Well, it's been three months, but Have Courage, Elsa has officially reached the three-digit numbers; as of this chapter, the story has 54 reviews under its belt, 56 favorites, and 104 followers! "blows kazoo"
To those readers who had decided this story was worth putting in their radar since January, I can only say that I freaking love you. Your support over these months is the reason why I didn't just drop this story as yet another one of my failed, short-lived projects.
Now, watch as I take a seat here, and wait patiently for the numbers to dwindle down to 99... 74... 52... 27... 1... 0...
...-4.
But, I digress: To celebrate such a milestone, as well as the fact that this is the thirteenth official chapter of the story (because Elsa can be seen as the thirteenth Disney Princess of the franchise line-up, and therefore saddled with all the bad luck multiplied by three), I've added a special little bonus to the bottom of this chapter.
As usual, credit goes to my main man-... no wait, my comrade... partner in crime... girl... lady...
...Yeah, "partner in crime" sounds much sweeter.
Anyways, credit goes to FrozenRose1 for preventing my writing from becoming catastrophically abysmal by working as my beta-reader, and all rights goes to Disney for making Frozen ruin my life.
Chapter 13
I Wish You Would Tell Me Why
Helge's Journal Observations, Passage No. 1:
A Spøkelse is created when a human soul subjugates another into becoming part of its identity. The demon earns the skills and memories of its victim, along with the loyalty of the defeated soul itself. They are almost always ghosts, because a physical body serves as a means of defense against such a union.
The Spøkelse also changes slightly after each Subjugation, its traits de-emphasizing and warping with every act of cannibalism. However, the original spirit's personality remains dominant, ultimately removing any possible benefits from using friendly shades to change its primary objective.
Helge's Journal Observations, Passage No. 2:
Very rarely is a Spøkelse bound by emotions besides anger, denial, and/or depression. This is completely natural, as the reactions of most human beings of their continued existence on Earth after their untimely demise can be quite... colorful, to say the least.
However, there have been cases of Spøkelser that do not follow the same trend as the one from Ravendall. Such spirits still possess considerable power, but are substantially weaker than their common brethren, not to mention being even scarcer examples of an already rare phenomenon.
Historical Note: There was once an exception to the rule, the Spøkelse Walpurgisseig: A demon strong enough to induce revel in other souls, alive or not, before cannibalizing its victims. People who have been targeted were poisoned with visions of excessive bliss and bizarre imagery, as part of its misguided belief that having victims perish in delirious happiness justifies its murders. Terrorizing Europe for centuries, it was eventually destroyed by a well-learned Catholic nun.
Incidentally, the woman was named a highly honored member of her church centuries after her death, and a holiday was named after her to commemorate the moment.
"Kristoff, please... I have to- I have to get to Elsa..."
The towering mountain man, made even more imposing from supporting an additional human being on his back, glanced to his side to frown at the Princess with concern. "Absolutely not, Little Miss Energetic." Kristoff firmly stated, shaking his head for the umpteenth time since he carried her out of the library. "You're almost a wink away from being declared officially dead, which will obviously cause the Queen to freak out. The first thing we are going to do is to get some sleep in your system, pronto."
"She's already freaking out, I just know it!" Anna complained, pouting with her hazy blue eyes. "As Princess of Arendelle, I command you to stop, and turn around to march for Elsa's chambers, now!"
"As the Princess' consort," Kristoff stated, emphasizing that last word, "I am vetoing that command to make sure you stay sane in the morning."
"...'Consort'." Anna parroted, too bleary to successfully glare at him. "...and 'veto'. How on Earth did you manage to add those words to your vocabulary?"
"Elsa." Kristoff declared flatly. He wasn't lying to his girlfriend, either; Elsa and the ice harvester may share an uneasy relationship between each other, but they were still on friendly speaking terms, and living under the same roof as the Queen of an entire country has provided wonders Kristoff could have never predicted in his entire life... including a basic but useful knowledge of government lingo.
"Traitor..." Anna muttered under her breath. "...But, she's still my sister! You have to take me to her!"
"Nope."
Even in the Princess' addled state, a brilliant moment of inspiration birthed in her mind taking hold of her imagination. The redhead just needed enough pluck to do so, and Anna is certainly the champion of human pluck.
"Then...I-I'll stop you!" With a grunt of effort, Anna brought forth every available ounce of strength she had remaining, putting them into focus by squirming and writhing desperately. She felt one of Kristoff's large hands give way and slip underneath her, until it could no longer secure a tight footing.
Encouraged by her boyfriend's slip-up, she rocked to and fro before lurching backwards with terrific force into the open air; finally, she was freed completely from the ice harvester's vice-like grip.
As Anna remained suspended, without anyone or anything to support her, without a surface to be chained to, the Princess felt a surge of complete bliss. No rules to follow, just a rush of adrenaline... She knew that, at this very moment, she was learning what it meant to be able to fly...
Of course, that sort of feeling never lasted long enough to be appreciated; the redhead hit the hallway floor with a dull thud almost immediately, followed clumsily by the rest of her body. A nauseating wave of pain pulsated from the impact site, urging Anna to clutch at her shoulder instinctively and curl on the floor.
However, what lack of grace Anna possessed was made up twofold with pure moxie; she quickly ignored the desire to nurse her minor injury, instead opting to lie flat on the ground as if her "escape" was intentional. In front of her boyfriend, she put her hands behind her head, extended her elbows outwards, and crossed her legs casually. In her mind, Anna looked like the pinnacle of calm, collected disobedience.
"H-ha!" she boasted a little feebly, trying to ignore just how itchy the carpet floor felt against her back. "I-I've now made it too difficult for you to carry me all the way to my quarters! Now will you take me to see Elsa?"
Kristoff, unfazed by her efforts, jabbed a thumb behind him at an all-too familiar doorway. "Anna, it's no use; we are already right in front of your bedroom."
The last of Anna's fighting spirit extinguished in complete disappointment. "Oh..."
A great silhouette descended upon Anna, with gentle hands that rested themselves underneath her. She felt herself being lifted up in the air carefully and with ease, once again feeling like she was soaring in the air.
Despite still wanting to contact her older sister, the redhead couldn't help but feel just a tad giddy in Kristoff's arms; being lifted into a bridal carry reminded her of the dreams she would always have as a little girl, the ones that appeared after reading a quiet night's worth of fairy tales, about noble and valiant princes who could take her away from her stuffy old castle to a promise of freedom, fun, and company.
