The Selection: Semi-Advanced Roleplay discussion

Eden was trying to get away from everyone; from everything. All the girls had given her space, looks of awe and respected silence when they saw her, from the twos to the seven. They all knew her. Her name, her face, she had come here to escape, to hold her own, and yet, here she was, an illusion, a toy, even with her fellow contestants. People had stuttered words of admiration, asked her if she'd brought a bow and arrow, whispered rumors about her mother from the gossip magazine and asked for the truth.

It was all too much. Evey had been to the palace numerous times before, and she seeked fresh air, seeked freedom, and so with a relatively tiny crossbow hidden in the skirts of her dress, she weaved quietly through the hallways, letting herself breathe to the rhythm of her own footsteps.

She had turned sharply into another corridor and suddenly, she sank down onto her knees, the weight of everything upon her suddenly hitting her like a stone. Memories flashing back, her father's usually empty eyes shining with love and pride when her name was called. He did not even know her, the love was for a stranger. How could that be? The tears in her mother's eyes, a strange bitternous leaking from her. Another arranged marriage, she had whispered, so faint that no one had heard, no one except Eden, who heard everything. Saw everything. And now, here: Skeeta Reeter would most definitely be here tomorrow, would give her same smile and click her same bottle green pen and write about the beautiful, elusive Eden Vendetta Lindquist, who had so much to live up to, who was so beautiful and dangerous and who was probably hiding secrets of her own.

She gave a strangled cry of exapseration. All she wanted was freedom. Independence. For people to see her as she was, not as some doll to be messed with and forgotten. She had seen the lights slowly fade from her mother's eyes-- seen her mother succumb to the media, to shallowness. Was that her fate, too? Were they all cursed?

Claudia walked down the hallway, her flats hardly making a sound on the tiled floor. The Selected girls were really just supposed to go to their rooms, not explore the castle... But she knew this castle like the back of her hand, all it's secret hiding places and passageways. She wasn't going to stay cooped up for the rest of the day. She'd pulled her red hair out of the confines of it's hairstyle, and was considering even taking off the shoes, even though they were hardly bothering her. Her green dress was simple, just a nice turquoise one she'd found. She wasn't going to put on airs and wear a sequinned frivolous ball gown to this. She wasn't a two, and there was no point in pretending she was.

As she turned a corner, she stopped, sliding behind a small statue she knew to be there. She peered around it to see... A very strange sight. A Selected girl (there was no one else this girl could be, she certainly wasn't one of the maids) was on her knees. On the floor. Now... What could she be doing? The girl looked oddly familiar, so she assumed she must be some sort of two that she'd seen while passing a TV at some point. Then the girl let out what appeared to be an anguished sob. A Selected girl, a two, who was already upset? Had she somehow ruined her chances already?

Interested, she slid out from behind the statue, and walked toward the girl. It wasn't as if she would get reported. This girl wasn't in one of the areas they were supposed to be in, either.

Eden was not crying. Her eyes were fierce, a sudden burst of infuriation welling up, but the sudden figure of the girl gave way for a sudden calm, and Eden stood up and gave her classic winning smile, her eyes warm and welcoming, from so many years of practice. This was the smile she had been smiling in public all her life, the smile which rewarded her with thousands of letters from fans, professions of love from young and old, love from everyone.

The girl surely knew her face. It was the face that had been on the media before the girl knew how to talk. One of Illea's sweethearts-- what had Skeeta Reeter written one time? It's controversial for many famous parents to raise their children in the spotlight, and we have many circumstances where such a situation to a turn for the tragic, but one rare case where this has yet to happen is the one of the lovely, 15 year old Eden Vendetta Linquist, who has become not only Brooklyn and Armitage's beautiful girl, but Illea's beautiful girl. We have raised her, seen her grow, and she has never given us a chance to feel disappointment.

Eden looked at the girl with the same smile, and then tilted her head, letting a small giggle escape. "We aren't supposed to be here," she said, with a twinkle in her eyes, every single fiber of her body contradicting the strangled shout she had given just moments before.

