#stp pristine cut spoilers

[beartitled]

Goth Smitten

Goth Smitten 🦇🕸️🕷️

My personal headcanon is that Smitten designed the whole HeA route area, while Long Quite was regenerating (come on you can’t say that this guy is not the reason princess murals and tapestry are there)

Also he cooks all the meals in the matter of seconds

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to glorify Smitten’s behaviour in the HeA route, this is just my silly meme comics

You can read my more in-depth thoughts on the new routes in STP here

[death-envoy]

happily ever after sketch

[thebestusernamepossible]

Playing new Stp update, I’m so sorry Damsel bbg I love you but I really want to see your new chapter :(

[hello-universe-lovers]

"You're on a path in the woods"

An experiment in a lil animation made me wanna talk about my stp au that I have been teasing for days now.

So, without further adu, I hereby give you my AU.

SLAY THE PRINCESS: THE FIRST DRAFT

Loosely inspired by "[Tumblr] Plays STP" accounts floating around.

This follows the tale of the Narrator's first attempt at the Construct, when he was still testing the limits of this prison, and if the task of slaying the "Princess" was even feasible. As an Echo, he didn't want to risk the Long Quiet not obeying his orders, so he got a "volunteer", a mortal, to see if she would obey. He needs to be sure his will won't be challenged, before waking up the Long Quiet as a mortal. But what he got instead changed the very nature of the Construct, and maybe, the nature of the slumbering deities inside...

More details under the cut if you're interested (spoilers galore so read at your own risk):

I have had this au for, roughly, a month or so. This was just shared to my bf and some mutual and I never intended to even bring it to light. But with my voices having clear influences from this lil AU, I felt the need to at least make a post so you can understand how my Voices are the way they are, and maybe get you a glimpse into how I see the Construct, the Shifting Mound Long Quiet.

So this is just a compilation of my ideas, in no particular order:

Note: I used "Larry" as the character and "Long Quiet" as the Deity.

The [MAIN CHARACTER]:

You can call her "the Player" or "Ley" (i didn't have a real name for her), if you wanna keep it simple. She is an oc of mine (one I basically used as a atand-in to insert into whatever hyperfixation I gotten into this week). Her story in this AU is that she's a simple mortal that got caught in the Narrator's plans. She was meant as the "Beta reader" of this tale, and wasn't meant to survive even one Chapter, if she did as the Narrator said. But obviously, she wouldn't. That's a problem the Narrator came across early on: her free will and mortal experiences dictated her actions way more than intended. He had to urge her PRETTY hard, and in the end, she saved the princess, which lead to her first: the Prisoner.

When she saved that Princess, she inadvertently awakened the Gods slumbering inside. The Shifting Mound was the most obvious, taking the Prisoner and asking her to go back and collect more perspective. The Long Quiet, is more complicated. He is still in deeper slumber, but what is awake are the Voices. Without the Long Quiet, they latched onto the other sapient mind, the Player, and started guiding her. However, since she was just a mortal, and not a blank slate like the Canon Larry, she ended up changing the Voices as well. They picked up on concepts from her mind, and their humanoid appearance and personalities reflected that.

Her advantages are that since she is a full pledge human, her ability to think is more wide open, as such, she can do things that Larry wouldn't consider (for example: breaking the Princess out of her chain in Chapter 1 by using the Pristine Blade to cut it). Following that, certain routes are "locked" to her, simply because some routes required specific actions that no one would think about, on their first run (The MOC, the Wraith and Greys,... are examples). Not to mention the new avenues she could discover from simply being different from Larry.

With that being said, Shifty can still "push" her to certain routes, if it will bring her a new perspective, so while in the first few routes, Ley has a lot of control, but the options narrowed down, as Shifty starts getting REALLY specific. That is one of many drawbacks I thought for her. Another is the "2 voice" rule. As a mortal, she cannot handle more than 2 voices (and the Narrator permanently has a spot) so for each run, she only has one voice accompanying her at all times, and a voice is added only in Chapter 2, and never chapter 3. Some that may not even appear in their canon chapter 2 routes, leading to some new situations for all parties.

