Ive Invented A New Line Of Princesses: The Character, Followed By The Jester. This Occurs Essentially

I’ve invented a new line of princesses: The Character, followed by The Jester. This occurs essentially if you play up the linear storyline nature of the situation, acknowledging that you’ve both been placed into roles and having a little fun with it. The Character’s counterpart is The Voice of the Dramatic. And yes, The Jester has broken her chain. She has deus ex machina power. She’s ascended to the level of plot device. You should be afraid.

id est, I made a Shakespearean/theatre path.

Transcript of the description in the top left (the storyline, how you get here, a few details, etc) is below the cut, in case that makes it easier to read. I didn’t make any edits.

The Voice of the Dramatic | The Character | The Jester |

Ch1 You do a lot of talking and a lot of messing around, overly dramatic, picking some funnier options. You’re witty and she responds positively to it, albeit a bit confused. It ends up a little Shakespearean in nature and you kill each other mutually, as a very strange compromise.

Ch2 The Dramatic is way too excited for this. He’s absolutely Shakespearean in wit and he’s leaping at the chance to go banter with this princess. Princess is acting rather like she’s in a play— y’know, like an actor? Doing a character? This is the most playful chapter of all of them, just having a jolly good time. You free her in character, then she tricks you in character and kills you in character and… you die in character. Whoops.

Ch3 We get the Cheated, because hey, we were having FUN here, and you KILLED us, that’s kind of RUDE. The princess/jester is wearing a silly hat but also has WAAAY too much power. She plays games with you for your life. She makes tons of jokes. It’s still funny, Dramatic is still highly amused and having fun, but… it’s also way scary now. The basement looks like a royal court, but in a stage kind of way?

I LOVE this. The cheated from trying to leave and being stopped? The smitten for the beautiful, elegant, all-consuming tower? The stubborn after fighting the narrator? Genius!

you know…… there's an argument to be made to getting Contrarian in Nightmare instead of Paranoid. Like– you go for a third option neither the narrator or princess want, but you double down on anyway. In the original Nightmare, that was because you couldn't trust neither princess or narrator, but what if you started doubling down specifically because neither of them agreed with you?

That was how I fell into the swap au trap, with something I'm calling 'A Shift in Perspective' (or 'SiP AU' for short), where the swaps are all decided by whether or not I can find a good argument to why you should get a different voice in the game's routes. Here's the conclusions I reached:

Nightmare – Contrarian: like I already said in the example above, neither princess nor Narrator liked your idea and so you decided to double down on it to the detriment of everyone involved. Princess still feels abandoned by you, but she's also angry to how flippantly you taking this ("You think this is game? OK, then, why don't we play.").

I want to lean more into Nightmare's playfulness here, with some jigsaw and carnival themes. The way to the basement is a jolly ride that take you down to her lair with cheery-creepy music as you pass through exaggerated smiling and crying faces. Contrarian is still trying to make light of the situation, though there's a noticeable undercurrent of fear in his tone. Nightmare doesn't shut down your organs here.

Spectre – Opportunist: You did the job exactly as asked specifically to get that reward, but it turned out it was a bust, so you kill yourself and come back to the cabin in hopes the princess has a better option for you. In this read of the route, you take more of a 'hitman' role, being more focused on what you can get out of this situation as opposed to the act of killing the princess. Spectre doesn't change much, though her cabin has a more sterile feeling to it as opposed to old and abandoned. She won't be happy to learn you killed her just to get a reward, but is willing to hear you out. Now you just gotta negotiate your way out of this situation and make sure not to accidentally get yourself killed by saying the wrong thing!! (don't have many clear visuals for this one, more just a Vibe)

Prisoner – Cold: You completely ignored all of Narrator's warnings and advice. It didn't sound right to you, anyway, so you went straight for the princess, and it immediately became clear who you were more willing to hear out. When she kills you, you accept it without complaint; it's only fair, there was no other way for her to defend herself. If Cold is a steel-weapon in the canon game, here, he is a shield; willing to take on any hit if it means getting his way, and making sure the princess stays alive. In the basement (a stone cold prison with clear, (and very breakable), chains around the princess' wrists and neck). Prisoner smiles when you appear, like she's in on a joke, but doesn't say much. Cold still won't urge you in any particular direction; suggesting you can explore, examine the place, talk to the princess all you want– but in the end, you still have to make a choice. And it's a easy, no?