She smiled back at the girl, leaning casually against the statue. Let her think she had seen nothing. When really, she had. There was something about this girl... Something was wrong, beneath the perfect facade she was showing her now. There was always something below the surface, but this girl had something more than that. And the fact that she was now trying to cover it up spoke volumes.

She knew the face, but not the name of the girl. She'd seen it... On a television. Once. Maybe twice. This girl was a two, if she'd been on television, she knew that much. Once it had been a seemingly popular talk show, therefore the girl had to be one of the more well-known of the twos.

She continued the smile, every bit of it genuine, filing away her new knowledge about this girl. "I know," she replied, tucking some hair behind her ear. "It was just so stuffy in that entrance hall... The dresses didn't help that in the slightest. Putting thirty five girls in one room in ballgowns has to be a fire hazard." She fanned her face dramatically. She treated this girl the same way she would anyone else. It wasn't like being a two made her someone different. It wasn't like her outbreak earlier had made her a different person. All she was was human. Claudia was human, too. So why should she treat her any differently. "And all those rooms were so close together... Honestly, I felt like I could feel the other girls judging me through the walls..."

The girl's eyes spoke of knowledge. She did not bring it up but she had heard the cry and she saw the lava bubbling underneath the beautiful, seemingly still mountain. But she did not pry, so Eden completely ignored it.

The girl treated her like a human. It was fresh air of another kind, the feeling that at least one person did not treat her like some pretty, breakable doll. Evey laughed at her comment on the stuffiness. "I know, right? And the sheer amount of lights, I don't think it's healthy, not to mention the fact that everyone was trying on ballgowns all at once." The girl did not blurt out Eden's name nor did she look at her like some sort of goddess. It was strange, but pleasant.

She remembered the girl. A six. She had been attentive when she watched the names being announced, the faces being shown. Sizing up her competition, some may have said. And maybe it was so. But at this moment, this girl, Claudia, she believed her name was, didn't seem like competition. She felt like a friend. She felt it within her, a connection, maybe resulting from the fact the girl didn't pry, maybe resulting from the fact the girl treated her like a person, maybe resulting from the fact they both felt claustrophobic and needed a level of privacy. Or maybe none of it. Maybe it was because Eden desparately needed somone, despite all her protests that she didn't, and Claudia was there to offer it to her, silently, but offering it nonetheless. Her eyes were filled with a muted pain, muted wisdom.

"And you can hear everything, too, seeing how the walls are paper thin. I'm scared that I'll wake up tomorrow morning and all 34 girls will inform me that I snore dreadfully, that I sneezed at 2:34 am in the morning, and that I have thus been excommunicated as a result of disturbing everyone from a good night's sleep." She joked, with another laugh, tossing her perfect brown waves.

"I'm Eden, by the way. But call me Evey, it sounds less..." She trailed off, not knowing what word she was searching for.

"Don't even talk about the lights..." She rolled her eyes. "They hardly need a heating system with the heat those are giving off. And so many of them... It's like they want us to look shell-shocked and pale in front of the cameras!" She shook her head as if looking shell-shocked and pale was the ultimate disaster.

She laughed. "I already know I snore horribly, so that won't be too much of a surprise to hear that one. And at least by our dreadful snoring, they'll all be tired, and we'll be perfectly well-rested! It's the perfect sabotage, really." Her easy smile slid onto her lips, almost reaching the depths of her eyes, where the sadness yet remained, concealed.

"Eden's a nice name. Like the garden of Eden. Paradise. And Evey's nice too. I've been graced with the name of Claudia. Three syllables. Far harder to pronounce than two, unfortunately."

Evey looked at the girl's mocked horrified expression and gave a grin. "Of course, being shell-shocked and pale in front of the cameras is by far the worst thing that could ever happen to a girl," she said, before being disturbed by a ring on her phone (she swore she had silenced it but perhaps she hadn't...) and a new text message from Aphrodite. Great. Attached was a photo, and Eden wasn't sure she wanted to see exactly what this photo was. She quickly pushed her phone back into her pocket. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me.

"I actually became so curious of my sleeping habits that I filmed myself sleeping when I was fifteen, and to my dismay, I found that I spent 9 hours literally unmoving. If it hadn't been me, I would've sworn the video I was looking at was one of a dead body," Eden replied with another laugh, not her practiced, sweet, laugh but a genuine laugh which rang freely down the halls.

