First Flake [action/backdated to the 14th]

[defyingfrigidity]

[Good morning, Paradisa! I hope those of you who reside on Floor Four don't mind a sudden drop in temperature, because it is cold today. And not just the sort of cold that comes from one too many people leaving their windows open. No, this cold -a harsh cold that usually comes with the promise of snow - seems to be coming from inside the castle, strangely enough. But what's even more strange is the ice. Ice creeping along the walls, floor, and ceiling, small tendrils snaking up and around like ivy. Follow it and one might see that it all leads to one point: the door to Room 419.

The door is closed. Locked. No amount of knocking will get a response. But if one were to press their ear to the door, if one had a fairly good sense of hearing... they might be able to pick up on the sound of breathing. The slow yet panicked breathing of someone desperately trying to calm themslves down from a possible panic attack. After some time, though, a voice can be heard from inside. The voice of a young woman, it seems.]

Calm down. Calm down... this isn't real. It's just a dream...

[And later on in the day, the ice thaws, shattering harmlessly and only leaving slightly damp walls and floors and ceilings in its wake. This is around the time the resident of Room 419 finally emerges. A young woman clad in an elegant blue dress, platinum-blonde hair tied back in a long braid, nervously looks around as she steps out into the hall, wringing her hands.]

Kai? Gerda? [The surroundings are so unfamiliar, she isn't really expecting to see her servants anywhere. But she still tries. More importantly, though, is a certain other girl's whereabouts....]

... Anna?

Comments

[defyingfrigidity]

I've never heard of such a kingdom. [And she can't even begin to guess in what direction it must be, with that name...]

And yes, I have. Only once though, when I was very young. [She wished that she could look back on that encounter in a positive light, considering she was meeting creatures that she had so loved to read about in storybooks. Of course, she couldn't, but she could still remember that night as if it had only just happened.]

They're a lot smaller than you are. [She lowers a hand, motioning to just below her hip.] They're also made of stone, and often disguise themselves as rocks.

[cant_breathe_no_heir]

Hmm...[He took a moment to remove his cracked glasses and wipe them on his shirt, revealing the blue eyes with yellow sclera hidden behind them.]

Interesting. There are trolls in your world, and they are made of stone. I can not say that Trolls of my kind share those characteristics though.

[defyingfrigidity]

[... Interesting, indeed. Those strange eyes are a surprise as well, but this time, Elsa manages to keep her reaction down to just a raise of the eyebrows.]

If you don't mind me asking... what are trolls like, where you come from?

[cant_breathe_no_heir]

[It's not just the eyes. Around the eyes is a strange, blue tint on the grey skin. There's not a lot of time to look at it before he places his glasses back on.]

Trolls are like... well, like myself. We are raised in hives by a mothergrub, and are given out to a specific species of Luscus, a different race of creatures that raise us. We grow and learn, and eventually find our place in society and the hemospectrum.

[defyingfrigidity]

The... hemospectrum?

[She's trying to keep up, but you can practically hear the whoosh as all that flies straight over Elsa's head. All she really understood is that these trolls seem to be... bugs...? But that makes absolutely no sense. Aside from the strange skin and eye colors and those horns, he seems human enough...]

[cant_breathe_no_heir]

Yes.

[He's realized that she's probably not following any of this. It's to be expected really. She was a human after all, most likely unaccustomed to such things.]

A class system divided by the color of your blood. For instance, my blood is colored blue, making me nobility. There are many different colors of blood for trolls of my kind.