#she’s like Robin Hood but if Robin Hood slayed

[eggs-can-draw]

💎✨

[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!

[emomeishibot]

First of all, I’m a proshipper; secondly, this post has no ships in it.

I drew kuro characters as a 2000s Chinese drama costume sitcom 武林外传 My Own Swordsman (no idea why is it translate to this name, the direct translation should be Wulin Anecdotes) Why I did this crossover: it’s just hilarious for me!! To help you understand my casting read further. I was like I want to send these sketches for tumblr but you can’t get this crossover so I might as well introduce it to you. I mean you might be intrigued by the referenced show, who knows? 🤭

Let me give you an analogy if you are not familiar with Chinese Kong fu themes novels: this show is a comedy kong fu drama, and a western narrative analogy for it could be if you have a team of DND characters but they never leave the tavern but instead they are the staff trying to make the tavern successful and solve all the crazy problems in this chaotic world and become family members(I hope this works)

The male lead character is a former Robin-hood-like legend burglar but now settled down working as the waiter; the female lead is an unmarried widow who came all the way to her fiancé only to find him dead and left her his mischievous little sister to look after, so she wiped off her tears and decided to buy the inn and start her business as the landlady right there and then. As for the little niece, rumors are that she’d grow up to be a murderous fiend…! But they don’t know yet…

So I drew Sebastian, Madame Red and Ciel as these roles🤲

y’all couldn’t have known how adorable it is for me without growing up with the show… btw the show goes for a relationship for the waiter and landlady eventually in the show but I drew them as work partners and friends^^Regarding how Madame Red teased Sebastian canonically makes me laugh remembering those early kuro shenanigans 😂I always hoped Madame stayed longer with us in canon, she so lovely. Imagine her running a tavern is such fun, the vibe of this show is crazy… just look at them

There’s a reckless, chivalrous former swordswoman as waitress, another former constable girl who is amiable but has no dating luck as waitress as well. I casted Jane and Mey-Rin (I really want to see Jane join the Phantomhive manor(if possible after the Breton arc)??she slays and I want to see her working with Sebastian! Also Mey-Rin is both clumsier and deadlier than her character)

And more: a fusty, nerdy moderate scholar who sold the family inn to the now landlady and now working for her as an accountant, for which I casted Grelle (her butler persona when she’s undercover is really close to how this character usually is lol but she would definitely hate how nerdy this character is, as she is working for Madame Red again in this crossover)

For the hot-headed, ambitious yet bad cook who was a constable, I cast Bard (I might redo him because I wanted to fit Finny in but I run out of the inn staff; Bard and him could be the constable master and apprentice duo from the show; Diedrich could step up as chef)

The setting is a fictional ancient China so the kong fu element is very overdramatic; also, there's a lot of modern references to the 2000s. If you watch the show's op you'll get it) And it’s a nationally beloved show of my generation^^ I hope my explanation got you interested instead of confused😳but I love this crossover and hope my kuro ppl on tumblr enjoy it😌Such long explanations for them little sketches; Thank you for coming to my ted talk???

[taldigi]

Okay, here we go- Persona 4 Arcana Swap Persona Ideas! This is going to be long.

Fool!Chie - Tokoyo

Tokoyo is a young woman who is known for slaying an undersea beast. When her father was exiled by the emperor, Tokoyo goes to to find and help him, but when her efforts are unrewarded, she decides to pray at a local shrine and get some rest. However, this leads her to find a priest about to push a young girl into the sea. When confronting him, he explains that if the locals do not offer a sacrifice, a sea monster will batter their island home with intense waves and storms. Unfettered by this statement, she hands the priest a letter to give to her father in case she doesn’t make it, sticks a knife between her teeth, and dives into the water. She finds a statue of the emperor and decides to carry it up. When face to face with the sea monster, she successfully kills it and hauls both the statue and sea monster’s body above sea. The statue was magically connected with the emperor and when she hauled the statue out of the water, he was healed of a mysterious ailment. As thanks, he allows her and her father to reunite.

High Priestess!Yosuke - Nezumi-Kozo

Nezumi-Kozo was a famed thief in Japan’s history, with some coining him similar to Goemon and Robin Hood. He was immortalized in his efforts through kabuki theatre, jidaigeki, and pop culture in general. After his death, many pilgrims chipped away his headstone for charms, it had to be replaced multiple times. As you stated, Yosuke is not very well liked by the people in Inaba and yearns for an exciting and fulfilling life, and a thief could refer to such a desire and his legacy being carried out in pop culture and entertainment could also call back to Yosuke’s musical interests.

Emperor!Yukiko - Shuten-Dōuji

As previously stated in the Plan-B paragraph, Shuten-Dōuji is a famed oni, with a penchant for alcohol and saké. He had a multitude of underlings, all with a range of different abilities, such as shapeshifting. He was decapitated by Minamoto-No-Raikō, but still tried to bite him, which he avoided by wearing multiple helmets. Since I didn’t know much about Yukiko in this AU, I decided to go off of Kanji’s personas and go for something feared by many.

Lovers!Teddie - Utsurobune

Literally meaning “empty/hollow boat” Utsurobune was a strange object that floated to the shores of the Hitachi Province in 1803. It contained a young woman who wasn’t able to speak Japanese and was unable to communicate with anyone. Certain ufologists believe that it was an encounter with extraterrestrial life. Teddie feels empty, so his persona’s name is just “empty boat” and the young woman’s inability to speak and communicate with others properly can refer to Teddie being hesitant to properly communicate his true feelings.

Star!Yu - Momotaro

Momotaro is a well known and popular Japanese folktale, about a boy who was born from a peach who teams up with a monkey, dog, and bird to defeat the Oni on Onigashima. If Yu takes up Teddie’s role, that means three characters will fall into the TV, where he will team up with them to defeat the big bad lurking somewhere in the TV World. Pretty simple and self explanatory.

You're so good at this what the heck-

I'm particularly charmed by momotaro. I think that's so fitting.

[comfycuddles]

You know what I think...

It's time we start talking about Peter Capaldi.

When we talk about Doctor Who and our favourite modern doctors, we always go round and round in the same circles:

"David Tennant is the greatest Doctor!"

"No way! Matt Smith brought this goofy nature to the character, while maintaining the Doctor's eternal darkness!"

"Please! Nine was funny and sassy and just overall great. He deserved more credit. Eccelston was the best Doctor!"

And sometimes even a:

"I think that although she had to endure poor writing, a female Doctor was refreshing!"

I agree with this of course, and every Doctor brings something with them, you know who we don't post enough about? Or even generally talk about enough?

Peter fucking Capaldi. I seriously think he might be one of the most underrated Doctors of the modern era and It's a WASTE.

From the very beginning he was just amazing. "Do you know how to fly this thing?" ICONIC. His first episode was pure crack in the very best way. (The way he flirted with the dinosaur, anybody?)

Capaldi had this amazing connection with Jenna as Clara (Although I am a Clara stan idc so I might be a little biased about that) and their dynamic was so much fun to watch.

Not unlike David Tennant Peter is such a fan of the show. (As was confirmed by Jenna) But is also nice about it too. He doesn't go around just correcting everyone, but he wants everyone to know what an amazing show it is and wants people to love it just as much as he does.

Also 12 was so iconic??? Fighting fucking Robin Hood with a spoon? Awesome! Rolling into the middle ages on a fucking tank, calling people "Dude", making puns and dumb jokes and above else SLAYING that guitar?! Yes! A thousands times Yes! Just the best space grandpa ever!

