the life and death of coyote in the kingdom of eelry

i know this post will be at odds with my other two posts, as this isn't an observation of the world i have made. rather, this is about a roleplaying character i'd sunk a great deal of time, virtual money, and effort into. the place where i had been going is shutting down to be rebuilt as something else, so i thought i'd like to share with you the story of my character, and where she was in the kingdom of eelry on second life. oh, and eelry was and always be amazing to me.
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coyote was a tall elf with pale skin, raven hair, and long pointed ears. her eyes were a beguiling shade of purple mixed with blue and touches of pink, and her smile was infectious. she had come to eelry after being stricken with wanderlust, though she couldn't remember why she was traveling in the first place. she had vague memories of a family that was no longer around, but that was all she had other than her first name. eelry had been a dark place as she entered the village, and her bare feet made no sound on the cobblestones as she explored the place that would ultimately become her new home. it wasn't too long before she encountered other people, making friends and enemies as she adjusted to her life as a citizen, and even attending the coronation of the new king and queen. it had been a joyous occasion to behold, and she was suitably impressed.

she felt safest in the forest, the only light place in a dark kingdom and so made her home there. she met a man named rhage krolmskull there, and soon found a calling to the druids who also made their home amongst the trees. she was happy here, and while she journeyed throughout the lands became quite good friends with clara johnstone, the mayor of eelry and frequent antagonizer of the royal couple who ruled with an iron fist and plotted in secret. she found out how clara had been brutally tortured to death then summarily revived by the evil king and queen, and decided she would find out just how they would bring eelry into a new future as a peaceful, unified kingdom.

the queen herself was a black dragon shaman, walking in darkness like her husband, a black paladin demon from another dimension who had come to the human plane to do the dirty work of his dark goddess. they did everything in their power to make clara seem like the crazy one, even swaying people over to their evil cause. coyote wasn't fooled though, and often put her foot in her mouth sassing the royals as they manipulated the people to their whims. she felt in her heart that clara was right about how bad they actually were, especially since they had set a plague upon the village, killing over half of the people in it, then summoning the bodies in an undead army so they could swoop in and save the day.

coyote found her new abilities as a fire druid in this time, and began toying with how to control the flames that lived in her soul while battling an insane forest guardian with the help of other druids who had come to the farm to talk to her about the fate of their missing druid king. ever since rhage had called himself king of the forest he had invoked the wrath of the king and queen, so obsidian had taken it upon herself to curse the forest in an attempt to bring him to heel; especially since the druids looked to him instead of her and her king parzival. unbeknownst to her rhage had used his lifeblood to tie himself to the forest, so her curse also affected him.

coyote and clara worked to undo the curse set on their home, and with the help of others at great cost managed to free rhage from obsidian's clutches and bring the forest back to life. this was short-lived as the queen managed to put a stronger curse on the forest again, so coyote offered her allegiance to the lady of the wood and patron goddess of clara, then used up everything she had to aid the mayor to undo the curse once and for all. in the meantime coyote had battled an insane dragon who was trying to destroy the farm the villagers used for food, so it nearly took her life to save the forest of eelry. it was worth it though, even though rhage vanished without a trace and the druids were without a leader.

clara stepped up in the interim to guide the druids until a new person stepped forward to become the leader, head of the clan and working with the others to broker peace. coyote was proud for her friend, but this was short lived as she was shortly murdered by the king for being a traitor to the crown. the loss of the one person coyote felt close to caused her to go insane as she mourned before the burnt skeleton that lay limply on the sacred altar, and she lost her very soul to madness.

reborn as a druid with no control over her fire abilities, coyote renamed herself trickster and made her way through the village with a mask carved in the shape of her namesake on her head, which hid her brilliantly amber eyes and baby fangs, and caused her to strongly resemble loki, her bond animal of the same species as her name. her laughter was strained, with a ruined throat from screaming she made a new name for herself as a force to be reckoned with.

since the king had interrogated her before her subsequent insanity and then gone missing after killing clara, queen obsidian sought her out to see if she was responsible. of course, when the queen finally found the mad elf it was quite a funny moment, the queen was normally a bit of a bitch but was rendered speechless at the word salads that poured from coyote's mouth. she even wondered if the elf was okay, which prompted coyote to nearly drown herself laughing.

