My RL Birthday, and also Strawberry Singh's Rezday.

Today is my RL birthday, I turned 51 today.  Criminy, I'm getting old you whippersnappers.  Now bring me my headache powders, I'm going to listen to Caruso on the Philco.

Not only that, but it's also Strawberry Singh's rezday.  (Thanks to it being the same day as my Birthday I tend to remember it) Her blog is pretty much the only SL fashion blog I follow these days. While I kind of miss the old days of less video and more text, her videos ARE very helpful for those knew to mesh avatar enhancements.  Happy Rezday Berry!  Thank you for helping to keep our avatar selves pretty!

I usually treat myself to SL fashion shopping on my birthday. Picked up this Cynful Maxi Summer dress from C88. I thought it was dressy enough to wear more formally.  It has versions to wear with heels, and with flats, smart idea on the designer's part. I'm wearing KC Kairi heels.

I also picked up this LaGyo jewelry set at C88, which reminded me of some of the Maxi Gossamer sets Berry wears, which is why I'm rather less pale than usual. There's a necklace, earrings and headpiece. Thought it would work well with the red version of this dress. (I also picked up the Maxi Gossamer Boho set that was also at C88)  It also comes in silver.  I'm wearing Argrace Miyako hair in brown and Lumae Ruby skin appliers on my Catwa Kathy head in T6 Tawny.  the Makeup is the Luxe sets for eyes and lips from Alaska Metropolitan. Eyes are the IKON Charm Eyes in Chocolate.

Thought this was a nice shot of the reflecting pool, and the back of the dress.

Got a reclining shot too, though my fingers are poking through.

As you can guess, pictures were taken at the Zaara region.

St. John: Hurricane Gabrielle

In the St. John regions of SL, there is a Hurricane event every August. I usually do a fiction post about it, more info on  Gabrielle Riel's Songs of the Nightingale blog.

Thank the Goddess and Powers that Be that I don't drink, not that it would affect me because of my {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH} nature.

But DAMN did I want to start.

First it was St. John Beach destroyed by EROSION of all things, sure the tides were high and the water warmer than usual and there was that big summer storm that I though might turn into a Hurricane but I thought the beach would survive...but it didn't.  Residents fled to other realms or the rest of St. John...it was gone in almost an instant.

Then there was...The Breakup.  I swear I am going to vet any prospective innamorata for Gabi from now on....Kitty will help, he's been working on a Questionaire for them.  It did not end well, it involved much Demon Alcohol, though strangely no Absinthe or Whisky.  Must remember to actually HAVE Absinthe and some good Single-malt Glenlivet on hand next time.  I may be a teetotaler of the St John and Steamlands Temperance in Moderation League, but if one is going to drink Demon Rum one should drink the Good Stuff.  And I had to have a "Talk" with the fellow, this would be much easier if I had remembered to have the "Talk" with him at the beginning...especially if I'd morphed into {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH. BAD GURLIE, HYU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ONDERCOVER, REMEMBER} form.  That ALWAYS got attention, especially with the 54 caliber revolver.

Then came the NEWS from the Weather Bureau, which was not good.

Luckily, I did have that newfangled orangeade, which Gabi preferred as her hangover remedy. Selena, Emma and Pru had brought her home, and Kitty was resting with them after he brought me,  they were sleeping while I made up tea, and the orangeade.  I had been planning on bringing the news when Kitty mentioned her incapacitation.

She asked for the VERY BAD NEWS first which meant the Hurricane.

Hurricane Gabrielle!

Now when I told Gabi about it, I smirked since that was one of Gabi's nicknames.  In fact when the Weather Bureau contacted me:

Weather Bureau:  Ah Miss CC of St. John?

Moi:  that's Ms.!  I'm too old to be a Miss!

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, that's right, I'm sorry, I forgot, won't happen again, just don't come into the office again... one of our Meterologists still has nightmares about what you did when one of our people called you "Girl"

Moi: Continue

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, I hate to be the bearer of bad knews but there's a Hurricane heading your way.

Moi: Gabi hasn't mentioned any vibes, that's unusual, she's a better forecaster than YOU are about Hurricanes.

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, we do try and we are improving our technology.

