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theshy1sout · 3 years

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Inseparable - Chapter 3

It's not a Valentine special, it's just another chapter, but I hope you'll be enjoying this as well :3

Tags: Not rated, Broppy, Slow Burn Fluff, Trolls Mythology Au

Ao3 here

Summary: He sounds like his mind is somewhere else when he is looking at the foggy horizon. And then, the god turns to her and stares at her a while until he asks:

- So... How was your Night?

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The hill looks so high today. For the first time since Poppy got her deific responsibility, stepping upon is hard. But she does it without hesitation. She knows she has to.

The goddess of the Light had enough time to think during the Day. She holds everything she wants to say in her mind, but when she finally faces the god of the Night, the words don't want to come. She even can't look at him. She just shows him the Staff of the Light and let him grab it. In Silence.

Branch stands a few minutes like he's surprised. But then he just turns back and walks away.

- I'm sorry.

The gray silhouette stops halfway on the hill. He turns to Poppy and she doesn't need to see his face under his hoodie to know he is shocked.

- I'm sorry - She repeats a bit louder, but still shyly rubbing her elbow. - I just... I was so thrilled when I got my own duties, I was so focused on my plans and... I was so stupid that I was ignoring you this whole six months. It was nothing but selfish. You were greeting me and I barely noticed that... You deserved better. And... I was trying to fix that after I finally noticed it. But I was just so pushy and stubborn to make you my friend. I always thought we could be a great team, you know? - She tries to smile, but it goes so awkwardly. So she looks down. - I just want to say, it's ok if you hate me or something. I think I deserve that.

Against all of the shame she feels right now, Poppy forces herself to look up at the god.

- I'm sorry, Branch.

Surprisedly, he doesn't walk away. He stands very still, staring at her, and making the goddess even more guilty. And then he does something, she didn't expect he would ever do.

He takes his hoodie off.

Poppy holds her breath. Branch looks... much different than she imagined. She thought he would look old and ugly for some reason. But he has black but nice hair, his eyes are gray but also pretty, and his face isn't frightening, it looks even friendly... So yes, he isn't very different from other Immortals. To be honest, he is exactly like other Immortals. Which means, godly handsome.

But the most surprising are his words.

- I don't hate you - He says. - I never did.

And he talks to her with the very same voice that he always uses, but now when he's talking calmer, it sounds much more pleasant, like a quiet lullaby sung before sleep.

- I'm sorry I was so mean to you - Branch adds, looking down. - I thought that you hate me. I thought you were teasing me last week...

- I didn't! - Poppy almost jumps.

Branch chuckles.

- Well, now I know - He smirks only slightly, but it's enough to make Poppy smile at him with pure relief and glee. This tiny smile of his was everything she wanted to see last week. And here it is. She never was so happy seeing such a little lift-up of a corner of someone's mouth.

- How could I hate the guy who was greeting me for six months without my answer? - She grins widely. - To be honest, it was the nicest thing someone did to me!

- You exaggerated a bit - Branch lifts one of his eyebrows.

Poppy giggles. Maybe it wasn't so funny to giggle, but Poppy is so excited with every minute he doesn't walk away. He stays like he doesn't mind putting his duties on the back burner to talk with her a bit. She doesn't want to finish talking. If she starts talking, she wants to talk as long as it's possible, not just a few minutes! If they can talk, she has to take this opportunity and not let it go!

- Can I go with you tonight? - She throws like an arrow. - Can I see your job?

Branch frowns, pretty confused by the sudden ask.

- Why? I thought you said it's not fun...

- Well, I was wrong about many things... - Poppy looks up, smirking. - So maybe this one either? If you like the Night, maybe there is something to like in the Night.

- Pff, whatever - He huffs, turning around. - But you'll be pretty bored.

- Sleeping is boring, I do not doubt that - Poppy announces and starts following him.

- But please, no talk or singing.

- Oh, come on!

- Poppy, if you want to hear the Silence, you have to be silent.

