#russian decorative folk painting
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Ghost Jam 2023 Results!
Hey folks! Ghost Jam 2023 has concluded, and now it’s time to share the results! We have, once again, had a rather large turnout, so buckle up for a long post!
This year we had 25 submissions by 31 different developers. That’s 2 more submissions than last year!
Of those submissions, 6 of them were made in the first 72 hours of the jam, qualifying for our 72 hour challenge. 3 of those were even done within the first 24 hours!? That’s a first!
13 of the ghosts were made from scratch/just a single template, with no other pre-made assets, qualifying for our New Assets Only challenge!
Additionally, this year we saw a little more variety in the languages, both spoken language and coding language, used to make the ghosts! One ghost was submitted in Japanese, and another in Russian and Belarusian!
As far as coding languages go, most English ghosts use a language called YAYA (or sometimes the older version, AYA), but we had one entry in Satori, and one in Kawari!
Of the participants in the event, 20 of them were participating in a ghost jam for the first time, and 15 of them released their first ghost as a part of the jam!
Harder to quantify with stats, but still very interesting to note, was the great variety in ghosts that we saw this year! There are a lot of really creative entries that deviate from the standard ghost style. Some are desktop buds, some are focused on a single concept, some pull you into the character’s world, and some are entire games! Give them all a try, there’s a lot of cool stuff here!
With all of that out of the way, let’s see the ghosts! As mentioned, it’s a long post, so check under the cut for the listing!
ButtonToy, by OdieDogXP:
[Download]
Enjoy pressing buttons to activate different activities!
Listen to randomized stories, or play various minigames!
Don’t miss the functional power button in the corner!
Camp Camp, by CaptainKiwi and KFC:
[Ghost download] [Balloon download]
Meet your camp guides for the day, counselor David and camper Max!
Learn about the inhabitants of the camp, the good and the bad...
Give them treats!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Captain (DEMO), by Percival / Azazel:
[Download]
Keep the captain company during his breaks!
Overhear the ship logs and strange jobs the crew have encountered!
Chat about cats!
Made with new assets only!
Faeia & Tahir, by WhatAPhantasia:
[Download]
Find yourself in a rich and expansive world to learn all about!
Get to know Faeia and Tahir, denizens of two lands at war that have become friends!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Gallery 512, by Galla, Kat, and Zichqec:
[Download]
Decorate your desktop with 1 of 4 canvas styles, each with their own animated painting and a selection of frames!
Have up to 100 lil guys wobwobwob around your screen!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made in just 72 hours, with new assets only!
Kafe Kareopsis Hutarkam, by Smoky and sacrificedbuns:
[Download]
Sit down for a nice chat, and order some food!
Throw the food on the floor and/or eat it!
Written in Russian and Belarusian!
Made in just 72 hours, with new assets only!
Macaque, by Venelona (Tumblr / Twitter):
[Download]
Mind his moods if you want to stay on his good side!
Comes with two different shells, to change the look of his ears!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made with new assets only!
Maxumus the Cat, by Bitzen:
[Download]
Very animated shell, including a satisfying pickup animation!
High quality recommendations... from a cat!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Nanika Atsume, by Okuajub:
[Download]
Set out food and wait for cats to come visit!
Enjoy surreal idle dialogue while you wait!
Comes with a unique modification of the Star Cloud balloon!
The first jam ghost to be made with the SHIORI Kawari!
Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled interview time, by Galla, Naryu, and Zichqec:
[Download]
Prepare your résumé and steel yourself for an important interview!
Answer questions, and ask questions of your own! Learn about your workplace-to-be!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made with new assets only!
Presentable Can, by KFC:
[Download]
Stare at the can! Tap the can! Pet the can!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made in 72 hours, with new assets only! (Actually, made in less than 24 hours!)
Rock Blue and Peach, by JopsyJop and Waffles:
[Download]
Get to know a couple of besties and learn about the inhabitants of their town!
Discuss various types of media!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Shigure, by TechNekoKit:
[Download]
Bring a rainstorm right to your desktop
Enjoy the company of a mysterious spirit
Beautiful mixed media shell
Made with new assets only!
Skrunkly, by StrangelyKai:
[Download] (Mind the content warnings in the readme!)
Enjoy a wide variety of skrunkle quotes!
Use dressups to modify the outline of Skrunkly, or invert the colors!
Made with new assets only!
Slime Fighter 2000, by Smoky:
[Download]
Fight terrifying household objects!
Play as multiple different classes!
Made with new assets only!
Slugcat, by Percival:
[Download]
It’s a slug! It’s a cat! It’s a slugcat!
Watch it loaf!
Made in 72 hours, with new assets only! (Actually, made in less than 24 hours!)
sNO - STORMBRINGER!!, by WhatAPhantasia:
[Download]
Deal with a demigod villain existing on what you thought was your balcony!
Get predictions about the weather, using actual weather data!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made in just 72 hours!
Styrmir, by Galehaut and Ecclysium:
[Download]
Assist a god with their pet project - an island of humans!
Manipulate their mood to provide different weather variants to the humans
Help the island survive, and with a little work, thrive!
Comes with a unique balloon!
Team Snakemouth, by Adante:
[Download]
Pay for the assistance of the reliable team snakemouth!
They'll assist you with keeping your computer tidy and give peptalks whenever you need!
Help them collect items and berries along the way!
The Poke!Partner Program [BETA], by Rosenheim, Okuajub, Harmony, Blackfyre, @ohnoitsme / PEANUT, and ChatGPT (by OpenAI):
[Download]
Multiple shells, one for Professor Azalea and one for Porygon!
Nuzlocke tracker system with custom rules!
Send your pokemon on adventures and let it collect berries!
The Rain Station, by Digi_056:
[Download]
Dictate the weather and temperature!
Watch as the environment outside changes based on the time of day and weather conditions!
Images for the ghost made with clean 3D models!
Toad, by Galehaut, Secret Pie, and Ecclysium:
[Download]
Comes with a unique balloon!
Made in 72 hours, with new assets only! (Actually, made in just 2½ hours!?)
Kick the toad!
Wally Darling / Welcome Home, by idk and thebubble-mancer:
[Download]
Friendly dialogue
A toggle for horror elements, so you can play safely
Rare events made to spook you in the darkest hours of the night
Made with new assets only!
Witching Hour, by Zdzisiu:
[Download]
Take up the mantle of elder witch to guide and reform a delinquent apprentice!
Gather and study magical ingredients to fill your grimoire!
Brew your inventory into potions and test them on your pupil!
ヒカリキツネ@hikarikitsune, by ななっち:
[Download]
Spend calming days with hikari, a kitsune that relies on you to interact with the world!
Chat about your plans for the day and places you'd like to go to support her hobby as a photographer!
Made by our first ghost jam participant from the Japanese community! for jam regulars, that means an interesting structure and style not yet seen among English devs!
The first jam ghost to be made with the SHIORI Satori!
#Ukagaka#Ukagaka Ghost#English Ukagaka#Ghost Jam#Ghost Jam 2023#Ukagaka Dream Team#New Release#Event#Camp Camp#Risk of Rain#Lego Monkie Kid#Neko Atsume#Presentable Liberty#Exoptable Money#Rain World#Bug Fables#Pokemon#Don't Starve#Infinity Train#Wally Darling#Welcome Home#Original Character
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Here's what's on my ancestor altar and why
A bowl of potpourri made from local plants and blue lotus and rosemary and lemon essential oil and olive oil. Smells good
Framed butterfly wing I found on the ground. Represents transience and beauty.
