"I can't believe this place actually serves its inmates bread and water," Anna bemoaned, chewing on an overly rough crust from a loathe of wheat which tasted like it must've be weeks old. "Did Elsa get all of her inspiration for running a prison from old movies or something?"
"It could be worse," Rapunzel said through a full mouth, though there was the faintest hint of a gag in her voice, suggesting even she was less than satisfied with the meal. "What's the matter, not like the gourmet cooking you enjoyed before you got here?"
"No, just someone who was used to eating food that didn't regularly taste like fried cat litter." Anna downed her beverage quickly, trying to wash down the bitter aftertaste from that morning's breakfast (but without much success). "What makes you ask that anyway?"
"You strike me as someone who, shall we say, didn't grow up wanting for money."
"Yeah, well, I was also someone who wasn't very good at handling money once I was in charge of it after her parents died." She looked down at her feet under the table, which were currently aching. "I suppose you could say that's one of the reasons I ended up here."
"Cry me a river. So what was it, you had a gambling problem? Pornography addiction?"
"I just...indulged a lot, that's all," Anna muttered, twirling her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. "I mean, you can't blame a girl for wanting to enjoy her life, can you?"
"I don't know. You sound like a lot of the rich bitches here. The kind who think they don't belong amongst 'common folk' like the rest of us."
Anna frowned, not liking the shift this conversation was taking.
"I thought class didn't matter in prison."
"Officially, no, it's not supposed to. But that doesn't mean it doesn't impact the way prisoners view one another. You don't think Bloody Mary became a household name across the cell block because of her crime alone, do you?"
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"It's class! Here's a young woman who has everything she could possibly want and then throws it all away because she has mommy issues or some crap. That makes headlines. That creates gossip. And that gives her a pretty freaking big advantage when you consider her father is one of the most wealthy and influential men in the kingdom."
"Big deal. It's not like he has the power to break her out of here or anything. And besides, the bitch killed his wife. How loyal can he be to her after that?"
"Again, the answer is class. Would you put it past a man that rich to try to clean up a reputation that had been spoiled by such a nasty bit of business? Or did you not read up on why Arrendelle doesn't have the death penalty anymore?"
"Humanitarian reasons?"
Rapunzel's eyes glinted, like a particuarly nosy and annoying neighbor sharing what she saw as a juicy bit of gossip over the fence.
"Okay, so six months before Bloody Mary's arrest, the death penalty is abolished in this kingdom. All prisoners who are currently awaiting executions are removed from death row and given life sentences by default."
"Exciting story so far," Anna grumbled sarcastically, picking at the bread crumbs on her plate.
"Here's the kicker: the man who was instrumental in all of that was Lord Fergus. He gets politicians on board with him, takes a lot of fat cats out to dinner, that sort of thing. He says it's for 'the good of the people,' but eyebrows get raised when his lovely little lass goes down for matricide the following year."
"Are you trying to imply that he ordered the kill? That would kind of soil your whole argument about him worrying about his self-image, wouldn't it?"
"Bloody Mary is said to have been violent towards her mother for years," Rapunzel explained, brushing aside Anna's point with a wave of her hand. "What ended up happening was simply the finale to a rather unpleasant series of events. Fergus simply could've been taking precautions for what he saw as the inevitable."
"Sounds like the plot of a bad Lifetime movie to me," said Anna, eager to have her cellie wrap this little tale up.
"You speak pretty boldly for someone who once made no secret about being scared shitless of Bloody Mary. Is it because she gave you a shiv?"
Without hesitation, Anna reached across the table and grabbed Rapunzel's hand, clutching it so tightly with her fingernails that she drew blood.
"You might want to try keeping your voice down," she growled as quietly as her rage would allow. "How long have you known about that?"
"Since you got it," Rapunzel said blandly, apparently unphased by Anna's sudden act of violence. "What, you think I didn't see you constantly reaching into your pocket these last few days? Most inmates don't check to make sure they have their ID cards on them that often, honey."
Anna released Rapunzel's hand, hoping she hadn't already made too much of a scene yet.
"And for what it's worth, I bet you didn't even know it was called a 'shiv,' did you?" Rapunzel took a paper napkin and wiped her cut as she spoke, "Knowing you, you probably thought it gave you some form of invincibility, almost like a 'Get out of jail free' card, for want of a less ironic term."
"What makes you so certain I won't kill you in your sleep for saying that?"
"Please. Just because some of the other chicks give you funny looks now that they know you're a double murderer doesn't mean I have to."
"But it does give me a repuation you don't have," Anna snarled, still fuming over the fact that Rapunzel dared to bring this subject up when they were outside their cell. "How many of the inmates here are scared of you?"
"Fear isn't the same thing as respect."
"Is that so? What's the point of your constant blackmailing of me then?"
But before Rapunzel could come up with any form of a snarky comeback, an eldarly inmate approached their table. She was heavyset, her short buzzcut displaying thin grey hair tucked neatly under her convict hat.
"Hey, Goldie. You gonna be up for cards with the girls this afternoon?"
"Sadly, I've got laundry this afternoon. Besides, everyone knows you cheat to win, Mags."
"Like fairness is something that's celebrated around here. You got any commissary junk to share?"
"Oh, I've got something better than that." Rapunzel sat herself up and reached into her shirt pocket to pull out a small packet.
"Arby's sauce? How the hell did you get that?"
"I know a girl who knows a guard who has a daughter who works in fast food." She gently tossed the condiment in the palm of her hand. "I've got 25 of them. Let's say I give you 10 for one of your rigged card decks?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mags declared, but Anna sensed sarcasm in her tone. "We'll discuss it in my cell tomorrow."
