[Even in the context of this conversation, both mundane enough to feel familiar to Marco and personal enough to feel ever so slightly awkward, the revelation that he's been talking to royalty makes his train of thought get lost for a moment. Not even just royalty, but an actual queen. A queen running a small shop. A CEO working as a coder and secretary in a small workshop. Familiarity, sympathy, a dash of wait-no-I-have-no-idea-what-that's-like--
It's this short derail that likely makes him blurt out, before anything else:] Oh, I'm-- I'm sorry. I didn't know.
[But then the rest of his brain starts catching up, and he furrows his brow.]
[That apology manages to get a laugh out of Elsa. It sounds a bit strained, but the slight twitch at the corners of her mouth is proof that it's at least genuine, if a bit buried under everything else Elsa is currently feeling right now.]
No, it's fine. I haven't told many people, simply because... it was easier, if nobody knew.
[But that's another issue for another day. Because his next words.... mmm. She'd lie if that thought hadn't very briefly crossed her mind during all of this, but still... she shakes her head.]
But I can't stay here forever. I... I don't know if I want to. I love the friends I've made here, and the life I've settled into [people-eating aside of course] is bearable... but someday, if we can ever find a way to return home... I will be going back to Arendelle.
If.... if I let myself fall into a relationship here... it will have to end, when I return home. And I'm not sure I could bear it.
[Elsa is a person who hated herself for a long time. She had no love for herself, for her powers, for anything about her own life. To let someone in who can love her, who chooses to love her and who can make her feel good about herself, only to have to cut those ties because of tradition... that would hurt just as badly as her forced separation from Anna had.]
[It's a quiet sound; the sound of someone who hadn't thought of this at all, despite it seeming so obvious once it's out there. Marco is married now not only because he loves Fiddleford, but also because he doesn't think he can or will return home. How could he, the way he is now? He doesn't have it in him to run a company anymore. Maybe he shouldn't even be allowed to.
But if Elsa wants to go home...]
... Maybe you wouldn't have to go alone. Although-- Although I guess that still wouldn't let you... [Wait. He looks straight at her.] Why do you have to marry a man? If you're the queen, can't you just change the rules?
[Elsa would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about that before. Not in relation to all of this, of course, but when she was first coronated, back when she still had to keep her powers a secret, she thought that she might be able to go against her father's orders. She was the queen! But...]
I can't... the family line has to continue somehow. If I don't do it, Anna will have to, and the last thing I want is for that duty to fall to her.
Will she? I guess... Unless you instituted a democracy, or... [He's already trailing off before he can even finish the thought, because part of him acknowledges that casually suggesting a political revolution in Elsa's home might be kind of out there.
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It's this short derail that likely makes him blurt out, before anything else:] Oh, I'm-- I'm sorry. I didn't know.
[But then the rest of his brain starts catching up, and he furrows his brow.]
... This isn't Arendelle, though. Right?
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No, it's fine. I haven't told many people, simply because... it was easier, if nobody knew.
[But that's another issue for another day. Because his next words.... mmm. She'd lie if that thought hadn't very briefly crossed her mind during all of this, but still... she shakes her head.]
But I can't stay here forever. I... I don't know if I want to. I love the friends I've made here, and the life I've settled into [people-eating aside of course] is bearable... but someday, if we can ever find a way to return home... I will be going back to Arendelle.
If.... if I let myself fall into a relationship here... it will have to end, when I return home. And I'm not sure I could bear it.
[Elsa is a person who hated herself for a long time. She had no love for herself, for her powers, for anything about her own life. To let someone in who can love her, who chooses to love her and who can make her feel good about herself, only to have to cut those ties because of tradition... that would hurt just as badly as her forced separation from Anna had.]
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[It's a quiet sound; the sound of someone who hadn't thought of this at all, despite it seeming so obvious once it's out there. Marco is married now not only because he loves Fiddleford, but also because he doesn't think he can or will return home. How could he, the way he is now? He doesn't have it in him to run a company anymore. Maybe he shouldn't even be allowed to.
But if Elsa wants to go home...]
... Maybe you wouldn't have to go alone. Although-- Although I guess that still wouldn't let you... [Wait. He looks straight at her.] Why do you have to marry a man? If you're the queen, can't you just change the rules?
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I can't... the family line has to continue somehow. If I don't do it, Anna will have to, and the last thing I want is for that duty to fall to her.
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He sighs.]
You could adopt a child. Could you adopt?