Messy minimalist black and white painting that looks like a bunch of black hands reaching up out of the ground, smeared handprints. Represents the forgotten and restless Dead, all those ones whose names we do not remember but whose suffering we carry on in our bones
Black tablecloth. Think that one's kind of obvious
Painting of a skull with little colorful psychedelic mushrooms growing out of it
Skull mask with goose feathers and small purple obsidian chunk. This one will get its own post
Coasters that say bloom and grow to represent life
Decorative plate with candle. Remembrance and warmth
Various personal trinkets that would take a really long time to explain individually but includes personal family symbolism
Book of Russian folk tales from my great grandfather. Also the art is beautiful and reminds me of my great-grandmother who was a very talented artist
Live plants for life. Bamboo plants specifically a house for yokai I met at my last apartment that were Disturbed by construction
Book of insects specifically related to a bug / deaf / decay spirit I work with
Not show or not shown in great detail
Mug for water, shot glass with skull but that is not used for offering alcohol because alcoholism runs in the family, elephant symbolism for personal African guardian spirit, Jade to represent me because similar to birth name, dried flowers from great grandma's funeral, book I wrote in past life about communicating with the Dead.
And yet more
Please reblog if you enjoy because I would like to propose a new tag / movement- described witchcraft
I feel there is an important element to my blindness and my spirituality and want blind people to be able to participate in things related to it .
please consider sharing a similar post of something that you do in your practice with a described image! That's all.
J
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Edmund Dulac's Fairy Tales go to War
Jstor Daily published an article with the catchy title "Edmund Dulac's Fairy Tales go to War". Of course I had to read it. The original article is here if you want to check it out, but I'll still copy-paste it below because it's crazy info. (And given it is quite long I will put two thirds of it under a cut)
Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Tales Go to War
One of the best-known illustrators of the “golden age of children’s gift books,” Dulac was also a subtle purveyor of Allied propaganda during the Great War.
By: S. N. Johnson-Roehr and Jonathan Aprea ; December 16, 2022
Once upon a time, there was a young artist named Edmund Dulac, who built his early reputation on his illustrations for J. M. Dent & Company’s 1905 edition of Jane Eyre. Almost instantly, he became a leading name in the book arts, producing illustrations for the Brontë sisters and popular magazines. Annual exhibitions of his drawings and paintings at the Leicester Galleries, London, drew the attention of both the European and American art world. In 1910, critic Evelyn Marie Stuart, writing for Chicago’s The Fine Arts Journal, described his work as “rich with poetry and imagination, and strong in the possession of that decorative element which renders a picture universally pleasing.” His drawings were like "things seen in a vision or a mirage; or traced by the fancy of a child in the lichens on the wall, the water discolorations upon a ceiling, or the light shining through a broken crumpled shade; or, even like the things we try to decipher in the leaping flames and glowing embers of an open fire—many of these delightful sketches suggest to our fancy in some detail a variety of objects."
Dulac’s themes tended toward the fantastical—scenes from the Arabian Nights and Omar Khayyam’s Rubáiyát—with roots in the Pre-Raphaelites and not far removed from the work of Arthur Rackham and Kay Nielsen.
Born in France and naturalized as a British citizen in 1912, Dulac understandably awarded his loyalties to the Allies during the Great War. To support the war effort, he contributed his art and design skills to several charity books, including Princess Mary’s Gift Book and King Albert’s Gift Book, both published in 1914. If there remained any doubts as to his feelings about the Axis powers, they were surely erased when he published Edmund Dulac’s Picture-Book for the French Red Cross in 1915, with its cover proclaiming “All profits on sale given to the Croix Rouge Française, Comité de Londres.”
Even more convincing—and more inventive—was his use of fairy tales to not just further his charitable efforts but to possibly encourage the United States to join the war. Published in 1916, Edmund Dulac’s Fairy-Book was a subtle but persuasive example of wartime propaganda. Subtitled “Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations,” it included Dulac’s own adaptations of folk tales gathered from the nations fighting with Great Britain: France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Japan, and China.
Below, courtesy of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, are reproductions of some of the illustrations from Edmund Dulac’s Fairy-Book, accompanied by brief explanation of each story.
Snegorotchka: A Russian Fairy Tale
Snegorotchka (more commonly transliterated Snegurochka), the “The Snow Maiden,” is a recurring character in Russian folklore, playing various roles, from child to adult, in stories bounded by the winter and spring seasons. By the late nineteenth century, Snegurochka had blended fully with the traditions of Christmas, often serving as a helper to Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz).
In Dulac’s version of a common tale, Snegurochka is a girl made from snow, brought to life to add joy to the waning years of a childless couple. An elderly man and women all but will the girl into being as they shape a tiny body of snow in the woods. Snegurochka leaps to life, filling their home and souls with warmth throughout the winter. Tragically, the little girl disappears with the heat of spring weather, leaving the parents bereft.
Another version of the Snegurochka tale formed the basis of a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, which was subsequently adapted into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Buried Moon: An English Fairy Tale
Sometimes known as The Dead Moon, The Buried Moon highlights the dangers of living in the bog country of Northern Europe.
Traveling through a bog, a personified Moon becomes entangled in magical, malevolent branches. After some struggle with “all the vile things” that love darkness (witch-things, bogle-bodies, creeping things, and the Scorpion King, to name a few), the Moon finds herself buried deep in the mud, held down with a black stone.
Of course the humans miss the Moon, lamenting her failure to appear in the sky on schedule, but who even knows where to search for her? Even the Wise Woman of the Mill can’t see any trace of her. Fortunately, just before her entombment, the Moon had managed to briefly shine her light to guide a lost and wandering human out of the treacherous marsh. Remembering this moment, the man spreads the word. Emboldened by the Wise Woman’s words of encouragement as well as the Lord’s Prayer, the local people march to the bog, fight off the Horrors of the Darkness, and rescue their beloved Moon
White Caroline and Black Caroline: A Flemish Fairy Tale
Folklorist Antoon Jozef Witteryck collected White Caroline and Black Caroline (Wit Karlientje en Zwart Karlientje) and included it in his 1899 Old Flemish Folktales (Oude Westvlaamsche volksvertelsels), an annotated version of which was republished by Hervé Stalpaert in 1946. The story can also be found in the Annales de la Société d’Emulation pour l’Étude de l’Histoire & des Antiquities de la Flandre (Bruges, 1889).
White Caroline and Black Caroline depends on the familiar figure of the evil stepmother, a woman who loves her ugly daughter (Black Caroline) more than her beautiful stepdaughter (White Caroline). Everyone and everything, from townspeople to lambs to dancing dogs, love White Caroline and equate her beauty with good. But the mother prefers her own daughter, noting “Black Caroline was so ugly;—but she was good all the same!”
And indeed, Black Caroline is good. Her mother tries no fewer than three times to murder White Caroline, and each time, Black Caroline intercedes. Poison thorns in the pillow, poison in her meatball dinner, an “accidentally” falling millstone—none manage to kill White Caroline, thanks to Black Caroline’s quick thinking.
The abrupt entrance of White Woman, queen of all the water and the woods, brings the murder attempts to a close. Not surprisingly, White Woman also loves White Caroline and promises to give her whatever she wishes—beautiful grapes, a dress of silk, a nice sailboat. Luckily, White Caroline is also good: she wishes to have Black Caroline with her. More than that, she wishes they could look alike. The White Woman has an idea:
“Little white feathers appeared on their shoulders and spread until they were entirely covered; and there they stood together, two beautiful white swans! And ever after they swam up and down on the peaceful water and no one could tell one from the other.”
