#dog!draal

[eurazba]

A comic for my Akiridion Aide au where a zombie apocalypse breaks out on Earth, and the Akiridions scramble to save as many uninfected humans as they can.

If I was hiking through the mountains for the past year and had no access to working modern amenities like bathrooms I too would be grateful at the offer of a hot shower.

(Aja & Krel are common akiridions and Jim, Toby, Claire, Steve, Darci, and Mary were in college during the outbreak)

[eosofspades]

i admit i only really notice this because it's just one of my favorite niche tropes but i think it's fun how strickler multiple times refers to trolls he dislikes as dogs. "not a very good guard dog, is he?" abt draal, directly "you are a dog, and this [the ring] is your leash" to angor rot, etc

[the-gateway-to-madness]

why i did not enjoy rise of the titans, personally

In writing, there's this idea that in order for a story to be meaningful, sacrifice needs to carry weight with it. This can be because of the lead-up making it hit harder. This can be because of the irreversability. But losses of any kind should be treated with dignity, with consideration, with pause where it can be afforded- and if not, pause should be taken later.

Tales of Arcadia traditionally does this either Really Well or just Well.

In Trollhunters:

-Draal sacrifices himself as a culmination of his arc of becoming Jim's friend, equal, protector, and confidante. It's incredibly well planned out. You can feel Gunmar's control looming over Draal's head when they're in Merlin's tomb, can feel the uncertainty of the moment, and Draal's death is simultaneously heart-wrenching and, for him, a release- a parallel to his father's death, accepting his fate and plunging in almost the exact same way.

-Vendel's death is shortly preceded by his clear acceptance of Jim as the Trollhunter and his determination to fight for him. It's a moment that makes it immensely obvious how much Vendel has been changed by Jim's genuinely good nature. And in death, he warns them and stands up for them one last time, making the moment even more bittersweet, as tinged as it is by the horror of Usurna.

-Angor Rot has the classic death-redemption, but he's not treated as weak. It's a genuine, earned, heroic moment. And the bitter sting of Morgana not going down with him turns the audience on her even more.

In 3Below:

-Krel connecting with Buster in Season 2 only for Buster to be ruthlessly felled by Morando adds a depth of hatred for him immensely effectively. It's a Kill the Dog moment done horribly, painfully right.

-The second loss of the parents cements Aja and Krel's sacrifice. The parents surviving would be a death for the sake of family, for the sake of Aja and Krel being able to cling to their childhoods another moment, even as they lay down their lives for everyone else. The parents dying is the more intelligent move monarchy-wise- preserving the heirs, and story-wise it forces both Aja and Krel to face the reality that they were never kids, but royals. That is the sacrifice they make- not dying, but living the way their planet needs them to.

In Wizards:

-They had us connecting to Douxie so hard in the span of like 9 episodes that all of us cried over Merlin for a second just because of how it affected Douxie. This is probably the best written death in the series, just because of the fact that the mourning is the most indirect and just as effective.

-Morgana sacrificing herself to stop the Green Knight after realizing she's irreparably damaged her own cause just. yeah

But in Rise of the Titans, the deaths feel rushed. Obligatory. Instead of cutting your soul they're just sucker-punching you. They're trying to force the stakes up, but they do so very poorly.

And worst of all, the ending takes away the significance of every sacrifice in the entire series. The writers threw in so many unnecessary stakes-raiser deaths that they couldn't fix their own timeline and had to go and try to ruin the weight of the trilogy.

And that's just not okay. That's mocking the emotional investment the audience put into the trilogy.

So anyway. What movie? There's not a Tales of Arcadia movie. It doesn't exist thanks.

[deadguydeathmatch]

The Dead Guy Death Match Bracket Is Here!

Round 1 will be split into 4 waves of 16 24 hour polls and each wave will be posted 24 hours after the previous. The first wave will start on Tuesday the 18th of April at 3pm BST

The matchups are listed under the readmore and will be hyperlinked to the polls when they go up.

The matchups were all randomised although I did make minor adjustments if I thought one was much too unfair.

Also tagging @tournamentdirectory as I haven't already

Wave 1:

Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) Vs Gavroche Thenardier (Les Miserables)

Leif (Bug Fables) Vs Queen Serenity (Sailor Moon)

L (Death Note) Vs Jonny D'Ville (The Mechanisms)

Noah Czerny (The Raven Cycle) Vs Lee Everett (The Walking Dead)

Pat Butcher (BBC Ghosts) Vs Xerxes Break (Pandora Hearts)

Captain Orimar Vale (Skyjacks Campaign Podcast) Vs Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Diallos Hoslow (Elden Ring) Vs Rachel Amber (Life Is Strange)

Andrei Grandier (Rose Of Versailles) Vs Constance Blackwood (Ride The Cyclone)

Spock (Star Trek) Vs Maria Robotnik (Sonic The Hedgehog)

Kravitz (The Adventure Zone) Vs Sal Fisher (Sally Face)

Mari (Omori) Vs Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Nate (Leverage) Vs Max (Sam and Max)

Owen Carvour (Spies Are Forever) Vs Vylad Ro'Meave (Minecraft Diaries)

Neil Perry (Dead Poet's Society) Vs Sayaka Miki (Madoka Magica)

Flapjack (The Owl House) Vs Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Loki (Marvel) Vs Adam Faulkner Stanheight (Saw)

Wave 2:

Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) Vs Diggory Graves (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Hugo Oak (Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts) Vs Leonardo Hamato (Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie)

Chara (Undertale) Vs Magnus Chase (Magnus Chase)

River Song (Doctor Who) Vs Micheal Afton (Five Nights At Freddy's)

Catherine Earnshaw (Wurthering Heights) Vs Tara Maclay (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Laudna (Critical Role) Vs Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy)

Mia Fey (Ace Attorney) Vs Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)

Meiko 'Menma' Honma (The Flower We Saw That Day) Vs Claire Foley (Professor Layton)

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler) Vs Skelly (Hades)

Ethan Winters (Resident Evil) Vs Portgas D Ace (One Piece)

Polly Geist (Monster Prom) Vs Hua Cheng (Heaven's Official Blessing)

Avatar Kyoshi (Avatar The Last Airbender) Vs Galivar Kholin (Stormlight Archive)

Pink/Orchid (Animation Vs Animator/Minecraft) Vs Lewis Pepper (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) Vs Stoick The Vast (How To Train Your Dragon)

Evelyn Hooper (Less is Morgue) Vs Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

Kokichi Oma (Danganronpa) Vs Silco (Arcane)

Wave 3:

Eurydice (Greek Mythology) Vs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead)

Jack Twist (Brokeback Mountain) Vs Charles Vane (Black Sails)

Howard Hamlin (Better Call Saul) Vs Jason Grace (Riordanverse)

Nora Hildegard (The Vampire Diaries) Vs Gerard Keay (The Magnus Archives)

Manny (Swiss Army Man) Vs Matoro (Bionicle)

Wen Ning (Mo Dao Zu Shi) Vs Kikyo (Inuyasha)

Yuri Nakamura (Angel Beats) Vs Simon Kain (Pathologic)

Deep Throat (The X Files) Vs La Signora (Genshin Impact)

