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satangcrush · 2 months

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an ode to nicknames pt.3 <3

✦ CAST: simeon, solomon, diavolo, luke, barbatos ✦ WC: 1.8k ✦ SUMMARY: f! reader, what nicknames (or lack of) will the cast use for you! established relationship (simeon and solomon), diavolo (more than friends), luke (familial) and barbatos (start of program) ✦ WC: 4.4k✦ WARNING: spoiler for OB!SWD for simeon’s part

[PART 1] | [PART 2] | [PART 3] | MASTERLIST

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Simeon thinks you’re an actual saint for putting up with the demon brothers and calls you ‘angel’ somewhat as a joke at first but now thinks you actually can be one. He also regularly calls you ‘sweetheart’, ‘darling’, ‘doll’, and ‘love’. He loves referring to you by a nickname but unfortunately or fortunately (however you see it), he has the vocabulary of a friendly old lady. (Spoiler for OM!SWD in Simeon’s part)

“Angel.”

“Yes?” Simeon was insistent on using the nickname despite you telling him not to. At first, you wondered if this was some kind of weird coping mechanism of his but he had repeatedly assured you that it wasn’t. Thus, over time you have now fully embraced the weirdness of the ex-angel calling you… an angel.

“I overheard this today while manning the cafe. What does a sheep in wolf’s clothing mean in the human world?” His gaze lingers as he looks at you sprawled on the table over a book. The chair beside you made no noise even as it was pulled out for him to sit gently.

“I believe the saying goes something like a wolf in sheep’s clothing instead.” You huffed out a laugh, making a move to close your book to meet Simeon’s curious expression instead.

“How did you even overhear that conversation? Like, what’s the context?” You propped a hand up on the table that you were reading on, raising an eyebrow thoughtfully.

He pursed his lips, clearly racking his head to search for the answer. “Honestly… I forgot. I only heard the ‘sheep’ part and was reminded of when you turned into a sheep during our initial stay in the Devildom. You were very adorable, and I regretted never getting the chance to cuddle you back then.” You stifled a laugh, knowing that he wouldn’t appreciate you laughing at him. He was so cute, you don’t even know if he noticed that he was pouting right now.

“Well, too bad.” You said teasingly. “I’m pretty sure the brothers cuddled me enough for your share too.”

“Maybe I should ask Solomon if he has a spell to turn you into a sheep temporarily,” Simeon winks at you, tone inked with hope.

You hit his shoulder playfully and shot him a glare. “Respectfully, that would only give Solomon too much power. And in case you forget, I’m a fully-fledged sorcerer now too.” Simeon gave you a kicked-puppy stare, and you could swear you almost saw imaginary puppy ears on him.

…Maybe you should ask Solomon to start teaching you about transformation spells.

“Ah right, back to your original question. I could be wrong but I vaguely remember the term deriving from a fable by Aesops. But anyway, the phrase is used to express someone who deceives others by pretending to be harmless when they have evil intentions. It’s not a positive expression.” You shook your head slightly, heart squeezing at the sight of Simeon’s frown deepening at your explanation.

“I thought it would be a different explanation in the human world, but I guess it’s the same everywhere, huh?” Simeon sighed, arms folding across his chest, “I was hoping that it might be a cute expression.”

“I guess not. The Devildom uses something similar too right?” You turn in your chair, flicking your finger on his forehead gently. “Come on, we should start on dinner. Should we cook or eat out today?” You hesitate to get up from your chair when you notice the pondering look on Simeon’s face.

“What if I change it to an angel in human’s clothing? Wouldn’t that refer to you?” You tilt your head, not knowing if you should say something or just let it be. It was ironic coming from the mouth of an ex-angel.

As you froze in your movements, Simeon grabs your hand to pull you into his lap, and you go without question. His lips lay on the crook of your neck and you fondly stroked the top of his head, the repetitive motion soothing your heart. His breath was warm against your neck and then suddenly, a cold flash of teeth and tongue drifted along your neck like he was tracing stars into your skin. You wonder if he could hear your pulse beating deep within you. But it’s not like he would care. You’re certain that if you put your ears to his pulse, his heart would also be beating to the same rhythm as yours.

A sharp sensation of teeth punctured the nape of your neck before he quickly swiped his tongue over the skin. You pulled on his hair, watching as the spit connecting the both of you together broke. “Simeon!” You admonished him with a laugh, “Why did you bite me?” You trace the indentation on your neck, glancing at the sheen of spit that came away with it.

“Disgusting.” You whine, “Come on, let’s eat. Aren’t you hungry from working?”

“Mm. Give me a minute,” He muttered, burying his face in your chest. “Let me have this for a little while longer,” His arms tightened around your waist and you nodded to yourself, steadying your hands on his shoulders.

“Thank you, love.”

Your heart swelled at his declaration as your hands interlocked behind his shoulders. It wouldn’t hurt to rest another five minutes, you supposed.

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One would think that Solomon’s experience with his 500 wives and various other relationships would mean that he has at least learned how to act like a proper gentleman. Sincerely, this man lives purely based on menace and instinct. He would address you by all sorts of nicknames but his particular favourite is calling you his dear apprentice, student, and maybe even his other half. Your master-student relationship is the one thing that the two of you shared that the brothers are unable to take part in. With you, Solomon treasures the quiet moments when he can steal you away from the rest.

The apricot-skied evening blooms before your eyes and when you look up, the vast stretches of wilderness expand rapidly and you couldn’t help the gasp that hitched in your breath. It was… ethereal. You would love to take in all of the scenery peacefully… except for the fact that you are currently hanging upside down with all the blood rushing to your head, thousands of feet in the air.

“WAH! SOLOMON! Let me down! You stupid wizard boy! I’m going to curse you!” Tears blotted your vision as you buried your head deeper into the curve below Solomon’s ear. You can feel his chest shaking in laughter as he heaves your legs higher around his waist, steadying you. As frantic as you had sounded, you were still clinging on for dear life to him.

“MC… you know you don’t sound threatening in the slightest, holding onto me like that.” He murmured, lips brushing the tip of your ear softly. Solomon hummed lightly as he recited another spell, to levitate the both of you up a few feet higher. You chanced a glance to look at the ground and immediately regretted it. You could practically feel bile coming up your throat and you quickly squeezed your eyes shut again.

How in the three realms is he okay suspended mid-air while being flipped upside down??

“Dumb old man! Stupid wizard! This is not what I meant when I said I wanted to fly!” You hissed, fearing for your life as your grip on the back of his neck turned tighter. You should have known something was up when Solomon had asked if you had a fear of heights and you cursed at yourself for mentioning that you wanted to freefall after watching that stupid movie with him last week. Your face contorted into a grimace; survival instincts kicking in as you pressed yourself against him as if you were climbing a tree.

“My dearest apprentice, you need to relax. I can’t focus on the spell if you keep yapping beside me, you know.” There wasn’t even the slightest hint of irritation in his tone, you could clearly tell he was enjoying your panic to the fullest. “Also, do you really want me to let you down now? We’re so high up. Though, if you wish for it, I could make your dreams come true.”

You felt his fingers, which has been firm around the plush of your thigh, loosen a little. “N-no! If you let me go, I’m breaking up with you, you ass!” You threw out your words venomously, as your grip tightened into an iron grip. If you were any less scared, you would have worried about his ability to breathe with the amount of strength that you were putting around his neck.

Solomon tsked at you, the corners of his mouth turning up at your ultimatum. His hands slid from under your thigh to the back of your waist and pinched the skin there. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” You could practically envision the stupid smirk he must be wearing but you couldn’t be bothered to reply, fear choking your windpipes.

