Selina Caspari

21 | ❝Happiness is a fragile thing.❞ | Switzerland

[selina-caspari]

Elsa x Selina - “What’s this?”

@franceslittlenightmare​

Selina was yet to meet anyone at the estate that genuinely enjoyed the mandatory classes. It was more popular for royals to run the risk of punishment just to avoid them in their entirety. Usually Selina was one of those people. She didn’t just graduate high school to be sent straight back into it because some people didn’t see her fit to rule a country. That was fine. She had no plan to go back into that life. All she wanted was to be able to move on from her past into a bright future. Or at least that was what she was trying to do. There was always one thing or another that seemed to set her back in one way or another. One thing Selina hadn’t realised was that the classes she did actually attend she was doing rather well in. Top of her class, actually. The administrators and teachers demanded that she took a supervised test by herself so that they could ensure that she wasn’t cheating in any way. Tests made Selina want to throw herself off a cliff. But it was mandatory and if she didn’t do it now then she would still eventually have to do it, just with some detentions added to the already frustrating sentence. The blonde left her hair down on purpose, so if she struggled or got annoyed she could play with her curls as a way to distract herself. 

Two hours later, Selina had been extensively tested on all of the main subjects in regular school as well as the royal ones that had been taught at the estate. Selina got frustrated at the royal questions. Some felt like the most obvious things that it almost seemed like a trick question. While waiting for the teacher graded her test, Selina held the sides of her head between her palms. She was for sure going to fail. When had Selina ever actually succeeded well in school? Private school always meant everyone had exceptional tutors and help, even buying grades. It made Selina so inadequate in comparison. When the teacher finally cleared their throat, Selina glanced up only to be further confused when the teacher began to apologising for doubting Selina. An undeniable perfect score. As confused as Selina was, she could feel a smirk creeping onto her lips with how bad the teacher looked. It was the first time that someone doubted Selina and she was able to prove them wrong. Walking up to grab her test, she hummed. “You’re forgiven.. Or maybe you aren’t. I’ve never been too good at knowing things.” It felt like some long formed justice, but the longer the idea sat with her the more reality settled in. Selina could do anything she wanted. Go anywhere, study anything. After everything that happened with her father she stopped thinking of what she wanted to do anymore. She didn’t have anything to lose, and all she knew was she needed to get away from him. It was the only reason she got sent to the estate. As she was walking out of the classroom staring blankly at the papers she felt herself collide with someone and dropped the papers on the ground. “Well that disappeared quicker than any other good dream I’ve had recently,” she joked, in somewhat of a good mood as she glanced over to make sure the other person was okay. “Elsa Grimaldi? In a school building after mandatory hours? Pinch me, I must be dreaming.”

[selina-caspari]

Luca x Selina - “Time to say goodbye”

@thelucagrimaldi​

If Selina could be considered anything, a hypocrite would probably be one of the words highest on the list. She was the first to confront people and call them out on their shit the second she noticed something. But when it came to her own inner demons she preferred to just ignore it. It wasn’t like she could forget, because she was often plagued by everything that she had endured. Rather than dwell on it too much though she preferred to keep her head high and try to pretend it never happened. It never worked out for long though. Between her mother showing up unannounced during parent’s week and bringing everything back to the surface Selina knew that she needed to do something, anything to help ease the pain that had resurfaced. The Swiss princess sat on the feelings for a few days, barely leaving her bed. Not even getting up to open her curtains. The reason it all hurt so much and felt fresh was because she had never given herself the chance to get closure or grieve the loss she suffered. That’s when the idea of a burial site came to mind. She didn’t have anything to bury, she didn’t have ashes or something to hold onto. All she had was pictures from early ultrasounds. 

Selina set to work. She made copies of the pictures, keeping one set in her wallet so that they would be with her all the time. But with the copies she sealed them into a box which she decorated with the name that she had picked out for the baby. Evelyn Mae. With how excited Selina and Sebastian had been they got a blood test done to determine the gender. She got the results back the night that they announced to her family that they were going to have a baby. Everything for a so peaceful and right just for one moment before her world came crashing down around her. Selina spent almost all day working on that box. Making it as special as she possibly could. The way she knew her wee girl deserved. It was nearly dark by the time she had finished. As strong as Selina was the second she looked down at the completed box she could feel her knees become weak. She couldn’t do this alone. Luca had been the only one that had known about everything. He’d been the only one that Selina willed herself to tell. Needing that touch of support, Selina grabbed a shovel and carried it and the box to the Grimaldi brother’s room. Considering she used to be his roommate she knew where he kept the spare key, which allowed the blonde to let herself into his room. Noticing how both of the beds were filled Selina tried her best to be quiet. Since she planned to trek out a little bit to the lake to bury the box she had prepared herself by wearing sneakers which at least made her stealth quieter than if she had worn heels like she usually would have. Light on her feet, the blonde made her way over to where the male laid and gently shook him. She had so many other things on her mind that she didn’t even think about how she was still holding the shovel with the box carefully laid on the floor next to her. “Luca,” she whispered, giving the prince another shake. “I need your help with something.” Even to someone just waking up from their slumber it was obvious that her features portrayed the emotions she was trying to process. 

[selina-caspari]

@cassiekallas

Selina had missed this. The getting all glammed out just to run amuck around town for no reason. No retaliation or deciept in her motives to get back at her parents for telling her to act proper, and like a royal. No, now she was her own keeper. She wasn't blatantly controlled by others. If there was something she wanted to do she didn't have voices back talking how much of a terrible idea it was. She could live, breathe and be herself. Not the person everyone else expected for her to be. Sitting in the back of a limo with the young brunette, the blonde femme was pulling her phone out from her bra. She didn't find the sense in carrying a clutch when a bra that she was already wearing worked just as well. It was true Selina could have ordered something simple like a town car or a taxi, even an uber. But she wanted it to be as realistic as they could physically achieve in attempt to see if it helped Cassie piece together anything from the night she didn't remember. Scrolling through the different places that Cassie was seen at by media she took a guess at where she would have gone to first since nothing was in chronological order. "Did you go to the bar or the club first?" she questioned so that she could give the driver an idea of where they needed to actually go. When she didn't immediately get a response, Selina glanced up to the brunette who seemed to be in her own little world. Waving one of her hands in front of the girl's crystal hues she began to call out for attention. "Hello? Earth to Cassie," she hummed. "Are you even listening to anything I'm saying to you?"

[cassiekallas]

Cassie had done herself up in what felt like the first time in forever. She spent a short time styling her hair into waves and then put the remainder and putting on a half decent makeup look. Nothing too fancy or complicated. Just a simple basic look that still complimented her dress and brought out her features. However, when she got out in the car it wasn’t long of looking over Selina’s shoulder at the pictures that she found herself staring off into the distance, wondering what on earth she could have gotten into that night. She didn’t have the sweetest of clues of what had happened to her, what she possibly could have done. It was wearing on her so much, the knowledge that she’d been doing things without the slightest clue of what they were. And soon she was off in her slow cycle of confusion, doubt and slight blame of herself. The brunette couldn’t even focus on the girl with her. Cassie looked over as Selina’s voice reached her. “Sorry,” she murmured rather quickly. 

[selina-caspari]

Truthfully Selina didn’t feel the need to probe the girl any further about what it was they were doing. Selina definitely had her moments where she drank herself to a point where she couldn’t remember some particular nights events. It was her act of rebellion. A night of indulging in some of her worst habits. The longer she observed Cassie though, the more she was starting to think that it might have been more than just one night she couldn’t remember. It was like her head was up in the clouds. Overthinking about something. Selina understood the overthinking. There was one night she relived constantly and she was always thinking about if she had done just one thing different whether it would have been different. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her own air, she leaned back into the seat with her crystal hues gazing over at the brunette who sat across from her. “Everything okay?” she questioned carefully. 

[selina-caspari]

@cassiekallas

Selina had missed this. The getting all glammed out just to run amuck around town for no reason. No retaliation or deciept in her motives to get back at her parents for telling her to act proper, and like a royal. No, now she was her own keeper. She wasn't blatantly controlled by others. If there was something she wanted to do she didn't have voices back talking how much of a terrible idea it was. She could live, breathe and be herself. Not the person everyone else expected for her to be. Sitting in the back of a limo with the young brunette, the blonde femme was pulling her phone out from her bra. She didn't find the sense in carrying a clutch when a bra that she was already wearing worked just as well. It was true Selina could have ordered something simple like a town car or a taxi, even an uber. But she wanted it to be as realistic as they could physically achieve in attempt to see if it helped Cassie piece together anything from the night she didn't remember. Scrolling through the different places that Cassie was seen at by media she took a guess at where she would have gone to first since nothing was in chronological order. "Did you go to the bar or the club first?" she questioned so that she could give the driver an idea of where they needed to actually go. When she didn't immediately get a response, Selina glanced up to the brunette who seemed to be in her own little world. Waving one of her hands in front of the girl's crystal hues she began to call out for attention. "Hello? Earth to Cassie," she hummed. "Are you even listening to anything I'm saying to you?"

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[cassiekallas]

Maybe this was a good idea. Perhaps staging a break out wasn’t something to be considered great, but she was after all getting a break from all the thinking and work she’d been doing. When she wasn’t doing schoolwork she was often working tirelessly to remember things. Honestly, it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit. So this could be a good thing, as long as she took it easy and didn’t trigger her head injury. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be up to your degree of fashion but hopefully it’s not too bad,” she could definitely say this girl was more runway ready than her. She looked like she just came off a magazine cover. “I might end up having to raid your closet,” Cassie chimed, a grin on her face as she rose from the computer, logging out of everything. “Well, school work can wait, that’s what I’m telling myself at least,” she admitted. The brunette headed out of the library and down the hall. She took one of the exits into her dorm as opposed to going outside and around. “Well, they try to make it seem as if it is awfully hard. As if the steaks aren’t made as if they’re from five star restaurants,” she chuckled a little at the thought of how hard they worked to make this seem like a normal college campus almost. When it was so far from it and Cassie could see the gold dripping from every inch.

[selina-caspari]

There was over a dozen ways to make break out of the estate. Most guards could be paid out to let you out. Other times it was knowing the fault in a fence and other hidden getaways. Knowing the fact that they were getting dressed up she was already making a getaway plan in her head and ordering a car. If she paid a premium price she could hire a car for the night so that it would just be sitting there and waiting to take them from place to place. The blonde princess gave a tilt of her head to study the clothing that Cassie was wearing. It wasn’t terrible, but also not as high fashion she was used to. Selina was kind of excited for doing something different. It was the adult version of playing dress up as a kid. Trying something almost completely opposite to what she was used to. “It sounds like it’s something different so I am keen for anything at this point,” she mused, waiting a moment before shaking her head. “Just nothing plaid.” There were some standards that Selina didn’t stoop to. Even when she used to go camping she would still stick to a hiking equivalent of her day to day clothing. Selina started to follow Cassie before falling into step with her. She didn’t know where her dorm was so she couldn’t exactly be that confident in where she was going. But then again this girl was still new so Selina might have been a little more confident in the layout of buildings. “They need a reality check,” she rolled her eyes at the thought. Just because they were born into royalty didn’t mean they had to be so entitled about it. As she walked, Selina pulled out her phone and ordered a premium car for them. By now she had the estate layout complete in her mind so she wouldn’t accidentally walk into a pole or anything.

[cassiekallas]

Cassie’s style resided in a permanent state of semi formal, semi casual. Her outfits of a rather decorated blouse and high-waisted pants or skinny dress pants often was quickly turned into something more formal when she added one of her blazers. It was an easy non-commital outfit. Her grandparents approved too, they always said it was easier than trying to follow silly royal dress line rules. Even her grandmother who had lived in the prime of the two inch rule thought that such things were silly. But those simple things were enough for a royal to be scandalized. She wasn’t high fashion, but she didn’t dance the line of understyled. Not that many royals did. “Plaid has it’s place. Which is red and around Christmas,” she agreed rather quickly. She certainly never dressed casually enough for plaid. The brunette continued following the trail she’d been careful to learn. It had taken a while with the injury and all. But she was getting there. “Agreed. Perhaps it is meant to make us humble or something. I’m between that and all the gild is to hide the fact most of us aren’t allowed to leave,” she pondered aloud. Finally, they reached her dorm. She quickly unlocked the door with the key she kept on her wrist along with a charm bracelet. “Make yourself at home,” Cassie headed into the room herself and started by opening up the closet. Most of her clothes still laid in carefully packed garment bags. It was all too likely that her grandparents had bought her a few times. Sure her wardrobe at her mother’s was extensive like any princess but unpacking had revealed some new gowns she hadn’t remembered having. Or perhaps she’d just forgotten them like everything else from the last year.