Esmeralda (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame Novel) Vs Ursula Zandt/Silhouette (Watchmen Comics)

Nageki Fujishiro (Hatoful Boyfriend) Vs Tuba (Infinity Train)

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) Vs Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption)

Oda Sakunoske (Bungou Stray Dogs) Vs Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Duncan (Dragon Age) Vs Junpei Yoshino (Jujitsu Kaisen)

Quincey Morris (Dracula) Vs Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen)

Deadman (DC Comics) Vs Breakdown (Transformers)

Draal The Deadly (Troll Hunters) Vs Castiel (Supernatural)

Wave 4:

Matsuri Kanroji (Demon Slayer) Vs Midori (Your Turn To Die)

Kelsier (Mistborn) Vs Peter 'Parker' Yang (Malevolent Podcast)

Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6) Vs Noriaki Kakyoin (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Erik (The Phantom Of The Opera) Vs Matthias Helvar (Six Of Crows)

Tigerstar (Warrior Cats) Vs Boromir (The Lord Of The Rings)

Joel Miller (The Last Of Us) Vs Pedro Madrigal (Encanto)

Rufus Emeterio (They Both Die At The End) Vs King Arthur (King Arthur)

Bunny Corcoran (The Secret History) Vs Lenore (Nevermore Webtoon)

Sliver Of Straw (Rain World) Vs Bow (Inanimate Insanity)

Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place) Vs Nicholas D Wolfwood (Trigun)

Tiso (Hollow Knight) Vs Okudera (Yakuza 5)

Koki Kariya (The World Ends With You) Vs Horst Cabal (Johannes Cabal)

Mr Boddy (Clue) Vs Garret Jacob Hobbs (Hannibal)

Eddie Kaspbrak (IT) Vs Emily (Corpse Bride)

Ash Lynx (Banana Fish) Vs Ophelia (Hamlet)

Eddie Munson (Stranger Things) Vs Kili (The Hobbit)

[gentleeclipsey]

One thing I think would be super interesting: Trolls being more diverse and mystic. Like they last literally centuries, I think Draal himself is a little over 1,200? Why wouldn't they become masters of craft? Why wouldn't they look weird as hell, no, why shouldn't they look weird as hell?

A four armed, four legged, five eyed beastly troll woman who lacks brawn but chatters in two voices and speaks mystic tongues that hoards enchanted items, you can take whatever your soul needs from her gathering, but it may kill you if you reject your fate.

A troll completely covered head to toe in leather armor who makes all the armor and clothing for those around them, the only visible part of their thin but agile and swift body is their stunning jeweled black eyes.

An almost dog-like troll that has a nose for trollish gardens, which contain the most poisonous things(to humans), and mosses, and mixes up the best brews from said poisonous things, they're famed for the sweetest nightshade ale and the beautiful oleander they grow.

A dragon-like blacksmith who lacks a wing and born without eyes in the right spots who remembers ancient lost practices from times long past and from civilizations that vanished.

A bat-like troll who walks as a wyvern that trades used items from across many centuries, basically the world's oldest antique shop with beautifully preserve items that humans don't take an eye to but trolls would.

A human-sized troll who, once a warrior, now curates the rarest crystals on earth, some not even known to man, who grows various forms of fungi on themselves purely because their home is damp and many times the caves they dredge are infested.

I would really adore to see people's eldrich and creepy as hell creations for weird ass trolls, if I'm not mistaken Blinky states trolls from far and wide come to the Heartstone market, it's likely such strangers would make it in eventually, artisans, musicians, builders, at this point their hands may as well be magic.

[sonicasura]

Potential Highlights of Jim's Alien Forms Part 2:

1. Jim, as Heatblast going into Gatto's Keep no problem. Though coming out was a bit more troublesome😖

2. While training or in a sparing match with Draal, Jim turns into Wildmutt, the Troll thinks he has the advantage because he has no eyes. But is shocked at how easy the dog like alien could dodge his attack.

3. Wildvine moving easily through the trees of the Quagawump village and fighting off Angor Rot.

4. Jim uses XLR8 to get through his cores early and dinner prepped.

5. Draal and Jim as Cannonbolt having a Sonic the Hedgehog styled race.

6. In the PyroBligst game, Jim accidentally turns into Upchuck. One of the Krubera players laugh at his tiny pudgy form before screaming as the little alien manages to swallow his entire fist.

7. Ghostfreak possessing different Gum-Gum soldiers to infiltrate Gunmars forces or fight against him.

8. Jim as Snare-Oh helping Barbara bandage an injure Troll or one of his friends.

Toby would joke saying "Look a mummy helping his mummy"

This earns him a light slap from Jim's wrappings.

☝️☝️☝️

Heatblast definitely came in handy when navigating through Gatto's Keep or any lava ridden area. It also helps the Jim can render his fiery form harmless to his companions. Toby thought of the 'flaming surfboard' trick that allows Heatblast to fly.

It's a very common lesson to never underestimate Jim when it comes to his alien forms. Wildmutt threw Draal on his stony ass before Blinky kindly mentioned Wildmutt's insane sense of smell. Every Krubera, minus AAARRRGGHH, is intimidated by Upchuck. It's even funnier when they see our sweet mossy boy just chill with the Gourmand on his back like nothing was wrong. Ghostfreak makes Gunmar's trust issues even worse cause he doesn't know if or when his forces been compromised.

Jim actually unlocked Wildvine the same time he got Mudslide! Sometimes certain environments unlock new forms too. The Omnitrix is a strange thing at times.

Jim definitely used XLR8 for a good chunk of mundane things but he also uses different forms too like Grey Matter to fix appliances. It helps with his dexterity so he isn't like a bull in a china shop when he has to move indoors whilst transformed.

I won't be surprised if the two have a makeshift race track whether in Trollmarket or somewhere else. Cannonbolt definitely gave Draal inspiration for some new moves when in 'ball form' than just being a fun opponent to race with. Although the Dodgeball pun might've lead to a new game getting played in Trollmarket.

Snare-Oh and Barbara just make Vendel's job as a healer easier. The bandages are quite strong plus adhere to herbs or healing tonics better than normal ones. Barbara is a great assistant especially when it comes to patients that try to avoid treatment. *Looks at Kanijar* Toby made a LOT of mummy puns whenever Snare-Oh is on the scene.

[crystal-grotto]

Hey Draal! Sturm wants to ask you something!!

The shouting is enough to snag attentions from the warrior - and then context even moreso. Lilting head to the side slightly like a curious dog, red-gold focuses on the stranger. 'The tinkertroll is in the market tonight?' He questions. Seems there was possibly of a little bit of snitching going on with the enthusiasm the other possessed.

'Point me his way and I'll speak with him, see what he wants.'

[taags-old-account]

I posted 22,731 times in 2022

That's 2,656 more posts than 2021!

