"Look, Bagdwella, I don't particularly care about how rude the New Jersey gnomes have been."
Blinky had been pacing back and forth in The Forge basically the second he had started this phone call. Aaarrrgghh was peacefully laid down near him, listening to him ramble on with the New Trollmarket residents. They had done a good job on their cleaning efforts today anyways, and a break was well deserved.
"Yes, yes, I understand that they're vile. But unless they're spewing shadow portals, that's not what I'm calling about." Blinky sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Has everything on your end still been relatively… you know, normal?"
Aaarrrgghh's ear perked at the sound of approaching footsteps, and he opened one eye to see Jim entering The Forge.
"Jim." Aaarrrgghh grunted, getting Blinky's attention.
Upon hearing Aaarrrgghh point out Jim's arrival, he cut the call short. "Yes, very good. Let me know if anything abnormal pops up."
"Is New Trollmarket doing okay?" Jim asked as Blinky hung up the phone.
"Ohh, none worse for the wear." Blinky replied. "They've been handling themselves surprisingly well. Nobody's destroyed the place yet, at least…"
"And still no magic on their end going out of whack?"
"It doesn't appear so." Blinky answered, rubbing his chin. "Aside from some Changelings being able to switch forms, they've reported no other anomalies of that sort."
"Huh… Well, as long as they're staying alert, I guess…" Jim sighed, but then he followed with a chuckle. "Man, I'm still surprised they haven't burned the place down yet."
"You and I both!" Blinky chortled in response. "I hadn't expected we would be gone this long, but alas, they've been managing... I assume you've come to collect us for movie night?"
"Yeah, Claire and Toby are getting the stuff set up now!" Jim replied. "We should get going."
.
.
Within the Domzalski household, a certain Changeling was yet again making a video of some sort, filming himself with his phone.
"A'ight, you rats! Today you're gonna be caaalled..." He squinted at a dramatically oversized list of nicknames for his subscribers, skimming over his favourites. Hobgoblins, Mother-sockers, Real Enriques, Miniriques, too many sock puns to count… "Eh, fuck it, Not-E's."
He threw the list aside, adjusted his phone camera, and went on. "Okay, my little Not-E's! T'day, we're gonna be goin' on a wildlife expedition!" He hopped out of Toby's room, phone in hand, and kept talking as he bounced down the stairs. "The infamous Domzalski home is FILLED with all sortsa creepy-crawlies! Look over there, I can see one now!"
Claire, blissfully unaware of NotEnrique's sudden approach, had been adding the finishing touches to her famous guacamole-and-chips mountain. She had just been disposing of her compost when she heard the pitter-patter of Changeling feet.
"... and 'ere we find a wild Claire in 'er natural habitat."
A space in which Claire could usually whip up her famous guacamole in relative peace had now been infiltrated by her twerp of a brother. NotEnrique filmed her so closely, he may as well have slapped her in the face with his phone. She rolled her eyes in good humour, but otherwise ignored him.
Snickering, he focused the camera on her guac pile and said, "As you can see, wild Claires dispense MASSIVE boogies throughout their lifet- Oi blimey!" After dodging a barrage of guac and escaping the counter, NotEnrique turned the lens to himself for a moment. "She's an aggressive specimen, that one!"
Looking around, he caught sight of Angor Rot in the next room over, leaning against a wall and casually carving another totem, as he often did.
NotEnrique hopped right over to him. "How 'bout you, Spooks?" He said, full of energy. "Up to any weird voodoo shit today?"
"... No?" Angor Rot replied, mildly confused, but not surprised by NotEnrique's blunt approach.
NotEnrique turned the camera to himself again. "You never know! Gotta be careful with these ones!"
When Angor gave Claire a confused look, she could only shrug at him, then turned all her attention to NotEnrique.
"Put that away, would you?" Claire called over to him, carrying her mountain of guac towards the living room. "We're gonna be ready soon!"
"Oi, was that happenin' tonight?" NotEnrique exclaimed, shocked. "Ugh, fiiiine." He turned his camera towards himself and said, "Be right back! We'll continue our journey later."
