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eyrieofsynapses · 11 months ago

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why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

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I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

#aurora comic #aurora webcomic #comicaurora #art analysis #...I hope those are the right tags???#new fandom new tagging practices to learn ig #much thanks for something to read while I try to rest my wrists. carpal tunnel BAD. (ignore that I wrote this I've got braces ok it's fine)#anyway! I HAVE. MANY MORE THOUGHTS. ON THE STORY ITSELF. THIS LOVELY STORY #also a collection of reactions to a chunk of the comic before I hit the point where I was too busy reading to write anything down #idk how to format those tho #...yeet them into one post...???#eh I usually don't go off this much these days but this seems like a smaller tight-knit fandom so... might as well help build it?#and I have a little more time thanks to break so #oh yes also shoutout to my insanely awesome professor for teaching me all the technical stuff from this he is LOVELY #made an incredibly complex program into something comprehensible <3 #synapse talks

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hotvintagepoll · 9 months ago

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Propaganda

Frances Dee (Becky Sharpe, Little Women)—no propaganda submitted

Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight, Casablanca, Notorious)—Where do I even begin with Ingrid Bergman? I fell in love with her with her astounding performance in the 1956 version of Anastasia -- the best Anastasia movie in large part due to her wonderful and touching performance. She's got this amazing, fascinating intensity to her in whatever role she's in. She commits 100%, and she's got this light in whatever she's in that's stunning. She's utterly convincing no matter what she plays, from an amnesiac possible lost princess, from a nun, from a woman taking her revenge on the town that wronged her, to light romantic comedy. She's never missed in any role I've seen her in! Also she became quite the MILF.

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Frances Dee:

Ingrid Bergman:

God, she's fantastic. She's both beautiful and a compelling actor who's more than capable of putting the whole movie on her shoulders if necessary. It's worth noting that while her beauty is conventional, she was seen as refreshingly "natural" with more eyebrows and less makeup than many other leading ladies of the time. She's well known for her role in Casablanca, but in Notorious, Spellbound, (both available on archive.org ) and Gaslight (1944) she shows how immensely capable she is. [editor's note: I've seen all of these movies and I think they're fine, but it's been a minute, so I can't thoroughly tag for trigger warnings or officially "recommend"—as always, go forth with caution when a movie is mentioned in a propaganda submission, and don't take a mention as an official recommendation of this blog.]

I mean...she's Ingrid Bergman. I feel like that should be enough, you know? She's physically beautiful (her eyes!) but watching her is like a transcendent experience. Her voice, her expressions... beautiful woman, beautiful actor.

I'm a gay man but even I understand her appeal. I'll watch any movie she shows up in. Gorgeous woman.

Just try and watch her movies without sighing wistfully, then get back to me!

Choosing 1-3 movies where Bergman was at her hottest was agony because, of course, she was always at her hottest. Not just because she was beautiful but because she was absolutely willing to go up against the bs women in Hollywood were constantly dealing with. When exiled from Hollywood for having an affair with Roberto Rossellini, not only did she refuse to apologize at any point, but she went on to say that Hollywood's films had grown stagnant and boring to her. Though she said she appreciated her time working there, she wanted to try new, different techniques (hence starring in Italian neorealist films, working on stage, and acting under directors like Ingmar Bergman). She was not afraid to chase after her artistic ideals and go outside the box regardless of what society had to say about it. From her first movie to her last she killed it. There's so much more to say about Bergman's career and life, but I've already written five million words so I'll stop at that.

One of the most incredible actors I've ever seen on film. Her facial expressions are so intricate and poignant that I cannot look away. I'm either ace or straight, but damn she made me question that.

SEVEN TIME OSCAR NOMINEE QUEEN. Girl also PULLED, having affairs with famously hot men Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck IN ADDITION to her three marriages...sexy

She has a very natural beauty to her, and she's from Sweden!

She left Hollywood and only became more beautiful. You could drown in her eyes. She can look innocent AND like she's seen it all. She is effortlessly elegant. She's played Joan of Arc (automatically hot) AND was in the movie that coined gaslight as a term. And where would we be without that!

She was known for being a breath of fresh air on the movie scene at the time with her windswept hair, dreamy smile and soulful eyes. I have loved her in every movie I have seen her in - she was just magnetic!

Where do I even start. There's a neighborly quality to this beautiful, talented actress that makes her hotness one of a kind and her looks impossible to forget

With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history. Known for her naturally luminous beauty, Bergman spoke five languages – Swedish, English, German, Italian and French – and acted in each.

She's hot, don't get me wrong, but I've always found her very approachable, like she could easily be a member of my friend group

A lot of the time hotness in a movie is just about words and framing. "You're the most beautiful person here" [vaseline lens] well I sure hope so because that's who you cast. But when, in Casablanca, they call Ingrid Bergman the most beautiful woman in the world... they were not fucking lying. And such a dynamite actor too!! I'd only seen Casablanca up until last year, and there she's confined to love interest. But in Gaslight she was maybe one of the most incredible actors I've ever seen!!!! Goddddd shes so fucking hot and cool.

#ingrid bergman #frances dee #hotvintagepoll #ladies 1 #fuck that old woman

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lilmisssammy · 8 months ago

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The Path Iceberg

This is an Iceberg for The Path- created by myself with editing help from my good friends Samhain, Torr and Gloria. If you don’t know what an iceberg is, it’s a chart to discuss different levels of knowledge for a specific topic, the farther you go down, the more obscure or dark the topics become.

Before you read, I need to state that there are discussions of Rape related to people aged 9 to 19, Death, Potential Triggering content within links, and Spoilers for The Path.

Thank you! And Enjoy!

Before you read, I need to state that there are discussions of Rape related to people aged 9 to 19, Death, Potential Triggering content within links, and Spoilers for The Path.

Thank you! And Enjoy!

Tier 1 - The Sky

The Path is a psychological horror art game created by Tale of Tales, now Song of Songs, in 2009. It follows a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood as it's experienced between six sisters, the wolf-loving 9-year-old Robin, the precocious 11-year-old Rose, the tomboy 13-year-old Ginger, the brooding 15-year-old Ruby, the confident 17-year-old Carmen and the responsible 19-year-old Scarlet. Each sister takes turns walking to their grandmother's house, with the only rule being to stay on the path. And the only way to win is by dying. The Path is a walking simulator and is seen as one of the best representations of the fact gaming can be art.

Tale of Tales was a Belgian game development company that ran from 2003 to 2015. It was founded by artists Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn in an effort to bring art to an interactive medium. They're known for games like The Endless Forest, Graveyard, Fatale, Sunset, and especially their cult classic The Path. In 2015 they ceased making commercial video games after the release of Sunset, and now work on art projects together under the name Song of Songs. Currently, they’re working on a remake of The Endless Forest, which is currently in its beta stage open for patreons!

Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale about a young girl with a red cape who meets a wolf on the way to her grandmother's house. The basic story has Little Red walking through the woods to bring food for her sickly grandmother, where she meets the wolf who wants to eat the food and her. The wolf tricks her into telling him where she's going while she stops to get her grandmother flowers. When she finally gets there, the wolf has eaten her grandmother and tricks her into getting into bed so he can eat her as well. Depending on the version, a hunter may come in and slay the wolf saving the granddaughter and grandmother from his stomach, or the grandmother could be unharmed in the wardrobe.

Auriea Harvey is a digital artist and sculptor currently living and working in Rome. She’s one half of Tale of Tales and is specifically credited for Design, Direction and Character Design on The Path. She was also the author of the post-mortem on The Path which you can see I’ve heavily referenced throughout this whole post. She currently has an art exhibit at the Museum of Moving Image called My Veins are the Wires, My Body is Your Keyboard which features images, models and the ability to play the path!

Michaël Samyn is a graphic designer and digital artist specialising in VR from Belgium, currently living and working in Rome. He’s the other half of Tale of Tales and is specifically credited for Design, Direction and Programming for The Path. His most recent work, apart from actively working on The Endless Forest, is The Viriditas Chapel of Perpetual Adoration, an utterly stunning VR experience you can get on Steam.

Tier 2 - Tip of the Iceberg

The Path as a game is about building your own interpretations of the character's struggles via item reactions and rooms in Grandmother's House. There are generally two main interpretations believed by most who play the game. One is that the game shows each girl's death, Robin being mauled to death by a wolf, Rose drowning after she falls off the boat, Ginger being strangled/electrocuted on the flower fields wires, Ruby getting into a car accident, Carmen being killed and chopped up, and Scarlet being hung by the string seen on her wolf’s claws. However, these are also usually viewed as metaphorical examples of the sisters feeling like they died after extreme traumas. Using the items and images as clues, there is a common consensus of what each sister went through that made her feel like this. Robin's is learning about death and the consequences of actions, Ginger's is getting her first period and being forced to grow up, Ruby's is falling in with the wrong crowd and getting into harmful behaviours, Carmen's is getting taken advantage of while drunk, and Scarlet's is falling under the weight of responsibility placed upon her to look after her family.

Some places reported that the game would be about rape or pedophilia, like this spread in a Dutch gaming magazine. Something that gives credence to the rape interpretation is the basis of Perrault's version of the tale where the wolf tricks the sister to take off her clothes and get into bed together, as well as the uncomfortable positions the sisters appear in after their encounter. Though, this is how Auriea addressed it in the post-mortem- 'Some say blindly that the game is "about rape." And while that could be one of the interpretations -- and I understand it -- for me, those black-out moments after meeting her wolf are the moments of realization. Those are the times when a girl grows. And what happens in Grandmother's House is not a murder but a shedding of childhood and an initiation to womanhood. Each girl is one step closer to her fate.'

The Path may have intended answers that are mostly agreed on, but the format of the game is purposefully set up so there is no wrong or right answer, allowing for more personal or specific interpretations. You may notice I didn't mention Rose in the last section- and that's because there isn't an accepted answer. The most popular ideas are either her blooming spirituality, or dealing with illness, though those are both contested. There are other popular interpretations for each character- Robin having a family member pass, Ginger being a lesbian or trans man in love with her wolf, Ruby's experience with ableism or addiction, Carmen experiencing society's sexualization of teenagers, Scarlet having extreme psychological issues, with Rose's ranging anywhere from the struggle of a gifted child, actually dying or even the creators not having an actual set intention!

Each sister you can play as has their own Live Journal- Robin's is named Kid Red, Rose's Innocent Red, Ginger's Tomboy Red, Ruby's Goth Red, Carmen's Sexy Red, and Scarlets Stern Red. Here the sisters post about their lives and talk to one another and sometimes other people, there seems to be a group of people who didn't know these were fictional characters, and one person talking about the Rio World Cup. Nowadays, this blog project could be seen as an early form of an ARG, considering its interactive nature.

The Company of Wolves is a 1984 gothic horror film about a grandmother warning her granddaughter about straying from the path and never trusting charming men. Multiple stories are told about girls falling for people who are secretly wolves and how it became their downfall. There are similar themes of femininity and sexual awakening, as well as the usage of Charles Perrault's Le Petit Chaperon Rouge at the end of the movie and in the trailers for the game.

If you've played The Path in recent times you may notice that there are various bugs that range from bearable, game-breaking, beautiful or simply funny. The creators have an image folder of beautiful glitches from developing the game and the VK fanclub has compiled some glitches found themselves.

The game is turning 15 this year- and as time goes on the web aspects that hosted information about it are slowly going out of date. There's been an effort to archive images, the character models for the sisters, and object textures.

Jarboe Devereaux is an experimental rock musician probably best known for being an early member of the group Swans, who co-composed the soundtrack for The Path with Kris Force along with lending her voice to some narration in the soundtrack and trailers. A lot of her music is experimental and I honestly recommend listening to it if you want! At the moment she’s working on her next solo album to come out in late 2024, as well as considering a tour in Europe after the album is released!

The Path of Needles or The Path of Pins is a line from one of the earliest versions of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf asking which path she will travel down, the needles representing maturity while the pins represent childhood. It's said to be based on a French village in which a girl was sent off to become a seamstress for a year, as a sense of sexual maturation. This features heavily in the trailers as well as being part of The Grandmother’s Tale read by Jarboe, with it being referenced to by Ruby in her reaction to the needle.

