"What do you think I should do?"
Barbara looked up from washing the dishes in the sink. Her son hadn't said much as he helped her with the dishes after their breakfast-dinner, but when he spoke up this time, that conflicted demeanor on him had came back.
She was quiet for some time as she looked into Jim's lost eyes, wanting to help in any way she could, but not sure how to.
… Or maybe she was sure, and just didn't want to bring herself to say it.
Sighing softly, Barbara looked down into the soapy water. "… Well…" She mumbled, "… I think… I think if you really do want to know him, you should do it while you have the chance."
Jim frowned. "… You think he might leave again?"
An airy, mirthless laugh left his mother, and she shrugged. "Who knows… But wouldn't it be better to take the chance now than to regret missing it later?"
That seemed to strike a chord, as Jim went quiet again. This is the first time he's seen his father in ten years. If he passes it up now, it might be another ten, twenty, thirty before he decides to spontaneously show up again. If ever.
"… Yeah… You're probably right." Jim quietly agreed. It was the last thing said between them, and the rest of their kitchen-cleaning was spent in silence.
But Jim, being the soft soul he was, of course didn't leave the house until he'd given his mother a long hug.
She watched her son go, waving him off, as he again left to consult with his friends about the dangers facing them all.
… He's just a child… He shouldn't have to be dealing with so much.
With a sigh, she closed the door and stood quietly for a while. Eventually she found herself quietly heading upstairs to check on Strickler and the Familiars. Finding it oddly quiet, she only opened the door a crack and peeked inside.
The sight of Strickler dead asleep and buried in peacefully resting babies brought a smile to Barbara's face. She very gently closed the door, tip-toeing back downstairs.
She resigned herself to the living room, alone to collect her thoughts. Every now and then she'd pull out her phone and stare at it, contemplative.
Sighing, she looked up a number online, then dialled.
"Hello… Is this the Parkside Inn? I'm looking to speak to one of your guests…"
.
Well… Today's the day.
Rather than the excitement with which his younger self would have been at the chance to see his father again, Jim instead felt bitter and apprehensive, feelings that had fermented over the years of abandonment. There was still a strong part of him that screamed to just not show up at all, give his father just the smallest taste of what he'd felt for so long… but he's already had this argument with himself before. Like it or not, he was going to end up there. Even if he'd rather go choke on a cactus.
Maybe that's why he'd been procrastinating for as long as possible.
"You seem unsettled, Master Jim."
When stress-cooking wasn't an option, as their household needed the extra fridge space for their baby food supplies, Jim opted to go down to Trollmarket and help Blinky and Aaarrrgghh instead. The two trolls had taken to repairing what they could of their destroyed home in their spare time, hoping it might one day be suitable to hold more residents once again. It was a massive job, but helped Jim keep his mind off certain things… somewhat.
"Oh… I do?" Jim replied to Blinky a little sheepishly, avoiding eye contact as he worked away on repairs.
The Conundrum looked Jim up and down from where he stood on Aaarrrgghh's back, using the Krubera to reach some taller fixtures. He may not have been very near his student, but he was observant enough to notice the little hiccups in Jim's behaviour today. "Nervous about meeting with your father?" Blinky guessed.
"… Yeah… a bit, I guess." Jim confessed.
Jim had to admit, he was a little glad Blinky noticed. This troll always had a way with words that brought solace to him.
Blinky descended from Aaarrrgghh's back, moving closer to Jim. "Tell me, Master Jim… what is it you're looking to come out of this?"
"Um…" Jim shrugged halfheartedly. "I don't really know?"
"Do you want to meet with James?"
Good question, Blinky. I've been asking myself that all day. Jim sighed to himself, then shrugged. "Well, I'm not really excited about it."
"And yet you still choose to follow through." His teacher pointed out.
Jim thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and sighed again, "Well, yeah… it's like Mom said, who knows when I'll ever get a chance like this again?"
