Playtime for Portia

I officially inform my readers that Portia’s Swallow skin and WTG collar, which are both fabulous, are available at Limited Bazaar for another week. With this formal blog business concluded, I consider myself free to fulfill one of my fantasies: writing about my experience of sexual submission. (If that’s the first line of 50 Shades of Gray, it’s not a citation. I’ve invested too much time in reading unrespectable erotica to go legit in an airport bookstore.) This is newbie stuff for me, and still virtual in the sense that the man I play with lives far far away. I enjoy our complicity as we concoct a scenario. I believe that he likes me ungagged and uncompromising as much as he likes me gagged and pliable. (Of course, this relationship will fall apart and I will hate the [future] son-of-a-bitch, but probably not before server-side baking locks me out of SL. So you get to read the happy part of the story. Only my therapist will have to deal with the sad.) Nothing that I’ve read about BDSM prepared me for the emotional dimension of my recent experiences. I’ve discovered that the eroticization of feelings like humiliation and the need to please makes those feelings pleasurable. This reminds me of Freud’s concept of humour as a means of overcoming a threat to the ego, except in submission one experiences the threat rather than trying to evade it with a joke. Of course, both of these strategies involve play, which, for me, right now, is the foundation of the D/S relationship.
The other astonishing thing about the emotions I’m describing is the simple fact that I’m having them. I have never felt humiliated by someone and never felt a bewildered hurt at being misused. This despite the fact that I’ve had lovers who did humiliate me and did mistreat me in garden-variety ways. In those situations I was aware of feeling anger and despair, reactive emotions rather than the emotions that preceded the reactions. Wanting to please someone has never been part of my emotional makeup. (Oh so symmetrically, I have never consciously wanted to be pleased by someone. My pleasure has always felt like my responsibility.) In the situation of playing sub to my dom, I feel an overwhelming need to please him, which, oddly enough, I enjoy. As much as submission forces, or allows, me to exist in a simpler and more malleable form of myself, it also permits, and perhaps requires, me to feel fierce. I’ve discovered that allowing myself to be diminished ritually has the effect of expanding me. (Not every time, of course, and not during every moment of a play session. If my blog entry makes you feel like trying this at home, consider that a penis gag is just uncomfortable if there’s no compelling reason to keep it on.)

Credits to creators
^^Swallow^^ Anja Limited Bazar Ivory (A)
Miss Shippe’s Studio, gold breasts like Midas bukake (gacha)
MONS / Shocking eyes – brown
Dura, Girl 27(Black)resize
Countdown. Karolina Gold Corset S
+:+WTG+:+ **Black Queen** collar (at Limited Bazaar)
Fleshtone :: Vanity Studded Cuffs
HOC Industries – Thigh Boots (Extra Small)
PIDIDDLE – Sharp Nails – Silver Glitz (old gift)
ooo Studio and Gos, Pose Pouf
GIMPed but not PIMPed

Stylish trespass

I mentioned last week that I’ve been reading Angela Carter’s collection of feminist fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber. When it came time to blog the lovely Eleonora ensemble by World’s End Garden for The Gallery Gift Shop, I couldn’t help thinking of the many stories that begin with an invitation to enter a seemingly deserted mansion or castle. It’s a very bad idea to accept the invitation, even if one is hungry and tired and can’t get one’s car out of a ditch. And yet not one of Carter’s protagonists pulls out her iPhone and says “Yeah, no, there’s no fuc*ing way I’m going in there. I mean, ew! There has to be a Starbucks close by.” By entering the mansion, each damsel dooms herself to be forever transformed and, sometimes, happily enslaved. (A cute guy falls victim to a loathsome vampire with bad housekeeping habits, but it is she who is transformed by the encounter.)

I found this shockingly unnatural bondage horse when I teleported to World’s End Garden. I couldn’t resist playing. I’m very aware that today’s images of bondage seem to contradict yesterday’s post about ending violence against women. Although my experience with bondage is limited, I have to say that I appreciate the way it can theatricalize the power imbalance between men and women. This theatricalization makes it impossible to pretend that the imbalance, which is an unavoidable socio-political fact, does not colour the relationship. Carter’s introduction to The Sadeian Woman makes this point with the kind of feminist fire that has me yearning for the late 1970s. Oh bondage up yours.

I suddenly had a longing for the Belle Epoque, so I paired the mesh Eleonora corset with a long straight skirt by GOK. There are three corset colours to choose from: blue, purple and black.

It’s hard to believe that this is my 901st post on Pleisure. I tallied up the number of days I’ve devoted to this hobby, and although the total of 76 is astonishing, it’s much lower than the number I’ve wasted watching TV.

