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As things were settling down after the Strings…Poppy kissed Branch's cheek and then turned to Barb, who was being reprimanded by the other leaders and promising to help repair the damages she'd caused. She wasn't about to bring it up, not when Barb was already being torn apart by the other leaders. She still wanted to be friends with the Rock queen…Barb seemed like she could really use one. She looked Branch over one more time, he was fine, just getting pulled along to meet extended family (she was still a little shocked that he was half-Rock). Taking a deep breath, she went to Barb.
The other leaders were leaving her alone and going to check on their Trolls. Poppy put her hands behind her back and smiled at the Rock queen. Barb's wings twitched and she turned to her, scuffing her feet on the ground.
"Look, I'll help fix up your village…," Barb mumbled. "We kinda did a lot of damage…"
"Thank you, but that's not what I want to talk about," Poppy giggled. "Now that you're not forcing me, I still want to be friends. If…you're willing to try?"
"Yes!" Barb gasped, immediately grabbing Poppy's new vest and shaking her almost violently. "Absolutely! You hear that, Carol? We have a girl group now!"
"A girl group?" a barely interested voice gasped and Poppy looked to see the Troll in question smash a can on her forehead. "Sweet!"
Poppy burst into laughter and then she realized. A girl group was usually an all-girl band!
"'Girl group'? As in…a band?" she questioned and Barb nodded. Poppy squealed excitedly and grabbed Barb's collar to shake her right back. "I've never been in a band!"
"Your vocals are pretty tight! Do you play any instruments? Besides like…lame Pop stuff," she joked.
"I'm the queen," Poppy snarked. "Of course I play instruments! My favourite's my cowbell, and my ukulele…but I play bass too."
"Sweet! Maybe I can show you how to do a power chord too!" Barb laughed. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"You're a lot more eager to be friends now…," Poppy noted.
"Well, yeah! I had no idea you're a little feral spitfire!"
"What?" she asked nervously.
"Seriously, you were ready to beat me up when I caught you. And then you broke out and straight up destroyed music to stop me? Hardcore."
"Girl, if my hands were free…," she reached into her hair to pull out the switchblade Branch had gifted her. "I have a weapon and I know how to use it," she said lightly, flipping it open.
"Wicked…," Barb chuckled and smacked her shoulder playfully. Poppy put her blade away and went to check on her Trolls.
A few days after they got back to the village and started figuring things out for rebuilding, Barb showed up in an angler bus with a team to help.
"I keep forgetting how small your little village is…," Barb laughed.
"Well, we're a small tribe, Barbie," Poppy giggled. Barb made a face at the nickname, but didn't correct her. "Branch has our charts and schematics in the dungeon. Right over here."
She pointed the Rock Trolls to the dungeon.
"Dungeon?" Barb asked.
"It's a long story, but this is kinda our meeting hall lately?" Poppy laughed. Really, the dungeon was the one thing besides the bunker that Barb and her vandals hadn't messed up. They'd already put together temporary housing while they got pods fixed back up. And right now, it was littered with plans and charts. "You destroying everything may have been a blessing in disguise," she noted. "Branch has been looking for an excuse to up our security…and fortify some stuff."
"Alright," Barb laughed and turned to her Trolls. "You idiots follow my cousin's orders, okay?" she told them before turning to Poppy. "I brought some songs to run by you."
"Okay," Poppy giggled. "Just let me get--" she broke off, remembering that her bass was in her pod…which was downed and most of her stuff destroyed. "Uh…actually do you have an extra bass? You kinda owe me one anyway," she joked.
"What? No, I--oh. Oh. Shit. Yeah, I've got plenty of spare instruments," the other queen laughed nervously and they went to the angler bus. Barb gestured to a wall of instruments. "Take your pick, Pop-squeak."
Poppy looked over the bass guitars. She tested out a couple of them before settling on a bright blue one that almost sounded acoustic.
"This one. Where's Carol?" she asked abruptly, plucking a few chords to really test the instrument.
"Here I am!" Carol greeted, a piano looking instrument strapped to her back. "Had to tune up my keytar."
"That looks so cool," Poppy grinned. "So those songs…?"
Barb grinned and handed over a notebook full of songs. Oh, this was gonna be so fun!
"I dogeared the ones I think you'd slay," Barb laughed, pulling open the book to a page. Poppy laughed and looked. The song was named Edge of Great…
Reading over the lyrics didn't tell her much about that first song, but it was deep. It was all about second chances. It really resonated with her.
"This is amazing, Barb. Did you write this?"
"Well, some of them are songs that my mom didn't get to finish writing before she died but…yep," she grinned and played a bit of the song Poppy was reading. Carol nodded to the beat and swung her instrument around to tap the keys. Poppy got the beat after a moment and set the book aside to join them on her new bass.
They actually just started jamming like that, the notebook mostly forgotten.
