Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters
Hey, all! It's time for Hiei x Botan Week! Can you believe it's been four years? This year, I have a very fun story idea inspired by this new phone game (well new to me ^^') called Dress Up! Time Princess. As I began to play it, I thought, "Man, I could just imagine Botan playing this game." It's like playing interactive romance novels with historical-like plots, and some fantasy and mythology. Right up her alley ^_^ And thanks to the encouragement from the HxB community, I'm going for it. I hope you all enjoy!
Day 1: Desire/Hunger/Something You Want
Botan heaved a heavy sigh as she sat down on her blue, polyester couch. She let her schoolbag fall from her shoulder; it fell with an ungraceful thud. Exasperated, Botan threw herself so that she was sprawled out on the sofa; a leg dangled over the side. Thank God she was home!
It was just a regular day at the university, but Botan was mentally and physically wiped today. Walking the entire campus to get to all her classes was always tiring, especially when the classes were so close together timewise. If she could, she'd bring a bike onto campus to get around. Unfortunately, between classes, it was like a sea of sardines surrounded her, and people on bikes and skateboards crashed into her on the regular. She had a few bruises to prove it. That contributed to her physical exhaustion.
Her emotional and mental exhaustion stemmed from all her high-level science courses. It was the price she had to pay if she wanted to get into medical school. Botan always dreamed of becoming a doctor. She was compassionate, intelligent, and great under pressure. She was desperate to help people, especially those who couldn't afford proper healthcare. Her dream was to open her own clinic that would welcome anyone, no matter their social status. Of course, some of her advisors both admired and encouraged her while simultaneously warning her that she had a long, hard road ahead of her.
It didn't matter to Botan how hard it would be. She was determined, had a fire in her soul. Nothing would stop her from achieving her goals and making the world a better place. Nothing except for these days where she just wanted to lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling.
College wasn't always like this. When Botan first came to the university, she was excited and ready to get involved with everyone and everything. She signed up for so many clubs her first year, made so many friends that had now either moved on to new opportunities, like foreign exchange programs, or dropped out because they didn't put forth their best effort. Everyone Botan met her first year disappeared once she started spending her weekends studying.
How could they expect anything else? Botan was taking a full course load—Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Histology, Organic Chemistry, and Physics. That didn't even include her English class that she actually found more difficult. She was a creature of logic and facts. How the heck was she supposed to interpret some long, thirty-page, repetitive poem? Especially when her orgo exam was just around the corner.
Something needed to give, or Botan would find herself at the campus counselor, and not for professional reasons.
Botan took out her phone and saw a text from one of her pre-med buddies. She sighed when she realized it was an invitation to a campus mixer. Another reason Botan was so down, she'd recently gotten out of a pretty terrible relationship. Botan dated one of her lab partners who she had many classes with. They saw each other so much during the day, it just made sense to eat meals together, study together, and spend time together. Too much time. A suffocating amount, actually.
The guy wasn't so bad, but he was so overbearing. The moments they weren't together, Botan's ex texted her asking her where she was and what she was doing, and if she didn't answer, he'd show up. Botan knew it stemmed from childhood issues. The level of trust the guy had in others was next to non-existent. Botan understood trust issues. Her authoritarian father certainly contributed to hers. Still, her ex was too smothering, and she told him that she needed space. He said he understood, but truthfully he knew their relationship was over and avoided Botan like the plague. It was both freeing and saddening. Where she could now breathe, she no longer had a companion to share meals with, to laugh with over some ridiculous pun, or even binge watch TV shows on the various video apps he installed on her old PS3.
Sorry Hinageshi, Botan texted back. I need to stay in tonight. Classes were killer, and my physics exam is on Monday. KMN!
Hinageshi replied with a frowning emoji. Alright, Bo, I get it, her friend empathized, but even you need a break. I'm starting to see my pre-law friend more than you, and she lives off campus!
