Genre Bender Challenge: Enchanted Sleep

[Cammeh]

A Genre-Bender Challenge takes a common setting and sets it in a completely different and unconventional setting. Give it a try! The stranger the better!

The classic tale is of a beautiful princess beset by a magical curse that sends her into an enchanted sleep, and the only way to break the spell is with the kiss of a handsome prince or a true love. To prove themselves worthy, they must overcome great obstacles and challenges to reach their love. And now, it is your turn to rewrite this story.

But how will you write the story in another time, another place? What kind of sleep or stasis would it be? What causes it? How will you wake them? What challenges must be overcome? What kind of characters would you use?

Post your story here! Show your love for other genres!

 

[Juneberry]

The girl had been put to sleep not by magic- no, her story was much more simple. She'd been in a coma for no one knows how long- however somehow, her body never changed. She'd gone to sleep almost fifty years ago, during an experiment gone wrong. They were trying to find the components in the fountain of youth that made one stay young forever, but while she was kept young, she was not kept living. Now in a deep slumber, her sixteen year old body remained that way for fifty years. That is, until that person came along.

That person was her great nephew. He didn't know her, or even of her. However, when he'd gone to the lab to help the process of trying to find the still unknown components, he'd seen her for the first time. He put a hand to her forehead, finding her body was rather cold- almost like ice. As if he was sure of it, he opened her mouth and poured hot tea down her throat, forcing her to drink it. As he did so, the warmth seemed to spread throughout her body, and it was only moments later that her eyes opened for the first time in fifty years. The curse was that without the warmth from the constant motion of the fountain, the de-aging components couldn't be properly digested. Without the warmth, the body went into stasis. But with warmth, she was brought back to life.

After she was brought back, she had to relearn to walk, yes. Her body was rickety and low on nutrients. However, her great nephew helped her through it all, and eventually she was able to live and love like normal. She grew up alongside her young kin, and was happily able to live after that. They may not have perfected the fountain of youth as a permanent solution to aging and life...But they'd certainly gotten closer, and were certainly not as concerned. Science had done its job, and it was time to allow life to run its course properly. And for that girl, that young looking old woman...It was just the start of her future.

 

[RedWinter]

Oh what a wondrous day it is, New Years Day! People are kissing and shouting (probably not at the same time) and shooting off fireworks left and right. Everyone is celebrating the coming of 2034 and new hopes. A couple is partying like everyone else, and are trying to go for the galaxys world record of longest kiss. They are only three minuets in, and have to beat the record on one whole year. It is certainly an investment. They are having the entire thing recorded so when they do succeed, they will have proof and no one will be able to deny it. This is most definitely going to be an interesting year for them.

But what ever made them decide to peruse this huge undertaking? Well that makes us have to go back a year in the lovers story, back to 2033. Back in the stone age, the two lovers had just met and were beginning to warm up. Of course, as all love stories go, something bad had to happen. Little miss lover girl, Anmut, was at her part time job working as a cashier for the world wide business, SafeWalMeyer. She hated her job to no end. So some random punk decided to make it interesting, and ran in there with a stasis gun. He didn't even bother to do the whole 'put all the money in this bag or I shoot you' act. Nope, he just right up froze her and snatched up the whole register and ran; he'd figure out how to open up at home, well that's what he figured. He forgot about the anti theft disintegrater at the entrance. But now poor lover girl was trapped in stasis. Usually it wore off after an hour, but this one didn't. She was stuck in stasis for three weeks, and no one could fix it. The scientist working on the matter decided while they played with potions, they would throw her into a cryo station till the figured it out. It also saved her from starving from death or smelling bad.

Well after being absent for so long, lover boy Furst decided to check on Anmut. There she was, cold and stiff. Locked in a cryo chamber while in stasis. Her lips were blue and ice hung on her eye lashes. Frust, as a crazy love stuck idiot, decided to give her a little smooch when no one was looking. He opened the case and leaned in real close, then gave her a wet kiss on her frozen blue lips. The he left. A few hours after the fact sleepy and frozen Anmut crawled out of the case, shivering and confused. The scientists marveled at her recovery and all to claim in the success, all saying it was their formula that fixed her. Anmut did care in the least, she wanted to go home.

Frust was delighted at the news that his girly was okay, and rushed to meet her. He told her of the kiss and as an idiot, and a girl that had been frozen for the last mouth, they though it was the kiss that had magically fixed her. They couldn't consider that he had left the door open and she had thawed out, and the stasis field had worn off. Well even if it had been that, they wanted to celebrate right. And to celebrate, and have an excuse not to go to work, they decided to try and make a name for themselves.

So now here they are, kissing. They intend to kiss for a year and then some, with a video camera catching every moment. I think the monetary reward is what is really driving them, but I could be wrong.