“Don’t worry darling, we’re reaching the fun part now. Be a dear and hold on tighter to me, kay?” His voice took on a simpering tone and before you knew it, you could feel the magic that was holding you and Solomon up, disappear.

There was no way you weren’t going to murder Solomon the moment you touched both feet on the ground.

You couldn’t even let out a yelp as the air was stolen from your lungs as you felt the wind and your hair whip past your face. Solomon caged you with his body, the sound of his laughter lost in the air. The only thing that you could do was to hold onto him while shaking like a leaf, breath forced out through your burning lungs.

You honestly think you must have passed out on the descent down because the next thing you knew, you were on the ground staring up at the darkening sky, though your limbs were still entangled around Solomon.

“There, there, MC. See, that wasn’t so bad, wasn’t it? You just needed faith in your master to take care of you,” He soothed you, grabbing your hands from around his waist to entwine them together as he planted a kiss on your forehead.

You found it concerning that he was still wearing that stupid smirk on his face as if the both of you didn’t just have a near-death experience. Your mouth gaped open and closed, reminiscent of a fish out of water, as you intended to berate him but the words died on your tongue as you realised that the scratchiness in your throat was preventing you from speaking a word.

“W-water.” You managed to squeak out, face red in embarrassment. Solomon quirked a curious eyebrow at you as he placed a finger on your chin to bring your head up, “...Did you lose your voice?” He could barely fight the grin off his face, fingers now trailing down the curve of your neck.

You glared at him, resolutely not breathing a word. His face seemed to be utterly insufferable today, and you would just love for the opportunity to punch that pretty smirk off his face.

“Well, it seems you’re just in luck, my dear apprentice. It’s about time for our dinner reservation, I’ll teleport us there now.” He mused, drawing his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

“You’re paying for the dinner, you slimy bastard.” You mouthed at him bitterly, while he just laughed your frustration off. “Don’t I always pay? Come here, don’t be angry anymore. I apologise for my wrong-doings,” He cooed at you gently, smoothening the wrinkles in your forehead out with his fingers, as he cupped your cheek.

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Diavolo is a certified loverboy, honestly. However, due to the importance of needing to keep up his reputation, he uses your name in public. (Though, he has ‘slipped up’ and addressed you by ‘love’ a couple of times.) Around people he trusts or when in private, he calls you his ‘love’, ‘beautiful’, ‘princess’, and even ‘queen’. He is such a romantic that he even made Barbatos research the trendy nicknames that humans use so that he can impress you.

Diavolo suddenly leans forward in his chair, “MC, I’ve been recently researching human nicknames and I would like your opinion on them.” His eyes sparkle as he angles his body towards you.

You pause in your journey to reach out for another dessert, one of Barbatos’s famous pastries that Luke has been singing praises about. You considered his question for a bit and somehow, you were almost sure you knew exactly where this conversation was going to go, but the allure of the delectable pastries was clouding your judgment.

“Yeah? What kind of nicknames have you come across?” You said, mid-crunch through the flaky croissant, and you internally melted at the taste. If only you had a butler like Barbatos, you would put the demon to work every day just so you could have a taste of this heavenly (devil-y?) flavour. He should be competing in all three realms with his talent, it was indeed a waste to keep it hidden.

Hands, big and burly, catch your attention as he plants them on the table. “I’ve heard humans call their partners or friends… ‘pookie’.” Your eyes had honed on his fingers, now drumming on the table, as the words flew past your head before you registered it with disbelief.

Sometimes, you wonder if the next-in-line for the throne has a screw (or multiple, maybe) loose in his head.

You frowned up at him, embarrassment suffocating you into silence. For an agonising few seconds, he holds eye contact with you before he tilts his head, silently prompting you to give him an answer.

You clear your throat as you wipe your hands on the provided tissue placed on the table, “Um… I believe yes. But, I don’t know much about the term if you require an explanation,” God, you hope the floor would open up and swallow you whole. You don’t understand why you were chosen to discuss such a topic with the ruler of Devildom.

“Ah well, that is fine. I was hoping that I could refer to you as ‘pookie’. I’ve heard that a sign of closeness for humans is to start using nicknames.”

Your distaste for the term must have been unfiltered as Diavolo immediately leans back after seeing your expression, thighs spreading wide against each side of the chair. “If you are unhappy with the name, you may tell me so.”

Honestly, you were at a loss. This seemed like a lose-lose situation no matter how you see it. It wasn’t like you could reject the Prince of the Devildom. (I mean you could, but you dread the scolding that Lucifer would give you once he found out.)

And if you allow Diavolo to call you ‘pookie’... you could almost envision Solomon rolling on the floor, dying of laughter. Even worse, you shudder to think of him calling you by that in front of the whole RAD. Suddenly, you very much regret not letting Belphie make a second attempt on your life.

“It’s not that I am unhappy with the name,” You start slowly, “I just believe that a nickname should be more personalised like… I can call you Dia!” You hurriedly blurt out, waving your hands frantically in front of you.

Diavolo says nothing, and your eyes quickly skim his expression which remains startlingly neutral. For a second, you wondered if you had overstepped your boundaries. Maybe Dia was too chummy of a nickname for you to use?

Before you can continue spiraling, his face breaks out into a wide grin. “I hadn’t even considered that! What a wonderful idea, as expected of the human exchange student that Lucifer chose. I will come up with an appropriate nickname accordingly as well.” He gushed, “As expected, it seems that my knowledge about human world customs seems to be lacking. I will need to brush up on them.”

You scooted back in your seat while laughing politely, heart jumping to your tongue. You had definitely avoided a red flag but somehow… it felt like you had triggered another, which was now waving frantically in your face. You tapped the side of your thighs anxiously, you do hope that you make it out of this interaction without any further embarrassment. You don’t think that your heart could take another shot.

“How about cuddlebug? I’ve also heard that it is popular amongst humans.”

“...Sorry?”

You were going to need someone to sedate you so that you can forget this interaction once you were home.

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Similar to Simeon, Luke also calls you an ‘angel’ and he is convinced that you have been born in the wrong world. He believes that someone of your character should have been up in the Celestial Realm. He also tries hard to come up with all sorts of nicknames using your actual name, be it shortening, or even substituting your name to something similar. (He had always wanted to give you a nickname but was too shy to. However, he learned that the demon brothers had been using nicknames and he felt spurred to do so as well.)

“MC!” You spun just in time to see a mess of blond hair barrel into the side of your body as you grabbed onto their shoulder to steady them.

“Woah, hey there.” You gently ruffled Luke’s hair, ignoring his complaints, knowing that he secretly enjoyed it. After all, he had once made a sleepy confession that he found the motion reassuring, and ever since, you always made it a point to do it.

“Did you need me for something?”

He started twiddling his thumbs, looking up at you with a hesitant pout. “What is it? Did you get bullied?” You lifted his jaw with your hand, scanning his face for any physical altercations. After checking that there was none, you let go and took a step back to give him a onceover.

“No! It’s nothing of that sort, MC. I…I just-” He cuts himself off, before looking down at his feet sheepishly, “I want to use a nickname for you too,” He mumbles under his breath, voice only slightly louder than a whisper.

You furrowed your eyebrows, “Sorry Luke, you need to speak up. I can’t hear you,” You said apologetically, a small smile playing on your lips. The expression on Luke’s face could only be described as ‘deer-in-the-headlight’ as he shifted side to side. He mumbled again, an embarrassed flush at the tip of his ears.

