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Post by Zuyuri on Aug 27, 2017 0:58:51 GMT
Elsa could feel the humidity die down as she sat closer to Ralph. Most people said when they blushed, that they felt warm. Elsa felt something very similar but with a different temperature. Yes, her cheeks flushed red, but instead of heat, she had the slightest twinge of chill. The kind of chill that came when someone's foot fell asleep. It lasted a few minutes before disappearing in the Louisiana heat.
The clouds disappeared, and that meant more people were starting to come out. The good news was Ralph and Elsa's spot was in the perfect place, and coming early meant they had the first dibs. No one would bother them.
She sipped the lemonade, swirling around the collect whatever pulp had gotten stuck. Ralph must have been the squeezing type, not the kind who mixed jugs of concentrate into water to the point where it resembled bright urine as opposed to a lemon beverage.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 28, 2017 6:07:22 GMT
For a time the two of them merely sat in comfortable silence, eating the picnic food and sipping lemonade while they watched the waves gently roll in and other people go about their own pleasant day at the lagoon. It looked like they wouldn't have to worry about a lot of people showing up and that made Ralph happy. Being a Giant and all, he didn't really enjoy being in crowded places simply because he took up so much room already. Not that Elsa had ever seemed to mind or care.
At this, he looked at Elsa for a few moments, unaware that a gentle and rather handsome smile was on his lips. It certainly wasn't the biggest and most expensive date, no, but he knew that she wouldn't care about things like that. No, just to sit together on the lagoon beach and watch the water was enough.
After a few more moments of silence, listening to families talk and laugh while the waves crashed and an occasional gull cried out, he spoke to the blonde.
"So how is your one cousin doing? Um...Dustin, right?"
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Post by Zuyuri on Aug 28, 2017 6:18:07 GMT
The only noise and thoughts right now were contemplating the crashing of the waves hitting the shoreline. Elsa had never tried to freeze the ocean before. Still water had always been the one thing that her powers reacted well, too. Freezing the ocean was just an unfair thing to do, especially in the last few weeks of summer. Would surfers get stuck while trying to ride high enough waves? Hurricanes were sure to come swooping in, too, and she didn't want to think about that.
Luckily, Ralph did give her something to think about. He asked how her living family was doing. Her mother's sister Margaret had moved to New Mexico in order to raise her only son, Duncan, who was a young man about to enter high school. Unlike Elsa, he had...um...fire powers.
"Duncan? Well, he's...getting ready for junior year in high school. I'm shocked he's gotten that old."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 1, 2017 5:42:00 GMT
"Duncan, right."
Ralph internally kicked himself for having gotten the name of one of the only living relatives Elsa still had wrong. However, she clearly didn't mind and instead spoke of how he was getting ready for high school, how amazed she was at the passage of time.
"Yeah, time seems to have a way of getting ahead of you before you even notice. Guess that's why sometimes you just have to take the plunge and live for the moment, damn the consequences...."
As the Giant spoke, he looked at Elsa from the corner of his eye. He was thinking about how things had gone for them the first time they had dated, how the incident with Frollo had nearly ruining any chance they might have had at being happy together. And although he couldn't prove it, he truly believed that if the two of them had waited much longer at making another attempt that time would have slipped by them and it would have been lost... forever.
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 5, 2017 3:49:36 GMT
"Don't worry. I don't speak much about my family."
Not since her parents died in that boating accident, anyways. That was the last Elsa saw of her aunt Margaret and, well, the young teenager at the time blonde who was her cousin. It sort of hurt, in a way, but she shook the thought off.
Ralph had started saying something, but he cut himself off. Elsa arched an eyebrow, silently asking what he was going to comment with. A small part of her knew what. He was still haunted by that first date that went horribly sour and could have been the end of their relationship. She took a forkful of chicken salad and chewed idly. Best to do something as opposed to having awkward silences.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 10, 2017 23:24:22 GMT
When the silence grew, Ralph let out a cough before taking a large gulp from his glass of lemonade. Elsa had the grace to say nothing and instead ate a little of her chicken salad. However, the Giant had seen the look she gave him from the corner of his eye and knew it wasn't enough to just let the thought hang there unfinished.
