Otherworldly

This dynamic pose from Be My Mannequin called for cool outfit and a cool location. I think I found it in deviousMind’s Yuna outfit and in Dystopian Nights, a small Blade Runner-inspired build.

The pose, called All My Rage, is available at Tokyo Zero together with two other new poses. They are sold as singles or in a fatpack with a 10% discount. The gun prop is included with the pose.

Yuna is sold in a NextUP vendor (or as a fatpack) at the NextUP event. There are two types of commons, the Silk Dress and the Top & Glove set, and three rares: Leather Corset, Silk Fan and Parasol. The dresses are gorgeous and elaborate, so you don’t need to spend tons to get a great outfit, and the rares are really cool additions.

This week, I was one of the lucky winners when DeeTaleZ did a social media giveaway of their latest skin, Hope. I used to wear DeeTaleZ quite a lot, but lost track of the brand a bit in the transition to mesh heads, especially when Catwa became dominant and I didn’t wear those heads at all. Now their releases are almost entirely for EvoX, which I do wear. Hope caught my eye and I entered into the draw and a few days later I was surprised to have the full pack including add-ons sent to me. Naturally I had to give it a thorough look, but first I had to go shopping for the new body skins. In the process of doing so, I managed to buy one tone for the wrong body…oops. Too eager to get setup!

The ancient temple lies half-buried by the desert, its secrets swallowed by the shifting sands. But it is said that at times, when the wind has driven the dunes just so, the legendary Mouth of Truth is once more revealed and those who dare may approach it.

The Mouth of Truth, by Fantavatar & Moonstruck, is based on a marble mask from Rome, likely depicting the face of the titan Oceanus. It has a single pose in which your avatar sticks a hand into the mouth. In her notecard accompanying the product, Luna Barak also shares this:

“According to enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth, or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth.”

For this scene, I made an oracle out of it instead and placed it among the Ruins by Fanatik. My Truthseeker wears the gorgeous new Pandora gown by Tres, which features three different skirt styles: solid side panels, sheer side panels and no side panels. The skin as well as the eyeshadow and the metallic tattoos are all free prizes in the Free Dove & alaskametro hunt. Don’t miss it, there’s a total of ten prizes, including one more skin. The hair is Echo by Wasabi, which comes with two style options and hair clips that can be turned on or off.

The Klara hair from Wasabi adds a touch of playful innocence, as do the pale lilac of the stockings from Luxuria. But the Ohanna slip from Faida is anything but, with both the top and the skirt made from delicate lace (which Titania Halasy does so well). Altogether, the perfect little outfit for an evening at home…with some special company, of course.

The “Become the Beast” couple pose from Be My Mannequin? inspired me to do a rather NSFW photo using the Qismat Harem from Del-ka Aedilis. Clothing just didn’t seem right for it. ;) Well, at least not beyond the little chain harness from Aisling/Voluptas Virtualis, back in the good old days when they still did sizes for Slink Physique. No reason to let excellent mesh gather dust in my inventory just because its some years old.

Sometimes, the muse inspires the poetess in the middle of the night and she writes by the flickering light of an oil lamp.

The Tablinium Desk Set Agrippa from Del-ka Aedilis will be out on June 1st at the Narrative Event. This table is based on Roman finds and included with it is also the curule chair (with suitable animations) and three different decor sets with text fragments from Ovid, Sappho and Martial. I placed the set in the previously reviewed Villa Rustica where it of course fits in beautifully.

My Roman poetess is not that accurately dressed, but close enough. The Goddess Gown by HEXtraordinary is more fantasy Grecian, but very beautiful, and the necklace and earrings by Bliensen + MaiTai are mosaic-inspired and seem quite appropriate. Finally, my hair by Nylon Outfitters is a pretty updo available at Collabor88 that I feel comes pretty close to some Roman styles.

The latest furniture release from Dutchie is a cozy outdoor sofa set with enough space for 6 avatars if all 3 sections are used (for a smaller sofa, you could use just the middle section or put together the left and the right without the middle). To fit in with the rest of your decor, the sofa offers 4 wood options and 7 fabric colours. There is also a matching table with the same 4 wood options.

If you choose the PG version, the sofa comes with 10 solo animations and 10 cuddles. For the Adult versions, some 80 couple animations are added. Adult versions, you say? Yes, the sofa is available in FF, MF and MM, and you can get a set that allows you to mix and match different sections to cater to all your guests. To read more in detail about the various options, see the product page.

I placed my sofa set on the patio of Trompe Loeil’s Modern Villa, overlooking the pool. That gave me an excuse to slip into a bikini by Salt & Pepper and for Ran to be dressed for some casual lounging about. My hair is a new release from Wasabi, a very flattering style called Ash that you can get at Kustom 9.

Be My Mannequin has a set of poses inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas out at Enchantment’s Burton-esque round. A strange choice for this summery scene, one might think, especially as I picked the pose with the snowflake prop. But I love the incongruity of this combination and the reminder that no season—or anything else—lasts forever. As usual the fatpack (called Weary King) of all three poses is event-exclusive and offers a 10% discount. Also available at Enchantment is the Helena hair by F&M Oblivion, a large and quirky updo very well suited to the theme. Here I went for a light colour and a more whimsical feel.

