Hey, everybody! how you make the color blue here! For clarification, this will be a SYOC story (more at the end). I'd also like to apologize to the readers of my other story, A Walk In Your Shoes, but it's on hiatus for now. If you're interested in finishing the story, please PM me! Anyway. Please read and review, and definitely look at the end note for the SYOC form. I'll try to update once a week. This is also a pretty short first chapter. They should be longer from now on.
xo
how you make the color blue
Prince Julian didn't want to believe what his father was telling him. It couldn't be. Liam, his older brother Liam, the one who used to play pirates with him, the one who was supposed to be getting married in a couple of weeks, the one who was supposed to become king? No, it just couldn't be. Yet the tears streaming down his father's face and the way his mother's eyes were swollen told a different story. Liam had died in a plane crash on his way home from New Asia, where he was finalizing wedding plans with his fiancee. A freak accident, they said. There had been storms that night, but Liam had been so insistent on getting home to his family that he had decided to fly anyway. The plane had been blown off course and landed in the ocean. Liam was gone. Julian could feel tears tracing down his cheeks, and he felt Harper lean on his shoulder and simultaneously tug Giselle, who was bawling, snot running down her face as she wailed, onto her lap, as Valentina and Matthew cried silently on his other side. He pulled his eyes off the floor and looked at his father, who was looking back at him with a solemn expression. "Harper, Valentina, Matthew, and Giselle, you're excused. I suggest you go spend time together in Harper's room. You can have the maids bring you food." They stood up, looking grateful for the respite, and quickly left, Harper still holding Giselle. And now, Julian was left alone with his parents, who looked sadder than he could ever remember them being.
Julian fidgeted in his seat and chewed on one of his nails as he waited for his parents to start their talk with him. He could hear his tutor, Rose-Marie, in his head, telling him to sit up straight, but at this point, he figured he was entitled to a little slouching. Julian's father, King Lucas, or Luke, as he was known to many, shuffled some papers and cleared his throat before starting to speak. "Julian, we have something very important to discuss with you." Oh, no.
"What is it?" Hopefully he could get this over with quickly. The board games his siblings were bound to be playing were calling to him. King Luke looked at his desk and cleared his throat again before dropping the bomb.
"In light of the...recent events," he paused for a moment, "You are now the heir to the throne." Julian's heart stopped. He hadn't even thought about it. But now that he was, the idea was becoming more and more repulsive with every passing second. He hadn't even realized he had gotten to his feet.
"Absolutely not!" The words exploded from him like a bullet shot from a gun. "My brother..." His voice cracked, and he tried again: "My brother died less than twenty-four hours ago, and you want me to just replace him? Everything he did in his life was in preparation for the throne! I have none of that knowledge, none of that experience, and you want me to just...what? Become the next king? Because I don't think that would go over too well. Oh, and sorry to break it to you, but I'd also need a wife to do that, and I'm not exactly in the mood to go courting random ladies." His chest heaved, and he felt tears pricking his eyes. His mother glanced at his father, and he cleared his throat (for the third time, Julian noticed with annoyance).
"Exactly, Julian. Your mother and I understand that you are not in the mood to go look for a wife. So, we propose," he stopped to take a deep breath, "That we hold a Selection." Julian hadn't realized it could get any worse. Apparently, it could.
"No!" he shouted. "No! I will not be the next king, and I will not have a Selection! Make Harper do it!" He saw his father's eyes flash, and he braced for a lecture on responsibility, but his mother stepped in. He had never been so grateful to her.
"Luke," she said, her voice quiet but hoarse, a sign of all the crying she must have done, "Let him go. We can talk to him later, but for now, let him go be with his siblings. They need each other." Julian stood up and left quickly, before they could change their minds. He figured his siblings were in Harper's room like they'd been told, and so that's where he headed.
When he opened the door, they were all on the ground watching The Lion King, Giselle's favorite movie. Bowls of popcorn, pretzels, and candy were beside them, along with platters of fruit. They looked up, and Valentina silently paused the movie. "Julian?" Harper asked. "Are you okay? What did mom and dad want to talk to you about?" Julian took a seat next to Valentina, and sighed.
"I'm the next heir to the throne, now that Liam is...you know." Dead. But it would hurt him too much to say that, because saying it would make it real. Matthew snorted, and Valentina lightly whacked him as Harper gasped. He cut her off before she could say anything, though. "It gets worse. I'm supposed to have a Selection to choose my wife." The room went dead silent, and then Valentina spoke.
