The Beast in the Castle (WIP 09.25.16)

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Getting back to the game, though… I seriously love how this game is going to far. I’m always a sucker for fairytale retellings, and this one captures the ‘fairytale’ atmosphere perfectly - and I love how much autonomy we get in deciding how our mc feels and reacts to things. Plus the Beast and the Sorcerer are really intriguing. :grin:

And since you were wanting summeries of how our mcs reacted to things:

[details=Bella] My Beauty (I call her Bella because I’ve also played her through another WIP - beleive it or not I wasn’t thinking of Beauty and the Beast at all when I named her!) is a charismatic charmer with a wanderlust and a liking for the beautiful things in life. She loved the gorgeous things at every turn in her old life, from the decor to the balls, and she relished the dance of polictics and charms that came with it. She misses that life dearly. However, her new job as a hunter has given her the chance to explore the world around her in a way she never thought she could, so she has quite mixed feelings about returning to a life of glamour again.

She loves her family, and can’t bring herself to blame any of them for the way they reacted to their newfound poverty - not even her father, who arguably is to blame for putting them there. She took to her new role as caretaker of the family well enough, enjoying her new occupation as a hunter and finding a new use for her social charms in convincing her sisters to get work done. However, despite how much she loves them she tends to think of herself first, making her quite selfish at times. Her family was more of an afterthought when she was presented with an offer to trap boar in the mountains, with her first thought being how much more of the world she would get to see.

But that was nothing, nothing compared to when a Beast and a Sorcerer came knocking at her door. She barely felt like she had time to think when her father came back woth nothing but tears and a rose, like she was trapped in a whirlwind with no time to react - until the Beast entered the room and time stood still. It was magnificent, the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. She was dimly aware of how terrified she should be, of a creature that just entered her house that could have her for breakfast if it so pleased, but all she could think was that this was a dangerous, beautiful mystery in a way that her old life and the forest had never been. And then the Sorcerer asked it a question and it looked at her. She was breathless, asking it what it meant, when it bowed as if in apology - of what?

It was that thought that brought her back to the very real danger she was in. But when the Sorcerer asked her to come with them, her fear was still dwarfed by a curiosity. She knew she couldn’t just walk away from the biggest mystery she’d ever seen - she had to know more about the Sorcerer who asked a Beast to pick a girl to steal, and the Beast with a fox’s face but eyes with more depth than she’d ever seen. So she said yes in a heartbeat. The next thing she knew, life was a wirlwind again until the Sorcerer’s eyes flashed and everything faded to black.[/details]

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I am in love with this game already! Please, please keep updating. Beauty and The Beast is one of my fav disney movies and I love the fact that “The Beast” in this WIP is more like an animal. :smiley:

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Wow! That prologue! :heart_eyes:

I love this story already! Please keep up your wonderful writing! You’ve got amazing style and I just adore how this tale is uniquely spun. I’m a sucker for a retold fairy tale. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Washington State is probably full of wild and untamed beasts with no social skills, even if they don’t live castles (though I wouldn’t rule out a mansion or two). :wink:

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Ooooh, I like this Belle. She sounds elegant. And curious?

@Soniadora I figured that if I was going to use ‘beast’ metaphorically than I might as well do it straight, too.

Plus I have a weird thing for silent romances haha. I think it comes from my childhood love of The Little Mermaid. Hmmmmm… that would be a fun game.

I’ll start writing for this again soon. I tried to do CS Comp but I’ve been working too much overtime to finish… :weary:

@TheFairyOfManyNames You’re so sweet! I’m actually looking back and not liking what I wrote (why am I like this?) so this was nice. :two_hearts:

Oh, trust me, there are…

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I just noticed you were looking for summaries about our character reactions! I should replay and create a summary of my MC’s experience in the prologue!

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Yes, please do if you’re able! I keep them in mind when I write my choices.

Plus I just like to read them. :smirk:

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My Belle is the mellow sort.
Being the middle child, she’s gotten used to being the last in everything. Doesn’t complain, doesn’t make a fuss, just goes with the flow. Not like she could make a difference anyway, so why feel bad about you can’t change? Having the family get thrown out on the streets just solidified her apathy and unwillingness to try, or feel, anything.

Family becomes destitute? Oh well, she didn’t really earn that, so it’d be unreasonable to expect to keep it.
Useless siblings are all the food? Eh, pretty typical. Wasn’t expecting much more than that.
Boss hitting on me? Eh, I could do worse. Plus now I can probably count on getting a raise.
Father going away on a trip? I’d really rather you didn’t. No offense, but I kind of have zero faith in your ability to do anything other than make things worse. Please, don’t bother getting me anything, it’s okay.

