If changeling!Toby and the Barbara and Jim of Lost Souls were to all exist in the same universe, how would you see that playing out?
This is a hard one.
Basically, Toby was just coming to trust the Lakes and care for them at the time that Jim was kidnapped.
For human!Toby in the cannon Lost Souls AU this loss resulted in him becoming a bit withdrawn and afraid to form attachments. For changeling!Toby the result would be similar except, as he is already playing a role, he simply leans more into it. He ends up becoming a decently popular kid but he isn't actually close to anyone. (He isn't willing to try trusting again.) He would get along a lot better with Strickler in this AU as he is acting more like the ideal changeling. (He still is skeptical of the Janus Order goals but he's taking the path of least resistance. He's working on some fallout plans for himself in case Gunmar isn't quite as thankful to the changelings as they're expecting. Which he suspects will be the case.)
Toby doesn't find out about Barbara and vice versa for a long time because Barbara is generally working within the Janus Order Headquarters and wears her armor when she's out and about.
Toby knows that Morgana has a champion but not who she is. Toby is simply too low ranking for Barbara to know about.
Toby does try to find out what happened to Jim with little luck. He knows that magic is involved but isn't able to get any further. He reported the incident to Strickler in hopes that it would be interesting enough for someone with more information clearance to look into it, but it never happened.
When Darci tells him about Merlin he passes it on to Strickler and tries to discourage her from looking into it more. She still maintains an interest in magic. Toby keeps tabs on her just in case she finds something.
By the present timeline Toby has for the most part moved on from Jim. The only people he really cares about are his Nana and the goblins.
Toby would end up being in charge of the goblins much sooner in this timeline. He would meet Barbara then. It would be unpleasant for both of them. Toby because it reinforces his belief that there's really no one you can trust or rely on, and Barbara both because Nancy's house cannot be a safe place for her and just the fact that someone that close to her has been affected by the Janus Order.
In conclusion: Barbara's reformation would be much tougher without Nancy's support. Toby would be officially Janus Order, but open to exchanging favors with the other sides. (Not Merlin though.)
I don't know anything about your AU's but I'd like to hear about them!
I will give you a random AU fact then.
In the "Earth Ambassador Jim AU" (Future AU were trolls and humans now live together and Jim is an ambassador for Earth to other planets) trolls are very often chosen for longer space missions because ten or twenty years is a long time for a human but not so much for a troll (troll to human aging ratio is that in 16 years a troll will age about as much as a human will in 1 year).
Spaceships traveled on by trolls must be fitted with a heartstone. Toby, Claire and Douxie worked together to figure out how to grow heartstone fragments faster. Toby was the leader of this project and is remembered in troll history for his breakthroughs. Thanks to his work trolls are now able to live in many new places rather than needing to set up a market near an existing heartstone.
I'm curious about Reckless Adventures and the Twist in Time
Twist in Time is a time travel AU that I started writing before Wizards came out. It takes place super far in the future were half troll Jim is an ambassador to other planets. He picks up a little necklace on one of his trips and ends up getting sent somewhere. There he sees two trolls fighting and steps in. Then he realizes that they are non other than Bular and Kanjigar. He's in the past.
~~~
Reckless Adventures is an AU where the events of Reckless Club happened pre Trollhunters (a little differently obviously since no trolls were involved) so Caire, Darcy, Toby, Jim, Eli, Mary, Shannon, and Steve have formed a little club that meets after school.
When Jim becomes Trollhunter and he and Toby stop showing up everyone is curious. So when Claire decides to find out what is going on via sneaking into Jim's house to eavesdrop on his dinner with Strickler, everyone goes.
Here's a snippit:
“What about the party Jim threw at Claire’s house?”
The girl in question glanced up in surprise at her name, nearly messing up the work she was doing on Shannon’s nails.
“I’m still not convinced that was what it was,” Mary said snapping a picture. “I checked every social media account in town and no one had anything. So unless he was partying with spies, that didn’t happen.”
“So what did?” Darcy said, flinging up her hands in frustration. “Not only did he trash Claire’s house, but he and Toby constantly disappear, skip class, they don’t show up to our club meetings anymore and don’t forget the Museum Incident. Look me in the eyes and tell me something isn’t as fishy as a wharf here.”