Of course, she'd never imagined as a child that the right person to eventually achieve that dream would be a rustic ice harvester instead of a prince, or that the horse was a goofy reindeer with an obsession for carrots, but Kristoff and Sven far outranked any people from romantic dreams she had by a long shot.
Kristoff smiled tenderly at the girl he carried in his arms. "Now, let's come inside, and get some nice, warm soft blankets over you. You'll have plenty of time to run around and take care of Elsa when the sun finally rises."
"Blankets... sun..." Anna groaned, too tired to move.
"There you are." Kristoff gently pushed Anna's bedroom door opened, coming face to face with the typical disastrous state, characteristic of the Princess; some stray ribbons here, pieces of fabric and clothes there, and whatever trinkets she'd been playing with Olaf whenever the snowman visited laid all over the ground.
One of those said trinkets squeaked underneath Kristoff foot. He looked down over Anna's relaxed body, surprising himself by seeing a smiling, fair-haired doll in a blue dress. For some reason, the little toy bore a striking resemblance to its owner's sister, Elsa.
Huh. Do girls still hold onto their dolls at Anna's age?
It didn't take long for Kristoff to finally tuck Anna in; she finally submitted herself to a deep and comfortable slumber. If it weren't for the fact that she snored like chunks of ice grinding against each other, the Princess was officially as limp as a dead fish.
"Finally..." Kristoff breathed. He heaved a massive and exhausted sigh, and slumped to the littered floor while resting his back against Anna's mattress. The idea of just sleeping right then and there suddenly became very appealing to him: Going to his bedroom just sounded like too much trouble, and Anna's room was too warm and smelled too nice to abandon...
"Anna... you really are something, aren't you?" Kristoff said to a still-dozing Princess. He chuckled quietly, remembering exactly what took Anna so long to finally pass out in the first place. Sometimes, monarchs really do have everything in the world. "Elsa's lucky to have such a devoted sister such as you-"
Lithe, but strong hands clamped down hard on Kristoff's broad shoulders, eliciting a gasp of surprise from the ice harvester. He whipped his head behind him instinctively, and gawked as he found himself facing a fully alert, fiery Anna. The Princess stared back at her boyfriend with eyes blazing in cerulean fire that clashed wildly against her flaming hair.
"I know!" Anna shouted excitedly, grinning brightly enough to start an early morning in Arendelle. "How about you help Elsa instead?"
"M-me?" Kristoff stammered, intimidated by Anna's second wind.
Anna nodded her head earnestly. "She really, really needs some support right now! If I can't get outta this bed, at least I can trust you to help Elsa instead! It's brilliant!"
"Wait, what? No, I'm not going to end up a frozen ice cube just because she is your sister!"
"Isn't she your friend?" Anna whined, her eyelids starting to buckle as she spoke.
Kristoff scratched the back of his increasingly heated neck in embarrassment. "Well, yeah," he admitted, "but Elsa and I never face each other on purpose without-"
"Thank you so much..." Anna mumbled appreciatively, not at all paying heed to her boyfriend's protests. Her mouth opened wide into an impressive maw of a yawn as she fought to say her last words for the night.
"I love you..." At last, she slipped back within the security of her sheets, snoring away as loudly and soundly as if she had been sleeping for hours.
"-Without you nearby." Kristoff finished. The mountain man stared lamely at the dozing Princess, who now seemed to be positively reveling in her opportunity to go to dreamland. "Of course," he muttered in frustration. "Of course I have to be the one to help you, of course I have to be roped into your crazy and half-baked scenes, of course I have to end up dancing closer to death than any sane person has the right to because you're the Princess..."
Anna only snorted unconsciously in response.
"...and you're still worth all of the trouble, you lunatic." Kristoff ended, smiling in spite of everything he complained about. It's been three weeks since he first stumbled into Anna's path, dragging Kristoff into a world populated by people he always tried to avoid his entire life, yet he never pined for the days before ever since.
The ice harvester stood up from his cramped posture to stretch out of a yawn, and bent over to plant his lips on the Princess' brow. "I love you too, Anna..." he whispered.
Either the words or the kiss managed to seep through to the redhead's dreams, because the girl's lips widened into a lazy smile, and her face flushed warmly, the color mixing well with the smattering of freckles on her cheeks.
Now, Kristoff really didn't want to leave Anna's room.
"Is everything all right?"
Kristoff turned his head around to see Gerda standing by the doorway, her face incredibly pale even in the darkness of the night. She looked rigid and petrified, as if she had seen a ghost that threatened to haunt her for eternity. Even so, she delicately held a mug of hot chocolate that still steamed, and a slice of plump chocolate cake that glistened slightly in its appetizing allure.
"You're still carrying those around, Miss Gerda?" Kristoff asked bemusedly.
"They're Her Majesty's..." Gerda responded quietly. "I couldn't bear just to throw them away..."
These guys truly are that incredibly loyal to their Queen, huh? Kristoff thought to himself. He couldn't help but snort ruefully, slightly jealous of the Snow Queen. Man, what I'd give to have their support when I was a kid...
But that's not important anymore. Kristoff made a new life back then, living alongside his loving family of trolls. It only got better as an adult, now that the ice harvester was surrounded by his new collection of friends, living under the same roof with woman he loved. That had to account for something, right?
Alright, Anna. This is for you.
"Excuse me, Miss Gerda, but why don't I take those items out of your hands?"
Please, Elsa, just go to sleep…
"I-I can't!" Elsa gasped.
Why not?
"Just… just stop talking to me right now!" Elsa half-shouted, waving a hand to dismiss her inner voice. A futile effort. "Where is she? Where could she be?"
Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic...
Elsa's ice heels clacked against the floor as she paced back and forth, her calves burning tortuously for walking briskly without stopping. The Snow Queen rubbed the back of her hands nervously, ignoring the way how her room shone and glinted in the pale moonlight.
It was sufficient to say that Elsa was not in good shape. At all. She was so deep within her mental anguish, it took her nearly a minute to register that someone has been knocking on her door for just as long.
"A-Anna!?" Elsa called out hopefully, a hint of desperation coloring her voice.
The person on the other side of the door sighed audibly. "Um… no, sorry about that, Queen Elsa. It's Kristoff."
Elsa couldn't help but feel her heart sink in disappointment; she always expected Anna, with her warm heart and cheery outlook of life, to swoop in like a hero and save the day, complete with promises to hang around and have fun in the castle. Besides, the redhead had an uncanny knack for knowing whenever Elsa needed comfort.
