Fantasy Faire: Grim Bros

COW DRESS!!!!

Cow! Dress!

In its full form, the cow dress from Grim Bros (Main Store Link) is an impressive thing, with large cow legs sticking out to either side. You will cut a wide swath through any Second Life gathering (mostly because people will hide from someone wearing two cows!). Even deconstructed, though, the cow dress is an impressive thing. The one thing I wish is there was a separate top so I could wear it with the  calf-length skinny skirt, but I ended up loving it with the short dress over the top (as shown above) and just the short dress alone is a sort of fun, semi-frilly thing to enjoy. I paired it with these amazing flapping-butterfly shoes which are pretty much rainbow, which means I will love them forever and ever and ever. I actually have a bunch of her butterfly shoes, and I love how they flap at different rates, always giving you something interesting to look at. 

Massive as the cow dress is, though, it is not the only offering from Grim Bros for the Fantasy Faire. Three frothy confections of various shades, complete with hats, are waiting for you. There is also an entirely over the top hat, complete with a carnival on top and little flapping birds! I'm not normally a top hat kind of girl, but these are seriously fun. I'm also sharing a close up of the rainbow butterfly shoes, and these others entirely overwhelming poison shoes complete with complicated whirls and curlicues; I'm really tempted to try to find some over-the-top green outfit to go with these, so you may well see them again sometime in the future. Grim Bros always offers something awesome, over-the-top, and unique, so make sure to check them out at the Ravenshard sim at the Fantasy Faire!

Credits:

Skin & Eyes: De La Soul
Hair: Underscore

Fantasy Faire: Bliensen + MaiTai

Bliensen + MaiTai (Main Store Link) has an amazing amount of releases for the Fantasy Faire, open Saturday, and I'm really amazed by the gorgeous quality. The "Mine" jewelry set, which comes in eight stone-types with matching earrings and necklaces, is simply channeling the Renaissance Faires of my youth in a completely delightful way. I actually am pretty sure I have an actual, real world version of this necklace. The dragon and findings of the jewelry is in a gentle shade of copper which I really enjoy; it's often hard to find this particular shade since jewelry in Second Life is so overwhelmingly dominated by gold and silver. The top four colors are available as an RFL Donation item for the necklaces, with additional vendors for the other colors and the earrings. You're also getting a hint of the hairstyle Bliensen + MaiTai is offering, which is an amazing undine updo festooned by all kinds of undersea gems. I love the pieces of coral, and the shells, and the multicolored starfish clinging to my locks. The main part of the hair is static, but there is a fleximble attachment which is not shown at its best in these static, studio pictures - wait for the on-sim images that are coming. There are even small pearls glinting and gleaming, somehow wedged into my hair so that they won't fall free.

In addition, Bliensen + MaiTai is offering this amazing necklace which also comes with a rezzable version. It's a great little vial, reminiscent of Djinn bottles and the middle east, with a fantastically rough and angled leather necklace; I particularly like the awkward curve of this, as it reminds me of necklaces I've owned and worn offline. Finally are the incredible eye-themed earrings and forehead decoration - the latter scripted so that you can change the metal texture around it and available in all of the colors shown for the earrings. For a donation to RFL, the blue and teal eyes - available in four metal colors - can be purchased. I found the earrings unexpectedly charming; my initial response was a literal and physical jump of shock as I put them on, but the more I wore them the more I appreciated having five, rather than two, ways of looking at the world. The effect is both creepy and striking.

Come to Titan's Hollow to find both the Bliensen + MaiTai offerings and so much more.

