Author's Note
I just thought this would be cute and a fun thing to write. The triple quotations are actual words from Charles Dicken's actual story. The songs in here are going to be a mixture of songs from Muppets Christmas Carol and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol on Netflix. Thinking about this has been quite a trail, trying to put the characters in the right spots and deciding how the story will be told. It's all thanks to a friend that I could get this down. For it, I had decided to go for the classic option for Scrooge. Either way, I hope you enjoy this as much as I had fun thinking about it!
Branch bent over Poppy. "What are you doing?" he asked, startling her. She dropped her scissors to the ground. "Dang it!" she cried. She extended her hair to reach the scissors from the mushroom. "I was trying to make a Christmas story for the kids before you came along and scared me!" Poppy replied, grabbing the scissors from her hair and pointing them at Branch. He didn't flinch. "Well, I'm sorry you're so easy to scare," he answered.
Poppy stared at him for a second before returning back to her scrapbook. "What kind of Christmas story? Is it for a song or..."
"Nope!" Poppy said, pasting herself in a white gown inside her scrapbook. "Try again!"
"Is it a well known story?" Branch tried.
"There you go!" Poppy exclaimed. "Which story is it though?"
"Hmm..." Branch pondered. He watched her cut out more figures, Cooper, Biggie and Mr. Dinkles, Guy Diamond, DJ Suki and Tiny Diamond, Smidge, the whole group, or as Poppy calls them, 'the Snack Pack.' He never had an objection to it but he never agreed to it either.
"I'm stumped," Branch said.
"Keep trying! You should know this one! It's a classic!"
"A classic, huh?" Branch repeated. "How many revisions were done on it?"
"Lots. So many I can't keep count. And now they'll be another!"
"I think I know what this is," Branch said skeptically. "Why though?"
"I figured, it's around the Christmas season and it'll be fun to have a story to tell them! Plus, I've always loved using my scrapbook!" Poppy replied. "Why don't you help?"
"No can do. You know I'm not good at it and I almost permanently glued two of my fingers together."
"Come on, Branch! I know you can do it!"
"Nope. I'm comfortable staying this close."
Poppy smiled at him then got back to work. Within an hour, Branch helping in ways that weren't involved with her scrapbook, it was finished. She held it up. "There! All done!"
"Who is-"
"You'll find out who the characters are soon enough!" Poppy interrupted. "I'm going to tell it to the kids tomorrow if you want to join!"
"Uhh, I dont know. Going to a class full of kids, Don't you know how many accidents happen in a school room?" Branch said.
"Branch!"
"Fine, fine! I'll sleep on it!"
"Good! See you tomorrow!" Poppy cheered, running off.
"Poppy! Wait-" She dissapeared from sight. "Ugh," Branch moaned. "She never listens."
The next morning, Poppy walked into the school bud. "Good morning, class!" she exclaimed.
"Good morning, Queen Poppy!" all the kids said.
"Queen Poppy?" a small, green and orange Pop Troll asked. "When is hug time?"
"We just had hug time!" Poppy said.
"Oh."
"Give it another hour and we'll have hug time," Poppy smiled.
The bud opened a little as Poppy sat down in her chair. She looked towards the openeing to see Branch, hiding in the corner. "Branch! My man!" she pointed at him. "Come on in, Branchifer!" She waved him in.
"Yay!" the kids cheered.
"I was trying not to be seen, thank you," Branch said, walking closer.
"Take a seat by the kids!" Poppy said, pointing towards the floor. The kids moved over to make room for him, while Branch stared at Poppy in disgust and anguish. "Go on."
Branch sighed, hid an eye roll, and sat down next to Kieth and a purple Pop Troll. A small Rock Troll sat down next to him on the other side. "What are you looking at?" Branch asked the Rock Troll kid.
"Okay, class!" Poppy adressed. "Time to sit back and enjoy, 'cause today, I have a special treat for you! Today, I'll be reading 'A Christmas Carol!'"
"A who-da-what now?" asked a Funk Troll kid in the back.
"'A Christmas Carol!'" Poppy replied. "It's a classic, well loved Christmas story!"
"Story! Story! Story!" the kids cheered.
"Why am I even here?" Branch muttered under his breath.
Poppy opened her scrapbook to reveal Cloud Guy with crosses for eyes and his tongue sticking out. "'Marley was dead, to begin with,'" Poppy started.
"Dead?" one of the Classic Troll kids asked.
"Yes, please bear with it," Poppy said. She continued. "'There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial,'" she flipped the page, "'was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner.'" This page had Cloud Guy's dead, scrapbooked body lying inside a coffin. "'Scrooge signed it. Old Marley was dead as a door-nail.'"
She flipped the page again to show a scrapbookoed sign that reads, "'Scrooge and Marley.'
"'Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years.'"
"Scrooge's partner is dead?" the purple Pop Troll asked.
"Sadly, yes," Poppy replied. "But he wasn't just his partner. He was his friend. So I bet you think he was pretty miserable, huh? Almost...grey?" The Pop Troll kids looked at Branch, who pulled his knees into his chest and hugged them. "Get on with it, Poppy."
"'Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name.'" Poppy continued. "Because of it, Scrooge never talked to anyone." She flipped the page. On it is a scrapbooked version of Branch in a tail coat.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Branch interrupted, putting his hands up. "Why am I Scrooge? Why do I have to be the grump-" his expression changed to disappointment. "I get it. Very funny, Poppy."
"You don't look bad in a tailcoat if I do say so myself!" Poppy said.
Branch raised an eyebrow. "Right, continue." She looked back down at the book. "And they never talked to him. Everyone knew his name, and as the guy who hated Christmas."
"Hated Chistmas?!" cried a few of the Troll kids.
"Yep. Sad isn't it."
"Very. Didn't he ever have a hug time?" the Funk Troll kid asked.
"Nope."
"Didn't he ever get a present?" a Rock Troll kid asked.
"Nope."
"A smile?" the Classical Troll kid asked.
"Nope."
"Why?" the kids cried.
"Just keep listening!" Poppy smiled. "We'll get there."
