So very very late Tuesday night, my real life best friend brought his new gaming laptop over to get a few Vista issues straightened out, to have a better wireless connection for a while, and to get into a couple of online games and such. I'm really excited that he's going to start gaming, because since we stopped working together, I only get to see him about once a week though sometimes he'll stay over a night or two. Still, going from seeing him practically every day to just once a week has left me kinda down, and its not like I can just pick up and go see him whenever I want because he lives almost two hours from me and gas is hideously expensive. So being able to hang out online and have stuff to do is a good way of settling.
Now, this time while Drae was here, I didn't get much done if it wasn't something we could do together mostly because he didn't really fall asleep until around when I did. Generally he falls asleep earlier than me out of habit, and I'll do whatever it is I want to do while he's passed out and then go to bed myself. A lot of the times he used to have to wake up early to go to work, however this week he's had off because he's changing companies to get a better hourly wage, so he could be a bit of a night owl as well.
Of course, The Man's platform was a definate requirement. He'd seen me working on a few things a while back, and asked about it, so Drae was completely into joining. Unfortunately, the current last name set was kind of dull compared to when I joined, and after many refreshes of the list, he settled on Starek though we considered Atlas, Staryk (which we never got back, sadly), and Byk.
First thing first was to define a new shape for Drae. Since he was actually here, I didn't have to go through the weirdness of flipping into a man's shape and building it. I just built it directly on his new little resident; his facial structure was designed after the actor Chris Evans, though the avatar nose does not conform the ways it needed to shape for an exact replica. I long for models with as many options and flexability as the Victoria 4.2 model for Poser and various other 3D programs were available to us in-world.
The next order of business was to get a skin for him. I had a freebie mens skin for him, however it had next to no shading on it, as well as caterpillers for eyebrows and a fairly hairy chest. Some women find it crazy, but I'm not a big fan of chest hair and neither is Drae - probably just because he lacks having any despite being a Marine. Though I did add muscle to his shape, it wasn't very well defined and clear on him with the skin, and he wanted to look cut in ways he can't be in RL because he has such lean muscles. Don't get me wrong, he's a strong man, he's just wiry instead of bulky.
Now, if I can gather up the 2000 needed, I prefer to get any man starting out a skin from The Abyss. The quality of the work there is phenominal, and there are quite a number of options for each skin tone. Unlike most of the people I know, Drae is very much so into having nicely tanned skin, though he wasn't quite so for some time due to working inside all the time. Now that he's back into construction again, I won't be surprised if he ends up as tan in RL as his avatar is. His skin is from the Osiris line, version D4 which gives him a definate Egyptian flair; I always did say I like my men in eyeliner...
Even bald, Drae was looking good, and I won't be surprised if he occassionally goes without hair to totally rock the Egyptian look. But everyone needs hair, especially since the majority of the Cyrians seem to be hair connosuires, so we traveled several places in the search of a cut Drae liked. He's weird, and likes short and closely cropped hair, or any type of buzz cut like most military men have. In the end, we spent a lot of time at Naughty's hair shop, since there were a number of shorter styles with more colours than most of the ones elsewhere. Sadly, the hairstyle that we both liked didn't come in the Sable colour he needed, so I begrudgingly got him the Deception style instead.
Is it just me, or does it not scream "Zell" from FFVIII?
Everyone has a distinct hatred for the newbie clothes, so it was off to Bare Rose to pick up a free AO to hold Drae over while I built him a custom AO and to shed the last visible vestments of newbness. He selected four sets that provided a mixture of gothic, preppy and grunge - the Short Vest, Leon, Eric and Block outfits; without any promting, he began mixing and matching them into several different outfits that were quite fitting for both his real life tastes and the styles used for Cyrian role play.
Next, it was off to Fairy Grove Creations to get Drae set up with an appropriate Passion Crystal Hunter outfit. Here is where I began to wonder if he and I have some sort of telepathic link - the male version of the White Celtic Sentry costume was at the top of his short list of likes. After a good bit of laughing, he purchased that outfit, so now Drae and I have matching costumes even though its not my main hunter garb.
Since I wanted to match Drae for pictures, I wore the freebie Bare Rose Drow skin instead of my Onigiri Drow skin, however the Celtic Sentry Outfit looks just as good with that skin. I think I might even try this really dark mocha skin I got a while back at some point, but I couldn't remember which one it was. I still haven't gotten around to really looking into some white and lighter hair colours, so I faked it using ETD's Phoebe hair since I had an all-colour pack. I don't like the shape of the boots, however, so I used my trusty Shoe Fly Gladiator Heels in black. Now I have to find men and women's white boots to match these outfits, as the whole pointy toe thing just doesn't work for either of us...oi!
