Zodiac: Taurus

Steady, reliable, practical and patient, that’s the bull of the Zodiac. Often called stubborn, they simply know their goals and work toward them one step at a time with a calm, pragmatic mindset. Once the goal is reached, Taurus will reap the benefits and enjoy them, for it is also the most materialistic of the signs.

Taureans know how to make money and they also know how to enjoy it. They work hard for the rewards and then spend in quality and comfort. These are the lovers of good wine and cuisine, soothing surroundings, fine furnishings and luxury. Considering how sensual this sign ruled by Venus is, one could also say that these are the lovers, period.

Although Taureans generally value harmony in their lives and are stable, calm people, if you do manage to anger one you can prepare yourself for getting your fair share of the horns. Being an earth sign the pragmatism tends to ground them fast enough, though, and the bull returns to its peacefully persistent path toward her goals.

Stubborn, sensual, loyal, patient, romantic, pragmatic and even easily indulgent, Taureans work hard in their lives and then invest both in material wealth and personal harmony at home and in their relationships.

The Patience-dress by lassitude & ennui, Aphrodite hairstyle by Alice Project and Taurus skin by Essences are all available in the current round of Zodiac. The Janna Statement Necklace by Glam Affair is available in FaMESHed.

Scene: Garden of Dreams – Dining Room* | ~Libertine~ Delicacy Tray: fruit and wine, Rubens Leucippus Goblet, Cushions red*

Body: Skin: Essences – Taurus 02 brunette | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Classic Summer Breeze Bright | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hairstyle: Alice Project – Aphrodite*

Outfit: Dress: lassitude & ennui – Patience brown* | Necklace: Glam Affair – Janna Statement Necklace Gold/Orange | Spoon: Illusory – Dessert Bunny Chocolate Mint

Poses: N/A | Olive Juice – Oh, these old things? | PoseMonster – Stand 34

Conquering the Grid

Roleplay. It’s about time it gets a bigger spotlight on it in Second Life. To me it is what the grid should be about, with all the means to make impossible possible, to turn any vision in your head into reality, to share any flight of fancy you might entertain with others. No definitions but your own.

To me roleplay is more than just swords and spells, to me all the models, children, pageants, even the majority of the people who claim not to roleplay at all still do: it does not have to be an elf or a dragon to count as roleplay. Please do not take this as an accusation of being insincere, take it as an inclusion, a praise of being able to weave around your personality and expand on it, to enjoy parts of yourself that might not get focus in the life behind the screen. We all do this. We all enjoy this. Let’s respect each other for it.

In some ways, the masks we wear might be more true to ourselves, to our spirits, than the mundane details. Where better to let them shine than in the world where anything is possible? I say it’s time to conquer the grid back for roleplay, one prim, pixel and avatar at a time.

If you recognize any of this in yourself, if you feel like taking a step to more traditionally defined roleplay, there is a completely new monthly event called We Love Role-play that has just opened its doors. The shop list is impressive, so I encourage all of you to go and have a look!

The Fire and Blood outfit by The Muses, the Jaw Breaker sword by [EZ] Weaponry and the Unseelie mask by *~*Illusions*~* can all be found in the We Love Role-play event. The Disna hair by Alice Project is available in the current round of FaMESHed.

Scene: Surroundings: *~by Nacht – The Cloisters* | Fountain: Trident – “Crimson Fields” Fountain (KoH hunt, not available anymore)

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Mia Fairy Tales 2012 03 A | Eyes: IKON – Utopia Eyes Dark Red | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 6* | Hair: Alice Project – Disna*

Outfit: Armored Dress: The Muses – Rainha* | Mask: *~*Illusions*~* Unseelie Mask & Headpiece | Sword: [EZ] Weaponry – Jaw Breaker*

Poses: aDORKable Poses – 19 of 25 2012 | Poise – GA 3*

F is for Flamingos

Why not? Life is so strange and often challenging that we all could use some random things that make us smile as often as possible. It’s an important skill, being able to smile, laugh, enjoy the little oddities and quirks that the world offers us.

