October 12, 2020 by Three Knots

Season of Celebration

The last three months of the mortal calendar year, beginning with the end of our spiritual year and ending with the beginning of the next mortal calendar year, are always a whirlwind for me.

If you start out sprinting, you’ll lose your stamina by the end of the season, and that does no good for anybody. That’s years, decades, even, of advice speaking.

*But then **The Looking Glass** makes a gown like this!*

But then, Sharni Azalea makes a gown like this, and you realise that Wyrd Witch could paint a skin so perfectly to go with it…and suddenly it doesn’t matter that you were trying to ease into the Party Quarter, such as it is, and you can’t resist trying on half a dozen different hairstyles, makeup changes, and the first party of the season becomes the same sort of goal that it would be if it were the only party of the season, all thanks to the amazing and talented designers you’re proud to know.

*It’s enough to give a Faery Queen hope!*

And hope, my loves, in hard times—hope is sometimes the only blessing we have. And really, even if you’re the Faery Queen in Awenia, who can resist trying on four different Exile hairstyles until you find exactly the one you want? I ask you: Who could resist that? It’s a rhetorical question of course, my darlings, because the answer is absolutely no-one, and you already knew that.

We are near halfway through October, and that means the first big parties are just around the corner. And so my loves, I advise you to do as I say, not as I do, and take it at an easy pace. Take it gently. Feel it as a quiet wonder, and not that brittle, excited wonder you feel right before the biggest disappointment of your life.

And if you can’t do that, well.

Dance.

Dance your feet off.

Because, really—if you play it right—shouldn’t everything be a dance?

Be safe out there. Mind your manners. Don’t tell lies. And if you fancy dancing, head over to Trick Or Treat Lane to get your skin painted this glorious shade of leaf, and then make your way to the Archipelago, where you will find the Fallen Gods 13th Anniversary Celebration in full swing, and where you can yourself get The Temple Peacock Dress.

Notes and Credits:
Skin: Wyrd, Anya in Leaf, one of three special colours for this season, available exclusively at Trick Or Treat Lane.
Dress & Earrings: The Looking Glass, The Temple Peacock Dress, available at the Fallen Gods 13th Anniversary Celebration Market.

Head: Catwa, HDPro Soft
Feather Brows: DS’Elles, Feather Eyebrows for Catwa
Eyes: LeForme, Lili Eyes
Body: Maitreya
Nails: Venge, Stilletto, Tranquility
Hair: All from Exile—
1. Lesha
2. Versailles
3. Smolder
4. Jenna

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 by Three Knots

PROM-PIT Spot, Take 1

A second life in pictures
Catwa, Exile, Maitreya, Nefekalum, Petrichor, Petrichor Discord Group, Senzafine, Sweet Thing, Venge, Wyrd, Yoshi
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Music swells, a romantic chord progression working up from the fifth to the one, and then, a calming….

VOICEOVER:

She’s always wanted this. Your little girl. Your princess. Your… angel.

But it’s her dream, to wear a beautiful gown, to have her hair done, to step out with all her friends….

Even if, for her own safety and the safety of others, you have had to have a pocket universe installed in your home and calling the entities with whom she associates friends is….

Musical riff

VO: well, it’s a bit of hyperbole really, isn’t it? But she wants this. She needs this.

She wants to feel like any other seventeen-year-old. Innocent, vulnerable, catching the eye of that cute…. um, well, being across a crowded room. It’s important to her development as a teenager—and as a demon.

That’s why we created PROM-PIT. It’s the best way for your demon child to experience that traditional coming-of-age celebration party, the high school prom, without making national news or feasting guiltily on the entrails of the junior class for weeks afterward.

PROM-PIT turns that pocket universe into a beautiful formal dance dreamscape. Popular themes include:

Come Sail Away
I Will Remember You
Don’t Stop Believin’
Born This Way
Frozen Frolic
Spring Fling
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Harvest Moon
Christmas Cotillion

First, we terraform and decorate! Don’t worry; we have safe holding spots in case your lovely one is a bit territorial!

Then, we’re there to document the occasion! Our photographers and videographers will take a few hours before the festivities begin so you and your loved ones will have a scrapbook to remember her the way she was on this beautiful night.

We include candid shots of your precious spawn having genuine fun! Because every teenager deserves to have this much fun, at least on this one special night.

We even know how to make sure we capture at least one photograph of her after she’s, well… broken a few rules and might be getting a bit too loud for the neighbours! Good thing those pocket universes are completely soundproof, isn’t it?

If your precious demon child is beginning to long for a “normal teenage experience,” whatever that is, why not give us a call? There’s no obligation, and our quotes are quick and reasonable.

These wonderful years are so fleeting, aren’t they? Our little darlings grow up so fast. They blood their first kills, mature, leave the nest (and maybe some survivors!), and move on into the world.

The most valuable thing in the world, in the universe, is a memory.

Make one this year, with PROM-PIT

When she’s on her own island, calling sailors to their dooms or luring the unwary in to her net of lust and lies, she’ll thank you for this beautiful scrapbook. You’ll each get a copy.

Call PROM-PIT today, and help her see the woman she could be. At least for a little while.