Letting out a sigh, he pushed his plate aside and turned to that he was facing Elsa. He had never been very good about being straightforward when it came to their relationship, but that needed to change.
"I guess what I'm saying is.... after what happened with Frollo, I.... I didn't think you would ever be able to see me any other way again. Just as a violent Giant who.. who might hurt anyone that got him angry."
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 12, 2017 5:06:03 GMT
A loud gulp cut into the silence that, before, had been the din of distant chatter, the breaking of waves, and plastic cutlery scraping against a paper plate. This was followed by Ralph's sigh, and this made Elsa square her shoulders to face Ralph fully.
He was facing her, too, and a weariness was in his eyes. He started talking to her, about how he was afraid she would see him differently after the sour date. He had been enraged but that rage made her see that, while it was dangerous, it was only provoked by people who clearly meant ill. It wasn't like he meant to get angry at her. It had just been constant provoking and the insults finally came to a head.
"Ralph, had the anger been directed at me, I would have seen what you're describing," she answered. "but you weren't. You were angry at a person who deserved to get yelled at."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 14, 2017 5:42:22 GMT
"Oh, come on Elsa!"
Ralph's tone had become louder, more upset but it wasn't directed at her. Rather it was directed inwardly as he ran a large hand through his hair, causing the spikes to stick out in crazy directions. Clearly what had happened with Frollo had been sitting on his chest for a long time.
"You were there. You know I did a lot more then yell at the damn guy."
Elsa was making it sound as if all he had done was throw some well-deserved verbal insults at the crooked lawyer, but that hadn't been the case at all. No, when Frollo had kept making his nasty little remarks with that smirk on his face, something had snapped inside of the Giant and the confrontation had gone from just verbal to physical.
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 14, 2017 15:31:56 GMT
"Will you just stop talking about it then if it'll get you angry?!" Elsa cried out. As she shouted it, her lemonade turned into a solid mass of pale yellow ice. Small tiny ice spikes collected sand as she threw her objection to the side.
She wasn't mad, just annoyed, which was probably why the ice was so small. Every time they talked about it, it made the situation escalate. She didn't want to be the couple that fought all the time.
Elsa let out a breath and looked at her own mess. The ice was becoming small drops, dark against the stark bright white of the regular sand.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 16, 2017 8:55:09 GMT
Under normal circumstances, Ralph would have gotten annoyed at someone yelling at him the way Elsa suddenly did, but this time he didn't get mad or even upset. He merely looked at her with a deep weariness as her lemonade froze solid. He didn't want to upset Elsa, not when things were going so well at long last for them and the day had started out so perfectly here on the lagoon.
However, what had just happened between them was the very thing that concerned him so, the very reason he felt he had to bring up this bitter topic again.
"I can't, Elsa, and this is why."
He gestured at her frozen cup where small spikes of ice had formed. This certainly wasn't the first time he had upset the young lawyer and he knew it wouldn't be the last, just as Elsa sometimes got under his skin as well. For most couples that wasn't such a big deal but for the likes of them...
"I can't because of what I did to Frollo. I hurt him and you know it. You were standing right next to me when I slammed him into that wall. I could have killed him..... And then you stared to get stressed out and who could blame you? You said something to me, I cant even remember what now, but I said something harsh back. And then we were fighting."
Here Ralph paused and turned his eyes away from Elsa, looking towards a flock of seagulls that were landing along a section of the lagoon. Sometimes it was easier that way, to look somewhere else instead of the blue depths of her beautiful eyes. That way he didn't have to see what his words were doing to her but no matter how he tried, he always ended up looking back at her and into that blue gaze.
"That fight nearly tore us apart. I don't want that to be us, Elsa. I don't want to be the one who is always making you worried or stressing you out. I don't want to fight like that again because if we do.... I don't think we could recover from it again."
And just like that, he was looking back into her face again. He had been chewing on this for so long now, almost since that fight with Frollo so long ago. It had taken a long time for him to finally open up about it to the one person it mattered the most to. And now he wasn't certain if it had been the right move.
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 16, 2017 22:15:04 GMT
"Ralph."
