Three Twisted Knots

No shit, there I was. That’s how stories like this are meant to start, aren’t they? It’s right up there with “Hold my beer and watch this,” which is a phrase I learned from a fellow who came from the American Southeast.

I’d been in the forest for weeks. I saw no other man, and no other woman. Just me and a forest full of animals, a small stream, and a campfire that looked as if it were well-used. Perhaps it’s a glade between worlds for folks like me who get lost on their way from one realm to another.

In a way, I had resigned myself to being here forever. Something went wrong. Something I caused, or forgot, or didn’t do, or did do.

And besides, I rationalised, the place was peaceful. A man could have total peace and quiet, nobody bugging him for anything, no one nagging him. He could strip off his worn clothes and bathe in a cool, clear (OK, freezing and slightly muddy) stream, then uncover an amazing shirt with a dragon on it from his backpack that he doesn’t even remember purchasing but that makes him feel comfortable and at home. He could dress however he wanted, run around naked if he wanted, have rabbit for dinner every night and never have to eat his vegetables….

He could feel, utterly and completely, alone. After a week, I was feeling resigned to the whole thing. After two, rabbit began to make me feel ill and I started hunting birds. After three, well. If there’d been walls, I’d have been climbing them. “Right, Universe,” I finally said. “I don’t know what I’ve done or who I’ve pissed off, but I’m ready to fight them with my bare hands now.” Great. I’m not just talking to myself now, I’m talking to the Universe, as if it could hear me. “Look,” I said. “I know you’re probably busy with other things, but I’d really like to get the fuck out of here now.”

Then, incredibly, I heard a voice. Great. This is the part where I start to tear off my own skin, I thought.

“And to which universe is it you wish to demand?  As there are many.. infinite..  more than there are thoughts within your head..  Boreíte anói̱to tsingáno̱n.”

“Any Universe that will get me out of here?” I replied, all the while wondering why I’d reply to a disembodied voice anyway.

She appeared. Just like that.

“Dyisi!” I exclaimed.

Dyes canted her head to the side while giving the wayward Roma a once over..  “Nai, that is what I am known as.  However you seem to be in a rather stuck place.”  She paused for a moment to look the place over while curiosity filtered out into the air around her. “Did you forget your way, akribos mou?”

“I was dreaming,” I explained. “And I wanted to wake up. When I woke up, I was here. There doesn’t seem to be anybody else here. I’ve been here for weeks. I’m….” I scratched my head. “I think I’m beginning to go a little mad.”

Dyes snickered out while shaking her head at that, the curiosity turned into amusement with in an instant.  “Ah, I see akribos mou.  You have somehow fell into Dreaming rift?  Curiouser and curiouser..  But I guess if one who pushes through realms in manner that you perchance to, it would stand to reason that there is higher risk of such to happen.  Question is, why is it you can noht leave…”  Once more the currents around her shift and this more working curiosity began to filter out into the air around them.

“I think it’s because I lost track of the others,” I explained, “We ordinarily travel between realms effortlessly, as if we were on a road together, if you see what I mean. But because I was dreaming, and then just sort of wished myself out of the dream, I came without my kin.” I shrugged. “I’ve never questioned how we do it: we just do it.” I admit it: her calm and casual and possibly somewhat patronising air was beginning to irritate me. I tried not to show it. “The question is,” I said, believing I knew the answer, “can you get me out of here, back to some realm where I can find my way back to the others? They are probably missing me about now.”

Dyisi listened to the hapless Roma explain his situation. In truth she did have some concern to this seemingly case of entrapment.  The curiosity was still there, along with now that concern, though she said nothing more until he asked his question of her.  That granted him this warm smile and a bow of her head.  “Of course I can deliver you to a realm in which you may be free of here.  Nai, nai..  it will be easy.”  With that, she held out her hand for him to take, her lips twitching into more of a wry smirk.  “Just hold your breath, akribos mou.. and do noht let go..”  As it is, the satyr had her own means to traversing the strands of the multiverse.

So I reached out, and I did not let go, and it was as if the Universe shifted around us, though I knew it was Dyisi’s magic making this happen. In truth, I’ve rarely met a being so strong with the talent or skill for realm-hopping as the Satyr.

And of course, for her it probably was easy, I realised. For me, moving between realms happens with the support of the clan, the band, of travellers I call family. For her… well, I don’t really even know if she has a family. I’ve never asked.