The Queen really meant no offense to the Princess' boyfriend, but Kristoff was one of the last people Elsa expected to help in her situation. She cared for him, but they never approached each other without Anna nearby to encourage the two. Unlike the redhead, the ice harvester could be quite sour, rather dour, and at times very uncomfortable around people who wasn't the Princess.
As a matter of fact, Kristoff and Elsa probably shared too many similarities with each other, and two wrongs in that respect was not guaranteed to make a right.
"Are you alright?" the said mountain man called out worriedly. "Anna sent me to check on you!"
You still need help, Elsa. Let him in.
But... I may accidentally hurt him!
That never stopped you from hoping Anna would come inside nowadays.
"I guess I can't argue with myself..." Elsa mumbled.
"Hello? Did you say anything?"
"I-it's nothing to worry about, Kristoff." Elsa answered. She hesitated, and gulped before uttering her next words. "C-come in..."
The Queen of Arendelle couldn't bear to have the mountain man know just how deeply troubled she was, knowing that he would tell Anna straight away and cause more strife; she straightened her back and shoulders into a properly regal and rigid posture, and wore a calm and collected expression that could hopefully last for the rest of the night. As she overlapped her hands together to complete the illusion, she heard a faint thump on the door, along with an immediate grunt of mild pain.
"Of course," the man muttered from the other side. "Well, at least I didn't drop anything." The doorknob jiggled around for a bit, at first rotating very little, but making sharp crackling noises as it turned more and more freely. Chips of ice fell to the floor in droves, clinking as they hit the floor.
For some reason, the entire door was being very stubborn about remaining shut, and made probably everyone in the whole castle know by being as cacophonous as possible; when Kristoff finally used some muscle to force the door wide open, it screeched and crackled in response, angry for being subjected to this type of rough treatment.
Elsa winced at the piercing racket, and stared at the floor guiltily. She only just figured out why the door would be so difficult to force open: In her neurotic episode, the Snow Queen had unconsciously covered her entire bedroom in a thin coat of lustrous frost. Shame nearly overwhelmed her as a result, for unintentionally troubling the ice harvester when he held nothing but concern for her.
On the other hand, Kristoff saw Elsa's iced room in a more different light. When he took that one step inside, the ice harvester was rendered speechless, his eyes shining with awe rather than intimidation as he gazed in its full glamour. It occurred to him that he had never entered the Queen's chambers before, and this served as quite the first impression.
Placing whatever items he had in his hands on top of a nearby drawer, the blond man ran a finger over the glazed binding of a book laying on a nearby chair, admiring the pristine and flawless ice covering it, seemingly unaware of the anxious woman standing before him.
Several seconds passed on with the mountain man admiring more of what Elsa had done with her furniture and articles, making no progress whatsoever. Elsa had to clear her throat deliberately to remind Kristoff exactly why he entered in the first place. "Oh!" he yelped, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Um, excuse me, Miss Elsa- no no, wait, 'Your Majesty,' whoops..."
"What do you want?" Elsa asked hastily. She slapped a hand to her mouth immediately in regret.
Rude. Congratulations, Queen Elsa, you have just offended your sister's boyfriend with your attitude.
However, Kristoff seemed to not have caught onto her snippy tone. Instead, the man saw fit to scrutinize at a thick band of jagged shards of ice that jutted out of Elsa's bedroom walls at eye-level, extending all around in a straight line that connected at both ends, forming a crystalline ring. Elsa could just see the gears shift within the ice harvester's head as his brows furrowed, the obvious conclusion dawning upon him.
"This stretch of ice..." he remarked, sliding a finger over a frosted prism. His breath came out in thick puffs of steam. "You have been holding yourself in the entire time, haven't you?"
Elsa's left eye twitched, but the composure she had built up was not going to crack just yet; it was about time she behaved like a proper leader for once these days, one who wouldn't break down in front of Anna's consort, and by extension Anna herself. The Queen wanted to prove to both of them that she is still a strong leader, entirely capable of handling herself.
Which, of course, is just a big fat fib you keep telling yourself, Elsa. A spurt of snapping, crystalline petals from her feet cemented the statement further.
"Uh... Elsa, I know that you just kind of let loose an ice-bomb pretty recently." Kristoff commented tentatively, staring at the newly-created ice. His entire body was painfully alert, his eyes wide and his shoulders raised; tt was quite obvious that the mountain man was doubtful on whether the Snow Queen was safe to be around or not. "Should I watch my step, hold my tongue, go away, or something...?"
That second-to-last option sounded very appealing to Elsa, but she didn't want to appear any more discourteous than she had already been. "It's alright, Kristoff, it's all over now." she assured, forcing a smile on her face. "I will have this mess cleaned up soon enough."
Kristoff shoulders lowered slightly in relief, but he remained uneasy. This interaction between them was filled with far too many blunders to his liking, and the freezing cold of Elsa's room only made the frigid air between the two worse. To distract himself, he returned to surveying her room like a patron in an art gallery, exhaling a long, smoky breath as he monitored Elsa's bookshelf.
"Strange," the ice harvester remarked absentmindedly, "this place is totally different from Anna's, no question about it. Little Miss Feistypants' bedroom looked as if she had opened her windows to invite a howling storm inside, and I'm frankly certain she had done that on more than one occasion..."
He moved his attention to a nearby tabletop, which was decorated with only a few neatly arranged articles and candlesticks, including a vase of flowers coated in opalescent frost. "Compared to hers, this place is almost surgically neat..."
The man's eyes snapped wide opened in alarm, as it struck him that he was speaking his thoughts out loud in front of the Queen of Arendelle as if she wasn't there, who also happened to be his girlfriend's sister for crying out loud.
"I-I mean," he hastily amended, waving his hands in front of him defensively, "it's not like I'm that familiar with Anna's room and her habits- no, wait, we just spend a lot of time together..." Kristoff slapped himself in the forehead. "Oh boy, I'm just digging myself deeper, aren't I?"
Elsa couldn't help but place a hand over her mouth, giggling at the ice harvester's special way with words. "If what you are trying to say is that I am much neater than my sister, then thank you very much." she said appreciatively.
