Field of Ice and Snow {Open}

[Kristoff]

The wolf was nervous but Kristoff had always been good with animals. He approached it and began to check the wounds, the wolf, tensed at first seemed to relax when it looked like Kristoff did not seem to intend it any harm. “There are wolves most places,” said Kristoff with a shrug, “they mostly keep to themselves though, tend to avoid humans, however if this one is part of a pack they can’t be too far away. Although…he’s a bit scrawny looking…could be a runt…might be loner.”

Kristoff looked down at the dog and thought ‘you and me both pup’.

He nodded when she mentioned getting shelter but couldn’t help but feel a little bit left out when it appeared that shelter did not mean an ice palace. Once he was sure the wolf would actually be ok he stood up and started following her towards the shed. The wolf whimpered and followed him.

“Gardening tools would be good, and axe would be great,” he said as they approached it, “hell, I’d settle for a pitchfork.”

[Elsa]

Was Kristoff empathizing with the wolf? Elsa felt her lips twitch at the thought. Kristoff the loner, the oddball. What was it that Anna had said the trolls called him? A bit of a fixer upper? Of course, now Elsa was thinking of her sister along with everything else. That just made her pick up the pace a little more, walking with all the more determination toward the little shed/shack/building. Each step left more ice and frost clinging to the greenery, leaving a steady trail of blue and white amid the sea of green and brown.

"I wouldn't get your hopes too high," Elsa said as they pulled up to the building proper. She looked around, taking note of the door and the fact that there appeared to be a rather large lock on it. She reached out to it, letting the ice start spreading. "It doesn't exactly seem like the tools would be getting much use," the lock popped, and Elsa let it drop, moving aside for Kristoff and the wolf to get in. "Though I suppose something would be better than nothing."

Elsa looked around once more, half-hoping to see her silly sister popping up on the horizon, maybe with her very own wolf friend in her arms. Still nothing though, nothing but field.

[Kristoff]

“Well even a blunted shovel would be better than nothing,” said Kristoff, looking behind him to see that the injured wolf was now following him.

He frowned and said to it, “go on now, you’ll be fine, go find your pack.”

The wolf sat down and tilted its head to the side, it’s tongue lolling out in a dopey looking fashion. Kristoff managed to stop himself just in time before he started doing a voice for the dog. Anna found it entertaining when he did Sven’s voice, somehow he figured that Elsa would not find it as hilarious. He wasn’t sure when he started giving Sven a voice, probably when he was a lot younger and didn’t really have anyone else to talk too, and then he just kept doing it. Anyone listening in would think he was mad…maybe he was…well Anna thought it was funny…

Internally he imaged doing a gruff ‘puppy’ voice that said, ‘I don’t get it, we’re friends now right?’

Kristoff groaned and said, “Fine, you can stay, for now. But if you get us into trouble with your pack you’re off the team.”

The wolf pup wagged it’s tail and rushed towards Kristoff where he could scratch it’s ears, which he of course, obligingly did. He turned around to see that the ground around Elsa was icing up again. He really needed to work harder to keep her calm. He walked into the shed, the wolf following him, giving Elsa’s dress a sniff before moving on.

“Well, plenty of garden tools,” said Kristoff looking around, “although…there’s a lot balls in here too.”

He picked up one in each hand; one which was black and white and one which was in a strange cone like shape. He looked further into the shed and said, “ooh! I think I see javelins…what is this place?”

[Elsa]

Elsa folded her arms, watching as Kristoff held a conversation with the wolf. She could all but hear him wanting to do some sort of internal voice. "You're giving it a voice in your head, aren't you?" she said, her voice dry, an eyebrow quirked. Yet another thing that Elsa wouldn't admit: that was a humorous, endearing quirk. Humorous and endearing were actually near the top of the list for adjectives used for Kristoff, alongside awkward, gruff, and fixer upper (the trolls had nailed that one).

Elsa followed Kristoff into the building proper, yet again flicking her eyes around. Tools, yes, which definitely confirmed her hope/suspicion that this was some sort of gardnerer's supply shed. The various playthings made her wonder, and she studied the mixture. After a few seconds, and while Kristoff played, Elsa looked back, over the wolf's head and across the field. The seating, the balls, everything...

"They played here," she said, eyes still flicking. "It's some sort of field for games," she took a step out, looking around, trying to get an even wider look now. She could hear the wolf shifting behind her, but for now, Elsa ignored it. She was just grasping at something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what just yet.

[Kristoff]

Kristoff froze, and it wasn’t just because the woman beside him had ice powers.

She knew.

How did she know? Had he accidentally done it around her? Had Anna told her? Yes, Anna probably told her. Why had Anna told her? Was it because it was weird and unsettling and Anna had wanted advice from her sister on what to do about it because it was really off putting and maybe the trolls were right and the thing with the reindeer was a little peculiar?

All of those questions whizzed through his mind but all he said to Elsa was, “maybe.”

“Played?” said Kristoff also looking out to the field, “oh games…right…”

Kristoff dropped the balls one of them bounced a bit and the other rolled along the ground, the wolf delightedly chased after the black and white one, grabbing it in it’s jaws and chasing after Kristoff with it in it’s mouth. Meanwhile he was picking up one of the javelins. It wouldn’t do serious damage if he threw it, but it might be enough to make someone think twice.

