Tag / Muse

by Three Knots

We Are All The Story

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Alone in the woods…

Alone in the woods, I am looking for something. I don’t know what I am looking for, but that’s not unusual.

I hear a noise, not far away, and I turn to see

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Another version of me, telling stories to animals.

Another version of me, telling stories to animals. Her/my voice rises and falls, and they are rapt. Dragons flutter round the edges, bunnies cavort; even the squirrels have her/my attention.

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So why am I here?

So why am I here, when I am also there? And what does she have that I don’t have? The forest grows dark around me, and I fear I will be lost.

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“The forest grew darker around her, and she feared she would be lost,”

“The forest grew darker around her, and she feared she would be lost,” says the storyteller/me. And suddenly I realise, not what she has the I haven’t, but what I have that she hasn’t.

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She is telling a story about me.

She is telling a story about me. I am the writer and I am also the protagonist. I am the captive and the captivator. I am the creatrix and the created.

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“We are all the story,” she says.

“We are all the story,” she says. “We are all the beginning and the end of drama, quest, beginnings, middles, and ends. We are all of it.

I am all of it.

You are all of it.

Build your story. Star in it. Create yourself as you create something else. What more magic can there be?

Style Cards:
Gwyneth in the woods
Body: Maitreya
Head: LAQ Bento Mesh Head, Gaia
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Carter (Available NOW at Skin Fair!)
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Eyebrows: Alaskametro, “Glimmer” Eyebrows
Eyes: Song, Nagi Eyes
Gown: The Annex, Antonia Gown, Warm (Available NOW at  We Love Roleplay!)
Hair and Garland: Tableau Vivant, Silvana (Available NOW at Collabor88!)
Photo Background: Serenity Style, ChoiBoi Mystic Forest Backdrop

Gwyneth with the animals
Body: Maitreya
Head: LAQ Bento Mesh Head, Neve
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Carter (Available NOW at Skin Fair!)
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Eyebrows: SCS Fresh Eyebrows, Blonde
Eyes: Song, Nagi Eyes
Gown: Silvan Moon Designs, Lady Ariana Gown, Blue (Available NOW at  We Love Roleplay!)
Hair: Mina, Carmen
Wings: Muse, Miss TWA 2015 Wings
Necklace and Earrings: Empyrean Forge, Springleaf Necklace and Earrings
Crown: Bauhaus Movement, Rapunzel Crown
Photo Background: Kraftwork, The Book of Dreams
Animals:
Bunnies: anc, Cotton Bunny Cappuccino
Puppy Dogs: anc, Flottante Puppy Cream
Raccoon: Jian, Raccoon Static
Winged Cat: Half Deer, Winged Cat, Contemplate
Black and White Cat: Fashionably Dead, Cat 11- Sitting
Sitting Dragon, Alchemy, Dragonette, Air (rare)
Marble Foxes: Jian, Marble Fox
Faunicorn: Jinx, Faunicorn 5
Squirrel: HEXtraordinary, Fat White Squirrel
Tabby Cat: Fashionably Dead, Cat 12, Curious
Flying Dragons: Half Deer Solstice Dragons Leafwing, Infinite Light, and PermaFrost
Unicorn: Culprit, UniQrn, SnowLeopard Baby

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by Three Knots

Beginning a Book Forest

New Blog Headers - 9

Gwyneth:

I’m building a book forest. Yes, that’s right: a book forest. I got inspired by this gacha at The Guardians, the Storybook Gacha by BananaN. One of the rares is a Book Door! And I was thinking, what would you find if you walked through a Book Door? I’d come across this great set from Una, the Book Road, after I played an Una gacha at a past Fantasy Gacha Carnival, and I’ve been  meaning to use it and blog it every since, but life and my kitchen (don’t even ask!) and sickness got in the way, so it’s been on a shelf in my inventory for months now. I also have this great Book Tree from HarshLands that I’ve used in other places before and photographed on a couple of occasions.

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Building a Book Forest

Building a book forest, as it turns out, takes some time. I designated a portion of the sim platform to put it on and then began laying out paths. Now, I love to shop (tell us something we don’t know, Gwen!), and so when I got to check out some pre-release items that’ll be at The Crossroads, which opens today, 3 January, I discovered the magical work of Keira Raindale. Raindale has an absolutely gorgeous gacha coming out at The Crossroads, Maplemoor. It includes, among other gorgeous things which I’ll show you as I continue to build and photograph the Book Forest, the gorgeous lamp and wishing well you can see in this photograph.

So, what do you need, really, to build a Book Forest?

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You need a head full of stories.