Notes and Credits:

The one-of-a kind demon skin: Wyrd, Anya, in special demon tone Blot (This will be at the Dark Style Fair, which opens on 9 October!)
The Stunning look-how-my-hooves-gleam-in-this-dress gown, Senzafine, Hecate Gown (You can get this right now at We Love Roleplay!)
Horns: Petrichor, Anathaema Bare Horns (Back at the Petrichor Main Store now!)
Gold Face Tattoo: Nefekalum, Guardian
Gold Body Tattoo: Nefekalum, Avalon’s Gift, Gold
Hair: Exile, Eri
Head: Catwa, HDPro Soft Mesh Head
Body: Maitreya
Wings, Tail & Hooves, Sweet Thing, Demon Wings, Demon Tail, Demon Hooves
Nails: Venge, Maitreya Stiletto Nails, “Flourish”
Eyes: Yoshi, Lee Eyes
Special thanks to Lucia Blackheart, Bu Lionheart, and Qyrsha, from the amazing and supportive Petrichor discord group, for help with finding just the right demon parts and being kind to me even though I’d never really put together a demon before. Thanks to all of you, she’s the perfect Demon Prom Queen!

October 6, 2020 by Three Knots

An Extra Place at the Table

It is October in Awenia. And so we watch the world change, and sometimes we make the world change, as our magical year turns toward its ending. And yes, we believe that inside all endings there are also beginnings, and that is how we see the world on a wheel. Our Three Realms, Land, Sea, Sky, they all live in this wheel and on this cycle. As we near the turning point of the cycle, we mark where our old year passes into the new. In Awenia, because we are a Realm of inspiration, this marking goes on throughout the month of October.

To remember our departed, recently and ancient, every table gains an extra setting at this time.

In some traditions, this practice is known as the Dumb Supper, and everything is prepared oppositely with everything usually on the right placed on the left, for example. Here, there is so thin a veil every day between worlds and realms, we do not bother with this ritual aspect.

Instead, we concentrate on making the space beautiful, welcoming, inviting, in the hopes that our honoured departed, be they recently gone from us or from many centuries ago, will find our tables to their liking.

For this year’s Sacred Meadow Table, I have found the most beautiful tableware, produced by master craftswoman Nodnol Jameson and her Kraftwork house. These arrived just as I was beginning to Turn Awenia to Autumn. They were part of a larger seasonal decorating package called a Decorate that I have enjoyed receiving for many years. This time of year, the contents are often focused on the more popular aspects of our Autumn holidays, the spooky fun, and the spooky creepy, and while we love those things in Awenia as well (Her Majesty will personally kiss you if you bring her candy corn!), we do take a more meditative view of these days.

So, this month, while you’re getting ready for your spooky fun and working on memorising your best ghost story or perfecting the perfect Hallowe’en costume, take a moment, if you can find one, and consider why we honour the dead. Why do we venerate our ancestors? For what reasons do we hold them in our memories and our hearts? How would the repast before us be possible, if we truly existed on our own, in some bubble, and had no ancestors, no giants on whose shoulders we could stand?

And, if the spirit moves you, set an extra place at your table, too. And have dinner with your father, your grandmother, your long-lost relative who gave some part of themselves so that you could be you.

Now, imagine—in a hundred years’ time, in five hundred years’ time, who will set a place at their table and hope to share a meal with you?

Notes and Credits:
The table setting: Kraftwork, Fall Dinnerware, for the 2020 Halloween DecoCrate
The Table, Chairs, & Benches: Raindale, Maplemoor
The Cats (both stone and sleeping) Maru-Kado
The Unicorn & Pony: Teegle
The Pond: Two Moon Gardens
The Statue: HarshLands, Spring Guardian
The Standing Stones: Studio Skye, Skye Standing Stones
The Castle In The Distance: Rivendale, Dreamy Castle
The Ground Cover: Happy Mood, Sweet Garden Grass 08
Prominent Trees: The Little Branch
Purple Bush: Cube Republic, Useful Bush
Environment: Landscapes Unlimited, Sweetwater Valley
Stars: Landscapes Unlimited, Starry Night

*Look Back With Love; Look Forward With* Hope

September 11, 2020September 14, 2020 by Three Knots

What We Become

They tell you when you start the road
They tell you that the road is long
They don’t tell you it never ends
They don’t tell you that it’s all hills

It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful
It’s long, it’s hard, and I am tired
And here among these picture books
Perhaps I’ll rest a little while

They’re all well-kept, the picture books
Like someone reads them every day
Not overgrown, like my quarter,
With dead grass, and mushrooms, and moss.

It’s a stark difference, isn’t it?
From picture-book to literature,
Look how they throw their things away
And paint the wood in shades of grey

For all that rhyme and whimsy lost
Another suited mannequin
Can take its place among the rest
And lurch through life without a song

The thinning of the atmosphere,
I admit, makes the sky more clear
But does the moon make up for it?
I don’t think so. No; I do not.

My anger turns into an orb
My wings release me from the flames
You don’t respect this treasure trove?
I’ll burn the whole place to the ground.

Now, find me in a gallery
Called Weep for Alexandria
Some artist painted tears on me
And said I must have felt despair.

Despair? You fool. No: that is hate.
At what I watched you do to them,
My books, my scrolls, my poetry
And all the people who loved them.

I give and give, and every time
You answer me ungratefully
No more chances, children of earth
This time the fires will never end.