Before she changed rooms, Claire glanced back at Angor and asked, "Can you go get Dictatious?"
There was a split moment of hesitation on his end, but Angor Rot made sure to brush it off fast enough that Claire wouldn't notice. "Of course."
As he walked out of sight, Claire texted Toby to get over there or else they'd hit Play without him. What she immediately got back in response was a :U.
Toby quickly followed up with "omw back now!".
Satisfied with that, Claire put her phone aside and started munching on tortilla chips and guacamole early. NotEnrique hopped up beside her and swiped a massive chunk of dip with one chip.
"Where's Tubs been, anyway?"
"Oh… You know, camera stuff." Claire answered. "Went to change the batteries, I think…"
There was a weird look in her eye, one that NotEnrique had noticed more than once now over time, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Somethin' buggin ya, sis?"
"It's nothing, really…"
When she got a skeptical squint from NotEnrique in response, she felt she didn't have much choice but to explain herself a bit.
"I mean, it's just, like…" Sighing, Claire admitted, "Sometimes I just feel like I'm not… doing enough. Jim's going through so much right now, and Toby's been obsessing over those cameras-"
"Slim Jim's gotta deal with his whole body horror mess, and Tubby's runnin' himself into the ground at the rate he's goin'." NotEnrique pointed out. "Yer the only one outta these idiots that's still functional. What, would ya feel better if ya had somethin' destroying yer brain, too?" Jokingly, he added, "Cuz I can do that for free!"
"You know what I mean." Claire sighed again, slightly irritated. Though, her expression quickly shifted back to one of doubts. "... I don't know. It's just… Morgana, She… She makes me feel so... scared." She admitted quietly. "I'm barely even helping, and I… What if She..."
Claire trailed off, an empty look behind her eyes. She had been repressing the memories of what Morgana did to her as best she could in order to keep some level of calmness, but… Was it selfish to feel any worse about this mess when they were all feeling useless to some extent?
"... Aw, sis…" A pained look crossed NotEnrique's face for a second, but it quickly gave way to his usual mischievous smirk, and he punched his hand for emphasis. "Oi, if that witchy turd messes with you again, I got no problems beatin' her outta you again, you know!"
If anything, his enthusiasm about it at least made her laugh. "Should I be thankful or worried at how that's your immediate reaction?"
"Why not both?" Her brother smirked.
"You're a gremlin."
"Why thank you!"
.
.
Luckily for Angor Rot, Dictatious was never hard to find. If he wasn't in the living room, he was in the garage, so that was naturally the only place he'd need to look. Still, he had some hesitance in approaching when the doorway came in sight.
While he and Dictatious had made up some days back, Angor Rot got the feeling that Dictatious was still nervous about being near him.
He approached the garage, the door already being slightly ajar. Angor pushed it open further, but didn't step inside. Dictatious appeared to have not noticed his presence, as he didn't stop his routinely laundry-folding, nor made even a glance towards the doorway.
"... Dictatious?"
Angor Rot tried to ignore how hearing his voice still made Dictatious jump every now and then. The Conundrum was quick to calm himself back down, glancing in Angor's general direction. "The others will be ready soon."
"Ahh- Yes, yes, I'm coming." Finishing what he was doing, Dictatious stood and made way to the door.
Angor Rot stepped aside, giving the smaller troll much space to comfortably pass him. While it's true that Dictatious seemed to be getting used to the idea all over again that Angor wouldn't try to hurt him, Angor Rot didn't want to risk crossing any lines.
.
.
Order of the Phoenix was the title of their Harry Potter film for the night. The children had been making a big deal over this particular movie basically all day, so finally having everyone settled into the living room was a relief.
"What makes this one any more special than the other ones?" Angor Rot asked.
"Ohh, just you wait!" Toby said excitedly. "This one's got one of THE MOST satisfying scenes you'll ever see! This is definitely the best one of them all."
"Oh, I don't know about that!" Jim disagreed. "Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty fucking iconic, just saying!"
