step back in time, grieving minds cry for credible debate

So, the Shop and Hop that ties into SL19B opened a few days ago, and I've been wandering it. I don't remember entirely where I started--my brain remembers Delphinium, but I don't see that on the list of sims. But I thought it might be amusing to take pictures in the approximate style of neo-Victorian daguerreotypes.



The layout's the same as all other Shop and Hops, just the decor changes, but in this case, the decor's actually not bad.



Not sure which Mole thought it was a good idea for steampunk religious allegory? But okay.



As usual, there's the expected mix of Designers Who Grok the Theme and Designers Who Have No Clue, but--the theming from the decor was actually cohesive, and pretty much on target throughout.



And I also really liked the constant pairing of ivy and pipework--a subtle nod to the Victorian love of gardening, as well as steampunk's devotion to pipes and propellers.



Airships and ivy go well together, too.



And I'm not the greatest gif maker, but--I did like the way this one came out. It does not, at all, do justice to Vae Victis' booth at the event, though. If your processor is up to it, go and stand in place, and look up, and wait for the ceiling to spin with stars, and listen for the ethereal glissando of musical notes that accompany the starry movements.

And if that doesn't work for you, then just watch the celestialpunk chandelier spin for a few moments, because that's incredible, too.

[[Insert from the Editrix prior to publication: Delphinium does exist as a sim! And that's the SLUrl that will take you directly to Vae Victis' door, where Grimoire Hexem has made some wonderful skins for the Aurum horse, and in a collaboration with En Pointe, a truly beautiful set of tack that's rigged for all twenty Teeglepet breeds. Amazing.]]

Oh, and...

That is all.

and all I can taste is this moment, and all I can breathe is your life

(Roleplay, somewhat more intense than some.)



The day had come. Instinct was driving her, step by weary step, and she made her way to the small place in the castle she'd created. She could not reach the Duke; she'd left a few messages in the likeliest places, scattered through eras he was most often in. She'd sent another message to Justine, in the form of a cortex send to Haven. It was the best she could manage, before she had to make her way to the birthing hut.

She had changed into something that would not interfere with the birthing, but halfway across the chill castle stones, she had to pause, curling her arms carefully around the precious treasures within. Gods, everything was starting to hurt. Getting shot with iron-tipped arrows was the only thing she could remember having hurt worse.



She collapsed after toeing the door nearly closed, panting, trying to catch her breath. There was no time. No Duke, no help, nothing if things went wrong...just her. She sternly lectured herself that women had done this for thousands of years and been just fine...but she never had. In all her years, in all her various forms...she'd never gotten pregnant before.



Finally, she felt she'd recovered enough to get settled in place. She staggered upright, foot tangling in one of the purple velvet pillows padding the floor, and felt a warm gush of fluid down her legs, the temperature of blood. For a moment she panicked, thinking that's what it was, but she looked down and realized. This...was part of the process. She'd read up on this. This was normal, right?

Right?

Right. Olive pillows it was. She crawled to the other side of the little room, collapsing when she was clear of the small pool soaking into the rug.



She had no idea what to do. She had no idea how to breathe. She tried not to make noise, because she was in the castle, and there were still...things...creeping through the portals they had not managed to close. But at some point even that failed, and she bore down screaming.

With a sense of profound dread, she watched the door silently creak open...and Justine peered around the ancient wood. She collapsed back against the pillow, nearly in tears, and Justine moved to her side, moved behind her, holding her in place. Soft kisses of encouragement to the top of her head. Good. Good. She was not alone.



The first kitten born was a male, and some small, primal part of her was happy she'd provided a true heir to the line. He was golden-furred, as his father had been when she'd caught in the first place. But she wasn't done. She bore down, pushing, pushing, to birth the second kitten.



The second kitten born was a little girl, but she was only golden--and a leopard--as long as it took to shake some of her fur clean of fluids, and then she shifted. Her round little head, definitely not leopard in proportions, tucked under a weak, unresisting arm, and she felt her lips twitch into an almost-smile at the tiny kitten purr she heard.

No spots on the second one, though, after the first moment of existence. Would she be able to get them back? She had no idea. But she laid back, satisfied, tired, and then...felt something kick inside. Not...just two? But...she'd thought it was just two. There were still...

She did sob, now, when the realization sunk in to her pain-slowed mind. She wasn't done.



