Flower gleam and glow
Who: Elsa and Rapunzel What: Dreams and glowing hair When: Earlier this week Where: Elsa's place Status: Complete Rating: PG-13 Mentions of gaslighting
Elsa had woken up crying, her muscles sore and aching from fighting the Nokk and the stormy sea and her heart in pain from betraying her sister’s trust, even if it had been the right thing to do. But the tears weren’t from all of that; they were from the growing revelations as she’d mastered the Nokk and ridden into Ahtohollan.
Her mother. It had been her mother all along, telling her to find her own way. Elsa bit back a sob and rubbed at her eyes. She’d woken up before she could explore the memories stored in the glacier, but for the first time in forever she felt the weight lifted off of her chest. Why couldn’t she have had that dream much sooner after she’d been kidnapped?
Slowly, carefully, so as not to wake the woman once again sleeping next to her, Elsa got out of bed and padded out to the kitchen, the song still echoing in her ears as she used her magic to form a sheer night robe.
Rapunzel was dealing with her own dreams as well. She apparently couldn’t get past the ones that involved her fake mother revealing how awful she truly was and Eugene getting stabbed. It was frustrating beyond belief because she wanted to know what happened after that and if she was able to do anything about Eugene and get away from her mother. She really shouldn’t have been surprised by the whole turn of events because none of it ever really sat well with her. A young girl trapped in a tower with a woman who would never let her leave even for a second? It screamed abuse.
She woke up with a gasp when Eugene was once again stabbed in front of her and reached out to steady herself and realized that Elsa wasn’t in the bed. She also briefly forgot she had been in the same bed as Elsa and her brow furrowed as did a quick look around and didn’t immediately see her. She ran a hand through her hair and then noticed that her hair was glowing like it did when she sang the incantation. What the fuck? She got up and dug through her overnight bag to grab out a tank top and some shorts as she padded out of the room and went to find Elsa, “Um…. Elsa…. we have a problem, maybe.”
Elsa started to make them some tea, running her fingers through her hair and smiling to herself a bit; Rapunzel did like her hair down and after all of that Elsa was inclined to keep it down. She'd just preferred the idea of doing it for herself rather than someone else.
Hopefully there wouldn't be anything tragic in her dreams to ruin her mood.
Elsa turned around at the sound of Rapunzel's voice, "What is it, baby? Whoa..." Her eyes widened as she took in Rapunzel's glowing hair.
It was beautiful, but it could definitely be a problem if it kept glowing. "Are you all right?"
“Yeaaaaah…” Rapunzel drawled with a heavy sigh as she stepped further into the kitchen once she knew Elsa was there. She wasn’t surprised by Elsa’s reaction because that was definitely the only one that was going to be the correct response. “I’m fine, but I’m not quite sure how to get it to stop. But I’m also not ready to stop it until I know that it means my powers are activated.”
She didn’t want to ask Elsa to hurt herself so she went over to where Elsa had a knife block and moved over the sink with a smaller one. She cut the palm of her hand, not a large cut, but just enough to draw a little blood. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine,” she started the healing incantation as she watched the cut on her hand heal up before she made it to the end.
Rapunzel moved so quickly to the knives that Elsa didn't know what she was planning on doing until it was too late. She rushed over, just in time to see the cut heal over.
Even though she was quite used to magic, and not just her own, it was still a startling sigh. Elsa gently took Rapunzel's hand and stroked her finger over the palm. She didn't know what would happen when she went deeper into Ahtohallan, so knowing Rapunzel had this power was a small comfort.
But she also knew how much something like this could affect a person mentally and emotionally. Her eyes flicked back up to Rapunzel's hair. "How are you feeling right now? I don't mean your hand."
Rapunzel knew she probably should have warned Elsa before she did it, but she wasn’t exactly thinking rationally. She just wanted to test it out and make sure it was actually happening and wasn’t just something random that didn’t mean anything. She let Elsa hold her hand with a small smile with her pursed lips, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. And I’m not sure how I feel. I’m happy that I have my power now, but I’m a little nervous about it at the same time. I also feel like I’m going to have to start dealing with some hair growth.”
She wasn’t really thrilled about that because her hair had been ridiculous in her dreams and she hoped that it wouldn’t get that long here. She glanced down to turn her hand over in Elsa’s palm and hold her hand, “Are you doing okay? I noticed you weren’t in the bed when I woke up.”
