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Jane had never really been interested in adopting a troll; many other humans did but Jane never felt the desire to do so.
First, she was too busy doing her business degree even if she was working on it from home and secondly she wasn't exactly comfortable about having an intelligent apex predator living in her house.
Of course, she hadn't counted on catching a feral troll rummaging through her garbage at three in the morning. She remembered all the signs and posters and commercials everywhere- never feed a wild troll, because if you did they would immediately associate you with food and then start permanently hanging around which would drastically increase the chances of being mauled. After all, trolls were known to kill bears and open doors on their own; even 'tame' trolls were dangerous and should be handled with care. Wild ones were even more capricious.
However Jane took one look at the troll's lanky frame, unkempt fur and lackluster scales and she knew she couldn't just ignore him. The cooking genes in her were too strong for her to turn away the hungry.
It had started near the end of summer, while Jane was staying in her families old estate out in the forest a few hours away from the nearest town. The solitude was a welcome relief for the heiress, who'd grown deeply tired of the endless media circus and when she finally became invested in learning business in order to take on some of Crocker Corp her father suggested she study from home and offered up the old house for her. Jane, at first apprehensive, agreed after the fifth time she visited a university she got stalked by the paparazzi.
The first few weeks of living in the estate was the hardest; she was used to the constant noise of the city, of the hum of traffic, of the neighbours voices in the early hours of the day, of someone mowing their lawn at seven in the morning on a Sunday.
Now however she was surrounded only by the sound of nature. Bird calls and wind were the most nosiest things she'd wake up to, or on the rare occasion it would rain. She made sure to skype her father and her friends daily and she missed actually seeing them in person but quickly denied any offer for them to visit her; she wanted to prove she could live on her own without running them them for comfort. She needed to be strong if she ever expected to take over the family business and she couldn't do that if she couldn't even cope a month away from her family before begging for aid.
So she kept her contact to skype or Betty Bother or sending packages and letters in the mail. Between her business degree and cleaning/cooking at the house she also began to explore the lush forest around the house, eventually starting to go for jogs or walks along the old trails within the woods to keep herself active. It was a beautiful area, she had to admit, with giant towering trees that were thick with various species of birds and fauna. She even found some deer, though the first time she turned the corner of a trail and saw a massive stag nibbling on some flowers she'd screamed and fallen back on her rear which made the stag bolt off into the trees.
After she got over that shock however she added 'camera' to her list which she would send weekly for the delivery truck, which would usually bring her groceries and other necessities. It took another week before she found the stag again- this time in the company of his mate -and she managed to take several photos before they took notice of her and departed into the undergrowth. With some advice from Dirk, which he mostly got from his little brother, Jane managed to develop the photos later in one of the many spare rooms in the house she'd turned into a DIY darkroom.
Which she wasn't exactly a natural with a camera, the deer were at least recognizable even though a few shots were unfocused or blurry.
She also found a sizable lake about fifteen minutes from the house, surrounded by thick flora and a few caves. She remembered Jake's Grandmother's warnings about caves and how easy it would be to slip and break a leg, so she restrained herself from investigating even after finding some weird scratch marks around some of the entrances and the trees ringing the lake. So potentially she'd found a bear cave but she knew bears mainly left people alone unless provoked or mothers protecting their cubs. While tentatively prowling near the mouth of one of the biggest caves, she found various bones of animals scattered across the lush ground. Some had been there for enough time that moss had started to inch across the skeletons and she took a few photos of them. Jane also made sure to take more shots of the lake once she was done, and even caught a glimpse of what looked like an immense fish at one point before the sun began to set and the air chilled enough it chased her back to the house.
All in all Jane, after a few hiccups, managed to relax into her now isolated lifestyle. Being surrounded by nature while working on her business degree was soothing and there were numerous trees for her to go punch on the edge of the lawn whenever she became unduly stressed by everything. She could also scream without worry a neighbour would hear and call the police so that was another relief.
Of course that tranquility was broken in her fourth month of living in the house by a loud crash at three in the morning.
Jane instantly activated her strifedeck, yanking out her long battlefork as she shot upright, years of living in subtle paranoia from assassination attempts kept her reflexes honed so she awoke instantly and on alert. It seemed someone had finally decided to target her house. Either a thief or invasive tabloid journalist she was unsure, but she wouldn't let them invade her house without a fight. With that in mind Jane crept out of her room, still wearing her cupcake-patterned pajamas as she stealthily made her way downstairs.
The noises continued, seemingly originating from the back porch, so she slunk like a shadow through the hallway as the crashing and banging continued. Whoever it was clearly didn't care about stealth and Jane tightened her grip on her fork; maybe it was an animal? Or the intruder had gotten stuck in her vegetable garden as she'd recently added a bunch of wire for the vines so they could be tangled in that.
Fear and anticipation warred in equal measures through her body as she reached the back door and that close she could hear the heavy breathing and grunting from whoever was outside along with a weird, lowing noise she couldn't quite identify. She paused briefly with her hand on the doorknob before slowly turning the handle and opening it. Though the house was old, it was kept in top condition and the hinges made not even a sound as she swung it open.
