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elsanna-shenanigans · 12 days ago

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October 2024 Contest #1: Caught In Your Web(Flake)

Words: 5k Setting: Modern AU Lemon: no CW: Armed robbery

Anna places the small jar of lutefisk on the final uncovered rune on the floor. Consulting the heavy book in her hand one more time, she scoots the jar a couple of centimeters to the left. She stands up and maneuvers out of the summoning circle that took all afternoon to sketch. Though calling it a circle is a bit of a stretch; with all the intricate connecting lines and pathways, it looks more like a web. Or a snowflake.

A webflake, if you will.

Looking at her handiwork with one hand on her hip, a jolt of caution passes through her for the first time. Despite weeks of research, planning, and material gathering, she’s still not one hundred percent confident this will work. Summoning a goddess isn’t as simple as building a birdhouse or making a beef wellington; one wrong step and she could find herself in eternal servitude to an ancient demon.

She takes a deep breath before uncertainty overtakes her and looks at the instructions one more time. The goddess’ faded image leaves a lot to interpretation, but if she’s anything like her bio says, then this will all have been worth it. Without further ado, she recites the well-preserved incantation.

I call to thee the queen of wind and skyThe master of snow and frostWho holds the weather in her graspAnd whose breath turns the clouds a silver greyI am humbled and in awe of your majestyAnd seek your presence here and now

As soon as she utters the last word, the candles along the web’s borders extinguish, bathing her apartment’s living room in darkness. There’s a harsh crackling noise, like the sound of ice breaking, as the outline of the web is traced with a glowing blue light from the back to the front.

The glow envelopes the entire room and Anna has to cover her eyes with her arm. The intensity reminds her of when she stared at the sun too long as a kid, and yet it also feels surprisingly nice. Warm. Like stepping into a big hug. But before Anna can embrace the light, she’s startled by a voice that echoes inside her bones.

“Who dares summon Elsa, the Goddess of Winter, before her season of need?”

Anna puts her arm down but keeps her eyes shut, waving in the direction of the voice. “Uh, h-hi! Hi? That’s me, I did that. My name’s Anna.” Under her breath, she mutters, “Holy shit, it actually worked.”

“You are either very brave or very foolish to summon me during the peak of summer. State your request, mortal, and I will judge whether it is one or the other.”

Her booming voice is a discordant choir, surrounding her real voice like a needle in a haystack. Anna dares to open one of her eyes and sees a feminine silhouette with dark voids where her eyes and mouth should be. “W-Well, uh, your highness– I mean goddess! I’m…not sure what you want to be called.”

“Call me by my name.”

“Oh. Okay then, uh, Elsa– beautiful name, by the way– I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out?”

“…what?”

“Just for like a couple of hours.“

“Foolish mortal, surely you jest.”

“Nope. Do you like frozen yogurt?”

“Frozen yogurt.”

“Yeah, it’s like ice cream but fake.”

“I am aware of the concept.”

“Oh cool, well there’s a really good frozen yogurt place like five minutes from here. I can drive us, if you want.”

“If I…let me see if I have this correct.” The blue glow shrinks away and the darkness fades as Elsa’s form becomes tangible, and visible, and…stunning. The soft features of her face more than compliment her thin yet curvy figure, and her sequined dress and hair– both white as snow– add this etherealness to her already ethereal…ness.

“Whoa,” Anna says.

When Elsa speaks again, the distortion has fallen away and Anna can hear her true, silvery voice that is just as attractive as she is. “You went through the effort to perform my meticulous summoning ritual simply just to…have my company?”

“Ah, it wasn’t that complicated,” Anna lies. “But yeah, that’s about right.”

Elsa raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms in a surprisingly sassy gesture. “You understand that I am a goddess, correct? I have spent centuries quelling wars, bestowing boons onto great warriors, and weaving the threads of nature with my fingertips.”

Anna shrugs, “You’re free to say no.”

“…”

“I mean if you want to.”

A few more divine seconds pass before Elsa sighs and walks past her. “I will grant you half an hour,” she declares.