Moi:  My Apologies, you do your best, no offense intended.

Weather Bureau: None Taken, the name of the Hurricane this year is Gabrielle

Moi: WHAAAAT?  No {REDACTED ON ORDER OF DECENCY BUREAU} way! HY KAN'T BELIEFF IT!

Weather Bureau: Yes, it is, we believed you'd have this reaction but we didn't expect you to blow out our Eardrums with profanity.  Your voice is very...strong. And what kind of funny phonetic accent was that last sentence?

Moi: Hy don' hef an accent schmot guy!  I mean, I don't have an accent, what do you mean by that?

Weather Bureau: What ever you say Ms. CC. Be safe and be careful

Moi: Will do, and I really do thank you deeply.  I'll be sending messages out to our friends elsewhere.

I passed the info on to Gabi, surprised she didn't ask the name at first.  When she did, she laughed and obviously her hangover caused her to OW

"Well isn't that just...", she said.

"Indeed." I replied.

 At that moment Amelia came in to take over care duties, so I could send out messages, which Gabi does have to authorize first.  She brought Muffins, of which I grabbed one and stuck it in my bag.  I don't always eat Genuine Europan {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH.  NO MENTIONINK DE BOG EATINK!}

She made a few changes to the form and handed it back to me.

“Thank you CC,” she said. “For everything. Now let’s get that out to the Steamlands immediately.”

“Yes Your Grace,” I replied, automatically reverting to her original style of address.

I headed back home to send the messages via telegraph, wireless and telephone...while the phone lasted.  I swear the St. John Telephone service needs tech upgrades!  In times like these the Telegraph and wireless have actually been more reliable!

STEAMLANDS UNION TELEGRAM

CALLIDUS WEYDELICH MARIKESH MONDRAGO

DESMOND SHANG CALEDON

FUZZBALL ORTEGA STEELHEAD BAY

KLAUS WULFENBACH EUROPA WULFENBACH

MOSSEVENO TENK NEW BABBAGE

SELENA ANANSI ROSEHAVEN

HURRICANE GABRIELLE APPROACHING ST JOHN LANDFALL DUE FRIDAY AUGUST 18 STORM TO CONTINUE SATURDAY AUGUST 19 AND INTO SUNDAY AUGUST 20 REQUEST ASSISTANCE ADVISE HEAVY CAUTION

GABRIELLE RIEL

As I finished the messages, I had one thought on my mind and headed to the closest warehouse:

Sandbags, MORE SANDBAGS

 That sky did not look good...at all.

 There's one good thing about being a {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH}, I'm damn strong.  Lifting these sandbags was like picking up flowers, and I could quickly throw them into place with just one hand.

 Didn't even break a sweat.

 Did get sand on the hands and would have to redo my manicure.

 But I was satisfied at a job well done.

 Though maybe I should add another row on top?

 Still enough light to cast a shadow...but the clouds would be coming tonight.

 Sandbagged up the other entrance as well.  My Poor Calla Lilies will be ruined.

 The Wireless set was fully operational and working perfectly at full transmit power.

 The telegraph was also adjusted and working within parameters

Poor Gabi the KittyCat, the Hurricane Gabrielle is going to scare her tremendously.  I'll have to pen her upstairs with her food and litterbox, or up in the attic.


(look over at the tags for outfit details)

Not so fast there on that profile, Ms. CC, try a bit of Miss Rose DeWitt-Bukater cosplay

So, after I had taken those pictures and blogged, I was sitting there zoomed in on my rather kate Winslet as Rose-y self and remembered I had a Rose-ish dress from Entice.  So I found it and put it on and remembered there was a Titanic build  in SL.  I found that easy enough and discovered the ballroom was basically a mall, but I headed to the bow, turned on shadows, Depth of Field, messed with some windlight and ...  Near.....far...wherever you are....

JACK!

 I showed that to Ava and she said I should make THIS the profile pic, so I did.

JACK!

Ava Rage makes me the Queen of Shopping, and inspires my new profile shot.

While I haven't been blogging about SL, I have been doing my usual bit of shopping, socializing, talking about shopping while socializing, thinking about shopping, and perhaps doing some shopping.

