maskormenacelogs | another intro, yeeeeah

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another intro, yeeeeah

WHO: Kristoff Bjorgman and OPEN
WHERE: Outside of Residence #005
WHEN: Thursday, February 13th
WHAT: Kristoff's unsure about going into this house. In fact, he is massively put-off by this entire thing. Hello housemates, neighbors, and any other passers-by.
WARNINGS: nah man.

When Kristoff had turned away from the massive doors of Arendelle's castle, he'd heard Sven snort and whine in protest behind him. He'd ignored it in favor of walking determinedly away from the whole situation, and now... Now he was here, and Sven wasn't. He'd been suddenly surrounded by utterly unfamiliar spaces and people, and he must've asked fifteen times about his reindeer. Maybe the idea was that, if he knew that one thing, had something familiar, this would somehow make a lot more sense.

But he still didn't know where Sven was, and this still didn't make any sense. He'd been deposited in front of a house, odd in construction, and wasn't exactly sure about going in. They said he could, that he was supposed to live there, but it was still an uncomfortable action to take. It wasn't his house, and nobody had invited him so much as they'd shoved him at it, and... This whole thing was just too much! Everything here was boxy and paved-over, the street so open and the land so flat, the people too pushy.

He'd been too overwhelmed to be able to hold on to anything very valuable about this, if there was anything. Outside of the house, with nowhere else to go, he rubbed a hand over his face and sat down heavily on the front lawn. The things that they'd given him were set down next to him, along with his mittens, and he began to wait.

He wasn't sure what he was waiting on, but something had to make sense eventually, right?

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Karen was just as skeptical as he was in all honesty, but she figured it wasn't the wisest idea to alarm him just yet, not with his head consumed with too many questions. And who knows how long he had sat out here in the sun?

"They were," she pushed the key into the keyhole and turned, a soft click heard before the door swung open. She gestured again for Kristoff to follow her lead. "The US government here does. In some ways, it's a decent apology for pulling us away from our homes."

Now she wondered if Lachesis had saved them or the military had something to do with their arrival.

"Come on, you'll get a heat stroke if you're out here too long."

Kristoff wasn't exactly sure what the US government comprised of, or why they saw fit to tug people here, or why said people apparently saw housing as an apology, because it wasn't, exactly. It was probably better than the alternative, though, for most, especially considering that everything here looked to be buildings and houses and paved roads. There was no room to grow out from here.

He hesitated in front of the doorway before following her in, and couldn't help the little smirk that cropped up at the mention of heat stroke. He'd been assuming for ages that he was most likely to die of hypothermia, of falling through the ice or getting himself stuck on the mountain. He'd never considered injury via heat stroke. Was that even a real thing?

"Yeah, it's... Uh. It's really warm, here."

His layers of woolen knits and furs probably didn't help, but still.

"You are dressed for a blizzard." If only she was aware of how accurate... or perhaps far off she was. Instead, she chuckled quietly at her own teasing and asked him to shut the door behind him.

The house itself was cool, with the AC running in the living room to allow the air to pass throughout the rooms while she and the others were out. Truthfully, she didn't know if Hooded Justice left his room during the day, but she wasn't going to check on him after their initial fight over the pets.

"Okay, I know you've got a lot of question, but let's take it slow for now?"

She dropped her purse onto the coffee table, setting down her carton of Thai food that was immediately inspected by an orange cat that trotted out from behind the couch.

"I'm Karen," she started.

Edited 2014-02-15 10:34 (UTC)

"Kristoff," he answered, setting the items in his hands down on the table beside her bag. The cat got his attention, and he watched it while it inspected the little package, which was slightly unsettling. It wouldn't be hard for anybody to guess that its interest was piqued by food, but Kristoff found himself aware of the creature's specific hopes on the matter. Was it fish? Chicken? Anything it might be able to sucker Karen out of?

He realized that he'd paused to keep staring at the cat, and maybe that was weird, so he looked back up to Karen and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just--" He started, and didn't really know how to finish that statement. With a breath, he decided to go in a different direction, tugging at the neck of his jerkin. "Do you mind if I take this off? It's really hot."

Karen hadn't seemed to notice, busy untying the laces of her shoes. She let out a relieved sigh once she had removed them both, wiggling her toes and putting the shoes by the door where she usually kept them here.

"Kristoff," she echoed. Sounded like a tall, blond guy's kind of name. "Go ahead. You need some water? You don't look like you're used to the Sunshine State's kind of weather."

Kristoff heaved a sigh of relief and moved to undo his sash, dropping it onto the coffee table before reaching for the hem of his vest and beginning the wriggling-out process. The answer to her question comes while his head is still lost somewhere in the garment, "Oh. That would be great, if you've got some."