“Maybe he lied because no one would believe him.”
Everyone turned to look at Eli. The normally quiet boy flinched a little at the sudden attention but persisted.
“It’s really common in anything with the supernatural that people lie about they see. No one believes you if you say that Big Foot dented your car so you tell your insurance that it was a big hairy man.”
Steve snorted.
“Even if your stupid theories were true, nothing like that would happen in Arcadia. This town is as boring as it gets.”
Eli looked away, shoulders drooping and Darcy shot a glare at Steve. Before she could say anything Claire spoke up.
“I overheard Jim telling Toby that someone would be over to his house for dinner tonight and that everything would be coming out.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“Woah woah woah. You heard that and you didn’t tell me?” Mary sounded personally offended. “I thought we were friends!”
“We are,” Claire mumbled, ducking her head. “I just wanted to look into it myself after all the weird stuff he’d been doing.”
Mary grinned and edged closer.
“Awwww, it’s so cute seeing you in love.”
“Am I the only one worried about the impending break in?” Darcy asked.
What had been shaping up to be a rather boring day at the market takes a turn when a young boy darts behind Douxie’s herb cart. Douxie, who had almost been asleep, blinks uncomprehendingly as the boy stares up at him with pleading eyes.
“Don’t tell them I’m here,” He whispers.
The young wizard doesn’t get a chance to say anything because at that exact moment a group of city guards rounds the corner. They are brandishing spears and breathing hard as if they’d been running for a while.
“You there!” One of them barks at Douxie. “Have you seen a boy run by? Brown hair, green tunic?”
At his feet the boy presses up against the cart. He’s shaking now. Douxie makes a snap decision. He doesn’t know what the boy has or hasn’t done but he’s not about to hand a child over to a group of armed men without knowing why.
“I haven’t,” Douxie says leaning casually against his cart.
The man lets out a disappointed huff and then turns to his men.
“Split up. We can’t let him get away.”
He turns back to Douxie.
“If you see him, tell us. He’ll be sporting a burn mark on his cheek. You can try to catch him yourself if your feel up to it -there’s a reward- but be careful because he’s very dangerous.”
Douxie resists the urge to look down to see if his stow-away has a burn.
“Sure,” He says. “But what’s a kid done to warrant that if you don’t mind my asking?”
“He’s a changeling,” The guard growls. “No one suspected him until he got kicked by a horse this morning. The iron shoe revealed him for the demon he really is. The guard who was close by tried to grab him, but the little monster bit him. We’ve been chasing him all morning.”
“A changeling here huh?” Douxie says. “Crazy.”
The guard grunts in agreement and then heads off down the road, leaving Douxie to ponder his best course of action. He glances down at the boy. Sure enough, there’s a burn mark on his cheek. He looks to be about five or six.
Douxie comes to a decision.
“I was just fixing to head out for the day,” He tells the boy. “Why don’t you hide in my cart and I’ll get you out of this place?”
The boy stills.
“You… you’re helping me?” Then his eyes narrow. “No. You’re going to hand me over aren’t you? You want the reward.”
Douxie huffed.
“Kid. If I was going to hand you over, I would have already done so. You can take my offer or leave it but do you really want to run around out in the open?”
The boy hesitates, watching him warily for a moment. There’s a shout in the distance and he flinches. He climbs quickly into the cart and covers himself up with the canvas.
Douxie packs up his herbs and then they’re on their way. He takes the south gate out of town because the guard there is always lazy and doesn’t check carts very thoroughly. He makes it through with no hassle.
Once he’s about a mile away from the forest he turns off the main road into the forest. His passenger notices the change in terrane and his head pokes out.
“Where are we going?” He demands, trying to quickly get out of the canvas but getting tangled up in his haste.
“To my camp,” Douxie says.
He slows down and then stops as the boy keeps struggling.
“Need a hand?”
The boy flinches when Douxie reaches out to him, so he withdraws.
“I just want to help you,” He tells him. “You don’t have a place to go, right?”
“No,” He admits. “But what’s in it for you?”
“Nothing really,” Douxie says with a shrug. “But…”
He hesitates. His own secret is almost as dangerous as the boy’s.
