The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal - A City On My Skin

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March 18th, 2009
08:53 am

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A City On My Skin
She held my hand, inking a harbor on my palm, squeezing streets onto my wrist. It felt strangely intimate, an act of purest love; she'd made this city for me, and our avenues connected.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

See, [info]bec76 is a henna artist, and a damned fine one; she did my pre-Clarion mehndi, which sent me off to my writing workshop wreathed in an elaborate series of curlicues, firing birds up towards the heart at the tip of my middle finger. And Catherynne Valente's Palimpsest reading - a book that revolves around a map and gateway to a city, transmitted as a sexual disease - she wanted to draw maps on my skin.

Or, should I say, our skin. The goal was to draw individual maps on each of the four of us, [info]zoethe and [info]zodarzone and [info]bec76 and me, and when we touched the four of us would link up into a larger map, a vista that could only be created by our togetherness. I thought this was a beautiful and creative idea, and I love getting henna anyway, so of course I went for it.

I, however, had a special request: "Put the Lady of Pain on my skin." The Lady of Pain is from Planescape, a game that's long resonated with me, and though I've talked about having her on my back I've never had the money to afford it; if Bec could sneak a part of Planescape into Palimpsest through me, thus melding the best of all worlds, that would make me giddy.

She sent the designs, but forgot the Lady. When she got here on Sunday for the big inking, I repeated the request, and she went off for an hour to redesign. That confused me; my city had a big round spot that could easily stash a small Lady. But when I went out to check on her, she was redoing the whole design from scratch, making a huge bladed thing that took up my whole palm.

"Sweetie," I said, "It's okay. Just stash a little Lady here."

"No, no," she said. "That's Whalejack Station."

That confused me, but then she took my hand in hers and explained: what she had drawn wasn't just pretty patterns, but an actual map. She thought of me as a safe, welcoming place that people came to, so she'd made me a harbor. She tracers her finger down the drawing, showing me where the industrial districts were, tapping the merchant's shops... There was a whole world, a thriving industry, that I'd never seen. There were stories in here.

"Forget the Lady," said I. "I want that."

"You sure?" she asked. "I know you wanted something personal..."

"The Lady of Pain is personal," I said. "But nobody's ever built me a city before. I want your city on me."

The way she beamed, I knew that this was the absolutely correct choice.

Later that night, she took my hand, and so close that I could smell her breath on me among the sweet scent of henna, she scribed me. There's something strangely beautiful about watching a professional at work; she had no wasted movements, her focus was so intently upon my hand that I felt made into a portal for her art. I felt the cold dots of henna traced upon my fingers, the excess expertly scraped away, and it felt like architecture; now that I knew each dot represented an act of imagination, it was like seeing New York built upon my body. Occasionally she'd look up from her work and smile at me, and I knew that we were creating something together - me as her receptacle, a town she'd built from love.

We didn't assemble the city until the very end of Palimpsest, and the shots we got didn't quite show how it fit together. (The pictures are stolen from Jer, but you should really check out his full photostream of the Palimpsest release party.) But here's my hand:

A City On My Skin.

And here's how it connects with Gini's:

Gini and Ferrett, linked.

And here's how Gini's connects with Jer:

Gini and Jer, linked.

And here's how I am connected to Bec.

Bec and Ferrett, tied.

Here are our four individual maps:

Apart, yet together.

And how we fit together.

The full Palimpsest map.

(Tell me I'm full of it)

Comments
 
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From:[info]nex0s
Date:March 18th, 2009 12:56 pm (UTC)
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O lovely!

N.
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From:[info]vrax
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:10 pm (UTC)
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*slackjawed appreciation*
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From:[info]greybeta
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:10 pm (UTC)
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AWESOME!!!