She bore down with all the energy she had left, no energy remaining even to scream, and finally, panting, sheened in sweat, she collapsed against Justine, spent. The only reason she was still upright is that Justine's arms--and legs, at this point--were wrapped around her, holding her steady.

The unexpected third kitten had done the same thing as the second--another little girl, the third one, that came out spotted and golden, and turned dappled grey with grey-brownish, uneven spots.



She used the last of her energy to look around the small enclosed space. The golden-spotted boy was laying beside her, starting to drift off. The grey-dappled girl was staring at either her foot, or Justine's, in utter bemusement. And the pale-furred girl...

The pale-furred girl sat with her little head against her knee. She almost wept again. Sentimental idiot, she thought, but...it was done.

Her eyes drifted closed, and the last thing she heard was Justine activating the comm. She made out "priest of Naamah", and "Mont Nuit", murmured into the receiver, but...she was tired. Her babies needed fed, and she would do that, she could stay awake long enough for that, surely. In just...another...mommmm...

In the firelit room, surrounded by old stone and older energies, and the strength of Justine's arms around her, she did what she was later sure many new mothers had done after giving birth: she passed out cold.

come on, give me a reason, baby, anything will do

[14:45] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It continues to baffle me that people are planning a future where we have live in constant fear of disease.
[14:48] Emilly Orr: See, I don't think it's a constant fear of disease. I think it's reasonable precautions right now. The paranoia will ebb. I'll probably hang onto masks for a while, because we now have some snazzy ones.
[14:49] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I'm not sure..
[14:49] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It really seems like this stuff is being planned for the long haul
[14:50] Emilly Orr: Right, but....see it this way. Right now, there's no vaccine.
[14:51] Emilly Orr: Right now it's a disease that someone can carry symptom-free, and pass it on to people, and those people will die.
[14:51] Emilly Orr: And not just 'the elderly', not just the infirm, but everyone--babies, toddlers, kids, teens, young adults, old adults. Everyone.
[14:52] Emilly Orr: Right now we have a significant portion of society who values the ability to 'do what they want' over saving other human lives.
[14:53] Emilly Orr: So, this is our reality. We can embrace the Republican death cult and go on about our daily business, and either get it ourselves or pass it to others, or...we can continue social distancing, conservatively reopen, wear masks, and remain aware.
[14:53] Emilly Orr: I know which side I'm on.
[14:53] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: There may never be a vaccine.
[14:54] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: There will likely not be a vaccine that works 100 percent of the time.
[14:54] Emilly Orr: True.
[14:54] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: There might not be a vaccine until next year.
[14:54] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: hypothetically, there isn't.
[14:55] Emilly Orr: That's perfectly possible.
[14:55] Emilly Orr: Even likely.
[14:55] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: you reopen conservatively.
[14:55] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: people die again.
[14:55] Emilly Orr: Which is what's happening. Both the opening and the dying.
[14:55] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: sure
[14:55] Emilly Orr: The second wave is already starting to strain hospitals in larger cities.
[14:55] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: And this is with people social distancing.
[14:55] Emilly Orr nods.
[14:56] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: So, we basically see no result from the social distancing.
[14:56] Emilly Orr: Yeah. It's a really lethal mutation.
[14:56] Emilly Orr: No, not entirely true.
[14:56] Emilly Orr: In a lot of areas--the areas that had a large population of citizens actually paying attention to the guidelines--cases DID drop. Deaths dropped.
[14:56] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: You don't have a proper set of data to say how much social distancing helped.
[14:56] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: But they didn't drop, you're saying. They're going up.
[14:57] Emilly Orr: No, right now it's all empirical. At the end of the day, no one knows everything, we're all just guessing.
[14:58] Emilly Orr: I mean, hells, we don't even know for sure how this thing STARTED--the prevailing theory was the wet market in Wuhan, but when a plane-load of epidemiologists went to Wuhan and started blood and history testing, they discovered something shocking--Wuhan was the SECOND infection site.
[14:58] Emilly Orr: it didn't start there.
[14:58] Emilly Orr: So they're now scrambling to trace it back farther, because that's kind of huge.
[15:05] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I'm not really sure I trust anything coming out of china. That's including visiting scientists
[15:06] Emilly Orr: Unfortunately, that's fair, because they didn't want the world to know at first until they could spin it to their advantage. Same thing Russia's doing now--they went pretty quick from 'We have no cases' to "Surprisingly, we have over 8,000 cases, but we're on top of it'. Which tells me that 8K figure might be low too.