[selina-caspari]

Not every royal dressed up high to nines and tens. A lot of the time they were comfortable in just a t-shirt and jeans because they didn’t have someone breathing down their necks and telling them what to wear. It wasn’t horrific by any means, especially with some of the fashion travestys she had seen. But after a while, those things just grew boring to her. She preferred colour, adventure. It was more than just what you wore for the press or out in public. It was a way to add your personality into your look. And personality that didn’t involve an eye roll or a quirk of a brow. “Ugh, don’t remind me that plaid is coming out around Christmas.” Time had swept by this year. Within a blink of an eye it would no doubt be Christmas once more. Everyone would break out their carols and pretend to be holier than thou. Selina usually loved Christmas. The snow, the Christmas sweaters. She made a whole thing of it. But something just felt off and different this year. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Alright, ride is booked,” she assured as she looked up to realise they were already at the girl’s dorm. Stepping into the dorm room she couldn’t the disappointment. She figured maybe it would magically look different to the rooms she had been switched to and from. But it was more or less the same besides a couple of things furniture wise being in different places. Instead of going to anything to sit on Selina walked straight after Cassie and into the closet. “I’m home,” she proclaimed with a small grin on her rosebud lips. A lot of it was still in the process of being unpacked. Mostly smart and casual attire. When her gaze fell upon the box that Cassie had found though her eyes lit up. “And here I thought you said, Cass, that you didn’t have anything.” Pulling one of the gowns out, the blonde let her fingertips trail over the sequens and sparkles over the sleeves of the dress. Holding it in front of her, Selina stepped in front of one of the floor length mirrors to see what it would look like on her. Usually she had a good eye and sense for what suited her, and others for that matter. But it had been a while since she had completely dressed up. Usually she just wore things that were out of the norm of what her parents expected. She wanted a second opinion. Turning in her spot, her gaze flickered to the brunette. “What do you think, C?”

[cassiekallas]

“I’ll keep a mental note not to let any plaid or reminders of plaid grace your eyesight or mind,” she chuckled as she spoke. The brunette walked into her rather plain room. She knew some royals took all kinds of time to decorate it. And she might and some point to. There were pictures to hang up, little trinkets and decor things she would lay out eventually. But for now, her energy was just so sapped from everything else. For now the bare bones of the bed, desk and additional furniture bought by her grandparents was it. Maybe if this night went well, she’d ask Selina to help at some point. “It’s a little bit of a mess, boxes everywhere and all. But I’m still moving in here,” she brushed a piece of hair back, nudging one of the boxes out of the way. Instead of approaching the closet, she gave Selina free reign and perched herself on the edge of the bed, watching the girl go through the clothes. “Perhaps in another life you were a designer or model,” Cassie remarked, almost certain that if this girl was not a princess she would likely find herself somewhere in the fashion industry. “I honestly don’t know what’s there in dresses, my grandparents bought a few new ones for me,” she didn’t include the part that she herself may have purchased something in the last year that she didn’t remember getting. The brunette idly fiddled with an elastic she’d had on her wrist while she waited for the blonde to finish her initial survey. As soon as she was spoken to, her blue eyes tilted up, taking in the view of the dress the blonde was displaying. “I think you’ll look absolutely stunning in that dress, I certainly think it’s more for you than me.” All true, she could imagine the silvery sequins and gems would only bring out the icy blue of Selina’s eyes. 

[selina-caspari]

“It’s not so much about plaid itself and more of the Christmas aspect,” she explained. Lately Selina felt like she had been putting up a shield to those around her. Like if she didn’t let anyone new in that she wouldn’t be able to get hurt anymore. Although she couldn’t quite put her finger on it there was something about this girl that made her want to get to know this girl. She felt a sympathy towards her. Selina regularly felt a need to forget everything that happened to her. But even she knew that not being able to remember things that others knew would be it’s own form of torture. Maybe Selina was one of the lucky ones in some sense. “I feel like I would be more afraid if there wasn’t boxes and mess everywhere. It would make me feel like I’m completely disorganised.” Selina chuckled with a gaze in the brunette’s direction. As she looked through the closet Selina couldn’t help but think about the suggestion of how she could be a designer or model in another life. For Selina fashion and design was always just her escape. She could be different in that world, out of the norm and not be expected to fit into one category. She had grown somewhat bored of her life at the estate though. She needed more to sustain herself. Maybe fashion or design could be something to look into. The Swiss girl put the thought into the back of her mind as she found the dress that she rather adored. “Yeah I’m sure your grandparents packed it specifically for me,” she joked as she walked up to the edge of the bed and laid the gown next to Cassie. “Now your turn. Do you want to wear something similar to what you did from those photos to see if that helps? Or you could always wear something different. Because I can totally see you stunning in an emerald green dress.” Selina’s icy blue hues focused onto Cassie to pick up on any cues she gave to her suggestions.

[cassiekallas]

“Not a fan?” Cassie asked in a nonchalant voice. She was mildly curious, but certainly wasn’t about the pry. She knew well enough to know how easily a holiday could become something off-putting. Christmas alone was enough to remind her of the times her father missed the holiday all together or when he would send gifts but never personally see her. She still loved the holidays, but she also knew how easy it was not to, especially when they served as reminders for displeasure. Not that she knew if that was Selina’s case or not. “Well, fear not, for you probably look like Mary Poppins levels of clean next to this mess,” the brunette gestured around her room at the widespread mess that didn’t leave one section of the room untouched. Cassie got somewhat comfortable on the bed. “Well, perhaps they didn’t pick it out for you but it certainly fits you better than it ever will me,” she agreed. Perhaps when she tried it on the size would end up being perfect. It likely would. But she knew the style and make of the dress certainly wasn’t the type she usually went for in dresses. “Perhaps we can shake it up tonight. There might be a few other things my grandparents sent over,” she was sure there were. Standing up with a little huff, she walked over to the larger boxes on her closet floor. They were primarily dress boxes for her. 

[selina-caspari]

Selina ignored her question. It wasn’t with malicious intent or trying to be rude. She just didn’t want to bring down the first night that she was going to have out in what felt like a century. Besides, tonight was a mission. Cassie was the main focus for the night. Hopefully their adventure out into the town was going to provide some kind of answer to the questions she had been asking herself about that night. The blonde chuckled softly at her words. “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. The room might essentially be put together, but the closet is a mess in itself,” she assured. She really needed to have a clean out. Maybe donate some of her older outfits to a charity or something. When the brunette made her way into the closet to search the other boxes Selina took the opportunity of a little privacy to change into the dress. She wasn’t embarrassed but at the same time she had only just met the girl. Stripping off her shirt and stepping out of her skirt, Selina slipped the gown over her head. It took a second to slide her arms into the sleeves. To make sure the fit was suitable, Selina stood in front of a mirror. She was pleasantly surprised to see how the fabric worked to her advantage and illuminated her curves. Pleased with the look she turned on her heel to walk into the closet to help the brunette choose out something. “Find anything?” she questioned, leaning against the door frame of the closet. 

[cassiekallas]

“Well, closets are always messy, aren’t they? It’s where I’ve always hidden my mess at least,” Cassie had been notorious as a child for trying to clean and impress her parents by secretly stuffing the mess elsewhere instead of truly cleaning it up. In honesty, this little habit had traveled right on with her into adulthood. Emphasis on non-clothing related boxes littering the closet. Cassie was digging through the things that had been packed. It took her a while to find a dress that wasn’t a ball gown. Eventually, she settled for a deep green dress. It had one sleeve and then faded into a strapless on the other side. It was nice, not too over the top but functional. This would work. “This,” she finally said as she got it out of the wrapping and held it up for Selina to see. Cassie rose up from her knees and got a good look at the dress Selina had tucked herself into. It did fit her remarkably, just as Cassie thought it might. “What do you think?” Cassie held it to her form.

[selina-caspari]

“Kind of like those that use their cars or under their bed to hide their messy tenancies?” she questioned with a soft chuckle. At first glance Cassie didn’t seem like the type that would dress up and go all out for something like a ball gown. It made more sense that it had been her grandparents that had slipped them in rather than her making a definitive choose to include it in her closet. The estate sometimes threw it’s own balls, or hold other functions and events that involved dressing up so at the very least Cassie wouldn’t have to freak out if one of those were to arise. The Swiss femme watched closely as Cassie rummaged through the box of dresses. One by one, dresses got tossed to the side. It was like the brunette was trying to find a needle in a haystack. When she finally seemed to settle on the dress, Selina looked over it carefully. It was a great match for her skin tone and without even have the girl try it on she knew it would work wonders. “I think you just found your dress. The green really brings out the blue in your eyes.” As if Cassie had just found her wedding dress, the blonde clapped her hands together in glee. It wasn’t something others would usually get excited about, but this was her expertise. Something she enjoyed that wasn’t highly criticized. 

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[cassiekallas]

Maybe this was a good idea. Perhaps staging a break out wasn’t something to be considered great, but she was after all getting a break from all the thinking and work she’d been doing. When she wasn’t doing schoolwork she was often working tirelessly to remember things. Honestly, it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit. So this could be a good thing, as long as she took it easy and didn’t trigger her head injury. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be up to your degree of fashion but hopefully it’s not too bad,” she could definitely say this girl was more runway ready than her. She looked like she just came off a magazine cover. “I might end up having to raid your closet,” Cassie chimed, a grin on her face as she rose from the computer, logging out of everything. “Well, school work can wait, that’s what I’m telling myself at least,” she admitted. The brunette headed out of the library and down the hall. She took one of the exits into her dorm as opposed to going outside and around. “Well, they try to make it seem as if it is awfully hard. As if the steaks aren’t made as if they’re from five star restaurants,” she chuckled a little at the thought of how hard they worked to make this seem like a normal college campus almost. When it was so far from it and Cassie could see the gold dripping from every inch.

[selina-caspari]

There was over a dozen ways to make break out of the estate. Most guards could be paid out to let you out. Other times it was knowing the fault in a fence and other hidden getaways. Knowing the fact that they were getting dressed up she was already making a getaway plan in her head and ordering a car. If she paid a premium price she could hire a car for the night so that it would just be sitting there and waiting to take them from place to place. The blonde princess gave a tilt of her head to study the clothing that Cassie was wearing. It wasn’t terrible, but also not as high fashion she was used to. Selina was kind of excited for doing something different. It was the adult version of playing dress up as a kid. Trying something almost completely opposite to what she was used to. “It sounds like it’s something different so I am keen for anything at this point,” she mused, waiting a moment before shaking her head. “Just nothing plaid.” There were some standards that Selina didn’t stoop to. Even when she used to go camping she would still stick to a hiking equivalent of her day to day clothing. Selina started to follow Cassie before falling into step with her. She didn’t know where her dorm was so she couldn’t exactly be that confident in where she was going. But then again this girl was still new so Selina might have been a little more confident in the layout of buildings. “They need a reality check,” she rolled her eyes at the thought. Just because they were born into royalty didn’t mean they had to be so entitled about it. As she walked, Selina pulled out her phone and ordered a premium car for them. By now she had the estate layout complete in her mind so she wouldn’t accidentally walk into a pole or anything.

[cassiekallas]

Cassie’s style resided in a permanent state of semi formal, semi casual. Her outfits of a rather decorated blouse and high-waisted pants or skinny dress pants often was quickly turned into something more formal when she added one of her blazers. It was an easy non-commital outfit. Her grandparents approved too, they always said it was easier than trying to follow silly royal dress line rules. Even her grandmother who had lived in the prime of the two inch rule thought that such things were silly. But those simple things were enough for a royal to be scandalized. She wasn’t high fashion, but she didn’t dance the line of understyled. Not that many royals did. “Plaid has it’s place. Which is red and around Christmas,” she agreed rather quickly. She certainly never dressed casually enough for plaid. The brunette continued following the trail she’d been careful to learn. It had taken a while with the injury and all. But she was getting there. “Agreed. Perhaps it is meant to make us humble or something. I’m between that and all the gild is to hide the fact most of us aren’t allowed to leave,” she pondered aloud. Finally, they reached her dorm. She quickly unlocked the door with the key she kept on her wrist along with a charm bracelet. “Make yourself at home,” Cassie headed into the room herself and started by opening up the closet. Most of her clothes still laid in carefully packed garment bags. It was all too likely that her grandparents had bought her a few times. Sure her wardrobe at her mother’s was extensive like any princess but unpacking had revealed some new gowns she hadn’t remembered having. Or perhaps she’d just forgotten them like everything else from the last year.