The Seven Conquerors of the Queen of the Mississippi: A Belgian Fairy Tale
While there may be an actual fairy tale underpinning The Seven Conquerors of the Queen of the Mississippi, the story’s title reveals Dulac’s probable agenda. It takes no large leap of the imagination to read the “seven conquerors” as Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia, Japan, and China, all seeking an alliance with the Queen of the Mississippi—the United States—on the fields of Belgium.
The story is straightforward and structurally repetitive—each conqueror swears an oath of loyalty, and their individual strengths combine to win the Queen and kill the King (hello, Kaiser Wilhelm II).
Dulac, or some unnamed collaborator, has penned a verse that cuts through the first half of the tale with a modern rhythm and vocabulary.
“Will you travel with me, my pippy?”
“Oh! Whither away? To Botany Bay?”
“But no; to the far Mississippi,
Where a Queen—tooral-ooral-i-ay—
Is waiting for what I’m to say.”
“I am yours! And the bounty?”
“Either here or in Botany Bay!”
‘Will you travel with me, my pippy?”
“Oh! Whither away? To Rome or Pompeii?”
“But no; to the far Mississippi:
There’s a Queen of great beauty that way,
And there’s no one but Cupid to pay.”
“I am yours! And the bounty?”
“Name your price: it shall be as you say.”
And so on. Travel with me, my pippy!
The Serpent Prince: An Italian Fairy Tale
The Italian poet Giambattista Basile collected The Serpent Prince (sometimes translated as The Enchanted Snake) in the seventeenth century, including it in The Pentamerone: Lo cunto de li cunti (The Tale of Tales). Folklorist Andrew Lang drew upon Basile’s version for The Green Fairy Book (1892).
Dulac has created his own prefatory material for the familiar story, opening with the popular nursery rhyme:
The old woman who lived in a shoe,
Who had so many children she didn’t know what to do,
allegedly “lived about the same time in another part of the country” even though The Serpent Prince was collected in Naples.
As the story goes, a forester’s wife, Sapatella, finds a tiny serpent in her firewood. Childless, Sapatella is startled but amenable when the serpent offers himself up for adoption (“she was a kind-hearted woman and very, very lonely”).
The serpent grows—as children do—and soon demands a wife. And not just any wife! The serpent must marry the king’s daughter. Surprisingly, the king agrees to meet this demand. Or does he? He will give his daughter in marriage only if the adopted son-serpent can turn all the fruit in the royal orchards to gold.
It’s not clear why anyone is surprised that a talking serpent can wield the magic necessary to turn fruit into gold. Nor is it clear why the king would think the serpent would fail at any additional challenge placed before him. Turn the walls into diamonds and rubies? No problem. Turn the entire palace into gold? Absolutely (“not gold plate either: it was all solid gold of the purest kind.”). The king is forced to cede the battlefield. The princess will marry the serpent.
Of course, the serpent is really an enchanted prince, and here you would think the story would end: the affianced are wed, their kingdoms allied. But thanks to an additional foolish act by the king, the prince is again enchanted (and worse), and only the princess can save him. But will she be able to outwit the wily fox standing between her and her beloved?
The Hind of The Wood: A French Fairy Tale
Dulac offers a faithful retelling of The Hind in the Wood (La Biche au bois, also translated as The White Doe or The Enchanted Hind), written by Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Countess d’Aulnoy. A talented and creative storyteller, Countess d’Aulnoy gave us the very words “fairy tale” in 1697, when she published her first collection under the title Les Contes des fees (Tales of the Fairies).
Though the titular hind is the star of the story, the scene opens with an unhappy, childless queen encountering a talking crayfish. Though “hearing a big Crayfish talk—and talk so nicely too—was a great surprise to her,” the queen listens carefully to the crustacean.
The reward for her attentiveness is a kingdom transformed. Beneath her feet appears “a carpet of violets, and, in the giant cedars above, thousands of little birds, each one a different colour, [singing] their songs; and the meaning of their melody was this: that cradle, woven by fairy fingers, was not there for nothing.” Soon she will be a mother!
A troupe of fairies gather around the suddenly expecting queen and ask that she welcome them on the day of birthing so they can give special gifts to the babe, who will be named Désirée. And on that special day, the queen indeed remembers to bid them come to the palace. Sadly, she neglects to invite the talking crayfish (who is really the Fairy of the Fountain) to the celebration.
Curses. But only small ones, in the scheme of things. The Fairy of the Fountain warns the royal parents to keep Princess Désirée from seeing daylight until she turns fifteen. That’s all.
Alas, the Warrior Prince lies on his death bed. Just a portrait of Désirée is enough to make him fall in love and abandon his plans to marry Black Princess. Yet he cannot see her—she will not be fifteen for a few more months. To save the Warrior Prince, Désirée agrees to travel with her two ladies-in-waiting by darkened carriage to his kingdom.
Unfortunately, one of those ladies-in-waiting, Long-Epine, is a traitor. She slits the cover of the carriage, exposing Désirée to daylight. Just a drop of sunlight turns the princess into a dazzling white hind. She instantly runs off into the forest. And that is the curse: by day, a doe; by night, a lonely princess.
The Warrior Prince wanders this very forest and soon spots the white deer. Annoyed that the animal tries to keeps its distance from him, he looses an arrow and pierces her flank. He’s sorry! Especially when he finds out the hind is his beloved, enchanted.
She isn’t enchanted for much longer, however. The Prince, even knowing all, loves her. And that is enough to break the spell
Ivan and the Chestnut Horse: A Russian Fairy Tale
Variations of Ivan and the Chestnut Horse are abundant in Russian folklore. Sometimes Ivan rides a chestnut horse, sometimes a dun. A common version of the story, known as Sivko-Burko, was collected by A. N. Afanas’ev in the mid-nineteenth century. Included in Jack V. Haney’s comprehensive The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev (Tale #179, Vol. II), this version gives Ivan a magic black steed.
Ivan and his brothers have just committed themselves holding daily prayers over the grave of their recently departed father when they hear that Princess Helena the Fair has decided to wed. To win her favor, her suitor must leap on horseback to the top of the shrine on which she sits, kissing her as he flies through the air.
Ivan, the youngest of the siblings, offers to take on the burden of graveside prayer for a week so his brothers can curl their hair and train their horses for the challenge. One week stretches to two, and then to three. The brothers ignore their filial duties to dye their mustaches. So much attention is paid to their appearance that they even neglect to feed their horses.
And yet, when the day of the leaping contest arrives, the older brothers dash away on their mounts, leaving Ivan alone to pray and weep over his father’s grave.
It was thus that two out of three brothers miss their father’s resurrection. Shaking himself free of the damp earth, the father offers to help his youngest son. He begins to call out in a loud voice—one time, two times, three times. Ivan discovers his father is summoning a beautiful chestnut horse!
Yes, this is the enchanted steed that will take Ivan to the shrine of Helena the Fair, where—after two failed attempts—it rises to the leap, allowing Ivan to press his lips to those of the princess “in a long sweet kiss, for the chestnut horse seemed to linger in the air at the top of its leap while that kiss endured.”
After summoning the steed, Ivan’s father immediately vanishes. No matter, because Ivan is soon welcomed to supper with the father of his bride, Princess Helena the Fair.
