lost in your current like a priceless wine

This is another case of losing the photos until recently, but I was invited to the odori by the High Priestess of the Companions' Guild a few weeks back. The more formal events always throw me a little--kimono is traditional, yes, but not geisha trappings, because I'm not one. The closest I feel I can come is oiran, traditionally equally well trained, but in different ways, and with a vastly different goal. And even there, I feel as if my makeup must be alluding to, not directly indicative of.

I don't know if other people fret over these things. I do.



We were led to a small room with a low table and zaisu chairs, and were asked to please sit, offered tea or sake as we chose, and spoke a few moments with the perfomer as the servers brought in the first course.

[13:26] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "While you enjoy your appetizer, please allow me to perform."
[13:26] Toshiha Magic: : おおきにぃ　(Thank you)

Our geisha performer, Ms. Magic, I am leaving named, because she does formal geisha and kabuki performances professionally in SL. She's very good.

[13:26] Bxxxxxx Gxxx turns to watch the geiko
[13:26] Bxxx 1xxxx knocks at the door
[13:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) smiles, picking up the chopsticks.
[13:27] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic) carefully walks to the stage and takes her place, preparing a dance fan.

She took the stage, and I still don't know if the recording we heard then was her, or was someone else? "Momiji no Hashi" means "bridge of autumn leaves", which was the song playing, so...

[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Near the bridge of maple leaves 紅葉の橋のたもとから

[13:28] Txxx Tx 统体 after pouring, passes Jx Dxxxo and Nxx Jxx their fresh tea with a bow of head

[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: I rest a sleeve on the railing. 袖を垣根の言いずてに
[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: For a moment, my ears hear a magpie ちょっと耳をばかささぎの
[13:29] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hello, [Axxxx]!
[13:29] Bxxx 1xxx bows respectfully "Greetings."
[13:29] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Upon the frost a sudden clarity of light, 霜もいつしか白々と

[13:29] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx enjoys Toshiha's graceful movements.

[13:29] Momiji no Hashi Singer: It accumulates deeply, piling up 積もるほどなお深くなる
[13:30] Momiji no Hashi Singer: My dancing hands surround the snow 雪をめぐらす舞の手や
[13:30] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Yoi yoi yoi yoi yoi yasa. ヨイヨイ、ヨイヨイ、ヨイヤサー

She drew the eye, her slim figure moving through patterns made traditional hundreds of years ago, and, if you count that this was loosely part of Firefly RP, thousands of years back, with her delicately spinning fans.

[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx: Hello [Axxxx]!
[13:31] Vxxxxx Lxxxx leans against the pillar, listening to the familiar song
[13:31] Bxxx 1xxx: How is every one?
[13:31] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx knock at the door
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hello, [Zxxx]!
[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx applauds!
[13:31] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx nods politely to Alice. "No complaints. Yourself?"
[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx: Thank you!
[13:31] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx: may i come in?
[13:31] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) claps politely
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx claps for Toshiha.
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: That was lovely!

She dipped, she turned, she hid her face coyly one moment, and spun the fans out to reveal it the next.

[13:31] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx: Of course, feel free to join us, [Zxxx].
[13:32] Mxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx claps enthusiastically as she motions to [Zxxx] with a nod
[13:32] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx smiles and remove his gettas at the entry taking a seat
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Oideyasu, [Nxx Jxx] niisan!"
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic) bows politely.
[13:32] Bxxx 1xxx: up right and breathing which is a good thing in our day and age

Especially this year.

[13:32] Vxxxxx Lxxxx clears the table of the old incense plate and takes it into the kitchen for a good clean
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Ookini! I hope you were all able to enjoy the feel of the season in that song."
[13:33] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Beautfully performed, and yes, very autumnal.
[13:33] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: That was beautiful
[13:33] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: i was actually hearing it from behind the door, it was very lovely Toshiha.
[13:33] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Hei, today is the last day I could perform it for the year, so, I am pleased to dance it one more time." She smiles to [Nxx Jxx], too.

Apparently, the fall dance is the Gion Odori; there's a spring version as well, the Miyako Odori, performed every year.