285 posts created (1%)

22,446 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kydrakinetic

@draal-the-deadly

@theminecraftbee

@talesofarcadiaforever

@pacificwaternymph

I tagged 3,073 of my posts in 2022

#the arson human talks shit - 130 posts

#favourite - 126 posts

#ask game - 116 posts

#ask games - 116 posts

#thanks for the ask! - 74 posts

#gods and hunters - 47 posts

#writing tips - 43 posts

#tales of arcadia - 38 posts

#yes - 32 posts

#:) - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#'don't let her see your power in the daylight' could be a reference to the trollhunter amulet and sword of daylight and how jim needs to hi

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Sometimes a family isn't a mom, dad, 2.5 children, and a white picket fence. Sometimes it's:

- A near 1000 year old punk wizard boy who needs a hug.

- A very sarcastic talking cat with poor eyesight.

- A plant goddess.

- An Akaridion warrior queen.

- Her little brother, who gives off pure aroace vibes and can build a mind reader in 2 hours.

- A short gremlin king with a very large conspiracy board.

- A dude who's a fan of hard rock, and has a warhammer.

- A very sassy blue child who needs 10 years of therapy.

- The troll history teacher that tried to kill the sassy blue child 10x over. He's also dating the sassy blue child's mother. Troll dad #2 of sassy blue child.

- The Mother Of The Sassy Blue child. Who for some reason didn't think that something was seriously up with her kid. (Plot Armour.)

- A guy who was there for comedy relief, but somehow got a bully redemption arc.

- Purple punk child who got posessed by former evil sorcerer lady once.

- Troll dad #1 of sassy blue child, he likes reading and burning books.

- A Troll covered in moss, he's the wingman and a former pacifist.

- Former evil sorcerer lady with a similar aesthetic to a Marvel Norse God, but actually had a point.

- Adoptive dad of punk wizard boy. Who says he doesn't care that much. But he cares A LOT.

279 notes - Posted January 5, 2022

#4

It's time for some Empires Propaganda...

Come watch Empires SMP Season 2! We have the following:

A little scrunkly goblin man who lives in caves and likes pickles and scams

A catwoman that actively commits crimes against humanity A totally normal human. Yep absolutely a human

A Princess in a pretty pink tutu that will fight entire monster armies (it's secret though hush)

The Sheriff who's definitely not a toy

The witch that got expelled from the academy for destroying reality as we know it

The Dungeon Master who keeps his dubious amounts of smooth stone inside a tomb

A 5ft 11ft god complex personified whose obsessions include dirty jokes, gold, and the word 'Lore'

A reality traveler who decides that trusting nobody and stealing clothes off of corpses is the best chance at survival

The self-appointed princess who decides to trust the little blue lights leading her into the dark cave is a smart idea to get a kingdom banner.

The hardwood seller, whose adoptive father is part rabbit and whose idea of father-son bonding is animal slaughter

Heterochromia but through nefarious skull means. And he's not straight

Pirate who asks nicely first before stealing any of your belongings

The one-night stand of a child who consistently has to deal with both of his 'daddy's' excessively worse-by-day dirty jokes

286 notes - Posted August 2, 2022

#3

"If your wondering why I use he/him pronouns for the allays, I just think of them as himbos"

Thanks, Pixl for this new mental image /pos

289 notes - Posted August 4, 2022

#2

Despite TOA being done, I am creating propaganda...

Come Watch Tales Of Arcadia! We Have The Following:

A magic amulet, which gives you really cool silver armour and a death sentence!

Cheeky Wizards x4

Murder board created by a small teen who has the ability to 'Tokyo Drift' a car

A literal hacker/Queen of an entire planet

Crispy

Jim Lake Jr, one of the best animated TV protags I've ever seen.

A hellfire of a movie

Magic Siblings :)

A dog who pisses explosions

MMMMMMMM GLORY

*enters Janus Order* *two aliens are playing techno music* *bones are everywhere* TEEN CENTER!!!!!

Getting possessed by eldritch wizards intent on destroying the world is completely normal.... IT'S FINE.

Strangely specific threats.

Really cool CGI animation.

"bUT A GnoMe IN A DOLLHOUSE??"

an insane amount of AUs

Haha what is this sadness? Why is everyone dying? *Play's STARSET's Unbecoming*

I suggest looking up the definition of 'Moppet'

The entirety of the word 'Buttsnack' being used so casually

"SHUT UP STEVE"

The Goblin Revolution

Jim Lake Jr, one second being the definition of a sweetheart. Two minutes later, "Hey Strickler. *spits in his mouth*"

The Breakfast Reckless Club

Steve's screams.

Troll Jim.

Toby being the bestest friend you could ever ask for

The murder of a highschool principal.

Assassins and Bounty Hunters galore.

See the full post

346 notes - Posted February 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The defining traits of humanity are NOT sex, romance, and empathy.

The defining traits of humanity are our creativity, adaptability, and our boundless amounts of hubris.

As well as arson.

1,730 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[theeio]

jim and his psychiatric service dog, draal jr (man i wish this was canon but i can dream)

[megan0013]

For the fantasy pet:

Pittbull Draal for 6 years old Jim (I saw them being mentioned so I couldn't help😍) pleease

Draal had been a little, well, rough around the edges when they first brought him home from the shelter last year. He had an unnatural appetite for socks and destroyed the dining room table Barbara’s grandmother had given her, he’d enjoyed scratching his growing spikes on doorframes and his goosing game was (unfortunately) on point – but none of that really mattered because he absolutely adored Jim.

Still does.

Which is why he’s quick to investigate the unfamiliar human and his massive charcoal-colored pup the instant they enter the dog park.

By ramming his nose straight into the man’s butt.

“Oh!”

Jim tugs the dog back by the collar and smiles just as the tall, lanky man with greying hair and bright emerald eyes whirls around in surprise. “Sorry about that,” he says. “It’s how he says hello to other dogs. I’m Jim, by the way. And this is Draal. What’s your doggie’s name?”

“Uh,” he blinks, clearly taken aback by the boy’s enthusiasm, “Bular?”

“Cool.” Jim reaches out to pat Bular’s head and earns himself a coveted tail wag in response. “You have a very nice dog.”

That, however, earns an incredulous snort.

“What?” Jim asks. “You don’t think your dog is nice?”

“No, uh. That’s not… He can be nice. I suppose.” The man frowns and looks up suddenly, gaze scanning the park for some sort of parental figure to help extricate him from the conversation. “Are you here with someone? Your mother or father? A nanny?”

“My mom’s on the bench over there,” Jim says, pointing to the far corner of the enclosure where a woman with bright red hair is watching them through narrowed eyes. Uh, oh. She doesn’t look happy. “What’s your name?”

“Walter. Why?”

“It’s okay, Mom! He told me his name, so he’s not a stranger anymore,” Jim hollers. “Me and Draal are gonna play with his puppy, Bular. Is that okay?”

The woman cocks her head and shouts back, “Did he say it’s okay to play with his dog?”

“Uh.” Jim turns back to Walter with wide, pleading blue eyes. “Is it okay if me and Draal play with Bular?”

No one could resist such a genuine request, least of Walter – who smiles, shrugs, reminds Bular to be a good boy, and then heads over to introduce himself to his new friend’s mother.

[khronosz]

The amazing sketch dump of May 2018

RIGHT ON JUNE 1ST AT 12 AM AHHH I WAS LATE!

[drax-is-inthefandom]

Give Jim a service dog and call him Draal Jr!

