Never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders, is actually a sense of purpose lifting us to greater heights.

The Akiridion Roundtable was abuzz with the usual pre-meeting chatter, as humans, Trolls, Akiridions, and a few other species took their seats. Stuart was busily handing out the clip-on Neurofrequency Translators that Krel had developed to get around any language barriers such a gathering might involve. Toby was arm-wrestling with a Foo-Foo as Darci and Eli called out bets on who would win. Mary was taking selfies with Zadra and Claire. Vex was comparing biceps with Aaarrrgghh. Aja felt her core swelling with pride as she gazed upon their coalition. It was everything she could have hoped for.

Or, at least it was everything she could have hoped for once Krel had toppled into his seat next to her, breathless and embarrassed.

“You are late, Little Brother,” she informed him lightly. “Varvatos was just about to go hunt you down.”

“Sorry, sorry. I was in the middle of some very important scientific discovery work.”

“Now, now, Krel,” Nana put in as she waddled past him on the way to her seat. “You can’t be a proper gentleman without punctuality!”

“Indeed,” Varvatos agreed, pulling her chair out for her. “Timing is key in both affairs of war and of love!”

“Where is Jim?” Krel asked over the sound of Aja’s snickering.

“He couldn’t make it,” Toby supplied. He slammed the Foo-Foo’s arm down on the table with a resounding thud. Darci cackled as Eli begrudgingly handed her a wad of cash. “He’s swamped with helping his mom get ready for the wedding. I’ll be taking any questions meant for him. Also Krel, when you have a sec, the antigrav on my chair has been real finicky today. Sometimes it activates when I don’t need it to, and other times it just does this weird little sputtery thing and won’t actually lift the chair.”

“I will take a look at it after the meeting. Likely just a loose plasma coil. Have you tried the new rocket boosters yet?”

“He’s not allowed to use those,” Darci interjected.

“Oh come on, I ran into a wall one time, Darc!” Toby whined.

“You almost broke your neck! And also smashed my dad’s squad car. Again.”

“...Okay, two times,” he grumbled. “Still don’t think that’s enough to ground me over.”

“Alright, dweebs, listen up!” Everyone scrambled to take their places as Steve swaggered into the room. He leaned Toothache against the table and slammed his palms down on the surface.

“Steve, watch out for the holographic projectors!” Eli yelped.

“Oh. Uh, sorry, dude.” He took his hands off the table sheepishly. “A-anyways, welcome back to our Roundtable of Awesome Warriors. Lake’s a no-show this month, and Douxie’s gonna be joining us via com...com...Something Krel’s in charge of, so I don’t care.”

“Transpatial nanowave visual communicator.”

“Get over yourself bro, it’s just intergalactic facetime. Anyways, looks like everybody’s here who’s supposed to be, so let’s all shut up and listen to our Ninja-Kicking Queen.”

“Thank you, Steve.” Aja rose from her seat, giving his shoulder a squeeze as she stood beside him. “Reports for this parcon show that the interplanetary alliances have remained stable and flourishing. And thanks to Mary’s influencer status on Earth, we have received forty-three new applications from aspiring squires.”

“What’s up, Wang Gang?” Mary trilled at her phone. “It’s ya girl, comin’ at you live from this, our eighth official Roundtable Meeting! Remember, if you donate during the livestream, you’ll earn exclusive membership perks on my channel! Donate now, and help us defend our planet!”

“Mary, you really need to come up with a better name for your fans...” Darci groaned.

“Speaking of new members,” Aja continued. “I am very happy to announce that Shannon Longhannon has joined us as a knight of the Roundtable. She will be working with Captain Izita to establish a new currency-exchange system for our planets.” Shannon gave a shy little wave as all eyes focused on her for a moment.

“Honors math student, and majoring in economics,” she said. “I uh, also have some contacts in the black market if we ever need those.”

“Lively!” Aja enthused. “I wonder what other color markets there are? Do they sell different things based on their color? Maybe we could establish a blue market here on Akiridion V!”

