how much love is it gonna take, to prove I'm not another heartache

Mass-produced Steampunk? Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

And "short region outages" are planned, all day? Glad I'm in limbo, then. Yeep.

Wanted to talk a bit about February's Ode Butterfly hunt. Last February at this time, I was hip-deep in shatter, the train wreck fully ablaze, and running around trying to manage things with various designers and a large entertainment concern. I not only didn't have time to spend several hours hunting, I wasn't in any place where I could have heard of it.

This year was substantially different. This year--more or less--I had the time. I had to leave for several hours in between hunts, but I was able to make a few of the larger ones.

Pictures. On how deranged it got.



(For all of these, I highly recommend just clicking for the larger picture for more detail.)

This is taken from the Ode hunt in Ode, Worthwhile Valley. Check on the mini-map in the upper right corner, packed with little green dots. That'll tell you how many were in the sim when I first went there and snapped this shot. There were more before I left.

I came in flying and could barely move, even in flight. The barely rezzed winged sort you can dimly see in front of me? I watched fly over, from right to left, for five minutes before I could fly forward.

[13:18] Neome Graves: Lotsa flutterbys, very few items
[13:19] Emilly Orr: I haven't rezzed in any
[13:19] Emilly Orr: Not even li'l grey squares
[13:20] Emilly Orr: okay, found a pool
[13:20] Emilly Orr: man, they like drowning
[13:22] Neome Graves: Oh?
[13:23] Neome Graves: Need a hand?
[13:23] Emilly Orr: Think this one is picked clean, unless they're in mountains again
[13:23] Emilly Orr: Got a couple of items
[13:23] Neome Graves: Could be
[13:23] Neome Graves: And yeah, I got a couple too.
[13:23] Emilly Orr: I'm gonna drift around the water sources for a bit, port if we find dead ones :)



The rest of the images are all from the Africa sim. This was taken when first rezzing in to Africa. Again, point your attention towards the mini-map. Allll those green dots. All those avatars. Awaiting a butterfly release, for this particular hunt, of 1500 butterflies.

It was chaos.

[13:24] Neome Graves: And I found 1 whole twilight piece and it's an earring. =P
[13:24] Emilly Orr: hee!
[13:24] Emilly Orr: I'm not even reading but I found em/rose, I know, and one of something else
[13:24] Emilly Orr: ooh living ivory
[13:25] Emilly Orr: they drift alive for a bit, then 'die'
[13:25] Emilly Orr: learning butterfly behavior :p



I quickly threw on a less prim-heavy, flexi-heavy outfit, retaining hair--damn it, no, I refuse to go back to Linden hair for any reason until they make it more attractive--while women were shouting at each other to take off scripted items, jewelry and shoes. Again, in flight, came into the sim in flight, and could fly about as well as your average brick when thrown. Massive lag. Insane lag.



This is actually taken from underneath the Africa sim. Something we noticed with the butterfly releases--they would gather and die in water sources--the bases of waterfalls, the bottom of ponds--but also, they would gather and die in less usual places--below mountains, below valleys, embed in walls--I mean, let's leave the question of unfairness aside, let's just talk how weird that is. Small little scripted insects, they're released, they flutter, they die--okay. Small little scripted insects that then seek out places to drown or to bury themselves in sod--buh?!?

And then, there was the butterfly generator--essentially, a small cube buried in the dunes in the Africa sim that spawned particle butterflies--that were the exact same shape and size of the Ode hunt butterflies!

Guess where a butterfly release was planned? Yeah.

[13:55] Emilly Orr: [*$%^] ME RELEASE OF 500
[13:55] Emilly Orr: I CAN'T CLICK FAST ENOUGH
[13:55] Neome Graves: Port?
[13:56] Emilly Orr: oh evil it's RIGHT over that butterfly generator
[13:58] Neome Graves: Got a couple
[13:58] Neome Graves: All amber
[13:58] Emilly Orr: Puts us up to seven
[13:58] Emilly Orr: If one of us joins the butterfly group we can trade for sets we want for our sets
[13:58] Emilly Orr: but DAMN

Pretty much we hunted in random packs--porting each other around the sim when we found pieces--following others who'd stopped hovering in place, others following us when we stopped. Grand sense of cutthroat competition about the whole thing.

And this was all on the 14th, staggered throughout the day. Woof.

Though...I also have to share this, because it's just funny:

Miss sachi Vixen and Mr. Damen Gorilla run Adam & Eve. This is known. They have a group reserved for news of upcoming releases, and--on occasion--the sort of mania I've come to expect only from ISC Chat. :)

Miss sachi announced the early release of a gown to the loyalists on the group, one day before she'd put it up as a freebie for the rest of her group. Initially, we were responding to that...but it took a turn for the weird.

[14:19] Emilly Orr: See, sachi and Damen *rock*, and this is why they have a loyal customer base, and why we pimp 'em to our friends when we can.
[14:20] sachi Vixen: I have free golden gown with shoes going in store tomorrow ladies
[14:20] Damen Gorilla: I m the best
[14:20] Damen Gorilla: I rock
[14:20] Damen Gorilla: she just trails in my wake
[14:20] sachi Vixen: yw Emilly ;)
[14:21] Emilly Orr: Damen, you're gonna get in trouble again...
[14:21] Lorrie Jefferson: LOL!
[14:21] Lorrie Jefferson: indeed, Emily... that is sooooo true. *grins*
[14:22] Damen Gorilla: and I m awfully romantic
[14:22] sachi Vixen: Well we won't say nice things about Damen until he stops chasing sachi round the sim with a crocodile humping his leg
[14:22] Damen Gorilla: when i push her off the platform I do it gently today, it being valentines
[14:22] Emilly Orr laughs
[14:22] Lorrie Jefferson: <~~~~~ loves romantic men...
[14:23] Lorrie Jefferson: hehehe
[14:23] Lorrie Jefferson: LMAO! i'd pay a quarter to see that....
[14:24] Damen Gorilla: I m so romantic I make myself sick

I think I didn't stop laughing for ten minutes, just that image of Damen, running around the sim with a crocodile attached to one limb. Chasing sachi around.

Everyone has their own Valentine's Day traditions, but Damen? Wins hands down for most bizarre. :)