Stp Damsel - Tumblr Posts
"Your lover drives a stake into your body. And another, and another, and another. Do I miss your heart because I can't stand to see it go?"
Change is a two-way street.
(Is my favoritism towards the Damsel obvious enough, or?)
note: TLQ [aka my sona Bloombird] is a butch sapphic and this is yuri
Lovers, come get your groom!
Smitten is here to look dashing ✨ and sweep you off of your feet — and he's already dressed up!
Design notes:
Based on a peacock; symbol of love, vanity and cosmic majesty.
As a part of Slayer's psyche, represents Passion + Uncritical Infatuation
Inspiration: a swashbuckling adventurer (boots, trousers and duelist cape) and a prince (flowing poet's shirt, lavish decorations to match the Princess).
Every design element directs your eye to his chest/heart. ("I wouldn't mess with him. He has very strong feelings.")
The duelist cape is not only fancy and theatrical to fit his personality, but also wide open (vulnerable) and asymmetrical (skewed priorities).
Is part of "the knights" (him, Hero and Skeptic) but wears no protective gear whatsoever. Smitten is confident that he won't get hurt unless he thinks he deserves it.
The frills on the shirt matches Damsel's frilly dress.
Big love = big man = big arms for carrying his beloved to safety!
Heart-shaped hair buns for a relaxed, soft look. He's all friendly curves.
Peacock antennae = hair pins, with more hearts like visual noises. Surely, she can hear his spirit!
Peacock face markings = fluffy, shapely beard for a virile, masculine energy (and for the record, I ADORE butch Smitten headcanons)
Default/Damsel look is gold + crystal. Here, the cape decoration is directly modeled after Base Princess' crown, while the gold comes from the single color mentioned from Damsel's basement. He's a simple rescuer, a golden trophy. His boots are brown for the classic swashbuckler boot (+ matches Hero's brown feathers).
Burned Grey look is black (both a groom about to be wed and a widower) with the cape tattered (love lost/tarnished). The white pearls on the brooch are the same kind as Grey's crown.
Thorn look is dark red with black boots, a somber and bloody color scheme for our history with the Witch and Thorn's mood. And yet a passionate, romantic red. Wears a single poppy, picked from Thorn's cabin... it's as if he's dressed for a date, with a flower in his lapel.
"I just want to make you happy!"
Damsel gummies made by @sonjalikestodraw
With the power of editing, I can do anything!!!
BEHOLD! @evenworsefreak and I collabed to bring you Damsel and Adversary at the gym!
They drew Damsel, Smitten and the shading, and I drew Advy, Stubborn and the background ~
Back to my Slay the Princess rambles and the information each route gives.
I’ve already touched on Beast and Spectre, so I for now I’ll go over the Witch and Damsel routes.
The Witch is a beloved route of mine ever since I played the demo (along with the Stranger). One reason I particularly like it is the differences in how you get to it. One thing I notice in my playthroughs and writing this is how the willpower you have in conflict with the Princess changes the routes. In this case, when you backstab her you can either go Beast or Witch. The main difference I’ve found here is if you give up and she overpowers you it goes to Beast. If you continue to stand your ground then you’re taken to the Witch.
Within the Witch we learn
- she can’t leave the cabin
- she has some influence over the construct (starting with the basement)
Oh the Damsel, one of my favorites routes~ Getting to be silly with the power of love(?) will always be top tier content to me. Buttttttt I do have one little question about her? Does she really love the player (LQ) as her own person and not a piece of SM? Damsel in name alone is VERY interesting. And what SM says about her does beg the question of, “Are all the vessels like puppets?”
She says that “You molded her to love you” and that we shouldn’t mourn her since she “has served her purpose”. What was that purpose? It was to explicitly show us that amidst all of the fighting and killing, SM still loves LQ.
Literally one of the first pieces of text we get when we start the game is that “This is a love story.” And taking it a step further, this isn’t just about romantic love. It’s of course about self love when you consider that Shifty and Long were once one being, and that they have to learn to accept the contradictions that make them who they are. That’s not all either! The voices in our heads while yes still count as an extension of self, at some points they feel like the friends we’ve made along the way.
Me and my bestie the Smitten>>>