Hey Bird, I wanna get a public discussion going on this.

What kind of differences do you think the Thorn and the Witch have? Specifically if you managed to romance them. Small and subtle differences between how they show genuine affection towards the Long Quiet.

Oooh, that's interesting, because I feel like Witch-to-Thorn is one of the vessel transformations that changes her personality-wise the least... Which I especially think due to the Thorn's responses if you do anything but legitimately free her.

The Thorn is still a lot like the Witch... More tired, more hopeful now, but also tired from being hopeful, and tired from being hopeful while not still barely thinking she might be able to trust you and also not thinking she deserves to be trusted either. The Witch is more hopeless, she's given into the "neither of us can change, we're both horrible" thinking and embraced it because it's that or break down, I think. The Thorn backslides quickly into that if you break her tentative and tired trust.

...Which is to say that I'm not really sure how they'd be different if you romanced the Witch successfully without her turning into the Thorn. They are, imo, at their core very much the same person at different points in her journey.

Does anyone else have any thoughts? I'm not sure I can come up with anything clever here!

HEAVENS TO BETSY, YOU LOT!

My gosh--Y’all are animals!  Y’all are sendin’ asks in at th’ speed’f light--Th’ crew had t’call me in t’help out--AND YOU FOLK AREN’T EVEN ASKIN’ ANYTHIN’ ABOUT ME!!!  WHAT AM I GETTIN’ OUT’F THIS?!

Bottom line is we are answerin’ asks as fast as humanly possible!  Live chattin’ is somethin’ else, y’all!  My perfect hair is goin’ from white to gray with stress!!!

So rest assured, we’re gettin’ your messages (ALL OF EM), and answerin’ as quickly as we can!  Keep on sendin’ em in of course, but fer Pete’s sake, just be patient!

Y’ALL DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE WORKIN’ IN THIS PLACE!!!!!!!

*~*~Lil Gideon~*~*

I think my favorite thing about that fic is the chirping? How it like- does something to the receiver?

They seem like they are unable to explain why, but the simple act of something like one of others uncontrollably chirping or cooing in glee at them causes them to just melt into a happy, gooey puddle.

Like, it reads to me as somewhere deep deep in their brain there’s a little bird that instinctually preens under the sound of happy bird noises (for Hunted that bird has probably taken up most of the real estate in his brain but bear with me here-).

These boys have bested drowning, being eaten, the horrible sensation of being sliced into tiny, tiny pieces- and a little noise is what makes them topple like a jenga tower.

!!!

I want to respond to this more intelligently but all my brain is wanting to say is ":D :D :D YES!"

okay okay okay

Yes, I really love this element of things. I think whether it is gentle touches, little instinctive happy noises, or little instinctive happy gestures... I think part of it is almost because they've gone through so much Bad Shit. Their entire existence for a large chunk of their initial lives was nothing but repeated horrible circumstances! And yet...

When they're together there can be gentle touches and vulnerability is no longer quite as scary, or someone might preen a bit at a compliment or there's a happy chirp and suddenly they're affecting someone they care about in a way that speaks to their hindbrain like yes! That is a happy sound!

I am so glad that you noticed and appreciate the idea of that making them fall to gleeful pieces <33

Since you like Voice of the Cold so much, a thought: I like to think that, if they had human/humanoid bodies, Cold would probably be the most physically attractive of them, not because he's my favorite (Your Honor, what do you mean I'm biased?) but because 1. the idea of "cold beauty" and also 2. he's constantly "seducing" the Long Quiet and the other voices in desensitization; there's no need to feel, there's no need to care, just trust me, it's for the best, doesn't it feel great to not feel? So what I'm trying to say here is that Voice of the Cold is a bit of a hoe and a temptress- *I am forcefully evicted from the court room*

No no, let them stay!

Jokes aside I am so here for this in both a joke way and a totally legitimate way, loving these thoughts and sharing them with the world~

You wanna know an untapped market for a set of ships that make absolutely no sense but I want to explore just for the excuse of literary terms?

Narrator/the Voices

For example:

Narrator/Contrarian: Subverted Expectations

Narrator/Smitten: Fanfiction

Narrator/Skeptic: Editor or Peer Review

Narrator/Opportunist: MacGuffin (bc it's convenient) or Deus Ex Machina

Narrator/Hero: Frankenstein (the whole creator/created thing)

(Bonus) Narrator/The Long Quiet: Shoulder Angel

Honestly, I feel like some Narrator ships could make sense! There is an interesting potential dynamic there that I feel there is definitely room to explore...

(I won't even lie, I have thought about Contrarian/Hero/Narrator before.)

