((My thanks to Oliver2016 for the idea of this, and to a friend of mine elsewhere on the web by the name of Owl who showed me the video (Where the Hell is Matt 2012, look it up, it's great!) that really got the ball rolling on this story.))
Chapter 7: Dance
Sure, he'd done it in the Everglades when they'd gone to visit the Quagawumps, trying to gather the Triumbric Stones. It had taken a ton of convincing by Blinky for him to do it, but he had.
So why was this so hard?!
Jim looked dismally at his phone, where he had a video set up to play like it had been doing for the past ten minutes. A part of him was scolding himself that here he was, balking again about this, but another part of him told him in no uncertain terms that he couldn't do this. This was different than the last time in so many ways!
Setting down his phone on his desk, Jim sat on the edge of his bed and groaned. What was he going to do?
Then an idea hit him, one so blatantly obvious that he wondered why he'd not thought of it before. Blinky had helped the first time, so maybe he would have some more advice to help this time around too!
With a wide grin, Jim grabbed his phone, left a note for his mom that he would be back before nightfall (he hoped at least!), then headed to Trollmarket.
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The streets of Trollmarket were their usual hustle and bustle, and some of the Trolls greeted the Trollhunter or gave him nods of acknowledgement. It was a dramatic improvement from his first trip down here, and Jim long ago found this place as comfortable to him as his own home. There was no trouble to delay him, thankfully, and he made it to the library in quick time...
...to find it empty. No Blinky.
"Ug, that's just my luck!" the teen groaned, leaning against the wall. "I wonder where he could be?" As if in answer to his question, Jim heard very familiar, heavy footsteps approaching, and a moment later Aaarrrggghh entered.
"Not expected," the big Troll rumbled, though he was smiling as he said it. "Not say training today."
"Yeah, something kinda came up and I wanted to talk to Blinky."
"Hmm, Blinky with Vendel. Been hours, long discussion."
"So there's little chance of my talking with him today, huh?" At Aaarrrggghh's affirming nod, Jim slumped, then shrugged and smiled.
"Well, can't be helped... unless..." Memory kicked in, and he suddenly smiled much brighter at Aaarrrggghh. "Maybe you can help me!"
"I try."
"Ok, this is kinda embarrassing, especially after what happened in the Quagawump swamp, but - " Jim balked a moment before pressing on. " - I'm having trouble – dancing again."
"Did well before." The Krubera was understandably confused. "Dance with Claire later, right?"
"Yeah, but this isn't quite the same thing as dancing with you guys where no one else could see me, or dancing with her on the lookout alone." Jim ran a hand through his hair, growing frustrated, and Aaarrrggghh stepped forward to put a large hand on his shoulder.
"Think know what do to help. Follow." With that Aaarrrggghh turned and began walking, and feeling curious Jim trailed afterwards.
Aaarrrgghh led him through Trollmarket and into a tunnel to one side, eventually winding deep into the stone and to a place Jim had never been, and that apparently wasn't in use by the Trolls. It was a high, wide cavern dotted with stalagmites and stalactites, and all over these formations as well as the ceiling and walls were glowing crystals. It was like standing in the stars themselves!
"Whoa – this is amazing!" Jim breathed, looking around them.
"Blinky find, long ago. Trollmarket young. Master Daya say leave alone, too pretty to carve. Private here."
"Thanks, Aaarrrggghh. I appreciate it." Jim hesitated, so Aaarrrggghh prompted a bit.
"What wrong? Dance well."
"Ok, here's what's going on. Apparently the school put in an essay or something to this project they heard about. It's called 'One World, One People.' Basically this guy is gonna go around the world, to different countries' schools, and record people dancing to the same song, then put it all together into one video. It's supposed to show a sense of world unity, that we're all the same and like having fun and stuff."
"Good purpose."
"Yeah. But whatever was in that essay, Arcadia Oaks was picked to be one of the places. The teachers chose the students to participate, and I ended up being one of them."
"Good thing!" Aaarrrggghh beamed proudly and happily at Jim, knowing even if he didn't express it that it was Jim's many accomplishments in the academic setting that were the reason on top of his good nature. Jim gave a short chuckle. "Proud of Jim!"
"Thanks, and I know it is. But – we all got copies of the song, all of us that are supposed to be in it, and I tried to dance to it – we're told to just do whatever until a certain point, when we do the same moves as a part of it – but I keep feeling so weird! And this time when I try, it won't be just my close friends seeing me. It'll be everyone – literally! This'll go up on the internet!" He leaned against a stalagmite and pressed his palm to his eyes.
"How I help?" asked Aaarrrggghh, sincerely wanting to do something if he could for his friend.