"Your mother is a smart woman. A trait she and you share." Blinky stated, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Now, I may not know much about James myself, but I know you've every right to be angry, everything considered." Jim nodded in bitter agreement, and Blinky raised an eyebrow. "However… it would be wise to remember that your history will not be solved through more hatred."
A look crossed Jim's face, one Blinky knew to be a sign of his internal conflictions. Placing a hand on his student's shoulder, the Conundrum continued, "I'm not saying you should forgive him. That is a choice for you and you alone. But, to continue to hold that hatred in your heart, especially when you've chosen to connect with him regardless… That will only hurt you more, Master Jim. You shouldn't let him hurt you anymore than he already has, and you will never find the closure you seek through hatred."
Aaarrrgghh eventually spoke up too, also grabbing Jim's attention. "You better than that." He said. "Better than him."
Jim looked down. He'd heard their words loud and clear, sure, but absorbing them was another story. "… I don't… I don't know if I'm ready for this… If I'll ever be ready for this…"
"Master Jim." Now Blinky took hold of both Jim's shoulder's, looking him right in the eyes with a look that only nothing but belief in the boy. "You have overcome mighty Troll warriors, Stalklings, Nyarlagroths, Gumm-Gumms, even Gunmar himself. When it comes to you, I know there is no challenge you can't overcome."
Well… at least Jim has one father figure that believes in him. Two, if you count Strickler… and there's all his other friends and family, of course.
With all this support backing him up, all his successes laid out in front of him, it would be hard not to feel at least a little less anxious. They did have good points.
"Thanks, you guys." Jim said with a grateful smile.
"You're quite welcome, Master Jim." Blinky replied with his own smile, Aaarrrgghh making a noise of agreement. "So, when are you supposed to meet with this 'James'?"
"Oh…" Jim pulled out his phone. "… Twenty minutes."
"What!" Blinky exclaimed, joshingly shooing him off. "Off you go then, or you're the one who will be late!"
"Would that really be so bad?" Jim joked back, to which Blinky chuckled and wished him good luck.
The older trolls watched Jim go, Blinky's leisurely smile shifting more into a frown as the child went out of sight. Aaarrrgghh didn't fail to notice.
"Worried?" He asked.
"Hm… maybe a slight." Blinky admitted, going back to Aaarrrgghh's side with his eyes still wandering to the direction Jim left. "I may not know much about that boy's father, but…"
The Conundrum trailed off, but Aaarrrgghh knew where his concerns lay. "Hurt Jim bad." He agreed solemnly, lifting Blinky onto his back again. "Hard to trust."
"… Indeed…" Blinky hummed, casting one last glance towards the crystal stairway before getting back to work. "I just hope his father's… 'good' intentions are sincere, for Master Jim's sake…"
.
Talk about the epitome of awkward.
They'd met at a café. Toby tagged along, for nobody-trusts-James-Lake-Sr. purposes, and had taken the chair closest to Jim. James, to the children's surprise, wasn't late. (Making jokes about how he wouldn't show up at all, they admit, had been a topic of conversation while they'd waited for him.)
But now that they were all there, drinks ordered, hardly a single word had been spoken by anybody. James had tried at a friendly smile, but it was only met with harsh stares from both Toby and Jim.
After what felt like hours of painfully tense silence (probably more like fifteen minutes) their drinks finally arrived. A black coffee for James, mochaccino for Toby, and a cup of the café's older, stale brew, pulpy with coffee grounds for Jim.
His father tried not to cringe at the gross concoction that was Jim's… 'drink'. It was one of the things Barbara had warned him over the phone about changes like that, because of Jim's transformation. Above all, she warned (more like demanded, really) that he not make a scene out of it. Her concerns, of course, were only for Jim, but he appreciated the tips nonetheless.
Jim could see his father's discomfort. Making a point of holding eye contact, he took a good, long slurp of his 'drink'.
Again, James fought back the urge to cringe. He took a sip of his own drink. "… Sssoooo…" he drawled, trying to search for a topic where they could find common ground, "Are you… still learning how to cook much?"
