Karla and Elsa's Room, Arms Hotel, Saturday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

There wasn't a whole lot of time left before Karla and Elsa had to make their way to the Magic Box to prepare for the evening's entertainment. As much as they both hated the job, it was keeping them off the streets and with a roof over their heads. If there was one thing that Karla had learned since coming to this miserable country, having a place to hang your hat and enough food to fill your belly was a luxury few people here could afford. Wanting anything more than that, like freedom and dignity, that was only a pipe-dream.

Darkness, though, she missed home. Missed Arendelle's clean air and beautiful skyline. Missed the mountains and the snow and the fjord. Missed her parents. Missed belonging. Missed her true identity.

But it was safer not to say any of those things, safer not even to think them. Because there were worse positions to be in than singers in a glorified brothel. People more dangerous than the gimlet-eyed bastard that held their lives in his hands. And Karla didn't think for one minute that Angelface would become a knight in shining armor if he discovered who she and Elsa really were. If anything, he'd work all the harder to turn it to his advantage somehow.

Still, this was not the time to think of these things. Not when she had other, deeper concerns weighing on her. Tomorrow was Elsa's sixteenth birthday. And unlike back home, where this occasion would be celebrated with festivals and flowers and joy if their parents had been alive, Karla could only offer Elsa a small present and sheer dread.

Sixteen. Old enough to join the legions of 'working girls' if that's what Angelface decided for her. If he did, what was Karla supposed to do then?

Other than watch him burn, of course.

[Open for anyone who has reason to be in their room, or wants to wander in by accident]

Comments

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I know," Elsa replied, head down, eyes closed, pretending that everything was fine. Karla was here, she had her sister. Of course everything was fine. How could it be anything but? "You haven't let anything happen yet."

Her sister was her hero in so, so many ways.

[glacial_queen]

And her little sister was her reason to keep going, to keep pushing and trying and not just giving up in despair.

"Could be worse," she teased. "We could be back at that fancy dinner where we had to stewed reindeer's eyeballs, remember?"

Elsa had been young for that dinner, young enough to be delighted when her big sister had scooped a few out of her bowl and pretended to juggle them.

They'd both been old enough to be grounded after that, though.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

At least that got the faintest hint of a smile out of Elsa. There were just some things that couldn't cancel out exactly how absurd everything about that situation had been.

"To this day, I'm still impressed at the height you managed to get those things to reach," she admitted. "I never would have thought they'd be so aerodynamic."

[glacial_queen]

"The Ambassador from the Southern Isles remained less than impressed," Karla pointed out, lips twitching.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Well, I never did like him all that much," Elsa noted, smiling a little more. "and the look on his face when the first one bounced off of his forehead..."

Priceless.