Also so many of these ship names are very funny to me alakjgdsghskgag--

Oh man. Witch/Tower… What abouuuut Twigs and Gold? Wild Offering?

Oooh, Twigs and Gold is very pretty/cute, but something about Wild Offering... 👀

A question: do you think the Voices would, given time, change to be a calmer version of themselves in a A New Dawn situation? Like, even as the ending is playing, Voices like Paranoid and Hunted clearly cherish the The Long Quiet's decision (Paranoid going as far as saying that everything that made existing so horrible to him is finally over :/), showing they are already starting to calm down from their perpetual state of fear and over-vigilance, which are kinda important traits for them to still be what they are. Maybe as this new world without bloodshed sets in and there's nothing to justify them being so exaggerated, they would eventually mollify into, I dunno... Voice of the Anxious (Paranoid), Voice of the Attentive (Hunted), Voice of the Placid (Cold), Voice of the Meek (Broken), Voice of the Sly (Opportunist), etc etc..

I'M SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO ANSWER, my brain has been picking at it and trying to put together words because all I've been able to come up with since I saw it is:

aaaaaaaa yes I love everything about this

So, yes!! Yes, I love this concept. I made a post about things I found on the Reddit AMA a little over four months ago, and one of the things I went a little nuts over there was that an early concept for the voices was that, instead of getting more voices the more chapters you went through, the voice you got would change -- first for the worse, then for the better.

So I definitely love the idea of the voices shifting and becoming new versions of themselves once they leave the Construct, no matter what the circumstances are! Usually for clarity I write them with the same names, but I think especially in the New and Unending Dawn endings, they might completely update. In the "positive" one, becoming better versions of themselves... in the Everyone Hates You ending, becoming worse. (Though I can't stand unhappy endings personally so I like them improving after that bout of being worse, heh!) (Also I feel like even in the "positive" one, Smitten would get worse before he got better. :< Poor guy's deep in mourning again!)

I love your idea of them mollifying, but I also love the idea of them becoming more positive iterations of themselves. Paranoid could be Voice of the Anxious or Voice of the Cautious; Cold could be Voice of the Placid or, as Tony Howard-Arias floated, Voice of the Determined.

(Which, apropos of nothing, makes me realize just how much Cold and Stubborn might have in common...)

Cold/Narrator: Someone’s Getting Slain

So if narrator a crow does that mean cannonly stp universe is full of furries

NEGL I default to thinking of the STP universe as being kind of like a D&D world because of that. The Narrator reminds me so powerfully of a Kenku! So part of me is overwhelmingly sure that there are also, like, the equivalent of Elves and Tieflings and Lizardfolk and Tabaxi there too.

just out of curiosity, is there an "official" list of ship names for the slay the princess fandom?

It is definitely not complete, but I know @minotaur-asterion has been compiling one!

Just heard razor being described as sounding drunk as fuck

Drunk princess gets a bit stabby

That person was not wrong tbh. Do not hand the drunk Princess knives!

(too late, way way way too late)

Okay okay we need to brainstorm the Stubborn and Hunted ship name. I’m thinking something to do with hunting and predator and prey. But it’s probably better to base it on the routes they’re together. What do you think of………………………. Killshot ??

I am here for Killshot...

Something like "winning instinct" also occurred to me, though maybe something better than that? A word or phrase that nods to the fact that Hunted's instincts make them (plural) clever and Stubborn's determination gives them (plural) drive and focus. Could be good.

Or we could just refer to them as Animals by Maroon 5.

I love shipping the voices so much, but I think that the princesses should also be shipped.

I‘ve started to ship Spectre and Prisoner and I’m calling them Locked Coffin

Oooh, Locked Coffin is a really brilliant name for them? And TBH yeah I am really into the idea of Princess/Princess ships, and Prisoner/Spectre is one of my faves,* so I am super happy to see this!!

*I am also really into Adversary/Razor, and maybe Spectre/Witch and/or Wild/Witch, as my top faves!

you hcing paranoid as a tgirl 🤝 me hcing broken as a tgirl

So many of them can be tgirls 😌 I headcanon Cheated as one too! And sometimes Smitten~

I propose Adversary/Prisoner with the ship name. Quiet Fury.

I love the idea of taking the "princess captured by a dragon" trope and having the dragon also be captured. And then they kiss.

OHHHH I ADORE THIS TOO!!!! 😍💖

Seeing you struggle with naming the Witch/Tower name gave me an idea for a Witch/Nightmare name:

Voodoo Doll

Oooh, I see where you're going with this... I do like it but I'm not personally a fan of the spooky voodoo stuff (it's based on a real misunderstood religion etc.).

That said, I woke up to this ask as well and that combined with this made me think...

What about Wicker Doll?