***************************************

Anna sits back down at their small circular table, holding out the one of two spoons she had in her hand to Elsa. “Here you go, they only had one big spoon,” she says with the same gleeful smile she’s had since they hopped into her fully paid off 2003 Kia Sorento.

Elsa takes the spoon, still sporting the same skeptical look she’s had since slipping into the passenger seat of the creaky, squeaky 2003 Kia Sorento. “Thank you,” she replies.

“No problem.” Anna looks down at her cup of frozen yogurt, gleefully scooping a spoonful of the peanut butter flavored concoction covered in Reese’s pieces, mini peanut butter cups, and more peanut butter. “I’ve always wanted to try this place, you know?”

“I was under the impression that you have been to this establishment before,” Elsa says, tucking her spoon into her plain, naked cup of sherbet.

“Oh, no. I mean I’ve wanted to– I hear people talking about it all the time when they don’t think I’m listening– but I never have.”

“I…see.” Elsa is sitting with the straightest posture, as if slouching for even a second would leave a permanent wrinkle on her majestic dress. To be honest, it’s kind of weird. “I must admit, of all the mortals that have summoned me, you are the first one to express such simple ambitions.”

Anna scoffs and puts down her spoon. “Uh, simple? I–” She puts up her finger and picks up her spoon again to take another bite of her frozen yogurt. “Mmph, that’s so good. Anyway, I’m offended. Going out to eat on your own isn’t ‘simple’, it’s weird and scary and uncomfortable.”

Elsa crinkles her nose as if she’s smelled something bad and takes a bite of her stupid rainbow sherbet. “Three hundred years ago, I aided a lone woman in labor while she fought off wolves in her cabin. She’d whittled a crude spear from one of the legs of her table.”

Anna looks at her companion with pursed lips, “I mean…there are different kinds of ‘scary’.”

“No, mortal, I do not think there are. If this is a matter of anxiety over doing things alone, you could have asked me to create a temporary companion.”

“I do have a temporary companion.” Anna points her wet spoon at Elsa. “You.”

Elsa somehow sits up straighter. “I am not ‘temporary’ and I am certainly not a mere ‘companion’. I am the goddess of winter, something I am certain you know, and I would advise you to remember that.“

Anna grins, “Yeesh, the books said you had a bit of an ego, but I didn’t think it would be this big.”

“Is that right?” Elsa stands up and makes for the door with a flourish of her hair.

“What? Oh, come on.” Anna picks up their cups, pushes both their chairs in, and follows Elsa outside. The perfect summer afternoon makes the deity’s dress sparkle in the sunlight. “Elsa!”

Elsa keeps her stiff demeanor as she paces down the sidewalk, heels clicking against the concrete with discontent. “I will not be spoken to in such a tactless way by a mortal with no sense of probity.”

“I’m twenty-five, of course I don’t have property.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Anna groans, wondering how Elsa could walk so fast in heels anyway. “Could you please slow down?”

“And why should I?”

“Because we just passed my car and our frozen yogurts are already melting,” Anna reasons. “And I’m sorry?”

That, of course, manages to get Elsa to stop in her tracks– almost causing Anna to collide with her partially exposed back. The taller woman turns around, eyeing the apologetic summoner with discontent. “Do you truly mean that?”

“About the frozen yogurt? Yeah.” Anna holds up the cups of fake ice cream soup.

“Not–” Elsa rolls her eyes and, with a flick of her wrist, the frozen yogurts retain their original shape, seemingly unfazed now by the heat. “Do you truly feel remorse for your disrespect?”

“I…” Anna sighs. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m not good with the whole talking or making friends thing. People always tell me I can be insensitive and not good with social cues and stuff.”

“Tactless,” Elsa repeats.

“Yeah, that too, I guess. Anyway, I’ve always been a big geek about myths and stuff, and I found this old book at the library about summoning rituals. I figured if regular people didn’t like me– uh, mortals, I guess– maybe not regular people might. Like me, I mean.”

Elsa crosses her arms, her striking blue eyes searching for deception or deeper meaning in Anna’s lighter blue ones. “You used sacred knowledge to befriend a divine being?”

