the bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled

(Note from the Editrix: Because these are mounting, sadly, I'm going to start generally indicating when they were written, as opposed to published. This one is from the 12th of July.)

Ran across something that sounded both dire and portentious, but also not original on someone's profile? It's a powerful statement, but I wanted to know for sure.

Turns out I was right, it's the last lines of a poem called "Letter From My Brain To My Heart" by Rachel McKibbens:

You have my permission not to love me;
I am a cathedral of deadbolts
and I'd rather burn myself down
than change the locks.

And...damn. I can at least say I am not that bad, but...I won't lie, that poem does resonate.

In related but dissimilar news, I am still unsettled, but now it's more trying to find my footing on jagged chips of shale, not fractured glass and cinders, so...upgrade?



We move on. I hadn't thought about Transylvania in years, and on a separate search, ran across the name again. Was it still there?



That answer is very much yes, and very much improved!



Admittedly, I never wandered far from the Wall, having mostly gone there for dances, or to see a DJ I was fond of at the time.



But it seems to have really filled out, expanded a bit, and some of the scenery...



If nothing else, it's a lovely night stroll.



And, of course, one must stop and stand in awe of this.



Meanwhile, at Enchantment...



And no, no no no, I wanted a duelling flamingo, not a... *sighs* Oh, well, I guess it will do. (A note, having now gone to the store in question--I'm not sure which event CURELESS made the Alice in Monsterland gacha for? But it's not at their main store, and I picked this drooping fellow up off the Marketplace.)

you look as good as the day I met you, I forget just why I left you, I was insane (part five)

(Continued from part four.)



The last of them, whee!



"Flamingo Mini Kiss04" is a hot blush pink with glitter-sparkle purple lips.



"Flamingo Mini Kiss05" is a hot blush pink with sparkly rose gold lips (I mean, they're likely just gold glitter lips? But with the color-drenched background, they look rose gold).



And this one in hot blush pink with sparkly hot pink lips. This is "Flamingo Mini Kiss06".



This is a seriously hot pink with sparkly hot pink lips, titled "Flamingo Mini Kiss07".



This is that same color-drenched hot pink with sparkly purple lips. It's named "Flamingo MiniKiss08".



This is in a tone I don't think is reproduced in any other outfit from this folder, "Flamingo Mini Kiss10". It's in a heathered purple shade with sparkly hot pink lips.



and for some reason, "Flamingo Mini Kiss19", which was a bright pink with the words "Kiss" and "XXX" written in black script over hot pink lips.

The seams are very well done, the texturing is good, the patterns are fun, but I have no idea if Ed will rename them and toss them on the Marketplace, or if he's actually planning to open a store later, or...what, exactly. Next time I see him I'll ask. Until then, you have the designer's name, and some of what he does, so drop a notecard if you're interested in any of them.

(All pictures taken in the Faerie Grotto.)

you look as good as the day I met you, I forget just why I left you, I was insane (part four)

(Continued from part three.)

The best maintenance is percussive maintenance? Anyway...



More Flamingo minis!



We start with "Flamingo Mini Heart 10W", a white mini with very hollow hearts in wine.



And for the life of me, I honestly cannot tell you whether the heart placement on this dress, "Flamingo Mini Heart11W", is so odd because I'm pushing the limits on what the Maitreya will do for the chest, or if it's just an odd placement on the top hearts. But this one is wine read, with the solid white hearts.



And the reverse, "Flamingo Mini Heart12W", which is white with wine red hearts, and it has that same odd placement across the bosom.

And now, the Kiss variants.



This one's a solid black dress with glitter-sparkle pink lips. It's called "Flamingo Mini Kiss01".



This variant, "Flamingo Mini Kiss02", is black, with the same glitter lip prints, this time in gold.



And "Flamingo Mini Kiss03", black with sparkly silver lips.

Continued in part five!

(All pictures taken in the Faerie Grotto.)

you look as good as the day I met you, I forget just why I left you, I was insane (part three)

(Continued from part two.)



