I wanna live a vibrant life, but I wanna die a boring death

This is the..."Ham Tree"...at LORE. It's a group gift.

Mesmer's love of meat where meat should not be is spreading...

Anyway, it's been...void stars, the 30th of March. That is a long time not to post. There's been...a steady uptick in head pain. And, I think, two falls? Not sure. Maybe just one.

*Em goes to check...*

So, I did mention the concussive episode. Right. So the fourth fall...eh, let me just grab what I said, it'll be easier...

[10:39 PM] Emilly: I made a snappy little graphic earlier.


[10:40 PM] Emilly: Apparently that was too subtle for the rest of the court. Ah, well.
[10:42 PM] Emilly: Ranked from least stupid to most, I'd say this was just slightly less stupid than trying to put on a coat and falling instead. This was me trying to stand up, but being too far forward on the chair, when I reached for stable surfaces, the gas lift in the chair supports engaged, and I slipped right off.

[11:04 PM] Emilly: There was profanity. One of the girls came in and pointed out that my legs were not, precisely, oriented as legs usually were. And then began the debate, between saying hello to the EMTs again, and just going about the rest of the day. The lynchpin for this being, can Em get off the floor by herself?

Should I have just nodded and gone to the ER? Maybe. But at what point do I just accept that fragility is my state of being? That, I don't know.

[11:07 PM] Emilly: It was...a struggle. There is a fear of falling developing, and I'm not even sure it's worth heading off, because it's in the places where I think I can just move through it, do things I used to do, overreach to get something that seemed necessary at the time...So, it's going to be a great deal of second-guessing myself, which will be annoying. But, maybe necessary too.

And hoo boy, am I being careful now. Of course, the screaming back and left leg pain--must've been the left leg that took the brunt of the latest fall--is helping me considerably to be careful.

I'm just...I'm getting so tired of falling. I have seemingly gone from my current age to 197, and that's hard to deal with.

Anyway. Want to get this done...er...

Damn it. All set to go through Emmation City's haunted house, and...now I have to log off. Gah!

Okay, fine, one image, and then we'll be in the full review. So part one, I guess.



...or not, because I can't remember which sim I took this in, and--beyond being from Madame Noir--what's the name of these insane clompy plats. Even better, now I can only find two images of the original (brief) run of eight! ARGH!!



But here's the second shot for this post, I think...the third? That I took this night. Can't find the other two. That is deeply bugging me, but onward we stagger. So part one coming...I hope soon.

she was the last one in this town we would've thought would snap

Wait, SABBATH is open today? So the horns set from /Vae Victis\ is live?

And the two-day migraine having (with any luck) not surfaced for day three...it might be a good time for some honkin' heavy horns.

So, I'm currently standing in the Ancient Ruins of Emerald Bay...where it seems to be raining.



Straight out of the box, these are quite lorge (at least on me). Perfect minotaur horns, otherwise.

So let's muck with them a bit.



Hit the wrong thing first--MIN SIZE--don't do that, btw, it was HELL prying them out of my hair--but we're now at my favored forward tilt and about -30 on the size. That's better.

Basic color-tone reversal--pewter instead of gold cuffs, gold instead of black horns, still goes with the outfit and the avatar.

Amusingly, I've only worn this form twice before--once when I was following my errant daughter through a rift in reality, and once when I got shunted through the hull of a spaceship when we hit a patch of drifting aetherium meteorites. Marble not needing to breathe much, you ken. Or at all...



There are ten shades for the horns--this is showing the red--and ten shades for the cuffs (which can also be removed with a click), this one being the white.



There's a very interesting green on this set--it's not the usual bright lime or dark-toned forest shade. This is more of a gentle fern. I'm showing it with the blue-turqoise cuffs.



There's a heathered pumpkin orange on the HUD, too. I paired it with the purple for the cuffs here.



What's visible from the front matches from the back--but it's still some lovely texture work. This time it's blue horns to match pink metal cuffs.



For the last shot I couldn't really fit both HUD and horns in the lotus frame...which, honestly, is fine, because that thing was bugging me trying to carve out the petals. So, HUD with the color options, and cuffs on or off, included with the price of purchase!

You'll find these at the newly opened SABBATH, at /Vae Victis\' booth (linked above), for L$400. If nothing else, it's a lovely layout to wander.

A bit of housekeeping. From here, things are going to get briefly uneven. Not that they haven't been, to date, but our beloved Void Mother Mesmer has decided to fold her brand up, and work with her partner Grim. Which is good, because we were keeping her either way.

But it does mean that my brand dealing with Arkivet has come to an end. And, much as I want to support some of the friend brands that have set up shop on Eldritch, it...honestly may be better for me to pace to one brand's releases. At least until we figure out the medical whys beyond the screen.

