Spring Awakening - Fantasy Faire 2022

There was something in the air...
Something in the earth. Something shifting, from the swirl of magma far below to the patterns traced by skylarks chasing through the twilight sky.

In the caves beneath the pristine surface of Tenpyo the vibrations of the change could be seen in the flickering of the candles, now swaying almost imperceptibly in the ancient lanterns. The ripples of the waters told the tale of the shift, not only the turn of the season, but something deeper, as meaningful as winter melting to spring, fresh signs of life anew.

Selene had held the light of the moon in the palm of her hand, in these days and nights of spring it now warmed, glowed with more than its usual reflected light. This warmth came from the source of the vibration felt throughout nature, the addition to the blossoming of spring which had come and gone for so many years before. Now was the time to emerge into the daylight, to a world rendered anew through the power behind this new feeling. A world summoned, crafted and created by hope.

This was a world much changed of late. A world in which new terrors had overtaken those of old, though the old fears remained, lurking and gnawing at those they could reach. These fears, old and new, were brought to a new light each season, each day, each chime of the clock. Hope remained. Hope grew. Hope filled the worlds and wrought them, changing old patterns, forging new pathways, uncovering the way. The shift came from the people of the world, from those facing the fears. From those who had loved, and lost, and refused to let that be the end. For those fighting, caring, healing, challenging the ways things had always been. Those gnawing teeth would be made to loosen. The bite so dreaded be soothed and heal. Those who were lost will always be remembered, hope carrying their names into the light.

It's here! The Fantasy Faire has returned to bring hope and light to the world once again. We've been through so much since last we met, Covid continues. War rages. We are losing so much while fighting so hard. In these times of uncertainty, fear and dispair, this is a beacon of hope. The Fantasy Faire does what it has always done, it brings light. Something to look forward to, something to enjoy, which actually does you good, in addition to it a c t u a l l y d o i n g g o o d !!! Seriously folks, raising money for Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society, does real tangible good in the world. It brings relief to those suffering, it supports those toiling to find new treatments, it funds the searches for cures. This is a highlight, the heart and soul of my calendar, where not only can I make my life more interesting and fun through the beautiful creations of talented artists, I, and you can make a real difference to those facing, and fighting cancer. So please, take some time and take a break from the negatives of reality if you can. Dip into the light, life and beauty of the Fantasy Faire. Help people you will never meet. You may never know how much you mean to them, but believe it from me, they thank you.

The Fantasy Faire is live and kicking, so many beautiful SIMs, so many amazing creators, so many beautiful things to buy!

All items shown are 100% donation to Relay for Life - American Cancer Society

Halo : Air_Amaho halo_Purple_CM
The Chrysalis Gardens

Hair :  KMH - Hair F195 Rigged(L)
Bassett Town

Skin :   .:S:. [G3] Dantela [F20] Lianna: Standard: Brows
Atheneum

Eyes :  Oiche // Elemental Dragon Eyes [Water]
Living Echoes

Top :  !dM Ines - LARA Collar, Feathers, Harness **FF2022**
Opet

Belt & Skirt : Mishmash Fusion - Grave Dancer Sparkle  - Red -
Aarkenfen

Orb : Jinx : Necturn Moon Hand Orb - Honey -
Necturn Moon

Fantasy Faire 2021 - Why I Relay

 

Dawn was breaking in the East.
Shadows slunk before the glow coating the land, slithering a retreat from the unstoppable rise of the sun. Cockerels and Snakes wrought in gold glimmered atop the spires of the city, their feathers and scales the first to feel the warmth of the new day. Before long the bells would ring the hour, the cowelled and masked sentinels of time must, even now, be wrenching their collective gaze from the eternally swinging censer, the heartbeat of the city. The aroma of night still lingered, drifting across the rooftops. This would soon change, the somnolent scent invigorated with the addition of morning's herbs, enticing the population to awaken.

Up high in the city's near countless belfries, the peals and chimes could easily be deafening, only those born to it could brave those halls. It was here that Katja spent her hours, tending to the bells. Throughout the day and night their tones reverberated, the air in the spire thick with it; the ferocity fading with distance, allowing near silence to echo through the lanes far below. Of course, just as the ever changing aroma of the censer permeated each dwelling and workplace, there was never true silence in the city. That was the point.