"Oh, alright then..." Kristoff looked around in confusion, wondering how was he supposed to do Anna's job of comforting her sister: Not only was he completely different from the warm and optimistic Anna, he was also a man raised by people who were decidedly inhuman, and a bit of a knobhead to boot; Sven had always delighted in pointing that particular trait with relish, the rascal.
Well, he at least made Elsa laugh at him. That ought to register as a start.
"You must be exhausted, Kristoff." the Queen commented. "Would you like me to give you a seat?"
"Uh, that's alright. I'll just grab one for myself, thank you." His eyes darted around for a suitable chair, finding one leaning against the wall. Naturally, it required a bit of brute force to wrench from its frozen spot. He planted it in front of Elsa's desk, and gestured towards the nearby drawer as he sat. "You must be hungry, Elsa."
As if the world had been conspiring against Elsa for this very moment, her stomach growled loudly and enthusiastically before she could refuse him, unnecessarily confirming Kristoff's statement. Even as Elsa's face shifted to a complete shade of mortified scarlet, she knew there was truth in the mountain man's words; unlike Kristoff or Anna, the Queen had not eaten anything since she had returned to the castle.
"I guess- I guess I'll have a late night snack then." Elsa suggested to a beaming Kristoff. "Thank you."
Elsa walked over to the wooden surface, and gasped to see the chocolate cake and the hot cocoa from the Royal Library waiting for her. She clasped her hand around the mug, which still steamed in the chilled air, and felt its heat tingling through her fingertips and up her arm pleasantly.
A single sip was all it took for Elsa to enter a state of pure bliss; the creamy and sweet liquid flowed down Elsa's throat, filling her entire mouth and nose with its heavenly aroma, before settling in her belly delightedly. Already, she felt could it rich warmth bolstering her, lightening her mood several times over.
"It's delicious... I'd have to remember to commend Gerda for this!" Elsa blurted excitedly, her face positively glowing. She rushed over to her desk with cake and drink on hand, sitting down as she took another sip from the mug with a smile. No longer did she fret about looming threats, or the pressures of being around people; for the first time since night has fallen, Queen Elsa had fully returned to her usual self.
Kristoff grinned at Elsa, knowing that his mission was accomplished. After all, he did what Anna wanted him to do all along; he finished cheering her sister out of her funk, and he didn't even have to worry about being frosted down to his toes!
Even so, a nagging thought skittered through the back of Kristoff's mind like a stubborn parasite that would never leave. The Queen still looked so removed, so forlorn in spite of her happier outlook. Smiling brightly had somehow only revealed the features that would have sent a doctor into a panic attack: Elsa widened eyes were intensely reddened, and the puffy and shadowed bags beneath them could have applied for genuine bruises. Not only that, but she twitched involuntarily throughout her entire body from weakened muscles, convulsing at random intervals.
"Elsa..." Kristoff said with suspicion. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Elsa stared at the ice harvester, and choked on her words slightly before sighing in defeat. "I... I can't sleep." she disclosed apologetically. "I tried for at least an hour now, but there was nothing I could do to help."
Kristoff nodded his head slowly, hardly surprised by her response; if he knew Elsa even half as well as Anna does, he could still tell that the combined stress of being a Queen, being a good sister, and, well... pretty much everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours, was getting to her.
"I see... You've been thinking about a lot, haven't you? Ghosts, Ravendall, sibling relationships, that sort of thing?"
Elsa averted her blue eyes away from the ice harvester, saying not a single word.
Honestly, Kristoff wished he could muster up the will to stand up from his chair, and leave Elsa's room while she was still amicable enough. He didn't know exactly how Anna exercised her own brand of magic on everyone around her with her personality, how she was able to coerce someone like Kristoff into becoming more friendly and polite to others, how she was not afraid of Elsa suffering another meltdown and releasing her ice magic in stunningly beautiful yet terrifying ways, like an unpredictable force of nature.
Yes, Kristoff had already done what he was asked for. So... what was his reason for staying, shivering in his summer clothes in this unnatural cold?
At least I can trust you to help Elsa instead!
Isn't she your friend?
" Your Majesty-" Kristoff began.
"Please, for the last time, you have no need for any formalities around me." The air grew in several degrees in temperature as she smiled.
The corners of the mountain man's mouth curved just a hint upwards; with Elsa now back in her default state, Kristoff finally felt that he was walking on familiar, safe territory in this conversation. "How could I help so you can finally get a good night's sleep?"
Queen Elsa blinked at him in astonishment. "You'd really do that, for me?" she asked, pointing at herself with a finger. She raised her hands to fidget with her sparkling braid, blushing furiously. "I-I don't want to trouble you, Kristoff. You need your own rest, after all."
"Anna gave me a direct order as Princess of Arendelle to help you in any way I can tonight." Kristoff contended, smirking vindictively. "Are you going to deny the requests of your very own sister?"
Elsa glanced to her side, muttering something dark underneath her breath; Kristoff could only pick up Anna's name in the middle of the Queen's mumbling. Probably a mild curse, the mountain man guessed cheerfully.
Elsa sucked in a deep breath through her nose to compose herself, nodding once in acknowledgement. "Okay, Kristoff... can you-" she cleared her throat and avoided his eyes, "-can you help me find something, then? I've been looking for it ever since I came back to my room."
The ice harvester tried to appear relaxed by nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, I can do that. Just what am I looking for, exactly?"
Elsa pursed her lips, somewhat regretting her request for assistance to the ice harvester. "It's small enough to fit in your hands, and is probably covered in a shell of frost."
Kristoff tilted his head at her. "I see," he answered dryly. "That would probably knock off most of your furniture as possible choices. Would you care to be more specific?"
The two stared at each other in awkward silence. "I-I'm sorry," Kristoff quickly admitted, "my mouth just kind of went into auto-pilot right there..."
"Me too," said Elsa. "It's been a long day for the both of us. Look, I'll have this room sorted out to help you out." With a single flourish of her lithe fingers, the wooden top of her desk gave off an ambient glow that disintegrated into wisps of ice as numerous as the stars. They balled into sizable snowflakes, before vanishing into nothingness.
It took all of Kristoff's willpower not to gawk at the magic and forget to breathe. "Okay then... Can you at least give me a hint?" he asked.
Elsa appeared to be so absorbed in lifting the ice out of her bedroom objects with every wave of her hand, Kristoff initially thought she refused to answer the mountain man's question entirely. It took nearly a minute of scratching his head and picking up blatantly wrong items (including a romance novel just to rib the Queen) when Elsa finally gave in. "It's... it's a children's toy. A dolly." she confessed.