Anna squeezes the back of her neck and bites her lip; it’s probably for the best that she doesn’t leave any more details out about her crazy plan. “I used sacred knowledge so I could…befriend you.”

Throughout her twenty-five years on this strange, isolating Earth, Anna has done some crazy things. She’s taxidermied a fox, and even did something called a Cupid Shuffle. But none of that compares to seeing Elsa’s eyes widen briefly and knowing that she just surprised a goddess.

Elsa, quick to regain her composure, takes the cup of sherbet out of Anna’s hands. “It is not wise to let this go to waste,” she says.

Anna smiles, eating a triumphant scoop of her peanut butter monstrosity.

***************************************

Despite their first meeting ending…okay, Anna hesitated in calling upon Elsa again. She still did it, but not that confidently. As expected, Elsa emerged from the webflake with some exasperation over being summoned by the mythology enthusiast, but she didn’t abandon her. After all, Anna promised her more rainbow sherbet.

For the first couple of months, that’s how things worked with this odd pairing. Anna would summon Elsa, Elsa would tell her she has more important matters to attend to, and then they’d spend an hour or two together eating frozen yogurt and shooting the shit.

By the fifth visit, after Anna had spent almost two hundred dollars on lutefisk and painted the webflake onto her apartment floor, Elsa had finally let her guard down.

“You provide interesting company, mortal. At least more than most of my past summoners,” she tells her while they’re at an exhibit for scenes from Shakespearean plays recreated with insects (aptly called To Bee or Not To Bee).

Anna cautions a grin again, "I do, huh? More than that actress who wanted you to teach her how to be a goddess for that one superhero movie?”

Elsa frowns, “I tolerated her until she thanked a different god in her award speech.”

“And that general who asked you to freeze the rivers so invading ships couldn’t reach his ports?”

“The arrogant fool forgot to supply his troops with the means to survive the weather.”

“What about that prince who wanted you to kill all his brothers so he could become the heir?” Anna asks.

“All interesting summoners in their own right, but their lack of morals and strong hubris filled me with regret for aiding them.” She puts her hands in the pockets of a jacket she borrowed from Anna and sighs, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

“What?”

“From The Tempest,” Elsa answers as she points at a glass casing where a fly seems to be communing with a spider surrounded by purple cotton balls.

“Oh.” Anna leans forward, hands pressed against the glass right next to the sign that says not to press against the glass. She examines the scene with pursed lips. “I never liked reading Shakespeare. His stuff never made any sense, it was like every sentence was some kinda word puzzle.”

“His contemporaries also thought as much.”

Anna looks back at her with a raised eyebrow, “You met Shakespeare?”

“No, but I knew of him.”

“How old are you?”

“I do not believe social customs have changed so much that it is no longer rude to ask a woman about their age.” Elsa frowns and looks away from Anna’s curious gaze. “But, if you must know, this will be my thousandth year of existence.”

The gears in Anna’s head start cranking until a look of recognition crosses her face. “Wait, so that means…we need to celebrate! One thousand’s gotta be a super big year for gods, right? When’s your birthday?”

“Curb your enthusiasm, mortal, we do not gauge the passage of time as you do. The concept of a ‘birthday’ means nothing to us.”

Anna’s enthusiasm grows in defiance. “Oh, so then it can be any day. Like…next Tuesday after I buy more nettles?”

Elsa places her fingers against her temples and closes her eyes. “You are far too presumptuous.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Without thinking, Anna places her hands on top of Elsa’s surprisingly firm biceps, trying to get the goddess’s attention.

The result is cataclysmic. In her exertion, Anna manages to pull herself closer to Elsa, whose hands find purchase atop the woman’s shoulders. Anna’s eyes travel across the landscape of Elsa’s face in a way she’s never experienced before. This close, she can see the flurry of freckles across her nose and the faint pinkness on her snow white cheeks. This close, she can smell the pine needles that dissipated from her apartment floor. This close, she can hear a shiver of breath and the sudden thumping of her heart.