After a while, they paused for lunch and Poppy took them to a few places. One Troll who had cured meats, someone with plenty of salad to spare, a baker offering sweet bread, and she tracked down Smidge for some hard Stoutberry Juice.
"So…is everything free for the queen around here, Popsicle?" Barb joked as they sat down to eat.
"What do you mean?" Poppy laughed nervously, taking a bite of her salad.
"Holy--everything's just free for you guys?" Carol gasped. "No wonder that coffee guy looked at me weird when I asked how much that sugar water was…"
Poppy shrugged and glanced around. There weren't any other Trolls around, so she took a bite out of the candied bacon she got while they were getting food.
"I thought Pop Trolls were vegetarians," Barb noted, tucking into her own lunch.
"Not everyone," she sighed. "It's…a guilty pleasure," she shrugged. "So…," she trailed off, lifting her glass of Stoutberry juice. "Here's to our friendship."
"And rad music," Carol agreed, lifting her own glass. Barb mimicked them.
"And new beginnings," she added. The three of them tapped their glasses together before drinking. They chatted as they ate, about everything and nothing.
Why Barb went after the Strings came up. Racist advisors encouraging that whole Rock Supremacy thing. They’d been replaced and were helping to pay for repairs.
When they finished lunch, they headed back to the angler bus. Riff was unloading and setting up their pile of drums.
"So, Riff's gonna play drums for us," Barb laughed. "Whatcha think about Mirror?"
"I'm down for that," Carol laughed. Poppy nodded and they got their instruments.
"Awesome," Barb grinned and nodded to Carol as they got ready. Carol started playing the opening solo on her keytar.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall," Barb started singing. "Have I got it?"
"'Cause mirror you've always told me," Poppy and Carol started harmonizing with her.
"Who I am," Barb added. "I'm finding…"
"It's not easy," Poppy and Carol harmonized and she was itching to start playing.
"To be perfect," Barb sang and nodded.
Riff started tapping out a snare and Poppy joined with her bass, they continued singing and Carol pressed a button on her keytar to start a violin recording every once in a while. As they went, Poppy barely noticed that Barb was hardly playing her guitar, focused on the lead vocals.
Occasionally she would pluck a key change but that was it. It was honestly nice to not be the lead vocalist for once. Poppy always led Morning Song and took the lead in most group performances, but it was nice only playing an instrument and offering backing vocals.
"I won't try…," Barb finished the vocals for the song and Poppy and Riff finished it up with a few strong notes.
And to Poppy's utter shock, a little sound wave flew from her bass and knocked one of the Trolls that had suddenly gathered to watch them off their feet.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" she gasped and ran to check on them. It was DJ! And she was thankfully okay, just startled.
"How did you do that, Queen Poppy?!" someone gasped.
"I don't know…," she mumbled and looked at the Rock Trolls.
"What the heck?! I didn't even have to show you how to do a power chord?!" Barb gasped. "Wasn't very powerful, but dang girl!"
"That was a power chord?" Poppy laughed nervously and the gathered Trolls gave her some space. "Wow…"
The Trolls disbursed and they started jamming again, Barb talking her through controlling power chords. They realized that she'd turned up a dial on her bass that let that happen, so she turned it off and Barb showed her the right dial to turn. Rock instruments were so different than she was used to.
With the help from the Rock Trolls, they got the village rebuilt and Branch's new security stuff set up in record time. There was still some work to do, but Poppy and a couple of friends went to Volcano Rock City when they were back to a functioning village. She wanted to get some actual piercings and she'd had some bad experiences back home. Maybe Rock had a different way of doing them that wouldn't be so…traumatizing.
They just had to endure the heat of the volcano for a little while. An excuse to wear one of her high summer beach outfits, really.
Barb met them at the gate and showed them all around the shopping district of Volcano Rock City. While her friends went about their business, Poppy went with Barb to a tattoo parlour, where she was able to get her ears pierced with no fuss.
Though…Barb and the tech were horrified at the state of her ear after her last attempt at earrings.
"What the heck is up with all this scarring?" Barb gasped as the tech got to work.
"Oh, yeah. I had my ears pierced before. When I was little. But the earrings were ripped out when they got caught in Cooper's hair during Hug Time. And when they healed and I tried to get them re-pierced, the earring just…bounced out. Didn't even break the skin," she explained.
"I'm sorry, what?!" the tech gasped. "What do you mean by that?"
"Our beauticians just…shove the earring in with an air gun and hope for the best? It hurts like you wouldn't believe."
"Holy f--" the tech broke off, shook their head, and got back to work.
Poppy walked out of that parlour with slightly sore ears, but glad for it. She'd gotten double piercings in both ears. And it was definitely a lot better than at home.
"You up for a jam session while you're here?" Barb asked as they headed for a jewellery shoppe to get her some new earrings.
"Definitely!" Poppy laughed, even if she was unbearably hot. They could go to the amphitheatre…she remembered it hadn't been as hot despite the amount of lava and the fire fountains there.