The Voices:

The Voices, as stated previously, are influenced by this mortal mind. While they do align with canon pretty tightly, her mind brought with them flexibility and the capacity to change rather drastically. Their appearance is the main sign of this. If it was Larry, then they look vaugly like him with little distinguishing features. But because Ley has such a big memory, they have a wide range of tropes, faces and fashion to dabble into. Some even deciding on things their Canon counterparts never would consider (Hero, Contra, Cheated and Broken being women for one, and Oppy feeling remorse).

Their routes to earn them are also different, because she has a different reaction to the Princess, though some stay the same. Here is the list (some of them are fan Princesses) of what I thought of.( And note that not all of them reach Chapter 3 because after chapter 2, she has normally detemrined what to do with the Princess):

♡ Hero: The Prisoner [FREED]

♡ Stubborn: The Razor -> the Arms Race [SLAIN]

♡ Smitten: the Tower -> (maybe) The Apotheosis [SLAIN]

♡ Opportunist: the Witch -> The Thorn [FREED]

♡ Skeptic: the Nightmare [FREED]

♡ Broken: the Beast -> the (wounded) Wild [FREED]

♡ Contrarian: The Stranger -> The Star (fan princess i will draw one day) [TAKEN]

♡ Cold: the Damsel -> the Belle (fan princess I will also draw one day) [RESCUED]

♡ Cheated: The Adversary -> the Fury [FREED]

♡ Paranoid: The Spectre [FREED]

♡ Hunted: The Huntress (again, will draw this fan princess one day) [SLAIN]

Regardless of how she earned them, at the end, after Shifty retrieved the vessel, they will always end up in the mirror. Rather than fade away, The Player will see how she sees the Voice in the mirror. They still feel cold and still fear death, but the Player comforted them for a short time, and have a talk, before feathers wrapped around them, returning them to the Quiet. She will never see the same voice twice, as the route to open them is closed. But the Long Quiet is slowly shifting with each new voice. He, like his other half, is slowly waking up.

(Potential) Endings:

I don't really think about this section, since this au is fun in the in-between, not the ending. but I do have a few ideas on what happens in the end.

☆ Ascend together: with Shifty and LQ awakened, They want to show Their gratitude to this mortal, They want her to Ascend with Them, to join their Dance in eternity. The debate probably happens too, but with the Voice joining with their Princess. But no matter how it plays out, if she accepts, she becomes the Vessel of both Change and Stillness. I call her Entropy, for the unpredictable nature.

☆ Retredded ground (what i considered Canon, if i wanna do one for this au): By going into the Heart of the Shfiting Mound, she meets with Princess and Larry, and have a talk. Ley concluded that this whole mess is way too complicated for her, and there's way too much for her to help. They are just too complex for her to find an answer for. So they suggested that they get her out of the Construct, permanently. The Echo was gonna use Larry anyway, before this trial run, so he could consider it a failure and move on. They both loved her too much, at this rate, and wouldn't want her to get hurt, on their behalf. So with the Blade, she is killed by Larry and Princess holding the knife together. This is where the Canon game happens, Larry restored as the POV character, not remembering the previous Player, only for worn footprints on the path in the woods to the cabin...

☆ Nobody left behind: this is a rendition of the Leave Together ending. Now, Ley has attached to the Voices, so she gathered all the Voices to leave too. Even a shard of the Narrator joined them so the Echo can finally fade into the wind. No one is left behind, and everyone leaves into the unknown. Maybe they will go back to Ley's old life, or somewhere new. But at least they got each other.

((HOLY SHIT THIS IS A LOT. To whoever sat thru and read thru all of this, thank you. I probably won't do anything like a separate blog or a comic or anything, but I do wanna tall about this au so plz let me rant and talk to me/hj. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day

[shurikenfox]

// MASSIVE SLAY THE PRINCESS, PRISTINE CUT SPOILERS //

So, I had some thoughts on what Damsel CH3 represented to me. All of these are quotes taken from the Discord server.

Take some of my wording with a pinch of salt, due to some quotes having to be frankensteined together to make it cohesive:

"After watching it, I think it’s a unintentionally toxic and abusive relationship in a lot of senses.

I mean, both you and her are gods that are practically broken beyond repair. You don’t have a semblance of normalcy even in your state of unawakening. You never will. Of course they wouldn’t ever fully grasp the concept of love, especially in a construct so unforgiving.

