Hello dear reader! Thank you for clicking on this second chapter, it really means a lot!
So within a week I finally got around to watching TrollsTopia and 'Holiday in Harmony' hence why I didn't jump back to uploading this as quickly as I originally planned. Thoughts on the series: there were a lot of parts I enjoyed such as taking more time to develop some friendships and picking up previous arcs and storylines. However, Cloud Guy has now reached Creek levels of "if I see this character one more time and he's not getting comeuppance, I'm gonna kill him myself" whenever I see his episodes. Ugh! They really messed up with him!
Overall though, loved the continued creativity and concepts they introduce, and they mixed the genre characters a lot more than I expected, which was also nice to see. Definitely gave me some interesting story ideas I may explore later.
But now, on to this story. I went back and forth on this, but decided to do another big chapter break up, which ended up matching with the introduction of each new sibling for John Dory. While the holidays are still in full swing and I'm out of college, I'm just gonna write whatever pops into my head and organize everything later. I tend to focus write on one thing but with so many ideas running through and some that sort of pull from each other, I figured I'll at least get a bulk of stories out and can more easily come back to them later. But we'll see.
Any who, hope you enjoy the next chapter in this story! And Happy Advent/Merry Christmas to all of y'all!
Disclaimer: I don't own Trolls or anything dealing with its long history. DreamWorks own the franchise rights, and I'm just a simple writer who enjoys creating fanfiction.
A few weeks later, Aster and Reed were once again sitting on the couch while John Dory and Spruce stared up at the lilac hair with rapt attention.
Eventually, the hair finally parted and the pair on the floor shouted in excitement as they saw the egg energetically sway back and forth. Cracks spread across the surface and within a blink of an eye, pieces of shell flung out and on top of Aster's head was a small, teal skinned Troll baby with the bright blue eyes shared by all the males in the family.
They looked down at Reed and Aster, smiling back at their beaming faces.
"Baby bro!" the older siblings called out, waving their small hands. When the Troll in question shifted focus to them, they let out a 'coo' before hopping out of Aster's hair.
"Whoa there, little guy!" Reed cried out, catching the little thing right above the other boys' heads. All three kids started giggling as their dad gently pulled them toward Aster, saying, "Barely three seconds hatched and already you want to go jumping off of high places."
The blue Troll eagerly took her new baby in her arms, playfully popping them on the nose. Over the sound of baby chuckles, Aster said, "Oh, come now, little one. Surely my company wasn't THAT bad these past few months. Or are you just that eager to explore?"
"Definitely the last one, mom!" Spruce proclaimed, climbing up Reed's legs and settling on his dad's lap.
"Yeah!" John Dory added, carefully jumping up behind his mom and looking down at his new sibling over her shoulder. "Like we told you and dad already, Spruce and I are gonna make sure baby brother has the best-est time ever!"
"Well," Reed mused, tickling the baby's tummy as Spruce wrapped one relatively larger hand around the other's much smaller one. "It looks like part of that 'best-est' time will involve a band, though not for a long while yet."
"Looks like it," Aster agreed, adjusting her body so John Dory could get a better view of his new brother. "You boys sure did call that one."
"Yeah, it's a brother thing," John Dory stated as a matter of fact, reaching his arm down to hold the other hand. "So, what's his name going to be?"
"Your father named you, J.D., and I named Spruce, so it's your father's turn again."
"Hm… let's see now…" Reed muttered, regarding the happy baby's face for several moments. Not to longer after, he proclaimed, "Clay, his name will be Clay."
The baby let out a shout, seeming to agree with the name. The noise elicited cheers from John Dory and Spruce as well, who quickly introduced themselves.
"My name's John Dory, your older brother! Like I told Spruce when he was little like you, we're gonna do a lot of fun stuff together, like singing, dancing, walking, climbi-"
"I'm Spruce, your other older brother! And like J.D. said, we're all gonna have a great time together!"
The rest of the night was spent with Aster and Reed relaxing on the couch as their two older children excitedly chatted with the new brother, who eagerly gurgled and cooed at them.
XXX
"-so don't worry about your hair getting lonely, Clay, because it's gonna grow right by Spruce and mine. Then, when your Troll Gem finishes growing, we're gonna have a big party to celebrate," John Dory finished, pointing at the glowing gem in the Troll Gem scrapbook.
