The Selection RP discussion

If you just want to take a romantic walk around the castle.

Iliana was standing in the hallway outside of the dining room looking at the landscape that was hanging on the wall. It was beautiful. She wondered if it was a real.place.

When Tara got out of the dining room she immediately relaxed and it wasn't until now that she realised how tense she had been. "I am not going to get used to this." She said quietly more to herself than Iliana but as she was standing next to the girl she most likely heard her anyway.

"You'll be fine and you'll be surprised at just how.quickly you will get used to it. I'm more worried about us all falling for the prince and getting our hearts broken because he can only pick one of us," she.said sighing. She hoped it we her but she hadn't even spoken to him yet and he may not like her. Also she may freeze up and became frightened or have a panic attack because of her past.

"I don't think I will get used to this easily..." Tara said, "I've lived on a farm my whole life and being here," She turned around looking at the hallway they were standing in, "it's very different." She smiled still and looked at Iliana just as she figured out what she was saying at which Tara's face dropped a bit as she realised what was really going on. "Oh, I didn't even think of that." She had just as much of a chance as any of the other girls and she was actually quite happy about that but she wasn't going to make any decisions on whether she really really loved the prince before she met him. For all she knew he could be a complete jerk although she did doubt that just a little.

"You'll fit in fine. If you want I can teach you how to act, walk and dress but really your fine as you are. I grew up in a big house in the city. Don't worry about it. I'm sure the prince will like you. You have just as good a chance as the rest of us." She said smiling.

"You would?" Tara asked raising her eyebrow. She had figured out that Iliana was nice but she didn't expect her to be this nice, she didn't expect anyone to be this nice. "So what caste are- uh were you in?"

"I was in Caste 3. What about you?" She asked. She knew better than to judge people on caste as after all being a higher caste didn't make you a nice person as she knew very well.

"Four." Tara said, "My parents owned a farm except I preferred the less business approach to it..." She probably got that from her mother who had been a seven and a farmhand before marrying her father. Her sister had preferred the more glam stuff, like watching tv and listening to music and reading magazines.

"So your only a caste below me. Not that castes matter that much when it comes to what a person is like. That's fair enough. If I didn't enter the selection I would try and see if I could work with children which according to my mother is below me,"she said.

"What does your mother do then?" Tara asked, she didn't know much about three's but she knew roughly what sort of jobs they did but educating was definitely in there. If Tara didn't make it through the selection she'll be a three and she had no idea what she would do. Her whole life had changed now.

"She is a wedding planner and a famous one at that. I.much prefer my dad who works as a lawyer," she said. She didn't really care what either of her parents did for jobs that was up to them.

"That's pretty cool." Tara said smiling then decided to change the subject, "How long do you think the selection will last?" She asked curiously.

" I don't know around a year I guess," she said thinking realistically.

"A year?!" Tara said gaping. A year was so much longer than what she'd thought but perhaps she hadn't really been thinking very realistically at all. "Actually I guess a year makes sense." Tara said figuring out that it wasn't that bad really, so long as she could get used to being in a palace and not get thrown out so soon in the game.

" Yep a year. It gives the prince time to decide which of us he likes best and us a chance to get to know him and decide if we really want to be the princess," she said.

Tara nodded, "That makes sense..." She said, "I just thought it'd be quicker than that for some reason..." The Selection could go on longer than a year though, it could last like 5 years if they wanted it too, it could just go on forever. That probably wouldn't be interesting for the rest of the country though.

"Well you never know it could be," Iliana said smiling as they walked around. The castle had some beautiful paintings.

"Hmm..." Tara said absently as a flood of thoughts consumed her about, well, everything. She looked down at the ridiculous but very nice dress and shoes she was wearing and frowned thinking about how it was so unlike her to be dressed like this and that it was going to take a fair bit of adjusting to adapt to this new life.

Iliana smiled at her. "Hey come on its not all bad. At the end of this we all get to go up a caste anyway and someone will end up married to the prince," she said.

"I guess but I don't mind being a four." Tara said, then looked at Iliana, "Not that I don't want to be a three..." But Tara liked living on the farm and she'd just have to find out what sort of job she could have as a three that she would like but of course she could come out of this as a one. "I could go home, or at least try, do something they wouldn't like." Tara said quietly as they walked, "but I couldn't do it. I have to do this. For my sister, my family and myself even." The money her family were getting just by her being here would help the farm and they could probably buy more animals and make more money from it. "I like the Prince. Well I think he's cute but I don't actually know much about him yet, other than what we've seen of him on tv. I don't want to rule myself out before I manage to actually know him. If you get what I mean." Tara said and after she'd finished talking she went silent and wondered why she was telling all this to a girl she virtually just met and whom she was basically competing against.

"I get what you mean. You want to help your family-there is honour in that and if you like the prince then go get him, don't let anyone stand in your way, not even the friends you make here. We all deserve to be happy and if the prince makes you happy then go for it. And too honour the fact you told me this, I will tell you about myself but please you must keep it a secret. I don't want anyone knowing. " Iliana said looking around to make sure no one was listening in.

Tara looked at Iliana with shock and had to struggle to keep her mouth from dropping, "No, no, you don't have to tell me anything." She said not wanting Iliana to tell her something she probably didn't want to say allowed to anyone. She was not going to make someone do that.