"I think they all have their strong points and their weak ones." Claire pointed out. "There's no one true 'best' or 'worst' movie."
"Deathly Hallows part one." Toby challenged.
"... Okay, so there are no BEST movies…"
The boys chuckled at her backtracking, and Blinky rubbed his chin in confusion. "So the worst is yet to come, eh?"
"Meh, let's not worry about that now!" Toby said quickly, finally pressing Play on their current film. "It's Order of the Phoenix time, baby!"
.
The movie kicked off with the action right away, what with a Dementor attack, Harry being expelled, a court hearing… and the way the children erupted into aggressive "boo"s towards one member of the court, the trolls weren't surprised to see that she made another appearance at Hogwarts. Even still, they did not expect the infamous blood quill scene.
"How on Earth does she even get away with that?!" Blinky questioned aloud as the scars appeared on Harry's hand. "Is this not one of their most important students? Once he reports her-"
"If he reports her." Claire pointed out.
"If?! Why wouldn't he?"
The only response to that was awkward laughter from the children. Blinky sighed irritatedly, already annoyed with the dynamic being set up with Umbridge.
The magic in this show was intriguing, for sure. While the quill was a means of causing pain to a child, it was still conceptually and visually interesting to watch.
Angor Rot glanced at Dictatious, who had stayed relatively quiet throughout the movie so far. Sometimes he wondered if the Conundrum ever got frustrated, not being able to get the added visual context of these shows…
.
On a lighter note, the fact that every troll continued to be repulsed by the uncomfortably long kissing scenes never failed to make the teenagers snicker.
"Hey Tobes, you should rewind it a bit, I think they really liked that scene with Cho and Harry!" Jim teased.
"NO!" The trolls yelled basically in unison, and the children's snickers turned into loud snorts of laughter.
.
That moment of lightheartedness didn't last long, however, and everyone in the room fell uncomfortably quiet as the scenes of Snape probing Harry's mind started to play. Jim kept giving Claire worried glances, and although Angor Rot didn't show it externally, Toby seemed to pick up on his concealed discomfort as well, judging from how he completely shifted his attention to his carving when it started.
"Um... " Toby spoke up, glancing between the two of them, "We can skip these kind of scenes, if you guys want…"
"It's fine." Claire said immediately. "Just a little… off-putting now, I guess, but…"
Toby frowned at her, then at Angor again, who was either ignoring the question altogether, or didn't realize it was also directed at him. "Well… okay…"
.
There was cheering at the Weasley fireworks scene, booing at every Umbridge appearance, but then, the children got strangely excited when the scene suddenly switched to Umbridge, Harry, and Hermoine in the dark forest.
When she got dragged away by the centaurs, and Harry threw her line back in her face, the trolls could finally see why.
"Karma, bitch!" Jim shouted, Claire and Toby cheering in agreement.
"She die?" Aaarrrgghh asked, confused.
"Sadly, no." Toby replied.
"We're horrible, oh my gosh." Claire chuckled quietly.
.
Yet again, the good times didn't last as the climax approached. There was Sirius's death, of course, followed by a beautifully crafted battle of magic, but it was when the possession scene started that discomfort started to really set in again. Angor had glanced at Claire, who said nothing, but there was a visible flinch as she watched the events unfolding. Jim took her hand into his, rubbing his thumb along her skin for comfort.
Once they got through that, however, the rest of the movie was smooth sailing, and the ending was (thankfully) satisfactory to all.
.
"Great movie!" Toby exclaimed yet again when the credits began to roll. "Let's have some of this energy in our lives!"
"Agreed! We need more of this kind of stuff." Jim laughed. "It's too bad about Rowling, though."
"Yeah, oof." Toby responded. "Welp, unfortunately even jerks can make good books."
"Why, of course!" Blinky agreed, despite not having full context. "Just look at Dictatious!"
Toby slapped a hand to his face to muffle the snort that came out, and Dictatious shot his brother a dry glare.
"Very funny, brother." He snapped back. "Though, that's no longer true, now is it?"
"Oh, come now, I was only kidding." Blinky chuckled, waving him off. "It still applies whether you can write or not, I'm sure."
