Genre: Wild Derby Girls Run Free

This Genre look is a combination of bunches of things, and I think it turned out rather well! One of the things I love about Roller Derby is how the looks can combine femininity and aggression into a single, cohesive whole - neither undermines the other in this world of battle. In addition to a bunch of things pulled in from my inventory, I combined pieces from Sn@tch's Roller Rebel Bodysuit - most of the textures on my form - and :{MV}:'s Hellcat Derby rigged mesh pieces into a cohesive whole. It amazes me how seamlessly everything fits together; the textured bodysuit with it's long sleeves and high waisted corset piece tucks beautifully under all three :{MV}: pieces. I used the white bodysuit to balance out the dark red of my :{MV}: top, and balanced the red out with a pair of tights from Stellar and the Anachron helmet in black, red, and white.

Left of Center

Winter can be a melancholy time, an exhausting time, a time for inward turning, and a time for deep thoughts. I've been dwelling on a few different things - one being power, how we know we have power, how we identify being powerful, what empowerment means, and the difference between actual and perceived power. Knowing when one does and doesn't have power is complicated because perceived power can give rise to actual power, and actual power can be perceived as powerlessness. I was also thinking about that in the context of groups, group dynamics, the prejudices individuals-as-members-of-groups are prone to. I've been really struck lately by the rhetorical plays people make and trying to figure out why - is it accurate all the way down to bone, or is there a calculus for winning which steps in? A discussion of creating a woman-dominated space was responded to using stereotypes of weakness and pink, and it was all intra-group; a woman and feminist objects to sartorial and language choices of other women; women organize to police and exclude each other as part of seeking equality; there is something bent here when it aggregates. There is something also in the stories we tell, and how we work with and against them as individuals. The world is made up of layers of meaning, and sometimes I think truly understanding is completely impossible.

I'm wearing a couple of things from Level Up, specifically this wonderful dress and necklace (the latter a gacha) from katat0nik. The motif  of the dress is froggies, the style adorable, the skirt semi-transparent. I'm wearing the average size here; it goes larger and smaller on both ends and works well on both thin and curvy bodies. I actually want clothes like this offline - the fluffy skirt is a favorite of mine, and who doesn't love a sailor suit top? The necklaces, which are gacha prizes like I said, are all fruit themes in a wide variety of colors. The little bow in the same color is adorable. I went with a loose, flowy ponytail from Clawtooth in a very simple blond. One nice thing about rigged hairs is that ponytails can now stay nicely tucked against the body instead of going every which way whenever one turned ones' head, and this is a waist-length ponytail worth having, as much for the flyaway bangs as anything else. My stockings are an old, lucky purchase from Stellar which I really love; they actually came in all green, but I thought the white contrasted more nicely with my shoes and were less overpoweringly a saturated green - the touch of the clover is enough to echo the green of the frogs. Capping off my toes are these fun variants on a Mary Jane style heel, with the delicate ribbon along the edge of the shoe and the shiny, silver buttons. They come from Mango Cheeks, and are a fantastic, elegant shoe - I ended up picking up the fatpack! I especially like how the band is tapered instead of steady, reflecting the pressure put on it by the feet, and giving it that little extra touch to set it apart from other shoes.

Blood in the Snow

Within Second Life, it's easy to not make any significant decisions. Second Life is, in many ways, safe. Falling won't kill. Guns won't hurt. Even the words are often insulated by miles an mysteries. Offline, I spend a lot of time not being sure if my decisions are sound. I spend time doing things, then being afraid for the results. Bad things happen, and they're partially my fault, and then I blame myself. I try to do my best, and I so, so often fall far short of the goal. More and more, I'm beginning to wonder if the enormous output of energy I have on reminding myself of how much I suck is really worth it. It makes me stressed and unhappy. It's like those times as a teenager I would get a bloody nose and just watch the blood drip down onto the pure white of the porcelain basin, entranced by my own suffering. The contrast of red on white is a stark one, and one usually associated with a wound or injury. Second Life is a fangless world without actual physical wounds, but the ways in which we preset ourselves through our avatars can reflect the more subtle emotional wounds so many of us carry. Our pain and self-hatred can form themselves as bruises, or gems, or a cracked doll skin. We can reform our weaknesses into beautiful shapes and pictures, somehow redeeming pain with self-expression. The very safeness of Second Life makes it a prime place to flower free in ways we might be afraid to offline, to be honest in ways we may not offline, to relax our boundaries. The lack of consequences has it's own effects, encouraging me to rethink large aspects of my offline life in a place where it's easy and pleasant to pretend to have no cares.