The Prologue is a short free version of The Path you can find on their website where you play as the mysterious Girl in White. You're unable to interact with items or go to grandmother's house in this version- but you are much more able to explore and find your way back to the path on your own, something you cannot do in the full game.

Izzzyzzz is a YouTuber who makes commentary videos who posts deep dives on things like famous fandom stories, old media and internet legends. In late 2021 they posted a video covering The Path which now sits at 1.4 million views, introducing a good chunk of the modern fan base to the game, as well as causing a surge in new content for the game, with a follow-up video in 2023! Their most recent video is about the game Palworld and it’s plagiarism, as well as having a new line of merch out.

Despite being released in English and Dutch only, The Path very quickly grew a fanbase in Japan and even more so in Russia. Screenshots from Auriea's post-mortem showed Russia was the second biggest purchaser of the game. The European social networking site VK has a fan club of 5.4k members as of writing this- as well as having produced 251 fanfictions on ficbook (for context, Rule of Rose, a game with similar themes and an overlapping fan base has 5 fanfictions on it) Japan's is a lot less archived, but on niconico you can find a lot of fan videos for The Path that is simply not there on the English net.

Though not like how it's used in other games- The Path has an inventory system in which you can collect, store and view items found in the forest. These are deemed "Distractions", and you're able to use these to unlock parts of grandmother's house. There are 30 items you can collect, the bread and wine are already collected which unlock the house and gate respectively, but there is also: A Knife (Unlocking a knife on the kitchen table), a Bullet (Unlocking a deer head), a Feather (Unlocking a Cage with a bird), a Mask (Unlocking the curtains in the kitchen), a Dead Bird (Unlocking a tv), Treasure (Unlocking a stack of money), a Needle (Unlocking pills), a Two-Headed Teddy Bear (Unlocking the bear in grandmother's house), a Boot (Unlocking a table), a Record (Unlocking a stereo), Flowers (unlocking hanging flowers), a Balloon (Unlocking Balloons on the ceiling), a Piano (Unlocking a Cobweb), the Playground Tower (Unlocking a picture frame), a Bunker (Unlocking beer in a fridge), and a Grave (Unlocking a Vase). Each sister then has three special items that unlock secret rooms. For Robin, an Open Grave, Swing and Shopping Cart unlock a crib with a birds-nest, a side staircase and a birthday party. For Rose, a Living Crow, a Skull and a Well, unlocking a long corridor of bathroom stalls, a flooding hallway of doors and a greenhouse. For Ginger, a Twisted Fence, a Climbable Tree and a Shed unlock a hallway, a bedroom and toys under the bed. For Ruby, a Scarecrow, a Wheelchair and a Car unlock a hallway, gymnasium and giant cage. For Carmen, beer, campfire and bath unlock a bush corridor, a basement and a row of fire. And for Scarlet, a cobweb, a clothing line, and a tv unlock a music room, a library and a hall of books.

Tier 3 - Beneath the Surface

Kris Force is an electroacoustic composer, performer and visual artist you'd probably best know from her work as Amber Asylum and with Neurosis. She’s an extremely talented multi-media artist, including such skills as painting, sound and photography. At the moment her most recent release was The Embrace, with Jarboe whom she collaborated with on The Path!

1001 Video Games To Play Before You Die is a spinoff book from 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, featuring games from 1970 to 2013, with The Path being listed right between Punch-Out for the Wii and EyePet the pet simulator. Listed as being so effective due to its interactivity.

The Girl in White, the mysterious forest girl who brings the sisters back to the path, seems to be tied with two of the sister’s Wolves. Ginger’s, The Girl in Red, and Carmen’s, The Woodsman. The Girl in White has a small tent next to the Woodsman’s area, as well as sharing the same skin colour, hair colour, eye colour and similar-looking boots. With the Girl in Red it’s much the same, the only things being different are the colour of their dresses, and the directions their pigtails point, and is directly named as the Girl in White’s twin. There’s even art of all three together named “The Woodsman’s Daughter” but not saying which one is his daughter.

Fey Wolf, if you aren't familiar, is the name in the files for Scarlet's Wolf, the white-haired pianist found in the theatre. You'd not be faulted for seeing them as either an older woman or a long-haired man, or even a genderless ethereal being. The Fey Wolf was never specifically gendered by the creators, but insights about The Girl In Red Wolf reveal that she is intended to be the only female wolf.

Laura Raines Smith is an extremely prolific animator specialising in modelling and textures and was the main animator in a lot of Tale of Tales games. Some of her Tale of Tales animations can be found here, but she's also worked on games like Borderlands 3, Rage of the Gladiator and NHL 95. Her most recent work from what I can find was the animation and rigging on Saturnalia in 2022!

If you’ve been in the community or if you’ve seen people discuss theories for The Path, you have probably seen the interpretation that Ginger is a lesbian, or transgender. This goes beyond just a shared headcanon, there’s a mountain of evidence for both camps that seems potentially intended. Starting with Ginger being transgender, just out of respect, in this section Ginger will be referred to with gender-neutral pronouns. Their appearance is particularly androgynous compared to their sisters, with a short bob cut and a black shirt and shorts- along with having the gender-neutral name Ginger that doesn’t quite fit the family naming theme that could be seen as a chosen name. Ginger also is associated with things that are seen as more masculine, their favourite video game is an action-adventure called Ico, they enjoy exploring the forest and trying to blow things up or fake crop circles, as well as having “boy” toys under the bed, little army men and dinosaurs. Ginger also notoriously dislikes things that are more “girly” like dressing up pretty, going as far as to make their entire family forget their birthday to avoid it. Their wolf can be seen as a manifestation of that, of all things girly and feminine, literally being only known as a Girl in Red- and the GIR’s obsession with barbed wire could be how they feel their feminity is trapping them. Ginger getting their first period is near-universally considered to be the “proper” interpretation of their route, but people who believe in Ginger being transgender use their overwhelming reaction to their first period being a sign of gender dysphoria, and fear of now believing they will be stuck to becoming a woman. This can be summed up in this image, of Ginger clutching their legs together with what's supposed to be in the middle being completely absent, instead with a drawing of flowers in place and barbed wire across, a clear sign of how they see their period as trapping them into womanhood. For the lesbian side, Ginger never specifically states that she doesn’t like men like Scarlet, but more shows her complete disinterest in them and romance in general. She mentions how she hates that “kissing stuff” and describes Carmen as “Hot, if you’re into that kinda thing.” While that does seem to show Ginger isn’t into romance at all, there are some things. The recurring image of two girls holding hands as a doodle can be found all over the game, and her general identity as a tomboy is sometimes seen in young lesbians yet to have come out, but most of the evidence lies within her wolf and their relationship. They’re clearly close, they have a handshake, and Ginger is more comfortable with affection with her than compared to her own grandmother, with the two girls hugging deeply and the GIR even lifting her into the air. The Wolf Encounter is comparably tamer and almost sweet compared to every other wolf encounter, ending with the Girl in Red grabbing Ginger’s hand and pulling her down to lie together in the sun. The final flashes show an image of the GIR leaning in, almost looking like she’s kissing something. On the GIR’s development blog, their relationship is described as “They are what is missing from each other's lives” as well as describing why Ginger was chosen to have a female wolf as “And the girl most likely to be attracted would be Ginger.” These development notes as well as the general tone of the wolf encounter seem to apply that Ginger and her wolf’s interactions weren’t as antagonistic as the others, almost as if her goal was not to hurt, but to trap her, seemingly to stay in the relationship.

If you’ve lurked on forums about the game for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the question of “Getting an A” in the game's grading system, and speculation on how it’s possible. Well, I’m sadly here to tell you it’s impossible. Even if you get all of the items, all 144 flowers, successfully succumb to the wolf, and become Grandmother's favourite grandchild, you are unable to get an A. It honestly should not be a surprise- The Path is not supposed to be a normal game that rewards you for your completion, it’s… The Path.

Lisa Falzon is an Illustrator turned tattooer and multimedia artist from Malta. She was originally approached early on in the production to design the box art, though I don’t know if this was ever made or shared, and went on to inspire multiple other aspects of the game, being described as "Awkward Realism." She even drew Ginger when Tale of Tales interviewed her! At the moment she’s working in her own Tattoo shop called Upward Spiral Ink- her tattoos involve amazing detail and beautiful shading, I highly recommend checking it out!

Emriss, Redsbane and Bonedevill are three accounts found commenting and interacting with the sisters' live journals in the comments between 2008 and 2009. Most of Emriss' comments come from 2008, while all of Redsbane and Bonevill's are from 2009. The common through line is interaction with the accounts by the sisters and deactivation. Emriss plays a more neutral role, while Redsbane and Bonedevill lean more antagonistic with them referencing something bad happening to the sisters, Redsbane also seemingly implies the 'Bane' of the 'Red' sisters. With these accounts not archived on the Wayback Machine it's not clear if these were accounts used by the creators to provide interaction, or if they are actual fans playing along.

Ruby’s Leg Brace is probably the most iconic thing about her, with the rarity of video game characters using disability aids, her open usage of one is a welcome sight- but from the beginning of her development it’s not clear if she needs it. In her original plan sheet it’s noted that she may just be using it for show and later her description on the website saying “When asked about her leg brace, Ruby says she’s in pain, but she doesn’t specify where it hurts,” implying she doesn’t need it. Conversely, one of Ruby’s secret items needed is a wheelchair, and the final flashes put an emphasis on her legs and how they’re bent out of shape, seemingly saying she needed the leg brace due to a car crash, or an alternative reading is that Ruby was already disabled before the accident, as she gets violently thrown through a high school gym, as well as being the quickest character in the game, maybe signalling she used to be a school athlete before the onset of a condition or an accident.

Kirin San may be a kind of mysterious figure for non-Japanese fans of The Path, especially if you’ve gone through fanart, seeing a random man or giraffe in a little suit with the red sisters. The truth is, Kirin-San could probably be best described as the Japanese Izzzyzzz, being a big part of how the game became popular over there, with his playthroughs inspiring animatics and leading to a Japanese translation coming in 2010 from Zoo Corporation! This is a weird side note I didn’t know where else to put, but while I was researching this topic I found out that apart from translating games like GTA and Left 4 Dead into English, they also create hentai card games like Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire as well as developing medical prescription systems, so that’s hilarious.

144 is described as the essence of the game by the creators, that it represents “a girl's restlessness, the sound of footsteps on dry leaves, the smell of pine trees, dim sunlight through filtering clouds.” The original working title of it was 144, with the original intent to have 144 red riding hoods. This was quickly abandoned due to the scale, but its importance remains, the 144 collectable flowers in the forest are the most obvious example of this, but it's all over the rest of the game. There are 36 items (144 divided by 4 being 36), 18 secret rooms (144 divided by 8 being 18), 3 secret rooms per sister (144 divided by 48 being 3) as well as six sisters (144 divided by 24 being six).

Something talked about in the postmortem but was not mentioned by name in the game is that The Girl in White is quite literally an older version of one of Tale of Tales past characters, The Deaf Mute Girl in The Pretty White Dress from 8. Her models were created based on making them look like the Deaf Mute Girl but at the age of 13. With 8 never coming out; the Girl in White is both the first occurrence of this character and the second time she was in a game.

Tier 4 - Middle of the Iceberg

An interesting detail that 1c changed when they translated the game into Russian is them choosing different names for the main six girls, unlike every other translation which keeps their original. The names are: Robin as Алина/Alina, Rose as Алиса/Alice, Ginger as Ада/Ada, Ruby as Агния/Agnia, Carmen as Алла/Alla and Scarlet as Аврора/Aurora. The translated names are no longer themed around red things, but around the alliterative A’s, probably due to their name puns being lost in translation.

This is an entry that’s probably more well known to people NOT into The Path, in that The Path is featured and shouted out by name in Hetalia. Yeah, Hetalia, that Hetalia the anime about personified countries that once was the second most popular Anime/Manga fandom on Fanfiction dot net, features The Path in both the anime and manga, with Belgium showing off the game as something from their homeland.