One of the ways I do that in SL is groups, the Fashion Emergency, and the Maitreya Lara group in particular.  In these groups I talk with other fashionistas like LaDonna Upshaw, Vivienne Graves, and the maker of posestands, and other photoprops, Ava Rage.

These people have been among my fashion enablers over the past years.  Now recently we were talking skins and Ava mentioned she uses the Lumae Eirtae.  I told her that while I had the Eirtae it wasn't quite me and I mentioned it was the Melusine that I'd picked up at some fantasy event...and then she said something like "CC, that's a special edition version, theres a regular version!."  Then I have my Don Draper moment and say "What?"  Then, relatively quickly, meaning the next day, I go visit Lumae.

Now my readers and flickr followers have seen Lumae's fantasy skins here before, the Dark Elf-ish Hecate, the Devilish Naamah and the Wicked Green Orismer.  I liked them quite a bit and liked them after I picked up my Catwa Tumble head.

Now the important thing about skins and appliers for me is "Does it come in a pale enough shade?  Does it suit a redhead?  Is it fairly priced and of goodly quality?"  Yes, yes they do.  I eventually picked up the Eirtae and Ruby sets in T3/Shell and T4/Fawnshades. The T4's because I discovered the T3's weren't quite perfect for some modern looks.  When I mentioned picking up the T4's to Ava she said something like:  "You tanned Freak!"  Which made me laugh because the T4's are STILL pale.  They come with appliers for various bodies, and heads and also for Lumae's ears!  So yes, you can use these skins if you're an Elf like The Blogging Elf.  I would describe the main difference as the Eirtae's being more romantic and softer and the Ruby being more aristocratic and modern, with cheekbones sharp enough to slice bread!

Here we have the Eirtae in T4 with some Pink Fuel Glossy Pout lips and Smokey Boudoir eyeshadow.  Gives me a Gogo from Juicybomb meets Megan Fox sort of thing especially with the Catwa head's slightly parted lips option. Hair is Exile Bewitched.

Here's the Ruby in T4 with some lippie from the Catwa extras lippie hud.  This is about as low femme as I get.  Rather Mariska Hargitay (short hair version) here.  Rowr.  Truth Gaea hair.

Here I'm wearing some the Ruby in T4 with eyeshadow and metallic lipstick from Alaska Metropolitan, from the Anybody Event.

And here is the one I'm going to use for my profile, a very traditional pale "Celtic Rose CC-ish" look with red lips.  And I think I look Kate Winslet's "Rose" from Titanic!

Thanks to Ava, I'm the Shopping Queen.  This is her Chalkboard set.  There are several phrases (coffee, vodka, family, love, etc) , backgrounds, floors, poses you can use.  I find it fun and mentioned wanting MOAR phrases.  We'll see.  Get it at SecondSnaps.  And yes, with Shopping Queen I had to pull out a Tiara.  Don't look at me that way, I have a Tiara and I know how to use it!  Though in all honest I don't really shop all that much compared to most in SL.

SLURLS:

Lumae at Belita

Pink Fuel at Illusory

Exile at Covet

Catwa 

IKON 

TRUTH 

AnyBody 

Second Snaps

Unseelie Cheesecake, April 2016 edition, starring Erratic lingerie

As I mentioned before, Connie Arida and Strawberry Singh made me buy lingerie.  Well they didn't hold a gun to my head, they just take pretty pictures that make me want to buy stuff.

I picked up the Erratic Eden set, and thought that the white version would look good worn over my Lumae Hecate skin, Unseelie style.  Gotta have my cheesecake for my favorite Steamlands Unseelie couple, Darlingmonster Ember (nicknamed DME) and Solace Fairlady, AKA The Ember-Fairlady's.  When I go Unseelie, I tend to look DME-ish anyway.

To save time, and because I love these shots, I'm posting the raw shots taken with shadows and DOF and whatnot:

Here you can see the back of the Erratic Allure robe

And here you can see the robe, in open mode over the Eden Lingerie.  And yes, these pictures "might"  have been taken at DME's Factory in Caledon on Sea 

Lumae Hecate skin and Truth Polilla hair, with the Bentbox Faun horns. Heels from KC.  I'm really liking the pricing on KC shoes so I've been recommending them.

