- What are you thinking about?
- Hm? - Branch lifts his eyebrows and blinks, still having his mind out of this world.
- You zoned out. What are you thinking about? - Poppy repeats her question and makes them stop walking. She gazes at his face looking for an answer, but his look is still faraway. It takes a minute or two until the goddess can't wait and she continues:
- Is this something I should worry about? It's okay if you don't want to tell me...
His sudden chuckle interrupts her.
- Oh, Sweetheart... - He shakes his head, giving her a nice, tender smile, her favorite kind. Her ears get down and turn slightly red.
- How did you call me? - She breathes out in blank amazement.
- Sweetheart - He repeats even warmer, glancing at her pink ears with a hint of satisfaction. - Cause it's sweet that you let me be silent. You let me be myself. You have such a heart of gold.
His eyes wander along the edge of her ear with curiosity and quiet admiration. He never saw her ears get down like that. Only now he notices they are in interesting round shape. He suddenly wants to touch them, to discover slowly their little curves and a long round edge. Maybe they are as warm and soft as Poppy's cheeks...
- Well, I just understand if you want to have secrets - She smiles shyly.
Branch blinks, realizing he got zoned out again.
- To be honest, I feel better not keeping secrets from you - He smiles, but then he realizes that now he has to tell her, what he was thinking about. The god swallows slowly, immediately feeling that he isn't ready to face the consequences of this confession. - So... I was wondering... Umm...
The goddess leans her weight against the Staff in her hand, waiting patiently for his answer. Her face is serious, she doesn't know what to expect, of course, she doesn't, they don't talk about this topic for such a lot time, they avoid to talk about this, Branch is sure she would even hide this in her mind and think that they would never come back to this, and he wants to break this wall of absurd, but oh my goodness, he knows what it means for him, and it means he will have to get out from his comfort zone, and that is just so haaaaaaarrrrrddddd.....
- Well I was thinking! - He starts once again, after a long while of hesitation and quick thoughts. - I was thinking about... Your idea... Your idea about... - He crosses his arms on his chest and clenches his jaw. He gets his voice really quiet, avoiding looking into Poppy's eyes. - ...Parties...
The goddess blinks and frowns. She leans across to hear him better.
- What did you say? I think I misheard something...
- No, I'm sure you heard it correctly - Branch murmurs. He titles his head back, closing his eyes, and sighs. He starts once again a bit louder. - I said... I said I was thinking about your idea to teach trolls how to party. Party. I think... You put so much effort into creating Midday and stuff... To make space for parties during the Night... And I kinda... It impresses me and... I kinda... Like. The. Idea. I want to... Try it...
Poppy gasps, opening her eyes wide with amazement.
- You agree to teach trolls how to throw parties? - She breathes out excitedly.
- Yeah... - He mumbles.
- And you like the idea of a party??
- Kinda...
- And you help me with it?? - She is actually bouncing with joy now.
- ....If you want me to...
- Of course I want! - She beams so cheerfully. - Oh my goodness and beautiful rainbows stuck in the waterfall's water of river Lora, I am so HAPPY! - She squeals, kicking her heels. She throws her hands with the Staff in the air and screams, just screams. She runs through the yard, spinning and squealing and dancing and giggling and jumping and running even more until she gets tired and comes back to Branch, smiling like a drunk. She falls in front of him, huffing like a dog after a long long run. Lying in the grass, grinning at the blue sky, with her hair in the total mess, and her whole face red from the struggle, she looks like crazy, and the god of the Night asks himself, how she does it that she still is so beautiful.
After a while, she glances at him with pure happiness in the sparkling eyes.
- Thank you - She pants.
Branch heaves a sigh and sits down next to her.
- You are not happy at all - She notices at loud.
He twists his face, starting ripping the grass to do something with his hands.
- I don't want to take part in the parties...
Her smile melts a bit.
- So why did you say you like it?
- Because I like the idea - He pins his sight into the grass he plays with. - The trolls will have a lot of fun and you will have a lot of fun, and to be honest I will have a lot of fun too, but... Just looking at you having fun. Not... Being at the party...
