One of the pleasures of friends is when they do something lovely and wonderful to surprise you.
Years ago I met Charlie, who at the time was the owner and Vampire Prince of Wood Bourne, a small town in upstate New York. That was the seat of one of the more painful episodes of my time on Second Life, made up largely of the pains of human interaction which are inevitable wherever people go. It was also the seat of my becoming close to Charlie and his lover Aydryan, though - both in roleplay and, more importantly, outside of it. When Wood Bourne ended we moved on to the Isle of Amras for a few years, and then played around with a few ideas for future roleplay which fell through, and finally Charlie decided he wanted to make a shopping sim, someplace beautiful and centered around roleplaying where people could find everything they might need within a bunch of different stores - modern to medieval to fantasy to sci fi. I had been enjoying in particular his new "classical" section, full of pillars and white marble, but little did I know that he had tucked into the side of one of his plateaus a present for me - Deo's Grove.
I've squatted on his land, using a platform in the sky, for a very long time. He lets me leave some various useful things lying around, like an enormous photoball, and my scrips weigher. I usually go back there when I want to change, usually far enough away from others to not have to worry about flashing my half-naked self all over the place. I have a few other "guest" platforms for friends to use, too, and the whole thing is simple and lovely. This is different, though. Charlie decorated a lovely garden for me, with the rainbow pool he used to have over his store before he opened it up. It is right under the path the maglev takes you on when you visit the sim, so visitors can see the rainbow grasses among the beautiful, paintbrush trees as they ride past into the darkness under the classical plaza. I'm also within view of Aydryan's platform, where his new main store is in a wave of pretty, fantastical creations. Knowing me, though, Charlie gave me something extra - something special - something hidden for me to decorate and enjoy.
There is a path of bright green grasses that goes through the grove and toward the tiny cave under the mountainous plateau. This is a cave which dates back to before Amras, to a window of time when we all raised a bunch of different breedables on a tiny, private island and spent a great deal of time giggling and hanging out together. Originally, this is where we had put the briefly present, breedable plants that produced a set of lovely, sound making, light glowing plants one could keep afterwards, the final form one which floated int he fire when this cave made the transition to being the secret hideaway of the Gods of Amras. This time the fountain is outside, though, where everyone can enjoy it, and inside is the loveliest little island with a well on it. Charlie gave me free reign in here, and while I stuck with the lowest prim I could, I'll admit to going a little wild. I have a lot of one prim prizes from various arcade events, and many of my favorites made it into my lovely, hidden cave. Also hidden in there is some of my artwork and, in a lovely recursive loop, a link to this blog so that people can see more of my art.
This is one of the loveliest things a friend has ever done for me - making it so clear how well he knows me, how much he cares about me, and making me a place in his new endeavor even though I'm not really bringing much - I blog, but I've always blogged him and his stuff; I'm entertaining, but I don't really bring in much financially, but in many ways this is more than the financial - this is returning to the messy, scale of human relationships, of the people we like to have around us. This is about love and affection which carries its way across distances through the medium of electricity.
I love you, too, Charlie. ~<3
( More pictures here. )