Thoughts she’s never entertained before scatter around her mind like snow in a snowglobe, but before she can make any sense of them, they’re interrupted by one of the museum’s security guards.

“Romantic epiphanies are against the rules here, ladies,” he says, pointing his baton at a sign above them. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

***************************************

They don’t end up celebrating Elsa’s birthday a week later. In fact, Elsa doesn’t answer her summons at all.

At first, Anna thinks she must have gotten the components wrong, or maybe Elsa was needed somewhere else. She tries again the next day, but Elsa still doesn’t appear inside the glowing webflake. The week after, she tries again. And the week after that. And the week after that.

Two months later, Anna is sitting on her knees in front of the harsh white light that illuminates her weary face. She recites the incantation with the clarity and reverence that surely must have been missing in her last summoning attempts. But still she’s met with the same loneliness that had plagued her all her life.

In a desperate whisper, the words “Elsa, please.” escape her lips.

The visage of the wintry deity appears in mere seconds, though it’s only her silhouette. “I am here,” she says in her spooky, multi-layered voice.

“Elsa…” Anna stands up, wincing as the pressure on her knees is finally relieved. She had played this scenario out in her head so many times, and each time her opening words had changed. Now, all she can say to start is, “Did I do something wrong?”

Her plea is met with more familiar silence.

“I did, didn’t I?” Anna continues. “At the museum, I felt something when…when we got close. And you probably sensed something, of course, since you’re a goddess, and it freaked you out.”

“A goddess does not freak out,” Elsa states.

“Then how do you explain this?” Anna gestures frantically at everything in front of her. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for two months and you haven’t answered. If this isn’t about me, then is it about the birthday thing? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was that touchy of a subject.”

“You did nothing wrong, mortal. It–”

“Anna! My name is Anna, and you know that!”

Despite Elsa’s lack of facial features, Anna can tell she’s left her speechless once again, but this time she finds no satisfaction in it. This time, she feels a tightness in her chest and throat that’s unbearable, and the only remedy seems to be the one thing that’s never come naturally to her: talking.

“I know that I’m stupid for thinking that I can just call you to hang out whenever, a–and I know I’m even stupider for feeling how I feel. But every time you answered me, and every time you agreed to do something stupid with me, I thought that meant something. I thought that finally I meant something to someone. Which, I guess, is the stupidest thing about all of this, because you’re you. Elsa. The century-old goddess of winter who can control the weather and stop wars and freeze frozen yogurt. And I’m…I’m me.”

It seems she’s wrong, the tightness only worsens with each word she speaks. Nonetheless, she’s stepped into this storm of her own doing, and the only way out is to keep going.

There’s a newfound tremble in her voice as continues; Elsa stays where she is. “I–I promise I won’t call on you again. This is the last time. I just– this is the first time I ever really felt close with someone, and when you stopped answering me, it hurt. And I don’t know why, but I needed you to know that.”

Elsa lifts her hands and seems to look at them, “I…understand.”

“You do?”

“More than you can ever know.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean?” Anna steps forward even though she knows she can’t enter the space that Elsa is occupying; she can’t sever the connection. Elsa must know this too, and yet she still steps back. “What can’t I know?”

“I have said too much.”

“Elsa, that–that’s not fair.” Anna wipes her face with her hand– tears, just what she needs. “I opened up to you, I told you how I was feeling.”

“I never asked you to do that, and it is better for you not to know.”

“You can’t decide that for me,” Anna argues.

“I can when it comes to this,” Elsa replies.

“What does that mean?”

Elsa doesn’t say anything at first. She takes a tentative step forward, her aura overtaking Anna in a way she hasn’t experienced since the last time they were together. It’s strong, intoxicating, and warmer than the light that surrounds her. Even more so when Elsa’s ethereal hand starts to slowly move towards Anna’s face. And for a moment, Anna believes that everything will actually be okay; the impossible could actually be possible.

But a moment is all it lasts. Elsa drops her hand, clutching it against her other one, and steps back. “I am sorry, this should not have happened.”

