The Season of Whitecold

The few hours of warmer colours encourage frolicking in the snow, enjoying life in the downpour of glittering, fluttering stars. Just for those few moments before the approaching dark arrives. 

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As the light wanes, darker creatures emerge from under the stairs, from the shadows, from the frozen spaces between the quick touches of sun.

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They appear solid frozen as first, and you might have to glance at them from the corner of your eye to see them move at all, but as golden tones turn to blue, they are suddenly everywhere, skittering on the ice.

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Cold cannot hurt them. They, and many other creatures of the night, indulge in the longdark, in the frost, in the starlight captured in small glints on the snow. It is their season, the season of whitecold.

Scene:
Stairs: {anc} NO LIMITS. Stairs for moonlight 46Li RARE
Chapel: {anc} EDEN. chapel / old . 35Li
Snow: {anc} snow ground (mesh uneven ground) white 1Li
Doves: {anc} NO LIMITS // various different doves
Hound: meadowWorks – Greyhound Poser*
Imps: lassitude & ennui – Mischievous Imps Gacha*

Character:
Skin: Pink Fuel – Doll V2 <Vamp>
Hair: !lamb. Bang Bang Ink
Eyes: IKON – Deadshine Eyes Paradise
Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious
Nails: Beautiful Freak – Dead of Winter*
Coat & Hat: Fallen Gods Inc. & FAIDA – Ekaterina White*
at Wayward Winter (event ends on 31st January)
Necklace: House of Rain – The Luxury of Tears*
Hands: Slink Casual

Poses:
NanTra – Eternal Beauty 6M
:Picture This!: Jewelry Model 3 Mirror
NanTra – Requiem 1 mirror

The Sun in Selidor

The sun in Selidor is always warm. The eternal summer embraces all visitors, inviting them to rest on the soft grass and to watch the wonder that is summer sky.

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The magic runs deep in the veins of the island, not a remnant of the incarnated gods, but a living, breathing, growing presence. Selidor has a spirit of its own.

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It whispers words of beauty to each new deity taking shape in its arms, words of truth from the realm where magic flows as easily as air.

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“Be all that you are, creature of elements, spirit of growth. Breathe in experiences, embrace changes and always, always face the sun.”

The Fallen Gods Inc. 8th Anniversary Festival week has officially started off! The roof top of the temple hosts an Eternal Market featuring wondrous things for sale (or as gifts), the Fortune Teller inside the temple is still offering free Infinity Sidera avatars for both men and women that find their match, and the week is full of events! Today there’s a live music concert by Phoenix J at 2PM SLT, more schedule details here.

Scene: Eternal Market at Selidor

Body:
Skin & Appliers: Fallen Gods Inc. – Sidera Infinity PG at Fortune Teller in Selidor
Mesh Parts: Maitreya Lara Mesh Body | Slink Hands & Feet
Hair: Wasabi Pills – Sharon Mesh Hair Sidera at the Eternal Market
Eyes: IKON – Immortal Eyes Parchment

Outfit:
Outfit: !deviousMind – Hekate Diamond Sheer* at the Eternal Market
Necklace & Earrings: House of Rain – Ouija Set* at the Eternal Market
Particle Magic: Cole’s Corner – Infinite Halo & Fireflies* at the Eternal Market

Poses: Kirin – Athena Pose 1 | Picture This! Jewelry Model 2 | Kirin – Hera Pose 1

Sword Day, Red Day

Red had traveled under many names, most of them either forgotten by now or branded into myths and legends. Having a mythical name meant these days simply that your parents had played Dungeons and Dragons as youngsters, so she preferred Red.

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Horses had changed to bikes, which in general meant they were much easier to fix than their predecessors had been. Sharp pieces of metal had turned to small blunt pieces of metal of beautiful velocity. The ring of swords had become the drums of guns.

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In all this time Red had never changed. She was always beautiful, always fiery, always tempting and glamorous. She was glory and fame, power and control, the beauty of fire calling you closer until you burn.

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She was all the reasons humanity had ever needed for fighting each other. She was War, and tonight she was riding to town.

New round of A Tattered Page has just started, this time focusing on Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. War is of course one of the Four Horsemen Bikers of the Apocalypse. The boots by Pale Empress and the helmet by Eclectica can be found in the ATP Library.