On either side of Reed, sat John Dory and Spruce who had pointed out all the pictures to Clay. Strands of bright yellow hair swayed as the baby turned back and forth between the pair, eyes bouncing around with interest. The troll baby sat below the scrapbook that rested on their father's knees and looked around between his family and the book contents.
"Don't worry about it not growing, because J.D. and I are going to make sure it does," Spruce vowed, placing a hand over his heart and raising his hand. "Can't have our little brother feeling left out."
"That's a mighty big promise to make, Spruce," Aster commented as she walked out of the bedroom with a pair of scissors and a bag that John Dory instantly recognized.
"Well, I'm a big brother now," he stated, raising his chin and replacing the spread hand with a small fist that he banged against his chest. "So, I got to start making big promises."
"Well, I'm still the BIGGEST big brother," John Dory cut in, pounding both of his fists against his chest. "So, I'll make even BIGGER promises!"
"Why don't we start small for the moment though," Reed interrupted, closing the scrapbook and positioning Clay further on his knee. "Let's get the hair cut so your mom and I are prepared for our trip out tonight."
Under two choruses of 'okay,' the boys both slid off the couch as Aster took a seat next to Reed, standing in front of the pair on the floor.
Like John Dory last year, Spruce looked up at his mom and asked sweetly, "Mom, can I please cut Clay's hair? You can even hold my hand while I do it."
"Sorry, Spruce, but this is a job for GIGANTIC grown-ups," she cheerfully teased. Despite his request being denied, Spruce couldn't help but giggle at the answer. As he calmed down, Aster brought the bag out and handed it to John Dory, asking, "J.D., do you want to hold the bag again?"
"Really?!" The two-year-old was about to snatch the offered item, but suddenly stopped and looked at his other brother. He tilted his head for a moment, thought about something, and then pulled his hand back, saying, "I would like to, but Spruce can do it instead if he wants to."
"I do want to! I do want to!" the one in question confirmed, swaying on his feet.
"Alright then. Here you go, Spruce." Aster handed the bag to the middle sibling, who carefully accepted it and gently opened the bag. She turned her focus to Clay, who giggled as his dad wrapped his hands around his small body to keep him from moving too much. Smiling, she brought the scissors over, saying, "Try to hold still for me, Clay. It will be over soon."
The baby Troll was practically vibrating with energy, but Aster was able to cleanly snip the hair and placed the strands in the bag, which Spruce closed with a satisfied grin and offered to his mom.
She took it was a loud thank you, placing both it and the scissors in her hair.
With the sharp-ish object out of the way, Reed withdrew his group and carefully placed Clay into the waiting arms of John Dory. Spruce immediately rubbed his hand on the now bald baby, joking, "Just wait a bit, Clay. Soon your hair will be as awesome as mine."
XXX
If John Dory thought life with one sibling was fun, having two was just as great! Like he did with Spruce, John Dory often spent his time playing and singing to baby Clay. Now that he was a bit older, he even started dance around him in simple moves that easily impressed the youngest sibling (though it still wasn't uncommon for him to mess up the steps and fall down, much to everyone's amusement).
What made things 10x more fun was that now John Dory and Spruce would tag team while they did all those activities. John Dory would lead a song, and Spruce would quickly provide vocal back up. When John Dory stacked blocks on one side, Spruce would be on the other side to create a twin structure beside Clay. Spruce still couldn't keep up with John Dory's still blossoming dance moves, but it still felt awesome for the older sibling when his first little sibling would move his arms and start clapping as back up.
One thing that John Dory had quickly learned, however, was that baby Clay was not exactly like baby Spruce. While Spruce had normally been content laying around and going with the flow, Clay seemed eager to jump into whatever was happening. Whether it was throwing himself at a tower of play blocks (hence why John Dory and Spruce had started making the structures separately), crawling away from his brothers at a seemingly high speed (though never fast enough to escape their parents or grandmother), or joining in whatever song John Dory and Spruce were singing (the words replaced with baby babble, but the tone itself was pretty harmonious), Clay seemed quite insistent on not being left out of any of the fun.
It was a bit of an adjustment for John Dory. Instead of one Trolling to look after, there were two and one of them seemed to think he was much older than he actually was. When Spruce did something with baby Clay that John Dory had actually done with him in the not-so-distant past, the oldest brother couldn't help but find some flaw or issue with the way Spruce did it because that wasn't how John Dory had done it. Most of the time, John Dory managed to hang back and not interrupt the pair's bonding moments. Their parents had never tried to micromanage how the first two children had interacted as long as no one got hurt or angry. So, John Dory owed it to Spruce and Clay to not mess that up for them.