Frowny Unseelie says: Take the picture already!

Unseelie CC has nice cleavage.....oh okay, The CC  in general has a metric tonne of cleavage...there I admit it.

 Flying the Silver Ghost airship by DME, she did this one for halloween.  it fades in and out, ghostly style

These pictures "might" have been taken at the airstip above DME's factory.

 The aviatrix posing with her airship.

Cheesecake pinup style near the DME sign. Airships for Sale!

I'm wearing the Milk Motion spy bodysuit in these, Truth Nayeli Hair, Candydoll Arabella boots, IKON Immortal Eyes in Wight

More Airships!

Back in Lake St John, in the water, by Moonlight

Relaxing in St. John

Hey baby, I got your Unseele Cheesecake Cleavage, RIGHT HERE!

SLURLS:


Lumae skin

IKON Eyes

Truth Hair

Erratic

KC Couture shoes

Milk Motion

Candydoll

A Girl Genius/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Fashion Fan-Fic: Report from Vulgarian Agent #1138

This is a fan-fic-y fashion post involving Jägers from Girl Genius, of which I am rather fond.  I recently picked up one of the hardbound compilations of the historical documents (that's what I call them around KlausWulfenbach Outlander in SL), aka the first Omnibus volume, though I had read some online at the Official Girl Genius website.

From Agent #1138, Steamlands Operations Desk

Hallo Mein Baron Bombi.

Forgive me for responding in English, I've spent so much time amongst the Steamlanders that it is easier to report in that Language, Ja?  As you may know I was assigned to follow various and sundry Steamlanders to gather intelligence for our Great Nation of Vulgaria. 

Well then I was assigned to the Steamlander known as Ms. CC Creeggan.  I spent many Jahre studying her, und I know EVERYTING about her.  The clothes she wears, her obsession with redheads, und her obsession with hats. Ms. CC Creeggan is a fashionista.  She shops, it's what she does.  At first glance it would seem she is just some flighty brainless shopping addict, but first glance would be wrong, Mein Baron.   Apparently she was drafted into the Caledon Militia and was promoted to Sergeant.  So how does some fashionista get promoted to non-commisioned officer?  She likes guns, big ones, especially gatlings.  She is Very good with gatlings.

So we have a fashionista who likes guns.  You might think that this is rather common, after all Fashionistas are noted for hunting down those who disrupt their shopping rituals with swords, katanas, guns, und weapons of mass BEWM.  That is verstehe, Mein Baron.

I learned much about her in St. John and Caledon.

One of the things that struck me as interesting was that she seemed to have an affinity for Baron Klaus Wulfenbach.  That might be expected considering Gabrielle Riel is close to him, but with Ms. Creeggan it was different.  She seemed to be "minding" him, watching over him, and always seemed well armed around him.  Not only that, but she was known for clicking her heels und saluting him.

I also discovered that Ms. Creeggan seemed to be FAR stronger und tougher than any fashionista I had seen before.  It was rumored that she had stopped a runaway cargo truck, a Daimler Vehicle No. 42 powered by an internal combustion engine by holding out her hand against it's front fender.  It was also rumored that she could stop potential ruffians by just looking at them, raising her voice, und gesturing towards a VERY LARGE .54 bore handgun that would appear at her waist. 

I managed to bribe a wandering down-on-his-luck seaman in St. John with some rum und he told me of an incident at a dockside pub:

"Now that Miz CC, she aint normal-like.  Hells Bells, she might not even be human.  Maybe she's a demon or some kind of spellcaster, I don't know.  But I saw her toss Baraboo Jack across the entire pub when he got uppity with her after the barkeep called her in to break up a bar fight. And when he came after her with a knife, she disarmed him and BROKE the knife with one hand, and said, and I quote:  " Hyu hain't a very schmot guy, hyu know "  And then she decked him, with one punch.  Lifted him off the floor and carried him back to his ship like he was a purse.  That aint natural.  And she gets shipments labeled "Genuine Fresh Europan Bogz", "Bogz Puree" and "Chocolate Covered Bogz" from someplace called Europa Wulfenbach."