I'm layered and warm in this look, starting with a curling Truth hairstyle which all  but engulfs my ears, large as they are. One thing I like about Truth's style is how it is open and loose without being too flyaway or formal. I also love the little bows, which are included and matched my outfit perfectly. My lips are a gorgeous shade of deep red from Adore & Abhor, and I was aiming for something rich and slightly dull to go with this charming cape top from Ur Favorite One. The invisi-layer is critical for this, but I quite like the effect of it overall; the hood is adorable, the collar looks soft and warm, and the length is charming. It's also quite unique, which is why I picked it up despite my usual resistance to separates. It's a little difficult to find clothing for underneath, but it works well with a knee length skirt or a pair of pants. I went for the former by layering under it one of katat0nik's latest releases, which unfortunately hides it's wonderful metal bodice but which still shows off a sweetly rigged, knee-length skirt with the simple, clear texturing that katat0nik is known for. My stockings are an old favorite - Stellar - and are a much darker color; I thought they balanced out my wings, from Deviance. I also wanted to capture some of the darker tones right before slipping into these elegant new shoes from Eclectica. I love the way the bows are done in particular; they really look like ribbon tacked on to the back. I also love the texturing - look at the rich red and soft cream, the gentle wood of the heel. It's such a simple design, and yet so lovely.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Truth, Velvet
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, 13 Lips Earth
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Finger Nails: A:S:S, Glamour silk
Cape: U.F.O., Ponpon Cape Coat (Collabor88)
Dress: katat0nik, Metal Corset Dress
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom Tights
Shoes: Eclectica, Brocade Court Shoes

Poses: Diesel Works

Location: Crash Boat
Light Settings: Phototools, rara Home Fall Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Music by Moonlight

I was last here for the Surrealism Challenge, but I vowed to return for more shots and I finally made it back tonight. Musiclandia is a lovely sim full of musical instruments, water, and whimsey, and it looks lovely under moonlight.  I had some fun playing around with windlight this time - shifting where the moon is, adjusting the cloud layer, making the stars larger and smaller as it suited me; you might be able to tell now and then from the hue of the light that a lot of things have change, but overall I think the changes are seamless. In one picture, I used an attached light to make things brighten up; can you figure out which one?

I've been bouncing around in this outfit for a while, thoroughly enjoying it. The gown is a quite old one, but still lovely; Blue Blood makes the most exquisite clothing, and I think her wide-hipped ones like this are my favorite. I love the sleeve design, too, and the gray and white quality of her whitegoth styles. I substituted lovely stockings from Stellar for the included ones, though, so that they could slip over my SLink feet - feet I'm rather loathed to go without, these days. Luckily for my sense of completion, though I didn't angle a shot to see this, the Blue Blood gown included garters separate from the stockings - so there are still little hearts holding everything up under my skirt. I had to wear my SLink feet, you see, because of these sweet, simple update on his shoes, slipped to me on the sly by Sax Shepherd Designs - like the other SLink shoe I reviewed, these have a color changing HUD which changes pretty much every part of the shoe; bliss for my inventory. This time I went for a soft set of gold hues to catch the threads of gold and the hearts in my dress - something small to tie the whole look together. In the same way, I covered up the fact that my SLink hands cut a little high on the Blue Blood dress sleeve by moving up the prim finishing piece on my wrist so it becomes a forearm design instead - just another of the many ways one can alter prim and texture clothing with rigged mesh attachments; I doubt you'd notice the alterations unless you were looking for them.

