Otherworldly

It is too bloody hot so my brain has melted (apart from the part worrying about global warming, which always works just fine) and this will be rather brief. I am having cravings for a swim again and as a result I keep doing beach/ocean photos in Second Life. This time I am out on a cute raft by Nomad for Fifty Linden Friday, lounging around in a gift skin from the Plastik/Petrichor for SL17B and a mermaid bikini from Aleutia, plus the latest hair style from Wasabi.

A brief, late-night post. This beautiful garden feature from Simply Shelby caught my eye among at Redeux, not the least because of the informative notecard which taught me what a medieval turf bench is! I love when people really research their creations and this is great example of when doing that also results in an unusual and very original piece of decor. The turf bench comes with and without the central tree, allowing for various usage options, and includes single poses for men and women as well as some couple poses.

I love the idea of combining clothing and jewellery as sachi Vixen has done in this gown for the Vintage Fair, where a bejewelled collar tops off a slinky silk (or velvet) gown. I went without any additional jewellery to focus on the collar itself and stayed with Truth’s latest group gift for my hair, here in the version without any wisps and with everything neatly gathered up. Dutchie’s New Amsterdam houseboat served as the stage for the photo, with the mid-century vanity showing in the background, to hint at either the beginning or end of a festive evening.

It is way too warm and I wish I was closer to the ocean so that I could cool off in the water. Being down at the beach at sunset, especially when the water is still warm enough for a swim, is just magical. Hopefully I’ll be getting the chance in a few weeks, but until then I can only experience it virtually.

Redeux opens today at noon SL time and there you will find the Townhall from Del-ka Aedilis at 50% off. This is quite a large build (footprint is 26 x 27 m
and land impact is 174) with an open arched gallery, a spacious courtyard and several rooms both on the first and second floor. In one of the rooms on the second floor, I setup the Scribery Alcove from Roawenwood for the current round of We Love Role-Play. Both Ran and I are wearing new outfits from the Muses and these can also be found at We Love Role-Play.

We Love Role-Play opened its June round a few days ago and this is a good one that you will see more posts on from me. The first one is a quiet, contemplative scene with an evening walk among some moody ruins. The dress by Dreaming Thicket has a gypsy/boho feel which I love together with the gorgeous Delicate hair from Truth. I am also wearing the diadem and pendant from the Priye set by Adam n Eve.

I’ve had this build, using components from Jammin, sitting around half-finished for ages. But this week I tired of that corner of the sim looking less put together than the rest and with considerable help from Ran with the alignment of the pieces it finally got sorted out. The decor might still get a few things added to it, but I am pretty happy about where it is at now. Not so coincidentally, it turned out to be the perfect spot for showing of some new pretties from Skin Within, deviousMind and Stealthic.

A somewhat eclectic mix today, with everything from decor to new eyes. We’ll start big, though, with another building from Del-ka Aedilis. This one is from their medieval series, so it seemed to fit well with wearing a Viking-inspired gown by the Muses. The kitchen garden on the side is a separate item from the same series and can be combined with most any of their houses. The jewellery is more fantastical, a fairy-delicate set from lassitude & ennui that comes in a range of beautiful, shimmering mixed metals.

The braids are the latest style from Wasabi, which comes in a straight and a slightly windblown version where both the bangs and the braids have swung to one side. And then we have the eyes, the Oculi from FATE. Damien Fate calls them spiritual successors to the FATEeyes and that is fair enough, though they are quite different in many ways. The HUD is sleek and easy and even with just the included textures they are highly versatile as they tint beautifully. The HUD also allows very easy positioning vertically, horizontally and depth-wise.

There is also a free developer kit for making your own textures, something I am eager to have a go at. Their biggest new feature is properly speaking the realistically dilating and contracting pupil; it is perhaps not what excites me the most, though I need to play around with how it can affect expressions in photos and how it looks on video. Either way, I like these eyes a lot. They may not be the ultimate mesh eyes (for that, I would like BoM as well as appliers, but because these use special textures that won’t work), but they get close in that they offer both excellent positioning and easy customisation.

More often than not my posts are firmly anchored in fantasy and/or history, but when it comes to roleplay and character creation in Second Life there are of course many more options. For example, the Cyber/Punk Fair is still open (until June 7th, in fact) and it showcases a very different realm of possibilities. To do justice to the Novianna set and Sinon visor from Petrichor, I headed over to one of the longest-running sims (or sim collections, rather) in Second Life: InSilico.

The latest releases from Voluptas Virtualis are both for the current round of the Fetish Fair, so it is no wonder that they paired very well with the Kivna Karcero Throne from Roawenwood which features both maledom and femdom animations, with more room given to the latter. The Angela outfit with the Duchess ballet heels definitely called for the poses from the femdom menues, so I called in Ran to be my boytoy.

As my herd of Teegle horses has grown, I’ve found myself wishing for a stable that would fit in with the rest of my sim which is full of castles and the like. The latest release from Fanatik goes a long way to fulfil that wish. It may not be a full-on period stable, but it definitely looks great and suits my Teeglepets perfectly.

But that’s not all I’ve got for you! The Muses has a new mainstore, so I am showing off a favourite from their current collection of gowns, and Skin Within has another new skin out, the second after their return to Second Life. So do keep reading for more photos!

I have blogged a few pieces from Del-ka Aedilis in the past and was recently invited to blog more of their buildings and decor items. Seeing as they align very well with my own interests, I was more than happy to agree! To introduce the brand properly on my blog, asked them to provide a short description of what they do and why:

“As passionate roleplayers we discovered the need of low-prim, well-built and nicely textured buildings, especially for Fantasy, Medieval and Ancient Greek or Roman settings.”

Today I am going to feature the Slave Quarters from their Civitas series. It is essentially a complete district from a Roman city, with apartments, a small slave auction, a brothel, a forge and some storage areas. This offers many different options for roleplay as well as many photo opportunities. Since I don’t have a Roman city built up on our sim, I paired the Slave Quarters with their Villa Iunia for a more complete scene. I have to say I love the attention to authentic details, such as the graffiti! In the last two photos, from inside the brothel, you also see the Whore’s Mattress which includes solo, couple and threesome animations.

The footprint of the Slave Quarters is 33 x 16 m and the total land impact with all decor is 136 (102 for just the buildings).

Today is the final day of Fantasy Faire for this year, the final hours before the Fairelands disappear into the mists once more. But, they always return, in one form or another. For my final post, I thought it was fitting to commemorate this by incorporating some items from previous Fantasy Faires together with some key pieces from this year.

I ran out of a bit of steam after the first week of more intensive Fantasy Faire blogging, but now I am back to remind you that you have until May 10th to explore and shop at the 18 sims that make up the Fairelands. For this post, I decided to focus a lot on decor items, featuring pieces from Harshlands, the Looking Glass and Roawenwood, as well as a lovely dress from Belle Epoque which actually is a tie-in to the pieces from Harshland.

I’ll have to start off by admitting that I cheated. I really wanted to take this photo on the Zodiac sim at the Fantasy Faire, but the lingerie from Voluptas Virtualis is too revealing for that. So, I used my favourite new workaround—I wore a dress over it that I derendered! A bit cheeky, perhaps, but perfect for when you need to show a lot of skin, such as for a skin review. You see, I am wearing a brand new release from a returning brand that I am really excited about. Skim Within, by Ayesha Bisiani, used to offer some of the most unusual skins on the grid, covering a range of looks and ethnicities. They also included some of the more elaborate makeups for its time. And now Skin Within is back and I am wearing the brand’s first new release, Aaliyah.