Then she switched on the light for the back porch with one hand and froze with her other hand on the doorknob, while the vandal tensed from where they were sprawled on the porch.
Instead of a burglar or a paparazzi that she expected, a troll was half-stuck in the garbage can; its upper torso was wedged in the bin with rubbish spewed across the porch floor. Its back end was the only part sticking out and from the scratches on the wooden floor the troll had been trying ineffectively to yank itself free and its long tail had been smacking against the wall as it grunted and thrashed about. No doubt the commotion that had woken her.
Jane sucked in a breath, half wedged in the doorway while one had remained pressed against the light switch with the fork in hand; she'd come across trolls before as they were a fairly prominent and exotic breed of pet and due to Jane's fairly wealthy background she knew many acquaintances who owned one. Roxy had spoken of wanting to adopt ones in shelters, and Jane had accompanied her once to a nearby troll rescue effort and after encountering a few she made the decision to never own a troll. It wasn't from malice but from the knowledge trolls were just strangely otherworldly almost, and too intelligent yet at the same time too violent for her to ever be comfortable around. There was just something off putting about having something with teeth and claws and animal traits yet stood on its hind legs with too much knowing in its eyes for her to accept the idea of one in her house.
Trolls were vicious, however, and incredibly dangerous. Even the smallest ones could get to the size of Great Danes and armed with teeth and claws and who-knows what kind of psychics made them pets only recommended for experienced pet owners, but it didn't stop novices from buying them only to later have them put down or thrown into the wild when they became too much effort to care for. They could also learn to speak- mainly short phrases like parrots -but could figure out advance problem solving and other issues through testing. But their size and ferocity was something Jane could never get pass; it would be like having a highly-intelligent tiger living in your house, yet one that walked like a human or ape.
Troll fighting rings were a huge problem because of that, Jane knew. She'd seen newspapers and reports about trolls rescued from fighting pits and how in the majority of cases they needed to be put down due to their viciousness. The psychics were the worse and Jane in that moment wished it was actually a stalker or paparazzi who'd gotten stuck in a trash can in her back porch. She never remembered seeing a troll on her walks in the forest, before she remembered they were predominantly a nocturnal race and she didn't leave the house at night.
But now knowing it was a troll Jane was a lot less eager to go out there and attack it; trolls could kill bears and she knew the aquatic ones were even capable of hunting great whites and orca. But at least the one in her porch was seemingly trapped by the garbage bin it had attempted to raid, probably for the burnt baking she'd thrown out earlier.
Then again, she'd once yanked a raccoon out of the chimney back home so this was more or less the same situation just with a rather larger animal. And while she was understandably wary, she wouldn't just let the beast run off and potentially get killed or starve because she left it with a bin on its head.
Mind made up, she went to move forward when the troll started rolling around, weird low huffing coming from the bin as it struggled to get up to its feet but only succeeded in rolling over and hitting the side of the porch with a bang and knocking off a few pot plants which made her grimace. However the thrashing also drew her gaze to the long, thick tail that was swinging about as the troll struggled ineffectively.
A violet? Jane thought, trying to inch further through the door to get a clearer look at the troll. Violets, she knew, were the most rare breed of troll there was and one of the most coveted to own. Covered in sparkling scales, bioluminescent spots and elaborate fins, they were usually brought by the rich and celebrities to physically showcase their wealth. They were also the most long lived of trolls and the more exotic looking of subspecies.
But after a moment of studying the troll in its consistent failed attempts to escape the rubbish bin she realized she was wrong; the tail was the biggest indication- for while it was covered in scales it resembled the fluke of a dolphin instead of a finned fish tail that a violet blooded troll would have. Likewise when the troll rolled onto its side she could see its legs were covered in dark fur while its feet resembled the split hooves of a goat or sheep as it struggled for purchase on the polished wooden floor.
That must mean the troll was in fact an indigo blooded troll- not quite a seadweller but close enough that many had miniature, useless gill slits and fluked tails. They were also well known for their volatile tempers and thieving natures, along with their extensive fur patterns which came in much greater variety than any other blood group.
But still, her morals dictated she help the creature despite her caution and after another moment of dithering she stepped outside, shivering slightly as the cool air seeped through the cotton of her pajamas. As she carefully approached she could see the muscles in the troll's goat-like legs tense beneath the shaggy fur and Jane tried to keep her foot steps audible in an effort not to spook the animal.
When she was only a few feet from the troll it suddenly started moving again and she jumped backwards to avoid being knocked over, suddenly aware of how big it was when its tail went swinging past and narrowly missed hitting her face.
"Hey, hey!" at her voice the thrashing troll froze, tail comically staying upright like a surprised flag.
Jane quickly thought back to the various articles and shows she'd seen of trolls being taught human speech- they were far more intelligent than most animals and Jane figured even though this one was clearly wild due to its ragged state and dirty hind legs, it may have been exposed to enough humans to pick up bits and pieces of human tongue.