Smitten DOES seem to have some of his own motive, but generally speaking, he does it for all of you, cause he seems to give up after realising it really isn’t a "happy ever after".

In my opinion, he realises the damage that’s been done, and leaves after the last torch goes out, because he knows he can’t fix it, and that you can. I know you can’t really be "fixed" after you’ve been abused. But you can try to put together what went wrong and grow from it.

A lot of people I love have been abused. I’ve been abused. Sometimes semblances of that past seep into our relationships and it can be hard to try and heal from the pain of unintentional hand-offs in interactions. That’s what it personally resembled for me. Co-dependent people trying desperately to be normal, to heal, and realising it’s impossible to go back to normal, and that you’ll never fully heal."

Either way, damn, what a really good route. I am super impressed with how BTG handled it.

[blu-orb]

hold on you can get happily ever after with OPPORTUNIST??? how????

[lots-of-little-pink-clouds]

Don't mind me spewing forth my love of the new Pristine Cut update

Spoilers under the cut (Damsel 3, Spectre 3, update Fury, and Prisoner 3)

Happily Ever After! Just chefs kiss dancing under the stars with her was so beautiful, I admit I teared up a bit, girlie deserves all the best

The Princess and the Dragon! Oh my god sharing her body and watching as your own comes down the stairs, controlled by Opportunist! Witnessing what it looks like from the Princess' POV when the Voices are arguing amongst themselves! Then choosing to set her free, leaving the cabin and lying under the stars together... Oh and also! She did the thing! She threw the knife out the window! Contrarian would be so proud!

Updated Fury! Gosh there's so much more to it now! Contrarian is a gd enabler encouraging Stubborn to leave the knife behind and ended up making the whole thing even more absurd

But my absolute favourite has to be the Cage. Prisoner has been my favourite route since the beginning - it was also the first route I ever got when I first played. Leaving her head behind was hard but boy was it worth it.

I went with Paranoid, and him and Skeptic made me keep the knife when I really wanted to throw it into the void. Didn't try to cut myself out and got decapitated for it. The speech Cage gives tho, it hurt my heart. And the two of you watching from the sidelines as your bodies, without their respective heads, fight each other.

It's a cycle, as she says. But it's beautiful, in a dangerous, macabre way. A dance. Idk I just found the whole thing incredibly romantic (like how letting Prisoner decapitate herself, then carrying her head out of the cabin in Chapter 2 was romantic (and metal AF god Prisoner is so fucking cool))

[thesteamhunk]

Happily Ever After was a bad first new princess to get when I’m a little bit tipsy. Sobbing crying

[calameowri]

how do you convince the cage its not a pattern? is it possible

[that-one-enby-possum]

I cannot believe this is cannon now

My thoughts on Quiet's mouth(s). No take backsies you're all stuck with this cursed imagery

[beartitled]

Did you play the pristine cut of STP? What do you think of Dragon, Cage and HappilyEverAfter if so?

Spoilers for STP pristine cut under read more (+ a lot of text warning)

Hehe I see STP ppl are excited and want more silly comics

Well there’s a lot of things to say tbh 👀

Overall really enjoyed new content so far

It kinda feels like a fanservice for the people who already played the game

Which is not a bad thing, don’t get me wrong ☝️

I just view the original game as a perfect instalment, which doesn’t really need a continuation

New scenarios is just a pleasant bonus

(I’m one shot/short story fan okay 👉👈)

I already saw Dragon and Happily After routes

Yet to see all the variations the Cage route has to offer (heard ppl said it’s the most diverse one)

The Princess and The Dragon

HEY REMEMBER HOW I SAID I DON’T LIKE THE IDEA OF CHANGING THE GENDERS OF THE CHARACTERS BC THAT WAY THE DYNAMIC WOULD BE UNSETTLING?

