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UNSPOKEN
A Dreamworks Trolls Fanfic by C. Prince
It's weird to not use Tumblr when so many of you do! I'm tempted but it'd be embarrassing to have mine be 100% trolls and detail notes from over-studying the movies. Like how there's a visual heart theme running through TWT, and a visual hand theme running through both movies AND the series, and how Branch makes this stupid cute giggle during the Lonesome Flats chase, and how Biggie is riding one of the narwhals.
Okay! I'll stop. Been writing some TWT inspired fics but can't post them yet.
Calm
"Branch, dude, you need to relax. You're freaking everyone out," Suki said. "And I mean, like, everyone." She spread her hands to include the whole village, not just the group of friends in the queen's pod. "Poppy said she'd come back."
The scrapbook page with Poppy's promise lay open on her dresser. Her felted flower headband was there too. She hadn't taken it with her.
Suki was wrong. He was calm. He'd never been more calm in his life.
Guy said, "Poppy can take care of herself. Have a little faith."
"Name one time she's left the region by herself," Branch said.
Guy opened his mouth but nothing came out. Branch watched while everyone exchanged glances and whispered, "The time when… oh," and, "Didn't she, nevermind… how about?"
The only one who didn't join in was Smidge. With a hardened gaze she looked up at the uneven flat trim that marked the top of Branch's hair. It was still growing back.
"Branch is right," Smidge said, putting an end to the hushed side discussion.
All eyes turned to him.
"Any troll who knows anything about where Poppy went or why she left, I need to hear it. Odd behavior, unusual requests, supplies she ordered, any hint at all. If I'm not out there looking for her, this is where I'll be. Leave messages on the front table."
"I'll make an announcement," Smidge said.
"I'll make a pie!" Cooper chipped in, encouraging the usual confused stares. "What? She's probably hungry by now, right?"
Branch really, really did not want to think about that, but he had to if he was to have any chance of finding her. He needed to know the most likely ways she'd get stuck, lost, or injured.
"Meeting over," he said.
It took an untrolly amount of discipline to not rush off in a desperate search. Right now information was his best friend.
He'd thrown together a base of operations. Lifesaver was hitched to a stem outside. Inside the queen's pod he'd cleared a small table and put it by the doorway. A stack of blank paper and pencils were ready and waiting on top. Poppy's craft table was in front of her bed so he could review maps and notes and still have his eyes on the doorway. His rucksack sat on the floor, restocked with water and food from the kitchen.
There weren't any perishable goods in Poppy's fridge, which told him she'd been planning on leaving ahead of time. The cleanliness of her pod, the letters Smidge mailed on her behalf, the clues he'd gathered from their friends: it was well planned. Not a last minute rush.
The terrifying part was he knew whatever she was doing was reckless because of the lengths she'd gone to avoid him. She'd told the village she was going on a "secret vacation" and "don't tell Branch." This explained why Peppy was so surprised to see him earlier, thinking the "secret vacation" was a surprise for Branch and the two of them were off together like they usually were.
"Branch?"
He looked up from his notes to see Tug at the front door. Her smile was as bright as ever.
"After you asked about Queen Poppy I remembered something. A while ago she requested maps and brochures for Tug Duluth Adventures' Boredom Badlands," Tug said, brushing her hand through the air in an arc. "That tour was so unpopular I discontinued it ages ago, but if you look here, you'll see I made copies of everything the queen asked for."
She put a thin sheaf of trifold brochures on the strategy table. Branch leafed through the pamphlets. Bird Cliff. Several routes to Bummer Territory and nearby areas. The evidence confirmed what Biggie said.
"Has any troll mapped beyond here?" he asked.
"No. Bummer Territory is a hopeless wasteland of death and despair," Tug said cheerfully.
Uncharted territory, then. This conversation was over. Branch took a closer look at the brochures. Orange continued to hover along his peripheral vision. Tug was still there. "Yes?" he said.
"How are you doing? Can I get you anything?"
He looked up, surprised at the personal concern.
Tug's generous smile warmed her purple eyes and perfectly curled lashes. Not a single strand in her sweep of orange hair was out of place. A fashionable, short scarf tied neatly to the side complimented her outfit.
