Writing Game using an Anime Tropes writing deck & a story about a cat princess

Hey Everyone! 

I really like writing short stories, and I've been looking for more excuses to write them more frequently. As soon as I saw the"Premise Party" writing decks in the dealer room at Holiday Matsuri a few years ago I was so intrigued, and regretted not picking up a deck before the room had closed. Ever since, I've been wanting to give them a try. So when I saw them vending at Megacon I knew I couldn't let the chance pass me by again! They come in a few different themes, and after debating for a while I decided to go for the "Anime Tropes" set! I've been so excited to try these out that I thought I'd turn my first experience into a writing challenge and invite you to join in the fun.

There are three types of cards in each deck. Cards filled with possible protagonists. Cards filled with conflicts, and cards filled with some sort of outcome. I shuffled up the deck and drew my cards! Here's what I ended up with. 

A king's youngest child is cursed into the form of an animal, and learns to live for themselves.

Here's how I got along over on my vlog, 

I had fun! I had a few too many breaks and my story ended up being double the word count goal I had set.  But I cannot wait to try this out again, and am even thinking about making it a weekly thing. 

You can pick up a writing deck for yourself over on Hitodama Craft's storenvy, they are $15 a piece and the printing and design is really high quality. 

Now as promised, here is the unedited short story, typos, plot holes and all, hope you enjoy it, and please tweet your creations at me @MrsPaigeLavoie on Twitter  I can't wait to see! 

        "Despite being extraordinary. I’ve always been the most ordinary of all of my brothers and sisters in line for the throne. Drusella can sing with a voice more beautiful than a dove, with her twin Alexander following her flawlessly on the piano. Arthur is charismatic charming his many suitors from neighboring kingdoms with just a wink and a bow. And Emilie a brilliant swordsman.  

My only talent is a worthless one.

I turn into a cat.

Which might sound like an impressive skill is I could control it. But unfortunately, it’s instinct based. We first discovered it when I was nothing but a toddler, and The King and Queen of Aristacllo dined with us, and tmy parents had the embarrassment of their daughter transforming right before their eyes to chase a mouse who had gotten into the castle.

It didn’t help that when I caught it, I proudly placed it on the visiting Queens dinner plate.

They said it was a curse. but no sorcerer bore of any ill will- and not even a slight scent of magic lingered on me- Still...My childhood was a never ending list of witches and doctors who each came with a new and insightful potion for me to drink.

    None of them worked. And at the age of sixteen, they still haven’t given up hope…But I have, and I’ve accepted that I’ll always be hated by them.No matter how big they smile at me. No matter how pleasant their greetings. I know they must despise me. For the way I scratched up all of the furniture in the parlor when I was trying to take a nap, for the way I After all, if they didn’t- why would they insist on trying to change me? To fix me.

Because I’m more of a house pet than a royal.

              “Katherine! Come on!” Emilie voice rang through my head, snapping me if just for a moument out of my melancholy. She smiled brightly, her dusty rose colored hair hanging long past her shoulders. She was the closed to my age, being two years older than I, and always tried to make an effort.

              “The dress maker is in Drusella’s room. Mother’s trying to gather us all to decide on our gowns for the ball.”

              I couldn’t help but scoff, “Wouldn’t you prefer the blacksmith?” I asked. Emilie wasn’t one to wear long flowing gowns, often dressing more like a knight than a princess.

              “Even the strongest knight might own a frilly garment or two.” She laughed, taking me by the shoulder, and leading me down the hallway, with a grip just strong enough to force me to follow. It was strange… I felt both mad at her for making me go, and yet happy she was taking me with her. As unwanted as I felt I must be by my family, I still wanted to be around them.

I just didn’t want them to know it.

              The room was overflowing with lush looking fabrics of silk, brocade and velvet. I imagined what it would feel like tearing against my claws, and had to take a deep breath. I would not transform! Not in front of everyone! Carefully I walked in to the mock-delight of my sisters and mother. They wanted to see me in a cloud of lilac fabric, light and flowy “With a crown of flowers to cover up your ears-“ My mother suggested.

“What if I don’t want to cover them…” I snapped

“Katherine-“

“No! Why should I even go to the ball- What if I saw a bird though the window and my hunter insticts went wild? What if I am yet again reduced to a pile of fluff buried in this fine fabric. No… I won’t go. Not this time…”

“But Darling” My mother began “You never ever go, you never let yourself have any fun…Your father and I think-”

Ignoring her words, I studied her face, unable to figure out why she looked so concerned, which filled me with confusion. Why should she care? All I’d ever done was cause trouble.

I wanted to get away.

I didn’t want to be apart of the royal family anymore.

So I ran.

Out of the bedroom, Out of the palace, Far away from anywhere my feet had ever taken me. I could feel the fabric falling off my my body. And I pounced through away from the castle gaurds and towards the village. Not sure where I wanted to go, and not really caring. I just wanted to get away, once and for all.

Away from the shame, the smiles, but mostly I wanted to run from the one thing that would follow me no matter where I tried to hide. I wanted to run from myself.

              The village was dirtier than I thought it would be. Not the people- but the place. Little pockets of dust formed flouted up into tiny puffs each time my paws hit the ground. And unlike the castle, it was loud. Merchants shouted sometimes at potential customers, sometimes at each other. And the new sights and sounds left me feeling dazed. I stalked around like a stray careful not to get too close to anyone and before I knew it, the sun was setting, and the air began to grow cold.

              I wondered if I should go home. I stopped, looking towards the castle. I wondered if anyone was looking for me. I hadn’t seen anyone in town.