You need a head full of stories, first of all. You must love, really love, story. I as a writer, blogger, songwriter, student, and investigator of all things mystical, love nothing better than a good story, and Gwyneth the character reflects this. Like me, her background is in literature and books; unlike me, her concentration is much more on poetry and high literature than mine is, though I have studied those bits and pieces and have read widely. Behind Gwyneth you can see both the Raindale Wishing Well and the HarshLands BookTree. Gwyneth’s skin is part of a stunning new set from The Plastik. Vae really hit this one out of the park, and this skin, Taryn, in colourway Creme, is available at The Plastik Main Store. The hair is Carrie, new at the Analog Dog Main Store.

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You need a good lamppost.

You need a good lamppost. Possibly several of them. Because there is never a place in the forest where you’ll feel alone if you have something to guide your steps along the Book Road. All of the bits of the Book Road, by the way, are from Una, as are the large books that ring the forest. The trees surrounding the books are the Mystical Birches from The Little Branch. I’ll include a style card below the post, but Gwyneth is wearing a stunning new gown from Junbug, Little Bird. You can pick up the gown at this month’s Fameshed event; this is the Ruby Silk, but it comes, as you’d expect from Junbug, in a fabulous array of colours. I fell in love with this crown at the recently-closed Winter Solstice in the Mystic Realms event; it’s by Muse, the Rose Brooch Crown. This one wasn’t available at the event; I hunted it down at the Muse Main Store.

So, let’s see. You need a head full of stories. You need a good lamppost.

And, oh, yes.

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You need to not be afraid of the dark.

You need to not be afraid of the dark.

There’s more to come: I’m in love with my book forest, and I will show you all of it, once it’s done.

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Catya Bento Mesh Head
Hair: Analog Dog (natch!),  Carrie (NEW at the Analog Dog Main Store!)
Eyes: Mesange, Serendipity Eyes (Omega eye appliers)
Skin: The Plastik, Taryn in Creme (NEW at The Plastik Main Store!)
Hands: Vista, Bento Prohands
Nails: ZOZ, New Year’s Nails (Dark) (Available NOW at Cosmopolitan!)
Gown: Junbug, Little Bird (Available NOW at Fameshed!)
Crown: Muse, Rose Brooch Crown
Shoes (even though you can’t see ’em!): Illi, Rosalynn Heels

Scene:
Book Door: BananaN, Book Doorway, from the Storybook Gacha (Available NOW at The Guardians,!)
Book Road: Una, Book Road, Small
Flanking Books: Una, Book Road, Book 5, Book 6, Book 2
Lamppost: Raindale, Maplemoor Lantern, from the Maplemoor Gacha (Coming Soon to The Crossroads, which opens TODAY, 3 January 2017)
Wishing Well: Raindale, Maplemoor Well, from the Maplemoor Gacha (Coming Soon to The Crossroads, which opens TODAY, 3 January 2017)
Forked Tree: The Little Branch, Green Ash
Mushroom Circle: The Roawenwood, Tangleshimmer Grove Fairy Ring (Purple)
Book Tree: HarshLands, Book Tree
Grasses: all from Alirium, Puffy Grass and Downy Grass
Glowing Undergrowth: Cerridwen’s Cauldron, Gaia Undergrowth
Poses: An Lar, all from the Ava Series

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never build Book Forests without it!

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by Three Knots

Bringing Back the Light

New Blog Headers - 9

Gwyneth:

These Dark Days will segue soon enough into light. So much work to do, before they’re done. And of course it falls to us magical beings to set the wheels of the Cosmos into motion, because we are the Beings who see those wheels.

From the lonely strands of Winter, we weave the roots of Spring. Into human suffering and shortages, we bring a Festival of Light. Many Festivals of Light. Remember that we do not see the metaverse as you mortals do: for us it is an ebb and flow of energy that rises far above the singular moments which create it.

And I am young, so young, in my calling.

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But I have learned enough to know that my part, however small, is essential.

But I have learned enough to know that my part, however small, is essential. We are assigned to different places, you see, in various Realms, and we do the work of the cosmos, reminding our Beloved Sun that it is his time to return. Some of us do this by making a great noise, whether musical or not. Some of us do this with poetry. Some create works of art, or help mortals create them.

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But I do not have these skills yet. One day I shall do more.

But I do not have these skills yet. One day, I shall do more.

My simple task may confound you, and it might surprise you to know how many of us are assigned to it, in different Realms, throughout the Multiverse, throughout the Universe, at our appointed places and times.

I am given directions to a specific place, which I must reveal to no-one. Many of us Fae Royals are part of this: it is why you will find us slipping away from our revels and festivals before the bell-strike, before the dawn breaks.

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Two Minutes to Midnight.

Two minutes to midnight. Wait, breathe, gather myself. And when the time comes, make sure the clocks don’t stop. It needs a Queen’s touch, this twisted Realm, this twisted Cosmos. It needs a breath of Spring, powered by darkest Winter.