Fully shed of one layer, at least from his torso, he again let out a little noise of relief and folded it in half, lifting it to his face to give it a little sniff. It was dirty. He was dirty, and probably not too pleasant-smelling. He opted to set the garment on the floor instead of on the table, because... People probably don't want dirty clothes on their tables. Matter of fact, he paused to move his mittens, too.

"Sunshine State, huh?"

"One second."

While she disappeared into the kitchen, the cat pawed his way into the little box of Thai food. He stuck his paw in and retracted it, licking the paw clean with a pleased look.

Karen returned with a tall glass of cold water, holding it out for Kristoff.

"Alright, so let's backtrack: they brought you here and just dumped you on the front porch?" Karen couldn't help an unimpressed scowl.

"Oh. Thank you."

Kristoff took the water, looking around to the room she'd just come from, because that was fast, and this water was cold. He didn't openly question it, though, choosing to drink instead. By the time she'd asked her question, he'd downed three quarters of the glass.

Stopping to think about what he'd actually experienced, now that the rush of it was over, he answered, "Well, they talked to me on the way here and everything, I just... I feel like I didn't hear any of it. Nothing made sense. And that--" He pointed almost accusingly at the file and the communication device, frown deep for a split-second as he tried to find the least embarrassing way to explain himself. "They said I could look it over, but I... Um. Well, I never went to school like a lot of people do, you know? I mean, I can read. I can, just-- Uh. I'm a lot better with numbers, and that's a lot of words."

She's glad she caught him before he suffered a heat stroke, seeing how much of that glass he already drank. She quickly thought about offering him a refill, but she decided to wait and see if he asked.

Karen listened closely to him and then sighed, looking at the communicator briefly.

"Those people are with the military. They're likely following orders, coming from higher up... Anyway, they want us to register with the government. I don't know what exactly they want with us other than so far to keep track of everyone, but that's why you're here."

He attempted to absorb that properly, mouth pressed into a thoughtful (if slightly disgruntled) line. So the government here wanted them to sign up for... some reason. So that they could keep track of people that they brought here who they already knew a creepy amount about. He'd peeked at the file, at least. He wasn't able to parse through it quickly, but one look could tell him that they knew what he hadn't said.

"I'm here so... Somebody can keep track of me? Don't they already know I'm here? They brought me here."

She held up her arm and turned it over so the soft glow of the tattoo can be seen on her wrist. Hers, perhaps interestingly or not, is marked UNSETTLED. Her arm is held in a steady position for about ten seconds before she let it drop back to her side.

"That's how they keep track of us." An aggravated sigh. "If you register, you'll likely end up doing work for the government. They had some 'assignments' for all of us last month when we arrived. They were surprisingly tame, but I can't say for certain it won't change."

Kristoff hummed in confusion and bent to get a better look at the tattoo. He'd forgotten about it, he realized, but he'd gotten a glance of his own when he first arrived. He stood up straight again and tugged back the sleeve of his sweater, running a thumb over REGISTERED. He regarded it carefully for a moment, then frowned and held his own wrist out for her to see.

"'Registered,' right? Do I not get to pick?" Pulling his arm back, he tugged his sleeve down again, rubbing absently at his wrist as if scrubbing the thing out was going to help. "I don't like that. I don't belong to anybody."

"You have a choice. It's not much of one, but it's better than nothing." She extended her arm to pat his big, tough shoulder. He's young, but boy is he built like a truck. Karen found herself growing curious about her new, young housemate.

She also wondered how Nelson and Hooded Justice would take to him. Nelson she couldn't help but worry about lately, but it's HJ she figured who would take a disliking to him.

"You don't want to register, then don't. I didn't."

He had to guess some choice was better than none, considering where his current comforts with the situation currently lay. He gave a thoughtful hum, and was glad that he'd bumped into somebody who'd opted out. The situation hadn't been explained in great detail, or he'd missed the details, so getting a good idea of what he was in for before barreling into it was an available option.

"And if you don't? What happens to you then?"

Karen is still here, after all. They apparently hadn't sent her back or elsewhere.

She raised both arms up in a questionable gesture.

"They said we're on our own, but nobody's come to kick me out of the house or fire me from my job yet."

"Yeah?" Well, that didn't sound too bad at all, even handed the worst case scenario. He'd been on his own for most of his life, after all. He knew how to get by, and this land couldn't be so fundamentally different from his own. It would just be a matter of finding out where to go, out from under all of this civilization, and how to get there. Although he wasn't significantly skilled outside of the ice trade, he could find other work if it was necessary. People always needed manual laborers, and he was strong and used to hard work.

So, yeah. He could easily agree with Karen's decision to remain unregistered, then, to be separate from the people who'd dragged them here.