Scene: The Wastelands

Body: Skin: Jalwa – Gazala Salt Black Brow* | Eyes: IKON – Hope Eyes Leonine | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Exile – Pick Up Lines | Lipstick: Beautiful Freak – Liquid Metal Blood Red* | Hands & Feet: Slink Casual & High | Body Blood Smears: Fallen Gods Inc. – Bloody Flesh 

Outfit: Jacket: Erratic – Tory Cropped Biker Jacket Glossy Red | Pants: Erratic – Zoey Leather Pants Red | Boots: Pale Empress – War Boots* | Helmet: Eclectica – Good Omens War Helmet for ATP Red* | Jewelry: House of Rain – Burn Choker & Rings Ruby* | Sword: Fallen Arms – For the Living Sword* | Particles: Cole’s Corner – Digital Confetti Aura Firey*

Poses: {NanTra} Requiem 3 | !bang Carefree 2 | !bang mini series Overcome 2

Slithering in the White Nights

Sun is returning from its long sleep. These are the nights to be careful when it barely sets, lingering stubbornly around, threatening the night-dwellers with its radiance without a moment of rest.

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We become bound indoors: draw heaviest of curtains, head to the basements, perhaps even journey to south where they still have proper nights even in the summer.

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Unless one happens to be either extremely adventurous or inexcusably lazy, or a bit of both. Then you can rely on learning where and when the burning rays draw their blazing patterns and which parts of the terrace are safe for a few hours.

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The white nights are warm, the light merely a soft haze instead of invading rays. The sensation — or perhaps the promise of danger in the silent air — makes even borrowed blood run faster in the cold veins, makes long cold limbs stretch and slither and bask in the shadow of the sun once more. Just for the summer.

The body suit is a part of an outfit by SAKIDE and the snake jewelry and shoes are by House of Rain, both available in World Goth Fair. The tattoo by Fallen Gods Inc. can be won in a gacha at Fantasy Gacha Carnival.

Scene: Home (Private)

Body: Skin: Pink Fuel – Doll V2 Vamp | Hair: MINA Hair – Selenia Materials | Eyes: IKON – Deadshine Eyes Crimson | Hands & Feet: Slink | Mesh Body: Maitreya | Tattoo: Fallen Gods Inc. – Deathcall, Mark of the Ouroboros Black*

Outfit: Body Suit: [ SAKIDE ] Merula Outfit* | Jewelry & Shoes: House of Rain – Save Your Serpent Bracelets, Necklace & Shoes (Slink High)*

Poses: Part of the Justine divan by ~Libertine~

Azure’s Search for Normal People

Never content with just one world, Azure had long ago mastered the skill of landwalking. The first shifting had been awkward, her new-shaped limbs as useless as a baby fish tail, shuddering on reflex instead of control. But she had learned since. She had learned well.

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She taught the craft now to the other curious mermaids, how to control two narrower, more angular tails, how to balance upright on them, how to survive in thin non-supporting air instead of the stronger embrace of water. How to transmute sea shells and coral into human body ornaments and wrappings.

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It was perhaps the biggest challenge of them all, to learn which parts of the body should be wrapped in decor and which not, but after the initial mistakes and a lot of landwalker observation, Azure was now confident she had it right. If she could just find landwalkers with a normal skin colour instead of this one endless tribe of sand tones, she’d be happy. 

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But no matter how far she had searched she could find no blues and the sand-skins kept raising strange structures wherever she had visited and burning small fires in them. Kneeling was also commonplace, but Azure assumed it was to show off their superior limb control. If she could only find normal people things would be easier: they would explain the landwalker oddities to their mer-cousin, those normal blue people.

The Draco Odyssey/Laguna skin by Fallen Gods Inc. is available in We Love Roleplay event. Azure’s skin was the scaled version underwater and smooth when rising to the surface. The mask by Senzafine, octobra by ieQED, fishnet dress by FDD and the Nereid dress by lassitude & ennui are all from the current round of The Fantasy Collective, conveniently themed around mermaids. The hair by Exile is available in Collabor88.

