#It's mostly about Slay the Princess

[sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now]

Thinking about writing shenanigans with Smitten and Cold

Smitten would write the most sappy and fluffy romance stories with happy endings every time. Cold would say that it’s getting predictable of how the story ends every time.

Smitten gets peeved and told Cold to write a romance story himself. Cold takes the challenge.

Smitten reads what Cold has written and lo and behold it’s the most heart wrenching, most antsy love story with pinning and longing that can never be filled.

Smitten cried reading it. He hated admitting that.

[arimiadev]

this month I got to sit down with @blacktabbygames to talk about their approach to developing Slay the Princess and how they market visual novels!

read it here:

[turtleplushi]

A few narrators. Some of them are even in color (kind of)

[voiceofthe]

princess concept i've been thinking about is like. let's just go all in on those options that are like "no i'm fine with the world ending." you go down to the basement and tell her that you were sent to kill her because she's going to end the world, and that's why you're going to get her out of there. the princess, momentarily shocked and wanting to protest, quickly readjusts to the idea. the narrator completely flips out and tries to take over as quickly as possible. i'm tentatively calling the chapter 2 of this the harbinger with a chapter 3 being the dawn

[snowdinstars]

i am curious about the 11/20 slay the princess au, yap all you want my friend

HELL YEAH!!! thank you anon OKAY. slay the princess spoilers. be warned. also persona 5 spoilers but i feel like thats obvious

slay the princess is a game where you. slay the princess.

[SPOILER TERRITORY!!]

for those who have not beaten stp. you are the long quiet, a god of stillness and unchanging eternity. the princess is the vessel of the shifting mound, a god of endless change who contains death within her multitudes. both of you have been created and placed within a reality called the construct by the game's narrator, who attempts to guide you to slay the princess in order to rid the world of death and change. (to varying degrees of success. most of the time you die horribly in one way or another)

the game tells you from the very beginning that it is a love story, and it's true. you can only break the endless cycle of violence and death together

its complicated and im bad at explaining it

SO. with that VERY VERY CONDENSED summary of stp out of the way.

THEMATIC PARALLELS! (im going somewhere with this. maybe.)

god of stillness sent to kill god of change / puppet of the god of control sent to kill (in essence) the chosen champion of human rebellion. i have something here. i promise it makes more sense in my head

the whole deal with the princess is that she changes depending on how you perceive her. the metaverse is all about cognition and perception. this might be something.

something something duality... something something hegel said both thesis and antithesis... [EXPLODES]

its mostly vibes rn. and its really hard to explain without going super in depth about my thoughts on both games. but i DO have the sketch of a fanfic outline in my head. timeloop shenanigans with metaverse weirdness or something. idk if ill ever write it because it would be so unbelievably niche and also i suck

none of this makes sense probably but thank you for letting me infodump. colon three

[determinedowl23]

Being in the Slay the Princess and Les Mis fandoms are surprisingly similar experiences.

One half is dedicated to the two central characters who have an intense rivalry but are also weirdly drawn to each other. These characters are simultaneously very similar and very different and have a very complex relationship that fans love to explore.

The other half is dedicated to a large group of characters that aren’t the main focus of the story but still play a really significant part. These groups both have a designated leader who sticks for his cause until the very end as well as a wide variety of other members that fans love to put in more casual situations. (also the yaoi there’s a lot of yaoi)

[mantisgodsdomain]

Finished Slay The Princess.

Final order of princesses: The Stranger, The Damsel, The Moment of Clarity, The Prisoner, The Wounded Wild

Final number of princesses killed: Somewhere between 0 and 0.5

Final number of princesses slain: 0

Out of all of the Princesses, The Beast ranked at #1 enthusiasm from the liveblog chat and #7 (out of 7) at amount of coherent commentary made. #1 comment across all routes was "women" from all members of chat. Had a lot of fun doing it. We are really, really bad at slaying princesses.

[letardoursprout]

if we were in the timeloop together would you kill me homoerotically over and over again

[the-voldsoy]

yall i reallyyy want to play Slay The Princess, however the only video game ive ever played is tetris and mario kart for the wii. is this a bad idea

[privilegedjester]

started watching a playthrough of slay the princess and I'm already writing essays to my friends just fawning over it

[righteousdelusions]

Got omori and Cuphead AMONOOOOOOS

[everestgale]

Happy Valentine's Day, Slay the Princess Community!