This time, you waited for him to look up before pinning him with a questioning glance. He sighed before taking in a deep breath, “I SAID…I WANT TO MAKE A NICKNAME FOR YOU!” After shouting his request, his face immediately turned red. “I-if you want! I will make you my special cupcakes if you say yes!”

Your heart swelled up with affection, “Aw Luke, you don’t need to bribe me to say yes. Of course, we can use nicknames. I’ll call you…” You placed a hand on the top of his head and thought carefully. “Puppy?” No matter how you thought about it, ‘puppy’ was the only adjective that you could think to describe him, even more so now as he was looking at you with big shiny eyes.

“MC…” He whined, looking at you with a disapproving stare that eerily reminded you of a certain angel. It was endearing how his actions resembled Simeon at times, it just showed how much Luke admires him.

“But it’s so cute… You can come up with a nickname for me too,” You said encouragingly to him with a hint of amusement.

“Angel. I’ll call you angel! You’re so nice like one,” He said animatedly and your heart fluttered at his visible show of excitement. It seemed like he already had a nickname in mind when he came bounding up to you.

“...Sure.” You knew you had taken a second too long to respond when you caught his worried glance, “Do you not like it, MC?” Luke’s face started to fall as you quickly placed your hands into an ‘X’, “No! I love it! It’s just that I can’t help but think it could be a little offensive if other angels hear you calling me as… one?” You questioned, scratching the tip of your nose bridge in awkwardness.

You didn’t want to get into trouble with the Celestial Realm, after all. Being an angel is a tall order in your opinion.

“No, they won’t! Once they meet you, they will definitely agree with my nickname too!” He said with so much conviction that you didn’t have the heart to correct him.

‘Well, it’s meant with good intention… So it should be fine,’ You mused to yourself as you nodded at Luke, giving him the go-ahead to use it.

“Well, if it makes you happy then. I’ll think of another nickname for you since you bestowed such an honor on me then,” You said teasingly, “I will also take you up on your offer about those cupcakes. Shall we head to Purgatory Hall? I’ll stay and bake with you today.”

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Barbatos is another one in the cast who will exclusively refer to you by your name as he shows his affection through acts of service. However, if you ask him to use nicknames, he will, but it won’t be of his own accord.

If he does use a nickname of his own accord, Barbatos will call you little sheep to tease you. Barbatos could easily kill you with a single strike (as does everyone but he is most aware of it) but treats you like a puppy (or sheep) that he leaves alone as he feels bad for you.

(He smiles gently at you but there is not an ounce of care behind it. It is just for politeness's sake.)

“It is surprising to see you here so early, MC. Did the brothers not give you any trouble today?”

“Eh, no. I came from RAD.” Your natural response was to talk informally to Barbatos as you still have not gotten a grasp on the custom here.

“Sorry, I meant to say that I came straight from class. Pardon my rudeness.” You apologised, still feeling unsettled in the Devildom.

“It is alright, MC. However, the young master is still in a meeting and will presumably not be out anytime soon. Would you like for me to serve some tea and pastries first?”

“That would be great. Do you need any help?” Despite your obvious apprehension, you still weren’t beside your manners to ask him.

Caught up in your conversation with Barbatos, you hadn't even noticed that he had led you to the guest room. “Please take a seat here. I will prepare the refreshments for you.” Barbatos replied in a gentle tone, firm in not letting you do any work.

“Ah, could you please prepare cold water for me instead?”

“...I understand.”

After Barbatos had left and you were alone in the room, you did a cursory glance and quickly covered your face with the back of your hand to sigh. The problem was that you still weren’t used to the Devildom and you jumped at every single thing that moved and that butler scares you. His mouth may be curled up into a polite smile but you could not feel any warmth behind it.

‘...Urgh.’

The best scenario now is just to survive the school year without dying since it seems that going back to your realm is impossible.

“MC?”

You quickly straightened yourself and smiled at Barbatos, hoping that he did not notice your worries.

“Ah, thank you.” You took a sip from the cup that Barbatos had brought over and instantly your face scrunched up into a frown as you took in a deep inhale.

“Is this lemonade?”

“It is lemonade, the Devildom version of it. I thought it would help you feel more refreshed.”

You remember clearly saying to prepare cold water instead of lemonade yet he still chose to bring over a cup of cold lemonade, which would have taken more work to prepare. You wanted to be angry at the sour taste but you were afraid of the sly butler who was now looking over at you with a pleasant expression that was telling you to enjoy your drink. God, you never had an issue with lemonade but it seemed that the Devildom version was much sourer than what you were used to.

You continued to drink the lemonade.

“Thank you for the drink. It was perfect.”

“I’m glad to hear that, MC.”

Barbatos’s cordial and gentle smile sent chills straight down your spine and you subconsciously clenched the glass tighter. As a human, you can only trust yourself.

“Barbatos, please continue with whatever you were doing before I came. You don’t have to be around me, I can take care of myself.” You wanted this butler who gave you the creeps to quickly go away as you didn’t want to see his face, but he refused to leave.

“MC, it is my duty as the young master’s butler to attend to his guests when he is not here to do so.”

You inwardly clicked your tongue after seeing Barbatos flash another smile at you, his teeth glinting in the light. You wanted to throw a tantrum but you shuddered at the possible repercussions, so you opted for another method instead.

“Well, why don’t you sit down and enjoy these pastries with me? It’s a little too much for you to be hovering over me and not eat anything.” Despite your best attempts to not let your sarcasm bleed into your words, your tone had taken on a complaining whine in the end. You took a quick peek at Barbatos, who was standing there with a stiff expression.

…Should I not have said anything?

Before you could regret anything, the screeching sound of the chair being pulled made your head quickly turn up to see Barbatos sitting down opposite you, back straight with perfect posture.

“I will fulfill your command then, little lamb.” Barbatos chuckled, and despite yourself, you found yourself letting out a huff of laughter as well. You decided that you would treat Barbatos better and not make him mad following the next interaction, the way he was smiling at you right now made you feel uncomfortable.

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a/n▸ my apologies if barbatos is OOC, he was especially difficult for me to get a read on seeing as I don't play through any of his devilgrams. Thus, i feel that MC would have been very awkward with barbatos initially bc all his actions/words were due to his sense of duty. I also think its funny to see barb fkin w mc LOL Personally, i think its hilarious to characterise MC as jumpy because man, all of these characters are sus as hell, ik i wld be getting heart palpitations every minute #solomon is a menace, the movie they were watching was How to Train your dragon LOL, i was rewatching it and i wondered how it wld be like to freefall

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me swd #obey me x reader #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #barbatos x reader #diavolo x reader #simeon x reader #solomon x reader #obey me mc #obey me nightbringer

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ostrichchariot · 2 years

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But actually though, I think it's really interesting that yes, Aesop's fables being very clear cut and purposeful does protect them from corruption. But it also means there's not a lot of room for nuance.

The lion and the mouse doesn't leave a lot of room for- well, the lion should have to eat to survive, shouldn't he? Is that bad?

The boy who cried wolf doesn't have a lot so say about the finer points of when it might be ok, or even good, to lie, and the amoral destructive force of the wolf in that story certainly isn't presented as anything more than a threat.

There's not much you can change and warp here until you're just writing a different story altogether.

It seems like kind of a double-edged sword - nuance and humanity, as Mother Goose said, in exchange for the safety of clear cut, black and white moral.

#dimension 20 #neverafter spoilers

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gallierhouse · 3 months

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ngl even though i recognize this is a gothic horror and all characters have done bad things it's still difficult to reconcile in my mind bc i want them to realize they've done bad things and to suffer a bit! i want the people they've hurt to get some degree of catharsis from that suffering! delightful stuff really.