Really, you ask? Make sure the clocks don’t stop? Isn’t that as simple as a little winding, a new battery, making sure the power doesn’t go out… oh.

Yes, it’s like that. It’s why I am so often tired after the Great Festivals. I give all my energy to this work, and it leaves me drained. But for now, one minute to midnight. I am not alone. I feel my cosmic community around me: sisters, brothers, some who are neither or both. Isolated as I am, I feel them breathe with me, and I breathe. I feel them reach with me, and I reach, and then, with an impossible push, a starlit spell, the lights of a thousand candles, then comes the stroke of midnight. And the second after. And the minute after. And the infinitesimally small movement of darkness to light in the midst of winter. We are all harbingers. Light is returning. Light will come again.

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka, Simone 2.0 Bento Head (NEW at the Lelutka Main Store!)
Hair: Analog Dog (natch!) Gaia (NEW at the Analog Dog Main Store!)
Eyes: Mesange, Serendipity Eyes (Omega eye appliers)
Skin: Lumae, Yulia (only for Lelutka heads) (Available NOW at the Lumae Main Store!)
Makeup: Izzie’s, Lelutka Silver Glitter Makeup
Particle Effects: Cole’s Corner, Ice Queen (halo, wisps, aura)
Dress: SenzaFine, Catriona, Winter Sky
Crown: Muse, Rose Brooch Crown
Shoulders: Muse, Rose Brooch Jewellery Wrap

Scene:
Background: Glam Affair & Tableau Vivant, Light LootBox (rare) (Available NOW at The Fantasy Collective!)
Tree: Death Row Designs, Mechanical Christmas Tree (Available NOW at Shiny Shabby!)
Hanging Light: Death Row Designs, Mechanical Hanging Light (Available NOW at Shiny Shabby!)
Clock: Death Row Designs, Mechanical Clock (Available NOW at Shiny Shabby!)
Globe: Hideki, Steampunk Moon

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never make Gwyneth help start the engine of the cosmos again without it!

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by Three Knots

My Trip to Nu Jyorck!

Gwyneth:

Gwyneth:

I know, I know, it was ages ago. But so much has happened. Now that Mabon has come and gone and I have some free time, I’m sneaking cross-world to share the memories of my trip to the alternate New York City with anybody who might be reading this. I know it seems ridiculous, my need to share all this. I guess it comes out of my former life. I mean, if I were going to write a novel. If I were. It would be like this.

So, Father set me up with this very eligible Fae bachelor for a date to a charity ball in an alternate version of New York City. He needed someone on his arm who was a Royal Fae but not connected to any of his political affiliations. I think I only accepted this invitation because there was so much going on at home: goblins, witches, rabid Cwn…. yeah.

Clutie and Dani were only a little upset that I didn’t go with the blue gown they’d chosen previously. Once they saw the kind of shopping there is in Nu Jyorck– which is this amazingly interesting version of New York with an alternate history I’ll get in to later, they aren’t upset at all.

My date, David, turned out to be a total dud. All he wanted to talk about was financial planning. I was bored at “Hello.” Luckily, there were a lot of interesting people to be met at this party! In this version of New York, Fae are an out class, and some of them are upper-class. Mortals love mixing at Fae parties, and some of them will do, well, wow. Just about anything to get invited to a Fae party. It was quite an education, and totally different from the mortal versions of New York I’ve seen on other world hops. But, the politics are brutal, according to what little of David’s prattle I listened to.

The high point of the night was meeting Arahaelon. Wow. Talk about your Nordic elf hotties! This guy, whoa. He knew how to dress, he knew how to dance, he could talk literature and movies, and we started in on alternate universes and the differences between his world and mine. I was completely captivated by this guy. If we’d been in Faerie, I’d have … well. I’d have asked him to be part of my family, if you know what I mean. A Queen is only as powerful as her Consorts, or so they say. But, sigh, I was at this event with David, so I had to spend the evening with him. I figured I’d never see Ara again. And no matter how hard I tried to ditch David, he was always there to take my arm and lead me into another dance.

Before I had a chance to get a phone number or an email address for Ara, we all went back to an acquaintance of David’s for an after-party. But, you know. Fortune was on my side— it was Ara’s place! Apparently he and David have some kind of familial or political connection.

Here's a photo of five of us at the after-party.

Here’s a photo of five of us at the after-party.

Here’s a photo of five of us at the after-party. That’s Arahaelon on my left. Isn’t he gorgeous? The other guy is David, and the woman next to him is his sister Gael. The woman in the front is a mortal: she was all decked out in Fae-fan fashion, an implanted unicorn horn that can apparently be removed very easily, and some beautiful silver sylph ears. I don’t remember her name, but she was funny, very funny, and I could understand what they all saw in her. Everything she did was hysterical: she was the life of the party, even if it was Ara’s house.