Notes and Credits:
Burn It All Down Gown: Senzafine, Maerwynn (Get it at We Love Roleplay!)
Weary As My Soul Skin: Poema, Metis (This is at The Darkness Event. Poema does an amazing job with skins that look middle aged and older; you should really check out her work)
Crystal Earrings Of Hope Still Surviving Despite All This Stuff: Mini A Chuu & ~MF~, Ticha Crystallic Earrings
Above It All Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings, Unseelie
Done With This Hair: Sintiklia, Tumelo
Seeing Red Circlet: Deviance, Erulisse Circlet, The Priestess
Blood On My Hands Tattoo: Nefekalum, Gilded (roses)
Pointy Like Knives Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears High Definition
Body: Maitreya; Head: Lelutka, Lake
Environment:
Location: Awenia Faerie, The Book Forest
Stunning Picture Books: Happy Mood, Pop Up Book, Your Story With Stuffed Animals
Moon & Stars: Landscapes Unlimited: Off Sim Starry Night
Tree With Green Sap: HarshLands, Magic Sap Tree
Winter Tree: The Looking Glass: Dead Wood, Large Tree
Burning Library: TRIIN, Ruined Castle

August 31, 2020September 3, 2020 by Three Knots

Short Time

It’s been so long. Yes, as usual, I have spent all my time working. The practical side of faery is no less real than anything else you read, but it does not leave everyone’s favourite svart alfar very much leisure time. This is my last faery tour job before I take a short holiday, and it involves a bit of a journey, so I can tell you a bit about what’s been going on with me: I’m sure you’re all vitally interested.

Awenia’s under re-construction this summer, so I signed up to work on fairytale tours. Fairytale tours are a racket and a half, but they keep me busy and you know how I hate to be bored. This was my last tour of the season, last assignment, even, and it was going to be a piece of piss; just spend a night at Merrywether Cottage while the Faery Aunties were gone to market so this particular fairy tale princess could enter the climax of whatever story the legend matrix picked for her. It’s a complicated spell system, and I’m not sure even the story wizards understand it, but basically my job was to keep her alive and on course long enough for the plot to create itself around her organically. What can I say: it’s not an exact science, and I’m only a stand-in, anyway.

I do really like this horse, though. Her name is Omega, and she has this amazing Aurora coat design. This year, Cinnamon won the contract bid to do all the animal art for the tales, so there have been the most beautiful horses everywhere you look. Obviously I’m biased, but I’ll miss Omega most of all when I have to go back to Awenia to get us ready for autumn tourist season opening.

I remember when I visited the Harry Potter studio park when it opened up in Watford Junction. It feels like a lifetime ago now, but it must only have been, what, eight, ten years? Anyway, everything was so close together, and docents explained how camera angles and forced perspective could make everything seem bigger than it was, closer or farther away, that sort of thing. Kevin was nodding away like he understood it all, and he probably did. I nodded too. When you’re immersed in it, it’s easier to realise how you can feel utterly separated from a castle that’s barely fifty yards away if you’re not meant to know it’s there.

This is a roundabout way of saying the ride to the cottage was short and I probably could have had a nice spar with some of the guys in the barracks before I headed out, but the story says it’s a day’s travel, so I took it at its word.

Evidently, the residents did as well, because nobody was home. Garden demifae explained the three fae aunties had gone out to the market early that morning and weren’t expected back and that “Little Fair One” marched out before lunch time with a picnic basket and said she’d be back eventually. Bless their little cotton socks, the fae aunties did not have any benches in their garden, so I liberated Omega from her tack and settled down in a nice forked tree to wait. Luckily, I had some contraband AirPods Pro and my equally if not more contraband iPhone with me, so there was at least some music (I have batteries. Don’t ask).

I fell asleep.

When I woke up, there were three interesting things.

No tourist.
No fae aunties
Omega was being fawned over by four demifae

I couldn’t really do anything about any of these things.

I could laugh at one of them, so that’s what I chose to do in the moment. Because Omega was soaking it up like the Arabian princess she was. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss Awenia’s beautiful unicorns, especially my favourite dark chocolate unicorn of train station fame, but if I’m honest I’d just about swap my whole summer’s wages if they’d let me take this horse back home with me. I’m sure Gwyneth wouldn’t mind. We’ve got plenty of land for fae horses, and the tourists love them.

As the moon began to set, I started to worry, though. Surely the aunties should have been back by now. I didn’t want to take the demifae away from their new toy, and a few minutes more in a fairy tale wouldn’t hurt anyone, so I let it be.

“Don’t worry,” said a gravelly voice.

“The fuck are you?” As an aside, when you jump half out of your skin, coming down hard onto the split trunk of the tree you’ve been dozing in for something like six hours hurts like fuhuhuhuhuck.

And then there was a gravelly laugh. “Well, you’re new, aren’t you? I’m the legend matrix. You didn’t wonder why there are so many dragons with polyhedral dice everywhere along the fairytale tour routes?

OK, I had actually noticed that.

I bit my lip. “Thought you were a fucking design feature,” I said.

“You are not entirely incorrect,” said the dragon. “I suppose you could say I am the central design feature.” He laughed again. It sounded a little bit like if a puppet made entirely out of paving stones had an asthma attack. I guess if you’re the central design feature, you get to laugh at your own jokes.