Ah... no wonder she's so touchy about the subject.
Kristoff tried his best to grin at Elsa without appearing insulting, an act that has had practice for over three weeks thanks to having one of the goofiest girlfriends in human history. "Let me guess... It has red hair, and most likely wears a green dress, no?"
"Wh-... How on Earth did you come to that conclusion?" Elsa sputtered defensively.
"You don't have anything to be embarrassed about, Elsa." The ice harvester's memory rewound several minutes earlier, when he was still dragging a half-dead, full-spirited redhead to her bedroom. "I'm not going to call you childish because you keep dolls at your age. Besides, Anna has one that looks surprisingly like you in her room as well."
"She... she still has it with her?"
Kristoff nodded his head. "Well, yeah." He bent over at a corner of the room to observe stacks of papers, each printed with more words than a drawn-sled registration file and an overly prose-filled book put together. "What are these, by the way?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, that?" Elsa asked, finishing off the last sheet of ice covering the floors. "Just try not to knock them over; they're finished government documents. I uh... It was the first thing I tried to tire myself out. I ended up finishing about a week's quota of work."
Unlike Anna, Elsa was the kind of person to find some sort of sick enjoyment in slaving away on government requests and formalities for hours on end, much to her little sister's consternation. As a matter of fact, Elsa saw her work as a source of stability, one of the few things in her life that she could easily manage (yes, even including the unruly ambassadors and surprise meetings) just by applying her years of training, without fearing anything spiraling out of control like her powers occasionally did. Now that she no longer had any papers to take her mind off from her troubles...
Kristoff, being an ice harvester and not a monarch with phenomenal cosmic powers, was unaware of that detail, merely whistling low out of a mix of respect and slight apprehension. "Heh, at least you can take quite some time off to enjoy yourself, right?"
When no one chose to answer his question, Kristoff turned his head, alarmed to see that Elsa had left her desk to sit despondently on her bed, surrounded by idle snowflakes, and laid the untouched chocolate cake next to her as she stared off at the distance.
...I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut for now, then.
On the bright side, the ice harvester finally found the dolly Elsa had been searching for soon afterwards; the toy had comfortably tucked itself away in the darkness between two adjacent bookshelves. It looked exactly as he had expected it; red hair bound in pigtails, a smiling face with blush stickers, and a little green dress that bore a resemblance to his girlfriend. A hint of frost clung to the fabric, giving it a gentle white sheen.
"Well well, look at what we have here, hiding for all this time?" Kristoff joked, bouncing the toy in his large hands for Elsa to see. He held the doll by its little arms, flicking it back and forth so its legs flailed in a lively jig. "She's pretty cute." he chortled. "What's her name?"
Elsa giggled at the red-haired doll dancing in Kristoff's hands. "I don't think her name should be mentioned..."
"Aw, come on..." Kristoff drawled.
"Okay, okay!" Elsa huffed a short breath, blushing a little. "I've always considered her... well, my little Anna."
"'Anna'?" Kristoff grinned. "Not the one for creative naming much, I see."
"That's rich, coming from the man who named his reindeer 'Sven'." Elsa shot back.
The man raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Alright, you got me there. To tell you the truth, I don't think I could find a name more fitting anyway for this doll anyway." Kristoff complimented. With that said, he passed it to the Queen, and sat besides her on the bedroom mattress.
Elsa welcomed the doll with open arms, rubbing its cheeks lightly with her thumbs as she cradled it in her hands. Her face positively glowed, the straining muscles in her face and body relaxing for the first time in hours.
However, the smile that she had been wearing for so long now shattered upon inspecting it closely; in the pale moonlight of the night, the frost covering parts of the toy was accentuated, bearing an uncanny resemblance to... her baby sister, suffering a frozen curse placed on her heart.
The Snow Queen choked, her breaths becoming shallow as she wiped her fingers on the frost in a frantic attempt to melt it away. The ice only grew in response, crawling its way through the rest of the doll's body like spider webs, birthing crystals that spread outwards as unwanted growths.
I'm hurting her! What was I doing, I'm hurting her!
The panic attack did not go unnoticed by Kristoff; taking a page out of Anna's book, he firmly grasped Elsa by her pale shoulders, forcing the platinum blonde to look straight at him. He found himself staring into Elsa's widened blue eyes, which were filled with such fear and self-loathing that all but screamed, Please, leave me be!
For just one second, the ice harvester was tempted to comply, to release her and leave her alone out of pity. He could even end up frozen if he stayed any longer.
But... That would be the easy way out. Letting Elsa go would only be a self-serving act; it wouldn't solve anything, and it would certainly do nothing but leave her all the worse for the wear. Why would he choose such a petty choice for something like that? She needed help now, and she's going to get it, whether or not both parties were willing.
So instead, he only stared harder into those fearful blue eyes, ignoring the wind that was beginning to pick up in speed and bite at his cheeks. "Elsa," he whispered, "just focus onto me, and stop paying attention to anything else. You'll be fine, Elsa. Anna is safe, and you are not going to freeze someone anytime soon."
"I'll... I'll be fine...?"
"Yes, yes you will, Elsa. Just take a deep breath, and relax..."
Elsa followed the ice harvester's instructions, piecing her mind back together as she listened to him. He was no Anna, but his presence and determination was most assuring to the Snow Queen during her breakdown.
"You're doing alright, just keep going..." his voice continued.
She's safe... I'm safe... She's safe... Elsa repeated in her head.
After enough time, with the freezing wind dying down, she remembered that she was just enjoying a conversation between Kristoff and herself earlier, and that he found the doll for her; it still rested in her hands, smiling as if Elsa never did anything wrong to it, as if Elsa never did anything wrong to the sister it was based on.
It didn't take too long afterwards for Elsa to finally thaw the little figure, removing all traces of ice as if they never appeared. Finishing the deed, she hugged the doll between her arms, and returned to staring dejectedly at the other side of the room.
Kristoff sagged backwards onto the mattress once the coast was clear, exhausted and drained. His heart drummed incessantly, threatening to burst out of his chest and run off to flee for its life. Well, can't really say I wasn't expecting this to happen at some point... Anna made it look so easy. he reflected.
Next to him, Elsa rested the little Anna doll next to her, so it sat nearby the plate of chocolate cake.
"What would my life be... if I was never born with my magic?" Elsa asked wistfully to the empty air, returning her head to the direction she was facing.
