Riflebird

Who Believes In Fairytales?

I'll still be here, if anyone else is around.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

@Drag@CrosswireI am contemplating leaving this game because my character doesn't play much of a role in it. This isn't to point fingers or to go "woe as me." It just naturally wound up that there is no point for my character to exist in this game. He isn't important to any SL and is there to be there.

@Holy Soldier

That's too bad. I was actually tempted to have the Gingerbread Man contact your character and hire him for a job, but I wasn't sure if you had any story planned for Hansel so I didn't want to mess that up. If you're still up for it I can have GM send Hansel an invite.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

I'm still here. I'm just afraid to post to move the story along, since it might mess up some preplanned events.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

These Tales keep weird hours.

Also, the Gingerbread Man LOVES the Council. They let him get away with pretty much anything.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

It's getting quite busy in here lately.

Although I won't say much, know that I will always be here. Watching this thread. Watching you.

Yes. Even when you poop, I will be there. Watching you poop.

Cuz that's how I roll.

Poop.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

A GOD AM I…

Swan frowned upon reading the bloody message on the wall. The Boss was right; whoever this killer was, he definitely had delusions of grandeur.

The pale haired woman turned her eyes away from the bloody letters on the wall and moved them towards the mutilated corpse that was lying upon the blood-stained carpet. It was a gruesome sight, one that had one of the newer Breadwinners that was escorting her almost lose his lunch upon seeing it. But for Swan, a corpse was just a corpse, nothing but bone and gristle and leftover meat; in other words, nothing to get so excited over. Besides, she had seen worse.

After a few moments of examining the bloody chunks that were once the man’s face, she turned her bored expression over to the front desk clerk who had been bodily dragged from his office and up to the crime scene by her escorts. Although the two men in suits were mortal and thus usually no match for a Tale, even one as scrawny and impotent looking as the clerk, the fact that both were armed with a shotgun and automatic rifle kept the man behaving properly.

“Whose room was this?” Swan asked. The skinny man was the employee who worked the front desk during the past few weeks.

“L-look, I told you guys before! I don’t fuckin’ know okay?” The tale grumbled out, his demeanor trying very hard not to look shaken. Unfortunately his attempts were useless as he was sweating bullets while under Swan’s cold gaze, not to mention the two gun barrels of the goons behind him. “The l-ledger’s gone.”

“So you’ve said,” Swan drawled, her blue eyes never blinking as she continued her hard glare. “And you honestly want us to believe that you’re so stupid and such a fuckup that you would forget who it was that you rented this room out to?”

“I-”

“You’re not running the Ritz here, friend,” Swan continued, cutting the manager off. “You get what? Two or three new rentals a week in this shithole? And you have, what? Twenty to thirty tenants? You’re actually telling me that you can’t remember who you rented this room out to? Because from the state of this body,” she kicked at the corpse’s leg just so the clerk knew the exact corpse she was referring to, “he can’t have been dead for more than two days.”

Swan stepped over the body and approached the trembling clerk, her eyes narrowing into angry slits. “I suggest you get that pea brain of yours working again, and answer my damn question. Who. Did. You. Rent. This. Room. TO.”

The clerk gulped. “M-ma’am, look, I swear I don’t-”

Swan’s fist lashed out in a quick, hard jab that smashed into the clerk’s belly, her hard knuckles digging into the soft flesh directly under his left ribcage. The clerk coughed out loudly in pain and fell to his knees, trousers becoming stained by the drying blood. Swan may not have been the strongest Tale, but she definitely knew where to hit a man to make it hurt.

“The next time you lie to me, I’ll have my friend with the shotgun blow off your right kneecap.” Swan crouched over the coughing, weeping man, then cruelly grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head up as she began to scream right into his face. “WHO DID YOU GIVE THIS ROOM TO?!”

“I-I don’t know his name, I swear!” The clerk coughed out, his eyes red and wide with fear. “He was some guy in a hoodie, it was dark I couldn’t see his face! Th-the freak didn’t even say nothin, he just passed me a note asking for a room. He also gave me two hundred bucks to get rid of the registry.”

Swan frowned. “Where’s this note?”

