Tales Of Arcadia Ficlet Collection

☆ New Skin ☆ {Human!Draal} (Part 1 of ??)

"Okay I need you to repeat this for me one more time," Jim muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Blinky. "Explain how that happened."

"Well uh...you see..." Blinky began and glanced over at the human seated on one of the stools of his library, dressed in the clothes he and Aaarrrgggh had to scavenge for to fit him. "I uh...have absolutely no idea how this happened."

"You have no idea how Draal got turned into a human?" Jim asked, glancing at the human who once a troll look back at him uncomfortably.

"Charm." Aaarrrgggh replied. "I think."

"I feel weak in this body," Draal announced. "Like...really weak. How do you deal with this?"

"I dealt with it, quite humiliating but that's why I didn't fight as a human," Blinky scolded him. "At least find a positive side to this."

"Hey not all humans are weak! Some are actually pretty strong!" Toby retorted. "Like martial artists, wrestlers, they just gotta exercise a lot and lift weights!"

"How long is he going to stay like this? And where is he going to live?" Jim asked his mentor. "I know a lot of trolls here weren't comfortable with you in Trollmarket as a human."

"Perhaps he can stay with Tobias?" Blinky suggested as Draal hopped off his stool, walked over to Aarrgggh and punched the giant troll's arm, earning a yelp of pain from him. "And we should attempt to keep him from trying to punch things to see if he is still strong."

"I've got a punching bag in my garage with some gloves we can use." Claire suggested as she hurried over to examined Draal's hand. "Does anything feel broken?"

"No...just hurts to...flex." Draal admitted as he winced when flexing his hand. "Is it broken?"

"I don't think it is, but we should ice it just in case." Claire replied. "Come on, we'll get some at Jim's house."

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"I can't believe it! This is just like what happened with old Blinkous!" Notenrique laughed as he watched Draal shove another spoon of cereal into his mouth. "But this is with the big blue solider boy and it's a lot more entertaining!"

"I could still squish you." Draal snapped with a mouthful of Lucky Charms. "And what are these colorful things in this food?"

"Marshmallows, best part of the cereal." Toby replied and gave Claire a smug look. "Told ya he'd like it."

"Okay we need to figure out a way to reverse this, the last time this happened with Blinky he nearly turned back into a troll in full sunlight and in front of my mother in public." Jim said as he took the empty bowl from Draal and placed it in the sink. "We don't need him turning to stone or freaking out the public."

"I told Nomura what happened and she flipped!" Notenrique laughed. "Boy is she going to faint when she sees her boyfriend looking like that!"

"He's not that bad looking," Claire argued. "I mean, he could have came out worst."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better or worst?" Draal asked in annoyance.

"Draal! What the hell did you do this time!" They heard the front door slam open and then slam shut, signaling that Nomura had arrived.

"Well she's mad," Toby muttered as Draal ducked down behind the kitchen counter as Nomura came into view, her green eyes in slits the way they were when she was a changeling.

"Nomura, no need to get mad at him," Jim said quickly stepping in front of the angered changeling. "Draal is only going to be like this temporarily, I swear we are trying to figure out how to fix this. It's not that bad."

"Show me how bad it is, I'll be the judge of that." Nomura snapped.

Draal cleared his throat as he poked his head over the counter and gave her a sheepish smile. "It's uh...not that bad is it?" He asked with a nervous laugh.

"Oh my god..." Nomura muttered as Draal rose from behind the counter and she glared at Notenrique. "You told me he came out hideous!"

"He has blue hair! That's hideous enough!" The changeling argued and jutted his thumb at Draal. "If you're going to go smooching that in public, do it somewhere in private!"

"If you do not shut up I'll stuff you in a pot and ship you to Norway, heard they aren't very friendly to changelings," Nomura threatened and the teens snorted. Nomura shot the teens a look before turning back to Draal with a smile. "So, what do you want to do now you are human?"

"Ah...I have never really thought about it," Draal admitted and shrugged. "Anything is fine really."

"Take him on a date!" Toby whispered loudly.

"The uh...park is a great place to go," Jim suggested as he motioned for his friends to follow. Claire quickly grabbed Notenrique from the counter and followed Jim as Toby did likewise and flashed Draal a thumbs up. "We'll be...in Trollmarket if you need us."

"Well that was...odd." Draal commented as they were now alone in the kitchen. "But they're humans, I shouldn't be surprised."

"You're one too." Nomura reminded him with a small laugh. "Come on, I know a place we can go to since you're not a troll at the moment. I think you'll like it."