Chiara Cappelletti

Aisling felt heat flushing on her face ever so slightly and she gave the other woman a sheepish smile,”Definitely not intentionally,” she agreed, folding her hands behind her back. Though at the other’s question, she immediately dropped them in her rush to reassure the her, “Oh, no no, not at all! It was totally on me…I’m so bad at paying attention to everything around me.”

“It’s okay I mean you weren’t doing anything wrong.” She said trying to reassure the other who looked a little jumpy still “Or were you? becasue if we have to start running just tell me, we can think of the alibi as we run.”

Hiroki didn’t mind the cold weather but even so he’d been advised against lingering outside for too long. Instead he opted for a visit to the greenhouse, a good compromise with it being half way between nature and the comfort of being inside. Being cooped up in the castle for too long was making him extra lethargic, all he seemed to do was nap or swim, once he almost did both at the same but some well timed water up his nose prevented that disaster pretty fast.

He casually strolled through the greenhouse, admiring the plants as he went, trying to remember their names but failing miserably. English was hard enough without adding Latin to the mix. As he sat down to bask in the atmosphere he noticed he wasn’t alone. He stood up again once they caught each other’s eye, on his face was the look of someone who’d been caught red handed doing something he shouldn’t have been. Too late now to bolt out of there to avoid socializing, he’d have to pretend he was a master in the art of small talk. “Hello, how are you?” Good start, not weird at all. Hiroki smiled, “here to admire the plants too?”

Chiara was happy to find out that there was a greenhouse, the grounds looked quite nice covered in show yes, but she also liked to be able to see actual plants, she wouldn’t say she knew a lot about them but she had always enjoyed spending the few times she was alone and doing nothing in the garden or having all kinds of plants in her room and apartment so as often as possible she would ventured there, it wasn’t often that she saw other people there so she smiled when she saw she wasn’t alone “Hi, I’m good and you?” She gave a nod “Yes, outside there is too much snow.”

It was the first time that Alexi had decided to take advantage of the castle amenities since he had started working there over a year ago and of course he would have to pay for it. It had been cold outside, something he was used to, but the pool was heated and taking a dip had sounded like such a great idea at the time…until he emerged and saw that his skin had turned blue after only being in for a minute or two. Clothes were hastily put back on before Alexi made his way into the halls of the castle, head swiveling in each direction to make sure no one was coming at the time. “How am I supposed to get this off?”

What even was it? How in the world-? Suddenly a face came to mind and the housekeeper grit his teeth together. “Pim!” As if the girl could hear him from wherever she was he let her name slip out in a frustrated growl. He was used to being on the receiving end of her pranks, but this was too far. Unfortunately, he had been so distracted by his skin color that he hadn’t noticed the person coming towards him in time to duck into an empty room. There he was, standing in the middle of the hall looking like a smurf and not knowing what to say. So, he decided to act as if nothing was happening. “Hello…is there anything I can get you?”

“Why are you blue?” she asked right away, she actually had been just passing through but when she saw a blue thing moving in her peripheral vision and she had to see what it was, soon enough she realised it was a person but now the mystery was why. 

Since arriving, Aisling had been doing anything to get her mind and body out and away from her phone. She couldn’t spend more time looking at the lights of the screen and knowing that there was only so much that she could do. So she had wandered the halls, looking at the various pieces, glancing over her shoulder furtively every time she would reach out to her fingers over something curiously. 

The approaching sound of footfalls startled her and she jumped, placing the object down and dropping her hands to her side, praying that she didn’t look too guilty. “I…I was just looking around, I wasn’t going to drop it or anything,” she stated, trying to give the other person a small smile. 

“I didn’t think you were going to break it” She said chuckling “Not intentionally at least” the other had jumped so much that Chiara wouldn’t have been surprised if she had dropped it. “Sorry for startling you,  I may have to make more noise as I go by?”

Axelle laughed softly and patted her back gently, “Yeah, I doubt that, but I’ll keep my door open in case you end up getting a stomachache.” Walking inside, Axelle went over and sat down on Chiara’s bed. “Why dont we do a mix of all three? I’m not the biggest fan of scary movies, but a little jump scare here and there is fun,” she smiles and takes off her shoes. “If you could pick any movie to watch from those categories, which one would you want to watch first?” 

“Hopefully it won’t happen but still is good to plan” She sat down next to her sister “We can watch something not very intense, I mean I don’t want to end up with nightmares either.” she thought for a little she could be rather indecicive sometimes. “Oh what about, Nightmare before Christmas, it has everything?”

She nodded, as her dog ran up to her, trying to jump on her and say hello. “Thank you. His name is Liam and he’s adorable-and also a flirt,” Lilliana teased with a smile. “You’re first time going? Then come on-I can show you all the hot spots in the village, including the chocolater-they have the best chocolates in the world.”