The Blue Bird: A French Fairy Tale
The Blue Bird (l’Oiseau Bleu) is another tale that comes to us by Countess d’Aulnoy. Though there are many variants of the story found across Europe, scholar Jacques Barchilon notes that d’Aulnoy’s version is remarkably robust, appearing in a French Canadian collection, “word for word the version of Mme d’Aulnoy’s with all details,” as late as 1960. Andrew Lang also included it in The Green Fairy Tale Book.
Our story opens with a rich but miserable king. He’s inconsolable, having only recently become a widower. Hoping to comfort him, his courtiers present him with a woman dressed in mourning clothes and possibly crying even louder and longer than the king himself.
Finding solace in their similar sorrows, they decide to wed. Each brings into the marriage a daughter from their first marriage. The king’s daughter: “one of the eight wonders of the world,” the young and lovely Florine. The new queen’s daughter: “neither beautiful nor gracious,” the young Truitonne, with a face like a trout and hair “so full of grease that it was impossible to touch it.”
The queen loves Truitonne much more than she loves Florine, which wouldn’t matter if the king didn’t love the queen so much that he cedes to her every wish. For instance, he allows her to dress Truitonne in jewels and Florine in rags when Prince Charming appears at court. Despite the heavy-handed costuming, however, Prince Charming only has eyes—and love—for Florine.
The queen schemes. The queen plots. She enlists maid, frogs (“for mind you, frogs know all the routes of the universe”), and fairy godmothers. And yet the Prince will not be deflected from his plans to be with Florine. Finally, exasperated with his stubbornness, Truitonne’s fairy godmother turns the prince into a blue bird—for seven years!
It’s not too bad, at first. In bird form, the prince finds it easier to woo Florine—until the queen discovers that he flies to her window every night. Wielding her dark magic, Truitonne’s fairy godmother sends the blue bird to his nest to die.
Fortunately, every bad fairy seems to be balanced by a good fairy. This bright character finds the dying blue bird in his nest and heals him. It doesn’t seem to help much—the queen is determined that Truitonne will marry the prince even if only by trickery and deception.
The queen’s shenanigans never seem to end—this is a long fairy tale—but eventually the universe, or at the least the good fairy, finds a way to bring Prince Charming and Florine together.
The Friar and the Boy: An English Fairy Tale
The Friar and the Boy, also known as Jack and his Stepdame, reaches back to the poetry of medieval England. In volume three of Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England (1866), William Carew Hazlitt records a c. 1585 London imprint of the chapbook verse that underpins the modern version of this tale.
The story begins with Jack, a young lad wronged by his stepmother. She starves him, she yells at him, she altogether doesn’t care for him.
One day, sent to the fields to watch the sheep, Jack encounters a hungry old man. Jack’s lunch isn’t much, as his stepmother is loathe to feed him decent food, but he gives it to the stranger. In return, the old man gives Jack three wishes.
Wish one: a bow and arrow, charmed such that the target will never be missed. Wish two: a pipe, its magic strong enough to make anyone dance who hears its tune. Wish three: an enchantment that will turn his stepmother’s harsh words into laughter.
Jack instantly puts his granted wishes to work. When his stepmother begins to scold him, her words turn to laughter. She laughs herself sick. When the Friar is sent to chastise Jack for his impudence, he ends up dancing through the brambles to Jack’s piping. Soon Jack has the entire village dancing to his tunes!
Alas, his poor old father begs for a rest. Jack loves his father, so he ceases to play. Not surprisingly, the Friar takes advantage of the pause to have Jack called before the Judge, “be-wigged and severe.”
The Friar makes his case: “the prisoner here has a pipe, and, when he plays upon it, all who hear must dance themselves to death, whether they like it or not.”
Intrigued, the Judge asks to hear this so-called Dance of Death. Jack is happy to oblige and takes up his pipe to play. Soon everyone in court is on their feet, dancing madly to the tunes. Even the judge joins in, “holding up his robes and footing it merrily.” He’s a believer, but he soon asks the boy to stop.
Jack agrees, but only if everyone promises to treat him properly.
“I think,” says the Judge, “if you will put your pipe away, they will consent to an amicable arrangement.”
Court is adjourned.
The End.
#edmund dulac#fairytale illustrations#fairytale art#french fairytales#british fairytales#english fairytales#edmund dulac's fairy book#world war I#wwI#fairytales and war#fairytale propaganda#russian fairytales#belgian fairytales#flemish fairytales#edmund dulac's fairy-book#italian fairytales#political fairytales
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Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915)
PUBLIC CELEBRATION DURING SHROVETIDE IN ADMIRALTY SQUARE IN ST. PETERSBURG
1869
Material - canvas
Technique - oil
This is a study for the well-known monumental picture by Konstantin Makovsky “Folk Festivities at Shrovetide in Admiralty Square in St Petersburg” (1869. Oil on canvas, 215 х 321 cm. State Russian Museum), for which the artist received the rank of Professor in the Academy of Arts.
Shrovetide is one of the most ancient and joyous holidays of our country celebrated for a week before Lent; its ritual practices still contain many elements of pre-Christian Slavic mythology. The holiday implies a farewell to winter, welcomes spring, commemorates those who have passed away and conjures up fertility.
Konstantin Makovsky is very expressive in depicting the festive atmosphere of entertainment by a noisy, merry and multi-faced city crowd; he presented a real gallery of distinctive social types. We see performing actors, a chilled young man with a mug of honey drink in his hand near the samovar, a smartly dressed fashionmonger, a small child wrapped in his mother’s scarf over his fur coat, and a wealthy merchant family. The traditional folk festivities during Shrovetide turned Admiralty Square in St Petersburg into a theatre stage. The centre of the city is brightly decorated with colourful booths, wooden carousels, swings, teashops, flags, amateur paintings, wreaths, signs and billposters. Scaramouches, fools, actors, clowns, jugglers and acrobats are touting the public to their performances. Pedlars sell sweets, gingerbreads and sugared nuts. The art critic Vladimir Stasov wrote: “All of Petersburg is festive and smiling in the frost under the pink gleam of the winter sun. You can see a dandy wearing a pince-nez and boys in rags; merchant wives sweating in their mantles and booth actors in poor tights; office clerks blowing on a glass of hot tea and admiring the buffoons as well as young men skilfully getting grivnas out of their pockets; workmen, thickly laughing peasants and little ladies in smart hats, soldiers and sellers of nuts and beans.” There was a superstition that if there was no merry-making at Shrovetide, the entire year would be full of hardships.
Tretyakov Gallery
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Frost on a tin is a kind of Russian folk craft and art that existed in the Russian North in the Vologda region. It originated in Veliky Ustyug at the end of the 18th century and developed in the family circle, passing from father to son.
A thin sheet of tin was processed in such a way that a strong floral pattern was formed on its surface, similar to that with which frost “paints” windows in winter. Decorative caskets, chests with a secret, sometimes in combination with perforated iron, were upholstered with such tin.
Мороз по жести это вид русского народного ремесла и художественного творчества, бытовавший на русском Севере в Вологодской области. Возник в Великом Устюге в конце XVIII столетия и развивался в семейном кругу, переходя от отца к сыну.
Тонкий лист жести обрабатывался таким образом, что на его поверхности образовывался прочный цветочный рисунок, сходный с тем, которым «расписывает» мороз окна зимой.Такой жестью обивались декоративные шкатулки, сундучки с секретом, иногда в сочетании с просечным железом.
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Things I Want in Sims 4
As someone who plays on PS4, I don’t have access to CC or mods, so I have to rely on the game makers giving me the sets I want to play. So, I figured I’d make a list of everything I want out of Sims 4. In the simplest terms, I want a Royal pack next from the Sims team.