She nods with understanding.
- Oh, the loud, loud music... - She says.
- Yess...
- And blinking, horrible lights...
- Exactly.
- And the dancing and singing, huge loud crowd.
- Guh!
- Branch...
He looks at her.
- Come here - She tells him, and when he gets his ear closer to her she whispers with a smirk: - I will draft you into dancing with me no matter what.
Branch gives her a disapproval sight from his squinted eyes and throws a trickle of grass into her face. She grimaces with a smirk. She shakes her head to knock blades over.
- Come on, Brrranch, It will be fun!
- You called "fun" petting cows on the field - He points out, putting more grass on her face. - I have a different sense of fun.
- Well, you called "fun" throwing me into the lake - She burbles in reproof.
- That was fun - He chuckles. - You have to agree.
- Nope - She closes her eyes tighter, facing other blades of grass.
- You laughed at the end
- Because you jumped after me! - She giggles. - With your clothes on you! What was that, huh?
He laughs heartily.
- My sense of humor - He jokes. - I guess it was my first high jinks.
- That was your high jinks? - She gets up on her elbows. - I mean... What happened to make you hijinks? That day was one of the casual ones.
He smirks at her and shrugs his shoulders.
- I don't know. It just... We were walking near this lake, and you didn't even notice it. You were talking for so long about your dad being overcared about the Staff. You told me this like... 4th time? And I never could stop you when you start talking about this again. You're always getting irritated about it so much. So I thought that maybe the water would cool you down. And guess what?
She lifts her eyebrows disapprovingly.
- What?
- It worked! - He collapses an honest giggle. - And your face was oh my hair... - He gets lost in the laugh.
She shakes her head with discontent, even if she can't hide a little smile on her lips. She looks away. Branch laughs at her for so long, and it looks like he really had a lot of fun then.
- Have you finished? - She asks.
The god wipes his eye from a tear of joy and sniffs, chuckling a bit.
- Not really.
- Oh you funny man! - She sits up in front of him, putting the Staff on her knees. - What about having fun like this again, but at the party? Huh?
- I dunno - He mumbles, but this time a smile can't leave his mouth.
- If I say "Please"?
The god rolls his eyes.
- Just let my introverted soul stand in the distance.
- No.
- I don't want to dance and sing - He yawps.
- You will!
- Nooo...
- Come on - She stands up. - We're starting arrangements now!
Branch tilts his head back and groans out.
- No "guuuuhh", stand up! - The goddess puts her hands on her hips.
His face is filled with displeasure and loathness.
- Don't look at me like this! - She gets closer to him and grabs his arm with one hand, trying to lift him up. - Stand up!
It is hard to get him up with the Staff in one hand! Poppy pulls him up with no effect. She pushes him and pulls, she tugs his arm with any possible direction, but he sits very still. He doesn't move a muscle! In the last desperate move, the goddess gathers all her strength and hits him with her arm. He swings slightly, making her groan with annoyance.
- Oh no - Branch says scenically, swinging on a side, and then hits the ground. - You brought me down. And now I'm lying - He settles down on the grass. - And that's how the goddess of the Light beat the god of the Darkness. From now on there is no Night anymore and everybody's happy.
Poppy heaves a sigh and smiles gently at him. She takes a long look at him before she says:
- But you know, you're necessary, right?
He huffs for an answer. She sits down next to him, like he did a few minutes before, and puts the Staff on her knees.
- Hey, maybe the world doesn't scream it into your face - Her voice is smooth and calm when she comforts him. Just the sound of it makes his heart warm. - But it needs you. Branch?
She calls him to catch his eyes and it works. The god turns head to her.
- I need you - She announces and smiles.
His eyes slowly view her face. Every detail on it. She feels it. His sight moving through her cheek, counting every little freckle. Then it slides across the shape of her nose. It stays a bit longer on her lips, with a hint of warm adore in his blue eyes. He meets her eyes again, but he doesn't stop there. He looks higher, watching the strands of her deep pink, strawberry hair. His sight slides down with them on her rosy cheek. His hand reaches to it dreamily and touches it gently like the most fragile flower in the world.