"Thank you. It was the name of my great-grandmother. I have to admit, I prefer Evey. It's more familiar, and it's rather hard to live up to your name if your name literally means perfection." Eden remarked with another smile. "Claudia." She said slowly. "I love it. Especially the last part, Dia. In old mythology, Dia meant "heavenly one". Much like Eden. Funny, isn't it?"

She laughed. "It's really a tragedy, isn't it? The whole world knows that... Wait for it... You are human."

"Really?" She smiled widely. "I ought to try that some time... Then I could see if I could scare people by them thinking I'm dead when I'm really asleep..." She tossed her hair (which had a slight wave to it at the moment from being forced into an up-do) to the side. She loved her long hair, but it could be more than a little annoying when it got in her face.

"Really? I actually never knew that. I guess I'm only half of a heavenly one, though, and you're the whole heavenly paradise."

((Short post will be short and I'm afraid I'm going to be gone for 30 minutes or so because I have finals to study for))

"It's everyone's worst nightmare, isn't it?" Evey asked with a slightly chuckle.

"I probably could. I'm starting to become scared that my maids will come in scared that my maids will create a ruckus every night making sure I haven't actually died." Evey said, before tilting her head and becoming more serious. "Maids. That's such a deragatory word, isn't it? The opposite of celebrity, of a Two... Sometimes I wonder..." Sometimes I wonder if the caste system is worth it, Evey thought, but she knew such thoughts were not meant for saying out loud.

"I'm no paradise. The name does not a person make." Evey said, quoting something she had heard her tutor say, an allusion to another quote from before, before Illea, long ago. "I think we decide what we live up to, and the meaning behind our name does little to influence that, although the media might say otherwise."

"Oh, of course. A girl's got to maintain the fiction that she's not human. We are, of course, another race entirely from Mars."

She laughed. "Mine will probably have to make sure there isn't a elephant herd stampeding around my room." She was uncomfortable with the idea of having maids, to say the least. She'd been one, a few hours ago. She supposed she'd just have to live with it, but her maids would probably end up being people she knew, which was something she didn't really want to have to deal with. "It is a derogatory term, isn't it?" She replied, avoiding mention of the fact that she herself was one. Evey probably already knew, but there was no point in advertising it around the castle.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," she replied. She had not recognized Evey's quote, only that it was a quote, and decided to reply with one in kind. She'd found a copy of Romeo and Juliet in the library a few months past, and had holed herself up with it. It was one of the only books she'd read in a while, and she'd quite enjoyed it, though she hadn't been able to find any of Shakespeare's other works. She nodded. "Well said. Not that the media has any interest in my life."

"It doesn't have to be. But we make it so, I'm afraid." Claudia was a six, she was once a maid, but Evey didn't bring it up. They had been selected. They were equal on every single ground. They were, as Claudia had pointed out, human. "We come from a far away galaxy, and these lights are our only weakness..." Eden said in a monotone, robotic voice and then laughed again. "It's rather ridiculous, isn't it?"

"Romeo and Juliet..." Eden murmured. Her tutor had forced her to read it, and it was rather ridiculous, how both people had committed suicide, but... well, there was always a level of truth to fiction. "Claudia, do you believe in a love worth dying for?" She asked, genuine. They had moved from jokes and small talk to philosophy, and it didn't feel rushed. It didn't feel as infringement on privacy. It felt natural, and the more they talked, the more Evey liked Claudia.

"Now that you're selected, the media will take your life, inspect it, rip it apart, do everything they can to make sure nothing stays in the dark. Don't let them take you, too. Run, run, run," she whispered, and it was a joke, but there was honesty shining in Eden's eyes. Knowing. Truth.

She nodded. "Oh, definitely. After all, we're here to take over the human race. Such a pity all these lights are around, they're sure to stop us."

She nodded. "It was rather silly in places, but others..." She paused. "I'm not sure. It depends on circumstance. It depends on the people involved. Whether it's infatuation, or real love. And it would depend on whether you were actually helping the person you love by dying, or whether you were just dooming them to a life of grieving and sorrow."