He looks into the fearful green eyes and then thinks: What the heck?
He holds out his hand and lets some of his magic gather around it. The changeling’s eyes widen as they follow the wisps of blue light.
“I’m a wizard,” He says. “Let’s just say I know a thing or two about getting chased out of towns by an angry mob.”
The changeling doesn’t quite loose his wariness.
“Do you need something from a changeling to make a potion?” He asks, finally getting himself untangled. “I heard that wizards sometimes use changeling bones for stuff.”
Douxie groans and drags his hand down his face.
“For the last time, I just want to help you out,” He says with a sigh. “Look if you find out I’m lying feel free to steal all my gold or whatever and run off into the forest.”
The changeling considers that and then settles back down in the cart.
In about ten minutes they reach the cave where Douxie has been staying. Once he’s out of the sun, the changeling side-eyes Douxie and then transforms into his troll form in a flash. He’s a little green thing, with big brown wings that look much too large for him.
“A changeling,” A voice says from the back of the cave. The kid’s wings flare out in alarm. “Really Douxie?”
Archie, in dragon form, emerges from the shadows.
“The town guard was chasing him around in a mob, okay. If they’d caught him they’d try to torture the location of his familiar out of him and you know as well as I do just how pointless that is.”
“Perhaps,” Archie says. He looks like he’s going to say more but Douxie shoots him a pointed look.
“Fine,” The familiar huffs. “I’ve caught dinner. I imagine you’ll want to cook it.”
“Definitely,” Douxie says going to a corner of the cave to get the wood.
~~~~
“So what’s your name?” Douxie asks his guest over dinner.
The changeling stiffens at being addressed.
“Waltolomew Stricklander,” He says.
Douxie blinks.
“And I thought my name was a mouthful,” He says. “Mind if I call you ‘Walt’?”
The changeling slowly nods.
“Excellent. I am Hisirdoux Casperan, but you may call me Douxie and this is my familiar Archie.”
“Nice to meet you,” Walt says in an automatic sort of way.
“Likewise.”
Looking at his clothes, Douxie figures that he probably belonged to a good house before he got outed as a changeling.
“So Walt,” Douxie says, figuring he ought to try to get to know the kid a little better. “What do you like to do?”
Walt slowly finishes chewing the bite he’d taken out of the rabbit leg.
“I like reading,” He says slowly. “My… familiar’s father was teaching me how to play chess.”
That confirms Douxie’s theory that he had been planted in a well to do house. It’s definitely best for the kid if he gets far away from here. More money generally means more people will be hunting for the runaway.
“Nice,” Douxie says. “I’ll have to see if I can make us some chess pieces then.”
Walt blinks at that.
“Why?”
“Why what?” Douxie asks, absently stroking Archie who has settled across his lap.
“Why would you make chess pieces? I’m not going to be around that long.”
Ah… That’s what this is about.
“Are you leaving?” He asks.
The changeling shrugs.
“Well, if you decide you want to have some company for a while. You’re welcome to stick around,” Douxie says. “It’s always just me and Archie.”
Archie gives him a look which he chooses to ignore.
Walter’s wings are just slightly wrapped around him. He’s still keeping the fire between them.
“Think about it and let me know in the morning,” Douxie says with a shrug. “I’m going to be moving on tomorrow.”
Walter nods.
~~~~
Douxie wakes up at some point during the night to Archie poking at him. He shoots a blank glare into the dark but gets up anyway. The fires still glowing so Douxie heads over to it, dragging his cloak with him.
He pauses when he spots a small form curled up in the corner. It looks like Walt is finally asleep. Douxie hesitates a moment and then walks over to him. The changeling looks so small curled into a ball with his wings wrapped around him. Douxie wonders how old he actually is. Changelings are always older than they look, in part simply because of the rate trolls age at, but this one seems young. He could just be a good actor of course.
Douxie wraps his cloak around the small figure and returns to where Archie is waiting by the fire.
“So why are you trying to convince a changeling to travel with us?” The dragon-cat asks irritably. ‘Do you want us to get sold out to his comrades at the next town we get to?”
Douxie huffs.
“Look Arch,” He says. “I couldn’t just leave him there. They were going to kill him!”