She looked nice.
Reaching out to him like this when he was so obviously in distress, was, well, romantic. Tension in the room wound tighter. They were the only two trolls here. He tipped the tour map down to the table and looked Tug in the eyes.
"I'm flattered Tug, really, but my heart is set on someone else."
Tug's expression didn't change.
Then she burst out laughing. Not the practiced chuckle she usually had, no, this was a full scale giggle assault. She slammed her hand on the table, trying to regain control. He jumped up in surprise.
"Everyone knows that Branch!" she sputtered before another burst of laughter took over. "You thought I – oh! Hahahaha!"
Now he felt stupid enough to laugh at himself. He let it happen, let the little amusement wash away some of his anxiety. It felt good. "Oh, frosting, Tug, I'm sorry. I'm a little stressed out. Not my finest moment."
His friend wiped at her eyes. "Well?"
"In that case, do you have a coffee maker I could borrow? Poppy doesn't have one."
"Of course, Branch. Of course."
Armed with the maps and a late afternoon sun that cast shadows on tracks to make them easier to see, Branch untied Lifesaver. He had to choose how far away to start searching. According to Biggie, Poppy left by flyer bug, but that same bug was in the stables now, so she must've sent it back. If she'd been at Bird Cliff, there was a good chance he'd hear about it soon from someone in the village.
He flew past the birds and started looking for track traps, places with exposed clay-rich dirt or mud that could hold a print for long periods of time. By flying low to inspect a couple of these, he found something.
"There, troll tracks."
He landed and snapped a stick off a shrub, dragging the point alongside his own feet to mark them. The mud was wet, but firm. Chenille said it rained a couple of times while he was gone so he knew not to bother looking for subtle signs. They'd long been washed away.
Branch didn't need to examine the mud for long. The troll who skipped through here had larger, wider feet. A male.
"Gotta keep looking."
It was important not to get his hopes up. He had to keep a level head, not get frustrated or upset by failure. The trail he was trying to find was very cold. It could take a while.
Lifesaver sped through the trees. They checked every area on the strip all the way to the thinning vegetation where Bummer Territory began to creep in.
"What do you think? Double back and look at other spots, or fly the border here?"
Lifesaver shook her head and whistled a couple of bug whinnies.
"Oh now you talk to me. You just want to save Poppy."
She snorted.
Their search around the edge of the waste turned up nothing. He expected as much. They'd look again tomorrow near the places on the old adventure brochure. He'd have to travel on foot for some of it, spare the chance of a vulture snapping up Lifesaver.
He dropped her off at the stables so she could eat, rest, and socialize with the other bugs. Smidge and Biggie intercepted him on his way back to the treetop. "Don't be mad, but," Biggie said, "I think the announcement worked a little too well."
Poppy's pod was flooded with folded paper notes. A tall heap on the front table that waterfalled over the floor suggested there had been an attempt to stay organized, at least in the beginning.
"I said they better tell us everything they know, or else," Smidge said. She smacked a fist into her hand.
"And then I said it was like a game of Survival Hide and Seek, and someone had the secret clue," Biggie said.
"Then we sang a song."
"And did a dance."
"Meep," Mr. Dinkles concluded.
Branch picked up a note and opened it.
Queen Poppy regularly comes to the bakery and orders desserts for parties and breads for picnics. A few weeks ago she said she was going on vacation, and we haven't seen her since. –Bella Brightly
He unfolded a longer letter with detailed notes. The last entry read:
Sunday, Summer 36, Year of Free Smiles 21, aprox. 10:00 am hug time
During a morning pep talk the queen announced a secret vacation. She appeared to be the normal amount of happy. I found this odd, since announcing a vacation should result in extra happiness. However, she did collect a special sleeping bag from the market for said vacation.
"This is perfect," Branch said.
"Oh no," Biggie said. "I knew it."
"I'm not being sarcastic. This is what I wanted."
"Can we help?" asked Smidge.