With that in mind she tried to approach again, saying gently, "Hush, hush, I'm here to help, okay? Just stay still and I'll have you out of that bin in a jiffy."
Her low, soothing voice seemed to work as the troll didn't move even as she got close enough to touch and after a moment of dithering she put away her fork so she could grip the bin in both hands before she began to pull. The troll, after a moment of wiggling, seemed to understand what she was trying to do and managed to get its legs settled on the ground before scrambling backwards while she yanked.
It some struggling and grunting but after a few moments the troll, accompanied by a hideous scraping noise, went crashing backwards while Jane promptly fell on her rump with a curse, the garbage can flying up over her head from the force of her pull and crashing into the door.
For a moment the two lay dazed on the floor, Jane blinking up at the ceiling before she sat up only to find the troll sitting a few feet away and blinking at her. Her first impression was horns, which curved upwards and no doubt had caused the scraping noise when she pulled it free from the bin. Long, goat-like horns that arched up from a wild, twisted mane of hair.
The two stared at each other for a long moment, before the troll let out a loud noise before suddenly leaping off of the porch and sprinting across her yard on all fours, disappearing into the forest that ringed her house.
Jane stared off into the darkness, baffled beyond belief as she thought Did that troll just honk?
After a moment of staring she got up, looked at the mess the troll had made of her porch, before giving an annoyed grunt and deciding to go back to bed. She'd deal with that mess tomorrow.
Indeed she spent some time the next morning cleaning the porch of all the rubbish even if it seemed most of it had been partially eaten. The bin itself was dented and had various scraps on the inside but was still salvageable. She grumbled after moping the wooden floor, in hindsight she was disappointed she hadn't thought to grab her camera; she'd never been that close to a troll before and while she'd been a bit disorientated from being so abruptly woken at three in the morning, she could still remember its strange face, goat-legs, long tail and those wavy horns. It was a pity she couldn't remember what the rest of him really looked like as she knew indigios apparently had intense pelt patterns, most noticeably on their face but she couldn't remember what the rest of it looked like. That's what she got for freeing a troll in the early hours of the morning while working on a business degree so she'd basically been half dead at that point.
But though she didn't remember its appearance beyond the brief full-body glance she got before it ran off, she knew it was hungry. Jane bit her lip, remembering all the warnings to not feed wild trolls but then her memory went back to the troll who'd raided her rubbish, and how skinny the poor beast had seemed.
With that in mind, she ended up leaving her dinner scraps on a plate on her front steps.
When she checked the next day, the plate had been licked clean.
After that she started to make two portions of dinner, leaving one outside before she retired to bed each night. It probably wasn't the wisest course of actions, and if she woke up one night with the troll breaking into her house and mauling her to death but she guessed she'd deal with that situation when it arose.
It was a week later when she finished baking a chocolate cake and had cut off a slice to add to the meal of honeyed pork chops and mashed potatoes, and went to put it on the front porch only to find the troll sitting patiently a few feet away watching her with a toothy smile on its face.
"Um, hello," Jane said tentatively, the plate suddenly grasped in sweaty hands.
The troll huffed, clacking its long teeth as its tail thudded on the ground behind it. Slowly Jane stepped forward, eyeing the troll tentatively in case it turned hostile but it continued sitting on its rump in a lax posture that if it weren't for its bright eyes watching her she would've thought it was dozing off.
Now that it was daylight- though sunset was fast encroaching -she could see the rest of the troll in sharp detail. She struggled to remember things she'd read about trolls but she was relatively sure males had larger horns than the females, much like most horned animals so she could safely assume this one was a male. In the sunlight the yellows and reds of his horns were much more obvious, especially in contrast with the rest of his darker colouration.
If anything, his lower half reminded her of a satyr, with the long, furry hind legs of a goat. His tail was the only part of him scaled, though they were dusty from dried mud and Jane wondered if they'd sparkle like a seadwellers if polished. Likewise the fur on his legs, chest and arms were tangled and dirty but she could see speckles of white through the dark hair like some bizarre reverse dalmatian. The most noticeable pattern was the one on his face; the white fur formed the strange facsimile of a smile on his overly long features and Jane suddenly realized why many people thought indigos were beautiful despite their supposed viciousness. It was such a fascinating natural design for the fur on his face and Jane would've guessed it evolved as a scare tactic, like how moths would have eye spots on their wings. The pretty facial mask was marred, however, by the three long scars that marred his face though they were faded to a light grey.
He was also fairly large despite his current posture of sitting hunched up; certainly large enough to deal some fairly lethal damage if he decided to attack her. But he just watched her, orange eyes half shut so instead she just smiled, set down the plate and retreated back inside. Baby steps.
It seemed to have worked, as the next time she checked the door the troll was sitting right outside, nose nearly pressed against the door.
She knew it probably wasn't wise, but she ended up offering him a pork chop and he ate it from her hand. For a wild troll he was oddly friendly, especially for an indigo. She'd spent time googling them in her spare time, and apparently they were one of the most volatile bloodtypes, including ones who had one of the most terrifying psychics that were capable of causing hallucinations, night terrors and even mental breakdowns in extreme cases. Considering how dopey the troll acted she wasn't sure if he was just a lazy one or a really good actor.