it wasn't too hard to make a simple potion that rendered coyote temporarily sane for obsidian to question her, and from there she learned that clara had met her end at the hands of the king, and that coyote felt responsible for her death. without mincing her words obsidian told coyote it wasn't her fault, clara had already betrayed the kingdom and she'd finally racked up enough charges to be put to death. since parzival had been alive last time coyote had seen him, she was let go. unfortunately her madness remained since she had killed an innocent animal in her grief, so once the potion wore off she was insane again.

many people found her both intimidating and amusing, so since coyote's mischief was harmless she was left alone for the most part. when the angel came to eelry, some saw her as clara reborn, but coyote saw her as a bitch with wings and tried to set her on fire. loki intervened and kept her from causing calamity, but the angel didn't care one way or the other and simply went around the kingdom pissing off everyone she encountered. coyote tried to find meaning in her madness, and had periods of lucidity where she made sense and was able to comprehend her environment. she even joined several people on a quest to elmandria, the ruins of an old kingdom that the king and queen had ruled over a thousand years prior.

after the return to eelry the queen was murdered by assassins sent by the angel, and since she had completed the dragon bond with her king, he too fell dead by their hand. the queen was reborn as a vengeful spirit, and while parzival was in hell made a new pact with his dark goddess and was granted return to the living. obsidian was reborn in her original body as an undead shaman, with greater powers than before and a shorter temper. a mage known as ilaria bane took over as regent as she was tasked with finding out who killed the king and queen, but the closest she had come was finding the charred bodies of the assassins. as she tried to find out the source of the attacks, more chaos fell upon the kingdom.

the great white dragon, burdened with a legion of souls and mad with pain and fear from her broken gem on her forehead, had burrowed into the mountain housing the mines and causing a great many small earthquakes to shake the kingdom of eelry. the quakes upset several items in obsidian's camp, shattering two bottles housing violent spirits and setting them lose to wreak havoc. since she was still known as dead to her people, obsidian decided to see how her regent would handle it while she sought out her reborn king and tried to figure out how to free her daughter from a powerful spell performed by an unknown entity at the moment of parzival's death.

coyote ran into the first one, a former jester who loved to entertain and grew angry when the baker teresa decided to try and hit him with a frying pan. she found it hysterically funny as the spirit ran off to hide in the out house, and hoped to run into him again and maybe unintentionally bring the spirit peace and allow it to cross over to the other side. she was not so lucky when she ran into the second one in front of the castle as she made her way towards the dark forest.

this one was a being filled with rage and quick to anger, and coyote accidentally pissed it off. as it screamed into the air with supernatural force beyond human reckoning, blood spilled from every orifice, her eardrums ruptured, and though she screamed in agony no one was near to help. as she staggered and fell down the castle steps, her heart exploded in her chest and coyote quietly died staring at the heavens with a smile on her face and a chuckle on her lips. she died as she was born in the kingdom, completely alone with no one who knew or cared for her.

the regent was informed of a mysterious death by the wife of a survivor who had gone deaf and also suffered the great quantity of bleeding, but none of them knew that within the pouch on coyote's body was a key to restoring the great white dragons sanity: a piece of the broken gem.

mermaids and events

so this is something that's been bothering me. i went to the yearly pirate event that happens locally, and i went as a mermaid. i had my tail on, some pearl necklaces, a shell headband, a necklace headpiece, rhinestones on my face, the whole shebang. i thought i looked like a cool mermaid, and i got a lot of positive response from it. lots of kids shouted "mermaid!" and i'd wave and say hello, they'd come talk to me and i'd chat with them in character, and i even handed out big beads as 'treasure' and some beads from walmart i claimed were 'pearls' i found in the ocean. i tried to ensure that i alternated who got what, and i didn't pick which gender got what. for the most part everything was going great, everyone was happy to see me and i even posed for some photos. i was having a good time, families were having good times, it was all gravy.

except for one particular moment that stands out in my mind as one of the more fucked up things i've encountered in a while.

at some point my partner and i got hungry, so we decided to head into the alley that had various food vendors to get something to eat. it was pretty hot in the sun, even with my parasol, so i was parked alongside the food truck in the shade so i could be comfortable. while i was relaxing there, spraying myself with the water bottle on occasion or adjusting my fluke so my feet didn't fall asleep, i was spotted by two young girls. hearing them talk i heard that the girls were three and four years old, respectively. as soon as they saw me, they went, "a mermaid!" "look mommy, a mermaid!" and so i smiled and waved even though i wasn't up for being in character at that moment because i was waiting for my lunch.