“No. No, Elsa please.”

“Goodbye, Anna,” Elsa says as she turns and steps away from the webflake.

“Elsa!” Anna shouts as she leaps forward with her hand outstretched. But it’s too late, the goddess is gone and in her place is a cold and familiar darkness. Anna stumbles to the floor, knocking over the stupidly expensive jar of lutefisk and an extinguished candle. This time, she lets the tears fall.

***************************************

It’s crazy and discouraging how quickly life can change. Two months ago, Anna was having a pseudo-picnic lunch on a beautiful summer afternoon with a beautifuler goddess. Now, she’s eating a gas station sandwich on a park bench watching a couple’s only outdoor yoga class.

Wild.

A month later and the finality of her last conversation with Elsa still hasn’t sunk in. Her heart clenches in agony every time she thinks of the way her stoic face used to falter after Anna’s said something dumb, and when she drives by the frozen yogurt shop on her way to work, and especially when she sees the space on her floor where the webflake used to be. Funny how much she can miss someone she never actually had. And she says as much to the random guy sitting next to her on the bench.

“I mean, she’s a goddess. She’s immortal and has all these goddess responsibilities and stuff, I was never even close to her league. But I…I was stupid and I thought I had a chance. It’s not her fault I was too ambitious– which is ironic considering one of the first things she told me was I wasn’t ambitious enough.” Anna sighs and wraps up what’s left of her sandwich. “Anyway, thanks for listening to me complain. What did you say you needed again?”

The man, with a gun pointed right at her, repeated, “Your wallet? I’m robbing you, remember?”

“Ah, right. Thanks for reminding me.” Anna taps her temple. “And, uh, no you can’t have my wallet. Sorry.”

The man grimaces, “The fuck do you mean ‘no’? I’m not asking for it, I’m telling you to give it to me.”

“And I’m telling you that you can’t have it. But if you’re hungry, you can have the rest of my sandwich.” Anna holds the possibly expired ham and cheese sandwich towards the robber.

He swats it away with his non-pistol-wielding hand, a stray goose snatches it away and leaves Anna alone to fend for herself like a dick. “Do you think I’m fucking around here? This–this thing is loaded, okay? It has bullets! I will shoot you if you don’t give me your money.”

When the man slaps her hand away, it manages to knock some lucidity back into Anna. This is actually happening to her, and there’s no escaping it. She places her hand back on her lap and gives the robber a serious look. “Shoot me.”

The robber stammers but tries to cover it up with a laugh, “What?”

“Shoot me,” Anna repeats.

“What are you trying to do, bluff me?” He points the gun up and down as if to prove it’s real. “You–You don’t think I’ll do it?”

“I mean this feels like your first time trying to rob someone, but I think you’re capable of doing it. You probably need the money for something important, which I understand, but I just…” Anna sighs and shrugs, “I don’t know. I guess I’m just done.”

The robber lets out another humorless and disbelieving chuckle. “I get it. You think this is all one big joke, you think there are cameras or some shit. Well, guess what, lady? This ain’t some kinda joke. This is real life, and if you’ve got a death wish, then I’d be happy to–”

He’s unable to finish his threat before a blast of white covers him and traps him in a cube of ice.

“By the Nine Realms, what do you think you are doing?”

Anna turns to see Elsa advancing with a hand pointed guardingly towards the frozen criminal, complete with an annoyed look she never thought she’d see again. “Elsa?” she says as she stands up and looks around. “How are…did someone summon you?”

“No, I came of my own accord.” The goddess eyes her handiwork, swiping a finger across the physics-defying ice. Inside, the robber looks at them with terror-filled eyes. “And it is fortunate that I did.”

“So, you just happened to be in the neighborhood and saw this guy trying to rob me,” Anna says, her question sounding more like an accusation.

“I did not say that.”

“Then how could…” Anna tilts her head. “Wait, you were watching me?”

Elsa looks away.

“Elsa, look at me.” If it were any other deity, Anna would have been smitten a hundred times over for sounding so demanding. But Elsa doesn’t do that, she looks back at Anna with such intensity, as if she’s fighting some sort of unseen battle. She knows she needs to choose her next words carefully. “Are goddesses allowed to stalk people?”