As time passed, she started sitting on the front porch while he ate in an effort to make her more familiar to him. That seemed a moot point, as the troll didn't display any caution and just trotted up next to her and started eating the meatballs with no issue that she was only sitting a few feet from him. She was close enough his long tail brushed against her shin and she stared as he ate much like a person, using his dexterous fingers to pluck up the meatballs and stuffing them in his mouth with muffled noises of contentment.
Jane found out he'd honk when he was happy, low, huffing honks like a goose and apparently that was a noise indigos would make when they felt at ease. If the honking was loud and shrieking, then it was apparently a 'flee as fast as you can' sign, from what she'd read. At least the wild indigo that decided to stalk her house seemed incredibly mild in temperament. But now he was content and she eyed his face as he ate, at his disturbingly human features. His face was too long, cheekbones too sharp and nose too sloped to be truly mistaken for a human but the resemblance was enough it disturbed her slightly. Even the fine fur covering his face wasn't enough to hide his species similarities to the facial features of humanity.
It was creepy, but she could deal with it. What she couldn't, however, was how filthy and tangled the troll was so the next time it was his designated feeding time she brought a brush and wet washcloth alongside the food. The troll paused, eyeing the tools in her hand but his hunger won out and while he was eating her lasagna, she took the brush and slowly reached out for him.
His body froze as soon as the brush made contact with his shoulder, muscles going tense and his purple eye shifted until he was looking at her and Jane was once again reminded she was more or less trying to brush a wild animal; one who had thick, corded muscles underneath that knotted fur, long claws and the teeth of an apex predator. He eyed her for a moment and she stared back, before suddenly the tension vanished from his frame and suddenly he went back to the bowl, stuffing lasagna into his mouth. Relaxing, Jane started to brush at his fur, small puffs of dust raising from the troll as she started to groom him.
She half expected him to act like one of Roxy's cats; that is to hiss and leave as soon as the food was gone but instead the troll settled down on his front, hind legs comically spread on either side as he lied down and she carried on brushing him. The thicker fur near the nape of his neck and his head was the most tangled, filthy part of him and she found a few weird things in it, including several bottle caps, lucky stars and a barbie doll head. He presumably took a nap while she brushed him and barely stirred when she switched to the cloth and started cleaning his tail. It took the better half of an hour to clean the dirty troll, but by the end of it his speckled fur was untangled and fluffy while his tail gleamed in the sun. While his scales were smooth like a snakes compared to the sparkling scales of a fish like a violetblood would have, but it was a definite improvement from how filthy he was before. Trolls were supposed to be fairly self-grooming, but this one didn't seem so.
Maybe he's just lazy, she thought before steeling her spine and gingerly cleaned his hooves. His leg twitched and he gave a huff but otherwise didn't move as she washed it free of dirt. The hoof was split like a goat or sheep, and was the same warm yellow the tip of his horns were. She was tempted to try cleaning his horns, but knew they were sensitive near the root and didn't want to undo all her careful planning and feeding which made the troll trust her enough to nap next to her.
It made her think he'd been owned at one point, since everything she read insisted wild trolls were standoffish, wild and violent so it took months- years even -to foster trust with them. This one however seemed to trust her after she fed him a few dozen times so either he had contact with humans before or just had extremely terrible survival skills.
She wasn't sure which.
Either way, she couldn't help but pat him a few times, running her hand through his thick hair and heard his contented snuffling. She was too preoccupied with patting the troll to worry about anything else and it wasn't until the sun was setting that she reluctantly withdrew and got back up. The troll yawned and stretched, showing long sharp teeth before backing out of the way. It was odd to see him walk on two feet like a person, even if trolls tended to sprint on all fours.
For a moment she thought he'd try following her inside but a strange noise echoed through the air, like the rumble of a great beast which made Jane's instincts spiked up violently and she looked over at the edge of the cleaning where the forest started and for a moment she swore there was the glint of eyes in the darkness among the great tree trunks. But it was gone so quick Jane guessed she'd just imagined something. But that noise worried her, though a part of her rationalized it was most likely the roars from the stags in the forest.
The troll seemed unfazed by the noise and instead just turned and trotted off the porch and across the yard towards the forest and Jane was a bit bemused at how awkwardly he walked, with lumbering steps and slouched posture. Despite that his fur and tail shone, lacking any dirt as he vanished out of sight into the tree line.
Jane frowned, glancing down at the porch and seeing the various clumps of hair she'd brushed from him and then back at the forest. She felt worried about whatever had made that noise but he seemed unbothered. However she didn't want to go walking one day only to find his mauled body- while the troll was weird he didn't deserve to die like that. Trolls were territorial, she knew, and there were many documented fights to the death when ferals intruded on each others territory. It was especially bad if a seadwelling troll was involved but they typically lingered near the sea and even the lake she found, while it was relatively large, wasn't big enough for a violetblood to live comfortably. But potentially another troll could move into the forest area, and even if her indigo seemed fairly relaxed he could potentially only be like that around someone he associated with food but hostile towards other trolls. Or maybe his self preservation was so bad he just wouldn't notice and the new comer harmed him. He did, after all, have scars on his face which looked like claw marks. Or those could've been inflicted by a person.