[selina-caspari]

Not every royal dressed up high to nines and tens. A lot of the time they were comfortable in just a t-shirt and jeans because they didn’t have someone breathing down their necks and telling them what to wear. It wasn’t horrific by any means, especially with some of the fashion travestys she had seen. But after a while, those things just grew boring to her. She preferred colour, adventure. It was more than just what you wore for the press or out in public. It was a way to add your personality into your look. And personality that didn’t involve an eye roll or a quirk of a brow. “Ugh, don’t remind me that plaid is coming out around Christmas.” Time had swept by this year. Within a blink of an eye it would no doubt be Christmas once more. Everyone would break out their carols and pretend to be holier than thou. Selina usually loved Christmas. The snow, the Christmas sweaters. She made a whole thing of it. But something just felt off and different this year. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Alright, ride is booked,” she assured as she looked up to realise they were already at the girl’s dorm. Stepping into the dorm room she couldn’t the disappointment. She figured maybe it would magically look different to the rooms she had been switched to and from. But it was more or less the same besides a couple of things furniture wise being in different places. Instead of going to anything to sit on Selina walked straight after Cassie and into the closet. “I’m home,” she proclaimed with a small grin on her rosebud lips. A lot of it was still in the process of being unpacked. Mostly smart and casual attire. When her gaze fell upon the box that Cassie had found though her eyes lit up. “And here I thought you said, Cass, that you didn’t have anything.” Pulling one of the gowns out, the blonde let her fingertips trail over the sequens and sparkles over the sleeves of the dress. Holding it in front of her, Selina stepped in front of one of the floor length mirrors to see what it would look like on her. Usually she had a good eye and sense for what suited her, and others for that matter. But it had been a while since she had completely dressed up. Usually she just wore things that were out of the norm of what her parents expected. She wanted a second opinion. Turning in her spot, her gaze flickered to the brunette. “What do you think, C?”

[cassiekallas]

“I’ll keep a mental note not to let any plaid or reminders of plaid grace your eyesight or mind,” she chuckled as she spoke. The brunette walked into her rather plain room. She knew some royals took all kinds of time to decorate it. And she might and some point to. There were pictures to hang up, little trinkets and decor things she would lay out eventually. But for now, her energy was just so sapped from everything else. For now the bare bones of the bed, desk and additional furniture bought by her grandparents was it. Maybe if this night went well, she’d ask Selina to help at some point. “It’s a little bit of a mess, boxes everywhere and all. But I’m still moving in here,” she brushed a piece of hair back, nudging one of the boxes out of the way. Instead of approaching the closet, she gave Selina free reign and perched herself on the edge of the bed, watching the girl go through the clothes. “Perhaps in another life you were a designer or model,” Cassie remarked, almost certain that if this girl was not a princess she would likely find herself somewhere in the fashion industry. “I honestly don’t know what’s there in dresses, my grandparents bought a few new ones for me,” she didn’t include the part that she herself may have purchased something in the last year that she didn’t remember getting. The brunette idly fiddled with an elastic she’d had on her wrist while she waited for the blonde to finish her initial survey. As soon as she was spoken to, her blue eyes tilted up, taking in the view of the dress the blonde was displaying. “I think you’ll look absolutely stunning in that dress, I certainly think it’s more for you than me.” All true, she could imagine the silvery sequins and gems would only bring out the icy blue of Selina’s eyes. 

[selina-caspari]

“It’s not so much about plaid itself and more of the Christmas aspect,” she explained. Lately Selina felt like she had been putting up a shield to those around her. Like if she didn’t let anyone new in that she wouldn’t be able to get hurt anymore. Although she couldn’t quite put her finger on it there was something about this girl that made her want to get to know this girl. She felt a sympathy towards her. Selina regularly felt a need to forget everything that happened to her. But even she knew that not being able to remember things that others knew would be it’s own form of torture. Maybe Selina was one of the lucky ones in some sense. “I feel like I would be more afraid if there wasn’t boxes and mess everywhere. It would make me feel like I’m completely disorganised.” Selina chuckled with a gaze in the brunette’s direction. As she looked through the closet Selina couldn’t help but think about the suggestion of how she could be a designer or model in another life. For Selina fashion and design was always just her escape. She could be different in that world, out of the norm and not be expected to fit into one category. She had grown somewhat bored of her life at the estate though. She needed more to sustain herself. Maybe fashion or design could be something to look into. The Swiss girl put the thought into the back of her mind as she found the dress that she rather adored. “Yeah I’m sure your grandparents packed it specifically for me,” she joked as she walked up to the edge of the bed and laid the gown next to Cassie. “Now your turn. Do you want to wear something similar to what you did from those photos to see if that helps? Or you could always wear something different. Because I can totally see you stunning in an emerald green dress.” Selina’s icy blue hues focused onto Cassie to pick up on any cues she gave to her suggestions.

[cassiekallas]

“Not a fan?” Cassie asked in a nonchalant voice. She was mildly curious, but certainly wasn’t about the pry. She knew well enough to know how easily a holiday could become something off-putting. Christmas alone was enough to remind her of the times her father missed the holiday all together or when he would send gifts but never personally see her. She still loved the holidays, but she also knew how easy it was not to, especially when they served as reminders for displeasure. Not that she knew if that was Selina’s case or not. “Well, fear not, for you probably look like Mary Poppins levels of clean next to this mess,” the brunette gestured around her room at the widespread mess that didn’t leave one section of the room untouched. Cassie got somewhat comfortable on the bed. “Well, perhaps they didn’t pick it out for you but it certainly fits you better than it ever will me,” she agreed. Perhaps when she tried it on the size would end up being perfect. It likely would. But she knew the style and make of the dress certainly wasn’t the type she usually went for in dresses. “Perhaps we can shake it up tonight. There might be a few other things my grandparents sent over,” she was sure there were. Standing up with a little huff, she walked over to the larger boxes on her closet floor. They were primarily dress boxes for her. 

[selina-caspari]

Selina ignored her question. It wasn’t with malicious intent or trying to be rude. She just didn’t want to bring down the first night that she was going to have out in what felt like a century. Besides, tonight was a mission. Cassie was the main focus for the night. Hopefully their adventure out into the town was going to provide some kind of answer to the questions she had been asking herself about that night. The blonde chuckled softly at her words. “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. The room might essentially be put together, but the closet is a mess in itself,” she assured. She really needed to have a clean out. Maybe donate some of her older outfits to a charity or something. When the brunette made her way into the closet to search the other boxes Selina took the opportunity of a little privacy to change into the dress. She wasn’t embarrassed but at the same time she had only just met the girl. Stripping off her shirt and stepping out of her skirt, Selina slipped the gown over her head. It took a second to slide her arms into the sleeves. To make sure the fit was suitable, Selina stood in front of a mirror. She was pleasantly surprised to see how the fabric worked to her advantage and illuminated her curves. Pleased with the look she turned on her heel to walk into the closet to help the brunette choose out something. “Find anything?” she questioned, leaning against the door frame of the closet. 

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[cassiekallas]

Maybe this was a good idea. Perhaps staging a break out wasn’t something to be considered great, but she was after all getting a break from all the thinking and work she’d been doing. When she wasn’t doing schoolwork she was often working tirelessly to remember things. Honestly, it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit. So this could be a good thing, as long as she took it easy and didn’t trigger her head injury. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be up to your degree of fashion but hopefully it’s not too bad,” she could definitely say this girl was more runway ready than her. She looked like she just came off a magazine cover. “I might end up having to raid your closet,” Cassie chimed, a grin on her face as she rose from the computer, logging out of everything. “Well, school work can wait, that’s what I’m telling myself at least,” she admitted. The brunette headed out of the library and down the hall. She took one of the exits into her dorm as opposed to going outside and around. “Well, they try to make it seem as if it is awfully hard. As if the steaks aren’t made as if they’re from five star restaurants,” she chuckled a little at the thought of how hard they worked to make this seem like a normal college campus almost. When it was so far from it and Cassie could see the gold dripping from every inch.

[selina-caspari]

There was over a dozen ways to make break out of the estate. Most guards could be paid out to let you out. Other times it was knowing the fault in a fence and other hidden getaways. Knowing the fact that they were getting dressed up she was already making a getaway plan in her head and ordering a car. If she paid a premium price she could hire a car for the night so that it would just be sitting there and waiting to take them from place to place. The blonde princess gave a tilt of her head to study the clothing that Cassie was wearing. It wasn’t terrible, but also not as high fashion she was used to. Selina was kind of excited for doing something different. It was the adult version of playing dress up as a kid. Trying something almost completely opposite to what she was used to. “It sounds like it’s something different so I am keen for anything at this point,” she mused, waiting a moment before shaking her head. “Just nothing plaid.” There were some standards that Selina didn’t stoop to. Even when she used to go camping she would still stick to a hiking equivalent of her day to day clothing. Selina started to follow Cassie before falling into step with her. She didn’t know where her dorm was so she couldn’t exactly be that confident in where she was going. But then again this girl was still new so Selina might have been a little more confident in the layout of buildings. “They need a reality check,” she rolled her eyes at the thought. Just because they were born into royalty didn’t mean they had to be so entitled about it. As she walked, Selina pulled out her phone and ordered a premium car for them. By now she had the estate layout complete in her mind so she wouldn’t accidentally walk into a pole or anything.

[cassiekallas]

Cassie’s style resided in a permanent state of semi formal, semi casual. Her outfits of a rather decorated blouse and high-waisted pants or skinny dress pants often was quickly turned into something more formal when she added one of her blazers. It was an easy non-commital outfit. Her grandparents approved too, they always said it was easier than trying to follow silly royal dress line rules. Even her grandmother who had lived in the prime of the two inch rule thought that such things were silly. But those simple things were enough for a royal to be scandalized. She wasn’t high fashion, but she didn’t dance the line of understyled. Not that many royals did. “Plaid has it’s place. Which is red and around Christmas,” she agreed rather quickly. She certainly never dressed casually enough for plaid. The brunette continued following the trail she’d been careful to learn. It had taken a while with the injury and all. But she was getting there. “Agreed. Perhaps it is meant to make us humble or something. I’m between that and all the gild is to hide the fact most of us aren’t allowed to leave,” she pondered aloud. Finally, they reached her dorm. She quickly unlocked the door with the key she kept on her wrist along with a charm bracelet. “Make yourself at home,” Cassie headed into the room herself and started by opening up the closet. Most of her clothes still laid in carefully packed garment bags. It was all too likely that her grandparents had bought her a few times. Sure her wardrobe at her mother’s was extensive like any princess but unpacking had revealed some new gowns she hadn’t remembered having. Or perhaps she’d just forgotten them like everything else from the last year.

[selina-caspari]

Not every royal dressed up high to nines and tens. A lot of the time they were comfortable in just a t-shirt and jeans because they didn’t have someone breathing down their necks and telling them what to wear. It wasn’t horrific by any means, especially with some of the fashion travestys she had seen. But after a while, those things just grew boring to her. She preferred colour, adventure. It was more than just what you wore for the press or out in public. It was a way to add your personality into your look. And personality that didn’t involve an eye roll or a quirk of a brow. “Ugh, don’t remind me that plaid is coming out around Christmas.” Time had swept by this year. Within a blink of an eye it would no doubt be Christmas once more. Everyone would break out their carols and pretend to be holier than thou. Selina usually loved Christmas. The snow, the Christmas sweaters. She made a whole thing of it. But something just felt off and different this year. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Alright, ride is booked,” she assured as she looked up to realise they were already at the girl’s dorm. Stepping into the dorm room she couldn’t the disappointment. She figured maybe it would magically look different to the rooms she had been switched to and from. But it was more or less the same besides a couple of things furniture wise being in different places. Instead of going to anything to sit on Selina walked straight after Cassie and into the closet. “I’m home,” she proclaimed with a small grin on her rosebud lips. A lot of it was still in the process of being unpacked. Mostly smart and casual attire. When her gaze fell upon the box that Cassie had found though her eyes lit up. “And here I thought you said, Cass, that you didn’t have anything.” Pulling one of the gowns out, the blonde let her fingertips trail over the sequens and sparkles over the sleeves of the dress. Holding it in front of her, Selina stepped in front of one of the floor length mirrors to see what it would look like on her. Usually she had a good eye and sense for what suited her, and others for that matter. But it had been a while since she had completely dressed up. Usually she just wore things that were out of the norm of what her parents expected. She wanted a second opinion. Turning in her spot, her gaze flickered to the brunette. “What do you think, C?”