“So I shouldn’t worry?”

I was going to worry anyway.

“Nothing to worry about at all.”

“And why’s that?”

The glowing D20 slowed, stopped, and began to spin in the opposite direction. “She came to me and asked me to,” and then there was some static and a voice played back through what must have been a speaker somewhere in the dragon’s abdomen, “Just get me out of here, OK? This is not what I paid for!” Some static. “And so I did.”

I paused. “You didn’t send her home did you?” I could foresee that lawsuit.

“Of course not.” The D20 slowed again. “I am the central design feature of the legend matrix, not the all-powerful dragon god of the multiverse. That would require additional upgrades.”

Of course. “So what did you do?”

“I created her plot, of course. She seemed to want to spend her entire fairy tale tour in a castle, so I sent her to one.”

I frowned. “I mean, don’t they usually start off as peasant girls or get kidnapped or something?”

Another gravelly laugh. “When they’re the real protagonists, yes. But when they’re merely the prize to be won, sure, they can live in the castle. But rest assured, I have followed her form to the letter. She will live in a castle and have many servants. She will wear fine dresses and dance at many balls. And in the end, she will marry a prince. So what if she has to kiss a few frogs first? She didn’t specifically exclude it.”

And that’s why I bought a miniature copy of the official fairy tale tour guardian dragon statue in the gift shop before I took myself and my salary (codename Omega) through the realm portal back to Awenia.

Sometimes, even my crap summer jobs have happy endings.

Stay safe out there in the human hinterlands,
The Amazing Catwoman

Notes & Credits:
Enchantment closes today! It’s your last chance to see the beautiful build, enjoy the atmosphere, and grab some Sleeping Beauty souvenirs while they’re all in one place to take home to your own castle. Even if you’ve already been, you probably missed something: it’s an event full of wonderful stuff, beautifully and lovingly designed, and always full of wonder.

Enchantment items featured here:
Omega’s Skin: Cinnamon, Aurora Teeglepet skin (also comes in versions for Jinx Centaur and Waterhorse; matching wings are also available for your Teeglepet Pegasus)
TAC’s circlet: Air, Thorns Crown Gold
Demifae Fan Club: Titans, The Aurora Fae
Guardian Dragon: Cerridwen’s Cauldron, The Guardian Statue

Other Amazing Stuff:
TAC’s stunning new Drow Skin: Wyrd, Nightshade (This is at the Wyrd Main Store, and I cannot tell you how over the moon I am to have been the first person to test this amazing graphite/purple drow skin. It is perfect, and perfectly TAC)
Head: Lelutka Evolution, Nova
Body: Maitreya
Hair: Sintiklia, Connor
Ears: Andore, Hu-gu
Eyes: Yoshi, Alina (I’ve recently fallen madly in love with Yoshi eyes; expect to see lots of them here)
Clothes: Jangka, Hawkeyes outfit black, and Hawkeyes boots black
Castle: Harshlands, Devonshire Castle Keep
Omega Herself, Teeglepet, Arabian

August 21, 2020 by Three Knots

Val, Chapter 1

I don’t really know what chapter this is, so we’ll start with one since that’s where everybody else starts and I might as well fit in in some way.

I am Valoisa Saga. I am from Tampere, in Finland. I am ninety, very young for an Elf, but you didn’t hear me say that. It is more fashionable on the Internet to say otherkin, but then that also translates to nerd, so I guess I can say that too.

But really, call me Val. It’s easier, and I guess it’s true that not even Finns all speak good Finnish.

Yesterday was my first day working at Immortal Ink in Myserie, Oregon. I’m glad I got a job in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of the USA seems a little too crazy. I mean, everybody back in Tampere thinks I’m crazy for wanting to come back here at all, but weed’s legal, and The Netherlands is a shithole. Just sayin’. OK, probably not all of The Netherlands. But definitely Amsterdam. Amster, Amster, dam, dam, dam, dam.

There’s plenty to hate about Immortal Ink, but I’ll improve it over time, and Old Jimbo (OK, he’s actually called Deadeye, but I’ve already named him Jimbo) is only an arse on days ending in ‘y’. Fact is, it’s nice to be the best artist in the shop. OK, the only artist in the shop. I’m laughing. But enough snark. Still laughing. There is never enough snark. History time!

So, this was my last day in Tampere. Iivo said he was sorry to see me go, but he also was sorry he didn’t have a place for me at the studio; since the old owner was packing up most of the operation and moving to Spain, he expected business to go down a bit. I like Iivo, but he’s a bit limp when it comes to taking chances. Then again, he’s got a full house for tattooists and I’m only just certified in body mod. I guess, given the area, it’s a buyer’s market.

Goodbye, Iivo. Goodbye, Kalevala, Goodbye, drunk Finnish boys who want bears inked on your arses.

My last day, and it was August, so it stood to reason: sataa kuin Esterin perseestä. That’s vulgar, so I’ll just say it was raining cats and dogs. I don’t mind the rain: I’m not a stupid film witch, and I never met any real ones who melt anyway.