My heart will always be a chorus that sings of our love.

I made a whole lot of valentines! Vessels, voices, human voices, you name it! I didn't draw every single voice or vessel (that would've been entirely too much even for an overachiever that is Everest), so I mostly just drew characters that I like, my friends like, or both :]

Special thanks to my friend Griese, who helped me with about half of these cheesy valentine lines, and to @/coldranger for writing the line for ShiftyQuiet card! It's genuinely so sweet, and I don't think I could've come up with a better one myself <3

Vessels first! We've got two valentines for Spectre, and then one each for Thorn, Nightmare, and Den!

Voices next! Two different cheesy lines for @itsonlypolite's Opportunist, and then it's Smitten, Cold, Skeptic, Cheated, and Paranoid!

Finally, some of my human voices, just for the fun of it! We have more Cold, more Smitten, and then fem!Oppy and fem!Skeptic <3

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you might enjoy these silly valentine cards <3 If you'd like any of these without the wonderfully cheesy pickup lines, I put them under the cut :]

(I forgot about Tumblr's 30-image limit. So, uh, if you'd like the valentine card without the text for fem!Oppy, fem!Skeptic, or Den [her regular card has almost no text but still], let me know <3)

[bridge-arsonist]

Why The Voice Of The Cold Hates The Narrator

Replaying the Nightmare -> Wraith route and I'm realizing...

Jesus fucking christ, The Cold hates the narrator. Honestly, I think he might just give Smitten or Contrarian a run for their money.

He:

Doubts every word the narrator speaks

Insults the narrator whenever he gets the chance

Actively suggests killing the narrator, even stating that the princess could help do that

Not only suggests killing the narrator, but also suggests that—no—actually, death is too good for the guy. They should lock the narrator in a void just like the fake good ending. Mind you, this route doesn't even have the narrator do that!

Mocks the narrator when he finally gives up on trying to make you slay the princess

Seems happy that the narrator is gone, saying he had a feeling The Wraith could deal with him

I'm pretty sure Cold over here'd rather be playing Slay The Narrator.

Really though, upon further reflection, The Cold's hatred for The Narrator is also prevalent in The Spectre, where one of the few things he actually seems to have a firm stance on is "We should kill the Narrator". In the Greys, though he's arguably at his most nihilistic, he still seems to oppose the Narrator. He joins the Skeptic in his suspicions, and though he mostly just seems to be having a time provoking Smitten during the Burned Grey, he still does take the occasional second to spite the Narrator.

And honestly, come to think about it, it makes sense. After all, the Cold manifests not necessarily from slaying the Princess, but more specifically, from killing yourself. But not just from killing yourself, slaying yourself in The Tower at the hands of the Broken doesn't manifest him, but specifically by killing yourself to spite the narrator. I mean, other than Empty Cup and Moment of Clarity (Where we don't actually know how he manifested due to the timeskips), each iteration of Cold's manifestation checks out.

Spectre: You slay her, get the good ending, but then decide "fuck this and fuck your contruct", and stab yourself even as the narrator repeatedly urges you not to.

Burned Grey: You kill the Damsel, and in a fit of rage against both you and the narrator, the Smitten kills you, even as the narrator urges him not to. (Funnily enough, this means that, despite the Smitten's line of "you killed her, and so I killed you", it was the opposite, and the Smitten manifested the Cold)

Drowned Grey: You kill the Prisoner, and, just like in the Spectre's route, you kill yourself even as the Narrator urges you not to. If you refuse to kill yourself, Skeptic does it for you, seeming apologetic towards you, but definitely not towards The Narrator.

Wraith: You kill yourself as the Narrator urges you not to, and Paranoid also spends this route doubting the Narrator.

These routes involve various levels of emotion for the Princess, ranging from "My love! Still gonna kill you though" to "So scary! Still gonna kill you though", and an overall perception of the Princess as a corpse. But the Narrator? In all of the routes leading up to Cold's manifestation, the Narrator is met with hostility, usually leading to you killing yourself out of a mix of spite and suspicion.