- Let's make a flower - Branch's voice is low and quiet, like a purr of a dreaming cat. His fingers caress her cheek, touching every freckle. - A red one. A little red flower without leaves. With petals so delicate, so fragile... Soft and evanculous... A flower with your name.
His hand reaches to the jawbone line and slides tenderly across, to her ear. It makes Poppy sighs blissfully, shivering slightly. He catches the nearest strand and hides it behind it. His thumber moves along its round edge. And it is as warm and soft as he thought.
- Okay - She whispers when his hand lets go of her face. She feels stroked, she can't hide the bliss in her voice and a tender smile on her lips. - But later. First, we will work at a party.
Branch gives her a begging sight.
- Can we not start it today? - He twists his mouth.
- How much time do you need?
- How much time can you wait?
- I can wait as long as you need.
The god wonders a bit. He can't dispose of the memory of Poppy dancing happily in a yard.
- Tomorrow? - He asks.
- You promise? - She tilts her head aside.
- I promise. Do you accept?
The goddess rips a few blades of grass and throws them ceremonially at Branch's face, making it wince.
- Your promise is accepted - Poppy announces, making him chuckle. He blows grass off his face and takes a look at her.
- You still have a lot of grass in your hair - He notices, sitting up. - You even don't try to brush it off.
The goddess looks up at her hair without much interest. She shrugs her shoulders.
- How do I look with it? - She asks lightly.
- Like a crazy grass goddess - He jokes, starting to dust the grass off her hair. - Your hair is such a mess.
- Well, yours looks exactly the same - She chuckles, tilting her head down to let him get blades from her hair. - The only difference is color.
He smiles to himself. He finishes his job quickly, but he feels like he doesn't want to end like that. Her hair looks so soft and he just slightly touched them. Can he do more?
- I have a stupid question - He announces. - Can I play with your hair a bit?
Poppy looks up at him a bit surprised.
- Well, okay then - She smiles and turns around, back onto him. - You can fix this mess, but I don't have a hairbrush.
Branch doesn't answer. Facing her back full of strawberry hair, the glory of the magenta cascade with a pleasant scent of meadow's flowers is a breathtaking experience for the god of the Night. Many random moments of him wanting to sink his fingers into her hair moves now in front of his eyes. He takes a deep, long, snatchy breath and feels a nice shiver of excitement running from his back to his neck. He bites his lips and slightly, slowly, carefully touches with both his cold hands the strawberry threads of silk.
The warmth is soft. Fluffy. His hands slide down the hair enjoying the smooth touch of it. To be honest, Branch has no idea what he wants to do with her hair. How to play with hair? He grabs a few strands and rubs them slightly between his fingers. They are nice to touch, obviously. What to do more? Oh, yes. Sink his fingers in it. He hesitates a bit. He knows how cold her hands are. He doesn't want to make it uncomfortable for Poppy. Should he ask about it? That sounds awkward even in his head. Well, she lets him play with her hair. She can always say if she feels uncomfortable with something.
So Branch once again slowly, carefully puts both of his hands on her hair, but this time, his fingers dig into it, gently moving deeper and deeper until they touch the head skin. He sighs with pleasure. The warm, soft hair between his fingers makes his hand warm immediately. He moves his hand up, to her top of Poppy's head, can't stop enjoying this delightful amount of touch.
- Don't I... go overboard? - He asks shyly.
- No... - Her soft voice melts and shakes a bit, sounds distant. - Go on...
Branch smiles. His fingers reach the top of her head. He starts rubbing her head skin down gently and slowly. She sighs, and it is this kind of sigh that makes his neck skin shiver and his mind dizzy, and he wants her sighing like that more... He blinks to emerge from this weird trance. He notices that Poppy gets relaxed a lot. She melts, looking like she could lie down and fall asleep any minute.