Mum planned to take me, even though Iivo said he would if I wanted him to. Nearest portal is Kangasala; Tampere is a magical wasteland, which I guess is probably why so many fae businesses do well there. Half the coffee shops are run by us elves, and of course being Finland elves are the majority of the Fae population, with a pretty good divide between Lios and Svart, not that we make much of a distinction these days. It’s the stupid western colonials who continue with their uppity pomp and circumstance and Victorian made-up stories about Seelie and Unseelie courts. We laugh about this, you know. Brits, Americans, they all had so much great mythology to draw from, and they picked Scottish words from the North of Scotland, which OK, are at least derived from Scandinavia where we like to think the first elves came from (yeah; that’s probably cultural superiority; people think Santa Claus comes from here, too), but give me a break. Seelie and Unseelie. Just because I am prohibited by blood from outright lying to you doesn’t mean I won’t outright fuck you up if you give me reason to. Why not fucking you up for sport makes me part of some special and different clan, I have no idea. My older sister Ula will fuck you up for sport: does that make her Unseelie? No fucking clue.

Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about on the drive to Kangasala, because Mum had to give me a lecture reminding me that American Fae have this antiquated system, and I’m all, ‘Mum, I picked a place that doesn’t do that, I looked it up, they don’t do the stupid winter and summer court thing, there’s no Queen Of Air And Darkness,’ And I totally did the funny voice. The look she gave me!

I should have let Iivo take me. At least there would have been beer. Mum wasn’t even going to let me vape in the car.

“You call me the minute you get there,” she said.

“Mum,” I said. “It’s a portal. It takes seconds.”

“You still call me.” She started to tear up.

“Mum,” I said. “You can come visit.”

Her mouth opened, then closed. “I am not made for America,” she said. She walked round the back of the car and grabbed the big suitcase and a smaller bag. Oh paska, Mum, you did not. “Here. You’re taking it.”

“Mum.”

“You’re taking it.”

“Fuck’s sake, Mum.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “And you’re kissing me goodbye.”

You know what? My mum is sixteen hundred years old. I am her youngest child, her baby. She averages one child every other century or so. It occurred to me it was not wise to say no to her at this time. I opened my arms, palms out in the universal gesture of surrender. I put my arms around my mother and felt her arms around me. I kissed her goodbye.

And I took the suitcase, and the goddamn kantele, and I walked through the sithen gate, knowing she’d follow, knowing she’d watch, knowing she’d cry before and after, but not during, that all-important, “Yeah, mum, I made it,” phone call.

And that was the end of my last day in Tampere. And, I guess, the start of the new chapter.

Notes and Credits:

Val is a role-play character for Myserie, a Second Life roleplaying region. You can learn more about Myserie on the Myserie Role-play Site.
Val’s tank top has artwork designed by me, The Author, (Gwen Enchanted) and made into a lovely tank top by the amazing Mystie (Mystical Edenflower) who is MishMash Fusion. This tank top and some other tank tops inspired by Val’s journeys may be for sale soon. All artwork is original and designed by me. The translation of the Finnish text is, “My Hovercraft Is Full Of Eels”. I kid you not.
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka Evolution, Fleur
Skin: Wyrd, Alva, in T1
Tattoo: Nefekalum, Embellishment, Titanium
Eyebrows: Simple Bloom, Liv Spring Neutral (tinted)
Ears: Swallow, Pixie Ears
Eyes: Arte: Skjoldmøy Eyes
Eyelashes: Cazimi, Tidy Lashes
Hair: Stealthic, Rebellion
Facial Piercings: All Lelutka piercings for Fleur head, except;
Septum piercing: Venge, Kelpie Nosering
Jeans: LaPointe & Bastchild, Swear Daisy Jeans
Boots: Eudora3D, Morgan Boots

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 by Three Knots

The Moment It Happened

A second life in pictures, Enchantment
Amias, Diversion, Enchantment, Exile, HarshLands, Love, Madame Noir, Nefekalum, Pink Fuel, Poets Heart, Rivendale, Sleeping Beauty, Snowpaws, Swallow, Titans, Wyrd
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I think I said, ‘What’? Yes; it must have been

I think I said, ‘What’? Yes; it must have been
Unable as I was to think beyond
The stomach-fall, the tightness in my chest
Consideration left me and I stopped.

But context is important, we know this,
So I will tell you what transpired before
The moor-bell rang a message-bearer in
And made the thorn bush wrap me in a fist.

We, all of us, were having a good day

We, all of us, were having a good day
Before the envoy came to break my heart
Look, here we are preparing songs for plants
My little handmaids tuning up their throats

By singing silliness first each to each
And silliness to rhyme and rhyme to thought
And thought to word and word to magic wrought
Another round of flower-growing songs

We sing to them because it helps them grow

We sing to them because it helps them grow
And magic voices carry more than breath
So grow they do: we light them from within
With energy no mortal eye can see.

In summer, we sing softer than in spring
Because we know that soon they’ll go to sleep
And lullabies are such enchanted songs
They work beyond words, frequencies, and years.

And then at nightfall, it was story-time

Then, after singing, it was story-time
As it will always be when skies go dark
And just when they were making up their minds
Which tale to hear tonight, we heard the bell.

‘Moor Majesty, there is a messenger
‘With news from outside, far beyond the Realm.’
So foolishly I said, ‘Do let him in:
‘Despite the hour; I’m sure he’s due some cheer’.

