(dina is wearing First Frost by Silk & Satyr)As opening day grew closer, all of us worked at a frenzied pace - putting the last touches on the store, practicing our dance moves...
(Thor is wearing Mica Kajirus Leathers by Silk & Satyr)Many close friends contributed with help and advice for product design...
Of course there were a few missteps, such as when we accidentally autoreturned half of the building...fortunately, our Mad Consultant was on hand to make repairs to the store.
(Zed is wearing Triumvirate by Silk & Satyr. Sort of. He's also wearing our free kajira/kajirus pose stand.)Things did get a little crazy. We were starting to stress out.
Mistress Courtois advised me that I needed to project a little more "kewlness" in my image. But we soon concluded that any attempt to disguise my hawtness was a mistake. I like the shades, though.
(Julienn is wearing Early to Bed by Silk & Satyr, available exclusively in our unlucky chair.)
Finally, the big day!!! A happiness compounded by sharing it with friends.
(Thomas is wearing Mica by Silk & Satyr)I was willing to go to any lengths to please my customers.
(Thomas is wearing Mica, dina is wearing Sundown, both by Silk & Satyr)I was at the store all hours of the day and night. It felt like I was chained to my work.
(Kess is wearing Avril, dina is wearing Sundown, and Thomas is wearing Mica, all by Silk and Satyr)We were honored by a visit from our friend Kesseret Steeplechase, the lovely and talented designer behind KessKreations. She kindly blogged us - and filmed our dancing! I'm on YouTube! I'm on YouTube!I have surely arrived.
(Thomas is wearing Chains of Desire by Silk & Satyr)Indeed, the press was kind...but inadvertently created trouble. One favorable review refered to Mistress Courtois as my "partner." Indeed, we are business partners...but the term has loaded connotations...
I am not, for example, her SL partner. Not that there would be anything wrong with that...Mistress Courtois is a very attractive lady, pursued by many suitors.
(Silk & Satyr takes no responsibility whatsoever for SirFrancis' fashion choices.)But the real problem lies with my former Master...some 400 years ago, I insisted that we were partners, "eqwalle and frindlie gentlemen." He had other ideas. It was on a long yachting trip that matters finally came to a head...he sold me to the slave masters of Gor to teach me humility. All for my betterment, but the term "partner" is still an emotional trigger...
Shimere: Reality check, TommyBoi. You're retconning again. That isn't what wikipedia says about you. It says that you were beheaded for mutiny.Thomas: *hmph* You can't trust what you read on wikipedia. Don't you know that?Shimere: And furthermore, it completely violates Gorean canon. Fighting Slave of Gor clearly establishes that Jason Marshall is the first Earth man brought to Gor as a silk slave. That was loooong after 1578.Thomas: *tantrum*Shimere: This is what always happens when you go off your meds.
Well, it doesn't really matter. The point is that he has an explosive temper, and he gets bent out of shape over nothing.. Remember the time when he didn't like my chain dancing, and he nuked the sim? 
Well, not exactly nothing...I admit that I was getting a little fast and loose offering larmas at a certain parteh...
(dina is wearing Sundown by Silk & Satyr)But hey, I wasn't the only one to get out of control. At least I didn't get bitten by a vampire, or worse, wear an embarrassing facelight.
I thought about laying low, donning a disguise, but it would only postpone the inevitable...
And so we prepared to do battle...(To be continued!)
(Thomas is wearing Orchidia from Silk & Satyr)As I stand here in the soon-to-be-opened Silk & Satyr mainstore, I can scarcely believe it is really happening. I must take a moment to reflect...where did it all begin?
(Thomas is wearing Inferno from Silk & Satyr)Was it that terrible night, when depressed by my rejection as a beauty pageant contestant, I was comforted by my dear friend and now business partner, Mistress Ever Courtois? Was it then we resolved to make the seed of an idea grow into a fashion empire?
(Of course, I have since then redeemed myself, being awarded the title of Mr. Chimaera. Here I stand crowned between the runners-up, Astro Balut and ZeroG Howlett.)
(Thomas is wearing Sundown from Silk & Satyr)
Nay, the dream goes even further back, to the slave-pits of Gor, where, as all male silks (and all Italianate gentlemen of the Tudor period, I might add) , I was most concerned with the increase of my wardrobe. But my choices were severely limited to a handful of fashion houses who deigned to design top-notch silks for men. It was there I learned to sew, often times purchasing kajira silks and altering them to fit my sinewy frame. I began to design for myself, and hid in my heart a secret ambition to become a purveyor of fine couture.
Shimere: Now wait just a minute, Mr. Poser. For one thing, don't use the word "couture." You'll be flamed to high heaven.Thomas: But I'm already flaming, Mistress...Shimere: And for another, you're an Elizabethan role-playing avie. You've never been to Gor. You would never have survived it.Thomas: That's not true. I was tortured, whipped, humiliated, sexually abused...
Shimere: You wish! But no Italianate gentleman could ever bear the wretched prose of John Norman. Just listen: "Her breasts were lifted beautifully. I observed their lovely rise and fall, correlated with the respiratory cycle of her small lungs."
(Thomas is wearing Triumvirate from Silk & Satyr)
Thomas: Mistress, please stop! This one begs you to stop!
Shimere: Respiratory cycle? Who the hell wants to hear that in soft porn? And heaven forbid that a kajira might have large lungs! Are they measured? Do they take X-rays?
Thomas: *whimpers*
(Ever is wearing Celtica from Silk & Satyr)
Returning to my tale...Mistress Courtois and I were like-minded souls. She had already shared some of her stunning designs with me. I had long felt that such talent must be shared with the second world...but now it seemed that artistic expression was the only way for me to break out of my crushing sense of melancholy. We could help and support each other!
(Thomas is wearing the prototype of Cyprus from Silk & Satyr)Other friends were soon on board. They critiqued me mercilessly.
(ZeroG is wearing Corinth I from Silk & Satyr)Here, a friend strongly objects to my choice of palette.
The road to entrepreneurship was not easy...it was so easy to be discouraged...and it was complicated by numerous personal-life dramas. The smoldering embers of an old flame...
...the heavy-duty ordinance of a new...
Desperate to escape my problems, I became sucked into the party life.
My behavior became self-destructive.
(Thomas is wearing Pythia from Silk & Satyr)
Soon, I was acting out ridiculously.
(Thomas is wearing Byzantium from Silk & Satyr)
It is fortunate that I have such good friends! Once again, Mistress Courtois intervened, getting me into therapy.
Also, I found salvation in humanitarian impulses. I adopted an orphaned babe who had been abandoned on the coast of Patagonia. Fatherhood matured me, made me re-evaluate what was important. Our dream was back on track!
Of course, a business takes many individuals to make it run smoothly. Silk & Satyr needed a "face," someone recognizable to the public...we were fortunate enough to enlist Gorean supermodel dina Larnia. Yes, THE dina Larnia who once said, "This girl does not leave her mat at the foot of Master's bed for less than 10,000 larmas a day." That's a lot of fruit!
(dina is wearing Avril from Silk & Satyr)
We agreed that we wanted something different than the typical supermodel look, and so Mistress Ever soon gave dina a makeover. Much more our style!
We also needed to hire a business manager. After an extensive search, we hired, uh, Ever's cousin, jet-set wheeler-dealer Christopher Handsohn. We figured that Chris would be popular with the ladies. He's the blond, not the guy wearing the pumpkin.
Now, it's just a matter of getting the details right. Soon it will be opening day. I can't wait!