The photographer didn't like the first pose and made us all re-pose for a second one.

The photographer didn’t like the first pose and made us all re-pose for a second one.

The photographer didn’t like the first pose and made us all re-pose for a second one. I’m afraid he took me a little off guard: Ara and I were deep in conversation about something, as we were for most of the night, and once the event was over, David wasn’t nearly as omnipresent. Apparently, he expected me to be a firebrand like my adoptive father and not my intellectual, imaginative self. I think he … well, I think he thought we’d end up in the sack. And while David was certainly attractive, ih. I’m much more interested in guys who are smart and excite my imagination than, yeah. David is richer than god, which I guess makes him feel like women are more of a commodity than a necessity in life.

Eventually, it was like nobody else was there. Ara and I just spent the rest of the evening, well, talking. He never once made a move on me, but I got the feeling he was interested. We did end up exchanging contact information.

Just before I went back to my hotel, he made a suggestion.

Just before I went back to my hotel, he made a suggestion.

Just before I went back to my hotel, he made a suggestion.

“Listen,” he said. “I’m thinking about heading down to the Ericksson Pier tomorrow morning, check out the street market. I’ll be there around ten, if you want to come. Leave the sparkle brigade at home; if you want, we can make a day of it, have some lunch, make a memory or two before you head back to your Realm.”

I took down the address.

You know how, sometimes, when you meet someone important, the world just kind of collapses?

You know how, sometimes, when you meet someone important, the world just kind of collapses?

You know how, sometimes, when you meet someone important, the world just kind of collapses around you? Colours seem brighter, stuff slows down? Yeah. This was one of those moments. I knew in a day I’d be on my way back to Faerie though, and I can’t imagine cosmopolitan Arahaelon wanting to come spend time in a Faerie Realm which is at the back end of nowhere.

But I showed up at the Eriksson Pier the next morning at ten o'clock sharp.

But I showed up at the Eriksson Pier the next morning at ten o’clock sharp.

But I showed up at the Eriksson Pier the next morning at ten o’clock sharp. And no Arahaelon. Oh, well: I could enjoy the Pier all by myself, and — oh, no; there he was!

Here we are trying to decide what to do with our day!

Here we are trying to decide what to do with our day!

Here we are trying to decide what to do with our day! We ended up buying stuff for a picnic lunch and then heading over to the Offentlig Eng, the public meadow, which is in about the same place and about as big as most New York’s Central Parks.

So we had a wonderful day, one of those days that gets stuck in your memory and won’t go away. He’s not contacted me since, but you know. Time works differently in different realms. Maybe it’s only been a day in Nu Jyorck.

Style Cards:

Group Shots:
Gwyneth:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa
Skin: Lumae, Adore Tulips
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Dress: PurpleMoon, Elwing Gown in Pearl
Shoes: Aisling, Enchanted Rose Heels
Wings and Crown: Muse, Miss TWA Wings and Crown in Gold, Warm (NEW at the Muse Main Store!)

Arahaelon:
Jacket: ::: B@R::: White Norblood Top & White tie 
Pants & Boots: TURB – The Rogue – Assassin boots & pants (available in mainstore gacha)
Hair: NO.MATCH – NO HUNT (blacks and whites)
Headdress: .aisling. Savage Winter Horns {Snow}
Skin: -NIVARO- Ichero Skin – Ghost Tone
Eyes: IKON Sovereight Eyes – Ghost
Ears: [MANDALA] Steking ears (Season 5)
Body: SLink Physique Male Mesh Body

Eriksson Pier Shots:

Gwyneth:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa
Skin: Lumae, Adore Tulips
Hair: Olive the Sharni Hair
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Dress: Zenith, Autumn Long Dress, Blue
Bag: Zenith, Debris Bag, Blue (Available at Shiny Shabby!)
Shoes: Ingenue, Pandora Sandals (Available at Shiny Shabby!)
Necklace: Empyrean Forge, The Dreamer, Barn

Arahaelon:
Jeans: Slink Physique mens Stovepipe Jeans (black)
Jacket: GizzA – Moto Jacket [Black]
Hair: Tableau Vivant Summer wind Hair  – Gents
Shoes: REDGRAVE – Benito Sneaker – Black
Skin: -NIVARO- Ichero Skin – Ghost Tone
Eyes: IKON Sovereight Eyes – Ghost
Ears: [MANDALA] Steking ears (Season 5)
Body: SLink Physique Male Mesh Body

Many thanks to Moxy Macbeth, PrinceEilian, and Dyisi Oppewall for lending their avatars to be extras in the group shots! Also thanks to Moxy for finding the right skybox to take the after-party shots in.

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