Specters and Solace

Troll

The little troll girl was perched upon a wider tombstone (permission granted by the residing spirit, of course), her short legs, unable to reach the ground, swinging below her as she worked. Her hair, bunched up in two pigtails just under her horns, bounced slightly each time she moved her arm. Lift, drop. Reach, pull. Lift, drop. A small stone five paces away moved to her will, bobbing up into the air, resting there a moment, and then dropping back to the ground with a soft thump.

The pebble fell to earth again as Aradia let out a loud sigh and let it go. Deciding to take a break, she pulled her dusty, stockinged knees to her chest and situated herself precariously on top of the tombstone, propping her chin up with her hands. It was a tranquil, lazy day today. The Dersite sky remained a fuzzy sort of grey overhead, while a warm breeze blew around her, rustling the grass and making strange little noises in the graveyard.

You're improving.

She laughed. "Not as much as you'd like, though, am I?" she replied wryly.

We need you.
You can do big things.
AVENGE US.
You need us.

There weren't many spirits she could trust, were there? They needed to stop all talking at the same time. "We'll see." She cocked her head, thinking. "I don't believe that I need you, though," she said out loud.

Don't listen!
And how old do you think you are?
No, pay attention.

Pounding footsteps sounded in the distance, coming closer all the while. She could see a small figure about her size, approaching quickly. Now, who could that be?

A smile on her lips, Aradia raised a hand in greeting.

Troll

His little legs were getting quite tired of running. He never did much of that, in fact he had never been very athletic at all. His frail ribcage was rising and dropping quickly as he tried to catch his breath. He didn't yet know where he was, his eyes still clouded with yellow tears. He sniffled and wiped them away. His guardian's words had been harsh. It wasen't unusual, but usually he would just put up with it and ignore him. This time he kept hearing his guardian's words in his head, over and over...

You've done it again, freak!

He was nothing but a freak.

Everybody thought so. He thought so too. With the back of his sleeve he wiped his tears and then sniffled. He shouldn't let it get to him like that, he knew it. He was stronger than this disgusting, cruel guardian of his. He could terminate him anytime he wanted. Thinking of that made him angry, so very angry. He growled, screamed, sent a rock flying at a nearby grave with sparkles of red and blue.

You are far superior
They're nothing but disgrace
You are the carrier
Of the great power of your race

"Shut up! Shut it, just SHUT IT!"

He was holding his head with both hands. It hurt. He hated when they talked to him. Everything was their fault. He wouldn't be a freak if it wasen't for them. He was panting a little bit, still trying to recover from his tantrum. That's when he looked up and noticed her. A young troll girl was sitting on a tombstone, waving at him. What was she doing in such a peculiar place? What made her smile like that?

As he looked into her eyes, the throbbing in his head started calming down...

Troll

Oh, it was Sollux! She'd recognize the red and blue flashes anywhere. A worried frown lighted upon her features. Aradia had met the other troll two years previously, and although she had witnessed many of Sollux's outbursts within this period, today he seemed especially upset - although for what reason, Aradia couldn't discern.

With a smart little hop and a puff of skirts, Aradia was off the gravestone and scampering down the hill towards her friend. She was glad she could call him a friend. She had never had many, and she could count the number of people in the world that she trusted on her short, grubby fingers, and Sollux was one of them. And one of the worst things in the universe was an unhappy friend!

At the bottom of the hill, she skidded to a halt before him, stirring up clouds of dust. Hands clasped behind her back, Aradia leaned over and tried to look Sollux in the face, wearing the most solemn expression she could muster while wearing a smear of dirt on her left cheek. At only ten years old, she was still an inch or so taller than him, and he was hunched over, his hands covering up his face, so she had to try hard.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Troll

It was Aradia. He finally recognized her when his vision stopped being blurred by tears. He sat there staring into her eyes for a bit. It soothed him. He couldn't quite grasp why it did. Perhaps it was because he felt like she, unlike the others, somewhat understood him.

