Memoirs
Poppy thought her admiration for Branch was intense, but then he went all adorable and pumped up to a whole new level of excitement that made her love him immensely. Not only did he come up with a wonderful song - not to mention an outfit that made her see how much black and white favored him - but he was able to coordinate a domino arrangement that went literally to the Moon!
Branch's projects were growing in its cleverness and proportion. The whole village seemed to comment on how amazing the water sliders were, how deliriously fun the Fabyrinth was and how helpful the Queen's boyfriend could be when they needed a hand with predators. Apparently, between a party or two, Branch had come up with a whistle that could put Mama Cuddlepuff to sleep in case of an emergency.
"It's all about the sound frequencies," Branch explained to the fuzzlings on patrol. "It's a high ultrasonic sound that only the predator can hear, so trolls won't be disturbed."
It was a project that he had worked on with Laguna and, apparently, he hadn't talked about it until it was fully functional.
Poppy worked on the dominos she had accidentally knocked while looking at her handsome boyfriend who coordinated R&B through a telescope - with the help of a radio - until the Moon was ready for the grand finale a second time.
That was the kind of project he was born to be part of, Poppy thought, feeling her chest filling up with pride. She would never have guessed, years ago when she was still a naive princess, that the village grump would blossom into one of the finest creatures she had ever met.
Of course, she had a feeling he was special back then, but she didn't have the dimension of how great he could be.
Poppy finished the first line of dominos around a flower and proceeded to arrange it towards the stadium as she quietly contemplated how she grew to understand that Branch was the one for her.
It was quite interesting when she was just a trolling, still getting to know all the trolls, and becoming friends with them. As her dad had put it: it was her duty as a princess to be the friend everyone wanted looked up to.
She seemed to be easily accepted by everyone. As a child she learned she was adorable and trolls wanted her near all the time. Poppy was satisfied with her accomplishments and even decided that she was old enough to have her own pod at the age of four. Her dad would put her to bed and caress her hair until she fell asleep every night, then he returned to his own pod directly in front of hers to rest as well.
The first night she was alone was pure bliss to the princess, but the following ones started to be a little scary. First, she heard someone grunting under the weight of something underneath her pod and she peeked through the window to see a big log apparently moving on its own to the edge of the forest.
Woods weren't ghosts, so Poppy, using her still young and unskilled hair, climbed down the tree to follow the mysterious log to where it was being taken.
Keeping her distance, she saw two gray feet and skinned hands carrying it and secretly admired how much strength that troll must have to move such a huge piece of wood.
It was only when the moon came out from behind the clouds that Poppy saw she followed the mysterious troll to a clearing. A lot of dirt was piled on the side and drawings of rooms were laid on top of a big bluish rock. The log was thrown on the ground and finally, she could see a gray boy with a camouflaged outfit wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Hm… hi." Poppy said with a big smile, startling the boy who accidentally fell on the hole on the ground. "Oh dear, are you okay?" She quickly peeked inside, seeing how deep it was.
"Yes. What do you want, princess?" The boy growled, turning around to stand up.
"Oh, good. You know who I am." Poppy giggled, seeing him climbing up again, looking even dirtier than before. "And you are…?"
"My name is none of your business, now leave me alone." He said, returning his attention to the log, which he started cutting apart to fit inside the hole.
"I want to be your friend and friends tell their names," Poppy explained, still amused with how entertained the boy was with the piece of wood.
"I don't want to be your friend." He replied in irritation.
Poppy's eyes filled with tears and the boy readily ignored her, pretending she didn't exist. She watched him working for a while, wondering why he would work at night when everyone else did their choses when daylight made things easier.
Setting her mind to help him, the small princess started picking up pieces of wood that flew around while he chopped the bigger log. She piled them next to the hole, quiet, but sniffing from time to time.
The boy watched her, but said nothing. When she turned around to pick one last log he quickly jumped inside the hole, disappearing in the darkness and hoping she wouldn't see him hiding in the farthest corner.
"Where do I put all the wood?" Poppy asked, peeking inside once again. She heard the sound of facepalm and understood he wanted her to take the clue to go away at once. "Tell me your name, please." She begged quietly. "I promise I'll go if you do."
It took an eternity of silence before his upset voice answered her.
"It's Branch."
Her heart skipped a beat. What a lovely name!
"Well, Branch. Nice to meet you and I hope we can be friends." Poppy replied and turned around to return to her pod, hopping happily all the way.
"Poppy!" Branch stopped her before she, again, knocked on a line of dominos that was right behind her. "Be careful!"
"Sorry, sorry." She laughed, meekly, and decided it was time to stop working on the arrangement. "Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"The show is about to start." Branch smiled, arranging his hat on top of his head. "You could call everyone to watch it."
"I'll do that!" Poppy replied, vanishing from sight as fast as she could, afraid to cause another accident.
The first time Poppy delivered a glittery invitation to Branch he tore it to pieces in front of her face. She wiped her tears and turned around, deciding to scrapbook a bigger and better one to convince him to attend her party.
She never stopped giving him invitations and every time she walked near him, her heart would beat faster and her cheeks would flush. The expectation that he would finally attend one of her parties only got more intense with time.
Until Creek came along and showed her, she was being intrusive. If Branch wanted to ride his toxic vibes there was nothing they could do. Poppy was worried she hadn't realized she was being obnoxious to Branch, but her big heart still called out to invite him to a party, at least once a month.
Creek had mentioned that one day she'd be Queen and on the right time she would need to choose a trustworthy troll to be her King.
Poppy felt incredibly hollow after that conversation. She had never considered having another troll to rule with her. She thought she would be Kingless Queen, just like her dad had been a Queenless King. Why would she need to choose someone? They were all her friends. Nobody seemed to fit to be King.
Except…
"You can always trust me, Poppy. With anything. Boop."
Creek was the biggest mistake of her life and, deep down, she had always known he wasn't the one for her. At least, not when her heart still skipped a beat whenever she spotted Branch collecting items for his bunker.
"Hey, everyone! Let's go to the stadium to see the grand finale!" Poppy said, the cowbell she hadn't used in a long time. She needed the whole Trollstopia to come out and see what Branch had done.
Children and elders, all of the trolls of every tribe walked towards the stadium and took their seats.
Poppy saw her boyfriend with a big and proud smile on top of the stage, finally giving everyone the thumbs up so the first domino was dropped, initiating the complex chain that went around all neighborhoods of their big city, working the way around the train stations and even circling the techno lagoon.
Branch barely blinked and Laguna was right by his side, watching the dominos falling on the right time.
The rocket was initiated and the first domino on the Moon took the others with it, revealing not the design of a giant piece, but a big heart.
Poppy looked at Branch questioningly and he just raised his shoulders, trying to look innocent, but a blush on his cheeks indicated that he had personally asked to have the grand finale changed to surprise her.
Ah, yes. Branch could accomplish more than Poppy had ever dreamed of and she would be there, cheering for him along the way.