What if Barbara wasn't out of the room when Jim used the bathbomb?
If Barbara was in the room when Jim used the bathbomb she would have dove in after him immediately after he was sucked down into the black water. Resulting in both of them being spat out into the woods as shapeshifting half trolls.
Some things would be easier with Barbara also being a troll by night, she needs even less sleep than Jim, so she doesn't struggle as much to get everything done. But she's still struggling with a massive amount of stress and uncertainty, not to mention dealing with a young tantruming Jim while barely keeping a handle on her own trollish instincts.
Instead of breaking her ribs, this culminates in young Jim biting her, hard enough to break her stony skin, and Barbara snapping and roaring at him with all her might, sending Jim running. Jim is horrified that he hurt his mother and drove her to such an extreme and Barbara is horrified that she snapped at her child and scared him so badly that he ran away from her. The two hug, apologize, and reconcile shortly after, but this marks a turning point towards repression for the both of them.
Their camping trips are a chance for both of them to run free and explore the wilderness in their troll forms. Jim also has much less of a hang up with needing to eat raw meat. Because his mom has the same dietary needs as him as a troll and he doesn't have an issue with her eating animals to survive, it's easier for him to accept doing the same thing himself.
When the CPS investigation gets started people are even more suspicious, from an outside perspective it appears that Barbara's keeping herself and Jim constantly isolated at home for unknown reasons. It's even speculated that the two of them are in a cult.
To confront Jim the other kids come up with some kind of distraction to get Barbara to leave the house. Then they break in with the confrontation with Jim, and subsequent conversation with Barbara when she returns, playing out mostly the same as in the main story.
The kids' reconciliation with Jim, while Barbara remains withdrawn, also plays out mostly the same. But when James breaks in and reveals that he was behind the bathbomb Barbara completely loses it. She attacks James and comes close to killing him, with one of the only things holding her back the fact that she doesn't want to execute someone in front of the kids. Instead she tells James that he has 24 hours to leave Arcadia, and if he's still here tomorrow night she really will kill him.
James books it out of town, but troll Barbara's confrontation with him was both loud and disturbing enough that it causes Nancy to rush over from across the street, where she sees both Barbara and Jim in troll form. Once things settle down and explanations are exchanged, Nancy becomes a supportive friends to Barbara in her struggles with her troll form, much the same way the other kids are to Jim.
Then after a long, fun summer. While biking to school one morning Jim and Toby discover an amulet in a pile of rubble, an amulet that whispers the name Barbara Lake.
TLDR: Both Barbara and Jim become trolls by night and humans by day, the amulet chooses Barbara as the Trollhunter with Jim and the kids being her support team.
I got inspired by @undeadchestnut‘s Trollhunter Barbara AU drawings (specifically with troll!Barb and of course the ensuing Stricklake content) and went to scribble her, only to start thinking about troll vision and glasses. So anyway, what if the amulet also gave Barbara trollhunting glasses!?(they magically stay on during combat) The amulet accommodates each individual, after all!
Two sentient rocks in love, aka Ler has One (1) aesthetic. Messy as heck, I need to stop drawing fanart at 3am, but these two is like the only thing I could think about for the past day. Also: fitting nose shapes. Also also: Barbara is taller.
Hey ya’ll! I did a Stricklake collab with the amazing artist @brothebro. It was really fun painting this. I love roleswap and parentswap, so this Trollhunters au was straight up my ally, lol. Check their stuff out! They’re great artists and I really love their works.
Chapter 23: Strickler finds out how much of a mess James has made of EVERYTHING.
Synopsis: Barbara and Jim has cut Strickler out of their lives after Jim tells his mother the truth about the Trollhunter and what Strickler has done. As trolls start turning up dead, a figure from both Barbara’s and Strickler’s past arrive in Arcadia.
Strickler was practically panting with fear as he glared at James. Though this changeling was an utter idiot, this caused him at times to be far more dangerous than the most cunning could ever hope to be.
