This well and building are only part of a lovely build called Otter Cove, with lots of opportunities for photography. See below for the landmark.
Still half asleep, I sought the hill and found My vantage place, then stood a moment there To probe the wind for some familiar sound; But no vibrtation moved along the air, And I learned nothing that I did not know From the far east’s faint conglomerate glow.
A lovely build deserves a lovely dress. This spring outfit from Meva fits the need quite nicely!
I asked the stars, what destiny awaits Beyond this dark incalculable night? … And suddenly, incredibly, the gates Of morning opened to approaching light; Then, somewhere near, a bird began to sing — And my heart heard the whole world listening.
October’s here! Time to start getting in gear for Halloween, and I’ve got just the thing here. I was going to just publish these on Flickr, but at least a few of them are pretty decent; so I’ll do the same thing here as I did on there, publish them with text beneath to explain each scene in my story. It’s definitely a first for me, I’m not sure what Harper would have to say about this one. But if she can publish her stuff on here, so can I, and she’s been encouraging me to. You get to judge how I do.
Fair warning disclosure — there’s a lot of large pictures here. Have patience if it takes a little for them to load, please.
You can see the entire original collection in full size in the album on Flickr (aside from several I’m adding in here to help bulk out the collection, or that I reshot with Conan to improve things).
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Tholosa the Exalted, the Witch-queen of the Empire of Oshor Chih — known not as The Exalted by her enemies, but as Tholosa of the Grave — takes her ease in her palace’s apartments, beneath a statue of one of the strange gods she worships. Even in the gloom of her rooms, this strange woman, who has conquered and absorbed into her empire kingdom after kingdom, glows with a shell of power. This encourages her unlettered slaves to believe in her as a goddess, and puts to use the undesirable effect of all the sorcerous protections she has cast about her in self-defense.
Harper suggested we go check out a club called Cyberia Openstage. The Destination Guide (a handy thing at times for newbies or relative newbies for finding fresh places; even you oldbies should try it sometimes) lists it as “a sci-fi themed place with an open stage for all aspiring and established deejays.” And we loved it when we got there; someone was playing electronica at the time, and a batch of people were grooving the beat. We recommend it for music and dancing, if you ever want to go clubbing someplace that doesn’t require a ball gown.
When I do storyboarding for my short fiction, as I’m doing a lot of lately for the story based on “Like a Thief In the Night,” I like to get as detailed a set as possible, so that I’ll have the place my characters inhabit as clear in my mind as I can. When we first meet Melanda, Duconna Ceal of Eldav, we’ll see her in the office of a doctor specializing in biosculpt and cosmetic enhancement technology. Not surprisingly, though, there aren’t many places even in Second Life that boast a biosculptor’s office and exam rooms. So I was forced to build one for myself and my partners.
Well, there’s a brand new place I’ve found
Where people go from miles around
They come from everywhere
And if you drop in there
You might see anyone in town
“Going To a Go-Go,” by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, and Marvin Tarplin
***
Harper and I are hopeless during the summer. She’s in short-story mode a lot lately and wants to storyboard everything to work out her settings. We’re both busy with out-of-school families in RL. But we took a break to get some of the more important work done — like keeping our sanity together with a little fashion fun in world. We took a quick run — Harper was in one of her Melanda costumes at the time, though she isn’t here — to Ferosh Fashion Week, and I found this lovely, feathery, flirty party dress that I had to get!
“So,” Harper said while we were having lunch together, “looks like you got to The Instruments.”
“Yeah!” I said as I sipped my lemonade. “I’m afraid I turned into a clone of you; I’m wearing the same dress.”
“Not quite,” Harper said. A waiter dropped a small salad in front of her; I’d already eaten. “You chose a pattern. I went for a solid. I’m not that much into patterns and prints, depending.”
This is Part II of the story which was begun yesterday. In Part I, Ellen entered into a slightly shady “gene-jig” clinic to prepare for a “job,” the details of which we don’t know of yet.
But we shall shortly….
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One month later —
The evening sparkled, as it always did at the Hotel Capulus, in the Resort Districts of Metroplex 84. No matter the actual weather conditions, the night sky twinkled with stars and a bright full moon, and the sun was always warm in the daytime, thanks to the hotel’s climate-controlled dome. The guests glittered as well — only the elite’s elite (there were always super- and substrata in any social class, even if the levels were as shallow and artificial as wealth and social or political standing) could get a reservation here. Daytime or nighttime, men and women came to the Capulus to relax, to meet, to transact business or attend events, and always to dance and preen in the time-honored game of “king of the social hill.”
So Harper invites me to write articles for her blog, and I say, “Well, I’ve done some writing before, back in college, but I hope you’re not expecting something that’ll win an award.”
“Nah,” Harper goes, “this is just for the blog. Have you used WordPress before?”
“No….” Learning a new program? I was getting tenser.
“No problem; it’s very like Word or OpenOffice. If you blow something up, I’ll fix it afterward with you. So, we’ll do another fashion shoot, and you can write up the details.” And I hemmed and I hawed and I sipped at my coffee, and madness must have hit me. Or Harper had that coffee drugged; I was at her house on the Cayo. But I said yes.
I love using Second Life as a platform for devising costumes for my fiction characters and making them come to life. And it also gives me a chance to create some really good artwork in my photos!
This suite is of a woman who calls herself Daronna; she is in a pensive mood as she attempts to work out memories in the evening, following the day’s duties. I tend to write my stores in fits and starts, and so I first began dressing Daronna several years ago, when system and flexi were still the norms in SL fashion, and Bliss Couture was a name to conjure with for many of us. It was before tattoo makeup, however, and definitely before modern tattoo allowances — this makeup is in six layers! (As I always attempt to do, I’ve listed the makeup in application order, beginning with the lowest level and building up.)
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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