Count to ten...
One...
"What is Jacy doing, Momma?" Dyami asks, though her voice is faint. Is she far away or is it him?
Two...
"It's alright, my dove," Comes Momma's voice, delicate and deliberate as always. "Jacy is taking his deep breaths."
"In-out, Momma!"
"Yes, very good, Dya!"
Very good, indeed. There was a time - three...four...- when Dya would do nothing but cry when Jacy would do his "in-outs", now it's normal to her.
How sad.
Five...
He can hear them a little clearly now; it doesn't sound so fuzzy anymore, which is good, though maybe hearing their judgment of him isn't as good.
Six...
"What, did he see his shadow again?" Ah, that's the baritone of Chey, dripping in sarcasm, but also, in his own way, concern.
"Not funny, Cheyenne!"
"Certainly not, mother! I'm appalled you'd accuse me of thinking so!"
"Addalled!"
"You're right, Dya, I'm addalled, mother. Addalled."
"Please," Jacy croaks, his voice thin, like sawdust from not using it for several hours, "you're really helping here." There's the distinctive sound of a smack, courtesy of Momma, that he's sure Cheyenne was the recipient of, before it goes blessedly quiet.
Seven...
"Wow, physical violence in front of the four-year-old. Classy, Ma."
Or not.
Jacy sighs. Just hurry it up.
Eight...
"Not nice, Momma!"
Nine...Ten...
Okay.
Jacy shakes his head, just slightly, before opening his eyes. He registers, before all else, that he's in his room, laying on his navy blue bed, eyes trained on the ceiling. His eyes roll down to Momma, whose dark hair is pinned up and laid neatly on her head, and making the wrinkles around her eyes and on her forehead more pronounced. Dya is on her lap, similarly dark hair pulled in high-tails and clutching Bun-Bun to her chest.
Cheyenne, of course, is leaning against his desk, looking effortlessly cool and collected, while Jacy himself is probably looking disheveled as always.
"Hello, peanut." Momma says gently, bringing him back to the present. Her eyes, such a dark, dark brown they are, look so warm right now.
Jacy swallows hard. He doesn't want to get reacquainted with his surroundings. He wants to know how long he was out for. How long he was pathetic for. His eyes glide back to Cheyenne, who is braiding his long, light hair casually, and he sighs. Cheyenne would never faint like this. Probably why he's the nation's sweetheart (second only to Dya, of course).
"Time?"
Momma's eyes lose a little bit of their warmth when her smile dies. "Let's get you some water first. And maybe a-"
"Time, Momma." His words echo throughout the room. Stern and a little harsh and not at all what he wanted to convey. Dya whimpers a bit and snuggles into Momma's stomach a little more. Chey pins Jacy with a glare that says, Don't take this out on her. Well, considering it's Chey, it's probably more along the lines of, Stop being a dick, you douchebag.
He clears his throat and averts his gaze down to his sheets. "I really don't want any water or food, Momma. I just want to know how long I was down this time. Please."
"Almost an hour."
Fuck.
"I need to get up and talk to Papa again." Jacy says, moving to get up, but Momma's hand covers his, squeezing gently.
"You were unconscious for an hour, but your attack lasted forty minutes. You need food, water, and rest, Jace." Jacy searches her face, but from the look she's giving him, her word is law and the discussion is done. "I will speak to him about your selection and see if we can postpone it for now, but you need to rest. Maybe your sister and brother can keep you company?"
Cheyenne, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly jumped up. "No can do, Momma. There's a pretty maid who needs some company, and what kind of man would I be if I let her go without it?" He gives her a charming smile and a wink before she can even say no, or anything at all, for that matter.
He leans down and gives Jacy a kiss on the temple, and a pat on the shoulder. "Rest, brother." He blows a raspberry onto Dya's cheek and a gives Momma a big, wet one, before he's out of the room, his hair flowing behind him.
"Chey-!"
Jacy rolls his eyes. "Don't worry about it, Momma. I'm fine. You're right, I should relax, and we all know Cheyenne would not be helpful in that respect."
Momma gives a rather inelegant snort at that. Dya, who has nodded off during the course of the conversation lets out a quiet snore in Momma's lap.
"I'll have Rachel bring some water and crackers in for you while you rest up and then I'll go speak to your father. Alright, dove?" Jacy nods, reaching over and squeezing Momma's shoulder.
"Thank you, Momma."
She stands up, heaving Dya into her arms, while Bun-Bun falls out of her loose grip onto the floor. She gives him a warm smile, the smile he's sure his father fell in love with, before she walks out of his room, shutting the door gently behind him.
Jacy immediately gets out of bed, too fast, he supposes, when he feels the tiniest bit light-headed. He picks Bun-Bun off the floor and walks over to his calendar. He circles the day in red and counts.
"Eight panic attacks in just one month, Bun," He murmurs, dark brown eyes scanning the calendar. "How am I ever going to survive having a selection?
How, indeed.
A/N: Hi, everyone! This is my first Selection story and I'm super excited to get started! I won't keep you for too long, I just want to give you a few head's up on some things.
I'm only accepting fifteen girls - the rest of the selected will be mentioned, he will have thirty-five, but it would be too crazy for me to try and keep track of thirty-five girls so I'm not even going to attempt it. I might even lower the amount to twelve or thirteen, depending on how I'm feeling.
I encourage diversity! Lots and lots of diversity! Give me girls of all nationalities, genders, sexualities, etc! Send me someone who is nonbinary or transgender! Send me someone who has super dark skin, or maybe who is albino! Send me a bi girl, send me a pan girl! I want all different kinds of people in Jacy's selections. Big girls, tall girls, loud girls, mean girls! Send me them all!
Speaking of mean girls, I won't reject your girl if she's mean and she certainly won't be out of the running to win just because she's mean. Not every girl is an angel and I want to show that. As long as she's not super problematic, like homophobic, racist, transphobic, etc, I'll totally accept her!
I probably won't be making a Pinterest to go along with this, simply because I won't have the time, but I'll still take face claims, just make sure they're not too old. I'll take face claims that are twenty-five and under. Jacy's face claim is BooBoo Stewart, but I don't have Momma's (Delsy's), Papa's (Elki's), Cheyenne's, or Dyami's face claims haha.
The application is on my profile. Please please please do not skimp out on me! I want details! Give me so many details that it'll take multiple parts to finish the application! I want to know so much about your girls that I could write about them with my eyes closed. If you'd like to save a province, just message me beforehand and I'll save it for you, just make sure not to take too long!
Please keep in mind, I will only be accepting one seven. If you are going to send me a seven, please make her realistic to what her caste is like. She shouldn't be able to speak multiple languages or be very healthy-looking. She practically lives in poverty.
And please try to review on each chapter and give me some feedback on how I'm doing and how the story is going (including this chapter, please). How do you like the royal family (besides the king) so far? Especially the Prince? I will have more details on them in my profile.
Also, just in case it didn't come across, Jacy has major anxiety, and is prone to panic attacks, which will be frequent in this story, so be prepared for that. I wanted to make him as realistic as possible, but keep in mind, everyone experiences panic attacks differently, so don't take this as the end-all be-all for what panic attacks look like. These are how mine are, and I wanted to express them in a character and work it out.
I can't wait to see all of your lovely girls!
'Till next time,
River :)