I’ve traveled all this way for something

[maskormods]

WHO: YOU.
WHERE: Eden East's cruiseship
WHEN: Saturday February 15th, around 5 PM EST
WHAT: Registration in motion... among other things.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; let us know if this should be edited.

" The new frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises -- it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook -- it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security. But I tell you the new frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. "
( from jfk's speech "the new frontier," 7/15/1960. )

The sun hasn't set yet and the temperature hovers somewhere just below 70 degrees this evening; imPorts, both recently arrived and not, will have been escorted to this event so that they can meet each other, have a good time, and of course officially state their registration status. Or lack thereof. It's your decision, they emphasize, even though the unspoken "but" is always there.

It's an elaborate spread, certainly much more elegant than last time. Eden East herself, elegant in her backless champagne-colored dress, meets and greets each and every imPort as she flutters to and fro. She'll find you and chat for a few moments, shaking your hand and complimenting your dress. She'll know your name, and she'll have an entourage of aids and cameras following her wake. Captain Holiday, in contrast, maintains the energy of someone who feels out of place holding the Swear-In ceremony somewhere so extravagant. As imPorts arrive he tells them where to be for the ceremony part of the evening, but that they are free to enjoy themselves until then and after.

( Please state your character's official status -- REGISTERED or UNSETTLED -- in the subject header of your thread. Characters who are UNDECIDED may be contacted later in the week for their decision via their IC contact post. )

Comments

Anna | Undecided | OTA

[cardea]

To say she was concerned was putting it lightly. An hour ago, she'd been falling off a cliff. Half an hour ago, she'd been in a weird room with a weird person getting the sum of why she was here- oh, and that she had magic. Like, Elsa magic, expect in reverse. Then, ten minutes ago, she'd been brought here. Anna was just glad that, while she might be sweating her heart out, at least she had a nice dress on. Even if nothing else made sense she was representing Arendelle in this foreign land. Anna took small consolation in the fact she still looked a princess in her winter get up (with the cloak gone, long since gone, or she'd be passed out on the ground).

So, ten minutes ago she came here and heard the speech. Five minutes after that, she located and staunchly planted herself next to the chocolate reserves. Swear loyalty to a whole new kingdom or be....what? Homeless, alone? She frowned as she bit into a brownie, thinking things out. She'd figured the next party she'd attend after Elsa's coronation would be her own wedding, not this. She just...she wasn't sure what to do.

She gave a small, dramatic sigh between bites.

"I really can't be here right now."

[malodorous]

Kristoff was decidedly unfit for this whole thing. The huge ship, the insane luxuries, the people... It was like the whole thing was constructed to remind him how outside he was. Two days hadn't been enough for him to get his head on straight, and this place kept throwing new loops at him. He'd decided to try and counter the feeling of being intensely uncomfortable with eating, only to find the dining area to be... Also insanely lavish.

But that didn't matter for long, really. A skeptical scan of the room brought a familiar face into view, and he practically started. He had to weave around a few people, but he reached her as quickly as possibly, keeping his eyes on her like she might disappear somehow.

"Anna!" He stopped short of reaching out to touch her, just to check her temperature, to make sure she was as healthy as she looked. "You're-- Are you okay?"

[cardea]

"Kristoff!"

A staunch ally and fellow quest-goer instead of, well, anything else, he maybe, but that doesn't enter into Anna's head. Nor does any idea of propriety or honor or appearances. No, none of those will even pass into her mind until later. For now, in this very moment, he's the only person from home she's seen. So he gets a leaping hug, Anna wrapping her arms around his neck in enthusiasm, forehead pressed against his-

Then, once she made eye contact, instantly blushing and pulling back, ducking down to smooth out some imagined wrinkle in her dress with a light cough before looking back up at him.

"I, uh- That's- that is, they got you too? Weird."

[malodorous]

"Hey, n--"

She'd jumped before he got a change to warn her off of it, and his automatic response was to catch her, even though the whole gesture made him freeze up otherwise. His posture went stiff for a split-second while his heart beat faster, and he took a step back after she let go, trying his best to will the redness out of his face.

He shook his head as if to clear it, running a hand through his (actually clean) hair. "Ha. Yeah, uh... Yeah. Hi to you, too. Here I am. It is pretty weird."

[cardea]

"Right?"

She seized upon the subject change of the weirdness of the situation like a lifeline. If it even was a change. It wasn't like they had been talking about her reception of him or anything- nope. Time to focus. She finished smoothing her dress and straightened back up.

"Do you think they just got us all? Elsa and Olaf and the snow monster and everyone that was there-"

She gasped, realizing she'd over looked a very important party member. She glanced around, like she could have possibly overlooked a giant reindeer being in the room.

"Is Sven here?"

