Branch wakes up to the sound of Poppy twisting and turning in her sleeping bag.

He has 2 guesses as to why this is happening. Either she is in pain for some reason or b she is too excited,most likely it's the second one.

Looking over to Poppy he can see that she is turning alot and her eyes are closed like she is trying to sleep but can't. He can tell by her body language that she isn't in pain just excited if the wagging of her tail underneath the sleeping bag was any indicator.

Welp might as well get up there's no point in trying to sleep,he is the type of troll that once he wakes up it takes forever to go back to sleep.

"You-" "I'm up!" Poppy exclaims before he could even finish as she jumps out of her sleeping bag. "I'll get ready!" She says quickly running out. He chuckles at her being so excited as he also begins to make his morning coffee.

He barely takes his first sip when Poppy is there with her briefcase ready to go. "Poppy I know you are excited but can you give me like 10 minutes to wake up and enjoy me coffee please" He needs his coffee and he is the type that takes a bit to wake up properly.

She thankfully nods in understanding and happily waits beside him as he sips his coffee in silence while Poppy absent-mindedly twirls the fur on her tail before tracting and retracting her claws. That's when he notices the ones on her paws were smaller than his thats......a bit weird but then again she has a different tail than his.

Finishing his coffee he goes to put on his day clothes and meets Poppy at the entrance. "Alright let's go" He says as they use the elevator and soon enough they end up back outside. Looking around the sun is barely even coming over the horizon.

"ALRIGHT! FINALLY SOME FRESH AIR!" Poppy yells as she stretches and takes it all in. "Yep bet it feels good to be out after being in there for six days" He says just now realizing how long they were truly in there together.

"Well let's get going to your pod and put your stuff up" Branch says as he begins to walk to the village with Poppy trailing close behind. "Hey uhm Branch can I ask you something?" She asks. "Sure go ahead" He replies wondering what his girlfriend wants to know.

"Do you have the urge to walk on all fours or is it just me?" She asks as she looks at her feet. "Yeah I do too but I just ignore it. I did try it though to see what it was like and it wasn't bad it just wasn't for me. You can if you want to I don't mind" He explains even though he would probably walk and even run on all fours when alone looking for supplies he just doesn't want to do it in front of others is all.

"Oooh ok" She says before crouching down onto all fours. It sure felt weird but in a good way to her. She gabs her suitcase with her tail and begins to start following him on all fours. To her surprise it actually felt nice to walk this way she might do this more often.

"Having fun?" He teases as he notices her smiling as she walks. "Yeah who knew walking like this is fun" She says happily wagging her tail. Soon enough they make it to her pod Branch was about to use his hair to climb up there when Poppy puts a paw out.

"Wait Branch I want to see what these baby's can do" She says unsheathing her claws on both her paws and feet. "Why we can just use our hair to get up there why climb? Also with the way they are shaped they were made for climbing anyways so why do you want to do this?" He questions her.

"Just because cmon Branch don't tell me your not just the least bit curious to use them?" She asks smirking knowing him all to well. Yeah he was a bit curious but he wasn't about to tell her that. "Fine let's go" He says unsheathing his claws as well and the duo begin to climb their way up to her pod.

It was a bit surprising how easily they were able to climb up there. They managed to get there in less than 5 minutes even if they used their hair which was faster this way for some reason felt more natural to them,must be an  instinct thing.

Poppy goes to put all the stuff she had in her suitcase away while Branch waits outside watching the sun rise over the horizon and soon enough she returns. "So what now?" She asks as hardly anybody in the village is awake at this time.

"Well what do you want to do?" He asks her. "I don't know maybe we can go hang around in the forest if you dont mind?" She suggests to which he shrugs he didn't really care what she picked.

The transformed duo head back to the forest not far from the village maybe a 5 minute walk at most. The two take in the sounds of the morning forest,it was honestly beautiful.

The two end up near the nearby lake and due to it being winter it's frozen solid. "Oh wow didn't think it would be completely frozen" Poppy says as she taps the lake with her knuckles.

Usually it only froze a little and they could easily break off the ice but not now. She is then hit with a idea. "So....want to ice skate?"She asks with a grin. He looks at her like she was crazy before sighing there was nothing better to do might as well get some enjoyment out of it.

"Fine" He reluctantly agrees and she grins back at him with her tail wagging. He starts off by taking a careful step onto the ice when there wasn't any sign of it breaking under his weight he put more on and soon enough he was able to put his entire body onto it though the next problem arose.

He could not walk let alone skate on this ice to save his life. Every single time he just falls flat on his face. He is so happy his fur is thick enough to where the ice doesn't bother him much cause otherwise he would have been a trollsicle by now. "I hate this" He grumbles as he lays face first onto the ice after falling again.

During the entire time Poppy has been trying to hold back her laughter at his failure but soon couldn't help herself and busted out laughing. "Oh haha laugh it up I would love to see you try" He says sitting up to take a break from falling so much.

"Well I'm actually great at ice skating allow me to help you out" She says before happily walking out onto the ice......only to slip and fall 2 steps in. He couldn't help but snicker at her dilemma. "Huh?" She was confused as to what happened she never slipped while ice skating before.

She tries again only to get the same results. This process continues on for 3 minutes before she yells our frustrated. Branch who could only watch for so long laughs at her misery. "What was that about being great at ice skating?" He asks with a smirk.

She sits up and rubs her head "I don't get it I'm great at this what's going on" She asks herself this. While she was trying to skate Branch came to a conclusion that might explain it.

"It might be these" He gestures to the pawpads on his feet and the overall new shape of them in general. "You didn't have them before and it seems to mess you up becuase your used to standing on normal feet not well....these" He explains as he tries to stand up with success but he can't move at all unless he wants to meet the ground again.

He then gets a idea staring at his feet he unsheaths his claws and tries to walk and to his surpirse it works! "Poppy! Use the claws on your feet!" He explains as he gets more and more comfortable and is soon walking on the ice just fine.

Nodding she carefully stands up and unsheathes her claws and soon enough just like Branch she was able to walk just fine on the ice. "Wow this is a bit weird but I like it guess we just needed some traction is all" she says as she joins Branch and the two trolls happily begin to skate on the ice.

Though Branch doesn't really ice skate at all he only knows the bare minimum to walk on ice in case the ground ices over one day. Thankfully Poppy is there to help him out and soon he able to somewhat skate better not the greatest but he is somewhat decent at it now.

While the two trolls were skating the sun was fully out now and by now there should be plenty of trolls up and about so the couple stop and get off the ice.

"Well it's time are you ready for this" Poppy asks him holding paws with him. "Yeah I am let's get this over and done with" He says as he really really just wants to rip off the bandaid that is this whole situation and get it done.

Pop troll ancestors didn't use their hair nearly as much as modern trolls do. They only used it for reaching long ranged stuff and long ranged attacks and fir carrying stuff when their hands and tail were busy.They used their claws for climbing instead of their hair so no need for that.

Sorry if this chapter isn't good prob the weakest one i made I had such bad writers block next chapter is the last one before we move into the sequel it will be better I swear.