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gold-kobold · 3 years

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How To Fight A Shadow

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Jim speaks at a press conference to address the vicious troll attack on an Arcadian citizen. He and his friends get continuously harassed by the media in the days following, much to the displeasure of his troll and Changeling allies. But, with Dictatious's and Stuart's help, Angor Rot may have found a (nonviolent) solution to the problem.

man, the summaries look so much better indented, why tf have i not done this before now-

HOO MAMA, sorry this one kept gettin' FREAKIN' DELAYED, i kept dozing off like every twenty minutes so i finally gave up and just got some proper sleep lmao i deadass slept for like 16 straight hours kjskdfjsdf staying awake 24/7 is clearly catching up to me, oh no-- thank you guys for your patience, i'm just a dumb ho *sob*

big BIG thanks to all the help i got for brainstorming strickler characterizations on this one!!! i mostly drew from @minty-skull-armour @theoldandnewfirm @littleaipom @elorastory (i didn't source the quote in-text, but it was the fear/ignorance line originally by titus livius lol) @soulsbefore and @pinkytoothlesso11's suggestions for inspiration on this particular chapter, but honestly, shoutout to @days-light and @granny-anthem too because their suggestions were also really good and really helped me during the brainstorming process (and let's be real, i'm probably gonna fall back on these for future chapters too FKJSDKFLGH) and yOU ALL DESERVE CREDIT FOR YOUR GOOD IDEAS DANGIT GFDSFHDFJGKHKJ PLEASE CHECK THESE PEOPLE OUT, THEY'RE COOL--

(might do more editing later, as i'm not sure it's 100% how i want it yet, plus q has not proofread some parts yet so i apologize for any of my mistakes, but ENOUGH STALLING, HERE'S THE THING)

Jim had been struggling with his tie for longer than he’d like to admit. He wasn’t used to such formal attire.

He could easily go find his mom or Strickler for assistance. But he stuck with squinting at tutorials on his phone screen.

Maybe it was because he didn’t want them to notice how badly his hands were shaking. Maybe the shaking hands were why he was having so much trouble.

There was a knock at the door, then Strickler’s voice through it. “Do you need any help, Young Atlas?”

It was as if he could sense the teenager’s struggling without even entering the room. But still, Jim refused the help.

“I got it.” He called back. “Just, uhh, give me a couple minutes…”

After many of those painstaking minutes, Jim finally managed to get his tie on.

He looked at himself one last time in the mirror for good measure.

His human self.

It was the best form to take for what was to come. Humans that were angry against Trollkind likely wouldn’t take kindly to his other face.

When he felt assured that nothing was amiss, Jim headed for the door.

He opened it to find Strickler waiting in the hallway, a similar outfit on his trollish frame, and a similar expression of discomfort with the situation they were about to get into. “Ready to go?”

“Ready as I can be...”

The pair made their way out to the car.

Claire and Toby were already waiting by the car to accompany Jim. They were his anchor, his reassurance that he’d get through the day… and, they were all wearing matching suits.

Barbara was getting into the driver’s seat, her and Strickler there for similar reasons, as well as for security. She wore a long-sleeved pencil dress, teal in colour. Strickler got into the passenger seat beside Barbara as the children all scooted into the back, Jim in the middle.

“You look lovely.” Strickler said, kissing Barbara’s hand before she started driving.

“Thank you, Walt. So do you.” She smiled at him. Looking back at the kids, she added, “And so do you three! Very dapper.”

“Thanks, Dr. L.!” Toby chirped in response. “Gotta give ‘em the ol’ razzle dazzle.”

Jim stayed quiet, hands fiddling nervously in his lap. Barbara caught that small gesture, frowning slightly, but didn’t draw attention to it and began to drive.

“... You’re going to do fine, Jim.” Claire said quietly after some time, as if reading Barbara’s mind.

“Heck yeah, Jimbo!” Toby exclaimed in agreement, doing his best to keep spirits high. “You got this in the bag, I’m sure of it!”

“Uh-huh.” Jim responded quietly.

With another worried look at Jim through the rearview mirror, Barbara softly mentioned, “Remember your box breathing if you start getting stressed, honey.”

Box breathing was basically just taking deep breaths to calm the body, something Jim had definitely been neglecting to do lately.

Claire took his hand, resting her head on Jim’s shoulder, and Toby linked his arm in Jim’s, holding his other hand too to offer as much comfort as possible.

The group mostly engaged in casual small talk from that point until they reached city hall.

Almost as soon as they exited the car, one of the staff members had ushered them into one of the back rooms, where Blinky and Aaarrrgghh were already waiting. Both trolls’ eyes lit up upon seeing the children enter the room.

“Ahh, there you all are! What a sight for sore eyes!” Blinky greeted them with open arms. “How is everyone feeling?”

“Like I’m gonna puke, but otherwise fine.” Jim half-joked. With a worried frown, he asked, “Did you guys get here okay? Nobody gave you any problems?”

Aaarrrgghh and Blinky exchanged a look, but Aaarrrgghh shook his head and said, “Scared of Aaarrrgghh. Wouldn’t come close.”

From that, the trio could conclude that they must’ve gotten some nasty looks or comments, but, well… if Aaarrrgghh’s size was good for anything, it was definitely intimidation factor.

“Jim Lake?”

They didn’t get long to talk before being interrupted, a heavyset white-haired man peeking into the room from offstage to get the boy’s attention. “You’re up in ten minutes.”

That got his anxiety pumping all over again, nervousness forming a heavy rock in his stomach. He tried again to take some deep breaths, and forced a small laugh. “Welp, here’s to hoping I don’t completely bomb all human-troll relations…”

“Master Jim…” Blinky stepped towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Whatever happens out there, we will all endure. We’ve gotten this far already. This is just one more step of many to go.”

He stepped back again, letting Jim go, and Aaarrrgghh gave him a light head pat before he started heading to the stage.

“Go get ‘em, tiger! You got this!” Toby cheered him on.

“We’ll be right here for you!” Claire added for extra reassurance.

As he left the room, Strickler approached the employee that had led them inside. “We’re to be seated where he can see us, yes?”

Jim followed the white-haired man backstage, where he could already start to hear the audience’s murmuring.

That same man was the first to approach the podium, greeting the people of the media that were in attendance, then outlining the main reason for this gathering.

That Draal incident.

Nobody had been killed, thankfully. But the fact of the matter is, someone was attacked and badly injured by a troll, and that couldn’t go ignored by the Trollhunters and co.