However, every now and then the oldest Trolling couldn't help but butt himself into whatever activity was going on between Spruce and Clay.
If Spruce pulled out what John Dory perceived as too many scrapbooks for Clay to look at, John Dory would put half of them back without saying a word. If Clay's legs started wobbling too much and Spruce didn't seem ready to catch him, John Dory was immediately by the baby's side to catch him even though Clay didn't seem to mind falling that much. Or if Spruce jumped too excitedly on the couch next to Clay (which John Dory had done numerous times and would even flip off if he got the angle and momentum just right), John Dory would grab him by the shoulders and make him stop.
Clay was none the wiser to anything, so he thought John Dory was being overly silly. Spruce on the other hand would frown at the green haired Trolling, sometimes calling him a meanie head and running off. Within a few minutes, the purple haired Trolling would return with a smile and seeming to get over the bit of annoyance he had with John Dory. Though the instances of running off seemed to be increasing with each passing day.
The hovering of the eldest over the younger Trollings was broken by Reed, who had begun taking the oldest on walks around the branches while Aster stayed back and looked after the other two. The father never said anything about the change in routine, simply keeping John Dory's small hand in his much larger one and telling him about all the things around their pod, the Troll Tree, and whatever else he deemed his son should know.
John Dory learned quite a bit from those moments. Like why the Bergens ate them around Trollstice, how there used to be a lot more Trolls and more Troll Trees than the one they lived in, that the bars separating the Tree from Bergentown were not always there, and that Reed and Aster had chosen to live so high in the branches because they wanted to be as far out of reach of the Bergens as possible and didn't mind being away from others like the Trolls who resided more at the main trunk and lower branches did.
His dad never said anything that was overly scary nor bared him from repeating anything, but John Dory could sense from his dad's tone that these types of things were best left to be handled by an adult rather than echoed by a Trolling like him. So, he never repeated those stories and talks to his siblings, focusing instead on describing the bugs, leaves, flowers, etc. that they saw during their walks when he was asked.
Sitting on the edge of a sturdy branch munching on some cookies Reed had 'secretly snatched' when Aster's back was turned, John Dory went on his usual chatter about what he was learning in Troll daycare and how much he enjoyed being around his brothers. Even if he thought Spruce wasn't being a big brother the 'right' way and Clay always interrupted whatever plans John Dory made for them.
He took a small break, happily munching on his cookie and letting his dad take over the talking for a bit.
Reed laughed, ruffling John Dory's hair playfully. "Speaking from experience, John Dory, there's really no 'right' or 'wrong' way to be a sibling, and every Troll is different. The closest you can get is being nice to your brothers and letting them be themselves. You're still young, so there's no need for you to get things perfect right now."
"If you say so," the boy mused, licking some cinnamon off his fingers. "But I still reserve the right to tell Spruce when he's off key or messing up a dance move! Clay can get a pass though since he's still too little to understand how to do it all."
"Hey now," Reed chuckled. "You three still have a way to go before forming that band. Until then, just have fun and enjoy the time with each other."
John Dory stuck his green tongue (courtesy of the green frosting from his cookie stack) out at his dad, but grinned as he responded, "Okay, I'll try not to be too mean to them."
"I'll hold you to that."
Silence settled over the pair for a while, broken only by the sounds of them munching cookies and John Dory humming in thought.
Just as Reed took a big bite out of his snack, the boy asked brightly, "Do you and mom have any siblings?"
Reed stopped chewing, staring off into the mess of leaves in front of them where they could make out tiny insects lazily crawling around. John Dory felt his smile drop as the silence dragged on, ears lowering.
Finally, the older Troll swallowed his cookie pieces, took a deep breath, and looked down at John Dory with a serious expression. "Your mother never had any siblings, though she does have quite a few cousins around her age that live down on the main branches. As for me, I did. An older sister."
"Oh," John Dory interrupted, tilting his head at the thought, "That must have been weird."
Despite the subject matter, Reed snorted at the comment. "It's what I was used to, so I guess it wasn't too strange for me growing up. She was about… five or six years older than me, and it was just the two of us. I always followed her around, and she never minded. Well, maybe once or twice, but that was more because I was a bit clumsy and would sometimes drop frosting and glitter on her."