The rest of my look was calculated to echo the whimsy of the Musiclandia - sweet, a little geeky, and exquisitely textured. My dear reptilian friends are a release from Silent Sparrow - the latest in her quest to populate all of our inventories with the cutest animal friends on the grid. For a single purchase, one gets three rezzable, single prim turtles and two wearable ones - I'm showing off both wearable locations; the forearm turtle also comes with an included pose to keep him up against your chest. The green of Mr. Keylime on my head modulated beautifully with this strawberry patch headpiece from the Gatcha machine for World's End Garden, which can be found at her RMK store (I have extras of most of them, gained in my failed quest to get them all); remember her full sim is closing later on in the month, so make sure to swing by and enjoy it one last time. Sadly, a lot of the more complicated builds that had been there are gone, but there are a couple very simple ones, and if you move to the right spots, you can find the same soothing music that used to comfort me for so many hours. I added katat0nik's recent group gift strawberry glasses to this, just to tip us over toward geeky in the best way; these have the most adorable pink strawberries along the edge, and the green was a perfect match for my Head Turtle. My Clawtooth hair is another gatcha prize, but this time an extra from a dear friend so I've no idea which event it's part of;  Finally, I echoed the red again in my lips, a sumptuous color from Adore and Abhor that was exactly the color of my World's End strawberries; mmmmmm... tastes of flame and apocalypses.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Hairflowers: World End's Garden, Primavera K
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Spring
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Glasses: katat0nik, Strawberry Glasses
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Fluff Lips
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Flair, Set 98
Pets: Schadenfreude, Turtles
Dress: Blue Blood, Inima
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom
Shoes: Sax Shepherd Designs, Frills

Pose: Don't Freak Out

Location: Musiclandia
Light Settings: Phototools, Moon Light 03
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL Disney Bound – Week Twenty Six: Mr. Walt Disney

This is the last of the Disneybound Challenges, and I'm both sad and glad to end things with Mr. Walt Disney; he is an interesting figure, very much of his time, and so my feelings about him are highly mixed. I've had fun with this challenge, though, even if I regularly escaped the bounds of reasonable clothing and well into standard Second Life glamour and impossibility. It will be a bit of a relief to finish out a challenge, though, and as it is I'm several weeks late.I bit off rather more than I could chew, even though a few challenges went by the wayside - I think from here on out I'll limit myself to only a couple of challenges, instead of the four I attempted briefly over the summer. I'm increasingly feeling a drive to become more expressive, though; to try to capture my emotions through these images and somehow find a relief from my suffering. Recent time has been very difficult offline, with pressure high, and sometimes I feel like I'm boiling inside - my center molten and no longer steady. I've been trying to escape through a variety of vehicles, but I think the hardest part is looking into the mirror and not being sure I like what I see. I don't know how to be any better, though, and so I stumble along dragging lives with me in ruins, and I weep at the world around me as it burns and freezes. There are twists and curves I can't manage, and I am left with only, "I don't know what to do." And so, the world or me failing, what can I do but get dressed up and take pictures?

My hat is an old purchase from Glam Affair which I really adore - a simple cap with bows as butterflies over a single branch; elegant, artistic, and I can tint it if I want, rendering it perfection. I tucked it over a loose updo from Luletka that was blessedly unrigged mesh, so I could narrow it from to back and fit the cap more easily on top. I love how it's half pulled back and half unraveled, as if the cares of the day have driven it out of it's morning's perfection. The jewelry which dominates this look is from Mandala, and it's glorious; I have it in white and red from the marketplace, and I'll be seeking out the other colors in world when I have some time to breathe - I adore how it shimmers, and how enormous the jewels are. Large jewels work well in contrast to the simplicity of this dress from Valentina E, special release for the Liaison Collaboration, a double slit, formal gown with a lovely silhouette and enough skin showing to be alluring without losing the elegance. My nails, stockings, and ring all come from Stellar, released as part of the Flowers in my Attic, and are part of the SLink Enhancement system, which means the stockings work perfectly with my SLink feet which are stuffed snugly into these awesome tri-colored heels from SLink proper.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene Skin porcelain
Hair: LeLutka, Alvina
Hat: Glam Affair, Oly Hat 07
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Stellar, In Bloom (Flowers in My Attic)
Earrings: Earthstones, Timeless Pearl Earringd
Jewelry: Mandala, Milky Way Set
Ring: Stellar, In Bloom Ring (Flowers in My Attic)
Dress: Valentina E, Anna Dress (Liaison Collaboration)
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom Tights (Flowers in My Attic)
Shoes: SLink, Tri-color Wedges

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Skye Neist Point
Light Settings: Phototools, Dream Book Light 02
Water Settings: Nacon's Lake Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only