[14:39] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): ((This song, will be played like the first one, on "Sounds", ookini!))
[14:39] Txxx Tx 统体 after grasping a cloth to pick up the urn of bathing water, staggers, pausing ever few steps, panting, in hauling it's weighty volume

[14:40] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The heart of the fan for you, a promise; 君に扇のナ 要の契り

This one was harder to figure out. Google Translate happily tells me it means either "Mysterious fan" or "Your fan mystery"; neither I think are accurate.

[14:40] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx starts nibbling away happily at her cake.

[14:40] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The snow's white background on the edge of the fan 雪の白地は扇の縁
[14:41] Beeflin Grut smiles radiantly at the poise of the dance
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The flower decorated fan in Hanjo's bedroom. 班女が閨の花扇
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: That leopard lily hairpiece in your sleeve その桧扇のかざしの袖に
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: Lightly, lightly ひらり ひらり
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The rich color of trees 木々の錦や
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: are drawn in a picture with sakura-covered mountains 絵に画く山の桜花
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: They fall, scattering, a soothing pleasure forever and ever 散らぬ嬉しさいつまでも
[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: A swirling of fans 扇車のくるり
[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The ritual dance of ceremonial fans inviting prosperity 品よくまわれ末広かけて

[14:43] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx watches Toshiha's graceful movements while pacing herself with her cake so it doesn't disappear too quickly.

[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: With open tines, for eight-thousand years. ひらく八千代の手なれ草

At which point, she bowed deeply, the performance complete. We were all stunned for a few moments, then...

[14:44] Bxxxxxx Gxxx has temporarily completely forgotten his cake
[14:44] Bxxxxxx Gxxx applauds!
[14:44] Vxxxxx Lxxxx shouts: beautiful tones up to the bathroom!!
[14:44] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx applauds!!
[14:44] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: wow!
[14:44] Kxxxxx Rxxxxxxx 金葉 applauds

Of course, SL being SL, couldn't have a dinner party break up without some technical glitch, but still, all in all, it was a brilliant performance, and I was honored and touched to be invited.

let's dance in style, lets dance for a while (part three)

(Continued from part two.)

We continue with the third tale.

[14:44] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): For our last story of the show will be told by my lovely sister geisha Hiroko san
[14:44] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Please dear Hiroko san *smiles* tell us your tale
[14:45] Hiroko Yokosuka: Konnichiwa everyone! hope you are all have a wonderful evening. And indeed it is one.
[14:45] Hiroko Yokosuka: Tonight I bring you a story call "Coyote brings fire"

[14:46] Hiroko Yokosuka: Long ago, the Fire Beings were the only people who had fire.
[14:46] Hiroko Yokosuka: They guarded it closely and wouldn't share it with other tribes or animals.
[14:46] Hiroko Yokosuka: This didn't matter so much in spring and summer, but in winter many young children and old people died from the icy cold.
[14:46] Hiroko Yokosuka: Just before the next winter, some of the animals called a meeting.
[14:47] Hiroko Yokosuka: "We can't let our children and grandparents die from the cold this year," said Squirrel. "We have to get fire from the Fire Beings to keep warm."
[14:47] Hiroko Yokosuka: "How can we do that?" asked Chipmunk. "The Fire Beings won't share it with us".
[14:48] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Let's ask Coyote for help" said Frog. "He's crafty and cunning, and he'll know how to get fire".
[14:48] Hiroko Yokosuka: Coyote listened and thought about the problem. Then he smiled a cunning smile.
[14:48] Hiroko Yokosuka: "We'll take it!" answered Coyote slyly. "I have a plan. Follow me!"
[14:49] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas) looses myself in the music and dance, captivated with the tale
[14:49] Hiroko Yokosuka: Coyote lead the animals to the Fire Beings' camp on top of the mountain. The others hid in the bushes while Coyote walked into the camp.
[14:49] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Who's there?" screeched one of the Beings. "Someone's trying to steal our fire".