Jim was presented to the stand.

Normally, press conferences were in part planned by the speaker. But for this, Jim had little to no choice in the matter of how things went.

The public was angry, and wanted answers, all for good reason. But this was a poorly structured event, and it showed all too soon in how little control their reporter audience had, already trying to speak over each other to get the first question in.

“Um…” Unsure of what to do, Jim stood helplessly in place and looked to the other event organizer for some kind of direction.

The man came back forward, taking the stand one more time. “We don’t have all the time in the world, folks.” He boomed sternly into the mic, as if scolding disobedient children. “Settle down, now. Mr. Lake needs to be able to hear your questions.”

It took a moment, but the group eventually got the message. One man cleared his throat with the intention to speak the first question.

“Hello, Mr. Lake. Brett Winston with CDF News here… How at risk would you say the public is to these troll attacks in the future?”

Jim took a long pause at that, fretting over saying the wrong thing... It was so strange. Jim has stood up to the entirety of Trollmarket before in the face of conflict, so why was this causing him so much more stress?

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his friends and family taking their seats next to the wall, separated from the crowd and easy to distinguish. Every one of them gave him an encouraging wave, and Toby and Claire both shot double thumbs-up, too.

He took a deep breath, and replied to the man.

“I… I don’t think the risk is very high at all, to be honest.” Jim said. That response got a mixed bag of negative looks from the mass of faces staring up at him, and so he cleared his throat, and tried to explain himself better. “Don’t- Don’t get me wrong, what happened was awful , and we won’t rest until we track down who did this. But I assure you, violence against humans is extremely frowned upon within troll communities. Like, part of their whole thing was staying away from us to keep the peace, after all…”

Then came the note-taking. Jim knew he was being recorded already, but knowing just how intently these people were taking his words was just as nerve-wracking.

“You’ve had much experience with troll society, yes?” Another voice spoke up. “What was their reaction to you when you showed up to them?”

“Uh, well, not… not great , but that’s only because they were startled… ” Jim answered. He definitely didn’t want to get into the constant threats that were hurled his way the first week on the job, that’s for sure. “They’re good trolls at heart.”

“How many times have these supposedly ‘good’ trolls tried to kill you? ” Another woman asked.

The directness of that question caught Jim completely off guard. Why she sounded so certain that they had tried to kill him at any time, he had no idea. It seemed like quite a leap to make, given everything he’d just said, but...

“Umm… Not a lot? ” Jim quickly realized that wasn’t a very reassuring answer, judging from the contorted looks on his audience’s faces, and stumbled to elaborate, “I-I mean, like, it was always Gumm-Gumms that were the biggest threat to me--”

“But the other trolls were also a threat?”

“No! I mean, not-- It was, like, a cultural thing--?”

That was an even worse thing to say, as that got disapproving gasps and murmurs among the crowd, more people speaking over each other trying to get another question in. Jim’s mind went blank, unable to think of what else to say, as the mediator tried desperately to get some control back in the crowd.

He caught his mother trying to catch his attention out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head to look at her. She raised her hands up along her torso where the lungs would be, then reversed the motion as she silently blew air out, a reminder for him to take a breath.

Jim took a moment to collect himself, following his mother’s lead in taking longer, calming breaths. He waited for the audience to quiet down before giving any more to them.

“... Look. Their culture is different. Their species is different . But that doesn’t make them bad . Especially not when they’ve spent all these centuries purposefully letting us humans have the surface world. If it wasn’t for the Eternal Night, they never would’ve had to resurface, and none of you would’ve even known they existed .” Jim sternly pointed out. “Life would’ve continued as normal in ignorance of them, and they were letting it stay that way. And now , when so many of them are trying again to leave you all in peace like things once were, you keep trying to drag all of them into the spotlight?”

There was some murmuring amongst the crowd, and another voice spoke up. “Are you saying we should ignore this world-changing revelation?” One man asked in disbelief. “And what about that rogue blue troll that did hurt somebody?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, and--” Jim winced at the mention of Draal. Took another deep breath. “... Like I said… we’re still working on tracking that one down.” was all Jim said. He was hesitant on elaborating about things such as the Glamour Mask, because who knows what sort of chaos that might bring in light?

Whether or not staying quiet on that was a decision he’d come to regret, he’d take his chances.

“But I stand by the fact that the vast majority of trolls will not hurt humans . Peace between our races is too important to them. They’ve maintained it for this long...” Jim continued. He pulled his amulet out of his pocket, the Daylight armour donning his suited form in mere seconds. “If it wasn’t for this amulet choosing me as its Trollhunter, our cultures never would’ve collided.” With a grimace, he added, “Not until Gunmar’s inevitable attack.”

“About that amulet...” Another woman spoke up, “Why did it fall into a human boy’s hands if trolls were trying so hard to keep our worlds separate?”

“This amulet was made to protect them, it wasn’t made by them. They don’t control it, and they don’t get to decide who it chooses.” He took another deep breath, trying to keep his tone as level as possible as he went on. “To have it fall into human hands wasn’t their choice. They were shocked, confused, scared, angry, just like any of you when trolls first came into the light. We’ve all had to make adjustments through this mess, and if you just gave these guys a chance, you’d understand each other--”

Jim got cut off by another overload of questions being called in, and the boy grimaced. The man that had helped him before stepped onto the stage once more, yet again scolding the members of media for their impatience.

Well… Jim was going to have to take a lot of box breaths today.

Dictatious, Angor Rot, NotEnrique, and Nancy were all watching the fiasco live from the Domzalski living room.

Angor had no previous knowledge in how ‘press conferences’ were supposed to go, but the rest of his company seemed just as unimpressed and upset as he was about how things were being handled.

“Whoever was in charge o’ organizin’ this crap ought to get canned.” NotEnrique growled. He made an annoyed gesture to the TV and ranted on, “It’s like they think the kid can answer five questions at once! Jeez, shut up an’ give him a chance to reply, wouldn’tcha!”

“Honestly .” Dictatious agreed, one rare time he found himself siding with a Changeling. “This is almost painful to listen to…”

Nancy had stayed mostly quiet during their viewing, but her usual carefree demeanour looked touched with something akin to indignation. As for Angor, he watched the screen with a low growl half the time.

It was safe to say that they were all in agreement about the sooner this being over, the better.

NotEnrique had gone to the garage to record a… what did he call it? Reaction? Commentary? Some sort of response to the event they just watched.

