"Hi! Welcome! Are you Elsa?"
The girl that stood across from Anna responded with a silent nod. She could tell from her expression that the institute was quite different from what she had been expecting; Anna had found that most people felt that way. She extended a hand to the hesitant blonde, whose own hands were pulling nervously at the loose braid that hung over her left shoulder. Slowly, she reached out and shook Anna's hand, though pulling away as quickly as she could without being rude.
"I don't know what you were expecting..." Anna began her usual ramble of introduction as she led the silent girl down the well-lit, if not slightly intimidating hall. "I mean, your expectations probably weren't too high. People usually expect it to be…" Her speech drifted off slightly hen she noticed the intense way Elsa stared at her. In the new patients, she usually looked for fear or anger in her eyes, and based her approach on that… but in Elsa, she saw something she couldn't place, and that made her nervous.
"Um, people usually expect it to be kinds gross and scary… but it's not like that here."
Anna stopped walking and turned when she heard Elsa quietly clear her throat. The girl shifted nervously and pulled the sleeves of her oversized sweater over her hands. "So, um, are you… an orderly?"
"Oh, no!" Anna smiled, glad that she was willing to engage. "I'm actually a patient. The orderlies don't do the introductions because, well, they don't get it, do they? I do a lot of initiation because most of the other guys aren't up for it… don't get the wrong idea, I mean, they're great, just very routine-oriented, you know? Sorry, I ramble a lot. You get used to it. But yeah, I do a lot of the introductory… stuff. I just worry that people find me annoying!"
Whew. Even worse than usual today.
Elsa seemed to relax slightly upon hearing this, her grip on her braid loosening slightly.
"Okay, well, let me show you around." Anna gestured for Elsa to follow her down the hall, slowing so that Elsa walked beside her instead of trailing behind, and led her into a large room.
"This is the lounge. It functions kinda as everything, really. You can be in here all the time except for from twelve to five, those are visitation hours. You can work out your visitation with the orderlies. They come through all the time, and there's a couple of phones around to call them if you…"
The newly present tension in Elsa's face told her that she wouldn't have to worry about visitation procedure, so she cleared her throat and moved on quickly to avoid discomfort.
"… There's a TV, some game stuff, and there's activities on all the time. You'll get a timetable." She continued on towards a long hall, stopping to pull a small piece of paper from her pocket. Her face fell briefly, though she caught herself and smiled again, but Elsa had seen it clearly. "Looks like you're with me."
She led the new girl into a room with two beds either side, duplicate furniture laid out symmetrically. It was immediately clear to Elsa which side was Anna's. The wall was painted various shades of green and covered in bright pink and purple flowers that appeared to be hand painted. The carefully made bed was lined with an impressive collection of teddy bears, and the wall space above the head of her bed was covered in pinups of letters and personal photos. Elsa almost wondered if Anna was being paid to stay here just to make the other patients feel better with her sunshine attitude… but then she remembered the way her face fell at the concept of a roommate. She couldn't help but assume that Anna had something to hide; she was just wired that way.
"So, um…" Anna was now perched on the edge of her bed, rearranging her bears. "They give you paints and stuff, and you can decorate the walls however you want. If that's not your thing there are plenty of us that can help. I actually haven't had a roommate in a while, but I shouldn't be such terrible company, I hope."
She smiled again, in the bright, warm way that Elsa figured was what made her so easy to be around. She had a way of making you feel comfortable, which Elsa certainly did, but she couldn't let it show.
"So, I guess I'll let you get settled in?" Anna slowly got up to leave, though leaving space for Elsa to object, expertly done, as though there was a question mark floating through the air. She'd done this plenty of times before.
"Oh! I almost forgot." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of earmuffs.
"They're noise-cancelling. A courtesy… I recommend wearing them."
With that, she smiled again, though much less convincingly, before waving and leaving the room.
Elsa sank into the pillows of the bed- her bed now. The place was much less dark and clinical than she'd expected, in fact quite the opposite. It was bright and almost homely, comfortable and soft. Or maybe that was just the bed she was lying on, but wow, it felt good. Her mind couldn't help but spin back to Anna and her fallen, unconvincing smiles after learning they would share a room. Unsure if she was just being overly cautious and reserved, or really noticing something, she resolved to keep eyes on the redhead. She was an unlikely enigma… Perhaps Elsa's time here could be worthwhile.