[mmnpcs]

[ Joining Anna's side is a tall woman in uniform, one that the young princess will recognize from her brief venture on base and through the labs when she had been brought to Cape Canaveral. Her smile is wide, with big pearly teeth and a friendly demeanor as she approaches Anna. ]

You're looking a little blue, ma'am. Seasick?

[cardea]

Homesick.

[She paused half a beat, chocolate treat freezing in midair.]

That's a thing, right? Missing home? I've never- I mean, I read about it and everything- but I've never actually...been away. From home. Before now. And I still really need to be back.

[She gave a half apologetic smile with that last bit. She knew, she knew, it wasn't this nice woman's fault. But it was still true. She really couldn't be here.]

jfc i thought i sent the tag days ago

[mmnpcs]

It's completely normal.

[ Sympathetically: ] I understand. I'm sorry we haven't entirely figured out how the Porter technology works.

no worries

[cardea]

Oh, no. There are strange powers in every place.

[So it was looking like, anyway. She couldn't in good faith blame these people and not Elsa for back home, so it wasn't even a choice. The people were innocent.]

You can fix it someday. Just hopefully not too far away a someday.

[iampretty]

After dancing for a while, Hans had wandered into the buffet room for a drink or two. He's wandering towards the punch when he spots Anna, smiling in her general direction.

Wait what?

The reality that his fiancee is here (here!!!) in Heropa (not in Arendelle!!!) sets in like a punch to the face. Hans's expression rapidly shifts from content at the punch to confusion at seeing his fiancee to excitement at seeing his fiancee. He's got to put up appearances, after all. He needs to look happy that he's seeing her here, despite the fact that he's confused beyond belief (why is she here???).

All things considered though, it's great that she's alive. Considering that he was heading off on a rescue mission to find her when he was rudely brought here, the fact that his fiancee is alive, breathing and decidedly not ice meant a lot to Hans and his soon-to-be kingdom.

"Anna!" he yelled, waving towards her as he abandoned the punch bowl and practically ran to her side. "You're here!" Why is she here? "You're here and you're safe! Not frozen or hurt or anything like that, oh I'm so glad you're not hurt!" Yes, he was rambling. But that was what she'd want to see: Hans, her happy, charming, wonderful fiancee who was half of the whole.

[cardea]

He was, indeed, the very picture of what Anna imagined a loving fiancee would be after all that had happened. Attentive, charming, loving, and adorably befuddled over his own concern. Anna, for her part, froze for half an instant at hearing his voice, heart stopping. Then, wasted no time, she threw her arms around his neck, the momentum of her leap probably forcing him into a spin to keep from falling over.

He was here, he was here. The implications of what that fact may have for Arendelle were not yet realized in her overwhelming joy at the most important person in her life being here, with her, in her time of need.

"Hans."

After the first exclamation she murmured his name a few times over, convincing herself he was here, that it would all be okay. Her Prince Charming had returned to where he belonged, at the side of his princess in distress.

"Oh thank goodness. I was so- I found Elsa and she- oh. Are you alright?"

She pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes, her own wide in sudden distress that something may have happened while he was out of her sight.

[iampretty]

As she threw her arms around his neck, he hugged her back, bringing her into a spin as he held her tight. She was here and she was thankfully in one piece, and he was going to do everything to reassure Anna that everything was going to be fine. Though really, he had no idea just what he would do now.

"I'm fine," Hans replied, gently smiling at Anna. "And really, I'm so much better now that you're here." He replayed her words in his mind, trying to get some semblance of what she might have been through. She mentioned she found Elsa, something that he filed away as a topic to talk about later. Not now, though. Now was for the lovers act, putting on the schmaltz and the romance that Anna so desperately wanted.

"I thought...well, I was starting to think that I'd be alone in this place."

[cardea]

"Never."

She pressed her forehead even harder against his, as though she has any control over whether they were here or not. But, really, that was the point of true love, wasn't it? Nothing could keep them apart, no matter how strange or unexpected the situation. Love would conquer it all.

"We could never be alone, not anymore. We waited too long to find each other."

And with that resolute statement, Anna was ready to at least let her feet hit the ground again, loosening her grip enough to allow that.

"But if you're still here- it's true, isn't it? There's no way back to Arendelle?"

[dragony]

"It'll be over soon enough."

The voice comes from Anna's left, from the girl picking at one of the fruit platters—small wedges of melon on tiered trays, plucked gently. She looks, in a word, weird: unnatural color of green hair, a left arm bare of all but a bracelet, but her right completely wrapped up with a bandage and a ribbon: anchored with a gold ring, it ties around her wrist, and then covers her arm completely up to the elbow. Okay the dress looks fine, and the coiled wire pendant for her necklace is a little unusual, but then she turns her head and hey-o, one eye, one big gold-colored eye patch covering where the other should be.

At least when she smiles in greeting, it looks friendly enough, even if it doesn't dazzle like the sun.