The moment when I vowed to burn it down

The moment when I vowed to burn it down?
That moment lasted longer than some lives.
‘Moor Majesty, a new Princess is born
Beyond the wall; her Naming is today

And I am sent to tell you from the King
That you will be unwelcome. Stay away’.
An ember in my gut turned stone to fire
In seconds. I am sorry for the plants.

It is the contrast I remember now

It is the contrast I remember now
Like iron curtains drawn on a full moon.
I think I let him live, the messenger
But once the blood mist fell, all bets were off.

So I became the raven, or the swan
Black wings of death, a heart strangled by thorns
I salted all their earth. I cursed her palms
And learned how quickly grace to hate transforms.

Notes & Credits:
Almost all the items you see in these photographs are at Enchantment’s Sleeping Beauty event, which opened on the 8th of August and will close on the 31st. I can think of no more satisfying and engaging escape, whether dark or light, than to lose myself in a fairy tale, so that’s what I’ll be doing for the rest of August.
Avatar Items Featured at Enchantment:
Horns: Snowpaws, Luna Horns With Dead Leaves
Face Tattoo: Nefekalum, Uninvited
Dress: Poet’s Heart, Rosaura Gown
Staff: Skellybones, Scepter Of Thorns
Raven (really not as visible as he should be and you will see more of him later): Jinx, Animesh Raven Arm Pet
Poses: All from Diversion, Protector Of The Moors Poses
Setting Items Featured at Enchantment:
Bounding Rocks: Harshlands, The Moors Rocks
Throne: Harshlands, The Moors Throne (Aurora)
Animesh Faeries: Titans, The Aurora Fae
Magical Flowers: Simply Shelby, Mystical Fairy Flowers
Thorns: Love, Evil Thorns
Ground Roses & Petals, Rivendale, Ground Roses
Things Not Featured at Enchantment which are pictured here and pretty doggone cool:
Skin: Wyrd, Alva in T1
Ears: Swallow, Noldor Elf Ears
Hair: Exile, Something Wicked
Body Tattoo: Nefekalum, The Fair Ones, Sidhe Galaxy SOI
Lipstick: Pink Fuel, Dazzle Me Haunted
Eyes: Madame Noir, Lizz Eyes
Gloves: Amias, Embla Gloves

August 7, 2020August 7, 2020 by Three Knots

Moor Dance

You’ve seen the fairies dancing on the moor

You’ve dreamed of fairies dancing on the moor
How gracefully they start: how fair they are
But soon, they’re overcome with their own flight
They lose the roses nesting in their hair

An audience of forest creatures stays

An audience of forest creatures stays
But carefully: those tiny feet still hurt
If they land on your spine or on your paws
And nobody wants broken foxes, no

You’ve heard they should not fly, and this is true

You’ve heard they should not fly, and this is true:
Like bumblebees, they’re too big for their wings
So when one falls (at least, when not on us!)
We all have such a laugh, and you’d laugh, too

But then you’d make a postcard out of it

But then you’d make a postcard out of it
(We’re very clear that cameras aren’t allowed)
Which we must confiscate, and that’s a chore
That’s why we don’t have people any more

It’s so much simpler now to get a dance

It’s so much simpler now to get a dance:
They’d always pick the little girls before
But now we foxes, deer, and even owls
Will get a turn before the night is done

If from afar you only see their grace

If from afar you only see their grace
And miss the darling clumsiness of them
And lose the laughter we find in their games
Then you have missed the best of them, and us
And that’s just fine: we stay mysterious
And you stay curious, and then the day
You stumble into Faerie without gear
Their laughter is the only sound you’ll hear.

Notes and Credits:
Enchantment opens on the 8th of August— that’s tomorrow! And get ready, because this is a beautiful round full of fairytale magic; the theme is Sleeping Beauty, and fantastic creators have made some beautiful things for you to see, play with, and take home to build your own fairy tales.
Dancing Fairy’s beautiful outfit: Les Sucreries de Fairy, Sleeping B in Purple (top, shorts, armbands, collar, crown, butterflies, wings) (Available at Enchantment on 8 August!)
Dancing Fairy’s lovely sandals: 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Sharla Sandals (Get them at We Love Role-play!)
Dancing Fairy’s thorn tattoos: Rainbow Sundae, Beauty’s Thorns (Available at Enchantment on 8 August!)
Dancing Fairy’s Perfect Skin: Wyrd, Saga (At the Wyrd Main Store!)
Lovely Forest Background: Pink Magic, Forest Decor (Available at Enchantment on 8 August!)
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Nora
Hair: Tram, 0314
Eyes: Madame Noir, Manu Eyes
Ears: Swallow, Magic Pixie Ears

August 4, 2020 by Three Knots

Things I am Not Meant To Do, Part I

By Princess Briar Rose, aka, Talia, aka, That Girl, aka, The Cursed One, aka, loads of other names people just haven’t called me to my face yet.