- Is this that pleasant? - He asks, half-joking, half with curiosity.
- Yesss - She sighs blissfully once again. - I'll show you when you finish.
- Okay - He smiles.
He massages her like that for a while. Then he brushed all of her hair with her fingers to dress them. He grabs a thick trickle of strawberry strands and carefully sinks his nose into it. His senses get lost in the strong sweet scent of wildflowers, gold honey, and fresh grass. He closes his eyes. He freezes like that, almost without breath.
Brushing her hair for a while Branch finally finds the thing he can do with them. He watched once trolls making baskets, twining wicker. He parts Poppy's hair into three and starts twining them as trolls did. Well, he doesn't create a basket surprisingly, which is a bit disappointing cause he finds this idea funny. Instead of it, he turns deep pink hair into one, long weaved tail. And, once again, surprisingly, it looks pretty good. He puts it on Poppy's shoulder and asks her to turn to him.
- What did you make? - She asks, looking curiously at her hair. - It looks nice.
Branch stops staring at her with his mouth open. The goddess looks different, much different with the twined hair. And besides that, she looks much calmer than usual. She moves with effortless grace, smooth and mild, her gentle smile is somehow a bit more alluring.
- I've never seen you like that - He blunders out.
She flutters her eyelashes and even this is a bit more cute than usual.
- What do you mean?
- You are so calm - He breathes out, low. He sighs delightfully. - You look so beautiful.
Poppy blushes slightly and smiles a bit wider.
- Thank you, but it's you who made me like that - She also sighs blissfully. - That massage was so pleasant... - She bites her lip and looks up at the god's hair. - I show you. Come here!
Branch chuckles and turns around. He tilts his head back, to let her reach them. He expected she would take slow, careful steps, just like him. But instead of it, the goddess immediately, without any warning, sinks her little warm fingers into his hair.
And oh my goodness.
It is soooo good.
The god doesn't know when he closed his eyes. His mouth freezes half-open. Little hands rub gently his head skin, playing with his hair and why it feels so good guuuhhh... He melts completely. His arms loosely drop down his body. Poppy gets a bit down, from the top of his head to the hair near his neck, and oh my goodness, it feels even better. He loses his senses. His mind is blank. He never felt better. His muscles loosen more and more, sometimes flex without reason, when warm fingers touch accidentally his ears or neck. He can't get enough of it.
- So, how do you feel? - Poppy asks and she gets his blissful purr for an answer. She chuckles and jokes: - Should I stop?
- Never - He huffs weakly, making the goddess giggle.
But after a long while, he sighs deeply and says:
- Okay, you should stop or I'll fall asleep.
Poppy giggles soundly and lets go of his hair. Branch needs a few minutes to come back to reality. He really looks like he can fall on the ground and start loudly snoring. The goddess smiles at his hilariously delightful grimace. She feels so satisfied to make him like that. He looks so deeply happy.
She rests her hands on the Staff lying on her knees. She takes a look at it. Maybe it is a selfish thought, but it would be nice if both of them had empty hands. She has no idea for what, but... it sounds nice.
Looking at the Gold Sphere reminds her of all of the questions about her mum she wanted to ask Branch one Day. The goddess looks up at him and thinks, that maybe now is a great moment. She gathers her thoughts and wonders from which question she should start.
- Branch?
- Yeah? - He gazes at her dreamily, smiling like a dork. He looks so disarmingly. She can't not smile at him, but she quickly corrects herself, clearing her throat. She has to get the tone down a bit.
- What do you... What do you know about my mum?
Branch frowns. His smile slowly fades. He wipes his whole face with both hands and looks at her more seriously.
- What do you want to know?
- Well... - She looks down shyly. - Everything. Dad never told me about my mother.
The god stares at her for a while with disbelief.
- For real?
She nods, feeling wrong. Oh, it feels so wrong to not know anything but a few fading memories from her childhood. It feels wrong, that it's her dad's fault that she doesn't know anything. It feels wrong...
- So... You don't know how the Gold Sphere was created?
