As Poppy dragged Branch through the snow he was immediately starting to regret his decision. If he would have stood his ground and not have said anything maybe the princess would leave him alone. Not likely, he thought, forcing his legs to move until they finally made it back to the village.
"I gotta get on my ice skates first- wait, do you have any?" asked Poppy. Branch shook his head.
"Good thing we have extras! Follow me!" She gripped his hand again and opened the door that lead to her pod then dug through a closet, hitting Branch in the face with just about every item that was in there.
He dodged. "Poppy!"
She ignored him, digging through a few more things until she found two pairs of ice skates. "They were my dad's when he was younger. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you borrow them." She handed him the ice skates, and now he just felt like going home. He didn't even want to be out here in the first place. He didn't even know how to ice skate and didn't have the patience to learn. But instead he slipped them on without a word, feeling as if he told her that he didn't know how she'd laugh at him. He was...embarrassed.
"C'mon!" she excitedly took his big hand in her little one and he was dragged back into the bitter winter.
They made their way to the pond, and Branch was still feeling a little uneasy. His stomach twisted even more when he remembered the ice cave that Poppy had almost drowned in three years ago, but it didn't seem to bother her one bit. She took off on the ice happily, bumping into Creek in the process. He laughed and they spun each other around, which only made Branch's belly churn even more like a twisted root.
His heart pounded when he imagined the worse case scenario of the ice breaking and not just Poppy, but everyone would fall in. They would make a great trollsicle for a bergen strolling by. Branch shuttered. He was more worried about Poppy and everyone else than falling on his face, and that's what made him hesitate the most.
"Come on Branch!" Satin called.
"It's lot of fun," added Chenille.
"Slippery, but fun!" cheered Satin in the same breath as the sisters slid across the ice.
By now he felt as if a thorn was probing through him just by the thought of going on the ice. What if one more troll got on the ice it'd give away? He didn't want to be the cause of that! If not that, when he got in everyone would see that he had no idea what they were doing and laugh at his clumsy butt as he lay still, face planted on the ice as it froze his heart even more.
Branch 1: Seriously? Again? Stop overthinking!
Branch 2: But it's not safe! There's no structure or order- and who know that ice is thick enough? It could be melting as we speak! Haven't you ever heard the expression "You're skating on thin ice?" It's not always a metaphor, you know.
Branch 1: Oh come on! Trolls are tiny, and the pond is quite big. I mean I'm sure ten more trolls could fit on it. Enough with the excuses, get out on the ice! Have some fun!
Branch 2: If they find out I have no idea how to skate they'll laugh at me…
Branch 1: Come on! First safety now you're telling me you can't ice skate?! That should be the least of your worries. They won't laugh at you. Poppy certainly won't. Wink wink ;)
Branch 2: Oh shut up!
Branch 1: In all seriousness she'll help you, she helps everyone! Now GO!
It was clear that Branch 1 had won this argument because the grey troll had finally forced his feet to move from where they had planted on the ground and his legs moved as fast as he could carry them. His eyes widened a bit when he went flying a few feet in the air. "Gah!" he exclaimed, falling flat on his face just like Branch 2 had predicted.. "Oww…" he murmured, rubbing his head and groaning. Sudden pain pierced through his elbow that was now bleeding a little.
This caused everyone to crowd around him and ask if he was okay, which is something Branch 2 didn't even think about. He didn't even think of the possibly that they actually cared about him.
Poppy skated her way through the crowd, the last of everyone to come but she was more concerned than anybody that someone had gotten hurt, even though she didn't actually see what had happened. "Excuse me," she said politely as she made her way over to the injured troll. Once she got to the front her eyes widened. "Oh dear," she whispered sympathetically, attempting to help him up.
"Leave me alone," he moaned. "I'm okay." It was just a scratch, really. It didn't look like anything major to Branch but in Poppy's eyes it must've looked like a severe injury because she was looking at him like he was dying, which he certainly was not! Branch guessed this was because Poppy had never faced a real injury, nor really a real problem. Perhaps that's why she was so happy all the time, and he could not blame her for that. This made him wonder how she would react if their was a real problem, like a bergen attack for example.
She ignored his protests and helped him up anyways. "I'll be back everyone," she said to her fellow trolls. "I'm gonna go home for a bit and get Branch cleaned up. In the meantime, dad, you're in charge." Although Poppy was trying to sound responsible and wise this made everyone giggle because her father was always in charge anyway. He was the king, after all.
Peppy decided to go along with it, "Thank you Princess Poppy, it means alot coming from you. It truly is an honor."
"No problem! Take care of 'em, make sure they cause no trouble." She winked at her father, making everyone laugh even more at the princess's cluelessness. Branch just rolled his eyes as she dragged him away and back in the pod again.
She set him down on the kitchen table where while she got his medicine Branch decided to take matters into his own hand and try fixing the wound himself by us poking at it and seeing how much pus would come out which was not really helping his case. But none of the supplies he used down in his bunker to help with injuries were here. So he just played with it until he felt another presences.
"Don't do that," she said softly. "Here." She placed the hot cloth on him. He winced, wanting to scream in pain but he held his tongue. "It'll help. Along with your old favorite, cobwebs," she smiled softly, taking off the cloth after a few minutes then wrapping them around his elbow. "Better?"