There’s something thoroughly appealing in pixel food. I am not certain if it’s the sense of making the world more real, more alive or if it ties more closely to that lure of unnecessary oddities. They’re perfect, delicious-looking and completely futile things, but yet they call to us. They apparently also call to pandas, so make sure to guard yours!

The quirky flamingo clutch by HANDverk and the adorable pearl collar by lassitude & ennui are both available in the current round of L’Accessoires. The romantic Flora hair by D!va can be found in Collabor88 and the Chibi Bunny skirt by The Sea Hole, Luria skin by Glam Affair and all the things on the table can be won from The Arcade.

Scene: Surroundings: Garden of Dreams – The Village* | Table: Tee*fy – Outdoor Party Table | All the Things on the Table: Schadenfreude – Tako Cake Stand | +Half-Deer+ The Sugar Battalion (Noir) | Intrigue Co. – Plushie Pals: Squee the Panda | Tee*fy – Cake Pop Maker, Cotton Candy Set, Popsicle Maker | Tres Blah – Tea Time Stacked Cups & Tea Cup

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Luria Skin 02 & Eyebrow 01 | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Classic Frozen Silver Bright | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: D!va – Flora Type A Onyx 

Outfit: Top: Pale Empress – Elyria White* | Skirt: The Sea Hole – Lorette Skirt Chibi Bunny | Collar: lassitude & ennui – Viola lace collar rose/white* | Clutch: [HANDverk] Flamingo Clutch.flamingo*

Poses: PoseMonster – Stand 46 & 39

Surface

There’s peace in the depths of the ocean. The embrace of the water is all-encompassing, world-defining. The currents carry life with them to a steady pulse, the comforting darkness hides one from the sharp, challenging threats.

The surface is scary: gateway to the unknown, the bright lights dancing on it hurting dark-accustomed eyes, the water’s movement more restless, unnerving. Surely it is inhabited by cruel hunters wishing to catch everything that moves and chain the life into suffering.

But should one dare to peek, one might notice that the red of the surface is not blood, but a sunset. Should one dare to stay, enjoy and play with new friends, the threatening chains of fear might prove to be no more than jewelry, worn to symbolize the moment they broke.

We all need to surface at one point or the other, but it is always good to remember where we came from. Comfort zones are necessary for gathering one’s strength to swim on: whether you journey on the surface or dive deeper.

Scene: Sim: Gardenia, Lost Atlantis

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza The Arcade Gacha Events 05 | Hair: Boudoir – Irena black tentacles | Eyes: Repulse – Undead Eyes Silver | Makeup: Zibska – Bassline Smoke* | Tail & fins: =LunaSea= Black Widow

Outfit: Jewelry: Zibska – Ute Set*

Poses: N/A | Exposeur – Underwater 7 (Zodiac) | DieselWorks – Yash Male 10

Vietella

In a world where the dark elves were created by the dragon god of tyranny and all the pale elves were simply mutations of them, adjusted by the other gods, the draconic elves lived on the desert continent of Qalia.

Their society was strictly hierarchical with a great emphasis on the legion and the ranks within it. Their leader was a queen, although otherwise they had gender equality: too busy to rank their citizens based on the purity of the blood to worry about genders. The respect that the strength of dragon-blood in one’s veins carried and the scandal for its thinness or lack was an elemental part of the culture.

Vietella Varayel was born and raised as the heiress of a noble house. She was taken care of and taught by slaves, her noble mother seeing her once a year, her esteemed father evaluating her worthiness and value when she turned ten and assigning a psionicist teacher to her at that point. Her talents in mindreading magic were only one part of her education though: there was history, tactics, diplomacy, plotting, scheming, etiquette, seduction and the fine art of smiling while backstabbing your enemies. True draconic virtues.

