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

Let’s talk about money

This morning Portia and I had an epic pout because she had nothing to wear. Even a quick peek at my inventory, which hit 20,000 items the other day, will reveal that there is plenty of great stuff in there to wear and to show off in this blog. I soon realized that what was actually bumming me out was having only $148L, not enough to buy something special, not, that is, until Friday when I get paid. Sigh thrash sigh thrash. I put myself on a tight budget for SL, $2,000L a week. Sometimes, incredibly, I have money left over. Other times, I buy a skin and a pair of nice shoes and then decide that my budget is so low that I can afford to buy another $1,000L to tide me over. But not today. Today I told myself Portia would have to lie on the bed I had made.

Compared to RL, in which I cannot afford a pair of shoes that even remotely approaches the beauty (or height) of SLink’s Aveela or Maitreya’s Allure, SL is dirt cheap. And chock full of delightful freebies from creators who are, I imagine, inspired to make and to share, but also required to participate in this type of promotion as the price of doing business. (/me sends out giant ball of awe and gratitude to creators.) For someone like me, who hates stuff and is genuinely alarmed by the amount of garbage human beings are generating, the possibility of owning beautiful things that don’t take up space and won’t litter the globe is a dream come true. So why do I limit myself to a weekly budget of about half the price of a movie ticket? And why do I do it when I live in a town that only shows movies so mainstream that I rarely see any? I don’t know the answer to these questions. I estimate that a hundred experiential and psychological factors play into my SL financial decisions. But the dominant feeling of not knowing how much is too much depends in part on the fact that players don’t talk openly about money. I remember that my real life was suddenly much easier to live when someone told me that I should spend a third of my income on rent, unless I wanted to live in a top city, which meant spending closer to half. Where’s that kind of wisdom in SL? And what will it cost me?

Credits to creators
outfit: Nomine, elements from Slip Gown Black (ZombiePopcorn Hunt #59)
necklace: HoD, Fallen Necklace (female and male versions worn)
hair: Kik, Kate03(black) (2000 members subo)
heels: SLink, Aveela Stiletto Herringbone (current TDR Blue item)
bag: LeLutka, No Heart Bag (old gg)
locations: Maven Haus for sulking and Sinners Heaven for skulking

The professional

As an urban professional, FBI agent Dana Scully always looked over-dressed when she approached the tumble-down shacks of incestuous hillbillies from outer space. I don’t know what got into me at Maitreya. I bought the totally crazy (but fab) sandals with stockings and then, having impulsively clicked on a slim skirt because I liked the colour, told myself that I was restricted to buying one outfit, with everything coordinating, and the overall look neatly tailored. (This, perhaps, is the inevitable effect of faculty meetings.) I had no choice but to obey, because I recognized that RL me was on the mouse: tight-fisted and practical to a fault when it comes to clothing, RL me scorned Maitreya’s buoyant confections and turned Portia into a no-nonsense young professional. Thankfully, Maitreya is not Talbots, so my AV is a little more fashionable than poor Agent Scully in her navy pantsuits.

It’s true that Scully never even considered doffing her jacket to distract the Super Soldier. She would have invested in sleeves, and something to cover her stomach. And neither would be a tattoo. Those only keep you warm in SL.

But I’m almost certain that, at the end of a tough case that required her to save Agent Mulder from a burning building, this is what Scully wore when she rendezvoused with her partner to, erm, check his dressings and chastise him ever so lightly.

Credits to creators
skin: Cupcakes, Dahlia-Copper (former gg)
all these items are from Maitreya
hair: Nimue, Chocolate
shoes: Nevya, Bordeaux Leather (The Deck Anniversary gift)
bra: Bra Top Vintage
undies: High-Waist Pants Chestnut
skirt: HighSkirt Heath
jacket: Short Trench Mauve-Taupe
location: Nomine sim
poses: Open Collar, Sub AO 3.40

Ran home to mama

Our story continues. The demon doll from hell gave up on her husband and ran home to Mama. (In point of fact, she ran home to her reaniMamator. A powerful and mysterious creature, the reaniMamator resurrects women who have died for love by turning them into dolls.) Dressed to dance attendance on her sovereign mother, Pleisure’s demon doll wears North, Carolina!, a classic confection from Cutea Benelli of Grim Bros.

No sign of Mama. Hurrah! The doll loves having the palace all to herself until she discovers that the treasury is as empty as the throne room.

Credits to creators
dress: Grim Bros., North, Carolina!
legs: Forsaken, Socks, Ballet Boots and Thigh Cuffs from the Tortured Alice avatar
hair: booN, FTN683 in Gold
skin: Yome Shoujo, AnLi doll (freebie: buy box)

shape: Leafy, Eva Curvy [one of several variations in pack] (freebie)
eyes: Nomine, Stained Contacts–Corinthian Bloody Sharp (Gatcha Mystery Box 10)
earrings: Ganked, Nightdance earrings (old LB item)
mask: DollyRock, part of Stefani in Black (store closes forever after May 28th)
gloves: Paris Metro, Black Satin Gloves (freebie pack; thanks for the tip SuicideBlonde Scheflo!)
doll AO: LVS&CO, Special Midnight Halloween Dollie (Halloween 2009 item)
location: No Salvation on Dragon Rose Isle

Honeymoon from hell, part II

It’s been two hours since her new husband rushed out to buy cigarettes. On their wedding night.