- A Royal Family/Monarchy system complete with lines of succession, audiences with the common folk, crowns and tiaras in the hat section not attached to hair styles, royal thrones for the king and queen that aren’t a movie prop or a simple enough chair, arranged marriages as an option, private tutors or private schooling as opposed to public school for the royal children, and more. Like with different types of Celebrity, there’d be a mechanic for good kings, bad kings, and even for figurehead kings. Of course, women could hold the throne as well. Some might say it’d be weird to include royalty in a modern setting like the sims, but in a game with Vampires, Aliens, Mermaids, and Plant People, I don’t think having a king is really all that absurd for the Sims.
- Longer Dinning Tables (or just the ability to make tables longer) Because when you’re building a fancy house, sticking three dining tables together doesn’t look as good as having one long table.
- More Furnishings From the Queen Anne Category Nothing makes a house look luxurious than items from the Queen Anne decoration category. However, it is also one of the shallowest styles, and would benefit from adding even more objects to make houses look lavish and fancy. Doors, Windows, Paintings, Wallpaper, Flooring, Misc Decorations, Wall Decorations, and Plants would all benefit from giving us even more looks.
- More Fancy Clothes for CAS From Medieval-inspired clothes to French Rococo and Baroque designs, Renaissance costumes, Tsarist Russian fashions, Victorian attire, and Ottoman Turkish styles should give a nice wide variety of royal attire. This would of course also include hairstyles, powdered wigs, crowns, crown jewels, military jackets for the gentlemen, and whatever else.
- Carpets on Staircases It’s just an aesthetic I like that I’m surprised hasn’t been implemented yet.
- Assigned Seating Have you ever put multiple tables in a house only to find that your sims keep eating over the trash or in the most random rooms possible? I’d like the ability to assign a place at the primary dining table as the place to eat their meals. This would likewise ensure nobody but the King and Queen has the gall to sit in the royal throne.
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"Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls, otherwise known as Babushka dolls in the west, are decorative gorgeous wooden dolls that can brighten up any home or living space. Every single Russian matryoshka nesting doll is guaranteed to be unique since every nesting doll is hand-carved out of the finest linden wood and hand-painted with opaque gouache and acrylic colors. Given the degree of care that each nesting doll is made with, no two pieces can be alike.
This nesting doll theater is a unique combination of traditional Russian souvenir dolls and Russian fairy tales. Moreover, the set is unusual for a matryoshka nesting doll, as instead of pieces being nested inside one another, they are all contained inside the largest piece. The set is based on the well-known Russian fairy tale, called Teremok. Teremok ("A Tower") is a Russian folk tale. This fairy tale tells the story of tiny animals who lived in one house until a bear sat on the roof and crushed it. Among these animals, there was a mouse, a frog, a rabbit, a fox, and a wolf. Fortunately, they did not panic and built a new house!"
Teremok Fairy Tale Nesting Doll Theatre
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❄️5 reasons to meet me in the winter months❄️
Winter is the right time to take beautiful photos and add snow, amazing, atmospheric pictures to your collection.
⠀
Here are at least 5 reasons to spend a winter photo session with me:
⠀
🎄 A snow–covered forest is a real fairy tale. Why not take advantage of this and arrange a costume shoot where you will be the heroes of this fairy tale?
🎄 Do you want a transformation? Let's arrange a fashion shoot in the folk style: fur hats, warm mittens, painted Russian shawls, sleds, deer…
🎄Combine business with pleasure, make a snowman with the whole family, play snowballs, have fun, and I will save these bright moments in the form of beautiful photos!
🎄 The romance of the transformed winter city – garlands, elegant Christmas trees, festively decorated cafes, shop windows with souvenirs and toys. Just you and the New Year's city…
🎄And if it's very cold, we'll go to the photo studio. I know the top locations with a magical interior.
#eyebrow#eyelash#flashphotography#hair#jaw#lip#lipstick#neck#nose#shoulder#Nikond800#safronoviv_photo
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Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage Hand-Painted Ukrainian Real Blown Egg.
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Kandinsky and abstraction
So Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist 1866-1944. Credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction as well. Born in Moscow, and having a grandmother as a princess of Mongolia. He studied many fields such as law and economics so he received a well educated background. joining an ethnographic research group that looked at the churches decoration, and folk art. The colours which influenced his early work.
It wasn't instantaneous his style it took maturation and his experiences to become what is recognised world wide.
Historians suggest his abstraction phase came about when he saw one of his paintings upside down. Showing his potential, and giving up is career in law and economics to self teaching himself art.
Inspired by the French impressionism movement by Monet haystacks, He went on to experiment with colour and block prints. Then eventually went on to using music to inspire his works often play before or during. Some historians believed he had synaesthesia which is why he has such a strong affinity for colours.
Then when he moved to Germany to teach, he was able to push further to geometrically shapes. a more simpler look. but had great meaning.
And one of my ideas have included music to expression that is then animated. And is why I have incorporated him into my research and he is a good source,
youtube
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Based on paintings by Salvador Dali Russian Matryoshka Author's hand-painted Souvenir Gift Russian folk art Home & Office decor https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oECHi3r 🪆 #UsualRussianArt
#salvador dali#matryoshka-babushka#matryoshka#hand-painted#souvenir#gift#art#craft#handmade#home & office decor#collectibles#collectables#nesting doll#stacking dolls#Exclusive
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Zorikto Dorzhiev
The old man and the sea
Canvas, acrylic.
Zorikto Dorzhiev was born in the city of Ulan-Ude in 1976. Works in a machine tool
Painting, graphics, book illustration, sculpture, as well as
Film artist. Perceiving the basics of the Russian academic school and
"Cosmopolitanism" of contemporary European art, Dorzhiev
Continues to follow Buryat national traditions.
In 1996, he graduated from the Buryat Republican School of Culture
And art in Ulan-Ude, in 2002 - Krasnoyarsk State
Art Institute, and from 2003 to 2005 he trained
In the creative workshops of the Russian Academy of Arts. Teaching
The academic painting system gave Dorzhiev the opportunity
Learn and continue to use shape building skills,
Laws of color layout, compositional organization
Images.
Zorikto's creative method is based on the synthesis of several
Components, the main of which are figurative tradition
Academic school and cultural heritage of nomadic peoples
Buryatia. Work with traditional folk images is underway
Dorzhiev is very attentive and delicate. He manages to avoid
Populist replication of recognizable elements,
Ethnographic or museum reconstruction. The artist creates
Images that are saturated with the characteristic properties of culture
Central and East Asia, such as closure and
Immersion of characters, plastic asceticism and
Lapidarity of forms, decorative surface design.
The background in his works is often vast expanses
Steppes. Comprehension of the theme of the Great Steppe is the leitmotif of creativity
Dorzhieva. And the author defines the image of the main character - a nomad as follows:
"For me, a nomad is a contemplator. ...This is an artist, poet, philosopher.
As a rule, he's lonely."
Century Art
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╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴↷ ⋯
My old study work from the third year of my studying at an art college. The copy of the Russian winter scenery with the river painted on the wooden casket in the style of Fedoskino lacquer miniature painting (Russian decorative folk painting).