"I don't think that's a terrible idea." Julian resisted the urge to smack her. Did she not get how serious this was? Apparently not, as now Harper was beaming too.
"I think that would be amazing! You know, that's how Grandma and Grandpa met." Harper was very close to their grandparents, and loved to retell the story of how they fell in love.
"You guys are missing the point!" Julian whined, not caring that he sounded like a five-year-old. "I don't want thirty-five girls in my house!" Giselle piped up for the first time.
"I do! I want more sisters!" Julian had to laugh at that. Giselle pouted, and Valentina spoke up again.
"You're outnumbered, Julian." She smirked. "We want you to have a Selection. All of us. Isn't that right, Matthew?" Matthew looked up, and Julian silently pleaded with him. Matthew's face slowly split into a broad grin, though, and he knew that Matthew wasn't going to do what he wanted. He enjoyed stirring things up too much.
"I, for one, would love to host a Selection." Julian flicked him in the back of the head, and he flinched. But Harper, Valentina, and Gisella all looked so happy, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
"Fine," he relented. "But no promises, because I still need to talk to mom and dad, and if this happens, you have to help me." He was mainly talking to Harper, but Valentina and Matthew still nodded, and even Giselle looked interested. "Maybe you four can make up the Selection Committee."
"Oh! And maybe Daniel too," Harper piped in. "I'm sure he'd love to help." Julian smiled in spite of himself. Maybe things were looking up. After Julian phoned Daniel, who said he'd love to help and he'd be there as soon as possible, Harper took control, and Julian started forming a list of rules he would have for his parents if he was going to agree to the Selection.
"Firstly, I want to reserve the right to pass all final judgement on the eliminations."
"Done!" King Luke boomed. He and Queen Charlotte were both beaming.
"Secondly, all the castes will be included: not just six and up."
"Done!" boomed King Luke again.
"Thirdly, if I don't find someone that I truly want to spend the rest of my life with, I have the right to terminate the Selection."
"Done!" Julian had the feeling that his father would have agreed if he had said he only wanted girls with blond hair and blue eyes to compete. They just seemed so happy that he was actually doing it that they probably would have agreed to anything. "Julian?" His father's voice broke into his thoughts. "What do you think about drawing the names on September 1st? That gives us roughly four months to send out the applications and have girls fill them in. The chosen can arrive on October 1st."
"That's fine with me, Dad," Julian said. It had been a long day, and he was looking forward to going to bed. He still couldn't believe that less than twelve hours ago, he had found out about Liam's death, and now he was thinking about his own Selection. He could feel the sadness pushing against his chest, and so he quickly excused himself and retired to his room. However, Harper soon entered, followed by Valentina, Matthew, and Giselle, and told him that they needed company tonight. They had brought sleeping bags and pillows, and so they all squashed together on the floor like they used to when they were little, and tried to fall asleep. Julian had thought it would be hard, but in truth, it was easy. The craziness of the day knocked them all out almost immediately.
Julian slept terribly. Despite having fallen asleep remarkably quickly for being on the floor, his dreams were of his brother. He could still hear Liam's cries echoing in his head when he sat bolt upright. Fumbling for his phone, he grabbed it and looked at the time. 3:51 am. He seriously doubted he was going to be able to fall back asleep, and sighing, he propped himself up on one arm and shoved his phone under the covers, trying as best he could to hide the light from his siblings, who were still sleeping, until Giselle broke the silence with a loud wail. Curses were shouted and people fell over each other trying to see what was going on. Valentina got to her first, and cradled her in her arms.
"Giselle, baby, what is it?" she asked. Giselle sniffed. "Don't worry, you can tell us." A very disgruntled Harper finally found her glasses and made her way over, accidentally kicking Matthew in the face as she did. Giselle's breathing was becoming slower, but it was still ragged.
"I dreamed-" She stopped, and Julian felt his heart twist. She was only five years old. She shouldn't have to go through this. "I dreamed that it was my fault Liam was dead!" The end of her confession was marked with another round of sobbing. Julian saw Valentina and Matthew having a silent conversation over Giselle's head. Being twins, they often understood each other better than anyone else, and for the first time, Julian wished he had a twin-someone who he could talk to with just a single glance. He was jolted out of his thoughts when Harper stood up and flicked on the lights.