1. No Dancing At The Fey Stones At Twilight

I’m not allowed up to the moor
To catch the copper twilight slant
I’m not allowed even to view
The windows of Maleficent

I’m not allowed to visit her
She makes the nicest lipsticks though
I’m not allowed to share her tea
And make my way home after dark

2. No basking beneath waxing moons

I’m not allowed to bathe beneath
The magically waxing moon
Nor feel the mystic rise in me
And sparkle up like fairy stars

I’m not allowed to use the pinch
Of Rose Potion she gave to me
To call the flowers of my heart
Because I have no other date

3. No Magic, What-So-Ever!

I’m not allowed to test my gifts
I’m fifteen: all my cousins do!
But no, I mustn’t hold a flame
Or say the magic phrases, no

I’m not allowed to catch a rose
And burn it so my wish comes true
And I must never close my eyes
And use my stone-sight in the dark

4. No Wearing My Nice Gown Onto the Moors At Night, Where I Am Not Allowed to Go Anyway.

I’m not allowed to sneak outside
In my best dress: these gowns aren’t cheap!
Silk’s strong, but not impervious
To dirt and dew and grass, princess

I’m not allowed to rip my gown
While doing things I mustn’t do
Like sprinting home ahead of dawn
And not quite falling off a bridge

But no-one has to know: I know
The spinning lady in the keep
Has needles she will lend to me
Though I am not allowed to sew
The King and Queen will never know

Notes And Credits:
The Moor Stones: HarshLands, The Moors Rocks (Get them at Enchantment when it opens on 8th August!)
My Best Gown: Senzafine, Gwyneth (It’s at We Love Role-play, which opened today, 4th August!) Also, Synjari is amazing and you should buy all her stuff!
My Perfect Princess Skin: Wyrd, Edda (It’s at the Wyrd Main Store!)
My Beautiful Hair: KMH Hair, F141 (Get it at Enchantment when it opens on 8th August!)
The Makeup Maleficent Made For Me, Because She Is So Nice: Shiny Stuffs, Beauty Sleep Eyeshadow, Good Morning Kisses Lipstick (Get them at Enchantment when it opens on 8th August!)
My Roses That Are Actually Magical Manifestations Of My Awesome Blooming Fae Power: Rivendale, Swirling Roses (Get them at Enchantment when it opens on 8th August!)
My Proper Princess Crown: MoonRabbit, Shiny Queen
My Proper Princess Pearls: Kunglers, Margaret Necklace & Earrings
Little Briar Rose, Or Whatever You Want to Call Her was portrayed by Gwyneth (she likes the cosplay!), and is styled on a Maitreya Lara Body and a Lelutka Evolution Lake Head.

Environment:
Y’all, I love Enchantment so much that I build a set for it for the duration of the event. This one is on the ground in Awenia, and it’s got the Wicked Fairy House from yesterday’s post, plus HarshLands’ Moor Stones, plus HarshLands’ Ritual Rocks, and there’ll surely be more added as we get closer to the event and even further into it.
Gorgeous moon and amazing stars cape is from Landscapes Unlimited, Off Sim Starry Night.

Enchantment Presents- Sleeping Beauty - August 2020

August 3, 2020August 3, 2020 by Three Knots

FaeWatch Interviews Wicked Fairy Carabosse At Last!

Cherish Gelato [CG]: Greetings to you, Wicked Fairy Carabosse! It’s so lovely to be able to visit you at your room on the Mystical Moors. I always love it when I can get a real sense of the fascinating beings we cover.

Carabosse [CB]: Of course you are welcome in my home: if you were not, your life would be worth little right now. Also, as we discussed in our pre-interview emails, I would prefer not to be described as “wicked”. In fact, every action I take, every gift I bestow, every wish or curse I grant, has a logical and discernible reason. Not to mention these things take an incredible amount of work! The word “wicked” belittles my skill, expertise, and accomplishments and taints any description with a connotation I’ve always associated with wilful children and reckless criminals.

CG: Noted. But isn’t it true you cursed Sleeping Beauty because you were not invited to her christening?

Misinformation spreads faster than a house fire in a wood elf village.

CB: Well, well, well. Misinformation spreads faster than a house fire in a wood elf village, doesn’t it? No; being disinvited to that wretched child’s christening was merely the last straw. I had performed some magical work for her parents, magic that was complex and cost me dearly in terms of time and effort, multiple times, and had not been paid adequately. They chose not to invite me to this event so they would not have to worry about some sort of public confrontation. And I can’t believe that after hundreds of years, we are still talking about this!

CG: I ask the questions my readers want to know the answers to! Stories have a way of staying alive, don’t they? For so much longer than we think. But let’s hear your side. Tell our readers about the work you did for Sleeping Beauty’s parents.

This is my potions kitchen.

CB: Potions, mostly. This is my potions kitchen, and I spend a lot of time and effort getting things just exactly right. Don’t mind the floating apples: those are left over from another job I did—coincidentally at around the same time this whole fiasco started. Potions require deep knowledge, precise measurement, and exactly the right magical energy and timing. They are not simple spells, and this whole notion of fairy-wand wish-craft is just hogwash, frankly, a myth perpetuated by fairy godmothers looking for work at any cost. Nobody ever tells you how much Cinderella paid in the end for those glass slippers, I’ll tell you that.

Each spell, each potion, requires incredible concentration.

CB: Each spell, each potion, requires incredible concentration, and my work does not come cheap. The King, whose name I’ve forgotten, and so has everybody else by this point, enlisted me to prepare two very difficult potions. First, he had enemies all over the place, so he needed potions for his warriors. That was the less difficult part. Secondly, and this is the real kicker, he and his wife, whose name I’ve also forgotten, had trouble conceiving a child. So, in fact, the most valuable and difficult potion I prepared for him was the potion that created the opportunity for Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose, Talia, whatever you want to call the little urchin, to be born at all! For months I reminded him that payment would be due, and for months he ignored my messages. And then, when the child was finally born, healthy and perfect as promised in our contract, he conveniently forgot to invite me to her christening. It was the last straw.