Credits to creators
:::WEG::: Eleonora [with mesh corset] (at TGGS; ty Lucia Genesis!)
:[Plastik]:- Draziirah [Aleria]:// Lazy Sundays- BETA with Draziirah Ear:// and Haunt-eyes Magic Floods Out of my Soul (past Lazy Sunday item; Aikea Reiko will release the skin some time in the future)
[ #7 ] D I S C O V E R Y gold digger individual primlashes (at TGGS; ty Shortcake Sugarplum!)
[Shag] – Cherie (roots) – afterglow
GOK, skirt was part of a charity item
ChaChaDee! – 1970s Heel Reptile Black (still in love with these)
poses: Glitterati, Formality
locations: World’s End Garden and the Fallen Gods sim
GIMPed for your pleisure.

Haunted hollow

She’s not dead. She’s just post-processed that way. Nomine’s 100L sale ends today, but the Cross Halter Dress is eternal. Munchflower Zaius lavished such care on the individualized fabrics of sixteen gorgeous variations on this gown that it was extremely difficult to choose just one to show you. While many are full-on goth, there are a number of variations that would work for 1930s role-play or an evening at The Gardens of Apollo. The dress is mesh and comes in only two sizes, so be sure to try the demo if you are used to XXS-XL sizing. Portia fit the Standard version just fine, but it was more fun to blow her up to fill out the Curvy version.

Credits to creators
Nomine, Mesh Cross Halter Dress Curvy – cherry
Glam Affair – Halloween skin GIFT
:[P]:-Soul Ink-Lothlorien
::DT:: ::JoLiE:: V2 Beautymarks Moles and Freckles
- .HoD. – Compassion Piercing Set Prt. 1 – Silver Lining
[plastik]-DrownTattoo-Upper
>TRUTH< Zaria – ivory
House of Fox, Feather Tippet (recent subo gift)
Bliensen + MaiTai – Samedi – Earring – Red Glass -
Fleshtone :: Narsha Vanity Cuff [Onyx/Gold]
:: PM :: Demonia Claws (VIP gift, small fee to join)
pose: PDA
location: Wretched Hollow

Monster mash-up

Portia’s got it together. I, on the other hand, am shaking sand out of my brain and coughing up er balls. So let me just say how grateful I am that people with more skills—both motor and imaginative—let me play with their creations.

Portia’s collar is part of Passion, one of Aliza Karu’s extravagant new Avenue anniversary gowns, which you can see in full in Lib Descent’s stunning photo. Her hair flower is new from Pididdle at My Attic. It’s resizable, but I didn’t blow it up too big lest you think I’m showing off. Or something. Portia’s shiny leather skirt is new from Fleshtone. It comes in black, blue and mustard as well as red.

Credits to creators
[AD] Passion (NEW at Avenue Cinque event for two more weeks; ty Aliza!)
Fleshtone::HyunaLeatherSkirt[S] Red (NEW; ty StevenZ and Gisele!)
Acid and Mala. Bone Corset (part of outfit)
[Miseria] Batty Corset – Blood (NEW at Cinema; ty Athena!
PIDIDDLE – Ceramic Flower Headpiece – Rose. (NEW at My Attic; ty Brutus!)
booN KGI848 hair black
booN gathered raised hairbase black
Fleshtone :: Narsha Vanity Cuff [Onyx]
La Malvada Mujer- Claws
MG – Ring – Ramona 77 (@ Collabor88)
*GF* Halloween Bat Tights (awesome part of Halloween gift)
{Zeery} Inspirations: :: Verta-Break Heels::
-Glam Affair- Roza – The Arcade Gacha Events 08
Lovely Mi – Pagliacci Full
Cheap Makeup- Strong eyebrows
- DAMNED – GreenDream3 Tattoo Fresh (old hunt gift)

Nightbloomer

I so enjoyed Designers United 4! Pretty pretty pretty creations and creators, who appear in charming promo photos (by Lu Waffle) wearing each other’s items. It was tough to decide, but I stuck to my tiresome budget by choosing one ensemble of doom—depicted in today’s post (because I’m still grouchy about Emerald)—one punchy fun outfit, and one pale frail concoction, which I will blog later.

Grey is not the first colour I associate with Narcissus and Echo, but it’s a perfect colour to represent the girl who fades away, leaving only her echoing voice behind.

The creators at hate me and eat me must have known I’d need this pose, because they sent it to me twice. (It’s a test, a test of one’s bloghood.)  This is what Portia will look like if you see her later at Hair Fair. She’s decided to stop hating the overprimmed beast and become it.

