#even if it's just from a troll

[persianflaw]

i generally try to either ignore or privately rubberneck at fandom drama stuff, which is why i'm not reblogging the other posts about this and just making my own, but:

POTTER?? the character who is the absolute most consistently, unambiguously, unapologetically racist towards klinger, the most prominent character of color, aside from charles??? the career military character who leads most of the bad pro-military storylines from the latter half of the series, who deliberately joined the same war that the anti-war characters were drafted into?? HE'S the one you've decided did nothing wrong??? 😭 like this is actually such a wild take that i feel like this person has to be a troll

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

You ever have those moments where an idea just... won't leave your head?

[zivazivc]

do you think freesia and jd would ever get back together? or will they stay sort-of friends?

I'm not going to lie, I kinda like the idea of them starting to date again and seeing where it takes them. 🙈 freesia sneaked into my heart for some reason (she kind of started this new trend of mine where i make ocs that were created to be dicks and then me just getting protective of them and trying to reason out their awful behavior kasjsdj)

also their ship already has a #1 hater and #1 supporter, both of which are doing it for the wrong reasons...

[chessb0r3d]

i cracked the code.

[chirp-featherfowl]

am i makinnng. any FUCKING sense.

elaboration in tags maybe if it's comprehensible. no promises

[bottlehawk]

hello guys. the fucked up ecto-inverse of dirkjohn isn't davejake. it's davejane. this has been a psa. and you're welcome

[toriowlfluff]

Love being unhinged

[allmyhomieshatelawns]

AND SOME MORE FOR THE HYPNO POP AU BECAUSE IT WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE EVEN THOUGH MY HANDS ARE SCREAMING IN PAIN BECAUSE THE WEATHER KEEPS SHIFTING LIKE A DICK.

anyway anyway, please enjoy another lil somethin i wrote for @djmurphy ‘s Hypno Pop AU!

“Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!” My throat stung with the words, volume rising higher with the lyrics of the song. “Dance along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do!”

Cruel irony that. I certainly didn’t want to, but that isn’t what mattered. The village needed to be happy, we were celebrating nearly twenty years of freedom from the bergens. This was a happy time!!

I continued dancing on the main stage, singing with the rasp that had developed in my voice some years ago. King Peppy said it made me sound more mature and that I should like it. And I do! I love how it sounds nothing like the angelic voice that got—

Don’t falter! I snapped back to attention just in time for the knee slide, grinning despite the harsh impact.

The entire village went wild, several in the crowd fainting, and even more screaming for an encore.

I felt tired, like my bones were crumbling away inside of me, but my smile didn’t falter.

“You guys want more? Alright! This one I’ve been working on for a while now!” My lips and throat moved on their own; I wouldn’t be getting any rest anytime soon. Might as well retreat.

Everything was on autopilot, but thankfully the screaming fans didn’t seem to notice or care. They just wanted more. They always want more. It was so wonderful that they loved my music. I loved making them all so happy!!

“Wow, Branch! I can’t believe you did three encores! Where do you get the energy? I would’ve had to stop after the first one!” Princess Poppy was at my side, practically dragging me off the stage.

I was allowed to sag into her side for a moment, it was close enough to Hug Time, it was fine. But all too soon my strings pulled me away, smiling.

“I can’t say no to my adoring fans!” I grinned, the right side of my mouth gave a violent twitch, cramping from the nonstop use. I turned away so hopefully Princess Poppy wouldn’t notice. She can’t think I’m weird, I’m normal, I’m supposed to be normal!

“Branch?” Princess Poppy’s voice was laced with concern, her hand grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around.

I tried to maintain my grin, feeling the corners twitch uncomfortably against the frames of my glasses. I tugged on my blue puffy vest, nerves trying to rise from my belly but thankfully, as always, halted in their tracks.

“What’s up, Princess Poppy?” I asked, my hands now hanging limp at my side since they weren’t allowed to do anything else.

She made a face at her title like she always did, but her hand tightened on my shoulder. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is perfect! Why wouldn’t it be?” My mouth said, the words a little too chirpy. “The fans love me, and your celebration is going even better than projected!” That should throw her off, get her talking about the party. Everyone is happy.

It worked like a charm. Princess Poppy beamed at me like I had given her, her favorite dessert.

“Thank you, Branch! This party wouldn’t have been half as successful without you here though! You make every party more fun.” She then began prattling on about the different streamer and glitter bombs she had used this time as opposed to last year. She was so dedicated to keeping the village happy! We were so lucky to have her and King Peppy!