[14:50] Hiroko Yokosuka: "It's all right," hissed another. "It's only an old moth eaten coyote".
[14:50] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Huummph! Moth eaten indeed," thought Coyote, but he didn't say anything. He lay down by the fire and pretended to go to sleep, keeping one eye half open.
[14:50] Hiroko Yokosuka: Three Fire Beings sat nearby. One was huge and ugly - with a small bald head and big rolls of fat around his stomach.
[14:51] Hiroko Yokosuka: Snot dripped in long slimy strands from his nose. The other two were old hags, with eyes like red stones and clawed hands like a vulture.
[14:51] Hiroko Yokosuka: After a few minutes, a banging noise started in the bushes. It was Coyote's friends.
[14:51] Hiroko Yokosuka: "What's that horrible noise?" cried the fat ugly Fire Being. "Who's there?" The three of them went to investigate.
[14:51] Hiroko Yokosuka: Seeing his chance, Coyote snatched up a glowing piece of fire and ran off down the mountain as fast as he could.
[14:52] Hiroko Yokosuka: Realising they had been tricked, the two hags screamed and chased after him.
[14:52] Hiroko Yokosuka: The big fat bald Fire Being just stood there, with more snot dripping from his nose.>
[14:52] Hiroko Yokosuka: The hags were old, but they could run like the wind. They nearly caught Coyote
[14:52] Hiroko Yokosuka: One of them stretched out her claws and touched the tip of his tail. The heat turned the hairs white.

[14:53] Hiroko Yokosuka: Coyote threw the fire into the air towards Squirrel.
[14:53] Hiroko Yokosuka: She caught it in her tail and scampered off over stumps and boulders.
[14:54] Hiroko Yokosuka: The fire scorched her so badly, that her tail curled up over her back. She was almost caught, until Chipmunk bounded up beside her.
[14:54] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Me! Me! Throw it to me!" Catching the fire, Chipmunk turned to run.
[14:54] Hiroko Yokosuka: One of the hags clawed her back leaving three stripes down it. Chipmunk threw the fire to Frog, but one of the Beings grabbed his tail.
[14:55] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Let me go!" yelled Frog. He squirmed and struggled so much that his eyeballs bulged and he thought his heart would burst.
[14:55] Hiroko Yokosuka: With one last mighty leap he tore himself free, leaving his beautiful long tail behind, still wriggling in the hag's claw.
[14:55] Hiroko Yokosuka: Frog threw the fire to Wood and Wood swallowed it.

[14:56] Hiroko Yokosuka: The Fire Beings hit Wood and kicked him and cut him with their knives, but still Wood didn't spit out the fire.
[14:56] Hiroko Yokosuka: At last the hags gave up and went home, mumbling to themselves:
[14:56] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Oh dear, I think I broke a nail". "Never mind. We'll have frog's tail soup tonight." "Mmm! That sounds nice".
[14:56] Hiroko Yokosuka: Coyote called all the animals together to teach them how to get the fire from Wood.
[14:57] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Fire is a gift for everyone.
[14:57] Hiroko Yokosuka: If you rub two dry sticks of Wood together very fast Wood will get itchy and give you some fire. From now on you will be warm in winter"
[14:57] Hiroko Yokosuka: "I told you Coyote was cunning" said Frog.
[14:57] Hiroko Yokosuka: "Yes, but I wonder what frog's tail soup tastes like?" asked Squirrel.

[14:58] Hiroko Yokosuka: And that is why today, Coyote's tail has a white tip, squirrel's tail curls around over her back, chipmunk's coat has white stripes and frog has no tail.
[14:58] Hiroko Yokosuka: But everyone is warm in winter.
[14:58] Hiroko Yokosuka: This is the end of my story, hope you all have enjoyed it.

[14:58] Ωღ Lιηᴀ ღΩ (shannon.warden): happy clapss
[14:58] Otterax Avalanche (otterax): That's a four-fer!
[14:58] Otterax Avalanche (otterax): Aρρlɑuѕɛ!
[14:59] Emilly Orr applauds, beaming.
[14:59] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas) bows respectfully
[14:59] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas) applauds and smiles gratefully
[14:59] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Domo arigato HIorko san for that lovely tale!ありがとうございます (Translated: "Thank you.")
[15:00] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): So sadly, dear guests the time has come for our show to end.
[15:01] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): I am glad you could all be here with us to share this special day with us
[15:01] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): If you are not already a member of our Little Yoshiwara group, I would like to invite you to join.
[15:01] Ωღ Lιηᴀ ღΩ (shannon.warden): yes oleses
[15:01] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): From this group, we send notices that will notifiy you of any other performances we may have.
[15:01] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): As your day continues, I hope that you may carry the feeling of peace and beauty that you felt here through out the rest of the day.

