#heavily referenced from the video linked

[adovesheart]

firefly flicker with 86 :3

86 - Audit

Maybe I shouldn't, though I know I shouldn't, though If it becomes a problem, if it seeps in my bones Nobody has to know Nobody has to know

[theerurishipper]

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"So, I talked to Clark today."

"Hm," Bruce grunts, as the voice of his eldest fills the Batcave. He has a brief idea of what this is about.

"What did you do, Bruce?"

Bruce leans back in his seat. "When Superman first created an account on Twitter, Clark figured it would only be a matter of time before Luthor followed suit. So, he approached me for help. He had the idea of taking up every handle that Luthor could possibly use for himself." He pauses. "I thought it was childish and irresponsible."

"Naturally."

"Nevertheless, I helped him out by developing a program that would generate all possible combinations of usernames involving the words "Lex" and "Luthor." It developed all possible combinations by cross-referencing—"

"I get the jist, thanks."

Bruce grunts. "So we generated the usernames, and Clark used the Batcomputer and his superspeed to create all the accounts. That very night, Luthor created his own account without being able to use 'Lex Luthor' in his name."

Dick whistles, and he can hear another voice whooping in the background. "I see Tim is visiting Bludhaven."

Dick ignores the change in subject. "Wait, is that the day I found the Batcomputer keyboard completely annihilated? Because you and Clark wanted to pull a fast one on Luthor?"

"...There were a lot of usernames."

"Well played, B! I didn't know you had it in you! I apologize for all the times I called you humorless."

"Hm."

"So that's why you and Clark were giggling so much that morning, huh?"

Bruce stills. "I didn't... giggle."

Dick laughs on the other side, while Haley's barks and Tim's laughter filter in from the background. "I heard you, Bruce. I was there."

"At 6 in the morning?"

"Yeah, I wanted to use the bars in the cave, but when I showed up, the both of you were bent over the Batcomputer giggling about something." He chuckles lightly. "I didn't say anything because I knew you wouldn't tell me anyway."

"Hn."

"Oh, chill out. So I saw you being a human being, big deal." Dick sounds exasperated, but Bruce can hear the smile in his voice. He allows himself a small one as well.

"Hm."

"So, was it worth it?"

Bruce thinks about the way Luthor's face had turned red with rage, so red that he could make it out with startling clarity even from the heavily pixelated picture Clark had sent him. The picture, of course, had been taken when he'd gone over to LexCorp as Superman to discreetly spy through Luthor's window and enjoy his reaction in real time.

"It was."

Amidst Dick's snickers, Tim's voice pipes up. "For amateurs, it was a solid prank, Bruce. But I think it's time to take it to the next logical step."

Bruce stops. He takes a moment to think about the millions of possible consequences and ramifications that this could lead to. He considers his options. He comes to a definitive decision.

"I'm listening."

-

Here's the link to the video Bruce linked if anyone is interested. It's actually really funny, I recommend checking it out.

First <- Part 4 <- Part 5 -> Part 6

Masterpost

[catfrogz]

More baby AM - I headcannon that since Ellen was a computer engineer, she helped create him.

Also! This drawing is heavily referenced from a picture! Here’s the link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educational-computer-system-from-the-60s-shaped-the-future/

[lilmisssammy]

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!

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!

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!

[bonefall]

So, I'm writing an essay on the whole STATE of misogyny in WC for one of my university classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things! No pressure of course, please feel free to say no!

A) Could I reference your good takes with appropriate harvard referencing and links back to your blog?

B) Are there any specific moments from the books that you think should be covered the most?

C) The end result will be a visual essay, so it's like those fun infographics people on Tumblr make on like ADHD and stuff, so when it's done, would you like to be tagged to read it?

(Sorry for anon, I'm nervous lmao, but if you'd be more comfortable I'll resend this off anon)

AAY good topic! You've got a lot to work with. Absolutely feel free to reference anything I've written, and tag me when you're done.

While you're here and about to write something so legitimate, I'm also going to recommend you check out Sunnyfall's video on gender in Warrior Cats. She breaks down the arcs into numbers, directly comparing the amount of lines mollies have to toms, and examining the archetypes women are usually allowed to be.

I think it's a must-have citation in a paper about WC misogyny.

...and, I think it's insightful to look at the WCRP Forum thread about the video. Note how the respondents immediately come into the thread to complain about how the video is too long so they didn't watch it, dismissing Sunnyfall as not being entertaining enough to hold their attention, even whining that she starts with statistics to prove her point, which I'm convinced she did exactly because they would have cried that she "had no evidence" if she didn't.

I am not a scholar, so I don't know how to document or prove that the books have an impact on the audience outside of anecdotes. But I think if you do write a section about fandom, it would be worth mentioning the in-universe and metatextual apologia for Ashfur and its reflection in the real world discourse, the authorial killing of Ferncloud because of fan complains, and the utter defensiveness against the discussion of misogyny you see outside of Tumblr.

You may also want to check out Cheek by Jowl, a collection of 8 essays about sexism in xenofiction by Ursula K. Le Guin. There's a very unique manifestation of authorial bias in animal fiction, having a lot to do with how the author views "the natural world," and it's worth understanding even though Warrior Cats are so heavily anthropomorphized.

So... Warrior Cats Misogyny

I think discussing individual instances can be helpful, but I'd implore you to keep in mind what's REALLY bad about WC's misogyny is framing and the bigger picture.

Bumble's death is shocking and insulting, but it's not just that she died. It's that the POV Gray Wing sees her as a fat, useless bitch who took his mate so she deserves to be dragged back to a domestic abuser, and he's right because the writers love him so much. It's that Bumble's torture and killing only factors into how it's going to hurt a man's reputation.

It's how Clear Sky hitting, emotionally manipulating, or killing the following women,

Bright Stream (pressured into leaving her home and family)

Storm (controlled her movements and yelled at her in public)

Misty (killed for land, children stolen)

Bumble (beaten unconscious, blamed nonsensically on a fox)

Alder (child abuse, hit when she refused to attack her brother)

Falling Feather (scratched on the face, subjected to public abuse and humiliation)

Tall Shadow (thrown into murderous crowd, attacked on-sight in heaven)

Rainswept Flower ("blacked out" in anger and murdered in cold blood)

Moth Flight (scratched on the face for saying denying medical treatment is mean, taken hostage in retaliation against mother for the death of his own child, which he caused)

Willow Tail (eyes gouged out for "stirring up trouble")

Is seen as totally understandable, forgivable, or not even questioned at all, when killing Gray Wing in an act of rage would have been "one step too far" with the ridiculous Star Line.

"Kill me and live with the memory, and then let the stars know it would only matter if a single one of your murder victims was a man."

It's the way that fathers who physically abuse their kids out of their ego (Clear Sky, Sandgorse, Crowfeather) aren't treated anywhere near the same level of narrative disgust and revulsion the series has for "bad moms", even if they're displaying symptoms of a post-partum mood disorder (depression, anxiety, and rage), an umbrella of mental illnesses 20% of all new mothers experience but are heavily stigmatized with (Sparkpelt, Palebird, Lizardstripe).