CG: And that’s when you became the evil fairy of myth and legend!

CB: And that’s when I turned my anger into action. What do you do when subscribers stop paying for your publication? You stop sending it to them! When writers stop writing? You relieve them of their jobs. His Majesty had not paid for services rendered. The service I rendered created the circumstances under which that little girl could be born at all. I gave them sixteen years: I think that was generous of me.

I gave them sixteen years: I think that was generous of me.

CG: But what about the other fairies, who modified the curse on Sleeping Beauty so that she would not die but merely sleep for a hundred years, or until True Love’s First Kiss broke the spell?

CB: Well, they chose their paths, didn’t they? We don’t really run in the same circles any more. But to answer the question I think you are actually asking, a curse modification requires nothing like the kind of preparation that the curse itself requires. So yes, this is simple fairy-wand wish magic, the kind you all wish existed every day. All little what’s her name had to do was have a little conversation with her wand.

Just a stern conversation, like ‘Don’t you let that happen’!

I have conversations with my wand all the time. I’d say, ‘Don’t you’? but obviously, if you have a wand it’s just for show. This is a spectacular wand, isn’t it? One of the finest I’ve ever had. But even it needs a stern talking-to from time to time. You just can’t let them get away with anything.

CG: Well, all right, then! So the other fairy merely modified your curse because she didn’t have the power to take it away: that’s in the stories.

CB: Is it? Well, they got at least that right. And yes; that’s what she did. I suppose she might have been doing both me and the king a favour: if he paid up in the ensuing sixteen years of course I’d have lifted the curse. But no; he chose to be offended and — why do I even still talk about this? It’s been hundreds of years!

CG: Tell you what! Let’s talk about something else. Tell me about the quote behind you on the wall there, about eternal sleep. Is that a saying from one of the stories in which you feature?

It’s not even from a fairy tale.

CB: No; it’s not even from a fairy tale! It’s from a silent film called A Poor Little Rich Girl. The poor little girl is given some medicine to make her sleep so the maid can go out, and she has hallucinations, and one of them is Death coming for her. I just like the rhyme. It’s comforting somehow.

CG: Comforting. OK, I can see that. What do you do to relax?

CB: Here; I’ll show you! waves her wand

I get comfy, I have a glass of wine, just like anybody else.

CG: Ooh! For our readers, Carabosse has just changed into a t-shirt and jeans! And I do like that t-shirt! Readers, the caption is, Everyone wants a fairytale wedding, but when I show up and curse their first born, suddenly I’m a jerk! So even though you don’t want to talk about that story, you wear a shirt like this to relax?

CB: I find it ironically funny. Do sit down and have a glass of wine, Miss Gelato, and perhaps we’ll read your Tarot.

CG: Ooh, don’t mind if I do! Readers, thank you for coming along with me as I speak with Fairy Carabosse. It’s been a lovely conversation, and I hope we can look forward to a few more int he future!

CB: It’s always good to get to tell my story. Do dismiss your photographer and let’s have a nice visit now.

Notes & Credits:
The Gorgeous Green Gown: Silvan Moon Designs, Lady Aliana Gown, in Olive (Get it at We Love Role-play, which opens on 4th August!)
The Moon Halo and Forehead Jewels: Petrichor, Lunaveina Halo, Moon Forehead (Get it at Wizarding Faire!)
The Spectacular Wand: Petrichor, Lunaveina Wand (Get it at Wizarding Faire!)
The Perfect Wicked Faery Skin: Wyrd, Alva
The Forehead Rune: Wyrd, Third Eye Rune
The Ears: Swallow, Noldor Elf Ears
The Dark Green Eyes: Madame Noir, Lizz Eyes
The I-Got-Taken-Over-By-My-Garden Body & Face Tattoos: Nefekalum, Gaia
The Red-Tipped Wings: Trap, Riven Wings
The Hair: Magika, Midnight
The Lipstick: Warpaint, My Favourite Lip Balm, Aubergine
The Eyeshadow: Gorsimi, Crow Shadows
The Ironically Funny T-Shirt: ZFG, Fairytale Shirt
The Jeans: Blueberry, Evie Jeans
The Boots, Eudora3D, Morgan Boots

Environment:
All Wall Art: Created By The Author. Ping me in world if you are interested in any of it.
House: Dragon Magick Wares, Soora Cottage
Floor Magic Circle: Pierce Design Studios, Magic Circle Wheel (runes)
Potion Table: Foxwood, Grandma’s Kitchen, Table
Book Stack: Raindale, Sparrownest, Stack Of Books (Get it at Wizarding Faire!)
Cauldron: Raindale, Sparrownest, Cauldron (Get it at Wizarding Faire!)
Couch & Living Room Furniture: Oubliette, Oracle Gacha (Cushion Sofa, Lamps, Table, Tea Set, Floor, Pillows, Cat Chair) (Get it at the Gacha Garden!)

Enchantment’s Sleeping Beauty round opens on the 8th of August! I can’t wait!

Three Twisted Knots

Not all those who wander are lost.

Category / A second life in pictures