Three Twisted Knots

I admit it: I do reckless things. It’s one of the qualities that make me good at my job. It also gets me in to trouble, and I have realised this last world-hopping jaunt, the one where I kind of forgot who I was at the end, has landed me in a heap of trouble in Fair Fucking Elfland. Clutie was all full of dire warnings about temporal rifts and OMG THE WHOLE UNIVERSE OUT OF BALANCE, and of course the whole Incident got escalated to her. And I admit that I myself have not remained untouched, but I’m not really talking about that.

I was out roaming in the Unseelie Forest, as you do. And I felt something, something shimmering just out of reach. As, you know, you do. I was glad I had my new bow on me: I managed to sneak away to this faire held by the Fantasy Collective, and I couldn’t resist it. My new armour comes from there as well.

Then something changed, though I couldn’t have told you what it was at the time. Feathers appeared in my hair though, almost never a good sign. At least they were white and not black. Black might indicate ravens, and I think having to deal with Nemaine right now would destroy whatever confidence I have left.

Speaking of left—should I go that way? Hm. Another weirdness: usually I know what direction things are in, just sort of naturally. Left, I thought, would take me toward the river that separates the Unseelie lands from the Seelie half of the forest. Like a lot of Fae, I’m of mixed heritage, though I prefer the Unseelie lands: there’s less prejudice, less name calling, and of course I’m less likely to run in to her. Why I’m seemingly the only person in Faerie who doesn’t trust her, I couldn’t tell you. And it’s not that she’s a bad person; it’s just that she’s the Queen, and you cannot fucking trust Fae royalty; that I know with certainty.

Or… should I go right? I couldn’t decide; it was very frustrating. But I heard the sound of a waterfall in that direction: fuck. I was definitely turned around. Toward the waterfall would be toward the Seelie lands, wouldn’t it?

There was something else in that direction, though: a different kind of mist than we have here, the sort that burns off in the morning and makes you wet through to whatever you’re wearing beneath your —wait. My armour changed, too. Well, this couldn’t be good, even if the armour was, wow. Well fitting and perfectly coloured for my skin, and leaves in my hair, a long tunic with just the right amount of sway…. and comfy boots, my goddess, comfy boots.

Wow…I heard music, tinny and upbeat, with drums I’ve come to associate with more ‘modern’ realms. But in Faerie, I shouldn’t be able to perceive that stuff. A van. Shouting. Someone asleep in the driver’s seat. I shook my head. That’s just leftover stuff from one of those realms, I told myself. I’m not that girl. But I really have to go back to Russell: he’ll be so upset when he wakes up and I’m not there. We were going to Cornwall. Cornwall. What a funny name for a place. Does it actually have walls made of corn?

And then, like the chiming of a bell in my head that rang straight down into my heart, it came.

Geas. Fuck. I was being summoned. But I can’t leave Russell. But I must. She did it. She called me to the fucking Seelie Residence.

Just then, I was about as far away from anywhere I wanted to be as one pointy-eared Fae can get.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.

“No joke, and do please try to control your tongue, Tacey,” said Nathaniel. He’s her new husband. He’s so goddamn nice, he’s hard to be around. Not to mention very easy on the eyes, that Nathaniel. But I can’t afford to lust after her consort: even though we Fae don’t have this thing about owning our lovers that many mortals do, my life is complicated enough already without a sexy redheaded vampire in it. Big mental X on that.

“TAC,” I repeated for the umpteenth time. “It’s TAC”.

“No, TAC, I am not kidding you,” Nathaniel said. Fucking over cultured English arse. “You will be checking tickets for tonight’s banquet, and you will wear the Queen’s colours while you do it, and you will be polite and personable, and you will ensure that our guests have no fears or concerns about what might be occurring outside that door.”

“I’m bouncing at a Royal banquet?”

“That you are. And for the next three weeks, you’ll stay here in Faerie, and you’ll have a long talk with Dyisi about how reckless and dangerous to our Realm your recent activities have been. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” I replied, because I couldn’t think of anything better to say.

“Good,” he replied and he didn’t give me another look, not for a long time. And that was just as well, because then Clutie put me in the Queen’s Knight clothes. Which are perfectly serviceable, except they make me look like a fucking Court Jester. The only thing that makes this outfit worth wearing is this fucking amazing polearm. She might want us to look like courtiers, but she knows where to import weapons. This spear comes from MacMoragh & Muse, and it may be the most beautiful weapon I’ve ever held. Not giving up the bow, but shit, if you have to have a spear, this is the one you want.

All in all, the evening was a simple job, except for this one woman, Cherish Gelato. And may I just say what a stupid fucking name that is? Cherish Gelato? Are you a woman or a dessert? Make up your mind!

Anyway, Ms. Gelato did not want to surrender her ticket because it had the Queen’s signature on it. What an imbecile. A document, any kind of document, with the Queen’s signature on it is powerful, and sometimes she forgets to enchant them so they’re useless. So her knights, her fucking Guards, have to inspect every ticket. Cherish Gelato’s turned out to be unenchanted and therefore very powerful magic that we absolutely cannot allow to go home with her.

And she pitched a goddamn fit. Oh, it was a souvenir. Oh, she’d cherish (see what I did there?) it always. Oh, it would go on her wall in a place of honour. Oh, she’d hide it away in a safe. Oh, she might sell it on eBay….

Yeah. No.

It took half the guests staring her down and Nathaniel backing me up to get her to surrender that stupid little piece of paper. “I don’t know what the problem is,” the Queen said when she finally showed up, “Cherish Gelato easily has a dozen signed photos of me. She doesn’t need an invitation, too.”