So Cold's manifestation has two constants:

Some level of apathy towards the Princess, regardless of your previous interactions with her. Whether she's your perfect damsel or your worst nightmare, you don't care. You stab her.

Disregard for your own safety. You're just going to stab yourself, cool. It's better than this hell. Sometimes it's another voice fulfilling this requirement for you, like Smitten in the Damsel, or Skeptic in Prisoner depending on whether or not you willingly die.

Distaste towards the narrator. A conclusion that the Narrator is untrustworthy and distinctly not on your side. No matter how you manifest the Cold, it is clear that you do not like this pesky raven one bit. The Nightmater -> Wraith route shows this through Paranoid's constant suspicion of the Narrator. This distaste frequently, thought not always, occurs due to the Narrator attempting to force you to live out your life in the void, though it can also occur due to the Narrator attempting to make you live a life without the one thing you cherish (Damsel route).

Apathy towards most things, but one thing's for certain: You don't trust that Narrator guy. He tried to make you live out a crappy, boring life for eternity.

Cold's attitude makes sense when you look at how he was created. Just like Smitten was made by deciding the princess was an immediately trustworthy damsel in need of rescuing from the pesky narrator, or that the witch is a gorgeous woman whom you can save by giving your blade in spite of the narrator's wishes—Cold is made through deciding that neither your nor the princess's safety particularly matters, but fuck that narrator guy. He sucks. As apathetic as the Cold likes to act, he reacts to Smitten's threats and the Princess's murder attempts with "interesting", and reacts to the Narrator's explanation of the timeline with "we should kill him".

So, my point?

Well, I think that—not only does the Cold hate the Narrator—but hating the Narrator is part of him as a voice. He's cold, apathetic, and he hates the Narrator. It's been baked into his very being through the choices that you make. The princess doesn't matter, your physical well-being doesn't matter, but know that the Narrator is an untrustworthy little prick.

TLDR: Replaying Wraith made me realize that the Cold probably hates the Narrator very very much, and he does so because it is baked into his very being because of the choices you made to manifest him. You go, king. Let your inner hater run free.

[sokuuuu]

saw a post on my fyp a few hours ago that got me thinking about the game again. I've also been deep into Greek mythology so forgive me for somewhat combining two of my interests.

A common trope for characters who are gods or deities is their lack of humanity. They aren't bound by the confines of mortality, therefore they do not live by our rules. Our human concepts of community, society, and relationships are utterly beneath them because they exist in the scope of inevitable destruction. The mortal ones are the empathetic ones in the story of the gods, the victims who struggle to cling to our human desires beneath the whims of gods. Slay the Princess, however, subverts this expectation. In fact it turns it on its head by humanizing the deities and complicating the mortal man.

The Princess and Quiet are not people to the Narrator, and he makes that blatantly clear - they're constructs. Objects to be used to fulfill his desires. There's a fragile relationship between the three where the Narrator holds most of the powerful information over these characters' heads. He watches and observes their actions the way a "God" in the most general sense of a word would. In fact, he created the world the two inhabit. For the most part they're just living in it.

It's especially interesting to me that what the Narrator seeks is immortality. He fears death, a concept so meaningless to Quiet and the Princess. Their roles are so uniquely swapped. The powerful mortal man yearns for the strengths of the struggling, clueless gods.

As we expect from someone human - or at least, mortal in this world of this story - the Narrator is complicated. But the story doesn't derive the Princess and Quiet of their humanity either despite their larger roles. In fact, despite the two being two halves of the same larger concept, STP pours so much attention into making the two feel alive. Making their lives matter. We don't want to die even though we know how many chances we have. Each time we die, The Voice of The Hero fears the upcoming. In the mirror, facing the end, they are afraid. It's the closest these two unending beings can get to understanding the Narrator's fear of death.

They share our fears. Do they share our human desires?

The post that inspired me to ramble like this in the first place (I certainly wish I could find it) brought me back to this part of The Princess and The Dragon:

Although they aren't aware of the limits of their own existence, the Princess and Quiet know what they feel fulfilled when they are with each other. Even after everything. The Princess is angry at you in this chapter, both you and your voices, and yet she still wants that part of Quiet back. The part that makes her feel whole again. It's an obvious calling to their connection to each other in hindsight, as two parts of the same god. But they don't fit together anymore. They cannot fit together anymore as two separate entities. Part of their beings complete each other, but they are two separate beings created by the Narrator now. They can no longer be each other, but they know they belong with each other.