She purses her lips and crosses her arms on her chest. But even with those radical rules, she tries to hide how excited she is. It is something new, something big. They’re spending time together and if it isn't a start of friendship then she doesn't know what it is! Even if it is supposed to be the borest walk she ever does...

But surprisingly, it isn't boring at all. Firstly they walk through meadows and Poppy sees as Branch carefully closes flowers' cups. He touches the water in the lakes and makes them calm. He finds animals and trolls who got lost in the forest or the mountain or just were far from home and were frightened and he reprieves them and helps them find a safe place to sleep. He's walking through the Earth and wherever he steps, there is peace. After a few hours, the Silence is everywhere. And it isn't overwhelmingly boring like Poppy always thought it'd be. It is pleasant, safe, comfy, filled with the hope of a bright Day. She walks after the god of the Night and listens. The sounds, really quiet sounds of the Silence are in the air like the whole world is one huge organism with rustles of the trees, whispers of the water, calm breaths of the hundreds of millions of sleeping creatures. And in that world, you can never be alone, cause you are always a little part of it, part of everything.

So no, the goddess of the Light isn't bored. She's fascinated. The Night isn't just Silence, Darkness, and staying very still. It looks and sounds and feels so magical, mysterious, otherworldly. Like the Earth, she knows from the Day's light becomes something much different. Beautiful, but it is a different kind of beauty. And Poppy feels she has no words for that.

- Okay, can you stop already?

Poppy blinks quickly a few times. Is Branch talking to her? Of course, he is, there's not a soul here at this lake. But she did totally nothing but walking quietly after him for a last few hours.

- What? - She asks the only question she can ask right now.

- What 'what' - Branch looks a bit annoyed. - The sound! You're making it for the last two hours!

The goddess has no idea what he's talking about.

- What do you mean? Do I step too loud? - She looks down at her feet.

- No! The sound! The sound you make with your mouth - Branch points at her face. - Or nose. Or throat. I don't know, what is that?

She looks at him really confused.

- Breathing?

The god groans out. And then she gets it.

- Oh! You mean this - And she starts humming.

- Yes! - He beams. - Exactly! What is that?

- It's humming - Poppy chuckles. - You've never heard it before? It's kinda like... Purring the melody with your throat. - And she hums a bit more to show it out. - Was I humming this whole time? I didn't even notice. Why didn't you tell me earlier?

- Cause - Branch hesitates a bit. - It wasn't that noisy... Or something... - Suddenly he goes all shy for some reason. Then he clears his throat. He cuts the topic with a short "Never mind" and gets down to the water. Then he blows onto the lake surface and makes many little droplets fly away.

- What did you do? - Poppy asks with curiosity.

- A dew - Branch gets up, looking as the blurry fog he made slowly fills the horizon. - If the Day starts warmly and it wasn't raining, the ground needs water to not get too dry in the morning.

- How do you know that I'll start the Day warmly? - Poppy frowns at him.

- You always do.

It sounds like his mind is somewhere else. And then, the god turns to her and stares at her a while until he asks:

- So... How was your Night?

Poppy's face fills with a big, sunny smile.

- It was good! - She beams. - Different than I expected. Much more... Nice and pleasant. Sometimes magically beautiful...

- Beautiful? - Branch almost gasps.

- Sooo beautiful! I never thought I could be so fascinated by the Night. - She glances at the horizon dreamily. But then she blinks and crosses her arms on her chest. - But there is still too much Silence. And there's not a single color or light, it's so depressing! And...

- Okay, I get it! - Branch shows one hand in a peace gesture. - The Night can't be the Day, Poppy!

- No! - She yells, making him jump in shock. - The Night is beautiful, as I said! But it isn't perfect, and I think there are a few things you would chan...

- No. - He interrupts her sharply.

In the first moment, she wants to still encourage him. But then she stops herself. She has already learned a lesson about being pushy. A long breath drops from her nose.

- Okay - Poppy says calmly and sees the lessening of tension on the gray face. Branch turns to the fog he made flowing on the horizon line and sighs slightly. He puts his hoodie on his head to her surprise. She expected that if he puts it off once in front of her, he would never use it anymore. But she guesses she was wrong with this one too.