She wasn't sure but she felt uneasy. She liked the odd troll who hung around for food, and didn't want him hurt. But she couldn't exactly trap him inside her house or even just pen him in the yard since he could just jump over the fence easily enough. With a grumble she went to the bathroom to have a shower; she needed to get rid of the fur.
After that Jane spent more time researching trolls, wanting to know just what she potentially was going to be dealing with. Most of it was more or less the same, just large guides on how to care for your pet troll or cutesy videos of people playing with their pets or trolls playing with each other. That did distract her for a bit- mainly a series of videos of a giant blueblood playing with a tiny greenblood which she couldn't help cooing over -before she went looking for videos involving indigos. To her disappointment most videos were like those Big Foot documentary, mostly of people seeing indigos breaking through fences, raiding bins (she'd been there) or of them mauling people. She didn't really like those last ones, bit apparently indigoblooded trolls were fairly violent. However they did seem to like the soft drink faygo, for some unknown reason, which was a good way to temporarily calm them down. She made note to get some delivered later in case her new guest got irate in the future.
Feral trolls would also grow noticeably bigger than their domesticated cousins, apparently due to their genetics which severely focused their growth upon their environments. Selected breeding also had that effect, with people breeding specific traits into trolls but this also bled over into the fighting rings. It wasn't uncommon for a fighting troll to kill their handlers and escape into the wild, especially since trolls could learn how to open doors or were strong enough to simply smash their way through. Trolls with psychics were even more common, though that usually came along with various mental and behavioral issues.
Due to their intelligence that made them a fairly lethal combination and Jane went sleuthing through various articles to try and figure out just how smart trolls could get. What she found disturbed her; trolls fully capable of speaking as eloquently as a human, others able to perfectly mimicking sign language. It made their intelligence on par with a human- or at least an average five year old -and she felt revolted at the idea of them essentially keeping sentient beings as house pets. It was like a version of Planet of the Apes- not understanding just how messed up it was until it was suddenly on the reserve. It did make her understand all those activist groups who protested keeping trolls as pets, however, but at the same time uneasy of having such a bestial, intelligent species skulking about.
After all, the indigo lurking around her house certainly resembled a beast, with his goat legs, fluked tail, furred body, thick hair, horns, claws and teeth. Even his arms, which ended in human-like digits, were overly long and he walked hunched over while on two feet. His face was off, but humanoid enough it created an eerie mimicry of a humans features even if the fangs and yellow eyes didn't fit. But knowing that they could learn speak just creeped her out. Though she did want to know if she was capable of training this one. Considering the filthy, gangly mess he was Jane was unsure but she wanted to try.
She jotted that down next to her grocery list.
The next morning she was woken by a persistent banging on the door downstairs, which enraged Jane until she looked at her clock and realized it was nearly noon. Despite that she didn't bother changing so she stomped downstairs in her pajamas (these ones covered in pictures of pie) before stalking towards the front door and throwing it open.
"I don't want whatever you're selling-" she began angrily only to stop when she realized it was her indigo who apparently had been banging on her door in a bafflingly human gesture.
However the thing that stopped her mid sentence was the fact the troll wasn't alone. Standing next to him was another indigo troll who resembled him strongly, with the same tall, wavy horns, fluked tail and goat-like legs but he was noticeably taller, skinnier with a different white mask of fur on his face with odd stitch markings upon his lips while the pattern on his body fur was eerily reminiscent of a skeleton. Before she could look at him further, her regular troll trotted forward and started rubbing up against her side like a lazy cat. He was too big to do that and knocked her into the door frame by accident and making her grunt.
"You just invited your sibling over without asking, didn't you? Greedy guts, you only like me for your food. Don't think I'm not catching on," she scolded, trying to push him away. It didn't work as he seemed to take it that she wanted to pat him and leaned eagerly into her hands, pressing her against the door frame due to his size. She grunted and tried shoving him again with no effect as he just started honking and rubbing up against her enthusiastically, getting fur all over her pajamas. The new comer- obviously his brother -eyed them curiously before stepping forward over the threshold.
"No!" the sternness in her voice caused both trolls to jolt and she grabbed her regular troll by the shoulder and pushed, "No trolls in the house! You'll ruin the floor with your hooves. You're already exploding fur everywhere."
She went to shoo them from the hallway but to her surprise the tall newcomer immediately backed out of the house and back onto the front porch while his brother remained inside looking confused.
Jane blinked at the tall troll, Can he understand me? She knew trolls were intelligent enough to learn language and even speech but this was a wild troll. Or perhaps there were enough campers and trampers in the area he managed to pick up language through observation? But Jane hadn't run into any hikers before so she was unsure. Either way, it seems his sibling wasn't as aware as the newcomer and she had to physically shove him through the doorway before he got the hint and sat down on the porch, his brother looming behind him.
