InsaneJournal

Freedom! Anna dashed out of the Mess Hall at top speed, the second the doors were working again. She’d spent plenty of time pacing nervously, stuffing her face, and sleeping on benches. Right at that moment some others were probably thinking about eating or taking a long nap, but not Anna. She had places to go and sisters to check in on!

She flung her arms out to either side as she dashed towards the turbolift, and kept that up all the way down the corridor of the D-deck, nearly running into a few people along the way. When she finally arrived at her own door, she bounced through it and shouted out, “ELSAA?”

Elsa arrived in a much calmer and more regal pace than her sister. Once she knew Loki was going to be okay, the time in the Red Alert had dragged on. She was a bit hungry, a little sore from lack of a proper bed, and feeling a bit odd about three days trapped. It wasn't entirely a new feeling for her, and that was a bit concerning. She was no longer used to forced isolation. But at least she hadn't been alone.

Still, she'd be grateful to see her little sister again. She was growing tired of this gaining her back and then losing her again thing. She made her way into the shared room only a few steps behind the wild child that was her sister. “The entire ship can hear you, silly girl.” There was fondness in her tone as she slipped up behind her.

"Ahh!" Anna jumped at first, not expecting Elsa to come up behind her like that. But then she bounced on her heels, spun around, and grabbed her sister into a gigantic bear hug. "It's okay if they hear me, I'm only looking for you. Maybe they'd have seen you and could have shouted back some directions!"

It probably was a bit too late in the evening to be shouting in the area where they all slept, but Anna wasn't even thinking about that. Her sole focus had been on finding Elsa again, and now she was here. "This was crazy. Are you okay?"

In spite of the rather loud yelling far too close to her ears, Elsa had to grin. She'd missed the younger girl, even if she'd only had her back a few days. Maybe because she'd only had her back a few days.

“I'm fine,” she reassured, giving Anna a slightly more reserved but just as loving hug. “A little hungry but that can be fixed easily. Apparently Loki stashes fruit in his room.” And had been kind enough to share once he'd summoned it with a rather impressive spell. Something she knew she'd never learn to do, despite everyone's insistence to the contrary. “Mostly I'm just bitter I couldn't even create ice cream. Just the ice part. Are you okay?”

"You made me an ice cream cake for my birthday, I know you'll get the hang of it eventually," Anna said, encouragingly. She knew that Elsa seemed to be there from some earlier point in time, and it was likely that she didn’t remember all the amazing things she could do yet. "There's all kinds of things you can do with your magic! Like my dress, here."

She let go of Elsa so that she could point down at the sunflower dress she was still wearing, and the little embellishments Elsa had added to it. "You gussied it up with sparkles and things. But I'm okay, I guess. Things in the Mess Hall were like... crazy at first, then they calmed down, then people just ended up getting frustrated and yelling a lot. But the shiny black suit man mainly kept to himself, so I didn't get a chance to try and make friends."

He'd spent a lot of time talking to this elegant older woman who'd taken charge of the situation, though, and she wondered if they had a history. "This nice lady who I think used to work as a queen or something tried to keep order. No one got hurt or anything."

Elsa's eyebrows lifted as she took in her sister's dress. Well. She had made a gown or two for herself, she supposed it would be easy enough to conjure one for another person. “I did that?” She looked it over critically. “Not bad. I'll have to make you another soon.” If she could figure it out. Of course she could figure it out. If future her could do it, this one could.

She hoped.

She was a little sad to hear her sister hadn't been able to work her charm on the dark man. Though, to be honest, she was also grateful that meant Anna hadn't been able to get hurt. Sometimes that trusting nature left her far too vulnerable. “A queen?” She didn't know many other queens on board. Lomea was a form of royalty, in her own way. “I know Leia was a princess before she became a general. Was she older? Very pretty?” The woman had become a bit of an icon for Elsa.

“I'm just so glad you're safe,” she declared again, hugging the little redhead once more before pulling away to sit at the edge of her bed. “I did try freezing the door to push it off the hinges. It doesn't work on space doors.”

"I guess a lot of stuff probably doesn't work the same way that it does in space," Anna replied, scrunching her nose up a bit. There were amazing things about Space, like the fact that they were in it at all. But she missed home a lot of the time. "Ooo, I'd love another dress! Maybe one a bit lighter than this... it's for summer but it seems to be a little warmer here all the time than it was back in Arendelle."

