A/N: Hello dear readers! My apologies for missing my update last week! I've suffering from a nasty bout with the flu which later developed to a case of rhinitis, and am currently still fighting it off as I write this chapter.
Onwards to the thanking~ My gratitude go out to the following for reviewing the last chapter: New Prussia (Check her SYOC out~!), GreenWithAwesome (Also, check out Green's SYOC out~), Hikaru Leach (Also check out her SYOC!), morethanjustastory (check her stories out too!), alexiaroosenhaan (also check out her story~!), Cookiedoodles168, princessgothicfull, and wolfofstark (who also has an SYOC story, so check it out~!).
Also promoting Headless Gummy Bear's SYOC story- "Crown of the Absentee"! If you're into submitting characters, try sending one in for her story!
Also check out CoolFortheSummer's story : Clean SYOC! It's quite interesting and it comes with a story trailer! How cool is that?
Enjoy the chapter! The characters featured are Stephanie Reine Romilly (submitted by alexiaroosenhaan) and Thema Kaur (submitted by GreenWithAwesome)
Stephanie Reine Romilly, 17, Caste 7, Bonita, Farm Hand
Stephanie was watching the Report with most of farm hands in the main farm house at the ranch when her name was called by Sophronisca Prada. Everyone in the room was quiet at first, everyone except her sister- London- who was screaming and jumping where she stood.
Recognition dawned on the faces of everyone's face and suddenly, everyone was screaming, jumping, and celebrating in shock and excitement. It was madness.
The lone phone in the farm house rang, with one of the older farm hands answering it.
"Reine! Everyone shut up! Reine!" he yelled as everyone quieted down. "The caller's looking for you, it's an official from the palace!" he called out as Stephanie made her way through the number of people crowding her. "Thanks Mr. Noel" Stephanie spoke as she took the wired phone and answered with a courteous hello.
"Hello! Lady Stephanie Romilly of Bonita, is it?" the female caller asked in an odd accent, possibly Swendish.
"Yes, this is she." she spoke with as much confidence she could muster, the feeling of being called a "Lady" was an odd yet weirdly familiar. The celebration of the other farm hands continued in the background, yet her sister and Mr. Noel told the others to quiet down as she took her call.
"This is Anja Heikki, and I am your aid from the palace!" Anja replied in a cheerful response. "I would first like to congratulate you on being Selected for Prince Percival's Selection."
"Thank you, Anja"
"Now, let's get down to business Lady Stephanie. I will be heading to Bonita tomorrow morning with a small team of people who will aid you on your way to Angeles. Nothing quite serious, just us going through several security measures, ensuring that everything on your application was true."
Stephanie took a nervous gulp as she replied with a "Of course, you'll find me at the ranch I work at."
"Great! We'll also be taking your measurements and bringing in a small camera crew for a short interview with you. If you could, please wear something nice and presentable tomorrow. Illea will be getting their first look of you by tomorrow." Anja excitedly spoke. "Your send off ceremony will be happening by next week, so please forgive us if the process seems a bit too quick. Any questions or clarifications, Lady Stephanie?"
"None other than a small detail," Stephanie paused, taking a moment to go over the question. "I have a younger sister under my care, Miss Heikki, and we really only have each other. I was wondering if arrangement could be made for my sister to find somewhere to stay near Angeles? I'm not implying that I'll be staying for a long time at the palace, but I'm concerned of her welfare when I'm not there to care for her and while I'm at the palace."
Stephanie was slightly nervous of what her aid's reaction would be, something along the lines of Anja laughing and dismissing the idea, but what would be worst would be if London wouldn't really be permitted to move close to Angeles and would have to stay so far away from her.
"I'll see what we could do , Lady Stephanie, but not to worry! I'll find a way to help you with that predicament." Anja replied in a cheerful manner, which lead Stephanie to give a sigh of relief. "If that will be your only question my Lady, I'll leave you to celebrate your Selection. Good Evening." With that, the line went down and the cheer of the farm hands came back to Stephanie's focus.
"So, you want me to move to Angeles with you?" Stephanie jumped slightly as London spoke as she leaned on the wall a small smirk forming on her face.
"Of course, you know that I'll always give my best to take care of you, cheri." Stephanie spoke as they moved across the room of giddy farm hands, all hugging her and her sister. Stephanie thanked them for their support while some asked for a few words on her being Selected. Stephanie merely declined saying that she was quite tired, and had to prepare for tomorrow's interview and such. With that, she and London walked together back to the humble quarters they shared in one of the staff houses on the ranch.
"You know that I can take care of myself, even if I'm here in Bonita, right? Everyone here loves me, they'll definitely watch over me while you're at the palace." London said as they continued walking to the staff house.
"I know, but we've never been separated since we ran away. It's an opportunity for us-" Stephanie spoke as she kicked a rock on the ground.
"But this is an opportunity for you, not me! I may be fourteen, but I'm the best groomer here in the ranch! You, you're a Lady now, Steph! I can happily stay here and you'll be happy in the palace." London had interrupted.
"I know, but it's more than just the dresses and the fun in the palace, cheri!" Stephanie said, a twinge of exasperation in her voice. "It's an opportunity for me to find our parents."
Thema Kaur, 19, Caste 2, Tammins, Professional Athlete
"Nice to meet you Lady Thema. I'm Wimberly Joseph, and I work for the National Illean Channel." an eager voice boomed in the living room where Thema was getting her measurements taken.