That’s tragedy for you. I do think that moralizing about gothic horror is a reductive response to it, though. Sure, there’s catharsis in seeing villains suffer, but this isn’t Aesop’s Fables. I do want them to suffer but I also love them for how terrible they can be (see: the tirade of statements posted against Lestat, immediately after the trial, then the tirade of images of his face, etc.). It’s interesting because the show has a clear moral stance on its characters but also invites us to question the nature of abuse through its depiction of remembering. It’s not that Lestat (or Armand, or even Louis, even Claudia) are one-note characters that do evil and nothing more; it’s that they’re all complex and capable of great love, great selfishness, great cruelty, and ultimately, great compassion and forgiveness. The story is less about who’s bad and who’s good and more about how we’re all capable of great good and great evil, especially when it comes to matters of survival. Shelving any character as nothing but their worst — or best — moments is antithetical to the story the show is trying to tell. But I do want certain characters to suffer. Just a little bit. It’s the tension between reactive emotion and intellectual understanding that makes it fun. But I do think it’s a very hopeful story. Yes, there’s cruelty, and malice, and punishment, and sadism, and there’s also love. Even if that love isn’t always a good thing. It’s still there.

#iwtv #interview with the vampire

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adarkrainbow · 8 months

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Okay so a second take on your question,@themousefromfantasyland ; because my first answer was a bit of garbage (I am not good at making answers out of the blue).

What counts as a fairytale? What is a fairytale?

The most limited and narrow definition you can have are the classical works explicitely referred to or written as fairytales: "contes de fées" in French, "märchen" in German. This means the traditional stories of Perrault, Grimm and the like. And in this narrowest definition you can go even more narrow depending on which side of the "purists" you are. Some are strictly focusing onto folkloric fairytales and folktales, and thus reject literary fairytales like Perrault's or Andersen's ; others will defend that the fairytale genre was a literary invention first and foremost, and will classify Grimm or Joseph Jacobs' work as folklorism. And this raises the question of the Italian fairytales, Straparola and Basile, the Pentamerone and the Facetious Nights: are they fairytales, or proto-fairytales? Because the term "fairytale" was invented by late 17th century France, "conte de fées", and as such, can stories written before that be considered truly fairytales? For some these Italian stories are proto-fairytales, for other full fairytales. But you get the idea.

On the other side of the spectrum of "What is a fairytale?" you have Bill Willingham's approach through Fables. Aka: everything is a "fable". In his fictional world, fairytales and folktales are just the most prominent and famous of those "fables", but they also include all forms of folklore and mythologies in the world ; all literary works that had a deep cultural impact (from Arthurian tales to Sleepy Hollow) ; and even urban legends and modern folklore. Basically, any type of fiction is a "fable"...

And honestly, expansions and overtures are perfectly possible between those two extremes. The entire question is: can you justify this expansion? And what tone will it give your fairytale selection?

If we consider a "fairytale core" made of all the classic literary and folkloric fairytales... And I am not talking here about extending fairytales to other folktales or to literary imitations, pastiches or parodies. But rather...

Can one include the Arthuriana and Arthurian tales into fairytales? Certainly! Because an entire branch of French literary fairytales, starting with madame d'Aulnoy and others, the famous "knight in shining armor, and princess in a tower, and dragon to be killed" type of fairytales, was inspired by Arthurian romans and medieval romances and other medieval tales of knights such as in the lais of Marie de France.

Can one include Greco-Roman mythology, or Norse mythology, in fairytales? For sure! French literary fairytales were also heavily inspired by Greco-Roman mythology ; fairytales of Nordic countries rather have roots in Norse mythology (trolls and dwarfs and elves) ; the oldest depictions and "prototypes" of famous fairytale types are always found in mythologies (Psyche's tale is the mother of a good bunch of fairytales, I might make a post about it)...

Can one include "fables" as in Aesop's fables or La Fontaine's fables in fairytales? Yes! Because there was a historical confusion for a long time between "fables" and "fairytales" meaning the two were very often confused.

Can one include nursery rhymes in fairytales even though they have nothing in common? Yes! Because in the British literature and culture, figures such as Jack, the goose with golden eggs, or Mother Goose, ended up forming a bridge and common element between fairytales and nursery rhymes.

Can one include famous children fantasy, or very influential children-works involving magical elements? Yes, it is possible! Because these stories were often heavily inspired by fairytales, or use fairytale tropes and codes, or were deconstruction of fairytales. The Wizard of Oz was originally written as the "first American fairytale", while trying to deconstruct typical fairytale cliches. Disney itself helped cement and spread around the idea that some famous children literature or children fantasy works were tied to fairytales (Pinocchio, Alice or Peter Pan, among others).

Can things such as the medieval Reynard cycle be considered part of fairytales? Yes, again! Because the stories of the Reynard cycles are also found around and across Europe as either "animal fables" or as "animal folktales" (the big classifications of folktales has an entire section for animal folktales, which are just Reynard stories with the name of the characters removed) ; and there is this connection to the folkloric figure of the talking animals (the talking fox or the talking wolf forming bridges).

Can werewolf tales or vampire tales be included in fairytales? Yes! Because there is a lot of folktales that blur the line between the two, and many "folkloric fairytales" that are just vampire tales or werewolf tales...

Honestly, the fairytale genre can be expanded in any direction as long as you have a clear justification and a clear goal in mind. The walls of folklore and fiction are thin and movable, and it is for you to build your maze of tales. Anything is possible.

But in return, are you forced or obliged to add all this to your fairytales? Certainly not! A fairytale means something different for everybody, everyone has different references, everyone has a different approach to folklore or had different childhood experiences. As such, some people will agree for example that yes, Dracula or Frankenstein can be mixed very well with traditonal fairytales, while others will scream they have nothing in common. Some will feel it is natural to have fairytales as expansions of old mythologies, while others will prefer keep them separate. Some dislike having modern works like Oz or Narnia or the Alice in Wonderland stories be confused with traditional Perrault or Grimm fairytales ; others dig it and were raised on the idea they were all the same.

It is all a question of personal appreciation, and honestly there is no way to go wrong with this... As long as the person who does this knows what they are doing, why they are doing it, and has some knowledge of the original material, and doesn't just do things out of misinformation or "Well everybody does this, I'll do it too without thinking much about it".

#fairytales #folklore #what is a fairytale #fairy tale #fairytale

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infriga · 1 year

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I FINALLY GOT MY PARENTS TO WATCH ONE PIECE WITH ME AND THEY LOVED IT AAAAHHHHHHHHJJHJ

My mom's favourite character was Luffy, and in her words "he's probably everybody's favourite character" lmfaoooooooo she's not wrong. 😂😂😂 she really loved it, which doesn't surprise me because it's the kind of story she would really like, but I'm still happy to hear it.

I forgot to ask my dad who his favourite character is, but he also seemed to like Luffy. He talked about him the most, and he also seemed to really like Iñaki's performance, saying he has a "carny energy to him" and "has a really good scream" of all things lmfao?! My dad's kind of hard to read when it comes to this stuff, but he said he liked it 👀👀👀👀. He also said One Piece seems really "interesting" and "feels really different" and "had some really interesting twists" which I think is a really interesting thing for him in particular to say cause he often hates stuff that he thinks is boring and predictable and imo pretty high praise from him. He also said "it really seems like the story could go anywhere from here" and I had to try very hard to not explode about how he has NO idea lmao.

