John's line about four little brothers being alot of responsibility and that's why he moved to the middle of nowhere hits hard every time I hear it delivered. He was 100 percent the fun and cool big brother before their parents death. I bet he hated having to start enforcing rules and boundaries the way a parent would with three brothers who are teenagers too. On top of having a baby who needs so much care and attention.
He is the perfect example of what can happen to someone when they are forced to become a parent too young. Destroyed relationships with his siblings and all.
Hell yes!🤩😭🫡 And because I don't know how to answer this post, I'm gonna rant some more over my interpretation of Branch’s and John Dory's bonding in my Merc Au. (So much writing, so far away😓).
Reminder, Branch in my au has no memories of his brothers and they left when he was less than a year old, so like 8-10 months old. 8-10 of taking care of a baby is still rough, and I'll pinpoint that brozone started deteriorating while Branch was still in his egg. And a little bit before while the parents didn't notice.
Not to say too much of a [Spoiler], but the way in which Branch accidentally finds and meets John Dory means so much to him.
At the time Branch is really out of it, and while he's almost happy to find out someone did try to go back to the tree, actually thought about Grandma and him, he feels like John Dory mourned the death of Bitty B and not Branch.
At the time, he feels he wouldn't be doing John Dory any favour by revealing that he's Branch, not Bark. Because Branch isn't Bitty B. He doesn't even remember being Bitty B, and his relationship with Pop music is still so complicated, and hearing Bitty B lost his brother over boy band drama doesn't help.
Barnch can't even be Baby Branch for John Dory to meet. Because Baby Branch got lost in the woods and no one in troll Village even notice he was gone to go looking for him.
Barnch can't help but feel that, like Pop Village's old expectations of him to become a 'happy sining pop troll', John Dory would want 'happy singing bitty b', not Branch, not him.
After Branch rests at Jax's house (Chaz's older brother), and the bounty hunters come racing into the Tree House to see him, since he did disappear and didn't contact any of them for months (they scolded him with tears about it later) - after all that, and a visit with his therapist, Branch has more a of clear head to think about his 'brothers'.
Out of all his brothers, Branch wants a chance to get to know John Dory.
Because it was John Dory who cared enough to step up as a parent for his little brother's, even if he did mess it up (messing up was inevitable with children raising children), and he cared enough to come back to the Bergens infested troll tree after having tasted freedom.
And Branch already knows John Dory might be hard to be around with how he clings to a past he almost wants nothing to do with. And Branch knows from Floyd and John Dory about the fight that disbanded brozone.
But if John Dory can come to understand that, in reality, Branch and him are strangers...and that they can still get to know each other as family (with no expectations), than Branch would actually look forward to spending time with John Dory.
So one day, Branch shows up to Jax's house, (because Jax and John Dory became friends over the time John Dory realised that the troll he gave a ride to was actually Branch and soon hunted down Jax to beg from answers), Branch sees the similarities between the 2 of them.
They both find comfort in nature and have experienced the dangers that comes with leaving in the wild.
They both suffered with heavy responsibilities when they were so young. John Dory as a parent of 4 and a boy band manager. Branch as paranoid protector that felt Pop Villige would be over run by Bergens or Predators without his traps (he was right about the predators).
They both experienced grief (even if John Dory thought his family was dead foe a few years compared to Branch).
They both found substitutes for music. John Dory writing lyrics for other bands with less pop washing. Branch’s poetry to speak and vent some of his suppressed emotions.
They're both perfectionist who actually have OCD. John Dory wanting brozone and himself to be perfect to not lose his family. Branch thinking he had to take extreme safety measures to keep himself and the village safe.
They both believe (did believe) that in order to be loved, they have to act a certain way. John Dory, tried to be the best boyband member for the fans, and is currently trying to be the perfect older bother. Branch gave up the ways in which Pop Trolls tried to force him to act and almost accepted never being considered a person/troll at all because he couldn't sing, dance, or party.
John Dory interacted with civilization so litte that parties actually overwhelmed him like they do for Branch.
They both get sensory overloads.
They both get panic attacks.
They both sometimes climb out of windows because being taken care of by someone when they're hurt or sick feels too weird.
And a whole lot of other stuff.
But the main idea is, Branch chooses to give John Dory as much patience as he wished Pop Village would have given him when he was hurt.
And Branch echos back a fair bit of country troll advice to help John Dory out every now and again.
My favorite scene idea is when the Bus Argument happens and John Dory says his dumb insensitive line, Branch gives him the biggest death glare and demands John Dory to repeat what he said very slowly.
Branch forces John Dory to realise what he said in the heat of the moment in that same moment and regrets it immediately.
Branch separates Brozone to get them to cool off and advises John Dory to apologise to Bruce first while he goes to lecture Clay on keeping his anger in check. If Clay thinks John Dory is being too bossy, then he should just outright say they need another plan besides the PFH, not explode everything.
Heck, Branch already made it clear he can't sing with them, but hey, they're still healing and he isn't surprised if John Dory relapses into bad habits and unrealistic expectations for himself and those around him.
Branch wants to be there through the good and bad times. And he'll put a bounty on John Dory's head specifically if the dummy tries to run away again.
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