“Rescuing is one thing, but you didn’t need to bring him here, let alone ask him to start traveling with us. What are you thinking?”
Douxie sighs and stares into the fire.
“He reminds me of myself. Okay?”
Archie blinks and then cocks his head.
“I…” Douxie starts awkwardly. “Back when my magic first manifested my town… my family… they didn’t take it well. I told you about that.”
Archie nods but doesn’t say anything waiting for him to continue.
“Seeing Walt today, on the run for something he ultimately didn’t get a choice in reminded me of that.”
Douxie shivers. He remembers the cries of “witch!” The fear in the eyes of the people he’d grown up with. The hatred.
He doesn’t realize he’s scratching at his scars until Archie buts his head against his hand. He gives his familiar a grateful smile and starts stroking his head.
“I didn’t have anyone for a long time after that. Not until I met you,” He continues. “It… It was lonely and scary and… I guess when I saw Walt today.” There’s a lump in his throat. He remembers the changeling’s familiar scared eyes looking up at him. He swallows hard. “I thought that it would be nice if he didn’t have to go through that.”
They sit in silence for a while. The soft night noises filter into the cave and the fire flickers gently.
Archie sighs.
“Very well. If… Walt… wants to stay he can. I will support your decision.”
Douxie grins down at his familiar. He swipes quickly at his eyes and then pulls him into a hug.
“Thanks, Archie. You’re the best.”
His familiar’s quiet purrs belie his grumbling.
~~~~
When Douxie wakes up in the morning. There’s a second set of wings wrapped around him. He cracks open his eyes and finds that Walt has cuddled up to them during the night. The little changeling’s head is pressed up against his chest and his wings are wrapped around him and Archie. Douxie’s cloak is over the three of them.
~~~~
~~~~
Author Notes:
Walt was listening in when Douxie and Archie were talking.
I'm trying to get caught up on my asks. This has been in my inbox for a while. Hope you find this Anon!
Some fun thoughts on this AU:
~Douxie kind of ends up being Walt's father figure in this.
~Walt doesn't usually call him "Dad" though unless he's feeling particularly emotional or being sarcastic.
~Due to their appearances Walt sometimes has had to pretend that he's Douxie's father, which is always weird for them.
~Walt ends up becoming Douxie's apprentice and learning magic.
~He isn't connected to the Janus Order because they think he got killed when he was exposed. He's fine with that.
~When he finds out about Jim being the Trollhunter he tells Douxie (who was out of town at the time.)
~Jim and Toby are very confused when they ask about how Douxie and Strickler are related and Strickler says that Douxie raised him. Their graying history teacher referring to what looks like a 19 year old as his father does not compute.
It starts out in “Gnome Your Enemy” except Jim doesn’t turn back to normal the next day… or the day after that. Eventually they come to the realization that Jim may in fact be stuck. Now Jim must deal with not only Trollhunter problems but also with being the size of an action figure. Blinky gets yelled at a lot is this AU.
I don’t plan to do a full cannon rewrite. Just scenes I find amusing.
The challenge match is still on but ends up being rather… weird to watch because the trolls in the audience can’t see Jim. Draal tries to roll over him but Jim manages to lodge himself in Draal’s spikes. So everyone is treated to the strange spectacle of Draal running around crashing into things and clawing at himself as he tries to dislodge his tiny opponent. Daylight may only be about 4 inches but it still hurts.
Jim does end up telling Barbara about everything and she’s understandably freaked out. She arranges for him to attend school virtually and gets him a dog they train to assist him. Vendal gives him a stone for the amulet that can make the armor cover the dog too. (I like the idea of him having a Tebetan Mastiff or maybe a border collie.)
Toby learns to fight earlier. Strickler would really like to know what’s going on. Vendal would like a drink.
Death and Rebirth is an AU where Jim looses his memories as a result of the changes he goes through in becoming a half-Troll.
Since I have more of this written I'll give you an excerpt.
~~~~
“I’m not stalling,” Trollhunter said, starting to feel a little irritated himself. “If you want me to follow you, it would be polite to at least introduce yourself.”
The man turned around abruptly with his mouth opened and then stopped. He closed his mouth and looked Trollhunter up and down. His brows went up and then back down and drew together.