She had full confidence that Elsa could do every amazing thing she'd already seen her do, and that was never in question. "I wish I'd thought to bring you some food. They never run out of it there in the mess hall, the magic box can make you anything you want! I taught Ahsoka about meat loaves that way."

Which was completely off topic from the identity of the queen she'd mentioned. She reeled herself back in, nervously tucking some hair behind her ear. "She was older than me and very pretty. Brown curly hair? But she had this way of glaring daggers at anyone who started trouble. Really FIERCE. Anyway they talked a lot. Everyone else in there seemed scared of him."

Elsa's face scrunched thoughtfully. It definitely sounded like her sister had a much more interesting adventure during the Red Alert than she had. Though she had enjoyed taking the time to get to know her demigod friend a bit better. When he was more lucid, anyway. “I don't know that I know her,” she admitted. “Then, I haven't gotten to know very many people yet.” Which was fair, she thought. Her social skills were still lacking, though she did try.

“What did Ahsoka think of meat loaves?” And what sort of food did they eat in her world that meat loaves were such a surprise?

Meanwhile, she sat and considered. Her sister did deserve a new dress. Something their style, but maybe a little more updated. She didn't want to blend into this world completely, but she thought maybe she'd be okay fitting in a bit better. Perhaps Anna felt similarly. She'd have to think on it. The skirts were certainly much shorter on the Enterprise than they were back home. “What do you think of the clothes here?” she finally asked, considering their dresses versus those of their friends.

"That's okay, there are LOTS of people aboard here! I think it would take weeks to get to know them all, maybe even months!" Anna replied, while looking down at her own dress. It definitely wasn't in the style that people these days seemed to wear. Maybe it was nice to fit in. She felt like she stuck out enough with how cheerful she seemed to be compared to the others.

"They're sort of clingy, and shorter, I don't know if I'd want to wear something exactly like that. But something closer to it might be nice. A bit more modern than we're used to? And maybe without the bloomers. I think those kinds of underwear may not be in fashion anymore." Anna had no idea what passed as 'modern' undergarments but she'd never seen a pair of bloomers on anyone but her.

"But I'm not sure what Ahsoka was used to eating. Just that it's mostly meat? I think her life was a lot more simple before she met us."

The idea of spending months getting to know new people nearly sent Elsa into a panic. Getting to know the few people she did know seemed difficult enough. Even her roommates were typically kept at arms length. Except Anna, of course. But even she had been kept to the side a bit, though Elsa opened up to her a bit more.

“We wouldn't know what a simple life was like,” Elsa admitted with a slightly shy expression. For all her isolation, she'd still grown up every bit a princess. Being trapped wasn't too big of a deal when one was trapped in a castle, of all things.

She focused her attention on her sister, then. She'd seen a few news articles on the PADD. The styles were a little different from their Enterprise crew’s uniforms. Maybe she could make something work. Putting all of her thought into it, she waved a hand, starting at Anna's feet and moving up towards her hair.

The dress was slightly shorter than what they'd wear back home, but still to her knees. The green resembled the ones Anna tended to lean towards, and a smattering of floral pattern ran through the puffed out skirt. The sleeves were short, giving her sister room for her favorite activities. She looked gorgeous, but Anna always did. Her head tilted, eyeing her critically. “What do you think?”

It was always so amazing watching Elsa work. Anna knew that a lot of her time bonding with her sister would have to be redone, but she remembered all the times that Elsa had tried to magically embellish this or that on her. Sometimes she hadn't held still enough and her sister would get frustrated with her. This time, she stood perfectly still until Elsa was finished.

Then she bounced in place, feeling the flow of the shorter skirt around her legs. It was definitely shorter than she was used to, but she decided she liked it before she even got a chance to look at herself in the mirror. "Ooooo, Elsa, this is so nice!"

Anna swirled in place, letting the skirt spin a bit around her, and looked down at the pattern, inspected the sleeves, before running over to a mirror to fully inspect herself. "You've really outdone yourself! This was exactly what I was picturing, how did you do that?"

Despite herself, Elsa couldn't help the bashful expression on her face. And, yes, there was some pride there, too. Her magic wasn't always the most useful. When she was able to create such things, especially for Anna, she couldn't help being pretty proud of herself.