@/theeio hosted a DTIYS on twitter due to thei 1k followers and of course I had to participate! Draal JR my beloved

[troublesometrollhunters]

Imagine being pregnant in TrollMarket

~ You were one of Jims teachers. Recently pregnant and left alone to raise the baby you moved to Arcadia for a fresh start. However monsters and mayem were not on the pregnancy itinerary and now you've stumbled into a whole world of trouble that doesn't involve your pregnancy problems.

~ Jim swears to you as long as he's Trollhunter no harm will come to you or your baby and he's so sorry that you got caught up in this mess. However your quick to forgive and soon the Trollhunter team becomes your family, the kids becoming your own children in a way.

~ Jim is quick to cook you anything you want. If you have a weird pregnancy craving he'll make whatever you want. Pickled pears? Got it! Something super sweet? Of course. Something really spicy? Sure. Icecream? He'll get the machine and make you some! He loves cooking for you and is glad he can help outside of trollhunting.

~ Toby throughout the entire process becomes your hype man. Becoming pregnant can be hard on your body and how you see yourself. Especially since the hormones make everything seem like a big deal. Sometimes the weight is upsetting or you feel fat and like a slob other times your so tired but feel lazy for taking a nap. He's there to tell you your amazing and beautiful and you should always feel that way because it's true. Self care is key and he's determined to make sure your taken care of the whole pregnancy.

~ Claires an expert in pregnancies because of her baby brother. She helps you make a list of things you should get for the upcoming baby and enjoys maternity shopping with you. You may be a pregnant lady but that doesn't mean you should be forced to live in sweatpants for nine months. She also helps you pick out cute baby clothes and toys for the nursery.

~ Poor Blinky in his excitement mixes up troll customs with human ones and creates weird hybrid things that don't actually exist and defiently don't help the pregnancy.

~ The kids and trolls keep up on absolutely everything. You're very well taken care of the whole pregnancy. Jim makes sure your eating. Toby makes sure you take care of yourself. And Claire helps you with house stuff when you need it. Draal, Blinky, and Aarrrgh also get very involved. They want to hear about your doctor appointments and see all the sonograms and ultrasounds. (Good luck getting their hands off you when the baby begins kicking)

~ You never got a baby shower so the troll team surprises you. Claire organizes the party, Jim handles the cake and food, meanwhile Toby invites all your friends and decorates. You get gifts from trolls, people, and even changelings. Strickler didn't come but he sent an expensive gift and a nice card.

~ You don't think much of it as it's a busy fun day full of gifts, laughter, games, and love. When the parties over they have one last surprise for you. Taking you upstairs the kids are excited to show you a recently decorated nursey!

~ Blinky had painted the walls of the room to look like an enchanted forest. There was elegant trees with birds and critters and flowers full of bees and butterflies. Soft green carpet laid on the floor and you nearly cried as you looked around. Draal had built you a beautiful crib of wood with little pieces of heart stone hanging off of it. And Aarrrgh smiled as he'd put in some shelves and arranged toys. Stepping further into the room taking it in, the crib was full of fluffy pillows and soft blankets. All of them were fantasy themed with pixies or tales of fae. Hand made dolls of the trolls were in a toy bin and plushies of goblins and other creatures were placed around the room. There was a gorgoues rocking chair in the corner and next to it a shelf full of young troll books and childrens toys. There was also a wooden changing station with soft pillows for your baby that held all the supplies you needed to clean and change them. You cry telling them this is the best gift ever.

~ Bular found you by accident. About half way through your second term Goblins were chasing the trollhunting team and out of options they hid at your house since you were the closest. The U.V lights you installed made the goblins flee and you thought that was the end of that until a changeling tried to break into your home a couple days later.

~ The team decides Trollmarket was the safest place for you. Staying in Trollmarket until the baby comes and you can safely move everyone is excited. Trolls may not love humans but the fact that your carrying a life inside of you is seen as a glorious thing. Trollmarket would never turn a pregnant person away even if they are a human. You get an influx of gifts from trolls around the market and they all make a point to smile and wave whenever they see you, something they didn't do before.

~ If your feet ever become sore, don't worry about it. In human standards you may be big but in troll ones your small. Blinky, Aarrrgh, Draal they'll carry you if they see you struggling. It's also a troll instinct to want to feed anything that's tiny so be prepared for trolls constantly offering you strange things to eat because they think you should be bigger for the baby. Gifts are a common occurrence as you live with Blinky. Weapons. Troll toys. Books. You also receive a lot of interesting letters.

~ Blinky tells the babies stories every night before you got to bed. He reads human fairy tales but also tells troll lore excited. Aarrrgh snuggles next to you and wherever the baby kicks he laughs. You always go to bed warm and happy as your baby rests soundly in your stomach.

~ Draal gets very protective of you when you locate to Trollmarket. He was protective before but after the attack he's now a guard dog, constantly by your side unless the team really needs him. When the baby starts kicking he's nervous to touch your belly at first. He'd seen the others do it and he wanted to as well. Taking his hand you gently put it your stomach and his eyes widen as he feels a strong kick against it.

"They're a warrior!" He states excited and you chuckle. With who they'd be raised with you had no doubt they'd be a warrior.

~ Aarrrgh is very cuddly the entire pregnancy. He wants the baby to be warm and safe so he often curls up around you when you take naps. He's often nuzzling your baby bump and asking questions. Human pregnancies and troll ones are very different and sometimes he gets confused but he does his best.

~ Blinky reads way to many books that Claire brings over about babies. Now he thinks he's an expert on all things baby related. The entire pregnancy he gives ludicrous advice thinking it'll help the pregnancy and the baby. It's sweet but he becomes a bit overbearing and the kids sometimes have to intervene.

~ Vendel gets annoyed when the others have to leave and he's stuck with you. But as you waddle around the Heartstone complaining about sore feet and back pains he pauses. He leads you somewhere to sit down. He gives you a chunk of heartstone to hold and wraps you in blankets so your warm. Wandering away he comes back with tea for the both of you and starts a pleasant chat.

~ You've wandered into a dangerous world and your worried about your baby, about the kids. They shouldn't be alone... They shouldn't be taking care of you, your the adult! Vendel notices the sad way you say alone and care. He sees your lip tremble and it hits him your scared. He softly asks you if your afraid to be alone, if your afraid you won't get the care you need. Your hands instinctively touch the baby bump and your thoughts wander to the father who'd walked out on you. You nod feeling tears in your eyes and he gently puts his head to yours humming something soft and soothing.

"You are not alone here and you will be cared for here."

You begin sobbing relieved as he rubs your back. No you suppose you had nothing to worry about.

~ Vendel knows a lot about human pregnancies thanks to asking you and doing some light research. Blinky likes to challenge the old man about it and they often bicker about what's good and not good for you and the baby. It can be quit entertaining if not alarming.

~ Vendel gives you potions for morning sickness so you no longer puke when you wake up and he gives you tea to sooth your aching muscles. He gifts you a heartstone necklace so that peace may always be with you as you carry the baby.