Capaldi is so unhinged and has this chaotic energy while still appearing as the sanest person in the room. Just look up some stories about him fucking around on the set.

It was also very refreshing to see an older Doctor. I mean, I think Capaldi wad the oldest guy to play the Doctor since HARTNELL. He still had this youthful energy, but he just seemed so DONE with everyones bullshit. 12 handled things with a certain maturity that I kinda loved.

Like he has life experience, he KNOWS what his actions will cause and that's GOOD to see of the Doctor. And at the same time he's also forgiving himself for all the things he's done, which is even BETTER.

And don't even talk to me about his relationship with his companions and Missy. First of all the latter gives me life. And his relationship with Bill was so good y'all. I mean, he punched a racist in the face for her. (ICON!!!!) And were just adorable.

And my final point, the biggest point: Peter Capaldi is just an AMAZING actor. We all love "Heaven sent" and It's just the greatest episode EVER and this is party because Moffat wrote it so beautifully, but also because of Capaldi's Jaw dropping performance!!! If he wasn't SUCH an amazing actor the episode would have never worked. And I am certain of this fact. He did that y'all! HE. DID. THAT.

Capaldi gave some of the best speeches and performances in Doctor Who history. And everyone sleeps on it, and I say "No more!" Also his line. "Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?" DONE, SOBBING ON THE DAMN FLOOR. I need to say with this that I'm NOT an emotional person at all. But somehow that line hit me right in the feels and never stopped.

So yeah

Eccelston was hilarious and fun and amazing

David was awesome and I think It's definitely deserved that he goes down in history as one of the greatest Doctors.

Matt had some heartwrenging moments that I'll never get over, was as cool as bowties and just lovely

And Jody was unique and ADORABLE!

But y'all are SLEEPING on Peter Capaldi and 12 and that is SO undeserved.

Mister Capaldi Sir, if you ever see this, (You probably won't, but that's okay. I hope it does though) just know, that I love and adore you so much and think you are one of the greatest actors and human beings in the history of everything. And you DESERVE to know that. I will forever be proud to say that 12 that is my favourite Doctor of all time. And I say this without half a doubt in my mind. I'm a proud Peter Capaldi stan until the end of time. And just know that I and so many more people along with me have so much LOVE for you. (Most of us not in a creepy way though) and you are CRIMINALLY underrated.

Thank you so much for reading my rant.

This has been a Peter Capaldi/12th Doctor appreciation post. And I invite you to reblog this and show your love for the best Doctor. Only positivity though, stay nice.

[tragcdysewn]

plot/starter call for event 18 under the cut! i'm soft capping at three, but if we plot and discuss things i'll very likely be willing to add another one on! hit the like and i'll be in your dms to figure out vibes!

abigail bishop (0/3)

unaware of anything being wrong, abi is an assassin for hire. it's an easy way for her to get blood, one that no one will ever question because she's just doing her job and the how doesn't really matter

ahsoka tano (0/3)

ahsoka is unaware of this new event, and thinks she's been the queen's captain of the guard since arriving in washington. defend and protect is her mantra in literally every form of reality

alice tonner (0/3)

unaware that things are different here, but very much misses her gun and tech. she's still a monster hunter, trying not to go too deep into the hunt even if she's out killing dragons and hags on the regular

allana solo (1/3) rosamund du prix

a princess turned adventurer, allana believes dc has been this way since they arrived, and has taken it upon themself to live out the full fairy tale storyline, slaying dragons and saving pretty maidens

ariana dupont (1/3) sophie sheridan

she definitely practices some witchcraft, and leads a cult of hecate. she gets away with it by being the prince's bethrothed and therefore above reproach by anyone but the queen. she has no memory of modern dc, this has been her life for years now

asmodeus (2/3) klaus hargreeves, loona

a lord of a neighboring kingdom, ozzie is aware that things aren't right, but he really doesn't care all that much. everyone seems to be unhurt, and enjoying themselves for the most part, so he's going along with it

bail organa (0/3)

bail has no idea anything is up, he's living happily as his daughter's advisor and the royal astronomer. the most excitement he gets now is going on a short adventure every now and then

baxian argos (0/3)

bax believes the city has always been like this, and has become a hired sword. he definitely misses his guns, but he's just as capable with a blade, so he's managing just fine

bela dimitrescu (1/3) jennifer check

one of the local harlots, because it's fun and an easy way to get a meal. will seduce and take money from men only to eat them. will also definitely fool around with a pretty woman free of charge

bryce quinlan (1/3) mo xi

has noticed things are wrong, and is absolutely pissed. she wants her guns and night clubs back. will probably end up as a tavern wench of some kind while she tries to figure out what the fuck is going on, or take up some quests to assist people

cassie lang (0/3)

she's got no idea anything is wrong, and lives life as an adventurer and a thief, using her powers to complete quests for people that can't do them themselves. mostly a robin hood type, but could be persuaded to do something a bit more questionable

davina claire (0/3)

davina is unaware anything is wrong, and simply works as an artisan. a very simple and peaceful life with her husband, though she can't help but feel something is missing

dewey riley (1/3) samantha carpenter

dewey is a sheriff in this world, and believes it's been that way since he arrived. and he can also be found in the local tavern more often than they would care to admit. he's doing the same thing as they were in the original dc really

eleni vanserra (0/3)

eleni is another who is unaware of anything being off, she's just assumed she ended up in another world similar to prythian, and is employed as a tutor for the children of wealthy nobles

elphaba thropp (1/3) jester lavorre

swamp witch. i do not know what you expected from elphaba she arrived in another magical realm and immediately retreated as far away from society as possible. might do magic for you if you ask nicely but probably will just ask you to leave

eveline (1/3) rosemary winters

i guess i can't say she's literally the plague, right? but some people in medieval times definitely would, so she's just kind of retreated and become a bit of a bog witch, with mold creatures guarding her little cottage

feng xin (1/3) mu qing

a monster hunter who will gladly take on the most insane and powerful beasts. doesn't even really charge, he's just in it for the glory and the adrenaline rush he gets. he'll accept rewards but if you're broke that's fine

feyre archeron (1/3) mouse honrada

she's still a noble lady, unaware that she's ever been anything but a lady in this world or any other. she's basically functioning exactly the same as she would have in velaris, working to maintain peace

hazel levesque (1/3) nico di angelo

hazel is entirely unaware that things are different here, and will be doing magic and necromancy very publicly for a small fee. feel free to accuse them of witchcraft, her brother is the local priest, nothing will come of it

he chunyu (0/3)

chunyu is honestly living very similar to her canon life. she's of the belief that dc has always been this way, and continues to be a seamstress and avoid all kinds of trouble please just let her have peace

howl jenkins pendragon (3/3) calcifer, josie saltzman, martin blackwood

unaware of this current magic twisting reality, and is just living in their castle hidden in the forest. if you can find her, he'll do magic if you can pay the price and amuse him enough that it's worth her while

james witherdale (1/3) victoria sutherland

james didn't live through this time period, but he did live in a similar one, so he's going to adapt quickly despite knowing something is wrong. he's mostly doing what he always does, luring in the shadows for his next meal

jin zixuan (0/3)

zixuan is an adventurer, and is unaware that anything is wrong. he's just chilling and enjoying a pretty carefree life and i think he deserves that tbh. send him on whatever quest you want he will do it for free

