~ Fox's Hideout ~

This is an idea I intended to do something about until I tried to design the characters, failed spectacularly, was mad about it and eventually thought I would put in the back of my mind until I found the motivation/inspiration to work on it again. Every now and then I poke it with a stick to see if I get a reaction but I don't think it likes me a lot right now. Either way one day I'll steel myself and brave Character Design again. Because just writing it out is not an option, obviously. And really, it's not an option, if only because I have such a clear vision of what I would want the experience to be that I stubborly cling to it even when I haven't made any progress. It's the principle.

The idea I had is as follows:

A woman breaks up with a long term partner and goes back to stay at her parent's house for a while. As she's getting ready to move to a new place, she finds a box of her old childhood stuff. Struck with nostalgia, she decides to take it with her. As she settles into her new home, the box once again catches her eye. There's a bunch of toys, magazines and knicknacks that survived the passage of time. What catches her eye, though, is a worn hardcover book. It's a fantasy novel she had read in her tween years about a brave heroine, an endangered kingdom and a perilous journey.

Although it wasn't a particularly revolutionary plot, something about it had hooked her younger self. She had often fantasized about having romantic escapades with the strong, brave and chivalrous female protagonist. She remembers the warm feeling of waiting for that kind of theatrical romance to come. She wondered briefly if such a feeling would find her again.

Then, she gets isekai'd in her sleep. Or maybe it's just a long magic dream.

She wakes up in the world of the novel, meets the cast and it goes how you would expect it to, since it's a dating sim we're talking about.

And then the cast, entirely self indulgent archetypes mashed together. Maybe that's why I can't draw them. Anyway a list going from most thought out to least thought out.

• The player, of course.
• The protagonist (of the book). She's mature, reliable, strong, beautiful. I don't know what to say, just excellent wife material, I love her. She's a knight-warrior-whatever kind of person for the royalty of the Kingdom. She's the first to meet the player and is surprisingly OK with vague explanations of coming from another world. She takes her along to find someone who can send her back home, like a magic uber. MC is just kind of embarassed knowing how many times her 12 year old self thought about kissing her. Nothing that can't be fixed with a few near-death experiences. I imagine this character looking like she's in her late 30s or early 40s. That is important. To me.
• Pirate! I never really settled on a gender for this one, so they might as well be genderless. They're kind of an antihero, morally grey, weird relationship with the protagonist. Doesn't really understand that the player is quite literally from another world at first and thinks it's some kind of roleplay. Captain of the ship! Although they don't want to be. They'd much rather leave that to their younger brother, who is a brilliant strategist and navigator. But they have a much more naturally commanding presence, so the crew would rather listen to them instead.
• The younger brother. Second in command, if only he didn't seem like such a goof, he'd have been recognized as a leader ages ago, probably. I envision him as having a golder retriver kind of personality, mixed in with some hidden genius. He gets along with the player well enough, as he doesn't sense any kind of threat from them. From a young age, he's always had a knack for planning ahead, reading other people and getting away with a lot of things. Maybe if he looked more dangerous, people would want to obey him more?
• Royal archivist. Some kind of magic wielder (The "magic uber"). Bookworm, scholarly type of character. Wears glasses. Also important. He's all up in the player's business the second he's told she's from another world, thoroughly invested in finding a way to send her back as a way to research the way she got transported there in the first place. It's all in the name of knowledge!
• Forest,, entity ? Very vague in my mind. Shapeshifting abilities most likely incompatible with a traditional visual novel static sprite format but that is future me's problem I can just daydream. Would be funny if it was a recolor of the player's sprite or something.
• Noblewoman from a foreign land. Soft spoken, kind hearted and crafty. Has some Serious Superiority Complex issues she's gonna have to work on, but means well overall and is curious to hear about the player's world.
• Tavern worker. Deceptively sweet looking. Seems a bit mysterious, like she's always plotting something. Very meticulous and maybe a bit of a clean freak. I don't know what she might think of the player.
• Blacksmith. Secretly a werewolf. Super gentle otherwise. Kind of a goof, kind of beefy. Likes good wine.

Ok so there's this character (We shall Call him PP) that committed crimes and was sentenced to die but PP doesn't want that, obviously. So, someone or something (idk, a demon, an Entity, whatever serves this purpose) offered to put a curse on PP instead. PP can survive live, at the cost of inmortality. If PP ever wants to die, the only choice is to fall in love first. Very self indulgent.

I like stories about romantic love being extremely inconveniencing, I think it's the awesomest. Anyway, THAT person will have to kill PP, there's no way around it. With their own hands otherwise it doesn't work. Fine print and all that. So PP goes about life carelessly, almost self destructively. Doing this and that, a bit of a morally grey character honestly. Because if I had the certainty that I won't ever face death as a consequence of my actions I would grow numb about it and start doing unhinged shit, personally. One time PP meets someone with a vendetta against PP specifically (maybe I'm pulling a Hotel Transilvania 4 here, but it's important that PP is the target Specifically).

And at some point they fall in love. And PP just lets the other one have a go at it at first bc they can't die so, whatever. Like "haha noo don't thrust your knife through my chest that tingles". But since PP is in love with them now that is verrrrry risky. And then it's like "bro (gender neutral) do you still want to kill me bro (gender neutral) what if you didn't haha what if you didn't actually." And the other might or might not still want to kill PP at that point idk. Maybe not.

But the thing is, maybe they SHOULD? Bc this is the first time in a whileeee that PP has had Feelings and Emotions and that's probably very precious but then if PP keeps being unkillable then The Grief will come, eventually. And THAT'S scary. so "haha what if you kill me actually what if you DO kill me so I don't have to grieve you but you can grieve me because you're mortal and you're not THAT attached, you wanted to kill me!! you'll get over it right? right??? I'll die and you'll die eventually and my feeling will be buried with you and that will be the end of it." Completely normal behavior.

This kinda reads like something I would've come up with at 15 but if I'm being real, my tastes in fiction have not developed that much since. Putting that aside, I'm hoping I can do something with this, it's not my most personal story, but it's definitely one that sparks joy. I think the only reason why I haven't done anything with it is because I got super fixated on another pair of my OCs with a similar-ish dynamic right around the same time so they kinda took over. Funny how that works.