I had to explain a few things, like how their names were said surname first so Luffy's first name is Luffy, not Monkey lol, and how Zoro's sensei was Kuina's dad which is why he was the one who gave Zoro permission to have her sword, but they were definitely able to keep up with what was going on. Like when Arlong splashed Luffy my mom gasped and went "oh no, sea water" lol. And she's the kind to miss or forget stuff easily if she's not paying attention.

My dad also had fun noticing all the pop culture references Oda put into the characters, Like Zoro's name was an obvious one, but after Usopp joined he was also like "Is his name Usopp, like Aesop?" and when I said yes it's absolutely a reference to Aesop's fables, he laughed and looked pleased lol.

Bro I cannot wait for season 2, Netflix better get their shit together quick man!!! It's really cool to be able to finally share this sort of thing with my parents 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

#One Piece #One Piece live action #Opla #OPLA spoilers

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sytokun · 2 years

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there's so many cool but missed opportunities in rwby for their characters, like sun! yk how he's based of "sun wukong" from journey to the west? IK its FOUR characters to a team but i think it would have really been cool if they took more inspo from journey to the west and made HIS team journey to the west characters

Honestly I think that'd be really cool to base the rest of SSSN on the other Journey to the West characters, especially when the basis for a four-man team is already there. And knowing that SSSN was modeled after K-pop boy band Big Bang, imagining the Journey characters as modern hot boys already sounds like an otome-game level move that would fit RWBY pretty well.

That said, if you're making your own interpretation of SSSN, such as by rewrite or AU, you're free to do so. It depends on whether you put more stock into a more cohesive theme for the team, or their original canon inspirations.

...Which is a good opportunity for me to talk about the sketches I did for Sun's team in RWBY: Remnants some time ago. They won't be appearing for a super long time, but I might as well talk about them now.

Here, I renamed them as Team SNSD (pronounced "Sunset"), with Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, Sage Ayana and Scarlet David. (yes, I am aware there is a K-pop group with the same name, the synchronicity is not lost on me) They're still based on their original allusions as I wanted to work within the constraints of canon here, but the full Journey team may be too good to pass up, so I'll consider coming back in the future to tackle it.

People have always been divided on Team SSSN's name, with many preferring to rename them as SSNS ("Seasons"). I do get it - Team SSSN ("Sun") has that kind of dumb, corny "how do you spell?" vibe that matches a team of himbos. But I think having three S's for one word is just going a step too far into... just plain dumb.

Sun is pretty much the same here, but I decided to dial back towards his Asian features and grey eyes - though they're black here cause I like black eyes too. I also added the Monkey's King's famous golden headband, the jǐn gū zhòu, around his neck.

Neptune is pretty much the same here - honestly I really like his original design and think it's one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situations - but I do want to redesign him more in the future to better reflect his allusion as Poseidon.

For Scarlet, I wanted to lean more into their "pirate king" vibe and androgynous appearance, so of course the coat-cape slung over the shoulders is a must. I also wanted to change their Semblance into something similar to their canon one but... not boring.

Instead of just gliding, Scarlet can either control air currents (and I do mean that in a very loose, fantasy way) or affect the trajectory of any moving object their Aura recently comes into contact with. This Semblance is called Pixie Dust, and instead of a gun and cutlass, Scarlet wields two guns, either named Hook and Darling like in canon... or Faith and Trust (geddit). They can use this Semblance to fly, and infuse their bullets with their Semblance when loading them to cause them to curve in midair when fired. Yes, basically like that one movie, Wanted.

People who don't like physics breaking in live action movies hated the bullet curving mechanic, but I think it'd be a perfect fit in RWBY's universe. It adds a much-needed cool factor, and picturing Scarlet engraving smug comments and poetic farewells onto their bullets like lethal fortune cookies injects an element of charisma and playfulness to what I think is a really underutilised character, and one based on Peter Pan no less.

Now for Sage, he had a very ambiguous allusion. Some say he was based on an Aesop fable, and others on Hindu mythology.

Glad to know Miles Luna doesn't know the allusion to one of his own characters, especially knowing that SSSN is one of the earliest teams designed for RWBY, predating JNPR. But sure, let's give him the benefit of the doubt like we always do for CRWBY. /s

Given that this was so ambiguous and he also had no Semblance, I decided to take some liberties with Sage, and given his surname and appearance, I decided to look to Hindu mythology for Sage's allusion - a really cool but unexplored source of inspiration in RWBY. I was looking at some famous warriors and gods of myth like Arjuna, but I eventually settled on Kartikeya.

Kartikeya is the Hindu god of war. Known for riding a peacock and sometimes depicted having six heads, he also wields a spear with a leaf-shaped blade called a vel. In other countries he is named Murugan, and has a famous statue of him in Malaysia's Batu Caves.

I've redesigned Sage's clothes to more reflect Indian fashion (albeit a fantasy version of such) and with peacock feather motifs on his collar and chest. Sage here also fights with this spear instead of a greatsword, which you can see him holding in the sketch. His Semblance, Sanmukha ("Six-faced"), allows him to see in six different directions at once, having total 360° vision around himself. This vision can also pierce solid objects within a certain range.

While not immensely powerful by itself, Sage uses this to gain an almost unparalleled martial prowess, spatial awareness and foresight in combat, reflecting the god of war's own wisdom and skill. While I do really like the Roman numeral tattoos on his neck, I was also considering using Sanskrit or Tamil script - I should try that next time I go back to his design.

So yeah, that's Team SNSD from me! I'm pretty attached to Indian Sage, but next time I come back to them I want to take a shot at basing them after Tripitaka, Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) and Sha Wujing (Sandy) from Journey. I also need to be sure actual Hindu people are fine with him, since Kartikeya is still a widely-worshipped god in current times unlike Thor or Poseidon, so I hoped this portrayal of Sage as alluding to him is respectful enough.

#syto asks #rwby #remnants #rwby au #rwby rewrite #team sssn #sun wukong #scarlet david #sage ayana #neptune vasilias #character design

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theliterarywolf · 1 year

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not the same anon but adding on to the whole conversation - I think it feels especially gross in some cases (like in the example of that curriculum book - Yikes) because those two examples were kids when they were killed. Yes, it's been a long time since their deaths, but at least in Till's case, his family is still around? and even if they weren't they are *real people*??? like if that curriculum book was about the ghost of a kidnapped kid instead and used a well-known case of real life missing/kidnapped child to be like "ah yes, now I understand the importance of stranger danger" it would feel very icky to say the least. events in someone's life being historically important does not entitle others to treat them like the personification of some lesson a la Aesop's fables. they are not - they were/are someone just like you, a person (you meaning general you)

See, this is a good conversation because it also leans into the topic of martyrdom: at what point is a family's loss superseded by societal interpretations of a cause?

Because, of course, when someone is murdered through prejudiced motivations or is slaughtered while trying to fight for justice, we want to remember them and point out the societal shortcomings that failed them.

However, for some people those who have fallen do end up transformed into voiceless (as ghastly as this will sound) mascots to be propped up and marionetted on stage for the cause.

It really is something to think about and it's a sentiment that will probably keep popping up in my mind the next time I inevitably come across another book/piece of media that does this.

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zarinthelwrites · 1 year

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How were the AN fables chosen for The Scorpion and the Frog?