[15:02] reefer 無怨無悔 (reefer.shoreman): more Applause!
[15:02] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): And I hope to see you again very soon! ありがとうございます (Translated: "Thank you.")
[15:02] Otterax Avalanche (otterax): Arigato!
[15:02] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano) smiles
[15:02] Ωღ Lιηᴀ ღΩ (shannon.warden): my the light allways shine apone you and all your house
[15:02] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana) smiles in a friendly way
[15:02] reefer 無怨無悔 (reefer.shoreman): more Applause!
[15:04] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas) beams and claps more
[15:04] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): ookini everyone, arigatou gozaimasu (Translated: "ありがとうございます." )
[15:04] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas): Do have a blessed rest of day
[15:05] Ωღ Lιηᴀ ღΩ (shannon.warden): to all here thank you and i realy love this place i hope to be allowed to return till then my the light shine
[15:05] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas) bows respectfully
[15:05] Emilly Orr bows in respect and slips away.

And thus endeth the trio of tales.

let's dance in style, lets dance for a while (part two)

(Continued from part one)

We continue with the second tale.

[14:30] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Now the next story will be told by myself so enjoy.
[14:31] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Konnichiwa everyone
[14:31] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): My story today is

The Master Swordsman and The Tayu

[14:31] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Oooo
[14:31] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Before Miyamto Muashi wrote his book The Book of Five Rings.
[14:31] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Which classed as the bible for samuari in Japan.
[14:32] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): It is said he learned of his craft from a tayu by the name of Yoshino.
[14:32] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Yoshino was a well know tayu that worked in the Shimabara quarter in Kyoto.
[14:32] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Well know for her beauty and adored to this day by many as been the tayu that exemplified what is to be a tayu.
[14:32] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): But thats another story

[14:33] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): One night snowy Miyamto Muashi was with friends and came to visit Yoshino for the evening.
The evening was a well entertained one with laughter and sake.
[14:33] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Until Yoshino spotted Miyamto Muasahi quietly slipping out in response to a noise outside.
[14:33] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Luckily she was the only one to spot him leave.
[14:33] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): A few minutes later he returned and sported a bright splash of red on the white lining of his kimono.
[14:34] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Miyamto’s friends spotted this and asked,”What is that?”
[14:34] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Before he could tell them Yoshino retorted “Just a peony petal”.
[14:34] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): She wiped it off the white of his kimono quickly with napkin.
[14:34] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): The party continued until each of the guests retired for the night.
[14:35] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): But been the tayu she was, with her unerring instinct she had guessed he had engaged in a duel.
[14:35] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): So asked Miyamto to come to her private chambers.
[14:35] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Cause now the retainers of the other duellists were now waiting outside ready to ambush Miyamto, when he came out of the tea house.

[14:36] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Sitting in her chamber,
Miyamto was quiet tense and with a worried expression on his face,
[14:36] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): but trying to hide it from Yoshino.
He all could see a death for him in the morning or when ever he left the tea-house.

[14:37] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): This tense and quiet situation was getting to Yoshino.
[14:37] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): So picking up her Biwa,
a four or five stringed traditional Japanese lute played with a plectrum.
[14:37] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Suddenly took a knife to the Biwa and smashed it into pieces.
[14:37] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Reaching into the remains of the sound box picked out the cross piece,
a simple piece of wood and showed it to him.
[14:38] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): “Miyamto you see this small piece of wood,
[14:38] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): it is flexible and not ridged so to not to break so my Biwa can sound so.
[14:38] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): If was inflexible it would either break or make the Biwa sound flat.” She said.
[14:38] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Now placing it in his hands, he could see how flexible it was.
[14:39] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): “If it was taut and unyielding it would break at the time the Biwa was plucked.”

[14:39] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): These word gave comfort to Miyamto.
outside
[14:39] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): He needed to be flexible as that cross piece,
[14:40] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): So he could move and bend to the attacks.
This gave him the strength to realised the battle is winnable.
[14:40] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): He thanked Yoshino for her time and bound out into the snow.
[14:40] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): The retainers' men attacked as soon Miyamto came into the open
[14:41] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): A flash of blade was seen as many man jumped on Miyamto,
as each attacked they were brought down in a pool of blood reddening the snow on the ground.
[14:41] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Where in a few minutes dozen or so men laid on the ground all dead.
[14:42] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Thanks to the advice given by the tayu Yoshino.