Credits:

Skin & Eyes: De La Soul
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise and SLink

Genre: Family

The Genre event this month is family, which really doesn't speak to me in Second Life. I tend to not roleplay being in families, and I only once even considered making my character pregnant, and the sim ended up closing before any decisions were made. I love helping my friends, though, so when a call went out from the lovely Faery of Studio Sidhe, I hopped right over and brought one of my oldest friends - who had been seeing the new apartment I set up for myself in my latest roleplaying sim - with me. I actually ended up being int he picture twice; in the pink dress I'm Deoridhe Starr, who is quite old, and the tiny orange fairy in the top corner is me as Deoridhe Quandry. Sometimes, having many mes really comes in handy. Evne if you're not of the family sort, you might still find things you like at Genre this month; I know I did.

 

( More pictures here. )

Monday Meme: What's in a Name?

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

A lot of people forget that this speech comes in the context of Juliet not wanting the parentally-subsidized marriage at fourteen with Paris and seeing Romeo through a crowd as her escape from the prison being built around her. Both Romeo and Juliet are emotional, sensitive, impulsive creatures - Romeo literally begins the play lamenting his last lost love hours before falling for Juliet - and so in a way the idea that names are insignificant, that a rose would smell as sweet if it were called skunkweed, is basically flawed. The entire rest of the play gives lie to Juliet's words above, as the names Capulet and Montague destroy both of them as well as a significant chunk of collateral damage. Names, Shakespeare says, are important even when we wish they weren't.

1. What’s your SL name? Deoridhe Quandry (pronounced dthey-or-ee) 


2. What made you choose this name?
 
Deoridhe has been my name since around 1996, when it replaced the name I had "married" my then boyfriend on, Aesdana, which was my name for maybe six months. By then I was Asatru, and closest to Odin, but I was also drawn to the Irish language because it was part of my heritage, so I used an Irish/English dictionary to look up words I wanted to associate myself with. 'Deoiridhe' is on of the words in Irish for an outsider; I was looking for a word for wanderer but hadn't yet internalized what being a wanderer would mean in the Irish society of the time. I almost chose a word which was a grave insult in Irish, but luckily I reverse-checked all of my words and didn't want to be a traitor. Deoiridhe was the only word without the traitor implication. I dropped the second /i/ because in Unix your name needed to be only eight characters; now and then I consider picking up the /i/ again, since nine is a potent number for AsatruaR.

My original full name was: Deoridhe Faelis-Tiene and she was, is, and remains my Mary Sue with an overly complicated backstory. The different last names have come to represent different aspects of her, so Faelis-Tiene would be the oldest and original. Deoridhe Grimsdottir is who I identify with the most closely - the last name indication my relationship with Odin in his aspect as Grimnir, the masked one. A lot of people who know me as Quandry were shocked when I showed up as Grimsdottir because they didn't understand why I had a "new name," not knowing that me-as-Deoridhe predates the creation of Second Life. I selected the last name Quandry out of the ones there the week I signed up the second time because my friend liked it better than the other name I was tempted by, Constantine; the first time I signed onto Second Life I selected Starr because I like stars. I think Quandry fits me, as I'm rather strange and mercurial.




3. What’s your SL nickname, or what do most people call you? (if applicable) Most people call me Deo, pronounced either day-oh or dee-oh. I've had a few people call me Deor, and for a while I mispelled my name Deoridle and people called me day-oh-riddle, but Deo works.


4. What’s your SL display name? Why do you choose to have one? (if applicable) I don’t have one. I've considered switching to Deoridhe Grimsdottir, but it seems a little silly now.


5. Do you like your SL name? Love it.


6. If you could change your SL name, what would it be? I would like more Deoridhe's with different last names. I have six, but I would have liked a lot more. They're my little army of mes.


7. What’s the craziest/funniest SL name you’ve ever seen? I'm inordinately fond of all of the Wrigglesworth last names, with Pandora as my favorite. 


8. What’s the coolest (your favorite) SL name you’ve ever seen? Imnotgoing Sideways makes me giggle. I like any of the names which are puns, though; when I created my alphabet alts, I managed a few puns, like Under Highwater and Titillation Coy.