She shakes her head. Branch heaves a sigh. He puts his elbows on his knees. After a long minute of Silence, he speaks:
- Immortals also don't want to talk with me about... Things that happened before I came from the Chaos - He looks at her. - I can tell you everything I know, but I'm not sure if this is what you want.
- That would be enough - She says gratefully.
After a while of wonder, Branch continues:
- When I came from the Chaos, the world felt pretty filled. I had the capote on my shoulders, a hoodie on my head, and this branch in my hand - He takes a look at the Staff. - And all I knew was Darkness and Silence. I knew what it was and how to make it. Immortals I met pointed at the Palace of Harmony, so I went there. And that's how I faced King Peppy and Queen Rose.
He rips a few blades of grass and starts playing with them in his fingers.
- Rose was really friendly. Her sight made me feel that I was created for a reason. That I was needed and necessary for this world. But Peppy looked at me with fear and distrust. He told me to introduce myself, so I showed that all I knew then - Darkness and Silence. And that is how the King exiled me from the Palace. - Branch gulps. - If your mum didn't put a good word for me, he would throw me back into the Chaos.
Poppy trembles. She feels her body flexed. Branch is quiet for a while again, staring mindlessly at the grass with his eyes opened wide.
- He exiled me - The god repeats. - But I stayed. I stayed in the Palace. Rose was the only person who was friendly to me. Where could I go? I hid there, scared and forlorn, but near my last hope. Not for long, as the time showed. A few weeks later another god came from the Chaos. I don't remember his name and his motivation. Maybe I was too far to hear it. But near enough to jump from my hide and shield Queen Rose from his knife.
Poppy clenches her fists.
- I don't remember much, I fainted for a while. When I woke up, I saw them fighting. I mean, King, Queen, and that god. And they couldn't beat him. It's not easy to kill an Immortal... The only way is to destroy his immortality with other immortality. And that's what Rose did.
Branch looks up at her. She is tense. But noticing that he hesitates, she whispers:
- Go on.
- Well... That's why she wasn't immortal anymore. She gathered her powers into the Gold Sphere. - He takes a look at it again. - And she gave it to me. She said she trusted me and that the world needed me. She wanted to give me twice more than I risked for her. She said I risked my life, but... We all know I'm Immortal. And besides that... I thought then that my life didn't matter at all. But Queen Rose... She was just so ridiculously generous. She gave me a name, she gave me the Gold Sphere, and... - He hides his face into his hands. After a minute he showed her eyes filled with tears. He looks touched. - I'm not sure if this is her will to you being here, but... I'm so grateful she bore you.
Poppy melts. Her tension fades a bit. Before she can answer something, he goes on:
- I talked with her a few times before she died. Queen was... Really good person. So generous. Selfless. Caring. Cheerful. She had a heart of gold. Just... You are just like her. Or maybe even better.
Their eyes meet, but Poppy quickly looks away, blinking and blushing.
- I mean... For me. Better for me - He smiles, a bit awkwardly. He clears her throats. - Well, sadly, that's all I know about her. She was the goddess of Harmony. And... That's not a lot...
- Actually, that's all I needed - The goddess interrupts him. - You even don't know how important was every word you told me. - She gazes into his eyes gratefully. - I'm so sorry for what happened to you. That must have been an awful feeling to be treated like that.
He blinks. Some kind of relief drifts through his face at those words. He needed to hear something like that. To be understood.
- It's okay now. I needed time and a crazy pink lady to worked it out - He smiles slightly.
- That's why you were so grumpy at the first meeting? - Poppy smiles jokingly. She picks a little flower and puts it into his hair.
Branch looks up and smiles awkwardly.
- Was I? - He asks like he didn't know about it.
She giggles.
- But now I'm not, right?
- It depends on if you go to the party or not.
- Heyy, I promised you, didn't I?
Poppy sighs, feeling like the wave of many emotions that gathered during Branch's story flows over her with the calm, cheerful sight of his blue eyes.
- Yes, you did - She smiles widely.