It depends. For the first chapter, I already had that fable in mind for the start... the Oxen and the Donkey is a story that I already knew and liked. However, I had the last minute realization (based on a response from my friends who read that chapter before I ever put it up publically) that most people are not familiar. With obscure fables. So, I had the idea of rewriting them at the end-- but interestingly, in my google docs, those a/n: fables dont exist. that's because I just straight up tended to write them as I was publishing the chapter. that also lets me reinterpret those fables to better suit the chapter: I think it's actually fun to go look up the fables and then compare them to the version that I wrote down. so, for the second chapter, I was on aesop's fables wiki page, read through all the stories that had 'frog' as one of the animals, and went with the one I thought worked the best.

farmer and the viper, itachi's first pov chapter, I had that one picked out early, its another favorite fable of mine. goat and the vine: i went through a lot of different fables looking for something that suited this chapter, but in the end I really liked goat and the vine because of its nature: this is a sacrificial goat speaking to a grapevine that will also be poured on the altar. the dead speaking to the dead. i thought it was a great intro for the akatsuki, and for the fact that kaeru had now entered the "doomed" part of her life. I dont have a lot to say abt wolf and the crane, I think that's self explanatory...

Crow and the snake: i liked it bc id already given itachi a snake story earlier and crows are also his thing. like the farmer and the viper, itachi becomes the crow and the farmer, killed by the snake. in many ways its a deeply ironic fable for him, because while hes the one in the fable, the one who needs to learn the fable is his symbolized killer-- sasuke, the snake. lol

dog and the sheep. akatsuki chapters get akatsuki titles

hawk and the nightengale: you dont want to know what its like constantly googling stuff like "what birds eat frogs" "what predators preffer to eat frogs" "frog predators". anyway, its sasuke's first chance to be a bird! its ambiguous, naturally, which one he is. rivers and the sea: took me a long time to settle on this one. I think its a little cruel to say that all of itachi's fables are "what can you expect?" deals because itachi's inherent character demands he seek hope from a cruel universe. what did he expect indeed. deer without a heart: i liked the image of a zombie deer i will be real. but i also liked the idea of returning to the lion's cabin, a very literal representation of kaeru's actions compared with their metaphorical weight

scorpion and the frog: i was so happy to get to the name drop chapter. yes i outlined this in advance so i did always know what fight would be getting this name. black-bird and the birdcatcher: ... "friend, if this is what you offer your guests, no gods will answer" "but birds will." and the birds did come, did they not?

#lol #my writing #dont take these answers as the only truths. if you saw a different reason in the fable than that is also what they were there for.

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unsleepingtales · 1 year

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Neverafter FINALE reactions! Strap in this is a long one.

I AM in fact looking for the Calvin and Hobbes comic books.

Death is hungry for everyone but Timothy 😢

Also can we think about how in AP Brennan said that there’s like one more level of fucked up Tim can get. Can we think about that please.

I love Tim and Baba Yaga interactions

We can still be married and about to be divorced and be friends. Cmon guys.

YLFA

I don’t know what your journey has been!

Mr steal ur girl

Shenanigans? Spare shenanigans sir?

Are you a scorpion or are you a cat? Keep it simpleeee

PREPPED ANIMATED BOOK MINIS Rick ily

Pinocchio wielding faerie magic is so wild

Flat William????? He needs lore.

Oh yeah tossing a cat a firework and saying Get up to something! Cannot possibly go wrong right? Right.

Everyone’s laughing at Pinocchio but he wants an older sister SO much.

Brennan is having so much fun as the baba yaga and it’s great to watch. PUT YOU IN THE SOUP.

INK HAND INK HAND INK HAND

This shit deals necrotic???? I wonder if it did necrotic before Snow White got involved…

Brennan’s face. You want the bird to fire the rocket? [cricket fired a rocket] Cricket was Brilliant. [the bird can speak]

Starts playing the fucking bird. Named beaky. Brennan let me get coffee with you I am begging.

Having a normal one here at dimension20

If you ask me for a stealth roll, you will find out.

You fucked around? You will find out.

Go ahead and roll your stealth roll *sweating buckets*

Also quick shoutout to Brennan for beating the only owning one shirt allegations that white henley fits Nicely.

The faerie is DEAD?

Jesus h christ

Ok shenanigans was fun back to what the fuck.

Never mind I guess we’re writing our own fables yall remember the famous story about the scorpionshark and the rabbit

It really wants to make Aesop proud???

I need to understand Cinderella’s mind

Strong con from my pond hopping princess 💚

Elody marry me please

Don’t look away from me. You see what happens?

Pretty reasonable compared to pibs turn right.

Scheherazade ily

Ngl forgot flat william existed oops

Horrifying! Horrifying.

I love dnd set design. I need to intern for the d20 design team next summer or something.

Turquina actually loves Pinocchio

Baba yaga flirting with Aesop?????

OCD BOYFRIEND ADD GIRLFRIEND TO DESCRIBE BABA YAGA X AESOP TOP FIVE MOST INSANE THINGS SIOBHAN THOMPSON HAS EVER SAID

Gerard just flat out defeating people is what he deserves. Fucked up Murph character my goddamn beloved.

WHAT

OKAY

Minerva’s here everyone!

Fuck your ass - and then beaky dies. Rip to a legend.

Elody looking out for Gerard <3

Zac is fully dead

I’m gonna leave if she does this. Murph is gonna leave his wife.

INSANE

ON AN ORANGE D8

WHAT

LEAVE YOUR TOP HAT

WHAT THE FUCK

Against the laws of god and man. In defiance of destiny. You get a cool orange hat.

Siobhan quietly going “shut the fuck up” to Ally

I feel insane.

Hat. On the mini. Zac quit but at least Death has a cool orange hat. We’ve gone full goofy movie but y’know. Death’s soul is gonna have a hat on when it’s violently ripped from her body.

Jesus christ Siobhan.

STEPMOTHER TOOK THE FUCKING BABA YAGA

What the fuck

Disadvantage for the rest of the fight?????

ZAC

ZAAAAC

INSANE INSANE I AM INSANE A CAT IS KILLING A GOD

Ok so when you hurt the hand. Ink goes places.

Alexa play everything ends from a very potter senior year

Shark! With me!

This feels like animal cruelty

TIM

Red ily so much you’re so cool

Rip flat William you were a real one

GERARD NO

Gerard. My love.

Spell time spell time spell time oh god oh fuck

GANDER MINI OH SHIT

Gem time?

Oh god oh fuck

Seven chances to roll

Oh my god.

YES ON THE FOURTH ROLL oh my GOD

The little hat label

RICK SIGHTING

Oh my god. Oh my god.

You’re christ, Tim!

Brennan has so much fun with his little effects board

Baba Yaga and Pib aaaaaaaaaaa a witch and a cat

ZAC

Baba yaga and Pib duo I never knew I needed

SEE YOU IN THE STORIES BRENNAN?

Cmon gerard 😢

DEATH HAS A LITTLE ORANGE HAT

ROSAMUND AND THE LITTLE GIRL LEFT AFTER DEATH MOVES PAST HER

Cinderella and Rosamund protecting Little Red. Elody and Gerard loving each other and accepting death.

Minerva and Pinocchio weirdly soft moment? Ok? Sure? Love that for them!

Village of Hapley. Crying.

Rosamund learning how to spin wool is actually so good

Brennan being visibly legitimately moved by their character choices!

Gander redemption <3

Oh my god. A real 21 year old boy has no right to make me emotional??

The meta in ‘I could have sounded like this the whole time’

I love Zac and Zac’s choices. The trickster prince!

Gerard my fucking beloved. Gerard of greenleigh I love you and I need you to be okay.

Snow White being okay!

Emily desperately wanted ylfa to be friends with baba yaga and she got it!!