"You're not too hot…? If you need to cool off…"
"I'll be fine," she assured, browsing the earrings. She found a set of blue hoops that almost perfectly matched Branch's hair, down to shifting shades if the light hit them a certain way, so she grabbed those. "It's cooler in the amphitheatre, so if we can hang out there…?"
"Definitely!" Barb agreed. "And hey, we can even put on a concert while you're here. Just a little one."
"That sounds fun."
They finished at the jewellery shoppe and found Carol at a music store.
"Hey Pop-squeak!" Carol greeted. Poppy giggled at the nickname. She still hadn't thought of a good one for Carol. Ooh, actually…
"Heya, Care Bear," she returned. Carol chuckled and high fived her. Yeah, that was a fun nickname.
"We're gonna go to the amphitheatre and jam for a bit. You know where Riff is?" Barb laughed.
"I think I saw them head to the library to help their mom with something. I'll meet you guys at the stage…just gotta finish up here."
"What are you doing?" Poppy asked eagerly.
"New keytar," Carol shrugged. "They just got in a new model with a synth from Techno I wanna try."
"Cool," she giggled. "I can't wait to hear it!"
Barb grabbed a pack of strings and a new pick before they headed for the library in search of Riff. They found them with their mom in a section packed with records. Riff and their mom were doing something to a weird looking bird that was steadily playing a song like it was the record player.
"Cause this is thriller," the vocals belted and Poppy wanted to say it sounded familiar somehow. The beat was definitely catchy. "Thriller night."
Poppy almost asked what was happening, but Barb held up a hand to silence her. She worried her lip, unsure. Were they…recording the bird's recording? The song ended and Riff gathered up the bird.
"Oh hey, your Rockness. Queen Poppy," Riff greeted as they turned around.
"Riff, you're my friend," Poppy laughed. "Just 'Poppy' is fine."
Riff shrugged and left.
"So, this is my cousin Bridge," Barb laughed.
"Nice to meet you! What did we walk in on…?"
"Just a Dictabird," Bridge chuckled, putting the new record in a labelled sleeve. "Thank you for not interrupting."
"No problem. Let's go get Riff," Barb chuckled. "You can check out the record selection after."
"Okay!" Poppy chirped and they went after Riff. They released the bird and went with them to the amphitheatre. "So, I've been practicing No One Like You," she laughed.
"Sweet," Barb said. "Oh, I finished up one of my mom's songs, if you wanna check it out. Seriously, I've been just stoked about our group. Literally never had so much inspiration for working on new songs."
So, they started jamming. Carol joined them and showed off her new keytar before they went back to making music.
"Oh!" Poppy gasped when they paused for drinks. "I wanna show you guys something! I've been practicing my power chords and I can get up to five."
"Bro, we can go to the Crash House for that," Barb laughed, dragging Poppy away from the stage.
"I'm getting hungry anyways," Carol laughed, grabbing Poppy's other hand. "You comin' Riff?"
"Lunch and a newbie power chord, sure," Riff drawled, following after them.
They went back into the city proper and to a big building adorned with a broken plate and microphone. The sign declared it 'Crash House' and they went in, getting a room. Poppy marvelled at the place, with broken instruments displayed on the walls of the lobby like trophies. The room they went to was full of stuff clearly meant to be broken.
"The walls are strong enough to turn the power chords to nine," Barb laughed, demonstrating a wicked riff at eight on her guitar. The sound wave barely scratched the wall when it finished its path of destruction. Poppy cheered for her.
Before she went to demonstrate her own progress, Poppy set up a pyramid of glasses.
"What are you doing…?" Carol laughed.
"You'll see," she said brightly. When she was done with the pyramid, Poppy found a spot and turned her bass up. "I figured out something while I was practicing. Just watch."
She plucked out her own power chord and a small sound wave shot from the bass, straight into the top glass of the pyramid.
"Sweet aim!" Barb cackled. Poppy sent another sound wave through the next layer. "Dude!"
"That's like…rad," Riff laughed as she smashed the rest of the glasses.
"Wicked!" Carol cheered. "Lemme try!"
They set up a few more pyramids and Barb and Carol went at it. Carol got the same pinpoint aim on the first try, but Barb took a few rounds.
"I can't believe you figured that out on your own!" Barb laughed as they left and headed for a diner.
Poppy giggled.
That night, they put on a concert, as promised. Barb wanted her to take lead on the first song for some reason. Riff was jamming on the drums at the start and Poppy laughed.
"Okay, let's start the song!" she called and they laughed a little, stopping one of the cymbals. She and Barb slammed out a couple of chords.
"You are more beautiful," Poppy started singing. "Than anyone ever. Every day, you're the same. You never change…no never!"
She got really into it as she sang, dancing around the stage with Barb and Carol. Again, Poppy was having the time of her life with her new friends.