She laughed. "I doubt the media will take any notice of me. They'll be too busy looking at all the more important selected girls, at the most beautiful, and all. I'll stay in the background, where no media can hurt me."

Eden listened to the girl talk about love, about circumstantial love, about different kinds of love. She was bright, and she was limited to a maid. Not anymore. "Have you been to the castle library? They have a Shakespeare collection... Seeing how you just read a tragedy, I recommend a comedy. Much Ado About Nothing, or As You Like It. His works are beautiful, aren't they?"

The girl passed over Eden's remarks as if they didn't apply, but Evey knew better, that this girl's red curls and her bright eyes, her "rags to riches" story would sell, and sell fast, thanks to Skeeta Reeter. "You haven't had the fortune of meeting the lovely Ms. Reeter, and never underestimate yourself. Your story. You'll hold your worth-- your beauty is not superficial, or shallow, like some of the Twos. It is harder to take off, and so they will try twice as hard."

She nodded. "Once or twice. Romeo and Juliet was a lucky find, I haven't had the opportunity to find more, unfortunately." She shrugged. She didn't bother looking through the shelves, and usually just picked up a book off a table when she wanted something to read.

She shrugged. "They won't have to try that hard to rub off my beauty. I was a maid at the palace, it's not like there's any dirt they can dig up the people don't already know. And really, the media would do better to focus on girls who actually have a chance at this, the upper-caste girls, and not waste their camera time on maids who made it in as a fluke."

"If you don't want to bother coming to the library, I brought the collection with me. I believe your room is on my left-- shouldn't be too hard to come in at some point and find a book to fit your fancy," Evey offered thoughtfully, looking at the girl, trying to piece together how she could exude such quiet confidence as she protested of her beauty, her worth.

"You underestimate yourself. Your worth. Your beauty. I am merely a shell, but you are human." Evey said, feeling the weight of her crossbow in her skirts. She spoke truth-- the media had exhausted itself with Eden Vendetta's story; Skeeta was too familiar with the girl's beautiful face, with her skills, her talents.

"Really? You'd lend me a book?" She asked. "I'll check the library first, I guess, but I'll make sure to stop by at some time. I'm sure you have some good novels..."

She shook her head. "We're all just human. I'm no more a shell than you are. If people see you for something different than what you really are, it just contributes to your identity. What people see you as isn't who you are, and neither is the person you think you are. Both of them together make it, from what I can see."

"I'm not much of a reader, so the ones I have are the ones I've finished. Seeing how I read the books I've brought voraciously instead of trudging through them and giving up on them halfway, I can ensure they're all spectacular." Evey said with a smile. "Don't be afraid to come in at any time-- it's really been lovely to talk to you." Eden meant it. She felt a friendship blossoming and she wanted this to keep going. She usually craved solitude, and yet she preferred Claudia's company to her own mind.

"You're much wiser than I am, that's for sure. All my life I've been told who to be, what to say, how to act... you're right. We're just human. People around me will never know who I am, and I shall never know myself. So who will ever truly know me?"

She nodded. "Thank you. I'll be sure to stop by at some point." She smiled at the other girl.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "When I think wise, I think of old men with white beards. I'm not wise. More practical, I guess."

((Sorry to spam but Meli could you pretty please approve Elysia? I'm actually surprisingly excited to rp with her... :3 ))

"Well, I really should be off. I have-- other matters to attend to. Unless you want to come with? I was sneaking out, as you could see, for a little fun." Her eyes were filled with a muted excitement, although they didn't reveal what the fun was. She didn't expect Claudia to come along, after all, they'd just met, and she was inviting her to do something that would potentially get them both in trouble, but she invited her nonetheless, for what reason, she had no idea.

She stood up from where she was sitting and brushed off her dress. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] At 5'8", she was taller than most other girls, but Claudia seemed to be only about an inch shorter than her. Evey's brown hair fell past her shoulders in beautifully blown out curls, her worn, brown combat boots, short dress, and long necklace gave an air of casualness usually not exuded by the girl, and yet, she was still posing for show. If the paparazzi went by with their cameras and *clicked*, she would still look impeccable. Eden wondered if she was ever going to be able to take the mask off, to rub off her make up, to put on raggedy jeans and an oversized t-shirt and just shoot arrow, after arrow after arrow without judgement.