The resonance of the bells had over the decades first damaged, then shredded the webbing of her wings. Katja's role had cost her the ease of flight. Reaching heights was no longer as simple as stepping out from the spire and looking aloft. Tendrils of smoke still etched the rising thermals as clearly to her as pen ink on parchment, only now their reading took such effort, and there was always work to be done. She supposed it was always so, for those at work in the city. They gave of themselves in order to carry out their tasks. As the hours passed, with each turn of the key usually kept safe round her neck, new music was drawn up the spire. The bell's changes were rung, and the chimes sang out to drift through the windows of buildings nearby.

As night fell, Katja could leave her post and roam the city. Away from the intensity of the bells the thrum of life in the city was more palpable, the heartbeats of thousands following the beat of the swinging censer. Each of the lands had a place like this, or so it was said. Some would be recognisable, following principles which made sense to their understanding, some she knew, were far beyond it, for good or ill. This city was a place of healing. Every part of its design put in place for the benefit of those in need. The architecture held to mathmatical perfection, the golden ratio evident in the layout of the streets. Their censer spread the smoke of healing herbs, vitalizing from the dawn, calming and soothing from the dusk, easing residents into restful slumber. The tone of the bells, those high and low reverberated at frequencies encouraging healing, as though each spire held the power of a powerful cat's purr. Their work took its toll, they had made their choice, and felt the gratitude flowing from the world.

It's that time, and it's that challenge. Why I Relay. 

In all honesty, when writing this, my thoughts have been more with Covid than with cancer. When really, the pandemic, which was still in its infancy when we gathered for the faire last year, is a further layer of toil and hurt existing on top of everything we have been fighting for so long. People are still getting cancer. People are still in need of treatment. People are still frightened to go to the doctor, terror of what might be found paralysing them from action. All that, and a deadly virus on top? Wow. 

Hopefully this post is more upbeat for this challenge than I have managed in the past - and I can hold back from dipping into the cynical side of my nature - to consider this. Covid has happened, it has been the weirdest worldwide experience for decades, and now we have vaccines. Varient strains emerge, and in time working together, we will have vaccines which protect against these too. We have the same hope for the fight against cancer.  That hope. That's why I Relay.

So go, shop. Raise money for this hopeful cause.

Items listed are 100% Donation to Relay for Life

Hair : KMH - Hair F162  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jadoube/66/31/69

Skin : Ab.Fab Daenerys Amethyst Skin HDPRO-Cleavage-BOM 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isles%20of%20Tarrin/205/57/126

Tattoo : ArtToo's - Black Dragon Tattoo 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Adracunas/56/23/65 

Eyes: Not A Peep - [n.a.p] Hoard Eyes - 05 - Amethyst

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Somniatoris%20Arx/135/77/79 

Mask : Air - Maschera a un'ala /C_gold_CM

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jadoube/226/40/73 

Necklace - [+Oblivis+] Gehenna Key Chain Necklace

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Somniatoris%20Arx/35/216/73

Wings : [SpiderProductions] Grim Skeletal Wings RFL

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Amethyst%20Rift/208/140/30 

Gown : Belle Epoque - Nailah - RFL

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isles%20of%20Tarrin/141/72/145 

Nails : VENGE - Legacy - Stiletto Nails

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FF%20Valhalla/74/41/121

Poses : Pink Moon - Gypsy Soul

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FF%20Yin%20Yang/69/53/90 

 

Follow the feeling - Fantasy Faire 2019

All through the fairelands the strains of music could be heard. It was more than the tuneful warbling of birds, though of course, that was ever present, especially up near the eaves.

"Eaves dropping..." Lore mumbled, her gaze drifting along the sweeping arches of stone.

"Dropping eaves... Dropping leaves..." turning she peered through the halflight to the shaded interior of the nearest tree.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Shaking her head Lore chuckled. "What in the worlds am I doing? Peeping into nests?" Gently, as light as a feather, she began to drift down from the heights she had worked herself up to in her excitement. Refractions of light glimmered and danced across the silk of her gown, magical light, the Light of Va'Loth. Lore walked on, closer to its source, enjoying the effect, taking delight in the kinship even of the Fairelands themselves, the beauty of one drew out and bolstered the beauty of another. She had to follow the music, she was certain it was that which had drawn the moths from their homes. Fluttering wings took flight, chasing not the light of sun, moon, or even magic, but a different frequency. The rhythms flowing from the Fairechylde, a vital heartbeat to the lands, echoed in the forms of all those who sought it, gathered around it to sing and to dance.

