They worked hard over the next couple of weeks, though it was with more passion than Jim had ever seen in the other trolls before. Even the few trolls who had never particularly taken to him or Claire due to their humanity seemed to be in much higher spirits, and Jim was sure he had only received half as many glares from that lot than normal. Empty, cavernous rooms were beginning to take shape into familiar looking streets; Bagdwella worked extra hard to ensure that her shop was the first to open, which just so happened too be on Christmas Eve.
"I did't think trolls celebrated Christmas," Jim said, as he helped shuffle the last of Bagdwella's boxes full of charms, trinkets, and general trash into the alcove that she had built for herself. She was quite thrilled that it was half as much bigger than her old place.
"Oh, we don't," Bagdwella tittered in a jovial voice, bopping Jim on the nose as he stood from dumping the boxes on the floor. A few drunken gnomes were balancing on her washing line, singing a tune that sounded like God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen. "But you and Lady Claire do, yes? All the more reason to celebrate! In fact..." the usually annoying troll seemed to be acting extra sneaky about something. "I believe I've distracted you well enough by now."
"Distracted?" Jim repeated, jerking his head around as he heard a few snickers from the surrounding trolls. Among them, Cor gave him a mischievous wink.
"Yes, distracted," Bagdwella replied with a laugh, shoving a small wooden box into Jim's arms. "Now, I do believe that you should head home, Trollhunter."
"But you have four more boxes—"
"I lied!" Bagdwella said in an excited voice, pushing him out into the main pseudo street. "Go home! Merry Christmas!"
Jim laughed, confused, but allowed the bigger troll to push him away and in the direction of where he and Claire had started making their own home. Granted, it was mostly him doing the building, while she told him what she wanted, but it was a nice feeling to sort of officially settle down.
"Playin' house, boy?"
Jim came to a halt, mentally groaning at the sound of the gruff voice trailing after him. He was at the edge of the main area, only a minute away from his own cave. Christmas or not, there was always something or someone having to cause trouble. Jim figured it was just in troll nature to be obstinate.
"Hello, Gleb," Jim sighed, turning to face the giant, green troll who must have stood two heads taller than even AAARRRGGHH!. "How is your cave coming along? I thought I saw your oldest with a stack of nice cedar for the supports."
"Ah, he's a good lad," Gleb said, his tough act dropping for just a moment as he smiled at the reminder of his eldest son. Still, the troll was staunchly in the 'I want nothing to do with humans' crowd, so Jim was far from his most favorite person. In fact, whereas becoming a troll had strengthened his relationship with many of the trolls, Gleb was of a few that now saw him as nothing more than an 'impure.' It didn't help that Changelings and humans were both part of Jim's immediate family, either; to those who thought like Gleb, they believed that the connections would make Jim biased.
"I should—" Jim tried to politely disengage from the troll while he was distracted, but as he attempted to back up, he hit a large, orange wall that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. "Oh, Kalen... hi?"
"Where you goin', Trollhunter?" Kalen grunted, glaring down at Jim. He should have known that Gleb wouldn't have been brave enough to confront him on his own without the backup of his best friend. "Your lady can wait while we chat, yeah?"
"Is something wrong?" Jim asked, knowing exactly why the two had stopped him out on the fringes like they had, but trying to remain professional all the same. "Are you lacking materials? I can make a scrap run later tonight, if you—"