~ Your in Blinkies library one day. The kids are out patrolling and your enjoying a nice night when suddenly your soaked. At first you assume you peed yourself and are a tad emabrassed but you know Blinky will understand. Calling him in for some assistance he pauses seeing you and that's when the contractions start. You didn't pee, your water just broke.

~ Going to a hospital may take too long and getting out of the canal was too dangerous at this point. You're very carefully picked up by Aarrrgh before your rushed to the heartstone. Someone had ran ahead so Vendel was getting ready as you were brought in.

~ There are soft blankets to lay on and your put on a Heartstone slab which eases the pain of labor. Trolls excitedly wait outside of the heartstone for the baby to come. Hours pass and although your sweaty and exhausted you can't help but smile as your baby is placed in your arms.

~ The kids run in along with Draal and they stare at you holding your newborn. You're covered in blankets and sweaty but you couldn't be happier as you stare at your baby. They're swaddled in a soft furry blanket holding a chunk of heartstone with wide eyes. They look around and you smile.

"Hi... Hi... I'm your mama..." You mumble holding them close. "This is your family..."

~ Vendel takes the baby to check on them and you sleep after the draining expeirnce when you wake you smile holding your child close. Vendel was the official grandpa and you'd named Aarrrgh and Blinky the godfathers of the child. You said the kids could be sisters and brothers if they wanted and you told Draal he was an uncle. They were all very excited.

~ You give your baby a human name and a Trollish one. One you'd use in the human one and one you'd use in TrollMarket. Holding them close and looking at your family you smile. You wouldn't have it any other way.

@arcadia-trash

[earth-ambassador-jim]

I'm curious about Honey I shrunk the Trollhunter

A good choice.

It starts out in “Gnome Your Enemy” except Jim doesn’t turn back to normal the next day… or the day after that. Eventually they come to the realization that Jim may in fact be stuck. Now Jim must deal with not only Trollhunter problems but also with being the size of an action figure. Blinky gets yelled at a lot is this AU.

I don’t plan to do a full cannon rewrite. Just scenes I find amusing.

The challenge match is still on but ends up being rather… weird to watch because the trolls in the audience can’t see Jim. Draal tries to roll over him but Jim manages to lodge himself in Draal’s spikes. So everyone is treated to the strange spectacle of Draal running around crashing into things and clawing at himself as he tries to dislodge his tiny opponent. Daylight may only be about 4 inches but it still hurts.

Jim does end up telling Barbara about everything and she’s understandably freaked out. She arranges for him to attend school virtually and gets him a dog they train to assist him. Vendal gives him a stone for the amulet that can make the armor cover the dog too. (I like the idea of him having a Tebetan Mastiff or maybe a border collie.)

Toby learns to fight earlier. Strickler would really like to know what’s going on. Vendal would like a drink.

It’s a fun AU.

[dbssh]

📃🎥 with trollhunters? :3

what is the plot of your hyperfixation? so at its most basic: jim lake jr is an unremarkable teenage boy who dreams of adventure, and one day comes across a magical artifact that gifts him cool magic armor and enstates him as the "trollhunter", an ancient line of heroes protecting human and trollkind from monsters and mayhem of all sorts. He's the first human trollhunter ever to be chosen, and is mentored by disgraced scholar Blinky and former-evil-soldier-turned-pacifist Arrrgh, alongside his best friend Toby and love interest Claire. he has to try to yknow, save the world, deal with highschool, solve mysteries, convince the stubborn troll society that he's even capable of being the trollhunter in the first place, fight monsters, and keep it all a secret. there's obviously a lot more to it than that, lots of enemies and allies and twists and stuff, but thats like the elevator pitch. do you have any favourite scenes? OH MAN SO SO MANY. i posted a few clips the other day and one of my favourites is the scene where blinky arrrgh and draal are playing dnd, which is just. so endearing. I also really really REALLY like the scene at the end of the grit-shaka episode where he confronts bular, and the opening fight sequence in episode one between bular and kanjigar, and the scenes in s1p2 where arrgh and vendel talk about the whole "arrgh is dying" situation it hits my right in the heart every time. i really like the scene at the end of episode six with the nomura and draal fights, and i LOVE all of nomuras scenes with jim in season 2 shes so endearing. uhm uhm uhm i could keep going forever if nobody stops me uhm. i like the bridge scene in unbecoming i like the scene where jim and arrrgh wrestle in jimhunters i like the opening of a house divided where jim is just fully dissociating i liked the exorcism of claire nunez like the entire episodei just really enjoyed i like when claire thinks jim is dead and she starts quoting romeo and juliet at him i like all the times claire says something really fucked up in her monotone peppy girl voice i really liked the scene with angor at the end of its about time i really liked the opening scene to where is my mind with stricklers vision i liked all the scenes that take place in the void and SPECIFICALLY i like the scene where jim comes out of the void and draal is giving him puppy dog eyes like "did you see my dad :pleading: did he say anything nice about me" like oh dude youre fucked up for real uhm i like when jim and draal fight in the reckless club i like that one scene where jim is imagining punching strickler in the face in front of everybody i like that shot at the season 2 finale of steve and eli with the umbrellas i think the twilight looks really gorgeous there and the organge-yellow colours are so beautiful i really liked the line "ive spent so long in the dark i'd forgotten there were stars" i like in adventures in trollsitting when blinky and arrgh are like parent bickering about how to teach the kids best i like when claire gets to come down to trollmarket for the first time i like basically every scene that usurna is in especially when she is fucked up. i like when angor rot attacks strickler that felt vindicating but i also liked seeing angor defend arrrgh and draal i thought the parallel was a little hamfisted but it was sweet to see angor get treated with some actual grace i like him i like when claire steals the shadowstaff and it cuts to angor alone in the middle of the desert with the thunderstorm overhead i like when jim uses the sword as a lightning rod to kill the stalkling i like that really fucked up scene in episode six where he writes goodbye letters to all his friends i like when claire and notenrique sibling bond i like when vendel asks blinky for something and blinky goes "yeah and i wanted reading glasses but nobody made those for me sooooo" like yeah king so true i like that arrgh gets to beat the shit out of both bular and gunmar it felt cathartic every single time i like when blinky gets to play good cop/bad cop with claire and they just start

throwing bombs at people it makes me laugh i like when he's getting ready to go fight in the eternal knight and that beautiful piano refrain is playing in front of the eclipse nd i like when jim and nomura are making fun of strickler together in the darklands i like that scene where draal blows his cover by saying bless you to claire i thought that was funny i like when blinky plays piano for no reason i like uhm uhm. basically i dont know if you can tell but i really like this show and i think it has a lot of good scenes.

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Chapter 55: Movie Night

Lots of quotes from the movie Lilo & Stitch ahead! Fewer quotes, but some, from Trolls and Frozen.

Bold italics are trollish, ~tildes~ indicate goblin.

Content warnings for this chapter: Swearing. Here we reach the story's first F-bomb.

Also, there is some talk between characters about the harshness of life in the Darklands, how Changelings are treated by the Gumm-Gumms, and mentions of cannibalism.

This was supposed to be a light-happy chapter that got feels-y at the end, but then it went and got all dark on me.

Oh, also-also, (Not) Enrique finds out Claire flirted with Jim a while ago and misinterprets what exactly happened between them, but that gets cleared up fast.