Credits to creators
outfit: fore, Narcissus Cloudy (DU4 exclusive; only available this week)
skins: &bean, I went to Hair fair wearing no flipping prims and I went to Hair fair wearing lots of prims (both for 10L at the Harold store)
tights: Milk Motion, Narcissus Collection-My Tights 1 (DU4 exclusive; only available this week)
hairbase: booN, Vine Shaved Hair Base Ash (Hair Fair freebie)
hair: booN, FTN683 Black
shoes: A-Bomb, Kitten Shoes Suede/Thick Heel (colour-change)
pose 1: ibang, I <3 FLF (FLF Birthday gift)
pose 2: hate me and eat me, Gargoil (promo copy)
set: Show Me on the Doll, Go to Your Happy Place Skybox (old gift)

When she was sleazy

Portia surprised me today by putting on one of her oldest outfits, an inventively sexy little number from her naughty RP days. The Ninpo outfit by *sugar* comes with a pair of flat zouri, but Portia used to prance around in a skyscraping set of platform sandals that matched her purple hair. We were in the middle of this photo-shoot when Vinyl Cafe announced its 10L sale of a pair of Violet Chained Stilettos, the perfect hair-matching substitute for the platforms that had both of us wincing in pain.

I wouldn’t want these photos to suggest that Portia used to be a working girl. No, when she discovered her talent for (fundamentally selfish) RP, she gave it away for free. And this dress, with its butt-cheek tattoo, brought all the boys dogs to her yard.

Credits to creators
outfit including tattoos, collar and armlets: *sugar*, Ninpo (170L)
hair: Pixel Dolls, Ballerina Vivid Violet (retired)
shoes: Vinyl Cafe, Violet Chained Stiletto (10L Saturday only at the Dominion Shopping District landing point)
skin: Atomic, Faith Porcelain (old VIP gg)
eyelashes: Dutch Touch, Sjors Eyelashes Duo-Blue Tips
bangles: Mariposa, Animosity Silver
poses: Glitterati, Pin Up poses
location: Saranac

Wait, wait … run!

Sometimes I buy something that I like so much that I wait to use it, wait for the perfect complement. I knew that boon’s fantastic floral hairdo could hold its own against the deliciously harsh &bean skin, but I didn’t have an equally strong outfit. The names of the trio of &bean skins at Potter’s Field conjure images of dead witches (who sometimes wear heaps of light blue eyeshadow). And the yellowish tone of the skin looks unhealthy, to say the least. I used the Coastal Sunset Windlight setting to shoot these pics. If I hadn’t, the skin would be giving all of us nightmares.

The day after I bought the beautifully sculpted Marie Corset Dress from Sn@tch, I realized it might be the saucy frock I needed to equal boon’s hair and lighten up the mood set by the skin. When I took a close look at the fabric, I discovered that the silver-blue pattern was a match for G Field’s Knot Wedge Sandal in one of the donation colours, silver. I knew Shoe Fair would be lagged, but I will do just about anything for erm charity. I deprimmed and TPed in a flash, and then I spent a lifetime tottering around AO-free in search of the store while trying to get my underwear to match my corset. (And no, I don’t feel like explaining why I wouldn’t take off my dirty black socks until I had my new sandals.)

Did you know that hate me and eat me has a blogger support program? They send out an assortment of unusual poses so that your AV can dance ballet, pretend to be an airplane, and suffer from a full bladder. They also periodically send individual poses such as this one called *weird,* which is one of my all-time favourites, not least because it looks good from multiple angles. Go to the store to get the notecard with info for bloggers. And don’t worry about the giant latte you just drank. The creators can’t offer you a bathroom, but they do have a pose to represent your discomfort.

Credits to creators
dress: Sn@tch, Marie Corset Dress Purple
skin: &bean, Old Bones Burning Stake (Potter’s Field item)
hair: boon, XFE275 Hair Purple (old TDR item)
shoes: G Field, Knot Wedge Sandal Silver (Shoe Fair donation item)
necklace: Baubles, Summer of Love Necklace Natural Stones
pose: hate me and eat me, *weird*
set: Pr!tty, Dark & Mysterious High Fashion Skybox! (current gg in notices)

It’s witchcraft: these pics grow if you click them.

The sisters Frick

The seamstress earns a living for herself and her twin sister by working all day and well into the night. Some evenings, when it comes time to light the lamp, she has to search the house for matches.

The seamstress’s sister dreams of becoming an “actress.” She spends her nights practicing, imagining the stagelights that will turn her into a goddess. She can’t sing or dance, but she has a nicely turned ankle. And chain-smoking has made her an expert manipulator of the oh so suggestive cigarette. This at a time when genteel women still do not smoke. If only her small-minded sister would stop harping on the wasted matches.

God didn’t give the seamstress physical beauty, but he did give her aesthetic power. She is a remarkable craftswoman with a special gift for surprising colour combinations. When she lets herself dream a little, she imagines that one day all her needles will be gold.