jun wu (0/3)

jun wu is unaware of this city ever having been a modern one, and believes he arrived here as the prince of a foreign kingdom. he's still a manipulative weirdo, and might try to sow a bit of chaos while in foreign territory

kore sekkari (0/3)

kore is aware that things are different here, and is using that to her advantage. you'll find her in the woods claiming to be fae or a witch or whatever suits your needs to trick people into deals that will not actually come to fruition

korra (1/3) aang

completely unaware, korra thinks she's lived in this setting her entire life, and has established herself as a sword for hire. they'll be a bit picky on what jobs she takes, but they're good when they do accept

kriya dura (0/3)

kriya is unaware things have changed, and thinks she appeared here from space. she's become an assassin, and is almost as good with a bow as she once was with a blaster, but she charges a ridiculous amount of money

lan wangji (2/3) lan sizhui, luo qingyang

man is living on a quiet little farm, occasionally going out on adventures to protect the innocent from some kind of horrific monster or terrible plague. he's unaware things are different but he honestly would prefer this if he knew

liu mingyan (0/3)

mingyan is definitely also an adventurer and hired sword, and for cheap too. her real money comes from writing nsfw novels about the nobility. i hate that this is how sheev and leia smut ends up getting written

lucifer morningstar (3/3) charlie morningstar, niffty, vaggie

believes things have always been this way, and settled pretty easily into a role as the king of a nearby kingdom. he's pretty reclusive still, but will delegate tasks if necessary

lute (0/3)

lute has no idea dc was ever modern, which is alright by her. she's lived through so many time periods that going back was nothing. now she's a hired sword, hunting monsters and demons to protect the innocent

lyra ayala (1/3) abigail

aware of her real life, but believes that dc has always been like this. has made a career as a traveling bard who plays modern songs on a lute because no one recognizes all star by smash mouth in this world

lysandra ennar (0/3)

a lady from aelin's kingdom and aelin's emissary when she isn't available, lysandra is incredibly used to this. and not having any memory of modern dc, they fit right in to this scenario

manon blackbeak (0/3)

manon is a queen and warlord from a neighboring kingdom, and is somewhat here to make peace, though she isn't opposed to a bit of bloodshed if it becomes necessary. she doesn't remember modern dc at all, and likes it better that way

marinette dupain-cheng (1/3) shen qiao

marinette doesn't remember modern day dc, but is still a baker in this new world. she's also still running around as a vigilante at night, hunting down monsters and beasts under cover of darkness

melinoë (0/3)

melinoë is a princess, but one who's run away from her kingdom to be an adventurer and explorer. she's not cut out for leadership, and she knows it, so she's doing this instead. no memory of modern dc at all, just the underworld and now this

mj jones (0/3)

mj doesn't remember anything of modern dc, but she is still aware of living in modern day new york, so she's not loving this setting even after years. she's a scribe, and probably apprentices under someone

mo ran (1/3) chu wanning

mo ran owns a tavern and also cooks there most days, with no memory of the modern day. he's got really cheap alcohol and solid food because holy shit people must need it with dragons flying around everywhere

mobei-jun (0/3)

mobei-jun is a lord, and doesn't remember modern dc at all. he's truly just your typical haughty, stuck up nobleman, with a definite potential to be a bit of a warlord himself if provoked

monkey d. luffy (1/3) nami

luffy is definitely a really naive, over eager adventurer. he thinks he's been in this setting the entire time, and it never gets old seeing dragons and monsters and the like. someone keep him from dying please

nangong jingnu (0/3)

another one who remembers nothing of the modern day, jingnu is a visiting princess, one who definitely sneaks away from her guards to go and have a drink in a tavern on the down low whenever possible

nie mingjue (0/3)

mingjue is a knight and a minor lord, but honestly the knight bit is the important part. he's very much an honorable, fighting for justice and protecting the innocent white knight type, and will jump in front of dragon fire to save someone else

nyssa solo (0/3)

she's aware things are different, and she's not happy about it. first she gets shot to some primitive planet and now there's not even a semblance of technology? fuck no she's rioting.

patroclus (0/3)

patroclus is entirely unaware, and thinks this has always been his life. he's a healer for jousting tournaments and the like, and probably owns an inn to get a bit of extra money and give the idiot jousters a place to crash

qi rong (0/3)

he's very aware that things are different, and is thrilled. he's fucking with people so much. he's stolen an apothecary from some poor victim and is selling absolute garbage remedies for a laugh

renesmee cullen (1/3) heidi volturi

renesmee is a harlot, i do not make the rules. they remember nothing from modern day dc, and spends her time in taverns flirting up a storm rather than doing anything serious

rhiannon matthias (0/3)

rhi is aware that things are different here, but is simply establishing herself as a sworn sword and going with it, because this is honestly closer to their reality than anything in modern day dc, and she likes it quite a bit

ryden samos (0/3)

ryden is a woodsman, as per usual. has a little cabin in the forest and is very content with that. he doesn't remember modern dc and frankly that is fine by him, he really doesn't like that anyways.

sasha james (1/3) jonathan sims

sasha is aware that things are different here, but is honestly fascinated by the clear display of magic around her. she'll probably find some apprenticeship under a wizard to keep herself occupied until things settle

shadowheart (0/3)

shadowheart is aware things are different, and is thrilled. she hates modern technology, and would so much rather be in this kind of setting. she'll be searching for other shar worshippers, and potentially monster hunting or healing for money

sheev palpatine (0/3)

queen leia's top advisor, sheev is very aware that things are different here. he is a reluctant not so bad guy because his father is a grand duke and has his siblings back under his thumb so he has to play nice until he can kill the guy

shen qingqiu (0/3)

whoever wrote this event is a really shitty writer, honestly! he's aware of the change, but is just kind of disgusted at the lack of effort that comes with throwing european rennaisance and classic fantasy into fucking america. is studying everything though he's definitely a top tier scholar

shi wudu (1/3) he xuan

he remembers the change, and is okay with it, because this is far more his speed. he likes being worshipped as a god, and these are the people who would worship a god. someone start a cult about him it'd be funny

thanatos (0/3)

they're just the grim reaper. they have no idea dc was changed at all, they just lurk around plague victims to take them when their time comes. can give off both menacing and calming vibes to the local plague doctors

wen qing (0/3)

wen qing is unaware anything is wrong, and is a plague doctor trying to help whatever people they can, and avoid death wherever possible. if you have the plague hit her up she's got you

xaden riorson (1/3) astrid hofferson

a black knight who used to serve his queen but now roams the lands acting on his own whims, xaden believes he arrived in this setting, and is honestly alright with it. it's similar to home, and allows him to fall off the grid a bit

xiao lanhua (0/3)

xiao lanhua is absolutely living in the forest as a flower spirit, and working at sophie's flower stand. she is aware that things are different, but this is far closer to their home, and it's honestly comforting in a way they've missed

xiao qing (0/3)

a-qing is unaware of this time jump, and is operating pretty much the same way she did back home. uses her blindess for sympathy while they rob people blind and sell whatever they can

ziva desilijic tiure (0/3)

a mercenary, serving only her father, ziva is entirely unchanged. she's planning to support their father in his attempts at a coup, and serve at his side when he eventually takes the throne for himself

[val-el]

JayRose Reading List

because i’m insane

Teen Titans (2003) #47. Where they first meet! She holds him at sword point.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #39. She holds him at sword point again which is the only, like, important thing here.

