SugarBearVT

Original concept art by @kanbiiru88 on Twitter

SugarBearVT Origin Story (WIP)

Streamer ‘SugarBearVT’ was born as the crown prince to a once prosperous kingdom. He was raised by a kind and loving family, but throughout his childhood, he knew no hardship, and his family spoiled him rotten. Before they knew what happened, he’d grown into an insufferable brat who would never be fit to rule.His father, the King, in a last-ditch effort to lead the prince towards redemption, issued an ultimatum: “You will no longer shirk your responsibilities; you will treat the castle staff with respect, and until you learn what it means to sit upon this throne, you will walk amongst the common people, lending aid and performing good deeds to earn their respect. Should you refuse, your title as heir to the throne will be revoked and entrusted to your brother.” To the selfish prince, these demands were unforgivable, and it sent him into a wild tantrum; he ran until he was red in the face. By the time he’d regained his composure, he was already stumbling around the dark forest neighboring his family’s castle.Something wasn’t right; his father had always warned him to stay out of the forest, for mystic forces beyond man’s comprehension dwelled within. The prince had always brushed these warnings off as nothing more than a fairy tale, but now he stood in the thick of it. Fog rolled in at an unnatural speed, and every tree bore down on him as if they were alive, until he could no longer tell up from down. There was only one clear path forward; it was as if he was being told where to go, and the deeper he went, the clearer his path became. Only it wasn’t clearer; it was brighter and brighter and brighter until it was blinding. The prince was afraid; he began to run at full speed, only to abruptly slam into a familiar wall...Lying flat on his back, clutching his face, the young prince looked up to see his family’s castle. There’s nothing like the fear of death to make you happy to be home, only the entrance wouldn’t budge. Thinking one of the servants must have locked him out by mistake, he pounded away on the door, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face.His head was spinning. The man who answered the door to his family’s ancestral home was a giant! A broad-shouldered man with an educated yet warm air about him named Charles, he claimed to be the castle’s lone caretaker and tour guide (whatever that means).
The prince had been exhausted after a hellish night alone in the woods and had little tolerance for whatever life lesson his father was trying to instill in him with these games. He snapped, “You damned fool! I am your prince! This castle, this very kingdom, will all be mine one day, so if you wish to be here to witness it with your head still atop your shoulders, I suggest you step aside!”
The caretaker gave a stern look, eyebrow raised, but then his eyes widened as if a wave of clarity had washed over him. He’d seen this bright orange hair and shining green eyes before. “I think you better come inside; we need to talk.”“This can’t be happening,” he thought to himself, but what other explanation was there? Upon closer inspection, the walls were weathered, and furniture wasn’t where he remembered it being. And in spite of his disregard for those he saw as lesser, the prince was astoundingly observant. If his father had brought a new servant into the castle, he would have known about it.
Somehow, someway, the young prince had been flung forward in time to the future (the late 90s). He eventually got the whole story. The reason it was an unfamiliar, bearish (in stature) man in the castle instead of one of his family’s descendants all started that night he ran into the woods. That night changed everything. Obviously, the young prince never returned home that night or any other night. His parents, blaming themselves, were inconsolable, and their shattered mental state would eventually lead to the kingdom’s ruin. He had nothing, no throne to claim, and everyone he’d ever known was gone. He was completely and utterly alone in a time period that might as well have been alien to him.Despite how hurt he was by everything he’d learned (much to his surprise), it would cause a change (for the better) in the young prince. Don’t get me wrong; he’s still a bit of a brat, but life moves on, and he will continue to grow and learn under Charles’s guidance.The prince’s world was small. The hardest part about time travel that nobody talks about is that you don’t exist! Coming from as far back as he had, there was no such thing as IDs, family registries, DNA, or anything. Even if he’d had some way to prove who he was, as far as the world was concerned, the Prince had been dead for hundreds of years, probably eaten by a bear or something. What was he supposed to say? “I got sent to the future by some weird trickster spirit magic”? That’d be a one-way trip to the asylum (they still have those, right?). Since nobody could know who he was, and fiery orange hair with piercing green eyes isn’t exactly a common trait, the young prince spent the next 10 years mostly cooped up on the castle grounds.Taking a step back, you’ll notice I mentioned “spirit magic.” Pause for dramatic effect. Over the next 10 years, the young prince learned the hard way exactly what caused him to get sent forward in time, and he’d also learn that what was set in motion has lasting consequences (“grumble that damned spirit”). The events that occurred that night were no accident. A certain bear-like spirit happened to be enjoying a nap in the woods before the prince came barreling through, kicking and screaming, and it didn’t take too kindly to being woken up. “Somebody’s gotta teach this little sh*t a lesson!” Unfortunately, the spirit didn’t think too far ahead, and the spell cast was actually an ironic punishment curse, both binding the spirit to the prince and altering the prince’s flow of time. In other words, he didn’t just travel through time; time can travel through him. Whenever the prince exhibits any “bratty” behavior, like he did on that night, his physical body reverts to the age he was when he first arrived in the present, and the only way to return to normal is to perform a good deed to show that he’s worthy of redemption. (“And to make matters worse, the little cretin doesn’t even know how to turn it off!”)Arriving at the present, the prince has reached beyond his sheltered world of the castle grounds through a love for nerd culture. He had nothing to do for all these years but consume hundreds upon hundreds of anime, manga, video games, movies, etc. It basically taught him everything that a history buff like Charles couldn’t. But what really changed things for him was discovering the world of streaming. The nameless prince became SugarBearVT, and with his platform, he could connect with countless people who would understand him and his passions. He wasn’t alone anymore, and the world suddenly felt vast.