#STP The Damsel

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

Dropping a ramble/character ramble about Damsel cause she is a bit more complex then people often give credit for

(A bit ironic that I didn’t like her much before the Pristine Cut release for this exact same reason, but I am now a changed human being. My eyes have been opened. So sorry Damsel)

She is basically the textbook definition of a people pleaser. From her perspective, you were the only person she has ever known, and you have been nothing but kind to her. So of course she would want to please the only person she knows, since you had shown her kindness that she has never received before. In her mind, if she is able to keep you happy and continue to like her, then you would help her and lead her away from her prison. Of course she likes you, but really from the lens of a dashing hero that had come to save her sort of way. She clearly does have her own opinions, seeing how she shifts a bit uncomfortably when you asked if she would end the world. And yet, she replies with “Then I will end the world if this is what you want! ^v^” when you said that it would make you happy despite her initial discomfort. I can’t really blame her for not stating her own desires, since she simply does not know how until HEA came.

Which is why the cruelest thing you could do to her is to fully believe that she truly is as two-dimensional as you believed her to be with Deconstructed Damsel—just a stereotypical damsel in distress without any desires of her own. While in reality, it’s more likely for it to be partly out of desperation, one because she didn’t want to lose the one person who has ever been kind to her, and two, considering how the prison treats the Princesses every time they were locked down in there (aka saying that they deserved their imprisonment over and over again in their heads), it’s no wonder she’s desperate to leave despite her apparent lack of desire.

She does not want to be disliked, as being disliked means that she would be left alone in the cellar for the rest of her existence. And hence, she would devote herself to the one person who have been nice to her and never letting go. You were all she had.

[glowmiser]

,,... But for those who love, time is eternity. ”

the amount of times i accidentally gave smitten tits in thsi was honestly impeccable

[deconstructthesoup]

WHY IS THIS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SLEEPING BRIARS JESUS CHRIST

Loved and Loathed. Wonderful and Wretched. As the newfound comforts or home begin to settle in, a venomous creature begins to untether those roots.

Yet again posting a wonderful piece commissioned for On Borrowed Paths; this time by my good pal @justanumber! This covers a cute scene in the fifth chapter which covers the origins of Witch’s mithridatic nature.

(Both Witch & Damsel are teens in this AU! Just keep that in mind.)

[freakshowsomethingg]

WHATEVER !!! GO MY PRINCESS

[the-butch3r]

whatever. go my pristine blade

[letoilepourpre]

things

[beartitled]

Full uncensored art (and more close ups) is under 👇 read more 👇

❗️Trigger warning : blood, gore, body horror

New megadrawing 🎉yuppie🎉

I attempted to draw every princess in the game (at this point of time) 👸

Most likely missed a few, but tried my best to catch them all™️

✨👀 @blacktabbygames

[frappeww]

Keep the last flame lit, forever.

[the-doll-house-gallery]

Because jokes about how LQ is a bird will never be unfunny to me.

[cookiealchemieart]

some princesses with the color palettes I imagine for them

[dobodleaday]

07.29.24 Lovebirds 💔

[iwannabeabricklayer]

Slay the Princess drawings/style studies I did today!

I love romance 🥹

[ayyyyysexual]

Slay The Princess textposts because I am obsessed with this game and they are so so silly. and horrifying. and silly 👍

Here | 2 | 3 | 4

[futurechancer]

overly complicated slay the princess icons i made :3

feel free to use idrc about credit !!

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

Some doodles on paper with pen while making Cheated’s design

Paper Princesses

Drew other people’s Voices designs

(Drew a sketch Remaking did for Hero and Oppy (love your little voices fic btw))

(Hero and Oppy’s designs by @remaking-machine , Smitten designs by @mrpristineblade , @remaking-machine , @itsonlypolite , and @phantasmatoucan respectively)

[just-a-itty-bitty-kitty]

Voice of the Smitten is a coping mechanism. (and so are the other voices)

The same thing applies to the rest of the voices, yes. But for my sanity, today, let's just talk about Smitten[I am ill about him].

