Otherworldly

At the moment I feel as if the pose selection is the hardest part of any photography session. In part this is due to my inventory being in serious need of some organising, which means I reach for the same poses over and over again. However, I am also finding myself a touch disenchanted with static poses and quite a bit more inclined to be inspired by animations. As a result, Ran and I have found ourselves investing in quite a few pieces of furniture; the combination of a nice piece of mesh furniture with a set of—quite often—themed animations has proven rather irresistible.

Our latest acquisition is a collaboration between Maxwell Graf of Rustica and Froukje Hoorenbek of Dutchie. We already had several lovely pieces from Rustica, but this is our first Dutchie item. We have been very tempted by several previous releases—Dutchie always seems to do fabulous themed pieces that really tell a story—but not quite felt that we could justify the price for “just” photography. However, La Signora Della Pazienza—the Lady of Patience—proved to be something we just had to get. This stunningly crafted mesh cage—which Maxwell Graf created based on a drawing in a Renaissance manuscript—comes with an intriguing set of animations, perfect for a particularly dark sort of fantasy.

Needless to say, the images within aren’t precisely SFW.

We setup the lovely mesh cage—which can be changed between cherry wood and mahogany—in our Carriageway House, already decorated with other furnishings from Rustica such as the Empire set and the materials-ready candlesticks. For the first shot, we wanted to capture more of the larger scene, before coming in closer.

The animations—81 in total—are divided across 9 chapters, each themed around a different stage of the “slavegirl in a cage” fantasy. The first 5 chapters are solo animations, focused on the girl’s transformation from reluctant captive to an eager wanton. After that follows 3 chapters of couple animations and one chapter with a scene for up to 9 avatars.

The menu also includes 10 sequences; 6 solo, 3 couple and 1 scene.

The menu system is well-crated and easy to use. There are no pose balls, but instead the girl starts off by simply right clicking and sitting on the cage. This starts up the menu system and gives her the option to select who can control it; owner, group or public. If neither is chosen, she retains all control of the menu system.

For some of the animations, props such as bars are rezzed within the cage. In some cases, these should be used in conjunction with restraints; a set of silk cuffs are included with the cage.

For the couple animations, the stool is automatically moved around the cage, placing it where it needs to be. It should be noted that if your avatars are smaller than the SL average, you may run into some issues with positioning. However, the cage is mod and copy and you can adjust your positioning, so in most cases this can probably be worked around.

We wouldn’t expect that buying an item such as La Signora della Pazienza is generally done for photography alone—it is nearly L$4000, after all—but we can only imagine that anyone interested in well-made sex furniture would be thrilled with a piece like this. The actual cage is highly decorative, the scripting is robust and easy to use and the included animations are not only smooth and beautiful but clearly selected with care to fit the theme and the narrative. That is, we feel, much more evocative than a sex bed with 200+ animations stuffed in there with little consideration of how they fit together.