Something never mentioned in the games is that each of the sisters was given birthdays. On their livejournals, you can see posts of them celebrating Robin’s, Carmen’s and forgetting Ginger’s, but they aren’t the only ones with birthdays. On their live journal profile descriptions, their birthdays are listed as the 13th of October 2000 for Robin, the 13th of March for Rose, the 13th of September 1996 for Ginger, the 13th of May 1994 for Ruby, the 13th of November 1992 for Carmen, and the 13th of April 1990 for Scarlet. Rose doesn’t have her birth year listed but it’s probably just 1998, due to all of the sisters being spaced by two years. Something interesting is that all of the sisters were born on Friday the 13th, but only Rose would be her actual age as of the game release. Since the game came out on the 18th of March 2009, the actual character ages would be 8 for Robin, 11 for Rose, 12 for Ginger, 14 for Ruby, 16 for Carmen and 18 for Scarlet. Part of me thinks that this is why Rose’s birth year goes unmentioned on live journal, though if she wasn’t born in 1998 she would not fit the profile of being born on Friday the 13th, but it’s possible it was either a mistake or related to another entry on this iceberg.

Only mentioned in one development image and the development blog for Ginger’s Wolf, is the idea that Ginger and Rose were at one point supposed to be twin sisters, both being 13 similar to the Girl in White and her twin The Girl in Red being 13. In the accompanying image found on Flickr, you’re able to see above Rose her age is listed as 11, or as 13 if she was a twin. The thing is- the sister that has age 13 listed above her is very clearly NOT Ginger, it’s Ruby, and it’s Ginger who’s listed as 15. Well, they’re not listed by name, but Tomboy Red and Goth Red are the names used for Ginger and Ruby as seen on Livejournal, and their appearances are nearly identical to those from the final product. Especially weird considering that Ruby was the first character ever made for this game, and she was listed as 15 in that as well!

You probably noticed this if you looked at the image where Rose and Ginger are listed as twins, but they aren’t the only ones with stark differences that go unexplained. The Girl in White is listed as LDMGIAPWD, an acronym for the Little Deaf Mute Girl in a Pretty White Dress, simplified in print as the Girl in White and in fan discussions as the GIW. Another thing you’ll notice is that Scarlet has… A different design. With a long buttoned dress reminiscent of something straight out of a period piece set in an asylum, and a hat with things that look like antennas with flowers. And then it comes to… Rose and Carmen’s original names. Virgin Red and Sexpot Red. We’ll start with Carmen. Sexpot is a more crude way of describing someone who’s sexy, which is what Carmen’s nickname was then changed to. It’s still kind of a touchy issue with fans that Carmen, a minor, uses the name Sexy- but it’s still far more appropriate compared to Sexpot. Sexy gives more of a feeling that it’s self-appointed when compared to Sexpot which is more voyeuristic. And Virgin Red. Virgin has two contexts that are relevant here. Virgin within the context of purity and innocence, related to the Virgin Mary as an example of goodness not seeing bad. And Virgin within the context of never having sexual contact with anyone. Given the fact her name was then changed to Innocent Red and the fact she is ELEVEN- it’s likely that it’s related to that first interpretation, further giving evidence towards the view of Rose’s story being about her relationship to her spirituality.

If you’ve read Rose or Ruby’s live journal you’d find out that on the 2nd of May 2008, Ruby dyed her hair black. That’s not surprising to begin with, you can see her with her hair as black throughout the game (Though sometimes it has a blueish look with some lighting)- a bit weird that it had to be pointed out as dyed due to all of her sister’s also having black hair (You can see Ginger’s black roots), but their live journals give a reason for why. In Ruby’s comment section, she’s asked about her original hair colour, which she replies was Green. It’s not clear if she means her hair was last dyed green, or if she has natural green hair. This seems like a reference to one of her final flashes that’s the same as another but with a green colouring. Anyway- this isn’t what we’re talking about. In the reply of that comment, someone calls her a liar, and says if it really was green, why did she get her sister to lie? What they’re referring to is Rose’s post about it- in which she says that Ruby had made her promise not to tell what her old hair is. There’s still a debate as to what her original hair colour is, and I don’t think we will ever actually get to know.

In 2022 @wammy4 on Twitter began multiple Twitter bots based on the sisters in The Path, posting various things sourced from lines in the game, live journal posts, quotes from grandmother's house and links to the game. It posted multiple times per day, now with so many posts it’s hard to keep track, but as of the fourth of April 2023, none of the accounts other than the creator has posted, due to Musk’s shutdown of free API bots and $100 per month bot subscription.

A staple of fandoms on the internet are Askblogs, where fans can ask characters questions and get a reply, usually with illustrated companions. The Path is no outlier, having a dedicated askblog on VK- with over 800 followers. It’s been active for years and has over 2 thousand different images, and has asks for all of the characters in the game, as well as gender-bent versions. If you can speak Russian I highly recommend checking it out, and even if you can’t, the art is stunning!

The Red sisters aren’t the only ones who have live journals, within the comments you can find Grandmother Red interacting with her grandkids, asking when they’ll next come down to see her. However this livejournal is different from the others given that hers is deactivated, even with the wayback machine- and her livejournal was never linked on the official website next to the others.

Fuco Euda is a Japanese-based surrealist painter focusing on the horrific, sensual and innocent, with girls nearly looking identical as if they were family, or the same girl. She was first referenced all the way back when Ruby was being designed as an artist to look into for inspiration. Her artbook LUCID DREAM is out, with a special bound edition if that’s something you’d be interested in!

Alice Knows Karate is an alt-pop band that takes inspiration from fairytales and J-pop, creating a unique nostalgic sound that feels straight out of a video game. They’ve got various albums you should definitely check out, but what we’re specifically talking about today is their 2018 album Fablewave, with their song ‘The Path’. It was originally posted on the head of the band Keiko’s YouTube channel in 2009, with an updated version coming ten years later. It’s outrageously good, it captures the essence of the game perfectly with amazing lyrics, and I got a bit too attached and it ended up as my number-one song on Spotify in 2023. The rest of Fablewave is also based on other fairytales and fairytale-inspired games, particularly ‘Alice, What Have You Done?’ based on American McGee’s Alice. Their most recent work is Grounded, and they’ve also been featured as the theme song for Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain!

The Path was supposed to be Tale of Tales' first commercial project, and as so it included advertising, but being Tale of Tales, they did this the most extra way they could. Around where they lived, they made a Tear Off poster, with what I believe is Martha Samyan’s art of Robin. The poster asks the reader to choose the path of pins or the path of needles, while linking to the website. On their blog they provide a blank download of the tear-off poster so you can print it off, to draw on it and place it around you!

The Path was Tale of Tales' first foray into creating commercial games, and because of that, there are various different selections of merch, such as: Signed Posters, USB drives, CDs of the soundtrack, Polaroids, Shirts (via Redbubble) and a sticker. Nearly all of this, save the shirts on Redbubble, are no longer purchasable, being limited items when they came out, and then finally being sold in 2015 as Tale of Tales moved. I am still so mad I never got those Polaroids and am still madly searching for auctions of them.

The Rose Problem is a catch-all term I am using to describe basically ‘What the hell is up with Rose’. It’s no secret that Rose is divisive when it comes to interpretations- so much so that I couldn’t include her in the first interpretation section. So, what is it that makes Rose so difficult? Well, you can barely see her wolf, her house is almost all flooded and she speaks with flowery prose. The reason people seem to view her route as spirituality or disability is because of her continued mention of disconnect from herself. But there have been oceans of other disagreeing ideas, related to her perhaps going through puberty early, her experiencing guilt related to her family, her being potentially molested, or even her literally dying. It’s been put forward by some that Tale of Tales went into Rose not even having an intention in mind, or it shifted from one idea during development and becoming aimless during that period.

Scarlet is known to be the last created sister, Tale of Tales describe the making of her as being the first to be born and last to be made, and because of that, her wolf was the last to be made. The final wolf is named the Fey Wolf- related to the Fae Court. As an Irish person who’s in full belief of the Fae, I don’t see the resemblance. But that wasn’t his final name- maybe it wasn’t his final appearance. His original name, according to a rough floor plan of what Grandmother’s house would look like with the secret rooms was Boy Toy Wolf. That’s… A name change. Especially considering the fact Boy Toy refers to a young man in a sexual relationship, usually with an older woman, and the Fey Wolf is a sort of elderly-looking androgynous thing with a 19-year-old Scarlet who is not into relationships. But because the Fey Wolf’s making has no text, it’s not clear if his appearance or purpose even changed between the name change.

Quest3d was a tool used for making 3D applications, with an intuitive way of programming by using graphs and seeing it in real-time without the need for a compiler. On Mobygames only 8 games were ever listed as created by Quest3d, 6 if you don’t count The Path and The Prologue- with three of them being a Ship Simulator. I say was because it’s pretty much gone. You can’t open their unique file in anything so you’re kinda screwed if you want to do anything with the game files.

The Shrine and the Playground Sign are two interesting objects that you really can’t see in the rest of the game. They both appear along the path but not in the forest, and unlike the crow, you can’t interact with them. Though not immediately clear- the reason why those appear is to signal to the player that the Graveyard and Playground are accessible. That’s probably self-explanatory for the Playground Sign, but for quite a few people the Shrine may come as a surprise, including me before I researched it.

The Path, like everything, has speedrunners. There are two categories- All Girls and Failure%. There have been seven runs altogether, one in all girls and six in failure%. Failure% is reaching grandmother's house without interacting with any wolf, beginning when you gain control and ending when you leave first person in Grandmother's house. Though there are no guides available, the strategy is clear, using Ruby as she’s the quickest. The world record holder as of now is from Krayzar with a one-minute 35 seconds. There's only one speedrun for All Girls, and I’m going to be honest, I don’t think there’s a strategy, at least not one clear from the world record holder Multiwinner who admits that the run they sent in was their first and only attempt. If you want to try this out, go ahead! You’ll have the chance to make history!

In 2020 a zine by the VK fan club for The Path was released- featuring illustrations, comics and stickers, a full collection of all included is linked here. As far as I can tell, this is the only one of its kind! It really is a marvel, and I have said this for like the third time, but if you have a copy of this I would love to buy it from you. I do have to warn you- there is nudity in here of Ruby.

Tier 5 - Bottom of the Iceberg

Tale of Tales references three artists and illustrators that inspired the feeling they were going for The Path, naming them as Lisa Falzon, Fuco Ueda and Ray Caesar. For its first anniversary, three sets of interviews of those artists by the six red sisters. You can find the interviews here, but some highlights are: Carmen asking Lisa if she has a boyfriend followed by Scarlet asking if Lisa is a feminist, Robin asking if Fuco Euda's paintings showed "Good girls or naughty girls", and Ginger just asking if Ray Caesar would ever make a video game.

One of the more confusing things mentioned in the Post Mortem is the fact that Tale of Tales at one time considered creating a mechanic where you would have to dance battle your wolf. No, I am not joking. I just have one question. In a game about exploring your deepest trauma in a wolf-infested forest. Why did you make them dance?

The Path Tribute Project was a group of Vocaloid songs created based on characters in The Path on niconico. The project is from 2014, and due to this and a lack of updating links, I’m unable to find the original organiser of the project and one of the songs, but what I do have, is a Paste Bin of all the found links, the Tumblr blog it was advertised on, and a short compilation of all of the songs reposted on VK!

The canonicity of the grandmother house pages is up to discussion, with Rose, Ginger, Ruby and Carmen all seeming aware they’re in a video game created by these people with Scarlet not making mention of Kris’ involvement with the game. The outlier is Robin, who says not only is Jarboe real in their universe, but that she lives in a black house in their forest- and that she was the one who taught the family the Safe Song. There clearly is not a black house in the forest- the only house is Grandmother’s which is white. Maybe she’s referring to the tent in the Campsite, we never exactly do see the Woodsman go into it, or it could even be the Bunker, as it seemingly has a panel over the door, but neither of those are housey.

Given The Path’s limited characters and interactions, the game’s fanbase has never really been prime with shipping, the most you would see is Ruby and her Wolf along with Ginger and her Wolf. But one pairing stands among them all as the most. Ship to exist. The Woodsman, and the Fey Wolf. There’s a weirdly large amount of fanart for this, despite their status of never interacting or existing near each other, but I suppose what fandoms do best is see two men and decide they should kiss. Should I show examples of this? Yes. Am I going to? No. Just… Take my word for it and understand why I am not showing you a sweaty bald man making out with whatever the Fey Wolf is.