Wanna lean into the fact Cold is prolly the closest voice to Quiet's true nature here, and the fact that despite lookin' the most human, Prisoner is still the one you can get free by simply letting change happen around her; neither of you may know why, but you two intrinsically trust each other

Damsel – Stubborn: You very insistently didn't get the knife, didn't abide by Narrator's advice to not talk to the princess, resisted when he tried to force your hand, and made sure she would be the one to kill you. (Imagine Narrator saying, "A stubborn bastard, aren't you?" right before you die). There's no doubt now. Narrator is a villain who, for some reason, wants to make sure the princess dies. You won't let that happen.

This is the one where we focus more on the 'distress' part of Damsel in Distress. There'll be lots of traps and trials trying to attack her once you save the princess from the chains, and it's your job to make sure she gets out of there unscathed. Something of a scourt mission. Stubborn's fighting instincts here are directed to the threats around the princess instead of her; much like Cold, he's more of a shield than a weapon in this version.

Beast – Broken: You got absolutely wrecked by the princess like you were no more than a mouse against a lion. What hope can you have to survive in this situation? It's simply nature; you should just lay down and let it take its course. The basement here is much more open, and with an arid feel to it; more of a savana than a jungle. The princess lies in plain view, a mighty Beast that you cannot hope to face against. You have to fight against your own Broken spirit as well as this apex predator to hope you can have any chance of survival.

Witch – Paranoid: The moment you saw the princess chew her own arm, you knew you made the wrong choice. She's clearly not someone that should be trusted, attacking was the only option you had!! The Princess attacks back in surprise, immediately hardening her stance once she realizes what you did. The two of you die, and the way she clawed and bit at you only cements in your head that she's a tricky monster who cannot be trusted.

There is more than one entrance to the basement this time, and no matter which one you take, you'll end up in a labyrinth of roots and vines full of tricks and traps the princess laid out for you. You never see her clearly, but her cackling laughter follows you all the way. Paranoid will warn you of any trap before you can fall for them, and listening to her is the best way to avoid getting caught; though some of the things she perceives as a trap might not actually be there– the roots almost seem to move imperceptibly, and you're sure there eyes following you. Are they really there, or are they imagined? You'll find Witch right at the center of the maze, where you can either fight her or try to talk things out. Though none of these choices will really help you escape. You're already trapped.

Wanna lean into the cyclical feel of both Witch and Nightmare here, with your distrust/fear is what keeps cementing this cycle of violence you're both stuck on.

Tower – Smitten: (women that can kill you by stepping on your throat are kinda ho– [gets shot]) Right before you die, you see the situation for what it is. You never should've wielded that knife against her, she's a light that can't be snuffed out, don't you see? With that understanding is that you die. There are bells echoing in the distance when you enter the cabin, a beautiful place with ornamented windows and mobilia; really leaning into that church symbolism here. Tower is sitting as she waits for you with a soft smile on her face. Her voice is honey, and what she offers you is benevelonce and a place at her side, all you have to do is pledge yourself to her.

Instead of an imposing and impossible figure, Tower is more of the 'benevelont god' figure here. Still very much wants you to be under her control, but won't rush or press that offer upon you (she knows you'll accept it one way or the other anyway). Smitten is the only one forcing control of your body here, wanting to rush to her and kneel at her feet; you can fight him, or you can let him steal all the choices from you.

Adversary – Hunted: You tried to go for a killing blow, but you gave her too much time to prepare herself and now you're also at the receiving ending of her blows. Well, kill or be killed; you're both just animals trying to survive. The cave you find yourself in once inside the cabin has more of a humid air to it, and at the bottom, you find the Princess; Adversary has more of a scaled lizard aesthetic to her, and is eager to fight for her life again with you.

Hunted isn't as excited about fighting as Stubborn is in canon, but is very much willing to prove you can overcome this obstacle. Doesn't matter how many tries it takes.

Stranger – Cheated: "What the fuck do you mean the universe itself will warp into itself to keep you from leaving?!? That's absolutely bullshit!!"

That's all the argument I have for this one. Stranger themselves doesn't change much, the main difference is Cheated's reaction and how he goes about treating a world where you're choices doesn't seem to matter anyway.

Razor – Skeptic: There must be a reason you couldn't kill her before, and if you find the answer, you can make sure you kill her for good. You see this mission as a puzzlebox that needs to be solved if you want to slay the princess. The cabin is basically a escape room from the moment you step in, and will not let you progress unless you solve it. Each wrong answer slices you in half and gets you a new voice. New perspectives to see this rubix cube from!!

