forum Private RP with @PrettyLittlePyro

Started February 04, 2020 by @gracehustle

tune

"Thank you," Holly said, smiling. She looked through the map, marking off the places.
None of the girls said anything else.

"You're very welcome." The Queen smiled and then nodded to the girls, "You are dismissed for now and can do what you please until dinner at seven. Don't be late and bring a guard with you if you decide to go explore the gardens please." She stood up and nodded again before leaving the parlor, faintly humming as she left.

Holly stood, tugging the sleeves of her dress, and brushed imaginary dust off her dress. She watched the Queen leave, and smiled. If I win, I want to be a Queen like that, she thought. She picked up her map, looking through it. The marks on it were pretty clear, but she was still worried that she would get lost and accidentally wander into somewhere she wasn't supposed to. She sighed and brushed a strand of her blond hair from her face, before moving to the door. She would try to find the library.

After getting lost several times, although, luckily, not anywhere near the forbidden places, and asking a couple of guards for the way, she finally got to the library. It was enormous, and she stood in the doorway, just staring at all the books, for a solid minute, before going in and running her hands along the books and shelves.

Sam didn't start reading right away when he reached his room, thought the thought did cross his mind before he decided he wanted to train instead. Training was the only thing he really really enjoyed about slowly taking over his father's place, even if he had been doing it since he was young. Quickly, he slipped into a comfortable shirt and pants before taking the stairs two at a time on his way down to the arena where hopefully someone would be to train with, a guard maybe.

It was beautiful. Holly felt like she could live here. After she had picked out a few books, she looked at the time, and gasped in panic. There were only 20 minutes before dinner! She ran to the door. She had lost track of time, and she was panicking. Holding her armload of books, she ran back through the hallways of the castle. She stopped to ask the way, and finally got to her room with 10 minutes to spare.

She left her books on her bed and her maids fixed her makeup and hair, before she started off to the dining room. But as soon as she got there, she stopped. How was she the only one there? She glanced around, confused, and sat down. Slowly, other girls started to trickle in, but it took long enough that Holly took out her book that she had brought along and had started to read.

Training flew by and by the time Sam finally looked at the clock in the arena, he was down to fifteen minutes until dinner. Silently he cursed and quickly started packing up, wiping the sweat off his face with a towel and dashing off even though he wanted to help clean up. It took him three minutes just to get to his room, taking the stairs two at a time and washing himself off the fastest he had ever done.

By the time he was dressed and taking the stairs back down, he only had two minutes to spare and his hair was still noticeably damp and messy. Still he made his way to the dining room anyway, making it right on time and receiving only a slightly scolding look from his mother as he smiled at the girls and took his place. At least he now was hungry enough to eat a horse.

When it was time to eat, Holly put her book on her lap. She knew it probably wasn't polite to read at the table, so she only glanced down every once in a while, her quick green eyes drinking in as much of the story as she could. She was eating a lot, and by the time the meal was half way through, she had already finished the book. She closed it and slid it under her chair, glancing around. No one was watching her do so.

Sam didn't talk much, leaving the chatter to the girls and his parents as he ate. The meal tonight was one of his favorites and with his huge appetite, all he wanted to do was eat and figure out what to do after dinner was done. Even the dessert they served was amazing, ice cream topped with plenty of fresh fruit and a free range of toppings to add on top of that.

Holly glanced at the Prince. He hadn't spoken at all, but he didn't look troubled, which was good. She chewed on her bottom lip, unsure if she was allowed to speak to him, and how she should start, if all.

He only glanced up a few times as he ate the dessert, though he did meet Holly's eyes for a moment as he glanced around. It made his cheeks heat up slightly but he smiled at her, wanting to say something but well aware of the amount of ice cream in his mouth at the moment.

She smiled at him, turning red as well. Stop it, she told herself. Don't be such a ninny. He couldn't possibly like you, it's only the first day! She chewed a small bite of chocolate cake, which might be her new favorite food, and tried to keep her eyes away from the prince.

Even just glancing over at the girls put him in a good mood, and getting a smile back from the one girl that already stuck out in the group made it even better. His smile stayed on his face the rest of the meal, and when the servers took the empty plates away and he stood to leave, he was still smiling faintly. It put him in a good mood, and as he walked out, he already wondered if it was too soon to start spending time with the girls tomorrow.

The Prince had seemed in a good mood, and for that, Holly was glad. She didn't know what was making him smile so much, but he was admittedly very handsome when he did so… not that that was the only good thing about him… but still.

After dinner, she picked up the book from under her chair and glanced after him as she left, a faint smile on her lips, before she departed for her room. She would probably be staying up all night reading, which probably wasn't healthy, but she had new books! And they all seemed so interesting… she smiled, already excited for the night ahead.

(Time skip? To the next day?)

(Sure :) )
When Sam woke up in the morning, he just groaned and rolled over, sore from training after dinner and having no desire to start his day off with meetings. He wouldn't even get to see the girls again in the morning for breakfast due to his busy schedule. He pushed himself to think about after lunch though as he crawled out of bed and started getting ready, thinking about how he got the whole afternoon off to do what he wanted, maybe even start to arrange plans to see the girls. That made him smile a little and before he knew it he was already done getting ready, dressed in a formal suit for meetings and looking the part of the prince his father's royal advisors were familiar with.

There was a knock on the door, and Holly awoke. She was still so tired, and she didn't want to leave her nice warm bed…

"My lady, you need to get up. Breakfast is in 45 minutes!"