It's a... romantic way of thinking about it. We know soulmates, two souls destined for one another. They make each other complete despite their imperfections. Despite their existence as two separate organisms. They are not one in the same and yet they fit perfectly together. It's fantastical. It's unrealistic. It's a portrayal of love only imperfect beings like mortals can strive for. And yet the irony is that the two are anything but.

The Narrator even admits it to himself: he's wrong about Quiet and the Princess (although mostly Quiet in this instance, the same can certainly apply to her). They are not just gods. They are not just constructs. They are people. People with free will, with empathy, with desires, with longing. He's just like them, and we're just like him. The Narrator dwells on this boundary between life and death, mortal being and god, while we find these barriers so unimportant to us. The ending of Slay the Princess is about shedding the boundaries between ourself and the Princess and letting the two complete each other in a perfectly imperfect way. The very essence of mortality and humanity, displayed by two gods.

There's a beauty to imperfection.

[abby-howard]

Hi!

I don't know whether it is best to ask here or on the blacktabbygames blog, but since you're the artist behind Scarlet Hollow and Slay The Princess, I thought it might be best to come to you.

I know there's an artbook coming out, but ever since I found out everything is drawn traditionally, I just can't stop thinking about it. You've mentione dlearning digital painting for Reese's art in his toom in one of your posts, and his art is gorgeous! You definitely know your way around a digital painting program. Is there a specific reason why you predominantly use traditional art though? Is it mostly a preference, is it because it adds to the atmosphere of your games in a way digital art can't capture, is it genuinely faster for you??? I've never heard of traditional art being used in games before (at least to this degree) and as someone who approaches digital and traditional art very differently, it fascinates me.

Sorry if this has been asked before and I didn't see it. If this will be explored in the art book.... well, gotta prepare some spending money, don't I?

Have a wonderful day!

Hi there!

What a thoughtful question. I actually hadn't touched on the "why" in the art book, because I forget that this is unusual (especially in games,) so I've now included a little blurb about that! Thanks for asking this question, because I was definitely going to glaze over that aspect of the art XD

I think the main reason I prefer traditional is that it's what I've always used. I didn't have the funds for a tablet growing up and didn't see much use for one when I had a cheap scanner, ball point pens and computer paper readily available (I have since developed more expensive taste in paper and pens...) I obsessed over the way traditional linework was done and tried to emulate it, and it's always brought me so much satisfaction to improve at that!

I'll go ahead and post my little blurb rather than rephrasing it, fortunately the art book has more selling points that my Traditional Art Wisdom so I'm okay spoiling this:

"There’s something about traditional media that feels warm to me. The artifacts, the roughness, the energy of the lines all feel different in a way that makes the art lively. Too much can be changed with digital art, you can spend forever perfecting one line. Whereas traditional makes you commit at a certain point, accepting the imperfections that betray the human behind the page."

This also ties into why I don't do traditional paintings and scan them for, say, Reese's art... I don't like painting ToT it's stressful! You can always paint over mistakes, but I also haven't been building my skills in that department, outside of painting the occasional sculpture, which is half-done already since it's a 3D piece. Never been a big fan of the messy arts, anyway. Even graphite was pushing it....

[moviecritc]

✦ ˚ : · CHILL GIRL (HONESTLY, SHE'S NOT) ⋆ ALEXANDRA SAINT MLEUX, CHARLES LECLERC 🦢

pairing ☆ charles leclerc x singer! reader x alexandra saint mleux

summary ☆ you and alex broke up because she suggested charles to join your relationship, and you're really mad about it

warnings ☆ hate comments (mostly for alex, but it's just for the plot), mixed smau, arguments

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

masterlist | letterboxd

tags; @iamred-iamyellow @f1ln4dr3cl16mv33 @changetyre @ilovechickenwings @callsignwidow @inejghafawifesblog @formulaal @niyu2208 @ilivbullyingjeongin @magnummagnussen @astmclaren455 @sp1rl @only-nope @eyerollerr

yourusername just posted!