“I… I threw it out, along with the log book. Please! I swear, if I knew he was messing with Mr. Ginger I would never have helped him! I just needed the money, please!”

Swan let go of the clerk’s hair and the Tale fell flat on his face onto the messy carpet. She then stood up and walked to the two men she had come here with.

“Fredricks,” she said looking over to the goon with the shotgun. “Take this sorry sack of excrement,” she indicated the weeping clerk behind her, “back to the hotel. Let the boys over there work him over. They might get him to say a bit more.” The man nodded, then tugged the scrawny Tale up to his feet and began dragging him out of the room.

“Kowalski,” Swan said to the goon with the assault rifle. “I doubt this dump gets its garbage picked up regularly. I saw some dumpsters out back. Go in there and look for the note that asshole threw out.”

Kowalski gave her a disbelieving look. “Seriously?”

It only took one cold look from Swan to get him rushing out towards the dumpsters.

The pale blond woman sighed before leaving the room herself. She straightened out her white coat as she stepped out of the building, headed to the dingy streets outside.

She needed more information.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

More like Mayor Boogie...duh lol.

@Lexicon

The G-Man don't waste his time on small time local elections. If he gonna run, he run with the Big Boyz, ya dig?

Who Believes In Fairytales?

@CrosswireOne idea I had for the RP was an election of some kind. After she finds out about this murder, Boogie is going to really start pushing for some kind of leader to be chosen.

@Lexicon

Hmm... President Gingerbread Man. I like the sound of that.

Who Believes In Fairytales?

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Swan opened her crusty eyes, only to shut them again when the soft morning light coming in from her bedroom’s open window felt like they had fried her retinas. She groaned in annoyance at the stinging ache that started to pulse in her skull, then frowned at the foul taste of old leftover booze on her dry tongue.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

She rubbed at her eyes and looked over to the cheap digital clock that sat atop her bedside table. The display read 06:57 upon its scarlet surface, and Swan cursed, not only at being woken up so early but also because of the fact that she only slept two hours. It seems that once again sleep for her proved to be an ever elusive and vindictive bitch.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Fuck, yes! Yes, I’m up! I’m up!” Swan shouted towards her front door. Her bed springs squeaked as she climbed out of it, her foot bumping into an empty whiskey bottle that had been lying on the floor next to it. She stood and almost promptly fell back onto the bed, her head swimming from the previous night’s attempt to fall asleep through creative use of alcoholic beverages. The Tale then walk-stumbled out of her room, almost tripping over several more liquor bottles lying haphazardly on the floor.

She managed to make it through her living room and to the front door without incident. After undoing the locks, Swan flung open the door and directed what was most likely a bloodshot glare at the man standing outside.

“What?” she all but snarled at him.

“Uh,” Raul was one of the gang’s many human members, and he like the others knew of Tales and what they were capable of. Needless to say, he looked a bit nervous at the murderous look Swan was giving him. “The boss wants to see you.”

The angry gaze vanished from her face, though the annoyed frown was still there. “Fine,” she told him. “I’ll be right up.” She then slammed the door unceremoniously in his face.

Not wanting to keep her employer waiting, Swan went into her suite’s bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. The chilled liquid did much to wake her up somewhat more, whereupon she quickly realized that all she had been wearing to bed was her underwear.

“Dammit,” she muttered, “I gave that little punk Raul a free show.” Swan made a mental note to put him on latrine duty later, then stomped over to her bedroom to get dressed.

Twelve minutes later, the Tale was dressed in a clean black suit, headed up the elevator to meet her employer in the penthouse suite. While waiting, Swan took a moment to straighten her tie and look at her reflection in the elevator’s shiny metal walls. She noted that she looked pale(well, paler than usual) and that there were heavy bags under her eyes. Oh well, nothing she could do about those.

When the elevator door opened she was met by two large gorillas in suits. Not literal gorillas though, more the big, dumb and ugly kind of mook, the members of the Breadwinners who were kept around just for their muscle. The two thugs nodded to her respectfully as she strode past.