[cassiekallas]

“I’ll keep a mental note not to let any plaid or reminders of plaid grace your eyesight or mind,” she chuckled as she spoke. The brunette walked into her rather plain room. She knew some royals took all kinds of time to decorate it. And she might and some point to. There were pictures to hang up, little trinkets and decor things she would lay out eventually. But for now, her energy was just so sapped from everything else. For now the bare bones of the bed, desk and additional furniture bought by her grandparents was it. Maybe if this night went well, she’d ask Selina to help at some point. “It’s a little bit of a mess, boxes everywhere and all. But I’m still moving in here,” she brushed a piece of hair back, nudging one of the boxes out of the way. Instead of approaching the closet, she gave Selina free reign and perched herself on the edge of the bed, watching the girl go through the clothes. “Perhaps in another life you were a designer or model,” Cassie remarked, almost certain that if this girl was not a princess she would likely find herself somewhere in the fashion industry. “I honestly don’t know what’s there in dresses, my grandparents bought a few new ones for me,” she didn’t include the part that she herself may have purchased something in the last year that she didn’t remember getting. The brunette idly fiddled with an elastic she’d had on her wrist while she waited for the blonde to finish her initial survey. As soon as she was spoken to, her blue eyes tilted up, taking in the view of the dress the blonde was displaying. “I think you’ll look absolutely stunning in that dress, I certainly think it’s more for you than me.” All true, she could imagine the silvery sequins and gems would only bring out the icy blue of Selina’s eyes. 

[selina-caspari]

"It's not so much about plaid itself and more of the Christmas aspect," she explained. Lately Selina felt like she had been putting up a shield to those around her. Like if she didn't let anyone new in that she wouldn't be able to get hurt anymore. Although she couldn't quite put her finger on it there was something about this girl that made her want to get to know this girl. She felt a sympathy towards her. Selina regularly felt a need to forget everything that happened to her. But even she knew that not being able to remember things that others knew would be it's own form of torture. Maybe Selina was one of the lucky ones in some sense. "I feel like I would be more afraid if there wasn't boxes and mess everywhere. It would make me feel like I'm completely disorganised." Selina chuckled with a gaze in the brunette's direction. As she looked through the closet Selina couldn't help but think about the suggestion of how she could be a designer or model in another life. For Selina fashion and design was always just her escape. She could be different in that world, out of the norm and not be expected to fit into one category. She had grown somewhat bored of her life at the estate though. She needed more to sustain herself. Maybe fashion or design could be something to look into. The Swiss girl put the thought into the back of her mind as she found the dress that she rather adored. "Yeah I'm sure your grandparents packed it specifically for me," she joked as she walked up to the edge of the bed and laid the gown next to Cassie. "Now your turn. Do you want to wear something similar to what you did from those photos to see if that helps? Or you could always wear something different. Because I can totally see you stunning in an emerald green dress." Selina's icy blue hues focused onto Cassie to pick up on any cues she gave to her suggestions.

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[cassiekallas]

Maybe this was a good idea. Perhaps staging a break out wasn’t something to be considered great, but she was after all getting a break from all the thinking and work she’d been doing. When she wasn’t doing schoolwork she was often working tirelessly to remember things. Honestly, it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit. So this could be a good thing, as long as she took it easy and didn’t trigger her head injury. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be up to your degree of fashion but hopefully it’s not too bad,” she could definitely say this girl was more runway ready than her. She looked like she just came off a magazine cover. “I might end up having to raid your closet,” Cassie chimed, a grin on her face as she rose from the computer, logging out of everything. “Well, school work can wait, that’s what I’m telling myself at least,” she admitted. The brunette headed out of the library and down the hall. She took one of the exits into her dorm as opposed to going outside and around. “Well, they try to make it seem as if it is awfully hard. As if the steaks aren’t made as if they’re from five star restaurants,” she chuckled a little at the thought of how hard they worked to make this seem like a normal college campus almost. When it was so far from it and Cassie could see the gold dripping from every inch.

[selina-caspari]

There was over a dozen ways to make break out of the estate. Most guards could be paid out to let you out. Other times it was knowing the fault in a fence and other hidden getaways. Knowing the fact that they were getting dressed up she was already making a getaway plan in her head and ordering a car. If she paid a premium price she could hire a car for the night so that it would just be sitting there and waiting to take them from place to place. The blonde princess gave a tilt of her head to study the clothing that Cassie was wearing. It wasn’t terrible, but also not as high fashion she was used to. Selina was kind of excited for doing something different. It was the adult version of playing dress up as a kid. Trying something almost completely opposite to what she was used to. “It sounds like it’s something different so I am keen for anything at this point,” she mused, waiting a moment before shaking her head. “Just nothing plaid.” There were some standards that Selina didn’t stoop to. Even when she used to go camping she would still stick to a hiking equivalent of her day to day clothing. Selina started to follow Cassie before falling into step with her. She didn’t know where her dorm was so she couldn’t exactly be that confident in where she was going. But then again this girl was still new so Selina might have been a little more confident in the layout of buildings. “They need a reality check,” she rolled her eyes at the thought. Just because they were born into royalty didn’t mean they had to be so entitled about it. As she walked, Selina pulled out her phone and ordered a premium car for them. By now she had the estate layout complete in her mind so she wouldn’t accidentally walk into a pole or anything.

[cassiekallas]

Cassie’s style resided in a permanent state of semi formal, semi casual. Her outfits of a rather decorated blouse and high-waisted pants or skinny dress pants often was quickly turned into something more formal when she added one of her blazers. It was an easy non-commital outfit. Her grandparents approved too, they always said it was easier than trying to follow silly royal dress line rules. Even her grandmother who had lived in the prime of the two inch rule thought that such things were silly. But those simple things were enough for a royal to be scandalized. She wasn’t high fashion, but she didn’t dance the line of understyled. Not that many royals did. “Plaid has it’s place. Which is red and around Christmas,” she agreed rather quickly. She certainly never dressed casually enough for plaid. The brunette continued following the trail she’d been careful to learn. It had taken a while with the injury and all. But she was getting there. “Agreed. Perhaps it is meant to make us humble or something. I’m between that and all the gild is to hide the fact most of us aren’t allowed to leave,” she pondered aloud. Finally, they reached her dorm. She quickly unlocked the door with the key she kept on her wrist along with a charm bracelet. “Make yourself at home,” Cassie headed into the room herself and started by opening up the closet. Most of her clothes still laid in carefully packed garment bags. It was all too likely that her grandparents had bought her a few times. Sure her wardrobe at her mother’s was extensive like any princess but unpacking had revealed some new gowns she hadn’t remembered having. Or perhaps she’d just forgotten them like everything else from the last year.

[selina-caspari]

Not every royal dressed up high to nines and tens. A lot of the time they were comfortable in just a t-shirt and jeans because they didn't have someone breathing down their necks and telling them what to wear. It wasn't horrific by any means, especially with some of the fashion travestys she had seen. But after a while, those things just grew boring to her. She preferred colour, adventure. It was more than just what you wore for the press or out in public. It was a way to add your personality into your look. And personality that didn't involve an eye roll or a quirk of a brow. "Ugh, don't remind me that plaid is coming out around Christmas." Time had swept by this year. Within a blink of an eye it would no doubt be Christmas once more. Everyone would break out their carols and pretend to be holier than thou. Selina usually loved Christmas. The snow, the Christmas sweaters. She made a whole thing of it. But something just felt off and different this year. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Alright, ride is booked," she assured as she looked up to realise they were already at the girl's dorm. Stepping into the dorm room she couldn't the disappointment. She figured maybe it would magically look different to the rooms she had been switched to and from. But it was more or less the same besides a couple of things furniture wise being in different places. Instead of going to anything to sit on Selina walked straight after Cassie and into the closet. "I'm home," she proclaimed with a small grin on her rosebud lips. A lot of it was still in the process of being unpacked. Mostly smart and casual attire. When her gaze fell upon the box that Cassie had found though her eyes lit up. "And here I thought you said, Cass, that you didn't have anything." Pulling one of the gowns out, the blonde let her fingertips trail over the sequens and sparkles over the sleeves of the dress. Holding it in front of her, Selina stepped in front of one of the floor length mirrors to see what it would look like on her. Usually she had a good eye and sense for what suited her, and others for that matter. But it had been a while since she had completely dressed up. Usually she just wore things that were out of the norm of what her parents expected. She wanted a second opinion. Turning in her spot, her gaze flickered to the brunette. "What do you think, C?"

[thelucagrimaldi]

Luca x Selina

@selina-caspari​

 After Luca’s and Selina’s last interaction the male had a few things he wanted to plan oh and apart from that he came to a conclusion with himself that he would start using the blonde princess as his own personal hairdresser. As his way to thank her the Luca has decided to plan a little trip for them, he decided to make a deal with the estate that if they gave him permission to do this one thing then he will never sneak out of the estate again for at least a month it took it a short while but Luca managed to convince them. Grabbing his phone he had to book a few bits and bops and make a few phone calls and then he sent Selina a message. “I’m taking you out today, Grimaldi style. Dress up and meet me by my car at like 18:30.” After pressing send Luca glanced at the time and realised he had to get himself ready too, just thanks to his luck the male didn’t even bring any fancy clothes back to the estate with him so he quickly got into his car and drove towards the nearest town to find something that was at least a little bit presentable. He walked into the first tux shop he could find and simply bought some navy blue trousers that actually managed to fit him pretty well and a white shirt. Getting himself dressed into it, Luca also grabbed a navy blue jacket to complete his look. He unbuttoned the first three buttons to allow himself to breathe a little and before he knew it it was almost time for him to pick up Selina from the estates car park. Quickly getting back into his car he threw his previous clothes onto the back seat and sped over to the estate. When he arrived he climbed out of the car and leaned himself against it as he waited patiently for the blonde girl to arrive. Surprisingly for him Luca started to feel his nerves kick in a little, which was a rather strange feeling as he wasn’t the type of guy to really get nervous about things and yet here he was. Taking out a cigarette he placed it in between his lips and lit it up, taking a long drag before exhaling the smoke. Luca knew that he was gonna have to go the whole day without an ounce of drugs and maybe thats why his nerves were kicking in, maybe thats why his hands started to shake a little. 

[selina-caspari]

There wasn’t a dull moment when it came to Luca Grimaldi of all people. Going on adventures outside the estate wasn’t an easy task but Luca made it seem effortless whenever he talked her into it. With roommate reassignments, Selina was busy settling everything into place and trying to avoid her mother at all costs. Since she’d been surprised by her at parent’s week she’d been trying to call and text Selina any chance she got. Selina wasn’t prepared to let any of that slip through the cracks yet though. When a message came through, she instantly wanted to ignore it, assuming again that it was her mother. It was only the fact that it was sitting in front of her that she even glanced down at the screen. Luca, and a distraction was something that she was definitely in for. It honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. The princess stared at the phone for a second as she worked out what time he meant in non 24 hour format. “You couldn’t have just said 6:30?” she typed into a message and pressed send, followed up by another one. “Either way I’m in.” The estate occasionally hosted royal formals and galas, and there were occasions where she snuck out of the estate to go clubbing. But it had been a while since Selina had an actual reason to dress up. Now was when her clothing collection was actually going to pay off. As the blonde princess made her way into her closet, she instantly headed to the dresses. A lot of the time Selina liked to go against royal protocol so she didn’t own a lot of formal attire. Most of it was party getup. Out of the few that she did have, there was one she hadn’t found the right chance to wear yet. She had originally brought the lace champagne dress for a wedding before it ended up falling through. It wasn’t floor length but it was fairly modest. The fabric underneath was a similar colour that stopped at her thigh, with lace that hung over it and went to her knee. The top part had the same lace, a black belt that hugged her waist and a somewhat conservative neckline. Thankfully she had heels that matched and sparkled in the light. Makeup was her next thought. She did a more natural look with a slightly darker pink lip.  Finishing with her hair, the princess pinned her hair up into a low bun with a couple of curls hanging in the front. By the time she was finished and all dolled up for a night out it was almost the time to meet up with Luca.  Selina threw her phone into a small clutch along with her wallet just in case she needed it. With everything settled, the Swiss princess made her way to the car parking lot. It didn’t take long for Selina to pick out which one was the French prince’s. Even if she hadn’t been in the car before, she knew it was the one with the smoke coming out the window. Approaching the car, Selina walked up to the driver’s window. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear a tux in my life,” she exclaimed, letting her crystal hues check the male out. “It’s a good look on you, Lu.” Just as her smile appeared on her lips, she noticed the slight shake of his hands. “Are you doing okay?” 

