fandomhighdorms | Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning]

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Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning]

Rapunzel had spent a fair amount of this morning beating herself up over her choice to stay here. Her mother would be -- if she wasn't already -- absolutely worried sick, and she was a despicable person for making her go through that, and if she'd known how to get home, she would have probably left at the first sight of dawn.

But...she was pretty much stuck here, wasn't she? And it wasn't so bad -- actually, it wasn't bad at all, guilt aside. Sure, it was confusing as all heck, but that was to be expected when she hadn't been outside her whole life anyway, right?

So for example, she didn't know how or why the box in her common room's kitchen hummed, but she soon figured out that when you opened it, it let out cold air, and there were things like milk and orange juice and eggs inside. And from there, it only took her a little bit of experimentation and guesswork to find everything she needed to make pancakes.

Lots, and lots of pancakes.

Whenever she was down, she liked to bake, or draw. The best cure for when she was really blue? Combine them. So Rapunzel was soon absorbed in making little pancakes shaped like hearts and clouds and stars, pulling them off the pan as soon as they were done and carefully decorating them with some sprinkles and frosting she'd found.

There were normal pancakes, too, if you weren't quite up to the sugar rush. She'd never cooked for a crowd before, but she felt pretty up to the task, at the moment.

[omg come have some totally moddable pancakes, yay!]

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You know, all Elsa had really wanted this morning was some tea? So imagine her surprise when she wandered into the common room to find... well... hair, most notably. And then pancakes. More pancakes than she'd seen in one place in a very long time.

"Goodness... Did you make all of these?"

She sounded fairly subdued, clinging for dear life to her regal poise, but she couldn't quite hide the expression of surprise on her face.

"Uh huh!" Rapunzel turned to the new voice with a bright smile and a bit of flour on her cheek. "Want some pancakes? There's...a lot."

She had maybe gotten a little carried away. A little.

"I usually don't have anyone to cook for," she added, blushing a little as she curiously took in the other girl. There was something familiar about her hair and style of dress, though Rapunzel couldn't put her finger on it -- she'd probably seen something in a book somewhere.

"If there's plenty to go around," and there certainly seemed to be, "I certainly won't say no. They smell fantastic, thank you."

There was a moment taken on Elsa's end as well, giving the new girl a similar sort of looking-over. That was definitely a style of dress that she was familiar with. Not as popular in Arendelle, which had a stronger bias toward thick fabrics with intricate details painted or embroidered on, but as a princess she would be remiss to not at least be aware of the fashions of other kingdoms.

Ah, puffy sleeves.

"You're new here?"

"As new as they come!" Rapunzel said brightly, putting together a plate for Elsa. "I mean, maybe that's not true, if anyone arrived today. But I'm new as of yesterday, yes."

Babble more, Rapunzel, please.

"I take it you're not?" She seemed much less...frazzled than Rapunzel or the other new people had been, which Rapunzel was hoping would pass in time. "I'm Rapunzel, by the way. Sorry. Still remembering to do the whole introduction thing."

Edited 2014-05-04 15:59 (UTC)

"No need to apologize if I failed to introduce myself too," Elsa pointed out, smiling faintly as she watched Rapunzel put together the plate. "I'm Elsa, and I've been here for a few months already. It was still winter here when I arrived. I've had some time to... well, to adjust."

Arendelle, Fandom Island was not.

"It can be a little overwhelming at first. Especially for people who aren't from around here."

"No kidding," Rapunzel said, exhaling exaggeratedly as she handed Elsa the plate. "It's...different. I mean, in a good way! But I wasn't really expecting to end up somewhere this different from where I was, you know?"

Especially when her arrival was an accident in the first place.

"And it was the middle of summer when I left, too," she added. "I wasn't really planning on going back to spring for another year or so." Not that she minded, but it did make the whole business with today theoretically being her birthday quite confusing.

Elsa nodded graciously as she accepted the plate, making a reach for a fork as well.