The Gingerbread Man was, like usual, in his office. The office itself was furnished much like the rest of the penthouse was, in traditional wood with antique furniture and expensive paintings. Overall it looked more like a 19th Century abode instead of the extravagant and gaudy modern stylings of today. (i.e. no pink refrigerators, no white carpeting, and definitely not a hot tub in the middle of the living room.) The only item that seemed to clash with the rest of the furnishings was a two-foot tall jade statue of a fox which was seated on a shelf right behind the desk.

“Swan,” The Gingerbread Man said, looking up from reading some papers atop his desk as she entered. “Finally. I need you to-” he stopped talking, and the eyebrows on his human form’s face tilted slightly upwards. “Jesus Titfucking Christ! What the hell happened to you?”

Swan frowned. She didn’t look that bad, did she?

“Long night,” she said simply.

“Whatever,” her employer turned back to the notes on his desk. “We got a problem to deal with.”

“Oh?” Swan took a seat in one of the chairs set in front of the crime boss’s desk.

“Yeah, last night some stupid fuckhead got himself killed over in the Hundred Acres,” her boss answered. “Normally I wouldn’t give two shits, but according to some of my boys this dead fuckhead was mutilated to hell. This was some real sick serial killer shit, but what pisses me off most is that whoever the fuck did this had the balls to write, and I fuckin’ quote, ‘A God Am I.’”

“I see.” Swan stated. She really didn’t, though. Why should they care about some dead idiot found in the middle of that slum?

“Yeah. Well, as you know that shithole motel is in my territory. When some horror movie shit starts up in my place of business, I take that personally. What’s more is the fuckhead who did this seems to think he’s hot shit. I need you and the boys to find out who the fuck is stupid enough to pull this shit in my neighborhood. Bring him to me, alive! I wanna take care of this ‘God’ personally.”

“Consider it done.”

Who Believes In Fairytales?

Swan

Name: Swan
Alias/Nickname: The Ugly Duckling, Queen Odette, Gingerbread’s Ice Queen
Tale: The Ugly Duckling / Swan Lake
Physical Age: Late 20’s
Actual Age: 212
Height/Weight: 5’6” / 125 lbs
Gender: Female

Physical Appearance and Attire:

Swan is a tall, thin woman with pale blonde (almost white) hair and a pale complexion. She has an ethereal beauty due to her delicate appearance, which would lead many to (falsely) believe the woman to be physically weak. As befitting her rank as the lieutenant of the Tales’ Underworld’s most vicious crime bosses, Swan dresses in a crisp black pantsuit with white shirt and tie. She also never goes anywhere without wearing her long white trench coat, one that is belted snugly around her slim waist.

Personality:

Swan has a quiet, cold persona. She takes her job as The Gingerbread Man’s lieutenant very seriously and treats everyone except her employer with polite disdain. She never seems to lose her temper or cool, and is capable of ignoring even the most vicious of insults. Her aloofness and seeming inability to be affected by emotions has earned her the nickname “Gingerbread’s Ice Queen,” even though she isn’t related to the Snow Queen at all.

Background:

Swan started her early life as the Ugly Duckling. Everyone at the pond treated her badly, even her family, due to her appearance. Much of her childhood was spent being beaten and insulted by the other animals of the pond, and she was always cold and lonely. Eventually, after one long winter, she emerged from the snow reborn. Gone was the ugly duckling, and in her place was a beautiful swan. All the animals at the pond were so in awe of her beauty that they made her into their queen. Although throughout the years the former ugly duckling reigned over the pond justly, she secretly hated all of the animals around her, remembering all their past hurtful words and abuses.

Then one day, a human prince named Siegfreid arrived. Although many of the animals fled from him afraid, the Swan Queen did not. She had instantly fallen in love with the handsome young man, and quietly lamented that she and he could never be together due to her being only a swan. To her surprise, the Prince approaches her and places a kiss upon her head. She is suddenly engulfed in a bright, golden light, and upon the light’s vanishing she finds herself transformed into a human woman.