Dictatious stayed in the living room, having put on some other show, and Nancy had taken to baking some cookies in the kitchen for when the children returned.

Angor Rot whittled at a totem carving, as he often did, waiting by one of the windows to keep an eye out for their car. Soon enough, he did recognize it as it pulled into the Domzalski driveway.

“We’re baaack! ” Toby’s voice rang through the house as he basically kicked the door open. He walked inside with Claire close behind.

“Trollhunters.” Angor greeted them with a nod. He watched the door for a moment longer, only two of them having entered the house, then frowned slightly. “... Jim isn’t with you?”

“He, um… He went home with Strickler and Barbara.” Claire explained, glancing out the window at Jim’s house. “Needed some space right now.”

“Whew, who can blame the guy.” Toby said flatly. That enthusiasm he’d kept up all day was beginning to dwindle. “Can never catch a break.”

“Hmm…”

“Toby-pie! I made cookies!” Nancy called from the kitchen.

“Oh heck yes! ” That was quick to restore some energy in him. He and Claire made their way over, grateful to have fresh treats after that whole ordeal.

“Remember to set some aside for Jim!” Claire said.

“Way ahead of you.” Toby responded, already grabbing a tupperware container out of the cabinet.

They filled up a plate to share, got some milk, and made their way over to the table to wind down and enjoy.

“I suppose Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had to walk back?” Angor Rot asked out of mild curiosity.

“Yep. Poor Aaarrrgghh was just not made for little cars.” Toby said between bites. “We need to get a truck one of these days!”

“Well, they’re probably going to be a while, anyways.” Claire pointed out. “Blinky had to call up on New Trollmarket to check on them.”

At that, Angor’s brows furrowed. “Humans have been causing them problems?” He asked.

“Yeah, New Trollmarket’s been having some major issues… New Jersey certainly wasn’t as quick to accept the whole ‘troll’ thing in the first place, and now everything’s just. Worse .” Claire sighed, drowning her worries in her glass of milk.

“Has anyone been harmed?”

“Pretty close, from what we’ve heard of Blinky’s calls, but they’re laying as low as possible right now. Lucky for everybody, it’s not like humans can get into any Troll locations without a Horngazel.” Toby replied.

“Oh, and speaking of that…”

Angor Rot raised an eyebrow, watching quietly as Claire rummaged through her purse. Then, she walked over to him, and presented a Horngazel of their own.

“Here, we all figured you should hold on to one of these. With how messy everything’s been lately, it’s probably better if you guys hang out in Trollmarket instead of in town.” Claire handed him the item, then added, “Just don’t lose it! Don’t want the wrong people getting their hands on it and all.”

The irony of her handing him off a Horngazel with those kind of words was something that Angor would always find mildly amusing. Nice that he didn’t have to steal one from her purse this time around…

“Thank you.” Angor said as he pocketed the Horngazel. “I’ll be sure not to lose it.”

They stewed in silence for a bit, Claire hesitant in leaving as if she had something else on her mind. Truth be told, it had been on her mind for some time now, but she had troubles spotting fitting times to bring it up.

“... How’ve you been, by the way?” She asked. “Not with this , but... you know, with, like… Morgana and stuff…?”

That name still caused his face to contort with anger upon hearing it. He closed his eyes, and shrugged the question off. “No worse than any of you.”

Worry very clearly entered Claire’s expression, and Toby looked his way with a frown, too. “... Some of us have been doing pretty bad, so that’s not as reassuring as you think it is.”

“I am managing.” He assured them. “You don’t have to keep worrying about me like this.”

“Well, that’s just what friends do.” She reminded him intently. “Remember to let us know if you ever need to talk or anything. Seriously.”

“I know. If I need to, I will.” Angor said, with more reassurance than his last reply. With one raised brow, he added, “Remember that same offer goes for you, child.”

Claire’s skeptical gaze stayed on him for a few more seconds, but she eventually nodded at that, letting the topic lie, and went back to join Toby at the table. Angor Rot went back to his carving, casting occasional glances at the house across the street.

Jim hadn’t said a word on the car ride back home. He didn’t even verbalize a goodbye in response to Toby and Claire, something Barbara was sure they had noticed. By the time they’d gotten to their own house, Jim was the first out of the car, speedwalking his way inside. Barbara and Strickler exchanged worried looks.

As they quickly followed behind, Barbara contemplated what she should try to say to him very carefully… but almost as soon as they stepped inside, they could hear him already sobbing.

He’d only gotten up half the stairs when Barbara called for him to stop. And, surprisingly, he did. But, he wouldn’t turn to look at them, and it sounded like he tried to shut himself up as best he could, just standing and shaking in place.

Barbara walked up the stairs, meeting him at the halfway point, and just silently hugged him. That got him to break all over again.

Jim wrapped his arms around her and just cried .

His mother held him close, guiding him downstairs and to the couch, sitting him down next to her. No words spoken as her son sobbed uncontrollably in her arms, completely broken from stress.

Strickler wasn’t as quick to get close, though he did wince at the sight of the boy in so much pain. He took a few steps towards them, part of him trying to look for words of reassurance, but he ended up reasoning that wouldn’t be what helped Jim this moment in time.

“I’ll… I’ll put on some tea.” He quietly offered instead.

“Check.”

Strickler drew his hand away from the board after placing his knight, Jim’s king forced into a corner. But it wasn’t a check mate , so Jim knew he must have an out somewhere. He held his hand on his chin in thought, scanning the board carefully.

Eventually, he spotted the solution, and took Strickler’s knight.

Barbara, unfortunately, couldn’t stay long. She tried to, assuring Jim that she’d call in sick to work to stay with him, but once he was well enough to use his voice, he’d insisted that she not jeopardize her work over this in any way. Calling off a shift that short notice would just make him feel worse for his stupid breakdown.

Strickler, however, could stay. Javier was quite willing to keep looking after the babies, so Strickler stayed downstairs to keep Jim company.

Jim had been quiet during their whole chess game. Strickler couldn’t be sure just how much this was helping him calm down from his earlier ordeal, but he could at least tell that the brunt of the boy’s focus had shifted to the chess board. Despite this, there was no doubt some anxieties still bothering him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Strickler finally asked as he moved another chess piece.

Jim didn’t respond. His eyes stayed glued to the chess board.