I relaxed, as much as I could, and smiled along. Thankfully it didn’t have to be a big smile, I could soften things for the princess.

Soon enough we were in the area considered backstage, and I expected her to peel off and go back to her friends, but instead, she pulled me into a more private dressing room area. My skin prickled at the privacy. That meant bad things. That meant I wasn’t happy enough.

“Branch, I need you to be real with me here. You’ve been acting kind of… off lately. Are you sure you’re okay?” Princess Poppy looked apologetic as she said it, but I felt the immediate effect.

A scream of pop music resounded in my ears, so loud I thought they would start bleeding. The pounding in my head got worse, like a bergen bashing my head against a tree. Even my muscles started to scream, wanting to cramp and twitch as they were forcibly pulled. I wanted to scream and cry and curl up under the bed in my pod, but I stood there beaming.

“Princess Poppy, I assure you, I’m perfectly fine. Just a little tired from the party tonight. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.” The words were straight from the string and they hurt, like they were being ripped from me. My voice even went raspier, like there was another voice speaking under mine, but I wasn’t sure if that was from the singing or not. It had been a long time since I had to have the string speak through me. I’m supposed to be better than this. Get it together, Branch. You’re perfectly happy!

Princess Poppy took a step back, a frown pulling down her lips.

No! No! I can fix this please—

“Is everything alright, Poppy? I saw you follow Branch back here.” King Peppy’s voice sent shivers across my body, locking up my joints. King Peppy is here! Oh good he’ll make everything better, like always!!

“Oh! Hey Dad, I was just congratulating Branch on his performance!” Princess Poppy lied to the king! Her face didn’t show any hint of dishonesty though, and I didn’t feel compelled to correct her, that would be rude, so I just nodded along, my smile back to the tight beam that had been on display for everyone tonight. I had worked super hard on it to make it perfect.

He looked between the two of us like he wasn’t sure it was the truth, but merely motioned me forward. I went without hesitation of course, my body still rigid and stiff despite the bounce in my step. I stopped in front of King Peppy, smiling up at him.

“Run along now, my darling. I wanted to talk with Branch about something, you know, guy talk.” King Peppy winked over my head at the princess, causing her to gag and laugh.

“Ew Dad, okay. Alright, Branch, it was awesome talking to you!” She hesitated a moment before giving me a hug, squeezing tighter than normal, like she was afraid of something.

I watched her walk away, my pink-tinted vision clouding her shape the further she got. Like I was drowning alone in suffocating pink mist.

King Peppy’s hand landed on my shoulder heavily, and he sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I worry about her. I only hope that when it’s her time, she will continue to make the right choices, as I have. Now, come along, Branch. I’ll top you off.”

“Thank you, King Peppy!” I chirped, melting as the string was plucked, and I could just dive back into the haze of my mind. We were having to do this more frequently. It used to be, I could go for a week without having the string played for me, but that time was shortening. I didn’t want to think about what would happen to me should the string stop working altogether. That wasn’t a happy thought, and only happy thoughts were allowed!

[razzle-zazzle]

3682 Words; Discolored

AO3 ver

“Poppy, did Branch crash at your pod last night?”

Poppy turned to look at Floyd as he ambled over to her, cane and tail working together to keep his balance. He came to a stop and sat down on a nearby mushroom, and Poppy smiled. Floyd was making great progress with his recovery! He wouldn’t have made it to that mushroom in a single go last week.

“No, I haven’t seen him since yesterday.” Poppy responded. “Was he not at home last night?” That was pretty unlike Branch—either he slept in his bunker or he slept somewhere else he considered safe enough, which was pretty limited.

Floyd shook his head. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon.” He looked out towards the rest of the village, frowning. “Is that…” He swallowed, his eyes not meeting Poppy’s, “That’s not normal for him, is it?”

Poppy’s tail lashed behind her. For all that Branch was eager to have his brothers back in his life, they’d been gone for so long that they were essentially strangers. As much as she wished everyone could fall back into familiar routines and get along, the world just didn’t work like that. Once again, she was confronted with the fact that, for all that he was living with him, Floyd still didn’t know Branch as well as she did.