Shamus Young was a game critic and blogger who was an early modder in the Doom Community, and held some infamous views related to parts of The Path. I want to preface this by saying- Shamus Young passed away in 2022 at the age of 50, and out of respect for him and his family, I will be only relaying what he wrote instead of including my opinions. The reason Shamus gained a particular status in the fan community is for his interpretations of Rose and Carmen. Starting with Carmen- he states that he knew girls like Carmen in high school, that would “Find the biggest, strongest, best-looking complete-jerk they could get their hands on, and then endlessly whine about how ‘men are such pigs.’” He then goes on to explain that he believes Carmen was not raped, because despite being drunk she had taken the alcohol without asking, and that it was not rape because “She came on to him.” He does say that it “does not excuse the forester for sharing his beer and hooking up with an (in some states) underage girl-” and then proceeds to say “But I don’t think he’s a rapist.” At the end of the aftermath saying that ��Maybe this one bad experience will make her more careful.” Rose’s analysis begins with him prefacing that “I don’t actually want to talk about this one, because it involves stuff I wouldn’t even bring up on my blog.” and then again stating “And I really hope you’ll keep a clinical head on when I bring this up and try to be polite even if you disagree, and furthermore I hope we can keep this discussion civil and remember that this is all open to interpretation.” Before he goes on to explain how Rose’s water motifs are a representation of discovering masturbation- that the reason why her wolf is a Cloudy Male figure is that “She knows she’s attracted to men but she doesn’t know what men look like yet, or how sex works”. As stated at the beginning of this entry and by Shamus himself, I’m keeping this civil and I am not shaming him for his personal interpretations.

There’s quite a bit of Micheal’s Daughter Martha present in the game at various points. Martha made the original pictograms, I believe the poster art was also by her- but the most clear inspiration is Robin herself. As mentioned in her Making of post, Robin’s outfit is based on her, specifically her outfit of her blue hooded cloak and stripey boots. Martha’s actually an artist now too! Martha Samyn is a textile artist and interior architect, with her last exhibit being at Texture Kortrvijk in January! You can actually see the start of her textile art related to The Path, showing off her Ruby-inspired outfit for her doll!

A last-minute change mentioned in the post-mortem was the fact that The Path did not contain any text until the playtest. And when I mean any text, I don’t just mean instructions- until they had people play the games they hadn’t thought to include text for the items, to show what the characters were thinking, because they saw that “Some players had difficulty to let their imagination work.” That’s a wise lesson for you all. Involve Beta testers.

The Path Fangame, titled The Path Fan Project, is a game by Kinder and Doll, a spiritual follow-up to The Path with less of a focus on horror and more on open-world explanation and interaction with the sisters. The graphics are astonishingly pretty, with quite a few new locations like a train, a cave, and a treehouse. The game also involves slight voices, giving the characters voices for the first time! I again urge you to play it, especially since I am unable to because of the age of my computer.

The-Red-Path is a LiveJournal community never officially linked on the website like all the other LiveJournal profiles, with only six members- the six sisters. This account has only three posts, all posted in 2008, between April and August, only one of which I will be bringing up. On the 16th of April Robin asks whose turn it is to visit their grandmother, with Rose mentioning that they’ve all gone down the path already. There's a weird sadness in this post, with the normally boisterous Carmen asking why she couldn’t just go with anyone else.

You have probably heard of the first urban legend about The Path, the ability to get an A, but this one you likely haven’t heard of. There’s a phone present on the road on the other side of the path, calling it will allow you to transport the sister back to the apartment without needing to go to grandmother’s house. The general idea is then, if you go through the wolf encounter, but turn around on the path and walk back to the phone- would you be able to call it and actually return back home without the sister disappearing? There have been testimonies of being able to do it, as well as fanfictions about the concept, and not a lot of checks due to the fact you can’t run after the wolf encounter and your speed is already extremely low. But I am going to come out and say, no, I don’t believe it’s possible. I don’t think the creators would have overlooked that idea, especially since they had a large number of beta testers, but I do really like the idea and I wish it was true.

That’s the end! I have quite a few things I left out, due to it maybe not being interesting or my losing of sources, but I’m glad I could finally do this. In all honesty, The Path changed my life. It’s helped me through a lot in my own journey of healing and accepting trauma, and I will forever be grateful. Happy 15th anniversary!

#the path #the path game #the path tale of tales #the path robin #the path rose #the path ginger #the path ruby #the path carmen #the path scarlet #the girl in white the path #werewolf the path #cloud wolf the path #girl in red the path #charming wolf the path #woodsman wolf the path #fey wolf the path #tale of tales

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mightbeimpossiblenotto · 30 days ago

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Silver - Oct 14 - @rosekillermicrofic - 871 words - Warnings: none

Barty loved his job at Insidious Ink. He had always loved to draw, but he had no interest in recreating landscapes or detailing a portrait of someone. He liked to draw snakes, and skulls, and unrealistic eyeballs, and all kinds of other things. When he secured an apprenticeship with his local tattoo shop, he had already had several tattoos of his own on his skin. He was thrilled — the only thing that was better than pen and paper was ink and skin, in his opinion.

It was the first thing that he excelled at that he actually wanted to continue to do well. In school, everything came easily enough to him, but he didn’t want the good grades that came with learning if it meant his father only expected more of him. But his father resented tattoos, so it was something into which Barty could throw his whole self. He quickly became the best artist at that little shop, and one of the owners encouraged him to open his own studio.

Insidious Ink was opened only six months later; when Barty put his mind to something, he was determined to finish it. He hired a few of his own artists to work for him, a gorgeous woman named Dorcas whose line work was incredible, and a sullen young man fresh out of school named Regulus who excelled in florals and other plant work. In their free time, Barty taught them everything he learned from his mentors, and they quickly grew an unbreakable bond between the three of them.

The Rosier twins came in on a rainy Monday afternoon. The shop was quiet, only one girl getting tatted from Dorcas in the very back. She had been here a few times before in the past few months. Her name was Marlene, and this time she wanted a single line tattoo of a two women almost kissing. Dorcas seemed a little too interested when she was consulting with Marlene, which is why Barty sent them to the back. He didn’t need to see lesbians flirting while trying to get his work done, as cute as it usually tended to be.

When the two blondes, one man and one woman, entered the building, Barty and Regulus had been sketching out a few designs for clients they were consulting with via email. Regulus didn’t even look up when the bell over the door indicated their arrival, but Barty was trained like a dog to react. He sprung up out of his chair to greet them, but the words died in his throat when he took sight of them.

They were the two most beautiful people he had ever seen, especially the man. The woman was stunning, with long white-blonde wavy hair down to her lower back, braids twisting the face framing pieces back away from her eyes. She had lovely dark skin and bright grey eyes. Her smile was utterly dazzling.

But the sight of the man with her — who had to be her brother with the matching features — had Barty almost falling back onto his stool. He had the same dark skin and gorgeous eyes, the same sharp cheekbones and long nose. But his blond hair was in dreads, with silver cuffs adorning them, glinting in the fluorescent lighting in the tattoo shop. He had a lip piercing, a little silver hoop in his plush lower lip. His ears were pierced, too, with silver safety pins hanging from each of them. He had a hoop in his nose, a hoop sticking off his left eyebrow, studs over right brow.

Barty had never really been interested in piercings before. He certainly never had reason to get any himself, but seeing all of the silver glinting off this man, he was dying to know if he had any other metal anywhere else.

“Barty,” Regulus hissed behind him, bringing him out of his daydream about getting the man pantless in his shop. “They’re talking to you, answer them.”

“Huh?” Barty said rather eloquently, and sure enough, the two blondes had approached the desk, and were waiting for his response. “I mean — Welcome to Insidious Tattoos. What can I help you with?”

The woman just blinked at him, unconcerned with his odd behavior, but the corners of the man’s mouth were twitching as if he were hiding a smile.

“I’m Pandora,” the woman introduced. “This is my brother, Evan. We would each like to get a tattoo today, but they will be different.”

“What exactly are you looking to get done?” Regulus asked for Barty, because he was still staring at Evan’s mouth.

“I would like three red spider lilies,” Pandora said, “to represent those close to me who have passed.”

“The death flower,” Regulus said softly, then he stepped forward to speak to Pandora directly. “My work is mostly florals. Would you like to take a look?”

Regulus led her off to a table used for consultations with clients, leaving Barty alone with Evan.

“And what are you looking for?” Barty asked, trying not to stare at the other man in front of him.

I want a jackal skull,” Evan said. “With plenty of detail.”

Barty grinned then. “That, I can do.”

#barty crouch jr #evan rosier #evan x barty #rosekiller #marauders #rosekiller microfic #barty crouch x evan rosier #microfic #microfic prompt

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ourflagmeansbts · 1 year ago

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Source (Season 2 - October 9th 2023)

filmandy: Random notes on the climax from Our Flag Means Death season 2 episode 3 I read the first 3 episodes on my flight to NZ. I was very jealous of the storm sequence in Ep2 that @nathanielgoodman got to shoot with @dvidjenkins. I was bummed it wasn’t one of my episodes… but then I read the climactic scene of episode 3. I had no idea how we would shoot it, but I was bubbling with excitement. The Kate Bush song was in the script from the start, which is always a wonderful tool. It provides the sense of tone, pace and emotion. Performances. Both @taikawaititi and @rhysiedarby do a surprising and impressive amount of work in this piece. It’s hard not to drown with your legs wrapped together, let alone swim across a pool, land on a mark, then deliver an adorable, love-filled smile. Yet Rhys did exactly that, over and over. Taika, conversely, had to be pulled downward, expelling air on the way, then pause, mid-water tank, and start acting. He gave options, hit every beat and also didn’t drown. Both of them blew me away. @andrew__deyoung and I worked with a wonderful- and amazingly fast- storyboard artist, Martin Bailey, to hash out every beat and shot of the underwater sequence. What can one say about @gypsytaylor’s absolutely amazing, completely perfect and utterly beautiful merman tail? Her work is stunning across the show. @kinascollay was our underwater camera operator. He has a fantastic eye, is part fish and had a contagiously relaxing energy. He gave me an incredible level of confidence as we shot the sequence. @jaketomuri and his stunt team are the cream of the crop. I could watch their work for hours on end. There’s a lot to be said about what they pulled off this season. Much of our crew had come off Avatar 2 and has spent full days, weeks, months in the water. I think we gave @coraaaaaaay flashbacks.

#ofmd #ofmd bts #our flag means death bts #our flag means death #s2 #taika #s2e3 #video #andyrydzewski #2023

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sadesluvr · 4 months ago

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CAT AND MOUSE. (III)

Miguel O'Hara x Black Cat! F! Reader Warnings: None A/N: Longer chapter here! We're throwing it back to your first encounter with Miguel and Jess, featuring some backstory. PREVIOUS CHAPTER | READ ON AO3 | SERIES MASTERLIST

One, two, three. Jump.

One, two, three – four? Fall. Don’t forget your hook.

The Lower East Side of Manhattan, though buzzing, was not one of your favourite areas to endure a life-or-death chase in. The tenement-style buildings brought about a good bit of consistency, and the dark alleys provided safety, but the boutiques and nightclubs ruined your sense of levelling; building height always falling somewhere between being too high and too low.

Hammerhead was onto you. Well, his henchmen, at least.

You’d made the mistake of teaming up with him – a rising mafioso – in a particularly emotionally charged moment in your life; having negotiated with the man to help get yourself out of prison after your fabricated display of mental instability had been denounced.

All it had taken was a bit of hush money thrown in the prison psychologists' way, and the upholding of your promise to attend the government-mandated classes. Then you’d been as good as new.

On paper, a thief and a mafia boss didn’t seem like a great pairing - and retrospectively, it wasn’t. Both of you were liars, con artists and utterly selfish; but you’d found that there was a strange level of trust between you, almost in a father/daughter way (You were one of the few people who knew him as Joseph).

If he had a shipment or a particularly wealthy associate, he’d let you in on it; and you’d drape yourself in one of your finest dresses to schmooze with rich folk at the beginning of the evening, yet by night they’d find themselves robbed. In turn, you’d used your private investigator skills to weed out any rats in the family.

