Forever

Somethings do play a part- (floyd's pov)

I took notice of how both of his grandmothers were almost relieved that he left and that filled my belly with a boiling hot rage, when I opened my mouth to say something his grandma betty intervened,

"What we're about to talk to you about or tell you, you absolutely can't repeat back to Veneer." My eyes grew wide at their sharp tone with me and I felt the flames of my rage being fanned into a larger fire. I silently shook my head in agreement but I refused not to tell him. He deserved the truth especially after his own grandmother's randomly turned cold on him on the flip of a coin.

"Has he had any troll essence?" That question perplexed me and I remembered back to the time Velvet sprayed him in the mouth against his will and I shook my head yes, and I could see them start to tear up at my assurance that that he had forcefully consumed some of my essence despite his insistence on not wanting to.

"Well, the thing is that I never told him who his grandfather is.. you see-" Betty started only to be interjected by a loud,

"Veneer's part troll" the blue haired woman nonchalantly claimed as if she were talking about the weather, not about my bubblegum being part troll.

"KATHY!" The golden hair woman roared at her spouse with flames licking her irises in unbridled fury. I stopped and silently watched the two of them as I digested the information I had just been exposed to.

"What it's true but you were taking to long, I mean the kid is going to find out especially if he turns into a troll after being around one for so long!" Kathy put both her forearms on the table and laid her head down on her crossed fingers.

"What is going on!" I inserted myself into their bickering tennis match only to be met with icy glares from both of his grandmothers. Kathy then let out a sigh and pulled out a cigarette from her jean pocket and stroke a match to light it. As she lit the end of her cigarette the room became so definitively quiet that I could hear the cars from the road speeding past the house not noticing the storm brewing inside.

Betty then turned to me a let out a huffy sigh at her partner's grand reveal so soon and started to explain,

"Well you see I married a troll years ago, his name was Reginald, he was my soulmate- besides my darling Kathy here." She remorsefully sighed at her partner almost begging her not to take annoyance to which Kathy replied,

"No offense taken babe." Kathy let out a breathy low chuckle and blew out a puff of menthol flavored smoke letting it drift away from her chapped flamingo colored lips. Betty sighed and smiled trying to keep it together,

"I met Reginald in the troll tree, on a visit to Bergen town. I was as smitten with him as he was me, and some years later I gave birth to my son, Veneer's father Benjamin, I honestly expected him to not look like me but I was proven wrong." The older woman then handed me a small photo with multiple pale streaks through it, it must've been folded multiple times and I lifted the photo to inspect it,

It was a lanky man with green hair and with a matching colored goatee his smile was large and infectious as he held a baby boy in his arms with a small blanket swaddled around him that in bold letters said 'Veneer'.

This was Veneer's father holding him. I looked up at them both and rose an eyebrow. Confused on where his she devil of a sister is because she was nowhere in the picture.

"Where's Velvet?" I questioned them hastily They both looked at each other silently answering each other's questions with their eyes before answering me,

"Velvet was born from an affair." I barely could hear the sound of my jaw hitting the floor of this extraordinary fact, Velvet was his half sister.

"But how?" I couldn't believe that Veneer wasn't even fully related to his supposed twin sister,

"Well my ex daughter in law had cheated on my son with a man with his hair color, so for the longest time he thought Velvet was his daughter that was until a couple of months ago. He found out about it and he was driving that day and-" she stammered and cut herself off due to pure unfiltered grief at the loss of her son.

"That was the car accident that killed them both." I finished her sentence then let the room be bathed in an unbearable crushing amount of silence before I let my next question slowly trickle out,

"Why ask about my essence?" Betty wiped tears from her eyes before sniffing and breathily answering me,

"Because Troll essence can effect anyone, usually people with troll heritage would absolutely turn into a troll no matter what the other half was especially with the right amount of it. But since Velvet isn't of Troll descent, it would drive her into insanity." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, this could explain Velvet's erratic behavior especially towards Ven and how it was only getting worse after I entered the picture.

I rapidly blinked my eyes in realization of how Velvet's overuse of my core due to her wanting a easy way to fame was driving her into a frenzy craving more almost like a drug.

"Is it like an addiction?" I blurted out my thoughts going back to the bergans, how they used to consume us for happiness, could it be that she was technically eating us but instead of for happiness it would be our talent, the same exact thing but much more strange means.

"I've been told it is, the more essence you inhale or consume, the more you'll depend upon it and the more you depend on it the more your mind loses its grip on reality." I never knew that that's why Veneer probably purposely avoided me and his sister after she was done using the perfume bottle on him. That was until he started to feed me and design outfits for me, then he started to talk much more.

But now I understood why he was stand offish with me after Velvet had used me on him, He was scared of losing himself almost like a junkie.

I legitimately don't blame him in the slightest, it honestly sounded terrifying to lose grips on your own sanity and slip away trying desperately to find another troll to get their fix.

"There's more than one way to get a troll's essence." I rose an eyebrow at their cryptic line with their eyes that were once sad turning expressionless and dead.

"A simple kiss is enough." I tried to stare them down to see if they would back down but there was no sign of them telling me a lie. All the times that Veneer kissed me he was consuming more essence without even realizing it.

I knew I had to tell Veneer this especially since I don't want to keep secrets from him especially a large one that had to do with where he came from and the reason for his parents untimely deaths plus him turning into a troll at any point in time due to him giving me such sweet loving warm kisses.

I'll tell him as soon as we get to the woods. I can hear him walking down the steps now, I hope he couldn't hear us because he deserved to hear it from me since I wouldn't lie to him.

We all stopped talking as he walked in the room his bag completely stuffed and he looked much better than his gloomy self this morning,

"Hey sweetheart." I let the sentence leave my lips only to get picked up and kissed on the cheek. I examined as he grinned at me not truly realizing what he was doing.

I was now definitely aware that I have to tell him everything I've just learned despite his grandmothers warning.