“So,” I said, “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

The sileni’s way of moving from place to place was quite different.  The moment Davey took hold, what he felt were her surface emotions.  Not that tingly sensation followed by the full force of her passion.  Not this time.  And what her surface emotions made him know was that he must hold on for his very existence.  Because if he let go, he would be lost in eternity.  The vastness of the Inbetween was her path..  Her path was one she knew all too well as it led them to one of her “hidey hole” spots in some random strand that looked to be quite modern in placement.  Once they both just.. appeared within it.. the satyr moved to take up a seat on one of the wicker chairs.  The soft looking pillows spoke of her eclectic taste of often bright hippie patterns.  “I thank you for such, akribos mou.  Though work upon it is seldom done, nai?”  That wide coy smirk playing over her lips.  If he was privy to her surface emotions, the likelihood that she had picked up on his was quite high.

I blushed: I couldn’t help it. I was remembering the last time we’d been here together, when she’d cured me of the Fae Curse. Well, partly. We won’t speak of my dreams of the Faerie Queen here.

Eventually I settled into one of the chairs, stretched. “I haven’t felt a cushion in weeks,” I admitted. Sure, there was that dingy pillow atop one of the logs in the forest, but… well, it was nicer after I washed it, but it took three days for the thing to dry in that shady, windless clearing.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about life,” I explained to Dyisi. “In between worrying about how the hell I was going to get home and trying to have anything besides rabbit for dinner. I don’t suppose you have … do they deliver pizza in this realm?”

The satyr watched him take a seat as she jabbed her staff into the ground.  From the soil, little tendrils of roots coiled upwards to attach themselves to it.  She crossed her arms while kicking her legs up to rest on the thin armrest to make herself comfortable.  It became apparent that she was more relaxed in her own spaces than in other places.   “You are, of course, welcomed to stay as long as you need, akribos mou.  It is a place of rest..” she offered to him while canting her head once more to give him this study.  The satyr rather enjoyed these visits with Davey: he was a different face.  However, when he asked about food, she just sighed out while shaking her head..  “For that, you may need to find another place..  as you can see.. there is no road here.  However, I am sure there are fish within water that you might like..”  Again that wide coy smirk tugged at her lips.  “Might need to remove your shirt first though..”

Style Cards:

The Gypsy Davey:
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, August Group Gift, Men (Available at the 7 Deadly s{K}ins Main Store!)
Hair: Calico, Caden
Eyes: Poetic Colors, Pearl, Aurora, Medium Bright
Ears: Mandala, Steking Ears, Season 5
Shirt: Serendipity, Hidden Dragon Tee, Gold (Available at the Hidden Sanctuary Event, The Ancient Ones Return)
Trousers: Wicca’s Wardrobe, Ares Pants Male
Shoes: FateStep, Anthony Boots

Dyisi:
Body:
Hair – little bones. Rude
Skin – :[P]: Astrali Raverie
Slink Enhancement Hands Casual
Clothes:
Top – Tee*fy Laura Unbuttoned Knotted Shirt in Olive
Pants – <Squish> Ladies Cargo in Mixed
Accessories:
RO – Hipster Bag Coffee
Earthstones – Belly Crystal Turquoise
Tumble Stone Necklace Rasta
EF – Mohio Necklace
Zaara – [Goa Party] Retro Sunglasses *silver-blue*
[Goa Party] Friendship Bracelets
[Goa Party] Baga Nosering
Schadenfreude – Water Digital Alchemy Necklace
Earth Digital Alchemy Necklace
~Soedara~ – Pearl Berjuag Tari Bindi
Kibitz – Tulip Nose Chain
Tattoos: .ARISE. – Maori Facetattoo
Tiki Tattoo – Bora
:[P]: – Asaia Markings
Jalwa – Khaleeji Swirl 3
Satyr Parts:
[Gauze] Faun Hooves
Illusions – Runed Horns: Nivicola
Ears + Tail unknown (I seriously don’t think you can even find them anymore)
Shape and Staff of Doom are self made.

Special thanks to my SL BFF, Dyisi Oppewall, who rped the end of this scene with me to perfection because I didn’t want to write her character for her!

The Hidden Sanctuary event The Ancient Ones Return, opens on August 8. I know I’ve only shown you one item here, but there will be more to come! There is so much great stuff to be seen there, and wait til you see the list of upcoming events! You can pick one up when you tp into the event: there’s plenty of information there.

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