A few notes on my outfit, which is an amazing kimono from Falln Angel Creations that I found in his Spring Ostara hunt and attempted to style in a pale imitation of the seasonally driven kimono of the Geisha. I'm wearing an amazing skin from Flower & Willow, which specializes in looks for the Flower and Willow world where the Geisha shone at night. My gorgeous hair is from kisetsu, and I believe is for festivals but I may have mismatched a more formal Geisha style rather than something appropriate for my somewhat inept Maiko. The Maiko, who are learning to be Geisha, tend to be much more colorful and fluttery with elaborate items in their hair, while the mature Geisha is quieter and yet at the same time so much more skilled. I was aiming for a Maiko almost at the end of her training, squeezing the last bit of elaborate costuming out of the world before entering the more somber style of a full Geisha. I had planned to take pictures at somewhere I saw on my list of locations blogs but I lost the post; instead I ended up at Maruyama Hanamachi - Old Japan, and I consider myself the richer for finding this amazing sim.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Flower & Willow, Jnr Maiko Skin - Hairline
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Silent Star - Baroque
Hair: kisetsu, Oshidori Hair
Kanzashi: Falln Angel Creations, April Kanzashi
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Kimono: Falln Angel Creations, Spring Green (Ostara Hunt Prize)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Adore & Abhor, Rhine & Rose

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Maruyama Hanamachi - Old Japan
Light Settings: Phototools - Dream Book  modified
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL DisneyBound – Week Five: Dory

I actually had a lot of fun with Dory, though the style is much more modern-casual than I usually wear. The color contrast was really strong - a vibrantly bright yellow and a rich, bright blue - and while the blue is relatively common in Second Life, the particular shade of eye-blinding yellow that Dory sports is much rarer, and I actually dialed it back to more of a gold because I ended up not being able to make it work well.This is a very different style than my usual, modern and casual with a bit of a club edge, and I've completely fallen in love with it. I especially like the effect of the bare back in between the corset laces - I think it is edgy without slipping out of what I find attractive. This overbust corset from Dilly Dolls is an old purchase but one that I pull out even today when I'm looking for a good corset with a lot of coverage. I thought the relative brightness of the blue on the corset actually went well with the slightly duller blood of her new boots release; too much bright color can appear cartoonish instead of couture, and this look is one of the ones which walks that line. I really adore the boots, though - in the line of the cloth-over-boot effect with an angled opening on the outside and large buttons which really set it apart from other, similarly styled boots. There's all kinds of texturing available, and like usual Dilly Dolls clothes come in sets of colors that are HUD driven, which means lots of bang for your buck. My hair is a very old release from Wasabi Pills, I think; my Wasabi Pills folder is alphabetical, so I always end up getting confused about when things come in and, eyes crossed, just sort of wear whatever I like most for a given look.

The other store I'm wearing a lot of is De La Soul - both these jeans which were a much older release but still stand the test of time - and a preview of a new skin that I nagged Charlie into giving me so that I could wear the latest SLink hands with the modifiable nails. Despite an overload of pestering and begging, Charlie won't be releasing hand HUDs for Aestali, my old favorite, but he will be releasing them (and boob appliers, and all kinds of things). Except for the brows, Candace is a softer face than Aestali was (I'd love to hear what you think of the brows; I can pass on feedback to Charlie as he finishes Candace up) with some of the quirks of the Aestali face smoothed, but still recognizably De La Soul. He passed over the hand tinters (which will also tint her feet) after only a little pouting and now I can show off my amazing nails from Adam n Eve, complete with little flowers. I love how long they are; I could never keep nails this long offline, so it's a dream to have them both online and smoothly connecting with my hand. One nice thing about the SLink hands is you can make the nails go away, so if you have modifiable nails you can edit them to match perfectly; isn't it amazing? Finally, I found this amazing necklace and earrings set from a new-to-me store called Lazuri; I really love the texturing and shape, and it's a fantastic chunky large set which can be dressed up or down depending on your mood.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace - Creamer (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Amelie (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Lazuri, Classic Glamour Midnight
Corset: Dilly Dolls, Dola Corset
Jeans: De La Soul, Cross Jeans - Sunny
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Adam n Eve, Rhine & Rose
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Dina Plaid Boots (promotional item)