Especially when her sister was so pleased. “You really love it?” She supposed she'd need to make something similar for herself. Her current dress was beautiful, and she'd worked hard on it. But it was, without question, the gown of a queen, and not one from this time.

“I'm your sister,” she reminded her, slipping up behind her and placing her hands on Anna's shoulders. They didn't look very similar, but there, looking in the mirror, Elsa could definitely see their similarities. “I'm supposed to know things like what sort of dresses you'll like.”

"I really love you, Elsa." Anna blurted. Her face was all lit up, and she was smiling from ear to ear. "I know that things are kind of... not where they need to be with us, in your own memories, but we're going to get there!" She reached a hand up and patted at Elsa's with it. There were some things she kind of regretted about her life before - mainly the stuff with Hans, and losing her temper with her sister. But she never regretted stepping in the way of that sword.

"I bet you could start a fashion line! Uhm... you design pretty things with ice, it can't be much different using the replicator to make things, right? We could pass them around the ship and make everyone pretty." Anna could think of half a dozen people who were still struggling with finding the right things to wear now that they were here.

Plus, a sister bonding project couldn't hurt. "Well, you could make them and I could pass them around, so that you wouldn't have to talk to too many new people. I know you get anxious."

Elsa smiled, shrugging her shoulders. She knew what Anna was saying. And she wasn't wrong. The idea of meeting everyone on the ship, or even just the ladies on board, sounded like a form of torture. “I love you, too, silly. Of course we'll get there.”

Going from queen to fashion designer was certainly an unusual career move. But it wasn't like she had a kingdom here to rule. And she did enjoy designing things. “So long as you'll help, I might consider it.” It didn't hurt that she didn't really need to size anyone. The magic took care of that portion. “It would probably make shore leaves a bit easier, too. I liked Yorktown, but I definitely didn't fit in.”

"And you're probably not alone in that, there are a lot of us from completely different cultures or areas or... times." Anna bounced on her heels just slightly, pleased that she'd had a good idea and one that didn't make Elsa too worried or upset.

But she couldn't get over how nice the dress was. Her hands kept making the skirt swish around, or catching on the little beads and baubles along the neckline that Elsa's magic always made sparkle a certain way. "I'll definitely help. I'm not sure what else to do with myself. No one really needs a Princess here, and I didn't... really do much at the Castle either. Making pretty things seems like a fun way to spend our time!"

She turned around so that she could face Elsa, and nodded her head, "But I get people stared in a good way. Your dress is gorgeous. You're so elegant and refined, Elsa. What was Yorktown like?"

She wasn't stupid. She knew the reason Anna hadn't gotten to do many things was mostly because of her. It led to that sinking sensation of guilt she was so familiar with. “You know, they offer lessons and things here. Schooling. We might see about some of that. We could be proper Starfleet officers someday.” Admittedly, she doubted that. But it had a lot of potential. “Or just design pretty things to wear,” she added with a little giggle.

Elegant and refined wasn't how she felt at all. Oh, she'd been taught how to carry herself properly. That didn't mean she was always able to. “Busy. So busy. You'd have enjoyed it. There were so many things to do.” And she'd only done a few. She'd have to work on that. These were cultures far different from her own and she wanted to learn about them. “It was a bustling city, more people than even Arendelle during a celebration. And they had the moving pictures, like on the PADD, but on a much larger screen. And trees and shows to watch. It was a little overwhelming.”

Schooling did sound like a good idea. Here in this time period there were probably tons of things to learn that they'd never have learned anywhere else. Anna nodded her head at the idea, though she couldn't picture herself as a Starfleet Officer. Elsa's giggle made her smile deepen. "We can do schooling AND make pretty dresses! As long as we pace ourselves, I think. This world is so strange and different. But wow!"

The description of Yorktown made Anna clasp her hands together and then clap them a little. "Do you think we'll get to go back there sometime? I think I definitely would have loved it, especially watching the big moving pictures! But I'm not sure even I could handle that many people at once. That sounds like... a lot. Maybe it won't be so bad if we go together. Or Mr. Loki could come along. Or that... Lomea? Darth... lots of titles?"

Who seemed very familiar with Elsa, and Anna had not forgotten that, Ma'am! She squinted a bit at Elsa, in fact, like she was trying to figure out if Elsa liked Lomea back.

