Chapter Text
Pop Trolls are known for their bright colors and loud songs. They tend to stick together and create their pods within the trees. An ordinary Pop Troll would typically live in peace with its pack by its side while singing the day away.
Well.
Hope never was an ordinary sense, was it?
And the troll by that same name was anything but your typical Pop Troll.
Dull grays made up her fur and hair, eyes cast to a dull brown and blue. All serving as a backdrop to the fairly colorful hues of the outfit they’d salvaged from her lost fluffle.
They sat in the safety of the den she’d dug out under a tree, a small fire glowing by the entrance to the small burrow. A worn journal that once belonged to her brother weighed heavy in their paws as she traced a pad across the pages. Several unfinished songs and poems filled the pages around the entries about the colony, the day the world burned around the siblings, the fruitless journey of the three of them. There were even a few from when her family still lived in the Troll Tree.
Hope gets that the Bergens fenced in the Troll Tree and harvested trolls every year. She remembers the stories of the tree and future village plans.
But they don’t get why her parents and siblings left it. They all had lives there, people they cared about, people they had to leave behind.
Why leave all that if they were going to die anyway?
Both her siblings had promised their boyfriends that they’d come back for them once a safe place was found. Why couldn’t they just stay? Forget the Bergens, they had people to rely on and people who did the same to them. Why was she meant to hatch outside of the tree? Why couldn’t they have all just-
Hope quickly closed the journal and placed it back in their hair at the feeling of tears coming down her face. They weren’t about to ruin one of the last things she had from Ripple.
She couldn’t.
They’d already gotten him and Brick killed.
The least she could do was keep their stuff in tact.
Hope scooped soil onto the dying fire before crawling over to her leaf nest to take stock of everything. Their tail flicked in annoyance at her blurred vision. The only thing keeping her from halting the seemingly endless stream was the memories of their siblings reassuring a younger her that emotions like this were alright. They sat in the nest for a moment and let her eyes run themselves dry before truly taking stock of their supplies. The new set of spears that she had crafted hadn’t been used enough to have any major damage, but were still checked before being returned to their place beside the nest. The bag that kept their more survival oriented things, and anything that was too big to fit in her hair, was emptier in the food department than she’d like. They didn’t like carrying too much food on her at once. More food meant critters would try and trail them, but it was low enough in stock to warrant a hunt. Though a quick glance out the den cut any preformed plans short with the blanket of nightfall.
Setting up the traps could wait till morning.
Hope yawned with a stretch before curling into the nest, letting her hair grow around themself in a cocoon as the fog of sleep crept into her mind.
~
Headaches, a wonderful start to the day that only got better when Hope remembered she was running out of food. Perfect. They let out a groan as she crawled out of the nest and over to where they’d laid the nets and ropes out a few days ago alongside a spear.
Thank the skies for actually planning things, and forgetting about it for a while, but we can ignore that part.
She stretched with a yawn, fur fluffing, as they stood with their supplies and a few berries to snack on and use for bait while going to her trap spots. Hope slipped out the entrance to her little burrow after pointing the remaining spears at the outside, then camouflaging the opening with various sticks and leaves. She took a deep breath and padded off into the undergrowth.
Hope wandered their well tread path, tying ropes and nets into each trap setup she found acceptable as the chirps of the more docile critters sang out around them. ‘I’ve been here too long, these are starting to wear down a bit… even the path is too obvious… I’ll need to move soon… prolly should've moved a while ago…’
Each trap was another thread in the comfortable system she’d need to unravel and rebuild once again. They can’t get used to one place. She had to move. Hope’s already been there for almost three weeks. They hadn’t stayed in a location for that long in a while… not without a group. They were getting a bit too cocky for her tastes.
They had just finished setting up the last rope snare when a low growl sounded in the distance. Hope knew a cue to leave and took it, quickly using her hair to climb into the branches of the nearby trees. They couldn’t spot the source of the noise when she scanned the area and headed towards a stream a fair distance away. Whatever was hunting in the area would have moved on by the time this snare came by on the check rotation, even if it didn’t, whatever might get caught would be too small for most predators to care about.
Even with Hope using the cover of the trees, the trip to the water took around an hour with how many big critters were in the direct path. She was also stopping every once in a while to grab various edible plants, can’t only be hunting. What kind of omnivore would she be then?
Boring as fuck that’s what.
Hope could feel their tail wagging behind her as she gazed into the slow deep water. A sweep of the surrounding area cleared it as safe enough. They placed her equipment in a divot on the branch and covered it with leaves before looking back to the water.
Hope wiggled into a crouch before launching herself into the water below. They paid no mind to the small aquatic critters scattering away from her and quickly swam down to the bottom of the riverbed. They wasted no time before extending her claws into the soft earth, quickly freeing some choice stones along with a murky cloud that clung to her pelt.
Eleven stones were held in their paws by the time she climbed out onto the river bank and shook herself off. Hope’s grey fur had various spots of brown where the mud still clung. They quickly made her way up to where they had jumped from. She laid out the rocks, inspecting each one before placing them into various pockets of her bag depending on how good they looked.
Hope stood with a stretch before starting the trek to the few pitfall traps she’d set up when they’d originally arrived.
The trees were oddly silent as they went to check on the other traps. The pitfalls had long since been completely filled with various materials and were useless.
She bit down a hiss as unease grew with every missing sound.
Only something big could get the forest this quiet.
They had just barely glanced at the untouched net closest to the current den when a distant shriek met her ears.
Hope immediately bolted to the burrow, narrowly avoiding catching anything on the spears when she finally made it there. ‘ Why the actual fuck is there a Wing-Dingle here?! The hell is that thing chasing to get this deep in the forest!? ’ They hopped into the nest and pressed her back to the wall, practically glaring at the entrance as their hair itched to cover themself.
The only sound she could hear was their thundering heartbeat. She desperately hoped that nothing had spotted them during that sprint. Hope carefully ran her claws through their puffed fur, slowly untangling clumps of dried dirt in an attempt to calm herself.
‘ It’s fine. You’re fine. It can’t get down here. You’re safe. You can’t hear it anymore, right? That means whatever it was chasing is gone now. You’re fine. ’
Hope took a trembling breath as they closed her eyes. They’d give it a bit more time before going back to checking everything. Her fur flattened significantly at the implemented plan. Her back paws carefully kneaded the leaves of the nest as they took a few cuberries out of her bag, simply snacking on the cubes of goodness. By the time the fruits were reduced to seeds and stems Hope had calmed enough for their tail to keep a steady rhythm against the ground.
With a quick shake and a huff she crawled back out to continue her day. They weren’t about to let a random bird stop her.
This time at least.
Hope was getting annoyed by the time most of the traps had been checked. So what if they had only been set up a few hours ago, they were impatient. The stupid bird must’ve scared everything away from the area before anything could even get caught. Her tail lashed as they headed toward the last trap.
‘ I swear if this one’s empty I’m gonna stab something. Fuck it, im bouta switch to fish at this point. I’m actually not joking this time, evyone laughed last time, but I’mma actually do it. Don’t test me stars, I’m so close to fighting God, you don’t even kno- ’
She froze as they stared up at the triggered snare.
“Is that a fucking person ?! ”