It's Crookedstar's Promise giving him two evil maternal figures in a single book, while bending over backwards to make every man in a position of power still look likeable in spite of the fact they're enabling Rainflower's abuse. Leader Hailstar is soso sorry that he has to change Stormkit's name for some reason, in spite of leaders being unaccountable dictators the other 99% of the time, and Deputy Shellheart functionally does nothing to stop his own son from being abused or even do much parenting before or after the fact.

It's the way men's parental struggles are seen sympathetically, and they don't have to "pay for it" like their female counterparts (Crookedstar's PPD vs Sparkpelt's PPD, how Daisy and Cinders are held responsible for Smoky and Whisper being deadbeats, Yellowfang's endless guilt for killing her son vs Onestar's purpose in life to kill his own), even to the point where a father doesn't have to have raised their kids at all to have a magical innate emotional connection to them (Tree's father Root, Tom the Wifebeater, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost).

It's less speaking lines and agency for female characters, being reduced to accessories in the lives of their mates and babies, women getting less diversity in their personalities, with even major ex-POV characters eventually becoming "sweet mom" tropes.

You could zoom in on any one of these examples and have an amoeba try to argue with you that "Oh THIS makes sense because X" or "Ah well my headcanon perfectly explains this thing" or "MY mother/girlfriend was abusive/toxic/neglectful and I've decided that you are personally attacking ME by having issues with how a character was written or utilized," but the beleaguered point,

That I keep trying to hammer in, over and over, across books worth of posts,

Is that these are trends. More than just a couple one-off examples. It's the fabric that has been woven over years, showing a lack of interest in, or even active prejudice of, women on behalf of the writers.

LONG STANDING trends, which have only gotten worse as the series progressed. From Yellowfang being harshly punished with a born evil son who ruins her life in TPB and the mistreatment of Squirrelpaw that begins in TNP, all the way up to the 7 Fridgenings of DOTC and Sparkpelt's PPD being a major character motivator for her son Nightheart.

So, I would stress that in your paper, and structure it less as "the Sparkpelt slide" and "the Yellowfang slide," and more as "The paternal vs maternal abuse" slide, and "the violence against women" slide. They're really big issues, there's tons of examples for each individual thing.

Anyway to leave off on a funny, look at this scene in Darkest Hour that I find unreasonably hilarious,

"Everyone who matters to me; my truest friend, my sensible and loyal warrior, the wisest deputy I've ever known, and 2 women." -Firestar, glorious idiot

He can't even think of a single trait for either of them what the hell does "formidable pair" mean lmaooo, when I finished a reread about a year ago this line killed me on impact.

[rosyronkey]

hi! i wrote an essay about rosy ronkey and her clothes, and i hypothesized what time period i think shes from/inspired by ^^ below if you wanna read more :))

ive been fixated (or had a special interest or whatever you want to call it) on rosy ronkey for a YEAR today. i've always been pretty interested in her outfit from an aesthetically pleasing point of view, but recently i wanted to see if i could find any trends and time periods in the inspirations of her clothes, which is what this essay is about! it’s going to be an explanation of most of her clothes, top to bottom, from what i can assume with the research i've done. i say research, but i probably don’t have the best sources? they’ll be linked below, but it was really more cross-referencing than anything else lol

i reached out to annie montgomerie for comment/criticism, but she’s obviously very busy and i enjoyed my research from a subjective point of view :)

basic specs on rosy (no one else but me cares): looking at rosy, the only zoomorphic, or animal looking, aspect of hers is her head. judging by proportions and cross-referencing, she looks to have the body of an american girl doll. this is just what i’ve noticed, but annie’s most recent stuff is way less anthropomorphized compared to rosy and the group she was made with. looking at annie’s most recent exhibit, hand me downs, every single piece is completely animal, with hand-sculpted claws, paws, wings and hooves. some of these dolls legs still look like american girl doll legs, but most everything else is animalistic. this isn’t important, but i just thought id mention it because artists’ growth over time is cool!

starting with her coat, it looks like a double-breasted red childrens’ coat with two rows of two buttons each. these kinds of coats are still available today, but i could find the closest matches by looking at 1920s childrens’ coats, specifically rothschild coats. the rothschild family has a long and complicated history, but all that’s important to know is that they are new york based (which doesn’t totally fit my assumptions about her; in general i assume all of annie montgomerie’s dolls are british because of her nationality) and they’ve been in business for over 100 years. by cross-referencing the growing style of double-breasted coats in the 1920s, and the style of rothschild childrens’ coats in ads from the time, i feel like it’s easy to assume rosy's character has this coat, or at least was very heavily inspired by it.

a theory i’ve seen before is that the ticket on her coat is a luggage label. these were used during WWII to evacuate british children during the blitz. the history press site says luggage labels listed “name, school and evacuation authority,” and is also where i got most of my information. i want to tentatively deny this theory. i'm pretty sure the ticket is an annie montgomerie staple opposed to a part of rosys' character. she's shown with the tag in the yorkshire sculpture park video, and on gerard way’s website, but she’s missing it in all the photos posted by annie montgomerie herself on facebook and instagram. almost every single annie montgomerie piece on display or for sale has a tag as well. i love this theory, and it’s probably what got me interested in researching her outfit in the first place, but i don’t think i could prove it if i tried.

other than the ticket, she has white roses on the left side of her coat and some smaller twigs? sticks? pinned to her collar. white roses symbolize purity, youthfulness, innocence, and in some contexts, respect for the departed. i couldn’t find any historical photos of children with roses in their outfits, but across the board that was the result i got for their meaning. i can’t discern what she has on her right collar for the life of me, if someone else can figure this out, PLEASE tell me

her dress is pink, with a cinched embroidered waist and a peter pan collar. peter pan collars became popular in the 1920s, and have been a staple of childrens’ dresses since (sources for this one were a few blogs and wikipedia, but also some ads, so i feel pretty confident with it.) some ads for girls’ dresses in the 1920s had the same soft pleats and embroidered waist as seen on rosys’ dress. i don’t think there’s a meaning behind the color, except that it compliments the red coat and her fur.

her stockings are standard, I couldn’t find much special meaning behind them, british children have been wearing stockings forever, and for girls especially, stockings became more popular in the 1920s as dresses got shorter. usually they were sheer and nude, and rosys’ look like the gray kind kids wear today, but i think it’s still period appropriate to an extent. her shoes look like red mary janes for american girl dolls, just more scuffed and dirtied. mary jane shoes themselves have been around for a while (called “bar shoes” originally,) but they got their name in 1904. in one of the first drafts for this, i read the fairy tale “the red shoes” to see if it offered any insight. i thought it’d be fun to relate, but it’s just a popular danish fairy tale, and it was hard for me to entertain the idea for long.

