The third time wasn't long after the second. Of course, this third time…. He wasn't sure if he could do it. Mrs. Namura presented the perfect opportunity for him, but his mother… She was just barely inside. Asleep. Knocked out by this monster before him. He had no way of knowing if this changeling would kill her once he was gone, or if she would wake up at all, and there was no way he could let her wake up to find her son, dead, torn apart in her kitchen…. No, this time, he had no real choice but to fight.

He tried, he made a half hearted attempt to keep her away, to keep her from killing him, but knew that he would be unable to avoid the temptation for long. Jim threw away the amulet, hoping to distract her, knowing that, because he rejected it himself, that he deliberately tried to get rid of it, it would reappear to him in just a few moments. He runs upstairs to the bathroom, trying to hide, waiting for the amulet to return to him. Once it does so, he plans to lead her out the window, over the back fence, away from his home, and, more specifically, his beloved mother. It is tempting, almost too tempting to let the changeling kill him once they are far enough away. He is already sore from his fight with Draal, he knows that he won't last very long, he might as well reduce the amount of pain he must go through before his death. Better to make it swift, right?

At the very least, moving away, and having Mrs. Nomura kill him will save his mother the trouble of knowing that her son commit suicide… But the police will be able to recognize the marks of a blade, better to get those away from her before she manages to cut him, he wouldn't want an innocent human to be framed in her stead. Then perhaps she will use her claws rather than her swords. If he could get her into the woods, it would be relatively easy to make this look like some kind of wild animal attack, rather than a murder. Yes… that is what he will do. Now he must only execute his plan.

Jim knows that she is about to get through the door. He moves to the ledge of the window, waiting for the changeling to make it through the door before he throws himself out of it. He waits, balancing on the tip of his toes, knowing it will happen any second now. He prepares, is about to unlock the window…. There is a crash. There is a brief scuffling sound, then there is silence. Could it have been his mother, waking up? Could this she-monster have killed her? He scurries downstairs, unconcerned for his own safety. However, he dreads seeing what could have happened to his mother, so he pauses at the last second, closing his eyes before turning and peeking at the table. His mom is still there, sleeping, unaware of the chaos that is all around her.

There is now sounds of fighting. He follows it to the backyard. He opens the door, only to find that Mrs. Nomura is there, rushing at him, her long claws splayed out over her head. She swipes at him, and, out of instinct, he ducks, covering his head. He may be prepared, even ready and eager to die, to escape this world, but he couldn't let him end it like this, in his back yard! No, it must be on his own terms, and no one else's. There wasn't any conceivable way for animals with claws that large to get into his backyard on their own. Because he ducked, she misses his head by inches, then is yanked back as a large hand wraps around her middle and pulls her away from Jim. Jim stays in position for a few more moments, then realizes that, as he is not dead yet, it is most likely safe to look up again. He does so, and sees something that he never thought that he would. Draal is in his backyard, fighting, protecting him. He does a double take, surely this is fake? It must be some sort of trick or something…. Why would the troll that he had just defeated and humiliated in front of all of trollmarket, be protecting him? There was simply no good reason. Jim doubted even Toby would be willing to distract Mrs. Nomura like that, let alone challenge her outright! Heck, even Blinky and Aaarrrgghh had run and left him to fight Bular on his own. So why was this troll, one who had been his enemy, protecting him?

Once he gets rid of Mrs. Nomura, he turns towards me. I bring Daylight up to a guarded position across my chest, before he explains what exactly is going on.

Linebreak –

Draal walked through the streets of Arcadia, trying to stay in the shadows, remaining unseen. He followed the fleshbags scent, trying to find his place of residence, but was having no luck. Surely, this child hadn't actually been to this many places? His scent was all over the town! He may have an excellent nose, but no one could possibly navigate this strange place on scent alone, as most trolls do! Few trolls use anything other than their nose for navigation, choosing instead to rely on their sense of smell alone. However, that activity was proving to be nigh impossible, for there were too many overlapping trails. Finally, he finds an area that has more layers of scent trails than the others. The other one, the child's companion, was also prominent. The area positively reeked with the stench of the two humans, one of which he had come to love dearly. He set out down the streets, smelling both the air and the physical surroundings for the scent of the aspiring trollhunter.

He pauses for a moment, nostrils flaring. There is a new scent, a tainted scent, that of a changling. For a moment, he looks around, wondering if the child will survive if he takes a quick detour to see why there is a changeling in Arcadia. Draal nods to himself, then takes off, following the scent. After a few minutes, he stops abruptly. The trail leads him inside a house? Surely not. Maybe it just lives here? But there is a crashing sound, and he knows that, even if he needs to find Jim, this could be important as well. Certainly, just a few more minutes couldn't hurt? He rushes inside, noticing the unconscious human at table, but dismissing it as unimportant. Another crash, this time from up the stairs, causes him to rush to the top. He sees the changeling, a horrendous pink thing, which, sadly, he recognizes. He knows who this is, and he will be more than happy to end her. To finish the fight that she ran from, oh so long ago. He snatches her from the door, dragging her down the stairs, then proceeds to throw her from the building. He follows her out the door, trying to subdue her, without causing too much alarm to the puny fleshbags which are inside the home, most likely cowering in fear. Inside, Draal can hear the pounding of feet, probably someone trying to run and hide in the basement… Not that that would do any good against a troll or changeling, for their natural state is that of darkness and chaos.

Draal is taken aback when the mini trollhunter carelessly throws open the back door. He barely manages to catch the pink terror before she achieves her goal of decapitating the newest trollhunter. He knows he needs to end this quickly, before the small child does something stupid to get himself hurt, so he ends the fight. He allows the Halfling to scamper away, watching as she does so. Once she is out of sight, Draal turns towards Jim. It hurts his heart to see the child, with Daylight drawn and held up in a pathetic attempt to make it appear that he would protect himself if Draal were to attack him. Thus, he explains. He tells the young one that he will protect him and his family when Jim cannot, to ensure the safety of this new trollhunter. The boy relaxes, but has a defeated look. It crosses his mind that he is far too trusting of someone who, as far as Jim was aware, just earlier that day had tried to kill him. Mentally, he edits his goals for while he lives here. Protect the young human, and protect his mother, from outsiders, and from Jim himself, if needs be. At any cost, even that of his own life. This young fleshbag had many great things to accomplish, and he would not be able to do so if he were dead.