And we'll only be making it right
'Cause we'll never be wrong
a very precious AU i had with \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
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avvy workshopped the AU and concepts with me from the beginning, so please know these are our collaborative ideas! i sketched a lot for it back then too.
we wanted to see the young branch from the flashback interact with present day poppy... it took years for branch to become as jaded as he was, so surely there must have been a time when he was vulnerable, and would have more readily accepted help & attention...
i shld mention i don't think i have an *exact* age for poppy in this AU, but iirc it's like
poppy: at LEAST 20-21 like in the movie, though 24-25 was what past me skewed towards i think
branch: 7-8
funnily enough, i think in canon branch is the older one? He was a child before the trolls escaped the bergens, and experienced a trollstice. poppy was a very young baby during the escape; she had never experienced a trollstice before. so this is a bit of a flip on who's older. in canon, i also imagine branch slipped through the cracks once the trolls built their new village. they were all happy to be free, and adjusted to their new life. no one noticed the little grey troll who slipped away, to live alone in the wilderness...
but this AU is about intercepting that branch! in this AU, poppy was born much earlier than branch, and grew up at the tree, eventually becoming queen after the late king peppy.
she's the one who spearheads the trolls' escape. things go rather similarly to the movie (no troll left behind, ass out nude poppy) and the trolls find their new home. they have years of peace from the bergens.
poppy, however, knew of branch back in the tree as she was a very gregarious queen. she hadn't seen him in a while, as he stopped playing with other trolls his age. she notices branch lingering at the edges of the village, though.. never seeming to go home to sleep in any of the hair houses. just disappearing in the thicket. she tries to check on him, see how he's doing.. he's a reserved, shy young lad. he's not going to entirely rebuff the (beautiful..) queen, but he mumbles and doesn't make eyecontact. he's jittery, has a leaf cloak that he hides himself under and fidgets with. branch eventually shares poppy his plan for his bunker... right now he has a hidey hole in a tree, but he
has a plan for something big, secure. underground and inaccessible. he'll be safe from the bergens.
poppy laughs, we ARE safe from the bergens!
branch frowns.. no, we're not. we sing, dance, party too loudly...
poppy doesn't understand. it makes branch feel defeated. he can't even make queen poppy understand..
but she doesn't dismiss him entirely. she cares about his feelings and is concerned about his health.. that dull color he has now, she wonders what's wrong with him. he doesn't smile much.. poor fella. she visits him regularly to make sure he's alright.
the company helps branch's loneliness, but does little to ease his paranoia. his ignorance was why he lost grandma rosie, he can't bear to think about it happening to poppy too... he diligently builds his bunker, is resourceful with what they have in the area.
i like to think rosie was a thoughtful troll, more observant than most. the fact that she's as old as she is, and was able to sacrifice herself to save branch is notable.. peppy is the only other troll we see that is elderly. perhaps rosie tried to teach branch things to stay safe ; things like "watching, waiting, listening" little things they did to help him memorize teachings. being an old troll, she also perhaps sent him on errands to collect materials for their home regularly. also taught him what berries are good to eat, how to sew, etc. all skills branch utilizes in the future.
the loss of rosie devastated branch greatly.. i also like to think he was very attached to her, usually trailing behind her and rarely out of sight. often singing to and for her, and drawing her gifts.
(both rosie and poppy have flower names.... fancy that)
perhaps he always was notably less social than other trolls his age, but not enough to raise deep concern. there was enough hope he'd eventually grow out of it. but his trauma locks him out of relating to all trolls entirely, and he lost the one troll he was extremely attached to.
enter..queen poppy. who eventually becomes branch's new favorite person. her charm works dreadfully well on him, he grows to have a baby crush.. wishes to please and impress her. starts drawing her, bringing her gifts. poppy meanwhile is fond of branch and his unique qualities. she's determined to make him happy! she comforts him when he cries, holds him and strokes his hair and back tenderly. poppy forges a tenderness with branch in these quiet moments.. kisses his head, face, to help him calm down on especially bad days. it works very well.. she kisses him more and more. it soothes herself, too, as sometimes she's overwhelmed by branch's sadness and feels helpless in the face of it.
the kissing.. gets out of hand. it's a gradual incline of intensity. no one means for it to happen. it just does.
other things get out of hand, too. it's hard for poppy to have an "off switch" for her rowdy, flirtiness, since she's not usually hanging out with kids in the longterm. troll children usually just need stories read to them for entertainment, not long hours of beind held. it mixes up in her simple brain. she's like an innapropriate teen babysitter a lot of the time. the lines blur more and more.. they make out in an alcove in branch's bunker, him curled up against her body.
there's no.. precedent for a relationship like theirs. to the point where no other troll could begin to imagine it's happening. "predator" "grooming" these concepts and words don't exist in troll culture. poppy's not sure if what she's doing is.. right.. or wrong...what it even is, or why she's doing it. she persists, since it makes branch happy. and her too, really. everyone thinks the queen is rather noble and sweet, taking on a maternal role to the strange grey child. they are painfully wrong, but she doesn't know what to do or say. she laughs it off and feels a strange festering guilt..
the AU persists into many little scenarios over the course of their lives
>branch has beef with creek and really resents him, and is bullied by him also. poppy eventually snaps at creek though, since branch is her precious boy... they never get close as a result.
>branch's masochism is ever present when poppy handles him too roughly. he's very sentimental about any resulting injuries she causes. he thinks about her all day.
>the fashion twins eventually make branch fancier leaf vests to wear and poppy prances him around like her show pony (satin and chenille feel strange about the vibes but accept it)
>poppy tells herself someday her and branch will have a normal relationship, but then accidentally gets addicted to having branch as her personal pet she'll never share.. woops.
>instead of a scene like true colors, branch steadily gains color, over time from poppy's care...
>further down the line in the timeline, branch stabilizes with poppy's presence over the years. he never really stops being a kid mentally, though. so he's a weirdo with no friends as an adult no matter what. just, a tamer one, who doesn't run into the village screaming. branch still wears a little leaf capelet as an adult, a sort of visual signifier of him never growing up and feeling stunted.. he wishes every day he were small again.
>branch influences poppy too ; the village has a better safety regime due to her coming to understnad branch's philosophies as having a valid origin. the bunker is less crazed, and more put together with the consideration of the village being able to take refuge there.
>i'm flip floppy on whether the events of the movie even happen, w the bergins and all. maybe yes maybe no ; its not that important to me.
>this is a small thing also but bc poppy is older than branch, by the time he's an adult.. silver fox queen poppy (getting more frazzled hair w grey streaks like king peppy)
>also there was a gag where we represented poppy's predator guilt as a shoulder angel and devil, those drawings are actually in my previous trolls stack
and uh... yeah!!!!!! i thought very hard about shota branch, thanks for listening