"Power can be scary," Elsa agreed. "But it's beautiful, Rapunzel."
She raised her hand to cup Rapunzel's cheek, smiling reassuringly, "We'll figure out how to deal with your hair." Elsa doubted it would be as simple as just cutting it.
She nodded, and her tone was a bit like talking about the weather, "I had dreams too. I fought the ocean, tamed the water spirit and discovered Ahtohallan was a glacier and deep within where the memories and it's my mother who's been calling for me to find myself this whole time. It was a really powerful song and I kind of cried."
Yes, power could be scary. And it could be even scarier when you don’t know you’re at the mercy of someone who is trying to basically manipulate your power for their own gain. Rapunzel leaned into Elsa’s touch, “It’ll just need to be braid eventually. Can’t cut it because I’m not sure if it’ll react like it does in the dreams or not.” That was something that will need to be addressed at a different point in time.
“Wow, sounds like you were quite busy while you were asleep. That’s really nice that your mother was the one calling for you. It’s totally okay to cry, by the way. Especially with something that important to you,” Rapunzel gave her an easy smile. There was a lot going on in Elsa’s dreams right now and Rapunzel was happy to hear that Elsa had at least gotten something from her mother in the dreams.
"I can help you braid it," Elsa assured her. It would definitely not be an imposition, not with how soft it was and if Elsa was honest, spending more time with Rapunzel was a plus.
"It definitely helps make up for knowing I'm the reason my parents died." Elsa smiled wanly, though the expression brightened the more she looked at Rapunzel. "Even if I have really mixed feelings about them."
The kettle whistled and she rushed to it, "Tea?"
“Thanks,” Rapunzel answered gently with a small smile. At least she knew Elsa was good with a braid and it would look nice. It took 3 young girls to braid her mess in the dreams and even in a braid it weighed a lot. How her dream self didn’t get any neck problems she will never know.
“You’re not the reason your parents died,” Rapunzel sighed as she pulled Elsa in for a kiss, “You can’t shoulder that kind of blame. You can’t blame yourself when you’re just a child in the dreams and something happens like that.” She knew it was hard not to blame yourself, but it was something you had to work on.
“And yeah, tea would be great, thank you.”
"They went looking for answers for me and... I try to tell myself you're right. That they made their choices. But ... " Elsa shrugged her shoulder as she poured the hot water and dunked in the tea packets.
"You know, they really messed up with us, in both lives. Maybe I could have coped better if they hadn’t. But I still love and miss them."
“I know, it’s tough and I’m not expecting you to immediately accept it, but it’s definitely a good goal to some day work towards,” Rapunzel explained. She knew she was going to have to come to terms with her dream self that was emotionally abused and gaslit like crazy with her fake mother. She also had to reconcile that it wasn’t her mother here even though they looked similar.
“I’m sorry, Elsa,” Rapunzel meant it when she walked over to wrap her arms around the other woman and let her forehead rest on her back, “I wish that we didn’t have to go through hard things in our lives.” She knew that the struggles in life were what made you stronger, but sometimes it was just too much.
Elsa nodded. "I've been striving for that. A few things set me back, but I'm still striving." She leaned back against Rapunzel, resting her hands over hers and stroking her knuckles lightly.
"Speaking of hard things, there's something I want to tell you, but it can probably wait. This is your day to deal with your things."
Elsa didn't believe in the 'i had it worse' game but she also didn't want Rapunzel to feel like her feelings and needs were invalidated just because Elsa had her own issues or wanted to emphasize with her.
“That’s the most important thing to be. You’re strong, Elsa,” Rapunzel hadn’t been around here that long, but she had already realized that about her. Elsa put up a lot of walls, but they were there for good reason. Rapunzel was the type to open her heart to anyone and everyone, but she had become a little more conscious of that the older she got.
“Nah, tell me your thing. My glowing hair isn’t that big of a deal,” Rapunzel moved to put her hands on Elsa’s hips and turn her around so they were facing each other. She had already mentally dealt with the dreams when they first happened, so it was basically old hat right now. And she also kind of knew in the back of her mind that if she was a princess in a dream that was a musical there was probably a happy ending coming, “I just can’t leave the house for a bit. I’ll try singing when we’re done talking.”
