It was a cool breezy day in the trolls village, the sky was clear but there was a bite to the wind as it blew by. Young trolls were out in their fall outfits playing games around the fallen red and yellow leaves. Two high school aged trolls were sitting together on the porch of the royal pod, as one of these young trolls was the elegant and beloved Princess Poppy. Her friend was a purple troll with shimmering blue green hair that tapered off to a small curl at the top. Her name was Leslie, and she was the princesses closest friend since kindergarten. They were arguably the closest pair of trolls in the whole kingdom.
Though their friendship was undoubtable, it was odd to some considering how different they were. Of course they both loved all the things trolls do, but while Poppy was always bright and perky, Leslie wasnt nearly as cheery as her best friend. In fact, at least half the time she would be walking around half dim if not fully grey.
Leslie wasnt always this way. When she was young she was a ball of energy, a charmer, and a class clown. She was one of the most popular girls in school even. As she grew though, something in her didn't seem right. She found herself falling into deep depressions that would last for weeks sometimes no matter what her friends did to cheer her up.
Today, Leslie wasnt completely grey, but she was feeling a bit dim and the weather wasn't helping.
"I hate the cold," she said. "I miss the summer, nothing can grow in this weather."
Poppy turned to her friend who was slumped over a little and shivering despite her warm winter coat and long johns. "Don't be so down, Leslie! Soon we'll have the fall festivals, and next the winter festivals right after that! Plus, don't you love the snow?" Poppy said trying to cheer up her friend. She scooted over to her and put her arm around her friend to help warm her up.
Leslie nuzzled back into her friends embrace and gave Poppy a small smile. "I do love the snow. I wish it would snow soon though. This cold just isn't worth it without snow outside."
Poppy was about to reason with more comfort but then she caught sight of a certain grey troll near the edge of town. This certain grey troll was a heavy point of interest for both the girls. They had both admitted that they had crushes the older boy, who was in his last year of adolescence. Poppy nudged Leslie and pointed to the boy down below and they shared smiles. Leslie blew a whistle around her neck and soon her lightning bug, named Stars, came up to the royal pod where they were. She grabbed the tops of their hair as they held on to each other as Stars brought them down to were the grey boy was.
This grey boy was Branch, a grumpy yet intelligent troll who mostly kept to himself and lived in a bunker just outside of town by himself. He had built the place when he was 15 and had the choice to live on his own as he was an orphan and had no family to live with. When he saw the trio approach from above he rolled his eyes and prepared himself for the oncoming confrontation.
Leslie and Poppy touched down on the ground and turned to thank Stars before she flew off again. They then ran right over to Branch with big smiles. "Hi, Branch~!" they said simultaneously, and the grey one rolled his eyes at their flirty tone.
He was perfectly aware of how they felt about him. Unfortunately for them, he was sure he didn't feel the same way for /either/ of them. Poppy was the princess, but she was so irritable and loud. Leslie might make a nice quiet wife, but she was also a bit too creepy in her advances. She was just way too persistent, both of them were for reasons Branch couldn't fathom. He didn't understand why they didn't just get married to each other and leave him alone.
"Poppy. Leslie." Branch said in a monotone voice. He didn't want to talk to anyone on this trip to town, he just wanted to pick up some raw ingredients from the market.
The girls just giggled at his tone. Suddenly they looked at each other and darted in different directions around Branch. Before he knew it he was surrounded and the girls were on either side of him. The girls put their arms around him, clasping hands with each other, and both kissed him on either cheek. Branch flailed his arms as the girls let go and ran back to safety again, laughing to themselves.
Now, Branch was flustered and felt assaulted. As he watched the girls giggle as they ran back into town he relaxed a little, but not much as he saw that other trolls had seen the little event and were also laughing. Probably at him, he thought. Now he didn't even want to go to the market even more, but he really need some things so he tried his best to ignore everyone as he rushed off to finish his business.
Elsewhere, Poppy was excitedly talking with her now bright purple friend about how /cute/ branch was just then and how great branch is in general. Leslie smiled and forgot for a moment how cold she was as she ran back and forth with her best friend and thought about her crush. She had hope, she believed in her heart that Branch would say yes one day. Even if it was just to Poppy she would be happy, because then her best friend would be happy. For a momentin time, she glowed.