Murph on the edge of the frame just Losing It

YLFA CRUSH ON PINOCCHIO

They play gin rummy together. They’re 21. They’ve saved the world together. The god of death approves. They live happily. Oh my god.

Emily sliding that in in the last ninety seconds of the season. Incredible.

Death with an orange hat and a rucksack walking on two feet into the sunset. Oh my god.

That’s all, folks! Incredible season <3

I really and truly don’t know how to sum up what this story meant to me. Thank you to our storytellers.

#neverafter #verbal component #reactions

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thatsneakymedic · 1 year

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NAME : Not telling! NICKNAMES | Vani ZODIAC SIGN | Cancer the Crab HEIGHT : 5 feet. (Yes, I am small. But both of my parents are also short so what do you expect?) ORIENTATION | Cis or straight? NATIONALITY | Mexican-American FAVORITE FRUIT | Tangerines and oranges. FAVORITE SEASON | Fall FAVORITE BOOK | Aesop’s Fables stories. FAVORITE FLOWER | Marigolds and alyssums. FAVORITE SCENT | Pumpkin Spice candle smells. FAVORITE COLOR | Purple FAVORITE ANIMAL | Owls and snakes. COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT COCOA: All three! Don’t make me choose. D: AVERAGE SLEEP HOURS : It varies, I have sleep problems. CAT OR DOG PERSON | Cat FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER : For Naruto it’s Kisame Hoshigaki and Orochimaru. Another character is Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7. NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH : 3 throw blankets and 1 comforter blanket to sleep with. DREAM TRIP | Anywhere where the full beauty of Fall is shown and can be experienced. Maybe the Europe areas to experience the fall and winter weathers! BLOG CREATED: 3 blogs. One is a snake summon blog and the other is a (now dead) OC blog. And this blog! NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS | 743 (Since this blog is very old, a LOT of those blogs that follow me are probably inactive or abandoned blogs. So I would assume that the following is much smaller than that. >_> )

TAGGED BY: Nobody tagged me, I stole this from @reddawnmultimuse

TAGGING: Take this, why not? XD

#dash commentary #doing this #so that I can get into the groove of doing replies #since my brain is going mush #D:#also cramps are a problem as well #missing glasses

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aeidemnemosyne · 2 years

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Black History Month Special

"Aesop Narrates His Fables to the Handmaids of Xanthus" Roberto Fontana, 1876. Engraving by Gallieni.

Even if one has not heard of the name Aesop, they undoubtedly have come across The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy who cried Wolf, or any other of the hundreds of fables attributed to the man. Yet besides these tales, very little is known about Aesop himself other than that he lived from about 620–564 BCE and was a slave. The only pseudo-biographical account that exists is The Aesop Romance, which has been called out for lacking any historical credit. One thing it did popularize was the depiction of Aesop as someone with dwarfism (perhaps not with the best intent. The Aesop Romance lists this among several unflattering characteristics).

Another discussion is that of Aesop's race. The general term for the African people in ancient times was "Αἰθίοψ" (Aithíops), which translated to "burnt-face"(noun) or "red-brown"(adjective) and was used for the people the Greeks encountered in northern Africa. Andromeda is a famous Ethiopian.

It has been argued that Aesop's name is a form of Aithiop that has altered over time. It is not unthinkable that the θ became an s-sound and the second ι was dropped. Another argument made by Richard Lobban in (recent) scholarship is that (Egyptian) animals play a very prominent role in the fables. Animals as subjects/actors in Greek myth and tales are a rarity, and more common in African folklore.

That Aesop is described as a slave by most accounts does not confirm his possible African identity. Slaves in ancient times were often prisoners of war and the like. Race would not make Aesop a slave by definition, but if he were one, being an Ethiopian would have made it likely that he was a storyteller/entertainer in the household (Snowden, 1970).

Referring to Aesop as Ethiopian/black started in the 13th century and continued till the present day. Though (as is frequently the case...) not without some grumbling.

The painting that the above image refers to won the first prize during its exhibition at the Fine Art Academy of Brera in Milan. A French critic at a Parisian showing noted: "Why is M. Fontana's Aesop, expounding with forceful comic gestures some sort of moral, apparently very agreeable to the young women stretched limply among the oleanders, black as an Ethiopian? Perhaps M. Fontana knows more about Aesop than we do, which would not be difficult."

And, yes, while there is no indisputable evidence that Aesop had been "black as an Ethiopian", there also is no evidence of him having been white either. A white default is questionable in modern times, but this is equally so when one talks about Ancient Mediterranean and the frequent interactions between the peoples surrounding it.

Recommended reading: Lobban, Richard A. “Was Aesop a Nubian Kummaji (Folkteller)?” Northeast African Studies 9, no. 1 (2002): 11–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41931299. Snowden, Frank M. Blacks In Antiquity: Ethiopians In the Greco-Roman Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970. https://hdl-handle-net.proxy-ub.rug.nl/2027/heb31888.0001.001. Snowden was a prominent African-American classicist to whom we owe much of the research into the lives of black people in ancient times. Like women, people of color and other minorities were (and still are) under-researched in scholarship.

#ancient greece #aesop #mythology #fables #black history month #black history

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talenlee · 2 years

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The Grasshopper's Gotta Go Fast

New Post has been published on PRESS.exe: The Grasshopper's Gotta Go Fast

One of the most common academic books you’re ever going to hear me mention, if you hang around me for any meaningful length of time, is going to be The Grasshopper: Life, Games and Utopia, and I’m not double checking the order of the terms in the title. It’s a book published first in 1978, by a guy called Bernard Suits, a lecturer from the University of Waterloo. The book is considered, now, fundamental to the philosophical consideration of games, and is the source of one of the most common definitions of games you’ll hear — indeed, the one I use to be maximally inclusive: A game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.

If you’ve listened to me explaining games in any expansive way, you’ve absolutely heard me quote this. Maybe sometimes I’ll say consensual instead of voluntary and maybe you’ll see noncompulsory instead of unnecessary, or restructuring the sentence back to front in some other way. If you only learned one thing from the book, odds are good, it’s this definition, which is useful for a bunch of reasons. It gives you freedom, it’s very inclusive, and it also asserts that you can’t be forced to play, which I found very important to instill in those I teach, that if you’re not choosing to do it, you’re not playing.

It isn’t the only idea in the book, though.

The book is very readable, compared to other books of its type. Conventionally, academic writing takes a particular form, with an arch, technical wording that favours long, clausal sentences designed to be read in a similarly academic way. You know, the this such as that and also this while in the context of that other thing (someone, 1989). Instead, The Grasshopper is written to be treated as a fictional book of a bunch of people having conversations, following the last days and death of the titular Grasshopper from the Aesop’s Fable story The Ant And The Grasshopper.

As the Grasshopper is dying, he explains to his followers that he has lived his life by the rules of a Utopian, that he lives his life the way people should live their lives, and the way people will get to, once utopia is upon us. This conversation takes some winding and explaining, and yes, it starts out with a definition of games, but it then moves on to discuss other topics along the way, and one particular idea is cheating.

Chapter 4 is titled triflers, cheats and spoilsports, and it describes different ideas about the way people can ‘play a game’ without ‘playing a game’ – after all, what about a poker cheat? The person at the table who is trying to get the most money out of the pot and ignoring rules of the game in ways that involve manipulating and deceiving other players, in ways that the game system permits (and you know, there’s a lot of stuff in how poker pieces work and are set up to make sure that it’s hard to conveniently cheat for playing the game). In this structure, though, the book describes the way a cheat needs the game to exist, but the cheater is looking at the goals of the game without respecting the systems.