TLDR: i think rosy ronkeys outfit is inspired by british 1920s fashion!

that’s all I have! i apologize if this was underwhelming or overwhelming or whatever, i had no model to base this off of and the only tumblr essays i read are from my friends <3 i hope you enjoyed! i love rosy ronkey!

link to my dumbfuck google doc with all the links and braindump on it :)

[ooctlt]

about | all art/answered asks | TUTORIAL | ko-fi

dont tag campal as romantic under any reblogs. theyre not romantic here and i dont like my art to be interpreted that way.

DISCLAIMER: there is always the possibility that the characters here will not take your question well. they might answer rudely or dismissively, and their answers are heavily opinionated. instigating behavior is not only encouraged but expected on both ends. this does not reflect my personal opinions as the artist.

updates are posted on the weekend and will be tagged with keywords relating to the question. please search for existing answers before sending an ask! PREVIOUSLY ANSWERED/VAGUE ASKS WILL BE DELETED.

WILL NOT ANSWER: advice asks (ex: my ex broke up with me what should i do, i graduated college what next, do you have any art/study tips) "reaction" asks (ex: x is funny for that, i loved xyz post, x is feral) are seen and appreciated but wont be posted; "recommendation"/hyperspecific asks (ex: can you guys rec your favorite brands of jam, can you pick my next car, what is your least favorite part about 3rd year med school) require me to do the research for the characters, which takes a lot of time; asks referencing real life shows/video games/comics (ex: have you read homestuck/played minecraft) for the same reason mentioned previous, plus it relies on my existing knowledge of the media. also i do not want there to be discourse on these fictional characters having opinions on more fictional characters improv/"yes and" types of asks (examples linked here.) although they are entertaining, you are assuming a lot about the setting and characters, most of which is wrong, and i cannot answer them for this reason. even if on the off chance someone assumes something perfectly right, i dont want to filter through a lot of hit and misses

if you want to ask something OOC, feel free to send it to @notedchampagne or simply state so in the ask - this allows me to compile answers to post in groups as to not clog the comics

i check in on the #ooctlt tag from time to time! i love seeing theories and thoughts

[mistilteinn-magolor]

kirbtober day 3: song

hey uh. hey chat. what if i Cried 😭

double song reference here: juno's cover of supreme ruler's coronation and the only house that's not on fire (yet) by lemon demon's lyric "a picture of you, killing me with deja vu" because i heavily associate that song with magolor. btw 😁

image i referenced this from from juno's supreme rulers coronation cover under the cut adn also the video link !!:

[edelblau]

do you ever get bizarrely invested in a very specific concept based on a specific interpretation of a character in a specific setting and specific circumstances and have to play it out over and over? me neither. anyways here's my monodrama hamukos. (link to the monodrama video!)

(note: both of these were heavily referenced from screencaps of the mv. a lot was redrawn and altered, but a lot (hands. hands. hands) were directly traced for the sake of making these look 'right'. this is not my usual process, just done specifically for this project!!! it feels weird adding this disclaimer but i dont want people to misunderstand or think im trying to hide this. ok love you bye.)

(ko-fi | art twitter | comms post)

[thevegandarkelf]

Finding Myself, Finding You: Chapter Twenty-Two

Masterlist

AO3 link

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist <3 (18+ only, MDNI)

Story is 18+ for mature content/themes, minors do not interact please

TW/CWs for this story--implied/referenced past rape, canonical violence, non-canonical violence, blood, gore, referenced past suicide, swearing, surgery, excessive drinking, nightmares, panic attacks, mention of scars, vomiting, amputation, medical procedures, non-con medical procedures, referenced past medical torture, referenced past drugging, attempted sexual assault, panic attacks, mental health struggles, referenced sibling death, referenced parent death, PTSD

Each chapter will have its own TW/CWs listed

This story, Lydia Vector, her family & bestie (c) me, TheVeganDarkElf

TWD & its characters (c) AMC & Robert Kirkman, the writer of the comic series

TW/CWs for this chapter--swearing, attempted sexual assault (there will be notes in the story for when that section starts and ends if you want to skip it), an absolute POS making asinine and untrue claims about Daryl, violence, blood, mentions of nausea/vomiting/queasiness, mention of panic attacks

Word count: 4.1k

I yawned into Daryl's chest and looked out the window, the sun just starting to peek over the tree line in the distance. "I haven't watched a sunrise in ages," I said, sleep heavy in my voice.

"Won't be able to watch it if ya don't keep ya eyes open," he teased. I let out another small yawn and reached for my glasses, which I had set on the windowsill at some point during the night. I blew lightly on the lenses, causing dust to float around them.

"They're so pretty," I gushed, slipping my glasses back onto my nose. I immediately cozied back up to Daryl, finding myself aching for his touch in the couple of seconds I was away from it.

"Sunrises?"

"Yeah. Reminds me of home. The colors of a Midwestern sunrise are like nothing I've ever seen. All of the different shades of blue, orange, pink...it's fucking magical." I blinked sleep from my eyes as I continued my story. "My family would sometimes vacation up in northern Michigan, on one of the Great Lakes, and the sunrises and sunsets were out of this world. Kathryn would usually come, as she'd kind of become an honorary member of the family, and she and I would get up extra early just to watch them."

The sun crept its way over the horizon, bathing everything in sight in its golden hue, including us. The heat tickled my face, which I welcomed after my nose being cold all night. Nostalgia swelled in my chest, memories from all the mornings Kathryn and I spent on chilly, dew-covered lawns flipping through my mind like a flip-book video. I could see Daryl's head tilted down towards me in my peripheral.

"Daryl, you're gonna miss it," I said, not taking my eyes off the sun for even a second. I wanted to soak in every moment of that view, and I wanted him to as well.

"Like my view a little better," Daryl whispered. I felt his nose in my hair as he planted another kiss on my head, this one closer to my forehead. I was blushing heavily, and I was sure that it was obvious.

Our beautiful, blissful moment was rudely interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing, the echoes of the creaky hinges reverberating off the walls.

"Hey Daryl, Glenn said you—" I heard Maggie start to say before she stopped in her tracks at the sight of us. Daryl snaked his arm out from around me, and I let go as well. It felt like there was an urgency in the way he released me from his grip, but I didn't take it personally. I knew it probably made him uncomfortable to be romantically affectionate in front of other people.

"Hey Maggie," I said as I picked my notebook up off the ground. Should've grabbed her jaw for her while I was down there as well.

"H-hi," she responded, her voice catching in her throat, "you two have a good night?" Daryl grabbed his crossbow and swung it over his shoulder, giving Maggie a nod as he walked by.

"Mhm," I replied, giving her a small shoulder check as I walked past. I turned around and mouthed "I'll tell you later" with a big grin on my face before following Daryl outside.