“... It’s perfectly reasonable for you to be upset--”

“ Is it?” Jim asked. Whether or not that was Strickler’s intention, that tiny amount of prompting from him triggered a small rant from Jim that he’d seemed to be holding back. “At this point I feel like I’m not even justified in being so mad at everybody, because they don’t know any better . They don’t know trolls! And then this shit with that Draal thing happens, and of course they’d be more scared -- I just--” Jim growled under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “... God. I should be used to everything always going to shit, but--”

“No, Jim. Nobody should have to be used to that, least of all you .” Strickler countered with absolute certainty.

Sighing irately, Jim just shook his head, and took his turn. “Check.”

“... We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them. That’s just first nature for any living creature.” Strickler said as he moved his king out of check. His slitted pupils flicked back to Jim. “More and more people are coming to trolls’ support every day that they continue to learn. It may not feel like it now, especially with this... masked menace disrupting progress... but you are making a change.”

Jim sighed, staring at the pieces on the board. After some time of contemplation, he slid his bishop across the squares, but not far enough to check his opponent’s king. “Maybe... But sure as hell not fast enough…”

With a click of the tongue, Strickler sighed too. Jim always did have that habit of putting too much pressure on himself. “Nobody gets to control the speed of such things, young Atlas.” He said, making his move.

“... I know…” He conceded. “You’re right.”

The two went quiet as Jim yet again examined the board carefully. After much contemplation, he cornered Strickler’s king with his queen. “Check.”

When Strickler leaned forward to take his next turn, he blinked a few times, looked back at Jim and said. “I do believe that’s check mate .”

“... Wait, seriously? ” Jim looked over the board again, not fully realizing that Strickler had no more moves he could make. “... Huh. I guess it is.” He raised an eyebrow at Strickler, the ghost of a smile touching his face for the first time since they’d started. “You were going easy on me, weren’t you?”

Strickler scoffed in exaggerated false offense at that accusation. “Why, I did no such thing!”

Jim snickered quietly, then looked away. “... Well, I’d… I’d better go see Claire and Tobes. Don’t want them to worry too much…”

“Of course.” Strickler said, standing from his seat. “Don’t let me keep you.”

He walked Jim to the door, and the boy took another pause before leaving.

“... Thanks for being here for me.” Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Jim added, “Sorry I’ve been such a disaster lately, heh…”

“You don't need to apologize for things so out of your control.” Strickler contradicted him. While physical reassurances weren’t his strength, he gave Jim a light pat on the shoulder, albeit a little awkward as well. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Jim tried to put on a smile, though it came off semi-forced this time. “I’ll do my best...”

Days passed.

Humans continued to be a nuisance.

Reporters and cameramen had made it a habit to lurk around the Lake household, and sometimes Toby's as well if they thought there was a chance of ambushing any of them.

The windows that were usually kept open to welcome the sunlight were now covered with blinds and curtains all day and all night if they wanted any privacy in their own home.

From the tree where he sat in the Domzalski's front yard, Angor Rot watched. He watched how Strickler used his wings to shield the children from cameras being shoved in their face every time he escorted them out of the house. Every time he saw this harassment taking place, it made his blood boil.

But he knew it was better that he stay away. He wasn’t sure that he could keep his temper in check with how aggressively the humans were harassing his friends, and if he were to cause a scene over it, that would just make everything worse for them. As frustrating as it was to let it happen, he had to keep his distance.

“Angor?”

That voice drew him out of his stewing anger temporarily. Angor dropped down from his spot in the tree, meeting Dictatious at the door. “You are ready to go?”

Dictatious nodded, following Angor’s lead outside. The assassin offered his arm, which Dictatious put his hand on. That arrangement hadn’t been needed as much after gifting Dictatious the walking stick, but with the higher tensions around humans lately, they had fallen back into that habit for a better sense of safety.

“My apologies for making you wait.” Dictatious said. “The cat sat on Nancy’s dough and we had to make a new batch.”

“I don’t mind waiting.” Angor Rot reassured him. If anything, he was relieved when Nancy added some diversity to Dictatious’s routine.

As they started heading into town, Dictatious’s ears pricked at sounds of the crowd near Jim’s house. “Sounds like they’re still going at it, hm...?”

An irritated growl from Angor Rot confirmed it. “They’re just asking for a beating at this point…”

“Ohh, don’t let them hear you say that.” Dictatious responded half-jokingly. “They’d be all too excited for such content fodder.”

“If they were smart, they’d stay away .”

“They’re more concerned about being business smart than common-sense smart.” Dictatious chuckled. “If anything, having the chance to film a troll attacking somebody matters more to them than not getting attacked by a troll in the first place. Priorities, eh?”

Angor Rot could only snort in annoyance at that, baffled at this twisted behaviour.

“... Really, though. It’s better to ignore them.” Dictatious advised, a more serious note to his voice. “They’re looking for drama, so being as boring as possible is probably the way to go. They’ll lose interest eventually.”

Again, the thought of Dictatious actively avoiding opportunities to rile up some touchy humans was a strange one. But, in this case especially, he was right. It was better to be safe than sorry, which is what Angor had been doing regardless, but the reminder was sometimes necessary...

The pair headed down to Trollmarket, taking a night to read and chat together like they’d done once before. It was something Angor had been intending to do more often anyways, but it would be a much easier task now with their own Horngazel. Plus, it was a good way to take their minds off of the mess going on in the world, even if only temporarily.

Angor had found some of the few books in here actually not written by Dictatious, these particular ones about spellcasting written by a late troll sorceress. It got them talking on the topic of magic as a whole, and the functionality behind it.

“So, when it comes to making new spells...” Dictatious wondered aloud, “... what exactly are the limitations? ”

“That depends on a lot of things.” Angor Rot replied, casually skimming a few more pages, “One must have a significant level of power and experience to be able to create brand new techniques, for one.”

“Hmm.” Watching him with great curiosity, Dictatious asked, “Have you ever created your own?”

Angor Rot gave pause before answering that one. “Hrm… Yes… Stealing Daylight was a technique I developed on my own.”

“Ahh, of course…” The Conundrum nodded slowly. “That must have taken great strength.” Angor Rot stayed quiet at that, and Dictatious gave him one more curious glance. “Have you ever considered trying to make another?”

“Not really.” Angor said with a shrug. “I had everything I needed for battle, and then some.”

“They don’t always have to be for battle though, do they?”

“Well, no, I suppose not. But that was my purpose at the time.”

“Fair enough.” Dictatious replied. He was more thinking aloud than anything, but he went on to say, “Well, the situation’s changed now, so maybe you can try something new one of these days.” Chuckling, he added, “You know, once things are a bit less hectic, perhaps.”