[thelucagrimaldi]

Luca tapped the pocket of his tux to make sure his little bag filled with white powder was still there. Maybe he will be able to take a quick line once they arrive at their destination as there will be plenty of time for him to fully recover before he would be behind the wheel again. Right now cigarettes would have to do, blowing the smoke out the window Luca had a strict rule that he wouldn’t let his car smell of smoke so when he did all the windows had to be rolled down. The moment he heard Selina’s voice he looked over at the girl a smile immediately forming on his face as he briefly. looked her up and down. She looked beautiful, in fact she always was and Luca knew that he wouldn’t admit to anyone else but he knew she was gorgeous. “Yeah don’t get used to it, It’s a last minute tux because I didn’t pack any of my tux’s from back home.” He chuckled lightly, as he noticed her briefly glance at his hand Luca just simply took one hand into the other and started to crack his knuckles to to calm them down at least a little bit. “Yeah I’m okay, I just had an argument with Elsa literally last night because she was trying to get all up in my business again and I’m a bit nervous for tonight so..anyways hop on in princess we have a long journey ahead.” He spoke lightly, pressing a button by is side the passanger door opened up automatically. Luca had one of those cars that the door opened upwards rather than sidways, when she got inside he looked over at her and pressed another button and the door closed itself shut. Luca prided himself in the vehicles he drove, whilst elsa would always brag about her chanel collections he cared more about the car he was inside. Starting the engine he started to drive towards the nearest airport. “I was gonna wait till we get there to tell you, but the airport would spoil everything anyways. So anyways I’m taking you to Paris my families plane will be at the airport to take us there and back- I contacted all the fancy designer places told them we’ll pop by so we can go to chanel or wherever you want and you just pick I’ll pay I also planned another little thing and then we have a flight back at whatever time you want. We could technically stay the night at the palace, I checked and the King and Queen aka my parents are out of town so it will be the whole place to ourselves pretty much.” He spoke softly as he kept his eyes on the road, tightening his grip on the steering wheel to keep himself calm. “So I hope you have been practicing your french.” He looked over at her a small grin appearing upon his face. After a few more moments they finally pulled over into the airport, Luca drove straight to where the plane was waiting. Climbing out of his car he threw the car keys to one of the boys working there. “I don’t wanna see a single scratch on this car.” He spoke rather sternly before walking over to Selina’s side and opening up her door. “I’ll show you how well I know paris.” 

[selina-caspari]

If Selina had learnt one thing about Luca it was how protective he was over his car. It was definitely well looked after. There wasn’t a single scratch on the interior or exterior. Even if you looked hard enough there wasn’t a spec of dust evident on the inside. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she noticed it wasn’t just his window open, but rather all of them. “Royal prince has his car imported but doesn’t pack a tux,” she began as she nodded along with her words as if she was taking it in. “Makes sense.” A soft echo of laughter fell from her lips. One of the things that Selina liked about Luca was that he didn’t throw his wealth or status around. Sure his enthusiastic about cars and he could probably talk about them all day if he had the chance. But there were people back in Switzerland who had the same hobby. Most of them fixed up old cars to sell for a profit, but they still idolized some models over others. Selina studied the Parisian male for a moment, as if she was checking to see if he was telling the truth or not. “I know, Elsa showed up at my door upset about everything afterwards,” she spoke softly. As close as she was with Luca, she was just as close with Elsa. Selina knew about the difficulty the Grimaldi siblings had with their parents, but she hadn’t seen them ever fighting with each other or getting upset over the other’s actions. It wasn’t until Selina actually walked around to climb into the car that she had no idea what Luca had planned for the night. She just figured maybe a few drinks as a thank you for her cutting his hair. But then that didn’t quite explain the whole reason behind having to dress up. “What did you do that made her want to get involved?” The blonde was genuinely curious as to what he possibly could have done to get Elsa that upset. Selina didn’t bother putting her seat belt on as she knew it would add crinkle to her dress. Besides, what was the worst that would happen? As Luca started explaining where they were going, she turned her head to glance over at him only to have her mouth went agape. The last thing she expected was to be jetted off to Paris of all places. For some reason her mind went completely blank of all of the French that she’d been teaching herself. “Oui,” she mumbled out in what sounded ridiculous, even to her. “Oh, they’re really going to hate me over there.” Burying her face into her hands for a moment, she glanced up when she felt the car coming to a stop. Just like Luca said, there was a plane waiting for them to take off in. “When you said Grimaldi style, I didn’t think you meant literally Grimaldi.” Selina was used to heels by now, it was more of how the car doors opened that put her off. Stepping one foot out at a time, Selina pulled herself up, making sure she had her clutch with her. “These heels will not survive back alleyways, I’m telling you that right now.” Selina gave a somewhat playful warning look before turning to the plane. The blonde princess grabbed a hold of Luca’s hand as a way of steadying it as she made her way with the male towards the plane. It was also her own way of keeping steady in her heels and dress and she climbed the stairs that led up to the plane itself. 

[thelucagrimaldi]

Luca avoided answering the question on what he could have done that pissed his sister off so much. When he heard her attempted french once again the dark haired male couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Gently taking her hand in his he brought it up to his lips and planted a small kiss upon her knuckles. “They will love you, besides they have no fucking choice you’re gonna be there with me.” The corners of his lips curved into slight smile as he looked over at the plane that literally had the word GRIMALDI AIR printed on the side of it in big bald letters. Luca was the one that once suggested to his parents that they should start their own private airline as it would make travelling to places much more convenient. Luca climbed out of the car and for a brief moment he watched the young boy drive the car off into it’s designated safe parking spot. Luca was extremely protective over his vehicle, he had the same car since he was 17 years old the only thing he did was upgrade parts of it but apart from that everything stayed the same. “Yeah I thought you might say that which is why I got you some flats, just in case if you would want to change into them. They’re on the plane.” Luca held the blonde girls hand as they started to make their way towards the plane. The pilot was waiting outside for the young Grimaldi prince and when Luca arrived the older male was abut to take a slight bow for the prince but Luca simply placed his hand on his shoulder to prevent him and shook his hand instead thanking him for the service and for being available so last minute. The French prince lead the blonde girl up onto the plane, everything was super clean and tidy. You couldn’t even spot a single bit of dust anywhere. The Grimaldi’s were a rich family, a rich and powerful family and they liked to flaunt both of the things quite heavily. Well at least his parents did - Luca on the other hand enjoyed keeping things lowkey. “So yeah welcome aboard, Grimaldi air. You have all those chairs here and then behind that door if you open it there’s a bed for longer journeys so take your pic princess. Oh and also -” Reaching over for the box that held the flats in them he handed it over to the blonde princess. “Just in case you’ll want a change of shoes. Cause back alleyways can be a bit of a pain.”  Once the plane started, the male quickly excused himself to go to the bathroom. Once he was inside he closed the door shut, taking out his bank card he used it to allow him to form a small white line with the powder that was kept in the little baggie in his pocket, leaning over he quickly sniffed it up and wiped the excess off his nose. Taking a look in the small mirror he brushed his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes for a few seconds waiting for the drug to settle in. Slipping the bag back into his pocket he went back to his seat. “So do you like them?” His voice filled the plane as his lips curved into a smile. The shake of his hands even managed to stop. “You got me thinking last time, about Paris - It’s not special to me anymore because I’ve seen it so many fucking times but I can’t wait for you to see it, I cant wait to see your reactions to places etc. Cause I know how much you love it - without actually visiting it properly.” 

[selina-caspari]

It wasn't like Selina completely dismissed the fact that Luca had ignored her question. That thought was pondering louder in her mind than anything else. She wasn't just going to let it go. But they had the whole night ahead of them. And a flight where he was essentially stuck with her so she was just being strategic. With how long that Selina had been stuck at the estate she often forgot everything that came with being a royal out in the real world. The hidden cameras watching your every move. Looks from people who sometimes didn't even see you as human. It was freeing to be dragged out of the estate. But it was also daunting in a sense. Feeling that pressure of her parents learning about her whereabouts added an anxiety to the endeavour. "This plane doesn't have like a tracking thing on it, does it?" It came out a lot more comedically than as if it were an actual fear she was having. She knew it was probably her overreacting about everything. But people in power had their ways of getting things done so she wouldn't put it past her father. Glancing up from her buried hands she offered a faint smile at Luca's attempts. For someone as laid back as Luca he was doing something out of character for him. As nice a gesture as it was, she didn't know what exactly this act was about. "Has women flat shoes prepared, but had to go out and rent a tux. You're a complete enigma, Luca Grimaldi." A light chuckle escaped from her lips at the concept. Climbing up onto the plane, Selina offered a sincere smile to the pilot of the plane. After Luca thanked him and shook his hand, Selina rested her hand onto the pilot's forearm. "Thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this," she cooed. Just because this was essentially his job it was still a special trip that he was making just for Selina and Luca. She didn't see him as less than, simply a person that was doing a kind gesture to make a living. When stepping inside the plane itself it looked just like she had expected. Although kept up to a high standard, Selina had to admit that the plane looked cleaner and more in place than the estate did. Selina was glancing around to take a pick at a seat. There were ones up the front that resembled a normal airplane, while further back there were ones that sat long ways against the sides of the plane. Since her dress only provided some movement she decided to go with the long side seats. The blonde took the box and barely had a chance to look in before the plane was ready to take off and Luca disappeared. "Like I said, complete enigma," she called out after him. Selina sat, opening the box to look at the shoes. Considering he didn't have a lot of experience in women's shoes, she had to give it to him that they were cute and sensible for back alleyways. Or at least she assumed. She didn't have any knowledge about the ones in Paris. The more she stared down at the shoes though the more she thought about how odd Luca was being. Randomly taking off after orchestrating all of this madness. In her own world of thoughts Selina barely even noticed when Luca came back. Offering a soft smile, she nodded to the male. "Yeah, you have an interesting insight into woman's things," she assured before pausing for a moment. She was trying to get an actual answer, but she wasn't exactly going to stand for someone's bullshit. "Is that why you've been acting strange. Because I know what looking off looks like when I see it. And the hand twitching and disappearing isn't considered normal."

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[cassiekallas]

Maybe this was a good idea. Perhaps staging a break out wasn’t something to be considered great, but she was after all getting a break from all the thinking and work she’d been doing. When she wasn’t doing schoolwork she was often working tirelessly to remember things. Honestly, it was starting to make her head hurt a little bit. So this could be a good thing, as long as she took it easy and didn’t trigger her head injury. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be up to your degree of fashion but hopefully it’s not too bad,” she could definitely say this girl was more runway ready than her. She looked like she just came off a magazine cover. “I might end up having to raid your closet,” Cassie chimed, a grin on her face as she rose from the computer, logging out of everything. “Well, school work can wait, that’s what I’m telling myself at least,” she admitted. The brunette headed out of the library and down the hall. She took one of the exits into her dorm as opposed to going outside and around. “Well, they try to make it seem as if it is awfully hard. As if the steaks aren’t made as if they’re from five star restaurants,” she chuckled a little at the thought of how hard they worked to make this seem like a normal college campus almost. When it was so far from it and Cassie could see the gold dripping from every inch.

[selina-caspari]

There was over a dozen ways to make break out of the estate. Most guards could be paid out to let you out. Other times it was knowing the fault in a fence and other hidden getaways. Knowing the fact that they were getting dressed up she was already making a getaway plan in her head and ordering a car. If she paid a premium price she could hire a car for the night so that it would just be sitting there and waiting to take them from place to place. The blonde princess gave a tilt of her head to study the clothing that Cassie was wearing. It wasn't terrible, but also not as high fashion she was used to. Selina was kind of excited for doing something different. It was the adult version of playing dress up as a kid. Trying something almost completely opposite to what she was used to. "It sounds like it's something different so I am keen for anything at this point," she mused, waiting a moment before shaking her head. "Just nothing plaid." There were some standards that Selina didn't stoop to. Even when she used to go camping she would still stick to a hiking equivalent of her day to day clothing. Selina started to follow Cassie before falling into step with her. She didn't know where her dorm was so she couldn't exactly be that confident in where she was going. But then again this girl was still new so Selina might have been a little more confident in the layout of buildings. "They need a reality check," she rolled her eyes at the thought. Just because they were born into royalty didn't mean they had to be so entitled about it. As she walked, Selina pulled out her phone and ordered a premium car for them. By now she had the estate layout complete in her mind so she wouldn't accidentally walk into a pole or anything.

[quietcinnamonroll]

Roommates. Violet x Selina

@selina-caspari 

To be honest Violet wasn’t all too eager about the idea of having a roommate. It wasn’t something she had to deal with before, after all she didn’t have any siblings nor did she go to a boarding school when she was younger. Her entire life she had viewed her room as her own space so it was odd having to share that space and a bit odd the school was actually having royals do so. After all, it wasn’t like the school was hurting for funding or couldn’t put them up in their own room. Violet was more annoyed that it made it easier for someone to sell out her secrets to the media plus it made it so she had to be more closed of and secretive. There were quite a few things the media wasn’t aware of and the reason she ended up at the estate was one of those things, after all money could buy a lot including silence. Violet sighed and entered the room she had been assigned with her few bags. She smiled politely at the blonde who she assumed was her roommate considering she was unpacking her things. “I’m Violet” she said to introduce herself. Despite not being to ecstatic about the situation it didn’t mean she couldn’t be friendly.  