Poppy shrugged off the annoyance—it wasn’t her issue to resolve, and it was well on its way to fixing itself—and focused in on the important parts. “Did he leave any notes on where he was going?” While he didn’t do it as often these days, Branch could still disappear into the forest for days at a time in search of supplies and other materials for his stockpiles. But he never left without some kind of indication of where he was going—not after his and Poppy’s adventure to Bergentown that ended with the formal end to Trollstice.

Floyd’s grip tightened on the handle of his cane. His tail curled around his legs as he spoke, “Not that I could find. He was acting really evasive all day, too.”

Poppy’s tail smacked the ground. Okay, now things really weren’t adding up. “I’ll go ask around,” she decided, “and see if anyone else has seen Branch.” Her duties as Queen took her all over Pop Village and Trollstopia as a matter of course, so she was bound to stumble upon some answers eventually.

Floyd nodded. “I’ll go see if John knows anything.” He decided, standing up. Poppy almost offered to go with him, but Floyd didn’t even spare her another glance as he went on. If something went awry, there was no shortage of Trolls who would happily help him out, so Poppy resolved to put her focus to where it would be most useful.

Her daily rounds were pretty routine at this point—after the morning song, Poppy went around to check on her people, letting them voice opinions, concerns, and even just happy “Good mornings!” Though not a social butterfly, Branch still had a few friends throughout the village and in Trolltopia, so it was just a matter of collecting what information she could and putting it all together.

Everywhere she asked, she got the same response. Nobody had seen Branch past yesterday evening—most Trolls hadn’t even seen him after the morning at all. Floyd seeing Branch in the bunker yesterday afternoon was the latest that anyone had seen him, it seemed.

The market was bustling with activity when Poppy arrived, sun high in the sky. Trolls of every shape and color walked around through the stalls, exchanging goods and gossip in equal measure. Poppy beelined for Smidge’s stall—the stoutberries were in season, and her Right Paw Troll had no shortage of eager customers.

“Good Morning Poppy!” Smidge greeted, passing a mug of stoutberry juice across the counter to an eager Troll. “Here, have a mug on the house.”

Poppy took the mug with one paw and reached into her hair with the other. “In that case, have THIS!” She handed the bag of cookies across the counter. “On the house, of course.” She smirked. It was a routine exchange, but no less genuine.

Smidge giggled, taking out one of the cookies before re-tying the bag and slipping it into her hair. “Oh, yeah,” She passed out another mug, and Poppy shifted to the side so she wouldn’t get in the way, “A pair of Pop Trolls came up to my stand the other day.” Smidge started.

Poppy leaned forwards. Smidge wasn’t one for frivolities—outside of the usual frivolities Trolls concerned themselves with, of course—and Smidge’s tone implied there would be more to the story than face value.

“I didn’t recognize them at all.” Smidge elaborated, passing another mug out to another customer. “But they were nice enough and they bought plenty of stoutberry juice.” She shrugged, pleased at the successful sale.

“Huh.” That was weird. Poppy knew everyone in Pop Village, and was well on her way to knowing everyone in Trollstopia, as well. As her right paw, Smidge should also be able to recognize every face, if not know them all personally. “Maybe they were Putt-Putt Trolls?” Poppy was still familiarizing herself with Viva’s people, after all.

Smidge hummed. “One of them had wild enough hair for it, but I don’t think so. The rest of the details just don’t line up.” She lifted her paw to her mouth, her brow creasing in contemplation. “Come to think of it, one of them had eyes just like Branch’s. Like, uncannily so.”

Poppy frowned. It wasn’t unheard of for Pop Trolls to be out wandering the world—Branch’s brothers had been doing exactly that for years—but something about the timing of it all felt off. Two strangers showing up barely a day before Branch’s… Poppy didn’t want to call it a disappearance—Branch was tough, he was probably fine. But the fact remained that nobody she’d talked to had seen him since yesterday, and nobody had any idea why. It reminded her of years past, before peace with the Bergens when Branch barely involved himself with the village at all if he could help it. But he had come so far since then!

“Speaking of Branch, have you seen him?” Poppy asked, already anticipating the answer.

Smidge hummed. “Last I saw was when he bought some stoutberry juice yesterday morning.” She handed out three mugs to a pair of Trolls. “I don’t know where he went after he left the market.”

Right, just as Poppy had feared. She sighed, and turned to Smidge with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Smidge.”

Smidge’s eyes narrowed. “Have you seen Branch?” She asked, already intuiting the reason behind Poppy’s question. It was just like her to pick up whenever Poppy had a problem. Poppy didn’t know what she would ever do without Smidge.