Right now, I don't think of this as overly political. I think of this as just common sense, health information. The next part of the conversation does veer heavily into politics, so feel free to skip.

[15:07] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: more on the disbanding of the police...
[15:07] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: tangentially..
[15:07] Emilly Orr nods.
[15:07] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: the thought just occurred..would most people trust their neighbor, so to speak, to be in charge of law enforcement?
[15:07] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Considering the...diversity of opinions we see on how law should be enforced.
[15:08] Emilly Orr: I would say no. Unless you're living in a small enough location where you know your neighbors well.
[15:08] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I can't see anything other than another security force replacing it.
[15:08] Emilly Orr nods.
[15:09] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: And this one may be blatantly politically driven
[15:09] Emilly Orr: Which leaves us pretty much where we are, with new added resentments.
[15:09] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: yes
[15:09] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: for the people on the losing end of the argument on "who gets to police now"
[15:10] Emilly Orr: But, I also don't see this resolving with just everyone going home and continuing to quietly grumble. Things are happening that are not just shocking US citizens, but the world stage. No one saw, in 2020, that an American president would pretty much seize control of the White House and a significant portion of real estate around it, and put up walls against his own citizens.
[15:11] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Yes, but it doesn't have to be disband the police department or you want to string people up by the old oak tree
[15:12] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I think we can get to a middle ground
[15:12] Emilly Orr: I hope so.
[15:13] Emilly Orr: I think it's going to take more death, more pain, more suffering, before we reach equilibrium.
[15:15] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: the systems are in place to be successful
[15:16] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: One just has to reach out and take it.
[15:16] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: There are a lot of protections built into the foundation of the law..that if we started abiding by them properly...
[15:17] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: we would really be in good shape.
[15:18] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: so much abuse..and outright dismissal of those protections, in the name of order...or..in the name of keeping some people from participating, though.
[15:18] Emilly Orr: True.
[15:18] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It's like seeing a big house of gold.
[15:18] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: But there's a Balrog with a bad temper at the front door.
[15:19] Emilly Orr: But, see, how do you see that? If you're a traditional murder-hobo adventurer, you kill the balrog. Simple.
[15:19] Emilly Orr: If you're a balrog, the balrog's just doing what he has to, man.
[15:20] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: true..
[15:21] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It's sad, though.
[15:21] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: There are big issues here
[15:21] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: But...if you look at police forces, and practices, in other countries...
[15:21] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It's just as bad, and even worse in some cases because you don't even have the pretense of constitutional protections.
[15:22] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: 1st world places with utterly draconian criminal justice systems.
[15:22] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It always makes me hope I never commit a crime in japan when I read about how they do it.
[15:22] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Which...I guess is the point
[15:23] Emilly Orr: Oh, yeah, prison being as vile as it is is a GREAT deterrent to a life of crime. Not that I wanted one anyway? But I have made it a dedicated life choice never to go to jail.
[15:24] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: nods
[15:25] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It's not just the prison though, their prosecutorial abuse is legendary
[15:25] Emilly Orr nods
[15:25] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: And they don't need to charge you to hold you
[15:28] Emilly Orr: Which is another problematic thing that changed with the Homeland Security act.
[15:29] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I mean in japan
[15:30] Emilly Orr: Ah
[15:30] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: they actually still do need to charge you, to hold you past a certain time, generally
[15:30] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: The rules are just different in cases of 'terrorism'
[15:30] Emilly Orr: But it is beyond easy to declare anyone a terrorist
[15:30] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: But any good lawyer would probably be able to get you out
[15:31] Emilly Orr: And, there's no longer any need to notify people of police searches--they can just declare federal interest and go in without the homeowner ever being present, or knowing at all.
[15:30] Emilly Orr: Ah

Now, recently Louisville, Kentucky, banned no-knock warrants, the type of warrant that was part of what led to Breonna Tayler being shot (the other part of that situation was the cops having the wrong house, the wrong name of the suspect, and NO one bothered to do even a five-minute search) The flip side of that is, no one who actually broke into Breonna's house and shot her has been charged with anything, and they need to be.

I still think there's a better way through all this, though. At least, than the way the US handled it. But what do I know, I'm not holding an elected office for a political party that's trying to get people killed. Maybe my perspective is different.

(Oh, and...



...because, y'know, the day.)