Her life took a sharp turn when her House was betrayed — another true draconic tradition — and destroyed by their rivals. The only reason why she managed to escape was that the leader of the mercenary House overseeing that no one escapes knew her and had a weakness for her. He hid her and in time introduced her as his sister. She put her talents in use to raise this fledgling House to power to one day claim her revenge.

That is how it started. After that it was roleplaying and co-leading a guild in a mmorpg called Vanguard. Vietella was a wonderful character to roleplay and I enjoyed the game immensely. The reason why I’m blogging about her suddenly is that Pancake from Renoobed set a blogger challenge about roleplay-characters: make one (old or new) and write a biography. In Vie’s case the problem was that there’s no way I can fill even basic information in this tiny space nor even dream of touching any of the actual roleplay that went on, but I had to try. So much nostalgia.

Scene: Garden of Dreams – The Desert & The Bedoin Tent*

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza The Arcade Gacha Events 05 | Eyes: NoirOptix – Pale Violet Eyes Large | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Tekeli-li – Wyrmling Silver | Ears: *~*Illusions*~* Seelie Ears*

Outfit: Dress & Choker: eXxEsS – Nocturna Blue | Gloves: Blacklace – Black Satin Gloves | Dragon: Isle of Wyrms – Shadow Dragon Familiar | Particle Magic: Fallen Gods Inc. – Ring Particle Makers (edited to purple)

Poses: Exposeur – Advent Gift 17 | Amacci – Male Stand11b | Amato – pose play 04

Circuitry

For some avatars that’s what makes them tick. No hearts, no blood, no squishy inconvenient organs, just perfectly manufactured and set up circuitry running the human-replica interface. The ability to come to logical conclusions faster than humans comes with the price of incomplete social abilities, the rules of human interaction always so subconscious context dependant. Thus the awkward wave.

The latex-covered body never needs nourishment nor exercise, simply visits to the maintenance check every now and then. It can even be wrapped in clothing to further mimic humans, although one should still take pride in one’s obvious superiority to the organic matter based lifeforms and reveal one’s circuits for the admiration of others. If one knew how to feel pride, that is.

Both type of outfits, Sheer and Split Circuits are new releases by GALLACTIC. They come in ridiculous amount of colours to fit any sort of cyber-adventurer out there and are so luscious it could make an android weep. Or at least wish they could.

Scene: Garden of Dreams - Showcase Basalt*

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Mia Fairy Tales 2012 01 A | Eyes: Repulse – Cyborg v3 Eyes Aqua | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Makeup: Nuuna’s Skins – Azen Makeup Aqua & AstroGlam Aqua Makeup | Hair: LaViere – Momo BlueTip

Outfit: GALLACTIC - Sheer Circuit & Split Circuit Cyan*

Poses: !bang – Stand 141 | aDORKable Poses – 21 of 25

Self Control

Perhaps it’s easier in cooler tones, the ones providing more insight. Perhaps the distractions floating right in front of your eyes will give your gaze something else to focus on, providing a perspective change. Maybe your lips need to speak the words of wisdom, sifted slowly through the sieve of control.

Maybe it requires a cage of willpower, glowing of the effort to hold still. Perhaps there needs to be self-set bonds keeping you in place. Different people, different methods, but in the end we all need it to weigh situations properly.

The stunning outfit that the post is titled after, Self Control by Bare@Rose is available in Genre until February 12th. The makeup and mask-like attachment are new releases by Zibska, perfect for both fantasy mystics as well as more couture folks.