and then, the unthinkable happened. the mom looked up, saw me, then bent her head down to the kids and said, and i quote, "that's not a mermaid. that's just someone dressed as a mermaid." i was completely floored. i mean, yes, technically she was right, but who the hell says that to children not even old enough to attend school?! i watched their faces as those words sunk in, and they went from happy to absolutely devastated. i had no idea what to do, or how to react to that. i had pulled some beads out for them, but i put them back into the bag because it was obvious i wasn't going to be able to give it to them.

i watched, at an utter loss, to see what the kids were going to do next. one of them piped up and asked me how i turned into a mermaid. you know, kid logic. her little brain turned "she's dressed like a mermaid" into "turned into a mermaid" which was very sweet. since i wasn't actually sure what she had asked me since i was near the motor on the truck i repeated her words, and her smiling face nodded which assured me that i had heard her correctly. so i replied, "well, a pirate did it!"to which she turned and said, "mom! a pirate!" and the mom actually ignored her. she did not care that a pirate had turned someone into a mermaid, and was more focused on her smart phone than her environment.

i was flabbergasted, to say the least. and then, when i didn't think it could get any worse, it did.

after the lady and her girl friend got their food, they happened to walk past me in my wagon. the girls tried to wave and approach me, and the mom grabbed them and pulled them away as they left.

i had no idea what to do, but i was so shocked i forgot to look happy for the other kids in the alley eating lunch. when my brain kicked back into gear i resumed my expression, but that bothered the hell out of me. why would you take your kids to a pirate event if you're going to tell your kids that all of it is made up, essentially make-believe? crushing their innocence isn't going to help them become better people, and will make them incredibly jaded before they even hit puberty.

the only thing that put a genuine smile back on my face was the little girl who asked me if i was ariel's cousin. since most little kids have seen the little mermaid i was anticipating something like this, so i replied that i was and that i would say hi to her for the child. the happiness on her face completely made my day, and i hope i made hers as well.

but this doesn't stop the fact that apparently there are parents out there who will tell their children these sorts of things without any regard to the consequences. i almost wonder if she's the same type of person who will take their kids to disneyland, then proceed to tell them that none of it is real. it's soul-crushing to a child, and i cannot fathom why she bothered bringing her kids at all if she was just going to hurt them emotionally.

tail opinions

i have a lot of time on my hands, so i've started watching a lot of youtube videos. mostly of channels here and there, on occasion a random suggestion that's popped up on my list. so with that said, i began to explore, do a little research, and have formed opinions on products. of course, i have basically no idea what i'm talking about, so if this post screams "you have absolutely no idea how this works!" you would be correct and should probably stop reading before my words cause a rage-induced aneurysm. today's opinion is on fabric tails.

why, you ask? well, because the thoughts have been tumbling around in my mind a lot and might as well start hitting keys until they become words on a page.

to start: yes, i do in fact own my own fabric mermaid tail. just the one, i'm very fond of it and would like to be able to test it out in the water after i get more physically fit and regain my strength and stamina in the water.

now that that's out of the way, let's get down to my observations and opinions. now, i will admit here i am certain i am biased against a particular brand, and i will also explain why. please note that while my words  may will become scathing, i will add positivity. okay?

anyways, let's get down to brass tacks.

in my quest to own a mermaid tail, i stumbled across this site that makes tails here in the usa. intrigued, i checked out the website and got click happy. i was in love! the patterns were gorgeous, and there were so many options. i had to have one. the price initially gave me pause, but then i noticed that there was a sale going on, and it was cheaper than the original listing. after not-quite-begging, i managed to get my hands on a beautiful tail for my birthday. a short while later i realized i needed a monofin, both so the tail didn't look so ridiculously floppy, and the fact that i wanted to swim in it. happy as a clam i ordered a monofin from the same site i got my tail from, and now i have an amazing tail currently resting on my dresser until there's a time to wear it. (side note: i've worn it in public once at an event, but i have yet to test it out in the water.)

