Three Twisted Knots

I can always tell when the Fantasy Faire is coming. There’s something in the air that lets me know. Something pricks in my unusually large ears and lets me know there’s work to be done, places to go, a cause to support, and lives to save.

Probably that sounds dramatic. But when I woke up this morning, I was in Faerie, and Faerie always makes me feel a little more dramatic. I don’t know how that  alterego of mine does it, but I guess being a Fae Queen is all right for some. Travelling to the Faire is the journey of a morning, for a wily fae anyway. But of course, it’s also the journey of a lifetime.

In some ways, the Faire is a headache for someone like me. It’s a headache of love, but it’s a headache. Because I’m walking around making sure all the merchants in my section have paid their tithes, and some of them are downright cranky. I guess they’re the artisans, so they get to choose how they are, but really: it can make a girl a little crazy.

I am The Amazing Catwoman. Some of you might have seen me before: I get to go to exciting places and show off the beauty that’s here all through the realms I walk, and I don’t have to be beautiful myself to do it, which she has to be, all the time. I guess some of you will decide that she has some kind of a split personality and I am only part of her, but I’ll take you a little farther and explain who I am.

I’m her player, her puppeteer, and I’m going to be very frank with you. Over the course of the Fantasy Faire, I’m going to be telling you why you should go there and spend lots of money. I’m also going to be showcasing great stuff that Gwyneth wouldn’t wear, or that doesn’t work with her personality. Most of the time I’m going to do this in character, but before you think the person pushing the keys here is just a nutter, I figured I’d tell you who she is and why she’s doing this.

Gwen, the player, is a role-player, writer, musician, dilettante, SL photographer and blogger—and her husband is going to die because he has cancer.

We live in an amazing age, full of technology and wonder, but cancer tears lives apart, and it’s tearing Gwen’s life apart right now. Last year, when she visited the Faire as a punter and got a sense of the scope of what they do here, she knew she had to get involved. Because Gwen can’t cure cancer. But if everybody works together, supports organisations like The American Cancer Society, we all can. And Gwen believes in miracles, believes that maybe if she helps out at the Faire something magical will happen and the next doctor’s appointment will be the one where they say, “We’ve got this new experimental treatment we want you to try…” and it’ll be the one that works. And Gwen’s husband won’t die, and she won’t be a widow at the reasonably young real life age of 49.

There; I’ve told you who I am outside of all this. Over the course of the Faire, I might tell you more.

Channeling water in Yozakura, The Amazing Catwoman is wearing her new leathers. This is the Alchemist ensemble from Gauze, without the pauldrons (I’ll show you the pauldrons later!) or the belt (ditto!). I love outfits that can be worn in a number of permutations, and Gauze did such a good job on this one: the detailing is exquisite, and the more she wears these, the more she likes them.

It’s time to get to work now, but first I go to my favourite hair store in all the world, Analog Dog, to see if they have something new for Faire that I will like. And they do! The long pigtails are whimsical enough that I can feel like I’m at Faire, yet they keep my hair out of my face so I can be a good watcher.

Today I am watching over Wildehaven Marsh, so with magical staff (also part of the Gauze ensemble) in hand and pauldrons and belt put on, I make my way to the pier and keep an eye on the town gate to the harbour: shoplifters, when they are active in the Marsh, often try to escape through the gate and get away via boat. And we cannot, cannot allow that, because all the shoppers must pay their tithe and help us wipe out cancer here at the Faire.

And so I watch, diligently and carefully, and I talk to few people. In the distance, I can see her, going on her endless shopping trip with this or that friend from the Wylds. Right social butterfly she is. But then something makes me smirk. Because sometime in the last quarter hour of my watch, I see him, too: the Gypsy, Davey. With a raven-haired beauty on one side and a ginger tart on the other. Well, well, well. I know she doesn’t get jealous: we fae don’t have that kind of twisted morality where we think we own our lovers, thank the gods. But I’m not sure if either of them knows the other is here. Oh, oh, oh: this will be fun to watch.

And I am good at watching, even when it’s just clouds while taking a break from my duties.

Godspeed, Gypsy Davey. Let’s see if she knows you’re alive when there’s shopping to be done!

Style Cards:

Channelling Water in Yozakura:
Mesh Head: Lelutka
Skin: Glam Affair
Clothes: Gauze, The Alchemist (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Hair: Dura
Piercings: Ellabella

But it’s time to get to work now (and subsequent photos)
Hair: Analog Dog, Petula, Dark Browns (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Skin: La Petite Morte, Ellen
Clothes: Gauze, The Alchemist (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Piercings: Ellabella

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. Go look at the web page. Yes, I know they’re expensive. If you want to take amazing photos in SL, they’re worth every Linden.