ੌ ╰─────╮
Wooden casket, lacquer primer for oil paints, silver powder, gold potal, oil paints, lacquer, silver decorative ornament
2018
╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴ ╴↷ ⋯
#arts#art blog#artwork#my study artwork#my study work#oil painting#student work#art copy#art college#handmade#hand crafted#casket#scenery#winter scenery#lacquer miniature#lacquer miniature painting#lacquer miniature painting of Fedoskino#russian decorative folk painting#Russian art#арты#арт блог#моя учебная работа#художественный колледж#художественная копия#масляная живопись#лаковая миниатюрная живопись#лаковая миниатюрная живопись Федоскино#пейзаж#зимний пейзаж#русская живопись
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Russian Dacha in Komarovo, near Saint Petersburg
When i first saw this picture i thought, "Wow, there's no way that this house is abandoned. Its so ornate and detailed, someone had to have scooped it up!" So i started researching. What i found was an awesome past, and a bright future!
Dachas, or second homes, are an architectural and cultural phenomenon in Russia. They emerged in the 18th century and still enjoy major popularity today. A dacha isn’t a particular style of architecture but is more a way of living. The first dachas in Russia emerged during the reign of Czar Peter the Great (1672-1725). In the 18th century, “dacha” (from the Russian verb meaning “to give") was the name given to small — by the standards of the time — estates where one could take a break from courtly life and its strict protocols to enjoy simple pleasures like planting a garden or a vegetable patch.
The dacha is designed for sunny summer days. As historically people stayed at their dachas only in the warmer months, this was reflected in the architecture. Bright porches with stained glass windows or balconies with carved ornamentation were not very suitable for harsh winters but evoked a romantic mood and created a feeling of proximity to nature.
This wooden dacha in Komarovo, near St. Petersburg, was built in the Art Nouveau style in the early 20th century.
This dacha in the village of Komarovo near St. Petersburg, which was owned in 2014 by the son of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, is put up for sale through the free classifieds website Avito.ru. The house was built at the beginning of the 20th century by Alexander Yukhnevich, head of the theatrical commission of the Nevsky Society for the Organization of Folk Entertainment. In the "house on the cliff", as it was called because of its location, the singer Fyodor Chaliapin and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya stayed. In Soviet times, there was a summer kindergarten for the children of Defense Ministry officials. After the death of Yukhnevich, the dacha was rented out, they did not live on it permanently, but the decoration has survived to this day. It was bought in 2014, and the dacha was given the status of a "cultural heritage site".
After being bought, it was to be restored.
Drumroll!!! Restored!!!
Not gonna lie, im not crazy about the exterior color, and i feel like more of the details should be painted white, but nonetheless im super happy someone did this home justice! I love when things work out (:
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The Praying Jew, Marc Chagall, 1923, Art Institute of Chicago: Modern Art
Marc Chagall had a prolific career that spanned more than eight decades of the twentieth century. While his work often exhibits influences of the contemporary movements he encountered in France and Germany, his subjects and decorative lyricism reveal his love of Russian folk art and his roots in Hasidic Judaism. In his 1931 autobiography, My Life, Chagall related how, while visiting Vitebsk (present-day Belarus), the city in which he was born, he realized that the traditions in which he had grown up were fast disappearing and that he needed to document them. He paid a man to pose in his father’s prayer clothes and then painted him, limiting his palette primarily to black and white, as befit the solemnity of the subject. This portrait is noteworthy for the simplicity of its execution; nonetheless, its striking patterns, abstract background, and the slightly distorted features of the model demonstrate Chagall’s absorption of modern trends, especially Cubism. Chagall often painted variants or replicas of works he particularly loved. The Art Institute’s Praying Jew is one of three versions of this composition. He painted the original canvas in 1914, and when he traveled back to Paris in 1923, he took this painting with him. He learned upon his return that much of the work he had left in France had been lost during World War I. This prompted him to make two versions of The Praying Jew before it left his studio: they are the present work and another in the Ca’ Pesaro, Venice; the original is now in the Kunstmuseum, Basel. The later compositions differ from the original only in small details. Joseph Winterbotham Collection
Size: 46 × 35 3/16 in. (116.8 × 89.4 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/23700/
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🐚 A Birthday Amidst the Archipelago
A/N: oneshot for my fav russian boys bday, i included the golden apple archipelago bc it was the most fun event/area I've experienced in genshin so far and I'll miss it a lot but at least it's inazuma and electro aether time, anyways hope you enjoy this and if you have suggestions/tips on writing or anything please lmk! I'm new to it all and I'm trying my best ;w; my friend proofread this tho and shes big brain so id say this one is pretty swaggy
￫ pairing(s): Zhongli/Childe, Aether/Venti (kinda platonic tbh), Venti and Dvalin vibing
￫ word count: ~ 3k
￫ cw: alcohol
￫ ao3
🏖️
Zhongli sensed a large being coming from the skies of Duyun Ruins. He did not want to believe it, but his doubts were soon confirmed.
Dvalin descended from the clouds with a heavy thud, sending the living creatures around either running or flying. Mounted on the Dragon of the East were Venti and Aether; The bard wore a pair of sunglasses and a light attire that shocked Zhongli to the core, he had thought the anemo archon could not get any more ludicrous, but it appears he was mistaken.
A slight frown grew on his face watching the scene and the geo archon couldn’t help but raise his palm to his face, sighing. On the flip side, Childe was astonished; his eyes sparkled observing Dvalin, considering what the outcome would be if they were to fight.
—
2 days earlier
“Traveler,
It has been some time since we last saw each other. I do hope your ventures are going smoothly.
I am writing to you to request assistance with an event that will take place two days from now. As you may know, Childe’s birthday is on the 20th of this month and I have been finding it hard to come up with a suitable gift. I wish to surprise him but nothing that fits my criteria comes to mind, in addition to the fact I am still adjusting to mortal life and their festivals.
If you do not mind and, of course, if you are free that day, I hope you can help me with this matter.
Zhongli”
After sending his letter to Aether, Zhongli straightened his shoulders on the stool at one of Heyu Tea House’s tables, raising a cup of steaming tea to his mouth, and waited for his guest to arrive.
“Receiving an invitation from Mr. Zhongli first sure feels nice,” a voice shouted coming from the stairs.
Zhongli glanced at the harbinger who took a seat by his side, “Childe, do you have any plans for your birthday?”
Childe widened his eyes slightly, “Birthday?” He raised his hand thoughtfully to his face. “Oh, my birthday! Hm… Is Mr. Zhongli planning on giving me some type of gift?” The harbinger smiled playfully.
“Please answer my question.”
“Nope! None at all.”
In actuality, Childe should be busy taking care of the Fatui’s business around Liyue; unfortunately for his underlings, he was going to do whatever he wanted either way. Additionally, he had a feeling Mr. Zhongli’s question was not trivial, and speculated the archon probably wanted to make plans.
“I see."
Unexpectedly, instead of proceeding on that topic, Zhongli said nothing more as he took another sip of his tea.
Despite the surprising lack of further development, he forgot about it as soon as Zhongli started to talk about a Ruin Hunter he encountered the prior day in the fields.
He knew by now what topics intrigued Childe's simple warrior mind, and that alone had Childe rambling about fighting tactics and his own experiences to Zhongli, occasionally trying to convince the archon to fight him, which he politely refused.
—
Meanwhile, at the Golden Apple Archipelago...
"I could really use a hand over here, Venti!" Aether's cry for help could barely be heard over the shrieking group of hilichurls advancing one after the other.
"But I-"
After unleashing a wind vortex from his palm, Aether glared at the bard, who was leisurely plucking the strings of his lyre on top of a rock. "Playing a battle song isn't helping!" He cut Venti off, resulting in the end of Venti's untimely concert with lots of whining.
