maddest: (whatever shall we do)
maddest ([personal profile] maddest) wrote2011-08-22 12:20 am

[video] star light star bright

Dear Adstringendum,

I'd like to hold a contest.

You see, we have a starfull of skies, pardon, sky full of stars, but no lore to fill it with. The constellations in my world all tell stories about heroes long fallen, about Gods and Goddesses and immortals and divinity.

I propose we make a little bit of the same for ourselves here!

The rules are simple. Find a constellation from the nighttime- be it the summer or winter sky- and remember and recount for me a 'legend' about that cluster. You can find images of the nighttime skies in old PCD video posts, if you look back.

We're talking about legend here, so any stories you tell should either be a year old at least, or should focus on events surrounding people who are no longer with us, or whose memories have been lost since the events themselves. That, or events that happened a year or so or more ago. I only want secondhand retellings. The stars are about myth, after all.

The winner will get the package of cookies I salvaged yesterday.

I'll start.



Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was an event in Adstringendum where the streets were patrolled by mean, crusty creatures called gnomes. These dreaded gnomes bossed, and bullied the city dwellers into living in buildings like dormitories for the better part of a week.

Weep and wail as they might, a curfew was strictly enforced, by the dreaded gnomes with their teeth and clubs. Enemy was planted abed next to other enemies, conflict started afresh, and by the end of the week the city was in such cranky, over exhausted turmoil, that the animus in their infinite wisdom flung the gnome creatures into the sky, never to be seen again.

The citizens of Adstringendum were released from their dormitory prison, and all that was left of the gnomes was a small cluster, just there- of stars. If you look close you see the outline of their little pot-bellies.

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose that's true. But having lived through the experience.
unreadability: (light: glimmers in the night)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-22 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
... Soft words do not scratch the tongue, do they?

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
You're slipping into metaphor again.
unreadability: (arrogant: no breaking my neck tonight)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-22 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps due to its French origin; Douce parole n'écorche pas langue.

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Idioms don't translate well. All I understood was train station.

[Making a point.]
unreadability: (pause: burning bridges)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-22 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[A long moment of complete blankness.]
unreadability: (neutral: porcelain skin)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-22 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
If you wish for me to compose a myth founded on any given constellation, it is not an impossible request for me to fulfill.
unreadability: (proud: see my chin to the skies)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-23 01:54 am (UTC)(link)


Commonly, the Swan is understood to tell the story of male heroes, honoured by the Greek god, Zeus, for their courage and sense of honour.
However, visible during September – the month of my birth, it also tells another story. One for which I can account, as another mythological perspective.


Odette, the white swan, gave her life out of faith in the prince who had vowed to marry her and liberate her from captivity by the hands of the magician, Von Rothbart. Enchanted, as the prince became, by black Odile – his promises shackled the white swan to the ground, slowly suffocating her and claiming the wind underneath her wings. In victory, Von Rothbart clutched her to his chest where she sang, tearfully, her swan song. So beautiful did her voice sound that it rose towards the sky, breaking free from her wilting body and taking flight, soon finding its place amongst the stars. So far away, and yet Odette never ceased craning her long, slender neck towards earth where the prince may mourn his loss, but is rendered no less alive by the tragedy.
unreadability: (withdrawn: keeping my distance)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-23 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
The original ballet production was negatively received, indeed.
unreadability: (I: irritation incarnate)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-23 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
A ballet based on a German fairytale, originally told namelessly and without great detail. Piotr Tchaïkovsky's musical interpretation was perceived as soulless by many and overdramatised by most.

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
How fascinating. Why did you choose it?
unreadability: (pretentious: saying what you want)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-24 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I tend to discredit the opinion of the general public, when it becomes evident that their rejection is a result of lacking insight.

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-24 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
What do you mean? How does that apply to Adstringendum?
unreadability: (alone: walking in my own darkness)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-24 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
The people here... They are currently the only public I can relate to, isn't that so?
unreadability: (lonely: if i were to look your way)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-24 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
You have been told my story, Monsieur. Are there other topics for us to discuss?

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[identity profile] mister-hatter.livejournal.com 2011-08-24 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
That's all for today.

Take care!
unreadability: (russian: but i'm not leaving)

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[personal profile] unreadability 2011-08-24 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
And to you.

[Feed ends.]