"Of course. I've gotten good at it." Jim said flatly, deadpan stare still in his eyes. "You'd have known that if you'd bothered sticking around."
"Oof." Toby muttered, sipping his mocha.
His father's jaw clenched, him drumming his fingers along his own cup. "… Ah… right…"
More awkward silence.
"… Been, uh… been keeping your grades up?" James tried again.
"I was, somewhat." Jim answered. "Haven't had much of a chance to go to school again lately."
"Right, right…" James muttered, nursing his coffee. He glanced at the amulet his son wore on his chest, frowning. It was obvious to Jim that his father was trying to make sense of the thing, trying to grasp the idea of this strange… thing that's infiltrated his son's life. Hell, everyone's been struggling to grasp the concept of magic and trolls in the world now, so it was a fair reaction… "So what's- what's the deal with that thing…?" James hesitantly asked, giving Jim a strangely worried look, "Did… did you choose this life?"
Toby basically went tense on Jim's part, wondering how much his friend would be willing to share about that with this particular person. Jim was quiet for a long moment, taking another slow sip from his cup.
"… The amulet chose me." He eventually said, still appearing rather calm so far. "I've had lots of doubts about this path. But I've helped more people than I ever thought I could before I found this amulet. I would never, ever take that back."
He should know. He'd been given the chance before.
Some more silence. Then James slowly nodded. "I… I see."
Toby was starting to make a game of counting the amount of times this conversation's falling into really painful silence.
"… So." Jim spoke first this time, saving his father the trouble. "What have you been doing all these years?"
"Oh, uh-" The older man seemed somewhat relieved at the change of topic, but he had a feeling Jim wouldn't approve of any answer he gave… considering the whole 'abandonment' thing. Might as well just go with the flow. Trying his absolute best to alleviate tension, he spoke in a chipper tone. Smiles are contagious, after all! "Well, your old man's been working as a technician!" He answered. "Yeah, been getting real handy with tech-y stuff over the years!"
That 'contagious smiles' idea was definitely not working.
"… Hmm." Jim mumbled, drinking his coffee sludge slowly. "You get very far in that career without postsecondary education?"
"I did take a few college courses a few years back, actually!" James replied, not relenting with that stupid grin. "Definitely tougher than high school, but totally worth it-"
A sharp crunching sound broke off James's sentence. Toby, the intuitive lad he was, had a feeling he knew the source, and glanced at Jim's mug. As he'd figured, a long crack had appeared from his friend's tightened grip.
But it didn't shatter, nor did it leak (yet). The only change to Jim's expression was a near invisible glint of fresh anger in his eye, not taking his gaze off James.
"Yeah." Jim eventually scoffed back a reply. "Try doing all that while also supporting a kid." Loosening his grip just slightly, he brought the cracked mug to his mouth again and muttered before taking a sip, "An experience I know you're unfamiliar with."
To no one's surprise, there was yet another long silence. One that James didn't know how to break, and that Jim didn't care to. But, he kept Blinky's words in the back of his mind, and took a deep breath to try and calm down again.
It felt like ages that they all sat in discomfort until Claire came along with their busted camcorder under her arm.
"Hey…" The girl greeted, sneaking a cagey look at James before addressing Jim directly. "Mind if I interrupt for a sec?"
"Not at all." Jim welcomed an interruption, to be honest, and Toby could also say he was relieved by her presence breaking some of the tension.
Unfortunately, she didn't come with good news. Sighing, Claire gestured to the camera. "So, Stuart did what he could, but… well, he couldn't really salvage the raw tape, and says we'd probably just be better off getting a new camera, too…"
Disappointed, Jim took a look at the device and sighed. "I was really hoping to get the original tape back…" He mumbled.
"Yeah, and as if we haven't spent enough on these things already-" Toby added in.
James watched silently as the children deliberated over that mess of a camcorder. He stewed over their problem for a bit, staring at the camera in contemplation… then he had a great idea!