He realized he probably looked like a fool just a minute ago, sobbing and screaming at people only he could hear, clutching his head like a madman. Aradia wouldn't judge him though, he knew that much. That's what made her different from the others.

He reached out and wiped the dirk off her cheek before even realizing she was speaking to him.

Sollux wanted to reply and tell her everything but all he managed was a little choked sob and then tears were rolling down his cheeks again. He took a minute to stand up properly and straighten himself up. After a little bit he managed to pull himself together. He sniffled, wiped his tears with the back of his sleeve and sniffled once more before proceeding to explain what was going on.

"It's my guardian... He had sent me on an errand and I spent some of the money on books."

He looked down. He knew he was guilty of that.

"But then he took the books from me and tore them to pieces so I..."

His eyes went straight to Aradia's but he knew he didn't need to say more.

Troll

She watched him with a sad sort of look in her eye. Sollux's guardian knew perfectly well that his charge wasn't able to perfectly control his psiionic abilities, but continued to test them all the same. Every time another opportunity arose it seemed that his guardian would somehow forget the past transgressions, and Sollux would do it again. And each time, the carapace got angrier and angrier. It had happened a few times already, and she wished it would stop.

Aradia sat down on a small gravestone and patted the space beside her for Sollux to sit down too. "Sollux, if you wanna buy something, you can use my money," she offered earnestly. In actuality, her carapace was even worse off than Sollux's - but he was preoccupied and absent-minded where Sollux's guardian was angry, and he wouldn't notice or mind if she took some for her friend. "It's better than making your dad mad again."

She saw the tears in his eyes and hugged him, not expecting him to return it. He never did, but he'd also never said he didn't enjoy them. "Sometimes I hear things," she mumbled into his shoulder. "And sometimes they tell me that things will be okay."

Troll

For the first time he leaned into the embrace. He let his arms slip around his friend and his fingers curl around the fabric of her shirt. He wanted to keep it together and be strong but he simply couldn’t anymore, plus he knew he could trust Aradia with this. She was his first friend and had always been loyal to him and not once had she ever judged him over anything.

Her hair was soft and it smelled of damp soil and wet leaves and rain but he had always found comfort in that, like a forest after a storm.

“You don’t have to lend me money. Your old man couldn’t afford it and you know it. I’ll figure something out but… thanks.”

He wanted to believe what she said about hearing things. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, but unfortunately, his voices were saying otherwise. It was a scary thing to go through, but he was starting to get used to it.

“ Aradia, the voices you hear, are they like mine? Do they whisper weird, scary things to you? I always thought I was the only one to ever hear things in my head…”

Somehow, it felt good to talk about it out loud to someone who understood, someone who didn’t call him a freak. His friend had never told him about it explicitly before, but he had always felt deep down that they had something more in common than being outcasts.

Troll

He smelled like static and energy. She couldn't explain it, but somehow he did. And a tinge of sweetness - something like honey, maybe? It didn't matter! In this time, at this moment, he trusted her and she trusted him, and that was just fine!

"If you're sure!" She mumbled into his back. Putting her little hands on his skinny shoulders, she pushed him back a little so that she could see his eyes. "But if you need anything you can ask me!" She stated, trying to sound as serious as possible, opening her eyes wide to emphasize her point.

He'd calmed down. A little smile lit up her face again. This was better! Without realizing it, her short legs started off swinging back and forth again.

"The voices?" She considered, scrunching up her eyebrows in concentration. "You're not the only one... I've always heard them! Sometimes they're angry, and sometimes they're okay. There are different ones too! They're not scary at all, at least, not most of the time! You just gotta ignore them!" Suddenly recalling something, she blushed and beckoned him closer. "Sometimes," she whispered, "They tell me to do things like practice my telekinesis or use it to do things, but I always tell them no! I asked my dad about it and he didn't like it at all. He said it was weird and kinda freaky."

Elation and embarrassment in confiding this most secret of secrets coloured her cheeks again. "You can't tell," she warned. "The other trolls already think I'm pretty weird. I don't mind, though."