dominance | ( eudio inbox )

[ while bellamy is more than content to be as oblivious as he had been before new years, he knows that this means something. it may not factor into the grand scheme of things, but he knows that reaching out and touching elsa means something. he hadn't thought much of holding her hand or pressing his fingers into the small of the back, too caught up in talking to her and trying to remember the way to the chocolate shop he thinks she favours above any other. but he knows that this one means something. ]

[ after everything that's happened lately, bellamy can't quite run or hide from this. ]

[ so, he pulls back, hands in his lap, and glances down for a moment. reaching for his beer, he takes a sip, eyes following it when he places the bottle down. ]

[ his voice sounds a little rough to him. ] Do the snowgies do that in your castle back home? Come over and cook?

No, not at all, [ elsa laughs a little too much. she takes this moment to take another bite from her pizza, a hearty one that requires her to chew a lot and lick a bit of cheese from the corner of her mouth. her gaze remains fixed on her lap for the duration of this chewing before she looks up at bellamy again, having gathered herself enough to continue. ]

I think they've learned a thing or two since their ... inception in Eudio. They mostly are up to no good in Arendelle, but since there are fewer of them and they tend to follow me around more often than not, they seem to have evolved.

[ snowgie psychology? elsa isn't sure. ]

Evolved.

[ it's like he wants to laugh out his doubt. he's read as much as he can on snow, and he isn't so sure on how much they can evolve other than grow larger and breathe with carrots for noses. but it at least explains how chion has his calm moments, instead of behaving mischievously every second of every minute. ]

[ he reaches for his beer, fingers wrapping around the neck of the bottle. ] You'll just have to take care of yourself. If you don't want to have an entire army of snowgies misbehaving in the city. [ since she has to be sick to produce them. he takes great amusement in that, given how strange it still is to him. ]

I have been consuming just the right amounts of vitamin C, [ she informs him proudly, leaning forward to wrap her lips around the top of her straw, taking a long drink of it. her lips make a small smacking noise when she pulls away. ]

I can't imagine it would be met with much ire, considering that most people, the mayor included, have a sense of humor about themselves and enjoy the company of curious creatures. [ having a pig isn't the oddest pet to have, she knows. ]

I know that you'd like it.

[ bellamy's glad he can hide behind his beer as he smiles, taking a long drink of that. ]

Maybe.

[ it isn't a secret to anyone that he likes chion, despite how he'd been set out to destroy his belongings and hog his bathroom. it's different, owning a snowball that lives and breathes and makes indistinguishable noises. she's given him something else to focus on, even though roxy had given him a dog and he'd gifted himself another. ]

[ placing his bottle down, he looks at her drink. ]

Handed them off to anyone else lately?

[ without hesitation though she doesn't look directly at bellamy, she replies, ] You're the only person I've given any of them to.

[ elsa looks up, somewhere over his shoulder. they both know why he had received the snowball, to keep him company in his sister's absence. elsa doesn't explicitly tell him that he gets special treatment from her, though it might be evident from the way she lights up like a firebug whenever he's around.

this is new to her.

turning back to him, she leans forward and folds her hands over the table, over her half-eaten slice of pizza. ] And I certainly won't be handing off the snowgies you made for me.

[ he doesn't know what he expected, for her to have given a snowgie away to a few of her other friends. (it is what he had expected. elsa's likeable, and he doesn't doubt she has a flock of people ready and willing to spend time with her.) but he looks at her, observes how her gaze remains down and away from him when she says it. she's given him a snowgie to keep him company in the city, but sometimes he wonders if she had done so with the intent to encourage him to stick around. ]

[ he lets his gaze drop when hers lifts to him, and he reluctantly even looks up at her, though his head remains bowed, when she seems to shift in her seat. ducking his head in embarrassment, he can feel his neck heat as he smiles. shaking his head, he inhales before he even speaks. ] Yeah. Well, they're not animated. They have half the allure the real ones do.

But you made them and Olaf for me! They're just as special, Bell.