Miymato won the day.
[14:42] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): With that advice Miyamto became the great swordsman that history remembers.
[14:42] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): But he never forgot what that tayu Yoshino taught him
that snowy night in Shimabara for the rest of his life.

[14:42] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): The end of my tale of the Master swordsman and The Tayu
[14:42] Otterax Avalanche (otterax): Suspenseful story!
[14:43] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Domo arigato for listening!ありがとうございます

(Translated: "Thank you.")

(Continued in part three.)

let's dance in style, lets dance for a while (part one)

Today I went to a Geisha performance in Little Yoshiwara.




Onstage were Suzuteru 寿々照 (Komayo Marabana) telling the story (on the left), Yoneyu 米愉 (Sorasu Romano) (center), and Hiroko Yokosuka on the right. Ms. Yokosuka is Yoshiwara's Okiya Musume Geshia Lian and an Administrator for Little Yoshiwara, as well as Second Life's first Chinese Geisha. Ms. Yoneyu is the Okasan for Little Yoshiwara Okiya, and Ms. Suzuteru, our storyteller, is a senior maiko (the highest ranking, I believe, for an apprentice Geisha).

[14:13] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Now for our first tale will be told by beautiful senior maiko Suzuteru chan with a nice story called A Spider's Thread story
[14:13] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Please dear Suzuteru chan *smiles* tell us your tale
[14:13] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Dear patrons, I will be telling a story called "The Spider's Thread."

[14:13] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): One day, the Lord Buddha was strolling alone on the shore of the lotus pond in Paradise.
[14:15] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas): Ohhh..
[14:15] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Since the depths of Hell lay directly below the lotus pond on Paradise, the scenery can be clearly seen through the crystal-clear water.
[14:15] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Then, the single figure of a man, Kandata by name, squirming there in the depths of Hell along with other sinners, comes into the Lord Buddha's gaze.
[14:15] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): This man Kandata is a murderer, an arsonist, and a master thief with numerous robberies in his reputation.
[14:16] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Yet, the Lord Buddha recalls that he had performed a single good deed...
[14:16] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas): Ok.. a start!

[14:16] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): That is to say, once when Kandata was traveling through the middle of a dense forest he came upon a spider crawling along the roadside.
[14:17] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Thereupon he immediately raised his foot and was about to trample it to death. But, he suddenly reconsidered, saying, "Nay, nay, small though this spider be, there is no doubt that it too is a living being."
[14:17] Tóng Tǐ 统体 (goswamitulsidas): Mmm.. good man
[14:17] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): "Somehow or other it seems a shame to take its life for no reason." In the end he spared the spider rather than killing it.

[14:17] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): While observing the situation in Hell, the Lord Buddha remembers that this Kandata had spared the spider.
[14:18] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): And he decides that in return for having done just that one good deed he would, if he could, try to rescue this man from Hell.
[14:18] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Luckily, he sees nearby a spider of Paradise spinning a beautiful silver web on a jade colored lotus petal.
[14:18] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Upon seeing it Kandata involuntarily claps his hands for joy. If he were to cling to this thread and climb it to its end, he would surely be able to escape from Hell.
[14:19] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): And, if all went well, he would even be able to enter Paradise.

[14:19] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Having thought thusly, Kandata quickly takes firm hold of that spider's thread with both hands and using all his might begins climbing up and up hand-over-hand.
[14:19] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): From long ago Kandata has been completely used to doing this sort of thing since he is a former master thief.
[14:20] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): But because the distance between Hell and Paradise is some tens of thousands of miles, try though he might, he is not able to ascend to the top easily.
[14:20] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): After climbing for a while, even Kandata finally tires; he is unable to continue for even one more pull on the thread.
[14:21] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Having no other choice, he intends first to take a short rest. While hanging onto the thread he looks down on the distance below.
[14:21] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Kandata sees that thanks to the efforts he spent climbing, where he had just recently been, is now already hidden at the bottom of the darkness.
[14:22] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): If he were to continue at this pace, the escape from Hell just might not be as difficult as he had expected. Wrapping his hand around the spider's thread, Kandata laughs in a voice unused during his years in Hell, "I'm saved! I'm saved at last!"