"Ahh!" Matthew shrieked, scrunching his eyes shut. "Turn it off!" Valentina looked like she was having the exact same thoughts, but it was hard to tell with her face buried in the blankets. Giselle blinked slowly and gripped her teddy bear, Mr. Fluffy, even tighter, and Julian resisted the urge to smash his head into the wall.
"Guys, nobody is going to be able to go back to sleep for a while. We might as well talk some more about the Selection," Harper said calmly, looking from Julian to Valentina, who had uncovered her face and was now lying on Giselle's sleeping bag and staring up at the ceiling. Surprisingly, Matthew was the first to agree.
"That's okay with me. I was having nightmares anyway," the eleven year old stated. Julian groaned, realizing that there was no way he was getting out of this. Giselle looked up in interest at the mention of the Selection, pushing her red curls behind her. She was the only one in the family with red hair-apparently she got it from her great-grandmother, America. Julian had blond hair, along with Valentina and Liam, and Harper and Matthew had light brown hair. He had always found it interesting that the twins looked nothing alike.
"I wanna talk about the Selection too!" Giselle piped, smiling. She seemed to have forgotten all about her bad dream, and Julian found himself wishing he could forget like that too. But you don't, the voice inside of him chided. You have all your memories of him. Giselle will grow up never knowing what her oldest brother was like.
"Julian, can I help set up activities?" Valentina asked. Matthew nodded.
"I will, too! I want to have them play sports!" Julian chuckled.
"All right, buddy. You can set up sports, but you have to get Harper's approval, all right?" Matthew nodded.
"What can I do?" Giselle asked. Julian stopped. What could she do, that she could do well AND she would like? Then he had an idea.
"Giselle, honey, how would you like to draw the names on live television?" Giselle looked confused, so he elaborated further. "There's going to be one girl from each province selected. All the names for each province will be in a glass bowl, and you can pick them, alright?" Giselle beamed.
"Yes! Yes, I can do that!" Julian smiled.
"Then it's settled. You'll pick the names, and then you'll get to meet all of them." Harper's eyebrows suddenly drew together.
"What?" Julian asked. Did she want to pick the names? He couldn't imagine that she would be upset about him allocating the job to Giselle, but if she was, then she could draw some too.
"It's just-" She stopped.
"What?" Julian asked curiously.
"Never mind." She looked down. "It's stupid."
"No, go on," he encouraged.
"Just- what if we don't like the girl you pick? Will you still marry her?" Julian had to smile at that.
"Don't worry, Harper. Family comes first. If you don't like someone, I won't marry her." Harper released a breath he hadn't realized she had been holding.
"Good." There was a pause before Matthew spoke up.
"What time is it?" Julian checked his phone and realized it was already 5:30. That was fast. He held it up so Matthew could see it.
"And guess what? Daniel's coming tomorrow, and he's staying until the Selection starts!" Julian honestly couldn't have been more excited. The last time he had seen Daniel had been four months ago, and he could truly say he'd never had more fun. Harper yawned.
"Should we get dressed? Julian, your days are going to be packed, and it's best to get an early start." Julian grimaced, but nodded. Harper picked up Giselle and left with her, and Valentina and Matthew were close behind. His room was once again empty, and Julian finally allowed himself to admit that he was, just maybe, a tiny bit excited for his Selection.
Ok, everybody! I hope you liked that first chapter at least a little. Here are the rules for character submission:
1. You may submit as many characters as you like. Please understand that I might not accept them all.
2. I might not use your character, especially if you don't give me very much detail. I'm sorry about this.
3. I reserve the right to change aspects of the character. I will try to keep it mostly the same but please don't feel offended if you say your character is allergic to dogs but in the story I say they're allergic to cats-it might just fit better with the storyline.
4. Please be as detailed as possible! There's no such thing as too much detail- I want to know everything about your character!
5. No America or Eadlyn copies. Those will not be accepted. Please create an original character, and I want all types of girls! They shouldn't all have blond hair and blue eyes and be shy. I want loud girls, funny girls, mean girls, minority girls, low caste girls, etc.
6. You may put the province you want your girl to come from down, but you might not get it if other people request it too.
7. Please don't be disappointed if your girl is eliminated early. You might have created a fabulous character that just didn't mesh well with the prince.
8. Keep reading! Even if your character doesn't show up in the first couple of chapters, they'll definitely show up later. I will never just eliminate a girl without mentioning it.
9. Have fun, and be creative! I can't wait to see what you come up with!