"This place does that," she noted, "twisting time around, picking people up from all over the place. I know a boy from so far in the future, he thinks there's nothing unusual about people living on other planets, and flying among the stars. And electricity is a wonder all on its own. Machinery without clockwork, lights that work with the flick of a switch... the difference in seasons is almost nothing compared to some of the things people here use from day to day without even really thinking about it."

Rapunzel was nodding eagerly before Elsa had even finished. "Exactly! There's so much that people already know here. It's overwhelming how much there is to learn about -- I have no idea how the light switches work, but I know there's a reason, and it's not magic, and -- and there's people from the stars, like you said."

She shook her head, beaming. "It almost makes me dizzy, how much catching up there is to do. I feel like I'm starting a race after everyone else is halfway through."

Which was how it would have been anyway, even if she didn't have to contend with modern marvels.

Elsa could sympathize on so many counts, really. Just how much she could sympathize? Well, she hardly had any idea, herself.

"And it feels as though there's no catching up," she agreed. "I'll feel accomplished if I go back to Arendelle after my time here is through without becoming completely overwhelmed by what modern technology has to offer, never mind social norms and fashion and strides people have made in everything from mathematics to medicine."

"Arendelle?" Rapunzel had latched onto that word hopefully, Elsa's clothes and hair suddenly placing themselves correctly in her mind. "Of course. I've heard its beautiful there, especially in the summer."

The winters of Arendelle had sounded much colder than anything she was used to, which was probably why the summers were so lauded, all things considered.

"I'm from Corona," she added, a little more shyly. "No one here's recognized it so far."

"And you're the first to recognize Arendelle," Elsa replied, perking up a little in turn. "We used to be trade partners with Corona when I was still a child, back before the gates closed."

Because of her. Which wasn't something she was going to say. Ever. Right.

"Being around here, I was almost starting to wonder if anyone would ever know any of the places I'm familiar with. I can't find it by the same name, even in atlases in the library."

"Well, that's worrying," Rapunzel said with a frown. "I'd hoped I'd be able to research everything everyone's been telling me about in the library, including my own country." She blushed, and added, "I mean, I know our history mostly, but -- "

But not anything about it in practicality, except what the weather was like from seventy feet up.

"I didn't know the gates had closed," she added, looking concerned. "I, um, don't hear much news at home, though. I lived in a kind of isolated area."

To say the least.

"They closed years ago," Elsa replied, "for me, I mean. We could still be a few years apart, you and I. Though it's still a relief to know that I'm not crazy and haven't been dreaming up Arendelle all this time."

She offered Rapunzel a little smile.

"I never really got out much, either," she offered, like a sort of olive branch extended from one shut-in with minimal human interaction to another. "I know current events from Arendelle, and I hear bits and pieces about the rest of the world, but with the gates closed as they've been for so long, we aren't exactly encouraging people to stop by, visit, and share gossip from around the world, either."

"I'd imagine not," she said, sighing a little, though she returned the smile. "That's sad, though. I mean, for all I know, Arendelle's opened their gates back up in my time. I hope so." She worriedly plied a lock of her hair, glancing over at Elsa. "I mean, you're out here and exposed to everything this place has to offer, so that's good, right? Being kept in one location...even if it's for your own good, is kind of tough. I mean, just...from my experience."

"It... hasn't been much better from mine," Elsa offered, sympathetically. Disney really was big on those shut-in princesses. "This place is actually sort of refreshing, that way. It can be a little crazy - Fandom Island is certainly odd - but at least it doesn't involve staring at the same walls all of the time, looking out the window at the same view."

In fairness, though, Arendelle's palace offered an amazing view.

"And there's people here," Rapunzel sighed happily, then realized that might have been too much. "I mean, not that I'm not used to people, but, you know, there's a lot more of them here." Like, more than two.

"I'm gonna have to figure out what to do about my hair to keep from tripping people," she added, giggling. "That's never been a problem I thought I'd have."

"I usually wear mine up," Elsa offered, "though that might get a little top-heavy, for you."

After all, that was a lot of hair. She took a moment to appreciate it, and then smiled faintly.