Man, this totally reminds me of one of those movies where the secret treasure is buried and four people have part of the map they must combine together...
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From:[info]lysystratae
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:22 pm (UTC)
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Wow
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From:[info]lessthanthree
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:26 pm (UTC)
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That is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

My idea is nowhere near as cool in comparison, but I have a few friends already in line to share my copy with, under the promise that they will buy a copy when they can afford it. But books are more intimate and special to me than sex sometimes, so there's something about sharing this book that seems right to me, so for Cat's sake I'm hoping they buy it, but I will thoroughly enjoy sharing my Palimpsest with them. Before I share with the first person, I think I'm going to draw my own map in the front cover and request that each person that borrows it shares their own streets so that the book will tell the story of the people it has passed between.
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From:[info]argonel
Date:March 18th, 2009 02:17 pm (UTC)
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That is an awesome idea. I bet you could get [info]yuki_onna to draw a bit of map in it as a starting point in addition to or instead of signing it.
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From:[info]lessthanthree
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:32 pm (UTC)
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Unfortunately, Philly was one of the first stops on the trip and I missed it :(
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From:[info]yuki_onna
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:48 pm (UTC)
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I love the idea though. I would totally do it.
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From:[info]lessthanthree
Date:March 18th, 2009 08:46 pm (UTC)
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Feel free to steal the idea on the rest of the trip :)

I feel silly commenting this here, like a fangirl and all, but I really REALLY REALLY loved the book. You have a way of writing that made me enjoy reading the words as much as the idea behind them. It drives me insane when books are written in a way that you have to re-read a sentence or an idea to understand either bad or confusing syntax. It takes away from the flow of the read. I had exactly the opposite feeling when I read Palimpsest. I kept re-reading things because I loved the way they were worded so much that I just had to see it again to soak it in. I couldn't stop touching the book while I was reading it, like brushing the whole page to turn it. I don't know that I've been as close to obsessed with many things in my life as reading, and very few books make me feel connected to them like it did.

Ok enough thread jacking to gush. I just wanted to tell you I thought (you know, being an expert and critic and all, so my opinion is SO important) the book was really amazing and I'm definitely gonna be checking out more of your work.
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From:[info]theferrett
Date:March 19th, 2009 04:02 am (UTC)
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You could comment in her journal.

Not that I mind you being here, but Cat? Surprisingly accessible. She likes people and stuff.
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From:[info]argonel
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:50 pm (UTC)
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Sounds like you need to read the book, then mail it with return postage...
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From:[info]myrrhdusa
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:29 pm (UTC)
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That's just fucking awesome. I love henna.
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From:[info]usmu
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:54 pm (UTC)
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This is three kinds of awesome and then some. Wow!
This is the kind of thing that makes me glad to be alive.
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From:[info]jmfunnyface
Date:March 18th, 2009 01:58 pm (UTC)
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That's very awesome!
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From:[info]fabricdragon
Date:March 18th, 2009 02:20 pm (UTC)
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that is really neatly cool....

and i too love henna, reminds me its time to retrace the design on my left hand
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From:[info]smallekins
Date:March 18th, 2009 02:32 pm (UTC)
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Your designs (all four of them) are absolutely stunning. What a beautiful way to celebrate the launch of such a special book. Simply lovely.
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From:[info]elfwench
Date:March 18th, 2009 02:36 pm (UTC)
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That is just awesome. And seems so spiritual at the same time.
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From:[info]daughterofodhin
Date:March 18th, 2009 02:51 pm (UTC)

That is fantastic

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She is a fantastic artist.

Cool all around.
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From:[info]flirty_deb
Date:March 18th, 2009 03:17 pm (UTC)
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That is major awesomeness.
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From:[info]cyan_blue
Date:March 18th, 2009 03:48 pm (UTC)
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That is awesome and sweet :-)
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From:[info]roniliquidity
Date:March 18th, 2009 04:02 pm (UTC)
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Neat!
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From:[info]crasch
Date:March 18th, 2009 04:29 pm (UTC)
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What a cool idea!
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From:[info]elionwyr
Date:March 18th, 2009 04:43 pm (UTC)
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I've heard of this, of course, but not seen it. Thank you for this post.

And now I think that I want to do this in permanent ink with someone. Someday.
*wistful sigh*
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From:[info]supremegoddess1
Date:March 18th, 2009 06:09 pm (UTC)
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pretty!
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From:[info]molkovia04
Date:March 18th, 2009 06:22 pm (UTC)
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Wow! What a glorious idea, to have each tattoo connect to the next.
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From:[info]ladyfox7oaks
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:05 pm (UTC)
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O_O Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. This is magnificent! (And so much more.)
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From:[info]dr_pipe
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:48 pm (UTC)
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The way they connect from person to person is just too fuckin awesome. Must read Palimpsest nao.
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From:[info]yuki_onna
Date:March 18th, 2009 07:49 pm (UTC)
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And this, /this/, is what Palimpsest is all about.
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