"Yes, my aid told me you'd be coming here for an interview." Thema responded, slightly irritated at the mispronunciation of her name. "and Miss Joseph, it's Tay-muh, not Them-mah." she added just for clarification.
"My apologies Lady Thema," Wimberly corrected, the eagerness in her voice wavering. "This is Borge, the camera man. As you can see, we're applying a new technique of filming using this helmet." she had continued as she gestured towards a man beside her who wore an exoskeleton-like device that made him look like some kind of bug.
Before Thema could give out a reply, Wimberly continued speaking "I think this living room would be nice enough for the interview. Diaz, are you almost done?" Wimberly asked impatiently as she tapped the clipboard she was carrying with her pen.
"Yes yes, just need to ask Lady Thema's preference of clothing during the competition." Diaz hurriedly replied as he rolled the tape measure he was carrying. "So sweetheart, what would it be?"
Thema almost rolled her eyes at the nerve of the man to call her "sweetheart" but just gave a coy smile. "Give me drama. Tight, not that kind of frilly poofy kind of thing. I think mermaid dresses would be cool."
"Ah, I think I have something in mind, Chiara Versace had this new collection of dresses" the man said, as he took out his tablet and showed Thema a picture of a model in a dramatic black and gold dress. "The line is called "Baroque" probably because you'd be baroque after purchasing one piece." Diaz murmured.
"That looks great! If you could also throw in something with pants, that would be even better." Thema nodded in approval of the dress and its detailing.
"I'll see what I could do, milady. Wimberly, she's yours. I have to head to Zuni for the other Selected." Diaz said as he packed his case and went straight for the door.
"Excellent! If you could just stand here Lady Thema," Wimberly spoke as Borge had taken lighting equipment from his bag and had set it up near where she was standing.
"Alright, and if you don't mind Lady Thema, I'll be setting up your microphone." Wimberly said as Borge had handed her a small device to be clipped on her dress.
Wimberly had to stand on her tiptoes just to attach it on the neckline of her dress, since she was quite tiny compared to her.
"Okay, great! So don't be nervous at all, milady. Just be as natural as you can be, I'll just be asking a few questions about yourself- your family history, what you do for a living, just really things people would want to know about you."
Thema was no stranger to interviews, having been interviewed quite a lot due to her career as a professional lacrosse player so she already had an idea to how she'd answer Wimberly's questions.
"Sure, easy enough." Thema had shrugged as Wimberly clipped her own microphone on the blazer she wore.
"Shooting in 10," Borge counted down as he pressed a few buttons on the side of his head. Once a green light flashed on the helmet he wore, Wimberly's posture had straightened and a huge smile was plastered on her face.
"Hello Illea! This is Wimberly Joseph, and I'm here with Lady Thema Kaur of Tammins! Lady Thema, to start this off, let's talk about what you do for a living." Wimberly said as she leaned against the wall.
"Well, I'm a professional athlete that plays for the Tammins Lacrosse team." Thema smiled at Wimberly, "We're currently participating in the Tatopoulus Cup and are currently ranked as the strongest Lacrosse team in the country."
"Quite an accomplishment for someone your age, Lady Thema. Coming from a competitive background, do you think you skills in lacrosse are applicable in this competition?" Wimberly asked as she glanced to the camera.
Thema took a moment to think about her answer, "I believe that's exactly what I could bring to this competition: my drive and my confidence - both things I've learned from playing lacrosse. I'm sure that being an athlete has helped me develop the thick skin one would need if they were to constantly be in the public eye."
"Yes, thick skin is definitely most of us have to develop if they were to be in this business. So, on your application, you've stated that you are in fact an only child. Do your parents support you in this endeavor?"
"Yes. My parents were elated when my name was announced on the Report! They've always been supportive of me, even when I was a little child. You see, I was born in Egypt, but my family had decided to move to Illea so I could pursue my interest in sports." Thema recounted the first time she stepped foot in Tammins when she was a tiny three year old, smiling due to the memory.
"I believe that interest in sports turned to a love for lacrosse. Do you have anything to say to your fellow Selected competitors? " Wimberly continued as she gestured Thema to look straight at the camera.
"I usually say this to people on rival teams but I think it applies to this competition too." Thema paused as she looked straight into the camera, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
"May the best girl win."
A/N: So on story updates, I've decided that the length of the story would be around 30 chapters.
Being a lurker before, I've noticed a lot of stories of the SYOC nature are usually abandoned after a while, so I've done some thinking and have decided to keep the story as short as 25-30 chapters (going on with my two/three chapters a week schedule, the story would hopefully be finished once I go back to school in late June, then I can focus on a story I've been wanting to write for a while - a PJO SYOC ).
Actually, I've pretty much planned half of story already- so hopefully once my good health is recovered - I'll be able to update the story much faster.
If you might have noticed, I'm trying to push through the pre-selection business as fast as I can to get on to the real competition and the real action (*cough* fight club- I mean training *cough*)
I'm also thinking of writing in Percy's POV more frequently, so I wouldn't go crazy writing so many POVs when the competition really starts.
Thank you for reading! Be kind to one another~ and YOU MUST READ THE TRIALS OF APOLLO: THE HIDDEN ORACLE, TRUST ME, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!
Next on the Queenstrial: The Send Off Ceremonies and Heading to Angeles!
~*Sparky Out*~