It was rather nice until it turned sour. Hammer, as greedy as ever, sought an opportunity to rise in the ranks, and started dropping little clues that you were the one stealing from all the wealthy people in town. News travelled, and when you confronted him, he shot at you. Narrowly missed, but a shot nonetheless.

In turn you stole from him; not just the material items but wads of cash themselves, even tipping off the NYPD about inner dealings. It wasn’t comparable to attempted murder, but you were certain that you’d have fun in maiming his pathetic goons.

SCREECH.

Their motorbikes skidded along the pavement as they dipped and slid into alleyways in search of you, unsure as to whether you were above, or right behind them.

In this case, it was somewhere in between.

Blood rushed to your head as you slid upside down, putting your entire faith in your trusted grappling hook.

“Looking for me?”

Jumping off the rope, you swiftly retracted the object and lobbed it into one of the men's faces, making his nose bleed. As he was stunned, you kicked him in the groin, the heel of your boot wedging into his penis.

“Fucking bitch!” One of the remaining two of them yelled, and the metallic click of a gun seemingly unlocked in your muscle memory. Using the weakened man's body as a shield, you flinched as the bullets penetrated his body, causing him to jostle and writhe like a fish out of water.

You didn’t have the time to think. Quickly sliding the gun from his back pocket, you shot at them, aim slightly off from your awkward position behind a quickly dying body. Sliding it into your holster (a new addition thanks to your recent experiences), you used your grappling hook as a lasso, knocking the two of them in the process.

“Agh!” they yelled, momentarily falling to their feet. You took off in the opposite direction, running towards the light of the main road.

One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Your feet slammed onto the ground, your mind a muddle as you hastily tossed the hook and latched it onto the branch of a tree. Just as you were about to jump, you heard an engine again.

Shit! Perhaps Hammer had sent more men than you’d thought.

Fortunately for you, that wasn’t the case. This sound belonged to a fresher, snazzier motorbike, and a black woman with yellow glasses and gorgeous, free-flowing dark curly hair was barrelling down the road, with a red and blue figure following close behind. She was shouting something – most of it incoherent under the roar of the engine and busy Manhattan streets – but you were certain you heard the word ‘Hammerhead’.

Narrowing your eyes, you scoped the scene from amongst the green leaves of the trees, watching as the two men emerged from the alley, somewhat disorientated.

“Damnit, the bitch escaped again...Boss is gonna fucking kill us!” “If that ain’t bad enough, we’ve got Spider-Man on our ass.”

Spider-Man? Now that made for an interesting turn of events.

Adjusting your mask, you took out your hook once more as you followed in pursuit of the mysterious woman and Spider-Man, smiling to yourself as you heard the criminals cry out in recognition. Swooping through the trees, traffic lights, and narrowly avoiding cars, once you felt that you were far enough ahead you dropped to the street level, somehow blending in with the sea of people that roamed the streets.

The woman on the motorbike and Spider-Man weren’t far ahead. Though his figure were blurred under his swift, powerful motions, you could tell that there was something different about this one. He was futuristic; with bright red talons and red lassos rather than the typical spiderwebs, and his suit had a neon-like glow to it, as if he’d been rendered in. Where had he come from?

“LYLA...Is the anomaly still in his initial position?” you heard the man say. Anomaly? Before you could mull it over, a yellow, glowing woman popped up beside him.

“No movements on Hammer detected. But we do have two goons that are unaccounted for...”

“What do you mean ‘unaccounted?’ How did we miss this?”

He sounded pissed.

“Black Cat’s dealing with them.”

“Black Cat? What business does a criminal have with a mafioso?” He had an accent, and the final word rolled off his tongue as he spoke. You guessed he was Spanish.

“Turn around. She might tell you --”

And with a flash she’d disappeared, leaving the man in a moment of shock and confusion. His head whipped around, and red lines on his mask – where you assumed his eyes were – widened and narrowed at the sight of you gliding through the air. It was shocking to how he hadn’t noticed you. Perhaps he was extremely well focused. Either that, or your lived up to your name. You guessed the latter.

“Jess...” he muttered, and somehow the lady heard him, her mannerisms following his own as she glanced at you.

“I’ll handle it.” She said pointedly, nodding forward so that the man could go ahead. He barely cast you a second look before taking off, causing you to frown. Seeing your opportunity for a bit of chaos, you plonked yourself on the back of her bike, the sudden weight causing her to temporarily lose her grip and making the bike jerk about.

“Sorry,” you grinned. You weren’t really. “I heard you talking about Hammer. I’m interested.”

“...And you are?”

“Your biggest help right now.”

She sighed, looking you up and down before giving in and focusing on the road. “...What’ve you got for us?”

“I don’t know where you came from, or why you’re here but you’re not alone. I’ve had a run in with Jos— Hammer myself, ‘n he’s got his henchmen on my ass right now.” you said, looking back. You couldn’t see them, but your heightened senses told you that they could see you, likely having pistol-whipped someone for a vehicle. There’d be no way they could follow you on foot.

“That’s rough.” The woman said, rather devoid of emotion. To be fair, she had just met you.

“I’m sure a gal like you has got it covered, but if you’re beating his ass, aim for the lower half,” you said proudly. “He’s practically mush down there.”

‘Jess’ paused and bit her lip.

“How do we know you’re not messing with us and setting up some kind of trap?”

You scoffed.

“I have a loaded gun in my pocket and my claws are made of metal. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now. Besides, I owe him nothing. He tried to shoot at me you know.”

You didn’t see it, but Jess cocked a brow. She didn’t know if she was impressed, annoyed, or disinterested.

Squinting, she pressed down onto the accelerator before placing one hand to her ear, presumably to radio Spider-Man.

“Miguel, we’ve got some new information…Yes, I know we don’t know her, but... Trust me, I think we’re good — No — Don’t worry, I’ll explain later. ”

“Bosses, huh?”

“He’s not all bad,” Jessica said, and her voice sounded noticeably soft. “We work very hard. It’s not easy doing what we do.”

You raised a brow. What was it with all the cryptic bullshit?

“And that is?”

She cocked her lip into a small smirk.

“You’re about to find out.”

Watching all the mess go down from a nearby fire escape hadn’t made any more sense. Whilst you’d eventually hopped off Jess’ bike and lured the goons to the ‘meeting’ spot, Jess and Miguel had found Hammer and delivered him a beating, restraining the two men with webs and a red lasso respectively.

Joseph was naturally a big guy, and it had taken the two of them to deal with the situation.

It was fascinating, really, to see that even in a crucial situation as this that he’d hung onto his morals of ‘not hitting women and children’… despite the fact he’d literally fired a bullet at you. Even with his agility, this ‘Miguel’ figure was taking most of the beating, to the point that you’d even considered stepping in.

Trust me for choosing the losing team, you’d thought. You had for sure considered things to be over, at least until the man’s mask had glitched off to reveal the side of his face. He had rich brown skin and dark hair, second only to the enticing fact that he bared fangs and had plunged them into the side of the man’s neck.

Your hands curled around the edge of the railings as he did; a euphoria coming from seeing Joseph drop to his knees. ‘Miguel’ looked spent, quickly reapplying his mask before picking up the man by the neck and restraining him.

“LYLA, scan the area.”

There was that yellow light again.

“No further anomalies. Canon remains in tact.”

And there was that word again.

The men had been arrested by the NYPD, but Joseph had suffered a different fate, his body being thrust into a psychedelic looking wormhole. You’d never truly expected one of those to exist.

“I guess my little tip worked, huh?”

The two Spider’s whipped their heads around to face you, just as the portal abruptly closed. You took a step back from the sudden gesture and tried to readjust your eyes to the natural light after the cacophony of colours.

“Thanks for your help,” Jess said with a small smile. “We’ll take it from here.”

Frowning, you crossed your arms over your chest as you took a step forward.

“You never told me what all of this was for.”

Jess looked over at Miguel, who seemed to be deliberately avoiding eye contact with the pair of you. He didn’t answer, instead continuing to type something on his watch.

“Hmm,” you grinned, eyeing the man up and down. Now that he was stationed, you could effectively see just how large he was; with a broad chest, slender torso and, admittedly, a great ass. He must’ve been almost 7’0. “

The strong, silent type. I didn’t know they made men like you anymore…”

Unknowingly, that was the phrase that got him to look at you, the red outlines of his mask giving away the fact that he’d cocked a brow. His focus was lingering, as if he were studying you. In any other circumstance, one would’ve felt uncomfortable.

“This —“he began, but cut himself off. “It doesn’t concern you.”

“It’s technical stuff, really,” Jess jumped in. “We don’t want to bore you with details.”

You shrugged. “I’ve got all sorts of time.”

The pair paused again and shared a look, but this time Miguel was the one to speak.

“We’re Spider-Man, but not from this dimension,” he began, placing his hands on his hips. “We’re not the only ones. We protect the multiverse, the thing that connects all of us. Hammerhead was going to interrupt a canon event for someone in this realm, and if he succeeded the entire universe could’ve collapsed.”

You blinked.

“…So where is he now?”

“Back at HQ, with the others. We capture them, and keep them in so it doesn’t happen again,” Jess interjected. “Consider your debts cleared for a while.”

It seemed you were stunned for the second time in a day. It seemed they’d done you a favour, no matter how unintentional.

“This multiverse thing…There are other versions of me?”

“Yes,” Miguel said quickly. “But they’re not you.”

You clicked your tongue and pouted your painted lips before stepping towards the man, who stared down at you indiscernibly. You got close; so close that you were practically peering up at him through your lashes, in awe of his abnormal size. It was as if he were some kind of athlete, like a wrestler. Lowering your voice, you cocked your head in intrigue.

“So, if I’m destined to be on this world forever, and you’re not from here…Why can’t I see you show me your face?”

His body visibly tensed, and momentarily it felt like you were the only people in the world. It was provocative, and even though you couldn’t see his face, you could tell the cogs in his mind were turning; his head slightly swaying as he lowered his chin towards you. It was sweet that he was giving in so easily. Your eye contact was unwavering, and your nose made a soft whistling sound as you breathed, trying to control your racing heart. It was almost as if he were under your spell.

“I’ll just be getting back...” Jess whispered awkwardly, pulling the two of you from your situation.

The man composed himself once more, his chest expanding as he nodded, looking beyond you and to the black woman. It was barely perceptible, but there was a small smirk on her face as she backed away.

You heard a few pixels glitching just as she disappeared into the hole, and upon turning around you’d found that he’d taken his mask off. The bastard hadn’t even given you the satisfaction of watching it happen.

Two could play at that game.

He was handsome, finely crafted, with high cheekbones and a chiselled jaw to match, piercing brown eyes and perfectly moulded lips that unfortunately were fixed into a frown. Judging by his blunt tone of voice and general demeanour, you guessed he frowned often.

“Do you do everything a woman tells you to?” you grinned, placing your hands on your hips.

“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not a threat. To us you may as well be a nobody.”

“Ouch,” you hissed, but ultimately brushed it off. You knew what kind of man he was. “I wouldn’t be so harsh. I had Hammer eating out of the palm of my hand. Imagine what I could do to you…” you cooed, to which he raised a brow.

“Estoy tan asustado.” [I’m so scared.] He said sarcastically.

Narrowing your eyes, you smirked. He was quippy, not in the upbeat, childish sense but sarcastic and aloof. Interesting.

“I can be really useful, y’know? You should let me join the team.”

He didn’t respond. His frown got deeper.

“Your skills would be better off elsewhere,” he said flippantly, now obviously bored of the conversation as he ran something into his watch. “I’m leaving. I have things to take care of.”

You rolled your eyes.

“All that science stuff, right?” You scoffed, checking your nails before you gave the man a pointed once over. “You Spiders…You’re all the same.”

That seemed to pique his attention. Glaring, it was his turn to step towards you, angling his head in a manner that signified confusion.

“ ‘Spiders?’”

You chuckled.

“That shouldn’t be a shock to you. You did say that there was more than one, right?”

He huffed, placing his hands on his hips once more.

“Yes…” he muttered.

You clicked your tongue, a knowing smirk wiped across your face as you playfully tapped his cheek.