[ she almost stops and backtracks, stumbling over the accidental nickname, but she decides to stay with it, even nodding ever so subtly to herself. rolling her sleeves up, she picks up the pizza and decides to finish off what is left on her plate.

the gift does mean a lot to her. it's very personal, it shows that he does take note of the little things she tells him and doesn't tell him. she's elated. ]

[ olaf the snowman with the carrot nose and a shop named after him. bellamy thinks he's the only snow creature elsa has that has feelings. he'd be elated to know she loves him that much. ]

[ he thinks. though he may posture himself as the snow expert amongst his friends, he still has no clue how any of this works. ]

[ but his face feels heated, and so he's glad that he can at least distract himself from having to form a reply when he grabs his beer and takes another sip of it. he does take a bite out of his pizza, finding it to be as stringy as he remembers the order of extra cheese to be. it's odd, still, having food at his fingertips when he'd been so used to having a little and taking nothing. ]

When you were younger, did you only just do things with snow? Play with snow, do the skating on ice thing — [ he looks up at her. he remembers her informing him she's more than just the snow, and while bellamy takes delight in seeing her use her powers in front of him, there's more to elsa than her abilities and kingdom. he's always known that. ]

[ plus, it seems like the type of direction to head in now that he doesn't particularly want to talk about what he'd made and given her. ]

[ elsa goes quiet, a bittersweet expression befalling her. her eyes lower to the rim of her glass, watching some bubbles rise to the surface in her iced tea, the frost around it beginning to melt. the quiet lasts a little too long, even for someone who almost always thinks carefully before speaking. ]

No, I did other things, but the snow was our favorite part. She'd wake me up in the wee hours of the morning and tell me – [ here, she imitates anna's dramatics, throwing her head back with the back of her hand covering her eyes briefly. ] "The sun is up, and so am I." We'd slide down hallways and take over the ballrooms and ice skate or build snowmen. I'd clean up our messes. [ she laughs, touching her fingertips to her cheeks as her eyes become a little misty at those fond memories of early childhood. ]

Anna liked playing in the mud. I think she still does. I liked sitting in my room and reading, playing little logic games, learning chess and checkers. I went outdoors on occasion, taking solitary rides with my horse. [ she sighs. ] I stopped going out as much for several years.

[ he laughs at her impression of anna. and tries to imagine it all, overwhelmed by attempting to picture something he's barely begun to understand. she had a freedom she hardly knows she had. with the chance to go outside, ride a horse, build snowmen, even opt to do none of those at all, he envies her for the upbringing she had, for the chances she took to spend time with her sister without needing to be shushed when they grew too loud. ]

It must've been nice to be able to feel the sun like that. To do any of that.

[ all they had on the ark was the dull glow of the lights. everything on the ark was now dull in comparison to what he'd learned on the ground and in this city. placing his hands on the top of the table, he curls his palms against the edge, fingers tapping momentarily against the surface before he stills them. ]

[ he lowers his gaze, a fond, small smile blossoming on his lips. ] Octavia used to wake me up real early to go into the jungle. Or to tell her about the stars again. [ he shrugs his shoulders, shifting in his seat. ]

[ leaning forward, he rests his arms on the table against the lip of his plate. looking up at her, he smiles as he teases, ] I'm glad you did more than just play in the snow.

It was, [ she agrees, lowering her head as the tips of her fingers slide over her jaw to the lobes of her ears. she shakes off the feeling and settles her hands into her lap again. it was nice. it was even nicer to open the gates of the castle and allow their courtyard to once again be filled with their people. the sun is for anna, as is the company, for it is she who prefers to be around people. at the same time, finally opening the castle doors signified the the acceptance elsa long avoided and sorely needed her entire life.

her thoughts wander back to her aunt, who was once young and played with her sisters just as elsa had with anna. their stories mirrored each other so much that it frightens her from time to time. but elsa is different. that much has been clear from the start of this storybrooke madness. ]

What did you tell Octavia about the stars? [ elsa asks, mirroring his position as she folds her hands over the table again, leaning forward. back to the conversation at hand. it isn't often that she hears snippets from bellamy's life and she would be upset with herself if she didn't pay attention to this. ]

[ he watches her, then looks down. his instinct is to turn the conversation around. talking about life on the ark is still so sensitive for him. he doesn't like to dwell on those corridors, let alone the home he'll never be able to revisit now that the ark has crashed and fallen apart upon its descent to the ground. where he wants to be is far from that place, but he has always found himself lingering on the memories or mom and o. he doesn't move his head, remaining as he is as he thinks back on his time in the ark. what hadn't he told octavia? ]

I told her what they looked like. Sometimes I drew them. [ he smiles, ] I'm better at drawing stars then anything else. [ his smile falls, but it's a natural fading of it as he glances up at her. ] She couldn't see the stars, and we didn't have a window. I just kept telling her about what I saw whenever I walked by this big window. Sometimes I used to think I saw Andromeda and Heracles out there, so I'd tell her about them. She always liked those stories.

