idk how long this is gonna be or how long it's gonna take me to write it, but i have Ideas and Feelings and i wanted to share
Blinkous crept through the woods cautiously, tightly gripping the satchel slung over his shoulder. This area was usually free of Gumm-Gumms, but one could never be too careful. His whole venture was risky, sneaking into the local monastery and copying their books, but human history was just as important to record as troll history. If the two species drifted too far apart, they could clash again in the future in unexpected and unpleasant ways. At least, that's what he told Vendel in order to get a stamp of approval on the mission. While all of that was true, what it really boiled down to was Blinkous just really loved books and wanted to hoard as many as possible, especially ones that not a lot of other trolls were interested in. And, since monastery books were chained down, he'd have to copy them to get them. Though, he certainly wasn't looking forward to explaining to their leader why he was back so soon tonight—he'd nearly been spotted by a restless acolyte and had to beat a hasty retreat. Hopefully, Vendel wouldn't-
He stepped into a clearing, and his heart stopped. Dead-center in the circle of trees, his back to Blinkous, was a hulking troll with the unmistakable silhouette of one of Gunmar's highest generals. Holding his breath, Blinkous tried to slowly move backwards into the forest—and a twig snapped under his foot.
Aaarrrgghh whipped around, spotting Blinkous immediately, and roared.
Something about the sound nailed Blinkous to the spot, fear freezing his veins, and as the far bigger troll charged at him, he knew there was no way he could run fast enough. He was going to die.
At least he wouldn't have to hear Vendel's I-told-you-so.
Aaarrrgghh was almost on top of him, and even though Blinkous had never been much of a fighter, some half-formed instinct had him put up all four of his hands, clenched into fists as if he could ever hope to land a hit on a seasoned killer. He squeezed his eyes shut, steeling himself for the pain.
And then… nothing happened.
After a few more moments of continued existence, Blinkous cracked open a couple of eyes.
Aaarrrgghh towered over him, one arm still half raised, his fist above Blinkous like the sword of Damocles. But his head was tilted, his expression less murderous and more… perplexed.
Blinkous opened the rest of his eyes. "Um," he said, at a loss for words for the first time in his long and word-filled life.
Aaarrrgghh seemed to come back to himself, and he tensed. "Who are you?" he growled.
"I'll die before I tell you anything," Blinkous replied defiantly, amazed that his voice didn't shake even a little.
Aaarrrgghh contemplated this, and Blinkous was sure that now this was going to be the end, and then Aaarrrgghh took a few steps back and sat down. "I'm Aaarrrgghh," he said.
"I know who you are," Blinkous retorted. He narrowed his eyes as the other troll's tone sunk in. "Wait. Are… are you introducing yourself to me?"
Aaarrrgghh nodded almost imperceptibly, curling in on himself a little. The way he was sitting, hunched over his knees, reminded Blinkous of a lost youngling.
Hesitantly, Blinkous lowered his fists and sat as well, unconsciously mirroring Aaarrrgghh. "What are you doing out here?"
Aaarrrgghh tilted his head back, looking skyward. "Like the stars," he rumbled.
"Oh," Blinkous said. He hadn't expected an honest answer, and certainly hadn't expected something so innocent. "I like them, too," he found himself saying.
Aaarrrgghh brightened up. "They're pretty."
"Yes, they are," Blinkous said. What was happening? "Fascinating, as well." He needed to figure out how to escape, and talking about something harmless might just be the way. "I find it interesting how both humans and trollkind have made their own stories about them."
Blinking, Aaarrrgghh tilted his head. "Stories?"
The genuine curiosity in his tone caught Blinkous off-guard. "Surely you know of some."
Aaarrrgghh rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "No," he mumbled.
"Well, ah-" Blinkous faltered. This was ridiculous. Aaarrrgghh was Gunmar's most feared general, known best for his ruthlessness and brutality. No good troll had heard him speak and lived to see home again. And Blinkous's best plan was… "I, uh, could tell you one."
Aaarrrgghh's eyes went impossibly wide, somehow managing to reflect the stars above in his dark pupils, and the most unabashedly excited smile Blinkous had ever seen stretched across the large troll's face. "Yes!"
Back in Trollmarket, any offer Blinkous made to tell a story was unfailingly met with exasperation, and getting such an enthusiastic response from Aaarrrgghh was delightful in spite of the situation. He had planned to pick a boring story in the hopes of lulling Aaarrrgghh to sleep, but… Well, why not make it a good one?
And so, on a whim and because of a starry-eyed smile, Blinky accidentally changed the course of history by picking a good story to tell, and telling it well.