Pose: !bang

Location: Armenelos
Light Settings: Places Kunming
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 16 - Peony’s Secret

This Twisted Color Challenge - Peony's Secret - was really fun, and a really bright color contrast. I like the challenges where the colors initially look like they could never get along, only to find that they really look fabulous together once I have a look organized. I love the cherry of these fabulous Felicity shoes. I love all the different chains, ties, and bangles which make it really unique. It felt like one spot of bright red was too strong, so I ended up also picking up this fantastic cashmere scarf from Boom; I think I had initially gotten it at a special event, but when I went to Boom's store it turns out there is, like, ten or twenty million of them.

My bright blue came from this gorgeous new release from Deco; I love the ribbing around the waist and the bottom edge of the dress, as well as the enormous buttons down the back. The hair, with it's red and warm flowers, is another new release, this time from Diva; luckily it's editable, and I was able to move things out of my ears. Yay for editable things. I went completely off book with the final two accessories, though; a dark teal for cuffs and my new favorite toy, a rainbow dragon, both from Silent Sparrow.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity,
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir LipColor Sunset
Hair: Diva, "Flora" Type A (Collabor88)
Head Dragons: Silent Sparrow, Luck Dragon - Magic
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Scarf: Boom, Tinsley Cashmere
Dress: Deco, Soda Pop Dress (Collabor88)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Bracelets: Silent Sparrow, Fenris Leather Cuffs
Shoes: Felicity, Jessica Stilettos (promotional item)

Poses: Grafica

Location: Astriane
Light Settings: In Situ
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Murder Doll

One thing I miss when I end up doing a lot of challenges is the fun of simply opening my inventory, putting together a look spontaneously from what has floated to the top of my inventory, and then going out and snapping some pictures. I'm utterly ignoring my challenges and getting my Harlequin on, finally combining this hair I was sent from Underscore and this outfit I got ages ago from Sublime Shroud Kreations. Funny story about the latter - I linked him to another picture I took with this (for Single Frame Stories) and he complemented me on it, then exclaimed, "Ooo...Pretty!! OH OH..my Harlequin!!!" I laughed at him for not recognizing his own outfit! The Underscore hair includes the hair framing my face and a Harlequin style hat; I ended up using a hairbase from Wasabi Pills instead of modifying my head shape to fit the rigged hair better, but I think it works nonetheless. I love the little bells along the edges of the hat and I think otherwise it really looks amazing. The second I saw the style I new I had to pair it with the outfit from Sublime Shroud Kreations, but it took me a while to get the space in my schedule to pull it together and get out for pictures. I really often get overwhelmed by the sheer bulk of things coming available in Second Life, the sheer amount of things I've agreed to do, and I'm painfully aware that the Fantasy Faire is coming up and I am about to be very, very busy! It's opening on April 21, but I have about six days to fill up on pictures and posts before then, so I'm hoping to not overwhelm myself too much!