- It's time - His voice sounds a bit heavy when his gray hand shows her the Staff to grab. Now she realizes the thing. Branch wears a hoodie cause he hates the Light! It's so obvious, but she hasn't got it before. But now it makes some stupid idea in her mind.

- Come with me! - She beams at him. These three words just freeze the god for a while.

- What?

- Come with me! - She repeats as enthusiastically as earlier. - I saw the Night and listened to the Silence. Now I think you should do the same with the Day!

- I've already seen the Day...

- But it wasn't my Day! - Poppy smirks at him. - I've changed it a lot. Wanna see?

Branch huffs, rolling his eyes.

- I assure you it won't change my mind.

- Want a bet? - She takes the Staff from his hand cocksurely. The Light just explodes from the Gold Sphere on the top of it.

He doesn't answer, but she bets that under the dark shadow of his hoodie he smirks at her. She really wants to see that. And she wishes it's only a matter of time from now on.

So the goddess of the Light guides him through every treasure of the Day. With the Staff of the Light in her hand, she makes cups of the flowers open, birds sing, trolls and critters wake up, plants grow, fruits ripen, the lost ones find the way. Everything she touches is vivid and ebullient. Poppy shows the god of the Night every change she has made and she's been so proud of. She jumps enthusiastically from thing to thing, the happiness bursting from her smile is almost touchable. And Branch just follows her with his best friend Silence, patiently listening to her endless loose talk and watching how the simplest thing makes the goddess so excited.

At the end of the Day, after putting vibrant colors on the milky sky, she turns to Branch, grinning stupidly with the whole of her face. Her cheeks have never ached because of smiling before. That is the brand new experience she just finds out and it makes her tired of being thrilled about everything.

- So - She breaths out. - What do you think?

She can’t see his face In the shadow of his hoodie, but he keeps his head upon the sky filled with purples, pinks, reds, and oranges. After a while, he clears his throat and looks down at her.

- Well, it was too loud and too bright as I said it'll be...

Poppy rolls her eyes with disappointment, but until she could answer, he adds:

- But I like it.

The goddess blinks and opens her mouth with surprise.

- I mean... - He goes on. - I didn't expect that you've changed a lot of things. When I used to be the only one god taking care of the cycle, the Day was kind of meaningless. The sky was always bright, critters were screaming in chaos - Branch waves his hand to point out fields around him. - There was such chaos, one big mess and... And you've made an order with this mess. You've made it actually working and living. I really appreciate that.

And that's... That's exactly what Poppy wants to hear this whole time, after all of she's done. Not specifically from him, but as the words of the god of the Night those are twice powerful. She can do nothing but smile widely and dorkly, cause the agitation just leaves her speechless. And Branch probably doesn't notice it at all, cause he gets his head up on the sky again and sighs quietly.

- And the colors... - He says in a completely different tone. - They are... stunning...

She sniffs, maybe a bit too loud, and dries her eyes from a few tears they have been filled. She looks upon the sky, smiling at the sunset she made the very first Day of her job.

Yeah. It is stunning.

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Index

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dreamsinger-rose · 6 years

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Reply to @tagsalegirl ‘s post Poppy Needs to Grow Up

In Trolls Holiday, I was actually glad to see them portray Poppy as not-perfect, if only to give Branch and Bridget a chance to shine. I liked Branch a lot but didn’t really fall in love with him until the Holiday special showed how sweet he could be.

Plus it’s more realistic. Poppy is just a person, albeit genuinely well-meaning and thus has a lot of confidence that whatever she decides is what’s best for everyone, even when others like Branch argue with her, or people like Bridget tactfully try to dissuade her. The thing I notice most is how none of the trolls except Branch (sometimes) ever question that it is her right to make decisions, not in the three CGI versions or in TTBGO. Because someone has to be in charge, right? And Poppy does care, doesn’t she? She sure talks like she knows what she’s doing, even when she is just blindly pushing forward because that’s better than being frozen with indecision.