“Omnipresence is not the same as stalking.”

“I’m not asking about omnipresence, I’m asking you if you can be wherever and see whatever you want at any time.”

“That’s–”

“And why is it me?” Anna steps forward, knee now resting against the park bench that separates them. “The last time we talked, you said goodbye. I don’t know if ‘goodbye’ means something else in your pantheon, but to us mortals it means ‘I don’t want to see you again and also I’m gonna break your heart and make you feel like you’re unlovable’.”

“Is that how I truly made you feel?”

“Yes! No! Ugh, I don’t know and I hate it!” Anna digs her hands into her hair. “I’m constantly shifting between feeling so angry that I want to punch a wall to feeling cold and empty to feeling so sad that I start crying. You wanna know how many times I’ve cried since you left? Twelve times! I don’t like it.”

A guilty frown appears on Elsa’s face and she briefly looks away, “I am sorry, I never should have made my presence known. And I never should have answered your initial summoning.”

Anna groans and throws her hands up, “No, that’s not– you can’t just do this again, Elsa. You can’t leave and make me feel like shit, and then come back and make me feel all warm and happy and angry and– god I hate how beautiful you are! And you can’t just say you’re sorry and then leave again.”

“Then what is it that you want?”

“You!” Without thinking, Anna reaches out and grabs hold of Elsa’s arm as if she’ll disappear again if she doesn’t. “You stupid idiot, I want you. And I know I shouldn’t because you’re a goddess and I’m…well, I’m me, but I can’t help it, okay? Goddess, you probably don’t even feel the same way. What am I doing? Maybe I’m the stupid idiot.”

Elsa’s breath catches when Anna’s hand makes contact with her arm, and it leaves her entirely as she hears that raw, tender confession. A tense silence lingers between them; she ensures it doesn’t last. “You are not stupid.”

Anna sighs, “Oh great, so I’m just an idiot, then.”

“You are neither of those things.” Elsa takes Anna’s hand off her arm and cups it with both of hers. “But it is foolish to think…that I do not feel the same.”

“You…” Anna shakes her head, “Shut up, you don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

Anna feels Elsa squeeze her hand; her fingers aren’t as cold as she thought they’d be. Wait, is it profiling to assume the goddess of winter would have cold skin? Shut up, Anna, that’s not important right now. She ekes out a response, “Elsa…”

“The feelings I have for you are ones I have not felt for a very long time. But I remember them well.” Elsa takes a breath and looks at Anna with an intensity that almost makes her blush. “I wish for there to be more between us, Anna.”

And now she is blushing. “I…b–but I can’t even summon you anymore. I got rid of the summoning circle, and imported lutefisk is really expensive.”

Elsa smiles and gestures at herself, “As you can see, I no longer need to be summoned.”

“You don’t? So, does that mean you’ll pay me back for all that stuff?” Anna chuckles nervously, and she watches as Elsa once again reaches up to touch her face. This time, there’s no hesitation; no stepping back. It gives her a sense of comfort– a sense of belonging– that she’s never felt before. And it also makes her hella weak in the knees.

“I will give you anything,” Elsa replies. “Name it, and it is yours.”

“Okay, well that’s a pretty long list. But what I want right now…” Anna runs her thumbs across the back of Elsa’s hands. “…is to kiss you.”

Elsa obliges, closing the last bit of space between them to give Anna exactly what she wants. What they both want. Kissing a goddess is an indescribable feeling, like seeing an unseen color or hearing a new melody no one has ever heard before. It’s exhilarating, replenishing and life-affirming. For a second, Anna believes she’s immortal as well.

Suddenly, however, Elsa breaks from the kiss and looks at Anna with concern. “I do, however, think we should talk about how willing you were to die just moments ago.”

Anna rolls her eyes, “Oh please, you know I didn’t mean it.” And she picks up where they left off.

#elsanna #submission #october 2024 contest #prompt: web #cw: robbery

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