              “Hey Kitty! Are you lost?” A voice that sounded high pitched yet kind filled my ears and before I could think to react I was being scooped up in her arms. “Aww! I think I saw you scrounging around earlier you must be hungry.”

…scourging. I wasn’t ‘scrounging’ Princesses didn’t-

Before I could even finish my thought my stomach gave me away. Growling loudly, she carried me past a few of the stands, until we reached the fish merchant, which I had avoided walking past during the day trying to avoid the pungent smell. I’d walked past so quickly I hadn’t even noticed the small house that stood behind it, with only a curtain for a door.

              “I’m home!” She shouted as she entered, kicking off the sandles by the doorway. “And I brought a guest for dinner”

“My my! What do we have a member of the royal family?” A man I assumed was her father joked.

She laughed, lifting me up in the air “Ah-huh! Princess Tabby Cat” She announced, spinning around with me in her arms. I felt like I was going to be sick. But there was something refreshing about her. She didn’t know who I was, she wasn’t worried about how she should act. To her, I was just some cat she picked up off the street.

She sat me down on the floor, and began to rummage around in looking for a plate. I could smell some kind of soup brewing, something with tomatoes and carrots. And I could here her parents proudly talking about bartering their fish for the ingredients. It smelled good, and I could feel my mouth watering with every passing second.

“Here you go kitty!” The girl said, slamming down a plate with nothing but a raw fish, the stench filled my nose, and made me gag.

“Ah- come on just try it.” She urged, the more she looked at me, the more she seemed to grow concerned.

“What’s a matter are you sick?”

Her eyes where filled with so much sincerity I couldn’t bare it. Her mother called her away to their own table, and even as she ate her soup and bread, she starred over at me.

I looked at the fish, and then back at her, then at the fish again. The hungrier I got, the less repulsive it looked. I was a cat after all… I was supposed to like this kind of stuff.

I started with one cautious lick, then a bite, in the blink of an eye I had devoured the whole plate. And it was nothing like how I thought it would be.

              There was a small fire that I curled up by after dinner. The girl flopped down next to me, wrapping us both in a blanket. “My name’s Lena by the way, we’re going to be best friends.” She was so confident in her statement I could feel myself blushing, wondering when the last time I had never been so close to someone was.

              Once she had nodded off, I heard her parents, talking about how bad business had been. It seemed for some reason or another travelers had stopped coming into village. There where trolls guarding the bridges, roads covered in dust. The more they spoke, the more I realized something had to be done.

“Maybe we should send Lena away…” Her mother finally said. “She can make a decent wage as a house maid…”

“For who? That twat your sister works for?”

“It would be a secure job.”

“It would be miserable”

They argued in hushed tones until Lena began to stir, then promptly fell silent. Blowing out the fire, and going to sleep themselves.

              I snuck away from Lena’s arms, and found myself  slinking around the rest of the village. The blue skys in the daytime distracted from how run down it had become. Bounded up windows, dead trees, and stands merchants had let go to ruin, leaving and finding a better town.

              A pair of green eyes glaired at me in the darkness, and loud barking filled my ears. We had many dogs in the palace. Most of them payed me no mind. But there was different.

The dog that stood before me ready to pounce seemed…hungry.

I lunged out of the way, and began to run. Leaping onto railings, and rocks to try to get out of his line of sight, but he followed me mercilessly.

I needed to run- I needed to hide!

Thoughts began to flash through my mind quicker than I could process them. I had to fix the town.

I had to help Lena. I couldn’t let this dog stop me.

“transform” I thought

“transform” I thought again, closing my eyes tightly.

“TRANSFORM!”

My body began to grow, the hair retracting back into my skin, my paws stretching out into long graceful fingers, a light illuminating from around me.

The dog ran away with his tail between his legs. And I fell to the hard ground on my knees.

And I could feel soft rich fabric being draped around my shoulders. Emilie.

I looked up and saw her. Bags under her eyes, and a relieved expression.

“Ready to come home?”

I paused thoughtfully for a moment, looking around at the run down village… Our village.

“Yes… I think I’m ready.”

              My father was the most surprised surprised, when I his youngest child, who had never showed any interest in doing anything but hiding in my own room, strode into the throne room, asking-no demanding that we open up the ball to the townsfolk. Even inviting neighboring villages to join for a huge festival. But it didn’t take much convincing. And in the weeks before the ball, we spent our resources not only on the palace, but also helping to put the village back together.

              I still kept away…except at night when I’d transform, checking on things for myself, making sure there was progress being made.

When the night of the ball came, I wore the dress that looked like lavender clouds and walked shyly behind my other sisters as we where announced.

     My eyes searching through the crowd, feeling just as lost as I had in this crowd as I had in the village, until I felt a tap on the shoulder.

“Hey Kitty…” A familiar voice whispered in my ear, and I turned to see Lena, wearing a dress just as blue as her eyes. “Are you lost?” Her smile told me she knew… But it was impossible-

She reached out and touched my ears- The furry ears I decided I didn’t want to cover up tonight.

“So you really where a princess after all” She laughed

Shyly I held my hand out, and lead her onto the dance floor, standing a little taller than I had before, unable to hide my smile.

If the gift I had hated my whole life, had been the very treasure of a moment, then maybe changing into a cat wasn’t such a bad thing after all."

That was it! I think it turned out pretty cute, and I would love hear your thoughts and see what stories the prompt lead you to!

Wishing you a weekend filled with wonderment and brunches <3
Paige