Scene: Cerridwen’s Cauldron – Jellyfish Weed Crownleaf, Hydra Anemone Indigo 20 Tentacles | Fantasy Flora – Fantasy Sea Grass Light Blue & Fantasy Bubble Plant Blue | Chair: 22769 ~ [bauwerk] Tentacle Chair

Body: Skin: Fallen Gods Inc. – Draco Odyssey/Laguna Scaled Marks Awake & Smooth* | Eyes: ~*By Snow*~ Midnight Eyes II Indigo* | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Exile – Windsong | Tail: !deviousMind – Undine Electric Blue | Hands & Feet: Slink

Outfit 1: Mask: Senzafine – Morgazh Mask* | Bra: ieQED – Octobra Gold | Collar & Bracers: Luas – Revenge Set

Outfit 2: Dress: FDD – GS Mareena Fishnet Tunic Silver | Face Chains: . aisling . – Xanthe N1 Gold

Outfit 3: Dress: lassitude & ennui – Nereid Dress* | Jewelry: House of Rain – Bring On the Dancing Horses Jet/Gold* (rings not available anymore)

Poses: Part of the tentacle chair. | Exposeur – Underwater 7M | {Imeka} – Lulu-Pose 3

Within and Waiting

Did you really think we were gone? The phantasms of the night, the grim terrors from under your bed, the dancers in the dark, the seduction of the shadows?

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Did you think your rules and laws and denial of your own imagination locked us out? That all your burning mountains of books and censoring of the stories old as time removed us from existence?

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You cannot destroy us for there are always those flying on the wings of fantasy, delighting in visions and what-ifs, those who are mortal enemies of the Moral Climates of Realism.

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You cannot destroy us for we are within you. Silly human. We are within you and waiting.

I was delighted to find Usher II in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Not only because of the goth opportunities it provided, although I admit enjoying classic Poe-induced drama within a scifi mindset, but mostly because of its message. Of humankind becoming an enemy of its own imagination and banning all the flights of fancy, all stories that are not strictly based on reality. Now that is a depressing vision of the future and well worth the vengeance Mr. Stendahl so cunningly wove in the story.

The outfit by Pale Empress and the eyes by !Chop Shop! are both from A Tattered Page. There is now a central Library for your shopping convenience, although the items are also available in the main stores.

Scene: *~ by Nacht ~ The Crypt 

Body: Skin: Kooqla – The Queens Black w/o brows | Brows: +Nuuna+ Black Eyebrows | Liner: Beautiful Freak – Odetta Eye Makeup Blood Red* | Eyes: !Chop Shop! – Crystals | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hands: Slink | Nails: Beautiful Freak – Lucrezia ldg2* | Hair: Analog Dog – Tootsie Blacks

Outfit: Gown & Mask: Pale Empress – Usher II* | Jewelry: House of Rain – Horror Holiday Necklace & Earrings*

Poses: {NanTra} – Eternal Beauty 6M | {R} G1 | {NanTra} – Eternal Beauty 2M

Under the Tree

I shouldn’t really look yet. There’s still many days until 24th. Should be good and keep it all a mystery until then. No point in spoiling your own surprises, now is there?

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But I can smell the tree, I can see the shadows the lights cast on the wall, I can almost feel the candles as warmth, there’s so many of them… what was that? There’s sounds! Small shuffling sounds… a small woof!

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Shh, this never happened! I’ll re-pack the boxes and pretend to be surprised, yesyes. Or say it was just to save the presents from the rambunctious pup. Yes, perfect excuse!

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Shinies and small critters. The very best things under the tree.

The dress by Senzafine, the jewelry by Eclectica, nails by Beautiful Freak and the Pandora gift boxes by Libertine are all available in Gothmas by Gaslight, you can find them in Cursed: straight booth slurls in the credits.

The shoes are an upcoming release by House of Rain: this particular pair will be a part of the 21 Shoe’s exclusive deals on 21st of December. Visit the main store on that day to grab two pairs at the price of one.

The tree and all its decor, the rugs under it and much more are all a part of A Libertine Christmas gacha, which is available in the Midwinter Fair. Decorating the tree is an almost game-like experience of dragging the won ornaments into the tree to unlock the textures and then simply choosing which ones you want in your tree. More information here.

Half-Deer’s helpful snow day bunny is available in Collabor88 and the birdy in The Liaison Collaborative. The lantern by Remarkable Oblivion is from The Arcade.