At sunset, she had waited for him by the reflecting pool.

She was resplendent in Nomine’s Nephilim lingerie. The last rays of the sun made her porcelain-white skin look almost human.

Of course, the wound at her temple would always remind him that she had shot herself and, technically, was no longer alive. With the last rays of the sun gone, it was obvious once more that she was a demon doll from hell. Although he didn’t like it, he accepted her ghoulish hair-pin as one more of the twisted fashion choices of the reanimated. He planned to have it off her with the rest of her clothes. But before he could claim his bride, she turned her head to catch the light of the full moon, and the eyes in her hair-pin started to life, rolling appreciatively in the silver-blue waves. “I need a cigarette,” he croaked as he fled the chamber.

Six hours now, and she is still waiting for him to return from the store. Under the circumstances, it’s probably a good thing that her trousseau includes an outfit for running home to mama.

Credits to creators
lingerie: Nomine, Nephilim Corset in Green
shawl: MHFA, Shawl
hairpiece: bubble, Eyes Tarred And Feathered-Hair Pin (The Macabre Hunt gift)
hair: Shag, La La Love Me Blonde (Valentine’s 2010 gift)
skin: Yome Shoujo, AnLi doll (freebie: buy box; also contains a version without wound and tattoo)

shape: Leafy, Eva Curvy [one of several variations in pack] (freebie)

eyes: Nomine, Stained Contacts–Corinthian Bloody Sharp (Gatcha Mystery Box 10)
poses: Open Collar, Sub AO 3.400
location: NotsoBad skybox showroom, Scherezade house

Honeymoon from hell, part I

What kind of woman looks this depressed moments before embarking on her honeymoon? The demon doll from hell kind. If you don’t know what that means, you haven’t read yesterday’s post.

She adores her Oz Dress, which she bought on sale from Djinn & Tonic, particularly because it reveals a bit of the dead flower tattooed over her heart. It’s the hat—on which her human husband insisted—that she doesn’t like.

Sure the feathers complement the dress, but not as well as the accessory she had originally intended to wear. What’s the point, she wonders, of flying first class if one can’t wear one’s Bird Skull Mask?

Credits to creators
dress: Djinn & Tonic, Oz in Rose (on sale for 100L)
mask: creator Zuzu Fang, Le Cirque de la maladie-Bird Skull Mask (old hunt gift)
hat: edge grafica, Mourning Dress-Hat part of outfit (freebie)
skin: Yome Shoujo, AnLi doll (freebie: buy box)

shape: Leafy, Eva Curvy [one of several variations in pack] (freebie)
eyes: Nomine, Stained Contacts–Corinthian Bloody Sharp (Gatcha Mystery Box 10)
hair: Kookie, Chiggy (Beta) in Blonde (definitive version now available)
bag: DCCXXIII, Bag02 Yellow (old group gift)
gloves: Aya V, Fur Gloves Brown (freebie)
poses: noju (freebie pack)
location: Baiastice anniversary skybox (TP to store and then take TP to skybox)

Bride from hell

There was definitely something odd about the small bluff where they held the wedding. A lighthouse in the distance distracted the handful of guests from the ceremony. The bride, whom no one had met prior to that evening, was also off-putting. She showed up in a short dress, rolled-down stockings, and bright-pink platform sandals, an ensemble that must be trendy in whatever distant corner of the globe she called home.

After the ceremony, the bride stood aloof from the guests. As she kept her eyes averted, it was impossible to gauge her mood, but she struck me as morose. My friend, her new husband, explained that she was shy because her English was so poor. Moreover, she was superstitious and shunned overt celebration as temptation of fate.

The best man was the only one who got close enough to the bride to see anything of her face. The next day, he reported that she seemed to have some kind of wound on her left temple, but conceded that it could have been a traditional decoration that he didn’t recognize. He got a better look at her chest, which was revealed whenever the wind tugged up the hem of her veil. According to him, the bride was tattooed—temporarily, he assumed—with a pink butterfly and three lines of text.

“Love died… I became a doll. …I love you.” It wasn’t shocking that she’d had a lover before meeting my friend, but why declare it on her wedding day? Her metaphors for the end of a love affair and the alienation of grief struck me as unbelievably ghoulish. And who was the “you” in that last line? I googled the words but found no poetic source. The best man suggested that she had probably made too literal a translation of idiomatic phrases from her native tongue. “Either that,” he said, whispering in my ear, “or she’s some demon doll from hell!”