[14:22] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Then, he suddenly notices that below him on the spider's thread, just like a line of ants, a countless number of sinners are following him, climbing up and up for all they are worth!
[14:22] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): When Kandata sees this, he momentarily freezes from shock and fear, his mouth agape and his eyes rolling in his head.
[14:23] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): How could it be that this slender spider's thread, seemingly strained even under the weight of just him alone, is able to support the weight of that many?
[14:23] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): By some chance were the thread to break, he, the egotistical Kandata who at great pains had climbed this far, and everyone else would plummet headlong back into Hell.
[14:23] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): For that to happen would be a disaster.
[14:24] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): But, even as he thinks this, sinners, not by the hundreds, nor even by the thousands, but in swarms, continue to crawl up from the bottom of the pitch dark and climb up the thin luminous spider's thread in single file.
[14:24] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): If he doesn't do something right away, the thread will break in two at the center and he will surely fall.
[14:25] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): At this point, Kandata yells in a loud voice, "Hey, you sinners. This spider's thread is mine. Who the hell asked you to climb it? Get down! Get off it!"
[14:25] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Just as he screams at the other sinners the spider's thread, which till then had had nothing wrong with it, suddenly breaks with a snap right where Kandata is hanging.
[14:25] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Without even time to cry out, Kandata goes flying through the air spinning like a top and in the wink of an eye plunges headfirst into the dark depths of Hell.
[14:26] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Afterwards, only the shortened spider's thread from Paradise dangles there, glittering dimly in a sky void of both moon and stars.

[14:26] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): The Lord Buddha stands on the shore of the lotus pond in Paradise having taken in everything from start to finish.
[14:26] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): When Kandata finally sinks like a rock to the bottom he resumes strolling, his countenance seemingly creased with sadness.
[14:27] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Seen through divine eyes, the Lord Buddha thought it wretched that Kandata's compassionless heart led him to attempt to escape by himself and for such a heart falling back into Hell was just punishment.
[14:27] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): The lotus blossoms in the pond of Paradise, however, are not concerned in the least about what has happened.
[14:27] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Those blossoms of the whitest white wave their cups around the divine feet of the Lord Buddha and from the golden stamen in the center of each an indescribably pleasant fragrance issues forth abidingly over the adjacent area.
[14:28] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): Noon draws near in Paradise.
[14:28] Suzuteru 寿々照 (komayo.marabana): ~* The End *~
[14:29] Yoneyu 米愉 (sorasu.romano): Domo arigato Suzuteru chan for that lovely tale! ありがとうございます (Translated: "Thank you.")

(Continued in part two.)

oh the mountains, oh the valleys, oh the streams love would climb

Love as thou wilt.

They are fools, who reckon Elua a soft god, fit only for the worship of starry-eyed lovers. Let the warriors clamber after gods of blood and thunder; love is hard, harder than steel and twice as cruel. It is as inexorable as the tides, and life and death alike follow in its wake.

Jacqueline Carey has written an intense, moving series of books about the people of Terre d'Ange, and their movements through their familiar, yet altered world.

I've loved the series for quite some time, following each book as I can, going back and rereading from time to time, reacquainting myself with Phèdre nó Delaunay and her adventures, and the lives and cultures she touches and interacts with.

I am not the only one. I still remember, with only a slight gloss of nostalgia, the wonder of finding Kusheth on the grid. I may have been one of the few who took the advice to keep on the path in all seriousness; having read what Kushiel, lord of punishment and pain, dealt out to Phèdre, his Chosen...well, suffice it to say that, virtual world or not, I wasn't ready to do more than blink at the deadly items for sale in the shop.

And anything that involved drowning; bleeding out; or being strapped to a metal frame while car battery current ran through it--well, let's just say that was never my idea of fun.

At one point, there was a Terre d'Ange on the grid as well; I never had the time to go there, I think it left some while back. Yet another loss.

I spent slightly over a year, dancing for Lindens, escorting for more. I played many roles and many games with my clients, but the one ideal I always tried to hold to was Phèdre's: Love as thou wilt. And more than that, I suppose I was also thinking thoughts of the Firefly universe, and Inara Serra's gracious Companions.

I was never a Geisha, trained to the arts of conversation and performance; I was never an anguisette, trained in the arts of covertcy and pain. But what I was, I did my best to bring to my clients: if I didn't like them, at least a little, I couldn't escort for them more than once; and many of my clients, at that point--at least for a time--became friends.