Becoming The Mask

Once again, Javier and Ophelia Nuñez were out for the evening, leaving Claire in charge of Enrique. Claire had gotten permission to invite "some friends" over to watch movies. Jim and Toby arrived to find Mary and Darci already there – Jim suspected, like the time he'd 'babysat', that Claire had purposefully asked him to arrive after she knew her parents would be gone.

They set up piles of cushions and blankets on the floor between the couch and the TV. Jim propped the Amulet up on the coffee table they'd pushed to one side. Maybe some of the ghost Trollhunters would be interested in human movies.

"Finally get your fill of the touchy-feelies?" Enrique teased Jim, seeing how they were all seated separately. Jim snorted.

"Not hardly." He pulled the smaller Changeling in for a hug. "Humans just have different rules about casual touching, is all. Freezing to death's not really a concern in this climate."

"Wait, what?" said Toby, dropping the pillow he'd been holding. Jim looked up to see all the humans staring at him.

"Darklands thing," said Enrique easily. "Gets cold there."

"We'd sleep in piles," Jim explained. "I had a bit of a reputation for being … clingy."

"If you weren't good at finding food and soft stuff, we'd never've put up with ya." Enrique proved himself a liar by climbing onto Jim's shoulders instead of jumping back to the floor. He fluffed the hair on Jim's scalp. "Jimmy-boy got his first nickname for that."

"Shut up," said Jim playfully. "Anyway, humans get weird about touching around puberty. I can still hug Mom whenever I want, but Toby gets embarrassed if I hug him around other people, and Claire, Mary, and Darci haven't given me permission to touch them casually yet."

"… Did you … want permission?" asked Claire. "You, kinda, said you were uncomfortable with that, I thought."

"No, it was more wondering if you were flirting with me that felt weird," Jim assured her. "After that conversation I felt like it'd be awkward to bring up that I was open to hugging and such."

Jim thought he felt Enrique growl, to quietly to properly hear. His hand, still in Jim's hair, changed position so the tips of Enrique's claws were on Jim's scalp.

"When exactly did this happen?" Enrique asked.

"Claire kissed Jim on the cheek on his birthday and then Jim said he wasn't interested in dating her," said Mary.

"Also that I realized she might not have meant it in a flirty way and if I was misinterpreting things she could ignore what I was saying," Jim added. The claws retreated.

Claire looked away. "So what movie did we want to start with?"

"Lilo & Stitch!" exclaimed Darci, looking through the shelves. "I haven't watched this in forever!"

"That's a good one." Jim tilted his head to get Enrique back in his peripheral vision. "Enrique, have you seen it yet?"

"… Yeah."

"Isn't that the one that always makes you cry?" asked Toby.

"It's beautiful. Of course I cry."

Stitch was a constructed 'abomination', who shapeshifted to blend in, and his adopted family found out what he truly was and still wanted him. How could Jim be expected to keep his composure in the face of that?

"So, quick question," said Jim. "Is talking during the movie a crime, or is commentary what makes it a group activity?"

"Commentary," said all three girls together.

"Okay, good." Jim and Toby usually talked during movies, unless one or both of them were seeing it for the first time. Sometimes even then.

+=+

"Not guilty! My experiments are only theoretical, and completely within legal boundaries."

"We believe you actually created something."

"Created something? Ha! But that would be irresponsible, and, unethical. I would never, ever – make more than one."

"What is that monstrosity?"

"Monstrosity?! What you see before you is the first of a new species!"

"You have to wonder if she and Merlin ever had a talk like this," Enrique muttered in Jim's ear. Jim snickered.

"And as for that abomination … it is the flawed product of a deranged mind. It has no place among us."

Jim stopped laughing and cringed. He loved this movie a lot, but some of it stung.

+=+

"A quiet capture would require an understanding of 626 that we do not possess! Who, then, Mr Pleakley, would you send for his extraction?"

"… Does he have a brother? Close grandmother, perhaps?"

"Fun fact," said Darci, "in early drafts Stitch was a career criminal and Jumba was an old accomplice."

"Friendly cousin? Neighbour with a beard?"

+=+

"Surely the teacher won't notice I was late if he doesn't see me come in!" Claire narrated sarcastically.

+=+

"I'm sorry, Scrump!" Mary wailed, as Lilo ran back to retrieve the doll she'd angrily thrown aside.

+=+

"Let me illuminate to you the precarious situation in which you have found yourself. I am the one they call when things go wrong. And things have indeed gone wrong."

"As a cook, that kitchen horrifies me," said Jim.

+=+

"If you promise not to fight anymore, I promise not to yell at you – except on special occasions."

"Tuesdays and bank holidays would be good."

The entire group cracked up.

"How does kid Lilo's age even know what a bank holiday is?" said Claire. "I don't even know what a bank holiday is!"

"Maybe she saw it printed on a calendar?" said Toby.

+=+

A raindrop fell on Stitch's head. He fired his ray gun into the sky. It started raining, hard.

"Oh, no, I broke the sky!" Darci cried.

+=+

"Does it have to be this dog?"

"He survived getting hit by a truck, how much more sturdy and not-gonna-die do you want?" asked Jim.

"Yes. He's good. I can tell."

+=+

"I'm sorry I bit you. And pulled your hair. And punched you in the face."

Mary nudged Claire. "Remind you of anyone?"

Like sunflowers, everyone else popped up and turned towards them.

Claire blushed. "We got into a fight in first grade and for like two days we decided we didn't want to be friends anymore, then our moms made us say sorry."

"He will be irresistibly drawn to large cities, where he will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe."

"It's weird they get in trouble for everything but this," commented Enrique. "Human grown ups might not believe a dog stole a trike, but wouldn't they think Lilo did it? She's fought the other kid before."

"It's nice to live on an island with no large cities."

+=+

"It's not an angel, Lilo, I don't even think it's a dog!"

"Isn't that the rolling thing Draal can do?" said Toby.

"Yeah, more or less," said Jim. "I mean, I don't think Draal bites his feet – but maybe that's the trick."

"At least with those stick legs you've got," said Enrique. He curled into a ball and rolled in a circle around the group. "Face it, you're out of proportion for this move."

+=+

"626 was designed to be a monster. But now, there is nothing to destroy. You see, I never gave him a greater purpose. What must it be like, to have nothing? Not even memories to visit, in the middle of the night?"

"Now, this next bit I don't care for," said Jim. "The Ugly Duckling is a messed-up story."

"What've you got against The Ugly Duckling?" asked Mary.

"The blatant segregationist propaganda? 'A swan will never fit in with ducks and everyone is better off sticking with their own kind'. You don't even have to read it as a race metaphor. Between that and The Little Mermaid, I thought for while that Hans Christian Anderson was a Changeling writing cautionary tales about why we shouldn't get attached to humans."

"… Was he?" asked Claire.

"Probably not. I couldn't find any real evidence and the rest of his work doesn't match the pattern."

"Counterpoint," said Darci. "The Ugly Duckling is pro-integration. Everyone thought he was an ugly duckling because they didn't know what swans look like. If he'd grown up with ducks and swans around, they could've judged him for what he was instead of what he couldn't measure up to, and he might've had a happy childhood instead of only finding a community that accepted him as an adult."