At this, Branch hesitated. A lot of the writing here was trolls wanting to be helpful. That meant you had to be able to tell what was out of the ordinary versus what was mundane. Could he trust Biggie and Smidge to tell the difference? Could he afford not to trust them? If he tried to do everything himself he'd burn out. But if they missed an important detail, it could cost everything.
He sucked in a big breath and let it out. "Biggie, does Poppy take her coffee with or without sugar?"
"She doesn't drink coffee. Unless you have it."
"Smidge, how often does Poppy say you were right?"
Smidge waved a hand. "That, like, never happens. And if she's hiding something from you she draws her words out reaaaallly loooong like thiiiiis. Then she distracts you by changing the subject."
"Somehow it always works, too," Biggie added.
The three of them sighed.
Maybe the tame kiss on his hands had been just that. A distraction.
Branch quizzed them a bit more and it was clear they knew what was unusual Poppy behavior. The three trolls started sorting the letters. Anything they were even unsure about went onto the bed. All of the mundane reports got stuffed into a box.
Is Queen Poppy coming out of hiding soon? I miss her.
If it weren't for Queen Poppy, I would have never found the courage to say hello to the man who is now my husband.
Poppy has been a ray of sunshine ever since she was a little tyke. The Trollsday before she left she sent me a beautiful handmade card.
Branch heard Biggie sniffing away tears. He didn't blame the guy.
He unfolded a young trolling's drawing of a pink troll with a big smile on her face surrounded by an equally happy troll family. Everyone wanted to help find Poppy. It was impossible to read the notes and not see how unbelievably active and present she was everywhere. She gave love and got love in return.
Smidge tapped his shoulder with a white card.
Branch, I thought you were good at hide and seek. What's taking so long? Is Queen Poppy better at hiding than you are seeking?
–Keith
P.S. My mom says if you have a crush on someone you should be brave and ask.
When they finished there were only a few truly suspicious notes. Branch skimmed the ones Biggie and Smidge chose. He tossed a few, but Biggie stopped him when he went to discard the one about Poppy sharing a secret.
"But she does that sometimes," Branch argued. "She tells random trolls secrets."
"The secret could be about her trip," Biggie said.
"And what if, instead, it's what it always is: some embarrassing Poppy secret?" Branch said. "Like how she sometimes wears the same dress for days without washing it, even if it gets dirty? Or that she'll sneak your least favorite food into something to see if she can get you to eat it and enjoy it? Or how one time she had an emergency and—"
Biggie had his hands over his ears. "LALALALA I'm not listening!"
Smidge was doing the same. "Oh my gaaaah! I don't need to know any more of these than I already do!"
Branch waved the note around. "Do either of you even know who this troll is? Goldie Speckles?"
No one did.
"I'll look into it," Smidge said. "But I am not talking to her. You do it, Branch."
"Me? Why me?"
"Says the guy who cooks things in his hair."
"No I don't."
"Show us what's in there right now," Biggie said.
"No!"
"Do it," Smidge said.
"Agh! You two are worse than Poppy. Both of you, out. I need sleep. Out! Out!" He pushed the noisemakers out the door.
"You're going to know all her secrets eventually anyway~" Biggie sang.
"Good. Night." He slammed his hair over the doorway.
Exhaustion smashed into him like a hammer. Since he'd left Trollberg he hadn't stopped. He cleared the letters off the bed, grabbed one edge of the blanket, threw himself onto the covers, rolled up like sushi, and blacked out.
x x x
She hadn't had a hug in so, so long.
She sniffled and another chill burnt over her skin. She curled into a tight ball and wrapped her hair around the sleeping bag. An itch bit her throat and she coughed until her eyes watered and she was heaving for breath.
A yellow form with mint green hair was there, outside the small nook.
"Smidge!" Poppy rasped.
It was a curious caterpillar. The critter scooted away.
No one was coming. She'd fallen into her own trap. The chance she'd make it long enough to be found was slim. Without water and running a fever, it wouldn't be long now.
Maybe she wasn't going home after all.
She hugged herself. It turned out she couldn't make it on her own. Alone she was powerless.
A blanket of calm descended on her as she gave up hope. Either someone would find her, or they wouldn't.