He knew that better than most…
And now that he had gone after Barbara and never before had he felt more fearful of what this big changeling was capable off.
“You do not have to worry, I did not hurt her,” James made a hand movement.
Strickler grabbed his shirt, glaring into his eyes.
“I swear…” the smaller changeling growled towards him, James simply rolled his eyes.
“Fine… fine…” James then shrugged his shoulder. “Look, I was up north and I stayed by this volcano… which would expect volcanoes to be in warm climates because…”
“That is not how volcanoes work…” Strickler groaned as he rolled his eyes.
“Anyway… there were a bunch of these cool things in there, they had hoarded so much… so I grabbed a bunch on my way out,” he shrugged his shoulders. “After cleaning the blood off I tried to figure out what the shit I actually got was. So… long story short… one of those things were a potion which turns a human temporarily into a troll.”
James let out a laugh, clearly proud of himself for what he had done, however Strickler stood there absolutely frozen.
“So… you turned Barbara…”
“Temporarily.”
“You turned Barbara temporarily into a troll…” Strickler said with disbelief, feeling a headache coming on.
“Yes,” James sounded rather proud of himself.
“So… you gave the woman who by now must have a burning wish to kill you the ability to do so?”
James stopped, opening his mouth slightly, before closing it again.
“I… I did not think of it that way…”
James scratched the side of his head. Strickler groaned.
“Why? Why did you turn Barbara into a troll?”
“To help YOU!”
Strickler’s eyes widened in shock. He had not expected this response.
“What…?”
“I mean… I figured that since she reacted to the whole changeling thing, she seeing it from our side…”
“YOU ABSOLUTE IMBESILE!” Strickler snarled towards him, James leaned back slightly, expecting that the smaller changeling to attack him.
After a couple of seconds of heavy breathing, Strickler lowered his head, looking at the ground.
“She… knew. About the changeling thing… she did not care about that. It was the lies… and everything else… too many things to list. But… me being a changeling was never one of them,” his voice was low and filled with regrets.
“Ah, so you had it coming,” James then said.
“Yes, I did,” Strickler let out a low growl.
“She is going to kill us!” James then said, but then jumped to his feet, nearly knocking the other off his feet.
“It may not be too late!” he then exclaimed. “I put the powder in her coffee, figuring that unless she had changed completely in a decade…”
“Then we have to get there right now!” Strickler was hardly had the time to grab his coat on the way out, James running after him.
The car came up to the Lake residence just as the sun was rising on the horizon. As the two changelings got out of the car they realized… they did not really have much of a plan as in… they didn’t have one at all.
“So… what now?” James glanced over at his friend.
“Just… get in… and steal the coffee,” Strickler looked around. If Barbara or Jim caught them it would be a difficult one to talk themselves out of. Bad enough he was breaking in after being told in no uncertain terms by both of them to stay away, but to also break in with their estranged husband and father… at that point Strickler was certain that turning to stone would be a far kinder fate.
“Stealing Barbara’s coffee… I have done more dangerous things… I think…” James scratched the side of his head.
“Let us just hope she does not have the early shift, come on we-”
Strickler’s words were interrupted by an ear piercing shriek coming from the house.
“She had the early shift…” the words fell out of the smaller changeling’s mouth, with the larger changeling swallowing nervously.
“So… what now?” he asked with nervousness.
“She is going to kill you… and then she is going to kill me… and then she is going to kill you again,” Strickler was absolutely shocked, swallowing nervously. James simply nodded.
“Yeah… so… we run?” James asked glancing over at the other changeling. Strickler turned towards him.
“Run? Of course we bloody well run! Get your ass in the car!”
Neither was late about rushing to the car and sped off.
Jim practically fell out of the bed in an hurry to run out of the room when he heard the scream of his mother.
“MOM?!” he pounded on the door.