YEA SO THIS ROUTE EXPLORED THAT DYNAMIC GUYS

I enjoyed this route, bc again

It’s scary, uncomfortable, makes you feel unsafe and uneasy 👁️👁️

Awesome depiction of how scary this type of situation would be

And of course bonus points, we got to see the bird bois 🎉

(Opportunist go brush yo teeth, u spooky lookin ass)

Happily ever after

Ok

Noooow we’re talking

I love that route, it’s my favourite so far

The pain, the suffering, the absolutely devastated British crowman

Brilliant, chills

This one actually feels like a missing part of the og game to me

I wanted to go into details about my opinions on that route in the future post

But now I want to talk 😈

👏Smitten👏my boy👏how are you in your edgy villain era already omg

Can we just admit for a second how badass Smitten is for escaping protagonist’s body?

Like-💥

This was the first route I saw and was like “Ooooh that’s probably the new gimmick, every voice is doing to escape and shenanigans happen” AND NO Smitten is just that guy™️ absolute chad

Minus points for “we will give her something she doesn’t know she wants yet”

*hits Smitten with newspaper*

Bad voice 💥🗞️bad 💥🗞️ we listen to what 💥🗞️our queen 💥🗞️wants 🗞️💥🗞️💥💥

But it works okay

The atmosphere is immaculate, I was legit concerned for a moment

Ok now give me a moment to be a nerd ☝️🤓

I love how this route gives Smitten flaws

I think finally we saw that every voice has them, because voices are an isolated part of a person, a pure feeling if you will

And Smitten represents that naïve love idealisation/love obsession

The guy loves the princess, she is pure perfection to him

This feeling is blinding and honestly pretty toxic irl

During the whole og game Smitten was never conflicting?

He pretty much the comedic relief of the whole game (and least it felt like that to me)

I think he was kinda a missed potential

Yes, love is sweet

Crushes are can be funny, silly and overall just positive

But it can be so destructive, so painful and so so exhausting when it gets to the point of obsession

And that route gives you a direct illustration of it

Which is amazing

I honestly think we don’t have enough media just showcasing this feeling of obsessive love and how dangerous it is

(yandere trope doesn’t count 👿 this trope just kinda glorified the issue)

And the tragedy is SMITTEN IS TOO DELUSIONAL TO EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT HE’S DOING WRONG

My poor poor birb boy

He’s too focused on doing everything perfectly, to make princess satisfied, to make us satisfied, why isn’t it working? He does everything he can, why doesn’t it work? How doesn’t it work?

HE’S TOO LOVESTRUCK TO TAKE A STEP BACK AND REFLECT

AAAAAAAAA

God I’m insane about Happily ever after

As a person who struggles with this exact feeling of idolising and obsessing over ppl, I just really feel that route

Goth Smitten incoming *coughs*

Thanks for your question ❤️ hope you enjoyed reading my mess of thoughts💥

Share your thoughts in comments/reblogs if you want ppl

[anniflamma]

I made some quick doodles of the rest of the voices! Just wanted an excuse to draw Opportunist again… and I added Smitten, based on his shadow and his smile from the Happily Ever After route.

[evenworsefreak]

HEA througout her entire chapter

[wolfateacatagain]

!!!!

The Hero and the Beast // The Princess and the Dragon

You are here to [Slay / Save] them.

-

(sketches and notes under the cut)

inspired by the parallels between the den / beast originally being inspired by questing beasts and the archetypal naming of the long quiet as a dragon. took some liberties with the designs and anatomy.

i chose to title it 'the hero and the beast' rather than 'the den' despite using her design because i felt the name was more evocative of that mythical monstrousness, but narratively and aesthetically i like the den better than the beast route for this. similarly, the cage fit narratively and in environmental aesthetics for the princess' 'save them' scene but the body was too far from the baseline (the center 'choosing' characters are intended to be gestalts rather than any one particular form) and the scale was too small to cleanly draw all of the chains so i went with the prisoner as the chapter ii that leads to the cage.

drawn in pencil on 5.5" x 8.5" paper and digitally rendered in medibang.

[hello-universe-lovers]

"BULLSHIT!!"

It's funny how I saw a Cheated design right as I finished my own. But without further ado, here's my Voice of the Cheated. Now as an ACTUAL girlfailure!