[selina-caspari]

Being the only child growing up, Selina always had a room to herself. Even if their family went on a trip there was always a spare room for her to stay in. Sharing a room didn’t bother her though. If she could share a tent while camping with three other girls, then sharing a dorm room designed for royalty was a piece of cake. It was only slightly disappointing for Selina because she had spent so much time redecorating her previous dorm room to suit her style more. It also provided a slight amusement seeing Luca confused the second he walked back in the door. Then again, she could always do the same with this room. Maybe even convince her new roommate to help decorate with her. With how well everyone was with hiding their own secrets, Selina often times forgot that others were here for a reason. They weren’t just here as a getaway from their family. The blonde princess was unpacking things from her suitcase that lay flat on the bed. She didn’t keep a lot personal items with how often they liked to move the royals around at the estate. Most of it was clothing. It was a way she was able to express herself when she couldn’t talk about it. Glancing back from her unpacking when she heard the door, Selina studied the girl. She had seen the girl around the estate from time to time but she never actually had an interaction with her. “Like the flower?” she questioned, scrunching her brows the more she thought about it. “Or is it a colour..” Selina paused for a second before she shook it off. “Either way, I’m Selina.”

[quietcinnamonroll]

To be honest she wouldn’t mind sharing a room so much if she didn’t have the pressure of having to hide both the existence of her hearing aids and scars. Violet knew that if it got out she would probably lose whatever love she had from her parents or the chance of gaining their approval because she would be less useful to them. They wanted her to be the perfect embodiment of a ruler and her defects weren’t something they approved of and were something to be hidden away. If it weren’t for that then the idea would have potentially seemed a little bit fun. Violet was still rather new to the estate, having only arrived a month ago, she hadn’t had a roommate before the switch and so this was her first time being assigned to one. Luckily she hadn’t gotten to decorating or really sending home for more of her things to be sent over to the room she had been in. So, she didn’t have to move too much most of it was just clothes and then her bag of art supplies. Violet paused at the blonde’s question and shrugged, “I believe it was more the flower at least my mother has a garden featuring them. I prefer the color more though if I am being honest. It is a rather soft color and not unappealing to look at unlike brighter colors.” Violet remarked. “It is nice to meet you.” Violet walked over to the free bed and set her bags down on it.

[selina-caspari]

Growing up Selina had always been the disappointment of her family. Despite her parents strict rulings and attempt to control all of Selina’s actions and interactions she still found ways to get around them. She believed that everyone was equal. And just because they didn’t hold the same royal standing, it didn’t mean they were somehow less. The Swiss blonde honestly forgot how many fights she had with her parents over it. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was the only Caspari child they probably would have done everything to hide her away from the world. Just like the way her father covered up everything he did and put her through just to keep a squeaky clean image. Even now she wasn’t going to let herself be controlled by them. It was the whole reason she agreed to come to the estate in the first place. Selina took a glance at some of the things that the girl brought in with her. Just by the general art supplies she gathered that her new roommate must have been something of an artist. “Do you prefer the colour too because you’re into art?” she questioned. “At least you have an origin behind your name. I wouldn’t have the first clue. To me my name just sounds like a mutation of a name of a mermaid from children’s stories.” Selina shrugged as she spoke. It wasn’t something that she had given much thought to. She didn’t get to the point where she was able to pick out a name for the one she lost. “It’s nice to meet you too.” With most of her clothes put into dresser draws or hung in her closet, Selina closed up her suitcase and slid it under her bed. An idea came over the girl which caused her to spin to face Violet. “You don’t have a lot of stuff by the looks of it. Are you keen for a little trip into town to get some stuff to spice up the room with?”

[quietcinnamonroll]

Violet hated to admit it but the estate had been an unexpected break from her parents or at least from having to perform in front of them. While living with them she had to attend all of their social engagements and be weary of everything she said or didn’t say because if she said the wrong thing to the right person it would be social suicide. To them appearances were everything and they enjoyed appearing to be powerful and untouchable, the public supported them because in a way they seemed inhuman to them. They had maintained a good standing in terms of the media and well Violets problems were kept far away from the eyes of the public so all they saw was the conditioned pawn her parents molded her to be. It was a bit easier now that most of what she had to do was make sure she didn’t do anything that would reach the media because then her parents would be kept blissfully in a dark. In a way she didn’t have to constantly worry or survive under the pressure of their expectations which did relieve some of her stress. Violet had opened on of her bags with clothes and started to put some of them in the dresser while listening to Selina. She was a bit curious about the princess that was her roommate for the foreseeable future. “Yeah I like it mostly because of art.” Violet laughed a little at the girls remark about her own name. “I mean at least you don’t have your name on crayon” she commented. To be honest she was a bit surprised at the blonde’s idea to go into town. People actually wanting to spend time with her outside of forced social engagements was a rather rare occurrence for her. “Haven’t really sent notice home for more stuff, don’t really want to be bother. I wouldn’t mind going into town to get somethings though beats sitting here.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina had only recently gotten a day pass to go out of the estate for decorating. She figured it might be a little harder to get one under the same reason so having Violet tag along would help. But she also wanted to get to know her new roommate. The last thing she needed was to have someone that she didn't get along with and forced to share a room with them. Sure, they could go around and simply say hello to each other when they saw each other in passing, but that wasn't exactly who Selina was. She preferred having someone that she could get along, and have random banters with. Besides the girl seeming rather reserved and quiet she didn't instantly see a problem that the two would have. The blonde chuckled softly at the mention of crayons. "I mean that would have made art more interesting as a child, being able to use a colour with your own name," she hummed. Grabbing her phone and her wallet, Selina sat on the edge of Violet's bed. "Do you want some help putting anything away before we go?" Violet had basically only just walked in the door when Selina suggested they go out. She wanted to at least give her an opportunity to settle a little before essentially dragging her out the door.

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hoped at the very least since most royals were here for something they wouldn’t judge her for her own flaws. Sure, she remembered a few of them from being a child at balls and such. But in her later years of school, those balls and parties and galas and dinners had become significantly less important to her than other things in life. She had still gone to some here and there, attending them with her mother, father and stepbrother, but not enough to truly stay in the royal cliques and circles. Her life had been built around preparing for when her father had eventually popped out another heir that could replace her as one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. Perhaps they could find some similar spots in the town nearby. Perhaps bars or clubs might be a good area to start. She knew the picture she was focusing on had been a club. That much was said in the article. “Perhaps we head back to my room and we can get dressed up? I think they dropped off the majority of my clothes with the moving truck,” she had to think about it for a minute. She knew there was a second load on it’s way she just wasn’t sure if all of her clothes came in the first. She didn’t have the energy to unzip and peer into the individual garment bags her grandmother and grandfather’s hired moving team had put everything in. “Agreed, I’m not entirely sure why they bother at all with such things. Perhaps to make it sound normal,” she noted, consideration in her tone. There’d been political science degrees available at her college, but the royal version of it was significantly different. 

[selina-caspari]

It was safe to say that Selina was looking for any excuse to not be doing her class work. Even if she wasn’t though, there was something about not remembering and desperately trying to figure out what happened that she genuinely wanted to help this girl. “Oh I would love to look through your closet,” she was practically beaming. There was something about other people’s choice in clothing that got her excited. Judging from the few pictures she’d seen of Cassie from the media articles she had a good taste in outfits too. “Gives me the perfect excuse to avoid whatever I was supposed to be doing.” The blonde glanced down to the book she had set aside to see what it was even about, because at this point she had set it out of her mind. “Oh well, doesn’t matter anymore.” Selina shrugged, not even bothering to read the long titled that was engraved on the front of the cover. Before she could hear any reason for why they shouldn’t go out, Selina was basically out of her seat and ready to go. She didn’t know where the girl’s dorm was so she couldn’t exactly just lead the way. Raising her index finger, Selina gave a small wave of it. “Nuh uh, no part of this place is normal.” She made sure to use quotation marks around normal because she honestly didn’t know what was considered normal anymore. 

[thelucagrimaldi]

Luca x Selina

@selina-caspari​

 After Luca’s and Selina’s last interaction the male had a few things he wanted to plan oh and apart from that he came to a conclusion with himself that he would start using the blonde princess as his own personal hairdresser. As his way to thank her the Luca has decided to plan a little trip for them, he decided to make a deal with the estate that if they gave him permission to do this one thing then he will never sneak out of the estate again for at least a month it took it a short while but Luca managed to convince them. Grabbing his phone he had to book a few bits and bops and make a few phone calls and then he sent Selina a message. “I’m taking you out today, Grimaldi style. Dress up and meet me by my car at like 18:30.” After pressing send Luca glanced at the time and realised he had to get himself ready too, just thanks to his luck the male didn’t even bring any fancy clothes back to the estate with him so he quickly got into his car and drove towards the nearest town to find something that was at least a little bit presentable. He walked into the first tux shop he could find and simply bought some navy blue trousers that actually managed to fit him pretty well and a white shirt. Getting himself dressed into it, Luca also grabbed a navy blue jacket to complete his look. He unbuttoned the first three buttons to allow himself to breathe a little and before he knew it it was almost time for him to pick up Selina from the estates car park. Quickly getting back into his car he threw his previous clothes onto the back seat and sped over to the estate. When he arrived he climbed out of the car and leaned himself against it as he waited patiently for the blonde girl to arrive. Surprisingly for him Luca started to feel his nerves kick in a little, which was a rather strange feeling as he wasn’t the type of guy to really get nervous about things and yet here he was. Taking out a cigarette he placed it in between his lips and lit it up, taking a long drag before exhaling the smoke. Luca knew that he was gonna have to go the whole day without an ounce of drugs and maybe thats why his nerves were kicking in, maybe thats why his hands started to shake a little. 

[selina-caspari]

There wasn’t a dull moment when it came to Luca Grimaldi of all people. Going on adventures outside the estate wasn’t an easy task but Luca made it seem effortless whenever he talked her into it. With roommate reassignments, Selina was busy settling everything into place and trying to avoid her mother at all costs. Since she’d been surprised by her at parent’s week she’d been trying to call and text Selina any chance she got. Selina wasn’t prepared to let any of that slip through the cracks yet though. When a message came through, she instantly wanted to ignore it, assuming again that it was her mother. It was only the fact that it was sitting in front of her that she even glanced down at the screen. Luca, and a distraction was something that she was definitely in for. It honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. The princess stared at the phone for a second as she worked out what time he meant in non 24 hour format. “You couldn’t have just said 6:30?” she typed into a message and pressed send, followed up by another one. “Either way I’m in.” The estate occasionally hosted royal formals and galas, and there were occasions where she snuck out of the estate to go clubbing. But it had been a while since Selina had an actual reason to dress up. Now was when her clothing collection was actually going to pay off. As the blonde princess made her way into her closet, she instantly headed to the dresses. A lot of the time Selina liked to go against royal protocol so she didn’t own a lot of formal attire. Most of it was party getup. Out of the few that she did have, there was one she hadn’t found the right chance to wear yet. She had originally brought the lace champagne dress for a wedding before it ended up falling through. It wasn’t floor length but it was fairly modest. The fabric underneath was a similar colour that stopped at her thigh, with lace that hung over it and went to her knee. The top part had the same lace, a black belt that hugged her waist and a somewhat conservative neckline. Thankfully she had heels that matched and sparkled in the light. Makeup was her next thought. She did a more natural look with a slightly darker pink lip.  Finishing with her hair, the princess pinned her hair up into a low bun with a couple of curls hanging in the front. By the time she was finished and all dolled up for a night out it was almost the time to meet up with Luca.  Selina threw her phone into a small clutch along with her wallet just in case she needed it. With everything settled, the Swiss princess made her way to the car parking lot. It didn’t take long for Selina to pick out which one was the French prince’s. Even if she hadn’t been in the car before, she knew it was the one with the smoke coming out the window. Approaching the car, Selina walked up to the driver’s window. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear a tux in my life,” she exclaimed, letting her crystal hues check the male out. “It’s a good look on you, Lu.” Just as her smile appeared on her lips, she noticed the slight shake of his hands. “Are you doing okay?” 