Titans: Titans Together (2021) #2. I think this is technically an elseworld, but I like it because it gives us a “this is why they’re friends.”

Robin (2021) Annual #1. They gossip about their families. Slay.

Joker: the Man Who Stopped Laughing (2022). Rose shows up later in the series, but it’s a fun series overall, so just read the whole thing.

Batman/Catwoman: Gotham War: Red Hood (2023) #2. Rose’s characterisation here is iffy but. It’s silly. Okay? Okay.

Elseworlds

JayRose only became a Thing because of Elseworlds, so here we go!

Future State: Gotham and the back issues of Future State: Dark Detective. They are bounty hunters!! It’s silly and fun and Jason is so pathetic about her 🧡

DCeased: Dead Planet. This whole event was a comedy to me but issue 5 had me in tears. Yeah.

Okay that’s all because I’m so insane about them. Will try to update if they appear in more stuff but who knows.

[waspsarebetterthanbeesanyways]

Only the Dead 7

part 1

previous

next

Damian stiffens, eyeing Phantom warily. ‘Prince?’

Phantom gets a foot underneath himself and pushes himself upright, and then into the air. “Fright Knight,” he says.

“My prince,” says the ghost possessing Red Robin. “We feared you’d passed on! It’s been months without word, and even our best trackers were unable to locate you!”

Phantom wraps both arms around his chest. Fright Knight watches the movement closely, frowning at the green blood spreading through Phantom’s jumpsuit. “Mm,” hums Phantom. “The hunters got me.”

“They did to you as what they did to the subsapients they’d captured,” Fright Knight says. It’s not a question, and Phantom stays silent. “I see.” His hands tighten around the grip of his sword. “That is an act of war. King Pariah will doubtlessly order me to slay them all, and I must admit it is a relief to know they have brought it on themselves.”

“Do not,” Phantom hisses. “I am not in accord with Pariah Dark. The people of this city are innocent. I am more to blame than them.”

“No!” Fright Knight barks. “You are a child, not even old enough to assume the throne! No matter your responsibilities, you are not to blame for the actions of evildoers!”

“Yet how many child ghosts has Pariah Dark created today?” Phantom asks.

Fright Knight looks away. “My prince, I have no desire to fight you. But you know my duty. I am enthralled. I cannot disobey King Pariah’s orders.” Fright Knight looks to Jason, hogtied, squirming and helpless. “He is my quarry. Leave now, my prince. I will not tell King Pariah I saw you here today.”

Phantom steps between the bats and Fright Knight. His eyes glow a vivid blue, and a rapier of ice forms in his hand. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Then stop me!” Fright Knight lunges.

Phantom parries with a grunt. He glances at Damian from the corner of his eye. “Take Red Hood and go! I’ll hold him off!”

Though his hands are slick with blood and the pain makes tears prick in his eyes, Damian draws his blade. He didn’t become Robin to let an unknown fight his battles for him, and he didn’t become Robin to leave Drake, his brother, for dead. Next to him, Cass raises her fists, batarang in hand. Together, they leap into the fray.

Still sword locked with Phantom, Fright Knight ducks beneath Damian’s swipe. With his free hand, he reaches out to catch Black Bat’s fist, but she deftly twirls around him to land a strong punch to his shoulder, knocking him backwards. He is only barely able to dodge Phantom’s follow up stab.

Fright Knight rapidly slashes at Black Bat. “Don’t let his sword cut you!” Phantom cries. She ducks an overhead swing and nimbly jumps over a low feint.

Damian slinks behind Fright Knight and thrusts an elbow towards his spine. Fright Knight staggers forwards. Black Bat jabs at his throat, and though Tim’s body gasps and wheezes, the Fright Knight is undeterred. He twists inhumanly and strikes Damian in the cheek with a hard backhand.

Phantom leaps in with quick, graceful stabs. The Fright Knight parries them, seemingly without effot. Phantom switches to a wide slash, which the Fright Knight blocks with a forearm, but it was a feint, and Phantom backflips smoothly, coming up with the point of his blade aimed at Red Robin’s throat. Damian’s breath catches, for an instant convinced he is about to see his brother die, but the Fright Knight easily knocks his thrust aside.

“You’ve gotten rusty, my prince,” the Fright Knight says, lashing out with a kick to Phantom’s gut. Phantom goes flying, but he twists in midair to land on his feet.

“I’m a bit out of practice,” Phantom pants.

“Nonetheless, it seems you’ve surrounded yourself with capable allies,” the Fright Knight says. Cass leaps out of the shadows, throwing a batarang. The Fright Knight knocks it away with his sword, but it seems like he’s too slow to block her follow up punch. Before it connects, however, a second, heavily armored arm emerges from within Red Robin’s arm to grab her wrist. Cass’ eyes widen. “Unfortunately, they are no match for me.” He twists her wrist harshly, and Cass screams as it audibly snaps. The Fright Knight then throws her into the slide hard enough to make it collapse. She doesn’t get back up.

Enraged, Damian lunges at the Fright Knight. He easily blocks Damian’s strike with his sword, and then with a twist of his wrist he sends Damian’s blade flying out of his blood slicked hands. With his free hand, he grabs Damian by the throat, and hoists him into the air with strength greather than Red Robin’s body should be capable of. Damian grabs the Fright Knight’s wrist and kicks at Red Robin’s body, but the Fright Knight doesn’t even seem to feel it. Desperately, Damian tries and fails to inhale.

Fright Knight brings his blade up to Damian’s throat. “I apologize, but I must do this.”

“You don’t!” Phantom cries. “He isn’t your target!”

Fright Knight casts a long look at Phantom, then unceremoniously drops Damian. Damian gasps. “You are correct,” he says, turning towards where Jason lays. “It seems I’ve gotten carried away-- ah--“

At the Fright Knight’s stutter, Damian looks at Jason. Cass is there, and Jason is slung over the shoulder of her broken wrist. She pulls out her grapple with her uninjured hand. “Retreat,” she says, and grapples up to the nearest roof. She swiftly disappears into the shadows.

Fright Knight takes a step to follow, but Phantom intercepts him. “Go!” he shouts at Damian. “I’ll catch up!”

Damian grits his teeth. Retreating rankles like nothing else, but Damian is injured and tired, and even if he were at his best the Fright Knight would be a difficult opponent.

“Don’t kill Red Robin,” Damian tells Phantom.

“Of course! What do you take me for?!”

Damian retrieves his blade, turns, and runs.

_____

@coruscateselene @somecrappyclone @quirky-gardener @undead-essence @gin2212 @the-archer-goddess @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @krzys2000 @thegreawizards @luckykittens198 @violently-lovely @wackyattack @0j-9 @darkhinauniverse @just-for-dpxdc @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair @fisticuffsatapplebees @ saltyladynightmare @all-mights-asscheeks @icedbluesoul

[wyvernne]

y’all they’re giving

highkey sad the fontaine designs didn’t go heavier on steampunk/baroque smh

[princessmeepa]

Is it me or dose all the the goddesses from LO clothes look bad on them (except for Pink RS, who is the only one who has nice and cute girly clothes.

All the goddesses dress like what will Kim K and the other celebrities would wear and it looks bad on them (except for Aphrodite’s baby doll dress and Daphne’s dating dress or Minthe just slaying away her outfits) and Pink RS of course is a Mary Sue and needs to wear cute clothes to make her look stand out. I am going to give some the style of my goddesses to make them look like what they represent and not butch of color Kim K wanna be clones. Here we go!