"Fair enough, but act fast. I don't think I'll have these bad boys for long."
Mags nodded and walked off, leaving Rapunzel alone again with Anna.
"You do realize those things are free at Arby's, right?"
"Baby, nothing's free around here. Especially since the prison buckled down on the inmates using ciggerettes as currency."
"Is she a friend of yours?"
"She's been here longer than many of the inmates here have been alive. Convicted of multiple ponzi schemes. White collar stuff."
"That doesn't exactly answer my question," Anna muttered as she got up and returned her tray to the dishwashing area.
"What I'm saying is she's harmless. Or at least she likes to give everyone here that impression. A lot of the women in Frozen Heart are like that."
She looked at her wrist as though checking a non-existent watch.
"Well, I'd better be going. See you in the cell tonight, bitch."
Once again, the image of doing something horribly violent to Rapunzel made its way into Anna's head.
She folded her arms and leaned herself against the wall, trying to read the other prisoners as best as she was able to. Ever since she had "come out" as a murderer, the reaction from others towards her had in fact been different, though perhaps not on a level as dramatic has Giselle had indicated it would be. But she did get uncomfortable glances, particuarly from prisoners who were younger than she was, and it did certainly beat being terrified of all of the inmates as she had been when she first arrived.
Heavens, had that only been a few days ago? Had she seriously not even been in prison for an entire week yet?
Time crawled behind bars. Yet in Anna's case it was crawling on a long road towards nowhere.
She thought about what Rapunzel had told her about Merida and her father as she drug her ball towards the prison's library, a place where she had gone to hang out until Elsa made a decision about whatever awful work assignment she wished to burden her with. It was a quiet enough place, looking more like a gloomy old bookstore than a library, but for the most part the prisoners appeared to not cause trouble there.
It was also remarkably uncrowded whenever she was there. She assumed at first it might be because most of the women were busy with their various jobs, but after a while she figured it simply wasn't a popular place among the inmates there. Maybe it was because the majority of the books were in exceedingly worn condition, or perhaps they were simply dissapointed when they found now manuels on how to escape from detention centers while they were there.
In any case, when she arrived at the library this morning, there were no other convicts there, outside of the librarian, an inmate herself whose face was always glued to a book. She carried with her the rather peculiar nickname of 'Beast'.
"Here again, piss pants?" Beast quipped without even looking up as Anna walked in.
"With jokes like that, it's a wonder you didn't become a comedian for a living." She sat her bottom down, which was becoming increasibly sweaty each day from having gone nearly a week without a shower. "Did any newspapers arrive today?"
"What interest would a lifer have in newspapers? Beast fumbled around as she turned a page of whatever second rate romantic novel she was reading. "This prison is your world now, so why concern yourself with the outside one?"
"If you don't have any, you could just say so," Anna grumbled, grabbing a magazine from a nearby desk. Checking the date, she saw it was more than a year old.
"Boy, Elsa must not want us up to date on current events."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I was talking to myself, I guess. I do that."
"Oh, well, you may not be wrong." Her eyes didn't budge, save for the occassional blink. "There's a rumor that Elsa stopped having newspapers sent here indefinitely, if that helps answer your question."
"Why not? I mean, it's not like it can possibly be that expensive for her to do."
"Uh-huh. Wonder Boy was in here two weeks ago. She told me she heard that there's stuff Elsa doesn't want us reading."
Anna took a mental bathroom break over who 'Wonder Boy' was and why a female inmate would have that nickname before inquiring further.
"Like...what sort of stuff would that be?"
"Who knows? Could be the warden has some corruption accusations she doesn't want the girls chatting about. I think otherwise. I mean, if she were concerned with the residents here speaking ill of her, she wouldn't have chosen her line of work."
"What do you think it is then?"
"I think it must be something personal. Some legal business or something or other she doesn't want the inmates using against her. Could be a friend of her is facing incarceration, could be a family member. It's not like we have access to the internet here, so without newspapers, we don't get the chance to read many headlines."
Anna could feel her stomach churning.
"That's a pretty bold conviction to come to without any form of evidence, wouldn't you say?" She hoped her tone was succeeding when it came to feigning disinterest on the issue.
"Oh, there's plenty of evidence. Elsa's one of the most impersonal wardens this prison's ever had, so I've heard from those who have spent more weary years here than I have. If she was trying to hide information from us, she would have to have a reason. It's not she's a woman who keeps many secrets anymore. We all know she has magic, and we all know she used it to dispose of Blondie. If she's able to own stuff like that, what would be a matter so important to her that she would do everything she could to keep it private?"
Anna swallowed, realzing a little too late that her trashy reading was trembling in her palms a bit.
"Did this prison used to get newspapers regularly?"
"I would think my previous resposnes would've already answered that question. Frozen Heart used to have a local paper available daily. Heck, it even had comics. Those are the only things the girls say they miss about having them."
Anna's belly gurgled again.
"Hyopthetically speaking, if Elsa had something that important she wouldn't to keep from reaching the ears of the inmates, wouldn't it all be for nothing if a visiting relative told a prisoner about the matter?"
"I suppose that would be one area in which the warden would have no control."
Finally, Beast lifted her head from her book to look at Anna.
"You sure ask a lot of questions about Elsa for someone who hasn't even been here ten days. What, are you hoping to learn her weaknesses or something?"
But Anna didn't answer, muttering something indistinguishable to herself as she picked her tabloid back up and shoved it into her face. She thought again about Merida and her father, and now became terrified over what Lord Fergus might tell his daughter whenever he came over to see her.