Botan chuckled. I'm sure Ayame is just as busy. I just…I haven't felt the same since…
For the first time, Botan couldn't even type her former lover's name. She realized that part of her isolation stemmed from the breakup. She should go out for a few hours, should be social. Instead, she deleted the message and said, I'll make it up to you. Promise!
I'll hold you to it! came back almost instantly.
Botan let the phone drop onto her chest and covered her eyes with her arm. She couldn't believe how much of a coward she was. The breakup happened two months ago! She needed to get over it, but it was just overload right now. What if he was there? What would she say to him if they ran into each other? Honestly, Botan didn't know. She wasn't strong enough to face him yet if he decided to finally approach her.
Pull yourself together, girl! she scolded herself. You are no coward.
Only she felt like she was, and it was so much easier to curl up in a ball and hide away than it was to get up, get dressed, and go out. Still, Botan needed to stop feeling sorry for herself. She forced herself to get up off the couch and headed to her bathroom for a shower. She was incredibly thankful she lived alone. At least that was one good thing her father had done for her.
About a half hour later, Botan came out of the bathroom sporting black yoga pants and a light pink tank top. She towel-dried her blue locks and grabbed a bottled water from the fridge. Evening was fast approaching, so Botan planned to heat up some leftover chili she made earlier in the week. Her fridge was fairly sparse. She'd need to go grocery shopping soon.
"Tomorrow's problem," she said out loud before she sighed again.
Seriously, what was wrong with her. Botan was always the outgoing, chipper type, and now she felt like she had a dark cloud that exuded around her. She really needed to get ahold of herself.
Screw the chili, she thought. There's a carton of cookie dough with my name on it.
Botan opened the freezer door and grabbed her medium-sized cup of cookie dough ice cream. She grabbed a spoon and then slammed the freezer door shut as she turned tail and headed back to the living room. Once seated, she tore open the lid and scooped a large spoonful of cream and stuck it in her mouth. She grabbed her phone and surfed through it while she sucked on the spoon, her eyes completely glued to the screen. If she couldn't go out, she'd destress by playing one of her mind-numbing games.
Well, not totally mind-numbing. She had her favorite coffee shop game where she had to memorize and prepare orders, mostly from memory, but there was a book she could check often, and they installed that new recipe feature. What she liked about the game was that it was like the world's most ridiculous soap opera. You had your regular girl become fashion designer assistant, her techie boyfriend turned husband and surprisingly decent soccer player, plus the girl's ex-fiancé who wasn't good at anything. There was also a goofy cop, an old ex-felon couple who were on and off again married, plus the construction worker who fell in love with the fashion designer and a brainiac who fell in love with an alternate version of the woman in advertising. And there were many, many more ridiculous stories than that!
But the game became more and more repetitive the further you went. As Botan wasn't one to spend her very limited funds on these games, she had to do everything the long, hard way. The later levels made you buy equipment for even more exorbitant amounts of money. It was bad enough a cup of coffee was only $76 when the new machine was over $30 million!
Still, the game passed the time, and Botan enjoyed looking at the different food items she could make. Why did game food always look so good? She sucked on another scoop of ice cream, and then chose to watch the ad for the daily spin.
Colorful pictures came up, and a beautiful princess appeared on the screen. The ad showed her needing to get ready for a meeting with her prince, and there was a theme to the story too. Of course, the ad showed an unsuccessful dress up, and the woman's prince dismissed her. The ad asked you to dress the princess appropriately to win the heart of the prince. Botan scoffed. What a completely ridiculous idea.
She closed out of the ad and continued serving her customers. An amusing thought occurred to Botan. Why was it so easy to remember these weird recipes, yet she couldn't remember the different isomers and the mechanisms to convert them in organic chem or the equations she needed to master physics? She didn't even want to think about histology class. So far, that was her worst subject.
A side game required another ad to play, so she bit the bullet and watch that one. It was that same dress up game. This time, something about the stupid advertisement caught her attention. The pictures flashed through images of different outfits, some classically princessy stuff, some colonial, some modern. This time, the ad gave you the option to dress a model while you waited for the time to pass. Bored, Botan selected different parts of the outfit, and she smiled. The princess character looked like she was ready to go to a ball…or a mixer.