Out of curiosity, the ice harvester followed Elsa's gaze to a large portrait hung up on the wall, one painted in the image of a mustached man with sharp facial features, broad shoulders, and expensive-looking garments. He wore a crown on top of his finely groomed hair, and held a golden orb and scepter in his strong hands. Even as a simple painting, the man breathed of royal authority.
This person was no stranger to the mountain man; Kristoff had seen that man several times before in the Palace galleries, and even once in a vague memory thirteen years past: He could only be Anna and Elsa's late father, the previous King of Arendelle.
If memory served correctly, it was because of the King that Elsa was forced to hide her powers away from the rest of the world. It was because of him that Elsa couldn't be friends with Anna for thirteen agonizing years, depriving the Princess of the company she so terribly needed when the he and their mother died three years back.
It was because of this King that Anna and Elsa were left without a proper family to love.
"Well, that ain't right..." Kristoff muttered darkly.
"What?" Elsa asked, glancing sideways at him.
"That's not right." Kristoff repeated. "The fact that you hid your ice powers away for thirteen years, stuck in the castle and barred from your own sister? You and Anna deserved better than that, and now those thirteen years are just... gone. All of this pain you two have felt, all because of a single accident?
"Elsa, don't go around in denial of your powers. It doesn't matter that you've made a few mistakes with your magic, or that you've have endangered someone's life with it. Nobody is immune to accidents, even for a Queen like you." He pointed at the framed man watching the two with painted eyes. "He certainly wasn't, and he's been gone for years. It's about time you take a stand and walk on your own two feet, without relying on him for advice."
Seconds ticked by in stunned silence...
Kristoff's eyes slowly widened with horror. Him and his fat and blunt mouth! What exactly was he doing, imposing his personal opinions on a freaking Queen? Seeing Elsa gape at him, taken aback by his sudden outburst, only served to make the mountain man curse himself even further.
"Ah geez, just- just forget about everything I've said, Elsa! I-I kind of went into a rant there..." Kristoff slapped himself in the forehead moaning: "Who am I kidding, It's not like I can do better. I've already heard the story from Grand Pabbie several times before, and Anna helped fill in the gaps about your family's relationship."
Elsa continued to stare at the ice harvester with her icy blue eyes, their color disturbing him by being so uncannily similar to Anna's. Kristoff swallowed nervously. "F-from what I could tell, while you and Anna never had a happy childhood, at least your mom and dad loved you two very much, and only wanted what was best for everyone."
The mountain man sighed, praying with all of his might that he may survive the night before he digs himself even further. "I apologize for... pretty much everything that just spewed from my mouth," he confessed, "I have no right to blame your dad like that..."
"No no, it's alright Kristoff," Elsa hastily assured, "I'm glad that you're so concerned for me, I truly am!"
"Well, you are Anna's sister, after all." Kristoff added. He looked back at the portrait, finding the fire within him dying down a little, giving his head some space to think rationally. "Truth be told, I guess I was being so riled up, because I'm slightly jealous of you..."
Elsa's dark brows furrowed in confusion. "Wait, what are you talking about?"
"I mean, you have people who will always be there to love and stay true to you in every day of your life: Your parents, your people, and most especially Anna. No one can compare with that much loyalty, not even the guys back at that Valley! That's not even mentioning your incredible powers!" the ice harvester exclaimed.
"…Even if you could accidentally hurt your loved ones?" Elsa countered softly. "Even if people would become scared of you, and possibly hurt you for being different?"
Kristoff snorted. "Lady, I've always been a bit of a loner with tendency to find myself in bad situations, and I'd lived with a family of trolls for the majority of my life. I don't even think they would be nearly as bothered by ice, being made of stone and thick skulls, after all. Heck, I also have Sven, who would know what to do should I theoretically go 'overboard.'"
Kristoff looked up to the ceiling, crossing his arms and pointed shoes in thought. "Until I've met your sister, I would have been perfectly happy to be all by myself, harvesting ice every day for the rest of my life. Three weeks ago, I would have told you, with complete honesty, that your magic had absolutely no drawbacks whatsoever."
Elsa blinked at the ice harvester, and reached for the plate of chocolate cake sitting beside her. Gently placing it on her lap, she stabbed the slice with a fork to separate a piece, and brought it to her mouth, chewing slowly and deliberately without saying a word.
As she ate in silence, a plan was beginning to formulate slowly within the ice harvester's mind, something that may ease the tension between the two for one last time. He was not entirely sure what was he going to push for, but this was worth a shot.
"Um... do you want start all of this over and talk about stuff, even for a bit?" Kristoff inquired.
Elsa swallowed her food, looking at Kristoff with a withered expression. There seemed to be a sort of debate raging on behind her cerulean eyes, no doubt on whether or not it was wise for her to comply. She wasn't alone, either; Kristoff was already having second thoughts on this plan as well.
"...I promise that I will respect whatever decision you come up with you. I'm not going to judge." Kristoff added.
Finally, The Queen nodded slowly, gesturing him to carry on.
"Okay..." Kristoff, how about you start slow... "What is it like ever since you reunited with Anna?"
Elsa smiled fondly at the mention of the redhead's name, her face taking on a healthier glow. "I've never been better, Kristoff. Now that I could finally tell her just how much I cared without ever ignoring her, or shutting her out because of my selfishness and cowardice, I was finally able to get a grip on my powers." She raised a hand to flex her long fingers, creating little wisps of bluish light that twinkled like stars. "Whenever my ice was beginning to burst, I can finally fix the damages, for the first time in thirteen years. It was all thanks to Anna... and you."
"Huh?" Kristoff said dumbly.
"I've mentioned it several times before in the past three weeks; I cannot forget the sacrifices you've made to keep my baby sister safe, neither could I dismiss the happiness that you have provided her. It was thanks to your courage and generosity that Anna is now the luckiest girl in Arendelle, Kristoff Bjorgman."
Kristoff's face flushed out of pride and embarrassment, but his mind remained fixed on what needs to be done. He must address the elephant in the room, knowing it would upset the now content Elsa, or else these freezing episodes that keep popping up will continue to occur, with results that could be increasingly risky. He couldn't let Anna's sister hurt anyone else again, most especially herself.
The King's watchful eyes remained staring at the ice harvester, seemingly encouraging him to push forward.
Now, get ready to prepare a living will... "Elsa, how do you feel about your parents?"
