Crystal Facets

Barb

Barb had been terrified when she first landed in this strange new place with all these trolls of different kingdoms. Sure, her dad king Thrash, had told her a little bit about the other types of trolls, but she hadn't expected most of them to look so different from her as well.

After the first few days, she'd build up a pretty good relationship with those she talked to often like King Trollex, Poppy, Cooper, and Prince D. They were the youngest of all the trolls brought, and all fell within nearly the same age range. She felt she could finally say she had real friends, and she couldn't be happier!

This had been why she stuck close to the new addition to their temporary home. She had ended up falling asleep with her cheek pressed against the cool plastic of the bowl Trollex was currently sleeping in. She was startled awake though when a light tapping on the plastic under her cheek made her jump. She looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on Trollex, who was grinning nervously from inside the bowl.

She gave a little head tilt and stood up, climbing to the edge of the bowl and leaning forward into it. Trollex's head broke the surface a moment later and he smiled up at her. "Sorry about that, Barb. I was up for a while, and wondered if you wanted to sneak out to get some breakfast?"

A grin split her face and she nodded. She and he had been planning on sneaking out at least one day to get a feel for the place, but before they could Trollex had gotten dried out. Now that he seemed back to normal, she was more than happy to go exploring! She offered a hand to the other. "Come on, I'll help you outta that bowl, and we can get going."

She did her best to help Trollex out of the water quietly, but the wet patches on the floorboards were impossible to prevent. As she helped him down, she found herself surprised when he stood upright on his fins. "Dude, I didn't know you could stand on your own, I didn't really think your fins worked like that."

He gave a small shrug before needing to stick his arms out to his sides, swinging them a bit to keep his balance. "I've been curious about it myself. I wasn't sure I could, but I figured I'd try it while I dry off. I still can't walk like you guys though..."

She began to circle around him, humming softly to herself before watching her own feet and legs while she moved. It couldn't be that different from standing to walking, right? She returned her attention to Trollex and grinned. "I'm going to teach you how to walk."

His eyes light up, literally as much as metaphorically. "Wait, really? You can do that?"

She shrugged. How hard could it be? She moved to stand in front of him, and held out her hands. "Come on, we can at least give it our best shot." And so they started slow, with Barb guiding each of Trollex's forward steps. He leaned heavily on her at first, but with each step he grew more confident. Soon he let go of her hands, holding his arms out for balance.

He grinned at her, and she couldn't help but watch proudly as he took a few confident steps forward. Of course, she had to hold her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing when he fell flat on his face. "Alright, so I'm not a master yet. I don't exactly have legs, y'know?"

He let out an indignant huff when he saw her trying to stifle her giggles, pushing himself up to kneel on his fins. "How do other trolls walk like this anyway? Swimming is a lot easier..." He stood once again, taking a few more cautious steps forward. "I can't wait till I dry off again..."

Barb hummed softly, sticking close to him as they walked slowly for the entrance. "Why is that anyway? Why do you have to dry off?"

"Well, I'm not too sure, but I think it's just something to do with adaptation? We needed to be able to get around outside of the water, but it wasn't perfect I guess... But I think I know what it's called." He tapped at his cheek lightly as he thought. "I think I remember one of me lessons being about our abilities, and this one's called Flow."