John Dory laughed at the image, reminded of when Spruce did the same thing a few times and the one occasion Clay somehow managed to knock Grandma Rosiepuff's Fluffleberry cake in a way that it hit the ceiling instead of the floor.
"She was an awesome sister and Troll. Kind, sweet, a great singer and baker, could bust a move on the fly between different songs without missing a beat. Though her greatest talent was being able to hold her breath underwater for a long time, even while swimming. More than once our parents would make a net out of their hair and would pull her out that way when she didn't to leave the water when it was time to go."
"Was she actually part fish?"
"No, she was definitely a normal Troll. But our parents did name her Minnow, so maybe they accidently gave her fish powers."
The boy's eyes widened at the thought. "I have a fish name, too. Do you think I could do the same thing?!"
Reed laughed at the comment, leaning back on his hands and staring up. "When you're older, we'll test that theory out."
"Awesome! Do you think Minnow will come if we invite her?"
Once again, Reed's face grew serious. Swallowing down a lump in his throat, he answered, "I'm afraid not, John Dory. Minnow… Minnow went away many years before you were born and can't come back anymore."
John Dory instantly understood what his dad meant. 'Went away' and 'can't come back anymore' were often what he said when he talked about the Trolls the Bergens took away. The boy never dwelled on the actual words Reed alluded to, as the concept itself was something that already filled his little stomach with dread.
Instead, he set his cookies to the side and wrapped his dad in the biggest hug he could and buried his face into the green chest. He felt an arm lay on his back, rubbing small, gentle circles.
"The moment you hatched, and I held you in my arms, it was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life, apart from when your mom and I got married. Then it just got better when Spruce and now Clay came along. I'm still sad sometimes, but I know Minnow is watching over all of us now, doing her best to give you her special fish powers.'
"That's why I'm glad you three have each other, because siblings are the greatest friends you will ever have and no matter how annoying or frustrating they can be, you never stop loving them."
John Dory slowly pulled away, tears streaming down his eyes but a small smile forming on his face all the same. Wiping one side away, he stated, "I know. And I promise to make sure they know I love them, too. And that they can always count on me to be there for them."
"That's my boy," Reed praised, sitting back up fully. "And don't worry, your mother and I are also here to make sure all three of you are safe and sound and will have all you need."
"Thanks, dad," John Dory whispered, returning to his spot on the branch.
They sat and talked idly for another hour before heading back to their pod. As soon as Reed opened the door, John Dory ran to his siblings who were in the middle of some intense game consisting of blocks, cars, and foam tubes and quickly joined in. Any heaviness that weighed the boy down earlier disappearing as he enjoyed the moment with his brothers.
Aster looked at the scene with a fond smile, casting a knowing glance as Reed stared at her with bright but haunted eyes. Without saying a word, she gave him a small peck on the cheek.
Then she quickly spread a finger's worth of frosting across the same cheek with a laugh. Reed, laughing out loud himself, reached over for the bowl of frosting and the parents began smearing each other with frosting like Trollings while their actual Trollings looked over at them, wondering what had gotten into them.
XXX
Third time's a charm for everything. For John Dory, that would be true if 'charm' meant being absolutely terrified out of his mind with every subsequent Trollstice.
The first one was scary, but those fears were quickly soothed away by his parents.
The second time was panic inducing as the mere thought of losing his brother nearly made him hyperventilate, and it was only the realization that his panic would scare the other even more so that allowed him to rein that panic in.
This third time around, he seriously wondered if it was possible to dread something so much that no other emotion could be registered.
The safe spot the five of them crowded in had become an overly familiar sight. Reed and Aster remained the usual pillars of calm their Trollings relied on to keep from spiraling into despair at the present situation the Bergens forced them into. Clay was obviously the most horrified out of the group, shaking in terror when those vibrations were normally caused by cheerful energy. Imitating John Dory from last year, Spruce muttered reassurances to the youngest sibling while gently clasping their hands together. It did seem to sooth Clay a bit, though Spruce's body language betrayed his inner panic too much to relax either of them.
Noticing this, John Dory wrapped an arm around them, schooling his expression so he appeared as calm and collected as their parents. An instant wave of relief spread across Spruce's face, and John Dory couldn't hold back the warm feeling that blossomed within him from performing another big brother duty. The feeling quickly doubled when Clay's chubby face also relaxed, his other hand reaching out and quickly covered by John Dory's.
