i slept in last night's clothes and tomorrow's dreams

[culver]

CHARACTERS: Nill, Elsa, & open.
LOCATION: The camp.
WARNINGS: N/A.
SUMMARY: Nill goes to check out Elsa's ice pavilion, & to help collect supplies.
NOTES: N/A.


THE CAMP

[Nill makes her way around the camp methodically, checking in on those she knows, and those she's come to know over the past month or so. She helps move some debris here, assists with gathering water there. Her mission since recovering (most) of her memories has been to simply help those around her. They're all stuck here together, so they might as well stick together, right? Besides, she knows by now that she's the only person from her world on this planet. It frightens her to think about, so she prefers to surround herself with new friends, new people she can count on (and who can count on her, she tells herself). Fragments of the makeshift sign language Severus had taught her come back now and then, and she finds herself gesturing with her hands in ways that have meaning instead of just pantomime. It's a way to live. At least until the next "jump," when someone might show up or more of her memories might return.]

CLOSED TO ELSA

[She's been meaning to investigate the strange structure for weeks. It's always caught her eye when she's walked past, but she's never worked up the courage to get more than a few meters away until now. She's seen the woman who lives there more than a few times, but hasn't approached her before either. It's been too intimidating to try and ask about the ice. There's so much of it, much more than she's ever seen in her entire life. She thought ice could only be made in small cubes, but this structure has columns and a roof! She has no idea how it was made, but her curiosity overcomes her shyness and she finally approaches, only half hoping that the pavilion's resident is home.]

Comments

[coldhardy]

[Elsa doesn't like the situation they're all in, to say the least, but she doesn't have much choice. She helps people as much as she can -- water seems the most useful and necessary -- and explores a little when she feels like it, but often sticks to the little hexagonal room she's built for herself. She has to be conscious of it to keep it from melting, but when it begins to lose its sharp edges, she makes sure the crystals re-form; the architectural whimsy of the place is a hallmark of her handiwork. She can be alone and think there, but it's also cool -- cool in a way that's comforting and comfortable for her, but also isolating, since most other people wouldn't be able to stand it for more than a few minutes.

She would read, but reading material is in short-to-nonexistent supply. She never thought she would miss all of those terrible romances, but now she realizes that she would take them over nothing.

One day, more than a month after the crash, at a point where her incomplete memory is still troubling her, she can see a figure approaching, rippled through the thick pane of ice that forms one of the walls of her hut. It doesn't look very big, and its gait seems tentative. And there's something at its back....

She rises from the bench that she's been lying on, crosses the room, and opens the door to look outside. Her dress today is light green and shimmering; her pale hair runs over her shoulder in a thick braid.]

Hello?

[culver]

[The closer she gets, the more detail Nill can see on the structure. In short, she's in awe of the creature. It's a piece of art, she tells herself. Somehow and somewhy, someone made something so beautiful for this place. She can't imagine why it was done beyond that. There's no way that woman could actually live in it. The notion is far too absurd.

And yet, she hears a voice calling out to her from inside.

Nill freezes, completely forgetting that she should probably try to introduce herself. The woman is stunning. Nill doesn't think she's seen a dress so beautiful since she'd last been inside Granny Liza's shop. Granny Liza--the small, cat-eared woman who gave Heine and Badou their jobs and made such wonderful creations of lace and silk for Nill herself. She'd always thought the dresses made her look silly, but she wore and appreciated them because she knew Heine had paid good money for them. He was always taking care of her, always at his own expense.

Her eyes burn a little, and it snaps her out of her stupor.

Wings fluttering, she raises a hand to wave tentatively at the woman. She smiles shyly, feeling awkward and uncouth in her ripped jeans and tank top. Oh well. No going back now.]

[coldhardy]

[Elsa has seen the young girl before in passing, during jumps -- memorable because of the wings and the questions they raise. Asking about them would be rude even without Elsa's own situation and history, so she hasn't ever approached the girl to do so.

She smiles gently in response to the wave, and beckons with one slim hand.]

You can come in and sit down if you want to, but you might be cold. The temperature is below freezing in here.

[Any clothing that's comfortable outside of her little room is going to be totally insufficient inside. That sleeveless shirt looks like a bad bet.]

[culver]

[It's below freezing? Nill had never been able to go to school, so the most that means to her is that it's pretty cold. Winter didn't exist in the Underground, and it certainly hadn't existed on the ship. Even the times the heat went out hadn't had any kind of numerical value to her. It was just cold.

Slowly, she continues her approach. She doesn't move to go inside the structure, instead reaching out to gently touch the outside. Her fingers stick to the wall for a brief moment before the heat of her body melts the ice she's touched. Her wings perk up and there's clear wonder on her face. How was any of this even possible?]

[coldhardy]

[Elsa's expression becomes slightly more quizzical as she develops the impression that the girl thinks that her little pavilion is something to experience, rather than just an object in the landscape. However... she likes it when people like things she's made.]

It's ice. I can...

[Instead of finishing her sentence, she holds a hand in front of her, close to her body, upturned, slightly cupped. Then she bounces it in the air as if she's tossing and catching an invisible ball -- and a moment later, a ball of snow forms and falls into her curved palm.]

Like that.

[culver]

[Nill isn't ignorant to the fact that people on the ship had arrived with certain powers. And she knew that since they had all crashed, new powers were springing up every day. But never in her life had she imagined that someone could create snow in her hand.

Her eyes turn to saucers, and she forgets to pull her hand away from the ice wall until her fingers start to numb. Even then, she halfway reaches towards the snowball before catching herself and almost guiltily dropping her arm to her side. She doesn't want to be rude, she's just trying to wrap her head around all of this. Her wings flick, and she wants to ask how so badly.]