One interesting thing about this look is how central my SLink mesh hands and feet become, since they fit nearly perfectly to the outfit itself, and add so much by polishing the ends of my limbs. I've been considering picking up the trifecta and getting some prim boobs, but I haven't spent the time looking into it yet, and I'm not quite sure what I think about it; it seems odd after shrinking down my boobs to fit 90% of the mesh on the grid. The whole issue of prim boobs is pretty interesting to me: on the one hand I've been a reader of Livin' La Vida Segunda for ages, an avatar who goes around with quite oversized prim boobs and sometimes writes about her motivations and what she gets from an extreme expression of her physiology; on the other hand, I've read for ages responses to female avatars with prim boobs implying they can't be women, or that it necessarily has to indicate something untoward sexually, so seeing fashionistas jump onto the prim boob bandwagon has been surreal. I actually feel much more comfortable with prim hands and feet, both because they were often bare to begin with when I was showing them off, so there isn't an issue of matching clothing, and also because it seems like parts of the Second Life mesh which are so inherently inferior. I don't feel the way about my built in boobs, though; I do miss them being larger, but I've grown used to that over time and am not particularly interested in jumping between shapes for every outfit.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Mask: Illusions, Harlequin Mask Civette
Eyeshadow: Eternal Darkness, Harlequin Tears
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Silent Star
Hair: Underscore, Harlequin (promotional item)
Hairbase: Wasabi Pills, Flaming Cherry
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Outfit: Sublime Shroud Kreations, Harlequin Red (promotional item)
Feet: SLink, Mesh Feet

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: MOSP
Light Settings: EUPHORIA sunset 2
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL DisneyBound – Week Four: Snow White

Once upon a time in a misty-gray world, a Raven and a Butterfly fell out of love and battled to the death. The Raven's sharp beak left golden dust and blue tears filtering down from a butterfly wing, and the Butterfly's sharp words drew blood and feathers from the Raven, and their wounds littered the snowing ice below as they both expired from their wounds. It wasn't until Spring when the ground began to bloom again, dust and tears, blood and feathers, snow and death rising from the ground and named by the birds Snow White. She emerged from the cage left of their dying wishes to see the world and find it made of equal parts light and dark, day and night, joy and grief, love and hate - each so mingled they can't be separated. The whispers of the bees and the whimpers of the swallows led her inexorably to the Apple of Desire, which tempted the palm of her hand, the shadows of her form, the icy bite of her teeth. She followed it's trail of passion to find it at last, caged and cold and shrouded in mists. Her fingers brushed the cold bars and they gave way before her, the apple transforming at her touch to fledgling and chrysalis, each having waited in crimson silence for their pain to return to them reborn. 'Eat Me' the Apple whispered, and she did. 'Eat me,' the world whispered, and she went to consume it all with a smile and a cut of canines.

Coming up with a look for Snow White almost undid me; it took me longer than any look to date, and unlike almost all of the older ones, everything I used except the corset came from already sorted clothing which I've owned for quite a while. The corset was my starting point; representing my science, Pisces, it's the only corset of Perception that I've indulged in, though I've been tempted by a bunch of the other Zodiac Releases she's had and I've picked up some of her jewelry. For the rest of the outfit I struggled, though. Although the colors vary widely, the roses and clothing attached to them are parts taken from G Field's indomitable Fairy dress with it's wide variety of skirts and it's beautiful texturing. I actually started with the skirt and then filled in the rest once I realized how well the corset and skirt fit together; thank everything that the dress was prim instead of rigged mesh, or I could have never pulled this off.

After a whole lot of trial and error, I finally settled on this very old dress release from Blue Blood - one of my favorites of her whitegoth releases, and a dress I actually have pulled out a few times for different looks because I like it so much. Again, since it was prim instead of mesh I was able to do a lot more nudging, including leaving off one of the sleeves so that my arm flowers would work out. The love of the Raven and Butterfly lived on in Eclectica's gorgeous heart jewelry, which like a lot of her releases was color changing so that I could make it match with the rest of my look. I also echoed the red in my gorgeous Adore & Abhor lipstick, pairing it with this dark, short style from Wasabi Pills to match up with Snow White's fabled lips as Red and Blood and Hair as dark as a Raven's Wing. The Fabled Apple of Desire is actually a free purchase in World's End Garden, the gorgeous sim where I took these pictures and the setting for my Fairy Tale.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lips - Blood
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Claire Mesh (promotional item)
Flowers: G Field, Rose Fairy
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Antique Hearts
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Apple: World's End Garden, Apple of Desire
Shirt: Blue Blood, Fluture
Corset: Perception, Underbust Corset - Pisces
Skirt: G Field, Rose Fairy
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: World's End Garden
Light Settings: Places Kumming
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