After jumping off the rock, the bard shot an arrow that sent the group of monsters flying altogether.
The pair had a short-lived moment of relief, but soon the eerie sound of a horn was heard, indicating that more enemies were on their way. Aether groaned while Venti giggled nervously, and so, they had to return to their combat stances.
Not long after engaging, the traveler heard a short sound that made him stop his blade.
“Oh, I’ve got mail,” Aether walked a few steps from the fighting, reading the message while leaving the bard to get the monsters’ attention.
Venti's eyes widened at the sudden rush of monsters coming directly at him, though luckily, he sent them flying once again.
“Woah~ Don’t do that so suddenly, traveler, so mean!”
After reading Zhongli’s message, Aether was deep in thought, looking around as if searching for something, until his eyes met the green-colored ones of the anemo archon that reciprocated the eye contact, with a touch of wonder.
Zhongli opened the new mail he received, analyzing the few words Aether had sent.
“Meet us by Duyun Ruins at 9 in the morning, bring Childe with you.”
“Meet us? If I am not mistaken, Paimon has been staying with Xiangling, and didn’t show any signs of wanting to leave any time soon. Perhaps she can easily travel back and forth,” Zhongli thought to himself.
—
Present Day, Duyun Ruins
Jumping from the dragon’s back, Venti beamed, “Morax! Long time no see~!” Arms wide open as he threw himself towards his old friend. But before he got too close, Zhongli shielded himself, and instead of a hug, Venti’s face was compressed against the solid surface of the geo shield.
Venti staggered a step back from the impact, raising his hand to his cheek, now starting to swell, “Ow!” He pouted.
Zhongli tried to keep his cool, throwing a look at the two boys who recently arrived,waiting for an explanation.
Aether catches on the meaningful gaze and reassures, “Don’t worry, I think we avoided being noticed by anyone.”
“Yeah, Dvalin here is… Well, he tries to be discreet when flying around. After all, I was the one who taught him that~" Venti put a hand on the dragon's body while the other gave Zhongli a thumbs up.
"Saying you were the one who taught him does not reassure me one bit…" Zhongli’s veins were protruding from distress by now. "Aside from that, aren't you supposed to be more careful not to expose your identity in front of the common folk?"
The three other men stared at Zhongli in confusion, exchanging looks between themselves, "Common folk?" Venti asked. Childe was the first to realize he was probably talking about him and began laughing at the Zhongli's seemingly forgetfulness.
"Morax, you sure only remember what you want, huh. Even I know from the traveler's stories that this boy here is the eleventh harbinger of the Fatui. If that harbinger lady took my gnosis, I'm sure this kid knows my identity by now," Venti reassured while Aether slowly nodded, feeling second-hand embarrassment.
Zhongli was at a loss for words, raising his fist to his mouth, awkwardly coughing. On the other hand, the harbinger found the situation quite funny and patted Morax's back a few times while giggling.
Zhongli met Aether's eyes, "Nevertheless, what I desire to know is why that bard and his dragon are here?"
"Well, you’ll see when we get there," Aether reassured, getting back on the dragon's back along with Venti.
Childe cheerfully jumped on, extending his hand down to the geo archon who bashfully accepted, pointedly ignoring the meaningful grins the two other boys directed at him. And with little effort, Dvalin took off to the Golden Apple Archipelago.
The Snezhnayan boy's eyes gleamed with excitement from his first-ever experience that high up, sitting between behind Aether and in front of Zhongli.
Though, his laxity almost made the reddish mask on his hair fly away, luckily being rescued by the man behind him.
"Thank you!" The powerful gushes of wind made his words difficult to understand, yet enough for Zhongli to understand them.
If any normal person would travel through the clouds in the back of a dragon for the first time in their life, surely they would practice caution or be a little wary of their surroundings.
However, because Childe was Childe, an expert in adapting fast to just about anything, the journey on the skies was far from frightening.
A few minutes had passed and the boys were already close to their destination, and with his usual carefree expression, Venti looked back at the men behind him, yelling as Dvalin descended, "Hold on tight!"
With another loud thud, Dvalin settled at the northwestern part of Twinning Isle. Aether grew anxious in anticipation, waiting for Childe to see the preparations that he and Venti had come up with in such a short timeframe.
They had the inspiration from Alice's surprise for Klee, though not as crafty as she was. With the help of Tubby back in the Serenitea Pot, he managed to decorate the place nicely with newly crafted objects.
Umbrellas and chairs painted a light shade of sky blue sat next to fishing rods, Sea Ganodermas and conches decorated the sand in a path leading to a gazebo, which had seashells and starfishes hang from the wooden ceiling, surrounded by curtains.
And inside of it, one chest stored miscellaneous things, while the one next to it contained something that Venti declared extremely necessary: summer clothing he managed to acquire. In addition to the clothes he prepared, the anemo archon was also tasked with providing the food and drinks.
Visibly so as there were at least three bottles of either dandelion or osmanthus wine for every single dish on the table. Which, of course, was all paid for with the traveler's Mora.
All in all, the table was charmingly organized. A cake with a whale drawn on top of it sat in the middle of it all, while balloons were tied to the wooden table.
Upon reaching the sand, Childe was fascinated. The ocean breeze brushing against his face, the warm sunlight of the Archipelago and the salty waves gently crashing onto the tide united all the scenery together.
He’d never seen such a tropical place in his life, so unfamiliar in comparison to his frozen homeland's weather and features.
Lost in admiration for the scenery, he had already forgotten that it was his birthday, only remembering when Zhongli called out his name, directing him to look ahead where the decorated area was put, in preparation for the celebration to commence.
Venti leaned back against Dvalin's tail, already playing a melody, as the other three walked along the decorated path.
Aether fastened his steps, going ahead and getting a small box. Then, turning back to the birthday boy, he extended the gift.
"Happy birthday, Childe."
The harbinger let out a small "thank you" before opening it.
His blue eyes twinkled as he grabbed the content inside the box for closer examination. It was a bright piece of wood with a smaller version of him, Teucer and Aether drawn on it, as well as a ruin guard, or “Mr. Cyclops” as his little brother would say, stood behind them.
Without thinking, Childe embraced Aether tightly with a wide smile across his face, and at the display of the ginger’s excitement, the traveler couldn't help but feel accomplished.
After the gift was exchanged, Venti pointed out the clothes he had prepared, which made Zhongli flinch at the thought of wearing sunglasses as eccentric as his. Luckily, they were just lighter clothes, not accessories.
Childe, already excited from the exotic scenery, went on ahead to change his clothes behind a tall rock.
Zhongli and Aether walked towards the same location, at a much slower pace than the Snezhnayan boy, who was already out of sight.
“Thank you for your efforts, traveler. You managed to surprise me as well,” Zhongli finally got the chance to say.
“It was no problem at all. I’m having fun and the ‘tone-deaf bard’ was a great help, too.”
Childe emerged from behind the rock suddenly, wearing shorts and a shirt that was presumably supposed to be buttoned up. As a matter of fact, all the attires were of a similar design, the few differences being their color schemes, a few patterns, and the boy’s usual accessories.
Before any reaction, they heard monstrous noises getting closer to the shelter. A group of hilichurls nearby seemed to have been alarmed by the dragon’s arrival.
Something inside Childe’s mind clicked and he immediately turned the way of the shrieks, getting ready to fight, “Leave them to me!”