sometime after i had my tail and before i had my monofin, another site that makes tails caught my attention. they're pretty popular, so i decided to look around their website and see if maybe i wanted to branch out into their collection. right away as the page loaded, i was assaulted by a bright, chaotic theme that seemed tailored for kids. confused, i managed to click around until i navigated to the right section. all the tails looked... weird. not really tail-like at all, more like a tube with a half-assed fluke at the end. the patterns seemed nice, but the names of the colors threw me off. why were there person names with these shades of purple, orange, red, and yellow? that question was quickly answered when i clicked around some more. it would seem that this site not only caters to kids, but has an entire line of comics, comic books, and freaking barbie dolls of some characters they made up. that's why the tails have people names attached to them, it's the tails the characters are wearing. i thought that was odd, but hey if you wanna market the shit out of an original thing you came up with, you do you boo boo.

then i saw the prices. why, those are right up my alley! so what's the catch? no catch, this site claims. just "quality tails for affordable prices." call me skeptical, but if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. apparently they made their own monofin too, but i'm getting a little ahead of myself here.

cheap tails that look nice underwater! yay!

there's gotta be a catch. there's always a freaking catch. so, with that in mind, i began hunting youtube. i didn't have much luck at first, because typing in "mermaid" or "mermaid tail" will get you a ton of channels about kids and teens pretending to be mermaids or doing outrageously silly mermaid stories. cute, but not what i was after. so then after months of periodic net diving (heh), i found a channel that talks about and reviews tails. lo and behold, she had one of the tails from this site. she seemed super excited about it, and i clicked on her first swim video. right away i noticed two things: the fabric is so thin that in the water it's transparent, and the monofin is crap.

now, there's nothing else i could initially observe wrong about this tail aside from those two things, but i'm a picky person and those right there were a deal breaker for me. i'm incredibly shy about my body, so swimming in a pool with a see-through fabric tail was just not gonna cut it for me. but now i know why they're so cheap; it's because the fabric is poor quality and basically turns into a wet white t-shirt. awesome.

interestingly, the tail that i have, it's made out of a thicker swimsuit fabric and when i have it on it's noticeably a different sensation. my bikini feels like it's made from a thick fabric, and my tail is about the same. a quick jaunt to youtube sort of confirms that it remains opaque underwater, but since that's basically confirmation bias i'm ignoring it. however, in perusing the review channel i did notice one thing: every single fabric tail she has, which are from several different websites at different costs, all have the same issue: they go transparent underwater. so then i have to sit there and go, "is it truly confirmation bias if the issue seems to go across several different brands?" i'm still leaning towards yes, since she doesn't own a tail from the site i got mine from, and basically poo-pooed it without testing it in one of her older videos. although i find it mildly interesting that the site she raves about a lot is the site i am completely against. hooray for opinions, right?

now, on to the monofins.

the ones marketed for the cheap thin  awful kids brand tail were their own design that they apparently patented. they explained it was basically plastic with foam covering with foot holes. wat

and somehow these pieces of crap monofins were "better" than the competition. just, what? i can't even. i mean for real, they took some plastic, covered it in some sketchy fabric, cut in some foot holes, and put socks in them and said go apeshit. now, this is where my bias against this brand is showing the most, because i cannot fathom how the hell that is going to work. (spoiler: it doesn't.) i managed to sit through about ten to fifteen different videos of this brand's tails in action in different pools/lagoons/hot tubs/rivers/lakes/what have you and observed that everyone wearing them had to severely compensate for the monofin by putting more power into their dolphin kick. (the dolphin kick is the actual name of the mermaid style swimming people do.) i also noticed that the plastic is flimsy as shit and pretty much negates the buildup from the dolphin kick and means you have to become an undulating ribbon if you want to get anywhere underwater.

the monofin i have is from a reputable brand, which can be found online and got a shout-out from a few pro mermaids on youtube. (woo!) it's bigger than the plastic contraption, shaped like an actual fluke, and contains a strap to hold your feet in to it without any chafing or painful rubbing. watching videos of mermaids/mermen wearing this fin, it seemed obvious to me which one was the better choice. they even come in cool colors, and i opted for the pink and purple one as i thought it was cuter than the blue one. it held up well with the buildup from the dolphin kick, and gave a decent boost to the speed of the swimmer and looked very nice.

so, with all that said, my final thought is this: if you're looking for cheap, easy to use, and great for kids, then this super popular brand will work for you. if you're incredibly picky like i am, take the time to look around and see what else is out there. and remember, money talks. if it's more expensive, it's probably better quality.