When the ad ended, Botan ex-ed out of it and continued with the monotony. When it was time for her to get her daily crystals, she needed to watch another video. She was expecting it to be different, but it was still for that same game! Botan glared at the screen. Whoever made this game was really pushing this princess game. They must have a deal going on.
Botan was ready to end her gameplay, but she decided to open a bubble pop game instead. Playing these games helped her mind relax after forcing it to think all day. Sometimes she felt her field was too cerebral, and it stifled the creativity she used to possess.
As she finished the level, an advertisement played. Botan sighed. She wished this game worked like the coffee shop where you chose to watch commercials to get free stuff instead of them randomly assaulting you.
When the ad played, Botan's lavender eyes widened comically.
Help the princess get ready…
It was like the game was taunting her. Now, the character was a complete mess, and the game advertisement wanted you to select hairstyles, makeup, etc. Finally, Botan resigned herself to her fate. If the dang phone wanted her to play this game so badly, she would, just to get it to shut up. She had played dress up games in the past because she loved fashion and the colors. Deep down, she was a huge girly girl and loved to dress up. It was pretty ridiculous to do that in modern day aside from formal dances, weddings, and Halloween. Even dates didn't always require getting all dolled up. Maybe the game would be okay and fulfill Botan's inner princess. At least it would kill time.
The tutorial was pretty simple. Here's an outfit. Dress character. Make it match. Done!
Then it really took off. In this game, you had to buy storybooks, raise a kitty army to find materials to make clothing, and buy recipes. Normally, Botan would hate these kinds of games, because they required you use 'diamonds' to do it, which translated to actual cash. The developers of the games made it super easy, though, to get gems as long as you had patience and even had events and contests anyone could participate in easily. Many events gave immediate or almost immediate results. Botan smiled. That was actually kind of nice.
These devs really want people to have fun. Now, let's check out that library!
The first tutorial story to help you dip your toes in the game was actually a Pre-French Revolution story where your avatar was sucked into the storybook and actually became Queen Marie Antoinette. The goal was to prevent tragedy, solve mysteries, and win the affections of the king and other companions who could help you on your journey. You could choose events to increase their affection for you. Botan found herself drawn to Queen Marie's childhood friend who knew her when she was a mere princess in Austria.
Everything drew Botan in: the romance, the historical info, the fictional backstories, and the fact that her actual avatar knew Marie's fate and was desperately trying to be the queen France needed her to be instead of the aloof and reckless woman that once stood in her place. It was so fascinating, that Botan decided to look at the other books and see what else the game had to offer.
Botan's eyes alit with delight. Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, a mafia/reporter story set in the 1920s. This game wasn't just a dress up game. It was a series of interactive romance mystery novels, and Botan was completely enamored with it. It was better than reading a book because there was colors and activities. She'd been missing her novels lately since she had little desire to read a book after suffering twenty-to-forty-page chapters of scientific textbooks and journal articles. This was exactly what she needed to unwind!
Other than the intro story, Botan was given tickets to purchase one additional book for her start. She was torn between all of them, but one caught her eyes. The Dragon's Eye? Botan read in interest. I wonder what that one's about.
It looked different from the other stories, set more in a fantasy land rather than a historical or classical romance. Botan decided to choose that one. It looked exciting from the cover. There was a strange eye, a dark dragon, and the shadow of a swordsman. The woman clicked the icon for it, and the book downloaded rather quickly. She stopped her journey in France and changed her avatar so that she looked exactly like her real-life self—thanks to the various eye and hair color options. Then, she selected the story and immersed herself into this strange, new journey. She couldn't wait to see what she'd find.
A/N: And that's it for Day 1. Wasn't Botan's college experience relatable? XD I certainly felt like that a lot with my science courses back then and even now. If not for fanfiction and games, my mind would have gone flat by now… Anyways! I hope you liked Chapter 1! Tune in tomorrow to see the start of Princess Botan's journey. It's gonna be a trip!