“Oh I was counting on that,” Aether affirmed as Venti nodded. Knowing very well of the harbinger’s passion for fighting, they speculated about the attack and gladly attached it to the list of events for that day.
Aether’s words were thrown at no one though, since Childe had left as soon as those four words left his lips earlier, leaving no time to receive any reaction from the others.
Bad luck for those poor hilichurls, honestly.
Childe's hydro blades moved swiftly, leaving droplets in the sand as they slashed one after the other, ending each almost instantly, leaving little space for a counterattack. He only stopped moving when there were no more of the monsters around, either because they were actually all dead or ran away from fear.
Coming back to the shelter’s path, Childe saw that they were now fishing, which made him joyfully run to join them, and noticing that he was back, Zhongli offered Childe a fishing rod and a seat next to himself.
“Oh man, this takes me back to the old days with my dad,” The ginger said while settling down on the beach chair, “Though the temperatures are the complete opposite, haha. I wonder if my family would survive the extreme change in the weather, though.”
Zhongli and Aether listened attentively while holding their rods, all the while, the anemo archon, visibly tipsy, communicated with Dvalin nearby.
“How come you managed to adapt this easily to the sudden climate change, Childe?” Zhongli asked.
“A warrior must always adapt to any situation. If I let the heat get the best of me, I'm weakened, consequently leaving myself open to enemy attacks."
"Damn, he never changes. If it isn't about his family, the answer is always related to being a fighter… Well, it is almost comforting in a way." Aether thought, mentallyrolling his eyes while taking a sip of the drink Venti had given him.
"I see," Zhongli seriously responded, "It is indeed true. Keeping one's body and mind stable is a must when facing laborious challenges."
Childe was filled with joy upon hearing the acknowledgement. It was always pleasant to hear someone who understood his point of view.
The traveler shifted his attention upon feeling a small force pulling down the
rod.
A fish had finally taken the bait, and the eyes of the two men also moved towards him when they heard the small "oh" Aether let out.
They all rejoiced at the successful catch and its size, and the traveler went straight ahead to prepare a meal for them.
—
As the day went by, they had almost checked everything on the task list; They fished for a while, Aether showed the mechanisms and puzzles that Klee's mom prepared, even landing his Harpastum so Childe could try them, he also taught them how to ride and summon the Waverider, they exchanged various anecdotes, as well as how the traveler came across the Archipelago in the first place, describing the whole Dodo King saga, and finally, filled themselves with food and drinks.
The sun rapidly fell under the horizon, merging the last colored rays of marigold into the indigo night sky. Venti had managed to convince the traveler to drink with him throughout the day and, needless to say, they were quite drunk by now, though both of them had a high tolerance and were somehow still acting civilized.
While Dvalin slept, the four men sat on the sand, listening to Venti sing around the crackling campfire.
When the bard began to sing a piece about Snezhnaya, Childe seemed to have recalled something.
He shuffled through his belongings, grabbing a bottle with a clear liquid, “This was a gift I received earlier, it’s a Snezhnayan specialty alcohol, Fire-Water!”
Aether gulped nervously at the familiar name. He had heard the stories around Mondstadt, how Master Diluc spent three days in bed after drinking a single glass of it, leading to the unsuccessful partnership with the Snezhnayan merchants.
Childe poured the liquid into separate cups and went around distributing them to the boys. Sitting back in his original spot, he continued, “As per tradition, we have to down the cup in one go!”
Venti was all in for the proposal, and despite their concern at first, Zhongli and Aether respected the birthday boy’s wish.
After raising their cups in a toast, they all drank the beverage at once.
Childe cheered, rambling about how he missed the taste of the drink. Zhongli seemed to be unaffected, calm as always, smiling and listening to the Snezhnayan boy.
However, Aether didn’t seem so well, he had expected the feeling, but because of the previous drinks he shared with the bard, it seemed to have had a stronger effect on him.
Aether wasn't the most affected by the drink, though.
That one shot was the ultimatum for Venti. His vision was blurry and he couldn’t stop laughing, which alarmed the others, but before they could take action and ask what was wrong, the archon fell into the sand, a grin on his face as he passed out.
After the realization of what just happened, Aether was the first to talk, “Um, I’ll take him to the shelter. I’m feeling a bit… dizzy too. I’ll get some sleep, haha,” He was making a great effort to sound coherent.
“Hope you enjoyed your day, Childe.”
A sincere smile was directed towards the boy sitting next to Zhongli. That expression warmed Childe’s heart. Aether had put great effort into this whole day and he could tell.
Childe was about to open his mouth to say something after the traveler turned his back to them while carrying Venti, but was stopped by the blonde, “Oh, there’s something I forgot to say. If you go west from here you will find another island with a shipwreck on top of the, um… Rock structure thing. It’s a good place to watch the stars. Anyways, hehe, good night.”
That piqued the two tall men’s interest, and after watching Aether and Venti enter the shelter, Childe looked at Zhongli, who was already standing up, as if he shared the same idea as the other.
A short cruise to the Nameless Isle later, Zhongli and Childe were already walking side by side through the tide, leaving steady footprints on the sand’s surface.
When the two stopped to both admire the place and look for a way to get to the top of the rocky mountain, Zhongli noticed a mural on the rock, which showed a shipwreck and what seemed to be a few people trying to save each other.
The archon was pondering about the meaning of it when he heard Childe’s voice from behind him.
“Mr. Zhongli, there’s a wind current over here!”
Zhongli went to the other’s location, noticing the current that led to the top of the mountain.
Without much effort, both of them got to the original destination: The shipwreck Aether mentioned.
It was indeed a tragic but beautiful place; a place where one could watch the azure starry sky, pale moon glowing brightly.
The two found a spot to sit near the ship that once sailed the seas, and watched the galaxies above them.
Childe offered another shot of the Fire-Water, which the both of them shared. Zhongli closed his eyes, deep in thought.
He had been trying to find the chance to give Childe his birthday gift, but he couldn’t find the opportunity to do so. Finally, now seemed like the perfect time.
He reopened his eyes and stared at Childe, who was watching the sky attentively, blue eyes shining unitedly with the stars.
“Childe.”
Upon hearing his name, he turned to look at the archon.
“Give me your hand,” Zhongli said, reaching his own towards the harbinger.
Childe automatically did so, and after searching for an object on the pocket of his shorts, Zhongli put the present on the other’s palm.
It was a single earring made of Noctilucous Jade and Cor Lapis, in a similar fashion as the one earring Childe normally wore.
“This reminded me of you when I saw it. If you do not wish to wear it, I understand, but I do hope you could keep it with you.”
Zhongli said that but the harbinger was already taking off his original earring, making the archon a bit embarrassed at the impulsiveness of the boy, yet very pleased.
Childe had been rambling about the, now, old earring and how he had gotten it in the first place, but after a while of no response from Zhongli, he gazed at him, being met by the image of the geo archon fast asleep.
Zhongli had a high alcohol tolerance, but with the nightfall, his drowsiness had grown to an almost unbearable level, and now, he was finally subdued by it.
Ajax couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his chest, his expression softened and he decided it was time for him to rest too.
He had never had a better birthday in his life.
#genshin impact#genshin#venti#aether#genshin oneshot#genshin chili#childe x zhongli#zhongli x childe#zhongli#venti x aether#genshin impact aether#genshin fanfic#dvalin#genshin impact traveler#genshin zhongli#genshin impact fic#gi#genshin impact fanfic#tartagalicious#tartaglia#tartaglia genshin#genshin ajax#genshin impact morax#morax#childes birthday#childe birthday
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