“Jim… I…” he could hear her voice trembling. The door was locked, so he took a step back and put his shoulder at it, bursting in.
And there he saw… his mom… but very, very different… though in fact they looked a lot more than mother and son than last night as he was still stuck in his other form.
“Mom… you are a troll! What happened?!”
“I don’t know! I wake up like this! Why am I a troll?!” her hands were clutched at the sides of her head, holding the horns which grew from her forehead and curled back down to the back of her head.
Her stone skin had the color of a fiery orange going to a dark red towards a dark red towards her back and limbs. He could see black bony protrusions on the elbows and down the side of her arms. Her eyes were absolutely blazing, especially in her agitated state.
“Uh mom… do you have a tail?” he noticed how her pants were sitting a bit… odd.
“I think so…” Barbara simply whined.
“How did this happen?! I am not a changeling am I? You think I would have known by now?!” she tried to calm herself… but it wasn’t easy.
“I don’t know…” Jim was absolutely stumped. “Don’t you think Strickler would have… known?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know what we are going to do!” Barbara snarled as she hit the wall, the tile cracking. Jim stared, just as shocked. Nothing about being a trollhunter had ever prepared him for this.
“Uh… just… try to breathe-”
“I am breathing!” his mother interrupted.
“Just keep doing it. Then… you call into work, I’ll make some breakfast and… we will fix this. I promise…” he then said.
Barbara let out a long sigh.
“I am sorry honey I just…”
“Look, I know how suddenly turning into a troll can be rather… stressful. Just… take your time. I’ll get breakfast,” he wandered down the stairs.
Barbara stood there, putting her arms around her chest wondering what she was going to do now.
Down in the kitchen he noticed that his phone had a message. When he saw the sender a sneer came upon his face.
Technically, this is the same story from earlier today (though I won’t link to the first post cause Tumblr hates when I embed links). It’s just where I intended it to finish now, rather than being cut short. Also, I failed to mention in my first post that was my day 3 (mirror/masquerade) for @talesofarcadiafemslashweek.
Barbara blinks.
The figure in the mirror blinks back.
They gaze at each other. Their faces reveal their disbelief at the other’s existence. One of Barbara’s hands comes up and touches her cheek. One of the figure in the mirror’s does the same. They both feel cool, stone skin. It’s theirs. Hers.
There aren’t two different people on opposing sides of a mirror. There’s only one person in the room, Barbara herself. She clenches her fists, and then unclenches them when she feels her claws did into her skin. She looks down, at the fading, half-moon indentures now in the palms of her hands. Thankfully, she didn’t draw blood.
Her blood isn’t red anymore. It’s more of a bluish-indigo. She’s glad she doesn’t have to see it.
Barbara looks down, away from the mirror and her reflection. Her gaze falls on the glamour mask sitting on the vanity. Her fingers hover over it. She gulps, and then picks it up. Barbara closes her eyes as she puts the mask on. She breathes in as the wave of magic washes over her and the illusion goes into affect. She breathes out as she opens her eyes.
The person in the mirror now is human. A woman in her forties who’s yet to show too many signs of aging. Her hair is long, but smooth (not an unkept mane that refuses to be tamed). Her fingers thin, nimble, almost dainty (not rough and clawed). The tips of her ears are rounded (not pointed), her nose small (not broad), her skin pale (not grayish-blue).
Barbara could go out like this, leave her girlfriend’s apartment, and no one would think anything changed at all. She is Barbara Lake, the same old doctor who’s worked at Arcadia General Hospital for years. Only a few were there when all that changed. No one else has to know. She could continue as herself. She could. Really. It’s a possibility.
Except, it isn’t.
The person in the mirror won’t age, won’t change. She’s incapable of being anything but a stagnant figure. To go masquerading as her would be…not quite wrong, but not quite right either. She is—was—her once. But she isn’t. Not anymore.