He followed Elsa out to the field.

“Reminds me of the Orphanage,” he said looking out at the field, “we had a sort of grounds around it, although it was overgrown like this. Didn’t stop us running through it though and playing games there.”

He said ‘us’, it was mostly ‘them’. He kept mostly to himself in those days.

[Elsa]

Yes, Anna had told her. Anna liked talking; she liked Kristoff; therefore Anna liked talking about Kristoff. And Elsa was Anna's favorite person in the world, so guess who got to hear most of the conversation?

"yes, games," reiterated Elsa. Not that she'd seen many of the ones back in Arendelle. Didn't change the truth of the statement, however. Elsa looked around the field, still waiting while Kristoff caught up. She could hear the wolf playing, and she had a sneaking suspicion that they'd somehow adopted it. Kristoff and Anna had a tendency to do that, leaving Elsa to do the responsible business afterward (though Kristoff was considerably more responsible than Anna).

"I thought you were raised by trolls?" Elsa asked, looking over at him and quirking a brow. That was definitely something she was interested in, and it made her look over the ground again. "Maybe this is meant for children? That would explain the balls and the field..."

[Kristoff]

Who had told her about the Trolls?!

It must have been Anna, no wait, there was an even greater culprit here. Olaf. Olaf must have told her. Nothing says ‘suitable to marry my royal sister’ than knowing the man that wants to was raised by trolls. Great. Just perfect. Couldn’t a man have any secrets anymore? Not around women and snowmen apparently

“Uh…yeah…I was, I was about 8 when they took me in,” said Kristoff, not meeting her eye, instead focusing very intently on scratching the wolves ears.

He picked up the ball it had brought to him and threw it out into the field. The wolf went chasing after it.

“That would make sense…like…a school maybe?” he suggested.

[Elsa]

Around eight? So he was in an orphanage tell then, raised by trolls, and went off on his own. Self-reliant, magically blessed, and someone who had worked for what they had. How was this man at all interested in her flighty sister? Because there was no way Kristoff wanted to be royal; that much was beyond obvious.

Questions for later. For now, Elsa watched the wolf chasing the ball, using the image to further paint the picture in her mind. "A school... in a castle?" she looked up. "There were the portals, and they did pull us here." She considered, tapping her side. "A school wouldn't be too bad of a place, particularly if Anna landed here. You know she'd love getting to know everyone," the thought made Elsa's lip twitch. "So we should probably see if there are teachers or actual students," she looked at the wolf bounding through the mostly high grass, likely chasing down the ball.

"They clearly don't have groundskeepers," she said, before striding toward the main buildings, leaving icy footsteps.

[Kristoff]

Kristoff smiled fondly and Elsa mentioned that Anna would most likely enjoy getting to know lots of people, “Yeah, that’s probably where we’ll find her, in the middle of a group of people eating chocolate…or maybe a sandwich. She always seems to be able to find a sandwich I don’t know how she does it. She’s amazing.”

He looked over at Elsa and then quickly rearranged his expression into a more serious one. It probably wasn’t a good idea to be speaking about her sister in that way. He cleared his throat and when the wolf returned with the ball he quickly diverted his attention to it, picking up the covered in slobbers ball and throwing it back across the field again.

“It could be that it’s an abandoned school,” said Kristoff, “although people have definitely been here recently…maybe whatever portal brought Anna here brought them here too.”

[Elsa]

"or a chocolate sandwich," Elsa lightly suggested. She felt her own lips curling into a smile. It was so much easier in so many ways to picture her sister enjoying herself free from harm than to imagine the horrible atrocities. Even if thus far all they'd seen was a great need for better maintenance and an overly affectionate wolf.

"An abandoned school that draws its own students?" asked Elsa. She, too, recalled the tracks, and she knew full well that her sister wasn't clumping about wearing full armor... well, actually, Anna could be doing that right now. But probably not right away. "Then we should head for the main building," she pointed forward, more or less in the direction they were already heading. "Go for what looks like a grand hall of some kind. Or at least look for more signs of life. Maybe a common area?"

Elsa extended her hand, now purposefully guiding her own snow and ice. The more they could clear, the better off they'd be in the long run, since it would make them noticeable and help them to see any signs, or, well, help Elsa to see signs, since apparently Kristoff could just about sense them. At this point, Elsa was caring less about stealth and more about making sure they found her sister and whomever else was here.

[Kristoff]

Kristoff tried not to salivate at the thought of a chocolate sandwich; that just sounded like the best snack ever! He was starting to realise how hungry he was getting, hopefully this abandoned school had some abandoned still in date food to eat. Not that he was too worried, he could hunt if he had too, he would just rather not have to resort to that first. He definitely did not want to have to try and feed a Queen, what did you even feed a queen when the two of you were trapped out in the wild together?

He nodded at her plan and said, “Sounds good your majesty, after you.”

He followed in her ice wake, the wolf following behind with the ball in it’s jaws. He would help her find Anna, he would make sure she was ok and then…then he would find some way home and leave the two of them in peace. After all, who knows who Anna would meet here, perhaps someone a lot more suitable than the official Ice master and deliverer.