“... Hmm. Perhaps.”

It wasn’t something Angor had put much thought into, especially not these days, but Dictatious had a point. He was in a different situation now. He was basically in a different world from what he was used to before joining the Trollhunters. There were many potential uses to creating new spells, not just violent ones. As much as he wanted to commit some violence against those troublesome reporters…

… Come to think of those humans, perhaps he could come up with some way to approach the issue using magic.

Just like that, an idea started to form in his head.

The days continued to pass, and the harassment wasn’t stopping. It was to the point where neither Jim, Toby, nor Claire even felt comfortable running the simplest of errands by themselves.

They had to go out as a unit just to get one box of kitty litter for Toby’s nan. Even just their quick stop at the pet store couldn’t go uninterrupted, as the second they stepped outside, they were spotted by pests with cameras.

“Oh, great.” Jim muttered, pulling out his amulet. “ For the glory of Merlin …”

By the time those press members reached the children, Jim had donned his full Daylight armour right up to the helmet. He, Claire, and Toby were huddling close together and shielding their faces from the cameras, Jim using his shield to cover his friends even more, all of them making it abundantly clear they did not want to be filmed. That didn’t stop their crowd, though.

“Ms. Nuñez, is it true that you were possessed? With Morgana’s attempted return, do you think you’re at risk of that happening again?”

“Mr. Domzalski, do you have any comments on the violent pasts of those you consider ‘friends’?”

“Mr. Lake! Mr. Lake! What do you have to say about--”

Jim got progressively angrier with each prying question, and had to fight with himself not to lash out. Where in the hell were they learning about all these private things, anyways?!

The three did their absolute best to ignore them, but it was too hard to get away with how persistently they were blocking their path. Jim looked around for any sort of escape route, but--

Suddenly, there was the loud honking of a car. The kids all looked towards the noise, a small black Subaru in the street trying to get their attention. When the driver rolled its window down, gesturing for them to get in, Jim’s heart sunk with disappointment.

Of course it had to be his stupid father.

Still, he didn’t have a lot of great options right now. Given how severely these journalists had been harassing him and his friends, anything felt like a better alternative. He made up his mind rather quickly, and started herding his friends to the car, despite their confusion and concern.

When all three of them managed to pile into the back, slamming the door right in some cameraman’s face, James peeled out of that street and left those people in the dust.

Everything fell silent after that. Awkwardness was just an unfortunate side effect of being anywhere near James Lake Sr..

“You kids okay?” James eventually asked.

“Yeah,” was Jim’s short response.

“Good, good…”

More silence.

Claire and Toby shared similar looks of discomfort with each other while Jim sat stone-faced in the middle seat. As in their last uncomfortable car trip together, both Claire and Toby held one of Jim’s hands each.

“I’ll drop you all off at Jim’s house.” James broke the silence again. “They’re not still bothering you there, are they?”

At that, Jim laughed a short, bitter laugh that told James all he needed to know in that regard. “They’ve got their stupid cameras pointed at our house basically all day .” He snapped, irritated. “Can’t even leave the blinds open anymore…”

A frown befell his father’s face. For another short moment, nobody spoke, but James was brainstorming hard as he drove from street to street.

“... Oh! I know!” James piped up suddenly. “You know those kinds of windows that you can see out of, but can’t see inside? Maybe that would help with the camera problem!”

“We can’t just shell out thousands of dollars for all-new windows--”

“You don’t have to, I don’t mind paying for it!”

The way James said that was as if he thought he were doing Jim some grand favour . But after his insistence about the cameras, Jim was starting to sense a pattern he very much didn’t like, and with how short his patience had already been due to everything else going on, Jim was quick to snap.

“You can’t just buy your way into my life, you know!” Jim shouted at him. “I don’t want to be stuck owing you anything, got it?!”

James stopped the car. He turned around to face his son, the usual smile that he’d been putting on having completely vanished from his face. “Jim. I’m not doing any of this to try and guilt you into liking me or something. I know that’s not going to happen.” James said, his voice unusually serious. “I’m not trying to buy you or to make you feel like you owe me something. I want to do these things for you because I’m the one who owes it to you. Okay?” He turned back around and started the car back up. “I messed up. I get that. I know I can’t make up for what I did to you. Just… please, at least let me help you in little ways when I can…?”

That caught Jim completely off guard. He was quiet for a long moment, the anger he’d just felt taking a back seat to suspicious confusion. He squinted coldly at his father. “... No strings attached?”

“No strings attached, promise.” With a short chuckle, James added, “Hell, you can record me saying it if it makes you feel better.”

If James knew this whole time that there wasn’t a chance to repair their relationship, then why did he even come back to Arcadia…? Or did this sudden realization sink in for him after they reconnected?

Either way, Jim was at least relieved to know that his sperm donor wasn’t as painfully oblivious as he first appeared.

“... Okay. Fine.” Jim eventually agreed to his help, however tentatively. “But getting all new windows is still way too much…”

“Yeah, like, aside from being stupid expensive, wouldn’t they also take a while to install...?” Toby pointed out, though very hesitant to interrupt the conversation between these two.

“Hmm, true…” James agreed, pausing a moment to think. “... Hrrm… Oh, you know, I think they make film coverings for windows that accomplish the same effect? I’ll have to look into that later…”

“Googling it now.” Claire said, using her free hand to search it up on her phone. “... Ah, yeah, here it is - ‘Privacy window film’.” She turned her phone to Jim as she scrolled through the different kinds. “Certainly looks a lot cheaper and easier than brand new window installation, that’s for sure.”

“That sounds great. You and your mother can look through those and get back to me about what kind you want me to get for you?” James offered, glancing at Jim through his rearview mirror. “Or I can just send you the money for it so you can handle all the ordering details or whatnot, if that’s easier.”

“Umm…” Tentatively glancing between Claire’s phone and his father, Jim eventually conceded to that compromise. “Fine, okay, we can--” He closed his eyes and took a breath that came out in a short sigh. “We can discuss it later…”

Again, silence fell among them, one that was left uninterrupted until they reached the Lake household. There weren’t as many press employees lurking around Jim’s house today, so hopefully they could get inside without too much issue.

“Bye, Jim.” James waved the kids off. “Stay safe out there.”

Jim gave the man a strained look, but didn’t reply. He and his friends were quick in getting to the front door, James not leaving the street until he saw them safely get inside the house. With a sigh of his own, he got out of there, too.