Perhaps it was a case of expecting too much, reaching too high; I don't know. I never saw myself, even as an escort, as having any particular "station" in life; and to this day, I do not see that I did anything inherently wrong. All women sell themselves at some point, all of us; for protection, for prestige, for power; for companionship, for comfort, for coin; it simply remains the manner of sale to be determined. This is not a bad thing, in itself, this is not meant to be insulting; it simply is, it's life. It's our lives.

Everyone, man or woman alike, sells themselves at some point. Employment is trading work for payment; barter is trading goods for different goods, or goods for service. I see no difference in selling sex, companionship--or even Companionship--for Lindens; it's part and parcel of what everyone does to survive.

But I do admit, my view is far from the most popular. And I could wish for a bit more of the grace of the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, in daily life on the grid: the thought that in all things we do, we should try to do them with grace, and love.

Love as thou wilt. Because love is a wonderful, and terrible thing. And because it, and what we do for it, because of it, should be honored as the wonderful, terrible thing it is, and can be.

Despite the wreckage of my past, I remain convinced that my choices had merit, at least at the time I made them. I cannot believe less of my choices now. Wherever they lead me, I can commit to that at least: that I choose the harder path of love, over war. And if I am not capable of love, at least I can tolerate, or ignore. Sharpening swords is for the young, and in six months I'll have been three years on the grid. I am, at the least, no longer young.

something unseen, some hand is motioning

Dark Depressions has a pumpkin tree! Wrought iron hung with carved pumpkins, retails for L$150, 34 prims...but pretty!

We went wandering a bit tonight through the dread wasteland of my landmarks folder. Here and others. Also a new sim in the Bare Rose line, Gion. Gion currently has a scavenger hunt going, for some fairly cool prizes; more information can be found here.



Now, it helps to understand that the website is translated from Japanese, and not precisely accurately. Where it says, three scrolls found around the hokora? It should say found around the sim.

Mostly? You should read the website to figure out what the scrolls and the keys look like. After that? You're on your own.



Well, no. I'll say this.

There are seven keys. Only two of them work, Key 2 and Key 4. Keep going until you find one of those for the kimono.



Next, scrolls. There are three. Seek them in the four corners of the sim, and think sidewise, they're well hidden. In one corner of the sim is the shrine; the scrolls are not there.

For the last, you'll simply need you, and four friends, to go to the great kane bell. Take hold of the rope and pull in unison, and you will be given a prize. Five prizes, actually--one for each of you.



One more thing. Seven's wings. They look amazing, don't get me wrong. But there's something very, very odd with them, and I think it's that they have an internal flight assist. This, if it exists, is pairing very badly with my gadget's assist.

Why do I think this? Because I flew up in Gion once to see if I could track down something and finally forced myself to stop at a bit over 1,200 meters. Following this I actually managed to fly OFF THE SIM and ended up in a rumpled wing-ball underwater!

So I think I'm right...



Last, I finally set up the office in Winterfell. Clicking the office link on the profile picks will bring you there; leave me a notecard by clicking the apple on the desk. (I made applemail! Well, if by "I made" you mean "I went to the library and got the apple sculpt map and texture" and "I had Sir ZenMondo's mail script and popped it in". Though I did make the desk, the chair, and the papers on the desk, dash it all!)

I love Winterfell. It's one of those places where, if I had the Lindens, I'd live there in a heartbeat. No electricity allowed. No neon, no streetlights, just torches and moonlight. I could so cope with this....

sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Well...the upshot is...I have oiran hair.

Sort of.

I made my first hair today, and...it's not pretty, but I'm hoping I can disguise it enough to pass at tonight's formal in Steelhead.



The beginning of the hair.



The hair base from the side...



...and from the back.



Making the flexi strands (attaching them to a small round ball, because I couldn't think of how else to do it--this is making the strands flexi, then taking off the checkmark in the 'Flexible Path' box so that I can attach them to a non-flexi center.



Flexi attached. Along with a small nearly football-shaped front piece adapted from a circle form, and two curved side pieces for the sides of the hair that are tautly pulled back over a form in RL.



Nearly finished hair...



...and from the back....



...and done.

But here's my problem--as simple and uninvolved as this is, it took me five hours to complete. And, from what I've been able to find, there is nothing like this I've seen in world. How annoying.

On the plus side...if I get good at this...I am SO selling geisha and oiran hairpieces.

Current build: Built. Oiran hair. But there may be more styles in my future, and better hair textures when I can afford them.