I jogged a little to catch up to Daryl, but a small patch of daisies on the side of the road stopped me in my tracks. I let out a soft, excited little "ooh," which caught his attention. I squatted down and plucked the little white flower from the ground, twirling it in my fingers.

"How come daisies are ya favorite?" Daryl asked as he squatted down next to me.

"They symbolize new beginnings and the purity of love." I continued to twirl the little flowers in my fingers as I plucked another one from the ground. "It sounds silly when I say it out loud, but that's why." I handed one of the daisies to him. "Have you been in love before, Daryl?"

He twirled the small flower in his hand, hesitating before he answered. "Dunno."

"You'd know if you had," I explained, "it's a very distinct feeling. There's nothing like it." I took the daisy in my hand and tucked it behind my ear, bringing my hair over my ear to help keep it in place. "I really enjoyed our night, Daryl. Let me know next time you have overnight watch again. If you want my company, that is."

"Always want ya company," he said, taking another daisy from the ground and handing it to me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You think we found the winner?" I asked him.

"I think so," Aaron said, adjusting the top of the prosthetic around his leg, "this one feels the best."

Aaron's leg had healed enough for a prosthetic, and I finally got to tell him about the surprise I'd been keeping a secret for weeks now. He was elated, ecstatic to get to the infirmary as quickly as possible and get back on his feet. Or foot. I helped him hobble over, and we spent an hour in there, fitting and adjusting all of the prosthetics to find the one that would work best. And we'd finally found it. It was like trying on shoes, but worse, and I could tell he was relieved that we'd found the one.

"Alright, you're gonna have to get used to standing first. It'll take some time for your body to find its center of gravity again. Let me help you up." I stood from my chair and reached out for Aaron to take my hands. He stood from his spot on the infirmary table, wobbling a little as he tried to find his balance. "Hold onto the table. I'll see if I can find a cane or something around here. I'm sure I saw one at some point." I started rummaging through one of the cabinets at the back of the infirmary.

"Now missy, while I do this, you owe me a Daryl update," he demanded. I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically.

Aaron had become like a brother to me in my time at Alexandria. He was my first friend there, a great confidant, and an all-around wonderful human being. Because of that, I was a little more comfortable sharing updates with him regarding my and Daryl's relationship, as I knew he would take anything I told him to his grave. He was one of the few people I could talk to who knew how to keep their mouth shut. Don't get me wrong, I shared things with my girlfriends too, but Aaron was a much better secret keeper than any of them were.

While I searched for a cane, I told Aaron about Daryl always checking on me every night after I'd fallen out of bed, him taking care of me after my night on binge drinking, and our overnight shift in the watchtower. How gentle he was when he touched me and spoke to me with the silkiest tone in his voice. How we were essentially a couple, besides the admission of feelings, kissing, and sleeping in the same bed together every night.

"Aaron, it was so cute. We were cozied up to each other all night. I was practically a puddle by the time Maggie came up to relieve us. He fucking kissed the top of my head. It was so cute, I wanted to throw up."

"He's a real softie for you, isn't he?" Aaron admired.

"Don't tell him I said that," I begged, "he'd kill me."

"Your secret's safe with me."

"He's supposed to be coming back tonight," I gushed, twirling a lock of my hair in my finger, "I'm excited. I've missed him."

"How come you haven't told him how you feel yet?" he inquired.

"I mean, I think it's pretty obvious with how we behave around each other. And I know he's...skittish when it comes to romance. At least that's what Carol told me. I take it he's probably not all that experienced in it, or maybe it's an insecurity thing. I don't know," I elaborated, "I've been too nervous to because I don't want to make him anxious and scare him off if I'm moving "too quickly." I decided some time ago that I was going to let him be the one to make moves first. Carol said to be patient with him, so I've been being extra patient. But damnit, sometimes I just wanna grab him by his face and plant one on him."

My hand landed on a cold metal rod, and I gripped it and pulled it out to reveal the cane I'd been searching for. "Ooh, I found it!" I scurried over to Aaron to hand it to him. "You'll need to use this for a while until your body gets used to being back on two feet again. Eventually, you'll be able to walk without it."

He took it in his hands, flipping it around before steadying himself on it. He shifted his weight onto the cane, trying to balance himself out before letting go of the table, keeping a hand hovering above it, just in case. I encouraged him to try taking a couple of steps in my direction, very slowly and carefully. Aaron tried taking a step, and it took a moment, but he was able to regain his balance after. Eventually, he seemed to find his footing. Still a little wobbly, like a baby deer, but it was a good start.

"God, this feels good," he sighed in relief. A giant grin spread across his face.

"Are you gonna make it home ok? Do you want my help?" I offered.

"Eric should be here any minute, but thank you." Just like that, the infirmary door swung open.

"Speak of the devil, and he doth appear," I chuckled. Eric looked amazed to see Aaron back on two feet. He ran over and embraced him in the tightest hug, causing Aaron to have to steady himself on the table again.

"This is so exciting!" Eric gushed, turning to me, "Jesus Vector, you're a miracle worker!"

"No miracle worker. It's just what I do," I replied, "he'll need to practice standing and finding his center of gravity again, and he'll need help walking for a while, especially going up and down the stairs. The cane will be mandatory. I'll check in with you now and then until we decide you don't need it anymore."

"I left the stove on to come get you, so we need to go," Eric said, placing an arm around Aaron to balance him, ushering him to the door. I ran ahead to hold it open for them.

"It was nice catching up with you, Vector," Aaron said, giving me a subtle wink, obviously referencing the Daryl update, "and thank you again. For everything."

"Likewise." I stood in the doorway and watched them for a moment before going back inside.

Shortly after Aaron & Eric left, there was a soft knock at the door, and in came a blonde man, probably a little bit shorter than me. He was one of the guys who was usually on gate duty, none of whom I'd gotten to know all that well. He stood by the door, shifting back and forth on his feet for a moment before speaking. He looked shy, not very confident, but something about the tone of his voice made my skin crawl.

"Hi. I was, uh, wondering if I could see you about something. Doubt you remember me from the other night. My name's Jake," he said, giving me a small wave. The smile on his face was innocent enough, but I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that was telling me to do one thing and one thing only—get out of there and run.

"Hi, Jake. Yeah I'm sorry, I don't remember you" I said, "but what can I help you with?" I gestured for him to sit up on the exam table, but he stayed put in his spot by the door. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I could feel him eyeing me up and down. That feeling in the pit of my stomach only intensified.

"You're Dixon's girl, right?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't belong to anyone. And mine and Daryl's relationship isn't any of your business."

"Saw you two in the watchtower the other night," he explained, and I scrunched my nose in disgust at the thought of him watching us for God knows what reason, "he talks about you a lot."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure," I said sarcastically. If Daryl talked about me with anyone, I knew it wasn't this clown. "Now what do you want?"

"Talked about how good he fucked you when you were out cold after the party the other night," Jake grinned.