Strange goat/bear monster and a wizard barge into my home telling me that my screw-up father accidently sold me to them and I’ll have to live in their castle now, forever?
Well…it’s not ideal. But really, what was I expecting from a prologue? Honestly this is more my fault than anyone’s for having the poor foresight to avoid being in a prologue, nothing good ever happens in those. Besides, nothing I can do about it, so I’m probably better off just not resisting. Who knows, maybe this will be an improvement. Or not. I’m fine either way. I won’t complain. Just go with the flow…

So yeah, she’s kinda just done with everything and has no urge to do anything. She’s not happy, not sad. Just…eh.
At the moment I’m waiting for something really awful to happen, for her to finally go “I’m…actually, no! I’m not okay! This is bullshit!” That’ll probably be in the climax, after some character development with beast teaches her to have a bit more agency in her life, and maybe actually emote every now and then.

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And here she is! My Belle, Titania!!!

_Titania’s Story So Far! _[details=Summary]My Belle, Titania(Tania for short. I blame my fairy fascination. Lol), is a sweet, slightly bossy, and curious young lady. She has risen to the challenge of her family falling from their previous life of luxury. Tania enjoys what she earns through her hard work and could care less about her previous life. She doesn’t miss it at all. The fact her father is in bad shape has made Tania the caretaker of the family in a way. She looks out for her father though she tends to be a tad bossy when dealing with him. Despite all he’s done, Tania doesn’t resent him for all the family’s misfortune. He is a risk-taker and she knows that she can’t change him. When dealing with her sisters, Tania tries to approach them with very differently. She sort of soft on Sina, making the crybaby laugh in order to put her in a better mood. With Yiana, Tania has learned that best way to deal with her is to give the spoiled sister a bunch of reasons, some a little terrifying, to light a fire under her.

When he leaves for his two week venture to try and get their previous way of life back, he offers to bring back souvenirs for his daughters. And Tania, being the hard working cinnamon roll that she is, turns down his offer, not wanting for anything she doesn’t earn herself.

So Tania, being the only other breadwinner in the family, works as a seamstress. Or used to. The poor girl is basically fired. The upside is that she is given the opportunity to work for a caravan. But since Tania is too worried about her sisters, she just can’t up and leave them alone. Even if it was to provide the family with income. And when her father returns home with the Sorcerer and a snowy Beast on his tail, her sisters basically freak out while Tania is fascinated. Being naturally curious about strange things, she assumes the Beast is intelligent. After all, with such interesting characters, why wouldn’t Tania jump at the chance to go? Her father returned and she volunteers to go with the fascinating group. Her curiosity basically overrules her common sense which should be screaming “Tania!!! RUN!!!”.

And then she wakes up in a strange place… How will Titania’s story end? Cliffhanger~![/details]

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If the dictionary had a picture under phlegmatic, your version of Belle would be a good choice. Whereas mine probably has the looks and strength of a Brienne combined with the temperament of Arya.
In any case she loves being a hunter and wouldn’t have much use for a pretty-boy “husband”, she also wouldn’t like having to live in a palace/castle wear silly dresses and act “ladylike” while doing pointless needlework ever again.
The main goal for my mc would be to retain her agency in life, being able to provide for herself and having genuine, meaningful accomplishments based on her own skills and merits, instead of just having to look and act “ladylike” in order to please some prettyboy wussies.

That said if she could provide her family with a better income, or better yet if her sisters start to really contribute she might have more “career” options. She could take her hunting to the next level, possibly including bounty hunting or she could try to join the army as an archer/scout.

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I don’t get it. The beast is a male right? So what can be different? It’s the same story right?

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I think the beast can be male, female or non-binary

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^^^ Truth.

The fairytale is just a setting for a bigger story. If you’re wondering what that would entail, I can give you a rundown?

There are three people who you’ll meet at the Sorcerer’s castle. There’s the Sorcerer, the beast, and the Lady in the Water. Long, long ago, they did something terrible to one another, and since then they’ve been forced to live with the consequences… and each other. As Beauty, you unravel what happened all those years ago by exploring the castle and speaking to its occupants. You can try and resolve the conflict in your own way and, like the very first line in the game suggests, find out who’s really the beast.

Of course, that’s just one path. You can also try and make everything worse! :kissing_heart:

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Or do nothing but try to escape like my mc is currently planning. She considers herself to be a prisoner first and foremost and according to her it is the duty of any unjustly imprisoned individual to escape.

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Don’t forget to burn the castle to the ground with the three of them trapped inside on your way out :wink:

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My mc is not actually that bloodthirsty, unless they’re actually going to physically abuse or torture her, she just wants her freedom back and doesn’t care much what they do.

If she’s really unable to escape without being recaptured a number of times she might out of necessity become more open to helping them but only on the condition they let her go after as she would have no interest whatsoever in becoming some nobleman’s prissy and “delicate” kept wife or a sorcerer’s plaything and she isn’t bi or lesbian.

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I did the demo again and found an issue when I tried to save:

It’s not a huge problem right now, but will you please look into it when you’re writing the next part?

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got this too when i played

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I’ll fix the save spot in the update.

It’s slow going, but it is going. Sometimes I feel like the earth’s crust moves faster than I write this fucking game…

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This looks so promising. I’ve recently come to like Beauty and the Beast very much, so I’m excited to see this as a CoG. I liked the choices, too - I felt they were really helping to get character across! :grinning: