I try to breathe, I realize I'm paralyzed

Day 91 of the Eternal Headache dawned with a profound disinclination to do all the things. But I have horns to show off, and I want to do that, so...I crawled into a cardigan set and went looking for a good setting. Today, that setting was Glencoe, more random than usual, than any particular grand desire to be there? Though their intro upon arrival said this:

Hello Emilly Shatner-Orr!
Welcome To Anghysbel!
The legends say that when the Wilderlords first came north they sent explorers out even as far north, beyond the Alkali wastes to beyond the perpetually frozen mountains in the far north. Eventually a monk returned with stories about the hidden Vale way to the North that is warmed by the earth and contains a pristine lake, many unique plants and animals and even tribes of Alon.

That's a lot of north. Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Anyway...



I wandered for a bit, sat down in a circle of stones, and apparently folded my torso, so this is where the picture-taking will occur! These are Arkivet's "Crystalline" horns, unadjusted--I normally do muck about with positioning for most horns, but today...today I was doing pretty good sitting upright, so I didn't want to push things.



The first shot was a red shading to a soft rose-pink tone, very pretty, and this one reminds me of vivid sunset tones.



And I have learned--if anyone wants to do a full-saturation pink look, Arkivet and Vae Victis both generally have that in their palettes, because one of their customer service reps adores that particular shade.



This is that HUD palette, by the way--a full twenty different options, including one Torley-watermelon which amused my brain.



Yes, of course I had to show that one off.

No, I don't know why I shot the picture like this.



There's a lot of variation here, and that's without the given mod options. I love this wintery option, too--as if they've grown out of ice shards instead of crystal protrusions.

Just go to Arkivet's main store if you want a set of your own; they're going for L$300 right now!

unravel the world, I'm not what I was then

By now readers have noticed the chaotic changes of colors, templates, and graphics on the wee blog. About a week and a half ago, my chosen layout corrupted, for some reason. It's been...difficult, that's a good word, difficult...to find a new one that does what I need it to do without tweaking.

This one's the closest to something I can nod and say 'done nao' for, but...you can still carve what I understand about CSS on a thumbnail and have room to spare. So I am trying to fix it...which with the head is not easy...and I'll get there.

Eventually.

within your eyes, I'll place the sky

I find myself tonight actually more tired than usual, so this may, in fact, end up spaced out by another day by the time I get the photos set up and uploaded. But I'm standing in Moonshadow Rising, watching a pretty--and pretty unnerving--set of deer unphased with local reality. It's trippy.



It's odd both touching a deer, and not touching a deer, at the same time. But let me introduce you to Arkivet's "Fragmented Cosmos" horns. These hit my brain as more 'organic crown' than 'horn set', but--either way, they're very stylish, sweeping, and marvelously colordrenched.



It's a pretty build, admittedly, and--if I'm right, I think I see pumpkins in the distance...



Ah, little ones, you do invite prettily enough, but I don't enter fae dancing rings on land I own, and this land? This land, I do not own. Scurry off to the more gullible.



As it turns out, I was right--though the bar has stopped serving witches' brew, there's still room to dance, pumpkins and skeletons galore, and several drifting wraiths. I approve. Also, this is the HUD for Arkivet's "Fragmented Chaos" horns. It's very adaptable, and intriguingly, I discovered that I can get one tone by clicking the large rotating star first, then the second inner star, or two different tones by clicking them small then large. Fun. And if you decide to change the particle color, clicking the black orb in the very center will shift from the former color, to particles of the new. Very neatly done.

These are currently on offer at Abnormality, for L$400. Along with many other tasty things.

there's such a sad love deep in your eyes

There are days we want clarity. There are days we don't get clarity no matter how hard we try. There are days that began before the night has finished, until all the hours blur into one, long, eternal questioning now.

Days when I want a final answer etched in stone, and discover that perhaps, just perhaps, I have the answer...barely traced onto fragile mayfly wings, held aloft on the slenderest thread of possible hope.

It's going to be a contemplative week.

But I tell you that to tell you this: I was planning more of a production for the latest group gift from /Vae Victis\, "Astros": a two-pack of specially-tinted Bannered horns. And thus I find myself with no plan in the Deep Woods.



This is the 'Gilded' version, no adjusting, no resizing, straight out of the box. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to muck about with these much, but as per usual with /Vae Victis\ offerings, they're fully modifiable.



And these are the other version in the box, 'Nebula'. Again, I just wanted to see them on, with no alterations. Time to adjust when the brain's less tired, I think.



All right, I fibbed--I wanted to see how they looked together. So this is the pair in 'Gilded' that I left on, and then a pair of the 'Nebula' that I shrunk slightly and repositioned lower.

They do seem to work together.



I may see if I can link them together so I have this adjusted two-horn look for later.

I didn't actually set the full-length view in a frame, for some reason...so I'll tell you to go look on Flickr, and the next paragraph or so will make more sense then.

The rest of the outfit is fairly simple--the Shiloh trousers in olive, and the Leesa blazer in olive, both from Erratic; the hair is the Yoko style, given out as a group gift from Ayashi; the shoes you can't see are from Bonbon, the "Misa Look" boots and stockings; the eyes are Inkheart's Feline eyes in Green; you might be able to find the Cavern Club eyeshadow pack at SN@TCH, I'm wearing the black--it's an old system layer, but a good one; and while you're there, you could look around for the Holiday Gloss lipstick pack, because I got that from SN@TCH, as well.

The skin, alas, is no longer available; it's 2015's "Noellia" in Apricot, given out during SEVEN's daily advent calendar that December. It is my default 'human' face, though. I'm rather fond of it.

And all of that is preface to this: these can be yours, yes, yours, for the low low price of joining the group. Yeah--these rich, oversaturated beauties are a thank you to his group members. I stand in awe.

Come join the madhouse, we only bite if asked. Though we do have a resident expert on Kamen Rider in the group, so those are always fun conversations.

Now you'll have to excuse me; I'm at the twenty-one-hour-mark for being awake, so I'm going to work on nonsentience for a while.

a kind of pale jewel, open and closed

We're on Day...68? No, 72, I think? Of the Unending Headache. It's a huge spiky ball of no fun, and it's interfering in all the things, including blogging. But that's not why I'm here, I'm here--actually at Abnormality, because their build for this event was very cool--to show off the new Celestial Greatsword from /Vae Victis\, the "Impera".



http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Eldritch/66/165/1015 Straight out of the box and it's already too long to fit in a close shot. But hey, while we're here, look at the ornamentation!



That's the full sword, before resizing and shading. I usually don't do diagonal shots, but I wanted the full thing, tip to hilt.



It has a nice over-the-shoulder pose you can click on an included HUD (and in this shot, the sword's all in sanguine red save for the energy core, which is more reminiscent of lava).

(Also, to get it to this size, I reduced it by 60, and it's STILL this big!)



This shot is just a section of the blade, with all the options in dark cyan, and the energy core in shade 15 from that menu.



And this is another close-up, of the eye detail, which I adore, and this time the sword's in all the rich blues, save for the exposed core, which is screamingly cerise.



The included pose HUD has six options--a gendered (F) upright, a gendered (M) upright, one straight up, one over the shoulder, and one with the tip down. And the Impera tinting HUD includes eleven metal options, twenty-three different glowing core options, and as you may have figured out, even though I'm mostly showing active energy cores--three different ways to deal with the 'blade' part of the blade (those being solid metal throughout, exposed core, which is my favorite look of the three, and pure energy--no metal at all).

It's not combat scripted, but it is fully modifiable. So potentially, one could make it combat scripted.

You can find this lovely sword at /Vae Victis\' Abnormality booth, retailing for L$500.

Gentlethems, start your celestials--this is your sword! You have until the 28th of November to get it.

unraveling since I found you

I am three days from having this headache for two months solid. It's draining a lot of energy for...everything. But still, I had things to do today, and I did...some of them...and I'm still trying, perhaps in vain, to find one good, solid, scary haunt.

Tonight, before I leave for dinner, I'm taking in a haunt in Sleezywood...which already makes me think it's yet another disappointment. But let's go.

Game rip from go? No, we're moving on. I threw away the picture even.

Dear gods, what's left? What about the Haunt at the Admiral's Arms?



Took me a bit to find out how to get out of the rainy back alley to the haunt, but now we're here, and...wau, it's dark.



Okay, flashlight on, let's go, and...Okay. wait. One door leads to a games room stocked with adult furniture and erotic art. Another leads to a bedroom and a bar. Yet ANOTHER takes me to a shopping area downtown...Clicking on the door in the garage gets me to a Bloodlines storage area....What?

Finally I turned around to the ONLY door unchecked, the one that had the Circle of Avatar Moving off a land spot...save I didn't land there. Right, then, let's try that...and into a circular maze of demi-connected passages, leading finally to stairs down, spiraling towards...



...an occult library? Chest has some freebies. But...this seems to be about it.



Meanwhile, I can't believe I forgot to cover the "Bad Moon Rising" Bannered Horns from /Vae Victis\ when I covered the other ones. Where is my mind...Well. I know exactly where it is, in excruciating detail, and I'd rather I didn't.

But they're one of the hunt gifts at Hallow Manor, which I believe closes on the 31st? So there's a little time left, I hope!



So I went to 1313's redux of their "Curios and Spooky Things" haunt.

And why yes, I did tint the entire horns teal to match my hair. Doesn't really show up on the horns themselves, but look at how neat that shade picked up the runes on the banners!



I will likely drop the tent on these when I wear them again, because they truly are a perfect blood-moon red..but for now it's fun.



Haunting the radio station at the back of 1313's haunt is kind of fun.



Floating in the horns? Also fun. Oh, and just for the sake of mentioning it--for once, I wanted the heaviness. This headache is dire, and now on its 59th consecutive day, so horns that were just a solid, heavy presence actually worked for me.



I won't lie, I own a lot of horns. So many that they've been subdivided in the Fantasy horns folder, between 'antlers', 'demonic', and 'goat/ram' varieties, then further into 'bright', 'goth', 'seasonal', 'aged', 'natural' and 'construct' subsets. Some few also go directly into larger seasonal folders, under 'Autumn/Hallows' or 'Winter' usually. The beauty of doing this is not only that I adore covering really wonderful things, but that I can, without a doubt, say I have at least one set of /Vae Victis\ horns in the larger seasonal folders, and several have made their way into the Fantasy folder subfolder sets as well.

And even having said that, I think the Bannered horns are going to be heavily in rotation. Even when I smallenize them later, they fit my "occasional deer with sheep honns' aesthetic. :D

You can find them, remember, at the Hallows Manor hunt by searching for the hunt prizes in the back woods, orrr...this year I said the hell with it and bought six of the Silver hunt HUDs, and just going directly to the prize room. Several tasty things there, and I see no loss of honor in taking the easy route currently.

and I'm a world of emotion, for me, there's really just one thing to do

Started my morning off far earlier than I wished to, so I just wanted one good haunted house under my belt. That's not too much to ask, is it?



Apparently yes, yes it is. [[And note from the Editrix, I did not catch until today, the 31st, that the upload of this run of pics failed. They work now...obviously...]] Hello, Lisa. I have no patience today, so we're scratching the Port Adventure haunt off our list. Starting off with game rips does NOT give me confidence.

How about the Aura Haunted Area? It's adult, but that's not necessary a bad thing...



BAD THING. VERY BAD THING.

All...right...how about...the...World of Dark Imagination?



Well, easy's about my speed today.



That's...odd. It's just...hanging in midair. Nothing else. Silent. Just...there.



Yeah, won't lie. That's kind of disturbing. It...wiggles, when it reaches out of the hedge.



And then, into the haunted house proper, and...what? Bright yellow light, earth floor, trees growing through stone walls...It was a house on the outside, though??



Oh hey. I could live here. Save for the two obvious game rips, both from the haunted-house simulator game for the Nintendo Wii, The Grudge.



Okay, we get it, Satanism is scary to you.

By and large, though--this is a very strange haunted house, and--that's not a bad thing. There's a room of eyes. There's a room of clowns. There's a room of spiders--and I didn't show that one, because there was literally no angle I could find to snap a picture that didn't have a spider in it, and not small ones, either. There's a fairly accurate, game ripped children notwithstanding, of Children of the Corn.

I think it's honestly worth a visit. I didn't even finish, I had to go meet with a client, but I'm still saying that, because what they're doing is pretty unique. So I think this is my first five out of five this year. Check it out.

how'd you get so desperate? how'd you stay alive?

[15:14] Marloo Redd (marlooredd): you can't have your meat candy til you've had your gummy broccoli

But MOOooommm...



So LEVEL is open, and remember when I mentioned the "Baphomet" Lapel Chain and Signet Ring from /Vae Victis\? That I wasn't sure if the event was open or not?

Well, it still is, and here's the booth, and it's still marked L$425.



Also, I ran into Arkivet at Shop 'n Hop! Her gift is the Crystalline Horns in Candycorn. Free for anyone who wanders by!

Meanwhile...hmmm.



The "Famous" Spook House, it says.



So I'm at Jenia's Very Spooky Haunted Halloween Land...I am already unimpressed.



And there's Jenia...and she's on moderate land.

Wearing that.



Well, let's get this over with.



This little guy was pretty neat, but he reminds me uncomfortably of the Coraline ghost children.



I jumped into the next car, not realizing someone else had done the same thing, and before I could jump out again, we were off. Well, let's make the best of it...and apparently 'the best' includes game rips. These are two iterations of Alice from Alice: Madness Returns.



And this lass is from Resident Evil, I believe, where a lot of the mesh zombies on the grid come from.

I may have to take back something said earlier about the maker of this particular dark ride: namely, I thought the game rips were annoying, but pervasive enough on the grid some people may just not know what they mean. But going through this ride, seeing the same exact infringing properties--could it be that the maker included those game rips in the sales package??

If so, there's extremely disheartening.

Two out of five skulls, and that only because Jenia says if she's on the parcel, then every rider gets five Linden, and on Halloween, she's raising it to ten Lindens. So...a small amount of free Lindens if she's there, at least.

If nothing else, Jenia did look lovely in that outfit...it just wasn't designed for moderate sims.

and now I'm turning to dust in a world that's twisted

So, couple reminder things to start--first, the Gruesome Relic from /Vae Victis\ I mentioned clear back in the first week of October is still available as a gift at the MadPea hunt. Which also still requires a HUD, either the Basic (A hundred Lindens, gives you the ability to Find All the Things), or the Deluxe (Five hundred Lindens, gives you the ability to Find All the Things, a spooky backpack, a spooky ghost blaster, and a spooky teensy car to vroom around in whilst shrieking at passersby).

..>Well. You don't have to, I just assume most will.

Meanwhile, we're covering the "Faust" Opalescent Demon Horns from /Vae Victis\, because I do need to get to those before I can track down more pretties to review!



Straight out of the box in the lovely carmine glow of Grim's booth, there they are. Pretty even in drenched reds, yes?

And tonight's haunt, to pair with the broken heart and the broken head, is....Krongower's "Halloween Haunted House 2022", where their bio says,

"A pretty terrific haunted house for the 2022 Halloween season. If you're looking for a no nonsense Halloween themed environment, you found it! All mesh, all awesome. Come see the ghosts, goblins, specters, vampires, and witches, Trick or Treat! :)"

Riiiiight. From here, I can see Alma Wade skipping around without even turning my head.

But let's see if it's any good in spite of the game rip.



The third gacha Mystery Mansion from Death Row Designs seems to be this year's big haunt build. To be sure, it has some very nice touches. I'm trying the top row to the farthest right for horn shading, black with a bit of bloodspatter. (I've also tilted the horns back and embedded them slightly deeper in the hair.)



I think their chef is drunk. And the horns are now the second shade from the upper row left, the pure opalescent with blue flashes.



The Apocalypse Clock from Never Totally Dead! Someday, I will own this gorgeous thing. The horns were teal with the emerald flash for this shot.



You know, if the bathroom's unusable anyway, might as well use it as possessed book storage. (The horns? They're now in the stellar red-on-red tone.)



It has been something of a tiring day...might as well catch a few winks. (There's a purple and dark green option for the horns! Neat!)



Ah, the nursery, and more possessed tomes. Well, it's never too early to start early childhood instruction. I approve.

All in all, the game rips--there were more--make me shake my head, but they've taken a seen-to-death haunt build and still managed some nifty touches here and there. I can't ding more than one skull. Four out of five, so if you have extra time (which we are quickly running out of!), you could do worse than meander through this haunt.



The horns come in ten shades total, some with bloodspattter, and some without. Oh, and these are the Hellforged version:



(These I arched back a bit, then selected each horn in edit and moved it slightly out; they only come in one shade, but it's a gorgeous one.)

You can find these horns (and their companion gift, the "Hellforged" Opalescent Demon Horns, shown above) at the Halloween Shop 'n Hop, which runs until November 1st. So still a few days left to grab the gift--and maybe the rest of the gifts too!