Scene: ~Libertine~ ~A Libertine Christmas~ Decoratable Tree 2014, ~Libertine~ Sangue Floreale, Rug [Animated], ~Libertine~ Pandora Gifting Set, Yule Ed.,* | Remarkable Oblivion – Holiday Spirit Lantern Wrought | (fd) Animals – Playful Pup Black | +Half-Deer+ Bunny helps with the Decor (Black) | +Half-Deer+ Northern Cardinal M – Static | Eclectica ‘Nightblooms’ Neckpiece | House of Rain – Horror Holiday Shoe 21 shoe exc. – black/red*

Body: Skin: Pink Fuel – Doll v2 Vamp Pure blkbrow | Eyes: IKON – Horizon Eyes v2 Dark Turquoise | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Magika – Written | Hands: Slink | Nails: Beautiful Freak – Dead of Winter Nails* | 

Outfit: Gown: Senzafine – Isadora Dress* | Jewelry: Eclectica – Gothic Pearls Neckpiece & Earrings, Nightblooms Rings* | 

Poses: !bang – mini series overcome 4 | {Imeka} – Lulu-Pose 7 | Part of the rug by ~Libertine~

Skadi Speaks

It is time. The time of darkness lit only by the snow and the wild foxfires across the sky. The time to raise your glass to King Winter and welcome him in.

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Let the winds blow and scathe, let the frost bite until all the humans see the wisdom of staying indoors and warming each other. Let the lights blind their eyes until they learn to love the soothing darkness.

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Let the frost embrace and cover the world, pulling silence after it like a cloak. Let the snowflakes dance in the air, let the sound of their falling be the only audible thing.

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Deep in the frozen silence, where no sound of life dares to emerge, Skadi speaks.

Gothmas by Gaslight opened today and it is held on two sims: Cursed and Sium. The outfit by Pale Empress, pendant by House of Rain, makeup by Beautiful Freak and the two first poses by {NanTra} are all available in the event, the booth slurls in the credits. The hair by Tableau Vivant is from the current round of Collabor88.

As for Skadi that the dress is named after: she’s a Norse goddess of winter, bow-hunting, skiing and mountains, sometimes theorized to be also connected to the darkness. I felt it was just right to let her speak for this one.

Scene: Gothmas by Gaslight

Body: Skin: [KOOQLA] Bisquit . Pure 04 (db) | Eyes: IKON – Spectral Eyes Wight | Hair: ~Tableau Vivant~ Snowdrift Hair B&W | Hands: Slink | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Nails: Beautiful Freak – Dead of Winter Nails* | Makeup: Beautiful Freak – Bitter Winter Makeover Black*

Outfit: Gown & Collar: Pale Empress – Skadi* | Pendant: House of Rain – Daggers Necklace*

Poses: {NanTra} Merry Deathmas 1 (with red goblet)* | {NanTra} Merry Deathmas 4* | Picture This! – Magi 1

Occasional Orpheus

The scythe was absolutely useless against mushrooms, they either regenerated stronger than my dots, or if killed with dd, exploded in dots of their own. I checked out the frost focus in case I could freeze the lava to cross over to the channeling spot, but nope. Lava stayed lava and my gear was getting rather broken from all the deaths it and the mushrooms caused. I had to switch to my Uber Elemental Garb of Fireproofness and Stompy Boots of Kindling out of desperation.

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So then I re-read the quest prompt, the whole poem about nature’s lullabies, and it hit me: the harp! All those hours multi-classing to bard finally paid off, the mushrooms changed colour and after the patch 5.3 I don’t look like I’m trying to bash someone’s head in with the harp when playing, which is a bonus.

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Hopping up the lowered mushrooms finally got me to the achievement channel spot: months of pre-quests and grinding coming to culmination in this single two-second animation. No more harvesting thousands of mushrooms for the key or hoping the magma hippos drop the elemental hoof or that someone has completed the quest chain for the Irate Farmer so he’s asleep, leaving the door open from the left while you open the right side on the other side of the mountain… finally free!

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[Achievement unlocked: Lava Gardener.] [Title Gained: Occasional Orpheus.] [Item Acquired: Mushroom Plant (Home Instance Harvestable)] [New Quest Unlocked: Epic Gardening 7!]