With a groan she shut the door and padded into the kitchen while rubbing her temple. She knew it was a bad idea to feed that troll; there were so many messages about how feeding a wild troll was a Bad Thing, and she'd watched a documentary about some old woman who fed a wild tealblood which then decided to move into her neighbourhood- and started it off by killing all the pets on the block which escalated into mauling an attempted burglar. Trolls were dangerous, feral ones even moreso, and now the one she'd been guiltily feeding decided to tell his kin and bring him over for dinner as well. And the new comer seemed to be quite a bit more intelligent than her regular but she wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
"Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound," Jane sighed. She'd messed up already so little point in beating herself up over it. Anyway, she had some leftover meatloaf from last night and she despised cold meatloaf, so she'd just feed it to the hungry indigos. Besides, she had no pets so she didn't have to worry about them killing anything and if they mauled a burglar well that was their own fault. Still, she would've preferred it if the troll hadn't decided to wake her up and now she had fine dark fur clinging to her pajamas from him rubbing up against her earlier which meant she had to wash them.
After rummaging around in the fridge she got the leftover meatloaf and after some dithering she cut off two slices of the cake her cousin John had sent her. She wasn't sure if trolls like dark chocolate fudge cake, but from her research she knew indigos were like raccoons- they'd eat anything including plastic and other garbage. However she wasn't going to feed them plastic in a hurry to test how sturdy their stomachs were, so she decided to cut off some small pieces of the cake and at it to the two bowls before leaving for the front porch.
The two trolls were waiting patiently for her- or at least the new comer was, as her regular had started kneading at the wood like a cat and had scratched the glossy wood. She frowned but he looked so excited to see her she didn't have the heart to scold him, with that goofy, lopsided grin on his face.
"Alright greedy guts, have some leftovers. Hope you guys like meatloaf," she said, settling down the bowls. Her regular troll immediately sprang forward and started stuffing as much food in his mouth as he could, the fur on his hands getting filthy with food as he ate with gusto. His brother was far more subtle, walking forward on dainty hooves before settling on his haunches. To her surprise he picked up the bowl in one hand, dexterous figures gripping the plastic and with the other he plucked off bits of the meatloaf and began to eat it in a far neater manner akin to a person.
She paused, trying to gauge the newcomers disposition, before hesitantly reaching out a hand to the tall indigo. He blinked, eyes far more aware compared with his sleepy sibling, and for a sudden moment Jane thought he was going to bite her as he paused in the middle of chewing on some meatloaf. Then he left out a exhale of air before leaning forward so her hand touched the underside of his throat. Smiling faintly, Jane started scratching at his throat to which he flicked his long tail and pressed the skin harder against her fingers. Unlike his brother however the tall troll made not a sound and after a few seconds he pulled his head away, returning his attention to the meatloaf.
I really should name them, Jane thought, eyeing the two trolls as they ate. She couldn't call the first one 'troll' now that he apparently had a sibling he decided to invite over and it would be a bit awkward to name one 'short and sleepy' and the other 'tall and creepy'. Or maybe not, she was a bit too tired to bother thinking up names at the moment after all the banging earlier.
Unlike before, even after the trolls finished eating they didn't leave right away. While she stayed inside and started working on one of her business essays, she kept on getting distracted by the furry faces pressed up against one of the windows. The smaller one would grin toothily while honking loudly whenever she looked at them while the taller would just blink slowly. But after that, every time she went to feed her troll, his brother would be there as well.
It was odd, being so similar in appearance yet having such different personalities. Her usual was loud, clumsy and needy while his brother was silent, stealthy and calm. As time passed, Jane began to suspect he was mute, as he made no noise at all- not even the low honking which was common for their blood type. He was also far more humanoid in terms of using his hands. While his brother would just jam his whole face into a bowl or occasionally scuttle about on all fours like a gorilla, his taller sibling would always walk up right and use his hands with far more finesse. She even caught him undoing the catch on her front gate to let himself into her yard one morning, while his brother just jumped over the fence.
But eventually he came a fixture with her routine just like his excitable sibling and Jane fell into the rhyme of feeding them in the morning before working on her degree. There were occasionally some issues, such as them eating her vegetable garden which resulted in her beating them both with a rolled up newspaper, one of the back windows being smashed by a horn and that one time of being woken by distressed honking at four in the morning to find her first troll tangled in the washing line which she had to get some bolt cutters to free him while his brother eyed them from where he was perched on top of the bird feeder.
If there was one thing that bothered her with the tall one it was how silent he was; at least his sibling was loud and fell over all the time or just honked so she knew where he was. The tall one just quiet and never made a sound so there were sometimes when she was weeding the garden only to turn around to find him hovering over her. After the first few times- where she'd scream and spook the two -she eventually got used to it. But now they were visiting at all hours to the point she wasn't even sure they left sometimes.