At this point, you overcomplicated this whole thing so much, it's all just a tangle of webs and knots with no rhyme or reason, with you and the princess (who's at this point, just a mess of wires and steel) stuck right in the middle. The only way to escape is shutting down all your thoughts and cutting through the knots with her.

+ some doodles I did for this concept

"how to tell if you have a crush"

"what do crushes feel like"

"how to tell if you like someone"

"am i in love"

"do i want to date them"

"do i have a crush"

"am i gay" quiz results: "you're pan! you're attracted to personality rather than body! you feel the same about every gender!"

"is this arousal"

"how to tell if you're aroused"

"am i horny"

"how to tell if you're attracted to someone"

"what does sexual attraction feel like"

"how to tell if someone is attracted to you"

"how to tell if you feel romantic feelings"

"how to tell if you feel sexual feelings"

"do i feel romantic feelings"

"do i feel sexual feelings"

....."define asexual"

....."define aromantic"

cisgender butch lesbian: i don't care about being misgendered

all the cisgender people in the comments: she understands how she looks. why can't everyone be like that about misgendering?

weird way of telling transgender people to stfu about being misgendered.

like they're just pointing at gnc cisgender people and say "see, this person doesn't mind being misgendered based on looks, those transgendereds are just too sensitive!"

when they know full well misgendering hits different when you're transgender.

especially because she also said "when they see my boobs, they know i'm a woman".

and for transgender people it's often "and when they see [gendered body part] they think they know i'm a man/woman".

those are very different experiences.

especially as a nonbinary person where no one ever genders you correctly.

i've seen more and more cisgender people recently telling transgender and nonbinary people that we're not allowed to get upset when people misgender us if we "look like men/women". i'm tired of it.

stop holding transgender people to cisgender standards down to how we feel about being misgendered.

like, especially for me as a nonbinary person every he and every she just reminds me that the world was never meant for me.

gender stereotypes need to be abolished so people don't get misgendered based on clothes or hair or bodies anymore.

and don't even get me started on "but you look cisgender/like your AGAB". cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, female, male etc. don't have a look. i am nonbinary therefore i look nonbinary.

I mean, if we’re not taking about the obvious ones like Yellow Rose by Ros Mo or It’s Only Sex by Car Seat Headrest or We’ll Never Have Sex by Leith Ross… In terms of songs,

Crush Culture by Conan Gray

Ep 5: Hating Stuff by Ian McConnell

Headphones On by Miranda Cosgrove

Recess by Melanie Martinez

Renegades by X Ambassadors

Sweet Bod by Lemon Demon

Highway to Hell by AC/DC

And in terms of lyrics, let me see….

“The child in the basement, face to the pavement, oh what a statement, love is embracement, love is a constant, love is embracement” from Enemy by Imagine Dragons

“I don’t really care about / if you love me, if you hate me” from What the Hell by Avril Lavigne

“He don’t love me but that’s okay / Cause I love myself anyway” from I’m a Mess by Bebe Rexha

“Alone at a table for two, and I just wanna be served” from Death of a Bachelor by P!ATD

“We’re happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way” from 22 by Taylor Swift

Yea, that’s pretty much the gist of it. There’s more—I’ve curated my playlists to be more less romance-focused than mainstream by now— but I can’t go through and find them all right now, and I’ve already exposed myself enough with this list, so… happy to contribute!

Songs and lyrics that are very aro/ace-spec coded either in or out of context:

“Oh, my, love is a lie” - Hits Different by Taylor Swift

“I know that it might sound jaded, but I have to say; I think love is overrated, but I don’t like throwing it away” - Crash and Burn by Thomas Rhett

“Please, I've been on my knees; Change the prophecy; Don't want money, just someone who wants my company” - The Prophecy by Taylor Swift

The Bolter by Taylor Swift

Good Enough for Now by Weird Al

champagne problems by Taylor Swift

“Surreal, I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say; No deal, the 1950s shit they want from me” - Lavender Haze by Taylor Swift

It’s Nice to Have a Friend by Taylor Swift

You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi

One Way or Another by Blondie

Some of these I can give a concrete reason why it feels aspec coded. Some of them I can't.

Feel free to add!

hello average tumblr user. i want to play a game. in front of you is a female character. and i want you to genuinely and earnestly care about her without shipping her with a man, make her the mean lesbian best friend or the 'mum' friend. if you cannot manage to do this in the next 45 minutes i will release the hounds on you. live or die. make your choice