Angor Rot had been making far more totems than usual these past few days. Dictatious could easily tell.

The rate at which he did it before was already somewhat unnerving, but with the accelerated pace at which he’s been producing them now, Dictatious wondered where on earth he must be storing them all… Then again, who was he to judge this strange choice? It was technically a productive use of time...

… Still, it happened far too much to be normal, and Dictatious visibly winced when he heard Angor rip off another piece of his own stone past the sound of the TV. He glanced in Angor’s general direction with a deep frown. “Doesn’t that hurt… ?” He asked.

“Not much.” Angor Rot casually replied, chipping away at the soon-to-be totem.

Dictatious still looked bothered, to an unusually high degree for him. Angor couldn’t really imagine why. It's not like these smaller wounds wouldn't heal over in due time. The Conundrum eventually looked back to the screen again, though his ears would occasionally twitch at the soft grind of blade against stone.

“I seriously don’t understand why you need that many…” He mumbled, another disturbed glance being sent Angor’s way. “Maybe you should take a break. It can’t be good for you to be doing it that often...”

“I have been creating these for centuries. I know what my body can handle.” Angor Rot tried to reassure him, though it didn’t alleviate any of the uneasiness in Dictatious’s expression. “... Besides. I’ve been going through too many of them right now.”

At that, Dictatious’s ears perked immediately, and the look in his eyes turned to a skeptical squint. “What have you been using them for? ”

There was a small pause, but Angor eventually admitted, “I’m working on a new charm.”

“... Oh...” As curious as he was about what that might be for, Dictatious felt strangely unsettled by the fact that a conversation he instigated might be leading towards Angor picking his own limbs apart. “Erm… May I ask what it is you’re trying to accomplish?”

“With any luck, a spell that can take care of those troublesome humans harassing the Trollhunters…”

“By ‘take care of’, you don’t mean--?”

“No.” Angor was quick to shut down the suggestion of hurting them. He knew better than that. “My goal is to have it damage their recording devices, to be specific. Preferably from a distance.”

“... Huh.” Still, Dictatious’s frown deepened. “Does it have to be done with totems, though…?”

“The totems are just the easiest way to provide an anchor for the spell.” He answered. “I’m not around the children all the time, so it’s better they have something they can carry with them.”

“... I suppose…” Dictatious didn’t fully ‘get it’, as he was nowhere near as much of a magic expert as Angor, but he had to ask. “Is there no quicker way to perfect it…?”

“I don’t have the proper resources to test them more efficiently, so the testing process has been slow.”

Squinting slightly, Dictatious asked, “‘Resources’ as in... spare filming equipment to test them on, or-?”

He got a mild hum of confirmation in response.

“Hrm…” Dictatious drummed his fingers against the arm of the couch, his pupils darting side to side in thought. He very much didn’t like the thought of Angor continuing this habit so aggressively, and as such, racked his brain for some sort of solution to the issue. The children had access to many cameras, but they were using those right now to keep an eye out for shadow portals... After not long at all, a different realization struck him. “Say… didn’t that Stuart fellow mention owning an electronics store?”

Luckily for them, Angor Rot remembered approximately where the store was, though it did take some wandering. Not so luckily, their trip was much longer than necessary due to dodging aggressive humans or unrelenting members of the press. It didn’t help that they had to make a stop at Trollmarket first for their needed bargaining chips… but, eventually, they did manage to reach Stuart’s shop without incident.

A bell rang as they opened the door, announcing their presence to the shopkeeper right away.

“Just a second!” Stuart’s voice shouted from the back of the store.

While waiting for their new acquaintance to emerge, Angor Rot wandered the front of the store with Dictatious close by his side, the Conundrum carrying a small bag in one arm. There were many strange-looking items and computer parts, artifacts stored on the shelves in seemingly no order. The room was fairly cluttered, but not in complete disarray.

When Stuart emerged from the back room, he started off rambling some apology for the wait, but paused in his tracks when he saw who it was. “Oh, hey!” He greeted them happily. “Wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon! How can I help you fellas?”

“I’m working on developing some spells, but I need human equipment to work with. Most importantly those, erm…” Angor Rot paused, glancing to the side in thought. “Those recording devices that those people have been using, the…”

“Camcorders?” Dictatious clarified.

“Yes, those.”

“Ohh… umm…” Stuart started fiddling about the store, looking around. “Ehhh… I’m sure I have something around here that I could spare…”

Sensing the hesitance in his voice, Dictatious dumped the contents of his bag out onto the counter, the clattering of gems getting Stuart’s attention. “We’ll be paying you, by the way.”

“ Ohthankgoodness .”

As much as Stuart wanted to be as friendly to them as possible, considering how harshly everyone else is being to trolls right now, he did appreciate knowing he’d be reimbursed. Intentionally damaging equipment is a little more expensive than buying them groceries… but, from the look of all the gems Dictatious had presented him with, that will comfortably cover the cost of anything they might break. “In that case…”

It didn’t take Stuart long to present them with several pieces of equipment similar to what the press uses. “These cams are pretty old, but they oughta be good for what you’re looking for.” He said. “Some of them fancy ones the media use can be over $8,000… but you don’t need the exact same models as ‘em, do you?”

“Hopefully not.” Angor Rot replied, picking up a few of the camcorders and examining them. “If the basic functions are similar, these should be good enough to test on.”

“Awright, you’re the magic expert...” Stuart trailed off, drumming his fingertips against each other. “... Say… would you mind if I stuck around and watched for a bit?” He asked, genuinely curious about seeing the magical arts in action. “Never seen troll magic up close, heh heh…”

“... I suppose not…” Angor Rot said, tilting his head in slight confusion. It sounded like he was implying they could stay here to do it, although... “But aren’t you working right now?”

Stuart laughed that off, walked over to his door and flipped the sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’, then said, “Best part of being your own boss, you can make your own schedule!”

And so, the next many hours were spent magic-tinkering. Angor Rot had many totems to spare, so there wasn’t a worry of running out of resources for testing charms and spells. It was a long process, what with adjusting already-existing magicks and applying it to such new technology, so there was much trial and error involved. (And a surprising amount of spontaneous combustion; Stuart made sure to keep the fire extinguisher nearby after the first two or three times.)