Then it's Vae loveliness all the way!

I've been trying for so long to sing you the right song

The Anesidora Keybound halo is now out at Arkivet's main store as well as the Marketplace--also where I just learned some of the prior brand's "Java#" releases can be found. Do I need more Teegle skins? No. Do I plan to get them at some point? Why, yes.

And look! Look look look!



I freely admit, I don't have one-hundredth of the talent that some of their bloggers do. So I never expect to get noticed for my work, and that's okay--really and truly. But someone tall, thin and demonic mentioned it, and so I had to go see. And I got the honorable mention! I'm so pleased.

Then...several months later, LONG past February...

This is now old. March 1st it was dated, and I'm fairly sure I copied the Halo info out earlier, two months back, and sent it out in another entry...and then didn't delete this. So--it's a bit of a clip entry now.

First, this bit from a freebie group:

[15:26] SiN-1 (synthetikangel): In memory of Paloma from from Free Dove to keep her SL Dream alive they now have Paloma Plaza open with free gifts with free group (Free Dove style) Gallii (173,38,33)

So...there's that, at least.

Second, telling everyone about the gift at We Love Roleplay from /Vae Victis\ now!



This is meant to go with the "Themis" Judgement Hammer, which is now out at We Love Roleplay on a 25% discount for the run of the event. So you can pick it up for only L$450!

I happened to be at Olive's main store, when I realized I hadn't taken these shots yet. So clearly, the horns are meant to go with giant bunnies. Or something.

And right out of the box I can tell: this is the wrong hair for these. No space buns for Themis. Still, I think I can make them work.



Okay, confirmed--even edged back and tilted, they REALLY don't like buns. Best I can do for now, because weirdly I think they're perfect for the current hair (amusingly, Olive's "Usagi" hair from an old gacha, in all the spring greens) and the skin (which is also old, but also amusingly might still be purchaseable from the last 25LTuesday offer of the Chronicles on the sale board.



(I checked; they are still available, though by the time ZombEm found the second brain cell to clack together, it was the Tuesday following.) Took this just outside by the fountain in Chronicles, which yes, is also the name of the sim.
[[Note from the Editrix, pre-publishing: Did I say the Tuesday following? It's Friday now. Brane broken, plz halp.]]

Also, it appears the giant bunnies are not sittable. Em haz a sad.



I think Vein 2 and 4 are the outer colorable veins, and the inner are 1 and 3. And this is pretty much trompe l'oeil--I'm "laying" about a meter above the back of one of the bunnies.



While we're here, have a gander at the HUD: these horns offer eleven different options for the horns, and then eleven options for each colorable vein! Very nifty.



Then I got inexplicably tired [[Editrix insert: remember, I wrote this bit back on March 1st, it's now March 18th]]--and honestly, that's been one of the most frustrating things of the eternal headache, is the sudden energy loss--so left SL to have a nap, which led into dinner, which led into me logging in later and going, "Oh, right, I didn't finish this shoot". So here I am at Ballade and Poeme's sim, for the following two.

If you join the We Love Roleplay group (which is free), these curled horns can be yours for ten Lindens. And hey, while you're there, the "Themis" Judgement Hammer can also be yours for L$450, at the /Vae Victis\ booth!



And sun seems to be going down, so I guess this is the end.

It helps that I'm deeply into horns--I'm afraid to count how many I have, even, and I've divided them into four categoriees in the fantasy folder--lights, darks, constructs and seasonal--and each of those folders has sub-folders for ram/goat horns, antlers, and demonic.

Any housekeeping left...well, I'm actually very supportive of this decision. Will it help, though? Who knows. If nothing else it might make the Marketplace easier to navigate.

Oh, and Enchantment's new round, Dark Academia, has opened, and Vae Victis' offerings there: the 'Aza Empyrea' Cosmic Codex for L$500, the AO to go with it for L$700, and the Gothic Frames for L$75.

(I am going to cover ONE of those, but it may be the gothic architectural frames--I'm trying to figure out how the hell I'd do the Codex proud.

Also! The "Minerva" Hellebore Diadem will be on sale at Vae Victis' main store for L$99, btw. This weekend only!

And now I think that's it, so...see ya!

if I'm past reversing, minds will keep rehearsing

All right, take two, this time actually from Frostweald: the 'Dionysus' petal Chalice from Arkivet.



Straight out of the box, it's already gothically pretty--jet black with purple flower petals.



There are fourteen different liquid options. This is the second to last one from row two.



There's a dark blue option on the Liquid section of the HUD, so I went with that--made the Chalice silver, the upper and mid petals blue, and the lower petals silver.