"Its fine. It is better for me to tell someone than bottling it up. If it is bottled up it will only come out of me at a time that is inconvenient for everyone. Well around a year ago, I became friends with some new people. To me they seemed cool and everything that I wasn't. Well I became especially close with one of the boys whose name was Lucian. At first he seemed to be a good man but then he started to push me around and tell me what to do. I thought this was normal of male-female friendships and let him. After a while it became worse and he started to hit me when I did anything he didn't like, which seemed to be everything I did. He eventually moved on from hitting me to just plain out smacking me around, punching me, kicking me, basically doing whatever he could to hurt me," she said the first part as calmly as she could but she was crying by the end of what she just said. She couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to let herself get into that situation in the first place. "Well some friends that I had been friends with since I was young found out and tried to convince me that he shouldn't be abusing me like that but it didn't work. They went to my dad who was so angry at Lucian and reported it to the police. The police arrested him but no one ever treated me the same afterwards. I was like some delicate flower who needed to be protected. I hated it so I signed up to the selection as a way to get away from it and have a fresh start. But after Lucian I'm terrified that all men no matter what age they are will abuse me. It is easy to break someones trust and heart completely but not so easy to put it back together. To be honest I don't think anyone will try to put me back together, they will just give up," she said finishing her story. She had tears streaming down her face and wiped them away.

Tara listened to Iliana's story and tried to hide the shock and horror that was passing over her face. When Iliana finished and Tara noticed she was crying she had no idea what to say or do or anything. She was totally stumped for a few minutes but the silence was probably much worse so she had to say something, "I'm so sorry." She said for loss of anything better to say, "Not all men are like that." She said reassuringly. "Do you want to clean up somewhere?" Tara asked her hesitantly, biting her lip.

"I know but I can't help thinking they are. Yes please," she said as she tried to dry her tears.

"Are there any bathrooms around here do you know?" She asked Iliana while looking around the hallways they had ended up in which was in a part of the palace she hadn't even been to yet.

"I have no idea. I'm not even sure where we are," she said looking around, it looked very militarised with different army uniforms being displayed.

Tara laughed, "Great, now we're lost." She said grinning and hoping to lighten the mood a little bit.

"Yep" Iliana said with a watery smile. She was still upset but the past was the past, it was time to move on.

"Shall we retrace our steps?" Tara suggested but then looked around her and realised that she couldn't remember which way they had come from.

"We could try but I can't remember which pathway we took. We might have to ask someone for some help but there doesn't seem to be anyone around," she said.

"Oh no. I can't remember either." She said looking around, "Surely someone will pass through here eventually? Or we could try and find our way back but risk getting more lost.." Tara said looking at Iliana to see what she thought.

"I suppose we can just wonder around till we see someone we can ask for help," she said.

"Okay, you choose which way to go." Tara said

"Hmm how about straight on, maybe it will lead round in a circle," she said thinking about it.

Tara nodded, "Let's go." She said and hitched her skirt up a little so that she could walk without tripping on it. Honestly, skirts and dresses were the most impractical things ever and so were high heels but Tara was wearing flats right now mainly because she couldn't figure out how to walk in heels.

Iliana followed her taking in the scenery so she could remember if they came back this way again.

Tara walked along with Iliana but she couldn't see anything to give them a hint to where they were and she couldn't see any bathrooms. This palace was actually beginning to seem a lot bigger than she had even thought it was. Also the silence between herself and Iliana was awkward.

"So..." Iliana said breaking the silence. She didn't really know what to stay now that she had told Tara one of her biggest secrets.

Tara looked over at Iliana and wasn't sure what to say, the girl had told her something big and she wasn't being very supportive, it wasn't something she knew how to do. Karla had managed things like that most the time. "Have you told anyone else before about.. you know." Tara asked deciding she should at least try to say something.

"Umm Everyone back home already knew so I never had told anyone but I would have if they didn't know," she said.

"Oh..." Tara said and she smiled reassuringly at Iliana, "I promise I won't tell anyone." She said. It was probably the sort of information some of the girls would use against her and Tara was not going to do that to someone who was pretty much her friend now.

"Thank you. I don't want the information to be used for the wrong reasons," she said as they walked through the hallways.

Tara shook her head, "I won't let it." she assured as they continued walking along while Tara silently prayed that they would see someone to ask for directions.

The queen walked quietly through the halls towards the hallway with all of the portraits. She just loved being in that hallway. There was only one reason, it was because she was 'with' all of the relatives, but yet they were just paintings on the wall.

"Thanks. Why is this area of the castle so quiet? Surely someone should be around" she said. She really wanted to get out of this place as it was fairly quiet and getting creepy due to the fact the hallway became darker and narrower.

Tara looked at the hallways which was a bit creepy and looked behind them where again, "Maybe we should turn back. It doesn't look like this is going to go anywhere..." She said to Iliana.

"I don't know maybe it will lead somewhere..." she said not really wanting to carry on down this passage.

((the queen arrived in the hallways))

The queen arrive in the hallway and sighed at every portrait until she came to the most recent one. She was on left standing behind her husband and then her son Dante standing on the right, but next to her and her husband sitting his throne.