“Perhaps we focus on one task at a time, my queen,” Zadra advised. “For now, I believe we are scheduled to hear a brief report from Master Wizard Casperan regarding the state of the magic community on Earth. Could someone bring up Casperan’s feed?”

Krel opened the communication feed, bringing up a large, holographic image of one very flustered-looking Hisirdoux Casperan over the center of the table.

“Greetings, Knights of the Roundtable. Apologies that I couldn’t be there in person, but it seems someone left a few Gnomes behind during the construction of my new house--” (Aaarrrgghh shifted sheepishly). “--and we’ve been... Put that down, you little--!” He disappeared off-camera, and the room echoed with staticky bumps, thuds, and tiny shrieks for a moment.

“...Teach? You good?” Claire called.

“Er, perhaps I could give my presentation a bit later?” he suggested, popping back into view with a struggling Gnome clutched in his hands. “Really not too much to say--the magical community at large continues to adapt to life in the open, with many witches and wizards working closely alongside mortal authorities to--No, no, do not eat that! Nari, help!”

“Ah, this brings back some fun memories,” Toby smirked, leaning back in his wheelchair. “Where’s the Gnomehunter when you need him, am I right?” His chair gave a whining sputter and lifted six inches off the ground. “Woah, hey! Settle down, I didn’t tell you to do that!”

“And you were mad at me for being late for this,” Krel grumbled.

“All things considered, this is a much smoother start than usual,” Aja said brightly, as Eli and Darci struggled to pull Toby back down to the ground. “I think we will have a good meeting today!”

“Heck yeah!” Steve chimed in. “We can just replace Dumbledork’s report with a round of curls. Everybody grab some weights!”

A chorus of long-suffering groans swept over the Knights of the Roundtable.

*****

Never forget that fear is but the precursor of valor, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero.

Jim almost didn’t recognize his own back yard.

It looked like something straight out of a dream. Fairy lights twinkled alongside hanging crystals strung along the eaves of the house. Enormous blossoms covered the once-patchy lawn, glowing with a gentle, ethereal warmth. The tables he had helped set up earlier were now practically sagging beneath the weight of dozens of dishes. It was a good thing he’d thought to take a photo of the six-layer wedding cake he’d baked--the entire thing had disappeared in a matter of minutes, as soon as Barbara and Strickler finished cutting it. Their plans for a small, intimate gathering had been somewhat undermined, as Trolls, Changelings, Gnomes, and even a few creatures Jim didn’t recognize all showed up at some point to offer their gifts and congratulations to the Trollhunter’s family. But the happy couple didn’t seem to mind. Jim had even caught Strickler surreptitiously wiping his eyes a few times throughout the celebration.

And his mother--gods, his mother.

She was radiant, practically glowing in her simple white sundress. She looked like the happiest woman in the world, and Jim couldn’t think of a more beautiful sight. His heart swelled every time he saw her smiling and laughing, arm-in-arm with her new husband as she unwrapped gifts and chatted with the guests. He hoped she would always look this way. He could think of no one who deserved it more.

“Hey, did you hear Sally’s pregnant?” Toby began as he rolled up beside Jim. “I have no idea how that works, and I don’t want to know, but Chompsky says they’re naming the kid after me. I’m gonna be a godfather to an actual pecan.”

“Congrats,” Jim laughed. “That’s a lot of responsibility. Think you can handle it?”

“Psh. Of course! Who do you think you’re talking to, Jimbo?”

“Look, all I’m saying is you’ve crushed enough Nougat Nummies in your back pocket that accidentally murdering one of Chompsky’s kids is not that remote of a possibility.”

“I’ll just get him a new one from the fridge,” Toby said, waving his hand dismissively. “He won’t even know the difference.”

“I hope not. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if he does.” The two friends settled into a companionable silence for a few moments. “...Kinda weird to think we’re here now,” Jim mused. “If I could go back and tell my past self that this is where we’d end up, no way on earth would he believe me.”