Branch slowly nodded. "Alright, the day is still young! Let's get back to skating!" she was about to leave until she realized Branch was still sitting down sadly. She frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting next to him.
"I don't...I don't know...how...to...ice skate," he said slowly, spitting out each word like it was a bad food.
He expected the pink princess to burst out laughing, but her expression went from a frown to a sympathetic smile. "Awe, that's okay! I'll teach you!"
"Branch!"
"No."
"Branchhhh!"
"I don't wanna."
"Oh, c'mon! You're never gonna learn standing there like a frozen statue!"
"I never even agreed to let you teach me! I'm perfectly fine learning on my own."
Poppy crossed her arms. "Okay, then show me what 'learning on your own' looks like," she challenged.
Branch swallowed, not expecting that. "Uh, you wanna know?"
"Yeah," she answered quickly, eyes sparkling with amusement. Her eyes were so pretty when they looked amused...
Branch shook himself and ran in place, cracking his neck, knuckles and back. "You ready for this?!"
"Mhm," she smiled, almost bashfully as she put her hands behind be back. "The pond is yours."
"Okay! Here we goooo!" He ran into the frozen pond, having no idea what was going happen but he had a feeling it wasn't going to end well. He couldn't stop sliding, and he realized he was headed right for Poppy who had became a deer in the headlights as he came blowing in. "MOVE!" he shouted, but she stayed still. He couldn't control what happened next. His body slammed into hers and she let out a scream of utter shock. They couldn't stop themselves for anything, but they finally came to a halt when they collapsed into the snow. It was quiet for a moment until Poppy's head popped out and she bursted out laughing. Branch's head was still buried in the snow and his legs only dangled, making Poppy and everyone else who was witnessing this laugh harder because it had looked like Branch's legs where her own. Branch popped out a few moments later.
"Why didn't you move?!" he asked, shaking his head free of snow as well as everything else.
"I don't know, I guess I just panicked! But that was fun, huh?" she giggled.
"Sure," he said, sounding bored and unamused as he shook more snow off himself, walking away.
Poppy gasped, jumping straight up, her jump so quick and forceful it had done the job of getting all of the snow off for her. "Seriously?! That's it? Where's your fun side?!" She hurried off after him she eventually caught up with him.
He stopped. "I guess it just...blew away," he said dramatically before he continued walking.
"How do you not think that was fun? You're a weirdo!"
Branch smiled softly in amusement at her comment but this was unknown to Poppy because she was already distracted and sat herself down in the snow making a snow angel. Branch thought it'd be a good time as any to leave while she was distracted. But of course, he was wrong because once a she realized he was leaving he felt a snowball hit him from behind the head. He whirled around, rising an eyebrow. She smiled sheepishly and innocently, than pointed her finger to a critter who was minding his own business and pinned the blame on him. It narrowed it's eyebrows at her before it crawled away.
Branch rolled his eyes, about to turn around but another snowball hit him, this time on the butt. "What was that for?!" he growled.
Poppy giggled nervously, faint blush on her face. "Sorry, I was aiming higher."
Branch would have smiled if it wasn't for his pride.
"Please stay. At least until sunset, you can help build the fire."
He sighed, then nodded. He did love that smell of burnt wood.
"Great! Now I'm gonna teach you how to ice skate- for realsies this time!" The two trolls made their way back to the pond, Branch a little more willing to participate this time around. He did want to learn to ice skate and wanted to get over the embarrassment of not knowing. Usually trolls learned when they were young, but he just never did.
He nervously approached the pond, and jumped when Poppy took his hand. They held hands so many times today that he lost count. It was her that was always doing it, and it was her that was always was so touchy touchy with him. Even after being a decade old the princess still didn't understand the lovey meaning of personal space.
He squeezed it tighter than he should have- tighter than he wanted to. "Alright, it's basically like walking. One foot after the other," she explained calmly with a small smile, and they were off. Branch completely freaked out, and that's how it was for the past quite a while, the only thing keeping him up was Poppy's hand. His legs were like jello.
Poppy realized this wasn't working, so she tried something else. "Branch! Relax!"
He whipped his head up, trying to calm himself.
"Relax. Easy," she said slowly up until his breaths slowed down and she looked straight into those blue, solemn eyes that held secrets she was dying to know. If only he would let her in. "Look at me. That's it, just follow my lead."
It suddenly became easy. They skated gracefully together across the ice. Poppy didn't to as her eyes off him for any reason, scared if she did he'd feak out again. She also really, really liked his eyes and felt as though she could stare at them forever. Something about them memorized her.
He looked into her eyes, too, and even at eleven years old he could not explain what he had felt, and whether he liked it or not but it was a weird feeling. When he looked into those eyes something inside of him seemed to naturally melt. His insides warmed dispute the cold weather. Her eyes were deep as pools, as if he were to dive in he'd never want to come up for air.
Branch 2: Where the heck did that come from?!
Branch 1: That, my friend, was inspiration.
Sorry if it's a little to gushing them being so young and starting to like each other but just couldn't stop my fingers from typing it because it's just do cute!
What do you guys think about Branch's internal conflict? It's like a man vs man kinda thing! Let me know :)
Anywho the next chapter will be Trollmas!
Please review my Broppy children! :D