Amphitrite: some cute and sexy swimsuits or a beautiful mermaid tail dress, because she is the Queen and goddess of sea, after all and she will be covered in pearls, starfishes, bubbles and seashells.

Aphrodite: her outfits are going be look like Jessica Rabbit, Holli Would, Marilyn Monroe and Victoria's Secret Angels, because she is the goddess of beauty of course and her themes are going to be pink, with some hearts, pearls and roses.

Artemis: her look is going to be more of a wild tomboy look and it’s going to make her look like the girl version of Peter Pan and Robin Hood and not dress like she is going to hang out with her girlfriends at yoga. Her theme is going to be green for hunt and blue for the moon.

Athena: will dress mostly like a school girl or teacher, but she has some very cool and bada$$ clothes that will give her some wonder woman vibes.

Calliope: I think she will look cute in a Ballerina Outfits.

Demeter: will have a very pretty traditional toga that shows her lovely chest and she can wear a cute farm girl outfit or a housewife, with corn and poppies in her golden hair.

Daphne: I would give a ballerina tree style look or give her some cute spring related dresses or Lana Del Rey style look.

Echo: I will give her the ballerina look.

Eos: she would wear super sexy clothes to get all the sexy young men attention.

Eris: I will give the sexy black dress with gold that will give her the bad girl It girl look and not the some blond chicken thing.

Hebe: I will give her some cute and pretty youthful dresses or a Melanie Martinez outfits, because she is the goddess of youth and give her color theme orange, because orange means youth.

Hecate: I will give her the super cute and pretty magical girl outfits and sometimes a witch.

Hera: she will dress more like a bride or wear traditional brides dresses from all over the world, because she is the goddess of marriage.

Hestia: I would make her look more of a comic book superhero look with fire theme and she would dress in a 90’s work out outfit for health and a housewife look, when she is at home.

Leto: I will give her a pure white dress.

Leuce: I will give her the sea nymph look with pearls.

Persephone: I will give her the super cute baby doll dresses and other spring related dresses and a sexy black dress, that will give her the it girl.

Polymnia: I will give her the ballerina version of Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera.

Psyche: I will give her the pretty dresses with butterflies themed that will make her look like a butterfly/fairy princess and not RS just googled hot Cheeto girl clothes stereotype with that dumb Micky Mouse hair.

Selene: she would wear the super cute and girly nightgown that will give her the Wendy Darling look to compare to Artemis’ Peter Pan look.

Rhea: she will dress more like a queen and a mother.

Thetis: I will give her the cute girly dresses that will give her bubbly personality.

The Fates looks like Velma’s daughters and the furies look like color versions of Medusa or Medusa’s daughters. I will give mine a new look.

The fate sisters

Atropos: will wear a sexy and dark gothic dresses with a black gogo boots, because she is the oldest.

Lachesis: let’s get rid off the Velma look and replace it with a beautiful Lacey gothic corsets and some gothic themed clothes.

Clotho: she would wear a cute gothic version of Melanie Martinez or a super cute gothic schoolgirl uniform, because she is the youngest sister.

The Furies sisters

Note: each Furies gets a snake in her hair to represent her personality. The normal snake is Alecto, the scary snake is Tisiphone and cute snake is Megaera.

Alecto: will wear a red theme color, sexy and bada$$ clothes.

Tisiphone: would mostly wear pants and shorts and rarely wears skirt and she would wear something more bloody nightmare.

Megaera: she would wear cute and girly dresses with ruffles and some bows.

What do you guys think?

[ouatnextgen]

Halloween Costumes!

One Halloween, the Storybrooke gang decide to dress as the Disney versions of their parents.

This is the abomination culmination

Roland: Because this happens after Robyn learns the truth about what went down with Zelena and Robin, she's....not happy with her mom rn. So, Roland graciously decided to let Robyn be Robin Hood.

He decided to be his step/adoptive mom instead of his birth mom for a few reasons: 1) because it was less emotional for him, 2) so Regina wouldn't feel left out (Henry and Jacinda were doing a couples costume), and 3)...because the Evil Queen costume was way easier to find online.

He ends up slaying in it, obviously.

Alex: She knew she wanted to be Prince Charming right away, even though her mother protested.

They put their hair up using a million bobby pins and about two cans of hairspray, and adjusted the outfit to fit their boobs. They were also the one who made adjustments to everyone else's costumes to make sure they fit.

Leo: He was uncomfortable wearing and dress, so he went with Prince Florian. David offered him one of his old Enchanted Forest outfits, to which Leo had to explain that the cheap costumes were what made it fun.

The costume had the downside of coming with a pair of very cheap and tight tights. PJ seemed to like them, though

PJ: Picked out his dress on September 1st. He rocks both it, and the shitty felt crown headband it came with.

Robyn: Could not find a single commercially available fox Robin Hood costume. So, she bought a Peter Pan one, and had Alex make some adjustments.

She slapped on a fox tail and a different Robin Hood hat, and called it. (On the bright side, she and Alice have matching hat feathers)

Gideon: Really didn't want to be his dad (even the Disney Beauty and the Beast version) so he went with his mom's Disney version.

He doesn't rock it as well as PJ, but he makes it work. And on the bright side, now he and Hope match. (On the downside, his shoulders are freezing)

Alice: Alice really wanted to be Captain Hook. So, if she rigged the coin toss that she and Hope did for who got to be him, sue her.

Luckily, there were a lot of official woman's Hook costumes for her to pick from, including some fancy wigs....which she ditched after the pictures were taken (those things are itchy), but she kept the hat, so she and Robyn could match.

Hope: After losing the coin toss, Hope suddenly realized that Emma didn't really have a fairytale counterpart. The closest things were the Ugly Duckling or the Swan Princess. All of the Ugly Duckling costumes were made for kids, so Swan Princess it was.

The two animated versions of the Swan Princess (Barbie and the other one) didn't have commercial dresses, so Hope got a chunky plastic tiara and a cheap ballet dress (she used her own ballet shoes)

Hey, at least she matched with Gideon.

Individual Edits Under the Cut: (They look bad up close, but you can't see Robyn's tail in the group shot lol)

[sadboytournament]

ROUND ONE

Propaganda

Adriane Tepes/Alucard: Bro's mom got murdered and his dad went insane and tried to wipe out humanity, and Adrian had to kill him to save everyone. AND THEN he had to deal with people trying to revive his dad to cause even more deaths! Also he's immortal so he's outlived everyone he's ever cared about 😭