Pacing themselves was definitely on the agenda, but it had never been much Anna's style. “I think we'll manage.” Because, truthfully, they always did. Mostly because there'd never been any other choice.

“I imagine we will,” she agreed. “There are many things the Enterprise uses the city for, not just entertainment. We'll probably be back eventually. And other places. It's called a shore leave.” They were from a fishing community. They understood shore leave to a point. But nothing to this extent. “We'll have lots of time to explore, and I'm sure one or both of them would love to come with us.”

Actually, she'd never quite imagined Loki and Lomea in the same room. That might be more power than even she could cope with. “I've never called her Darth...whatever it is.” Maybe it was her proper title, but Elsa didn't really feel it necessary. Her friend was simply Lomea.

Well, if Elsa liked Lomea the way she liked Kristoff, Anna decided that her sister was playing that very close to her chest. But that seemed normal. Elsa hid a lot of things, it was her style to do that. Not just her ice powers, but things about the Kingdom that she wanted to protect her little sister from. Or the fact that she had a cold.

It wasn't something Anna was angry about, anyway. She understood all of that better than she did when the hurt was still fresh. "Shore leave... I know what that is! I guess that makes sense though, all ships have to dock somewhere at some point to get supplies, or make repairs, right? Even gigantic ones that sail the stars. And then we can go exploring, and see new things, and maybe there's a place I could even go fishing! I came here with all my tools, it's silly not to get a chance to use them."

Anna paused to take a breath, then added, "Are we allowed to just call her Lomea? I hope so. I can't keep track of everything else."

Elsa had only just become used to her sister's fast paced rambles. She shrugged. “I think we can probably find a place for fishing when we dock. Yorktown probably wouldn't have been good for it, though.” She couldn't imagine many fishing ponds in the huge floating city. Then again, she hadn't seen all of it, and the people had to get their food from somewhere.

“I never really asked.” Elsa pulled back and took her seat at the edge of the bed again. “I just do. She's never asked me not to.” Then again, she didn't think her friend would argue with her about much. If she genuinely had a problem with it, Elsa believed she'd bring it up. Probably.

“Anyway. I didn't know you knew how to fish.” On this picnic that Elsa had apparently agreed to come to. Which was surprising in itself. “Picnics will be easier in shorter dresses,” she considered thoughtfully.

"Am I overwhelming you?" Anna asked, noticing Elsa's return to the bed. "I know when I came to see you up on the mountain I pushed you a little too hard. I can get really excited about things."

She sat next to Elsa on the bed, swishing her legs a bit. It was a way to get rid of more of that pent up energy she had, but she also liked the feel of her new skirt and the sound as the cloth moved around. "I did a little fishing in our pond at the Castle, but I got better at fishing in the river during the summer that year, and then the next spring. But yes, you're right! Picnics will definitely be easier in shorter dresses."

“No,” Elsa answered to spare her sister's feelings. And, for the most part, it was true. Anna herself didn't bother her. She just sometimes needed more quiet than she tended to get on the ship. That wasn't Anna's fault at all. “Please don't worry. I shouldn't have acted the way I did.” That day on the mountain was something she wished she could push far from her memory. The problem was, she didn't think she ever would.

She'd never gone fishing on that pond, actually. “I used to use it for ice skating. When you were little. You wanted to skate, too, but we were too afraid you'd fall.” Now that was something she missed. “I wonder if it's possible to find proper ice skates here.” It was possible to make her own, if she had to. But it wasn't quite the same.

"I'm never worried that you're going to hurt me, Elsa." Anna said, firmly. "But I was wrong that day, too. You asked and asked me to leave, and I ignored how panicked you were. I was so focused on... just trying to be close to you again, thinking I could solve it all just by being there! It was... selfish."

She fidgeted with her pinky finger a bit, and then put an arm around Elsa and squeezed her for a moment. "Sorry. Okay, ice skates! I just barely remember watching you skate along, and getting a big frownie face. I never wanted to be too far away from you and you were so good at it. I bet you'd be beautiful out on the ice now. Maybe someone can help us find a pair. And somewhere to skate. I'm bad at it, but I'll try just for you."

She truly hated remembering that day, but it never quite left her. She wanted to protest. Anna had gotten hurt. Nearly killed. It was an image that never left her. And the panic threatened to bubble up inside of her all over again.