Of course there's an option for pinks--which I did on every option but the middle petals, and I tinted those purple.



This, I was thinking, would be a perfect mead tone, but...it looks more like mulled cider, or tawny port. Still, it goes well with the gold and orange tinting options.

Keep in mind this is just a held object--if you want a drinking animation, it's moddable so you can add one. That will change the hand position, though, so keep that in mind.


Of course there's a red option. For your necessary blood draughts.



And of course, winter white.

I forgot to snap a pic of the HUD for this one, and for the last entry--sorry, trying to rush these out, I fergit things.

There are five areas for tinting--twelve individual shades, and a dark metal/light metal option below each one, and as I mentioned, fourteen different liquids available. You'll find Arkivet on the Nysaris sim at Fantasy Faire, and the Chalice is going for L$250 on a 100% donation vendor for SLRFL.

raveling softly while you speak in time

Whoa. Okay, Arkivet, this is gonna take a little work...and relocating.

And...then I got pulled to Dahlia house, for the Monday noon unboxing. I was planning to go to Frostweald, at Fantasy Faire, but...this will work too.



So, welcome to Dahlia house, that's Justine behind me. This is with them resized significantly, and moved a tad forward, and using the silver and blue options from the tinting HUD.



There's a couple different ways to make this match the winter holiday of your choice--the one I went with was green horns, which turns into a lovely dark sage tone on them, red highlights, and red drapes. The wombat behind me is Justine's.



You can also remove both the highlights on the markings, and the cloth draping the antlers. This is the purple, and it's also a lovely hue over the horns.

I think the lemon-yellow wombat is Dowayne Ekaterina's...



The colors don't really go with the outfit, but I think they look pretty nifty together.



I wasn't going to show off the black, because it really is midnight-in-the-middle-of-the-ocean levels of dark? But I think I can show it with the markings active, which for fun, I've made pink.



And this one is showing the white option, which makes it look very close kin to aged bone, and I set the options for gold on the rest.

There are ten options for the antlers, for the markings, and for the drapes, and as I mentioned, you can take off the highlights for the markings, and the drapes, at will.

You can find these at Abnormality, when it opens on May 7th. I'll try and update the price for them then!

[17:40] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): But, for now, this is exit stage left, carrying a bird for some reason. At least it's not pursued by a bear.

See you at Abnormality!

in search of new dreams, a love that will last

So, got the new thing notification, and started pondering where I wanted to be for this one, and...



...pretty sure this wasn't it.

This is What's Lost Spirits, but...apparently the port-in point is now underwater?



All right. Above water now. Now...where am I?

That probably doesn't matter; we're not here to figure out our placement in all the things. We're here to talk about Arkivet's newest offering, the "Hera" Diadem.



This will be the exlusive offering for Arkivet's booth at Fantasy Faire. And this is it with no changes in size or position, just retinting with the shots.



There are fifteen shades in which to tint the Diadem, plus two "plain" metals. (And "plain", there, is in quotes because even the dark metal and the light metal variants are gorgeously textured and anything but simple.)



It's lovely in any shade, and fully modifiable, as with all Arkivet and Vae Victis products.



And you can find this, as mentioned, at Fantasy Faire in...eep! Two days! It's only two days away!

can you please tell me what's underneath my bed?

I'm not going to lie, the last two-plus weeks have been...brutal. Today we're at Day 204 of the Eternal Headache, and while I am going to still keep track of the days with this thing, I'm beginning to think this is now a feature, not a bug.

Also, I had intended to blog about two other things before this one, and then I remembered both of those require me to work ONE of the LeLutka mesh heads I now own into wearable status. (I know, I know, it's not hard to make it wearable--what it is, for my brain at least, is to make it *not look like everyone else*.)

So. Here we are, covering the "Apophis" Ritual Blade from Arkivet and Vae Victis (collaborating), at long last.

Since everyone was doing the Egyptian thing, I thought I'd go to Ta-Kemet, a recreation of the temple at Luxor. But first, a bit of history on the khopesh.



There are several different theories on the rise--and fall--of the blade, and most generally coincide with the end of the bronze age, so the assumption is that bronze was just an inferior metal. I'm not so sure, though.

What I do know is that battle axes were the first form, and still used when the khopesh was invented, and they're why they had that original curved shape. (Note: at the link, that is a reproduction steel blade, just FYI.)



In battle, Egyptian warriors used a variety of weapons--spears, hand and battle axes, and daggers mainly--but there were other styles. Until they noticed their battle axes were becoming less useful against Roman and Canaanite weapons and shields--particularly the shields. So the khopesh was invented. (It is hard to say whether this was a design Egyptian soldiers copied from Canaanites, or whether they invented it on their own.) Curved because it followed the previous form of the battle axe, but also to take into account the natural fragility of bronze. A solid length of bronze would still shatter, but the pronounced curve in the khopesh changed the balance, and strangely, made it sturdier.