How NOT to Pick up a Chick in Second Life - Episode 10

Oh my gods, it's been so long since this happened last, I was almost bouncing when I got the initial IM, expecting where it would end up. He was almost a classic case; his profile was completely empty except for some dating sim groups, he was only a little over a month old, he was over a hundred meters away from me, he clearly hadn't looked at my profile much less read it, and he was completely incapable of anything resembling a conversation, up to and including spelling three letter words.

[I Luv Bling]: hey baby
Deoridhe Quandry: Hello.
[I Luv Bling]: how r u?
Deoridhe Quandry: I'm doing pretty well. How are you?
[I Luv Bling]: im cool ty
Deoridhe Quandry: That's nice.
[I Luv Bling]: how is the day going on
Deoridhe Quandry: It's going well.
[I Luv Bling]: hmm nice to see u
Deoridhe Quandry: Your ability to see from 100 meters away is impressive.
[I Luv Bling]: sry nice to hear
[I Luv Bling]: can i see u
Deoridhe Quandry: If you're using a graphical browser, you definitely can.
[I Luv Bling]: can u teleport me to ur place
Deoridhe Quandry: What do you mean "my place"? And why?
[I Luv Bling]: to see u
Deoridhe Quandry: We're on the same sim. If you know your way around, you can find me. I'm in public.
[I Luv Bling] tries to teleport you
Deoridhe Quandry: I don't want to teleport to you, thank you.

He stopped contacting me, and indeed left the sim we were in, as soon as I flat out refused to do what he wanted. I suppose, if his eventual goal was a minute on poseballs with my naked avatar like I expect, this sort of sorting through people makes sense; he wants someone compliant and obedient, not someone who has an identity and opinions. Like usual, like always it seems, the kind of men prone to sending these IMs aren't interested in meeting other people, they're interested in whatever they can get and drop you as soon as you don't conform to their will. It's sad, really.

I want to contrast this with another conversation, at the same place, this one in open chat. This person was also male, also about a month old, and approached me while I was posing on one of the entry levels of the sim I was in. In contrast to [I Luv Bling], he spoke to me in open chat and was in the same general area as I was when he approached me. Similarly, though, his profile was nearly empty.

[Newbie]: Greetings Deoridhe
Deoridhe Quandry: Hello.
[Newbie]: What year is it here?
Deoridhe Quandry: Year? Huh?
[Newbie]: Is this place futuristic?
Deoridhe Quandry: It looks it to me, I'm not sure.
[Newbie]: I see so you are wandering around as well
Deoridhe Quandry: Yes, I'm taking pictures.
[Newbie]: cool
[Newbie]: sorry to bother you
Deoridhe Quandry: It's all right. I'm not sure this is an rping sim, though. It seems to be more of a decorative store.
Deoridhe Quandry: There were no RP rules at the landing point that I saw.
[Newbie]: RP rules?
[Newbie]: role playing rules?
Deoridhe Quandry: For a roleplaying sim. Most of them have roleplaying rules and a brief notecard on history.
[Newbie]: I see
Deoridhe Quandry: At least all the rps I've been in.
[Newbie]: not sure what a roleplaying sim is but thanks
Deoridhe Quandry: This one had a notecard welcoming machinima makers and photographers.
[Newbie]: Please forgive my ignorance
[Newbie]: : )
Deoridhe Quandry: It's a sim where you roleplay - where you have a character and act out it's story with other people.
[Newbie]: oh cool ty
Deoridhe Quandry: As opposed to all of Second Life, which is usually not roleplay though it can be.
[Newbie]: Well, I am off to further explore. btw, we can buy L$?
Deoridhe Quandry: Yes, you can with money.
Deoridhe Quandry: You have to sign up with paypal or a credit card.
[Newbie]: i see thank you
Deoridhe Quandry: You're welcome.
[Newbie]: bye
Deoridhe Quandry: Here, have my new resident kit. It can help. ^.^
[Newbie]: thanks
Deoridhe Quandry: You're welcome. Have fun