"Perhaps a braid? When my hair isn't up like this, it's pulled back in one, and they're fairly simple to do."

"That might work," Rapunzel said thoughtfully, surveying her hair -- which was easy enough to do, all things considered. "I tried to put it all up once and I thought my neck would snap."

Braiding it meant she wouldn't be able to use her hair, but also that it wouldn't attract as much attention. It was a tough call. She could always undo the braid if she needed to, right?

"Yours is lovely up, though," Rapunzel offered with a smile. "I feel like I've seen pictures of the queens of Arendelle wearing theirs similarly."

"Thank you," Elsa replied, blushing faintly at the compliment and at how accurate that statement was, even while feeling a little pang in her chest as she remembered her parents. "It's something my mother showed me how to do. She wore her own hair like this for years. As far back as I can remember, at least."

Being an Arendelle queen, and all.

"Your own hair is amazing, by the way," she added. She would get to eating her pancakes eventually as well, but this conversation had grabbed her and she was good and swept up in it, now. "I've never seen anybody with hair so long before."

"Thanks," Rapunzel said, doing a little self-conscious twirl. "I don't think most people have. I've just never cut it and, you know, it comes in handy. I've never needed a rope or a ladder or anything."

It was a joke, but also...very true.

"So...you like it here?" she added, slanting a look at Elsa. "Oddness aside and all. I haven't decided yet."

"Well, you have just arrived," Elsa reasoned, smiling a little as she finally cut a piece of pancake apart with her fork. "The island has its positives and negatives. I'm not sure I care much about its more dangerous moments," at all, "but the people here are more understanding than I imagined people could be. I've made friends here."

And for someone who had never made a friend before in her life, her little sister aside? That was amazing.

"Friends?" Rapunzel hadn't even gotten past the idea of 'people,' though she'd registered that everyone here was certainly friendly. At least, by her standards. "Really? I mean, I guess that makes sense -- everyone here's been so nice, and no one's -- "

She cut herself off, nervously playing with a lock of her hair, before continuing softly, "It's different here than I thought it'd be."

'Here' being outside.

"In a good way. People are different than I thought they'd be. I just...I'm glad to hear it holds up over time."

Oh, Elsa knew that tone. Actually, Rapunzel reminded her almost painfully of Anna that way. There was a sort of desperation there, to get to see more than she had known. She couldn't guess at what in this girl's life had her reacting like that, but at the very least, she could approach this from the angle that she already knew.

"It holds up over time," she replied, gently. "Everyone's been wonderful... more understanding than I ever expected them to be, in fact. I think you'll make plenty of friends while you're here, Rapunzel. If I have, then anyone can."

"You seem like you'd be good at making friends!" Rapunzel argued, lightly. "I mean, you have elegant hair, you're nice, you like pancakes -- seems like pretty much ideal friend material, Elsa."

A pause, and then: "I mean, from what I've heard. Maybe it's way harder than that. The only friend I've ever really had is, um, my mother. And my pet chameleon, but he doesn't really talk so I'm not sure he counts the same."

Even if he was really kind of her best friend, Rapunzel had to admit that Pascal was limited in ways.

"You're really too kind," Elsa replied, smiling down at her plate. "I never really had any friends before coming here. There was my sister, once, when we were still little. But we... drifted apart."

Yes. Drifted. Very suddenly and almost completely.

"I don't see why pets can't count. I think they might not be as good at conversation, granted..."

"I mean, Pascal communicates," Rapunzel said thoughtfully. "But just through colors or gestures or little noises. It'd be nice to have a friend who actually speaks, to start with?"

She processed the rest of what had been said, and added, "I'm sorry about your sister, and the drifting. That's got to be really hard."

She had no idea. She didn't even know how people drifted apart to begin with, though she was sure it could and did happen.

"It... was what it was," Elsa replied, frowning faintly for only a moment before smiling up at Rapunzel again. "But it was a long time ago. And now I'm here - we're both here, right? And there's so much to learn, I think we're in the right place."

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Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning]

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