Jason Todd: (tw: sexual assault mention) the second robin, gets taken in by bruce after his abusive dad walks out and his mum dies of an overdose (and he also steals the wheels of the batmobile, king). bruce trains him to be robin and for his original run he was a pretty cute kid (with the occasional Angst Arcs that are pretty common w robin - special shoutout to jason finding out his dad was actually killed by two face and he just didnt know, and an arc where a woman that reminds him of his mum gets raped by a guy that iirc has diplomatic immunity i think?? or enough power to get away with it? anyway jason fucking kills him so not that immune ig) then death in the family happened and jason found out his mum isnt his biological mum so he sets off trying to find his bio mum, and eventually he meets her, but shes working for the joker and sells jason out to him. the joker then proceeds to beat jason with a crowbar and blows the building hes in up with his mum also inside it, killing them both. dc then does a fun thing for the next 20 years where they start treating jason like the '"""troubled""" """angry""" robin who was too reckless and was always going to end up dead. eventually dc brings jason back (as dc is wont to do), by having him wake up inside his coffin years after dying, dig his way out with his bare hands, and walk half-dead in the general direction of wayne manor until he's hit by a car and taken to the hospital (where all his says is 'bruce' over and over, and when asked who bruce is he responds 'my dad' and passes out) eventually he ends up in talia al ghul's care and is dunked in a lazarus pit to revive him completely, and he finds out not only is the joker still alive, but batmans also replaced him as robin. jason returns to gotham as red hood and has an honestly pretty slay arc where he taunts bruce by doing a better job of cleaning up gotham than him ngl. eventually it all culminates with him luring batman to a building where hes keeping the joker and telling b that his no kill rule is bullshit, and he shouldve killed the joker for taking jason away from him. he gives bruce an ultimatum thats basically if you dont kill me ill kill the joker, you gotta pick' and bruce chooses to instead disarm jason and save them both, and jason escapes. what follows is a lot of ups and downs for red hood comics (mostly due to the "angry robin" narrative dc writers have spun, making a lot of jasons appearances wildly ooc fights, lots of weird (tragically in character) cringefail behaviour, and this odd period where hes a natural redhead and his helmet is this ugly dome). itd be too long to list every jason todd sadboy moment from the last 20 years here but i do want to give a special shoutout to a currect story arc where bruce (who thinks hes being controlled by a 'perfect batman' hes got in his head) gets sick of jason's """reckless behaviour""" and fucking alters jasons brain chemistry so that whenever his adrenaline rises, he'll have a panic attack so severe hes basically incapacitated and can barely speak through his fear (the instant he escapes bruce's captivity he jumps into a burning building to save a little girl im SOFT for him!!). also second special shoutout to the jason todd in the arkham games who didnt even have the luxury of dying at the jokers hand, and was instead tortured for like 3 years, branded, beaten by p much everyone in batmans rogues gallery (and some of jokers goons dressed as batman), eventually jason breaks himself out only to find out that NOT ONLY has bruce replaced him, but it took the man like. a month. like jason wouldnt be thought dead for a long time, he was missing and bruce just went 'ill let this new kid adopt himself' ig? also theres a vr game in the arkham series where you can go into arkham asylum and hear jason screaming 🙃

[davenswitcher]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by the lovely @larvasmoon 💕 and this is from my WIP "A bounty hunters tale" the prologue. The prologue will be a bit longer than that, mid you.

A bounty hunters tale

Prologue

Astarion hunched over the kitchen table. Various papers strewn across. Letters upon letters, blackmail, and information about the targets. Among those papers was a list. His list of targets. He held this list and pondered what to do next. Who to kill next. The list was full of people who didn’t deserve a merciful death. That’s what he says to his wife Cecillé time and time again. Those people might be upper class – nobles, but those people had dark secrets.

Murder, rape, slavery. Anything that would make the devil chuckle in delight. But Cecillé just wants what’s best for him. Did she forget they slayed worse foes? Bloody hell.

Astarion never thought he’d be a bounty hunter. Kill the right person, be rewarded, AND praised? Perfect. The Robin Hood of vampires someone called him the other day. Whatever that means. He never stole from the rich and gave it to the poor. He just kills bad people and gets rewarded for it. Rather handsomely at times. Sometimes he has to convince his contractor to hand him the promised reward. As a lesson Astarion often pickpockets some more coin and a good red wine for him and Cecillé.

Last time someone tried to withhold his reward he had to teach that guy a good lesson. The contractor really thought he could outwit Astarion without any consequences. Cheeky bastard. For that he knocked that fellow unconscious and bound him on a tree in the middle of town square and wrote a filthy limerick on parchment and shoved it into the bastards mouth. That’ll teach him. And of course, rids him of his heavy coin purse. He doesn’t work for free, you know.

Because it wasn’t enough the dude tried to cheat him of the reward but also lied about the nature of the contract. The person that was supposed to be murdered hadn’t commit the felonies by himself. Oh,no. Triplets! That’s how they were able to commit those crimes at the same time in different parts of the city. On top of that those triplets were brutes. Lucky for Astarion he’s agile and can fight like there’s not tomorrow. Well, there is. And he needed to be done before sunup or there won’t be a superhuman bounty hunter any longer. Lucky for him the brutes weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and he could dispose of them quickly.

Brutes killed, contractor humiliated, contract fulfilled.

As he sorted out the information about his next targets he plans what to do next. The first name on his list is Mellorn Dawnguard. A snobbish, older than middle-aged guy. He owns a vineyard and is market leader in all things wine. He also hosts soirees and masquerades frequently. Those tend to have a darker secret however if he’s to believe the blackmail he swiped from Bladurs Mouths biggest snitch.

[burgercheese1812]

SPOILERS!!!!!!!

Read at your own risk!

My emotions/thoughts through painted devils, because I just finished that shit and holy jamole-

(This took me days to write help 💀)

The seventh lie: (yes it has to be in sections or no one will be able to follow it, not even myself)

YES IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED

OOOO THE COVER JUST *chefs kiss*

NO DAMMIT VANJA GO BACK

DAMMIT VANJA

Don’t scam the people, don’t scam the people- of course she did.

Hm making up a story about a god, yes this seems completely sane and won’t have future repercussions.

*fast forwards two months* Dammit Vanja.

Don’t go into the barn. DON’T GO INTO THE BARN- of course.

EMERIC!! YAY!

oh… Emeric… 😐

awkward.

YES I’VE MISSED THIER BANTER!!!

*sheep third wheeling is a vibe*

*Enter ScarMad*

Hi, yes hello, what do you mean you cLaiMeD mY bOy eMeRiC?? 😃

*Emeric proceeds to be high-fived in the chest, with red permanent marker*

*Enter PrOcToR KiRkLiNg* p.s: I already hate her.

I hope Vanja cuts KiRkLiNg down a few pegs. Ok a lot of pegs.

Who is Helga and where did she come from? *proceeds to knock KiRkLiNg down a few pegs* I like her.

THE RYE ROLL SCENE IS EVERYTHING 🤌 SASSY HELGA MY BELOVED

#wish I could have seen KiRkLiNg standing on that bridge looking like a shocked fish as her lunch falls into the river

Oh how I wish I could go on a lovely date with my significant other to see murals of human sacrifices that may or may not soon involve them. Oh to be in love.

Ah yes Vanja, because I’m sure just screaming in a cave is going to summon- god dammit it ScarMad.

HA VIRGIN (I can’t say anything)

wait hang on so ScarMad claims people who haven’t… done it yet? Or have no intention of ever doing it? That smells a tad… *sniffs the air* Acephobic.

#cancel the Acephob ScarMad 2023 #acerights

“Human measuring stick I’m inexplicably fond of” I’m sure Emeric loves you to Vanja

Ah yes let’s all just casually stroll up to the other 5 brother and ask for them to participate in a BLOOD SACRIFICE that will go down swimmingly I’m sure!

GIVE EMERIC SOME SHEET VANJA HE’S COLD GOD DAMMIT!

*un- PG 13 -ifies your Vaneric*

PLEASE NOT THE PREGNANCY TROPE- oh ok.

Love Helga being a big sister figure in Vanja’s life. (What the poor naive dingbat did not know is that this is what we call ✨foreshadowing✨)

penis.