Upon the mere mention of the word "parents," the temperature in the room plummeted several degrees in temperature, brought forth by breezes that should never be as ice-cold as they were. The mountain man was more than ready to panic in response, cringing at the sudden chill nipping at him, but he remained seated to the mattress.
Next to him, Elsa bit her bottom lip, deciding on how she should proceed.
In truth, Elsa wasn't sure if she had fully settled her own feelings with her parents, given how poorly she would react whenever they crossed. She wasn't sure why; Elsa could never hold anything against them, in spite of all the pain their decisions have brought to both her and Anna. They still loved her, giving the platinum blonde support whenever they could, as well as everything she needed to become the ruler Arendelle needed: How to negotiate, how to plan around the field of politics, how to maintain her composure in adversity... besides the icing problem, of course.
So... What's making you fear your own parents?
Under Kristoff's patient eyes, Elsa drew to a conclusion with surprising speed. "I-... I miss them. I miss Mother and Father so much..." Elsa raised a hand to her head to massage her temple lightly. "The day they left on that trip... the only thing I felt I was able to do was to see them out of the Palace doors, so I could at least say farewell to them. I couldn't bring myself to hug them like Anna probably did, in case if I would accidentally freeze them..."
Kristoff nodded gravely. "Anna told me what happened that day."
"Then you would also remember that there was a funeral held for them. Almost everyone in the kingdom came to pay their respects; Anna, Kai, Gerda, the townspeople... Everyone attended, except me. I held myself back, staying inside the lonely castle so I couldn't see anyone's faces, or potentially freeze someone because I was so distressed. I tried justifying my actions, telling myself that I could hurt someone if I stepped outside the castle for the first time in years, and that people would hunt me down for being a monster, a danger to my very own people...
"Of course, I merely took the coward's path, not even owning up to myself to at least stand next to Anna when she needed me most. I couldn't even tell her the truth about why I pushed myself away from her life, even after Mama and Papa were gone!" Elsa lowered her eyes, stricken with grief. "Instead, I hid in my bedroom as I had always done, lost and confused because I no longer had my parents to guide me..."
"Surely, that no longer applies now that you understood how to control you powers with love, right Elsa?" Kristoff commented.
Some of the miring heaviness faded away from Elsa's features, although she continued to look incredibly despondent. "Well... a week after the Thaw, Anna took me out in a picnic to visit our parents, so I could finally say goodbye once and for all. Truth be told, the experience wasn't as bad as I had predicted; Anna and I ate, read each other stories that we brought from our rooms, enjoyed each other's company, and even wrote little poems to read to... them."
Elsa waved an arm to gesture at the small specks of snow that still littered the bed chambers. "Coming there really helped me a lot, but I haven't fully coped yet, evidently." She turned to face the ice harvester, her voice sad and sympathetic. "Anna mentioned that you were an orphan too. Was it difficult for you as well? About your parents?"
Kristoff grunted. "I wouldn't know, because I hardly remembered them."
Elsa, stunned by this information, stuffed her face hastily with chocolate cake to prevent herself from offending Kristoff further with errant comments or uncomfortable stares.
"I guess if I tried really, really hard, I could recollect a few details about them, like maybe a smile or two... but it has been so long ago." Kristoff admitted. "I can't even remember which parent gave me the Sami sash that I wear during ice harvesting trips."
"So... how did you-"
"I was placed in an orphanage for a couple of years, maybe more." Kristoff's brown eyes hardened as he brought up old, painful memories. "Never really fitted in with anyone else; even as I asked for friendship, all of the kids teased me about everything; my hair, my apparent stupidity, the smell of my clothing, and even my feet."
To prove his point, he briefly lifted a leg to reveal his shoes with the upward-curling toes. "The adults were hardly of any use either, given that they were at a total loss for what to do with me; I stopped trying to make friends, and grew a distaste for people altogether. I even gave up on finding new parents.
"Eventually, it was too much for me to handle, and I ran away without ever looking back. Frankly, it was one of my proudest moments in my life, and I've never regretted it."
"Oh..." Something tugged at the back of Elsa's mind. "But, didn't you said that you were adopted by the trolls at the age of eight..."
"Yeah, about that... I spent those days in-between as a drifter, following ice harvesters while they worked. They were absolutely terrible role models to be honest, but they took me in without much questioning, teaching me their trade. I was perfectly fine with that; I could at least remember my parents being ice harvesters, and working with those men was how I eventually met Sven."
Kristoff smiled briefly in nostalgia oh his first meeting with his goofy best friend. "The big guy taught me how to be friendlier to others, at least to the necessary extent. He brought a joy to my life that working a dream job could never match.
"Unfortunately though, ice harvesting was a harsh occupation; we were always on the move, with hardly enough money to spare between the two of us, until I was finally taken in by that crazy, overbearing, and absolutely wonderful Bulda, and the rest of her troll clan."
The Queen and the ice harvester sat in silence, with the platinum blonde deep in thought. After some deliberation, Elsa hesitantly rested a cool hand on Kristoff's broad shoulder, patting it gently. "Three weeks, and I've never knew how harsh your past was... I must be a terrible excuse of a friend to you, Kristoff."
"Oh no, not at all! I'm actually glad you consider me as a friend in the first place!"
Elsa ignored the mountain man's protests, smiling warmly at him as the bedroom's temperature finally returning to summer normalcy. "It is rewarding to know that even so, you have been raised well by your adoptive family, being so well-adjusted and loving compared to ones like mine..."
"Hm?"
"I've seen how you'd interacted with Helge today. Despite your tendency to engage in fights with the little guy, all of that bickering never amounted to anything besides simple laughs; you two trusted each other enough that you don't have to worry about hurting him, like actual siblings should. I trust that the same applies to all of those trolls back at Helge's home."
Kristoff grinned at Elsa, pleasantly surprised that Anna's older sister had such a positive view on him. "Thanks, but that's nothing at all. Don't you have something similar with Anna?"
Elsa's smile stiffened in place, followed along by the rest of her body. The Queen became visibly conflicted, her eyes wincing as if she was being angrily shouted at. She began picking at her fingernails, their edges clicking against each other in the ensuing silence.
"...I don't have a happy, healthy sisterly relationship with Anna at all." Elsa mumbled bitterly. "I'm supposed to be her older sister. I should feel free to tease her and joke around whenever I wish, without feeling guilty or fearing I will reject her once more. I should be the one holding her hand her when she's afraid or facing tough obstacles in her life, because I would know best how to fix them.