[thelucagrimaldi]

Luca tapped the pocket of his tux to make sure his little bag filled with white powder was still there. Maybe he will be able to take a quick line once they arrive at their destination as there will be plenty of time for him to fully recover before he would be behind the wheel again. Right now cigarettes would have to do, blowing the smoke out the window Luca had a strict rule that he wouldn’t let his car smell of smoke so when he did all the windows had to be rolled down. The moment he heard Selina’s voice he looked over at the girl a smile immediately forming on his face as he briefly. looked her up and down. She looked beautiful, in fact she always was and Luca knew that he wouldn’t admit to anyone else but he knew she was gorgeous. “Yeah don’t get used to it, It’s a last minute tux because I didn’t pack any of my tux’s from back home.” He chuckled lightly, as he noticed her briefly glance at his hand Luca just simply took one hand into the other and started to crack his knuckles to to calm them down at least a little bit. “Yeah I’m okay, I just had an argument with Elsa literally last night because she was trying to get all up in my business again and I’m a bit nervous for tonight so..anyways hop on in princess we have a long journey ahead.” He spoke lightly, pressing a button by is side the passanger door opened up automatically. Luca had one of those cars that the door opened upwards rather than sidways, when she got inside he looked over at her and pressed another button and the door closed itself shut. Luca prided himself in the vehicles he drove, whilst elsa would always brag about her chanel collections he cared more about the car he was inside. Starting the engine he started to drive towards the nearest airport. “I was gonna wait till we get there to tell you, but the airport would spoil everything anyways. So anyways I’m taking you to Paris my families plane will be at the airport to take us there and back- I contacted all the fancy designer places told them we’ll pop by so we can go to chanel or wherever you want and you just pick I’ll pay I also planned another little thing and then we have a flight back at whatever time you want. We could technically stay the night at the palace, I checked and the King and Queen aka my parents are out of town so it will be the whole place to ourselves pretty much.” He spoke softly as he kept his eyes on the road, tightening his grip on the steering wheel to keep himself calm. “So I hope you have been practicing your french.” He looked over at her a small grin appearing upon his face. After a few more moments they finally pulled over into the airport, Luca drove straight to where the plane was waiting. Climbing out of his car he threw the car keys to one of the boys working there. “I don’t wanna see a single scratch on this car.” He spoke rather sternly before walking over to Selina’s side and opening up her door. “I’ll show you how well I know paris.” 

[selina-caspari]

If Selina had learnt one thing about Luca it was how protective he was over his car. It was definitely well looked after. There wasn’t a single scratch on the interior or exterior. Even if you looked hard enough there wasn’t a spec of dust evident on the inside. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she noticed it wasn’t just his window open, but rather all of them. “Royal prince has his car imported but doesn’t pack a tux,” she began as she nodded along with her words as if she was taking it in. “Makes sense.” A soft echo of laughter fell from her lips. One of the things that Selina liked about Luca was that he didn’t throw his wealth or status around. Sure his enthusiastic about cars and he could probably talk about them all day if he had the chance. But there were people back in Switzerland who had the same hobby. Most of them fixed up old cars to sell for a profit, but they still idolized some models over others. Selina studied the Parisian male for a moment, as if she was checking to see if he was telling the truth or not. “I know, Elsa showed up at my door upset about everything afterwards,” she spoke softly. As close as she was with Luca, she was just as close with Elsa. Selina knew about the difficulty the Grimaldi siblings had with their parents, but she hadn’t seen them ever fighting with each other or getting upset over the other’s actions. It wasn’t until Selina actually walked around to climb into the car that she had no idea what Luca had planned for the night. She just figured maybe a few drinks as a thank you for her cutting his hair. But then that didn’t quite explain the whole reason behind having to dress up. “What did you do that made her want to get involved?” The blonde was genuinely curious as to what he possibly could have done to get Elsa that upset. Selina didn’t bother putting her seat belt on as she knew it would add crinkle to her dress. Besides, what was the worst that would happen? As Luca started explaining where they were going, she turned her head to glance over at him only to have her mouth went agape. The last thing she expected was to be jetted off to Paris of all places. For some reason her mind went completely blank of all of the French that she’d been teaching herself. “Oui,” she mumbled out in what sounded ridiculous, even to her. “Oh, they’re really going to hate me over there.” Burying her face into her hands for a moment, she glanced up when she felt the car coming to a stop. Just like Luca said, there was a plane waiting for them to take off in. “When you said Grimaldi style, I didn’t think you meant literally Grimaldi.” Selina was used to heels by now, it was more of how the car doors opened that put her off. Stepping one foot out at a time, Selina pulled herself up, making sure she had her clutch with her. “These heels will not survive back alleyways, I’m telling you that right now.” Selina gave a somewhat playful warning look before turning to the plane. The blonde princess grabbed a hold of Luca’s hand as a way of steadying it as she made her way with the male towards the plane. It was also her own way of keeping steady in her heels and dress and she climbed the stairs that led up to the plane itself. 

[quietcinnamonroll]

Roommates. Violet x Selina

@selina-caspari 

To be honest Violet wasn’t all too eager about the idea of having a roommate. It wasn’t something she had to deal with before, after all she didn’t have any siblings nor did she go to a boarding school when she was younger. Her entire life she had viewed her room as her own space so it was odd having to share that space and a bit odd the school was actually having royals do so. After all, it wasn’t like the school was hurting for funding or couldn’t put them up in their own room. Violet was more annoyed that it made it easier for someone to sell out her secrets to the media plus it made it so she had to be more closed of and secretive. There were quite a few things the media wasn’t aware of and the reason she ended up at the estate was one of those things, after all money could buy a lot including silence. Violet sighed and entered the room she had been assigned with her few bags. She smiled politely at the blonde who she assumed was her roommate considering she was unpacking her things. “I’m Violet” she said to introduce herself. Despite not being to ecstatic about the situation it didn’t mean she couldn’t be friendly.  

[selina-caspari]

Being the only child growing up, Selina always had a room to herself. Even if their family went on a trip there was always a spare room for her to stay in. Sharing a room didn’t bother her though. If she could share a tent while camping with three other girls, then sharing a dorm room designed for royalty was a piece of cake. It was only slightly disappointing for Selina because she had spent so much time redecorating her previous dorm room to suit her style more. It also provided a slight amusement seeing Luca confused the second he walked back in the door. Then again, she could always do the same with this room. Maybe even convince her new roommate to help decorate with her. With how well everyone was with hiding their own secrets, Selina often times forgot that others were here for a reason. They weren’t just here as a getaway from their family. The blonde princess was unpacking things from her suitcase that lay flat on the bed. She didn’t keep a lot personal items with how often they liked to move the royals around at the estate. Most of it was clothing. It was a way she was able to express herself when she couldn’t talk about it. Glancing back from her unpacking when she heard the door, Selina studied the girl. She had seen the girl around the estate from time to time but she never actually had an interaction with her. “Like the flower?” she questioned, scrunching her brows the more she thought about it. “Or is it a colour..” Selina paused for a second before she shook it off. “Either way, I’m Selina.”

[quietcinnamonroll]

To be honest she wouldn’t mind sharing a room so much if she didn’t have the pressure of having to hide both the existence of her hearing aids and scars. Violet knew that if it got out she would probably lose whatever love she had from her parents or the chance of gaining their approval because she would be less useful to them. They wanted her to be the perfect embodiment of a ruler and her defects weren’t something they approved of and were something to be hidden away. If it weren’t for that then the idea would have potentially seemed a little bit fun. Violet was still rather new to the estate, having only arrived a month ago, she hadn’t had a roommate before the switch and so this was her first time being assigned to one. Luckily she hadn’t gotten to decorating or really sending home for more of her things to be sent over to the room she had been in. So, she didn’t have to move too much most of it was just clothes and then her bag of art supplies. Violet paused at the blonde’s question and shrugged, “I believe it was more the flower at least my mother has a garden featuring them. I prefer the color more though if I am being honest. It is a rather soft color and not unappealing to look at unlike brighter colors.” Violet remarked. “It is nice to meet you.” Violet walked over to the free bed and set her bags down on it.

[selina-caspari]

Growing up Selina had always been the disappointment of her family. Despite her parents strict rulings and attempt to control all of Selina’s actions and interactions she still found ways to get around them. She believed that everyone was equal. And just because they didn’t hold the same royal standing, it didn’t mean they were somehow less. The Swiss blonde honestly forgot how many fights she had with her parents over it. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was the only Caspari child they probably would have done everything to hide her away from the world. Just like the way her father covered up everything he did and put her through just to keep a squeaky clean image. Even now she wasn’t going to let herself be controlled by them. It was the whole reason she agreed to come to the estate in the first place. Selina took a glance at some of the things that the girl brought in with her. Just by the general art supplies she gathered that her new roommate must have been something of an artist. “Do you prefer the colour too because you’re into art?” she questioned. “At least you have an origin behind your name. I wouldn’t have the first clue. To me my name just sounds like a mutation of a name of a mermaid from children’s stories.” Selina shrugged as she spoke. It wasn’t something that she had given much thought to. She didn’t get to the point where she was able to pick out a name for the one she lost. “It’s nice to meet you too.” With most of her clothes put into dresser draws or hung in her closet, Selina closed up her suitcase and slid it under her bed. An idea came over the girl which caused her to spin to face Violet. “You don’t have a lot of stuff by the looks of it. Are you keen for a little trip into town to get some stuff to spice up the room with?”

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. “It’s refreshing. You don’t see a lot of it from royals,” she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl’s mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. “What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren’t in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?” It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn’t help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. “It’s not the worst place in the world,” she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina’s experience. “There’s a cabin by the lake. It’s a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you’re gone. As for teachers, I don’t really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way.”

[cassiekallas]

Honestly Cassie could maybe get used to this place, at least if all the people were as nice as she seemed to be. The brunette had planned to do her time here, however long that was. But maybe there was a way to enjoy it too. Besides all the stress of trying to grasp concepts that hadn’t been explained to her since she was seven. Or trying to remember things that her brain seemed to wanted to simply deny her access to. “Well, I wasn’t raised like the typical royal,” a shrug accompanied her non-chalant tone. The blonde’s words ran through her head briefly. It didn’t seem like an awful idea. Maybe pictures didn’t jog her memory because she hadn’t seen things that way. Perhaps a first person experience might help. It wasn’t an awful idea. Similar feelings and thoughts could bring back memories. Maybe that would help. Or at least it wouldn’t hurt. Cassie nodded and took in Selinas words. Honestly it didn’t seem so bad. Not like everyone said at least. “I will definitely take that advice, though I might need you to show me,” Cassie wasn’t the best at finding things. “I think I have dark unibrow for political science,” she had to really think about it. Sometimes her memory was still spotty as hell. Even for simple things. It wasn’t always a huge problem. Sometimes it was just forgetting what she had for breakfast. Honestly she wasn’t sure if it was the head injury or just usual memory things.

[selina-caspari]

Like with anything else, the estate wasn’t completely devoid of flaws. It definitely had them and they were obvious when you spent long enough there. But Selina didn’t like focusing on the bad. It also probably helped that Selina saw this as her escape. It was her getaway from the corrupt royal system and the royals that continued to allow all of it to happen. As long as she didn’t talk about anything that her father did to her then she was free to live a life away from it all. Even the times she had tried to come clean about it all to the media and press, nobody believed her. Who would believe a girl in a place known for troubled royals above a high standing male royal? Selina didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts too much. She knew it was one slippery slope if she let herself sink into it. Shaking off the feeling, Selina smiled at the brunette. “Great, so we’ll save a copy of some of the articles so we know where we’re going essentially,” she explained as she leaned close to the screen to read the name properly so she could type and save it into her phone. “And then we can take a mini vacation from this place to go on a mind hunt.” The smile on her lips was genuine. She wanted to be helpful, and by the looks of the girl sitting in front of her, she definitely needed a day off. Even if she was only new to all of this. “Next time I need to runaway I will make sure to tag you in for the joy ride,” she proclaimed with a slight tilt of her head. “Unless chemicals are involved, they have no right to call something a science.” Selina had grown up with these classes all her life, or at least most of them. She still despised some of their names, like they were trying to trick students to get excited about them. 

[franceslittlenightmare]

Elsa x Selina- “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

The past five hours had been the longest Elsa Grimaldi has ever known. This day had also been the worst she had ever known. It started off being the happiest day of her life— or it should have been. It was wedding day, or elopement day. Her and Mateo planned to secretly be married at the courthouse and start their lives together, an actual wedding and all the details could be planned for later. For now, they needed to act due to almost everyone working to keep them apart. Elsa felt beautiful, she felt at ease, she felt ready. But, deep down In the pit of her stomach something felt wrong. Still, the French woman simply brushed it off and kept moving toward. The car ride there was nerve racking and tense. But still, the Grimaldi girl reached deep down inside and forced herself to be calm. After all, she was marrying someone she truly loved and vice versa. Finally, they reached the destination and Elsa had never been more anxious and excited. Then, the incident happened. Unknown to her, the Queen of France had hired a hitman. Her cruel mother didn’t want to kill Mateo, simply injure him enough so the male could get the message. So, he was shot in a non critical area. After hours in the hospital Elsa got the bare minimum of information from the doctors and was sent home until the morning. Somehow the girl was still in the dress from earlier, hair pulled out of its style and a mess over her face, make up smudged from tears. Not knowing where to go, Elsa just acted. She really wanted to be alone but, the French girl knew nothing good could come of that. So, she went to someone she had truly grown to trust. Knocking at Selina’s door, the Princess waited until it was opened. “I’m sorry, I know it’s late but I... I can’t be alone right now and Luca and I got into a fight and Mateo, he’s hurt and I just don’t know what to do—“ the petite girl burst into tears, her emotions high as she stood there, vulnerable and figuratively naked.