Goosebumps rose all over my body, and my blood ran cold. I knew he was just trying to make me uncomfortable, to get me to question my trust in Daryl. But even if it was just some sick tactic of his, it made me nauseous. How dare he try to accuse such a sweet, wonderful human being of such a thing. How dare he try to tarnish Daryl's name like that. My stomach was churning, and I could feel myself starting to get triggered, my body wanting to slip into a panic attack, but I maintained my composure.

"I know what you're doing, asshole," I seethed, "don't you bring Daryl into this. If you don't have anything medical to ask me about, get the fuck out." He stepped closer, and my hand started wandering to my knife.

*If you would like to skip the part containing the attempted SA, I would stop here. I will put when it’s safe to resume again*

"I do," Jake said. A smirk formed on his face that sent chills down my whole body. "I've been struggling with some...dysfunction. Was hoping you could help me with that." He took another couple of steps closer to me before he started pawing at his package, and my stomach dropped. I bit my tongue to keep my composure as I whipped my knife out, holding it in his direction.

"You can leave now. Before things get ugly." My hand holding the knife was shaking ever so slightly, despite my attempts to hold myself together, and I think he could tell. I stepped in his direction, causing him to back up towards the wall.

"C'mon, not even a little help? Thought it was your job, doc," he huffed. The way he called me "doc" made my skin crawl.

"You're lucky I'm giving you the option to walk out," I said.

I thought it might end there, that he might turn around and walk out that door with no further confrontation. Then I could lock myself in the infirmary and cry in the corner until Daryl got back. He was closer to the wall now, close enough to the door that he could just turn around and leave. Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way I hoped.

He lunged at me, knocking my arm and causing the knife to fall from my hand, which slid across one of the infirmary tables and clattered onto the floor. He grabbed the collar of my shirt with both hands and yanked, causing it to tear down the middle and expose my bra. Before he could move his hands anywhere else, I kneed him in the crotch, sending him stumbling backward. I grabbed a scalpel off one of the tables and dove for him, flipping him around and pinning him against the wall. One of my legs was wedged between his, keeping him still. One hand was holding his against his back, and the other was holding the scalpel to the back of his neck. I was panting, trying to get my breathing back to normal and get my heart to calm down from the adrenaline rush.

*Safe to resume again if you skipped the attempted SA scene*

"Wasn't expecting you to fight back like that," Jake huffed as he tried to catch his breath, "it was kinda hot." I swallowed hard to suppress the queasiness in my stomach and keep myself from throwing up. He fought against me, and I pushed my body weight into him further to keep him pinned in place. Jake apparently wasn't privy to the knowledge of my three Navy SEAL brothers and the skills they had given me.

"Y'know, there's a sweet spot right between two of your vertebrae that I could take this scalpel and just–" I swung the scalpel close to his face and made a 'swish' noise–"give it one little flick of the wrist. You wouldn't bleed out, it wouldn't kill you. Oh no, not even close. But you'd be paralyzed from the waist down, and you'd never walk again."

"You're bluffing," he hissed as he writhed against my leg.

"Best case scenario for you is I am bluffing, and you walk away with nothing more than a small injury in your back. Worst case scenario, I'm not, and you lose your ability to walk. Is that really something you're willing to gamble with in a world like this?" I pressed my leg that was between his further up into his crotch, causing him to yelp a little in surprise and pain. "I'm going to let you go now, and you're going to walk out that door and never speak to me, not even so much as look in my direction, again. Do you understand?"

"Y-y-yes," he whispered. His voice almost sounded like he was holding back tears. Good. Let him feel even a fraction of the fear that he instilled in me.

I backed off of him slowly, walking backward until I saw my knife. I bent down and picked it up, never once taking my eyes off of him. "Now get out before I decide to use the big one."

He backed away from the wall and went for the door, never turning to look at me. He opened the door and stepped out, letting it swing slowly behind him. I cautiously rose from my spot on the floor and kept my knife out in front of me as I walked to the door to lock it. To my surprise, the door swung open, and an arm shot out and gripped onto my wrist, yanking me outside. Before I could process what was happening, a fist came in contact with my nose, sending pain radiating all across my face and sending me stumbling back a few feet.

People started to gather on the lawn, stopping whatever they were doing in their tracks to watch the fight that was about to break out. I was doubled over, hands resting on my knees and letting blood drip onto the ground in front of me. The pain was indescribable, and it was spreading from my nose to my under-eyes and down my cheeks. I could already feel it bruising. With how I was feeling, I should've been crying, screaming in pain. I looked up at Jake, who was standing over me, that stupid smirk still on his face. Much to his surprise, I started laughing.

"That was a weak-ass punch," I taunted. From my doubled-over position, I swung my arm up and punched him in the nose. My hit was much harder, causing him to stumble backward and fall on his ass. My nose was in pain, but it wasn't broken. I was almost certain I'd broken his.

"You fucking bitch!" he cried out, holding a hand to his mouth to capture the blood streaming down into it. He spat some of it onto the ground next to him. "You fucking broke my nose!"

"I could've done worse," I seethed. The taste of copper filled my mouth as blood poured from my nose. I spat a glob of it onto the ground, and some sprayed off of my lips onto my face. I heard a set of footsteps running from behind me, and they sped past me over to Jake. Another person came running over, stopping between us.

"What the hell is going on?" a voice boomed. I looked up and saw Rick, who looked down at me with sympathy in his eyes when he saw the blood pouring from my nose.

"She fucking broke my nose!" Jake shouted. Glenn and Eric were holding him by his arms and yanking him to his feet, practically manhandling him. If looks could kill, Glenn's facial expression would've had Jake six feet under in seconds.

"You punched me first!" Tears were now streaming down my face, mixing with the blood and creating an awful salty-penny taste on my tongue. The mixture was all over my teeth and chin and was dripping down onto my chest, and given that my shirt had been torn nearly in half, it was creating quite a mess.

"You threatened to paralyze me!" he yelled. I started walking towards him, but Rick held an arm out to stop me. Rosita and Maggie had come up next to me, ready to hold me back if I tried lunging at Jake.

"Because you tried to assault me, you jackass!" I screamed. Even though I was embarrassed having all these eyes on me, nearly half-naked in front of the whole community, I wanted everyone to hear. I wanted them all to know what kind of man Jake really was.

"Ooh, Daryl might actually kill him," Maggie whispered.

"Alright, everyone settle down. There's nothing to see here. Go home, we've got it from here," Rick ordered like the cop he was. Everyone except him, myself, Jake, Glenn, Rosita, Eric, and Maggie left. When it was just us left on the lawn, I launched in Jake's direction. I was far from finished with him.

The rage that was coursing through my body ascended beyond any words in the English language. All of the hurt, anger, sadness, fear, and pure rage that my body had been storing for months came spilling out all at once. My skin was hot and tingling. My blood was boiling. Every cell in my body was on fire, and it felt like there was smoke coming out of my ears. Rosita and Maggie were quick to grab me by the arms and pull me back. I fought against them, lightly as I knew it was a futile attempt.