Come Bergen or greater trouble, there was no way John Dory was going to let anything bad happen to his brothers.
XXX
"J.D. looks really weird as a baby," Spruce mused, looking up from the scrapbook to the Trolling in question.
"J.D. weird baby," Clay echoed from his perch in John Dory's hair, laughing when the Trolling in question playfully swatted at him.
"So did you, Spruce!" John Dory retorted, turning his scrapbook around and pointing at the picture of Spruce after his first hair was cut, not a hint of purple sprouting. "In fact, all babies look really weird."
Spruce glanced down, pouting at his brother being right before shrugging it off and going back to the book, whispering, "You still look weirder."
John Dory stuck his tongue out at the comment, but also decided to let the comment go as he carefully closed Spruce's baby scrapbook and pulled out another one within his reach. This one detailed something called a 'stag hunt,' with felt figures of Reed and other Trolls John Dory sort of recognized chasing a deer like creature around. Above his head, Clay would point at something on the page and John Dory would do his best to translate what was happening.
Kneeling around the low table beside the boys, Reed and Aster shook their heads in fondness, sticking some material in the book they were working on. Their original plan was to update each of the boys' baby scrapbooks for an hour at most before moving on to something else. These scrapbooks they kept out of reach on a shelf where more important scrapbooks were held, coming down only for updates and special occasions. However, Clay had immediately tried grabbing his book when the parents had turned their heads for less than a second and the other two also became curious not only about their own books, but the other ones as well.
After a long talk about being extremely careful, the parents brought down the scrapbooks for the three boys, their own, each of their parents, and a handful marking big occasions and events with their family and close friends.
Surprisingly, the boys obeyed their parents' wishes in keeping their normally rambunctious antics down when being around the scrapbooks. In fact, they were having a fun time reading not only at each other's scrapbooks (save for Clay's which was still being worked on) but everyone else's as well. After the older Trolls had told them who the main and most frequently seen Trolls were, the boys dove into the pages and either related the stories beat by beat to each other or came up with their own ideas on what the pictured/crafted Trolls were doing. Their imaginations were definitely beyond what had actually happened, but neither parent minded.
Spruce flipped through a scrapbook titled 'Aster and the Cousins' and immediately pointed an image out to his brothers. "J.D., Clay, look at mom!" The two in question looked at the image and all three started laughing.
In the image were six of their mother's cousins, all in various dance poses with feathers stuffed in their hair as they stood in a semi-circle. Standing in the center stood their mother, wearing a handmade full body suit covered in feathers, hair shaped into the top half of a bird, and her face covered by a paper mâché beak that somehow connected with her lips in a way that allowed the beak to open and close. The picture caught her in the middle of raising her arms, giving the appearance that she was a bird ready to take flight.
At the table, Reed also joined in on the laughing while Aster elaborated on the context. "Oh, I remember that! Our Uncle Sparrow had finished writing his book called, '10 Reasons Why Trolls Should Give a Bird a Cupcake.' All of us cousins got together and planned this big dance number to celebrate. Blue Jays were his favorite, and I thought we were all going to be wearing full costumes like that.'
"We met up a minute before we were supposed to start, and that's when I found out we weren't going to all wear full body bird costumes, just a few feathers! By then, it was too late to change or alter the performance, but somehow everyone managed to adjust their choreography just enough that I was the main dancer. Uncle Sparrow and the others loved the whole thing, but I was so embarrassed that I ended up curling into a ball for a while.'
"I was so distracted by my embarrassment that I didn't realize my cousins had put sticks and twigs around me until I sat back up and found myself in a makeshift nest!"
As soon as she wrapped up her tale, her sons burst in another round of laughter, Clay laughing so much that he rolled out of John Dory's hair and barely registered what had happened. Reed laughed much more subdued, placing his hand on top of Aster's and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Well, whether Troll or bird, you're still the prettiest thing to me. Although," a mischievous smile pulled across his face. "That may be why you like looking at bugs so much."
Aster smiled at the comment, then her expression turned mischievous. Not breaking eye contact from her husband, she instructed, "J.D., look through the scrapbook titled 'Reed's First Camping Trip.' You'll know the picture I'm thinking of when you see it."
The smile didn't budge on Reed's face as John Dory quickly found the mentioned scrapbook and began flipping through the pages. The couple kept their gazes locked, eliciting confused glances from their children as they looked up every now and then from their page turning.