Dancing in her skivvies behind a gauzy window curtain, the pretty sister looks better suited to a brothel than she does to the theatre. Every time she fails an audition she blames it on something she cannot control, like the ginger hair both girls inherited from their mother.

It’s almost midnight when the seamstress finally sets aside her work. Checking that her sister is in bed, she locks her into the room, as she does every night, in order to keep her “safe.” “We must be cautious,” she tells her sister, “as you are the goose who is going to lay our golden egg.” Surveying the heaps of fabric and clothing that litter the tiny house, and looking ruefully at the expensive filmy curtains that her sister chose, the seamstress wonders how quickly it would all go up in flames if that silly goose carelessly dropped a cigarette…or if she herself, overcome by fatigue, fumbled the lantern.

Credits to creators
The plain twin wears
outfit: Frick, Belle Epoque Truffle [fabulously inexpensive; two other colour combos]
hair: Lamb, Sleepyhead Rotten Carrot
skin: Sanu, Needling Skin Blushed (part of Needle in a Haystack Hunt gift)
needle: Sanu, Needle Gold (part of Needle in a Haystack Hunt gift)
monocle: Sanu, Silly Summer Flowers Monocle
lamp with poses: Dutchie, Wearable Lantern (former picks gift)

The pretty twin wears
outfit: Frick, Belle Epoque Truffle
earrings: Ticky Tacky, Fancy Pants (The Washes Cart Sale 10L item)
skin: YS & YS, Evelin Fresh in Red-Cleavage (old gg)
hair: LoQ, Collins-Brick
boots: G Field, Short Lace-Up Boots Brown
prop: F*S, Schmoking Cigarette (pay what you want at Free*Style)
poses: Glitterati

location: Willow, The Loft House Skybox Showroom

All the  photos biggen up if you click them.

The rest is silence

Usually a Potter’s Field is home to the graves of the poor and the unknown. .44 Caliber’s version of Potter’s Field is another story, a bazaar of luxury fashion, skin, hair and poses by renowned designers like Sienia Trevilion of Lark, who created the Silence ensemble Portia wears here. The entire outfit, which includes horns and horned ring, sells for only 500L. It’s such a steal, you’ll feel as though you’ve robbed a grave.

Silence is glorious…and puzzling. On the one hand, this powerfully horned woman is clearly not human or helpless. And yet, on the other hand, she seems to be subject to one of humanity’s cruelest fates: enforced chastity, something that women undergo more often than men. But this is not the whole story. Although both her belt and her collar are locked, her belt is hung with keys, suggesting that she could free herself if she wanted, or that she is waiting for the right person to free her. And the wrong one? Well, he, or she, or it, might meet the business end of that ring. Myself, I would just toss a glass of water in the person’s face, but RL is so much less, erm, bloody than SL.

The textures of the gown are a treat: the coarse weave of the skirt and jacket contrasts with the different laces of the bodice and the capelet that falls from the exaggerated shoulders. (Click on the pics to see the details.) The sim is also beautifully laid out and textured like a French Realist painting. Potter’s Field closes on August 24th.

Credits to creators
ensemble: Lark, Silence
hair: Clawtooth, Louise Brooks Softest Black
skin: Dama, *NuNu* Skin-New (subo)
eyes: Frick, Silver Clockwork Eyes-Grey (13L gacha now in-store)
poses: Leafy (old dollarbie)

Until somebody loses an eye

One can make a gothic romper, but can one make a goth romp? Although we can’t claim our study was scientific, we did discover that when dressed in Rotten Toe’s Old Rose Romper, Anorak Offtherack was in no way inclined to frisk about like a lamb. In fact, she was so put out by the suggestion that she have fun, that…

…she pulled out a box of tacks and tried to put out her own eye. Good thing she was wasted or she might have hit her target. “Oh yes, it’s all fun and games,” she shrieked, “until Pleisure loses a model!” For our part, we think that Anorak looks adorable, and that six weeks in rehab will have her romping like a pro.

Credits to creators
all-in-one: Rotten Toe, Old Rose Romper
skin: Tres Blah, Dashing Blur Makeup (500L only at Blur)
tattoo: Para Designs, Lush Medium (Addiction Hunt gift)
shape: BG by AE, Odette (Free*Style pay what you wish)
eyes: Glam Affair, Stella Eyes n4
hair: Eha, Opening Gift Black (old subo gg)
gloves: Viva Glam, Brody Gloves Deep Gray
shoes: Kookie, Powder Puff Cloud
socks: I Love 13, part of Pierrot Dress Stone
tacks: I Love 13, Nailed Eye (freebie)