liked by charlesleclerc, sukiwaterhouse and 312,502 others

yourusername MILAN WHAT THE FUUUCK !1!11!!!!!! You were so loud and SO MANY i still can't believed that i got to play my silly little songs infront of that much people. giggling and kicking my feet atm 💌💌

view all comments

user1 now why is charles in the likes and not alexandra

user2 honestly this is getting out of hand user3 yn keeps terrorizing their images in her concerts and they're in her likes. it makes absolutely no sense user4 there's a rumor that alex cheated on y/n with charles and that charles was also attracted to y/n aswell user5 lol what

user6 THANK YOU FOR COMING WE LOVE YOUU

user7 i'm so in love with her

user8 i hope that she's fine, she seemed tired these days

user9 she's performing heartbroken it's normal to be tired

user10 your music saved me, y/n ❤️ liked by author

user11 omg she liked it!!

reneerapp collab when?

user12 I WOULD DIE FOR THAT user13 Y/N RENEÉ I'M BEGGING YOU user14 this would be a dream ngl

user15 i met her in the backstage and she was the sweetest woman in the world, she took time to talk to my friends and me. it was amazing

user16 i just want to be half as cool as her

alexandrasaintmleux just posted on her story!

[caption: red for today 🖤]

replies

user17 matching with y/n's tour outfit?

charlesleclerc très belle❤️

user18 ferrari red or my kink is karma red?

yourusername 🖤

yourusername just posted!

liked by charli_xcx, charlesleclerc and 401,452 others

yourusername This bitch is @ tiny deskk. Thank you for having me this evening and for the interview, i had so much fun darlings

Go check out the tiny concert and the interview at tiny desk yt channel 🎱✨🦢🖤

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user19 slay slay slay

charli_xcx tiny desk BIG VOICE

yourusername hold on while i scream user20 the only opinion from a charl- that matters

user21 HER STYLE ^^^^

user22 the interview was WILD

user23 we've been waiting for over a month for the rumors to be clear

rachelzegler 4 + 4??

user24 ATE 🗣️

user25 yeah everyone is noticing her now, but at what costs

user26 she's always been incredible, stfu user27 it's not her problem that her ex's bf is a dick

alex's chat with charles

charlesleclerc just posted a story!

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alexandrasaintmleux charles what are you doing?? are you being serious??

alexandrasaintmleux she adressed the rumors yesterday, you idiot. it would've ended there but you just ruined it.

alexandrasaintmleux just posted!

📍Madrid, Spain

liked by francisca.cgomes, yourusername and 43,104 others

alexandrasaintmleux far from home 🍓🖤

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user28 gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous

user29 charles not liking??

user30 AND Y/N DID

user31 y/n back in the likes omggg

user32 the world is healing

francisca.cgomes wait i'm trying to spell gorjus liked by author

user33 y/n and she complemented each other soo well

user34 i miss them user35 you guys know they broke bc of something right?? like they didn't ended their relationship bc they were good. something bad was going on between them user36 yeah it's @/charlesleclerc user37 and she tags him ijbol

user38 GUYS !!!! y/n performing in madrid this weekend !!!! THEY'RE SEEING EACH OTHER

user39 ALEX AT THE MIDWEST PRINCESS TOUR VIP TENT??? user40 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

user41 she's putting space between charles and her

user42 PLEASE TELL ME YOU LEAVE CHARLES

yourusername just posted!

liked by alexandrasaintmleux, ynupdates and 612,830 others

yourusername playing mermaids with y'all tonight was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G madrid 🖤🖤🧜🧜

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rachelzegler how does it feels being the prettiest and more talented women?

yourusername you tell me user43 this duo>>>

user44 i really thought alex was coming tonight

user45 we didn't see her but my senses tell me she was on backstage

user46 obsessed isnt a strong enough word for how i feel abt this outfit its so pretty

yourusername just posted on her story!

[caption 1: OMG OMG OMG]

replies

user47 Y/N WHAT R YOU DOING

user48 HAHAHAHAHAHA

user49 you're actually the funniest person alive

user50 not the same phrase charles used-

user51 y/n woke up an chose violence

alexandrasaintmleux i'm so proud of you btw 🖤

already working on part 3 :))