She shook herself and her curls and smiled, leaning in to whisper, "If you can, I'd suggest you stay away from Alexandria and Aphrodite. For your own good," before leaning back out and straightening her shoulders, waiting for Dia to reply.

"Fun?" She asked, tilting her head. "Depending on the nature of the fun, I might just be willing. It'll probably beat sitting in my room alone all night, whatever it is."

She scanned the girl as she stood up, and saw perfection, as she'd expected too. That was all she was supposed to see, after all. She hasn't been supposed to see the scream of frustration earlier, or her facade go down.

"Alexandria and Aphrodite? I'll make a note. Could I ask why them specifically?"

((Ugh. Short post is bad. I am sorry.))

((I am so not stalking all the dramas.))

((Dee-Dee Ann?))

"Would you like to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow?" Evey asked, the weight of the crossbow sitting even heavier now in that fold of her skirt. She didn't know how the girl would answer-- Eden Vendetta was a model, most people from the lower castes assumed Twos were nothing but models/actresses/celebrities, but Eden took pride in her athleticism. The whole world knew her for her strength-- for her deadly aim. She was not one you would want to mess with, and it gave her a level of pride. It gave her dignity, and a different kind of respect.

She knew Claudia was looking at Evey, at her too-perfect casual attire, and she sighed. "You never know who you might meet-- especially here," she said with a slight sigh and a soft smile. "They won't take kindly to you. Their loved by the media, but hated by most everyone else. They don't like the lower castes-- swept up in arrogance, in manipulation, in ambition. I'm not saying you can't hold your own-- on the contrary, I know you can, but it's better not to be swept in on the backstabbing and grudge-holding and media manipulating."

((So sorry...))

"A bow and arrow?" She asked. "Are Selected girls allowed in the training rooms at this time?" She ought to have listened better when they'd told her the rules. Certainly they were braking them now, by being in the hallway... "Will I need to change?"

"True. You look better than me, at least." She glanced down at her turquoise dress that didn't quite reach the ankle. She shrugged at the second bit. "I don't really intend on getting caught up in the backstabbing and all that. And, like I've said before, the media will hardly even know I'm here."

((XD it's cool. Can't believe I got away with calling you Dee-Dee-Ann))

((Ever since Ovie I have been obsessed with dresses I have found at least 5 for each Selected girl chara of mine, it's a problem xD haute couture dresses are everything

I've given up on that. People at my new school call me the most ridiculous things thanks to a series of inside jokes that have occured... I can't say it's grown on me any more than it had when you first used it, though))

"The one rule about breaking rules is don't get caught. At any one time, there were four to six guards outside every door, both inside and out back at my old house. My father made an enforced a curfew for me when I was seven, and I've broken it every day for the last... 10 or so years? Can you trust me when I say that no one will ever find out about this?" Eden asked, turning from side to side with a coy smile and puppy-dog eyes.

"You underestimate the media," Evey said simply to yet another protest about not being noticed. Claudia would most definitely be noticed, Eden Vendetta was most sure about that.

((XDXD))

"Hm..." She shrugged, smiling. "Why not? Can't hurt as long as we don't get caught." That many guards to keep one girl inside her house? And she'd evaded them all? Yes, they'd be safe.

"And you're either under or overestimating me, I can't tell which," she retorted with a smile. "I have a talent of getting noticed by the right people, and ignored by the wrong ones. And really, you overestimate their interest in me, I think."

((Dee-Dee-Annnnnnnn))

((STAHPP

Sorry I'm on my phone at church... I'll respond once I go home))

((XDXDXD okay sounds good XDXD))

((Let's see how quickly I can respond to all my RPs XD))

"The training room is two rights away from here. Thank God for carpets which muffle noises, and there are plenty of random tapestries and empty rooms for us to hide in, but from what I know, the majority of the guards are right now occupied trying to find the prince, so I think we'll be safe." Evey's eyes narrowed as she looked down the hallway and she laid out her "battle" plan, taking on the no-nonsense tone her father took with his legion. She gave a mischevious grin and dashed down the hall, hoping Claudia would be able to pick up. She didn't say that she was a professional gymnast, that she could fall three stories and calculate where to fall and how to fall so she wouldn't get hurt, that when it came to deception, for someone who hated lies, she was surprisingly good, no, incredible, at lying.