"Round and round the mulberry bush..." she sang softly even as her eyes darted from a blade of grass to a drifting mote in the air.

"Come on my beauties where have you gone? You don't even eat mulberry leaves!" Soon the lands would fill with visitors, clomping feet and hooves, broad, leaf brushing wings, to say nothing of those beings made from fire or ice. She shuddered, she had to round them up, get them safely home. The silk rustled, the first wing beat.

"There!" Lore beckoned, lavender tipped fingers curling in welcome. Her moths fluttered to her, soon to be back safely in Bayounimba. Life would go on, eggs would be laid, caterpillars grown. Grown to eat the leaves in the Bayou, to make the most beautiful silk.

So much prettiness. More than prettiness. These are the kinds of SIMs that you wish were places you could visit in RL, so beautiful and well crafted you can feel the texture of the air and breathe in its scent as you click and cam your way. Plus, you can buy all this amazing stuff there!. What could be better? Raising money to support people with cancer? IT ONLY GOES AND DOES THAT AS WELL! What are you waiting for? Links to the beautiful right here!

Images taken in Fantasy Faireland SIM Light of Valoth

Halo : Air - Gothic Halo_silver
The Shrine Tree
Hair :  Wasabi // Prudence Mesh Hair
Midas
Circlet : [Kotolier] "Herba" Circlet (FF2019)
Midas
Skin :  Sinful Needs - Children of the Night V3 Female - Jet Brows
Twilight Spring
Eyes : {Acios} Eyes of Bayounimba
Bayounimba
Earrings :  [Cubic Cherry] {Akane} earrings
Nightshade Blossoms
Scarification : *Birth* Scarification - 'TribalArrow'
Tensors Flying Market
Skin Colourfade : :[EvenTide]: Colored Fades - Purple Mild
The Shrine Tree
Necklace : [HarshLands] FF X Necklace - ULTRA RARE - Her High Faireness
Light of Valoth
Gown : +Dreamcatcher+ Agatha
Faireholm

Why I Relay - Fantasy Faire 2016

Each year it came to this. In amongst all of the hustle and bustle, the crowds and the adventure, this moment came.Was it coincidental that moments of reflection tended to come near the water? Be it rhythmic movement of waves gently lapping against the harbour wall, droplets of water arcing through the air from a fountain to meld with a pond, or the sudden welling of tears in her eyes.

This year, she did not want the tears. Even as she wiped them away from her eyes, a sardonic smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "As if anyone wanted tears!" Like everyone drawn in to the Fairelands, she was captivated not only by the beautiful surroundings, as breathtaking as they were; nor by the vast array of goods on offer, as exquisite as they were. She was drawn by what it meant. By what a disparate group of individuals could achieve when they were working toward one goal.

This year I had an idea of the look I wanted to create for my 'Why I Relay' blogger challenge as soon as I saw the skin from Plastik. The more I thought about it however, the less I wanted to think about hope or a cure being something celestial, something otherworldly. In reality, hope can be something made of pain. Pain can inspire hope, calling it into being where there had been no need for it before. Pain can erode hope, wearing it away over time. The less that has to happen, the happier we all can be. Since writing for this challenge last year, there have been losses, there are also survivors. Cancer has taken my cousin, a wonderful woman who was a daughter, sister, aunt and mother. Relatives and friends have received diagnoses, treatment beginning, remission reached. I don't want to write about a cure being something made of magic, from some distant galaxy. A cure is what we relay for, it's why we do this. So research can continue. Real people, right here, working to find a way. The cure is getting closer. Until then, we will come together like this. After that - we'll do it for the sheer love of each other, and all this love can achieve. 

These pictures were taken in Dangarnon one of the Faireland Sims

Skin : :[P]:- Constella Skin:// Lunale  Relay for Life item
Beautiful starry galaxy skin, comes with every applier you could think of, eight eyebrow shapers, eyes, makeup options - as ever - wow.
Branches :  Air Magnolia_Head Accessory_purple_CM - L$ 100  Relay for Life item
Lovely delicate branches, intricate beading, and softly glowing flowers.
Outfit : *LE* Xylia Onyx Pearl - L$ 250  Relay for Life item
Fantastic outfit, all sections can be worn separately, I love the contrast of bronze on white!
Nails : DP - Koffin Nails - Something Wicked L$ 200 Relay for Life item
Pretty pretty nails! HUD controlled, nine colour options. This purple to blue fade is my favourite.