"I can fix it for you!"
All three kids went quiet, looking across the table at the man with uncertainty. Jim was the first to speak.
"I mean, we've already been told it's not salvageable… What makes you think you could fix it?" He questioned, eyes slightly narrowed.
James didn't let the skepticism from his son damper his enthusiasm. "I've been getting good at tech stuff, remember?"
'Good at tech stuff' doesn't equate to 'miracle worker'. If it's this badly busted, Jim wasn't sure it could be saved at all…
James could see the obvious doubt in his son's eye, and it would be delusional of himself to not have doubts either… It looks like that thing got steamrollered… but he'd be damned to not try. He had to do something to try and get on Jim's good side, right…?
"… Well…" Jim looked at the camera again. It's not like they were going to use it anytime in the future now… If they were just going to trash it regardless, then, well… "…'Kay… Knock yourself out, I guess." He said uncertainly, gesturing that Claire might as well just stick it on the table for him.
James beamed with excitement at the chance to do a favour for his son. He scooped up the camera right away, not noticing the odd look the children were giving him past his enthusiasm.
At least this gave Jim a good opportunity to end their little get-together. Standing from his seat to join his friends, Jim went on, "Alright, well… while you're doing that, I've got… other things I should get to. Right guys?"
"Yup, righto!" Toby said immediately.
"Lots of Trollhunting business that needs doing." Claire backed them up, staying close to Jim's side as she and Toby kept their eyes on James.
"Oh, of course, of course-" James stood up as well, carefully tucking the broken camera under his arm. "How'sa 'bout I give you a call when I'm done with this, to let you know how it goes?" As he saw the starts of apprehension enter Jim's expression again, James quickly added another stammer, "If, uh, if that's alright, of course!"
Jim took a long hard stare at him, biting his tongue. "… Whatever. Yeah. That's…" He snorted under his breath. "… That's fine."
James tried not to let the repulsion in his son's voice falter his good mood. Still, he took the hint, and didn't press them to stay any longer, him and the kids going their separate ways.
Jim, Toby, and Claire all kept looking back as if to make sure they weren't being followed. Then, Claire spoke up for an update. "Sooo… How did all that go?"
Her boyfriend groaned and gave a halfhearted shrug. Toby let out an awkward laugh and said, "Well, less of a train wreck than expected, right Jimbo…?"
Again, Jim only shrugged slightly and sighed. "… Can we… talk about something else?" He asked tentatively. "I've had about as much of him as I can take today."
Claire and Toby shared a look between them.
"Sure thing, Jimbo!" Toby obliged quickly. He started tapping his chin in thought as they walked, trying to think of something more positive to chat about. "Ummm…"
"Oh! I have something to show you guys!" Claire spoke up, pulling out her phone and whipping through the camera roll. Both boys looked at her curiously until she came across what she was looking for. "Check out this priceless photo I snapped a few weeks back!" She said, angling the phone for them to see.
Both Toby and even Jim had to stifle the guffaws that came upon the unexpected sight.
"Jeez! Does Dic know you took that?!" Toby laughed.
"I think he'd've found a way to break my phone by now if he did." Claire said with a joking smirk. "So shh, no telling!"
"I'm surprised Angor was okay with it."
"To be fair, I think he still doesn't know what phones do."
The three of them all had a good laugh, moving on with other lighthearted banter, and Jim found relief in having something less stressing to occupy his attention for a while.
.
Thunder boomed in the sky, lightning sparking through the air with incredibly bright flashes preceding each roar.
Storms like this were rare in the sunny city of Arcadia. The heavy rain wasn't appreciated by many… but, of course, Angor Rot saw it as a good opportunity for training.
There was lots of annoyed cursing going on in Dictatious's head after he'd been taken down what felt like countless times. With all the extra noise going on in the background - wind, thunder, rain - it was much harder for Dictatious to tell where or when Angor Rot would strike next.
"I know you're frustrated…" Angor rumbled as he helped Dictatious up again, "… but you need to be able to compensate for unfavourable conditions like this."