It was fine for the sword to bend; what they didn't want is the sword breaking. And mostly that's what they got.

In fact, most khopesh blades, as used in battle, didn't even have a sharp tip. They didn't need one, being used primarily for two things--to curve around shields, and to hack into torso or limbs thus exposed; or to puncture through the shield entirely, either ripping it from the assailant's arms, or just used to hold it away while a secondary dagger was moved in.



It was very, very effective at what it did, and was only abandoned when Roman soldiers began to make swords out of iron.



The HUD for this version will again give a great amount of flexibility in hues--seven different places to change into eleven different colors. Very versatile.



And again, the detail work is just stunning. So, in fact, is the shape--more reminiscent of a lightning bolt, but immediately recognized as a khopesh-style blade.



This is likely soon to tie up at Chronicles and Legends--this premiered as an offering on March 10th, and...

Okay, update, 'cos I was curious--the event ends Aprille 1st, and you'll find it in Arkivet's booth (linked above), while Vae Victis has the fabulous feathered Nighthunter hat in their own booth elsewhere on the site. (And I need to get to that too.) You can make it your own for L$450!

there's such a fooled heart beatin' so fast

We finally have an answer for what happened February 1st. Does explain several things--and why so many systems seemed to break at once.

So far, February has been...difficult. It has also been, additionally, not the best week. This may be taken as fantastical hyperbole, but there have been times when I have made my way to that far table, and sat across from death...and I have always, always walked away again. The last serious time was December; this week's bidding fair to be another. But I endure still. If nothing else, I am stubborn.

Changing topics a tad, today I went to CHAOTIC to get one of their newest releases--a casual cropped sweater-and-long-trousers set named Brynlee running for L$99 a color (but not black, you'd think black would be a natural, but...apparently not). After that I remembered there was a group gift from /Vae Victis\ I wanted to cover.



Out of the box it's so pretty--amazing anatomical detail, acanthus leaves as scarified scrollwork across the surface, and a small shattered place within storing...something else.



A little hue change, and what I thought was going to be the black and blue, but--apparently I forgot to hit 'Save' when I was moving through locations on the sim. Bother. So it's now showing off the black and red. Also demonstrated: one can, it appears, sit down whilst holding the heart--most of the heart's animations don't interfere with the body's animation.



It occurs to me I haven't mentioned the thing's name. It does have one, namely the "Eternal Vow" Broken Heart, which is the 2000 group members gift (thus, only available if you join the group), from /Vae Victis\. Did any of us ever think /Vae Victis\ would come so far? Probably not--even I hoped, but braced for disappointment. This is far from a disappointment.

(Though I should also mention it was not doubt in the designer at all--just the world's cruelty to artists in general.)

Either way, this is it in the brass/gold metal, with an amber-yellow cracked section--which I think is picking up the sky tones to look closer to rose, from yellow?

(And if you can't tell from the different poses, the heart has a floating pattern, long enough that it can seem somewhat random as an accessory. It never completely touches the hand, or at least it never completely touched mine, but it does come close!)



And in the traditional pink, with aetherium purple heart window. I also picked up some hot cider, because it's still snowy here!



And the heart in gleaming silver with a glittering white center, and the HUD.

There are seven colors for the heart itself, and seven slightly different tones for the broken section, and it's a lovely tribute to growth, and endurance. (As well as, I suspect, going well with the earlier released set of the 'Tell-Tale Heart' Relic, which was part of the Love Bites hunt in 2022, and is now possibly in the main store?)

And, as an aside, Arkivet's 'Anesidora' Keybound Halo that I covered earlier is now available for purchase at the Abnormality event, which just opened today, so--it may be a while before you can drop by to grab it. But when you can, here's the direct link to Arkivet's booth. It's going for L$300, which is a steal for that level of detail.

(And if you're after the Pandora Blood-Letting dagger from /Vae Victis\, I'll be showing that off tomorrow! That is also at Abnormality, here on the lower level, and I forgot to grab the price so I'll do that tomorrow as well!

[Bit of a late insert from the Editrix: thought I should toss in some credits since I am wearing some new things:

"Eternal Vow" broken heart from /Vae Victis\ (remember, ONLY available by joining the group!)
"Brynlee" top/pants combo in Light Red from Chaotic
"Sienna" long hair from Magika
Shot in Ethereal City

Sky: "outdoor city weirdlights" from [AnaLu] (I think the business itself is gone, but it should be standard in the Settings folder)