Dictatious and Stuart were both very curious beings, each asking the occasional question during the process, but definitely not to the point of being annoying. Dictatious’s presence and questions were already something Angor was well used to, and Stuart was basically just a jollier extension of that. As one who tended to get overwhelmed or quickly tired of more company than usual, even he found himself slightly surprised that he was lasting so long around this talkative near-stranger without issue.

Maybe that was due to being used to Dictatious, or maybe it was due to his mind being too focused on the golem testing to really register his social battery draining. Plus, Stuart had been an extreme help in explaining in more detail how the devices worked. ( And providing them with a pile of random trash and metal scraps for the totems to be tested in golem form.) He opened up one of the cameras, making a display of the wiring and how all the different parts connected. He elaborated on some common dangers to cameras, like overheating damaging the wires, and some lesser common dangers, like how certain signal jammers can disrupt the functions of wireless ones... All of this was useful for Angor Rot to know at this stage.

After many failed attempts, Angor finally got a golem that both didn’t make any aggressive movements, and could fry these camcorders from a distant range (without making them straight-up explode, either). Satisfied with the results, they packed it up there for the day.

“Thanks for letting me stick around! Very interesting stuff here.” Stuart grinned. With an awkward laugh, he said, “I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother!”

“You weren’t a bother.” Angor replied, relieving some of Stuart’s worries. “You’re one of the few tolerable humans around here.”

At that, Stuart laughed just a little too long to feel natural. Then immediately changed the subject with a clap of the hands. “ Welp! It’s probably about time I close up shop anyways!” He looked at the clock as he spoke, then gasped upon realizing how much time had passed. “Gee whiz, you’ve been here over six hours now! I better let you fellas go while there’s still some daylight left!!”

“... Daylight is useless to us.” Dictatious bluntly reminded him.

“Oh. Right. Ahaha…”

Shrugging, Angor Rot gathered up his totems and said, “Regardless, we should be going. I want to get these to use .”

They said their short goodbyes, and went their separate ways. Angor dropped Dictatious off at Nancy’s, then headed across the street.

Now that he had a charm that functioned how they needed it to, Angor Rot could move on to the second part of his plan.

But first, he had to run the idea by the head of the household.

Barbara listened intently as Angor Rot explained his idea to her. He presented her with the totems that had been prepared, even demonstrated its effects in golem form with one of the spare cameras Stuart had given them.

“Hmm…” She put a hand on her chin, thinking about it carefully. “... And they won’t hurt anybody?”

“They won’t hurt anybody.” Angor assured her. “Of that, I’ve made certain.”

“Well, then… I’m not really seeing a down side.” She circled the golem again, giving it a once-over look. It was big, sturdy, and likely wouldn’t be disruptive to the household since they were going to be kept outside. “Might as well give it a try?”

Given permission, Angor Rot gave a small nod before deactivating the golem, picking up the tiny totem that fell with it to the floor. After they both put the pile of sheets they’d used to make the test golem back where they belong, Angor headed for the door to start setting up those totems.

“Hey, you said you bury those things, right?” Barbara asked, pausing Angor in his tracks. “Let me get you a trowel.”

Well… The gardening tool did make his job a little bit easier, even if it wasn’t really necessary.

Angor Rot had gone about rounding the house, burying totem after totem a few feet apart, forming a circle around the property. Many of the humans had tried approaching him with their subtly-goading line of questioning, but Angor had done a good job of ignoring them. Bold as they were, they were at least intimidated enough by him as to not get too close, especially when not knowing what he was even doing.

He was about halfway through when he noticed Strickler landing nearby, just getting home from wherever he had been. Work or something, Angor assumed.

The first thing out of the Changeling’s mouth was, “Is everything alright?”

Confused, Angor gave him a look. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Err…” Subtly gesturing to the crowd, Strickler asked, “Do you need any help with… you know. That? ”

Angor Rot gave them an uninterested glance, shrugged, and went back to his work. “No need. Their brainless babbling has been easy enough to tune out.”

“... Hmm. If you’re sure.” His head tilting to the side to get a better look at the totems Angor was burying, Strickler inquired curiously, “May I ask what it is that you’re doing? ”

Angor Rot once again glanced back at the flock of media vultures nearby, clicked his tongue, and simply replied, “Hopefully, something that will help.” Casting Strickler a side glance, he added, “Barbara can elaborate. I’ve run it by her already.”

Mildly confused, but still able to catch the hint that he didn’t want those people overhearing, Strickler simply shrugged and walked inside, leaving Angor to his own devices.

In due time, Angor Rot had totems buried all around the house in a circle. For some reason, those persistent humans had still been sticking around. Angor couldn’t imagine how interesting an hour’s worth footage of a troll digging holes would be, but to each their own.

He took a few steps back, looking over his handiwork, and even after all this time, the humans were still throwing pointless questions at him in hopes of any scrap being returned. How persistent were these people?

Completely ignoring the line of questioning they were hoping for responses to, Angor spoke over them with a complete change of topic. “If you value your filming equipment, you should leave right now.”

The fact that he spoke to them at all was enough to spark some excitement in the group. Angor Rot was reminded of needy seagulls fighting over garbage scraps with how they all squabbled to get a word in. “Was that a threat? ” One of them barked over the others, an amusing mixture of worry and offense in their voice.

“No. I’m just giving you a fair warning.” He replied calmly. “Nothing here will hurt you, but your cameras might get damaged--”

“We have a right to be here, you know!”

Angor was no expert on human laws, but he felt certain an argument could be made against that… Either way, they would be too stubborn to listen to him regardless. He closed his eyes, shrugged, and merely said, “Well, I tried to warn you…” It would ultimately be their loss, so who was he to care? “If you insist on staying, then at least stand back.”

Before anybody even had the chance to ask why, the ground beneath them rumbled. From beneath the earth, muddy golems clawed their way to the surface, horrified gasps and shouting coming from the humans as they rose to their full height.

“What are those?! ”

“Oh my god, it’s making monsters --”

“Would you stop being so dramatic?” Angor spoke over them, giving a most disapproving glare. “If they frighten you so much, then you’re free to leave.”

Angor and multiple of the humans were distracted by the sounds of abnormally loud whirring and clicking noises coming from their cameras. Some of the larger ones were even producing small sparks.

“What the hell…?!” One of the cameramen exclaimed, almost dropping the device as it started smoking in his hands. The display screen completely blacked out in the middle of recording, the camera clearly suffering from some kind of internal damage. One immediately after another, every camcorder had broken down with no clear reason.

When Angor Rot started snickering under his breath at the small wave of discord he’d caused among them, it wasn’t difficult for the humans to conclude that he was the cause of this.

