Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 75

Down in his heavily fortified danger proof survival bunker, Branch was busy carefully setting up seven of his most comfortable sleeping bags, the survivalist placing them directly in the center of his living room where the temperature was neither too hot... nor too cold... the now blue troll smoothing out the thick plush material to be sure it was nice and neat...

     There... perfect... 😁

Admiring his work with a small smile, Branch's ear suddenly twitched as he heard the unmistakable sound of his fridge door falling shut, the former village grump looking up just in time to see Dj exiting the kitchen with an overflowed glass of his special finely aged groundwater seepage in her hand, the young boy's smile instantly fading from his face at the sight...

Aw man... that stuff took forever to find...

     You know what...? It... it was ok... he didn't mind... it was only a drink after all... not that big a deal... he could get more... it might take him years to do so... but yeah... he could get more...

The red troll walking into the living room with a large smile, Branch watched from his spot on the floor as Dj carelessly put the glass down on his self whittled table... without a coaster! 😱

     Branch gulped at the sight, the young boy quickly turning his gaze away from the catastrophe as he went right back to smoothing the sleeping bags, trying his absolute best to keep his mind off of this absolute horror show he was currently stuck living in...

     Needless to say... it didn't work...

Slowly, the infamous loner stealthily raised his gaze back up, watching with wide terrified eyes as a single drop of condensation slipped slowly down the glass, heading directly on a clear path to leave a ring forever stuck on his perfectly spotless table...

     A small whimper and Branch just couldn't hold himself back any longer, the survivalist quickly jumping up to his feet before rushing over to the table with a coaster he had pulled out of his hair, the young boy hurriedly picking up the cup Dj had just put down as he slid the coaster underneath it before anything irreversibly bad could happen...

     Phew... safe... 😮‍💨

     Finally raising his gaze away from the cup... Branch froze... the poor thing suddenly painfully aware of all eyes on him...

Greeeaaat...

     "Oh... uh... s... sorry..." he uttered softly in complete embarrassment as everyone stared at the contentious hermit in complete confusion, the young boy slowly lowering his head in shame. "I... I didn't mean..."

Cutting off his words, Poppy walked over, placing a gentle hand on the young boy's shoulder which caused the former village grump to look up at her with a saddened gaze...

"What's going on, Branch?" she asked softly in a concerned voice. "Are you, ok?"

     With a deep calming breath, Branch gave his girlfriend a kind reassuring smile...

    "Yeah... I'm fine..." he assured before turning to look around at everyone else who were unfortunately down in his home until morning. "I would just... appreciate it if when you put drinks down on the tables... you would use coasters... if... if that's ok with you all..."

"Oh... of course!"
"Yeah..."
"Absolutely, man!" everyone quickly and courteously agreed.

"Coasters...?" Cooper asked in confusion. "You mean... these things...?" He holds up one of Branch's coasters, the little Weretroll curiously raising an eyebrow at him. "Uh... yeah...?" he responded slowly, not believing anyone could possibly not know what a coaster was. "Oh... I thought these were for target practice..." the giraffe troll informed with his iconic goofy laugh. "Oops."

Branch froze instantly at his new friend's words... his body stiffening and eyes widening as he let out a small nervous gulp...

"Target practice... on what exactly...?" he asked cautiously in a slightly shaky voice, honestly terrified to find out the answer. "On that!" Cooper replied with a laugh, pointing a foot at one of Branch's most prized possessions which was now completely smashed to pieces... a golden bullseye given to him by his father the day before he went off to fight in the great Bergen War... and never came back... a family heirloom that had been passed down from generation to generation... and was now absolutely and utterly destroyed...

A small whimper... his lip quivering... Branch desperately fought back the urge to yell his head off... to explode on each and every troll currently in his very private home... the former village grump simply forcing a shaky smile instead...

"Fun..." is the only trembling word he could manage to get out without completely losing control of himself, his eyelid twitching ever so slightly as his forced smile remained...