“Past Jim would shank you for even lightly suggesting that Strickler might be your step-dad someday.”

“Even beyond that, though,” Jim continued. “Sometimes I remember how scared I was during those first few months. How absolutely crazy all of it was. To think we’d end up here, at my mom’s wedding, with trolls and aliens and wizards all hanging out like this... It’s wild.”

“Yeah. It is,” Toby agreed. “...So what do you think you’ll do next? I mean, obviously you’ve still got to keep an eye on things as the Trollhunter, but without any more big baddies to fight, we’ve all had a lot more free time on our hands. Any big secret ambitions you haven’t told me about?”

“Nothing big or secret, no. But I’ve sort of been thinking about trying culinary school. With the scholarships the city gave us, I can have my pick of any place I want. There’s a good one just a few towns over that I’ve had my eye on. Claire’s been talking about auditioning for Arcadia Drama Institute’s yearly production, too. What about you? Got any plans for the summer?”

“Ah. Yeah. About that...” Toby shifted uncomfortably. “Darc and I volunteered for the Roundtable Education Initiative. Starting in June, we’re gonna be traveling the world for a few months, giving talks on Troll history and etiquette and helping people get used to their new neighbors. Well, old neighbors, I guess, but now that they finally know Trolls exist, they ought to get to know them better.”

“Tobes, that’s....Th-that’s great!” Jim faltered.

“Yeah. It is. I’m just....really gonna miss you guys while I’m gone. And Arcadia Oaks. I’ve never been away from home for that long before. Honestly if Darci and Aaarrrgghh weren’t going, I don’t think I could do it.”

“You’re going to do great, Tobes.” Jim put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “And I’ll be here waiting with tacos when you get back.”

“You know I’m gonna hold you to that,” Toby answered with a grin.

“Toe-bees!” Enrique had wandered over at some point, accompanied by his older sister, and was now slapping his hands against the side of Toby’s chair impatiently.

“Heya, kiddo. ...What? Again? Okay, okay, fine. But this is actually the last time, got it?” Toby hefted the eager toddler up into the chair with one arm and activated the now-repaired antigrav. Enrique squealed with delight as the chair bounced into the air, hovering a few inches off of the ground.

“Zoom! Zoom!”

“No rocket boosters!” Claire called after them as they took off for a lap around the yard. The only response she got was a high-pitched shriek of joy from Enrique. She sighed and shook her head fondly, before leaning against Jim. He wrapped his arm around her with a contented hum.

“That cake was to die for,” she said, playfully poking him in the ribs. “My compliments to the chef.”

“Thanks. The thing practically took a week to make.” They stood in silence for a moment, taking in the sight of it all. Aja was fawning over Nari and Archie, fascinated by the wood nymph’s antlers and the Familiar’s shapeshifting abilities. Toby was zipping in and out of the crowd with a giggling Enrique on his lap. Darci was deep in conversation with Steve about a new idea for the Roundtable. Blinky was regaling Barbara and Strickler with an elaborate description of Troll union ceremonies. Krel was at the DJ table, trying to ward off Eli and his rather bizarre suggestions for the next song. Douxie and Zoe were on the dance floor, putting all the other dancers to shame. Jim found himself beginning to sway gently in time to the music.

“...I think,” he began slowly. “When I get married....I want to have a wedding just like this.”

“Yeah?” Claire looked up at him with a small smile.

“Yeah.”

“...Me too,” she whispered.

Don’t think.

Become.

The End.

A/N: So I have....no idea how this got written. I usually can't keep up with longer stories like this, and I definitely never thought that this would be how I would spend the latter half of my 2021. But this project has been an absolute joy to work on, in no small part thanks to all of you guys. The support and enthusiasm I've received for this story was more than I ever could have hoped for, and I'm extremely grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read this. A very extra-special thanks goes, as always, to @poetryinmotion-author, who helped brainstorm, plan, and edit this whole thing. This final chapter in particular is dedicated to her.

Until next time, stay safe, and thank you all so much for reading. ✨