“You stupid fucking troll!” One of them shouted, immediately losing all professionalism to curse him out as he tried pointlessly to get his camera working again. “Do you have any idea how much these cost?!”

“Yes, actually.” Thanks to Stuart, that is. Raising an eyebrow, Angor added, “And how am I the stupid one here when I warned you this would happen?”

That point didn’t seem to matter to them, as he and a few others continued berating him to no avail.

“Who do you think’s gonna pay for these, huh?!”

“Hmm. Not my problem.” Angor Rot shrugged them off yet again, and walked inside the Lake house for the time being. One particularly brave woman tried to follow to the door, presumably to start pounding on it, but one of those intimidatingly massive golems moved in front of it, completely blocking the door off and dripping mud dangerously close to her already-damaged equipment.

It didn’t take long for the group to give up at that point. There was literally nothing more to stay for, unless they wanted to stare at near-immobile golem guards all day. But what would be the point with nothing to film them with?

Once the coast was clear, Angor proceeded to safeguard Toby’s house next, and then went to search for the children themselves.

They weren’t too difficult to track down, what with the crowd of grown adults always lurking nearby to ambush them.

They’d been on their way to Mary’s house, the girl having offered them a day at her place while her parents were away, in hopes to give them some relief from the constant media attention. Toby had just been commenting how ironic it was that their most social-media-famous friend was the one about to stow them away when they got blindsided.

It was the same old song and dance, trying to hide their faces and keep walking as the press asked intrusive question after intrusive question…

But, almost as soon as they had started, their harassers suddenly walked away with no explanation, for they saw the troll approaching that Jim, Toby, and Claire hadn’t noticed yet.

Perhaps they’d been warned already about Angor’s new camera-breaking golems. Perhaps these humans were ones less willing to mess with a troll in general . Either way, they were immediately out of the picture.

“... Huh. That was weird.” Claire commented, confused but relieved at their sudden departure.

“Hey, let’s not complain about it!” Jim responded. “Let’s pick up the pace before they come ba--”

“Trollhunters.”

The trio turned around at the sound of that voice.

“Oh, hey Angor!” Toby happily greeted him back. “How’s it hangin’?”

“Things are going well.” Angor replied. “I have something for you three.”

Curious, the children watched on as Angor Rot pulled something out of one of his many pockets. When he extended his hand, they saw three familiar shapes of carved stone.

Blinking a few times, Jim looked from the offering in his hand to Angor’s face. “... Totems… ?” He said hesitantly. “Angor, we can’t use these, we don’t want to hurt anybod--”

“These will not bring harm to anyone. I’ve tested them thoroughly.” Angor Rot was quick to assure him. “They are for protection, yes, but of a nonviolent sort.”

Toby was the first one to pick one up, wondering how these were any different from Angor’s other golem monster things. “Well, if they’re nonviolent, then how would they protect us, anyway?”

“Their appearance alone seems to be enough to discourage those humans from getting too close… but these totems have been charmed.” The assassin explained. “So far this spell is still experimental, but any humans that bring filming equipment close to you will have that equipment fried.”

“Oh! So it’s like, the golems themselves don’t even have to touch anything? It’ll just break their stuff by being near them?” Claire asked, making sure she got that right.

When that got a confirming nod from Angor, Toby raised an eyebrow. “... This won’t mess up our phones, will it?”

“I don’t think so... The golems have been able to target specific devices while I was testing them. But you should probably turn them off before activating your totems, just to be safe.” Angor advised them. “I’ve set some up around your houses already, and it seems to be working at keeping people away.”

“Oh my god, that’s so neat.” Toby said, grinning.

Jim had a look of hope and relief on his face, too. “Maybe they’ll finally back off if it costs them all their equipment by just being near us!” He exclaimed in excitement, him and Claire accepting their totems as well. “Thank you, Angor, this is great!”

“Group hug! ”

“Wh-? Oomph .”

Before he could even ask what Toby meant, all three children had basically tackled him with hugs. Angor hadn’t the slightest idea how to react, so he just stayed stiffly in place, greatly befuddled by this tactic. He very awkwardly cleared his throat, muttering, “Well, don’t thank me yet, we still don’t know how well they’ll work…”

Sensing Angor’s hesitance at the physical contact, the trio let him go pretty quickly.

“Still though, the fact that you even did this is just… Seriously, thank you!” Claire chirped happily. “Knowing your magic, I’m sure they’ll do the trick!”

The three of them pocketed the totems, all smiles at the possibility of having some peace again.

“Listen, we’ve got to get going-- Mary’s expecting us-- but seriously, thank you again!” Jim grinned at him, the other two voicing similar sentiments.

He let them go on their way, still feeling a little strange about the whole ‘hugging’ thing, but… weirdly enough, while it was a foreign overload of contact, it wasn’t as unpleasant as Angor thought it’d be. Besides, it was nice to see them happy.

With all that said and done with, Angor Rot had only one thing left on his to-do list.

It’s been some time since Dictatious had the house to himself. Nancy was out shopping, the kids were off in town somewhere, and Dictatious never really knew or cared what NotEnrique got up to. Probably off making videos somewhere.

He wandered the kitchen, carefully navigating his way around putting on a kettle of tea. Nancy got one of those electric ones so that he wouldn’t have to fiddle with the stove or anything like that. He stepped away for a moment while waiting for the kettle to boil, wandering into the living room, and--

WHAM!

Within seconds, Dictatious had been tackled to the floor, a situation all too familiar. At first, his mind raced with confusion, wondering if he’d done something wrong, or Gods forbid he’d been right about Angor lulling him into a false sense of security from the start , or--

“You’ve gotten rusty.”

“... W-What?”

Angor Rot let him go almost immediately, not giving the Conundrum a chance to truly start panicking. He helped him back up to his feet, even. “You should have been able to notice me coming. I wasn’t being particularly quiet.” He said. Turning away, he said one last thing before walking off that made Dictatious breathe a sigh of relief. “We’ll brush up on paying better attention to your surroundings tomorrow. Then we’ll continue with combat and magic.”

Still a little shaken, all Dictatious managed to squeak in response was a small “Okay” as Angor Rot left the room.

His anxiety was quick to melt away and be replaced with relief and, if he were being honest with himself, a hint of genuine excitement. After all these days stuck in the same setting, with Angor as basically his only momentary relief, Dictatious finally had something consistent to look forward to again.

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