So in Trolls Holiday, I figured that by “practicing his smile” Branch was talking about being able to produce a brilliant smile on-cue, whether he feels like smiling or not. I was totally expecting Poppy to say he already had a nice smile – cue the Broppy moment – and when she instead responds with unhelpful “help” it was funny as heck and I liked how she said “his face” was being frustrating, not that he was deliberately being frustrating, so at least she understood him that well.

However, as typical as her response was, (to respond to a problem with action) it goes against the advice Branch quotes to Cloud Guy in TTBGO that I know I’ve read in psychology and/or relationship articles. “Make eye contact, be a good listener, and don’t try to solve her (his) problems.” Poppy basically tried to smile for him. Instead I would’ve like to see he do something to make him want to smile. I was kind of disappointed here; I wanted some fluff, but with only 22 minutes I guess they couldn’t afford to take up that much screen-time.

Is Poppy a liar? Well, she never promised Branch she would sleep, just that she wouldn’t do anything. And she didn’t - she waited until Branch was awake before bothering him. But she knew and he knew exactly what she was and wasn’t promising. Branch was totally not surprised to find out she hadn’t slept.

By the way, I decided Branch’s coffee wasn’t hot enough to burn him. He’s too safety-conscious for that. Plus the jug of coffee wasn’t on a stove or anything, so it couldn’t have been that hot. Still, she could have apologized to him for scaring him and for making him douse himself in sticky coffee; that’s a lack of empathy, I agree.

Bossy Poppy. Branch just sighs and gives in, so we get the feeling this is not the first time she’s manipulated him into doing something. She is definitely holding him to the promise he gave her in front of the entire village, to give her his everlasting support. Taking full advantage of his skills, you might say, such as his phenomenal singing and dancing skills.

I get the feeling Poppy likes making Branch feel silly by making him wear costumes he doesn’t want to wear. Can you imagine her with their kids, making them wear all sorts of fancy clothes and then scolding them for getting them dirty? But she’s the Queen and what she says, goes.

Poppy’s obviously not used to having people object to what she wants, judging by her reaction to run off in tears. Although really she seems to believe that she only upset Bridget. I find it interesting that Branch doesn’t take the opportunity to tell her “I told you so”. Maybe he’s tried that in the past and they just end up arguing, but this time he can see she’s truly shaken and instead gets an idea to both enlighten her and yet give her a little payback for all the annoying songs she’s undoubtedly sung at him over the years.

Still, Branch deserves more credit than she gives him, even though he does enjoy his opportunity to use singing to teach Poppy a lesson a bit too much, lol. That’s the second time he’s been the rock Poppy needed to rely on to bring back her spirit when she’s confronted with something outside her experience, namely, public censure. She could handle an attacking wild animal better than being confronted by people she’s genuinely hurt.

I’m glad they show Branch hasn’t completely changed personalities. Branch teasing Poppy is canon from the first movie (I still laugh every time at the scene where he pretends there’s a lurking bergen to cleverly stop her from asking about his past).

I’m also glad that both Bridget and Poppy showed how pleased they were with his smile, at the end. Apparently he was going for a smile that showed all his teeth in a non-creepy way. Usually his smiles are gentler, quieter, not so enthusiastic, so Poppy at least did make sure to praise him when he smiled a true troll smile, all giddy-looking.

Hmm… would that count as Poppy getting him to conform to troll standards? Here I kind of sympathize with Poppy, since it’s literally her job to promote the ideals of troll culture; what do you do with someone as deviant as Branch? How much deviance can you afford to allow without causing harm to other trolls? And how do you make the person stop doing potentially damaging behavior without sounding insulting/condemning?

In TTBGO she obviously tries to sound enthusiastic and encouraging, but it feels like she’s talking to a five-year-old sometimes. Which she is – this IS a kids’ TV show, after all. Poppy therefore ought to represent what the ideals for human culture are, but as we see above, she’s not too perfect to relate to, not at all. And she does learn, at least. I’d just like to see Branch confront her about her domineering attitude at some point and have all their friends take his side, for a change.

#Musings on Poppy's questionable behavior Trolls Holiday #@tagsalegirl

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