Barbara presses one hand to the mirror, and her old self does the same. She doesn’t realize how hard she’s pressing until the first crack splinters the mirror. The slightest shift of her hand, and more join it. A web of fractures race across her reflection, breaking it apart into innumerable fragments. Barbara snarls. Her fingers curl into a fist and slam into the mirror. Its broken shards cascade down. The picture of her masquerade gone.
Barbara takes off the glamour mask and throws it aside. She turns away, wraps her arms around herself, drags herself over to the bed, and collapses down on it. Barbara wiggles to the center of the mattress and pulls the blankets around herself in a tight cocoon until the world seems distant, unreachable.
An amount of time she can’t be certain of later, the world comes reaching in for her. Fingers pull away the blankets and graze over her horns. Barbara growls, but she doesn’t have the energy to make it threatening.
“I don’t want to talk,” She protests as Nomura excavates her head from the blankets.
“Then don’t.” Nomura pulls Barbara’s head and shoulders into her lap. “I’m going to sit here with you.” She runs her hands through Barbara’s hair.
Barbara wants to protest, but she also doesn’t want Nomura to go away.
They sit in silence for a while.
“If you let me, there’s something I’d like to show you,” Nomura says, breaking the still.
“What is it?”
Nomura smirks. “It would ruin the surprise if I told you.”
“I don’t want to be surprised, Zelda. Not right now.”
“Do you trust me?” Nomura’s hand comes to rest on Barbara’s hair.
Barbara gazes up at her. “Always.”
They end up in the woods outside of town. Nomura leads Barbara until they reach a long meadow.
“Zelda, what are we—?”
“Run.”
“What?”
“Run with me.” Nomura races away.
Barbara stares after her, but her girlfriend isn’t coming back. Barbara grumbles to herself, but she takes a step, and then another. She has no choice but to run if she wants to catch up with Nomura.
She picks up speed rapidly. Her troll legs are capable of far longer strides than her human ones, and she had long legs before her transformation. Barbara bounds across the meadow. She leaps over a boulder. Exhilarated by her weightlessness, she laughs. She lands solidly and uses her momentum to propel herself forward.
“You caught up fast,” Nomura comments when Barbara finally, finally runs alongside her. “But, I wonder, are you willing to follow me all the way?”
“Zelda, what are you talking—?”
Nomura leaps off the edge of the small cliff at the end of the meadow. Barbara skids to a stop. She watches as Nomura falls—gracefully—and lands in what appears to be a deep pool at the bottom. Barbara gulps. She can’t. This is absurd. She can’t.
She does.
She gets a running start and then leaps after her girlfriend.
The current yanks Barbara when she plunges underwater. She has no choice but to let it take her wherever it wants.
Barbara gasps for breath when she’s deposited on a gritty beach. She pulls herself up farther on land—sweet, sweet land—until she’s out of the water. She looks up and sees Nomura smirking down at her.
“What the actual fuck, Zelda?” Barbara heaves herself up. “Why did I just jump off a cliff?”
Nomura chuckles. “You enjoyed it, you know you did.”
“Yeah, okay, maybe I did, but still, do you know how dangerous—”
“Look, I’m not good with words, especially comfort ones.” Nomura sighs. “I didn’t know what to say to make you feel you better, so I thought I’d show you how good it can feel to be a troll.” She approaches Barbara and places a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’ve lost a lot that you can never get back and that hurts.” She looks down. “But there are things, abilities, you’ve gained too. Being a troll, changing into one, it isn’t all bad.” She puts a finger under Barbara’s chin and lifts her head so their eyes meet. “I need to admit something. I hope it doesn’t change how you think of me.” She cups Barbara’s cheek. “I love you like this. I loved you before, but now, now there are things I’ll be able to share with you that I wasn’t able to because you were human.” She takes a breath. “I will always be here to support you when you need, but I was also hoping I could show you all the possibilities that have been opened to you.”
Barbara grins. “She says she doesn’t have a way with words, yet she speaks so very well.”