When she went on walks the younger would usually follow her as well, trotting at her heels on all fours like a gorilla. She suspected he followed her in the hope she'd share her snacks with him rather than him desiring her company but she wasn't complaining. She also followed the advice on the internet and brought several cases of a variety of faygo. True to the guides, the indigos greatly loved the soft drink and she began to use it to teach them right from wrong; her flowerbeds seemed thankful.
Then, on the first day of Autumn they brought yet another family member to her house.
"So who's hungry?" Jane announced cheerily, awkwardly shouldering open the front door while holding a tray laden with food, "I've made some bacon sandwiches, sliced ham, and scrambled eggs for-" as soon as she saw what waited on her front lawn her words ended in a strangled squawk while dropping the tray, breaking both of the plates and sending egg everywhere.
Her usual troll looked concerned, trotting forwards and honking lowly while his skinny brother frowned from where he was perched on the lip of the porch. However both of them were utterly dwarfed by the gigantic troll lounging on her front lawn. Judging by the smashed fence behind him, the newcomer had just decided to go through any obstacle rather than jump over them. Heavy scars covered his body, most looking as if they'd been inflicted by teeth and claws. His facial fur resembled a vicious, jagged skull and his fangs were long enough they jutted down over his bottom lip like a walrus and his pupils were purple with the whites a sour yellow.
In all, the huge beast was at least the same size of an African bull elephant and that wasn't even counting his giant wavy horns protruding from a shaggy mane.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck," Jane muttered under her breath, eyes wide and breath shallow as she stared at the colossal troll who gazed levelly back at her. He was sitting on his front, arms folded and legs splayed at his side while his long tail swayed too and fro. Heavy dark purple fur covered his body, and a massive mane hung thick around the collar of his muscled throat. He was certainly big enough he could probably just go straight through her front wall if he turned hostile. Even his claws looked longer than one of her fingers. All in all, he looked like the stuff of nightmares.
The concerned honking from her usual troll barely cut through her icy panic and she groped about blindly until she managed to grab one of his horns from where he was rubbing up against her in worry.
"It's um fine," she muttered, patting at his tangled hair, "Uhh, who is...I guess this is your father, then? Shit. He's. Huge. Shit."
She was panicked and could feel sweat sliding down her spine, despite the comforting touch from her most familiar troll. The tall one stepped forward and to her surprised he nudged her towards the lounge chair on the porch until she half collapsed into it.
"I ruined breakfast, sorry," Jane muttered. The huge troll from the lawn yawned, showing a massive array of fangs while he arched forward like a cat, claws sinking into the lawn while his dolphin-like tail curled up before settling back down. Jane wished she had her camera. Also she wished she had a steel enforced safe room in her house. She wished for a lot of things in that moment.
At least the huge newcomer didn't seem particularity interested in eating anything, as he rested his chin on his crossed forearms, eyes sliding shut. However she knew from the way his long ears were twitching he was still very aware of his surroundings. She didn't want to tempt him into eating her, so as soon as he became more settled she very quietly slipped off the chair and back inside the house, uncaring for the broken bowls on the porch.
Time for some research.
Unfortunately the internet wasn't a lot of help. She already knew most of the information due to her previous research when her indigo friends showed up but googling I have a gigantic troll in my yard and Largest known troll on record produced some interesting results, especially in the image search. To her dismay the pictures of the trolls she saw didn't seem to match the one currently lounging in her yard; while she hadn't gone up to him, she'd seen him in comparison with her fence- which now that she thought back half of it had been crushed -so she knew the size of that and compared it towards him and thus the images she was finding.
Which lead to her coming to the unsettling discovery that this troll was most likely the largest on record.
Great, she thought glumly, I have a gigantic troll in my yard who's the biggest of his kind. How am I supposed to get rid of him? However she was fairly sure that was a loosing battle from the start.
He was calm.
That was mainly the only thing positive Jane could think of the giant troll who'd destroyed most of her lawn. The huge hoof marks and torn up grass from his claws made her think her lawn was beyond saving, but Jane wasn't a very good green thumb so she tried not to be too bothered by the ruin outside.
He was calm but he was watchful. If anything that was worse; considering how huge he was Jane knew he could kill her in one blow but she refused to be cowed to her house like she was under house arrest or something. So she forced herself to go outside and clean up the mess in the porch, ignoring the cold stare from the giant troll still lounging on her lawn. She though the tall one had a fairly intense stare but his father proved her wrong.
At least her regular troll treated her no differently, being his usual needy, loud self as soon as she left the house so she tried to focus on that rather than the troll on her lawn. She knew feeding them was a bad idea, but she had no idea they would drag a giant troll along with them. Those two were demanding enough and now she had a troll the size of an elephant hanging around her house. She probably should've called Animal Control or something but quite frankly she couldn't be bothered with the issues that would go along with that, so she decided to just run with her usual method; feed it and hopefully she wouldn't end up mauled or dead.
Easier said than done.
At least she found out he was partial to faygo, just like his two sons. Though she rolled the bottle to him rather than giving it to him outright like she did the other two. He just bit the top off before sculling down the bubbly fluid in one long swallow and Jane made note to buy a lot more faygo.