Prince Siegfreid explains that she is actually Princess Odette, the daughter of the king and queen of a nearby kingdom. Odette’s parents had an agreement with Siegfreid’s, that their children would be wed in order to unify the two kingdoms into one. Unfortunately, such a union was to the detriment of the evil sorcerer Rothbart. Upon Odette’s birth, Rothbart’s foul magic transformed the infant princess into a swan egg. The wizard then stole the egg and placed it upon a duck’s nest, where Odette would hatch and be none the wiser to her royal (and human) heritage. The prince goes on to tell her that her parents as well as his family never gave up on her, and continued searching for her for years until a few days ago when he was passing by a nearby village whereupon he heard the local hunters speak of a beautiful swan who lived at this pond. And with his bride found, Siegfreid put all his love into a kiss, a love so pure and genuine that it shattered the evil curse Rothbart had put upon her, transforming Odette into her true self. The prince and princess embrace and kiss each other in joy, and both looked forwards to the long, happy life they were to have together.

But alas it was not to be. As soon as the curse broke, Rothbart knew. He could not allow the two kingdoms to unite, so he transformed himself into a great gale so that he may travel the long distance from his dark tower towards the pond. He fell upon the prince and princess, showering them in snow and hail, freezing them with arctic winds, and blinding their eyes and ears with thunder and lightning. The brave Siegfreid tried vainly to fight off the vile sorcerer, but his sword could do no damage to the storm that Rothbart had become. With all hope lost, both Odette and Siegfreid decided to take their fates into their own hands and take their own lives by diving into the dark depths of the pond; although they would die, they would be together forever and away from the cold grip of the evil wizard. And so, both of the young royals tossed themselves into the cold, chilling water of the almost frozen pond, grasping each other and awaiting the reaper to take them.

Unfortunately, Odette felt panic at the last moment. Although her love for the prince was great, her desire to live was greater. And thus she broke away from Siegfreid’s arms and swam to the surface, leaving the prince behind in the cold dark depths. Her last memory of him were his dark blue eyes, the orbs shining with hurt and grief at her betrayal.

Rothbart’s laughter was the last thing Odette remembered as she ran away from the pond that was her home. The evil wizard found delight at the events that transpired and let her go; after all with the prince dead then the two kingdoms would never unite. Within a few years, both Odette and Siegfreid’s parents would die of grief, leaving no heirs to take their place. Both kingdoms were torn apart by the greedy nobles who sought to take the crown as their own.

Odette ran, and has been running ever since. Over the years she has grown more bitter and resentful, both at herself for her cowardice and at the world for its unfairness. In order to survive she worked various jobs for various employers, most of said work being less than legal. She has served as bodyguard, smuggler, thief, mercenary, and killer. Now calling herself Swan, she built up quite the reputation as being a cold, ruthless and, most importantly, effective problem solver.

Eventually her path led her to joining the exodus to the mortal plane where she came under the employ of The Gingerbread Man. She proved herself an impressive minion, and thus rose to become the crime boss’s right hand.

Skills and Abilities:

-Cold Heart: After a long childhood of bullying and abuse at the hands of the animals of the pond, Swan has grown a thick emotional shell. She is extremely slow to anger and is not easily riled. She can maintain a calm demeanor even when physically attacked, allowing her to coldly calculate the best way to survive an engagement.

-Underworld Savvy: Over a century’s experience dealing with criminals and their ilk, Swan is well versed in the ways of thieves, rogues, and murderers. She has many contacts in the criminal underground as well as in both the Tales government and the local mortal Police department.

-Twice Cursed: Swan is no stranger to magic. Not only had she been cursed by the powerful sorcerer Rothbart, but she has a current curse active that was put upon her by the Devil himself. Such powerful magics have had an effect on her physiology, such that now her body has become very resistant to curses. Any attempt by hedge wizards or witches jinx her has been met with failure; even simple glamours can’t be cast on her.

Starting Items/Trinkets:

-White coat: Swan never travels anywhere without her signature trench coat. The garment is a brilliant white, the same color as swan feathers. It has been enchanted to both repel dirt as well as mend itself if damaged.

-LeMat Revolver: Swan’s main weapon is a customized LeMat revolver. Its barrel and cylinder have been converted to fire seven cartridged .44 rounds. The lower barrel remains unchanged and can be loaded to fire a single 20 gauge shotgun shell.

-20 gauge rounds: Swan carries several spare shotgun shells in her belt. Most contain regular lead balls, but she keeps a couple loaded with silver on her person just in case she runs into more “esoteric” enemies.