Smitten is fixated on the Princess and on appeasing Her because he's born out of a belief that She's their only way to happiness and safety.

In Damsel's chapter 1, LQ establishes for themself that the Narrator is not a safe nor trustworthy person, but unlike Prisoner's ch1, instead of learning to be generally cautious and adopting an idea that there's no one they can fully trust, Quiet puts all of their trust into the Princess.

I strongly believe that, in order to shield themself from a dangerous, unclear, and scary reality, LQ dives into a sort of... 'fairytale' scenario. And that scenario, by extension, becomes the backbone of Smitten's whole worldview. He, just like the rest of the voices, is born out of a need for safety and control, and he knows of it as his purpose and his yearning. His mindset works as a mechanism that protects Quiet from a state of intense stress and discomfort.

So then, what is this mindset, exactly?

Well, for Smitten, expectations of certain roles appear. Roles that everyone has and needs to uphold: The Shining Knight, the Helpless Damsel, the Villain that's keeping them apart.

"Then you should know that we and the Princess are in love and the four of us will be foiling any and all assassination attempts you've got in the works."

These roles bring a sense of comfort. He has this vision of what the world is supposed to be, of what he's supposed to be. Fairytales always have happy endings, so with this vision, there comes a promise of everything working out.

"If he just makes everything go the way it's supposed to, then they'll be safe."

It gives Smitten the role of a protector, someone who controls the situation and wants the best for Quiet, as opposed to the Narrator who has an ulterior motive and clearly just wants to hurt them.

It gives him a sense of control.

So when something goes wrong, it feels like that control is yanked away, and that threatens his and LQ's safety. It takes away his happy ending that he tries so hard to keep.

"We'll get our happy ending, even if it damns each and every person who's ever lived!"

Another thing worth remembering is that the voices and LQ are at least under the impression that they haven't been living for very long. The only experiences they have to go off of, to learn from, are the ones we see in Chapter 1 and then on. To Smitten, the last time things went awry, they died horribly.

So it's no wonder he freaks out and feels like he has to push back for control. And that is also why he sees no problem with killing Quiet's body or even detaching himself from them entirely.

"Don't mind my sacrifice. It's a fair price to pay to give her everything she doesn't know she wants."

He places the responsibility for taking care of everyone on himself. Smitten is firmly under the impression that he "knows better". And he's even proven right a fair amount of times, which only solidifies the idea in his head.

"I told you! There's no life more worth living than that of a true believer!"

"I told you our love was insurmountable!"

But that also means Smitten unintentionally traps himself(and everyone around him) into a box, limiting his potential to just that, a shallow role. And that creates the feeling of inferiority.

His role is all there is to him, so if he can't uphold it, then it means there's something fundamentally wrong with him. It means he's failed.

In fact, Smitten seems to be laser-focused on his own shortcomings, at least when it comes to the Princess.

If She's somehow unhappy with anything Smitten has to offer, then it's not because She did something wrong, or because of some outside factor out of their control(he doesn't want to accept anything being out of his control, even if it would seemingly benefit him). No, it's because Smitten wasn't enough.

He idolizes Her while putting himself down.

"That's because she's perfect!"

It's a bit more complicated with The Long Quiet. On one hand, they are technically one person, but on the other, the voices like to distinguish themselves and seem to have a sense of their own identity.

If we take a look at one of Damsel's third chapters: The Burned Grey, Smitten is very distraught and angry at Quiet, and yet also berates himself at the same time.

"Ah, yes. The mirror. So we can see the monster we've become."

"No, my love! You did nothing wrong! I'm sorry! I'M SORRY, NOT YOU!"

So I think we can assume that it's a mix of both. He may feel angry at LQ but will ultimately blame himself.

Because it's his job to make sure everything went smoothly. It's his job to make sure that She was happy, because if She's happy – they're happy and they just threw all of his work away, but he was supposed to stop them. He was supposed to keep them happy.

He was supposed to keep them happy.