Poppy shook her head. “Not since yesterday.” She responded. “And everyone else is saying the same. I’m gonna check his bunker for a note after doing my rounds in Trollstopia.”

“That’s unlike him…” Smidge put a paw to her mouth, thinking. “Once I’m done here, I’ll go see if Milton has any snoutsniffers in his care, see if I can’t track down any leads.”

“Thanks, Smidge,” Poppy grinned, “You’re the best!”

Smidge laughed. “Don’t I know it!” She waved as Poppy stepped back, reaching for another stoutberry to refill the pitcher with. “Have a good day!”

“Of course!” Poppy laughed as she skipped off. Like she could ever have a day that wasn’t good in some way—there was always a bright side to everything, even when things got bad. There had to be.

With that thought in her mind and a spring in her step, Poppy went on to continue her rounds.

+=+=+=+=+

“Any luck?” Floyd’s voice greeted Poppy as she returned to her starting point, the sun having long disappeared behind the trees. Floyd was sitting on a mushroom, cane leaning to his side, his arms folded in his lap. His tail curled in on itself.

“Smidge offered to borrow a snoutsniffer from Milton to help investigate.” Poppy responded, sitting down next to Floyd. “But other than that? Nothing.” She leaned back and stretched her arms above her head, her tail and legs stretching as well. There hadn’t been a note in Branch’s bunker—at least, not where he’d usually leave notes. But it could take weeks for Poppy to dig through the entire bunker, and Branch wasn’t the type to leave his notes where they couldn’t be found. So here she was, sitting next to Floyd and looking for something more concrete to do.

“John hasn’t seen him either,” Floyd shook his head, “But he said he’d go looking.”

Poppy brightened. “Oh, that’ll be a great help!” She hadn’t known John Dory for long, it was true—but it was already clear that he had a skill for finding people. He’d managed to find Floyd’s prison in Mount Rageous and Branch at Bridget and Gristle’s wedding within days, after all! For all his… well, Poppy didn’t want to be so mean as to call them faults, and it wasn’t really her place to say, but John Dory definitely needed some work—for all his… rough edges, Poppy trusted that when John Dory put his mind to something, he’d find it.

Floyd nodded. Poppy waited in case he wanted to say anything else, but no words were forthcoming. That was fine, though.

“Queen Poppy!” And there was Smide, approaching with a snoutsniffer in her hair! Poppy stood up excitedly, her tail beginning to lash in anticipation.

Smidge set the snoutsniffer down. “Meet Petunia.” She boasted, “Milton says he’s the best tracker in the litter.” Her chest puffed out as she spoke, pride welling up in her eyes as she thought of her boyfriend.

“He’s. So. ADORABLEEEEEE!” Poppy was already on her knees, tail whipping behind her. With a squeal she brushed her paws over Petunia’s periwinkle carapace. Petunia whuffed in response, shoving his face into Poppy’s paws to demand more attention. “Ohhhh my Troll, who’s adorable? Who’s the cutest wittle snoutsniffer in the world? Is it you? Yes! It’s you! AWWW!” Poppy’s paws were covered in slobber. Her heart wanted to burst right out of her chest. She couldn’t stop cooing—Petunia was just! Too! CUTE!

Behind them, Floyd chuckled faintly, standing with a grunt of effort. “Are we ready, then?”

Smidge nodded, and Poppy stood, tearing her paws away from Petunia’s perfect periwinkle carapace. They started by the bunker, Petunia sniffing at a shirt Poppy had retrieved from within before puttering off to find the scent. Smidge unclipped the leash to let Petunia work more efficiently.

“Does…” Floyd closed his mouth, mulling over his words. “Does Branch ever just disappear like this?” He made a face the moment he finished speaking, ears flushing slightly. Poppy opened her mouth to speak—

“Not really?” Smidge answered, as Petunia kept puttering around. “A year ago this would have been pretty normal—Branch only ever came into the village when he needed something. We’d go days without seeing him at all sometimes.”

“Ugh, and he used to never leave his bunker at all during winter.” Poppy added, flicking her tail. “So we wouldn’t see him for months.” She crossed her arms at the memory.

“Yeah, and you’d end up bundling all the invitations you made him into a basket for him to find in the spring.” Smidge giggled, paw over her mouth. Her tail flirted behind her as she turned to face Poppy fully. “Oh, and that first year when you just piled them all on his welcome mat!” She mimed a big pile falling down with her paws, making a whoosh noise. “He told me about that a few months ago, said the whole pile fell on his face when he opened the trap door!”