It never eeeeeeeends. But hey, at least you can look fancy while questing. The epic loot weapons by !dM deviousMind are available in Fantasy Gacha Carnival. The Fomhar dress by lassitude & ennui will be available on November 15th at The Secret Affair.

Scene: Environment: Garden of Dreams – Lava Lounge* | Mushrooms: Cerridwen’s Cauldron – Whisp Shroom v2 Set*

Body: Skin: Jalwa – Sameena Salt Black Brow & LipStain Apricot 70%* | Eyes: IKON – Spectral Eyes Leonine | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Exile – Pick Up Lines | Liner: Beautiful Freak – Odetta Red* | Nails: Beautiful Freak – Romantic* | Body Parts: Slink – Physique, Casual Hands, High Feet

Outfit: Dress: lassitude & ennui – Fomhar Dress Red* | Shoes: lassitude & ennui – Obsession Sandals Black (physique & slink high)* | Cuffs: House of Rain – Abyssal Cuffs Ruby/Black* | Weapons: !dM deviousMind – Norath The Reaper’s Wrath, The Glass Canon of Destruction, Crystal Harp of the Valley* | Spell Effects: Solarium – ChaosHex Golden*

Poses: A part of !dM deviousMind – Norath The Glass Canon of Destruction* | Kirin – Florence Pose 1 | A part of Solarium – ChaosHex Golden*

Resigned

“Justine shook her head mournfully. “I do not fear to die,” she said; “that pang is past. I leave a sad and bitter world; and if you remember me, and think of me as of one unjustly condemned, I am resigned to the fate awaiting me.” Frankenstein, chapter 8

Did she feel it, the impending doom in the air? Justine, the maid so dear to the Frankenstein family that she was all but a family member. Perhaps not, perhaps she spent her last days in the contented happiness that the family had provided her, in doting over young William and taking care of the house of her benefactors.

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One could hardly blame her for feeling and expressing her gratitude so constantly, for it was the Frankenstein family — especially the late Caroline Frankenstein, Victor’s mother — who had convinced Justine’s mother to let her ignored daughter live at the Frankensteins from the age of twelve.

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So it was that Justine’s worry and concern for William, the youngest of the family, became the first step of her downfall. If she had not heard of William gone missing and had not spent so much time looking for him that she had to seek shelter in a barn for the gates of Geneva were closed already, the creature would have never seen her, never felt the bitter twinge for her beauty and therefore would have never placed the incriminating locket in the coat pocket of her sleeping form.

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With the locket from around the murdered child’s neck found in her pocket there was no hope for Justine, suddenly seen as the most ungrateful wretch in the world, someone willing to turn against her benefactors in the most dreadful way imaginable. No one seemed to question the logic of this, the only defense laid in the heartfelt pleas of Elizabeth who had only her firm belief in the innocence of Justine on her side.

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Justine confessed for the fear of hell, for the threats from her confessor, but in private she still convinced Elizabeth and Victor of her innocence, thus dropping the last of the misplaced guilt off her shoulders. She became the second victim of the creature, albeit indirect, and in doing so: also the second victim of Victor Frankenstein himself.

A Tattered Page is a new in-store event that draws its inspiration from books. The first round focuses on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and you can find the shopping guide from the website. The hair and tears tattoo by Pale Empress, the prison with poses by [Black Tulip] and both dresses — light by .Luminary., dark by Pale Empress — and both necklaces — light by Eclectica, dark by House of Rain are a part of the event.

Scene:
Light: Garden of Dreams – The Atelier
Dark: [Black Tulip] A Prison for your Mind*

Body: Skin: !Imabee – Petal Florentien darkB & Eyeliner 1 | Eyes: IKON – Hope Eyes Denim | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Pale Empress – Justine* | Hands: Slink | Tears Tattoo: Pale Empress – ATP Frankenstein Justine’s Tears*

Outfit:
Light: Gown: .Luminary. – Justine Cream* | Necklace: Eclectica – The Frankenstein Miniature*
Dark: Gown: Pale Empress – Justine Dress* | Necklace: House of Rain – Find Forever Gone Locket Closed*

Poses: flowey – a twinge in your heart | Picture This! – Jewelry Model 3 Mirror | [Black Tulip] A Prison for your Mind (poses part of the prison)*