If she had said his name roughly before, this time Elsa said it with defeat. It was never an easy, easy thing to swallow, to admit that someone had brought up a point. He was right, and that was the truth. The combined stress on both of them that night had caused them both to start bickering. She hated the constant fighting, too. Psychologists said that couples fighting was healthy, but it was always over something silly like leaving the toilet seat up or who would pay for dinner. These two were fighting over a life-death situation.
Elsa hadn't wanted Frollo to live. There, she had let that horrible thought cross her mind. She pikced at an ice chip that had fallen on her leg, sending it flying into the air.
He had finished what he had to say and was looking at her, brown eyes to blue. He was reading her mind at the issue, and she didn't want to repeat it and sound like a parrot, yet here she was,
"Yes, you hurt him, and...well...I don't even remember what I said either. A horrible part of me thinks I made your wrath worse...and that was the straw that broke the camel's back...and...it's not always you that's stressing me out. Sometimes it's my job, and my...insecurity over it. I act refined and cold, but the truth is...the truth is I'm terrified that if I get one thing wrong, someone who has no control over a power could be wrongly accused."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 19, 2017 5:16:31 GMT
Ralph listened closely to what Elsa said, having known deep down inside that what she said was always something he had suspected. Elsa had always appeared so calm and cool, so collected and in control of herself. However, that night with Frollo he had also seen her own emotions lash out like a blizzard that comes from nowhere. It had shown him that Elsa hid so much of what she truly felt under a mask of coolness.
"It's alright to be afraid, Elsa. Everyone has something, some hidden fear that they struggle with. I know I still fight against my own personal demon every day."
Slowly, he reached out and gently put his hand over Elsa's, doing his best to be careful and keeping the grip loose enough so that if she wished to pull her hand away she could.
"I guess the thing I'm trying to say is.... I'm afraid that we'll end up hurting each other. Not physically, although I suppose that's a possibility, but that one day we'll say something in anger that will tear us apart completely. I... I don't want to lose you again, but if we aren't open with each other.... if we can't find a way to move past the darker parts of who were are..... I don't know how our relationship can survive."
Ralph's voice had gotten steadily softer until he tapered off into silence, the sounds of other people on the beach talking and the waves crashing taking center stage for a time.
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 19, 2017 18:09:53 GMT
A warmth not unlike a small sun gripped Elsa's hand. She had been playing with her frozen lemonade, which was starting to thaw. The slushed pale yellow liquid splashed in her glass. Her fixation of the frozen lemonade had been distracted by Ralph holding her hand. She blushed at the touch.
Ralph spoke of fear, and uttered a fear he probably would never tell anyone. He was afraid of ruining their relationship. The look in his eyes echoed it. He mentioned a physical hurt, and it struck her this was the other fear. The fear that he would hurt her. She could throw ice hard, too, but not as hard as his hand, which was so large that a wallop would hurt someone.
Elsa said nothing, letting her eyes echo the sentiments. The most she did was tighten her grip, just to seek out that warmth
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Sept 22, 2017 6:24:43 GMT
For a time neither of them spoke and them merely sat in silence, each holding onto the others hand as if that could somehow keep them connected in the wake of this outpour of fears and worries. Ralph felt Elsa's own fingers tighten in his palm. While part of him hated that he had had to ruin their peaceful moment by bringing up such a serious topic, he also felt an immense weight lift off of him. Yes, the future was uncertain and the challenges their relationship faced were daunting but the fact that he had been able to be open with the young, captivating ice-wielder was he felt a step in the right direction.
They loved each other, he had no doubt in his mind about that, and if they could learn to discuss their hurts and fears and angers, then perhaps that love would survive and grow into something amazing. However, the first step was being open and communicating.
"You know, telling you about this... this fear I had, I thought it would only make me feel worse. But you know the funny thing?"
As he said this, he turned and looked at her with a soft yet radiant smile on his face and he returned a gentle pressure to Elsa's hand.
"I don't feel that way at all. If anything I feel better for it."
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Post by Zuyuri on Sept 22, 2017 16:13:01 GMT
"Me too..."
The wind of the faraway storms whipped up as Elsa admitted it out loud. Perhaps she had been naive about love from the beginning. There would be times where she Ralph would be hurt, but to throw aside a good relationship from one disagreement was foolish and selfish.
The same wind blew her plantinum blonde hair in her face. She had to use her free hand to brush it free with a laugh.
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