This is all while the book introduces the idea of efficiency and inefficiency. Games are definitely a less efficient way of doing things; if your goal is to take your opponent’s king, you can do it very efficiently by reaching across the table and picking it up, but that’s not congruent with the rules of the game. The rules of the game present an inefficient way to pursue the goals of the game, and complying with those rules to achieve the goals is part of how the game works.

The process of the book works to hone games down to the simplest versions they can. Cut away the number of parts or the number of players or the number of actions in the name of the game, in order to try and get down to a rule applicable to as many games as possible. One example is the idea of how a race is a game; even if it’s on your own, even if you’re doing it for the first time, to see how fast you can do it. The metaphor that the book uses is the idea of racing the sun.

And this is where we draw this around to this week’s theme.

A speedrun is a game made out of a game; now we can set aside the concept of ‘no wrong way to play’ – that’s a different way to look at games. What you need to consider is that a speedrun is a game that needs the other game to make the game matter. After all, there are a number of states of any given game that, agnostically, are as important as one another: you need the fiction of the typical design of the game to assign value to those game states. The ‘end screen’ of the game matters only because the fiction of the game as normally played makes it matter (and even then, those end screens don’t matter to all the possible speedrun goals; consider there are speedruns like nipple% Super Mario Odyssey).

Essentially, the simpler, let’s say naive gameplay experience is a game that sets the parameters for the way the game can be speedran. It has instrumental components, it has rules and boundaries, and it has a fiction that holds those things together. And yes, even games that don’t seem to have ‘a story’ have a fiction, and we can talk more about that another time. For now, accept that everything the game tells you matters in the game is part of a fictional construct; shotgun shells and the medikit do not relate to one another except in how they both change variables for your character, who is fictionally, representing some dude.

It is this fictional naive version of the game that the speedrun uses to determine what goals it cares about, and then, at that point, the discussion begins about what systems can be disrespected on the way to the end of the game. What’s really noteworthy though is that these aren’t entirely about an absolute value of speed: For almost all games, hacking the game before it starts so that the game completes instantly is almost always going to be faster than any speedrun with a human hand on the controller.

The speedrun is picking a different set of unnecessary obstacles to overcome, but the original game serves as the sun that the speedrun races.

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joyietalksbooks · 1 year

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Falling Back In Love With Books

Getting Back Into Reading And What It Taught Me

Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash

Last year, I got back to reading. And it was one of the most significant turning points of my life.

Let me begin at the beginning.

I got my first book, a collection of Aesop’s Fables, at four. I couldn’t read yet, but that was the point. I loved stories, so my parents thought of using stories to get me interested in reading.

And it worked.

At first my mother would read the stories out to me, but as I learned to read, I took over. That was the beginning of my bookish journey. I’d read non-stop, I’d read whatever I could get my hands on. Books were pretty much my entire personality.

But as I grew older, towards my late teens and early twenties, I started to stray away from books.

It was a long, gradual process, which made it hard to notice at first. But slowly, it became more and more obvious that I wasn’t reading as much as I used to. But it didn’t bother me. Because surely there were other things to do in life? So, I took my waning interest in books as an indication that I was now growing up and moving on.

Until last year.

Last year, my brother was leaving for his master’s and I was a bit upset. So, I decided to read a book, to keep myself occupied.

And that turned out to be the single most transformative experience of my life.

The book I picked was The Stranger or The Outsider by Albert Camus. In the book, the main character, Meursault, kills a man and gets the death penalty. When he gets the sentence, Meursault just cannot accept it. He searches for one way, any way to evade it. He considers escaping, dreams about changing the law, hopes the guillotine would malfunction, he simply cannot accept that he’s going to die like that. And as I was reading the book, witnessing his frustration and desperation, inside my head, I heard myself screaming, ‘He gets it! He gets it! Someone finally gets it!’ And I broke down in tears.

A little bit of context here.

When I was about twenty two, after one night’s conversation with my sister, I was suddenly hit by the idea of mortality. The fact that I must die. I was at that age where most healthy people don’t generally feel death approaching. But whether I felt it or not, death indeed was approaching me from the moment I was born and one day it was going to get me. There was nothing I could do to escape. Absolutely nothing.

I remember the next afternoon, my sister was on the phone with her boyfriend and all I could think was, ‘What’s the point? He’s going to die, she’s going to die, if they get married and have children, they’re also going to die. What is the point? Of anything?’

And to make matters worse, around that time I saw three deaths, all untimely.

Ever since, my life has never been the same.

It’s a bit taxing to live while constantly thinking about death. But what’s even worse is the isolation it brings along.

I have never been able to make anyone understand this feeling of dread. Whenever I try (and I don’t try a lot because I don’t want others to feel this way), the response I get is, ‘Yes of course we’re all going to die, we know that.’ And they’re right, I did know, even before that night. But it was just a piece of information in the back of my mind. But now this little piece of information had come alive and was taking over my life.

And no-one understood.

Until I read that book.

You see, the book didn’t give me a solution to my problem, it didn’t find me an escape from death. No. But it did something important.

It told me that I was not alone.

The dread I was feeling was not just mine, there was someone who had felt it before me. I was no longer isolated in my suffering.

It was like James Baldwin said:

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”

Before writing this story, I actually asked ChatGPT to write a blog post on the importance of reading books. And it did write me one. There it talked about how reading helps develop language skills, expands knowledge, develops cognitive abilities etc. And all those points are absolutely valid, but none of that is the ‘why’ behind my love for books. No.

The reason I love books is because they’re my biggest connection to the human experience as a whole.

You see, we humans are forever trapped inside our own heads, in that sense we’re pretty isolated. We can never really see another person’s thoughts firsthand. But books, they offer us a glimpse. Every book is a peek inside the writer’s head. Because books are outbursts of the writer’s deeper thoughts. Like Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray:

“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

The more you read a writer’s works, the more obvious it becomes. Agatha Christie often said that every criminal has a pattern they can’t escape from, and so do writers. Every writer has something they write about again and again. Take Agatha Christie herself, she writes a type of stories, very different from what Fyodor Dostoevsky writes, and Jane Austen writes another type of stories that’s different from both of them. Why? Simply because they were all different people with very different life experiences.

Books are like a catalogue that showcases the wide span of the human experience.

Now, not all of these experiences are going to be relatable to us. I don’t particularly find anything relatable in Jane Austen’s works. But that’s also part of the fun. To experience the thoughts of others, thoughts we’ll never explore on our own. And as we do, we realise that different as our thoughts might be, human emotions are still pretty universal.

Isn’t it crazy, the consolation I couldn’t find from the people around me, my family, friends, I finally found from a person from another continent who died long before I was even born? He lived a different life, was a different person altogether, there’s absolutely no similarity between him and me. And, yet, it was him I felt understood by. And it alleviated my pain of suffering alone.

And that’s what makes books so special to me. They said to me, ‘We see you, we understand you,’ when I needed it the most.

Whenever I walk into a room and see a book, I feel an immediate sense of relief washing over me. For the longest time I didn’t understand why, but now I do.

It’s because all my life, it has been books who offered me emotional comfort and safety. Books accepted me, guided me, they pretty much made me. If I’ve ever felt at home, it’s in the pages of the books I’ve read.

But sometimes we don’t understand just how important something is to us until we have to live without it. I did that, I lived a life without books, and in a way I’m glad I did. Because if I hadn’t, I’d probably never figure out what books mean to me. So, now that I’ve found my way back to books, I’m never going to stray away ever again.

What about you? Do you love books? Why do you love books? Don’t forget to let me know.

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