“Then you know that this isn’t my maiden voyage.”

You stepped away with a flirtatious wink before swinging onto the rooftop above you, making your way back into the sunset. It was rare for Miguel to ever find himself dumbfounded, but this interaction had superseded his expectations. One minute the power had been in his hands, and the next it had slipped away, dropped only due to a total lack of control.

Fate was a strange concept, something that he hadn’t quite managed to wrap his head around, even after his years of studying. Black Cat (or at least a form of one) was ingrained in almost every Spider-Man’s story; the ultimate test of desire, commitment and morality, and now apparently it was time for his test.

And he hated it. Or, at the very least, it scared him.

(If you already had a Spider-Man, why had the universe brought you two together?)

Taglist: @honeyluvsatj @saturnknows @vancehopper1987

#florence writes!!#miguel o’hara x reader #miguel o’hara imagine #atsv x reader #atsv fic #black cat! reader #x black!fem!reader #x black!reader #spiderman 2099 x reader #miguel o'hara fic #atsv imagine

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ninamodaffari · 27 days ago

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Just to warn you guys -- this is a scam. You probably know it already, but most of these emails that go to your inbox offering money to either have your art in a magazine, buy it off you for Ethereum, or 'buy your piece for my wife for our wedding day' - are scams. Do not trust them, do not give away your personal information, do not send them money. They are preying on your desperation and appealing to your better nature with compliments, hoping to fool you.

IMG Caption:

Hello Nina,

I hope this email finds you wonderfully well! I'm Caleb Vaughn, an art collector from New York, and I've been utterly enchanted by your breathtaking artwork on Artstation. Your unique talent and style have truly captured my heart!

I am particularly interested in this artwork.

[artwork linked]

It resonates deeply with me, and I would be honored to make it a part of my collection. I'd like to extend an offer of 2.5 ETH to purchase this stunning piece. Moreover, I'm eager to explore the possibility of acquiring three additional artworks from your collection at the same price.

Your artistic voice is remarkable, and I'm excited about the prospect of supporting your creative journey. If you're interested, please let me know, and we can discuss the details.

Thank you for sharing your incredible art with the world. I look forward to the possibility of working together and witnessing your continued growth!

Warm regards,

Caleb,'

#art #scams #art scams #please be careful #many probably know this but maybe one of you doesn't

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subskz · 12 days ago

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heyyy mother lowk shitting myself as i send this but uhhh i made some butterfly bandage fanart cuz tht series sorta changed my life 4ever (nbd) so i wanted to pay tribute to it & you 🤞🏼 idk i'm not rly a gr8 artist but i hope ya like it

&& u also put me on disloyal order of water buffaloes from the bb playlist so u know i had to add those iconic lyrics. fire ass song.

anywayss idk if ur gonna see this but i hope ur doin good <33 miss u xoxo

oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

i am genuinely in awe right now i can’t believe this 😭 thank you so much you absolute angel i’m touched beyond belief that you would feel inspired enough by butterfly bandage to create this beautiful piece of artwork. the way you weaved themes from the story into the composition is taking my breath away every little detail about it has me so giddy i’m insane ♡_♡ the starry sky in the background, the stitches on the butterfly’s delicate wings and the red string of fate sewing it all together…it’s such a clever and stunning idea i wanna give ur brilliant mind a kiss 😭 also maybe i’m reading too much into it but the perfect symmetry of the butterfly feels like a reference to mirror souls? hehe

i also love that those are the lyrics from disloyal order that you chose to put on the pierce bc i feel like they embody the struggle in bb the most! and the sketchy white outlines of the butterfly make the drawing feel so much more raw and impactful i’m obsessed with them. each line look like a delicate little thread of its own! i wish i had the words to convey what this means to me i really feel like my heart is gonna explode every time i look at it 😭❤️‍🔥 it’s utterly gorgeous and knowing that smth i wrote compelled you to create this makes it all the more precious! it’s genuinely the most fulfulling feeling. i can’t thank you enough for taking the time to draw this and share it w me i’ll cherish it forever!!! ♡

#ask #yokeless #‘im not really a great artist’ TAKE IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!#also gonna blow up over u saying u got hooked on disloyal order!!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 that makes me so happy it’s one of my all time faves #who cares abt bb actually my greatest accomplishment is getting ppl to listen to folie a deux 😼#💌

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kismetconstellations · 5 months ago

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There are so many ways that Voltron: Legendary Defender failed its characters. From the unfathomably idiotic decision to kill Allura off in the finale, to putting Coran through the pain of losing his family twice over, to all of the "jokes" at the expense of Hunk's anxiety, weight, and stomach problems.

But, to me, the most egregious example of this will forever be the numerous ways that Shiro was mistreated, even though I fully believe that most of them were unintentional and the fault of incompetence, rather than maliciousness.

I never expected a show with a TV-Y7 rating that was made to sell toys to children to address this character's extensive trauma in any meaningful way. And, perhaps there was a push behind the scenes to sideline him in order to bring Keith to the forefront, due to Keith being the head of Voltron in previous incarnations, and Shiro essentially being a Canon Foreigner created exclusively for this series.

But, when you have: - A poorly executed attempt to recreate Shiro's fight with Zarkon in the Astral Plane, void of the stunning visuals, impressively fluid fight choreography, and emotional and narrative stakes.

(Shiro fighting the show's main villain and his predecessor hand-to-hand for control of one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, vs the Paladins fighting shadowy, faceless foes that none of them- aside from Allura- have any personal connections to or conflict with, even once their identities are revealed, with long-range weapons, inside of Honerva's head.)

- Shiro, the previously "undefeated" Champion of Zarkon's gladiatorial arena and a highly trained and skilled martial artist, being slapped across the bridge of his own ship.

-Shiro's personal abuser telling him that the arm that was forcibly grafted onto his body in an attempt to turn him into a weapon for the Galra Empire is "the strongest part" of him,

Slav, an ally, echoing the sentiment and arguing that Shiro would be "even stronger with two robotic arms", and the first half of Season Seven confirming as much by depicting Shiro standing, often completely mute, on the sidelines

until he's outfitted with a new prosthetic arm. Only then is he actively allowed to participate in combat, again, and promoted to Captain of the Atlas.

-Shiro winning an intergalactic arm wrestling tournament to prove that he isn't a washed-up retiree (at the ripe old age of twenty-six), with that prosthetic.

-Said prosthetic being a mirror of his abuser's.

-No acknowledgement of Shiro's essence being transferred into the body of his clone that is down an arm. Or, how he's coping with not only not having a right arm at all, but also having been dead for a huge chunk of time, trapped inside the consciousness of the Black Lion and watching on helplessly as someone wearing his face tried to kill everyone he loves, and then resurrected to be suddenly "retired" through no choice of his own.

-Aside, of course, from an all-too lighthearted and chipper comment on routine helping him get through "being in the infinite void of the Black Lion", and a throwaway quip about how "having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself" has left him "a little out of sorts".

-And, Shiro not getting to kill his abuser, or even best him in combat.

Instead, he lies beaten and helpless, once again, as Keith, his replacement, takes Sendak out.

It crosses the line from clumsy writing to infuriating negligence and ineptitude.

The repeated violations of Shiro's autonomy, and what seems by all rights to be unintended ableism, even though it borders on outright disrespectful, went above and beyond any terrible writing and direction that I anticipated gritting my teeth and slogging through when I decided to finally bite the bullet and watch this show. It's utterly baffling to me that no one seemed to stop and realize that, "Hey, maybe introducing and then reinforcing the sentiment that a disabled man's prosthetic is the 'strongest part' of him, and he's effectively weak and useless without it, is a bad idea", at any point in the creative process before these episodes made it to air.

I wholeheartedly believe that as much as other characters were wronged, Voltron: Legendary Defender and its notoriously hellish fanbase that was more concerned with who these characters were having sex with than the actual plot, did not deserve Takashi Shirogane.

Shiro; a gay man, ace pilot, ambitious space explorer, and scarred trauma survivor who was abducted and forced to kill for the entertainment of his captors, subjected to unimaginable torture, and had his body modified without his knowledge or consent twice, yet never let any of his experiences, no matter how grueling or dehumanizing, stop him from being gentle, compassionate, noble, brave, self-sacrificing, and everything that epitomizes a True Hero, right to the bitter end.

#Takashi Shirogane #Shiro #You're nothingness but shining and everywhere at once.#Voltron: Legendary Defender #Meta.#VLD Meta.#I hate this show and I am not kidding.#You deserved so much better #Shiro sweetie.#Infinitely better.#And I'm frustrated and saddened and deeply disappointed by all of it.

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jellolegos · 3 months ago

Note

you mentioned that palaeography in hotd can be considered your special interest, yet the only thing i know about it is that it studies writing in historical context

SO please tell me more?? was it high valyrian that sparked the interest? if it was, what moment did? and has grammar changed over the years? does it have an interrelation with cultural events? i will read literally anything you would like to ramble about

genuine curiosity of a linguistics major

and, cannot miss a chance to say, your art is absolutely utterly stunning :)

thank you in advance!

Oh of course! My apologies, I think I may have been misleading, I've mostly been interested in the type of script they are using in the show. Unfortunately I've always been a bit more numerate rather than literate (as I am certain you'll pick up on as you read my writing, it has never been my strong suit) so honestly I haven't a clue about linguistic aspects! But, I believe the creator of the languages in the HotD/GoT universe is actually on here, his blog is: @dedalvs :)

Mostly what I meant by 'Palaeography' is since we have such a lovely opportunity to see book pages in HOTD I've been very much interested in what script model the artist was attempting to imitate.

I, I think like a lot of other hobbyists of niche interests, am always interested to see what gets translated from real life to screen. Just as I'd imagine you're interested in the conlang aspects of HotD! So I've been really interested to see what they're trying to do with the books in HotD. Without futher ado...

Hotd, Palaeography, and a Needlessly Thorough Examination of a Manuscript Page

All manuscripts I talk about here have clickable digitised links, so if you want to take a peep beyond what I talk about, feel free. They are really lovely manuscripts!

Disclaimer before the yapping commences that I am a Pre-Conquest gal and most of what I'll be talking about is Post-Conquest, and also that my research at a graduate/post-graduate level has been more involved with manuscript materiality (which I am again, happy to talk about, just not on this already-overly-wordy ask), rather purely palaeographic pursuits.

I should also say that none of this analysis is significant for any reason relating to the plot; this is just an examination of the prop art!

Also I am definitely NOT an expert in any way, shape, or form, so there are absolutely things I am missing here, there, everywhere... you have been warned.

Onto the yap...

Explaining the Frame

Before I fully get into it I think it is a little bit important to establish why historians study scripts at all. In a modern world, where writing is ubiquitous and literacy rates are high, it can be sometimes hard to understand why scripts are historically consequential (and why Pre-Reaganite/Thatcherite austerity, there were such things as tenured Professors of Palaeography!).

I think the best way to frame this is to use an example:

Above are two paintings. They are depicting the military action and are created with the same tools and by artists living in the same century and a half and in broadly the same geographical location. Now, if I were to say something like 'These are both paintings of military actiom, therefore they are the same', technically I wouldn't be incorrect. But I would be missing a huge component of these pieces!

In other words, just like painting, the form is just as important as the content itself; a scribe does not simply choose to write differently one day to the next but rather scripts, like any other art form, are nuanced and just as worthy of study as the actual text itself. As vehicles of text, how that text is manipulated, displayed and otherwise portrayed, can often tell us (as historians - amateur or not) a great deal about the surrounding historical period.

So something that is important to remember as I describe what is essentially, font analysis, is that the value placed on said font in an academic context is the result of historical weight placed on script that is almost entirely alien to a world where I can easily swap between Arial and Papyrus.

So, what script do they use in the HotD manuscript??

I can tell you its most certainly attempting to imitate a form of textualis. As one of the most profuse (spatially and temporally) script models, I would say it's a great choice. I think it the popular conception of manuscripts (what a manuscript should look like), this is what people would probably choose precisely for that reason! Textualis is/was popular from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries across Europe.

MS545 -14thc.

It was developed as a documentary script (aka used for documents, such as charters) but came to be used more often in prestige non-documentary manuscripts (like liturgical volumes, or conceivably, like Nymeria's history).