Finally, with Nathaniel, Dyisi (whom I’m trying to avoid, frankly), a very convincing Fae Bard called Maeve, and Sabre, a visiting Unseelie Royal Sidhe who seems to have some diplomatic standing, all standing over her, she was convinced to hand the damn thing over.

This? Is going to be the longest three weeks of my life.

Group photo, from left to right:
Mikachu, Wren, Nathaniel, The Amazing Catwoman, Sabre (in the back), Dyisi, Cherish, and Maeve.
Thanks to my amazing and patient rp friends who let me take nearly an hour to put this photograph together.

Style Cards:

TAC Roaming the Unseelie Forest:
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Andrea (the NEW B UNIQUE skin, available at the 7 Deadly s{K}ins Main Store)
Body: Maitreya Lara
Eyes: Gauze, Paradox Cat Eyes
Ears: Gauze, High Elf Ear
Ring: Aisling, The Good Wife
Bow: Storybook, Heartseeker Bow (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Boots: Gauze, BP Swift Boots, Fantasy
Hair: Homage, Frenchie Redux, Lohans
Clothes: The White Armory, Woodland Guardian Tunic Set (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Necklace: Otherskin, Selene

TAC Under the Arch:
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Andrea (the NEW B UNIQUE skin, available at the 7 Deadly s{K}ins Main Store)
Body: Maitreya Lara
Eyes: Gauze, Paradox Cat Eyes
Ears: Gauze, High Elf Ear
Ring: Aisling, The Good Wife
Bow: Storybook, Heartseeker Bow (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Clothes: Wicca’s Wardrobe, Nirenil Outfit, Woodland (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Hair: AII (the ugly and beautiful), Forest Witch Hair V2 With Feathers (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Torc: The Forge, Torc, Ultra-Rare
Headpiece: Wicca’s Wardrobe, Laerlorn Headpiece, Summer (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Boots: Lassitude & Ennui, Endenion Boots, Brown/Gold

TAC as a Queen’s Knight:
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Andrea (the NEW B UNIQUE skin, available at the 7 Deadly s{K}ins Main Store)
Body: Maitreya Lara
Eyes: Gauze, Paradox Cat Eyes
Ears: Gauze, High Elf Ear
Ring: Aisling, The Good Wife
Tunic: SenzaFine, Beriawen Tunic (Available at The Fantasy Collective)
Necklace: Alegria, Dragon Scale Necklace, Silver
Hair: Mina, Lena/ Guusje (long) Mina (windblown, in the group photo)
Boots: Gauze, BP Swift Boots, Naturals
Spear: MacMoragh & Muse, Obara’s Spear (NEW at the MacMoragh & Muse Main Store and not on MP yet)

Group Photo Style Cards:

Wren:
Hair: *ARGRACE RYO -Golden Blonde
Ears: *~*Illusions*~* Fairy Ears
Eyes: InkHeart Dorian Eyes-Bottle
Rat: Alchemy-Rat Familiar-Brown
Boots: Cazimi Eben Boots-Brown
Wings: Faeline Fairy Wings-Youoko-Lime
Shape: oddbAlls’ FINN Shape for Girl Child
Pants: the Lounge- Medieval Lounge Pants-Burlap DkBrown
Tunic: {Exalted} Woodland Strider-Tunic-Green
Belt: {Exalted} Ranger-Belt

Nathaniel:
Body – MA Designs Complete Avatar, Riley 1
Skin – DNA Damien Type 1
Hair – Wasabi Pils Orion Mesh Hair (Cinnamon)
Eyes – Ikon Sunrise eyes, Verdigris
Clothing – [S] James Pants and Boots, .Luminary. Henry Top

Sabre:
Wasabi Pills Erik Mesh Hair.
Zed Mesh fur lined Black Goth Strap Boots
Zed Mesh Goth Distressed Black full Length Coat
Zed Mesh Lace-up Leather straight leg Pants

Cherish:
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Daisey, Apricot (Rare)
Hair: Olive, The Daisy Hair (Rare)
Dress: Aphorism, Inanna Dress, Vine, White
Coat: Aphorism, Inanna Coat, Ebony
Necklace: Le Forme, Aegon Necklace, Butterfly, Gold

Dyisi:
Skin – Plastik Astrali Basic Vaaliarah
Hair – little bones. Shaaswat
Hands – Slink Mesh Casual
Tattoos: .ARISE. – Maori Facetattoo
Tiki Tattoo – Bora
Plastik – Asaia Markings
Jalwa – Kheleeji Swirl
Top: [RA] Fashonista Scarf in White
Pants: Artizana Sari Pants in Indigo
Jewelery: Kibitz – Tulip Nose Chain
Zaara [Goa Party] – Baga Nose Ring
Friendship bracelets
Retro sunglasses *silver-blu*
Schnadenfreude – Long Water and Earth necklaces
Earthstones – Tumbled Stone Necklace (Rasta)
Belly Crystal -Amethyst
.:ellabella:. – Xerim’s Conundrum
RO: Hipster Bag – Coffee
~Soedara~ – Pearl Berjuang Tari Bindi (Silver)
Goat parts: [Gauze] – Faun hooves
Illusions – Nivicola horns (Runes)
Shape: Self Made
Staff of Doom: Self Made

Maeve:
TWA Bravado Gown
.::S::. Zania Grey Hair
Elizabeth by RUBY Skins (old lady skin)
CCD- Luxury Optical- Victorian Lace

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never leave home without it!