Poppy snickered, face flushing. She hadn’t heard about that part! But it made sense; though fifteen-year-old Poppy hadn’t known that the welcome mat was the entrance to Branch’s bunker, that didn’t change the fact that she had basically buried Branch’s door in invitations.

…maybe she should apologize for that. What if Branch had been unable to open the trapdoor?

“Huh.” Floyd was gripping the head of his cane rather tightly, his tail starting to curl around his legs. “...all winter?”

Poppy nodded. “He’s really come out of his shell since!” And she would never not be proud of how far Branch had come. Finding his true colors again, braving the trials and tribulations of developing a healthy social life, reuniting with his family—Troll, Poppy could gush about how proud Branch made her for hours! She almost turned to her side as if to nudge Branch, but—

But Branch wasn’t here. He wasn’t here for Poppy to watch his face flush and ears flutter in the way they did when he got flustered, blue tones creeping up his paws to his chest in that way that made Poppy’s heart melt. Branch wasn’t here, and he was probably definitely fine because he could take care of himself and get through almost anything when he put his mind to it—

But that was fine because Poppy would find out where he went and it would all work out! Her tail straightened out behind her, taut and rigid like a cord ready to break. Of course she was worried, he was her boyfriend, she’d worry about him always because that was what it was to care about someone—

Petunia’s barks snapped Poppy out of her spiraling thoughts.

“Oh my guh, Petunia found something!” Smidge called out. Poppy rushed over to the Petunia, kneeling down to see what he had found.

It was Branch’s Hug Time bracelet, half-buried in the dirt. Poppy leaned down and picked it up, examining the cut in the cord. The flower looked like it had been stepped on—no, stomped. The petals had withered, and the timer was shattered. Poppy had almost missed it entirely—it looked no different from regular forest floor detritus.

This… Poppy tucked the bracelet into her hair. She couldn’t tell how recently it had been cut, but—surely she was overreacting. Branch probably caught it on something without noticing; he could get really single-minded when he was in the zone. Yeah. It was fine. Everything would be fine.

But Poppy still couldn’t shake the feeling clinging to her fur. It hung off of her tail and hair like a foreboding miasma, implacable in its surety. If Branch were here, he’d be doing all the worrying for her. But he wasn’t here, and all Poppy had was a cut Hug Time bracelet to show for it. So far, of course. She would totally track him down in the end, of course.

Yeah. Poppy clenched her paws. She was sure of it: they’d find Branch by the end of the week!

+=+=+=+=+

It had been weeks. Poppy saw neither hide nor hair of Branch, and nobody else did, either. It was official; something had happened, something big.

She’d already told Bruce and Clay and Viva, and John Dory was coming in and out of Trollstopia to tell her how his search was going—

(Not super well. Rhonda could track, but she wasn’t a snoutsniffer. Whatever Branch was doing, he was moving around a lot, and every time Rhonda found a lead it only lasted a few days at most.)

—Poppy had done about all that she could, at this point. Petunia and the other snoutsniffers were earning a lot of treats and attention for their work combing the forest for clues—

(not far from the Hug Time bracelet, Petunia had found critterbuss tracks. They were similar to Rhonda’s, but not quite the same.)

—she’d gotten the word out to her fellow leaders in case they know anything, including Gristle and Bridget—

(even after a full year of peace with the Bergens, Branch was still wary of the ones he didn’t know, and didn’t like going into Bergentown alone. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be near Bergentown; Hole ‘N Fun was in the same general area. None of the other genre leaders had any news, but they agreed to help spread the word around.)

—and between all of that and her regular duties as Queen of the Pop Trolls and Pop Ambassador to Trollstopia, Poppy was outright exhausted!

But even as she settled down on her bed with a sigh, limbs spread out as she stared at the ceiling of her pod, a nervous energy hummed in all of her veins, crackling and stinging with the need to do something. Poppy’s head fell to the side as she considered her crafts table. Maybe scrapbooking would calm the fire in her paws?

Ughhhh, this was way too much worrying! Worrying was Branch’s thing, because at least he knew how to turn his worrying into something productive! When Poppy tried that, she ended up worrying all over again once she was done. She kicked her feet and huffed, glaring up at the ceiling. Maybe if she worried hard enough, Branch would just show up and this whole worrying thing could be done with!