And life moved on. However the indigos didn't.
The younger two would always show up like clockwork at her front door for breakfast, but after that first day the father didn't return for four days until she went to open the curtains in the living room only to come face to face with a giant eye staring inside which made her fall backwards over the couch with a scream. After that she was on guard, as the giant father of the two would only appear sporadically. He also never accepted food from her, but would drink every bottle of faygo she threw at him which seemed to please him. She used that to maneuver him around the lawn, as she didn't dare shove him around like she did the other two even if he was still deeply fascinating to watch; it was like seeing some massive primeval beast whenever he walked about or shifted. Something that belong in horror stories, of a giant beast that would assault medieval villages and devour the children if they were bad.
He was huge enough he always walked on all fours like a gorilla, leaning on his thick knuckles when he moved on the rare occasionally he'd leave when she was still awake. Jane stayed well away from him whenever he moved to avoid being crushed but one time she was cleaning out the bird feeder and completely missed the fact he'd lumbered towards her when he'd been sleeping on the opposite side of the lawn. It was only when she turned around, stretching out an arm to shake out a cramp that he suddenly seized her hand, easily fitting her entire hand in his mouth. Jane froze, staring at her hand being held between long teeth and knew that if he chose to bite down he'd take her entire hand off. At that angle he was looming over her, bowed down to be at her level and his shadow cast darkly over her despite the fairly strong sun.
"You bite me," Jane said calmly even as she internally panicked, "And you'll never get another bottle of faygo ever again."
There was a long moment when the two simply stared at each other, their glaring contest only broken by the noises of the birds and the trees and honking from the two other trolls playing on the lawn, until the huge indigo rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, allowing Jane to pull her hand free from his maw. She kept eye contact with him even as he settled back on his haunches, suddenly being as interested in her as a house plant as he went back to his nap.
Unwilling to tempt faint, Jane returned to her house while trying to flick off the slimy saliva now coating her hand. At least she now knew he understood English.
It was on a Sunday morning when she was chopping tomatoes for an omelette that she got a phone call. After some fumbling she fished her cellphone out of her pants pocket, swearing slightly as she nearly dropped the knife in the process and narrowly missed cutting off the tip of her finger.
"Uh, hello?" she managed to blurt out.
"Heeey Janey! How you doin'?"
"Eh? Roxy, is that you?" Jane frowned, tucking her cellphone against her shoulder and ear as she continued to chop up the fruit, "Kinda in the middle of massacring a poor hapless tomato. Can you call me back in a minute or two?"
"Um, nah nah, kinda need your help asap! See uh me and the boys kinda planned a surprise visit to your house!" Roxy's voice sounded forced, strained and Jane grimaced, convinced she knew what was the problem.
"Let me guess, you've arrived and are in a predicament?" she said, putting down the knife with a sigh.
"Yup! But holy shit, your mean guard dogs- or trolls, what the fuck ever -sure as hell don't like us. Uh, could you maybe call 'em off before they smash in the windows and maul the hell out of us? Where the fuck you get this lot, anyway?" Roxy said, and Jane could hear annoyed honking in the background of the call.
"Darnit, okay hold on! Won't be a minute- try not to yell or move too quickly," Jane said hurriedly before hanging up. Thank goodness her groceries arrived yesterday, including the shipment of faygo. Running to the pantry she fished out three bottles of grape flavoured faygo before dashing out the front door. Though she expected it, she still winced when she saw Roxy's jeep surrounded by the three indigo trolls. The father was leaning on the front bonnet, with his tail curled around the bumper so he was essentially circling it. The tall one was sitting on the roof, slowly dragging his claws back and forth along the metal while the youngest had his face pressed against the passenger window while honking loudly.
Jake caught sight of her from where he was in the passenger seat and waved at her, Roxy following suit as soon as she realized what he was staring at. Dirk looked annoyed, stuck in the back which had one of the doors dented, most likely from a headbutt from her inquisitive indigos. Jane frowned; hopefully Roxy had remembered to pay for her car insurance this time. She eyed the jeep which was parked just outside her front gate before glancing over towards the fringe of the forest; she was fairly confident she could throw that far.
She stepped down her porch steps slowly, but fortunately the trolls seemed more interested in the car than they were here. A puff of air escaped the front tyre as the youngest troll bit it open with curious teeth and with a heavy screech the father dug his claws into the hood of the jeep, the metal being punctured easily by the powerful talons.
"Okay, so I'll throw this bottle of faygo and you guys sprint through the door before they catch and maul you to death, okay? Be ready to run as soon as I throw!" she shouted, wincing as the bonnet of the car dented inwards with a screech of metal as the father increased the pressure of his forearms.
Jake and Roxy gave her the thumbs up from where they were trapped inside the jeep while Dirk just had his face in his hands.
Jane shook the faygo bottles, catching the attention of all three trolls including the smallest who started honking enthusiastically as he dashed forward. She pulled her arm back with a bottle of grape-flavoured faygo in hand and shouted, "Alright you guys, one two three GO!"