#furtherance

This is concept art for one of the furtherance panels. Poppy is wearing a totally not borrowed oversized shirt and is completely innocent: she didn’t do nothing what r u talking about

Here’s some out of order, unfinished comic panels of my Au Futherance, but like, 4 months into the Plot. I’ll give the context when i actually finish it lol

LMAO, once finals are over I’ll post all the Trolls art and Furtherance updates dw. In the meantime, have this exposed-shoulder Poppy in a jacket I drew during my break.

Presenting, more sketches of Furtherance Poppy and one of her bajillion outfits. And her cute little face :3 💕

Friendly reminder that Popcorn girlbossed too close to the sun and got clocked with a bolas, which completely broke her leg before sending her flying down a hill. She’s currently recovering in the bunker, while keeping a low profile, and hobbling around on crutches because Branch says she needs them.

So, Branch actually has multiple spare rooms on the main level of the bunker, further down the hallway to his room: he lends Poppy one, however, it ends up becoming “Her room,” (his words) and he eventually even renovates it for her, and helps her redecorate ❤️

Why does the grumpy, gray boy do this, you ask? Well, due to the nature of the extended plot which I will disclose later when I finish drawing everything😭, it is unsafe for Poppy to return home, while the safest place for her to be, is at the Bunker- and she is there for a while.

Because of her extended stay, Branch gives her a room to herself, after a week. At first, she did sleep in his bed, and Branch resigned himself to the couch (however, what really happened would be he fell asleep in a chair or on the floor of his own room because he refused to leave Poppy’s side)

But, why would the still-actively-love-avoidant, emotionally-constipated hermit be so openly caring? Cuz, he was too scared to remember to act standoffish and detached. Poppy was severely injured, and he didn’t know if she’d be ok. Poor man was worried sick

For anyone who’s reading without the initial context: (also ig, trigger warning, this au contains graphic violence and a direct approach to ✨trauma✨)

like 2 chapters into the plot, Poppy accidentally stumbles into what I can only describe as the “antagonist’s dirty load of Bullsh*t,” and before she can fully process the horrible things she’s witnessed, she is seen, and they try to jump her ass. Then blah blah blah, she gets away..

However, if you saw any of the first drawings for Furtherance, you’ll recall Poppy was found injured. I made that 2-3 hours after I created this au. After more retconning: it’s evident that Poppy’s injury is heavily understated in that first sketch. She was hit with a bolas that heavily fractured her leg in two different places, and the blunt force of impact drew blood. She managed to hobble to a bolt hole, and drag herself all the way into the bunker by, like, 1:00am, but by then she’d already lost a concerning amount of blood. Branch had gotten up at 4:00 and found her because of the bloody trail leading into the store room. Poppy was sitting in a pool of her own blood, pale, shaking, and exhausted (she tried sleeping and failed), only even conscious due to adrenaline and fear, and greets him with a very conspicuous “Heyyy” and nervous laughter; Branch, understandably, is horrified.

It doesn’t help that very quickly after he finds her and starts checking the wounds, Poppy calms down, because she fully trusts Branch with her life, and knows she’ll be ok, because he’s here. Which is really cute. Until the adrenaline plummets, she no longer can pretend she’s fine, the pain hits her like a semi truck, and the hemorrhagic shock leaves her drifting in and out of consciousness. Branch does his thing, rushes her to his infirmary, does everything he can until she’s stable, panics the entire time- etc

From that point, Poppy spends hours in his infirmary, before being relocated to a couch once she’s awake and stable, until he brings her with him to break into the hospital -it’s a long story- until they finally get back, and he leaves her in his room with some borrowed medical equipment, and at some point tries to sleep on the couch… except he hears her crying, trying to do it silently, because she’s in a LOT of pain… and he gets her some pain killers, and ends up sitting at the bedside awkwardly, holding her hand until she falls asleep… he can’t bring himself to let go.