Later on, Beetle gave me one of the most awesome presents ever. She and Aradia had found a mehndi tattoo set at Gardens of Ku that was just perfect! The patterns chosen are just amazing, though I kind of wish that it came in black and the natural henna colours, but the pack is truly beautiful all on its own. I may find a coloured tattoo to wear with it, but for now its all on its own and on paler skin, it stands out. My prior tattoo looks super good on Drow skins, so I will be using it for that from now on.
I didn't want to diminish the quality of the patterns by make them as small as I normally do for my blog images, so these are a bit longer than usual. The first one here is of the front of the tattoos, and the second one is largely of the back. Both sides dip down below the hips, though I try to keep things as work-appropriate as possible as some people like to look at stuff from work.
So they're going to bleed into the next little part of the blog, but its about real life, so I don't have to worry about pushing any other images out of their right place, which is why I saved the story for last.
Now for a minor RL shopping story. My aunt had bought some dresses for my grandmother for Easter, however the crazy old woman claims they're not her size, when we're all quite sure they are. So something else was found to give as a present, and my aunt gave me the store credit from the dresses to get clothing for work.
Well, after finishing up in that store, we went and purchased a few more things at another clothing store and the book store (the only place I'd spend more than I do at a clothing store is at a book store, btw) my mother was going to pay in cash. She could have sworn she had more on her, when I pointed out that my aunt had given her 65.00 so we could stop buy the store and get my aunt a carton of cigarettes and some green tea.
It appeared that my mother had accidentally spent my aunt's cash on our other purchases. The Borders bookstore manager seemed pretty amused by it all, and we were laughing as well; my mother could easily go to the ATM and replace it, but it was rather hilarious that she'd done it in the first place.
After sorting through things in the car, it turns out she didn't spend the money we were supposed to use to get my aunt her stuff, however it was still hilarious until we were able to find the other cash. Only in my family, hah.
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So last night an RL friend of mine from up-state New York finally joined Second Life. He's been trying to find an MMO to RP in for a while now after leaving EverQuest II, and I sent him the information about Cyria and its RP. He's really good at dark or evil nobility and dark/evil in general, so his interest was definately perked by the traditional gothic romance novel style of Cyria.
I didn't snag a before picture, but he was your standard preppy blonde male that I believe is the most yuppy looking duck walker in the bunch you can select at creation. Wiegraf didn't get to spend a whole hell of a lot of time in the newbie area, mostly because we teleported him straight away. After making him a temporary shape so he didn't look quite so newbish, Beetle, Aradia and I took him out for an actual make over.
First stop was to get a better skin, as we don't have a whole lot in the way of male skins since we three are female. Splitting half the cost with Aradia, Wiegraf got to select a skin from The Abyss. For those who live under a rock, the male skins are absolutely fantastic even though they are quite a bit more than what I'm used to for skins. Definately worth it.
Wiegraf got Scorpio Dystopia C4, which has scarring over the one eye. A bit of pop eye adjusting will probably make that look like his eye was clawed out, but I didn't really get into much advanced customization just yet. The skin itself is quite pale compared to the other types available, though its not drop dead Goth white.
After that, we went through a couple of hair shops because Wiegraf wasn't finding anything that really fit with what he was going for. He found something that suited him at Sirena's, selecting the Dante style in white tips, which also includes a black with white tips version. All of Sirena's hair styles have built in face lights, which I often forget about since I have a number of styles by her - take them off, and the world goes a bit darker, and I never remember to re-equip my other face lights.
The next stop soaked up the majority of our time during the trip, due to render times and sheer amount of products to go through. One of the best ways to help a newbie look fantastic is a trip to Bare Rose's HQ, which is also a great place to pick up a newbie's first AO since they have a basic male and female freebie available.
Its always at least mildly busy at Bare Rose, to the point of where the sim has shut down scripts even though a few scripted items are available there. Even though it was a bit later at night, the place was still quite packed so the rez times ran a bit long; Wiegraf and Beetle didn't even render for me until after we'd walked over and got the little newblet his first AO. Needless to say, it was tough to advise Wiegraf of anything quickly due to the fact I couldn't see anything but blurs for products.
After a small obsession with some of the newer armours available, Wiegraf got the Noble of Dawn set. There are actually several versions of one outfit in each set, typically containing what seems to be the default colour scheme of black, pink, red, green and blue in some form or black and white/light and dark variations. Noble of Dawn is one of the later, even though there later was a Noble of the Dusk added to the menswear, which was more like the former colour scheme mentioned.
Yes, that's a spinal column in the background and yes, that's sinewed tendons sticking up out of that lava. This image was taken when all was said and done, and we were down in the Cyrian dungeons watching Lucia work her magic on the latest addition to the castle. Every dark, creepy castle has an ominous dungeon, and Cyria is no exception...well, aside from the fact ours has a comfortable observation platform...with fluffy pillows...
