thirteenth dance | video;

[quackery]

[When the video switches on, Ahiru is sitting on her bed flipping hurriedly through a book - Grimm's Fairy Tales. She'd had a few days of free time on her hands at the beginning of the week, and she's taken the opportunity to make a trip to the library. Once she had read the other books and started on this one, she had grown more and more dismayed

Comments

voice;

[what_scruples]

[ He laughs, softly. ] Fairy tales aren't always meant to entertain.

video;

[quackery]

Isn't that why people write them in the first place?

[what_scruples]

Perhaps in some worlds, they are.

In others, they're used as lessons.

[quackery]

Lessons for what?

Voice:

[makes_asteroids]

Originally, yes. They were stories for adults, not children and were much darker.

Video:

[quackery]

Why weren't they for everyone?

Re: Video:

[makes_asteroids]

Because most stories aren't. Children had nursery stories.

Video:

[quackery]

What's the difference between nursery stories and fairy tales?

[video]

[azarathmetrion]

Hey, they were written by two guys named "Grimm."

These days, most fairy tales aren't like that. They've been significantly cleaned up from the originals. 'Cinderella' was... pretty grisly to start with.

And not all stories are like that, either, but then again, real life isn't like a fairy tale.

[video]

[quackery]

It's good that they've changed, but...

['Real life isn't like a fairy tale.' Right. She pauses.]

Y-Yeah, that's a good point, too!

[video]

[azarathmetrion]

I don't know. The old stories had a certain -- authentic charm to them. [Raven... relishes horror stories a little bit.] I mean, little kids back then had the idea of the world being a scary place kind of shoved in their face.

But I mean, life isn't quite as bad as little kids getting eaten most of the time. Uh, goats, sometimes still.

[video]

[quackery]

There's not very many things charming about stories where people get killed!

Goats shouldn't get killed either.

[ Video ]

[deathknellgrell]

It was only recently that fairy tales got prettied up and sugar-coated.

[ By "recently" Grell means, of course, the nineteenth century! ]

Life, for mortals, is nasty, brutish, and short. The sooner children realise this, the better off they'll be.

[ Video ]

[quackery]

That's not true!

[ Video ]

[deathknellgrell]

It isn't?

Not even here?

[ Video ]

[quackery]

Not everything about this place is nasty and brutish, and not everyone gets killed!

[quackery]

...What?

[quackery]

That's cause they're dangerous and they have sharp teeth!