Jim considered this, and nodded. "I guess I can see that, too."

+=+

"Heard you lost your job."

"Well, uh, actually, I just quit. That job. Because, you know, the hours are just not conducive to the challenges of raising a child –"

"Nani, no!" Jim begged. "I know almost nothing about Social Services but I'm pretty sure choosing to leave your only source of income looks worse to them than just losing it!"

"Thus far you have been adrift in the sheltered harbour of my patience; but I cannot ignore you being jobless. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly."

"And next time I see this dog, I expect it to be a model citizen. Capiche?"

"Uh … yes?"

"New job. Model citizen. Good day."

+=+

"So, we saw Cobra on the beach after all the tourists got scared off … D'you think he was just standing there watching them the whole time?" Mary wondered out loud after the surfing sequence.

+=+

"Until we meet again …"

Lilo was about to tell Stitch about her parents. Without thinking, Jim grabbed the remote – on the coffee table, next to the amulet – to fast forward.

"What are you doing?" Darci cried. "This is one of the big emotional turning points of the film!"

Jim paused it. "Sorry. Uh … Tobes and I usually skip this scene."

"I think I can handle it," Toby assured Jim. To the girls and Enrique, he explained, "My parents died in a storm when I was two. A cruise ship, not a car accident. I got kind of upset the first time we watched this as kids, and, we got in the habit fast forwarding this part. I think I'm okay with it now."

"You're sure?" asked Jim.

"I'm sure."

"Okay …" He rewound to the point where he'd started fast forwarding.

"That's us before. It was rainy, and they went for a drive. What happened to yours?"

Jim watched Toby more than the movie for the next few minutes.

"I'll remember you, though. I remember everyone that leaves."

"Do you remember them?" Claire asked quietly.

"Only the stuff Nana tells me." Toby shrugged, and readjusted the cushions he'd propped up his arms on. "I've seen lots of pictures. A couple home movies."

+=+

"Don't run. Don't make me shoot you. You were expensive. Yes, yes, that's it, come quietly."

"I'm … waiting."

"For what?"

"Family."

"Ah. You don't have one. I made you."

"Maybe … I could –"

"You were built to destroy. You can never belong."

Jim blinked fast to keep the tears back. He sniffed, and pulled the blankets more tightly around him.

+=+

"Okay, talk! I know you had something to do with this, now where's Lilo? Talk! I know you can."

"Claire?" said Mary. "You okay?"

Jim looked over. Claire's jaw was clenched, and her hands were tight on the blanket, and her eyes were huge and fixed on the screen, and she was shaking.

"Ah … maybe the little sib getting snatched by otherworldly forces wasn't the best movie choice," Enrique said. He reached out like he was about to go to Claire, then pulled back his hand and hunkered down where he was.

"LILO! She's a little girl this big, she has black hair and brown eyes, and she hangs around with that THING!"

"I'm. Fine," Claire insisted.

"You're sure?"

"We can just fast forward."

"I said I'm fine!"

"Okay …"

Mary and Darci each scooted their blanket and cushion piles closer to Claire's, bracketing her on either side. Jim tactfully retreated to the Nuñezes kitchen to microwave a few more bags of popcorn. Enrique went with him. They could still hear the TV.

"What? After all you put me through, you expect me to help you just like that? Just like that?!"

"Ih."

"Fine."

"Fine? You're doing what he says?"

"Ah, he is very persuasive."

"Is it normal to feel bad for her?" Enrique asked.

"I think so? It's an awkward situation for both of you." Jim selected the white cheddar flavour. "But it's not like there's an alternative. You're not a polymorph. And really, the only reason she's upset is because she found out."

The Nuñezes had the same microwave as the Lakes. Jim didn't find the popcorn setting especially useful for this brand of popcorn – it tended to burn a third of the kernels– so he used the timer instead.

"I never apologized to you for that, did I?" Jim asked.

"It wasn't all your fault."

"Still, I'm sorry for my part in getting you caught."

The Changelings got back to the living room in time to see the unfortunate tourist lose his ice cream for the third time.

+=+

"Does Stitch have to go in the ship?"

"Yes."

"Can Stitch say goodbye?"

"… Yes."

Like he always did during this scene, Jim cried. He let himself do it this time.

+=+

"Wait, how is Little Mermaid a cautionary tale?" asked Enrique during the credits. The camera panned over a photo of Stitch reading to a flock of ducklings. "For getting attached, I mean. I thought the moral of that one was to control yer temper and be careful who you made deals with?"

"Sure, the Disney version," said Jim. "They adapted it to make a more dramatic, less depressing story. And give the characters names. In the older version, the sea witch is actually a neutral character. The terms of the mermaid's transformation are that she's traded her tongue for legs, but walking on land hurts, and she'll become fully human if the prince marries her, but if he marries anybody else, she'll die."

"That doesn't sound neutral."

"Wait for it. The prince gets engaged to a human princess, so the mermaid's older sisters trade their hair to the sea witch for a magic knife and a loophole; if the little mermaid kills the prince before the wedding, she can turn back into a mermaid and survive."

"Kay, I see it now."

"Except she doesn't go through with the kill, so she dies, and because she wasn't really human, she doesn't have a proper soul, so her spirit's not allowed to go to Heaven."

"… Whoa."

"I know, right?"

"I mean," Mary commented, "not murdering somebody is kind of a low bar for moral decency. It's not as if the prince owed her anything just because she was attracted to him."

"No, no, whether the prince deserved to die or not is irrelevant," said Jim. "The point is that the mermaid had a chance to, objectively, trade one life for another, and because she was attached to the particular person she'd have to kill, she didn't prioritize her own survival, and therefore suffered."

"Wouldn't the guilt of murder have caused suffering anyway?" Toby pointed out.

"Not if she wasn't attached," Jim insisted. How were they not getting this? "If she could've just cut the throat of any random human, she'd've been fine. The moral of the story is that caring about people causes pain. That's what makes it depressing."

"Do you like any fairy tales?" asked Darci.

"Sure. Just not most of Anderson's work."

"What should we watch next?" said Claire hospitably. "If we're on a 'sister movies' theme, I've got Frozen."

"Isn't that one also based on an Anderson fairy tale?" said Mary.

"Not really," said Jim. "The Snow Queen was more 'inspiration' than 'source material'. Elsa never kidnaps anyone, and they left out the broken enchanted mirror. Plus it's fun to see all the different ways humans think trolls are like."

"We also have the Trolls movie," said Claire. "I haven't watched it yet. My dad got it for Mom's birthday because she used to collect the dolls."

"I haven't seen that one yet, either," Darci commented.

"Should we?" said Mary. "Any other votes?"

"I'm game for whatever," said Toby. "This one's a musical, right? Those are always fun."

Jim squirmed.

He hadn't watched this movie despite his curiosity, after an online clip of the opening had explained the premise. Getting eaten alive was his greatest fear. Did he want to watch a movie about trolls narrowly avoiding being eaten? Did he want to explain why he didn't want to watch it?

While he debated, the movie got put in.

