#popchess

Requested by @caliburn-the-sword and @ellarain

As far as I remember, Duchess and Poppy ONLY have Fairest on Ice together in the webisodes. Poppy accidentally goes spinning out because she's never ice skated before, Duchess interprets it as a challenge to her figure skating skills and attempts to copy her, and they both go sliding down a massive hill of ice. Poppy makes a bold move and turns their uncontrolled descent into a graceful leap where they use their combined balance to also save Ashlynn from falling into a hole, and the two girls are mutually impressed with each other. Not a whole lot.

This one is also personally a bit difficult for me to tackle. I generally find both Poppy and Duchess' dynamics with SPARROW to be at least as interesting as their dynamic with each other. Consequently, I like them a lot better as a trio than just the girls in a pair. I also have to combat the fact that I read Poppy as aro, and Duchess as either ace or aroace, so I'm already biased against most ships for them.

Let's put all that aside though, and just see where this takes us. Popchess could get REALLY interesting because of their positions on destiny. Duchess is fully committed to following the system, forcing others into it, and trying to find some way to work it to her advantage even though her destiny is TERRIBLE and she DOES NOT WANT IT. Poppy, who is lucky enough to not have a destiny and is too worried about alienating herself from either group, refuses to take a position.

To me, that means Duchess would actually hate Poppy. She clearly doesn't in canon, but I'm arguing it's because she has very little reason to interact with Poppy outside visits to the Tower Hair Salon, so she doesn't get a chance to be deeply insulted by her destiny choices like with Ashlynn or Raven.

I think if the writers forced them to spend significant amounts of time together, Duchess would despise Poppy for being SO lucky. For having the freedom to do whatever she wants and the gall to not pick a side. For being born into a royal heritage and never seeming to acknowledge just how fortunate she is to have all the clout and comfort that comes with being a princess and NONE of the work and tragedy that everybody else (but especially Duchess) has to put into that.

Which, again, is really interesting because I don't think Poppy would share the vitriol. Poppy's whole shtick is that she wants to be in with both groups---She likes being liked and doesn't want to choose because it would lock her out of a lot of potential friendships. She's also rather difficult to ruffle. I actually lied earlier, Fairest on Ice may be the only time we see Duchess and Poppy talk directly, but there is a little more to the story in the books.

Truth or Hair by Suzanne Selfors does a really good job of showing the emotional fortitude and calm demeanor required to work as a hair dresser, and actually specifically notes that Duchess is a super difficult customer. While we don't see Duchess talk to Poppy on-page (just Holly disguised as Poppy), a point is made about how particular Duchess is with her hair (which makes sense, given Duchess' chronic perfectionism), and that she trusts Poppy to take care of it for her. So much in fact that she doesn't even tell Holly-Disguised-As-Poppy what the routine is, because she just expects Poppy to know it. And even after Holly screws it up so spectacularly that she's convinced Duchess will never come to the Tower Hair Salon ever again, Poppy's knows exactly what to do to calm her down and rebuild that trust without even telling her it was Holly's fault. (Bribery, she bribes Duchess). She doesn't even seem that worried about it.

So if you force them to spend more time together (which you will because you're shipping them), then you get this situation where Duchess suddenly has to think about Poppy and decides she hates her for having everything Duchess wants but would never admit to. And then Poppy, far from reciprocating that bitterness, just isn't bothered by it. She pretends it isn't happening. Most likely because she just doesn't want to make it worse and risk never befriending Duchess.

Poppy is someone who seems like she doesn't care about other people's opinions of her, but I personally think she cares a lot. She just chooses to manage it by treating everyone exactly the same and never letting her emotions run away from her. Which is honestly really important if you're going to deal with Duchess. And this kind of calm, unbotheredness opens the gateway for Duchess to, y'know, trust her. Exactly as she trusts Poppy with her hair. And I think, once Duchess actually opened her emotions to Poppy and let her know WHY Poppy's indecision is so infuriating to her, it might make Poppy rethink some things.

Which of course, ties back into the themes of the overall story. Poppy has the potential to create a safe space where Duchess can exist and BE bitter and toxic and in pain, but where she's also not hurting anybody the way she does in Next Top Villain and True Hearts Day. In turn, Duchess' dilemma forces Poppy to confront her inaction and understand her privilege, and think about how she can use her unique skills to actually HELP people who are in terrible situations like Duchess.

There's a whole little allegory in here: Duchess is someone who lashes out unhealthily because of systemic injustice. Poppy is someone who doesn't acknowledge that the system is unjust. Becoming closer forces them both to recognize why their behavior is unhelpful and change for the better. But it's also really awkward and weird and painful the whole time, and it primarily happens because both of them are outsiders who don't have many other friends so they choose to stick together instead. That's all really cool.

So thematically quite strong pairing, but I can't really put them too high since 1) this is all conjecture and 2) I really really really don't think this has to be romantic to be valuable. The only thing you'd get out of that is Duchess discovering she likes girls, which I think is better explored through the lens of Raven, Lizzie, and Faybelle. So high B-tier? Yeah, that sounds about right.

"Don't talk to my sister like that!"

Duchess's upper lip curled, "Dont tell me what I can't say. You don't even have a destiny!"

My fingernails dug into my palms and my teeth grinded, "Who do you think you are?"

"Me? Hah!" Duchess honked, "Check your mirror, Poppy. You don't belong at Ever After High!"