Notice the difference. Notice the comments about where we were, direct questions in response to what I said, the interest in our surroundings and in learning more, and the complete lack of reliance on me being obedient or doing what he wanted. This is called a conversation. This is how to approach someone in public. He still didn't pick me up, but I'm - like - made of lead and you need a lot of strength to actually pick me up.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called Teal
Lipstick: Mock, Glasside Lip - Flame Pea x2
Hair: Secrets Hair, Hollow - Nordic (promotional item)
Hat: Lode, BitterSweet
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: The White Armory, Lasting Impressions
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Gloves: Adam n Eve, Opera Gloves
Glove Ends: Eclectica, Swoon - ebony
Shoes: G Field, Square-toe Shoes

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Natural mignon Colore
Light Settings: Places Greed
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday Meme: My Ten Second Life Firsts

Strawberry has another meme, this time a very nosy one about all kinds of firsts! Naughty, nosy Strawberry! What can I do but to acquiesce to your curiosity and talk about one of my favorite subjects, myself?

1. First SL Friend: My darling Ro-chan. Rowan also introduced me to Second Life, though she wasn't the inspiration for me staying - that I hand to the philosophy discussions I now barely attend. My first real friend made in Second Life was Xeneri, who I have met offline and who has now mostly left Second Life.


2. First SL Kiss: It would have had to be in character, and I think it was the first relationship Deoridhe got involved in which quickly segued to a V style threesome and from there to Deoridhe being indirectly dumped by someone now not interested in her at all. This was actually a really gut-twisting experience out of character as well, for a variety of reasons.


3. First SLex time/place/partner: Same person as above, in character. It was on a sim called Karamoon, the second place I ever roleplayed, and started a trend of Deoridhe only being involved in threesomes, almost always as the extra person, and always with two guys.


4. First SL Partner/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Wife/Husband: Never really had one. I briefly partnered a male friend to try to torment his stalker, but it ended up being boring and so I divorced him with much taunting. The funniest moment was when another friend noticed he was my partner and freaked out because I hadn't mentioned anything.


5. First SL Job: Closest I have is being a blogger; I am paid in STUFF! I have been invited to work at a couple of store sims, but it always involved remembering when I needed to be there and that seemed kind of a pain in the ass.


6. First SL Creation: Difficult to say, probably a fountain, but the first I ever lived in was my beloved globe home with the spiral staircase down the middle. I designed and made those fountains myself, all out of basic prims because I had no access to sculpties. I made it so that you could walk up the fountains from level to level all the way to the top, which was a dance ball. The fountain continues all the way down, flowing down a tube in the middle of the house to a pond in the basement, which I always wanted to add fish to. Now and then I consider getting into sculpties to try to remake those fountains; I was so proud of them!




7. First Encounter with a SLebrity: I'm honestly not sure what a SLebrity is. The first time I ever spoke to someone I knew through other means first was Azriel Demain of Falln Angel Creations. We ended up being quite good friends in the end.


8. First Encounter with a Linden: I have never met a Linden. I was once within speaking distance of a Linden bot which apparent measured lag or something? I've been to Torley's sim a few times, but never met him.


9. First SL Sim you fell in love with: Ooooh, it's an even fight between Immersiva and World's End Garden. For both of them, I gasps out loud when I teleported in. 


10. First SL Blog Post: A Beginning was my first blogpost, which heavily referenced things I'd created through Gaia Online, my previous time wasting hobby. I still consider myself kinda new, though - usually only fifty views per post is kinda teensy, even if it's a whole lot more than I had when I started!

( More favorite pictures here. )