[ until she'd stopped liking the ones detailing the stars more than the heroes themselves, and a part of him thinks she'd begun to resent him for the freedom he had to walkabout the ark. but he'd never wanted to take to the corridors without her in hand. ]

[ while mythology is something elsa enjoyed as a child, stories in one of her many books, she has come to understand that they represent so much more of that to bellamy. they tether him to his family, acting as a protective shield against the difficulties of their lives on the ark.

she isn't sure what to say at first, her eyes never leaving his face as a sympathetic smile sits on her lips. ] That was so – that was nice, Bellamy.

[ there has to be something better she can say, but all she does instead is reach across the table, nudging her glass to the side, so that she can rest her hand over his. ]

[ feeling her hand on top of his, he looks down at it. he should expect it of her, since elsa seems to reach out to touch him in the moments where a touch has been given more thought. he's only ever reached out to touch her from impulse and not thinking about it at all. ]

[ but bellamy knows what he had done for octavia had been torture, despite his intentions always being good in nature. telling her about the stars and the ark, trying to paint it in a vivid picture … it'd never been good for a girl who couldn't go out and see it for herself, despite his best attempts to think of a plan so she could witness them for herself for once. ]

[ his expression falls before it constructs itself to be guarded. ]

Glad you think so.

[ it'd been the downfall for the blake family. bellamy's mind goes to the unity day dance before he pushes it away. ]

Only the big hallways had the windows. Octavia didn't get to see the stars for a long time.

I'm sorry things were like this for you, [ she responds gently, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. it's more than she has done for anyone else recently, but she tries not to think about it, even though it's evident that this is another small but significant move of hers. she worries that her hand is too cold, too heavy, even if it hadn't been a problem when he had reached for her before.

she clears her throat, trying to move onto another positive thought. ] Did you have any other happy memories with your family?

[ it's impulsive for him to say no. there were no other happy memories for the blakes. but that'd be a lie. bellamy's been making it a point to stop lying to himself, even though he finds he is right now. he tries to ignore the movement of her thumb on his hand. ]

[ he'd grown up denying to anyone who wondered what the extra noise from behind his door came from. a part of him has been trained to have the kneejerk response of denial and selling it, informing those around him that it's only mom and her son behind that door. he's kept everything he's ever shared with octavia to himself that it's difficult to comprehend how he's supposed to share it with someone else. ]

I liked spending my time with O. No one else had a sister but me. [ he keeps his gaze down on the table, watching her hand from the corner of his eye. brows slightly furrowed, he becomes restless, glancing toward the window for a moment. ] I'll never be happier than I was the day she was born. Mom used to promise me she'd still be there when I had to leave for class.

[ spending time with octavia. as general and boring as it sounds, that's his happiest memory. all those moments he can and can't remember, shared with his sister who may or may not remember them in turn. ]

Of course, I remember.

[ the corners of her eyes crinkle and she chuckles softly, even though nothing is especially funny. clearing her throat again, she wishes she could bite back her nervous habit. at least she hasn't retracted her hand or hastily changed the subject in fear of awkwardness.

her gaze is warm and it's easy to look upon bellamy in a different light, clutching to this newfound insight when she has spent so much time talking about herself and anna. ]

How sweet. She must have been so small and – and unusual, especially since I assume that births aren't. Well, they aren't especially celebrated like they are in other cultures. [ a pause as she bites her bottom lip, looking thoughtful. ] You don't often talk about your mother in detail.