"I'm so fucking sick of men like you! Men who think they can just take whatever they want from any woman they want! I'll fucking gouge your eyes out, you hear me? I'll gouge them out and shove them down your throat, you fucking bastard! I'll make you choke on your nuts, you motherfucker!" I'm sure the scene had to be frightening to my friends, as they'd never seen me act like that before. They'd never seen this type of reaction from me. This was pure, unadulterated rage, and they were getting both an eye and an earful.

The sound of the front gate opening got everyone's attention. They all turned to look, but I didn't. I knew it was Daryl and the guys coming back from their trip. And I knew Maggie was right—when Daryl saw what happened, he might actually kill Jake. And I think everyone in that circle knew that too.

"Glenn, Eric, take him to the cell," Rick ordered, "for his own safety. Stay until I get there." Rick reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them to Glenn. He and Eric quickly escorted Jake away. Rick nodded to Rosita and Maggie, who let go of my arms. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to Daryl, tell him what happened. Go take care of yourself. We'll deal with Jake." He gave me a fatherly pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks, cowboy," I said. I spat more blood out and slid past him, going back into the infirmary before Daryl was able to join the others. I heard his bike pull up shortly after I shut myself inside, and I knew things were going to get ugly soon.

I stood in front of the sink, staring at myself in the small mirror above it. The area below my nose, my mouth, and my chin were completely coated in blood, my cheeks were stained with tears, and it looked like I was already starting to bruise under my eyes, which was emphasized by my dark circles from hardly sleeping while Daryl was away. Large splotches of blood dotted my collarbone and my chest, some as far down as my cleavage. I saw myself standing there, shirt torn almost completely in half, covered in blood that was still flowing, and I did the only thing I could. I collapsed back into the nearest chair and started crying.

Taglist: @raddydaddydude @lovenormandixon

Divider found on Google via searching for stock images

[foxes-that-run]

Cardigan

Cardigan is a response to Falling, it was written 2 months after the Falling video was released. The videos have Haylor references. Falling is Harry is worried his muse will never need him again. Cardigan is assuring him their muse-friend-situationship is OK. The voice note has different lyrics:

Living in a gold age Sneak into my birdcage Laughing like a damn fool Breaking every damn rule Peter leaving Wendy The Dancing in your Levi’s line was in place of leaving like a father I knew you’d linger like a stolen kiss I knew I’d wish you’d have changed your mind I knew the love would be for me to loose my mind

The original lyrics also have even more Haylor references:

Living in a gold age and sneak into my birdcage, I wish this stayed. Taylor has a birdcage in her Nashville apartment, Harry got a birdcage tattoo. See theme of gilded cages of fame and love.

Laughing like a damn fool, breaking every rule reminds me of Begin Again where he was "Laughing like a little kid" Harry also referenced Begin Again in the Falling Video.

Peter left Wendy rather than lost Wendy, such an interesting change when Taylor said she ended it in the 1989 Vault.

Stolen kiss is in Blank Space (Stolen kisses, pretty lies) and reminds me of Stolen Stares in Illicit Affairs

Finally links to I Wish you Would and Wonderland!

Taylor also provided foot notes for Cardigan, I have screenshots of more in the video post, in part say:

There's a collection of three songs I refer to as The Teenage Love Triangle (in my head). These three songs explore a summer love triangle from all three peoples perspectives at different times in their lives. It's like this one event happened in their town and it affected them each differently.

In the Long Pond Sessions, it is Betty's POV. Taylor said Betty winds up with James, 'but he really put her through it'. In the footnotes she also says she was "inspired by the feeling of isolation and how it can be freeing or terrifying and how it causes you to reminisce on the past." Indeed, we noticed. While all 3 of the triangle songs draw inspiration from HS/TS, Cardigan does so the most heavily.

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Vintage tee, brand new phone High heels on cobblestones When you are young, they assume you know nothing Sequin smile, black lipstick Sensual politics When you are young, they assume you know nothing

The first verse sets a scene, which is very 1989-esq, cobblestones is either in New York or London, Harry wears a lot of vintage tees.

Sensual politics is a reference to the themes Taylor explored in Slut. Coupled with when you are young, confirms this song is in reference to Harry.

To me, sequin smile, black lipstick could be taken as a scene setter. I think it is directed at Harry in a few ways though:

In IDWLF Taylor was so taken with her glitter lip got it's own BTS where Taylor mentioned runway (Only Angel).

IDWLF is Haylor, it's with Zayn about losing the love of your life and not wanting to end up alone.

and Black lipstick reminds me of Reputation. In he refers to the Rep Aesthetic Little Freak and dreams.

[Chorus] But I knew you Dancin' in your Levi's Drunk under a streetlight, I I knew you Hand under my sweatshirt Baby, kiss it better, I

Dancin in your Levi's reminds both of Maroon's "Dancing in New York, No Shoes" where Harry is wearing black jeans, and Delicate's "Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you"

The chorus retells of the fun they had, it shows their chemistry and slightly messy nighttime antics.

[Refrain] And when I felt like I was an old cardigan Under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favorite

I love this refrain, I love it so much, great imagery and so warm. It alo recalls Taylor feeling seen by Harry in dark times:

Delicate "This ain't for the best / My reputation's never been worse, so / You must like me for me", and

High Infidelity - Do you really wanna know where I was April 29th? /Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes? / Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?

Here Taylor is returning the favor, with saying how important their connection is.

[Verse 2] A friend to all is a friend to none Chase two girls, lose the one When you are young, they assume you know nothing

A friend to all was a common criticism laid on Taylor when the squad fell out of favor, I find it interesting here. Taylor directly refers to the events of Falling, though it's of note that in Cruel Summer she also had another beau.

To me the refrain of when you are young is referred to how young they were when they first dated, now around 30 they have held onto this connection.

[Chorus] But I knew you Playing hide-and-seek and Giving me your weekends, I I knew you Your heartbeat on the High Line Once in twenty lifetimes, I

Hide-and-seen reminds us of I Know Places “'Cause I, I know places we can hide”

When they dated, Harry and Taylor travelled to be together, during 1D days Harry would sometimes fly a day late to spend more time with Taylor. Weekends are also mentioned in Now That We Don’t Talk: “What do you tell your friends we shared dinners, long weekends with?” And It’s Nice To Have A Friend: “Feels like home, stay in bed the whole weekend.”

Heartbeat on the high line is a reference to New York, where they spent time together

Once in 20 lifetimes, refers to how rare it is to find someone so special and 20 (13+7) is in many Haylor songs.