Finally, John Dory stopped on a page that he knew had to have been what his mom was referring to. Spruce and Clay also stared down at the picture quietly as they registered what they were seeing.
Like a switch, the trio erupted into another round of laughter almost as loud as the one from their mother. "D-d-Dad!" John Dory managed to breath out, tears threatening to fall out of the corner of his yes. "Why are you hanging from a tree covered in honey, mud, glitter, and Puffalo fur without pants?"
"And why is your camp covered in streamers and frosting?" Spruce followed up after catching his own breath.
"Kite!" Clay pointed out, not wanting to be left out. Sure enough, the other two noticed pieces of a kite scattered around the picture's image.
Without looking away from Aster, Reed stated to the boys, "There's two things just as dangerous as Bergens in this world, my sons: a pretty Troll gal with an impish sense of humor and birds."
"Um, dad, I highly doubt birds are that bad."
"You're right, Spruce, birds aren't bad," Reed steely replied even as Aster continued looking at him an impish smile. "Birds are pure evil."
XXX
"Ugh, this isn't working!" John Dory complained, crumbling up another sheet of paper and tossing it over his shoulder. Hearing it hit the edge of the trash bin instead of falling in like he planned, he let out a long groan and slammed his head on the table.
Not turning his eyes away from the picture he was drawing, Spruce lazily asked, "What's not working, J.D.?" Clay sat beside Spruce, working on his own drawing while wiggling his toes to a beat inside his head.
John Dory shot his back up, grabbing a few loose pieces of paper and brandishing in front of his brothers. "This! This is what isn't working!"
Spruce finally looked up, raising an eyebrow as he asked, "Your ability to draw music notes?"
"Your eighth notes look like fish and the sharps look like lopsided stars," Clay observed, tilting his head in thought. "Wait, are you trying to draw starfish?"
"No, I'm not drawing starfish, Clay. Nor am I referring to my 'alleged' inability to draw music notes, Spruce-" John Dory paused for a moment as said Trolling scoffed at the answer. "-I'm talking about the melody and harmonies! I'm trying to come up with a song that matches with our voices, but it's not working at all!"
Putting his crayon down, Spruce stretched out his arm, saying, "Let me take a look then."
The oldest brother obliged the request, slamming his head right back down once the paper was out of his hands and muttering to himself. He came up with the idea a few days ago during their singing practice at daycare, having already done all the usual nursery rhymes and Trollytales with his brothers, as Clay seemed to have picked up on his singing a little bit earlier than Spruce had.
John Dory loved hanging out and singing with his brothers, which is why he was so obsessed with trying to come up with the perfect song for them!
The three of them had covered other songs already and were pretty good at them, but John Dory believed they would sound even better if he wrote and composed something that matched their voices and styles more. They could synchronize with other Trolls and critters very well on their own, though they were definitely more harmonious when they sang and danced together. It was something their music instructor complimented the boys on, normally after an hour's worth of time was spent wrangling them in place.
His musings were cut short when Spruce voiced his thoughts. "Not sure what you're stressing about, J.D. The words flow well, the beat is solid, and this does seem to match each of our styles." He returned the pages back to John Dory, who let out another sigh of frustration.
"Would singing it out loud help?" Clay asked as he craned his neck to read the sheet music.
"Hm… I really wanted to wait until it was actually done, but since I've hit a musician's block, I guess we could try it out."
"Awesome!" Clay shouted, jumping to his feet while his brothers followed after much slower.
Since John Dory only had the one copy, they arranged themselves in a way that all three could read the music without getting in each other's way. After some adjustments, though, they managed to position themselves in a way that worked, and John Dory wasted no time in leading them.
Despite some notes not being clear and the accidentals running into each other sometimes, the trio quickly fell into the music. John Dory took most of the leading lyrics, though there were sections where Spruce and Clay took over either lyrically or melodically.
By the time they reached the middle of the second page, each other had fallen into their parts with great enthusiasm. Their little performance was far from perfect as sometimes one would get off beat, another would misspeak a word, or the specific section was too complicated to perform based off their sight reading and less than stellar penmanship.
However, none of them cared at all as they got to the last bar and smoothly ended the piece. For a long moment, the only sounds in the room were the boys' heavy breathing and the fading echoes of the final note.