“You really don’t know who I am, do you? Do you…” He paused. “Tell me what is your name?”
Trollhunter thought about it really hard again and felt the dull ache rise in his head.
“I don’t know,” He said finally. “The river trolls told me that I’m the Trollhunter, so I’ve just been going by that.”
The fact was despite the fact he was using it that way “Trollhunter” was a title and not a name. If the boy was being honest with himself, he did want a name. It just hadn’t felt right to give himself one.
“Oh.”
Trollhunter glanced back up at the man, who was watching him with a frown.
“Do you really remember nothing?”
“The first thing I remember is waking up in the river,” Trollhunter said.
He still wasn’t sure what he thought of this man, but he did seem to know him, so he was willing to give him a chance.
“That’s… unfortunate,” The man said. He continued to talk quietly, almost to himself. “I suppose I should have realized it was a possibility. The brain would have to change with the rest of the body and it shouldn’t be surprising if…”
The man sighed and then shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” He said to Trollhunter. “Your current predicament is my fault I’m afraid.”
Before Trollhunter could answer, he continued.
“That said, you are needed elsewhere so remorse will have to wait. For now I am the wizard Merlin, I will explain the rest on the way.”
In your Parent/mentor swap au how's bular relationship with Jim and Watler and who teach jim how to fight like Blinky?
Bular is amused by Walter. Despite the fact he's just a weak puny fleshbag, Walter is willing to stand up to, argue with, and even spar with Bular. (Walter does renaissance fair reenactments and fenced back in college and high school so he's actually not half bad with a sword.) Most of Trollmarket, with a handful of exceptions, are absolutely terrified of Bular and will back quickly away if he so much as makes eye contact with them. Walter is scared of him and Bular knows that but he also doesn't let that fear stop him which gains him some respect. Bular has figured out a number of things that annoy or get a rise out of Walter and will sometimes deliberately provoke him when he's bored. Vendal is so tired of their constant bickering. Nomura thinks it's hilarious.
Bular is in charge of Jim's physical training and Nomura is in charge of the cultural and historical side of things (though she's also down for sparring.), they both work with him on tactics.
Bular is initially very skeptical of Jim. He thinks they might be better off just killing him so that the amulet will move on to a more capable candidate (He doesn't ever voice this opinion because then he would be blamed if something happened to Jim.) Eventually he warms up to his student. It helps that Jim has some rather trollish traits about him. (human-changeling hybrids have always just been human as far as the Janus Order has observed but never before has one been exposed to the dual influences of a powerful heartstone and the Daylight amulet. It will be a while before anything becomes obvious though.) Jim also wins some points because, despite the fact that Walter is ready to move out of Arcadia to make sure his son is safe, Jim is determined to stay and learn to be the Trollhunter. Jim's compassion and kindness play a roll but Bular doesn't like to acknowledge that he has feelings. Feelings are annoying. (But if he gets a little bit of a warm feeling in his chest when Jim smiles at him in greeting or looks to him for approval when he masters a new sword skill who's ever going to know?)
In Parent/mentor swap au how dose vendel feel about bular sense he is the son of Gunmar?
Vendal has never fully trusted him and keeps testing him. Bular is always one wrong move from getting kicked out of Trollmarket (and he knows this). Vendal is starting to ease up a little but has still not given him his own horngazzle and has forbidden anyone from lending him theirs (Not that anyone aside from perhaps Nomura or Kanjigar in an emergency would consider doing that). Bular training the new Trollhunter is, in a way, the most recent test. (There's also just not a lot of trolls qualified for the job. Draal would be have been Vendal's choice if he could just get over himself.)
When Bular first asked to join Trollmarket one of the conditions Vendal placed on him was that he had to abide by the Pact and stop eating humans. He never expected Bular to actually follow through on this. (Bular will never admit to it but the centuries he's spent completely alone have really worn on him. Trolls, like humans, are social creatures and require some level of interaction for their well-being.) Eventually he ended up passing out from low magic and Kanjigar brought him into Trollmarket. Kanjigar had started to advocate for allowing him into Trollmarket before this happened, when he observed that Bular was actually following the terms placed on him. Bular had at that point been helping him out in defending Trollmarket for a while and gained his respect and a certain level of trust.
