Second Floor Common Room, Monday Evening

[elated-or-gassy.livejournal.com]

ANNA HAD A PHONE! Anna was not entirely clear on what you were supposed to do with a phone, but she was having some great success with "pushing lots of button and seeing what happens to the screen." She hadn't yet managed to break anything, either, which probably said more for Stark tech than it did for Anna's approach to familiarizing herself with new technology.

She had discovered the messaging app, and all of the adorable little emoji inside -- SO CUTE!!!! -- but was still a little lost on how you actually sent messages to other people, what with not knowing her own actual phone number or that phones even had numbers, exactly.

But she was sitting in the Common Room, excitedly pushing buttons, and she'd gladly send messages to anyone who stopped in (that is, anyone who could explain the actual process to her, because she had not really been listening in class, was the thing).

Messages with lots of emoji.

Lots.

Comments

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Did I- did she give any reason for saying no? Anna... I can't have half of this conversation if I wasn't even there. I'm not too young. I don't think you're too young. It has to be something else."

There was something about it all that was chewing at Elsa, though. Something that Anna had said.

... Coronation.

The gates were to remain closed until her coronation.

A little more slowly, and a little suspiciously, she ventured, "Anna... where did you meet him?"

Her sister couldn't possibly be that impulsive, right?

[elated-or-gassy.livejournal.com]

Anna was now glaring at the opposite wall. "That's not fair," she said. "You kept the gates closed. When was I supposed to meet him? The annual balls we didn't have? I had one chance to meet someone before you closed Arendelle off again, forever."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"So... you knew him for a day. This Prince that I've never heard of, you knew for a day, and you agreed to marry him, and you're yelling at me for actually starting to open up to somebody else."

Elsa was just making certain she had this straight, here.

"So now you're here, and you're... never going to see him again? Is that it? Did some other version of me forbid you from ever talking to him, and that's why it's so unbearable that after months of knowing one another, Barry and I sometimes sit and eat dinner together?"

They each ate their own sandwiches, though, thank you.

[elated-or-gassy.livejournal.com]

"I'm yelling at you for being unfair!" Anna was back to waving her hands around again. "When you do it, it's okay, and when I do it, it's stupid! You dating someone, that's fine, but me being in love, that's not! And Barry's the one who keeps telling me to leave you alone, to give you space, but you don't need space from him!"

No. Him, she had meals with. They probably laughed and joked and kissed and all kinds of other stupid things. Because Elsa wasn't afraid of people at all.

"You've known me for years, but you wouldn't have dinner with me. What did I do!?"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

They did, you know. Elsa and Barry. They laughed and joked and kissed. Sometimes, she even reached for his hand first. It was baby steps. It had been baby steps for a long while, now.

He'd given her a pair of gloves, and in doing so, he'd started her on the path to having her life back.

"It's not you," Elsa replied, after taking a long moment to breathe. Even then, her words all came out in a frustrated tangle, and it was all she could do to keep from pacing the floor. "It is, but it's not. I got scared once, you know, and I can't even talk about it, but then I pulled in from everyone. You, Mama, Papa. They didn't shut the gate to spite you, Anna. You know, I went home a couple of weeks ago. To Arendelle. For Christmas. And so that she wouldn't have to spend the first anniversary of Mama and Papa's... so that she wouldn't have to be alone. I'm trying."

The kettle was whistling. Elsa ignored it.

"You have no clue how hard I'm trying, Anna."

[elated-or-gassy.livejournal.com]

"But you don't have to try, with him," Anna answered, not meeting her sister's eyes.

And that was really the heart of the matter. Whatever aversion this was, it was only centered around her. Elsa could only be herself, could only be happy away from her.

"I didn't mean to pull you in here," she said, trying to sound calm and only sounding tired, instead. "You're walking your dog. You need space. I'm giving you space."

She'd spent years not talking to Elsa. She was practically an expert. What was a few more?

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I still have to try, with him," Elsa replied, sounding just about as tired. "I still have to try with everybody."

She turned and flicked the kettle off so that it wouldn't boil dry.

"But it's getting late. I was going to do some reading. Canute needs to eat before bed. You're right. I should go."

She'd spent years not talking to Anna. She was very much an expert.

What was a few more?