The second outfit that Wiegraf selected was the Ethereal New Heaven outfit for the male avatar. I've been wanting to see this set on someone for some time, however it wasn't quite fitting for Masi or even Tobin to get, so I was quite content that someone finally will be wearing it around me. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to mention to Wiegraf that sometimes you have to manually unequip something, so he's still got a bit of the collar from NoD on.
This was taken in Shapes by Zada's main store, where we got Wiegraf a pair of Eyefidelity Realeyes in Mahogany. Ignore the rainbow in the background...it totally throws off the dark evil lord look that the black version of ENH is going for!
This also comes in white with the same golden accents on it, for a good noble/bad noble combination. I'm curious as to what it would look like if one mixed the two schemes together, but didn't want to overload Weigraf's brain at that point.
Today we went back to Bare Rose to get him some armour. He was torn between three different sets, but I like the look of the Lord Black Bizard the best, plus it comes with three different coloured of cloaks. I'm note sure how the set looks outside of Windlight, but damn it's shiny!
Its kinda creepy how his hair seems to be part of the helmet until you get to the white tips, and realise its actually part of his hair. Now all he needs is some sort of fancy sword to look incredibly knightly, though I'm not quite sure if I want to go into the whole scripted vs. non-scripted weapon talk just yet.
The cape is fairly simple, and of a thinner variety than what most of the capes in Bare Rose sets are. It comes in red, blue and I think the other colour was green but I may be wrong about that. Honestly, I like it more than I've liked the fuller Bare Rose capes, it just seems a little bit more natural in the way it moves than the others have.
I suppose its more than late to mention that the Cyrian setting is sort of medival feudal, hence the lordly sort of formal clothing we were looking into for Wiegraf, and armour. Depending upon what role he takes, he may also be getting a sort of rogue set of outfits as well...trip to Fairy Grove Creations, yay!
Last night I also finally settled on a basic look for my Passion Crystal Hunter style. It's got pieces from several different sets I've bought over the past few weeks, and I may be adding some sort of stockings to it once I decide which ones I like best with it, if any at all.
Starting at the top, the hair is Style 2 in Red with Black Tips by Wrong. I don't really think the hairstyle is going to be a super set thing, mostly because I have a ton of different hairstyles, especially after buying up a bunch during Wrong's Easter sale. >.>
The shirt is from the new Bare Rose Scout set, as are the gloves and the nifty skirted utility belt. I didn't really dig the pants from the set for my costume, so I am using the Crimson Hunter Armour panty by DeFleur...not that it is visible.
I'm using the *Hexed* Gothica boots here, though I may be purchasing the Leather Cavalier Boots from *~* Illusions *~* for this costume. I've not decided yet. It will probably depend on whether or not I use a pair of stockings or not.
The cloak is the small black cloak from the Crimson Hunter Armour set, and its actually semi-sheer. Along the back attaching it to the Scout armour are little gemstones, so its still quite pretty and feminine. I tried the longer one but with where the attach point looked best, it was way too long and I didn't feel like modding it much.
I got a Yuffie costume at some point, but I forget where it is from. I plan on making my own weapon of a similar style, mostly because I've always liked her little, okay massive ninja star thing. I may also figure out a way to use the staff I have and the cape, but it might take a bit if attachment re-ordering...
So my newbie make over was successful, for what it was for, and I have my own costume finished now. Rather constructive day!
This part of my SLRFL post is going to be about the fantasy clothing I found. I was so torn on what all to get, since I'm a huge fantasy nut, and our sim mostly leans towards that kind of style. Everything was at a great price, and most had at least some if not all of the proceeds going to RFL so...I justified all purchases as charity ventures. ^.^
Elven Enchantress in Crimson
Fairy Grove Creations came close to owning my soul. They had a lot of different outfits that I wanted. All of them work with the theme of the Cyrian sim, and they're all fairly pretty in design.
The first outfit I bought from them was the Crimson Elf Enchantress. You can barely see it, but it comes with a spell book that has its own held pose built into it. Just like the stave you see a bit if, it can be used with the Spell Fire system, though there are SF enabled and non-scripted versions included in the set.
The only thing I dislike is that the shirt is on an undershirt layer, which means no tattoos without it looking odd. The corset is absolutely gorgeous though, and I've been tempted to contact FGC about purchasing the undershirts from the outfits I bought on other layers.
You can't really see them, but the outfit comes with a nice pair of matching boots. They're the standard adventurer style in shape but use a crushed red velvet similar to what is seen on the skirt. Its got accenting similar to the skirt waist embellishments, as well as a bit of the look from the jewelry.