The lovely butterfly swarm is by deviousMind and available at We Love Role-Play in a range of colours. These can be worn with most bodies and include an optional particle effect of additional butterflies. I matched it with the butterfly and bee decorated April bikini by deviousMind.

Be My Mannequin has a new set of three single poses out for the Grid event, opening today. Exclusive to the event is a fatpack called “Sing to Me” which gives you a 10% discount over buying the poses individually. I made use of two of the poses, both which have a very moody feel to them. Someone who never went to the party after all, but stayed alone at home, brooding.

I haven’t worn the Chai body from Cinnamon & Chai for a while but the addition of support for the body to various Slink and One Bad Pixel releases made it easy to expand my wardrobe for her quite a bit. These red pants, for example, are available for just L$75 right now as a promotion for the addition. And if you already own any of the pieces now getting a new size added, simply redeliver them to get your hands on the update.

The Bubbles hair is the latest from Wasabi, out for Access. The style includes three style options, optional bangs and a lot of hairpins which can be texture changed or turned off.

For the daughter of a very minor rural lord, with a keep of wood rather than stone, being found a place in the royal household was considered quite the achievement. That her duties were those of a servant rather than a lady-in-waiting did not matter to her kin, as long as she served in the king’s own castle.

The last weekend of the Fantasy Faire is upon us. I haven’t yet managed to do the Quest so that is what I hope to do with my weekend, as well as sharing some final blog posts with you. The focus of this one is a grand furniture set from Laminak featuring a canopy bed, bedside table, chest and wardrobe. I love the look of the woodwork on these pieces, they are truly fit for royalty.

I also took the opportunity to show off the Terra Sigillata Wine Tray and Wine Jug from Del-ka Aedilis. These are of course Roman rather than medieval, but work well enough in place of other kinds of pottery. There are subtle designs on all the pieces, very much in the classic style of Terra Sigillata.

Yesterday, Ran and I took part in the Literary Festival to talk about Roleplaying the Canon and our experiences with playing on and running roleplaying games based on pre-existing sources, especially literary ones. Of course I had to show off the outfit I put together for the talk and it seemed very fitting to do so at the wonderful Carnelian Archive, built by Nix Marabana of the Dreaming Thicket and sponsored by Petrichor. Talk about a Faireland I would like to take home with me and make my permanent residence, it is heaven for a book lover.

With an older pose set by Picture This! that features some spellcasting from a book, I put myself in a few different spots in the library, including in front of a door guarded by a powerful enchantment. What might lie behind it? At least one of the guards seems to have been lulled to sleep by the spell.

My badly timed taste of Covid, which has left me with an annoying cough and tiredness as well, has meant that I’ve seen far less of this year’s Fantasy Faire than I would have liked. We’ve now passed the halfway mark, the Faire officially ends on the 8th of May, so I will have to get some serious exploring in the next few days. First up, I had to return to Opet, Alia Baroque’s stunning Egyptian-inspired sim. What better place to show off some of the poses in the Isis set from Astalianda as well as the spectacular Dai crown by Bliensen + MaiTai? The outfit is not from the Fantasy Faire, however, but a new NextUp release from deviousMind for the Secret Garden.

Don’t miss the chance to explore Opet as well as the other Fairelands. And while you’re doing so, make sure to find some donation vendors or donation kiosk to contribute to the fight against cancer.

He laboured long and hard, employing both muscle and magic to forge a wondrous horse like no one had ever seen before. When he finally finished, wheels turned within it and a strange flow of red energy flowed amongst its iron limbs, bringing it to life.

One of the best parts of Fantasy Faire for the last few years has been the reveal of the new Teeglepet. I love my “mortal” pixel horses, but the fantastical ones are extra special. This year is no exception as Teegle brings us Aurum, the Mech horse. I love the way this one is put together, with glowing tubes and spinning cog wheels. Depending on the texture and accent colours you pick, you can capture Steampunk, Cyberpunk, etc. The skin I am showing is not the default but a really cool aged metal skin from Mythril which also happens to be an RFL donation item. The poses I am using for the horse are also by Mythril.

Aurum is also equipped with a new beta Teeglepet update that contains quite a few fixes and addons, two of which I really like the sound of:

—Horses can now have a hovertext name shorter than their object name by using “double quotes”: for example, a horse named “Tapple Gao” Patchy Blue (Shetland Stripped 2.6.69) will have name hovertext of “Tapple Gao”.

—Added driver permission mode “Group”. Only allows people wearing the right group tag to ride the horse.

Ostara’s Altar ends in just a couple of days, on the 30th of April. Have you visited yet for a dose of spring and witchcraft? If you are looking for a few magical pieces, make sure to check out Pete’s Peculiar Pieces, I particularly liked the athame and the witch bottle with various interesting contents. For a witchy dress, a bit ragged and painted with symbols, Witch in a Box has you covered.

This year at Fantasy Faire, Del-ka Aedilis invites you to visit a proper Villa Rustica. To show this large build off in detail, I did a little video (and managed not to cough at all, despite being a bit sniffly still) which you can view below.

I have also included some still photos and of course details on the Villa, the Triclinium and what I am wearing.