-Seven .44 Zamiels: Seven magical bullets that Swan came into possession of after meeting the Devil in a dark forest. These legendary bullets are said to always hit their mark. Sadly, all this power comes with a price. Though six of the bullets move at the shooter’s will, it is said that the seventh moves at the Devil’s. Thus every seventh shot is guaranteed to cause misery. After the seventh bullet is expended, the gun is magically reloaded with the bullets once more. Anyone other than Swan shooting these cursed rounds causes all the bullets to fire with the Devil’s will.

Weaknesses and Flaws:

-Physically Weak: Although skilled in combat due to her centuries of experience, Swan is not that impressive physically. In fact, she is somewhat weaker than most Tales. She can easily be overpowered by stronger Tales, as well as overwhelmed by superior numbers.

-Alcoholic: Despite her dour nature (or perhaps because of it) Swan spends her off-hours in her room drinking herself into a stupor. Although she never lets her bad habit get in the way of her work, her addiction to alcohol is great. She often drowns herself in whiskey in order to fall asleep, though thanks to her nature as a Tale she never has to worry about debilitating hangovers.

-Zamiel’s Curse: Swan suffers the Devil’s curse with every seventh bullet she fires. Every seventh shot hits a target she was not aiming for, and often hits something or someone to do the maximum amount of misery to her. The cursed bullet has hit allies, innocent bystanders, her employers, and even Swan herself. What’s worse is that Swan can not prepare for it, as she is cursed to lose count of how many bullets she has fired. Even counting the rounds in the cylinder or having someone tell her the number of her shots will not allow Swan to know when the seventh bullet will be fired.

The Gingerbread Man

“Run, run as fast as you can!
You can’t escape me
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

Name: The Gingerbread Man
Alias/Nickname: John Dough, GM, The G Man, Gömböc, Johnny Cakes, Boss
Tale: The Gingerbread Boy
Physical Age: Late 50’s
Actual Age: Unknown, though his tale was popularized in print in 1875
Height/Weight: Human Form - 5’9” / True form - 10”
Gender: Male

Physical Appearance and Attire:

As with most of the inhuman looking Tales who could afford them, The Gingerbread Man has paid for a magical item that grants him a human form. As a human, GM looks like a man in his late fifties with shoulder-length dark hair and a mustache. He always wears a pinstripe suit, though he tends to change the color of the suit depending on the day.

The GM’s true form though is much more gruesome. The Gingerbread Man is a small, man-shaped cookie as you would expect, but that is all he has in common with his misleading name. He is not composed of Gingerbread at all, or perhaps not any more. He is a mixture of various foodstuffs, like bread, cheese, meats, etc. But such things have long since perished, as his body is composed of completely rotten ingredients. Whenever he goes about in his true form, a foul stench permeates around him.

Personality:

The Gingerbread Man is gruff and overbearing, often prone to anger and violent flares of temper. He is also shrewd and cunning, and was able to make his gang one of the leading criminal enterprises in New York City in just under five years. He also has a habit of eating his enemies, which makes him very feared in the Underworld.

Despite his vile reputation, he acts as a sort of paternal figure to his underlings and treats them, if with not kindness, then with care. This is especially true with his lieutenant Swan, whom he almost acts like a surrogate father to. A foul-mouthed, violent, cannibalistic father, but a father nonetheless.

Background:

Unlike the popularized version of his tale which made him famous, his origins were much, much different to that of the printed story. Instead of being chased around by people trying to eat him, the opposite was true. Upon being created, he felt an overwhelming hunger that drove him insane. First he ate the old woman who baked him, then her husband. Then he ate everyone in the small village they were in. He quickly moved to another. Then another. Then another. In less than a month, he had devoured an entire kingdom and his appetite was finally sated.

With hunger gone, sanity resumed. GM found himself alone in the dead kingdom. Instead of seeing tragedy in his actions, the GM saw opportunity. He went off in search of a band of bandits, and upon finding them killed (and ate) their leader. He then announced to the bandits that he was now the new leader of the band; those who refused to acknowledge him he ate as well. He then took his new gang of bandits and plundered the riches of the dead kingdom. With a coffers filled to bursting, the Gingerbread Man used it to fund the formation of a large criminal network which operated in three different kingdoms.