In a flash, though, Spruce and Clay jumped and high fived each other, saying together, "That was awesome!"
"I'll say! Awesome job, bros!" John Dory added, throwing his own hands up and accepting a high five from each brother. He looked down as the now slightly crumbled sheets of paper, grinning, "Guess I did need to hear it out loud to figure out what was going on."
"So, you satisfied yet?" Spruce asked, crossing his arms with a smirk.
"Hm… mostly," John Dory admitted, not noticing Spruce rolling his eyes as the green haired Troll placed a fist under his chin and studied the sheet music. "We sound great together, of course, cause we're awesome. Though something is still missing…"
"Maybe another voice?" Clay suggested, elaborating when John Dory gave him a confused stare. "The song sounds good as it is, but there's a few spots that seem to be lacking because everyone is busy with their own sections so there's no one there to tie it all together. A fourth person may be what we need."
John Dory thought about Clay's suggestion, ran over everything in his head, and then let out a shout of excitement.
"You're right, Clay! That's what we need!" The yellow haired Troll smiled at the praise, then felt two small arms grab his stomach and toss him a bit in the air. The distance was not nearly as high as when their dad or mom did it, but Clay didn't mind John Dory tossing him so long as his feet left the ground under someone else's power. "A fourth brother would perfectly complete our set!"
"I could be an older brother like you and Spruce!"
The other brother chuckled at the other pair's antics but found himself getting swept up into the idea anyway. "Then I'll have two brothers to look after, like J.D. has now."
"But I'll always have one younger brother more than you, Spruce," John Dory teased, ceasing his tossing to throw an arm out that captured the purple haired Troll in a side hug. "And you'll always be a weird baby to me."
"You're the weird baby, J.D.!" Spruce retorted as he pulled John Dory over and nearly caused all three of them to fall over.
"Not as weird as you, Spruce!"
"You're weirder!"
"No, you're weirder!"
"You!"
"You!"
"You!"
"You!"
"All of us are weird!" Clay interrupted with a laugh, which set the other two off as well.
The trio were still huddled in their hug when Reed and Aster walked in, excitement glowing in their faces. They looked at each other, conversed with their expression, turned their heads down to their three children, and Aster began with, "Boys, your father and I have some ne-"
"Mom and dad, we need a fourth brother for our future band, please!" John Dory interrupted, grinning madly.
The boys didn't receive a response for a while as their parents unexpectedly went into their own laughing fit that lasted for quite a while. Watching their parents nearly rolling on the floor, laughing their heads off, the three boys standing beside them worriedly asked them if there was a laughing mode Trolls could get stuck in.
And that's a wrap for this second part! Thank you for reading this far!
Few notes: I ended up giving Reed and Aster a lot more background than I initially planned, which inadvertently made me push Grandma Rosiepuff out. I do want to pull her back in, but that may take a bit. Until then, it will probably be general references here and there, sorry y'all.
Reed's reference to birds being evil is a sentiment Branch had throughout T:TBGO and "Raising Up Birdy" explained why he had such a fear and hatred for the winged creatures. I just found the idea of Reed going through something similar before to be hilarious as a way to tie him to Branch, and Aster's side having a liking for birds being a funny juxtaposition.
Fluffleberry cake was introduced in "Fluffleberry Quest" as a specialty of Grandma Rosiepuff that only Branch liked while his friends found it disgusting. I'll have some more references to the cake in the next chapter.
As for the current trio, this is when I see John Dory starting to adopt traits of his later domineering personality, but they're heavily curtailed by his parents reminding him he's just a kid as well. Having a younger sibling with a small age gap as well, I understand the tendency to act much older than you actually are while still going through the kid phase yourself. John Dory's heart was in the right place, but he gets too focused on certain aspects of his relationships that he forgets what the big picture looks like. This will be explored much later, so for now those traits are more of a feature for John Dory than a bug.
I think one of my favorite things to write about in this little series is life with the Bergens and Trollstice in general. That is the main reason why I believe John Dory took his big brother duties so seriously, as he would be the one his younger brothers would look towards to keep them calm and safe during Trollstice. Not saying parents don't set the tone in situations like that, but there's definitely an extra layer of security younger siblings have when they see their older siblings being calm as well during crises. So even if John Dory is terrified or doesn't know how to handle something, he won't show it because he doesn't want his younger siblings to worry.
Any who, thank you once again for reading this and can't wait to post the next chapter!