"It's kind of a big deal," Elsa said, letting herself be turned around. She stuck her tongue out at her, then hugged her lightly.
She didn't think she'd mind listening to Rapunzel sing.
"Okay so I think you've probably picked up most of the Dream related things by now. In my dreams I mostly accidentally hurt other people and then...didn't cope well. But..." Elsa chewed on her lip. "I was doing really well. My anxiety wasn't spiking, I had a good therapist and a girlfriend I was really into. I was almost ready to try to reach out to my sister again."
She didn't want to think Rapunzel might judge her or want to end things, but this was ... Heavy.
"I told you my ex was a model, right? Her father was this rich, ultraconservative asshole." Elsa stepped back, hugging herself, "A year and a half ago, I was in a bar and I got drugged and kidnapped by him. He ... wanted to be able to control her."
Rapunzel listened carefully to what Elsa had to say and her heart dropped a little when she started explaining about her ex girlfriend and what had transpired with her father. Elsa really didn’t deserve to have these things happen to her and Rapunzel felt awful that she couldn’t really do anything about it. But she could be here for her at this point in her life.
“I’m so sorry, Elsa. You’ve had to deal with so much,” Rapunzel frowned as she pulled her closer, “If anything ever triggers up memories of that you need to make sure to let me know. I can’t even imagine trying to deal with all that.” She didn’t know what else she could do to help her but she wanted to support her in any way she could.
Voice tight, Elsa added, "I was...it was a month, I was drugged up for a month, lying in bed, too out of it to even use my powers most of the time. I finally managed to freeze over the IV tube enough to try to escape."
Her friends had come for her, which was good, because she hadn't been sure how far she'd have gotten on her own despite getting out of that room. "Reminded me too much of hospitals."
Elsa frowned, leaning into Rapunzel. "I'm sorry."
That had been easier than she'd expected and she didn't know what to think about that.
A month?! Rapunzel’s eyes widened at that information. She couldn’t even begin to imagine having to suffer through something like that for a month. She was honestly surprised that Elsa was even willing to take a chance on her. Something like that would have scarred her for a long time in regards to relationships.
“You don’t need to apologize for anything,” Rapunzel immediately commented as she held Elsa closer, “I wish I could do something for you. But I’m glad you told me. This is a very important thing to know about you.”
"Figured I'd get that out of the way early," Elsa joked, voice a little frayed. If the conversation had gone badly, better for it to happen sooner rather than later which was kind of cruel considering how much of a sweetheart Rapunzel actually was, but she couldn't help thinking that way.
"You don't need to do anything for me. Just being here is enough, because you really don't have to be."
Elsa turned her head to look at Rapunzel, The only person she'd really talked to about this had been her therapist. And her ex, she supposed. It hadn't been a bad breakup, it had just ... they'd both been too badly hurt during all of that.
She couldn't explain why she wanted Rapunzel to touch her at all, either. But here they were, and she was grateful she'd taken the chance. "I guess I just ... feel like I can trust you."
If Elsa explained that reasoning to Rapunzel she honestly would most likely understand. It made sense and was a form of protection, but luckily Rapunzel wasn’t the type to just turn tail and run. “Well, like I said, if something triggers you please let me know. I don’t want to put you into any kind of situation that gives you anxiety.” She definitely wanted to make sure Elsa was comfortable with things and she was already planning to make sure to run things by her and hopefully not bring up any bad surprises.
A smile was given to Elsa’s comment and she squeezed the other woman a little tighter, “I feel blessed that you do. Now, we should probably drink that tea you made because it has definitely gone cold by now.” She pulled back from the hug and leaned up to place a kiss upon Elsa’s lips.
"Just keep what you've been doing, and we'll just ..." She shrugged, not knowing what might trigger her until it actually happened, "I'm willing to try things, okay?"
Sexual and otherwise.
Elsa pressed her forehead against Rapunzel's and kissed her back lightly, "And the same to you. I mean, if you have... if you ever need someone to listen. Or whatever."
“I like that you’re willing to try,” Rapunzel admitted with a smile. It was pretty impressive that despite everything that happened that she was still willing to try and make her life as normal as she could get it, “And I know. I usually word vomit most of it up on the network at least dream-wise, but that’s the only overly complicated thing in my life, honestly.”