@selina-caspari

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t the first time hearing about how if she really tried and wanted to she could get anywhere she wanted. Given her circumstances though it wasn’t ever something she really thought about. She was the only child born into the Caspari family. Her parents were convinced to do anything they could to make sure she’d go for the throne and win. Selina always hated that controlling aspect. They treated anyone less than them as a throwaway which Selina didn’t agree with. Now that she was essentially stuck living at the estate she decided that maybe studying in a field she was interested in wasn’t the worst thing. The Swiss royal was up late, laptop on her bed as she looked through different courses and things that were available. As she scrolled the girl heard a knock at her door. Glancing to her side she noticed that her new roommate wasn’t even in bed. Maybe she’d finally decided to go out and have fun, rather than the reserved and somewhat quiet girl she’d originally be introduced to. “Coming,” she called out, sliding her laptop onto the end of the bed so that she could climb up. “Did you forget your keys?” Selina had asked the question before opening the door. The lighthearted expression she donned fell the second she got a look at Elsa standing on the other side of the door. It was rare for Elsa to show such emotions in front of her. Both of her arms quickly wrapped tightly around the girl, drawing her into a hug. “Hey, whenever you want you’re always welcome,” she cooed softly. The last thing Selina thought Elsa would want would to be attracting attention from others close by, so she ushered the girl into her room so that they could have a little privacy and closed the door behind them. “What happened to Mateo?” Selina wanted to put all of her attention on Elsa. When it came to her friends and people she cared about she gained a somewhat animalistic need to protect and support them. But there were a couple of things she needed to do to ensure she had that. The blonde closed her laptop and then walked over to her dresser where she pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a comfy sweater. “And why am I going to have to hit Luca on the back of his head?” she asked as she turned her attention to the Parisian princess, offering her the comfy clothes. 

[cassiekallas]

@selina-caspari

Sometimes things were hard. She hadn’t forgotten everything. She hadn’t forgotten motor functions or anything like that. She knew some people with amnesia had truly awful cases where they forgot how to talk. In the scale of forgetting, she supposed a missing year wasn’t so bad. But to her she felt like she was missing a lifetime. She didn’t want the attack back, she was too scared to face it. What she desperately wanted back was what she’d done. It was hard for her to be faced with people who said they knew her. Or pretending all the time that she could remember everything. Her mother would often speak of what they’d done, or her visit over Christmas. She had to read the room and take the best guess at what happened. The brunette was still trying to put some pieces together so she was sitting in the computer part of the lab, flicking through some pages of paparazzi about her. The school computers were nice, but she wished she was on in her room. A lot of her stuff was still in boxes on it’s way to the school.

[selina-caspari]

Nothing in Selina’s life had ever been easy. Sure, she hadn’t been the easiest child to raise. Constantly going against her parents wishes because she didn’t agree with them could be considered devious behaviour, but she wasn’t just another sheep to be fenced into their premeditated thinking. The older she got though, the more she wished she could forget things. Whenever she closed her eyes she could still picture everything vividly as if it were actually happening to her in that moment. As much as she tried to pretend nothing happened during the day, it was still there just waiting to be let out. She just felt like if she ever consciously thought or talked about any of it she wouldn’t stop crying. Her idea of keeping her head above water was just to avoid everything and block phone calls from her mother or father. That day was the same. Selina penciled on her eye liner and mascara and made her way to the library. As tedious as it was still having to attend lessons at 21, Selina was forced to check out a “history of the crown” book. How they thought she would pay attention if she didn’t pay attention the first time they tried teaching her about it, she would never know. The only way to describe her features as she looked through the books was bored. Her fingertips trailed along the spine of the book section until she found the one she needed and went to sit over on one of the chairs by the computers. Nobody was really there, and honestly she didn’t blame them. Flipping the book open to the first page, Selina got about one sentence in before an agitation kicked in. The princess had never been much of a reader, she’d usually just focus on the pictures and make up her own story. Looking around the area again her eyes fell onto a brunette that she hadn’t seen before. Standing from her seat, Selina hugged the book to her chest as she walked behind the girl and noticed that she was looking up herself. “You know that phones have a search feature too,” she explained nonchalantly as she nodded towards the screen. 

[cassiekallas]

This had never been like Cassie, consuming gossip magazines and articles about herself. She wasn’t self important, and frankly whatever the press said wasn’t something she had any room to care about. Whether they were critiquing her outfits, reporting on her nights out or doing fluff pieces, she’d never paid much mind to her face plastered over sleazy magazines. It had never truly been of important to her. But now it was almost crucial. Or maybe not crucial but definitely of high importance. She needed to know what had happened to her in her memory gaps. The last year was just a blank, even some holidays from before that were empty. She couldn’t explain it, and it was driving her mad. She just needed to know, as long as nobody found out she’d be fine. The brunette was staring at the webpage trying desperately to remember being at the party but couldn’t seem to. She even remembered that dress, she had just finished unpacking it. But the party itself, or even memories of wearing the dress were blank. Maybe she could have been in her room, but honestly a part of her was worried someone would read her phone history and start questioning things. It wasn’t beyond her father to do something of the sort. Embarrassment flushed washed over Cassie’s face as she glanced back at the blonde. “Oh um, yeah I know. This isn’t actually what it looks like, kinda had a drunk night at this party and don’t really remember it all. Just trying to figure out what might have happened. And you know how royal parents are. Don’t want them to see the search history and question if my intake levels are a little too much,” it wasn’t the most smooth dismissal. She could have done better. On a short notice though it was the best she was coming up with. 

[selina-caspari]

There was something so alluring about reading magazines and articles on other royal families. It was probably because it was about people that she knew, people that she had actual references for. To be fair she had social media, she could easily keep track of everyone she knew through that. It was mainly about the ridiculous things that the authors added to the magazine articles that kept Selina flipping pages. Well, that and all of the pictures that they included. A lot included drunk and drug involved royals stumbling home with half of their clothing. Not that she’d ever admit it, but there was part of her that was flipping pages hoping she’d find something on the Moldovan prince. Or even something about her father messing up and people believing her when she talked about the abuse he did to her. Making herself at home, Selina swung one of the other wheeled chairs around so that she could make herself comfortable. The blonde didn’t even question the brunette’s reasoning. It wasn’t like she was completely innocent and able to recall all of the parties that she had actually been to. Her blue hues flickered to the screen, noticing a couple of pictures of the girl with someone else. “Who is your handsome friend? Because I’ve flipped through countless magazines and have never seen his face.” By this point Selina had set her royal book aside and pushed her project out of her mind. 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie was glad there was no more questions about why exactly she was combing online articles about herself. While she was sure it wasn’t entirely uncommon here, she also didn’t want people to mistaken her for a typical princess who was obsessed with her own appearance in magazines and such. It had never been someone she was. But now it was one of the few clues in her life she could exploit without tipping anyone off to her memory loss. Maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they knew. But she didn’t need the extra pity. Nor she did want to risk being considered unfit for the throne. Her grandparents needed her. “Thanks,” Cassie said with a little smile. “You know, for not judging me,” she figured that the girl’s sitting down meant she might try helping. The brunette turned her eyes back to the photos and she noticed as well what the girl was pointing at. It wasn’t anyone she knew exactly. Maybe a college friend. “I’m not sure, guess he must have been a party buddy,” she dismissed it rather simply, once again, playing cover up.

[selina-caspari]

It wasn’t that uncommon to be searching about yourself at the estate. Some people were simply keeping track of the articles so they could explain themselves to their parents or someone else if anyone asked. Other times it was for amusement. Either way, Selina didn’t even think to question it with how common the reality of it happening was. “Please, if I looked that cute in a party outfit I’d look up myself too,” she shrugged her shoulders as she smiled at the girl. Leaning one elbow onto the computer table she leaned her cheek into her palm. Selina was genuinely curious about what might be found in some of the images and articles. And by the way the girl looked sitting in front of her, she looked like she needed some form of support in the matter. “I’m Selina by the way. I take it that a small party wasn’t exactly the reason for being sent to here of all places?” 

[cassiekallas]

Cassie hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends in her time at the estate. She’d only been there for about a week. Honestly she’d barely spoken to anyone if she was honest. Most of her days were spent trying to make heads or tails of the work she was doing. And trying to remember her life from the last year, not that it was easy to remember all those things. The brunette thought that maybe this girl could be her friend. “I think I still have that dress somewhere if you wanna borrow it sometime,” she noted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. “My name is Cassie,” she said easily. “Though, you probably guessed that from the articles,” the brunette noted, pointing at the bold caption. “No, I actually didn’t really have a lot of people expecting me to take me to be a Queen. I honestly thought my father would live forever, but he’s sick. And my grandmother wants me to try for the throne now. So, I have to learn everything I missed.”

[selina-caspari]

Considering Selina felt so out of touch with her life these days there were few things that made her feel like her old self. One of those things was with clothing. She had always used fashion and outfits as a way to make a statement and also to make herself feel cute. It could just be something fun. “Wait, really?” she questioned. Selina had only just met this princess and already she was offering something without even thinking twice about it. “A little trusting for a newbie.” Selina gave the brunette a side glance before her lips instantly tugged into a smile. “I like that about you.” With how often royals got involved in dirty deeds, it wasn’t unusual to see them disappear from time to time where they changed their name and moved across country to somewhere small where they wouldn’t be recognised. “Hey, for all I know your real name could be Harry Potter.” The blonde offered a shrug. “Cassie is a nice name though. At least they didn’t burden you with a name like Karen or something.” So many royals lied and played up their lives to make it seem better than it really was. As much as she liked to believe the best in people, it still kind of surprised her when people were so honest on first meeting. Cassie genuinely seemed like a girl that Selina could get along well with. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. There’s always plenty of help around the estate though.” 

[cassiekallas]

A dress was of no consequence to her if she was honest. She doubted the material held the magical ability to bring back her lost memories nor did it host any special ideals or a particular meaning. It had been an order from a designer. He was small time and trying to break into the royal world. So Cassie had met with him and paid him to design the dress. From what she heard he had risen and met his goal to start dressing royals all over the world. She was honestly just glad to have helped someone’s dream come true. Perhaps seeing it on another royal would simply further his career. When the blonde pointed out she was trusting, for just a second she worried that perhaps that was a bad thing. But the smile and affirmation that it was a likable trait quickly calmed the worry she had messed up. “For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that was a bad thing. I’m not sure exactly how to royal,” the brunette said with a little chuckle. “Besides it is just a dress, it would look fantastic on you anyway,” she said cheerfully. Selina had a point about the name though. Even with her low exposure to royals she had been dealing with kids who were living rich and lavish lives. It wasn’t uncommon to change names and personalities and run away for a while either. “That or Agnes. It would truly be a tragedy from then on,” she said with a laugh echoing from her lips. Cassie didn’t usually hold back. She didn’t mind keeping a few secrets but her dad’s illness was all over the tabloids. No point in covering it up. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes,” it wasn’t a total lie. The idea of her dad dying didn’t sit well with her. But at the same time it was a different kind of sadness. After all she wasn’t even sure she knew the man. “Well, I still feel to a degree like people expect me to already know everything to be honest. It’s definitely not easy. But I’ll probably get the hang of it soon. Do you like it here? Any secrets of the trade I should know about. Hideaways, secret societies. How about teachers?” The assault of curiosity came as she wondered about what life would be like for the next few months. At least now she had someone to ask questions.

[selina-caspari]

The human world as a whole could be dark a twisted. Add into it royals fighting with each other over medial things and the way they like to control everything, people who are too trusting could be swallowed whole. It was refreshing to see such a thing from someone at the estate. "It's refreshing. You don't see a lot of it from royals," she explained as she tapped her fingertips against the edge of the computer table. A thought crossed the Swiss girl's mind. More of an idea that got her excited. Sitting up more in her chair, she tilted her head to look at Cassie. "What if you retraced your steps? Not literally since we clearly aren't in a place to be jetting off to wherever those pictures were taken. But we could get dressed up, go out to the town and follow the digital footprint around to things you did that night to see if that helps?" It might not have been the best idea, but she was trying. She couldn't help but feel somewhat protective over the girl despite only knowing her for less than an hour. An echo of laughter fell from her lips as she gave a shake of her head. The way the girl was asking questions was like an excited puppy that needed answers right that second. "It's not the worst place in the world," she answered honestly. Being in her own home was hell compared to the estate. At least that was Selina's experience. "There's a cabin by the lake. It's a great escape if you ever feel like you have no control. It takes a while for them to realize that you're gone. As for teachers, I don't really pay attention to their actual names. But avoid dark unibrow and former ice skater because they will burden you for looking at them the wrong way."