[ the ark has a one-child policy. bellamy doubts any of the kids, save maybe clarke and a few others, know what it's like to witness it. he doesn't think clarke's even seen a woman give birth to her child, but he supposes abby would have stories. it's more than what anyone else would know, he thinks. ]

[ it's easier to talk about octavia than it is mom. it'll always be easier. ]

There's not really much to talk about. [ he looks down, hand still beneath hers, but he almost doesn't feel it. almost. given her hand is cold, it's a little difficult to ignore. his tone isn't conversational or warm. bellamy's trying to remove himself from the topic at hand, given it tiptoes a little too close to what he doesn't want to think about. ] She died. I have to focus on Octavia now.

Can I at least know her name?

[ her heart still aches when she thinks of her own parents, lost to sea. she understands that feeling of utter loneliness and helplessness. but this isn't about her and all that she offers to this conversation is, ] My parents were Agnarr and Iduna.

[ after this, she won't press for more. this is territory in which she knows to tread carefully. ]

[ bellamy has never had a problem speaking of aurora when it comes to octavia or beating himself up. in most circumstances, he speaks of her because that's all he does — trying to instil confidence in octavia to believe in herself, and to tear himself down. he thinks about mom a lot; from the day he'd chosen to shoot chancellor jaha to yesterday, aurora blake is a person who he's never forgotten, even though he wonders if she's become a memory to him he's begun to warp in his own head. ]

[ lifting his gaze up at her, bellamy's expression isn't as open as it once was. lips slightly parted, he looks as though he's a kid again. uncertain, if a little afraid — aurora is simply someone he just doesn't speak of. he doesn't let himself; he's the reason she's not here. ]

[ he thinks to comment on her parents' names sounding more like greek mythological gods to him, strange and unique in their own syllables, but he knows elsa better by now. she won't let him stray from this, even if he so much as asks her to. ]

[ his gaze becomes unfocused for a moment. ]

Aurora.

That is a beautiful name, [ she exhales with a smile.

her parents were proper, strict enough, always loving. they were the perfect king and queen from what she could see, even if things were less than perfect behind the throne. sometimes, it's difficult to reconcile her memories of her parents with the newfound information from her family's hidden past, but all families are complicated. it doesn't matter how rich or how poor they are.

she might just shift the topic slightly instead, not wanting him to grow too uncomfortable with her. ]

I know someone named Aurora. I met her in Storybrooke.

[ he doesn't know what he expects from elsa. she's always been kind. even though she'll disagree, he doubts there's a mean bone in her body. but he finds himself guarded all the same. ]

[ if he gives her this piece of himself, bellamy knows he won't be able to get it back. by giving people slivers of who he is, he knows he won't be able to leave this city as easily as he would've at the beginning of his stay here. just like the snowgie she'd given him, speaking of mom in any way, shape, or form keeps him tethered here and to her. ]

[ he looks up at her, and he smiles, but it isn't out of mirth. her answer is one he should've predicted, but instead had gotten his hackles up and let them make him feel as though she was pressing him with icicles instead of the soft chill of her hands. aurora isn't a name he expects to be as well known as octavia or even elsa's own, but bellamy thinks he understands what she's doing now. instead of batting her away, he tries to lower those hackles just a little. ]

Yeah? It wasn't a real popular name on the Ark.

[ ducking her head, she smiles and covers her mouth with her other hand. ]

Aurora – she is a princess from another kingdom. She was cursed by the evil, vengeful enchantress Maleficent who could turn herself into a dragon. Many outside of our worlds know her better as Sleeping Beauty.

[ wrinkling her nose a little, she isn't sure how bellamy would take it, if he would find it to be amusing or not. she holds her breath and watches him carefully. ]

[ his smile is small and soft. no longer on edge, or particularly guarded, bellamy finds himself at ease with the story of aurora the princess who seems to have slept for a long, long time. he remembers reading the fairytale one night, but his version hadn't given her a name. ]

I doubt Mom would've been fond of being called that. Or a princess. [ just like octavia, he thinks his mother would've preferred to be some kind of warrior, like mulan. he doesn't move his hand from beneath hers, but he does shift it, as though he's begun to relax again by moving his fingers slightly. ] Kind of doubt she'd let any person curse her.

[ he looks at her with his eyebrow slightly arched. ] Did she find a cure to this curse?

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