She pulled away so she could grab her tea and then moved to take a seat at the table so she could drink it. She took a couple sips and then set it down, “Okay, going to try the full incantation and we’ll see if it stops glowing.” She closed her eyes as she began to sing the whole spell, which made it intensify before it finally started to dim.
"I can be stubborn." Maybe her dreams actually helped, too. There was a journey she was going on that made her feel like she was belonging.
She was still afraid of where she'd end up, but for now, she was just going to enjoy it.
"So no deep dark secrets I need to know about? You're not secretly with the illuminati, are you?" Elsa played with a lock of Rapunzel's glowing hair, smiling at her own pun, before letting go and stepping back.
Gazing at her with a fond, tender expression, she thought she really could listen to Rapunzel sing all day, and wondered what they'd sound like together.
"Not really? I was adopted, we lived in what is basically a hippie commune, and then I moved her to study art," Rapunzel could summarize her life pretty easily because it had been simple and enjoyable. Nothing bad had happened so far and the dreams were the only major issue going on right now. Her head moved just slightly into Elsa's touch.
She opened her eyes and saw the expression Elsa was giving her briefly and it hit her like a gut punch. It wasn't often she found someone looking at her like that and she couldn't help but blush. She pulled some of her hair forward and frowned, "hmm… a little dimmer but not great. Oh well." She hoped it didn't have to go save a life to make it calm down or anything. She instead took a long sip of tea as she mulled over ideas.
Elsa caught herself staring, and focused instead on her tea, also mulling the situation over. Rapunzel's hair could heal someone, but Elsa only had some bruises and a few nail marks that she wasn't particularly fond of losing just yet.
She lifted her eyes, looking at Rapunzel's throat, where she liked to leave marks of her own; the hickeys from seemed to have disappeared completely. Damn.
Then she looked outside at the morning light, "I don't think anyone will notice today, at least until you're inside. But ... we could take a walk together? There's a park nearby, we could people watch and I'm sure some kids will skin their knees."
“Sooo… you basically want to go creep at a park hoping someone will get hurt and then I can swoop in and try to heal them in public?” Rapunzel grinned as she spoke and raised her eyebrow. She added a chuckle at the end because it sounded absolutely hilarious when she said it aloud, “I’m definitely good for going for a walk. I’ll pass on helping heal people in public just yet.”
She sang another round of the song and her hair did seem to get dimmer and she let out a breath, “Thank goodness. I think it’s just overly powered up right now since it just kicked in. I really appreciate you helping me out with this.”
"It was just a thought," Elsa said, ducking her head, but coming close again because honestly she wanted to play with Rapunzel's hair more. But she was looking forward to holding Rapunzel's hand while they walked.
Was that bad?
"Lets get some real clothing on, then." She said, looking down at the thin nightgown she'd created. "This isn't exactly something one should wear in public."
“Oh I know, I’m just teasing you,” Rapunzel flashed her a smile and moved her head so that Elsa could easily play with her hair if she wanted to. She enjoyed nothing more than someone’s fingers in her hair and how soothing it could be.
“Whaaaat? You don’t want to go outside in that super hot nightgown?” another grin was flashed as she pulled Elsa in close so she could rest her head on Elsa’s hip from her position in the seat, “And sure, let’s get ready and then we can go out and actually be out in the open.” They hadn’t spent too much time outside together and she was happy to be seen with Elsa.
"While I wouldn't be above skinny dipping, that would have to be out in the woods somewhere, or late at night on a private beach. Or maybe the pool at my parent's old place...It's finally been repaired." God, Rapunzel was bringing out some interesting parts of her.
She leaned in against Rapunzel, "Do you think we could hold hands?"
“Wow, look at you getting adventurous already,” Rapunzel teased with a smile on her face that only grew at Elsa’s question, “We’ll shelve the skinny dipping talk for later, but for now, yes, you are definitely welcome to hold my hand.”
She stood up and pulled Elsa in for a kiss. It was adorable how Elsa had asked and Rapunzel was happy to oblige with a request like that. “Alright, beautiful, let’s go get dressed for our hand holding walk. You got any hats I can borrow to try and dim this a little bit more?”
"This is all your fault." Elsa nudged her, then lost herself in the kiss for several precious seconds. Somehow, handholding felt far more nervewracking than sex did.
Hat. she was asking about a hat, "Uhm. I have this ridiculous sun hat. I'll grab it for you after I get dressed."