She forced it down, shaking her head and leaning into her sister's hold. It had been several months. She had to move past this. Somehow. “How much trouble do you think I'd get into if I made all the floors in the hallway into ice?” And, despite the serious tone the conversation had taken, she giggled. “That would be one way. Or maybe we could use the simulation...thing.”

"What if we asked permission first? We could make it into some kind of ship-wide fun day, everyone skating along on the floors of... probably not the WHOLE ship, actually, the Captain might get grouchy about that, but I bet we could set up an area for it!" The people aboard this ship seemed extremely accommodating and it wasn't that much to ask for, Anna thought. Not if it meant a social activity that brought them all together for a while.

"Or... right, not the whole ship anyway, just the two of us." Anna corrected herself, remembering once again that Elsa had a hard time with large groups of people and would probably get nervous about that concept. "In the simulation thing. What simulation thing?"

She saw the way the light faded in her sister's eyes and Elsa hated herself just a bit. “No,” she finally replied, her chin up a bit. “That's a great idea. They did this thing for someone's birthday. Something called laser tag. I didn't go, except to peek in and see what it was. But they'd likely allow us to do something similar.”

Because she couldn't keep standing in Anna's way. She'd held her back most of their lives. The younger woman wanted to have fun and meet people and do exciting things. It was wrong of her to keep her from that. Even if it meant swallowing her own fears.

“A simulation...deck, I think it's called? One of the scientist types managed to make it resemble other places.” Perhaps, if she could overcome her fears, she could talk to the pretty woman about making an Arendelle. A piece of home.

"That would be so much fun, Elsa!" Anna swished her legs excitedly again, that light instantly returning. She tended to wear her emotions on her sleeve and they easily shifted, but it was never hard to shift her mood right back to its default cheerful state. "We could make Arendelle, yes! With the gardens, and the pond, and the fountains. And the courtyard, you could ice it over and we could skate around!"

It would be great to get to see the town and the fjord and the castle again. It wouldn't be exactly the same as being home, but it was a start. "If we worked together we could make it match every last detail."

She'd have to actually approach the woman who created the simulations. But maybe with Anna by her side, she could do that. It was to make her sister happy. There wasn't much she wouldn't do for that.

“It would be amazing to be able to walk the grounds again. And we could share it with the others.” She thought she'd like to show her kingdom to Lomea. She might enjoy seeing it in person as much as Elsa talked about it. Or she might not. The woman could be cold when she chose.

"I'd love to do that!" Anna said, clapping her hands together. Suddenly, they had so many amazing things they could do together. She'd been worried about getting bored, but there was no chance of that now! Anna flopped back against the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Now I don't know where to start. How did you get through your busy days?"

“My busy days?” Elsa asked skeptically. That didn't strike her as anything familiar. Though she supposed she would be much busier now that she had been crowned queen and would truly take over the ruling of the kingdom. It would be better than sitting around trying not to freeze her bedroom over.

Which just made her want to fight it. That inner fear of her powers she'd grown up with. She lifted a hand, causing a few tiny snowflakes to fall into Anna's dark red hair. “Back home? Or here?”

Anna giggled as the snowflakes fell, "Back home! Learning how to be Queen, and then actually being Queen... though I guess you haven't had to do that as much yet. After the gates opened up and you had to rule everything, you were a busy little bee! Though we still made time for each other, and I appreciated that. I had things to learn but they didn’t keep me nearly as busy."

“Possibly not much more differently than you,” she reasoned. “You had your lessons, too. I mean, if anything happened to me, you'd be queen.” Logically, Elsa knew her lessons were much more in depth. But Anna had to be well educated, too. “And of course we made time to be together. Not letting that happen again.”

"Never again, nope." Anna replied, nodding her head. She gave Elsa a mischievous grin and reached up to poke her nose. "Even if you tried, I'd never let you! But I know you wouldn't."

Most big sisters might have rolled their eyes at that playful little gesture. Elsa couldn’t bring herself to. Not when she was just so grateful to have moments like that again. “No. I’ve learned my lesson.” Too bad it had taken thirteen years. “Now I know you probably don’t want to go anywhere near the Mess Hall again, ever, but I haven’t had proper food in days and one of us actually needs it.” She got to her feet, eyeing her gown critically in the mirror. She looked even more out of place with her sister in her new, fun, more updated dress. Maybe later. It sounded so complicated, trying to fit in. Much easier for someone as social as Anna.