[Bridge] To kiss in cars and downtown bars Was all we needed You drew stars around my scars But now I'm bleedin'

Kissing in cars is a reference to the theme of driving. Kissing in bars is similar to Delicate’s “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at? /Phone lights up my nightstand in the black /Come here; you can meet me in the back”

Two Ghosts has a similar line “Moon dances over your good side /And this was all we used to need”

You drew star around my scars but now bleedin’ means to me that HS helped her turn her scars into a good thing, helped her feel better. But now they are apart she is bleeding. There are a number of bleeding as feelings lyrics in: The 1 (never bleed never grow) Olivia (bleeding love), Cruel Summer (If I bleed you'll be the last to know) and Woman (you’re making me bleed). I feel like the bleeding is also connected to the War metaphor Taylor uses.

[Chorus] 'Cause I knew you Steppin' on the last train Marked me like a bloodstain, I I knew you Tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy, I I knew you Leavin' like a father Running like water, I And when you are young, they assume you know nothing

The last train is a Lyric (I stood right by the tracks / Your face in a locket) from Sad, Beautiful, Tragic on Red. Which was written in late 2011, the title is in the Video Footnotes.

To me bloodstain is a reference to This Love "This love left a permanent mark". In October 2023, a Harry Styles leak California, which refers to being in COVID lockdown in LA and kitten scratches included the lyric "Oh, it's you who left a mark on me"

Peter loosing Wendy, I love this lyric, it's brings imagery of them being young magical one of a kind people meant for each other but not being. A perfect new couple metaphor for them, and one I prefer to Burton/Taylor Mitchell/Nash (Can they've also used.

I find the leaving like a father line so sad, this reminds me of Seven.

[Verse 3] But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs The smell of smoke would hang around this long 'Cause I knew everything when I was young I knew I'd curse you for the longest time Chasin' shadows in the grocery line I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired And you'd be standin' in my front porch light And I knew you'd come back to me You'd come back to me And you'd come back to me And you'd come back

Tattoo kiss is the final line, (stolen being in the voice note). This reminds me of the mentions of marks and of course tattoos. It also reminds me of the Golden Tattoo in Dress..

The smell of smoke reminds us of “Slut!”: "Adorned with smoke on my clothes, lovelorn and nobody knows"

When the thrill expired reminds us of Question…?: Did you leave her house in the middle of the night? Did you wish you put up more of a fight?

Standing in my front porch reminds us of I wish you would, HYGTG

Come back to me reminds us of another Haylor Red song, Come Back, Be Here.

[stoopid-turtle]

Timeline of GGDD Love

Hi yall. This is the index post for the BTS in Order posts. This is the post to bookmark if you want to refer to it later! (The first chunk is just copypasta from the April intro. Read More to get to the links)

I've looked for timelines of the bts before, but what I've found relies heavily on video clips, many of which I don't have access to. So I decided to make a text-focused timeline in English for the bts because I'm all up in my hyperfocus.

I mainly used this playlist on billibilli, though I also looked at a few other playlists (I didn't keep links, I suck). If I came across a video/reference w another date listed for the clip, I added the alternate date in parenthesis at the end. I chose to primarily follow this playlist bc it has a LOT of clips, has clips for every day, and doesn't have anything that immediately jumps out at me as wrong. I also cross-referenced with accio-victuuri's BJYX Timeline bc it's the most complete English timeline I've seen, and I respect the effort involved. And I ultimately I triple-checked against this weibo timeline. Again, alternate dates noted in parenthesis. Not all sources always agreed.

(the note on the primary playlist has this as its explanation of its dating: 广告以官宣日期为整体依据,若跨年度拍摄,则以最新发布日期为依据整理。Which Google translates to "The advertisement is based on the official announcement date as a whole and, if shot across the year, on the latest release date." I can't parse that so *shrug*)

I've listed out the bts scenes by date. I try to describe the known scenes, though I don't list out in detail EVERYTHING that happens (if I say "Xuanwu cave, bondage conversation", I assume you all know everything else that happens around that moment)(Though sometimes I get hype and fangirlish in the descriptions). A lot of scenes were unknown to me, so I tried to describe the setting, costumes, and vaguely what's happening. Most of the scenes I did recognize had more to the clip than the ones I've seen translated.

As none of what I watched had translations, I can't provide much context with that, I'm afraid. I also do not think these are in order within a day. I don't have any way to tell, so the timeline within the day, itself, is probably wonky.

I only included bts for the most part, not stuff the boys were doing outside the production. Everything's color coded. Scenes with only gg are in red. Scenes with only dd are in green. Scenes with both are orange (yellow just isn't readable, sorry). (If there's text with no color, just assume it's the same as the last colored text)

I wrote this literally by going back and forth between billibilli and Google Keep, so the notes are a little off the cuff. Let me know if you have questions or if you don't understand something. Or if you can't identify a particular bts scene you're curious about.

People are also completely free to take this and flesh it out if they want by adding the non-bts stuff. Any mistakes are mine. People are free to correct it as well. Basically, consider this public property for other turtles. So take it, make it your own, create a comprehensive google sheet that details everything in pretty color-coded order with media links that are cross-referenced, filterable, and sortable or whatever (PLEASE SOMEBODY DO THIS).

No need to credit. If you feel you have to, just say a stoopid turtle did it.

The timeline of ggdd love yue tag

April BTS In Order

April Summary + Takeaways

May BTS In Order Pt 1

May BTS in Order Pt 2

May Summary + Takeaways

June BTS In Order Pt 1

June BTS in Order Pt 2

June Summary + Takeaways

July BTS In Order Pt 1

July BTS in Order Pt 2

July Summary + Takeaways

Aug BTS In Order Pt 1

Aug BTS in Order Pt 2

Aug Summary + Takeaways

Overall Summary + Takeaways

Addendum 1

Addendum 2

[thatonefangirlly]

ABCD-Nayeon Review

ONCE! Specifically, Nayeon biases! We got another one from your fav girl! Now, I came in AFTER "Pop!" and "No Problem" craze faded. I'm not gonna lie, I really like "Pop!" I have since then been listening to that and went about my day. Well, the time has come to review her new single and maybe her new album (Only if you want me to) With that being said, let's get into it.

Concept:8/10 It's cute but I've seen it. I find the early 2000s concept to be HEAVILY recycled for comebacks and although it's cool to see, it's starting to be a little.... boring. While I like what Nayeon herself has done with it, I wish she'd try something else.

Lyrics:6/10 Girl crush music again. Ya'll know I'm not a hug fan of that. She did have a few good lines in there with the play of ABCD. I thought that was cool. However, I think I'm looking for more girl power and "I'm an independent woman who don't need no man" type vibe. There's this part towards the end where she says "Ooh". Yeah that's the most basic word but it's the way she sings it. If you heard of "1 Thing" by Amerie(I'll link it below), you'll know what I'm talking about. She sings it in that tone.

Beat:6.5/10 Something was off and I'm not sure what it was. I felt like there were some notes to the beat that they cut out and when in reality, it should've been there. If I'm gonna be honest, it reminded me of "Eenie Meenie" by Chungha but more girly.