That seemed VERY suspicious so I decided to take a trip to Winterfell, where Europa has an embassy and where the Europan Jägermonsters have a hut. You know of Jägermonsters, Mein Baron, those altered-human warriors who, for the most part, serve the Baron Wulfenbach. Known for their great strength, affinity for big guns and bug eating.

I have managed to sneak into the der Hut des Jäger and found their roster.  In it there is a listing for an "Infiltration agent, Ms. CC" with the description:

"Hyu know, dat redheaded Jäger gurlie vo likes schoes almost as much as hets?  De vun vith de kolor change hepidermoose, retractable fangs, und morpho-chango ears?  Yah her, she makes a goot infiltration agent. Let's send her to de schteamlunds to find schparks und vatch over de Baron und schtuff.  She vill need zum schpeech trainink to schpeak like de non-Jager pipples, but dat kan done viddout too much trubbel.  She's a schmot gurl. It iz a goot plan vith low probability for loss uf hets for everyone.  Authorization: Mamma Gkika"

This changes everything.  instead of just being some wandering shoe-obsessed fashionista, she's a wandering shoe-obsessed, hat-obsessed, utterly dangerous Jäger! Well I suppose there's not really THAT much difference, Fashionistas are known for being rather scary drama filled creatures of avarice und violence.

That said, I do believe this information will require continuing surveillance, und also a promotion.  After all...she's a Jäger.  

Agent #1138

As Agent #1138 was preparing to leave the Hut with his missive, the double doors opened and he saw the familiar face of Ms. CC the Fashionista, but this time her face was green, she was wearing a nice hat, and she was carrying a portable gatling.

"Vere do hyu tink hyu're gun, schmot guy?", said she,  "Hy tink hyu vill need to be hendink over everyddink hyu are karryink, includink you missiff to Vulgaria und hyu schould tink about defectink und retirink... to Zindra vith hall de pretty gurlies on de beaches, yah?  De Baron Bombi von' take kindly to a failure on you part."

Agent #1138 handed over everything without complaint. What could he do, facing a gatling armed Jäger.

She then said, "Dat's a schmot guy, Hy tink hyu vill enjoy you retirement hennyvay, much more fun ten servink dat jerk Baron Bombi"

The Agent thought, "Oh well, alls fair in espionage, and love.  Perhaps he could find a large bosomed oiled up vixen for his very own in Zindra." As he left, he turned and watched the Jager head into the Hut.

I saw this Nikita Military dress when Charlemagne Allen TP'd me over to Valentina E. one day.  She didn't know I was a fan of "V.E."and I didn't know she was a fan of V.E. either.  Anyway, I saw it first and told her she had to have it because it was so Charlemagne-y.  I eventually caved in and got it too.  There's also an all-black/grey, olive green and navy blue versions.

I'm wearing it with the  Lumae Orsimer Adore skin with the included Leevi ears. 

Makeup used is a red gloss from Roslin Petion's Luxuria brand , with Schadenfreude fangs.   I paired it with Lassitude & Ennui's "Flutter" boots.  I had to size them up to M to wear them over the Maitreya body.  Coincidentally, Luxuria, Lassitude & Ennui and Schadenfreude are all located in the Nouveau region.

The dress isn't quite perfect with the body, sadly we don't have enough fine grained control over the alpha, but it's not too bad.  The hair is Magika Honest with the Paulette hat from Pure Poison.

The portable Gatling is one of my cherished SL posessions, being made by the late Nix Sands for his XNT brand. He was a True Gentleman in my book and I still miss him. It is no longer available.

The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference is Vulgaria and Baron Bombi (Bomburst in the film and book), who are often used as "generic steampunk villains" in fiction-y blog posts and stories in the Steamlands.

SLURLS:

Lumae skin

Maitreya

IKON Eyes

Luxuria

Schadenfreude

Magika hair

Valentina E

Lassitude & Ennui

Pure Poison

Wicked Witch of the Woods, Once Upon a Time inspired SL cosplay

The Witch of the Woods had faced her haughty rival of the raven hair and the porcelain skin and had been defeated through treachery.

 She was now cursed and exiled.