"You're not going to miss anything."

[cardea]

"Oh, wow."

Yup, she was the picture of princessly manners with that one. She glanced between the bandage and the eye, wondering just what did they do to people around here- and then, right. She let out the first 'ha' of an awkward laugh and straightened up immediately, looking the girl in the eyes. Eye.

Yikes. This was what happened when you only met new people once every decade or so.

"I mean, ah, what? Oh, what about not...missing...anything?"

[dragony]

The smile went sour by millimeters, watching where the other girl's attention went, but it wasn't like it was unusual, either. Better to see fabric covering scars than the damage itself, but even so, the focus brought always served to make her a little more self-conscious, a little more leery. (And what a change of pace that is.)

"You sounded anxious," she said with a careless shrug of her shoulders and a flat tone—a practiced lack of empathy, "about how you can't 'be here right now.' But whatever you're worried about, you're not going to miss it."

Her head tilted a little to one side, her good eye giving Anna another glance-over. The piece of melon twirled in little circle, toothpick pinched between Ruka's fingers. "You are one of the new arrivals, aren't you?"

[cardea]

"Yes!"

She'd messed up. Really, she couldn't blame herself, but she'd still done wrong. Her parents would have have approved of that total lack of etiquette. But all she could do was offer a slightly apologetic smile.

"Just got here, like, an hour ago. I've never even been on a party on a boat before- it's nice. And I'm Anna. Pleased to meet you."

She finished that of with a quick curtsy, deciding late manners were better than none.

[retropolis]

Of many things Nelson could understand it was Anna's sentiment, and even more so her expression of it. He was guilty of stress-eating and chocolate could be a particular vice -- all that had kept him from helping himself to anything tonight was his own concern over getting motion sick once the boat began to move.

"Sorry," he said to her, an expression of sympathy. He was a clean-cut, non-threatening sort of man; it was not disingenuous. "None of us are supposed to be, but as far as I know the only way home is simple luck of the draw. It isn't all bad."

[cardea]

There was nothing untrustworthy about a person with a love of chocolate. That wasn't a deep thought Anna had gone to after years of contemplation, or even one she consciously recognized. It was just a gut feeling. So (closed lip, so as to not show her current bite of brownie she was rapidly swallowing) Anna offered a wavering smile at the greeting.

"Oh, no. It looks like an amazing kingdom- and, you know, normally I'd be so for this. Getting out of the house isn't really something we do back home. But it's just a really, really bad time and-"

She caught herself. Manners, Anna. She offered a hand, ladylike.

"And you're stuck here, too. I'm Anna. Of Arendelle."

[retropolis]

"Kingdom may not be the word, but--" He stopped himself, offering his hand in return and shaking hers politely. Nelson could always appreciate someone with manners. "Nelson Gardner. Of... uh. Where's Arendelle?"

What he should get used to is hearing about cities, or countries, or whatever else that might not exist as far as he's concerned but do, in a greater more multi-versal sense, but he still hadn't. There was nothing especially unsettling about Anna, though, so it wasn't enough to shake him yet.

"And what's the particular trouble? You may as well let yourself enjoy it, as far as I know we may be here for a while yet," he added. "... But whatever's at home should wait."

[cardea]

"We kind of fell into an eternal winter?"

That awkward smile was apparently around to stay as she gave a small shrug of 'hey, what can you do? things happen' to accompany that confession. And that handshaking thing gets a funny look, but, really, who is she to complain about other cultures?

"But we can fix it. Magic isn't bad, you know, just misunderstood. And slightly withholding."

Going way too personal there, Anna. Back to that first part.

"But Arendelle is- well, it's Arendelle. Honest, I don't know where we are right now, really. I've never heard of any United anything...so directions are kind of out."

[detriments]

"A little late for that, don't you think."

Christine's smile was sweet, despite the slight sting in her words. She had little patience for people who waffled on their purpose here, who waffled on whether or not they belonged, and this girl had just that written all over her expression. Mediocrity really didn't flatter anyone, no matter how pretty they were.

"Relax," She looked away, still serene and seemingly helpful, "Enjoy the food. You'll feel better."

[cardea]

Anna, without thinking, instantly took another bite of the chocolate treat in her hand at the woman's advice. Thus making it impossible for her to reply for another few seconds as she frowned, then rapidly chewed and swallowed. She gave a small apologetic laugh as she (finally) replied.

"Late for what?"

[detriments]

"It's a little late for regrets," She answers, patient enough to wait for the girl to finish that bite with the same pleasant expression she'd worn while first approaching. "You'll have to wait until they bring us back, now."

[cardea]

"I think it's a little early to just give up."

The chocolate was, for once, ignored, as she gave her full attention to the other woman. Give up just because someone said so? That really didn't sound in anyway appealing to the young princess.

"How long have you been here?"