“Hello Liam how are you?” She asked the dog smiling widely “It is, I arrived not long ago and I figured it was time, I hear is very lovely.” And since it was snowing she was pretty sure it looked even more charming right now. “That would be great thank you! I really want to try the chocolate then”

“Oh, I’m sure you will. And if those feelings ever get too much, you have your siblings here. You can always go to them. If you don’t want that, then there’s always Rosa and me,” the blonde suggested, a small smile playing on her lips. “Bottom line is, you never have to feel alone, and there are plenty of people here who love you and would adore spending their time around you,” Bee continued to smile. “I would definitely say it’s along the line of the latter. I’ve met some great people, but it’s still this sort of I’ve just met you kind of thing. It’s not like they’re willing to talk to me about the deep and important things yet,” Bee’s shoulders traveled with a gentle shrug. “But I’m confident we’ll get there. Did you know someone invited me to sail on their boat?” she said excitedly. “Near a library,” she nodded. “Well, we’ll know the exact place if you take me there.”

“That’s is true, that surely will help in making things easier” Being around her siblings did improve everything by a lot, she was very close to them and she had missed them a lot during the time she was back home still and they were here. “Oh I see, but at least is that and hopefully soon enough you’ll know them much better and it will be nicer, I do have to get to know many people too, hopefully we don’t run into mean people.” she smiled “Really? that sounds fun, who was it and did you go?” She supposed it was some time ago because it was so cold out now, or maybe sailing on the cold was a thing in Russia, “I can try”

Imogen had learned a little too quickly just how much of a city slicker she turned into since she went on tour. Growing up - confined by the boundaries of her illness - she rarely left the castle back home in Brussels. She would study, teach herself chords on any instrument she could get her hands on. She was a damn near professional at keeping herself busy. But now? She was restless. Hours of solitude, leaving her so bored, she would trade about anything just to go to a dirty club and get hit on by strange fans. She wasn’t really dressed to go the village. Not like the place really had a dress code to uphold. She was merely at the entrance of the palace, about to bring her service dog out for one of her many daily runs. (She was just as bored as Imogen) But when the princess propositioned her, she mulled the idea over a few moments, eyes squinting as she processed if it was worth it. Who was she kidding? Of course it was. “Sure, why not?”

“Great, it will be much more fun going with someone.” Chiara liked being around people after all, she didn’t have a problem being on her own or anything but she just liked be with people. “Have you been there before? I have only heard that is very pretty and that’s it so really it will be a small adventure, maybe find a good bakery”

“Liam, baby no,” Lilliana cooed at her dog, who was near the entrance of the castle. She was on a walk when her golden retriever just ran off from her, after she stopped by the bakery to pick up some bread and her morning breakfast. How her dog ran all the way to the bakery she had no idea, but she was relieved that he was okay and safe. “We can’t go-” she started before she heard someone’s voice. She looked up and gave her a little smile before she nodded. “Sure-I was heading back there anyway,” she answered. 

Chiara hadn’t seen the dog before she had spoken and now that she had she smiled widely “Is that your dog? he’s lovely!” She gushed before looking at the other again and nodded “Great, its my first time going there, better to go with someone so I don’t get lost or if we do at least we won’t be very lonely.”

Cassandra was rather convinced that the best part of being stuck in Khatanga was the opportunity to be out in the gardens whenever the urge struck. And that urge struck almost daily. It was a nice reprieve from the stuffiness of her bedroom or the confined quiet of the library. it was beautiful at any point of the year and allowed her to fill her lungs with fresh air. After bundling up appropriate for the weather, Cassie made her way to the front of the palace to head out to the gardens when she heard the Italian princess. “I would love to,” she replied with a smile. “Please do not tell my guard I went without him.”

“I won’t, I promise...is there a guard that look after us specifically?” She asked after a moment “Because if there is I haven’t met mine and and so more reason to use this opportunity and just slip away!” Maybe it was wiser to take a guard with them? But she didn’t think going to the little village would be dangerous, she hadn’t been warned about it or anything of the sort “Well let’s get going.”