"Once upon a time, in a happy forest, in the happiest tree, lived the happiest creatures the world has ever known: the trolls. They loved nothing more than to sing, and dance, and hug, and dance and hug and sing and dance and sing and hug –"

Enrique started laughing.

Oh, shit, Jim hadn't warned him.

"Uh, Enrique –"

"Ssh! This is ridiculous. I mean, the huggy bit's kind of like you, but the rest of it – ha!"

"But then one day, the trolls were discovered by – a Bergen!"

"The trolls are gonna –"

"Ji-im! Spoilers!" Toby hissed.

"They were the most miserable creatures in all the land."

Jim grabbed Enrique and covered his eyes. The smaller Changeling yelped and squirmed. Jim switched forms so his fingers wouldn't bleed from the clawing.

Enrique got his eyes uncovered just in time to see the Bergen flick a troll into its mouth.

The onscreen troll's exclamation of "Oh my god!" was drowned out by Enrique's much more lurid cursing.

"What the –?" The girls and Toby all turned to stare. Claire pointed at Enrique accusingly. "I knew that didn't mean 'I'm sorry'!"

"The hell kinda movie is this?! Why would you watch this?!" He twisted to look at Jim, who let go of him rather than risk yanking his scruff by accident. "You knew?!"

"I saw a bit of it on the internet when it first came out. That's why I froze up when Claire suggested it."

That … that was the wrong thing to say. Enrique rounded on Claire. A techno-rock cover of In The Hall Of The Mountain King boomed from the movie soundtrack.

"Why in FUCK'S NAME would you think we'd WANT to watch trolls get EATEN? Is this some kind of threat?"

"How the fuck would it be a threat?" Claire shot back, stealing some cushions from Mary to prop herself up taller without getting out of her blanket cocoon.

"Most Changelings –" Jim started to say.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I'VE ALMOST BEEN EATEN?" Enrique roared. "I DON'T! CAUSE IT'S A LOT!"

"We've all had close calls," Jim finished. "Nyarlagroths, Hellheetis, goblins if you catch them in the wrong mood, Gruesomes if you're already hurt, Stalklings, and it's a … popular threat from Gumm-Gumms."

"You forgot the sloorbeasts," said Enrique bitterly.

"Nobody's gotten lichen patches that bad." At least, they hadn't when Jim got out. "Have they?"

"Still counts."

"Uh, excuse me." Toby raised his hand. "I think I speak for us all when I say, what?"

"The Darklands are a hostile environment with predators and scavengers," explained Jim. "That's the other reason we slept in groups."

"Bigger targets, but we could have lookouts."

"Okay, that's its own kind of horrifying, but I was more reacting to the cannibalism?"

"Changelings don't count as real trolls," Enrique said sarcastically. "We're Impure."

He left out the part where they'd eaten their own dead. Jim didn't add it.

(It wasn't like they'd hunted each other for food. Sometimes a Changeling just died, somehow, in a way that didn't get them eaten by something else, and … well, food was scarce in the Darklands. They couldn't afford to be picky.

It also paid to keep watch over the sentry posts. Gunmar occasionally used the Decimaar Blade to post a sentry and then forgot to order them to rest and eat. Once they died, the average adult Gumm-Gumm was a meal for twenty Changelings, easily, if they could get to the body before the Gruesomes did.)

"Okay, we're switching to Frozen." Mary made the executive decision. "Wait," she said, while exchanging the disks. "If Changelings aren't trolls, how does Jim's adoption work?"

Because of course this was the perfect moment to tell Enrique about that, right in the middle of a squabble with his adopted sister.

"For one thing, most of Trollmarket still thinks I'm human." Jim switched back to human shape to illustrate the point.

"You got adopted?"

"AAARRRGGHH and Blinky thought I should have legal standing in Trollmarket outside of my job."

Enrique stared at him. Green diamond-shaped ears were pinned back. Buggy, slit-pupil eyes were wide and hurt.

"You get everything," he grumbled. "Two nicknames, and the goblins liked you, and you could always find food, and here you're the boss's favourite even when you're a traitor, and your human family still likes you, and now you get a troll family too? S'not fair."

"Hey, the goblins liked you, too." Jim was fully aware that wasn't much comfort compared to all the rest of it. "They gave you your nickname, remember?"

"They gave you one, too."

"Yeah, but you got yours first."

They probably weren't supposed to hear Darci when she muttered, "I feel like we're missing a lot of context."

"Shit," Claire muttered back. "Not Enrique told me a bit of the name part. They don't remember their names from before they were Changelings, and they don't get real names until they have Familiars, so they use nicknames instead. From each other or from goblins, he said."

"They don't get names?" Darci's voice went squeaky at the end of that.

"We're trying to come up with something other than 'Enrique' for him."

"You're trying," Enrique corrected. Darci squeaked again.

"Can we maybe circle back to the cannibalism thing?" said Toby. "That feels like the kind of trauma that should get unpacked at some point."

"I would rather leave it packed," said Jim.

"The way you blurted it out like that feels like you need to talk about it."

"Not all psychology is Freudian, Tobes."

"Do your parents still have baby name books from when they were picking Enrique's name?" Mary asked Claire. "Real Enrique, I mean."

"They didn't use one. He was named after our abuelo."

"Okay, so what about your other grandfather? What was his name?"

"Jose María." Defensively, "It's gender neutral in Spanish."

On the television screen, the movie menu finished another loop and started again.

"I tried spelling my name like it sounds, en are ee kay, but Claire said it spelled 'Nrek'. You get why I couldn't use that."

Jim laughed.

"What's funny?" asked Toby. "Is that an insult or something?"

"No, it's goblin, in English it means 'bottle'," Jim translated. "Or possibly 'container of food'." The only bottles he's seen them use held formula for the Familiars, and the word hadn't come up on the surface, so the distinction was unclear. "It's either a silly name or a really morbid one."

"Aaand we're back to the cannibalism."

"No we are not!"

"Na na na heyana, Hahiyaha naha …"

Either somebody had decided to start the movie, or the DVD had that feature where it automatically began playing if nothing was selected after a few loops of the menu.

The conversation went in circles a couple more times, then faded out.

+=+

"And who's the funky-looking donkey over there?"

"That's Sven."

"Uh-huh; and who's the reindeer?"

"… Sven."

"Oh, they're – ? Oh! Okay! Makes things easier for me."

"~Riot~," said Enrique.

"Huh?"

"My nickname. Before. It meant 'riot'."

What are you doing? Jim wanted to demand. Was Enrique just – just giving up on a real name?

"You can call me that for now. Till we work out a for-real one. Better than 'Not Enrique'."

Jim stuffed some burnt popcorn kernels into his mouth to keep from protesting. He couldn't undermine Enrique's – Riot's – chosen name, right in front of a bunch of humans, when he'd been arguing with them about how rude that was for weeks now.

"Oh. Okay." Claire half-smiled. "Riot."

Jim shut his eyes to hide the flaring glow.

+=+

Previous Chapter (Angor Rot gets treated much better, and more sensibly, than in canon, and is correspondingly less vengeful)

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A quick thank you to Taycin on AO3 for providing some name-gender context when this chapter first went up.