"It's too early," Holly groaned. She had stayed up most of the night last night, finishing one book and starting another. From how tired she felt, she was pretty sure that she had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep… but it was okay. As a bookworm, she was used to running off of little sleep. It was like her superpower, or something.

After more chiding, she finally pulled herself out of bed, and let her maids dress her. The dress was beautiful, a bright, warm pink, made of smooth cloth that hugged her body and flowed out into long skirts that flared out like a flower. It felt like wearing a cloud. Her hair was brushed, and makeup was applied, although not very much, and she was ushered out of her room… although, not before grabbing her book she had started last night, much to the amusement of Fransisca.

"Good morning Prince Samuel." His guard greeted him when he finally made it out of his room, walking along with him to wherever he was going.
"Good morning Alex." Sam said back, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, "Why do you still call me that? I'll personally beat you in another training match if you call me that again." He liked spending time with Alex, mostly because he was both the prince's best friend and personal bodyguard, so they spend more time together than was healthy.
Alex just grinned and shrugged, "I don't think that'll happen Pr-Sam, we both know I'm the stronger one of the two of us." Sam snorted and punched him lightly in the shoulder as they made their way to the meeting room. "Have fun talking politics." He said as they entered the room, Alex taking his place dutifully at the side of the room as his friend gave a small thumbs up in return and took his place at the table to the right of his father.

None of the royal family showed up for breakfast, so the girls were pretty much alone. Holly was one of the first girls there - it was starting to be a habit now - and she sat down somewhere in the center of the table, eating eggs and bacon, a lot of bacon, while reading her book. She was so engrossed in her book, that when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped.

She looked up. It was just Lacey, who looked thuroughly pissed, though not at Holly. Holyl gestured to the seat next to her. "Sit. What happened?"

Not surprisingly, none of the others there seemed to be happy for the Princes arrival besides his father, who smiled truthfully while all the others smiles didn't reach their eyes. "Well, what's the matter of business today?" Sam asked, looking around as the others took their seats.
"We received news that tensions with our northern neighbor Lispao have risen, though it seems to have settled for now and we're no closer to a war." The king started amongst the murmuring of his advisors.

"My sister happened," Lacey grumbled. "That's what."

"Oh no." Holly could tell that this was going to be a long rant, so she closed her book and looked at her friend expectantly, hands folded in her lap.

Lacey sat down beside her and reached for some chocolate-covered strawberries, piling her plate high. "Our parents are divorced. I live with my mom in Tania, and Casey lives with my dad in Limas. That's how we both could be chosen for this, because we lived in different areas. We haven't seen each other in two years. And now she's an asshole. She's sticking with that Sophie girl, and saying mean things about everyone here. They actually came into my room this morning and started gossiping about other girls, and how to sabotauge them. I hate them." Lacey stabbed her fork into a piece of melon, perhaps more roughly than was warranted.

Holly patted her friend's hand. "It's okay. And they know that trying to hurt another girl's chance is illegal, and they'll just get kicked out."

"They don't care," Lacey muttered.

Sam focused as soon as he heard the issue, listening to opinions and solutions from anyone that gave them. He wasn't aware of how long the meeting was taking as he talked and tried to help his father come to a solution. Hours drifted by and everyone became more stressed, some pacing or going quiet as they though, while Sam ran his hand through his hair and discussed. More tension with their northern neighbor was something they didn't need, especially when their relationship with the country had been strained since the king was a child.

After comforting Lacey for a while, Holly went into the parlour, to read. Her friend had gone to take a nap, and Holly was finishing her book she had started at breakfast. She had another ook right next to her, to read when she was done with this one. She turned the page, completely imersed in the story.

It took until lunchtime to even come to any sort of agreement on what to do, and by then Sam was hangry and sick of being in the same room for hours. Thankfully his father saw this and sent him out a few minutes early after they had come to an agreement. "I'm starving." He grumbled when he finally got out of the room, unbuttoning the front few buttons on his shirt and looking at Alex at his side, "You're eating with me today, alright? Both of my parents aren't going to be there today, and as much as I want to spend time with the girls, I feel weird being the only guy there."
Alex laughed and shrugged, looking back at the prince, "If you're sure, Sam. Do you know what they're making for lunch?" They walked together to the dining hall, both joking around and Alex helping Sam get into a better mood.

By the time lunch came, Holly had finished all but two of her ten books. She had enjoyed most of them, and decided that even if she didn't win the Selection, she would get a job here and live at the library during her free time. It would be amazing. Plus, then, she could be friends with the Prince…
She shook her head and stood from the chair, brushing off her skirts and picking up her book. She brought it to the dining hall, sitting down on a chair kind of near the middle and opening her book on her lap, continuing to read.

The prince looked much more at ease as he walked into the dining hall, laughing and with his shirt still unbuttoned slightly. Alex was right by his side and they took up two spots at the end of the table, still snickering over some joke. Sam didn't seem nervous in the least to be almost alone with the girls, especially when his focus really wasn't on them and was more on Alex as he started to tell a story about a training incident a few weeks back. Food was served moments after they sat down and the girls were all present, though the story continued to be told as the boys loaded food onto their plates.

"Who is that guy?" Lacey asked, nudging Holly, who jumped. She guiltily closed her book and glanced over to see who her friend was pointing at. It was a handsome man around the Prince's age, talking and laughing with him.
She shrugged. "I've never seen him before," she said quietly. "Maybe they're cousins?"