Credits to creators
dress: Zenith, White Chiffon Dress (group gift)
veil: creator is Setsuna Hirano, Veil <Rose> (freebie, but no idea where it came from)
skin: Yome Shoujo, AnLi doll (freebie: buy box)
shape: Leafy, Eva (Curvy/Tall) (freebie)
hair: Dark Mouse, Alex in Creme Brulee (Savoir Hair dollarbie fatpack)
shoes: Sn@tch, Squeeky Sandal (colour change)
stockings: Zenith, part of the Fur Neko Boots and Outfit (Dark Katz Hunt gift)
earrings: Chuculet, Belle Jewelry White (dollarbie)
eyes: Nomine, Stained Contacts–Corinthian Bloody Sharp (Gatcha Mystery Box 10)
poses: Open Collar, Sub AO 3.400
Windlight settings: Betty Doyle, Night
location: Suyako

I had no love of latex, part II

If an SL hunt has ever taken you to DV8, if you have ever slapped a board in the store, or picked up a gift, chances are you’ve got a luridly coloured latex outfit lurking in your inventory. When a potential playmate proposed we visit DeLust, a latex-required club, I reached for DV8′s Geishurai ensemble in Fallout. The noxious pea-green colour reminded me of Sonatta Morales’ equally sickening red Lulu hair, and a stomach-churning look was born. Needless to say, it was more cyberpunky than sexy, and Portia’s playmate was not aroused.

Also not recommended for sex clubs, DV8′s hilarious Cyberjammer outfit from last fall’s Twisted Hunt, which came complete with animated skates. Whisper Swansong has details of this month’s Twisted Hunt items from DV8 and other stores. DV8′s men’s catsuits look good on women, so be sure to pick up the male gift too if you are quaffing the strange brew. Loica’s toned tummy is courtesy of LeLutka, which gave away this Ife skin for Valentine’s.

Cyberina is my favorite DV8 outfit. Each version of this ensemble combines black and a single colour (merlot in this case), and each box comes with two outfits, one predominantly black and one in the contrasting colour with black accents. This means you can mix and match, as Anorak does here. I love the suggestive arm and leg wraps as alternatives to gloves and stockings and often use them to spice up other outfits. Anorak’s Classic Stiletto shoes, a group gift from N-Core, underscore Cyberina’s fetishistic and feminine qualities.

Credits

Portia wears

outfit: DV8, Geishurai in Fallout

boots: A-Bomb, Juliet boots in Spiderweb (old Twisted Hunt item)

hair: Sonatta Morales, Lulu

skin: Nomine, Primrose in Virgin (Valentine’s gift)

earrings and whip: Unique Needs, Basic handcuffs (old Twisted Hunt gift)

pose: DARE (old Starlust trash hunt gift)

Loica wears

outfit: DV8, Cyberjammer in Gunmetal/Black (old Twisted Hunt gift)

skin: LeLutka, Ife in Light with No Heart makeup (Valentine’s gift)

tattoo: I <3 13, Addicted tattoo 2 (group gift)

earrings: Unique Needs, Basic handcuffs (old Twisted Hunt gift)

collar: Stygian, Serpent’s Collar

eyes: HooT, Stormy Eyes (Angry Skies)

pose: DARE (old Starlust trash hunt gift)

Anorak wears

outfit: DV8, Cyberina in Black/Merlot

shoes: N-Core, Classic Stiletto (group gift)

skin: Idiosyncrasy, Justice (Xmas gift)

hair: fri.day, Tatum in Cynical Black

jewellery: Rasetsukoku, New Bound Heart set (old Twisted Hunt gift)

pose: BP*

Some days…

Some Valentine’s Days you wish you weren’t the only one injured in a romantic accident.

Some Valentine’s Days you realize your alt Loica must be moping in her underwear, too. So you invite her over.

Some Valentine’s Days you wish your alt didn’t have to be so dramatic.

Some Valentine’s Days, after she’s cleaned the fake blood off your furniture, your alt talks you into putting on the ballgown you thought you’d never wear.

Outfit 1

skin: *AD* Timeless, You Got Shanked (free from Freestyle)

hair: W&Y, Number 35 Type A (recent gift, but not from the new store)

boots: Perse, Pursay Boots (reds pack 50L for Valentine’s Day)

skirt: Blackstar (old hunt gift)

tights: Tee*fy, Pink Romance (free)

T-shirt: Pididdle, I love Pididdle tee (free)

Outfit 2

skin: Lara, Jesse (old Xmas gift)

hair: Clawtooth by Clawtooth, Velvet Moon (Valentine’s shade, no longer available)

lingerie: Lovelace (freebie)

bolero: Ingenue, part of High Society

props: Cupid Heart Hunt gifts from SPICA (candy) and itutu (chair)

Outfit 3

clothing: Likka House, Here My Heart (old Halowe’en gift)

skin: LeLutka gift for new shop opening (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Heartless%20City/82/207/44)

hair: Nushru, available at the Valentine’s Bazaar

shoes: Sand Shack wedges (current group gift)

chair: as above

Outfit 4

dress: LVS, magic and Romance hunt gift

skin: Nomine, Valentine’s gift

hair: W&Y, no name,  colour-change (1L at new store, but only till the 15th of February)

chair: as above