Branch gives his first present ever to Poppy in her birthday

JDJDJDJDJDNBGGBWKIFF YES

But you see, friend, the problem with this (Assuming we talkin bout my au) is that Branch and Poppy have technically been “friends” for years, and I don’t know when this would occur😭😭 And Poppy has given Branch Presents for as long as she’s been able to; this includes when he was little and studying under research professionals at the palace, and years into teen-hood after Branch goes AWOL/MIA/sort-of legally dead (more on that later) and reunites with Poppy when they’re about 15 and 16 1/2. At the beginning of the au story plot, these two goobers are like… 19 and 20; I’ve yet to decide whose birthday is closer.

But you’ve also sorta begged the question: has Branch warmed up enough to have already given her a gift in this Au?? Technically, yes. But it wasn’t signed.

Branch likes to craft, build, discover, and explore as much as he does research and study. One of these things is carve, which is a hobby he’s had since he was younger, one that JD got him into… But I’m leaning towards saving that for later.

Instead, when Branch was around 8-9, there was one day he noticed that Poppy was sad (Due to *insert plot-point*). Poppy’s the type of person to pretend she’s fine, even as a kid, but Branch noticed; her actions were timid, her voice was quieter, and she seemed to be avoiding everyone. And even though she wore a convincing smile, her eyes looked so sad. Their “friendship” at the time was undefined, and distant due to branch’s issues, but he genuinely cared about her. So he actually approached and talked to the other trolling, and tried to cheer her up; albeit, he had no clue what he was doing. It kind of worked though, and he made her laugh!… but when she left, he could tell she was still sad. Branch proceeded to then go disappear for the rest of the day, come back with a peculiar rock, and then managed to sneak into her room and leave it on the foot of her bed for her to find.

He felt that Poppy would appreciate it. He was correct.

When she returned that night, Poppy messed with the rock enough to accidentally crack its seam, revealing a stunning geode. She loved it; to this day it’s one of the most precious things she’s ever owned. She showed Branch the geode, too, chattering to him about how she found it and what she wondered, “who put it there?”

Branch never owned up to it, but he was glad it helped Poppy smile brighter.

However, I think I could also draw a scenario where Branch actually confronts her while giving Poppy a present, and is forced to prove -to her face- that he cares about her.😂

Well:

Long story short, Poppy girlbossed a little too close to the sun and now a bunch of corrupt, evil STEM majors are trying to capture her, because she had seen way too much and they are totally busted if she manages to tell her dad or sister.

So while fleeing their research center on the outskirts of town, Poppy frantically decides to cross the city limits into the GloomWood Tangle (a dark, unexplored, & dangerous part of the Pop Jungle) in order to lose the frighteningly desperate gaggle of trolls on her tail. Poppy (having actually been out there with a certain someone) knows the area better, and manages to throw most of them off while avoiding predators (thankfully), however she gets hit with a bolas, which ensnares her hind legs. The bolas was thrown with enough force to both send her flying sideways down a steep hill aswell as for one of its weighted ends to slam into her shin and cause the injury seen in the comic sketch!

She landed at the bottom of the slope in a thick bed of wildflowers that cushioned her fall, but she had still taken quite the tumble. It took her a moment to get up, but once she was, Poppy quickly unraveled and threw off the bolas; however, the damage was done. She could hardly stand on her wounded leg, let alone keep running and the shouts of the trolls on the hill above could be heard getting closer. Poppy started to panic while limping through brush until she realized where she was, and hurried over to the bolt hole hidden among the roots of a tree; one of Branch’s.

Remembering the code to the lock, she was able to go in and hide before her pursuers got down the hill. Then, still running on fear and adrenaline, Girly ignored the pain and used the escape tunnel connected to the bolt hole to make her way towards the main lab bunker, where she eventually collapsed in one of upper storage rooms. She hid in the corner over night, and it wasn’t until early the next morning that Branch walked by, spotted a trail of dried, sparkly blood, and followed it until he ran into an exhausted and nervous Poppy huddled in the back of the store room. So yeah, that’s how she got there XD