This was a short solo RP I enjoyed writing for the comprehend languages requirement that I want to keep here to document!

Life does not always go entirely the way one has planned...
It was certainly an understatement for Jessica's current predicament. Here she sat on a few rocks somewhere in the Austrian mountains surrounded by Mountain Trolls. She'd only wandered from the group a little bit, looking for a more private spot to relieve herself when she'd been snatched by one of the brutes. Jessica was certain she was going to die but instead the troll had simply dropped her at the camp. The others inspected her for a good hour before going back to their standard routines. It seemed they were oddly content to let her be. Or keep her as a pet. Or something.

That was several weeks ago, maybe over a month. Jessica had lost track of the days.

Whenever she made to leave, the trolls got angry and agitated. They'd calm down if she returned to camp. Whenever another human got close to the camp, the trolls also got agitated. Jessica was sure that a few rescue attempts had been made, sure that people were aware of where she was, relatively unharmed too. But it seemed the darn trolls had thwarted every attempt. How?! It couldn't be that hard to outwit them! They were notoriously dumb!

But still, the more time Jessica spent here, the more she noticed things about the gigantic creatures. They were dumb, absolutely, but they weren't animals. They used tools. They wore clothing. They communicated with one another. It wasn't just animistic roars, there was a method to their grunts, pointing and motions. The way one slumped their shoulders displayed their mood and intent. The speed of a point would dictate the urgency. Now that any sense of immediate danger was gone, she had more awareness of the creatures.

"GLUUURK," a loud grumble came from behind. Jessica spun around to see a troll face to face with another slightly shorter troll. The taller one was poking the other's knee with his wooden club.

"REEEH?" Came the response. It was a question... She could tell from the way the smaller troll tilted his head.

"BRRR MUH." The first replied and pointed to... her. Jessica went pale. Even now it was one thing to simply exist around uncaring trolls. It was another when they were clearly speaking about her.

The smaller troll began to stomp off somewhere as the first troll locked eyes with Jessica. Instinctively, Jessica threw the creature the most awkwardly terrified smile she could manage. It took a moment but the sides of the troll's lips slowly turned upwards. Was it a smile? Then the creature stomped at a brisk pace in her direction.

Oh no.

Had she just invited it over? They hadn't harmed her so far but trolls were strange, violent and unpredictable beings. The troll had reached her by now. His arm extended outwards but Jessica was frozen in fear. The troll then... patted her head. Roughly.

"Ah!" The girl yelped.

"HUR HUR." The troll... laughed? The goofy look on his face, exposing all his rotted and missing teeth, seemed to suggest so.

Then the smaller troll from earlier returned, clutching a bundle of furs. He dropped them with a heavy 'flump' sound before Jessica's feet. "BRRR." The troll simply growled. The other troll nodded his head slightly as though his companion had made a wise comment befitting of a sage.

They both looked at her expectantly. Jessica looked at the bundle of fur. She looked back at the trolls. They looked back at her. There was some kind of communication supposed to be happening here... How did trolls ask questions? They tilted their heads!

"BRRR?" Jessica repeated as best she could, tilting her head for good measure. Both trolls rose up, had she surprised them?

"BRRR!" The taller troll picked at the grubby jacket her wore of his torso then shook his body slightly.

"Cold." It hit Jessica as a revelation. The European mountains were freezing at night. The trolls had brought her... warmer clothes? Well they all wore something. Did that mean there was a troll tailor? She glanced around at the rest of the camp. It was hard to picture which of these lumbering, drooling creatures was making clothes for the others. Cautiously, she picked up the fabric in front of her. It was much smaller than a troll's clothing but still much too big for an eleven year old girl. Nonetheless, she wrapped herself in it. This would certainly help in the nights, despite the smell... She wanted to thank the trolls but she got the impression that pleases and thank yous weren't a thing in troll speak. Trollish? Trollan? Trollese?

She was shaken from her thought by a large, long finger nail poking at her chest. "GUH UH MUH?" The troll asked with the tell tale tilt of the head.

There was a long moment's pause as Jessica tried to work out what to do. It didn't seem to bother the trolls. They took a long time to think about anything. But eventually the smaller troll motioned to himself. "PERRGUH" the troll groaned then pointed at the other troll. "DEBUH." He repeated this several times then pointed at Jessica, head tilted.

Slowly she began to understand... "Perrguh..." She pointed at the smaller troll who gave a single slow nod. "Debuh..." she pointed at the taller troll who repeated the same slow nod motion. Then she pointed at herself. "Jessica."

The trolls drew their heads back again. "JER-GER-JET..." they appeared to be stumbling over the sounds.

"Jessica." She repeated louder.

"JER-KA. JEHD... EH..." The trolls seemed to be working themselves up. The smaller troll almost blasted Jessica with troll spit trying to get the sounds out. The girl awkwardly shuffled herself away slightly.

Could they not make the same sounds? A sudden thought came to her. When she accidentally bit her tongue when she was 7 years old, it had swollen up. She was hardly able to speak. Is that what this was? Did troll communicate in such a basic way because their tongues were so big? Whatever the truth was, the image helped in her mind. If she thought about how to speak with that swollen tongue...

Jessica pointed at herself again. "Jehka."

"JEHKA."

"JEHKA."

She couldn't help but smile. They got it. The trolls gave those strange goofy smiles back. They were getting somewhere...

Little did poor Jessica know rescue was still some way off. Her communication with the trolls would deepen as her primary way to survive...

Jessica's father. A muggle man enthused by military history and cottage pie. He works as a history teacher at a muggle secondary school. Jessica and her father enjoy a decent, loving relationship even as she struggles with the legacy of a muggle parent. Jeffery wishes he had had more time with his daughter and teach her to respect others a little more but he's confident she has a good heart. Both father and daughter care deeply for one another.

Jessica and her mother have a warm relationship but not without turbulence. Margery regrets her daughter being brought into family affairs so young and attempted to keep Jessica in the dark on the wizarding world in the hopes she would be a muggle like her father. Jessica is confused by her mother's behaviour, not yet understanding the depth of what has been done...

Jessica's younger brother is, in her eyes, a brat. Owen enjoys playing with slugs, snails and other horrid creatures. For her 9th birthday, the boy retrieved a dead bird for her present, sending the girl into tears. In spite of almost daily remarks of hating her brother, Jessica feels protective of her younger sibling.

Jessica's aunt, Delilah has acted as another guardian for the two Lester children. Seeing the wealth and power of her mother's house through Delilah, Jessica has imitated many of her aunt's mannerisms in an attempt to fit in and be embraced by house Lapis on the whole. Delilah this endearing and dotes on Jessica as a result. Only when around her aunt can Jessica truly be considered 'spoiled'.