This is a really nice coordinated set, and its available for a bit cheaper than usual (I think, I can't recall the main store prices) at the RFL booth FGC has. Really wish the corset was on more layers...
This next outfit was released at RFL by Avilion Mist as their contribution. Initially, I wasn't going to get it because it was purple, which is usually reserved for accents, however it was a special edition, and really gorgeous as well.This actually has ten different pieces to it. There is the shirt, which is shown here, and an undershirt for those who are a bit more modest than I am. There is a skirt layer skirt, however it wasn't fitting right so I didn't wear it for the image - the glitch pants were enough for a simple pose, especially with how full the skirt is.
Though they look like part of the scripted capelet, there are sheer prim sleeves that attach where the shirt ends. They're fairly sizable sleeves too. They look much like the skirt, with a sort of glittery effect to them.
Now, there are two seperate head pieces. One has just a long, flowing veil down the back, beneath most hair while the other has a veil over the face. Both have the silvery circlet that you can see here.
The hair is Avalon (Chained) by Goldie Locks. I really like the style but its one that lends itself more towards elegance and such than towards daily use outside of an RP sim. Still, it goes well with this costume, though I'm considering getting a different colour to match the dress.
The Crimson Huntress
One of the many outfits I picked up at DeFluer - hey, they're mostly 200 L$ a pop, which is a huge discount on a lot of them - was the Hunter Armour in Red.This outfit is actually quite versatile. There are twenty eight parts included in the package. There is the armor shown here on the shirt layer, a bikini top on a shirt and an undershirt layer, and a chainmail undershirt for starters. Then there's a choice between just the armor on the underpants layer or adding the leather leggings over them. There's an armor skirt, and two different versions of the hip armour, the lower of which is shown here as well as a belt. Then there's a full chain skirt or the partial chain skirt like I chose for the image. All of the leg armor could be worn, as it was here, or only part of it can be worn and different boots used. There are three different kinds of cloaks, the regular long one shown here along with the shoulder armour and gloves.
There's so many ways to wear this outift, though there are six shown on the promotional poster at DeFluer's RFL booth and main store. And I'm quite sure they'll mix well into other fantasy costumes or even every day use.
The style of this particular RFL gown reminds me of Romeo and Juliette due to its cut, however the colours are far brighter than they would have been back then. Created by Evie's Closet and used for their primary donation item, this dress is a lot more light and flowing than an image can show.The hair is again by Goldie Locks, only this time it's Sienna in Russet Red. This is another one of those styles that I don't often use on a daily basis, as its just a tad too elegant for my everyday wear. When I first started SL, I used an extremely short avatar, and this hair used to get stuck in the floor weird which is part of why I never used it. Now its a good length, and really is made for people over 5' tall.
Devotion - shown in Blaze - is one of the few empire waist dresses I've liked in SL, as most usually move weird no matter what you are doing. This one flows quite a bit more than I expected, making the satin folds shift in an interesting manner. Its almost as supple as flexi hair, as you can see by this image, but not quite enough to make it annoying while walking.
There are actually two RFL boards up for this outfit in Evie's booth, and it was fairly crowded when I stopped by, so there's good reason for it. I've actually been trying to remember the name of this place for ages, after stumbling upon it with another character. So glad to have found it again!
Snowbound
I think I may end up using this as the armour for the Drow set up I got at Onigiri the other night. I need to go get a few hair styles in pure white, rather than the blonde I used here, but the armour has potential Drowness.This is another reason why Fairy Grove Creations nearly owns my soul. I was really torn on the different colours offered since there was no red or crimson in sight for it. In the end, I went with the White Celtic Sentry which has a scripted sword that can be used in the Spell Fire system.
The developing trend between myself and FGC is that they make all their corsets and shirts on the undershirt layer, which deprives me of my lovely tattoos. I really do wish they'd offer more versatility with this, since not everyone is adept at skins so their tattoos are built in.
And I'm not quite sure how I feel about the shoes. They're far too thin in my opinion, though I honestly haven't put forth effort to widen their look. I realise they are designed to look like certain plate armor sabatons, but I really don't dig how skinny it makes the feet look. Hopefully its something silly like the design used larger than size 0 feet, which is easily altered as opposed to having to widen the prim parts of the shoes.
The hair is from Damselfly, its called Storm and this particular version is in Voodoo. They're scarcely seen here, but the tips are a nice red colour. This looks like Storm from the X-Men's hair, and I really couldn't convince myself to get it in Red. My inner Comic Geek was too angsty about it, so we settled for the happy medium of Voodoo.
And that does it for my fantasy costuming bing. Well, I did buy more today, but that was only after figuring out that DeFluer had some really good deals running for RFL featured items only. I've gone off to acquire the various bits from her that I've thought of getting before, but never quite convinced myself to get.
On to the formals...with a minor nod to lingerie!