"I think that's what I'll do, then. Being on your own isn't such a big deal."

It's funny how the people who often claim that are the loneliest. Karen had once been that kind of person and honestly, in many ways she did still value her privacy and loathed conveying weakness, whether it was physical or emotional before others.

"You might not be here alone." She suddenly remembered, mild surprise seeping into her features. "If you're here, that means they've brought in more people. There's always the possibility someone from your home is around."

Somebody from his home. Now there was a rich thought. He tried to imagine any number of his family facing the same situation, dropped off at a house just like this one. They'd probably have the other occupants chased out in no time flat, keep right on going until they'd terrified the whole neighborhood. He wasn't sure how keen the government here would be on having trolls over, so it seemed more a comical thought than something that had any big chance of happening. Heck, it even got a little snort of amusement out of him.

"Even if that happens... Well. I don't know that many people." Of all of the people he could list, regular customers or people that he might've worked alongside with fair regularity, very few were people he'd call 'friend.' In fact, Anna was the first person he'd friendly with in a good stretch of time, and... Well, that had been a bit of a bust, hadn't it? His fault for unwittingly over-investing. He shook his head to dislodge that train of thought, giving Karen a shrug. Careless, casual. No big deal, right? "If anybody from my area is around, it probably doesn't matter much one way or another."

A touch of concern filtered into her expression at that comment. She didn't appear to understand why Kristoff had said that or where he was coming from with it.

"'Course it does," she said in incredulity and shook her head for emphasis. "It would mean you aren't as alone as you think you are. As much as we're all better off back home, it's good to have someone."

Kristoff didn't know what to do with someone else's concern, especially that of a stranger when he couldn't automatically reassure with confidence. He almost wanted to argue that it was fine, he really was as alone as he seemed, and there wasn't much wrong with that. That just sounds sad when he thinks about it, though, so he doesn't try.

"I mean, it's... Well. I really just don't know anybody, that's all. I mean, I guess I know maybe... I dunno'. One or two people? And it's better for her-- for them?-- Uh. They should be back in Arendelle." And then, to try and smooth over that weak attempt at an explanation, he added, more firmly, "But I really wouldn't mind having Sven back."

She would have been skeptical, but she cheated and listened in on his heartbeat and found he had been honest with her so far, if marginally nervous and/or upset by the situation which she couldn't fault him for. There was always the possibility he was lying, but he didn't know her, or what she was capable of.

"Arendelle, huh? Never heard of it." She didn't sound too surprised. "Who's Sven?"

"Sven is my reindeer." Which he'd mentioned, right? That they'd (potentially) taken Sven, and nobody would tell Kristoff where he was or how to get him back. It occurred to him after a lull that, oh yeah, people usually found it weird that he put so much emotional stock into an animal, so he tried to backpedal a little. "I mean-- It's just... I've had him for most of my life, so it's--uh. You know, he can't go out and buy his own food, and he can't graze right now, so I've gotta take care of him. That's all."

And, yeah. All of that added up to terrible backpedaling, because it just reminded him that Sven might actually be in trouble without him. If he was still in Arendelle, he'd just... He'd just go back to the Valley, right? He was smart enough to figure that out. If he was here, really being kept by these strangers... What? He didn't know, couldn't confirm anything, and the worry showed on his face in spite of the fact that he'd been trying to dismiss his attachment to his dumb reindeer.

"Oh, man."

She was about to ask skeptically why he even had a reindeer for a companion and not say, a dog or horse, which in Karen's mind was easier to imagine working alongside a human, but Kristoff's concern for his reindeer was understandable once Karen heard him out. As if on cue, her cat brushed against her leg and she looked down at him, her brows furrowed before emitting a sigh.

"Did he come with you? Or did the soldiers take him somewhere?"

Kristoff looked down at the cat once more when she did, and the amicable nature of the creature towards her made him feel more alone than the previous words regarding the people of his world, where he'd written them all away without much mind paid to it. Sven was intelligent and had always been there, and he relied on Kristoff and kept him company and talked stuff out with him (even if his voice was just Kristoff's own).

"He... This place is so confusing. I got, um, almost dizzy? I mean, everything made my head spin. I thought maybe I missed him, but it might just be that Sven's always there, and... I don't know. Would they take him?"

Karen couldn't restrain herself from shooting him a mixed look. With how spotty his memory is on his arrival, she had the feeling the reindeer didn't come with at all. How would anyone miss a large reindeer in the middle of Florida? She would have heard something on her way back to the housing complexes, too.

"Kristoff, I don't... think he's here?"

another intro, yeeeeah

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squints at my last tag being sort of contradictory...

no worries boo just keep on keepin' on

<3

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