With a groan, Poppy rolled off her bed and stood, stretching for a moment before going over to her crafts table. She sat down, flicking on the radio with her tail as she contemplated what to scrapbook. The radio was a recent acquisition, custom-made by Rhythm and Blues for her last birthday. A song that Poppy hadn’t heard before was playing, upbeat melody drifting into the background as she opened her current scrapbook. Well, it was one of her current scrapbooks, set right between the one she started to chronicle Branch’s disappearance and the one about Rock Troll agriculture that she had been working on and off on. But the scrapbook before her was her current Feelings Scrapbook: a place to work out everything she felt. It didn’t need to be organized, or follow a story—she cut fabric into shapes and drew nonsense lines with glitter glue, pushing pieces together and making something purely for the sake of it.

The radio continued to play, the song having ended. An ad segment started, making Poppy’s tail lash in minor annoyance. Ugh, maybe she could shift to a different station until the adbreak ended—

Wait.

That—

Poppy’s eyes widened. She set down her scrapbooking supplies, not even bothering to tidy up her workspace as she put her full attention on the radio. That was—

Poppy stood, and ran for the door of her pod.

+=+=+=+=+

“Sooooo what’d you drag us all the way up here for?” John Dory asked, pulling himself up to Poppy’s doorpetal with his hair. Floyd came up behind him, mostly-recolored hair pulling him up with no visible strain. He’d really come far, these past weeks—he could go for a lot longer without getting exhausted!

Poppy brought them inside without preamble. John Dory tracked in dirt as he went, not even bothering to wipe off his feet on the mat like Floyd was currently doing. Poppy didn’t care. The radio was still playing, right there next to her crafts table, on the same station she had left it on. “Listen.” She said, as the current song came to an end and, thankfully, an adbreak started instead of the next song.

John Dory listened for all of two seconds before frowning. “It’s a radio.” He said. “I don’t see what this has to do with any—”

“Just listen!” Poppy insisted. The ads were playing out in roughly the same order as before, which meant the ad they needed to hear was coming up. Indeed, the ad about stage makeup ended, and the next ad began, the speaker talking at a rapid clip.

“Hey ho! Tired of single-genre shows for single genre venues? Looking to hear some new talent on stage? Then you’re in luck! Come see Robin Lily LIVE on his tour throughout the genres! Hear music from all corners of the world, including the new hit single ‘Candy’!” A clip of music started playing, the abrupt start making it clear that it was taken from the middle of a song. “Hey, ho! Here she goes! Either a little too high or a little too low! Got no self-esteem and vertigo, ‘cause she thinks she’s made of candy!” The clip cut off there, the rest of the ad playing out, but—

It was unmistakable.

“That’s Branch!” Floyd gasped, his tail thumping against the ground. “That’s—that’s him singing!”

“What in the world is he doing?” John Dory put his paws on his hips, giving the radio a consternated look. “Running off on his own without telling anyone? Is he really that immature?”

Poppy shot John Dory a look, then decided to ignore it. He and Branch were still getting to know each other, after all. Instead, she pushed forwards. “The next concert is tomorrow, right?” She looked at John Dory. “Can Rhonda get us to Garden Grove Theatre by then?”

John Dory grinned, tail waving behind him. “Uh, yeah, of course she can!” He turned to leave, reaching up for his goggles. “C’mon, let’s get going!”

“Wait!” Floyd interjected, gripping the head of his cane. “Aren’t we going to tell Bruce and Clay?” With Bruce back at Vaycay Island and Clay hopping between Hole ‘N Fun and Trollstopia on a regular basis, it would probably take a while for the news to reach them, and even longer for everyone to convene at Trollstopia. It was a valid concern, but Poppy already had that handled.

“We’ll send them crittermail on the way!” She grabbed Floyd’s paw in her own, waiting until he squeezed back before she started to pull him along. “C’mon, we got a concert to catch!”

“Hair yeah we do!” John Dory whooped, already making his way down the tree, goggles over his eyes. With a grin, Poppy followed him down, Floyd following her down with a yelp and a startled laugh.

Now she could say she’d find Branch by the end of the week—and she intended to! He wasn’t getting away from her that easily!

If only the worry trickling down her fur could agree and go away.

[sunnystrollblog]

I’ve been talking a lot about borrowers au so let’stalk about cult? Au might change the name. So branch’s brothers are definitely worse than in canon, one big reason for this is because of jd’s perfectionist personality is turned up to 100 he’s an overbearing older brother who micromanages all his brothers lives. He’s gone to extreme lengths to make sure that they all stay inline with their band images. Which puts a lot of pressure on the boys especially branch seeing as he’s the youngest and newest member.