Great now I’m going to spend the next week wondering how the hell to pronounce blesséd

Of course KiRkLiNg has to come as well

I love Vikram with all my heart.

GHOSTBUSTERS!

WhAt dO yOu mEaN yOu dOn’T HaVe gOdMoThEr’S????

Of course Vanja drunkenly yelled at one of the brothers

The sixth lie:

Vanja throws horseshit at Emeric, off to a great start 😃👍

Wouldn’t be a book with Vanja without some good ol’ Vanja fashion robbery

Cue the Robin Hood montage

Emeric is loving this.

GHOSTBUSTERS! Pt.2

Never seen the movie but I’m 95% sure this is how Annabelle started

Didn’t always have rails- OHS ‘bout to have a field day☝️😃

SISTER??????

BUM BUM BAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The fifth lie:

IRMGARD WHAT THE HELL??

I’M READY TO THROW HANDS WITH THIS GIRL WHAT THE ACTUAL-

Oh right sister.

Ok let’s leave the absolute HORRORS of Vanja’s back scars and go back to this cliffhanger. Starting with:

WHAT THE FU-

Oh she’s just crazy ok. *mightily suspicious*

I will admit I was fully sucked in by the ant proverb-

Great the cult has followed them

The fourth lie:

Ah… brothels…

JUSTICE FOR AGNETHE!!

“The worst mistake of your life wasn’t upsetting me. It was starting a fight with her” SLAY EMERIC YOU TELL MEAN OLD MOTHER HUBBARD

Emeric has… questions…. 👀

Wish i could solve my problems with a giant ruby

Bath. I will elaborate no further.

THE SCARS!! THIS SCENE MADE ME SOB OF COURSE YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL VANJA 😭

Normal people: “i think I love them.” VANJA THE RIZZLER SCHMIDT (Ros) :“If every star were a reason I care for him—that’s how I feel, like I carry too many stars in me to count, like my skin might burst with the enormity of it all, like if I gather them all up, the only name I could give this is love.”

Thank you very much for teaching me to waltz whilst also teaching me organised crime

*gets called ugly in front of her sole mate* Vanja: dead bugs for you

JSDJDJEHFHDUSUDUEHDFBRHCUSHDBF SHE IS THEIR SISTER HOW DARE YOU DANGLE THAT PLOT POINT IN FRONT OF MY FACE ONLY TO TRICK ME AND THEN CHUCK THAT EMOTIONAL DUMP-TRUCK ON ME, YOU @what-eats-owls ARE MAGNIFICENT PLEASE CONTINUE

The third lie:

Excuse me?

Dead? HER MOTHER IS DEAD? 😃

Ozkar: tells Vanja her mother is dead, also Okzar: ew don’t be sad yucky

HER RIBBON?? THAT CLEARLY IS IMPORTANT TO HER?? I NEED TO PUT ON MY DOUBLE SEEING GLASSES 😳 👓🤏JUST TO SEE THROUGH THIS ABSOLUTE BULLSHI-

Ozkar gets worst brother of the year award. Change my mind, oh wait you can’t.

Love that Emeric can just immediately finds Vanja BEST BOYFRIEND

YES EMERIC’S FAMILY

Emeric talking loveingly about his family is giving both Vanja AND me life

NO NO GET OUT IF EMERIC YOU RUDE OLD HAG HE’S CLEARLY TAKEN

LET GO OF VANJA!!!!

NOT THE ANGST—THE ANGST 😭 DAMN YOU, YOU GLOWY RED BIATCH AND ALGEBRA OR WHAT EVER YOUR DAMN NAME IS FOR GIVING VANJA THIS TRAUMA (Adalbrecht but I can’t spell)

Manacles? 🤨📸

EMERIC WANTS TO KEEP VANJA SAFE FROM HIM 😭 GET YOURSELF A PERSON WITH THIS LEVEL OF DEDICATION

honestly if my future partner doesn’t take paralysis pills when they’re possessed by an evil old glowy witch thing then I don’t want ‘em ✋🙄

THIS CRUSTY DUSTY ASS CRIMSON BIATCH HAS BLOCKED VANJA FROM SEEING HER GOD MOTHERS? This lady better be burnt at the stake and hung drawn and quartered when this is over or I swear to whatever is above that I will cross universes and do it myself.

Of course Vanja’s brother has been taken by an immortal sky women because, well because this was all just a tad too easy

The Imperial Abbey if Truth sounds like the most aesthetically pleasing place and goodness I want SO badly to go there now-

YES DEATH AND FORTUNE YAY!!!!

ScarMad clearly has to go back to preschool BECAUSE SHE HASNT HAD THE PERSONAL SPACE TALK YET, GET OUT OF MY BOY-

Cool. Emeric sleepy = no witchy

That was meant to rhyme :/

My poems aren’t as good as Emeric’s

Also. EMERIC HAS POEMS??? PLEASE SHOW ME I MUST SEE 👹👹

Part 3:

THE ABBESS HAS CANDLES ON HER HEAD? She is so cool what the-

AND SHE’S ONLY A SIDE CHARACTER?

Girlboss fr

ScarMad the fabricated low gOd is in fact not a low god and is instead an… old wheat spirit thing?

Emeric really hates horses part 34

Alone? Vanja was alone at the end? I swear to all that is everything EMERIC BETTER NOT DIE-

Math crimes. (I shall be using all those jokes in the foreseeable future)

Emeric needs to be invited to do some money laundering STAT.

AWWW SIBLING MOMENT

this book really is just an emotional roller coaster, except every once in a while they chuck water on you when you least expect it, just to add to the fun emotional experience.

Cue a lot of legal talk that went right over my head

HAHAHAHA SHE GOT ARRESTED HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA-

YES AND THE GREEN HAND GETS THE uh, BUILDING AND JONIZA AND THEIR DAD GOT THE MONEY AND-

and now Vanja has to go get her brother from the sky lady

The second lie:

RAGNE

RAGNERAGNERAGNERAGNEGRANGE-

I’msohappythatmyfavouritelittleshapshifterisback

Can you tell I love Ragne?

VANJA’S GOING TO RIDE RAGNE

like… a horse…

WITH WINGS???

on the feet…?

I swear everytime I think Ragne couldn’t get any cooler SHE BLOODY GETS COOLER-

Sky lady.

I love sky lady.

There are so many cool characters in this book I just- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Race! WHO SHALL WIN???

DAMN IT SCARMAD PISS OFF-

A tie? Nice 😎

Vanja has to ride with the Hunt for two weeks? Ok coolcoolcool definitely can’t see this going wrong in the foreseeable future-

She didn’t tell Emeric. 😐

VANJA’S GONNA MET HER FAMILY

And yet another scene that almost made me cry

SHE HAS SO MUCH FAMILY?

THE WEDDING

I love Vanja and her sisters bonding through dressing her up

OMG EMERIC SEEING VANJA ALL DRESSED UP WITH MAKE-UP I- 😭😭😭

Jeezus crickey can ScarMad leave Vanja alone FOR FIVE BLOODY MINUTES??

“What is wrong with you, why are you red??”

the first lie:

Love that Vanja’s whole family just drops everything to help her 😭

I’ve done and am I currently doing a lot of crying and I’m not even at the end yet?

KiRkLiNg is being… tolerable? Perhaps I was wrong about her. Maybe I judged her to quickly? (Later I regretted ever thinking these words)

Just realised I haven’t mentioned Ambrozia (?) a lot and I would just like to say, girlboss©️

GHOSTBUSTERS! Pt.3

NO RAGNE

And today on Vanja’s list of low gods to befriend is moss lady

the goat scene. I will now go have nightmares now thank you very much.

JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE ! STOP TELEPORTING THEM

she won’t let them up the bridge. she won’t let them get the anchor.

I have since fallen off the edge of my seat and am lying on the floor reading as fast as I possibly can

Ah yes, the only sane option, jump off the bridge into the jaws of a hellhound 👏👏

Emeric really is ride or die huh

THEY- NO. ON THE RIVER BANK?????

SCANDALOUS!!!!!

…

I take it back please Emeric is just the ride NOT THE DIE I REPEAT PLEASE NOT THE DIE

GIVE HIM BACK YOU INSUFFERABLE RED CANDLESTICK

I am crying with Vanja

HELL YES BRUNNE LETS GOOOOOOOOO

YES GIRLBOSS IS BACK ON HER FEET GO GO GO

The actual red maiden was just sitting in a cave CRYING THIS WHOLE TIME? I say, whilst sitting in my dark room after sobbing through most of this book

YES THE FINAL ASSAULT PUT SCARMAD IN HER PLACE

…

what in. the frick frack diddly dack, fuggle nuggles bloody HELL DID SHE JUST SAY???

MARTHE???

HER.

MOTHER????????

HER MOTHER????????

YOU’RE TELLING ME. THAT HER MOTHER. ORCHESTRATED ALL OF THIS. JUST BECAUSE VANJA WAS GOING TO BE HAPPY??????

SHE’S READY TO SACRIFICE HER WHOLE FAMILY?????

911 child protection services?

Just Marthe dangling Emeric over a hungry hell hound ready to drop him in, Mother in laws am I right?

Gonna buy therapy for Vanja, Emeric, (Marthe can rot) and then myself.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAH GO DEATH GO FORTUNE THE TRUE PARENTS MUAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA

this all brings me great satisfaction.

BACK INTO THE LATERN AND STRAIGHT INTO THE HELLHOUNDS MOUTH HA

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAY 💅(literally)

Ooooooo yeah 😬 makes sense that the town would lowkey hate Vanja

They get to have a dance 🥺🥺 (one that isn’t threaten by a glowing red demon mother)

Oh. 😳

HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!

Slay they deserve that.

Water break before the end 🥲

Take back EVERYTHING that I rethought about KiRkLiNg, girl still a baitch

Ofc KiRkLiNg would still want Vanja gone WHAT DID I EVEN THINK-

Vanja.

No.

No Vanja. Don’t do that.

DON’T THINK LIKE THAT VANJA

GOD DAMN IT VANJA STOP

PLEASE SAY HE HEARD THAT, EMERIC HEARD IT BEFORE HE FELL UNCONSCIOUS PLEASE

EMERIC SHE LOVES YOU SHE SAID IT!

VANJA NO

KIRKLING DAMN YOU!

SHE HATES EMERIC??????

WAIT WOAH HOLD UP KIRKLING HATES EMERIC??

VANJA STOP NO!

BRUNNE NO!

…

Screaming crying throwing up.

After the book i just lay on my bed clutching the book sobbing. Then i stopped sobbing and just lay there.

Truely a magnificent book and even this happens to pop up on your fyp and you read all the way down here then:

READ THE BLOODY BOOK! GO! RIGHT NOW! BUY IT! READ IT!

Gonna go reread it myself, I just love crying my eyes out 😗✌️, no but really the book is just amazing and I wish I could read it for the first time again. Thank you so much @what-eats-owls you are truly a magnificent writer and I cannot WAIT for book 3, thank you so much.

[daenystheedreamer]

What do you think about Arya? In general or endgame or whatever you feel like going into king

LOVE ARYA feral little genderfreak going through identity issues and parental grief HES LITERALLY ME.... i say im theonkin but i KNOW im aryakin.

i♡arya though im not a huge fan of most interpretations of her, ESPECIALLY the show interpretation.

ARYA'S MURDEROUS TENDENCIES ARE BAD. SHE IS A LITTLE GIRL WITH A FAMILY AND SHR IS 9 AND SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO MURDER PEOPLE TO SURVIVE. it is fucked! it is fucked its not awesome and slay and girlboss. ok it is a little and i hope she kills more evil people BUT LIKE NARRATIVELY IT IS BAD!

i also like reading her through the Gender Lens!! shes assigned female at birth and assigned traits and assigned a life path and she does not fucking want it! she doesnt have the words yet cos theyre Literally not invented but her struggle with identity is more linked to her name (stark) than to 'returning' to her gender idk if that makes sense. it does to me♡

i dont think she's sailing west. i think itd be very odd for her to do so since shes finally found her family and finally found her home again. i dont think its terribly out of character for her, but i always kinda liked the idea of her becoming an outlaw robin hood type? like a bwb ending. i havent like thought of it analytically i just think its fun and she's have fun doing that.

i dont think she'll settle down with gendry and rule as the lady of storms end with gendry legitimised and they have 10 kids all named eddard and catelyn and robb and nymeria. i think the asos gendrya stuff is sweet but i think its grrm gardening more than grrm laying down arya's endgame. i think gendrya's cute tho!!! shes just like 10 rn so ew, but i wouldnt be mad at a gendrya endgame :)

i believe she will encounter lady stoneheart. idk how but i think she will!! i want her to hug her mother i want LSH to feel love and peace in her unbeating heart.

ALSO AND THIS IS FANSERVICEY BUT I WANT HER TO SEE NYMERIA AGAIN.... i think its a good Seeing Yourself moment. like she can never return to who she was before. scream!

also i use she her pronouns for arya cos its like. fucking canon. but i see her as agender or some such flavour of genderfuckery.... for like a week in middle school she's wolfgender and goes by paw/paws/pawself and howl/woofs/barkself and no one can tell if shes serious or being a dick to people with neopronouns. but she was somewhat serious she was trying it out but her teachers were dicks and wouldnt do it so she figured it wasnt worth the fuss. i also think she's a furry OK insane tangent done

[livvyofthelake]

woah i’m really losing my rep here you know how i claim to be able to recognize all once upon a time actors even the minor guest stars. here’s the story. so i’m on emilie de ravin’s wikipedia page right. as one will be. apparently she’s in all seasons of lost except five so you know that one’s gonna blow. what was i saying. oh yeah so i'm on her wikipedia page and naturally i have to look at that little personal life section duh. it tells me that she had an affair with her married costar on once upon a time and ended up breaking up his marriage (homewrecker slay) and i'm looking at his name like. WHO? i had never heard of the man in my life so i go look him up i see an image. and i'm like he was NOT on ouat i would KNOW... he looks like a cw actor.... (he is actually but that is not the point) so i'm scrolling through the man's filmography and first of all, he was cenred in merlin. and i'm like ok so he should kill himself. and secondly. he was robin hood in the ONE season 2 episode that character appeared in before they recast for season 3. i actually love that episode but i guess he's the most irrelevant part of it to me because his face never made an impression enough for me to recognize him in merlin OR from his little wikipedia picture. guy who just looks like he was grown in a lab to be on a terrible cw show. anyway if this was my only flop on this front lately i wouldn't be concerned but i still can't believe i didn't recognize abby ross on riverdale. abby ross is an actress i know by name because of her fucking. four episodes of ouat. and i didn't even notice she was there right in front of my eyes....