"Well - " Jim lowered his hand, looking at the Troll curiously. "How did you do it? I mean, the Quagawumps were singing along with Tobes, then they started dancing on their own, then you just – jumped in, like it was nothing."
"Looked fun. Wanted to join, so did." Though he didn't speak well, Aaarrrggghh was more than perceptive enough to know that though it sounded easy, it quite likely wasn't easy at all for Jim. "Dancing... best way not care about others. Listen, move, have fun. If having fun, doing right." He clapped his hands and took a couple steps much like he'd done back then. "Did as they did because fun, then did what I wanted. Also fun. If they think I do wrong, doesn't matter. Right to me." Jim's eyes had widened at the explanation word by word, and said so plainly it sounded so simple, so easy!
Yet also like the hardest thing in the world.
Seeing his friend continuing to struggle, Aaarrrggghh gestured towards the phone in Jim's pocket.
"Play song. Dance here, with me. Have fun. Don't care about things."
"You're saying to practice?" Much to his surprise, Aaarrrggghh shook his head.
"No practice. Play. Forget try, forget appearance. Play and have fun." Jim hesitated – it didn't feel so easy to him – but he did trust Aaarrrggghh, and certainly they wouldn't be seen here unless someone was looking for them. So he pulled out his phone and loaded the video (still amazing that he got such good internet down in Trollmarket). A moment later he pressed play, and the bouncy, cheerful song started up. Almost instantly Aaarrrggghh's expression lit up, and he grinned, starting to shift back and forth to the beat.
"Good song!" he praised.
"Yeah, even I have to admit it makes me feel happy, like I want to dance."
"Then dance!" Without further hesitation, Aaarrrggghh started to dance around the chamber, just moving however felt right to him at the time and occasionally clapping his hands and laughing for the sheer fun of it.
Jim watched him for a bit, honestly admiring his friend's confidence. Yeah, Aaarrrggghh might be less-graceful than some Trolls could be at dancing, but he doubted anyone could match him for sheer heart! And watching his friend was almost even more beckoning than the song itself, calling him to dance. Before he knew it, Jim found himself swaying to the beat, then before he could let himself think about it Jim joined in.
Three run-throughs of the song later, Jim collapsed, laughing, against one of the stalagmites. Aaarrrggghh came over to crouch down nearby, breathing heavily himself but smiling.
"Have fun?" Jim nodded. "Good! Do later, same way."
"Thanks, Aaarrrggghh."
"Dance again anytime. Very fun!"
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A couple of months later, three teens and three Trolls crowded around Claire's laptop in Jim's basement. YouTube was loaded, and they were eagerly watching the clock.
"It's eight!" Toby exclaimed. "Do the search!" Claire quickly typed in what they had been told to search.
Nothing.
"Ugh!" She began refreshing. "C'mon, c'mon!"
"You know," Jim tried, "we don't really have to watch this right away."
"Are you kidding, Jimbo?" Toby looked at his friend incredulously. "We so have to!"
"I agree, Master Jim." Blinky leaned slightly around onto the table, watching the screen eagerly. "Not only is this a momentous endeavor on principle, a video attempting to show unity across the world, but you being a part of it means we should view it as soon as possible!" If Jim didn't know any better, he would swear Blinky was trying to embarrass him.
"There it is!" Claire gasped suddenly, putting a halt to the debate, and without further argument she clicked play.
In truth, embarrassment or not, it was a rather stirring video. The scenes flipped to not only different schools, but what looked like just random, regular people the filmmaker got together to help with this, all dancing and having fun. Some were ballroom dancing, others were all doing what must've been regional type dances, and one group was even simply doing the wave!
And everyone looked like they were having the most fun of their entire lives!
"Arcadia High!" Toby cheered as the football field came up with the school's name beneath.
"Where Jim?" asked Aaarrrggghh.
"There!" Draal had spotted him out, pointing to Jim on-screen, near the front and to the right, dancing with just as much heart and enjoyment as everyone else. The clip for their school was short, only ten seconds or so, but it was long enough for them to catch Jim give a jump with both feet leaving the ground and clap his hands in front of him, quite a recognizable move.
"Well," Blinky teased with a sidelong look at Aaarrrggghh, "it looks like mankind the world over just saw a Trollish dance move, even though they'll never know it." Jim grinned.
"What can I say? I was having fun and it felt right at the time so... I did it." Aaarrrggghh playfully ruffled his hair.
They enjoyed the rest of the video, and saw that it already had several likes and a few comments. Claire logged in to leave one of her own, then Toby and Jim took turns doing the same before bidding their Troll friends a good evening and parting company for the night.
