Apparently I'm all about pairs right now. That's okay though. These two characters and the next three are not from a current universe. I actually just created them yesterday. This is for a story that's basically The Prince and The Pauper - as girls of course, but with a big twist. They don't just switch roles, they switch times. There's also a bit of Prisoner of Zenda going on, some upside down love plots and lots of twisty plot points. Basically Princess Catherine switches places and times with Kathrina with the help of a kindly old wizard who turns out to be anything but - which they find out when he won't reverse the spell and send them back to their own times. It includes a lost kingdom, a terrible prophesy, a handsome and charming prince who turns out to be a total sexist jackass, a stuffy and easily annoyed royal bodygaurd who's one of the most intelligent men in the kingdom, and an irrisistible, gorgeous modern man who's perfectly manly, perfectly sweet, and perfectly gay. The Prince and the Pauper will never be the same. Can you tell I'm having fun with this? I may have to work on this next year for NaNoWriMo.
Day 18 - Princess Catherine
Princess Catherine is the youngest child and only daughter of the King and Queen of Acmara, an island kingdom far off the coasts of Ireland. The island sits on the center of where three Ley Lines intersect and the island is said to be full of strange magic. That might have been true once, but only ancient ruins remain by Catherine’s time and the old magic is long forgotten except by an old hermit wizard that befriends the princess and tells her stories of a magical world far different from their day.
When she learns that her parents are trying to marry her off to a prince from a distant kingdom, she defies them and refuses, running to her friend for help. He convinces her that she must find a look alike to take her place if she is to have any freedom. He finds one for her in the Land Across Time and they convince the young woman to trade places with Catherine, promising her wealth, royalty, and marriage to a handsome prince. Catherine becomes a college student in 2011 and Kathrina becomes a princess of a legendary kingdom in 1511.
At first Catherine seems spirited and feisty, enjoying life and curious about the magical world. But once she lands in the future we see her as she really is – a spoiled selfish brat who is used to being coddled and having her own way. At first she goes crazy with freedom – cutting and dying her hair, spending all Kathrina’s money without realizing how limited it is. Kathrina doesn’t really have friends and the one or two she does have, Catherine disregards as commoners.
She is forced to take care of herself in a world that becomes less exciting every minute she stays there. But when she tries to return home to take back her rightful place she finds the old wizard isn’t so kind and won’t let her go home.
Day 19 - Kathrina Baker
Kathrina Baker is a brilliant but shy seventeen year old who’s intelligence and determination landed her with a full scholarship and early admission to a prestigious college. But her freshman year is turning out to be a little overwhelming and she hides herself is fairy tales, romances, and fantastical legends. One day she’s browsing through an old, half-hidden used bookstore and the storekeeper helps her find an interesting old book about the legend of Acmara, the Lost Kingdom.
The book changes her life and within days she is contacted by an old wizard and a princess who looks just like her offers to trade places with her, sending her back into the romantic times of 16th century where she gets to be a wealthy princess and marry a handsome prince. To Kathrina it’s a dream come true.
Of course once she gets there the realities quickly set in with no modern convinces like electricity and indoor plumbing. The prince is very handsome and charming at first, but she quickly realizes that he’s actually rather vain and selfish, and that women have no voice in 1511. Her intelligence, which has always been her saving grace is worthless in a woman and her future husband insists she “stop thinking” when they get married. Men think, women breed. Men protect women and women take care of men. Once she realizes how miserable her life would be if she stayed there and got married, she tries to get Catherine to switch back, but Catherine is having too much fun to leave the future.
With no hope of returning she decides to make the best of things and ends up discovering the most intelligent person is actually her bodyguard, Jasper Brown. He figures out she isn’t Catherine very quickly and helps her navigate the through the deceptions and dangers of life at a royal court. He becomes her best friend, they respect each other, and actually start to fall in love (of course). In the end she has to fight to save the kingdom she’s actually started to like from disappearing into the mists of time and becoming forever lost.
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