Because we're still staggering through the Flamingo dresses...



This is a wine red number again, this time with an all-over solid tiny heart print in white. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart05W".



This version is in a strong Kelly green centered ombre, again with the all-over heart print. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart06j".



And the reverse of the wine red, this time in white with an all-over solid tiny heart print in wine. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart06W".

And now some hollow patterns. All of the next three are some variation of white and wine, or vice versa.



We start with "Flamingo Mini Heart07W", wine red with large white hollow hearts.



And the reverse, "Flamingo Mini Heart08W", which is white with wine red hollow hearts.



And the last, a wine red centered ombre shade with very narrow white hollow hearts, which, under some lights, almost look gold. This is "Flamingo Mini Heart09W".

Continued in part four!

(All pictures taken in the Faerie Grotto.)

you look as good as the day I met you, I forget just why I left you, I was insane (part two)

(Continued from part one.)

Back to the Flamingo minis!



Yesss, precious. Yesss there are more.



The powder-pink version, this one named "Flamingo Mini Heart03mr". It's a soft gradated tone, and it goes well with the all-over heart print.



Another two-tone dress, this one in the wine red with simple white hearts tiled across. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart03W".



And this one's a color-drenched hot pink with the all-over heart print. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart04j".



Very soft shell pink, and on this one, the all-over heart print almost looks like scales. This is "Flamingo Mini Heart04mr".



This one's the reverse of 03W, in white with simple wine hearts tiled across. It's named "Flamingo Mini Heart04W".



And...back to the orange tone. Different? The same? Maybe the center of the ombre shading is darker? It's called "Flamingo Mini Heart05j".

On to part three!

(All pictures taken in the Faerie Grotto.)

you look as good as the day I met you, I forget just why I left you, I was insane (part one)

This one's going to be odd, because as far as I can tell, Mr. Brite doesn't have a store? And there's nothing on his profile that mentions a shop on Marketplace, either.

But at one of the Friday dances, I struck up a conversation on the vagaries of Blender (and my struggles to relearn said program), in regards to designing mesh on my own, instead of simply relying on templates. Ed Brite (edbrite) is a scripter, and does some design work himself, and ended up passing me a folder called "New Flamingo". Which had me all a-flutter, because I have an occasionally disturbing level of devotion to that dorky bird.



But, turns out that's just the dress name? And instead, he made them for a Valentine's offering. Still, I thought I'd pass on a review, in case he does end up creating a little shop for his work.

(Also, oof--I ended up with 31 pictures. Not kidding. So this is going to be...several entries' worth, I think.)

So here we go.



First off, they're all using the same template--a simple strapless minidress with attached drop sleeves. It's not a bad style, and I think it's flattering for a lot of body types--I wear a Maitreya body, but I push it towards the curvy, which it's not really designed for? And all of these are shown on the Maitreya mesh body. But Ed did ask what body I wore, so I'm assuming he has these for at least the major mesh bodies on the market.

This one is an all-over tone-on-tone heart print, in a centered pale orange to medium orange centered ombre hue. He named it "Flamingo Mini Heart01j".



Same thing, in a deep merlot, or at least wine red, centered ombre with the tone-on-tone heart print. This is "Flamingo Mini Heart01mr".



This is the first actual two-tone pattern in the folder, with the wine red background, again, and curving white hearts swirling on top. It's called "Flamingo Mini Heart01W".

Pictures in order:

Now this one, this is a lovely pale seafoam shade, with the all-over heart print. It's rare to find this delicate a green in Second Life, and it's lovely to see. Ed named this "Flamingo Mini Heart02j".

This one's pretty much the reverse of 01W, in this case a white background with curving wine hearts swirling on top. It's called "Flamingo Mini Heart02W".


Is this the same shade? It had a different name, so I snapped a pic of it, but is it actually different from 01j? Maybe it's a slightly darker orange? Maybe? I'm just not sure.

On to part two!

(All pictures taken in the Faerie Grotto.)