"Yes, I know." Dictatious barked back bitterly. He closed his eyes, sighing, and repeated himself without that snappy tone. "… I know… It's just… aggravating."
Angor didn't say much, just slowly nodded in understanding with a quiet hum. "Will you keep trying?"
Dictatious scoffed under his breath, but nodded. "Might as well. We've done so much already."
Perhaps it was better off that Dictatious couldn't see the little smirks his comments occasionally brought to Angor's face. The Conundrum had a surprising amount of commitment to their training sessions, considering how much he used to insist it was all pointless.
So, back to it. Dictatious closed his eyes, and Angor went back to circling him like a wolf around its prey.
The rain falling heavily around them really threw Dictatious off. So much of what he relied on revolved around subtle sounds and movements, and that was all being muffled.
Dictatious jumped as a flaring ball of magical energy shot by his head. His hair definitely would've puffed up if it weren't wet.
Whipping around, Dictatious knew by now there'd be no point in trying to use his near-useless eyes, so he instead took a blind shot of his own in the direction that Angor's blast came from. Unsurprisingly, he missed, his sphere of energy colliding with a nearby tree instead.
Getting a bad feeling, Dictatious started to turn again, ears perked for any hint of extra noise.
Nothing.
Suspiciously, Angor didn't follow up with another attack right away either, leaving Dictatious tense in anticipation of when he would strike next.
Then, amidst the rain and lightning, he heard the snap of a tree branch.
Oh great-
Knowing what would happen next, but not able to prepare a counter in time, Dictatious only braced himself as Angor Rot pounced on him from the trees, the two trolls tumbling in the slippery grass for a few seconds before Angor had him pinned.
"Well," Angor said, a slight smirk on his face, "At least you knew it was coming that time."
Dictatious did a big roll of the eyes, picking himself back up when Angor let him go. "Right, because that's such an improvement."
"A little progress is b-"
"Better than none, I know." Dictatious interjected, though he did have a small smile on his face. "For someone with such a somber disposition, it baffles me as to how you keep being so… 'optimistic', in this regard…"
Angor scoffed, smirking slightly right back. "I will choose to take that as a compliment."
"See! There you go again!" Dictatious then exclaimed, pointing a finger at him in a fake-accusatory manner. "Since when do you take compliments?"
Now it was Angor Rot's turn for an eye roll, shaking his head with that smirk still on his face. "Shall we move on?"
"Well that's up to you, now isn't i-"
Tackled to the ground once again. Dictatious wasn't surprised for his sassy tone to be met with such a reaction. But still, he couldn't help but give Angor a dry look. "Seriously?"
The assassin clicked his tongue in a way that almost sounded teasing. "Hmm. I thought you'd finally have evaded me that time."
Angor helped him back up, and the Conundrum had to refrain from making some other smart-alecked response. "Honestly…" He muttered instead, holding a defensive position as Angor Rot began to circle him, "You're almost worse than a Nyarlagroth, you know."
"A what?"
Dictatious's ear twitched at the sound of Angor's voice as he attempted to keep track of the other troll's position. "Darklands creature. Nasty things, they are… Larger than a house, and highly aggressive."
Even through the pouring rain, Dictatious managed to hear Angor's following move. When the sorcerer lunged next, Dictatious was just barely able to duck out of the way, only suffering a graze from Angor's practice knife.
But it was far from a graceful dodge, as the wet grass caused Dictatious to slip and fall over with a thud.
Concealing the mild tone of amusement that tried to sneak into his voice, Angor asked, "Are you alright?"
"As the humans would say…" Dictatious heaved, lifting one hand in a low-effort thumbs-up as he lay on his back, "… 'nailed it'."
"Well, you finally dodged me, at least…" Angor helped Dictatious stand. "… but next time, you may want to keep a steady footing as well."
"What grand advice." Dictatious joshed, cracking a smirk at him.