As the curse took effect she thought one thing:  If Wicked was was they thought she was, then Wicked she would be.

Hundreds of years later, curse or no, she was ready to end her exile.  After outfitting herself in modern accoutrements, she would now achieve her vengeance.

"Wait till they get a load of ME!", she thought with a laugh in her mind.

Another gratuitous cleavage shot.

Why yes, I WAS inspired by Zelena of the television show, Once Upon a Time, so the cleavage isn't really all that gratuitous.   My Friend Gabi immediately recognized I was doing a version of Zelena when I showed her the pictures.

I cam across this inspiration by lucky chance.  I just happened to run across a Zelena video in a search I did some weeks back, I haven't actually watched the show yet, haven't had the time, and well...bandwidth cap.

After seeing that, I was like, "OH MY GOD! Just look at HER!" And then I started Googling her. Her famous fairytail black gown with the cleavage reminded me of the Black Arts Flora which I'd demo'd but not bought because of alpha issues with my non-mesh body.

Zelena image from Rumbelle! Forever.

Back to the SL fashion, I'm wearing the League Erin skin, when I'm non-green.  It's my standard skin now, even though It's not quite the perfect skin for me.

The green skin is the Lumae Orsimer Adore skin with a Luxuria Red Gloss layered over it.  "Orsimer" being a reference to the Orcs of the Elder Scrolls game series.  The skin DOES come with Maitreya body appliers AND Lelutka head appliers (as well as appliers for other bodies and heads)  It also comes with a set of ears as well!  I'm also planning on using this skin when I go Jagermonster from Girl Genius.

The old time-y neo-victorian look comprises the Black arts flora jacket and skirt, which as I said, couldn't actually wear before I started using the Maitreya body.  The default alpha when used with my non-mesh body has issues and needs some more work.  But with the Lara on the other hand it works very well.  This outfit is template based, there ARE other versions of it on the grid.  I picked two other colors of it, the red and pinstripe version.

I'm carrying the  Inanna staff from Tekeli-li, which I've had for a while and has a ton of color change options that you change via chat commands, not menus.

The Empyrean Forge Heritage statement jewelry set I picked up specifically for these looks, but it's the sort of glamorous statement set I'll get good use out of.  It is also color change for the gems.

I'm also wearing Ingenue Laura pumps, which you can't see.  The Victorian hat in all black I got with the Chantilly Victorian Gown by Boudoir, just a simply lovely and sexy victorian hat, not even taking into account how great the gown is.

The modern dress is the Kastle Rock Hilary dress, with Izzies Sheer tights basics, the versatile Hucci Glynco pumps, the same jewelry set and Amacci Amelie hair for both modern and old-timey looks.

More Zelena!  (From Reddit) These two looks are what inspired my modern "wicked witch" look.

 Fabulous!

 The show apparently runs on The Rule of Cool, Ridiculously Cool Clothes, and The Rule of Cleavage. When Cosmopolitan of all things does an article about the cleavage, there's a lot of cleavage on the show...and it is glorious.  As Everyone Knows, the CC is All About the Cleavage.  It is one of my many "CC Rules #1"

But All of the fashion on the show is fabulous!  Modern and Fairytale, which may be why I like the fashion so, since I need both Modern and Old-timey looks in SL.  Just look at Regina!  (you could easily come close to this with the red jacket version of the Black arts Flora)

And the hats!  The HATS with the CLEAVAGE and the GLAM makeup  Squeeeeeee!  I need everything Regina wears on the show in SL...now please.  Just look at these two modern dresses Regina wears, they are so me.  She also reminds me a bit of Megan Mullally's Karen Walker in "Will & Grace", whose style I also adored.

 Though it isn't actually just Regina's and Zelena's outfits I love, ALL the female characters have such delicious wardrobes in both modern and fairytale settings.  The Gowns!  THE FABULOUS GOWNS!

SLURLS:

Amacci Hair

League skin

Lumae skin

Maitreya

Black Arts

Kastle Rock

Empyrean Forge Heritage set on Marketplace

Tekeli-li Inanna staff on Marketplace

Boudoir

Ingenue, Fashion with a Past

Hucci Main store

IKON Eyes