A charter with the seal intact from Magdalen College, Ox

It comes in different forms called 'grades', what those 'grades' are really depends on which scholar you want to follow. From my teaching, they are precissa, quadrata, semi-quadrata, and rotunda (from highest grade to lowest grade). Without getting into too much detail, different grades of textualis are often determined by the shape of the minims (aka bottom of the letter).

(Clockwise from upper left: Precissa [all letters are terminated neatly at the baseline - MS233 -14thc], Quadrata [all letters have little diamonds at the bottom - MS545 -14thc.] Semi-Quadrata [minims with intermittent attempts at feet - MSStowe17 - 14thc] Rotunda [rounded out minims - MS Add. 2. 263]).

Part of the reason this distinction is made, both between different grades of textualis and also between scripts used for documentary text and those used for non-documentary text is because manuscripts were/are valuable objects. It will obviously take longer for a scribe to diamond off every. single. minim. than it would for them to have letters flow into each other.

Something that is often forgotten in our modern period of relative book ubiquity is that manuscripts were objects subject to market forces as much as they were art pieces or vehicles of text. All things 'manuscript', from the scribes writing it to the pigment and vellum, were subject to various degrees of scarcity and luxury (which is actually what my research is about!). Below is an example of a scribe advertising their different grades of script.

MS e.Mus 198* - 14thc.

A closer look...?

Beyond just going 'yea they kinda look similar!' (deceptively, a lot of what manuscript scholarship is, lol), I can pull out a few things point me in the textualis direction. Let's take a look at the shapes of 'O' 'N' and 'G'. Our 'o' here is distinctively six-sided, which is also present on the main body of the 'g'. The 'n' similarly has a pronounced parallel line shape, with tapering on the curves.

Generally textualis has a very compact look with attention to downstrokes and neat parallel lines creating almost a 'box' effect with the x-height (aka how tall the x's are). I'm not sure how best to explain this but there is a keen dynamism in different parts of the stroke, with drastic differences in width between various parts of the ascenders/descenders in a letterform. The thick and thin elements of a letterform (such as the short corners on the 'o' or the often hairline strokes that connect the upper loop on an 'a' to the bottom loop), are really exaggerated in these scripts in a way you don't see with other earlier or later scripts.

For reference (an oversimplification to be sure, but a helpful one! Note that some of these scripts are geographically restricted, used only in Insular or Continental scribal environs)

^ Here are some real life examples of those same letter forms (L to R - LPL MS209 13thc, LPL MS75 13th c , LPL MS545 14th/15thc,)

While textualis was one of the more popular script models, other scripts were also popular in England at this time (roughly, lol). Anglicana and then Secretary hands rose to prominence, as you can see they look quite a bit different from textualis.

(MS Ashmole 35-15thc.)

These were considered lower grade scripts, used more often for documents as they can be written more quickly (important when you have many things to write!). So if we were able to take a peek at some of those scrolls that are in the Dragonstone Library, maybe we'd be able to find HotD's equivalent.

There is some crossover between these scripts and some sticky stuff about regionality, I know very little beyond surface-level, so I'm just going to point you to the resources I linked at the end.

Am Dipl. Dan LX- 15thc. with some other ones

The broad point is that textualis is most certainly a major mediaeval script, one I believe served as reference for the HotD manuscript, but it was not the only one present during the high middle ages. Now... would this script have been used at all during the succession wars that served as HotD's inspiration...?

Inspiration and Historicity:

If we're going on what scripts would have looked like in the period of the Dance's inspiration (Empress Mathilda), I would say this particular script is a bit late. Textualis reaches its more formalised state beginning at the end of the twelfth century (really, the thirteenth but..), so a little early for Rhaenyra's/Mathilda's 1115. Instead, assuming that this is entirely like our own mediaeval period, we'd be looking at the script that precedes it, called protogothic. Here are some examples:

(MS Digby 83 - 12th c England)

(CC MS 95 -12th c England)

A vernacular hand (aka. non-Latin, here old English), may look a little different. Here's one example, in what I would call Anglo-caroline script. Again, just like our documentary/non-documentary, purpose, and cost factors weigh into the script model chosen for a piece of text, so does the language (although Anglo-caroline was not restricted to vernacular!):

(MS 180, 12th c England)

You can probably see how the more formal textualis is an evolution of protogothic, rendered more professionally as the high middle ages came to pass. There is definitely a lot of interesting discussion about how script models take hold as lay literacy rates increase, as scribal practice begins to move from monasteries and limited courtly settings to 'professional scribes', but I won't get into it here.

The Critique (that no one asked for):

If I had to give an artist who did the HOTD prop a few pointers (my opinion that they definitely didn't ask for + I think they did great overall + mandatory 'script is highly variable, some of these pointers may not apply'), I would say the following:

1. Textualis in the real world, generally but not always, tends to have a two compartment 'a', it retains this from protogothic which in turn stole it from Anglo-caroline. Scripts in England prior to Anglo-caroline (which was a combination Anglo [English/Insular] and caroline [Continental/Carolingian] - see timeline above) more often used single compartment 'a's, so the dual compartment is a bit of a bigger deal.

MS Douce 366- 13thc

2. 'S' letterforms in textualis tend to be very compact. They often come in two shapes, the 'long s' and our more familiar 's' shape. In both forms there is attention to maintaining a compact figure, so when you have an entire page the x-height is strictly adhered to. By having some extra little whirly lines, the page image in the HotD manuscript is less neat overall. One exception tends to be sentence-initial 'S' letterforms, which are exaggerated because they start the sentence.

MS Bodl476- 13thc

Above are three 's' letterforms, spelling 'zacharias. Susci-(tavit-cutoff). We finish 'zacharias' with a familiar s. The next sentence starts with an exaggerated word-initial 's' which is purposefully larger and with significant spurs to signal the start of the sentence. Finally, we also have a 'long' s which looks like an l with an overhang, or an 'f' without the cross. You'll notice that the first 's' does not exceed the height of anything else in the word. Similarly, the 'long' s generally fits with the aspect of the script model, made with a thick downstroke. Only the second 'S', which is the largest, is purposefully flared to start the sentence.

On rewatching, we do get something similar-ish to majuscule letters to start sentences on other pages

It may seem a little silly, but I think the HotD script lacks this same internal logic and the flairs, which aren't technically incorrect, work against the overall appearance of the page, rendering it messier.

3. Some addtl. silly ones: 'i's in textura are not frequently dotted, those marks above letters are abbreviation marks e.g. p(er), domin(us). 'T's are usually crossed at the top rather than the middle until the late mediaeval period (again, carry over from previous scripts). Plausibly, it could look like this one from the lower Rhineland, which is less attached to that compact look overall:

MSDouce 185- 14thc.

But you'll notice a few things. The 'i's are marked with hairline marks (Michelle Brown calls these 'a light serif'), not the big dots we get with the HotD manuscript, and those 't' bars are really pretty high with exception where one letter flows into the next ('noctis' and 'peste' in line 1, 'est' with a long 's' is one I also often see with a high t bar).

A lot of this criticism on the letterforms, which is most certainly very annoying (who really gives a fuck), again just comes down to the fact that all historical scripts had an internal logic to them, and so these tiny tweaks could make the page as a whole look a little better.

4. There appears to be a great deal of space (imo too much) between the lines of text. Vellum is expensive! Even when there is deliberate space left empty in manuscripts, its not generally between the lines of text; the goal is to be relatively economical with your space, keeping significant breaks in text for mostly 1) thematic changes (ends of chapters, verses, etc.) 2) poetry lineation 3) dramatic visual effect.

(MS 52 - 9thc, - notice how space is filled with punctuation and drawn out terminal strokes to keep the diamond shape [dramatic visual effect], MS218 - 10thc. [poetry lineation])

5. Very very annoying but: in my opinion would be very difficult to rip a manuscript the way that Rhaenyra is able to. There is a very good reason why we have so many manuscripts from 1400 years ago, and that is because those things are BEASTS. There's definitely a phenomenon of survivorship bias, but any royal manuscript would be made with a well prepared skin and would be very difficult to tear.

I am aware that the very clear message of the scene is Rhaenyra's disregard for history and norms (literally ripping apart the annals of history with her bare hands), I wonder if we could have the same effect but with Rhaenyra pulling out a pen-knife or the like. She would still be destroying the manuscript, just with the weapons of war rather than with her hands.

Example of embroidery to repair a manuscript (Morgan Library)- Again, absolute beasts compared to modern books.

On manuscript physics...We also see one of the manuscripts have this wild separation between the text block and the spine:

Unlike modern book manufacturing, manuscripts usually have a very solid connection between the text block and the spine. This might be harder to verbalise than it is to show, so...The House of Stopan has lovely videos of the process, which I will be stealing for example here. Pages are sewn together on "cords":

Those cords are then cut short and frayed, then pulled through the book boards (which were usually actual pieces of thin wood, here however he's using a thicker cardboard). They're then glued to the boards.

A piece of leather (or other material), is then draped over and glued to the spine + on the outside of the boards. Those points of elevation on the spine, which I've seen added for purely aesthetic reasons in modern books (such as collector's editions), in manuscripts are actually the leather being smoothed over and shaped to the cords underneath.

The leather/material is prepared specifically so it conforms to the text block beneath. Pieces of thin cardboard or supporting material may be added between the cords on the spine.

If we take a look at this intact 11th c. Greek binding (sorry, only one I could find available!) you can actually still see the cords. In other words, I believe that an entire separation of the text block from the spine wouldn't really be plausible with a high grade manuscript (such as a courtly copy). I am no expert on manuscript manufacture, but within my knowledge of bookmaking, it stood out to me a bit! Happy to be corrected on this one especially :]

MS1175- 11thc

6. If I had to make one final note, so much of the series emphasises the fact that this is 200 years before GoT. There are attempts to archaeise various aspects of the keep and the armour. I would personally choose a script model that is a little older. I think there was probably a choice made about how accessible they wanted the manuscript text to be (so that dweebs like myself could actually read what's on the page), and I think using a slightly older script model like uncial/half-uncial would still reach that benchmark while appearing 'older'.

The Rushworth Gospels- 9thc.

Quite strangely enough Merlin, for all its historical inaccuracy actually does a really good job of hitting most of those notes I mentioned above (two compartment a's, neatly written 's's, etc.). Whether this would've been the actual script model used in Merlin's actual period is a whole different thing... and actually closer to my research interests!

As I mentioned at the beginning, I am not an expert in any sense of the word. For further reading you can check out Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500, Cambridge History of the Book in Britain Series, A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 (although the plates kinda suck ass so beware.. the tragedies of photocopy technology), as really lovely books/series if you are interested! I find them to be very approachable reading for specialists/non-specialists alike and they are written by really the people who actually know about these things.

Scene.

#misc #asks

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shotgunbunny · 2 years ago

Text

Cherry wine

Bunny walks the aisle

WC:3.2k+ GIF by cevanscentral

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5

[dark! cult leader!Ari Levinson x airhead!Reader]

[warnings: will have dubcon/noncon, cult aspects, 6'6 Ari, Older man and younger woman, reader is over 18!, will have murder, violence etc. air head reader!, busty reader, basically bimbo reader!]

[this chapter: so very culty, strange behaviour from everyone, manipulation, a wedding, reader finally seeing something wrong, blood, Literally the whole wedding it's so culty.]

The day was finally here, and the town was somber yet enthusiastic. It was such a strange mix, the air being cold and the people being sad yet the sun was shining on your skin making you warm and everyone you passed was smiling. There was something strange occurring yet you didn't know what it was.

You allowed the somber buzz of the crowds become music to your ears as you got ready to wed the towns messiah. You were so very nervous everything had gone by so fast, and you had learned so much. You felt your heart racing in your chest mix with the sinking feeling in your stomach. Something was so very wrong today. Yet it was meant to be your wedding day, the happiest day of your life. So why didn't you feel the happiness?

You took a deep breath, the wedding was at night in the chapel that had an open top that allowed for the snow to blast in and coat the pews with it's soft white blanket appearance. It also meant that while flecks of snow floated into the ceremony, the stars would bleed their light above you. It was very beautiful from the sounds of it, but it was so very odd. The cold atmosphere that was supposed to unite you under the darkness.