As usual, rant under the cut, beware the spoilers:

I gotta level with ya...there isn't much symbolism in what she wears (although the leaves on her shirt are bamboo leaves, symbolizing flexibility, strength and growth). I just wanted to try something different. Give each voice a somewhat style to easily associate with (Hero as the Knight, Oppy as the business casual, Connie as the idol, etc...). I am aware the common headcanon of giving Cheated card association, I just...didn't see that, like at all for her? Maybe it's bc I don't really see her saying "game" and such as a card game, but more in the "life's a game and its RIGGED" sense, you know. You can excuse it as New Princess, New rules.

Specific misc details:

- Her Princess was, as stated in the sheet, the Fury (Adversary route). She was NOT happy with this Princess, and kept trying to win, but without Stubborn to fuel the fire, it quickly became literally kicking a dead horse and getting it to keep racing.

- When she was unwound, she wanted to "let go", but the Player won't let her. She put them in this situation. If the Player has to suffer, so must she.

- it took a lot of empathy to reach the point where she was put back together. But the damage was done. Cheated's body was returned, everything is as it should be. Except...

- Her bones hurt. It's fine if she is just walking about, any strenuous or sudden movement, strange foods or even sitting wrong, and it will cause her incredibly painful aches and pains. In the beginning, she was on a strict regiment of medicine and exercise to do basic things. She eventually got to a point where she can go a week without feeling like shit. The pain is still there, but it's muted (for the most part).

- Her braids are Fury's own hair laced into her own (hence why they are blonde). She could rewind Cheated's body but not her hair, so some compromises were reached. No matter how much she washes it, it will always smell of dried blood. She just Gave up on washing it, after a while. And they are tight is because of how "tightly wound" she was (and not bc I had a hard time drawing braids/hj)

- Due to her stiff bones, her wings, while able to stretch to full wingspan, won't let her fly. Flapping is too painful. They are usually pressed her back or wrapped around her body.

- her tail used to have a hair tuff. But the initial stress of her situation caused her to fluff the fur off it, so now it's bald. It still hasn't grown back.

- Despite everything, she is sorry for what she did to Fury. It was her fault she got so bad, and it was her fault their bodies were this fucked. If she's not cursing the world, she's cursing herself for being so blind to another's suffering.

- she can kinda "unwind" other things too. But it's more akin to breaking them than an accurate split atom by atom. She also hates using "unwind", "rewind" or words like that to describe it.

Speaking of another...time for Shipping~

- This is how Broken and Cheated started. Broken hated herself, but she hated seeing Cheated in great pain so she became a frequent talking companion, during the first little while of recovery.

- they both had injuries to get used to. Broken lost her legs, and Cheated's bones were such a pain. And so overtime, during recovery, they started encouraging each other. Being depressed all the time was tempting, but Cheated wanted Broken to be happy. So she became her biggest supporter, helping her get used to a cane.

- Broken felt the same, and while she was still tackling her own issues, she could see Cheated was working through hers for her sake. It became a positive feedback look of encouragement on both sides.

- Their love confession was as sudden as their sudden decision to support each other. It was a late night talk, while both couldn't sleep because of pain. But they meant every "I love you" and are inseparable, after that.

- if Broken needed her meds, Cheated will bring it to her.

- If Cheated isn't feeling like moving, Broken will come to her and sit down with her to chat.

- it's worth noting that they are still the same people as their canon counterparts. I guess the word for it is "healthier". They are coping with it, and there will be bad days, but they can get through it...together.

[lil-mr-slipstream]

-VOICES: THE PRISTINE CUT-

Thought that the portraits of the original were kinds rushed, so I decided to redo them!!

Voice of the Hero: Armor polished.

Voice of the Hunted: Redid eyes, texture, worked on branch spears, and made heart shinier.

Voice of the Smitten: Redid smoke

Voice of the Cold: Added crosshair spark over eye.

Voice of the Skeptic: Redid bottom half.

Voice of the Paranoid: Made chaotic effect a bit less chaotic, and more blurrier. He's also crying.

Voice of the Contrarian: Redid tail feathers/light trail.

Voice of the Broken: Added tear stream, emphasized cracks.

Voice of the Stubborn: Redid fire eyes, added claw marks.

Voice of the Cheated: Redid smoke effect.

Voice of the Opportunist: Redid background, and lighting a little.

The Long Quiet: Vague feathery spots are now a crow storm, head void darkened.