               " AT THE VERY LEAST i’d like for them to spit things out where i couldn’t see. “ she replied with a light snort. “ i have a sensitive heart. “ she finished with a dramatic sigh, as she flashed the raven haired italian a smile. “ and the palace doctor does happen to LIKE me —so i’d have the connections to help people. “ and liking was an understatement, she and william were… well whatever they were it was certainly much more than she imagined most people who lived here now were. “ they won’t be THRILLED that we’re in the kitchen but they don’t really have much of a choice. “ she explained with a roll of her shoulders. “ most of them won’t wait around for us to pull rank, because they know they’ll lose. “ which wasn’t exactly something aria was proud of doing but when it got the job done well who was she to pass the opportunity up? “ they’ll mix it up, and if you have SPECIAL dietary needs.. they’ll be good about cooking specific meals. “ now she had experience with that, being one of the few vegans in the palace the princess had been more of a handful for the chefs than most. “ at the very least they have respected my strict wishes to not look down at my dinner and finding out i ate BAMBI. “ now that? that would give her nightmares, a smile formed on her features at the mention of italian food. “ there’s a guard around here, an italian one — he made me vegan pizza once, i’m sure that if we pester him enough he’d make us a banquet. “ if anything to get her to shut up, it was the way her friendship with gio worked after all. “ oh please, let’s and this way i can show you all of the GREAT spots when you’re looking to get away from the crowd. i’ve memorized them all. “

“oh oh is good to have a doctor on our side.” she said laughing, the plans were to just try and cook something not poison anyone or have them be sick but if it were to happen, it was good to know the doctor would help “maybe we can also give him food...oh but what if he gets sick and then he won’t help plus it could hurt your friendship.”  she nodded “yes i suppose they can’t and we can promise them we won’t break anything or make...too much of a mess so they won’t have to worry about the state of the kitchen after we are done !” she hoped, she didn’t want to cause too much trouble to the people that worked here, yet she also thought they should be able to cook if they wanted to and so, well they were going to do it.

“Sure. There is sulking, annoying Paolo, terrifying Axie, no doubt throwing Rory in a pool, and I’m not telling you about the plan with you. I’m booked solid, but I’ll move things around.” An easy smirk matched hers and he bent, kissed her temple. “Ah, shipped away to keep us company. Aren’t you nice? Have you see the others?”

“Am I really that pale?” Katrien joked, wincing exaggeratedly. Under her dusting of freckles she was paler now than she’d ever been, thanks to the long winters here. “I’m sorry for scaring you, she added. "I know how creepy this place can get at night.” Of course, she usually wasn’t alone this late of night, outside of the castle walls- which didn’t help the creep factor.

“The locals in the village say it’s haunted. There’s this story about the bridge that I remember being told about last Halloween, and there’s something in the lake too, supposedly.” Katrien paused, and laughed lightly. “Sorry, I’m probably not helping, am I?”

“That, it is,” Bee chuckled. She had spent most of her life in Italy, where the weather was a lot more gentle than it was in Khatanga. To make matters worse in that department, Bee had happened to move there close to winter, which meant temperatures were dropping quickly, and the blonde didn’t feel, at all, prepared for the winter. “Maybe they are. But it probably won’t take too long until they miss you guys,” she pointed out. Coming from a boisterous family herself, she knew exactly what it could be like. “So far, Russia has been pretty good to me. I mean, it could have been better, but I suppose people don’t know me well enough yet. We’ll get there,” she reasoned as she lifted a few things and dusted a nearby cabinet. “But I haven’t arrived here that long ago either. About a month, I’d say. How about you? And where are you staying?”

“I at least hope so” she joked “i think i’ll be missing them somewhat sooner than they’ll miss me, especially since i was the last to come here.” she already missed Italy, usually when she travelled she didn’t get homsesick fast but maybe it was the who knows when i’ll go back thing that truly made her long for her homeland more than if she was just travelling. “have there been some issues? or is the getting used to other country and people?” she looked around “i actually may be a little lost, but i am staying near a library? i think? i’ll get there at some point.”

Axelle smiled and held up a bag of the sweets she had picked up for her. “You’re favorite sweets from town,” she replies and passes them over to her before pulling her into a hug. “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out and watch a couple of movies since today has been on the slow side?” she asks her. It was one of those odd days for Axelle where she ended up exhausting herself on reading, and didn’t feel like picking up a pencil or paint brush. 

♠ chiara ( @chiaracappelletti​ )

Madlena was quick to take the empty seat at the dining table adjacent to Chiara. Cup of coffee held in her grasp, she only bothered to turn to say, “morning,” once she was seated and there was a plate of food in front of her. A plain croissant due to her chocolate ban. But it was more than just a hello or pleasantries that Madlena wanted, but answers. Her fingertips tapped against the cup as she did her best to keep on topics that were neutral. How is your family doing here? Have you been to the village recently? Why did you pair those shoes with that shirt? But every answer would be ignored in favor of getting to the next question and the next until, “Why are you friends with Arianna now?” She didn’t mean to be so blunt in delivery but with the foot tapping under the table and refusal to eat as she questioned the Italian there was only so much waiting Madlena bothered with before cutting right to it.