Angor went back to circling, this time with a small violet fireball wavering in one hand. "It shocks me that you managed to survive all those years around such Darklands creatures with how little you knew of defending yourself." He paused, then added, "No offense intended."
"Oh, none taken." Dictatious replied. "I always did whatever I could to avoid them. Of course, Gunmar was always a good source of protection too-"
Dictatious paused when he heard a short, but sharp laugh of disbelief from Angor Rot, a sound that threw him off guard as it was one he's never heard from the assassin before. "… What?" Dictatious questioned.
"Forgive my… bewilderment." Angor snorted, a new sourness to his tone that felt misplaced and, frankly, offputting in what had just been a friendly atmosphere. "Hearing the likes of him being described as a protector just sounds like bushigal."
Dictatious's ears pressed back out of instinct at the harsher tone, but he furrowed his brows and, with annoyed undertones, countered back, "Well, it's the truth. He kept his followers safe-"
The Conundrum yelped when a ball of magic whizzed past his head.
"I watched him let Morgana kill scores of his soldiers without so much as a blink." Angor pointed out dryly, continuing his circling. "And I know he's not shied away from hurting and killing his supporters himself." With another scoff, he also added, "You're a prime example of that."
"I-!" Dictatious gritted his teeth, struggling to produce any argument. "That… That doesn't mean-"
Another fireball sizzled through the rain and exploded near Dictatious's feet, making him jump. He growled, shooting back a few rounds of his own, but none landed on his target.
"He would have killed you in a heartbeat had no one interfered, and yet you still defend him."
"What happened then was circumstantial! It- It wouldn't have happened if I had just-" The exasperation in Dictatious's voice was clear as day, how he tried so hard to justify what happened. "He only did it because I lied! He wouldn't have hurt me otherwise!"
"Oh really?" That got Angor to laugh. It was a mirthless, bitter sound. "You vastly underestimate my intelligence if you think you can make me believe that's the first time he's ever hurt you."
Dictatious stilled. His jaw clenched, as if readying to prepare a defense of his Underlord, but nothing came out.
Angor's icy eye narrowed to a lone amber slit, challenging the smaller troll to prove him wrong. "Go ahead. Just try to convince me otherwise."
Silence. Dictatious had gone tense, first there being a look of surprise and… perhaps even pain in his eyes at Angor's words, though that melted away as he gritted his teeth in frustration, the astonishment on his face dwindling away to be replaced with tired resentment.
But still, Dictatious didn't utter a word.
"… That's what I thought." Angor Rot rumbled, his irritation slowly ebbing away when Dictatious stopped pointlessly retaliating. He started to walk past the Conundrum, and tried to change the topic back to their training. "Now then, let's work on your-"
"No."
The assassin paused, looking back at Dictatious.
"I've… I've had enough for today." Dictatious muttered, not returning his glance. He wouldn't want to look at Angor right now even if he had working sight. "… I'm going back inside…"
His guide raised an eyebrow at him, but to his credit, didn't try to object. "… If you insist…"
To Angor, he thought it pointless to halt their progress over one trivial little dispute, but he could tell from the Conundrum's tone that he wasn't keen on changing his mind. He was about to follow Dictatious, but took pause at the sight of Merlin entering the yard. Passing by the Conundrum, they didn't seem to pay each other any mind, aside from a squinting glance on Dictatious's part.
"Are you finally done with these 'training' antics for the day?" Merlin asked as he approached Angor..
Angor's attention hadn't completely turned to him right away. He stayed quiet, watching as the disheartened Dictatious made his way back into the house, a strange feeling of agitation lingering in the back of the assassin's mind that he couldn't seem to shake.
"… It would seem that way." He eventually answered, frowning slightly.
"Good." Merlin replied curtly, walking past the troll. "Come along, then. We've much to cover."
New irritation jabbed at Angor Rot. He detested the way Merlin spoke so dismissively to him. But, to the surprise of even himself sometimes, he put up with it and followed the wizard into the woods, as was becoming usual.