"How is your work in The Forge coming along?" Angor Rot interjected, very deliberately changing the subject. There was a note of annoyance towards Blinky in his voice, one that he had meant to better conceal, but Blinky seemed to have caught on that a line might be getting crossed with this thread of conversation.
"Oh, ahem… Fine, fine. Still quite a bit of clean-up to go before the training equipment can be turned on, but we're getting there!" Blinky replied confidently. "Perhaps Aaarrrgghh and I can get more done tonight still…"
"Can I come help?" Claire asked, hopeful.
"Of course, fair Claire!" Blinky accepted the offer immediately. "Many hands make light work, after all!"
"Oooo, I'm comin' too!" NotEnrique declared, hopping onto Claire's shoulder. "Would make an interestin' background for the rest o' my video!"
"Whatever you say, Mr. One-Track-Mind." His sister teased him, earning a ruffle of the hair from the Changeling.
"Izzat the best insult you could come up with?! I'm disappointed!"
Jim got up from his seat, stretching. "I'd better get back to my house. I promised Mom and Strickler that I'd cook dinner."
"Save me some leftovers, Jimbo!" Toby asked, practically drooling at the mention of his food. He stood as well. "I better go upstairs and check if the cameras caught anything while we were movie-watching…"
"Remember sleep." Aaarrrgghh said, giving Toby a stern look. The redhead just chuckled awkwardly in response, making no promises.
.
One by one, the others had filtered out of the room until Dictatious and Angor Rot were the only ones left. Dictatious seemed relieved the moment that Blinky left, anyways, although he still looked a touch wary of Angor still being in the room. All the same, he picked up the remote and switched the TV to one of his crime show channels with a practiced hand.
His ears stayed quite low, and his eyes cast occasional glances in Angor's direction, though sometimes it was hard to tell how intentional that movement was.
Angor stared at him quietly for some time, but eventually, he spoke.
"Does my presence still bother you?"
Dictatious's ears flicked upwards for a moment in response to the question, casting Angor a surprised look.
"Oh- No, no, it's, um…" His eyes darted away, and he quietly cleared his throat. "Just haven't yet... gotten used to it again, is all."
"... Is there any way I can... ease your concerns at all?"
The Conundrum could detect a note of uncertainty in Angor Rot's voice, as if doubting Dictatious's reassurances. It's not like Dictatious could really blame him. He had been quite bad at keeping his own stupid anxiety in check, even still.
"It's okay, Angor." Dictatious assured him again, this time with less hesitance. "You've already done enough."
Still not fully convinced, but also not in a position to pry further, Angor let it go for now, going back to his carving. The two of them stayed silent as the crime show continued to play.
Angor Rot wasn't sure what the overarching "plot" of the story was supposed to be… He could tell there was a team of scientists, and a… warrior of sorts that protected them? Was 'Cop' the term that humans used for these ones? He'd only caught small pieces or one-off episodes here and there in Dictatious's company. "Bones", he had referred to the show before.
A lot of the language they used went over Angor's head, but he could follow the general series of events, usually.
One recurring process he noticed being used in not just this show, but across the board of the crime genre altogether, was "DNA" jargon.
He glanced at yet Dictatious yet again, silently debating something...
"... So, this… 'Dee-en-ay' testing… How does it work?"
Dictatious's ears perked up immediately upon hearing Angor's inquiry. "Oh, that's easy!" He proclaimed. "You see, humans have created technology that can analyze particle traces of the human body - hair, skin, saliva, you name it - and they use it to..."
Angor Rot watched calmly as Dictatious rambled on and on. One of the few situations in which Dictatious seemed most comfortable was when he was sharing knowledge, Angor had noticed, and he was glad his gamble seemed to work this time. It was almost as if nothing had even happened between them, how quickly and naturally the small troll took to his conversation-starter.
Even if it was still sometimes hard to grasp the massive technological advancements he described, Angor Rot took a strange comfort in hearing Dictatious talk like this around him again. It was, in some sense, relaxing to him.