"Instead, Anna has to tend to me every time I felt I have done something terrible, every time my powers start going out of control again!" Elsa turned to Kristoff, looking into his alarmed eyes with desperate intensity. "I should be the one protecting my baby sister, not the other way around! Even after we can finally tell each other 'I love you', after years of painful silence, I've done nothing but inconvenience her because she chose to be my keeper!"
Kristoff watched the Queen sadly as she covered her face with her hands, leaning downwards in silent anguish.
Frankly, Elsa was right about Anna being her mediator; until the Royal Visit yesterday plus Kristoff's conscription into the Save-Elsa-Service, Anna had been there for each and every one of Elsa's big-time major meltdowns, the kinds that could have frozen over the entire castle if left unattended. In a sense, Anna was the responsible part of the duo that does not involve business or politics: Everyday life, in other words.
Seriously, the redhead must have some kind of sister sense for this kind of job, because she was always able to placate the Snow Queen from her deepest funks just by being her gentle and sunny self, returning everything to normal as quickly as the enchanted snow began appearing. The ice harvester, by contrast, was barely keeping Elsa together, and he had been inside her bedroom for more than half an hour.
Stick to the plan.
"Elsa..." Kristoff began. "Look, I understand how you feel about me and Helge, but that's just one relationship; you don't know how I would behave around Cliff, Dagny, Jens, Gunvor, or any of those other people that I consider as part of the family." He patted the Queen on the shoulder, prompting her to glance through her hands at him. "I just treat Helge like I do because that's how it works between us. With those other guys, it's different; sometimes I have to be the one to force the trolls to clean themselves despite being younger by decades, and other times they were the ones babying me and force-feeding me crystals and unnecessary love advice.
"The point I'm trying to say is this; there are no set rules for being a sibling. Anna has never complained about being the one looking out for you, and I know for certain that you are at your happiest whenever she's around." The ice harvester shrugged. "I can't tell you how to be your ideal older sister, Elsa. You're just going to have to figure that out between you and her. It's your choice to make."
Elsa didn't exactly smile, or stopped looking so upset with herself. However, there was a faint glimmer in those blue eyes, mirroring those of Anna's for just the briefest of seconds, which resembled something like hope.
Alright, Kristoff, it's time to make the Princess proud. "If you would like, I can provide you some actual examples right now."
"Really?" Elsa asked.
"Yep. Helge isn't the only other adoptive brother I have inside this castle, you know. In the excitement of this night, I've completely forgotten to sing Sven his nightly lullabies. You can come along with me if you wish, and watch while I botch my lyrics along with the world's greatest reindeer singer."
Elsa giggled as Kristoff made his offer, which was a promising sign. Even more promising was when the Queen tucked the smiling Anna doll into her bed, allowing it to rest snugly in those soft pillows, and placed her empty plate onto her wooden desktop with a clink of porcelain.
"So... do you accept my offer?"
Elsa nodded her head in agreement, her eyes crinkling with laughter. "I'll gladly come, since you asked so nicely to me."
"That's the spirit." Kristoff responded, grinning as he stood up from the mattress. "Ladies first."
Elsa tilted her head at the ice harvester in curiosity, but turned around to exit the bedroom with a swish of her icy blue cape.
Because her back was facing Kristoff, Elsa didn't see the mountain man quickly flip one of the redheaded doll's plush hands out of the sheets and high above its head, making it appear as if was cheerfully waving farewell and good luck to the both of them.
"crunch" "stomp" "snap"
"Filthy..."
"crunch"
"Irritating..."
"stomp" "stomp"
"Hideous, disgusting, wretched pieces of existence. Absurd, overly-willful mewling souls that had the luck to crawl from beneath the lowest, dankest stone of a choked river, and survive. These humans... never bothering to stay quiet with all of that racket, not even in death..."
Only the summer wind whistling past the limbs and leaves of trees answered to this figure's monologue.
"Quit you're incessant whining, you slaughtered squealing simpleton. You've offended me by wafting your irksome stench into my home, disturbing my peaceful slumber. I demand comeuppance."
Once again, the figure's words were met with only the relative silence of a forest at night.
"Of course I cannot hurt you, you great prig. Stop talking while I'm trying to think, your words are as rancid as- oh." The creature's purple eyes gleamed gleefully in the moonlight. "Oh... ohohoho...
"This person you bemoaned about, this 'Adam'..."
The figure stretched a great and muscular arm out, enclosing its thick, battle-scarred fingers fully around the bark of a nearby oak tree. With a simple grunt, the sinewy muscles within the limb contracted, tearing the wood and its deep, sprawling roots from the soil as easily as if it was harvesting a lone vegetable.
The figure brought the tree's crown to its tombstone teeth, grinding and mashing branches and leaves alike in rhythm before swallowing the pulp, the sound echoing like the dark rumble of thunder.
"...I've just thought of the greatest way to insult you and your ineffectual tantrum, child." the monster divulged with contentment, spitting a loose chuck of bark to the ground. The moist projectile left an imprint several times the area of a horse's stomp, and twice as deep.
The tall figure grinned at its handiwork, and crunched once more on the half-bitten oak, making a crackling and popping racket as it chewed. "I'll just pound that tiny little fishing village, and all of its poor little inhabitants into the ground with my fists until there's nothing left but a scarlet patch of dirt and rubble. Then, you'll be left unable to enact on your excuse of a revenge."
The furious response, a series of hissing curses and further jets of ghostly miasma, only served as sweet words of encouragement to the Bergrisi. A rumbling chuckle emerged from deep within its cavernous throat, kicking loose stones from their place with its sheer amplitude alone.
So... Adam the Adventurer was last seen there, at that fjord...
Well, this ought to be fun.
QVMMRUVI OVV HZRW VOHZ ZMW DIVXP-RG IZOKS DLFOW NZPV Z XFGV XLFKOV.
Confused? Here's a hint: Sir Lord Quentin Trembley III, Esq. was responsible for founding TIZERGB UZOOH.
Anyone who posts this translated message as a review or a PM gets... I don't know, actually. An internet cookie? A pat on the back? My research (Google Search) notes? Failed ideas? Yet another rant?
Eh, I'll figure something out when somebody actually responds.
Again, feel free to ask me any questions. I'll gladly answer all of them, even uncomfortable and personal ones. It staves off the boredom.
See you guys soon, fans of Frozen.