Make Me Smile

This is more a post on second life in general…

Well actually, let’s start with SL Gor.

The life in Second Life Gor is often brutish, nasty, and short. Friends turn on friends at the drop of a hat, strangers would rather be down right vicious because a fictional book proclaims it to be, and very few can agree on what the books actually mean.

When I’m in SL Gor, it’s now a constant fight to keep me there. The fight was lost a few weeks ago and I had wanted to leave Second Life all together.

Fortunately, a friend from Karamoon got me involved in his RP. I had left Karamoon before because he had decided to go ahead with the prearranged marriage RP and leave my poor character with a broken heart, and I admit that stung me as well. So, with RL being the way it was and Karamoon being a source of pain, and he moving on I thought it’d be best if I moved on too.
One slight error in my calculations, he did not move on as I thought.
He IMd me often, talking lightly, when no one else would and even though I admit I was confused as to why he’d bother, I enjoyed talking to him. Soon I didn’t feel any hurt over what happened and although I had returned to Gor I looked forward to speaking to him.
One day I revealed to him that I wouldn’t be returning to Karamoon because Gor took up too much of my time. I was an adviser for the Salerian Confederation and helping build the Vonda project, I simply didn’t have enough time for roleplay with satyrs and demons.
He didn’t beg, didn’t get upset, just very slyly added, “That’s too bad, because I was thinking of taking you in as my changeling.”
“Changeling?”
“A human who is kidnapped by the fae and turned into the captor’s personal slave.”
“… on second thought…. maybe… I could try to find the time.”

And I did.

At first I just visited once or twice a week, too shy to jump back in to RP, he was also too busy with another plot he had going, and I was quite busy myself.

Second Life Gor, however, had begun it’s vicious cycles again where everyone turns wildly on each other for no apparent reason and starts fighting like a bunch of wild animals. I came under fire simply because some of the admins didn’t want advisers and began to attack viciously where I came from. Simple answer, the owner of the project, Surya.
Well it’s rather hard to argue with that, so they found other tactics to try to scare me and many others away. I grew weary of it, and every night I found myself on the verge of leaving the project.

Meanwhile, back in Karamoon, my friend had invited me to live with his father… I wasn’t quite sure if it was a good idea, I’m so shy and I didn’t know his father that well. But one day, I decided to walk to where the cave was and oops! I ran into his father on the way.
No questions asked, he set me down in his home, set up my own room, my own bath and I was home.
I couldn’t believe a stranger would do this for me, but I was so unbelievably happy that my shyness soon evaporated.

Meanwhile second life Gor got worse…
A schism had been clearly defined between the Salerian Confederation members, those who paid for sims and those who did not. Surya had made it clear that he wanted everyone to have equal say, but well… sometimes people don’t listen. A smear campaign started, not just against J, but against anyone who was against those who were paying for a sim.
Finally, I had enough, and walked away from the entire situation.

And into Karamoon…

I lived with the father, and at first I admit I was rather lonely. I would venture out of the cave now and then but I’m not a fighter and I hate to be a drama queen begging for help each day as I’m attacked so it limited what I did. The father and the son visited me as best they could, but they were both busy and I didn’t want to be demanding. So in the cave I stayed.
Then one day, I met two people… they were new but obviously veteran roleplayers, and after speaking with me they wanted to stay in Karamoon. I helped them contact an admin, they rented a cave nearby and tada! I had neighbors!
Awesome ones at that. They jumped into roleplay in Karamoon but never forgot me in my little old cave. They asked my opinions, I asked for theirs and I am so happy I met them both.
Then I got involved with a tiny itsy bit of drama, compared to SL Gor, I mean tiny (basically a dispute in rp rules). But because of it, I ended up standing up for a person OOC and helping remedy the situation, and I made another friend.
The father started coming to the cave more, using it as a place to heal and I loved being able to help him tend for his guests. I began to go to the main town more, and people wanted to be closer to me. At first because of my association with the father, but after getting to know me and enjoying the RP, I found that people appreciated me for me and all the bad joojoo from before was evaporating.
Then I started working on my photography skills in SL again, posting the pictures on the Karamoon website and offering to take pictures of anyone who would like. I’ve always offered that in Gor but never had any takers. Things were different here. Within half an hour, three people I barely knew jumped on it. I was delighted and flattered and so far I’ve finished one, taken snapshots of one, and am waiting on two others. I’ve made friends with all.
My blogs on Karamoon that were always ignored before have jumped in readers, people commenting on my story and happy for me. I’ve had more courage and walked to the main town and met more people and made more friends, people have encouraged me to start my own business, have given me support when I needed a little extra oomf, and make me smile every day.

Last night after finishing a photo for someone else and having her love it, I talked to one of the neighbors I described earlier, saying that I’d love to start a business and make a bit of money but I don’t have land or a photostudio.
“Oooh Essie…. I’ve got a surprise for you. It’s not much. Just a studio, over 500 poses, a private platform, props and anything else you need.”
O__O …. T______T “I love you!”

It’s so good to see kindness again.

And now… some shiny