Satin's Introduction

Julie Hough

Now when am I? It was dark, and I could tell I am in a building somewhere, I can hear people walking around upstairs. So I check the time, and realize three weeks have passed! So much for improving my tips. I then expand out my awareness and check where I am. Huh, somewhere south of Durham, North Carolina. I was certainly not here before. I realize I am still wearing what I wore dancing, a thong. I try to get my stuff by reaching through the Tapestry, but I have trouble, and screw it up, giving myself a headache and crying out briefly. Then I hear the people from upstairs coming. Ooops. I try to find a place to hide and manage to slip behind a closet door before a woman comes downstairs. She looks around and asks if anyone is down here. Needless to say, I don't reply, at first. Then it occurs to me this woman has no light, but is looking around in the dark as if she can see clearly. So I started to undo my hair from it's bun and step out from behind the door and say hi. She says hi back, and seems only a bit startled to see a naked stranger in her basement. She asks if I realize I am naked, and I say yes, of course, I was doing some exotic dancing before ending up here. She asks if I can see ok in the dark, and to follow her to her room and she would find me some clothes. She is a bit taller than me, so something should fit. We go to her room and she hands me a silk shirt that comes just above mid thigh on me, so I ask for a belt or sash, tie the sash around my waist, and tell her thanks. She offers shoes, but I decline. I like walking barefoot, it feels better than shoes.

We talk a bit, introduce ourselves, and she asks me how I got in the basement. I told her I had been trapped in a paradox realm, and her basement is where it let me out, three weeks later. She knows what a paradox realm is, and asks what tradition I am. Cult of Ecstasy. Oh. Gee, don't act so thrilled. I ask her the same. Celestial Chorus. Oh. Now I understand her reaction. She apologizes for being rude, and then gives me a brief description of what has happened. The Shadow Realms have merged with the real world, there is a big, sucking vortex in the sky, and that they are the last stronghold of Mages left, according to a greater power of the Universe, Huh, a lot has happened in three weeks I see. Well, I certainly didn't foresee this, but it explains the feeling of being pulled toward some sort of destiny. She also mentions specters, which seems obvious to me since we seem to be merged with the Shadow Lands.

We head upstairs, where a very loud and obnoxious bitch asks, "Who are you and what why are you in my basement? Oh, never mind, are you another one of these damn mages infesting my house?" I look at Rachel and ask, "Who is this bitch?" A man replies, "Amethyst. I'm Glen, who are you?" "Satin." I dance. It's natural for me. Amethyst pipes up, "Did you know you're flashing the room?" "Yeah. So?" I keep dancing, after all, I'm wearing more clothes now than usual. Rachel tells about some of what has been happening, and keeps mentioning someone named Kasee, so I ask who she is. She tells me she was an Orphan who tended to get herself into a lot of trouble, and has disappeared, and they don't know if she just wandered off or blew herself up. Amethyst pipes up again, "She called me a bitch! Just like you!" "Smart girl," I reply with a grin. I wander to the window and look outside, to see if what Rachel clams is true. Yup, it sure is. Big, sucking vortex. Cool. Life was getting a bit dull. A turn back and notice Rachel is now glowing with dull red runes, and I realize they are death magic symbols. She has a look of disgust on her face, and I ask I that's normal. "Certainly not!" Good. Death magic is bad. I don't like death magic much. Rachel tells me about a recent battle they had with specters, that one of them almost died. She also discuss the vortex and the flying creatures coming out of it with some guy named William. I dance and listen, and David stares. I like it, so I keep dancing. I find it amusing I can totally distract some people. Rachel finally asks what time it is, so I check, and it is exactly 10pm, Saturday, June 27, 1998. So I tell her, and they decide we'd better get some sleep. Hmm, good idea, seems I actually haven't slept in three weeks. I ask if it is ok if I stay, and Rachel tells me she wouldn't want to let me leave, they need all the help they can get, and it's pretty bad out there. Ok. Amethyst stomps off to her room, and then stomps right back out, yells, "Dammit! I want the mages to go away!" Then she stomps off into another room. I'm shown to a room downstairs, I strip and go to sleep.

Sometime later, I'm shaken awake by Rachel. "Get up and get dressed now, we have to go!" I slowly get up, put on the thong and shirt, and then Rachel is dragging me into her room. I'm vaguely aware she is naked, and she starts getting dressed in what look to be biker leathers. On a Celestial Choruster? Cool. I ask for jean shorts, and she hands me some, which I pull on, and stuff the money I have into a pocket. I'm ready now for nay adventure, I just wish I had my Tarot cards. We go upstairs. William is pointing a gun at a man I haven't seen yet, and the woman on the couch has been shot in the head, obviously very dead now. A rather beat up looking guy walks in the door, with dried blood on his shirt. Rachel gives Cab (the woman on the couch) last rights, and the beat up guy, Alex I find out, walks up to the couch and reaches up and is sucked into a portal. "You're next!" William yells as he continues to point the gun at the other guy, who I've learned now is Reuben. Sara, Amethyst's better half, obviously, enters the portal, and Rachel asks if I'm ready. Sure. Looks like fun. We go.

We find ourselves on the edge of the big, sucking vortex, sans William, the bastard. Oh well, he seemed a bit too uptight for my tastes anyway. I meet Reuben now. We can see Earth above us, and blackness into the vortex. Alex says all he knows is we need to reason with it, and hope. Reason with what? A vortex? I decide to look for a mind to reason with, and do I find one! I fall down, screaming, because it is horrible and in my head and I want it out NOW!!! I finally completely collapse and stop screaming, and shakily get to my feet. I expand awareness to explore the area, and discover it isn't much of a Correspondence point, and as a matter of fact, we seem to be standing on willpower alone. And whose willpower I think I already found out, rather painfully. So I stare into the center, and see darkness except for a shiny, white center, like light reflecting off metal, or a mirror. I point and say that is probably where we need to go, and Sara and Rachel and I head off, followed by Glen. Into what future, I haven't checked yet.