He put his whole body into it, pantomiming the actions and changing his voice for each character. Aaarrrgghh was the perfect audience, hanging on to every word, gasping at dramatic reveals, laughing at jokes. And when the hero sacrificed herself at the end so her friends would be safe, Blinkous could swear he saw a tear roll down Aaarrrgghh's stony cheek.
"…and because of her heroism, the stars granted Gren a place among them, so she could watch over her loved ones for the rest of time," he concluded, pointing upwards. "You see those six, like interlocking triangles? Oh, dear…" He'd gotten carried away and forgotten the time, and now looking at the sky, he could see the pink tinge of dawn creeping in. "I believe we've run out of time."
Aaarrrgghh wiped his eyes in a motion that was probably meant to be surreptitious. "Thank you for story," he said, then looked down, twisting his fingers together. "Maybe… maybe you could tell another, tomorrow?"
"Absolutely!" Blinkous replied without thinking, still riding the high of having someone happily listen to him for over an hour. It didn't occur to him until after Aaarrrgghh had vanished into the trees that he'd just agreed to meet a vicious Gumm-Gumm again.
Oh well, he thought as he ran back to Trollmarket as fast as his stubby legs could take him. What can he do if I don't show, kill me? I won't be there.
"I can't believe I'm here," Blinkous muttered, standing at the edge of the clearing an hour after sunset, both pairs of hands clasped nervously in front of him.
When he'd gotten to Trollmarket, he'd meant to tell Vendel everything. Then the older troll had asked, "So, how'd it go?" and Blinkous had just replied, "Fine."
Fine? Fine was the exact opposite of how it had gone. But something nagged at Blinky, something he couldn't put words to quite yet, so he went back to his cave and hoped he wouldn't run into Dictatious (his brother could sniff out a secret a mile away). Luck was finally on his side and Dictatious kept to his own library, and Blinkous had the day to debate himself to death. Possibly literally.
The logical thing to do, obviously, was not go. Aaarrrgghh was one of Gunmar's most brutal generals, even rumored to have been bred specifically for the purpose of working for Gunmar. There was no reason Blinkous should have walked away from one encounter with Aaarrrgghh alive—a second encounter was just asking to be killed.
But… there really was no reason Blinkous should still be breathing right now. Aaarrrgghh could have easily shattered him in that clearing, and yet he hadn't. Instead, he'd confessed a love of the night sky, and listened with rapt attention as Blinkous wove a story for him.
He'd asked for another story.
Bloodthirsty warriors didn't ask their enemies to tell them children's stories in the woods, as a general rule. And if this was some sort of subterfuge tactic, it was… advanced.
Something else was going on, and Blinkous wanted to know. So here he was, back in the clearing and waiting for Aaarrrgghh to turn up. Ah, he always knew his curiosity would get him killed one day.
Heavy footsteps approached, and Aaarrrgghh tromped into the clearing, smiling when he saw Blinkous. Heart pounding, Blinkous approached him. "Good evening," he said, his voice cracking a little.
Aaarrrgghh made a deep rumbling sound. "Evening," he replied. "Story?"
There was that childish eagerness again, and something about it put a part of Blinkous at ease. Throwing caution to the wind, he said, "Pardon me if this is too forward, but I have to know. Why do you want to hear stories so badly?"
Aaarrrgghh pawed uncertainly at the ground, looking away. "No stories in Darklands," he said at last.
"That's not true at all!" Blinkous blurted. "I may not be as well-versed in Gumm-Gumm lore, but I know for a fact that you lot have plenty of your own legends!"
"Not like this," Aaarrrgghh replied, gesturing up at the constellation Blinkous had pointed out the night before.
And, suddenly… Blinkous understood. He'd been born into this war alongside his brother, and was raised on tales of great feats of battle. In wartime, everything was about fighting and winning and surviving. Once he could read and navigate a library on his own, Blinkous began to seek out something different—not stories of peacetime, because that was a notion so distant he couldn't relate to it, but stories of compassion. Stories where vanquishing the foe wasn't everything, where valor wasn't won only in combat. Stories about living, not merely staying alive.
This pastime had earned him a certain level of disdain from his peers, especially when he didn't let go of it as he grew older. He was viewed as soft-hearted in Trollmarket, and a soft heart was a weak one. What other trolls said behind his back (or to his face) didn't matter to him, though. Blinkous knew what he liked, and knew what he would like the world to be—not a place of endless violence, but a place where hope could survive even the darkest of times.
Now, staring into a face synonymous with destruction, he saw a desperation to believe that there was more to life than senseless death; that things could be better, should be better.
Blinkous looked at Aaarrrgghh and saw himself.
"Perhaps…" Blinkous reached into his satchel and pulled out a book, smiling up at Aaarrrgghh. "Perhaps one with a happier end, this time."
Aaarrrgghh smiled back.