Visuals: 8.9/10 SO, I really enjoyed the video and it looks like she played into a lot of early 2000 music videos, that I enjoyed. Only thing is, it kind of bored me. Now it might be from the lack of sleep, it might even be my vibe of music is changing but I can say that I wasn't totally thrilled. But you can bet your bottom dollar I will watch it again and give you an updated opinion.

Overall: 7.9/10 While I did like the concept and what she was going for, it felt very familiar to me and very.... meh. Now ONCE don't tussle with me for do plan to watch the video again and take it all in and give you an updated opinion. But, for this initial opinion, it's basic to me and for Nayeon, she can do better. I believe it and I believe in her. I wish there was more creativity in it and I think with this song specifically it missed the mark... With that being said, this is one song I can listen to in passing or if someone intentionally turns it on, you wont see me go out of my way to play it.

This review isn't to hate on Nayeon or her new single. This is just my initial thoughts on it and I will give the single another try. I want to think it is from my lack of sleep that I am not feeling this. SO, trust that I would update if I changed my feelings on it. I encourage you to go and listen to it and get the vibe of it and if you disagree, let me know, I would love to have a discussion on it.

PLEASE please please please go and watch the video and form your own opinion. This another song that isn't for a girly like me and I'm ok with that, I wish an amazing outcome for Nayeon and her comeback. Also, if you would like me to review her new album as a whole, I will be making a poll so go and vote! Until next time!

Annyeong!

This is the song I was referencing when I mentioned the "Ooh" in Nayeon's song

[jellypopswag]

𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙈𝙚 𝙅𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮!~

♡ ♡ ♡ jelly's notes ; this is a little bit of info about me, along with some disclaimers for my account. please enjoy <3

about me

☆ im 17, almost 18 years old

☆ i use any pronouns, but heavily prefer they/them

☆ im a lesbian

☆ i love clapton davis

☆ by extension, obviously, i love josh hutcherson as well ♡

☆ i am part of a DID system; however we are in the early stages of an integration process

☆ i'm a leftist

☆ im a huge k-pop fan (you get a cookie if you know what song my handle is referencing ;3)

☆ im a film student, with an end goal of going into either music video editing or public relations/marketing

☆ im very very busy

☆ i have a very very close best friend, with whom ill likely mention on here occasionally

disclaimers

☆ 95% of the images i use in my posts are taken directly from a pinterest board made by my best friend. love you <3

☆ i post almost exclusively about clapton

☆ if i decide i want to post about other topics, ill create a sideblog and link it here

☆ i take requests! for now, mature rating at maximum

☆ i.e., no graphic/detailed depictions of penetrative sex. kissing, making out, and the like is completely fine ^^

☆ links to dividers can be found here and here

☆ links to buttons can be found here, here, and here

© jellypopswag

[callsignfate]

Open File: Operators.

》Yes No

》Files | 》- Callsign Fate | 》--Open | 》Yes No /Checking Clearance level/ ... Name: [Redacted] [Redacted] DOB: 12/24/96 (26) Height: 5'1 Weight: Blood type: O positive Next of Kin: [Redacted] Maternal grandmother: Deceased Maternal grandfather: Deceased Paternal grandmother: Alive [Redacted] Paternal grandfather: Alive [Redacted] Mother: Deceased Father: Alive [Redacted] Brother(s): 1, Alive [Redacted] Sisters(s): 1, Alive [Redacted] General information: W/no name on file Fate goes by their callsign, Fate. Fate has been known to be difficult to work with on when/if put on a team. No education on file or found. Video interview link: 》Open | 》/Play Video/ Interviewer: Would you like to introduce yourself? Fate: ... Interviewer: Introduce yourself. Fate: Fuckin' fine. I go by Fate. Interviewer: Your name, Fate. Fate: That's above your pay grade. Interviewer: Fine. Interviewer: Let's start easily, do you have any family? Fate: I'll chew off ye' fuckin' 'ead with my own teeth before I'll answer that. Interviewer: Okay well, we're here because you were known to be disobedient to orders unless you were alone, they said you don't work well with others. Fate: Okay? So? Interviewer: Would you like to dispute that, do you have anything to say on that? Fate: Interestingly enough I don't give a rats ass what you or anyone else says about me. If I'm hard to work with get rid of me. Quite simple, yea? Interviewer: I wish we could, you may be not so nice to work with but you get your job done quickly and efficiently every time. Fate: I wish we could too. Interviewer: ... do you have anything you'd wish to tell the people you've worked with previously if they watch this, or any new teams that might be interested in having you join their squad? Fate: Oh yea I have a few words for ye's alright. You don't want me, I'm not something or someone to "break". I'm here for a nice time not a long time so get with it or get out of the fuckin' way. No I'm not from fuckin' god knows where. My accent is from the middle of fuckin' no where United States. One last thing? Kiss my ass Shepherd, I know you'll watch this. Interviewer: Alright, well- /Video end/

(Just in case anyone was confused, meet my Character Fate. No, she's not me, although I did give her my 'accent'. She has some doodles I did for fun. I kinda got bored one day and decided to make her. She does wear a mask and fabric to hide her hair, but it's just for stealth/ personal reasons she has no religion. If you'd like, you can take and save the drawings and put your own characters with her or draw her. I'd love to see them! The doodles are heavily referenced from a ton of different images. They are just doodles of her nothing major because I rarely do more than doodle anymore. Anyway, I hope you like her she's just something I did for fun!)

[dimentio-fan]

So... I just found out that the link I put for you guys to find FYE is a link to the final chapter. Um... one second.

Fixed it! It's near the middle of my page, so... I'm reposting it here too.

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786343"><strong>For Your Entertainment</strong></a> (53628 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/snugglyrabbits"><strong>snugglyrabbits</strong></a><br />Chapters: 13/13<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Super%20Mario%20*a*%20Related%20Fandoms">Super Mario &amp; Related Fandoms</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Super%20Mario%20Bros*d*%20(Video%20Games)">Super Mario Bros. (Video Games)</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Mario%20*a*%20Luigi%20RPG%20(Video%20Games)">Mario &amp; Luigi RPG (Video Games)</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Super%20Paper%20Mario%20(Game)">Super Paper Mario (Game)</a><br />Rating: Mature<br />Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death<br />Relationships: Luigi/Mamekku Ouji | Prince Peasley, Mario/Peach Toadstool<br />Characters: Luigi (Nintendo), Mamekku Ouji | Prince Peasley, Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool, Mario (Nintendo), Princess Daisy, Kinopiko | Toadette, Kinopio | Toad, Kinojii | Toadsworth, Koopa | Bowser, Prince Dreambert (Mario & Luigi RPG), Professor E. Gadd, Dimēn | Dimentio<br />Additional Tags: Angst, Revenge, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, Luigi Suffering, Implied/Referenced Suicide<br />Summary: <p>An old foe returns from the afterlife, seeking revenge on Luigi.</p>

You can see the warnings at the bottom of the link. Heed them before reading. Apparently this book was heavily inspired by Saw, so good luck.