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Renee Sinless 02 RAV | Eyes: IKON – Sunrise Bleached Gold XL | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eyeshadow: Zibska – Ursel Purple* | Lipstick: Zibska – Belle Six* | Hair: Wasabi Pills – Jamie Crystal Violet 

Outfit: Dress: Bare@Rose – Self Control | Brow Attachment: Zibska – Valle Brows & Orbit* | Earring: Zibska – Delve Earring*

Poses: Exposeur – She’s Crafty 1 | aDORKable Poses – 3 of 25 2012

Elyria and Explosion

Elyria is the name of this bodysuit set by Pale Empress: it’s slinky, shiny and sensually shaded. Obviously it could be a lingerie set, but when I saw the shading my mind went immediately to alien places and cyber-adventures.

The explosion part is actually from a skybox by Garden of Dreams. They’ve released several new mesh skyboxes in Showcase line, mainly meant for variously coloured, lit and built picture settings.

The alien adventuress is a mix of Beautiful Freak, Pin Me Down and Fallen Gods Inc. painted on the golden canvas of Glam Affair. The cyberlox are a hunt prize by Alice Project, available in the Sinister Goth Hunt.

To launch a thousand spaceships, all you need is a sublime shading in your bodysuit. Now there just needs to be a futuristic version of the walls of Troy to gaze over…

Scene: Garden of Dreams – Showcase Explosion*

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza The Arcade Gacha Events 02 | Hair: Alice Project – Vicious* | Eyes: Repulse – Demonic v3 Eyes Red | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eye makeup: Beautiful Freak – Obake Red* | Lip stripe: Pin Me Down – Lip Markings 6* | Body stripes: Fallen Gods Inc. – Sanctum Full*

Outfit: Bodysuit Set: Pale Empress – Elyria Red*

Poses: PoseMonster – Jojo 4 | Olive Juice – Kickin’ it | Exposeur – Advent Gift 24

Purple Winter

It’s not always just whites and blues, no. There’s the spectrum of violet and purple, almost pink when the sun barely peeks from the horizon to paint the snow in the attempts of warmth before vanishing again. A touch of haze between the cold crystal clarity and darkness.The Lazy Boots by lassitude & ennui are perfect for wading around in the snow, even if you’re too girly for a backpack and prefer a purse like this leather feather clutch by HANDverk. Both are available in the current round of L’Accessoires.

The shirt and the skirt are new releases by SAKIDE, both available in several colours. The shirt comes with lola tango appliers for those more endowed. Then all you need is a scarf and you’re ready to traipse around the wintry grid.

Scene: Leroy 

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza Baroq 01 D | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Moon Autumn Bright | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 8* | Hair: Exile – Turn the Page

Outfit: Shirt: SAKIDE – Spencer Lace Shirt Purple* | Skirt: SAKIDE – Mini Lace Skirt Black* | Tights: Sn@tch – Goth Tights Purple | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Lazy Boots Purple* | Gloves: Sn@tch – Leather Gloves Black | Purse: HANDverk – Leather Feather Clutch Violet* 

Poses: !bang – Stand 130 | aDORKable Poses – 22 of 25 2012

Medusa’s Waltz

This is one of those combinations that just happened. I’ve had HANDverk’s Medusa hair for a while now, but hadn’t found just the right things to go with it. When I tried on Zibska’s Ouida collar, something simply clicked.

This particular Medusa became a modern one, slithering about in a Take This Waltz gown of slinkiness by :{MV}:, available in Gothmas by Gaslight. Her hunting grounds are obviously a jungle bar by Garden of Dreams:  plentiful prey, excellent drinks and convenient comfort.  The skin is one of Glam Affair’s gacha ones from The Arcade.

Now to figure out how to engage in conversation without making the dinner freeze… perhaps investing in a mask would be a good idea?

Scene: Garden of Dreams – Jungle Bar*

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Renee Dreary Soul 03 RAV | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Cat Eyes Black Preview | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: HANDverk – Medusa Hair blue/black eyes 

Outfit: Dress: :{MV}: Take This Waltz Gown Teal* | Collar: Zibska – Ouida Collar*

Poses: aDORKable Poses – 6 of 25 2012 | Olive Juice – Sassy 3 (Curvy)