But she was also a Two. And all Twos had such a power vested within them, for the media was a tiger ready to snatch, and rabbits had to convince the tigers that they were to bigger creature. It was a dangerous game-- she chose not to comment on yet again, another protest. Claudia would see in time what Evey meant. The paparazzi, the gossip, would attack anyone and everyone who looked even the littlest bit appetizing.

But that could wait. It could all wait. For now, they would play a much more fun game, one that involved nothing but good aim and strong arms.

"The Prince is missing?" She asked, a small frown on her face. That was slightly concerning. Maybe he had gone for a walk or something... But as far as she knew, he'd been given strict orders to stay in his room... Unless she meant Roan or the other nameless Prince. Although she really couldn't see why they'd be missing either.

When she turned back, Evey was already gone down the hallway. She smiled, and dashed after her, keeping a close lookout for guards.

((Ugh such short post I'm sorry >.<))

((That prince is always missing. Missing will be his always.))

((XDXD should missing prince turn up? Or is practice room twice too predictable? XD))

[Where to?]

((Training room? Is it still empty?))

[I believe so, and so sorry, but Wick?]

((I promise I'll try and get to him. I just had to do Selecteds first, and then Royals, and I'm doing maids right now... And I'm being pressured to et off the computer >.<))

sᴄᴏᴜᴛ (writers-block) wrote: "Roan squinted as another gnat flew into his eyes. He shook his head and looked away. "There's nothing to talk about, I'm not mad anymore." He lied, kicking the same rock again. I won't think about ..."

"Of 35 good looking strangers and bunch of cameras and cameramen and journalists, etcetera, etcetera and Skeeter?" Perry crooked a smile. "Yes. Yes it is."

Claudia stood across the hall, chewing on her lip as she looked at a piece of artwork. It was strange. She'd worked here... Six, seven years now and she'd never once stopped to look at this painting. Not once. She was wearing a turquoise dress that just hit her heels, and she'd pulled her hair out of its 'elegant' style, just letting the red curls fall loose. She'd also exchanged her heels for black flats. It wasn't like she was going to run into the prince in a random hallway, right? She knew it was getting rather late, and technically she was supposed to be in her room, but it didn't really seem to matter. She'd probably hear someone approaching.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a-5z5-7o1OU...

"Oh come on, Roan." Perry glanced at his brother and laughed. "Don't be so anxious, this is still home sweet home." he said. As they walked on the hallway, Perry saw someone not far away, stood there looking at the painting on the wall. Perry narrowed his eyes and lowered his sunglasses--yeah, he still wore it-, and grinned widely because he was right, he knew that girl. "Claudia!" he yelled and waved as he ran towards her. But quickly realized it was a stupid thing to do--not that dressed as a guard wasn't stupid enough-, and lowered his hands. He approached her, and whispered loud and playfully. "Claudia!"

((Dorky Percy is dork))

[*sings softly* can you feel the love tonight...]

((*sings like a cat that just got hit by a mango truck* IT IS WHERE WE AREEEEEE))

[Mangoes! It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer (wonderer?), that we got this far...]

((yas))

People. They were coming down the hallway. This had been a bad place to stand, she decided. The hallway was far too straight and long, and it would take her too long to make it to the nearest hiding place. So she remained where she was, hoping maybe whoever it was (probably a Selected girl or maid) would just keep walking.

Then whoever it was said her name. And she heard footsteps running toward her. She knew those footsteps. And that voice. He... Remembered her. He still remembered her, even when she was dressed like this.

"Perry?" She asked, not that it could be anyone else. He still remembered her... She turned her head carefully so that it faced him, noting with some annoyance a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "Um. Hi."

((*dead*))

[Claudia and Perry sitting in a tree...]