By the time of the Exodus, things had changed. His once wealthy and powerful organization had all but faded. The Gingerbread Man knew the direction the wind was blowing, and knew that he would have to join the Exodus in order to survive. He took the last remains of his once vast wealth and left for the human realm. He then paid a sorcerer from the White Lotus Lodge to make him an item that would give him human form. With new body at hand, the GM headed for New York.

He took the name John Dough and settled in with the other Tales in the Taletown. Unlike his brethren though, The Gingerbread Man saw opportunity in this new world. He pulled the same thing here that he did back home, i.e. finding a local street gang, killing their leader, then taking his place. Needless to say, he ate well that night. In a few short years, he transformed that small street gang into profitable criminal enterprise that dealt in selling narcotics, weapons and other black market goods. GM dubbed his new gang The Breadwinners. Although the organization wasn’t as large as his previous one, Gingerbread Man knew that it was only a matter of time. He had his sights set on the future.

Skills and Abilities:

-Speed: In his true form The Gingerbread Man is extremely fast and agile. He can outrun almost any Tale and can easily cut someone’s throat in the span of an eyeblink.

-Crime Boss: GM has a criminal gang, and thus has the resources being a crime boss entails. He has various thugs working for him, both Tale and mortal. He has access to guns, knives and explosives, and has connections in the local and state government. He also has the greatest weapon in the human world: money. He knows from experience that if a threat can’t be beaten, it can usually be bought off.

Starting Items/Trinkets:

-Jade Fox Statue: This magical item is what allows The Gingerbread Man to shift from his human and gingerbread bodies. If it were to be destroyed, then GM would revert to his true form. The statue was created by a sorcerer from the White Lotus Lodge, and stands about two feet tall and is composed entirely of dark green jade.

-Knives: The Gingerbread Man never goes anywhere without at least one knife on his person. Not only is he deadly with a knife in his true form, but it comes in handy when he has to eat someone out in the field.


Weaknesses and Flaws:

-Bad BO: GM’s true form is made out of rotting, spoiled food. That stuff stinks. If you start smelling rancid food, then it’s a dead giveaway that the Gingerbread Man is around.

-Made of Bread: Despite his ability to kill quickly and accurately, The Gingerbread Man’s true form is pitifully weak since he is composed mostly of (rotting) bread. A single blow could damage him severely, though like all Tales he can heal his wounds in time if he is in recovery.

-Hunger Madness: Gingerbread Man has to eat. If he goes for more than a few days without food, the madness that struck him on the day of his birth will return. When hungry he gets irritated, then violent. Thus he must have regular meals or he will lose himself.

-Foul Mouthed: The GM has a potty mouth, one that can make sailors blush. This often leads him into conflict with less abrasive folk. (If his swearing gets too offensive, I can tone it down.)

Other:

-The Gingerbread Man’s main headquarters is in Taletown, despite the majority of his business dealings being in out in human New York. Not only does this put him near his own kind, but the wards help keep mortal authorities away from his place of business. He rebuilt an old abandoned hotel to its almost former glory, even allowing wealthy Tales to enjoy the accommodations so long as they were willing to pay the expensive tab, as well as mind their own business if they see anything less than legal. Though he renamed the hotel Il Pallazzo, most locals jokingly refer to the hotel as "The Bakery."

-GM makes his Breadwinners dress in dark suits and ties, a sort of uniform that he believes lends them an air of class. That is, if gorillas in suits were ever classy.

-The Breadwinners are composed mostly of mortal thugs, but he keeps some Tales employees on hand, such as Swan. And though most of his businesses lie outside of Taletown (as those make the most money) GM does have some small time operations occurring in the area. Despite being criminals, the Breadwinners act as a sort of unofficial peace keepers for his part of town. The Gingerbread Man likes to keep his house in order, and he considers his hotel and the surrounding area his. Thus his men stop any muggings, fights, vandalism, and any other job that would usually go to police, if Taletown had them. This, ironically, has made the Breadwinners’ territory much safer for the Tales living there than those who live outside of it.