This doesn’t help when two out of four your brothers treat you like a coworker and not a sibling. One who basically controls your entire life and what you wear, eat, sleep and even how you breathe is criticized. And the brother who you think is the one who truly loves and cares for you tells you, you were the worst thing to happen to them and if you were never born everyone would have been better off and then he leaves you… yeah that’s gonna mess anyone up.

Also viva and clay don’t get separated in this au so clay kinda goes about ignoring branch’s existence which definitely makes branch even more bitter and resentful.

[irisbaggins]

Spoilers ahead, y'all!

Whilst I did make a post about timelines and possible magic and extension of life, somehow, the simple explanation escaped me completely. Especially as someone who lives in Norway, where Winter is half of the year.

When were Lila and Jaysohn born, if they knew their dad half their life? Early Winter. Geoffrey probably died sometime right before Spring, where the snow is still thick and the air still freezing. Let's say, if the plot of the story takes place in September-October, Geoffrey died in March-April, with the kids born around December-January. It would, actually, explain everything. We know, from Viola, that these stoats don't follow normal stoat mating patterns; Viola is having her kids in Autumn. Therefore, who's to say Tula couldn't have Lila and Jaysohn in Winter? They're sapient creatures, who can think and plan. We also get the small glimpse that Tula knows that they may have some control over when they get pregnant, but not always. Who's to say it didn't happen to her, too? What if, that Winter was where Tula gained so much, and nearly lost everything in one moment.

Although, I still believe Ava is overestimating her own age just so she can get away with more things.

[cozylittleartblog]

Just wanted to mention this to someone who does art and get their opinion on it:

Sometimes I see some artists do redraws of their old artworks or characters and think "Wow, uh... their older art looks better." Sometimes it's only mildly better, but other times it's vastly better. Like the Upgrade, Go Back! meme.

I understand that art skills are supposed to develop and change, hopefully for the better, but sometimes it just feels like they got... worse? Somehow? Idk. Maybe it's because they were copying another artist's style while finding their own, and it's their own style that doesn't vibe with me? Just curious what your thoughts are about this.

Also, your art has consistently been great, so this isn't directed at you.

I do see this on occasion yeah! usually (in my experience anyway) its because people take a sharp turn towards a stylization that either isn't to your or most people's tastes, or that they don't understand or are still developing. switching up how you stylize your art is like starting over in a sense, you're changing from what you have practice with and that's always going to cause you to revert some as you have to re-learn things you understood in your previous style. i had a pretty big style shift in 2014 when i took up the basis for how my art looks now, and i remember feeling like some of the stuff i was drawing might have looked better if i was using my older style instead. that's something artists just have to push through and figure out, and they'll likely come out of it a better artist than they were before. constructive critiques are a good way for them to figure out why their art might not be as "good" as it used to be, if they're open for those.

art is not always a linear journey, and i would also say things like passion and motivation have a part in it too. feeling inspired sparks you to make something the best it can be, if you're not feeling it (and esp if that feeling lasts for a long time) it'll leave you making decisions you otherwise would not have let fly, and that can result in worse art. and some of it is just personal preference! it's not that their art is better or worse, it's just different now, and maybe that doesn't vibe with you the same way their old stuff did. and that's fine 👍

(thank you! :3 i admittedly struggle a bit with Not Feeling It sometimes like i just described, so it's nice to know people still enjoy what i make when that feeling hits.)

[zivazivc]

The Floyd JD and Branch sitcom in your head is the funniest show I’ve never seen

can the third movie's spin-off series just be this please?

[ghostfoolish]

Are the hoards of loumand shippers who think that Armand did nothing wrong and are gonna have a “rude awakening” in season 2 in the room with us right now?

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

I was rewatching The Stone Forest and I really like to think that Hilda had to pass by the Bell Keeper’s outpost on her way out of the city limits. I like to think that idiot looked at what was happening, shrugged, and said ‘eh, she’s the scariest thing out there’

[maskyartist]

yknow how u cant tell when a cat's in pain cause cat's cant just TELL U they hurt? so they scratch n bite?

yeah

yeah its kinda like that

transcript under cut

"I'm sorry"

"I know you. I can't stop myself from hurting you."

"I hurt. The hurt won't stop. Hurt how I hurt."