You looked up into the mirror in front of you and sighed, releasing all your nerves with your breath and reached to grab the hairbrush. You halted, your hand hovering above the handle, you stared looking at your nails and how beautiful they were. Ari had taken you to get them done, and they were utterly stunning. They were painted white with a design that made it look like it was lace, it was so delicate. You strayed your eyes to your finger that held the ring that Ari had proposed to you with. It was starting to feel heavy and only then did it truly hit you how short of a time you'd known Ari.

You might be an airhead but at least you come to realise the short passage of time that had occurred between you and the strange man that you were meant to marry soon. Your heart pumped faster and your averted your eyes to your reflection. This was a mistake, and you didn't know what to do. You couldn't run away, the whole town was under Ari's boot and if he heard about your runaway attempt he would stomp down and make sure you were stopped.

Your doubts tumbled on even when the women came in to help you get ready. You remained silent and quite like a doll while the makeup artist did her work at trying to make you look like an angel. You saw the shimmer on your eyelid and the painted lips you were adored with. You looked utterly stunning. Your face was smoothed out and a light blush applied as well as a small bit of contour. But your eyes were the most captivating part. You lashes were modest but you still had a doe eyed look, mixed with the glitter and the small dark under eye makeup, you looked innocent.

Next was your hair, You had no idea what they were going to do, but when they were done, you stared at the results. Utterly perfect, that seemed to be all you looked like.

Yet you didn't care, your heart was still hammering over the wedding that was to occur and how you had no way of stopping it. A tap on your shoulder notified you that it was time to get into your dress and prepare for the end of your independence. You rose and took the covered dress and headed into the bathroom where a long mirror stood. You unzipped the protector and a piece of paper tumbled out. You placed the dress on the hanger behind the door and went for the paper.

You picked it up and unfolded it, Ari had written you a note and your heart raced even harder. 'My love, My bunny. This dress I have given you is a family heirloom, all the women have worn the dress when getting married and now it's your turn. I'll be waiting for you at the altar. Yours forever, A.'

You stared at the dress, you could tell it had been modified many times for the different types of women in the Levinson family, and now it has been modified you. You stared, and took breaths slow and deep to calm your heart. After calming down you took the coat gently off the rack and slowly you stepped into it and pulled it up. When you had adjusted it so it fit comfy and held you perfectly and dared to look at your refection.

Your breath was taken from your lungs, the lace sleeves were gorgeous as well as the plunging neckline that was glamourised with more lace. The dress was so long that when you walked you knew it would trail behind you. You looked like a Goddess.

You closed your eyes, even if things were indeed moving so incredibly fast, Ari had promised his love solely for you. And this amount of commitment was positive. You just hoped that all the secrets that wouldn't cause damage to your relationship were out and not lurking behind any nasty corners. You gulped, if that did happen you could atleast be a trophy wife that spend her husbands money and finds happiness in objects, your heart ached at that though. If things ever went wrong in the future, you would prepare a plan on a way to escape and not get caught. But for now, you had to get on with the happiest day of your life.

You walked out and heard the gasps of awe. You smiled and span, you then saw one of the women rise and dig out a long veil. You recognised her as the woman that did your hair, she smiled as she walked towards you, you bowed and tilted your head, presenting your scalp to her. She gently placed the veil on your head and sighed dreamily when you brought your head up. You pushed the veil over you head and smiled.

"Oh! Are there any shoes?" The other women laughed at you, and you looked down shyly before the make up artist placed a soft hand on your shoulder. "Honey, in the ceremony you walk bare foot down the aisle over the petals. Don't worry, your feet will be covered by your dress and Ari made sure every step you take is safe." Your heart started racing again. You truly were not ready for what was going to occur. You had no idea what this ceremony was, and that small voice of your friends from another town, echoed in your head, "It's a cult! Your whole town is totally in a cult!". Oh god. What if it was true, it can't be. The Gods everyone worshipped always provided miracles, always something that no human could do.

You took a breathe and quickly blinked back the tears that slithered into your eyes. You closed you eyes to stop them coming out and kept then closed. You smiled and let yourself day dream instead about how handsome Ari would look. You opened your eyes, a smile still on your face and the thought of Ari waiting for you at the end of the aisle with so much love and adoration let you forget about the crisis that occurred in your brain. "I'm ready to get married." A chorus of cheers danced around the room and you looked at the time it was 8pm. Time had moved so fast while you were thinking about the occasion. So fast that you had to go to the chapel in an hour.

It was beyond anything you had ever imagined. The pillars that stood at the altar were so big and beautifully made. The aisle was littered with white petals and a small sprinkling of snow. It looked as if heaven had shined down some of its beauty onto Earth. Your heart raced fasted as you took in all the guests. All dressed in black or red making them contrast the occasion even further. Your eyes looked around for your parents when you felt your heart shatter.

Ari had told you that didn't want to come, that they would rather die than see their awful child marry a man who was a God. You felt tears gather in your eyes, why would your parents abandon you on the best day of your life and say such nasty things. The inkling of doubt you felt earlier raised up inside you and you fought it down. You couldn't run away now. You were here and everyone would see you leaving. Especially Ari.

You dragged your eyes up to look at him and your breathe was swept away at how truly handsome he was. He stood tall, dressed in a black suit with a black shirt underneath to show off his white tie that matched with your dress. You saw he had shoes on and your curiosity grew even further. Why was he in shoes and you barefoot? What was this ceremony?

Your thoughts were cut off quickly when gentle piano music started playing. The song was so delicate and soothing. You turned and saw all the bridesmaids walk down the aisle and take a seat on the front row next to the groomsmen. You took in a breathe and smiled at the strange older woman who was meant to walk you down the aisle. She wasn't Ari's mother, infact she wasn't even related to Ari but apparently she knew him incredibly well. She brought your veil over your face

She flashed you a smile back and gave you a small bouquet of red roses and looped her arm through yours. The music suddenly stopped and a deep guitar played a slow tune that sounded so somber and gentle. The crowd all silenced, so that not even a breath was heard you knew it was time to begin walking. You took a deep breathe in and began walking with the woman who you were currently connected to. You kept your head down looking at the white floor and dragged your feet against it feeling speckles of cold and softness graze your underfoot.

You finally reached the steps and turned to the strange woman and gave here your bouquet to hold. She accepted them and left to sit down. You looked up and began to climb the marble steps still decorated in petals and snow. Ari held his hand out and you shakily accepted, standing beside him in front of a man who looked like a priest but was dressed purely in red and held a book that was encased in a solid, gold cover.

Ari looked down at you and squeezed your hand before he moved the veil over your head and gasped. "You look look utterly perfect bunny. So very beautiful." You smiled softly and gulped. It was too late, you were doomed something was so very wrong and you could never escape. The priest then began to speak whilst Ari retook your hand and held it firmly in his large hand.

Your brain blocked out the words of the priest finding his repeated words of love and respect mundane. You were finally snapped out of it when you saw movement behind you and watched as Ari brought your conjoined hands Infront of your faces and spread them. You admired momentarily just how small your hand was compared to his and then looked at the two young boys the approached the altar you were under holding rope. You looked at Ari feeling your heart race and panic settle in.

"It's fine my love. You'll see, there's absolutely nothing to fear." You closed your eyes letting yourself settle in this situation. You opened them again and saw Ari looking at you with soft eyes, you returned them and watched as the two boys gave the rope to the priest. He then tied your hands together tight. You decided that now you were going to listen to every word that man says scared that something strange will occur again.

"These beings are now united, but we must see if the fire of the world will destroy their love that unites them." You watched as the priest lit a match and your heart raced incredibly fast allowing for panic to fill your face again Ari simple cooed at you. Your stared at his calm face and then at the match that touched the rope. You stared as it lit and burned it. It hurt for a minor second, like a prick of a needle and you watched in fascination as the rope flashed with fire and the died down, still completely intact.

Your mouth gaped open at what just occurred. The rope should be burnt and so should you hand as well as Ari's yet everything was still intact and perfect. You brought your gaze back to him and he stared at you smugly. The priest then brought his wrinkled hands towards the rope and undid the knot that tied you with Ari. Yet your hands remained together. You clutched at his hand needing his support and strength to get you through this strange ceremony that was fogging your brain up.

"Their love can take any heat that comes their way. This has been shown. They are strong together. They will always remain united under each and every storm and will always embrace one another after each and every day. This love is pure and undying, this love is one we all wish for. Ari's very heart pumps blood purely for her and her blood runs only for him. Which is why they must exchange it. They must taste the very liquid which bonds them as soul mates, they must consume the liquid that has been in their hearts so that they can taste the heart of their lovers without causing harm."

Your confusion had grown even more. The priest stood aside and you saw a small table behind him and on it sat a chalice that was decorated in rubies and diamonds. It was gorgeous. You looked and saw a matching dagger. You looked up at Ari, and he smiled down at you adoringly. He led you to the small table and brought your hand to his lips where he placed a tender kiss. You watched enchanted by his grace and beauty as he picked up the gorgeous weapon. He laid your palm flat in his hand and then dragged the knife across your skin, harsh and fast. A hiss of pain left your lips as you watched the blood quickly rise out of the slice.

Ari grabbed your hand and squeezed your blood into the chalice. You watched as it dripped a fair amount into it, when you heard the sound of the blade running across Ari's skin. You stared as you watched him make his hand into a fist and squeeze the blood that was oozing out of his cut into the chalice. Your blood was mixing together and when the goblet was half way filled, Ari drew your hands away. He quickly wrapped your hand up in a bandage ensuring it was tight and didn't cover up your ring finger. He then did the same and led you back to your previous positions under the altar.

The priest then took the goblet and stood infront of you both holding it out. "Their blood is mixed, just like their hearts. Their fates intertwined. When the drink from this cup they shall be each others for eternity. Their love will never cease and they will forever belong to one another." He then presented the chalice to Ari. Ari released your hand and gently took the goblet and drank. Your heart fell into your stomach. You didn't want to drink blood. You didn't want to do this no matter how beautiful it was. This was sick.

Before you could even say no, Ari had placed the rim of the goblet against your lips and tipped the liquid down your throat. You tasted metal, and held back the gag in your throat and swallowed. When it was all gone, Ari pulled it away and gave the chalice back to the older man. You saw the blood on Ari's bottom lips and reached up to swipe it away. Ari smiled and then wiped the blood away from your plump, painted lips.

"Now the binding of the rings." A young girl dressed in a cute pink dress then walked up the aisle and presented you both with rings that was on a read pillow. Ari took a ring and placed it on your finger, he then nodded at you. You softly smiled at the girl and took the ring watching her quickly scamper away before you slide the ring on Ari's hand. You stared up at him pleadingly, begging for this strange ceremony to be over. He simply squared his shoulders and turned to face the man too.

"Now they have consumed their love, they have accepted each other. They will never leave one another out and will always worship one another as if they were God's themselves. This love will please the ones we worship and will bring us all peace. Wherever these two journey, love shall follow as they are soulmates. I now pronounce you man and wife. I present to you all, Mr and Mrs. Levinson. You may now kiss your bride."

You watched in slow motion as Ari brought his lips down to yours. You closed your eyes and kissed him back. You looped your arms around his neck and pretended that this wasn't some strange ceremony, but infact a loving wedding with a normal husband. You felt him pull away and stare down at you, looking at you as if you were the only thing truly holding him down to the world.

"I love you so much bunny. You did so good for me. I promise that I will make every day amazing for you. I will get you the moon and the sun. You are mine my love just as I am yours. I am your slave from now til the end of time." He placed his forehead against yours and smiled, you couldn't help but smile back, finally feeling the love you had cherished for him surround you. All your doubts vanished, yes you had an incredibly weird wedding but there was worse and it brought Ari so much closer to you.

You let out a squeal as he picked you up bridal style. He leaned down and kissed you once more. "Let's go Mrs. Levinson, it's time for me to join you in being barefoot too." He winked at you and your nerves fired up knowing that tonight was the night you were going to consummate your marriage. He strolled down the aisle holding you tightly before he put you in the passenger seat of his car. You placed your hand on your heart. Trying to slow it down. And closed your eyes, preparing for tonight.